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dipped his toe into foreign waters by collecting more pots with Benfica and Valencia. A return to his homeland followed where in his three year stint at Feyenoord, he finished outside the top two just once - on goal difference. Southampton were added to his 16 year old managerial campaign and yet again, success would follow securing Southampton's highest Premier League finish despite having to sell The Saints most talented players. "He had the media in the palm of his hand" When all is said and done, it seems Southampton just didn't do enough to keep their man. "Southampton gave me permission to talk to Everton and now I am the new Everton manager.” Koeman told us at his opening press conference. It was one of professionalism and assurance - no daft predictions, no cringeworthy comments, just a calm and composed figure who had the world's media in the palm of his hand. Not a 'Phenomenal' or a 'People's Club' quote to be heard, just 'Win'. Koeman went on to add: "When I spoke to Everton, the plan, the project, the history of the club was interesting. If I didn’t see ambition in Everton I wouldn’t come to Everton and that’s maybe a good message to all of the players.” Rest assured Ronnie, its an overwhelming message to the fans Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now Over the past two decades, Everton have dropped to a level which only a generation of their fans have come accustomed to but still perceive themselves as a big club and that is still factual. Moshiri and Koeman will now deliver the wind of change as we enter a new era, a brand new Everton, a different animal than ever before, a beast that now wants feeding after years of starvation. Embrace it Evertonians, stop with the inferiority complex, the mentality from above is changing, you are not dreaming, believe in your new regime and success will follow, especially with Koeman and Moshiri at the top.You don’t need to go to website design galleries all the time for inspirational stuff. There are many sources of design inspiration for designers and posters are one of them. In this post we are listing posters from Kamil Khadeyev work. He is a young graphic designer from Russia. You can also find his awesome work on Dribbble and Behance. Personally I learn a lot from movie posters about use of colors, typography and composition. But as not limiting our inspiration to specific category, we will be showcasing different type of posters on this blog, so stay tuned. You can not do something only because you think so Say “hello” to my work place space Russian Quotes Alt 0171, Alt 0187 i am awe-some Design Collector How long is your pen…? Make something stupid everyday! Hey, you! Be awesome. My hands are always in the cookie jar I love negative space Magic potionsGet the latest from TODAY Sign up for our newsletter Jan. 11, 2017, 8:35 PM GMT / Source: TODAY Contributor By Meghan Holohan After the tragic death of her newborn son, a mom found some peace by generously donating her breast milk to other babies. In all, Ariel Matthews donated, 2,370 ounces, equalling 18.5 gallons or 148 pounds, 13 pounds more than what she weighs. “It felt good to honor Ronan that way,” Matthews told TODAY. “If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have been able to donate.” Ariel Matthews hoped to honor her son, Ronan, who died when he was 11 days old. She decided to pump her weight in breastmilk to donate to children in need of it. Courtesy of Ariel Matthews RELATED: After losing son, mom makes historic, heroic breast milk donation On Oct. 3, 2016, Matthews delivered Ronan, who was a robust 9 pounds, 3 ounces. Prior to his birth, doctors had discovered a heart defect, but they believed medication and surgery would help him thrive. For days, Ronan lived in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) before surgery, which wasn’t as successful as everyone hoped. Never miss a parenting story with TODAY’s newsletters! Sign up here “It wasn’t until after the surgery when it became more complicated,” she said. “I had a feeling he wasn’t going to make it." On Oct. 14, Ronan passed away; it was the day after Matthews’ 25th birthday. She felt devastated and wanted to do something to honor him. In 2015, after giving birth to a stillborn baby, Cayden, who died from a heart defect, she had donated breast milk. It felt good to help others after her loss, so she thought that it might help her heal again. While dealing with her grief over 11-day-old Ronan's death, Ariel Matthews found some peace by donating her breastmilk. After two months of pumping, she donated 148 pounds of milk to three baby boys. Courtesy of Ariel Matthews RELATED: Woman donates 92 gallons of breast milk in stillborn son's honor And Matthews already had a head start. During Ronan’s NICU stay, she had been pumping and freezing her milk. She had 398 ounces and decided to keep pumping until she reached 1,000 ounces. As she was working up to it, her father, Eric, challenged her. “My dad thought it would be cool if I pumped my body weight in breast milk and I thought ‘You know what? That does sound really cool,’” she said. For two months, Matthews pumped as much as she could. “I would pump at least 10 ounces every time I pumped,” she said. “My body was making so much milk.” Knowing that her breast milk helped three babies helped Ariel Matthews find some peace as she struggled with grief after the death of her 11-day-old son. These are two of the three baby boys her milk helped. Courtesy of Ariel Matthews RELATED: Born to be fed: Women bikers deliver breast milk to infants in need Pumping felt exhausting, and she knew she’d have to stop soon. Her 3-year-old son, Noah, and a job search made finding time to pump challenging. When she surpassed her weight of 135 pounds, she stopped and looked for donors. With the help of a doula, she found three baby boys in need of breast milk. One baby's mother struggled to produce enough breast milk, and the other two babies lived with non-biological parents. “I helped one baby get to a year of being on breast milk and not using formula, and that felt really good,” she said. “It felt great, honestly, that I had an opportunity to help moms and babies. I felt like if Ronan could talk to me he would want me to donate for him,” Matthews said. Ariel Matthews hopes that her story helps others grappling with loss. Courtesy of Ariel Matthews RELATED: Kaleena Pysher reflects on pumping breast milk for baby she placed for adoption While grieving over Ronan has been extremely difficult, Matthews shared her story to try to help others. “I know that good things can come from things that are pretty much terrible. There is light from the dark,” she said. “People have said that this has given them hope. That feels really good.”Over the years I've listened to several opinions expressing doubt over the Linux sound stack. There are lots of ill informed comments out there concerning various things sound related, both positive and negative, but more often than not commentators miss out very important aspects of a modern, multi-user, desktop sound stack. So in this article I'll attempt to discuss some of the misconceptions out there, provide a balanced view of the current state of affairs, discuss some of the perceived mistakes in the rollout of new sound stacks and where things are going in the future.There have been a few articles, some picking up mainstream coverage talking about the Linux sound stack. Some comments suggest that it's not that bad, but totally miss the point regarding what a desktop audio stack is all about, but most people are talking about how it's in a bad way and overly complicated and while such comments do have some merit, things really are not that bad, and I believe there is a really bright future. ALSA vs OSS A lot of the comments of late have been discussing things such as how amazingly brilliant OSS is. Personally I don't buy it. I've never really played overly much with OSS and as such this is probably a slightly ill-informed view - although that's not to say it's not accurate of course :D. Most of these kind of comments are made by people who don't really understand ALSA and are bought over by the "ALSA API is overly complex" type comments. Yes, the ALSA client library is rather complex and has numerous pitfalls - so much so that there exists now an unofficial "safe" ALSA Subset API. But what people invariably fail to comment on (and thus fully understand) is that ALSA comes in two parts: the kernel driver and the userspace library. ALSA differs from OSS in that all access to the kernel layer is performed via a userspace library. I don't know of any ALSA clients that communicate directly with the kernel layer without going through libasound. What this means is that the kernel interface has the freedom to be re-factored and improved at any time, provided the userspace library is developed in parallel. For this reason, the kernel layer is actually quite clean and well defined. The rather rigorous quality control that goes on in the kernel is testament to the fact that on the kernel side of things, ALSA is doing pretty well. Of course there can (and will be) improvements in this area in the future, but this side of things is certainly not in a poor state as people seem to assume. The "too complex" argument relates to the ALSA userspace API. In order to remain backwards compatible, the userspace API has undergone several refinements. As will anything not designed from the top down, some parts of it are rather confusing and have sometimes been misinterpreted (the classic example here being the confusion over snd_pcm_delay() - it's documentation hinting at a hardware based implementation that subsequently lead to some project (i.e. WINE) assuming that this function will eventually return 0 which is not true; fortunately this problem is behind us now, but with a new API call added that does return the info the WINE guys (and others) needed). So yes, the ALSA userspace API could use a complete top-down redesign, but in order to do that, we would immediately break compatibility with 90% of the apps out there: Not a great idea all in all. Retaining backwards compatibility is a pain, but it's also quite important! But Sound Servers Suck! What is in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Some people seem to have some sort of built in hatred of "sound servers" as a concept without really thinking through what this means. Yes, there have been some pretty awful experiences with some sound servers in the past (EsounD and aRTs being the immediate examples that spring to mind), but that doesn't mean the concept itself is flawed. You may drive a couple of shit cars but doesn't mean we should all abandon the roads. In addition, the sound servers of old were really just mixers. In the old days most hardware was not capable of doing hardware mixing and thus couldn't produce sound from multiple apps at the same time, so a mixer was an essential component. Nowadays, software mixing is the norm rather than the exception, even on high end hardware, and ALSA itself has a pretty solid sofware mixing in the form of DMIX, thus obsoleting large parts of the previous sound server functionality - certainly making the additional features they did offer seem disproportionate to the hassle they introduced. In the early days DMIX was just another sound server. Apparently this has changed these days, no longer needing an additional process. While it achieves the job of software mixing very well, it's not as fast or as flexible as other solutions can offer. Modern Multi-user Desktop So, these days a modern, multi-user desktop is quite a different beast to what it once was. Components such as Console Kit track which users are currently active (e.g. when more than one user is logged in simultaneously) and tells udev to write appropriate ACLs to enforce this policy. Users also want to use network attached sound systems, such as Apple Airtunes (RAOP) devices and UPnP media renderers etc. not to mention Bluetooth devices. All of this is much further up the sound stack than the low level driver level and has to deal with various permission and authentication schemes. This obviously needs a userspace component to govern this interaction. Something has to be responsible for this and a "sound server" of some sort obviously fits the bill perfectly. PulseAudio So enter PulseAudio. It's had it's fair share of bad publicity, but ultimately this important part of the Linux sound stack is taking on several roles that are important in a modern desktop. It's dealing with several different things: Software mixing Independent (per-application) volume control Dealing with permissions (is the user allowed to access the sound device?) Dealing with Bluetooth devices Dealing with Network based devices (UPnP, Apple Airtunes, Native PulseAudio etc). Handling the moving of streams between outputs. Handling sound from remote applications run via X11 over a network. Dealing with routing policy (Music goes to USB speakers, Desktop sound events to built in speakers, VoIP to Bluetooth headset) Effects to promote HCI (e.g. positional event sounds - button clicks etc, coming out louder on the left hand speaker when triggered from the left hand side of the desktop) Power Consumption and Efficient savings. Reduces risk of buffer under-runs. So the people who talk about OSSv4 and how it can do mixing and per-app volume control and how this means that ALSA and PulseAudio are not needed are totally underestimating what's needed in a modern audio stack. There still needs to be some kind of userspace daemon to govern these other sound systems and deal with multiple users. This is a non-trivial job and no other system out there is currently aiming to implement these capabilities. One of the often overlooked advantages of PulseAudio is the "glitch free" system. This is an approach that ultimately disabled interrupt driven audio and instead relies on system timers. Modern kernels can provide these timers easily and reducing the number of interrupts and using larger buffers allows you to greatly reduce the number of CPU wake-ups thus saving power. This is actually a very important technique to implement when dealing with modern mobile platforms. Reuse It's obviously important to ensure efficient code reuse. It doesn't make sense for all sound producing applications to implement direct support for "exotic" sound systems such as Bluetooth, UPnP and Apple Airtunes etc. To do so is very inefficient (there are some exceptions to this - e.g. a media player that targets Win/Lin/Mac will maybe need to implement direct support if it is to be available across the board). Keeping the implementation centralised and having a single app->sound system API is essential here. Consistency of UI One of my big problems with many applications is inconsistent UI. This is a problem on Windows as much as on Linux, but it's something OSX has done mostly right. Users got to a central GUI to configure their sound and which device is currently active/in use. In Linux land all sound producing apps have their own config GUI for selecting sound devices. This is insane. Non-technical users don't know that you have to go to Tool->Preferences->Advanced->Sound in App A and Edit->Settings->Audio in App B. Sure, those of us who are reasonably technical will generally find the options (that's how we use applications - we click and look at all the settings pretty early on!), it's going to be less than obvious for a massive number of users. Keeping the preferences centralised so the user always know where to look is important and for a general purpose application that outputs sound, there should be no reason to provide any config option relating to this to the user - it should "just work"(tm). Incompatibility Some users have complained that some proprietary applications have stopped working with PulseAudio, Skype being an oft mentioned example. Well, I'm sorry but that's just tough. If a closed source application does not implement an API cleanly and does bizarre things, there is nothing we can do to fix it. The problems Skype has experienced with PulseAudio would also be experienced by any other plugin to ALSA. I'm sorry to say it, but in order to move forward, some applications have to suffer and/or be forced into action. By not allowing the people who care about this stuff the right to improve things themselves you're taking on the responsibility to do this yourself and you need to live up to your responsibilities. Considering the last version of Skype for Linux was released more than one and a half years ago, it's hard to consider it as anything more than abandon-ware at present. Will there be more pain like this? Yes, probably but that's just way things are - Free Software only truly works if the whole bundle is Free, if you mix and match you, as a user, have to accept this state of affairs. I do. Desktop environments need to ensure they integrate nicely with PulseAudio. GNOME is obviously doing this, but KDE is lagging behind. I do hope to rectify the latter situation personally, and have a pretty clear roadmap to making this happen - it's just a matter of finding the time to do it! Conclusion So, with all this in mind, the sound stack has to be more than just a driver layer. It needs a persistent userspace layer that can run and keep track of various permission problems, deal with network connections and generally govern things. At present PulseAudio is fitting the bill pretty nicely and is continuing to add support for additional constructs in the Linux stack. As things stand all the major Linux distributions are now using PulseAudio with commercial interest from Nokia, Intel and Palm among others. Future So the future? Well, the drivers in ALSA need to be further debugged and developed to ensure the accuracy of the timing information that has so far plagued the "glitch free" system in PulseAudio. Nothing has pushed the ALSA drivers to such limits before, but the benefits of the glitch free mode are clearly worth the pain. Applications using the ALSA API need to ensure that they are using it correctly and sticking to the safe subset whenever possible (thus ensuring compatibility with PulseAudio's ALSA plugin). In addition, applications such as media players need to deal properly with latencies. It's a bit of a myth that low latencies are needed by such applications - higher latencies will ensure better battery life on mobile players and depending how the user wants to route their sound (e.g. to the Bluetooth enabled hi-fi system) latencies will be something beyond the control of the application in any event. It's therefore important to deal with this correctly and appropriately to ensure A/V sync. It's only been about half a year that the ALSA level limitations on buffer sizes were lifted after lobbying from the PulseAudio maintainer. Intel are even experimenting with 10 second buffers (that's not the same as latency!) in order to save power! Every day more and more applications are tightening up their ALSA implementations. Every day the constructs of the Linux desktop are becoming more stable and solidified, offering a truly joined up multi-user and network aware experience. I think this is particularly impressive considering the fact that (as far as I know) only three people are employed to look after the Linux sound stack: Takashi Iwai andJaroslav Kysela on the ALSA side and Lennart Poettering on the PulseAudio side. While there are numerous other contributors, this is still pretty impressive progress with the resources at hand. It's also worth noting that two of the three are employed by RedHat, the other by Novell. While Mandriva will still provide an easy way to disable PulseAudio if you feel it's not right for you (just untick the box - it's not hard!!) or need to use these closed applications such as Skype, I believe that this will not be necessary in the not too distant future. So where is Sound on Linux? In my opinion it's in a pretty good state - there are still lots of things to do, and that will never change, but there is a firm and solid framework out there now and it's getting better every day.Someday I am going to have to have the conversation with my son. No, not the conversation all parents dread giving and all kids are mortified having. I enjoy making people uncomfortable so that conversation should be fun. No, I’m talking about another conversation. The one that happens after I catch his eye doing what male eyes do well – following an object of lust. We will probably be out at the mall, because that’s what dads do with their sons, and I’ll catch the look. Maybe we’ll go to the beach and see it. Doesn’t matter where it is, there will come a time when I will see it. And then it will be time for this conversation. ***** Hey, come here. Let me talk to you. I saw you look at her. I’m not judging you or shaming you. I know why you did. I get it. But we have to talk about it because how you look at a woman matters. A lot of people will try and tell you that a woman should watch how she dresses so she doesn’t tempt you to look at her wrongly. Here is what I will tell you. It is a woman’s responsibility to dress herself in the morning. It is your responsibility to look at her like a human being regardless of what she is wearing. You will feel the temptation to blame her for your wandering eyes because of what she is wearing – or not wearing. But don’t. Don’t play the victim. You are not a helpless victim when it comes to your eyes. You have full control over them. Exercise that control. Train them to look her in the eyes. Discipline yourself to see her, not her clothes or her body. The moment you play the victim you fall into the lie that you are simply embodied reaction to external stimuli unable to determine right from wrong, human from flesh. Look right at me. That is a ridiculous lie. You are more than that. And the woman you are looking at is more than her clothes. She is more than her body. There is a lot of talk about how men objectify women, and largely, it is true. Humans objectify the things they love in effort to control them. If you truly love a person, do not reduce them to an object. The moment you objectify another human – woman or man, you give up your humanity. There are two views regarding a woman’s dress code that you will be pressured to buy into. One view will say that women need to dress to get the attention of men. The other view will say women need to dress to protect men from themselves. Son, you are better than both of these. A woman, or any human being, should not have to dress to get your attention. You should give them the full attention they deserve simply because they are a fellow human being. On the other side, a woman should not have to feel like she needs to protect you from you. You need to be in control of you. Unfortunately, much of how the sexes interact with each is rooted in fear. Fear of rejection, fear of abuse, fear of being out of control. In some ways, the church has added to this. We fear each other because we have been taught the other is dangerous. We’ve been taught a woman’s body will cause men to sin. We’re told that if a woman shows too much of her body men will do stupid things. Let’s be clear: a woman’s body is not dangerous to you. Her body will not cause you harm. It will not make you do stupid things. If you do stupid things it is because you chose to do stupid things. So don’t contribute to the fear that exists between men and women. A woman’s body is beautiful and wonderful and mysterious. Respect it by respecting her as an individual with hopes and dreams and experiences and emotions and longings. Let her be confident. Encourage her confidence. But don’t do all this because she is weaker. That’s the biggest bunch of crap out there. Women are not weaker than men. They are not the weaker sex. They are the other sex. I’m not telling you to not look at women. Just the opposite. I’m telling you to see women. Really see them. Not just with your eyes, but with your heart. Don’t look to see something that tickles your senses, but see a human being. My hope is that changing how you see women will change how you are around them. Don’t just be around women. Be with women. Because in the end, they want to be with you. Without fear of being judged, or shamed, or condemned, or objectified, or being treated as other. And that’s not just what women want. That’s what people want. Ultimately, it’s what you want.As the special anniversary issue of 'Charlie Hebdo' hits the stands today, its publication marks a year of carnage which started on the morning of January 7. As the special anniversary issue of 'Charlie Hebdo' hits the stands today, its publication marks a year of carnage which started on the morning of January 7. Then, to the shock and brief horror of the watching world, Islamic terrorists calmly murdered 12 people in Paris for the crime of offending their religion before moving on to a kosher deli to murder a further five people for the crime of being Jewish. Shocking it undoubtedly was, but it wasn't entirely surprising. After all, the staff at that once obscure publication weren't the only European journalists to operate under an explicit threat of death from terrorists. But the sheer brazenness of the attack, much of it captured on camera, ensured that it was an ominous start to the new year. As we now know, it was only the first assault in a wave of attacks in the last 12 months which included the slaughter of tourists in Tunisia, a downed Russian passenger jet in Egypt, the San Bernardino mass shootings and, of course, what is now known simply as the 'Bataclan massacre', when Paris was once more targeted in an operation which left more than 130 innocent gig-goers and Friday night revellers dead. If 2015 will be remembered as the year of the Islamic gun, it's instructive to look at how quickly the lessons we were all supposed to have learned from 'Charlie Hebdo' have been discarded. A few days after that initial attack, more than 40 world leaders gathered in Paris to express solidarity with the magazine and, by extension, the cherished European values of mockery and impudence, the two most valuable elements of free speech and, not surprisingly, the two most problematic. The cover of today's edition features a cartoon of God with an AK-47 with the provocative headline: "One year on, the assassin is still on the run", and, as might have been expected, that sentiment has already attracted huge criticism, with the likes of Abdallah Zakri of France's Observatory against Islamophobia denouncing the cover as: "Violent and very insulting towards religion." Of course, it's not violent in the least, especially when placed in the context of a magazine which had most of its staff murdered. That, by any rational definition, is violence - on the other hand, a cartoon is simply a cartoon, no matter how much it may infuriate you. Perversely, despite the initial rallying calls of 'Je suis Charlie', that commitment to freedom of expression, and the mass rejection of a group of terrorists that believe murder is an appropriate response to their hurt feelings, was fleeting and in the 12 months since those so-called world leaders gathered on the streets of Paris, it has been business as usual. The most obvious example of that hypocrisy comes from the Saudis - who stretched the definition of irony to breaking point with their presence at that march - who executed 47 people this week. We might expect that given their past form; but even in Europe, the actions of the establishment speak far louder than any words they may have been uttered at the time. To the delight of the French government, its neighbours in Belgium arrested the controversial comedian Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala in November and sentenced him to two months in jail for his 'racist and anti-Semitic' material. It is simply impossible to, on the one hand, loudly trumpet your commitment to free speech and, on the other, jail a comedian, no matter how awful he may be. There is no 'but' in the statement 'I believe in freedom of speech...' yet that lesson has been completely lost - if it was ever learned in the first place. Here in Ireland, we have seen the increasingly ludicrous imposition of so-called'safe spaces' on Irish campuses where students are 'protected' from views which might make them uncomfortable. That's always good for a cheap snigger at the weak-minded stupidity and intellectual inadequacy of some of today's Millennials, but it also resulted in Trinity College cancelling a planned lecture on 'Apostasy and the rise of Islam' by Iranian human rights activist Maryam Namazie - because some students complained that she made Trinity an 'unsafe' environment. Not because some of those whom have threatened her might turn up to kill her and hurt other people in the process, mind you - but simply because some students objected to the content of her talk. How many of the worthies who were so quick to stick #JesuisCharlie on their social media profile also kept their mouth shut when Namazie was being hounded so disgracefully? There is precious little any of us can do about terrorism but we have a profound and challenging obligation to tackle the erosion of free expression we are currently enduring. If that means offending the beliefs of some people? Well, some beliefs deserve to be mocked and if the believers are outraged, that's their problem. The problem of living in a liberal democracy is that there is little appetite for aggressively defending the right to offend. We would rather sit idly by and allow the narrative to be controlled by lunatics than be accused of the greatest secular sin imaginable - racism, or its idiot cousin, Islamophobia. No good could ever have come from the atrocity in Paris 12 months ago, but it should be a cause of genuine despair that we have actually retreated from the values we pretended to espouse in the wake of the massacre. And on that level alone, it proves that despite all the hot air and guff we had to listen to from Charlie's fair weather friends, the terrorists have won. Irish IndependentWhat You May Not Know About Your Favorite Splash In the modern world, for most of us, shaving is a daily ritual. We hardly even think about it anymore. In fact, the modern cartridge razors (that have more blades on them than my lawnmower) have just about turned shaving into a quick, mindless activity. The same for electric razors. But, there are still many of us who go the extra-mile to get a real shave, and enjoy the look and feel of a perfectly groomed face. One of the more important tools to accomplish this is aftershave lotion. What Is Aftershave? Aftershave is a lotion or balm applied to the face after shaving to moisturize, tighten, and sterilize your facial skin. Shaving is not a natural function, and it can be hard on your face, which is somewhat more sensitive than other areas. Scraping your face with a super-sharp (we hope…) blade, or series of blades does some damage to the top layer of skin, from abrasions, cuts, friction, or any combination of the three. This is also true for electric razors. Aftershaves were created to prevent infection from this damage. In the olden days, this was a major concern because, before antibiotics, and antiseptics, you could die from simple infections. So, a modern aftershave contains at least three separate components. The first, and most important, is an antiseptic. The most common is some form of alcohol, but stearate, citrates, and Witch Hazel are also used. These work by killing surface bacteria before they can get into a cut, or through open pores. The next component is a moisturizing agent. Shaving soaps and creams can dry out your facial skin, and make it feel very uncomfortable after a shave. Dry skin also does not look good. Common moisturizers are Shea Butter, Kokum Butter, Cocoa Butter, Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, etc….These all do a great job of keeping your skin looking fresh and healthy. The last component, and least important, is fragrance. However, fragrance is the reason most men buy a particular aftershave, and there is nothing wrong with that. Use what you like. Common fragrances are essential oils and herbs like bay leaves, rum, sage, lavender, lilac, citrus, and more. Why Use Aftershave? There are some men who do not like aftershave, because the alcohol-based lotions can sting and burn, but this is why aftershave is so important. The stinging means you have tiny cuts and abrasions, and the alcohol is sterilizing them. Aftershave balms have less (or no) alcohol, more Witch Hazel and moisturizers in them, and really leave your skin feeling and looking great. If you have never tried an aftershave balm, you should, at least once. You should always use some kind of aftershave, regardless of how you shave. Ingrown hairs, and infected cuts are not attractive, and dry skin looks dull and unhealthy. In The Beginning… The ancient Egyptians pioneered the use of essential oils and other scents around 4000 years ago, but it was to cover up body odor, rather than any hygienic purposes. It started as a way to make the chore of mummifying dead bodies a little less unpleasant. Later, it was found to work equally well on live bodies, and women especially became fond of using what would become perfumes1. Things stayed that way until the Romans created the division of labor that we recognize today, where everyone has a trade. One of the trades they created was the professional barber, who also was responsible for shaving their customers, many of whom were Legionnaires and soldiers. The Romans were the first military unit in the world to require troops to be clean shaven and short-haired, because it was discovered that when bearded and long-haired troops faced you, such as Greeks2, it was not that hard to grab a handful of hair and beard, twist, and break a neck or two. So the Roman army kept their barbers busy. Barbers soon discovered that some of their customers developed infections after being shaved. While they may not have known much about germ theory back then, they could still add two and two. They discovered that they could make a plaster from herbal components that seemed to lessen the problem3. A Legend Is Born… During the Victorian Era, scented waters such as Rose, and Orange water were used to cover up body odors and soothe the skin. But infections from shaving were still a problem. In 1822, Louis Pasteur discovered that infections were caused by microscopic lifeforms he called, “germs”, and that alcohol, and some other compounds seemed to kill them4. The stage was set. In 1830, the Hungarian Cavalry was very busy, spending long months in the field far from the attentions of barbers, yet regulations required the men to be very clean shaven. Skin infections were a very real problem for them. A well-known perfume and cologne maker from Paris, Edouard Pinaud was contacted to see if he could come up with something to make life a little more pleasant for these hard-working troopers. This resulted in the creation of one of the first, longest-lived, and best loved men’s fragrances commercially available…Lilac Vegetal5. It could be used both as an aftershave, and a body splash between baths, and was wildly successful, so much that it is still in production today, over 150 years later. There are many that dispute the story, but the fact is that Napoleon III granted the title of Royale Parfumer to Pinuad soon after, so Edouard must have done something extraordinary. The rest of Europe soon followed and aftershaves became very popular with men from all walks of life6. The State Of The Lotion… Today, you can get a decent aftershave for a few dollars, or spend a small fortune on boutique blends. It’s up to you. Price is not necessarily an indicator of quality as far as aftershaves go. There are outstanding aftershaves for a modest price, and absolutely horrible ones that cost more than a bottle of 20 year-old single-malt scotch. Over the years, a few have stood out: Lilac Vegetal Already discussed, this enduring aftershave has a crisp feel to it with the floral aroma of lilac. The modern version does have some chemically off-scents to it, but these can be alleviated by leaving the bottle open for a few days to let the chemicals evaporate, leaving just the wonderful original scent. Some love it, others hate it. But one thing that can’t be dismissed…it’s been a good seller for over 150 years so they must be doing something right. Bay Rum One of the all-time classic barber shop fragrances. Created in the 1870s, it was a modern distillation of an essence made by Islanders in the Virgin Islands, who steeped island bay leaves in rum, added some citrus, cloves and cinnamon, and used it as a splash tonic. A Danish chemist living in St. Thomas, Albert Riise, discovered a way to double-distill the essence, creating a vastly superior product, and thus, Bay Rum was born. It won the prestigious Centennial Award in Philadelphia in 1876, as well as many others all over the world, and was proclaimed as the absolute best men’s fragrance ever created. During WW-II, for several reasons, Bay Rum declined in popularity, mostly due to unavailability, and all but disappeared. But in 1946, a US Navy man, John Webb, decided to revive the scent while stationed at the Submarine Base in St. Thomas. He started the West Indies Bay Company, and began producing St. Johns Bay Rum aftershave, the Big Kahuna of Bay Rums, still in production. Many other companies now produce Bay Rum aftershaves and colognes, but St. Johns is considered the real deal. With wonderful aromas of light rum, cinnamon, citrus, and bay leaves, it is little wonder that it is has been one of the most loved aftershaves by many men, including this author. Brut Created in 1963 by Fabergé. It was marketed as a boutique-scent, but by 1968, a somewhat diluted version was made available as a
everyman. But, in its empowerment of the amateur, cryptocurrency businesses also carry a new element of risk. Green put the responsibility for ensuring widespread confidence in virtual currencies on the shoulders of the exchange operators themselves.?I believe that each exchange has a moral obligation to the community to try to take preventative and reactive measures to this sort of situation. One thought is coming up with an industry wide?code of conduct,’” he said. Additionally, the community create a?hardship fund” to bail out troubled exchanges, Green said. The team currently tasked with turning CrypoRush around, meanwhile, is working on implementing something similar. Five percent of its future revenue will go into an insurance fund to cover any losses from future hacking attacks. The insecurity of exchanges, Green said “has the potential to do serious harm to the concept” of cryptocurrencies.?If people cannot trust in the security and stability of the financial institutions associated with the industry, then eventually your average user is going to pick up their ball and go elsewhere.”Here is a listing of pro-male and Men’s Movement sites, by country and purpose. I do not necessarily endorse or support the views of any of these sites. As a matter of fact, some I oppose. This list is only meant to be a concise resource for those interested in studying the movement. The websites are categorized first by nationality and then alphabetically, with a side-note as to which segment of the movement they belong to. –Key– -MM (Men’s Movement) -MRA (Men’s Rights Activist) -MGTOW (Men Going Their Own Way) -PUA (Pick Up Artist) -FRA (Father’s Rights Activist) -M (Masculinist) –SM (Services for Men) -AF (Antifeminist) Afghanistan 1. Fembot Hunter (AF) Ecuador 1. Derechos de los Hombres () France 1. Masculinisme (MM) India 1. We Men (MRA) Macedonia 1. Aleknovy (MRA) Norway 1. Eivind Berge (MRA) Russia 1. Русский Антифеминист (MM) Switzerland 1. Männerpartei Schweiz (MRA) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The following are sites that are unrelated to the men’s movement; but, are of interest and relevance to men and boys, none-the-less. The websites are categorized first by purpose and then alphabetically, with a side-note as to which nationality they belong to, if any. Contraceptives and Contraception Information for Men 1. Male Contraception Information Project 2. Male Contraceptives Sexual Abuse Helplines, Services, Support Groups, and Advocates 1. One in Six 2. Male Survivor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Did I miss your website? Please notify me at [email protected], and I’ll review the site myself. Is a link no longer functioning? Please inform me of that also, so I can make the necessary changes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here is a review of all major men’s sites that goes in depth, by examining all their articles, videos, and other tools and media; and, rating them by their virtues and marking them off for their faults. (under construction) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 164 websites and counting :D AdvertisementsAudio slideshow: Chicago's doomed spire The Chicago Spire was going to be one of the world's tallest buildings. But the financial downturn torpedoed its funding, and now it is all but dead. With other major projects on hold or cancelled, some critics say this is the end of North America's love affair with skyscrapers. Robert Bruegmann, of the University of Illinois, considers the fate of super-tall buildings in the US, and explains why he believes the spire may yet be built. To see the enhanced content on this page, you need to have JavaScript enabled and Adobe Flash installed. Photographs, interview and slideshow production by Joe Boyle. Archive images courtesy of Getty Images and Robert Bruegmann, spire drawings courtesy of Santiago Calatrava LLC. Music by New Order. Publication date 25 May 2011. Related: Robert Bruegmann - homepage The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites.CLOSE In several cities overnight, protesters angry about Donald Trump’s stunning presidential election victory hit the streets. USA TODAY Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump after the second presidential debate at Washington University in St Louis. (Photo11: Jack Gruber, USA TODAY) Millions of Americans recently learned their candidate for president lost. Donald Trump's win spurred outrage and threats to leave America from opposing voters. Before we heal as a nation, we’ve got to start healing as individuals. It will take patience, empathy and effort. To help with that, USA TODAY sought out expert advice on how to deal with post-election dejection. Here’s the 12-step action plan: 1) Feel free to scream. Just don’t do it in a public place. “If you are really, really upset and want to yell, go in the bathroom and close the door and yell,” says psychotherapist Fran Sherman. “You have to get it out.” This type of “verbal vomit” can be helpful, she says: “I equate it to when you are sick to your stomach and you let it out and you feel better.” Not a screamer? Aerobic activity, which will release feel-good endorphins, is a good way to shed some angst, she says. 2) Practice acceptance. Feel better after that therapeutic scream? Good. Now you can think more clearly and face the facts. “You don’t have to like it to accept that it’s the reality,” says psychologist Vaile Wright, who is a member of the American Psychological Association's Stress in America team. “Say to yourself, ‘I don’t like this outcome, but this is the way it is and I’m going to move forward.' Fighting it is just going to prolong one’s disappointment.” 3) Take action. Decide what you can do to make a difference, says Wright. For instance, volunteer with a group that supports an election issue that was important to you. “Disappointment can motivate us to action – ideally in a positive way,” she says. This can make people feel empowered, adds psychologist Mary Alvord. “You’re not helpless, you’re not a victim,” she says. “Focus on what you can control....Take your passion and put it into some kind of action.” Listen to the below podcast with psychologist Mary Alvord on how to cope with the stress that comes along with Election Day results: 4) Create an exit plan. No — not to leave the country. Have a strategy that lets you gracefully exit any anxiety-provoking political conversation, politely change the topic or ably defuse tension. It may be saying something like, “We’ve got to take this one day at a time,” agreeing to disagree on a subject or offering your own post-election stress-relieving tips, says psychologist Nancy Molitor. “The idea is to not escalate the conversation and to remain neutral,” she says. 5) Heed your early-warning signs. “Pay attention to your body and your brain,” says Molitor. “If you start to think, ‘This person is an idiot’ and ‘I can’t believe they are saying this,’ recognize that it’s only going to escalate.” There are signs when we start to get worked up, such as a tight throat, a dry mouth, a tight back or a shrill voice, so “know your triggers,” she advises. 6) Manage your exposure. “We all know who those problem people are in our lives, whether it’s the guy in the cubicle next to us at work or the cousin on Facebook who keeps talking about a candidate,” Molitor says. If certain in-person conversations, social media posts or TV outlets fuel aggravation or depression, then avoid those or limit exposure. “If two people at work are spouting things, then avoid getting into a conversation with them,” she says. “Don’t engage.” More from our series: • Advice from six nations that have been wounded by divisive elections • How the United Kingdom is dealing with 'Brexit' • Winners must bring the country together, as in the Philippines • Former Mexican senator points out America's history of solidarity • South Africa overcame Apartheid and a legacy of injustices • Turkish writer: Remember shared democratic values • Former Italian prime minister: It's important to unite different groups 7) Think broadly. “Try to understand that people are not crazy just because they are supporting another side,” Molitor says. “It doesn’t make them a villain.” Practice kindness and empathy, says David Palmiter, a professor of psychology at Marywood University in Scranton, Pa. Sure, it can be challenging at times, but “it is possible to be empathetic with someone and disagree with their thoughts,” he says. “People who are therapists learn that quickly.” 8) Build a support system. It’s OK to vent — people want their feelings to be heard and acknowledged, says Palmiter. Just do it in a healthy, self-controlled way. “Talk to other people who you think are positive and support you,” advises psychologist Alvord. 9) Slow down and self-soothe. This is an ideal time to try meditation. “It’s not nearly as hard as people think,” says psychologist Elaine Ducharme. Too woo-woo for you? Then employ other relaxation methods such as listening to music, lying on a beach or even riding a motorcycle, if that’s what gives you some inner peace, she says. 10) Be thankful. Think of what you are grateful for, even if it’s just small things, says psychotherapist Sherman. It can be “I’m grateful that it’s a sunny day” or “I’m grateful to have good friends,” she says. “When you feed your brain that positive information, you feel better.” 11) Get some perspective. “Turn on a comedy, watch a classic movie or turn off the TV and go for a walk,” suggests Molitor. “Be with your animals or kids or grandkids. Do something to get out of that silo.” Remember, “there are checks and balances in the system,” she says, so “try to keep the big picture.... Life will go on. It may go on differently, but it will go on.” 12) Model good behavior. This is a great opportunity to show children how to deal with disappointment. "We can teach kids to be a gracious loser," says Alvord. That good behavior can go beyond educating kids. "Whether or not you are in a leadership position, have co-workers or fellow students, we all set examples for each other with positive ways to cope," she says. And there is a payoff for all that discipline: "Typically, we feel good when we help others, and we definitely feel a sense of accomplishment when we exhibit self-control," Alvord says. Here's an added bonus: By doing those things, we strengthen our own resilience, she says. Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2f7hM3uToon Candidate: CHIPMUNK Hello there T-T-Toons!You'd think I would be used to the cold by now after running my shop, Hibernation Vacations, in the Brrrgh for so long!My name is Paula Behr, one of the few local Polar Bears of Toontown. I was given my white coat of fur by Slappy himself back before he... Well, you know. Over the years, though, I've felt much more at home with the growing number of Polar Bears that come to town every Winter Holiday! I can't wait to meet more this year.That's not the only thing making me feel at home, though. If you take a step outside your door -- you'll find thatProfessor Flake wasn't kidding about that Blizzard after all!Grab some hot cocoa, Toons, because the weather outside is frightful! As you cuddle up by the fire to warm up, however, take a look at the newest addition to our New Toon Candidates:AcornMini golfing, Singing in a bandAcorn Acres, The Peanut GalleryChipmunk has worked with campaign managers Chip and Dale in hopes to bring more activities to Acorn Acres, and lobby for ToonFest's return.Heh, I can't help but smile when thinking of Chipmunk as our New Toon Species in town. Say, I wonder if they could find Alvin to sing a Christmas special?I hope you enjoy the rest of your winter, and don't forget to stop by and say "Howdy!" sometime!Ken MacLeod's novel Intrusion, which has been a hit in the UK since it was released earlier this year, tackles a familiar issue in a completely unexpected way. Hope is a mother-to-be in a near-future London, where pregnant women are under tremendous pressure to take "Fix," a pill that corrects most known genetic defects in their fetuses. Though not mandated by law, it's likely that it will be soon — the UK has become an authoritarian medical surveillance state, where everybody's blood chemistry is monitored via bracelets whose data is transmitted to health departments. Light spoilers ahead. For reasons we at first don't understand, Hope has decided not to take the Fix. She could apply for an exemption if were willing to declare herself a religious or conscientious objector. But she's not. She simply doesn't want to take the Fix, and she doesn't feel like she should have to justify her decision. When Hope becomes something of a media celebrity for refusing, she registers on the radar of a graduate student named Geena, who studies the culture of biotech workers. Geena becomes fascinated by Hope's case and tries to figure out whether Hope could apply for an exemption if she could prove that her fetus might have a beneficial mutation that would be destroyed by the Fix. Advertisement That's when things get ugly — and weird. Once she starts meddling, Geena is picked up and tortured by the cops. Hope and her husband Hugh get more and more threatening visits from their designated health monitor. And meanwhile, Hugh is having visions of a world full of airships and neo-pagans with blue face tattoos. Plus, Geena has actually discovered a unique mutation in Hugh's DNA — a mutation he shares with his and Hope's first child. MacLeod's genius in this novel is in bringing to life a perfectly plausible medico-state regime, complete with internecine local politics. And then, just when you think you're reading a futuristic, dystopian thriller, the novel takes an abrupt turn into Scottish lore about the "bright land" that only a few can see. It turns out that Hugh's visions of those airships are shared by several people on the Scottish island where he was born. Some of them can even walk into that other world via a hidden portal. And it's starting to look like this is all connected to that mutation Geena found. Somehow, MacLeod manages to create what I can only call a kind of hard-bitten political magic realism. Advertisement What if, he seems to ask, you discovered that genetic modification was going to destroy magic? Or you discovered that accessing the "bright land" of myth was a quirk of genetics? These kinds of questions will keep you guessing right up until the end of the novel, which comes to a satisfying emotional and ethical conclusion that will completely change the way you think about GMOs. And Scottish magic. You can pick up Intrusion via UK Amazon.(CNN) As House Democrats staged a sit-in in Congress in the wake of the shooting at a nightclub this month in Orlando, the public has again been left wondering if there is any politically feasible path to dealing with this country's problem with mass shootings. Of course, America isn't the only country to have experienced mass shootings. Australia suffered a string of them before deciding to take action back in 1996, when it responded with a complete ban on the possession of rapid-fire rifles and overall tightening of its overall gun regulation regime. The results have been stunning: The country has not had a single mass public shooting in 20 years. There is no chance of such dramatic action here. But when videos have surfaced urging extremists to take advantage of America's lax gun laws, then you know it's well past time to examine what steps can be taken to diminish the chances of more mayhem. There are four steps the United States should be taking right now, ideas that no one -- aside from those trying to profit from gun sales -- should reasonably object to. First, anyone who is on the " no-fly" list because of suspected terrorist leanings or activity should be a prohibited purchaser. Second, federal law must require background checks for all gun sales. These two proposals should not be treated as separate issues. After all, implementing the first proposal without the second would be like having a screening line at the airport but making it voluntary. Obviously, the terrorists would skip the line. Making terrorists prohibited purchasers while allowing them to buy guns through private sales would be similarly ineffectual. Third, the background check system needs to be strengthened by making sure all prohibited purchasers are included in the system -- and that the FBI has time to evaluate whether a purchaser is indeed legitimate. At present, many states have failed to furnish the names of prohibited purchasers, and guns have been turned over to killers simply because the three-day mandated period for investigation was too short to ascertain the necessary facts. nine church members a year ago in Charleston, South Carolina, will be kept from getting weapons. I am sure legitimate purchasers will not mind the minor inconvenience of an additional day or two waiting if it means that individuals such as Dylann Roof, accused of killingnine church members a year ago in Charleston, South Carolina,will be kept from getting weapons. Fourth, the police, prosecutors and the public must take the initiative to see that all prohibited purchasers are properly added to the rolls. The Orlando shooter is alleged to have been a violent wife abuser. Victims and other observers must be encouraged to bring such misconduct to the attention of the authorities so they can add such individuals to the prohibited purchaser list. JUST WATCHED House adjourns amid gun control sit-in Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH House adjourns amid gun control sit-in 01:36 In addition to an improved and universal background check system, we must also look at a return to the federal assault weapons ban, with appropriate tightening of its many loopholes. This is more controversial, because while few other than gun sellers oppose attempts to keep guns away from prohibited purchasers, those who like to own assault weapons will oppose restrictions that keep them from buying the weapons they want. Why would gun sellers object to tighter laws? The answer lies in the nature of the gun market. Despite a recent uptick captured in a 2012 survey, hunting has declined over the past three decades, which means that gun sellers need to find ways to get people who have already bought a gun for self-protection to buy more weapons. Since guns last for decades, there is no obvious need to buy more, so the industry tries to pump up sales by stressing the need to secure more powerful, faster-shooting weapons. Modern assault weapons are as deadly as the machine guns used by Al Capone in the 1920s and '30s and should similarly be banned -- as should all weapons and high-capacity magazines that exceed a given threshold of deadliness because they allow for rapid fire of large numbers of particularly damaging bullets. Since the AR-15 was designed to be as lethal as possible, it clearly falls on the wrong side of the permissible line for civilian use. National Rifle Association darling John Lott has stated that " 98 percent of the time that people use guns defensively, they merely have to brandish a weapon to break off an attack." By that reasoning, nothing more than a revolver is needed for self-defense in the overwhelming majority of cases. The idea that assault weapons are really "protection weapons" permitted by the Second Amendment is not credible.A global analysis of Earth’s threatened and endangered species has upended our scientific understanding about the extent to which climate change is affecting wildlife. “We are massively underreporting what is going on,” James Watson, a co-author of the new study and director of science and research initiatives at the Wildlife Conservation Society, told The Huffington Post. The research, published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change, estimates that 47 percent of mammals and 23 percent of birds on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species have been negatively affected by our changing planet. Those estimates are shockingly higher than previous assessments, which the authors note had shown 7 percent of listed mammals and 4 percent of birds were affected. The report adds to an ever-growing body of evidence that swift action is needed to tackle a phenomenon that’s driving a biodiversity crisis, sea-level rise, drought and extreme heat. Julie Larsen Maher/Wildlife Conservation Society Elephants were among the most vulnerable to climate change effects, the study found. For the analysis, a team of researchers from Australia, Italy and Britain combed through all relevant studies published from 1990 to 2015 that documented a species that was affected or not by changes in climate. For each of those more than 2,000 species, the authors categorized the effect as negative, positive, unchanged or mixed. Of the 873 mammal species looked at, 414 were hurt by climate change, with elephants, primates and marsupials among the most vulnerable. For threatened birds, 298 of 1,272 species are experiencing negative effects, with waterfowl and birds who live at high altitudes being among the hardest hit, according to the findings. Of course, effects vary greatly for each species. Overall, though, it’s clear that many more animals are in trouble than had been thought. And given that the analysis looked only at mammals and birds, which are by far the most studied species but represent only a small percentage of the biodiversity on Earth, the problem could be far worse than the findings suggests, according to Watson. “Most of these species haven’t even been assessed against climate change, so we’re clearly underreporting that,” he told HuffPost. “This is a bad story for birds and mammals, but it probably means that we are really, really getting it wrong for a lot of other species.” The new study follows an analysis of threatened wildlife, which Watson also co-authored, showing that the biggest threat to biodiversity is not climate change, which gets a lot of attention, but age-old human activities, including logging, hunting and farming. Today, three-quarters of Earth’s land surface faces “measurable human pressures,” while just 3 percent of the world’s biodiversity hotspots remain unaltered, according to a global analysis Watson co-authored in August. When it comes to assessing the effects of climate change on flora and fauna, Watson said, most studies look at what might happen to a population in the future, perhaps 50 or 100 years down the line. (A 2015 study, for example, found that if climate change continues unabated, 1 in 6 plant and animal species will become extinct.) The problem with such forecasts, Watson argued, is they are “absolutely unhelpful for the here and now and what policymakers can do.” “Climate change is already happening, and it’s going to get worse,” he said, adding it is essential for world leaders to reduce carbon emissions in an effort to keep global temperatures from reaching 2 degrees Celsius above what they were in pre-industrial times, as nearly 200 countries committed to do as part of last year’s historic Paris climate agreement.WASHINGTON — The Pentagon announced Tuesday it had awarded a sole-source contract to United Airlines for work related to the forcible removal of President Bashar al-Assad from Syria. The contract, worth $2.1 billion, tasks the airline company with locating Assad, grabbing him from his seat in the presidential palace, and “dragging him out of Damascus by his arms.” The contract also notes that Assad should be “asked several times, politely” to give up his seat of power, though if he refuses, United workers should bloody his nose up a bit, according to the posting at FedBizOpps. The award comes just days after President Donald Trump authorized the launch of cruise missiles at a Syrian air base, in response to Assad’s use of chemical weapons. Two Navy ships launched 59 Tomahawk missiles into Syria, which destroyed roughly 20% of its operational aircraft and a Green Beans Coffee shop being used by the Russian army. Soon after the strikes, some in the Trump White House began calling for regime change in Syria. Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters that peace in Syria “could not be achieved” with Assad remaining in power. Though US military officials have struggled in recent months with a plan for removing Assad, United Airlines cleared its final hurdle for the military’s request for proposal on Monday, when it ordered police officers to forcibly remove a passenger from a flight that was overbooked. Monday’s test run was “more successful than we could have hoped,” said Charlie Hobart, a spokesman for United. United will be sending one of its aircraft to Damascus sometime next week, where it will land and carry out the plan called for in the contract. It’s not yet clear whether United employees will actually carry out the forcible removal of Assad. One source said it’s possible the company may subcontract that portion of the work requirement to the Chicago Police Department, Wells Fargo, or Comcast.We all have our days when we’re feeling less-than-cheerful. When they come around, we’re often quick to blame external factors. Even if we can’t avoid daily frustrations like delayed trains or heavy traffic, we can always turn to mindful eating and living practices for a mood-booster—especially on those days when we have “woken up on the wrong side of the bed.” When we eat mindfully, we not only experience the taste of our food, but also the way it makes us feel. Indeed, new research has looked at the link between what we feed ourselves and how that can affect our energy and even our mood. A recent study found that a diet high in foods that spur inflammation in the body may raise the risk for depression in women. Over a 12-year period, researchers looked at the food choices of over 40 thousand women and found that those who regularly consumed refined grains—Including bagels, pasta, and white rice—as well as sugar-sweetened soft drinks, red meat, and margarine, were 29% to 41% more likely to be depressed than those who ate a less inflammatory diet (characterized by coffee, olive oil, and leafy green and yellow vegetables). More and more research supports that eating healthy is not only important for our bodies, but also for our minds. Take a moment to think about your own food choices and how they affect you. How do you feel after a sit-down breakfast of freshly brewed coffee alongside steel-cut oatmeal, topped with chopped almonds and brightly colored berries? What changes when eating becomes a second-thought as you grab a bagel with cream cheese and a latte on-the-go? When your morning sounds like the latter, chances are your energy levels will be low as your blood sugar dives and you experience hunger or cravings well before lunchtime. While mindful eating may help to prepare us for dealing with inevitable daily stresses and disruptions, we can also supplement thoughtful food choices with moment-to-moment mindful living practices. As we bounce around from task to task, plenty of things can get in the way. Traffic jams, long lines, computer issues, and delayed appointments can sour our mood and leave us with frustration because we judge them as a hindrance to our momentum. When we stop thinking about the next item on our to-do list and come back to the present moment through our breath, we can begin to look at the unfolding event with a non-judgemental and accepting awareness. Once we have done so, we might even be able to use that moment to our advantage: Breathing in, I use this time waiting in line just for myself, to unite my body and mind. Breathing out, I feel refreshed. Next time you find yourself feeling down, stressed, frustrated, or out of control as a result of your day’s events, try to put yourself back into the driver’s seat. Every moment there are many available opportunities to help improve your mood and stay centered. Blogs You'll Love: Breakfast With a Side of Mindfulness Joy and Happiness photo credit: ntr23Western Gulf coastal prairies are subtropical grasslands that were formerly widespread along the coastal plains of Texas and Lousiana. Bluestem and Indian grasses, common components of tall grass prairies to the north, also grow here. Near the coast and on wetter locations the coastal prairies often merge with freshwater, brackish, and salt marshes. Drier soils host cactus, mesquite, Texas persimmon, and prickly ash. Hurricanes and lightning-induced fires maintain these prairies where herds of bison used to graze. Groves of Texas palms (Sabal texana) occur in the lower Rio Grande valley because the river serves as a fire break that protects this non-fire adapted species. Palm groves grew as far as 50 miles inland during the 19th century, but now there are only 100 acres left, most notably in the Sabal Palm Sanctuary located in Cameron County, Texas. Coastal prairies have also become rare–less than 1% of these remaining unique grasslands are considered pristine. Most have been converted to agriculture. Location of coastal prairies. This environment was likely more widespread during Ice Ages when dry land extended into the Gulf of Mexico for 50 miles. A grove of Texas palms. Paradoxically, this environment may have been more widespread during Ice Ages. Coastal prairie adjacent to a salt marsh in the Aransas National Wildlife refuge. Coastal prairies support 1 of the 2 remaining populations of whooping cranes. Palm groves and coastal prairies were likely much more widespread during Ice Ages of the Pleistocene. Glacial advance caused the Gulf of Mexico to recede, resulting in a larger region of dry land where both environments could expand. The prairies served as a corridor that facilitated the movement of western and South American flora and fauna into southeastern North America. Prairie chickens, upland sandpipers, and 13-lined ground squirrels are some western species that lived in the south during the Pleistocene. Ground sloths, glyptodonts, pampatheres (a type of giant armadillo), and mixotoxodons (a large primitive ungulate) used the corridor to advance from South America to what today are the southern United States. The coastal grasslands supported great herds of grazers including mammoths, bison, horse, and giant tortoises. These in turn attracted large predators such as lions, scimitar-toothed cats, and dire wolves. Paradoxically, this region may have been warmer during the coldest stages of Ice Ages. Glacial meltwater periodically flushed into the North Atlantic, shutting down the Gulf Stream (the tropically heated water that flows into the North Atlantic and keeps climate mild). This caused average annual temperatures in the upper and middle parts of North America to plummet. So this tropically heated water stayed in the Gulf of Mexico, making average annual temperatures in this region warmer than modern day temperatures. The geographical location of the transition between the colder region of the continent and the warmer region may have been abrupt, perhaps explaining why species with northern affinities are often found associated with warm climate species in so many Pleistocene-aged fossil sites. This transition zone likely shifted frequently, on a decadal or even annual basis. Conversely, during interstadials when the Gulf Stream restarted, the middle latitudes enjoyed warmer average annual temperatures (but not as warm as those of today), while the region adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico cooled down (perhaps cooler than modern day temperatures). Changes in the composition of flora and fauna lagged behind these sudden climatic changes. The lower Rio Grande valley is the northern limit of many tropical species found nowhere else in the United States. Bird watchers can find red-crowned parrots, green parakeets, brown jays, green jays, chacalacas, groove-billed anis, Altamira orioles, Aplomado falcons, and common paroques here. These tropical species likely spread across the region during stadials when the climate was warmer, but they experienced range reduction during interstadials. Red-crowned parrots recently colonized south Texas. Woodpecker-excavated cavities in frost-killed palms provide perfect nesting for them. Green jay. Groove-billed anis. Advertisements Share this: Facebook Email Print Like this: Like Loading... Related Tags: coastal prairies, glacial meltwater pulses, northern limit of tropical bird species, Texas palm groves, transition zone between cold and warm regions abrupt during Ice AgesHi! I was a "Software Engineering Intern" for Riot Games this past summer (May to August 2014), so hopefully my post can provide some insight into the day-to-day life of a programmer at Riot. Feel free to comment if you have further questions, and I'll edit appropriately to answer questions. It's about as you'd expect with most other software development shops, with a few exceptions (being a game company does that for you). I'll talk about a generic daily experience first, then go high-level! 10am - get into office, grab a quick cereal/milk breakfast, go to standup meeting (we use agile/scrum methodologies, for the most part). 11am - go back to desk, answer emails, plan out afternoon. 12pm - lunch - usually food trucks 1pm - start coding for the day - dependent on what needs to be done (features, bugs, backlog, etc). 4pm-ish - people around desks get bored, ask to play ARAM or something similar (we did a ranked 5s team too), hop into a quick game or two and play! 5pm - back to work, need to finish X before dinner! 7pm - dinner! - either go home and cook, or order using the office perk and get it delivered to the office! 8pm - back to work before going home... and finally 10pm - finish up for the day - check email one last time, then play video games until midnight, when you're dang tired and go home to sleep. Riot Games has a specific focus on trying to level one another up, so we have things like "tutorials" or "demos" of "work-in-progress" stuff every few weeks, as well as "update" meetings or videos that are posted on our intranet that talk about past, present, and upcoming things going on at the company. If you do your own searching, you can find some pretty cool groups within Riot. I participated in the "game mentorship" program, where I tutored players over my lunch break in ways to help them improve at the game. I also participated in internal meetups, where Rioters from different departments try to level one another up as to the tech they use in their group, and how it can be modified or adapted to workflows in other groups to help them get better overall! As you can see, Riot's big on "levelling up" each other and challenging the convention of open feedback, regardless if you're a manager, the VP, or "just a developer". In the same vein of "take play seriously", I became a color caster for internal gaming events and tournaments, as well as participated in playtests to provide feedback on new and upcoming content that was being worked on (such as "intro bots"!) Overall, it was a pretty great place to be - everyone is fairly laid back and always willing to provide help, and you have a ton of autonomy to work on the things that you need to get done. I feel like the biggest difference between Riot and every other place I worked at is that Riot has a huge gaming culture, so people "get it" when you tell them about awesome recent gaming things you did, and will be able to better relate with you as a gamer as well as a developer.Not long ago, I found myself staring at my laptop at 3 am with bleary eyes, knowing I should stop but unable to. I'd fallen deep down the Netflix rabbit hole, and I couldn't climb out. I'd landed there binging on Terrace House, a Real World-esque Japanese reality show that throws Millennials into a house together. I was hopelessly hooked. Not because I thought the show was particularly good—I thought the opposite, in fact. The premise isn't that imaginative: You watch six twenty-somethings try to date each other, and they flirt, fight, judge, commiserate and confide in each other. “There is no script,” the show’s description promises. And it's so addictive seeing the drama unravel it makes you feel kind of unhealthy—like you've eaten way too much candy. Part of the curiosity is the peek you get into the cultural differences of courtship in Japan. (“Now that you guys have kissed, are you in a relationship?” one guy asks another roommate after the latter finally mustered the courage to make his move on a girl.) But Terrace House also pushes some, uh, plainly outdated gender stereotypes. Terrace House, in short, is pretty terrible. I couldn't get enough of it. Which is why, at 3 am, instead of sleeping, I started obsessively Googling what happened after the last season available on Netflix ended. A quick search told me nine more episodes exist, and I’d be damned if I wasn’t going to track down every possible spoiler so I could be done with the show. Turns out, I couldn't quit Terrace House so easily. The show's Wikipedia page is in Japanese. So are most fan sites. The actors’ social media profiles are incomprehensible. I stopped searching for video clips when I realized the futility of it—I'd watched the show with English subtitles, possibly Netflix-supplied. Fuji Television Network At 4 am, it finally dawned on me that if I wanted another Terrace House fix, I'd have to count on Netflix to deliver it. Which is exactly what Netflix wants. It wants to hook me on a Japanese reality show I can't find anywhere else and never would have found if its algorithms hadn't determined that this obscure overseas morsel was exactly the kind of video junk food I'd compulsively devour. Welcome to the future of global television, which isn't about exporting Hollywood to the world. Clearly, when TV is truly global, the world will come to you. Local Content Goes Global Netflix makes no secret of its goal for global domination. But, a little paradoxically, one of the most effective ways of achieving that is by going local. After launching in 130 more countries in January, one of the best ways Netflix can attract new subscribers is by offering them shows they already know. Netflix pushed that tactic especially hard after launching in Japan in September. As Bloomberg reported, local shows typically comprise 10 to 20 percent of the programming in most Netflix territories. Japanese content—including Terrace House
oil producers at a time of soaring energy prices, yet shortages of staples like milk, meat and toilet paper are a chronic part of life here, often turning grocery shopping into a hit or miss proposition. Some residents arrange their calendars around the once-a-week deliveries made to government-subsidized stores like this one, lining up before dawn to buy a single frozen chicken before the stock runs out. Or a couple of bags of flour. Or a bottle of cooking oil. The shortages affect both the poor and the well-off, in surprising ways. A supermarket in the upscale La Castellana neighborhood recently had plenty of chicken and cheese — even quail eggs — but not a single roll of toilet paper. Only a few bags of coffee remained on a bottom shelf. Asked where a shopper could get milk on a day when that, too, was out of stock, a manager said with sarcasm, “At Chávez’s house.” They also don't show the spiking crime, enormous fiscal deficits, and near-complete lack of business development outside the oil sector. The cracks have been showing for a while, but Chavez has been able to paper over them with excuses (it's all the fault of George Bush, the Great Satan!) and emergency measures. Unfortunately, you can't hold together a high-tech oil drilling economy with baling wire and chewing gum. Especially since other countries are bringing more "unconventional oil" onto the market, which is going to put some downward pressure on oil prices. Even a moderate fall in the price could put Venezuela into a whole lot of hurt. Politically, what Chavez did was successful. But that success came at the cost of the future. Instead of building a more stable foundation for long-term prosperity, Chavez started cutting chunks out of the house and handing them out to the crowd. Socialists, especially, take note: he essentially destroyed one of the most competent, successful, state run companies in the world. Thirty years from now, that--and not the transitory social programs that were thereby funded--will be his real legacy to Venezuela.Collider is an arty audiovisual experience that provides a first-person perspective of a particle hurtling through the Large Hadron Collider. Human hands are replaced with kinematic rigging bones, like something from a Dire Straits video, while subtle motions made by the user remake the virtual world with kaleidoscope of generative graphics and pulsing music. Creator Eddie Lee looked to natural human behaviors, like "pinch and pull" gestures and claps to interact with Collider due to their commonly understood meanings, cross-cultural applicability, and ability to be detected by the Leap Motion sensor. Collider is best experienced with a Leap Motion detector and Oculus Rift headset. Collider's aesthetic layer is a fascinating array of choices and influences, including scientific-looking reticules, day-glo color palettes and low-poly graphics, as well as 1960s psychedelia like the Eye of Providence. Collider can be experienced without a VR headset. Users simply wave their hands over the Leap Motion detector and see the results projected on a screen. "We wanted the player to feel a sense of 'play,', as if he or she was jamming to music and was in total control of how the music and visuals progressed," says Lee. "3-D is a wild-west of UX design. This is extremely exciting because we, as developers, have the ability to define how the user engages with this brand new interface paradigm," says Lee. Collider is the closest communion you can make to the sublime without indulging in psychotropic substances, and is available for free through the Leap Motion app store.A lot of people incurred the wrath of Hunter S. Thompson over his long career, and we can now add the "fools," "bastards," and "idiots" who worked at his local electronics shop to that list. Warning, the video is NSFW if you work with old people or humorless prudes. Take your average septuagenarian's frustration with technology and add Thompson's well-documented volatility. That will only offer a hint of how amusing this call—an expletive-ridden threat to the people who set up his new JVC DVD player—really is. It's also reassuring to know that Thompson, who wrote a weekly column for ESPN.com at the end of his career, employs the same "do-what-I-want-or-else-I'll-write-about-it!" tactic we here at Gizmodo routinely use to keep tech support jockeys in line. Just kidding! Hilariously NSFW. [DVICE]In climbing, your level of maximum strength in the forearm flexor and pulling muscles (of the arms and torso) is a common physical limitation. Gripping small holds, making a powerful arm pull, and locking off with one arm all command your muscles to contract briefly with near maximal force. Interestingly, your ability to rest effectively on a barely adequate medium-sized hold and express strength endurance on a pumpy sequence is also a function of your maximum strength. Therefore, training for greater absolute grip and pulling strength is the single most important aspect of an effective training-for-climbing program. So what is the best way to train this all-important attribute? For beginning climbers, simply climbing three days per week will yield some gains in climbing-specific strength. Therefore, no highly targeted training is necessary, nor appropriate—it could very well lead to injury. Of course, training technique and movement skills is paramount at this stage, and any time spent strength training should be focused on the antagonist, stabilizer, and the larger pulling muscles (not the fingers). Intermittent and advance climbers, with at least a couple of years of climbing experience, will indeed benefit from targeted strength training, and they have likely developed enough tendon strength to begin a gradually progressive twice-per-week, climbing-specific strength training. Elite climbers are in a class on their own: With years of climbing experience and (presumably healthy) Kevlar-like tendons, these elites can embark on an ultra-intense, two- or three-day-per-week strength and power training regimen. Breaking through the next performance plateau depends on it. “Training for greater absolute grip and pulling strength is the single most important aspect of an effective training-for-climbing program.” Attaining a higher level of maximum strength is a matter of increasing neural recruitment, muscle hypertrophy, and building greater cellular stores of ATP-CP. The training goal is to maximize fiber recruitment and liberate ATP-CP at the highest possible rate for five to twelve seconds. Consequently, a properly executed maximum strength exercise will utilize a sufficiently high resistance to produce near-failure in around ten seconds. It’s important to recognize that any strenuous exercise performed for more than ten to fifteen seconds will train local endurance, rather than strength, as these longer efforts are fueled more by anaerobic glycolysis. The protocol for effective strength training is to do brief exercises (3 to 5 reps or 90% of 1RM). Near-complete recovery (>=3 minutes) is essential between sets to allow for all-out efforts each time. As for the number of sets to do, I suggest intermediate, advanced, and elite climbers do three, four, and five sets, respectively. Here are a few examples of climbing-specific strength exercises: Hypergravity pull-ups with enough added weight to make five repetitions difficult. Bodyweight fingerboard hangs on holds small enough to be difficult if held for ten seconds. (Be sure to train different grips.) Hypergravity fingerboard hangs on medium-sized holds with enough weight to make a ten-second hang very difficult. One-arm lock-offs held for five seconds. One-arm (or one-arm-assisted) pull-ups for one to five repetitions. A final note: Near-limit bouldering can aid in the development of maximum strength, especially in sub-elite climbers. Except for beginning climbers, however, more highly targeted supplemental exercises are essential to provide optimal stimuli for maximum strength gains. Consider that failure on boulders often occurs because of movement flaws, inadequate flexibility, or lack of power, and therefore bouldering does not necessary elicit grip or pull-muscle failure in less than twelve seconds. Shrewd, precise training—in accordance to the principles of exercise science—is paramount for eking out additional strength gains over the long term. Train smarter to climb harder! Copyright © 2000–2015 Eric J. Hörst | All Rights Reserved.The Seattle City Council on Monday passed a resolution to ask the state to end its ban on cities regulating rents. The Seattle City Council passed a resolution Monday directing city lobbyists in Olympia to ask the state Legislature for the authority to enact new laws related to rents. But what the council approved by a vote of 8-1 wasn’t the much-discussed resolution proposed earlier this year by Councilmembers Nick Licata and Kshama Sawant, who have argued it may be appropriate for Seattle to adopt some form of rent control. Their resolution, which earned a split vote last week in the council’s housing committee, was headed for a full council vote on Oct. 5. That bill will now fade away. What the council endorsed Monday instead was a brand-new piece of legislation introduced in a last-minute maneuver by Council President Tim Burgess. The Burgess resolution, like the Licata-Sawant legislation, endorses repeal or modification of a 1981 state law that bans cities from regulating rents. But unlike the Licata-Sawant resolution, its preamble makes no mention of Seattle’s potentially adopting a rent-stabilization ordinance like those New York City, San Francisco and other cities have used. “Cities should be given as many tools as possible to create rent-restricted units,” Burgess said Monday, stressing that his resolution “does not take a position on rent control.” For months, Licata and Sawant have been rallying support for rent control or rent stabilization, to the alarm of Seattle’s real-estate industry. They held a town-hall meeting in April and organized a debate in July that drew close to 1,000 spectators. While the approved resolution should have much the same practical effect as its precursor, it also may allow Burgess to claim some credit as he campaigns for re-election against former Tenants Union of Washington executive director Jon Grant. Though Grant accused Burgess on Monday of watering down their proposal, Licata and Sawant each voted for the Burgess bill, calling it a victory for their cause. Councilmember John Okamoto was the lone dissenter. “I thank Council President Burgess for joining Councilmember Sawant and myself,” Licata said. “I recognize the value of penmanship and I don’t particularly care who handles the pen as long as the point gets across.” The half-Republican Legislature may not agree to repeal Washington’s rent-control ban anytime soon, noted Councilmember Tom Rassmussen. But Sawant, attributing Monday’s vote to “our grass-roots movement,” decried Seattle’s lack of affordable housing and urged supporters to set their sights on Olympia. “This is happening now because our movement has brought pressure to bear,” she said, adding, “Unless we have a policy to rein in skyrocketing rents … by enacting rent control, we will not solve this crisis.” The council on Monday also unanimously approved a pair of bills intended to help tenants. The first will require owners of some rental buildings to provide 60 days’ notice to the city and the Seattle Housing Authority when intending to sell. The second will require rental-property owners to provide tenants with 90 days’ notice for certain evictions — a longer period than currently mandated.This is how the world felt before Crackberries. (LeoLuigi) “Not-to-do” lists are often more effective than to-do lists for upgrading performance. The reason is simple: what you don’t do determines what you can do. Here are nine stressful and common habits that entrepreneurs and office workers should strive to eliminate. The bullets are followed by more detailed descriptions. Focus on one or two at a time, just as you would with high-priority to-do items. I’ve worded them in no-to-do action form: 1. Do not answer calls from unrecognized phone numbers Feel free to surprise others, but don’t be surprised. It just results in unwanted interruption and poor negotiating position. Let it go to voicemail, and consider using a service like GrandCentral (you can listen to people leaving voicemail) or Simulscribe (receive voicemails as e-mail). 2. Do not e-mail first thing in the morning or last thing at night The former scrambles your priorities and plans for the day, and the latter just gives you insomnia. E-mail can wait until 10am, after you’ve completed at least one of your critical to-do items… 3. Do not agree to meetings or calls with no clear agenda or end time If the desired outcome is defined clearly with a stated objective and agenda listing topics/questions to cover, no meeting or call should last more than 30 minutes. Request them in advance so you “can best prepare and make good use of the time together.” 4. Do not let people ramble Forget “how’s it going?” when someone calls you. Stick with “what’s up?” or “I’m in the middle of getting something out, but what’s going on?” A big part of GTD is GTP — Getting To the Point. 5. Do not check e-mail constantly — “batch” and check at set times only I belabor this point enough. Get off the cocaine pellet dispenser and focus on execution of your top to-do’s instead of responding to manufactured emergencies. Set up a strategic autoresponder and check twice or thrice daily. 6. Do not over-communicate with low-profit, high-maintenance customers There is no sure path to success, but the surest path to failure is trying to please everyone. Do an 80/20 analysis of your customer base in two ways–which 20% are producing 80%+ of my profit, and which 20% are consuming 80%+ of my time? Then put the loudest and least productive on autopilot by citing a change in company policies. Send them an e-mail with new rules as bullet points: number of permissible phone calls, e-mail response time, minimum orders, etc. Offer to point them to another provider if they can’t conform to the new policies. 7. Do not work more to fix overwhelm — prioritize If you don’t prioritize, everything seems urgent and important. If you define the single most important task for each day, almost nothing seems urgent or important. Oftentimes, it’s just a matter of letting little bad things happen (return a phone call late and apologize, pay a small late fee, lose an unreasonable customer, etc.) to get the big important things done. The answer to overwhelm is not spinning more plates — or doing more — it’s defining the few things that can really fundamentally change your business and life. 8. Do not carry a cellphone or Crackberry 24/7 Take at least one day off of digital leashes per week. Turn them off or, better still, leave them in the garage or in the car. I do this on at least Saturday, and I recommend you leave the phone at home if you go out for dinner. So what if you return a phone call an hour later or the next morning? As one reader put it to a miffed co-worker who worked 24/7 and expected the same: “I’m not the president of the US. No one should need me at 8pm at night. OK, you didn’t get a hold of me. But what bad happened?” The answer? Nothing. 9. Do not expect work to fill a void that non-work relationships and activities should Work is not all of life. Your co-workers shouldn’t be your only friends. Schedule life and defend it just as you would an important business meeting. Never tell yourself “I’ll just get it done this weekend.” Review Parkinson’s Law in 4HWW and force yourself to cram within tight hours so your per-hour productivity doesn’t fall through the floor. Focus, get the critical few done, and get out. E-mailing all weekend is no way to spend the little time you have on this planet. It’s hip to focus on getting things done, but it’s only possible once we remove the constant static and distraction. If you have trouble deciding what to do, just focus on not doing. Different means, same end. What other no-no’s would you add to the list? ### Posted on: August 16, 2007. Share this: Facebook Twitter Email Reddit Print Please check out Tribe of Mentors, my newest book, which shares short, tactical life advice from 100+ world-class performers. Many of the world's most famous entrepreneurs, athletes, investors, poker players, and artists are part of the book. The tips and strategies in Tribe of Mentors have already changed my life, and I hope the same for you. Click here for a sample chapter and full details. Roughly 90% of the guests have never appeared on my podcast. Who was interviewed? Here's a very partial list: tech icons (founders of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Craigslist, Pinterest, Spotify, Salesforce, Dropbox, and more), Jimmy Fallon, Arianna Huffington, Brandon Stanton (Humans of New York), Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Ben Stiller, Maurice Ashley (first African-American Grandmaster of chess), Brené Brown (researcher and bestselling author), Rick Rubin (legendary music producer), Temple Grandin (animal behavior expert and autism activist), Franklin Leonard (The Black List), Dara Torres (12-time Olympic medalist in swimming), David Lynch (director), Kelly Slater (surfing legend), Bozoma Saint John (Beats/Apple/Uber), Lewis Cantley (famed cancer researcher), Maria Sharapova, Chris Anderson (curator of TED), Terry Crews, Greg Norman (golf icon), Vitalik Buterin (creator of Ethereum), and nearly 100 more. Check it all out by clicking here.Tyrion would sooner have used some of his mountain clansmen to guard the manse; Chella's Black Ears perhaps, or the Moon Brothers. He had more faith in their iron loyalties and sense of honor than in the greed of sellswords. –George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings The lords and ladies of House Lannister are widely known for their power and wealth. As Wardens of the West, the Lannisters command a quarter of the realm’s armies, but more often, their battles are fought in the intrigues of court. Through manipulation, lies, blackmail, and skulduggery, House Lannister has maintained its position of power against all challengers. Still, though they may be known for their subtlety, there are times when every ruler simply needs a blunt instrument—and the Lannisters found one in the clansmen from the Mountains of the Moon. In Lions of Casterly Rock, the second deluxe expansion for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, you’ll be able to expand your forces and explore new deck types as the expansion greatly adds to House Lannister’s forces. In our last preview, we looked at House Lannister’s renewed focus on the intrigue challenge, and today, we’ll take a closer look at another deck archetype that begins to emerge: the Lannister’s Clansmen allies. My Mind Is My Weapon The mountain clans have long nursed a grudge against the Westerosi in general, and House Arryn in particular. Still, they lacked the power to pose a serious threat—lightning-fast ambushes and pillaging caravans was the extent of their damage. To play a larger role in the fortunes of the Great Houses, they needed a cunning leader to focus and unite them, so when chance brought Tyrion Lannister to the mountain clans, he quickly swayed them to join House Lannister. It’s fitting that any Lannister deck focused on the Clansmen must inevitably center on Tyrion Lannister (Lions of Casterly Rock, 2). With this incarnation of his character, Tyrion takes his place among the game’s most expensive characters. Rather than devoting his wits to finding the money to support your schemes, here Tyrion takes his place as the de facto commander of the mountain clans. Not only does he gain a military icon, he gains a uniquely powerful Reaction: “After you win a challenge, return an attacking Clansman character to your hand to (choose one): draw 2 cards, gain 3 gold, or raise the claim value on your revealed plot card by 1 until the end of the challenge. (Limit twice per phase.)” The sheer versatility of Tyrion’s ability immediately sets him apart from other characters. If your hand is running low or you need to search for a specific card, you can draw two cards. If you’re plotting an ambush or preparing to play a devastating event like Put to the Sword (Core Set, 41), you can gain three gold. Or, if you simply want your challenge to hit harder and punish your opponent, you can raise the claim on your revealed plot card. The only price is that you must return one of your attacking Clansman characters to your hand, and as we’ve already seen with cards like Burned Men (Core Set, 91) and Moon Brothers (Lions of Casterly Rock, 11), your Clansman are master of ambushing your opponents from your hand. You may even use events like Hear Me Roar! (Core Set, 100) or I Never Bet Against My Family (The King’s Peace, 50) to bring Clansmen into play before you return them to your hand with Tyrion Lannister. Another Clansman that you can ambush from your hand without warning is Shagga Son of Dolf (Lions of Casterly Rock, 9). Shagga can spring into play for free—so long as you control a Clansman character or Tyrion Lannister! Shagga’s battlelust often has unfortunate consequences, however. Whenever Shagga Son of Dolf enters play using ambush, you must choose and kill a Lannister character that you control. A sudden ambush at the right time could turn the game in your favor, but you’ll always need to weigh the risk and ensure you aren’t destroying your own forces without just cause. As you’ve most likely noticed by now, the Clansmen are heavily focused on the military challenge. That doesn’t mean Tyrion can’t find a way for them to make their mark in other types of challenges, however, especially with the Mountains of the Moon (Lions of Casterly Rock, 18) in play. This location can be triggered whenever a Clansman character enters play to give that character a challenge icon of your choice until the end of the phase. With your Clansmen launching raids and retreating to the mountains under the direction of Tyrion Lannister, this location can be crucial to keeping your Clansmen involved in every challenge. Hardened Killers Not every Clansman prefers to stage unexpected ambushes, but these fearless warriors are no less dangerous. In fact, their willingness to stand and fight on the battlefield can make them significantly more powerful. One of these Clansmen is Chella Daughter of Cheyk (Lions of Casterly Rock, 7). In the saga of A Song of Ice and Fire, Chella is known for claiming the ears of her enemies as a mark of her superior skill in combat. Chella has a similar habit in A Game of Thrones: The Card Game: after a character is killed during a challenge in which Chella is attacking, you can place an ear token on her. Chella’s STR increases for each of these ear tokens, and once she has three or more, she gains intimidate and renown. For only four gold, Chella can become a highly powerful character. All you need to do is set her loose against your enemies. Obviously, there are plenty of ways to kill your opponent’s characters with Chella in the challenge, including Put to the Sword, Ser Gregor Clegane (The King’s Peace, 49), or even a military challenge where you raise your claim with Tyrion Lannister. Still, you’ll find an uniquely Clansman way to kill your enemies with Timett Son of Timett (Lions of Casterly Rock, 4). Timett Son of Timett is known as the leader of the Burned Men and a vicious warrior. His ability reads, “Reaction: After you win a challenge in which Timett Son of Timett is attacking, choose and kill a character with printed cost X or lower. X is the number of Clansman characters you control.” As the mountain clans rally to the banner of House Lannister, Timett grows more and more dangerous, slaying your opponent’s characters with impunity. Even if you only have a couple Clansmen in play, the ability to clear out a low-cost character before military claim or kill a character during a power challenge can be essential. The Clans Will Fight House Lannister has a reputation as the power behind the Iron Throne, but when the lords of Casterly Rock need a brutal military force, the mountain clans are more than willing to fight. Call the clans around you as House Lannister, and join us next time for a look at some of the cards that the other factions receive in this deluxe expansion! You can pre-order Lions of Casterly Rock at your local retailer today.What a fine choice. One of them es a kitbash using a MK IIc Rhino and a MK I Vindicator to create one that will fit the nowadays Vindicator. The Siegeshield is scratchbuilt. As said previously, the two tanks left and right have been bought already glued together. I was only slapping paint on them. I wanted to use my last models for experiments, and these guys are nothing else! Unfortunately, the inversed preshading attempt did not go as planned. The contrast ended up way too extreme. The rest was just a practice on weathering effects, but that is something i will learn about in the next projects. The three guys are a blast on the table! They are feared, thus getting a lot of damage making it hard to dish out the large template. It is really hard to use them effectively as they may not fire after being moved... and rotating a model counts as a movement as well... eh... Nevertheless, it was a great experience building them and i am looking forward to build more tanks!There have been rumblings of a Justice League Dark movie in the works since as far back as 2012. Director Guillermo del Toro was once supposed to be behind the camera for an assembly of DC Comics characters such as Constantine, Swamp Thing, Jason Blood/The Demon, Madame Xanadu and Anton Arcane, but he ended up falling away from the project nearly a year ago. More recently, some possible casting and director contenders have emerged, but we haven’t heard anything since last fall. Now fans waiting for a Justice League Dark movie can pass their time with a forthcoming straight-to-DVD animated movie that’s in the works according to the supplemental features on the forthcoming home video release of the animated adaptation of Batman: The Killing Joke. Find out more about the Justice League Dark animated movie below. The British Board of Film Classification (via THR) revealed that Batman: The Killing Joke has a special feature called “A Sneak Peek at Justice League Dark,” which is pretty self-explanatory. It’s customary for these DC Comics animated releases to tease what’s coming next, so it’s no surprise that Batman: The Killing Joke is slated to have a special feature introducing the next project on the docket. Beyond that, unfortunately we don’t have any specific details. Could the roster be the same as what the live-action movie would have entailed? We’re not sure. However, it would make sense for the Justice League Dark movie to include Enchantress if only because she’ll be appearing in Suicide Squad in August. While there are no narrative ties between the animated and live-action movies, sharing characters can only benefit DC Comics to create more character recognition and appeal for the more casual fans out there. For those who don’t know, Justice League Dark has been around since 2011 as a comic series following John Constantine, Madame Xanadu and Zatanna, a group of lesser known but still powerful supernatural heroes battle threats that the more traditional superheroes aren’t even aware of. The comic series was canceled last year with the intention of being relaunched under the new title Dark Universe, but that’s yet to happen. Hopefully this doesn’t mean a live-action Justice League Dark movie won’t happen. But even if Warner Bros. still wants to make that movie, they’ve got their hands full keeping their DC Comics cinematic universe in order right now, so I wouldn’t expect to see it anytime soon. Batman: The Killing Joke hits Digital HD on July 23 and then Blu-Ray/DVD on August 2. Whenever any new details become available, we’ll be sure to let you know.When I first heard about the new Google Play game services, I got too excited. It wasn’t such a new thing. iOS has had it for a long time, and even on android, it’s been Amazon’s GameCircle has been there for a while. But I was waiting a long time for this feature to be available on Google Play. So, when I saw the announcement in my Developer Console, I got busy right away. My game Hungry Slimes had everything I needed it to have to start. It had achievements and an online leaderboard hosted on my website (and on GameCircle for Amazon). I had the creatives for leaderboards and achievements prepared already. So the first thing I did was to touch them a little and start preparing the environment. The experience was great. Although I had some trouble in the beginning to make it work, I consider it as an easy feature to integrate. I don’t go further into this, as there are already a lot of articles circulating on the web about how great the games library is! Instead, I highlight the things that I didn’t like while I explored it so far. What’s Bad Your Choices are Eternal! As many other Google Play Developer features, game services also make you nervous when you are publishing something. I have had issues before with app pricing decision (free/paid), and in-app billing. In in-app billing, you fall into trouble if you: Create an in-app product Delete it. Try to create another product with the same name! I understand if you cannot create another product with the same id, but the name is not justified for me. Amazon simply doesn’t let you delete the products. But Google Play allows you to do that, but then trashes the name for you and there is no un-delete option. So an advice for developers: Always change the product name to something meaningless before deleting! When we come to game services, there are these kind of things again: You cannot link more than 20 apps, and this INCLUDES apps that you delete. While this is generous enough, it brings the question of “why?” Personally, I had to trash two of them. You cannot change the certificate fingerprint. I suppose there is a technical reason. You cannot change whether or not achievements are hidden, once you publish them. In Amazon’s GameCircle you can do that. You cannot change the ordering (if larger is better or smaller). I don’t know what technicality is behind this, because an indexed database can usually be sorted in either direction. But we are talking about Google’s heavily distributed data, so maybe it is not as easy as it appears. You cannot change the minimum and maximum allowed scores, once you publish. I had a major update for Hungry Slimes a while ago, in which the score scale completely changed. I’m glad I did it before Google Play’s game services! In one word, Google Play has many of these options that cannot be changed later, and they keep this habit in their new services. Signing Certificate Fingerprint If you are not familiar with this, this is a long string that identifies the signature of your app. It is a secure way to check if the app is signed with your signature. Google Play uses it to verify the legitimacy of game-related requests. Something weird I found out with a price was that when you link your app to a games project, Google simply generates some random fingerprint and pre-fills the corresponding field. When I was creating my project, I was too excited to enter my own and made this silly mistake of thinking Google already has the fingerprint and is filling it for me. So I just added the apps and it took me a day to identify and fix the problem. So here I give another advice for developers. If you ever make the mistake I made and enter a wrong fingerprint, don’t worry if you cannot revert the changes in the Developer Console. Good news is, you can add as many instances of the same app package name as you want (still less than 20)! In this case: Go to API Console Navigate to your games project. Go to API Access Delete all Client IDs Now, back your Developer Console, add the packages again. Remember, it should ask again to authorize, if it doesn’t simply change the package names of the faulty items to some other app of yours. You can do that. To be honest, I don’t really understand why such an important field should be pre-filled with something random. What Can Be Better Here I will just mention a few things that can make the experience better both for the developers, and for gamers. More Features Google Play has already enough features compared to other app stores as far as game services are concerned. However, as a gamer you can think of some other stuff that can make it even nicer and make Google Play’s features really stand out. As a developer, I miss those stuff for my upcoming game: Stacked achievements: What I mean is something like this: imagine you have an achievement that is unlocked when you kill one boss, and one when you kill five bosses. In order to get the five-boss achievement, first you get the first one. In this case, you just want to display only the five-boss achievement, because it already implies a single boss has been killed. Think of levelling achievements in World of Warcraft as another example. Keeping all these achievements in view makes the list too long. Achievement Rewards: Hungry Slimes has a reward for some of the achievements. When I migrated to Google Play game services, I couldn’t migrate this feature (i.e. showing the reward in a distinct way). This is just small detail. But I think many would like it, too. I haven’t played around with the online multiplayer support. I will probably post about it when I do. More Control This is specific to developers. I’ve had the online leaderboards before in Amazon AppStore, and you can choose the identifier for each of them. Instead, Google assigns a random id to each achievement and leaderboard. This was particularly troublesome because I have one code that works on both app stores. I had to have two sets of ids set for leaderboards, and it just made my code dirty. Luckily I hadn’t set up the achievements yet in Amazon’s GameCircle, so I just copied the identifiers from Google Play. Online Availability It seems that the achievements and leaderboards are currently only available from within the game itself. It would be nice to be able to view, compare, or share their game activities from a computer through Google+. Conclusion “Google Play game services” is a wonderful and well-designed solution. It is easy to integrate by the developers and easy-to use by users. With a few changes and additions, it will easily be the best-available games package for the android platform.BLANDING — The remnants of a people who lived in the cliffs surrounding this small southeastern Utah town are not hard to find here. Stumbling across pieces of pots and arrowheads is commonplace, locals say. So, too, is keeping them. With the federal indictment of 24 people, most of them from Blanding, accused of taking ancient American Indian artifacts from public lands in the Four Corners area, people here say officials have made much ado about nothing. "A majority of homes probably do have artifacts," said Holly Shumway, whose in-laws were among those indicted. "I don't know how they pick and choose the few that got arrested. It's just so common in this town to have things like that. It's not like just those 24 people have been doing this. These people have just been doing what everyone does." Mitch Barnett, a Blanding resident, recalls his grandfather receiving Anasazi blankets as pay for work he did. "Nobody thought it was a big deal," he said. Sandy Strom, whose husband, Aubry Patterson, is accused of stealing artifacts from caves in the La Sal Mountains and selling them to an undercover dealer, said she has a display case full of American Indian artifacts. Otherwise, they would just be on the ground, she said. "We weren't out grave-robbing," Strom said outside a Moab courthouse. It's a sentiment shared among a number of people in the area. "That's the word I just can't stand: stealing," Shumway said. "Anyone can walk out their back door and probably find something. Most of the houses in this town are built on old Indian ruins. It's everywhere. It's not like these people are going into someone's home or a museum and taking these artifacts. They're just outside on the ground." But items taken from federal land could mean up to 10 years in prison for the "collectors." The crime is not about property being destroyed, said Blanding archaeologist Winston Hurst, it's about preserving a priceless record of history. "It's not about who gets to own something," Hurst said. "It's about the archaeological record. It's the only record we have of the huge majority of people who have ever lived. It's tremendously fragile, and it's being looted on a worldwide scale. They rip the guts out and leave us with nothing but objects to sell on eBay." Whether it's pocketing an arrowhead or pillaging a ruin, "the net effect is, it all destroys evidence," said the Bureau of Land Management's Canyon Country district manager Shelley Smith. "It's a chronic problem" that strips artifacts of their context and value, she said. In Blanding, the indictments and news reports have made "nice people" out to be "hardened criminals," Shumway said. Among those indicted: David Lacy, 55, who is a "great school teacher" and wrestling coach, Shumway said. Harold Lyman, 78, director of the San Juan Visitor Center, who was recently inducted into the Utah Tourism Hall of Fame for his role in creating the "Trail of the Ancients," a scenic byway centered around the area's American Indian heritage. James Redd, 60, the town's longtime doctor. He was found dead Thursday near his home outside Blanding. Details of the death were not immediately released by authorities, but word was spreading quickly in the community about his passing. "The federal government has so many things to worry about right now," Shumway said. "Our economy is in a crisis, and our government is in such a huge slump right now. And this is what they choose to spend their money on right now — not drug dealers
called End of the Raven. For this I’ll be coding our own cross-platform 3d game engine that will be our own technology to make use of for future projects as well. The game itself is still in preproduction phase but it’s really going to be something special that will speak to all of us who grew up gaming in the Genesis and Super Nintendo eras. Honestly, the best way to get into contact with us is on Twitter @TeamKakumei. My email is [email protected] versions of this column featured a multitude of stars on rookie contracts, but this year's team will have a few new rules to up the difficulty and build a more realistic team. 1. Team restraints. We'll need to find at least one player -- but no more than three players -- from each of the 32 NFL teams. 2. A limit on rookie deals. Last year's playoff teams had an average of five players from the 2014 draft, six from the 2015 draft and nine from the 2016 draft. So will our team. We'll also have four undrafted free agents who have yet to hit unrestricted free agency. 3. Rookies! Our team will have seven rookies, with one player taken from each round of this year's draft. The remaining 22 players will have to be veterans who are not on their first contract. 4. Special teams. As tempting as it is to fill a team with big-play threats and situational contributors, real teams fill out the back of their roster with players who contribute on special teams. Our team will do the same. And lastly, a word about scheme: We're going to build an offense that fits within Josh McDaniels' system in New England, meaning we want versatile receivers and running backs who can create mismatches in the passing game. Our defense will be similar to Jim Schwartz's units, most recently in Philadelphia, that generate pressure with the front four and drop seven into coverage. We're less concerned with our cornerbacks being tall and more with them being fast and having the ability to play all over the field. We're also going to win a lot of football games.This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. AMY GOODMAN: Juan, you have a cover story in the New York Daily News today. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yes, yes. Well, I’m reporting in today’s Daily News on a new report by the New York City Department of Investigations on something I’ve been covering now for over five years, which is the massive overhaul in the previous Bloomberg administration of the city’s vital 911 emergency communications system. And it’s a really startling report. It shows that—among other things, the report shows that the city—that the project is 10 years behind schedule and has increased by over a billion dollars in cost during the period since it began in 2005. It also—the report also finds that the city officials tried to order their employees to sanitize their reports to minimize the problems that the program had. It found that officials also hid about $200 million in additional costs on the projects in the budgets of different city agencies, so no one could really know how much the costs—the project was spiraling out of control. And it finds that the private consultants were running amok, basically with very little control, driving up the prices to the city, sometimes as much as—mark-ups of 600 percent. And we’re talking about major companies. We’re talking about Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, Northrop Grumman, Verizon. These were the companies that were devising this system. And it’s another example of what I’ve been calling one of the biggest scandals in modern government, local and state government, which is these huge technology projects that are supposed to create efficiencies in government, but actually end up as boondoggles. This is now the latest one. Thankfully, the new de Blasio administration has sent a whole lot of those private consultants packing now and is bringing a lot of the work in-house to have government workers and government managers in charge of it. And we’ll see if that makes a big difference in the future. But it’s a really astonishing report of a decade-long project that went awry. AMY GOODMAN: Well, I hope you continue to give us reports like this, and the biggest one you broke was CityTime. That was the biggest financial scandal in New York. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, actually, this is bigger in money, but in CityTime, about a dozen people ended up being indicted. AMY GOODMAN: Which was about the? JUAN GONZÁLEZ: That was the city’s payroll system, computerizing the payroll system for 300,000 city workers. And that ended up with a dozen people arrested and most of them sent to long prison terms as a result, because that was outright fraud. This is just rampant mismanagement at this level, not direct fraud. AMY GOODMAN: Well, we’ll link to your piece at democracynow.org.Under pressure from anti-LGBT groups, Republicans in the Minnesota Senate have introduced a bill to block schools from making accessible facilities available to transgender and gender non-conforming students, and blocking equal access to school sports. The bill, Senate File 1543 would in effect repeal the Minnesota State High School League’s transgender-inclusive high school athletics policy. That policy provided guidance to member schools that transgender students should have the ability to participate in extracurricular activities based on their gender. The bill would also block the St. Paul Board of Education’s proposed gender inclusion policy which would make school facilities accessible to transgender students. The bill was introduced by Republican Sens. David Brown of Becker, Mary Kiffmeyer of Big Lake, Ruud of Breezy Point, Dave Thompson of Lakeville, and Torrey Westrom of Elbow Lake. The full text of the bill: Section 1. [121A.041] ATHLETIC TEAMS; PARTICIPATION. Subdivision 1. Level of skill and ability. An elementary or secondary school may make participation on a team in a sport dependent upon a demonstrated level of skill and ability. Subd. 2. Female teams; male participation. When an elementary or secondary school establishes a team for students of the female sex, students of the male sex may not try out for or participate on that team. For purposes of this section, “sex” means the physical condition of being male or female, which is genetically determined by a person’s chromosomes and is identified at birth by a person’s anatomy. Subd. 3. Minnesota State High School League. The Minnesota State High School League shall review and conform league rules, guidelines, procedures, and eligibility bylaws to be consistent with this section. EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective the day following final enactment. Sec. 2. [121A.35] STUDENT PHYSICAL PRIVACY ACT. Subdivision 1. Purpose. The purpose of this section is to protect and provide for the privacy and safety of all students enrolled in public schools and to maintain order and dignity in restrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms, showers, and other facilities where students may be in various states of undress in the presence of other students. Subd. 2. Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the meanings given them. (a) “Sex” means the physical condition of being male or female, which is determined by a person’s chromosomes and is identified at birth by a person’s anatomy. (b) “Public school” means a public school under section 120A.05, subdivisions 9, 11, 13, and 17, and a charter school under section 124D.10. Subd. 3. Student physical privacy protection. (a) A public school student restroom, locker room, changing room, and shower room accessible by multiple students at the same time shall be designated for the exclusive use by students of the male sex only or by students of the female sex only. (b) A public school student restroom, locker room, changing room, and shower room that is designated for the exclusive use of one sex shall be used only by members of that sex. (c) In any other public school facility or setting where a student may be in a state of undress in the presence of other students, school personnel shall provide separate, private, and safe areas designated for use by students based on their sex. (d) Nothing in this section shall prohibit public schools from providing accommodation such as single-occupancy facilities or controlled use of faculty facilities upon a student request due to special circumstances, but in no event shall that accommodation result in a public school allowing a student to use a facility designated under paragraph (b) for a sex other than the student’s own sex. The bill’s language is identical to the demands of two anti-LGBT groups. Just hours before the bill was introduced, two anti-LGBT groups, the Minnesota Child Protection League and the Minnesota Family Council, had urged their supporters to call for a bill to be introduced. The Minnesota Child Protection League wrote: The MN Legislature has been in session for almost two months and we still do not have a bill. There is a bill drafted, waiting in the wings, but YOU are the one who can get it finally introduced. They need your support and encouragement, and we are confident that they will do the right thing. This is no time to be bashful! …This is unspeakable! We cannot let this happen. We must all call for a bill in this legislative session that will secure the right of every child to his or her physical privacy and safety. If we cannot secure this for our children during the school day, then we cannot send them into the classroom. We must have protective legislation. The Minnesota Family Council wrote: The latest wave of “political correctness” demanded by the LGBT lobby requires that students’ privacy and safety be sacrificed for their agenda. They insist that students who identify as transgender (those students struggling with gender identity, identifying themselves as opposite their biological sex–or somewhere in between on the “gender spectrum”) must be granted access to bathrooms, locker rooms, and athletic teams opposite their biological sex. We ask the officials we elected to represent us to pass a law clarifying that school bathrooms need to continue to be for biological girls only and biological boys only. We ask the officials we elected to represent us to pass a law clarifying that our girls sports teams were intended to be for…biological girls–for obvious safety and fairness reasons! Here are the full emails: Download (PDF, 295KB) Download (PDF, 2.12MB)If you’re on a grandfathered unlimited plan on Verizon, your bill is about to get higher. $20 higher, to be exact. Unlimited plans will cost $50 per month, starting on your first billing cycle after November 15th. Verizon hasn’t offered any new unlimited plans to customers since 2011, but there are still a few people who are desperately clinging to the old ways. This generally involves buying phones off contract. Because these customers are not on a contract, however, Verizon has the right to raise rates at its discretion. For the first time in years, Verizon is exercising that right. Advertisement The unlimited data plans will go up from the previous $30 per month, to $50 per month. More importantly, this price will be per line. Unlike Verizon’s shared data buckets, customers need to buy an unlimited plan for each device they own. If you have a family of five and each person has an unlimited plan, that bill increase will be $100 per month. This is likely to upset Verizon’s grandfathered customers, but there’s also little that can be done. In the near future, customers may need to either switch to a tiered plan, or leave Verizon entirely in order to save money. Either way, it seems that unlimited plans on Verizon are not long for this world. Verizon Will Impose $20 Price Increase On Grandfathered Unlimited Data Subscribers Very Soon | Android PoliceOn Monday afternoon, the National Organization for Marriage, one of the biggest anti-LGBT groups on record, basically broke the Internet with this tweet: That tweet — When #marriage is redefined, what prevents a person from “marrying” his/herself? — was accompanied by a link to a story about a woman named Grace Gelder who held a “self-marriage ceremony” as a symbolic gesture of self-acceptance and self-love: I’d been essentially single for almost six years and built up this brilliant relationship with myself. Nevertheless, I was aware of getting into a rut, where a relationship with someone else seemed like too much hard work. So I really wanted to pay tribute to this adventurous period of self-discovery but, at the same time, look forward to a new phase. … I really don’t see it as any kind of feminist statement, but creating a wedding of this kind on my own terms felt incredibly empowering. Of course, NOM made it into a gay thing. And in response, the hashtag #WhenIMarryMyself trended nationwide, forcing us to reflect on how different our lives would be if we all put a ring on… ourselves. I don’t have to explain why this is maybe the most hilarious, desperate argument any conservative group has ever made against marriage equality. Instead, here’s a roundup of the Internet’s most glorious reactions to NOM’s utter confusion. Makes Thanksgiving easier. Not gonna lie, this is my dream proposal. What a way to make sure I get what I’ve always wanted! Can I get some of those without applying for a marriage license? Important question. Okay, I laughed out loud. Finally, a loophole that works! One mind is better than two. Claim what is rightfully yours! The scary part is that this will be their next argument. Wishing you all a joyous self-wedding!New Brunswick - Can't see the Forest for the *spruce* Trees The old saying we use to portray shortsightedness or the inability to look at the situation as a whole is often "You can’t see the forest for the trees". Never has this phrase been more applicable than when it comes to herbicide application practices currently in New Brunswick. On one hand, we have just experienced the lowest whitetail harvest in over 40 years in the province, a bewildering 4,313 deer by early tallies. For comparison, in 1985, hunters in New Brunswick harvested 31,205 deer and the population continued to soar. At the same time, we have CBC publishing articles and interviews detailing that the Whitetail Population in New Brunswick is at catastrophically low levels. DNR NB data with relation to fecundity of whitetail deer also paints a troubling picture. As you’ll see from the below table and chart, the percentage of adult (2 years old and older) does which are successfully impregnated each year in New Brunswick has been drastically reduced over the past 20 years as this data has been collected. In 1994, 92% of all does aged 2 and older were successfully bred each fall, and as of 2014, that number has dropped to about 74%! Given that there have been a couple of medical journals released which appear to show a potential link between glyphosate and sterility in humans and reproductive issues in some mammals, it demands questioning as to whether there are sterility issues appearing in the Whitetail deer of our province as well. We would like to see this further investigation into the declining pregnancy rates to determine if this is more than a coincidence. Setting aside this newer data, as far back as 2009 DNR has been scientifically tracking the effects of the silviculture operation on the abundance of deer food in the province. Earlier this year, during an interview with Rod Cumberland, he brought to light a report created in 2009 outlining these concerns. This report, entitled Deer Technical Report Number 16, was obtained by WildernessObsession through an official Right To Information application. The document we received, attached here, was very enlightening. We recommend you read this document in its entirety, but here is an excerpt that you may find particularly enlightening: “Only 13.7% (4/29) of all regenerating stands occurred as naturally regenerating cuts with large amounts of hardwood and shrub browse species available over an area of approximately 24,000 ha. This translates to less than 3% of the total area in early successional stages supporting significant deer browse indicative of naturally regenerating stands” “Based on … field studies, 62% of southern and 67% of northern Crown land cut blocks were regenerating as plantations, with little to no available deer browse, apart from sparse alder and birch along road ROW” It seems, however, that it’s not only the whitetail population that is at risk. Scientists assert that as many as 9 species that currently live in New Brunswick are at risk of extinction due to the destruction of “Old Growth” forests because of the 21% increase in annual allowable wood harvest. These species are marten, fisher, pileated woodpecker, northern flying squirrel, barrel owl, white-breasted nuthatch, northern goshawk, and hairy woodpecker. Science has established that these species are entirely dependent on Old Growth forests. Nine species that are being eradicated before our very eyes. Obviously, the concern about increasing their already high wood harvest amounts go beyond simple numbers. If we take a quick look at the below animation, you'll see that in some areas of the province, the only areas that haven't already been cut are those that have been off-limits. We can't paint the picture any better than this: New Brunswick’s Department of Natural Resources has an official position on herbicide application in the forest. It can be found here. Unfortunately, this article contains blatant untruths and misinformation. Consider for a moment, the following is a direct excerpt: “The World Health Organization (WHO) is among the independent, authoritative organizations that have studied glyphosate herbicides. WHO has found that these herbicides do not pose a risk to humans, wildlife or the environment.” That’s a very reassuring sentence. After all, the WHO is quick to call attention to any chemical they believe could possibly cause cancer in humans. Unfortunately, it is just not true. As you can see here, WHO lists Glyphosate as a Group 2A chemical, meaning that it “probably causes cancer”. The technical definition for Group 2A chemicals is as follows, which you’ll certainly agree cannot truthfully be skewed to state “do not pose a risk to humans”: “Group 2A: The agent is probably carcinogenic to humans. This category is used when there is limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans and sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals. In some cases, an agent may be classified in this category when there is inadequate evidence of carcinogenicity in humans and sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals and strong evidence that the carcinogenesis is mediated by a mechanism that also operates in humans. Exceptionally, an agent may be classified in this category solely on the basis of limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans. An agent may be assigned to this category if it clearly belongs, based on mechanistic considerations, to a class of agents for which one or more members have been classified in Group 1 or Group 2A.” Earlier this year, Health Canada completed a re-evaluation on the use of Glyphosate (Herbicide) and released a 350 page report. This report was supposed to be a scientific review of the health and safety concerns of using the product. Unfortunately, it appears to be a case of “political science”. After reviewing the 350 page proposed re-evaluation, Certified Wildlife Biologist Rod Cumberland sent them the following letter. This letter was sent to every MLA in New Brunswick as well as the non-political Regulatory Information Officer, and as of 6 months later, Rod has not received a single reply to his letter. Those of us at WildernessObsession are deeply concerned that a letter with such valid concerns has been simply ignored with no response from any of its recipients. New Brunswick’s largest forestry company, J.D. Irving Forestry division, was the chief lobbyist to achieve this increase in wood allotment for their benefit. To their credit, the Co-CEO Jim Irving has publicly stated: “If there's good science to the contrary to what we're doing, by gosh, let's stop,” he said. “We'll stop right now and we back up. No problem.” The time has come to hold them to their words. The science is mounting, and now is not the time to debate semantics of what he meant by “good science”. We can only hope that a global leader such as Irving will not be afraid to lead the way to truly sustainable natural forests that benefit both the health and welfare of the animals living in their home province, but more importantly, the people! In a time when the provincial finance minister has released a list of program cuts and tax hikes aimed at cutting $600 Million from the operating budget for New Brunswick, the mind reels at the fact that there is no mention of cutting the subsidization of herbicide spraying on crown land. Both of the neighbouring jurisdictions, Quebec and Nova Scotia have saved millions by either banning or no longer subsidizing these activities, and for us to honestly be discussing REMOVING TEACHERS from our public school system with no mention of this option is bewildering. To me, this shortsightedness is the very definition of “Can’t see the Forest for the Trees”. If we’re not careful, it won’t be long before we no longer have our beloved Acadian Forests, we no longer have our wildlife and we no longer have our health; instead we’ll be left only with a province of monoculture softwood trees. *Editor’s Note* We are a group of independent outdoorsmen. We are not endorsed by any group or organization and simply want to air our concerns. We would welcome dissenting facts from experts in their field and will happily and openly discuss any aspect of what you’ve just read. Feel free to utilize the contact form below to begin the discussion” 2015-11-28 09:42:29 Have a comment about what you just read? Did we get it wrong, or would you like to tell us one of your stories? Contact us and let us know!Former Brook Park Mayor Tom Coyne (Official photo) A mayor in Ohio who left the Democratic Party last year to endorse Donald Trump for president has gone down in defeat. Tom Coyne, who was elected as mayor of Brook Park in 2013, lost his reelection bid on Tuesday night when he was defeated by independent candidate Michael Gammella. As the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports, Coyne lost by more than five percentage points to Gammella, a former city council president and United Auto Workers representative. Coyne made headlines in 2016 when he ditched the Democratic Party to back Trump’s candidacy. He has so far shown no remorse for his decision this year, and he even appeared at an October fundraiser in Cleveland alongside Donald Trump Jr. In a recent interview with the Plain Dealer, Coyne said that Trump had done a lot to transform the GOP into a party representing blue-collar white people, which he claimed were the people he was trying to represent as mayor. “What’s happening is the Republican Party is getting transformed like the old Reagan Democrats, and that’s who I represent,” he said. But even though Brook Park is overwhelmingly white — the 2010 census showed the town of 19,000 people was 92 percent white — Coyne only received 38 percent of the vote on Tuesday.An asteroid smashing into a planet can dramatically alter the planet's habitability by setting back evolution or even encouraging biodiversity. In order to understand how cosmic impacts influence life and the environment, scientists study the craters left behind. Some of these impact craters come in pairs, most likely caused by binary asteroids. A binary asteroid is composed of two asteroids that are orbiting each other, as well as orbiting the sun. The Clearwater lakes in Canada are a double crater, but geologist Martin Schmieder of the University of Western Australia, and colleagues, now believe that the craters were formed in two separate events. Their research was recently published in the journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. [10 Biggest Impact Craters on Earth] A number of double impact craters exist on Earth. In 1965, researchers proposed that the craters forming the Clearwater lakes were the result of such a single incident. West Clearwater Lake has a diameter of 22.5 miles (36 kilometers), while its eastern cousin is 6 miles (10 km) smaller. During an impact, rocks from the Earth's crust can be uplifted to form a central peak, or ring, within the center of the crater. In the West Lake, this is evident as a ring of islands in the middle of the lake. The East Lake also has a central peak, but it is below the waters of the lake and was only revealed when the Geological Survey of Canada drilled into the frozen lake in the 1960s. There is evidence that the asteroid that formed the East crated impacted a marine environment, which would place the impact during the Ordovician period. The West crater was created in the Permian period and impacted the landmass Pangaea. (Image: © Reprinted from Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, in press, Schmieder, M. et al., New 40Ar/39Ar dating of the Clearwater Lake impact structures (Québec, Canada) – Not the binary asteroid impact it seems? Copyright (2014), with permission from Elsevier ) Measuring the ages of craters There are a number of different ways to measure the age of an impact crater. Sometimes the layers of rock tell the story as the impact might have occurred at the boundary between two geological time periods. Fossils preserved within rocks can also help place constraints on the age. It is also possible to use the decay of radioactive isotopes in samples of rocks that were created at the time of the impact to find out the age of a crater. Isotopes can be stable or radioactive, and if they are radioactive, then they will decay into "daughter" products over a known period of time. Potassium-40 decays slowly into argon-40, so that the more argon-40 present, the older the sample is. However, measuring the ratio of potassium-40 to argon-40 has the disadvantage of the potassium and argon needing to be measured separately. A more reliable variant of this method is to convert the potassium into argon-39. The rock sample is heated to release both the argon-39 and argon-40, so that the two isotopes can be measured at the same time. The amount of argon-39 that it is released indicates how much potassium-40 was originally in the rock. For the Clearwater dating study, this method was applied at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. The heating of the sample occurs incrementally, in what is known as "step heating." Ideally each argon degassing step should yield the same age, so that when all the individual ages are plotted together on a graph, the age is constant for the entire sample and yields a plateau. This is known as a "plateau age.” However,in some cases a plateau age is not found. Instead, the individual steps often make up a "u-shaped" or "staircase" pattern. [Potentially Dangerous Asteroids (Images)] Two separate impacts The West Clearwater Lake has accurate plateau ages from the argon dating. Different rock samples all indicate that the crater was formed around 290 million years ago. The new argon ages of 286 million years determined by Schmieder, and his collaborators also agree with this. The age of the East Clearwater Lake crater is much more difficult to determine. In previous work performed by other scientists, a different isotope method was used to measure the age of the crater. The rubidium (Rb) to strontium (Sr) ratio suggested that this crater is also around 290 million years old, roughly the same age as the West crater. However, this method of dating is ratherunreliable when it comes to dating impact craters. "Even as a well-established method, Rb/Sr dating has commonly failed in impact crater dating” explains Schmieder. "This is mostly because rubidium is very mobile and the Rb/Sr system is therefore easily disturbed by heating and weathering that affect the impact rocks after their formation.” Argon ages for the East Lake also show a U-shaped spectrum, rather than a clear plateau age. This makes it more difficult to determine an accurateargon age, but suggests a maximum age of around 460 million years, which would be far older than the dating of the West Clearwater Lake crater. In 1990, researchers initially calculated a 460-million-year age for the East Lake, but then assumed it to be incorrect out of suspicion that excess argon was contaminating the sample and mimicking an older age for the crater. However, Schmieder and colleagues also determined an argon age of 460 to 470 million years for the East crater. They consider it highly unlikely that four different rock samples that were collected at different locations and depths at the impact melt layer inside the crater would all yield the same false age. "We think that the accurate age for the East Clearwater crater was, in fact, already measured back in 1990,” says Schmieder. As a rock sample ages, the radiometric isotope decays into more and more daughter products. Measuring the ratio of the original isotope to the daughter products can yield the age of the sample. (Image: © John Schmidt ) Further evidence Another point in favor of the older age of the East crater comes from studying the magnetization of rocks. The magnetic field of the Earth can be "captured” by certain types of rocks, and this magnetic signature can be used to study the Earth's magnetic field throughout history. The magnetic poles of the Earth are not fixed, and pole reversals have occurred many times in the past. The rocks from the West Lake show that they were formed during a "superchron,” which is an unusually extended period of time where no reversals occurred. This superchron, known as the Permo-Carboniferous Reversed Superchron, lasted from 316 to 265 million years ago, which agrees with the age found by the argon dating. The rocks from the East Lake tell a different story. They have a number of different magnetic polarizations, which indicate viscous remnant magnetization. This is magnetization that is acquired slowly over a long period of time. The more complex magnetic history points to the rocks being much older than the West Lake, as they have had more time to be altered. The argon-argon age of 460 to 470 million years for the East crater suggests that this impact occurred in the Ordovician time period in a near-coastal environment, when large parts of eastern Canada were occupied by a shallow ocean. There are geological clues that point towards an impact in a shallow marine or coastalenvironment at the East crater. The rocks from the East crater have more chlorine in them than the West crater, which might be indicative of the presence of sea water. There is also some evidence of the increased movement of hot fluids after the East impact, which altered the rocks. The West crater was formed during the Permian, when the asteroid would have struck the Pangaea landmass. Despite the fact that it is statistically very unlikely for the two craters to have been formed in two separate impact events, the new evidence unearthed by Schmieder and his team shows that in this case the more unlikely scenario is true. "Overall, the doublet theory has been so compellingly advocated over the decades that alternative scenarios seem to have been abandoned. In our view, there is a whole line of geologic evidence that argues against the double impact." [Photos: Asteroids in Deep Space] The impact on life Impacts that leave behind a 100 kilometer (62.5 mile) diameter crater or less, such as those that struck the Clearwater lakes, are widely thought to have no global effects. In fact, impacts can even increase biodiversity. For example, the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, which saw an explosion in the number of animal species around 470 million years ago, has been linked to frequent impact events at the time. This is possibly due to the fact that an impact could disrupt local life just enough to let another species dominate, or because slowly cooling craters can provide habitats for life. Even if the Clearwater Lakes impacts were caused by a double impact, the extra energy released by two bodies smashing into the Earth simultaneously would have had no significant effect on life. While the fireball and earthquake would have decimated any life within a few hundred kilometers, the impacts were not big enough to cause much chaos on a global scale. This story was provided by Astrobiology Magazine, a web-based publication sponsored by the NASA astrobiology program. Follow Space.com @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+.We talk about rookie quarterbacks ad nauseam, but there are plenty of other first-year guys making serious contributions, like running back Doug Martin did for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their win on Thursday night. Who has been the best non-QB rookie so far this season? Charley Casserly NFL.com NFL.com Plenty of names to choose from, but Panthers' Kuechly stands out There have been a number of rookies who have played well this season. New England Patriots pass rusher Chandler Jones has been solid getting after the quarterback and also playing the run. Doug Martin had his best game against Minnesota, and fellow Buccaneer rookies Mark Barron (safety) and Lavonte David (linebacker) have also stood out. Washington Redskins running back Alfred Morris has been the perfect fit as the one-cut downhill runner Mike Shanahan likes in his system. And offensive tackle Matt Kalil has solidified the offensive line in Minnesota, doing a fine job as a run and pass blocker. I could make an argument for any of the above players as the best non-QB rookie, but I'll place my vote with Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly. And I'll base it solely on the past two games when he has played middle linebacker, his natural position. He has shown excellent instincts to find the ball against the run and pass. If he played all 16 games in the middle, instead of outside where he started the season, he would be the Defensive Rookie of the Year. Gregg Rosenthal NFL.com NFL.com Patriots' Jones jumps out among several impact rookies on defense Great question. Doug Martin has to be in that conversation. He's been sensational since Tampa's bye. Minnesota Vikings safety Harrison Smith makes an impact play every week. Chandler Jones is already New England's best pass rusher. Luke Kuechly has looked terrific since getting moved to middle linebacker in Carolina. Janoris Jenkins is a good starting cornerback for the St. Louis Rams. You may have asked for one name, but I just gave you five for free. That's value. But if forced to go with just one, I'd pick Jones.By Ryan Mac and Matt Drange It was April 5 and Charles J. Harder was confident. More than two weeks removed from a landmark victory for his client Terry Bollea, a.k.a. Hulk Hogan, the Los Angeles-based attorney had just published a guest column in The Hollywood Reporter detailing how his law firm won a $140 million jury verdict in a lawsuit against Gawker Media. Harder explained how he came to represent Hogan following the publication of the now infamous sex tape and why he was so public in his defense of the former wrestler. “We needed to send a message,” Harder said of the decision to hold a press conference immediately after he filed a lawsuit against Gawker in Oct. 2012. What Harder didn’t mention in his 2,668-word column was that his firm was paid by a third party to represent Hogan. Last week, FORBES first reported that venture capital investor Peter Thiel had been secretly footing Hogan’s legal bills against Gawker. While Thiel’s financial arrangements with Hogan's lawyers are legal--and common in certain types of litigation--the revelation of the Silicon Valley billionaire’s involvement has raised more questions in a case that was already being watched for its implications involving privacy, the First Amendment and press freedom. At the center of the battle is Harder Mirell & Abrams LLP, a Beverly Hills, Calif. law firm whose lawsuits against Gawker in various courts across the country have been a major focus since its founding in early 2013. Harder declined to comment for this story. A representative for Thiel also declined to comment. FORBES conducted more than a dozen interviews with people close to Harder and his partner Douglas Mirell to understand the firm’s approach against Gawker and its ties to Thiel. Many of the people who spoke to FORBES did so on the condition of anonymity, citing their relationships with the firm and the fear of reprisal from other members of Hollywood’s tight-knit legal community. What emerged is a composite picture of a boutique law firm, whose lawyers’ disparate backgrounds and extensive experience with celebrities made it the perfect tag-team to represent Hogan. After taking on the wrestler’s case, Harder Mirell has made lawsuits against Gawker its “bread and butter” said someone close to the partners of the firm. Forming A Firm Gawker.com published Hogan’s sex tape on Oct. 4, 2012, prompting a frenzy of media coverage and a takedown request from Hogan’s personal attorney, David Houston. When Gawker refused, Hogan’s legal team, led by Harder, filed suit 11 days later. At the time, Harder was a partner at Wolf Rifkin Shapiro Schulman & Rabkin LLP. Named by The Hollywood Reporter in 2012 as a “Power Lawyer" Harder developed a reputation as a well-connected celebrity attorney whose clients included Sandra Bullock, Clint Eastwood and Julia Roberts. Prior to his time at Wolf Rifkin, Harder spent years working under renowned Hollywood attorney Marty Singer, who the The New York Times dubbed the “guard dog to the stars.” Former associates said that Singer, who in early 2014 sued Gawker on behalf of director Quentin Tarantino following the publication of a script to “The Hateful Eight,” was Harder’s mentor. (Tarantino and his lawyers dropped their suit a few months later.) “Charles is very well-known in the right of publicity space,” a former employee said of Harder. “That’s his wheelhouse. If I came across a right of publicity issue, he’s the first person I’d call.” It’s unclear exactly when Thiel became connected to Harder, but another former employee said that they met through a cold call while Harder was at Wolf Rifkin. “[Thiel] basically cold called looking for an entertainment lawyer and that was pretty much that,” they said. By late 2012, Harder had made moves to start his own practice. With plans to take some of his clients with him, he teamed up with Mirell, a First Amendment expert who spent 32 years at Loeb & Loeb LLP, and Jeffrey Abrams, a celebrity estates specialist
the 1990s and still maintains a powerful presence in the market. Google is trying to get along better with the incumbent by letting people open and edit Office-format documents -- something that eases sharing with people who aren't Google Docs users. It's hard to compare Google Apps' success to that of Microsoft Office since Google doesn't release revenue or user figures. Microsoft has had a bit more to say. Its closest competitor to Google Apps, the Office 365 subscription that includes PC apps and online versions, had more than 5.6 million subscribers for consumer segments in the second quarter. That was an increase of 1 million subscribers from the previous quarter. Microsoft didn't release figures for traditional licensed software sales or for business subscriptions. Annual subscriptions cost between $70 for Office 365 Personal and $180 for Office 365 Business Premium.1530s (in Latin form sycophanta), "informer, talebearer, slanderer," from Middle French sycophante and directly from Latin sycophanta, from Greek sykophantes "false accuser, slanderer," literally "one who shows the fig," from sykon "fig" (see fig) + phainein "to show" (from PIE root *bha- (1) "to shine"). "Showing the fig" was a vulgar gesture made by sticking the thumb between two fingers, a display which vaguely resembles a fig, itself symbolic of a vagina (sykon also meant "vulva"). The modern accepted explanation is that prominent politicians in ancient Greece held aloof from such inflammatory gestures, but privately urged their followers to taunt their opponents. The sense of "mean, servile flatterer" is first recorded in English 1570s. The explanation, long current, that it orig. meant an informer against the unlawful exportation of figs cannot be substantiated. [OED]Distributed Search Engine with Nanomsg and Bond Exploring Microsoft’s open source Bond framework by building a distributed search engine. I’m using bond for serialization/deserialization and nanomsg for communication. The source for this C++14 project is located at: https://github.com/daniel-j-h/DistributedSearch Motivation A few weeks ago Microsoft open sourced Bond, a cross-platform framework for serialization/deserialization, similar to Google’s Protocol Buffers or Cap’n Proto. I have some experience with Cap’n Proto in particular, so this weekend I wanted to give Bond a try, since I had a few hours to spare. A Distributed Search Engine Rob Pike introduced Go’s concurrency patterns with an example of a Google-inspired search. The slides are still available (please quickly skim slides 42-52) and the talk is also on Youtube. Let’s pick up this idea and implement it! The approach taken is roughly as follows: Query multiple services concurrently: for web results, video results, news and so on Gather the results, merge and show them to the user Replicate the services and query the replicas, too Do not wait forever, set timeouts This is the general idea. For more information please see the talk mentioned above. Now this project consists of the following. The communication part, for sending requests and receiving responses. I’m using nanomsg for this. But first we have to serialize/deserialize our requests, i.e. the keyword to search for and the matches we receive from the services. I’m using Bond for this. Nanomsg nanomsg is a communication library, designed to provide you with patterns, such as Pub/Sub, Req/Rep, the Survey pattern and more. You may be familiar with ZeroMQ, nanomsg is more or less the same with a few exceptions. I’m using nanomsg since I’m already familiar with it. Now we design our distributed search engine as follows: a Search service issues user-provided queries concurrently against the WebSearch service, the VideoSearch service and so on. The results are then merged and shown to the user. For this we’re using nanomsg’s Survey pattern. The Survey pattern sends messages to multiple locations and gathers the responses. For our simple project this is good enough, but having a single Surveyor is not the best idea and you probably want to think about how to factor this into the design. Surveyor With the Survey pattern the so called Surveyor (our user-facing Search service) has to bind to the endpoint, on which so called Respondents connect to. The Surveyor also sets a timeout after which the survey is over and subsequent results coming in are discarded for this particular survey. For every user query the Surveyor now does the following. Initially broadcast the request to the Respondents. Then gather all results from the Respondents as long as the timeout has not expired. Respondents Respondents (our WebSearch service, ImageSearch service, and so on) connect to the endpoint, indicating they want to participate in surveys. For this the services spin in an eventloop, waiting for requests to process. Once they receive a request they handle it (i.e. they search for results) and send matches for this query back. Surveyor bind(localhost) / \ / \ / \ connect(Surveyor) connect(Surveyor) Respondent Respondent Now that the basic communication is set up, let’s do the serialization/deserialization part. Bond Using Microsoft’s Bond framework, we’re able to serialize and deserialize our messages (i.e. the keyword to search for and the matches we receive) before sending them over the wire. For this we define our messages in a.bond schema. The bond schema compiler now lets us generate stubs from this schema and they are included in the source repository. You probably want to augment the messages with more information, such as timestamps, ratings, and so on. For this project a simple schema is good enough. What’s interesting now is the fact that the bond compiler is also able to spit out Python and C# stubs, which should make it possible to implement the Surveyor and Respondents in other languages, too. But I did not try this, yet. Serialization Now what the Surveyor (our user-facing search service) does is to serialize the user-provided keyword before handing it over to nanomsg. The Respondents (our WebSearch service, ImageSearch service, and so on) also serialize their results before sending them back to us. Deserialization For every query the Surveyor sends it has to deserialize the responses nanomsg hands us during the survey. The respondents similarly have to first deserialize the keyword the Surveyor sends us. The types we used in the schema now integrate perfectly into the language. Therefore merging responses on the Surveyor side is quite easy, using set semantics. Populating the data structure with responses on the Respondent’s side can be done in the same way. Both serialization and deserialization are quite easy with Bond. Especially the (bytes, size)-tuple handling as required when interacting with nanomsg is not as bad as it was with Cap’n Proto. Fortunately Kenton Varda improved the Cap’n Proto library in this regard, after a discussion on the mailinglist. Putting It All Together With the serialization/deserialization and communication part done, all we have to do is put the pieces together. That is, wrap what we built and provide a few ways of customization. The user-facing Search service interacts with the user and queries the services. The search services wait for queries and handle them by sending dummy results for now. Now let’s take a look at what we just built! Spin up the user-facing Search service and try issuing queries against it: ./Search Search> How many horns does a unicorn have? Results> No results. Right, we do not have any search service running. Let’s spin up a few: ./WebSearch./VideoSearch Resulting in the following service tree: Search / \ WebSearch VideoSearch And interact with the user interface: Search> How many horns does a unicorn have? Results> * First Video Result * First Web Result * Second Video Result * Second Web Result Great! We get results back from those two services, without even noticing the connection establishment and communication done in the background during which our program was active at all time. Communication Guarantees Now what makes this even more awesome is that nanomsg guarantees us a handful of nice properties. For example, our user-facing Search service does not care about what services are currently available. You are also able to disconnect or re-connect any service at any time and the user only sees this in the results available. This also allows us to start up e.g. multiple WebSearch service replicas in case some are too slow to respond within the timout. Finally, nanomsg also handles auto-reconnects. Furthermore we do not depend on the transport used. Check this out for a local IPC engine: ./Search "ipc:///tmp/search.ipc"./WebSearch "ipc:///tmp/search.ipc" Recursively Building Service Trees Throughout this project we assumed having a single Surveyor and multiple Respondents attached to it. But what if a Respondent, e.g. a WebSearch service, has to query multiple WebSearch services recursively itself. In this case, the Respondent also becomes a Surveyor for its local Respondents. This makes it possible to recursively build a tree of services. Introducing the RecursiveSearch service. The idea is the following: both bind and connect to endpoints. The bind endpoint specifies the location Respondents further down the tree have to connect to. The connect endpoint specifies where to send the responses from those Respondents. By passing on the request to all attached services we therefore act as a proxy, broadcasting the request to the Respondents attached to us. To guarantee timely delivery of results up the tree, the survey’s timeout has to be smaller going down the tree. Leveraging the abstractions built so far makes an implementation possible in only a few lines of code. We are now able to recursively build a tree of services: ./Search "tcp://*:9995"./VideoSearch "tcp://localhost:9995"./RecursiveSearch "tcp://*:9996" "tcp://localhost:9995"./WebSearch "tcp://localhost:9996"./ImageSearch "tcp://localhost:9996" Resulting in the following service tree: Search / \ VideoSearch RecursiveSearch / \ WebSearch ImageSearch With this setup, Search is the tree’s root, with VideoSearch and RecursiveSearch attached to it and WebSearch attached to the RecursiveSearch node. Attaching more services can be done transparently on each layer of the tree. Just attach them to the subtree’s specific root-service. If you try the recursive example on a single machine, you have to change the port for each layer, otherwise there would be no way to distinguish the root from internal tree nodes. To be more precise, each subtree’s root has to bind to a different port. Summary In building a distributed search engine you hopefully learnt something about communication and serialization. Using nanomsg and its Survey pattern makes the communication part quite easy. Bond makes the serialization and deserialization part simple to implement. The source is hosted on GitHub: https://github.com/daniel-j-h/DistributedSearchIf you live in Chicago and you drive a car, you’ve probably been stuck in traffic on the Eisenhower Expressway. Oak Park resident Jillian Zarlenga sure has. “I spent a great deal of time on the Eisenhower inching towards the Harlem Avenue exit,” she says. Sitting in traffic jams gave Jillian time to think — especially when she was working as a United Church of Christ chaplain at Elmhurst Hospital. “I had a lot of time sitting on the Eisenhower examining this huge area of land, thinking there must have been a lot of people that lived here before, and I was just curious where they all went,” she says. She also wondered about all of the buildings that were torn down. What was lost? These musings prompted her to pose this question to Curious City: “What happened to the people displaced by the Eisenhower Expressway?” It’s a good question, and it gets even better when you add up some of the basic details surrounding the Eisenhower (or the Ike, or I-290, if you’re so inclined), which runs almost due west from Chicago’s Loop out to Oak Park and beyond. For example, the Eisenhower — built between 1949 and 1961 at a cost of $183 million — displaced an estimated 13,000 people and forced out more than 400 businesses in Chicago alone. Who were these people, indeed? And, another reason to look at the Ike: It was the first superhighway in the heart of Chicago. However, by the 1960s — after more expressways were built, more neighborhoods were torn up, and traffic stayed as terrible as it was before — grassroots groups began fighting against these projects and even managed to kill one off. It’s difficult to pinpoint data about precisely where the people displaced by the Eisenhower’s construction ended up. No one tracked their whereabouts. But we do have an answer for Jillian. After talking with historians and people who lived through the upheaval, a picture emerges of how the expressway reshaped the Chicago region, scattered some of the city’s ethnic communities and forever changed many lives. That picture’s best consumed in parts. We’ll move east to west along the Ike. But first, why was the Eisenhower built at all?Written by By Breeanna Hare, CNN Editor's note: This story was originally published on February 24, 2012. We've come to know her as Lady Gaga, but before the world tours, "The Fame" or even the dress made of meat, photographer Malgorzata Saniewska knew her simply as her restaurant co-worker, Stefani Germanotta. In the summer of 2005, Saniewska happened to be tending bar at the same West Village restaurant where the 19-year-old soon-to-be star worked as a waitress. Just 24 at the time, Saniewska had moved from her native Poland to the United States two years prior with dreams of becoming a photographer. But to support herself, "I started working as a bartender," she recalled. "It was definitely a money thing. I did want to go to school, but I didn't do research on photography, my focus was to make better money." Keeping an eye on her bank account is what drove Saniewska to study accounting, leaving photography to become an amateur pursuit for a while. Photographer Malgorzata Saniewska Credit: Courtesy Malgorzata Saniewska She went from taking landscape photos of New York City to setting up her own shoots, with Gaga being among some of her first ones. "We were colleagues, we didn't hang out really heavily, but she's the nicest girl ever.... She's down-to-earth," Saniewska said. "At that time, she gave me a CD of her first single, and I listened to it and I was really impressed. And she's a beautiful girl. Based on her looks and her personality I thought (a photo shoot) would be great fun." Back then, Gaga "played piano and sang. This 19-year-old girl, she was really talented. She didn't talk about it a lot, (but) she did say that she studied music.... I cannot even explain to you what she sounds like with just a piano, then or now," Saniewska said. "I offered her the photo shoot, and she said yes right away." Gaga had the perfect location in mind: Her parents' place on the Upper East Side. The two young women hopped on a train and headed over there, and set to work creating what Saniewska says became Lady Gaga's first photo shoot, although Saniewska didn't know that at the time. "The house was empty, it was just the two of us," Saniewska said. "I knew she was a singer, so our focus was her and her very first piano. We just hung out in her parents' living room, and the piano was right by the window." "She's a good model, obviously," Saniewska added with a laugh. Armed with just her first point-and-shoot camera, Saniewska let the intimate shoot unfold organically. "We had no plan." "We basically walked into her house, she did hair and makeup, picked out the clothes and we started," she recalled. The lighting was natural: "No strobe lights, nothing special, no tripods," she said. "It was hand-held." Saniewska, who's never been formally trained, said she shot around 200 photos that day. After culling through the resulting images, choosing the photos with the best natural lighting, she presented Gaga with a CD of the pictures. The burgeoning singer was happy with them, and used some of the art for her own promotional materials. Of course, there's no way Saniewska could have known that the young woman she photographed on a summer day in 2005 would become the international superstar she is today. As a matter of fact, Saniewska says that at first, when she saw her as Lady Gaga, she didn't recognize her, having been accustomed to her as a long-haired brunette waitress. Even as Gaga's fame continued to grow, Saniewska kept those early photos to herself "out of respect," she said, particularly because she wasn't in touch with her. And then, she just so happened to bump into her old colleague in 2010. "I actually ran into her in the East Village, and she came up to me. She was already Lady Gaga, and we spoke a little, and she leaned on me, and she said in my ear, 'Did you know that this was my first photo shoot?' I had no idea," Saniewska said. "She was really excited. From that moment on I figured I could do something about it. And she's OK with it." Saniewska hopes that those viewing the photos will get to see another side of Gaga, a peek at who the star was before the world knew her name. But even with all the fame, to Saniewska, she's "still the same girl. The fact that we ran into each other and she came up to me -- she didn't say 'Hi' and run off. She stood there for 15 minutes, just chatting. She remembered my name, she remembered who I was, and she had so much to say. She's still the same person to me."A team of researchers at MIT has made significant progress on a technology that could lead to batteries with up to three times the energy density of any battery that currently exists. Yang Shao-Horn, an MIT associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and engineering, says that many groups have been pursuing work on lithium-air batteries, a technology that has great potential for achieving great gains in energy density. But there has been a lack of understanding of what kinds of electrode materials could promote the electrochemical reactions that take place in these batteries. Lithium-oxygen (also known as lithium-air) batteries are similar in principle to the lithium-ion batteries that now dominate the field of portable electronics and are a leading contender for electric vehicles. But because lithium-air batteries replace the heavy conventional compounds in such batteries with a carbon-based air electrode and flow of air, the batteries themselves can be much lighter. That's why leading companies, including IBM and General Motors, have committed to major research initiatives on lithium-air technology. In a paper published this week in the journal Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters, Shao-Horn, along with some of her students and visiting professor Hubert Gasteiger, reported on a study showing that electrodes with gold or platinum as a catalyst show a much higher level of activity and thus a higher efficiency than simple carbon electrodes in these batteries. In addition, this new work sets the stage for further research that could lead to even better electrode materials, perhaps alloys of gold and platinum or other metals, or metallic oxides, and to less expensive alternatives. Doctoral student Yi-Chun Lu, lead author of the paper, explains that this team has developed a method for analyzing the activity of different catalysts in the batteries, and now they can build on this research to study a variety of possible materials. "We'll look at different materials, and look at the trends," she says. "Such research could allow us to identify the physical parameters that govern the catalyst activity. Ultimately, we will be able to predict the catalyst behaviors. " Lightweight batteries that can deliver lots of energy are crucial for a variety of applications -- for example, improving the range of electric cars. For that reason, even modest increases in a battery's energy-density rating -- a measure of the amount of energy that can be delivered for a given weight -- are important advances. One issue to be dealt with in developing a battery system that could be widely commercialized is safety. Lithium in metallic form, which is used in lithium-air batteries, is highly reactive in the presence of even minuscule amounts of water. This is not an issue in current lithium-ion batteries because carbon-based materials are used for the negative electrode. Shao-Horn says the same battery principle can be applied without the need to use metallic lithium; graphite or some other more stable negative electrode materials could be used instead, she says, leading to a safer system. A number of issues must be addressed before lithium-air batteries can become a practical commercial product, she says. The biggest issue is developing a system that keeps its power through a sufficient number of charging and discharging cycles for it to be useful in vehicles or electronic devices. Researchers also need to look into details of the chemistry of the charging and discharging processes, to see what compounds are produced and where, and how they react with other compounds in the system. "We're at the very beginning" of understanding exactly how these reactions occur, Shao-Horn says. Gholam-Abbas Nazri, a researcher at the GM Research & Development Center in Michigan, calls this research "interesting and important," and says this addresses a significant bottleneck in the development of this technology: the need find an efficient catalyst. This work is "in the right direction for further understanding of the role of catalysts," and it "may significantly contribute to the further understanding and future development of lithium-air systems," he says. While some companies working on lithium-air batteries have said they see it as a 10-year development program, Shao-Horn says it is too early to predict how long it may take to reach commercialization. "It's a very promising area, but there are many science and engineering challenges to be overcome," she says. "If it truly demonstrates two to three times the energy density" of today's lithium-ion batteries, she says, the likely first applications will be in portable electronics such as computers and cell phones, which are high-value items, and only later would be applied to vehicles once the costs are reduced. Funding was provided by the Department of Energy, with additional support from the Martin Family Society of Fellows for Sustainability and the National Science Foundation.Have Straight Black Men become the new face of White Guilt? Omowale Afrika Blocked Unblock Follow Following Apr 19, 2017 Notable Black Male Twitter Feminist performs “white-allyship” for Black Women. White Guilt Then Appeals to white morality have been the modus operandi for Black integrationists from Frederick Douglas to Martin Luther King Jr. A core tenant of this strategy is that white guilt will serve as the main ingredient to Black Liberation; so Blacks are encouraged to lay it all on the line in the fight for good whites. Such a belief was the ideological thrust behind the abolitionist ‘Slave Narratives’, and the eventual adoption of a Non-Violent philosophy in the century long conflict for Black American citizenship. Outside organizers have convinced the sanctioned Black “leadership” that a mass base coalition of Whites and Blacks is the ONLY path to Black Liberation. Therefore, without white allies, Blacks will be forced to go it alone, and never break free from their yolk of enslavement. This age old assumption is one that is never challenged, so all admonitions to self-reliance are disregarded, or completely ignored as fools talk. As such, white guilt becomes the most effective tool for enlisting white people to help their formerly enslaved servants freely integrate into white society. White Guilt Now In Michael Eric Dyson’s most recent ode to White America, “Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America”, he opens the book with a passage from one of the greatest writers in the Black liberation tradition, James Baldwin: What it comes to is that if we, who can scarcely be considered a white nation, persist in thinking of ourselves as one, we condemn ourselves, with the truly white nations, to sterility and decay, whereas if we could accept ourselves as we are, we might bring new life to the Western achievements, and transform them… The price of this transformation is the unconditional freedom of the Negro… He is the key figure in his country, and the American future is precisely as bright or as dark as his. With this opening, Professor Dyson is reminding his white brothers and sisters that the price they must pay for their salvation, is to continue fighting for the redemption and salvation of Black America. This tactic falls in line with the traditional conservative (respectable) approach to integration that is espoused by many folks from his generation; but younger initiates aren’t here for the respectability politics. The current generation of “civil rights” activists have adopted a more radical approach to integration referred to as intersectional (Black) feminism. With this model, the traditional dichotomy of white oppressors and oppressed blacks is no longer relevant. The new social currency becomes privilege, as assessed by a subjects proximity to Able-bodied, Cis-gendered, White-heterosexual-maleness. The higher you are on the scale of oppression, the more penance you must pay for your salvation. Black men were the first to be offered on the altar of intersectionality, but cishet Black women are not far behind. In this environment, Black men are perched high atop the list of oppressors of the marginalized community. In fact, one of the first lessons taught to unlettered initiates seeking entry into the group, is that “Black men are the white people of the Black community”. This is a core tenant of the intersectional philosophy, so in order for Black men to enter into alliance, and gain acceptance into the newly formed marginalized community, they must check their privilege, only speak when spoken to, and follow the direction of Black women. It’s sort of like that story told by the revolutionary Palestinian, who was crucified by the white power establishment a little over 2000 years ago: As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”.“Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.”Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” For some men, this is too high a price to pay for their salvation; But anyway tho, I digress (LOL)… The point being, as black men are now considered an integral part of the larger group of oppressors, they are susceptible to the same public shaming tactics (i.e. white guilt) deployed against white liberals. I remember in the early 2000’s, when I first came into consciousness, I used to watch a ton of Dr. Clarke and Amos Wilson lectures on YouTube. There was this one video that I came across on Sa Neter TV, that showed white people on 125th Street, in Harlem, kneeling down and kissing the feet of brother Sa Neter. I remember thinking, “them white people must be out of their damn mind to kneel down and kiss that man feet, I don’t care what my ancestors did!”. However, watching those videos taught me a lesson about white guilt, if white people are aggressively exposed to the true history of white genocidal practices on indigenous people, they’ll do damn near anything for forgiveness, and there are plenty of people willing to exploit them for it. This brings me to the newly launched “Black men are Trash” campaign, that has been spearheaded by a number of notable intersectional twitter feminists. In viewing it at face value, it seemed at first to be more of the childish antics displayed in the over-hyped BM vs BW twitter beef (that no race conscious Black people should be engaging in). But as more Black Men are being indoctrinated into the Black Men are oppressors school of thought, they are beginning to engage in outwardly submissive behavior to gain the affection, attention, and forgiveness of the most dominant voices on the app (ally cookies). They’ve even gone as far as attacking women on twitter who have identified themselves as outsiders to the intersectionalist camp: This group has a powerful online presence, and they’ve proven that by using their collective bully pulpit, they can beat even the largest of corporations into submission. What’s most sinister about the campaign is that if any Black man stands up and says, “Not all men are trash” (LOL, as if any human life could be relegated to Trash), they are immediately gas lit, and condemned for pointing out the “obvious”. What this does is it conditions the mind of Black men to accept degradation, and teaches them that the only acceptable responses to verbal abuse is “please and thank you”. If someone can condition your mind to accept abuse, this is the first prerequisite for deeper enslavement (sexual, physical, or mental). I initially wrote a simple thread concerning the dangers of this campaign, but after seeing how pervasive it’s spread after the Cleveland shooter, I realized that it was important to strike at the root of this evil. During times of crisis the human mind readily encodes any unconscious messaging being fed to it: BM are Trash… BM are Trash… BM are Trash… BM are Trash… BM are Trash… BM are Trash… BM are Trash… BM are Trash… With the highly undiagnosed state of mental illness rampant in the Black Community, I can only imagine the impact of being bombarded with constant messaging from your wife, mother, sister, aunt, niece, and daughter that your life is valueless. Black men have already been beat into complete political submission by the white power structure (leaving their women and children completely vulnerable to systemic attacks), so many feel (YES, black men are capable of feeling) like they have nothing to lose, and are literally ticking time bombs. I’m not sure how many people this post will reach, but I was inspired to write it, so I wrote it… If you have something to add to the convo, hit me up on twitter, or post your thoughts with the ht #WhiteGuilt Either way, I hope we take the time to stop hurting one another, and work towards achieving true Black Love, Unity, and Respect. Deuces. -OmowaleSteve Jobs. Justin Sullivan / Getty The Steve Jobses of the world have something in common. In fact, according to organizational psychology research, they share at least four personality traits: They're generalists rather than specialists. A 2013 Swiss-German study found that while employees are specialists, entrepreneurs are generalists. Founders have a diverse set of skills— after all, they have to manage the many tendrils of a business. Plus, they tend to have a diverse network of relationships, one that they can call on when launching companies. "It is the jacks-of-all-trades across a whole portfolio of individual resources and not the masters-of-one who are likely to become entrepreneurs," write authors Uschi Backes-Gellner and Petra Moog. "The mere social butterflies or the mere computer nerds are not likely to become entrepreneurs because they are both too imbalanced and thereby less likely to be successful as entrepreneurs." Stanford University economist Edward P. Lazear first proposed the "jack of all trades" theory. He found that Stanford MBAs who took a broader range of classes and had held a wider range of jobs were more likely to start their own thing. A follow-up German study replicated those results. They're outrageously self-confident. A third of American small businesses collapse within their first five years. Two-thirds fail within 10. According to Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman, it takes a special breed to take on that kind of risk. "A lot of progress in the world is driven by the delusional optimism of some people," he told Inc. "The people who open small businesses don't think, 'I'm facing these odds, but I'll take them anyway.' They think their business will certainly succeed." The data backs this up: In a 1988 Purdue University study, 33% of 3,000 entrepreneurs thought that they're businesses had a 100% chance of success. A 1997 University of Houston study found that entrepreneurs are biased to think they can prevent anything bad from happening to their businesses. A 2013 study from Erasmus University Rotterdam found that entrepreneurs think they will live longer than everybody else. Sometimes, that confidence lapses into narcissism. They're disagreeable. In his book "David and Goliath," Malcolm Gladwell argues that innovative people are disagreeable: They don't really care what other people think of them. He argues: Innovators need to be disagreeable... They are people willing to take social risks — to do things that others might disapprove of. That is not easy. Society frowns on disagreeableness. As human beings we are hardwired to seek the approval of those around us. Yet a radical and transformative thought goes nowhere without the willingness to challenge convention. He provides compelling examples: Steve Jobs didn't sweat stealing the graphic user interface from Xerox PARC, and IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad gladly outsourced from Sweden to Poland while the countries were hostile to one another. It's redeemed in the research. A University of Illinois-University of Pennsylvania study found that disagreeable people are better at declining requests on their time, giving them better control of calendars. They're conscientious. In a 2003 study led by Pennsylvania College of Technology management professor Mark Ciavarella, researchers asked 111 people that had started their own businesses between 1972 and 1995 to take personality tests. The researchers were looking for any founders' personality traits that correlated with companies making it past the "adolescent" stage, or over eight years. The only "significant predictor" was conscientiousness, or the propensity to plan, organize, and take care of responsibilities. "The results suggest that an entrepreneur needs to evolve into a manager to shepherd a new venture to long-term survival," Ciavarella and his colleagues write. But conscientiousness isn't just good for founders: The trait is linked with earning more, feeling more satisfied with your job, and living longer.TAMPA, Fla. -- Doug Martin has three games left on a drug suspension and will serve them at the beginning of this coming season. But if the Buccaneers running back thinks he's automatically getting his starting job back once the suspension is over, he may be mistaken. Editor's Picks Bucs' Doug Martin going to 'get it right' when he returns from suspension Doug Martin arrived at camp in top shape and says he owes it to the team to be at his best after he misses the first three games. Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht told ESPN on Saturday that Martin was looking good so far in camp and that the team is happy with the way he's handling things, but his job might not be there for him come Week 4. "It might not," Licht said. "Look, he has done everything we've asked him to do, and he looks reminiscent of 2015 when he was playing for his contract. He looks the same out there, mentally and physically. So he might be one of those guys that needs a carrot. And he's got a pretty big carrot in front of him right now, because there's no guarantees that he's going to be here. And he knows that. We've talked to him, and he's good with it. He goes, 'I understand.'" The Buccaneers believe Jacquizz Rodgers can fill in well at running back while Martin is out, and they like Charles Sims as a third-down back who can help in the passing game. They also like what Peyton Barber offers as a bruising power back. And they're just now getting their first on-field look at rookie Jeremy McNichols, the fifth-round draft pick who missed the offseason program while recovering from post-combine shoulder surgery. "So we like the committee that we have for the first three games, and we'll see what happens," Licht said. "You never know. Somebody can kind of jump out of there." Doug Martin will miss the Buccaneers' first three games this season while serving the remainder of his suspension for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy. Cliff Welch/Getty Images Martin remains confident and in good spirits as he participates in camp and makes plans to find a place to do his workouts for the first three weeks of the season, during which he's not allowed at the team facility. But he also hears the message the front office is sending him. "Yeah, that's the reality of the situation," Martin told ESPN on Sunday. "That's what they told me. I can only control everything that I can control right now -- just show up to camp, play hard and show them that I can continue to be that starting back. And when the time comes when I come back, we'll see what happens. So it's still in the air. It's still in the air. I'm hopeful, and we'll see what happens. I just show them what I'm capable of doing, and that's 2012 Doug, that's 2015 Doug. And if I do that, everything else will fall into place. So we'll see." Martin said he believes the Buccaneers will be able to run the ball without him, considering the options they have. "We have a lot of great backs," Martin said. "We have a plethora of backs in the room right now, and I think we'll be very capable of running the rock while I'm absent. Everybody has their own little thing. Chuck can shake a guy in a phone booth, Quizz is smooth, Peyton's like the hard runner. There's a lot of guys with different talents in there, and I can't wait to see what they can do."Updated December 18, 2017: Brian Michael Bendis was admitted back into the hospital over the weekend following a relapse of his previously-diagnosed MRSA infection. An unspecified surgery was performed Saturday, with Bendis tweeting positively after the fact about recovering. "Surgery yesterday was a big success. They found the necrotic tissue that was going to do me in," Bendis tweeted Sunday. "The doctors were very excited this morning. Hopefully I’m getting out of here soon. Hopefully hopefully hopefully. Again, thank you to everyone who reached out." Original Story: Brian Michael Bendis has revealed a several health scare which happened last week - a MRSA infection which left him unconscious and temporarily blinded, leading to a four-day hospitalization in Portland's Legacy Emanuel Medical Center. In a
height, thus G is already minimized relative to shorter, younger plants14. Most conifers are particularly hampered during extreme droughts and associated stressors because of their isohydric behaviour, limited ability to drop leaf area rapidly, low k s (ref. 15), and globally averaged, their greater height than angiosperms16. Indeed mortality of gymnosperms at present outpaces that of angiosperms in North America1,2. Coniferous trees also commonly lack the ability to epicormically resprout after mortality of their aboveground tissues relative to many angiosperm trees and shrubs. We note that widespread mortality of angiosperms also has been observed9; however, mortality even of resprouting trees in tall arboreal forms still occurs because of the vulnerability of such large, long-developing aboveground structures relative to the quick pace of climate warming, and because angiosperms (and resprouters) also obey Darcy’s law. In general, large trees may become less competitive in a world of rapidly transitioning climate and disturbance conditions owing to their longer life spans and their lower fecundity relative to shrubs, grasses, and forbs. These predictions are consistent with observations of mortality of the tallest trees, isohydric trees, and trees that fail to resprout (see Supplementary Information 5 for examples). In addition, this result is consistent with the spatially widespread observation of accelerated mortality of gymnosperms and their replacement by shorter angiosperms during palaeo-warming periods in the Northern Hemisphere (see Supplementary Information 5). At the other end of the tree size-spectrum, seedlings and saplings also sometimes exhibit high drought-induced mortality rates owing to limited rooting depth (for example, ref. 17), as their ability to acquire resources is already constrained when a drought arises. Both empirical and quantitative model projections suggest that tall coniferous forests will increasingly be replaced by shorter shrubs and grasses over much of western North America in upcoming decades6,10. We note that although the absolute changes in A l and h are smaller at higher mean D (Fig. 2b), the amount of leaf area and height that can be reduced is substantially lower in semiarid systems with higher mean D, thus the relative impact is still considerable. Extreme droughts are expected to increase in the future not only in dry regions, but also in regions that will experience greater mean precipitation11,12. Historically, wet or cold forests commonly experienced long fire-return intervals even greater than 500 years with high-severity stand-replacing fires but with adequate time between fires for forest recovery18; warming conditions may drive more frequent and intense wildfire activity within this century (for example, ref. 19). Future warmer droughts will be significantly drier than conditions that the dominant trees in current forests have adapted to endure15, because of greater D. In addition, warmer temperatures facilitate range expansion, growth acceleration and greater tree-killing success in tree pests such as bark beetles, with unprecedented beetle outbreaks recently affecting much of western North America4; in some cases, bark beetles are killing even previously unsuitable tree species20. Together these reasons may explain why some relatively moist forests are experiencing tree growth reductions and elevated mortality similar to drier regions during ‘global change-type droughts’1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,11,21. Management options to sustain current forests merit further attention given recent trends of growing severity and extent of climate-related forest disturbances1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, and increasingly ominous projections for the future6,10,12. Beyond the obvious but at present improbable mitigation solution of immediate massive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions3,12, there are adaptation options for managing forests to ameliorate anticipated climate impacts. Under scenarios of increasing drought stress, the future persistence of many current forests could benefit from stand density reductions to improve the water balance for the remaining trees (see Supplementary Information 6 for references). For example, using equation (1), which includes the relevant parameters of soil water potential (Ψ s ) and structural features, we predict that halving stand density (specifically, halving A s ) increases G of the remaining trees by approximately 30% (after accounting for A l adjustment to thinning22, Fig. 3), consistent with the relationship between density and productivity (Supplementary Information 6). This predicted increase in G is associated with reduced risk of severe hydraulic failure and increased photosynthesis per plant, thus minimizing the risk of carbon starvation23. Stand density reductions also increase the production of defensive compounds used to protect against pest attacks24, and can greatly reduce risks of stand-replacing high-severity fire25. Similar to mechanical thinning, recent and ongoing drought-induced tree mortality and canopy dieback events (Fig. 1) commonly leave shorter, more vigorous live trees after the mortality pulse9, which can be seen as an incremental adaptation to reduce stand-level basal area (A s ), leaf area (A l ), and mean stand height (h) to better match G to the diminished level of water available to support tree growth and survival, thus improving the resistance of persisting stands to future climate stresses. Figure 3: Reducing stand density through sustainable harvesting can increase the resilience of forests to drought. Here we simulated a 50% reduction in stand density of a generic conifer forest, resulting in a substantial increase in stomatal conductance for the canopy that remains. Full size image Vascular plants obey Darcy’s law at the individual and stand levels (see Supplementary Information 1); thus, although the number of trees is reduced by thinning, the survival likelihood of the remaining trees is enhanced (Fig. 3). Even forests that traditionally were not exposed to frequent disturbances—and thus typically are not thinned—may benefit from reasonable stand density reductions when extreme drought conditions emerge, possibly including forests in wetter regions25. One important question is to determine benefits and consequences of stand density on stomatal conductance during extreme drought conditions. Darcy’s law again can be used to make such predictions if we have knowledge of mean annual precipitation, D, stand densities, and h (Fig. 3). It is essential to maintain an awareness of historical disturbance regimes when applying management techniques26; however, it is apparent that previous forest disturbance patterns and processes may no longer be operative today or into the future (ref. 3, and see Supplementary Information 7), especially given the novel climate patterns of more extreme drought and heat projected for this century12. We do not advocate thinning in all forests, as for many reasons (ecological, ethical, aesthetic, economic, scientific, conservation, or logistical) some forests should be unmanaged or at least less manipulated—and, where thinning is implemented, low-disturbance techniques can be fostered. Similarly, although combinations of natural (lightning) and human-ignited fires historically have been essential to maintaining resilient lower-density forests in many semiarid regions26, the appropriateness of future fire use will vary markedly by region and forest type27. Planting of southerly and low-elevation genotypes into more northerly or higher-elevation landscapes is another forward-looking adaptation approach to increase the resiliency of future forests to warming and extreme droughts28. Darcy’s Law (equation (1)) predicts that shorter, more anisohydric plants with relatively higher k s or greater A s :A l are most likely to survive future droughts, and translocation of such genotypes should be considered for future planting. Caveats to the predictions from the Darcy’s law corollary are necessary. Equation (1) is an approximation of the real world, and fails to include some aspects of ecological realism regarding how trees die and survive23,29. For example, G may decline substantially with rising D, but in many forests insect attack is a critical last step to mortality; if relevant insect populations decline owing to negative feedbacks of climate change, then tree mortality rates may be buffered. Likewise the dependence of mortality on low G probably varies across taxa, geography and edaphic conditions, so predictions from equation (1) can be viewed only as a coarse level assessment. Nonetheless, the predictions from equation (1) are robust regarding the general patterns we can expect in forest responses to globally increasing D. In conclusion, the hydraulic corollary to Darcy’s law (equation (1)) predicts that as rising temperatures drive increasing vapour pressure deficits, the resultant greater water stresses will force major shifts in the dominant plants. Shrubby, low-statured plants are most likely to survive, whereas tall old-growth forests are particularly vulnerable to warming climate. Darcy’s law can also inform forest management applications ranging from prescriptions for sustainable stand densities to more resilient tree species and genetic compositions to promote future forest survival in a strongly warming world. Overall, such applications of Darcy’s law suggest that growing plant water stress from projected climate changes will increasingly drive the emergence of new global vegetation patterns.We do our best to shield our readers from unwarranted spoilers for upcoming films in regular articles, which is why we’re going to issue a giant “Spoiler Warning!” right here. Marvel Studios sent out a series of interviews with the cast and crew of their upcoming film Iron Man 3 and they didn’t hold back on a lot of spoilers for the film. Since we know that some people are interested in reading these things, we’ve compiled the most revealing and interesting bits below. Again, Spoiler warning… Let’s recap: From the trailers, we know that Iron Man 3 will see Tony Stark going up against his greatest foe from the comic books, The Mandarin. Tony’s Malibu mansion and many of the suits of armor are destroyed in an attack and Marvel Studios producer Kevin Feige revealed that this happens in the first act of the film and sets up the rest of the movie. “You’ve seen in the trailers that there’s an attack on Tony’s house. So by the end of the first act of ‘Iron Man 3,’ his house is gone. His technology is gone. All he has is a barely functioning, prototype suit that, soon after he escapes from the house that’s destroyed, is not functioning at all. So Tony finds himself in the middle of the United States of America, in Rose Hill, Tennessee, completely out of his element. A guy who lives in Malibu and goes to Monaco and gallivants in Manhattan in the middle of Rose Hill, Tennessee, with a suit not working, doing an investigation about the villain known as the Mandarin, to try to figure out where he is. Tony believes there are clues here that are going to lead him to find where the Mandarin is, so he drags the broken suit into a shed that he finds and takes an axe and opens it up. It turns out that he is in the little workshop of this young boy named Harley.” Based on this and all the footage we’ve seen in the trailers, you can formulate a good guess about the structure of Iron Man 3 from this answer alone. Undoubtedly, there will be plenty of surprises left, but that this information has been revealed is pretty exciting. An element of Iron Man 3 that has long been rumored is that Gwyneth Paltrow’s character Pepper Potts would put on an Iron Man suit in the film, much like she did in the comic books. They confirm that this will in fact happen in the film. “There were talks of Pepper getting in the suit at the end of ‘Iron Man 2,’ but Marvel wasn’t ready to do it yet….I know Robert was really interested in having Pepper do more in this movie, and it was also a factor in me coming back and getting to do things that were a little bit more fun and different and a little bit more adventurous. It would’ve still been nice, but it would’ve been very much the same thing just to be buttoned-up Pepper, and in this movie there’s a whole different experience of her.” When asked what wearing the suit was like, Paltrow replied: “I didn’t mind wearing the suit at all. I thought it was light and perfectly comfortable and my children thought I was extremely cool. They were here on a day where I was in it, so they were trying it on and when my son saw me in the suit, he had the biggest eyes, so it was definitely worth it.” Another new suit that we’ve seen in the trailers is Don Cheadle’s brand new Iron Patriot armor. Kevin Feige spilled the beans on how that comes to pass in the film and Rhodey’s journey in the movie. “What we learn in the beginning of ‘Iron Man 3’ is that they’ve made an arrangement. Tony has let Rhodey have this suit; he’s using it in conjunction with the US Government. So, at the beginning of ‘Iron Man 3,’ we see that the President has asked Rhodey as War Machine to get a new paint job and take on the new moniker of the Iron Patriot in order to do American business and be the American hero as opposed to The Avengers or Iron Man himself, who is sort of a separate entity… In a way it becomes a buddy action film, in the third act, where they team up. Neither of them have a suit at a certain point in the movie and they really team up in a great, sort of old- fashioned action movie way and Don and Robert have such an amazing rapport.” Another little detail that fans have been wondering about is how the organization A.I.M. fits into the film, which was confirmed to be a part of the movie last summer, Feige mentions that Guy Pearce’s character Aldrich Killian is the head of the group in the movie. “Killian heads a brain-trust organization called AIM that is developing Extremis, which is something that taps into human DNA and is able to reprogram it and regenerate limbs and enhance strength and cure wounds. But it also could change the whole world, which is what Killian intends to do with it.” One thing many noticed about Kingsley’s Mardarin is his “Captain America” tattoo on his neck. This apparently is a running theme for the character, wherein he takes American propoganda and uses it to his own devices. “Shane Black had an idea of making him somebody whose background is unknown,” said Feige, “we don’t know where he’s from at first, but he seems to be some kind of military officer that has gone off the reservation. He is starting to pull all of this iconography and symbolism from other cultures to his own ends to use them as symbols to pervert the symbol of the United States. He utilizes the moniker of the Mandarin and robes with dragons on them and uses South American sort of guerilla tactics to create this aura of fear of his terror organization. The Mandarin is sort of a very frightening, modern-day terrorist who has taken terror motifs from all over the world to use to his own ends. It was a very cool and relevant and scary idea.” A final thing that has captured a lot of viewers attention from the latest trailer is when Air Force One is attacked and people are falling to the ground, if you want to know how Tony saves them, then read on. “Our writers had a great idea,” said Feige, “which played to the theme of putting Tony in a situation that you don’t know how he’s going to get out of. Shane and Drew’s idea was basically to throw 13 people out of an airplane and have Jarvis tell Tony he can only carry four of them. So how in the world, as they’re plummeting to their death, is Iron Man going to be able to save them all? “And they came up with this notion of Barrel of Monkeys, this Hasbro game, where you connect all the monkeys together and see how many of these little plastic monkeys you can latch together by their fingers. And Tony begins to fly down and begins to grab onto people and tells those people to grab onto the next person. And suddenly with this great show of teamwork you have 13 people all latched onto each other with Iron Man blowing his repulsors to stop their fall. “ Hitting 3D, 2D and IMAX theaters on May 3, the Shane Black-directed action adventure stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale, Jon Favreau, Ben Kingsley and Wang Xuequi.Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced today that Man of Steel will be available as a Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD 2-Disc Special Edition, 3D Limited Collector’s Edition and Digital Download on November 12th. The Blu-ray Combo Packs will include nearly four hours of special features. Here’s the full announcement followed by the cover art: The fate of mankind is in the hands of one man when “Man of Steel” arrives onto Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD 2-disc Special Edition, 3D Limited Collector’s Edition and Digital Download on November 12 from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. In “Man of Steel,” Clark Kent is forced to confront his extraterrestrial past and embrace his hidden powers when Earth is threatened with destruction. From Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures comes “Man of Steel,” starring Henry Cavill in the role of Clark Kent/Kal-El under the direction of Zack Snyder. The film also stars four-time Oscar® nominee Amy Adams (“The Master,” 2012), Oscar® nominee Michael Shannon (“Revolutionary Road,” 2008), Academy Award® winner Kevin Costner (“Dances with Wolves,” 1990), Oscar® nominee Diane Lane (“Unfaithful,” 2002), Oscar® nominee Laurence Fishburne (“What’s Love Got to Do with It,” 1993), Antje Traue, Ayelet Zurer, Christopher Meloni, and Academy Award® winner Russell Crowe (“Gladiator,” 1992). “Man of Steel” is produced by Charles Roven, Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas and Deborah Snyder. The screenplay was written by David S. Goyer from a story by Goyer & Nolan, based upon Superman characters created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster and published by DC Entertainment. Thomas Tull, Lloyd Phillips and Jon Peters served as executive producers. “Man of Steel” will be available on Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack for $44.95, on Blu-ray Combo Pack for $35.99, on DVD 2-disc Special Edition for $28.98, and as a 3D Limited Collector’s Edition for $59.99. The Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack features the theatrical version of the film in 3D hi-definition, hi-definition and standard definition; the Blu-ray Combo Pack features the theatrical version of the film in hi-definition and standard definition; the DVD 2-disc Special Edition features the theatrical version in standard definition; and the 3D Limited Collector’s Edition features the theatrical version of the film in 3D hi-definition, hi-definition and standard definition, and also includes a limited release metal “S” glyph with lucite glass stand. The Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD 2-disc Special Edition and 3D Limited Collector’s Edition include UltraViolet* which allows consumers to download and instantly stream the standard definition theatrical version of the film to a wide range of devices including computers and compatible tablets, smartphones, game consoles, Internet-connected TVs and Blu-ray players. SYNOPSIS A young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this Earth. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind. BLU-RAY AND DVD ELEMENTS “Man of Steel” Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack and 3D Limited Collector’s Edition contain the following special features: · Journey of Discovery: Creating “Man of Steel” – This immersive feature-length experience allows you to watch the movie with director Zack Snyder and stars Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Diane Lane and others as they share the incredible journey to re-imagine Superman. · Strong Characters, Legendary Roles – Explore the legendary characters of the Superman mythology and how they have evolved in this new iteration of the Superman story. · All-Out Action – Go inside the intense training regimen that sculpted Henry Cavill into the Man of Steel and Michael Shannon and Antje Traue into his Kyptonian nemeses. Includes interviews with cast and crew. · Krypton Decoded – Dylan Sprayberry (Clark Kent, age 13) gives the lowdown on all the amazing Krypton tech, weapons and spaceships featured in “Man of Steel.” · Planet Krypton – The world’s first exploration of Krypton and its lost society. “Man of Steel” DVD 2-disc Special Edition contains the following special features: · Strong Characters, Legendary Roles · All-Out Action · Krypton Decoded DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION ELEMENTS On November 12, “Man of Steel” will be available for download in HD or standard definition from online retailers including but not limited to iTunes, Xbox, PlayStation, Amazon, Vudu, CinemaNow and more… The film will also be available digitally in High Definition (HD) VOD and Standard Definition (SD) VOD from cable and satellite providers, and on select gaming consoles and broadband customers including Amazon, iTunes, etc. ULTRAVIOLET *UltraViolet allows you to collect, watch and share movies and TV shows in a whole new way. Available with the purchase of specially marked Blu-ray discs, DVDs and Digital Downloads, UltraViolet lets you create a digital collection of movies and TV shows. Services such as Flixster and VUDU allow you to instantly stream and download UltraViolet content across a wide range of devices including computers and compatible tablets, smartphones, game consoles, Internet-connected TVs and Blu-ray players. Restrictions and limitations apply. Go to ultraviolet.flixster.com/info for details. For more information on compatible devices go to wb.com/ultravioletdevices. Restrictions and limitations apply. Go to ultraviolet.flixter.com/info for details. BASICS PRODUCT SRP Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack $44.95 Blu-ray Combo Pack $35.99 2-disc Amaray (WS) $28.98 3D Limited Collector’s Edition $59.99 Standard Street Date: November 12, 2013 DVD Languages: English, Latin Spanish, Canadian French, Thai BD Languages: English, Latin Spanish, Canadian French, Brazilian Portuguese, Mandarin 3D BD Languages: English, Latin Spanish, Canadian French, Brazilian Portuguese DVD Subtitles: English SDH, Latin Spanish, Parisian French, Cantonese, Chinese (Traditional), Thai BD Subtitles: English SDH, Latin Spanish, Parisian French, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese (Simplified) 3D BD Subtitles: English SDH, Latin Spanish, Parisian French, Brazilian Portuguese Running Time: 143 minutes Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence, action and destruction and for some language DLBY/SURR DLBY/DGTL [CC] Click the cover art for bigger versions!As a lot of people have suggested, no one at Yale can rightly claim to be “systemically oppressed” or subjected to the assaults of “privilege” by others. The notion is laughable on its face. And then there is the University of Missouri graduate student hunger striker. I tweeted this morning that the headline could read, “Graduate Student Goes on Hunger Strike: Ramen Noodle Sales Plummet.” But lo and behold, the Missouri hunger striker, Jonathan Butler, comes of a family with a net worth near $20 million. You really can’t make this stuff up; The Onion staff must be sitting at their desks today in a state of despair. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has the story: Mizzou hunger-strike figure from Omaha, son of top railroad exec By Joe Holleman Jonathan Butler, a central figure in the protests at the University of Missouri, is an Omaha native and the son of a railroad vice president, the Omaha World-Herald reports. Butler refused food last week in a move to force the university system’s president, Timothy M. Wolfe, from office. Wolfe resigned Monday and Butler ended his hunger strike. Jonathan Butler played high-school football at Omaha Central High, where he won a state championship, and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Mizzou, the newspaper reports. He is working toward a master’s degree in educational leadership and policy. He is a member of a prominent Omaha family. The newspaper says that Butler’s father is Eric L. Butler, executive vice president for sales and marketing for the Union Pacific Railroad. His 2014 compensation was $8.4 million, according to regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. When are university administrators going to start standing up to this whole farce? PAUL ADDS: As an aside, I saw Omaha Central High School when I was in the city two weeks ago. It’s possibly the most impressive public high school building I’ve ever seen. The students were being let out when I passed the school on my way to the nearby art museum. The student body appeared to be very mixed in terms of race. Interesting that such a rich kid attended the big local public school.Abstract Chaste — Cancer, Heart And Soft Tissue Environment — is an open source C++ library for the computational simulation of mathematical models developed for physiology and biology. Code development has been driven by two initial applications: cardiac electrophysiology and cancer development. A large number of cardiac electrophysiology studies have been enabled and performed, including high-performance computational investigations of defibrillation on realistic human cardiac geometries. New models for the initiation and growth of tumours have been developed. In particular, cell-based simulations have provided novel insight into the role of stem cells in the colorectal crypt. Chaste is constantly evolving and is now being applied to a far wider range of problems. The code provides modules for handling common scientific computing components, such as meshes and solvers for ordinary and partial differential equations (ODEs/PDEs). Re-use of these components avoids the need for researchers to ‘re-invent the wheel’ with each new project, accelerating the rate of progress in new applications. Chaste is developed using industrially-derived techniques, in particular test-driven development, to ensure code quality, re-use and reliability. In this article we provide examples that illustrate the types of problems Chaste can be used to solve, which can be run on a desktop computer. We highlight some scientific studies that have used or are using Chaste, and the insights they have provided. The source code, both for specific releases and the development version, is available to download under an open source Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) licence at http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/chaste, together with details of a mailing list and links to documentation and tutorials. Citation: Mirams GR, Arthurs CJ, Bernabeu MO, Bordas R, Cooper J, Corrias A, et al. (2013) Chaste: An Open Source C++ Library for Computational Physiology and Biology. PLoS Comput Biol 9(3): e1002970. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002970 Editor: Andreas Prlic, UCSD, United States of America Received: August 22, 2012; Accepted: January 20, 2013; Published: March 14, 2013 Copyright: © 2013 Mirams 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: This work was funded by: GlaxoSmithKline Grants and Affiliates Award to GRM and DJG; EPSRC e-Science pilot project in Integrative Biology (GR/S72023/01); EPSRC, Software for High Performance Computing project (EP/F011628/1); European Commission, Prediction of Drug Impact in Cardiac Toxicity (preDiCT), Framework 7 grant (DG-INFSO 224381); European Commission, Virtual Physiological Network of Excellence (VPH-NoE), Framework 7 grant (DG-INFSO 223920); 2020 Science: EPSRC and Microsoft Research, Cambridge through grant EP/I017909/1 (www.2020science.net); BBSRC grant to Oxford Centre for Integrative Systems Biology (BB/D020190/1); The Life Sciences Interface and Systems Biology Doctoral Training Centres, and the Systems Approaches to Biomedical Science Industrial Doctorate Centre (EP/E501605/1, EP/G50029/1 and EP/G037280/1). This publication was also based on work supported in part by Award No. KUK-C1-013-04, made by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing interests: I have read the journal's policy and have the following conflicts: GRM and DJG have received research support from GlaxoSmithKline Plc. This is a PLOS Computational Biology Software Article Introduction Cancer, Heart And Soft Tissue Environment (Chaste) has been developed to enable the study of novel problems in computational physiology and biology. The following quotation from a recent article by Wilson highlights two problems that Chaste has been designed to overcome: “Increasingly, the real limit on what computational scientists can accomplish is how quickly and reliably they can translate their ideas into working code.” [1] First, the speed at which progress can be made by researchers in our field is typically limited because previously developed models and methods are often not re-used effectively. At the most practical level, model equations and algorithms should be encoded as software (or, more usefully, as mark-up languages for generating software [2]), describing unambiguously the computations required for simulations. In computational physiology and biology, many problems share a need for the same underlying components and numerical schemes. It is still common for each new PhD student or post-doctoral researcher to ‘re-invent the wheel’ and develop, for example, their own mesh structures, ordinary/partial differential equation (ODE/PDE) solvers and input/output (IO) interfaces. This not only slows progress, but a lack of formal software training in structuring and documenting code can lead to code that is difficult to follow and untangle (known as ‘spaghetti code’) [3]. Such code rapidly becomes unusable by anyone else, and is typically discarded at the end of a project, requiring the next person to work on the research topic to start the process again. Second, the reliability of code, and subsequent results, is often uncertain and unprovable. As discussed by Baxter et al. in a perspective on software development in this journal [4], there is generally no rigorous software testing approach taken, and testing comes down to whether results ‘look about right’ [3]. This may soon become safety-critical, as clinical interventions become guided by the results of computational biology simulations. The problems discussed above lead to it being very difficult, if not impossible, to guarantee the reproducibility of computational results. Minimum information standards have been suggested for models (MIRIAM [5]) and simulations (MIASE [6]), defining vital requirements underpinning reuse and reproducibility. Mark-up languages such as SBML [7], CellML [8], FieldML [9] and SED-ML [10] help to satisfy these requirements in a machine-readable format. Given the complexity of modern mathematical models and numerical algorithms, we believe the use of such standards in open source software is a pre-requisite for rapid progress, reliability and reproducibility. To date, our primary applications have been in computational physiology and biophysics. In these fields, a wide array of models are represented as continuum ODE/PDE problems, individual or agent-based discrete models, or a hybrid of these two. Examples of problems falling into these categories include cardiac electrophysiology and electromechanics, tumour growth, and developmental biology. In 2005, we began to build Chaste as a software environment that could be used for simulation of these types of problem, which would overcome many of the pitfalls discussed above. Most commercial software is closed source and difficult to extend to study novel models, as these may include a different class of equation or completely different modelling paradigm. In the limited cases where free open source software was available for our applications, we frequently found it difficult to test and extend. We wanted to create a software library that could rapidly evolve, to keep pace with our scientific investigations. To achieve this, Chaste comprises a library of fully-tested modules for the common elements of our application areas, which can be easily utilised and readily extended to the simulation of novel models, and to the use of novel numerical algorithms. We believe Chaste is a good example of software that follows the ten simple rules for open development of scientific software [11]. Other notable open source codes have been developed, including OpenCMISS and Continuity for continuum modelling [12], [13], CompuCell3D for cellular Potts modelling [14] and MultiCellXML for agent-based modelling and simulation data [15]. However, Chaste is the only open source software available for many of its application areas, and is exceptional in that industrial software engineering standards have been used for its development. Chaste is also unique in being well suited for both continuum and discrete modelling approaches, and is well-positioned for the investigation of hybrid approaches [16]. Release 1.0 of Chaste occurred in 2009 and has been described previously [17], [18]. Through the use of examples, we will describe the capabilities of the newly-released version 3.1, novel scientific applications, and future directions. It is our intention that all of the examples in this article can be reproduced on a desktop PC; they are therefore less computationally intensive than many of the simulations performed in scientific research. The example simulations can be run, and figures recreated, by downloading the associated Chaste project from http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/chaste/download, as described in Text S1. Design and Implementation In this section, we discuss the Chaste development strategy, as this is fundamental to its properties, capabilities and extensibility for novel problems. We then introduce the code layout and the available model types and algorithms. Chaste is written in C++, a compiled language that allows object-oriented class definitions. This makes the code suitable for applications where efficient memory management and performance are key, but also allows simple extension and inheritance of existing functionality. At present Chaste can only be used with Linux, although it works well via a Linux virtual machine (using software such as VirtualBox) on a host running Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X. The code needs to be compiled after downloading and setting up dependencies. For users (rather than developers modifying Chaste itself) this is a one-off event. Due to the volume of source and test code, compilation can take considerable time, particularly for an optimised build, on the order of hours using a single processor, or around 30 minutes on an 8-core server. Development Strategy As far as we are aware, Chaste is the only code of its kind that has been developed using agile and test-driven development. We believe that our experience of this development style has valuable insights for other research groups, highlighted in this section. We have found the following practices invaluable in terms of rapid development, delivering high performance, and ensuring reliable results. An independent analysis of Chaste development activity and code composition can be found at Ohloh (http://www.ohloh.net/p/Chaste). Test-driven development. Test-driven development is fundamental to our efforts. In this style of development, ‘test code’ is written before the ‘source code’ which will actually perform the function we require. Once a test is in place, the source code is then written to make the test pass. This has the advantage of forcing developers to consider the best interface for their new code, and to consider how to test that the source code performs its function correctly. There are then two discrete collections of code in each module of Chaste. The ‘test’ code makes use of the ‘source’, as if the source code were any other C++ library, and checks that it performs as intended. The ‘source’ never makes use of ‘test’, and only ‘source’ is compiled into a library for use in other modules (and third party programs). The test code is uploaded (‘committed’) to the central version control repository along with the source code that it tests. Upon each commit, all the tests are run in order to check that no functionality has been inadvertently broken (‘continuous integration’). This ensures the code always performs as intended, and developers ‘protect’ their code from any future changes to either the code itself, or any code it relies on. This approach does not guarantee bug-free code, but in practice makes bugs very rare. When bugs do occur, this is typically because functionality is expected that has not been fully tested, and the first step in the solution is to write more tests. Additional tests are run each night, which: check all of the standard tests for memory leaks; profile the speed of different parts of the code ; check for documentation on all source code; and check that every line of the source code is executed by at least one of the tests (‘coverage’). Among all the coding practices we use, test-driven development is never abandoned, and is the feature most highly regarded by the development team, who commonly apply it to their other projects. Agile programming. Chaste is developed using an ‘agile’ development methodology, using many features of eXtreme Programming (XP) [19]. One aspect of this approach is to avoid planning too far ahead at any stage. This limits the scope of coding work at any time to a goal that is achievable in a reasonable time frame (typically one month). This approach allows the fast development of working prototypes, and removes ‘paralysis through planning’, which can occur when trying to accommodate a myriad of possible future requirements. However, significant time is spent re-working existing code: class structures and interfaces are reorganised for efficiency, readability and ease of re-use. Overall, this approach generates effective code over time and flexibility is added as required. We have also adopted some other characteristics of XP, notably ‘pair programming’. Ideally, all contributed code is written by a pair of developers, sitting side by side, with one writing code, and the other checking and suggesting improvements. In an academic setting, we have found that this need not be insisted upon, but we use it in regular coding sessions. A particular benefit in an academic setting, where people may move on to new projects frequently, is that no single person takes sole responsibility for any part of the code. Simple rules are adhered to for the naming of variables, methods and classes, which enables developers, and new users, to navigate their way through the code efficiently, and makes mistakes less likely. For further details please refer to our developers' wiki: https://chaste.cs.ox.ac.uk/trac/wiki/GettingStarted. Code Layout and Design Chaste provides libraries for code which
to stand back and let them respect the boundaries for themselves. This is extremely powerful because children are amazing at following rules when they really understand their purpose and internalize them. There are over 500 forest kindergartens in Denmark and they are not seen as radicalized baby boot camps. The thought of hovering over children to protect them, as we do in other cultures, or correcting every move they make would seem very strange indeed for a Dane. Children are natural explorers so the overcorrecting, protecting, taking over a task or barricading any possible danger areas instead of explaining what they are and how to be careful are all contrary to instilling trust and building confidence in kids. Our inability as parents to just stand back and let our kids hurt themselves is also a fundamental learning curve. Life is about getting skinned knees. It’s about falling down and getting back up. That is resilience. And resilience has been proven to be one of the greatest factors in cultivating happiness. Seeing that Denmark has once again topped the world happiness charts for 2016, I can’t help but wonder if this instillation of resilience and trust in the young has something to do with those results. As someone who grew up being told “no, don’t do that” often and currently living in a culture where parents tend to hover over their kids and worry a lot, it’s definitely not always easy to stand back and trust my kids knowing that they can hurt themselves. But I have so much faith in the Danish way of parenting that I take a breath, close my eyes, and stand back. I really believe that trusting them to trust in themselves will protect them much better than I can in the long run. So far, (knock on wood) no one has been hurt and no one has called child services on me. I haven’t started my knife whittling class for three to five-year-olds yet though. In one scene in the Danish forest kindergarten video the interviewer asks in a clearly concerned voice if the teacher is worried about the boys hurting themselves with the huge sticks they are wielding around each other. The teacher replies very nonchalantly. “Sometimes they hit, yes, and they get a little accident but that’s the way to learn. Only once I had to drive to the hospital with a boy with a big injury in 17 years. So I am not worried” The interviewer pauses and asks nervously. “And what was the injury?” “It was a parent who drove over a foot.” In 17 years of an outrageously dangerous looking kindergarten where children are trusted to follow rules themselves, the biggest injury came from an adult driving over a child’s foot. They say the truth hurts sometimes and here it really does. If adults could just stand back a little more, we would marvel at how capable kids are with a little trust. Jessica Alexander is an American author who co-wrote 'The Danish Way of Parenting: A Guide to Raising the Happiest Kids in the World'. She has been married to a Dane for over 13 years and has always been fascinated by cultural differences. She speaks four languages and currently lives in Rome with her husband and two children. Her book can be purchased via Amazon.On Thursday afternoon, presumptive Republican Party nominee Donald Trump threw the content creators of digital media some literal red meat. He tweeted a photo of himself enjoying a taco bowl for lunch, adding a typically ham-fisted assurance that, contrary to popular belief, he "love[s] Hispanics." This is not an article about that tweet. This is an article about digital media's addiction to Trump's tweet and his media antics in general. It's a craving just as strong as what we see on cable news day after day — the same addiction that new media loves to skewer. The Huffington Post, the most self-congratulatory of any outlet regarding its Trump stance, wrote last year: "The networks’ 24-hour coverage of the reality TV star highlights the problem with audience-driven coverage." That's the same Huffington Post that, after Trump's taco tweet Thursday, joined dozens of other news sites that scrambled to report on the tweet, no doubt to ride the wave of traffic and get people's eyeballs on its adverts. Vox.com "explained" the tweet. Mashable outlined 19 offensive things about the tweet. The Verge, adopting the conversational, "How do you do, fellow kids?" approach, walked through "everything terrible" about the tweet. It's worth noting that what Trump did was nothing new: Republicans hostile to immigration boast of their taste for Mexican food all the time. Photo: spencer platt/getty images Nevertheless, the flood of taco tweet coverage went on. Business Insider wrote it up, Politico wrote it up, Slate wrote it up, NPR wrote it up, and Vanity Fair wrote it up. Many of them published follow-ups of the write-ups. Even the Washington Post and the New York Times got in on the action. (Neither International Business Times nor Newsweek wrote it up, though IBT Media's separate UK site did.) While it's certainly true CNN ran chyrons about Trump's taco tweet all Friday morning and the press grilled President Barack Obama on it later in the day, digital media is clearly just as hooked. The reason: Trump’s tweet was social media gold. It garnered over 1.7 million likes, shares, comments and retweets across Facebook and Twitter in the hours after it appeared, according to the analytics firm ListenFirst Media. For context, Kim Kardashian's tweet featuring infant Saint West generated only 1.5 million responses, and Kobe Bryant's farewell tweet only 1 million. Samantha Bee's response to the Trump taco bowl tweet was undoubtedly the best: https://t.co/L65Ui5qxub pic.twitter.com/oTa4AJG9wI — Esquire (@esquire) May 7, 2016 Every news site wants to cash in on that social activity and win the Facebook lottery, i.e., become the definitive Trump Taco Tweet Article that rides to the top of the traffic tsunami. In the late-stage capitalism environment of the click economy, that's what passes for distribution. The Taco Incident is a microcosm of the general duplicity digital media has enjoyed this election season — Huffington Post in particular — shaming voters and networks for their interest in Trump while splashing his face on every conceivable corner of their websites. In the current state of politics and media, there are no clean hands, whatever size they may be.Pope blesses male stripper's parrot 'A beautiful gift from God' (ANSA) - Milan, January 29 - Pope Francis blessed and took into his hands a green parrot that belonged to a former male stripper during his general audience on Wednesday. The parrot's owner thought it best to admit he was the bird's proud father after press reports saying it belonged to a traveling circus from northern Italy. "It was fun," Francesco Lombardi, the former stripper known as Ghyblj, told ANSA. "A sort of mixing of the holy and the profane. I am a world champion stripper and have the leading role in (erotic filmmaker) Tinto Brass's next movie". Lombardi, who has also been the head of the town council of Trezzano, near Milan, said he had come to Rome with his wife and two daughters to attend the general audience, bringing with him the parrot named 'Amore' ('Love'). "Pope Francis, who I am in love with," he said, "called it 'a beautiful gift from God'".People often ask why things such as the NFL combine, the Senior Bowl, the East-West Shrine game and all the pro days are so important. A guy like Lane Johnson of Philadelphia is a good case study. Johnson wasn't drafted No. 4 overall in April because he was the picture of perfect technical ability as a left tackle during his final season at Oklahoma. This is a guy who actually played quarterback at the college level before he eventually found his way to offensive tackle. And when you evaluate players on game tape, the sample size is smaller than you think. For instance, how many games did Oklahoma just dominate inferior competition? Maybe a handful. And how many times did Johnson get to face a pass-rusher who we'd consider NFL caliber? That number shrinks again. You look for consistency and growth, but week to week you look more for traits as much as dominance, because matchups and competition limit how much you can really take away from the tape. It's why the added evaluation plays such a key role. Johnson's sample size was limited, and it was almost a given that he'd struggle some as a rookie still learning the nuances of playing tackle, actually moving positions and also getting comfortable in a new scheme. Over the past few weeks, however, we're seeing him put it all together. A whole NFL season can be a bigger sample size than even a few years of starting at the college level in terms of useful evaluation, and it's fun to see gifted players make major strides as they figure things out well into their rookie campaigns. Again, the usual parameters: • The rankings reflect play over the whole season, not just the previous Sunday. • Positional value matters, but overall performance and impact on the team matter more. • I do ask: Would this player be a starter on most teams? (I think that hurts QBs some.) • Total snap count matters. Staying on the field is important because you get taken off to conceal weaknesses. With the rules in place, here we go. This week, I've ranked a total of 30 and included a number of others I've noticed. Alonso 1. Kiko Alonso, ILB, Buffalo If you graded it only on per-play impact, you'd probably put Alonso lower on this list -- not far, but perhaps behind the next two players. But when you factor in the total impact of a player who is second in the NFL in tackles, has been as good as almost any linebacker in the NFL in coverage and literally never comes off the field, you give the slight edge to Alonso. He is a second-round pick who has played to the level of what you might hope for from a top-10 pick so far. At least I would, which is why he stays at No. 1.Xavi has revealed he was set to join New York City before Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu called him and convinced him to change his mind. MORE: Biggest possible transfers in 2015 The 34-year-old was on the brink of joining the new MLS franchise during the offseason after playing a bit-part role in Tata Martino's season at the helm of the Blaugrana. However, the World Cup winning midfielder was contacted by the club president, who convinced him to reconsider his decision to leave the club. "The decision was made. I was going to New York. It was all done. A call from Bartomeu was what changed everything," Xavi revealed in an interview with Sport. "He called my agent and told him that he wanted me here. "Before I went to the World Cup I told them I thought my time at Barcelona was over. I did not feel useful and thought it was not to be. After the World Cup I received a call from Bartomeu and then talked to Luis Enrique. "He told me I'm going to be a very useful player, that if I prove it, I'll play, that I'm still competitive and they thought of me well, that we would have a good year. He convinced me. It was decisive. I changed. We already had bags packed with my wife to go to New York." Xavi, who has made 13 appearances in La Liga so far this season, believes he made the right decision, and spoke of his delight at being part of a team which he feels is heading in the right direction. "I'm happy. I'm enjoying it. I would never have imagined it. I feel useful, I feel competitive," he added. "There are days that I felt I played well, I had good games and good performances and I think the team is going in the right direction." Barca currently sits second in La Liga, one point adrift of Real Madrid, which holds a game in hand.You would think owner and general manager Jerry Jones had learned his lesson when the Dallas Cowboys went through nearly 5½ seasons of vagabond and journeyman quarterbacks in his quest to find Troy Aikman's replacement. You know the names: Quincy Carter, Anthony Wright, Ryan Leaf, Clint Stoerner, Chad Hutchinson, Drew Henson, Vinny Testaverde and Drew Bledsoe. When you consider Jerry lucked into Tony Romo -- no GM ever expects an undrafted free agent to be a long-term solution at quarterback -- you would think he would put more of a priority on the position. Especially when he looks at 26-year-old Colin Kaepernick and 25-year-old Russell Wilson, the two quarterbacks who started Sunday's NFC Championship Game. Jones must count on his starting quarterback to correct the cracks in the Cowboys' foundation. Matthew Emmons/USA TODAY Sports He hasn't put the QB question on the front burner. And he won't. And there's this: The Cowboys' dirty little secret, so to speak, is that they're not even equipped to put Romo's eventual replacement on the roster right now. So as hard as this is going to be for some of you to hear, forget about Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel, Louisville's Teddy Bridgewater and Central Florida's Blake Bortles somehow winding up on the Cowboys' roster. It ain't happening. First, Jerry has drafted just three quarterbacks since he bought the team in 1989 -- and none in the first round since Aikman. He's not suddenly going to make the position a priority in the draft. Second, Romo's six-year, $108 million contract with $55 million in guaranteed cash doesn't kick in until next season. You better believe Jerry wants to get his money's worth from Romo, regardless of Romo's two back surgeries in less than a year. Last, the Cowboys have so many holes at various positions that they can't afford to use the premium pick it would require to get a legitimate player capable of eventually replacing Romo. Can you imagine the outrage if the Cowboys passed on a defensive lineman, offensive lineman, cornerback, safety or linebacker to draft a quarterback who's going to hold a clipboard for a couple of years? Just so you know, 30 of the 32 quarterbacks who led their teams in passing this season were drafted in the first three rounds. The other two? Romo and New England's Tom Brady, a sixth-round pick. Twenty starters were selected in the first round. It's far-fetched to think the Cowboys can expect to find a starter in the fourth or fifth round capable of leading this franchise to a Super Bowl. Sure, Jerry could get lucky again and find another Romo. But no one wants to pin their franchise's future on luck.(Continued from page 2) Musk’s relentless pushing has paid off. A recent study by NASA and the Air Force finds that it cost about $440 million for SpaceX to get from a blank sheet of paper to the first Falcon 9 launch (a figure, Musk says, which also includes most of the Falcon 1 development). If NASA had done the same thing, with its management structure and traditional use of aerospace contractors, the study finds, it would have spent three times that much. If SpaceX’s progress sometimes seems like a 21st century replay of NASA’s early history, that’s partly because the company has greatly benefited from the space agency’s vast technical archive. “We’re standing on the shoulders of giants,” Mueller says. “With the Apollo program they learned so much. And we can get access to all that. We use that tremendously. A private company in a vacuum could not do what we did.” But as for SpaceX’s organizational style, it’s Silicon Valley, not NASA, that had the most influence. In Hawthorne, where everyone including Musk works in cubicles instead of offices to encourage communication, the buzzwords of the business culture—lean manufacturing, vertical integration, flat management—are real and fundamental. Says former SpaceX business development director Max Vozoff, “This really is the greatest innovation of SpaceX: It’s bringing the standard practices of every other industry to space.” Having almost all of SpaceX’s engineers under one roof means the process of designing, testing, and improving is greatly streamlined. One NASA manager who visited SpaceX quips that when there is a new problem to solve, “it looks like a flash mob” in the hallway. Some observers have questioned whether SpaceX’s smaller workforce can build and operate a vehicle safe enough for astronauts to fly (see “Is It Safe?” April/May 2009). But former astronaut Ken Bowersox, who joined SpaceX in 2009 as vice president of astronaut safety and mission assurance, says safety stems mostly from a vehicle’s design. Bowersox, who flew four space shuttle missions as well as the Russian Soyuz, says that at NASA the shuttle’s complexity required a large organization to manage the risks. “People started to think that that’s the only way you can operate. And I have to say that I would’ve been in that boat if I hadn’t been sent off to train in Russia,” where the workforce is much smaller. Because the Soyuz is far simpler than the shuttle and includes an escape system, he says, it is safer despite the inevitable human errors. Dragon follows the same design philosophy. Human-rating the Dragon will require development and flight tests of a launch abort system, which could cost nearly a billion dollars. Before astronauts are allowed to fly it, NASA will subject the craft to an intensive review. Lindenmoyer, the commercial crew program manager, thinks Musk and his team can meet the agency’s standards. “Everybody has a perception of SpaceX, what they must not be doing,” he says. “But when you get in there and you’re shoulder to shoulder with them, you quickly learn that that is not the case. Believe me, I was skeptical at first. Do they follow all those standards for quality and safety? Yes, they do. They absolutely do.” Many of Lindenmoyer’s NASA colleagues remain skeptical—even some who have visited SpaceX. “There’s quality control in development, and then there’s quality control in production,” says one agency senior manager who asked not to be named. “The history of launch vehicle development suggests that design issues might crop up in the first or second launch, but it’s the process problems that start to show up on the sixth, the seventh, and the eighth launch.” Noting that so far Musk’s team has launched only two Falcon 9s, this skeptic asks, “How does he ever get to a rate—you know, he’s talking about flying a dozen, two dozen times a year? And as they fly their vehicle, how long before they have a major accident? And are they able to sustain a major accident and still be a viable company?” Musk appears undaunted by these worries, maybe because he’s already thinking ahead to bigger ones. He says he is committed to turning Falcon 9 into “the first fully and rapidly reusable rocket” because, he says, that accomplishment is key to making spaceflight affordable and routine. To cut the cost of getting to orbit to just $100 per pound, Musk says, “you need to be able to launch multiple times a day, just like an airplane. And it’s got to be complete, so you can’t be throwing away a million dollars of expendable hardware every flight either.” Musk has targeted reusability from the start. Merlin engines, for example, are designed to fly tens of missions—provided you can get them back. An animation on SpaceX’s Web site shows how that might happen: Cast-off Falcon 9 stages reenter the atmosphere at between 17 and 25 times the speed of sound, then use their own guidance systems and engines to fly back to the launch site, where they land upright on deployable legs. A test program called Grasshopper is already in the works at SpaceX’s Texas facility. No one can predict how many years it might take to achieve full and rapid reusability, but Musk says, “it’s absolutely crucial. It’s fundamental. I would consider SpaceX to have failed if we do not succeed in that.” The insistence on reusability “drives the engineers insane,” says Vozoff. “We could’ve had Falcon 1 in orbit two years earlier than we did if Elon had just given up on first stage reusability. The qualification for the Merlin engine was far outside of what was necessary, unless you plan to recover it and reuse it. And so the engineers are frustrated because this isn’t the quickest means to the end. But Elon has this bigger picture in mind. And he forces them to do what’s hard. And I admire that about him.” Musk makes no secret of the end goal: Create a new civilization on Mars. Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., in September, he outlined the business plan—if that’s the right term for something that looks decades into the future. “If you can reduce the cost of moving to Mars to around the cost of a middle class home in California—maybe to around half a million dollars—then I think enough people would buy a ticket and move to Mars,” he said. “You obviously have to have quite an appetite for risk and adventure. But there are seven billion people on Earth now, and there’ll be probably eight billion by the midpoint of the century. So even if one in a million people decided to do that, that’s still eight thousand people. And I think probably more than one in a million people will decide to do that.” Talking about a city on Mars by the middle of this century—even as SpaceX has yet to fly its first cargo mission to Earth orbit—is one of the reasons space professionals are skeptical about Musk’s claims. Meanwhile, SpaceX has the immediate hurdle of converting the doubters with a track record of low cost and reliability. Rivals know that success would hit the rocket business like a tsunami, and at least one aerospace engineer greets that prospect with a mix of hope and doubt. “Honestly, as an American, I want them to succeed,” says Mike Hughes, who works for a company (he asked that it not be named) planning a competing crew vehicle. “If I see SpaceX failing their launches and killing crew, I will be disheartened and weakened…. I want them to be our competition.” But Hughes predicts SpaceX will have to learn the same painful lessons that every other rocket builder has. “Over time, they will experience failure. The failure will teach them that they weren’t so smart when they laid out the numbers at the beginning. Just like us, just like NASA. And they’re going to have to redesign stuff. And they’re going to have to add new tests in. And their schedules will slip, and their customers will suffer. And all of this is because what we do is just freaking hard.”President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has banned Christmas celebrations because they 'contrary to Islamic culture' Somalia has banned Christmas and New Year celebrations because they are 'contrary to Islamic culture' – days after a similar move by the Sultan of Brunei. Director General of Somalia's Ministry of Religious Affairs, Sheikh Mohamed Khayrow, warned that security forces would break-up any gatherings held in the capital Mogadishu. He said: 'All events related to Christmas and New Year celebrations are contrary to Islamic culture, which could damage aqidah (faith) of the Muslim community. 'There should be no activity at all.' Sheikh Nur Barud Gurhan, deputy chairman of the Supreme Religious Council of Somalia, said Christian events might provoke further attacks by the Muslim terror group Al Shabaab, it was reported by Ugandan daily New Vision. He said: 'We Islamic Scholars are warning against the celebration of such events which are not relevant to the principles of our religion. Such events give also Al Shabaab to carry out attacks.' In the latest attack, on Monday, passengers on board a bus bravely defied Al-Shabaab militants who ordered them to sacrifice the Christians on board during a deadly standoff in Kenya. When the 10 Al-Shabaab militants stormed the bus in the country's north, they demanded Muslim passengers separate themselves from the Christians on board. But the passengers refused - even giving some of their fellow travellers Islamic articles of clothing to wear so they could not be distinguished. A year ago, Al-Shabaab gunmen - who operate as Al Qaeda's affiliates in east Africa - stormed a Nairobi-bound bus in the same area and killed 28 non-Muslim passengers execution-style. The move comes days after the Sultan of Brunei's decision to jail Muslims who celebrate the festivities. The super-rich ruler, Hassanal Bolkiah, told residents of his country that if they plan on celebrating December 25, they could face up to five years in jail. There are fears Christian events might provoke further attacks by the Muslim terror group Al Shabaab (above) Banned Christmas: Oil-rich Brunei has banned public celebrations of Christmas for fear of Muslims being led astray. Pictured, Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah There may be no Christmas in Brunei - but there is at the nation's leader's Beverly Hills Hotel. The Sultan owns the Dorchester Collection of hotels including the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Hotel Bel Air. While non-Muslims are allowed to celebrate the holiday within their own communities, they must not disclose their plans to the nation's Muslims – which make up 65 per cent of the 420,000-strong population. Around 20 per cent of Brunei's residents are non-Muslim, including substantial Buddhist and Christian communities. 'These enforcement measures are…intended to control the act of celebrating Christmas excessively and openly, which could damage the aqidah (beliefs) of the Muslim community,' said the Ministry of Religious Affairs in a statement. The small Borneo nation prohibits propagating religion other than Islam to a Muslim, and breaking this is a violation of the penal code. Other banned activities include putting up Christmas trees, singing religious songs and sending Christmas greetings, reported the Borneo Bulletin. 'Some may think that it is a frivolous matter and should not be brought up as an issue,' the imams are quoted as saying in the Bulletin. 'But as Muslims…we must keep it [following other religions' celebrations] away as it could affect our Islamic faith.' The Los Angeles property, owned by the Sultan's Dorchester Collection, is covered in Christmas decorations - which would land a Brunei resident in jail The Dorchester Hotel in London is similarly bedecked for the Christmas season Harsh: The tiny state of Brunei on the island of Borneo is ruled by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and relies on oil and gas exports for its prosperity Religion: Around 35 per cent of Brunei's residents are non-Muslim, including substantial Buddhist and Christian communities. Pictured here is the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque and Clock in Brunei Some Burnei residents, however, are risking jail time by still celebrating Christmas and uploading pictures to social media as part of a #MyTreedom campaign that celebrates religious freedom. Imams have told followers to abide by a government edict banning celebrations that could lead Muslims astray and damage their faith The tiny state on the island of Borneo is ruled by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and relies on oil and gas exports for its prosperity. The nation embraced a harsh new penal code in April 2014, led by 68-year-old Bolkiah. At the time, he said: 'Today I place my faith in and am grateful to Allah the almighty to announce that tomorrow,Thursday, May 1 2014, will see the enforcement of Sharia law phase one, to be followed by the other phases.' The change means people can face conviction by Islamic courts and fines or jail terms for a range of offences such as pregnancy outside marriage, failure to perform Friday prayers and propagating other religions. A second phase of the law comes into effect in May this year covering theft and alcohol consumption by Muslims, which would be punishable by whipping and amputation. The death penalty, including death by stoning, will be introduced in the final phase a year later for offences such as adultery, sodomy and insulting the Koran or the Prophet Muhammad. The Sultan lives in the Istana Nurul Imam, also the seat of Brunei government (effectively the sultan and his family). The palace has over 1700 rooms and 350 toilets. The Istana is pictured here when the Sultan's daughter Princess Hajah Hafizah Sururul Bolkiah and her groom were presented to the royal court in 2012 The Sultan pictured here with his brother Jefri, known for harems and a yacht called 'Tits' Most of the laws will also apply to non-Muslims. The Sharia Penal Code calls for the stoning of people who commit a variety of sexual 'crimes' including sodomy, adultery and rape. The strict Islamic law code also includes flogging, stoning and amputation. 'By the grace of Allah, with the coming into effect of this legislation, our duty to Allah is therefore being fulfilled,' the sultan said at a legal conference in Brunei's capital last year. Even before that law was passed, there was a ten year prison sentence for gays. The land of gold-plated mosques and wooden water villages is so rich from its oil and gas resources that no one pays tax. Alcohol is also banned in the nation. Under the Sharia code theft and alcohol consumption are punishable by whippings and amputation. Smoking is also banned in public. The Sultan owns the Dorchester Collection of hotels. The chain's two American hotels are the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Hotel Bel Air. In the spring of 2014, after the move to sharia law, celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres led the charge for massive boycotts at the properties. Despite the no alcohol, no smoking and strict sexual laws in place in Brunei, the Sultan has an infamous playboy brother. Prince Jefri gained notoriety for his harems of beautiful women, his flotilla of luxury yachts including a boat named 'Tits' and his alleged misappropriation of billions of dollars while he was finance minister. The Sultan lives in the Istana Nurul Imam, also the seat of Brunei government (which is effectively the sultan and his family). The palace has a reported 1788 rooms, a 110-car garage, a stable for the sultan's 200 polo ponies, five swimming pools and 350 toilets. Implementation of Sharia law was denounced by United Nations Commission on Human Rights and also is concerning to Western workers in the oil sector and the tens of thousands of ethnic Chinese Bruneians and 30,000 mostly Roman Catholic Filipino migrant workers living in Brunei. Jewish extremist Benzi Gopstein has called for Israel to ban Christmas - days after the Sultan of Brunei's decision to jail Muslims who celebrate the festivities Meanwhile, a Jewish extremist also called for Israel to ban Christmas. Israeli anti-racism activists have called for an investigation after Benzi Gopstein urged a ban on Christmas celebrations in the country and called Christians 'vampires'. Gopstein, who heads the far-right Lehava organisation and has been arrested a number of times, made the comments in an article on the ultra-Orthodox Jewish website Kooker. 'Christmas has no place in the Holy Land,' wrote Gopstein, who lives in a Jewish settlement in Hebron in the occupied West Bank. He spoke of the 'fall of the line of defence of the Jewish people for hundreds of years against our enemies, the Catholic Church.' 'The mission of those vampires and bloodsuckers remains. If Jews cannot be killed, they can be converted,' he wrote. 'We must remove the vampires before they drink our blood once again.' The Coalition Against Racism in Israel and others have called on authorities to investigate Gopstein. In August, Israeli police questioned Gopstein after he condoned torching churches amid an uproar over recent hate crimes, including the firebombing of a Palestinian home that killed a toddler and both his parents. On June 18, an arson attack occurred at a shrine on the shores of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel where Jesus is believed to have performed the miracle of loaves and fishes. Israeli prosecutors have charged three Jewish extremists in that case.The Mets have avoided arbitration with Lucas Duda, agreeing to a one-year deal worth $1.6375MM, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (on Twitter). Duda is a client of the Beverly Hills Sports Council. Duda and the Mets submitted arbitration figures last week, with Duda filing at $1.9MM and the club filing at $1.35MM. His $1.6375MM is slightly north of the midpoint between the two figures. The soon-to-be 28-year-old slipped to a.223/.352/.415 batting line in 2013, in large part due to a decline in his BABIP that was prompted by a decreased line-drive rate. Duda still showed excellent plate discipline, walking at a 14.3 percent clip, and posted a strong.192 ISO. His 15 homers tied his 2012 mark as well. Despite persistent rumors to the contrary this offseason, it seems that the Mets will head to Spring Training with both Duda and Ike Davis on the roster. The two figure to once again compete for time at first base, but the outfield looks like less of an option for Duda after New York's winter additions of Curtis Granderson and Chris Young. He does have an option remaining (Davis does not), creating the possibility that Duda could be ticketed for Triple-A.PHNOM PENH – President Duterte may sign four agreements with Cambodia during his two-day state visit to the country, Philippine Ambassador to Cambodia Christopher Montero said. Montero said agreements on sports and tourism cooperation have been drawn up, while agreements on transnational crime and labor were being drafted. ADVERTISEMENT The agreement on sports cooperation would involve an exchange between the two countries of the best practices on sports management and training, and an exchange of sports officials. “We’d like to highlight sports as a means to foster people to people exchange,” Montero told reporters here. Cambodian sports officials have also sought a meeting with Sen. Manny Pacquiao in preparation for their hosting of the Southeast Asian games in 2023, he said. Pacquiao is hugely popular in Cambodia, and even Prime Minister Hun Sen is a fan, he said. The agreement on tourism cooperation would contain the protocol to implement an existing agreement on tourism management, tourism marketing, exchange of best practices, and the conservation of heritage sites. Montero said the agreement with Cambodia on transnational crime, which was still being drafted Tuesday, could be the first such agreement under the new administration. The police institutions of the Philippines and Cambodia, under the deal, could be expected to work together to address drug trafficking, terrorism, extremism, and financial and economic crimes, he said. “If it will be signed during the President’s visit here in Cambodia, it will be the first agreement on transnational crime under the new administration. It highlights and supports, lends an international dimension against the President’s campaign against the drug menace,” he said. The agreement on labor cooperation is still being drafted, but Montero said the Philippines and Cambodia had signed in May a declaration of cooperation on migrant workers. ADVERTISEMENT He said Cambodia was interested in vocational training because they feel the Philippines has a high level of expertise in this area. Cambodia has an education and a human resources gap because during the time of the Khmer Rouge, the entire educated class was exterminated, and this was followed by decades of civil war, he explained. Filipinos actually play a significant role in training Cambodians. Many of the more than 5,000 Filipinos in Cambodia work as managers, supervisors, professionals, and skilled workers, he pointed out. Duterte is scheduled to arrive in Phnom Penh on Tuesday evening, and would proceed to a meeting with the Filipino community. CDG Read Next LATEST STORIES MOST READIt's been more than a year since my first endeavor to setup a healthy environment to deploy Django (as I was rudely reminded by the Ubuntu repositories for my server's version ceasing to function). In that time I've learned a lot, and have also stretched my original setup to its breaking point, but inevitably the day comes for a fresh deployment with better configurations and more flexible folder layouts. From my last server setup guide, a number have things have remained the same: still using Ubuntu, Memcached, Postgres and still using Nginx as a proxy server infront of Apache2. A number of things have changed as well: using mod_wsgi over mod_python, cmemcache over python-memcached, and a more intentional folder layout along with virtualenv to make it straightforward to host multiple projects and domains (including some serving only static files or PHP scripts). More than just an update, I've also included a few side-quests like using your server as a remote Git repository over SSH, and installing pluggable Django libraries. Finally, in the vein of my previous tutorial, I tried to include every keystroke required to transform a naked Ubuntu Intrepid server into a full-featured multi-site Django-loving server. Please let me know if you run into any problems, or have suggestions on improvements! Somehow get a Ubuntu Intrepid server or VPS. (Perhaps go to your SliceHost console and request a new Slice running Ubuntu Intrepid (8.10). ;) Write down root password and IP address for your box. SSH into your server. ssh [email protected] Update your apt-get sources. apt-get upgrade Make sure there is an editor that suits your taste available on the system. Vim is pre-installed, but I prefer Emacs... apt-get install emacs Setup any non-root accounts you want, and one for Django. useradd django mkdir /home/django chown django:django /home/django useradd will mkdir /home/will chown will:will /home/will passwd will Unless you like sh, change your default shell to something more humane. chsh root -s /bin/bash chsh will -s /bin/bash chsh django -s /bin/bash (These changes won't be applied until you log in the next time.) Give your account (but not Django) root permissions. visudo Then use the down arrow for find a line that looks like this: root ALL = (ALL) ALL Replicate that with your username: root ALL = (ALL) ALL will ALL = (ALL) ALL Open a second terminal (leave the first one logged in while we keep configuring SSH, incase something goes horribly awry), and SSH in as your non-root user. ssh [email protected] Verify it works, then exit back to your system. Now it's time to setup password-less login. Return to your home system, scp ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub [email protected]:~/ ssh [email protected] mkdir.ssh mv id_dsa.pub.ssh/authorized_keys chmod go-w ~/.ssh/authorized_keys ~/.ssh/ Now exit and ssh back in. You should have been logged in without needing to supply your
. Robot” was nominated for Outstanding Writing, Outstanding Music Composition, Outstanding Casting and Outstanding Sound Mixing. The show has picked up a slew of awards on the road to the Emmys, previously being named a TV Program of the Year by the AFI, in addition to winning a Peabody Award and three Critics Choice Awards, including Best Drama and acting gongs for Malek and Slater.As a new law regulating drones in Rockland gets ready for liftoff, critics say it's vague or can't trump FAA regulations. Vinny Garrison's quadcopter and monitor were used while filming at a house for sale in Rockland County. (Photo: Vinny Garrison) Story Highlights A law regulating drones in Rockland will go into effect sometime in the next few months. The Rockland Legislature passed the law and County Executive Ed Day criticized but did not veto it. Note: An earlier version of this article was published in error. For the past year and a half, Vinny Garrison's been running a growing business shooting aerial photos and videos across Rockland — everything from weddings to the cranes hovering above the Tappan Zee Bridge. He's got a pair of drones — he calls them quadcopters — that he launches for jobs like real estate shots, and he just shot Clarkstown's fireworks display. But the Nanuet resident's worried the county's new drone law could make him — and even hobbyists who fly radio-controlled devices — law-breakers. The measure passed the Rockland Legislature in June and will go into effect sometime in the next few months. County Executive Ed Day harshly criticized it but didn't shoot it down. Sign up today for The Rockland Angle, a nightly email newsletter exclusively for Rockland County news, by going to lohud.com/newsletters, checking the "Rockland Angle" box and submitting your email address. The devices will be limited to the user's private property, and private or public property with permission of the property's owner. The law also prohibits the use of drones within 100 feet of the jail, government buildings, schools and houses of worship. The law was drafted by Rockland Legislator Jay Hood Jr. after Sheriff Lou Falco said he'd heard reports about drones being used to smuggle contraband and weapons into jails around the country. Apparently any local police department will be able to enforce the law. Two calls to Falco about how his department, or any other, might handle an unmanned aerial vehicle that's gone astray, weren't returned this week. Garrison says the new restrictions are vague and unnecessary because of existing laws and Federal Aviation Administration regulations. If he's taking aerial photos for a real estate job, his quadcopters inevitably hover over a neighbor's property, or maybe the Hudson River. Are these violations, he wonders? NEWSLETTERS Get the Breaking News newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-888-426-6388. Delivery: Varies Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for Breaking News Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters "What if you're flying recreationally? You're basically criminalizing their hobby … it doesn't delineate between commercial and non-commercial users," says Garrison, who runs Flying Films NY. Hood has brushed off criticism of the law's intent. "I believe it should cover anything that flies by remote control because anything that flies in the air is inherently dangerous if flown around people or property," Hood told me last month. The growth of drones' popularity may be outstripping the government's ability to regulate them. The FAA has adopted interim guidelines and a final version could be ready by year's end, said John Flynn, an assistant chief with the Yonkers Fire Department who's conducting research in this area as it relates to homeland security. Flynn believes Rockland can't regulate airspace without consulting the FAA and governments themselves can't launch unmanned aerial vehicles without authorization. Hood disagrees. "It is our belief that we are allowed to regulate aircraft under 55 pounds," he said in an email. "There is a question of whether we can regulate commercial use of drones, however there are regulations already in place that require permission from the FAA to fly drones for commercial purposes." Hood continued, "This law will go into effect and if someone chooses to challenge it in court, that court can decide its validity. I am OK with that, I believe it is a fair and reasonable regulation to require permission to fly over anyone's property not owned by that person." As Rockland prepares for the drone law's liftoff (or touchdown), questions about whom it affects or protects are still, well, up in the air. Robert Brum is a columnist and editor of The Rockland Angle. Twitter:@Bee_bob Read or Share this story: http://lohud.us/1IYToJPMake America Awesome, a PAC opposing Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump, has run Facebook ads for Utah users ahead of the state’s caucus. The ad, seen above, features a photo from Melania Trump’s GQ photoshoot taken shortly before her marriage to Trump. The ad is aimed at increasing turnout among Utah’s LDS (Mormon) population, estimated at 62 percent of the population and likely a higher percentage of the state’s Republican electorate given their status as the most conservative religious group. Buzzfeed editor McKay Coppins, himself a Mormon, shared a screenshot of the ad: Anti-Trump group is running Facebook ads to drive up Mormon turnout in Utah and Arizona. https://t.co/v6ZZPKPMPp pic.twitter.com/Gps5KPbb2T — McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) March 21, 2016 Trump was naturally unhappy, and tweeted a cryptic threat to Ted Cruz, the candidate supported in the ad, about his own wife: Lyin' Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad. Be careful, Lyin' Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2016 While Cruz distanced himself from the ad in a reply, he didn’t mince words for Trump himself: Pic of your wife not from us. Donald, if you try to attack Heidi, you're more of a coward than I thought. #classless https://t.co/0QpKSnjgnE — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 23, 2016 The two latest Utah polls show Trump down 24 and 21 points to Cruz, and possibly losing to Kasich as well, according to RealClearPolitics. A major reason is high unfavorability among Mormons, who tend to disagree with his history of left-leaning social positions, his hardline stances on immigration and Islam, and the tone of his campaign. Trump also has a history of criticizing Mormonism: Coppins reported that in a 2014 interview with Trump, the future candidate blamed Mitt Romney’s 2012 loss on his “alien” faith, and Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson failed to distinguish between criminal fundamentalist LDS sects and the mainstream LDS Church in previous interviews. Trump’s unpopularity with Mormons is such that, despite 50 years of runaway Republican victories, a recent Deseret News poll shows that a Trump ticket for the Republicans would lose to both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton in a general election.Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III appealed to the public on Wednesday not to “misinterpret” the statement of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte that corruption is the root cause of media killings in the country. “Do not mistake or misinterpret the statement of the President. Ang sinabi lang naman ng Presidente, we have freedom of the press but we also have to be responsible in exercising it and given the nature of the Filipinos, sometimes they resort to violence and the Constitution can’t protect you from violence,” Pimentel said in an interview at the Senate. ADVERTISEMENT “But what has not been stated is that these people who violate the law by employing violence must be brought to justice. ‘Yan ang importante. So media killing man ‘yan, or killing of a business person, or killing of an innocent person, all of these killers must be brought to justice. That’s very important,” he said. READ: Laviña says Duterte ‘taken out of context’ on journalist killings Duterte is chairman of PDP-Laban, while Pimentel is president. Reports have quoted the President-elect as saying that some journalists have been killed because they either took bribes or they took sides. “It’s not because you’re a journalist you’re exempted from assassination if you’re a son of a b****,” Duterte said. READ: Duterte endorses killing corrupt journalists “The Constitution can no longer help you ‘pag binaboy mo isang tao. Your freedom of expression can’t help you if you’ve done something wrong with the guy,” he further said. READ: Duterte: Media corruption root cause of journalists’ killings Asked if Duterte was justifying the media killings, Pimentel said: “Hindi nga e… Mini-misinterpret n’yo nga e. Alam n’yo naman na ‘yun lang ang na-omit, na hindi sinabi.” ADVERTISEMENT (No… You misinterpreted it. You know it was just omitted, that it wasn’t mentioned.) “Sinabi lang n’ya, may nasaktan, na ‘yung nasaktan took the law into his own hands and employed violent means. Therefore, you can’t use the Constitution to protect you kasi nga sinaktan ka na o pinatay ka na… but it doesn’t mean na the killers; sabi nga ni incoming President Duterte, gusto n’yang ibalik ang death penalty sa drugs, sa rapist, at saka sa murderers. Hindi pa ba klaro ‘yun? These people are also murderers and they must be brought to the bar of justice,” the senator added. (He just said that someone was hurt and that someone took the law into his own hands and employed violent means. Therefore, you can’t use the Constitution to protect you just because you were hurt or killed… but it doesn’t mean the killers; incoming President Duterte even said he wants to bring back the death penalty to drug users, rapists, and murderers. Isn’t that clear? These people are also murderers and they must be brought to the bar of justice.) JE Read Next LATEST STORIES MOST READA 20-year old girl, Meerzadi, was gunned down by her father in Badin district's Haji Soomro area for 'honour', Dawn learnt on Monday morning. Talking to Dawn.com, Mohammad Ibrahim Soomro, the accused who surrendered to Tando Bago police, claimed that he had killed his daughter for honour. "My daughter had married Mohammad Ayub Rajar from Mirpurkhas without our consent six months ago," Soomro said. Anwer Ali Leghari, station house officer (SHO) Tando Bago, confirmed that the murder was an "honour killing", adding that a first information report was being registered on the complaint of Allah Bux Soomro, the brother of the murdered girl. The body of the deceased girl was handed over to her relatives after her post-mortem examination. According to residents of the area, Meerzadi's brothers and father had taken her with them under the false promise that they would marry the couple off in a traditional manner.Finding largest tables on MySQL instance is no brainier in MySQL 5.0+ thanks to Information Schema but I still wanted to post little query I use for the purpose so I can easily find it later, plus it is quite handy in a way it presents information: SELECT CONCAT(table_schema, '.', table_name), CONCAT(ROUND(table_rows / 1000000, 2), 'M') rows, CONCAT(ROUND(data_length / ( 1024 * 1024 * 1024 ), 2), 'G') DATA, CONCAT(ROUND(index_length / ( 1024 * 1024 * 1024 ), 2), 'G') idx, CONCAT(ROUND(( data_length + index_length ) / ( 1024 * 1024 * 1024 ), 2), 'G') total_size, ROUND(index_length / data_length, 2) idxfrac FROM information_schema.TABLES ORDER BY data_length + index_length DESC LIMIT 10; +-------------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+------------+---------+ | concat(table_schema,'.',table_name) | rows | data | idx | total_size | idxfrac | +-------------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+------------+---------+ | art87.link_out87 | 37.25M | 14.83G | 14.17G | 29.00G | 0.96 | | art87.article87 | 12.67M | 15.83G | 4.79G | 20.62G | 0.30 | | art116.article116 | 10.49M | 12.52G | 3.65G | 16.18G | 0.29 | | art84.article84 | 10.10M | 10.11G | 3.59G | 13.70G | 0.35 | | art104.link_out104 | 23.66M | 6.63G | 6.55G | 13.18G | 0.99 | | art118.article118 | 7.06M | 10.49G | 2.68G | 13.17G | 0.26 | | art106.article106 | 9.86M | 10.19G | 2.76G | 12.95G | 0.27 | | art85.article85 | 6.20M | 9.82G | 2.51G | 12.33G | 0.26 | | art91.article91 | 8.66M | 9.17G | 2.66G | 11.83G | 0.29 | | art94.article94 | 5.21M | 10.10G | 1.69G | 11.79G | 0.17 | +-------------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+------------+---------+ 10 rows in set (2 min 29.19 sec) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 SELECT CONCAT ( table_schema, '.', table_name ), CONCAT ( ROUND ( table_rows / 1000000, 2 ), 'M' ) rows, CONCAT ( ROUND ( data_length / ( 1024 * 1024 * 1024 ), 2 ), 'G' ) DATA, CONCAT ( ROUND ( index_length / ( 1024 * 1024 * 1024 ), 2 ), 'G' ) idx, CONCAT ( ROUND ( ( data_length + index _ length ) / ( 1024 * 1024 * 1024 ), 2 ), 'G' ) total_size, ROUND ( index_length / data_length, 2 ) idxfrac FROM information_schema.TABLES ORDER BY data_length + index_length DESC LIMIT 10 ; + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - + -- -- -- -- + -- -- -- -- + -- -- -- -- + -- -- -- -- -- -- + -- -- -- -- - + | concat ( table_schema, '.', table_name ) | rows | data | idx | total_size | idxfrac | + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - + -- -- -- -- + -- -- -- -- + -- -- -- -- + -- -- -- -- -- -- + -- -- -- -- - + | art87.link_out87 | 37.25M | 14.83G | 14.17G | 29.00G | 0.96 | | art87.article87 | 12.67M | 15.83G | 4.79G | 20.62G | 0.30 | | art116.article116 | 10.49M | 12.52G | 3.65G | 16.18G | 0.29 | | art84.article84 | 10.10M | 10.11G | 3.59G | 13.70G | 0.35 | | art104.link_out104 | 23.66M | 6.63G | 6.55G | 13.18G | 0.99 | | art118.article118 | 7.06M | 10.49G | 2.68G | 13.17G | 0.26 | | art106.article106 | 9.86M | 10.19G | 2.76G | 12.95G | 0.27 | | art85.article85 | 6.20M | 9.82G | 2.51G | 12.33G | 0.26 | | art91.article91 | 8.66M | 9.17G | 2.66G | 11.83G | 0.29 | | art94.article94 | 5.21M | 10.10G | 1.69G | 11.79G | 0.17 | + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - + -- -- -- -- + -- -- -- -- + -- -- -- -- + -- -- -- -- -- -- + -- -- -- -- - + 10 rows in set ( 2 min 29.19 sec ) I do some converting and rounding to see number of rows in millions and data and index size in GB so I can save on counting zeros. The last column shows how much does the index take compared to the data which is mainly for informational purposes but for MyISAM can also help you to size your key buffer compared to operating system cache. I also use it to see which tables may be worth to review in terms of indexes. Large index size compared to data size often indicates there is a lot of indexes (so it is well possible there are some duplicates, redundant or simply unused indexes among them) or may be there is long primary key with Innodb tables. Of course it also could be perfectly fine tables but it is worth to look. Changing the query a bit to look for different sorting order or extra data – such as average row length you can learn quite a lot about your schema this way. It is also worth to note queries on information_schema can be rather slow if you have a lot of large tables. On this instance it took 2.5 minutes to run for 450 tables. UPDATE: To make things easier I’ve added INFORMATION_SCHEMA to the query so it works whatever database you have active. It does not work with MySQL before 5.0 still of course 🙂A slide leaked to occasionally-accurate Turkish website Donahim Haber purports to showcase some of the features of AMD's next-generation Bulldozer core, codenamed 'Piledriver.' This is the same CPU core the company's upcoming'Trinity'mobile APU will be based on. Other leaked slides have implied that Trinity will be released more quickly than first anticipated, which makes this information downright timely.As always, keep in mind that Donahim Haber is a rumor site. The slide, however, is a rumor that makes sense. A 10 percent performance jump from Bulldozer to Piledriver is a reasonable increase for a quick architectural refresh. The chip keeps BD's cache layouts and supports version 3.0 of AMD's Turbo Core!. At a guess, this may be a suite of more-advanced power gating and clocking functionalities--it may be that the primary features of TC 3.0 are aimed at Trinity.The chip also supports new instructions. FMA3 is an Intel-supported instruction for fused multiply-adds. The current state of FMA3/FMA4 (AMD's version) support is a bit confused, but Bulldozer won't ship with FMA3 support. Adding it to Piledriver could improve performance in certain workloads, once compilers are updated to take advantage of the new capability. This last is essential, and it's part of why Bulldozer's performance may improve over time--several of the chip's features may require compiler support to function optimally. New BMI (bit manipulation instructions) could improve the performance of certain loops or conditions.The one thing we'd have liked to see that isn't mentioned here is any difference in power consumption between the two chips. Oftentimes, companies are able to optimize die layouts from one generation to the next as a means of reducing power, even on the same process. In this case, power savings translate into higher available clock speeds, and that's an option that could only benefit AMD. The company will be taking its eight-core (and higher) products into battle in the server sector next year, and lower TDPs would give AMD room to compete with current Xeons by increasing clock speeds more aggressively.Other options are as expected. Piledriver will continue to support DDR3-1866 via dual-channel memory (you'll have to buy a server platform if you want quad-channel RAM), AMD is apparently sticking with the AM3+ platform, and the 9-series chipset (again, according to this rumor) will form the backbone of product support. We'd be surprised if AMD doesn't debut a 10-series chipset along with a second-generation Bulldozer, particularly since the company's Radeon HD 7000 products will supposedly support PCIe 3.0.Bulldozer is expected to drop in the very near future, with Trinity possibly shipping as early as Q1 2012. No word on Piledriver, but a refresh sometime in H1 2012 would make sense.Mario Balotelli left out of Italy squad for Euro 2016 Mario Balotelli has not been included in Italy's squad for Euro 2016 Mario Balotelli has been left out of Italy's squad for this summer's European Championship. The Liverpool forward, who spent the 2015-16 season on loan at AC Milan, was not included in the provisional squad announced by head coach Antonio Conte last week as he was due to play in the Coppa Italia final against Juventus. But Conte has now included players from AC Milan, Juventus and other teams who were involved in cup finals at the weekend in his squad, with Balotelli and veteran midfielder Andrea Pirlo notable absentees. Head coach Antonio Conte (L) has decided not to pick the Liverpool striker From the Premier League, Southampton forward Graziano Pelle, Manchester United right-back Matteo Darmian and West Ham centre-back Angelo Ogbonna have all been included. A statement from the Italian football federation said Conte, who will take over at Chelsea following the finals in France, will name his final 23-man squad for Euro 2016 on May 31. Italy host Scotland in a pre-tournament friendly in Malta on Sunday, and then face Finland on June 6 in Verona. Conte has included Southampton forward Graziano Pelle (L) Italy squad for second Euro 2016 training camp: Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Federico Marchetti (Lazio), Salvatore Sirigu (Paris Saint-Germain). Defenders: Davide Astori (Fiorentina), Andrea Barzagli (Juventus), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Angelo Ogbonna (West Ham), Daniele Rugani (Juventus). Midfielders: Marco Benassi (Torino), Federico Bernardeschi (Fiorentina), Giacomo Bonaventura (Milan), Antonio Candreva (Lazio), Matteo Darmian (Manchester United), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Mattia De Sciglio (AC Milan), Stephan El Shaarawy (Roma), Alessandro Florenzi (Roma), Emanuele Giaccherini (Bologna), Jorge Luiz Jorginho (Napoli), Riccardo Montolivo (AC Milan), Thiago Motta (Paris Saint-Germain), Marco Parolo (Lazio), Stefano Sturaro (Juventus), Davide Zappacosta (Torino). Forwards: Citadin Martins Eder (Inter Milan), Ciro Immobile (Torino), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli), Graziano Pelle (Southampton), Simone Zaza (Juventus).Original Version The Rugrats really were a figment of Angelica's demonic and unimaginable imagination. Chuckie died in 1986 along with his mother, that's why Chaz is a nervous wreck all the time. Tommy was born in 1988, but he was a stillborn, that's why Stu is constantly in the basement making toys for the son who never had a chance to live. The DeVilles had an abortion in 1990, Angelica couldn't figure whether it would be a boy or a girl thus creating the twins. As for "All Grown Up" the teenage Angelica became addicted to various narcotics which further aggravated her Schizophrenia, bringing her back to her childhood and thus her creations she obsessed over, because of time lapse between the present and the last time she interacted with her creations, she made them older. Angelica was constantly taking hits of acid, so she would never have to live without her creations who were her only company. In a judgmental world, Angelica's mom actually died of a heroine overdose in 1982 just after Angelica was born, and Drew in his depression married a gold digging whore that Angelica idolized because she fooled herself into thinking it was her real mom but always had a concept of her mom, Cynthia, and took a barbie doll and made it after her mom's image, wearing an unwashed orange dress and having jacked up hair, which is why she was so attached to it. Later in life she followed in her mom's footsteps with drugs and everything, dying of overdose at age 13 when 'All Grown Up!' was "cancelled". The only rugrat not to be fictional however, was unborn Tommy's brother Dil. However, Angelica didn't know the difference between Dil and her creations, although Dil didn't follow her commands. After endless crying and a refusal to disappear like the others did when Angelica was angry with them, she hit him. Due to this, he sustained a brain hemorrhage, which resulted in a deformation. As he grew up, his damage only became more evident and by the time he was 9 in "All Grown Up!" he lived as an outcast, being ridiculed for his weirdness and retardation. The immense guilt over this is what led Angelica to her drug use and is what led Angelica to un-create the Rugrats briefly, until her experience with hallucinogenics. On a trip to Paris to find love, Chaz married a woman named Kira (He was actually going to marry a different woman named Coco, but she just wanted him for his money.) who had a daughter named Kimi that was torn from her because she was a cocaine addict (Angelica imagined her from Kira's stories). He lost his mind after the death of his wife and was in denial that she was ever prostitute. Upon return to America, Chaz and Kira married and she got her greencard. It was actually a really happy and romantic story. Kira continually struggled with addiction, but was relatively happy with her life and Chaz Suzie was actually Angelica's only friend, who entertained the thought of Angelica's creations, for her sake. Angelica spent the last days of her life in the back of the school cafeteria, imagining friends around her and playing with the lives of her creations. "Tweaked" version The Rugrats really were a figment of Angelica's imagination. Chuckie died a long time ago along with his mother; that's why Chaz is a nervous wreck all the time. Tommy was a stillborn; that's why Stu is constantly in the basement making toys for the son who never had a chance to live. The DeVilles had an abortion. Angelica couldn't figure whether it would be a boy or a girl, thus creating the twins. As for "All Grown Up," Angelica was a bipolar schizophrenic, who, as a teenager, became addicted to various narcotics, bringing her back to her childhood, thus creating a world in her mind that she obsessed over. Because of the time lapse between the present and the last time she interacted with her imaginary world, she made them older. Angelica was constantally taking hits of acid so she would never have to live without her creations. To her, her creations were her only company in a judgemental world. Angelica's mom actually died of a heroin overdose. Angelica was schizophrenic and bipolar because she was a crack baby. Additionally, Drew, in his depression, married a gold digging whore that Angelica idolized because she fooled herself into thinking it was her real mom. However, she always had a concept of her mom, Cynthia. She used a barbie doll to mirror her birth mother's image—wearing an unwashed orange dress and jacked up hair—which is why she was so attached to it. Later in life she followed in her mother's footsteps, dying of overdose at age 13 when "All Grown Up!" was "cancelled." The only rugrat not to be fictional however, was unborn Tommy's brother, Dil. However, Angelica didn't know the difference between Dil and her creations. Dil didn't follow her commands and after endless crying and a refusal to disappear like the others did when Angelica was angry with them, so she hit him. After she hit him, he screamed a screeching tune, and Stu ran in and pulled his neice off of his only child, but it was too late. Dil had a brain hemorrage, which resulted in a deformation. As he grew up, his damage only became more evident, and by the time he was 9 in "All Grown Up!" he lived as an outcast, being ridiculed for his weirdness and retardation. The immense guilt over this is what caused Angelica to start using drugs, and to un-create the rugrats briefly, until her experience with hallucinogenics. Chaz lost his mind after the death of his first wife and was in denial that she was ever a prostitute. On a trip to Paris to find love, Chaz fell in love with a hooker named Kira (He was originally going to marry a different hooker, but she just wanted him for his money). Kira once had a daughter named Kimi, but the baby was torn from her by law due to her cocaine addiction. (Angelica imagined Kimi from Kira's stories.) Upon return to America, Chaz and Kira married and she got her greencard. It was a surprisingly happy and romantic story. Kira continually stuggled with addiction, but was relatively happy with her new life with Chaz. Suzie was Angelica's only friend, who entertained the thought of Angelica's creations because they seemed to make her happy. She later became a psychologist and teamed up with Nickelodeon to make the Rugrats. When Angelica died of the overdose, Suzie helped arrange her funeral. Because of her addictions and her mental state, Angelica was expelled from society, which lead to a break with reality and her eventual death. She spent the last days of her life in the back of the school cafeteria, imagining friends around her and playing with the lives of her creations.(Check out our complete collection of Underwater and Oceanic Oddities.) Whether a luxury habitat or humble floating home, do you ever dream of sailing off into the sunset in your very own houseboat? Some of these are dreamy but completely out of reach while others you may be able to afford but wouldn’t want for the world. This collection spans the extremes of design and brute-force ingenuity: from the obscenely luxurious to the absurdly simple (and click here for more underwater and oceanic oddities). The Trilobis 65 is a semi-submerged masterpiece of cutting-edge design and ecological engineering. These modular living spaces are designed to be plugged into a network of docks, free to roam or to aggregate as desired. Residents enter into a common space on a main floor before moving into a lower observation deck with 365-degree views of the surrounding underwater environment or private cabin spaces above. For some a floating home is a luxury or a hobby, but for others it may soon be (or already is) an absolute necessity. Take residents of Amsterdam for example: 20% of the country is already underwater and concerns about life on land have prompted some creative designs for future living. Necessity is the mother of invention and this case is no exception with Dutch designers stepping up to the challenge of creating modern floating homes suitable to more permanent living. The German firm of Floating Homes GMBH has developed a number of sleek models, designs and real-life prototypes that take cutting edge German architectural design out onto the water. Some of their designs look like normal residences floating on flat modernist planes in oceanic space while others seem adapted to their dual purpose of resting and as well as gliding along the surface of the water. The Jelly-Fish 45 is arguably the most ambitious approach to marine living yet devised. At 33 feet high and 45 feet wide, this structure blows most houseboats out of the water. Like the Trilobis the Jelly-Fish submerged lower deck for dining, drinking and viewing ocean life. Of course, at $2.5 million per unit one would expect only the best. A spiral staircase joins the five stories of the floating habitat and ample windows accommodate views in all directions from all levels. At the entire opposite end of the spectrum, these represent the ultimate in budget floating accommodations. What does one really need to live on the water after all? Just a platform and a shelter, right? Well, one simple way is to combine the two necessary elements using the cheapest and easiest objects available: a simple floating surface and a ready-made trailer or mobile home. Prefer something upscale but can’t afford to buy it? Try one of these amazing underwater and ocean-going hotels instead!Fantasy world-building has been a bit of a passion of mine ever since the first time my older brother called me a faggot. I was around 7 or 8 at the time, I think. Not sure. Either way, I ran to my room crying, and after feeling sorry for myself for long enough, I picked up a piece of paper and started to draw. I drew a pretty cool guy with a scar across his eye. I decided that he was a paladin and he was a complete badass because he wielded two swords. His name was probably Xenith, or something. I ended up writing a short story about Xenith where he was plucked from obscurity (by prophecy) and met a hot elven woman and a bland cast of supporting characters, and together they ventured out and saved the world from the gathering forces of evil. Now, I’m not saying that The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches (Keeper Martin’s Tales, Book 1), the self-published novel by Robert Stanek, was written under the exact same circumstances, but the story is juvenile enough for me to suspect so. This book is guilty of every tired old fantasy cliché possible – purple prose, wise elves, an adventurous princess that’s sick of palace life, some place called Alderan, a naïve young boy battling evil’s temptation, and apostrophes stuffed into the middle of names to make them sound cool. For example, there’s a character called Br’yan. Not Bryan. Fucking Br’yan.“Sunrise loomed across the horizon, pale as jasmine and mostly obscured by dark, feral clouds” is how Stanek decided to start The Kingdoms. Dramatic weather is a very bland, unimaginative way to start a story, regardless of how many confusing adjectives you throw at it (picture a feral cloud, please.) Not every book needs to start off with an “it was the best of times…,” “all this happened, more or less…,” or “the past is a foreign country…” to end up good, but don’t dark-and-stormy-night me, Stanek. Though this isn’t the worst example of writing in The Kingdoms, it’s the first, and I’m willing to bet that this sentence alone landed Stanek’s manuscript in dozens of reject-piles at publishing houses. After these first few words, I was kind of excited, because I thought this might be where the book was going: Sunrise loomed across the horizon, pale as jasmine and mostly obscured by dark, feral clouds. Glancing up from her cluttered desk, a publisher sat entranced by the confusing visage. Pausing for a moment to consider the state of all things, she sighed deeply and deftly tossed this book into the trash. And so this story never existed. The End. But unfortunately, the book didn’t proceed as such. Instead, it expanded into a classic high fantasy tale about various characters moving about different parts of the world while evil stirs at the kingdom’s frontiers. At one point the semi-evil boy is kidnapped from his room and led into the woods by an old man who just says “don’t worry, I am a Watcher.” But unlike the real-life scenario, this is actually a good thing. The distant characters eventually meet up – at least I presume they will, since the book ends out of nowhere, but I know there are three more in the series, so I’m guessing that they will eventually vanquish the evil together. But along the way, we are treated to lovely prose such as this (I’d recommend taking a breath and reading the following sentence aloud):Kristen Larson | In Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48 (2010), the Supreme Court of the United States held that a Florida law which allowed juveniles to be sentenced to life without parole for nonhomicide crimes was unconstitutional. The Court reasoned that juveniles’ immaturity makes them susceptible to outside forces and incapable of the “reprehensible” behavior that is committed by adult offenders. Id. at 68. Therefore, they “cannot be reliably ‘classified among the worst offenders.’” Henry v. Florida, SC12-578 (2015), quoting id. quoting Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005). In Miller v. Alabama, 132 S. Ct. 2455 (2012), the U.S. Supreme Court stated specifically
police said.Yesterday, we brought you the news from Spain that Manchester United had signed an agreement with a certain José Mourinho for him to take over at the end of the season. El Confidencial had a lengthy article explaining the effects this would have on Pep Guardiola, and that Van Gaal would not be seeing out the last year of his contract at Old Trafford. Well, since then, many other outlets in Spain have also confirmed the news, including Radio COPE in their show El Partido de las 12. Taking to Twitter to summarise their report, the show explained that Manchester United are determined to keep Louis Van Gaal until the end of the season, barring any disastrous results in the next few games. However, they also report the Premier League club has held various discussions with Mourinho for him to, in case of a cessation, take over, to which the Portuguese manager has said ‘OK’ and is ready to wait, pleased to be able to manage United. COPE aren’t the only ones reporting this, as Marca also claim to have had it confirmed by sources that Mourinho will be taking over as manager. If LVG were to be sacked, Marca claim that Giggs would take over until the end of June, but that from the 1st of July onwards, the role is Mourinho’s. While this is not as strong as what El Confidencial reported yesterday, it would seem to go along with the idea that Manchester United have decided there is only one man capable of scuppering Manchester City’s plans for domination with Pep Guardiola, and they are determined to get him in for next season. With reports both from Italy and Spain emerging that an agreement between Mourinho and United is getting closer (or is done), it’s starting to become difficult to ignore the fact something could be happening behind the scenes. Unless you really don’t want him at United, in which case, stick your fingers in your ears and sing yourself a song. Also, don’t read this article. Too late. Tom Coast. TweetThe Gundam Series has captivated audiences with mecha suit mayhem, futuristic settings, and countless battles for decades, and for the past 15 ears, Masakazu Ogawa has been a pivotal producer for the franchise. Gundam’s latest incarnation was Iron-Blooded Orphans, a two season anime known for its stark political themes and brutal violence in the context of a Martian war. At Anime NYC, Asian Crush was fortunate enough to receive a brief double interview with Ogawa-San as well as Kyle McCarley, the English voice of protagonist Mikazuki. Ogawa began by speaking to where he hopes the franchise is headed. “Gundam Wing is being released again, and we hope with it, there will be new and rising Gundam fever, once more among the fans,” he said. “We’re always keeping the audience in mind and always mindful of wanting to add new themes and stories that will be impactful and resonate with the audience.” Otter (AsianCrush): Were any of the events on the show inspired by real world events or anything from history? Masakazu Ogawa: I have to say, the story is always worked out between the director, the screenwriter, and myself as the producer, and when we brainstormed the plot and overall storyline, we kind of just put ourselves in a room and came up with it. We weren’t really inspired or influenced by any particular or current event. Were there any fan or critical reactions that surprised you over the course of the series and its release? Ogawa: As you may know if you have seen the series, there are a lot of kind of really deep and dark plots, and so it made quite an impression on the fans. Very impactful! In fact, even those of us who were working on it, I have to say we felt a little wounded watching it, but that’s kind of what we aimed for when we were creating the series. It wasn’t just a reaction from the fans—those of us who created it went through many of the same emotions! Kyle McCarley: I think I can jump on this one actually, just on a specific level. I remember at Anime Expo two years ago, it came about on the panel or somewhere there that Biscuit was such a beloved character. And while it’s framed on the show that everybody else on the show really cares about him, I don’t know if the creative staff really realized just how much the fans appreciated the character. At that moment, in Season One (spoilers!)—the fan response made that moment much more powerful! Ogawa: Well, I have to respond as someone on the production team. I mean, we were very well aware of how both physically good looking but also personality wise, Biscuit was a very good character. We thought it would be very shocking to the audience to kill him off. We were very careful in writing all the scripts. It was plotted out pretty early on that he was going to die. What were the greatest challenges you both faced in producing the series and acting for it? Ogawa: I have to say the greatest challenge was trying to figure out the climax and how to tie it all up. The reason being, all of us on the creative team, we had been working on the series for quite awhile at that point, and we had deep bonds and investments to all the characters. So trying to come up with how best to do the ending and what the ending would be I would say was the biggest challenge. McCarley: For me, I would say it was when we changed ADR directors between Season One and Season Two. And that’s not to say anything negative about either one of them! Chris Cassin who directed Season One, and Lex Lang who directed Season Two are both great, but they have different approaches creatively. So it was a little bit of an adjustment period, and also, getting Lex familiarized with everything that had happened in Season One. That posed a bit of a challenge. Can you elaborate on the differences in directing styles? McCarley: I feel like Chris Casin. I compare him to a Clint Eastwood style of direction, where he’s kind of like “if the first take is good, move on!” He doesn’t spend a whole lot of time honing in and trying to milk something out that maybe isn’t there. That can kind of be his approach, and I love it for what it is, but there’s also other directing styles. Lex kind of veers towards kind of trying to finesse things a bit more, and trying to find something else in those takes. And sometimes that really helps. That was one adjustment. In closing, Ogawa talked about the evolution of the industry.In a first step toward engineering a drug-free Cannabis plant for hemp fiber and oil, University of Minnesota researchers have identified genes producing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive substance in marijuana. Studying the genes could also lead to new and better drugs for pain, nausea and other conditions. The finding is published in the September issue of the Journal of Experimental Botany. Lead author is David Marks, a professor of plant biology in the College of Biological Sciences. The study revealed that the genes are active in tiny hairs covering the flowers of Cannabis plants. In marijuana, the hairs accumulate high amounts of THC, whereas in hemp the hairs have little. Hemp and marijuana are difficult to distinguish apart from differences in THC. With the genes identified, finding a way to silence them - and thus produce a drug-free plant - comes a step closer to reality. Another desirable step is to make drug-free plants visually recognizable. Since the hairs can be seen with a magnifying glass, this could be accomplished by engineering a hairless Cannabis plant. The researchers are currently using the methods of the latest study to identify genes that lead to hair growth in hopes of silencing them. "We are beginning to understand which genes control hair growth in other plants, and the resources created in our study will allow us to look for similar genes in Cannabis sativa," said Marks. "Cannabis genetics can contribute to better agriculture, medicine, and drug enforcement," said George Weiblen, an associate professor of plant biology and a co-author of the study. As with Dobermans and Dachshunds, marijuana and hemp are different breeds of the same species (Cannabis sativa), but marijuana contains much more THC than hemp, which is a source of industrial fiber and nutritious oil. Hemp was raised for its fiber - which is similar to cotton but more durable - in the United States until legislation outlawed all Cannabis plants because they contain THC. Today, marijuana contains as much as 25 percent THC, whereas hemp plants contain less than 0.3 percent. Hemp was once a popular crop in the upper Midwest because it tolerates a cool climate and marginal soils that won't support other crops but, after drug legislation, hemp fiber was replaced by plastic and other alternatives. Recent popular demand for hemp products has led some states to consider the economic and environmental benefits of hemp. North Dakota legislation aims to reintroduce it as a crop, and Minnesota is considering similar legislation. At the same time, California and other states permit the medicinal use of marijuana. "I can't think of a plant so regarded as a menace by some and a miracle by others," says Weiblen, who is one of the few researchers in the United States permitted to study Cannabis genetics. In 2006, Weiblen and colleagues developed a DNA "fingerprinting" technique capable of distinguishing among Cannabis plants in criminal investigations. Source: Patty Mattern University of MinnesotaDarrelle Revis was seated at his locker earlier this month when someone asked if one of his teammates has stood out to him as a leader during the spring portion of practice. “Demario,” Revis said, pointing toward the temporary locker in the middle of the Jets locker room occupied by rookie linebacker Demario Davis. “A rookie?” Revis was asked. “He’s vocal,” the All-Pro cornerback replied. “You don’t frown on that. You accept that. He still has a lot of things to learn. But just to have those leadership qualities, you can tell where he came from. You can tell he was a leader in college.” This is what the Jets had in mind when they selected Davis in the third round of April’s NFL Draft out of Arkansas State. This is what coach Rex Ryan saw when he sat down to interview Davis a few weeks before the draft. It is what led him to compare Davis to Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis moments after Davis left the room, a comparison he later made public. Ryan was not comparing Davis’ ability to Lewis, who he pointed out is one of a kind. But he saw something in Davis’ mannerisms and in his face when he spoke about the game. When the Jets’ pick came up in the third round, they jumped on Davis, a pick some felt was a reach. But during organized team activities and two mini-camps Davis has stood out. The Jets already are using him in their sub packages, moving him inside and outside, on and off the line of scrimmage. “I have not been disappointed one bit,” Ryan said. “This is what you get. He’s the first guy on the practice field, the last guy to leave. He’s bright-eyed, he can’t wait, can’t wait to get in the classroom, can’t wait to get on the field, be with his teammates. I think that’s why you’re going to see this young man have a long career. There’s no doubt.” Davis, 23, smiled when told about Revis’ compliment. “I appreciate that coming from Revis,” he said. Davis said he learned to be a leader in college when his team was struggling and then when there was a coaching staff change. Since he joined the Jets, he said he has picked his spots to show his leadership. “When I’m with the [second and third teams], I’m more vocal,” Davis said. “I’m a little less vocal with the ones because I’m playing more of a role in that situation. But when I’m with the twos and the threes, the more I feel confident the more I’ll step up and lead. Leading is always about timing. It’s not always about being vocal. It’s about giving an example. I always try to be an example for the other rookies, how I prepare on the field and how I carry myself off the field. “ Defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said Davis has been “as advertised” and will be a big part of the team’s plans this year. Davis said he feels like he already has a good command of the playbook and believes he will be sharpening his skills in training camp, not trying to learn the defense. “He’s mature beyond his years,” Pettine said. “If you just dropped in here and knew nothing, you didn’t have a roster or anything, you would never think that kid is a rookie. In the days that he’s off, he’s here in the facility studying. He’s constantly with [linebackers coach] Bob Sutton just mastering it. “ Davis has a big month ahead of him. He is getting married on July 7 in Mississippi, followed by his honeymoon in the Bahamas. When he gets back, he said he plans on coming back to New Jersey to get a little more work in before training camp opens on July 26 in Cortland. His extra work has not gone unnoticed by the coaches or his teammates. “He has the potential to be really good,” Revis said. “I think we’re all really excited about that pick.” [email protected](CNN) — Want to visit Yosemite, Grand Canyon or Yellowstone next year? Pack your camping supplies and knock those parks off your bucket list now, because it may cost you a little bit more to explore the national parks by summer 2015. For the first time in eight years, the National Park Service sites that charge entrance and amenity fees can increase their rates by set amounts. They have to engage their communities, note what the increases will cover and get approval by park service headquarters. Fee increase proposals are due by March 15. Though just 133 of the 401 National Park Service sites across the United States charge an entrance fee, they're some of the parks that travelers often think of first. Yosemite National Park, which released its fee proposal on Tuesday, wants to increase its weekly entrance pass from $20 to $30. Camping fees would rise from the current range of $5 to $20 per night for family sites ($40 per night for group sites) to a range of $6 to $24 per night for family sites ($48 per night for group sites). The cost of national park passes will remain at $80 for the regular annual pass, $10 for the lifetime senior pass and free for the annual military passes and access passes (for those with permanent disabilities). These are five national park sites we think you must see, either now or after any fee increases take effect. They're still a bargain! Yosemite National Park, California President Abraham Lincoln first protected Yosemite with his signing of the Yosemite Land Grant on June 30, 1864, 150 years ago. Yosemite will celebrate 125 years as a national park in 2015. Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona The Colorado River cuts through the bottom of the magnificent Grand Canyon for 277 miles, and it's a full vertical mile from the South Rim to the canyon floor. The canyon's width varies, but it measures 18 miles in several spots. The South Rim is open year-round, but the North Rim -- generally the coolest place in the park -- is open during the spring and summer. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho Old Faithful calls this place home. Arches National Park, Utah Arches National Park is one of the most unique spots on Earth, home to the world's highest collection of natural sandstone arches. They include the largest, Landscape Arch, and the tallest, Double Arch South. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee It's free! Despite its reign as the most-visited national park in the country last year, with 9.4 million visitors, Great Smoky Mountains National Park is our bargain park, with no entrance fees. (There are camping and other amenity fees.)In a speech before the Russian Parliament on Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin called for “strengthening the combat readiness of our country” against “aggressive” NATO. Putin’s address was especially significant because he delivered it on the 75th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union. (The Russian government does not like to dwell on what the Nazis and Soviets were doing before their relationship turned sour.) In fact, Reuters reports that Putin explicitly referenced the Nazi invasion while haranguing the West for failing to join Russia in a “modern, non-bloc collective security system” against terrorism. “The world community did not show enough vigilance, will and consolidation to prevent that war and save millions of lives,” said Putin. “What kind of a lesson is still needed today to discard old and frayed ideological disagreements and geopolitical games and to unite in the fight against international terrorism?” As for NATO, Putin said the alliance is “strengthening its aggressive rhetoric and its aggressive actions near our borders,” so Russia is “duty-bound to pay special attention to solving the task of strengthening the combat readiness of our country.” For its part, NATO has expressed fears it cannot act aggressively enough to protect its clients and allies from Russian aggression. In a BBC interview on Monday, Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges warned that the Russians are “able to move huge formations and lots of equipment a long distance very fast,” a capability NATO currently lacks. As Putin, no doubt, noticed, NATO has been conducting a massive exercise called Anaconda-16, involving more than 31,000 troops from 24 different nations. Germany’s Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, seemed sympathetic to Putin’s point about aggression, warning NATO against “saber-rattling and warmongering” after the Anaconda-16 exercise concluded last week. Russia has also been conducting major exercises near its border with Ukraine, which has good reason to fear the Russians might have a bit of trouble finding their borders on a map. Lt. Gen. Hodges said the “freedom of movement” demonstrated by Russian forces during these exercises alarmed him: “Their snap exercises that they do, I personally am surprised each time they do it. And so you can see why that scares me.” He also thought NATO commanded insufficient combat aircraft and anti-air defenses in Eastern Europe, but was hopeful the United States would be “bringing equipment back into Europe,” a development about which the Russians will probably be much less enthusiastic. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg wants to meet with the Russians before NATO’s summit in Warsaw July 8-9, but he told the Associated Press, “I am not certain whether that is possible … but hopefully we will be able to have it shortly after the summit.” Stoltenberg said NATO was engaged in “dialogue with Russia on the agenda, on the modalities” of a meeting, and the Russians said much the same thing, but neither side clarified why a meeting before the Warsaw summit was off the table.The decision prompted opposition Congress to term the trip a “wasteful expenditure” Facing criticism for planning to send his MLAs and ministers to Brazil during the FIFA World Cup as part of a ‘study tour’, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar hit out at the media for ‘creating a negative image about politics.’ Advertising Speaking at the Express Technology Sabha, Parrikar said, “The one biggest failure of media is that it created a very negative image about politics.” The Goa CM seemed to defend his decision to send six of his MLAs to Brazil on taxpayers’ money, “For me, football is a tourism festival. When we host the Under-17 World Cup in 2017, I will recover ten times, may be 100 times, of the amount spent on this tour…because foreigners will come here.” The Brazil visit of the six MLAs, including ministers Ramesh Tawadkar (Sports), Avertano Furtado (Fisheries) and Milind Naik (Power), sparked a controversy after the state sports department sanctioned Rs 89 lakh for the tour. Meanwhile, the legislators said that they have decided to themselves foot the bill for the visit without taxing the state exchequer. The decision had prompted the opposition Congress to term the trip a “wasteful expenditure” while seeking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention to “stop the junket”.This post first appeared on Russia Insider Russian warplanes bombed Ahrar al-Sham positions near the border with Turkey on Saturday, according to multiple reports. Ahrar al-Sham enjoys backing from Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and is one of the largest rebel factions in Syria. The group is considered a terrorist organization by Russia, Syria, Iran, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. A terrifying sight for head-choppers all over the world And unlike other members of the U.N. Security Council (we won't name names), Russia has a very low tolerance for terrorists. Earlier this week, Ahrar al-Sham took a few shots at a Russian helicopter — and then awarded themselves medals for their heroic deed. Russia has now returned the favor. #BREAKING: Russian warplanes bombed Turkey-backed Ahrar al-Sham targets on the Turkish-Syrian border - reports - Kom News pic.twitter.com/dVSgJIhOhW — Kom News (@KomNewsCom) April 1, 2017 Russian night airstrikes target militants bases near the Turkish border pic.twitter.com/4d5DIDdFjm — Yusha Yuseef (@MIG29_) April 1, 2017 According to reports, the jihadist group claims that Russia entered Turkish airspace during the raid: Huge explosion heard in #Turkey after #RuAF hit Ahrar Sham in Sarmada&Dana villages (Jihadists are claiming that jets used Turkish airspace) pic.twitter.com/tbo5S8sstT — NDF (@NatDefFor) April 1, 2017 Will a participation trophy make them feel better? It's possible that these airstrikes were also targeting "convoys" heading to Latakia, where Russia's air base is located. More bad news for Erdogan and the 10,000 Saudi princes:Close TomTom, a Dutch company that specializes in navigation and map products, has been busy at the IFA 2016 held in Berlin, Germany, with several product launches that range from fitness trackers to smart satnavs for cars. However, one of the most intriguing releases from the company is the TomTom VIO, a circular satnav display that is specifically tailored for scooters. It should be understood that the TomTom VIO is not a standalone satnav system but is a smartphone-connected one. As such, it will stream most of the needed information from the phone through Bluetooth. A wireless touchscreen display extension with a built-in GPS is a more accurate way of categorizing this innovation. Once the VIO is paired with a smartphone, its accompanying TomTom VIO app can feed details to it, such as traffic conditions in certain routes and speed camera alerts. On the other hand, the built-in GPS gives the user turn-by-turn navigation instructions. Further navigation guidance is audibly provided through the Bluetooth helmet system. This negates the need to pull the phone out and hence, allows motorists to focus on the road, making trips quicker and safer. "The innovative new TomTom VIO is game-changer for scooter riders," says Corinne Vigreux, co-founder and managing director, TomTom Consumer. "Not only will it speed up the commute, but gone are the days of fiddling with your mobile at the traffic lights, or wondering who's calling as you negotiate the traffic. For the first time, riders can explore the urban jungle safely, and confidently, in style." Aside from driving directions, the TomTom VIO will also inform the user when someone is calling and display the caller's corresponding photo. The call can be taken using a connected Bluetooth headset. TomTom also baked its speed camera warning system into the VIO. Users will get warnings for when they approach speed zones and speed cameras. Aside from the prompt to slow down, the VIO's display will also change into a different color for a better visual reminder. Traffic alerts will also be displayed on the VIO. This goes together with suggested alternate traffic routes. Knowing that it will be out in the open and constantly face the elements, TomTom built the VIO to withstand most of what nature can throw at it — rain, snow, sleet. Moreover, the VIO's screen is glove-friendly and will take taps and swipes even with gloves on. The TomTom VIO, which is currently listed for $199.40, comes with a snap-on silicon cover in black. Aside from the black default, other colors such as yellow, red, pink, white, blue and green are also available but need to be purchased. Each sells for $17.27. ⓒ 2018 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.A week on after being taken out by Iannone in the final corner of the Argentina race while fighting for runner-up, Dovizioso was speared off at Austin by the out-of-control bike of Dani Pedrosa, once again robbing the Ducati man of a podium shot. But while Dovizioso said that Pedrosa's mistake was "bad", he did suggest that it was easier to take than Iannone's Argentina mishap. "It's always bad to lose the points if somebody makes a mistake," Dovizioso said. "But there is a way to do that, especially if your career is long and you never did something bad, like Dani. "You know it wasn't his intention, he didn't try to take a risk to hit me - like what happened in Argentina. "It's bad because the final result is the points in the championship and this is the most important thing, but [things like these] can happen because everybody is on the limit." Pedrosa "not a kamikaze" Dovizioso continued: "I know Dani from many years. Dani is not a kamikaze, trying to overtake you every time on the brakes. "[It] is bad, he made a mistake and this is the reality. But from Dani is different compared to Argentina." Elaborating further on the incident, which happened heading into Turn 1 on the seventh lap, Dovizioso recalled: "I didn't see what happen but it was quite easy to analyze before seeing the crash - there there is the jump and if you arrive [into Turn 1] with too much pace before the braking, it's easy to lose the front. "I braked too late, I think he followed me, he braked too late. But immediately when I brake, I knew I was [late] so I had to reduce the speed a little bit. "I think he didn't react very fast and it was too late to try to recover what happened." The Honda rider apologises For his part, Pedrosa reiterated his apology to Dovizioso, having previously visited the Italian in the Ducati pits after the race. "The problem is that the front locked as I went over the rise [approaching Turn 1]," Pedrosa said. "I locked the front and I could feel it, save it, but the next [lap] was bigger and I lost the bike. "So sorry for Dovi because it’s a sh*t feeling when they hit you down, and the impact was quite hard." Additional reporting by Charles Bradley and Oriol PuigdemontWalt Pourier is the visionary behind the "ONE Gathering -- Skate for Life" event, which will ramp up Saturday at the . Drawing hundreds of young Native Americans from across Colorado and beyond, the Gathering will expose them to positive, community-building activities that celebrate heritage while building hope for the future. Continue Reading Pourier knows firsthand how much that hope is needed: Though his Denver-based Stronghold Society, he works with youth on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, where alcohol and drug abuse contribute to a tragically high suicide rate.Pourier, a storyteller, graphic designer and member of the Lakota tribe, recently opened the first of three state-of-the-art skate parks in Pine Ridge, with help from friends including Pearl Jam's Jeff Ament. Now in its third year, the Gathering will feature skate competitions, vendors and music, including a set from The Bunny Gang, the Denver-based side project led by Flogging Molly's Nathan Maxwell. We asked Pourier to tell us a little bit about the event, which has become a summertime rite of passage for an underserved group of young people. Westword: What does skateboarding have to do with life -- in your vision? Walt Pourier: "Skateboarding Saves Lives" is a quote I hear again and again from all the skate legends who support our Stronghold Society Live Life Call to Action Campaigns. Our goal is to instill a belief system in this current generation that through these creative movements of skateboarding, music, art and design, film, photography, writing, spoken word, etc., they can live and express life at its grandest. Why is it important for Native American youth to have the chance to come together once a year? The Gathering is a skateboarding competition created to unite the youth of the Denver community with the Native American youth of Colorado and surrounding states. It is a means of outreach to educate local communities of the social and health challenges Native American youth face today -- to give them a place to gather and skate and listen to music from some awesome bands and just have fun. The competition will take place at the Denver Skatepark, located near the South Platte River, an historical gathering place for many Native American Tribes. Youth are coming from across Colorado and other states. Who will be there? We usually get a lot of kids from New Mexico, including a group called the Westside Boys. They wear shirts that say "Don't Hate Just Skate." We also have youth from Pine Ridge South Dakota, Lakota Country, Ute Mountain Ute Country here in Colorado, Oklahoma, and a group from Portland, Oregon this year. And, of course, our local skate-culture scene looks forwards to this event every year. So many help us to run it. It's a beautiful thing. Skateboarding tends to be more popular among boys than girls, though that is changing a little. Can you tell us a bit about your work with young women? The Kimimila "Age of the Daughters" Gathering is a project run by my sister Lonnie Pourier, and it is all about the young Native American girls. It's a day, a gathering all about them. We have crafts, song and dance, Zumba. We bring in elder grandmothers to speak with them about their culture, give them a space where they can be happy, write in journals, share in their grand ideas. It's not necessarily about skateboarding, but it can be in the future. We do so many other programs through the Stronghold Society and the the Kimimila "Age of the Daughters" Gathering is one of the most successful to date. What's the latest with your project on the Pine Ridge reservation? Six months ago, through the Stronghold Society we built a state-of-the-art WK4-Directions Skate Park with Jim Murphy of Wounded Knee Skateboards, Jeff Ament and Pearl Jam, VANS Off The Wall, Tony Hawk Foundation and Grindline Skateparks, and the local community. Our goal is to get three additional skateparks built on that reservation and then move from reservation to reservation, with the help of all these great individuals and many more. You got some pretty heavy people to support this year's event. What's been Jeff Ament's role? How did Nathan Maxwell get involved? Jeff Ament and Pearl Jam support our non-profit and help us financially to build skateparks. They also did a collaboration VANS/Pearl Jam Skate shoe of which the proceeds go to help build our skateparks. Jeff sent us a PSA to run for this event in Denver when Channel 93.3 offered to donate us the radio spot. Jeff Ament is a true, caring human being and his energy and support beyond words. We love this guy with all our hearts and are so humbled with his support. Along the way we run into so many great people who want to support this powerful outreach effort. Through a mutual friend, I met Nathan Maxwell's father, an awesome local artist who hooked me up with Nathan. These two, father and son, are such awesome spirits on human journey. When we talk we speak very deeply and about spiritual connections and life's movements, it's so awesome. These guys are pretty special to have offered up their band, The Bunny Gang, to play our event Saturday. So honored. The free "One Gathering - Skate for Life" takes place at the Denver Skatepark on Saturday, July 14, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Visit the Stronghold Society for more information.A Texas man is happy he can hold is grandchildren again after an experimental surgery to reconnect his severed arm, reports WFAA in Dallas. In late August, Royce Reid, 49, was injured in an accident at work, which severed his left arm. It took hours to transfer him and his arm from a hospital in Longview, Texas, to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, and on the trip, the Navy veteran nearly bled to death. Dr. Bardia Amirlak, the University of Texas Southwestern plastic surgeon who was on call at the Parkland trauma center when Reid arrived, said that long trip lowered the chances that Reid’s arm would be successfully reattached. “When the muscles start to die, you cannot put the arm back on,” he told WFAA. Although it had been seven hours since Reid’s arm was severed, Amirlak decided to try to give Reid his arm back. In an experimental procedure, Amirlak used blood from Reid’s own leg to restore oxygen to the amputated arm. “We hooked a tube up to the artery in leg, and took it outside his body and transfused it directly into his arm to keep it alive,” Amirlak explained to WFAA. “We did that while we are working on his bones and the blood vessels to keep the muscle alive.” Two months later, Reid is undergoing rehabilitation and is gradually regaining the use of his hand. To reattach severed limbs, doctors perform microsurgery, a form of plastic surgery in which they reconnect bone, muscles, nerves, and blood vessels. The delicate operation takes hours, and patients must go through months of rehabilitation to regain feeling and use of their limbs. Dr. Ben Chang, an associate professor of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, said that’s because the nerves in the limb can’t simply be reconnected – they must regrow. “The nerves have to grow all the way out,” Chang said. “Nerves grow at about an inch per month. So if you cut off your arm at the forearm, it may take 10 months before the nerves grow all the way back down to the hand.” According to a report in Wired magazine, the first successful human limb reattachment was in 1962, when Boston surgeons put a 12-year-old boy’s arm back on after it was severed when he was trying to hop a freight train. In the 1980s, surgeons started using microscopes to help them see the tiny structures they were trying to connect in severed limbs, a major advance in the field. Dr. Chang said the surgical techniques used to reconnect severed limbs are similar to those used in the past decade for transplants of hands, faces, and other body parts. In October, a Massachusetts man became the latest patient to get a double hand transplant. In 2010, a Spanish man became the first person to have a full face transplant.Border Guard policemen on routine patrol in the Hebron casbah identified Wednesday a Palestinian lying unconscious on the floor. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter A police officer and a paramedic team quickly ran to the Palestinian, while reporting the incident and calling for additional medical help. Early examination of the boy showed he was not breathing and had no pulse. The Border Guards began to resuscitate him by performing CPR, while removing obstacles in his mouth that had caused him to suffocate. The Border Guards continued their lifesaving efforts for several minutes until the arrival of a Red Crescent medical team. The boy was then brought to the hospital. The spokesperson for the Border Guards told Tazpit News Agency that as it turns out, the Palestinian had been electrocuted. However, thanks to the efforts of the policemen in those first minutes after the boy's collapse, his life was later saved in hospital.Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is taking two days off from campaigning to attend Pope Francis's conference on social, economic and environmental issues in Vatican City. Here are five things those men share. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is taking two days off from campaigning to attend Pope Francis's conference on social, economic and environmental issues in Vatican City. Here are five things those men share. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) Democratic socialist presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will depart soon for the Vatican, where he’ll speak at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, a previously obscure body whose ideological leanings are implied by the invitations it extended to Sanders and two other headliners, the left-wing populist presidents of Bolivia and Ecuador. In keeping with Pope Francis’s call for a “moral economy,” Sanders has said he’ll discuss “how we address the massive levels of wealth and income inequality that exist around the world, how we deal with unemployment, how we deal with poverty and how we create an economy that works for all people rather than the few.” It’s a long flight from New York to Italy, so let’s hope Sanders uses some of that time to review the relevant data. What he’ll discover is a vast reduction in poverty and income inequality worldwide over the past quarter-century. Specifically, the world’s Gini coefficient — the most commonly used measure of income distribution — has fallen from 0.69 in 1988 to 0.63 in 2011. (A higher Gini coefficient connotes greater inequality, up to a maximum of 1.0.) That may seem modest until you consider that the estimate’s author, former World Bank economist Branko Milanovic, thinks we may be witnessing the first period of declining global inequality since the Industrial Revolution. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. (Brian Snyder/Reuters) Note that this hopeful figure applies to the world’s population as though every individual lived in one big country. When Milanovic assessed the distribution of income between nations, adjusted for population, the improvement was even more striking: a decline in the Gini coefficient from 0.60 in 1988 to 0.48 in 2014. The global middle class expanded, as real income went up between 70 percent and 80 percent for those around the world who were already earning at or near the global median, including some 200 million Chinese, 90 million Indians and 30 million people
Furthermore, those train companies cannot get out of paying by claiming that the delay was not their fault, because they, in their turn, can claim compensation from Network Rail if the delay was caused by signalling problems or other network issues. The companies not signed up to Delay Repay usually offer compensation when a train is at least 60 minutes late.Big enough to undermine the idea of creation but simple enough to be stated in a sentence, the theory of natural selection is a masterpiece, writes Richard Dawkins Charles Darwin had a big idea, arguably the most powerful idea ever. And like all the best ideas it is beguilingly simple. In fact, it is so staggeringly elementary, so blindingly obvious that although others before him tinkered nearby, nobody thought to look for it in the right place. Darwin had plenty of other good ideas - for example his ingenious and largely correct theory of how coral reefs form - but it is his big idea of natural selection, published in On the Origin of Species, that gave biology its guiding principle, a governing law that helps the rest make sense. Understanding its cold, beautiful logic is a must. Natural selection's explanatory power is not just about life on this planet: it is the only theory so far suggested that could, even in principle, explain life on any planet. If life exists elsewhere in the universe - and my tentative bet is that it does - some version of evolution by natural selection will almost certainly turn out to underlie its existence. Darwin's theory works equally well no matter how strange and alien and weird that extraterrestrial life may be - and my tentative bet is that it will be weird beyond imagining. Explanation ratio But what makes natural selection so special? A powerful idea assumes little to explain much. It does lots of explanatory "heavy lifting", while expending little in the way of assumptions or postulations. It gives you plenty of bangs for your explanatory buck. Its Explanation Ratio - what it explains, divided by what it needs to assume in order to do the explaining - is large. If any reader knows of an idea that has a larger explanation ratio than Darwin's, let's hear it. Darwin's big idea explains all of life and its consequences, and that means everything that possesses more than minimal complexity. That's the numerator of the explanation ratio, and it is huge. Yet the denominator in the explanatory equation is spectacularly small and simple: natural selection, the non-random survival of genes in gene pools (to put it in neo-Darwinian terms rather than Darwin's own). You can pare Darwin's big idea down to a single sentence (again, this is a modern way of putting it, not quite Darwin's): "Given sufficient time, the non-random survival of hereditary entities (which occasionally miscopy) will generate complexity, diversity, beauty, and an illusion of design so persuasive that it is almost impossible to distinguish from deliberate intelligent design." I have put "which occasionally miscopy" in brackets because mistakes are inevitable in any copying process. We don't need to add mutation to our assumptions. Mutational "bucks" are provided free. "Given sufficient time" is not a problem either - except for human minds struggling to take on board the terrifying magnitude of geological time. A certain kind of mind It is mainly its power to simulate the illusion of design that makes Darwin's big idea seem threatening to a certain kind of mind. The same power constitutes the most formidable barrier to understanding it. People are naturally incredulous that anything so simple could explain so much. To a naive observer of the wondrous complexity of life, it just must have been intelligently designed. But intelligent design (ID) is the polar opposite of a powerful theory: its explanation ratio is pathetic. The numerator is the same as Darwin's: everything we know about life and its prodigious complexity. But the denominator, far from Darwin's pristine and minimalist simplicity, is at least as big as the numerator itself: an unexplained intelligence big enough to be capable of designing all the complexity we are trying to explain in the first place! Here may lie the answer to a nagging puzzle in the history of ideas. After Newton's brilliant synthesis of physics, why did it take nearly 200 years for Darwin to arrive on the scene? Newton's achievement seems so much harder! Maybe the answer is that Darwin's eventual solution to the riddle of life is so apparently facile. Claims to priority were made on behalf of others, and by Patrick Matthew in the appendix to his work On Naval Timber, as was punctiliously acknowledged by Darwin in later editions of the Origin. However, although Matthew understood the principle of natural selection, it is not clear that he understood its power. Unlike Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, who hit on natural selection independently, prompting Darwin to publish his theory, Matthew seems to have seen selection as a purely negative, weeding-out force, not the driving force of all life. Indeed, he thought natural selection so obvious as to need no positive discovery at all. Garbled versions Although Darwin's theory can be applied to much beyond the evolution of organic life, I want to counsel against a different sense of Universal Darwinism. This is the uncritical dragging of some garbled version of natural selection into every available field of human discourse, whether it is appropriate or not. Maybe the "fittest" firms survive in the marketplace of commerce, or the fittest theories survive in the scientific marketplace, but we should at very least be cautious before we get carried away. And of course there was Social Darwinism, culminating in the obscenity of Hitlerism. Less obnoxious but still intellectually unhelpful is the loose and uncritical way in which amateur biologists apply selection at inappropriate levels in the hierarchy of life. "Survival of the fittest species, extinction of poorly adapted species" sounds superficially like natural selection, but the apparent resemblance is positively misleading. As Darwin himself was at pains to point out, natural selection is all about differential survival within species, not between them. I'll end on a subtler legacy of Darwin's big idea. Darwin raises our consciousness to the sinewy power of science to explain the large and complex in terms of the small and simple. In biology we were fooled for centuries into thinking that extravagant complexity in nature needs an extravagantly complex explanation. Darwin triumphantly dispelled that delusion. There remain deep questions, in physics and cosmology, that await their Darwin. Why are the laws of physics the way they are? Why are there laws at all? Why is there a universe at all? Once again, the lure of "design" is tempting. But we have the cautionary tale of Darwin before us. We've been through all that before. Darwin emboldens us - difficult as it is - to seek genuine explanations: explanations that explain more than they postulate. Richard Dawkin FRS is the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford. His latest book is The God Delusionclick to enlarge Jonathan Hill Illustration 1. If you drive a U-Haul up the South Hill in a snowstorm after a 12-hour odyssey from your former home in Oregon, an old man will stand on the side of the road and nod disapprovingly as you spin your rented tires. 2. A pizza box? You can’t recycle a pizza box. 3. Basketball is Spokane’s official religion. 4. I have gladly joined this hoops congregation. 5. Strangers say hello to each other on the sidewalk. 6. People correctly call it “pop” here. 7. Jeans with the sparkly butts are popular right now. 8. These jeans apparently come with the purchase of an oversized SUV. 9. I’ve taken to calling people who wear said jeans “Sparkle Butts.” 10. The phrase “Sparkle Butt” has yet to catch on. 11. Not shoveling your sidewalk is the Spokane winter equivalent of parking a car on your lawn. 12. Arena football is a sport. 13. This sport is shockingly entertaining. 14. And easy to make puns about. 15. Empty beer cans are not worth 5 cents here, making drinking less rewarding. 16. People aren’t as used to the rain as you’d think they’d be and even as a Seattle native, neither am I. 17. Don’t even think of recycling that booklet of worthless coupons, either. 18. The Insane Clown Posse has made impressive inroads in this market. 19. There sure are a lot of Chinese restaurants on Division. 20. And tanning salons. 21. And places that sell discounted energy drinks. 22. If you find yourself at a Gonzaga game wearing a Loyola Marymount hat because that’s your alma mater, Zag fans will be suspiciously kind to you. 23. This is probably because they know you’re going to lose. 24. If you think you can recycle tin foil, you are wrong again. 25. People actually wear bicycle helmets here. 26. People ride bikes here, too. 27. Spokane is either overwhelming Irish or overly eager to get drunk on St. Patrick’s Day. 28. The escalators at River Park Square are slightly terrifying when used in the company of hundreds of Hunger Games fans. 29. Don’t try to recycle that jar, either. 30. Country music is everywhere. 31. Getting in your first car accident at age 29 is a bummer. 32. It’s even more of a bummer when the other car drives away. 33. Passersby, however, are surprisingly ready to volunteer as witnesses and offer sympathy for damaged fenders. 34. Sixty-two degrees is the temperature at which shorts become acceptable apparel. 35. Seventy is probably a more acceptable threshold. 36. I’m not planning on running Bloomsday. 37. People ask about your Bloomsday plans a lot. 38. The Wonder Years could have been set here. 39. The closer one gets to the Idaho state line on I-90, the more acceptable it is to drive 85 mph while talking on a cellphone. 40. Some people add a dog in their lap to the equation. Because, ya know, hey, it’s almost Idaho. 41. Don’t make jokes about Nickelback at bars in north Spokane. 42. There are people here who take Nickelback seriously. 43. The parking availability downtown is not that bad, so please stop complaining. 44. If you are downtown and cannot readily see a drinking establishment, you’re probably not downtown. 45. The word “bagel” is, by and large, correctly pronounced here. 46. I have grown fond of the local beer offerings, because I’m generally fond of beer. 47. You can’t recycle that yogurt lid. 48. Contrary to what you may have heard, the Spokane Valley was not created by the flow of I-90 over the years. 49. Kids play in their front yards here, a sign that our future is not totally screwed. 50. Spokanites enjoy lists. Or at least I hope so. Mike Bookey, who joined The Inlander on Jan. 23, is the paper’s culture editor.Obama supports proposed health care change; Praises Romney Updated at 5 p.m. ET with a response from Gov. Scott Walker's office to President Obama's statements. With the conflict continuing in Wisconsin over public unions' collective bargaining rights, President Obama on Monday reiterated his support for public sector workers. "I don't think it does anybody any good when public employees are denigrated or vilified or their rights are infringed upon," the president said in a speech to the National Governors Association. "If all the pain [of addressing budget deficits] is borne by only one group -- whether it's workers, or seniors, or the poor -- while the wealthiest among us get to keep or get more tax breaks, we're not doing the right thing. I think that's something that Democrats and Republicans should be able to agree on." Protestors continued Monday to protest in the capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin over Republican Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to scale back public workers' benefits as well as many of their collective bargaining rights. Public workers and their supporters argue that eliminating most public unions' collective bargaining rights has nothing to do with the budget and that the governor should drop that element of his plan. Walker isn't budging, however. He says the Wisconsin Senate Democrats that have remained out of state for days in protest of the bill need to return by Tuesday to pass other critical elements of his plan -- or else there may be thousands of layoffs. He's also planning to unveil his two-year budget plan on Tuesday, a proposal which would cut aid to schools and local governments by more than $1 billion. Public workers and their supporters are also anchored to their position. Today, Wisconsin members of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission against Walker. The complaint alleges Walker has violated his legal duty to bargain in good faith. "This governor has never made any attempt to contact the unions he is attacking, much less negotiate in good faith as required by law," Marty Beil, the executive director of a local AFSCME council, said in a statement. "Instead of trying to find real solutions to the challenges facing the state, the governor is attempting to dictate terms. This not only in ineffective, it's against the law." The pro-union protesters are standing their ground as well -- literally. Last night, capitol police allowed protesters to stay overnight in the capitol building after they refused to leave after they showed they were remaining peaceful and cooperative, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. The protests continue today, although Wispolitics.com reports that the state said this morning it's not allowing any more protesters to enter the capitol until the remaining demonstrators comply with orders to clear the building. At least one Wisconsin Republican lawmaker, state Sen. Dale Schultz, may be willing to cede some ground to the unions. Dave Dayen of FireDogLake and other reporters on the scene have reported that Schultz was considering voting against the budget-repair bill, since Republicans refused to take out the language relating to collective bargaining rights. Earlier, Schultz unsuccessfully pitched a "compromise" proposal to temporarily scale back bargaining rights for two years. Schultz's chief of staff said the rumor of his "no" vote is untrue, Wispolitics.com reports, but added that Schultz has not told anyone how he will vote. "He continues to work with his colleagues in hopes of finding a compromise," spokesman Todd Allbaugh said. Dayen reports that the rumor prompted protesters to draw up signs with phrases such as, "We need 3 Cou(R)ageous Senators," referring to the three votes needed to block the bill. The 14 Democratic state senators remain out of state in an effort to deny Walker a quorum to pass the bill. Walker says they must return by Tuesday because that's when an option to refinance $165 million in debt expires. (The state faces a budget shortfall of $137 million this fiscal year.) "Failure to return to work and cast their votes will lead to more painful and aggressive spending cuts in the very near future," Walker's spokesperson Cullen Werwie said in a statement, the Journal Sentinel reports. State Sen. Jim Holperin said the Democratic senators will discuss the refinancing deadline on Monday, saying they "take it very, very seriously," according to the Journal Sentinel. He added, however, that preserving union rights remained their priority. "So long as the governor and Senate Republicans remain unwilling to compromise on this, I think everybody's unwilling to come back," he said. UPDATE: In response to the President's comments, Gov. Walker's press secretary Cullen Werwie released a statement saying President Obama must "misunderstand" the conflict in Wisconsin. "I'm sure the President knows that most federal employees do not have collective bargaining for wages and benefits while our plan allows it for base pay," he said. "And I'm sure the President knows that the average federal worker pays twice as much for health insurance as what we are asking for in Wisconsin. At least I would hope he knows these facts... I'm sure that President Obama simply misunderstands the issues in Wisconsin, and isn't acting like the union bosses in saying one thing and doing another."Scientists at Northeastern University used an "iChip" to grow bacteria in soil. Bacteria are normally very difficult to grow in a lab, but grew well in the iChip. (Photo11: Northeastern University) Scientists have discovered a potentially powerful antibiotic that can kill some of the most dangerous "superbugs" -- serious infections that are resistant to standard medications. Superbugs, which can't be killed by antibiotics, are a growing threat to public health, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sickening 2 million Americans a year and killing 23,000. Researchers have warned that the world is at risk of entering a "post-antibiotic" era in which patients could die from formerly treatable infections and even routine surgeries could become dangerous. Developing new antibiotics has been a challenge, partly for financial reasons. Finding and testing antibiotics can take a decade and more than $1 billion. Many pharmaceutical companies have shied away from this research because of the huge cost and financial risk. Finding new antibiotics has also been scientifically difficult. Bacteria found in things like bread mold make their own antibiotics, which they use as chemical weapons to kill rival germs. For 70 years, researchers have used this microscopic arms race to fight infections in humans. Although dirt is filled with germs, scientists until now haven't been able to grow these bacteria in a laboratory – a key requirement for studying and testing them. Scientists were able to coax only about 1% of soil bacteria to grow in a lab dish. Now, scientists led by Northeastern University in Boston have invented a "contraption" to grow germs that could allow them to study about half of soil bacteria, vastly increasing the pool of drug candidates, according to researcher Kim Lewis, coauthor of a study published in Nature. Lewis and colleagues used a device they call the iChip, which sorts individual bacterial cells harvested from soil into tiny chambers. Scientists then bury the iChip back in the ground, where molecules from the soil seep into the chamber, giving the bacteria the sort of environment in which it naturally likes to reproduce. The transplanted bacteria "are essentially tricked. They don't know anything has happened to them," says Lewis, a professor at Northeastern. Once the bacteria have begun growing in the iChip, they seem to have no trouble continuing to reproduce in a lab dish, he says. Researchers tested 10,000 compounds and found 25 new antibiotics, although only one – which they call teixobactin – stands out, says Lewis, who is working with a biotech company called NovaBiotic Pharmaceuticals, located in Cambridge, Mass. That's because teixobactin killed a dangerous bug called MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, in mice. Teixobactin also killed a type of drug-resistant tuberculosis. But teixobactin was unable to kill one of the worst of all superbugs -- a deadly infection called Klebsiella pneumoniae, which has evolved to resist all known antibiotics. A cluster of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria. MRSA can cause skin infections, blood stream infections and pneumonia. (Photo11: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Significantly, Lewis and his team found no sign that bacteria were evolving resistance to teixobactin. Because of the particular way teixobactin kills bacteria, germs won't easily be able to evolve ways around it, says Gerard Wright, a professor of biochemistry at Canada's McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. It took four decades for bacteria to become resistant to similar antibiotics, says Wright, who was not involved in the new study but wrote an accompanying editorial. Researchers have tested teixobactin only in mice. Human trials are still two years away, Lewis says. Completing those human trials will take three years. Most drugs that appear promising in animals fail to pass human tests. Teixobactin produced no serious side effects in mice, but doctors don't yet know if it will be safe enough for people. So even if human tests are successful, teixobactin won't be on the market for at least five years. But scientists are excited about the possibility of adding new antibiotics to medicine's arsenal. "In a field dominated by doom and gloom," Wright wrote, the new study "offers hope that innovation and creativity can combine to solve the antibiotics crisis." Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1BEiJ7kWelcome back to the Trails Legacy! Elijah: Morons! Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that Elijah gained the genius trait from maxing out the Nerd social group thingy. Cece: Well, look at my little boy! A genius! And a sassy one at that! Be kind Elijah! Look happy! Elijah: Better? Better! Cece: He’s been in a sour mood lately… I can tell you why! Cece: Why? Let’s take a look in Elijah’s diary! Cece: Oooh, absolutely EVIL. I love it. Elijah’s Diary: Entry #1: I woke up early today. I went in the truck my parents bought me when I learned how to drive. What was I doing? I was going to the Elixir Store that was added to Sunset Valley when my mom was a little girl. That’s SUCH a long time ago. Why was I going to the Elixir store? I’m sick of being a vampire! I know that some of you think I’m crazy- who WOULDN’T want immense power? Listen, I’m sick of attracting creeps solely by because I’m a vampire. I can go out in the sun for now, but when I’m older I won’t be able to. Being a vampire makes you weak in my opinion. I don’t have much time to write this, so I’ll be blunt- I’m going to the store to see if they have a cure for being a vampire. Entry #2: When I walked into the store, the only employee that was there looked excited. Who could blame him? Nobody in Sunset Valley uses elixirs, they’re afraid of what they can’t understand. “How can I help you, kid?” the employee said. He seemed so condescending. I guess he thought I was naive. It’s too bad I don’t believe in physical violence to hurt people. “I’m looking for a cure for Vampirism?” I said. He chuckled and wished me luck. He pulled out all the elixirs they had that day. There were no cures for Vampirism. I smiled, hiding my emotions from this stranger. “Thank you!” The bell jingled on the door and I left, disappointed, just in time to be on time for school. I was angry. I was running out of time! I didn’t want this darkness to be my home forever. (End of Diary) Cece: Man, no wonder he was in such a bad mood! I told him we would find a cure when he grew up. Why can’t he trust me? Why would he trust you? Cece: … The boys did their homework together like they usually did. Oh, hey! Why do you look so happy Cece? Cece: You’ll see! *Hears scream* What was that? Elijah: YESSSS! What is it?! Cece: It’s an alchemy station! I don’t understand the big deal about it. Cece: You’ll see… Hey, that’s my line! This isn’t relevant to the story, but here’s a shot of Kate choking. Cece: How is this entertaining? And by that, I mean to people who don’t enjoy suffering like myself. Cece: Oh, I see. Yeah, it’s one of those thing that made me laugh for no apparent reason! Oh, and on a side note it’s Kate and Glenn’s birthday! Cece: Nobody cares! I know… 😦 Name: Glenn Trails Traits: Good, Loser, Slob, and Over-Emotional. Favorites: Chinese, Cookies, and Irish green. Cece: Wow, this kid is just loaded with great traits. Glenn: Oh yeah… Cece: …? Glenn: I turned out more attractive than I imagined! Cece: … Sure, I guess so? After that, Kate aged up in her underwear… Cece: It was awkward! Glenn was the only one who was happy about it. Afterwards Kate gave herself a makeover. Name: Kate Trails Traits: No Sense of Humor, Over-Emotional, Coward, and Lucky. Favorites:???,???, and??? Cece: Whoah- Shhh! Kate: I just want to be… Kate: Normal… Here’s a photo of Finn looking happy for once! Cece can you say- Cece: I just hate your hair so much… …goodbye? Thanks for reading! P.S.- Sorry for the short chapter! Advertisements2293. Zardoz, an unseen "God" who speaks through an idol - a large stone statue of a head - leads a barbaric race called the Brutals, who live a harsh existence in the Outlands. Zardoz tells the Brutals that once they die, they will be transported to the Vortex, where they will live happily as immortals. He has armed a small group - the Exterminators - with guns, as Zardoz's philosophy is that killing is good, and procreation is the root of all that is bad. In reality, Zardoz is Arthur Frayn, from a competing more advanced race called the Eternals who live in paradise in the Vortex. The Eternals truly are immortal as they do not age and their bodies undergo reconstruction if they "die". As such, they truly do not believe in procreation as their society has reached perfect equilibrium. Past human acts such as sex and sleep are obsolete in their advanced state. All major decisions are achieved through pure democracy. The Eternals, however, are not immune to non life threatening disease... Written by HuggoTraverso was a young lieutenant in the Savoy Cavalry which, in June 1942, was shielding the southern flank of the German summer offensive. The fighting intensified as, approaching the River Don approximately 125 miles north of Stalingrad, the 600 men of the Savoy Cavalry arrived at Isbuschenskij. There, on the evening of August 23, an Italian patrol encountered a Soviet rearguard of 2,000 men supported by mortars and machine-guns. The regiment’s monocled commanding officer, Count Alessandro Bettoni, winner of two Olympic golds in equestrianism, ordered his men to take defensive positions before settling down to dine off the regimental silver. The following morning, after breakfast, Bettoni gave the order to attack across a plain thick with sunflowers. Officers, wearing red neck ties, slipped on white gloves for the occasion. They wielded captured Cossack swords, which were heavier, and thus more destructive, than Italian sabres. Such was the thirst to take part in what was – even then – recognised as an unusual event, that Traverso’s commander rode off to join the four cavalry squadrons, each of 150 men, which formed the main thrust of the attack. Traverso was left in charge of the fifth (machine-gun) squadron, which was the first to advance, laying a thick field of fire from the front and centre of the Italian position directly into two lines of the 812th Siberian Infantry Regiment. Around Traverso, the other Italian squadrons formed up at a walk, before breaking into a trot, canter and finally an all-out gallop. As they set off the battle cry went up: “Sabres. To hand. Charge!” What followed proved to be a textbook mounted attack. The second squadron broke right, before turning sharply to hammer through the Siberians’ left flank, and then wheeling around again to press the advantage from behind, hurling hand grenades into the disintegrating enemy line. Bettoni then ordered the fourth squadron to attack head on, and the battle wore down into brutal hand-to-hand fighting, with many of the Savoy having dismounted. At this crucial point the third squadron launched a second diagonal attack, similar to that which had opened the battle, and Soviet resolve crumbled. As the smoke cleared, their losses stood at 150, with a further 500 captured. The Savoy Cavalry had lost fewer than 40 men. “You were magnificent,” a German officer remarked to the Italians afterwards. “We no longer know how to do these things.” Mario Traverso was born in Naples on September 24 1916. His father was from a line of officers in the Regiment of Grenadiers, his mother from the Avolio family, famous as society milliners and dressmakers. Mario was taught privately, learning English from an Irish governess, until attending Naples University in 1934. After receiving a doctorate in Business Studies from Bari University in 1939, Traverso joined the lift manufacturer Otis. An Anglophile, he was disappointed when Mussolini, of whom he was a great supporter, failed to ally Italy with Britain as war loomed. Not being tall enough for the Grenadiers, he entered the cavalry corps in Rome, passing out top of his class into the Savoy Cavalry, an elite dragoon regiment with a proud history of service to the House of Savoy. Having been a young fascist, he was at first met with some suspicion by the traditionally monarchist officers there, but they soon learnt that he was more royalist than blackshirt. In the summer of 1941 the regiment, part of the Italian Army’s three mobile divisions, travelled into Moldova by train and then commenced a 1,000-mile advance on horseback through Ukraine while under constant artillery and air attack. Winter set in by late October and, as temperatures plunged to 50 degrees below, both men and horses suffered bitterly. The next summer’s offensive marked a high point for the Savoy Cavalry, but their heroics on the Don were soon to be forgotten in the general retreat that followed Stalingrad. In January 1943 they trekked 1,200 miles northwards to Gomel, now in Belarus, where those who remained alive entrained for Poland and Austria, not reaching Italy until April. At the time of the Isbuschenskij charge, 290,000 Italians were in Russia. Six months later 90,000 were dead, and a further 60,000 captured. As the regiment regrouped, Italy surrendered, and Traverso found himself in charge of just eight others, including the regimental chaplain. After some weeks of uncertainty, and with no command structure intact, he gave the order to disband. He eventually made his way to Milan, where he joined his cousin Giorgio Avolio, who was rebuilding the family millinery business. Finding that hats were no longer popular, however, they started to diversify into outerwear. The two cousins formed a partnership in late 1945, with Traverso concentrating on knitwear. By 1951 this side of the business had 25 staff, and three years later the cousins decided to split, allowing each to develop his business as he chose. Traverso’s business flourished under the “Marius” brand, with ranges in silk, cotton, cashmere and angora. From 1948 it supplied the knitwear elements for the ready-to-wear collections of Jacques Fath and Balenciaga and, subsequently, Dior, Schiaparelli, Givenchy and Balmain. In the 1950s Traverso expanded the business, first in London, and then in Japan and Australia. There he made many new friends and, while reminiscing with one émigré textile manufacturer, Traverso realised that they had both been present at the Savoy Cavalry’s celebrated last charge, one on the Italian side, one with the Russians. As man-made fibres emerged, Traverso established himself as a consultant to advise chemical companies on how to give a more luxurious feel to nylon, acetate, viscose, polyester and acrylic — many of which were in essence plastic. His first major consulting work began in 1957, with British Nylon Spinners, which later became ICI Fibres, and this continued for more than 20 years. Through this connection he also provided advice to DuPont of Canada, and then to various yarn-spinners and processors, including Courtauld’s Yarns. He retired in 2003, but delighted in remaining in contact with friends and colleagues from around the world. Mario Traverso is survived by his sister, Alba. As for the Savoy Cavalry, its regimental flag survived the Russian campaign thanks to Traverso, who recovered it from a fallen comrade. Postwar Italy was no place to honour such things, however, and it was only towards the end of his life that he returned it. A delegation from the regiment attended his funeral, where the flag was draped upon the coffin before being taken to a permanent home in the regimental museum.Meet My New Secret Weapon Against High Heating Costs Ready to stop bundling your family up in 500 layers just to avoid turning up your thermostat and getting slapped with high energy costs? I’m SO happy to tell you about my favorite new space heater, the Honeywell MYenergySmart™ Infrared Heater. Plus, keep reading, because I have a chance for one of you to win one! I know what you’re thinking: “Nikki, it’s a space heater, how exciting can it really be?” Well, if you’re like me, walking around in a blanket cape all day, tripping over dogs because you can’t see over your bundles and STILL crying over the electric bill, it’s pretty exciting! Honeywell sent me their super duper spectacular (can you tell I’m crazy in love with this thing already?) MYenergySmart™ Infrared Heater to check out. When they told me about it, it’s like they were saying “we made this JUST for you!” The question: “have you ever found yourself layering your clothes while indoors in an effort to keep heating costs down?” had me nodding such an emphatic “yes” that it shook loose the hood on my head! Stop Being a Bundler Thanks to the Honeywell MYenergySmart™ Infrared Heater *I received a Honeywell MYenergySmart™ Infrared Heater in exchange for an honest review. Prizing for the giveaway portion provided by Honeywell. Before I tell you about the Honeywell MYenergySmart™ Infrared Heater, I have to show you this funny video they made to illustrate its usefulness. Does this scene look familiar? Okay, so I don’t exactly have a scarf on all day long, but bundled I am! Remember up there in the intro I mentioned tripping over dogs? That wasn’t just a “thrown out there for emphasis” statement. I literally tripped over Maia about two weeks ago, right before my Honeywell heater arrived. I was wearing a blanket, tied around my neck cape style. Let that image sink in for a minute, because I looked like an insane super hero. Anyway, I stood up and turned around to walk to the coffee pot (I’m always walking to the coffee pot!). The dog was right behind me, but I couldn’t see her because of my bundling. I stepped forward, hit dog with my foot and went down like a tree in a forest. Except I definitely made noise. Pain, my friends. Pain for weeks! The dog was fine, although super irritated that I disrupted her nap. In fact, she was so irritated that she required biscuits at 15-minute intervals for the next two days! Okay, so maybe not that bad, but she definitely insisted I make it up to her. Hey, she’s elderly, she’s allowed to be a DIVA. The Honeywell MYenergySmart™ Infrared Heater Right after that, my Honeywell MYenergySmart™ Infrared Heater arrived. I stuck it right in the middle of large entrance that sits in between the living room area and the dining/kitchen/my work area. During the day when I’m in “my office” I point it towards the dining area. At night, I simply turn it towards the living area. That one heater heats up my entire high-traffic living space in about 15 minutes. I don’t even have the heat on in half the downstairs any more. I don’t have a mansion by a long shot, but it’s not a tiny house either. It’s about the average sized house I think. Now, I’ve had space heaters in the past. They KILLED my electric bill. This house is a heat vampire. We sealed it up with plastic, participated in a program to make it more energy efficient, everything you can think of. Yet the moment we turn on the heat, the bill skyrockets from $100 to $400 overnight. So at first I was concerned about that. But you’ll note the MYenergySmart™ part of the name, complete with the fancy trademark. Hmmm, what could that mean? So many appliances call themselves energy efficient, but they often have very different ideas than I do of what that means. Honeywell MYenergySmart™ Infrared Heater can actually save you up to 35% on your energy bill. To me, THAT is energy-efficient! That’s definitely “energy smart.” So how does it do it? The heater uses EnergySmart® tech to regulate power consumption. It gives you multiple options, including three heat settings, two MyTemp settings to set your own temperature and a 1-8 hour automatic shut-off timer. Now, say you decide you want to heat the room to the average 68 degrees. The Honeywell heater uses its smarts to figure out which setting it needs to be on to get the room to that temperature using the least amount of energy. You can also save money by putting it on the lower heat setting, which uses 750 watts instead of 1500 watts. Don’t worry, it will still heat up the room just fine. All of this and it comes with a remote! Plus the digital LED lights let you know the room’s temperature as well as which options you’ve chosen. It even tells you right on the display the amount of energy being used at a specific time. So if you notice it kick into a higher energy setting and you’re thinking “budget is pretty tight this month,” you can go ahead and change it to the lower setting. Basically, it’s the smartest space heater you’ve ever met. Oh, and it has a permanent filter to prevent dust and particles from getting into it. Check out how it works (graphic from Honeywell): If you’re worried about your mini zoo of pets knocking it over, don’t. Even with a crazy kitten, an elderly dog and a somewhat clumsy (okay, super clumsy) me, this baby stays put. If one of us does manage to knock into it, it’s designed with 4-way tip-over protection that automatically shuts the heater off if tipped in any direction. Ready to
game's final run. Taveras (4-7) came out after eight innings, the third time he's pitched at least eight in a game this year. Sutter McLoughlin came on and threw a scoreless ninth inning, striking out KJ Woods to end the game and earn his fourth save of the season. The BlueClaws opened the scoring in the first on a SAC fly by Damek Tomscha before the Intimidators tied the game on Nate Nolan's first professional home run in the third. Lakewood went back ahead in the fourth on an RBI single by Jose Pujols, but Kannapolis tied the game back up in the fifth on an RBI double by Grant Massey. Kannapolis starter Max Beatty (2-3) gave up all four runs over 5.2 innings and took the loss. Josh Tobias had two hits and Damek Tomscha drove in two runs for the BlueClaws in the win. The BlueClaws look for the series sweep on Friday night at 7:05 pm. RHP Edgar Garcia (3-1) starts for Lakewood against RHP Luis Martinez (4-7). - BlueClaws -US aficionados of Star Wars can on 15 August enjoy a cinematic launch of forthcoming animated TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Variety reports. The silver screen release is the fruit of a deal between Warner Bros, Turner Broadcasting and Lucasfilm, which described this "marrying [of] TV series and theatrical release" as "unprecedented". Dan Fellman, Warner Bros Pictures president of domestic distribution, duly enthused: "This is a breakthrough project - returning Star Wars to the big screen in a completely new way while beginning an exciting new chapter in George Lucas' legendary saga. We immediately felt that it would be a fantastic theatrical event and are thrilled to be bringing it to moviegoers." The "multiplatform" project is an expansion of the Clone Wars microseries which previously aired on Cartoon Network. It'll kick off with the 100-minute movie, which picks up between episodes II and III when Anakin Skywalker is not yet Darth Vader, continuing in 30-minute TV episodes. Starwars.com elaborates: "On the front lines of an intergalactic struggle between good and evil, fans young and old will join such favorite characters as Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padmé Amidala, along with brand-new heroes like Anakin's padawan learner, Ahsoka. Sinister villains - led by Darth Sidious, Count Dooku and General Grievous - are poised to rule the galaxy." George Lucas concluded: "I felt there were a lot more Star Wars stories left to tell. I was eager to start telling some of them through animation and, at the same time, push the art of animation forward." International release dates for Star Wars: The Clone Wars have yet to be confirmed. ®We normally pick 3 - sometimes it's hard to whittle it down, sometimes we struggle to find three specific and topical things to suggest (that's quite rare though!). In honour of the double bank holiday and all that free time, we are presenting 5 actions this week. As ever, some are quick and easy, some take a bit of thought and effort. So, without further ado... You can help promote vaping this week by: 1) Signing this short but sweet petition to the EU: http://goo.gl/V3YhlX 2) Take the ECF Big Survey – it's surveys like this that give advocates ammunition in the fight against the ANTZ. The more people answer, the more powerful that ammunition is! It is a big survey (took me about 10 mins – the clue's in the title) but there is a prize draw! https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ECF2015a 3) Start thinking about attending and promoting this demo on 29th May 2015 – there's a Facebook page in the link, join it. Its only if actions like this actually happen that the TPD will be reconsidered (barring a TW win of course). http://oedc.at/web/index.php/en/ 4) This one speaks for itself: http://goo.gl/hzM6xC but it might lead to more of this - http://kickerdaily.com/tobacco-free-ca-poster-on-e-cigarettes-backfires/ 5) Complain to the GMC about Dr George Rae (his GMC registration number is 1327616). He featured on a radio show saying that ecigs were worse than smoking, specifically citing the presence of nitrosamines in ecigs as more likely to cause cancer than the tar from cigarettes. Actually listening to him is probably riskier than smoking a fag, so here's a transcript: http://goo.gl/trHmIS Here's something from Dr Farsalinos to back up your complaint (its easy to find others): http://www.ecigarette-research.com/web/index.php/2013-04-07-09-50-07/120-e-cigs-nitrosamines. Here's some specific research about the levels of nitrosamines in ecigs (Table 2 is the biggie): http://goo.gl/c2W5n8 This action takes the most effort, but calling out individuals like this is the steady chipping away at the mountain of ignorance that just has to be done if vaping is to prevail. You can complain (it lets you save and return) here: http://www.gmc-uk.org/concerns/making_a_complaint/23365.asp?WT.ac=MCSC140122.What do Agatha Christie’s favourite mystery novelist, the winner of the 1973 Booker Prize, and a writer who reputedly bashed out 100 million words, creating an archetypal schoolboy antihero along the way, have in common? The answer will cause even the most successful author’s ego to wilt a little. Despite enjoying ample sales and plentiful esteem in their lifetimes, the names of this formerly starry trio – Elizabeth Daly, JG Farrell, and Billy-Bunter-creator Charles Hamilton (pen name Frank Richards) – are today largely unknown, their works under-read or out of print altogether. Now, they’re among the figures filling a thought-provoking new guide, The Book of Forgotten Authors by Christopher Fowler. Their comrades-in-obscurity range from experimental trailblazers to once beloved children’s authors; from pulp fiction pros to doyennes of historical romance: collectively, their fates shed light on the process by which literary immortality is conferred. Reading about them will leave you itching to go rummaging in your nearest second-hand bookshop. Unlike musicians or filmmakers, authors can vanish completely – Christopher Fowler Ever heard of Alexander Baron’s King Dido? Me neither, and we’re missing out, because apparently, Baron is one of the most consistently underrated novelists of World War Two. According to Fowler, his bildungsroman was “one of the greatest and least-read novels about London ever written, arguably an East End version of Les Miserables.” Then there’s Mary Elizabeth Braddon, who began writing penny dreadfuls as a child and graduated to ‘sensation’ novels like Lady Audley’s Secret that index Victorian anxieties. Braddon caused her own sensation when it emerged that she’d been living in near-bigamy with her married publisher (his wife was in an asylum), and by the time of her death she and her lurid tales were said to have become “a part of England”. Fowler’s own backlist includes the hit Bryant and May mysteries series, and an awareness of how posterity might treat such work adds piquancy to his quest. As he notes: “Unlike musicians or filmmakers, authors can vanish completely. Their print-runs can be pulped, copies misfiled, manuscripts lost, banned and burned. They can be ubiquitous, influential and massively successful only to disappear within their own lifetimes.” Few disappearing acts are as striking as that of Patrick Dennis. Auntie Mame, his 1955 tale of an eccentric free spirit who sets out to save her shy nephew from small-minded snobbery, was a bestseller that became a musical and not one but two films. Dennis was also the first writer in history to have three books on the New York Times bestseller list simultaneously. Then times changed. To quote Fowler, “As the disillusioned 1970s arrived his delightfully caustic comic fables became an irrelevance.” Setting down his pen for good, Dennis became a butler for the CEO of McDonald’s and apparently never admitted to having been a publishing phenomenon. Fade to grey Other writers got barely a sniff of success. In the case of Kyril Bonfiglioli, he never found the right fans in his lifetime. On the surface, his novels appear to be straightforward crime capers, but there’s much more to them than that. They’re powered by his fictional hero, Charlie Mortdecai, a “snobbish, cowardly, dandy art thief” whose defiant political incorrectness channels Bertie Wooster, Falstaff and Raffles. On his dust jackets, Bonfiglioli described himself as “an accomplished fencer, a fair shot with most weapons” who was “abstemious in all things except drink, food, tobacco and talking”. Off the page, he muddled through poverty and alcoholism to die of cirrhosis in 1985. He’s posthumously attained cult – which is to say slender if ardent – popularity but he should have become world famous, Fowler insists. Julian Maclaren-Ross was up against another challenge.A “brandy-breathed Soho flaneur”, he was, as his biographer Paul Willetts has put it, “the mediocre caretaker of his own immense talent”. That talent yielded surprisingly joyous novels filled with snappy comic timing and waspish dialogue, none readily available today. Maclaren-Ross found his way into Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time, disguised as the “impecunious and thirsty bohemian” novelist X Trapnel, but in real life he was hampered by being born too late for the Waugh set, and too early to join the Angry Young Men. Winifred Watson was another casualty of timing. Though she found a degree of posthumous success with a reissue and a film adaptation, starring Amy Adams, of her quirky hit Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, her potential was stymied by three events: The Depression (which left no money for her to follow her sisters into higher education), the attack on Pearl Harbor (which nixed plans to turn Miss Pettigrew into a Hollywood musical) and the Blitz (which necessitated her move into a single room with her parents, making writing impossible). Other writers simply didn’t live long enough, among them Farrell, the 1973 Booker winner. He died three years later aged just 44. As the likes of Salman Rushdie agree, had he lived longer, he’d surely have attained the reputation that his talent merits. And yet if writing too little can inhibit literary posterity, then writing too much – even if you’re able to keep the standard up – can be an even bigger problem. Take thriller writer John Creasey, who used more than 20 pseudonyms and published so many books that even he forgot some of his titles, rang up sales totalling around 2.5 million copies a year. How can this be a bad thing? Because as Fowler notes, “The reading public likes to tie a simple tag on a writer, and that’s tougher to do when the writer has many faces.” Then there’s Hamilton, the 100-million-word man. One of the most prolific authors in history, hardly any of his books – filled with tales of schoolboy derring-do – can now be found. His creation Billy Bunter seemed Hamilton’s best shot at literary immortality but with his “calorically challenged” physique and slapstick exploits that frequently ended with a caning, he was never going to make it into the 21st Century. Sometimes explanations are more elusive. Why did Christie’s favourite Daly fade from popularity? During the 1940s, when she was in her sixties, she published 16 ‘bibliomysteries’ featuring Henry Gamadge, a cat-loving New York rare books expert who grapples with a series of meticulously crafted puzzles against evocative backdrops. Too esoteric? Too female? Perhaps, except that she was a popular author during her time, and in 1960, was awarded an Edgar for her work by the Mystery Writers of America. Back from the dead Ultimately, the reasons for a noteworthy author’s obscurity are as various as the authors themselves. Fowler’s findings show that other contributing factors seem to include underrating their own work (“I sometimes marvel that a third-rate writer like me has been able to palm himself off as a second-rate writer”, said John Collier, author of sardonic, fantastical tales-with-a-sting), reclusiveness (Regency romance author Georgette Heyer never gave an interview), and genre (with notable exceptions, comic writers tend not to be taken seriously enough to preserve). The caprices of fashion hit populist fiction especially hard; striving as it does to capture the mindset of its time, it’s inevitably more perishable. And let’s not forget gender. Fowler devotes an entire chapter to the women who introduced readers to psychological suspense long before it conquered the bestseller lists. These “forgotten queens of suspense”, he writes, were “ignored, underrated, overlooked or taken for granted, the women who wrote popular fiction for a living were often simply grateful to be published at all.” The role of readers is ever more vital: it’s our duty to keep good novels alive This at least is changing. Moreover, the digital revolution has ushered in a newly democratic age so far as who gets to say what fiction is important. This makes the role of readers ever more vital: it’s our duty to keep good novels alive. (As an aside, Fowler recommends that second-hand bookshops are best visited alone and in the rain.) Meanwhile, even if their reputations and books are all but non-existent today, many of the authors gathered in this book have nonetheless played their part in the literary ecosystem, nourishing later, better-known practitioners. Enigmatic gothic pioneer Ann Radcliffe, for instance, influenced HP Lovecraft. Frank Baker wrote his novel The Birds 16 years before Daphne du Maurier conjured up the short story that would become the Hitchcock film. (Baker’s publisher was Du Maurier’s cousin.) William Golding’s Lord of the Flies explicitly referenced RM Ballantyne’s The Coral Island, to which Robert Louis Stevenson was also strongly indebted for his own Treasure Island, acknowledging Ballantyne in the novel’s introduction. Notionally dead literature can be unexpectedly alive in other ways, too. An out-of-print book that you’re forced to buy second-hand contains the marginalia – and old bus tickets and coffee stains – of past readers. And tattered used paperbacks can sometimes occasion delicious serendipities, as when Fowler attempted to track down a copy of Where the Rainbow Ends by Clifford Mills – incidentally, an example of a book justly buried thanks to its fascist leanings. Eventually, a copy turned up in Kent. When Fowler opened the front cover, he found his own name written inside, inscribed by his seven-year-old self. 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.Picture this: you are in a classroom three days after you have taken a midterm exam. Your professor hands you back your exam, and with a deep breath, you look at the top-right corner at the double-digit number illuminating in crimson. It reads 98. You made a 98 out of a hundred on your midterm! Excitement rushes through your veins and you look around to see if the rest of the classmates are sharing your excitement. You notice only a few smiles, but mostly hear groans of disappointment. When the bell rings, you walk out of the classroom feeling a strong sense of accomplishment. You feel good that you did not go out to that party last weekend, and that you made sure to go to class, even if you had to force yourself to get there. All of the good choices that you had made prior to taking the exam had paid off. A few days later in class, your professor goes over a new topic, and begins to ask questions about the lecture that he is presenting. You begin to see the hands of students rise. Your professor calls on the student next to you. The student eloquently responds to the professor’s questions, and as the professor smiles, you frown, because you feel like you should have (1) answered the question and (2) been able to answer the question as eloquently as your classmate. You think to yourself, but I am smart, and I pay attention in class, why did I not raise my hand. As you continue questioning yourself about why you did not raise your hand, doubt starts to set in, and you then begin to question how you made a 98 on the exam, and if you even deserved to make that grade. This phenomenon is not uncommon and has been coined, “the impostor effect.” In 1978, two psychologists, Suzanne Imes, PhD and Pauline Rose Clance, PhD observed this trait among high achieving women who questioned their intelligence and thus were unable to accept their success. According to Clance and Imes (1978) there are four behaviors that keep one from overcoming the impostor syndrome once doubt starts to set in. The first behavior involves diligence and hard work. Although diligence and hard work are the traits of any high achiever, the person who suffers from impostor syndrome works arduously out of fear that their phoniness will be discovered. Thus, a vicious cycle begins with fear leading to hard work, hard work leading to temporary approval from authorities, and the it repeats all over again. The second behavior focuses on having a sense of phoniness. Meaning, the person who suffers from impostor syndrome does not discuss their real opinions or ideas. Rather, they focus try to “psych out” their authorities and colleagues by telling them what they want to hear. In addition, the “impostor” will bolster someone else’s idea and downplay their own abilities. This tactic allows them to avoid have any of their ideas critiqued or evaluated by the people who they hold in high regard. The third behavior involves using charm and perceptiveness to gain favor form their superiors. Though the over goal is not sexual in nature, it is a method to get recognized to be noticed. After the revered individual begins to take notice, the “impostor” will begin showing her intellect, with hopes of finding validation of her brilliance. Unfortunately, after the “impostor” receives their validation, she may begin to question her abilities, thinking that the validation was given because of her charm and not her intellect. Thus, a vicious cycle of seeking validation from different superiors ensues with the “impostor” unable to be sure of her own abilities. The fourth behavior is the “impostor” avoiding to display confidence. In essence, the “impostor” perpetuates their negative feelings by avoiding showing confidence in their intellect and abilities. The “imposter” believes that if they show confidence in their intellect and abilities, she will be shunned and challenged by her colleagues and superiors. In other words, it is much easier to avoid be exposed as an impostor, than to be confident and be challenged by others. Can the impostor phenomenon be treated? Yes. According to Clance and Imes (1978), a “multi-modal therapy in which several therapeutic approaches are used concurrently seems most effective in altering the impostor belief in a client” as well as “a group therapy setting or an inter-actional group in which there are some other high achieving women experiencing the impostor phenomenon is highly recommended” (p. 6). The group setting is extremely valuable because (1) women feel more secure when they realize that they are not alone in dealing with the impostor phenomenon be and (2) women have a chance to reflect when they her another woman’s story and the lack of reality in their rationale. The result of the amalgamation of therapeutic interventions and a robust commitment to change is a well apt, brilliant woman, who at one point believed she was an impostor, beginning to allow and believe that she is truly intelligent. She also will have the confidence to believe in her own intellectual abilities and strengths, without the validation of others. In sum, she will no longer fear being an impostor and will embrace her intelligence with confidence. Reference: Clance, P. R., & Imes, S. A. (1978). The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women: Dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 15(3), 241-247.The gasoline tank inside the gates at Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport has pumped more than 36,000 gallons of fuel for the airport's fleet of cars, trucks and vans since early 2015. For about 10 percent of that usage, the airport has no records of who used the gas or what vehicle they filled up. A Daily Press examination of the monthly meter reading sheets show that 36,197 gallons flowed out of the tank for the airport's vehicles between January 2015 and July 2017. But the related usage logs add up to only 32,658 gallons. That means 3,539 gallons — about 122 a month on average — are unaccounted for. (These calculations exclude two and a half months when the meters were out of service.) The airport's interim executive director and fire chief say former Executive Director Ken Spirito accounted for some of that difference. Spirito's contract with the Peninsula Airport Commission entitled him to free gas from the airport's supply on top of his $810 per month car allowance and $223,939 annual salary. But Spirito did not record his gas usage on the handwritten log sheets, with no one being able to explain why he was exempt from a rule that other airport employees had to follow. The Peninsula Airport Commission fired Spirito in May after state auditors discovered he had been using airport money for personal expenses, including paint and body work on his and other vehicles after accidents. "Ken was an authority unto himself," said Sandy Wanner, the former James City County administrator now serving as the airport's interim executive director. "He was in charge, and he had the decision-making power to decide what would and wouldn't apply to that office.... He was executive director, and he had a far-ranging authority." Airport Fire Chief Dewain Starks said he and other airport firefighters saw Spirito filling up two different vehicles at the airport pump in the same week — the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee he drove home to James City County and another unidentified private car. "He has been seen at that... pump with two different vehicles getting gas within one week," Starks said, adding that he witnessed it personally "three or four times." Aileen Devlin/Daily Press / Daily Press A small aircraft passes behind the gas station pump at Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport on July 26. The pump station is designated for all airport fleet and grounds vehicles, with meters and a hand-written log is used to help keep track of the fill-ups. A small aircraft passes behind the gas station pump at Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport on July 26. The pump station is designated for all airport fleet and grounds vehicles, with meters and a hand-written log is used to help keep track of the fill-ups. (Aileen Devlin/Daily Press / Daily Press) (Aileen Devlin/Daily Press / Daily Press) Spirito declined to comment for this story. Former Newport News City Manager Jim Bourey, who was a member of the airport commission beginning in 2013, including a term as chairman in 2014, did not return a call seeking comment. Bourey resigned from his seat on the commission and then as city manager in the wake of the People Express loan controversy. The recent state audit — which began in January after the Daily Press reported that the airport commission had guaranteed a $5 million line of credit for the short-lived People Express Airlines — found that Spirito "bypassed the log when he filled his personal vehicle with fuel." It also said the gas was not counted as taxable income. Some airport firefighters noticed Spirito wasn't logging his gas usage, and thought "it's not right," Starks said. Two airport employees are allowed to use free airport gas for airport take-home vehicles: Airport Police Chief Todd Rittenhouse drives a 2016 Ford Explorer back and forth to his home in Suffolk, and maintenance supervisor Tommy Moore drives a 2006 Ford 250 pickup truck back and forth to his home in the Williamsburg area. Unlike Spirito, both men log their fill-ups, Starks said. Spirito "had his own key" for the airport's gas pump, he added. "I've tried to find out where that key came from," Starks said. "I can only assume that it was passed on from the prior administration," when Spirito took the airport's helm in January 2009. Peter Dujardin This is a clipboard near the gasoline tank on the grounds of Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport that employees use to log their gas usage. This is a clipboard near the gasoline tank on the grounds of Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport that employees use to log their gas usage. (Peter Dujardin) (Peter Dujardin) Starks said he never mentioned his concerns to Spirito's boss, the six-member Peninsula Airport Commission. "I didn't feel that was my responsibility," Starks said. "It wasn't my responsibility to understand his contract. That was their responsibility. I took the (meter) readings every month and turned in the sheets as they were filled out." As long as Spirito wasn't doing "anything unsafe," Starks said, he wasn't going to step in. "Who am I to question his actions? I didn't know if he was authorized to or not authorized to, and I wasn't going to challenge it." Wanner said the commission was in the dark about the details of Spirito's gas usage — aside from the fact that his contract allowed him to fuel up at the airport for free. "Whether they were aware that he was or wasn't logging in and out — or what vehicles he was gassing up — they would not have known that on a daily, weekly or monthly basis," Wanner said. "That just never would have been brought to their attention." The Daily Press analysis shows the disparity between the handwritten logs and actual gas metered usage continued after Spirito was put on paid administrative leave in early March — and after he was fired in May. There were 114 gallons of gasoline unaccounted for in March, followed by 104 gallons in April, 93 gallons in May, 14 gallons in June and 32 gallons in July. There are other problems with the logs — illegible numbers, sometimes lacking decimals, and some lines not filled out — that could account for some of the disparity. Starks, at Wanner's urging, recently posted a sign reminding employees to "print legibly." He also said an airport shuttle bus driver apparently filled up a bus tank in May without logging 40 gallons. But Starks said he couldn't explain why a significant disparity continued after Spirito's departure. "I don't know, because I've never been told that we've got that many gallons of gas not being accounted for," Starks said. "No one has ever brought it to my attention." Though there's a surveillance camera near the gas pump, it focuses on a nearby airport gate, with Wanner saying there are no plans to shift that camera to more closely monitor the tank. "I will take whatever rational steps are available to assure that the logs are being maintained and that the security of the pump is enhanced," Wanner said. "But the current camera has a very specific mission. I can't use that. And that has far more serious consequences if we don't monitor (the gate)." Double dipping with credit cards? In addition to Spirito's failure to log his gasoline usage, there are separate questions of whether he was "double dipping" on his fuel reimbursements. In a memo written in early 2013, Spirito gave five airport staffers — including himself — an allowance of up to $200 a month to be charged on their airport credit cards for gasoline at private stations such as Exxon, Shell and Wawa, the state audit found. The audit noted that the allowance was not reported to the IRS as income. It also noted that Spirito was getting free gas from two different places.Thomas Wanschik on March 02, 2010 Updates on djangoappengine This post is a short update on new features we've added to our App Engine backend djangoappengine. So let's plunge in at the deep end. :) New Features First we added support for ListFields. You can use them in combination with any Django field type. Let's say you want to add a ListField for strings to one of your models: class Post(models.Model): words = ListField(models.CharField(max_length=500)) title = models.CharField(max_length=200) content = models.TextField(blank=True) It's as easy as that. Validation for ListFields is done on each entry in the list using the field type specified. The example above uses CharField's validation. ListFields now allows us to write many applications we couldn't write before. One example is a geolocation app. It should be possible to port geomodel or mutiny using native Django only now. We've put ListField into djangotoolbox.fields (see djangotoolbox repository). The next feature added is QuerySet.values() support though it's only efficient on primary keys. Let's see an example using the Post model from above: android_posts = Post.objects.filter(words='android').values('pk') This will get only the primary keys of all posts including the word "android" without fetching the entities from the database itself. It's possible to use QuerySet.values() on other fields than the primary key too but this will result in fetching the whole entity from the database and removing all fields not specified as arguments in.values. One possible application of QuerySet.values() on primary keys is a technique called "relation index" from Building Scalable, Complex Apps on App Engine. This technique is used in nonrel-search which we will talk about in another post. Another nice feature is BlobField (contributed by Matt Bierner). You can use it to upload files into the database: class Post(models.Model): #... file = BlobField(blank=True) class CreatePostForm(forms.ModelForm): class Meta: model = Post The BlobField's value is stored as a byte string and the default widget for a BlobField is an InputField displaying the size of the BlobField underneath itself. In addition there are some smaller features added to our backend. When iterating over a QuerySet we now fetch results lazily in small batches. Also, we support Django's __range queries (inclusive on both boundaries). Ahh, we added a new management command "remote shell" which allows you to execute code on the production database: # manage.py remote shell >>> from post.models import Post >>> Post(title='Android 2.1', content='Android 2.1 comes with Live Wallpapers...').save() This example will add a new Post entity into the production datastore. Missing Features Despite the features added we do not support all of App Engine's functionality. You can't use entity groups and transactions at the moment. For transactions you can use the commit locked decorator from our sharded-counter example or App Engine's db.run_in_transaction(). We don't include it into django-nonrel because it probably won't get into Django. What about FileField using App Engine's Blobstore? Well, don't worry this is already on the way. :) Basically we reached a point where we nearly support all model / query layer functionality from App Engine's ORM, that means we can implement almost anything we can with App Engine's ORM itself. In addition we plan to provide extra functionality in the form of an independent layer on top of the current database backend to support JOINs and other features transparently. So let's see what the future holds in store. :)MILWAUKEE, Wisc. -- Kyrie Irving and Al Horford were both great Thursday night while pushing the Boston Celtics past the Milwaukee Bucks, but owe a bit of their effectiveness to a wise adjustment from teammate Marcus Smart. The Celtics were trailing by four points late in the third quarter when Smart noticed an opening in Milwaukee's defense. On the weak side, the Bucks were sliding over to stop penetration without paying any attention to their own men. "They were just ball-watching," Smart said after his team's 96-89 comeback win. "Especially when Kyrie had the ball, everybody was attracted to him." The next time Irving drove to the paint, Smart decided he would set a weak-side screen for Horford. Thanks to the wrinkle, the big man knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers, shoving the Celtics back into the lead. You can see how it worked here: .@Al_Horford has all the time in the world [?] pic.twitter.com/VNFBoLSFAC -- Boston Celtics (@celtics) October 27, 2017 The most obvious part of that play is Irving's obscene handle. Horford knocks down the shot. But there's Smart, facilitating it all with a back screen on Giannis Antetokounmpo. "I've really got to give all the credit to Marcus Smart," Horford said. "He just sees the game in ways that a lot of times we don't even see it, and he recognized that my guy was kind of falling asleep on the weak side. So he just told me, 'Hey, I'm going to screen for you, and just run off and shoot the corner 3.' You know, he got me open there on back-to-back 3's, and I felt like that was a big turning point in the game." Explained Smart: "Al's a unique player that we have who can dominate from the inside and the outside. So as a guard it's our job to get him the ball. If he hits his first two shots you've gotta go back to him, so you've gotta find ways for him to get the ball. When Kyrie has the ball, he draws so much attention that on the back side, when you set screens, they're not even paying attention. They're so focused on the ball whoever has it, but especially when Kyrie has it. So my thing was if I screen and we get a switch, now he's got a smaller guard so now he's taking them in the post and I have a big on me. And if they don't switch then he's wide open to do whatever he needs to do. So he found his sweet spot to the corner and Kyrie found him." Did the Celtics glide to an easy win from there? Not exactly. Ironically, Smart misused several possessions toward the end of the third quarter, racking up three missed shots and a turnover in a 2:14 span. That temporarily allowed Milwaukee to regain the lead, but Boston righted itself at the very end of the third before delivering a strong fourth. During the closing period, Terry Rozier emerged from a rough offensive start; rookie Semi Ojeleye came off the bench to make things difficult on Antetokounmpo; Smart delivered some well-earned trash talk to a Bucks rookie; Jaylen Brown tracked down a number of key rebounds; and, yes, Irving and Horford played like stars. They were Boston's two most productive players Thursday night by a sizable margin. Irving had his best game with the Celtics and Horford might have, too. The big man was ridiculously good while scoring 27 points (on 11-for-14 shooting), grabbing nine rebounds, dishing four assists, and playing a huge role in Antetokounmpo's quietest game this season. That last sentence feels outrageous to write about a man who still managed 28 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Antetokunmpo's greatness was almost enough. It might have been if Smart had just failed to notice how the Celtics could pick on Milwaukee's defense.CES Fires CNET Over CBS Hopper Flap Restores Hopper Best of Show Award CBS's Hopper screw up continues to bring bad news to the company, with no sign of enlightenment coming from company executives. CBS recently forced CNET to pull a CES best-of-show award for Dish's ad-skipping Hopper DVR because CBS doesn't like the technology. After being criticized Internet wide for polluting CNET's editorial standards CBS tried to pretend they were imposing some new, faux-ethical standard, saying they'd no longer allow CNET to review any product from a company CBS was engaged in lawsuits with. Now things have gotten worse for CBS and CNET, with CES themselves announcing that they've fired CNET over the scuff up. CES President Gary Shapiro was refreshingly blunt quote: "We are shocked that the ‘Tiffany’ network which is known for its high journalistic standards would bar all its reporters from favorably describing classes of technology the network does not like." He was even more blunt in an quote: "CBS... will never be viewed again as pristine," wrote Shapiro. "The ethical media rule is that corporate business interests should never interfere in journalism—or at least not so blatantly, publicly, and harmfully. It made me wonder if 60 Minutes had ever suffered the same treatment." CES even went so far as to re-instate the best of show award that CBS managed to take away through editorial meddling. Meanwhile showing CBS has learned nothing, they issued a rote statement that answers absolutely none of the questions being directed at the company: quote: “As the No. 1 tech news and reviews site in the world, CNET is committed to delivering in-depth coverage of consumer electronics. We look forward to covering CES and the latest developments from the show as we have for well over a decade." The enjoyment Dish and Charlie Ergen are getting from all of this is probably immeasurable. Now things have gotten worse for CBS and CNET, with CES themselves announcing that they've fired CNET over the scuff up. CES President Gary Shapiro was refreshingly blunt in a statement He was even more blunt in an editorial in USAToday CES even went so far as to re-instate the best of show award that CBS managed to take away through editorial meddling. Meanwhile showing CBS has learned nothing, they issued a rote statement that answers absolutely none of the questions being directed at the company:The enjoyment Dish and Charlie Ergen are getting from all of this is probably immeasurable. News Jump Tuesday Morning Links Monday Morning Links TGI Friday Morning Links
for forty-one years (1806–47). He enjoyed the friendship of members of the royal family and King George IV visited him at Old Gwernyfed.[9] The house is now a grade I listed building.[10] Gwernyfed Park, a much later Jacobean-style house within the deer park, was built for Captain Thomas Wood, MP for Middlesex, by William Eden Nesfield in the 1870s.[11] During the Second World War, it was requisitioned and used by the South Wales Borderers.[12] Since 1950, it has formed part of Gwernyfed High School. A rugby union club, Gwernyfed RFC, was founded at the school in the 1960s, but now plays at and represents the nearby town of Talgarth. Gwernyfed Park is now a grade II* listed building.[13] Following local government reorganization in 1974, Aberllynfi has been placed in the Community of Gwernyfed, together with the neighbouring village of Felindre and the southern part of the village of Glasbury.[14] Three Cocks Junction with signalbox and Refreshment Room c1960 Three Cocks Junction Station in 1949 The Three Cocks Inn Old GwernyfedNational Nurses United (NNU)’s Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN), a national network of volunteer nurses, will deploy a second team of RN volunteers to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation—to help with existing medical and first aid support for land and water protectors—NNU announced today. “As a nurse, I understand the necessity of preserving and protecting our water. Water equals life, and the Dakota Access pipeline threatens the health and well being of millions of Americans,” said RNRN volunteer Amy Bowen, RN, who traveled to Standing Rock in October and will return again this month. “Nurses honor the sacrifices being made by the water protectors while they stand up for what is right, against corporate greed.” RNRN volunteers will assist medic tents at the North/Oceti Sakowin and Sacred Stone camps. RNRN is also working with local partners to establish the Mni Wiconi (Water is Life) clinic to meet the ongoing healthcare needs of the Standing Rock Sioux community and the water protectors. Donations for the Mni Wiconi clinic can be made here: https://crowdfund.ucsf.edu/project/2913/updates/1 NNU has released several statements of solidarity with the standing Rock Sioux tribe and fellow water protectors, who, for months, have sought to halt construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), which nurses say poses great risk to public health. The nurses’ latest statement sharply condemns the violent attacks on protectors. “This has become a seminal battle over the First Amendment protection of public protest. It is also a challenge for everyone who is concerned about the rights of First Nation people and their sacred sites and water sources, as well as the threat the pipeline poses to environmental degradation, public health, and to accelerating the climate crisis,” said NNU Co-President Jean Ross, RN. “It is long past time to call into question all these dangerous pipeline projects that have become increasingly common, generally with far less public notice than the Dakota Access pipeline, or the similar successful campaign against the Keystone XL pipeline, has garnered. These projects pose a continual threat to public health from the extraction process through the transport to the refinery.” SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT Help Keep Common Dreams Alive Our progressive news model only survives if those informed and inspired by this work support our efforts Pipelines have proven to leak, including the recent Colonial Pipeline leak in Alabama and subsequent explosion at a second site. Nurses say spills from ruptured pipelines that contaminate water supplies can lead to numerous problems of respiratory ailments and other health symptoms associated with the spills. RNRN Director Bonnie Castillo, RN, says nurses will continue to stand in solidarity with Standing Rock and condemn the violence committed against water protectors—with reports that clearly identified medics have also been attacked and arrested. “Nurses will stand with the protectors at Standing Rock, and with our fellow caregivers, the medics — to say that DAPL is bad for public health, and those enforcing its construction cannot speak to its safety while simultaneously targeting for attack the very people with the power to heal,” said Castillo. "As a registered nurse, it was a profoundly moving and humbling experience to live with and serve the water and land protectors at the Sacred Stone encampment on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation,” said DeAnn McEwan, who volunteered at Standing Rock in October. “Nurses feel a moral commitment to lend our skills and do whatever we can do to help protect and promote their health and right to the fresh, pure water that sustains all our lives." RNRN is powered by NNU, the largest organization of registered nurses in the U.S.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Things aren't getting better for Johnny Manziel. The oft-maligned rookie quarterback is the subject of a report from ESPN.com's Pat McManamon and Jeremy Fowler in which they talked to "nearly 20 Browns sources, both on the record and on condition of anonymity" that paint an ugly picture of Manziel's actions during the season and how they were viewed by those within the organization. You know the report isn't going to be good when it has this nugget: "As one player put it, Manziel throughout the entire 2014 season was a '100 percent joke.'" The story delves into the Saturday prior to the finale in Baltimore ("Two team sources said security found a player who they felt clearly had partied hard the night before. One source used the words 'drunk off his a--.'") and how Manziel was treated by the team. ("One Browns staffer said he believed Manziel didn't get tough love when attention to detail wasn't there...") As for what went wrong in his first start? A lot: "But more than once, teammates corrected the play-call in the huddle, or headed to the line hoping things would work because the call was wrong. Sometimes, the offense would get lined up wrong because Manziel forgot to read the whole play or got the verbiage wrong (saying 'left' instead of 'right,' for example)." None of this, of course, can be good for Manziel, especially following a day of comments from offensive coordinator John DeFilippo and owner Jimmy Haslam that failed to endorse him as the team's quarterback. Which makes some people wonder. All the birds chirping, Jimmy and co. non-committal at best, ground work being laid to move on for the Browns. — Ken Carman (@KenCarman) January 23, 2015 How quickly things change. I'm old enough to remember when the Browns were going to move training camp because of Johnny Manziel. — Zac Jackson (@FSOhioZJackson) January 23, 2015 There's more to it than just what I've quoted here. Head over to ESPN.com to read the whole thing. (ESPN: Inside Manziel's rocky rookie season)OLYMPIA, Wash. – Nearly 3,000 union workers and their allies converged on the state capital, Feb. 26, in a loud demonstration of solidarity with Wisconsin public employees fighting to defend their union rights. A capacity crowd of over 1,000 jammed the Capitol rotunda and galleries, their chants echoing under the dome: “The people, united, will never be defeated.” They held up signs that proclaimed “Recall Scott Walker” and “Union rights are human rights.” They were referring to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker whose attempt to strip public employees of collective bargaining rights has ignited a nationwide fightback. The AFL-CIO and a broad coalition that included MoveOn, USAction and other grassroots organizations called for solidarity demonstrations Feb. 26 in 66 cities including all 50 state capitals to protest the Republican union-busting orgy. At least 100,000 demonstrators braved frigid wind and snow in Madison, the Wisconsin capital. The Olympia crowd rallied in the snow in front of the Capitol with a handful of counter-demonstrators across the street holding signs that read, “Union Greed” and “We stand with Scott Walker.” “Shame on you!” the union members roared, jabbing their fists at the right-wingers and chanting, “What’s disgusting? Union-busting!” and “Recall Walker!” Soon the sad little tea party handful disappeared. The solidarity demonstration here was swelled by hundreds of union firefighters, and by members of the State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Washington Education Association and American Federation of Teachers, Machinists (IAM), Electrical Workers (IBEW) and United Food and Commercial Workers. They marched to Tivoli Fountain for a rally. A fire engine, its lights flashing, was parked nearby. “See that fire engine?” said Olympia firefighter, Kelly Fox, president of the Olympia firefighter’s union. “That is the face of public servants helping someone who has fallen on the ice. The firefighters stand with all public workers, in Wisconsin and everywhere. We didn’t cause this recession. It was the unchecked greed of Wall Street that caused this recession.” The drive to strip workers of their union rights, he added, “is an attack on us; it is an attack on public safety.” Kate Severson, a nurse at Western State Hospital and a leader of SEIU Local 1199NW, said, “What the Wisconsin governor and others like him are doing is a frontal assault on patients, our communities and on the values that made this country. It is not right when billionaires like the Koch brothers pour millions of dollars into elections to put in office politicians who hand out billions in tax breaks for the rich.” A delegation of Democratic legislators came out of the Capitol where they are in session grappling with a multi-billion-dollar deficit and ultra-right initiatives that hogtie the legislature from raising taxes on corporations and the rich. “I stand in solidarity with my colleagues in Wisconsin,” said one. Rep. Mike Seils, a Democrat from Everett, told the crowd, “They are not going to gut collective bargaining in this state, not on my watch.” Many in the crowd wore Green Bay Packer “cheesehead” foam hats, symbolizing how the “Cheddar Revolution” has spread nationwide from America’s Dairyland. Livia Salvi, a freshmen at Evergreen College, held a hand-lettered sign reading, “Union Workers Won the Superbowl.” She told the People’s World, “I grew up in Madison. My mom was on the University of Wisconsin faculty. So I come from a union family. It is a huge shock that the governor and legislature are trying to take away collective bargaining rights. This is going to hurt so many Wisconsin families.” Indira McDonald, a public school teacher in Renton, Wash., was here with her husband and children. She assailed Republican smear attacks on public workers as “greedy” with “Cadillac” health care and pensions. “Public employees give their lives for other people,” she told the World. “Teachers in my district earn between $30,000 and $40,000 in annual salaries. It’s absurd to call us greedy. All we want is to be able to buy food, pay for our homes.” Will Parry, 91, perhaps the oldest person in the crowd, held one end of the Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans banner, an organization he helped found. Parry, revered as a moving force in the labor movement, and a lifelong member of the Communist Party, said, “This is only the start of a great movement that is going to sweep the country and make tremendous gains for the people.” Photo: PW/Tim WheelerExercise is a well known neuroprotective and neurotherapeutic strategy in animal models and humans with brain injury and cognitive dysfunction. In part, exercise induced beneficial effects relate to endothelial derived nitric oxide (eNO) production and induction of the neurotrophins; Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) and Glial Derived Neurotrophic Factor (GDNF). Whole Body Periodic Acceleration (WBPA (pGz), is the motion of the supine body headward to footward in a sinusoidal fashion, at frequencies of 100-160 cycles/min, inducing pulsatile shear stress to the vascular endothelium. WBPA (pGz) increases eNO in the cardiovascular system in animal models and humans. We hypothesized that WBPA (pGz) has neuroprotective and neurotherapeutic effects due to enhancement of biological pathways that include eNOS, BDNF and GDNF. We discuss protein expression analysis of these in brain of rodents. Animal and observational human data affirm a neuroprotective and neurotherapeutic role for WBPA (pGz). These findings suggest that WBPA (pGz) in addition to its well known beneficial cardiovascular effects can be a simple non-invasive neuroprotective and neurotherapeutic strategy with far reaching health benefits. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Image copyright AFP Image caption Dilma Rousseff was re-elected less than a year ago but currently has record low popularity ratings. Embattled Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has accused the political opposition of seeking to oust her government by "coup-mongering". Speaking at a meeting of union leaders, Ms Rousseff also said her opponents were spreading hatred and intolerance across the country. Her comments come after an audit court last week ruled that she broke the law in managing last year's budget. The opposition says this could pave the way for impeachment proceedings. Ms Rousseff was re-elected less than a year ago but currently has record low popularity ratings. Corruption scandals Addressing the gathering in Sao Paulo on Tuesday, the president accused the opposition of practicing "deliberate coup-mongering" against a "project that has successfully lifted millions of Brazilians out of poverty". "The artificiality of their arguments is absolute, their poisoning of people in social networks, their relentless game of 'the worse she does, the better for us'," Ms Rousseff was quoted as saying by Reuters. Her remarks follow the ruling of the Federal Accounts Court on accusations that the government borrowed money illegally from state banks to make up for budget shortfalls. The minister who handled the case in the court, Augusto Nardes, said the government disregarded fiscal and constitutional principles in the handling of the 2014 accounts. The irregularities amount to more than $26bn (£17bn; 100 bn reais), according to the court. The opposition said after the ruling it would seek impeachment proceedings in the Congress. Also last week, Brazil's top electoral authority said it would re-open an investigation into alleged misuse of funds during Ms Rousseff's re-election campaign. The Brazilian economy has gone into recession and is expected to shrink by 3% this year. The government's popularity has fallen amid corruption scandals involving senior politicians from Ms Rousseff's Workers' Party and other coalition members.The Blue Jays made the first splash of this year’s Winter Meetings, as they signed Steve Pearce to a two-year, $12.5M contract. The Jays had been connected to Pearce since early November, and have now finally got their man. This move sets them up to address all of their remaining needs. Filling the Platoons You probably know the payroll situation by now. The team started the year with roughly $40M to spend, and gave $11M to Kendrys Morales. They then had to find a partner for Justin Smoak, a couple of outfielders, some relievers, and a backup catcher. Pearce will be Smoak’s partner, given that he mashes left-handed pitching, and Smoak… does not. There is an argument to be made that the Jays should find a left-handed replacement for Smoak, but spending $4M for him to sit on the bench doesn’t make much sense. At this point, the Smoak contract comes across as a mistake that the front office will have to live with. Maybe Rowdy Tellez can wrestle part of the platoon away from him later on in the season. Looking toward the future, this move also ensures that Tellez will have an opportunity to play when he is ready. If he demonstrates that he can play at the MLB level this year, then the front office would likely be willing to bench Smoak. On the other hand, if he stays in the minors until 2018, then he will be ready to go at the start of the season. Had the Jays signed Edwin Encarnacion, Mitch Moreland, or someone else to a multiple year deal at 1B, Tellez would have been blocked. Now, with Smoak’s contract expiring after this year, and Pearce’s ability to play anywhere on the field, Tellez will have a direct path to the Majors in 2018. Pearce also provides flexibility in the outfield. As stated above, the Jays needed to find two outfielders this off-season. At worst, they needed 1.5, in the form of a right fielder and a partner for Melvin Upton Jr. While some in the industry still believe that they will look for two more outfielders, Pearce presents a fine option for left field. Pearce has been an historically average hitter against right-handed pitching. That said, he has adjusted over the past four season, posting a wRC+ of 107 or better since 2013. That still isn’t ideal for a platoon, but neither is Smoak’s wRC+ of 100 against right-handers. At the same time, Upton has struggled against righties, but has been strong against lefties. If the Jays cannot find two outfielders, then Pearce could be an everyday player, rotating between the infield and outfield. That’s a good return on this type of investment. Payroll Flexibility Another benefit to this deal is the payroll flexibility that it provides the club. If we assume a 2017 payroll of $160M, then the Jays have roughly $23M left to spend. With that money, they can now focus on their biggest need – a right fielder. The top name on the market continues to be Dexter Fowler, who is seeking an AAV of $18M. The Jays could presumably meet that at this point. If they are successful, then that would still leave $4M-$6M to sign a decent reliever. That still leaves questions for the backup catcher spot and the rest of the bullpen. If the team can deploy Pearce, Upton, and Fowler, with Ezequiel Carrera as the 4th/5th outfielder, then they should be comfortable with A.J. Jimenez behind the plate. As for the bullpen, that should be the last area to address. As was shown last season, a team can make splashy moves and have them backfire (i.e. Drew Storen), and can also retool for no money on the fly (i.e. Jason Grilli, Joaquin Benoit). They might not land a Jerry Blevins or Boone Logan, but they will still have the funds available to sort things out. The top priority has to be on signing Fowler, and then they can eventually piece the bullpen together. The End of Edwin As was discussed last night, Edwin Encarnacion’s market has taken a turn over the past few days. The Blue Jays are now the latest team to be taken out of the running for his services. When you consider the amount of money that they have left, the needs that remain, and the depth at 1B/DH, there is seemingly no place to put Encarnacion. At this point, it will be a matter of whether the Red Sox develop some interest. Otherwise, it looks increasingly likely that the Rangers will be his new home. Perhaps an NL team could swoop in and spare us from that sight.James Hider Times Online March 29, 2008 Abu Iman barely flinched when the Iraqi Government ordered his unit of special police to move against al-Mahdi Army fighters in Basra. His response, while swift, was not what British and US military trainers who have spent the past five years schooling the Iraqi security forces would have hoped for. He and 15 of his comrades took off their uniforms, kept their government-issued rifles and went over to the other side without a second thought. Such turncoats are the thread that could unravel the British Army’s policy in southern Iraq. The military hoped that local forces would be able to combat extremists and allow the Army to withdraw gradually from the battle-scarred and untamed oil city that has fallen under the sway of Islamic fundamentalists, oil smugglers and petty tribal warlords. But if the British taught the police to shoot straight, they failed to instil a sense of unwavering loyalty to the State. “We know the outcome of the fighting in advance because we already defeated the British in the streets of Basra and forced them to withdraw to their base,” Abu Iman told The Times. Read entire articleYou’ve probably heard the rumors brewing, but this is the first time that we’ve heard details about changes that may be planned for Downtown Disney Orlando!! Please note that all of this is subject to change (and probably WILL!). What’s the Latest? Along with a new name (Disney Springs), parking garage (thank goodness!), and the re-imagining of Planet Hollywood, new restaurants and shops are now being named in these rumors! A new “district,” which is being called the Town Center, may part of the proposed plan. Pleasure Island could be known as The Landing, and the Marketplace may return to its roots — The Village Marketplace. Only the West Side area would retain its current label in this structure. Part of the remodel could bring a two-story entertainment area similar to City Walk at Universal Studios. Possible New Restaurants? This photo from Save Pleasure Island showcases a few possible options. We can’t wait for more details to emerge, but of course we’re pretty excited about the possible addition of a Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar, which we LOVE in Disneyland. Here a few other options that are apparently on the block for Disney World’s “Disney Springs:” Planet Hollywood would become The Observatory. Disney Character Dining (TBD) Disney Burger (TBD) Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar Wine Bar (TBD) The Edison Disney Bakery (TBD) Food Truck Powell’s Sweet Shoppe Italian Restaurant (TBD) Argo Tea Shake Shack Food Network Restaurant Temecula Olive Oil Company Yogorino Walt’s Place The Boathouse Morimoto Newt Restaurants that look like they are definitely here to stay include Raglan Road and Splitsville. And sadly, no word on what this means for fans of the Adventurer’s Club. According to WFTV Orlando: in a statement, a Disney spokeswoman said, “Work continues on bringing our vision for Downtown Disney to life. As with any project of this size and scope, our plans have continued to grow and evolve… We look forward to sharing additional details soon.” Sources: Save Pleasure Island, WFTV, and ParkRumors. Hat tip to a forum member at WDWMagic.com. What do you think of the rumored plans for Downtown Disney? Tell us in the comments below!Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Mark has been supplying the drugs for eight years and told the BBC what he thinks will happen now. A blanket ban on so-called legal highs has come into force in the UK. Laws criminalising the production, distribution, sale and supply of what are otherwise known as new psychoactive substances began at midnight. The chemicals, sold under names such as spice and black mamba, are designed to give users the same effect as drugs like cannabis and cocaine. Last year legal highs were linked to more than 100 deaths in the UK and a rise in violent assaults in prison. Will ban on legal highs work? Offenders who break the new laws will face up to seven years in prison under the Psychoactive Substances Act. Police will also be able to shut down "headshops" - stores which sells drug paraphernalia - and online dealers in the UK. However, there have been warnings the ban could drive the sale of the drug to the so-called "dark web" - a largely untraceable area of the internet that does not show up on traditional search engines. A survey by the YMCA charity - conducted ahead of the ban coming into force - also suggested two-thirds of young people who currently take the drugs are likely to continue using them in the future. 'Intense scrutiny' Under the new legislation, authorities will have powers to seize and destroy psychoactive substances, as well as carry out searches of people, premises and vehicles. If a person is found to be in possession of a psychoactive substance in prison, they could face having up to two years added to their sentence. The legislation has come under intense scrutiny since it was first proposed by the government last year. It had been widely expected that the measures would be rolled out in April but the start date was pushed back. What are legal highs? 'A ban on getting high' Image copyright AFP/Getty Image caption Spice stimulants on sale in a London shop Analysis: BBC home affairs editor Mark Easton The story of prohibition over the last 100 years is not a particularly happy one. Banning alcohol in the US in 1920 pushed the trade underground, with criminals selling bootleg booze of dubious or dangerous quality. Some 10,000 people died from drinking poisonous liquor before prohibition was lifted. Many argue the so-called "War on Drugs" has done the same: Simply handing the trade to unscrupulous international criminal gangs. Drug deaths in Britain are currently at record numbers. But with no governmental appetite in Britain for decriminalisation or legalisation of drugs, prohibition remains the only response the Home Office is prepared to consider. Read more from Mark Simon Blackburn, of the Local Government Association, said legal highs were a "scourge on society and shatter lives". He added the new blanket ban "should help to reduce anti-social behaviour" linked to their use. "Councils have made every effort to crack down on these substances and the unscrupulous traders selling them, which has seen so-called 'head shops' closed down, intoxicating substances seized, on-the-spot fines issued and successful prosecutions. "However, this work relied on laws designed for very different purposes, making it much harder for councils and the police to tackle the problem." 'Unintended consequences' Edmund Smyth, criminal lawyer at Kingsley Napley, said police "have ever-more stretched resources so questions remain about their ability to enforce the new regime effectively". Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Legal highs: A paramedic's perspective He added: "Many have criticised this act in draft stages - it may prove to be a sledgehammer to crack a nut and have unintended consequences. But it is here and carries serious consequences for those who fall foul of the new law." Campaigner Karen Vandersypen - whose son Jimmy died in 2014 after taking a legal high - said she was "delighted" the ban had become law. Jimmy, 20, had a heart attack and later died after taking synthetic cannabis from a shop in Kent. "We are absolutely delighted this has come into effect," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "It is just such a shame we have paid such a high price for having it there." The ban comes into force a day after the owner of a shop selling legal highs and a shop worker were arrested in Greater Manchester after nine people fell ill after taking substances. The legal highs now illegal Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption Nitrous oxide gives users a light-headed, euphoric feeling that lasts for several seconds Some of the legal highs which have hit the headlines in recent years include:Biotech DNA A futuristic gene-editing technology holds almost fantastical promise to turn biologists' wildest dreams into reality. The technology called CRISPR could one day be used to delete the HIV virus from patients' cells, create a limitless supply of organs for transplant and produce better crops. Already, it's being used in laboratories across the world. This week, the fierce battle over who invented it officially kicked off, with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line. A patent judge rang the opening bell Monday, pitching two heavyweight research institutions perched on opposite coasts against each other: the University of California Berkeley vs. the MIT- and Harvard-affiliated Broad Institute in Cambridge. The judge's declaration of "interference," a technical term meaning that a conflict exists between a patent application and another patent or application, draws CRISPR, one of the hottest discoveries in biology, into a drawn-out, arcane trial process that will determine who invented it. CRISPR's bedfellows in interference include the telephone, the integrated circuit and the lockstitch technology used in the Singer sewing machine. "These types of actions typically arise only in the context of very successful, very valuable patents," said Adam Mossoff, a patent specialist at George Mason University School of Law. "This patent, in particular, is... a significantly huge advance in gene-editing technology, and this type of technology is the core of what has made the biotech revolution." Whether CRISPR will transform health as everyone hopes is currently uncertain, without even a single clinical trial started. But the tool is already so crucial to how science is done that it straddles an unusual cultural divide: named breakthrough of 2015 by Science magazine and also nominated for word of the year. CRISPR, short for the tongue-tying "clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats," is a clever hack of the way bacteria defend themselves against infections. In 2012, Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier reported that they could reprogram this mechanism; instead of snipping invading viruses, they could use CRISPR to cut DNA very precisely, opening the doorway to genome editing. In 2013, Feng Zhang at the Broad Institute and George Church at Harvard Medical School led teams that showed it was possible to use the technology to edit the genomes of human and mouse cells. Although genome editing had been tried before, previous techniques tended to be far more painstaking and limited. CRISPR was versatile and simple to use; it allowed for easy and efficient genome editing -- and it worked in all kinds of cells. "I think genetics is going to be the source of lot of big decisions that are made by stock analysts, politicians, and so forth, and it’s about time we got excited about genetics," said Church, who holds CRISPR patents that have not been challenged. "If there weren’t a race to sequence the human genome, the human genome would have gotten less attention. If CRISPR didn’t have a race for the technology, there would have been less attention." At the center of the race are superstars of science and a dozen key patents that outline the use of CRISPR to edit DNA in cells. Feng Zhang, a scientist at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, was granted those patents in 2014 and 2015. This week, they were found to interfere with a patent application filed by Doudna, a scientist at Berkeley and Emmanuelle Charpentier, who now directs the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin. The institutions on both sides of the dispute have made the technology freely available to academic researchers who are using it for basic research, which is precisely what has allowed for a laboratory technique first described in 2012 to become ubiquitous practically overnight. The Broad said it does not plan to change that access to the tool, and Doudna said she did not, either. Companies that plan to commercialize the technology, however, will need to license patents from whichever institution wins the battle. At the end of 2015, three groups of scientists used CRISPR to treat mice with an errant gene that causes Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a fatal disease --- raising hopes for a therapy that could be tested in people one day. Laboratory experiments that were once tedious and time-consuming, such as figuring out which genes are important in disease, or creating animal versions of disease, are suddenly relatively trivial because CRISPR now allows scientists to introduce multiple genetic changes in one step. "It speeds up the pace of everything we’ve been able to do in the past, to the point where experiments become routine to do that we couldn’t imagine attempting" before, Doudna said in an interview. As evidence of that promise, a handful of companies set up by different camps in the patent war have already raised hundreds of millions from investors, based on the hope -- likely still years away -- of CRISPR drugs and treatments. Business has been booming for CRISPR companies. Editas Medicine, a Cambridge-based company that previously raised $163 million, announced last week that it planned a $100 million initial public offering and hoped to begin clinical trials in 2017 for a rare genetic disease that causes blindness. CRISPR Therapeutics has raised $89 million and recently announced major partnerships with two drug companies, Bayer and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Another company, Intellia, has raised $85 million and is working with Novartis. Caribou Biosciences has partnered with DuPont and raised $11 million last April. If the patent contest ends with a winner-takes-all sweep, it will mean several things: a significant revenue stream for the victorious institution, and in the interim a bit more uncertainty for the many companies trying to push the technology forward into the clinic. The companies are not directly a party to the current patent dispute, but each has entered into different licensing agreements. Caribou, for example, licenses intellectual property from Berkeley and the University of Vienna; Intellia licenses its technology from Caribou. Editas has licensed the Broad's technology. CRISPR Therapeutics says on its website it has licensed its technology from Charpentier. "It may chill investment in the competing companies," said Jacob Sherkow, a law professor at New York Law School who has been closely following the issue. If "you don't know what the patent situation is going to be, why plunk down $100 million... [if] you don't know who is going to be the last man standing?" But people aren't just considering traditional drugs and therapies. Church is spinning a company out of his laboratory called eGenesis that will use CRISPR to make genetic changes that would humanize pig organs and make them safe for transplant -- potentially creating a large supply of organs for transplant. In fact, due to the ease of deploying the technology to alter the human genome, scientists have widely called for restraint, too, before it is used to make genetic tweaks in people that are permanent and can be inherited by the next generation, such as by altering human embryos. While the science rushes forward, the issue of who gets credit continues along its slow, legalistic path. The U.S. has moved to a system in which patents are awarded based on who files the application first. But because Doudna filed her patent before that change, this case is still subject to the older rules -- in which the patent goes to the first inventor. "I really want to see this move towards clarity in the space," Doudna said. "Even though I don’t see the field held back by this, I think there will be benefits in having clarity in the foundational intellectual property in this field." Zhang said in an e-mail that he hoped the issue would be resolved quickly, since he worries it will become a distraction from science. In his own laboratory, he said CRISPR is being used to do research on cancer, mental illness, Alzheimer's disease, muscular dystrophy, malaria, and rare genetic diseases. "I would much rather be focusing on science and new research that will benefit human health," Zhang said in an email. The Broad Institute released a statement explaining it expected the original patents to be upheld. "Given that the underlying facts have not changed, we are confident the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will reach the same conclusion it did initially when it awarded the patent and will continue to recognize the Broad and MIT roles in developing this transformative technology," Lee McGuire, a Broad spokesman, said in a statement. Bob Sanders, a spokesman for the University of California Berkeley, said that its lawyers declined to comment on the case.A man types on a keyboard in front of the logo of "Kosova Hackers Security" in this photo illustration taken in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, October 16, 2015. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Kosovar citizen accused of hacking the personal data of more than a thousand U.S. officials and sending it to Islamic State militants in Syria appeared in U.S. federal court in Virginia on Wednesday. It was the first time Ardit Ferizi, 20, had publicly appeared in the United States since being extradited from Malaysia, where he was detained in October on a U.S. provisional arrest warrant. Ferizi, who is believed to be the leader of a Kosovar Internet hacking group, hacked the computer server of a U.S. online retailer and stole the personal identification information of 1,351 U.S. military personnel, according to charging documents. The criminal complaint says Ferizi provided the list to Islamic State members including the British hacker Junaid Hussain, who linked to the list in an Aug. 11, 2015, tweet titled “NEW: U.S. Military AND Government HACKED by the Islamic State Hacking Division!” Twitter messages from Ferizi to other Islamic State-affiliated Twitter accounts show that he also offered to build the group a computer program enabling them to post propaganda that would “never get deleted,” according to court records. U.S. officials called Ferizi’s case the “first of its kind” when his arrest was announced last year, but he is one of at least 79 individuals whom U.S. prosecutors have charged with Islamic State-related crimes in the past two years. An Albanian interpreter has been appointed in advance of his next court appearance on Friday. Ferizi faces a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison if convicted.0 With director Jaume Collet-Serra’s Run All Night hitting theaters this weekend, a few days ago I visited composer Junkie XL (Tom Holkenborg) in his Encino studio for an in-depth conversation. As you’ll hear him explain, he went from having a number 1 single around the world (his remix of Elvis Presley’s 1968 single “A Little Less Conversation”) to working as an assistant to learning what it takes to compose music for movies. He didn’t make some immediate jump overnight. He paid his dues, and now he’s working on some of the biggest films around. Over the past few years he’s done great work on 300: Rise of an Empire, Divergent, and collaborated with Hans Zimmer at Remote Control Productions on Megamind, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, and Man of Steel. During our extended video interview, he talks about how he made the transition to composing, why he decided to write a more emotional score for Run All Night, his fondness for Frank Miller and Sin
in Lampung) and moved to Jakarta, as they were no longer obliged to produce local content (Armanda, 2011: 129). The 1997 Broadcasting Act gave greater legitimacy to this new centralisation by determining that private stations were allowed to broadcast to up to 50% of Indonesia’s territory. Although claiming to be in the interests of “equalization of information and national unity”, this rule instead caused even more economic and information inequality. With this rule, labor increasingly came from Jakarta, where stations were based. Private television networks were given free reign to turn vast swaths (up to 50%) of Indonesia’s territory into a captive market for advertisement, and revenue thus flowed back to central offices in Jakarta. This also created inequality of information. With the new priority on advertising dollars, television content was increasingly determined by advertisers looking to maximize revenue. Television rating agency also contributed to the problem. In order to earn advertising revenue, TV stations had to boost ratings, achieved by responding to the tastes of large groups of consumers in big cities. At that point in time, AGB Nielsen had just 2,200 rating panels in 11 major cities in Indonesia, despite there being 27 provinces at the time and many other cities in the country. A large part of the population was thus not represented in ratings figures. The fall of the New Order in 1998 was predicted as a moment of democratization. In the television industry, this was marked by the 2002 Broadcast Act, which aimed to decentralize the industry and break up geographical concentrations of power by altering broadcasting licenses. But such decentralization was hobbled by the contradictions inherent in the country’s broadcasting system (Armando, 2011) and the fact that the Government did not monitor implementation of the Act. What occurred instead was a strengthening of the cultural and economic hegemony of Jakarta—and Java in general—over Indonesia. The number of national private television broadcasters increased by 100%—from five stations in 1998, to ten stations in 1999. Simultaneously, ownership was increasingly concentrated in the hands of five national media conglomerates, which had fingers in multiple print, radio and online media pies. The end of the 20th century saw Indonesia’s television industry concentrate itself geographically, and the beginning of 21st century saw it concentrate in the hands of a few oligarchs. The 2002 Broadcasting Act indeed aimed to break this concentration of capital, by limiting entities to a maximum of two broadcasting permits. But there were still gaps in the rules. Article 18 of the Act read: “Concentration of ownership and control of private broadcasting institutions by one person or legal entity, either in one or in several broadcast areas, is limited.” Using the stock market to acquire licenses through subsidiaries, as mogul Harry Tanoe did, was one way around this rule. In the Broadcasting Act, specific restrictions on indirect ownership were only applied to cross-media ownership (i.e. across television, newspaper and radio). This gap in the rules has produced today’s concentrated media ownership. The First Evaluation, the Second Defeat By simple maths, the previous license renewal process was supposed to have occurred in 2006. Interestingly though, there was no renewal process in 2006, as it was a transition period from the broadcasting regulations of the New Order to those of the Reformation. The 1997 Broadcast Act was updated in 2002, so what occurred in 2006 was instead a “license adjustment” initiated by the then Minister of Communication and Information, Sofyan Jalil. In Ministerial Decree number 17 of 2006, Minister Jalil essentially granted national private television broadcasters nearly 20 years of renewal-free broadcasting licenses by setting 2006 as the new starting point for the ten year licensing period. “Adjusting” a broadcaster’s licensing period, it turns out, is a very easy process. Broadcasters need only provide administrative papers and pay their licensing fees. Restrictions on ownership and broadcasting regions, two of the promising aspects of the Broadcast Act, have been corrupted by the implementation of these subsequent rule changes—the very rule that aims to enact them. The 2016 license renewal process sees history repeating itself: first as tragedy, then as comedy. Over seven days, the KPI conducted the evaluation process by calling a range “experts” (a large number of whom were not broadcasting experts) and television industry figures, and opening up to the public (the invitation was not publicized however, and very few members of the public attended). When the members of the public that did attend criticized the evaluation process, the KPI took matters behind closed doors. The evaluation process didn’t strike at the heart of the structural problems that continue to plague the Indonesian broadcasting industry. The KPI’s carefully staged process instead reaffirms the domination that large media conglomerates have over the national broadcasting. This is rather ironic. The KPI was originally created to encourage public interest in the regulation of the broadcasting industry and limit the dominance of big corporations. In reality, though, many wonder: can it be guaranteed that these corporations have not influenced the KPI itself? [] References Agung, Mumpuni (2011) Implementasi Regulasi Kepemilikan dan Isi Siaran Sistem Stasiun Jaringan SUN TV Network. Masters thesis, Master Program in Communication Science Universitas Diponegoro. Armando, Ade (2011). Televisi Jakarta di Atas Indonesia: Kisah Sistem Televisi Berjaringan di Indonesia. Jakarta: MizanLocal bicyclists now have an easier way to report harassment and collisions. Cincinnati has added a "Bicyclist Incident" form on its customer service website, 5916000.com. It's also on the city's mobile app, Cincinnati City Hall Mobile, which is GPS-enabled so cyclists can accurately report their location. (The app is available through Apple's App Store and Google Play.) "In our latest survey of Cincinnati cyclists, 266 people told us they'd been a victim of harassment while riding a bicycle in the past 12 months," said Melissa McVay, Senior City Planner in the Department of Transportation and Engineering in a release. "This new tracking system will help us figure out where this is happening most often and do something to curb it." The data will help the city conduct more targeted education and enforcement of bike and motor vehicle laws. The reports aren't intended to replace a police report for emergency situations like a collision with serious injuries. The city says typical accounts of harassment often involve glass bottles being thrown at cyclists, or drivers trying to knock cyclists off their bikes by passing to closely. The city offers Pocket Guide to Bike Laws at www.cincinnati-oh.gov/bikes/bikelaws/.Today, Volkswagen Group said that German regulators approved its proposed fixes to vehicles with EA 189 engines, the infamous engines that include defeat devices and released illegal amounts of nitrogen oxide (NOx) while VW vehicles were being driven under normal conditions. The fixes will apply to 1.2 liter, 1.6 liter, and 2.0 liter diesel engines. The 1.2 and 2.0 liter engines will only require a software update that Volkswagen group says should take “under half an hour.” The 1.6 liter engine vehicles require a software update as well as a “flow rectifier” that mechanics will fit in front of the air mass sensor. Volkswagen estimates that labor for that job will take “under an hour.” Volkswagen says it will send out letters to customers in the European Union as soon as the German Federal Motor Transport Authority gets the company the appropriate addresses. Volkswagen Group says it estimates repairs will start in January 2016. "These measures apply to Europe (EU-28 markets),” Volkswagen Group wrote in a press release. "After the measures have been implemented, the vehicles will fulfill the duly applicable emissions standards, with the aim of achieving this without any impairment of engine output, fuel consumption, or performance.” The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) broke the news about the defeat devices on diesel Volkswagens and Audis in September, setting off a global crisis for the German automaker. It was later discovered that 11 million cars worldwide likely had ways of spoofing emissions-control systems while the cars are being driven normally (i.e., not in a lab for emissions regulators). Further investigations have turned up illegal defeat devices on certain diesel Porsches, as well as 36,000 vehicles in Europe that emit significantly more CO 2 than the car maker originally reported to regulators. In a press conference this month, Volkswagen executives said that the cheating scandal was caused by individuals encouraged by a company culture "that tolerated breaches of the rules.” The executives also addressed the proposed fix for European cars that was approved today, noting that a fix for US cars would take time "due to the much tighter NOx levels on the other side of the Atlantic," said Volkswagen Group CEO Matthias Müller. "Retrofitting the vehicles there to meet valid emissions limits is quite simply a much bigger technical challenge."Update: A jury has concluded that 5 Pointz developer Jerry Wolkoff violated the law when he whitewashed that buildings without warning, erasing graffiti from dozens of artists. The jury’s findings will serve as a recommendation to the lawsuit’s presiding judge, who will then render a final verdict, reports the New York Times. “The jury sided strongly with the rights of the artists. This is a clear message from the people that the whitewashing of the buildings by its owner was a clear and willful act,” said lawyer Eric Baum, who represents the artists that filed the suit. The judge will ultimately determine the repercussions of Wolkoff’s actions, which could include making him pay the artists for destroying their artwork. The trial over the whitewashing of graffiti at the 5 Pointz site in Long Island City could be close to a verdict, the New York Daily News reports. The lawyers representing a group of 21 artists, and those repping the developers, Jerry and David Wolkoff, made their final arguments on Monday. The jury is now deliberating on whether the developers violated the Visual Artists Rights Act, and if the developers should pay the artists for painting over their work. The trial began in earnest in the middle of October this year, though it has been brewing in one form or another since at least 2013. The Wolkoffs have owned the site for 20 years, and had entered into an informal agreement with the artists to allow them to tag the site. However when Long Island City became ripe for development, the developers decided to demolish the 5 Pointz building and construct two rental towers in its place. The artists contend that their work was whitewashed overnight and that they didn’t have a chance to rescue it or potentially relocate it to a museum, and the developers counter that they had given the artists enough notice. Regardless, the artists’ work made 5 Pointz a go-to destination, and it’s evident that developer is trying to benefit from this reputation, if the interior renderings are anything to go by. It’s not yet clear when the verdict will come out, but with jury deliberations now underway, it should be very soon.MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A Lino Lakes woman faces charges after police say she was seen smoking meth in a McDonald’s parking lot with a 14-year-old child in the car. Brandie Lea Triplett, 38, faces one count of meth-related crimes involving children, one count of possessing meth and one count of possessing drug paraphernalia. The charges stem from the afternoon of Nov. 8. According to a criminal complaint, Lino Lakes police were called to the McDonald’s on 610 Apollo Drive on a report of a woman “smoking drugs” with a child in the car. The caller gave police the woman’s license, and the number was registered to Triplett. When police got to the McDonald’s, Triplett was gone, but the caller was still there. He said he was parked next to the car bearing Triplett’s license, and clearly saw a woman doing drugs. Police then went to Triplett’s home and told her about the complaint. She admitted to being at McDonald’s but denied doing drugs, the complaint states. Police said Triplett appeared to be intoxicated, and an officer arrested her, as an active warrant was out for her arrest in Wright County. In a search of her vehicle, police found two glass pipes with meth residue and a baggie containing 1.2 grams of meth. If convicted of the charges, Triplett faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and/or a fine of more than $20,000.I haven’t had Thai food in what feels like months. When my friend suggested checking out Eattini in Ellicott City I was down for an adventure and to add some spice to my taste buds. Beyond a few noodle dishes, I’m not particularly well versed in Thai food so i let her take the reins with ordering and I could not have been happier with what we ordered. Despite the heat, we started with an order of Tom Yum Gai soup. This was lemongrass broth with chicken, tomatoes, mushrooms, lime juice, and cilantro. We shared this bowl of soup and it was perfect because I found it to be on the sour side (as it should be). But I don’t know that I’d be able to eat a full order of this. Next up, my friend suggested getting the Chicken Curry Puffs. I haven’t had Thai curry before but I’m up to try almost anything. I’m glad we ordered this because it ended up being my favorite dish of the night. The flaky dough was stuffed with caramelized chicken, onions, sweet potato, carrots, and snow peas. Good thing the order only came with three of these delicious bites because I could have easily filled up on them. For my friends main dish, she went with an order of the Green Curry. This was a huge dish of curry and it was filled with plenty of fresh veggies and chicken. It also wasn’t overly spicy – it had a subtle heat that was tempered by the sweetness of the coconut milk. I was craving noodles and opted to go with the Drunken Noodles. The heat from this dish was very bearable and the sauce was super flavorful. Also, there was plenty of chicken and veggies in this dish. It was also on the larger side so there were definitely leftovers that I enjoyed for lunch the next day. Eattini is located at 10045 Baltimore National Pike, Ellicott City For more drool worthy pictures, follow me on Facebook or Instagram. Be sure to subscribe to my blog for the latest and greatest. Looking for a place to eat? Check out Rachel’s Baltimore Restaurant List.It’s that time of year when the sprogs have to be delivered back into the enfolding arms of the State - and this point of the calendar is marked with a number of family rituals. 1: Back-to-school shopping is in full swing and mounds of jumpers in various hideous shades of grey and mauve are being rifled as parents seek an item of clothing with that elusive combination of “room to grow into” and a Kevlar-like resistance to the unmentionable abuses it will face while being worn by a child. 2: Parents are spending hours with their head stuck under the stairs and in the garage searching for essential school gear such as school bags and sports stuff, all of which was put away “carefully” in June. Two days before school many parents realise the stuff must have been left in the holiday home and opt to the replace item. Four days later said missing item will reveal itself. And so the clutter cycle continues. 3: Awful adverts appear targeting parents. Heard the one about it being the time for mothers to take a holiday? (A notion met with the bafflement and fury of many mammies). Ah yes, because, over the summer, dad has been lolling around on the couch or golf course, ignoring the kids. 4: After the appropriate school geansaí empties your purse or wallet, you’ve got to pay for after-school activities, “voluntary” school contributions and other outlays you had been warned about months ago but dismissed from your mind immediately. Therefore you have not budgeted for them and the family faces tuna and pasta dinners for the next month. Many parents mutter darkly about “planning better next year”. 5: There’s crankiness galore as everybody in the house all of a sudden has to get up many (in some cases many, many) hours earlier and still there’s no time to dress or even eat in the rush to get into the car. Rows over the shower resume. Wait until the water charges kick in. 6: Meanwhile, children normally delighted to get out of the house will suddenly be anxious to do anything else whatsoever as the reality of the classroom looms. Requests for new items, clothing, phones, shoes etc are delivered in higher-than normal octave. 7: As schools return the traffic slows along routes that were uncluttered over the summer. You allow extra time for your journey, misjudge it and spend much of the first week arriving late to work. You resume the habit of having your “breakfast”, a banana and Luke-warm coffee, in the car. If you carpool, other families’ kids will be late/unwell/bawling or will need to demonstrate to you the new karate chops they learned during the summer. 8: You will meet up with classmates’ families who’ve all been on far, far nicer holidays than you. They have better tans and better holiday snaps. They have funny anecdotes. Their children learned a language and lacrosse. None involved an unfortunate incident involving parked cars on a narrow lane and your car. In fact, that incident was pretty much marked the end of your holiday. That is why there are no pics of a smiling family and why your wife refers to you as “that &*%#ing man” Grrrrrr. 9: There is also the pleasure of organising play-dates with kids who’s folks haven’t had your youngsters around to theirs for, like, at least 18 months. They have forgotten about the extent of your ‘little darling’s’ wanton appetite for destruction. They do not realise said child has regressed under the careful tutelage of their parents during the summer. And better still, to avoid being seen to be rude, they will have to invite the little one back again at least once. Result. 10: You get that familiar feeling of the holidays being far too short. Now you will encounter plenty of worthy folk complaining about the ghastly amount of free time ne’er-do-well teenagers (and teachers) have for doing precisely zilch the whole summer long. Then you see said teenagers subjecting the neighbour’s dog to the ice bucket challenge... in the bath. You reappraise views on the lenght of the holidays. Well it’s all over now, baby!, as Michael Noonan might say.Liana K posted a rant about antifeminists on her YouTube channel. I intended to write a short response as a comment and a longer response here. Unfortunately, I do not think I can whittle the response down. Before I proceed with my comment, I suggest people watch the video. Whether you agree with Liana or not, she does come across as genuinely concerned about how antifeminists perceive feminists. She does take a great deal of heat from feminists, non-feminists, and antifeminists on Twitter. For that reason, I can understand some aspects of her tone. Watch it is for yourself, and then read my response. It will be directed at Liana because, as I mentioned before, I intended to leave it as a comment. I watched your video twice. It left me confused. Who are the antifeminists you mention? I ask only because few of the antifeminists I encounter specifically or primarily cite Andrea Dworkin as their raison d’être for opposing feminism. The majority of them are more likely to cite someone like Amanda Marcotte, Julie Bindel, Jessica Valenti, Anita Sarkeesian, Zerlina Maxwell, and a host of other prominent, popular feminists as examples for their opposition to feminism. Likewise, they are more likely to cite literature, articles, interviews, proposals, policies, and laws as reasons for their opposition. They will similarly note biased research and the politicizing of certain issues as reasons. So who are these antifeminists who hang on the word of Dworkin? You also argue that the feminists that antifeminists target either are do not represent real feminists. They are radical feminists, a fringe, but vocal minority within the feminist community. Would you label any of the above feminists radical or fringe? They are fairly mainstream, with a great deal of support within the feminist community. While I can understand how the loudest voices may be heard, it seems quite the cop out to argue that the negative aspects of modern feminism belong to a fringe group. There is nothing fringe about the “teach men not to rape” consent training being pushed in the United States and other countries. There is nothing fringe about the “stop manspreading” policies implemented in the States and the United Kingdom. There is nothing fringe about lowering the evidentiary standards on college campuses to make to easier to expel students accused of sexual violence. Those are all mainstream feminist policies. While I am not men’s right activist, I did find your claim that “legitimate grievances men’s rights advocates have don’t have anything to do with rights and they have everything to do with psychological support and male dominated areas” rather insulting. That is primarily because you went on to state, “This is opposed to the legitimate rights that certain regressive lawmakers are attempting to deny women, mostly in regards to bodily autonomy.” You then went on to claim that some people in power “still don’t believe that a woman can be raped by her own husband.” The latter would imply that you think it is a woman’s right to be believed if she claims she was raped by her husband. One of the positions of men’s rights activists is that men have the right to be believed if they claim they are raped. It would appear that you are arguing not believing women violates their rights, while not believing men is just a lack of psychological support. Your follow-up statement to those comments was that feminists worked for 40 years trying to prevent sexual violence. Yet you failed to mention the vast majority of that has been and continues to be geared exclusively on preventing violence against women. I think that portion of your rant, along with how you blithely swatted aside addressing male victimization on its own merits (arguing that the focus should be on addressing women’s issues), is the reason why antifeminists do not believe feminists are as egalitarian as they claim. Your point comes across as contradictory, dismissive, and defensive. I am not an antifeminist. I am, however, a victim’s advocate and a man who experienced sexual violence for the first third of my life. Your comments are precisely why I do not want feminism or feminists involved in assisting male victims. There is no acknowledgement of the legitimacy of violence against men, no acknowledgment of the need to address that issue on its own merit, and no acknowledgment of the negative aspects of feminism and its impact on addressing that issue. Why would I want to work with, let alone share my experiences with, a group that will not even recognize that I have the right not to be raped or have the violation believed should it occur? Now imagine my view of feminism was not akin to that of the late Christopher Hitchens’s view of religion, but that I harbored an antipathy towards feminism and feminists. How do you think your above comments would come across? Would it not sound as if you are painting feminists with the finest sable hair brush while painting antifeminists with the paint roller used to mark street crossings? Both sides play in extremes. Both sides have valid points about the other side’s behavior. In this instance, antifeminists are correct that the average feminist does appear to support an essentially biased position that favors women over men. You did it while saying you were not doing it (and throwing male victims and men’s issues under the bus). This leaves me in an odd position because I technically agree with you that antifeminists cherry-pick bad statements. I would be lying to say I have not done so myself. However, I disagree with why you think this occurs, who you think causes antifeminists (and critics of feminists like myself) to oppose feminism, how prominent those voices are within the feminist movement, and how to resolve the divide. I do not think simply doing everything feminists way, as you suggested, is the solution. If people have a negative perception of your community, you need to ask why. If you think the moderates of your community are the real voice of the community and not the so-called vocal radical fringe, you need to ask why the moderates remain silent. Just like the members of another community that is not that popular with a large portion of the population, you need to explain how you can be the moderate voice when your opinions do not appear to differ from that of the radical fringe. As for your final questions to antifeminists, I find them to be unintentionally condescending. While I agree that it is better for people to say what they are for rather than what they are against (hence the reason I do not identify as an antifeminist), antifeminists routinely talk about the positions they support. One need only listen to someone Karen Straughan or Erin Pizzey of what it is they support and what it is that they want. I can only think that you asked those questions because you either have not looked into the antifeminist position or you focused on the most negative aspects. Both are ironic because they are essentially the charge you made against them. I think that if you want antifeminists to meet you half way, you need to acknowledge that some of their concerns are valid. You also need to extend to them the benefit of doubt you wish to have extended to you. It is not enough to say that they are essentially good people and then follow that by accusing them of engaging in bad activist habits. It is also not enough to acknowledge that some feminists are “predators”, only to deflect responsibility for their bad activist habits onto those who grant them media attention. You will not bridge this divide by presenting your side as the victim of a fringe group while presenting the other side as stuck on Dworkin. Both sides fight dirty, but you need to admit your side started the fight.by Molly Tanzer Author spotlight Boy howdy, had the match proven an ugly one. The fight’s underdog had her entire arm ripped off at the shoulder during the first five minutes in the ring, but then she dropped into a deep stance and swept her opponent’s legs out from under him, knocking him to the floor in what the audience clearly considered a thrilling reversal of fortune. When she stomped his neck, hard, and used her remaining hand to pluck out the other geung si’s left eye, the crowd went crazy. Ugh. While decisive, it wasn’t the most beautiful victory Jimmy had ever witnessed. When she started drinking her opponent’s qi through his eye socket, her mouth in a taut O-shape around the gore-smeared orifice, it kinda looked like she was kissing it. Jimmy tipped his open-crown hat low enough to cut off his vision, but it did nothing to block the grotesque moaning and grunting sounds the geung si made as she fed. Jesus Christ, he hated it when he had to watch the fights. To Jimmy’s mind, the undead were creepy as hell — the stuff of nightmares, not entertainment. But given the volume of the hooting and hollering and stomping as the winning geung si’s trainer stood on the wire mesh covering the fighting pit, holding aloft his hands as he turned around and around, Jimmy was in the minority. Well, in this company, he was in the minority. Geung si boxing was considered a disgusting spectacle and a public nuisance by most residents of San Francisco, and was thus deeply illegal. The geung si’s grunting became more frantic, and Jimmy angled his mouth toward his colleague Zeke’s ear. “You ready to get outta here?” “Just about,” said Zeke, over the din. He was still transfixed by the action. “What’s your rush?” Jimmy answered with half of the truth. “I don’t want the new recruit to get bored and run off.” “So what if he does?” Jimmy ground his teeth in frustration. He’d pushed back Wong’s appointment specifically to accommodate Zeke’s desire to see this fight, and still Zeke was busting his stones. Still, he had to keep Zeke happy; getting the boss’s right-hand man’s consent to hire Wong would be tough enough already. “C’mon, Zeke. Turkey wants as many fresh contenders as possible for the big match,” said Jimmy. “Therefore, it would behoove us to find ourselves a psychopomp.” Typically, a psychopomp — a spirit guide — was someone you hired to exorcise a ghost, or take care of any other sort of undead what troubled the living. Their job was to quiet the restless dead. But for men in their line, a psychopomp — a corrupt psychopomp — had other uses. Given that they were in San Francisco, not New York City or even Chicago, finding a talented psychopomp was hard enough. Finding one willing to betray their vows by working for operations like Turkey’s were even rarer, which was why Jimmy was so annoyed about Zeke being such a pain in the balls. Finally Zeke sighed, and after withdrawing a pocket watch and checking the time, nodded. “All right,” he said. “But this better be worth it.” The drive back to Jimmy’s office didn’t take long. The mules were eager after standing for the better part of an hour, and it was too late for there to be many other carts on the road. As they pulled up, Jimmy saw the kid slouching against the building to the left of the door, looking like he’d bought his duds off some cowboy. A taller, bigger cowboy: the leather duster he sported further dwarfed his scrawny body, and his too-big Stetson hid his features better than the darkness. “Kid’s a little short for a psychopomp,” was Zeke’s comment. “I mean, is he even shaving yet?” “Hush, he’ll hear you.” Jimmy climbed down off the wagon’s riding board and wrapped the reins around the hitching post. “Hey Wong! Sorry we’re late. Come on in and take a seat. Gotta talk to my friend Zeke here before you and me get down to business.” Wong’s only response was a quick nod. Zeke breezed through the foyer and into Jimmy’s office like he was the one who worked for Pacific-American Shipping. Not only that, while Jimmy was settling the kid on the threadbare sofa in the waiting area, Zeke had the nerve to sit in Jimmy’s chair, and prop his muddy boots on Jimmy’s desk. Jimmy sighed, but said nothing — he’d expected this conversation to be a pain in the ass. “So that’s your amazing find?” said Zeke. “The psychopomp so good I had to leave the pits early? ’Cuz on first glance...” “He’s better than good... far as his work goes, that is.” Jimmy shrugged, trying to seem confident. It was hard, while standing like a chump in his own office, but he would not sit in the visitor’s chair. “His big problem is he’s wild. Spends his pay on drink and fan-tan, can’t be counted on to show up regular-like. No one’ll hire him... except us.” Zeke’s frown eased a little. “That’s good, but Jimmy... he can’t be sixteen.” “He’s not lying about his experience, and that’s what counts. I checked his references, especially his claim he did a stint at the Merriwether Agency. You know they’re the best game in town. They can hire anyone they like — so why a kid?” “You tell me.” “Because he’s the real deal.” Jimmy saw the muscles of Zeke’s face ease yet further. “Anyways, I went to work at fourteen.” “I reckon you weren’t seventy-five pounds soaking wet and knock-kneed besides.” Zeke shook his head. “I don’t like it. Kid could get hurt.” Jimmy didn’t have time for all this rigmarole, not with Turkey breathing down his neck. “You his mama? What the hell do you care if he gets hurt? What matters is whether we’re turning a profit.” “You mean what matters is whether Turkey’s turning a profit.” Zeke pulled a flask out of his inside breast pocket and took a swig, then replaced it without offering Jimmy a sip. “We can’t afford to make mistakes. Big night’s just around the corner. Turkey wants some real contenders, and he wants them now.” “The kid would be working already if you could stop wringing your hands over his... youthful visage, or whatever’s troubling you.” Jimmy wouldn’t usually speak to one of Turkey’s men like that, but what did Zeke want? Truth be told, Jimmy was plenty worried that the kid was too green. But needs must when the devil drives, as they said. Zeke exhaled, making his lips flap, horse-like. “All right,” he decided. “Go on, if you want to risk it. But if he gets hurt or killed and the sheriff starts sniffing around —” “You think the sheriff’ll care about some dead Chinatown kid?” Jimmy rolled his eyes, genuinely confident about something for the first time this entire conversation. “Don’t lose any sleep over that. You know well as I do that the law’ll turn a blind eye if they even deign to look our way.” Zeke swung his legs off the desk and stood. “Suit yourself. It’s your ass on the line.” As always, thought Jimmy, as he showed Zeke out and invited the kid in. Jimmy had gotten mixed up in all this to pay off his gambling debts — gambling on horses, not the undead. But, given his ideal placement as the Cargo Manager at Pacific-American Shipping, Turkey had seen a real opportunity in Jimmy... and now he was in it. Deep. He’d forged company records and destroyed letters from irate Toisanese families who’d paid for their relations’ remains to be shipped back to China, only never to have the bodies show up. Worse, he’d hushed up enquiries out of Chinatown, tipping off thugs like Zeke and his cronies so they could silence the enquirers. That part was the worst. A missing corpse was a missing corpse. Even at a big, trustworthy company like Pacific-American Shipping, it happened. Totally understandable. But people would find it far less understandable if word got out that these so-called “lost remains” had actually been selected to arise as geung si — violent, mindless, qi-draining vampires — and trained up to fight in an illegal geung si boxing ring. Which, of course, was exactly what was happening... and with the annual San Francisco Geung Si Boxing Championship around the corner, that was exactly why Jimmy had to keep everything quiet as the grave. • • • • Up close, Wong might look closer to twelve than sixteen, but he was sharp as a tack. He didn’t ask nosy questions, either. He seemed to understand that as the operation’s psychopomp, he didn’t need to know much beyond where the coffins were stored, and what they wanted him to do with what was inside of them. “So, yeah, late hours and all,” said Jimmy, as they trekked across the starlit lot towards the warehouse closest to the docks. “Can’t have anyone seeing you sneaking around where we keep the stiffs.” “Yeah, I sure wouldn’t want to get a reputation as a creep who hangs out with the dead,” said Wong, flashing Jimmy a grin. “It’s more —” “I understand. I don’t work for you. Shit, I don’t even know you.” Jimmy nodded yes, but hell if this kid didn’t remind him of his boy, dead these three years. Jimmy Jr. had cracked wise, too, but innocently. The kind of sass that warmed your goddamn heart. It was a shame... Wong showed a lot of independence and, for lack of fancier way of putting it, scrap. Could’ve gone far if he’d kept himself out of the whorehouses and fan-tan parlors. “Anyways,” Jimmy heard himself saying, “you’re welcome to come in and pull a cork with me after you’re done. Just come on over and knock if you see a light on in my office.” “Thanks,” said Wong. “Maybe I’ll do that.” They’d reached the warehouse. It suddenly occurred to Jimmy that maybe he’d been insensitive, hiring this kid. He was part-Chinese, after all, and here Jimmy was asking him to not only betray his training as a psychopomp, but also his beliefs as a Confucian or whatever. Wong must’ve sensed Jimmy’s hesitation. “You gonna let me in to see which of these yellow devils are ready to turn, or are we just going to hang around in the night air?” No scruples. Tugged at the heartstrings, that, but Wong’s attitude was in their — Turkey’s — best interests. With mixed feelings, Jimmy unlocked the door, withdrawing a handkerchief to hold over his nose and mouth before sliding it open. “This is the place.” With his free hand, he gestured expansively at a row of some twenty-odd coffins. “Big load here, and we’re s’posed to get in few more tomorrow. They’ve been doing blasting work for the Transcontinental, I hear, which is good given... uh.” He swallowed. The stench was causing his gorge to rise something fierce. “I mean, not good for them. Good for us.” “I’m a psychopomp, remember?” Wong grinned at him again. “More restless dead out there, more money’s in my pocket.” “Fair enough.” Jimmy shut the door and pulled the shade from his lantern. “How’d you get mixed up with such a weird profession, anyways?” “How’d you get mixed up with underground geung si boxing?” Jimmy considered briefly before replying, “Circumstances.” “Exactly.” “Look, it’s just... you’re pretty cool around the dead for a kid, is all.” Wong was already poking around among the coffins. “Hard to excel in this line if you’re squeamish.” Wong shrugged. “Anyways, I better get down to business. I don’t want to stay up too much past my bedtime.” Jimmy laughed, though the joke made his eyes sting a little. The kid’s sense of humor really was just like Jimmy Jr.’s. Wong opened up a russet leather bag that he’d been carting around the whole night, and pulled out a pair of lensless goggles. After asking Jimmy to bring the
getting larger everyday, and she did not like it. She loved her with all her heart. She loved her more than anything in the world. She'd give up everything and anything to have her, and yet… she kept driving her away. Why? She wasn't sure. There were too many reasons; the suitors, her powers, her incestuous feelings, the fact everyone thought she was a monster… it was too difficult. She knew there would come a time in the not too distant future where they would practically be strangers. It was the last thing in the world she wanted, but she couldn't think of anything she could do to stop her worst fears from coming true. A/N: I'm back! An I know it's been ages, but I have three good excuses; one, I wanted to finish my other fic, Just one week, before classes started again (which I did!), two, I then went back to school, and it's my last semester on the university, so I've been very busy with homework, and three…The legend of Zelda: Breath of the wild was released. Yeah. But anyways, I hope to have the next one much sooner. Until them please leave a review if you like this fic; they really encourage me to keep writing, and favorite or follow if you haven't. Oh, and please check my new fic, The Northern lands, if you want and if you like mystery. It's pretty good, if I do say so myself. Anyways, that'd be all for now. Hope to see you soon, thanks for reading :D And thanks to my beta reader moonwatcher13.Over the past decade, a multitude of live music fanatics have ventured to the beautiful Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in mid-April to attend the Wanee Music Festival. Promising a vibrant mix of musical acts, The Pier couldn’t be more ready to head down to the 10th annual gathering. With only a week till the wonderful event they call Wanee, it’s almost that time again. A time to roam through trails lined by moss draped oaks, to watch a talented group of bands perform on several stages spread throughout the wooded landscape. Kicking off on Thursday, April 10th in Live Oak, Florida, 30 bands are set to play 3 days through Saturday, April 12th. Though the bill may seem brief, the weekend’s scheduled is sure to be pack with some of the best Rock, Jam and Worldly bands around. Started in 2005, hosted with headlining sets from the legendary Allman Brothers Band, this year again features their headlining sets. While it’s the 10th year of the festival, 2014 also marks the 45th anniversary for The Allman Brothers Band. This year is even more momentous with an announcement made by Gregg Allman that that The Allman Brothers Band will stop touring at the end of the year. So this year of shows will be the last time to see the whole group together with their current lineup. One which includes guitarists Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes, both of whom will go on to spend more time playing with their own bands. Leading up to these highly anticipated sets on Friday and Saturday will be sets by many more beloved acts, all legends in their respective scene. First and foremost we must mention our excitement to see recently awarded, now six time Grammy winner Ziggy Marley perform on Friday April 11th. Over the past several years, the Wanee bill has had a Reggae presence. This year, festival organizers have delivered with one of the hottest Reggae acts touring this summer. With his fifth solo studio album, Fly Rasta set to drop just days after Wanee, Ziggy is sure to bring new tunes and classic hits to his set before flying over seas on his international tour. As a follow up to our Ziggy Marley Interview, be sure to check back for The Pier’s Ziggy Marley concert review article. Also performing at this year’s Wanee Festival will be one of our favorite Silverback bands, funk outfit Dumpstaphunk. A band that has been constantly performing on tour and appearing at many major music festivals all over the US for years. More recently the group has been supporting their new record, Dity Word. However, Dumpstaphunk previewed a few of those new tracks at last year’s Wanee and many fans have seen Dumpstaphunk play their originals many times, so at Wanee, the group has been known to change it up. In 2012, the group played a “D-Phunk Does P-Funk” a set of all Parliament Funkadelic covers. This year, Dumpstaphunk will play a set covering the music of Led Zeppelin! Also on the line-up, is the Trey Anastasio Band, composed of the Phish front man and backed by an all-star band. Other bands supporting the Jam scene at Wanee this year will be two of the genre’s heavy hitters, Umphrey’s McGee, and moe., two acts that are sure to melt many of faces with their modern mix of sounds. Bringing up the more classic end of Jam music at Wanee will be the slidey bluesy sounds of three beloved acts. Tedeschi Trucks Band featuring Susan Tedeschi and her husband Derek Trucks of ABB, always seem to blow the crowd away. The Chris Robinson Brotherhood, the side project of Black Crowes front man, will deliver that iconic American Rock sound. Finally Gov’t Mule and its leader Warren Haynes of ABB will tirelessly play riff after riff of Southern Jam Rock for what is sure to be a packed field of loyal fans. Other highlights will surly be Royal Southern Brotherhood, led by Gregg Allman’s son Devon Allman and Cyril Neville, as well as the renowned Blues Traveler. Also listed are many other acts, too numerous to discuss individually, including Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band, Hot Tuna Electric, Rusted Root, Soulive, Walter Trout, Rob Garza (of Thievery Corporation), Blind Boys of Alabama, Bobby Lee Rodgers, Melvin Seals & JGB, Futurebirds, Berry Oakley’s Skylab, Matt Schofield, Break Science, Pink Talking Fish, Sean Chambers, and the The Yeti Trio. Festival organizers have once again done an amazing job of infusing, fun camping and live music with a festival line up that includes excellent acts down end of the line-up, with Florida’s own up-and-coming Reggae, World fusion band The Hip Abduction closing out the bottom of the bill. Happening April 10th-12th, be sure not to miss a Wanee weekend that will be one for the books! Tickets for Wanee can be found on sale now here. For more information on the event check out the details below: Wanee Music Festival Links : Wanee Website Wanee Facebook Article By: Aaron Solomon WATCH: This video playlist Livenation has put together for Wanee 2014.The Loire-Nieuport LN.40/LN.401 series of aircraft was a carrier-based dive bomber developed for the French Navy prior to World War 2. First flight was achieved in 1938 and the system was introduced into service the year following. Some twenty-three examples were available by the time of the German invasion of France and subsequent actions proved the LN.401 wholly outclassed by her German adversaries. Only 68 of its type were ever produced and the aircraft ceased all further development and production after the fall of France from May 1940 onwards. Origins of the LN.40/LN.401 stemmed from the development of the Nieuport 140. Nieuport made a name for itself by producing some memorable fighter designs in the First World War. Development on the Nieuport 140 had begun sometime in 1932 and this aircraft was intended for the French Navy as a dive bomber with a crew of two. In 1933, Nieuport became a part of Loire and the company name of "Loire-Nieuport" was officially born. In the same vein, the Nieuport 140 now became the "Loire-Nieuport LN.140". Evaluation of the design continued until a pair of accidents - resulting in the deaths of her pilots - doomed the project in whole. All was not lost, however, for the firm moved to develop the more modern single-seat LN.40 dive bomber to fulfill the French Navy request. By 1937, the French government signed an order for Liore-Nieuport to deliver a working prototype of their LN.40 as well as preproduction aircraft for active evaluation. The first LN.40 took to the skies on July 6th, 1938 and carrier landings on the Bearn completed with success. Despite some inherent deficiencies in the basic design - some of which were rectified including the deletion of the tail dive brakes - the type was decreed operational and deliveries soon followed under the new production designation of LN.401. Production was handled by SNCAO ("Societe nationale des constructions aeronautiques de l'ouest"), an organization born from the merging of Breguet and Loire-Nieuport factories in 1936. SNCAO was itself absorbed into Sud-Ouest (SNCASO) in 1941 and eventually became Sud Aviation in 1957. Escadrille AC.1 units of the French Navy received four LN.401s in the middle of 1939 for training. In practice, the LN.401 proved decidedly slower than the French were expecting. As a result, a newer and faster platform fitted with a Hispano-Suiza 12Y-51 engine and a shorter wingspan was signed off on and set under the designation of LN.42. While development of this aircraft was underway, orders for the navalized LN.401 ramped up. The French Army placed their order for the land-based variant known under the designation of LN.411. As can be expected, this particular model did away with the navalized aspects of the LN.401 including the folding wings and arrestor hook. Like the French Navy, the French Army was none too thrilled about their slow dive bomber and rejected them. These were relocated to the stables of the French Navy. The LN.42 development continued for a time, initially hidden away from the German invaders, and ultimately test-flown on August 24th, 1945 at Toussus-le-Noble. Regardless, the LN.42 eventually fell to the scrapman's torch and was destroyed in 1947.Dubai authorities have released extensive footage from surveillance cameras that allegedly shows the movements of a professional 11-person assassination team in the hours before and after a top Hamas leader was killed last month in a hotel room. The footage, taken from cameras at the Dubai airport and several luxury hotels, follows the activities of 10 men and one woman as they arrived in Dubai on various European passports and moved among hotels and a shopping center, changing into disguises at one point, during the hours before Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was killed. Al-Mabhouh, 48, was a founder of Hamas’ military wing. He was believed to be behind the abduction of two Israeli soldiers in 1989 and said to be a liaison for smuggling weapons from Iran to Gaza. He had survived several assassination attempts. He was found dead in room 230 at the Al-Bustan Rotana hotel on January 20. The door on al-Mabhouh’s room was latched and chained from the inside, and there was no blood evidence. An initial report indicated that he died from sudden high blood pressure in the brain. Subsequent reports have suggested he was electrocuted or strangled. An investigation into hotel records and surveillance tapes uncovered the suspicious activities of a group of Westerners, most of them wearing baseball caps. They staked out al-Mabhouh’s room on the hotel’s second floor, met clandestinely in various locations, disguised themselves and left the hotel briskly after the deed was done. Investigators believe the assassins may have reprogrammed the electronic lock on al-Mabhouh’s door to gain entry. Hamas has accused the Mossad, Israel’s secretive intelligence service, of masterminding the assassination. In the 27-minute video, released by Gulf News TV, some of the suspected assassins arrive on separate flights to Dubai early the morning the murder took place. The footage shows some of them meeting up briefly in a shopping mall and checking into and out of hotels during the setup stage. One of the suspects, a bald male, enters a hotel and exits wearing a brown wig and glasses. Later, a woman identified as an Irish national named Gail Folliard, is shown checking into her hotel wearing glasses and a ponytail, then entering the same location where the male suspect changed his appearance. She exits that location wearing a brunette wig. When al-Mabhouh arrives at his hotel around 3 p.m. on the 19th, the footage captures two of the suspects, dressed in tennis gear, getting into the same elevator with him to follow him to his hotel room. The two suspects later checked into the room across the hall from him, according to Dubai police. Around 8 p.m., the cameras catch some of the team members in the elevator lobby of al-Mabhouh’s floor while he is out of the hotel for a bit. While they’re standing there keeping watch, another team is apparently trying to gain entry to the victim’s room. During this time, a tourist steps off the elevator, putting the operation in jeopardy, until one of the team members distracts the tourist. A note on the video indicates that, according to the hotel’s computer logs, someone tried to reprogram al-Mabhouh’s electronic door lock during this time. Al-Mabhouh returned to the hotel around 8:25 p.m and passed the female suspect, Folliard, in the hallway on the way to his room. The killing itself took only 10 minutes around 8:30 p.m., Dubai Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim told the Israeli newspaper Ha’Aretz. Four assassins allegedly entered the victim’s hotel room while he was out, using an electronic device to unlock his door, and waited for him to return. Hotel staff discovered his body around 1:30 p.m. on the 20th after failing to reach him on the phone. By then, he’d been dead about 17 hours, and the alleged assassins were long gone. Oddly, although there is surveillance tape showing the closed doors of some of the rooms near al-Mahbouh’s hotel room when he first checked in, there is no tape showing the assassins entering or leaving the room or walking down that hallway at the time of the assassination. A map of the hotel shown in the video, indicates that the only surveillance camera in that hallway was located one door down from the victim’s room and pointed away from his door toward what appears to be a stairwell. Following the assassination, the suspects left the hotel quickly and were tracked scattering to different parts of the globe, including Hong Kong, France, Switzerland, Germany and South Africa. Authorities say the suspects paid for everything in cash and used special communication devices to avoid surveillance. They never made direct calls to one another, as far as authorities could determine. They did, however, make a number of calls to Austria, which authorities believe may have been the location of their command-and-control center. Within 24 hours after the murder, Dubai investigators reportedly identified the aliases the alleged assassins used on their forged passports. The nationalities on the documents indicated that six of them are British, three are Irish, one is French and one is German. Although the videos show a second woman identified as part of the surveillance team, only one woman — Folliard — is listed among the suspects. British, Irish and French authorities have indicated that the passports used by the alleged assassins showed obvious signs of forgery. The Irish passport numbers used by suspects Gail Folliard, Evan Dennings and Kevin Daveron, for example, contain no letters and have the wrong number of digits. At least five Israelis share the same names used by the alleged assassins. One of the names matches a man living near Jerusalem named Melvyn Adam Mildiner. Mildiner, a British national, says his identity was stolen and that he had nothing to do with the assassination. The picture of him that was released by Dubai authorities does not completely match him, Reuters reports. “I woke up this morning to a world of fun,” he told Reuters after Israeli newspapers published the names and photos of the suspects identified by Dubai authorities. “I am obviously angry, upset and scared — any number of things. And I’m looking into what I can do to try to sort things out and clear my name. I don’t know how this happened or who chose my name or why, but hopefully we’ll find out soon.” The Mossad is noted for its stealth assassinations. The intelligence service was responsible for tracking down and killing Palestinian militants who murdered Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, as depicted in the Steven Spielberg movie Munich. The Mossad was also responsible in 1986 for capturing Mordechai Vanunu, a worker at Israel’s Dimona nuclear plant who had planned to disclose information about Israel’s secret nuclear weapons program to the Sunday Times newspaper in the United Kingdom. A female Mossad agent posing as a tourist in the UK lured the shy Vanunu out of London to Rome, where he was drugged and kidnapped and returned to Israel for a secret trial. He spent 18 years in prison and was released in 2004. Hat tip: New York Times Lede blogMICROSOFT-OWNED Skype has announced the public availability of Skype Translator, the firm's speech recognition software that can decode languages in real time with the help of intelligent translation technology. The preview kicks off with two spoken languages, Spanish and English, as well as more than 40 instant messaging languages, to those who have signed up to Skype Translator and are using Windows 8.1 on the desktop or a mobile device. Skype Translator launched as a private beta last month but is now available to anyone. The system effectively removes language barriers by allowing video calling in which the participants see instantly translated subtitles. "Skype Translator relies on machine learning, which means that the more the technology is used, the smarter it gets," explained Skype's corporate vice president, Gurdeep Pall. "We are starting with English and Spanish and, as more people use the Skype Translator preview with these languages, the quality will continually improve." Microsoft believes that Skype Translator will "open up endless possibilities" for people around the world, allowing them to connect, communicate and collaborate internationally without being hindered by language. "Our long-term goal for speech translation is to translate as many languages as possible on as many platforms as possible and deliver the best Skype Translator experience on each platform for our more than 300 million connected users," added Pall. Skype Translator can be downloaded now. A video below shows some school kids from America and Mexico using the software to communicate without the need to understand each other's language. µAs we near the 2012 presidential election, continued economic progress means that we are almost certain to see Republicans push wedge issues (e.g., gay marriage, abortion, and President Obama's so-called war on religion). They had been planning to run on the economy, but if the economy appears to be moving in the right direction, they have nothing else but their wedge issues. So let's take a look at this war on religion Obama is allegedly waging.As part of reforming health care, the Obama administration is seeking to provide all women with access to affordable contraception. By removing the cost barrier, women would be more free than ever before to choose for themselves whether they will use contraception. Who could possibly have a problem with that? As it turns out, the Catholic Church is upset about this. You see, even though an overwhelming majority of Catholics in the U.S. use contraception, the Church still adheres to the Vatican position that birth control is essentially equivalent to abortion. And Republicans desperate for a wedge issue have taken up this cause to argue that Obama is waging war on religion.The Obama administration hopes to provide access to contraception by requiring employers to select health care plans that include contraceptive coverage, which most already do. The Catholic Church and many Republicans are up in arms about this because they claim that it requires employers to violate their conscience by providing health services with which they do not agree. It does not seem to matter what sort of exemptions the administration offers because Republicans think they have an effective wedge issue with which to attract moronic voters.I applaud the administration's plan to provide women with access to affordable contraception. This is about improving health care. If only the Catholic bishops would spend as much time working on the prevention of child rape as they do opposing contraception, they might be able to make a real difference.H/T to JobsangerDescription Looking to create an Ixalan standard aggro deck using the low to the grown Merfolk for the first time in a color thats conducive for aggro. Being a rough draft any and all suggestions are more than welcomed and wanted. Mainly the idea is to play a creature each turn being the basic aggro setup, nothing special there. Turn 1 get down Old-Growth Dryads then turn 2 swing then play Rigging Runner then turn 3 Rishkar, Peema Renegade comes down to give another boost. Turn 4 or 5 play herald of the secret streams to give unblockable to all your creatures with +1 counters & finish the game. During the sideboard process I love the idea of Deeproot Champion helping with the Dynavolt Tower when you go against midrange or control match up. I’m in love with the nasty Tempest Caller she adds another "stomp" condition into the mix. I like how that Herald of Secret Streams makes it sneaky I just can't wait until the day I get to slam out that card then tap out this dinosaur hoard we are stoked for then swing in lethal. We could throw in some gearhulks while taking out the Vineshaper Mystic however I feel confident that they create a fluid flow (Merfolk? I know stupid joke) in the deck I just feel like they are the better choice. Still all of this is just how it looks like on paper ya know? The way things look like on paper aren’t always the best course of action just ask the 2002 Oakland Athletics about that. Once again this build is looking to capitalize on the blessing that Temur recently has become of late with the stellar clans with Kaladesh’s tempo cards. Temur energy being the force that it is since Temur tower took over from Temur Marvel seems like there is no reason to make a Temur Merfolk. Since Kaladesh came out it just has had the right pieces for almost any incarnation that Mardu can throw at us. I feel like this is the only way that we can stop Ramunap Red before it takes over the usual place that most RDW clones do post rotation. Please please if you come up with any ways to modify this deck or see an interaction that I'm unaware of let me know at [email protected]. I may not get the messages from this website, this is my second deck posting on here. -may the pulls be in your favor- ZeiisSince he invented it in the early ’00s, Wiley has devoted his life to grime. He is the king of the genre. Now that it’s become a global phenomenon, he tells Alexi Duggins why he’s making new album ‘Godfather’ his last Last year, Wiley’s career nearly ended on a family shopping trip in Greece. As the creator of the most hard-edged British musical genre in a generation led his smiling children through warm Athenian streets, he felt good. “I was having the best time of my life,” sighs Wiley. “We were just chilling, hanging around in Athens – it was a beautiful day.” Then, out of the blue, a friend phoned, telling Wiley that he wasn’t sure he had what it took to make it in grime any more. Now that it had become the internationally renowned playground of megastars like Drake, perhaps Wiley should save his blushes by not releasing any more music. “It properly messed me up,” sighs the east London MC. “It made me think, ‘S**t, if one of my mates is saying this to my face, everyone else is probably thinking it behind my back’.” Thus, Wiley took to his phone, fired up Twitter and made an announcement about his upcoming ‘Godfather’ album: “I’m not dropping an album anymore. Pointless I reckon.” The internet responded with articles entitled: “Wiley cancels ‘pointless’ album Godfather” and that was that: album over. And yet, today we’re in a photo studio on an industrial estate in Bow, east London, chatting to Wiley about the now-definitely-not-cancelled ‘Godfather’. “I just decided that I’m not gonna let what other people think stop me from doing anything,” he chuckles, tucking into a huge pile of Nando’s. He pauses while unwrapping a chicken pitta. “I know it’s a new day now. But this is grime. There will never be a time when I don’t know how to do it.” Dean Chalkley Fair enough. After all, he did invent it. Born Richard Kylea Cowie, he’d initially thought his destiny was to be a child star. He’d spend his evenings trying to write new jack swing and reggae hits, watching Top Of The Pops, hoping for a break (“A few people came out, like Ultimate Kaos, Shola Ama – she was, like, 14. I wanted to be like that,” he smiles). When Simon Cowell failed to call offering a role in a boyband, he moved into DJing, took the name of DJ Wildchild, eventually changing it to Wiley Kat due to his love of ’80s cartoon ThunderCats. He picked up the mic, joined garage crew Pay As U Go Cartel and ended up appearing on Top Of The Pops in 2000 when their hit ‘Champagne Dance’ went Top 20 (“Top Of The Pops was sick,” he reminisces, “though the way they chopped up the performance like a radio edit was a bit dodgy”). Sharethrough (Mobile) Then, when Pay As U Go Cartel disbanded, he struck off on a tangent, making darker, crystalline beats. He formed his own crew, Roll Deep, to put vocals over the top that focused – unlike most UK MCs of the time – not on sounding American, but on observational lyricism about London life, delivered in an English accent. When his track, ‘Eskimo’, became a huge hit on London’s urban underground, he found that he’d created a new genre and artists from all across the city flocked to the sound. This was in no small part due to Wiley showcasing it via his show on then pirate radio station Rinse FM: a high profile gig, if not always the most glam. “We were broadcasting from all over the place – squats, people’s kitchens,” chuckles Wiley as he dismisses a range of clothes he’s been sent and decides to do the photoshoot in his own tracksuit. “Once, we had it at mine while my dad was away and I got arrested for weed. When the police came round, they were like, ‘What’s this massive aerial?’ We told them it was just how we listened to radio.” Dean Chalkley Music aside, he started pouring himself into grime, not just as a form of music, but as a community. So that grime artists had somewhere they could perform live, Wiley created a night called Eskimo Dance. He began dedicating himself to helping younger MCs break through. He formed a prolific partnership with a young Dizzee Rascal, introducing him to the manager who would land him the album deal for ‘Boy In Da Corner’ and eventually bag grime a Mercury Award. In later years, he even turned up to a Westwood 1Xtra session with the then unknown Chipmunk and another 14-year-old MC called Ice Kid, insisting that they also be given mic time (“Yeah, it weren’t exactly a good career move for me,” he laughs. “Was for them, though!”). It’s during these years that Wiley became known as the Godfather of Grime. He wasn’t just an artist in his own right, signing to XL at the same time as Dizzee and releasing a genre-defining, if less feted, album, ‘Treddin’ On Thin Ice’. He didn’t just create a genre whose furious energy and DIY aesthetic was like punk for an urban inner city youth (“Punk rock is the root of everything we do: I honestly believe that without punk there’d be no grime”). He also imbued it with such an ethos of community spirit that a decade later its stars are able to top charts, bag awards and win international acclaim without the support of record labels: all down to its grassroots support. Reason to be proud, no? Dean Chalkley Not as proud as you might think. As he settles down into a barber’s chair and thanks the hairdresser in advance for his pre-photoshoot trim (“I need this! I’ve had to do the last three videos with my baseball cap on!”), he’s strangely reticent to accepting plaudits for his cultural impact. “Nah, nah, nah. I didn’t change the country: people in the ’80s, like Smiley Culture, they changed the country,” he protests. But Smiley Culture didn’t inspire kids across the UK to spend their lunchtimes freestyling in playgrounds. That’s got to be down to grime? “Nah, kids always had bars. That’s thanks to rap.” But he must at least be proud of his music? “I like some of my tracks, but I don’t like none of my albums and I really don’t like ‘Treddin’ On Thin Ice’”, he grimaces. What? But it’s a classic! “Nah, I wasn’t ready to do it. Back then, I might have had my own sound, but I didn’t really have my own identity on the mic. I’ve got that now, though. One hundred percent.” Listening to new album ‘Godfather’, the latter half of this claim is hard to dispute. His 11th proper studio album is his most impressive in years: a pop-free rampage through ‘Eskimo’-era beats (JME collaboration, ‘Speakerbox’), monstrous, gnarled bass (‘Pattern Up Properly’) and even the odd spot of smooth, loverman Rhythm N Grime (‘U Were Always’). At points there’s an astonishing energy to his flows: from the breathless bar trading of ‘Holy Grime’ to the frenetic lyricism of ‘Bait Face’, via the bassy menace of the Ice Kid and Chipmunk reunion that is ‘On This’. It’s also so packed with lyrical references to his grime heritage that you can’t help but wonder: is it called ‘Godfather’ because it’s Wiley’s attempt to let grime’s newer fans know that he’s the one who created it? “No – I’m not trying to force any kids to listen to me. They have their own heroes. I’m just making music,” he counters. And then he drops a massive bombshell. “In fact, the real reason this is called ‘Godfather’, is because it’s probably the last Wiley album.” Sorry: WHAT? “I’m nearly 40. I can’t be jumping about like a 20-year-old anymore.” But plenty of artists continue making music after they’re 40. Look at The Rolling Stones! “The Rolling Stones are different. They sing; melody is the key in what they do. What we do is like punk rock – we’re shouting. You can’t shout for 20 years. You’ll go mad in the head.” It’s not hard to see his point. The audiences for grime are getting younger. Skepta’s recent Alexandra Palace gig was 14+, as was Wiley’s Koko launch gig for ‘Godfather’ (“40-year-olds are just not meant to hang around with 14-year-olds”, he chuckles). It’s becoming routine for them to be packed with frenzied moshing and gigantic tween-filled circle pits. Grime gigs are beginning to feel like heavy metal concerts. “Exactly,” nods Wiley. “And I just want to start making music in a less aggressive vein.” Funny, really. Because if there’s anyone who should be reaping the rewards of grime’s recent resurgence, it’s Wiley. From 2007 to 2013, grime entered a fallow period when the music industry was only interested in MCs if they could make them goof about over a pop-dance backing track. But at the same time as Wiley was scoring a No.2 hit with ‘Wearing My Rolex’ (“I had to do it for my daughter: I needed the money to buy her stuff”), he was ferociously recording underground grime hits, self-releasing seven mixtapes and three albums for free (not to mention the 203-track zip files he leaked for free in protest at his then record company’s attempt to influence his musical direction). The two major label studio albums he released after the ‘Rolex’-featuring ‘See Clear Now’ were both entirely pop-free. And when he eventually released another chart-courting album, ‘The Ascent’, he followed it with ‘Steps 1-20’, 20 rugged, free-to-download freestyles, despite even his closest industry advisers’ lack of interest (“I played them to my manager, he just didn’t care”). For years after he’d seen chart success, he insisted on living in the same community he’d grown up as a mark of his loyalty to his scene (“I just didn’t want to leave. I was in the hood with half a million pounds in my bank account and people trying to rip the chain off my neck. I didn’t have a brain,” he laughs). While the likes of Dizzee Rascal gave up on making credible music to tit about on mobility scooters with Robbie Williams, Wiley showed that you could make a living by refusing to stray from your roots. It is his living, breathing example that showed the newer generation that grime was worth dedicating yourself to. “Bro, I’m so happy grime’s come back round,” grins Wiley of the commercial and critical success that artists like Stormzy and Skepta have started to enjoy in the last couple of years. “Those guys are doing things we never did. Stormzy is having meetings with the people from The Brits. None of us ever did anything like that back in the day.” Is it even sweeter that they’ve managed to do it without a record label? That they’ve shown that grime doesn’t need the music industry to succeed? “Hah, music industry: what industry? The internet means no one pays for nothing no more. The whole thing is extinct,” he laughs. “That’s part of why I’m getting out. I’ve gotta get out before the day Adele drops an album and it only sells one copy.” Dean Chalkley Then Wiley starts to pose for our photographer. Soon, he’s having the time of his life. Between shots, he leaps over equipment to look at the results being displayed on the snapper’s laptop, high fiving the photographer excitedly, yelling: “Yes, bro!” He’s having such a good time, it’s not easy to believe that this is a man on the verge of retirement. Particularly given that he notoriously claimed he was retiring 10 years ago, only to find music impossible to step away from. He even has a whole freestyle called ‘I Thought U Retired’. “It will be hard for me to stop making music. But it won’t be hard for me to sit at home and watch [Streatham MC] Santan Dave and all these sick kids take grime to where I couldn’t take it,” he grins, between poses. Is this down to the phone call that nearly killed ‘Godfather’? “Nah, I got over that. Think of it this way: I did my first rave when I was 14. I’m 37 now; I don’t want to overstay my welcome.” So what’s he going to do? “A clothing label, maybe. I’ve got a project I’ll do with JME too. I’ll still release stuff, just under a different name.” The end of Wiley? Is he absolutely sure? “Yeah,” he insists. And with that, the photoshoot is over and everyone packs up. As we go to exit, we pause, waiting for him to head out of the door first. “Oh no, I’m not leaving. I’m going to shoot a video here. I’ve just decided.” Really? For which track on the album? “It’s not on the album. This is for a separate track I’m doing.” He’s not even put the album out and he’s already releasing new tracks? For the moment at least, stopping making grime isn’t on the agenda. Thank goodness.Get 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 Simon Mignolet paid tribute to match-winner Jordan Henderson after the stand-in skipper inspired Liverpool to a 2-0 win over Burnley at Anfield. Henderson, leading the Reds in the continued absence of Steven Gerrard, scored one and created the other for Daniel Sturridge as Brendan Rodgers' side continued their charge towards the Champions League spots. The England international is the leading candidate to take over the captaincy when Gerrard leaves this summer and Mignolet says he commands respect from his team-mates. “Jordan is a massive player for us,” Mignolet told the ECHO. “He is a very positive character who always works hard and leads by example. “He's vocal both on the pitch and in the dressing room. He goes in front of us and everyone follows behind. “We've got a young squad but that doesn't mean there aren't leaders in the team. “Every individual is contributing to the team. The big thing for us is we're a unit and we're working well together. “But individuals score goals and at the moment it's Jordan, Philippe (Coutinho) and Studge (Sturridge) doing the business for us. Scoring will do Daniel's confidence good. “You could pick any individual because everyone is doing well and we need to keep playing well as a team.” Henderson fired the Reds in front and Sturridge wrapped up the points in the second half. Mignolet was rarely tested with the defensive trio of Martin Skrtel, Emre Can and Dejan Lovren shining once again. “We're pleased with the win,” Mignolet said. “We needed to get three points tonight otherwise that win over Man City would have meant nothing. “Teams likes Man City and Chelsea lost points against Burnley
White, was one of the two picks from the Knicks in the 2010 blockbuster. Another, used on Terrence Jones, came from the Timberwolves for Chase Budinger, a decent, but replaceable contributor. One first-round pick came from the Raptors in the deal for Lowry. Toronto surrendered a pick that was top-3 protected in 2013, top-2 protected in 2014 and 2015, top-1 protected in 2016 and 2017 and unprotected in 2018. However, the Rockets would only get the pick if it fell in the lottery, meaning they essentially guaranteed themselves a high selection. The Rockets had initially acquired Lowry, a backup in Memphis, in 2009 in a deal involving starting point guard Rafer Alston. Many wondered about that deal at the time, but Lowry gave Houston several good years and eventually helped deliver Harden. came from the Raptors in the deal for Lowry. Toronto surrendered a pick that was top-3 protected in 2013, top-2 protected in 2014 and 2015, top-1 protected in 2016 and 2017 and unprotected in 2018. However, the Rockets would only get the pick if it fell in the lottery, meaning they essentially guaranteed themselves a high selection. The Rockets had initially acquired Lowry, a backup in Memphis, in 2009 in a deal involving starting point guard Rafer Alston. Many wondered about that deal at the time, but Lowry gave Houston several good years and eventually helped deliver Harden. The other first-round pick was initially from Dallas. The Mavericks traded it to the Lakers in the 2011 deal for Lamar Odom that worked out poorly, and the Lakers moved it on to Houston as compensation for taking on Derek Fisher in a 2012 trade deadline deal for... you guessed it, Jordan Hill. The pick is top-20 protected from 2012 to 2017. was initially from Dallas. The Mavericks traded it to the Lakers in the 2011 deal for Lamar Odom that worked out poorly, and the Lakers moved it on to Houston as compensation for taking on Derek Fisher in a 2012 trade deadline deal for... you guessed it, Jordan Hill. The pick is top-20 protected from 2012 to 2017. The 2013 second-round pick was, ironically, a Thunder pick for a while, as they received it for dumping Byron Mullens on the Bobcats. However, the Thunder lost the pick as a result of a dispute with Boston over Jeff Green's medical history. The Celtics eventually moved the selection to Houston as part of a sign-and-trade arrangement to land Courtney Lee. That's just the Harden trade, too. Consider how Morey turned the core pieces of the 2009 squad into the building blocks of the future that eventually lured Howard to Houston. That's how you manufacture assets while rebuilding. As we move forward in a new CBA where teams must spend 90 percent of the cap and fend off tanking accusations from fans, general managers will yearn for the ability to rebuild while keeping the team competitive. Daryl Morey just provided all of them the blueprint to doing just that. GRADE: A+ More from SB Nation: • Howard picks Rockets | Floyd: Don’t blame Howard for circus • Roth: Why Dwight Howard annoys everyone • J.R. Smith returns to NY | The Knicks are reunited! • The NBA's top 90 free agents | All NBA free agency news • Grading the NBA free agent dealsTo land the job as the next coach of the New Orleans Pelicans, Alvin Gentry told team vice president Mickey Loomis and general manager Dell Demps that the Pelicans' star, Anthony Davis, was being underutilized offensively. Gentry even brought the graphs and charts to prove it. Because of Gentry's resume -- as an associate head coach, he helped lead the Golden State Warriors to one of the best offenses in the NBA this season -- he got the job. Gentry was brought in to implement a faster-paced offense to take full advantage of Davis. But here's the thing: the Pelicans need help on defense, too. The Pelicans only gave up 98 points per game, but that's because they played a plodding pace. New Orleans ranked 27th in the league, averaging 93.7 possessions per 48 minutes. The Warriors, on the other hand, averaged 100.69 possessions per 48 minutes and still had the top-rated defense in the league. The Pelicans ranked 22nd in the league defensive efficiency last year, giving up 104.7 points per 100 possessions despite having Davis, who was a second-team All-NBA defender and fourth in the Defensive Player of the Year voting, as a defensive anchor. They did improve throughout the season at least, their defensive efficiency dropped from 105.8 prior to the All-Star break to 102.8 in the games that followed. But it still should have been even better. Playing alongside Davis all season was Omer Asik, who has a great defensive skill set. Even with two great defenders down low, opponents took more than 32 shots per game from inside 5 feet, the most in the NBA. When either Davis or Asik was off the court, the defense slacked noticeably -- especially when Ryan Anderson was on the court. As Mike Prada pointed out in the Pelicans' playoff preview, Anderson was a defensive liability. Teams attacked him: Because Anderson brings a lot to the table offensively, he needs to see the court. Gentry will have the tough task of finding a way to cover for him defensively. The Warriors have great defensive players like Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut, but one of the biggest reasons they have such a stingy defense is because each player knows his role. It will be important for Anderson to develop better defensive footwork and tendencies, but if the Pelicans can build better strategies, Anderson shouldn't be left out to dry like he was above. While Gentry's offensive prowess was a selling point, the Pelicans know they need help defensively, too. That Gentry was also part of a Warriors staff that oversaw the league's top-ranked defense this season was important in the hiring process, ESPN'S Marc Stein reported. Most of the Warriors' success on the defensive side of the court can be attributed to Ron Adams, though. Adams worked with Tom Thibodeau in Chicago and is one of the most admired defensive minds in the game. Who Gentry hires to help out defensively could be the most important decision he makes. For all his offensive genius, Gentry needs to improve the Pelicans' defense to turn New Orleans into contenders. All stats from NBA.com/stats.Technical front-end interviews are difficult. That’s a fact. Not only do you need to have a solid grasp of computer science fundamentals, but also an understanding of things like web performance, build systems, and CSS layout engines. While there are resources out there, I’ve found that there are only a few complete guides for helping you prepare for a front-end interview. So I decided to write a topic by topic outline that will hopefully help you ace your next interview. Before the interview So before your interview, ask your recruiter for the format of the interview. Some interviews might revolve around a whiteboard while others might use an online text editor like CoderPad. It’s important to know so you can practice in the environment that your interview is going to take place in. Also, ask your recruiter for tips on what topics to focus on when preparing. The reason behind this is because in addition to front-end specific question, some companies will ask you traditional computer science questions about topics like searching and sorting algorithms. Front-end concepts HTML and CSS, Javascript, and Javascript design patterns are the key concepts that you will be tested on during an interview. Go through the list and make sure you are comfortable with each topic. HTML and CSS is like the bread and butter of front-end development. During interviews, you will most likely be asked questions about the nuances of HTML and CSS. Also, be prepared to be asked to code up a layout based on a mockup. Just in case you need an HTML and CSS refresher, here are a few basic concepts to look over. In addition to these concepts, know about CSS preprocessors like SASS or LESS and their benefits. Also be familiar with CSS naming conventions like BEM and OOCSS. Another important point is that interviewers look for candidates who champion CSS best practices. As a good reference, this guide written by a front-end at Medium provides insight into how Medium iterated to their current CSS architecture. I mentioned earlier that some interviewers will ask you to recreate layouts in HTML and CSS. Practice doing so in a playground like CodePen. Check out Dribbble since it has lots of simple yet nice designs that would be fun to recreate. Finally, as front-ends, we are so used to making changes in our editor and then verifying the change in our browser. Often times during interviews, you won’t have this luxury. When you’re preparing for your interview, try code most of your layout without looking at the result till the end.I am blogging about findings from my new book, “ I am blogging about findings from my new book, “ The War on Cops,” this week, following a series of assassinations and attempted assassinations of police officers. Yesterday, I argued that police shootings and other police activity do not evidence officer bias, when crime rates are taken into account. Today, I will discuss the latest academic research on the issue of police shootings and race. The most sophisticated lab study of police shoot/don’t-shoot decisions to date, published this year in The most sophisticated lab study of police shoot/don’t-shoot decisions to date, published this year in Criminology and Public Policy, undercuts the Black Lives Matter narrative about trigger-happy, racist cops. Washington State University researcher Lois James put 80 officers from the Spokane, Wash., police department in highly realistic video simulators of street scenarios. Officers were confronted with potentially armed suspects identical in all aspects, including body language and weapon, except for their race. The test subjects were not told the purpose of the research, which was conducted between August 2012 and November 2013, before the issue of race in policing reached the fever pitch of prominence that it possesses today. The officers were three times less likely to shoot unarmed black suspects than unarmed white suspects and took significantly longer to decide to shoot armed black suspects than armed white suspects. James hypothesized that officers were second-guessing themselves when confronting black suspects, due to their awareness of the potential negative repercussions of shooting a black suspect. James’s finding that participants, in her words, “displayed significant bias favoring Black suspects” in their shooting decisions replicated the results of two previous studies she has run on shoot/don’t-shoot decisions. James’s work anticipated a much-discussed James’s work anticipated a much-discussed working paper by Harvard economist Roland Fryer. Fryer found that police officers in Houston were nearly 24 percent less likely to shoot blacks than whites (p. 50; he concluded that there was no evidence of racial discrimination in shootings there. In a data set comprising officer shootings from Dallas, Austin, Houston, Los Angeles and six Florida counties, he found that officers were 47 percent less likely to discharge their weapon without first being attacked if the suspect was black than if the suspect was white (p. 25), and that black and white victims of police shootings were equally likely to have been armed. (Fryer also found that blacks in New York City were more likely than whites to have non-lethal force used against them during pedestrian stops. But the cursory forms filled out by officers after a stop do not convey the intensity or exact details of suspect resistance. Blacks were more likely to have non-lethal force used against them when “officers report perfect compliance” by the stop subject (p. 6, p. 31), writes Fryer. The stop forms have no field for reporting “perfect compliance,” however, but only contain fields for notating suspect resistance. An officer’s oversight in not checking the boxes regarding suspect behavior is not necessarily tantamount to affirmatively “reporting perfect compliance.”) Several other recent studies complicate the favored media meme of white cops oppressing black subjects. A March 2015 Several other recent studies complicate the favored media meme of white cops oppressing black subjects. A March 2015 study of the Philadelphia Police Department by the Justice Department found that black and Hispanic officers were more likely than white officers to shoot unarmed black individuals under the mistaken belief that those individuals were armed. A study by the former acting director of the National Institute of Justice found that black officers in the New York Police Department were 3.3 times more likely than white officers to use their gun at shooting scenes. (Fryer also looked at differences in behavior between white and black officers and found that although white officers were not more likely to shoot unarmed blacks than unarmed whites, black officers were more likely to shoot unarmed whites than unarmed blacks, and more likely than white officers to shoot unarmed whites.) As for the widely held assumption that a predominantly white law enforcement agency is more likely to engage in systemic civil rights violations than a racially diverse law enforcement agency, it bears noting that in August 2014, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York issued a As for the widely held assumption that a predominantly white law enforcement agency is more likely to engage in systemic civil rights violations than a racially diverse law enforcement agency, it bears noting that in August 2014, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York issued a report denouncing the “deep-seated culture of violence” toward adolescent inmates among corrections officers at New York’s Rikers Island jail complex. Over three-quarters of Rikers corrections officers are black in a city that is 23 percent black. The Detroit Police Department emerged in 2014 from 11 years of federal oversight for alleged abuse of civilians, including a pattern of unjustified shootings. The Detroit force is about two-thirds black. In 2012, the Justice Department imposed on the New Orleans Police Department the most expansive consent decree in the nation to rein in the alleged unconstitutional behavior of its officers, the majority of whom are black. Now perhaps these civil rights allegations against these majority-black forces were trumped up. But if so, perhaps similar allegations against majority-white forces are, too. Or maybe the race of officers has little to do with whether they can police fairly. Two final pieces of data challenge the narrative that there is an epidemic of racially biased police shootings in the country. The percentage of homicide victims who die from police shootings is greater for whites and Hispanics than for blacks. Twelve percent of all white and Hispanic homicide victims in 2015 died from police shootings, based on The Washington Post’s shootings database, compared with four percent of black homicide victims. And police officers are at greater risk from blacks than unarmed blacks are from police officers. If we accept at face value The Post’s typology of “unarmed” victims, which I discussed black assailant is 18.5 times higher than the chance of an unarmed black getting killed by a cop. And police officers are at greater risk from blacks than unarmed blacks are from police officers. If we accept at face value The Post’s typology of “unarmed” victims, which I discussed yesterday, the per capita rate of officers being feloniously killed is 45 times higher than the rate at which unarmed black males are killed by cops. And an officer’s chance of getting killed by ablackassailant is 18.5 times higher than the chance of an unarmed black getting killed by a cop. (The 36 unarmed black male victims of police shootings in 2015 measured against the total black male population [nearly 19 million in mid-2014, per the Census Bureau] amounts to a per capita rate of 0.0000018 unarmed fatalities by police. By comparison, 52 law enforcement officers were feloniously killed in 2015 while engaged in such duties as traffic stops and warrant service, according to the (The 36 unarmed black male victims of police shootings in 2015 measured against the total black male population [nearly 19 million in mid-2014, per the Census Bureau] amounts to a per capita rate of 0.0000018 unarmed fatalities by police. By comparison, 52 law enforcement officers were feloniously killed in 2015 while engaged in such duties as traffic stops and warrant service, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. The FBI counted nearly 628,000 full-time law enforcement officers in the United States in 2014. Assuming that the number of officers did not markedly increase in 2015, the per capita rate of officers being feloniously killed is 0.000082, or 45 times the rate at which unarmed black males are killed by cops. The Memorial Fund does not have data on the race of cop-killers in 2015, but applying the historical average over the last decade in which 40 percent of all cop-killers were black would yield 21 cops killed by blacks in 2015. An officer’s chance of getting killed by a black person is 0.000033, which is 18.5 times the chance of an unarmed black person getting killed by a cop. After this year’s 72 percent increase in felonious killings of police officers, these ratios will be even more lopsided.) These findings, taken together, fail to support the claim that police are biased in their use of deadly force against blacks. [Heather Mac Donald is the Thomas W. Smith fellow at the Manhattan Institute and contributing editor to City Journal.]I’ve definitely been subjected to a few harassing emails from ex-boyfriends in my day, but this is one situation that takes the cake in “crazy ex” stories. Reported today is the prosecution of 22 year old Los Angeles resident, Jesus Felix, who created — wait for it — 130 different Facebook pages in order to harass his 16 year old ex-girlfriend. Wow. On facing two counts of California’s new Internet impersonation law — in effect January 1st — and one count of making harassing telephone calls, Felix has pleaded “No contest”. In fact, he has only narrowly dodged a one-year jail time sentence by agreeing to take anger management and sex therapy classes, two things that are clearly in his best interest. He is also now saddled with a five year probation, along with 30 days of road crew service. Prosecutors say in a news release that Felix created Facebook pages and Craigslist listings using photos of his ex-girlfriend. The girl’s mother discovered online profiles with her daughter’s contact information as well as sexually explicit photos. Does social media give people too much power? While I’m guessing that most Facebook users are no stranger to Internet harassment (trolling), this is one situation that I can both relate to, and yet feel completely embarrassed by. Social media can both make or break the reputations of its most active consumers, and knowing this, it’s wise that we take precautions to protect ourselves with what we post. In Felix’s case, however, it’s likely that his ex-girlfriend was unable to avoid the repercussions. I’ve seen cases in the past where social media has been used to perpetuate not-so-lawful ideals. In the London Riots this year, for example, several active users of social media took to platforms like Twitter and Facebook to rally more looters, thieves and other miscreants into causing the chaos, all of which was well-documented by media. I wouldn’t say, however, that social media at its core is to blame for the misuse of relative social platforms and tools, but rather the consumers behind these tools that often spread a negative reputation for new and innovative ideas. It’s a shame that one or two people have the ability to ruin it for everyone else, but that’s just how it goes, eh? What do you think? Is social media putting too much power in the hands of obviously-fragile human beings? Are we letting our new ability to express our every thought and frustration take over in a negative way? Weigh in below. Read next: Roamz is a reverse Foursquare where location based data comes to you [video]Chelsea Manning: Who is the convicted military leaker whose sentence has been slashed by Barack Obama? Updated Chelsea Manning will be released from a military prison in Kansas on May 17 this year, after President Barack Obama commuted her sentence in his last week in office. Here's what we know about the woman who was responsible for the largest breach of classified information in America's history. What's her background? Chelsea Manning, formerly Bradley Manning, was born in Oklahoma in 1987, and was raised in the small town of Crescent. She moved to Wales after her parents divorced when she was a teenager, and went on to join the US Army in 2007 after she finished high school. What did she reveal? In 2009, Manning was sent to Iraq as an intelligence analyst. That's where she gained access to the sensitive military files that she would soon send to WikiLeaks. More than 700,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables were sent to the anti-secrecy group which then went on to publish many of them, including via news outlets The Guardian and The New York Times. The leaks dominated the news agenda, with journalists scouring the files for what they revealed about the Iraq and Afghan wars. One of the major leaks was a classified video which WikiLeaks called "Collateral Murder", which showed an airstrike in Baghdad on July 12, 2007. The attack on suspected Iraqi insurgents killed a dozen people, including a news photographer and his assistant. A US military spokesman said a camera had been mistaken for a grenade launcher. Another video showed a US air strike on an Afghan village which killed 100 civilians in May 2009. When was she convicted? Manning was arrested in May 2010 and went on trial in June 2013. She had been charged with 22 offences, of which she pleaded guilty to 10 counts, including misusing classified material. Military judge Colonel Denise Lind found Manning guilty of 20 of the charges, but she was acquitted of aiding the enemy. During the trial, evidence against Manning included chat logs from a personal computer, admissions and a familiarity with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. In August 2013, Manning was handed a 35-year sentence, with the chance of parole after seven years. Manning was also dishonourably discharged from the Army and reduced in rank from private first class to private, the lowest rank in the military. Did the penalty match the crime? The sentence was the longest ever given in a case involving a leak of US government information for the purpose of it being reported to the public. But it was less than the 60-year-sentence called for by the prosecution. At the time, Manning's lawyer David Coombs said they would be applying for a presidential pardon. Other cases involving whistleblowers, including former Navy intelligence officer Samuel Morison, show just how large the sentence was. Morison was sentenced to two years for giving classified satellite surveillance photographs to Jane's Defense Weekly in 1985. He was later pardoned by president Bill Clinton in 2001. When did Manning become Chelsea? Following her conviction, Manning revealed that she identified as a woman, and changed her name from Bradley to Chelsea. Last year, she was allowed by the army to receive gender transition surgery. Were there calls for her release? Yes, several. Many protests have been held before, during and after Manning's trial and organisations like Amnesty International even called on the US Government for her to be released. Those calls intensified after Manning tried to take her own life in July and October last year. The campaign #HugsForChelsea called on President Barack Obama to give Manning clemency. Social media users on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram took photos of themselves with their arms out or with a #HugsForChelsea sign. Campaign organisers also asked those not on social media to call the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Topics: security-intelligence, world-politics, us-elections, united-states First posted© Provided by AFP US administration official Brett McGurk, photographed in Washington on July 23, 2014, told CBS that US special forces will arrive in Syria "very soon" to assist locals with anti-Islamic State operations Dozens of US special operations forces will arrive in Syria "very soon," as promised by President Barack Obama's administration, a senior official said Sunday. The troops will have the task of organizing local forces battling the self-proclaimed Islamic State in northern Syria, according to special envoy Brett McGurk. "They will be going in very soon," McGurk told CBS television's "Face the Nation" program. In late October, Obama authorized no more than 50 special operations forces to deploy to northern Syria in a non-combatant, advisory role to help coordinate local ground troops and anti-IS coalition efforts. It marks the first official deployment of US troops on the ground in Syria since an international coalition formed to counter the violent extremist group. © AP Photo/Aleksandr Shulman FILE - A US special forces instructor, left, trains Ukrainian soldiers at the military training ground in Ukraine's Khmelnitsk region Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015. The US commandos train Ukrainian servicemen within the framework of the U.S. assistance program for the Ukrainian armed forces. The US troops will assist an Arab-Kurd coalition that includes the main Syrian Kurdish militia the People's Protection Units (YPG), Arab groups and Syriac Christians. These local forces "have been doing a very successful operation," McGurk said. "This is focused on isolating the capital of ISIL in Raqa." He said they have retaken about 1,100 square kilometers (435 square miles) in the last two weeks and killed about 300 IS fighters. The US-led coalition aims to "suffocate and strangle them in the core" of IS in Iraq and Syria through multiple coordinated offensives, McGurk said. The coalition is also trying to cut off access for IS to the Syrian border in order to cut off the main access route between Raqa and the Iraqi city of Mosul, McGurk explained.Red meat is terrible for the planet. Raising cattle pumps greenhouse gases into the atmosphere thanks to the inefficient consumption of feed and, of course, the methane-filled cow farts. Even if you don't care about the damage that greenhouse-gas-induced climate change is already wreaking, then consider your own body: Too much red meat is bad for human health. So I was happy to hear about #NoRedOctober, a punny initiative started by PopSci's editor in chief that encourages people to cut red meat out of their diets for 31 days. But then I did a little math, and realized that we already have a better option: Meatless Mondays. First, the numbers. Let's focus on the year 2015, the most recent year for which the USDA has the complete information. In 2015, the U.S. consumed 24.8 billion pounds of beef. That year, the country had a population of 320.9 million people, so the average American accounted for 77 pounds of red meat, roughly 0.2 pounds per day. If you're a perfectly average American who avoids meat during the entire month of #NoRedOctober, you're cutting out 31 days worth of consumption (assuming you don't compensate by increasing your meat intake during the rest of the year), or about 6.6 pounds. That may not sound like much, but if you could get the entire U.S. population to play along, we'd save 2.1 billion pounds of meat per year, which is approximately 3.8 million cows (if you assume the average cow weighs 1,390 pounds, and the amount of trimmed, boneless beef you get from each animal adds up to about 40 percent of its live weight). Not bad, right? Only until you compare this to the effect we would get from country-wide participation in Meatless Mondays. There are about 52 weeks in a year, but let's say we can count on 50 Mondays without meat (we wouldn't want to limit you to soy dogs during your Memorial and Labor Day barbecues). Doing the same arithmetic, this would save 6.1 million cows instead of 3.8 million. To put it another way, 50 days is 61 percent more days than 31, so no matter how many cows or pounds of beef you avoid consuming during #NoRedOctober, you'll save 61 percent more animals or meat by opting for Meatless Mondays instead. On top of that, I personally find it easier to restrict myself for one day once a week than I do for an entire month. But your mileage may vary—and in an ideal world, perhaps we'll all find the willpower to do both.Bud Black was not at Petco Park on Thursday for the Padres’ fourth straight loss, having gone to the East Coast to attend his youngest daughter’s college graduation. When he returns today, it might not be for much longer. It appears increasingly likely that Black Monday is coming. Or maybe it will be Black Wednesday or Black Friday. Regardless, I’m getting the distinct impression that, unless the Padres start hitting a lot more and winning at least a little more, there will be a day soon when Black is no longer the manager. That would be a shame. I think most people in the organization, from the clubhouse to the big offices, would share that sentiment. This isn’t Black’s fault. But it will be his problem. It might already have been had the Padres not started scoring and gotten within two games of.500 last weekend. There are three men at the top of the Padres’ hierarchy, and they’re not interested in publicly hashing out their business. But I do know they’re extremely frustrated, and they have had discussion upon discussion about every conceivable change in the interest of salvaging a season circling the drain. Two months into a season in which they have committed to operating at a financial loss — having raised the payroll more than $20 million over last year and pledged another $25 million to Petco Park improvements — lead investor Peter Seidler, Executive Chairman Ron Fowler and CEO Mike Dee are steamed at all the losing. This is the ownership group’s second full season, but the first year they considered themselves emerging from a period of learning and assessment. Dee was brought aboard last July and given a lot of latitude. What has ensued this season is a nightmare. You didn’t have to possess great expectations to be disappointed in a team that on Thursday fell six games below.500 with a 5-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs. It was the Padres’ major league-high 15th game scoring fewer than two runs. Even a pessimist would have predicted that the Padres would play better than this. Counteracting a pitching staff with the major leagues’ third-lowest ERA is an offense with the majors’ lowest batting average. The Padres’ 143 runs comprise the third-lowest total through 48 games by any major league team in at least the last 10 seasons. Is there anything Black could do about all this? Not that I know of. The man tinkers to the point of exhaustion. But after seven-plus seasons without a playoff appearance and under a third ownership group and with a higher payroll … Damn. This is the last thing I ever wanted to write. I’m on the record as vehemently defending Black. I was hoping my next column on this topic would include the words “told ya” and/or “neener neener” when Black’s Padres made the playoffs. Alas, if the results don’t change, something else has to. I wrote that even before the season while again endorsing him. I expected him to last the season. And he might. The upcoming schedule — not to mention the law of averages — gives hope that better times might be ahead. The Padres have three more games against the dreadful Cubs before going to hitter-friendly parks in Arizona and Chicago (White Sox). The only opponent with a winning record among the next eight series is the Washington Nationals, who will visit Petco. To this point, though, the belief of those who fund the Padres is that their team is underachieving — and doing so in an ugly and unacceptable manner. Might this be change for change’s sake? Certainly. If Black is fired, I wouldn’t be surprised if the men who pull the trigger admit that. But sometimes, you can’t argue with grasping desperately for a salve. At least the brass would be doing something, though we could certainly be skeptical pending any sort of net gain. Fact is, a dozen players can’t be fired at midseason. Getting rid of a general manager now also would change nothing. (However, if this assemblage of talent doesn’t turn out to be more, um, talented by season’s end, GM Josh Byrnes likely also will be part of wholesale changes.) Heck, firing Black might be doing him a backhanded favor. Let him relax a bit before being hired by another team in the offseason. Black will have a job somewhere next season. He just might not have one here much longer.Think Progress is reporting that Todd Akin is tripling or quadrupling down on his sexism. AUDIENCE MEMBER: You voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Why do you think it is okay for a woman to be paid less for doing the same work as a man? AKIN: Well, first of all, the premise of your question is that I’m making that particular distinction. I believe in free enterprise. I don’t think the government should be telling people what you pay and what you don’t pay. I think it’s about freedom. If someone what’s to hire somebody and they agree on a salary, that’s fine, however it wants to work. So, the government sticking its nose into all kinds of things has gotten us into huge trouble.TALLAHASSEE — Two months after contributing $110,000 to Gov. Rick Scott's re-election campaign, an upstart property insurance company is likely to reap a $52 million windfall, paid from the coffers of Citizens Property Insurance Corp. Sitting on a record cash surplus of $6.4 billion, Citizens is hoping to sign a special deal today with Heritage Property and Casualty Insurance Co., a St. Petersburg firm that opened nine months ago and has made significant political contributions. Heritage has donated more than $140,000 to Scott and the Republican Party of Florida in recent months, and spent tens of thousands more lobbying the Legislature. Now it's in line to get special treatment from Florida's state-run insurance firm in the form of an unusual and lucrative "reinsurance quota share" agreement. If the Citizens board of governors approves today, the state-run insurer will pay Heritage up to $52 million to take over 60,000 policies, about $866 a piece. "It's an opportunity to get this deal done prior to the next hurricane season," said Citizens CFO Sharon Binnun, defending the multimillion-dollar payment. "It's an opportunity for Citizens to get another 50,000 policies off the books before another hurricane season." The proposal is the latest effort in Citizens' controversial and aggressive campaign to reduce risk and revive the private insurance market. Proponents say the push to shrink Citizens will pay off when the next hurricane hits, saving consumers from having to bail out the state-run insurer. Critics see the campaign cash and lobbying by Heritage as evidence that Citizens and Scott are tapping the insurer's $6.4 billion surplus for special giveaways to politically connected companies. "Citizens' board continues to fall prey to Tallahassee lobbyists who cook up these get rich funding schemes," said Rep. Frank Artiles, R-Miami. Scott's office said the governor played no role in the $52 million deal at Citizens, and campaign contributions were not a factor. "We expect (the board) to approve or disapprove of this risk transfer based solely on its merits," said Melissa Sellers, a spokeswoman for Scott. "Anything short of that would harm Citizens policyholders and Florida residents who back Citizens policies." Heritage's president, Richard Widdicombe, declined comment through a spokesperson. It's the second time this year Citizens is looking to subsidize an upstart private insurer using its massive surplus, which has been built up over seven years as the state has dodged hurricanes. In February, Citizens' board approved a deal with Weston Insurance, agreeing to pay the young company $63 million to take out 30,000 policies. Weston has spent more than $250,000 on lobbying this year, and two of Citizens' seven board members abstained from voting because of conflicts of interest. In both deals, the payments are structured as backdated "reinsurance" agreements, where Citizens essentially pays the company to cover Citizens' losses on certain policies over a specified period of time. Since the period of time is in the past, the company can actively select policies that had no losses, in effect making the deal virtually risk-free. Ever since Citizens began floating the idea of transferring millions of surplus dollars to private companies last year, critics have blasted the deals as "corporate welfare" and said they lack transparency. The Heritage proposal became public just this week, after state regulators approved it. The company could begin taking policies out of Citizens next month. Citizens said the deals make good financial sense, and the Heritage proposal will help the state-run insurer reduce losses by $280 million in the event of a once-in-a-century hurricane. The state-run insurer of 1.3 million policies can levy charges on consumers if a major storm wipes out its surplus, and the threat of "hurricane taxes" is driving the push to downsize. According to Citizens, some private companies need special incentives before they will agree to take over policies, and the company's record surplus allows it to provide a cash buffer to smaller private firms. Without the transfers, the newly formed companies likely would not have enough capital to acquire Citizens' policies. With low reserves, they could go belly up after a major hurricane. Paul G. Neilson, vice president of claims operations at Heritage, worked at Citizens right before joining the St. Petersburg start-up last September. At Citizens, he worked on a field re-inspection program. Heritage has four lobbyists in Tallahassee and spent between $60,000 and $110,000 lobbying Scott's executive branch and the Legislature in recent months. Heritage is not rated by A.M. Best, a highly regarded insurance rating firm that ranks firms for financial stability. It has an "A" rating from Demotech, another financial rating firm. Citizens is requiring Heritage, with more than $100 million in assets, to raise $10 million more in capital. Under the special agreement, policyholders shifted from Citizens to Heritage will not see rates increase by more than 10 percent each year for at least three years. Coverage offerings will be similar to Citizens, which has slashed coverage in recent years. Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the company's president, Richard Widdicombe, previously worked for the director of Citizens Property Insurance Corp. It also misidentified the former role of Heritage's vice president of claim operations. Paul Neilson formerly worked on a field inspection program for Citizens that was not connected to a controversial wind mitigation re-inspection program.One-of-a-kind spectrometer reads vibrations between atoms to find structures
I could see some viewers not digging the mix of genres and musical eras. I also wonder how younger audiences will react to the movie’s references. Like many of the Marvel properties, this seems to be made a little more for adult audiences – for those who grew up watching Spielberg movies and reading comics. Without a direct knowledge of 1970s and 1980s pop culture, will the film work as well as it does for those who grew up in those decades? To be honest, I’m not quite sure. We’ll have to see what critics and audiences say, how the film plays over time, and how this part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe plays out. (My understanding is that the Guardians will feature heavily in ‘Avengers 3’ in addition to whatever standalone sequel adventures they may get.) Regardless, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ is an unexpected blast and two full hours of escapist fun. It’s equal parts futuristic and nostalgic, with a great sense of tone, and an absolutely awesome cast of characters. I hope we see our galactic guardians again soon. 3D As presented in 4K Dolby 3D, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ has one of the best Marvel 3D presentations to date, featuring a top-notch (I’m presuming here) post-conversion. While the film overall benefits from numerous daylight sequences (another plus for a space movie), even the dark scenes evoke appreciable z-axis depth. CGI and practical elements are highly detailed and (mostly) realistic. The movie’s frames team with visual activity and an engaging, florescent color palette. The Dolby Theatre’s massive temporary screen looked, at times, like a stargate into outer space. In other words, this a gorgeous, superbly crafted blockbuster adventure that works well in stereo. With real-deal 3D like this, ‘Guardians’ should also make for fine Blu-ray demonstration material later this year. The only thing I can’t say for sure, not having seen it in 2D, is whether or not whether or not the 3D improves the experience. Dolby Atmos The Dolby Theatre is not a full-time cinema auditorium. For each of these premiere events, sound and video engineers bring extra equipment into a room that wasn’t designed to be a movie theater, though Dolby has certainly worked to improve the room’s sound characteristics. Despite these challenges, my off-center seats were in a great place to get mostof the Atmos experience. How did it sound? While not as subtle as the ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ mix, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ in Dolby Atmos is going to stamp a smile onto the faces of the audio fans amongst us. It has tons of LFE with big-time explosions. Panning effects are seamless and immersive and aggressive, planting you in the pilot’s seat in the middle of fights and battles. The aforementioned ’70s-heavy soundtrack comes alive as well, giving not only a wide soundstage for when the music is the star, but also in POV-style effects. An example: the music starts through muffled headphones, spreading outwards until it envelopes the whole auditorium. I look forward to seeing this again, especially if it becomes one of the first Blu-rays or digital downloads to feature the Atmos format in home cinemas. By the way, while we’re talking Atmos, if you’ve ever wondered how theatrical film soundtracks are delivered to cinemas worldwide, or what had to change when Dolby introduced Atmos, here’s an informative article from PSN Europe about the details. Fun fact: ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past‘ required 137 unique “Digital Cinema Packages” for its worldwide distribution. Overall Thanks again to Dolby and Marvel Studios for a fun night out in Hollywood. Marvel’s team of filmmakers have produced an unexpected, fresh take on the space adventure blockbuster. I truly hope our readers, and wider audiences, enjoy it as much as I did. (If you don’t, that’s okay too.) Featuring an excellent 3D presentation and another thunderously immersive Dolby Atmos sound mix, I would recommend trying to see ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ on the big screen with the best sound available. In addition to 3D and Atmos, the film will also have an IMAX version with alternating aspect ratios. Cheers and thanks for reading.Mark Reynolds has powered Baltimore into an unlikely tie atop the division. (US Presswire) Over the past weekend, Mark Reynolds produced a pair of two-homer games that pushed the Orioles to victories over the Yankees, helping the upstart Birds draw within striking distance of the Bronx Bombers in the AL East race. On Tuesday, with their deficit in the division race reduced to a single game, Reynolds continued his hot streak, bashing a three-run homer off the Blue Jays' Carlos Villanueva to key a 12-run onslaught. Backed seven shutout innings from Zach Britton and combined with the Yankees' second loss in as many days to the Rays, the O's now own a share of first place in the AL East, with the Rays just 1 1/2 games behind. Just seven weeks ago, the Yankees owned a double-digit lead in the division and looked for all the world like a typical pinstriped juggernaut. On July 18, less than a week after the All-Star break, their record stood at 57-34, giving them a 10-game cushion over the 47-44 Orioles, with the 47-45 Rays another half-game back. Since then, the Yankees have sputtered, while the other two teams have soared: Tm W L W Pct GB RS RA Pyth W Pct Orioles 29 15.659 -- 207 170.597 Rays 28 16.636 1 188 104.766 Yankees 19 25.432 10 193 190.508 Among AL teams, only the A's (29-14) have been better than the Orioles and Rays. Not coincidentally, Oakland and Baltimore entered Tuesday as the two teams holding the AL wild-card spots. With less than a month remaining in the season, what are we to make of this race? In the grand scheme, the Orioles still look like the odd duck here, not only given their recent lack of success — they haven't posted a winning season, let alone reached the playoffs, since 1997 — but also their −19 run differential. By comparison, the Yankees are at +83, the Rays at +81. As I noted last month, only five teams have ever reached the postseason with a negative run differential: the 1984 Royals (-13), 1987 Twins (-20), 1997 Giants (-9), 2005 Padres (-44) and 2007 Diamondbacks (-20). When I wrote that, the Orioles were 57 runs in the red, but since then, they've cut that by two-thirds. Concealed within that negative run differential is the Orioles'.774 winning percentage (on a 24-7 record) in one-run games, a record-setting pace; Saturday's 4-3 loss to the Yankees broke an astounding 13-game winning streak in one-run games. Couple that with an MLB-high.647 winning percentage (on a 22-12 record) in games decided by two runs, and Baltimore's.708 winning percentage in games decided by two or fewer runs is the third-highest of all-time. Meanwhile, even with Tuesday's win, the O's are still 21-22 in games decided by five or more runs, having been outscored by 23 runs in such games. Baltimore's recent surge owes much to improved starting pitching. Since the beginning of August, the rotation's ERA is 3.90, and the starting five has delivered quality starts 63 percent of the time. Prior to that, they were at 4.09 — not too much higher — but delivering quality starts just 44 percent of the time. More than anything else, their consistency has improved. Of the five pitchers who have made at least four starts in that span, four of them — Britton, Wei-Yin Chen, Miguel Gonzalez and Chris Tillman — have delivered ERAs of 4.30 or lower; only Tommy Hunter (7.08 ERA) has been higher, and even that owes mainly to one three-inning, eight-run drubbing that bumped him back to Triple-A. It's worth noting that among that aforementioned quartet, only Chen began the year in the rotation; Britton was on the disabled list, while Gonzalez and Tillman were in the minors. Even with that improvement, general manager Dan Duquette hasn't been content to stand pat. Last week, he acquired Joe Saunders from the Diamondbacks in trade, thus replacing Hunter; rocked by the White Sox in his first start, Saunders rebounded to throw 6 1/3 shutout innings against the Blue Jays. Later this week, the team is scheduled to get Jason Hammel back from the disabled list following an eight-week absence due to surgery to remove loose bodies in his right knee. With a 3.54 ERA and 8.7 strikeouts per nine, Hammel has been the team's most effective starter this year, and his return comes just as Tillman underwent an MRI that showed an inflamed ulnar nerve. While the O's have gotten hot, the Yankees have cooled off drastically, in part due to injuries. When Alex Rodriguez went down with a fractured metacarpal on July 24, they were 58-39, still seven games up on the Orioles and eight ahead of the Rays. While the Yankees have gotten stellar performances from Derek Jeter (.335/.379/.525), Nick Swisher (.293/.377/.489) and third base fill-in Eric Chavez (.325/.387/.530) since then, Curtis Granderson (.192/.257/.400), Mark Teixeira (.232/.303/.389, and now sidelined by a calf strain), Raul Ibanez (.215/.311/.418) and Andruw Jones (.131/.239/.230) have all been dreadful, and newcomer Ichiro Suzuki (.274/.297/.403) hasn't helped much. Since winning seven out of eight games from August 8-15, the team has gone just 6-12 while failing to win back-to-back games even once. Since August 21, they have scored more than four runs just twice, and more than five runs just once. Rodriguez returned to the lineup on Monday, and while he's collected hits in both games, the Yankees have managed just five runs total. They haven't collected more than six hits in any of their last five games, their longest streak since 1990. As for the Rays, they have now won four straight after a 1-6 slide threatened to derail their playoff hopes. They're 18-9 since the return of Evan Longoria, but the real story lately has been their pitching. Since yielding 10 runs on July 18, they have allowed a microscopic 2.36 runs per game. Their pitchers have limited opposing hitters to 0.4 homers per nine in that span while striking out 8.6 per nine and walking just 2.1. While the starters have been excellent (2.65 ERA), their bullpen has been positively lights out, delivering a 1.11 ERA while allowing just five homers in 121 1/3 innings. Four relievers have thrown at least 12 innings in that span with ERAs below 1.00, including Fernando Rodney, who has an 0.71 ERA for the entire season.Liberal groups are calling for Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Steven Terner MnuchinFed chief sees 'conflicting signals' from economy Treasury announces new Venezuela sanctions Trump trade chief changes terminology after president contradicts him MORE to be removed from the "Big Six" group of GOP negotiators of tax reform. The request follows a report that the former Goldman Sachs executive requested use of a government plane for his honeymoon. Two groups, Not One Penny and Stand Up America, on Friday announced a campaign called "Dump Mnuchin" in an effort to get the Treasury secretary to play a less active role on the tax-reform issue. The campaign will involve mobilizing grassroots organizers. ADVERTISEMENT "The American people deserve a tax code that isn't written by someone who repeatedly abused taxpayers — from profiting off foreclosures in the private sector to trying to privately benefit from his new role in the public sector," said Nicole Gill, executive director of Tax March, which is a sponsor of Not One Penny. "It’s time that the tax writing effort take a vacation from Secretary Mnuchin.” Mnuchin has come under fire following an ABC News report this week that he had requested a government jet for his European honeymoon. Additionally, the Treasury Department Inspector General is investigating Mnuchin's use of a government plane to travel to Fort Knox in Kentucky ahead of August's solar eclipse. Mnuchin's wife, Louise Linton, also participated in the Kentucky trip and faced backlash when she touted the designer clothing she was wearing during the visit on Instagram and then fired back at a user who left a critical comment on the social networking site. Sean Eldridge, founder and president of Stand Up America, said that "after this latest attempt to misuse taxpayer dollars, Mnuchin is the last person who should be crafting tax policy for American families." Mnuchin defended himself on Thursday from the reports, saying at a Politico event that the request for the plane for his honeymoon had to do with national security and that it was withdrawn after his staff found other ways to ensure he could communicate in a secure manner. He also said that he didn't have much interest in seeing the eclipse, "being a New Yorker." Linton has apologized for her Instagram comments. The campaign's launch comes days after it was announced that the Big Six will release a tax reform framework during the week of September 25. Besides Mnuchin, members of the Big Six include Speaker 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 (R-Wis.), 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-Ky.), House Ways and Means 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), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch Orrin Grant HatchThe FDA crackdown on dietary supplements is inadequate Orrin Hatch Foundation seeking million in taxpayer money to fund new center in his honor Mitch McConnell has shown the nation his version of power grab MORE (R-Utah) and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn. Not One Penny and Stand Up America have also criticized Republicans' tax efforts as appearing likely to include tax cuts for the rich, though Mnuchin said Thursday that his intention is not for wealthy Americans to receive tax cuts.It's six years since an earthquake devastated Haiti, and killed at least 200,000 people. In the immediate aftermath, the world rallied and pledged enormous amounts of assistance and development aid. But in Haiti today there is anger about the promises that have fallen short. The UN estimates that about $10 billion was pledged, and about half of that has been spent. Much was well-spent, especially in the beginning, according to Brian Concannon, executive director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. Concannon has worked in and for Haiti for more than 20 years. “I think where the money worked was mostly in the emergency response,” says Concannon. “There was a lot of very good medical treatment; the rubble was cleared; there were some food programs and other things that just kept people alive. It probably saved thousands of lives; perhaps tens of thousands and was very effective. And clearing the rubble allowed the city to move forward. So that part was fairly effective.” “What hasn’t worked is the more sustainable initiatives,” says Concannon. “The buzzword[s] six years ago was ‘build Haiti back better’ and that simply didn’t happen. “The harder things like building schools; helping the government provide basic services; improving the employment situation; those kinds of things didn’t work. I think a lot of the aid money was poorly spent. A disproportionate amount of it was spent on international experts, or headquarters back in Washington and other places. Not as much as should have gotten to the ground actually got to the ground." But, Concannon says, what Haitians will really tell you was that the big problem was that they weren’t consulted. "Much of the ‘building back Haiti better’ was done the same way that people always did business. It wasn’t well coordinated among the agencies. But more importantly it wasn’t well coordinated with the Haitian people. Everybody from top government officials down to poor people in the street complained that they weren’t consulted and they felt these programs were just being imposed on them without their participation.” Concannon says the intentions of the agencies were good, and he recalls a donor conference in the immediate aftermath of the quake when everyone agreed that they need to do things differently, to consult the Haitian people and be sustainable. “People said the right things over and over again.” But the ideals were lost in the execution, according to Concannon. Overall, Concannon gives the international response to the quake a grade of C. “You certainly need to recognize what was done," he says. "You also need to recognize the great generosity and outpouring of support by ordinary citizens and governments. But I really think that we missed an opportunity to transform Haiti, and to transform the way that disaster responses are done.”by BRIAN NADIG The Savoy Food and Liquor store at 4138 N. Milwaukee Ave. could close later this summer so that the storefront can be remodeled for a new liquor store that plans to open there. The owner of the proposed Portage Park Wine and Spirits plans to apply for a new packaged liquor license instead of seeking a transfer of Savoy’s license, which expires Aug. 31, said Alderman John Arena’s chief of staff Owen Brugh. Savoy is located in an 87-year-old, two-story brick building at the northwest corner of Milwaukee and Warner avenues that has apartments on the second floor. The site’s C1-1 zoning allows for the sale of packaged liquor, but the project would require the lifting of a moratorium on new packaged liquor licenses which Arena implemented in 2014 in nearly all commercial areas of the ward. The moratorium is designed to give the community more input in the opening of new liquor stores. Moratoriums are typically implemented in two-block stretches, and the lifting of the moratorium for the area around the Savoy would have to remain in effect for at least 1 year. Existing liquor licenses for those businesses affected by a moratorium can be transferred to a new owner, but there are several restrictions. Only one resident attended a community meeting on the project that Arena hosted on July 13. The new operator has other liquor stores in the city, Brugh said.Self-proclaimed Bitcoin Creator Rushes to Patent the Technology In the midst ofBTC-USD being propelled to dizzying new all-time highs thanks to an unprecedented amount of support and bullish sentiment, two people have partnered together in what seems to be a rapid acquisition of intellectual property around Bitcoin and blockchain technology. Craig Wright and Calvin Ayre are the two individuals of interest, going on a patent filing spree. Craig Wright made headlines in May 2016 as he claimed to be the man behind the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. Calvin Ayre is infamous for online gambling operations, which was deemed by the USA as illegal. With 70 patents filed already, there is no sign of stopping. Patents range from the intellectual property over medical applications, as well as WiFi security, according to Reuters. Wright was first indicated to be Satoshi Nakamoto through separate investigations by WIRED and Gizmodo and he has been seeking to acquire patents on blockchain technology and Bitcoin since December 2015. In June 2016, it was reported that 50 patent applications were pushed through in the UK by Antigua-registered firm EITC Holdings. With plans to file 80 more with an ultimate goal of around 400 registered patents, it is rather peculiar as none of the patents have been approved so far. On top of this, it is uncertain if the patents would be enforceable if granted. It seems the motivation for these patents is monetary gain, as Wright’s associates have stated the patents have the potential to be sold for “upwards of a billion dollars.” With other companies looking to protect their interests on the blockchain as well, such as R3, a group of over 70 banks, filing patents as well, Wright and Ayre face serious competition. Regardless of who comes out on top, these sort of actions drifts from the original intention of Bitcoin, to be used by all without restrictions. “What was started by Satoshi as an open-source project is going to be far from an open project by the time all the commercial projects weigh in,” said Nigel Swycher, CEO of London-based Aistemos, an IP analytics company. “People will try to use patents as one of many ways to protect their interests.” Despite these potential intellectual restrictions, it also shows a rising interest in Bitcoin, and a realization of the possible implications it has on numerous sectors that involve handling data or sending money.Although most of the more than 2,500 people living in the immediate vicinity were allowed to return home once the bomb had gone off and fires had been put out, some were on Wednesday still waiting for engineers to give them the go-ahead. Straw and sand had been laid on top of the bomb to absorb as much of the blast as possible, but chunks of burning straw were thrown onto neighbouring buildings, setting several on fire. More than 100 fire fighters were deployed to put them out. Munich mayor Christian Ude praised the way the detonation was handled. "I think the approach was absolutely free of errors. We could not have waited any longer." The Süddeutsche Zeitung on reported Wednesday that those residents whose homes were subject to structural assessment had been permitted to briefly re-enter their apartments with fire fighter escort to collect a few necessities. Munich's municipal utilities (SWM) has a special team on stand-by Wednesday in case water or power lines needed to be shut off during the day, according to the Müncher Merkur newspaper. The bomb produced an Armageddon-like scene in the central Schwabing district, knocking out windows and creating a ball of fire over the city. Older residents said it reminded them of the war. "It's like the whole city is being blown to bits," an unnamed eyewitness told Bild. Pictures of the fireball and its aftermath The man who carried out the controlled blast, Günther Sobieralski, had handled more than 100 similar bombs, but that didn't matter when it came time to carry out the blast. "Every bomb is a new challenge“, the 65-year-old Sobieralski told the paper. "You have to treat each one like your first one. Routine is deadly." No injuries were reported after the blast, which happened at just before 10 pm on Tuesday. Thousands of people had already been evacuated from their homes, and the city halted bus and tram services after it became clear experts could not simply defuse the bomb. Munich bomb disposal officer Diethard Posorski and his colleagues had first assumed it was a ‘normal' bomb – which although dangerous, can be handled with care. However on Monday it became clear that the 250-kilo bomb was not the normal kind. “That is a chemical delayed-action detonator. I am not defusing that, I'm not suicidal,” he told the Münchner Merkur on Monday night. In 2010 three people died in Göttingen trying to defuse exactly the same kind of bomb, which exploded when they lifted it up. The Local/DAPD/shJacob DeGrom was a revelation for the 2014 Mets leading to the National League Rookie of the Year Award. Among National League starters with over 100 innings, DeGrom leads all rookies with his 2.69 ERA. The question is whether DeGrom will be able to keep this up in the future. In order to do that, it will help to find a comparable to DeGrom’s rookie season success. Among the 235 rookie starters that have thrown a minimum of 100 innings since 2000, 42 pitchers have had a K/9 of over 8 and 80 have had a BB/9 of better than 3. DeGrom with his K/9 of 9.24 and a BB/9 of 2.76 fits comfortably into both of those categories. DeGrom is one of eleven pitchers who fit into both. Name Team IP K/9 BB/9 Mark Prior Cubs 116.2 11.34 2.93 Francisco Liriano Twins 120.1 10.47 2.62 Cory Luebke Padres 116.1 9.75 2.55 Mike Fiers Brewers 126.2 9.45 2.56 Masahiro Tanaka Yankees 136.1 9.31 1.39 Roy Oswalt Astros 127.2 9.16 1.2 Michael Pineda Mariners 171 9.11 2.89 Jacob DeGrom Mets 140.1 9.24 2.76 Shelby Miller Cardinals 179.1 8.83 2.96 Mike Minor Braves 122 8.7 2.95 Matt Shoemaker Angels 136 8.21 1.59 This group of pitchers includes several rookies including Shoemaker and Tanaka. Who it also includes is several pitchers who were among the best pitchers in baseball for a period of time with Prior, Oswalt, and to an extent prior to his injury, Francisco Liriano. His inclusion on this list shows DeGrom’s elite ability to combine excellent control and strikeout ability. This list is full of players who have had extensive success at points in their career and provides faith in DeGrom’s ability to repeat his success. Also, using this season’s league average for HR/9 (.87), DeGrom is well above average at limiting home runs (.45). Combining those three statistics, DeGrom is in rarefied air. Liriano was the next best among the above starters with a.82 HR/9. It is not inconceivable to compare DeGrom’s numbers to Liriano’s, although Liriano’s strikeout ability is much better than that of DeGrom’s. Looking at the rookie leaderboards, there is one other pitcher who can be favorably compared to Degrom — Tim Lincecum. In his rookie season, Lincecum threw 146.1 innings-6 more than DeGrom, and had a K/9 rate of 9.23. Lincecum also had a GB% of 47, which compares favorably to DeGrom’s number of 45%. Additionally, Lincecum was above average at limiting home runs with a HR/9 of.74. The comparisons between Lincecum and DeGrom don’t end there as both pitchers have a very similar pitch-mix. While early in his career Lincecum featured both a slider and curveball almost equally, and a change-up as his most heavily used off-speed pitch, as his career progressed he began to feature his slider more than his breaking ball. DeGrom features both a slider and a curveball like Lincecum, but he uses the slider more than the curveball. He also uses a change-up about 12% of the time. If DeGrom begins to feature his change-up more often, a pitch that many people consider to be above average, DeGrom could potentially have a stretch of dominance that approaches the dominance that Lincecum had early in his career. Based on the various things that DeGrom has excelled at in his short stint as a major league starter, all signs are trending up for the young right-hander, who will combine with Matt Harvey, Zach Wheeler, and the other Mets pitchers — eventually including high touted prospect Noah Syndergaard — to potentially give the 2015 Mets the best young rotation in baseball. Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on twitter @paulmamminoLWOS. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport and @LWOSworld – and “liking” our Facebook page. Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for?After Facebook disclosed earlier this month that Russia had used its ad platform to promote propaganda, politicians quickly called for closer scrutiny of the company’s ad system. Today, in a letter to the Federal Election Commission, a group of Congressional Democrats called for new rules to keep foreign influence out of American voters’ social media feeds. “Foreign political activity is a direct assault on federal election law.” Citing the Facebook controversy, the letter, signed by Democratic senators and representatives, asks the agency to consider guidelines that would help stop similar advertising campaigns in the future. “Foreign political activity is a direct assault on federal election law and the integrity of our elections,” the letter reads. The letter, signed by Sens. Kamala Harris and Al Franken, among several others, calls for the agency to develop new best practices to prevent foreign influence on American advertising. It also asks the agency to consider what the most vulnerable media and technology companies can do to prevent “hostile actors” from advertising on their platforms. When it disclosed the Russian ad buys, Facebook said it was experimenting with new ways to detect similar activity in the future. But controversy has continued to follow the company in recent weeks. The company has even reportedly handed over some Russia-linked ads to Robert Mueller, who is investigating possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. “We are fast approaching the 2018 election cycle,” the letter reads. “As such, it is imperative the Federal Election Commission begin this effort in earnest.”EAST LANSING, MI -- The Sparty Guard may have been on watch over Michigan State's iconic Spartan statue, but that didn't stop several MSU landmarks from getting hit by Michigan fans this week. Social media users have reported vandalism to the steps of the MSU Union, where a block 'M' was painted, along with the words 'Go Blue,' as well as graffiti to the Magic Johnson statue in front of the Breslin Center. The statue was painted yellow, with an "M" and the words "Beat State" in yellow paint. MSU spokesman Jason Cody said three areas were hit by vandals, including the Johnson statue, a brick wall behind Sparty and a sidewalk near Munn field. All were cleaned or are in the process of being cleaned, he said. Tracy Harris, a utility worker with MSU Landscape Services, was busy cleaning the Johnson statue this morning. "We are going to be out here for a while," Harris said as she scrubbed Magic Johnson's face with a fine-toothed brush. "This statue has so many details on it, its going to take a long time to get him cleaned up." The MSU vs U-M game, which is at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Ann Arbor's Big House, is one of the state's biggest college rivalries. The Sparty statue near Kalamazoo Street and Red Cedar Road is typically the target of Wolverine vandalism during rivalry week and is guarded all week by the MSU Spartan Marching Band. The Sparty statue was hit earlier this year, just before MSU took on the Oregon Ducks, when someone painted it with blue and yellow paint and a block M. Cody said he was not aware of any arrests in Thursday's vandalism, but police were investigating. "Not only during rivalry week, but throughout the year, these sorts of acts of vandalism do happen," he said. "However, we honestly don't know who did it, and more importantly, we like to think most fans have a little more class than to resort to vandalism. "It's not fun and games; it's a crime."Most Of Us Just Can't Taste The Nuances In High-Priced Wines Enlarge this image toggle caption iStockphoto.com iStockphoto.com Have you ever splurged on a highly rated bottle of Burgundy or pinot noir, only to wonder whether a $10 or $15 bottle of red would have been just as good? The answer may depend on your biology. A new study by researchers at Penn State and Brock University in Canada finds that when it comes to appreciating the subtleties of wine, experts can taste things many of us can't. "What we found is that the fundamental taste ability of an expert is different," says John Hayes of Penn State. So what explains this? Part of it has to do with training and experience. But our ability to identify nuances in wine is also influenced by physiology in our mouths and brains. "We evaluated hundreds of wine drinkers," says Hayes, by having them sample/taste a chemical that measures their reaction to bitter tastes. He found that wine experts — people such as wine writers, winemakers and wine retailers — were about 40 percent more sensitive to the bitterness than casual consumers of wine. They have a more acute sense of taste. Hayes says his findings fit with prior research on so-called supertasters — people who are more sensitive to the sweetness of sugar, the sting of chili peppers and the saltiness of chips. The experts I reached out to are not convinced that "biology" is as deterministic as the research may suggest. "There may be some people who are gifted tasters," Dave McIntyre, who writes about wine for The Washington Post, wrote to me in an email. "But I think it's mostly experience." He says he's taken the time and made the effort to taste many, many wines. "If you taste enough Cabernet Sauvignon you'll learn to tell it from Merlot," MacIntyre says. And over time, if you pay attention, he says he thinks most people will heighten their ability to detect nuances. But for those of us who are not inclined to invest a lot of time in wine-tasting, should we pay attention to those wine reviewers' ratings and scores? A 90-point rating may tell us that an expert thinks the wine is a good choice. And the higher the point rating, the higher the price point. But what if the critics' palates are not in sync with ours? "Wine shopping can be confusing and overwhelming," Katherine Cole, a wine writer in Portland, wrote to us. She says to some extent, the point ratings can help us narrow our choices. When you spot a bottle in your price range, and you see one of those "shelf talkers" (the term she uses to describe those little tabs affixed to store shelves) that tout a 90-point rating (on a 100-point scale), it can make the decision easier. "Oh, Wine & Spirits magazine likes this wine, so it must be good." Experts all seem to acknowledge that there's quite a bit of subjectivity involved in reviewing wine. "Every critic has his or her own taste," Cole says, "so the same wine might garner wildly differing scores from a variety of critics." All of this leads me to the conclusion, that yes, I'll try to use experience as my teacher. But I'm not going to be ashamed by my affordable favorites. I may not have the most experienced of wine palates, but I've found plenty of pleasant $10-$15 Syrahs and Malbecs — two of my favorites — and I'm sticking with them!The persistence of these names — let’s at least call them “questionable” — on the American restaurant menu underscores how non-Asian-Americans have been making up their own version of Asianness for a long time now. While the Greek salad has some integrity — by this I mean that in Greece you will actually find a salad that looks like this — and the Caesar is a creation attributed to the 1920s-era restaurateur Caesar Cardini, the Asian salad stands apart as a strange kind of fiction. As early as 1906, top New York restaurants were serving something called “Oriental salad” for 80 cents a pop, but it wasn’t clear what distinguished it. As this newspaper observed that same year: “You could save on the salad. Oriental, Russian and mixed salads are nearly all the same thing.” Recipes for “Chinese chicken salad” started appearing in American newspapers in the ’30s, but their components ranged far and wide, from mayonnaise and gelatin to pineapple chunks and celery and, in one case, French dressing. At the time, it seemed that “Chinese” was merely a synonym for “new” or “different.” The tie to Chinese cuisine was already weak, since people in China did not generally eat uncooked vegetables; more common were cold chicken dishes with the vegetables blanched or stir-fried. In 1960s America, with the lifting of the cap on immigration from Asia, dressings using actual ingredients from Chinese cooking — sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger — entered the rotation. Chinese chicken salad grew popular. Pretty soon there were competing claims of origin. By the ’80s, “Asian fusion” was the name applied to what high-minded chefs like Wolfgang Puck, Roy Yamaguchi and Jean-Georges Vongerichten were doing with the marriage of traditional Asian and French ingredients. Mr. Puck’s restaurant Chinois on Main, in Santa Monica, Calif., was credited with pioneering fusion cuisine in the United States. One of his most popular dishes is the Chinois chicken salad: it features a sesame-soy-mustard vinaigrette, Napa cabbage, romaine lettuce and shredded roast chicken. Mr. Puck himself resisted reductive terms for his cooking — “It’s not as simple as adding ginger and soy sauce — and voilà, Asian fusion,” he told The Huffington Post — but that is, in fact, what happened. When the Asian salad fad exploded, something that was cooked up by non-Asians became, well, “Asian” in the popular imagination. A single Cheesecake Factory, Rainforest Cafe or Applebee’s could sell 500 Asian salads a week. Each chain punched up the name to seem foreign yet familiar.Royal College of Art PhD student (and former amusement park employee) Julijonas Urbonas has drafted designs for a project he calls "The Euthanasia Coaster," a fast and fatal thrill ride designed to starve the rider's brain of oxygen. Urbonas designed this deadly contraption to give the rider agency over their final voyage. Here's his description of the project: "Euthanasia Coaster" is a hypothetic euthanasia machine in the form of a roller coaster, engineered to humanely – with elegance and euphoria – take the life of a
context, where the meaning or formal composition of an image, not its validity, is of central importance, to demand that photographs be literally understood as True is to impose a gratuitously limiting dictum. Goldin has always conflated her life and her art though, and perhaps nowhere else as much as with this massive work, which loosely chronicles nine years of her life and that of her friends (in slide form it contains over 900 photographs and covers even more time). Her indignation is thus understandable, since to suspect that her photographs are somehow manipulated is to undermine their documentary value, and that is, she suggests, their primary value. She has always presented her work as a direct reflection of her circumstance, an adjunct to her memory (or, at times when she was too inebriated to remember anything, as a memory itself), a way to puncture the familial denial of her upbringing and breach silence on topics like drug use, physical abuse, sexuality and later, AIDS. But, whether due to the absolute saturation of diaristic images now in circulation on the Internet, or some other turn, the fact is that in the last few years, the rift has widened between the kind of snapshot, documentary-style photography Goldin champions and — except for certain perennial favorites — the majority of photography in contemporary. More and more, in an art setting, photography is used as a process to create abstract or self-consciously composed imagery, often as a component of a larger conceptual frame; it tends to present reality through metaphor, or by way of a signifier, rather than by straight documentation of subjects’ lives. So, yes, it may be fair to say that people no longer believe that a photograph in a gallery or museum or art book is true, precisely because they are no longer being asked to do so. The question, for the time being, seems almost irrelevant. And so, the question of whether Goldin’s photos are True or not — by which one assumes she means (Photoshop aside) whether the images were made for the camera or were recorded in the midst of their natural unfolding by the virtue of a camera being present — feels like something of an afterthought. Even if the answer were technically no, it would not render her accomplishment any less legitimate. Because the continuing resonance of The Ballad is cumulative; it has much more to do with the way Goldin constructs a type of filmic fiction from her life (she has often referred to the pictures as stills from a nonexistent film) and in the way she is able — through style, editing, framing, color, (noticeably corrected in the new edition) — to make scenes that are sometimes indefinable, scenes that sometimes show the deep internalization and playing out, as well as countering, of gender archetypes by herself and her subjects, that often depict intense emotional pain, or unglamorous sex. As the curator and photo historian John Szarkowski writes in his introduction to William Eggleston’s first book of photographs, Guide: “Form is perhaps the point of art. The goal is not to make something factually impeccable, but seamlessly persuasive.” Twenty-five years after it was released as a book, and over 30 since its first presentation as a slideshow (at a celebration of Frank Zappa’s birthday at the Mudd Club on New York’s Lower East Side in 1979), The Ballad of Sexual Dependency is still a striking work for the very reason that it is both raw document and utter construction. It is, as J. Hoberman called it, both a “diary and a soap-opera.” And, if the emotional tenor of the book occasionally rises to the brink of melodrama, in other moments, when Goldin’s subjects, her friends, are given the opportunity to pose, not only for her, but for an idea of posterity, or to show themselves as they might like to be perceived, a more subtle, self-reflexive kind of drama emerges — a tension perhaps especially common during the self-consciousness of youth. Goldin’s camera (which also finds an equivalent in the book’s reoccurring motif of mirrors) simultaneously elicits and captures this, but mostly just epitomizes it, since, for people of a certain age or psychic disposition, the remove or idea of the camera is often present even when the mechanism is not. In some of the pictures, one can almost witness a deep sense of relief in Goldin’s friends, as some internal narrative suddenly aligns with outward validation — oh, their faces seem to say, to really be seen. ¤ Advertisement: The book form of The Ballad of Sexual Dependency consists of 125 color photographs. The dates of the pictures cover Goldin’s 20s, beginning in 1976, when she was 23 and living in Provincetown, studying photography at the Museum School in Boston, and continue through 1985, including seven years spent in New York City. Ordered thematically and set into miniature chapters, the titles are almost all taken from songs Goldin uses in her slideshow (she began setting the photographs to music in 1982). Her selection of song-based titles — leaning heavily on the Velvet Underground, but also including 1950s R&B and doo wop, blues, 1960s pop (“Downtown,” “Don’t Make Me Over”) and “Casta Divana” from a Bellini opera — though not as powerful without the actual music, add an element of lightly sardonic juxtaposition to certain sequences (if listened to with Paul Anka’s version of the song, “Lonely Boy,” a series of pictures of unsuspecting men by themselves, for example, is particularly funny) and dramatic tone to others. The first chapter of the book, which shares its title, (appropriated from a musical number in theThree Penny Opera), just seven photographs long, holds within it the main seeds of the entire work. In the opening picture, from her birthday in 1981, Goldin stares happily into her camera, on the lap of her then boyfriend, the world-weary-looking Brian J. Burchill: a drug addict and file clerk and later actor (he appears briefly in Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than Paradise), whom she met while working at Tin Pan Alley, a bar in Times Square. Goldin’s relationship with Burchill is the most thoroughly explored of any in the Ballad, and from this opening scene of togetherness, it will twist and bow, ultimately breaking at a centerpiece photograph of her from 1984, staring into the camera again after she has been beaten by him, both her eyes blackened and the right filled with blood. Goldin speaks of her portrait process as one of accretion, saying once in an interview: “I don’t believe in the single portrait. I believe only in the accumulation of portraits as a representation of a person.” This is extremely effective in her depiction of Burchill. For the most part, he is the ultimate cad — with a cigarette consistently dangling from his mouth, he is most often shown looking away from her (as in the highly cinematic, twilight opus Nan and Brian in Bed 1982 — which graces the book’s cover). But as they progress, Goldin’s photographs of Burchill also show the complexity of her feelings towards him, never arriving at a fixed point. In one moment he is hideous, laughing and baring scraggy, rotting teeth (Brian on the Phone, New York City, 1981); in another, he’s seductive, perched on the bed expectantly in boxer shorts; in other photographs his Marlborough Man swagger appears irreducible, almost like a grimace. He is pictured sunburned in Merida, Mexico, sucking a cigarette and holding a gun at a shooting gallery, a supreme performance of vintage masculinity. In another Mexico photograph, his head is in his hands in a moment of torment. In Berlin, under an unflattering dusty light that exposes every crease in his brow, his rough face is set into a sullen look of guilty confrontation. In New York, he leans over his birthday cake, blowing out the candles like a child. Goldin is interested in the trappings and profundity of intimacy. As a viewer, one isn’t asked to share an attraction to Burchill — he’s not offered as an object — but instead to try and comprehend the phases of Goldin’s attachment to him. Advertisement: ¤ The next two photographs in the series make something of a diptych of wan fidelity. A picture of Goldin’s elderly parents sitting beside each other at dinner, their eyes cast in different directions, their tight lips barely forming a smile, conspicuously resembles the photo preceding it, a picture of two wax figures, The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Coney Island Wax Museum 1981. The composition of each pair is the same; the man on the left and the woman on the right, and each couple wear a similar expression of contented resignation. While the comparison is pointed, the two images also mirror the first picture, of Goldin with Burchill, in some ways providing a genesis for it, and make the following two photographs, of Goldin’s friends gloriously out in the open, and in one photograph sunbathing nude on the beach, seem like a reaction (though probably intended as a thematic parallel) against it. Much of the content of the Ballad is poised as a retort to and unpacking of the late 1950s and early 1960s American culture in which Goldin was raised, particularly the secrecy of her own parents and the general atmosphere of sexual repression. She states as much in the book’s introduction, which is dedicated to her older sister, Barbara. At 18, after being institutionalized for what now seem mild displays of overt sexuality, Barbara Goldin left the Maryland mental hospital in which she had been a patient for several years, and, in what Goldin calls “an act if immense will,” walked to the tracks of a commuter rail line, lay down, and took her own life. Goldin was 11 at the time. She writes that in the week following her sister’s death, “I was seduced by an older man. During this period of greatest pain and loss […] I was simultaneously obsessed by my own desire.” Advertisement: That distinct frame for the photographs that follow suggest that The Ballad of Sexual Dependency is a book that, in addition to recording the resulting development of Goldin’s sexual awakening, must also contend with the lingering insolubility of loss. Her use of intensely concentrated color, at its most hallucinatory in scenes featuring a single subject in a moment of reflection or anguish, illustrate that disintegration, the color becoming as overwhelming and singular as the emotion or traumatic instance itself. In the pure crimson wash of Suzanne with Mona Lisa, Mexico City 1981 or the scarlet glow of April crying at 7th and B, New York City 1985, the extreme chiaroscuro of Anthony by the sea, Brighton England 1979 — in which a man looks out from a darkened room on an unbelievably blue square of ocean and sky outside the bay window, a sliver of light falling onto the dark red cloth that covers the table at which he sits contemplatively — the chromatic heights achieved make simple scenes ineffable. Other photographs in the book interact with childhood refuse in a lighter way, with a mix of nostalgia and irony, as in Twisting at my birthday party, New York City 1980 and it’s accompaniment, Monopoly Game, New York City 1980. In both, the encounter with 1950s and 1960s style and artifact by Goldin’s otherwise punky looking group of friends is obvious. In the first photograph, one girl wears her hair in a bouffant; she gleefully twists with a boy with rolled up greaser-style sleeves, a postcard of John and Jackie Kennedy pinned to the wall across from them and a couple of decapitated plastic Kewpie doll heads resting on shoeboxes in the window frame below. In the next photo, where a group gathers pensively around a Monopoly board, a large 1950s Pepsi ad poster, featuring a beautiful woman, is visible in the corner behind the couch. In Brian with the Flintstones, New York City 1981, Burchill lays on the bed next to a black and white television set with the 1960s cartoon star Fred Flintstone, a paradigm of male oafishness, playing on it. These seemingly coincidental details exemplify the influence of childhood media on adult lives, just as Goldin’s photographs of kids display the already unmistakable grid of gender roles on those of children’s. Except in one truly ghostly photo, Skinhead with child, London 1978, where the low light makes it look as if a little girl is emerging from the flowery wallpaper while a young man nods off beside her, the children who haunt images in The Ballad of Sexual Dependency are less individuals than types: young female princesses in a pageant in Mexico, or a little boy costumed as a Lucha Libre wrestler.Little Max with a gun, New York City 1977 (Max is the son of the actress, writer and Goldin muse, Cookie Mueller) echoes the previous photo of Burchill, gun in hand, at the shooting gallery. Advertisement: ¤ The numerous traces of gender cliché and popular representation in Goldin’s work recall a contemporary of hers, the artist Cindy Sherman. But while Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills (1977-80) are powerful creations of fictional female specimens, vaguely familiar to the viewer but devoid of precise counterpart, Goldin’s photographs, created in the moment, without the remove of Sherman’s set-ups, evidence how these fictions are enacted in reality and how they infuse culture — how both men and women are steeped in them — and thus offer a contrast to Sherman’s more alchemical approach. Both artists work off the suggestive power of narrative. The cinematic quality of theBallad of Sexual Dependency is reinforced by its enumerated times and places, but, like Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills, most of the plot is implied, relying as much on what is left out as on what’s included. The book becomes an elliptical, collective biography, one in which every viewer will connect the images in a different way. Some photographs in Ballad are taken on film sets, such as “Variety” booth, New York City 1983, which Goldin made while shooting stills for Bette Gordon’s great movie. “Variety”tells the story of a girl working in the box office of a Times Square porno theater, with a script by Kathy Acker and appearance by Goldin, playing herself. She worked on films through the 1990s, when she was a set photographer on such movies as Single White Female and I Shot Andy Warhol. In the 1980s, in addition to Gordon, Goldin also worked with “No Wave” female filmmakers such as Vivian Dick — whose portrait appears in the Ballad: Vivienne in the green dress, New York City 1980 — and Sara Driver — who featured Suzanne Fletcher, one of Goldin’s main “superstars” in both of her films. Goldin initially set out to make movies herself (and since has made a few in the style of her photographs), resolutely influenced by the work of Warhol, particularly his Chelsea Girls, which Goldin has said, as an 18-year-old, she tried to imitate by shooting Super 8 of her friend “naked under bright lights and I would zoom in and out on her.” Advertisement: One sees historical detail in Goldin’s photographs the way one does in a film, as a byproduct, not focus, of narrative. It’s significant that the artists who are shown in the book (such as Mark Morrisroe and Greer Lankton), are never presented in their studio or making work, and even the rich nightlife of which Goldin was definitely a denizen, if not, from some accounts, a nucleus, is never really historicized or fully documented; it only enters obliquely, in corners of clubs and bars. Instead, hers is mainly a world of domestic interiors. It would seem that her interest in the bed and the bedroom, the most repeated locales of the book, are not just about sex, but ultimately about privacy. Which leads me back to her complaint about photography and Truth. When The Ballad of Sexual Dependency was released in 1986, the access it gave to a vision of its subjects’ private lives, not to mention Goldin’s own revealing of herself, was exceptional. Her artistic aims and aesthetic have since been so fully embraced that it is hard to conceive of their initial impact. Today, much of what is documented through photography can be called truth, but a very banal version at that. People snap and send each other photographs instead of speaking; photographs have now become almost as constant and dependable a form of communication as words. What is missing a lot of the time, though, is intention (and — as I can attest as someone who was very inspired by Goldin’s book as a teenager and tried to imitate it by shooting pictures of my own friends — talent.) The kind of bare testimony Goldin was after with her early work, and still attempts to produce, is of a different order than the many other versions afloat, no matter how much they resemble it. As John Szarkowski, writes in Guide: [I]t should not be surprising if the best photography of today is related in iconography and technique to the contemporary standard of vernacular camera work, which is in fact often rich and surprising. The difference between the two is a matter of intelligence, imagination, intensity, precision, and coherence. This is why The Ballad of Sexual Dependency is not just a truthful book, but also a work of art; and why, the need for more collections like it, 25 years later, is still not extinguished.Dr. Eden Wells, chief medical executive of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, appears in court for the first day of her preliminary examination on Monday, Oct. 9, 2017, in District Court in Flint, Mich. The hearing was postponed when prosecutors said they would add a charge of involuntary manslaughter. (Terray Sylvester/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP) FLINT, Mich. (AP) — A special prosecutor said Monday the he will add a charge of involuntary manslaughter against Michigan’s chief medical executive in a criminal investigation of the tainted water crisis in Flint and an extraordinary outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease. Dr. Eden Wells was in court for a key hearing on other charges, but the hearing was postponed until Nov. 6 after the announcement by Todd Flood of the Michigan Attorney General’s Office. Flood said he’ll offer additional evidence and ask a judge to send Wells to trial on four charges, including involuntary manslaughter and obstruction of justice. Flood said he’s expanding the case “based on new review of other documents and testimony that came out last week” at a hearing for Nick Lyon, who works with Wells and is director of the Health and Human Services Department. Flood declined to elaborate. “We were told only this morning that Mr. Flood proposes to file two additional charges,” said Wells’ attorney, Jerold Lax. “And under the circumstances, we reluctantly agreed to an adjournment so as to be able to prepare.” Standing next to Lax outside court, Wells told reporters, “I’m OK.” Five other people, including Lyon, have been charged with involuntary manslaughter tied to an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in the Flint area in 2014-15. The attorney general’s office says key officials knew about a spike in Legionnaires’, but failed to tell the public until January 2016. Some experts have blamed the outbreak on Flint’s use of the Flint River for the city’s water supply. Legionnaires’ is a type of pneumonia caused by bacteria that thrive in warm water and infect the lungs. The bacteria are commonly spread by mist and cooling systems. Nearly 100 Legionnaires’ cases, including 12 deaths, were reported in Genesee County. The Legionnaires’ investigation is part of a larger probe into how Flint’s water system became poisoned when the city used Flint River water for 18 months. The water wasn’t treated to reduce corrosion. As a result, lead leached from old pipes.I promised you 2017 AFL fixture insights, and here are my 2017 AFL fixture insights. In many ways, the release of the 2017 fixture is the beginning of the end of the season. The AFL, like all professional sporting bodies, are seeking to stretch out the league to make it a 12-month sport. After yesterday’s release, though, there’s a quiet few weeks where all we hear about are 30 metre sprints and agility tests ahead of the draft. So let’s soak up all we can now, for a barren month awaits. Like last year, consider this the early findings of what is a complex, iterative process. This is not comprehensive. It can’t be. The fixture is everything, and the volume of information is overwhelming. Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Reddit Email Share But, here’s what sticks out. Melbourne will make the finals next year, if they’re as good as they showed for most of 2016 The Demons have been exorcised – get ready to read that simile a lot next year – and HQ has set up Melbourne’s 2017 very nicely with a kind fixture. Melbourne will play 16 of their 22 games in Victoria – 12 at the MCG and four at Etihad. They double up on Adelaide (not good), Carlton (very good), Collingwood (probably good), North Melbourne (probably good) and St Kilda (probably good). They have no consecutive six-day breaks, and play 13 games during the day. Four of Melbourne’s 12 MCG opponents are interstate teams (Fremantle, Sydney, Port Adelaide and Brisbane). Their game against Geelong is at Etihad Stadium despite being a Geelong home game – work that one out – and their final three weeks are all spent at the ‘G. Yes, the Dees will be doubling up against so-called “bogey sides” in the Kangaroos and Saints. Melbourne haven’t beaten North Melbourne (15 straight losses) or St Kilda (13) since 2006, which seems impossible because it should be. They should be reaching the stage of their development where there is no such thing as a bogey side. Despite the positives in the rest of their fixture, these four games loom as Melbourne’s short term litmus test. If they are the team former head coach Paul Roos has set them up to become, then three or four wins should be forthcoming in this quartet of games. Anything less, and the cushy nature of the rest of their fixture probably won’t amount to much. Advertisement Advertisement One downside to Melbourne’s slate is they’re playing just one Friday night game. If they’re good, that’s going to look a touch silly by Round 23. Speaking of North Melbourne… We talked about the state of the Roos on Wednesday, looking for some silver linings amongst the dark clouds which enveloped the club in the second half of the year. Let’s add their fixture to those silver linings. In case you weren’t aware, the AFL seeks to handicap the fixture using what it calls the “weighted rule.” At the end of the season, teams are split into three groups of six for the purposes of working out double ups. Clubs are then allocated three double up matches against teams that are in their same bracket of six, two from another group of six, and one from another. Generally speaking, HQ tries to keep the bottom six bracket and the top six bracket separate, but sometimes the fix component of the fixture overrides this impulse. The general rule is broken for match ups like derbies, traditional rivalries, white elephants and novelty games. The weighted rule is never going to produce an even fixture, but that’s fine, because it’s a fixture and not a draw, and 17 does not go into 22. North Melbourne appear to have benefited from this rule in 2017. The Roos travel outside of Victoria or Tasmania just four times, and two of those trips are to face the terrifying-in-a-bad-way Queensland teams. Their other two road trips are to face the lesser of the respective states’ opposition: Fremantle and Port Adelaide. North’s lone top eight double up is against the Western Bulldogs, with that series wrapped up by June. Otherwise, they get to play Fremantle, Gold Coast, Melbourne and St Kilda twice. For a finalist – a 2-9 on the run home finalist, but a finalist all the same – it is about as nice a draw as the brass at Arden Street could have hoped for. It probably won’t be enough to see them retain their spot in the top eight, but the predictions of a bottom four finish now look on the pessimistic side of the spectrum. Prime time is now genuinely a reward for good performances This time two years ago, Carlton fans were rejoicing that their team had been given six turns under the glaring lights of Friday night football in season 2015. We know what happens next. Last year we saw HQ begin to tentatively move in the direction it flagged during that year of drudgery, by scheduling more top eight matches and less of the so-called “Big Four.” Advertisement Advertisement This year, reputations be damned. Prime time means prime time, and the best teams of 2016 have been given the lion’s share of the spotlight. There are 44 slots available on Friday nights (it’s 46, but we don’t know the Round 23 fixture quite yet despite the pre-finals bye week being retained), and the 2016 premiers and runners-up have been granted 16 of them combined. The Western Bulldogs and Sydney Swans will grace us with their stylings eight times each in 2017, in what looms as a substantial upgrade for both sides. Last year, the Dogs and Swans were on the big stage three times each (Sydney also had a Thursday night game). Now both have been granted a third of the games each. It’s hard to believe that in 2014, the Dogs didn’t play a solitary game on a Friday night – they actually played 16 games on Sundays, which the 2017 fixture confirms is the naughty corner. Adelaide, St Kilda and the GWS Giants – a year too late for the Giants, mind – all get multiple bites at the cherry, as do Geelong, Hawthorn and North. For the first three, it is doubtlessly a reward for their highly attractive styles of football. Adelaide and the Giants were the two highest scoring sides in the home and away season, while St Kilda’s high tempo game saw them crack 100 points in seven of their outings at Etihad Stadium (where three of their four Friday games will be played). By contrast, Carlton (one game), Collingwood (two), Essendon (two) and Richmond (doughnuts) will play just five games between them. That’s down from 13 last season, when the Blues were banished. If that’s the price to pay for match ups like Dogs-Swans, Giants-Dogs, Saints-Giants, Eagles-Dogs, Swans-Hawks, Cats-Crows… you get the picture. The heel turn is on I joked during the finals series that the Western Bulldogs were on track to become a more hated team than the GWS Giants. Then Luke Beveridge gave his premiership medallion to Bob Murphy and grown men cried. Then journalists started to show their depth of knowledge by comparing their win to Leister City in the EPL. Then the players didn’t show up at an event at Ballarat. Then the administration began to charge $250 for a photo with the premiership cup. Then Bob Murphy tweeted that he liked Jet’s second album. Advertisement Advertisement I was feeling pretty good. To confirm I wasn’t crazy, I conducted a scientific study. In the next three years, which team is more likely to have pulled a Hawthorn-like heel turn? #AFL #AFLFinals — Ryan Buckland (@RyanBuckland7) September 18, 2016 76 per cent of people are wrong. The Dogs will be on national television at least every second week during the home and away season. They are at near-monopoly levels on Fridays, play a Thursday night game, and have three Saturday night outings. Footscray were an incredible story last year, but I’d wager that y’all going to be sick of hearing about how they’re “doing it for Bob” by around Round 10. Now that’s off my chest, the Dogs have fared reasonably well with their fixture in 2017. Outside of the Sydney pairing, Footscray will gladly double up against Brisbane, Port Adelaide and West Coast. They fear none of that trio. Offsetting this is the amount of travel the Dogs will partake in: two trips to Perth and one each to Adelaide, Ballarat, Brisbane, Cairns, Canberra, Geelong and Sydney. It is easily the most of any Victorian-based club, with Hawthorn and North Melbourne travelling out of Victoria nine and eight times each including their four and three journeys to Tasmania. It’s not great, but it is worth noting that the Dogs shed their “Etihad team” tag last season in winning nine of their 12 games away from the venue (including their four still-jaw-dropping finals wins). Pass the baton Something astounding is set to happen next season: neither West Coast or Fremantle will be playing a game in Tasmania! This is a red letter day indeed. The Dockers had been asked to ritualistically get their butt kicked by Hawthorn at Aurora Stadium in four of the past five years. It makes sense from a commercial perspective: Fremantle have a very small east coast contingent, and a small travelling group of fans, so stick them at the stadium with the lower fixed costs so we can make more money. But from a fairness point of view, the annual march to the frigid torture chamber rankled the fans and administrators alike. No longer – the Dockers play Hawthorn on a Saturday night in July at Domain Stadium, and that’s that. Advertisement Advertisement West Coast have tended to play North Melbourne in Tasmania, presumably for similar reasons. This year, they will face the Roos at Etihad, and Etihad only. It’s a good outcome for the Western Australian teams, who are already faced with ten weeks of travel a year. But it appears Tasmania’s western connection has merely been passed to another team: GWS. The Giants will play in Tasmania not once, but twice. Granted, it’s a much shorter trip from Blacktown than Subiaco – it just looks a bit strange for the Giants to be facing two teams at grounds where they hold significant home ground advantages. They will also play at the MCG just once. A cynic would say a fiendish moat is being hastily dug by the AFL. Lucky we’re not cynics. GWS will play games in every Australian state in 2017, as do the Brisbane Lions. The Sun rises in the east, heads north, then south, and sets somewhere west But the jetsetters of 2017 will be the Gold Coast Suns. The league’s 17th team will play in: Adelaide Alice Springs Brisbane Cairns Gold Coast Melbourne Perth Shanghai, China Sydney, and Western Sydney It is a truly remarkable fixture. The Suns will play football in 10 cities next season, spreading the very northern, western and southern-most reaches of Australia. Their journey to China will break new ground, but the cost may be greater than the benefit, particularly given the behind-the-scenes manoeuvring that has made the deal happen. If you look closely at the fixture, you’ll see that the Suns are the home team for Port Adelaide’s sojourn into China. It emerged in the hours following the grand press conference to announce the game that Port Adelaide had “bought the rights to a Gold Coast home game”, meaning the Power, despite being the driving force behind the game and being listed as the first team on all signage, are the away team for the purposes of the official fixture. This sets an interesting precedent. Port Adelaide had always maintained that they wanted to take a game to China, but they would not be able to wriggle out of their stadium agreement with the Adelaide Oval stadium operators. So it would have to be some other team’s home game. That the Power – and presumably HQ had a role to play here too – have used the Suns as their patsy doesn’t sit right with me, particularly given Port Adelaide are the team which stands to substantively benefit from this push. Advertisement Advertisement Time will tell, but this looks funny to me. I hope it is a one-off, and the Power and AFL House work out a way to make this a Port Adelaide home game going forward. That’s the right outcome. Adelaide’s table has been set The Crows will play last year’s top eight nine times – a pretty normal figure, given most teams play top eight opponents nine, 10 or 11 times by virtue of the weighted rule. Adelaide get to host five of those nine games, which is a very good percentage only beaten by Hawthorn (who play seven of their 10 top-eight opponents at home). After a somewhat challenging start to the year – the Crows play GWS and Hawthorn in their first two weeks – seven of Adelaide’s eight opponents from Round 3 to Round 10 were outside of last year’s top eight. It is in stark contrast to the start of the 2016 season, where the Crows played every team that finished in the top eight that wasn’t themselves. Of the cream of last year’s crop, the Crows look to have done the best when the minutiae of their fixture is examined. Adelaide don’t double up against the Dogs, Giants or Swans, and get the benefit of home ground advantage in each of their match ups with these teams. They play against the weakest teams away from home, saving their home ground advantage for the best teams. It could work spectacularly well for the Crows – it could also result in a middling season. The good oil Adelaide’s fixture is ranked 11th in a combined ranking of three notable projection systems that I’ve seen put out their analysis since the fixture was released. Rohan Connolly of The Age prepares a somewhat subjective measurement system to rate each team’s fixture, where Tony Corke from Matter of Stats and Cody and Sean from Hurling People Now rely more on the numbers. The table below shows where they rank each team’s fixture, and the table itself is sorted by the average of the three projection systems. Rohan Connolly Matter of Stats Hurling People Now Average Greater Western Sydney 1 2 1 1.3 Hawthorn 2 1 2 1.7 Sydney 3 4 7 4.7 Fremantle 8 3 4 5.0 StKilda 6 6 3 5.0 Western Bulldogs 4 7 5 5.3 Collingwood 11 5 6 7.3 Geelong 7 9 8 8.0 WCE 5 11 10 8.7 Melbourne 9 13 9 10.3 Adelaide 10 18 12 13.3 Brisbane 14 12 14 13.3 Gold Coast 13 17 11 13.7 Carlton 15 10 16 13.7 Essendon 18 8 15 13.7 North Melbourne 12 14 18 14.7 Port Adelaide 17 16 13 15.3 Richmond 16 15 17 16.0 The Giants and Hawks are the consensus one and two for fixture difficulty next year. Fremantle also look set to have a tough time of it, with the two quantitative systems pegging them as having a top four fixture in terms of difficulty – this is not in keeping with their ladder position. Richmond come out with the least difficult slate of games, with all three projection systems placing their fixture in the bottom four. Advertisement Advertisement Quick singles (hey, it’s cricket season you know) Richmond have been wiped off the face of the AFL earth in 2017. They don’t play a Friday night game – the first time since 2008, when they were coming off of a three-win season – with Opening Night their only non-marquee prime time slot. The Tigers play eight games on Sundays, which is a huge number for a team with such a large fan base. As a consolation prize, Richmond have a tasty set of double ups: Brisbane, Carlton, Fremantle GWS and St Kilda. My interest is piqued. Hawthorn’s semi-finals exit doesn’t seem to have helped their fixturing cause. Indeed, that they played two epic games against the Cats last year has meant the previously-locked in double up between Geelong and Hawthorn which vanished last year has returned. The Hawks also play Sydney and Adelaide twice, in addition to the Pies who ran them close in Round 23 and the Suns who are as big a wildcard as any. How’s that knee feeling Jaeger? The death of Saturday afternoon football on free to air TV looks all but assured. Channel 7 have dropped the spot from their slate, per the new broadcast agreement which kicks in this year, meaning the slot will remain mostly idle outside of Foxtel. That is, of course, unless News Corp can convince Channel 9 or 10 to come to the party and sub-license 11 games from them. Interestingly, the AFL has fixtured 10 Saturday afternoon games across the season that commence at 2:10PM EST, which would mean they wrap up just in time for 10’s five o’clock news bulletin. This is the slate. Round Home Away Venue Time (EST) 3 Richmond WCE MCG 2:10 PM 6 Carlton Sydney MCG 2:10 PM 7 Collingwood Carlton MCG 2:10 PM 8 StKilda Carlton Etihad Stadium 2:10 PM 15 Carlton Adelaide MCG 2:10 PM 16 Collingwood Essendon MCG 2:10 PM 18 Melbourne Port Adelaide MCG 2:10 PM 19 Greater Western Sydney Fremantle Spotless Stadium 2:10 PM 20 Essendon Carlton MCG 2:10 PM 21 Geelong Richmond Simonds Stadium 2:10 PM 22 Collingwood Geelong MCG 2:10 PM Watch this space, I think. Critically, we don’t know which callers are going to be calling which games. The retirement of Dennis Commetti has created a void that must be filled, and the potential entry of Channel 10 as a sub-licensee could complicate matters further. There are options-a-plenty, and most of them involve giving greater roles to broadcast professionals rather than ex-players. Hey, I can dream can’t I? The NFL’s influence on Australian sports has taken a sinister turn, with
his might against the "All American," then Kennedy may turn his attention to the welterweight division, where his old pal Robbie Lawler will challenge Johny Hendricks for the 170-pound crown. From his conversation with Steph Daniels: "[Welterweight] is definitely still in consideration. Robbie Lawler is going to be fighting Johny Hendricks again. Lawler is a guy that I've fought before and we had a really great fight. I see Robbie getting that title and then I'm coming after him. I don't know when this would happen, to be honest. There's a lot going on right now. I've got a fight in front of me on September 27th and there's a possibility I could need to be ready in December. If that doesn't happen, and Joe Silva wanted to have a Strikeforce guys title eliminator series of sorts, I don't know...maybe I could drop down and get a title shot there within a fight? I don't know. We'll have to see how the two divisions play out." Indeed. "Comrade Kennedy" stands 5'11" -- the same as Lawler -- but tips the scale at 185 pounds due to his muscular frame. A trip down to the welterweight division probably wouldn't take much effort, but with his wrestling-based offense, questions remain as to his effectiveness if he sacrifices strength. Of course, none of that matters if he's shot down by "The Soldier of God" next month in "Sin City."BERLIN German domestic intelligence gave money to al-Qaeda supporters to gain information on the extremist group, a former informant said on Wednesday. Irfan Peci, an ethnic Bosnian, claimed in his book “The Jihadist: Terror made in Germany” that German domestic intelligence agency BfV has recruited him as an informant in 2009 and allowed him to make donations to members of the terrorist group al-Qaeda to gain confidence for getting more information. German weekly Stern has published an exclusive story on Peci’s confessions on Wednesday and released excerpts from his book in advance of its publication on June 2. The 26-year-old Peci was an influential figure among extremists and led the Germany branch of the so-called “The Global Islamist Media Front”, a propaganda organization associated with Al-Qaeda. The group published various videos in Arabic, German and English, to recruit young people to al-Qaeda. It also published threats demanding the exit of German soldiers from Afghanistan, who were stationed there as part of the international peace and stability force ISAF. Fighting or supporting terror Peci told Stern that while he was active among the extremists in the years 2009 and 2010 he also worked as an informant and passed on information about terror suspects to the domestic intelligence. He claimed that in order to gain the confidence of extremist groups, he was given extra money from domestic intelligence and made donations to these groups, through a contact person from al-Qaeda. “I have asked myself how the two can go together…fighting terror on the one hand….and on the other hand financing it,” Peci told the weekly. 'BfV covered up criminal case' Stern reported that the domestic intelligence supported its informant not only by providing money but also covering up a case against Peci, after he beat up a U.S. soldier in central Berlin in 2010. Germany’s domestic intelligence, or BfV, had long been under criticism for recruiting informants among religious groups or far-right extremists, and ignoring their illegal activities. German legislation requires not only the domestic intelligence spies but also their informants to abide by the law. BfV had long recruited dozens of far-right extremists as informants to monitor violent neo-Nazi groups but failed to uncover the murders committed by the shadowy far-right terror cell NSU. Critics argued that there had been collusion between the intelligence and the neo-Nazi groups, and informants had facilitated this. Unresolved neo-Nazi murders The NSU killed at least eight Turkish immigrants, a Greek worker and a German policewoman between 2000 and 2007, all apparently without arousing the suspicions of the German police or its intelligence services. The German public first learned about the existence of NSU in November 2011, when two members of the group reportedly died in a murder-suicide following an unsuccessful bank robbery. Until 2011, Germany’s police and intelligence service excluded any racial motive for the murders and instead treated immigrant families as suspects in the case and harassed them for alleged connections with mafia groups and drug traffickers. The destruction of dozens of domestic intelligence secret files on far-right movements, soon after the disclosure of the NSU in November 2011, raised fears that domestic intelligence agents or staff and members of the NSU could be connected. The domestic intelligence agency BfV has repeatedly denied there have been any relationships between its staff and agents and the NSU murders.Firefighters battling to contain Marin County wildland blaze A Calfire tanker dropped flame retardant on a fire Tuesday. A Calfire tanker dropped flame retardant on a fire Tuesday. Photo: Marin County Fire Department Photo: Marin County Fire Department Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Firefighters battling to contain Marin County wildland blaze 1 / 3 Back to Gallery Several dozen firefighters are battling a 10-acre blaze that broke out in a remote part of western Marin County Tuesday morning on Marin Municipal Water District land, officials said. At 1:07 p.m., 50 firefighters were on scene attacking the wildland blaze, and another 35 firefighters from two Cal Fire hand crews were on the way to help. The fire, which was reported by a park ranger shortly before 10:30 a.m., is burning near Kent Lake, about two and a half miles south of San Geronimo and about two miles southeast of Lagunitas, according to the Marin County Fire Department. No structures are threatened and no injuries have been reported, the Fire Department reported about 12:19 p.m. The nearest home is about two and a half miles from the fire, officials said. The blaze is moving slowly and mainly burning brush and grass, according to Deputy Fire Chief Mark Brown of the Marin County Fire Department. Cal Fire air crews were drawing water from the nearby lake to dump on the fire. They were also using air tankers to bombard hot spots with fire retardant, department officials said. The first of the aircraft arrived at 11:15 a.m. Fire crews hope to have the blaze contained by 6 p.m. and under control by Wednesday morning, the Marin County Fire Department estimated. Filipa Ioannou is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @obioannoukenobiBefore the Iranian nuclear deal, the situation in the Middle East was completely different than it is after it. Although it has only been weeks since the nuclear deal was signed, and it still has not been finalised by Washington and Tehran, it is clear that all parties involved are aiming to utilise the deal to expand their influence or improve their situation. This is especially true in light of the impasse with regards to the most troubled areas of the region during the later stages of negotiations. The first issue that embodies this radical change in the balance of power in the region is the Syrian question. Although it seems to be the most complicated issue, it is also the most prone to development and change; it is also the most important issue as a result of its potential impact on the general regional situation. Although there isn’t much that is new on the ground in Syria, the past few days have witnessed intensified and synchronised movements from various concerned parties. The common denominator amongst all of these movements is their desire to resolve the crisis or to find a peaceful way out. States currently supporting Bashar’s regime believe that the solution involves keeping Bashar and his regime in place for the short-to-medium-term. This means that they will go along with parties calling for reform and change and pretend that change must occur in the presence of Bashar and with his participation. This is the logic of Bashar’s camp and his supporters as well as anyone who calls for preserving the Syrian state from collapse and dismantlement. What these people do not say is that this within this logic lies a contradiction between acknowledging the need for reform and for more power to the Syrian people, and attempting to achieve this on the basis of preserving the main person responsible for everything currently happening to Syria and Syrians. What is being overlooked in this context is the fact that if the ultimate goal is to eliminate a “regime” and its people, institutions, mechanisms and policies, then it cannot be achieved within the context of the same regime and under the direct supervision of its leadership. This contradictory equation is the bedrock underlying every failed attempt to find a political solution in Syria for the past four years. Since the Geneva I understandings issued on 29 June, 2012, along with ongoing communications, we have seen that the situation is being resolved in favour of one side of the equation. Although it is logical for Tehran, Moscow and some Arab capitals to indicate their belief that Bashar should remain, and that he should lead the transitional phase (the details of which still remain vague), we question the fluid position of Washington, openly and publically rejecting the Bashar on the one hand, but hesitating to take any action to overthrow him on the other. There is an implicit invitation to those supporting Bashar to be more firm and to arrange their affairs in a manner serving the future purposes and interests of the regime members. While Washington “talks”, Moscow is deciding to transport aircraft to be stationed in Syrian territories in coordination with Damascus and Tehran. This is a move that indicates that the political path Moscow pretends to support is not the ceiling of Syrian-Iranian-Russian ambitions. This also indicates that the alleged political solution is not actually being upheld by these three parties and their allies. Instead, they are preparing for future military battles that may require direct Russian military interference, as well as the Iranian intervention that has already occurred. The Iranian-Western deal has started to manifest in Syria. American fluidity and European silence is only the beginning of more disappointment and the exposure of political positions that since the crisis began four years ago have amounted to nothing more than verbal statements – simply hot air. Translated from Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on 6 September 2015. The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.CLEVELAND, Ohio – It may not look or feel like it outside, but spring is upon us. Netflix Instant is celebrating by beefing up its streaming collection. The releases hitting the service in April include some major award winners and a few B-movie classics. The full list is at the bottom. But first, here are a few highlights. "Rocky" I-V The ultimate underdog story gets some love on Netflix in April. While the first film is a true classic, I have a soft spot for "Rocky III" and "Rocky V." What's missing here is 2006's underappreciated "Rocky Balboa." "The English Patient" I've tried watching this film several times in an attempt to figure out why it won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1997 (somehow beating out "Fargo"). Each time I'm left feeling like Elaine Benes -- confused as to why anyone would like "The English Patient" and wondering if it is even possible to have sex while lying in a bathtub. 'Amistad' Before "12 Years a Slave" became the greatest slavery movie ever made, that honor probably belonged to Steven Spielberg's 1997 film "Amistad." The movie is highlighted by Anthony Hopkins' standout performance as John Quincy Adams and Djimon Hounsou in his breakout role ("Give us free!"). Interestingly enough, "12 Years a Slave" star Chiwetel Ejiofor is also in "Amistad." "The Fifth Element" Now here's a love story I can get down with. "The Fifth Element" came out 17 years ago, but the special effects still seem fresh and the movie still seems out of its mind. The plot is rooted in the chemistry between Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich, with a touching twist at the end. What TV show or movie have you been waiting for on Netflix Instant? Tell us in the comments section. Full List: Ali Alice Amistad Barton Fink The Bible: The Epic Mini Series (April 13) Bob's Burgers: Season 3 Braveheart Chinatown Click Close Encounters of the Third Kind Commune Coneheads Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Death Wish Death Wish 2 The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Dragonslayer The English Patient The Family (April 16) The Fifth Element Gattaca Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Guess Who's Coming to Dinner The Heart of the Game House, M.D.: The Complete Series Inventing the Abbotts Jumanji Lars and the Real Girl The Last Days on Mars (April 3) A League of Their Own Look Who's Talking Now A Man Called Peter A Marine Story The Man With One Red Shoe Mean Girls The Muppets Take Manhattan My Bloody Valentine My Bodyguard Night of the Comet The Odd Couple Peeples Point Blank Rabbit Proof Fence The Robe Rocky Rocky II Rocky III Rocky IV Rocky V Royal Pains: Seasons 1-4 The Running Man Scary Movie 3 See No Evil, Hear No Evil Sense and Sensibility Short Poppies: Season 1 (April 3) Steel Magnolias Survival of the Dead The Terminator The Thomas Crown Affair Titanic Wild Things 2 The YardsChina has shut more than 100 golf courses in the last five years amid a campaign against a sport which has been vilified by Beijing’s Communist rulers but enjoyed by local officials. The building of golf courses was banned in China in 2004, but demand from the growing ranks of wealthy and local-level cadres has seen numbers rocket from fewer than 200 to 683 over that time. A total of 111 golf courses were “outlawed” after they were found to have been using large amounts of land and water, according to China’s top planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Another 18 golf courses have been ordered to return and restore illegally occupied land, and 47 told to cease construction or business activities. The remaining 507 golf courses were instructed to carry out “rectification”, while 11 voluntarily closed, the NDRC said. The developers of the golf courses were found to have been using large amounts of arable land or nature reserve areas, or extracting groundwater illegally, it said.Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function. The world’s most popular pet, Felis silvestris catus, was probably first domesticated in ancient Egypt, although a genetic study in 2007 suggested that all modern domestic cats could trace their lineage back to just five female African wildcats living in the Middle East 10,000 years ago. The wider cat family is divided into large cats called pantherines, and smaller cats called felines. Pantherines can roar but not purr; felines can purr but not roar. Cats were sacred in ancient Egypt. They worshipped a cat god called Bastet, and mummified their cats to prepare them for the afterlife. When a cat died it was customary for its owner to shave off his eyebrows to demonstrate grief. All this changed in the 19th century, when mummified cats were exported from Egypt to be used as fertiliser. In 1888, a Nile farmer found a cat cemetery containing 10,000 mummified cats. All 19 tons of them were shipped to Liverpool and sold as fertiliser for £4 a ton. A cat’s life Cats spend 85 per cent of their day doing absolutely nothing. Eating, drinking, killing, defecating and mating take up just four per cent of their life. The other 10 per cent is used to get around. Otherwise they are asleep, or dozing. Despite this, British cats manage to kill 275 million British mammals every year and the 75 million cats in the United States kill one billion birds and five billion rodents every year. Domestic life isn’t good for cats: milk gives them diarrhoea, cat food rots their gums and central heating causes them to moult all year round, causing their fur to clog up their digestive system. Nevertheless, 35 per cent of American cat owners never allow their cat to go outside. Owning cats Only a quarter of American cat “owners” say they deliberately went out to acquire a cat: in 75 per cent of cases, it was the cat that acquired them. Studies show that many more people claim to own a cat than there are cats. The British government makes itself responsible for feeding 100,000 cats to keep down mice on government property. Tabby cats The word “tabby” comes from a cloth: a kind of striped silk taffeta. It derived from the Arabic Attabiy, the name of the quarter of old Baghdad where it was originally made. The quarter is named after Attab, a prince of the Umayyad caliphate (AD 661-750), the first Muslim empire. Falling cats Like many small animals, cats have a non-fatal terminal velocity – in cats this is about 60mph. Once they relax, they orient themselves, spread out, and parachute to earth like a squirrel. A 1987 paper in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association studied 132 cases of falling cats. Ninety per cent survived; the average number of injuries per cat peaked at the seven-storey mark. There are cats that have fallen 30 storeys or more without ill effects. Cats’ whiskers The technical name for cats’ whiskers is vibrissae, from the Latin vibrare, to vibrate. They constantly monitor air currents to provide spatial orientation: cats can operate blindfold using only their whiskers. Cats also have whiskers on their front legs to help them land safely and feel for prey when hunting. Cat hangover In German, to have a hangover is “einen Kater haben” — “to have a tomcat”. Another slang term is Katzenjammer, meaning “the wailing of cats”. Germans still eat Katerfrühstück (“tomcat-breakfast”), a meal that often involves herring, pickles and goulash. Brain-altering cats About 40 per cent of the world’s cat population is infected with Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite thought to have long-term, irreversible effects on the mammalian brain. Infected rats and mice lose their fear of cats. According to research, infected humans change behaviour. Sydney University of Technology infectious disease researcher Nicky Boulter claims infected men have lower IQs and shorter attention spans. They are also more likely to be anti-social and morose; whereas infected women are more outgoing, friendly, promiscuous and attractive: “In short,” according to Boulter, “it can make men behave like alley cats and women behave like sex kittens.” The Second Book of General Ignorance by John Lloyd & John Mitchinson (Faber & Faber, RRP £8.99) is available from Telegraph Books. Call 0844 871 1515 or visit books.telegraph.co.uk An expanded, fully updated version of the QI App for iPad and iPhone is available now from theqiapp.com at £2.99. Next week: QI does a wheelieJason Derek Brown (born July 1, 1969) is an American fugitive wanted for first degree murder and armed robbery in Phoenix, Arizona on November 29, 2004.[1] On December 8, 2007 he was named by the FBI as the 489th fugitive to be placed on the Ten Most Wanted list. Brown is considered armed and extremely dangerous.[2] Biography [ edit ] Brown was born in Los Angeles, California in 1969 to David John Brown, Sr.[3][4] He attended Laguna Beach High School.[5] Brown speaks fluent French and has a master's degree in international business. Brown served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Paris from 1988 to 1990.[3] Between 1990 and 2004, he resided in several places in Orange County, California, including Dana Point and the Corona del Mar neighborhood of Newport Beach. Brown owned two businesses based in Salt Lake City, Utah, Toys Unlimited and On The Doorstep Advertising, both of which were operated out of his Utah home.[6] Brown had been employed as a toy salesman and golf equipment importer[7] to support his luxurious lifestyle and expensive tastes, such as cars, motorbikes and boats.[5][8] Brown portrayed himself as a wealthy man, despite the fact he had defaulted on at least one large loan and was racking up tens of thousands of dollars of debt in 2004.[8] In November 2004, Brown took a firearms class. He bought a.45-caliber Glock pistol days before the class at Totally Awesome Guns & Range in Salt Lake City. Brown passed a background check, and as part of the class, was fingerprinted and his prints were sent to state and federal authorities.[6] Brown's instructor, Clark Aposhian, described him as "an obnoxious student" who was inexperienced with firearms. Brown accidentally fired a round into a truck during a practice shooting. He paid approximately $1,300 in damages to the car owner.[9] At this time, Brown was living in an Ahwatukee, Arizona hotel near an AMC movie theater.[10] He was captured on surveillance tape having a conversation with another man in the hotel lobby. The man is considered to be a possible accomplice or witness; however, his identity remains unknown.[5] Robbery and murder [ edit ] On November 29, 2004, Robert Keith Palomares, a 24-year-old armored truck guard, was carrying the weekend deposits outside the AMC theater at 4915 E. Ray Road[4] in Phoenix. At approximately 10 a.m., a hooded gunman ambushed and shot Palomares with a.45-caliber semiautomatic Glock. Five out of six bullets fired struck him in the head.[4][8] Palomares was armed, but did not have time to defend himself.[6] The gunman took a bag of money containing $56,000 in cash, fled into a nearby alley and left on a bicycle.[4] Palomares was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.[7] Witnesses initially described the shooter as a 25- to 30-year-old Hispanic man. Authorities recovered the bicycle and fingerprints, and instead subsequently linked the caucasian Brown to the murder.[1] He was soon considered a prime suspect in the case[11] and an arrest warrant was issued on December 4 by Maricopa County Superior Court charging Brown with first degree murder and armed robbery. Brown was also charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution in a federal arrest warrant issued on December 6 by the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.[12] Investigators have considered that a possible motive for Brown to commit these crimes could have been his desperate financial situation.[8] Fugitive [ edit ] After Brown was identified as a suspect, he fled from Arizona to Henderson, Nevada.[4][8] Brown traveled to Las Vegas and swapped his BMW for a black Cadillac Escalade he had in storage. He traveled to Orange County, California, staying there with relatives until December 6, 2004, when FBI agents carrying out an arrest warrant missed him by two hours.[8] Brown used his credit card at a gas station in South Orange County, went to San Diego near the Mexican border, and then traveled to Portland, Oregon. After this, FBI stated that Brown became a "ghost" and went completely off-the-grid. On January 16, 2005, authorities found Brown's Cadillac in a long-term parking lot at Portland International Airport.[4] While in Portland, Brown mailed a package containing clothes and golf equipment to his brother David John Brown II in San Diego.[8] On April 20, 2005, David Brown was indicted for obstruction of justice. The indictment claimed he tampered with evidence when he cleaned out Jason's BMW in early December after driving it from a Las Vegas storage facility to California.[4][8] By 2005, the FBI had more than 200 leads in the case. The majority of leads were outside Arizona and dozens were outside the United States, including possible sightings in Canada.[4] Due to his "California surfer dude" appearance and his ability to blend into crowds, the FBI has had more leads on Brown than anyone else on the Ten Most Wanted list, with most of the leads unhelpful. Reporters have noted he bears a close resemblance to actor Sean Penn, and one of Penn's body doubles was once mistakenly arrested by authorities who thought he was Brown.[13] Authorities believe that he may be hiding among the Mormon community under an assumed identity,[13] living with a woman who may not know his real identity, or that he has fled the country and could be living in France or Thailand.[14] On December 8, 2007, Brown was named by the FBI as the 489th fugitive to be placed on their Ten Most Wanted list. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $200,000 for information leading to his capture (the reward was doubled on March 25, 2013).[7][15] The most recent confirmed sighting was in August 2008, when an acquaintance of Brown recognized him while they were stopped at a traffic light near Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City. Their mutual recognition prompted Brown to drive through the stoplight. The witness informed authorities of the sighting.[16] According to him, Brown had longer hair and a deeper tan than in the 2004 photograph of his wanted poster.[17] See also [ edit ]Exclusive: Foreign secretary to make visit in bid to win release of jailed dual national and to put UK-Iranian relations on new footing Boris Johnson will travel to Tehran this weekend in an effort to win the release of the British-Iranian woman Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been held in a Tehran jail for nearly two years. Making his first visit to Tehran as foreign secretary, Johnson will also seek to put UK-Iranian relations on a new footing, pointing to Britain’s strong defence of the Iranian nuclear deal signed in 2015. Johnson has played down expectations of an immediate breakthrough in the case of Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Progress may depend on his conversations in two days of talks with senior Iranian figures including the foreign minister, Javad Zarif. The UK will be presenting ideas about how British banks, with the help of the Bank of England, can operate across Iran with less fear of being subject to mainly US-imposed sanctions and fines. Iran believes the nuclear deal has not led to the flourishing of trade or the interconnection with the western banking system it had been promised. Play Video 0:35 Boris Johnson: 'I apologise to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her family' – video Zaghari-Ratcliffe, said to be close to a mental breakdown, had been due to make a fresh appearance in court on Sunday facing new charges relating to espionage that could result in her five-year sentence extended by as much as 10 years. It is not clear if the hearing will still go ahead while the foreign secretary is still in Tehranand there have been suggestions it may be delayed. In a sign that an immediate breakthrough is not imminent, Johnson said on Thursday her case was extremely difficult. Iran does not recognise dual national status so the UK has a problem at the outset lobbying on her behalf. Hopes for her early release grew last week when it was revealed that an Iranian government health commissioner was to make checks on her health. It has been claimed she has been suffering panic attacks, insomnia, bouts of depression and suicidal thoughts. She was arrested at Tehran airport two years ago with her daughter who has stayed in the Iranian capital with her grandmother. Johnson has insisted the second set of charges laid against her are not related to his errorlast month in telling the foreign affairs select committee that she had been in Iran to train journalists. The possible coincidence of his visit and her reappearance in court had not been planned since details of his visit were agreed between the two sides before the date of her new court appearance had been set. The additional evidence is supposed to include a BBC pay stub and an email dating from 2010 saying that she had trained journalists in Iran. After some delay, Johnson met Richard, the husband of Zaghari-Ratcliffe, and apologised if his remarks in parliament could have been construed by the Iranian judiciary as a sign that she had been in Tehran on anything other than her holiday. Johnson said he had meant to say the worst offence of which she had been accused by the Iranian government was training journalists, not that he personally knew she had been offering this training. The separation between the Iranian diplomatic service and the more politicised state courts makes the task of influencing the regime’s thinking more complex. Although Johnson said on Thursday that what Iran was doing in the region was entirely separate to consular cases, the possibility of her release is inevitably interwoven with broader British-Iranian relations. Johnson has been a strong defender of the Iranian nuclear deal signed in 2015, personally travelling to Washington to urge US Republican congressmen not to follow Donald Trump’s lead and abandon the deal. No independent body has found any breach by Iranand the UK insists the deal is ringfenced from any wider criticism of Iran’s ballistic missile programme or its wider behaviour in Syria, Yemen and Lebanon. At a press conference on Thursday, Johnson said he would be raising with the Iranians “the supply of rockets to Hezbollah in Lebanon and helping the Houthis to launch missiles against Riyadh. This is causing fear. This is causing terror in parts of the Middle East. This is disruptive and dangerous behaviour. That is the message I will be taking”. Iran will want to hear British ideas to ease banking restrictions imposed largely due to US sanctions. Britain can still help Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – if Boris Johnson does his job | Malcolm Rifkind Read more Most UK banks fear they will face swingeing fines by US federal authorities if it emerges they funded a commercial deal between firms and an Iranian entity banned under US sanctions, such as the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Ownership laws in Tehran are opaque, and determining whether an IRGC firm has only a minority stake in a company is hard. There has been discussion of whether the Bank of England could indemnify some deals, but the risk to the UK taxpayer, and the level of commitment to the Bank may prove too large. The impasse has even left the Iranian embassy in the UK unable to set up a bank account in this country and the five major Iranian banks in the UK struggle to operate. Iran’s outstanding other claim is for £400m in compensation for the non-delivery of Chieftain tanks ordered by Tehran in the 1970s. The level of the compensation is largely settled, following a lengthy court case that the Iranians essentially won. The UK had made a payment into court, but unresolved issues over the method of payment, possibly using the Bank of England, and the lawfulness of payments to the Iranian ministry of defence remain obstacles. It is also possible the Iranians are seeking interest on the money that should have been paid to them.Charlton Athletic's wealthy new owner began this month by making a humble admission. "I regret what happened – and I am the one who caused it," Roland Duchâtelet said. "I have many qualities but I do not always communicate well and I didn't read the situation right. I'm not perfect but now we understand each other better and that's why we have signed a charter that stipulates that fans will have a say in issues that closely affect them such as facilities and ticket prices." Duchâtelet was not addressing fans of Charlton but rather of Standard Liège, one of the other holdings in his expanding empire of football clubs. Last summer there had been mass protests against his running of the Belgian side and a group of fans tried to ransack his office. Now the hostility has been replaced by admiration for the job being done by Duchâtelet. The 67-year-old's time at Liège offers clues as to what Charlton supporters might expect from the man who paid around £14m for the Championship club five weeks ago. What provoked the fans' revolt last summer was Duchâtelet's decision to sack a popular manager, Mircea Rednic, and replace him with a little-known 37-year-old from Israel, Guy Luzon. That was interpreted as a cost-cutting measure too far by a man who had already presided over the sale of several of the club's best players since taking over in 2011 and seemed more interested in cashing in. Now Liège are top of the Belgian league thanks to the performances of a crop of young players who have blossomed under Luzon, and Duchâtelet's model is not seen as purely self-serving. Duchâtelet has never been short of ideas. Success in electronics made him one of Belgium's wealthiest men and he has embellished his fortune with ventures in a host of other sectors. He has even tried his hand at politics, establishing a small party in 1997 with the aim of radically revamping the Belgian economy so that everyone would be paid a minimum wage whether they worked or not, and tax would be levied not on income but expenditure. His party was eventually absorbed into a bigger one, Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten, and his plans for football also seem to involve handy alliances. A little like Watford and Udinese, Charlton have become part of a chain that is supposed to benefit each link. Essentially Duchâtelet, who does not disguise his belief that money can be made from football, seems to be operating on the idea that it works out cheaper to buy loads of clubs as opposed to loads of players. Along with Charlton and Liège, he also owns FC Carl Zeiss Jena in Germany and AD Alcorcón in the Spanish second division, while entrusting Hungary's Ujpest FC to his son and another Belgian club, Sint-Truidense, to his long-time partner. He is also believed to be seeking clubs in Portugal and Italy. While Duchâtelet has specific objectives for each club – for instance, he has long campaigned for the creation of a combined Belgian and Dutch league to enable Liège to grow – it is clear that he also sees how they can help each other. Charlton's January transfer activity was a demonstration. They sold two of the manager Chris Powell's most trusted players, Yann Kermorgant and Dale Stephens, and drafted in several replacements from abroad, including four (three on loan) from Liège. The economic logic was clear. Kermorgant and Stephens were nearing the end of their contracts so could have left for nothing in the summer and the link with Liège meant replacements were available at no cost. Powell's challenge is to ensure that makes sense from a football viewpoint: with Charlton in the relegation zone, the arrivals have to adapt quickly. The Swedish midfielder Astrit Ajdarevic at least has rudimentary experience of English football – before joining Liège he was on Leicester City's book at the same time as Powell – but the others, such as the goalkeeper Yohann Thuram (cousin of the former France great, Lilian), the midfielder Anil Koc and the striker Reza Ghoochannejhad do not. While some relegation-threatened clubs might rest key players for an FA Cup tie, one of Powell's aims from Saturday's trip to Sheffield Wednesday will be to use the game to further harden the players he now has to rely on for survival. "I was disappointed to see [Kermorgant and Stephens] go but we can't dwell on that, especially not in the position we're in. We have a number of foreign players that have to get used to the Championship and FA Cup straight away. It's now a different Charlton. "In the two games we've played since we've made a lot of changes [defeats to Wigan and Birmingham] we've played some very good stuff. Football-wise and possession-wise and in terms of creating chances it was very good but ultimately I'd rather us play badly and have 1% of the game and win. We've got to find a way asap of making sure they fit in and get used to Championship pace. You look at someone like [Mesut] Özil in the Premier League, they find it quite tough because of the relentlessness and physicality of English football, so that's something they've got to get used to. It'll be interesting but it's up to me, my staff, and them, to get them up to speed." Like any manager of a club with a new owner, especially one not afraid to sack fan favourites, Powell knows his position is precarious. "I'm not naive, I know what happens," he says. "At the moment I'm fine. I'm having to build a relationship with someone who doesn't know me and I don't know him but it's about trying to make sure we can do the best for the football club." "I speak to him on a regular basis. I'll give him my take on a game whenever it's appropriate. He's a very busy man. He comes over and normally spends a few days speaking with myself and other staff around the club. Normally I call him at my leisure over the weekend or the beginning of the week and just give him my thoughts." One of the assets that attracted Duchâtelet to Charlton was the club's fruitful academy. The Liège precedent suggests even more young Addicks can expect to injected into the first team at The Valley – and perhaps into other associated teams around Europe. If things continue to go well, Powell envisages making the most of being a member of the Duchâtelet web. "Why not use the network of clubs and players that are available?" he says. "I'd be silly not to look at players at Standard. That may be something we look at in the future. I'll be going over to those clubs and speaking to the managers. Why not use it if it's there? In any business you take opportunities to share ideas."AUSTIN — Republican Greg Abbott, already denounced by his Democratic rival for ruling against a rape victim while on the Texas Supreme Court, sided against three other women who sued in sexual assault cases. In five cases in which the victims had sued the assailant or a company for negligence in the attacks, Abbott decided against four during his tenure as a high court justice from 1995 to 2001, a review by The Dallas Morning News shows. Abbott’s judicial actions have become a focal point in the race for governor, used by Democrat Wendy
in a mansion one street over. A Swiss gentleman keeps a 10-bedroom, 17-bathroom property a few doors down; it’s assessed at over $40-million. “There are some really notable people here,” says Ms. Han, “and some are people who want to keep a really low profile.” Three of B.C.’s five most expensive residential properties are on Belmont. The other two — including Lululemon Athletica Inc. founder Chip Wilson’s $54-million waterfront home — are nearby. Belmont’s big numbers skew Vancouver’s average house prices, driving them into the stratosphere. Even so, the “benchmark” or typical price for a single family detached house in Greater Vancouver, which includes suburban communities, now falls just shy of $1-million, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. In the area identified as Vancouver West, which includes Belmont, the “benchmark” is $2.25-million. Bertram M. Hoffmeister would be amazed — perhaps appalled — were he still around. In 1937, the Canadian Army officer commissioned local architect Charles Van Norman to craft him a home on 4749 Belmont. Mr. Norman came up with a modest design that was good enough for the times; it fit in with the neighbours just fine. The interior walls featured basic wood panelling, knotty pine. Hostilities broke out in Europe, and Major Hoffmeister went to war. He led Canadian troops in battles all over Italy, receiving several promotions along the way, and three Distinguished Service Order medals. In 1945, Major-General Hoffmeister commanded Canada’s forces in the Pacific, against the Japanese. “When my dad went overseas, his meagre military pay was enough to support his family, but not enough to pay the mortgage on Belmont,” says his son, Rod Hoffmeister. “So he rented the place out.” The first tenant was another prominent Canadian, Group of Seven painter Lawren Harris, who lived in the house until 1943. Mr. Harris then bought and moved into a white clapboard house across the street; it has since been demolished and replaced with a larger home. When World War II ended, Maj Gen. Hoffmeister returned to 4749 Belmont and to civilian life, joining forestry giant MacMillan Bloedel Ltd., eventually becoming its chairman. He sold the house in about 1956, recalls his son. “It was a wonderful place to grow up,” he adds. Bertram Hoffmeister died in 1999. The last person to occupy the house was Victor Li, son of Hong Kong mogul Li Ka-shing, one of the world’s richest men. Mr. Li and his family lived at 4749 Belmont for approximately five years, and sold the property to its current owner in 1997. No one has lived in it since. The “magical vegetable garden” that Rod Hoffmeister played in as a child is long gone, forgotten by almost everyone. The house’s windows and doorways are all boarded up, to keep out vagrants. Too late. “The place is destroyed,” says Mr. Hoffmeister. It’s due for the wrecking ball. Whatever appears in its place will be without history or knotty pine walls.We're now entering the mandatory hype period for the Jurassic World sequel -- and for good reason, too. The first one made $1.6 billion at the box office. It's at a solid 70 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and went on to be the seventh-highest-grossing Blu-ray in the U.S. The film was a shining success by every metric there is. Well, except mine. I hated Jurassic World like an anal rash. I walked out of it the first time I saw it, because I'd rather be in a porn theater with Brett Ratner than a regular theater playing Jurassic World. To me, this was the Phantom Menace of the Jurassic Park franchise -- a popular film, heavily praised, which would ultimately be considered a baffling cinematic shart once the nostalgia dust cleared. Entertainment Weekly Continue Reading Below Advertisement I know this sounds like the opinion of one angry man with a possible cornhole affliction, but I'd like you to take a second and allow me to calmly explain why I'm objectively correct. This was a visually broken film made by a boardroom of glossed dildos who had no idea why the original movie was so beloved. And I'm going to prove it right now. Calmly and briefly, like some kind of pedantic monk. The film starts on a meta observation by Bryce Dallas Howard's character, as one of her first lines is "Let's be honest, no one's impressed by a dinosaur anymore." This single bit of dialogue serves as the crutch on which the entire movie slumps, a lazy sentiment I've seen countless times when people defend why they enjoyed this film. "Hey, it was a stupid fun time! You can't expect it to have the same impact as Jurassic Park, a movie made 20 years ago!" Only the truth isn't that moviegoers are no longer impressed by seeing a dinosaur, but that Jurassic World had no goddamn idea how to make a dinosaur impressive. But they choose to neg the audience instead of owning up to it, like biting someone's dick off and then declaring "People just don't like blowjobs anymore." Continue Reading Below Advertisement So let me give you the first of many examples. Please pay close attention to the following expertly made GIFs: Universal Pictures Universal PicturesRush Limbaugh, as you might imagine, was not pleased at the Supreme Court's decision that upheld the Affordable Care Act on Thursday. He railed against the Supreme Court on his radio show Thursday, blasting John Roberts and saying that America had "been betrayed and deceived by the Supreme Court. He said it was the "largest tax increase in the history of the world." "What has been upheld here is fraud, and the Internal Revenue Service has just become Barack Obama's domestic army," Limbaugh said. "That is what we face now. We were deceived. Obamacare was a lie. It was a stealth tax on all Americans, and nobody knew it until today. Not officially. Obama told George Stephanopoulos it wasn't a tax. And Stephanopoulos was trouble-making for trying to suggest otherwise." He summed it all up with a shot at the Supreme Court's week overall, in which the court upheld Obamacare and overturned three key provisions in Arizona's immigration law. "Between the Arizona and Obamacare decisions, America is a very different concept than it was just a week ago," Limbaugh said. "In the United States of America, you either purchase what central authorities tell you to purchase or they will punish you with taxes. In America, states are not allowed to fully protect their citizens from the slow-motion invasion across their borders." Listen below:British artists may have reinvented rock music in the ’60s, but the U.K. never really got around to touching the country genre. Both the twang and the iconography (blue jeans, tractors, whiskey) of country music remains strictly American. James Corden attempted to fix that on Thursday by recruiting Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley, who will host the American Country Music Awards on Sunday, to create a British country song. The hilarious result, “Honky Tonk in the U.K.” involved the musicians dressing like Sherlock Holmes and a Queen’s Guard, while Corden decked himself in full Hamilton-style King George regalia. The lyrics evoked classic British tropes: “Eat fish and chips and bangers and mash / Check out of work, watch a football match.” A little Harry Potter head even bounced at the bottom of the screen to help viewers follow the lyrics. At one point, Corden stopped the song to complain about stereotyping, but Bentley and Bryan assured him they found it all by googling “British stuff” and that it would be a hit song, “trust us.” Watch the clip below.FEBRUARY 21--The parents of an Ohio boy who was expelled this month for creating a phony MySpace profile that described his middle school's principal as a child molester have filed a federal lawsuit claiming that the 13-year-old's free speech rights have been violated by education officials. Toader and Marianna Osan claim that their son (who is identified only by his initials in U.S. District Court filings) was improperly booted from the eighth grade at Hillside Middle School in Parma after educators learned of the boy's creation of a MySpace page for principal Jeff Cook. The MySpace profile, which was headlined 'Your Princeypal,' did not carry Cook's name, but it included his photo and identified him as the Hillside Middle School principal. The since-removed profile, an excerpt of which you'll find here, listed Cook's general interests as 'giving students anal' and 'jacking off in my office,' and named his heroes as Michael Jackson, Adolph Hitler, and Saddam Hussein. For his vulgar online handiwork, 'R.O.' was first suspended, and then, on February 7, was informed that he was being expelled (for'malicious harassment') until June 10, effectively the end of the school year, according to a February 20 court filing. His parents argue that students 'disrespecting teachers outside of school is an age-old tradition, and one from which teachers neither need nor deserve protection...It would be naive to think that even the most popular principal is not the subject of student ridicule and parody.' The Osans are seeking their son's immediate return to school and a judicial order protecting his off-campus speech, which previously included the observation that Cook had an affinity for the Purple Penetrator, a sex toy. (6 pages)Editors' note: Updated on June 12 to include new information. You've been hearing about a top-secret government program reportedly giving the NSA access to digital consumer information held by large tech companies. But what is it, really, and how does it affect you? Reports are changing fast, so we created this FAQ to let you know what is known so far. We will continue to update it as the facts become clear. What is PRISM? PRISM stands for "Planning Tool for Resource Integration, Synchronization, and Management," and is a "data tool" designed to collect and process "foreign intelligence" that passes through American servers. Details about its existence were leaked to The Washington Post and The Guardian by Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old NSA contractor. It has now In the words of national security reporter Marc Ambinder, "PRISM [is] a kick-ass GUI that allows an analyst to look at, collate, monitor, and cross-check different data types provided to the NSA from Internet companies located inside the United States." It only targets foreigners? PRISM "cannot be used to intentionally target any U.S. citizen (PDF), or any other U.S. person, or to intentionally target any person known to be in the United States, according to a statement released by Director Clapper on June 8. Why would there be foreign intelligence on American servers? A huge amount of foreign internet traffic is routed through or saved on U.S. servers. For instance, a majority of Facebook and Google users are not from the United States. So how does this affect an American's data? The key word is intentional. The NSA can't intentionally target an Americans data. But analysts need only be at least 51 percent confident of a target's "foreignness." What is PRISM not? It is apparently not the name for an overarching secret surveillance program in affiliation with certain large tech companies, as was originally reported by The Washington Post. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has released a statement saying, "PRISM is not an undisclosed collection or data mining program." Instead, the name PRISM appears to refer to the actual computer program used to collect and analyze data legally requested by the NSA and divulged by Internet companies. This matches reports from CNET and The New York Times. However, as the New York Times reported late Friday evening, it has come to light that the nine large tech companies first reported to be working with the NSA to divulge information have, in fact, made it easier for the government to access data from their servers. Which companies are involved? Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL, Facebook, Google, Apple, PalTalk, YouTube, and Skype. Dropbox is allegedly "coming soon." However, 98 percent of PRISM production is based on just Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft. All nine of them have explicitly denied that the government has "direct access" to their servers. Reliable sources have confirmed to CNET that PRISM works on a request-by-request basis, rather than unfettered access, as was originally reported by the Washington Post. Here is a direct quote from our in-depth article on this issue: Those reports are incorrect and appear to be based on a misreading of a leaked Powerpoint document, according to a former government official who is intimately familiar with this process of data acquisition and spoke today on condition of anonymity. Still, it appears that though they may have withheld direct access to their servers, many did in fact agree to collaborate with the government on "developing technical methods to more efficiently and securely share the personal data of foreign users in response to lawful government requests." How? It's not entirely clear, but according to the New York Times, in at least two cases the companies discussed creating secure digital dropboxes where information sought by the NSA could be electronically deposited. Facebook reportedly actually built such a system. On Tuesday, June 11, Google published a letter to the Justice Department, asking for permission to disclose the mechanism by which FISA requests are completed. A Facebook spokesperson joined the call, announcing that Facebook would "welcome the opportunity to provide a transparency report that allows us to share with those who use Facebook around the world a complete picture of the government requests we receive, and how we respond." After writing the letter to the Justice Department, Google discussed with Wired Magazine the ways it gets legal information to the government, insisting throughout that reports of "direct access" to Google servers have been erroneous. Jump to our How does it work? section for more details. Why isn't Twitter a part of PRISM? That's a very good question that at first no one was able to answer. It now appears as though the answer is: Twitter simply said no. Companies are legally obligated to comply with any legitimate government request for user data, but they are under no legal obligation to make that process easier. Twitter apparently refused to join the other nine in steam rolling the process. On Friday, June 7, the New York Times wrote: Twitter declined to make it easier for the government. But other companies were more compliant, according to people briefed on the negotiations. They opened discussions with national security officials about developing technical methods to more efficiently and securely share the personal data of foreign users in response to lawful government requests. And in some cases, they changed their computer systems to do so. What type of data is monitored? According to "slides and other supporting materials" given to the The Guardian and The Washington Post by Snowden: "e-mail, chat, videos, photos, stored data, VoIP, file transfers, video conferencing, notifications of target activity...log-ins, etc., online social networking details" -- so, everything. For instance, Google data includes "Gmail, voice and video chat, Google Drive files, photo libraries, and live surveillance of search terms." The original report suggests that "NSA reporting increasingly relies on PRISM" as its leading source of raw material, accounting for nearly one in seven intelligence reports. A reliable source tells CNET that both the contents of communications and metadata, such as information about who's talking to whom, can be requested. Can they read my iMessage? Theoretically, yes. That is the kind of data the program has access to. So someone has read my e-mail? Aside from the fact that Google's algorithms crawl your e-mail all the time to target ads at you, "someone" within the NSA may have read your e-mails. Is it even legal? Yes, under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 2008 and the Protect America Act of 2007. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper released a statement Thursday night saying that "Section 702 is a provision of FISA that is designed to facilitate the acquisition of foreign intelligence information concerning non-U.S. persons located outside the United States. It cannot be used to intentionally target any U.S. citizen, any other U.S. person, or anyone located within the United States." FISA was renewed last year by Congress. According to the Post, "Late last year, when critics in Congress sought changes in the FISA Amendments Act, the only lawmakers who knew about PRISM were bound by oaths of office to hold their tongues." When the story broke, Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.) released a letter they cowrote to the Justice Department expressing their concerns relating to the program. In March, DNI Clapper specifically told me #NSA does not wittingly collect any type of data on millions of Americans youtu.be/QwiUVUJmGjs?t=... -- Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) June 6, 2013 How does it work? Essentially like this: The attorney general issues a secret order to a tech company to hand over access to its data to the FBI. The FBI then hands that information over to the NSA. But many technical questions remain, such as: when given access, can the NSA tap directly into the companies' servers, as was originally alleged? Is the data printed out and handed to an NSA operative? Is an NSA operative stationed on the company's campus at a specific work station designed for such transactions? On Tuesday, June 11, Google went to Wired Magazine in an attempt to answer some of these lingering questions. Google spokesman Chris Gaither flatly denied giving direct access to Google's servers, stating: "When required to comply with these requests, we deliver that information to the US government -- generally through secure FTP transfers and in person. The US government does not have the ability to pull that data directly from our servers or network." One thing to note about this answer is that in order for the secure FTP transfer to take place, it looks as though Google does have a special encrypted dropbox on campus -- which you could technically call a "company server" -- that stores and delivers the requested data. Splitting hairs? Perhaps. It is very different from total, real-time access to Google's main servers. Is this the same as the data Verizon is giving to the NSA? No. This is separate. The data Verizon gives to the NSA is only metadata, so although the government can see who you call and how long you talk to them, they are not listening in on your voice mails and phone calls. But again, that's a separate NSA program. For more information on it, read this. What's the fallout? Well, so far respected human rights watchdog Freedom House has downgraded America's freedom ranking. Last time their survey was released, the United States was the second most free country on Earth in terms of Internet freedoms. That position is about to change. How can I avoid this? You can't. Should I be outraged? Probably! But maybe not. President Obama addressed PRISM on Friday and essentially said, "Don't worry. You can trust us." Who is to blame for this? Well, let's let Anthony Romero of the American Civil Liberties Union sum it up. He is quoted by The New York Times as saying, "A pox on all the three houses of government. On Congress, for legislating such powers, on the FISA court for being such a paper tiger and rubber stamp, and on the Obama administration for not being true to its values." What happens next? A diplomatic circus. The Obama administration has prosecuted leakers at an unprecedented rate, but it's going to have at least a bit of a hard time getting its hands on the source of these leaks: Edward Snowden is apparently holed up in a hotel in Hong Kong. The NSA contractor outed himself in an interview with The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald in which he says that he chose Hong Kong because, "[it] has a reputation for freedom in spite of the People's Republic of China. It has a strong tradition of free speech." Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of The People's Republic of China and has its own government distinct from, but ultimately subject to, Beijing. The United Stateshave a bilateral extradition treaty with Hong Kong, but a request from the U.S. based on political offenses could be vetoed by either Hong Kong or Beijing. 5G and foldable phones go big at MWC 2019: With international intrigue and a 5G coming-out party, this show doesn’t need the boost of a Samsung event. Galaxy S10 Plus ongoing review: Take a look at what's good and bad so far. For now Snowden says, "the only thing I can do is sit here and hope the Hong Kong government does not deport me."Looking for news you can trust? Subscribe to our free newsletters. Whoa, if true! On Thursday, Bernie Sanders declared that the Supreme Court would overturn Citizens United if he is elected president. Any Supreme Court nominee of mine will make overturning Citizens United one of their first decisions. — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 22, 2016 Except that’s not how the Supreme Court works. Justices don’t get to pick which issues or cases come their way. Only after a case is appealed to the Supreme Court can the justices decide to hear the case. There is no way for Sanders’ Supreme Court picks to decide that overturning Citizens United, the 2010 campaign finance decision that fueled the rise of super-PACs, will be one of their first acts on the bench, even if they really, really want it to be. Update: Sanders campaign spokeswoman Symone Sanders sent the following note explaining the tweet: “That tweet was worded oddly. The senator often speaks about appointing justices that believe in overturning citizens united and who would do so if the opportunity arose. That is what this was referring to.”Like teenagers anywhere, 17-year-old Amine Demirtas had a cellphone and loved to chat and message with friends. But when her family found out, her brother brutally killed her. Women activists across Turkey are furious by the latest incident of violence against women. Earlier this month, police charged Demirtas’ brother, 29-year-old Kasim Demirtas, with torturing his sister and electrocuting her to death in their home. She provoked his rage, he told police. “My sister was meeting random people. I had my suspicions about her using a mobile. I asked her to give that phone to me many times but she didn’t,” he told police. “I asked for the passcode to read her messages. I got so angry when she refused and I killed her.” The siblings’ father, identified only as M.D., was also arrested for encouraging torture. The mother and aunt-in-law were released. A younger brother identified as C.D., who witnessed the torture, testified that his brother told him he will kill his sister for using a mobile phone without their knowledge. “Kasim said he got a Facebook message saying, ‘Look after your sister, she may cause you trouble.’ Then he asked me if Amine had a cellphone. I said I didn’t see her using a phone. ‘How come you didn’t see? She has a phone and I’ll kill her,’ he said. My sister had run away from home a couple of times before and the last time she didn’t want to come back again. My father found out where she was and he brought her back.” “I cannot fall asleep until I beat Amine,” C.D. told police his brother had said. Nearly 300 women are killed in domestic violence each year in Turkey, however, activists suspect there are additionally a number of “honor killings” that go unreported or disguised as suicides. Honor killing is one in which a relative kills a woman in the family following an accusation that she has done something shameful. The murder restores the family’s “honor” in the eyes of the public. Honor killings happen across the Middle East and Africa, and are known to occur with frequency in the conservative, impoverished Kurdish regions of Turkey along the border with Iran and Syria. They are illegal under Turkish law — but police and government officials are known to look the other way, and judges often give light sentences. In response, female activists in Turkey try to track the killings and launch public awareness campaigns that include posters, social media hashtags and publicity stunts. In 2014, the hashtag honoring the Turkish student Ozgecan Aslan, who was brutally murdered while riding a bus home from university, was used more than 3 million times. Women’s rights activists in Demirtas’ home city of Batman hung posters of Demirtas in the streets reading “I’m Amine Demirtas. I was tortured to death by my family. Don’t let people forget me.” Seven other women have been killed in the last six months, according to a statement issued by the Women Assembly of Batman Municipality. The murder is striking a chord in part due to the innocence of the supposed crime — a teenager using a cellphone — as well as the complicity of the girl’s mother, who told police she only warned her son and husband “not to beat Amine so hard.” Furthermore, the use of Facebook by friends of the older brother as a way to monitor the girl’s behavior is frightening many. In his testimony, 14-year-old brother C.D. said that his brother asked him and his mother to leave the room where he was about to start torturing his sister. “You go out, I’ll beat her,” Kasim Demirtas said. According to the testimony, when the father saw his daughter’s cellphone, he also got mad. “Why did you lie to me about having a phone?” the father said. C.D.’s testimony continued: “My brother got a cable from the kitchen. He electrocuted Amine by this cable. She immediately fainted.” Kasim Demirtas asked him to bring water from his younger brother. He then poured it all over Amine’s face to bring her back to consciousness. However, she was already dead. The city of Batman, a battleground of PKK Kurdish rebels and Turkish Hezbollah in the 1990s, faced high rates of female suicides in the past. Between 1995 and 2006, at least 71 women committed suicide. According to official reports, women who have attempted or committed suicide often felt oppressed by male-dominated communities and their families. “Batman is a very conservative city,” says Emine Seker, chair of the Batman Bar Association’s Commission on Women. “Conservatism is higher in poor families and Amine’s family is one of them.” “There is also [a] low level of education. Social pressure influences women’s daily lives. Imagine that using a mobile phone costs your life! Amine’s friends are posting Snapchat stories all day. Young people want to try new things. However, conservative society doesn’t allow that,” Seker adds. In recent years, Turkey has made remarkable legal advances to prevent violence against women. Turkey became the first signatory to the Council of Europe’s Convention on Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, known as the Istanbul Convention. Yet the problem of femicide can’t be stopped by law alone, activists say, due to inadequate protection mechanisms and implementation. At least 284 women were killed by men only last year in Turkey. Besides, mitigation of punishment in female abuse cases is another serious problem. The perpetrators receive reduced sentences for reasons like “unjust provocation” or “good conduct abatement.” Seker, who is also the attorney pursuing the case, says he will have to convince a judge not to give a light sentence due to the brother’s charge that he was provoked. “I am rarely satisfied with criminal sentences in the violence against women trials,” Seker says. “Punishments shouldn’t be mitigated due to excuses.” Burcu Karakas is a journalist in Turkey. Christina Asquith is director of Across Women’s Lives and founder of The Fuller Project for International Reporting.“A million guys walk into a Silicon Valley bar. None of them buy anything. The bar is declared a rousing success.” – Internet joke Amazon For A Penny had 30 page views when I sold over a hundred dollars worth of products. 30 Days To X had 6,000 before I ever made a single cent. While getting people to visit your site is important, having a lot of traffic doesn’t mean much. While drawing in visitors and building a following is important, it isn’t the be-all end-all. I’ve built several dozen little websites and run a slew of online hustles. Last year alone I made four or five separate websites and blogs. Some of my biggest money makers have actually gotten the least amount of traffic. In today’s post I’m going to debunk the old “more visitors equals more money” myth. Do site hits mean more customers? 30 Days To X gets more traffic in a day than all my other sites combined. However, it makes way less money. When people come here they show up to be entertained or to learn something. Readers aren’t showing up to buy washing machines or purchase the latest iPhone. In contrast, I have a very simple website about xylitol. It has a handful of posts, some affiliate links, and an eBook. While it doesn’t get a whole ton of traffic, the people who visit tend to buy something. They’re looking for information on a product, it’s only natural for them to click through an Amazon link and order what they had wanted. Although the site doesn’t make a lot, it earns enough to pay for hosting and cover the occasional impulse purchase. I also only update it once a month. Another site, built when I tried to make and market a cheesy eBook, hasn’t been touched since January. While I took the eBook off the shelves, it didn’t sell well, I replaced it with a few affiliate likes to other books. I usually make a couple bucks a month from random visitors who stumble onto the old posts. While getting traffic is import, it isn’t something to beat yourself up over. Structuring your site to make money, and creating great content should be your two biggest priorities. There are thousands of blogs and websites that get millions of hits, but never earn a dime. Reddit, one of the biggest websites in the world, is notorious for hemorrhaging money. People go to the site to look at cat pictures and look for sleazy sex stuff, they aren’t there to spend money. The next time you ask yourself if site hits mean more customers, remember that a site’s structure is more important than the size of its audience. You could have ten million unique readers and it won’t mean anything if you don’t have an effective way to monetize them. While I’ve talked a lot about how overrated page views can be for making money online, there are a few exceptions. I’m going to detail them later this week. I’ll also explain some of the less obvious ways that a website can be monetized. Share this: Facebook Twitter Google TumblrGet the biggest Daily stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email A police officer faces a misconduct hearing and potential dismissal after allegedly misleading an insurance company after pulling a driver over for having no insurance. PC Shelley Holloway is alleged to have stopped a motorist on Shurdington Road while on duty. When she found he had no insurance, she convinced an insurance company on the phone it was his father driving, despite him not actually being there, it is claimed. The allegations, which are believed to have taken place in August 2016, will be the subject of a misconduct hearing at Gloucestershire Police's HQ in Waterwells next week. If found to have committed the two allegations, the force could rule them as gross misconduct which could lead to various actions against PC Holloway, including dismissal. A brief outline of the hearing on the force's website reads: "On August 24 2016 the officer stopped a vehicle, the driver of which did not have valid insurance. "The officer was present when the driver telephoned his insurance company. "During that telephone conversation the driver pretended to be his father. "When the insurance company representative spoke to the officer to ask whether he was speaking to the driver or his father, the officer confirmed both the driver and his father were present, which was untrue. "The officer also confirmed that the insurance company representative was talking to the driver’s father which was also untrue. "If proven this allegation has been assessed as being sufficiently serious so to as amount to gross misconduct." It goes on to say that when the officer pulled over the driver for having no insurance, the driver allegedly followed the officer’s advice when he spoke to his insurance company and pretended to be his father." Gloucestershire police have made cracking down on those driving with no insurance a top priority in the last few years, seizing hundreds of cars with no protection. Last month the constabulary fired PC Adams after he went to the races several times while claiming to be ill.Having a conservative track record isn’t everything in the Republican Party. Just ask Donald Trump, who doesn’t have one. Or Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who does. McCarthy decided today not to run for speaker of the House after supposedly having the edge. He faced opposition from the Freedom Caucus, a group of House Republicans who have pushed for a more confrontational approach with Democrats. McCarthy is in the middle of the House GOP ideologically. Of course, because the GOP as a whole has gotten much more conservative in recent years, that means McCarthy is quite conservative too. But the resistance to electing him speaker wasn’t just about ideology; McCarthy represents a Republican establishment less willing to threaten a government shutdown or refuse to raise the debt ceiling to achieve legislative goals. The split within the party is largely a disagreement over tactics. The Freedom Caucus isn’t composed exclusively of far-right Republicans; many members sit squarely in the GOP’s ideological mainstream. You can see this in the following chart, which shows Freedom Caucus members according to two metrics: How conservative are they? This is measured by the “first dimension” of DW-Nominate, an algorithm that rates members of Congress on a liberal-conservative scale based on their votes in Congress. How establishment are they? This is measured by the “second dimension” of DW-Nominate. The second dimension has measured different things over time. Today, the authors of the DW-Nominate system argue that it correlates best with the establishment vs. outsider dynamic. Clearly, the members of the Freedom Caucus are on the more conservative side of the Republican Party. Notice, however, that its members also tend to be toward the bottom (or anti-establishment) portion of the chart. In fact, the correlation between Freedom Caucus membership and the two different dimensions are nearly equal — in other words, being in the Freedom Caucus is just as much about being anti-establishment as it is about being conservative. We saw this in action during the speakership vote at the beginning of the year. Again, more conservative Republicans were more likely to vote against Speaker John Boehner, but Republicans with higher anti-establishment scores (toward the bottom of the chart) were also more likely to vote against him. The importance of “outsiderness” in the GOP has been evident for a few years. We saw it in votes on the debt ceiling in 2011, the fiscal cliff in 2013, and the budget battles of the last month. As the political scientists who maintain the DW-Nominate system have pointed out about the second dimension: “Although Congress is nearly one-dimensional liberal-conservative, enough stress has built up to clearly divide the Republican Party on many issues.” If all this sounds familiar, it might be because it’s also playing out in the Republican primary for president. Ben Carson and Trump don’t rank as highly conservative in our ideological rankings as most other 2016 candidates. Nor do they rank as super conservative in the minds of Republican voters. Yet, Trump and Carson currently rank first and second, respectively, in polls of the GOP race. Why? Carson and Trump are outsiders. In FiveThirtyEight’s graphical view of the GOP race, Carson and Trump are far, far away from the establishment. Neither Carson nor Trump has ever held elected office. Carson is a soft-spoken, nice guy who doesn’t get entangled playing politics. Trump is the exact opposite: fighting everyone under the sun. Typical politicians are a little bit of each. The normal rules of politics seem to apply less to the Republican Party each passing day. Carson and Trump’s tenure atop the polls is evidence of that. Boehner came to realize it. And McCarthy apparently figured that out too.There are no secure smartphones. This is a simple fact which is overlooked remarkably often. Modern smartphones have a CPU chip, and a baseband chip which handles radio network communications (GSM/UMTS/LTE/etc.) This chip is connected to the CPU via DMA. Thus, unless an IOMMU is used, the baseband has full access to main memory, and can compromise it arbitrarily. It can be safely assumed that this baseband is highly insecure. It is closed source and probably not audited at all. My understanding is that the genesis of modern baseband firmware is a development effort for GSM basebands dating back to the 1990s during which the importance of secure software development practices were not apparent. In other words, and my understanding is that this is borne out by research, this firmware tends to be extremely insecure and probably has numerous remote code execution vulnerabilities. Thus, no smartphone can be considered secure against an adversary capable of compromising the radio link (called the U m link). This includes any entity capable of deploying Stingray-like devices, or any entity capable of obtaining control of a base station, whether by hacking or legal or other coercion. It would, in my view, be abject insanity not to assume that half a dozen or more nation-states (or their associated contractors) have code execution exploits against popular basebands in stock. So long as basebands are not audited, and smartphones do not possess IOMMUs and have their operating systems configure them in a way that effectively mitigates the threat, no smartphone can be trusted for the integrity or confidentiality of any data it processes. This being the case, the quest for “secure” phones and “secure” communications applications is rather bizarre. There are only two possible roads to a secure phone: auditing baseband or using an IOMMU. There can't even begin to be a discussion on secure communications applications until the security of the hardware is established.Warner Bros. has begun the search for the director who will take over the reins for the sequel to box office hit “Suicide Squad.” Mel Gibson is perhaps the most surprising of the handful of possibilities. Sources tell Variety that in addition to Gibson, Warners has met with — or is planning to meet with — Ruben Fleischer (“Zombieland”), Daniel Espinosa (“Safe House”), and Jonathan Levine (“Warm Bodies”). Warner Bros. had no comment. Though insiders say the list could grow and that there is no front-runner at the moment, one source close to the situation said if Gibson wants it, the job is his. Gibson had
see siblings engaging in innocent tussling, they're going to sound the alarm. That's unfortunate, because, throughout the neighborhood, older brothers tend to do an excellent job of keeping their younger brothers out of trouble."The proposed halt to operations in 2019 at the West’s largest coal-fired power plant could attract White House attention. By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue Since 1976 the 2,250-megawatt coal-fired Navajo Generating Station, with its three towering stacks belching thick plumes of steam, has commanded the summit of a high bluff close to the Colorado River in northeastern Arizona. The icon of western electric power has served for more than four decades as a vivid embodiment of American engineering ambition. The plant challenged the desert by joining water, fossil fuel, and pumping technology in a powerful union that slaked the thirst of Arizona’s farms and cities, and sustained a prosperous economy. That happy marriage, which for decades was seen as pragmatic and strong in the American West, is now breaking apart. Water availability in the Colorado River is declining and demand outpaces supply. America, like China and India, has heeded concerns about climate change and is pivoting away from coal as a fuel source as cheaper and cleaner alternatives emerge. Meanwhile, the cost of maintaining and operating Navajo Generating Station, now more than 40 years old and the seventh-largest source of power plant carbon emissions in the United States, is climbing. Given these new factors the plant’s four utility owners are seriously thinking of walking away. In a joint statement on February 13 the Salt River Project, NV Energy, Tucson Electric Power, and Arizona Public Service said that they plan to operate through the end of the facility’s December 2019 lease but no later. The closure plan is attracting strong opposition from miners that supply the plant’s coal, and could generate a new struggle over rights to the billions of gallons of Colorado River water needed each year to operate and cool the generating station. The contest could become heated enough to attract intervention by the White House. Navajo Generating Station draws water from Lake Powell, a Colorado River reservoir, to cool its three generating units. A portion of its electricity pushes Colorado River water 3,000 feet uphill, through the canals and pump stations of the Central Arizona Project, to Phoenix and Tucson. The imported water, supplied by the largest power consumer in Arizona, reduces pressure on groundwater supplies in central Arizona. The agreement announced last week was prompted by market shifts, and revealed divergent visions of the region’s energy future. The four utility owners cited cheaper natural gas as justification for shutting down Navajo’s coal-burning units. The federal government, which owns a quarter of the plant’s output, and the Navajo Nation leadership, however, have a different view. They argue it’s all about jobs. Dan DuBray, a Bureau of Reclamation spokesman, told Circle of Blue that it is the government’s trust responsibility to aid tribal economies. Navajo Generating Station and Kayenta mine, which supplies coal to the power plant, together employ roughly 845 Native Americans and contribute tens of millions to the tribes in tax payments and royalties, according to federal documents. The Obama administration published a federal environmental review last September that recommends extending the plant’s lease through 2044. Navajo Nation leaders also object to closure and want the lease extended. They asked Donald Trump to uphold his campaign promise to protect coal jobs by saving the plant. The Bureau of Reclamation is convening a stakeholder meeting on March 1 in Washington, D.C. to discuss options for keeping the plant operating beyond 2019. Cheaper Power A Better Deal for Central Arizona Water Customers The fate of the Navajo plant is not the only big infrastructure water-energy project at stake in Arizona. Modest natural gas prices also have brought about a swift reversal of fortune for the Central Arizona Project. In 2010, CAP officials reckoned that closing the Navajo plant would have increased the cost of electricity to pump water by 50 to 300 percent and they would lose $US 50 million per year in the sale of surplus power. Surplus power, which is the difference between the federal government’s allocation and what CAP requires, is sold to pay down Arizona’s share of the CAP construction cost. The remaining balance is roughly $US 1.2 billion. The U.S. natural gas boom, which ramped up just before CAP made its 2010 forecast, flipped the calculations. In a February 16 presentation to the agency’s board, CAP officials estimated that they would have saved $US 38.5 million in energy costs in 2016 by buying power on the market instead of from the Navajo station. Even though surplus power sales would have declined by $US 12 million in this scenario, CAP still would have come out ahead last year from switching energy sources. The net savings of $US 26.5 million would have been expressed in lower water bills for tribes, farmers, and cities. Farmers buying water from CAP, for instance, pay only the cost of pumping water. In 2016 that rate, including rebates, was $US 57 per acre-foot using Navajo station power. With power purchased on the market, however, CAP figures the charge would have been $US 49 per acre-foot, a savings of 14 percent. One acre-foot is 326,000 gallons. “Everything is evaluated in light of conditions we find ourselves in now,” Tom McCann, deputy general manager of CAP, told Circle of Blue. “Today, NGS closing would be a good deal for CAP. If you asked that question four or five years ago, the answer would have been, ‘No.’ There was one answer then and a different answer now because the market fundamentals have changed.” There is no guarantee that natural gas prices remain low, but McCann does not expect the market to change much for a number of years. McCann said that if the Navajo station closes, CAP is responsible for finding a replacement energy source. The agency is not likely to put all its eggs in one basket as it does now. “We don’t want to be in the same situation as the last decades where a vast majority of our power came from one source,” he said. In a portfolio approach, no single source would account for more than 15 to 20 percent of CAP’s total energy supply. Today, roughly 92 percent of CAP’s energy comes from Navajo. What Happens to Navajo’s Colorado River Water? Another huge factor is water. The Navajo Generating Station has rights to consume 34,100 acre-feet of Colorado River water per year. The water is withdrawn from Lake Powell and not returned to the river system. The plant, however, does not use the entire allocation. Over the last 15 years, annual use has ranged from 26,000 acre-feet to 29,000 acre-feet. The water rights are owned by the state of Arizona and could be reallocated if the plant were to close. The existing rights are part of Arizona’s 50,000 acre-foot Upper Colorado River Basin allocation, which restricts the water used to the northeastern corner of the state, Leslie Meyers, manager of Reclamation’s Phoenix office, told Circle of Blue. In practice, that means only on the Navajo Nation. In 1968, as part of the deal to build Navajo Generating Station on tribal land, the Navajo Nation Council promised not to make any claim to the power station’s 34,100 acre-foot allocation for 50 years or for as long as the plant was in operation. If those terms expired, the Council’s resolution directs the Secretary of the Interior to return the allocation “to the Navajo Tribe for their exclusive use and benefit.” That resolution is “still in effect” and incorporated into the plant’s lease, according to Meghan Cox, a Navajo Nation spokeswoman. Others with a stake in the water rights say it is too early to determine how the water will be used if the plant shuts down. Douglas MacEachern, Arizona Department of Water Resources spokesman, told Circle of Blue that “until more facts unfold, it is premature to anticipate what might occur with the NGS water rights.” The department would not comment on the Navajo Council’s 1968 resolution. DuBray, the Reclamation spokesman, said that what happens to the water “is one of myriad questions that need to be addressed.” Salt River Project, the operator of Navajo Generating Station and current holder of the water rights, is willing to work with Arizona and Navajo officials on a plan for the water if the plant is shut down, Scott Harelson, SRP spokesman, told Circle of Blue. Even the Navajo Nation is still deciding its course of action. Navajo President Russell Begaye established a task force in October 2016 to review options for the water that the power station currently uses. If no other use is found, the water could remain in the river. States in the upper and lower basins of the Colorado River have in recent years attempted to boost declining water levels in Lake Mead and Lake Powell. The annual water right assigned to Navajo Generating Station is roughly equal to the amount of water that the three lower basin states — Arizona, California, and Nevada — stored in Lake Mead in 2016 through a pilot conservation program. The cost of that program: $US 5.8 million for 35,369 acre-feet. Federal officials, however, hope to avoid a plant closure and a reallocation scenario. On March 1, the Department of the Interior, Reclamation’s parent agency, will host a stakeholder meeting in Washington, D.C. to discuss the future of Navajo Generating Station. Invited parties include the four utility owners of the facility plus the Navajo and Hopi tribes, and Central Arizona Project officials. Also invited to the meeting are tribes that get water from the Central Arizona Project and Peabody Energy, which operates the coal mine that supplies Navajo Generating Station. “Before we discuss where we’re going with closing the plant, we want to look at paths for operating post-2019,” DuBray, the Reclamation spokesman, told Circle of Blue. DuBray would not comment on potential paths, saying that the March 1 meeting is designed to begin a discussion. Other observers, however, offered suggestions. Martin Pasqualetti, an Arizona State University professor and co-director of the Energy Policy Information Council, pointed to a number of options. The Trump administration could deem the Navajo plant in the national interest. Or the Navajo Nation could purchase part of the power plant outright. “Certainly there are a lot of moving pieces on this issue, but they primarily revolve around making up for lost jobs and helping the tribes with some economic development,” Pasqualetti wrote to Circle of Blue in an email.Injured Carroll loses race to be fit for Hammers' season opener against Cardiff Andy Carroll looks set to miss next Saturday's opener against Cardiff as he continues to receive treatment on the heel injury picked up last season. West Ham fans had hoped their £15million frontman, who has missed the entire pre-season, was on course to make a recovery in time to face Cardiff. Anguish: Andy Carroll is set to miss the start of the season But first-team coach Ian Hendon said: 'We don't think he's going to make it. The original injury was eight to 12 weeks. He's chomping at the bit but we must do what's right.' West Ham beat Portuguese side Pacos de Ferreira 2-1 on Saturday through goals from Ravel Morrison - after just 16 seconds - and Modibo Maiga.Nagpur: Driven to desperation in the face of rising poverty and falling cotton prices, three more debt-ridden farmers in Maharashtra`s Vidarbha region have ended their lives, an activist said Friday. Gajanan Thorat of Garmmahsal in Washim district, Kamalabai Chavan of Wadner and Gajanan Ghotekar of Kothoda in Yavatmal district took their lives between Thursday and Friday, said Kishor Tiwari of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti. The farmers took their lives because of a sudden fall in cotton prices due to export restrictions and because they had not received any financial relief from the government, Tiwari told IANS. One of the farmers blamed the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) government in the state, he said. Ghotekar wrote in his suicide note: "Don`t vote for the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party... They will destroy this country." According to Tiwari, the Maharashtra government last December had declared a relief package of Rs 2,000 crore for the cotton farmers. "But till date, not a single paisa has been paid to the distressed farmers who continue to reel under debts." The farmers were then hit by stringent exports conditions which led to a fall in prices of raw cotton from Rs 4,200 to Rs 3,400 per quintal, he said. Tiwari said that when India produced 33-million bales of cotton and only 20 million bales were used domestically, "there is no reason to impose export restrictions". Suicides have been frequent in the region with as many as 918 Vidarbha farmers ending their lives in 2011 because of the agrarian crisis. IANSMost of us have idolized, or at least really admired a band or singer in our lifetimes. But what happens when your musical idol admires you right back? Fourteen-year-old Ella Nafziger of Baden was on the receiving end of some high praise from her all-time favourite singer, Dallas Green, last week. Green is an international star from St. Catharines who is currently on tour in Australia and the U.S. He is known for hits such as “Comin’ Home” and “Save Your Scissors” while performing as City and Colour He has also collaborated with Pink on an album which rose to number four on the Billboard 200 list. Nafziger posted a cover of Green’s song “The Grand Optimist” on Instagram and hashtagged it with not only the title but also Green’s band name. He was going through hashtags online and stopped on Ella’s rendition. Her powerful performance hit Green instantly, and he immediately fell in love with it. The next day on the Australian radio show Double J, he said Ella’s singing brought him to tears: “She has one of the most beautiful voices I have heard in my life.” Green proceeded to share one of Nafziger’s original songs, “Big Blue Sea,” from her YouTube channel to an Australia-wide audience on the country’s national broadcasting station. “My music has been covered by a lot of people on the internet, which is great, and I appreciate that. But something about this girl’s voice. It’s not her singing my words, it’s just her voice — she’s got it,” he told the radio show. The Australian hosts of Double J then interviewed Ella via Skype the next day to get her reaction to Green’s compliments. She was nearly in tears as she listened to the recorded show and was barely able to find the right words on air. “What are you supposed to say to that?” Nafziger enthused. “I can’t believe it. It takes things to a whole new level because he is so highly respected,” she told the Independent. The new level includes increased interest in her YouTube song, which went from 250 views to nearly 3,000 hits in less than a week. Only once before has one of Nafziger’s posted cover songs received a short comment: when Jocelyn Alice of “Jackpot” fame gave her a quick nod.WTII Records News Letter View this email in your browser WTII NEW RELEASES AND SIGNINGS ALTERRED The Electro Creep Show (In Stores October 14th) "Self-medicated madness is our remit. Love, lust, lunacy & loss are our tales to tell. Music to lose your mind to..." AlterRed's sound is like no other; they mix electronic beats and sounds with avant-garde piano, and then top it off with strong and soaring vocals. With an array of recognizable influences from Depeche Mode to David Bowie to The Dresden Dolls and IAMX, AlterRed's end result is a unique melting-pot of sound and imagery. AlterRed have made a dramatic and impressive impact on a wide variety of audiences, from the indie/electro crowds in London to the Synthpop and EBM crowds across Europe. After releasing three albums in Europe, AlterRed are poised to make their North American debut with the release of The Electro Creepshow. Re-mastered and assembled by AlterRed, the 15 tracks on The Electro Creepshow cover a wide variety of styles. From the Dark Electro Cabaret tales of "Dollstown," "As She Circles the Drain" and "Emily" to the haunting electro beats of "Spine," "And the Machine" and "And We Disappear," the duo of MikEy Altered and Vix Vain have created a style and sound that are truly like no other. One of the UK's best kept secrets is about to invade North America, are you ready? PRE-ORDER Stars Crusaders New Horizons (In Stores November 11th) Italy's Electro Sci-Fi/synthpop innovators, Stars Crusaders, have signed a deal with Louisville/Chicago based WTII Records, LLC. The Stars Crusaders formed in the spring of 2014 after Davedax, Symorg and Yeda received a summons from the ancient order to unite and defend the planet from otherworld invaders. Joined together by a love of electronics and Sci-Fi, the trio has created the soundtrack to an epic adventure through the stars by blending powerful rhythms, ethereal melodies and space inspired lyrics. The trio will premiere their new style of music, dubbed Electro Sci-Fi, in September with the release of the digital single, Aeterna. Featuring remixes from Dupont and Nordika, Aeterna will serve as a nice introduction to the band and be a solid lead up to the Stars Crusaders debut album, New Horizons, scheduled for release on November 11th. Autoclav1.1 ten.one.point.one Your Face Goes Here," Autoclav1.1 continues to push new boundaries and proves things only get better with age. Tony Young aka: Autoclav1.1 celebrates his 10th Anniversary with a new label to call home and a new album to celebrate this monumental feat. Ten.one.point.one fuses orchestral compositions and IDM with flashes of industrial, rock and modern electronica. Autoclav1.1 has gained a reputation for pulling on the deepest of human emotions with a variety of melody, frequently torn apart by paranoid beatwork and broken rhythmical structures. This Autoclav1.1 signature formula is ever present throughout Ten.one.point.one. From the dark soundscapes and haunting piano of "16a" to the break beats "Goes Here," Autoclav1.1 continues to push new boundaries and proves things only get better with age. Listen Here or Buy it Here State of the Union My Time Away State of the Union has returned from a long hiatus with a new album, new attitude and new singer. State of the Union's architect, Johann Sebastian, has teamed up with vocalist Evannkie to further push the musical boundaries of State of the Union. My Time Away showcases State of the Union's more accessible form of Futurepop/EBM, by blending contemporary electronic styles with inspiring lyrics, hard-hitting beats, and symphonic orchestrations. The first single, " Dancing in the Dark " has become an instant club hit, charting in the Top 5 on the German DAC and making the Top 10 on Radio and DJ playlist across the globe. The follow-up single, "My Time Away" should continue the chart success with its high energy spirit, catchy hooks and layers of EDM synths. From start to finish, this album is packed with EDM chart toppers and they even go as far as covering Fictional's megahit "Blue Lights." The WTII version also features two bonus tracks not on the Infacted or Gravitator versions. has returned from a long hiatus with a new album, new attitude and new singer.'s architect, Johann Sebastian, has teamed up with vocalist Evannkie to further push the musical boundaries of. My Time Away showcases State of the Union's more accessible form of Futurepop/EBM, by blending contemporary electronic styles with inspiring lyrics, hard-hitting beats, and symphonic orchestrations. The first single, "" has become an instant club hit, charting in the Top 5 on the Germanand making the Top 10 on Radio and DJ playlist across the globe. The follow-up single, "My Time Away" should continue the chart success with its high energy spirit, catchy hooks and layers of EDM synths. From start to finish, this album is packed with EDM chart toppers and they even go as far as covering Fictional's megahit "Blue Lights."Theversion also features two bonus tracks not on the Infacted or Gravitator versions. Listen Here or Buy it Here Get Ready for the COLDWAVES III Fest with WTII RECORDS COLDWAVE RELEASES Acumen Nation What the Fuck Live at Coldwaves 9/26 What The F**k is a 10-year remix retrospective, containing 14 never-before-heard versions of tracks from their catalog plus 2 new tracks. With hard hitting tracks like Bleed for You, DJentrify plus the mega clubhit Gun Lover, What the F**k is a solid release from start to finish. What the F**K contains guest vocal appearances from Lucia Cifarelli ( KMFDM ) and Eric Powell ( 16 Volt ). Buy it Here SMP Death of the Format Live at Coldwaves 9/26 Industrial veterans, Sounds of Mass Production a.k.a. SMP, are set to release their 7th studio album, Death of the Format. Two years in the making, Death of the Format can be considered one of SMP's most complete albums to date. Jason Bazinet, the mastermind of SMP, returns to his roots and delivers an album that can be described as industrial rock with heavy influences of rap and punk. Tracks like "In Your Blood," "Somebody Dissin You," and "What's Wrong with You?" showcases the more rap elements that has become SMP's signature. Other tracks like "Metal Madness" and " Earthlight " take on a more cold wave industrial vibe. Overall, Death of the Format should continue to build on SMP's legacy and garner the accolades they deserve. Over the years Jason has worked and toured with industrial giants Front Line Assembly, Christ Analogue, Chemlab, 16volt, Left Spine Down, Stiff Valentine, Pigface and 64K. Listen Here or Buy it Here Slave Unit Through With You After a 5 year hiatus, California's Slave Unit returns with a new attitude and new album, Through With You. Conceived in 1995 as a solo project of Mike Welch, Slave Unit is one of the innovators of the "Coldwave Sound" that took the world by storm in the early/mid 90s and has continued to progress into the 2000s. Slave Unit's sound strikes you with powerful rhythms, bass-heavy beats, original samples and crunching guitars. Through with You follows Slave Unit's signature formula and stellar tracks like "Typical," "3," and "Euthanize" will not disappoint the coldwave loyalist. Other tracks like "I Don't Care Anymore" and "Lordfly" can crossover into the heavy metal and hard rock genres while "Typical" and "Rep.Resent" dabble in hip-hop. Overall, Through With You was well worth the wait and propels Slave Unit into a force to be reckoned with for the future Listen Here or Buy it Here Stiff Valentine Empire of Illusion Stiff Valentine are back with their 3rd studio album, a concept album, Empire of Illusion. The duo of Chris DeMarcus and Kerry Peterson hit every genre of industrial in the making of this record; rock, punk, heavy metal, EDM, EBM, experimental, and ambient. Empire of Illusion starts with rock and moves into a more and more electronic realm, ending with an epic synthesis of both. Empire of Illusion tells the story of an individual person's interaction with an evolving, mechanized society. It's about how people use technology to give them context and meaning. Stiff Valentine again are joined by Jason Bazinet (SMP/Front Line Assembly), Galen Waling (Left Spine Down/Front line Assembly) on the drums and Empire of Illusions has guest appearances from Eric Powell (16 Volt), Alex King (Black Opz), Gabriel Shaw (Inertia/Imperative Reaction), Steve White (KMFDM), Craig Huxtable (Front Line Assembly/Noise Unit) and Daniel Belasco (Defence Mechanism). Listen Here or Buy it Here Dessau The Truth Hurts Imperial Hotel, and Europe Light are taken from the bands first two EP's Red Languages and Happy Mood. Both EP's were previously released on vinyl only and this is the first time the original versions have been available on CD. The Truth Hurts also features guest appearances from Paul Barker on the tracks Trevethan, Rest My Eyes and Seldom Traveled and guitar work from Richard Patrick on Suffer 16. Rounding out this showcase are live versions of Dessau's first club hit, Isolation, and a live staple for the band, a cover of Joy Division's Ceremony. The Truth Hurts provides just a glimpse of the bands illustrious past and look at what lie ahead. Buy it Here The Truth Hurts is the first release in nearly 15 years from the legendary industrial outfit Dessau. The mastermind of one John Elliott, Dessau has been a major player in shaping the industrial music scene since inception back in 1983. The Truth Hurts is a 17 track retrospective release that contains originals, demos, out-takes and live tracks that span the bands history. Tracks like Red Languages, Crutch of Utility, Unshakeable,, and Europe Light are taken from the bands first two EP's Red Languages and Happy Mood. Both EP's were previously released on vinyl only and this is the first time the original versions have been available on CD. The Truth Hurts also features guest appearances from Paul Barker on the tracks Trevethan, Restand Seldom Traveled and guitar work from Richard Patrick on16. Rounding out this showcase are live versions of Dessau's first club hit, Isolation, and a live staple for the band, a cover of's Ceremony. The Truth Hurts provides just a glimpse of the bands illustrious past and look at what lie ahead. STIFF VALENTINE EMPIRE OF DEATH AM.PSYCH SIDE EFFECT EP KLUTAE ELECTRO PUNKS UNITE DIE SEKTOR (-)EXISTENCE MECHANICAL CABARET BEYOND SCIENCE AND SUPERSTITION STROMKERN DEAD LETTERS EP REIN[FORCED] PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS DEVIANT UK VERY.BAD.THINGS BLUME AUTUMN RUINS THE THOUGHT CRIMINALS DIE YOUNG: STAY PRETTYDonald Trump. Win McNamee The Trump administration is still formulating its policy for the most potentially costly fight coming up on the congressional calendar. Comments from Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office Of Management and Budget, on Thursday laid bare the internal divisions the White House over what to do about raising the debt ceiling. And they send a muddled picture of the Trump administration's approach to the upcoming negotiations. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said the Treasury can continue to make payments on its debt obligations until sometime in September, but he has warned Congress to raise the nation's debt limit sooner rather than later. With a lack of a coherent voice from the White House and a divided Republican majority in Congress, the debt ceiling battle could lead to drastic consequences for the economy. 'We haven't settled on a final way to address the debt ceiling' Two camps have formed in the White House over the debt ceiling issue, based on a review of recent statements from administration officials. On one side is Mulvaney, who has said in interviews that he wants to see cuts in spending to slow debt accumulation as part of legislation to increase the borrowing limit. Top economic adviser Gary Cohn also said in an interview that the White House is open to adding such provisions. On the other side is Mnuchin, who told Congress that he favors a quick and "clean" increase with no strings attached. Trump, for his part, has not taken a public position. He told congressional leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a meeting that Mnuchin is "that guy" for the negotiations. During a congressional hearing Thursday, Mulvaney said the argument is not a "source of division right now in the White House," but he hinted at some disagreement. "The Treasury secretary is in charge of that discussion and in charge of driving that policy debate and certainly the OMB director participates in that debate," Mulvaney said. "It is not at all unusual for OMB director from any party to say that this might be an opportunity for some fiscal reforms. We haven't settled on a final way to address the debt ceiling any more than the Hill has." When asked about the discrepancy between the two sides and which represented the official position of the administration, a White House spokesperson said only that it was important to hike the debt limit "as soon as possible." "In order to meet the government's obligations already authorized by Congress, the Trump Administration believes it is important to raise the debt ceiling as soon as possible," the spokesperson told Business Insider. "Over the past two decades, Democrat and Republican majorities in Congress have raised the debt ceiling 15 times. We are confident that Congress will continue to ensure the full faith and credit of the United States." Amid all the issues on the administration's economic agenda — tax reform, healthcare reform, infrastructure, and keeping the government funded — raising the debt ceiling is the most consequential. A breach of the debt ceiling would be catastrophic for the short-term economic health of the global economy and the long-term standing of the US. Another credit downgrade — like one that came amid a debt-ceiling fight in 2011 — along with a serious increase in borrowing costs for the US and market chaos are all on the table if the debt ceiling is breached and there are no emergency measures to prevent a default. When asked again whether the administration had decided to advocate for a clean hike or spending cuts as part of it, the spokesperson pointed Business Insider to Mulvaney's comments.The official website of the upcoming anime adaptation of The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-Chan has revealed the staff and a new visual. The anime is expected to premiere in 2015. The staff: The original cast from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya series also return: Minori Chihara as Yuki Nagato Tomokazu Sugita as Kyon Natsuko Kuwatani as Ryouko Asakura Yuko Goto as Mikuru Asahina Yuki Matsuoka as Tsuruya-san Taniguchi: Minoru Shiraishi as Taniguchi Megumi Matsumoto as Kunikida Daisuke Ono as Itsuki Koizumi Aya Hirano as Haruhi Suzumiya In addition to this, a new visual was also revealed on the website: Past visuals: The anime adaptation of the spin-off manga was made late last year. Anime store Docomo was revealed to be streaming the upcoming series, as well as the two other spin-off shows in the Haruhi franchise, The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya and Nyoron Churuya-san. The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan is a spin-off manga in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya franchise, where it stars the eponymous character Yuki Nagato. The series takes place in the alternate universe established in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. The series is written and drawn by Puyo, which started in February 2010. To date, the series has a total of 5 volumes with the 6th volume releasing on December 26th this year. There is very little information regarding the anime announcement of The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan, including whether or no Kyoto Animation will produce it. Two other spin-off manga were also produced into anime: The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya and Nyoron Churuya-san. The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan synopsis from Haruhichan: Yuki Nagato, the shy president of the literature club, has never been very sure of herself around other people. But around Kyon, the only boy in the tiny, three-person club, Yuki finds herself faltering even more than usual. For Kyon, and for her precious club, Yuki must find her confidence and let her true personality shine! Enjoy taking a fresh look at your favorite characters in this brand-new story set in the world of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya! Source: The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan Official Website (Visited 807 times, 11 visits today)CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- With the NBA draft rapidly approaching, the Charlotte Bobcats "are getting closer" to making a deal for the No. 2 pick, a source with direct knowledge of the team's draft plans told ESPN.com's Andy Katz. The Cleveland Cavaliers, who covet guard Bradley Beal, have offered the Nos. 4, 24 and 33 picks for the Nos. 2 and 31 selections, a source told ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard. The Cavs are convinced the Washington Wizards will select Beal with the No. 3 pick. They have had discussions about swapping picks with the Bobcats at No. 2 to select Beal, but as of Thursday afternoon they still didn't have a deal, sources told ESPN.com's Chad Ford. If the deal goes through, Charlotte would take Beal at No. 2 for Cleveland and Cleveland would take Thomas Robinson at No. 4 for Charlotte, sources told Katz. The Bobcats were weighing two different trade offers for the pick, a source told Katz on Thursday. Charlotte may choose to keep the pick but must decide whether one of the trade offers addresses a more pressing need, according to the source. Bobcats general manager Rich Cho has stated that it will take "something enticing" for the Bobcats to trade away the pick, although he has not specified what that entails. Bobcats president of basketball operations Rod Higgins and Cho went out of their way at Wednesday's pre-draft news conference to say they're excited about who they might get at No. 2, but the reality is they're still very much open for business. "We've had a ton of interest from across the league in the second pick," said Higgins, who refused to name any potential trade partners. "We wouldn't be doing our jobs if we didn't listen and find alternative ways to try to help our ballclub." They did that Tuesday night via trade. The Bobcats dealt veteran small forward Corey Maggette to the Detroit Pistons for shooting guard Ben Gordon and a future protected first-round draft pick. The first-round pick gives the Bobcats a valuable asset down the road and Gordon gives the team a legitimate outside shooter following a season in which Charlotte finished last in the league in 3-point shooting (29.5 percent).An Amazon Dash button for laundry detergent Pressing this dash button allows you to immediately order detergent as soon as you realize you are running out. Amazon.com, Inc. Amazon Dash is expanding its offerings in ways that have had us thinking. This seemingly unnecessary technology has a lot of potential as it evolves. The best part is that, if Amazon develops it correctly, Dash will only be limited by your own creativity. If you haven’t heard about the “other” Amazon hardware released in the last year, here’s a quick refreshed: Amazon Dash is a single, Wi-Fi enabled button that serves one purpose: to order a single, pre-programmed item from Amazon. It attaches to any surface, and for things like diapers and garbage bags, it’s a slight boost to efficiency for people looking to streamline everything. Take a look at the video: But for a while, some of us read it wrong. Amazon Dash has been met with a lot of skepticism, and that makes sense: It’s hard for people to understand the value of a single piece of hardware designed for a single, simple task. Even the least frugal people would do a double take at the idea of paying $5 to buy a button that buys their coffee. You (and the rest of us) probably asked “Why can’t I just put it on my grocery list? Why can’t I just order it from my phone right then and there? Why both with the button? Why pay for this?” Let’s start right there. It’s not actually $5 per button. You pay $4.99 when you purchase a Dash button, but you’re immediately given a credit for $4.99 in future purchases on that button. So essentially, it’s free. Dash will only be limited by your own creativity. A Dash Button For Your Coffee Starbucks, along with a handful of other companies, has partnered with Amazon to become an early user of the Dash button. Amazon.com, Inc.EXCLUSIVE: Heather Graham (The Hangover) is set for a season-long arc on the upcoming seventh season of Showtime‘s Californication. Additionally, 24 alumna Mary Lynn Rajskub has been tapped for a three-episode arc. Graham will play a woman from Hank’s (David Duchovny) past whose arrival upends his life, while Rajskub will play a neurotic writer. They join another major new Californication recurring, Michael Imperioli. Production on Season 7’s 12 episodes begins later this month for premiere next year. Graham, repped by Gersh and the Schiff Co., will next be seen in the Sony Pictures Classic release At Any Price and will reprise her role in the third Hangover movie. Rajskub, repped by Levity and Innovative Artists, is a regular panelist on Chelsea Lately and will next be seen in the film Toys House.25User Rating: 2 out of 5 Review title of Jared Works But Just Barely The app does a reasonable job once you've found a video to watch and the video is just playing. However, there are a number of bugs and sharp edges that make the app frustrating to use. When I load the queue, videos show up that I never added to my queue and which don't appear on other devices. Loading regularly times out or just fails. Search seems to be an exact word match and is almost impossible to use if you don't already know what you're looking for. Video playback fails and doesn't recover if your phone decided to sleep while you had a video paused. Overall, the quality just isn't there.
into being a celebrity, and quite frankly, he’s can’t conjure up sets like those four future Hall of Famers. But what Casey can do is inspire his team to play hard, and that’s been a constant through thick and thin. If DeRozan moves mountains, Casey is right there with him pounding those rocks. (As an aside: Casey worked in a mine growing up, so he literally moved mountains. Shouts to Chinese idioms.) Casey has been extremely successful in implementing a culture of hard work. You have to take the broader view to appreciate Casey, but unfortunately so much of a coach’s appraisal comes from the minutiae. It’s much easier to slam Casey for a silly play (another iso for DeRozan to win the game? Really??) but it’s easy to overlook how prepared the team is for every game, how hard they play, how little controversy ever goes on, and how everyone is on the same page every year. All of that matters, and now that he’s been paired with the talent to match his hard-nosed style of play, it’s finally coming together for Casey. With all that being said, has Casey done enough to secure his job going forward? That still remains a question to be answered based on what happens in the playoffs. But he’s done a great deal of work to get the Raptors to where they are, and while it isn’t as sexy as drawing up Elevator Doors to free Klay Thompson for a shot, Casey doesn’t get enough credit for everything he does before tip-off. 7. Bismack Biyombo, the monk you can’t punk Ask any Raptors beat reporter and they’ll tell you: Bismack Biyombo is one of the best interviews on the team. As a player, Biyombo is the prototypical hyperathletic rim protector who lacks cogent offensive abilities. He skies for rebounds, he swats shots by the half-dozen, and he gets out of the way on offense. As far as consistency and reliability goes, there’s little-to-no variance. You know what you’re going to get out of Biyombo. As a person, Biyombo is nothing like what he is on the court. There’s still that quiet intensity about the way he carries himself, but he’s largely jovial and playful – save for when he’s meditating. And above all else, he’s wise beyond his years. “It feels like that’s my zone where I can find joy, I can find calmness, I can find happiness,” Biyombo told Eric Koreen of his meditations. “That’s just me. I enjoy it. I know sometimes it’s hard when you try to meditate. Your mind is fighting. Sometimes throughout meditation, you find a way to break down those negative thoughts and try to bring the positive thoughts. That generates a lot of good energy around your body. “There are things that you cannot control — other people. What I can control is having happiness within myself. I can’t control anybody but myself. But I can control myself, what I do, what I think, how I act, how I speak. That I can control.” Like all of us, Biyombo is caught up in the struggle of finding peace and making sense of our place in the universe. But run up on Bis, as the likes of Meyers Leonard, Russell Westbrook and Tyler Hansbrough have this season, and all that goes to the wayside. He’s a warrior who will defend himself and his teammates. “You let the image speak for itself, but one thing is nobody is going to punk me, not where I came from,” Biyombo said of Westbrook after they got into a disagreement early in the season. “You don’t do that to me. I know there are a lot of TVs and, of course, everybody wants to look tough. It’s good to look tough on TV and I respect that about everybody, but you just are not going to punk me. I respect the game. I don’t play to hurt nobody.” Every team could use a Biyombo. We’re lucky to have him. 8. Cory Joseph and rise of Canada Basketball Last summer, when the Raptors signed Anthony Bennett to a minimum deal to fill out the 15-man roster, I screamed favoritism (I actually screamed nepotism but my good friend Dan told me that’s only for family). Here was this undeniable bust who only got a shot at redemption because he was Canadian, and I didn’t like how that played out. Sure enough, Bennett was let go midway through the season in favor of an actually competent NBA player in Jason Thompson. There were similar cries of favoritism in the case of Cory Joseph when he signed an expensive four-year, $30-million deal, but you almost never anything about it now. The difference, obviously, is that Joseph isn’t just the hometown kid from neighbouring Ajax – he’s actually good at his job. Not many players leave the Spurs monastery and become even better, but that’s exactly what Joseph has done. He’s already played a career-high in minutes and he’s proven to be the Raptors’ go-to Sixth Man all season. Joseph is an elite defender who hounds the ball, he can play on or off the ball, he’s an excellent driver who can finish in traffic with either hand, he’s exceeding quick, and he will break your ankles (RIP Brian Roberts). More importantly, Joseph is slowly etching his name into the history books as the first Canadian-born player to make it big with the hometown team. And with all due respect to that one year Jamaal Magloire played, what Joseph is doing actually means something to the incoming wave of Canadian players on the come-up. I got swept up in the idea that the Raptors should only act in the interests of wins and losses, and that’s why I was so upset when they signed Bennett. But for the only franchise north of the 49th, the Raptors have a bit more responsibility to carry. If Vince Carter wearing a dinosaur jersey inspired Andrew Wiggins to pick up a basketball, what would the incoming class of Canadians like Wiggins, Joseph, and likely lottery pick Jamal Murray – Canadian-born kids who are showing out on the stages they dreamed of play on while growing up – what will they inspire? 9. The irreplaceable importance of leadership How lucky are the Raptors to have someone like Masai Ujiri captaining the ship? I won’t go into too much depth with what Ujiri’s done (a full recap here) but he’s the one, along with former MLSE president Tim Leiweke, who built the infrastructure to make this all possible. Ujiri draws endless praise for his team-building, and if you click the link above, I’ve detailed how Ujiri has shrewdly built along the margins to mold the Raptors into one of the healthiest organizations in the league. But what I left out was his charity work with Giants of Africa, and just generally how wonderful of a person he is. On a recent episode of The Vertical Podcast with Adrian Wojnarowski, Ujiri detailed what Nelson Mandela meant to him, how he hopes to move Mandela’s message forward, and how he wants to live a meaningful life by using his influence and abilities to help impoverished children in Africa. Ujiri is a man with a vision and a heart, and those two go hand-in-hand with how he goes about his business. AdvertisementsF-117A Nighthawk The F-117A Nighthawk, the first true stealth aircraft in the world. Nick-named the "Wobbly Gobblin" by it's pilots due to it's ungainly handling characteristics and "Shiba" (Ghost) by Iraqi soldiers in Desert Storm, this aircraft is invisible to all modern and state-of-the-art radars in the world. Some have claimed with extremely advanced radars they've recieved "blips" at close-range, but this is only rumour. This aircraft was developed for the specific purpose of deep interdiction and attacking targets that conventional military aircraft wouldn't be able to reach due to enemy anti-aircraft defenses on the ground and in the air. It has a lazer designator and FLIR sensor which enables the aircraft to use JDAM munitions. Otherwise known as "bunker-busters". These weapons are normally about 2000lbs each, sometimes 1000 for smaller targets. The F-117 was developed during the ending decade of the cold-war. It's first flight was in 1981 but it's existence wasn't made public or acknowledged until many years later. Shortly after, the B-2 Spirit Strategic Intercontinental bomber was flown also. The aircraft is controlled by a fly-by-wire system and an advanced computer system which constantly monitors the aircrafts flight and makes hundreds of tiny adjustments in turn with the pilots inputs to keep the aircraft flying. It's the equivalent of a technological bumble-bee. Not really made to fly. If the computer wasn't there to make the minute adjustments, the pilot would loose control of the aircraft and most likely crash into the ground. Although many of the aircraft's features are still highly classified, we do know it is a subsonic aircraft. This means it can't fly faster than the speed of sound, or "mach" speed. It doesn't really need to, honestly. The sky is a pretty big place, and this plane only flies at night, since it's black. It is also piloted by only the BEST of the United States Airforce, hand-picked personnel who are chosen because of thier inherent abilities and instincts, and thier attitude. These aircraft were used to devastating effect in Desert Storm, attacking everything from heavily defended bunkers to bridges, canals, AA emplacements, factories and large masses of troops and armoured columns. The aircraft traditionally is only employed to attack "hardened" targets deep in enemy territory, normally not accessible by any other means. Alone, in the night they go, undetected and drop thier bombs. No support, no backup, no escape except thier invisibility. Some high-resolution pictures for you, might take time to load if you have dial-up or slow connection. The F-117A Nighthawk Destructive capability of the F-117A armed with "JDAM" weaponry B-2 Spirit in the forefront, F-117A's in the rearEven though bitcoin was initially thought of as a totally anonymous cruptocurrency, blockchain analysis and internet traffic tracing have made it possible to identify the origin of a large number of bitcoin transactions, but is it possible to trace back and identify the IP address of the individual sending a bitcoin transaction under all circumstances? Do blockchain analysis and internet traffic tracing techniques always work? A recently published paper attempted to answer this question via critically analyzing research studies that delved into the anonymity of bitcoin transactions, in order to measure the feasibility of tracing back illicit bitcoin transactions to their senders’ real life identities by law enforcement agencies. Research Design: The paper was designed to follow on the approach adopted by Reid and Harrigan (2013), throughout their paper titled “An Analysis of Anonymity in the Bitcoin System”, in determining if personal identification info could be collated with external data sources of data to pinpoint the location of individual users. The study did not only undergo a thorough literature review, regarding the anonymity of bitcoin users and the potential ability to trace back transactions via blockchain analysis, but it also examined four bitcoin exchanges to check if the info provided during the sign-up procedure is sufficient and reliable enough for verification. As such, the study examined the ability of law enforcement agencies to rely on such info when attempting to prosecute users sending and/or receiving illicit bitcoin transactions. Moreover, via submission of fake verification info, the researchers examined the plausibility of bitcoin exchanges accepting illegitimate or fraudulent info. Can All Bitcoin Transactions Be Traced Back To Their Senders’ Real Life Identities? The results of this study are very interesting. It is non-arguably possible to identify and prosecute illicit actors via transaction analysis tracing back to transactions linked to a bitcoin exchange. Nevertheless, compliance and strictness of implementation of AML (Anti-money laundering) legislation and the security standards of customer identification procedures are insufficiently deployed within the context of some bitcoin exchanges which opens the door to tech savvy, well funded, criminal actors to bypass identification control procedures and get involved in bitcoin transactions without having to reveal their real identities. Full compliance with know-your-customer KYC and due diligence regulations is mandatory if law enforcement agencies are to be able to precisely depend on information obtained by a bitcoin exchange. The paper highlighted the need for investigating the means via which criminals overcome identity control and thus, finance their illegal activities. The researchers managed to use fraudulent identity info to create accounts and engage in bitcoin transactions on 2 bitcoin exchanges (the researchers did not point out exactly the names of these two exchanges). More importantly, even though bitcoin transactions can be theoretically traced back and linked to the real world’s identity of the senders; this is not practically possible in 100% of cases, especially that monitoring of transactions is not possible in real time; instead, blockchain analysis and internet traffic monitoring takes place in a retrospective manner. The paper concluded that it highly depends on bitcoin exchanges to implement more strict identification procedures to increase the percentage of bitcoin transactions that could be traced back to their original real life senders.27 of 32 Rich Schultz/Getty Images Last Week: 3 This Week: 6 Change: -3 Before you hurl rotten vegetables at your computer screen and wonder how a team that's still undefeated can fall three spots, please realize this descent has little to do with what the Dallas Cowboys are right now. Rather, it's tied to what they could quickly become. Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo broke his collarbone during a win over the Philadelphia Eagles. It's the same injury he suffered in 2010, and that resulted in his season ending after only six games. This time the break has come early enough that Romo will return. But the Cowboys are still facing the depression of calling Brandon Weeden their quarterback for at least two months. That's Romo's estimated recovery time, as reported by CBSSports.com's Jason La Canfora. But of course, it gets worse for the Cowboys, as normally we would be able to say something like, "Relax, because a receiver like Dez Bryant can put an offense on his back for a few months." Yeah, about that. Bryant is out too, and exactly how long he'll be sidelined is a matter of which report you'd like to believe. The latest came from NFL Network's Ian Rapoport Sunday morning when he reported Bryant's foot surgery will required a bone graft, which increases the likelihood he'll sit for 10 to 12 weeks. So after deciding not to retain running back DeMarco Murray this offseason, the Cowboys are likely facing a two-month stretch in which they'll also be without both Romo and Bryant. Oh, and that's not it, as tight end Jason Witten suffered two sprained ankles and a sprained knee in Sunday's win. Any absence for Witten would be crippling. In the latest reminder that football players aren't actually from this planet, Witten told Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post his injuries were "just some bumps and bruises." Injuries happen, sure, because football can sort of suck like that. But the Cowboys' injuries are the kind that can derail a season fast.Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have remedied a cryptographic weakness in their email systems that could allow an attacker to create a spoofed message that passes a mathematical security verification. The weakness affects DKIM, or DomainKeys Identified Mail, a security system used by major email senders. DKIM wraps a cryptographic signature around an email that verifies the domain name through which the message was sent, which helps more easily filter out spoofed messages from legitimate ones. The problem lies with signing keys that are less than 1,024 bits, which can be factored due to increasing computer power. US-CERT said in an advisory issued Wednesday that signing keys less than 1,024 bits are weak, and that keys up to RSA-768 bits have been factored. The issue came to light after Florida-based mathematician Zachary Harris was sent an email from a Google recruiter that used only a 512-bit key, according to a report published Wednesday by Wired magazine. Thinking it might be some clever test by Google, he factored the key, then used it to send a spoofed message from Sergey Brin to Larry Page, Google's founders. It wasn't a test but in fact a serious problem, one in which emails that could be bogus would be trusted. According to the DKIM standard, email messages that have keys shorter that 1,024 bits are not necessarily rejected. Harris found the problem wasn't limited to Google, but also Microsoft and Yahoo, all of whom appeared to have fixed the issue as of two days ago, according to US-CERT. Harris told Wired he found either 512-bit or 768-bit keys in use at PayPal, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, Apple, Dell, LinkedIn, Twitter, SBCGlobal, US Bank, HP, Match.com and HSBC. Weak signing keys are a boon for cybercriminals. They selectively target people with emails containing malicious links in an attempt to exploit a computer's software and install malware, a style of attack known as spear phishing. If an email contains the correct DKIM signature, it's more likely to end up in a recipient's inbox. US-CERT also warned of another problem. The DKIM specification allows a sender to flag that it is testing DKIM in messages. Some recipients will "accept DKIM messages in testing mode when the messages should be treated as if they were not DKIM signed," US-CERT said. Send news tips and comments to [email protected]. Follow me on Twitter: @jeremy_kirkA Teenager In The 1950s, Extreme Sledding For The Air Force Enlarge this image toggle caption Courtesy of Alton Yates Courtesy of Alton Yates In the mid-1950s, Alton Yates was preparing to graduate from high school. His mother had recently passed away, and his father was struggling to raise seven kids on his own. "I knew that as soon as I finished high school I was going to have to help with taking care of the family," Yates tells his daughter, Toni, on a visit to StoryCorps in Jacksonville, Fla. Enlarge this image toggle caption Courtesy of Alton Yates Courtesy of Alton Yates Most of the jobs available to him wouldn't pay well, so he decided to join the Air Force. They were looking for volunteers to help test the effects of space travel on the human body. "I became one of the human guinea pigs who rode high-speed rocket sleds," Yates says. It may sound like fun, but it was not easy work by any means. "When the sled took off, it was almost as if everything in your body was being forced out through your back. And then when it stopped, it was like driving an automobile at a hundred miles an hour and running into a stone wall," Yates tells his daughter. He did this more than 65 times. "Did your dad know what you were doing?" Toni asks. "He didn't know initially, but Ebony magazine published an article that showed pictures of some of these rocket sleds that I had been riding. When my dad got a copy of that magazine, he took that thing everywhere he went," Alton says. "I think just to make my father proud of me was something that I always wanted to do." Audio produced for Morning Edition by Michael Garofalo and Jud Esty-Kendall.The Rays announced that they have re-signed reliever Joel Peralta to a two-year contract. The deal guarantees the 36-year-old $6MM and includes a series of club options covering the 2015-17 seasons. Agent Mark Gilling represents the right-hander, who will be welcomed back to Tampa Bay. “We love Joel’s competitiveness and the impact he has on the younger pitchers in our bullpen,” executive VP of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said in a team statement. Peralta appeared in 76 games for the Rays this past season. He posted a 3.63 ERA with 11.3 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 in 67 innings, setting career highs in strikeouts (84) and strikeout rate. Peralta ranked 38th on MLBTR's list of top 50 free agents. At the end of the season he expressed interest in re-signing with Tampa Bay if possible. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times first reported the news, adding that the 2015 option was valued at $2.5MM.A D.C. police detective was gunned down by his 27-year-old stepson in “an execution” after asking him for help with yard work, according to Prince George’s County police, who were searching for the suspect Tuesday. Officials were widening their search for Antwan Rayvon James, a former D.C. firefighter who they said was captured on surveillance camera fatally shooting his stepfather, Detective Joseph B. Newell, 46, outside their Upper Marlboro home. “It was an execution,” Prince George’s County Assistant Police Chief Kevin Davis said of the killing. Detective Newell, who investigated gun-related violence and assaults in the Metropolitan Police Department’s 6th District, was shot Monday evening after asking Mr. James for help with yard work. “The shooter in this case, the stepson, James, didn’t like it and shot and killed his stepfather,” Chief Davis said. “It’s as simple and as tragic as that.” The 23-year department veteran was shot in the back as he stood on a stepladder in front of his home, trying to screw in a light bulb above his garage. After he was shot, he toppled to the ground and his stepson stood over him and fired several more rounds, Chief Davis said. Police called for a barricade around the home in the 6700 block of Green Moss Drive, believing Mr. James might still be inside. After searching the home early Tuesday, they concluded he was no longer there. County police officials said Tuesday that the department’s K-9 team and other specialized units were searching for Mr. James but gave no indication of where he might have fled. Mr. James is believed to be armed with a gun and dangerous, police said. “If James is listening, the best thing that he can do is to turn himself in,” said D.C. police Assistant Chief Peter Newsham, who joined the county police at a news conference. Chief Newsham described Detective Newell as an “excellent detective” and “a good friend” with whom he used to play basketball. “He worked in one of our more-challenging districts and had some tougher assignments over there,” he said. “There’s a lot of people in the Metropolitan Police Department who were out there last night who were very upset.” Police said Mr. James is a former D.C. firefighter who was fired from his job last year and had been living with his stepfather and other family members. The D.C. Department of Human Resources confirmed that Mr. James worked as a firefighter assigned to Engine 26 from 2007 through August 2012 but said he was not fired, but resigned. Mr. James was convicted of second-degree assault in Prince George’s County Circuit Court in March 2012 and received probation before judgment, online court records show. It was unclear whether that incident had anything to do with leaving his job with the D.C. fire department. Last month, a warrant was issued for his arrest after a violation of probation in the case. Maryland court records list Mr. James as living in Northeast D.C. A phone number for the home was disconnected Tuesday and no one could be reached at the Upper Marlboro home. Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.VMware has confirmed a leak of source code from the ESX hypervisor. The code was posted on Pastebin on April 8 by a hacker calling himself "Hardcore Charlie." VMware confirmed the theft yesterday, and said there is a "possibility that more files may be posted in the future." The good news is that the code dates from 2003 to 2004. While VMware ESX is still heavily used, VMware is shifting customers to a newer hypervisor called ESXi, which has a smaller attack surface and is designed to be more secure. "The fact that the source code may have been publicly shared does not necessarily mean that there is any increased risk to VMware customers," the company said. "VMware proactively shares its source code and interfaces with other industry participants to enable the broad virtualization ecosystem today. We take customer security seriously and have engaged internal and external resources, including our VMware Security Response Center, to thoroughly investigate. We will continue to provide updates to the VMware community if and when additional information is available." The Kaspersky Lab ThreatPost blog somewhat over-dramatically called the incident the "IT equivalent of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster." This VMware source code reportedly was stolen from Chinese military contractor CEIEC, the China National Electronics Import-Export Corporation. VMware code wasn't the only target. Although the VMware connection wasn’t verified until yesterday, the hacker Hardcore Charlie told Reuters earlier this month that he hacked into CEIEC seeking information on the US military campaign in Afghanistan, and also that he was a friend of Hector Monsegur, the LulzSec leader who was caught by the FBI and pleaded guilty to criminal hacking charges.PORT ALBERNI — The bodies of six poached elk have been found near Port Alberni, with the most recent discovered last week in the wilderness east of the Alberni Inlet. The most recent one was “the last known mature bull of its herd,” according to the Ha-Shilth-Sa newspaper published by the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. Since early November, six elk have been found illegally killed in the Nuu-chah-nulth’s traditional territory, spread across a large area east of the Alberni Inlet between Bamfield and Port Alberni. Carcasses have also been found at Museum Main, Darling Main and Coleman Main roads. The flesh was stripped from the animals, leading conservation officers to suspect the meat is being sold on the black market. A dead female was found Dec. 28 in the Klanawa Valley with its two front legs removed. Although the province’s wildlife authority permits First Nations to hunt Roosevelt elk on Vancouver Island, the six recent kills have all been deemed illegal. Steve Ackles, of the B.C. Conservation Officer Service, said the herds affected by the poaching are not healthy enough to sustain even limited harvests. “Any pressure … other than the natural pressures is hard on them,” Ackles said. Representatives from the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, a government body serving 14 First Nations, met with provincial conservation officers in Port Alberni last week to discuss the ongoing poaching. “Our nations are committed to finding those who are guilty of such crimes, regardless of who they are, and having them charged and convicted,” said Nuu-chah-nulth vice-president Ken Watts. In December 2013, the tribal council posted a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest after elk were killed illegally in its territory. The reward has since grown to more than $30,000. “That reward remains in effect,” stated an article in the Ha-Shilth-Sa. Ackles said the conservation service has not identified any suspects in the poaching incidents. “Last year, the reward did generate a lot of tips. Unfortunately, not many of those tips were of much use to us,” he said. Ackles encourages anyone with information to call the Report All Poachers and Polluters hotline at 1-877-952-7277. Callers can remain anonymous, but tips need to be specific to assist investigations, he said. © Copyright Times ColonistPhoto: Paramount/Everett Collection Of the many Trump-blasting retorts Of the many Trump-blasting retorts Hillary Clinton delivered during last night’s presidential debate, the one that drew that most gleeful response from the type-A women in my life was the one designed to address a persistent critique of Clinton — her so-called overpreparation — and rebrand it as a strength: “I think Donald just criticized me for preparing for this debate. And, yes, I did,” Clinton said, turning to look at him. “And you know what else I prepared for? I prepared to be president, and I think that’s a good thing.” Somewhere, fictional high-school honor-roll student Tracy Flick was beaming. Tracy Flick, the teenage headband-wearing protagonist of 1999’s Election, remains the fictional character most frequently Tracy Flick, the teenage headband-wearing protagonist of 1999’sElection, associated with Hillary Clinton — even though the movie is nearly as old as today’s youngest voters. Directed by Alexander Payne and based on a 1998 novel by Tom Perrotta, Election depicts a high-school civics teacher’s descent into madness as he tries to thwart a reviled overachiever’s ascent to the student-council presidency. Matthew Broderick, who earned infamy as high-school slacker icon Ferris Bueller, played the teacher, Jim McAllister. And in a performance that defined public perception of her for years, Reese Witherspoon played Tracy Flick, “the ambitious, cutthroat know-it-all who sits in the front row and raises her hand a little too often.” When McAllister realizes that Flick is running for student president uncontested, he recruits popular-but-ignorant jock Paul Metzler to run against her. As McAllister spirals into a full-blown midlife crisis marked by his psychosexual obsession with Flick, the tightly wound Tracy also unravels. At her nadir, Tracy tears down a wall of campaign posters. At his nadir, McAllister rigs the election against Tracy — and manipulates his announcement of the fraudulent results to maximize her humiliation. Tracy Flick has long been viewed as an homage to Hillary in the ’90s — they have the same blonde bobs, jutting chins, and feminist gumption. (Tracy’s single mother has one hobby: writing letters to female leaders and political wives for advice on raising her daughter.) The comparison is so deeply ingrained that, when asked whether she would ever play Hillary, Election ’s portrayal of a chronically emasculated teacher’s campaign to destroy his most talented female student was darkly comedic. Today, with a dick-obsessed demagogue unleashing vitriol toward the most ambitious woman in American history, Election is downright brutal. Tracy Flick has long been viewed as an homage to Hillary in the ’90s — they have the same blonde bobs, jutting chins, and feminist gumption. (Tracy’s single mother has one hobby: writing letters to female leaders and political wives for advice on raising her daughter.) The comparison is so deeply ingrained that, when asked whether she would ever play Hillary, Reese Witherspoon said she already had — and that she discussed the role with Hillary when they met. Over the years, critics have debated the relative accuracies — and sexist cruelties — of likening Clinton to Flick. But when I rewatched the movie last week, the most blistering commentary wasn’t about Hillary so much as the people who hate her. Seventeen years ago,Election’s portrayal of a chronically emasculated teacher’s campaign to destroy his most talented female student was darkly comedic. Today, with a dick-obsessed demagogue unleashing vitriol toward the most ambitious woman in American history,Electionis downright brutal. Perrotta’s novel hit shelves shortly after the Lewinsky scandal broke — which means, though similarities between Tracy and Hillary were likely intentional, echoes of Monica Lewinsky may have been an eerie stroke of luck. If Hillary Clinton is Tracy Flick’s destiny, then Monica Lewinsky is her origin. At the beginning of the film version of Election, McAllister and Flick take turns describing the straight-A student in voice-overs. “Some people think I’m an overachiever, but I think they’re just jealous,” Tracy says as a series of clips show her starring in the school musical, leading the yearbook staff, and leading a litany of student clubs. Then McAllister interrupts: “There’s one more thing you should know about Tracy.” Cut to a middle-aged man growling straight to the camera: “Her pussy gets so wet, you can’t believe it.” Story continued below Story continued below The middle-aged perv in question is McAllister’s best friend, a teacher named Novotny, who takes Tracy out to pizza, asks her if she’s lonely, and says he’s found her “attractive” since she was in the ninth grade. It’s to Payne’s credit that Tracy is far more than a two-dimensional victim — after Novotny lures the fatherless Tracy with every sleazy-older-guy cliché, she turns the tables, dumps him, and leaves him crying about love as he loses his job. McAllister’s anxiety about Tracy, then, is equal parts Hillary-hate and Monica-fear: He resents and is repulsed by her ambition, but he also harbors sexual fantasies about her and sees her as a dangerous temptress. She is, as the Atlantic ’s Megan Garber once described, “ The middle-aged perv in question is McAllister’s best friend, a teacher named Novotny, who takes Tracy out to pizza, asks her if she’s lonely, and says he’s found her “attractive” since she was in the ninth grade. It’s to Payne’s credit that Tracy is far more than a two-dimensional victim — after Novotny lures the fatherless Tracy with every sleazy-older-guy cliché, she turns the tables, dumps him, and leaves him crying about love as he loses his job. McAllister’s anxiety about Tracy, then, is equal parts Hillary-hate and Monica-fear: He resents and is repulsed by her ambition, but he also harbors sexual fantasies about her and sees her as a dangerous temptress. She is, as the’s Megan Garber once described, “ manic pixie scheme girl,” simultaneously sexually repulsive and sexually irresistible to those who project their fears onto her. Back when news of Monica’s affair with Bill Clinton broke, some observers sought to paint Monica as a precocious temptress by pointing to Back when news of Monica’s affair with Bill Clinton broke, some observers sought to paint Monica as a precocious temptress by pointing to an affair she had (at age 19) with a married teacher from her high school. It’s almost incomprehensible to me that, in 1998, onlookers interpreted that affair as evidence of serial home-wrecking — when all I see, in 2016, is a young woman who fell into a series of unhealthy sexual power dynamics with men who were supposed to be her role models. Likewise, Tracy Flick’s primary offense is her ability to thrive despite various male authority figures’ best attempts to thwart her. The character never exactly comes across as a victim— nor does she seem to view herself that way — but in retrospect, I don’t think I was primed to see her that way until more recently. When I watched the movie in previous years, I responded to the comedic value of Reese Witherspoon’s tightly wound and grimly crazed performance. It wasn’t until this year that I picked up on the brief, but heartbreaking, moments depicting the idealistic teenager’s wounded confusion when she does everything she is supposed to do, but discovers that everyone hates her anyway. If my memory didn’t fully do justice to Election ’s portrayal of chauvinism, then it completely erased the film’s portrayal of classism. Enduring a classroom snub from Mr. McAllister, Tracy’s face registers disappointment — until she comforts herself with a condescending rant. “Now that I have more life experience, I feel sorry for Mr. McAllister,” she reflects in a smug voice-over. “I mean, anyone who’s stuck in the same little room, wearing the same stupid clothes, saying the exact same things year after year for all of his life, while his students go on to good colleges and move to big cities and do great things and make loads of money — he’s gotta be at least a little jealous. It’s like my mom says, the weak are always trying to sabotage the strong.” This is, essentially, a very rude and ham-fisted attempt to articulate the kind of anxieties that analysts cite to explain Trump’s rise. McAllister is afraid that “people like Tracy” will rise up to take over the Establishment — while people like himself toil in obscurity. He wouldn’t feel bad about his place in the hierarchy, were it not for people whom he views as less-deserving displacing him — people like Tracy, the only daughter of a single mother, who comes to symbolize female ambition. Likewise, Trump and his followers worry about ascendant outsiders: immigrants, competing nations, women who “play the woman card.” Story continued below Story continued below With Tracy Flick’s problems providing such an easy foil for Hillary’s, it’s tempting to draw parallels between Donald Trump and ignorant jock Paul Metzler. (“I know what it is to win,” Paul announces, to thunderous applause, at a rally in Carver High School’s gymnasium.) But I’d actually argue that the most Trumpian character in Election is thrilling, magnetic anti-heroine Tammy Metzler, who launches a nihilistic presidential campaign solely to antagonize her brother, who unknowingly stole Tammy’s girlfriend. “She’s not qualified! She’s a sophomore!” Tracy screams when Tammy throws her hat in the ring, expressing a kind of indignant disbelief that the political Establishment still routinely expresses about Trump. After Paul delivers his campaign speech about winning — and Tracy delivers a traditional stump speech quoting Thoreau — Tammy takes the dais and, after enduring a wave of taunts, delivers this barn-burner: Who cares about this stupid election? We all know it doesn’t matter who gets elected president of Carver. Do you really think it’s gonna change anything around her? Make one single person smarter or happier or nicer? The only person it does matter to is the one who gets elected. The same pathetic charade happens every year and everyone makes the same pathetic promises just so they can put it on their transcripts. So vote for me, because I don’t even want to go to college! I don’t care! I don’t even want to be president. The only promise I’ll make is that as president I’ll immediately dismantle the student government so that none of us will ever have to sit through one of these stupid assemblies again! As Carver High erupts with cheers, Tammy shouts: “Or don’t vote for me! Who cares? Don’t vote at all!” This, of course, bears no resemblance to the actual Donald Trump, who cares deeply about how others regard him, how they vote, and whom they like. But her nihilistic exasperation seems to share DNA with various
, a farmer, and Lizzie Mae Rush. The Tippit and Rush families were of English ancestry, their ancestors having immigrated to Virginia from England by 1635. It is sometimes reported that J.D. stood for "Jefferson Davis", but in fact, the letters did not stand for anything in particular. Tippit attended public schools through the tenth grade and was raised as a Baptist. He entered the United States Army on July 21, 1944, and was assigned to the 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the US 17th Airborne Division. He saw combat in Operation Varsity, the airborne crossing of the Rhine River in March 1945, earning a Bronze Star, and remained on active duty until June 20, 1946. Tippit was married to Marie Frances Gasway on December 26, 1946, and the couple had three children (whose ages were 14, 10, and 5 at the time of his death.[3]) That same year, he went to work for the Dearborn Stove Company. He next worked for Sears, Roebuck and Company in the installation department from March 1948 to September 1949, when he moved to Lone Star, Texas, and attempted cattle raising. Tippit attended a Veterans Administration vocational training school at Bogata, Texas, from January 1950 until June 1952. He was then hired by the Dallas Police Department as a patrolman on July 28, 1952. Officer Tippit served capably and was cited for bravery in 1956 for his role in disarming a fugitive. At the time of his death, Tippit was assigned to Dallas Police vehicle #10, had badge #848 and was earning a salary of $5,880 a year as a Dallas police officer. He was also working two other part-time jobs. Murder and investigation On November 22, 1963, J.D. Tippit was working beat number 78, his normal patrol area in south Oak Cliff, a residential area of Dallas. At 12:45 p.m., 15 minutes after the President's assassination, Tippit received a radio order to move to the central Oak Cliff area as part of a concentration of police around the center of the city. At 12:54 Tippit radioed that he had moved as directed. By then several messages had been broadcast describing a suspect in the Kennedy assassination as a slender white male, about 30 years old, 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall, and weighing about 165 pounds (75 kg). According to the Warren Commission, at approximately 1:11–1:14 p.m., Tippit was driving slowly eastward on East 10th Street when — about 100 feet (30 m) past the intersection of 10th Street and Patton Avenue — he pulled alongside a man who resembled the broadcast description of Lee Harvey Oswald. The man walked over to Tippit's car and apparently exchanged words with him through an open vent window. Tippit opened his car door and as he walked toward the front of the car, the man drew a handgun and fired three shots in rapid succession, all three bullets hitting Tippit in the chest. The man then walked up to Tippit's fallen body and fired a fourth shot directly into his head, fatally wounding him. Tippit was dead before any help could arrive and Oswald was later arrested after “acting suspiciously” in the Texas Theatre. The Warren Commission identified twelve people who witnessed the shooting, or its aftermath. Domingo Benavides saw Tippit standing by the left door of his parked police car, and a man standing on the right side of the car. He then heard shots and saw Tippit fall to the ground. Benavides stopped his pickup truck on the opposite side of the street from Tippit's car. He observed the shooter fleeing the scene and removing spent cartridge cases from his gun as he left. Benavides waited in his truck until the gunman disappeared before assisting Tippit. He then reported the shooting to police headquarters, using the radio in Tippit's car. Helen Markham witnessed the shooting and then saw a man with a gun in his hand leave the scene. Markham identified Lee Harvey Oswald as Tippit’s killer in a police lineup she viewed that evening. Barbara Davis and her sister-in-law Virginia Davis heard the shots and saw a man crossing their lawn, shaking his revolver, as if he were emptying it of cartridge cases. Later, the women found two cartridge cases near the crime scene and handed the cases over to police. That evening, Barbara Davis and Virginia Davis were taken to a lineup and both Davises picked out Oswald as the man whom they had seen. Taxicab driver William Scoggins testified that he saw Tippit's police car pull up alongside a man on the sidewalk, as he his sat in his taxicab nearby. Scoggins heard three or four shots and then saw Tippit fall to the ground. As Scoggins crouched behind his cab, the man passed within twelve feet of him, pistol in hand, muttering what sounded to him like, "poor dumb cop" or "poor damn cop." The next day, Scoggins viewed a police lineup and identified Oswald as the man whom he had seen with the pistol. The Commission also named several other witnesses who were not at the scene of the murder, but who claimed to have seen a man they later identified as Oswald running between the murder scene and the Texas Theater, where Oswald was subsequently arrested. Four cartridge cases were found at the scene by eyewitnesses. It was the unanimous testimony of expert witnesses before the Warren Commission that these spent cartridge cases were fired from the revolver in Oswald's possession to the exclusion of all other weapons. In 1979, the House Select Committee on Assassinations reported: "Based on Oswald's possession of the murder weapon a short time after the murder and the eyewitness identifications of Oswald as the gunman, the committee concluded that Oswald shot and killed Officer Tippit." Dissenting theories Some researchers have alleged that the murder of Officer Tippit was part of a conspiracy to kill President Kennedy. Jim Marrs hypothesized that "the slaying of Officer J. D. Tippit may have played some part in [a] scheme to have Oswald killed, perhaps to eliminate co-conspirator Tippit or simply to anger Dallas police and cause itchy trigger fingers." Researcher James Douglass said that "...the killing of [Tippit] helped motivate the Dallas police to kill an armed Oswald in the Texas Theater, which would have disposed of the scapegoat before he could protest his being framed." Harold Weisberg offered a simpler explanation: "Immediately, the [flimsy] police case [against Oswald] required a willingness to believe. This was proved by affixing to Oswald the opprobrious epithet of 'cop-killer.'" Jim Garrison alleged that evidence was altered to frame Oswald, stating: "If Oswald was innocent of the Tippit murder the foundation of the government's case against him collapsed." Some critics doubt that Tippit was killed by Oswald and assert he was shot by other conspirators. They allege discrepancies in witness testimony and physical evidence which they feel calls into question the Commission's conclusions regarding the murder of Tippit. According to Jim Marrs, Oswald's guilt in the assassination of Kennedy is placed in question by the presence of "a growing body of evidence to suggest that [he] did not kill Tippit". Others say that multiple men were directly involved in Tippit's killing. Conspiracy researcher Kenn Thomas has alleged that the Warren Commission omitted testimony and evidence that two men shot Tippit and that one left the scene in a car. Aftermath On the evening of the assassination, both Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and the new President, Lyndon B. Johnson, called Tippit's widow to express their sympathies. Jacqueline Kennedy wrote a letter expressing sorrow for the bond they shared. The plight of Tippit's family also moved much of the nation and a total of $647,579 ($4.5 million in 2009) was donated to them following the assassination. One of the largest individual gifts was the $25,000 ($176,600 in 2009) that Abraham Zapruder donated after selling his film of the assassination. A funeral service for J.D. Tippit was held on November 25, 1963, at the Beckley Hills Baptist Church, with the burial following at Laurel Land Memorial Park in Dallas. His funeral occurred on the same day as those of both Kennedy and Oswald. In January 1964, Tippit was posthumously awarded the Medal of Valor from the American Police Hall of Fame, and he also received the Police Medal of Honor, the Police Cross, and the Citizens Traffic Commission Award of Heroism. A memorial to Officer Tippit was unveiled November 20, 2012 at the corner where the shooting occurred (10th and Patton Streets, Dallas, TX). Tippit's widow married Dallas police lieutenant Harry Dean Thomas in January 1967. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._D._TippitThe Army will award the Purple Heart to victims of the deadly 2009 shooting at Fort Hood in Texas, after Congress approved a measure expanding eligibility for the award. Thirteen people were killed and over 30 were wounded in Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s attack. The victims and their families fought for years to receive the Purple Heart and its benefits but were denied because of a debate over whether the shooting met the legal requirement to be considered an act of terror. “Now that Congress has changed the criteria, we believe there is sufficient reason to allow these men and women to be awarded and recognized with either the Purple Heart or, in the case of civilians, the Defense of Freedom Medal,” the Army secretary, John M. McHugh, said in a statement announcing the decision. “It’s an appropriate recognition of their service and sacrifice.” Until Friday, officials referred to the shooting at the base as “workplace violence,” not terrorism.Last week, I had the privilege of giving attendees at the Microsoft event, BUILD 2012, a sneak peek at an unreleased Kinect for Windows tool: Kinect Fusion. Kinect Fusion was first developed as a research project at the Microsoft Research lab in Cambridge, U.K. As soon as the Kinect for Windows community saw it, they began asking us to include it in our SDK. Now, I’m happy to report that the Kinect for Windows team is, indeed, working on incorporating it and will have it available in a future release. In this Kinect Fusion demonstration, a 3-D model of a home office is being created by capturing multiple views of the room and the objects on and around the desk. This tool has many practical applications, including 3-D printing, digital design, augmented reality, and gaming. Kinect Fusion reconstructs a 3-D model of an object or environment by combining a continuous stream of data from the Kinect for Windows sensor. It allows you to capture information about the object or environment being scanned that isn’t viewable from any one perspective. This can be accomplished either by moving the sensor around an object or environment or by moving the object being scanned in front of the sensor. Kinect Fusion takes the incoming depth data from the Kinect for Windows sensor and uses the sequence of frames to build a highly detailed 3-D map of objects or environments. The tool then averages the readings over hundreds or thousands of frames to achieve more detail than would be possible from just one reading. This allows Kinect Fusion to gather and incorporate data not viewable from any single view point. Among other things, it enables 3-D object model reconstruction, 3-D augmented reality, and 3-D measurements. You can imagine the multitude of business scenarios where these would be useful, including 3-D printing, industrial design, body scanning, augmented reality, and gaming. We look forward to seeing how our developer community and business partners will use the tool. Chris White Senior Program Manager, Kinect for Windows Key LinksA world war that only one side acknowledges is being waged. “Suspected Islamist militant kills five in Kazakhstan,” by Mariya Gordeyeva and Olzhas Auyezov, Reuters, July 18, 2016 (thanks to Cecilia): A lone gunman with Islamist links killed at least three policemen and two civilians in Kazakhstan’s financial capital Almaty on Monday, senior security officials said, the second such attack in less than two months. Police detained the attacker, identified as 26-year-old Ruslan Kulikbayev, in a shootout on a busy central street after he had gone on the rampage, attacking a police station and an office belonging to the KNB security service. Kulikbayev had been imprisoned before for robbery and illegally possessing weapons and had “became close to Salafists” in prison, KNB security service head Vladimir Zhumakanov told a Security Council meeting. Salafists adhere to an ultra-conservative form of Islam. The shootings will stoke fears of a growing Islamist threat to the oil-producing nation of 18 million people. Last month, men the authorities said were Islamic State sympathizers attacked gun stores and a military facility, killing seven. Thousands of nationals from Central Asian nations are known to be fighting alongside Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, and the authorities have long warned they could return and carry out attacks on home soil….It's been a month since Wellington-Halton Hills MP Michael Chong lost the Conservative leadership candidacy to Andrew Scheer, time Chong has spent back at home in his riding and working the family farm in Centre Wellington, north of Guelph, Ont. "The first thing that went through my mind was that I'll have the summer ahead of me to spend with Carrie and the three boys," Chong told Craig Norris, host of CBC Kitchener-Waterloo's The Morning Edition. "The last year's been very busy — in fact it's been almost two years since I've really spent any amount of time at home." said Chong, pointing to the election in 2015 and then his party's leadership race. Keep the status quo The past month has also given him a chance to reflect on the leadership race, with Chong now saying he's not surprised he didn't win the nomination, or that it took so many ballots to reach the final decision. "It wasn't like a leadership race with two or three people where it's clear there was going to be one or two front-runner candidates. This was really wide open. So we weren't surprised with the results." He said he feels the party membership voted to keep the status quo. "They voted to continue with the style of Mr. Harper. Maxime Bernier and myself represented real change, significant change, and sometimes it takes awhile for parties to change direction." Policy change takes time Despite the membership vote to continue in the same direction, Chong said he feels the party will eventually need to debate how the Conservatives deal with issues like environmental pricing. Though it may not be traditionally "conservative" policy, Chong predicts the time will come when the idea is more palatable. "For over 100 years, the Conservative Party of Canada was resolutely anti free trade. And in the 1983 leadership race John Crosby was the only candidate to propose that the party change its position and adopt a pro free trade position." said Chong. "Well that was rejected by the party, but five years later the party eventually came around to that idea and embraced free trade. The 1988 election was fought on that and the party's never looked back. "So sometimes these things take time."With the new Mac Pro capable of powering three 4k displays, new MacBook Pros with Thunderbolt 2 and 4K HDMI 1.4 in many hands and Apple taking its sweet time to release its own monitor, an affordable 4k display is something many people are searching out right now. ASUS, at the Consumer Electronics Show, has just unveiled a new 28-inch 4k monitor that will retail for just $799. Currently, ASUS’ 31.5-inch 4k offering comes in at over $3,000, and while the price difference between the two is major, there doesn’t appear to be a gap in features (via Engadget). ASUS’s 28-inch 4k monitor will pack a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160, just like its larger sibling. As far as ports go, we’re looking at one DisplayPort and one MHL-capable HDMI port. The monitor has a fully rotatable design, as well as a quick 1ms response time. Sylvania HomeKit Light Strip Seiki has also announced a new 4k monitor option. We reviewed the company’s 39-inch model last month and were very fond of it, especially its affordable price. We even told you how to build a Hackintosh capable of powering it. Now, Seiki says its new 28-inch monitor will be even cheaper than its 39-inch option, which currently goes for $499.99 on Amazon. Seiki’s 28-inch model will pack three HDMI ports, one VGA input, and a composite input. Seiki hasn’t officially announced a release date, though they told us sometime in the first half of this year. As it teased last year, Dell is also showing off its budget 4k monitor at CES this year. Also coming in at 28-inches, Dell says the monitor will run just $699, making it cheaper than both Asus’ and Lenovo’s offerings. It’s also going to beat both to market with a release date of January 23rd. Finally, Lenovo is also showing off a 4k monitor that is also 28-inches and will run $799. Shipments for it will begin in April.Once in a great while, we are privileged to experience a television event so extraordinary, it becomes part of our shared heritage. And in receiving these gifts, by grace of our noble human character, we are given license to say, eh, they’re not so great, then begin nitpicking the shit out of them. Such is our passionate, prickly relationship with television (teacher, mother, secret lover) and with pop culture as a whole: Ardor becomes ownership, familiarity breeds contempt, and the things that entertain us, enrage us when they have the audacity to change—or worse, when they stay exactly the same for long enough that it just gets stale. And rest assured that, when they do, we are on the internet within minutes, registering our disgust throughout the world. As it has so many things, The Simpsons gave us an entire vocabulary to talk about this uneasy dance, and remarkably, it did it with a single episode. “The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show” premiered on February 9, 1997, but chances are (especially if you’re an A.V. Club reader), you’ve heard a line quoted or concept referenced nearly every day in the 20 years since. There are lots of Simpsons quotes applicable to almost any situation, of course, no matter how narrowly defined; with 600-plus episodes of dialogue banked, the show is practically nearing the sentience of any sophisticated artificial intelligence, and may soon be able to respond fluidly to anything you throw at it. But it’s amazing how endlessly adaptable “Poochie” has been, specifically, particularly within the realm of pop culture (which is, after all, the only place where you and I exist). Advertisement It’s even more amazing, then, to consider that “Poochie” was The Simpsons’ bluntest commentary on the anxiety over its fading relevance. Prior to the show’s eighth season—where “Poochie” would put it over The Flintstones’ record for longest-running prime-time cartoon—Fox executives, who apparently never saw The Flintstones’ “Great Gazoo” episodes, suggested that Simpsons producers create a new character, one who would move in with the family permanently and really shake things up. In response, the show once more turned to Itchy & Scratchy, frequent outlet for all its industry inside jokes, and proceeded to ruin the “Cousin Oliver” trope for good. In fact, The Brady Bunch’s train-wrecking towheaded tyke has almost entirely been supplanted in the go-to reference book by The Simpsons’ passive-aggressive invention, Poochie The Rockin’ Dog. Yet “Poochie” endures because it satirizes not just those TV conventions, but the entire process by which art is manufactured, consumed, and shat upon. In doing so, it’s given us so many ways to express distaste for the rote unoriginality of it all, mostly by recycling lines from a 20-year-old show. Has there even been a more apt summary of the desperate attempts to chase and monetize “cool” than the scene where executives urge the Itchy & Scratchy team (modeled after The Simpsons staff) to give them a dog “who gets ‘biz-zay!’ Consistently and thoroughly”? Or of all the self-indulgent wheel-spinning that pads out many a superhero blockbuster or prestige drama series than “When are they going to get to the fireworks factory?!” Or of the clumsy yet gratifying exit of an obnoxious character, whether fictional or real, than “Poochie died on the way back to his home planet?” Judging by the comments around here, no. Although it’s cynical about the ends, “Poochie” also fosters some genuine sympathy for those stuck figuring out the means. The Itchy & Scratchy staff dutifully plows ahead on figuring out how to “rasta-fy him by 10 percent or so,” knowing that questioning the executives’ meaningless buzzwords will only get them fired. Meanwhile, Roger Meyers Jr. is forced to figure out how to make his cartoon more appealing to fickle yet demanding—and stupid—viewers who “want a realistic, down-to-earth show… that’s completely off-the-wall and swarming with magic robots.” Caught in the middle are people like voice actor June Bellamy (an affectionate stand-in for the late June Foray) and Homer himself, who just wants to please the audience and “make them laugh and cry until we grow old together.” It’s a tricky balance to acknowledge that behind every “soulless by-product of committee thinking,” there are also people with actual dreams and good, artistic intentions without coming off as mawkish or condescending. “Poochie” manages to engender a twinge of compassion for all involved, even if they’re uniting behind a rapping dog. Advertisement Still, the episode’s most lasting contribution to our pop cultural dialogue is in its portrayal of the people who receive these noble, if understandably flawed creations, then ruthlessly tear them apart. By 1997, The Simpsons wasn’t just facing criticism from professional critic types who were waiting impatiently, like Kent Brockman says here, “for cracks to appear in the show’s hilarious façade.” It was also in the early stages of its tense alliance with the internet—primarily through the dedicated denizens of the alt.tv.simpsons newsgroup, whose users had already spent most of the show’s run pointing out errors in consistency and offering hyperbolic, knee-jerk raves or pans, all in order to delude themselves into thinking that they were part of the show. Guys like this fucking nerd: Yes, as an 18-year-old technical man who spent all his time watching a kids’ cartoon show, then arguing with strangers about the “Best Nelson Lines,” I was quite evidently thrilled to see my efforts finally get some recognition here in the form of those pathetic dorks who hassle Homer and June about magic xylophones. My excitement was shared by my fellow geniuses at work (most of them, anyway), who similarly loved that The Simpsons writers were calling us—us!—annoying asshats. They really do care! That sort of codependent, love-hate relationship existed between artist and audience long before the internet, of course. But “Poochie” presciently captured the way recaps, comment boards, live-tweeting, and all the other modern facets of online fandom in early bloom would soon multiply and embolden those angry nerds, and give them even more direct ways to vent their frustrations. And it offered a succinct satirical commentary on that already festering sense of entitlement in this oft-cited exchange between Bart and Comic Book Guy: Comic Book Guy: Last night’s Itchy & Scratchy was, without a doubt, the worst episode ever. Rest assured I was on the internet within minutes registering my disgust throughout the world. Bart: Hey, I know it wasn’t great, but what right do you have to complain? Comic Book Guy: As a loyal viewer, I feel they owe me. Bart: What? They’re giving you thousands of hours of entertainment for free. What could they possibly owe you? If anything, you owe them. Comic Book Guy: …Worst episode ever. I nearly lost it, A+, etc. etc. Of course, the irony of “The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show” is that, at eight seasons, The Simpsons was really only beginning to plumb the depths of how show business is, to paraphrase George Burns, a hideous bitch-goddess. The writers continued to address, sarcastically, those fan fears of creative bankruptcy just a few months later with “The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase.” But by season 10, the joke was far less funny. The Simpsons really was seeing a decline in quality, marked by episodes built around wacky detours and conspicuous celebrity guests who may as well have been rappin’ surfer dogs from Gangster City. Increasingly, the arguments offered by “Poochie”—hey, everything loses its impact over time; you’re getting this stuff for free; if you don’t like it anymore, change the channel; whaddaya want from us?—started to feel more and more like the show claiming a moral superiority that preemptively absolved it from any criticism. Advertisement Meanwhile, whatever détente was briefly achieved by the writers talking directly to those “hardcore fans”—lampooning them as awkward nerds who call for them to be fired over petty grievances, then lecturing them on how they’re getting this huge, edifying part of their lives for nothing—well, that certainly didn’t ameliorate their critiques. (Look: The very next episode, this fucking dork was right back to complaining.) Over the years, their grumbles only got more intense and all-encompassing, to where “Worst. Episode. Ever.” barely begins to cover it. And eventually, the writers just established a bulwark of steadfast, shrugging defensiveness, chalking up the annual deluge of “The Simpsons sucks now” to those hardcore fans being bitterly set in their ways, yet somehow unable to just leave the show alone. Nevertheless, “Poochie” remains a landmark episode of television—a landmark work of art, period—for even attempting to have that awkward conversation, and for doing it in a way that even the people it insulted for caring could laugh at. Granted, there are probably some who still find “Poochie” kind of ungracious or galling (there were definitely some on the ’97 newsgroups who felt that way). And for all its directness, there’s actually no clear message to walk away with here: Are the creators at fault for coasting on inertia or for allowing their integrity to be compromised? Or are the fans at fault for expecting too much and being impossible to please? It’s both, it seems to say; let’s none of us have a cow. But then, this is an endlessly renewable debate. At the very least, “Poochie” gave us all a language to discuss it—to the EXTREME.THE CROSSHOUSE AT MIRINGA TE KAKARA AN ANCIENT NEW ZEALAND TEMPLE. 'In the course of normal science, it may happen that anomalies begin to accumulate. Some of these may be set aside for future research. Some may be dismissed as irrelevant. But if a sufficient number of anomalies accumulate, anomalies, which resist solution by the paradigm or incorporation into it, a crisis develops. As the crisis intensifies, scientists begin to offer and promote new paradigms capable of accommodating the anomalies. If one of these paradigms attracts the attention of a sufficient number of members of the research community, a scientific revolution takes place. The research community learns to see things in a different way. It develops a new set of methods and concerns. Kuhn points out that unless there is a recognizable crisis, provoked by an accumulation of crucial anomalies, there will be no movement to a new paradigm. The first step toward movement to a new paradigm is thus recognition of anomalies, of counterinstances to the current paradigm' (Michael Cremo). In the United States, as elsewhere, mainstream concepts of history are under assault and there is a growing awareness that the accumulation of archaeological anomalies is forcing a major paradigm shift. Primary resistance to the shift is spearheaded moreso by the academic community than the by the indigenous population, who have attempted for years to tell the mainstream scholars of "other historical factors". North American Indian historian, Vine Deloria jr. is righteously indignant about the hijacking of history by do gooder paternalist Europeans, who are creating a cozy, socially engineered pseudo-history for the Indian tribes of North America. He sees this as European led condescension toward his people and complains, 'There's no effort to ask the tribes what they remember of things that happened. He goes on to say, 'numerous tribes do say that strange people doing this or that came through our land, visited us, and so on. Or they remember that we came across the Atlantic as refugees from some struggle, then came down the St. Lawrence River and so forth. There's a great reluctance among archaeologists and anthropologists to break centuries-old tradition and to take a look at something new...As for the history of this hemisphere from say, five thousand B.C. forward to our time, the mainstream scholars just don't want to deal with that at all. Let me give you an example. Years ago I spoke at an academic archaeological conference, and at the end of my speech I asked, 'Why don't you guys just drop the blinders and get into this diffusionist stuff?' My host, David Hurst Thomas, just about lost it and said, 'Do you know how long and hard we've fought to get members of this profession to admit that Indians could have done some of these things? And now you're saying it was Europeans!'''. A similar set of limiting parameters has been foisted onto us in our "New Zealand" interpretation of regional history. Again, social engineers have oftimes discounted as irrelevant and unreliable the oral traditions of the Maori Elders and have taken a paternalist approach to creating pseudo-histories that promote limited, santitised versions of Maori history, to the exclusion of all else that went before. All over the New Zealand landscape we are finding standing stone structures used for astronomy, navigation and land-mapping. There is evidence of "Beehive house villages and a large, former "Stonebuilder" population Local historical interpretation is locked into a mere 800-900 years of human occupation, with a marked reluctance to accept any significant occupation at earlier epochs...in the face of, what many amateur researchers consider to be, dynamic evidence of at least 5000 years of continuous human presence in New Zealand. Regional, social engineering of history is as much a condescending insult to the New Zealand Maori people as it is to Deloria's North American Indian tribes-people, in that it discounts their oral traditions and histories as being of little worth or substance. We seem to be enveloped by an academic attitude of "forced amnesia", which makes us forget truths that were general knowledge and openly discussed up until about 3 decades ago. New Zealand historical resources carry many recorded references related to a large population of pre-Polynesian "red headed, light complexioned Tangata Whenua", albeit mostly in rare, out of vogue books buried in the backrooms or basements of our libraries and archives. One can also source such references, if one asks politely, from the Maori Elders who have memorized the oral traditions of their Iwis (Maori tribal groups). THE MAORI WHAREWAENANGA (SCHOOL OF LEARNING). It is the purpose of this study to show evidence of an early pre-Polynesian people, resident in New Zealand, whose former presence is attested to by many ancient ruined structures from the pre-Maori epochs. This evidence lies scattered across the length and breadth of New Zealand. It can be demonstrated that aspects of a regionally identifiable, Northern Hemisphere knowledge was handed down, at least in part, and survived within the Maori Wharewaenanga. The dilapidated Crosshouse at Miringa Te Kakara, central North Island, New Zealand, shortly before it was burned down in 1983. Photos appearing in this article courtesy of Jan & Ron Raison. Let us turn our attention to one such Wharewaenanga, School of Learning, established by the Pao-Mirere or Hau Hau movement at Miringa Te Kakara in the center of the North Island. There appears to be some confusion as to the date of this building's construction and disagreement amongst the Maori Tohungas (sages) as to whether or not Pao-Mirere activity, related to the "Crosshouse", was to construct an entirely new building or simply to renovate to an older existing structure. It is known that a series of Wharewaenanga structures bearing the name Miringa Te Kakara or Waerenga A Kakara had existed for centuries. Similar "temple" structures were located at 3 other regional centers contempory with the era of the Crosshouse. The building, initiated by King Tawhiao's directive to Chieftainess Ngaharakeke, is said to have been completed in about 1865. Bishop Thomas Herangi, guardian of the Crosshouse up until the 1980's, cited evidence of the star temple having been built in 1682, with renovations occurring in 1788 & 1887. The main interest in this building must lie in its geometric and measurement attributes, which code astronomical and navigational knowledge found from Egypt to Great Britain and North America. The key to extracting the international parcel of codes lies in an understanding of the common measurement standard being used internationally by an ancient, highly mobilised migrating group, who set up colonies all over the globe. Many of these colonies appear to have begun as metal ore mining operations. The Crosshouse of Miringa Te Kakara was not some form of "orphan" dwelling, the attributes of which are unique to New Zealand. It was built according to an internationally distributed parcel of astronomical codes, in accordance with a measurement standard that migrated throughout the ancient world and spanned oceans. Careful, in depth surveying research into the dimensions of astronomical sites over several continents shows that the so-called British Standard of measurement isn't originally British at all, but is Egyptian/ Sumerian/ Babylonian. This concept can be severely and finely tested mathematically by trigonometry on internationally distributed structures built to this singular measurement standard from the Giza Plateau to Stonehenge to the Octagon of Newark Ohio to the Crosshouse at Miringa Te Kakara. THE DIMENSIONS OF THE CROSSHOUSE. Over the years several publications have mentioned close approximation measurements of the Crosshouse, like the 1959 Journal of the Polynesian Society article, which gives the following description. 'This building is 54 ft in length along the north-south and east west axes. Each wing is 17 feet wide and the height to the ridge poles is 11 ft. 6in. Each wing has a small open sided porch and entrance to each is gained through a sliding door hewn from one piece of timber 4 ft high, 2 ft wide and 2 ins. thick...Each portal is fitted with two ports to admit light and these are closed by solid wooden slabs about 18 ins. square and 2 ins. thick, which are slid into position....The walls...are about 6 ft. high. Inside the building will be seen 5 uprights, which have been set in the ground to support the ridge poles...the centre pole is about 6 ft. in circumference while the other 4 are 18 ins. in circumference. At the inner corners of the cruciform structure are some L-shaped corner pieces 2 ins. thick... About 6 ft. in from each wall are footboards about 12 ins. wide and 1½ ins thick. The most accurate, detailed plan ever made appears to be that of architect C. G. Hunt in 1958 for his 1959 article in the Journal of the Polynesian Society, 68: 3-7. Hunt's scaled plan has been used in this mathematical analysis of the Crosshouse. The full analysis tests geometry detectible at the Waitapu standing stone circle in Northland, NZ, against similar geometry found at Rennes le Chateau in Southern France by former army surveyor David Wood and his team. Careful work undertaken in the Languedoc Province showed very clear trigonometric evidence of known British Standard measurements like the mile. David Wood's work verified that a Celtic cubit of exactly18 British Standard inches existed in the placement of ancient structures of the Renne's valley and the measurement standard found there was the modern British one. It can now be demonstrated that "slightly drifted" "weights, measures & volumes" of the foremost civilizations of the Mediterranean have stemmed from one common source in Egypt and the British system is the most intact survivor of the original universal system. Even the strange Egyptian cubits are fully a part of the "so-called" British Standard of Measurement. The Plan of C. G. Hunt was for the perceived purpose of "restoration" of the Crosshouse building and did not take into account the structure's correct orientation within the greater landscape. Hunt's plan shows the building's wings orientating onto North, South, East & West, whereas 2 wings actually lay along the observable rise/ set line of Winter solstice sunrise and Summer solstice sunset at 60-degrees and 240-degrees respectively. The other two wings lie, therefore, at azimuths of 150-degrees & 330-degrees. In consideration of the slightly elevated hills to the NE & SW, it's probable that the Winter solstice sunrise and the Summer solstice sunset were observed from the center pole or secondary poles through the open doorways. It's also highly likely that the northern-most Lunar Standstill rise and the southern-most Lunar Standstill set could be observed through the elevated windows, with the observer seated to the front or side of the center pole. The exact position of the Crosshouse's center pole is determined by the distant peak of Mt. Ranginui, which lies directly north and provides the benchmark fix for the structure and its outlying nui poles. The Crosshouse was described
avictorvasiljeva.blogspot.com/ Produced by: Haruka Big Love "Every winter I get confused and feel funny with the Japanese people celebrating Christmas even 90% of them have no idea what it stands for. However, I always love the beautiful illuminations, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Christmas cakes. If you have the best BGM... then it's gonna be perfect."The reason people dislike this post is because they honestly believe that feminism has monopoly on gender equality. That you have to support feminism to support gender equality. That you have to support the BLM movement to support black people. And not supporting these specific groups automatically makes you a bigot. This is a manipulative tactic to get support. As stated many many many times now, you can judge movements/ideologies/groups by the actions of their members. If it’s a group that you choose to support, then it is subject to this rule. And when you are a part of a movement, you are partially responsible for how it is perceived. If feminists are going around spreading inequality, is it not your job to stop them as a fellow feminist? When Indian and Israeli feminists successfully fought against rape being a gender neutral crime, the very first group that should have worked to reverse this inequality should have been feminists. If you see sexist posts and tweets with literally thousands feminist responses supporting it, it is your job to say something. Feminism is about equality, right? Christianity has a history of negative behavior. It isnt unfair to call Christianity judgmental, homophobic, and sexist. We base this on the actions of its supporters over the years. That being said, there are many christians who go out of their way to fight these things. There are many christians who go out of their way to protest gay conversion camps. There are many victims who try and get the westboro baptist church to not be so…terrible. There are christians doing their best to oppose the bad in christianity. And this makes christianity more appealing. The fact that ghey can be critical of the bad and fight to change it. You are right however in stating that movements arent responsible for every member and supporter. However, it isnt just one or two people making the movemens look bad. These are thousands upon thousands. These are influential and powerful people. In feminism’s case, these are celebrities, CEOs, professors, politicians, magazine heads, feminist organization heads, millions of social media accounts and even the former first lady. These are people with very real influence and power who spread misandry and misinformation in the name of feminism. These are people who shape the movement. For the better or for the worse (also an argument you havent touched on) and give reason to judge a movement. “Dont misquote me” How exactly is what you said any different than what i said? You are treating feminism as if it has monopoly over gender equality. I can easily argue that if you support equality, then you are an egalitarian. But unlike you, i care more about if someone supports equality rather than what label they use. You also failed to touch on the very valid argument that feminism didnt always claim to support both men and women. It used to only be about straight white women. It changed to be inclusive to race over the years. Then sexual orientation, and more recently, gender identity. By stating that feminism is equality for both men and women, you are admitting that you judge the movement by the actions of its members (though only the positive changes in your case), that a movement can change over time based on the actions of those who support it. You cannot only support this concept when the changes are favorable. You must also admit that the bad can also help shape the movement, as well as how it is perceived. As stated many many many many many times, supporting feminism is a choice. Supporting equality does not mean you support the feminist movement. No more than supporting peace makes you a hippie (yes, there was a hippie movement). No one is “basically a feminist” because feminism is just one of the many ideologies that claim to support equality. So as the original post stated, you dont have to support feminism to support gender equality. If this bothers you, you likely care more about the label than gender equality itself.President Donald Trump is one of many Republicans who doesn't trust the media. (Evan Vucc/AP Photo) Republicans have become much less accepting than Democrats of the news media's watchdog role in society. A new poll by the Pew Research Center finds that 89 percent of Democrats say criticism by the news media keeps political leaders "in line" – a result seen by the pollsters as acceptance of the media's watchdog role. Only 42 percent of Republicans feel this way. This 47-percentage-point gap is the widest ever recorded by Pew, which has been asking the question since 1985. The widest gap up to now occurred during the administration of Republican President George W. Bush more than a decade ago when Democrats were 28 points more likely than Republicans to support a watchdog role. In contrast, in January and February 2016, 74 percent of Democrats and 77 percent of Republicans supported the watchdog role, which Pew defines as keeping political leaders from "doing things they shouldn't." One reason for the disparity today, Pew finds, is that 87 percent of Republicans now believe that the news media favor "one side" while 53 percent of Democrats feel this way. The change parallels the rise of Republican President Donald Trump and his severe antagonism toward journalism. Trump regularly berates the mainstream media as "fake" and biased against him. He also says the media are at war with the American public. Republican voters have felt badly treated by the mainstream media for many years, but Trump's regular barrages may have further undermined journalism's overall credibility with them. Democrats also are now 23 points more likely than Republicans to have "a lot of trust" in the information they get from the national news media, by 34 to 11 percent, low numbers for both parties. And Democrats are 15 points more likely than Republicans to say national news organizations are "doing very well" at keeping them informed, 33 to 18 percent. Americans also are paying closer attention to national news now than in 2016, with the increase driven mainly by Democrats. Four out of 10 Americans report following national news very closely, up from one-third a year ago. Among Democrats, 49 percent say they follow the news very closely, also up from one-third in 2016.Well, I mentioned in another thread that I and some other RationalWiki editors had issues with how the site was being run. I think it's time for some venting... I started editing there about a year back, and my first contributions were about racist groups. I then decided to chip in with their Gamergate coverage. I should mention that I'm not a supporter of Gamergate at all, and my first edit on the subject was a criticism of one of the campaign's figureheads. Now, most of RW's Gamergate material was written by a member called Ryulong. He's pretty infamous even amongst other RW members for how zealous and protective he can be; if I understand correctly he's since been banned as a vandal. But one of the moderators, David Gerard, has Ryulong's back and pitches a fit when people try to correct his claims. Ryulong and I ended up butting heads when I objected to RW's coverage of the Sarah Nyberg affair. For those unfamiliar with Nyberg, here's an article: And yes, I know, it's Breitbart and it's Milo Yiannopoulos. I'm aware of the issues with the source. But the article is based almost entirely around Nyberg's own words; I checked the chatlogs in question (before the Breitbart article went up, I should mention) and can confirm that, yes, she said that. She identified herself as a paedophile. She expressed sexual interest in an eight-year-old cousin. Here's an excerpt from the article: Nyberg specifically names her then 8-year-old cousin using the latter’s real name and describes in detail how they are related. Using the information Nyberg posted online we were easily able to locate and contact Alice’s parents, who said they knew nothing about these logs but had made sure that Nyberg and their daughter had never been left alone together. Alice’s father preferred not to elaborate on why he and his wife took the decision to make sure Nyberg [...] was never given unsupervised contact with Alice, 8. As the following logs reveal, ten years ago a then-twentysomething Nyberg developed an obsession with Alice, when the latter was just 8 years old. “I used to think 5/6/7 was too young, but Alice changed my mind,” Nyberg writes. In another FFShrine post, Nyberg boasts about how she plans to “finally get pictures of her,” telling chatroom members that “it’s all about Alice man.” Nyberg kept her promise, and later, shared a folder of images of Alice with a fellow chat room member. The folder was hosted on FFShrine’s servers. In another exchange on FFShrine, she goes on to talk about Alice wearing a bathing suit. In yet another post about her cousin on the same site, Nyberg refers to herself as a “pedophile” who is attracted to Alice and seems to admit that she may get an erection if she spends time with Alice. Nyberg is a male-to-female transsexual, and at this point was presumably still able to achieve an erection. But the version of events given by Ryulong over at RationalWiki completely whitewashes all of this. It calls the accusations against Nyberg "baseless", "myths" and "libel" and takes every opportunity to sweep the details under the carpet. I mean, to pick just one example from Timeline of Gamergate Sarah Nyberg writes about her experiences with Gamergate for Ravishly for the first time with her name rather than as @srhbutts. She touches on how Gamergate dug far back enough to find her birth name by means of her parents' obituaries and when they could not find anything against her otherwise, began to spread false rumors instead. Gamergate "could not find anything against her"? No, Gamergate found postings by Nyberg in which she expresses a paedophilic attraction to an eight-year-old. You don't have to be a Gamergate supporter to see that her words are beyond the pale and deserving of condemnation, or at the very least questioning. But yet, David Gerard is intent on preserving all of Ryulong's drivel. I've tried to make the article more balanced, as well as removing the flat-out incorrect statements (such as Rylong's BS claim that all of Nyberg's paedo postings were just her innocently copy-pasting other people's roleplays, which even Nyberg herself says is untrue) but Gerard has responded by reverting my edits, temporarily blocking me and smearing me as a Gamergate supporter. I made a userspace page (which is an acceptable place for personal opinion at RW) pointing out factual inaccuracies in the article, including statements that contradict each other and even contradict Nyberg's own testimony, and Gerard twice tried to get it deleted - thankfully another moderator, FuzzyCatPotato, restored it each time. I spoke to a member who recently left the site, and he told me that Gerard's actions in this case were partly responsible for driving him away. It's not just me who has put up with this. A couple of other members expressed concern over how RW was whitewashing Sarah Nyberg, and Gerard responded by making the Gamergate talkpages accessible only to staff members. Initially, Gerard claimed that he was doing all of this because he was concerned about potential legal action from Nyberg if the site openly discussed the accusations of paedophilia. That kind of made sense, but since then it's become clear that he just doesn't want anybody criticising Sarah Nyberg in any capacity. I specifically avoided mentioning paedophilia in my userspace article, but that didn't stop him from trying to delete it. The fact that he's willing to retain claims that are demonstrably untrue, and silence anybody who corrects them, says it all. At the end of the day, Ryulong and Gerard are indulging in classic fundie tactics: if someone disagrees with your dogma, smear them as part of the evil conspiracy. RationalWiki should, by all rights, be fighting against them rather than giving them a platform.(Photo: mar is sea Y / Flickr)Lobbyists from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) are pressing your senators and representative to support legislation that, if adopted as written, would push the United States significantly closer to war with Iran. If it were only Republicans like Lindsey Graham – the lead sponsor of AIPAC’s Senate bill – supporting AIPAC’s attack on the Iran policy of the Obama administration, that would be cause for less concern. President Obama just defeated Graham on the same arguments when the Senate voted to confirm Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense. But, unfortunately, because AIPAC has significant pull with many Senate and House Democrats, this time it’s not just about Graham. Senators such as Barbara Boxer and Ron Wyden are supporting AIPAC’s pro-war attack on Obama’s Iran policy. Once again we’re being told that the United States must push toward war with Iran because that’s allegedly what “American Jews” want, even though AIPAC’s pro-war agenda has nothing to do with the values and interests of the vast majority of American Jews. Jewish Voice for Peace and Avaaz teamed up to drive home the point that AIPAC doesn’t speak for American Jews with a beautiful campaign of billboards in DC metro stations: Jewish and Proud And AIPAC DOES NOT Speak for Me President Obama, Congress: Most Jewish Americans are pro-peace. AIPAC is not. But unfortunately, beautiful billboards in metro stations might not be enough to inoculate Congress against AIPAC’s push for war, with AIPAC’s army of lobbyists swarming the Hill. At times like these, don’t you wish that there were a DC insider, Jewish-led, Israel-identified, pro-peace organization that would go toe-to-toe with AIPAC in Congress and try to stop AIPAC’s drive for war? Blessed art Thou, Lord our God, King of the Universe: Americans for Peace Now is in the house. On Tuesday, APN sent urgent appeals to the Senate and the House: “Do not cosponsor AIPAC’s pro-war bills.” About Lindsey Graham’s bill, S. Res. 65, APN begins: Americans for Peace Now has serious concerns about S. Res. 65, an AIPAC-backed resolution recently introduced in the Senate that has been nicknamed by some the “Backdoor to War” resolution, since it effectively gives a green light for Israeli military action against Iran that, if carried out, would almost certainly require the US to join the fight. APN is urging Senators to refuse to cosponsor S. Res. 65. Given the gravity of the issues at stake, APN is urging Senators to also refuse to permit S. Res. 65 to be ramrodded through the Senate according to a timetable defined by AIPAC – or any outside group. We are urging Senators to instead call for a serious deliberation process, including committee hearings and markups, during which concerns about S. Res. 65 can be aired and deficiencies in the resolution can be addressed. About AIPAC’s House bill, HR 850, APN begins: Americans for Peace Now has serious concerns about HR 850, an AIPAC-backed Iran sanctions bill recently introduced in the House of Representatives. APN is urging House members to refuse to cosponsor HR 850. Given the gravity of the issues at stake, APN is urging House members to refuse to permit HR 850 to be ramrodded through Congress according to a timetable defined by AIPAC – or any outside group. We are urging House members to instead call for a serious deliberation process, including committee hearings and markups during which concerns about HR 850 can be aired and deficiencies in the bill can be addressed. You can write to your Senators through APN here. You can write to your Representative in the House through APN here. Some folks who oppose war with Iran may be put off by some of the insider language in APN’s draft letters to the House and Senate. You can edit the letters as you like. Or you could just click the button. You voted for Obama to defeat McCain and Romney, right? You supported Chuck Hagel’s nomination for Secretary of Defense? As far as war and peace in the Middle East are concerned, this is exactly the same fight. Sign the petition to ban weaponized drones from the world here.Asado. A beef-dominated barbecue extravaganza using the entire spectrum of a cow (including chitlins, sweetbreads, brain, skirt steak, fillet, and short ribs), devouring asado in Argentina is as regular an activity as bowel movements. Pioneered by Argentina's gauchos (cowboys), who'd hack up unsuspecting bovines roaming the vast pampas flatlands in the 18th century and now replicated by millions every weekend, it's an industry still dominated by men. From choosing wood over coal to stoking embers and flipping the enormous racks of meat, manning the parrilla (grill) is very much a "guy" job. Womenfolk get to dally about with lettuce and tomatoes, lay the table, and, ah yes, wash up. Beef barbecued on a traditional Argentinian asado grill. All photos by the author. So, how did a humble cleaning lady with no barbecuing experience land the top job of womaning the grill at one of Argentina's biggest wineries? It's not as if the stars were alined in Virginia Lázaro's favour. A quietly spoken woman who still lives with her parents in Perdriel, Mendoza, the country's main wine-producing province, Lázaro spent the past 11 years making ends meet as a cleaner. But when Nieto Senetiner Winery's head of tourism Marcelo Molina looked into revamping their restaurant four years ago, he gave Lázaro a life-changing opportunity: to assist making the daily parrilla. Virginia Lázaro working the asado grill at Nieto Senetiner winery in Mendoza, Argentina. "I started out working at the bodega in 2001 and was housekeeper at Villa Blanca, the owners' farmhouse," Lázaro tells me. "Then Marcelo suggested I help the gardener out with the asado, that he'd cook while I'd undertake service. I'd never made an asado—though I'd always watched my grandad prepare homemade charcuterie when I was growing up then cook it—so I kept an eye on what the gardener was doing." Lázaro's understanding of the grill soon started to grow. "The parrilla is like a game: you have to play with it," she says. "I learnt everything I know here at the restaurant. And it was a really big deal to move up to this position and leave my cleaning days behind. It's been a big step up but the whole discovery means I've grown a lot." Lázaro has now been an asadora—the rare term given to female grill chefs—at the winery for three years. She is in extremely select company. In nearby Buenos Aires, Patricia Ramos oversees meat matters at the Four Seasons Nuestro Secreto steakhouse, but even in 2016, taking charge of the parrilla is considered a job for the man of the house. Beef prepared to order by Lázaro. Regardless, diners at Nieto Senetiner usually have their interest piqued by the sight of a blonde ponytailed lady slicing through vast slabs of meat and moving embers. "Everyone thinks it's weird to see a woman at the parrilla, and a woman making great asado at that," says Lázaro. "People are always interested, though, first commenting that it's strange but then asking how I got into it. However, I don't know any other parrilleras here in Mendoza." True to form, on my visit to the winery, an elderly couple start nosing around her prep table. The familiar line of questioning commences but Lázaro takes it in all her stride, lightly moving around the double grill and catering to 80 guests' meat whims a day. Watching the asadora in motion is a calming, zen-like experience rarely seen in this usually macho environment. Chorizo pork sausage, black pudding, ribs, and flank are all cooked to spec—rare, medium rare, even well done. But Lázaro's grilling technique wasn't always quite so smooth and elegant. "My first asado was a bit of a disaster—I burnt it!" she remembers. "The ribs were blackened. But the diners liked it anyway. I didn't know much back then but it turned out I'd used too many embers. It takes time to learn how to do things right and the secret to a good asado is to cook it very slowly and be patient." A feminine touch Lázaro does bring to the grill is to add a whole pineapple into the embers, where it slowly cooks, before peeling and slicing it to pair with her pork. "Agridulce," she says—sweet meets sour. Going above and way beyond the classic gammon and pineapple combo, the pairing is delicious. Thanks to the upgrade in job description, life has taken a complete about turn for the Lázaro, who has been able to buy a new car as well as a house. "I love every part of my job: the satisfaction of enjoying what I do, knowing what I do, helps me to grow plus guests leave happy," she says. "That's what being at the parrilla is. I never imagined for one second I'd be doing this, but the truth is I love it and I'm very comfortable." Lázaro stands proudly in front of her grill. But it's not just about Lázaro's own professional and personal satisfaction. Her job also means she paves the way for a new generation of female grill masters. "The girls are learning little by little, though one of them is very anxious and wants to get things done fast," she says. "Obviously I'm teaching her that the parrilla needs time and patience. They replace me on my day off. But the truth is, I prefer to do everything on my own—I don't like sharing my parrilla with anyone!" And what would her grandfather say if he saw her womaning the winery grill today? "Ah, I'd love it if he could see me. He'd be so proud."Hillary Clinton’s lead in the popular vote now exceeds two million. But she lost the Electoral College fair and square. Or did she? Did a hideous and undemocratic effort to prevent some Americans from voting result in Donald Trump’s electoral college win? Does it explain, at least in part, how generally accurate polls could have been so wildly off? That’s exactly what the evidence suggests. Yet almost no one in the media wants to talk about this. As a result, we see yet another abdication by journalism. This kind of thing should be of concern to all fair-minded people, irrespective of which candidate they preferred. Cheating — and that’s what it would have been — is profoundly un-American. And cheating will only justify more cheating. It will be a deadly cycle for democracy. *** It’s unclear why the media is giving this issue short shrift. It’s certainly not as sexy as Donald Trump talking about sexually assaulting women or Hillary Clinton’s emails, but the real reason might be that the media allowed this to happen. For years, Republican-controlled states have been doing all they can to ensure an electorate that is favorable to its candidates. In other words, they have tried to put in place measures that make it as difficult as legally possible for minorities to vote. The laws they passed include the elimination of early voting opportunities that Democrats have traditionally taken advantage of (e.g. the elimination of Golden Week in Ohio and same-day registration in North Carolina), preventing ex-felons from voting (this affects more than 1.5 million people in Florida alone), closing hundreds of polling locations throughout the country (e.g. 403 in Texas and 212 in Arizona), new Voter ID rules (minorities are less likely to own the required IDs or to be able to obtain them), and voter purges across the country) in states like Wisconsin. For example, the Crosscheck system applied in Republican states resulted in hundreds of thousands of potential voters being kicked off the rolls – often because their name is similar to that of another voter registered elsewhere. Much of this was done under the guise of preventing in-person voter fraud, which is pretty much a non-existent crime. It is nearly impossible to tell how many voters stayed home because of new rules. The total number could be enormous. Yes, there is only anecdotal evidence of people being turned away at their polling station because they did not have the proper form of ID, but… How many people never found the time to get it in the first place or lacked the documents needed? How many families voted early following church on a Sunday but did not because that opportunity was eliminated? How many low-income Americans didn’t vote because they had to work two jobs on Election Day and couldn’t afford to stand in a long line because polling stations had been closed? How many children of illegal immigrants did not dare to show up because they were worried that their loved ones would get deported? Courts stopped some of these undemocratic methods but many of them withstood review. In other words, Republicans found a way to legally accomplish the same thing both parties always accuse each other of: They rigged the election. WhoWhatWhy covered many of these topics much more extensively than much larger media outlets. It must also be noted that the stories we ran did not turn out to be among our most popular articles. People were just too enamored of the more “fun” and less “dry” aspects of the campaign — the personalities and the “horse race.” That’s very, very bad. We can point fingers in many directions. But more important than the blame is the simple fact: In a democracy, the government should make it as easy as possible for people to cast their votes. This year, those who assail government were able to turn those they do not like — or with whom they do not agree — into second-class citizens. The US seems to be the only western democracy to have these problems. Yet many solid solutions present themselves, including:automatic voter registration, uniform voting laws across the country, and making Election Day a holiday or always scheduling it for weekends. Let’s hear your ideas in the comments section below. *** Additional Reading and Watching: Rigging the Election Legally, the GOP Way When Election Insanity Met Better Media Will Virginia’s Voter Suppression Put Trump in the White House? Where else do you see journalism of this quality and value? Please help us do more. Make a tax-deductible contribution now. Our Comment Policy Keep it civilized, keep it relevant, keep it clear, keep it short. Please do not post links or promotional material. We reserve the right to edit and to delete comments where necessary. Related printBy Hunter Wallace Update: The shooter has been identified as one “Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez.” I’m seeing reports on television of a Confederate Battle Flag that has gone on a shooting spree at the U.S. Naval Reserve Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Note: Now is the time where I say, “I told you so.” “In light of the successful prediction that I made after Gabrielle Giffords was shot in 2011, let me make another prediction: if history is our guide, by the time the American public has digested the Dylann Roof shooting in Charleston, yet another rampage shooting starring a different character with different motives will have seized national headlines. In hindsight, it is amazing how quickly the public loses interest in even the worst atrocities, as there is always another self-detonating fantasist out there ready to tee up the next dish of carnage. And you know what? Next time there is a rampage shooting, and the next time after that, and the next time after that … and talking heads wonder aloud about the “root causes” of “the sickness in America,” the same deadly cocktail of expressive individualism, fantasy ideology, and mental illness will rear its ugly head. When the next self righteous narcissist walks down the catwalk of the 24/7 cable news media, only the details will be different. Oh, and that Confederate flag … that’s just a small, irrelevant detail.”Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Footage from the scene shows police chasing the suspected gunman A gunman has killed three people in a shooting spree at the Palace of Justice in Milan in northern Italy. The suspect, Claudio Giardiello, was arrested in a suburb after fleeing the scene on a motorbike. He was reportedly a defendant in a bankruptcy case. He is believed to have shot dead a co-defendant, his former lawyer and a bankruptcy court judge. Earlier reports of a fourth death were proven wrong. The shooting has prompted scrutiny of security measures. Questions are being asked about how Mr Giardiello managed to smuggle a weapon into a well-guarded building, use it several times and escape. The suspect was arrested by carabinieri officers in Vimercate, about 25km (15 miles) north-east of central Milan, near the town of Monza. Image copyright Reuters Image caption Mr Giardiello, seen here in a picture released by police, was arrested on the outskirts of Milan Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said the "presumed assassin" had been taken to a military police barracks in the Milan area. 'Shut in' The sound of gunfire had sparked panic inside the Palace of Justice on Wednesday morning. Hundreds of people poured down stairways towards the exits while police and military police officers searched for the gunman. "All of a sudden we heard at least three or four shots," lawyer Marcello Ilia told the AFP news agency outside the building. "We tried to find out what was going on. There were suddenly lots of police officers who told us not to leave the room, they shut us in," he said. "After a few minutes we came out. They told us someone in a suit and tie was armed and at large in the court." Image copyright AP Image caption Women were first to be evacuated by police from the Palace of Justice The newspaper La Repubblica, quoting officials and witnesses, said that the gunman had been attending a bankruptcy hearing when a fight broke out inside the third floor courtroom. He pulled out a weapon and shot the lawyer, named as Lorenzo Alberto Claris Appiani, as well as one of his co-defendants, named as Giorgio Erba. According to La Repubblica, Mr Appiani was a former lawyer for Mr Giardiello who was acting as a witness in the case. The gunman then left the courtroom and headed to the office of appeals court judge, Fernando Ciampi, shooting him dead. It is not known if the gunman had any links to the judge. Image copyright AP Image caption Police searched the building for the gunman but he managed to escape Several media outlets had earlier said that a fourth person had died in the incident of a possible heart attack, after reports of a body found at the building with no obvious injuries. But the reports - based on a statement from the emergency services, according to AFP news agency - have been proven incorrect, with the body in question now believed to have been that of Mr Erba. Another two people were wounded in the shooting and are being treated at a hospital. After hiding inside the Palace of Justice for more than an hour, the gunman fled on a motorbike, according to La Repubblica. Mr Giardiello was described as "aggressive" and "a little paranoid" by his former lawyer, Valerio Maraniello, in comments quoted by AFP news agency. Image copyright Reuters Image caption The court building is in the centre of Milan, only a few streets away from the city's cathedral 'Great pain' Visitors to the Palace of Justice have to pass through metal detectors. Lawyers and courthouse employees with official identification are, however, regularly waved through, according to the Associated Press. Ansa reported that one of the metal detectors was broken on Wednesday morning. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi described the attack as "a moment of great pain, of sadness". He praised the police who arrested the man but said it was "unthinkable" that someone could enter a court with a weapon, and promised an inquiry into the incident. The Palace of Justice is in the centre of Milan, only a few streets away from the city's cathedral and main shopping district.Canadians spent almost $23-billion on prescription drugs at retail pharmacies in 2012/13 – or more than $650 per capita, according to the findings from the Canadian Rx Atlas published recently by the UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research. That is a lot of money. However, after adjusting for general inflation, spending per capita actually fell over the past five years – despite the fact that the population is getting older. The size of the fall in spending per capita was not large (about 1 per cent) but the finding is significant. Inflation-adjusted spending per capita on prescription drugs in Canada has not declined over any five-year period since the Second World War. As impressive as it is, the slowdown in total spending on prescriptions in Canada masks dramatic changes in the pharmaceutical sector. Beneath the calm surface lies a rapid decline in spending on widely used medicines to treat relatively common conditions, and even more dramatic increases in spending on medicines used by relatively few people who suffer from serious conditions. Story continues below advertisement Five years ago, almost $9-billion – 40 per cent of all retail spending on prescription drugs – was spent on drugs to treat high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heartburn and depression. Although these treatments only cost about a dollar per day, they are so commonly used they have been the dominant drivers of pharmaceutical costs since the 1980s and 1990s. These drugs continue to be used frequently; however, patents on many brands of these drugs expired over the past five years and few newly-patented brands have entered the market. Thus, largely because of increased availability and use of lower-cost generics, annual spending on these previously-dominant drug classes fell by $2-billion over five years. That is good news if you are an uninsured patient, a company providing employees drug coverage, or a government running a public drug plan. But the budgetary relief that comes from the "genericization" of drug classes to treat common conditions won't last long for two reasons. First, most blockbuster drugs in these classes have lost their patents. There will simply be fewer opportunities to control drug spending by switching to new generic entries on the horizon. Second, the pharmaceutical industry has already found a new revenue model. Whereas the industry's business model was historically focused on developing drugs to be prescribed in large numbers for common conditions, future revenue growth in developed countries like Canada lies primarily in treatments for less common but more serious conditions. Indeed, data in our Rx Atlas show that spending on specialty drugs to treat conditions such as cancer, HIV, and multiple sclerosis has increased dramatically. The fastest growth occurred for immunosuppressants to treat inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis, where spending grew by nearly $1-billion over the past five years. Far fewer prescriptions are filled for these specialty drugs than for the blockbuster drugs of the recent past. But the prices of the new treatments are staggering. The average cost per prescription for drugs to treat inflammatory conditions was over $2,000 last year. Many new drugs now cost over $5,000 per prescription. Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement Over a third of drugs currently in development by the pharmaceutical industry are specialty drugs. Thus, "niche" components of drug spending will likely be significant cost drivers for the foreseeable future. Many of the specialty drugs in the R&D pipeline, like the ones that drove recent spending in Canada, are biologics. Being the products of biological, not chemical, production processes, some of the regulatory and policy tools in place for traditional pharmaceuticals do not readily apply to biologic drugs. Notably, whereas policy makers have over 40 years of experience encouraging the production of generic versions of chemical drugs, they have far less experience doing the same for biologics. The trend toward high-cost, specialty drugs is a global one. But it will require domestic policy responses. Pharmacare policy will need to be revisited to ensure equitable access when truly effective treatments come available. Furthermore, tough but fair drug pricing policy will need to be established to place reasonable constraints on prices charged to treat patients with serious health needs. One thing that seems certain is that the current lull in drug spending in Canada will be short lived. For it will be several years before generic competition brings the costs of specialty drugs down the way it has recently done for the blockbuster drugs of yesteryear. Steve Morgan, is a professor in the School of Population and Public Health and incoming director of the Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, University of British Columbia. Kate Smolina, a postdoctoral fellow in pharmacoepidemiology and pharmaceutical policy at the Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, University of British Columbia.It's not hard to see the incentive for Amazon, of course. In order to enjoy the savings, you have to pour funds into Amazon -- and that means committing to a purchase at some point down the line. You may be tempted to load more money than you need just to be sure you'll have something on hand, and that reduces the temptation to buy goods elsewhere. Even so, this could do a lot to expand Amazon's audience. The company recently launched its Cash service to court people without any bank cards, and Reload appears to be a logical extension: it addresses those people who have a debit card, but can't (or just won't) use a credit card. In some cases, it could mean the difference between buying online and having to pay through the nose at retail.UPDATE: KnifeNews has confirmed that West Virginia State Troopers are issued Timberline Every Day Workhorse Folders with a Combo Edge West Virginia State Police are crediting Trooper J.J. Cornelius’ use of a knife in a dramatic incident that nearly cost him his life on Wednesday. Following the chase of an Indiana fugitive wanted for burglary, Trooper Cornelius squared off with the suspect in the Mill Creek stream. According to State Police, during the altercation Trooper Cornelius had fallen in the water, hit his head on the bottom of the creek, and couldn’t reach his primary weapon. “During the struggle, Trooper Cornelius realizes he can’t reach his handgun because it’s pinned on the creek bottom and he just can’t get to it,” Lieutenant Michael Baylous with the West Virginia State Police told MetroNews, a local radio station. > > Keep your folders awesome. Grab a Pack of 5 Microfiber Blade Slee
known as "ratings", see List of United States Navy ratings In the United States Navy, a rate is the military rank of an enlisted sailor, indicating where an enlisted sailor stands within the chain of command, and also defining one's pay grade. However, in the U.S. Navy, only officers carry the term rank, while it is proper to refer to an enlisted sailor's pay grade as rate. A similar term is rating, which refers to one's area of occupational specialization within the enlisted Navy. Associated with the enlisted pay grades is a numbering system from the most junior enlisted sailor ("E-1") to the most senior enlisted sailor ("E-9"). This enlisted numbering system is the same across all five branches of the U.S. military. All E-1 through E-3 are known as Seamen. E-4 through E-6 are called petty officers. All E-7s are called chief petty officer, E-8s senior chief petty officer, and E-9s master chief petty officer.[1] Rates are displayed on a rating badge, which is a combination of rate and rating. E-2s and E-3s have color-coded group rate marks based on their career field. Personnel in pay grade E-1, since 1996, do not have an insignia to wear.[2] Ratings are earned through "A" schools, which are attended before deployment and after undergoing initial basic training at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Illinois, or (less commonly) by "striking" for a rating through on-the-job training (OJT) in the Fleet. Some sailors may undergo additional training in a "C" school either before or after a tour of duty. Upon completion, they are assigned a four-digit Navy Enlisted Classification (NEC) code, which identifies a specific skill within their standard rating. This defines what jobs they are qualified to do. For example, some billets might not only require a hospital corpsman first class, but might specify that he/she has NEC 8402 (Submarine Force Independent Duty), NEC 8403 (Fleet Marine Forces Reconnaissance Independent Duty Corpsman), or any other of several NECs depending upon the billet's requirements.[3] History [ edit ] On September 29, 2016, the United States Navy discontinued enlisted ratings after 241 years of use in an effort to modernize the classification system. Naval sailors were thereafter to be referred to solely by their rate and would hold a Navy Operations Specialty (NOS) instead of a rating. The rating symbols depicted for each rating badge listed below (except for the rating badge of a command master chief) is boatswain's mate.[2] However, the rating system was restored in December 2016.[4] E-1 to E-3 [ edit ] Sailors in pay grades E-1 through E-3 are considered to be in apprenticeships.[5] They are divided into five definable groups, with colored group rate marks designating the group to which they belong: Seaman, Fireman, Airman, Constructionman, and Hospitalman. One of three apprentice devices may be worn above the rank insignia, which denotes the sailor is an apprentice in a particular field and is in search of a rating to join.[6] Sailors who have gone directly to a base, station, or ship without any specialized training are eligible to select a career field, and through correspondence courses and extensive on-the-job training, may qualify for a rating. This process is called "striking for a rating". If a sailor has qualified for a rate, but has not yet become a petty officer, he is called a designated striker, and is identified by a striker's badge that displays the sailor's rating, along with his group rate marks.[1] The serviceperson is addressed by one's group designation, if known (e.g., Fireman Jones, Constructionman Apprentice Smith); by the generic appellation "seaman"; or by one's striker designation (Boatswain's Mate Seaman Watson, Culinary Specialist Seaman Recruit Johnson).[5] Those that have completed the "A" school for hospital corpsman wear their caduceus above their stripes and substitute the word "Hospitalman" for "Seaman" in their rating titles. In the September 2016 rating change, it was announced that only the "seaman" group would remain as the rate title for E1–E3, with the others being retired.[7] However, the Navy reversed this new policy three months later and reinstated the traditional rating system.[8] E-4 to E-6 [ edit ] Petty officers in 2006 wearing service dress blue uniforms displaying both red and gold rating badges and service stripes. E-4 to E-6 are non-commissioned officers (NCOs), and are specifically called petty officers in the Navy.[6] Petty officers perform not only the duties of their specific career field but also serve as leaders to junior enlisted personnel. They must take responsibility for their subordinates, address grievances, inform the chain of command on matters pertaining to good order and discipline, and may even have to place personnel on report.[9] The title petty officer comes from the French word petit, meaning something small. In medieval England, villages had several "petite" or "petty" officers who were subordinate to major officials. Thus, petty officers are assistants to senior officers.[10] Petty officers have been an important part of the U.S. Navy since its beginning. They were originally appointed by the ship's captain and usually held such appointments while serving under the captain who selected them. The petty officers of this time did not have uniforms or a rank insignia.[10] In 1841 a rate badge was assigned, consisting of a sleeve device displaying an eagle perched on an anchor. Rating marks did not appear until 1866.[10] From 1885 to 1894, the Navy recognized three classes of petty officers—first, second, and third. These noncommissioned officers were authorized to wear a "rate" (rank) insignia consisting of chevrons pointing down under a spread eagle and a rating mark.[10] Unlike the current rate badge, the eagle faced right instead of left.[6] The current insignia for petty officers came about in 1894, and is a perched eagle with spread wings facing left (usually referred to as a "crow," due to its black color on white uniforms and the outdated dungaree working uniforms) atop a rating mark, with chevrons denoting their rank below.[6] The Eagle faced left or right on the rating emblem depending on which sleeve the badge was worn, usually to the wearer's front. "Seafarer" rates, such as Bos'n or Gunner, are unique to service aboard a ship, and were worn on the right sleeve. The Eagle (or 'crow') on these insignia faced right, so that they would be facing forward on the wearer. Other rates, which were equivalent to shore activities, such as Administration or Medical, were worn on the left sleeve, so the Eagle on those insignia faced left, so that they would be facing forward on the wearer. In 1948, the Navy standardized all ratings to be worn on the left sleeve. The authority to wear gold rating badges and service stripes on the dress blue and working coverall uniform is granted when a sailor completes and maintains twelve consecutive years of honorable service without any official record of bad conduct due to punitive action via non-judicial punishment or courts martial. The gold rating badges and service stripes are distinct from the Good Conduct Medal, which is awarded for three years of honorable service.[11] Coloration of the insignia for E-4 through E-9 depends upon the uniform worn. Black cloth with red or gold embroidered stripes is used on the winter uniforms, while white cloth with black embroidered stripes is used on the summer uniforms, and medium blue cloth with red or gold embroidered stripes is used on the working coverall.[6] E-7 to E-9 [ edit ] E-7 to E-9 are still considered non-commissioned officers, but are considered a separate community within the Navy. They have separate berthing and dining facilities (where feasible), wear separate uniforms, and perform separate duties. Advancement to chief petty officer (E-7) or above requires a board review by existing master chief petty officers beyond the normal examination score and performance evaluation process. The annual list of Chief selectees is authorized by Congress, leading CPOs to sometimes state, "it took an act of Congress to put these anchors here, it will take an act of Congress to take them off." However it only takes a court martial to "bust a Chief".[12] The proper form of address to a chief petty officer is "Chief", "Senior chief" (or "Senior"), or "Master chief" according to their rating.[13] In the U.S. Navy, Chief Petty Officers are specifically tasked, in writing, with the duty of training Junior Officers (Ensign, Lieutenant (j.g.), and Lieutenant).[14] Although the title "Chief" has been around since the Continental Navy in 1776, the chief petty officer rate was not established until 1 April 1893. At that time nearly all sailors who had carried the rate of petty officer first class since 1885 were advanced to chief petty officer, with the exception of Schoolmasters, Ship's Writers, and Carpenter's Mates.[12] The rates senior chief petty officer and master chief petty officer were established on 1 June 1958. To be eligible for advancement to senior chief petty officer, a chief petty officer must have had three years in the current grade. For advancement to Master Chief, a Senior Chief must have a total of three years in the current grade. The dress blue insignia consists of a perched eagle (or "crow") with spread wings atop a rating mark, with three chevrons and one 'rocker' above the rating mark. Inverted five-point stars above the crow denote the rank of Senior Chief (one star) or Master Chief (two stars). All other uniforms use the collar device to denote rank. It consists of a fouled anchor (an anchor that is entangled with its chain)[15] with the initials U S N in silver, superimposed, with stars above the anchor to indicate higher pay grades, similar to the dress blue insignia.[16] Command master chief and command senior chief [ edit ] After attaining the rate of master chief petty officer, a sailor may choose to further his or her career by becoming a command master chief petty officer (CMDCM). A CMDCM is considered to be the senior-most enlisted service member within a command, and is the special assistant to the commanding officer in all matters pertaining to the health, welfare, job satisfaction, morale, utilization, advancement and training of the command's enlisted personnel.[17][18] CMCs can be Command level (within a single unit, such as a ship or shore station), Fleet level (squadrons consisting of multiple operational units, headed by a flag officer or commodore), or Force level (consisting of a separate community within the Navy, such as Subsurface, Air, Reserves).[19] On July 30, 2015, the Navy formally established the rating of command senior chief (CMDCS);[20][21] before then from 2005 to 2015 it had been a billet instead of a rating.[22][23] Both command senior chief and command master chief existed as a position before being authorized as separate rates. For example, there could be a senior chief boatswain's mate acting as command senior chief or a master chief personnelman who acts as the command master chief. CMDCM insignia are similar to the insignia for Master Chief, except that the rating symbol is replaced by an inverted five-point star, reflecting a change in their rating from their previous rating (i.e., MMCM) to CMDCM. The stars for Command Master Chief are silver, while stars for Fleet or Force Master Chief are gold. Additionally, CMDCMs wear a badge, worn on their left breast pocket (for males) or above the nametag (for females), denoting their title (Command/Fleet/Force).[16][18] Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy [ edit ] The Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) is the senior enlisted person in the Navy, appointed by the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) to serve as a spokesperson to address the issues of enlisted personnel to the highest positions in the Navy. The MCPON is the senior enlisted advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations and Chief of Naval Personnel.[24] Exact duties vary, depending on the CNO, though the duties generally include traveling throughout the Navy, observing training and talking to sailors and their families. The MCPON serves on several boards concerned with enlisted members, represents the Department of the Navy at special events, and may be called upon to testify before Congress regarding enlisted personnel issues.[25] The position was originally established as "Senior Enlisted Advisor of the Navy" in January 1967[25] in response to a recommendation from the Secretary of the Navy's task force on Navy personnel retention.[24] Three months later, the title was officially changed to "Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy". The individual rating specialty marks for the MCPON was replaced by an inverted star in 1971.[26] The MCPON's current insignia is similar to Fleet or Force CMDCMs, with the addition of a third star above the crow or anchor.[16] See also [ edit ] References [ edit ] Further reading [ edit ]Concerned it is being used to launder money and dodge taxes The London Telegraph is reporting that ministers are looking to regulate bitcoin. They cite concerns that the crypto currency is being used to launder money and dodge taxes. Buyers of bitcoin are able to buy bitcoin anonymously. The treasury wants to regulate bitcoin and force traders to disclose their identity and report suspicious activity. The regulation would be in line with anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financial legislation. The expectations are that the rules would be applied across the European Union and are expected to come into force by the end of the year or early 2018 Bitcoin is trading at $11,055 up after trading as high as $11,845.33 over the weekend (that took out the high from last week). The price cracked $10,000 and moved to a high of $11,434 on Wednesday but then tumbled to a low of $9,019 also on Wednesday. On Thursday, the price bottomed at $9022 - just a few dollars short prior low.That double bottom will be key going forward for traders. Looking at the 5-minute chart below, the 100 and 200 bar MAs on the 5-minute chart come in at $11,104 and $10,727 respectively. The price cracked below both earlier but are now trading back above (the price currently trades at $11,200). Move below, and stay below would be more bearish.Police are warning Londoners to be “vigilant” when out walking alone after a rare string of sexual assaults by strangers in different parts of the city, including a vicious knife-point attack last weekend. The assault of a woman, who said she was grabbed from behind and pulled to the ground by a man with a knife near Highbury Avenue and Cheapside Street Saturday night, is the third reported stranger attack against a woman at night since Oct. 20. Police are still seeking suspects in all three cases. “There is nothing right now to suggest (they) are related, but investigators are open to that possibility and we are hoping anyone with information comes forward,” said Const. Sandasha Bough. “Every one of these happened at night. We’re telling people to be vigilant of their surroundings while walking in dark areas or alone. Be cautious and carry a cellphone,” she said. “If something doesn’t seem right, call us. We will investigate.” Stranger sexual assaults are rare. Most sexual assaults occur in the home and are committed by someone close to the victim, not a stranger, according to statistics compiled for the federal government and posted at sexassault.ca. “It is something we don’t see very often here in the city of London” said Bough, of the reported attacks by a stranger. But AnnaLise Trudell, of Sexual Assault Centre London, said public awareness campaigns about sexual assault must go beyond educating potential victims to be careful. “I don’t want that to become the narrative, where we start watching about where we walk, where we run, because the onus is always on the perpetrator,” said Trudell. “As a survivor, (telling people to be vigilant) has a certain connotation to victim blaming. “There are men mostly in the world who are perpetrating sexual assault. We should be educating our boys and men what consent looks like and stigmatizing male rape culture,” she said. She praised a recent news releases issued by three London sports teams — Western Mustangs, London Lightning and FC London — condemning so-called locker-room talk. “It is precisely this attitude that has contributed to the culture of sexual violence against women that exists in our society today,” said a news release issued by Western Mustangs. Trudell said such leadership will have an impact on violence against women. “We are going to change a culture that doesn’t accept any sexual violence, rather than just being careful that sexual violence doesn’t happen to you,” she said. Along with the three unsolved cases during the past three weeks, police investigated and have laid sexual assault charges against a 26-year-old man after a woman said she was accosted by someone with whom she took a ride Police are searching for suspects in the following sexual assault investigations: Saturday, Nov. 5. Just after 11 p.m. on Genevive Place, near Highbury and Cheapside a woman was assaulted. Suspect is described as having a deep voice and possibly “scruffy” growth on his face. He was wearing a dark, long sleeved shirt. Tuesday, Nov. 1. Just after 7 p.m., on a Northwest London trail behind Acorn and Edgehill crescents, a woman jogger was grabbed and assaulted. Police have not released a suspect description, but have issued a public plea asking a man who came to the assistance of the victim to contact them. Monday, Oct. 17 A lone woman was walking on Adelaide Street North, between Huron Street and Kipps Lane, when she was approached by a man who spoke to her briefly before grabbing and touching her inappropriately. The woman broke free and wasn’t injured. The suspect is described as a white man in his 30s with a slim build and a red-brown goatee. He was wearing a toque and dark-coloured sweat shirt, spoke with an accent and was walking a large dog, possibly named Molly. Police have released a composite sketch. Police are asking anyone with information about any of the investigations to contact them at 519-661-5670 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or www.londoncrimestoppers.com. [email protected] Twitter.com/obrienatlfpressUpdated, 4:30 p.m. Using a cache of material from an intelligence source that some are calling a “new Snowden,” the start-up national security news site called The Intercept earlier this month published an ambitious investigative project, “The Drone Papers.” It exposes details about the inner workings of the American drone program, describing a bureaucratic “kill chain” that leads to the president. It also describes the shocking extent to which drones kill people who were not the intended targets in Yemen, Somalia and Afghanistan. (According to the documents, nearly 90 percent of the individuals killed in one five month period during an operation in Afghanistan were unintended targets.) The “Drone Papers” have been covered by many outlets around the world and in the United States since its publication. Among those that published stories on the project were NPR, CNN, PBS NewsHour, Newsweek, The Guardian and Quartz. The series was excerpted in the Huffington Post, which also ran a related story on the source. The Times noted it in the last paragraphs of a story on President Obama’s decision to keep troops in Afghanistan until 2017, and linked to The Intercept’s project. That mention read as follows: New details about the Pentagon’s drone war from 2011 to early 2013 were disclosed on Thursday in classified documents published by The Intercept, a national security news website. The documents included a set of briefing slides assessing Operation Haymaker, an effort to hunt down Taliban and Qaeda militants in Afghanistan from January 2012 to February 2013. During that period, there were 56 airstrikes that killed 35 suspects. Those strikes also killed 219 people who do not appear to have been specifically targeted but were labeled “enemy killed in action,” the documents showed. But a number of readers who wrote to me wanted to know why they couldn’t find coverage about this major leak in The Times. Matt Davis of New York City wrote: “Is the NY Times planning on covering the extensive leaked information (first published at The Intercept) regarding the Pentagon’s drone warfare program? One would think, for example, the extensive civilian casualties labeled as Enemy Killed in Action would be highly newsworthy.” Mr. Davis thought the lack of an article might be explained by misplaced patriotism, or annoyance “about being scooped by the upstart journalists.” (The Intercept, founded by Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill is most closely identified with the journalism brought about by leaks of classified information from the former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.) Doug Tarnopol of Cranston, R.I., wondered if he should blame his own investigative skills: “I googled, used your search function and couldn’t find mention of this major leak reported in the Intercept. Is it my googling skills/reading habits? :) Or is it the case that The New York Times hasn’t reported on this, and if so, why not?” I asked both the executive editor, Dean Baquet, and the editor for national security coverage, William Hamilton, why the story had received relatively short shrift. Both said they found the project a worthy one. They and several Washington reporters looked it over with interest, they said, and agreed that there was new detail in it. But they didn’t see it as something that warranted its own story, at least not at the moment, they said. I’m particularly interested in this subject because it says so much that is troubling about how our government functions – and yes, kills — in secret and often without adequate oversight. I’ve written about aspects of it a number of times. Times journalists have done plenty of worthy coverage of the drone program themselves, with one national security reporter, Scott Shane, writing a significant big-picture story last April, covering some of the same ground that the Intercept is exploring now. He and Jo Becker also wrote a stunning story in 2012 detailing the existence of the president’s “kill list.” Mr. Shane is the author of a well-regarded recent book on the subject, “Objective Troy: A Terrorist, a President, and the Rise of the Drone.” Since The Times has done so much on this subject, it may be understandable that only a brief mention of The Intercept’s scoop has been made so far. Still, given the new information in the released documents — as well as the mere existence of a major intelligence leaker who is not Edward Snowden — Times journalists might have served readers well to do more on “The Drone Papers.” They also could consider doing so in the future.As a kindergartner at Green Acres Elementary in Lebanon, Ore., William Jeffrey Harding failed a scholastic aptitude test and was placed in special education. His parents, having observed their son’s abilities, asked to see the test and discovered that the questions were color-based: “How many green crayons are in the picture? How many red?” But William is colorblind. Though he was promptly reassigned to the appropriate classroom, Harding faced a series of challenges in school. When he colored with the wrong crayons, teachers thought he was being insubordinate. On St. Patrick’s Day, he went home with bruises, having worn a brown shirt that looked perfectly green to his eyes. “I can’t tell the difference between green and brown and I often wonder if purple is a real thing,” said Harding, 32, now a market researcher living in Seattle. “To me, my colors are the only colors.” An estimated one in 12 boys and one in 200 girls in the United States have a red-green color vision deficiency (CVD). This comes from a hereditary gene mutation that disables or alters some of the light-sensitive cone cells in their eyes, making it difficult to distinguish certain greens, reds, browns, oranges and yellows. While this is only a minor obstacle for most affected children, it does put them at a disadvantage in certain contexts – especially at school. Despite the prevalence of colorblindness, however, there are few systems in place to minimize the confusion and frustration that these students may experience in the classroom. “Everything is color-coded in kindergarten,” said Karen Rae Levine, who raised a colorblind son and wrote a book called “All About Colorblindness” to increase awareness among kids, teachers and parents about situations that are problematic for colorblind students. Grade school educators often use colors to communicate concepts and organize their classroom space. When Levine discovered her son Andrew’s color vision deficiency, she worked with his teachers to make adjustments such as changing the color-based system for marking the tables in the classroom. Instead of colors, they used shapes. “Children don’t know that they’re colorblind, so they can’t say to somebody, ‘I don’t understand that because I can’t see the colors,’” said Levine. “To a four or five year old, they assume everybody sees the way they do, and so they think that they must be stupid.” To avoid misunderstandings in the classroom, teachers need to know which of their students are colorblind. Often, however, even parents do not know their children have color vision problems unless they have them tested at the doctor’s office. Most states require school children to undergo vision screenings, but they focus primarily on the sharpness of their eyesight. The National Association of School Nurses says “screening for color vision anomalies is important to a child’s educational success and quality of life,” but only 12 states require such tests. Children would only need to be screened once for colorblindness, and if they’re not tested at school, they probably won’t get tested at all, said James Bailey of the Southern California College of Optometry. “To me, it’s a problem that’s largely been overlooked.” Jeff Klein, an optometrist who helped rewrite Nebraska’s vision screening guidelines, said color vision testing is not required in his state because colorblindness affects a small number of children and cannot be treated or corrected. The testing materials are also an added cost. Klein said Nebraska’s new guidelines recommend but do not require color vision screening. “There’s always a significant pause before adopting anything that would be perceived as a mandate or an additional burden when it comes to something as specific as colorblindness screening,” said Rachelle Chiang, a health policy associate at the National Association of State Boards of Education, which does not take a position on color vision screening. She said there are inconsistencies between the states on just about any education policy because of varying levels of tolerance among lawmakers for detailed mandates. And unlike bullying, school food and concussions, this issue hasn’t been a priority for the public or for prominent advocacy organizations, Chiang said. But without screening, teachers may misinterpret the difficulties colorblind students have on certain tasks as learning disabilities or behavioral problems and start treating them with lowered expectations, warns T.J. Waggoner of TestingColorVision.com, a website that offers information and sells a color vision test. “The first thing kids are learning in school is your colors. If you have trouble on those activities, are the teachers going to treat you differently?” he asked. Waggoner, who is colorblind, recalls being disciplined for cheating in school when he had to consult another student to identify the color of a solution in chemistry class. A 2005 study conducted in Spain found that teachers who did not know which of their students had color vision deficiencies rated the colorblind children as less competent even though they performed just as well on tasks that did not rely on color vision. The study, which involved testing 1,039 pre-school students for colorblindness, reported that “in most cases the response of both parents and teachers to the diagnosis of a child’s colour vision anomaly was one of surprise, even disbelief.” Even if teachers know which of their students have a color vision deficiency, they likely use materials that were not designed to be accessible to colorblind children. Researchers at the Technical University of Catalonia, also in Spain, examined 24 of the most commonly used textbooks for five to seven year old children in the region and found that 10 percent of the tasks in the math books “would be very difficult or impossible to solve” for colorblind students. The authors found that “efforts to design CVD-friendly teaching materials and resources are scarce.” A search of the ERIC education research database indicates that this type of analysis has not been conducted for textbooks in the U.S. Color-based tasks from textbooks in Spain [Image credit: Genís Cardona] Some textbook companies responded to the Spanish study, published in 2011, by labeling the relevant pages “not suitable for children with color deficiencies,” according to study author and optometrist Genís Cardona. Other companies opted to change the tasks altogether. Using patterns, labeling with text and carefully choosing high contrast colors can usually fix the problem. The bottom line, according to advocates, is that students need to be tested for color vision problems very early on. Not only would universal screening improve the educational experience of colorblind children, but it could also help them avoid hardship later on in life. “I can’t tell you the thousands of males that I have run across in my career who all they have ever wanted to do is be a police officer or firefighter,” said Bailey of the Southern California College of Optometry, “and they’re physically well qualified, they passed all the written exams, mental tests, et cetera. But the medical requirements for the job don’t allow any deficiency of color vision, and all of a sudden they find out that they’re colorblind.”Corset trends are gentle and slow-moving, taking years instead of weeks to build momentum. Today's post looks at several chic and sheer corsets, with a focus on the handmade. Sheer corsets wonderfully exemplify the unique outer/under aesthetic of modern corsetry. In their lightness, they are often more comfortable (and thin) for wearing all-day as a foundation garment. Lace overlays look striking as the lace may appear to simultaneously float and sculpt, with the strength layer near-invisible. The sheerness layers well over clothing, particularly complementary prints, emphasizing dramatic corseted silhouettes yet without the heavy, rigidly corseted look. In the interest of fairness, I have listed these cinched sweeties in alphabetical order by maker. Crikey Aphrodite, Glasgow Bespoke Corsets Sheer corsets are the perfect addition to Crikey Aphrodite's beautiful, feminine line-up of custom corsets, which are popular with local brides. The sheer styles sometimes have additional textural detailing, such as latticed ribbons on the hips. Dark Garden, San Francisco Unique Corsetry & Bridal Couture Dark Garden's first sheer style was the Adelaide: a fully-custom cupped corset, made to look as if it were structured entirely by its lace overlay. Following its success, Dark Garden started offering its classic ready-to-wear styles in black and pale peach mesh with silk-duchess satin contrast under the name "Risqué." The Risqué is also available with lace overlay, and includes a back panel and three pairs of garters. Pop Antique, San Francisco Flirt Corset Full disclosure: Pop Antique is my line. The "Flirt" is a sheer corset which also features a cupped bust, detachable mini panniers at the hips, optional contrast silk fabrication and waist tape, and lacing detail. I love wearing my Flirt over a teal and purple rose print silk jersey sheath dress to really highlight the pop color and sheer texture. Sparklewren, Birmingham Limited Edition Sheer Cincher Sparklewren has other sheer designs, but I particularly adore these tiny ready-to-wear cinchers. They have such a perfectly balanced design, from the barely-there sweetheart silhouette to the artfully placed lace. She currently has them listed on Etsy, where they are also available in white. Velda Lauder, London Underbust Black Mesh Corset Given this weekend's tragic news about Velda Lauder's passing, I don't know how much longer this corset will be available for purchase, but this incarnation of the sheer style is particularly noteworthy as an early adopter. When I first saw this corset, it was from an old Lingerie Addict post, Corsetieres & Corset Makers: Off the Rack vs. Custom Made, from 2008! What Katie Did, London Cabaret Sheer Morticia Corset The same pattern as their popular Morticia corset, Cabaret is made of double-layered sheer organza with satin casings, and available in peach or black. Which is your favorite of the above styles, and why? What corset trends have you noticed gaining momentum lately? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!Puget Sound orcas face multiple threats, including pollution, lack of prey and impacts from boats. The federal government is considering whether it should set up an area off Washington state’s San Juan Island where endangered killer whales would be protected from motorboats and other disturbances. Most motorized vessels would be banned under a proposed whale-protection zone sought by three conservation groups. Puget Sound orcas face multiple threats, including pollution, lack of prey and impacts from boats. The zone is a common-sense approach that can be implemented immediately, Orca Relief Citizens’ Alliance, Center for Biological Diversity and Project Seawolf said in a petition filed with NOAA Fisheries. The agency announced Thursday it is seeking input from industry, tribes, government agencies and others on the November petition before deciding whether to proceed. NOAA Fisheries said studies indicate that the whales forage less in the presence of boat traffic. The orcas rely heavily on underwater sounds to find food and communicate, and boat noise may disrupt that process. Killer whales can be found in many oceans, but this small distinct population can typically be found in Puget Sound from spring to fall. They use unique calls to communicate with one another and eat salmon rather than marine mammals. The orcas were listed as endangered in 2005. NOAA Fisheries says they’re among the species most at risk for extinction in the near future. With the loss of seven animals in 2016, the population is down to 78. “We’re looking at every option and every opportunity to address the threats to these whales,” Barry Thom, administrator of NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region, said in a statement Thursday. NOAA Fisheries considered a similar no-go zone in 2011 but declined to move forward, citing strong opposition at the time. “The petition presents an opportunity to revisit that idea and get input from the public on this type of protection for the whale,” Lynne Barre, NOAA Fisheries recovery coordinator for the southern resident killer whales, said in a statement. Jeff Friedman, U.S. president of the Pacific Whale Watch Association, told KING-TV in Seattle that the primary challenge the whales face is lack of salmon. “This petition is a really big distraction for the real issues facing the southern resident killer whales,” he told the Seattle station. In 2011, the agency adopted rules requiring boats to stay 200 yards from the whales and out of their path. But the petitioners say those protections and voluntary measures haven’t been sufficient to protect the whales. They’re proposing a zone larger and wider than the one considered in 2011. They’re also asking for an additional ¼-mile buffer to give the whales “more quiet and rest” in their key habitat area and for the rules apply between April 1 to Sept. 30.Daily service adds another connection out of Edmonton December 19, 2015 (Edmonton, AB) – Edmontonians and western Canadians now have a convenient new option to access Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. Today, Delta Air Lines flew its inaugural flight from Edmonton to Seattle, expanding its service from Edmonton International Airport. “From Anchorage to Orlando, our new service will provide convenient access to more than 45 destinations from our Seattle hub in addition to the more than 135 destinations served through our existing Minneapolis service,” said Andy Renner, Delta Air Lines Director of Domestic Network Planning. “We’re very excited about this new addition to our growing route network. The timing of the outbound flight is especially beneficial for Edmontonians travelling for business, and the connections into Asia and the western United States from Sea-Tac are very attractive. Seattle and Edmonton are both thriving business centres, wonderful leisure destinations and avid sports towns, so this new air service is excellent news for both cities,” said Tom Ruth, President and CEO of Edmonton International Airport. The flight will be operated by a CRJ700 aircraft that seats 65 passengers, with 9 First Class seats and 56 Economy seats. The daily flight will leave Edmonton at 6:00 am and arrive in Seattle at 7:01 am. It will leave Seattle at 7:59 pm and arrive in Edmonton at 10:43 pm. Note: flight times may be subject to change. Delta now offers travellers service to two large hubs from Edmonton: Minneapolis-St. Paul and Seattle-Tacoma, connecting to over 230 destinations. The new service is expected to attract business and leisure passengers in both directions. Passengers are reminded that they can maximize their frequent flier benefits within the SkyTeam airline alliance by joining any of the member airlines’ loyalty programs. SkyTeam airlines include Delta, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Air France and many more. For detailed information, visit http://www.skyteam.com/en/Frequent-Flyers/. About Edmonton International Airport Edmonton International Airport is a self-funded, not-for-profit corporation whose mandate is to drive economic prosperity for the Edmonton Region. EIA is Canada’s fastest-growing major airport over the past 10 years, the fifth-busiest airport by passenger traffic and the largest major Canadian airport by land area. EIA offers non-stop connections to 60 destinations across Canada, the US, Mexico, the Caribbean and Europe. EIA features US Quick Connect, which offers more efficient connections for US-bound passengers connecting from other Canadian airports. EIA also hosts US border preclearance, allowing passengers to clear US Customs and Border Protection before boarding US-bound flights. Please visit www.flyeia.com for more information. About Delta Air Lines Following a merger with Northwest Airlines in Oct-2008, Delta Air Lines became one of the largest carriers in the continental United States. Operating a fleet of Boeing and Airbus aircraft, Delta’s network includes extensive domestic services within the United States as well as international services to Central and South America, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, Africa and Europe. The airline's
creations, ignoring the instruction manuals. This robot is one of those creations. –This is something you built on your own? Wow! Asano: Yep, it’s quite the piece of work, if I do say so myself! (laugh) I came up with the design in my head as I put it together. Lego sells its own robot sets, but they’re not really cool enough. –It looks like a plastic Gundam model. Asano: I liked putting together Gundam models, too. Ah, but it’s not like I’m so into it that I could really talk shop about Gundam models — I’m no real fan. I don’t have any areas of expertise… but I guess you could say that Junji Inagawa’s horror stories are something I know well. I’ve listened to his albums multiple times. –Huh? Junji Inagawa’s horror stories? There are albums of that? Asano: He puts out one a year; there are more than twenty now. I own most of them, so my iTunes library is full of Junji Inagawa horror stories. –That’s amazing… Asano: The life I lead is truly one void of anything to be proud of. Ah, but I’m doing a pretty good job with manga, though. I have to hand it to myself that I’ve been working hard at this drawing manga thing. –Isn’t that enough?! ♦ AdvertisementsAccording to a CBN Circular released on August 4th, 2016, the Federal Government will provide forex to 65,197 pilgrims at a subsidised exchange rate of ₦197 to $1. At the current exchange rate of 380 to $1, BudgIT reports that this represents a total subsidy of ₦11.92 billion. Misplaced priorities and the Nigerian reality This announcement has been met with mix reactions by Nigerians. I remember following a newspaper review on Classic FM yesterday morning that featured an invited guest. In his argument, the move isn’t in the country’s best interest considering the present economic downturn. He highlighted that it is illegal for the Federal Government to hedge the exchange rate. How can the government make such futuristic projections of haj subsidy for a pilgrimage still a month away? Perhaps the government directly influences or determines the forex market as opposed to market forces. That would indeed give credence to arguments negating the move. It also draws the spotlight on suspicions that many government officials may be getting travel allowances (amongst other things) at a different exchange rate from what is obtainable in the official inter-bank market. Advertisement Maybe it’s not entirely a bad idea to subsidise the trip for the pilgrims. In fact, it shows how overly concerned the government is towards ensuring peace and stability by promoting true religious virtues. However, the indexes and realities on ground cannot be ignored. First, it was an alarming rise in the price of fuel causing massive gridlock at fuel stations, followed by the naira’s recurrent loses to the dollar, and then came the dreadful tomato drought that saw regular ₦50 tomatoes retail for ₦200. Lessons from India A similar case can be traced to India, where the modern day practice of Haj subsidisation became an avenue for Air India and Saudi (the national carriers of India and Saudi Arabia) to build a strong monopoly by sharing all Haj traffic between themselves. This has up till today proven to be the most contentious point of the subsidy. But unlike Nigeria, this unfair practice was swiftly met with a counter measure. Even so, in May 2012, the supreme court of India ordered the practice to be abolished by the end of 2012. The presiding judge while passing his judgement highlighted that “The subsidy money may be more profitably used for uplift of the community in education and other indices of social development,” I think there is a lot that can be learned from India’s Haj story. The government would have made a stronger case if it focused on those needs that are more critical to the economy than a religious jamboree of sorts. Not long ago, the government took an aggressive action to protect the country’s foreign reserve by reducing forex access to some imported product. This move forced many manufacturers to source for foreign exchange in the black market. Some excruciatingly got forex at ₦400. Instead of subsidising forex for pilgrims, it would have been a lot better to subsidise forex for these manufacturers; as there seems to be a significant downturn in their margin due to reduced demand. Finally, another path the government could have followed is to the look in the direction of technology. There’s a lot of talk around tech being the new oil and gas. The sum of ₦11.92 billion would sure come handy in fulfilling the promise made by the Vice president to replicate technology clusters around the country. On the 1st of June, 2019 over 5000 tech experts and enthusiasts will convene at Techpoint Inspired to explore the impact of technologies like AI, robotics, blockchain, cloud computing in solving Africa’s problems. Register now to be a part of it. Nigerian startups raised $178m from 166 deals in 2018. Find out more when you purchase Techpoint’s Nigerian Startup Funding Report 2018 here. Related Commentsby Nick Ottens October 29, 1983 saw the largest demonstrations the Netherlands had ever seen. More than half a million people took to the streets of The Hague to protest against the conservative government’s decision to place American cruise missiles on Dutch soil in response to the Soviet Union’s deployment of SS-20 intermediate-range missiles in Eastern Europe. The protests divided Dutch society and culminated two years later in a petition that was signed by 3.7 million people. Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers accepted the signatures on October 26 that year in the Houtrusthallen in The Hague. There, Lubbers defended his government’s decision in front of thousands of opponents of his policy, some of whom literally turned their backs on the prime minister. He did so knowing the missiles would most likely never be placed. India’s prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, would confirm that to him. The Gandhi Connection Lubbers spoke about the episode in an interview I conducted with him for Elsevier magazine, the Netherlands’ leading conservative weekly, many years later. Asked if it wasn’t upsetting to confront such strong public opposition to his policy when he already knew it probably wouldn’t have to be carried out, the later United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees shrugged and said, “That’s all right. It didn’t really bother me because I had faith it would end well.” The christian democrat leader had met Rajiv Gandhi a day earlier when he made a brief stopover in The Hague on a trip back home from Washington DC. Lubbers had been close with Rajiv’s mother, Indira, who was assassinated in 1984. Indira had told her son he should meet Lubbers if he ever had the chance. Rajiv took the advice to heart. Lubbers welcomed him in the Dutch prime minister’s residence just outside The Hague that evening. During their conversations, Gandhi was interrupted by a phone call. When he returned, he apologized to Lubbers. It seemed the Russians had found out he was in The Hague and asked him, if he could make a stopover in The Hague, surely he could drop by in Moscow the next day as well? Gandhi, already jet-lagged, wasn’t looking forward to the Moscow trip. But Lubbers spotted an opportunity. Stalling The cruise-missile debate had polarized Dutch society. The right-wing Telegraaf newspaper accused the peace movement of playing right into the Soviets’ hands by dividing NATO. Left-wingers, including the opposition Labor Party, feared an escalation of the Cold War as a result of American president Ronald Reagan’s tough anticommunist rhetoric. Lubbers’ own christian democrats were split down the middle: the nuclear demonstrations were led by the Church. To keep the peace, Lubbers, well-versed in the Dutch art of consensus-building, had stalled. The Netherlands supported NATO’s Double-Track Decision to place middle-range cruise missiles in Western Europe to balance against the SS-20s while leaving the door open to removing the missiles again if the Soviets took away theirs. When time came to commit to hosting the American missiles, Lubbers’ government again bought time to wait to see if the Soviets wouldn’t stop their build-up of SS-20s after all. Lubbers felt strengthened in his delaying tactics by Reagan himself who had assured him during a meeting in early 1983 that he was far from eager to escalate the arms race. But as long as the Soviets wouldn’t withdraw the SS-20s, the West couldn’t signal surrender. “Let them sweat first,” Reagan told Lubbers. So Lubbers did. The missiles wouldn’t be placed in the Netherlands until late 1985. The prime minister was hopeful that the new spirit of détente in American-Soviet relations, brought about by the appointment of a new Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, that spring, would make the whole thing go away. Shuttle Diplomacy On October 26, 1985, time was running out. Lubbers was heaving breakfast with Gandhi in The Hague, hours before he was due to address the angry crowd in the Houtrusthallen and days before the Netherlands were supposed to start stationing the cruise missiles. He wondered if the Indian leader couldn’t gauge Gorbachev’s intentions. “India always had good relations with Russia,” Lubbers recalled. Gandhi agreed. He would phone Lubbers once he was back in India and report back. “And that’s how it happened.” When Gandhi called, the message was encouraging. Gorbachev wanted Lubbers to know he was sincere about the arms-limitation talks with the Americans and said he expected to do a deal with Reagan by the following year. He advised Lubbers to “get in the back of the line” and do what he did best — stall. In the end, it took a little more than a year before Gorbachev and Reagan signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in Washington DC. But Lubbers knew that day he confronted opponents of his policy in the Houtrusthallen that the superpowers were making progress. He also knew, thanks to Gandhi’s impromptu shuttle diplomacy, that there probably would never be a need for the Netherlands to host the nuclear-armed missiles that millions of its citizens didn’t want. Family Friend By the time the INF Treaty was signed, Lubbers had already won reelection and visited Gandhi in India. What he remembered most was a kitchen-table talk he had with Rajiv, his Italian-born wife, Sonia, and their two children, Rahul and Priyanka. It was a “difficult conversation,” Lubbers said, because Gandhi openly talked about the fears he had for the safety of his family. He told Lubbers: “You must realize that I, like my mother, will be killed.” Two years later, he was — by a Sri Lankan terrorist. Sonia took over the leadership of the Congress Party. Lubbers won his last election that year and formed a government with his old Labor Party rivals. He stood down in 1994 after twelve years in office, having served longer than any previous Dutch prime minister. Before retiring from public life, he served as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for four years. It was in Geneva that the phone rang and another Gandhi was on the line: Rahul, asking for a meeting. His mother had told him he should see Lubbers again if he ever had the chance.Washington Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth, in Buffalo Monday on a rehabilitation stint with the Syracuse Chiefs, proved that professional athletes don't always make news for the wrong reasons. Following a 7-0 loss to the Buffalo Bisons, Werth dined at West Side restaurant The Black Sheep and left a $100 tip on a $180.53 bill. Perhaps the 2008 World Series winner even perused The News' top 20 restaurants ahead of time! Local actress Jessica Wegrzyn, who's played roles for Kavinoky Theatre and Theatre of Youth recently and doubles as a waitress at The Black Sheep, posted Werth's tab on her private Instagram account with this clever line: "Thanks Jayson Werth. You have a real cool beard and you're real nice and I've been told you're a real good baseball player." (If you're a diehard baseball or Nats fan, you're already aware that Werth's beard has its own Twitter account. Also, if you're really, really into beards, the Nationals are grooming (used loosely) and eventually giving away a Jayson Werth chia pet.) Though Werth is playing off a seven-year, $126 million contract he signed in 2011, not all wealthy athletes are robust tippers. LeSean McCoy, who was traded to Buffalo this year, made national headlines by leaving a $.20 tip at a Philadelphia restaurant last fall. Here's to you, Jayson Werth, for being generous when you didn't have to be, and for making a Buffalonian's night. Email Ben Tsujimoto, who's never left close to a $100 tip in his life, at [email protected] is currently looking for a Principal SW Engineering Manager for its 3D scanning and augmented reality on mobile devices team, a Microsoft job listing reveals. First spotted by WalkingCat on Twitter, the job listing requires: As Principal SW Engineering Manager, you will lead multiple engineering teams, some specializing in computer vison others in application development and user experience. You’ll be partnering closely with a talented cross-discipline leadership team to develop products that push the bar on what’s possible with new technologies. You’ll lead the implementation and maintenance of new features, and be responsible for delivering products on-time and at high quality. You will set technical and program direction and deliver solid technical mentorship and feedback. Microsoft currently doesn’t have a mobile platform, so it seems likely that this will be an iOS or Android endeavour first and foremost. With ARKit and ARCore currently being built in on both platforms, Microsoft might be working with both technologies in order to enhance synchronicity between 3D platforms and WIndows’ own native 3D Technologies. Neither Apple, nor Google, nor Microsoft has proven that there’s a widespread consumer demand for meaningful AR computing (I’m excluding Snapchat selfie masks and similar use cases here). Will this be Microsoft’s pre-demoed 3D scanning app making its way cross-platform or something more? Microsoft’s last word on that matter was the following: The capability to capture objects from your world in 3D using the camera on your phone is not one of our Creators Update features. As we shared in October, we envision the functionality being available across platforms, and we’re working to bring to mobile devices in the future. We’ll have to wait for Microsoft to share more to find out if this is the culmination of that work.Pence Thanks U.S., South Korean Troops at ‘Historic Frontier of Freedom’ Vice President Mike Pence spoke to U.S. and South Korean troops today and answered their questions at the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, where he reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to its long-standing alliance with South Korea. Pence is in the Asia-Pacific region to visit top officials in Seoul, South Korea; Tokyo; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Sydney for discussions on economic engagement and evolving security challenges. “It’s my great honor to represent the president of the United States here in the Demilitarized Zone. And I’m very grateful for the leadership of General Brooks and General Lee and the ironclad and immutable alliance that is represented here by these two strong military leaders,” Pence said in his remarks to the troops. Army Gen. Vincent K. Brooks is the commander of U.S. Forces Korea, Combined Forces Command and United Nations Command. Army Gen. Lee Sun-jin is South Korea’s chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. U.S. Resolve The vice president brought greetings from President Donald J. Trump and commended the troops for their vigilance “here along this historic frontier of freedom.” “We express the resolve of the people of the United States of America to stand together in the months and years ahead with the people of South Korea to both preserve their freedom and ensure the objective of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula,” the vice president added. Pence said he and the president are heartened by the support of allies across the Asia-Pacific region, including China, adding that all will continue to advance that objective. “I’m here to express the resolve of the people of the United States and the president of the United States to achieve that objective through peaceable means, through negotiations, but all options are on the table as we continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the people of South Korea,” the vice president said. Initial Steps After his remarks, Pence took questions from the troops. In response to a question about whether Chinese officials would help convince North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to end his ballistic missile and nuclear testing, the vice president said Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had a frank discussion about a broad range of international issues, including the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula when Xi visited Trump earlier this month in Florida. “I know the president is hopeful that China will use its influence here on the Korean Peninsula with North Korea to achieve that objective,” he said. “And we are heartened by some initial steps that China has taken in this regard, but we look for them to do more.” The U.S. hope is to achieve the denuclearization of North Korea by working with China, Japan and other allies in the region through peaceable means, the vice president added. (Follow Cheryl Pellerin on Twitter: @PellerinDoDNews)"Star Trek: The Starfleet Academy Experience" is coming to museums in North American in 2016. Starfleet cadets unite! This summer, the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City will host a new exhibit entitled "Star Trek: The Starfleet Academy Experience." The exhibit, which will fill a 10,000-square-foot (930 square meters) space in the museum, celebrates the 50th anniversary of the famed space franchise and will include props, costumes and technology (such as a medical tricorder table or planet projection mapping). Exact dates for the New York City appearance of Starfleet Academy have not been released. "The exhibition offers visitors the chance to experience life as a Starfleet Academy cadet as they attend the Academy's Career Day in the 26th century," museum officials wrote in a statement. Produced by EMS Entertainment, the exhibit will open at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum (CASM) in Ottawa, Ontario, on May 26, before coming to the Intrepid Museum in New York and later touring other museums in the U.S. "After student orientation, cadets will visit nine zones focused on the training center's specialties: language, medical, navigation, engineering, command and science," the statement said. "Following these interactions, cadets will be assigned a specialty and a demeanor based on their individual training." 2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the debut of the original "Star Trek" series. A new "Star Trek" film is coming to theaters this year, and the franchise already includes six TV series and 13 feature films, not to mention a number of fan-produced productions. The Intrepid Museum will host many "Star Trek"-themed events this year, including movie nights, educational programs and astronomy events. Check the museum's calendar for a complete list. In addition, New York City "Star Trek" fans can also attend the 50th anniversary convention at the Javits Center from Sept. 2 to Sept. 4. Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.FOOTBALL should change is name to 'zoneball' if the AFL introduces zones to combat congestion, according to Melbourne coach Paul Roos. Roos laughed at the suggestion, saying if it was introduced, the game would be so different it should not be called football anymore. "If we want to keep it as football we keep it as football. If we want to play a different game then you call it something else and we'll play a different game," Roos said. "We can have two games – one Australian Rules Football and have one called zoneball – that is a great idea." Roos said the current game was good to watch and was evolving to a more one-on-one style. He said the concern about congestion was an overreaction. "We were talking about the flood years ago, and that went away. We were worried about the zones and then that went away and now we have got one-on-one football," Roos said. "If you watch the game closely, the game at the moment it is as close to 18 one-on-one contests as you can possibly have and we still have people complaining." Roos said he couldn’t remember a time when every match was sensational but in general terms, the game was tracking well. He suggested the biggest change was the introduction of two extra teams, which spread the talent. The introduction of Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney means 100 extra players play AFL each season. While he was at it, Roos said the Match Review Panel's inconsistency remained a frustration but he acknowledged it was a difficult job. He suggested the MRP could create a bank of vision showing low, medium and high impact hits to draw upon when assessing and grading particular hits. Melbourne's key forward Chris Dawes missed Saturday’s clash against Port Adelaide in Alice Springs after being suspended for one week for striking. His contact with Richmond's Alex Rance was assessed as medium impact. Dawes said he was reluctant to criticise the MRP’s decision in his case because he put himself in that position and had to cop the suspension. He admitted he carried a personal bias because he was suspended but he said he there was too much risk attached to players defending themselves in front of a tribunal in such circumstances. "My biggest concern is that it is a system where I couldn't defend myself. I couldn't risk getting a second week on top of the one that I ended up taking with the early plea," Dawes said. He said assessing impact had become too subjective. "It needs reviewing and it will be reviewed but I don't want to criticise too much because it was brought in with the right intentions and I'm sure they will come in with a more workable system towards the end of the year," Dawes said. !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");Environment: The only thing more outrageous than the EPA's release of three million gallons of toxic waste into Colorado's Animas River has been its cavalier response to the disaster in the days since. On Sunday night, EPA regional director Shaun McGrath told a town hall meeting in Colorado that the EPA would "hold ourselves to the same standards that we would anyone that would have created this situation." Right. This is an agency that will aggressively fine businesses, municipalities and anyone or anything else for even the slightest violation of its ridiculously strict standards, but that will face zero fines for its own environmental catastrophe. It's an agency that claims that even the tiniest levels of pollutants are extremely hazardous, yet has been busy downplaying the damage after its own incompetence caused the release of millions of gallons of toxic waste. A few hours after the spill, an official EPA statement described it as nothing more than a "pulse" that had "dissipated in about an hour." Previous pollution had already killed off most fish in the Animas, it said, so there was no real risk to wildlife. The agency didn't even bother to notify New Mexico officials until almost 24 hours after the breach about the menace heading their way. In the days following, EPA officials kept telling the public that no health hazard had been detected and that there was no threat to drinking water. As late as Monday, McGrath was still saying he couldn't give an assessment of potential harm to people. He couldn't? The EPA allows only minuscule amounts of these same metals in the air and water because it thinks they are so harmful. The "safe" level for arsenic in drinking water is a tiny 10 parts per billion. Its hugely expensive mercury and air toxic rule was designed to get coal and oil plants to cut already tiny emissions of mercury, cadmium and other such pollutants. Yet tests have shown lead spiking at thousands of times higher than government-approved levels, arsenic at 800 times and extremely high levels of beryllium, cadmium and mercury because of the EPA spill. And the spill has affected seven water systems in New Mexico and Colorado — where the EPA is now delivering bottled water. When it comes to pollution, the EPA appears to have one set of rules for itself and another for everyone else.Hello and welcome to the return of “Jredd’s Hidden Gems”! This is the first in a series of articles for ChipWIN where we take a look at some lesser known chip musicians. Now obviously, who counts as “under-rated” differs from person to person, however I tend to go by the following guidelines: It needs to be someone who does not have a whole ton of followers on Soundcloud. have a whole ton of followers on Soundcloud. They rarely, if ever, top the charts at various chiptune sites. , if ever, top the charts at various chiptune sites. Or, they have yet to release an album with a well known chip-based netlabel. With that said, let’s get started with our first pick: GXCChater/Drexegar While he has made music using programs like famitracker for PC and Rytmik Retrobits on Nintendo DS, he is arguably most well known for his work with the Korg DS-10. What stands out to me about his craftmanship is that many times his music seeks to emulate other sound chips ranging from NES, to Gameboy, to even C64 and Sega Genesis which he does with surprising accuracy. His style is a blend of vintage and modern chip influences which, in my humble opinion, bridges the gap between those who’d like to throw down with an upbeat dance track and those who remember the nostalgic blips of yesterday with fondness. He has an excellent mastery over the DS-10 and deserves your support. Keep up to date with his latest works via his Soundcloud. NESMETAL Next up, we have NESMETAL. His name in all caps isn’t just for show. The best way to describe his sound is to imagine if a dark progressive metal band of various sound chips came together and composed the most intense boss battle music they could muster. By combining what sounds like Sega Genesis on the drums, Turbo Graphix/PCEngine styled sounds on guitar and bass, and SNES-like orchestral strings filling out the high end, what results is a blend unlike any other chip musician I have heard. The most interesting thing about him is looking deeper into his music reveals that he more than an awesome one trick pony. Check out his tracks entitled “hotdog city” and you’ll see a whole other side to him. In contrast to his usual darker tone, these songs are almost light and whimsical by nature. What does he use to compose all his music with you ask? Fruity Loops 3. You heard right, it’s not a tracker, nor is it the latest version of a DAW. It’s something that he has held on to all these years and continues to push it to the max and stick with it. When I consider his results, it is all the more impressive and proves that it isn’t what you use, but how. You can find his music below: Dropbit Finally, I have a musician who continues to surprise me with his experimental nature despite the fact that some may consider me a veteran with VGM Music Maker. His many finished songs and works in progress alike all have sound design tricks in them that quite frankly leave me scratching my head and wondering just how exactly he managed to make a Sega Genesis make that sound. Even so, he remains humble and continues to learn and grow. At times, like many of us, he too is unsure of his own sound. Yet that humility proves to be his strength in that it drives him to improve rapidly. He is not afraid to ask for help, looks at the work of others, and eagerly absorbs the information like a sponge. Then he takes what he learns and applies it, shocking everyone with a brand new sound. Check out his solo and collaborative works below: So in conclusion, what have I learned from these 3 artists? From Drexegar, I learned that the Korg DS-10 is capable of some truly amazing mimicry and to never judge a music program on what appears to be a limitation. Chip artists are the type to push boundaries and break expectations. Nintendo DS or not, he carries the very essence of what it means to delve into a sound chip and push it to the max. His example continues to inspire me in my own work and I am glad he is here to show everyone just what the Korg DS-10 is really capable of. From NESMETAL, I learned the importance of throwing away convention and what is expected of you as a chip musician in favor of using what you have to carve out your own sound. This is another lesson learned that is very much chip in spirit regardless of the program used. In essence, he is using what someone might consider an “obsolete” version of a music program to create his own sound. The end result is that nobody sounds quite like he does. To me, this is really remarkable and inspires me to do the same and sculpt out my own sound as well with my program of choice. From Dropbit, I learned a new perspective on a program that I once thought I had a mastery over. He showed me that I should never think I’ve learned it all. Because of his fresh viewpoint, I have gained knowledge about composing chip music that I might never have gained from working alone. He is one of the many musician friends I have that continues to show me the value of working together to create something new and I am grateful that innovators with unique minds like his exist so that I never lose my zeal and enthusiasm for what makes chip music as great and rewarding to create as it is. Thank you all for your inspiration, and remember to keep digging and searching for new inspiration. Who knows? Perhaps you too are a diamond in the rough just waiting to become yet another one of… “Jredd’s Hidden Gems” Artist links: GXCChater/Drexegar Soundcloud NESMETAL Soundcloud | Facebook | Twitter | Releases (via Pterodactyl Squad) Dropbit Soundcloud | Ucollective.org Dig this article? Then consider supporting us on Patreon!Jerry Jones appeared on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas-Fort Worth to comment on Tony Romo's future with the Cowboys. (1:06) IRVING, Texas - On Monday, Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett said Tony Romo has a lot of football left in him. On Tuesday, owner and general manager Jerry Jones put a timetable on it: four to five years. Owner Jerry Jones said Tuesday that the Cowboys have "outstanding quarterbacking... for the next four or five years" and that they'd be looking to develop talent behind QB Tony Romo. Richard Rowe/USA TODAY Sports Speaking on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, Jones became testy when the subjects of Romo's age (he turns 36 next April) and recent injury history were broached. Romo suffered a broken left collarbone for the second time this season in the Thanksgiving Day loss to the Carolina Panthers and is out for the year. It's the third time since 2010 he has broken the collarbone. He also had two back surgeries in 2013. "This is not a damn debate, guys," Jones said. "This is not a debate we're having here. Do you know that I don't know if he's got four or five years? You asked me my opinion and I can give you all the reasons why: the back, or I can give you clavicle, or I can give you any other type of injuries that are there. "But you're asking me what I think, and I think we've got outstanding quarterbacking ahead of us for the next four or five years. That's not a downer. Will we be looking to develop and get talent behind Romo? Absolutely." Since 1991, the Cowboys have drafted only two quarterbacks: Quincy Carter in the second round in 2001 and Stephen McGee in the fourth round in 2009. With a 3-8 record, the Cowboys are looking at a potential top-five pick for the first time since 2003 and could be in position to take one of the top quarterbacks available as Romo's potential successor. They have mostly filled Romo's backup role with veterans, such as Brad Johnson, Jon Kitna and Kyle Orton, over the years. Brandon Weeden served as the backup the past two seasons and lost four starts in place of an injured Romo before he was released. The Cowboys acquired Matt Cassel in a trade with the Buffalo Bills in September; he went 0-4. With Romo out, Cassel will be the starter again. Like he has done in the past, Jones said he does not view Romo, who is signed through 2019, as the typical 35-year-old quarterback, because the quarterback did not play his first three-plus seasons. "I think if you look at his playing time, if you look at the years he has actually played, he started late," Jones said on The Fan. "He really has excellent skill relative to where his skill set began, what his skill set is. He's got the relative skills. More important to anything, from a mental standpoint, and from the things that also mean so much at quarterback, he's at the top of the list. So I think four to five years."The uses to which the motif ends up being put, though, are less flattering than they probably sound at first scan. I reached out to Consolmagno about the return of The Sparrow but caught him as he was about to start a silent retreat. When we spoke earlier this year, though, about his work at the Observatory, he took a dim view of the micro-genre sometimes labeled “Jesuits in Space.” “An awful lot of it,” he said then, “is that those stories are written by people who don’t have intimate knowledge of scientists in general, and certainly not of Jesuits.” Without my having to name titles, he criticized the classics. “The Arthur Clarke story, ‘The Star,’ you just scratch your head and go, ‘What is he thinking of?’ You look at A Case of Conscience and [its] theology isn’t only bad theology, it’s not Jesuit theology.” “The Sparrow,” he added, “drives me nuts.” The Church is hardly a monolith; these works also have Catholic fans. Still, the stories could reasonably drive a Jesuit scientist nuts. Take The Sparrow. It follows Father Emilio Sandoz, S.J., riding an asteroid toward a world first noticed from Earth because of its beautiful, musical broadcasts. For Sandoz, the discovery suggests a divine hand at work. His superiors agree. The Father General asks his secretary, “Have you noticed, Peter, that all the music that sounds most similar to the extraterrestrial music is sacred in nature?” But Russell seems less optimistic. Chapters jump between the mission and its aftermath, which leaves Sandoz with flayed hands, scurvy, and a crisis of faith. He’s maimed and abused by the creatures he traveled to meet. Their songs are acoustic pornography, graphic ballads about sex and sexual assault; Sandoz, to his horror, ends up featuring in some of them. Ranting about the improbable chain of events that led him to that point, he fumes, “It was either blind, dumb, stupid luck from start to finish, in which case, we are all in the wrong business, gentlemen, or it was a God I cannot worship.” The narrator of Clarke’s “The Star,” which won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1956, fares better. He doesn’t fare well. His discovery is a race wiped out by a supernova, seen from Earth as a star over Bethlehem. The black irony is a bit much for the Jesuit astrophysicist: “There comes a point when even the deepest faith must falter, and now, as I look at the calculations lying before me, I know I have reached that point at last.” Of the three works, A Case of Conscience might be the most theologically grim. James Blish’s 1958 Hugo-Award-winning novel takes place on a paradise planet, Lithia, inhabited by a species unfamiliar with either evil or religion. In fact, to the Jesuit biologist Father Ramon Ruiz-Sanchez, the entire world seems carefully constructed to put the lie to the Catholic tradition. On Lithia, good exists without any trace of God. On Lithia, alien reproductive cycles recreate macroevolution in miniature. Blish frames the experience as a sharp challenge to Ruiz-Sanchez’s faith. “The whole of Lithia,” he thinks, “and in particular the whole of the dominant, rational, entirely admirable race of Lithians, had been created by Evil, out of Its need to confront men with a new, specifically intellectual seduction.”United States-led coalition airstrikes from Turkey are again being carried out against Islamic State after airspace in the country had been closed following Friday's coup attempt. Air operations against IS were blocked temporarily by the Turkish government following the coup attempt. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook, using an acronym to describe IS, issued a statement saying Turkish authorities reopened their airspace to military aircraft on Sunday. "As a result, counter-ISIL coalition air operations at all air bases in Turkey have resumed." Turkey, a major U.S. ally in the region, has allowed the U.S. to use Incirlik Air Base in the city of Adana to launch attacks against IS. Cook said U.S. facilities at the air base are still operating on internal power sources and hopes commercial power will soon be restored. Meanwhile, Turkish authorities have detained the commander of Incirlik Air Base, General Bekir Ercan Van, along with ten other soldiers and one police officer for their roles in the botched coup attempt. The Turkish private DHA news agency showed video footage of the general in handcuffs as he was pushed into a van outside a courthouse.Welcome back to Limited Power Rankings. I hope that everyone enjoyed their prereleases; I surely enjoyed mine, and I got a lot more practice with Oath of the Gatewatch cards. I enjoyed the set much more with the inclusion of Oath of the Gatewatch than I did with just Battle for Zendikar, so I’m very excited to be digging in to a new format. This week, I’ll be looking at how my ratings
1.7 percent. Among the names left out of the survey were former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who are also weighing presidential bids. About 19 percent of the 1,012 voters were undecided or wanted someone else. The poll included registered Republicans and undeclared voters that lean Republican and are likely to vote in the 2016 GOP primary, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.08 points. Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.A mother from Birmingham, England, has been given a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to six counts of willful abandonment for straight up leaving her six children, ages 3-14, for six weeks while she went on vacation with a dude she met online. On January 2, this year, the unnamed (for legal reasons) pregnant single mother told her eldest son she was running to the supermarket. But instead of going to the supermarket, she went to Heathrow Airport and hopped on a flight to Australia. When she didn't return home for a few hours, her son called his grandparents, who then alerted police and social services. BBC reports: The mother, a single parent, ignored messages from her parents and the police, deactivated her social media accounts and refused to fly home until her scheduled return six weeks later, the court heard. Her children were initially placed in emergency foster care but were then placed in the care of their grandparents. Upon her return, the mother was promptly arrested and slapped with the abandonment charges. After pleading guilty last Thursday, she was given a six month prison sentence, suspended for two years. John Smitheman, defending the woman, told the court they were thriving academically and unaffected by the experience. He said the woman had been a good mother but had been in an abusive relationship. He said the stress of bringing the children up alone had led to a "very unusual, almost unique circumstance". Advertisement Um, children are pretty flexible characters, but I highly doubt they were completely unaffected by their mother lying to them and then leaving for a month-and-a-half even with the support from their grandparents. And while I'm sure plenty of mothers dream about just leaving everything behind and fucking taking off for a nice vacation with a sexy paramour, it takes a real, um, special kind of person to actually do so.Dalhousie University in Halifax has launched an investigation into disturbing, sexually explicit Facebook posts attributed to male students in the faculty of dentistry. (CBC) A fourth-year dentistry student at Dalhousie University in Halifax is breaking her silence about sexism in the dentistry school faculty and being the subject of sexual jokes among classmates. CBC News has agreed to protect her identity. The 25-year-old woman says her photo appears in screenshots taken of the so-called Class of DDS 2015 Gentlemen Facebook page. The screenshots were provided to CBC News before the page was taken down last week. "It's disheartening, it's upsetting. We're a very small class, very small. We work together every single day, we see each other every single day," she said Wednesday. "I hope that they will do something, they will take this seriously, finally. I fear they won't. I fear they will continue their path of inaction." The woman also said she and another female classmate complained to the dean of the faculty of dentistry earlier this year, after a male professor showed a video of bikini-clad women at the start of an 8 a.m. class. The video — an Air New Zealand safety video featuring Sports Illustrated swimsuit models — was meant to "wake up" the men in the class, the woman said. "I remember feeling that is so inappropriate and so not necessary to be here and be subjected to this," the woman told CBC News. "Many of the other women in the class felt the same way and many of us sent emails to the dean's office reporting that we were not OK with this sort of behaviour from faculty." Shortly after complaining to the dean, the woman said every member of the class received an emailed apology from the professor. 'We have the exact same education' The woman's revelations are the latest in a series of allegations that have rocked the university's faculty of dentistry since the existence of a Facebook group containing misogynistic and sexually explicit comments came to light. In one of the posts, male students in the group voted on which woman they'd like to have "hate" sex with and joked about using chloroform on women. Some dentistry students at Dalhousie University posted sexually explicit comments on a Facebook group called the Class of DDS 2015 Gentlemen. The group has since been deleted. (CBC) In one post dated May 2013, a member defines a penis as "the tool used to wean and convert lesbians and virgins into useful, productive members of society." Another member responded, "And by productive I'm assuming you mean it inspires them to become chefs, housekeepers, babysitters, etc." The 25-year-old student who spoke to CBC News on Wednesday said the comment about women having to be chefs or housekeepers to be productive members of society is what upset her the most. "We are working side by side with these men every day. We have the exact same education, qualifications and credentials," she said. "To know that that's what they think of women is the most upsetting of all. Very disrespectful." The woman said she was once friends with some of the students who belonged to the Facebook group. When asked about her appearance in the screen grabs, the woman said she was not completely shocked. "How dare they," she said.Facebook is useless How about that for a ‘Social’ network? If you pick up the phone and start calling people, you’d reach more people than how many of your friends your Facebook post can reach. And it would be even faster. Its worse if you have a community page, group, business page or the like – the reach can be lower than 5%. But how come it’s like this? This happened after Facebook introduced its EdgeRank ranking algorithm for posts. Supposedly, the EdgeRank is supposed to measure the ‘quality’ of the content according to its ‘virality’ and other ranking factors, and therefore ‘make sure that people see the best content in their feeds’. In Corporatespeak it sounds spectacular as always of course. ‘Way to go’, one is inclined to say after reading it like that. “Facebook sure has our best interests in mind”…. But naturally – of course not. The aim of EdgeRank is mainly to reduce visibility of posts, and push Facebook Ads. They hit Facebook Pages with it first, and then they shamelessly carried it over to people’s own profiles, dropping it in the middle of your interaction with your own friends and family. Lets see how the racket goes : Now, imagine you have a community page followed by 1000 people. And you posted something to share with every follower. But what’s that – your post reached only 50 people! Whooops – here come Facebook Ads: https://www.facebook.com/marketing/posts/10150839503836337 So you see, Facebook wants you to pay up to reach the 51th person. Its official, its blunt, its as clear as it can be. They say ~16% of your fans, but that estimate is misrepresented – posts only reach ~5%, and if one person likes/comments/shares, the post reaches a few more. As you can see from post of Facebook itself above, the average is ~16%, so you can expect around 10-15% of page’s followers to get the post on average, even with people interact with it. If a lot of people do not interact with the post, the post gets to much less people. (source) For more to see it, each of your posts need to be a Nyan cat or a mega hit grumpy cat post with massive virality… One could say “This is ok, since most of the pages are business related, so its natural that Facebook would try to reap ad money from them”. But as we mentioned before, it doesn’t go down like that. Pay up to show that family post to your uncle Yeah, you heard right. Facebook expected you to pay up for them to show your post about last weekend’s family trip photos to your uncle. (source) 7 bucks. For each ‘promoted’ post. Then ‘more’ of your friends (and family) will see that post – a post from your PERSONAL profile to your OWN FRIENDS who happened to have chosen to connect with you on Facebook. They discontinued this ‘feature’ recently. Possibly due to massive criticism it received online – pay to reach your grandfather – what’s that… Though, you can be sure that its going to come back when Facebook thinks that asking you to pay is more acceptable at a point in future or they find another way to ‘monetize’ your friends and family. However the EdgeRank mess-up still stays – your posts still only reach 5% of your friends, and it can reach up to 10-15% of your friends if it gets good interaction, but that’s that. It doesn’t matter if you and your friends/family turned on numerous options like ‘follow’, ‘get updates’, ‘close friends’ and the like – your posts are crippled to that extent despite all of them being turned on. Even if you and your friends constantly ‘interact’ with each others’ posts through likes/comments/shares, you will still get reduced visibility among yourselves. And if you miss to ‘interact’ with one or two post of one of your friends, you will suddenly start getting even less posts from them in your feed and the chances of you missing the post or missing interacting with it will become higher. Which will further reduce visibility, causing you to wonder whether a friend has stopped using facebook when you suddenly notice that you haven’t been seeing stuff from him/her…. Only to discover when you go to his or her profile that s/he had been there, but you just haven’t been seeing the stuff s/he posts. Like a lot of other people did… Why did it end up like that? Shareholders need their profits. Regardless of what – even at the cost of breaking the entire principle a service is based on – a natural result of our economic system and stock markets. Facebook had been looking for ways to ‘monetize’ people’s connections and relationships, and this is the result. So, now we have a ‘social network’ in which a decimal fraction of ‘social’ exists, but the shareholders are happy. (source) Except, for all accounts and purposes, Facebook is now 95% useless as a social network and platform with near nonexistent social interaction due to crippled reach of any kind of information. Really – get on a better social network as soon as you can. Better yet, join Diaspora – where no private or public entity can censor your posts or tell you what to do. That’s what Social Networks were supposed to be all the way from the start anyway…Bart Houston was born to be in this moment, it would seem. Named for legendary Packers quarterback Bart Starr, the UW senior is set to make his first start at Lambeau Field. | From Varsity Magazine MIKE LUCAS Insider Related Content Varsity Magazine BY MIKE LUCAS UWBadgers.com Senior Writer The storyteller was Guy Houston; the father of fifth-year senior Bart Houston ; the starting quarterback for Wisconsin in its opener at Lambeau Field; the former Green Bay work address of Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr; the NFL role model for the aforementioned Guy Houston. The same guy who named his first boy Bartlett out of respect for his childhood hero. And that's where this story begins … in the East Bay. The eastern region of the San Francisco Bay area. "When I was a little kid in the '60s and I first became aware of things, the Green Bay Packers were in their heyday," said Guy Houston, whose dad, Fred, was a teacher and head football coach at San Ramon Valley High School in Danville, a little over 20 miles from Oakland. "The school colors were green and gold. So as a 2-year-old on up, I wore green and gold all the time. On Fridays, I pretended that I played for the San Ramon Wolves. And on Sunday, I pretended that I was playing for the Green Bay Packers. "That's how it came about … much to the chagrin of Raider fans and people in this area." Houston wound up playing quarterback for his father at San Ramon Valley and set school records in 1977 for most passing yards in a season (1,908) and touchdown passes (20). That earned him a scholarship to Saint Mary's College (Moraga, Calif), where he lettered in football and baseball. "I'd have to honestly say my pitching career was better than my quarterbacking career — and that wasn't saying much," conceded Houston, who initially had some interest in becoming a sportswriter before reversing his field and getting his BA (in 1982) and master's (1987) in business administration. During his college years, and beyond, he was still Starr-struck to the extreme that he was more determined than ever to name his first son after Bart Starr. "That was the only non-negotiable term of engagement when I proposed to my wife (Inge)," he claimed. She said "yes" anyway. Houston didn't have any skeletons in his closet when they got married. But he had a jersey in his drawer. A Bart Starr jersey. One of his high school friends was Rowdy Corrick, the son of Dick Corrick, who was the director of player personnel in Green Bay while Starr was coaching for the Packers. "Rowdy would go back and work the camps (in Green Bay)," Houston said. "And one summer he came back home and gave me this jersey because he knew that I was such a Bart Starr fan. "He told me, 'Don't tell anybody where you got it.' So I kept it in my drawer for 15 or 20 years and when Inga was pregnant with Bart, I sent the jersey and a letter to Mr. Starr. "I wrote, 'Could you please sign it. I'm a big fan and I'm going to name my son after you.'" Starr was gracious enough to write a letter to Houston along with returning the signed jersey. Now fast-forward to 2006 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame ceremonies in Canton, Ohio. The induction class included former Oakland Raiders head coach John Madden. "We were very close with the Madden family," said Guy Houston, who grew up in the same Pleasanton neighborhood. "When he was an assistant with the Raiders, he used to come over to the house and my dad and him would do X's and O's on the napkins. So we've known him for a long time. "When he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, I was part of the entourage that went there and I brought Bart and his younger brother Sumner for two reasons. I wanted to honor Mr. Madden but I thought, 'I know Bart Starr goes to these things quite often so I might get a two-for out of the deal.'" As it turned out, Starr didn't attend. But that didn't spoil the experience for Bart Houston. "It was phenomenal," he said. "Obviously, we went searching for the Bart Starr stuff (in the Hall of Fame) and I got to see his bust and a lot of cool stuff." But that wasn't the coolest thing. "I got to shake Troy Aikman's hand," Houston said with hushed reverence. Aikman, the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and current Fox Sports analyst, was also a member of the 2006 class, along with former Packers defensive end Reggie White, et al. An impressionable, 12-year-old Houston may have been tempted not to wash his hands again. "He (Aikman) was a very cool guy," he said. The following weekend, Guy Houston was reading the San Francisco Chronicle when he came across the notice of a card show with none other than Bart Starr as the special guest. "I spent a couple of thousand dollars going to the Hall of Fame with the boys," he said with a sigh, "and now for 125 dollars I could see Bart Starr right here in San Francisco." So he took the boys to the card show. He took something else, too. "Everybody was bringing balls and helmets for him to sign," Houston said. "I brought the letter that he wrote to me. He really paused when he saw it and he goes, 'Wow, that's really cool.' "I was not only happy that Mr. Starr talked with my son but I was also happy and so glad that my hero was such a nice guy and a gentleman." The Starr jersey is hanging in Guy Houston's office. "And I have a picture," he said, "with Bart, myself and Mr. Starr. Those are just cool memories." • • • • Bart Houston was a thrower. That was the earliest memory Guy Houston had of his son. "At a very young age, he had an arm," he said. "He'd throw things, whether rocks or dirt clods or whatever. As an infant, he would throw the ball with the dog. He was always throwing things." As a result, it was only natural for Bart Houston to gravitate to quarterback, the position that he played with distinction — 38-1 record as the starter — for national powerhouse De La Salle High School. Under the leadership of legendary coach Bob Ladouceur — who played for Fred Houston at San Ramon Valley — the De La Salle Spartans won 151 straight games over 12 seasons (1992-2003). All of which was depicted in a book and later a movie, When the Game Stands Tall. Jim Caviezel was cast in the role of Ladouceur, who retired in 2013 with a mark of 399-25-3. Houston didn't throw the ball very much, by design, for Ladouceur who ran a triple option, play-action offense. Houston was more of a game manager. He never attempted more than 22 passes. But he still had a measurable impact on the success of the Spartans. "As a dad," said Guy Houston, a successful real estate agent, "you remember every good play and you know every bad play and you remember them more than the kids." One of his memories was from his son's sophomore year at De La Salle. "It was probably a breakout game for him," he said. "They were behind in a league game which was very uncommon. Bart was the third-string quarterback. "The first two couldn't get anything going and they put in Bart near the end of the first half because he had the best arm. "On a play-action roll-out, he set up and threw a bomb and took a huge hit. But it got us down to the 5-yard line and we scored. He also threw another touchdown and it kind of jump-started him. "I've got friends from that high school (Amador Valley) and they still like to tell me, 'We made Bart Houston.' But he had this real moment in time — something I'll always remember." That was Bart Houston's second career game. On his "bomb" — a 48-yard completion — he kidded, "I remember just closing my eyes and throwing the ball." It's one of his favorite punch lines. But he also remembered the team needing a spark. "I hit that deep ball and I hit a shorter pass that went for a touchdown, my first on the varsity," he said. "And that was the confidence I needed. It was like, 'I can play here.'" De La Salle rallied for a 32-21 win and Houston was named the starter the next week against Monte Vista, whose quarterback, Brett Nottingham, was one of the top college prospects in California. "He was the best quarterback in the league by far," Houston said of Nottingham, who went on to Stanford. "I trained with him back in the day and I thought, 'Man, I'm going against an elite guy.'" De La Salle won, 28-21. And Houston will never forget his first career start for two reasons. 1) the Spartans' 5-7 tailback Terron Ward was lights out. He rushed for 398 yards. 2) the lights really did go out. "Someone flipped the switch," Houston said. Subsequently, there was a 20-minute delay at Monte Vista's home field. "As soon as the lights went off, one of my guards picked me up and ran me to the sidelines," Houston said. "He thought someone was going to take a (cheap) shot at the young buck." Guy Houston recalled another defining "moment" of his son's prep career. "At the end of a close, hard-fought game against Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas," he said, "Bart called a naked boot and scored to break the game open. "It's not always the throwing (that defines a competitor) — it's the mental part of the game. Some things might not show up in the stats. But you know as a dad or coach they're pretty cool plays." Houston kept his composure and took advantage of the aggressiveness of Bishop Gorman's star defensive end Jalen Grimble (a Miami Hurricanes recruit and a Warren Sapp clone). "He just ate people alive," Houston said. "That's what he did to us. We were purely based on technique and we'd beat him with technique. And, then, he'd just toss us aside and make a play. "Late in the fourth quarter, Coach (Ladouceur) was thinking about a play and I said, 'Coach, I got it. Call the quarterback keeper.' I was 100 percent confident, 'I got this.'" Ladouceur showed faith in Houston and deferred to his QB's instincts. "We faked power," Houston said, "and I ran around the big boy (Grimble) for a touchdown. That's when the coaches knew that they could count on me." Guy Houston always trusted his sons to do the right things — on and off the field. "It was kind of a family project," he said of offering them diverse challenges. "I wanted the boys to be exposed to something besides sports and to different people and leaders." As such, he encouraged them to get actively involved with the Boy Scouts. "Other good men were able to work with them," he said. "And it made them more well-rounded than just 100 percent football, basketball and baseball. It was something that we emphasized. "There are probably not many Eagle scouts in D-I football." There are at least two: Bart Houston at Wisconsin and Sumner Houston at Oregon State. Both made the climb to the top rung; a meaningful accomplishment considering only 4 percent of all Boys Scouts achieve Eagle Scout status. Candidates must earn at least 21 merit badges. They must also complete a community service project. Bart Houston solicited and collected sports equipment from donors in San Ramon and turned it over (12,000 pieces) to the Oakland YMCA. "Bart came back and said, 'I love that place. The people are real special and it feels like home,'" Guy Houston remembered. "And he has stuck it out. It never entered his mind to transfer." Given this backdrop, he was quizzed on what goes into becoming an Eagle Scout. "It's a lot of time and it's a lot of dedication and it's a lot of yelling from my mom — I'm just kidding about that," Houston said. "My mom was very involved. There's a lot of paper work. "My dad was more invested in the camping and backpacking — more of the action things. I learned a lot about time management and just the overall management of everything I do." Learning how to live the life of a politician's kid (and the potential scrutiny that comes along with it) didn't get Bart Houston a merit badge. But it was part of growing up in his household. Guy Houston was the mayor for seven years in Dublin, Calif. — a community of nearly 60,000 less than 10 miles from San Ramon — and a state assemblyman from the 15th District for six years. "I've known a lot of political people where that (lifestyle) can be a negative for the family," he said. "But it can be as positive or negative as you make it. All in all, I think it was positive. "My kids have met Presidents and senators and they've been to events and done things that a lot of people don't get a chance to do. Like the Boy Scouts, it's another side of life (to experience)." Besides recognizing the importance of knowing how to tie a tie for formal events — "I can clean up when I get out of his football gear" Bart Houston said — there were other benefits. Like controlling the message. "It shaped me to be politically correct as well as being my own person at the same time," Houston chuckled. "That's Class 101 for politicians: being yourself and being optically correct." While existing in the fishbowl, Guy Houston praised Inge for pulling everyone together. "My wife has been very supportive," he said. "You have to have that or it's not going to work at all." Bart Houston, 23, also had nothing but praise for his mom's role in their upbringing. "She was a stay-at-home mom when dad worked," said Houston, who spent this past weekend cheering on his girlfriend, Caitlyn Clem, the second-team All-Big Ten goalie on the UW women's soccer team. "My mom went through a lot of stuff having three very active kids — driving them around. It's a full-time job and she nailed it." Inge Houston, a history and tourism major as an undergrad, has been taking courses at an East Bay community college, where the boys' younger sister, Glynnis, is a freshman. "She was bored," contended Bart Houston, who's working towards his master's in kinesiology. It was Inge who accompanied her son on his recruiting trip to Madison and the UW campus. "Bart came back and said, 'I love that place. The people are real special and it feels like home,'" Guy Houston remembered. "And he has stuck it out. It never entered his mind to transfer." After a brief pause, Guy Houston admitted, "It entered my mind. He's a kid from California going out there (the Midwest) and you'd think that if something went wrong (like not playing) he might leave. "But he said, 'Dad, I love it here. I'm a Badger. I love the program, the school and the people.' And I'm very proud of him that he did that (stay five years)." The Houstons will be well represented in Green Bay. The travel party will include Inge and Guy, Glynnis, the ol' ball coach Fred and some friends. "Tough ticket to get," Guy said. "We couldn't bring as many as we wanted." It's a busy week for the family. Sumner Houston will fly east with his Oregon State teammates for Thursday night's game against Minnesota at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Houston, a 6-2, 289-pound redshirt sophomore, started the final two games last season at nose tackle for Gary Andersen, the former UW head coach. Small world, indeed. So much so that Guy Houston has another tie to Green Bay beyond Starr. One of his longtime friends is Rich Moran, who played nine years on the offensive line for the Packers (1985-93). In 2013, Guy Houston flew to Wisconsin for a football weekend with his son that included watching the Badgers vs. BYU on Saturday and the Packers vs. the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. That was the last time that Bart Houston saw a game at Lambeau, a Packers loss. Seneca Wallace started for an injured Aaron Rodgers and Scott Tolzien replaced Wallace after the first series. Tolzien, the former Badgers quarterback, threw for 280 yards and a touchdown. That was three years ago. Houston, then a UW redshirt freshman, appeared in just two games and attempted as many passes as the middle linebacker (Chris Borland) and the punter ( Drew Meyer ). They threw once each. Last Thursday, Bart Houston called home with the news that he was going back to Lambeau Field as Wisconsin's starting quarterback for the season opener. Guy Houston kind of anticipated what the call was about. "The boys don't typically call us at 8 a.m.," he pointed out. So what does he anticipate for Saturday's matchup against heavily-favored LSU? "It's going to be special," Guy Houston said. "I thought it was very smart of Coach (Paul) Chryst to take the team up there in the spring to let the players look at the place. "It kind of reminded me of 'Hoosiers' and the scene where they went into the gym and he (Norman Dale/Gene Hackman) said, "The hoops are 10 feet high just like back home (in Hickory).' "Hopefully the boys will go there Saturday and realize, 'This is our state and this is our home field.' And it will be an advantage because it all comes down to those 100 yards at the end of the day."Can you believe it's been almost eleven whole years since the Buffyverse was last on television? Season five of Angel ended in May of 2004, while season seven of Buffy The Vampire Slayer finished a year earlier in (making it twelve years since the cheerleader turned kick-ass superheroine herself last appeared). Fans still miss it - big style - as it became a big part of so many lives. The shows had so many relatable characters (in spite of the otherworldly concept) and dealt with so many real social issues that it was hard not to become immersed on a personal level. Consequently, the shows still very much influence the lives of said fans to this day - especially since spin-off media shows no signs of slowing down. Buffyverse fans couldn't shake it off even if they wanted to. With that in mind, any issues that come with being a fan of the Buffyverse still exist today and therefore, if you are one, you should undoubtedly be all too aware of them. This article will take a look at those issues and list them for your enjoyment. So, Scoobies, Fang Gang members and anyone else tagging along, let's get started. Here are eighteen problems only Buffyverse fans will understand...This article is part of the Guardian's Euro 2012 Experts' Network, a co-operation between 16 of the best media organisations from the countries who have qualified for the finals in Poland and Ukraine. guardian.co.uk is running previews from two countries each day in the runup to the tournament kicking off on 8 June. Slaven Bilic has proved to be flexible when it comes to formations. The Croatia manager can switch from 4‑1‑3‑2 to 4‑2‑3‑1, 4‑3‑3 or 4‑4‑2 – but usually in some sort of modified, unorthodox fashion. He does not think formations play a crucial role and is far more likely to rely on individual instructions as one of the few international managers who is prepared to employ five or six attack-minded players. It could be argued, however, that in Croatia's case this is done out of necessity rather than any determination to play attacking football. The retirement of the Kovac brothers, the centre-back Robert and defensive midfielder Niko, has been a huge setback for Bilic. Following the break up of the Euro 2008 squad, the national coach has been left with plenty of options up front, but few at the back. This has been exacerbated by his willingness to employ two attacking full-backs, which can often leave his centre-backs exposed, especially without a player like Niko Kovac to protect them. Because of this, Bilic usually employs a deeper defensive line and when Croatia play against teams with congested midfields, the attackers also have to drop deep to win the ball. It is a very demanding plan, both tactically and physically, and it is very hard to get it right without adequate preparation, a luxury this squad – which is scattered across the continent and only together for a few days before matches – have not had during their qualifying campaign. But this is also what gives them hope. Bilic and the players have expressed the belief that everything will fall into place at Euro 2012 because of the extra time they will have together. The highly dynamic and attacking 4-4-2 formation that Croatia employed in their 3-0 play-off win against Turkey in Istanbul is an option for the match against Italy on 14 June, but it is unlikely that the manager will choose a similar approach in the Group C opener against Ireland on 10 June. Bilic could well add Eduardo da Silva or Nikica Jelavic to the forward line for the game against Giovanni Trapattoni's side. However, the Croat is a man who analyses tactical trends and it is entirely possible he will come up with something completely new for the tournament. Against Ireland and Italy, injury permitting, Bilic is almost certain to start with Stipe Pletikosa in goal, Tomislav Dujmovic or Ognjen Vukojevic as the defensive midfielder, Darijo Srna as a right-sided midfielder, full-back or wing-back, Tottenham Hotspur's Luka Modric in the centre of the midfield, and, following the late withdrawal of Ivica Olic through injury, Nikica Jelavic and Mario Mandzukic up front. Vedran Corluka is also likely to start these games, though it is not clear in which position he will play. The Bayer Leverkusen man feels most comfortable at right-back but could be asked to fill in on the left, in the centre, or even in midfield. While Bilic has plenty of options in midfield (Ivan Rakitic, Niko Kranjcar, Ivan Perisic), and in attack (Eduardo and Nikola Kalinic), defence is a real problem. Lyon's Dejan Lovren has left the squad with an achilles injury and depending on where the manager chooses to play Corluka, Joe Simunic of Dinamo Zagreb and Eintracht Frankfurt's Gordon Schildenfeld are candidates for the central roles while Domagoj Vida should begin at right-back with either Ivan Strinic or Danijel Pranjic on the left. Bilic is more unpredictable than any former Croatia manager. In fact, he is probably more unpredictable than most national coaches. While it can be argued that his tinkering is simply down to a lack of vision, it is probably closer to the truth to be saying that he is trying to get the most out of a limited pool of players. Who is the player who is going to surprise everyone at the Euros? Nikica Jelavic only made three starts in qualifying and managed a total of 315 minutes on the pitch for a return of no goals, but with the late withdrawal of the veteran Ivica Olic and the 26-year-old's immediate impact in the Premier League last season, he is likely to get more of a run in Poland and Ukraine. It had all looked promising for Jelavic after scoring on his Croatia debut – a 3-2 friendly win against Qatar in 2009 – but he has only added one more international goal in 18 games – although only a handful were starts – with Olic, Eduardo and Mario Mandzukic usually in front of him. Jelavic's greatest strength is his ability to finish, with either foot and usually first time, but at 6ft 1in he is also decent in the air and he can hold the ball up playing as a lone front man, although it is in front of goal where he gives best value. He managed 11 goals in 16 games after his £5.5m move to Everton to finish as their top scorer having knocked in 17 for Rangers in the first half of the campaign, and finished as their top scorer too. The previous season he got 19 and also bagged goal of the season for good measure with an overhead kick against Aberdeen. Jelavic has finally proved that he can do it in a big league so expect to see Slaven Bilic, who understands the pressure of playing for the Goodison club after four fallow years of his own on their payroll, using him a lot more often. Who is the player who is going to disappoint the most? Luka Modric. If things go downhill for Croatia, he will be most likely to blame. After being instrumental to Spurs' success for most of the season, the playmaker had a major slump in form towards the end of it, and the leading pundit Igor Stimac (the former Croatia and Derby County defender) says he's been "used up". Modric is one of the few guaranteed starters in the squad, but if he fails to produce, a disaster could be just around the corner … What is the realistic aim for your team at the Euros and why? Get past the group stage. It's impossible to predict our chances at this point, because the squad lacks depth and if some of the key players get injured we could be doomed. But if we stay clear of injuries, we can do it. The first game against Ireland will shape everything – a win would boost the squad's confidence and give them a great psychological advantage … We have a very good record against the Italians (two wins and one draw in competitive matches) and know how to play against them, and Spain could have qualified for the last eight by the time we meet them. If we manage to go through, just about anything is possible. Aleksandar Holiga is a football writer with Tportal.hr Click here to read the profile of Darijo Srna And click here to read the secrets behind the Croatia playersThe weekend rally in the bitcoin-U.S. dollar (BTC/USD) exchange rate may have come to a halt at $4,470 on Monday, but bulls appear to be crowding out the weak hands. The retreat to $4,255 over the last day suggests investors who lack the financial resources to carry their positions have been spooked by minor price changes. While this unwinding of speculative bets could have gathered pace, spreading uncertainty amongst a wider swathe of investors, that outcome now appears unlikely. Moreover, the overall outlook remains constructive, given there are no signs of stress on the technical charts and indications that the number one cryptocurrency has already digested the bearish regulatory news out of China and South Korea. Price action analysis today suggests that the digital asset is now ready to pop higher, having taken the 50-day moving average hurdle in a convincing manner over the weekend. At press time, the digital currency is trading at $4,290 – down 2.85 percent in the last 24 hours. Week-on-week, BTC is up 11.54 percent, while month-on-month, it is still nursing a 7 percent loss. Four-hour chart The golden crossover/bullish crossover – 50-simple moving average cuts the 200-simple moving average from below – adds credence to the rebound from 100-day moving
when a measure designed to assess a particular construct inadvertently measures something else as well. [17] can occur in both experimental and non-experimental research designs. This type of confounding occurs when a measure designed to assess a particular construct inadvertently measures something else as well. A procedural confounding can occur in a laboratory experiment or a quasi-experiment. This type of confound occurs when the researcher mistakenly allows another variable to change along with the manipulated independent variable. [17] can occur in a laboratory experiment or a quasi-experiment. This type of confound occurs when the researcher mistakenly allows another variable to change along with the manipulated independent variable. A person confounding occurs when two or more groups of units are analyzed together (e.g., workers from different occupations), despite varying according to one or more other (observed or unobserved) characteristics (e.g., gender).[18] Examples [ edit ] In another concrete example, say one is studying the relation between birth order (1st child, 2nd child, etc.) and the presence of Down's Syndrome in the child. In this scenario, maternal age would be a confounding variable: Higher maternal age is directly associated with Down's Syndrome in the child Higher maternal age is directly associated with Down's Syndrome, regardless of birth order (a mother having her 1st vs 3rd child at age 50 confers the same risk) Maternal age is directly associated with birth order (the 2nd child, except in the case of twins, is born when the mother is older than she was for the birth of the 1st child) Maternal age is not a consequence of birth order (having a 2nd child does not change the mother's age) In risk assessments, factors such as age, gender, and educational levels often affect health status and so should be controlled. Beyond these factors, researchers may not consider or have access to data on other causal factors. An example is on the study of smoking tobacco on human health. Smoking, drinking alcohol, and diet are lifestyle activities that are related. A risk assessment that looks at the effects of smoking but does not control for alcohol consumption or diet may overestimate the risk of smoking.[19] Smoking and confounding are reviewed in occupational risk assessments such as the safety of coal mining.[20] When there is not a large sample population of non-smokers or non-drinkers in a particular occupation, the risk assessment may be biased towards finding a negative effect on health. Decreasing the potential for confounding [ edit ] A reduction in the potential for the occurrence and effect of confounding factors can be obtained by increasing the types and numbers of comparisons performed in an analysis. If measures or manipulations of core constructs are confounded (i.e. operational or procedural confounds exist), subgroup analysis may not reveal problems in the analysis. Additionally, increasing the number of comparisons can create other problems (see multiple comparisons). Peer review is a process that can assist in reducing instances of confounding, either before study implementation or after analysis has occurred. Peer review relies on collective expertise within a discipline to identify potential weaknesses in study design and analysis, including ways in which results may depend on confounding. Similarly, replication can test for the robustness of findings from one study under alternative study conditions or alternative analyses (e.g., controlling for potential confounds not identified in the initial study). Confounding effects may be less likely to occur and act similarly at multiple times and locations.[citation needed] In selecting study sites, the environment can be characterized in detail at the study sites to ensure sites are ecologically similar and therefore less likely to have confounding variables. Lastly, the relationship between the environmental variables that possibly confound the analysis and the measured parameters can be studied. The information pertaining to environmental variables can then be used in site-specific models to identify residual variance that may be due to real effects.[21] Depending on the type of study design in place, there are various ways to modify that design to actively exclude or control confounding variables:[22] Case-control studies assign confounders to both groups, cases and controls, equally. For example, if somebody wanted to study the cause of myocardial infarct and thinks that the age is a probable confounding variable, each 67-year-old infarct patient will be matched with a healthy 67-year-old "control" person. In case-control studies, matched variables most often are the age and sex. Drawback: Case-control studies are feasible only when it is easy to find controls, i.e. persons whose status vis-à-vis all known potential confounding factors is the same as that of the case's patient: Suppose a case-control study attempts to find the cause of a given disease in a person who is 1) 45 years old, 2) African-American, 3) from Alaska, 4) an avid football player, 5) vegetarian, and 6) working in education. A theoretically perfect control would be a person who, in addition to not having the disease being investigated, matches all these characteristics and has no diseases that the patient does not also have—but finding such a control would be an enormous task. persons whose status vis-à-vis all known potential confounding factors is the same as that of the case's patient: Suppose a case-control study attempts to find the cause of a given disease in a person who is 1) 45 years old, 2) African-American, 3) from Alaska, 4) an avid football player, 5) vegetarian, and 6) working in education. A theoretically perfect control would be a person who, in addition to not having the disease being investigated, matches all these characteristics and has no diseases that the patient does not also have—but finding such a control would be an enormous task. Cohort studies: A degree of matching is also possible and it is often done by only admitting certain age groups or a certain sex into the study population, creating a cohort of people who share similar characteristics and thus all cohorts are comparable in regard to the possible confounding variable. For example, if age and sex are thought to be confounders, only 40 to 50 years old males would be involved in a cohort study that would assess the myocardial infarct risk in cohorts that either are physically active or inactive. Drawback: In cohort studies, the overexclusion of input data may lead researchers to define too narrowly the set of similarly situated persons for whom they claim the study to be useful, such that other persons to whom the causal relationship does in fact apply may lose the opportunity to benefit from the study's recommendations. Similarly, "over-stratification" of input data within a study may reduce the sample size in a given stratum to the point where generalizations drawn by observing the members of that stratum alone are not statistically significant. Double blinding: conceals from the trial population and the observers the experiment group membership of the participants. By preventing the participants from knowing if they are receiving treatment or not, the placebo effect should be the same for the control and treatment groups. By preventing the observers from knowing of their membership, there should be no bias from researchers treating the groups differently or from interpreting the outcomes differently. Randomized controlled trial: A method where the study population is divided randomly in order to mitigate the chances of self-selection by participants or bias by the study designers. Before the experiment begins, the testers will assign the members of the participant pool to their groups (control, intervention, parallel), using a randomization process such as the use of a random number generator. For example, in a study on the effects of exercise, the conclusions would be less valid if participants were given a choice if they wanted to belong to the control group which would not exercise or the intervention group which would be willing to take part in an exercise program. The study would then capture other variables besides exercise, such as pre-experiment health levels and motivation to adopt healthy activities. From the observer’s side, the experimenter may choose candidates who are more likely to show the results the study wants to see or may interpret subjective results (more energetic, positive attitude) in a way favorable to their desires. Stratification: As in the example above, physical activity is thought to be a behaviour that protects from myocardial infarct; and age is assumed to be a possible confounder. The data sampled is then stratified by age group – this means that the association between activity and infarct would be analyzed per each age group. If the different age groups (or age strata) yield much different risk ratios, age must be viewed as a confounding variable. There exist statistical tools, among them Mantel–Haenszel methods, that account for stratification of data sets. Controlling for confounding by measuring the known confounders and including them as covariates is multivariable analysis such as regression analysis. Multivariate analyses reveal much less information about the strength or polarity of the confounding variable than do stratification methods. For example, if multivariate analysis controls for antidepressant, and it does not stratify antidepressants for TCA and SSRI, then it will ignore that these two classes of antidepressant have opposite effects on myocardial infarction, and one is much stronger than the other. All these methods have their drawbacks: The best available defense against the possibility of spurious results due to confounding is often to dispense with efforts at stratification and instead conduct a randomized study of a sufficiently large sample taken as a whole, such that all potential confounding variables (known and unknown) will be distributed by chance across all study groups and hence will be uncorrelated with the binary variable for inclusion/exclusion in any group. Ethical considerations: In double blind and randomized controlled trials, participants are not aware that they are recipients of sham treatments and may be denied effective treatments.[23] There is a possibility that that patients only agree to invasive surgery (which carry real medical risks) under the understanding that they are receiving treatment. Although this is an ethical concern, it is not a complete account of the situation. For surgeries that are currently being performed regularly, but for which there is no concrete evidence of a genuine effect, there may be ethical issues to continue such surgeries. In such circumstances, many of people are exposed to the real risks of surgery yet these treatments may possibly offer no discernible benefit. Sham-surgery control is a method that may allow medical science to determine whether a surgical procedure is efficacious or not. Given that there are known risks associated with medical operations, it is questionably ethical to allow unverified surgeries to be conducted ad infinitum into the future. See also [ edit ] Anecdotal evidence Causal inference Epidemiological method Simpson's paradox – A phenomenon in probability and statistics, in which a trend appears in several different groups of data but disappears or reverses when these groups are combined References [ edit ] Further reading [ edit ] Pearl, J. (January 1998). "Why there is no statistical test for confounding, why many think there is, and why they are almost right" (PDF). UCLA Computer Science Department, Technical Report R-256. Montgomery, D. C. (2001). "Blocking and Confounding in the 2 k {\displaystyle 2^{k}} Design and Analysis of Experiments (5th ed.). Wiley. pp. 287–302. This textbook has a nice overview of confounding factors and how to account for them in design of experiments. These sites contain descriptions or examples of confounding variables:The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is asking lawmakers not to seat ObamaCare consultant Jonathan Gruber next to Medicare's top official when the two testify on Capitol Hill next week. HHS Assistant Secretary for Legislation Jim Esquea wrote to the House Oversight Committee with the request, stating that government witnesses are "almost always afforded an opportunity" to sit alone or with other federal officials. ADVERTISEMENT “The accommodation of separate panels for government witnesses reflects important comity in congressional-executive relations,” Esquea wrote. “The relatively few exceptions to this practice reinforce the seriousness of this accommodation.” The Oversight panel, led by Rep. Darrell Issa Darrell Edward IssaThe Hill's Morning Report — Shutdown fallout — economic distress Former congressmen, RNC members appointed to Trump administration roles Senate throws hundreds of Trump nominees into limbo MORE (R-Calif.), is preparing to grill Gruber over his comments that the "stupidity of the American voter" and a "lack of transparency" helped ObamaCare pass in 2010. "The request is currently before Chairman Issa but at past hearings, government officials have testified alongside other non-administration witnesses," said Becca Watkins, a spokeswoman for the committee. While he has apologized, Gruber's remarks have become their own flashpoint in debates over ObamaCare. Republicans say the comments confirm their view that the law was not passed in an open process. Democrats have sought to distance themselves from Gruber. The Esquea letter is the clearest example related to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, who will serve as a witness at the same hearing. Having the two seated together — with all the resulting photos — would be a public relations nightmare for the administration. The letter was first reported by Politico.Clarification appended. There are two sides to Danny Kennedy. One is the Greenpeace operative, who has been arrested at least a dozen times on four continents, mostly for trying to stick it to the coal and oil companies. And then there's Danny Kennedy the tech multimillionaire, who zooms around San Francisco in a little orange Fiat. They're the same Danny Kennedy: a 44-year-old Australian with chubby cheeks and frizzy hair, who delivers curse-laden rants against the oil companies with a lighthearted, almost jovial air. It's as if no one ever told him you're supposed to be either an angry environmentalist or a money-grubbing capitalist, but not both. In August, Kennedy quit Sungevity Inc., the home rooftop-solar installation company he co-founded 10 years ago. It is one of five rival companies that are growing nationally while also brawling for the same customers. Kennedy served first as CXO, which he now describes as "a silly title to explain my connector/multiplier/man of mystery role," and then as president. He led Sungevity's first two rounds of venture capital funding, raising $8.5 million. As of December, the firm has garnered almost $900 million in outside capital. Kennedy is a multimillionaire, at least on paper. But he is as implacable a foe of coal and oil as he was in 1998, when he and other activists unfurled a giant banner above the Houston skyline with the words "Stop New Oil Exploration." His new role? "The investor," he said. His lift is impossibly huge. He wants to advise a legion of solar and clean energy companies -- an investment class that has grown slowly and unevenly, to say the least, and has been extremely difficult to fund. He wants to breed them fast enough that they could unseat the oil, coal and gas companies that rule the world's energy system. Not someday. By 2030. He plans to do this from a rather obscure perch. Kennedy's new job is managing director of a nonprofit based in San Francisco that few outside California clean energy circles have heard of, with a budget of about $1 million and a staff of six. It goes by the opaque name of CalCEF -- the California Clean Energy Fund. It was founded by a $30 million settlement between Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. and the California Public Utilities Commission after the California energy crisis of 2001. Its main role is to provide seed money and training for young clean energy companies, and its most notable stake was a Series C investment in Tesla Motors Inc. Its returns have totaled about $40 million, which it plows back into other startups. The position is a twofer. Kennedy has also assumed the presidency of CalCharge, a consortium of dozens of California energy storage companies. CalCEF is CalCharge's parent. It aims to make California a leader in the world energy storage market, and its roster ranges from tiny lithium-ion startups to the giant utility Southern California Edison (EnergyWire, June 2, 2014). One goal: Figure out how to pair storage with intermittent power sources like solar, so solar can be a mainstay of the electric grid, instead of an insurgent. Advertisement Finally, outside of CalCEF, Kennedy holds one more key role. He's the co-founder of Powerhouse, which is a sort of solar business incubator. It provides office space, training and advice to turn young companies into big and well-funded ones as quickly as possible. Kennedy started Powerhouse in Oakland, across the bay from San Francisco, in some unused space at the headquarters of Sungevity, his solar installation company. Now Powerhouse has moved to a tower in downtown Oakland, where it occupies three floors and houses 25 companies. Kennedy envisions his big company (Sungevity) and his incubator (Powerhouse) as two foundational pillars of a cluster for the solar industry, much in the way Silicon Valley to the south is the cradle of the computer industry (EnergyWire, Feb. 28, 2014). In sum, this dirtbag activist, a man who has thrown himself under police vans, has become one of the most plugged-in people of the new energy economy: the president emeritus of a national solar company, the patron to a nascent solar industry, the director of a clean tech fund and the president of a big energy storage association. Now what? "Speed and scale," he said. Kennedy's goal is to proliferate clean energy companies like rabbits. Most will die, as startups do. He envisions that hundreds or thousands will throw themselves at the barricades, collectively striving to build an energy economy to rival that built over the last century by the coal, oil and natural gas companies. And then, Kennedy imagines, the solar industry -- a brash, wealthy, battle-tested and cunning solar industry -- will simply steamroll the fossil fuel industry back into the ground. The orange revolution One of Kennedy's friends in the Bay Area solar scene is Arno Harris, the ex-CEO of Recurrent Energy, a utility-scale solar developer. As Harris sees it, an entrepreneur needs passion, ideas and the ability to find money. Kennedy, Harris says, has passion. (One of his first recollections of Kennedy is when, at a solar gathering, the Aussie jumped up on a table to rouse people to the urgency of the cause.) He has ideas. ("He has more ideas per unit of time than anyone I know.") He makes good use of money. ("Danny figures out which is doable and fundable, and he works very hard to make sure those ideas get off the ground.") "There's a lot of entrepreneurs who are good at one or the other, but he stands out at all three," Harris said. He paused. "Another thing that makes him stand out is that he always wears orange clothing." Kennedy's sport coat has a weave of orange in it. So do his slacks. Orange is the accent color of his shoes, and his socks are orange, too. They hew as closely as possible to one particular hue of orange -- code 17-1463 of the Pantone color palette, to be exact -- that is the shade of Sungevity's logo, not to mention its walls. Not coincidentally, it is almost exactly the same color as the shirts Kennedy had printed up in 2001, when he was a Greenpeace activist campaigning for a ballot initiative for San Francisco to issue solar bonds. (It passed.) The thing is that, while Kennedy may hate fossil fuels, that hatred is overwhelmed by a love for the sun. Kennedy wrote a book called "Rooftop Revolution," and in it, he called solar energy "the best idea ever -- better than the wheel and the automobile and human flight and Google." He signs off most of his tweets with the words "Shine on!" The one-percenters To understand the moment Kennedy finds himself in, it helps to understand the moment solar finds itself in, relative to the world's energy supply. One day in November, driving around San Francisco in his orange electric Fiat 500, Kennedy tried to articulate where solar is. He was trying out a new line. "It's gone from the impossible to the possible --" he said, and then corrected himself, realizing he'd used the wrong word. "Or, rather, plausible. And we have to bring it from plausible to inevitable." In December, the solar industry got a big dose of plausible. In Paris, 195 countries signed an agreement to limit the globe's carbon emissions (Greenwire, Dec. 12, 2015). In Washington, D.C., Congress surprised many by extending for six years the investment tax credit for solar (ClimateWire, Dec. 21, 2015). And on the U.S. power grid, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, solar provided 1 percent of electricity for the first time. One percent. Not much, really. The U.S. Energy Information Administration thinks solar will take decades to represent a hefty part of electricity generation. Under its most optimistic scenario, with oil prices climbing from their current rock bottom, it estimates that renewable energy will represent 22 percent of energy on the electric grid by 2040, with wind holding a bigger slice than solar. But for the sake of the rapidly heating climate, Kennedy said, solar simply has to crush the analyst's rosiest scenarios. "The clean energy industry is on the path to deliver what it needs to do, in terms of emancipating people from fossil fuels. It's on track to do that by 2050, 2070. How do you do that by 2030?" he asked. "That's my hard part." Navigating the'shit show' On Wednesday mornings, Kennedy holds office hours at Powerhouse, the solar accelerator he founded in Oakland. He rolls in on his bicycle (orange) and leans it against the wall (also orange), and heads into a conference room for a video chat with the CEO of one of the startups he guides. The conversation, however, is derailed; the woman lost two friends just a few days earlier in the Paris terrorist attacks, and Kennedy ends up doing more consoling than advising. "Sometimes it comes down to almost being a therapist," he said, closing the clamshell of his laptop, his voice dropping to a lower register. "They're navigating these highly emotional and difficult interpersonal things that require a lot of social intelligence. It's a shit show, and as you go through it, you need someone to kvetch to, or a mentor to ask questions of, or whatever, and that can be as significant as a V.C. putting in some ruthless term sheet, making you feel good and bad at the same moment." Most of Kennedy's entrepreneurial experience came from his decade with Sungevity. His biggest difficulty was figuring out how to honor Sungevity's 20-year warranty in the dark days of 2012, when solar suppliers everywhere were going bankrupt. He became adept at, and even came to enjoy, making investor presentations to venture capitalists, whom he thinks are only slightly more closefisted than the family foundations he appealed to for Greenpeace. As for finance, "I'm pretty good at understanding a corporate profit and loss statement, and I've been analyzing the books of companies since I was an activist," he said. When it comes to spreadsheets and negotiating the devilish details of a funding round -- say, how a share dilution affects the capitalization table -- "that stuff is not my net natural comfort level," he confessed. Sungevity is a top-five solar installer, but the actual picture is more lopsided. The gorilla is SolarCity Corp., a company that's the brainchild of Tesla founder Elon Musk. It owns 34 percent of the U.S. market, according to Greentech Media. Then comes Vivint Solar Inc. with 11 percent. Three companies -- Sunrun Inc., NRG Home Solar and Sungevity -- are duking it out for third, each claiming 2 or 3 percent of the market. Kennedy, like most captains of the rooftop solar industry, likes to say Sungevity is engaged in a "co-opetition" with its rivals, where everyone is battling the common ogre of climate change and sailing across a sea of virgin rooftops. In reality, the competition can be fierce. The number of inspired homeowners on any given day is finite, and the number of states that offer good incentives for solar are limited. Accordingly, the cost of acquiring customers -- often from each other -- is going up, according to Nicole Litvak, a solar analyst at Greentech Media. In an environment where everyone is both competing and crusading, Kennedy has become a particular sort of people person. A former colleague at Greenpeace, an Australian woman named Catherine Fitzpatrick, described him as "the guy on the plane that likes to have an interesting conversation the entire way across the Pacific." One sort is as a connector. Kennedy is a busy man who always seems to have time for whoever's in front of him. He has a roster of contacts spanning two careers. Together, they comprise "whatever craft I've developed of linking, matchmaking -- businesses with partners, and customers and investors, and entrepreneurs with mentors," he said. That, and his natural enthusiasm, which he sees as a catalyst for stirring solar energy from a niche into "the legend of the day" as he sees it: a globe-spanning, opportunity-making, money-hungry force, like Silicon Valley is today, that sucks armies of adherents into its gyre. "You need that sort of zeal, the sense that there's this entrepreneurial moment, which is massive and attracts the brightest and best from far and wide," he said, "and they throw down with this vast civilizational enterprise, which is to get us off fossils and onto clean stuff." The most ambitious part of his plan with CalCEF is to export California's solar model. California finds itself as a clean energy leader on the world stage partly because of a complex infrastructure of regulation that the government has built over decades, and partly because of the kind of freewheeling entrepreneurship found in Silicon Valley. CalCEF, Kennedy thinks, is positioned to advise governments and entrepreneurs in one part of the world in particular: Asia. While the U.S. market for solar and clean energy will grow, the East is where electric grids are still being built from scratch. Kennedy wants to create an exchange program between his brood of entrepreneurs in California and 10 cities in Asia -- in the Philippines, China, India, Thailand and Singapore. How does a country go about making a clean energy ecosystem? "Well, you build businesses, you get entrepreneurs, you train workers, you get financiers to get comfortable, you go through this cycle that we've been through," Kennedy said. "It took us 10 to 20 years, and you're trying to do it in five." The endless campaign The next night, Kennedy was slated to give a speech. It was mid-November, and the venue was a black-tie gala for the finals of the Cleantech Open, a national and global business plan competition for startups. Kennedy was the keynote speaker and was supposed to talk for 20 minutes. But with the gala dinner just about to start, Kennedy confided that the speech requirement had completely slipped his mind until that very morning, in the bathroom. He hadn't quite worked out yet what to say, he said breezily. One thing he knew was that the punch line would involve his suit. It's a standard charcoal suit, except that the lining, the tie and the kerchief are all orange. Kennedy owns only two suits. The other he bought at a discount store. It is a purple Armani with gold pinstripes, and he bought it to maintain the thinnest veneer of respectability while speaking at the annual meeting of an Australian mining company, on behalf of dissident shareholders. The two suits -- one an insurgent purple, the other a sun-worshipping orange -- are like draperies for Kennedy's worldview. While others may look at activism and capitalism as two different things, for Danny Kennedy, they are inseparably stitched together. "He's the consummate campaigner, really," said Jeremy Leggett, a solar entrepreneur in Great Britain who worked with Kennedy at Greenpeace and is his mentor. "He was born with a knack for it." Business and activism mingle when a career is devoted in equal measure to both. Kennedy met his future co-founder of Sungevity, Alec Guettel, at a climate protest in London in 1990. Guettel was wearing a penguin suit. When Kennedy starts a sentence with the pronoun "we," the words that follow might refer to one of his two for-profits (Sungevity or Powerhouse) or one of two nonprofits (Greenpeace or CalCEF). Because in Kennedy's mind, they have the same demands and work toward the same goal. "Entrepreneuring is actually not that different to campaigning; that's why I think I'm good at it," he said. "You don't have a lot to start. Trying to do something impossible that people tell you will never happen, because it's the status quo. You want to change that paradigm and that reality. You do whatever it takes." Such a seamless worldview also creates situations where money and passion rub off on one another. For example, a highlight of Kennedy's activist career occurred during the Sungevity years. He co-founded the Globama campaign, which pressured President Obama to put solar panels on the White House. The campaign succeeded and carried another perk: Sungevity crusaded on behalf of Globama, and the passion that Globama induced drove new customers to Sungevity. "We got mind-share" at a crucial time, Kennedy said with a wry smile, and that helped Sungevity get into contention with SolarCity, the country's largest rooftop installer. A more recent example involves one of Kennedy's new moves as the head of CalCEF. Last month, Oakland announced it would debut an electric bike-sharing program, with several charging stations around town. CalCEF and Sungevity both acted as sponsors for the program. Is that kind of thing a conflict of interest? Not necessarily, said Marc Owens, former director of the division that regulates nonprofits at the IRS. He said in an email that as long as the CalCEF board knows what Kennedy's investments are, and the board considers whether to recuse him from decisions that affect those investments, the relationship is on the level. Julie Blunden, a member of the CalCEF board, said such acknowledgments had been made. Kennedy no longer holds a leadership role at Sungevity or Powerhouse, though he remains a large investor and an adviser to both. Kennedy won't say how much he's worth, but his lifestyle appears not to be one of conspicuous consumption: He lives with his wife and two teenage daughters in a co-housing situation with three other families in the East Bay, with a shared garden and kitchen and a number of chickens. At the Cleantech Open dinner, several speakers took the lectern before Kennedy. No one paid them much attention. The acoustics of the hall were terrible, and speaker after speaker was drowned in the din of clattering plates and waiters inquiring about chicken versus fish. Then it was Kennedy's turn. He orated away, seemingly unconcerned whether anyone was paying attention. At four minutes in, he teed up his joke. He bemoaned that he had no tuxedo to bring to a black-tie event. "I had a tie, and it was orange. And I thought, well, orange is the new black," he said with a straight face, and the room burst into laughter and applause, even a few whoops. At 12 minutes, he delivered his impossible-implausible-inevitable line, without stuttering. Then he shared a long litany of recent news events that demonstrated that coal is going down and solar is going up. Great Britain, cradle of the Industrial Revolution, is phasing out coal power by 2025; the market capitalization of the U.S. coal industry has gone from $100 billion a decade ago to a tiny fraction of that today. His voice took on a passionate cadence of highs and lows that is usually shouted into a bullhorn above a sea of banners, not into a microphone over white tablecloths. At 20 minutes exactly, he uttered his final sentences to the young entrepreneurs. "I wish you well, but I wish you haste. Not such haste that you waste, but speed well, my friends," he hollered, "and shine on." And the novitiates gave him a hearty round of applause. Clarification: The story has been updated to clarify Sungevity’s role in an Oakland bike-sharing program. Sungevity and CalCEF were both sponsors. Sungevity did not provide solar panels, as the story indicated, but made a financial contribution to the program as part of its sponsorship.The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has included more than 900 new additions in their latest edition for March 2014, including some words that are towards the blue end of the spectrum. The OED, which published its first edition in 1928, has been making quarterly updates since 2000, with the dictionary looking to maintain a definitive catalogue of the changing English lexicon as the language evolves ever more rapidly with technological progress and globalisation. This quarter’s “blue edition” additions include a number of variations around the four-letter swear word “c**t”, with “c***ed”, “c***ing”, “c***ish”, and “c***y” all now in the dictionary, along with “c*** lapper”, “c***-bitten”, and “c***-sucker”. On a less rude note, a number of variations around the word “science” were also included such as sciency, scientifical method, scientificness, Scientological, and scientometrics. “Old Etonian” was also added to the dictionary as a reflection of the current Westminster government that is dominated by politicians who went to the elite public school – a fact that Education Secretary Michael Gove recently described as “ridiculous”. A full list of the new additions can be found on the OECD website.It Begins… Far Left WaPo Declares Patriotism and Love of Country Is Racist The left hates America – its history, its values, its customs, its success, its people. On Friday the far left Washington Post declared patriotism and love of country is racist. That’s how much the left and Democrat Party hates America. At least they’re open about it now. The Washington Post reported: To Many Americans, being patriotic means being white. It’s definitely a new low for the American left. They are comfortable and open today with their hatred of America. And by definition, if you love your country and happen to be black, Asian or Hispanic, you’re a traitor to your race. This is the kind of filth the left is pushing today in America. They must be defeated at all costs. More… William Harvey Carney was an African American soldier during the American Civil War. In 1900, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his gallantry in saving the regimental colors during the Battle of Fort Wagner in 1863. During the battle when the color guard was fatally shot Carney retrieved the US flag and marched forward with it despite suffering significant wounds. Carney was depicted in the movie “Glory.” Carney was a patriotic American.The Jayco Herald Sun Tour's final stage up Arthurs Seat was cancelled with the race organisation acting on the advise of fire and police officials regarding adverse weather conditions. The threat posed by bushfires and strong winds meant race director John Trevorrow was faced with the tough decision to cancel the race for the safety of both riders and spectators. Related Articles Herald Sun Tour's fourth stage cancelled due to extreme weather Jayco Herald Sun Tour secures future to 2017 Simon Clarke to target 2015 Giro d'Italia Clarke and Orica-GreenEdge ready for Jayco Herald Sun Tour defence Simon Clarke ready for Cannondale-Garmin adventure Having experienced 40 degree heat on yesterday's stage, a change in wind direction cooled the Mornington Peninsula and while there was no immediate threat to the roads the race was to traverse, with the potential of fire taking only seven minutes to reach the peak of Arthurs Seat, the race was cancelled ensuring that Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge) claimed his maiden overall victory. In the media centre as riders were scheduled to sign on, there arose a tension as it became clear the strong winds and smoke seen from the summit of Arthurs Seat was going to force a change to the stage. Race director Trevorrow, a three winner of the race, made the announcement that for the safety of all involved that there would be no stage today. There is no immediate threat within this region but the emergency services, police and fire, are in other areas under threat across the state," Trevvorow said. "I'm devastated of course. I was looking forward to this amazing stage up Arthurs Seat, I’m devastated for us the race organisers, the bike riders, and especially for the fans. It was going o be something special I reckon." "Everyone is happy with the week of racing here and the win," said Clarke. "The guys did a great job and worked really hard for me this week. We were confident going in to today's stage that we would be able to defend the overall, but like in any bike race, anything can happen. We were up for the challenge, and it was a shame that we didn't get a chance to do that." "I still get to stand on the podium, for us it is still a great win and we're stoked to have been able to come away winning," said Clarke. "Gerro didn't get the triple-crown, but GreenEdge got the triple crown. "So we're happy as a team, it's been a great summer for us and we'll go to Europe motivated to try and continue that run." "It's unfortunate for the organisers that the last stage was cancelled today, but we are still really happy to have won the overall here," Clark added. "I'm looking forward to having this win on my palmarès." "It's a bittersweet result for the team," said Orica-GreenEdge Sport Director Matt Wilson. "The guys all rode so well this week, Clarkey especially. It's a shame he didn't get to finish the race in its entirety because he deserved the win and he deserved to have his moment. This isn't the way you want to win a race, but it was well earned over the course of the week and he would have been hard to beat today. We are extremely happy to come away with the overall win." Final General Classification # Rider Name (Country) Team Result 1 Simon Clarke (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 10:59:17 2 Cameron Wurf (Aus) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:00:08 3 Jack Haig (Aus) Avanti Cycling Team 0:00:11 4 Nathan Ha
in the video above, this solution is very impressive, and it has the potential to help people in the real world. With improved accuracy and speedier procedures, patients can have a better outcome, including both a greater chance of survival and a reduction in complications. It is really heartwarming to see technology being used to impact lives in a meaningful way -- this is what it's all about, folks. What do you think about mixed reality being used in surgical procedures? Tell me in the comments below.GETTY Female migrants are selling sex to get into the UK, report states The confidential National Crime Agency (NCA) report contains on-the-ground findings from Unicef, which state that unaccompanied children in Calais are working in "near slave-like conditions" and that "sexual abuse appears to be commonplace". The findings of the report have been passed on to French authorities, who the NCA says are launching investigations. We cannot directly intervene on French soil. However, we routinely share intelligence with law enforcement counterparts to target organised crime gangs and help potential victims National Crime Agency The NCA, which is equivalent to the FBI in Britain, states: "We cannot directly intervene on French soil. "However, we routinely share intelligence with law enforcement counterparts to target organised crime gangs and help potential victims. "We continue to work together closely to identify vulnerable children in Calais who have family in the UK and are committed to bringing them to the UK quickly." The report was sent to Theresa May earlier this summer, when she was Foreign Secretary. GETTY Child abuse is rife in the Calais jungle, the NCA states The Prime Minister is due to attend a UN summit on the refugee crisis on Monday, at which world leaders are due to discuss how to address the crisis of the world's 65.3 million displaced people. Unaccompanied children are rife in Calais, with recently published Eurostat figures showing that of the 580,000 asylum claims logged by children in Europe since 2015, nearly 100,000 were by unaccompanied minors. With criminal gangs and smugglers rife in the Calais Jungle, the extent of exploitation is yet to be fully understood, the NCA states. GETTY Unaccompanied children are said to be particularly vulnerable 13 pictures that will make you STOP and THINK Sun, February 5, 2017 Shocking pictures show the true devastation caused from the migrant crisis. Play slideshow REUTERS 1 of 13 A Turkish gendarmerie carries Aylan Kurdi's body after he drowned in a failed attempt to sail to the Greek island of KosA comprehensive look at countries the US has bombed since the end of the second world war. Since WWII, most wars, conflicts and interventions have been accompanied by targeted attacks from jet planes, drones, or naval vessels. Due to its superpower status and unofficial reputation as the world’s policeman, the United States has been the leader of many. After WWII, the U.S.’ acquired superpower muscle has been flexed for various reasons to bomb at least 20 different countries by air, land, or sea. Some key points: President Obama has bombed the most countries (7) since WWII. Six of these were attacked first by previous presidents. A close second is President Clinton, who bombed 6 countries, only one of which was bombed by a former administration. 5 out of 20 countries bombed since WWII were related to the Cold War. 7 out of 20 were related to terrorism. 3 out of 20 were isolated attacks, lasting a period of less than two days. 8 out of 20 were extensive campaigns lasting for a period of over 5 years. 5 out of 20 have been struck by drones. Attacks on other countries were backed by alliances or coalitions 9 times; two of these instances were without UN approval. Here’s a list of 20 confirmed countries the US has bombed since 1946, along brief details as to when and why it happened. Afghanistan: 1998, 2001-present [contextly_sidebar id=”oqqfUoqToxreAUjxgQFp6f9UHCAvkl6e”]President: Clinton, W. Bush Details: 1998 air strikes targeted the Al Qaeda terror group and Osama Bin Laden. Strikes, beginning in 2001 in response to terror attacks on the U.S, were part of the UN coalition ISAF’s 13-year-long war in the country. Bosnia: 1994, 1995 President: Clinton Details: In coordination with the UN, NATO orchestrated aggressive air campaigns targeting Bosnian Serb troops due to an escalating humanitarian crisis in which Serbs attacked civilian Muslim populations in Srebrencia and other UN protected enclaves. Cambodia: 1965-73 President: Nixon Details: Suspected communist base camps in Cambodia were attacked in 1969-70, and initially kept secret from Congress and U.S. public. Over 2.7 million tons of bombs were dropped over a 9 year period. Cuba: 1959-1962 President: Eisenhower, Kennedy Details: During a failed military invasion known as the “Bay of Pigs,” U.S. B-26 aircrafts camouflaged as Cuban planes assisted ex-patriots in a bombing campaign, with the intention of overthrowing Fidel Castro. Grenada: 1983 President: Reagan Details: After a military coup and murder of the nation’s prime minister in 1983, the U.S. invaded the island of Grenada, where some Americans were purported to be in danger. The invasion, which imposed a regime change on Grenada, was later called a “flagrant violation of international law” by the UN but viewed favorably by most Americans. Iraq: 1991-2011, 2014-present President: H.W. Bush, Clinton, W. Bush, Obama Details: Beginning with the Gulf War in 1991, the U.S. and others bombed Iraq and continued with air strikes in an effort to enforce “no fly zones.” These strikes carried over the course of the decade well into the 2003 Iraq war. In 2014, air strikes have resumed in Iraq to combat ISIS forces. Iran: 1988 President: Reagan Details: After military clashes in the Persian Gulf, during which an American ship was damaged by an Iranian mining operation, the U.S. Navy retaliated by bombing Iranian oil platforms, along with several vessels in the aftermath when the Iranian navy fought back. (The attack was called unjustified by the International Court of Justice). Korea: 1950-53 President: Truman Details: When Northern Korea invaded Southern Korea in an attack supported by Russia and China, the U.S. and others allies rushed to defend the south in an effort to contain communism. The result was an aerial bombing campaign, part of a United Nationsmilitary effort that helped turn back North Koreans and aggressors. The war caused massive damage and death to millions of innocent people. Kuwait: 1991 President: H.W. Bush Details: During the Gulf War in 1991, Iraqi-controlled oil facilities in Kuwait were subject to air strikes by the U.S. An international coalition executed a five-week naval and air bombardment, which eventually lead to Iraqi troops’ withdrawal from Kuwait. Laos: 1964-73 President: Johnson, Nixon Details: The U.S. dropped about 2.5 million tons of bombs on Laos over a nine year period as part of its “Secret War.” The attacks were to protect U.S. allies from the communist group Pathet Lao and to stop the flow of weapons and soldiers through the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Lebanon: 1983 President: Reagan Details: Upon the Lebanese government’s request, the U.S. authorized military forces to help the Lebanese Army regain control amidst a debilitating civil war. Though U.S. forces did not intend to engage in combat, naval attacks were authorized during the second deployment. Libya: 1986, 2011 President: Reagan, Obama Details: In retaliation to the Libyan bombing of a German discotheque which killed two American servicemen, and other attacks suspected to be carried out by Libyan agents, the U.S. attacked five terrorist hubs in operation El Dorado Canyon in 1986. In 2011, American and European forces struck Libyan air defense systems to enforce a no-fly zone and prevent attacks on its own citizens. Pakistan: 2003-Present President: W. Bush, Obama Details: Drone strikes on hundreds of terrorist targets in Pakistan began under the Bush administration and have continued through the Obama administration. Panama: 1989-90 President: H. W. Bush Details: The Bush administration perceived Panama’s declaration of a “state of war” between it and the U.S. (along with the execution of an unarmed U.S. marine) as a direct threat to the American citizens living there. For this reason (along with issues of human rights conditions and drug trafficking), the U.S. invaded and bombed Panama. Somalia: 1993, 2007-Present President: Clinton, Obama Details: In 1993, a bloody civil war in Somalia prompted the U.S. and UN to assist with humanitarian aid. After peacekeepers were threatened, the U.S. lead aerial attacks (off which the Black Hawk Down is based). From 2007-2014, the Obama administration carried out drone strikes against al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist groups in Somalia. Sudan: 1998 President: Clinton Details: A factory thought to be in part owned by Osama Bin Laden in Sudan was destroyed by U.S. missiles in 1998. However, some suggest that what was thought to be a chemical weapon factory was in actuality a medicine factory. Syria: 2014 President: Obama Details: America’s first bombing of Syria is backed by a coalition backed by over 60 nations. The attacks are in response to the militant group ISIS’ terrorist expansion and execution of Western journalists. Vietnam: 1961-73 President: Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon Details: During the Vietnam War, the U.S. defended South Vietnam from the Soviet and Chinese-backed North Vietnam. U.S. involvement escalated to a wide-scale bombing campaign in an air war that left South Vietnam devastated. Yemen: 2002, 2009-present President: W. Bush, Obama Details: The first known counter-terrorist attack on Yemeni soil occurred in 2002, killing 6-7 al Qaeda suspects. Since 2009, Yemen has seen hundreds of U.S. drone strikes targeting terror suspects. Yugoslavia: 1998-99 President: Clinton Details: In response to humanitarian crisis in Yugoslavia, NATO attacked the country without the approval of the UN, even though no members of the alliances were threatened directly. Bombing relied heavily upon the U.S. Air Force and Navy, and included a controversial bombing of the Chinese Embassy there, which some officials claim was an intentional act. Other CIA-assisted bombings, covert operations in which U.S. troops allegedly directed or assisted foreign attacks, are believed to have occurred in Congo (1964), El Salvador (1985), Guatemala (1950s), Indonesia (1958), Nicaragua (1981-90), and Peru (1968). This list also excludes the U.S. bombing of legal Chinese territory in Belgrade, and the accidental bombing of the French embassy in Tripoli.First of all, I just want to say thank you to all my fans, family and friends who have been expressing their love and devotion during this time. I appreciate this more than you know. The reason I'm speaking out about this is for those people and to bring these events everyone is asking me about to light. Read more: A Lot Like Birds vocalist Kurt Travis leaves band Leaving A Lot Like Birds was the very last thing on my mind coming off our last tour with Dance Gavin Dance. Supporting them on their 10-year anniversary was something very special. ALLB’s overall spirit and morale were quite pleasant. We were doing better than ever—playing huge, sold-out venues and our sound was more refined. Everything was going well, but we were the only band not touring on a new full-length album, and our fans were starting to ask when our new album would be out. I also was asking myself this, since other projects were being recorded quite frequently. Sianvar—Joe Arrington’s [drums] group with Will Swan—completed their second EP and Michael [Franzino, guitar] finished his solo project Alone, which took over a year to complete. His release was over-saturated on all of ALLB’s social media, even after he was repeatedly asked to stop by multiple members. For me, it made supporting Michael’s solo project very difficult, despite how incredibly talented he is. We were all very excited and happy to learn of Michael’s plan to record his own solo album, knowing from experience the freedom of writing just for yourself is something every songwriting musician should have. I was excited for him and hoped that he was going to come back from his experience better than ever and ready to birth the best ALLB record in existence. After we got back from tour, things were mostly silent. I would hit up members in the band and ask about new songs and how they were developing. Everyone would give me a thumbs-up, letting me know something good was happening and that they couldn’t wait to show me. A month goes by and not much has been shown to me, so I called Cory [Lockwood, vocals] to ask if we could get together to bounce ideas around. He was super-down and told me he was taking vocal lessons. After a couple weeks or so, Michael sent me a song and asked about laying down some pre-production vocals. We ended up getting together at the practice studio to start recording some ideas for the song. I had been listening to the song a few days prior to us getting together and I just couldn’t help but get an Alone feel from it. Nevertheless, I was keeping an open mind to the rest of the record, assuming this was one of the ballads to our new album while remaining hopeful there would be a beautiful spectrum like our previous records have. I asked Michael how many full songs we had and he said we had about five done and started to show me some of them. As I listened to each song, I became more and more sad and upset because each song he was showing me did not sound like ALLB at all. It sounded like his solo stuff. After all the songs had been shown to me, I began to panic. I had to express how I felt about the songs to Michael and told him that I was concerned with turning ALLB into Alone. I learned soon after that the reason Cory is now taking singing lessons is that the band, through Michael’s vision, plans to eliminate Cory’s screaming altogether. I was not okay with the changes Michael wanted and was also hurt that he didn’t care to ask my thoughts on any of it. He tried to push the situation on me, told me that it’s too late to change anything and that our genre is on its way out and that’s why we aren’t successful. He claims that the style change is for the best and that we will reach a more broad market and audience. After pleading my case profusely to find any solution other than me walking, I came to the decision that I would rather leave ALLB and be proud of the albums that I’ve been a part of than to keep going with this new version. In the end, I learned that we must follow what is in our hearts and be in tune with ourselves, for that is what is most important. Thank you for listening.SANDY, Utah (Tuesday, March 21, 2017) – Rio Tinto Stadium and Real Salt Lake will host iconic and legendary international power Manchester United – winners of a record 20 top-flight titles in England (including 13 in the Premier League era) and three European championships – on Monday, July 17 (evening kickoff TBA), RSL Owner Dell Loy Hansen announced today. “Our fans have been incredibly supportive since our inception in 2005 and they deserve the opportunity to see some of the world’s best on our Rio Tinto Stadium field,” Hansen said, reiterating that the club’s Herriman Complex will provide a training destination for many of the world’s best going forward. “The Manchester United club is synonymous with the beautiful game around the globe, and to have them visit our great State to play against RSL is the culmination of an amazing effort consistent with our vision for Real Salt Lake.” For the second consecutive Summer, Real Salt Lake faces a European side at the world-class Utah venue, with tickets initially available for purchase exclusively to RSL/Monarchs “Royalty” Season Ticket Members starting next Tuesday, March 28, at 10:00 a.m. MT. Tickets start at just $50, increasing in value depending on location and available hospitality packages, details of which will be revealed in coming days. (Pro-rated 15-game 2017 “Royalty” memberships remain on sale; please visit www.RSL.com/tickets/royalty or call 844.Real.Tix for more information). Presented in part by the Utah Sports Commission, the Red Devils are making their first trip to Utah, joining a list of top-flight international clubs to visit the Beehive State to face RSL. Manchester United follows Real Madrid (Spain) in 2006 (Rice-Eccles Stadium), Everton (England) in 2007/09 and Internazionale Milano (Italy) in 2016 (Rio Tinto Stadium). RSL also boasts a long history of hosting regional CONCACAF powers Club América (Mexico) in 2008, Saprissa (Costa Rica) in 2011, Chivas de Guadalajara (Mexico) in 2008, as well as South American clubs Boca Juniors (Argentina) in 2007 and Universidad Católica (Chile) in 2005, among others. “On behalf of the Utah Sports Commission, this is an exciting day for the great State of Utah, which we refer to as the ‘State of Sport,’” said Utah Sports Commission President & CEO Jeff Robbins, whose office has worked closely with RSL and others to attract high-profile events to the Beehive State. “Bringing the eyes of the world to focus on RSL and soccer in Utah via such a global brand as Manchester United testifies to the aspiration and vision that Dell Loy Hansen espouses for our community.” Managed by Jose Mourinho, regarded as one of the most accomplished managers in world soccer, Manchester United features a star-studded lineup that includes this season’s major acquisitions – forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic and midfielder Paul Pogba – as well as club icons forward Wayne Rooney and midfielder Michael Carrick and other recognized internationals in goalkeeper David de Gea, midfielders Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini and defenders Marcos Rojo and Daley Blind. Mourinho’s Manchester United men will play five games in five cities this Summer, facing Real Salt Lake prior to participation in the 2017 International Champions Cup presented by Heineken. In the ICC, Manchester United will play Manchester City (Thurs., July 20; location TBA), Real Madrid C.F. in Santa Clara, California (Sun., July 23) and FC Barcelona in Landover, Maryland (Wed., July 26) in the fifth year of the tourney, organized by Relevent Sports. In the Red Devils’ previous two visits to the United States, the club has welcomed more than half a million supporters to games across the country, where United has over eight million followers. This year’s two-week tour forms part of the club’s preparations for the 2017/18 Premier League campaign, with the Red Devils’ long-standing relationship with the U.S. having seen the club make 14 previous visits to the country facing American and Mexican sides, as well as a host of clubs from across Europe. United first visited America in 1950 as part of a close-season tour, playing against local clubs. Speaking of the summer plans, United’s executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward, said: “Visiting North America will give the team the best possible preparation for the new season, using top-class training facilities and playing in some great stadiums. We have witnessed first-hand the passion and support for the club in the US in recent years, so naturally it is something that everybody is very much looking forward to this summer.”Israeli forces who turned up to demolish a home in the West Bank village of Budrus were met with an unexpected obstacle: dozens of Palestinian women protecting the house with their bodies. The women of Budrus, a Palestinian village in the West Bank, sent a powerful message on Wednesday when they physically blocked Israeli forces from carrying out a home demolition. Video of the incident, shot by photojournalist Issam Rimawi, shows dozens of Palestinian women standing on the porch and roof of the home, as Israeli army jeeps and Border Police officers idle out front. To the side stands a group of men from the village, observing the proceedings. The women of Budrus are not new to such exploits. In 2011, the village’s struggle to resist the occupation won international attention following the release of a documentary, “Budrus,” which covered local activists’ and organizers’ attempts to reroute the planned path of the Israeli separation barrier. The fight to stop the fence from cutting the village off from huge swaths of its land, while destroying thousands of its olive trees, turned a corner after Budrus’ women became actively involved. Images of women physically confronting Israeli bulldozers and jeeps are some of the most inspiring in the film. In a rare victory for anti-occupation activism, the path of the barrier was rerouted — leaving the village with 95 percent of its land. (Full disclosure: +972 partnered with Just Vision, the organization that produced ‘Budrus,’ to launch and operate Local Call, our Hebrew-language sister site.) That moment of grace did not spell the end of Budrus’ troubles, of course: Israeli violence against the village has continued, whether structural — by the very fact of the occupation’s continued existence — or physical. Violent arrests blight the community, as they do in countless Palestinian villages in the West Bank. The gravest incident of all came in January 2013, when IDF soldiers shot and killed Samir Awad, a 16-year-old village resident. The trial of the soldiers responsible finally concluded last November, with the accused set to receive no more than a slap on the wrist. Just two months later, Budrus’ women faced off against the same uniforms and the same guns, and held their ground. As a result, someone’s home is still standing. It’s the kind of perseverance that constitutes daily life under occupation.As the dust settles on Labour’s defeat, we must do better in understanding the causes. Too much analysis has been superficial and short term, rather than getting to grips with the bigger failings we must overcome to win next time. A large missing part of that analysis concerns the way Ukip hurt us in Tory-Labour marginals by eating into our working-class support. Contrary to the complacency among Labour’s campaign chiefs, until the last year – when Ukip was taking four or five Tory voters for every one Labour voter – in 2015 the Ukip share of the vote was higher in Labour-held seats than in Conservative-held ones. I heard from candidates across the country who said this was happening in their areas. And the seat-by-seat analysis I’ve done confirms what they were saying. We announced 106 target seats in 2013, the crucial majority of which were Conservative-held constituencies in England and Wales. To take these 85 seats, Labour needed an average swing from the Tories to us of 3.5% – higher in some seats such as Rugby, lower in others like Sherwood. In the event, in these constituencies there was an average swing of 1.4% away from us to the Tories. A dreadful result on the night which meant we won only 10 of the 85 seats – little better than one in 10. A big part of the problem was Ukip. In these 85 constituencies, Ukip was a minor player in 2010, polling fewer than 125,000 votes in total. This time was different. Ukip won over half a million votes, and added 10 percentage points to their average vote share. In Labour seats where we suffered painful losses this was even starker – in Morley and Outwood, Ukip were up 13 percentage points, and in Corby they went from a standing start in 2010 to take 14% of the vote. In two-thirds of the target seats we failed to take, the Ukip vote was greater than the Tory majority. And in constituencies where Ukip got a high share of the vote, the Tory to Labour swing was markedly weaker. I saw this rising Ukip threat in my own South Yorkshire constituency, especially after the Rotherham by-election in 2012. And increasingly other Labour MPs talked to me of similar concerns. Ukip stepped into the space left by the Lib Dems as the anti-establishment, anti-politics party. In response to and in the wake of last year’s European and local elections, I got Dr Matthew Goodwin, one of the co-authors of the excellent Revolt on the Right, to discuss Ukip with Labour MPs. And with Labour HQ staff I led work to produce a constituency Ukip risk report for our MPs in vulnerable areas, backed by one-to-one briefings. This was linked to a very good party working group that helped make sure Ukip was at last taken seriously throughout the party in the six months before the short campaign. This work was important, and I know helped in some areas. But there is much more to do. Following the election, Ukip have said that they want to replace Labour in the north, and with 120 second places across the country, they have a strong basis on which to build. We know that Ukip support has increasingly been drawn from working-class voters. Where in 2010 this was barely apparent, in 2015 it is stark. On average across England and Wales, for every 10 percentage-point increase in the share of working-class voters in a constituency, there was a five percentage-point increase in Ukip support. This suggests that Labour’s answer to Ukip cannot be purely tactical or about tinkering with policy. The causes of Ukip’s rise are economic and structural – at root, a reaction to the insecurity that globalisation and technological change have produced. Labour’s response must be similarly broad-based and bold: an entrepreneurial industrial policy that creates good jobs; a regional policy that helps blue-collar areas which have suffered the most; an immigration policy that stops the exploitative use of migrant labour; and active trade unions to protect the pay and conditions of workers. But the roots of Ukip support in working-class areas are also cultural. So above all, we need a Labour party active in all our local areas with Labour representatives who can be seen as authentic voices for all parts of the country. This is not a change that can be done to working-class communities, only with them. Together, these can be the building blocks of Labour’s plan for blue-collar Britain that wins back working-class voters – and helps Labour win in 2020.Climbing Uluru in Australia’s red centre will end, traditional owners and national park managers have announced. The historic decision came on Wednesday after a management board meeting of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta national park voted unanimously to ban the contentious practice from October 2019. They asked visitors to understand the new rule, a long-held request of traditional owners who said they had previously felt “intimidated” into allowing the culturally inappropriate practice to continue. While Anangu (Indigenous people in central Australia) outnumber national parks board members, it’s understood they have always sought unanimity on closing the climb. Uluru arrives on Google Street View, giving online experience of sacred area Read more The chair of the board, traditional owner Sammy Wilson, made an impassioned speech to the board before the vote, describing the pressure he and other Indigenous people felt over the issue. “Over the years Anangu have felt a sense of intimidation, as if someone is holding a gun to our heads to keep it open. Please don’t hold us to ransom,” he said. “This decision is for both Anangu and non-Anangu together to feel proud about; to realise, of course it’s the right thing to close the ‘playground’.” Anangu have long requested that visitors do not climb the rock, both because it is a deeply sacred men’s site and because of the cultural responsibility they feel over the high number of injuries and deaths. “Whitefellas see the land in economic terms, where Anangu see it as tjukurpa [cultural law]. If the tjukurpa is gone, so is everything. We want to hold on to our culture – if we don’t it could disappear completely in another 50 or 100 years,” Wilson said. There have also been complaints of tourists urinating at the top, potentially contaminating water sources – both practical and cultural – at the base. “Some people, in tourism and government for example, might have been saying we need to keep it open, but it’s not their law that lies in this land,” Wilson said. “It is an extremely important place, not a playground or theme park like Disneyland … We welcome tourists here. We are not stopping tourism, just this activity.” Climbing of the central Australian rock began in the 1930s but a chain link fence wasn’t installed until 1966, after two deaths. There was no consultation with traditional owners about the chain. There have been at least 36 known fatalities since the 1950s, and 74 rescues which required medical attention between 2002 and 2009 alone. A 2010-20 management plan said the board would work towards closure if one of three conditions were met, including if the proportion of visitors climbing dropped below 20%. In 2010 about 38% of visitors climbed, a drop from more than three quarters of visitors in the 1990s. By 2015 it had dropped to 16.5%, but successive board meetings failed to vote in favour of shutting the activity down. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tourists climb the monolith of Uluru against the wishes of the local Anangu. Photograph: Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images A 2016 survey found 72% of visitors understood the “please don’t climb” message before their arrival, and 91% said they wouldn’t climb. The park itself is open 365 days a year but the rock climb rarely is, due to weather conditions and other issues. It has only been open 22.7% of this year. The last time it closed was in August, out of respect for the passing of the park’s first chairman, Yami Lester. There are now more than 150 tours and activities, and visitor numbers have returned to pre-global financial crisis levels. Few tour operators and services are Indigenous-owned. Parks management and tour operators have repeatedly indicated that any announcement to close the climb would come with a buffer of at least 18 months, to accommodate tourists who had already made plans. The Central Land Council, which represents Indigenous nations in Central Australia congratulated the board on “righting a historic wrong”. “This decision has been a very long time coming and our thoughts are with the elders who have longed for this day but are no longer with us to celebrate it,” said CLC director David Ross. Australian visitors are consistently the most likely group to ignore the sign at the base requesting they respect Anangu wishes and not climb. Facebook Twitter Pinterest A sign at the base of Uluru requests that visitors do not climb the rock out of respect for the Indigenous traditional owners. Photograph: Helen Davidson for the Guardian Reasons given, according to a national parks survey, have included: “it’s not different to any other mountain”, “this [sign] is actually not factually correct”, and “I respect Uluru like Mount Fuji. We have mountain worship.” In October 2015, during the 30th anniversary celebrations of the official handback of Uluru, a protester cut the chain. Despite the heavy media presence, the incident was kept quiet by authorities for several days. A man who went by the name John claimed responsibility for the act on ABC radio. Wilson, who also runs one of the few Indigenous-owned tour operations, said visitors didn’t need to worry that there would be nothing for them to do once the climb closed, and indicated he would seek assistance to take tours out onto nearby Anangu homelands. “There are so many other smaller places that still have cultural significance that we can share publicly. So instead of tourists feeling disappointed in what they can do here, they can experience the homelands with Anangu and really enjoy the fact that they learnt so much more about culture.” Climbing will cease on October 26, 2019, exactly 34 years after the government officially returned the site to its traditional owners.It has to be emphasized right at the start: this is not part of the official Star Wars narrative. But it’s something fans can think about in the back of their minds as they watch Mark Hamill’s return as Luke Skywalker. Basically, it’s what was in the back of his mind. Hamill has revealed some of the history he created himself to get into the mindset of an older, broken, and weary Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi. Since it’s not canon, there’s no need for a spoiler warning. Instead, here’s a heartbreak warning: the actor devised an absolutely wrenching experience for one particular chapter in the character’s life after the events of Return of the Jedi. “Actors like backstories. They want to know motivation and all those things, and it’s such a blank slate,” says Hamill, who has become so entwined with the character over four decades that he sometimes references himself and Luke interchangeably. “You know, if you look at it intellectually, I realized that it’s not my story anymore and so what [Luke] did or did not do in the intervening years aren’t really important to the audience at this point, but I have to work it out for myself.” Hamill is probably wrong about that. Luke’s history is extremely important to Star Wars fans. But most of the books and comics about Luke that were written as part of the Expanded Universe are now decanonized and classified by Lucasfilm as “Legends.” That’s why the actor felt he had leeway to imagine his own version of what happened to Luke during that in-between time. “I wrote lots and lots of scenarios,” Hamill says. “I made notes that he fell in love with a woman who was a widow and had this young child.” The monk-like Jedi aren’t supposed to have personal relationships, so Hamill says Luke would have temporarily left the order during this time. We know from The Force Awakens that he would later return and found a training academy for new Jedi (which had its own tragic end when his nephew, Ben Solo, fell to the dark side and returned to destroy the school as the monstrous Kylo Ren). But this long-before imaginary relationship with the widow also had an unhappily ever after for Luke. Lucasfilm Ltd “He left the Jedi to raise this young child and marry this woman,” Hamill says. “And the child got hold of a lightsaber and accidentally killed himself.” That’s darker and more painful than anything fans might guess about the hero, but to Hamill, it would have created the grief and guilt he could imagine leading Luke back on a redemption-seeking path. And it also might explain why the character is hesitant about holding a lightsaber again. “It’s nothing to do with the story, but when I think about gun violence and you read these tragic stories of kids getting hold of their parents’ guns and killing a sibling or themselves, I mean, I had to go to really dark places to get where Luke needed to be for this story,” the actor says. Again, this was just an acting tool, so you won’t hear this tale revealed in The Last Jedi or anywhere else. But Hamill said he would consult with writer-director Rian Johnson just to make sure the heavy emotions and turmoil he was generating inside Luke’s head hit the right tone. “I sort of tested out some of my ideas just to make sure I wasn’t in conflict with anything,” Hamill says. “He was really nurturing in that regard, encouraging me to find ways to justify the actions in this movie. But like I say, that little story I told about Luke leaving the Jedi and getting married, that’s not officially what happens.” If Star Wars fans think Mark Hamill was being unduly harsh with his character, take heart in this — the actor cares so much about Luke that he’s creating his own legends.We would like to RE-introduce, the 7-piece afro-beat, world, reggae rock, jam-band known as The Hip Abduction. Coming out of St. Petersburg Florida, this talented outfit hit The Pier about a year ago, debuting their song “Hideaway” featuring Anthony B. Now, they’ve made our Artist Radar… In December of 2013, the band released their third album, a self-titled release that debuted at #5 on the Billboard Reggae Charts as well as #2 on the iTunes Reggae Charts. You can read The Pier’s 4.5 star review of the album by clicking HERE!. As a result, the release was also nominated for Album of the Year in The 2013 Pier Awards. The album was produced by Michael Goldwasser (Matisyahu, Easy Star All Stars, Rebelution, The Green). If you haven’t listened to The Hip Abduction, you are in for a real treat, as they mix African traditional rhythms using African folk instruments, with blues, pop and reggae. I finally got a chance to see The Hip Abduction at California Roots: Carolina Sessions over the weekend of September 13th and 14th. I was impressed with their musicianship and live sound despite playing in front of am early morning crowd that was wet from the day’s first drops of rain. The Pier actually got two chances to speak with lead singer David New, both before & after their performance at Cali-Roots Carolina. Grab a FREE MP3 of theirs with the song “Live It Right” inside our MP3 Massive section by clicking HERE and get to know the band below… Artist Radar: The Hip Abduction The Pier: First of all – its great to finally meet you! David: Yeah I appreciate it man, The Pier has been great. Ya know after that first release, you guys helped to really pop it out, and I’m sure aided us to get on the billboard and ratings we initially got. Love talking to you guys. The Pier: That’s great, and no problem, I’m glad it helped! Can you tell me where, and how the band formed and how this came together. David: Yeah! Me, I started off kind of a late bloomer. I didn’t write a song until I was
my soul to see if I felt bad doing this work, but I never have. I have never felt guilty. Are you somehow disappointed that you don’t feel guilty? advertisement No. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s like entertainment. If I write a book or make a movie, I’m going to promote the hell out of it. It’s the same thing in any arena. I make a shoe, and I’m going to promote it and try to get people to buy it. It’s all part of making a living. Some people sell coffee, some people sell bread, some people sell shoes, some people sell toys. I remember leaving work several years ago, when I was still at Starbucks. I felt so good after a whole day of working with everyone and critiquing everything. At the end of the day I suddenly realized, “Wow, I am really good at this.” I knew I could make emotional connections between consumers and products and brands and things. I’ve achieved a level of expertise in the same way that a doctor or an accountant who practices for many years gets really good at what he does. We practice for years and years and years, and we learn all of the techniques. And then we make up new techniques and new ways to do things. And we get really, really good. Precisely for that reason, you were brought in by Pepsi to resuscitate Gatorade after a failed brand reinvention. What did you do to resuscitate it? I borrowed a lot of what I learned from my years at Nike. Gatorade needed a culture of innovation. For the last few years, their only innovation was related to introducing new flavors. That’s not innovation. They needed to start creating products again that showed that they were the leader in both hydration and in sports drinks. I came in and developed a strategy to help them do that. I worked directly with the CEO to design a new identity for the brand, as well as for the products. Then I created the overall brand guidelines. It was a great experience. What’s it like to start working with a brand when it’s in the middle of a disaster? You only have one place to go, and that’s up. Are they bringing back the Gatorade name? The G logo is being used in the same way as Nike uses its swoosh. Gatorade is the name of the brand and the company, and the G is the equivalent of the swoosh. The company had gone a bit overboard when it got rid of the Gatorade moniker, and now it’s coming back to help reidentify the brand. advertisement Did you do a lot of market research in the process of working on this project? Yes, we did a lot of market research. It was interesting coming to this considering my background at Nike, where ideas were validated by gut instinct, not the consumer. Wow, that’s amazing. Starbucks was pretty much the same way. As Howard Schultz used to say, “If I went to a group of consumers and asked them if I should sell a $4 cup of coffee, what would they have told me?” Both Starbucks and Nike have modified their position on market research now, and do more of it, but they aren’t like a P&G-type organization where they do heavy-duty qualitative and quantitative market research. When I left Nike, that type of validation was foreign territory for me. I had to learn it all afterwards. What do you think of the state of branding right now? I think branding has become a consumer-friendly word. It’s being used in political campaigns, and it’s being used in the boardroom. Schools have even started to talk about branding. On the one hand, there’s a danger the word will become watered down and less meaningful than it has been in the past. On the other hand, it will be fascinating to see how communicators use this opportunity. We have the ability to lead this cultural shift, and I hope we can do it before the term “branding” becomes just another generic, overused, and misunderstood word. advertisement Reprinted with permission from BRAND THINKING by Debbie Millman, Allworth Press. For more leadership coverage, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. [Image: Flickr user jakeliefer]Alan Alda's Experiment: Helping Scientists Learn To Talk To The Rest Of Us Alan Alda's father wanted him to become a doctor, but it wasn't meant to be. "I failed chemistry really disastrously... " Alda says. "I really didn't want to be a doctor; I wanted to be a writer and an actor." Which is exactly what happened, but Alda didn't leave science behind entirely. His new book, If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?, is all about communication — and miscommunication — between scientists and civilians. "People are dying because we can't communicate in ways that allow us to understand one another," he writes. "It sounds like an exaggeration, but I don't think it is. When patients can't relate to their doctors and don't follow their orders, when engineers can't convince a town that the dam could break, when a parent can't win the trust of a child to warn her off a lethal drug. They can all be headed for a serious ending." Alda explains why empathy is crucial to successful science conversations, and describes his work at the Alan Alda Center For Communicating Science. Interview Highlights On the experience that inspired the book I was at a dentist's office in the chair ready to have him start an operation on my gum. So he's got the scalpel ready to poke me in the face with it. He says, "Now, there will be some tethering." I said, "Pardon me?" He said, "Tethering, there will be tethering." I said, "What do you mean tethering." He said, "TETHERING! TETHERING!" He started barking at me. I was too impressed by his surgical gown to say, "Put the knife down and tell me what you mean by tethering." I let him go ahead with the operation and it turned out that it changed my smile, because he cut the little tissue between the upper part of your gum and your upper lip. And I was making a movie a couple of weeks later, and the cameraman said, "What are you sneering about? I thought you were supposed to smile." But it turned out that when I told the dentist that maybe it would be a better idea to tell people what was going on, firstly he said, "I told you there were two steps to the operation." And then he sent me a letter trying to maneuver me off of a lawsuit. And I had no interest in a lawsuit. I just wanted him to communicate better with his patients. On his improvisational theater program to help scientists learn to communicate better First of all, it's not to encourage them to be funny.... It doesn't make them comedians, it doesn't make them actors. The reason for the improv exercises is to really get everybody accustomed to the idea that contact with the other person is essential, is a first step toward good communication. Because if you are thinking only about communication as having the perfect message regardless of how it lands on your audience, then you're likely just to be spraying information at them and not really saying something to them that sticks. On how he began reading scientific studies I followed the same path that humanity did, which was to start with superstition. I was interested in things like spiritualism and astrology, and one of the books I was reading was supposedly written by someone who had been dead for a couple hundred years but written recently through a medium. And I thought, if any of this is true, the physicist who lives across the street would probably know the answer. And I asked him about it and he said, "I don't know, doesn't sound familiar to me." So I said, maybe the answer's in the Scientific American. And I started reading that, and I think one of the things that attracted me, engaged me right away, was that I saw there was a completely different way to think and to weigh things, which was on the basis of observation and evidence. And there's something deeply moving about it and entertaining at the same time. That's what I'm trying to get scientists to do — to share that excitement and passion that they have with those of us who don't do that for a living. Science and the public have separated so much that many people in the public consider science just another opinion. On why there's such hostility to science I think it's at least partly a communication issue. Trust is really important, because... we [don't] have the time in our ordinary lives to get up to speed on... nanoscience or quantum mechanics. It's kind of important to have trust that we feel toward those people who have spent their lives doing that. Science and the public have separated so much that many people in the public consider science just another opinion. On scientists' reluctance to speak in declaratives I think many of us feel: "Wait a minute, you told me a year ago red wine was good for me. Now you're telling me it's not.... What's going on here? Can't you make up your mind?"... That's also a communication question. I think there are basic things about science that people should be helped to understand. For instance, any one study is not supposed to arrive at the truth for all time. It gets us a little closer to truth. Almost every research paper that I read says at the end: "More research is called for." I wish articles about science would include that more. This is not the final word. On his invitation to non-scientists It's a beautiful experience to learn what science is up to. It's just, just wonderful. So I recommend to anybody to open their mouths and let the hook catch them. Radio producer Ian Stewart, radio editor Ed McNulty, web producer Beth Novey, and Shots editor Nancy Shute contributed to this report.Former Soviet ice hockey star Vyacheslav Fetisov, who today heads the Federation Council Physical Education Subcommittee, said he was "incredibly upset" by Russia's 8:3 defeat by the United States in the quarterfinals of the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship on Thursday. "Of course, there is no justification for the performance of our team, but the minister of sports, Vitaly Mutko, should be called to account along with the Hockey Federation. It's he who should be asked what he's going to do now," Fetisov told Interfax. "We have a whole ministry in charge of sports development and it shouldn't be the only job of the minister to pierce holes for medals on the lapel of his jacket when everything is good. Moreover, very recently the minister made such a confident report to the president about the development of hockey in our country," the veteran player said. However, the situation should not be addressed before passions cool off, he suggested. Fetisov said he had been looking hard for something positive about the Russian team's play. "But with all my enormous desire to do so, I can't find any positive aspect. It's even more upsetting that this happens shortly before the Winter Olympics in Sochi. I hope that this brutal lesson will become a cold shower for our team and that they will be able to aim for victory in the Olympic Games," he said. The nation will not accept anything less than a victory, he said. "For this reason, it's victory that our players should start getting ready for psychologically," Fetisov said. He added that the millions of people who watched the game could not see the Russians fight in earnest or show the resolve to win. All rights reserved by Rossiyskaya Gazeta.The Brother HL-2040 printer I bought a cheap laser printer a couple years ago, and for a while, it worked perfectly. The printer, a Brother HL-2040, was fast, quiet, and produced sheet after sheet of top-quality prints—until one day last year, when it suddenly stopped working. I consulted the user manual and discovered that the printer thought its toner cartridge was empty. It refused to print a thing until I replaced the cartridge. But I’m a toner miser: For as long as I’ve been using laser printers, it’s been my policy to switch to a new cartridge at the last possible moment, when my printouts get as faint as archival copies of the Declaration of Independence. But my printer’s pages hadn’t been fading at all. Did it really need new toner—or was my printer lying to me? To find out, I did what I normally do when I’m trying to save $60: I Googled. Eventually I came upon a note on FixYourOwnPrinter.com posted by a fellow calling himself OppressedPrinterUser. This guy had also suspected that his Brother was lying to him, and he’d discovered a way to force it to fess up. Brother’s toner cartridges have a sensor built into them; OppressedPrinterUser found that covering the sensor with a small piece of dark electrical tape tricked the printer into thinking he’d installed a new cartridge. I followed his instructions, and my printer began to work. At least eight months have passed. I’ve printed hundreds of pages since, and the text still hasn’t begun to fade. On FixYourOwnPrinter.com, many Brother owners have written in to thank OppressedPrinterUser for his hack. One guy says that after covering the sensor, he printed 1,800 more pages before his toner finally ran out. Brother isn’t the only company whose printers quit while they’ve still got life in them. Because the industry operates on a classic razor-and-blades business model—the printer itself isn’t pricy, but ink and toner refills cost an exorbitant amount—printer manufacturers have a huge incentive to get you to replace your cartridges quickly. One way they do so is through technology: Rather than printing ever-fainter pages, many brands of printers—like my Brother—are outfitted with sensors or software that try to predict when they’ll run out of ink. Often, though, the printer’s guess is off; all over the Web, people report that their printers die before their time. Enter OppressedPrinterUser. Indeed, instructions for fooling different laser printers into thinking you’ve installed a new cartridge are easy to come by. People are even trying to sell such advice on eBay. If you’re at all skilled at searching the Web, you can probably find out how to do it for free, though. Just Google some combination of your printer’s model number and the words toner, override, cheap, and perhaps lying bastards. Similar search terms led me to find that many Hewlett-Packard printers can be brought back to life by digging deep into their onboard menus and pressing certain combinations of buttons. (HP buries these commands in the darkest recesses of its instruction manuals—see Page 163 of this PDF.) Some Canon models seem to respond well to shutting the printer off for a while; apparently, this resets the system’s status indicator. If you can’t find specific instructions for your model, there are some catchall methods: Try removing your toner cartridge and leaving the toner bay open for 15 or 20 seconds—the printer’s software might take that as a cue that you’ve installed a new cartridge. Vigorously shaking a laser toner cartridge also gets good results; it breaks up clumps of ink and bathes the internal sensor in toner. These tricks generally apply to laser printers. It’s more difficult to find ways to override ink-level sensors in an inkjet printer, and, at least according to printer manufactures, doing so is more dangerous. I was able to dig up instructions for getting around HP inkjets’ shut-off, and one blogger found that coloring in his Brother inkjet cartridge with a Sharpie got it to print again. But I had no luck for Epson, Lexmark, Canon, and many other brands of inkjets. There are two reasons manufacturers make it more difficult for you to keep printing after your inkjet thinks it’s out of ink. First, using an inkjet cartridge that’s actually empty could overheat your printer’s permanent print head, leaving you with a useless hunk of plastic. Second, the economics of the inkjet business are even more punishing than those of the laser business, with manufacturers making much more on ink supplies than they do on printers. Inkjet makers have a lot riding on your regular purchases of ink—and they go to great lengths to protect that market. In 2003, the British consumer magazine Which? found that inkjet printers ask for a refill long before their cartridges actually go dry. After overriding internal warnings, a researcher was able to print 38 percent more pages on an Epson printer that had claimed it didn’t have a drop left. Lawyers in California and New York filed a class-action lawsuit against Epson; the company denied any wrongdoing, but it settled the suit in 2006, giving customers a $45 credit. A similar suit is pending against Hewlett-Packard. There’s also a long-standing war between printer makers and third-party cartridge companies that sell cheap knockoff ink packs. In 2003, Lexmark claimed that a company that managed to reverse-engineer the software embedded in its printer cartridges was violating copyright law. Opponents of overbearing copyright protections were alarmed at Lexmark’s reach; copyright protections have traditionally covered intellectual property like music and movies, not physical property like printer cartridges. A federal appeals court dismissed Lexmark’s case, but manufacturers have recently been successful in using patent law to close down third-party cartridge companies. In the long run, though, the printer companies’ strong line against cartridge makers seems destined to fail. Buying ink and toner is an enormous drag. Having to do it often, and at terribly steep prices, breeds resentment—made all the worse by my printer’s lying ways. Some companies are realizing this. When Kodak introduced a new line of printers last year, it emphasized its low ink costs. Kodak claims that its cartridges last twice as long as those of other printers and sell for just $10 to $15 each, a fraction of the price of other companies’ ink. When my Brother finally runs dry, perhaps I won’t replace the toner—I’ll replace the printer.Linux might be struggling for a decent desktop market share but it is definitely ruling the world of supercomputers. As per the latest report from Top 500, Linux now runs on all of the fastest 500 supercomputers in the world. The previous number was 498 as remaining two supercomputers ran Unix. Top500 is an independent project that was launched in 1993 to benchmark supercomputers. It publishes the details about the top 500 fastest supercomputers known to them, twice a year. You can go the website and filter out the list based on various criteria such as country, OS type, vendors etc. Don’t worry. I am going to list some of the most interesting facts from this report. Some interesting facts about top 500 supercomputers China has still got the fastest supercomputer in the world. Sunway TaihuLight, developed by China’s National Research Center of Parallel Computer Engineering & Technology (NRCPC), maintains this position for last two years. China also has the most number of supercomputers as it owns 202 out of top 500 supercomputers. The USA falls in second place with 143 entries in the top 500. Japan is in third place with 35, followed by Germany with 20, France with 18, and the UK with 15. India and Saudi Arabia have 4 each while Russia has 3 supercomputers. Out of the top 10 fastest supercomputers, USA has 5, Japan and China have 2 each while Switzerland has 1. Top 2 positions are held by supercomputers from China. There was a time when Unix was the most used operating system on supercomputers. By mid-2000’s Linux started outnumbering Unix. The main reason for this growth is that Linux is free and easier to customize. Supercomputers are devices built for specific purposes. This requires an operating system customized ed for those specific needs. Unix, being a closed source and propriety operating system, is an expensive deal when it comes to customization. This is why Linux gains the upper hand here. Do share this article on Reddit, Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels. It’s an achievement for Linux and we got to show off :DYemen's embattled president has left the country's southern city of Aden, to visit Saudi Arabia and Egypt in a bid to consolidate support for the ongoing Saudi-led military offensive against Houthi rebels. Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi arrived in the Saudi capital on Thursday evening, before heading to Sharm el-Sheikh to attend the Arab Summit on Saturday, according to Saudi state television. Hadi's trip followed air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition on Houthi targets in the Yemeni capital Sanaa early on Thursday. Saudi state media reported that he left the city of Aden under Saudi protection. Rights group Amnesty International said at least six children were among 25 people killed in the air strikes in the capital on Thursday. Earlier, Houthi sources said at least 18 people had been killed in bombardment. On Thursday night, Al Jazeera received reports that air strikes targeted a reception camp of new recruits joining forces loyal to ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh - who backs the Houthis - west of Sanaa. Residents and security officials said the second night of air strikes throughout Yemen targeted air and ground force bases loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, whose forces have bolstered the Houthi advance. Al Jazeera also learned that air strikes hit al-Anad Air Base in Aden and the Tariq Air Base in the country's third city of Taiz. Eyewitnesses also reported air strikes and loud blasts in the northern Houthi stronghold of Saada, near the Saudi border. A spokesman of the Saudi-led coalition said the military operation against the Houthis will continue "as long as necessary." Brigadier Ahmed al-Asiri also said that "at the moment" there are no plans for the deployment of ground forces, but troops are "ready for all the circumstances". Iranian condemnation Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, in a televised speech, described the Saudi-led operation as a "despicable aggression". Who are the Houthis? - The Houthis belong to the Zaidi community, a moderate Shia sect that makes up about a third of Yemen's population. - Their rebellion was launched in 2004 in the northern town of Saada. - Their initial demand was an end to political and economic marginalisation in the north. - Another objective was allegedly to restore the rule of Shia imams, who ruled Yemen for nearly 1,000 years. - They now say they are fighting for more rights for all Yemenis, saying people in both the north and south are being wronged by the country's rulers. - The Houthis participated in the 2011 uprising and gained political acceptance in Yemen. But soon they broke away from the rest of the political forces that deposed Ali Abdullah Saleh. - They resumed military action and have in the last six months taken control of Sanaa and other parts of Yemen. For more on the rise of the Houthis, read Mohamed Vall's 2014 blog and look at our Yemen timeline. "What do they expect us to do, surrender, announce our defeat and act like cowards? Absolutely not. This is not how the honorable Yemeni people think. We will fight back. All 24 million Yemenis will stand united and face that despicable aggression," al-Houthi said. Ousted president Saleh also called on the Houthis to stop attacking Aden, even as he denounced the Saudi air strikes inside his country. Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, speaking from Switzerland, warned that air strikes would lead only to greater loss of life. "Military action from outside of Yemen against its territorial integrity and its people will have no other result than more bloodshed and more deaths," he told the Iranian-owned al-Alam television channel. He also called for an "urgent dialogue" among the Yemeni factions "without external interference". Iran has been accused of backing the Houthis in the struggle for control of Sanaa - a charge Tehran denies. In a statement following the strikes, the White House said that the US was coordinating military and intelligence support with the Saudis but not taking part directly in the strikes. Jeff Rathke, a US State Department spokesman, said on Thursday that the US government "understands the concerns" of Saudi is is "supportive of their effort". Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Iran had been trying to dominate the Middle East. "It is really not possible to tolerate this. Iran has to understand," he said, adding Tehran should withdraw any forces it had in Yemen as well as from Syria and Iraq. The European Union, however, opposed the strikes with the EU High Representative and Vice President Federica Mogherini saying the operation "dramatically worsened the already fragile situation" and "risk having serious regional consequences."Protesters arrested, Oct. 12, 2016 Jonny Samuel Perez, left, Robert Lee West and Sarabeth Rachel Long (MCSO) Law enforcement officers arrested 10 people in a Wednesday protest about a newly approved contract for Portland's rank-and-file police officers. The demonstration lasted some eight hours and included protesters blocking traffic and MAX trains. Police pushed protesters out of City Hall and sprayed some with pepper spray after they disrupted a City Council hearing. At least two protesters went to hospitals for treatment of injuries suffered Wednesday, said the spokesman for activist group Don't Shoot Portland. A police spokesman said an officer suffered injuries that weren't serious. Portland City Council approves police contract amid unruly protest Mayor Charlie Hales moved the meeting to a conference room cordoned off from the general public. The following people were arrested, the police spokesman said in a news release. They're facing the following charges: Jonny Samuel Perez, 23: Assaulting a public safety officer, second-degree criminal trespassing, second-degree disorderly conduct, interfering with an emergency response Booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center, held on $12,500 bail Robert Lee West, 51: coercion, second-degree criminal trespassing, second-degree disorderly conduct Booked into the Multnomah County Jail, released on his own recognizance Sarabeth Rachel Long, 38: coercion, second-degree criminal trespassing, second-degree disorderly conduct Booked into the Multnomah County Jail, released on her own recognizance David Kif Davis, 44: Second-degree disorderly conduct and interfering with a public safety officer Cited and released Hallie D. Bernhoft, 20: Second-degree disorderly conduct and second-degree criminal trespassing Cited and released Carlton Smith, 43: Second-degree disorderly conduct Cited and released Henrick De-Savy, 21: Resisting arrest, second-degree disorderly conduct, interfering with a public safety officer Cited and released James Mattox, 27: Second-degree disorderly conduct, interfering with a public safety officer Cited and released Frank A. Martinez Jr., 24: Resisting arrest, second-degree disorderly conduct, interfering with a public safety officer Cited and released Benjamin J. Kerensa, 32: Second-degree theft Cited and released -- Jim Ryan [email protected] 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015 Brad Schmidt of The Oregonian/OregonLive staff contributed to this reportLet me set the scene. DayZ, a mod for ArmA II, is one of the bleakest, most brutal video game experiences you'll ever have. In keeping communication, convenience and supplies to a minimum, leaving players to their own devices in an empty world out to kill them, it gets what makes a zombie apocalypse so appealing to people. It's lonely, it's dangerous and most of all it's terrifying. So imagine my surprise the other day when, while hiding in a house in the middle of a town eating my last can of sardines, I hear a car horn. Advertisement No, not a car horn. A bus horn. You don't see many vehicles in DayZ because you need to repair them to get them running. Advertisement To repair them you need parts, then to run them, you need gas. Yet here was a bus, riding right through town, horn blazing. And it was full of people. Advertisement Running outside, I flagged it down, all the while thinking "what the fuck is going on, I am hailing a bus in the middle of the zombie apocalypse". That and "This has got to be a trap, right?" Nope. It stopped for me. I got on, and wasn't killed. There were around eight other survivors on the bus, and they were having a blast. It was a party bus. A party bus full of dudes, sure, but a party bus all the same. Advertisement People were shouting at the driver to do tricks, to take them to specific places, to stop here so they can pick their buddy up, etc. It was the first, and only time I've ever seen during the game where people weren't acting like terrified bags of meat and could instead let their guard down. Instead of running from zombies, we all laughed as zombies ran hopelessly after us, safe in our metal sausage fest while they groaned and stumbled and eventually died when the driver would get bored and back over them. Advertisement All those laughs ended up getting most of us killed. So confident were we that the zombies couldn't get us on the bus that we all forgot about the other faction at play in the game: asshole humans. Stopping at a dockyard to pick up some food from some corpses, we were jumped by bandits, and those who weren't initially gunned down were finished off when the bus - our glorious party bus - went up in flames. In fact, the clip I posted the other day was captured almost immediately after the bus blew, and was me and a few other survivors running for safety. Advertisement Rest in Peace, party bus. You were the best of times, shielding us temporarily from a game that's about nothing but the worst of times. Note: Those who are new to ArmA II with this mod, know that party buses are actually a bit of a thing. [Music]Many Americans know the Scopes trial not from history books but from "Inherit the Wind," an excellent work of drama and one of the most popular plays of the postwar era. "Inherit the Wind" opened on Broadway in 1955, with Paul Muni playing Clarence Darrow, Ed Begley as William Jennings Bryan, and the young Tony Randall as H.L. Mencken. It was a long-running hit. The well-known United Artists movie followed in 1960, with Spencer Tracy, Frederick March, and Gene Kelly in the lead roles; made-for-TV versions appeared in 1988 and 1999, with George C. Scott winning an Emmy for his role in the 1999 production. Along the way, "Inherit the Wind" became one of the most-produced plays in high school theater, meaning many millions of boys and girls were exposed to it in their teens. It's safe to say that 99% of viewers of the play and movie assume that what they are seeing is veracious history. They are not. "Inherit the Wind" relentlessly distorts what happened in Dayton, Tenn., in 1925. The authors, Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee, originally asserted that "Inherit the Wind" should not be viewed as historically accurate: They changed Darrow's name to "Henry Drummond" and Bryan's name to "Mathew Harrison Brady," saying this was to remind audiences that they were taking liberties with the actual event. But lines of dialogue from the actual Scopes trial are used in the play, and the marketing of the Broadway version of both movies worked heavily to create the suggestion that audiences were seeing the actuality of the event. Reviewing the movie opening in 1960, for example, The New York Times proclaimed, "A fascinating slice of American history brought brilliantly to the screen." "Inherit the Wind" differs from the actual Scopes trial in ways minor, middling, and substantive. Many minor differences are theatrical license. "Inherit the Wind" begins with John Scopes languishing in jail for the crime of free thought; Scopes was never jailed, and in fact, volunteered to be prosecuted. (See main story.) The play has William Jennings Bryan fall down dead in the courtroom just after the verdict and sentence are read; the real Bryan died five days after the trial's conclusion. Having a character die in court might be dismissed as a mere preposterous theatricality, of the sort found in many dramas and films. In this case, however, theatrical license adds the overloaded twist that God is striking Bryan down for being wrong about evolution. A middling difference between "Inherit the Wind" and the real thing is the depiction of the people of Dayton. In the play, townspeople are portrayed as uneducated and 100% anti-Darwin, though polite and neighborly; a mild misrepresentation of the actual event, at which the town and the courtroom crowd split between pro-fundamentalist and pro-science factions. Both movie versions of "Inherit the Wind" preposterously caricature the local population, presenting the Dayton townspeople as ignorant, mean-spirited rednecks looking for someone to denounce. In the 1960 movie, townspeople hurl rocks at John Scopes and burn him in effigy; neither thing actually happened. Another middling difference between "Inherit the Wind" and the real Dayton trial are the characters Rachel and Reverend Brown. Rachel is presented as the fiancée of defendant Scopes, and a sweet, guileless ingenue; Reverend Brown as her bigoted, heartless father, and also the leading local minister. Neither existed in real life, Scopes not being engaged at the trial and no one answering Reverend Brown's description playing any role in it. Creating a love interest for the protagonist is hardly new for dramatists, of course; but what Rachel and Reverend Brown say take them across the line into historical distortion. In the play's harshest anti-religion scene, Reverend Brown prays before his congregation that Scopes be sent to hell. When Rachel rushes forward to tell him to stop, Reverend Brown turns on her and, screaming fanaticism, denounces his own daughter to hell. This utterly fabricated moment is presented to audiences as having the same historical validity as the trial itself. Another middling difference between "Inherit the Wind" and the actual Scopes trial is the cartoonish depiction of William Jennings Bryan. In the play and the movies, Bryan is shown as a huffing simpleton interested exclusively in far-right views and in hearing himself talk. The real William Jennings Bryan was secretary of state during the liberal Woodrow Wilson administration and was, in his day, one of the country's leading male advocates of women's suffrage. (It is true that he liked to hear himself talk.) During his presidential campaigns, Bryan ran as a populist whose concerns were focused on economic opportunity for the urban working class and small farmers. Bryan was also a member of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science and had debated some of the leading paleontologists of his day. Bryan might have been wrong about Darwin's theory, but he was wrong out of conviction, not ignorance.January 2, 2015 at 11:51 AM As the playoffs begin, the Seahawks are No. 1 in most media power rankings – right where they were when the season started. In fact, 18 of the 24 rankings I found through Friday night rated Seattle, the NFC’s top seed and the defending Super Bowl champ, at the top of their final power rankings. All but one of the others ranked the New England Patriots, the AFC’s top seed, No. 1. I found three of the rankings extremely interesting. The Five-Thirty-Eight blog, which analyzes statistics and uses something called an Elo rating to rank NFL teams, has the Seahawks on top by a wide margin. Neil Paine of fivethirtyeight.com writes: “In fact, Seattle’s 1760 Elo rating is the fifth-highest mark any team has carried into the playoffs since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, trailing only the 2007 and 2004 editions of the Patriots, the 1997 Green Bay Packers and Washington in 1983.” Fivethirtyeight.com calculates that the Seahawks would be “favored by 2.9 points over the No. 2 New England Patriots on a neutral field.” Neutral field, like Glendale, Ariz., Feb. 1. Don’t get too cocky, Seahawks fans. The Elo formula was originally used to rank chess players, and not all of those dominant NFL teams cited won the Super Bowl. It does seem to reflect how exceptionally the Seahawks have played the past few weeks, however. We’ll see how it plays out in the NFL playoffs. The Associated Press also ranks the Seahawks No. 1. The AP uses votes from 12 media experts to rank teams, and Seattle is No. 1 on 11 of 12 ballots. Another ranking, by CBSSports.com’s Pete Prisco, which uses a new five-prong formula ranking impact players to choose who should be favored entering the playoffs, has the Seahawks sixth. Really? No other ranking had Seattle lower than No. 2. Even Prisco seemed stunned by that. “What that says is this: The Seahawks have a deep, talented roster — truly epitomizing the team concept,” he wrote. So I think it wound being a compliment. Prisco’s No. 1 team? The Denver Broncos. Of course, no one really knows. The playoff games will determine everything. Here is a roundup of the media’s final power rankings entering the playoffs. SI.COM (Chris Burke) Seahawks rank: No. 1 (last week 1) Seahawks comment: Pick just about any meaningful football measure and the Seahawks improved as the year progressed. Marshawn Lynch averaged 94.6 yards per game on the ground in the season’s second half after posting a 68.6 clip in games 1-8. Seattle passed for 200-plus yards in its final five games, having done so just twice in its first 11 contests. The defense … man … well, the defense was incredible — 39 points allowed total over the final six weeks. “What I like about our team this year, it’s different circumstances than the year before,” QB Russell Wilson said following a Week 17 win over St. Louis. “I think we were 8-1 at one point, or maybe 9-1 at one point; this year, I think it’s a little bit better, though, because you’re 3-3, and people are doubting, and there’s no doubt in our locker room. We believe in each other.” Any skept
er ventet å gi 100 millioner kroner i ekstrainntekter ved at reisende kjøper vin og sprit for den ubenyttede sigarett-kvoten. Trang flyplass Den utbygde flyplassen skal være klar for åpning torsdag 27. april 2017. Pressekontakt Joachim Westher Andersen ved Oslo Lufthavn har tidligere innrømmet overfor E24 at det til tider vil være trangt på flyplassen frem til da. Terminalen utvides med 117.000 kvadratmeter og det bygges blant annet en ny pir. Flyplassen får 21 nye oppstillingsplasser for fly og et nytt bagasjeanlegg. Andresen sier at flyplassen nå arbeider sammen med flyselskapene for å håndtere situasjonen så godt som mulig. - I tillegg er det viktig å kommunisere med de reisende om oppmøtetider og slike ting, sier han.Chechen militants in Syria have been going through organizational changes since last summer. The position of the Chechen militants in the Middle East was especially damaged by a conflict within the Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar group and the difficult situation inside the Junud al-Sham group. Those militant organizations have been led, respectively, by Salahudin Shishani (Paizulla Margoshvili) and Muslim Shishani (Murad Margoshvili). Both men are ethnic Chechens from Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge. In the summer of 2015, Amir Salahudin left Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, one of the best known groups comprised of citizens of countries of the former Soviet Union (Infochechen.com, June 6, 2015), and formed another group, Jaish al-Usrah. The new group again tried to recruit members from the Caucasus. The former Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar brigade, which no longer had Chechens or Amir Salahudin, allied itself with the al-Nusra Front and lost the high status it had enjoyed in Syria when it was led by Chechen commanders (Justpaste.it, June 2015). Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar once had 1,500 to 2,000 militants, while Amir Salahudin’s current group has only of about 200 members—those militants who decided to stay with him to the end. Many of Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar’s militants left the group after Amir Salahudin was removed as its commander and joined the so-called Islamic State. The rest of the group became an al-Nusra Front affiliate, which Salahudin had not agreed with (Kavkazsky Uzel, October 3, 2015). Amir Salahudin still wears the Caucasus Emirate’s logo on his clothes, which means he remains faithful to the organization. He still considers himself to be the Caucasus Emirate’s representative in Syria. Even though the Caucasus Emirate has been significantly transformed in the North Caucasus, Amir Salahudin can claim partial credit for the fact that it still exists. Salahudin’s group in Syria is bigger than all the militants in the underground movement of the North Caucasus put together. Salahudin’s group is currently fighting in the region north of Aleppo, including areas along the Syrian-Turkish border populated by Syrian Turkmen. The presence of Salahudin’s forces in the area may explain why it has been heavily bombed by Russian warplanes. It is also the area where the Turkish Air Force downed a Russian military jet last November (Onkavkaz.com, November 26, 2015). If this presumption is true, it means that the Russian military in Syria is deliberately going after forces associated with the Caucasus militants, including in areas where amirs Salahudin, Muslim, Abu Jihad, Abu Bakr, Abdulkhakim and others operate (Eadaily.com, January 28). The Russian military does not care whether the militants are allied with the Islamic State, al-Nusra Front or the Free Syrian Army: Moscow’s primary objective appears to be to strike the Chechens and the North Caucasians in general. Russian forces have carried out strikes in Latakia, where there are no Islamic State forces, but where Chechen groups operate. The Chechens are not strategic allies for the Syrian Turkmen, who are prepared to ally with anyone who helps them fight Bashar al-Assad and the Kurdish groups. Thus, Russia’s attempt to efface the small Turkmen minority in Syria simply because some Chechen groups are in the area is unjustified. The dire situation of the Chechen militants in Syria can be seen in a video address by the well-known Chechen amir, Muslim Shishani, posted to the Internet in early January. In the Russian-language address, Muslim Shishani appealed to Sham’s mujahedeen for help (YouTube, January 13). The fact that he chose to deliver the appeal in Russian signaled that his primary audience was citizens of former Soviet states. He reprimanded those who had not helped him for several months, saying that the militants under his command had suffered significantly. Many people apparently left his group. Although Muslim Shishani claimed that he could not sustain his group and hence had sent them away, many Chechens from his group in fact joined the Islamic State. His address had many interesting details, but its primary message was that he urgently needed assistance. The main problem of the Chechen commanders in Syria is that the North Caucasian militants in their groups have been defecting to the Islamic State. The groups led by these Chechen commanders’ no longer have thousands of militants, as they did back in 2014. Today, the Chechen groups operating in Syria rarely have even several hundred members, and half of the members are not North Caucasians, but rather members of local tribes. Apart from the ordinary militants who have switched their allegiances to Islamic State commander Umar Shishani (Tarkhan Batirashvili, from the Pankisi Gorge, in Georgia), some militant commanders who were allied with Salahudin and Muslim Abdulkhakim have also pledged loyalty to the Islamic State. For example, Amir Al Bara, the commander of a small Chechen group, is now fighting together with his men under the command of the Islamic State (Chechensinsyria.com, February 10). Thus, it appears that the Chechen groups in Syria are currently in a period of crisis and transition. First of all, they need more potent allies who can finance them. The Chechen groups’ attempts to stay independent of larger groups like the Free Syrian Army, al-Nusra Front and Islamic State have put the independent Chechen militants on the verge of going out of business. This means the Chechen groups will likely soon align themselves with the larger groups, which have the resources to support them.SANTA CLARITA, Cali. — A woman who was on her way home after visiting her premature twins at a California hospital was killed in a car crash with a suspected drunk driver, reports the Signal, a newspaper in Santa Clarita Valley, California. Katie Evans, who had four older children in addition to the twin girls, was struck head-on by a vehicle that had lost control after it sideswiped another car, Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's Station Sgt. Dan Dantice told the paper. The 22-year-old suspect was treated at a hospital and later booked on suspicion of misdemeanor DUI. Authorities have not released her name. Dantrice said alcohol containers were found in the vehicle. A fundraising page set up for Katie Evans' husband and six kids after the Friday night crash has raised more than $200,000. "Katie couldn't go a day without visiting her brand-new twin girls in the hospital," the fundraising page's organizer wrote.VIDEO: Two dead after home invasion in Brentwood Copyright by KRON - All rights reserved Video BRENTWOOD (KRON) -- Two people were shot and killed during a home invasion in Brentwood late Wednesday night, according to police. Officers responded to a shooting at around 11:14 p.m. in the 200 block of Birch Street. When they arrived, officers found two men suffering from gunshot wounds. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The shooter lives at the house where the shooting happened. He was detained and has since been released. The two men killed were in their 30s. One of the men was armed with a gun, according to police. A neighbor told KRON4's Will Tran that she heard two gunshots. The scene has been secured and there is no threat to public safety, police said. Further details were not immediately available. Anyone with information about this crime is encouraged to call Brentwood police Detective Eric Huesman at (925) 809-7735. Breaking-Brentwood, CA police tell me one of the men killed was armed with a gun. Home invasion @kron4news pic.twitter.com/YQeR6Hm8Vs — Will Tran (@KRON4WTran) June 22, 2017 Breaking-Brentwood, CA police told me?'d shooter for hours. has been released. Investigation continues @kron4news pic.twitter.com/slwCOdXvs0 — Will Tran (@KRON4WTran) June 22, 2017 Breaking-Brentwood, CA police told me 2 men killed in their 30's. Home invasion @kron4news shooter lives at home pic.twitter.com/2qGKzMn3CN — Will Tran (@KRON4WTran) June 22, 2017 Breaking-double homicide in Brentwood, CA. Look at two blue tarps. Bodies of victims still here @kron4news pic.twitter.com/AAcNT00YlN — Will Tran (@KRON4WTran) June 22, 2017Imtiaz Muqbil ITB BERLIN: Egyptian Tourism Minister Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour has blasted the “extreme” economic liberalisation and privatisation policies of the ousted Hosni Mubarak government, saying they had failed to address the country’s glaring rich-poor income gap. Although he did not elaborate on what the present government will do to fix that, his remarks will resonate in many other countries going down the neoliberal liberalisation path, with tourism as a primary target. The new government has already put the deregulation and privatisation plans on hold. Mr Abdel Nour was speaking at the Egyptian Press conference on March 10, one of many public events held by Egypt and Tunisia, the two flavours-of-the-month countries, which are making full use of the world’s biggest trade show to brandish their new free and democratic political credentials and make a strong pitch for a quick return of visitors. Both ministers appeared jointly at a press conference by the UN World Tourism Organisation to convey this message, and then elaborated on their own plans and policies in individual events. The Egyptian media event was a particular hit. The press conference room, which can host about 120 people, was packed out and, for the first time that this editor has seen in 25 years of covering ITB, special video screens were set up outside to help media watch the proceedings. All told, it was a far cry from the old days when Egyptian tourism was repeatedly on the defensive as it mounted recovery and crisis-management plans following terrorist attacks. Both Mr Abdel Nour and the Tourism Minister of Tunisia, Mr Mehdi Houas, highlighted their countries’ historic heritage to underscore the importance of the changes taking place. They noted that positive awareness of their countries is at an all-time high, and that the hotels and airlines, tourist sites and attractions, are all open for business. Both depend on Europe for a large percentage of their visitors and are seeking to reassure their tour operator and other partners that while much has changed, and is changing in their countries, the tourism partnerships will remain in place. BUSINESS BACKGROUND Their own personal positions epitomise the changes. Mr Abdel Nour, 66, is a Cairo-born politician, banker and businessman with a degree from the American University in Cairo. A Coptic Christian, he told the press conference that he himself had been among the demonstrators at Tahrir Square for three days in a row. Although his predecessor, Mohammed Zoheir Garanah, is facing allegations of corruption, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Mr Hisham Za’azou, has been brought back as first assistant to the new Minister. Mr Za’azou told this editor that he too had been among the demonstrators. In turn, Mr Houas is a former president of the CETO association of French tour operators, and until two months ago had been running a company in Paris. Both ministers are drawing upon their business background to ensure that travel and tourism delivers the goods. “For democracy to flourish, we need a strong economy,” Mr Houas said in French, which was translated into English. “Tourism is 7% of our GDP and generates 400,00 direct jobs and 400,000 indirect jobs, which means 30% of our population lives on tourism.” This editor did not attend the Tunisian press conference because it was in French and German. However, the head of the Tunisian tourist office in Germany Mr Saidi Mohammed said he was awaiting budgetary approval to restart the marketing and promotion campaigns in partnership with the German tour operators. He made it clear that he would like to see the Germans do more on their own. “We have always helped them in the past with 50-50 partnerships. Now we want them to help us.” He said that although all the flights between Germany and Tunisia had been restored, he was not happy with yet another German government travel advisory that warned against visiting Southern Tunisia due to the situation on the border with Libya and the presence of thousands of refugees fleeing the fighting there. BRANDING CHANGES Both Tunisia and Egypt have made branding changes based on the new developments. Tunisia’s tourism slogan now reads: “I Love Tunisia – The Place To Be NOW” with the word “love” represented by a red heart symbol. Special stickers have been printed and pasted onto all the collateral brochures and publications being distributed at the Tunisian stand. Egypt, according to a media release, has buttressed the existing slogan, “Egypt – Where It All Begins” with new slogans and branding images that refer to the peaceful revolution, the sense of public pride and energy. Some of them read, “The online revolution–made in Egypt”, “TAHRIR – a square that rocks the world” and “ Welcome to the country of peaceful revolution.” A postal stamp has been printed commemorating the date January 25, 2011, when the revolution started. A special poster shows one of the prominent background buildings of Tahrir square with the words, “Tahrir Square, from Egypt with love.” At the Egypt press conference, Mr Abdel Nour, Mr Za’azou and the chairman of the Egyptian tourist authority, Mr Amr Elezabi, repeatedly stressed the uniqueness of visiting Egypt at this particular time. Mr Elezabi said this time it would not just be a regular visit but a “human experience” to be in the country and enjoy the thrill of being nearly all alone in a site such the Temples of Karnak which at any given time can be crowded by 10,000 visitors a day. The Egyptians noted that the country got 14.7 million visitors last year. In January, thanks to the pre-revolution arrivals, the country got 1.2 million visitors. Under normal circumstances, Egypt’s tourism records an average length of stay of nine days and an average daily expenditure of $85 a day. Hence, the virtually overnight collapse in the number of visitors during the Revolution period had done huge economic damage. The country gets 80% of its total visitors from tour operators, including 70% via charters to the Red Sea resorts. Although reviving this mass-market is a key priority for bread-and-butter reasons, new opportunities are being sought to develop visitors from Asia (especially India and China) and Latin America and build on the huge consumer awareness to get more direct bookings. Mr Za’azou said the MICE sector had naturally been very badly affected but there are strong signs that it was beginning to come back. He said there is a plan to open an office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in addition to the existing office in Mumbai, India, but this is now subject to budgetary approval. A hotelier with a Steigenberger property in the Red Sea said they had 90% occupancy in 2010 and are now back to 40% this month and 45% on the books for April and are projecting 70% later this year. “At no time that I can say that any of our customers or expatriates were scared during this time. Actually I take off my hat off to the Egyptian employees. They took more care of the guests. I invite any of the guests to come back. It’s peaceful.” CRONIES Although most questions during the Press conference related to the “new, improved” Egypt, some related to the safety and security issue, as well as the future of former businessmen associates of Mr Gamal Mubarak, the son of ex-President Hosni Mubarak, and the military, both of which were known to have strong links to the travel and tourism industry. In reply, Mr Abdel Nour did not mince any words. He said, “Gamal Mubarak was surrounded by cronies, not businessmen. There is a difference.” He indicated that the military’s involvement in business affairs would be downgraded so that it could relinquish power to a freely elected government and remain focused on its traditional role, viz., to defend the country. “As for the cronies, they are being investigated…” Mr Abdel Nour said. In the same context, he blasted the economic liberalisation policies of which tourism had been very much a part, with the “cronies” being major beneficiaries. These policies, he said, may have been okay for the United States but were not appropriate for Egypt. “Our big problem, and you have to know that, the extreme liberal policies that were executed by the ex-regime had terrible, terrible repercussions on the social structure of the population. The huge difference between income and wealth, between the rich enjoying a very, very lavish standard of living, and living in high-standard gated communities, and 42% of the Egyptian population living on less than two dollars a day, deprived of the bare minimum, was not acceptable. It was unsustainable. “I’m not criticising the extreme liberal policies without justification. They were thinking that those policies would have a trickle-down effect and what profits that were made on top would eventually go down. That never happened. The differences were ever increasing. The result is that it blew up. “It blew up in a peaceful manner, in an intelligent manner, with the use of the technologies of the second decade of the 21st century. It is an intelligent, technical revolution made by a very ambitious youth that is clearly looking to build up a new, democratic, free, fair and equitable and secular society.” PUT THINGS INTO PERSPECTIVE One German journalist pressed the safety issue, in the light of an isolated sectarian clash on March 9. He wanted to know how safe Christians are in Egypt and whether “there is any animosity by the Muslims against the Christians.” The minister replied by noting that he himself is a Christian. “I am not facing any aggression from anyone here.” To which the reporter retorted, “You are not in Egypt.” Mr Abdel Nour ignored that. This was his response: “When I was saying that I am very lucky to be here to answer questions and to put things into perspective this (question) is a point in case. Sir, let me remind you that the demonstrations were taking place in Tahrir square every Friday and Friday prayers (were being observed there). And those who were sheltering (those praying) were Christians. To describe the spirit of Tahrir Square and to describe the spirit of the revolution, they decided to have a demonstration on Sunday, to have Christians do a mass on Sunday in Tahrir Square. This was defended by the Muslim youth. Any attempt to disrupt the national unity in Egypt will be severely punished. “What happened yesterday unfortunately is the doing of a minority within Egypt who does not want this revolution to succeed. I repeat, a very, very small minority. Next Friday, I invite you and your people to film what is happening in Tahrir Square, where Christians and Muslims, where Egyptians regardless of their religious affiliation, will go down to Tahrir Square, to show their determination to preserve the national unity in Egypt. We want to build a fair, secular equitable, democratic country where there is no difference between an Egyptian and his brother due to difference in religion or for any other ethnic reason. What has happened yesterday is only an exception. We are adamant to preserve the national unity of the Egyptian people, and maintain the spirit of the Tahrir Square.” The Minister won a round of applause for his remarks.Many Americans worry that automation will significantly reduce the need for human employees. Historical experience should help to alleviate many of these concerns. Technological advances have eliminated specific jobs and reduced prices, but the historical record shows this has left consumers with more money to spend elsewhere, increasing the demand for human labor in other sectors of the economy. Some prominent economists suggest that this time is different. They fear that advances in computer technology will substantially reduce the demand for human labor, especially less-skilled labor. The data suggest that these concerns are similarly misplaced. Productivity growth has slowed over the past decade. The less-skilled employees who are often seen as endangered by automation have seen their employment and compensation grow at above-average rates. Automation is changing the type of work Americans do, but not the overall need for human labor. Technological progress continues to enable Americans to attain higher living standards. Long-Standing Concerns Many analysts fear that technological advances will soon make much human labor redundant.[1] They predict that many employers will soon lack productive tasks for less-skilled Americans. Historically, these concerns surface most often when cyclical unemployment is high. During the Great Depression, British economist John Maynard Keynes predicted impending mass “technological unemployment”: In quite a few years—in our own lifetimes I mean—we may be able to perform all the operations of agriculture, mining, and manufacture with a quarter of the human effort to which we have been accustomed.… …We are being afflicted with a new disease of which some readers may not yet have heard the name, but of which they will hear a great deal in the years to come—namely, technological unemployment. This means unemployment due to our discovery of means of economising the use of labour outrunning the pace at which we can find new uses for labour.[2] After World War II, the American and British economies recovered and those fears subsided. They resurfaced in America again after the 1957 and 1960 recessions. In 1961, Time magazine reported: How much has the rapid spread of technological change contributed to the current high of 5,400,000 out of work? Labor Secretary Arthur Goldberg last week set up a special group to find an answer. While no one has yet sorted out the jobs lost because of the overall drop in business from those lost through automation and other technological changes, many a labor expert tends to put much of the blame on automation.… In the past, new industries hired far more people than those they put out of business. But this is not true of many of today’s new industries.... Today’s new industries have comparatively few jobs for the unskilled or semiskilled, just the class of workers whose jobs are being eliminated by automation.[3] Shortly afterward, the economy began a prolonged expansion that raised incomes and created millions of new jobs. By 1968, the unemployment rate fell to 3.4 percent. Lump of Labor Fallacy Fears of mass technological unemployment are predicated on a “lump of labor” model of the economy—the belief the economy needs a roughly fixed amount of work performed.[4] In this economic model, machines automating work formerly done by people reduce the total amount of work remaining for humans, reducing total employment. Keynes forecast an impending crisis of unwanted leisure. He suggested future societies would establish three-hour workdays to give everyone enough work to avoid boredom.[5] Almost all economists reject this model today. Economists have found that an almost unlimited amount of potential work exists in the economy because people’s material desires continue to expand. Virtually all Americans today enjoy material living standards vastly better than the wealthy of 1900. Nonetheless, most Americans today would purchase additional goods and services if they received a raise or bonus. Automation does reduce the human labor needed to produce particular goods and services, but it also reduces production costs. Competition forces firms to pass these savings on to their customers through lower prices. These lower prices lead consumers to buy more of the now less-expensive product and leave them with more money to spend elsewhere, increasing the demand for labor in those sectors of the economy. The amount of work in the economy expands to use the available labor supply. Economists strongly agree on this point. The University of Chicago recently asked a panel of prominent economists whether they agree that “advancing automation has not historically reduced employment in the United States.” Over three-fourths expressly agreed with that statement, and only one of the economists disagreed.[6] America’s economic history illustrates how technology reallocates—but does not eliminate—human labor. In 1910, approximately one-third of all Americans worked on farms,[7] food was expensive, and the typical family spent almost half its budget on food. By 1960, technological advances such as the tractor had reduced the proportion of Americans working on farms to well under one-tenth.[8] This transition did not lead to mass unemployment. Instead, former farmhands began working in offices and factories. They enjoyed less expensive food and newly available manufactured goods.[9] Since then the manufacturing sector has also found new ways to automate tasks. Between 1960 and 2014, the proportion of Americans working in factories fell by two-thirds even as output dramatically increased.[10] Former manufacturing workers moved into the service sector. They enjoyed even more affordable food, less expensive manufactured goods, and newly available services. As of 2003 the average family spent just one-eighth of its budget on food.[11] Greater Living Standards Technological progress enables employees to produce vastly more goods and services with their labor. This increases their compensation because competitive labor markets compel employers to pay employees proportionately to their productivity. Technological advances would only reduce aggregate employment if Americans stopped spending their increased earnings on new goods and services—something that has yet to happen. Chart 1 illustrates this, showing average U.S. hourly labor productivity between 1973 and 2014. Over this period, technological advances enabled employees’ average hourly productivity to increase by 108 percent. During that time period, the average hourly compensation of American employees increased almost as much—85 percent.[12] Chart 1 also shows the employment-to-population ratio for prime-age workers (25-year-olds to 54-year-olds).[13] The huge increase in automation and technology had little effect on employment rates. Instead, employers found jobs for the millions of women who entered the labor force in the 1970s and 1980s. Historically, technological progress has increased wages with little effect on total employment. Is This Time Different? In the aftermath of the Great Recession, fears about automation have resurfaced. Most notably, MIT Professors Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee have raised these concerns. They and likeminded economists worry that advances in computer technology mean this time may be different. They believe technological advances will enable computers to eliminate most of the workforce. McAfee argues: When I see what computers and robots can do right now, I project that forward for two, three more generations, I think we’re going to find ourselves in a world where the work as we currently think about it is largely done by machines.[14] In particular, McAfee and Brynjolfsson worry about automation eliminating the jobs of unskilled and middle-skill employees. They agree technological progress creates opportunities for highly skilled employees who build and operate machines, but they fear that the economy will hold far fewer opportunities for less-skilled employees. As Brynjolfsson puts it: There are lots of examples of routine, middle-skilled jobs that involve relatively structured tasks and those are the jobs that are being eliminated the fastest. Those kinds of jobs are easier for our friends in the artificial intelligence community to design robots to handle them.… [Technological advances are] always destroying jobs. But right now the pace is accelerating. It’s faster we think than ever before in history. So as a consequence, we are not creating jobs at the same pace that we need to.[15] Labor market statistics do not support this concern. Productivity data show that the pace of automation has actually slowed in recent years. Over the past generation the earnings of less-skilled Americans have risen faster than the economy-wide average. Slow Productivity Growth. Businesses do not appear to be automating human tasks at a faster rate than before. If they were, this would increase measured labor productivity growth. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates productivity by dividing U.S. economic output by the total hours worked in the economy. A substantial increase in the pace of automation would allow businesses to produce as many or more goods with fewer hours of human labor. This would appear in the labor statistics as faster productivity growth. This has not happened. Chart 2 shows the year-over-year percent change in labor productivity for the non-farm business sector over the past four decades, as well as a four-year moving average that smooths annual fluctuations. Productivity growth increased noticeably in the late 1990s and the early 2000s. From 2003 onward, however, productivity growth trended downward. Average productivity jumped in 2009 as businesses going through layoffs tried to lay off their least productive employees. That surge immediately subsided. Since 2010, productivity has grown at an abnormally slow rate. In the most recent year of data, labor productivity actually fell 0.1 percent. Although employees are more productive now than in the past, overall productivity is increasing more slowly. Concerns about rapidly accelerating computing power increasing productivity so much it reduces total employment are fears about a future possibility. Over the past decade, productivity growth has slowed even as computer power has increased exponentially. The Earnings of Less-Skilled Employees Increase. Concerns about automation eliminating employment opportunities for less-skilled employees also do not show up in the data. Over the past generation their total compensation has increased rapidly. The Congressional Budget Office measures total labor market compensation—cash wages, salaries, and non-cash benefits, such as health care and retirement contributions—for each quintile of the income distribution.[16] Chart 3 shows the percent growth in total inflation-adjusted labor compensation for non-elderly childless households between 1979 and 2011 (the most recent data available).[17] Since 1979, labor market compensation grew the fastest in the top quintile of these households—up 69 percent. Contrary to popular impression, the next fastest growth in labor market compensation occurred in the bottom quintile. The average labor market compensation of households in the bottom fifth of non-elderly childless households grew 58 percent between 1979 and 2011—more than 25 percentage points faster than any of the middle three quintiles. Chart 4 shows a similar dynamic at work. It comes from the research of MIT economist David Autor. The chart depicts income growth for the 10 major occupational groupings in the U.S. economy, with those occupations ranked from left to right by the required level of skills. This figure looks only at wages, not total household compensation. Consequently, it is not directly comparable with Chart 3. Nonetheless, it shows the same pattern of the fastest earnings growth occurring in high-skill and low-skill occupations, with slower wage growth in moderately skilled jobs. Over the past generation, individuals at the bottom of the income distribution have seen their economic opportunities expand significantly. This is hard to reconcile with hypotheses that automation is eliminating the least-skilled employees’ jobs. Instead, it points to more complex effects of technological progress on the labor market. Limits of Automation Computers have both more and less power than most people perceive. Autor explains that machines are incredibly good at doing repetitive tasks that do not require any judgment or variation, such as calculating sums in an accounting spreadsheet or fitting a bolt in place on the assembly line. Computers typically do these tasks faster and more accurately than humans can. Employment has fallen rapidly in such “routine” occupations as automation has replaced human labor. However, computers have great difficulty performing non-routine tasks. Although more fluid algorithms that take into account computer “learning” possibilities are being refined, computers still do what their program tells them to—and nothing else. Computer programmers must specify in detail every contingency that the machine might encounter. What often looks like computers adapting to their surroundings is in fact them following very detailed operating instructions.[18] Consequently, computers cannot handle many non-routine activities that most people find straightforward. They are simply too complex for their programs to account for every possibility. For example, Autor points out that Amazon.com and other online retailers use human “pickers” to identify, retrieve, and pack the goods that they ship their customers. The shape and size of goods being shipped changes constantly from package to package. Amazon has not been able to develop robots that can perform these seemingly simple but not entirely routine tasks. Instead, online retailers use large numbers of robots to bring palettes of particular goods to their human employees. Humans do all the labor involved in handling individual items, then the robots move the palettes away.[19] Even some of the apparent successes of automation are far less than they appear. Google’s advances in self-driving automobile technology have made headlines. However, the Google Car operates by comparing its location to very detailed maps of the road, street signs, and all known obstacles. Google employees must enter these data manually. The Google Car cannot operate over unfamiliar terrain. If it faces an unmapped road closure or detour, it shuts down and requires a human driver to take over. It will ignore newly erected stoplights not in its database. Google Cars have safely driven more than 700,000 miles—by driving over the same already mapped miles time and time again.[20] Computers can do routine tasks incredibly well, but struggle when confronted with non-routine work. Labor Market Polarization Autor’s research shows that this dynamic explains the counterintuitive pattern of compensation growth shown in Charts 3 and 4. Computers have automated many routine white collar and blue collar jobs. Excel spreadsheets and Outlook calendars have dramatically reduced the need for accountant and secretarial labor. Machines now do the work that was once performed by millions of manufacturing employees. These routine jobs tend to lie in the middle of the skill and income distribution. Non-routine tasks tend to lie at the top and bottom of the income distribution. As a result, employment demand and, consequently, earnings have risen more rapidly in non-routine jobs, particularly in the service sector.[21] Chart 5, reproduced from David Autor’s research, illustrates how increased automation has affected employment patterns. Since the late 1970s, employment has grown rapidly in high-skilled non-routine jobs, such as professional and technical occupations. It has grown rapidly in low-skill non-routine jobs, such as food preparation and personal care. Yet employment has grown more slowly—or contracted—in routine occupations requiring moderate skill levels, such as manufacturing or administrative record-keeping jobs. These are precisely the jobs that machines can perform. Many on the left blame the slower growth of middle-income jobs on U.S. policies. They point in particular to insufficiently pro-union labor laws.[22] However, Autor’s research shows that this is a global phenomenon. Relative employment in middle-skill jobs has shrunk in nearly every developed country. Chart 6 comes from Autor’s research and shows changes in low-skill, middle-skill, and high-skill employment for 16 European Union countries between 1993 and 2010. In almost every country, relative employment increased in high-skill and low-skill jobs and decreased in middle-skill jobs. Most of these EU nations have far higher taxes and far stronger unions than the U.S. does. Nonetheless, they experienced the same employment patterns. This evidence points to factors, such as technological advances and globalization, that cut across national boundaries and public policy choices. Robots have not eliminated work, but they have somewhat changed the types of jobs that humans do. Technology Can Increase the Need for Human Labor The relationship between technological progress and jobs is more complex than computers simply eliminating routine work. Many jobs incorporate both routine and non-routine tasks. Employees in these jobs do not necessarily need to fear automation. By eliminating routine tasks technological advances reduce the time and cost of completing their work. This increases output and can leave the overall need for human labor unchanged or even increased. The construction industry demonstrates this effect. Technology has made today’s construction workers vastly more productive than their predecessors two generations ago. Cranes and backhoes have replaced shovels and elbow grease, but those machines need human operators. Too many unpredictable events take place on a construction site to allow computers to operate the equipment autonomously. The lower cost of constructing buildings has also dramatically increased the quantity of construction work demanded. As a result, total construction employment has remained a relatively constant share of the overall workforce since the mid-1940s. From 1946 onward, construction employment has never constituted less than 4 percent or more than 6 percent of the U.S. workforce, despite enormous technological progress. A more modern example of this phenomenon comes from restaurant tablets. Applebee’s, Chili’s, and other casual restaurants have installed tabletop tablets for customers to order and pay for their food. The new technology might reduce payrolls by allowing each server to cover more tables. However, the tablets also boost sales. Customers are more likely to order appetizers and desserts when the tablets constantly display them. The ability to pay immediately also cuts the average meal time by about five minutes. Consequently, tablet-equipped restaurants can serve more patrons during busy periods. This increases demand for employees who cook the food to order, appetizingly plate it, interact with customers, and bus the tables afterward.[23] Whether or not these tablets will reduce the total need for human labor remains unclear. Applebee’s announced that it has not reduced total staffing since introducing the tablets.[24] Furthermore, tablets also increase tips by setting the default option to 20 percent, boosting servers’ take-home pay. Automation will change—but not eliminate—many jobs that combine routine and non-routine tasks. Future Developments Historical experience shows that individuals respond to technological changes by finding new jobs, typically jobs that pay more than before automation was introduced. However, technology will probably eliminate some existing occupations. Programmers will almost certainly learn how to render “routine” many tasks computers cannot currently handle. Many jobs that once appeared out of reach for automation are now being performed by machines: Cleaning hotel rooms has long
from a nearby abattoir. Despite the salvage-yard aesthetic, there was order to the woodpile’s chaos, an intent and purpose in the preparation of coals. "The pecan gets hot quicker," Rodney explained. "The hickory wood stays hot a little longer. And the oak stays chunkier, thicker—nice smoke flavor to it. So out of those three, you got your instant heat, your steady heat, and then your big flavorful coals." Here, there is an art to the science of fire making. Rodney’s son Dominic, a lanky teenager, sat on a wide stump dividing chunks of wood with the aid of a hydraulic log splitter. Off to the side, an older gentleman with time-wrinkled cheeks and a grizzled beard cut timber with an ax. After a few more strokes, noting my interest, he pointed to a broad piece of wood and handed me the ax. This was not like the handy branch splitter I used in Cub Scouts. This ax must have weighed thirty pounds. Its handle measured a good four inches around, its head a solid wedge of black steel. It looked and felt like a weapon straight out of Game of Thrones. The axman wasn’t much bigger than myself: I could do this. I squared my feet, hips, and shoulders, aimed for the log’s centermost growth ring, and gave the ax my mightiest swing. Sproing! The ax bounced off the wood’s surface like Elmer Fudd striking a rubber tree, setting off a vibration that rumbled through my hands before tremoring through my entire body. The man was nice enough not to laugh. This was Rodney’s uncle Sam, whom everyone, blood relations or not, calls Uncle Sam. Though he’s retired and doesn’t keep regular hours at Scott’s, Uncle Sam is Rodney’s right-hand man; he often lingers behind the scenes and almost always accompanies his nephew to cook at out-of-state events. Sweet and good-humored, he speaks, like his sister Ella, Rodney’s mother, in a soft lilt that sounds vaguely Jamaican, a singsong accent that manifested, somewhere down the family line, from the Gullah language spoken by, until recently, isolated African American communities that populate the coast and sea islands of the Carolinas and Georgia. Rodney teases that Sam just "swings an ax for a living" but privately and pridefully relates tales of his uncle wowing crowds at carnivals while driving the hammer at the strongman game. Last time they visited the state fair together, Rodney, no ax-swinging slouch himself, left after winning two teddy bears for his girlfriend, while his uncle kept on swinging—a modern day John Henry, ringing the bell over and over again. Uncle Sam retrieved the ax from my still-aching hands and sliced through a few more logs while offering pointers. Use your entire body for power to build momentum in your chop. Follow through with your wrists to drive through the wood. Don’t miss. I gave it another swing. I missed. I tried again. And again. I tried until I could not raise my arms overhead. Frustrated and tired, I felt emasculated, unmanly. I quit and handed the weapon back to Sam. Dented and bruised from my meager blows, the log seemed to mock me just by sitting there, intact and whole. This time Uncle Sam laughed. Must Read Scott's Bar-B-Que Keeps Whole Hog Tradition Alive in Hemingway By By Robert Donovan Ax in hand, Sam lined up for the kill and smashed the log squarely on its head. The ax ricocheted back. "Save you for later," he whispered to the log while stroking its bark. "Throw you in just like that later on." For a moment I felt redeemed, but returning to the woodpile later that night, and later that weekend, and the year following, and the year after, I have yet to get that ax to work properly. Whether split, chopped, or thrown into the fire whole, each scrap of oak, hickory, and pecan ends up in one of Scott’s three imposing burn barrels. The barrels are salvaged from abandoned gas tanks that Rodney unearths—typically while hauling away donated lumber—from local family farms that have gone belly-up over the past couple generations. The barrels are a brilliant but simple feat of engineering. The cylindrical drums stand upright, six feet tall, their tops lopped open to receive chunks of wood. Just below their midsections, a misshapen ring of fist-sized holes puncture the sides of each barrel. Truck axles poke out from these openings, like toothpicks in a potato, five in all, which trap the logs, keeping them suspended. Once set ablaze, the wood smolders slowly, forcing the resulting embers to drop between the axles to fall to the barrel’s base. There, a square hole has been cut from which the freshly formed charcoal is ready to be shoveled out and into the nearby pits. Above this fire door, three larger holes are carved into the side to resemble a face. Throughout the night, with the aid of a long metal pole, the fire is stoked by violently driving this shaft up and down, like using a water pump, causing more coals—redder, hotter coals—to fall to the floor. Aglow and burning with flame, the barrel looks very much alive: a creature vomiting fire and ash, its head emitting sparks that loft ten feet high to singe the leaves of overhanging trees. The genius of the burn barrel’s design has been recently replicated by businesses and backyard pitmasters nationwide, while its image has become an iconic facet of the Scott’s experience. Over time, the repurposed gas tanks warp and melt under the intense heat. Aglow and burning with flame, the barrel looks very much alive: a creature vomiting fire and ash, its head emitting sparks that loft ten feet high to singe the leaves of overhanging trees. At night, and especially during those evenings when the mercury drops to lows that make holding a cold brew a bitter and unwelcome act, Scott’s pit workers huddle around the barrel, often joined by other men from the community who sometimes arrive full of drink stronger, warmer than beer. These men lend a helping hand—splitting wood, shoveling coals, telling good stories and great lies. They sit circling the barrel as if worshipping an angry three-eyed god who stands waiting, waiting, waiting for its sacrificial offering. For Rodney Scott, these fireside gatherings define barbecue more than meat and sauce. For him, barbecue is a place, a space for people to commune. When asked for his definition of barbecue, instead of repeating the dogmatic "barbecue is a whole hog cooked over wood coals," Rodney offered a twist. Barbecue is "a gathering," he told me, "because you rarely find an event without a grill or somebody who is barbecuing or grilling. And, of course, for us it’s been a business as well, but we still try to interact with our people in the community to kind of remind them that it’s just a laid-back type of thing." This was barbecue as social theory, barbecue as something deeper than barbecue. This was a pitmaster moving toward the development of a philosophy of barbecue. A barbecue is "a reunion," he emphasized, "a party for everybody to come and join in and enjoy each other’s company." He’s right. Nobody grills alone, no publishing houses are rushing to release a cookbook titled Going Solo at the Pit or The Pleasures of Barbecuing for One. And at Scott’s, unlike most pit houses, no one ever works alone. There are always at least two men on the clock. Oftentimes, I’ve noticed over the years, I cannot distinguish the employees—an amorphous network of relatives and neighbors—from those gathered here just to be here, to join the circle around the burn barrel, to enjoy one another’s company. That unseen but understood welcome sign extends to visitors from outside the community. No one has ever chased me away at Scott’s, no one has ever told me not to print this or photograph that. In fact, Rodney welcomes visitors to tour his smokehouse, to take pictures (which he’ll pose for) and ask questions (which he’ll do his best to answer above the din of the stereo’s speakers). "My whole business plan is to let them share my world," he told me. "Food, music, family." This is open-source barbecue, barbecue as social leveler. Rodney might not tell you what’s in his barbecue sauce (in my opinion, some of the best that’s ever come into contact with pork), but his pit hands won’t stop you from daring to peek into the tall stockpot of liquid simmering on a portable propane stove. A whiff and a glance will tell you all you need to know to replicate a close approximation at home: vinegar, great scoopfuls of red and black pepper, and, the secret ingredient, lemon slices. To showcase the transparency of his pits, the openness with which he operates, Rodney challenged me to "name one time you were standing by a grill and someone didn’t ask you a question." Did you marinate it? What’d you put on it? Where you from? How do you cook where you’re from? The barbecue pit was our nation’s first office water cooler, a safe space for convening and conversation, a site that harkens back to our love affair with fire: gathering around the fire, seeking warmth at the fire, talking near the fire, staring contemplatively into the fire. And what better fire than this: a fire that provides enough work for at least two and usually many more men; a fire that will guarantee enough meat to feed all who could possibly gather; a fire that assures time to sit and think over enough hours in which to dissect the universe. What better fire to unite, to bring a community together, than a whole-hog fire. Excerpted from The One True Barbecue: Fire, Smoke, and the Pitmasters Who Cook the Whole Hog, published by Touchstone Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Copyright © 2016 by Rien Fertel Rien Fertel is a Louisiana-born-and-based writer, historian, and teacher who grew up washing dishes and busing tables in his family’s chain of restaurants. While earning a PhD in history, he spent four years on the road documenting barbecue for the Southern Foodways Alliance. He lives in New Orleans. Photos by Nick SolaresIN HIS GROUNDBREAKING ESSAY “The Present Age,” Søren Kierkegaard remarked that “[t]he present age is one of understanding, of reflection, devoid of passion, an age which flies into enthusiasm for a moment only to decline back into indolence.” He presciently noted what many intellectuals deem to be the downfall of the modern age: an inability to move away from mirroring others as a means of establishing one’s own identity. Essentially, Kierkegaard and those who concur with him see a modern world largely devoid of individuality and existential ambition. In an age where vast swaths of civilization sit glued to their smartphones or computers, where stepping out of the internet’s vast echo chambers is growing increasingly difficult — regardless of whether one is an Ivy League academic or a blue-collar autoworker — Kierkegaard’s prognosis seems telling, even accurate. Santiago Gamboa’s newest novel, Return to the Dark Valley, translated by Howard Curtis, encapsulates this modern indolence, as well as going one step further: commodiously capturing the 21st century’s zeitgeist. His novel follows five seemingly unrelated story lines: a brilliant but emotionally scarred female poet; a writer turned one-time diplomat (simply referred to as Consul); an Argentine neo-Nazi evangelist; a priest-turned-rebel; and the celebrated French poet, Arthur Rimbaud. The novel is divided into two parts and an accompanying epilogue over the course of which we become well acquainted with the journeys and miraculous crossing of paths of its protagonists. Gamboa seamlessly weaves together biography and fiction, at times even borrowing from his own, quite fascinating life. Though Gamboa is a heavyweight of Latin American literature, he has been largely overlooked by Anglophile audiences; his only previous novels translated into English are Necropolis (Europa, 2012) and Night Prayers (Europa, 2016). Despite his ostensible lack of traction in English-speaking markets, Gamboa translates as well if not better than most of his Latin American counterparts; his prose is both honest and unpretentious, striking an equitable balance between the flair that’s come to be expected of Latin American authors and a breath of literary fresh air. Do not be mistaken, Gamboa is no novice; he’s an experienced short story writer, novelist, and journalist who has lived in Colombia, France, and Spain, along with other destinations he uses for inspiration in the novel. Part I, aptly titled “Theory of Suffering Bodies,” not only introduces us to the various plot lines but also begins capturing the aura of the 21st century, our present age. We are introduced to this age through the lens of the Consul, who after a mysterious message from an old acquaintance hurriedly leaves Rome for Madrid. As soon as his flight touches down, he checks into a hotel room and awaits a mysterious rendezvous. However, this wait is made excruciating by the news of a terrorist attack and hostage taking at the Irish embassy by Islamic militants. In this sequence, Gamboa flexes his geopolitical nous, depicting a chief issue with the modern world — the normalization of and anesthetization to acts of terror, at home and abroad. In the present global climate, one cannot turn on the news without seeing a headline about a suicide bombing, hostage taking, or other heinous attack occurring somewhere in the world. Gamboa not only understands the current global security climate, but he also describes the geopolitics and nuances of these issues with such detail and expertise that one could easily mistake them for an analysis lifted from Foreign Policy. Gamboa paints a picture of a Madrid in chaos — helicopters frequenting the skies outside the Consul’s hotel window and the masses milling about aimlessly in the streets — but also of a Madrid whose inhabitants, a few days into the siege, have become largely desensitized. Gamboa describes life as continuing more or less normally for most Madrileños, even though most live mere blocks away from the besieged embassy. Gamboa displays a modern world that isn’t quite burning, but in which the sparks of chaos are certainly flying. He showcases a population that, after the initial shock of the hostage taking, returns to its day-to-day activities, only casually keeping up-to-date via 24-hour news punditry. Furthermore, Gamboa, through the Consul, launches into a surface-level analysis of postmodernism, economic disparities, and consumerism, flexing his authoritative gauge of the present age’s temperature. When discussing consumerism, for example, the Consul declares: The Old Hispanic vice of confusing genius with appearance was reaching new heights. The cult of the superficial […] was now triumphant. Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses, 450 euros plus VAT, I’ll take a pair! Abercrombie underpants […] I want half a dozen! […] Look at my long eyelashes, look at my decorated nails […] admire my body, tanned in the middle of winter […] Life is beautiful, very beautiful. That’s why I want to show it, why I want the world to see me and know! I want lots of likes on my Facebook page. You, on the other hand, are poor, ugly, and unhappy. In the middle of the crisis, the fortunate minority practiced a combination of every form of luxury and frivolity. Gamboa demonstrates an uncanny ability to pinpoint one of the many generational malaises plaguing the present age: the widespread inability to remove oneself from the echo chambers and reflectors of social media. In an age where the sheer volume of information as well as the unprecedented rate of its dissemination both dictate the increasingly rapid pace of modern life, Gamboa serves us with a clairvoyant reminder as to its antecedent. Individuals living in the 21st century, Gamboa seems to say, are increasingly trapped within the virtual confines of their phones, computers, and televisions. They find it increasingly difficult to step out of the superficiality of their time, the mirrors into which they stare, the mimicking of their friends’ and followers’ behavior on Instagram or Facebook (for evidence, simply consider the number of times you’ve already looked up from this review to check your phone, email, et cetera). Though Kierkegaard wrote “The Present Age” in 1846, it is as, if not more, apt in our own era. Gamboa testifies to our collective inability to sustain our attention on causes for more than the 30 seconds they get on a news report or the split-second it takes for us to scroll down our newsfeed. He touches on our failure to cultivate our individuality by questioning our own beliefs, engaging in meaningful discourse, or even experiencing the prosaic joy of simply sitting and thinking absent technology’s ever-present temptations. He masterfully demonstrates what Kierkegaard so judiciously wrote about nearly two centuries ago. Gamboa grasps the magnitude of the over-stimulation in the present age: everyone’s always waiting on a text, an email, a call, a like, a follow. As Gamboa writes, “[O]ne half of humanity writing to the other half, and then waiting for the reply.” Now, this is not to say that Gamboa is some sort of anti-technology crusader or luddite — he is in fact quite the opposite. He writes of a world that grows increasingly smaller and more accessible, of a generation that has a slew of previously nonexistent tools at its hands. Gamboa simply states that the same tools that provide us with near-infinite possibilities can simultaneously be our downfall, his version of Kierkegaard’s leveling — the process by which individuals are brought down to a constant level, not encouraged to strive forward and upward but to instead settle. Gamboa’s analysis of the present age may at times be solemn, indirectly raising a question in his audience’s mind: would it have been better to live in another age, away from modernity’s fast pace and chaos? Though this is a natural reaction to certain sequences within the novel, Gamboa, to his credit, tempers our nostalgia with testimony from the Argentine radical and alleged son of the pope, Tertullian. Tertullian is wracked with a visceral desire to change the world and save it from the destructive hands of basically everybody but his own followers. He views himself as a modern messiah of sorts, one who admittedly keeps neo-Nazis for company. Tertullian, however, is not the black-and-white character one would expect. He is well read, well traveled, well spoken, worldly. An avid environmentalist, who, in Gamboa’s eyes, just so happens to subscribe to a series of radical ideologies. Tertullian even disavows the ideologies of certain men he actively associates with. For example, when referring to the German neo-Nazis he befriended during his years in Berlin, Tertullian remarks: I realized that these guys were nostalgics, and that what they hated was their own situation. Their own lives. Deep down, they hated themselves […] They cling to violence because it makes them feel important. Tertullian might keep unsavory company but he realizes that the problems that plague the world around him aren’t straightforward and that many of those who rage against the same issues as himself are ultimately deluded. Through his balancing of Tertullian’s repugnant politic beliefs and astonishing skills of perception, Gamboa demonstrates the intricacies of individuals in the present age. Gamboa refuses to hastily pigeonhole ideologies, narratives, or characters; he sees the world in infinite shades of grays. In her essay “Nostalgia and Its Discontents,” the late writer and academic, Svetlana Boym, drew a fitting distinction between the two types of nostalgia present in our age: restorative and reflective. She writes: Restorative nostalgia stresses nostos (home) and attempts a transhistorical reconstruction of the lost home. Reflective nostalgia thrives on algia (the longing itself) and delays the homecoming — wistfully, ironically, desperately. Boym warns that, though the latter is the mostly benign nostalgia of writers, lovers, and poets, the former is a dangerous iteration that can lead down the path of violence and totalitarianism. The Third Reich and even Donald Trump’s MAGA campaign, for example, both exploited notions of restorative nostalgia. Gamboa demonstrates a well-balanced understanding of the present age in that, although he sees it mired in entropy and decay, his solution to its woes is not to wish to have lived earlier, or to restore the society of past ages. Rather, Gamboa urges his audience to learn from the past and present then subsequently look to the future and act with conviction. In truth, Gamboa’s analysis of the present age is anything but pessimistic; he registers the world’s realities, nevertheless deciding that individuals can prosper, if they decide to. The sheer breadth of Gamboa’s prose, furthermore, is remarkable; he concurrently plays historian, political scientist, writer, male, female, extremist, and intellectual. The strength of his prose is evidenced by its impeccable pace and digestibility. Though the novel connects five separate narratives, the reader is never left lamenting excessive detail or frustrating over inadequate plot development. Gamboa, instead, pulls off a master class in writing akin to that of the most celebrated Latin American writers of our time. Moreover, his writing isn’t negative or critical; it is more often empathetic and raw, in the refreshing style of a much-younger writer. Gamboa divides the various narratives through alternating chapters, and those dedicated to Rimbaud are the most buoyant. Beginning with Rimbaud’s birth to a devout, overbearing mother and absent military father, Gamboa paints a picture of a budding young genius stuck between provincial frustration and the turbulence of wartime France. Gamboa takes us through Rimbaud’s travels, affairs, and writing in a masterfully eloquent yet empirical fashion. He simultaneously biographies Rimbaud with the methodical expertise of a trained historian and the adept style of a talented storyteller. Throughout his Rimbaud chapters, the reader hardly remembers that Rimbaud did in fact exist and is not just another stroke of Gamboa’s imaginative genius. Gamboa’s tales of Rimbaud reveal something more about the author himself: his impressive propensity for and appreciation of poetry. The text is littered with beautifully crafted, smoothly integrated turns of phrase and witticisms that could easily have been picked out of an Octavio Paz verse. Though Gamboa is not a published poet, he clearly has a strong poetic voice and fortunate penchant for alluding to the verses of innumerable poets, including Blake, Verlaine, Baudelaire, Breton, and Rimbaud himself. Return to the Dark Valley is by no means a poetry anthology or a biography, but it effortlessly weaves the life and work of one of the most important modern poets into its grander narrative. Gamboa’s use of poetry is further evidence as to his valuation of the present age. He utilizes the bohemian, peripatetic life of Rimbaud and the sheer intensity of his verses to showcase the life that is possible when one abandons the comforts of their level, ceases becoming a reflector of their surroundings, and passionately indulges in the project of their own life. Admittedly, poetry is not said project for most of his audience. However, that is not Gamboa’s point; he simply uses Rimbaud as a foil to the masses of people he sees settling into passionless lives in the present age. This explains Gamboa’s fondness for repeatedly quoting Rimbaud: “and at dawn, armed with a burning patience, we shall enter the splendid cities.” Gamboa and Rimbaud both instruct us to don an increasingly rare cap of patience and embark on adventure, or at the very least, on life. Gamboa’s inclusion of Rimbaud is, above all else, a call to action for our times, a call to live more genuinely and passionately. As Gamboa writes, enthusiastically, nearly shouting from the page, “To travel, to live, to be free.” Ironically, the last poem that sticks with readers upon completing the novel is the first poem included in its dedication, an excerpt of William Blake’s Vala, or The Four Zoas: That Man should Labour & sorrow, & learn & forget, & return To the dark valley whence he came, To begin his labour anew. The poem is repeatedly alluded to throughout the novel, and remains the inspiration for its title. In this repetition, Gamboa indicates that although living zealously necessitates labor, sorrow, and concerted effort, it is well worth the trouble and, in fact, necessary. Though the present age’s condition makes it anything but easy to lead such a life, Gamboa urges his audience to ardently pursue it. Toward the novel’s denouement, Gamboa laments that “the anonymous reader is cruel and unfair because that is how literature is; only he who is prepared to take the blows can enter it.” In Return to the Dark Valley, Gamboa proves that he is not only willing to take the blows, but that he is also indeed the consummate sparring partner. Gamboa has returned to the dark valley of literature, and his passion, talent, and impressive powers of perception pave the way for his readers to join. ¤ Amir Soleimanpour is a writer, filmmaker, and bibliophile. He lives in Boston, where he studies International Relations and Filmmaking at Tufts University.Don't Fear The Reaper The Lesson: Death should not be feared As Shown By: The theme of death is one that runs throughout the series. Death has cast a particularly long shadow over Harry’s life, and one of the most important facets of his Hogwarts journey is his gradual realisation that the hereafter is nothing to be feared. Indeed, it’s a fear of death that produces the Hogwarts ghosts, a group of souls too terrified of what comes next to fully pass over. Dumbledore (as ever) sums this theme up best when he says: “Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love.” Never Judge A Book... The Lesson: People are skilled at disguising their inner selves As Shown By: Throughout the series, Severus Snape is presented as the villain of the piece, a sneering, embittered bully nursing a poisonous vendetta against Harry. And then in Deathly Hallows, his motivations are revealed to be something else entirely, showing his actions to be born out of love rather than hate. Well, ok there’s still a fair bit of hate in there, but mainly love! Books And Cleverness The Lesson: Book smarts can only get you so far. As Shown By: Feeling down in the dumps over the mounting expectations being heaped upon him, Harry is given a timely pep talk from Hermione. “You’re a great wizard you know,” she begins, before Harry protests that she’s a better one. “Me!” she exclaims. “Books! And cleverness! There are more important things – friendship and bravery.” Substitution The Lesson: Michael Gambon is a better Dumbledore than Richard Harris As Shown By: A controversial suggestion perhaps, but one that we would stand by. Harris plays up the headmaster’s more eccentric nature, but his Dumbledore is more twinkly old geezer than authoritative man of action. That may be down to the fact that Dumbledore has less to do in the first two films, but there’s no debating the wily vigour Gambon brings to the role. For our money, his performance is the definitive Dumbledore. Although neither of them are as loveable as the man on the page… Pucker Up The Lesson: Good things come to those who wait. As Shown By: Ron and Hermione finally sharing a passionate kiss in Deathly Hallows Pt. 2, after seven films worth of squabbling, moping and pretending not to like each other. In Ron Weasley’s case, patience proves to be the ultimate virtue! Mad, Bad & Dangerous The Lesson: Nobody does unhinged like Helena Bonham Carter As Shown By: Standing out amid a superlatively thespian cast, Helena Bonham Carter truly makes the character of Bellatrix Lestrange her own, playing the feared Death Eater with the sort of wide-eyed mania usually reserved for your average night bus. Voldemort might be the big bad, but when Bellatrix does for Dobby, she very nearly knocks the Dark Lord out of the spotlight…. Double Helpings The Lesson: Sometimes, the studio knows best. As Shown By: When it was first announced that Deathly Hallows would be split into two halves, eyes were rolled, tempers were frayed and the decision was generally denounced as an exercise in money-spinning cynicism. Even Part One did little to change that impression, as attentions occasionally wandered from an action-light instalment. And then Part 2 turned up in all its explosive glory, proving that an attempt to cram Rowling’s epic conclusion into a solitary film would have been folly in the extreme. Toilet Trader The Lesson: Be suspicious of strange men lurking in the ladies toilets As Shown By: Katie Bell falls foul of this one when she is given a mysterious necklace by Draco Malfoy in the toilets of the Three Broomsticks. The necklace turns out to be cursed, and poor Katie ends up with an nasty dose of agonising pain. Ouch. Team Effort The Lesson: Sometimes you can’t make it on your own As Shown By: Throughout the saga, Harry continually feels as though he has to face his destiny alone, only for his friends to prove invaluable. One sequence in the first film proves this better than any other, with Ron and Hermione using their respective abilities (chess-playing and logic) to overcome the tasks standing between Harry and the Philosopher’s Stone. He's Alive! The Lesson: You should always double-tap As Shown By: Despite having painstakingly restored his power, raised an army of loyal followers and brought Hogwarts to its knees, Voldermort falls foul of the oldest cinematic mistake in the book. When he fires a killing curse at Harry in the depths of the forbidden forest, he doesn’t check to see if he’s really dead. Instead,he’s happy to take Narcissa’s word for it, and ends up with egg on his face. As Zombieland taught us previously, you should always “double-tap”!Left to right: Furrball, Elmyra Duff, Hamton J. Pig, Babs Bunny, Sweetie Pie, Buster Bunny, Plucky Duck, Montana Max, and Fifi La Fume. Several characters from the series.Left to right: Furrball, Elmyra Duff, Hamton J. Pig, Babs Bunny, Sweetie Pie, Buster Bunny, Plucky Duck, Montana Max, and Fifi La Fume. The Tiny Toon Adventures animated television series features an extensive cast of characters. The show's central characters are mostly various forms of anthropomorphic animals, based on Looney Tunes characters from earlier films and shows. In the series, the characters attend a school called Acme Looniversity, set in the cartoon community of Acme Acres. Main characters [ edit ] Buster Bunny [ edit ] Buster Bunny (initially voiced by Charlie Adler and later by John Kassir) is a main character of the show along with Babs Bunny. Buster is a young, blue-and-white male rabbit with a red shirt and white gloves. Bugs Bunny is his mentor.[1] In the last episode, It's a Wonderful Tiny Toon Christmas Special, Babs states that Buster is indeed her boyfriend. Adler voiced Buster in the cancelled video game Tiny Toon Adventures: Defenders of the Universe. [2] Buster is the Tiny Toon equivalent of Chuck Jones' Bugs. Babs Bunny [ edit ] Babs Bunny (voiced by Tress MacNeille) is a main character of the show along with Buster Bunny. Babs dislikes being addressed by her full name, Barbara Anne Bunny. She is a young, female pink rabbit with a yellow shirt, violet skirt, and violet bows in her ears. She can change her attire by spinning around and can also do impressions of celebrities and famous fictional characters including Mae West, Popeye, and Jessica Rabbit, and a few others. In an episode of Animaniacs, she and Buster arrive to a party and Buster affirms in the reception, "Buster and Babs Bunny, no relation" to Bugs Bunny. Babs is the Tiny Toon equivalent of Bob Clampett's Bugs. Plucky Duck [ edit ] Plucky Duck (voiced by Joe Alaskey at his "normal" age and Nathan Ruegger as a baby) is a young, green male duck in a white tank top. Much like his Looney Tunes mentor Daffy Duck, he is portrayed as greedy, selfish, and egotistical, often engaging in various schemes with the goal of personal glory. However, Plucky does have moments of heroism and goodwill and is more often than not shown to care about his friends and value their feelings. Plucky is friends with Hamton J. Pig and Buster Bunny (although he frequently annoys Buster, again much like Daffy does with Bugs). Plucky constantly pines for the love of Shirley McLoon though she has extremely little patience for him. Also like Daffy Duck, Plucky is capable of flying with his wings but very rarely does so. Hamton J. Pig [ edit ] Hamton J. Pig (voiced by Don Messick in the TV series, Billy West in video games)[3] is a young, pink male pig with blue overalls. Based on Porky Pig, Hamton's role in the series is as a straight man, often against Plucky's antics. The only difference is that Hamton never stutters much like his mentor and uncle, Porky. Hamton is also shown as an overeater obsessed with cleanliness. Since Don Messick's death in 1997, Billy West took over the role of Hamton in a few video games, including 1998's Tiny Toon Adventures: Toonenstein. [4] Elmyra Duff [ edit ] Elmyra Duff (voiced by Cree Summer)[5] is a redheaded girl. She wears a blue blouse, a white skirt, black Mary Janes over white socks and a blue bow with a skull at the center. Based on Elmer Fudd, she is a total role reversal of him. Instead of hunting animals, she cares for them to selfish lengths[6] and falls into the stereotype of the "spoiled and piercing-voiced girl."[6] She is one of the few human characters in the series, and like the animal characters, she attends Acme Looniversity where she also serves as the nurse. In two episode, Elmyra's family is shown, including her mother, inventor father, typical '90s teen sister, a younger brother, a super-strong baby brother, and a maid. Elmyra is obsessed with having animals as pets, and will chase them or trap them in order to take them to her house. Despite everything, she is utterly oblivious to the abuse she is inflicting on animals. She makes a few appearances in Animaniacs and starred along with Pinky and the Brain in a spinoff, Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain.[7] In several episodes, it is revealed that she wears a wig. Her baldness provides further connection with Elmer Fudd. Her last name, Duff, is the backwards pronunciation of "Fudd". Montana Max [ edit ] Montana Max (voiced by Danny Cooksey), nicknamed "Monty" or "Maxie", is a young, brown-haired boy and the main antagonist. Based on Yosemite Sam, he is a bad-tempered, loud-mouthed, money-hungry tycoon. Like Elmyra, he is a human and attends Acme Looniversity. He is portrayed as a very wealthy character, living in a mansion and not having any friends, just a stubborn little boy. However, he does have a very rarely ever shown sweet side and has at least once been shown to have a good imagination. Elmyra likes Monty a lot, though he usually feels nothing but annoyance towards her. Monty is shown to be an only child and was the very first villain of the series as seen in the pilot episode when the head of the studio rejected an artist's plans to have a cartoon star Monty. Fifi La Fume [ edit ] Fifi La Fume (voiced by Kath Soucie) is a young, purple and white female skunk with a pink bowed ribbon in her hair. Based on Pepé Le Pew, she shares his character traits of having a French accent and aggressively seeking romance, only to find the object of her affection repulsed by her odor. Fifi often chases and unsuccessfully attempts to woo boys who have ended up with white stripes painted down their backs, such as Furrball the cat. She lives in a striped 1959 Cadillac in a wreck yard. Gogo Dodo [ edit ] Gogo Dodo (voiced by Frank Welker) is a young, green male dodo with blue shoes, and a pink and purple umbrella sticking out from the top of his head. Gogo is noted for performing various bizarre sight gags or stunts. Unlike the other characters who attend Acme Looniversity, Gogo made his home in the Daliesque realm known as Wackyland, a surreal land where backgrounds changed constantly and the entrance to which was located across a bridge on the outskirts of the city of Acme Acres, the usual setting of Tiny Toon Adventures. According to series writer Paul Dini, Gogo is the only member of the Tiny Toons cast to be a direct relative of one of the Looney Tunes characters; he is the son of the original dodo from the 1938 cartoon Porky in Wackyland retroactively named Yoyo.[citation needed] Gogo's catchphrase is "It's been surreal!" Shirley the Loon [ edit ] Shirley "the Loon" McLoon (voiced by Gail Matthius) is a loon citizen of Acme Acres featured in Tiny Toon Adventures. Shirley is based on Daffy Duck's main love interest, Melissa Duck. She speaks with a thick Valley girl accent and, although she seems reasonably intelligent, is obsessed with superficial New Age paraphernalia. Her name is derived from fellow New Age aficionado Shirley MacLaine, while the latter part of the name is an obvious pun (she later appeared in an episode of Animaniacs standing next to MacLaine). More often than not, characters refer to Shirley as "Shirley the Loon"
ike to Jabal al-Zouia. There they saw with their own eyes thousands of people demonstrating « against the dictatorship of Bachar el-Assad and for democracy ». Bedazzled, the Western Press concluded that a revolution was under way, at least until a journalist from the Spanish daily ABC, Daniel Iriarte, noticed that the majority of the demonstrators were not Syrian, and only obeyed their Libyan commanders, Abdelhakim Belhaj and Mahdi al-Harati [9]. However, the spectacle of the Falcons of the Levant Brigade (Suqour al-Sham Brigade) had its effect. The myth of a Free Syrian Army composed of « deserters from the Syrian Arab Army » was born, and the journalists who fed the fire will never admit that they had been tricked. In September 2012, Mahdi al-Harati returned to Libya for medical reasons, after having formed, with his brother-in-law, a new jihadist group - Liwa al-Umma (the Ummah Brigade) [10]. In March 2014, Mahdi al-Harati escorted a new group of Libyan jihadists who travelled to Turkey by sea. According to the Russian intelligence report, the group was taken over by the régime’s number 2, Hakan Fidan, the head of the MIT (secret services), who had just re-assimilated his functions. The group joined Daesh via the frontier post at Barsai. This decision was consecutive to the meeting organised in Washington by the US National Security Advisor, Susan Rice, with the heads of the secret services from the Gulf states and Turkey, with a view to handing over the continuation of the war against Syria, in order to maintain the pretence of not using Al-Qaïda and Daesh [11]. In August 2014, Mahdi al-Harati was « elected » Mayor of Tripoli with the support of Qatar, Sudan and Turkey. He is dependent on the government of Tripoli, which is dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, and rejects the government of Tobruk, which is supported by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Mahdi al-Harati’s career path attests to the links between Al-Qaïda in Libya, the Free Syrian Army, Daesh and the Muslim Brotherhood, which destroys the theory of a democratic revolution in Syria. It also reveals the support offered to this network by the United States, France and Turkey. The transfer of Daesh combatants from Syria to Yemen The intelligence report reveals that the Turkish secret services organised the transfer of Daesh combatants from Syria to Yemen. Some were transported by plane, and others by boat to Aden. This accusation had already been made, on the 27th October 2015, by the spokesman for the Syrian Arab Army, General Ali Mayhub. According to him, at least 500 Daesh jihadists had been assisted by the Turkish MIT for their journey to Yemen. They had been transported by two planes from Turkish Airlines, one from Qatar Airways and one from the Emirates. Once arrived in Aden, the jihadists were divided into three groups- the first group travelled to the Bab el-Mandeb straits, the second to Marib, and the third group was sent to Saudi Arabia. This information, which had been widely developed by the pro-Syrian Arab media, was ignored by the Western Press. Yemeni General Sharaf Luqman, spokesman for the military faithful to ex-President Saleh, confirmed the Syrian accusation and added that the jihadists had been welcomed by mercenaries from Blackwater-Academi. The transfer of Daesh combatants from one theatre to another attests to the coordination of operations in Syria and Yemen. It implicates Turkey, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Blackwater-Academi. The « Tatar village » The Russian intelligence report also evokes the case of the « Tatar village », a Tatar ethnic group initially based in Antalya, then moved further north by the MIT to Eskişehir. Although the report specifies that it includes Al-Qaïda combatants and that it helps Islamist combatants in Syria, it does not explain why this group was moved farther away from Syria, nor what its activities were. The Tatars are the second Russian minority, and very few of them adhere to the jihadist ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood or Hizb-ut-Tahrir. However, in March 2012, Arab islamists from Tatarstan attacked an exhibition concerning Syria - « The Cradle of Civilisation » - at the museum in Kazan. A little later, on the 5th August 2012, a group of jihadists, both Arabs and Tatars, met secretly in Kazan – also present were representatives from Al-Qaïda. In December 2013, a group of pan-Turkish Tatar jihadists from the Azatlyk (Freedom) movement, left the Syrian theatre to travel back to Ukraine and assume the organisation of security on Maidan Square while waiting for the coup d’Etat ; meanwhile other militants from the same organisation demonstrated in Kazan. On the 1st August 2015, a Tatar World Congress was organised in Ankara, with the support and participation of the Ukrainian and Turkish governments. Its President was the famous Cold War CIA agent Moustafa Djemilev. Its members decided to create an « International Muslim Brigade » to « free » Crimea. Djemilev was immediately received officially by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan [12]. The Brigade disposes of an installation in Kherson (Ukraine). It organised several sabotage operations in Crimea, including a huge electricity blackout (triggered from Ukraine), and then, unable to enter Russia en masse, moved to reinforce Ukranian troops in Donbass. If the UN Security Council were to look into the question of the « Tatar village », they could not fail to notice that the United States, Turkey and Ukraine were sponsoring Tatar jihadists in Syria, Crimea and Tatarstan, including members of Al-Qaïda and Daesh. The Turkmen of the Sultan Abdulhamid Brigade Although Turkey never lifted a finger to help the Iraqi Turkmen massacred by Daesh, it relied on the support of Syrian Turkmen against the Syrian Arab Republic. They were organised by the « Grey Wolves », a paramilitary political party, historically linked to NATO secret services in their fight against communism (the « Gladio » network). They were, for example, the group that organised the attempted assassination of Pope Jean-Paul II, in 1981 [13]. The Grey Wolves are present in Europe, and are particularly involved with the Belgian social-democrats and the Dutch socialists. They have set up European coordination, working from Frankfurt. In reality, they are not a party in themselves, but form the paramilitary branch of the Nationalist Movement Party, MHP (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi). The Turkmen Brigades and the MIT organised the pillage of the factories in Aleppo. Turkish experts came to dismantle the machine-tools which were shipped to Turkey,where they were re-assembled. Simultaneously, they occupied the frontier with Turkey, where the MIT set up and supervised the jihadist training camps. In November 2015, it was the star of the Syrian Turkmen, Turkish citizen Alparslan Çelik - member of the Grey Wolves and one of the commanders of the Sultan Abdoulhamid Brigade – who gave the order to kill the two Sukoï-24 pilots who had just been shot down by the Turkish aviation, assisted by a Saudi AWACS. One of the pilots was in fact executed. In 1995, the Grey Wolves had organised, with the Turko-US real estate company Celebiler Isaat (who finance Hillary Clinton’s electoral campaigns), a vast recruitment drive for 10,000 jihadists to go and fight in Chechnya. A training base was installed in the university city of Top Kopa in Istanbul. One of the sons of General Djokhar Doudaïev directed the transfer from Turkey via Azerbaïdjan with the MIT. The Russian intelligence report reveals that the MIT created the Sultan Abdoulhamid Brigade – which unites the main Turkmen militia – and that it trained its members on the base at Bayır-Bucak, under the direction of instructors from the special intervention forces of the Turkish Army and agents from the MIT. It specifies that the Turkmen Brigade collaborates with Al-Qaïda. Any more serious research would lead the Security Council to re-open old criminal files and note the links between the Sultan Abdoulhamid Brigade, the Grey Wolves, Turkey, the United States and Al-Qaïda. The IHH and İmkander The Russian intelligence report reveals the role of three Turkish humanitarian NGOs in the delivery of weapons to the jihadists - IHH, İmkander and Öncü Nesil. The final declaration of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), which met in Munich on the 11th and 12th February, seems to validate this accusation since it stipulates that from now on, the United States and Russia will verify that humanitarian convoys only transport humanitarian materials. Until now, the government and the Press in Damascus have continued to accuse these NGOs of supporting the jihadists, but no-one listened. In September 2012, a cargo chartered by the IHH transported weapons to Syria on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood [14]. I am only aware of the first two organisations mentioned. The IHH is an association founded and led by the Turkish Prosperity Party (Refah) of Necmettin Erbakan, but without statutary or organic links with him. It was first of all registered in Germany, at Fribourg-en-Brisgau in 1992, under the name Internationale Humanitäre Hilfe (IHH), then in Istanbul in 1995, under the name İnsani Yardım Vakfı. As its new acronym was İYV and not IHH, it preceded its name with İnsan Hak ve Hürriyetleri, which in Turkish means « Human Rights and Freedoms ». Under the cover of humanitarian aid to the Muslims of Bosnia and Afghanistan, it supplied them with weapons, in accord with NATO strategy. After that, it lent military support to the Islamic Emirate of Ichkeria (Chechnya) [15]. In 2006, it organised a monumental funeral, without the body but with the presence of tens of thousands of militants, at the Fatih mosque in Istanbul, for the Chechen jihadist Chamil Bassaïev, who had just been killed by the Russian Forces after the massacre he had commanded at the school in Beslan [16]. The IHH acquired world renown by organising, with the AKP, (successor to Refah) the « Freedom Flottilla », which was intended to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza by breaking the Israeli embargo, once again with White House approval, in a US attempt to humiliate Israëli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Amongst the passengers was Mahdi al-Harati, mentioned above. The UN Commission presided by Geoffrey Palmer attests to the fact that, contrary to the allegations, the flotilla was not transporting any humanitarian cargo. This leads to the conclusion that the IHH knew that it would never arrive in Gaza, and thus begs the question of what the true aims of the expedition may have been. On the 2nd January 2014, the Turkish police – who had just questioned the sons of three Ministers and the director of a major bank concerning money laundering - intercepted a truck-load of arms from the IHH destined for Syrian jihadists [17]. Following that, the police searched the head office of the IHH. In his offices, it interrogated Halis B., suspected of being the leader of Al-Qaïda in Turkey, and İbrahim Ş., second in command of that organisation for the Near East [18]. The government managed to remove the police officers and free the suspects. İmkander (in Turkish “Fraternity”, by reference to the Muslim Brotherhood) is another « humanitarian » association, created in 2009 in Istanbul. It specialised in aid to the Chechens and the defence of the jihadists in the Caucasus. It organised a media campaign in Turkey when the representative of Dokou Oumarov (the self-proclaimed « Emir of the Caucasus »), Berg-Khazh Musaev (known as Emir Khamzat), was assassinated in Istanbul. At the time, the FSB considered that it was at war with any states which gave military support to the jihadists, and did not hesitate to kill them in those countries (like Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev in Qatar, and Umar Israilov in Austria). İmkander organised vast funeral services at the Fatih mosque in Istanbul. On the 12th and 13th May 2012, with the support of the Istanbul city hall, İmkander organised an international congress – in the tradition of the CIA congresses during the Cold War – in order to support the independentists in the Caucasus. At the end of the meeting, the Congress of the Caucasian People was created as a permanent body, recognising the unique authority of the Emir of the Caucasus, Dokou Oumarov. The delgates accused the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation of having carried out the genocide of the Caucasian people. In a video, Emir Dokou Oumarov called for all the People of the Caucasus to join the jihad. Russia reacted strongly [19]. In 2013, Russie asked the Security Council 1267/1989 Committee to place İmkander on the list of organisations linked with al-Qaïda. The United Kingdom, France and Luxembourg opposed this. [20]. Indeed, while İmkander claims to lend political support to Al-Qaïda in the Caucasus, according to the Western powers, Russia has not supplied sufficient proof of its participation in military operations. Thes two NGOs are directly implicated - in arms trafficking for IHH, and in political support for İmkander. They dispose of the support of the AKP, the party created by Président Erdoğan to replace Refah which was outlawed by the Constitutional Court. What can be done with the Russian intelligence report? It is unlikely that the Security Council will study the Russian intelligence report. Questions concerning the role of the secret services are generally treated in secret. In any case, the United States will have to make clear what they intend to do with their ally Turkey, which has been caught violating Council Resolutions. This information adds to that already available concerning the personal ties between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Yasin al-Qadi, the banker for Al-Qaïda [21], and the role of Erdoğan’s son, Bilal, concerning the commerce of oil stolen by Daesh [22]. There is no doubt that the Turkish ranting about a possible military invasion of Syria is simply intended as a diversion. In any event, if war were to break out between Turkey and Russia, this report would deprive Ankara of the support of NATO (article 5 of the United Nations Charter).Opponents of open-internet regulations have long argued that such rules will lead to slower broadband internet speeds. Their reasoning is that with more regulations in place, internet providers wouldn’t want to risk investing in the infrastructure needed to improve their networks, which would hurt consumers. And yet five months after former-Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler challenged those claims by asking opponents “Where’s the fire?”, the broadband business has yet to implode. In fact, it may have actually improved for customers. Data from internet providers themselves show that these firms have moved to offer people faster connections and better choices. Maybe you can’t credit the open-internet rules for that, but it’s certainly becoming harder to blame them for an industry-wide slowdown. Net neutrality doesn’t seem to hurt ISPs Until recently, much of the debate over open-internet, or net-neutrality, rules that ban internet providers from blocking, slowing or selling priority delivery speeds to legal sites has focused on whether these regulations have led broadband providers to put less money into expanding their networks. In the January speech that marked his last public talk as FCC chair, Wheeler pointed to a slight rise in broadband investment over his term, from $75 billion in 2013 to $76 billion in 2015. But the trade group that compiled those numbers, US Telecom, spun them in its own press release as evidence of net neutrality impairing investment. That’s because that 2015 figure fell below 2014’s $77 billion in spending. The group has since predicted that broadband investment will further decline in 2016. Meanwhile, Wheeler and other net-neutrality advocates say lower network-upgrade costs brought on by increased efficiency mean that a 2016 dollar buys more broadband than a 2013 dollar, something an AT&T (T) executive bragged about to investors in 2016. And pro net-neutrality groups like Free Press and the Internet Association have further argued that numbers showing lower investment involved cherry-picking the original data. Fortunately, we now have another metric to check: internet providers’ own reports to the FCC about their networks. Posted in April, those reports show impressive growth. From the end of 2015 to the middle of 2016, the share of census tracts (subsets of cities and counties with, at most, several thousand people each) with at least two broadband services offering downloads of 25 megabits per second rose from 24% to 42%. A more recent study estimated that those numbers translate to 61.4 million households with high-speed competition — almost 53% of America’s 117 million households. And in this debate at least, connecting more people with faster service should matter more than the budgets involved. Net-neutrality advocates should acknowledge this progress too. But during June 26th a town hall in Arlington, Va., Wheeler dragged out the now-obsolete line that three quarters of broadband users have no choice. The lack of it can hurt startups During the meeting Wheeler explained the risk of undoing open-internet rules could hurt smaller startup companies, saying, “If those innovators don’t have access to you, the consumer, it’s game, set, match.” But would internet providers actually cut off legal sites from their customers? U.S. firms have not anytime recently. So then Wheeler’s “where’s the fire?” question can also be fairly asked of net-neutrality advocates who raise the specter of sites getting blacklisted by broadband providers. The past few years have, however, shown what can happen when internet providers allow a site’s connection to become bogged down. Exhibit A: Netflix (NFLX) became mysteriously unviewable around 2012 on some theoretically fast-enough providers, thanks to “interconnection” arrangements that left insufficient capacity into the residential networks of firms like Comcast (CMCSA) and Verizon (VZ), Yahoo Finance’s corporate parent. Wheeler noted that current regulations allow the FCC to stop that kind of mischief. He warned: “If these rules don’t exist, it’s a whole new game.” Opponents of the current open-internet rules, led by Wheeler’s successor Ajit Pai, prefer to phrase things differently. If, they say, we let internet providers offer paid-prioritization deals that ensure a site’s feeds never buffer or stutter, those providers can use the proceeds to expand their networks.Disgraced former Mountie Benjamin (Monty) Robinson has been given a 12-month conditional sentence for obstruction of justice relating to a fatal collision with a motorcycle in Delta, B.C., in 2008. The sentence means Robinson, 42, will not serve any time in jail. He will have to spend one month under house arrest and the rest of the time he will be under the supervision of a probation officer and subject to a curfew at night. Justice Janice Dillon also ordered Robinson to write an apology to the family of Orion Hutchinson, who was killed in the crash, and pay a $1,000 fine to Victim Services. At the sentencing hearing, Robinson never apologized or expressed remorse for leaving Hutchinson dead or dying on the road while he went home to drink. But Dillon also noted that when she handed down the sentence she had to consider the fact Robinson was a first time offender, an alcoholic and an aboriginal man. Mother upset by sentence Outside the court, Hutchinson's mother Judith dismissed the ordered apology letter as "less than nothing" and denounced the sentence as no more than the sort of punishment a child might get for bad behaviour. "That sentence just felt like he was just being grounded," said Hutchinson. "It doesn't feel like a sentence to me." Orion Hutchinson, 21, was killed in the collision between his motorcycle and the Jeep driven by Robinson in Delta, B.C. (RCMP) Hutchinson said the family was hoping Robinson would be sentenced to time in jail "We are not out for blood. We just wanted some kind of justice...This is very disappointing. It has been four years to come to this." Adele Tompkins, the executive director of the B.C. Coalition of Motorcyclists, also expressed concern with the sentence. "I was hoping that six months in jail might be real nice sentence for him... the general public will be disappointed and motorcyclists will be horrified," said Tomkins. Robinson went home to drink Robinson was found guilty after admitting he rushed home and drank two shots of vodka after his Jeep collided with the motorcycle of Hutchinson at an intersection. He then returned to the scene of the crash and admitted to what he had done. The judge found Robinson had used his RCMP training to hide the fact that he had consumed five beers at a party just before the crash and then lied to Delta police officers at the scene about how much he had been drinking at the party. An investigation by the B.C. Coroners Service concluded Hutchinson, who died at the scene, was also drinking alcohol before the crash and that the actions of both men contributed to the crash. A coroner's report concluded the actions of both men contributed to the crash that killed Hutchinson in 2008. (CBC) The maximum penalty for obstruction of justice is 10 years, but the Crown was seeking three to nine months in jail or a conditional sentence of 12 to 18 months. The defence had asked for a conditional sentence of three to six months with no jail time. Robinson is also facing a charge of perjury in connection with the death of Robert Dziekanski. The Polish visitor died after officers used a Taser on him at the Vancouver airport. Robinson quit the RCMP just before his sentencing hearing last week.MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice will investigate the death of a black man who was fatally shot by a white former Milwaukee police officer after local prosecutors refused to charge him, saying he acted in self-defense. Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm said on Monday he will not press charges against the former officer Christopher Manney because he acted in self-defense when he shot Dontre Hamilton 14 times during a struggle in Red Arrow Park in downtown Milwaukee on April 30. A few hours after that, the Justice Department through its offices in Milwaukee said it will conduct a review of case to determine if federal civil rights laws were broken. Protests have been held in Milwaukee since the incident occurred. On Friday, 74 people were taken into custody after an evening demonstration spilled onto a highway and stopped rush hour traffic. Demonstrations against the use of excessive force by police have been held around the United States in the wake of recent cases in which unarmed black men were killed by white policemen. “This is a fight that we are going to endure. We are going to stay strong,” Dontre’s brother Nate Hamilton said during a press conference on Monday when the family’s attorney called for a federal investigation. The press conference preceded the Justice Department announcement on Monday afternoon. Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm said at a news conference his decision “does not depreciate the very legitimate concerns raised any time a law enforcement officer uses deadly force against a citizen.” Mayor Tom Barrett called for calm protests and said that police officers throughout the U.S. should not be demonized. “This is a time for peace,” he said during a separate news conference. Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn announced the firing of Manney on Oct. 15. He said Manney had acted without malice but that he had failed to follow police policies when addressing mentally ill people. “It’s very, very hard to charge a police officer with homicide if he does exactly what he is trained to do,” Chisholm said. Manney told investigators that he and Hamilton got into a fight after he attempted to apprehend him, according to the statement Manney gave police. Related Coverage U.S. Justice Dept to review fatal shooting by Milwaukee police officer Hamilton took Manney’s baton and hit him, Manney’s statement said. Manney then shot Hamilton, according to police. “He feared Hamilton would attack him with the baton and that he ‘would be dead’ as a result,” the statement said.A trio of Chrome devices based around Intel’s power-efficient Broadwell processors have been added to the Chromium OS repository. Intel, who unveiled their Broadwell processor lineup at CES 2015, has previously said that we can expect a suite of new Chromebooks, Chromeboxes and Chromebases using the fifth-generation chips to hit retail shelves this year. The Broadwell Four In all there are four Broadwell boards listed in Chromium OS. The first was spotted back in September. Gigaom’s Kevin Tofel notes that this is likely to have been the new 15.6-inch Acer Chromebook, due for release next month. As to whom the rest of the boards belong to? Well that question currently lacks an answer. That said, I’d guess that one belongs to the new ‘rugged’ Acer C740 Chromebook due in March, while the other could be Dell’s rumoured 15-incher. Google gives its development boards codenames based on popular video games characters. The latest set is no different, being gifted monikers of three characters from the Final Fantasy franchise (Paine, Yuna and Lulu). Not all boards listed in the Chromium OS codebase end up as proper products sitting on shelves, for various reasons. So while it’s a given that more Broadwell Chromebooks are coming, they may or may not end up being based on these specific models.A lot of people have requested a new release of a PS Vita Half Byte Loader (VHBL) for the new firmware 3.30+, and today we are proud to announce that there will be a release of a new exploit game for PS Vita firmware 3.36. Qwikrazor was so kind to release this exploit, and the exploit will mainly be used for setting up Custom Bubbles on your PS Vita. The required Exploit games (you only need one of these 2) are the well known and famous games Patapon 1 and Patapon 2. Keep in mind that Patapon 1 only works in its European version, and that Patapon 2 works in its European and North American version. There is also a Japanese version of Patapon 2, and it might be exploitable too, but we are currently still investigating if this is the case or not. The Japanese and North American version of Patapon 1 is not exploitable, this is only the case with the European version of Patapon 1. Please buy Patapon 2 if you are not using an European PSN store account. Patapon 1 and Patapon 2 are rather cheap games (7,99€/9,99$) and are not too big, but also not too small (~300MB & 380MB). Be sure to buy the game and download it onto your PS Vita as soon as possible, because Sony will most likely remove this game in near future. If you buy the game, but forget to download the game, then keep in mind that you will not be able to download it (despite buying it) after Sony has removed the games from the PSN store! We also want to apologise that we were not able to notify the registered members of Wololo.net/talk ahead of this news (like it is usually the case), because this is a sudden choice of release and its main focus lies on the Custom Bubbles, instead of the exploit for Patapon itself. Another important fact is that you need to own a PSP game, that is not one of the firmware 3.18 exploit games, to use as a base for the proper VHBL custom bubble. Patapon and the firmware 3.18 exploit games can not be used for these proper bubbles, since internal patches exist to limit these games (1 MB file size limit). For the same reason we only use Patapon to set up a proper VHBL custom bubble. In the end I would like to say thank you to Qwikrazor for yet another exploit of his, and that this exploits main purpose is setting up Custom Bubbles on and for firmwares 3.30, 3.35 and 3.36. The necessary exploit savedata files will be released soon~ish, so be sure to buy the game, download the game, be patient and wait until we decide to release the files for Patapon 1 (EU) & Patapon 2 (EU, NA & maybe JP). Varuthini Ekadashi falls on 22-04-2017, Saturday. Varuthini Ekadashi, known as Baruthani Ekadashi falls in the month of Chaitra (April-May) on the 11Thday after Full Moon day.It is considered sublimely holy and sacred for the rich religious benefits it brings for a devotee who fasts on the day. Bhavishya Purana mentions the significance of Varuthini Ekadashi as narrated by Krishna to Yudhistra.This day is dedicated to the worship of Vamana, one of the Dasavathars of Lord Vishnu. The term ‘Varuthini’ means ‘protected’ in Hindi and as such this Ekadashi protects one from the effects of sin, grants the worldly wishes of the devotee, offers prosperity and wealth and relieves the person from the cycle of birth. Any person who suffers from a serious disease can get cured if he prays to Lord Vishnu on this day. An unfortunate woman becomes fortunate on observing Varuthini Ekadashi. Animals get relieved of the cycle of birth on this Ekadashi. King Mandhata got liberation and Dhundhumara, a king of Ikshvasu dynasty got cured of leprosy that was caused by the curse of Lord Shiva. HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How and Why to Observe Ekadashi? Story of King Mandhata related to Varuthini Ekadashi King Mandhata was a kind and wise ruler. He married Bindumati, the daughter of Yadav king Shah Bindu. He had three sons namely Muchkund, Ambrisha and PuruKutsa. He had 50 daughters who were married to Saubhari rishi. One day, when Mandhata was meditating in the forest, he was hurt by a bear which started chewing his leg and dragged him into the woods. The king prayed to Lord Vishnu who appeared at the place and killed the bear with his Chakra. Mandhata was worried about the lost leg but was advised by the Lord to go to Mathura and pray to Vishnu on Varuthini Ekadashi. The king observed fasting on this Ekadashi and got back his leg. Varuthini Ekadashi is hailed high for its huge benefits which are equivalent to different kinds of charities. Devotees gain the following benefits out of observing Varuthini Ekadashi Punya gathered through the penances and austerities for ten thousand years is gained through observing Varuthini Ekadashi. Fasting on this day is equivalent to donating lots of gold during the solar eclipse and the devotee achieves goals in this and next births. Fasting on this day gains the benefits of donating horses, elephants, land, sesame seeds, gold, food grains and sharing spiritual knowledge. Donating elephants is greater than donating horses, and the order ascends like this- land greater than elephants, sesame seeds greater than land, gold greater than land, food grains greater than sesame seeds, sharing knowledge greater than that. One more sublime donation is donating a girl in marriage with all ornaments and dowry to an eligible person. The benefit of fasting on this Ekadashi is equivalent to kanyadhaan (giving the daughter in marriage), the greatest of the donations. The person who stays awake during this Ekadashi night reaches eternal abode as he gets rid of all sinful effects. Even those who read or hear about this Ekadashi’s significance get the benefit of donating one thousand cows and they reach eternity, the supreme abode of spirituality. HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Kamada Ekadashi Rules to be followed for observing Varuthini Ekadashi fast Reading holy scriptures like Bhagavad Gita and chanting Vishnu Sahasranamam are considered very auspicious on this day. Keeping vigil overnight brings very favourable religious benefits on this Ekadashi. One should not indulge in gambling, sleep, anger, robbery, lying, shaving face and body, applying oil to the body, calling names. Devotees should not eat red lentil, black gram, non-vegetarian food, chickpea, honey, betelnut, spinach. One should not eat in betel nut metalled utensils. One should eat only at home and not outside. Varuthini Ekadashi brings prosperity, name and fame to a person in society.It’s homebrew for a good cause! This episode takes us to Pittsburgh, PA for the annual Brewing Up A Cure homebrew sampling event. Organized by Three Rivers Underground Brewers (TRUB) homebrew club, BUAC is a fundraiser for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation that features dozens of homebrews and some awesome serving stations. Chop & Brew goes behind the scenes to learn more about the event, the brewers, beers, and heartfelt goodwill mission of Three Rivers Underground Brewers. [Original postdate: April 23, 2015] Related Links: Brewing Up A Cure – Information and Tickets for BUAC Events Homebrew Recipes from Brewing Up A Cure 2014 including Burnt Hands Russian Imperial Stout, Sorted Oak-Aged ESB, Hopinstein, The Blue Stuff and Elvis Has Just Left The Building Peanut Butter Hefeweizen. Elvis Has Just Left the Building Lagniappe Video Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Shane Terrick’s Pittsburgh CF Cycle for Life Donation Page Chop & Brew Online Superstore Brew Your Own Magazine – subscribe at this link to directly support Chop & BrewIf you google “disrupt the pink aisle”, you’ll get 36,800 results, all of which concern a San Francisco-based toy company named GoldieBlox. The company first came to public attention in September of last year, when it launched a highly-successful Kickstarter campaign which ultimately raised $285,881. Like all successful Kickstarter campaigns, there was a viral video; this one featured a highly-photogenic CEO called Debbie, a recent graduate of — you probably don’t need me to tell you this — Stanford University. And yes, before the Kickstarter campaign, there was “a seed round from friends, family and angel investors”. When the viral video kept on generating pre-orders even after the Kickstarter campaign ended, GoldieBlox looked like a classic Silicon Valley startup: young, exciting, fast-growing, and — of course — disruptive. Not wanting to mess with a proven formula, GoldieBlox kept on producing those viral videos: “GoldieBlox Breaks into Toys R Us” was based on Queen’s “We Are The Champions”, and got over a million views. But that was nothing compared to their latest video, uploaded only a week ago, and already well on its way to getting ten times that figure. This one was based on an early Beastie Boys song, “Girls”, and deliciously subverted it to turn it into an empowering anthem. Under what Paul Carr has diagnosed as the rules of the Cult of Disruption, GoldieBlox neither sought nor received permission to create these videos: it never licensed the music it used from the artists who wrote it. That wouldn’t be the Silicon Valley way. First you make your own rules — and then, if anybody tries to slap you down, you don’t apologize, you fight. For your right. To parody. In a complete inversion of what you might expect to happen in this case, it is GoldieBlox which is suing the Beastie Boys. And they’re doing so in the most aggressive way possible. There’s no respect, here, for the merits of the song which has helped their video go massively viral and which is surely helping to sell a huge number of toys. Instead, there’s just sneering antagonism: In the lyrics of the Beastie Boys’ song entitled Girls, girls are limited (at best) to household chores, and are presented as useful only to the extent they fulfill the wishes of the male subjects. The GoldieBlox Girls Parody Video takes direct aim at the song both visually and with a revised set of lyrics celebrating the many capabilities of girls. Set to the tune of Girls but with a new recording of the music and new lyrics, girls are heard singing an anthem celebrating their broad set of capabilities—exactly the opposite of the message of the original. They are also shown engaging in activities far beyond what the Beastie Boys song would permit. This is faux-naïveté at its worst, deliberately ignoring the fact that Girls, the original song, is itself a parody of machismo rap. The complaint is also look-at-me move, positively daring the Beasties to rise to the bait and enjoin the fight. Which the Beasties, in turn, are trying very hard not to do. In their letter to GoldieBlox, the Beasties make three simple points. They support the creativity of the video, and its message; they’re the defendants in this suit, rather than the people suing anybody; and, most importantly, they have a long-standing policy that no Beastie Boys songs shall ever be used in commercial advertisements. (They don’t mention, although they could, that this last was actually an explicit dying wish of Adam Yauch, a/k/a MCA, and an integral part of his will.) Given the speed with which the GoldieBlox complaint appeared, indeed, it’s reasonable to assume that they had it in their back pocket all along, ready to whip out the minute anybody from the Beastie Boys, or their record label, so much as inquired about what was going on. The strategy here is to maximize ill-will: don’t ask permission, make no attempt to negotiate in good faith, antagonize the other party as much as possible. This way, at least, the battle lines get drawn pretty clearly. The jurisprudential analysis comes out, defending GoldieBlox and its right to use the Beasties’ song as parody. After all, fair use is a protection under the law, which means that if it applies, then it doesn’t
don't go into malls carrying a long, cumbersome hunting rifle." The 1994 assault weapon ban greatly reduced the availability of guns like the AR-15, but since the law expired, the market has boomed, Horowitz said. "They're pouring off the assembly line," he said. A spokesman for the National Rifle Association did not respond to a request for comment. During this year's campaign, President Barack Obama spoke little about gun control, but did say he believed the assault weapons ban needed to be re-introduced. While governor of Massachusetts, former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney signed a bill banning assault weapons, but during his presidential campaign, Romney said no additional federal gun-control legislation was necessary. Gun rights groups have fought tenaciously against attempts to reintroduce the assault weapons ban, saying the guns vary little from ordinary hunting rifles. A number of recent polls suggest a majority of Americans support limited gun control legislation, such as an assault weapons ban, or a prohibition on high-capacity magazines, such as those used in the Aurora theater shooting.* Chechen women say targeted for not wearing headscarves * Raids follow Ramadan cafe ban, paintball attacks (Repeats with no editorial changes) GROZNY, Russia, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Many women in Russia’s volatile Chechnya region said on Friday they had been harassed and some physically harmed by bands of men for not wearing headscarves during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Against the backdrop of a spreading Islamist insurgency, many fear that growing interest in radical Islam could fuel separatism in the volatile North Caucasus, where the Kremlin watches uneasily as sharia law eclipses Russian. Residents and witnesses told Reuters that bearded men in traditional Islamic dress have been roaming the streets both on foot and in cars since Ramadan started on Aug. 11, demanding bare-headed women wear a headscarf. "Two men came up to me, one furiously fingering a prayer bead, and said it wasn’t pretty to have a bare head during Ramadan," 38-year old Markha Atabayeva told Reuters in the Chechen capital Grozny. "They instilled such fear in me". Atabayeva was one of at least a dozen women who told of harassment or attacks. One of the women’s assailants told Reuters "hundreds" of women had been warned. Atabayeva said earlier she had seen a group of men with automatic rifles taunting women for not wearing headscarves. A woman in her mid-30s said she was punched in the face by a man in Islamic dress after refusing to put on a headscarf he had given her. The men’s action follows a radical order earlier this week from Chechnya’s spiritual leader to shut all cafes during the month of Ramadan [ID:nLDE67H17B], as well as paintball attacks on bareheaded women in June. ISLAMIC RULES A number of other women described this week how men in cars threatened them with violence if they did not cover up. While some women carry headscarves in their bags, those without were encouraged to go home immediately. The action targeting women highlights tension over efforts by Chechnya’s firebrand Moscow-backed leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, to enforce Islamic rules that can violate Russia’s constitution. One of the assailants, who described himself as an "activist", told Reuters: "We are trying to warn women of their possible sins before God". "We do this through force, fighting and battles," he said on condition of anonymity, adding that hundreds of Chechen women had been "warned" since the start of Ramadan. Another assailant said they were working under orders from Chechnya’s Centre for Spiritual-Moral Education, which Kadyrov set up 18 months ago. Critics say that in return for keeping a shaky peace in Chechnya, site of two separatist wars with Moscow since the mid-1990s, Kadyrov is allowed to impose his vision of Islam. Kadyrov’s spokesman declined to comment on the action against women failing to wear headscarves. Alcohol is all but banned in Chechnya and women must wear headscarves in state buildings. Polygamy is encouraged by authorities. Analysts say the gradual encroachment of Islamic sharia law in the mainly Muslim North Caucasus, where rebels are fighting to create a pan-Caucasus state governed by sharia law, deals a major blow to Kremlin efforts to control the region. (Writing and additional reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman; Editing by Charles Dick)The digital currency ether classic (ETC) surged more than 30% on 29th December, reaching its highest price in over four months. ETC, the signature token of smart contract-based platform Ethereum Classic, rose to as much as $1.46 during the session, a 31.5% increase from the currency’s opening price of $1.11, CoinMarketCap data reveals. Ethereum itself grew by as much as 13.7% today. Ethereum classic also benefited from a sharp increase in transaction activity, as 24-hour trading volume climbed above $7.6m, after falling below $500,000 at some points over the last week. Several market observers have voiced doubts about the long-term viability of ETC and Ethereum Classic, a blockchain that came into existence in late July after Ethereum underwent a hard fork in order to wind back the clock following the rise and fall of distributed organization The DAO. There have been concerns about Ethereum Classic’s ability to draw significant interest from developers. While ETC reached an all-time high of $3.53 in the first few weeks following its listing on CoinMarketCap and Poloniex, its price has dropped sharply since then, trading below $1 for almost all of November. This one-day price surge provides advocates of ETC with one more positive sign that both the currency and its platform will survive for the long haul. Toy train image via ShutterstockSo I was in town today when my wife said I had a delivery at home, on a Sunday? Could it be? Yes! My EDC Secret Santa did great! I am so pleased with the thoughtful gifts that I was sent. I wasted no time opening the package and couldn't believe what was inside, the Stanley multitool I'd been looking at about 2 hours earlier! I have been after a decent multitool to add to my EDC for a while and was literally looking at this exact one this morning!! Santa also sent me a neat little Stanley pen-screwdriver which will live in my workbag and a 20 in one tool which is now attached to my housekeys! I love my gifts. Thank you so much, you are awesome and picked the perfect presents. Thanks for sharing some happiness today, I will use all of these in my daily rotation for sure :)CLOSE Hurricane Patricia is the most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere. Tens of thousands of people were being evacuated as it bears down on Mexico's Pacific Coast. VPC An infrared satellite image from NASA shows Hurricane Patricia over the Pacific Ocean on Oct. 23, 2015. (Photo11: NASA) MONTERREY, Mexico — Mexico's Pacific coast braced for a terrifying night Friday as one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere made landfall in a popular tourist area, packing winds of 165 mph. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated in advance of the storm, which barreled toward the country with sustained winds of 200 mph for much of the day before speeds decreased ahead of its landfall 55 miles west-northwest of Manzanillo in the evening. The U.S. National Hurricane Center had warned the Category 5 storm could be "potentially catastrophic." Earlier in the day, the center described the storm as the most powerful ever recorded in the eastern Pacific or Atlantic basins. It said powerful winds and torrential rain will bring life-threatening flash flooding and dangerous, destructive storm surge. Patricia, while still potentially deadly, falls short of the highest winds ever recorded at landfall. Typhoon Haiyan had winds of 195 mph as it slammed into the Philippines in November 2013, leaving more than 7,300 people dead or missing, primarily from its massive 15- to 19-foot storm surge. "The hardest part is over," Jalisco state Gov. Aristóteles Sandoval told citizens seeking shelter in Puerto Vallarta after Patricia made landfall to the south of the resort city. "We're expecting more intense rains... but the most delicate part is over." Thousands of Mexicans have sought shelter in schools, public buildings and with relatives as the storm struck. The federal government expected to distribute 390,000 tons of food in four states. Sandoval also announced an airbridge for evacuations, starting Saturday. Mexico's main airlines and aircraft from the Federal Police and armed forced will ferry out stranded individuals free of charge, according to the Communications and Transportation Secretariat. CLOSE Thousands are fleeing Mexico as Hurricane Patricia bears down on the country. Packing sustained winds of 200 mph, wind gusts could reach up to 245 mph. WTSP-TV Earlier in the evening, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said he didn't want to create panic in the western states of Jalisco, Colima and Nayarit that were in Patricia's path, but stressed it was important for people there to understand the magnitude of the historic storm. During a radio interview, Nieto said Patricia had surpassed the constraints of the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, which defines a top-rated Category 5 storm as having wind speeds higher than 157 mph. "If there were a Category 6 for hurricanes, this would be a category six," he said. "It's a hurricane that hasn't been seen before, not just in Mexico, not just in the United States. It has wind speeds that are greater than the most intense, strongest hurricanes ever recorded on the planet." Nieto said the entirety of the federal government was responding to the storm, working with state and local officials to coordinate evacuations and position emergency personnel to respond. He told Mexicans there will difficult days ahead and urged them to follow the instructions of local authorities. "Patricia is one of the strongest tropical cyclones globally ever observed based on lowest central pressure and maximum surface (and flight level) wind speed since the dawn of aviation-based reconnaissance in the 1940s," said WeatherBell meteorologist Ryan Maue. Patricia's winds intensified a whopping 109 mph during Thursday, rising from a tropical storm to a Category 4 hurricane by that evening. It was the fastest intensification ever recorded in the eastern Pacific Ocean, according to meteorologist Phil Klotzbach of Colorado State University. Roberto Ramirez, director of Mexico's National Water Commission, said Hurricane Patricia's 200-mph winds were powerful enough to lift up automobiles and destroy homes not sturdily built with cement and steel. The storm will also be able to drag people caught outside when it strikes. Those on the coast will be in the most danger, especially people living in the state of Jalisco, which has a population of more than 7.3 million, he said. In a Category 5 hurricane, a high percentage of framed homes will be destroyed, with total roof failure and wall collapse, according to the hurricane center. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months, and most of the area will be uninhabitable for that same period of time. Ahead of the storm, tens of thousands of people were evacuated from the area in the path of the storm, particularly in the three Mexican states of Colima, Jalisco, and Nayarit. Those regions house the port city of Manzanillo and the town of Puerto Vallarta, a resort town with a large expatriate community from the U.S. and Canada. Mexican officials also declared a state of emergency in dozens of coastal towns, including Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta. More than 400 temporary shelters were opened throughout the country for residents fleeing coastal and low-lying areas. STORM TRACKER: Track the forecast path of Hurricane Patricia According to the 2010 census, there are more than 650,000 inhabitants in Colima state, more than 161,000 in Manzanillo and more than 255,000 in the Puerto Vallarta municipality. Residents reinforced homes with sandbags and shop windows with boards and tape, and hotels rolled up beachfront restaurants. The airport was closed to all flights and all but deserted, but lines formed at a bus station by people anxious to buy tickets to Guadalajara and other inland destinations. Fire trucks and ambulances rolled through the streets, sirens blaring, as emergency workers warned people in both Spanish and English to evacuate. Puerto Vallarta and the neighboring Riviera Nayarit attract thousands of tourists throughout the year, but airlines suspended service with the storm approaching. The Jalisco state government scrambled a fleet of 30 buses to take tourists from the coast to Guadalajara, a five-hour ride inland. "We are in a very complicated situation, there is an extremely dangerous hurricane about to make impact and we don't need to put more lives at risk," said José María Tapia of Mexico's civil defense system. "(The airports) will be open only to evacuate as many Mexican and foreign tourists that are in that area." Tapia said his office is coordinating with the national military, including air, sea and land units, to clear traffic from all routes leading to the waterfront region to help evacuation efforts and allow emergency to enter it. He said foreigners trying to locate their loved ones should work through their consulates in Mexico. The U.S. Embassy issued a statement calling on Americans to monitor emergency advisories and stay away from the beaches. "As Hurricane Patricia moves inland, it will continue to produce heavy rainfall, wind and dangerous conditions," the statement said. "Persons located inland in the path of Hurricane Patricia should take appropriate measures to ensure their safety, particularly those located in areas prone to flooding or mudslides." The forecasted path of Hurricane Patricia (Photo11: AccuWeather.com) Locals in coastal areas said Friday morning brought an eerie calm before the storm. "It's a beautiful morning in my neighborhood," said Jane Gorby, a California native who has lived for 15 years in the town of La Manzanilla. She said the severity of the pending storm snuck up on residents in a region used to hurricanes, and left them scrambling for a potentially unprecedented event. "People were complacent, blasé, cavalier, but there's never been a storm like this before," Gorby said. "It's been a (Category) 1, 2, 3, 4. Now I wake up and it's a 5." Gorby, like most residents, planned to ride out the storm in La Manzanilla, last hit hard by Hurricane Jova in 2011. "I have tequila. I have cat food. I have things to calm my nerves," she said. "I don't know how you prepare for something like this." The fast approach of Hurricane Patricia left thousands of tourists with no other option but to hunker down. Officials in Nayarit state, to the north of Puerto Vallarta, said "the majority" of tourists were evacuated to shelters further inland. However, that didn't include Addie Hinson and her husband, who were visiting a beach resort near Puerto Vallarta to celebrate their 13th wedding anniversary. She said hotel officials originally told them they would be evacuated, but they were later told that nearby shelters were already filled up, forcing the 900 guests at the hotel to stay put. Hinson, 42, a registered nurse from Ames, Iowa, said hotel staff boarded up many ocean-facing windows, but they only put a mattress and sofa against the window of her sixth-floor room. Three other couples from Iowa joined them on the trip, so Hinson said they were all going to ride out the storm in one of their rooms on the second floor of the hotel. "We are all just trying to stick together," she wrote in an email Friday. "I'm nervous, but I have beer for that!" Hinson said the situation is unfortunately becoming a habit for her and her husband. The last time they visited Puerto Vallarta in 2002, Hurricane Kenna slammed into the coast just a few miles north of them. "I think we won't be returning here again anytime soon considering our track record at this point," Hinson said. Last year, powerful Hurricane Odile slammed into the Baja California peninsula of Mexico, killing 11 people. Odile was the most intense landfalling hurricane in the Baja since 1970. In 2011, Jova made landfall as a 100 mph Category 2 hurricane in Jalisco, Mexico, killing nine people. While Hurricane Patricia should weaken rapidly over the mountainous terrain of Mexico, its remnants will continue to produce heavy rain in central parts of the country and into Texas over the weekend. Rice reported from McLean, Va. Contributing: Doug Stanglin in McLean, Va. Table of global TCs with max winds >=165 kts since 1970. Patricia in 1st, followed by Haiyan, then Allen & Tip. pic.twitter.com/Fu6EXjNTk8 — Philip Klotzbach (@philklotzbach) October 23, 2015 CATEGORIZING POTENTIAL HURRICANE DAMAGE Extent of calculated damage to coastal homes from hurricane winds, according to the Saffir-Sampson scale: NORMAL CONDITIONS CATEGORY 1 (MINIMAL) CATEGORY 2 (MODERATE) CATEGORY 3 (EXTENSIVE) CATEGORY 4 (EXTREME) CATEGORY 5 (CATASTROPHIC) Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1LRb4s9It has become one of the staples of modern, hi-tech life: using satellite navigation tools built into your car or mobile phone to find your way from A to B. But experts have warned that the system may be close to breakdown. US government officials are concerned that the quality of the Global Positioning System (GPS) could begin to deteriorate as early as next year, resulting in regular blackouts and failures – or even dishing out inaccurate directions to millions of people worldwide. The warning centres on the network of GPS satellites that constantly orbit the planet and beam signals back to the ground that help pinpoint your position on the Earth's surface. The satellites are overseen by the US Air Force, which has maintained the GPS network since the early 1990s. According to a study by the US government accountability office (GAO), mismanagement and a lack of investment means that some of the crucial GPS satellites could begin to fail as early as next year. "It is uncertain whether the Air Force will be able to acquire new satellites in time to maintain current GPS service without interruption," said the report, presented to Congress. "If not, some military operations and some civilian users could be adversely affected." The report says that Air Force officials have failed to execute the necessary steps to keep the system running smoothly. Although it is currently spending nearly $2bn (£1.3bn) to bring the 20-year-old system up to date, the GAO – which is the equivalent of Britain's National Audit Office – says that delays and overspending are putting the entire system in jeopardy. "In recent years, the Air Force has struggled to successfully build GPS satellites within cost and schedule goals," said the report. "It encountered significant technical problems … [and] struggled with a different contractor." The first replacement GPS satellite was due to launch at the beginning of 2007, but has been delayed several times and is now scheduled to go into orbit in November this year – almost three years late. The impact on ordinary users could be significant, with millions of satnav users potential victims of bad directions or failed services. There would also be similar side effects on the military, which uses GPS for mapping, reconnaissance and for tracking hostile targets. Some suggest that it could also have an impact on the proliferation of so-called location applications on mobile handsets – just as applications on the iPhone and other GPS-enabled smartphones are starting to get more popular. Tom Coates, the head of Yahoo's Fire Eagle system – which lets users share their location data from their mobile – said he was sceptical that US officials would let the system fall into total disrepair because it was important to so many people and companies. "I'd be surprised if anyone in the US government was actually OK with letting it fail – it's too useful," he told the Guardian. "It sounds like something that could be very serious in a whole range of areas if it were to actually happen. It probably wouldn't damage many locative services applications now, but potentially it would retard their development and mainstreaming if it were to come to pass." The failings of GPS could also play into the hands of other countries – including opening the door to Galileo, the European-funded attempt to rival America's satellite navigation system, which is scheduled to start rolling out later next year. Russia, India and China have developed their own satellite navigation technologies that are currently being expanded.Update (April 15): Google has since removed the fake listing for “Edwards Snow Den,” so it’s no longer visible in Google Maps. According to a Google spokesperson, the person who made the listing alerted the business description once it was live in Google Maps. “In this particular instance, the user gamed the system by altering a business description once it was already live on Google Maps. The vast majority of the edits people make to business listings have improved the quality and accuracy of Google Maps but we occasionally run across inaccurate edits or contributions,” the spokesperson told Global News. “We work hard to block bad actors and remove listings that violate our policies and we will continue to improve our processes to prevent future instances like this one.” The spokesperson added the fake listing was in violation of Google’s policies for posting business listings. “We take violations of these policies, including spamming and other fraudulent or illegal activities, very seriously and we reserve the right to block or delete the accounts of those responsible,” Google’s statement read. —— TORONTO – The last place on earth you would expect to see Edward Snowden is smack dab in the middle of the White House – yet, thanks to a Google Maps hack, that’s exactly where he appears to be (on the Internet, at least). Google Maps is currently listing a fake business, using the guise of a snowboard shop, called “Edwards Snow Den.” But the location was cleverly marked as 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, District of Columbia 20500 – otherwise known as the White House. So, on its mobile app and desktop Maps website, there is a little icon that reads “Edwards Snow Den” right below “The White House – Iconic home of America’s President.” According to Marketing Land, which first reported the prank listing, the address was originally created as a verified business listing on Google. Google has since removed the verification, but the listing for the fake snowboard shop still remains – much to the delight of the Internet. Global News contacted Google for a statement regarding the fake listing, but a request for comment was not immediately returned. Snowden – who currently has asylum in Russia – has been in the headlines a lot lately, but not because of his leaks. Last week artists installed a 1.2-metre tall bust of Snowden atop a column at the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument in Brooklyn, New York. Police quickly covered the statue with a tarp and then took it down. Then a separate group of artists known as the Illuminator Art Collective tried to recreate the statue by projecting what they dubbed a hologram of Snowden at the site of the monument. Snowden, who lives in Moscow but says he wants to return to the U.S., hasn’t commented on the tributes, but journalist Glenn Greenwald, who has collaborated with the whistleblower, called the tribute “brilliant.”The Good Guys is an American action-comedy series about an old-school cop and a modern-day detective that premiered with a preview episode on Fox on May 19, 2010, and began airing regularly on June 7 of that year.[4] The series stars Bradley Whitford as Dan Stark, a mustachioed, former big-shot detective with the Dallas Police Department, and Colin Hanks as Jack Bailey, a young, ambitious, by-the-book detective who has been assigned as Dan's partner because of his snarky attitude. On December 15, 2010, The Good Guys was canceled by Fox Television Studios.[5] Cast [ edit ] Dan Stark (Bradley Whitford) is a former big-shot detective who once saved Governor Sanford Davis' son Andy, but is now all but washed up and spends most of his time reliving his glory days. However his hunches about the "bigger picture" of crimes and odd ways of doing his job still seem to get the job done. He is shown to have a friendly relationship with the criminals he has arrested.[6][7] Series creator Matt Nix describes Dan Stark as being "actually a fantastic 1981 cop. He just hasn't moved along with the time. CSI stuff is like black magic."[8] Stuck in the past, he has a difficult time adjusting to new technologies, such as "computer machines" and "smarty phones," also known to him as "cellular testicle shrinkers." Dan lives in a trailer located "in the shadow of" the Texas Star Ferris Wheel in Fair Park.[7][9] He often retells stories to Jack of the old days with his former partner Frank Savage (Gary Cole), with whom he had a close buddy-cop relationship. These stories sometimes seep in, and Jack sometimes finds use of them to save lives of victims. He is reckless and unpredictable, and does not hesitate to use his handgun for any trivial matter, such as "using his service revolver to open a mayonnaise jar" and shooting a radio because of the loud noise, or even running through a $300 window to stop a dine and dasher. His overzealousness on a prior case cost him any chance of ever being promoted past detective. He enjoys eating peanuts with the shell on, listening to Foghat, and chewing gum. Jack Bailey (Colin Hanks) is an ambitious by-the-book detective whose attitude has made him few friends on the police force.[6] He was assigned to "baby-sit" Dan on the Property Crimes desk after correcting the captain's grammar in front of the chief. He still has feelings for his ex-girlfriend Liz Traynor, whom he usually musters up the courage to talk to, and finds useful to obtain stuff such as warrants. Jack is usually calm-headed, preferring not to get his hands dirty at times when it is unnecessary. He admits to having attempted to grow a mustache to look tougher, but, because only the middle part grew, it looked like a "Hitler mustache." He gradually learns from Dan about the importance of a partner. Liz Traynor (Jenny Wade) is an assistant district attorney and former girlfriend of Jack.[6] She apparently broke up with him because "she didn't want to date a cop", though it is quite obvious that the two of them are not over each other and continue to harbor romantic leanings, leading to rather awkward conversations and situations. After Liz realizes that her boyfriend Kyle was involved in a crime in "The Whistleblower", she breaks up with Kyle and decides to give another shot to a relationship with Jack. Lieutenant Ana Ruiz (Diana Maria Riva) is Jack and Dan's boss, who sees to it that they keep themselves and the police department out of trouble by investigating seemingly minor crimes.[10] She is Dan's ex-partner and they had a one-time fling.[6][7] She starts out being somewhat cold to Jack and Dan, but she helps the two out, and starts to rekindle a friendship with the two. Julius Grant (RonReaco Lee) is a petty criminal who used to run a pawn shop but is now a bartender. He is constantly getting in trouble, which Dan usually takes advantage of with a bribe in order to get him to play the role of a snitch. Dan believes that their relationship as detective and snitch is "a sacred bond", and does not hesitate to call on him when his criminal abilities are needed, whether for information or to act as a human tracking device. Though reluctant to help Jack and Dan with their dangerous and unorthodox plans, he often goes above their expectations to save them in times of need. Overall, he sees Dan as a true friend. Samantha Evans (Angela Sarafyan) is an offbeat and socially awkward assistant crime scene investigator. Though assigned to lab work, Samantha has a desire to do field work and jumps at the chance to help Jack and Dan with their cases, often without them asking for her assistance and doing some things illegally. Due to not following procedures, the evidence collected by Samantha often cannot be used in court, but it does lead Jack and Dan to the bad guys. Samantha has a romantic interest in Jack which he is completely blind to until a kiss in the Series finale. Jack does not feel the same way towards Samantha, but still considers her a good friend. Elton Hodges (Joel Spence) is a somewhat inept rival detective who holds a dim opinion of Dan's police methods. He was the first to jump at the chance to name Dan a criminal when he was framed. Despite the fact that he is next in command when Lt. Ruiz is unable to perform, no one seems to respect him. He also has a more "evidence before hunches" personality, which is why he does not like Dan's style of work, and often will insult others the first chance he can when what he believes he is right. He also seems to be a poor judge of character; he openly distrusted Julius despite him being a CI while unable to believe someone like a doctor could be a criminal. Though he often tries to insult Dan and the others, most of the times his insults will make him look stupid. Frank Savage (Gary Cole) is Dan Stark's partner during their "glory days". He left the force after having a nervous breakdown. In the pilot episode, this breakdown is blamed on Dan, who persuaded Frank to leap from Dan's car when they were in pursuit of a car driven by the people who kidnapped the Governor of Texas's son. This same stunt was the reason Frank and Dan were "famous" compliments of a made-for-TV movie Savage & Stark, hence Dan's "glory days". Frank now teaches Art at a Special Ed school and married to a domineering wife, Cynthia (Rachael Harris), though he, like Dan, still loves to "bust some punks." He'd named his oversized revolver "Stella." Production history [ edit ] The first season was filmed primarily in Dallas, Texas, and made use of the Fair Park area as much as possible for its diverse shooting locations and so as not to disturb the residents.[11][12] The show was originally planned to be set in Los Angeles until Dallas city officials convinced creator Matt Nix to set the show in Dallas.[13] Nix said of Dallas, "It's a great city to jump on the hood of a car."[9][13] Initially, the protagonists' mode of transportation is a mid-nineties Chevrolet Lumina, but during the course of the first episode, Dan Stark acquires a 1980 Pontiac Trans Am and uses it to great dramatic effect during the rescue of a hostage. By the end of the pilot episode, the new car has won the grudging respect of the uptight Bailey, and become the team's new vehicle. After the Lumina gets totaled in "Bait & Switch", it is replaced with a mid-2000s Ford Taurus, but Dan and Jack rarely use it as the team vehicle. Production work on the series began in January 2010 and principal photography of the pilot wrapped in early February 2010.[9][11] Cast members spent time shadowing their real-life Dallas counterparts to prepare for their roles.[6] The title sequence uses the song "Slink (A Hymn)" by the group Locksley as the show's theme. The Good Guys was originally known by the working title Jack and Dan.[14] For several months the series was to be known as Code 58, the Dallas Police Department code for "routine investigation", and then briefly as The Five Eight before producers settled on The Good Guys title.[15][16] During the January 2010 Television Critics Association press tour, Colin Hanks jokingly suggested "Opposite Buddy Cop Show".[9] In May 2010, Fox announced that an additional seven episodes had been ordered for the show's first season, extending the initial run to 20 episodes.[2] The show's summer run on Monday nights at 9:00 PM ET/PT ended on August 2, 2010. The Good Guys moved to Friday nights at 9:00 PM ET/PT along with reruns of House M.D. (Human Target was originally planned as the show's lead-in, but was put on Wednesdays after Lone Star was canceled), with new episodes resuming starting on September 24, 2010.[17] The show struggled with low ratings, regularly ranking in fourth place for its timeslot during the summer and then fifth place from October onward; hence, renewal prospects - despite the show's low production costs - were uncertain.[10][18] Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly said that although the network would not be immediately ordering new episodes of the show it had not been cancelled.[18][19] The final episode was broadcast December 10, 2010 on Fox.[19] On December 15, 2010, Robert Wilonsky of the Dallas Observer reported that Fox Television Studios, a production company for the show, informed the Dallas Film Commission that the show would not be renewed for a second season.[5] Starting on January 1, 2011, the entire series was being rerun on Fox on Saturday nights at 11:00 PM ET/PT.[20] However, the repeats were pulled on January 13, in favor of Fringe.[21] Episodes [ edit ] No. Title Directed by Written by Original air date Production code 1 "Pilot" Tim Matheson Matt Nix May 19, 2010 ( ) 101 While investigating a home invasion and a stolen humidifier Jack and Dan stumble upon drug smugglers. 2 "Bait & Switch" Matt Shakman Rick Muirragui June 7, 2010 ( ) 102 Jack and Dan uncover a ring of classic American car thefts while investigating a broken window. 3 "Broken Door Theory" Jeremiah Chechik Kyle Long June 14, 2010 ( ) 103 A broken vending machine leads Jack and Dan to discover a prostitution ring and murder. During the fight scene, the full version of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Travelin' Band" was played.[22] 4 "The Dim Knight" Kevin Bray Tamara Becher June 21, 2010 ( ) 104 Some poisoned dogs connect to a vigilante. 5 "$3.52" Steven Surjik Matt Nix June 28, 2010 ( ) 105 A drug smuggler is released on a technicality because of Dan, and after an attempt to find evidence goes horribly wrong, Dan and Jack are trapped inside the back of truck, headed for a drug deal. After they try to escape they are caught in a four way gun fight, and Dan tries to save them with only his pocket change. 6 "Small Rooms" John Kretchmer Aaron Ginsburg & Wade McIntyre July 12, 2010 ( ) 106 Dan plants evidence out of boredom, and winds up in the middle of gun smugglers and a cold case. 7 "Hunches & Heists" John Kretchmer Ben Wexler July 19, 2010 ( ) 107 Dan and Jack realize that a bank robbery isn't a priority target. 8 "Silvio's Way" Dennie Gordon Zack Estrin July 26, 2010 ( ) 108 Dan goes undercover to finally catch the gangsters that escaped him in the past. 9 "Don't Tase Me, Bro" Jonathan Frakes Kyle Long August 2, 2010 ( ) 109 A hit is put out on a protected Federal witness after Dan accidentally exposes his cover. 10 "Vacation" Sanford Bookstaver Aaron Ginsburg & Wade McIntyre September 24, 2010 ( ) 110 After getting him and Jack suspended, Dan "borrows" $50,000 from the police to pay off Julius' loan shark, only to have the money end up being stolen. 11 "Common Enemies" Peter Lauer Story: Matt Nix Teleplay: Adam Barr October 1, 2010 ( ) 111 Jack and Dan must help an arrogant forensic specialist during the investigation of a burglary; Liz gets in trouble during a prostitution sting. 12 "Little Things" Jeremiah Chechik Story: Matt Nix Teleplay: Greg Hart October 8, 2010 ( ) 112 Jack and Dan discover two identity thieves forging documents for Mexican drug-runners while investigating a tip-off from a kid. 13 "Dan on the Run" Adam Davidson Rick Miurragui October 15, 2010 ( ) 113 The former governor's son (Ethan Suplee), whom Dan and Frank rescued back in their glory days, has been kidnapped. Jack sets out to prove that Dan has been framed for the kidnapping while Dan turns to Frank for help. 14 "Old Dogs" Tate Donovan Adam Barr October 22, 2010 ( ) 114 The police precinct remodelling is completed and Dan complains about the loss of his desk but loves the new mugs. In the lunch room Samantha, the new lab assistant, spills Jack's coffee when she opens the refrigerator door. Jack's con artist uncle Nate (Ed Begley, Jr.) is waiting for Jack when he comes home claiming to have witnessed a crime and confessing to having an outstanding warrant for insurance fraud. Nate says that he overheard a guy talking about arranging a fire on Cedar Hill Lane and the next day a house burnt down on that street. When Jack and Dan go to the house they find Samantha investigating the potential crime scene because she loves arsons. They also notice that the neighbourhood is deserted except for one woman. Dan offers to personally protect her person when she says that someone has been threatening and tormenting everyone else who used to live there until they sold their houses. When Jack looks into the county real estate records he finds that all of the properties were bought by the same company. When the lone resident describes Nate as one of the enforcers Jack, Dan, and Liz interrogate Nate and he confesses to working for Kenny (Method Man), the guy behind all of the torture. In setting up a sting to bust Kenny Dan inadvertently involves Julius as the intended target of Kenny's services. Nate attempts to steal the money that was being used in the sting. 15 "The Whistleblower" Sanford Bookstaver Aaron Ginsberg & Wade McIntyre October 29, 2010 ( ) 115 Lt Ruiz files a report when she finds a peeping
system across Syria that would maintain unity while giving considerable autonomy to various regions. They depict their proposal as a way out of the country's intractable 7-year-old civil war. In a first, President Bashar Assad's government said it may be ready to talk to the Kurds. Syria's Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Muallem recently noted Syria's Kurds want "some form of self-administration" within Syria unlike Iraqi Kurds' push for independence. "This is something negotiable and can be discussed. When we are done with fighting Daesh, we can sit with our Kurdish sons and find a formula for the future," he said, using the Arabic acronym for IS. llham Ahmed, a senior Kurdish official in the political wing of the SDF, said the government statement can be a starting point toward negotiations, underlining that the federal proposal is not for the Kurds alone. The Kurds "have become the dark horse that can't be overlooked or excluded like in the past. We will be participating practically in the political process and we will be influential." The Syrian government is far from ready to share power, bolstered by battlefield victories and unwavering Russian and Iranian backing. Still its position is not secure, with local cease-fires on various fronts liable to crumble and a growing presence of regional and international forces on its territory. The Kurds represent an indisputable interlocutor amid a fragmented opposition, otherwise dominated by Islamists. But Syria's Kurds could face a looming confrontation with Turkey. Ankara views the Syrian PYD as an extension of Turkey's own Kurdish insurgency led by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, and is determined to avert Kurdish power next door. Last year, its troops captured a pocket of territory inside Syria to prevent a contiguous Kurdish hold along the frontier. Turkish forces, with Syrian allies, have skirmished with Kurdish forces holding the northwestern town of Afrin. And Turkey's president announced Saturday it was launching an operation in the nearby Idlib province, controlled by al-Qaida-linked fighters. Meanwhile, a race is on between the U.S. and the Kurds on one side and the Syria-Russia-Iran alliance on the other for the oil-rich, eastern province of Deir el-Zour. Each side is fighting to take back as much territory as it can from IS. That race could determine the borders of a Kurdish-administrated area. The drive is also a competition between the Americans and Iran to grab influence in Syria. "The United States can limit Iran's freedom of action in the region by becoming a major patron for the Kurds," while trying to be "polite with Turkey," Joshua Landis, a Syria expert and professor at the University of Oklahoma, said recently to Syria Direct. Syria's PYD is ideologically affiliated with the Turkish Kurdish PKK, inspired by its leader Abdullah Ocalan. For almost 20 years, Ocalan found refuge in Syria until Damascus expelled him in 1998. He has been imprisoned in Turkey since but is omnipresent in northern Syria. Affectionately referred to as "Apo," or uncle, Ocalan's vision mixing Marxism, social egalitarianism and a revolution of women who share leadership roles with men remains common parlance among Kurdish fighters and officials. Graffiti about women's liberation and the imprisoned Ocalan are pervasive. Washington found in the secular-leaning, disciplined fighters its main leverage in Syria. It advised them to rebrand to distance themselves from the PKK. U.S. Army General Raymond Thomas, head of Special Operations Command, described it as a "stroke of brilliance" to include democracy in their new name: the Syrian Democratic Forces. Mazloum Kobani, the Kurdish commander who leads the SDF and coined the name, warned that without Washington's political support for the federation idea, gains in the fight against IS may be lost. He said the government and its allied Shiite militias remain a "threat." "We don't want to fight with anyone, but we will defend ourselves," he told the Al-Monitor news site in September in his first comments to the press. The challenges are also internal as Kurdish communities remain split. The ruling party of Iraq's Kurdish zone has long cultivated ties with Ankara, the main enemy of Syria's PYD. Land-locked Iraqi Kurdistan depends on Turkey for access to the outside world for its oil. When the PYD first set up its self-rule administration early in Syria's war, Iraqi Kurds closed their border with Rojava. Some believed the rivalry would ease with Turkey's opposition to the Iraqi Kurdish referendum. But Iraqi Kurds are unlikely to further aggravate Ankara by softening their stance toward their Syrian counterparts. Days after the referendum, Syrian Kurdish officials from Europe trying to attend a PYD conference in Syria were denied entry at the Iraq crossing. The PYD's internal rival, the once powerful Kurdish National Council, has allied with the Iraqi Kurds' ruling party and refused to participate in the self-administration project. Many of its members now live in Iraq's Irbil. Khaled Ali, an opposition member in Irbil, said his family had to take one of their youngest members out of Rojava before high school fearing he would be recruited by the militia. "There is excessive militarization of society," he said. Still, confidence in the future is palpable in Rojava. Resources have poured in to rebuild destroyed towns like Kobani. Oil revenues from fields seized from IS and the government have boosted the administration's coffers. Hassan, the 29-year old Kurdish teacher, said the new Rojava University will open in November with 400 students. Kurdish language teaching will be as high a priority as training engineers and doctors. While he is concerned some of his colleagues who rose to power may "become corrupt," he believes the administration will correct course, guided by Apo's views and "the sacrifices of martyrs." And maybe work with other Kurdish parties. "This administration would be weakened if it remained alone."In 2009, William Marotta donated sperm, free of charge, to a lesbian couple. Though Marotta signed a contract giving up financial responsibility for the child, the state of Kansas is now suing him for support after one of the mothers applied for financial assistance. NBC's Michelle Franzen reports. A man who donated sperm to a pair of lesbians so they could start a family is now being hounded for child support by the state of Kansas — which refuses to recognize the same-sex coupling. But William Marotta's attorneys want the now-separated lesbian co-parent to be involved in a lawsuit in which the state claims he is the legal father of a 3-year-old girl. The state of Kansas contends that Marotta is legally responsible for the girl conceived after he responded to a Craigslist ad placed by the lesbian couple for sperm donation. Kansas is seeking some $6,000 in back child support. The ad was placed by Jennifer Schreiner and Angela Bauer more than three years ago with the idea that Marotta, a married mechanic from Topeka, would not be involved in the child’s life or bear any responsibility for her upbringing. Marotta even signed a contract waiving parental rights and responsibilities — which he thought absolved him from any financial obligations for the child. In fact, he didn’t even accept the $50 payment offered from Schreiner, who gave birth to the girl, and Bauer, Schreiner’s partner at the time. The state of Kansas, however, sees it differently. The Sunflower State contends that the contract is invalid because a Kansas law requires that a licensed physician perform any artificial insemination — which was not the case with Schreiner. Only Marotta and the birth mother, Schreiner, are party to the suit. This week, attorneys for Bauer and Marotta asked a judge to reconsider a ruling that keeps Bauer out of the case as a full-fledged participant. Bauer, they argue, who cares for the girl about half the time and signed the sperm donor agreement at issue, should be fully involved. “The human beings in this case want all the adults in the case to make a determination for what is in the best interest of the child,” Joseph Booth, an attorney representing Bauer, told NBC News. Booth said a recent Kansas high court case, Frazier v. Gouschaal, established that a nonbiological mother of children in a same-sex relationship has the same rights as a biological mother. “The only basis to prevent Angela Bauer from the full status as a party is that she is female,” Booth wrote. Benoit Swinnen, Marotta’s attorney, filed a similar motion on Tuesday seeking to make Bauer a “necessary party” or dismiss the case. Swinnen claims the whole case is political, since neither of the lesbian parents has sought Marotta’s involvement and the money involved is “peanuts.” “(The state) will do anything to push their traditional notion of families and suppress any nontraditional type of parenting,” Swinnen told NBC News. “It runs so contrary to the way the country is going.” Swinnen’s Shawnee County District Court filing said Bauer should be allowed to intervene in the case and be recognized as the legal parent of the girl, not his client. Schreiner as the birth parent has custody of the girl, but according to both attorneys Bauer takes care of the girl during the day with Schneiner caring for her in the evenings. Bauer and Scheiner have even drawn up a parenting plan for the girl, which Booth said, if and when it is approved by a court, would legally resolve issues of custody and financial support. The state became involved in the case when the couple's relationship fell apart and the two broke up, and one of them got sick. They applied for state health insurance for the girl. The Kansas Department for Children and Families demanded they reveal the name of the sperm donor, which they eventually did, reluctantly. The state then filed the child support claim against Marotta in October 2012. Angela de Rocha, the communication director for Kansas’ DCF, wasn’t immediately available to comment on this week's filings, but in January she explained Kansas’ rationale for the lawsuit: “In cases where the parties do not go through a licensed physician or a clinic, there remains the question of who actually is the father of the child or children. In such cases, DCF is required by statute to establish paternity and then pursue child support from the non-custodial parent,” Rocha said in a statement. On Tuesday, District Court Judge Mary Mattivi appointed Jennifer Berger, a family law attorney, to represent Jennifer Schreiner. Related: Hey, sperm donor, don't answer that Craigslist ad!The 2016 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup is a little more than nine months away, but 18 amateur teams have already earned a spot in the 103rd edition of the tournament. With the 2015 Premier Development League (PDL) regular season wrapping up, and the Quarterfinals of the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) playoffs complete, the entries from each league have been determined, barring an unlikely reduction in the number of amateur teams in the tournament. The remaining entries for both leagues will be announced by the United States Soccer Federation at a later date. The PDL will determine all of their entries based on the 2015 regular season results, while the initial NPSL entries will be based on which eight teams reached the national quarterfinals in the league playoffs. The USSF’s Open Cup handbook for 2016 US Open Cup qualifying lays out how the remaining NPSL teams will be determined, based on the number of teams the league is awarded. The NPSL’s Open Cup entries will be prorated based on the size of each of the league’s four regions (Midwest had 13 teams; Northeast 19; South 24; West 12). The preliminary number of teams will be announced Aug. 10 with the final number announced in January. These teams have qualified for the 2016 tournament, but there’s no guarantee that every club will accept the invitation to the competition. In recent years, some amateur teams have declined to participate for various reasons. Some teams have cited financial or travel concerns, while others have had issues with player availability, which is difficult in early May with college players finishing up finals and other school commitments. In 2012, the Erie Admirals were the 2011 Northeast-Keystone Conference champion and were awarded a spot, but declined their invitation. FC Sonic Lehigh Valley, the second place finisher in the conference replaced them. In 2013, the Admirals and the second choice AFC Cleveland both declined, causing the NPSL to go with the remaining team with the best regular season record (Brooklyn Italians), rather than a third choice team from the Great Lakes Division, which left Detroit City FC out in the cold. Last year, the Minnesota United Reserves turned down a spot in the tournament, and this time, Detroit City FC was allowed in to take their place. The remaining amateur teams from the USASA, US Club Soccer and the USSSA can qualify for the 2016 US Open Cup by entering a qualifying tournament set up by the federation that will begin in the fall. The deadline to enter is Aug. 3. Here are the teams who have qualified for the 2016 US Open Cup: PREMIER DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE (PDL) Michigan Bucks (11-1-2, Great Lakes Division champions) The Bucks won their 12th division title on the final day of the season, by one point over K-W United FC, but K-W got their revenge in the playoffs, beating the defending PDL champions in the conference final. The Bucks will add to their Modern Era record with their 13th appearance in the tournament next year, the most of any amateur club. The Bucks hold nearly every amateur record in the Modern Era: wins (13), pro teams eliminated (9), as well as MLS teams eliminated (2). Last year, they snapped a three-game losing streak in the tournament with a convincing 3-0 win over fellow Michigan club Detroit City FC (NPSL). Des Moines Menace (11-2-1, Heartland Division champions) If the Michigan Bucks are the best amateur team in the US Open Cup, then the Des Moines Menace are a close second. The Menace picked up their second straight division title which punches their ticket to the US Open Cup for the eighth time. They are 10-8-1 (1-0 PKs) all-time in the tournament with five pro team upsets under their belt. Last year, they defeated the USASA’s Madison Fire 2-1 before giving Saint Louis FC (USL PRO) all they could handle in a 2-1 extra time loss on the road. New York Red Bulls U23s (9-2-3, Mid-Atlantic Division champions) The 2016 US Open Cup is going to have a little extra caffeine this year as the Red Bulls U23s are expected to be the third Red Bulls team that will be joining the competition next year. With the MLS and USL PRO teams expected to be in, it will create a scheduling challenge as the ‘Baby Bulls’ (as some refer to them as) will compete for the third time and the first time since 2014. The club qualified in 2013 and 2014 as a member of the NPSL, but after winning the 2014 NPSL title, they left the league and joined the PDL, therefore, not qualifying for the 2015 US Open Cup. Some fans were disappointed to see the U23s miss out in 2015, but the logic was that it would be odd for the NPSL to give up one of their Open Cup spots to a team that was no longer part of their league. GPS Portland Phoenix (8-1-5, Northeast Division champions) After dropping the first game of the season to 2015 qualifier Seacoast United Phantoms, GPS Portland Phoenix wouldn’t lose another game the rest of the season on their way to finishing tied with the Phantoms on top of the Northeast Division standings. The Phoenix won the division and a spot in the 2016 US Open Cup for the fourth time in five years. When they first qualified for the 2012 tournament, according to TheCup.us records, they were the first team from the state of Maine to ever compete in the Open Cup. As a pro team, the Charlotte Eagles upset the NASL’s San Antonio Scorpions in 2012. Photo: San Antonio Scorpions After spending 20 years as a professional team, the Charlotte Eagles made the move to the PDL and had no trouble transitioning as they finished undefeated and ran away with the division. Last year, the Eagles missed out on the tournament for the first time since 2003 and they will hope to recapture the magic from their franchise’s greatest run in 2012 where they upset teams from MLS and the NASL before falling short to Chivas USA in the Quarterfinals. Mississippi Brilla (6-3-3, Mid South Division champions) The Brilla are back in the tournament for the first time since 2012, and the third time overall after winning a tiebreaker with 2015 qualifier Midland/Odessa Sockers FC. The two teams finished tied atop the Mid South Division but Mississippi won the season series (2-1-1) over the Sockers to get back into the tournament. The Brilla are still seeking their first Open Cup game after being one-and-done in 2009 and 2012. Ocala Stampede (8-3-3, Southeast Division champions) The Ocala Stampede are back in the tournament for the fourth year in a row after winning the Southeast Division with a win over FC Miami City Champions on the final weekend. The Stampede won their Open Cup debut in 2013 over the USASA’s Red Force, but have lost their last three matches (two of them were against USL Pro’s Orlando City SC). This past year, they nearly picked up their second win, but Chattanooga FC scored an equalizer in the 87th minute, leading to penalty kicks where Ocala fell short, 5-3. Kitsap Pumas (10-0-2, Northwest Division champions) Other than the Charlotte Eagles, the only other undefeated team in the league this year was the Kitsap Pumas and they little trouble winning the Northwest Division title over the Portland Timbers U23s and the Seattle Sounders U23s who both tied for second place. The Pumas qualified in their first four seasons in the PDL, but fell short two straight years before returning in 2015. They cruised past NPSL newcomers FC Tacoma 253 in Round 1 before losing to the Seattle Sounders 2 (USL) in extra time. FC Tucson (8-2-4, Mountain Division champions) FC Tucson have qualified for the Open Cup for the third time in four years after a 4-1 road win over the Orange County Blues on the final day of the season clinched the Mountain Division title. They ended their season in the playoffs with a loss to the Sounders U23s, but not before Tucson ended the Kitsap Pumas’ undefeated season in the opening round of the league playoffs. After last year’s one-and-done loss to Chula Vista (USASA) in the Open Cup, they will hope to regain the magic from their Open Cup debut in 2013 where they upset in-state USL PRO club Phoenix SC, followed by another upset in Round 2 on the road against the NASL’s San Antonio Scorpions in penalty kicks. Their run ended with what every amateur club aims for, getting a shot at a MLS team. They fell to the Houston Dynamo at BBVA Compass Stadium, 2-0. Burlingame Dragons FC (10-1-3, Southwest Division champions) Last year, the Dragons made their Open Cup debut with a 2-1 extra-time loss at the Sonoma County Sol (NPSL) and they will be back for their second straight year after winning the Southwest Division title. It was a two-horse race for the division but the Dragons managed to clinch with a 1-0 win over the Ventura County Fusion on the second to last game of the season. NATIONAL PREMIER SOCCER LEAGUE (NPSL) New York Cosmos B (11-0-1, North Atlantic Conference champions) After finishing their inaugural season undefeated, the New York Cosmos B are expected to make their first Open Cup voyage in 2016. Led by head coach Alecko Eskandarian the Cosmos dominated their opponents this year, outscoring the opposition 49-7 with eight of the 12 matches ending in a shutout. CD Aguiluchos USA (7-4-1, 3rd place in Golden Gates Conference) Despite losing their last two regular season games and finishing third in the Golden Gates Conference, CD Aguiluchos USA advanced to the Quarterfinals of the NPSL playoffs to clinch their second Open Cup berth. The club was founded in 2013 and first qualified for the tournament the year after when they lost a 2-1 road decision to the PDL’s Ventura County Fusion in the First Round. Indiana Fire (7-2-3, 4th place in Midwest Region) The Indiana Fire put a fourth place finish in the Midwest Region behind them and advanced to the Quarterfinals, and later the Semifinals of the NPSL playoffs. Their journey doesn’t get any easier in the final four as they will travel to Tennessee to take on Chattanooga FC on Aug. 1. By reaching the Quarterfinals, the Fire will make their first appearance in the US Open Cup. Chattanooga FC (8-1-1, Southeast Conference champions) Chattanooga FC are back in the US Open Cup for the fifth time in the last six years trying to add to their tournament resume. The three-time NPSL runner-up, who have advanced to the league Semifinals for the fourth time, have made history the last two years. In 2014, Chattanooga became the first NPSL club to defeat a professional team when the club hosted and defeated the USL’s Wilmington Hammerheads 3-1 in Round 2. This year, after escaping the Ocala Stampede (PDL) in penalty kicks, Chattanooga earned a rematch with the Hammerheads in Wilmington. This time, the match went to penalty kicks and the amateur visitors prevailed. They remain the only NPSL club in 30 attempts to eliminate a pro team. Clarkstown Eagles (7-2-1, Keystone Conference champions) In the club’s third season in the NPSL (originally known as the Jersey City Eagles), they won their first conference championship this year. Once in the playoffs, they reached the Quarterfinals to earn their first-ever Open Cup berth. They fell 2-0 to the New York Cosmos B to end their season. Sacramento Gold (7-3-2, 2nd place in Golden Gates Conference) For the first time since their Open Cup debut in 2013, the Gold are back in the Open Cup. After a second place finish in the Golden Gates Conference, Sacramento defeated FC Tacoma 253 and the San Diego Flash in the playoffs to earn a spot in the round of eight and an Open Cup berth. In their only tournament appearance two years ago, they lost a 3-2 road decision to the Portland Timbers U23s (PDL). Myrtle Beach Mutiny (10-1-1, South Atlantic Conference champions) The Mutiny only lost one regular season game to earn the club’s first-ever conference title and its first Open Cup berth. The Mutiny’s only loss came against the Carolina RailHawks U23s in midseason, and it was a playoff win over FC Wichita that put them into the Quarterfinals (before losing to Chattanooga FC) and into next year’s tournament. AFC Cleveland (8-2-2, 3rd place in Midwest Region) Cleveland came into the Midwest playoffs as the third place team but surprised many by eliminating Detroit City FC and the Indiana Fire (who had upset the No. 1 seed Madison 56ers) to reach the Quarterfinals. Cleveland has qualified, but it is unclear if they will take part in the tournament for the first time. They were offered a spot in the tournament in 2013, but declined.Image: ALROSA's Udachnaya mine, Republic of Sakha, Russia. Source: ALROSA January 29, 2015 By Paul Zimnisky On January 29th, ALROSA (RTS: ALRS), the worlds largest diamond producer by volume, reported Q4 2014 production of 10.6M carats, the company’s most productive quarter since offering shares to the public in October 2013. The Q4 production number represents an increase of 8% over the previous quarter. Increased production for the quarter was primarily driven by completion of planned maintenance at the company’s International, Aikhal, and Mir mines, which are ALROSA’s 4th, 7th, and 10th largest mines by volume, respectively. Grade also played a factor as the company realized a company-wide average carat-per-tonne (cpt) grade of 1.45 compared to 0.75 cpt in Q3. In the quarter, ALROSA sold a total of 10.79M carats, 6.85M or 63.5% of which were gem-quality diamonds. The company’s gem-quality diamonds sold for an average price of $161 per carat, with the balance composed of industrial quality stones, selling for an average price of $11 per carat. This equates to a 16.1% decrease in gem-quality diamond price realized for the company year-over-year ($161/ct in Q4 2014 versus $191/ct in Q4 2013). The company’s sales-to-production ratio for the quarter was 1.08, meaning that the company sold more carats than it produced during the period by selling existing inventory in addition to the equivalent of 100% of production. ALROSA has 10 primary diamond mines, 10 alluvial mines, and 2 mines in development in Russia. The company also holds a 32.8% stake in the Catoca mine in Angola, which is not included in the company's regular production and sales results. The company's Jubilee mine produced 2.29M carats in Q4, for a total of 9.12 million carats in 2014, or an increase of 2% YOY (year-over-year). The production increase for the year was attributed to mining higher grade ore from the pit's central lobe. Aikhal, an underground mine, produced 1.91M carats in the quarter, totaling 3.29M million carats in 2014, marking an increase of 7% YOY. The production increase at Aikhal was attributed to an increase in ore processed during the year. The high-grade mine averaged 5.59 cpt versus 5.47 cpt in 2013. The Komsomolskaya mine only produced 8,000 carats in the quarter, rounding out 150,000 carats in 2014. The International underground mine produced 1.53M carats during the quarter, bringing total 2014 production 3.86M, which is down 12% YOY. Production at International in 2014 was affected by processing plant and mine maintenance conduced in August through September. Mir produced 774,000 carats in Q4, totaling 1.46M carats in 2014, a decrease of 32% YOY. According to the company, the production decrease at Mir was a result of “adverse mining-and-geological conditions in early 2014.” Grade at Mir decreased to 3.04 cpt from 3.37 cpt in 2013. The Udachnaya mine produced 1.05M carats in Q4, brining the mine’s 2014 total production to 3.39M carats, which was down 32% YOY. Udachnaya is in the process of being converted from an open-pit to underground mine, which impacted production in 2014. The Zarnitsa mine only produced 6,300 carats during the quarter, but 176,000 total carats in 2014. The Nyurbinskaya mine produced 2.14M carats in Q4, producing of 6.54M carats in 2014, a 1% production decrease compared to 2013. Arkhangelskaya produced 222,000 carats in the quarter, producing 1.37M carats in 2014, a 220% increase over 2013. The annual production jump at Arkhangelskaya was attributed to the launch of a second module at the mine's processing plant. The company’s newest mine, Karpinskogo-1, commenced commercial production on October 6th, 2014, and produced 266,000 carats through year-end. The Almazy Anabara and Nizhne-Lenskoye divisions did not operate during the quarter due to seasonality of the alluvial projects, however the projects produced a total of 3.06M and 1.81M carats in 2014, respectively. The two alluvial projects mentioned above are comprised of 10 placer mines, and along with the Arkhangelskaya and Karpinskogo-1 pipes, are located in Northwest Russia’s Arkhangelsk Region. All of company’s other mining operations are located in Northeast Russia’s, Republic of Sakha. For calendar 2014 (which is also the company’s fiscal year), ALROSA's company-wide production totaled 36.2 million carats, compared to 36.9 million carats in 2013, or an annual decrease of 2%. ALROSA’s production guidance was 36.0M carats for 2014, and is 38.0M carats for 2015. In 2014, ALROSA sold 39.57M carats, including 27.74M gem-quality stones, representing 70.1% of production volume. The company realized an average price of $171 per carat for gem-quality diamonds and $12 per carat for industrial quality stones in 2014. $171 per carat in 2014 compares to $176 in 2013, representing a 2.8% decrease. The sales-to-production ratio for the year was 1.09, as the company net sold existing inventory. Earlier this week Gem Diamonds (LSE: GEMD) released sales figures located in Lesotho, showing an 17.8% decrease in diamond price realized in Q4 versus Q3 2014. The closure of Antwerp Diamond Bank in October 2014 has led to industry-wide liquidity concern for rough diamond buyers. The resulting sentiment, also driven by a slower-growing Chinese economy, deflationary pressures in Japan and the EU, and various geopolitical tensions, has led to downward pressure on rough diamond prices which is expected to carryover into 2015. ALROSA is 44% owned by the Russian Federation, 25% by the Sakha Republic, 8% by Sakha Republic district authorities, 19% by public equity shareholders, and 4% by ALROSA employees. -- This article was published in the London Mining Journal (paywall).WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump escalated a spiraling Middle East crisis on Tuesday morning in tweets attacking Qatar, which hosts 10,000 American troops at the largest U.S. military base in the region. Beginning a little after 8 a.m., the president put out three statements criticizing Qatar and praising neighboring countries ― including Saudi Arabia ― for their moves to isolate the nation in recent days. During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar - look! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017 So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off. They said they would take a hard line on funding... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017 ...extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017 The president’s new messages endorse the claims of Qatar’s neighbors, who have waged a years-long campaign to draw U.S. attention to their anxieties about Qatar’s links to political Islam. Emails obtained and authenticated by HuffPost last week show the United Arab Emirates’ ambassador to the U.S. talking explicitly about shutting down the U.S. base and encouraging former Defense Secretary Bob Gates to publicly criticize Qatar. U.S. officials have tried to avoid the appearance of picking a side in the dispute, which Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and aligned nations say is over Qatar’s support for violent militants. (Qatar strongly denies the charges.) The Emirates has already taken a hard line, saying Qatar will need to make major concessions for it to re-establish normal ties with the country. On Monday, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson both expressed hope the tension would be resolved soon. The U.S. ambassador to Qatar, Dana Shell Smith, said on Twitter that the country had made progress on blocking terror finance, and military officials said the American base, the hub of operations against the Islamic State group, was functioning normally. Qatar’s defenders say it values its ties to Washington, has been cracking down on private citizens aiding extremists and is hardly the only Middle East nation to struggle with controlling extremist support. They note that Saudi Arabia and the Emirates have both hosted radical preachers and terror funders. Kuwait, an influential neighbor of the countries involved and a fellow U.S. partner, is now attempting to mediate. Though U.S. officials ― and the Trump administration in particular ― have seemed sympathetic to worries about Qatar’s links to Islamist politicians, Trump’s tweets on Tuesday signal that they are willing to actually help increase pressure on Qatar during this new crisis. Support from Washington will likely embolden the Emirates and other Qatar skeptics.This week, Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders scored a surprise victory in Michigan over Hillary Clinton, the party front-runner who before the state's primary was favored in polls by 25 points. Key to Sanders' victory was the Vermont senator's criticism of Clinton's support for "free trade" deals, beginning with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed into law by her husband, President Bill Clinton, in December 1993. According to exit polls, 58 percent of Democrats voting in Michigan's primary believe trade deals take away U.S. jobs; of those voters, Sanders won by 10 points. Sanders hit Clinton hard on her frequent support over the years of trade pacts including NAFTA, the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, and more recently the Trans-Pacific Partnership. As Sanders told a rally in Traverse City, 250 miles north of Detroit: If the people of Michigan want to make a decision about which candidate stood with workers against corporate America and against these disastrous trade agreements, that candidate is Bernie Sanders. But Michigan isn't the state that has suffered the most economic dislocation due to global trade agreements. That distinction belongs to North Carolina — a state where Clinton currently enjoys a 20-point lead in the polls heading into the March 15 primary. By any measure, trade deals have had a unique and significant impact on North Carolina. Since the 1990s, North Carolina has seen more than 350,000 manufacturing jobs shuttered in textiles, furniture and other industries. How many of these can be attributed to plant closures and other disruptions linked to global trade policies? One set of data comes from the federal government's Trade Adjustment Assistance program, which provides job training and other assistance to displaced workers. From 1994 to 2015, the Labor Department certified that more than 216,000 workers in North Carolina were displaced by global economic pacts and qualified for assistance — making it the hardest-hit state in the country. As a 2014 analysis of TAA data in the Washington Post noted, "North Carolina had the largest average share of its workforce threatened by trade over the past two decades." SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT Help Keep Common Dreams Alive Our progressive news model only survives if those informed and inspired by this work support our efforts However, those are just the cases where job losses from plant closures and other displacements certified for federal assistance. Critics argue that the "race to the bottom" wrought by corporate-friendly deals has affected jobs and wages in other ways as well. For example, a 2014 analysis by the Economic Policy Institute argued that nearly 120,000 North Carolina jobs were lost or displaced due to the trade deficit with China since that country entered the World Trade Organization in 2001. Because North Carolina has historically had a greater share of jobs in manufacturing, the state's workers have been especially vulnerable to deals which force them to compete with low-wage labor. As a 2012 report by the North Carolina Justice Center found [pdf], trade deals accelerated a devastating round of offshoring to countries with cheap labor: In North Carolina, offshoring has had a significant, direct, and negative impact on the state's economy over the past decade, clearly contributing to stagnant wage growth and job creation during the 2000s, and especially to the state's sluggish recovery from the Great Recession … Offshoring in North Carolina has been accompanied by the emergence of a two-tier labor market, in which many workers in offshored industries — particularly manufacturing — are increasingly shunted into fast-growing low-wage and low-skill occupations. While North Carolina's trade-related job losses have been more severe than any other state, others in the South that have had more than 90,000 TAA-certified disclocations are Texas (172,423), Tennessee (118,833), Georgia (94,225) and Alabama (93,994) according to data compiled by Public Citizen, a group critical of the deals. Hillary Clinton's views on trade deals have evolved over time. Initially enthusiastic about NAFTA, in 2008 she said that in practice "it has not lived up to its promises." While similarly supportive of the Trans-Atlantic Partnership, which in 2012 she called the "gold standard in trade agreements," in a debate with Sanders last month she stated she did "not currently support it as it is written." Sanders, for his part, has seized on what he argues is Clinton's inconsistency on the matter. As he said in a debate last weekend:TransCanada Corp.’s attempt to build the $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline to the U.S. Gulf Coast may ultimately go down as a unique episode in Canada-U.S. relations. The Alberta pipeline company keeps winning battles, but gets farther away from winning the war. That’s because, no matter how many victories it racks up, President Barack Obama has the last shot. All he has to do is avoid saying yes, and the answer is no. And avoidance is something he’s proven good at. [np_storybar title=”Keystone XL pipeline’s
term agenda Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Obama's second term agenda 03:22 Before him, President Bill Clinton -- honored by the Congressional Black Caucus, months after he left office, as America's "first Black President" -- created the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), a landmark piece of legislation that opened up American markets to African countries. Obama, on the other hand, has demonstrated what has been interpreted as a studied detachment towards sub-Saharan Africa. His only visit in his first four years, to Ghana in 2009, lasted less than 24 hours. Dr. Folarin Gbadebo-Smith, Director of the Lagos-based Centre for Public Policy Analysis, argues that Obama is in a "conflicted position" -- compelled to exercise caution in his engagement with Africa "for fear that such a position will become ammunition in the hands of the lunatic right, Tea Party types and those who insist he is not an American and is really a Muslim." But if the affection of the continent towards Mr. Obama -- at an all time high in 2008 when he first took office -- has cooled in the last few years (ostensibly as a response to his perceived nonchalance), his re-election appears to have reawakened the enthusiasm. "We look forward to the deepening of relations between our two countries during your second term in office," Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said in a congratulatory message. From Nigeria came a message by a presidential spokesperson, saying "President Jonathan looks forward to continuing to build on Nigeria and Africa's developmental collaboration with the United States in the next four years." With the pressure of re-election now gone, Smith says "the second term would be a more opportune time for Obama to work with Africa." While Michelle Obama visited the continent in 2011, the least that many Africans will be expecting from Obama during his second term would be a powerfully symbolic visit of his own to Africa. But that trip, if it ever happens, would be the easiest of the Africa-focused tasks in the Oval Office in-tray. And it would also do little to clarify the monumental complexity of dealing with a rapidly changing African landscape. For one, there's China's aggressive engagement with the continent, which appears to be happening at the expense of countries like America. In 2009, Obama's first year in office, China overtook America as Africa's largest trading partner. America's discomfiture with that state of affairs bubbled to the surface most recently last August, when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, during a visit to Senegal, lamented that "the days of having outsiders come and extract the wealth of Africa for themselves, leaving nothing or very little behind, should be over in the 21st century." There is also the aftermath of the Arab Spring. The murder of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya is evidence of how much things have changed in the region in the last two years. And then there is the rise of extremist Islam in West Africa. In January 2009, Hillary Clinton told a U.S. Senate committee that "combating al Qaeda's efforts to seek safe havens in failed states in the Horn of Africa" would be a key part of America's Africa policy. The years since then have seen the rise of Boko Haram in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, and of extremists in Northern Mali. Last June, the White House unveiled a new sub-Saharan Africa strategy built around four "objectives": Democracy, Trade & Investment, Peace & Security, and Development. But it remains to be seen whether Obama will unveil an Africa project on a scale comparable to AGOA and PEPFAR. Not that he is obliged to, anyway. And with the American economy still in dire straits, and requiring full time attention, he is unlikely to get much backslapping at home for expending his energy on matters that have no direct bearing on America's near future.In the latest caustic outbreak in an ongoing cultural war, a prominent Jewish organization Wednesday urged Jewish Canadian high school students to think twice about applying to York University. In a blistering statement, the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) accused the university’s faculty association of endorsing “a campaign of censorship against Israel and the Jewish People.” In the statement, FSWC president and CEO Avi Benlolo said his group is concerned “for the safety and security” of York’s Jewish students and faculty. “What I’m asking for Jewish students, who are considering going to York or putting in their application for the … 2016-17 year, is to know what’s going on at York (and) to maybe take a pause until the final vote is in,” he said in an interview. The outcry relates to a vote by the faculty association executive in favour of a campaign urging York to divest itself of any investments in weapons manufacturers, domestic or international. ‘I’m Jewish (and) they’ve basically called me anti-Semitic. It’s distressing’ The motion approved by the executive, in an 11 to 1 vote, makes no mention of Israel. In fact, it specifically states that the vote does not represent an indication of support for “any state or non-state actors involved or associated with a specific political or military conflict.” Despite that, Benlolo said Wednesday that the vote represents an act of “anti-Semitism.” That’s because, he said, the divestment campaign is being led by the York chapter of Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA), a group that advocates a broader campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel and Israeli academics. “The problem is, they’re aligning themselves with SAIA,” he said. However, Richard Wellen, the president of the faculty association, said SAIA is just one of dozens of organizations, including Amnesty International, supporting the divestment campaign. He said the executive vote, which still has to be approved by the union’s Steward’s Council, has nothing to do with anything other than weapons manufacturers. He also accused the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre of “bullying” him and other members of the executive. “I’m Jewish (and) they’ve basically called me anti-Semitic,” he said. “It’s distressing.” The outcry over the divestment campaign comes just weeks after a heated fight over a controversial painting in the York University student centre generated international headlines. The presence of the canvas, which shows a Palestinian holding rocks behind his back while staring at an under-construction Israeli settlement, spurred film mogul Paul Bronfman to pull all philanthropic support from the school. Asked about the divestment campaign Wednesday, a spokesperson for York said the university’s investment approach, which has been approved by the Social Investment Organization and the Coalition of Universities for Responsible Investing, “does not recommend the use of negative screening or divesting from particular companies.” • Email: [email protected] | Twitter: richardwarnicaJulian Assange kept his supporters waiting for more than two hours early Tuesday morning, only to inform them that he was not releasing any major scoops about Hillary Clinton at his Berlin press conference. Assange appeared via satellite from his perch at London’s Ecuadorian embassy at 5:02 AM Eastern Time wearing a black “truth” T-shirt, two hours after Wikileaks’ tenth anniversary press conference convened in Berlin. “I’ve seen the Internet and there’s enormous expectation in the United States,” Assange said. “Some of that expectation is partly answered but you have to understand that if we’re going to make a major publication in relation to the United States at a particular hour, we don’t do it at 3 AM.” “We have a great many upcoming publications,” Assange promised, noting that “Our sources have suffered terrible consequences in the United States.” Assange has implied that murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich was a Wikileaks source. Assange said that Wikileaks will be publishing once a week for the next ten weeks with a special interest in the “U.S. election” and topics like war, surveillance, and Google. “There’s been a lot of misquoting of me,” Assange said when asked if his upcoming publications would destroy Hillary Clinton. “In this particular case, the misquoting has to do with, we want to harm Hillary Clinton, or I want to harm Hillary Clinton.” Assange said that some in the United States want to “personalize” his upcoming publications. Expectant watchers filled the comments on Right Side Broadcasting’s Youtube livestream of the event with taunts of “Boring,” “ZZZZZZ,” and “Assange is a no show.” One commenter compared the event to Geraldo Rivera’s ill-fated entry into Al Capone’s secret vault, where Rivera found nothing interesting inside. The press conference convened at 4:06 AM Eastern Time in Berlin from a dimly lit auditorium with a rudimentary projection screen. A woman representing Wikileaks introduced a video montage commemorating the organization’s biggest hits over its ten-year run, including its publication of documents and videos pertaining to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — some of which were leaked to the group by Bradley Manning — and the operating procedures at Guantanamo Bay prison. The woman extensively recapped some of Wikileaks’ most divisive cases, claiming that the group has endured dDos cyber attacks and “propaganda attacks” from enemy forces. The woman, referencing the Democratic National Committee email leak that complicated the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, said that Wikileaks is now getting hit with another major propaganda attack. The woman outright denied that anyone at Wikileaks is a “Russian spy,” citing thousands of documents that Wikileaks has published “exposing” the regime of Bashar al Assad, a Russian ally. “For us, these kinds of attacks are quite interesting,” she said. “The lesson we’ve learned through these propaganda attacks is just to keep publishing … And so we will keep publishing.” A small panel ensued, with Wikileaks officials talking about their biggest cases. Wikileaks then showed a video collecting Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and C-SPAN segments in which U.S. politicos, mostly Republicans like Mitch McConnell and Karl Rove, called for Assange’s arrest and prosecution. One of Assange’s attorneys spoke about Assange’s “indefinite detention” at the Ecuadorian embassy. The lawyer made reference to the “smear campaign caused by the DNC leaks” and to Hillary Clinton’s desire, stated in a private meeting, to drone Assange.Shooting from across Syrian frontier wounds Israeli soldier JERUSALEM, Sept 8 (Reuters) - An Israeli soldier was wounded on Monday by errant fire from fighting inside neighbouring Syria, the Israeli military said. The incident was the second time since Thursday in which shooting inside Syria from battles between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebels trying to topple him has strayed into Israeli-held territory. The military statement said the soldier was taken to hospital after being "lightly injured by errant fire". It gave no further details. Syria's civil war, in its fourth year, has spilled over in the past into the Golan Heights, territory Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war, but the pace of such incidents has picked up in the past weeks. A week ago an Israeli Patriot missile shot down what the military described as a Syrian drone over the plateau.We’re still two years away from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but next month’s San Diego Comic-Con has the potential to be very interesting for Batman fans. We’ve already heard that Warner Bros. is planning to announce their DC movie roadmap and perhaps even the cast of the Justice League movie. According to a new rumor from Latino Review’s Umberto “El Mayimbe” Gonzalez, Warner Bros. may even be ready to show off the first footage from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Advertisement HOT #SDCC2014 RUMOR! The DC/Warners panel will show a hot clip from BATMAN v SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE. FIND SPOT @ HALL H line NOW! RT — Umberto Gonzalez (@elmayimbe) June 22, 2014 Batman News will be on the scene at Comic-Con and will keep you updated with everything that goes down at Warner Bros.’ panel. Earlier this year Warner Bros. teased the possibility of the new Batmobile making an appearance at Comic-Con, and El Mayimbe hears that it will indeed be at the convention. Hearing a hot rumor that the new BATMOBILE will be at comic con. #SDCC #SDCC2014 RT — Umberto Gonzalez (@elmayimbe) June 16, 2014 San Diego Comic-Con kicks off on July 24th, stay tuned to Batman News for all the latest!NEW YORK — Roughly 32 hours before the NBA draft, most of the projected lottery picks ran the media gauntlet in a ballroom at a downtown Manhattan hotel. Not surprisingly, the crowds around Markelle Fultz and Lonzo Ball, the consensus top-two picks, dwarfed those of the other participants. Fultz made it seem like landing in Philadelphia (seen as a certainty once the Celtics-Sixers deal was completed) might have been pre-destined. “Actually, I’ve been saying Trust the Process (the Sixers tagline for their years-long rebuild), I didn’t even know about Philly,” Fultz said, “Me, I got cut from (junior varsity in high school). So the big thing we used to say back home was, Trust the Process, not transferring schools. I didn’t know about the saying Trust the Process with Philly until probably my senior year when I was watching basketball and seeing the tweets about it. I thought I came up with it at first.” Ball, the jumbo-sized UCLA point guard who will learn from the best tall point guard of them all, Magic Johnson, if he goes to the Lakers, answered as many questions about his father as he did about his game. How many times has he been asked about the outlandish things his outspoken pops, LaVar Ball says and how that has impacted how teams feel about him? “I don’t know. Too many times,” the younger Ball said with a smile. Is he worried all of the chatter will make his life in the NBA tougher? “It’s probably (putting a) target on me, but I don’t really care about it,” he said. Ball seems to have a good handle on things, despite the circus-like atmosphere around him. He is relaxed on the court and he says he can thank his dad for that. “He always told me that basketball is a game, it’s supposed to be fun, it’s just a game and pressure is not that, it’s like, life stuff, like coming home, the lights is off, you don’t have food on the table.” MIGHT HAVE TO MOVE The Raptors don’t have the luxury of a lottery pick this year (they selected Jakob Poeltl ninth overall in 2016 and Pascal Siakam 27th). The team currently holds the 23rd selection, but many of the players that appear to have piqued the interest of president Masai Ujiri and Co. could be off the board, if mock drafts hold. UCLA’s front-court visited Toronto and met with team brass. Centre Ike Anigbogu, one of the younger players in the draft and someone who has drawn comparisons to Bismack Biyombo, interviewed, but did not work out. Sharp-shooting power forward T.J. Leaf went through the full workout process. Sources say the team is particularly intrigued by Anigbogu, who has a wingspan measured at greater than 7-6, but he might not still be around at that point. Indiana sophomore OG Anunoby, who is recovering from an injury, which kept him from doing drills for anybody, was recently in town for a meeting. “I liked them a lot, it’s a really good organization, it’s a good team,” Anunoby told Postmedia. “They were saying they saw me as becoming (more advanced) from where I am now, that they liked me and stuff like that.” Anunoby said it was “definitely attractive” that Toronto has been able to balance being a top team in the East with developing young talent. Leaf concurred. “It’s a very good spot, obviously. Very successful organization, playoffs every year and making runs,” Leaf said. “That in itself is appealing because they’re winners and that’s what I like. It was very good, the organization is great, the practice facility is amazing.” Still, if Ujiri indeed has mutual interest with any of these players, he might have to move up to get one of them. The team believes Serge Ibaka will re-sign, which makes Jonas Valanciunas expendable if value can be attained. FINNISH BOMBER Lauri Markkanen is one of the more intriguing players in this draft. He’s a 7-footer from Vantaa, Finland, a place more known for producing hockey players like Sami Kapanen (father of Maple Leafs forward Kasperi Kapanen), Valtteri Filppula, Tuomo Ruutu and Antti Niemi. But Markkanen’s father played hoops for the national team and at Kansas, and he says it’s always been basketball for him because it’s the most fun to play. That said, he dabbled in soccer, and, of course, hockey, with his pals. Wasn’t it hard to find equipment in his size? “I wasn’t tall (back then),” Markkanen said. A significant growth spurt after he had learned how to play like a guard is the reason he can handle the ball and shoot it so well. AROUND THE RIM Ball, Anigbogu and Leaf definitely developed a bond while with the Bruins. “Ike is great, he’s one of my best friends,” Leaf said. “He’s an extremely hard worker and he’s a joy to play with.” Ball said “UCLA kind of combined us forever now, so they’re like my brothers to me, and I just wish the best for them.” … How do you not feel old when Gonzaga’s Zach Collins says this: “My favourite player has been LeBron my whole life.” James was the No. 1 pick way back in 2003.Over the years we have been fortunate enough to visit some pretty interesting places. In the beginning, we were eager to buy stuff everywhere we went. But over time we’ve come to value different things and often don’t bring anything back at all anymore. One souvenir we almost always do keep is a bit of local money. This habit has bloomed into a full blown collection of interesting foreign currency. Below are the ten that we find the most interesting. 10. Seychellois Rupee The Seychelles is without a doubt one of the most beautiful places we have ever explored. Appropriately, their money is pretty beautiful, too. The Seychellois rupee is adorned with fish and flowers and perfectly represents the unique exoticism of its country. As we explored the Seychelles, and discovered the largest seed on the planet, we mostly spent euros. But these rupees are not too hard to find. 9. Hong Kong Dollar Even though Hong Kong has been part of China since 1997, the special administrative region maintains its own currency as well as other traits that definitely make it feel much more like an independent state. Hong Kong continues to use paper currency. However in 2007 they issued a special $10 note made of Guardian polymer for a two year trial in order to commemorate the ten year anniversary of the country’s handover. You can still find these limited issue $10 notes in circulation today. They are probably the most interesting bit of Hong Kong currency out there. 8. Egyptian Pound For me, the most interesting thing about the Egyptian pound is how long they leave them in circulation. At nearly 7 pounds to one US dollar a single pound is effectively worth almost nothing. And yet Egypt still has a paper note for that denomination. One pound notes are basically circulated until they disintegrate. I assume the only reason these notes don’t have the pyramids on them is because they weren’t yet built when they were printed. 7. Israeli Shekel (Sheqel) The history of the shekel is as interesting as the history of Israel itself. From 1948 to 1980 Israel’s national currency was the lira. From 1980 Israel made the switch to shkalim (plural of shekel) but due to rapid devaluation against the US dollar in 1986 the shekel was deemed the “Old Shekel” and Israel rolled out a “New Shekel” that was worth 1,000 of the old shkalim. The current shekel boasts every security feature there is. Made of Guardian polymer each note is plastic, waterproof, and sports a small window in the shape of a Star of David in the lower corner. 6. Mongolian Tögrög I’ll be honest, I didn’t know what this currency was called the entire time I was in Mongolia. In fact, I’m still not sure how to pronounce the two dots on top of the O. What I do know is their notes feature what appears to be two dozen cows hauling a gigantic yurt on wheels and a man with some killer facial hair. 5. Hutt River Dollar Going in to your local currency exchange you will definitely not find any Hutt River Dollars. This unique currency was given to me personally by the Princess of the Principality of Hutt River. Pegged to the Australian dollar, the only place you can pick up this currency is by paying a visit to the Hutt River capital of Nain. Yes, those are emus on the back. 4. Western African CFA Franc I picked this one up on a visit to Dakar, Senegal and it never really made any sense to me. At the time, I didn’t know of any regions of different countries that shared a single currency outside of Europe. However there are actually two currencies in Africa that do just that. The Western African CFA Franc is used in Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger and Togo. The Central African CFA Franc is used in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. The most interesting part of these two currencies is that they are effectively interchangeable, have a fixed exchange rate to the Euro and are guaranteed by the French treasury. 3. New Zealand Dollar This money has penguins on it. PENGUINS! Do I really need to further justify its inclusion on this list? New Zealand is another country that makes use of the polymer notes instead of paper. This means that like penguins, their money is entirely waterproof. 2. Cuban Convertible Pesos Cuba is one of the most interesting countries in the world, especially from a currency standpoint. They are one of few nations that actually maintain two separate and wildly unequal national currencies. This unique arrangement allows for a functional internal economy while promoting the existence of goods and services that the local population could never possibly afford. Locals use the Cuban Peso (CUP) and foreign visitors use the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC). For practical purposes one CUC equaly roughly 25 CUPs thus keeping the best of Cuba out of reach of its citizens. 1. Iraqi Dinar So I’m cheating a bit on this last one. I have not been to Iraq, but I do have these dinars in my collection. I just acquired them through other means. These are of course not the currency of modern Iraq. This is most evident by the fact that they prominently feature a dapper young Saddam Hussein that’s looking a bit like a mustachioed Ricky Ricardo. Do you collect currency when traveling? What have been the most interesting ones you have seen?Many people are shocked when I tell them that canned tomatoes are bad. After all, tomatoes are a vegetable (or technically fruit), so how can they be bad? Well, it has more to do with the packaging than the actual food. If you are used to using canned tomatoes regularly, you may want to reconsider. Although they are very common, canned tomatoes are not always a healthy option. Continue reading to find out why they can be dangerous and what to use instead… MY LATEST VIDEOS Why You Should Never Use Canned Tomatoes Video: Bisphenol-A (BPA), A Harmful Chemical Most of us know that BPA is harmful. BPA, shortened from bisphenol-a is a chemical used to coat the lining of cans and most plastic products. BPA can leach into foods and drinks by way of plastic containers, Tupperware, bottles, and cans. Children are most susceptible to the effects of BPA chemicals. Below are just a few of the health problems linked to BPA exposure… hormonal disruption reproductive harm increased risk of certain cancers malformation of organs in children risk of miscarriage sperm defects increased risk of mental disabilities in babies. BPA exposure is widespread, mostly because BPA is in most plastics and we use use so much of it, especially around our food. A survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control found detectable levels of BPA in 93% of 2517 urine samples from people older than 6 years old. Why Are Canned TOMATOES so bad? It’s true that most cans have BPA lining, unless it is labelled otherwise, so why am I singling out canned tomatoes? I’m focusing on canned tomatoes because since tomatoes are highly acidic, it draws out more of the BPA into the food from the lining. So, canned tomatoes have an especially high risk of leaching BPA into the tomatoes because of the acidity. This is not to say that other canned goods do not also pose BPA exposure risks (they most certainly do), but tomatoes are one of the worst offenders. Is it JUST Canned Tomatoes that pose a risk? No. Although canned tomatoes may draw out BPA more than other foods, any canned food can leech BPA into your food. One study from the Journal of Environmental Research showed that people had detectable levels of BPA in their urine after consuming canned foods including soup, fruits and vegetables. Therefore, I find it’s best to avoid canned foods as much as you can and try to choose glass jars instead. Don’t be fooled by BPA-FREE Cans! Unfortunately, BPA-free cans don’t really solve the problem. When the word started getting out about the dangers of BPA a few years ago, consumers started demanding that companies quit using BPA. So, companies responded to consumer pressure and largely removed BPA from their packaging, BUT they replaced it with another chemical that has similar associated health risks called BPS–Bisphenol S. So, even though the thought of a BPA-free label may comfort many consumers, it’s a false promise. The cans and plastics labelled as BPA-free will still have some sort of chemical in them and usually it’s BPS. That’s why I always recommend using natural products like glass and stainless steel to avoid ANY type of plastic. So what should you do if you want to use preserved tomatoes? It’s not too hard to find alternatives for canned tomatoes. Below are 3 great options: Luckily it’s not too hard to find healthy alternatives for using preserved tomatoes. That way it makes it easy to make tasty recipes like my chicken tomato soup! Sources: This post was originally posted in January of 2014, but has been updated and republished in July of 2018 to include recent studies and updated photos. FREE "6 Easy Tips to Quit Sugar" Guide! By submitting your name and email you will receive a free copy of the 6 Easy Tips to Quit Sugar Ebook and are consenting to receive regular newsletter emails from Healy Eats Real including information about our products and special offers. You can unsubscribe at any time. Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription. FREE "6 Easy Tips to Quit Sugar" Guide! By submitting your name and email you are consenting to receive a free copy of "6 Easy Tips to Quit Sugar" as well as regular newsletter emails from Healy Eats Real including information about our products and special offers. You can unsubscribe at any time. Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription. If you don't see it, check your spam folder or "promotions" folder on gmail.Los Angeles Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball has scored a fixer upper in Chino Hills, California, for $5.2 million. Mr. Ball, 20, a point guard whom the Lakers chose in the 2017 NBA draft in June, wasted no time burning through his pro-ball windfall—he will make an estimated maximum of $30 million over the next four years. He closed on the rundown mansion in his hometown only two months after the draft, according to property records. More: Read Luxury Real Estate News from the Los Angeles Market on Mansion Global The three-acre estate centers around a gigantic, 13,800-square-foot villa in need of some TLC, according to the listing with Lori and Richard King of King Realty Group. The brokers did not immediately return request for comment. The yellow-painted European-style villa, built in 2003, has a number of luxury amenities, such as a home theater, library, staff quarters and a fireplace, but has "fallen into disrepair," according to the listing, which presented only exterior shots. The description of the home, however, points to elaborate interiors that include coffered and cathedral-vaulted ceilings and interior balconies. The property also comes with a 1,200-square-foot guest house, pool and cabana. While Mr. Ball might have bought the property as a monstrous, semi-decrepit bachelor pad an hour away from Los Angeles, more likely, the eight-bedroom home is meant for his family, who live in Chino Hills. Turns out winning #NBA championships is easier than #luxuryrealestate. Steph Curry sells Bay Area mansion at a loss https://t.co/8gfo9GxgrK pic.twitter.com/monXBDeUaW — Mansion Global (@MansionGlobal) August 22, 2017 He bought the property through a limited liability company titled "Family Always Matters," records show. Mr. Ball and his outspoken father, LaVar Ball, raised eyebrows earlier this year when the rookie refused contracts with big sportswear brands like Nike or Adidas. Instead, he released his own basketball sneaker through LaVar Ball’s independent apparel company, Big Baller Brand, that costs $500. The Balls did not immediately return a request for comment.This site is no longer maintained and the wiki has been turned to a read only wiki Welcome to the home of. This is a web-based collaboration area for the next generation Philips Web Camera Linux Kernel Module. You find the actual PWC driver on Luc Saillard's website on http://www.saillard.org/linux/pwc/. This site is a "sister-site" to Luc Saillard's site and contains documentation to support the driver itself. The pwc driver is maintained by Luc Saillard and the documentation is maintained by Kenneth Lavrsen and all that participate on this Wiki-based documentation project. You are all encouraged to register and participate. First Kenneth does not know too many answers because he maintains the documentation - not the code. And second it is a pity to answer one person when you can help many. So please join the mailing list instead. PWC Web Main Menu PWC Sister Site Other useful resources setpwc - With setpwc you can set various aspects of Philips (and compatibles) webcams. You can also make a dump of the current settings. Banlist and Blacklist Some people have tried to create a local mirror of this PWC Twiki using tools like HTTrack. You cannot do that. TWiki pages are full of links to older versions, compare versions, raw text versions, printable versions, attachments, page renaming, and an endless list of links to sort tables etc. Trying to mirror a Twiki is both silly and near impossible. It should be quite obvious just by surfing a few pages of this Twiki. Worst of all it loads Kenneth Lavrsen's ADSL line for hours leaving no bandwidth for other users. It has been seen that users have tried to restart HTTrack again and again for hours. The PWC TWiki is protected by a BlackListPlugin which monitors abusive behavour and using a tool like HTTrack makes you banned in minutes. And Kenneth Lavrsen does not remove you from the list unless he is convinced that you have learned why you were banned and knows that you should not try again.Police affidavits related to the raid on Kim Dotcom's Mega mansion appear to show that New Zealand police and spy agencies are able to tap directly into United States surveillance systems such as PRISM to capture email and other traffic. The discovery was made by blogger Keith Ng who wrote on his On Point blog that the Organised and Financial Crime Agency New Zealand (OFCANZ) requested assistance from the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), the country's signals intelligence unit, which is charge of surveilling the Pacific region under the Five-Eyes agreement. A list of so-called selectors or search terms were provided to GCSB by the police [PDF, redacted] for the surveillance of emails and other data traffic generated by Dotcom and his Megaupload associates. 'Selectors' is the term used for the National Security Agency (NSA) XKEYSCORE categorisation system that Australia and New Zealand contribute to and which was leaked by Edward Snowden as part of his series of PRISM revelations. Some "selectors of interest" have been redacted out, but others such as Kim Dotcom's email addresses, the mail proxy server used for some of the accounts and websites, remain in the documents. Megaupload co-founders Bram van der Kolk and Sven Ecthernach was were also targeted for electronic surveillance, ditto Dotcom's wife Mona. Dotcom's mansion was raided by NZ police last year for crimes related to online piracy, based on indictments filed in the US. One note on the reports generated from the surveillance points to the system used capturing real-time traffic. Several of the documents are classified as "CONFIDENTIAL COMINT/NEW ZEALAND EYES ONLY" with one being marked as "SECRET/COMINT/REL TO NZL, AUS, CAN, GBR, USA". The spying on Dotcom, his wife and van der Kolk was deemed to be illegal as all three are residents of New Zealand and the GCSB is precluded by current law from intercepting their communications. In the United States, declassified government documents have been released to the Electronic Frontier Fourndation that show the NSA operates an eavesdropping program that has direct access to internet communications. The documents are part of a statement by the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) which berates the NSA for misleading the tribunal on the extent of domestic spying on innocent people, saying such collection was unconstitutional.Did you make any resolutions for the new year? Mine is to try to never act like Veruca Salt. There’s an attention loving blob in this country who acts that way enough for an entire planet already. What you’ll hear: Lotti Golden – Get Together (With Yourself) Natural Man & the Flamin’ Hot Band – Song About Your City Gargoyle Sox – Pink Little Playhouse Young Skulls – We’re Gone Public Enemy – You’re Gonna Get Yours -words from your host- Bad Sports – Living With Secrets The Mark Vodka Group – Shadow Of Your Former Self Priors – At Your Leisure Wire – Once Is Enough Donkey Bugs – Three Times Fast -words from your host- Hecks – The Thaw No Age – Soft Collar Fad Schizos – I’m Not a Sicko There’s a Plate in My Head Royal Trux – White Stuff Rats – Turtle Dove -words from your host- Jackson Politick – Psycho-mania Ten High – Ursula Cheater Slicks – Another Stab Junkpile Jimmy – Priest of Set Halo of Flies – Headburn -words from your host- SUBSCRIBE TO SMASHIN’ TRANSISTORS | SUBSCRIBE TO RADIO MUTATION Find much more Smashin’ Transistors nonsense at FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | MIXCLOUD | PODBEAN | TUMBLR | TWITTERCanada - 1 Salva - 0 264 SHARES Share Tweet We were able to confirm quite some time ago that JEEPERS CREEPERS 3 was heading into production from the franchise’s original creator, Victor Salva. The Jeepers Creepers films have seen relative success over the years, and most genre fans welcomed a 3rd entry with open arms. But most genre fans are probably unaware of Salva’s past. In 1988, Salva was convicted of the oral copulation of a 12-year-old boy. This boy was the star of Salva’s feature film debut (and cult classic) CLOWNHOUSE. Victor Salva was ultimately sentenced to 3 years in prison. Of course, justice has a funny way of playing out, and Salva was released from prison after just 19 months. How he went on to have such a successful career is a bit baffling, but perhaps the lack of internet and instant communication aided him in this process. Salva also pleaded guilty to lewd and lascivious conduct and of procuring a child for pornography–so this guy is no joke. Many had wondered, myself included, if his past would eventually catch up to him in this new age of social media justice–and maybe it has. A recent casting call for JEEPERS CREEPERS 3 has been pulled due to the Union of British Columbia Performers sending out awareness notices to talent agents in the area. This of course led Breakdown Services to retract the listing all together. The film was set to shoot this spring in British Columbia, but it is unclear if that’s still the case after this recent report. Listen–I’m all for second chances and criminal reform, but the act of child molestation is particularly gruesome and unforgivable. Salva has gone on record to own his actions, but those words (I’m sure) ring hollow to his victim. We’ll be sure to keep you guys posted on all things JEEPERS CREEPERS as more information comes our way, so stay tuned.POKER A man is arrested in Illinois after stealing $420,000 poker chips from a LA apartment, and another is behind bars after losing his entire life roll playing cards, and then deciding to rob a bank to fill it back up. Poker continues to attract the world dumbest criminals. This time it’s Illinois man Dustin Campbell, 32, who has looking at some serious porridge after being charged with grand theft. WGEM.com told the tale of Campbell’s woe. The young man broke into an LA apartment, on Ventura Boulevard, and found $420,000 worth of poker chips inside the bedroom. The chips were from a variety of casinos. Campbell immediately cashed $200,000 of them before jumping on a jet plane to Chicago. Unfortunately
a historically difficult moment for military service. Obviously, you’ve got a lot to offer a civilian employer. Make sure you have a plan to translate your worth into something valued on the outside.” I know it may sound coy coming from a cynic like me, but positive emotion should almost always be the lead card in mentorship. (Yes, I realize that I am ironically doing violence to that principle with this post. Noted for the record.). Later: So that’s another reason why leadership can rightfully expect you to get your CCAF degree: Because you’re already making more than most people with an associate’s degree. Your education should reflect that. In argumentative parlance, this is too dumb for smart people and too smart for dumb people. Anyone smart enough to understand the somewhat nuanced institutional argument made here is too smart to think it justifies the wasted energy of chasing a worthless degree. Anyone dumb enough to think the CCAF is not worthless doesn’t need such an argument to be persuaded. The author must understand this, given his critical thinking ability. That makes me suspect this aspect of his rant is theatrical – something to earn him the approval of the corporatists watching from the sidelines. This is great way to lose the most intelligent segment of an audience, which in this case is a larger crowd than the author estimates. It also smacks of box-checking careerism, the artery upon which the CCAF degree depends upon for its very existence. And then there’s this: Don’t think that things like CBTs, SAPR, douchey bosses, incompetent support, and bureaucratic red tape end when you leave the military. Remember: the Air Force copied many of these things from the corporate world. They didn’t originate here. Yes, the Air Force is guilty of aping the worst elements of modernist management science, which continue to hold considerable sway in larger corporations. But the author is mistaken to think wasteful behaviors predominate on the outside in the same way they plague public agencies, most of all within the DoD. Publicly traded companies have shareholders who hold them accountable. They can’t tolerate wasted time and energy of the magnitude embraced by Big Blue these days. Employees have more avenues for grievance, corner office denizens have fewer shields behind which to hide the truths of their policies, and productivity is the undisputed king. When profit slips, the system reacts. Beyond huge corporations, in the realm of small businesses, startups, and the knowledge economy, this kind of nonsense is just flat-out repudiated. It doesn’t even get to the start line. Many airmen in the poster’s audience could and will find homes in workplaces that better reflect what they want out of their work life. It’s silly for him to pretend the world is a monolithically stupid place, especially given that he’s been on active duty for a decade and thus has not been immersed in the job market he’s diagramming. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ At this point in the rant, the poster pivots. After attempting to establish that civilian life isn’t all that great, he wants to encourage his audience to consider that the Air Force isn’t all that terrible. Here, the message becomes more redeemable, though it remains plagued be periodic digressions into out-of-school pontificating about what life is like on the outside. Consider: Maybe a different view is needed. Maybe it shouldn’t be all about: “Man, the Air Force sucks. I’m getting out of his mess!” What about, “Man, the house of Air Force sucks right now. Let’s fix this place before it springs any more leaks.” Ok, now we’re getting somewhere. We have a negative idea reformulated as a positive one, complete with a sober recognition that things do indeed suck. We also have an effective metaphor to help the audience visualize the subject matter. Now, let’s discuss some of those problems we’re going to fix and how we’re going to go about turning this thing around! Right? Wrong. If your job is bearable, then your salary is adequate. As much as I like money, even I have to admit that. You A1Cs have it a little rough (I was there too), but it gets a lot better over the next few years; hang in there. But don’t jump from sinking ship to sinking ship without thinking about what we can do to patch the holes in this one first. Because it’s not magically better on the outside. He circles right back to bashing civilian life and focusing on money. Not only that, he sets the job satisfaction target at “bearable.” If you’re an airman reading the original post, it’s at this point you realize you’re led by SNCOs who will be content if they can get your job to a bearable point for a level of compensation you find tolerable. That’s not an uplifting message. It’s deflationary. If you’re a highly talented, highly capable airman reading the original post, you realize that it’s time to start planning for civilian life, because the people you’re working for have no interest in making the Air Force great. They’re targeting “just good enough.” In other words, the post undoes itself here, and stands to actuate exactly the opposite of its intended effect. There’s an essential truth distilled in this part of the essay, though I suspect it’s unintentional. The truth is that members of the Air Force are mainly not motivated by money. Sure, the money they make needs to rise above a certain threshold in order to justify the requirements of service and opportunity costs for them and their families. And sure, pay and benefit cuts tend to rile the troops because they represent losses from the status quo. But airmen place much more value on the intangibles of service. They yearn to be capably led, well trained, and treated like adults. They need to feel like what they do is valued, makes a difference, and entitles them to respect and a reasonable and ever-enlarging degree of autonomy in their work. They need to feel like they’re part of a team, and part of something larger and more important than their self-interests. These are some of the things that make service life special, lending it a culture all its own. As these things dissolve, money becomes even less consequential. Things like unnecessary family separation, disruption caused by someone else’s inability to plan, needless red tape, bureaucratic jackassery, and endless performances of the eyewash carnival add up to a huge devaluation of service life. Chauvinism pisses people off. Codified idiocy does too. Failing to cultivate a robust supervisory system gnaws away at the team identity they crave. These issues exact a large enough debit to ameliorate any financial reward, and this explains why pilots, for example, are bailing out in droves rather than accept a quarter million dollars to keep doing what used to be the best job in the world. The balance of the original post dabbles in various motivational techniques appealing to various forms of loyalty based on anecdotal examples. But by the time he tries this approach, the poster has already spent too much time focusing on money and bashing civilian life to effectively make his case on other terms. His argument flails at the end, appealing for everyone to stop fantasizing about leaving the Air Force and to instead focus on fixing it. The second part of that is a great piece of advice. But to accomplish it requires listening to those who are engaging in the first part. When the service – particularly its SNCOs – recognize this and use their considerable persuasive skills to marshal energies toward the fixing, there will be a lot less fantasizing. I give this one a thumbs down, but we’ll continue to keep an eye on American Pegasus. Agree or disagree with him, he’s got a lot of wheels turning upstairs, clearly gives a damn, and knows how to kick off a valuable discussion.Maintenance Mode and Whitelists in Laravel 4 When developing web applications on your local web server you are pretty safe, nobody except you will notice your bugs. But from time to time you need to push the changes to the production server. This is the most stressful part of web developer's job and it's the biggest single point of frustration. You are all familiar with the famous: "but it works on my machine" excuse... I hope you are all using some sort of code testing and/or staging servers before you actually push changes to the production but even then you might encounter some migrations or major changes which might produce issues and it would be better done unnoticed. A lot of major web sites/applications like oDesk have maintenance time here and there and that's a perfectly good way to disable the site for a while you are making your changes. Luckily Laravel 4 provides a simple way to put your application into maintenance mode. In order to put the site into maintenance mode simply run this command from the command line: php artisan down Now when the site is accessed you will get a short message that says: "Be right back!" This message is returned by App::down function which is already in your: app/start/global.php If it's not you should really update your Laravel files. The default App::down() function looks like this: App::down(function() { return Response::make("Be right back!", 503); }); If you want to render a view instead of the plain old message, you would pass in the view name instead of the message like this: App::down(function() { return Response::view('maintenance', array(), 503); }); This will render a view called'maintenance' from your views directory. You also pass in an empty array as the second argument because we don't have any data to pass. The third argument 503 is a number that represents a HTTP status code, in our case 'Service Unavailable'. RFC explains status code 503: 10.5.4 503 Service Unavailable The server is currently unable to handle the request due to a temporary overloading or maintenance of the server. The implication is that this is a temporary condition which will be alleviated after some delay. If known, the length of the delay MAY be indicated in a Retry-After header. If no Retry-After is given, the client SHOULD handle the response as it would for a 500 response. Note: The existence of the 503 status code does not imply that a server must use it when becoming overloaded. Some servers may wish to simply refuse the connection. To disable the maintenance mode, we use the up command: php artisan up This approach is great but disables the site for all visitors including admins! If we want to make it more sophisticated we would create a white list of IPs that have access to the site. We could lookup the clients ip address and look it up in the white listed array of ip addresses, something like this: App::down(function() { $ip = Request::getClientIp(); $allowed = array('192.168.1.7', '192.168.1.8', '127.0.0.1'); if(!in_array($ip, $allowed)) { return Response::view('maintenance', array(), 503); } }); Now only visitors whose IPs are white listed have access to the site. Share your thoughts and comments below. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. DisqusItaly's far-right Northern League may need to soften its anti-euro stance in order to enter into a governing coalition with Forza Italia | Miguel Medina/AFP via Getty Images Italy’s Northern League goes soft (on the euro) The Italian far-right party wants to be back in government and is softening its line on Europe to get there. Italy's far-right Northern League is eyeing a return to government next year, taking advantage of a surge in support in local elections over the summer. However, if it wants to join a coalition with its old ally Silvio Berlusconi, the Northern League may have to soften its tough line on Europe — and especially on the single currency, long a bugbear of the Italian right. The shift is already happening. Party leader Matteo Salvini — who's spent years campaigning against the single currency (and occasionally wearing a T-shirt saying "Basta euro") — appears to have changed his tone. Speaking to POLITICO last week, he didn't attack the single currency or even the EU, instead saying “we want to give Europe one last chance, but in return we want to see real change, especially when it comes to Schengen and the Dublin treaty” — the two EU treaties that regulate cross-border movement in the bloc. Libero, an Italian daily that follows the Northern League's line, described Salvini's comments (first reported in Brussels Playbook) as “a small shift in foreign policy,” with the party moving “from euro-nihilism to Euroskepticism.” It said that shift has become more marked since Marine Le Pen's defeat in the French presidential election. There's method behind the change in attitude. “It's realpolitik,” said Paolo Grimoldi, a Northern League MP who has known Salvini since they were teenagers. “We don't have the 51 percent of votes [needed to govern alone] and it's not very clear how to leave the euro.” Grimoldi said a softening of the party's anti-euro position would be needed to form a coalition with Berlusconi, the controversial former prime minister whose Forza Italia party is key to setting up a united center-right front. In all three Berlusconi coalition governments, he has found a place for the Northern League and that will be the case again if talks to create a center-right bloc succeed. When the Northern League was in power in the past, it didn't have a clear anti-euro line, which has emerged since Salvini took over the leadership. To court Salvini, Berlusconi has even been floating the idea of a double currency: using the euro for international transactions and the old Italian lira internally. Marine Le Pen had a similar proposal, but it didn't fly with French voters. If a third party is needed for a center-right-led coalition, it would likely be the far-right Brothers of Italy, a small group with roots in Italy's fascist past, and there could be room for some small, moderate parties. But it's the Northern League that is in pole position when it comes to creating a new center-right coalition, especially after being the only big party to make gains in June's local elections. That would make the League "the engine" of a governing coalition, wrote Istituto Cattaneo, a political research institute, commenting on the local elections' results. Lofty ambitions Salvini doesn't just want to prop up the old warhorse Berlusconi. This admirer of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin wants to be prime minister — and he could achieve that ambition if his party gets more votes than Berlusconi's. (The tycoon, who turns 81 next month, won't be prime minister anyway, as a conviction for tax fraud means he cannot be elected to parliament). Since becoming leader in 2013, Salvini has saved a party that was on the brink of collapse in the wake of a corruption scandal that brought down his predecessor and party founder Umberto Bossi. (The scandal hasn't completely gone away; a tribunal recently ordered the party to refund the Italian state to the tune of €48 million.) He has succeeded in turning the Northern League from an anti-migrant party that wanted to split from the poorer Italian south into a stronger force that campaigns against the euro (and still doesn't like migrants), and has no qualms about forging ties with the likes of the neo-fascist Casa Pound activist group. It helps that he's young — 44 — and charismatic. Almost always casually dressed, Salvini is a regular on TV talk shows and in gossip magazines where he makes headlines for his colorful love life. “I will be the candidate [for prime minister], not [European Parliament President Antonio] Tajani, not Berlusconi. The party with the most votes gets to choose and so far that party is the Northern League,” he told POLITICO. To get the top job, he'll have to elbow his way past Tajani, a schoolmate of current Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, and a long-term Berlusconi ally. “The candidate for premier that Berlusconi thinks of, in case of victory, remains the president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani. Soft, prudent, institutional: the Paolo Gentiloni of the center-right,” political analyst Marco Damilano wrote last month. Salvini's change of tone will have wider implications for Italian politics. Another potential governing party, the anti-establishment 5Star Movement, has often been accused of ambiguity on the single currency. The Northern League's less harsh language may force the 5Stars — neck-and-neck with Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party in the polls — to take a firm line one way or the other. After a year in which the far-right fell short of its ambitions to govern across Europe, and with the eurozone enjoying sustained growth, Salvini's new stance could just be smart politics. “Today, from an electorate point of view, it pays a bit less to denounce these problems [with the euro]," said Northern League MP Grimoldi.Canada • November 24, 2017 • André Frappier Parallels Between Catalonia and Quebec A major item on the agenda of the upcoming convention of Québec solidaire (QS), to be held in the Montréal suburb of Longueuil December 1-3, will be a proposal for fusion with another pro-independence party, Option nationale (ON). This will entail revisiting the relationship between the parties’ support for Quebec independence (basically the entire program of ON) and Québec solidaire’s attempt to link the national question with its social justice program. The current struggle for national self-determination in Catalonia quite naturally suggests parallels with the issues posed in the Quebec pro-sovereignty movement. In recent weeks, two leaders of Québec solidaire – Manon Massé, a party spokesperson and member of Quebec’s National Assembly, and André Frappier, a member of the QS National Coordinating Committee – have visited Catalonia as invited guests of the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP), a left pro-independence party that is now contesting the December 21 Catalan election. In the following article, which I have translated from Presse-toi à gauche, André returns to a topic he has frequently addressed in recent months as a coordinator of a pan-Canadian network of left social movement activists that is now beginning to develop. An earlier article by him was published here on October 5. André’s article is followed by a statement of the newly-formed Quebec coalition of solidarity with Catalonia, which includes major nationalist organizations, trade unions and political parties. Its first public meeting will be held on November 18, in Montréal. See its web site for particulars, at www.solidarite.cat. — Richard Fidler The political situation in Quebec and internationally, with the escalation of the Catalan national struggle, impels us to deepen our thinking on these issues. What role can Quebec’s national liberation struggle play in class terms, in the context of the fight for emancipation of the peoples in the Canadian state? The following is an attempt to address these questions. For more than forty years the national question in Quebec has been dominated by the Parti québécois (PQ). But it was not the PQ that invented nationalism, that was the product of the domination that has existed since the British Conquest and which was structurally integrated at the time of the Canadian confederation. Nationalism is not, by definition, necessarily progressive. That depends on the political situation and the role nationalism is summoned to play as a vehicle for transformation toward an egalitarian society. Historically, in Quebec, national oppression has always been a source of social mobilization against capitalist domination, which appears beneath the face of a foreign domination. This domination has been introduced in various ways – in the cultural, media, educational systems as well as at the economic and social levels. For many years now, American and Canadian culture have inundated our television screens. Quite recently, the CBC produced a purportedly historical narrative of Canada’s history that in no way reflected the historical roots of Quebec or of the indigenous nations. And for many years, as Yvon Deschamps used to say, you worked in English or were unemployed in French – which is still the situation in many areas of activity today. Rise and Fall of PQ It was this feeling of excess that the PQ built on in its origins. The nationalization of electricity resources previously controlled by various private interests, initiated by René Lévesque under Jean Lesage’s Liberal government, showed the way and prompted a major economic take-off, boosting national pride. This “Quiet Revolution” completed by René Lévesque’s PQ soon came up against some antisocial economic choices with the rise of the recessionary period at the turn of the 1980s. The national liberation struggle was never able to develop its full potential, therefore. In the years that followed, the PQ built itself as a party of neoliberal state administration with the consequences that entailed in terms of disillusionment and the stifling of mobilizations if not direct confrontation as in 1983 during the public sector negotiations. The sovereigntist perspective was dimmed both by the neoliberal policies implemented by the PQ when it was in office and by the identitarian nationalism that has come to replace the strategic impasse which the party had reached and which ultimately became the gravedigger of what it had once been. Herein lies the necessary distinction between the deviation of the PQ’s nationalism and the scope of the struggle for sovereignty in terms of social change, not only in Quebec but in the Canadian state. Struggles in Catalonia In Catalonia, where the political struggle is now much more intense than it is in Quebec, the fight for a popular reappropriation of society is crucial. The issue of fiscal independence emphasized by the middle classes arouses no sympathy among the popular classes in the rest of the Spanish state or in a significant part of Catalonia as well, in particular the popular sectors in the working-class neighborhoods of Barcelona. The Catalan independentist movement, and more precisely the left, will have to take this into account, especially because Rajoy accuses Catalonia of benefiting from economic resources more ample than the Spanish average and claims that the Catalan population wants to keep its wealth for itself, depriving the rest of Spain. The Spanish working class is in this way pressed to support those who are applying the rules of austerity against it and to fight against its objective ally in Catalonia. The struggle of the Catalan people must therefore find a way to link their fight for national liberation to a perspective of struggle against the austerity imposed on the entire Spanish state by the government in Madrid, as the movement of the indignados did a few years ago. The dynamic of struggles is not linear. The fight for social change and the overthrow of the old state does not begin everywhere at the same time, and develops more intensely within nations oppressed by the central state. It is essential that the Spanish working class likewise find the way to supporting the struggle of the Catalan people against the oppressor state headed by Mariano Rajoy. This is in its own interests. A defeat of the Catalan struggle would be a major victory not only for the right-wing government in Madrid; it would also ensure some stability to the European Union in its domination of the working class throughout Europe, which could continue to enrich itself through increasingly drastic austerity measures as it did with the Greek population two years ago. So also in Quebec. The fight for control of our national fate, our resources, our environment and our industry cannot be successful without challenging the control by the ruling classes. That inevitably means looking beyond Quebec’s borders and calling on the working people in the rest of Canada to support our fight for social justice against the equally inevitable intervention of the Canadian state and its financial institutions, which will apply the same medicine as the World Bank did to Greece or Madrid and the European Union is doing to Catalonia. Didn’t Trudeau say that there was only one united Spain? • Quebec Solidarity with Catalonia In the wake of events in Catalonia, especially since the Declaration of Independence of the region by the Catalan Parliament, several major organizations of civil society and four political parties in Quebec have agreed to come together to form a broad coalition of citizen solidarity and cross-partisan support for Catalonia. The Coalition supports the Catalan population and the Carles Puigdemont government, which was democratically elected in 2015. It calls on Spain to respect democracy and condemns the continuing wrongful proceedings against the Catalan leaders, as well as any recourse to violence. In addition, the Coalition intends to support the efforts of the Catalan government to have the new Catalan Republic recognized. International Solidarity When we see the inertia of the international community, the intransigence, use of force and violation of the civil and political rights practiced by the Spanish government with regard to Catalonia, it is imperative that Québécois who support the principle of democracy speak out in solidarity with the Catalan people and government who have fought peacefully and democratically for their right to self-determination. The objective of the Coalition established today is to ensure that these rights are respected by the Spanish State and also recognized by the international community, starting with the governments of Quebec and Canada. Broad public meeting on November 18th As a first activity, the partners in the Coalition have agreed to organize a big public meeting on Saturday, November 18 to take stock of the situation in Catalonia, and to show Quebec’s support to the Catalan people. It is intended that a Declaration of Quebec Solidarity with Catalonia be announced, along with with artistic performances and an open discussion period. The details of this gathering will be announced soon. Call for broadening of the Coalition In order to broaden the reach of the message and make the action of the Coalition even more powerful and effective, an appeal is made to all groups, civil society organizations and political parties that respect the right of the Catalan people to choose their future to express their interest by email via the address [email protected]. Full details of the activities and actions undertaken by the Coalition will be available on the website www.solidarite.cat. The following organizations have, to date, agreed to join the Coalition (in alphabetical order):Blockchain is a cryptographic platform that is taking the world of FinTech by a storm, since its inception in 2009 through the digital currency bitcoin. Blockchains solve the problems of trust, verifiability and accountability for transactions in today’s Internet-based hyper-connected world. This is achieved by pitting the adversary against the aggregated computational power of a decentralized P2P network of nodes, Bitcoin being the largest with more horsepower than all super-computers of the world put together. While Bitcoin is an efficient, fast and resilient global payment network today, the underlying Blockchain technology has the foundations for supporting other forms of transactions like contracts, information processing and secure communication. Blockchains can automate and scale trust & verifiability for these transactions, and turn them in smart-transactions defined by data-driven intelligence and real-time responsiveness. This ambitious vision has created a community of startups, large financial institutions and technology leaders tackling the challenges of applying blockchain technologies to disrupt processes & systems foundational to today’s global financing, economy and trade. There are concerns around the viability of blockchain technology independent of Bitcoin network’s large compute capacity. The framework of blockchain-based trust and verifiability needs to evolve independent of the context of the transaction (payments, contracts and beyond) in order to share the back-end compute network. The cost and complexity of development has to become reachable for fostering mainstream adoption. Policy-setting needs to get very nuanced about technology decisions that deeply impact economic behavior of the participants. Finally, interoperability between different implementations of blockchains is necessary to weave a global smart-economy based on data-driven intelligence. In this event, our expert panel will analyze the future of Bitcoin and blockchain technology in the quest for creating data-driven smart-economies for the connected world. Speakers for panel discussion: Peter Kirby, CEO of Factom (moderator) Ted Rogers, President, Xapo Bill Barhydt, Founder & CEO of Abra Connie Gallippi, Founder & Executive Director of the BitGive Foundation Alyse Killeen, March Capital Partners Kamesh Raghavendra, Vice President at The Hive Meet the panel: Peter Kirby, CEO of Factom (moderator) Peter Kirby is the Chief Executive Officer of Factom, the first usable blockchain technology to solve real world business problems by providing an unalterable record keeping system. A pioneer in his field, Peter works with leaders in financial services, government and law to address the most complex data security issues around the globe. A seasoned entrepreneur, Peter has spent the past 15 years involved in numerous successful early-stage tech companies and possesses a deep knowledge of business development and community-based marketing in the technology sector. His ventures have ranged from neurological supplements and investment financing to commercial development and real estate. As a leader in the blockchain space, Peter has led multi-million dollar operations and was the driving force behind delivering major products to market. Ted Rogers, President, Xapo Ted Rogers serves as President of Xapo, a global bitcoin platform. He has worked in the financial services industry for over 15 years. Prior to Xapo, Ted co-founded and served as a General Partner for Arpex Capital, an international investment firm based in Sao Paulo, Brazil with a focus on payments and financial services. Prior to Arpex, Ted worked in corporate finance and venture capital for FBR Group and in business affairs for America Online. Mr. Rogers graduated from Williams College in 1991 and cum laude from Georgetown University Law School in 1996. He spent two years as a reserve linebacker for the Washington Redskins, including during their Super Bowl Championship season of[masked] Bill Barhydt, Founder & CEO of Abra Bill is the CEO and and driving force behind Abra. Abra enables real money to be stored digitally, directly on any smartphone, transferred to any phone number in the world and then transferred back to cash using a global network of shared smartphones acting as human-ATM machines, called “Abra Tellers." Bill is very active in the Bitcoin community acting as an advisor to half a dozen companies in the space and has done extensive work in the areas of smart contracts, PKI/certificate authority design as well as key escrow, digital money and trading system design. Bill is known as having given the first-ever TED talk on Bitcoin in 2012. He has also consulted to federal and international regulators on the impact of digital currencies and decentralized transaction systems. Connie Gallippi, Founder & Executive Director of the BitGive Foundation Ms. Gallippi is the Founder and Executive Director of the BitGive Foundation, which was established in mid-2013 and is the first Bitcoin 501 (c)(3) nonprofit. BitGive has built partnerships and raised funds with large nonprofits including Save the Children, The Water Project, TECHO, and Medic Mobile. BitGive recently announced its Bitcoin Charity 2.0 Initiative, which includes a variety of projects aimed at leveraging Bitcoin and blockchain technology to benefit charitable organizations worldwide. Alyse Killeen, March Capital Partners Alyse joined the March Capital Partners' Investment Team in 2013, and is focused on early stage opportunities in big data and artificial intelligence, IoT, distributed ledger technologies, p2p networks, marketplace innovation, and healthcare IT. Kamesh Raghavendra, Vice President at The Hive Kamesh works with The Hive entrepreneurs addressing market segments in areas of Internet of Things, security, enterprise applications, blockchain, de-centralized apps and financial services. Agenda: 6:00-6:45pm: Registration & Networking 6:45-7:00pm: Introduction to The Hive and Coinalytics - Is Blockchain the next frontier of Big Data? 7:00-8:00pm: Panel - Blockchains: From crypto-currencies to data-driven smart-economies 8:00-8:20pm: Q&A session 8:20-9:00pm: Networking Our meetup will be held at Plug and Play's 2nd Floor "Game Room"New FAQ August 9, 2014 - BerryMad Release Questions Game Questions Explore and hunt over a vast fantasy world. Eat, grow, and gain power; customizing your dragon’s traits and abilities along the way. Establish lairs, claim territory, and amass untold hordes. Battle other dragons and fantastic creatures. Topple buildings, raze villages, and torch forests on destructible worlds. Impact the world’s economy and development through your actions. Interact with villagers, kingdoms, and other mighty creatures. Will you be a benevolent guardian or a ruthless tyrant? Create a legacy. Your dragon’s descendants will inherit powers and traits from their parent. 1. Early Access Release Date: September 19, 2014.2. Early Access Price: $17.993. Early Access Launch Week Price: $14.994. Estimated Retail Release: Summer or Fall 2015.5. Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux. Mac and Linux versions may be released after PC.6. Consoles: If we are successful we would love to release on consoles.7. Distributors: Steam Storefront. We are also considering the Humble Store, Gamer’s Gate, Good Ol’ Game, Greenman Gaming, and IndieGameStand.Dragon: The Game (“Dragon”) is an open-world action RPG, where you will play as a living, fire-breathing dragon! A dragon will be able to:Dragon will support multi-player through Photon.Yes, though magic will not be included in the initial Early Access version of the game. We want to determine what magic system will best complement the other features of the game, so we feel it is best to implement in later stages of development.Gold and other wealth will increase your dragon’s dominance and influence in the world and will be worked into several game mechanics. Collecting rare items, artwork, and other loot will be a significant part of the game and will reveal the lore of the world in addition to providing benefits to your dragon.We will pursue crowd funding for Dragon based on the community’s response to the Early Access.Update, 8:25 p.m.: Sgt. Michael Woody, a Detroit police spokesman, wrote: "Our Criminal Investigations Bureau was on scene within an hour of the incident and worked through the night along side our Special Response Team searching for the stolen equipment. They served several warrants and are still out there tracking the equipment." Bill Nowling, a spokesman for Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, wrote on Facebook: “DPD responded in a timely manner. Police executed two search warrants overnight as a result of this robbery report. Several arrests were made at one location, a drug house, on unrelated charges. Don’t know if they are suspects in the photog robbery at this time. “DPD is investigating why the officers did not investigate at the time whether the stolen equipment was at the location Mr. Morris indicated with his iPhone tracker. I do know that the DPD did take this seriously and are aggressively working the case.” Original story: Thieves in Detroit stole about $15,000 worth of camera equipment Wednesday afternoon from a world-renowned photographer who was on assignment near Conner and Mack Avenue for a national publication. Then a supposed good Samaritan, who had produced evidence he had access to the gear, took $200 in reward money from the photographer -- and then the Samaritan disappeared. "I got ripped off twice," said the photographer, Christopher Morris, who has gained an international reputation shooting photos from the White House to some of the world's most vicious war zones. After the thefts, Morris said he used an app to trace his iPhone -- also stolen -- to a house on Algonquin near Waveny. He contacted police, who took reports from Morris and witnesses but said they could not approach the house without a warrant. But about 8 p.m. Wednesday night, cops called Morris at his hotel and told him they were working on the case. And the camera equipment and iPhone are not the only losses. "They also stole the photo cards with two days of work," Morris said. Morris, who lives in Florida, was shooting photos for a positive story about Detroit -- the resurgence of the Jeep, which is produced at Chrysler's Jefferson North plant near the spot where his gear was swiped. He did not want to name the publication. Morris, 55, said his rental Dodge Avenger was parked at a McDonald's on Conner when he stepped across the street with a camera to check out an angle for a possible shot. "Then I heard the glass shatter," he said. "There were three guys at the car. They took off with my bag and a camera and the iPhone." Morris, who was alone, drove after the men, and found the house on Algonquin with the help of witnesses. Later, another person approached him and said he could help. He left and returned with a booklet from Morris' camera bag, and said he could get the rest of the gear for $200. He left, and failed to return. Detroit police showed up about 30 minutes after Morris called 911, but said they couldn't go to the house. "They said they needed more probable cause," Morris said. Deadline Detroit has reached out to a police department spokesman for comment. Morris has won numerous awards for his photography, especially his war work, which includes assignments during the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the drug war in Colombia, the Persian Gulf war, and the wars in Afghanistan, Somalia, Yugoslavia and Chechnya. A freelancer, he worked for many years for Time magazine and covered the White House from 2001 to 2009. His gear was not insured. Credits: Top photo: Morris in a video for a project titled "Time in Turkey." Middle photo: A famous image by Morris of Vice president Dick Cheney, President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsefeld at the Bush ranch in Texas. Bottom photo: Click here to see a gallery of Morris' work in war zones other than Detroit. Click here for Morris' webpage.The Early History of Smalltalk Alan C. Kay Apple Computer [email protected]# Permission to copy without fee all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for direct commercial advantage, the ACM copyright notice and the title of the publication and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of the Association for Computing Machinery. To copy otherwise, or to republish, requires a fee and/or specific permission. HOPL-II/4/93/MA, USA © 1993 ACM 0-89791-571-2/93/0004/0069…$1.50 Abstract Most ideas come from previous ideas. The sixties, particularly in the ARPA community, gave rise to a host of notions about “human-computer symbiosis” through interactive time-shared computers, graphics screens and pointing devices. Advanced computer languages were invented to simulate complex systems such as oil refineries and semi-intelligent behavior. The soon-to-follow paradigm shift of modern personal computing, overlapping window interfaces, and object-oriented design came from seeing the work of the sixties as something more than a “better old thing.” This is, more than a better way: to do mainframe computing; for end-users
. At least two must be added to make up for the recent defections. What remains unclear is whether the Big East will add five to get to a conference championship game in football. Here is a quick look at the candidates. Now, let us all remember this is dependent on the Big East hanging onto all seven of its football-playing schools. That is no sure thing. In this climate, who knows what can happen. Air Force. The Falcons would deliver TV markets in Denver, and they also have proved they can compete in a conference, having gone to four straight bowl games under coach Troy Calhoun. They also have a familiarity with TCU, a conference partner in the Mountain West. Army. The Black Knights would be a football-only candidate. They add a broad appeal as a national school, and plenty of tradition. They are in the Northeast footprint as well, and would be a valuable addition to a media rights deal. But this is a program that has been in a conference before with shaky results. The program is turning a corner now under coach Rich Ellerson, who took Army to a bowl game last season for the first time since 1996. East Carolina. The Pirates have made it no secret that they want to be members of an AQ conference and fast. They have a website dedicated to the quest called "Undaunted" in which it extols all its virtues. The Pirates have made five straight bowl appearances, won league titles in 2008 and 2009 under then-coach Skip Holtz, and have beaten 16 AQ opponents since 1997. They would also deliver North Carolina TV markets, and have one of the most passionate fan bases among all non-AQ schools. Houston.The TV market is No. 10 in the nation, so that is a huge plus, and the program has been solid on the field. They would also be a travel partner for TCU, should the Horned Frogs remain in the Big East. Memphis. The football program is down-and-out now, but has had past success, having gone to five straight bowl games from 2003-08. The TV market is not as big here, but this addition could help appease some basketball members who may have concerns after losing Syracuse and Pitt. Navy. The Midshipmen have been a rock-solid independent, and have proved they can compete against anybody. They are a national brand and travel extremely well. The TV footprint is solid, too. Football-only member consideration here. Athletic director Chet Gladchuk had some interesting points in this interview. Temple. The Owls used to be a part of the Big East until they were voted out because they simply were not competitive in the league. But the program has been rejuvenated and is coming off back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since the 1970s. They would deliver the Philadelphia market, but would the Big East go back to a team it already had in the fold? UCF. The Knights are an up-and-coming program that might be short on history and tradition but would add another Florida market. The facilities have been expanded and they have an on-campus stadium. UCF was ranked for the first time in school history last year. There are a few questions here: Would USF be in favor of adding UCF? Fan support needs to be better.Mahomed II succeeded his father Amurath on February 9, 1451. His hostile designs against the capital were immediately seen in the building of a fortress on the Bosporus, which commanded the source whence the city drew her supplies. In the following year a quarrel between some Greeks and Turks gave him the excuse of declaring war. His cannon-for the use of gunpowder, for some time the monopoly of the Christian world, had been betrayed to Amurath by the Genoese-commanded the port, and a tribute was exacted from all ships that entered the harbour. But the actual siege was delayed until the ensuing spring of 1453. Mahomed, in person, surveyed the city, encouraged his soldiers and discussed with his generals and engineers the best means of making the assault. By his orders a huge cannon was built in Hadrianople. It fired a ball one mile, and to convey it to its position before the walls, a team of sixty oxen and the assistance of 200 men were employed. The Emperor Constantine, unable to excite the sympathy of Europe, attempted the best defense of which he was capable, with a force of 4,970 Romans and 2,000 Genoese. A chain was drawn across the mouth of the harbour, and whatever supplies arrived from Candia and the Black Sea were detained for the public service. The siege of Constantinople, in which scarcely 7,000 soldiers had to defend a city sixteen miles in extent against the powers of the Ottoman Empire, commenced on April 6, 1453. The last Constantine deserves the name of a hero; his noble band of volunteers was inspired with Roman virtue, and the foreign auxiliaries supported the honour of the Western chivalry. But their inadequate stock of gunpowder was wasted in the operations of each day. Their ordinance was not powerful either in size or number; and if they possessed some heavy cannon, they feared to plant them on the walls, lest the aged structure should be shaken and overthrown by the explosion. The great cannon of Mahomed could only be fired seven times in one day, but the weight and repetition of the shots made some impression on the walls. The Turks rushed to the edge of the ditch and attempted to fill the enormous chasm and to build a road to the assault. In the attack, as well as in the defence, ancient and modern artillery was employed. Cannon and mechanical engines, the bullet and the battering-ram, gunpowder and Greek fire, were engaged on both sides. Christendom watched the struggle with coldness and apathy. Four ships, which successfully forced an entrance into the harbour, were the limit of their assistance. None the less, Mahomed meditated a retreat. Unless the city could be attacked from the harbour, its reduction appeared to be hopeless. In this perplexity the genius of Mahomed executed a plan of a bold and marvellous cast. He transported his fleet over land for ten miles. In the course of one night four-score light galleys and brigantines painfully climbed the hill, steered over the plain, and were launched from the declivity into the shallow waters of the harbour, far above the molestation of the deeper vessels of the Greeks. A bridge, or mole, hastily built formed a base for one of his largest cannon. The galleys, with troops and scaling ladders, approached the most accessible side of the walls, and, after a siege of forty days, the diminutive garrison, exhausted by a double attack, could hope no longer to avert the fate of the capital. On Monday, May 28, preparations were made for the final assault. Mahomed had inspired his soldiers with the hope of rewards in this world and the next. His camp re-echoed with the shouts of 'God is God; there is but one God, and Muhammed is the apostle of God'; and the sea and land, from Galata to the Seven Towers, were illuminated with the blaze of the Moslem fires. FAR different was the state of the Christians. On that last night of the Roman Empire, Constantine Palaeologus, in his palace, addressed the noblest of the Greeks and the bravest of the allies on the duties and dangers that lay before them. It was the funeral oration of the Roman Empire. That same night the emperor and some faithful companions entered the Dome of St. Sofia, which, within a few hours, was to be converted into a mosque, and devoutly received, with tears and prayers, the sacrament of the Holy Communion. He reposed some moments in the palace, which resounded with cries and lamentations, solicited the pardon of all whom he might have injured, and mounted on horse-back to visit the guards and explore the motions of the enemy. The distress and fall of the last Constantine are more glorious than the long prosperity of the Byzantine Caesars. AT daybreak on May 29 the Turks assaulted the city by sea and land. For two hours the Greeks sustained the assault with advantage, and the voice of the emperor was heard encouraging the soldiers to achieve by a last effort the deliverance of their country. The new and fresh forces of the Turks supplied the places of their wearied associates. From all sides the attack was pressed. The number of the Ottomans was fifty, perhaps one hundred, times superior to that of the Christians, the double walls were reduced by the cannons to a heap of ruins, and at last one point was found which the besiegers could penetrate. Hassan, the Janissary, of gigantic stature and strength, ascended the outward fortification. The walls and towers were instantly covered with a swarm of Turks, and the Greeks, now driven from the vantage ground, were overwhelmed by increasing multitudes. Amidst these multitudes, the emperor, who accomplished all the duties of a general and a soldier, was long seen and finally lost. His mournful exclamation was heard, 'Cannot there be found a Christian to cut off my head?' And his last fear was that of falling alive into the hands of the infidels. The prudent despair of Constantine cast away the purple. Amidst the tumult he fell by an unknown hand, and his body was buried under a mountain of the slain. After his death, resistance and order were no more. Two thousand Greeks were put to the sword, and more would have perished had not avarice soon prevailed over cruelty. It was thus, after a siege of fifty-three days, that Constantinople, which had defied the power of Chosroes and the caliphs, was irretrievably subdued by the arms of Mahomed II. Sixty thousand Greeks were driven through the streets like cattle and sold as slaves. The nuns were torn from the monasteries and compelled to enter the harems of their conquerors. The churches were plundered, and the gold and silver, the pearls and jewels, the vases and sacerdotal ornaments of St. Sofia were most wickedly converted to the service of mankind. The cathedral itself, despoiled of its images and ornaments, was converted into a mosque and Mahomed II performed the namaz of prayer and thanksgiving at the great altar, where the Christian mysteries had so lately been celebrated before the last of the Caesars. The body of Constantine was discovered under a heap of slain, by the golden eagles embroidered on his shoes, and, after exposing the bloody trophy, Mahomed bestowed on his rival the honours of a decent funeral. Constantinople, desolated by bloodshed, was re-peopled and re-adorned by Mahomed. Its churches were shared between the two religions, and the Greeks were attracted back to their ancient capital by the assurance of their lives and the free exercise of their religion. THE grief and terror of Europe when the fall of Constantinople became known revived, or seemed to revive, the old enthusiasm of the crusades. Pius II attempted to lead Christendom against the Turks, but on the very day on which he embarked his forces drew back, and he was compelled to abandon the attempt. The siege and sack of Otranto by the Turks put an end to all thoughts of a crusade, and the general consternation was only allayed by the death of Mahomed II in the fifty-first year of his age. His lofty genius aspired to the conquest of Italy; he was possessed of a strong city and a capacious harbour, and the same reign might have been decorated with the trophies of the New and the Ancient Rome.Does any team have a bigger buzz around it than the Nashville Predators? In less than a year, the Predators have been involved in two of the biggest blockbusters in recent history, acquiring center Ryan Johansen and defenseman P.K. Subban and continuing the transformation of a once defense-first hockey club into an exciting, puck-possession, offensive outfit. The end result? The Preds enter the season as a popular pick to go a long way. "There's no question that the expectations are maybe higher than they've ever been before," said veteran Predators GM David Poile. "I have to take that as a good thing. I realize we haven't won a game yet, we have to play them, and all those clichés I can give you. But the fact is, a lot of people think we have a good club and I believe our players think that, I know our coaches do, and we'll do our best to fulfill our expectations." Last season's first-round win against the Anaheim Ducks signaled the Predators' ascension. They'll need veteran goalie Pekka Rinne to bounce back this season and they'll need goals from players other than Filip Forsberg and James Neal. But with the NHL's best blue-line corps led by Roman Josi, the sky's the limit for this team. Best new faces Subban brings his razzle-dazzle game to the Music City in what seems like a perfect fit, not just in the sense of a market embracing his ebullient personality, but certainly on the ice where head coach Peter Laviolette espouses an aggressive, offensive-minded game. Subban should feel he has more freedom here than he did in Montreal. Joining a blue-line that already has Josi -- is there a Norris Trophy in his near future? -- as well as Mattias Ekholm, Ryan Ellis, Yannick Weber and Matt Carle underlines this team's No. 1 strength: puck-possessing, puck-moving D. Carle might prove to be a sneaky signing at just one year for $700,000. Bought out by the Tampa Bay Lightning on June 30, and freed of the burden of that big contract he signed, a third-pairing role with low expectations should bode well for the veteran Carle on this team. Plus, he's reunited with Laviolette, under whom he played some of his best hockey with the Philadelphia Flyers earlier in his career. The big changes in front of him don't mean diddly if Pekka Rinne doesn't stop the puck. Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports Biggest unknowns Who else will score goals other than Forsberg (33 goals last season) and Neal (31 goals)? How about Colin Wilson, who had just six goals and 18 assists in 64 regular-season games last season but then put up five goals and eight assists in 14 playoff games? Everyone loves a player who steps up come playoff time, which Wilson also did the previous spring with five playoff goals in six games, but the Predators would love Wilson, 26, to also show that kind of production in the regular season. It would go a long way to alleviate the team's scoring concerns up front. "Absolutely. That is a question," said Poile. "We've kind of labeled him 'Playoff Wilson.' Well, we need him to be not only Playoff Wilson but also "Regular-Season Wilson.' There's no question he can do it because we've seen it on occasion the last two playoffs. This year, he's a year older, more mature, wiser, our expectations are very high for him to have a good regular season in addition to a good playoffs. Just by him scoring at the rate that he should be, that could be a huge difference for us." Another unknown is Rinne, who turns 34 in early November. After years of saving this team's bacon, the aging goalie must now prove he's still capable of a prime-time performance. His save percentage dipped from.923 in 2014-15 to.908 last season. Rinne needs to be good for the Predators to be a true Cup contender. Editor's Picks 2016-17 season preview: St. Louis Blues They've got a new captain, a veteran coach in his final season and questions about the future of their best puck-moving defenseman -- what is up with the St. Louis Blues? 2016-17 season preview: Chicago Blackhawks Was last year's first-round playoff exit a sign the Blackhawks are mortal? Hardly. Chicago is deeper than ever on defense and still has the 1-2 punch of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews up front. 2016-17 season preview: Dallas Stars The dark injury cloud that settled over the Dallas Stars in the offseason won't prevent them from keeping the Central Division title within their sights. 2 Related And finally, what about the loss of longtime captain Shea Weber, traded to the Montreal Canadiens for Subban? His presence in the dressing room leaves a crater on the leadership front, no matter what anybody says. Talk to other players on Team Canada during the World Cup, not to mention head coach Mike Babcock, and the respect and admiration for Weber as a leader is through the roof. Veteran center Mike Fisher was named captain, an excellent choice; he's as respected as any player in that room. But it remains a question mark entering this season how the team will fill Weber's overall leadership skills. Sure things The blue-line corps, as mentioned, for my money is the best in the NHL. It's going to carry this team to many a win this season. Up front, Forsberg continues to improve as an elite goal scorer, and he's only 22. He put up 26 goals in his first full NHL season two years ago and followed that up with 33 last season. No reason he can't get to 37-40 goals this season if he stays healthy. Prediction I'm banking on Rinne bouncing back and the offense up front getting better. I just love the way this team plays and how that blue-line corps is constructed. The Central Division race is going to be an absolute beast, where I'd argue four teams can all win it. But give me the Preds atop the division when the regular season ends in April, and a deep playoff run to follow. First in the Central.'Masters of Sex' Creator Michelle Ashford On Why Time May Pass, But They'll Never Recast If you’re looking for any sort of indication as to what kind of person “Masters of Sex” creator Michelle Ashford is, know that during the 20 minutes she spoke with Indiewire during the 2015 TCA Winter Press Tour, the hotel suite echoed with a variety of weird and annoying alarm-like ringing noises. But she never expressed anything other than patience and amusement, while answering our questions. READ MORE: Review: ‘Masters of Sex’ Season 3, Episode 1: ‘Parliament of Owls,’ Perched on the Cusp of the Sexual Revolution Those questions included: How much does the shadow of “Mad Men” hover over the series about William Masters (Michael Sheen) and Victoria Johnson (Lizzy Caplan) researching sex in the 1950s and 1960s? Will “Masters of Sex” ever recast its leads, especially if the show moves decades forward into the future? And what makes “Masters of Sex’s” portrayal of sex different from other shows exploring the same material? Showtime has become this really interesting network in terms of portraying female sexuality across its other shows. Is that a happy coincidence between the show you’re making and the network, or do you think it’s a deliberate part of their process at this point? Well, I can’t speak for them because I wasn’t there in the room when they ordered those other shows, but I certainly was when they ordered “Masters,” and I think it’s no surprise to anyone that sex is a really provocative topic for television. And then it’s a good audience draw. I mean, people are always curious. So I know that was part of the reason that they thought “Masters” was going to be a really interesting show, but I think they further thought it would be interesting because it was a way to look at sex, it is really unusual. I mean, first of all, you’re coming at it scientifically. It was an honest-to-God many years long research project that those two embarked on, and for me, who was— I mean, if you had told me I had to write a show about sex where it was just people trying to have the best sex they could find with whatever partner, I’d have a really tough time with that. But I found this a curious way to get into the subject. And I thought, “Wow, you’d have a lot of sex scenes that weren’t sexy at all.” In fact, it would be hilarious, awkward, or strange. So that seemed interesting to me. Because I think the tropes of portraying sex in movies, certainly, and television, have become a little bit tired. So I think what people are trying to do is say, “Well, we’ve seen people trying to have hot sex in every possible medium; what else can we say about sex that’s more interesting?” Another thing your show has, that is kind of becoming a bigger and bigger deal today, is the concept of being a period piece. I feel like we’ve got these period pieces where, you know, it’s like your classic period piece except, “Let’s throw in some pretty explicit sex.” Is the draw of that the shock value? Well, here’s the very luck thing that I have to deal with with on this show, which is that it happened. The fact that I don’t have to invent this from scratch. I remember writing the pilot and looking at it and thinking “If I had just come up with this on my own, people would just think, ‘You’re insane.'” And this is ridiculous, and borderline unbelievable. You know, that people would have had people into exam rooms to have sex and they would watch them, and wire them, it just seems kind of…. And yet, because it did happen, and it ended being, you know, they were together for many many years, they ended up being so integral to many of the societal changes that were happening. I feel like the period part of it is just a happy accident. If you told me, “oh, go write a show and start it in the ’50s,” I thought, “Oh, but there’s ‘Mad Men’ out there,” and it would have made me uncomfortable. But because this is really what it was, I feel like this was a story, so it doesn’t bother me as much, because I feel like I’m telling the story honestly. Sometimes we look like “Mad Men.” We’re going to be in 1966 this year, so we’ve made a big leap. I think “Mad Men” covered 10 years in their time on air, and we’ll cover way way more than that, so we’ll end up not looking like them at all. In the early days, did you feel that pressure of “Mad Men”? We did. We worried about it. We thought, “Oh no, we’re gonna be compared right and left.” […] You know, they’ll say, “Oh, it’s a ‘Mad Men’ rip-off, just with more sex.” We got almost none of that. I think because there must be something that feels different about it. Certainly the subject matter is pretty different. And another advantage you have, drawing from real events, is the fact that Master and Johnson did end up getting married. In terms of developing their relationship, in the back of your head, is there a version of “Masters of Sex” where Masters and Johnson aren’t in a relationship? In terms of, would I deviate from history that much? Yeah. Never. So the decision to put them together is very much like, “We know that they’re going to end up together eventually—” Yes, and one of the things that’s a real challenge, which was once we go on the air, and people go, “Oh! Those are real people?”, they can do a five-second Google and they can know the entire story. So I thought, “Wow, that’s taking a little starch out of our thing.” So, I thought, well, the interest is not in what happened, it’s how. So every time we’re constructing a season, we look at like how would we end it. What’s a sort of cliffhanger thing? It can’t be what happened, it has to be, “Wow, that’s where they are, and I know where they’re going. How did they get there? How did they get from A to B?” I mean, that’s one of the things we talk about all the time. That’s the interesting thing. Certainly any movies that deal with history, where you know the ending, people still flock to see them. I was just thinking when I was watching “Lincoln” last year, and I was thinking, “Well, we know where this goes,” but it didn’t make it any less enjoyable because it’s just the “How did it happen?” The other thing I wanted to mention, though, in terms of Masters and Johnson ending up in a relationship together is that it’s almost like cliche that the two sex researchers fall in love. When you were developing their relationship, what were you doing to kind of make sure that you avoided those? Well, what’s really lucky about the true story is they did not fall into that. It’s one of the strangest, strangest — and I put the word “love” in quotes — it’s one of the strangest “love” stories I have ever run across. And that was another thing that really drew me to the material, is I thought well, we’ll never be in that area, of cliches of falling in love, or “don’t we just have the hottest sex ever.” It won’t be that, because that wasn’t that with them. They had an incredibly complicated and strange relationship for many, many years, and it took different forms, which also is really great when you’re dealing with this series, because you think, “Wow, their relationship changed like that? That is really interesting.” But at the same time, you do kind of root for them, like in late Season 1, where essentially they’ve slipped into making love for the first time. Watching them realize that was a really exciting moment. Right. Well there’s no question that those two had incredibly deep feelings for one another, but they were also incredibly complicated. And the one thing that’s really interesting, is I don’t think they’re ever quite on the same page at the same time, which would have made their relationship much more traditional in that sort of cliched way you were saying. But they could never quite— they were always sort of like this in an odd way, because they were. They had many competing agendas about what they wanted out of that relationship, I think, and that’s why it becomes really complicated. But that isn’t to say, I think, that there were moments of profound and deep love between them, it just never really looked like any kind of love that we would necessarily recognize; except for those few moments, maybe. You mentioned that Season 3 is in 1966. How big a leap that is? Well, for us it’s five years. We end Season 2 in January 1961, when Kennedy was inaugurated. Right. Wow, so you’re just jumping over the Kennedy assassination. We are. Was that deliberate? Well, I did have this grand plan that we would come back. Everyone’s imbued with all the enthusiasm of his inaugural speech, which was very exciting. He says the torch has been passed on to a new generation and there he is up there, handsome, and a whole new— you know, coming from the kind of stodgy, old Eisenhower, he looked like, Whoooo! Like a movie star. So it’s all very exciting, and what he was saying was very exciting, and a new generation and everything, and I thought, “Oh, it would be great to end that and then come back in 1963 and they’re all around the TV crying, you know?” I watched some of “Mad Men,” I don’t have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the show at all, and I’ve had a couple of times people say to me, “Well, they did [fill in the blank] on “Mad Men,” and I’ll say ”They did?” One thing I do know is I think “Mad Men” used the Kennedy assassination in one of their episodes. It’s a big part of Season 3. Exactly. Anyways, someone related to me that, they said, “Oh, Mad Men has really used the Kennedy assassination.” So, because someone has pointed to me before that we did something that was “Mad Men”-like, I thought, “Hm, I actually know about this one this time,” so maybe that’s not so great. But also, I wanted our third season to be really taut, to be really exciting, to be filled with event, to be a little bit of a nail biter, and when I looked ahead at their lives and their careers, 1966 was a really important one, and I thought, “You know, why don’t we just go for it? Why don’t we just plop them in the year that the most crazy stuff happens?” So that’s what we did. And “Downton Abbey” can age 20 years in like three seasons. So how far have they gone on that show, because, again, I don’t watch so much? “Downton”? Yeah. They’re in 1923 right now. When did they start? 1912. Oh, they did? Yeah. They start with the Titanic, that’s like the first episode, and then Season 2 covers the entirety of World War I. And so, people do have questions, like, “Why is that dog still alive?” [laughs] Dogs can live a long time, depending upon the breed. Apparently! Especially if they are the dogs of Lord Grantham. [laughs] That’s hilarious. Well, that’s good, 1912 to 1923, that’s a longish bit! Yeah! How much do you have in your mind, when it comes to what year the last season takes place, whenever that might come? Well, they at least go in the ’80s, because in the ’80s they published a book on homosexuality. And that was a really strange little spell for them, and it’s such rich material that we go at least that far. So, we’re ’66 now, we’ll head into the ’80s for sure. So, lots of old age makeup. Well, that’s our biggest, biggest challenge, is what to do. How much do we really age them? I mean, how much do people want to see two series leads that look like they’re 70? You don’t really see that on television, so, when I look into the last year, I think, “Hm, they really would be old,” and I have some ideas about that. But I suspect us just doing an entire season with two leads that are really old is not in the cards. So you wouldn’t, necessarily… Let’s say Gena Rowlands was available, you wouldn’t recast? We would not. So, no matter what, it’s Lizzy Caplan. No matter what. That speaks to how happy you are with that casting. Yeah, well, yes, now we couldn’t have anyone else. Yes, we love them. People say this all the time about, you know, an actor kind of fitting with a role, but both of them are so utterly perfect. I mean, I think so many things that were true about the real-life characters, really resonate with the actual actors themselves. Lizzy read the book instantly and was like, “I know this woman.” I think Michael initially said, “Well, I’m normally playing people much more outgoing, this guy’s so internal.” And then I think something clicked for him, and he found something he thought, “Oh, I really, actually understand this, I understand a lot of it.” And I think he found it very interesting. He’s normally playing people who are more extroverted, like the Prime Minister, or David Frost, or, you know, in “The Damned United” he played the head of that soccer team, who’s, you know, a very big, out there kind of guy. And so when he read this, he was playing Hamlet — who is, obviously, an internal character but one that expresses it all. And he was just like, “Hm, this is a strange character for me to play,” and I could see he was just thinking about it, and then he went for it. And now that I know him as well as I do, I can see that something— it tapped into something that he felt really interesting, that I think he felt was also very personal. The reason I wanted you to clarify that is because I wanted to say, it’s so interesting to think about his performance in that respect, because there’s so much surface to the way he plays Masters, that makes sense in terms of his process. Oh, yeah. Michael is an incredibly cerebral person. He’s very, very smart; he thinks about this stuff a lot; he really, really digs deep. He’s a very, very fun actor to be partnered with in terms of the long haul of a television show. You really have to have a collaboration, otherwise it’s just no fun. Final question: In terms of staying in the rhythm of the period, what is the key thing for you? Because, it’s not today, it’s not modern times. You’re trying to recreate this other era. Well, I think one of the things that’s lovely is a certain constraint when it comes to language. That’s really fun for me to write, I love that. I wrote on “John Adams” and “The Pacific,” you know, so I’m very used to having to hear a specific tone to the way people speak in another era. I actually like that, I find it very fun. It’s so specific in what words you choose and how people phrase things, so I love that. I love the societal constraints; I love that we’ve moved into the ’60s though, so things will be changing, so what would that mean for our two characters? Certainly all sorts of crazy stuff is about to happen and was happening, but how will that change them? Will they sound different? Will they look different? I don’t know. That, to me, is really fun. READ MORE: Watch: ‘Masters of Sex’ Season 3 Trailer Takes the Revolution on the Road Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.They didn't say much after that. Kristoff seemed satisfied enough with her answer, and Anna was a little too angry at the moment to initiate another conversation with the ice-harvester. She knew he meant well. Anna did her best to remind herself that Kristoff didn't know Elsa nearly as well as she did. Still, any insult to her Queen, innocent or not, was enough to put the Knight in a sour mood. Anna did understand where he was coming from. Elsa, as her liege, had total authority over her. Furthermore, the Knight knew just how much she had invested into this relationship. Elsa was pretty much her...everything at this point. If she lost the Queen, Anna knew she would crumble. But it didn't matter. She wasn't going to lose Elsa. The Queen loved Anna just as much as Anna loved her. The only thing that would separate them is death. And as long as the conspiracy didn't get its way, that wouldn't happen for a very long time. / They stepped inside. It was a rather large building, which was to be expected. This was more than just a permit office; it was the city government's Eastern Center of Economic Regulations. In other words, it handled the tax collection and regulation of nearly half of the capital city's businesses. Anna and Kristoff moved into the lobby. The room was large; its floor was the color of gold, reflecting the light from the candles hanging on the walls. At the far end of the room, beyond which was a door that probably led to a myriad of inner offices, was a wide counter. Three secretaries were sitting there, and two of them were currently talking with other visitors. Five city guards stood watch throughout the room, stationed beside its empty walls. The Knight made her way to the only unoccupied secretary, a woman roughly thirty years of age. Her hair was blond, though not nearly as light as Elsa's, and her large red lips were spreading out into a slight smile. "Hi," she greeted as Anna approached. "Can I help you, miss?" Anna nodded, returning the smile. Her animosity was reserved for Drexel, not his employees. "Yes. I'd like to speak with your manager...if he's around. His name is Drexel, right?' The secretary frowned. "I'm sorry, miss. Mr. Drexel is currently busy, and he doesn't usually make it a habit of speaking with visitors. You'll have to make an appointment for sometime next month. Are you sure it's anything I couldn't help you with?" Shaking her head, Anna allowed the smile to drop from her face. "Look, I'm sorry, but this is really important. I need to speak with him...today." "I'm sorry, miss, but he is unavailable," the secretary replied, her voice harder now. "If you leave your name with me I can tell him you were looking for him." She looked at Anna expectantly. The Knight took a breath. "I'm...Lady Anna. Knight of Arendelle, member of the Royal Council, and personal attendant to Queen Elsa." Anna knew that while no portraits of her visage had ever been made, the physical appearance of a woman courting the Queen must be public knowledge. Her blond streak, the scar on her cheek, and the sword she carried would be enough to convince most of her identity. A gasp sounded from the secretary. Her face turned stark white. She looked around, panic and indecision plain on her face. "My...my apologies, milady. I'll fetch Drexel straight away!" Hurriedly rising from her chair, she bowed briefly before disappearing through the door behind her. Anna did her best not to smile. She didn't enjoy intimidating a young woman who was only doing her job. Yet she couldn't deny a certain degree of satisfaction in using her position to get Drexel off his ass. The door opened to admit the secretary and a short, middle-aged man. His hair was graying, but it retained a few prominent streaks of black. His stocky frame hinted at a past as a warrior, but time seemed to have atrophied his fitness. To her surprise, he showed almost no surprise at being face to face with such a...notable figure. "Ah, Arendelle's most successful gold digger and the upstart ice harvester. And what can I do for such fine young people?" Anna scow
the Lazarus Pit returns you, but not always in the condition in which you left. There’s a lot of story still left to be told with Thea and her recovery.” The Moment “Olicity” Fans Have Waited For Yes, THAT moment. It’s coming and it’s arriving sooner than you may realize. “There was a strong desire to have Oliver and Felicity sleep together before the events of the season finale,” Guggenheim explains. “We wanted to almost take that off the table prior to the season finale. We went back and forth on the right venue. Does it happen in Starling City? Does it happen in Nanda Parbat? They end up sleeping together in Nanda Parbat and I think we all sort of liked the romance of that. I’m personally fond of the fact that it’s Ra’s who gives Felicity the final push.” A Team Arrow…Minus the Arrow Yes, we saw a bit of this earlier this season when the team thought Oliver was dead. But Ollie’s decision in tonight’s episode changes things drastically for the remainder of the season, something that Guggenhein cryptically hints at, “Next week’s episode is a villain-of-the-week episode, but it just so happens that the villain is Oliver.” The Arrow’s future is anything but certain, making what’s ahead for his teammates that much clearer—they’ll have to get used to operating without Oliver. “In Episode 310, they thought he was dead and in many ways, that was a whole lot easier,” says Guggenheim. “Knowing that he’s out there and alive, but a member of the League of Assassins, that’s a whole lot harder.” “What happens in the wake of ‘The Fallen’ is there’s a real trinity formed between Laurel, Diggle and Felicity. They’re all sort of leaning on each other. They’re processing things in different ways. Laurel is throwing herself into her work saving the city. Felicity is struggling with heartbreak and grief—she really goes through the seven stages of grief with Oliver. As for Diggle, something happens that really upends Diggle’s world. That’s something that will have repercussions for the remainder of the season. An Important Choice for Maseo Oliver’s friend-turned-assassin has played an important role all season long, but exactly how important becomes clear in the episodes ahead as the events in this season’s flashbacks finally reveal how Maseo wound up joining the League of Assassins. But does that mean he’s a villain? As Guggenheim describes it, “I would say his soul is very much in play. In the past and the present there’s a little bit of a war for Maseo’s soul. With him joining the League of Assassins, we know how that war ended in the past. But how things end in the present and whether or not he can be redeemed is definitely one of the questions that we’re building up to answering.” Some Closure for Thea Guggenheim promises that Colton Haynes will be back as Roy Harper once more this season, to allow his character a chance to say goodbye to Thea, something that he wasn’t able to do last week. But that’s not all. “By the end of the season, there’s a nice bit of closure between Malcolm and Thea,” promises Guggenheim. “You feel like their story has had a beginning, middle and end.” Episode 20 of Arrow, “The Fallen,” airs tonight at 8 p.m. (7 p.m. CST) on The CW. The season finale of Arrow, “My Name is Oliver Queen,” airs on May 13, 2015.Image copyright EPA Image caption International AIDS Candlelight Memorial Day in Moscow, 2011 The phrase "Aids epidemic" awakens distant memories in most of Europe, Australia or the Americas, where infection rates have generally been in decline for years. But as former UK Health Secretary Lord Fowler explains, the phrase is not used in Russia either - despite failed policies that have allowed infection rates to soar. For years Russia has remained remarkably silent on the challenge it faces from HIV and Aids. Now that silence has been broken by an epidemiologist who has been working in the field for more than two decades - and he calls the situation "a national catastrophe". Vadim Pokrovsky, the softly spoken head of the Federal Aids Centre in Moscow, has watched as the figures have climbed remorselessly upwards. There are about one million people living with HIV today in Russia and year on year the rate of infection is rising, unlike sub-Saharan Africa where the rate of increase is slowing. This is according to Russia's official figures, which almost everyone agrees are a substantial underestimate of the true position. Last year some 90,000 Russian people contracted HIV, compared with fewer than 3,000 people in Germany, which has one of the lowest rates of HIV infection in Europe. Germany's population may be half the size of Russia's but the difference here is a factor of 30. "We need to spend 10 times more on prevention," Pokrovsky told me recently. "We need many more resources and we need some political decisions - and changes in the law in connection with methadone and the private lives of individuals." Image copyright United Nations The trouble is that his diagnosis goes smack against the current ideology of the state and the increasingly powerful Russian Orthodox Church. Find out more Image copyright Getty Images Lord Fowler investigates Russia and Australia: The Truth About Aids on Health Check on BBC World Service from 19:30 BST today. Catch up later on iPlayer Radio Browse the Health Check archive In an interview this month with Agence France-Presse he was even blunter, saying the Kremlin's policy of promoting traditional family values had failed to halt the spread of the virus. "The last five years of the conservative approach have led to the doubling of the number of HIV-infected people," he said. When Pokrovsky argued for the introduction of sex education in schools - a step resolutely opposed by presidential children's rights commissioner Pavel Astakhov - the head of Moscow City Council's health committee, Lyudmila Stebenkova, called him a "typical agent working against the national interests of Russia". Pokrovsky's approach, she told the Russian newspaper Kommersant, would only increase children's interest in sex and lead to a surge of HIV and other diseases. "Instead of distributing condoms we should be promoting sexual fidelity and healthy families - that is much more effective," she said. Yet the figures suggest otherwise. Pokrovsky has warned women that their chances of marrying an HIV-positive man are high. "There are 80-100 cases of HIV infection among women a day. This is no joke - a day. They are mostly young women, aged from 25 to 35 years and they are the main new risk group," he told me. Image copyright AP Image caption Waiting room at a regional Aids centre in Russia Almost 60% of those with HIV in Russia are injecting drug users and a further group are the sexual partners of the drug users. The HIV virus has spread like wildfire via contaminated needles and syringes. That is why many countries around the world provide clean needles and methadone, which is taken orally, in place of drugs which are injected. When I was health secretary in the UK, that policy was started in 1987 and since then the numbers of people newly infected by contaminated needles have reduced almost to zero. The same results have been seen in a range of European countries and in Australia, which was an early pioneer of such policies to reduce the harm at-risk groups do to themselves and each other. Yet in Russia methadone is banned. The World Health Organization may see the synthetic opiate as essential in combating heroin dependence, but in Russia anyone caught using it or distributing it can face up to 20 years in prison. Health officials rely instead on narkologia, a traditional form of treatment that dates back to Peter the Great's attempts to fight alcoholism in the early 18th Century. In essence, this approach consists of isolating the drug user during a month of detoxification, followed up with rehabilitation - including lectures, self-help groups, physiotherapy, diet advice and so on. Image caption Evgeny Brun, Russia's chief narcologist The country's chief narcologist, Dr Evgeny Brun, is dismissive of replacement drugs. "Our professional joke is that methadone is similar to treating the vodka alcoholic with cognac," he told me with a chuckle. It is true that methadone is also an addictive drug but if it comes from a healthcare source, in controlled doses and without needles, it often allows the drug-user to function reasonably and hold down a job. The glaring defect in the traditional Russian method of treatment is that all too often it does not work. Global Aids epidemic in 2013: WHO data People living with HIV 35m - 31.8m adults and 3.2m children under 15 New HIV infections 2.1m - 1.9m adults and 240,000 children under 15 Aids related deaths 1.5m - 1.3m adults and 190,000 children under 15 When I toured the wards of the Moscow Research and Practical Centre of Narcology, there was no doubting the dedication of head doctor Elena Sokolchik. The hospital on the outskirts of Moscow is considered one of the best facilities in the country, although only 10-15% of patients here go on to the voluntary course of rehab after their initial treatment. Dr Sokolchik has been on a number of professional visits abroad but was troubled by what she saw. "When an addict comes - along with her children - to a centre where she can get methadone I feel that this is wrong and hypocritical. I don't want a kid to see addictive drugs distributed as if they were medicines," she says. Image caption Elena Sokolchik, head doctor at the Moscow Research and Practical Centre of Narcology Dr Sokolchik told me that she was proud of her record. "I can tell you for certain that of our patients who go through the rehabilitation programme, 48% stay drug free for a year, 35% manage two years and 8% stay clean for eight years," she says. But these statistics indicate that roughly half of those who go through rehab do not stay drug-free for a year, and say nothing about the 80% to 90% who do not stay for rehab. Survey after survey shows many patients are soon back on injecting drugs - and once again spreading the virus. "Nobody believes me when I say that the Russian government is not doing any prevention work to stop the HIV epidemic," says Anya Sarang, head of the Andrey Rylkov Foundation - a small charity in Moscow which tries to promote better health for drug users. "There is absolutely no effort to stop the epidemic among people who inject drugs and unsurprisingly Russia remains one of the few countries in the world where the HIV epidemic is still on the rise." It is also true that no support is given to the handful of voluntary organisations trying to fill the gap. Sarang says that her small foundation is the only one doing harm-reduction work on the streets of Moscow. But it is an organisation which lives on a shoestring. It would dearly like a van to act as a mobile testing centre but that is beyond its resources - and volunteers have to lug their supplies around in rucksacks on the Moscow metro. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Infants at an orphanage for HIV-positive children in Moscow There are some bright spots in the Russian landscape, though. A few miles outside St Petersburg there is a clinic for infectious diseases which was originally built as hospital for the poor by Tsar Alexander II in the 19th Century, and which now houses a special unit for children with HIV, some of whom have been orphaned or abandoned. The devoted work of the staff there has not only provided children with proper care but altered attitudes among people living nearby. Back in the 1980s the fear was that HIV was infectious merely through touch or proximity. At one point, a petition was sent to President Boris Yeltsin calling for the clinic to be closed - and so it was, but only for 24 hours. Fortunately, wiser counsel intervened. Today the position is much improved and many children are eventually adopted. But although discrimination against children with HIV has diminished, other prejudices remain very much alive. Adults with HIV can face ostracism. Sex workers caught carrying condoms are too often threatened with a charge of soliciting and forced to pay bribes to police. President Putin's legislation against the promotion of homosexuality encourages bigots, and makes it hard to get safe-sex advice leaflets printed. Everyone agrees that the most important aim of global policy must be to persuade more people to step forward for HIV tests. But why should you come forward if you risk discrimination? At present only half of those around the world with HIV know their condition, so many will continue to spread the virus - and the battle against Aids is set back further. Perhaps it is for these reasons that when asked about the outlook for an Aids-free Russia, Vadim Pokrovsky confesses he is not very hopeful. "Victory on HIV infection," he says quietly, "will require another 25 years." Norman Fowler Image copyright Other Conservative minister in Margaret Thatcher's government (1979-1990) As secretary of state for social security, Fowler ran the first information campaign in the UK on HIV/Aids Knighted in 1990, he was ennobled in 2001 Lord Fowler investigates Russia and Australia: The Truth About AidsonHealth Checkon BBC World Service from 19:30 BST today. Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.A former U.S. Customs employee is headed to federal prison for 20 years after being convicted of corruption and smuggling charges in El Paso, Texas. Martha Alicia Garnica, 43, a former Customs and Border Protection officer, conspired to smuggle marijuana and undocumented migrants into the United States and bribed or attempted to bribe fellow officers, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said in a statement. Garnica had pleaded guilty to the charges in May and was sentenced Aug. 26 by a federal judge. These sorts of cases are more common than readers might think. U.S. Homeland Security officials told a Senate panel in March that Mexican drug trafficking groups aggressively attempt to recruit border agents to allow narcotics and human smuggling through ports of entry. The Associated Press tallied 80 corruption-related convictions among enforcement officials along the U.S.-Mexico border since 2007, and 129 arrests of agents on corruption-related charges in all ports since 2003. Polygraph tests are conducted on only 1 in 10 applicants to border enforcement jobs, and 60% of applicants who undergo a lie detector test are deemed unsuitable to be hired, a Department of Homeland Security official said in Washington. In other words, the AP said, many brought in during the agency's recent hiring boom "could have joined with corruption already in mind." In June, for example, a federal judge in New Mexico sent another former border agent to prison for smuggling cocaine and marijuana into the U.S. between 2006 and 2008. The agent, Eric Macias, was hired in 2005. Agents implicated in the smuggling of guns south into Mexico is also an issue the U.S. is attempting to tackle. An ex-FBI agent was sentenced last week to two years in federal prison for buying and selling more than 200 firearms without a license, among other charges. — Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City Photo: Former U.S. border agent Martha Alicia Garnica in custody. Credit: U.S. Immigration and Customs EnforcementJaws dropped, nails were bitten, and Hillary Clinton supporters anxiously awaited the final results of the 2016 presidential election. With Donald Trump projected to win a number of key swing states, the depression was perhaps the most palpable at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, where Clinton supporters had gathered in droves for an expected victory. Then Trump picked up state after state and once full halls emptied, with attendees visibly emotional. The dark cloud extended to Wellesley, Massachusetts, home of the women's college Clinton famously attended. SEE ALSO: Secret Facebook group is giving Clinton supporters so much hope Clinton supporters crying at her campaign's HQ in New York City. #ElectionNight #Election2016 pic.twitter.com/ZLkJlg2Z9u — CBC News (@CBCNews) November 9, 2016 Clinton donors, guests, supporters streaming out of Javits Center, won't take questions, crying, grim, crushed. #ElectionDay #2016election — Molly O'Toole (@mollymotoole) November 9, 2016 A woman reacts to early polling numbers in NYC. Image: robyn beck/ AFP/Getty Images A man can barely hold back his feelings about poll results at Clinton's event in NYC. Image: Aaron P. Bernstein/ getty Images Supporters in NYC are aghast at Trump's lead in key states. Image: JEWEL SAMAD/Getty Images The experience of watching poll results was tiring and emotionally draining for many Clinton supporters in NYC. Image: Win McNamee/ getty Images A woman watches voting results at Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's election night event at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center November 8, 2016 in New York City. Image: Photo by Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images A Clinton supporter nervously waits to hear more elections results in NYC. Image: Win McNamee/Getty Images Some NYC Clinton supporters just couldn't hold back. Image: Win McNamee/ getty Images The scene in Wellesley, and other parts of the world — from Seattle, Washington to London, England — was similarly bleak. Wellesley College alum and Clinton supporter Maria Manning holds her head as she awaits elections results in the Massachusetts town. Image: craig f. walker/ Boston Globe via Getty Images Another Wellesley College alumna and Clinton supporter, Alicia Fitch, comforts her 6-year-old daughter, Gwendolyn, while watching election results at Wellesley College. Image: craig f. walker/ Boston Globe via Getty Images A Clinton supporter awaits polls results in Seattle, Washington. Image: jason redmond/ AFP/Getty Images A Clinton supporter in London embraces someone right after Trump's projected to win Florida. Image: chris j. ratcliffe/ Getty Images Despite the gloom, some are still holding on to hope. Clinton supporters come together to hold up a flag in her support, in the last crucial hours of the election. Image: keith bedford/ Boston Globe via Getty Images Bonus: Who is Tammy Duckworth?Solo Senpai #1 — Raylan Yutani [ST-FR] Lynx Artrald Blocked Unblock Follow Following Mar 8, 2017 Introducing the Solo Senpai Interview Series We are all in Black Shark Cult to learn, and that includes your friendly neighbourhood priests… With that in mind, I am proud to present the first instalment of a new resource offered by our Hunter Sect: the Solo Senpai interview series! We will be talking to experienced Solo PvP pilots, who have racked up hundreds or even thousands of solo kills — each one through a different unique mix of skill, talent and tactics (and maybe also some SP and ISK…). Raylan Yutani For this first interview, I talked to Raylan Yutani of Stay Frosty corporation (Zkillboard). Raylan has been playing for a while, but his focus on solo PvP is fairly recent — he has become very, very good at it very quickly. Raylan was nice enough to give us some insights into his tactics, learning processes, and favorite fits. Enjoy and learn! Capsuleer Raylan Yutani of Stay Frosty Thanks for taking the time for interview, Raylan! Can we start off by talking about when you started playing Eve, and how you ended up with Stay Frosty? I started playing EVE in 2013. I opened a trial account and was immediately hooked on the depth of the game and the possibilities that the sandbox environment offered. Raylan currently has 66M SP, including approximately 15M SP extracted from my redundant alts. My first taste of PvP was a brief dabble with Faction Warfare after 12 months of carebearing. Overall, it was quite disappointing and I learned very little about PvP. Opposing faction pilots weren’t interested in fighting and I was clearly outclassed by pirates that would invade ‘my’ plexes. It might have gone better if I had joined a FW corporation… …but of course I’m quite solitary and self-reliant IRL and prefer to figure things out for myself rather than ask for help. I did take away some positives from that experience though; the thrill of my first solo kill (https://zkillboard.com/kill/39579990/), the camaraderie of helping fleetmates destroy an enemy (https://zkillboard.com/kill/38985135/) and a constructive conversation with a member of Tuskers after he inevitably destroyed my Firetail following quite a lengthy cat and mouse chase around Vifrevaert. He returned the salvage from my wreck (unheard of!), we discussed fits and he suggested I put in an application with Tuskers when I eventually honed my skills. I then became involved in anti-ganking after a friend lost his Leopard while auto-piloting through some system I’d never heard of named ‘Uedama’. He wasn’t particularly bothered by the loss but I set off on a crusade to hunt the criminal down and bring him to justice. Unfortunately, CCP beat me to it and struck the perp down with their mighty banhammer following the ‘Bonus Room’ episode. Can you share any cool anti-ganking anecdotes? It’s not something I am very familiar with… One of my favourite anti-ganking moments was interfering with the infamous Santo Trafficante when I prevented him from boarding his Maller and stole it from under his nose as he sat helpless in his pod… Anti-ganking was interesting for a while but it wasn’t what I would call ‘proper PvP’ — despite what they may tell you on MinerBumping.com. I did gain confidence in engaging enemies and learning about CONCORD and Crimewatch mechanics. I eventually moved away from anti-ganking. We managed to save the occasional freighter but it seemed to make little impact on the antics of CODE. Most victims failed to take even the basic measures to help themselves and I stopped caring. I then began running burner missions in highsec as a source of ISK. Burners taught me a lot about managing speed, tackle, repping and over-heating. I also learned a few tricks from Feyd’s blog (http://evedarklord.blogspot.co.uk/). The Lords.of.Midnight seemed to have a lot of fun testing the boundaries of the sandbox. I experimented with a few shady practices such as suspect baiting, ninja looting and ganking for a while; they taught me how to hunt targets and line up the perfect warp-in. Reading Zappity’s Adventures forum post and blog (http://zappitysadventures.blogspot.co.uk/) inspired me to try out life as a lowsec pirate and proved it was a viable and entertaining occupation for a solo pilot. I reassessed my goals in EVE and decided I had to change things to get the fun back. I looked at various possible corps to join and Stay Frosty’s laid back attitude and ‘no drama, no demands’ ethos seemed like a perfect fit. So I dismantled my mining fleet, flogged off my assets, closed a couple of accounts and put in an application with Stay Frosty. It took a few weeks to find my feet and a playstyle that worked for me until I eventually topped the monthly killboard in November. Nice! Now, can you tell us a little about how you fly with Stay Frosty? Do you enjoy flying fleets as well as flying solo? The relaxed approach of Stay Frosty allows us to roam solo or team up in ad hoc fleets. We constantly share intel in our standing fleet chat regarding the local neighbourhood, and can count on each other if we need to bring moar firepower. I frequently help out local corpies and vice versa. I’m not precious about my killboard so I’m more than happy if a Frosty dives in to help me out during a fight. I do join the occasional organised fleet with comms and hope to do more of that, but I don’t really get involved in the kitchen sink roaming fleets (which more often than not become more akin to the Judean suicide squad. I’m not choosy about what I kill (farmers/miners/explorers whatever). I have a lot of time for people willing to learn and will frequently refund newbro losses. Great, and thanks for that attitude by the way. We try to be the same in Black Shark Cult, and to teach our new pilots about pirate etiquette like that. Now, what is your number one favorite ship in Eve? My absolute favourite ship is the Stratios. It’s gorgeous to look at — when it’s not cloaked, it’s very flexible and a tempting target that makes people linger in fight when they should really GTFO. My second favourite would be the Tristan. It’s a beast of a ship for a T1 frigate. I have yet to actually fly the Stratios, but I agree it’s the best looking ship in the game for sure. Can you tell us in which ship you’ve been the most successful so far? It depends on how you define successful… I have racked up many more kills with my Keres and Ishkur but I just love the sneaky-bastardness of the Stratios. Cloaky, drones, neuts and dual-rep sauciness! Now, I realize this might be sensitive and OPSEC info, but could you shed some light on how you operate when you are looking for solo fights? Hey, I’m giving away my trade secrets here! I tend to operate from a number of small bases and stay within a radius of 4–5 systems of those hubs. Jump clones make it easy to avoid camp situations, stop things from getting stale and means I always have a good selection of ready-made ships to hand. I run two concurrent EVE sessions and use a scout to help locate targets or act as a warp-in for Raylan, if necessary. (I don’t use links for PvP.) Some more background about my setup: the overview tabs I use are PvP, Fleet, NPC, Drones, Salvage, Misc, All and GTFO. Auto-tracking camera is enabled (shift-C) so the camera follows any object I select. That helps me see where a target has run to. On entering a system, whilst still under gatecloak, I copy the contents of local into the Pirate’s Little Helper tool and identify potential targets and their probable fits. Then I start locating those targets, firstly with a full directional scan, gradually reducing the range and angle. If, for example, the target is between 5AU and 10AU I then manually adjust the distance until I have them within 0.1AU and compare that distance with the objects in my ‘All’ overview tab. With the angle set to 5 degrees, I select each object at that distance and scan. If the gatecloak expires before I finish, I will warp to a safespot central to the system and continue with d-scan. The typical places to look are FW plexes, belts and anomalies. If I can’t locate targets with d-scan, I pop out the Sisters combat probes to find their safespot or mission plex. Failing that, I will check if they are docked and wait outside the station to see where they are headed. After doing this for a while, you get a good feeling for where potential targets are likely to be hanging out depending on their ship and background, and it speeds up the process. i.e. LP farmers will be in plexes, a non-FW pilot in a plex wants to fight, a non-FW pilot in a belt is usually ratting, etc. Get familiar with the locals — learn who are the link and cyno alts. Ratters typically move from belt to belt, top to bottom, landing at the same distance from the beacon each time. So it’s easy to predict where they will land next and to sit waiting for them. I bookmark any safe spots. You will be surprised at how many pilots re-use the same safe spot even after being caught there in the past and it saves me the effort of making my own safe spots. Wow, that is a boatload of valuable tips right there! Good stuff… So, more inside information please! What are your favorite fits you can share with us? Well, I’m no fitting guru so don’t expect any revelations here. I borrow most of my fits from zKill or corpmates! The ship I’m probably best known for in Stay Frosty is my Keres anti-farming fit, which was spawned from my frustration with the number of FW pilots using warp core stabilisers and ‘forgetting’ to fit guns. It’s fast and has surprisingly good scram range; Warp Scrambler II is 18.9km heated. The negatives; DPS is low and tank is virtually non-existant so don’t engage any drone boats. [Keres, Superweapon!] Magnetic Field Stabilizer II Damage Control II Tracking Enhancer II 5MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive Warp Scrambler II Caldari Navy Warp Scrambler Warp Scrambler II Sensor Booster II, Scan Resolution Script 150mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S 150mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II Small Low Friction Nozzle Joints II 'Augmented' Hobgoblin x2 Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S x3000 Spike S x1000 Nanite Repair Paste x40 The scram/kite Ishkur tends to be my go-to ship despite it being the ginger step-child of the assault frigate family. Overheat all the things, keep at range. Swap out the web for a second scram if the situation calls for it. [Ishkur, Mortal Sword!] Damage Control II Coreli A-Type Explosive Plating Magnetic Field Stabilizer II Small Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste Coreli A-Type 1MN Afterburner Federation Navy Stasis Webifier Caldari Navy Warp Scrambler 125mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S 125mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S Small Knave Scoped Energy Nosferatu 125mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I Small Hybrid Burst Aerator I 'Augmented' Hobgoblin x5 Acolyte II x5 Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S x3000 Spike S x1000 Nanite Repair Paste x40 I’ll have to try out that Ishkur one of these days. I suppose part of its success is that is flown very rarely and people will tend to underestimate it… Let’s pick your brain even more thoroughly. Do you fly with implants? If so, what is your typical solo PvP pod? I use minimal impants — mainly for fitting purposes:- Slot 4: Genolution Core Augmentation CA-2 Slot 6: Inherent Implants ‘Squire’ Power Grid Management EG-603 Slot 7: Zor’s Custom Navigation Link Slot 10: Zainou ‘Gnome’ Weapon Upgrades WU-1003 I use Synth Exile for +3% armour repairer boost (although I normally forget that I have it in the cargo bay). I will be trying some stronger drugs soon now that transport of them in empire space is legal. I don’t use links for PvP. What some people tend to forget is that flying solo, especially when you don’t fly super-blinged and without links, can be a costly playstyle. How do you make your ISK in game? To make ISK, I use an alt to blitz L4 security missions in highsec or run burner missions, although recently the Sisters of EVE LP conversion rate has reduced significantly. I recently drained all the skill points from my redundant alts and sold the spare extractors, so I’m ISK positive for the foreseeable future. Looting my PvP kills covers my day-to-day piracy activities. I fund my subs with cash. PLEXing accounts can become a second job and that’s time you could be having fun instead. Thanks so much for talking to us, Raylan. Lots of good insights and practical tips, just what I had hoped for… Do you have any parting wisdom for our Sharkies who aspire to solo greatness? Flying blind into a situation will usually get you dead. Intel first, then maximum aggression!Having struck it big with 'Cocaine Cowboys,' Rakontur Partners Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman explore another one of Miami's subculture. Dawg Fight, director Billy Corben’s new film about the backyard bare-knuckle fight scene, debuts on Netflix this weekend. But for Corben and his producing partner Alfred Spellman, best known for their 2006 doc Cocaine Cowboys, an online bow proved the right fit for their particular brand of street-smart filmmaking. “As we started looking at how we wanted to release it, theatrical was just not a very appealing option,” says Spellman, who along with Corben founded their Rakontur banner in 2000. Explains Corben, “The whole purpose of this subculture is these guys uploading this footage to the Internet. So the audience for this type of content is already on line — the gamer crowd, the fight fan crowd. So it seemed just kind of obvious to go where they were.” Since first meeting up in high school more than 15 years ago, Corben and Spellman have forged a unique career by focusing on what Carben admits is often “more pulpy, pop-culture-oriented subject matter” and then riding the successive waves through which such movies have been delivered to eager audiences. “We’ve watched the business shift now through four incarnations,” says Spellman. “We started out going to Sundance. At Sundance, we realized your audience is the seven or eight people who are the acquisition execs. And then we went through the DVD boom, catching the last wave with Cocaine Cowboys. After the recession and the technological upheaval, we did a lot of TV commissions — we’ve done now three 30 for 30s for ESPN and a four-hour miniseries for VH1.” And with Dawg Fight, they’ve moved on to streaming-on-demand. “We’ve kind of been early adopters in figuring out new media trends, some that work out and some that don’t,” adds Corben. As the two tell it, it all began when they met in ninth grade, in a middle-school class on TV production when a teacher urged them to work together. As a result, at age 15, they formed their first production company to make short films. When both moved on to the University of Miami, they heard of a case in Gainesville, Fla. about a stripper who alleged she was had been raped at a University of Florida fraternity house. It was right around the time that the low-budget, shot-on-video The Blair Witch Project had hit theaters, and so they were inspired to use digital video, as well as videotape clips of the assault, to assemble Raw Deal: A Question of Consent, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001. Although they hadn’t studied documentary filmmaking in school, that early success with non-fiction filmmaking gave them a direction moving forward. Rather than move to New York or L.A., they decided to return to their hometown of Miami. “We wanted to tell stories from here. There were really no homegrown storytellers here,” says Spellman. At the time, Michael Mann was working on his Miami Vice feature. And Scarface’s Tony Montana had become a cultural icon. “We were trying to find an iconic story to tell, and we realized we could tell the story of growing up in Miami in the 1980s during the cocaine cowboy boom. With the benefit of 25 years of hindsight, we thought we could tell the real Scarface,” Spellman recounts. Their Sundance success notwithstanding, they couldn’t find any financing. “We thought we were so cool because we could get so many meetings,” laughs Corben. “But nobody got it. We couldn’t get any industry financing or support prior to the start of production.” Persevering, they managed to complete Cocaine Cowboys, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2006. They got just two offers for a theatrical release, opting to go with Magnolia Pictures because it had its own home video distribution and they sensed the movie would have a long shelf-life on DVD, which proved to be the case. =Released in a dozen theaters, the movie grossed just $150,000 theatrically. Meanwhile, though, Corben discovered that pirated copies of the movie were a hot commodity. Even before Cowboys was released, they discovered a bootleg version, bought at a local flea market, was playing on a continual loop in one Miami Gardens barber shop. Instead of deciding to track down the pirates or sue for illegal use of the film, they decided to send a crew out to shoot a piece for a YouTube about how Cowboys had become a street phenomenon. And when, in January, 21007, the movie did come out on home video, it kept selling and selling — in part because it wasn’t marketed as a doc but as a gangster movie which Best Buy promoted right beside titles like mainstream action fare like Con Air and Casino Royale. Cowboys’ success also helped them define the genre in which they were working, which they dubbed “pop docs.” “Everyone has their own lane in the doc world,” Spellman said. “Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock are the stars of their docs. Then, there are more traditional PBS docs. But we’re creating non-fiction that appeals to a younger audience.” Additionally, Cowboys gave them the credibility to infiltrate the world of Dawg Fight, a process that began about five years ago as they began tracking backyard fight promoters like Kimbo Slice, who introduced the scene, and Dhafir “Dada 5000” Harriswho became its Don King. “It was an incredible local story,” says Corben. “Kimbo Slice had become a sensation, inventing this business model of fighting in the backyard, uploading the footage to the web, inspiring a new generation of young people to emulate this model. Cocaine Cowboys and the ESPN 30 for 30 movies we’ve done gave us the bona fides as far as access was concerned. Also, these guys were doing this to get noticed. Even though it’s an underground,
.”PASADENA, Calif. - A NASA-led study has documented an unprecedented depletion of Earth's protective ozone layer above the Arctic last winter and spring caused by an unusually prolonged period of extremely low temperatures in the stratosphere.The study, published online Sunday, Oct. 2, in the journal Nature, finds the amount of ozone destroyed in the Arctic in 2011 was comparable to that seen in some years in the Antarctic, where an ozone "hole" has formed each spring since the mid-1980s. The stratospheric ozone layer, extending from about 10 to 20 miles (15 to 35 kilometers) above the surface, protects life on Earth from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays.The Antarctic ozone hole forms when extremely cold conditions, common in the winter Antarctic stratosphere, trigger reactions that convert atmospheric chlorine from human-produced chemicals into forms that destroy ozone. The same ozone-loss processes occur each winter in the Arctic. However, the generally warmer stratospheric conditions there limit the area affected and the time frame during which the chemical reactions occur, resulting in far less ozone loss in most years in the Arctic than in the Antarctic.To investigate the 2011 Arctic ozone loss, scientists from 19 institutions in nine countries (United States, Germany, The Netherlands, Canada, Russia, Finland, Denmark, Japan and Spain) analyzed a comprehensive set of measurements. These included daily global observations of trace gases and clouds from NASA's Aura and CALIPSO spacecraft; ozone measured by instrumented balloons; meteorological data and atmospheric models. The scientists found that at some altitudes, the cold period in the Arctic lasted more than 30 days longer in 2011 than in any previously studied Arctic winter, leading to the unprecedented ozone loss. Further studies are needed to determine what factors caused the cold period to last so long."Day-to-day temperatures in the 2010-11 Arctic winter did not reach lower values than in previous cold Arctic winters," said lead author Gloria Manney of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro. "The difference from previous winters is that temperatures were low enough to produce ozone-destroying forms of chlorine for a much longer time. This implies that if winter Arctic stratospheric temperatures drop just slightly in the future, for example as a result of climate change, then severe Arctic ozone loss may occur more frequently."The 2011 Arctic ozone loss occurred over an area considerably smaller than that of the Antarctic ozone holes. This is because the Arctic polar vortex, a persistent large-scale cyclone within which the ozone loss takes place, was about 40 percent smaller than a typical Antarctic vortex. While smaller and shorter-lived than its Antarctic counterpart, the Arctic polar vortex is more mobile, often moving over densely populated northern regions. Decreases in overhead ozone lead to increases in surface ultraviolet radiation, which are known to have adverse effects on humans and other life forms.Although the total amount of Arctic ozone measured was much more than twice that typically seen in an Antarctic spring, the amount destroyed was comparable to that in some previous Antarctic ozone holes. This is because ozone levels at the beginning of Arctic winter are typically much greater than those at the beginning of Antarctic winter.Manney said that without the 1989 Montreal Protocol, an international treaty limiting production of ozone-depleting substances, chlorine levels already would be so high that an Arctic ozone hole would form every spring. The long atmospheric lifetimes of ozone-depleting chemicals already in the atmosphere mean that Antarctic ozone holes, and the possibility of future severe Arctic ozone loss, will continue for decades."Our ability to quantify polar ozone loss and associated processes will be reduced in the future when NASA's Aura and CALIPSO spacecraft, whose trace gas and cloud measurements were central to this study, reach the end of their operational lifetimes," Manney said. "It is imperative that this capability be maintained if we are to reliably predict future ozone loss in a changing climate."Other institutions participating in the study included Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Potsdam, Germany; NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.; Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, De Bilt, The Netherlands; Delft University of Technology, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands; Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Greenbelt, Md., and Hampton, Va.; Science and Technology Corporation, Lanham, Md.; Environment Canada, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Central Aerological Observatory, Russia; NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colo.; Arctic Research Center, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Finland; Danish Climate Center, Danish Meteorological Institute, Denmark; Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands; Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia; National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan; National Institute for Aerospace Technology, Spain; and University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.For more information on NASA's Aura mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/aura. For more information on NASA's CALIPSO mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/calipso JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. News Media Contact Alan Buis 818-354-0474Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, [email protected] Cole 202-358-0918Headquarters, [email protected] how I said that all of Patrick’s uncharacteristic, sexually adventurous, suitor-swapping behavior was going to catch up with him? It just did, and on Halloween, of all nights. The one holiday that forces you to become someone else is the one event Patrick chose to reveal almost everything to, well, almost everyone. The boys—Patrick, Agustin, and Dom, reunited for the first time in what feels like ages—are shopping for their Halloween costumes for the party Patrick is throwing at his (and technically Agustin’s) house. Agustin wants to go as the Golden Ghouls, naturally, but Patrick has grown weary of spending “another Halloween dressed as an old dead woman from an ’80s TV show.” This year he’s dressing up as Gordon Freeman, a seminal character from the video game Half-Life; Patrick says Gordon is an incredibly important video game icon, yet he actually just looks like a mailman from the future. The only person who might appreciate this costume, of course, is Kevin, who is in something of a funk when Patrick encounters him alone at the office during a supply steal/run for cups and plates. It’s a far cry from the last time they were alone together at work—instead of mashing each other’s monsters, this time Kevin is aloof, telling Patrick that he’s likely hitting “Decline” on Patrick’s party Evite and oh, by the way, I’m moving to Seattle to make things better for myself and John. Patrick handles the news with seeming grace—at the very least, he doesn’t Alex Mack himself into a puddle on the floor yet—and he wishes Kevin a happy Halloween. For now. Agustin visits the shelter to convince Eddie to spend the night after the party; Eddie is reticent but open-minded, dependent on how good Agustin’s costume is (spoiler alert: It’s awful). If we’re building to an inevitable “I can’t be with you because I’m HIV positive and you’re not” climax between pushy Agustin and warm-but-don’t-test-me Eddie, we’re slowly cracking at it with every moment Agustin tries to take things further with his budding romance. Dom’s newest 21st-century endeavor is Twitter (@ChickenDom40! First follower: me, obviously), which he’s using to help kick-start his Kickstarter. Doris, of course, is absolutely the wrong woman to ask for help, since she “just found out last week my phone has a calendar on it.” She can’t help with Twitter, and she also drops the bomb that she won’t be able to do a couple’s costume with Dom this year (a longstanding Dom-Doris tradition). Things are heating up between Doris and Malik, and a couple’s costume is basically the next biggest step they can take before moving in together. Dom is momentarily sad, which is not a fun look for Dom, but he’ll find happiness in his costume: He-Man. And damn, is he He-Man. IT’S TIME FOR THE PARTY! When things begin, the party is crowded but not quite raging. (“What is this playlist?” asks Agustin, “NOW Music 5?”) Nobody is recognizing Patrick’s obscure video game costume, and what’s worse: nobody is using his karaoke sign-up sheet to avoid party conflict. Even though Dom has arrived with a keg and Doris and Malik are demonstrating on-point costume game as Sonny and Cher, Patrick is a tightly wound party host, desperate to sacrifice his own fun to make sure others are having it. He grabs a red solo cup and begins what will be a long string of alcoholic beverages adventuring through his circulatory system like the Magic School Bus. Eddie—as Bilbo Baggins—arrives with a friendly Legolas in tow, who he tries to set Patrick up with, but the timing is off because Patty abandons the conversation to go talk to Richie. And of course, Richie’s brought his new boyfriend Brady, who immediately recognizes Patrick’s Gordon Freeman costume. (Is Richie dating a type?) Richie announces that Brady’s SF Weekly article went viral, and Patrick pretends to be happy for him… and grabs another strong drink. “He’s not as fun as me,” Patrick tells Richie, who jokingly replies, “He’s way more fun than you.” But before Patrick can inquire whether that’s a joke, Brady returns with shots! And of course, Patrick takes two. A few minutes later, a conversation has arisen between everyone Patrick cares about at this party—Dom, Doris, Agustin, Eddie, Richie, and Brady—and the topic at hand is PrEP, an HIV-preventative drug treatment that’s become a very contentious point of debate for gay men in recent years. (It’s a surprise that Looking has so quickly chosen to enter the Truvada debate, yet it’s also exceedingly true to reality as the topic is resoundingly relevant.) The debate becomes moderately heated when Patrick contests Brady’s opinion—and viral article about said opinion—leading to an incredibly awkward concentration of tension between Richie’s former and current lovers. Eddie diffuses it, but Patrick’s sad puppy eyes get even sadder and puppier. And he gets drunker. [Quick Dom & Agustin check-in: Agustin’s still trying to convince Eddie to stay; Dom is bonding with Malik, who reveals that he’s fallen hard for Doris. Back to Patrick.] Now certifiably hammered, Patrick plants himself in a corner of the room and surveys his Halloween bash. There’s Richie, locking lips with Brady. There’s Agustin, hanging onto Eddie. Everywhere he goes, there’s a happy couple, and so Patrick parlays his drunk loneliness into one bad move: He goes up to the Legolas, who he unceremoniously shunned earlier when Richie arrived, and he immediately starts kissing him. Legolas rebuffs: “What am I, your sloppy party leftovers? Happy Halloween, dick. Your playlist is garbage.” (Woah, man! You can knock the party, but don’t insult the playlist!) And if the timing couldn’t be worse, here comes Kevin, who not only didn’t RSVP, but he brought his boyfriend John with him. John, who still doesn’t know about Patrick, is now in his apartment, and he’s slobbering all over Kevin without any awareness that Patrick’s head is about to explode. And it does. Patrick, in full drunken mode, marches up to the front of the party and turns off the music, grabs the karaoke microphone, and stands up to deliver what must be the worst party speech since Bridesmaids. “Why is nobody singing karaoke?” he awkwardly asks, and nobody responds, so Patrick begins talking about everyone. First, he launches into Dom—and yes, he’s got love in his heart, but he’s drunkenly sounding more condescending than compassionate. He begs the party to donate money to Dom’s restaurant—“Actually, it’s a chicken window. I don’t know what that is. But he doesn’t have any money.” Dom is mortified, and a hat becomes a church collection plate, which makes Dom feel more like a He-Boy than a He-Man. Next, Patrick tearfully praises Agustin, congratulating him for turning his life around… after Agustin was found drugged out on the street and rescued by Richie. Oh gosh. Nice announcement, Patrick. When he gets to Richie, Patrick raises a glass, and he introduces Brady as Richie’s soulmate and “the gay Doctor Ruth, so if anybody needs their Truvada prescription filled, that ginger over there in the crowd is the one.” Finally, he toasts to his boss Kevin “and John, his longtime boyfriend. Isn’t it great when two gay guys can just work it out like that? So I just wanted to say, Kevin, these last few weeks, when we were alone together…” and someone grabs the microphone, FINALLY, before Patrick can do any more damage to all the people in his world who are or were close to him before his karaoke breakdown. Patrick may have dressed as Gordon Freeman, but he ended up going as a train wreck. In the aftermath, Agustin—God love him—is consoling Patrick outside. (Real talk: Agustin’s ability to forgive and forget is something that makes him a fiercely real, redeemed character from the annoyance we met in season 1.) Kevin arrives and sarcastically commends Patrick’s speech, asking for some alone time, which Agustin reluctantly allows. In the brief moment Patrick and Kevin are alone, Patrick confesses that he doesn’t want Kevin to go to Seattle. But before Kevin can reply, John has found them, and the three are face to face with their cards barely underneath the table. For a minute, I wonder if Patrick is going to blurt out a question to Kevin, or if Kevin is going to blurt out a declaration wherein he chooses one boy over the other for good. But instead, Kevin decides he wants to leave the party—and in a sense, then, he did choose. He just didn’t choose Patrick. “Good luck in Seattle,” Patrick says as Kevin leaves. “I hope everything works out the way you want.” And as Kevin and John walk away, John asks, “What does that mean?” thus suggesting another fight between the obviously unhappy couple. Poor Patrick. With the party a massive failure (in his eyes, at least) and his heart now officially broken, he crawls into Dom’s arms as the celebration dwindles to a few remaining guests: Doris and Malik, so happy it’s disgusting; Agustin and Eddie, who hasn’t left the party after all; and Richie, who locks eyes with Patrick and gives him a reassuring smile before turning around to dance with Brady. Aaaaand scene. Finally, Patrick has realized that his behavior all season has caught up with him and shoved him face-first into the mud. The questions remain: Are he and Kevin done for good? And are he and Richie friends for good? How will Patrick move on without a quasi-serious suitor in his life? (I’m sure he’ll find a way, and its name is Grindr.) As for the rest of our San Francisco ensemble, Dom seems to be moving on fine without Lynn, diving into his chicken window with all the passion he once allocated toward that dying relationship. Agustin’s romance with Eddie is believably heating up, but as we can tell from Eddie’s hesitation, their relationship-defining moment could go in a myriad of unhappy directions, while at the same time, Doris and Malik are slowly building toward an inevitably happy resolution. Those lucky bastards. What’d you think of Patrick’s drunken disco? Sound off in the comments!Considering the extent to which Google has extended its operations and search for talent across the U.S. in recent years, it is hard to believe the company has never had a presence in San Diego – until now. Google bought San Diego sensor technology start-up Lumedyne Technologies for a reported $85 million in 2015, making it the first local office for the Mountain View-based company. The tech giant then leased 60,000 square feet at the Verge complex in Sorrento Mesa, perhaps in part to house its new acquisition. Lumedyne occupies about 9,500 square feet and had began searching a larger office space last year per reports. It remains to be seen exactly what plans Google has for its new San Diego outpost. Among Google Alphabet’s many moonshots is Verily, its biotech/medical device venture, which would benefit from tapping into the region’s biotech expertise. Or it may simply be finally appreciating the level of general talent in San Diego. A San Diego Regional EDC study showed San Diego has the second-highest concentration of science and engineering professionals in the US. The pursuit of labor has brought many tech firms to San Diego in recent months. Beyond its talent, San Diego also offers living costs that are lower than in Northern California. Google, Apple and Facebook can certainly afford the cost of office space in Silicon Valley, but some of their current and prospective employees are priced out of the local housing markets. These heavyweights, and other tech companies, have been expanding operations to what are considered secondary markets. San Diego, Raleigh/Durham and Atlanta for example provide a high quality of life and housing that is priced well below what a renter or home buyer would be saddled with in Silicon Valley or San Francisco. As of May, the average single-family home in San Diego costs $539,000, well below the $831,700 average in San Jose and about half of San Francisco’s $1.1 million average. Google’s move also has to the potential to put San Diego on the short list for experienced tech employees considering where they can have a long-term career. While San Diego is a destination for scientists and younger tech talent, it has had some difficulty attracting and retaining top software and network engineers who have traditionally found their way to Northern California, Austin, Boston or New York City. In today’s climate, employers in San Diego may have to pay a premium, though, to lure candidates with an established track record from the Valley or San Francisco. According to a 2015 report by Hired, offers from San Diego firms to software engineer candidates located in San Francisco were $19,000 higher than were offers to software engineers living within San Diego. If Google sets down roots in San Diego and other tech firms follow suit, more experienced tech employees may overcome some of their hesitation.To be sure, Doctor Who is one of the most powerful and long-running sci-fi properties of all time, but if it’s going to maintain or even grow its popularity, the venerable time-traveling franchise is going to need to change in a big way. A hardcore fan will tell you (quite correctly) that inherent change is already woven into the fabric of the show – specifically because the lead actor can become a different person and be accepted by fans almost instantly. Still, there’s a perception that the contemporary Who fandom isn’t what once was, or, at the very least, could stand to grow or even win back those David Tennant-era fans of the previous decade. With the 2017 season about to inherit a new showrunner in the form of Chris Chibnall, fans are divided: will Chibnall be someone who shakes up the status-quo, or will he be too similar to his predecessor; Steven Moffat? In 1984, Colin Baker (as the Doctor) said change had come and not a moment too soon!” And while that story – “The Twin Dilemma” – is still considered one of the worst Doctor Who scripts of all time, the sentiment holds: change is again blowing in the solar wind, and Doctor Who has its work cut out for it. The show must unburden itself with its propensity for overly precise continuity stuff, specifically, the Time War. At least from an American (or non-UK) perspective, it could be argued Doctor Who has always had an accessibility problem. Because the intimidating long-history of the show, and the serial nature in which it was initially broadcast, general audiences of the 70’s, 80s, and 90’s found it impenetrable. Part 4 of how many? The Key to Time, what? Wait, which number Doctor is this? Thankfully, in 2005, Russell T. Davies’s relaunch of Doctor Who sidestepped much of the previous continuity by favoring a simplistic approach to the show. Even Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor dressed plainly: dark leatherish jacket, short, unfancy hair, simple shirts. In essence, the 2005 “reboot” of Doctor Who was – from a canon standpoint – accessible as hell. But from 2005 until now, Doctor Who has only become more and more complex, effectively re-tangling a knot which was neatly undone with the notion of “The Time War.” In the early days of the new show, Christopher Eccleston, and then, David Tennants Doctor could mention the Time War,” and it provided an easy way to get around any previous continuity problems with the canon of the old show. We had everything we needed to know: the Daleks and the Time Lords had a massive inter-dimensional conflict which resulted in some planets being destroyed, some history being alerted, and, initially strongly implied that not only were all the Time Lords wiped-out, but also erased from existence. Part of why this works is because the Doctor’s outrageous abilities and personality work best dramatically when new characters encountering him are unfamiliar with him, the amazing TARDIS, and the wealth of exciting time and space adventures they’re about to have. Although– and here’s Who’s real life twin dilemma – if the recurring characters don’t get-to-know the Doctor really well, then things would get boring and also inaccessible. But, that means the longer those companions are around, the more they insinuate themselves into the canon of the show. By the end of the first season of New-Who Rose (Billie Piper) briefly becomes an all-powerful being of pure energy and “ends” the Time War. Nine seasons later, the most contemporary companion – Clara – was retroactively revealed to to be directly responsible for the direction of the Doctor’s entire life, from the very first moments he fled the planet Gallifrey, to talking the Doctor into making a different decision in regard to the Time War. And while fans can (and do) debate the relative goodness or badness of these plot decisions the impact is clear: everything has gotten a lot more complicated, again. If Doctor Who were naturalistic fiction, the lead character would be regarded as a total creep, or at the very least, disturbed. He’s constantly making new BFFs, but those people’s lives are endlessly screwed up forever because of that friendship. From Rose, to Donna, to Clara, each companion represents a microcosm of “the Time War”: an event in the Doctor’s past which has scared him emotionally and which he was also partially responsible for. He’s a guy with PTSD from a giant war which he kind of caused and made worse, and drags other people into his misery. INVERSE LOOT DEALS Meet the Pod The first bed that learns the perfect temperature for your sleep, and dynamically warms or cools according to your needs. Buy Now But wait! I thought Doctor Who was a fun-loving zany TV show about a quirky hero who travels through time and space in a phone box? Exactly! What started out as a nifty plot device has made Doctor Who almost unduly heavy. The events of the Time War has colored all of the Doctor’s relationships throughout all nine seasons of the new run. And in addition to giving new-viewers a headache of confusion, it’s also made everything just too damn important. Saving one planet or one person isn’t enough anymore: the Doctor has to be fighting for the existence of all of time and space, all the time. While it’s thrilling to see the Doctor take on such epics stakes on a weekly basis, the show is always at its most accessible and charming when their’s a nice contrast of earthbound personality. The Matt Smith era gave us the excellent roommate episodes “The Lodger,” and “Closing Time,” and the 1970’s Doctor (Jon Pertwee) was specifically stranded on Earth for nearly his entire run. In the season 8 opener, the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) told a clockwork robot adversary that he preferred being on the ground, to being in the sky, saying “I prefer it down there. Everything is huge. Every detail. Every moment. Every life.”It seems pretty unlikely that Chibnall or the new creative team would do something as radical as grounding the Doctor for an entire season, but what if they did? Doctor Who is at its best when the concept is more commonplace. And if the show is going to make it into another decade of prosperity and popularity, the next set of adventures of the Doctor could stand to keep things a little more grounded.Posted 7 years ago on Feb. 25, 2012, 10:26 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt For live coverage of events underway on #F29, click here! This Wednesday, Occupiers in New York, Oakland, Mexico City, and over 80 other cities will take part in a coordinated National Day of Action to Shut Down the Corporations. Occupations have been preparing a variety of decentralized actions in response to Occupy Portland's call to target the American Legislative Exchange Council: We specifically call on people to target corporations that are members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The biggest corporations in America, like ExxonMobil, Bank of America, BP, Monsanto, Pfizer, and Wal-Mart use ALEC to buy off legislators and craft legislation that serves only the interests of corporations and not people. They then duplicate and spread this corporate legislation in Washington, D.C. and in state legislatures across the country. The anti-labor legislation in Wisconsin and the racist bill SB 1070 in Arizona are two recent and destructive examples of what corporations use ALEC to do. See here for more about why we protest corporate power and how ALEC seeks to erode our democracy, undermine workers rights and attack unions, destroy our environment, obstruct efforts to address climate change, undermine public education, pursue destructive agricultural practices and fuel the prison industrial complex. You can also RSVP for the Occupy Wall St/NYC Facebook event. For national coverage, follow @F29PDX on Twitter. Simultaneously, European trade unions have declared Feb. 29th a European Day of Action against austerity, following massive demonstrations against budget cuts in Greece, Spain, Belgium, and elsewhere. Decentralized actions in all 27 European Union nations and beyond will be "sending a clear message to the EU leaders: this imposed austerity is going to plunge Europe into a recession!"President Obama permanently blocked oil and gas drilling in portions of the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans that haven’t yet been leased to energy companies for production, a move that aims to secure some of Mr. Obama’s environmental legacy and will likely ignite a legal fight. The move also may reveal how much the idea known as “Keep it in the Ground” – a movement to end reliance on fossil fuels – has gained traction on the political left. The idea has percolated upward through grass-roots activism, and now a president who rode into office with an “all of the above” slogan on energy sources is riding out with some of the most sweeping anti-drilling actions ever taken by a US president. The move Tuesday, made in conjunction with Canada, aims to serve as a buffer against the incoming Trump administration. President-elect Donald Trump has said he wants to revive coal, oil, and natural gas jobs, including through opening public lands and oceans to more drilling and mining. Whereas many of Obama’s environmental and climate change policies are vulnerable to reversal, since he initiated them through executive action and regulation, White House officials and environmental activists argue the oceans move is different. Obama is using a 1953 law that enables the president to withdraw lands on the outer continental shelf from development, and since Congress didn’t include any reversal option, they argue Mr. Trump can’t scuttle it. Obama hasn’t made “Keep it in the Ground” his formal policy, but his move Tuesday is in sync with the tenor of that environmental campaign. Environmental advocates argue nations must leave all oil, natural gas, coal and other greenhouse gas-emitting fuels in the ground to avert climate change. The Obama administration has also made climate change a major priority, from leadership on the worldwide Paris Agreement in 2015 to formulating carbon emissions limits for power plants using Environmental Protection Agency regulatory powers. Overall, though, environmental groups contend it’s been easier for US politicians and the Obama administration to embrace policies that reject fossil fuels because renewable energy prices have plummeted. At the same time, climate science has more clearly shown how efforts to crunch emissions are falling short of what’s needed to keep global temperatures from rising 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels by 2100, a goal countries set through the Paris deal. “If that means that the so-called Keep it in the Ground movement has been mainstreamed, then yes,” said Franz Matzner, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Beyond Oil Initiative. “But I think it’s far more fundamental than that,” he said. “A fundamental change has taken place.... The problem and how severe it is is not an abstraction, and neither is the recognition that we have a choice.” 'Robust debate' over party platform It’s clear that elements of the Keep it in the Ground philosophy have earned growing political legitimacy within the Democratic Party. The progressive wing tussled with more moderate elements over how much the party’s 2016 platform should incorporate of that movement, and even helped to push eventual presidential nominee Hillary Clinton further to the left on energy and climate matters. “I think you saw a lot of robust debate around the Democratic platform on Keep it in the Ground language or pursuing policy to stop fossil fuel development,” said Marissa Knodel, a climate campaigner with Friends of the Earth. “I don’t think you could call Keep it in The Ground the de facto policy of the Democratic party. But I think what you’re going to see [from Democrats] with the Trump administration coming into office … is really uniting and coming together to defend our public areas from that onslaught.” But not everyone with ties to the Democratic Party agrees a major shift has occurred within the party. Keep it in the Ground isn't a "blanket policy" to describe the party's environmental platform, even if Democrats appear to be heading in that direction, said Michael Conathan, director of ocean policy with left-leaning think tank Center for American Progress. The ocean decision, Mr. Conathan said, merely weighed the costs and benefits of allowing fossil fuel exploration against the effect it would have on ecosystems. Any attempt to read the isolated incident as a shift toward an overarching policy stance is a stretch, he said. Not a blanket policy for Dems "Oil is still a necessary part of the energy mix and it will be for some time going forward, and it’s not going to disappear overnight," he said. "That means that a blanket Keep it in the Ground policy is a very difficult thing to employ at this point in time.” Indeed, Obama didn’t go as far as environmentalists had hoped. In the Beaufort Sea, 2.8 million acres of nearshore waters will remain open for drilling, and unleased parts of the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean weren’t considered. The decision aims to preserve 31 underwater canyons across 3.8 million acres stretching from New England to the Chesapeake Bay. In the Arctic, parts of which Canada also banned oil and gas drilling, senior administration officials said oil and gas drilling threatened food systems upon which native Alaskan tribes rely. They noted there was a greater than 75 percent chance of an oil spill in the region and that “our ability to clean up a spill is inadequate.” The backdrop of policies that block drilling could spell trouble for some moderate Senate Democrats up for reelection in 2018 in states won by Trump. Sens. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, all of whom must defend their seats in two years, hail from fossil fuel energy-producing states that Trump carried in November. The Democratic Party has "unquestionably" moved closer to the ideals of the Keep it in the Ground movement, said Mark Longabaugh, a Democratic strategist who advised Sen. Bernie Sanders (a Vermont independent) in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Mr. Longabaugh said this doesn't have to endanger moderate Democrats' position in the party, but he said environmental groups and Democrats need to do a better job of explaining how communities that depend on a fossil fuel-based economy can transition to one that relies more heavily on renewable energy. Ms. Knodel, referring to that challenge, said it will require some real searching and policy proposals tailored to specific communities. “What is going to work for Alaska is going to be different than what’s going to work for the Gulf of Mexico is going to be different than what’s going to work for Appalachian communities," she said. Pro-drilling views Republicans have criticized the Obama administration for taking federal onshore and offshore off the table for fossil fuel development. The White House said the Obama administration has removed 125 million acres of the Arctic from energy development since Mr. Obama took office. The Arctic is estimated to contain 27 billion barrels of oil and 132 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The administration officials said the White House was removing the Arctic areas in part because oil prices are too low to justify new investment in the region, and that there is “no viable timeline” to extract oil and gas in a “responsible” manner. The official noted no US Arctic production exists on the more than 200,000 acres companies have leased and that oil giants like Royal Dutch Shell have backed away from immediate drilling plans, citing low prices. The oil-and-gas industry, Republicans, and oil-state Democrats, however, would prefer the US keep options open in case the economic picture changes and makes drilling more likely. They note that Russia already is developing its Arctic resources and worry that the US is at a disadvantage. "Blocking offshore exploration weakens our national security, destroys good-paying jobs, and could make energy less affordable for consumers,” Erik Milito, director of upstream operations with the American Petroleum Institute, said in a statement released Tuesday. “Fortunately, there is no such thing as a permanent ban, and we look forward to working with the new administration on fulfilling the will of American voters on energy production.” Tuesday's action differs from the five-year offshore drilling plan that the Obama administration released last month. While that plan kept both the Atlantic and Arctic oceans off limits to drillers, Mr. Trump could craft a new one. Get the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy By contrast, short of legislative action, Tuesday’s decision almost undoubtedly will lead to the courts – and could well stay there for Trump’s entire first term. "We may get to the point where we’re in a new administration four years down the line before some of these issues get resolved," said Kristen Monsell, a staff attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity.1 Green Bay Packers 9-3 Last week: 26-21 W NE Last rank: 2nd Is there anything that Rodgers can’t do? He’s putting together an absolutely unreal season, and he outsmarted arguably the NFL’s best secondary and defensive guru in Bill Belichick. After slicing through them with talented rookie, Rodgers went to his bread-and-butter guys inand. If you want to check out a drive that typified the type of game- and season- Rodgers had, then look no further than the most obvious drive; the one that led to a touchdown to end the first half. Rodgers made an absolutely unreal throw near the right sideline for the drive’s first big play. Throughout the whole game, he was a step ahead of the Patriots during pre-snap reads, and his insane 9.7 yards per attempt are a testament to that; it’s so difficult to put up those kinds of numbers against New England’s defense.Hundreds of anarchists rioted in the French city of Nantes, showering the city with smoke barrels and paint bombs in defiance of the state of emergency, which was extended by the French parliament for another three months. Protesters waving red-and-black anarchist banners set off fireworks, threw paint and smoke bombs at bank facades, as they rampaged through Nantes on Saturday. Riot police officers cordoned off the streets in a bid to prevent further escalation. One of the protesters hurled a firework at a group of police officers, but, as seen in the video published by Ruptly, the projectile missed the target. The radicals, armed with homemade shields, held a banner, reading, “Resistance to the state of emergency!” The state of emergency was invoked in France following terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015, in which 130 were killed and 350 injured. The extension of the exceptional measure enables police to put anybody under house arrest without obtaining a court order. Law enforcers can also conduct searches without warrants. Since its implementation in November, more than 3,000 searches have been carried out and nearly 300 people have been placed under house arrest. Last month, France saw a string of protests across the country calling for the immediate abolishment of the state of emergency. Protests were also leveled against the government’s plans to revoke the French citizenship of dual citizens convicted of crimes related to terrorist activities. READ MORE: Thousands march to protest state of emergency in France "The state is allowing itself to take absolutely catastrophic decisions for the life and future of the liberty of France," Youssef Boussoumah, a member of the Indigenes de la Republique party, told RT's Ruptly video agency at the time. The move has also been severely criticized by various human rights groups. They argue that it hinders the exercise of fundamental freedoms and infringes on people’s rights. #France manifestation qui finit mal à Nantes dégradations, emploi de bombe de peinture confrontation avec la #policepic.twitter.com/vvFu9qhATR — Presstv Francais (@PresstvFr) 21 февраля 2016 Human Rights Watch has published a report titled: “France: Abuses Under State of Emergency”. It accuses the police of abuse of power in carrying out searches and arrests. “Police burst into homes, restaurants, or mosques; broke people’s belongings; terrified children; and placed restrictions on people’s movements so severe that they lost income or suffered physically,” the report reads, urging the repeal of the measure and to halt discriminatory police practices.Charles Barkley Arrested Charles Barkley was arrested for DUI in Arizona early this morning after telling cops he ran a stop sign because he was in a hurry to get some oral sex. The officer who wrote the report said: “He told me that he ran the stop sign because he was in a hurry to pick up the girl I saw get in the passenger seat.” “He asked me to admit that she was ‘hot
any sightings of them click here.Does a bear poop in the woods? Of course it does, and so, apparently, do a whole lot of humans. Discarded toilet paper is just one of the problems that Rocky Mountain National Park has been dealing with as it leapfrogged ahead of Yellowstone and Yosemite in popularity last year. Its 4.16 million visitors in 2015, an increase of 21 percent from the year before, is behind only Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with 10.71 million guests, and Grand Canyon National Park, with 5.52 million. “With that increase, we started to see a different behavior in our visitors,” said Kyle Patterson, a Rocky Mountain National Park spokeswoman. While most people behave properly, the number engaging in illegal activity increased so much that the park this summer issued a plea for assistance in trying to educate visitors about park etiquette. The “Please Help Your Friends to Behave Better to Protect Rocky Mountain National Park” statement covered a variety of topics, including avoiding the park between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. during the summer and fall, restrictions on campfires, keeping a distance from wildlife, not taking items from the wild, the prohibition on pets in most places, parking and, yes, bathroom habits. “If your friend is a frequent pooper, suggest taking care of that before hiking. If nature calls, plan ahead — bring a waste bag, or research tips on how to poop in the woods,” it said. “Friends don’t let friends go to the bathroom near water sources. Just think, you might be drinking from that water source the next day!”Agreement on a December deadline for the start of decommissioning, expected to be imposed on Monday when Mr Obama meets his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, will be hailed in both Washington and Moscow as a breakthrough in efforts to revive relations between the two Cold War rivals. Although no concrete figure is likely to be set during the American president's three-day visit, observers say the two sides are hoping to cut their respective arsenals by up to 50 per cent, to between 1,000 and 1,500 deployed warheads. Both countries claim currently to have about 2,200 missiles primed for deployment, with thousands more either in reserve or awaiting dismantlement. The declaration will allow both leaders to claim a foreign policy success. The Kremlin needs a new deal to replace the Cold War START treaty more than the Americans. With most of its nuclear arsenal already technically defunct, military experts believe that Russia will only be able to maintain 500 deployed warheads by 2020. A new treaty, strongly resisted by President George W Bush, would allow to Russia to maintain parity with the United States and with it its last claim to genuine superpower status. For Mr Obama, a deal would allow him to boost his credentials as a president committed to the elimination of weapons of mass destruction. Yet, although his visit will be couched in the language of diplomacy and partnership, Mr Obama has been told to expect a frosty welcome from his Russian hosts. Fresh from a triumphant trip to the Middle East, where he projected soft American power by reaching out to adversaries in the region, Mr Obama hopes to bring the same message of reconciliation to Russia. The Russians, however, have greeted the overtures coolly, claiming that the atmosphere between the two countries remains too poisoned to hope for the swift improvement in ties that the Obama administration has advocated. "A crisis of trust developed between us in recent years," Sergei Lavrov, Russia's hawkish foreign minister, wrote this week. "Our political relationship became too adversarial. Overcoming this legacy will take time." Under the tutelage of Vladimir Putin, president from 2000 to 2008, Russia gradually adopted an increasingly belligerent anti-American stance and the rhetoric of the Cold War again rose to the fore. With two young presidents in office on either side of the Cold War divide, optimists had hoped that fresh leadership could see a reversal of the alarming deterioration that has characterized the East-West relationship. Yet Mr Putin, now prime minister, remains the dominant force in Russian politics and observers believe he has restrained his successor's more liberal tendencies. Nor have most areas of contention been resolved. Russia remains angry over a vague offer by Nato to promise eventual membership to Ukraine and Georgia as well as over US plans to erect a missile defence shield in central Europe that the Kremlin believes would give the United States an edge in a nuclear war. Despite suffering its worst economic downturn since the rouble crash of 1998, Russia has lost none of its ambitions of staging an international resurgence. More worryingly, the Kremlin has shown signs of disengagement from the rest of the world. Last month, Mr Putin effectively shelved Russia's long-standing application to join the World Trade Organisation. Some analysts are predicting it could soon withdraw from the Council of Europe, meaning that Russia would no longer be bound by the European Court of Human Rights, seen by activists as the last civilizing influence on the country's increasingly enfeebled judicial system. Mr Obama will try to placate Kremlin hostility with charm. Observers say he is even unlikely to push Russia either over its failure to abide by ceasefire provisions that ended last year's war in Georgia or its insistence in expelling international peacekeepers from the region. Even so, Russia has shown little desire to make concessions of its own, critics say. Despite next week's planned joint declaration, hopes for reaching a disarmament deal have been jolted after Mr Putin insisted on linking it to the far more contentious issue of missile defence. "The Russians are playing hardball," a western diplomat said. "There is a risk that no meaningful progress will be made on any substantive issue."NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Simply by chance, a pair of new cars fell into my hands last weekend that perfectly demonstrated the yin and yang of today's auto industry. The Pontiac G8 was powerful, exciting, fun to drive - and as obsolete as the buggy whip. The Nissan Cube was homely, utilitarian and slow - and we all ought to get used to it, because that's what most of us are going to be driving in the future. An era of personal indulgence in automobiles - when prosperity and cheap gasoline made big and fast available to everyone - is rapidly being replaced by an age of limits. The brakes are being applied by the terrible troika of climate change, government fuel economy standards and $4 gasoline. There is no other alternative. It may come a surprise to conspiracy theorists, but the auto companies and the oil refiners haven't been collaborating to keep hyper-efficient cars off the market. That's because they don't exist. There isn't a technological path towards achieving a fleet average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 - as the federal government wants - or 44 miles per gallon as California is pushing for. For all the happy talk about alternative fuels, the cars of tomorrow will of necessity be much lighter, smaller and slower than the ones of today. There is simply no other alternative if you want to use less energy. So a car like the V-8 powered Pontiac represents the last of its kind. Too bad, because on its own terms, the G8 succeeds. Built in Australia by GM's (GM, Fortune 500) Holden affiliate, the $31,000 G8 represents an excellent blend of value and performance. It's a five-passenger midsize car that hugs the road and accelerates with authority. The 361-horsepower engine rockets the car to 60 miles per hour in 5.8 seconds, as measured by Popular Mechanics, while producing appropriate noises from its twin exhaust pipes. Yet with a combined fuel economy rating of 18 miles per gallon, there is no way that this car can exist in GM's lineup. It is simply too inefficient. GM estimated the annual fuel cost of the G8 at $2,502 a year based on 15,000 miles of driving - and that was when gas was $3 a gallon. These days, you can hike that number by a third to more than $3,300. Next to the muscularly handsome G8, the Nissan (NSANY) Cube looks like a reject from "Toy Story." The name says it all: The Cube is a box on wheels. Tiny wheels at that, powered by a tiny motor. Ninety horsepower is all the Cube can muster, straining to get its driver and passengers to 60 miles per hour in more than twice the time it takes the Pontiac. Yet for the kind of around-town driving most of us do every day, the Cube fills the bill. There's lots of space inside (Nissan says it has more room than a Mercedes S-class), a handy cargo door in the rear and fuel economy that even a miser can enjoy. It's estimated at 35 to 40 miles per gallon. While the Cube offers a different driving experience than the G8, I'd be hard pressed to say it is worse. The smaller Cube is easier to turn and park, and at 1,600 pounds lighter, it feels more nimble and fun to drive. The Cube has been on sale for a decade in Japan and a new model, created for the U.S. market, arrives here next summer. Whether it will catch on is hard to say. Toyota sells about 4,000 units a month of another box-shaped car, the Scion Xb; still, this is a narrow market and it is anybody's guess as to how wide the niche will be. Yet there is no confusion about the direction of the overall trends. Propelled by government regulation, environmental awareness and plain old economics, they are headed away from the G8 and directly toward the Cube. A couple of years ago, tobacco use finally reached the tipping point where it no longer became acceptable to light up in public. Today, it is hard to imagine that we ever did. Powerful, high-displacement automobiles like the G8 are approaching that same juncture. At some point, people will find it sociably unacceptable to drive them. Exactly when that day arrives is anybody's guess, but it surely isn't too far off.This tutorial will take you through the process of building your first dapp---an adoption tracking system for a pet shop! This tutorial is meant for those with a basic knowledge of Ethereum and smart contracts, who have some knowledge of HTML and JavaScript, but who are new to dapps. Note: For Ethereum basics, please read the Truffle Ethereum Overview tutorial before proceeding. In this tutorial we will be covering: Setting up the development environment Creating a Truffle project using a Truffle Box Writing the smart contract Compiling and migrating the smart contract Testing the smart contract Creating a user interface to interact with the smart contract Interacting with the dapp in a browser Background Pete Scandlon of Pete's Pet Shop is interested in using Ethereum as an efficient way to handle their pet adoptions. The store has space for 16 pets at a given time, and they already have a database of pets. As an initial proof of concept, Pete wants to see a dapp which associates an Ethereum address with a pet to be adopted. The website structure and styling will be supplied. Our job is to write the smart contract and front-end logic for its usage. Setting up the development environment There are a few technical requirements before we start. Please install the following: Once we have those installed, we only need one command to install Truffle: npm install -g truffle To verify that Truffle is installed properly, type truffle version on a terminal. If you see an error, make sure that your npm modules are added to your path. We also will be using Ganache, a personal blockchain for Ethereum development you can use to deploy contracts, develop applications, and run tests. You can download Ganache by navigating to http://truffleframework.com/ganache and clicking the "Download" button. Note: If you are developing in an environment without a graphical interface, you can also use Truffle Develop, Truffle's built-in personal blockchain, instead of Ganache. You will need to change some settings---such as the port the blockchain runs on---to adapt the tutorial for Truffle Develop. Creating a Truffle project using a Truffle Box Truffle initializes in the current directory, so first create a directory in your development folder of choice and then moving inside it. mkdir pet-shop-tutorial cd pet-shop-tutorial We've created a special Truffle Box just for this tutorial called pet-shop, which includes the basic project structure as well as code for the user interface. Use the truffle unbox command to unpack this Truffle Box. truffle unbox pet-shop Note: Truffle can be initialized a few different ways. Another useful initialization command is truffle init, which creates an empty Truffle project with no example contracts included. For more information, please see the documentation on Creating a project. Directory structure The default Truffle directory structure contains the following: contracts/ : Contains the Solidity source files for our smart contracts. There is an important contract in here called Migrations.sol, which we'll talk about later. : Contains the Solidity source files for our smart contracts. There is an important contract in here called, which we'll talk about later. migrations/ : Truffle uses a migration system to handle smart contract deployments. A migration is an additional special smart contract that keeps track of changes. : Truffle uses a migration system to handle smart contract deployments. A migration is an additional special smart contract that keeps track of changes. test/ : Contains both JavaScript and Solidity tests for our smart contracts : Contains both JavaScript and Solidity tests for our smart contracts truffle.js : Truffle configuration file The pet-shop Truffle Box has extra files and folders in it, but we won't worry about those just yet. Writing the smart contract We'll start our dapp by writing the smart contract that acts as the back-end logic and storage. Create a new file named Adoption.sol in the contracts/ directory. Add the following content to the file: pragma solidity ^0.5.0; contract Adoption { } Things to notice: The minimum version of Solidity required is noted at the top of the contract: pragma solidity ^0.5.0;. The pragma command means "additional information that only the compiler cares about", while the caret symbol (^) means "the version indicated or higher". . The command means "additional information that only the compiler cares about", while the caret symbol (^) means "the version indicated or higher". Like JavaScript or PHP, statements are terminated with semicolons. Variable setup Solidity is a statically-typed language, meaning data types like strings, integers, and arrays must be defined. Solidity has a unique type called an address. Addresses are Ethereum addresses, stored as 20 byte values. Every account and smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain has an address and can send and receive Ether to and from this address. Add the following variable on the next line after contract Adoption {. address[16] public adopters; Things to notice: We've defined a single variable: adopters. This is an array of Ethereum addresses. Arrays contain one type and can have a fixed or variable length. In this case the type is address and the length is 16. You'll also notice adopters is public. Public variables have automatic getter methods, but in the case of arrays a key is required and will only return a single value. Later, we'll write a function to return the whole array for use in our UI. Your first function: Adopting a pet Let's allow users to make adoption requests. Add the following function to the smart contract after the variable declaration we set up above. // Adopting a pet function adopt(uint petId) public returns (uint) { require(petId >= 0 && petId <= 15); adopters[petId] = msg.sender; return petId; } Things to notice: In Solidity the types of both the function parameters and output must be specified. In this case we'll be taking in a petId (integer) and returning an integer. We are checking to make sure petId is in range of our adopters array. Arrays in Solidity are indexed from 0, so the ID value will need to be between 0 and 15. We use the require() statement to ensure the ID is within range. If the ID is in range, we then add the address that made the call to our adopters array. The address of the person or smart contract who called this function is denoted by msg.sender. Finally, we return the petId provided as a confirmation. Your second function: Retrieving the adopters As mentioned above, array getters return only a single value from a given key. Our UI needs to update all pet adoption statuses, but making 16 API calls is not ideal. So our next step is to write a function to return the entire array. Add the following getAdopters() function to the smart contract, after the adopt() function we added above: // Retrieving the adopters function getAdopters() public view returns (address[16] memory) { return adopters; } Things to notice: Since adopters is already declared, we can simply return it. Be sure to specify the return type (in this case, the type for adopters ) as address[16] memory. memory gives the data location for the variable. The view keyword in the function declaration means that the function will not modify the state of the contract. Further information about the exact limits imposed by view is available here. Compiling and migrating the smart contract Now that we have written our smart contract, the next steps are to compile and migrate it. Truffle has a built-in developer console, which we call Truffle Develop, which generates a development blockchain that we can use to test deploy contracts. It also has the ability to run Truffle commands directly from the console. We will use Truffle Develop to perform most of the actions on our contract in this tutorial. Compilation Solidity is a compiled language, meaning we need to compile our Solidity to bytecode for the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) to execute. Think of it as translating our human-readable Solidity into something the EVM understands. In a terminal, make sure you are in the root of the directory that contains the dapp and type: truffle compile Note: If you're on Windows and encountering problems running this command, please see the documentation on resolving naming conflicts on Windows. You should see output similar to the following: Compiling./contracts/Migrations.sol... Compiling./contracts/Adoption.sol... Writing artifacts to./build/contracts Migration Now that we've successfully compiled our contracts, it's time to migrate them to the blockchain! A migration is a deployment script meant to alter the state of your application's contracts, moving it from one state to the next. For the first migration, you might just be deploying new code, but over time, other migrations might move data around or replace a contract with a new one. Note: Read more about migrations in the Truffle documentation. You'll see one JavaScript file already in the migrations/ directory: 1_initial_migration.js. This handles deploying the Migrations.sol contract to observe subsequent smart contract migrations, and ensures we don't double-migrate unchanged contracts in the future. Now we are ready to create our own migration script. Create a new file named 2_deploy_contracts.js in the migrations/ directory. Add the following content to the 2_deploy_contracts.js file: var Adoption = artifacts.require("Adoption"); module.exports = function(deployer) { deployer.deploy(Adoption); }; Before we can migrate our contract to the blockchain, we need to have a blockchain running. For this tutorial, we're going to use Ganache, a personal blockchain for Ethereum development you can use to deploy contracts, develop applications, and run tests. If you haven't already, download Ganache and double click the icon to launch the application. This will generate a blockchain running locally on port 7545. Note: Read more about Ganache in the Truffle documentation. Ganache on first launch Back in our terminal, migrate the contract to the blockchain. truffle migrate You should see output similar to the following: 1_initial_migration.js ====================== Deploying 'Migrations' ---------------------- > transaction hash: 0x3b558e9cdf1231d8ffb3445cb2f9fb01de9d0363e0b97a17f9517da318c2e5af > Blocks: 0 Seconds: 0 > contract address: 0x5ccb4dc04600cffA8a67197d5b644ae71856aEE4 > account: 0x8d9606F90B6CA5D856A9f0867a82a645e2DfFf37 > balance: 99.99430184 > gas used: 284908 > gas price: 20 gwei > value sent: 0 ETH > total cost: 0.00569816 ETH > Saving migration to chain. > Saving artifacts ------------------------------------- > Total cost: 0.00569816 ETH 2_deploy_contracts.js ===================== Deploying 'Adoption'.......................................................... You can see the migrations being executed in order, followed by some information related to each migration. (Your information will differ.) In Ganache, note that the state of the blockchain has changed. The blockchain now shows that the current block, previously 0, is now 4. In addition, while the first account originally had 100 ether, it is now lower, due to the transaction costs of migration. We'll talk more about transaction costs later. Ganache after migration You've now written your first smart contract and deployed it to a locally running blockchain. It's time to interact with our smart contract now to make sure it does what we want. Testing the smart contract Truffle is very flexible when it comes to smart contract testing, in that tests can be written either in JavaScript or Solidity. In this tutorial, we'll be writing our tests in Solidity. Create a new file named TestAdoption.sol in the test/ directory. Add the following content to the TestAdoption.sol file: pragma solidity ^0.5.0; import "truffle/Assert.sol"; import "truffle/DeployedAddresses.sol"; import "../contracts/Adoption.sol"; contract TestAdoption { // The address of the adoption contract to be tested Adoption adoption = Adoption(DeployedAddresses.Adoption()); // The id of the pet that will be used for testing uint expectedPetId = 8; //The expected owner of adopted pet is this contract address expectedAdopter = address(this); } We start the contract off with 3 imports: Assert.sol : Gives us various assertions to use in our tests. In testing, an assertion checks for things like equality, inequality or emptiness to return a pass/fail from our test. Here's a full list of the assertions included with Truffle. : Gives us various assertions to use in our tests. In testing, from our test. Here's a full list of the assertions included with Truffle. DeployedAddresses.sol : When running tests, Truffle will deploy a fresh instance of the contract being tested to the blockchain. This smart contract gets the address of the deployed contract. : When running tests, Truffle will deploy a fresh instance of the contract being tested to the blockchain. This smart contract gets the address of the deployed contract. Adoption.sol : The smart contract we want to test. Note: The first two imports are referring to global Truffle files, not a truffle directory. You should not see a truffle directory inside your test/ directory. Then we define three contract-wide variables: First, one containing the smart contract to be tested, calling the DeployedAddresses smart contract to get its address. smart contract to get its address. Second, the id of the pet that will be used to test the adoption functions. Third, since the TestAdoption contract will be sending the transaction, we set the expected adopter address to this, a contract-wide variable that gets the current contract's address. Testing the adopt() function To test the adopt() function, recall that upon success it returns the given petId. We can ensure an ID was returned and that it's correct by comparing the return value of adopt() to the ID we passed in. Add the following function within the TestAdoption.sol smart contract, after the declaration of Adoption : // Testing the adopt() function function testUserCanAdoptPet() public { uint returnedId = adoption.adopt(expectedPetId); Assert.equal(returnedId, expectedPetId, "Adoption of the expected pet should match what is returned."); } Things to notice: We call the smart contract we declared earlier with the ID of expectedPetId. . Finally, we pass the actual value, the expected value and a failure message (which gets printed to the console if the test does not pass) to Assert.equal(). Testing retrieval of a single pet's owner Remembering from above that public variables have automatic getter methods, we can retrieve the address stored by our adoption test above. Stored data will persist for the duration of our tests, so our adoption of pet expectedPetId above can be retrieved by other tests. Add this function below the previously added function in TestAdoption.sol. // Testing retrieval of a single pet's owner function testGetAdopterAddressByPetId() public { address adopter = adoption.adopters(expectedPetId); Assert.equal(adopter, expectedAdopter, "Owner of the expected pet should be this contract"); } After getting the adopter address stored by the adoption contract, we assert equality as we did above. Testing retrieval of all pet owners Since arrays can only return a single value given a single key, we create our own getter for the entire array. Add this function below the previously added function in TestAdoption.sol. // Testing retrieval of all pet owners function testGetAdopterAddressByPetIdInArray() public { // Store adopters in memory rather than contract's storage address[16] memory adopters = adoption.getAdopters(); Assert.equal(adopters[expectedPetId], expectedAdopter, "Owner of the expected pet should be this contract"); } Note the memory attribute on adopters. The memory attribute tells Solidity to temporarily store the value in memory, rather than saving it to the contract's storage. Since adopters is an array, and we know from the first adoption test that we adopted pet expectedPetId, we compare the testing contracts address with location expectedPetId in the array. Running the tests Back in the terminal, run the tests: truffle test If all the tests pass, you'll see console output similar to this: Using network 'development'. Compiling./contracts/Adoption.sol... Compiling./test/TestAdoption.sol... Compiling truffle/Assert.sol... Compiling truffle/DeployedAddresses.sol... TestAdoption ✓ testUserCanAdoptPet (91ms) ✓ testGetAdopterAddressByPetId (70ms) ✓ testGetAdopterAddressByPetIdInArray (89ms) 3 passing (670ms) Creating a user interface to interact with the smart contract Now that we've created the smart contract, deployed it to our local test blockchain and confirmed we can interact with it via the console, it's time to create a UI so that Pete has something to use for his pet shop! Included with the pet-shop Truffle Box was code for the app's front-end. That code exists within the src/ directory. The front-end doesn't use a build system (webpack, grunt, etc.) to be as easy as possible to get started. The structure of the app is already there; we'll be filling in the functions which are unique to Ethereum. This way, you can take this knowledge and apply it to your own front-end development. Instantiating web3 Open /src/js/app.js in a text editor. Examine the file. Note that there is a global App object to manage our application, load in the pet data in init() and then call the function initWeb3(). The web3 JavaScript library interacts with the Ethereum blockchain. It can retrieve user accounts, send transactions, interact with smart contracts, and more. Remove the multi-line comment from within initWeb3 and replace it with the following: // Modern dapp browsers... if (window.ethereum) { App.web3Provider = window.ethereum; try { // Request account access await window.ethereum.enable(); } catch (error) { // User denied account access... console.error("User denied account access") } } // Legacy dapp browsers... else if (window.web3) { App.web3Provider = window.web3.currentProvider; } // If no injected web3 instance is detected, fall back to Ganache else { App.web3Provider = new Web3.providers.HttpProvider('http://localhost:7545'); } web3 = new Web3(App.web3Provider); Things to notice: First, we check if we are using modern dapp browsers or the more recent versions of MetaMask where an ethereum provider is injected into the window object. If so, we use it to create our web3 object, but we also need to explicitly request access to the accounts with ethereum.enable(). If the ethereum object does not exist, we then check for an injected web3 instance. If it exists, this indicates that we are using an older dapp browser (like Mist or an older version of MetaMask). If so, we get its provider and use it to create our web3 object. If no injected web3 instance is present, we create our web3 object based on our local provider. (This fallback is fine for development environments, but insecure and not suitable for production.) Instantiating the contract Now that we can interact with Ethereum via web3, we need to instantiate our smart contract so web3 knows where to find it and how it works. Truffle has a library to help with this called truffle-contract. It keeps information about the contract in sync with migrations, so you don't need to change the contract's deployed address manually. Still in /src/js/app.js, remove the multi-line comment from within initContract and replace it with the following: $.getJSON('Adoption.json', function(data) { // Get the necessary contract artifact file and instantiate it with truffle-contract var AdoptionArtifact = data; App.contracts.Adoption = TruffleContract(AdoptionArtifact); // Set the provider for our contract App.contracts.Adoption.setProvider(App.web3Provider); // Use our contract to retrieve and mark the adopted pets return App.markAdopted(); }); Things to notice: We first retrieve the artifact file for our smart contract. Artifacts are information about our contract such as its deployed address and Application Binary Interface (ABI). The ABI is a JavaScript object defining how to interact with the contract including its variables, functions and their parameters. Once we have the artifacts in our callback, we pass them to TruffleContract(). This creates an instance of the contract we can interact with. With our contract instantiated, we set its web3 provider using the App.web3Provider value we stored earlier when setting up web3. We then call the app's markAdopted() function in case any pets are already adopted from a previous visit. We've encapsulated this in a separate function since we'll need to update the UI any time we make a change to the smart contract's data. Getting The Adopted Pets and Updating The UI Still in /src/js/app.js, remove the multi-line comment from markAdopted and replace it with the following: var adoptionInstance; App.contracts.Adoption.deployed().then(function(instance) { adoptionInstance = instance; return adoptionInstance.getAdopters.call(); }).then(function(adopters) { for (i = 0; i < adopters.length; i++) { if (adopters[i]!== '0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000') { $('.panel-pet').eq(i).find('button').text('Success').attr('disabled', true); } } }).catch(function(err) { console.log(err.message); }); Things to notice: We access the deployed Adoption contract, then call getAdopters() on that instance. We first declare the variable adoptionInstance outside of the smart contract calls so we can access the instance after initially retrieving it. Using call() allows us to read data from the blockchain without having to send a full transaction, meaning we won't have to spend any ether. After calling getAdopters(), we then loop through all of them, checking to see if an address is stored for each pet. Since the array contains address types, Ethereum initializes the array with 16 empty addresses. This is why we check for an empty address string rather than null or other falsey value. Once a petId with a corresponding address is found, we disable its adopt button and change the button text to "Success", so the user gets some feedback. Any errors are logged to the console. Handling the adopt() Function Still in /src/js/app.js, remove the multi-line comment from handleAdopt and replace it with the following: var adoptionInstance; web3.eth.getAccounts(function(error, accounts) { if (error) { console.log(error); } var account = accounts[0]; App.contracts.Adoption.deployed().then(function(instance) { adoptionInstance = instance; // Execute adopt as a transaction by sending account return adoptionInstance.adopt(petId, {from: account}); }).then(function(result) { return App.markAdopted(); }).catch(function(err) { console.log(err.message); }); }); Things to notice: We use web3 to get the user's accounts. In the callback after an error check, we then select the first account. From there, we get the deployed contract as we did above and store the instance in adoptionInstance. This time though, we're going to send a transaction instead of a call. Transactions require a "from" address and have an associated cost. This cost, paid in ether, is called gas. The gas cost is the fee for performing computation and/or storing data in a smart contract. We send the transaction by executing the adopt() function with both the pet's ID and an object containing the account address, which we stored earlier in account. The result of sending a transaction is the transaction object. If there are no errors, we proceed to call our markAdopted() function to sync the UI with our newly stored data. Interacting with the dapp in a browser Now we're ready to use our dapp! Installing and configuring MetaMask The easiest way to interact with our dapp in a browser is through MetaMask, a browser extension for both Chrome and Firefox. Install MetaMask in your browser. Once installed, you'll see the MetaMask fox icon next to your address bar. Click the icon and you'll see this screen appear: Privacy Notice Click Accept to accept the Privacy Notice. Then you'll see the Terms of Use. Read them, scrolling to the bottom, and then click Accept there too. Terms of Use Now you'll see the initial MetaMask screen. Click Import Existing DEN. MetaMask initial screen In the box marked Wallet Seed, enter the mnemonic that is displayed in Ganache. Warning: Do not use this mnemonic on the main Ethereum network (mainnet). If you send ETH to any account generated from this mnemonic, you will lose it all! Enter a password below that and click OK. MetaMask seed phrase Now we need to connect MetaMask to the blockchain created by Ganache. Click the menu that shows "Main Network" and select Custom RPC. MetaMask network menu In the box titled "New RPC URL" enter http://127.0.0.1:7545 and click Save. MetaMask Custom RPC The network name at the top will switch to say "Private Network". Click the left-pointing arrow next to "Settings" to close out of the page and return to the Accounts page. Each account created by Ganache is given 100 ether. You'll notice it's slightly less on the first account because some gas was used when the contract itself was deployed and when the tests were run. MetaMask account configured Configuration is now complete. Installing and configuring lite-server We can now start a local web server and use the dapp. We're using the lite-server library to serve our static files. This shipped with the pet-shop Truffle Box, but let's take a look at how it works. Open bs-config.json in a text editor (in the project's root directory) and examine the contents: { "server": { "baseDir": ["./src", "./build/contracts"] } } This tells lite-server which files to include in our base directory. We add the./src directory for our website files and./build/contracts directory for the contract artifacts. We've also added a dev command to the scripts object in the package.json file in the project's root directory. The scripts object allows us to alias console commands to a single npm command. In this case we're just doing a single command, but it's possible to have more complex configurations. Here's what yours should look like: "scripts": { "dev": "lite-server", "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1" }, This tells npm to run our local install of lite-server when we execute npm run dev from the console. Using the dapp Start the local web server: npm run dev The dev server will launch and automatically open a new browser tab containing your dapp. Pete's Pet Shop To use the dapp, click the Adopt button on the pet of your choice. You'll be automatically prompted to approve the transaction by MetaMask. Click Submit to approve the transaction. Adoption transaction review You'll see the button next to the adopted pet change to say "Success" and become disabled, just as we specified, because the pet has now been adopted. Adoption success Note: If the button doesn't automatically change to say "Success", refreshing the app in the browser should trigger it. And in MetaMask, you'll see the transaction listed: MetaMask transaction You'll also see the same transaction listed in Ganache under the "Transactions" section. Congratulations! You have taken a huge step to becoming a full-fledged dapp developer. For developing locally, you have all the tools you need to start making more advanced dapps. If you'd like to make your dapp live for others to use, stay tuned for our future tutorial on deploying to the Ropsten testnet.The Grand Dame of Monk Seals Monk Seal of the Month | March 2017 The monk seal of the month for March is an adult female known as Y377. People often ask how long monk seals can live, and despite that we've been studying this species for more than three decades, we still don't know the answer to this question. Since the early 1980s, the Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program has been tagging newly weaned pups and following them throughout their lives. Y377 turned 32 years old in 2016, making her, to our knowledge, the oldest wild seal based on tagging data. Y377 was born in 1984 at French Frigate Shoals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) and, as far as we know, she's lived there her whole life. Some seals move between the islands and at
for them back when rain starts to fall. When the economy is strong and asset prices are rising, banks are only too eager to lend to those wanting to buy assets, helping to push prices higher. In bad times, when prices are falling, banks ask for their loans back, forcing the borrowers to sell assets and driving prices down further. Right now, banks are desperately plastering over the cracks in their balance sheets created by the credit crunch. This week Royal Bank of Scotland launched a £12 billion ($24 billion) rights issue (see article). Other banks have tapped the bulging wallets of sovereign wealth funds. But there may be a limit to investors' largesse: those who have bailed out banks so far have lost money. If the well of investors' patience does run dry and banks are forced to shrink their lending, the economic situation may get a lot worse. Already the riskiest borrowers in America and Britain are being shut out of mortgage markets, with predictable consequences for house prices. Regulators are partly to blame. When the credit boom was roaring in 2005 and 2006, central banks did make pointed comments about the “underpricing of risk”—in plain English, that banks were not charging borrowers enough. But they did nothing about it; indeed, by keeping nominal interest rates low, they encouraged the credit excesses. International regulations on the capital adequacy of banks do exist, but they tend to be procyclical too, requiring lenders to raise more capital only when the problems have already occurred. And the regulators tend to be one step behind the practitioners. Banks were able to exploit the first lot of so-called Basel rules, because they could hide risky loans off their balance sheets. The new rules, Basel 2, may be more sophisticated in their treatment of risk but they rely heavily on models developed by banks themselves. As the past year's events have demonstrated, those models can be seriously flawed. Cycling backwards Could there be a better way to regulate the industry? The regulations could be countercyclical, requiring banks to be like the biblical Joseph and raise more money in the fat years to see them through the lean ones. Defining the cycle may sound prohibitively difficult but Charles Goodhart, a professor at the London School of Economics (and a former monetary policymaker at the Bank of England), suggests a way around it: monitoring whether the pace of loan growth or the rate of increase of asset prices was moving sharply above trend, and requiring banks to find more capital if the alarm sounds. Had such a rule been in place, the subprime-mortgage boom might not have been so explosive. Of course, the devil would be in the detail. Regulators would need a breakdown of how bank lending was being directed to different geographical areas and asset classes. In good times, greedy bankers would have the incentive to cheat; for example, by making loans to offshore holding companies that would then pass on the money to Florida condo-buyers. Such rules would need to be international, to stop foreign banks from stealing market share from banks in countries that observed the regulations. The regulators would also need to be careful about being too lax during the downturns. After all, it is at such times that banks are most likely to need capital to keep them afloat. Bank customers might be resentful if they felt regulators had been complicit in letting a bank go under (although deposit insurance should soothe them). But if banks are forced to raise more capital during the booms, their finances should be stronger during the busts. Despite this, countercyclical regulations would not be popular with the bankers. Over a full cycle, such rules would probably require banks to have more capital than under the existing system (and given the rescue of Bear Stearns, the rules would need to apply to investment as well as commercial banks). Because money tied up in capital earns lower returns, that would mean lower profits. But it is hard to feel much sympathy for bankers who rake in fortunes during the boom and require taxpayers to help them out in the bust (or make central banks jump through hoops for them, as the Bank of England has done this week—see article). An efficient financial sector is vital for a modern economy but trading securities has arguably achieved too much importance in the Anglo-Saxon world. Winston Churchill once said that he would rather see finance less proud and industry more content. That is not a bad motto for those devising a new set of banking regulations.UPDATE—February 19, 2014: According to the Washington Post, just days after the story broke, DHS shelved its plans to create or tap into a national database of license plate recognition data. According to an Immigration & Customs Enforcement spokeswoman, the solicitation "was posted without the awareness of ICE leadership" and "will be reviewed to ensure the path forward appropriately meets [the agency's] operational needs.” However, DHS may still be accessing national license plate data—collected by the private company Vigilant Solutions—on an ad hoc basis. According to documents obtained by the ACLU of Massachusetts, ICE agents and other branches of DHS have been tapping into Vigilant’s data sets for years. Like the ACLU, we'll be interested to see whether DHS and ICE release more information about their plans—and we'll continue to push back on any future attempts to create a federally-accessible national license plate database. ORIGINAL POST: The Department of Homeland Security and its component Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently issued a solicitation for bids to build and maintain a national database of motor vehicle license plate data. Not only would this database include plate data collected by DHS — it would also include data from other law enforcement agencies and private companies. This is the first time any federal agency has proposed a database of this size and scope, and this "National License Plate Recognition" program raises significant privacy concerns. As we’ve said before, this kind of license plate data is location data — it tells the data gatherer where you’ve been and when, and can be aggregated to present a detailed picture of your life and who you associate with—whether you’re at a lawful protest or house of worship; a gay bar or your doctor’s office; your brother’s house or your lover’s. License plate data allows the data gatherer to track all movement in and out of an area; specifically target certain neighborhoods or organizations; or place political activists on hot lists so that their movements trigger alerts. A Massive Expansion of Plate Data Collection Automated License Plate Reader or ALPR cameras already scan and record the plates of millions of cars across the country. Law enforcement agencies in large metropolitan areas like Los Angeles and New York have databases of millions of plates—and these databases will only increase in size over time. A 2011 survey of more than 70 police departments showed that 79 percent used ALPR technology and 85 percent expected to acquire or increase use in the next five years. On average, these agencies expected that 25 percent of police vehicles would be equipped with license plate readers by 2016. However, DHS doesn’t want to limit its data collection to law enforcement agencies. It also wants to include data from “asset recovery specialists” (repo companies) and “access control systems” (private security cameras in parking lots like malls). Private companies already collect data on a nationwide basis and may have more data than all law enforcement records combined. Vigilant Solutions states its database contains nearly 2 billion records, and MVTrac claimed it had records on “a large majority" of registered vehicles in the U.S. TLO, another company, which was recently acquired by the credit reporting agency and data aggregator TransUnion, has a “massive database of one BILLION vehicle sightings” with “up to 50 million new sightings” added each month. While some states have tried to limit the power of these companies to collect data, they’ve fought back hard on First Amendment and other grounds. Hot Lists, Wide Shots and Historical Data There are several other reasons why Americans should be concerned about DHS’s plans. First, the agency wants to be able to create its own “hot lists” of suspect vehicles from the data. As we’ve seen from ALPR records we received from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, officers are not required to define any individualized suspicion before putting a vehicle on a “hot list,” and it’s unclear how a vehicle would ever get off such a list. DHS proposes sharing its “hot lists” with other agencies. It also wants to be able to communicate with other users, “establish Lists submissions, flag license plates, and conduct searches anonymously.” If ICE agents can create hot lists, flag plates, conduct searches and discuss and share data anonymously, meaningful oversight of the program will be impossible. There will be nothing to prevent the kind of racial, ethnic and religious targeting we’ve seen through programs like the NYPD’s stop and frisk policy and surveillance of Muslim communities and ICE’s Secure Communities program. Another concern is that the agency wants “a zoomed out image of the vehicle” in addition to a close-up photo of the plate. This will allow the agency to identify not just the vehicle, but also its occupants. Mike Katz-Lacabe, a San Leandro, California resident, learned just how revealing these photos can be after he requested his own license plate data from the cops and received a photograph that clearly showed him and his young daughters getting out of their car in their own driveway. Finally, it appears that DHS wants to be able to access historical plate data through the database. This could severely hamper state and local attempts to place limits on the collection, retention and use of license plate data. For example, in Michigan and Massachusetts, legislators have proposed limiting the retention of license plate data to no longer than 48 hours. If DHS is able to aggregate these states’ data with data from other sources into a massive nationwide database, the retention limits that the states’ own citizens have proposed become futile. Putting the Brakes on Plate Data The Washington Post has quoted an ICE spokeswoman as saying that “the data would be collected and stored by the commercial enterprise, not the government.” This does not assuage concerns. As EFF and others have stated in the context of the NSA’s mass phone data collection, transferring data storage from the government to a private third party doesn’t solve the problem. Only meaningful limitations on collection, retention, access and sharing can do that. So far, DHS has not discussed implementing any specific limitations on its own system or explained how it will honor limitations governing the license plate data it collects from other sources. Without these limitations and greater transparency in how DHS plans to use and share the data, this program should not go forward.M’Baye Niang’s return to AC Milan could be a short-lived one as Everton are reportedly ready to keep the forward in England. Watford signed the 22-year-old on loan in January, but he made it clear he has no intention of staying at Vicarage Road for another campaign. As a result Niang will return to Milan this summer, but SportItalia reports Everton are prepared to sign the forward on a permanent deal. Ronald Koeman is said to be a big fan of the former Caen forward, and it’s believed he’s ready to spend as much as €16 million to secure his target. Niang netted three goals in 18 Serie A appearances for Milan this season before joining Watford, where he netted twice in 16 matches. Follow @adriboin Forza Italian Football aims to provide you with as much up-to-date and insightful Serie A and Calcio content as we can whether it be videos on FIFtv, our weekly podcast, and written articles. However, we have a small favour to ask. Despite more people reading Forza Italian Football, advertising revenues are falling – as is the case in general among media outlets. So to help us on our journey to bring you top quality Italian football content we need YOUR support. Become a Supporter of Forza Italian Football and make a contribution here Become a Patron!In 1993, a tech consultant named Peter de Jager wrote an article for Computerworld with the headline “Doomsday 2000.” When the clock struck midnight on 1/1/00, he wrote, many of our computers would lose track of the date, and very bad things would happen as a result. Looking back, De Jager’s article is remarkable for its pessimism. He interviewed several IT experts who said the tech industry was completely ignoring the computer-date bug. Many didn’t think it was a real problem, and those who did felt no pressure to do anything about it—after all, the year 2000 was a long way away. “I have spoken at association meetings and seminars, and when I ask for a show of hands of people addressing the problem, the response is underwhelming,” de Jager wrote. “If I get one in 10 respondents, I’m facing an enlightened group.” But then something strange happened: Everyone started worrying about Y2K. Over the next few years, people across the tech industry took up the cause. In 1996, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan asked the Congressional Research Service to investigate the issue, and he became alarmed by the findings. In a letter to President Clinton, Moynihan urged a huge federal response to address what he called the “Year 2000 Time Bomb.” Moynihan clearly expected the worst: “You may wish to turn to the military to take command of dealing with the problem,” he wrote to Clinton. Bill Clinton’s second term isn’t remembered as a model of comity between the executive and legislative branches. On the issue of Y2K, though, the Republican Congress and the Democratic White House were on the same page: They all pushed for a huge federal task force. The White House appointed a Y2K coordinator, John Koskinen, who headed an effort that spanned every cabinet agency and the military. (Koskinen is now a high-ranking official at Freddie Mac.) Following the government’s lead, just about every business in the country took up the cause of heading off the Y2K crisis. This is a hopeful story, isn’t it? Anyone who’s ever marveled at the government’s inability to address an obvious, impending threat can find solace in the Y2K narrative. In 1993, even tech people ignored Y2K; just a few years later, it had become an issue at the top of the world’s agenda. How did this happen? And does Y2K provide any lessons for dealing with other long-term national and international crises? One the face of it, Y2K shares several features with other seemingly intractable problems. It was big, expensive to fix, and its worst effects would only be seen in the future—just like global warming or the health care mess. What’s more, from the very beginning, many wondered whether Y2K was a real problem. Though the tech consensus eventually shifted to the affirmative, there were always people on the fringes of the debate who insisted that the whole thing was overhyped (as in global warming or, more recently, H1N1). How did the people on Y2K’s front lines overcome these hurdles? They focused on the worst. “We’re accelerating toward disaster,” de Jager wrote in 1993. In his 1996 letter to Clinton, Moynihan frets about the Social Security Administration and the IRS’ continued ability to function, worries that banks would need to spend billions to address the problem, and suggests that the nation’s economy may spiral out of control if the problem isn’t fixed by 1999. If the proponents of fixing the problem acknowledged the naysayers, it was usually only to swat them down with variations on an adage that was hard to rebut: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Calling for extraordinary measures to prevent potential disaster is a well-known rhetorical tactic in the environmental movement. The precautionary principle holds that even in the face of scientific uncertainty, society should take action to minimize the harm of threats that cross a certain threshold of danger. Usually, it’s scientists and tree huggers who summon the precautionary principle—Y2K was one of the few times we saw government officials and corporate leaders do so. In a paper exploring how this came to be, Aidan Davison and John Phillimore, environmental researchers in Australia, argue that there were a few reasons Y2K was a particularly easy sell. First, it was a discrete event—computers had to be fixed by Jan. 1, 2000, and after that, the problem would be over. Political systems across the world usually deal with such one-time calamities better than they handle long-running problems like global warming or health care, the researchers say. Moreover, Y2K affected an industry that is used to rapid change. Computers are always being patched and upgraded. Fixing Y2K would only mean speeding up that natural process, not bringing a whole new level of innovation into an entrenched industry, which is the problem we face in addressing climate change. Davison says the most important difference between Y2K and global warming is the cultural attitude surrounding each case. Y2K never became a moral issue. “It was always framed as a simple design error,” Davison says—nobody fingered it as the consequence of our reliance on digital technology or argued that the way to get out of this mess was to get rid of computers. The debate over climate change, meanwhile, has always been as much a social and political argument as a scientific one. “Climate change brings into view questions about modern society in general,” the Australian scientist says. It’s not just a question of what fuel we should use to power the planet—there are questions about where we should live, what we should eat, how we should travel. “It’s become a general debate over modernity itself,” Davison says. Because of this fundamental distinction, Davison doubts that the lessons from Y2K will have much resonance when it comes to global warming. Indeed, in a perverse way, the planet’s success in fighting Y2K might actually hamper anti-global-warming efforts. Just look at how people reacted when nothing much went wrong after Jan. 1, 2000. They concluded that the whole thing had been a ruse. Logically, this makes no sense—the fact that there were few problems on New Year’s Day could just as easily have meant that the effort to fix Y2K had worked. “But that’s the political problem with the precautionary principle,” Davison says. “If you’re successful in avoiding a problem, you then don’t have the evidence that you’ve been successful.” Say we go through flu season and see relatively few deaths from H1N1. Does that mean that swine flu was overhyped or that the massive vaccine program worked? Each side in the debate will be free to draw its own conclusions—and you can be sure they will. But that’s not the worst of it. Y2K is now a YouTube punch line. (I must confess, this Leonard Nimoy video is pretty funny.) Search the news for Y2K and you see it come up in articles about the end-of-the-world movie 2012—as a knowing warning against listening to cranks. In other words, success has bred apathy: The fact that nothing terrible happened in Y2K is now an argument for not doing much about global warming or other threats. And perhaps that’s the computer bug’s most lasting legacy. Y2K wasn’t the end of the world. But the fact that we fixed it may make it harder to fix anything else in the future.Scientists have diagnosed strain of leprosy on man from Scandinavia who died in Essex in the fifth or early sixth century A Scandinavian man who died 1,500 years ago in Essex suffered from leprosy, and may have been the first to bring the strain to Britain. The diagnosis and the identification of the strain of leprosy, confirmed by scientists through a battery of tests including extraction of the DNA of the leprosy bacteria, make him the earliest known case in Britain. The skeleton was excavated more than half a century ago, on the outskirts of the ancient Essex village of Great Chesterford – mentioned in the Domesday Book but with a history stretching back to Roman times and beyond – from an Anglo-Saxon cemetery that was about to be destroyed in the 1950s by gravel works. The painfully distorted bones of his legs and feet were spotted at the time, but the recent tests on the skeleton, now at the University of Southampton, have identified the strain of leprosy and the man’s probable Scandinavian origins. The same strain has been found in burials in Scandinavia and in much later burials in Britain when leprosy, incurable and disfiguring, became one of the most dreaded diseases of the middle ages. The epidemic peaked between the 12th and 14th centuries, when people with leprosy were forced to live apart from others in society, and were often declared legally dead and all their goods confiscated. The man was found with the decayed remains of grave goods including a spear, a buckle loop and a knife, and a metal tag from a shoelace, but it was the excellently preserved bones – although most of his face, and his hands, were missing – that interested the scientists. The bones were tested for bacterial DNA and lipid biomarkers, and were also carbon-dated, and the radioactive isotopes in his teeth analysed for indications of where he grew up. Mike Taylor, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Surrey, said: “Not every excavation yields good quality DNA, but in this case, leprosy DNA isolated from the skeleton was so good it enabled us to identify its strain.” The fatty molecules from the leprosy bacteria proved to be a 3I lineage, a strain that has also been found in burials in Scandinavia, and in other burials in Britain but from the seventh century onwards, much later date than this man’s fifth- or early sixth-century life and death. The analysis of his bones, and of the isotopes in his teeth, suggest he was in his 20s, and grew up in northern Europe, probably in southern Scandinavia. Sonia Zakrzewski, from the University of Southampton, said that although some of the bones showed changes typical of the disease, including damage to the joints and narrowing of the toe bones, their success in extracting the leprosy DNA was essential to confirm the diagnosis, as some forms of leprosy leave no traces in the bones, while other diseases can affect the bones, mimicking its effects. Their results are published in the journal PLOS One. The team intends to carry out further research on skeletons from the period to try to map the spread of the disease. Sarah Inskip, of the University of Leiden, who led the project, said the results were exciting. “The radiocarbon date confirms this is one of the earliest cases in the UK to have been successfully studied with modern biomolecular methods. This is exciting both for archaeologists and for microbiologists. It helps us understand the spread of disease in the past, and also the evolution of different strains of disease, which might help us fight them in the future.”This Fall Amazing Spider-Man will play host to one of the biggest stories ever with the dimension hopping “Spider-Verse” by Dan Slott. The series promises to feature almost every single Spider-Man that has ever existed and even some brand new ones. We’ve already got news that we’ll be seeing the “return” of Superior Spider-Man this Summer as a bridge into the event but now Spider-Man group editor Nick Lowe revealed to CBR a new series that will explore several other Spider-Man characters in the lead-up to “Spider-Verse.” That series is called “Edge of Spider-Verse” and will begin in September and conclude in October. Here are the announced books: EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE #1 Written by DAVID HINE & FABRICE SAPOLSKY Art and Cover by RICHARD ISANOVE · SPIDER-MAN NOIR RETURNS! · The Peter Parker of the 1930’s finds himself not only up against Mysterio, but knee-deep in the Spider-Man event of 2014! 32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99 EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE #2 Written by JASON LATOUR Art and Cover by ROBBI RODRIGUEZ · GWEN STACY: SPIDER-WOMAN! · In one universe, it wasn’t Peter Parker bitten by the radioactive Spider, but Gwen Stacy! · She’s smart, charming and can lift a car– Just don’t tell her Police Chief father! · How is she involved in Spider-Verse? Seeds of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #9 are planted here! 32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99 EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE #3 Written by DUSTIN WEAVER Art and Cover by DUSTIN WEAVER · What is the secret of Dr. Aaron Aikman, Spider-Man?! · Who are the villainous Red Eye and Naahmurah? And can Aaron possibly live through Morlun’s arrival? · Rising star Dustin Weaver (AVENGERS, INFINITY, SHIELD) makes his Marvel Comics writing debut in the most wildly imaginative story of the year! 32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99 EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE #4 Written by Clay McLeod Chapman Art and Cover by Garry Brown · A radioactive spider bites a high school nerd who is already something of a monster. · Pulitzer prize nominated horror writer Clay Mcleod Chapman takes you to a universe where the story you know becomes as horrific as possible. 32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99 EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE #5 Written by GERARD WAY Art and Cover by JAKE WYATT · What or who is SP//dr? · Gerard Way (Umbrella Academy) makes his Marvel debut with Jake Wyatt (Ms. Marvel, Indestructible Hulk)establishing a new universe and the incredible Spider character who inhabits it! 32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99 Group edito Nick Lowe, in a fantastic interview for CBR, discussed his intentions for the series, saying that one of his biggest goals was to use the series to attract new and interesting voices to the Spider-Man universe to create and/or adapt characters for fresh new stories. The exciting announcements from the above solicits include that David Hine and Fabrice Sapolsky are returning to Spider-Man Noir, to be drawn by the excellent Richard Isanove of Wolverine: Origin and Savage Wolverine; Wolverine and the X-Men writer and Southern Bastards artist Jason Latour is writing a story about Gwen Stacy getting Spider-Powers and how her father, Captain Stacy, helps her define her moral code; Gerard Way, lead singer for My Chemical Romance, and Umbrella Academy writer is making his Marvel debut; and Infinity artist Dustin Weaver will be inventing and drawing a new Spider-Man character in his Marvel writing debut! The series certainly sound exciting and should pave way for the biggest story of them all… “Spider-Verse.”I had heard all the craze about the super nutritious and beneficial acai berry quite a few times over the past 6 months or so. What I hadn’t heard was that this berry was made of gold, because everywhere I went to try to order one of these trendy new acai bowls, the cost was an upwards of $10. Seriously? No thank you! So I did some research to see if there was a more wallet friendly way to have this nutritious bowl and was a bit happier with what I found. You can find packets of acai puree in the freezer section at some health food grocery stores for about $7.00. That brings the cost to less than $2.00 per serving. That made me smile! But then I saw you can get them in bulk at Costco and I nearly jumped for joy! Click here. So what really is so great about the acai berry? These berries are loaded with antioxidants (twice the amount found in blueberries and ten times the amount in grapes!) They promote heart health. Looking for some beautiful skin? Get it from acai! Acai berries improve mental function. Feeling tired? Add some acai to your smoothie for an energy boost! Slow down the aging process with the acai berry. They aid in digestion. And. So. Much. More. Seriously, these berries pack a lot of power into their little selves. So back to the bowl itself. An acai bowl is made as a really thick smoothie that you can eat with a spoon and typically is garnished with an assortment of things like granola, bananas, berries, chia seeds, goji berries, nuts, seeds and more. There’s a lot of room for variety so you could eat one every morning for breakfast and never get bored! You can toss everything in the blender and once it’s smooth, breakfast or even a snack is served! And with this Cocoa Acai Bowl, you get to have chocolate for breakfast. I know what you are thinking, more antioxidants for my morning, right?! That’s exactly it! Print Cocoa Acai Bowl Prep Time 5 mins Total Time 5 mins Servings : 1 Ingredients 2/3 frozen banana 1 100 g packet acai puree 1 T cacao powder 2-3 tsp maple syrup 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk Optional garnishes: cacao nibs coconut, sliced banana, berries, chia seeds and more! Instructions Combine all ingredients in a high powered blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a bowl and top with desired garnishes. Serve immediately.If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! This is a real world situation that could impact each of you as professionals, investors, and friends of persons who could fall for such schemes. So please get angry about it! An envelope arrived yesterday from a worried investor (not a client of mine) in Appleton, Wisconsin. He had been contacted with an “investment partner” opportunity touting a “guaranteed investment program” that would absolutely “double and triple his money every sixty days” with no worries, work, or risk involved. So why was this total stranger contacting me? Inside the envelope were four separate documents: (1) a call for twenty-five new investors who would become partners in this special, private, guaranteed investment program, and (2) an endorsement of the program from Helen Taylor, the founder of ResponseLink Pros, Inc. Read (3) An acceptance letter from Chris Jenkins, Advertising Manager of Moyer Direct, Inc., the investment management company, and (4) a special offer coupon that allowed the new partners to make additional deposits of fewer dollars while promising an even greater rate of return. So why was this total stranger sending this information to me? Two of the documents were fraudulently attributed to me and had been signed by someone using my name— bet that got your attention! In the others, a fictitious Helen Taylor claimed to be my good friend and mentoring student while a non-existent Advertising Manager (Chris Jenkins) was distributing “one-time-only” discount offers that I was making in my capacity as president of Moyer Direct, Inc.— a company I had never heard of until yesterday. Obviously, this scam artist (the now indicted Wayne C. Scott a/k/a Chris Harper) was able to paint a believable picture by trading on the good names, reputations, and achievements of well-known people in the financial industry. I would guess that I’m not the only one who has been unknowingly abused by such con artists. And that is probably why I wasn’t contacted by anyone until now. Was your name used on documents sent to other victims? Did you sign up for a Warren Buffet or Ben Graham program? Court documents (US District Court, Northern District of Illinois) indicate that Wayne Scott has bilked hundreds of small investors to the tune of nearly one million dollars. Other prominent investors, advisors, experts, and financial writers have probably had their reputations compromised as well. Please forward this warning to your friends, colleagues, clients, relatives, and employees. We need to prevent such scams from spreading any further So why haven’t we (and the investing public) been warned about this outrage by someone official? Hmmm. Steve Selengut Professional Portfolio Management since 1979 Author of: “The Brainwashing of the American Investor: The Book that Wall Street Does Not Want YOU to Read”, and “A Millionaire’s Secret Investment Strategy” Be Sociable, Share!Welcome back to the 2017 NFL playoffs. Today we get the divisional round started with the Atlanta Falcons hosting the Seattle Seahawks. The winner of this game faces the winner of the Green Bay Packers-Dallas Cowboys game on Sunday. Today’s game kicks off at 1:35 p.m. PT on FOX. Kevin Burkhardt and John Lynch are announcing from the booth, and Pam Oliver on the sideline. We all want to see Seattle lose normally, but for this game, we’re rooting for the underdog Seahawks. If they win, Kyle Shanahan would become available to hire, while Tom Cable would not. That does not mean the 49ers are set to hire Shanahan, but anything that makes it harder to hire Tom Cable is good in my mind. Where: Georgia Dome, Atlanta, GA When: 1:35 p.m. PT TV: FOX Announcers: Kevin Burkhardt, John Lynch Radio: Seahawks Radio Network | Falcons Radio Network Online Streaming: FOX Sports GO Odds: Falcons -6.5, 51 Seahawks blog: Field Gulls Falcons blog: The Falcoholic• Friday, June 14 - 1:58PM Lies, Lies, Lies! - Wake up People Hats off to Connie Wright and Nicole Bell for their efforts in watching and reporting the illegal activity at the camp on Geiger Rd. We would like to believe the Orthodox Jews are made to adhere to the same rules as everyone else but we all know full well this is not the case. They do as they please with little, if any, accountability. But if a local non-Orthodox were to try something like they get away with the authorities would be on them faster than flies on s**t. And Im not talking just our local government. I'm referring all the way up the ladder to the state level. If the camp on Geiger Rd isn't already off the tax rolls under the guise of being a "religious organization" it definitely will be after a shul is built on the property. As they get out of paying taxes on the land they buy here the lost revenue has to be made up some where. All the local residents who work for what they have can expect to pay higher taxes to pick up the slack. I can relate a firsthand example of the ass-kissing attitude our local government has towards the Orthodox people. Two summers ago I needed to go to Monticello for a few things. As other local residents already know the best time to do this, if possible, is between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday as this is when the Orthodox are out of sight in observance of their holy day. As I drove through South Fallsburg the local law enforcement had a check point set up on Rt 42. This was well after dark. Whether they were checking tags or looking for drunk drivers I do not know. They did have a few vehicles pulled over to the side of the road. I figured they were looking at tags and would wave me on so I didnt put my window down as I approached. The officer stopped me and asked for me to put my window down and preceded to tell me that my window tint was "kind of dark". As if I'm some kind of criminal conducting overt activity in my car that I'm trying to hide by the dark tinted windows. This was the way the windows were when I bought the car but I didnt even bother to explain this fact. My reply to the officer was "yeah so" which I repeated quite a few times as reply to his concern over them. I wasnt trying to be a smart ass. I just didnt see what the problem was. After continuing on my way I had the thought that I would have liked to have asked the officer why they made sure to set up their check point well after sundown on a Friday during the summer in the town of Fallsburg. Why not do it on a Saturday night? In my mind there would be much more potential to catch drunk drivers on a Saturday night than a Friday. And just think of all the expired tags they would have encountered on a Saturday night after the Orthodox were out on the roads. It doesnt take much thought to figure why they didn't set up their road check on a Saturday night. They were told not to do so because it would be considered harassment by the poor, down trodden, misunderstood Orthodox people and in the end would cause more trouble for the local police. If I had my way, and I know that many, many more full-time residents would concur, every damn Orthodox/Hasidic Jew would be told to get out and stay out of the townships of Wawarsing and Fallsburg. Hell, all of Ulster and Sullivan counties for that matter. Their presence here is not welcome, appreciated or of any benefit. Did we not get along fine here before the influx of them? Having to be exposed to their disgusting attitude and entitled behavior used to be only a summer condition. This soon will no longer be the case. They have been building year-round housing for sometime now in our neighboring town of Fallsburg. The same will happen in the town of Wawarsing. We will very easily have another huge community here like Kiryas Joel in Monroe. This is their grand plan. Do we want that here people? Hell no. Just ask residents of the Monroe area about the strife they cause there. Just this week Barry Lewis, in his column, in the Times Herald-Record mentioned that as another summer begins he has already begun to hear negative comments concerning the Orthodox. I wonder why? He had the balls to admonish the local citizens of Sullivan county to be tolerant of the Orthodox for the ten weeks they're here and learn to get along as they bring so much revenue to Sullivan county. Money is always the most important thing isn't it? Please. They purchase some merchandise they can't buy in their own stores but most everything is purchased from their own which is supplied from the city. They have even taken to bringing lumber/building supplies here from the city rather than buying from local yards. Hear that Fallsburg Lumber, Home Depot? They come up here and clog our roads with both their vehicles and themselves with their attitude of privilege. How about them having consideration for the local residents. As far as they are concerned everything exists for their use and they are out to get everything they can for nothing. This applies to land, goods, services and having babies one after the other on the government's (our) dime. They are leeches that live off everyone else who work everyday and PAY TAXES to try to have something. They sponge off the system in every way possible. They get married in a religious ceremony so in their own eyes they're married which is all they care about. They dont bother to get a marriage license so in the eyes of NYS the female (baby maker) is a single parent and entitled to all that welfare will provide. Hell
driver's licenses or other identification cards are marked as unofficial or "not valid for federal identification," but the variations by state could lead to confusion that REAL ID seeks to eliminate. REAL ID is not a national identification card, though critics ascribe that effect to it, regardless of the law's intent. The law simply establishes requirements that valid government-issued cards must have. The law does not make a standard template or require the same typeface, layout, and font, but it does require certain information be present (e.g. name, gender, date of birth), and that verification of legal status be implicit with the issuance of the card. The cards must also meet a standard for security to prevent fraudulent cards from being made.Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. March 8, 2017, 12:33 PM GMT / Updated March 8, 2017, 12:33 PM GMT By The Associated Press SHANGHAI — China has granted preliminary approval for 38 new Trump trademarks, paving the way for President Donald Trump and his family to develop a host of branded businesses from hotels to insurance to bodyguard and escort services, public documents show. Trump's lawyers in China applied for the marks in April 2016, as Trump railed against China at campaign rallies, accusing it of currency manipulation and stealing U.S. jobs. Critics maintain that Trump's swelling portfolio of China trademarks raises serious conflict of interest questions. China's Trademark Office published the provisional approvals on Feb. 27 and Monday. If no one objects, they will be formally registered after 90 days. All but three are in the president's own name. China already registered one trademark to the president, for Trump-branded construction services, on Feb. 14. In this Friday, March 3, 2017, file photo, President Donald Trump gestures as he walks down the stairs of Air Force One upon his arrival at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Fla. China has granted preliminary approval for 38 new Trump trademarks, fueling concerns about conflicts of interest and preferential treatment of the U.S. president. Luis M. Alvarez / AP If President Trump receives any special treatment in securing trademark rights, it would violate the U.S. Constitution, which bans public servants from accepting anything of value from foreign governments unless approved by Congress, ethics lawyers from across the political spectrum say. Concerns about potential conflicts of interest are particularly sharp in China, where the courts and bureaucracy are designed to reflect the will of the ruling Communist Party. Dan Plane, a director at Simone IP Services, a Hong Kong intellectual property consultancy, said he had never seen so many applications approved so quickly. "For all these marks to sail through so quickly and cleanly, with no similar marks, no identical marks, no issues with specifications - boy, it's weird," he said. The trademarks are for businesses including branded spas, massage parlors, golf clubs, hotels, insurance, finance and real estate companies, retail shops, restaurants, bars, and private bodyguard and escort services. Spring Chang, a founding partner at Chang Tsi & Partners, a Beijing law firm that has represented the Trump Organization, declined to comment specifically on Trump's trademarks. But she did say that she advises clients to take out marks defensively, even in categories or subcategories of goods and services they may not aim to develop. "I don't see any special treatment to the cases of my clients so far," she added. "I think they're very fair and the examination standard is very equal for every applicant." Richard Painter, who served as chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, said the volume of new approvals raised red flags. "A routine trademark, patent or copyright from a foreign government is likely not an unconstitutional emolument, but with so many trademarks being granted over such a short time period, the question arises as to whether there is an accommodation in at least some of them," he said. Painter is involved in a lawsuit alleging that Trump's foreign business ties violate the U.S. Constitution. Trump has dismissed the lawsuit as "totally without merit." China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce, which oversees the Trademark Office, and Trump Organization general counsel Alan Garten did not immediately respond to requests for comment.January 27, 2016 Control4 (Nasdaq: CTRL) has spent the last few years focusing on its core business of providing reliable ZigBee- and Wi-Fi-enabled home automation and multiroom A/V systems for the mid-market via professional integrators. The company shies away from headline-making bells and whistles, and so far has dismissed the DIY IoT market. Today’s big announcement of three new EA Series home controllers stays the course, from the entry level ($600 MSRP) and up ($2,000). Speed and reliability is the mantra, says CEO Martin Plaehn, who wants the company to be known as an infrastructure provider rather than a device manufacturer. Everyone seems to like the strategy – dealers and consumers at least – but not so much the stockholders, who seem to be getting bored with the slow and steady growth of the company. On my recent visit to Control4 headquarters in Salt Lake City, Plaehn held up a very thick report from one analyst that he told me was packed with positive reviews from dealers. “Investors are scratching their heads,” Plaehn says. “All they hear is goodness” (which is what the author hears as well.) So you can imagine that CTRL stock probably won’t skyrocket on the news that three new controllers now have integrated power supplies, even though you can barely contain Kordon Vaughn, senior director of controllers, when he gushes, “This is a really critical component of the system!” Previous controllers relied on external power supplies, Vaughn explains: “The problem with off-the-shelf power supplies is that vendors can make a change and you may never know. Now we can specify high-quality power supplies. … It needs to be something you don’t leave to chance.” While a power supply may seem a little trivial in the scheme of things, it really is emblematic of Control4’s commitment to quality. These days, the controllers “just don’t break,” says Paul Williams, VP of solutions for Control4. “It’s not like a phone where you replace it every couple years. You’re not going to do a wholesale upgrade of your home automation system every couple of years. So we spent a lot of time making sure the products are reliable.” High-Resolution Audio for All There are indeed some swell new features of the new EA Series controllers. I wouldn’t call them bells and whistles exactly, but they do make the products relevant and powerful. Perhaps the most exciting thing is that all three new controllers, the EA-1, EA-3 and EA-5 (specs on next page), offer high-resolution audio (HRA) as standard. The emphasis is on entertainment this go-around, as Control4 installations in the U.S. are mostly driven by entertainment, according to Williams. “Customers looking into a media-room experience or a home-theater experience are lured into home automation,” he says. “So we made sure to allow for those things to be enhanced” with the new models. Vaughn says that making HRA standard in Control4 controllers eliminates a potential “failure point” in a multiroom audio ecosystem. It also ensures that “High-Res Audio is synonymous with Control4.” That goes for the one-room EA-1 as well as the three- and five-zone EA-3 and EA-5, respectively. Vaughn says Control4 focused heavily on the signal-to-noise ratio for its new 24-bit audio platform to make sure “there really isn’t a need to go out and buy a separate box.” Performance Improvements A funny thing happened on the way to a low-noise circuit for high-res audio: Control4 begin seeing better performance from its ZigBee radio as well, according to Vaughn. Even so, Control4 added external Wi-Fi and ZigBee radio antennas to all of its new controllers. “This allows for much more intelligent placement of the controller to ensure good connectivity away from interference when needed,” says Joe Whitaker, a long-time Control4 dealer and contributor to CE Pro. On top of wireless improvements, Control4’s new controllers are more powerful than their predecessors. The EA-3, for example, is five times faster than the nearly-comparable HC250, according to the company. A platform switch from Flash to Android is responsible for much of that speediness, just as when the move to Android made Control4’s new touchscreens “blazingly fast.” The TV on-screen display (OSD) renders lickity-split with the new Android controllers, according to Control4 and its beta testers. Here is an excerpt from Whitaker’s short list of exciting things about the new Control4 hardware: #5 BIG PROCESSORS!!!!!! Ethernet Switches and Other I/Os When controllers are located near a TV, rather than a central rack, the space can get a little tight, especially considering the other little black boxes that may share the shelf. Control4 helps with built-in Ethernet switches on its PoE-powered EA-3 (one extra gigabit port) and EA-5 (four extra ports, all gigabit). “The addition of an extra Ethernet port on the E3, and four ports on the E5, is a bigger deal than it may seem,” Whitaker says. “It's similar to what Sonos has done on the Connect and Connect Amp, and what Sony has done with select receivers. These extra ports allow for bonus connectivity in TV locations, where you might normally use an extra switch.” Each controller boasts a bank of I/O including ports that can be used for IR or RS-232 control. Here, Control4 did another really nice thing for integrators. Some TVs, especially LG and Samsung, have 3.5-inch jacks for serial communications, but they reverse the wires from what is “normal.” In the past, Control4 dealers had to create their own crossover cables in the field by splicing, crossing and reattaching them. Control4 now allows dealers to make “virtual crossover” cables through software. Simply check the box that indicates “crossover” and Control4 does the rest. “We could have made physical crossover cables for dealers,” Vaughn notes, “but then they’d have to carry them around.” There you go – another thing that won’t move CTRL stock, but makes dealers super-happy. OS 2.81 The virtual crossover cable is just one handy feature in Control4’s new OS 2.81 software. Other improvements affect consumers more directly. For example, Control4’s new ShairBridge service -- embedded AirPlay with Control4 special sauce -- is available on all EA controllers. When it debuted at CEDIA 2015 last October, it worked only with the top-of-the-line HC800 controller. Control4 demonstrated the feature at CEDIA, where TIDAL HRA music service was streaming via the HC800 to headset stations in the booth. Dealers could access tunes from the company’s new grid-style interface, with album covers shown in full HD glory – all part of the OS 2.8 upgrade. Control4 has been slowly overhauling its historically bland UIs and is scrapping the old “circle of power” home-page look for a horizontal UI. More fundamentally, Control4 is working to expose more useful data where consumers want to see it. The music/video interface was the first example of that effort. Now with 2.81, Control4 allows shortcuts to such services as Netflix, allowing one-click access from a touchscreen or mobile device. “You don’t have to go to Roku first and drill down,” says Brad Hintze director of product marketing for Control4. And some icing on the software cake: Apple Watch compatibility. EA Series Pricing, Availability and the Business of Control4 Control4 is releasing all new products today, the day of the announcement. The company is holding several launch parties around the country and live-streaming the event. “We want to get everyone using the controllers right away, no waiting period,” Vaughn says. The new entry-level EA-1 retails for $600, including the controller and an SR-260 remote. “Thank you for including the remote with the base-level controller again,” Whitaker says. “This makes ordering and explaining the system so much easier.” The mid-level EA-3 retails for $1,000, which is $250 more than the existing HC-250 model. For that, you get an extra audio zone (three instead of two), two extra IR ports (six instead of four), five times the processing power, a gigabit Ethernet switch, high-res audio, an Android-based OSD, and a wall-mount bracket. The EA-5, which succeeds the $1,500 HC-800, retails for $2,000. Hintze boasts that all of the new controllers are high-performance machines. “If a dealer only sells into a low price point, they still take advantage of everything we offer,” he says. CEO Plaehn emphasizes the point: “We’re not running a tiered ecosystem. What’s really important is that dealers run a single platform.... Even if you put in our entry-level product, you can scale.” Investors clamoring for a DIY-type solution won’t get it from Control4, at least not this year. “We don’t bifurcate our brand,” Plaehn says. “We don’t bifurcate our platform.” Page 1 of 2 1 2 Next »Folks are still talking about the last time the Nashville Predators paid a visit to the Saddledome. That, of course, has nothing to do with the Predators. That Jan. 27 meeting is notable because it was the night Calgary Flames defenceman Dennis Wideman slammed into linesman Don Henderson, a cringe-worthy collision that made headlines even outside hockey circles and resulted in a 20-game suspension for the 32-year-old blue-liner. Six weeks later, the Predators are back and Wideman is still awaiting the results of his final appeal to an independent arbitrator. That news could come Wednesday afternoon, although that’s no sure thing. Wideman is slated to serve Game No. 19 of his banishment against the Predators, although he’d certainly like to recoup some of the more than US$500,000 in lost earnings. “The last couple of weeks, I’ve been just preparing to play as soon as I can and as soon as the decision comes down,” Wideman said after Wednesday’s morning skate at the Saddledome, his first public comments in more than a month. “Whatever it is, I’ll deal with it and be ready to play as soon as I can. “Right now, I’m just concentrating on making sure I’m ready to go whenever the decision comes and whenever I’m eligible to play again.” Wideman told reporters Wednesday that he doesn’t know exactly when he’ll learn the results of his appeal to neutral arbitrator James Oldham. “It’s been tough. It’s been a long time. It’s been a long process,” he said. “You try to deal with it and stay as positive as I can be, especially when I’m around the guys. But no, it’s been difficult. “There’s been no date of when they’re going to release it, whether it’s today or tomorrow or Friday or Saturday or whatever. All I’m concentrating on is trying to get ready and when it does come down, being ready to play and help.” Fellow Flames defenceman Jakub Nakladal has also been anxious to get back in the lineup, although he hasn’t been waiting near as long as Wideman. The 28-year-old Czech suffered an eye injury on a scary high-sticking incident in Saturday’s win in Pittsburgh and missed Monday’s home loss to the San Jose Sharks, but he’ll return to action against the Predators. With Deryk Engelland out due day-to-day to a lower-body injury, emergency callup Tyler Wotherspoon will still stick around. “I think I see a little bit better than before,” joked Nakladal, who still has a shiner and blood visible in his right eye. “When it first happened, I thought, ‘I’m going to miss for a long time.’ Right now, in my situation, it would be bad for me because I want to play every game and it’s a great opportunity for me. I know right now that it was big luck. It’s great for me that I missed just one game.” The Predators arrive in Calgary on a 13-game point spree, with a 9-0-4 record during that span. They celebrated a 4-2 victory Tuesday in Winnipeg. Nashville Predators (34-21-12) at Calgary Flames (27-34-5) 7:30 p.m., Scotiabank Saddledome TV: Sportsnet One Radio: Sportsnet 960 The Fan FLAMES LINEUP Forward lines Johnny Gaudreau-Sean Monahan-Micheal Ferland Garnet Hathaway-Mikael Backlund-Michael Frolik Lance Bouma-Sam Bennett-Joe Colborne Brandon Bollig-Matt Stajan-Josh Jooris Defence pairings Mark Giordano-TJ Brodie Tyler Wotherspoon-Dougie Hamilton Jyrki Jokipakka-Jakub Nakladal GoaliesORLANDO, Fla. -- Talk to presidents of liberal arts colleges and they are proud of how their institutions educate graduates and prepare them for life. But ask the presidents to prove that value, and many get a little less certain. Some cite surveys of alumni satisfaction or employment. Others point to famous alumni. And, privately, many liberal arts college presidents admit that their arguments haven’t been cutting it of late with prospective students and their parents (not to mention politicians), who are more likely to be swayed by the latest data on first-year salaries of graduates, surveys that seem to suggest that engineering majors will find success and humanities graduates will end up as baristas. Richard A. Detweiler believes he has evidence -- quantifiable evidence -- that attending a liberal arts college is likely to yield numerous positive results in graduates' lifetimes, including but not limited to career and financial success. He has been giving previews of his findings for the last year. On Friday, at a gathering here of presidents of the Council of Independent Colleges, he presented details and said he believes the results have the potential to change the conversation about liberal arts colleges. He said his findings show that the key characteristics of liberal arts colleges -- in and out of the classroom -- do matter. At the meeting, Detweiler described his project. He started by examining the mission statements of 238 liberal arts colleges, looking at what the colleges say they are trying to accomplish with regard to their students. Among the common goals given for graduates were to produce people who would continue to learn throughout their lives, make thoughtful life choices, be leaders, be professionally successful and be committed to understanding cultural life. Then Detweiler and colleagues conducted interviews with 1,000 college graduates -- about half from liberal arts colleges and half from other institutions. The graduates were not asked about the value of their alma maters or of liberal arts education, but were asked a series of very specific questions about their experiences in college and then their experiences later in life. The graduates were a mix of those 10 to 40 years after graduation, and conclusions were drawn on liberal arts graduates vs. other graduates only when there was statistical significance for both relatively recent and older alumni. Some of the findings may be relevant to liberal arts disciplines at institutions other than liberal arts colleges, but the comparison point was for those who attended the colleges. What Detweiler found was that graduates who reported key college experiences associated with liberal arts colleges had greater odds of measures of life success associated with the goals of liberal arts colleges. Here are some of the findings: Graduates who reported that in college they talked with faculty members about nonacademic and academic subjects outside class were 25 to 45 percent more likely (depending on other factors) to have become leaders in their localities or professions. Those who reported discussions on issues such as peace, justice and human rights with fellow students outside class were 27 to 52 percent more likely to become leaders. Graduates who reported that students took a large role in class discussions were 27 to 38 percent more likely to report characteristics of lifelong learners than others were. Students who reported most of their classwork was professionally oriented were less likely to become lifelong learners. Graduates who reported that as students they discussed philosophical or ethical issues in many classes, and who took many classes in the humanities, were 25 to 60 percent more likely than others to have characteristics of altruists (volunteer involvement, giving to nonprofit groups, etc.). Graduates who reported that as students most professors knew their first names, and that they talked regularly with faculty members about academic subjects outside class, were 32 to 90 percent more likely to report that they felt personally fulfilled in their lives. Those who reported that professors encouraged them to examine the strengths and weaknesses of one's views, and whose course work emphasized questions on which there is not necessarily a correct answer, were 25 to 40 percent more likely to report that they felt personally fulfilled. But What About Money? Detweiler saved for last the characteristic that gets so much attention these days, and that liberal arts college leaders fear hurts them: money. He noted that his research does back the common belief that liberal arts graduates earn less than others, but only for the first few years after graduation. He said that his study shows a high relationship between a broad undergraduate education and financial success. Those who take more than half of their course work in subjects unrelated to their majors (a characteristics of liberal arts colleges but not professionally oriented colleges) are 31 to 72 percent more likely than others to have higher-level positions and to be earning more than $100,000 than are others. Detweiler said that his study not only suggests that the liberal arts college experience prepares students for a life well lived, but for a life of financial success. Preserving the Right Qualities While Detweiler said that his data (which he hopes to turn into a book) should bolster the case for liberal arts colleges, he also said that these institutions should not rest on their laurels. He said that he worries when he hears about colleges trying to eliminate their smallest courses or increase the average size of sections when his findings show so much positive impact from close relationships between students and faculty members. Further, he said that the findings show why it's important for liberal arts colleges to think more than perhaps some do about what happens outside of class. And Detweiler said that too many colleges are engaged in "a facilities arms race" rather than thinking about the student experience. Finally, he said that the challenge for liberal arts colleges is to start changing the way people talk about their institutions. "How do we communicate to others how and why this approach actually matters?" he asked.Renault has tipped rumours about its future to eventually “disappear”. In the paddock at Red Bull’s own circuit this weekend, rumours have been swirling strongly that the reigning champion team is planning to dump struggling Renault in order to build its own bespoke F1 power unit. And a related rumour is that, if that does happen, Renault could simply quit F1 altogether. Responding to the rumours in Austria, Renault Sport F1 chief Jean-Michel Jalinier insisted: “We have a three-year supplier contract with Red Bull Racing, which runs to the end of 2016. “The cooperation between the two technical teams is going very well,” he told Speed Week. “We are developing this year’s engine to catch up with the competition. “But at the same time, we are putting a lot of work into the power unit for next year. I am convinced that we will catch Mercedes this year, and that we will have a very competitive car next year in conjunction with the chassis. “Then these rumours will disappear,” Jalinier said. However, it has been suggested that the only way Renault will be able to appease Red Bull, and end all the suggestions about a bespoke engine, is to ditch the flawed 2014 package and start afresh for 2015 — perhaps with a Mercedes-like concept. But Jalinier insisted: “It (the 2015 engine) is more evolution than revolution. But of course, we use the entire scope of the regulations to promote our development.” (GMM)Group member Dylan Wheeler said the FBI ended up buying a mockup of the XBox One for $5,000 Earlier this week, an indictment was unsealed outlining a long list of charges against a group of men accused of running a three-year hacking spree that stole intellectual property from gaming companies. Dylan Wheeler, 19, of Perth said in an interview Thursday he was a member of the group, and is one of two unnamed co-conspirators in the indictment. His name is redacted, but includes his online nicknames, including "SuperDae," which is his Twitter handle. The 65-page indictment is an eye-opening document, which describes how the loose-knit group pilfered the source code for Microsoft's XBox One, Apache helicopter simulation software designed for the U.S. Army and intellectual property from game makers such as Epic Games, Valve Corp. and Activision. It doesn't appear that U.S. authorities plan to extradite Wheeler, who attends Curtin University, leaving Australian authorities to prosecute him. He was charged in May 2013 by Australian authorities and is scheduled for a hearing in Perth Children's Court on Jan. 27. Wheeler said he plans to plead innocent, even though in previous interviews with IDG News Service he claimed he breached developer networks affiliated with Microsoft and Sony. Wheeler provided more information about one of the many capers the group is accused of: the sale of a homemade mockup of Microsoft's XBox One long before the device ever went on sale. According to the indictment, the four men and Wheeler are accused of breaching Microsoft's Game Developer Network Portal, which is designed for developers to access pre-release tools and software, and PartnerNet, a software platform for game development. They stole login credentials for those systems, and spent hundreds of hours trolling the networks for confidential intellectual property for the XBox One, which was then referred to by its code-name "Durango." Wheeler said he worked with the other four defendants remotely, communicating over Skype and instant messenger. At one point, Wheeler said the group had amassed enough documentation and code to actually build a mockup of an Xbox One together using off-the-shelf hardware components. Wheeler said Nathan Leroux, 20, of Bowie, Maryland, who is named in the indictment, assembled the device with components bought from NewEgg.com. During online conversations, someone from a group called Team Xecutor, an online community of XBox enthusiasts, expressed an interest in buying it, Wheeler said. While he was traveling in Prague, "I actually woke up, and lo and behold there is five grand sitting in my bank account," Wheeler said. "It came through, and we went 'OK!' and we sent it." Around August 9, 2012, someone identified in the indictment as "Person A" went to Leroux's residence in Maryland and picked up the device. Person A was instructed to send the device to an address in the Seychelles. But Wheeler said he heard through the group that the package never arrived. "That was like a red flag to us," he said. According to the indictment, Person A -- whose real name Wheeler said he knows -- gave the package to the FBI. "The FBI actually bought the Durango," Wheeler said. Wheeler said that and other details that have since emerged indicate that the agency may have been monitoring the group's activities, possibly by tapping Skype. The other three men charged in the indictment are Sanadodeh Nesheiwat, 28, of Washington, New Jersey; David Pokora, 22, of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada; and Austin Alcala, 18, of McCordsville, Indiana. Pokora and Nesheiwat pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiracy to commit computer fraud and copyright infringement and are scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 13, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. Send news tips and comments to [email protected]. Follow me on Twitter: @jeremy_kirkSomeone told me yesterday that the last cryptographer from Bletchley park had died, and I said that can't be true: my mother's still alive. She's 96 and her memory is not wholly reliable – besides, she spent the best part of 40 years after the war forgetting what she had done there, since that was the easiest way not to talk about it. I believe she wrote a history of her section that was never intended for wider publication. But she has never told us much, even after the story of Enigma was published in the 1980s. She had been recruited because her parents lived near Bletchley and she spoke fluent French and good German. One brother was a fighter pilot who survived the Battle of Britain and, miraculously, the whole war too; the other was an army doctor who went over with the first wave of troops on D-day – he didn't talk much about his experiences either. She was a proper cryptanalyst, working for John Tiltman, one of the giants of the field. It is a shock to discover one of the Americans with whom she exchanged Christmas cards until he died is listed in the NSA's official tribute to Tiltman – William Filby, not to be confused with Kim Philby, whom she met a few times, although as a young man listening to her stories I was tempted to confuse them. In the years since the story was first revealed a mythology has grown around it – an authorised version of the story; it's obviously factually true, but it has almost nothing to do with the way she remembers her time there. My father used to say that she had cracked a vital part of a German naval cypher, but all she will say now is that she found a repeat in something and everyone got excited. "Colonel Tiltman gave me various knotty problems to work on," she says. "I and a Russian émigré named Fetterlein used to work together. 'Oh, Patreesha, zis is awful,' he would say, and that was our catchphrase." So I googled Fetterlein and discovered from the NSA's official history that he had been recalled from retirement to work at Bletchley, having been the chief cryptographic officer of the tsar's government, "holding the ranks of both admiral and general. Following the Bolshevik revolution he walked across the Finnish border and made his way to Great Britain." There he helped train Tiltman himself. It is an extraordinary thought that my mother worked with the Tsar's chief cryptanalyst. But she has never subscribed to the myth that Bletchley was the heart of the war effort. In part this is because she never worked on Enigma herself. She knew Enigma codebreaker Alan Turing, but he made no great impression on her. Partly it is because the ethos of the place and time was opposed to boastfulness. There is, I think, a more important reason: Bletchley was never bombed and no one there was in imminent danger of death. They worked enormously hard – my mother was off work for a year with a breakdown – but they thought, and I believe the survivors still think, that they were only doing their duty. When you're actually fighting a war the quality that is really admirable is courage, and both she and her fighter pilot brother would have laughed at the idea that she did more to ensure victory in her cold cramped hut than he did in the cockpit of his Spitfire. Every generation picks its heroes, and there is always a touch of wish fulfilment about the ones they choose. When I was a boy, I wanted to be a fighter pilot more than anything else and I almost fainted with reverence at Uncle Tony's second wedding when he introduced me to Brian Kingcombe. That he had been married to a famous actress before then made no impression on me at all. Paying our respects instead to the people who fought with their brains may be a moral advance, but I think it's just a shift sideways. Turing was a genius and the victim of a horrible injustice. But the war was won as much by the endurance and courage of everyone who was not a genius, and it's a great deal harder to emulate that than to imagine ourselves making breakthroughs of astonishing brilliance or dazzling at the controls of a Spitfire.Not to be confused with Jethro Tull (agriculturist) Jethro Tull are a British rock band formed in Blackpool, Lancashire, in 1967. Initially playing blues rock, the band later developed their sound to incorporate elements of hard and folk rock to forge a progressive rock signature.[1] The band is led by vocalist/flautist/guitarist Ian Anderson, and has featured a revolving door of lineups through the years including significant members such as guitarists Mick Abrahams and Martin Barre, keyboardist John Evan, drummers Clive Bunker, Barriemore Barlow, and Doane Perry, and bassists Glenn Cornick, Jeffrey Hammond, John Glascock, and Dave Pegg. The group first achieved commercial success in 1969, with the folk-tinged blues album Stand Up, which reached No. 1 in the UK, and they toured regularly in the UK and the US. Their musical style shifted in the direction of progressive rock with the albums Aqualung (1971), Thick as a Brick (1972) and A Passion Play (1973), and shifted again to hard rock mixed with folk rock with Songs from the Wood (1977) and Heavy Horses (1978). Jethro Tull have sold an estimated 60 million albums worldwide,[2] with 11 gold and five platinum albums among them.[3] They have been described by Rolling Stone as "one of the most commercially successful and eccentric progressive rock bands".[4] The last works as a group to contain new material were released in 2003, though the band continued to tour until 2011. Anderson said Jethro Tull were finished in 2014;[5] however, in September 2017 Anderson announced plans for a tour to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the band's first album This Was, and then record a new studio album in 2018. The current band line-up includes musicians who have been members of Anderson's solo band since 2012. The band began a world tour on 1 March 2018. History [ edit ] Original logo Present logo Origins [ edit ] Ian Anderson, Jeffrey Hammond and John Evan (originally Evans), who would become members of Jethro Tull, attended grammar school together in Blackpool. Anderson was born in Dunfermline, Scotland and grew up in Edinburgh before moving to Blackpool in January 1960. Evans had become a fan of the Beatles after seeing them play "Love Me Do" on Granada Television's Scene at 6:30. Though he was an accomplished pianist, he decided to take up the drums, as it was an instrument featured in the Beatles' line-up. Anderson had acquired a Spanish guitar and taught himself how to play it, and the pair decided to form a band. The pair recruited Hammond on bass, who brought along his collection of blues records to listen to. The group initially played as a three piece at local clubs and venues, before Evans became influenced by Georgie Fame and the Animals and switched to organ, recruiting drummer Barrie Barlow and guitarist Mike Stevens from local band the Atlantics. By 1964 the band had recruited guitarist Chris Riley and developed into a six-piece blue-eyed soul band called the John Evan Band (later the John Evan Smash). Evans had shortened his surname to "Evan" at the insistence of Hammond, who thought it sounded better and more unusual. The group recruited Johnny Taylor as a booking agent and played gigs further afield around northwest England, playing a mixture of blues and Motown covers. Hammond subsequently quit the band to go to art school. He was briefly replaced by Derek Ward, then by Glenn Cornick. Riley also quit and was replaced by Neil Smith. The group recorded three songs at Regent Sound Studios in Denmark Street, London in April 1967, and appeared at The Marquee club in June. In November 1967, the band moved to the London area, basing themselves in Luton. They signed a management deal with Terry Ellis and Chris Wright and replaced Smith with guitarist Mick Abrahams, but quickly realised that supporting a 6-piece band was financially impractical, and the group split up. Anderson, Abrahams and Cornick decided to stay together, recruiting Abrahams' friend Clive Bunker on drums and becoming a British blues band. Cornick recalled that although Evan left, the band said he was welcome to rejoin at a later date. As the only member not having nearby family, Anderson lived in a bed-sit "on the verge of starvation" and worked as a cleaner for the Luton Ritz Cinema to pay the rent. Jethro Tull formed on 20 December.[21] Early years (1967–1968) [ edit ] At first, the new band had trouble getting repeat bookings and they took to changing their name frequently to continue playing the London club circuit, names which included "Navy Blue", "Ian Henderson's Bag o' Nails", and "Candy Coloured Rain". Anderson recalled looking at a poster at a club and concluding that the band name he didn't recognise was his. Band names were often supplied by their booking agents' staff, one of whom, a history enthusiast, eventually christened them "Jethro Tull" after the 18th-century agriculturist. The name stuck because they happened to be using it the first time a club manager liked their show enough to invite them to return.[5] They recorded a session with producer Derek Lawrence, which resulted in the single "Sunshine Day". The B-side "Aeroplane" was an old John Evan Band track with the saxophones mixed out. It was released in February 1968 on MGM Records, miscredited to "Jethro Toe". Anderson has since questioned the misnomer as a way to avoid paying royalties.[24] The more common version, with the name spelled correctly, is actually a counterfeit made in New York.[25] Anderson later met Hammond while in London and the two renewed their friendship, while Anderson moved into a bedsit in Chelsea with Evan. Hammond became the subject of several songs, beginning with their next single, "A Song for Jeffrey". Because he was living in a cold bedsit, Anderson bought a large overcoat to keep him warm, and, along with the flute, it became part of his early stage image. It was around this time that Anderson purchased a flute after becoming frustrated with his inability to play guitar as well as Abrahams, and because their managers thought he should remain a rhythm guitarist, with Abrahams becoming the front man
exist. The team will also be seeking more funding to further their research which will have large impact on the study of life sciences.A field of cowbell-equipped-cows may create a soothing soundscape of wind and chimes, but what’s soothing to us doesn’t translate to the cows. Though Christopher Walken and internet humor from over 14 years ago require more cowbell, it turns out the actual bovine after which the bells are named really hate the things. A study was performed as part of a doctoral dissertation for the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich where agricultural scientist Julia Johns and a colleague measured the decibel levels of cowbells. The team attached 12-pound cowbells to over 100 cows across 25 locations around the country, and it turns out the cowbells can reach decibel levels of 113 — far above the legal limit of 85. The cowbells aren’t just over the legal limit, but reach a level of noise equivalent to a jackhammer or a chainsaw. The team studied the cows reactions, and though the above video seems like pleasant ambient noise, the sounds may negatively affect the cows’ behavior and health. The duo found that the cows exposed to the cowbells chew their food for significantly less time than the cows without the bells, and some cows have even proven to have their hearing severely impaired. The team does admit that the weight of the bells could also negatively affect the cows, but a slightly heavy cowbell necklace likely wouldn’t cause hearing impairment. Farmers use the bells to locate cows grazing in pasture, but researchers have suggested replacing them with GPS trackers. However, the farmers claim that poor reception in the mountainous areas would make that solution difficult. Furthermore, the soundscape of cowbells ringing across Switzerland’s wilderness is iconic to both tourism and culture. If the cows are actually suffering, though, it might be time to focus on another iconic part of Swiss culture.Our original picture of the inside of the dock went viral in its own way as everyone is thirsting for more information on the Switch as its launch date quickly approaches. I’ve seen a lot of people strangely concerned with screen scratches and the dock though, so I went back to the dock pictures I took that I originally rejected because they were too blurry. While blurry and not bright enough at the time, I lightened them some in Photoshop and they give some more angles of what I am assuming are the rubber runners inside the dock that make contact with the bezel instead of the screen — preventing the Switch screen from coming into contact with anything that would harm it during the docking/undocking process. You can see the new pictures below along with the video we did of the docking process, and the part of our GoPro video in which we played around with the demo Switch hardware unit. Hopefully this sheds some more light on it for everyone. You can also check out our initial impressions article/gallery here.John McDonnell says he wants candidates to stay within the Labour Party Left wing Labour MPs are threatening to stand under their own manifesto at the next election if Prime Minister Gordon Brown fails to adopt their policies. John McDonnell, chair of the Campaign group of Labour MPs, stresses he wants candidates to remain in the party. But he said they could stand as Labour "change candidates" if Gordon Brown fails to alter his political course. It comes as Blairite MP Charles Clarke said there could be a leadership challenge before the next election. Both the the left and right wings of the party appear to be suggesting that Mr Brown is on probation after Monday's meeting of Labour MPs in which he promised a more inclusive style of government. Mr McDonnell, who failed to gain enough support to challenge Mr Brown before he entered Downing Street in 2007, said the Labour left had deliberately steered clear of recent plots to oust Mr Brown and wanted to see a change of political direction instead. 'Real change' Labour candidates standing on their own policy platform would be seen as a highly provocative move by the party leadership and could potentially see them being expelled from the party. Mr McDonnell is careful to stress that he wants candidates to "bind together as a slate" within the Labour Party and set out to voters the policy programme they would advocate and vote for in Parliament. If Labour is to stand any chance of surviving at the next election real change has to be visibly underway and progress demonstrated at the latest by the autumn John McDonnell But a Labour Party spokesman said: "Policy in the Labour Party is made via Partnership in Power, an inclusive and consultative process unique in British politics. "Through discussion with the public, ordinary Labour members from each region and nation of Britain, elected members, and representatives from Labour Party's affiliated organisations come together to agree a policy platform which best matches the aspirations and concerns of the British people. "This process involves as many people as possible and not just a tiny section of the party or indeed the country." 'Change candidates' Among the policies Mr McDonnell wants to see is the restoration of trade union rights, more council houses, an end to public service privatisation, scrapping the Heathrow third runway, freezing and then abolishing student fees, scrapping Trident and ID cards and electoral reform. He said: "If Labour is to stand any chance of surviving at the next election real change has to be visibly underway and progress demonstrated at the latest by the autumn. If we go beyond November without real change, what hope is left of Labour not only remaining in government but surviving as an effective political force at all?" He said a leadership challenge at that stage "would almost certainly be blocked again by MPs failing to nominate" and the only alternative would be for Labour MPs to "stand on a policy platform of real change as 'change candidates'" at the next general election. Clarke speaks out Mr McDonnell chairs the Socialist Campaign Group, which includes 24 Labour MPs. They represent some of Labour's safest seats but some, such as Frank Cook and Bob Marshall-Andrews, are standing down at the next election and Ian Gibson is quitting to force a by-election, after being barred from standing as a Labour candidate after criticism of his expenses claims. Meanwhile, at the other end of Labour's political spectrum, former home secretary Charles Clarke has said he still wants Mr Brown to stand down but he admits that a recent attempt by some backbenchers to remove him is now over. But he said it "depends entirely on Gordon" as to whether he led the party into the next election. In an interview with Andrew Neil's Straight Talk, to be broadcast on Saturday, June 12 at 2230 on the BBC News Channel, he said: " "If, for example, the poll ratings go up or we win these by-elections which are going to come through or whatever, I think the issue will go away and he can be confident he leads us into the next election." But he added: "If, on the other hand, he somehow doesn't fulfil those things or electorally we do badly or whatever it might be, then the issue will still be there. He added: "He himself gave a set of commitments to the Parliamentary Labour Party at that meeting last Monday night about his performance, his behaviour, his approach, and I think people will look at all those things and make their judgements in the light of them." Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable versionThe Nexus offers multiple ways to duke it out in objective-driven, fast-paced team on team battles. Find the mode that best suits your style and carve your path to glory! Each week, Heroes Brawl presents you with a new set of crazy mutators that turn everything you thought you knew about the game on its head. From unique battlegrounds to crazy team composition rules to completely rewritten rules of engagement, you’ll never know what’s in store! Select the hero you’d like to play, dive into the Quick Match queue, and get ready for a taste of the fast-paced, highly-competitive action the Nexus has to offer. The matchmaking system will pit you against opponents of similar skill. Playing in this mode will net you daily quest progress, as well as bonus gold and experience. In this mode, you fight computer-controlled opponents of scalable difficulty alongside your friends, or with other players via the matchmaking system. If you prefer to go at it solo, you just need to check the A.I. Teammates’ box. Playing in this mode will net you some experience, gold, and daily quest progress. The Nexus’ training mode pits you and four A.I. teammates against five easy A.I. heroes. Every practice match begins with a cinematic overview of the field and its objectives. This mode is a great way to learn the ropes of the game, just be aware that practice matches do not contribute to your daily quest progress. Whether you want to learn the game or unwind in a more relaxed game with friends, these modes are for you. Fight alongside (and against) the best of the best solo, or bring a friend in a party of two players and storm the Nexus together. The greatest challenge within the Nexus await in the game’s ranked play modes. Defeat your enemies and climb the ranks all the way to Grand Master; prove your worth in battle and earn unique season rewards. To learn all there is to know about how to gain rank and dominate people, visit the Ranked Play page. Set up a pre-arranged match where you get to pick the battleground, invite players, add A.I. opponents, teammates, and observers. Besides regular hero selection, this mode has a draft setting, where teams take turns picking heroes and no duplicates are allowed—just like in ranked games. Who gets to pick first can be decided by either a coin toss, or it can be selected manually by the match creator. Rewards To help you track the rewards you receive in each game mode, we’ve compiled this handy chart. Note that for each match you play, the XP you earned as a team during the match forms the base of your individual XP reward. Note also that a Boost (available in the in-game shop) will double your experience gains, increase your gold income, and grant an XP bonus to other players in your matches.Medical associations in Sweden and Denmark have strongly recommended a ban on the non-medical circumcision of boys, reports the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The Sweden Medical Association, which counts 85% of the country's physicians as members, recommended setting twelve as the minimum age for the procedure and requiring a boy's consent in a resolution which was unanimously passed by the ethics council, reported the Svenska Dagbladet. The Danish College of General Practitioners, a group with 3,000 members, made a statement that ritual circumcision of boys was tantamount to abuse and mutilation, according to Danish newspaper BT. They polled their readers and found that 87% were in favor of a ban on non-medical circumcision. In the Jewish tradition, the ritual circumcision is usually carried out eight days after a baby's birth. Ritual circumcision is also a part of the Muslim faith, usually taking place before the age of ten. Current Swedish legislation states that both medical and non-medical circumcision must be carried out by a licensed professional. Jewish ritual circumcisers (mohels) receive licenses from the national health board, but are required to be attended by a doctor or nurse during the procedure. In September 2013, the Child Rights International Network released a joint statement from the Nordic Ombudsmen for children and pediatric experts which said, "As Ombudsmen for Children and pediatric experts we are of the opinion that circumcision without medical indication is in conflict with Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which addresses the child’s right to express his/her own views in all matters concerning him/her, and Article 24, point 3, which states that children must be protected against traditional practices that may be prejudicial to their health." It was signed by representatives from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and Greenland. Though some see these recommendations as needed step forward for children's rights, others perceive them as a reflection of anti-Semitism and anti-immigrant sentiment in Nordic society.Infinity Blade: Dungeons 'on hold,' Impossible Studios being closed Infinity Blade: Dungeons, the third game in Epic's popular iOS franchise, is being put "on hold," as its developer--Impossible Studios, made up of former Big Huge Games devs--is being closed. Infinity Blade: Dungeons, the third game in Epic's popular iOS franchise, is being put "on hold," as its developer--Impossible Studios--is being closed. Impossible was made up of former members of Big Huge Games, which shut down after the collapse of Big Huge Games last year. "Epic Games has truly embraced this stellar collection of developers who were displaced by the closing of Big Huge Games," said Impossible studio director Sean Dunn said in August. "They have looked after us with complete care, giving us all the tools and resources we need to make a lot of gamers happy." Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney said that their partnership was ultimately not "working out for Epic," and that the studio would be closed. "In addition to providing Impossible Studios employees with 3 months of severance pay, we'll be giving the team the opportunity to form a new company with the Impossible Studios name and the awesome Impossibear logo," Sweeney added.SAN DIEGO (AP) — A San Diego police sergeant has filed a racial-discrimination lawsuit against the city claiming he was punished for complaining about a racist cartoon that was used in a training class, a newspaper reported Wednesday. Ten-year department veteran Arthur Scott — who is black — says in the Superior Court lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was the victim of a hostile work environment and on-the-job retaliation after objecting, the UT San Diego reported. San Diego police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said in a statement that the department will take the allegations “very seriously.” “We will fully cooperate and support any and all investigations into this matter,” Zimmerman said. At issue is a century-old newspaper cartoon mocking a black police officer in the city. It shows Chinese men in pigtails running in fear from an ape-like caricature. The lawsuit said the cartoon was passed around in a training class without historical context on race relations. Scott, 43, said he complained to a supervisor. He claims he was later passed over for a promotion, pressured into taking an undesirable transfer and threatened with disciplinary action “based upon frivolous allegations of misconduct.” Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.The cleavages created by Labour’s 2017 electoral performance and by Brexit have made the political landscape more challenging for the SNP. But if the party are able to tack successfully into the new political winds, these challenges can be met, writes Sean Swan, making the forthcoming conference decisive for the party’s future. The SNP annual conference will be held on 8-10 October in Glasgow. It comes as Alex Rowley, Scottish Labour’s acting leader, claims that Scotland is past ‘peak SNP’. Support in the latest opinion polls has the party on 41% support in a future Westminster election, and 38% for a Holyrood election. Meanwhile, support for independence languishes at 43%, which is 2% lower than the Indyref result. These figures are hardly disastrous: the SNP share of the vote in the 2017 Westminster election was 36.9%, and the party took 41.7% in the 2016 Holyrood vote. But there is a tendency to judge the SNP’s performance against the 2015 Westminster general election when it took almost 50% of the vote. The 2015 victory was the product of disappointed Yes voters, who effectively decided on a long march through the institutions, joining the SNP en masse in the wake of the 2014 independence referendum defeat. The 2015 victory was as close to total as it could realistically be, but failed to deliver much tangible progress towards independence. Had 2015 resulted in a hung parliament and a Labour government supported by the SNP, things might have been different. But it did not. While 2015 was an outlier, the fact still remains that the SNP has not performed as well in recent elections as 2015 might have led people to anticipate. What has changed is that the SNP faces two issues which were not a factor in 2015: Brexit and Jeremy Corbyn. Supporters of independence, the SNP’s broad voter base, can be broken in to three rough categories: Those who wish to see Scotland independent ‘within Europe’; Those who want an independent Scotland outside the EU; Those who see independence as the only alternative to neoliberal Tory or ‘Tory lite’ Blairite government from London. Brexit has opened up a new political cleavage, not only within wider Scottish politics but also within the independence movement – including the SNP. The SNP was traditionally opposed to membership of the EU, and campaigned for a ‘No’ vote in the 1975 EEC referendum. It was not until 1983, due in part to Jim Sillars, SNP veteran and one time deputy leader, that the SNP changed its stance to one of ‘independence within Europe’. But by the time of the Brexit referendum, Sillars had changed his mind. In fact, Sillars has stated that he would refuse to vote for independence in a second referendum if it meant re-joining the EU. And Sillars is far from alone. A poll conducted by Lord Ashcroft immediately after the 2016 referendum showed that 36% of SNP voters had voted Leave. In a similar vein, another SNP veteran and former minister in the Scottish government, Alex Neil claimed that ‘five or six’ SNP MSPs – himself included – had voted Leave. The British Election Study has shown that 9 out of 10 SNP voters who voted Yes to independence in 2014 and Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum, stuck with the SNP in 2017. But the story was different amongst those who supported independence and then voted Leave. In 2017, four out of ten of them deserted the SNP for another party, having been ‘driven away by the party’s strong pro-remain stance’. This is the first new cleavage: the split between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ nationalists on the EU question. The SNP needs somehow to decouple the independence question from the EU question. One possible solution would be for them to adopt a policy that any future referendum on independence should be a double ballot, like the 1997 referendum on creating a Scottish parliament. In 1997, voters were asked two questions – 1. should there be a Scottish parliament, and 2. should a Scottish parliament have tax-varying powers. A future independence referendum might similarly ask two questions: 1. should Scotland be an independent country? and 2. should an independent Scotland be a member of the European Union? The two issues would thus be disentangled. The second problem the SNP faces is Jeremy Corbyn. Not only are many SNP voters former Labour voters, but modern Scottish nationalism grew under, and in reaction to, Thatcherism and New Labour. They came to support independence due to despairing of the possibility of a more social democratic government. The UK seemed irredeemably addicted to neoliberalism and increasingly dominated politically by the City. For left-wingers who came to see the UK state as essentially irreformable, independence thus became the only viable route to reform. Corbyn represents the end of ‘New Labour’ liberalism and the return of a more social democratic Labour party. In the 2017 UK general election, Labour increased its vote by 38% across Great Britain; however, in Scotland, the vote only increased by 1%. That the ‘Corbyn bounce’ has so far been limited is likely related to the Blairite nature of the leadership of Scottish Labour. Left-wing elements within Scottish Labour have made exactly this point, arguing that the Scottish Labour leadership had damaged Labour’s chances of winning a majority. But the general election changed everything. Corbyn’s credibility as a future prime minister – and thus his hand – was enhanced. Corbyn undertook a five day long tour of Scottish marginals at the end of August. Whether connected or not, Scottish Labour leader, Kezia Dugdale, quit shortly afterwards. Dugdale had opposed Corbyn during last year’s leadership contest and backed his rival, Owen Smith. The leadership contest resulting from Dugdale’s resignation has been controversial – especially for the one time front-runner, Anas Sarwar, who also opposed Corbyn. There are increasing signs of Scottish Labour potentially descending into civil war on Blairite/Corbynista lines. It is still too early to say what form Scottish Labour will take after the dust settles. If it descends into factionalism, or if another anti-Corbyn candidate such as Sarwar, becomes leader, the ‘Corbyn bounce’ will have only limited hop in Scotland. On the other hand, if a pro-Corbyn candidate such as Richard Leonard wins, it may present a problem for the SNP. Iain Macwhirter makes an astute observation when he compares Momentum, the backbone of Corbyn’s Labour party, to the Yes campaign in the 2014 indyref. Both manifest the same energy, enthusiasm, and belief in the possibility of change. More fundamentally, both the Yes campaign and Corbyn’s Labour contain the hope of potential reform of the believed-to-be irreformable. The potential attraction for ‘left-wing’ SNP supporters is not hard to see. There is a world of difference in the SNP contesting Holyrood elections and contesting Westminster elections. In Holyrood, the SNP is contesting to form the Scottish government. Given that the SNP does not contest elections outside of Scotland, it can never form the British government. (Nor, of course, does it wish to.) In a Westminster election, what is at issue is whether Labour or the Tories govern the UK. If a Labour government under Corbyn seems a real possibility, many former Labour voters who voted SNP in recent elections will be tempted to return to Labour. It might be wise for the SNP to make explicit what is already fairly implicit – given that the only choice for UK government is Tory or Labour, they should declare that they would support a Labour UK government. A vote for the SNP in a Westminster general election is not incompatible with a vote for Corbyn as PM. It is not an either/or choice between voting SNP or helping elect a Corbyn government. It is possible to do both – or ought to be. Given that the only choice in Westminster is between a Conservative or Labour UK government, the SNP could adopt a policy similar to Irish parties in the past, such as the Irish Parliamentary Party’s support for the Liberals or the Ulster Unionist Party’s for the Tories. On his grand tour, Corbyn declared that “Scotland holds the keys to delivering a Labour government for the whole United Kingdom.”. That key could be delivered as easily by SNP MPs as by Scottish Labour ones. Naturally, Labour would swear up and down (at least in public) that they would never accept SNP support. That is politics. Equally certainly, they would accept it in the event of a hung parliament – that’s politics too. The political landscape has been transformed by Brexit and Corbyn. New political cleavages, more complex than the simple Yes/No binary of the Indyref, have emerged. The terrain is now more challenging for the SNP. But if they are able to tack successfully into the new political winds, these challenges can be met. These are some of the issues that the forthcoming SNP conference will need to address. If addressed successfully, the real SNP ‘peak’ is yet to come. ______ About the Author Sean Swan is a Lecturer in Political Science at Gonzaga University. All articles posted on this blog give the views of the author(s), and not the position of LSE British Politics and Policy, nor of the London School of Economics and Political Science. Featured image credit: Pixabay/Public Domain.Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Wish you could hear me singing, but trust me, it’s very good. Actually feels kind of appropriate for a change here in the "ice cube" my crew and I call home at the FOX Network Center, since in many of the early NFL games here in Week 14 the snow is coming down. Remember in the "snow plow" game between New England-Miami back in 1982 when the tractor with brushes took a little veer off the 5-yard mark and cleaned the area where New England attempted a field goal? Article continues below... Not going to happen Sunday. Snow removal guidelines are in the game operation manual of the NFL, and here is basically what they say: — You can clear the sidelines, goal lines and end lines. — You can clear the 10-yard stripes behind the offense, not in front of the offense. — And during play, during a timeout, the only thing you can clear in front of the offense is the goal line if the referee deems that the goal line is not visible. If the offense is inside the 20, you can not clean the 5-yard stripe directly behind the offense because it might end up benefiting a field goal attempt in an area that’s clean, so therefore, that’s not allowable. The kicker and holder can’t use anything like a brush to clear the spot of where they are going to attempt a field goal, but they can scrape off the snow with their hands or feet. Just no artificial tool. In the end, common sense plays a factor and there are specific guidelines in the NFL manual to make sure that what happened in New England in 1982 doesn’t happen again.Robert John Burck (born December 23, 1970), better known as the Naked Cowboy, is an American street performer whose pitch is on New York City's Times Square. [1] He wears only cowboy boots, a hat, and white briefs, with a guitar strategically placed to give the illusion of nudity. Burck was born in Cincinnati and attended Our Lady of the Rosary elementary school in nearby Greenhills, Ohio. He later earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Cincinnati. He began busking in December 1997 and first appeared on Venice Beach, Los Angeles. He is currently best known as a fixture of Times Square in New York City. He made an appearance on January 25, 2009, where he performed at a Leinster Rugby game in Donnybrook, Dublin, Ireland, singing his theme song "I'm the Naked Cowboy" before 18,000 spectators.[5] In May 2014, Burck switched from his usual briefs to boxer briefs, after being sponsored by Fruit of the Loom.[6] Music Edit Naked Cowboy in Times Square. Burck has made appearances in three music videos, including Cake's "Short Skirt/Long Jacket", Tyler Hilton's "When It Comes", and Nickelback's "Rockstar". In 2007, Burck released an album of his own, signing to 4Sight Music Productions and recording the pop-rock album Year of the Cowboy produced by Lee Evans and producer Dante Lattanzi at JAMBOX Recording Studios in New York City. The album was featured on MTV News.[7] Politics Edit On July 20, 2009, it was announced that Burck would challenge Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the 2009 election for Mayor of New York City.[8] At his announcement, Burck stated, "No one knows how to do more with less than yours truly, and that's the kind of thinking I plan on sharing with my fellow New Yorkers when you elect me."[9][10] In response, Jonny Porkpie, the self-proclaimed "burlesque Mayor of NYC" announced that he would run against him,[11] echoing Lloyd Bentsen during a campaign announcement that critiqued Burck's "man-panties". "I know naked. Some of my best friends are naked. And you, sir, are not naked." [12] On September 5, 2009, Burck withdrew from the race. On September 29, 2010, he announced his intentions to challenge President Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election. At his announcement, Burck stated that he has a "very conservative policy" and that he had an "unapologetic commitment to our borders, our language and our culture", borrowing a well-known catchphrase of radio host Michael Savage. He changed his appearance by wearing a dress suit and had his hair cut.[13][14][15] On October 6, 2010, Burck officially declared his presidential candidacy at a press conference in Times Square.[2][3][4] He stated that he was neither a Democrat nor a Republican, but rather "an American" and that he intended to lead the U.S. Tea Party movement into the Oval Office.[16]The Wall Street Journal has revealed one of this year’s San Diego Comic Con 2014 exclusive sets, the LEGO Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy Rocket’s Warbird. The set will include 145 pieces and will retail for $39.99. Rocket Raccoon will have a different outfit than what he has with the Knowhere Escape Mission (76020), sporting the Guardians of the Galaxy outfit in this exclusive. If you are going to be at SDCC 2014, be prepared to wait a long time in line to pick one of these bad boys up as these exclusives will be in limited quantities sold per day. There will also probably be a limit to how many that you can get. One of the bad things is the SDCC scalpers will be in full force hoping to make a profit on the sets and taking it away from real LEGO fans. I’m hoping to be able to pick up one of Rocket’s Warbird to do a review on after the convention. Thanks to Jim for emailing the report in.The British ISIS fighter who stood alongside Jihadi John in a gruesome video featuring the execution of an American aid worker and 16 Syrian soldiers has reportedly been killed in Syria. Ahlul Bayt News Agency - The British ISIS fighter who stood alongside Jihadi John in a gruesome video featuring the execution of an American aid worker and 16 Syrian soldiers has reportedly been killed in Syria. ISIS's social media channels have been flooded with the news and chilling tributes to Ikrima al-Nomani who they say died in battle in the western region of Kalamoon. The tyrant who was among 16 ISIS militants seen beheading soldiers in the Syrian desert has previously been named as Nasser Muthana, a 20-year-old former medical student from Cardiff. Released in November 2014, the harrowing video also featured a masked Mohammed Emwazi - notoriously known as Jihadi John - who issued a chilling threat to the West before severing the head of aid worker Peter Kassig. An earlier scene showed the graphic mass murder of Syrian Air Force personnel who were marched single file to a desert location by uniformed Jihadis. They forced their captives to kneel before they picked up sharp daggers and sawed off the heads of their victims. Muthana's father has previously said his son should be executed if he was involved in the beheadings. 57-year-old Ahmed Muthana said he had disowned his son Nasser, adding: 'I am like any other father. I am trying not to believe it is my boy but it looks like him. /257AP A delegate rests, after a 24-hour period of plenary sessions at the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen, Saturday, Dec.19, 2009 It was during the wee hours of Saturday morning when a delegate from Saudi Arabia, of all places, expressed what may have been the consensus view of the contentious final plenary session at the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen. "I am working without break for 48 hours now," he said. "I do not see, in the future, a situation where we can adopt a legally binding, given these [reactions to a compromise plan hammered out between President Obama and the leaders of the key developing nations]. This is without exception the worst plenary I have ever attended, including the management of the process, the timing, everything." But although many will remember the Copenhagen climate summit as an unmitigated disaster, that's too simple an assessment. The event was nothing if not contentious. Outside the venue, stressed out Danish riot cops clashed with thousands of protestors demanding action by the world's governments. Inside, some of the poorer developing countries kept the proceedings frozen with procedural objection after procedural objection, while major economies like the U.S. and China brought little new to the summit and barely budged from their negotiation positions. In the end, all that was produced was an interim accord barely worth the name. It was bitterly attacked by many environmentalists, and even its chief architect, President Barack Obama, admitted the pact was "not enough" and that "we have a long way to go." (See the top 10 green ideas of 2009.) For all its limitations, however, the Copenhagen Accord is the first real step to fighting climate change in the 21st century. The real value of Copenhagen of the summit may lie in what it teaches us about dealing with climate change — and much more. Here are five lessons of the summit: 1. George W. Bush was right, sort of. After ignoring climate change for much of his tenure, Bush in late 2007 called a Washington meeting of the major economies — hoping to make headway on combatting global warming by focusing on the handful of countries, developed and developing, that produce the vast majority of carbon emissions. Environmentalists, unsurprisingly, lambasted the idea, assuming it was a ploy to undercut the U.N. system. The meeting came and went with little impact. But last Friday morning, after two weeks of fruitless negotiations among most of U.N. member states, President Obama arrived in Copenhagen to find the summit on the verge of collapse. So, he plunged into seven hours of hard, direct bargaining with a select group of world leaders, eventually cutting a deal with those from China, India, Brazil and South Africa — the world's largest and most important emerging economies, and the leading country in Africa, the continent that will suffer most from climate change. Their agreement was presented on a take-it-or-leave-it basis to the other 180 plus nations. While Copenhagen won't end the U.N. process for addressing climate change, but it marks a shift to decision making by smaller groups of powerful nations working in more manageable numbers. As undemocratic as that may be, Copenhagen showed that it may also be the only way to get something done. (Read Obama's remarks in full.) 2.China will be decisive. When Obama landed in Copenhagen, to key leader with whom he needed to huddle was China's Premier Wen Jiaobao. But Wen played hard to get, twice sending a lower-level official to meet with Obama and other world leaders. Washington and Beijing clashed throughout the summit over the issue of transparency: whether developing countries would expose their domestic climate actions to international review. But the real battle was to persuade China, now the world's largest emitter of carbon gases, to relinquish its outdated developing-nation status under the Kyoto Protocol, and commit to targets more in line with its status as a leading industrial power. China is investing hundreds of billions in clean energy, and brought to Copenhagen pledges to improve energy efficiency. Yet, Beijing remained largely passive at Copenhagen, resistant to throwing in its lot with an international system and reluctant to use its growing power to influence the talks in a positive way. Although it looks set to become the world's second largest economy by the end of the year, it is also home to hundreds of millions of poor people — hence the developing-nation mindset. But unless China can be coaxed to play a leadership role in any future concerted global action on climate change, there simply won't be any. (See pictures of the world's most polluted places.) 3. We can agree to save the forests. Although no smart observer expected a Copenhagen accord to include legally binding emission-reduction targets, the final accord omitted even the long-term emissions goals included in earlier drafts. Expect a renewal of the same debates a year from now at the next U.N. climate summit in Mexico City. But Copenhagen's bright spot was progress on slowing deforestation. The logging and burning of tropical rainforests accounts for around 15% of global carbon emissions, and eliminates important carbon sinks such as the Amazon. A plan excluded from Kyoto — titled Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) — under which wealthier nations pay rainforest countries for preserving their trees made a comeback at Copenhagen. Stopping deforestation is a cheap way to slow carbon emissions and protects the most important wildlife habitat on the planet. The Copenhagen negotiations on REDD made real progress, signaling that both the developed and developing nations want it to succeed. Although the lack of a more ambitious wider agreement limited the progress that could be made on REDD, the Copenhagen Accord does include a mention of it — which raises the hope that forests are at least one thing that governments may find a way to save. 4.Green schism. The Environmental Defense Fund — a U.S. green group that often works with business — praised the Copenhagen Accord as an "important step," and other mainstream environmental groups had a similarly measured response. But the new group 350.org — which demands extremely sharp and immediate carbon reductions — denounced the deal and protests outside the venue began almost immediately. The differing response among environmentalists suggests that Copenhagen may produce splits similar to those among liberal Democrats over how to respond to compromises over health-care reform in the U.S. While most greens remain firmly in Obama's corner even if they're far from satisfied, we can expect an escalation of civil skirmishes within a movement that's generally been a happy family. 5. It's going to get harder, and that's a good thing. In the weeks preceding the summit, world leaders had downgraded expectations for a binding agreement, aiming instead for a broad political agreement while kicking tough decisions such as emission targets down the road. Logically, that should have made the talks at Copenhagen easier. Obviously that's not what happened, as the summit's final 48 hours were passed on the brink of collapse. But if Copenhagen was tough, Mexico City will be a lot more so, because there, countries will be tasked with filling in details sketched in the Copenhagen Accord. Yet the very struggle to reach agreement at Copenhagen, and the tougher talks to come, demonstrate that climate diplomacy has finally come of age. The negotiations at Copenhagen were so contentious because of the very real impact the proposals on the table will have, not only on the environment, but also on national economies. China and the U.S. played hardball — and sent heads of government to do the talking — precisely because they had something to lose. The onset of a kind of climate realpolitik, which eschews hot air for real action, signals is a sign that global climate talks have moved beyond symbolic rhetoric. Copenhagen also signaled a profound change in the U.S. role. During the plenary of the previous U.N. climate summit in Bali two years ago, Kevin Conrad, the delegate from the small rainforest nation of Papua New Guinea, electrified the room when he told the recalcitrant U.S. delegation: "We seek your leadership, but if for some reason you are not willing to lead, leave it to
alpindi. A witness who talked with state-run Pakistan television said he was outside the mosque when a man opened fire at guards and then tried to enter. The assailant tried to blow himself up but his jacket malfunctioned and only partially exploded, said the witness, who was not identified. "Our war is against the terrorists who are killing innocent Pakistanis. [...] We cannot allow them to see us as weak in front of them," Asad Umar, the local parliamentary representative from Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) party, said in a statement. "Those who are killing Shias every day, targeting them, and those who are sitting with them and are campaigning with them in elections... are we all not implicated then in this?" Umar said, in an allusion to the close links in some areas between political parties and anti-Shia groups such as the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. "The National Action Plan [on counterterrorism] has been made, and all the political parties have come together, military courts have been made and executions have started... now the nation wants to see results." Mosques targeted This is the second attack on a Shia mosque this week, after an attack in Peshawar killed at least 20 people on Friday. Threats against such mosques have increased in recent days, with Wednesday's attack marking the fourth such incident since a school massacre in Peshawar in December. Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired a meeting on the National Action Plan (NAP) in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan province, where he expressed satisfaction with the authorities performance so far. "The performance of the provincial governments with regard to NAP is quite satisfactory, however provinces should excel from each other in their fight against terrorism and extremism," he said. The NAP is a 20-point plan to tackle extremism and armed anti-state groups in Pakistan, developed after the December 16 attack on a Peshawar school that killed 141 people, the deadliest such attack in the country's history.Two things became clear about Miami's quarterback battle by the end of spring. The first is that Jack Allison wasn’t winning the job, and he has since announced plans to transfer. The second is that no one else would officially secure the top spot until N'Kosi Perry had his shot this fall. The latter development is an interesting one, in part because the notion of a team hoping to contend for a division title turning over QB duties to a freshman who won’t arrive until this summer seems unlikely, but also because Perry is such a departure from the typical QB culture -- both at Miami and for head coach Mark Richt. Perry, who is wiry (6-foot-4 and just 178 pounds) and quick, has drawn some comparisons to Louisville's Lamar Jackson for his athleticism and big arm mixed with limited refinement of his skill set. That is all to say, there’s some excitement about Perry’s potential at Miami, but also some enthusiasm that perhaps Richt and the program are turning over a new leaf. “We’re not saying we're going to a quarterback run game; that's not the case at all,” Richt said. “We just want the ability to make sure whoever is back there can move well. That's part of the criteria of what we're looking for.” Freshman quarterback N'Kosi Perry will get a chance to start for the Hurricanes. Tom Hauck for Student Sports To say that’s hasn’t been a critical part of Miami’s or Richt’s criteria in the past is putting it mildly. In Richt’s 15 seasons at Georgia, only once did he have a quarterback run for more than 200 yards (D.J. Shockley in 2005, the last time the Bulldogs won the SEC title). Even discounting yards lost to sacks, only Arkansas and USC have fewer rush yards from their quarterbacks over the past decade among Power 5 schools. Mobility from the QB simply hasn’t been a big part of the game plan -- until now. “I’m not going to put it ahead of a guy’s ability to process information, make decisions and throw the football,” Richt said, “but if he can do all that and run like a deer? That’s a blessing.” There’s little doubt about Perry’s arm. He had 56 passing touchdowns and just six interceptions as a junior and senior, but his skill set is raw. Still, Richt was intrigued enough with Perry from the outset to make him a top priority of this recruiting class, and he’s remained optimistic that the current QB race will involve the incoming freshman. That’s not to say Richt is rewriting the playbook to accommodate a guy with mobility, but after taking heat at Georgia for ignoring dual-threat QBs like Deshaun Watson on the recruiting trail, Richt seems to be embracing the idea that the ability to run can be a valuable asset in combination with the rest of the tools he looks for in a quarterback. “I’m still going to teach the same things, and he still has to be a good decision maker and good passer,” Richt said. “But it’s nice to just drop back, they cover everybody, and you take off running.”As hundreds prepare to march Tuesday afternoon on City Hall, a third of City Council supports their effort to sway Fort Worth into joining a lawsuit opposing the state’s new sanctuary cities law. Five of the council’s nine members say they do not want the city to join other Texas cities in a lawsuit to challenge Senate Bill 4, which gives local police officers more power to ask about a person’s immigration status, according to a poll conducted by the Star-Telegram. But three council members — Gyna Bivens, Kelly Allen Gray and Ann Zadeh — say they would vote to join the lawsuit. District 2 Councilman Carlos Flores said he remains undecided and will wait until after a presentation by an assistant city attorney and an assistant police chief during a work session to decide. But, he said he is leaning toward the city joining the lawsuit. Unless something is said during those presentations, the remaining council members, including Mayor Betsy Price, have said they don’t favor joining the lawsuit, citing economics and existing laws that already protect civil rights. Sign Up and Save Get six months of free digital access to the Star-Telegram Fort Worth is the largest city in Texas to not participate in the lawsuit, which has already been joined by Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. The new law will take effect Sept. 1 and gives law enforcement officers the authority to ask about a person’s immigration status during routine police interactions such as traffic stops. It also requires police chiefs and sheriffs to comply with federal requests to hold criminal suspects for deportation. Many argue that the law will result in racial profiling. And cities that don’t follow through on requests from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could face sanctions. The lawsuit was filed in May by Maverick County and city of El Cenizo officials, and the League of United Latin Americans Citizens against Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton. It has been a topic of growing concern since. Speaking at a sheriff’s conference in Grapevine on Monday, Abbott said Senate Bill 4 was passed, in part, to cut down on gang activity and human trafficking issues that are “byproducts of a broken border. The purpose of it was to identify and remove from the streets dangerous criminals, not to detain hard-working families or innocent children.” The City Council will not vote Tuesday, but it will likely give staff direction on what’s to be done next. If the consensus changes and the majority of the council members want to join the lawsuit, the city attorney’s office would be asked to put together a resolution and a vote possibly taken when the council next meets on Aug. 15. Mindia Whittier, a spokeswoman for United Fort Worth, a grassroots group set up five weeks ago to sponsor the Day of Action march Tuesday, said the group wants the council to take a public vote. “We don’t feel the vote and litigation is off the table,” just yet, Whittier said. “It needs to go to a public vote.” In the past few days, each council member was asked by the Star-Telegram, “Do you think Fort Worth should join the other cities in the lawsuit trying to block SB 4?” Here are their responses: Mayor Betsy Price: “Since SB 4’s passage, we’ve heard a variety of different opinions on the subject. It’s our job to take all that into effect and consider the big picture of how this law will impact our city and its residents.” Recently, she said, “I think the (sanctuary cities) law has some issues and challenges, but it’s still the law and Fort Worth has always followed the law. I just don’t know whether there’s anything to gain by joining the lawsuit.” District 2 Councilman Carlos Flores: “Until we get the briefing from staff, I can’t really say. I have no preconceived notions.” District 3 Councilman Brian Byrd: “As of right now, I would not vote for joining the lawsuit. It would cost the taxpayers a significant amount of money. However, I want to make sure everyone in Fort Worth, whether they are documented or undocumented, feels comfortable calling for police protection when they need it.” District 4 Councilman Cary Moon: “No, the City of Fort Worth does not need to be a Sanctuary City. I agree with the premise of the new law. The City of Fort Worth does not need to join a lawsuit, subjecting taxpayer dollars to ensure the judicial review of the new law. At the city level, we need to spend our time and resources on minimizing any negative impact that SB 4 may have on its residents.” District 5 Councilwoman Gyna Bivens: “I know people live in the shadows. I’m very concerned about how we treat people. People need to know city leaders care about them. When you have not lived among people different than you, you may not understand their concerns and, in this case, fear. I’m real concerned about it.” District 6 Councilman Jungus Jordan: “First and foremost, Fort Worth is not a sanctuary city, has never been a sanctuary city, nor will it ever be a sanctuary city. We will not discriminate. We will not racially profile and we will comply with the law of the land. I see no need to join the lawsuit.” District 7 Councilman Dennis Shingleton: “It really is a sticky wicket. I don’t think it’s necessary for us to join. There’s nothing to be gained by joining. It could be detrimental in the long run. That being said, I have heartfelt empathy for those who have been unfairly treated.” District 8 Councilwoman Kelly Allen Gray: “I do. I think it’s one more issue in dealing with race relations and not just black and brown. There’s so many things happening in our country that our citizens need to know we are in support of these issues that directly affect them. It sends a negative message to our citizens that we’re neutral. They are our voters, they are our taxpayers, they are our voice. We need to be their voice.” District 9 Councilwoman Ann Zadeh: “We should. I’m on record against SB 4. It’s not a good idea. It doesn’t solve all the problems. SB 4 is bad for families, bad for cities and bad for business.”Image caption Prescription charges have fallen each year since 2008 MSPs have voted to scrap NHS prescription charges in Scotland, a key SNP pledge in the 2007 elections. The Scottish government won the approval of Holyrood's health committee to remove the current £3 charge. A last-ditch Conservative and Lib Dem move to block the plan failed. The price paid by patients for prescription medicine has been reduced each year since 2008 and the final vote will see charges removed on 1 April. Labour supports the plan but the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats believe the cash could be better spent in other areas. Scottish government health minister Shona Robison said lifting the charge would reduce the long-term cost to the health service and would no longer put people off going to see their doctor. Wales and Northern Ireland have already removed NHS prescription charges, which cost £7.20 per item in England. The Scottish government has played down the risk of people in England travelling across the border to claim free prescriptions.The first family flew over the deep freeze impacting 150 million in 28 states to Hawaii for their final presidential Christmas vacation. Upon landing Saturday in Honolulu, the temperature was 70 degrees, the third warmest reading on the U.S. Weather Channel map. "Ideal temperature as the Obamas descended the staircase. The tarmac was wet as showers have been forecast for days. Motorcade is on the move," said a White House press pool report. The Obama's plan to spend 17 days on the island, their traditional holiday getaway spot. Before leaving, President Obama decried the partisanship in the nation he had hoped to heal during his eight years. And he indicated that he is ready to resume criticizing President-elect Trump. According to spending estimates culled through Freedom of Information Act suits filed by taxpayer watchdog Judicial Watch, the trip is likely to cost taxpayers $5 million, bringing the total travel tab of the first family to $90 million. The White House has said that there will be little public work done during the vacation. "Aside from the president's visit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe which will be advised separately, the president and first family do not have any scheduled public events during their time in Hawaii," said the White House. Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at [email protected], on Feb 28 2017 - 05:09, said: Get them to make it a Light Tank, which is should be, and remove the preferred MM. Stop spreading crap, literally. My dear the E-25 was intended to be MEDIUM tank destroyer. That could also do recon missions IF needed. E-25 (25-50 tons) Designed by Alkett, Argus, Adler and Porsche (1943-45). You obviously have absolutely NO CLUE what you are talking about so shut it, my friend I am getting tired to false information you spread. And to the post, sure you can make my dear bit larger in size, but however, I require more rounds than 60 then. I often run out of these due to RNG and 135 avg dmg potential per shot. It just is not very much.Editor’s Note: This is Jeff’s first post for The Leafs Nation. He will be helping us keep on top of the AHL’s Toronto Marlies and the Leafs’ prospects. Each week he will give us a recap of the week that was and preview the week to come. Following him on Twitter (@Jeffler) and read more on the Marlies’ day-to-day at MarliesHQ. This is more of an eight day update than a full week update, but this is a week that included the only hockey event more yawn-inducing and player-rejecting than the NHL All Star Game – the AHL All Star Game. The Toronto Marlies had a pair of opportunities this week, one rare, one common, that both tied together. The rare opportunity? Rest and relaxation. After all, while three games in three nights seems like a big deal, it’s pretty common in the American Hockey League, and in this situation, the Marlies had a whopping 1 game played in 11 days, and it was a 7-2 win against one of the three teams. The common occurance? Of course, that would be an attempt to push forward in the North Division. Now, I can’t understate just how frequent these inter-division games are. Out of 76 games in the season, Toronto plays an absurd 42 within the division. All three games would fit the pattern, with Lake Erie, Hamilton, and Rochester being the opponents. However, rather than convert the lack of play into extra energy and widen the gap in the standings, the weekend went a much different way. Thursday looked like a good start, and by Thursday, I really mean the first period of that game. Facing the Lake Erie Monsters, Toronto took a commanding 5-2 lead within the first 20 minutes and never looked back. Matt Frattin was the standout with a pair of goals, followed by single tally’s by Mike Zigomanis, Joe Colborne, and Jerry D’Amigo. Will Acton added a third period tally which would be the second piece necessary to complete his Gordie Howe Hat-trick with a fight just minutes later. The fight was one of two and a half – I say half a fight due to an incident with three minutes to go where Hugh Jessiman was the only one to actually recieve a major. Korbinian Holzer would’ve been more than happy to respond to Jessiman’s sucker punches, but a quick referee situation cut that to one of the simplest yet most effective taunts possible – a mere point to the scoreboard. The game 24 hours later at Copps Coliseum wasn’t as friendly. Despite their lower position in the standings, the Outdoor Game has been the only significant crack in the Hamilton Bulldogs’ control over this season series to date. The Marlies were outshot 28-20, and while Matt Frattin would find the back of the net for his third goal in two games, it would be the only goal in comparison to Hamilton’s four on the night. It was a rather chippy game for Toronto – it’s rare to see the team give up two goals on the penalty kill in one night, but with seven powerplays to try to shut down, that number begins to make more sense. Concluding things for most of the team, the boys in blue and white returned to Ricoh Coliseum for the first time in three weeks. That game featured a 4-1 loss to Hamilton. This game wasn’t as bad, but definitely didn’t go the way the team was hoping. Despite having control of the puck, and outshooting the Rochester American’s in all three periods (including 12-6 in the third for a total of 38-27), David Leggio stood on his head to hold Rochester’s 2-1 lead until the final whistle. Toronto’s lone goal game off a backhand, mid air swing from Mike Zigomanis, who for whatever reason, was showing hand eye co-ordination on another level throughout the game. Noteworthy Jesse Blacker was easily the team’s best defenseman over the three games. Though this was an odd weekend in the sense that he had zero points, his +3 doesn’t lie. In all three games, and particularly against Rochester, Blacker made some stunning defensive efforts throughout, in what was probably his best weekend focused on the back-end to date. Speaking of defensive play, Don Cherry would be happy with this pick – Mike Zigomanis had two goals over the three games, but most importantly, pulled off a Tim Brent-esque shot blocking clinic in the game against Hamilton. Other than that, he was his usual solid two-way self with no significant flaws in his play. Lastly, you can’t ignore the three goals scored by Matt Frattin. After a slow start since being sent down for the second time, the right winger has been heating up, largely due to his increased efforts to make opportunites for himself. Yawnworthy Philippe Dupuis found a way to be a -1 in every single game, including the 6-2 blowout win. Impressively bad, especially when you consider he had zero points over the wekeend. He had a few opportunities, and clearly wants to score his first goal in the organization, but nothing worked out for him. Kyle Neuber likely played fewer minutes than he was in the penalty box for over the three games. Between The Pipes Ben Scrivens went 1-1-0 with a 0.902 save percentage and 2.00 GAA, playing against Lake Erie and Rochester. Scrivens’ game against the Americans was the best performance by either goaltender of the weekend. Mark Owuya went 0-1-0 with a 0.857 save percentage and 4.00 GAA, playing against Hamilton. He was guilty of the worst showing of the weekend. Despite a hot start, Owuya has lost 3 of his past 4 starts for the Marlies. Special Teams The 26th ranked powerplay went a horrible 0 for 9 over the 3 games, and the 3rd ranked penalty kill had a substandard week, allowing 3 goals over 11 attempts. West Side Represent With Nazem Kadri on the Leafs, and Joe Colborne out with an "undisclosed injury" (probably something minor that can still be played on but isn’t worth the exhibition game), Captain Ryan Hamilton joined Head Coach Dallas Eakins (who played assistant for this one) by participating in the AHL All Star game. Hamilton scored the West’s 5th goal of the night late in the second period. The goal would be part of a comeback that saw the West win the game in a shootout. Coming Soon Toronto has two games this week – one on the road against the Syracuse Crunch on Friday night, and a home game against the Abbotsford Heat on Saturday at 5PM.The inline cache is a dynamic language implementation technique that originated in Smalltalk 80 and Self, and made well-known by JavaScript implementations. It is fundamental for getting good JavaScript performance. a cure for acute dynamic dispatch A short summary of the way inline caches work is that when you see an operation, like x + y, you don't compile in a procedure call to a generic addition subroutine. Instead, you compile a call to a procedure stub: the inline cache (IC). When the IC is first called, it will generate a new procedure specialized to the particular types that flow through that particular call site. On the next call, if the types are the same, control flows directly to the previously computed implementation. Otherwise the process repeats, potentially resulting in a polymorphic inline cache (one with entries for more than one set of types). An inline cache is called "inline" because it is specific to a particular call site, not to the operation. Also, adaptive optimization can later inline the stub in place of the call site, if that is considered worthwhile. Inline caches are a win wherever you have dynamic dispatch: named field access in JavaScript, virtual method dispatch in Java, or generic arithmetic -- and here we get to Scheme. the skeptical schemer What is the applicability of inline caches to Scheme? The only places you have dynamic dispatch in Scheme are in arithmetic and in ports. Let's take arithmetic first. Arithmetic operations in Scheme can operate on number of a wide array of types: fixnums, bignums, single-, double-, or multi-precision floating point numbers, complex numbers, rational numbers, etc. Scheme systems are typically compiled ahead-of-time, so in the absence of type information, you always want to inline the fixnum case and call out [of line] for other cases. (Which line is this? The line of flow control: the path traced by a program counter.) But if you end up doing a lot of floating-point math, this decision can cost you. So inline caches can be useful here. Similarly, port operations like read-char and write can operate on any kind of port. If you are always writing UTF-8 data to a file port, you might want to be able to inline write for UTF-8 strings and file ports, possibly inlining directly to a syscall. It's probably a very small win in most cases, but a win nonetheless. These little wins did not convince me that it was worthwhile to use ICs in a Scheme implementation, though. In the context of Guile, they're even less applicable than usual, because Guile is a bytecode-interpreted implementation with a self-hosted compiler. ICs work best when implemented as runtime-generated native code. Although it probably will by the end of the year, Guile doesn't generate native code yet. So I was skeptical. occam's elf Somehow, through all of this JavaScript implementation work, I managed to forget the biggest use of inline caches in GNU systems. Can you guess? The PLT! You may have heard how this works, but if you haven't, you're in for a treat. When you compile a shared library that has a reference to printf, from the C library, the compiler doesn't know where printf will be at runtime. So even in C, that most static of languages, we have a form of dynamic dispatch: a call to an unknown callee. When the dynamic linker loads a library at runtime, it could resolve all the dynamic references, but instead of doing that, it does something more clever: it doesn't. Instead, the compiler and linker collude to make the call to printf call a stub -- an inline cache. The first time that stub is called, it will resolve the dynamic reference to printf, and replace the stub with an indirect call to the procedure. In this way we trade off a faster loading time for dynamic libraries at the cost of one indirection per call site, for the inline cache. This stub, this inline cache, is sometimes called the PLT entry. You might have seen it in a debugger or a disassembler or something. I found this when I was writing an ELF linker for Guile's new virtual machine. More on that at some point in the future. ELF is interesting: I find that if I can't generate good code in the ELF format, I'm generating the wrong kind of code. Its idiosyncrasies remind me of what happens at runtime. lambda: the ultimate inline cache So, back to Scheme. Good Scheme implementations are careful to have only one way of calling a procedure. Since the only kind of callable object in the Scheme language is generated by the lambda abstraction, Scheme implementations typically produce uniform code for procedure application: load the procedure, prepare the arguments, and go to the procedure's entry point. However, if you're already eating the cost of dynamic linking -- perhaps via separately compiled Scheme modules -- you might as well join the operations of "load a dynamically-linked procedure" and "go to the procedure's entry point" into a call to an inline cache, as in C shared libraries. In the cold case, the inline cache resolves the dynamic reference, updates the cache, and proceeds with the call. In the hot case, the cache directly dispatches to the call. One benefit of this approach is that it now becomes cheap to support other kinds of applicable objects. One can make hash tables applicable, if that makes sense. (Clojure folk seem to think that it does.) Another example would be to more efficiently support dynamic programming idioms, like generic functions. Inline caches in Scheme would allow generic functions to have per-call-site caches instead of per-operation caches, which could be a big win. It seems to me that this dynamic language implementation technique could allow Guile programmers to write different kinds of programs. The code to generate an inline cache could even itself be controlled by a meta-object protocol, so that the user could precisely control application of her objects. The mind boggles, but pleasantly so! Thanks to Erik Corry for provoking this thought, via a conversation at JSConf EU last year. All blame to me, of course. as PLT_HULK would say NOW THAT'S AN APPLICATION OF AN INLINE CACHE! HA! HA HA!The extensive work undertaken by the previous leadership to stamp out science in Australia may have come undone, with reports suggesting the scourge may have been reintroduced. Several media outlets have reported the emergence of a new chief scientist – a tell tale sign that science may be about to wreak havoc across the continent once again. “Science is very clever, very adaptable, and very hard to control,” Agricultural Minister Barnaby Joyce said today. “It works by releasing ideas into the community which can then spread very quickly, very quickly indeed. It can totally destroy all sorts of policy ideas. I’d suggest we need to take action on this sooner rather than later”. Mr Joyce said previous techniques to eradicate science – such as the introduction of a virus called Tony Abbott – had seen short-term gains, but were ultimately unsuccessful. “Unfortunately it appears it’s back”. He said he was confident the cane toad could stop science in its tracks. For more, follow The Shovel on Facebook & Twitter & Instagram, or subscribe for emails below.Have returned from a couple weeks conference travel and had a little time to continue working on a number of minor but essential systems in the game. One of these is restricting attacks to covered arcs, as shown in the image above. As you can see, the Hull MG is in arc for this target, but since the turret has been rotated, the main gun and the co-ax MG cannot. I’ve started adding additional Polish tanks and guns in preparation for writing the AI routines and testing them. I’ve also completely removed the on-map pop-up labels. As with ArmCom1, these have turned out to be difficult for the player to follow in the heat of action, and I think the message console below the map, in conjunction with on-map hex highlights that activate when a message is added and a message log window for the player to review, will work much better.To help your child get better as fast as possible, make sure she gets adequate rest every night. "Children need at least 8 to 12 hours of sleep every night, depending on their age," says Dr. Cardiello. "Getting enough sleep can help prevent getting colds." If your child is already sick, she might need even more sleep than usual. More from Health.com: 12 vaccines your child needs istockphoto (CBS) How much sleep should a child get every night? According to the latest review of a century's worth of sleep recommendations, that answer has changed over the years. But the study found one thing's for sure: Kids aren't getting as much shut-eye as experts recommend, but neither did their great grandparents. PICTURES: 12 Most Bizarre Sleep Disorders "We were surprised that over the last century, the actual amount of sleep that children are getting was consistently about 37 minutes less than what was recommended for them," study author Lisa Matricciani, a researcher at the University of South Australia in Adelaide, told MyHealthNewsDaily. For the study, published online in the Feb. 13 issue of Pediatrics, Australian researchers looked at 32 sets of sleep recommendations that were published between 1897 and 2009, and compared that information to studies and reports on the actual amount of time children slept. The researchers found that on average, children's sleep recommendations decreased at a rate of 0.71 minutes each year, and that decline was almost identical to the annul decline in the amount children slept (0.73 minutes each year). That means for over a century, children haven't slept as much as expert's recommended, despite the recommendations changing. In 1897, experts were recommending that children sleep one hour and fifteen minutes more than what's recommended in 2009. The study authors say sleep guidelines are more subjective than scientific. "Never trust sleep experts," senior study author Dr. Tim Olds, a professor of health sciences at the University of South Australia in Adelaide, told Time Healthland. Experts' and parents' concerns that kids are too stimulated by their surroundings to get enough sleep is nothing new, the study found, and dates back far to before video games existed. Whether it was books, radio, a new thing called television, or modern day cable, internet, and smart phones, experts blamed these advances for cutting into children's sleep. What is the optimal amount a child should sleep? Olds Told HealthDay there probably isn't a sleep standard for kids. "One child may function best on seven hours, another on 11 hours," he said. Olds said just because a child sleeps late doesn't necessarily mean he's not sleeping enough. He compared sleeping to eating - people might eat when they're not hungry, just as they sleep when they're not tired. Dr. David Gozal, a childhood sleep expert at the University of Chicago told Reuters, "We need to do due diligence and do the nitty-gritty effort of measuring sleep in a large group of the population to find out what's normal. That has never been done." Not getting a good night's rest is linked to the development of several chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression, according to the CDC. If problems sleeping persist, see a doctor who is familiar with treating sleep disorders.You must enter the characters with black color that stand out from the other characters The U.K.’s Beagle 2 lander has been located on the surface of Mars, solving an 11-year mystery about its fate. The discovery also helps answer questions about why we haven't heard from the trashcan-lid sized spacecraft while raising others. Could one of the operational rovers, Curiosity or Opportunity, take on the role of interplanetary tow truck and help revive Beagle 2? Would you want to wait for a snail to crawl from Raleigh to Salt Lake City? Images from the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) revealed Beagle 2 intact on the surface of Isidis Planitia. Named for HMS Beagle, the ship that carried British naturalist Charles Darwin on expeditions, the Beagle 2 lander was deployed from the Mars Express orbiter Dec. 19, 2003. It was to perform geochemistry research in a search for signs of past and present life on Mars. While disappointing, the lack of success wasn't surprising. Getting to Mars is hard; historically missions have only a 40 percent chance of success. However, the British team that engineered Beagle 2 can take pride in the fact that it not only successfully landed intact but landed only about 2.5 miles from the center of the 35 by 5 mile landing ellipse by my calculations. HiRISE images from Dec. 15, 2014, provided the final clues MRO and Mars Express teams needed to declare, “The Beagle has landed." Comparison of that image with previous ones from February 2013 and June 2014 confirmed an object of the right size and shape. Slight variations were also present in reflections from the lander’s solar panels, which open out like petals. These images may also help explain why the lander has remained silent. One of the three solar panels appears to have failed to deploy, robbing the spacecraft of power and possibly blocking RF antennae needed to communicate home. Scientists involved in the British designed spacecraft call it “bad luck." “A heavy bounce, perhaps distorting the structure as clearances on solar panel deployment weren't big; or a punctured and slowly leaking air bag not separating sufficiently from the lander, causing a hang-up in deployment,” Mission Manger Mark Sims of Leicester University speculated to BBC News. So why can’t NASA use the Curiosity rover to lend a hand here? As great as it would be see if deploying that remaining solar panel might help bring the lander back to life, it’s just too far away. Points on Mars are mapped using a similar longitude/latitude system to that used on Earth. Beagle 2 was found at 90º.43 E, 11º.53 N, Curiosity's last reported position is 137º.38E, 4º.67 S, and Opportunity is on the other side of the planet at 5.35W, 2.31S. Mars is about half the size of Earth, so the distance between lines of longitude is about half that of Earth. Even with that, Curiosity is 1,800 miles away (roughly Raleigh to Salt Lake City), and Opportunity is nearly twice as far away (Raleigh to Anchorage, Alaska). You can see these locations yourself in the free Google Earth app, select View->Explore->Mars and search on the coordinates above to explore these landing sites. Also, rovers are built for precision, not speed. Even at Curiosity’s top speed of 4 cm/sec (over flat, hard ground, which most of Mars is not) the rover travels at a snail's pace. It would take over 841 Earth days to travel the 1,800+ miles. You could crawl from Raleigh to Salt Lake City faster, a lot faster. Tony Rice is a volunteer in the NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador program and software engineer at Cisco Systems. You can follow him on twitter @rtphokie.The trade union for public and welfare services (JHL) went on wildcat strike to oppose the "marketization" of Palmia, a municipally-owned service enterprise. Right-wing leadership of the city attempts to reorganise 50% of Palmia so that it must participate to tenders, which will lead to substantial wage cuts for the workers. The seizure of subway and tram transport by striking workers proved to be a powerful weapon in the struggle against the bosses. However, the Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (HSL) organized replacement transportation to nullify its effect. Anarchists announced that they will block all the replacement buses and soon after that AKT (the union of bus drivers, amongst others) announced a strike on those routes. This morning not a single replacement bus left Rautatientori between 8:00 and 8:40 because anarchists and others physically blocked the route by standing in front of them and/or sitting in doorways. Everything went very well. However, HSL then announced that replacement buses would no longer go to Rautatientori but instead turn back eastwards upon arriving in Hakaniemi. It was then that things got worse. We split up into two groups so that a picket could be formed at Hakaniemi without abandoning Rautatientori. It was at this moment that police violently dispersed the picket line and started taking people into custody. Approximately six people were arrested in Rautatientori and lots of pictures began to circulate. When we got to Hakaniemi, there were more cops than protestors so only a minor delay was achieved and two comrades were arrested. Some people then went to Suvilahti and caused another delay, again at the price of two arrests by police. After this, they went to Kisahalli to wait for said comrades and others to be released by the police. Upon being released, these comrades were given freshly cooked food by some of their fellow pickets as a gesture of political solidarity. The picket received huge media coverage and surprisingly strong public support. It also incited significant opposition from right-wing reactionaries and others unmoved by the struggles of workers to exercise their collective agency in defence of public services. At the end of the day, the police had distributed some €500 in fines and some protesters suffered minor physical injuries Solidarity with JHL! Workplace struggle against capitalism. All photos by: A-ryhmäPresented by In my 28 years on Earth, I’ve held 22 jobs. Even when you subtract my stints tending bars or judging people’s taste in video rentals, I’ve still moved through five different “career-type” jobs that were roughly in my field. Apparently, it’s not just me. A Workopolis study
There’s one near the workshop shown on the Google Map layer, as well as a dozen scattered throughout the market in Huaqiangbei. Grab a sheet of plans and find someone at a counter. Show them your phone, point to the plan you want, and hand over your passport – someone at the shop may speak a tiny bit of English but don’t count on it. They’ll setup the plan, make a copy of your passport, and hand you a SIM. Data should work immediately. Handing over a passport has never been a problem, it’s quite common in China. If you’re cagey about it, you can try to buy an ‘underground’ SIM in Hong Kong but they’ve not worked properly for the past year or so. Resources Here’s some stuff to show you around and get prepared for Shenzhen. Overviews Shenzhen Global Geek tour Hacker Camp Shenzhen mini-site Hacker Camp Video Day 1 Hacker Camp Video Day 2 Hacker Camp Video Day 3 Maps Google Maps Layer Huaqiangbei area map front (PNG, PDF) back (PNG, PDF) Seeed Studio map HAXLR8R map Oomlout HQBS map Where to stay We recommend the City Inn Ke Xue Guan on corner of Songling and Nanyuan road. It’s about $30 a night, and you can book it on major sites like Expedia Five minutes from the edge of the market area, and 10 minutes to SEG Near Science Museum metro stop, our favorite BBQ place, cheap foot massage, etc For long term check out the Mid Century Serviced Apartments. They are terrible at communicating, but generally have a room for you when a reservation is made online. Or stay in City Inn and get into Mid-Cen once you’re here. They’re a block away from each other, both on Songling Road. Good for long term stays Friendly, if mildly startled, manager named Jim Not great at providing confirmation For $150+ you can stay in the beautiful, yet hard bedded, Huaqiang Plaza Hotel in the middle of the market. It’s nice, but far from any living amenities Hard beds reported by many We like the area around Science Museum better Getting there Here’s some logistical issues you might encounter coming to Shenzhen. Chinese visa Most people need to apply for a Chinese visa before leaving their home country. Plan in advance for at least for ten days processing time. Most people will probably apply for a tourist visa (L class), listing Shenzhen as your sightseeing city. You will need to provide: Flight itinerary (copy of flight ticket) Hotel reservation A trip itinerary (listing Shenzhen as your sightseeing city, as well as any other cities you may visit during the trip) We use Wooee Visa as our visa processor. Most Americans should be able to get a one-year multiple entry visa without problems. Airport transportation Most likely you’ll arrive at the Hongkong airport. Flights to Hongkong are cheapest, and it’s just a few minutes from Shenzhen. Hongkong Airport Limo to Shenzhen Not actually a limo, but a van that can take 6 people to the Shenzhen Huanggang border checkpoint. Follow the signs to mainland transportation in Hongkong airport Buy a ticket to Huanggang at any counter, usually a hawker will spot you and take you to a counter. We prefer the W company It is 150 HKD or RMB for the van to the Huanggang checkpoint. The trip is about 30 minutes The van drives you through the Hongkong border, but you need to get out and walk through the Chinese side After customs, walk outside, cross the pedestrian bridge, and get in the taxi queue. Show your hotel address card to the driver. They will not speak English. The ride should take 10-15 minutes if you stay near Huaqiangbei, and cost around 30RMB ($5) Hongkong MTR to Shenzhen This is the long route and can be confusing for the first time. However if you’d like to grab a taco and visit the Apliu Street electronics market this is the way to go. Take the Airport Express train from Hongkong airport to Hongkong station (100HKD) Exit at Hongkong station Optional: follow signs to the Mid Level Escalators, the worlds longest escalator. Half way up is Taco Loco – grab a carnitas pork taco soft shell. Go back down to Hongkong Station Take the metro red line towards Tseun Wan Optional: take the red line to Sham Shui Po and exit to Apliu Street Market. Check out the electronics, cell phone, and computer market, buy a cheap Hongkong SIM card (we like One2Free). Get back on the metro towards Central Transfer to the green line at Prince Edward towards Tui Keng Leng. The trains line up, walk directly across the platform to transfer to the green line Transfer to the East Rail line towards Lo Wu at Kowloon Tong. Make sure the train is going to Lo Wu and not the Lok Ma Chau crossing. This will be a long ride so we always take the first class train. Find the line for first class and upgrade at the yellow validator using an Octopus stored value card Get off at Lo Wu and follow the crowd through Hongkong customs and into China On China side exit customs and take the escalators directly ahead into the Shenzhen metro. Find a service window and buy a stored value smart card – 50RMB should last half a month Take the Shenzhen metro green line (Loubao) into the city. If staying at City Inn or Mid-Century get off at the Science Museum stop. If staying at the Huaqiang Plaza hotel continue one stop to Huaqiang Road station. Shenzhen Airport arrivals Shenzhen has a brand new airport terminal and flights directly to Shenzhen are becoming more common -Grab a taxi: A taxi from the airport to the Huaqiangbei area is around 130RMB ($20-$25) and takes about 40 minutes -Take the metro: The green line (Loubao) goes from the airport with stops at Huaqiangbei and Science Museum. The ride takes more than an hour and costs around 10RMB ($2).A new tracking poll released hours before the first presidential debate shows Donald Trump edging Hillary Clinton in six of 12 battleground states, earning him enough votes in the Electoral College to win the presidency. Trump currently leads his Democratic opponent by 4 percentage points or less in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Iowa, North Carolina and Virginia, according to the UPI-CVoter poll released Monday. With victories in those six swing states and 23 other reliably red states, the latest poll suggests Trump would secure 292 electoral votes if the election were held today. Clinton, meanwhile, would pick up Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire and Wisconsin, giving her 246 of the 270 votes needed to make it to the Oval Office. The 12 states where Trump and Clinton carry leads of 5 percentage points or less offer a total of 156 electoral votes, leaving the two candidates tied at 191-191 votes each when those states are excluded. If Trump were to lose just two of the battleground states he currently carries, Clinton would win the presidency. Other electoral prediction maps have consistently shown Clinton leading the race to 270 electoral votes by assuming she wins 19 states that have voted Democratic in the last six presidential elections and at least one other battleground state, The UPI tracking poll of 500 likely voters in each state was conducted between Sept. 12-25. Results contain a margin of error plus or minus 3 percentage points.Sen. Dianne Feinstein Dianne Emiel FeinsteinHillicon Valley: Senators urge Trump to bar Huawei products from electric grid | Ex-security officials condemn Trump emergency declaration | New malicious cyber tool found | Facebook faces questions on treatment of moderators Ocasio-Cortez adviser says Sunrise confrontation with 'old-timer' Feinstein'sad' Key senators say administration should ban Huawei tech in US electric grid MORE (D-Calif.) is facing pressure to back reforms to marijuana laws from advocates in her home state. Feinstein has staked out a position as one of the few congressional Democrats still opposed to many aspects of federal marijuana reform. But marijuana advocates are urging Feinstein to change her stance. They’ll deliver a petition signed by more than 10,000 people to her San Francisco office on Tuesday. The petitioners say they are “fed up with Feinstein’s well-documented opposition to medical marijuana.” "California has allowed access to medical marijuana for 20 years and the vast majority of Californians support this," said Amanda Reiman of the Drug Policy Alliance, which is organizing the petition. "It is disappointing that Sen. Feinstein continues to be a lone voice of opposition from California when it comes to supporting medical marijuana patients.” The marijuana advocates point to Feinstein’s recent opposition to a measure that would have blocked the federal government from interfering with state medical marijuana laws. However, Feinstein also voted recently to give military veterans greater access to medical marijuana. Feinstein’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the senator indicated at a recent hearing that she is slowly evolving on marijuana reform. “Now, there may very well be a place for medical marijuana, and I think there is," Feinstein said. "But the research has to be done. And I think for our government not to do that research is a huge mistake."PITTSBURGH — The Raiders are not going to win the Super Bowl this season. The Raiders were never going to win the Super Bowl this season. Please keep those two facts in mind when pondering Sunday’s result here at Heinz Field, where the Steelers were lucky to squeeze just enough catsup out of their offensive bottle and escape with a 38-35 victory that could have easily become an overtime Pittsburgh loss or an overtime Raiders victory. “For the most part, if you put up 35 points, you should win,” said Raiders coach Jack Del Rio afterward. But the Raiders did not win, principally because their defense could not stop the Steelers offense — and especially wideout Antonio Brown, who finished with 284 receiving yards and pretty much was his own self-driving vehicle after he caught the ball and ran free through wide-open spaces. And yet the Raiders still almost won. They are a work in progress that is learning how to do something so improbable. They are trying to figure out how they can win games like this one later in this season or next year. And when viewed through that lens, you’d have to say that Sunday might even be considered a slight step forward rather than any backward collapse. “I was expecting the unexpected,” said Raiders receiver Michael Crabtree when asked if he thought his team would come here and play one of the more entertaining NFL games of the season. Some of us were expecting much less. The Steelers are not an awesome team. But they are always tough at home. They have one of the league’s top-tier quarterbacks in Ben Roethlisberger. And their defense hits either hard or harder. “That’s just something that you know you’re going to get,” said Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, speaking of Pittsburgh’s physicality. “That’s something you get your body ready for in the weight room. It’s something you get mentally ready for.” The Raiders almost handled it all. They are getting better. But they are not yet good enough to win on a stage like Sunday’s. They have an offense that can rack up points — at least 34 of them for the third straight game — but can have issues when trying to stop the other team. Sunday, the Raiders also had to overcome a Carr interception on a ball thrown into the end zone (squashing a potential six points) and three lost fumbles, two of them at significant times when the game could have turned. “If you win the turnover battle, you win the game,” Del Rio said. “We didn’t. I think for the most part, we moved it and ran it pretty well. It seemed like Derek threw a lot of touchdown passes (four). I know we had some balls that were contested balls that they broke up. We typically will catch those.” You do have to wonder what might have happened if Carr had not thrown his interception at such an inopportune time. There was 4:31 remaining in the game and the Raiders trailing by 35-28. A touchdown at that point would have tied the score then, rather than tie it up three minutes later, which is what happened when Carr hit Crabtree on a well-conceived 38-yard play. Maybe that Crabtree touchdown pass could have been a game-winner without the pick on the previous series. Or maybe not. Carr was not going to second-guess himself too much. “The outcome of that throw, yeah, I’d like to have back,” he said. “They gave us a look that we liked. I tried to throw it in the spot for our guy to make a play. Their guy made the play.” As it was, the Steelers wound up winning by taking the kickoff following the Crabtree TD and tossing the ball to you-know-who. Brown took a short pass from backup quarterback Landry Jones — who had replaced an injured Roethlisberger — and turned it into a 57-yard play that set up the winning field goal with four seconds remaining. Even so, a positive step for the Raiders, yes? They fall back to.500 but play five opponents with non-winning records in their final eight games. “I never think about taking a step or anything like that,” Carr said. “I just try to focus on my job at hand.” Which is why, during that final minute, Carr was already thinking about overtime, plotting what his first play-call would be on the Raiders’ first offensive possession of the OT. “I can’t tell you what it was,” Carr said, “but I definitely was. My mind was already there.” The Raiders are not going to reach the Super Bowl this season. But if they ever do in future seasons, remember what and how Derek Carr was thinking here in Pittsburgh on a Sunday in 2015. Read Mark Purdy’s blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/purdy. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/MercPurdy.Posted by When we celebrate Thanksgiving, after being thankful for family and friends, for health and comfort, for food and shelter; we shouldn't forget to be thankful for the left.There is no light without darkness and without evil, the good often fails to find their own voice. It is in the presence of slavery that we remember the worth of freedom. Men and nations are forged in war; not only the war of shell and shot, but the war of ideas. War teaches us to fight for what we have. Wars of ideas teach us to stand up for what we believe.It is because conservatives are basically hopeful and confident that we are also prone to extremes of despair. Too many us were shocked at the decline of our society because of our great confidence in it. The faith that conservatives have in America makes them vulnerable to being crushed by the latest victory of the left.I have seen far too much despair and defeatism, too many comments that suggest there is no hope for America and the only thing left to do is pour a glass of wine and watch the sun go down. But those comments testify to how sheltered Americans are from the struggles against tyranny around the world.Eight years of Obama is bad, but try sixty-nine years of Communism on for size. That's what generations of Russians had to live through. Ask some of the conservative activists in Europe who have never had any of the freedoms that we still take for granted whether they've given up hope. Ask people from countries where criticism of Islam can mean death, whether they've given up hope.There are countless tales of courage over the last century of men and women who did not stop fighting, who did not stop teaching their children so that they would not stop resisting. And those stories have not ended. They continue today in Europe, Asia and South America. And those people would envy the conditions under which we fight, where we can protest without being shot or sent to prison, where we can have a shot at winning elections if we try hard enough.Where we are, compared to 100 percent of the rest of the world, still free.We face a hard fight, not only for our freedom, but the freedom of the world. The international left has made America its special project. It knows that if it can extinguish the hope of liberty in this land then it will drive the rest of those who hope for freedom across the ocean deeper into despair. And it wants your despair. It wants you to give up so that the rest of the world gives up too and bows under its chains.And yet this fight is a glorious one. This fight is our birthright. And we should be thankful for the fight.It would be more pleasant if there were no Obama or Hillary. If Alinsky had never been born and Marx had never been whelped. It would be nice if we lived in a world where red was just a color and the Democratic Party was a rural movement suspicious of the Federal government and dreaming of an agrarian utopia. But then so would never having to work for a living or getting up out of bed.Life is challenge and we face all kinds of different challenges. We get up early out of bed in the morning and drive to work. We rise in the middle of the night when the baby cries and we go to the hospital when our loved ones need us there. We do dreary things and terrible things that seem so different from the life we imagined as children. And we do them not only because they are duty, but because these challenges, the daily ones and the once in a lifetime ones, make us who we are. Besides these prosaic challenges, the daily routines and the occasional tragedies, there are uncommon challenges that we face when the foe comes to our gate and demands that we bow and become slaves. This is the challenge that we face as a society, a nation and a people. It demands more of us and it ennobles us. It makes us a great people and a great nation, rather than only another people who seek to live in comfort with no thought for anything else.Good emerges in response to evil. We need our enemies to remind us of who we are and what we can do when our backs are against the wall. We need evil to remind us of the good that we are capable of. As a whetstone sharpens a sword, so evil sharpens us into a weapon against it. It makes us morally stronger and teaches us the stark truths that we cannot take refuge from evil; we must confront it.If there were no left, would there be nearly as much patriotism among true Americans as there is now? And if there were no left, how many of us would really contemplate the core principles of freedom and free enterprise? If there were no left, how many of us would ponder what we truly believe and what compromises we are willing and unwilling to make? If there were no left, would we be the same people that we are today?For those of us who believe in the Bible, the Lord created both darkness and light. And if it were not for the darkness, would the light be nearly as precious to us? Imagine a world without sunrise or sunset, where the sight of rays of light clearing away the darkness would have no meaning? And then remember that things are treasured to the extent that they can be taken away from us.Would we value freedom as much if we did not have to defend it? Would we hold it as dear if we did not fear that it would be taken away? Would we even be aware of what freedom is and what a free people must be if not for the dark hand of those who wish to strip us of those freedoms?It is the left's opposition that has added urgency to a hundred issues, from the national debt to the War on Terror to freedom of speech and of religion. It has made us think about those issues, to take them out of the back of our minds and hold them up to the light as a reminder of how important they are and what must be done about them.The left's corruptions remind us of the need for purification. As it gathers the worst of all around it, we find ourselves called to be better than we are. As the left works to doom our country, and as we suffer defeat after defeat, these defeats only serve to remind us that we must be better, that we must do more, learn more and become more in order to save our country.War is the great teacher and this is a political war, short on bodies and heavy on minds, it is a war in which casualties are not taken in the chest or the arm, but in the mind, in reason and emotion, and against these weaknesses, we can and will prevail.As we fight the left, we become stronger, more dedicated and more purposeful. We become the men and women that we were meant to be.As you sit around your tables, thinking of all that you have gained and lost this year, remember and be thankful for the left, for though the winter ice gives way to the summer sun and bitter defeat gives way to sweet victory, it is defeat and hardship that teaches better than comfort and ease. We can learn more from our defeats than we ever could from our victories. Our defeats teach us endurance and fortitude, they teach us that defeat can be borne and that its sting can be turned into the weapon that unseats the foe. And our foes make us who we are.Their evil teaches us to find the good within ourselves. Their strength teaches us to find our own strength. And their plots against what we have teach us how many treasures we have, not least of these being the full value of our freedom and our happiness that they wish to take from us.Their war on America is teaching us to be better Americans. It may not feel that way right now, but we are privileged to have this opportunity and this fight.We should be thankful for the left, its assaults on us are teaching us how to fight and its plots against our freedom are teaching us how to be free.Oliver uses comedic license when calling him on it: The target is not the American people. But it seems that too often, you miss the target, and you hit the American person standing next to them going, "Whoa!" Actually, it's even worse than that. It's as if the NSA identifies its target, throws a net over him, and that net also happens to snag millions of innocent Americans. But they weren't the target! Alexander replies: But you see, we're not just out there gathering U.S. communications, listening to their phone calls, or collecting their emails. But that's the first thing that people jump to. Let's go to the New York Times: The N.S.A. is not just intercepting the communications of Americans who are in direct contact with foreigners targeted overseas, a practice that government officials have openly acknowledged. It is also casting a far wider net for people who cite information linked to those foreigners, like a little used e-mail address, according to a senior intelligence official. While it has long been known that the agency conducts extensive computer searches of data it vacuums up overseas, that it is systematically searching—without warrants—through the contents of Americans’ communications that cross the border reveals more about the scale of its secret operations. And The Guardian: ... the intelligence agencies acknowledge that purely domestic communications can also be inadvertently swept into its databases. That process is known as "incidental collection" in surveillance parlance. Later on in the interview, this exchange occurs: Oliver: How much information do you need to keep Americans safe? Alexander: That is a tough question. I don't know the answer to that. Here's what I do know. Look at the last 12 years, 13 years since 9/11. We've had a tremendous and remarkable record. That wasn't by accident. We could also look at terrorist attacks in the United States between 1789 and 1989, long before the NSA had the capability to monitor so much of our private communications. That seemed to work out okay too. Here's one last exchange that cries out for scrutiny, and really illustrates how smoothly deceptive Alexander is when he speaks: Oliver: In your mind, has the NSA ever done something illegal? Alexander: In my time, no. Not that I know of. You know, one of the most impressive things that I've seen in my career is people who've made a mistake, that could be a huge mistake, stepping up to say, I made a mistake. And in every case, to my knowledge, everyone except for 12 individuals stepped forward at the time they made those mistakes. Oliver: But you can't say everyone, except for twelve. That's like saying I've never killed anyone, except those three people I've got buried under my patio at home. A truthful answer to "has the NSA ever done something illegal?" is yes, repeatedly. Alexander seems to think acknowledging illegal spying makes it okay. But of course the incidents he's discussing are just the beginning of NSA lawbreaking. Again, here's the Times (emphasis added): A federal judge sharply rebuked the National Security Agency in 2011 for repeatedly misleading the court that oversees its surveillance on domestic soil, including a program that is collecting tens of thousands of domestic e-mails and other Internet communications of Americans each year, according to a secret ruling made public on Wednesday. The 85-page ruling by Judge John D. Bates, then serving as chief judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, involved an N.S.A. program that systematically searches the contents of Americans’ international Internet communications, without a warrant, in a hunt for discussions about foreigners who have been targeted for surveillance. The Justice Department had told Judge Bates that N.S.A. officials had discovered that the program had also been gathering domestic messages for three years. Judge Bates found that the agency had violated the Constitution and declared the problems part of a pattern of misrepresentation by agency officials in submissions to the secret court. A bit later in the interview, Alexander notes that he referred several cases of unapproved spying by NSA analysts to the Department of Justice. But he doesn't know of any time that the NSA has done something illegal. This guy is a master of doublespeak. With interviewers less deferential than comedians, he gets away with it.Ebanks-Landell, 22, and Iorfa, 19, have signed new deals until the summer of 2017, with a further year's option in the club's favour. Both defenders are graduates of Wolves' academy and have enjoyed their first sustained spells in the first team this season. Ebanks-Landell has been further rewarded for his progress after only signing a two-year deal in March, while recent England Under-20s cap Iorfa was into the final 12 months of his contract, although the club held a year's option. Head coach Kenny Jackett said: "It's good news for the club and they are both good young players. "Ethan had some games last season and then had his first run at centre-back earlier in the season when he did very well before picking up a hamstring injury. "Dominic has come into the side in recent weeks for his debut and has also done very well. "It wasn't necessarily an easy time to come into the team but they have shown some good promise for the future. "They have power, athleticism and composure on the ball and you need all of that in this division. Advertising "Young players here know if they do well there is the chance to win first-team places and new contracts. "Jack Price has come back from a loan spell and gone back into the team and done well and it's all about building a career. "It's very unusual for young players to go into the team and stay there and they can dip in and out and build up towards being top class performers, which is what we want." Head of football development Kevin Thelwell said: "It's fantastic news to have the two lads tied down to long term deals. Advertising "Ethan has been with us a long time and after a breakthrough season last time out has gone on and continued his progress and proved he can play in the Championship. "He is going to be a big player for us both now and in the future. "With Dominic, he may have come in earlier than perhaps was anticipated but we all recognised the potential he has. "We're delighted with the way he's gone into the first team and the way he's handled it. "We talk about having 'best players' and 'best people' and these lads are both top players and top people. "And that's in terms of personality, mentality and professionalism. "We couldn't have asked any more of two academy graduates who have gone into the first team and shown they can handle it not only as players but also as people. "It hasn't altered them in any way, shape or form and they're both committed to improving and having a great career with us."As part of its ongoing efforts to bring awareness of Bay Area art and culture into the spotlight of student life, Cal Performances announced Tuesday the plans for its inaugural student-curated event, “Front Row with Lars Ulrich and Friends.” The event will take place March 2 at Zellerbach Hall and will feature a live discussion from Ulrich, drummer of legendary heavy metal band Metallica, and performances alongside Ulrich’s hand-picked lineup of special guests. Among the confirmed guests are Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, founder and CEO of Salesforce Marc Benioff, co-founder of San Francisco-based design firm Turner Duckworth David Turner and Metallica guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield. According to a press release from Cal Performances, the goal of the event is to “explore the San Francisco Bay Area’s attraction to artists and innovators.” “The idea behind the event is to invite other Bay Area personalities, artists and creative people in the community to get together and perform and talk about what makes the San Francisco Bay Area such (an artistically) rich place to live,” said Louisa Spier, public relations manager at Cal Performances. The upcoming event is the first of a proposed series of “Front Row” talks and performances, all of which are to be made easily accessible to students and feature relevant and influential guests from the Bay Area creative community. As part of Cal Performances’ Berkeley Research and Development Initiative in Creativity, Arts and Learning, also known as Berkeley RADICAL, the “Front Row” series hopes to curate events in which the UC Berkeley student population can gain insight about the artistic processes of Bay Area creatives. “With ‘Front Row,’ Cal Performances seeks to build bridges to the arriving generation through collaborative programs that engage current students in the curatorial process and in artistic practice,” said Rob Bailis, Cal Performances associate director and mentor for the student-curators of Cal Performances. “Front Row with Lars Ulrich and Friends” is the inaugural event organized by the student-curators of Cal Performances, whose role in shaping and selecting guests for the event was integral to the development of “Front Row.” “I feel very fortunate to work with such an incredible group of students and Cal Performance staff members on this show!” said Brent Freed, one of the student-curators, in a Facebook message. “It is unique, educational, and great for our school. We spent months as a group deciding our artists, and they are really excited to be coming.” Tickets to “Front Row with Lars Ulrich and Friends” are $5 and only available to current UC Berkeley students, starting Feb. 16 at noon on the Cal Performances website. Rosemarie Alejandrino is the arts & entertainment editor. Contact her at [email protected].This video is no longer available This video was hosted on Vidme, which is no longer in operation. However, you might find this video at one of these links: Video title: F1 2008 - Italian GP / Vettel's First Triumph Upload date: February 2 2017 Uploaded by: VIDMESTANDARD123 Video description: The 2008 Italian Grand Prix (formally the LXXIX Gran Premio Santander d'Italia) was a Formula One motor race held on 14 September 2008 at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza, Italy. It was the 14th race of the 2008 Formula One season. The 53-lap race was won by Sebastian Vettel for the Toro Rosso team after starting from pole position. Heikki Kovalainen finished second in a McLaren, and Robert Kubica third in a BMW Sauber. Vettel began the race, started under the safety car, ahead of Kovalainen in second. Red Bull's Mark Webber started from third. Rain early in the race allowed Vettel to establish a solid lead over Kovalainen, which he extended as the track dried. Kubica and Fernando Alonso finished in the top four after starting from 11th and eighth, respectively. McLaren driver and Drivers' Championship leader Lewis Hamilton was able to move through the field after qualifying in 15th, finishing in seventh, one place behind rival Felipe Massa, of Ferrari. Vettel's victory made him the youngest driver to win a Formula One race, at 21 years 73 days in addition to giving Toro Rosso (which was formerly Minardi team) its maiden Formula One win. Vettel's record was broken by Max Verstappen aged 18 years and 228 days at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix. Massa scored one point more than Hamilton, narrowing the McLaren driver's lead in the Championship once more with four races remaining. However, Kovalainen's second-placed finish put McLaren closer to catching Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship (Wikipedia, 2017). Total views: 5,870Melbourne Heart has moved to bolster its defensive stocks by signing former Australian international defender Patrick Kisnorbo on a one-year deal. The ex Socceroo has spent the past 10 years playing mostly in the Scottish Premier League or the English Championship, the bulk of the time at clubs like Hearts, Leicester and Leeds United. Patrick Kisnorbo during his stint with Leeds United. Credit:Reuters The tall and rangy Kisnorbo can play at either right back or in the middle of defence. Strong in the air and courageous, Kisnorbo is a tough tackling no-nonsense player who will bring some bite to a Heart rearguard that all too often looked vulnerable on the road last season, when it failed to win a single away game. The 32-year-old began his career with South Melbourne in the old National Soccer League before moving to Scotland with Hearts, for whom he played in the country's top flight and in the UEFA Cup. Kisnorbo played for Australia in the 2002 and 2004 Oceania Nations Cups as well as in the 2007 Asian Cup. He was a regular member of Socceroo squads under Pim Verbeek and looked to be a good chance to win selection for the 2010 World Cup. But a serious injury – a ruptured Achilles tendon – ruled him out of contention and he was never able to break back in to national team contention on a regular basis after that. Over the years Kisnorbo has suffered a series of unlucky injuries, but Heart officials are confident he will stand up to the rigours of an A-League season. With Orlando Engelaar out for much of the campaign with a broken leg, the arrival of Kisnorbo will give Heart coach John Aloisi the option of moving Patrick Gerhardt, who was signed as a defensive midfielder, into that hole created by the Dutchman's injury. Gerhardt spent last season as a centre back but his versatility makes him the obvious candidate to move into the centre of the park.Voting under way in the Netherlands as the prime minister, Mark Rutte, seeks to halt domino effect of ‘wrong sort of populism’ Dutch voters are going to the polls in the first of three key European votes this year in which populist parties, heartened by Britain’s Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s US victory, are seeking electoral breakthroughs. With voting under way in bright sunshine on Wednesday, a leading polling aggregator showed a clear lead for the liberal VVD party of the prime minister, Mark Rutte, who was predicted to win between 24 and 28 seats in the 150-seat parliament. The far-right Freedom party (PVV), led by the anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders, was forecast to win 19-23 seats, barely ahead of the Christian Democrats (CDA) on 19-21 seats and the progressive liberals of Democrats 66 (D66) with 17-19, both natural coalition partners for Rutte. The election will not, however, produce a clear winner, with as many as 15 parties set to return at least one MP and none likely to gain more than 17% of seats: months of complex coalition negotiations lie ahead. Wilders cast his ballot at a polling station in The Hague early on Wednesday, telling reporters afterwards: “Whatever the outcome of the election today, the genie will not go back into the bottle. People feel misrepresented.” But Rutte said he hoped the election, which has been overshadowed since the weekend by an increasingly acrimonious diplomatic standoff between Turkey and a number of EU capitals, would slow the populists’ momentum. What are the issues in the Dutch election? The fundamentals of the economy are recovering well from the global financial crisis, with unemployment at a five-year low and economic growth at 2.3%. Healthcare and pensions are significant topics of debate, but in the absence of major economic concerns the biggest issue is immigration and integration. The agenda has been driven by the anti-Islam and anti-EU populist rhetoric of Geert Wilders, as well as the wider political climate across Europe. Dominant themes of discussion have included multiculturalism, globalisation, sovereignty, Dutch values, and how far the EU works – or doesn’t work – for the Netherlands. Read our comprehensive preview The vote was “a chance for a big democracy like the Netherlands to make a point, to stop this domino effect... of the wrong sort of populism,” Rutte said, though he warned there was still a chance the PVV might be the biggest party. Up to 30% of voters were undecided going into polling day, leaving the outcome unpredictable. But Wilders, who has pledged to “de-Islamise” the Netherlands and take it out of the EU, is unlikely to enter government however well he fares: no other main party will work with the PVV in coalition. Nonetheless, after the UK’s vote to leave the EU and Trump’s “America first” upset last year, a first-place finish for the PVV would rock Europe – with the far-right Front National leader, Marine Le Pen, set to make the run-off in France’s presidential poll in May and the Eurosceptic Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) on target to win its first federal seats in Germany later in the year. Analysts said Rutte had benefited from his handling of the fierce row with Turkey over the government’s refusal to allow Turkish ministers to address rallies of Dutch Turks before a referendum next month on plans
’re planning to keep it updated as items are released. We recently launched the new Poles, Beams and Letterboxes so it’s time to refresh the coming items on the roadmap.Feature development can often take more time that you might expect so we have a few things going on in parallel. These items are in development NOW, so you should expect them to appear in the coming updates.: Exoworlds will shortly start visiting the Boundless universe. These are worlds that enter the universe temporarily, orbiting around another world, before vanishing never to be seen again. Expect a constant stream of new worlds to explore, filled with resources to harvest, unique colours to snag, and a playground for future features. There’ll be no regen or beacons on these worlds so once they’re exhausted you’ll be ready for another. Exoworlds will also include the first Level 7+ Rift, Darkmatter and Blink worlds. A new challenge awaits, but only until you or they expire…: An event unique to the Boundless universe. Race fellow citizens for the multi coloured prizes waiting at the end of the gleambow. But don’t be too slow or you’ll be left feeling a little grey. Gleambow totems at the ready!: Are all the guilds’ perks feeling a little alike? Well not once the next batch of guild buffs land:: A new set of global and public messaging channels 2. To help everyone connect. They contain rate limits and a big group of players will be given the rank of messaging moderators to help us keep these global channel on target.: She’s still coming. Prowling up on you. The Hunter’s AI is in development and she’ll be unlike any of the other creatures already in the game. Tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap. Did I just hear a warp open? She’s been coding, doing technical reviews, joining in with design discussions - we think we’re going to offer her a full time job. Get back to working on your own AI!… and …: A new farming system is coming to Boundless with 4 cultivating domains:Keep an eye out for announcement posts of features going to Testing. These features are already in development and coming soon.Let us know what you’d like to see next.Our aim is to expand Boundless with new content and new systems for the full spectrum of Boundless players. We’re just as desperate as everyone else in the community to make progress with adventurous and experimental universal persistent sandbox features.Of course, this is very much another step of our plans for Boundless. We’ve got plenty of features planned for the future, and your feedback will be invaluable as we continue active development of the game. We love talking with our players on the forums and social channels, so don’t be shy about championing the features you want to see in the future of Boundless.Thanks!!Last time, we looked at counted loops and then improved a simple loop by explicitly pipelining the loop iterations. This time, we're going to take the pipelining to the next level. Let's reorder the columns of the chart we had last time so the instructions are grouped not by the register being operated upon but by the operation being performed. Since no instructions within an instruction group are dependent on each other in our example, I can reorder them without affecting the logic. 1 ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 ;; 2 ld4 r33 = [r29], 4 ;; 3 ld4 r34 = [r29], 4 adds r32 = r32, 1 ;; 4 ld4 r35 = [r29], 4 adds r33 = r33, 1 st4 [r28] = r32, 4 ;; 5 ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 adds r34 = r34, 1 st4 [r28] = r33, 4 ;; 6 ld4 r33 = [r29], 4 adds r35 = r35, 1 st4 [r28] = r34, 4 ;; 7 ld4 r34 = [r29], 4 adds r32 = r32, 1 st4 [r28] = r35, 4 ;; 8 ld4 r35 = [r29], 4 adds r33 = r33, 1 st4 [r28] = r32, 4 ;; 9 ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 adds r34 = r34, 1 st4 [r28] = r33, 4 ;; 10 ld4 r33 = [r29], 4 adds r35 = r35, 1 st4 [r28] = r34, 4 ;; 11 adds r32 = r32, 1 st4 [r28] = r35, 4 ;; 12 adds r33 = r33, 1 st4 [r28] = r32, 4 ;; 13 st4 [r28] = r33, 4 ;; What an interesting pattern. Each column represents a functional unit, and at each cycle, the unit operates on a different register in a clear pattern: r32, r33, r34, r35, then back to r32. The units are staggered so that each operates on a register precisely when its result from the previous unit is ready. Suppose you have to make 2000 sandwiches and you have four employees. You could arrange your sandwich factory with three stations. At the first station, you have the bread and the toaster. At the second station, you have the protein. At the third station, you have the toppings. Each employee goes through the stations in order: First they take two pieces of bread and put them in the toaster. When the toast is finished, they add the protein, then they add the toppings, and then they put the finished sandwich in the box. Once that's done, they go back to the first station. You stagger the starts of the four employees so that at any moment, one is preparing the bread, one is waiting for the toaster, one is adding protein, and one is adding the toppings. That is how the original code was arranged. Each register is an employee that is at one of the four stages of sandwich construction. But another way to organize your sandwich factory is as an assembly line. You put one employee in charge of the bread, one in charge of the toaster, one in charge of the protein, and one in charge of the toppings. When a sandwich completes a stage in the process, it gets handed from one employee to the next. (And since there isn't really anything for the toaster-boy to do, you can eliminate that position and create the same number of sandwiches per second with only three employees. The original version had each employee sitting idle waiting for the toaster 25% of the time. Switching to the assembly line model allowed us to squeeze out that idle time.) Let's apply the assembly line model to our code. Handing a sandwich from one person to the next is done by moving the value from one register to the next. Let's imagine than there is a slide instruction that you can put at the end of an instruction group which copies r32 to r33, r33 to r34, and so on. 1 ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 slide ;; 2 ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 slide ;; 3 ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 adds r34 = r34, 1 slide ;; 4 ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 adds r34 = r34, 1 st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; 5 ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 adds r34 = r34, 1 st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; 6 ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 adds r34 = r34, 1 st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; 7 ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 adds r34 = r34, 1 st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; 8 ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 adds r34 = r34, 1 st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; 9 ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 adds r34 = r34, 1 st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; 10 ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 adds r34 = r34, 1 st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; 11 adds r34 = r34, 1 st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; 12 adds r34 = r34, 1 st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; 13 st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; During the execution of the first instruction group, the first value is loaded into r32, and the slide instruction slides it into r33. At the second instruction group, the second value is loaded into r32, and the first value sits unchanged in r33. (Technically, the value is waiting to be loaded into r33.) The slide instruction slides the second value into r33 and the first value into r34. At the third instruction group, the third value is loaded into r32, and the first value (now in r34 ) is incremented. Then the slide instruction slides the third value into r33, the second value into r34, and the first value into r35. At the fourth instruction group, the fourth value is loaded into r32, the second value (now in r34 ) is incremented, and the first value (now in r35 ) is stored to memory. Then the slide instruction slides the fourth value into r33, the third value into r34, and the second value into r35. (The first value slides into r36, but we don't really care.) And so on. At each instruction group, a fresh value is loaded into r32, a previously-loaded value is incremented in r34, and the incremented value is stored from r35. And then the slide instruction moves everything down one step for the next instruction group. When we reach the 11th instruction group, we drain out the last value and don't bother starting up any new ones. Observe that the above code also falls into a prologue/kernel/epilogue pattern. In the prologue, the assembly line starts up and gradually fills the registers with work. In the kernel, the assembly line is completely busy. And in the epilogue, the work of the final registers drains out. You can already see how br.cloop would come in handy here: The kernel can be written as a single-instruction loop! But wait there's more. Let's add some predicate registers to the mix. Let's suppose that the slide instruction slides not only integer registers but also predicate registers. 1 (p16) ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 (p18) adds r34 = r34, 1 (p19) st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; 2 (p16) ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 (p18) adds r34 = r34, 1 (p19) st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; 3 (p16) ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 (p18) adds r34 = r34, 1 (p19) st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; 4 (p16) ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 (p18) adds r34 = r34, 1 (p19) st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; 5 (p16) ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 (p18) adds r34 = r34, 1 (p19) st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; 6 (p16) ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 (p18) adds r34 = r34, 1 (p19) st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; 7 (p16) ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 (p18) adds r34 = r34, 1 (p19) st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; 8 (p16) ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 (p18) adds r34 = r34, 1 (p19) st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; 9 (p16) ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 (p18) adds r34 = r34, 1 (p19) st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; 10 (p16) ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 (p18) adds r34 = r34, 1 (p19) st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; 11 (p16) ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 (p18) adds r34 = r34, 1 (p19) st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; 12 (p16) ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 (p18) adds r34 = r34, 1 (p19) st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; 13 (p16) ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 (p18) adds r34 = r34, 1 (p19) st4 [r28] = r35, 4 slide ;; We can initally set p16 = true, p17 = p18 = p19 = false. That way, only the load executes from the first instruction group. And then the slide instruction slides both the integer registers and the predicate registers, which causes p17 to become true. In the second instruction group, again, only the load executes. And then the slide instruction slides p17 into p18, so now p18 = true also. Since p18 = true, the third instruction group both loads and increments. And then the slide instruction slides p18 into p19, so now all of the predicates are true. With all the predicates true, every step in instruction groups three through 10 execute. Now, with instruction group 11, we want to slide the predicates, but also set p16 to false. That turns off the ld4 instruction. The p16 = false then slides into p17 for instruction group 12, then into p18 for instruction group 13, which turns off the increment instruction. If we can get the slide instruction to slide the predicates and set p16 to true for the first 10 instructions, and set it to false for the last three, then we can simply execute the same instruction 13 times! Okay, now I can reveal the true identity of the slide instruction: It's called br.ctop. The br.ctop instruction works like this: if (ar.lc!= 0) { slide; p16 = true; ar.lc = ar.lc - 1; goto branch; } if (ar.ec!= 0) { slide; p16 = false; ar.ec = ar.ec - 1; if (ar.ec!= 0) goto branch; } else { /* unimportant */ } In words, the br.ctop instruction first checks the ar.lc register (loop counter). If it is nonzero, then the registers slide over, the p16 register is set to true, the loop counter is decremented, and the jump is taken. If ar.lc is zero, then the br.ctop instruction checks the ar.ec register (epilogue counter). If it is nonzero, then the register slide over, the p16 register is set to false, and.the epilogue counter is decremented. If the decremented value of the epilogue counter is nonzero, then the jump is taken; otherwise we fall through and the loop ends. (If both ar.lc and ar.ec are zero, then the loop is finished before it even started. Some weird edge-case handing happens here which is not important to the discussion.) Code that takes advantage of the br.ctop instruction goes like this: alloc r36 = ar.pfs, 0, 8, 0, 4 // four rotating registers! mov r37 = ar.lc // preserve lc mov r38 = ar.ec // preserve ec mov r39 = preds // preserve predicates addl r31 = r0, 1999 ;; // r31 = 1999 mov ar.lc = r31 // ar.lc = 1999 mov ar.ec = 4 mov pr.rot = 1 << 16 // p16 = true, all others false addl r29 = gp, -205584 // calculate start of array addl r28 = r29, 0 ;; // put it in both r28 and r29 again: (p16) ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 // execute an entire loop with (p18) adds r34 = r34, 1 // a single instruction group (p19) st4 [r28] = r35, 4 // using this one weird trick br.ctop again ;; mov ar.lc = r37 // restore registers we preserved mov ar.ec = r38 mov preds = r39 mov ar.pfs = r36 br.ret.sptk.many rp // return We are now using the last parameter to the alloc instruction. The 4 says that we want four rotating registers. The ar.lc and ar.ec register must be preserved across calls, so we save them here for restoration at the end. Predicate registers p16 through p63 must also be preserved, so we save all the predicate registers by using the preds pseudo-register which grabs all 64 predicates into a single 64-bit value. Next, we set up the loop by setting the loop counter to the number of additional times we want to execute the loop (not counting the one execution we get via fall-through), the epilogue counter to the number of steps we need in order to drain the final iterations, and set the predicates so that p16 = true and everything else is false. We also set up r28 and r29 to step through the array. Once that is done, we can execute the entire loop in a single instruction group. And then we clean up after the loop by restoring all the registers to how we found them, then return. And there you have register rotation. It lets you compress the prologue, kernel, and epilogue of a pipelined loop into a single instruction group. I pulled a fast one here: The Itanium requires that the number of rotating registers be a multiple of eight. So our code really should look like this: alloc r40 = ar.pfs, 0, 12, 0, 8 mov r41 = ar.lc // preserve lc mov r42 = ar.ec // preserve ec mov r43 = preds // preserve predicates addl r31 = r0, 1999 ;; // r31 = 1999 mov ar.lc = r31 // ar.lc = 1999 mov ar.ec = 4 mov pr.rot = 1 << 16 // p16 = true, all others false addl r29 = gp, -205584 // calculate start of array addl r28 = r29, 0 ;; // put it in both r28 and r29 again: (p16) ld4 r32 = [r29], 4 // execute an entire loop with (p18) adds r34 = r34, 1 // a single instruction group (p19) st4 [r28] = r35, 4 // using this one weird trick br.ctop again ;; mov ar.lc = r41 // restore registers we preserved mov ar.ec = r42 mov preds = r43 mov ar.pfs = r40 br.ret.sptk.many rp // return Instead of four rotating registers, we use eight. The underlying analysis remains the same. We are just throwing more registers into the pot. Now, the loop we were studying happens to be very simple, with only one load and one store. For more complex loops, you may need to use things like the unconditional comparison, or pipelining the iterations with a stagger of more than one cycle. There are other types of instructions for managing loops with register rotation. For example, br.cexit is like br.ctop except that it jumps when br.ctop falls through and vice versa. This is handy to put at the start of your pipelined loop to handle the case where the number of iterations is zero. There are also br.wtop and br.wexit instructions to handle while loops instead of counted loops. The basic idea is the same, so I won't go into the details. You can read the Itanium manual to learn more. That's the end of the whirlwind tour of the Itanium architecture. There are still parts left unexplored, but I tried to hit the most interesting sights.Happy birthday, Christine Company GT & Sport Cars Google executive Benjamin Sloss presents his wife with a stunning FXX K Maranello, 28 August 2015 – Since he bought the 599 XX auctioned to raise funds in the wake of the Emilia earthquake disaster in 2012, we’ve all known that Benjamin Sloss is a very generous guy. But now he’s proved his big-heartedness once again by presenting his wife, Christine, with a truly unique birthday gift. Ben told Christine he would be bringing her to Fiorano to do a little lapping in their 599 XX as a birthday treat. And he did just that. But that was far from all he had planned. In fact, when they arrived at the track, Christine found a beautiful FXX K, clothed, like all their Ferraris in a yellow livery, waiting for her. Naturally enough Christine, who is also a real petrolhead and fine GT driver, lost no time in getting into her racing suit and putting her latest acquisition through its paces on the track. Christine found the FXX K incredibly communicative, responsive, and confidence inspiring, and extraordinarily fast. After just a few laps she was running 1’20”, with a passenger on board, very close to the Fiorano FXX K lap record!An officer from the Los Angeles Police Department was spotted this past weekend while Supercharging the department’s black and white Model S P85D at Tesla’s Design Center in Hawthorne, CA. Andrew Rozendal had just finished a tour of neighboring SpaceX and captured the moment while walking back to his Model S that was charging at a HPWC adjoining the Supercharger stalls. According to Andrew, the officer was all smiles when he stepped out of the vehicle and event took the time to chat with Tesla Design Center employees and nearby Model S owners. Andrew tells us, “When we got back out to our cars after the [SpaceX] tour we were delighted to see a Tesla cop car pull up to a Supercharger. I’m glad we had just been reunited with our phones, since we hadn’t been able to take them on the tour. (Even when we were waiting in the Design Center before the tour we attempted to take a picture of the Radio Flyer Model S for Kids but they stopped us and said no photographs.) The officer was all smiles when he stepped out. My buddy had all but left yet he turned around and parked again so he could chat with the officer. A Tesla employee also came out of the Design Center to talk with him and see how things were going.” This rare sighting of the LAPD Model S P85D on loan from Tesla, comes on the heels of reports that BMW beat Tesla on a contract that would supply the Police Department with 100 electric cars. The LAPD had been testing Tesla’s P85D variant over the past year but decided that it will lease the more affordable BMW i3 as the department’s community outreach and police business vehicle. LAPD will not be using the fleet of 100 leased BMW i3s for patrol or car chases. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that the LAPD will be leasing the vehicles as part of a three-year agreement with BMW, enabling the city “to be flexible and to change as EV technology evolves further.” With the announcement of the new deal with BMW, expect to see a few last joy rides by the LAPD in its Insane Model S P85D before it returns it back to Tesla. A big thanks to app developer and Model S owner Andrew Rozendal for sending in the tip with photos.Green Party Leader Elizabeth May says Parliament needs to get back to work after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's elbowing incident on Wednesday that she says occurred in the midst of "partisan trickery." The incident, in which Trudeau elbowed NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau while taking Conservative Party whip Gord Brown by the arm, occurred before a vote on a government motion to limit debate on Bill C-14, the government's assisted dying bill. May said opposition MPs were trying to delay the vote by blocking Brown. May said tensions have been running high in the House of Commons all week. "It certainly was disturbing, it was unfortunate, it was rattling to many nerves," May said on CBC's Metro Morning on Thursday. "The key thing here is we dial down the acceleration of partisan hostility and actually do our work." Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Jody Wilson-Raybould, right, and Minister of Health Jane Philpott are seen speak about the physician-assisted death bill. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press) May said Parliament is facing a June 6 deadline imposed by the Supreme Court of Canada to pass the assisted dying bill. She said the deadline has created a "very rare pressure cooker" situation in Parliament. Health Minister Jane Philpott and Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould have said they have been told by doctors they need a new law. Once the deadline passes, doctors will have to interpret the Carter decision, May said. In the Carter decision, the Supreme Court ruled people with grievous and irremediable medical conditions should have the right to ask a doctor to help them die. The court, which issued the landmark decision on Feb. 6, 2015, gave the federal government 12 months to craft legislation to respond to the ruling. In a 5-4 decision last January, the court granted the government a four-month extension, pushing the deadline to June 6. Has <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/elbowgate?src=hash">#elbowgate</a> changed your perception of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cdnpoli?src=hash">#cdnpoli</a> —@CBCToronto "Tensions have been high because of the timeline and a honestly held belief on the part of the minister of justice and minister of health and prime minister that they must get through the bill on medically assisted dying and must do it before the Supreme Court invalidates certain sections of the Criminal Code that make that illegal," May said. The Green Party leader said it's important to understand the sequence of events that led to the elbow incident. After a snap vote called by the Conservatives and NDP on another piece of legislation on Monday, May said the Liberals responded on Tuesday by introducing a motion, Government Business No. 6, to control House business. On Wednesday, May said opposition MPs then tried to block Brown from the walk the government and opposition whips traditionally take from the back of the House to the front before the vote to limit debate on the assisted dying bill. Green Leader Elizabeth May says Parliament needs to get back to work after elbow incident in House of Commons. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press) Government House Leader Dominic LeBlanc has since announced the Liberals will withdraw the Government Business No. 6 motion. "Some members in the opposition parties realized, if we block the way here when the whips do the required walk from the back of the House to the front of the House, if we delay the vote by even three minutes, then we throw off the government's whole C-14 schedule," she said. "I don't think that's been clear. I'm not making excuses for the prime minister, but it's important to understand that tensions were high." Trudeau apologized for his conduct in the House Wednesday when he pulled Conservative whip Gord Brown through a clutch of New Democrat MPs to speed up a vote. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press) May said it's important for Parliament to maintain its reputation and not "to fan the flames" of the incident. Trudeau apologized in Parliament on Thursday, for the third time in two days, for the physical encounter that resulted in a melee on the floor of the House. "I apologize to my colleagues, to the House as a whole and to you, Mr. Speaker, for failing to live up to a higher standard of behaviour. Members, rightfully, expect better behaviour from anyone in this House. I expect better behaviour of myself," the prime minister said in the House after he apologized directly to two opposition MPs.Pretty much the moment the credits rolled on the final episode of Game of Thrones' fifth season, with that very dead main character staring up at us out of his very dead eyes, we all started frantically googling and screaming "WTF???" Luckily for all of us, there were tons of Jon Snow resurrection theories ready and waiting to calm us down, and by this point, you probably think you've heard them all. But you haven't! You might know about Jon warging into Ghost, about him becoming a White Walker, and about him being resurrected in the flame — whether by Melisandre or just because of the Targaryen blood that might (!!) flow through his veins. But I went digging through some of the book forums and unearthed a theory that I hadn't really seen around anywhere, and it hinges on Bran and Theon, of all people. In A Forum Of Ice And Fire, on Westeros.org, user OldGod begins his or her hypothesis with a familiar theory: that Jon's spirit left his body and entered that of his direwolf, Ghost. But from there, it goes in a very different direction, to a character we haven't seen all season: Brandon Stark. Bran is Jon's half-brother (according to the information we have now, at least), and he's been learning how to do some pretty serious magic, specifically blood magic. So, isn't it possible that he, instead of Melisandre, could be instrumental in Jon's return? Particularly as Bran is now a greenseer, so he would have full knowledge of Jon's importance to Westeros. The book makes no secret of the fact that blood sacrifices exist, and that they're connected to heart trees in some way, but they don't get much more specific than the line "only death may pay for life." So presumably, someone has to die so that Jon can live. And the person that OldGod has his or her eye on is, drumroll please... Theon Greyjoy. Now, the specific proof that he or she is drawing from comes from a teaser chapter of the as-yet-unreleased sixth book in the series, The Winds of Winter, so if you aren't up-to-date on those teasers, and/or don't want to be, this theory isn't for you, so get on out of here, because this is about to get spoiler-y. Are you gone? OK, great. So something that is heavily alluded to in the teaser is Stannis Baratheon's intention to behead Theon in front of one of the heart trees as soon as he's properly dealt with the Boltons. And in the same teaser, we seem to see Bran attempting to communicate within the scene from afar, with ravens repeating the words "Theon" and "tree." And remember, as the last remaining son of Balon Greyjoy, Theon is a king, so all these factors seem to indicate that some chain of events would be triggered by the spilling of his blood in that sacred place. OldGod goes into it in more detail in the original post, but so far it all fits, right? I'm definitely intrigued. ... or, y'know, maybe Jon is dead forever and everything is ruined and George R.R. Martin will never publish another book. It's really anybody's game at this point. Need more proof Jon Snow isn't dead? Watch this (and subscribe to Bustle's YouTube for more crazy TV theories!): Bustle on YouTube Images: HBO; GiphyTOPEKA, Kansas (AP) - Kansas is moving toward removing what some gun rights advocates see as its last major restriction on firearms, with the state Senate giving first-round approval Wednesday to a bill that would end a requirement for permits to carry concealed weapons. The Republican-dominated Senate's voice vote advanced the measure to another, final vote Thursday, when the measure was expected to pass. Twenty-six of its 40 members are sponsoring the bill, led by Majority Leader Terry Bruce. The measure would go next to the House. Both chambers have strong gun rights majorities, and GOP Gov. Sam Brownback has signed every major piece of gun rights legislation since he took office in January 2011. All states allow some form of concealed carry, but the National Rifle Association says Alaska, Arizona, Vermont and Wyoming don't require a permit, while Montana allows concealed carry without a permit outside cities, which is most of the state. "Is it the last restriction?" Bruce, a Nickerson Republican, said of the permit requirement. "It's the last major obstacle, I think." Supporters of the Kansas bill note that state law already allows the open carrying of firearms without a permit. A state concealed carry permit costs $132.50 and requires eight hours of training. "The citizens of this state have a right to defend themselves without going through the permit process," said Sen. Jake LaTurner, a Pittsburg Republican, another sponsor of the measure The bill would apply to anyone 21 or older who can legally carry a gun. Critics contend the current permit requirement ensures that people who carry concealed have some firearms training. "That's my big deal," said Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, a Wichita Democrat who opposes the bill. "I just think that carrying without that training, maybe down the road, has some dangerous side effects." Kansas did not enact a concealed carry law until 2006, when legislators overrode a veto by then-Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. The state started issuing permits in 2007 and has granted more than 90,000. A string of high-profile political victories for gun rights advocates followed. In 2010, voters approved a constitutional amendment to emphasize that gun ownership is an individual right. Kansas last year enacted an NRA-backed law prohibiting local restrictions on gun sales and ownership. A 2013 law declares that the federal government has no authority to regulate firearms manufactured, sold and kept in Kansas. "It is certainly a different mindset," said Patricia Stoneking, president of the Kansas State Rifle Association. "A much more pleasant one." But Faust-Goudeau said: "We're going back to the wild, wild West." ___ Online: Concealed carry bill: http://bit.ly/1zQ1EXQ.I was sitting at my desk this morning, when I was given an amazon box. Hmmm, I wondered, what could this be? I wasn't expecting anything from amazon at the moment. When I saw that the address label had my reddit name, it must be my secret santa gift! Excitedly, I grabbed some scissors and opened the box. I immediately saw the outside of the Funko Pop box. I began to get nervous. I have 3 of the Mass Effect collection already, a recent gift from my fiancé. When I glanced at the front of the package, it was Miranda Lawson! The only one I was missing! (I didn't care for Shepard, as he would never be my Shepard) What luck! Was my secret santa the real santa? How else could he have known which one I was missing? I smiled with glee as I added her to my computer tower of geekery along with her crewmates. Miranda was not alone in there. An adorable Australian Cattle Dog was keeping her company. His happy little face reminded me of my own two pups at home. But those two can be beastly when it comes to plush toys! Surely this little guy would not last more than a day if I brought him home! Thus, I placed him atop my label maker, to stand watch for the throng of figures on my computer tower. Thou he has yet to be named, he is ever watchful. I could not be happier with these lovely gifts! I only worry that my coworkers will soon stage an intervention if my geekery shows thru any further. :)Using building department and licensing information, BuildZoom.com is analyzing Las Vegas’ construction trends, aiming to streamline home remodeling. BuildZoom founders Jiyan Wei (left) and David Petersen are analyzing Las Vegas building permit data with the goal of changing the home remodeling business. Using building department and licensing information, BuildZoom.com is analyzing Las Vegas’ construction trends, aiming to streamline home remodeling. Users can type in their address into BuildZoom.com and see details on housing projects in their neighborhood and filter project types and costs. They can learn about the contractors who have worked in their neighborhoods and access the permit mapping project, which seeks to improve consumer experiences in remodeling and construction. Founders David Petersen and Jiyan Wei grew up together in Washington and moved to San Francisco to combine their backgrounds in startups and product development and design, respectively. “David’s startup was focused on figuring out how to acquire public data and monetize it,” Wei said. “I had just purchased a home and thought the whole process was inefficient. We talked about the business problem and three years ago we started building something.” Wei said the pair collects information on all licensed contractors from the state and permit data from cities and counties before building a profile on each contractor. Users who access BuildZoom can explain what their projects are. The site then connects users with qualified contractors based on permit information and user opinions. “They have the benefit of our engine crunching the numbers and providing them with really great information,” Wei said. “We standardize the process and make it accessible to consumers for residential projects.” To see Buildzoom’s Las Vegas data, visit http://www.buildzoom.com/map/las-vegas-nv.Whether it is through games, linear media, or virtual reality, Unreal Engine 4.17 enables you to tell your own story. New tools, workflow enhancements, and performance optimizations make it easier than ever to develop and ship your project at the quality bar you expect and with the performance users demand. With new platform support and expanded feature sets, Unreal Engine delivers
designed to check network devices like routers for common as well as default passwords.L0phtCrack which is now known as L0phtCrack6 is a tool which tests the strength of a password given, as well as to recover lost passwords on Microsoft Windows platform. Thus it is a tool for both password recovery as well as auditing the password. It uses techniques such as Rainbow tables, brute-force, and dictionary to recover passwords.Fgdump is a powerful cracking tool. In fact, it's much more powerful than pwdump6 as the latter has the tendency to hang whenever there is a presence of an antivirus. Fgdump has the capability to handle this problem of hanging by shutting down first. It later restarts the Antivirus software. It supports multi-threading which is very relevant in the multitasking and multi-user environment.Every password security study has revealed that the biggest security weaknesses are the passwords. THC Hydra is a tool for cracking logins and it is flexible as it supports various protocols. It is very fast and at the same time, new modules can be easily added. Hydra can run on operating systems like Solaris 11, OSX, Windows, and Linux.John the Ripper is a free software for password cracking which was originally designed for the Unix Operating System. At present, it can run on 15 Operating systems which include 11 different versions of UNIX, Win32, DOS, and BeOS. It has the capability to combine several password crackers into a single package which has made it one of the most popular cracking tools for hackers.It is a network software suite used in 802.11 Wireless Local Area Networks. It consists of tools such as a packet sniffer, detector, and a WEP. This tool runs on both Windows and Linux Operating systems. It can work with any type of wireless network interface controller, provided the driver is supporting the raw monitoring mode.Cain and Abel, often referred to as Cain, is a tool for recovering the password in the Windows platform. It has the capability to recover various kinds of passwords using techniques such as cracking the password hashes by using brute-forcing, dictionary attacks, cryptanalysis attacks and packet sniffing in the network.The objective of this security tool is to locate the valid user identities in a Virtual Public Network along with the secret key combinations. Once this is accomplished, this information can be used easily by a hacker to have access to a VPN in an unauthorized mannerWireless Hacking Tools are those hacking tools which are used to hack into a wireless network which is usually more susceptible to security threats. One must also ensure that the network is completely secured against hacking or other malware. The list of wireless hacking tools which would be discussed now can be used to do a Penetration Testing for a Wireless Network. This is an intentional attack on a network to detect security vulnerabilities by accessing its data and functionality.It is a software suite specially designed for a wireless network and which operates under both the Windows and the Linux Operating System. Aircrack-ng consists of a packet sniffer, WPA cracker, and analysis tool and a detector for the wireless Local Area Networks (802.11). The best part of this software suit is one need not install it to use it. It is a collection of files which can be easily used with a command prompt.There have been many wireless hacking tools exposed in recent past. When a hacker hacks a wireless network, it is supposed to defeat the Wireless network’s security devices. The Wi-Fi networks i.e. the Wireless LANs are more exposed to the security threats from a hacker while compared to that of a wired network. While hackers are always more than ready to hack especially if there are weaknesses in a computer network, hacking is often a tedious and complicated procedure.Kismet is a wireless detector system which detects possible intrusion to an 802.11 layer2 wireless network, it is also a sniffer. There is certain plug-in supported by Kismet which enables sniffing media like DECT. It also has the capacity to infer whether a nonbeaconing network is present or not via the data traffic in the network and a network is identified by this tool by collecting data packets passively, detecting hidden and standard named networks.InSSIDer is a network scanner which is used in a Wi-Fi network for the Windows Operating System as well as the Apple OS X. It has been developed by MetaGeek, LLC. It is used to collect information from both software and a wireless card and is useful in selecting the availability of the best wireless channel. It also shows those Wi-Fi network channels which overlap with each other.It is a discovery tool for a wireless network for the Mac OS X operating system. It has many features which are similar to another wireless detector tool called Kismet. This tool is meant for expert network security personnel and is not very user-friendly for the beginnersNetStumbler is a hacking tool which is used in the Windows Operating system and comes with add-ons which are used to hack a wireless network. It has the capability to convert a WIFI enabled laptop on Windows OS into a network detector in an 802.11 WLAN.The WebLab is a tool which teaches about the weaknesses of a WEP, how a WEP works and how it is used to break a wireless network which is WEP protected. It has the features of a WEP Security Analyzer.It is a powerful tool for packet injection in an 802.11 wireless network and is very useful as it has the capability to send in forged de-authentication packets. This feature is usually used by a hacker to bring down a network.In order to log into a website, a user has submitted details like his or her username and password. The server validates these data and sends back a “cookie”. The websites usually encrypt the password, however, does not encrypt other details which leave the cookie exposed to hacking threats which are also known as HTTP session hijacking. Firesheep has a packet sniffer which can intercept the cookies which are encrypted from Social Media sites like Twitter and Facebook and comes with the Firefox web browser. Firesheep is available for both the Windows and Mac OS X operating system. It would also run on the Linux platform in the new future.KARMA is an attack tool which takes the advantage of the probing techniques that is used by used by a client of a WLAN. The station searches for a Wireless LAN in the list of preferred network and it is then that it makes the SSID open for an attacker who is listening. The disclosed SSID is used by KARMA for impersonation of a valid WLAN and attracts the station to the listening attacker.Nmap or Network Mapper is a free open source utility tool for network discovery and security auditing solution for you. It is a flexible, powerful, portable and easy-to-use tool that is supported by most of the operating systems like Linux, Windows, Solaris, Mac OS and others.It is a multi-functional application that is designed for scanning TPC port. This is also a pinger and address resolver. It also has useful features like ping, traceroute, WhoIs and HTTP request. There is no need of installation as it is a portable application.It is a fast port and IP address scanner. It is a lightweight and cross-platform application that has the capacity to scan the IP addresses in any range and also in their ports. It simply pings each IP address.Through Packet crafting technique, an attacker capitalizes your firewall’s vulnerabilities. Here are some packet crafting toolsEarlier Hping was used as a security tool. Now it is used as a command-line oriented TCP/IP packet analyzer or assembler. You can use this for Firewall testing, advanced port scanning, network testing by using fragmentation, TOS, and different other protocols.It is a powerful and interactive packet manipulation program. Scapy has the capability to decode or forge the packets of a large number of protocols at a time. One of the best features is that it can confuse the process of decoding and interpreting.Netcat is a simple Unix utility program. This program has the capability to read and write data across network connections and it does so by using UDP or TPC protocol. It was created as a reliable back-end tool.It is a command-line crafting and injecting utility tool used for network packets. This program works for both Unix and Windows operating systems. This is a well-suited tool for testing Network, Intrusion Detection System, IP Stacks, Firewalls and many othersThis is again a command-line based utility tool. It has the capability to establish a two bidirectional byte streams through which it transfers data. In this tool streams can be constructed from a large set of different data sinks.Not all the network protocols are powerful. In order to take advantage of the weakness of certain network protocols, Yersinia is created. It is a full-proof framework that analyzes and tests the deployed networks and systems.These tools allow users to monitor the websites one’s children or employees are viewing. Here’s a list of some of these toolsIf you want to convert your data into powerful insights Splunk tools are the best options for you. The Splunk tools are the leading platforms for operational intelligence. It can collect any type of data from any machine in real time.Nagios is the name for the industry standard in monitoring IT infrastructure. The Nagios tools help you monitor your entire IT infrastructure and have the capability to detect problems well ahead they occur. It can also detect security breaches and share data availability with stakeholders.It is a versatile passive tool that is used for OS fingerprinting. This passive tool works well in both Linux and Windows operating systems. It has the capability to detect the hooking up of the remote system whether it is Ethernet, DSL or OC3.Ngrep or network grep is a pcap-aware tool that allows you to extend hexadecimal or regular expressions in order to match it against the data loads of the packet. It can recognize IPv4/6, UDP, TCP, Ethernet, SLIP, PPP, FDDI and many others.These tools help capture and analyze incoming traffic on your website. Some of the popular ones are listed belowIf you want to put a security system, Wireshark is the must-have security tool. It monitors every single byte of the data that is transferred via the network system. If you are a network administrator or penetration tester this tool is a must have.Tcpdump is a command-line packet analyzer. After completing the designated task of packet capturing Tcpdump will throw the report that will contain numbers of captured packet and packets received by the filter. The user can use flags like –v, -r and –w to run this packet analyzer tool.It is a comprehensive suite in the middle of the attack. It has the feature of sniffing the live connections and content filtering along with many other interesting tricks. It offers three interfaces, traditional command line, GUI, and Ncurses.Dsniff is the collection of various tools that are used for penetration testing and network auditing. The tools like dsniff, msgsnarf, mailsnarf, webspy and urlsnarf passively monitor a network of interesting data like files, emails, passwords and many others.EtherApe is graphical network monitor for UNIX model PCs after etherman. This interactive tool graphically displays network activity. It features link layer and TCP/IP modes. It supports Token Ring, FDDI, Ethernet, PPP, SLIP, ISDN and other WLAN devices.Web Proxies: Proxies fundamentally assist in adding encapsulation to distributed systems. The client can request an item on your server by contacting a proxy server.It is a Java-based HTTP/HTTPS proxy that helps in assessing the vulnerability of web applications. It supports both viewing and editing HTTP messages on-the-fly. It is supported by Unix and Windows systems. There are some other features as well like client certificate, spiders, proxy chaining and many others.It is free web debugging proxy tool that can be used for any browser, platforms or systems. The key features of this tool include performance testing, HTTP/HTTPS traffic recording, web session manipulation and security testing.A passive and semi-automated application which is essentially a security audit tool. It can accurately detect and annotate problems in web 2.0 platforms.This tool is the one that demonstrates HTTPS stripping attack. It has the capability to hijack HTTP traffic on the network in a transparent manner. It watches the HTTPS link and then redirect and maps those links into homograph-similar or look-alike HTTP links.This free online service performs a detailed security analysis and configuration test of SSL/TLS implementation on any web server for compliance with NIST guidelines and PCI DSS requirements, as well as for various industry best-practices.This is a directory and file integrity checker. It checks the veracity of files and notifies the user if there’s an issue.It is a directory and file integrity checker that helps in creating a database using the regular expression rules that it finds from the config files. This tool also supports message digest algorithms and file attributes like File type, Permissions, Inode, Uid, Gid, and others.Firewalls: Firewalls monitor and control network traffic. A firewall is the quintessential security tool used by novices and tech experts alike. Here are a few of the best ones for hackers:Netfilter offers software for the packet filtering framework that works within the Linux 2.4.x and later series of the kernel. The software of Netfilter help in packet mangling including packet filtering along with network address and port translation.It is an OpenBSD system that enables filtering of TCP/IP traffic and also performs Network Address Translation. It also helps in conditioning and normalizing of TCP/IP traffic along with packet prioritization and bandwidth control.Fuzzing is a term used by hackers for searching a computer system’s security vulnerabilities. Here is a list of a few:It's a reconnaissance web application security tool. Some of its features are dictionary-based probes and recursive crawls. A website's sitemap is eventually annotated for security assessments.This tool is designed in such a way that it helps in brute-forcing web applications. Wfuzz can be used for finding resources but it does not play any role in finding the links to directories, servlets, scripts and others. It has multiple injection points and allows multi-threading.Wapiti is a web application vulnerability scanner that allows you to audit the security of the web applications that you are using. The scanning process is “black-box” type and detects the vulnerabilities like file disclosure, data injection, XSS injection, and many others.It is a web application attack and audit framework that helps in auditing any threat that the web application experiences. This framework is built on Python and is easy-to-use and can be extended. It is licensed under GPLv2.0.These tools are used for computer forensics, especially to sniff out any trace of evidence existing in a particular computer system. Here are some of the most popular.It is an open source digital intervention or forensic toolkit. It runs on varied operating systems including Windows, Linux, OS X and many other Unix systems. It can be used for analyzing disk images along with in-depth analysis of file systems like FAT, Ext3, HFS+, UFS and NTFS.This is a Linux based incident response system. It is also used in system investigation and analysis along with data recovery and security auditing. The most recent version of this tool is based on Ubuntu that promises ease of use and stability.It is an open source forensic and intelligence application. It can be used for gathering information in all phases of security related work. It saves you time and money by performing the task on time in a smarter way.Encase is the fastest and most comprehensive network forensic solution available in the market. It is created following the global standard of forensic investigation software. It has the capability of quickly gathering data from a wide variety of devices.These tools are utilized for reverse engineering binary files for writing exploits and analyzing malware.GDB is a GNU Project debugger. The unique feature of this debugger enables the user to see what is happening inside one program while it is being executed or check a program at the moment of the crash.It's a powerful debugger for analyzing malware. Its unique features include an advanced user interface with heap analysis tool and function graphing.Other Hacking Tools: Besides the aforementioned tools, there is myriad of hacking tools used by hackers. They don’t belong to a particular category, but are very popular among hackers nonetheless:It is a featured network utility tool. It has the capability to read and write data across all network connections that uses TCP/IP protocol. It is a reliable back-end tool that can be easily and directly driven by other scripts and programs.It is a tracert or IP tracking tool that displays the path of internet packets through which it traversed to reach the specific destination. It identifies the IP address of each hop along the way it reaches the destination.It is the tracing tool that helps the user to know the time that the data packets took to reach the host. This is an online application where you just need to place the host name or IP address and fetch the result.It is a complete searching and indexing system that is used for a domain or internet. It works on both Linux and Windows system. It, however, does not replace the internet-wide search systems like Google, Infoseek, AltaVista and Lycos.It is a free and open source software command-line tool that transfers data with URL syntax. It supports HTTP/HTTPS, Gopher, FTPS, LDAP, POP3 and many others. It can run under a wide variety of operating systems. The recent stable version is v7.37.1.There are numerous professionals who aspire to have a career as ethical hackers. Hacking is not an easy task as it requires great insight about technology and programming. There are specific operating systems as well that are specially designed for the hackers to use. These operating systems have preloaded tools and technologies that hackers can utilize to hack. This article offers a detailed overview of various operating systems that are built keeping hacking in mind. All these operating systems are unique from each other and have proved to be a great resource for the hackers around the world.This operating system is built keeping the savviest security personnel in mind as the audience. This is also a useful tool even for the early newcomers in the information security field. It offers a quick and easy way to find and also update the largest database available for the security tools collection till date.This is a creation of the makers of BackTrack. This is regarded as the most versatile and advanced penetration testing distribution ever created. The documentation of the software is built in an easy format to make it the most user-friendly. It is one of the must-have tools for ethical hackers that is making a buzz in the market.Security Enhanced Linux or SELinux is an upstream repository that is used for various userland tools and libraries. There are various capabilities like policy compilation, policy management and policy development which are incorporated in this utility tool along with SELinux services and utilities. The user can get the software as a tested release or from the development repository.The website of Knoppix offers a free open source live Linux CD. The CD and DVD that is available contain the latest and recent updated Linux software along with desktop environments. This is one of the best tools for the beginners and includes programs like OpenOffice.org, Mozilla, Konqueror, Apache, MySQL and PHP.It is a Linux distribution that is based on Ubuntu. If you want to perform security assessment and penetration tests, this software is the one that you should have in your repository. It proactively protects the IT infrastructure. It has the capability to simplify the complexity of your IT infrastructure with ease as well.It is security focused live CD that is created based on Gentoo. It has a large number of customized tools and kernels including a hardened kernel consisting of aufs patches. It can backport Wi-Fi stack from the latest kernel release that is stable as well. There are development tools in Pentoo that have Cuda/OPENCL cracking.If you are looking for a distro to be used in penetration testing and cyber forensic investigation, then Matriux Krypton is the name that you can trust. This is a Debian based GNU/Linux security distribution. It has more than 340 powerful tools for penetration testing and forensics; additionally, it contains custom kernel 3.9.4.This is regarded as the specialist tool that is specifically designed for security auditing and penetration testing. It is a reliable, stable and powerful tool to be used for this purpose and is based on the current Ubuntu Linux distribution. It is a free and open source system that you can download from the website.It is free and open source penetration testing distribution available over the internet. It is based on Ubuntu 10.10, which is designed specifically for the information security training students and professional. It is fast and stable yet a powerful tool that works perfectly for you. This software is a recommendation from most of the users.It is free and open source penetration testing distribution available over the internet. It is based on Ubuntu 10.10, which is designed specifically for information security, training students and professionals. It is fast and stable, yet a powerful tool that works perfectly for you. This software is a recommendation from most of the users.It is a live Linux environment that is designed in such a way that it functions as a web pen testing environment. The software CD contains tools and programs that are open source and free. The tool selection is based on the ones that the company themselves use for security of their IT infrastructure.It's a great pen testing distro comprising of some innovative pen testing tools. The software uses Fluxbox and is built using Debian Squeeze. One of its popular features is its ability to hack old Android based systems.It is an Italian GNU/Linux live distribution list that was created as a project of Digital Forensic. It offers a complete forensic environment. This environment is organized in such a way that it integrates the existing software tools and software module and finally, throws the result in the form of friendly graphical interface.It is one of the most stable and comprehensive distributions. It offers stable and optimal functionalities with the stable manager in real-time. It is based upon 3.2 and 3.4 kernel Generic that is available in both 32 and 64 Bits. Bugtraq has a wide range of tools in various branches of the kernel. The features of the distribution vary as per your desktop environmentDEFT is a distribution that is created for computer forensics. It can run in a live stream on the system without corrupting the device. The system is based on GNU/Linux and the user can run this live using CD/DVD or USB pen drive. DEFT is now paired with DART, which is a forensic system.There are various versions of Helix released by e-fense that are useful for both home and business use. The Helix3 Enterprise is a cyber-security solution offered by this organization that provides an incident response. It throws live response and acquires volatile data. Helix3 Pro is the newest version in the block of Helix family products.Times are changing and spying has become a common phenomenon everywhere. There have been increasing instances where even the governments have been found to be spying on their citizens from time to time. This is one of the prime reasons why the importance of Encryption has increased manifold. Encryption tools are very important because they keep the data safe by encrypting it so that even if someone accesses the data, they can’t get through the data unless they know how to decrypt the data. These tools use algorithm schemes to encode the data to prevent unauthorized access to the encrypted data.Some of the popular Encryption Tools will be discussed in this article:-TrueCrypt is open source encryption tool which can encrypt a partition in the Windows environment (except Windows 8); it’s equipped for creating a virtual encrypted disk in a file. Moreover, it has the capability to encrypt the complete storage device. TrueCrypt can run on different operating systems like Linux, Microsoft Windows, and OSX. TrueCrypt stores the encryption keys in the RAM of the computer.OpenSSH is the short name for Open Secure Shell and is a free software suite which is used to make your network connections secured. It uses the SSH protocol to provide encrypted communication sessions in a computer network. It was designed originally as an alternative to the Secure Shell Software developed by SSH Communications Security. The tool was designed as a part of the OpenBSD project.It an open source encryption tool available on both UNIX and Windows operating system. It is a free implementation of SSH (Secure Shell) and Telnet for both Windows as well as UNIX. The beauty of this tool is that it supports many network protocols like Telnet, SCP, rlogin, SSH and raw socket connection. The word PuTTY has no specific meaning, however as in UNIX tradition, tty is a terminal name.OpenSSL is an open source encryption tool which implements the TLS and SSL protocols. OpenSSL’s core library is written in the C programming language. The fundamental cryptographic functions are implemented by it. OpenSSL versions are available for operating systems like UNIX, Solaris, Linux and Mac OS X. The project was undertaken in 1988 with the objective of inventing free encryption tools for the programs being used on the internet.Tor is a free encryption tool and has the capability to provide online anonymity as well as censorship resistance. Internal traffic is directed through a free network which consists of more than five thousand relays so that the user’s actual location can be hidden. It is difficult to track the Internet activities like visiting websites and instant messages; the most important goal of this tool is to ensure the personal privacy of the users.It is an open source tool for the implementation of virtual private network techniques so that secure site-to-site or point-to-point connections using routers or bridges are possible, also remote access is possible. OpenVPN offers the users a secure authentication process by using secret keys which are pre-shared.Stunnel is a multi-platform open source tool which is used to ensure that both the clients and the servers get secured encrypted connections. This encryption software can operate on a number of operating system platforms like Windows as well as all operating systems which are UNIX-like. Stunnel depends upon a distinct library like SSLeay or OpenSSL to implement the protocols (SSL or TLS)KeePass is an open source as well as a free password management tool for the Microsoft Windows as well as unofficial ports for operating systems such as iOS, Linux, Android, Mac OS X and Windows Phone. All the usernames, passwords, and all other fields are stored by KeePass in a secured encrypted database. This database, in turn, is protected by a single password.An Intrusion Detection System is a software application or a device which is equipped to do network or system monitoring activities for any malicious threats and sends reports to the management station. Intrusion detection tools can help in identifying potential threats which can be dangerous for the system or the network.It is an open source Network Intrusion System as well as a Network Intrusion Prevention System which is free for all to use. It was created in 1988 by Martin Roesch. It has the capability to perform packet logging and analysis of real-time traffic on networks which are using the internet protocol.NetCop is an advanced intrusion detection system which is available practically everywhere. NetCop makes use of a specific method to classify the spyware. This is because there are several software programs which intrude your privacy and which have a different kind of capabilities. NetCop gives a distinct threat level to each program, thus classifying the threats.A tool which identifies whether a remote host is vulnerable to a security attack and tries to protect the host by providing a shell or other function remotely is called a Vulnerability Exploitation tool. Here is a list of some o the popular ones:Metasploit was released in the year 2004 and it was an instant hit in the world of computer security. Metasploit provides data on the vulnerabilities in the security system and it helps in conducting penetration testing too.It is a penetration testing tool which is available as an open source. Its goal is to automate the detection and exploitation process of the injection flaws in SQL and to take over the database servers.The main objective of this tool is to access a vulnerable DB server; it's used for pen testing so that the procedure of controlling a DB server can be automated when the vulnerability of an SQL injection has been tracked.This toolkit also known as SET was designed by TrustedSec. The tool comes as an open source code and is Python driven. It is used for conducting Penetration Testing around Social Engineer.It is a web-based security scanner which has an exploitation engine to confirm the security vulnerabilities and makes the user concentrate on elimination of security threats with its False-Positive free feature.BeEF is the short term for The Browser Exploitation Framework. It is a tool for penetration testing which concentrates on a web browser and thus accesses the actual security position of the environment it’s targeting.Dradis stands for Direction, Range, and Distance. It is an open source vulnerability scanner or application which provides the facility of information sharing effectively, especially during assessing the security of the system in a central repository.The scanners which assess the vulnerability of a network or a computer to security attacks are known as Vulnerability Scanners. The tools might function differently, however, all of them aim to provide an analysis on how vulnerable the system or a network is. Here is a list of the best ones:Nessus is the world’s most popular vulnerable scanner topping the list in the years 2000, 2003 and in the year 2006 survey on security tools. It's free to use vulnerability scanner for personal use in the nonenterprise environment.This scanner is tipped by many to be the most advanced vulnerability scanner in the world and is a powerful and comprehensive tool for scanning as well as providing solutions for vulnerability management. It is free software and is maintained daily.It is a parser for network infrastructure and its full form is Network Infrastructure Parser. This open source scanner helps with features like auditing, configuring and managing devices for network infrastructure as well as managing the computer networks.It is free computer security software which scans software on a computer system. It tracks those third party/non-Microsoft programs which require security updates to protect your computer against hackers and cyber-criminals.Retina, with more than 10,000 deployments, is one of the most sophisticated vulnerability scanners in the market. It aids in efficient identifications of IT vulnerability and is also available as a standalone application as well. It essentially identifies weaknesses in the configuration and missing patches.It is a vulnerability management scanner which provides solutions for vulnerability management by applications through the web. Designed by Qualys Inc., it's available on demand. It helps the users by analyzing their vulnerability status.Vulnerability management is one of the best security practices to protect the system or a network from security threats. Nexpose is a vulnerability management scanner which does different kind of vulnerability checks where there's a risk in IT security.While vulnerability scanners are meant for your system, the web vulnerability scanners assess the vulnerability of web applications. It identifies the security vulnerabilities that your app might have by conducting various tests.Burp Suite is a tool for conducting the security test of web-based applications. It has a collection of tools which work together and conduct the entire process of testing with an objective to find as well as exploit the vulnerabilities in the security.It is a testing tool for web security applications and has been written in Java and thus is operating system independent. It acts as a proxy and lets users change web requests by web browsers and web server replies. Webscarab often records the traffic to conduct a further review.Website security is a crucial factor for both personal as well as organization websites. The prime goal should be to detect the vulnerability of your website before an intruder detects it. Websecurify is a testing tool for website security and can be used to detect the vulnerability of your websIt is a scanner for web servers and is available as an open source. It conducts detailed testing for several items against the web servers which include testing of more than 6700 files or programs which can be dangerous. It also tests for version specific problems of the web servers.This tool exposes more than 200 potential vulnerabilities and thus minimizes security threats to your websites. It's written in the programming language Python. W3af has both console user interface as well as graphical user interface.Can you think of more tools? Please share with me in comments.: Made changes per user comments and latest tools status.: fixed broken links and latest tools status.: fixed broken links and latest tools added.A new report by the US-based National Academies of Science Engineering and Medicine suggests that not only has the automation of work barely begun but that the ways in which we measure the effects of technology on employment are inadequate to the task. The authors argue that to understand how automation is transforming our workplaces, we need better ways of tracking technological change. Put simply, they are saying that if we are what we measure – that is, if policy is driven by the information we collect – then we are collecting the wrong information. “Data on many of these trends are elusive, reflecting [the] changing nature of society and the economy, and gaps in [the] statistical infrastructure,” the report says. It points out, for instance, that we don’t have a regular source of information about workers in part-time and other sorts of casual employment. Nor do we have good information about investment in computer technology at either the level of the company or of any given occupation. Also lacking is long-term information about the way in which skills within particular jobs are changing, as well as data on how effective educational practices are in preparing people for work. Such information gaps undermine our ability to respond appropriately to technological change and its effects on employment. This is a huge wake-up call for governments and businesses around the world who are proving slow to engage with the changing nature of work and who have tended to hide behind the mantra of “jobs and growth”, as if that will take care of everything. It is a reminder to all of us that we are long way from understanding what the future of work really looks like. Cybersecurity: is the office coffee machine watching you? Read more The authors call for three new indices to be developed, tools that can be used to plug holes in conventional measures such as GDP, productivity and the unemployment rate – a technology progress index, an artificial intelligence progress index and an organisational change and technology diffusion index. They set out the parameters of each in some detail and, in so doing, open up a much-needed discussion about the data used to help form public policy. We tend to think of measures like GDP and productivity as eternal truths of economics and, indeed, they have proved their worth over time. Nonetheless, some of them are not only reasonably recent inventions, dating from around the second world war, but are designed to measure activity in an economy of mass manufacturing, a sector increasingly being displaced by the information economy as the primary source of global wealth. This means the measures themselves are also increasingly irrelevant. As the economics professor Richard Holden wrote: “The IMF model suggests Australian unemployment falling to 5.2% … in 2017 and to 5.1% in 2018. But that is a pre-2008 model of how the labour market and macroeconomy interrelate. Maybe that’s still the right model but I wouldn’t bet on it.” As the entrepreneur and founder of Wired Magazine Kevin Kelly has said on the subject of productivity: “Productivity is for robots. Humans excel at wasting time, experimenting, playing, creating and exploring. None of these fare well under the scrutiny of productivity. That is why science and art are so hard to fund. But they are also the foundation of long-term growth.” To help understand the point Kelly is making, consider that a quarter of Britain’s top actors have been kept in work over the last decade by Harry Potter films. So although JK Rowling may be a billion-dollar industry, her value as a contributor to national wealth does not improve by subjecting her to a stopwatch and increased output to improve her productivity. What Kelly is saying is that, if you can measure a job’s productivity, you can probably replace that job with a machine, so that when it comes to humans in the workplace we should be measuring different things. “[Our] notions of jobs, of work, of the economy don’t include a lot of space for … experimenting, playing, creating and exploring,” Kelly says, but those are the very skills that are likely to become more valuable in the workplaces of the future. So the value that humans will increasingly bring to the workplace is to be not a robot, which will mean measuring our contribution by something other than inputs and outputs. Seventeen jobs, five careers: learning in the age of automation Read more The National Academies report is not arguing for a wholesale replacement of traditional measures of economic activity but it is saying we need vast new supplementary data to better understand the ways in which new technologies are affecting the work that we do. Until we develop and implement these measures, it will mean that, on everything from education to welfare to employment policy, governments are flying blind. The concerns of the report’s authors are being driven by their belief that the technological disruption of employment has barely begun. They write: “Opportunities for digitising and automating tasks are far from exhausted. In particular, the workforce will be increasingly affected as more and more cognitive tasks become fully or partly automatable... and as advances in robotics yield enhanced physical dexterity, mobility and sensory perception in machines. These trends will almost surely change the demand for the workers performing these tasks and the nature of the organisations in which they work.” And so the sooner we start accurately measuring what is happening, the better.Russian and French experts were investigating on Tuesday a plane crash at a Moscow airport which killed the CEO of French oil giant Total, Christophe de Margerie, whose private jet struck a snowplough on takeoff. Russian investigators said the driver of the snow-clearing machine was drunk and that his actions, along with "an error by air traffic controllers", appeared to have led to the crash - a claim disputed by the driver's lawyer. They also blamed senior airport officials for causing the accident through "criminal negligence", and said several executives would be suspended. At Total, one of the world's biggest oil companies, staff at its Paris headquarters observed a minute's silence for their 63-year-old boss known affectionately as the "Big Moustache" because of his distinctive facial hair. "The group is set up to ensure the proper continuity of its governance and its activities, to deal with this tragic event," Total's secretary general Jean-Jacques Guilbaud said, as top executives were due to hold an emergency meeting.This file photo shows French group Total CEO Christophe de Margerie, Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2014, attending a session in Davos, Switzerland. (AFP Photo) While respected by the industry for expanding Total's activities around the world, De Margerie was also often mired in controversy as he helmed the group when it was embroiled in judicial woes including the UN "oil-for-food" scandal. Just hours before the crash, De Margerie had met Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at his country residence outside Moscow to discuss foreign investment in Russia, the Vedomosti business daily reported, despite Western sanctions over Moscow's role in the Ukraine conflict. Even as relations between the West and Russia sank to their lowest since the Cold War, the oil boss had been vocal with his criticism of the sanctions, calling them "a dead-end" and urging "constructive dialogue" instead. In his last public remarks in Moscow, De Margerie said Total's strategy "remains absolutely unchanged. We are engaged with Russia". Russian President Vladimir Putin described De Margerie as "a true friend of our country, whom we will remember with the greatest warmth". In France, President Francois Hollande said he learnt of De Margerie's death with "shock and sadness" while Prime Minister Manuel Valls said France had lost "a great captain of industry and a patriot". Fire on the tarmac Total said De Margerie died just after 2000 GMT after the crash at Vnukovo Airport, along with three crew members. Vnukovo airport said the Falcon Dassault business aviation jet crashed as it prepared to take off for Paris and that rescue services had put out a
. We hope supplies in all the districts will become normal by Thursday,” an official 6:21pm: BJP alleged that Congress had a role in the extensive violence in Haryana during the Jat’s stir for quota and asked Rahul Gandhi to stop his “divisive politics”. 5:17 pm: Committee formed on #JatReservation issue meets at Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu’s residence in Delhi pic.twitter.com/TJ0pPboNsI — ANI (@ANI_news) February 23, 2016 5:00 pm: Railways today cancelled about 210 more trains due to the Jat agitation including Kalka Shatabdi, Ludhiana Shatabdi and Himalayan Queen. A total of 1152 trains have been cancelled or short-terminated due to the ongoing agitation in Haryana. 4:53 pm: Leaders of 35 non-Jat communities threatened to launch protest if any action is taken by BJP against its party MP Raj Kumar Saini in connection with the Jat stir for quota. 4:23 pm When did I say I am against reservations? I have always supported them-Arvind Kejriwal 4:00 pm: A mob vandalised a railway station and set ablaze a goods train engine in the district where normal life remained affected for the second consecutive day due to the Jat quota stir. 3:55 pm: Home Minister Rajnath Singh meets PM Narendra Modi. Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi also present. 3:15 pm: Actor Mallika Sherawat has called on the agitating Jat community to maintain peace and non-violence. “My appeal to the jaat community to maintain peace and nonviolence,” Sherawat, who is from Haryana, posted on Twitter. 1:15 pm: The Chief Minister was heckled while he was speaking in Rohtak, the epicentre of the protests. The people raised ‘murdabad’ slogans against the government and hurled black flags. 12:40 pm: CM Manohar Lal Khattar speaks in Rohtak on the agitation. This is not a small incident. It is a huge tragedy. There will be an investigation: CM Khattar Watch Video | Jat Agitation: What Are The Political Implications & Challenges For The Central & State Govt The government wants to give the assurance that compensation will be paid adequately for all those whose property was damaged: CM Khattar 12:20 pm: These are some visuals of post-violence in Rohtak. 11:55 am: Water supply was partially restored in some parts of north and central Delhi this morning, even as Delhi Water minister Kapil Mishra said there would be limited supply till the Munak canal, damaged in the Jat stir in Haryana, is repaired. 11:45 am: CM Manohar Khattar has reached Rohtak, the epicentre of the agitation, to take stock of the situation. 11:20 am: Jat protesters in Hissar have ended their agitation. They vacated railway tracks at Mayyar 9:50 am: Why do Jats want a quota in Haryana? Read Christophe Jaffrelot’s column here 9:45 am: Delhi-Chandigarh Highway which was blocked by protesters, has been cleared, reports ANI #JatReservation Delhi-Chandigarh Highway which was blocked by protesters, has been cleared now. pic.twitter.com/MyVV7YKEkm — ANI (@ANI_news) February 23, 2016 9:30 am: The government has said that it will bring the quota bill soon in the Assembly. Read story. 9:20 am: The Jat protest could be one of the issues likely to be discussed at the BJP Parliamentary Party executive meeting scheduled for today at 5:30 pm. Updates from Saturday end. 8:45 pm Three more killed in fresh violence 6:50 pm The Centre today directed security forces to forcefully clear all blockades put by Jats, whose violent agitation has paralysed normal life in Haryana. The clear instruction was given to the central security personnel deployed to assist the Haryana administration to bring back normalcy as early as possible as there is a feeling of a breakdown in the law-and-order situation, a senior government official said. Watch | Jat Agitation: Video of Broken & Blocked Rohtak-Jind Highway In Haryana 6:46 pm 16 persons have so far lost their lives in the on going agitation and 183 are injured. 102 persons arrested, 320 cases registered. 6:00 pm While blockades at several places have been lifted, efforts are on to remove the remaining 449 blockades on rails and roads. 5:45 pm Haryana Roadways has suffered a loss of Rs 15 crore as 33 buses have been set on fire and 99 buses are damaged. 5:00 pm Out of 2370 petrol pumps in the State, 381 have become dry. Out of 387 LPG Agencies, 185 are without their stock. The State Government is trying to ensure its supply through Punjab. Out of 26 petrol pumps damaged during the agitation, eight of these are in Rohtak, five in Bhiwani and six in Jhajjar. 12.20 pm: The Rohtak bypass at Delhi-Bahadurgarh border chowk has been reopened after it was shut by protesters this morning. 12.00 pm: 9.20 am: Army alongwith RAF secure Haryana’s Munak Canal that supplies water to Delhi, site cleared up #JatReservation pic.twitter.com/xXYBmsqWH5 — ANI (@ANI_news) February 22, 2016 8.45 am: The Delhi government has called an emergency meeting of DJB officials, NDMC officials as well as those from related government departments. The meeting is to sense what immediate measures need to be taken to resolve the water crisis. They will meet at Deputy CM Manish Sisodia’s residence at 9:00 am. 8.30 am: In what comes as a relief to the government of Delhi and its residents, the Indian Army along with the Rapid Action Force have taken control of Haryana’s Munak Canal that supplies water to the national capital, and the site has been cleared of protesters. 8.00 am, Monday: The Delhi-Chandigarh Highway has been cleared of protesters and traffic has resumed, ANI reported this morning. Efforts are currently underway to clear national highways and bring back normalcy in violence-hit regions of Haryana. 9:00 pm: As thousands of people continue to remain stranded here in view of disruption in rail and road traffic due to ongoing agitation for reservation to Jats in Haryana, the Indian Air Force has decided to keep its air Base at Jammu open for operation of civil aircrafts during night as well. With this, airport in Jammu will be available to civil operators round the clock, an official spokesperson said. (read more) 8:44 pm: Haryana govt has appointed Mr Sirikant Jadhav, IG Rohtak range, as IG state crime record bureau Madhuban with immediate effect. 8:15 pm: Haryana fails to restore water supply to Delhi, 1 dead in police firing at Munak canal. “Efforts were made to disperse the protesters at Akbarpur-Barota so as to release water for Delhi, but all in vain. As they [protesters] were in huge number, not much force was used to avoid casualties. However, the efforts to release water were temporarily postponed, but according to reports reaching here, one person was killed in firing. We appeal to the protesters to let the administration release water for Delhi as it would not be fair on their part to resort to such tactics”, said Additional Chief Secretary (Home) PK Das. 6:52 pm: One more person killed today, total death toll 12: PK Das, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) of Haryana pic.twitter.com/U9e0jpkuqg — ANI (@ANI_news) February 21, 2016 6:06 pm: Committee headed by a senior Union minister to be set up to look into demands of Jats, said BJP leader Anil Jain after meet chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh. 6:00 pm: My request to Jat community is to stop the violence & find a solution through talks: Virender Sehwag #JatReservation pic.twitter.com/796zW5FBhi — ANI (@ANI_news) February 21, 2016 5:45 pm: Bill to be brought in Haryana Assembly for grant of OBC status to Jats, says Jain after meeting HM Rajnath Singh had with Jat leaders. 5:37 pm: Reservation for #Jat community in Haryana will be given in this Assembly session- Sanjeev Baliyan, Union Minister pic.twitter.com/BHvTfKomQH — ANI (@ANI_news) February 21, 2016 5:12 pm: DELHI: NSA, Army Chief, Delhi Pol Commissioner arrive to meet HM Rajnath Singh at his residence over #JatReservation pic.twitter.com/Worh9oP0hr — ANI (@ANI_news) February 21, 2016 4:20 pm: Jat & Khap leaders of Haryana & UP arrive to meet HM Rajnath Singh at his residence,meeting underway #JatReservation pic.twitter.com/x8ONPtGDi3 — ANI (@ANI_news) February 21, 2016 3:50 pm: Zirakpur-Shimla highway, Yamunanagar blocked The ongoing Jat stir for quota spread to Panchkula district, adjoining Chandigarh with agitators blocking Zirakpur-Shimla highway. 3:17 pm: The Supreme Court on Sunday agreed to give urgent hearing Monday to the petition moved by Delhi government seeking Centre’s intervention for the uninterrupted supply of water from Munak Canal in Haryana which is allegedly under siege of the Jat agitators demanding reservation. (read more) 3:13 pm: The Jat agitation for quota has hit rail services hard in the northern states, affecting around 1000 trains with 736 trains cancelled and 105 diverted besides damage to rail property. 2.10 pm: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has appealed to restore peace in Haryana saying a solution could be worked out. “I appeal to everyone to maintain peace so that no unfortunate incident takes place. I met Jat community representatives yesterday, even today I will meet some people. I think some solution will be found,” Singh said. 1.00 pm: The Haryana DGP has said that as of today, ten people have lost their lives and about 15o people have suffered injuries in the protests. 12. 55 pm: The Civil Aviation Ministry has made available additional flights towards Chandigarh from this evening inorder to help those stranded due to the ongoing protests. 12.40 pm: Prices of flights to Chandigarh have shot up as the Railways is still not full operational. A usual air-ticket during this time of the year costs around Rs 3,000 while ticket prices for a flight on Monday begin at Rs 14,000. 12.00 pm: Protesters have entered Delhi and have currently blocked the road infront of Nalgloi metro station in West Delhi. 11. 50 am: The road between Rewari and Jhajjar (Haryana) has been reopened. Cabinet Secretary Sinha has also directed authorities to take stringent action against those taking up violence and round up anti social elements. 11.20 am: The National Crisis Management Committee has asked the Haryana government to ensure that there is no disruption of water supply in Delhi 11.00 am: 10.40 am: Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu has urged protesters not to target Railways and to allow the smooth functioning of trains. 10.30 am: Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda has begun an indefinite hunger strike for harmony in the state 10.10 am: Ticket counter of Basai Railway Station in Haryana has been set on fire by agitators early this morning, ANI reports. 10.05 am: 10.00 am: Jat and Khap leaders of Haryana will meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh today at 3 pm at Singh’s residence over the Jat reservation issue. 09.30 am, Sunday: The ongoing situation continued to remain tense in several parts of Haryana on Sunday, which was hit by Jat quota stir after it turned violent even as security personnel staged flag marches in affected areas. Despite various political leaders including Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar appealing protesting Jats to maintain calm and peace, the incidents of violence and arson continued during the night in various parts of the state, crippling normal life in worst affected places such as Rohtak, Jind, Bhiwani, Jhajjar, Sonipat and Hisar. 10.25 pm: IAF Mi-17 conducts about 50 sorties deploying army columns in Haryana.Foreigners,civilians evacuated,sorties to go on all night: IAF Sources — ANI (@ANI_news) February 20, 2016 9.15 pm: Agitators set Vita Milk Plant in Rohtak on fire. 8:45 pm: Himachal Road Transport Corporation suspends its bus services on 124 routes to Delhi & Haryana 8:34 pm: Around 50 Jat leaders from UP and Delhi are here to meet HM- Sanjeev Baliyan, Union Minister. 8:30 pm: Delhi: Jat leaders from Uttar Pradesh arrive to meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh at his residence #JatReservation pic.twitter.com/MIJqSqmsns — ANI (@ANI_news) February 20, 2016 8:00 pm: Violence and arson in the Jat quota stir in Haryana spread to more areas today with four people being killed in firing by security personnel at Rohtak and Jhajjar districts taking the death toll to five even as he Army staged flag marches in affected pockets. 7:45 pm: 810 trains affected including 527 cancelled. 210 Mail/Express and 317 Passenger Trains cancelled, 104 Mail/Express Trains diverted, 78 Mail/Express and 23 Passenger Trains Short Terminated and 53 Mail/Express and 25 Passenger Trains Short Originated so far. 7:40 pm: Meeting at Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s residence in Delhi ends. 7:25 pm: The District Magistrate also ordered to shut down all liquor vends in the district with immediate effect. Superintendent of Police, all Sub Divisional Magistrates, Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner have been directed to shut down the liquor shops in their respective jurisdictions till February 22, 2016. 7:21 pm: Police and Army urged the people not to come out of their houses as curfew had been imposed in the area. “Action would be taken against those found violating the curfew and Section 144”, said Pankaj, District Magistrate, Bhiwani. 7:20 pm: Liqour vends shut in Bhiwani – In view of the ongoing agitation in the State, the joint teams of Army and Police today carried out flag march in Bhiwani city and urged the people to cooperate with District Administration and Army. 7:10 pm: 10 companies of para-military forces have reached & 23 more companies are on their way to Haryana- YP Singhal, Haryana DGP 7:00 pm: 13 army columns have reached & are assisting administration. 10 more army columns are being airlifted to respective destinations- YP Singhal 6:39 pm: Several trains from Jammu cancelled, causing inconvenience to passengers, specially those who had come on pilgrimage to Mata Vaishno Devi cave shrine. 6:38 pm: Meeting underway at HM Rajnath Singh’s residence in Delhi. Army Chief, NSA Ajit Doval, Defence Minister Parrikar present. 6:30 pm: Shoot at sight orders issued by District commissioner in areas of Hissar and Hansi areas of Haryana. 6:20 pm: Army column open fire at Jhajjar (Haryana) to disperse crowd as agitation got violent, 1 civilian casualty. More details awaited. 6:10 pm: 33 army columns deployed in 9 districts of Haryana with maximum deployment in Rohtak. Additional columns are on standby. (ANI) 5:30 pm: Cabinet Secy PK Sinha said that safety of people, protection to property & maintenance of law & order & harmony should be given top priority. 5:00 pm: More than 600 trains cancelled due to the agitation: Anil Saxena, Railways 4.38 pm: The trains which were cancelled are Ahmedabad-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, Jodhpur-Delhi Mandore Express, Jodhpur/Bikaner-Delhi Sampark Kranti Express, Udaipur-Delhi Chetak Express, Ajmer-New Delhi Shatabdi Express, Ajmer-Haridwar Express, Ajmer-Amritsar Express, Delhi-Udaipur Chetak Express and Delhi-Bandra Terminus Garibrath Express, NWR CPRO Tarun Jain said. 4.30 pm: Jat leaders from Uttar Pradesh to meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh at 8 pm today. 4.22 pm: 18 trains of Western Railways cancelled, 15 terminated and 5 diverted. 4.20 pm: BJP issues showcase notice to party MP Raj kumar Saini for his alleged comments opposing the Jat reservation. 4.15 pm: Maruti Suzuki Plant in Manesar (Gurgaon,Haryana) temporarily closed as a precautionary measure. 4:00 pm: This is not a time to do politics, priority should be to maintain peace: Bhupinder Singh Hooda 3:15 pm: In order to deal with any situation of clashes with the security agencies or Army, Jats have put women and children as their shield. Women, too armed, are shouting slogans in various parts of Rohtak. 2:15 pm: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar exhorts protesters to call off strike. 1:00 pm: A mob pelted stones at the house of senior Haryana Minister O P Dhankar in Jhajjar. No one was injured in the incident. 12:45 pm: Army took out a flag march in Hisar and cleared rail and road blockades set by Jat protesters who continued to indulge in arson and violence. A contingent of army along with police cleared road blockades and rail tracks put up by protesters at several places, official sources told PTI. Watch Video: Haryana Government should resolve Jat quota row quickly, says Hooda The army also took out flag march near village Mayyar where Jats are sitting near the rail track on Hisar-Bhiwani route. 11:45 am: Some unidentified persons set on fire the Budha Khera Railway Station in Jind district. Furniture, record room and other articles were set on fire at the railway station, which falls on the Jind-Panipat rail section, police told PTI. Jind is among the districts worst-hit by the ongoing Jat stir. 9:55 am: Neeraj Sharma, CPRO, Northern Railway, has said that around 150 trains have been cancelled. There have been fire incidents at Jhajjar station, he added. Tracks at some places have been damaged as well. 9:25 am: Bhoopinder Singh Hooda, ex-CM of Haryana, told ANI that a solution must be found through talks. He also urged protesters to agitate peacefully without causing loss to life and property. 9:20 am: The Army troops were flown into Rohtak via helicopters as all major roads and highways in Haryana remain blocked by Jat protestors. 9:10 am: Meanwhile, ANI is reporting that the Army flag march in Bhiwani has turned violent. Curfew has been imposed. 9:05 am: On a petition seeking directions to Haryana government to promptly act and stop “unlawful violent agitations” by Jat protesters, the Punjab and Haryana High Court Friday granted three days to the state government to file a status report in this regard. Read story here 8:55 am: Over 100 trains that pass through districts like Rohtak and Bhiwani stand cancelled causing severe inconvenience to over 1 lakh passengers in the region. Read here 8:50 am: Read how three people were killed in the protests on Friday Advertising 8:40 am: The protestors have set fire to the Khera railway station in Jind district, according to news agency ANI 8:30 am: Agitators are blocking roads and highways in Bahadurgarh.On Nov 11th we released Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The goal being to create a tribute to Halo fans around the world, and to celebrate the Master Chief’s debut on Xbox One. With the initial release of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, however, we have not delivered the experience you deserve. I personally apologize for this on behalf of us all at 343 Industries. Our team is committed to working around the clock until these issues are resolved. While our team works on continual improvements and towards solutions, my commitment to you is that we will take care of all owners of Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Our primary and continued focus is first on fixing the issues at hand. Once we’ve done that, we will detail how we will make this right with our fans. On the matchmaking front, we have encountered unexpected issues that were not apparent in our internal test environment and that have resulted in a frustrating experience, including long matchmaking times and low session success rates. Within 343 Industries and Xbox, I can assure you that resolving these issues is our #1 priority. We continue to partner with the Xbox platform team to analyze all data to make ongoing server-side adjustments to continually improve the matchmaking experience. We are also preparing additional content updates that will address existing campaign, UI, and other issues to improve the overall experience. With each update we will carefully analyze data to confirm that the improvements we’re seeing internally are also happening with fans at home. Know that we’re trying to be as nimble as possible to put fixes in place. We are planning multiple server-side tweaks and game content updates over the coming weeks. Looking forward, I want to give you a high-level cadence of the latest updates we’re currently working on. Development and testing of our latest content update continues and we are on track for release later this week. We will update you on the status and patch notes of the content update once we have a better understanding of our release window. Only through making changes on both the “server side” (matchmaking and other server rulesets) and, via content updates (to the game itself), can we make the significant progress we’re working towards. And in the interest of expediency, we’re attacking the problem from both sides, non-stop. As we have been, we will continue to post the details of our updates and other adjustments on Halo Waypoint. Please check our forums at http://aka.ms/mcc_updates for the latest details as we roll out further fixes. Please accept my heartfelt apologies for the delay and for the negative aspects of your experience to date. We’re doing everything in our power to resolve it as quickly as possible.More and more people these days are cutting the cord and getting rid of their expensive $150+ a month cable packages for extremely cost-effective alternatives. With so many services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and more that stream large selections of movies and original tv shows for $10/month, it’s easy to see why cable companies are feeling the burn. Although getting a variety of shows and movies is great, others are still forced to go the cable route due to the lack of live television available. Sports fans that want to watch the games live on Sundays and people that just want to watch the local news after work, still feel the need to buy a cable package. There are other options though when it comes to cord cutting if you can just simplify down to the essentials. Here’s how to get free HDTV in the cities, legally of course: You’ll need to get an antenna A lot of TVs these days actually have internal antennas that pull in high quality and high definition local television channels without needing to purchase an antenna. Check for this before doing anything else. If not, then just head on down to your local electronics store and pickup a simple over-the-air-antenna. They can run from $15-$100 depending on the range and how powerful of an antenna you’ll need. You can see a full run down of antenna picks here: The Cord Cutters Guide to the Best Indoor Antennas Depending on if you live near a broadcasting tower, you may or may not need an amplified antenna. But if you’re near the cities, you likely can go with the cheaper route and pick up all of the local HD Channels in the area. Here’s all of the channels you can pull in locally with an antenna in HD in the Twin Cities: You may have to play around with the antenna depending on where it’s located in your house. Sometimes wall materials and trees outside can obstruct the signal. Try to place it near a window if possible. You’ll be pleasantly surprised with the results. If you’ve purchased the right antenna, it should be good enough to get you all of the local channels for sports and local news including ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, etc. And for those that need those extra channels like ESPN, check out other cord cutting options like Sling TV, PlayStation Vue, and DirecTV Now. Best of all, look forward to saving hundreds of dollars a year! Related Story: Google’s Youtube Live TV Service announces its expansion to the Minneapolis-St Paul Metro AreaDonald Trump just gets worse and worse - however, in this case, some might be apt to agree with his dangerous sentiments... But they have to do with the Kardashians, rather than reputable human beings, so there's that to consider, additionally. Trump reportedly called Khloe Kardashian a "fat piglet." Hey, at least it wasn't a grown-ass pig, but then again, she was only 24 or 25 years old at the time, so maybe the baby pig analogy was correct. Sources close to the production of The Apprentice told the Huffington Post that Trump was pissed he couldn't get "the hot one" on his show - whoever that happened to be; Caitlyn, right? - and that he was disgusted by Khloe's mere presence. "He basically wanted to just get rid of her," the mole told the Post. "[Trump] called her a 'piglet.' " Trump reportedly asked, "What is this? We can't even get the hot one?" Another source claimed Trump constantly asked, "Why don't we fire Khloe?" "She's a fat piglet," he continued. "Why did we get the ugly Kardashian?" Further, when she was fired, it was said to be out of pure dislike for Khloe. "It was [about] him not liking her," the source continued. Trump was said to repeatedly ask the staff, "What's the reason we can get her off [the show]?" Further proving that he's got bad sense in all areas of his life, he did refer to Kim Kardashian as "the hot one"... which has us scratching our heads more than anything else. As for Kim, though, her charms must have been lost on Trump when she became pregnant with North West. In an interview with Showbiz Tonight, Donald mocked Kim for her weight gain during pregnancy. "She's gotten a bit large," he said about the middle Kardashian daughter. "I would say this," he continued. "I don't think you should dress like you weight 120 pounds." Later, he clarified his comments, backtracking on everything but the "large" part. Trump said, "She's a nice person." "I've known her over the years. She's a really nice person," he pressed. Nice person notwithstanding, things got a little mixed up when Kim asserted that she'd vote for Trump in the upcoming election. In a 2016 interview, Kim claimed that she was "on the fence" about who she would vote for. Kim said, "Oh my God, I'm so Hillary Clinton." "But I had a long political call with Caitlyn last night about why she's voting Trump," she continued. "I'm on the fence." Famous last words, Kim. Later in the season, however, she hopped off the fence. "I stand with Hillary," Kim wrote on her website. "I believe [Clinton] will best represent our country and is the most qualified for the job." Whoever said that Kim Kardashian had no sense?Climate alarmism is an all too typical scientific scam replete with failure to follow the scientific method and many of the common illogical fallacies going back to Aristotle. The difference is that its proponents have had almost infinite resources to sell their scam, especially taking into account the “free” media support supplied by the mainstream media. But scam it nevertheless is since the scammers are benefitting from their efforts. The consequences of successfully selling the scam in the US, as has occurred in Western Europe, are so large that the US economy would probably never recover its former growth and resilience. There will always be more decarbonization that can be “achieved.” Household income would grow little if any. Workers would be condemned to current real income or less for the indefinite future. Electricity would become increasingly unreliable and expensive, as in South Australia. And without substantial economic growth real estate values and pension liabilities would become even more unsupportable than they already are. We can now say that all these sacrifices in convenience and economic welfare would have no significant effects on the weather or climate. The scammers claim that continued human-caused carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions will result in a wide variety of adverse outcomes if the US does not meet their demands. Storms will be more destructive. Sea level will rise more rapidly. Global temperatures will rise catastrophically. But all this can be avoided if only humans will cause much less CO 2 to be emitted into the atmosphere. They claim that such reductions are inexpensive and will cause few complications or inconveniences on the one hand but that human-caused CO 2 emissions must be prevented on the other. To date none of these alleged effects have occurred. A more accurate analysis would show just the opposite. CO 2 is a necessity of life itself since it makes possible green plants, the basis for animal life on Earth, and improves plant growth at current atmospheric levels The Necessity to Keep the Scam Going One of the main requirements of such scams is that the scammers keep it going. Any major slip-up or failure to take precautionary action can result in disaster for the scam. This is apparently what happened a few weeks ago when some prominent alarmist modelers decided to scale back their temperature forecasts, probably because the forecasts were continuing to be much higher than actual temperatures. They accomplished this by means of an article in a prestigious journal that the public very rarely reads. John Christy and other climate skeptics have been emphasizing this disparity for some time, and the climate alarmists may have decided that retreat was needed before more damage was done to their cause. The main justifications offered for climate alarmism are expensive general circulation models, which cost taxpayers many billions of dollars but prove nothing except that garbage in results in garbage out. Even the United Nations, which is responsible for developing the scientific justification for the scam, has stated that climate cannot be usefully modeled. Instead what is needed is an entirely different approach so far used by only a few researchers that does not attempt to build models of coupled, non-linear chaotic systems such as climate. This appears possible based on available research but has never been undertaken by the climate alarmists, perhaps because they know what the conclusions would be. The scammers have never offered any valid scientific evidence that any reductions are needed or that there would be any benefits at all. There is significant evidence that their ultimate goal of zero human-caused CO 2 emissions cannot be achieved no matter how much is spent and at the cost of reducing other needed expenditures that would actually benefit humans and their environment. In other words it is a worthless scam that only benefits a few at great cost to the many. It helps sell newspapers and television news. It allows politicians to claim they are environmentalists. One of my professors, Richard Feynman, would have called it cargo cult science. And he would have been correct.Blair Oster and Cory Chambers are both from North Battleford, Sask., and have known each other since elementary school. They met inside the ring at a local mixed martial arts event, Saturday Night Fights 13, this past weekend in Regina, the Canadian province’s capital city. Leading up to the bout, there was no animosity between the two lightweights, but all that changed after the night was over. At the beginning of their co-main event bout, Chambers reached out to touch gloves, and Oster began to the the same, only to pull his arm back and instantly land a devastating overhand right on Chambers, wobbling his opponent. After Chambers fell to the canvas, Oster followed up with ground-and-pound and the referee was forced to call off the controversial contest. Check out video of the fight above, or by clicking this link. Chambers told BloodyElbow.com that ahead of the bout, he agreed with Oster to touch gloves at the beginning of their fight. Oster did not immediately return a request for comment. Per promoter AJ Scales, a rematch between Oster and Chambers will be scheduled for a to-be-determined event and date. Saturday Night Fights 13 took place live from Turvey Centre in Regina, Sask., on May 13.Infosys plans to ramp up local hiring in the United States. Highlights Infosys plans to open four technology centres in US IT service firms like Infosys rely heavily on H-1B visa US President Donald Trump has ordered a review of H-1B programme Infosys will hire 10,000 American workers, build 4 new technology and innovation hubs in the U.S. over next 2 years https://t.co/NGWdpjxuwU — Infosys (@Infosys) May 2, 2017 Proud that 10k+ Americans will become Infoscions in the next 2 yrs! Thx @GovHolcomb for a warm Hoosier welcome... https://t.co/yYxB7VY33W — Vishal Sikka (@vsikka) May 2, 2017 Amid concerns over H-1B visas, India's second biggest outsourcerhas said it will hire 10,000 American workers over the next two years and open four technology centres in the United States as part of a plan to ramp up local hiring in that country. The first centre is planned by August this year in Indiana, the home state of US Vice President Mike Pence. The move comes at a time when Infosys and some of its peers such as TCS or Tata Consultancy Services have become political targets in the United States for allegedly displacing jobs of American workers by flying in foreign workers on temporary visas to service their clients in the country. The 10,000 new US jobs would be a small part of Infosys's overall workforce of more than 200,000.The IT service firms rely heavily on the H-1B visa programme, whichfederal agencies to review, and are now hiring more locals and setting up delivery centres in the US in anticipation of a tighter visa regime. "Infosys is committed to hiring 10,000 American technology workers over the next two years to help invent and deliver the digital futures for our clients in the United States," said Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka. Over the past few months, other countries like New Zealand, Australia and Singapore have tightened their visa systems.Last month, a Trump administration officialthe lion's share of H-1B visas by flooding the system with applications which naturally ups their chances of success in the lottery draw. President Trump had in an executive order last month asked American agencies to review the H-1B visa system to make it more merit-based.Indian IT industry bodyTCS and Infosys, saying the two accounted for only 7,504 - or 8.8 per cent - of the approved H-1B visas in 2014-15. Indian technology firms use H-1B visas to send their employees to work at customer sites in the US, which is the largest export market for the $150 billion Indian IT industry.For the 10,000 jobs in the US, Infosys said, it will hire experienced technology professionals and recent graduates from major universities, and local and community colleges. The company plans to institute training programs in the US in areas such as user experience, cloud, artificial intelligence, big data and digital offerings, as well as core technology and computer science skills.The four tech hubs in the US will not only have, but will also closely serve clients in key industries such as financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, retail, energy and more, the Bengaluru-headquartered company said.Mr Sikka told news agency Reuters that Infosys has already hired 2,000 American workers as part of a previous effort started in 2014. "When you think about it from a US point of view, obviously creating more American jobs and opportunities is a good thing," he said. Shares of Infosys were flat in Mumbai market following news of the US hiring plans. Analysts say that a ramp-up of US hiring entails higher cost for Indian outsourcers, thus impacting their margins.At Appomattox, Virginia, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the American Civil War. Forced to abandon the Confederate capital of Richmond, blocked from joining the surviving Confederate force in North Carolina, and harassed constantly by Union cavalry, Lee had no other option. In retreating from the Union army’s Appomattox Campaign, the Army of Northern Virginia had stumbled through the Virginia countryside stripped of food and supplies. At one point, Union cavalry forces under General Philip Sheridan had actually outrun Lee’s army, blocking their retreat and taking 6,000 prisoners at Sayler’s Creek. Desertions were mounting daily, and by April 8 the Confederates were surrounded with no possibility of escape. On April 9, Lee sent a message to Grant announcing his willingness to surrender. The two generals met in the parlor of the Wilmer McLean home at one o’clock in the afternoon. ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website Lee and Grant, both holding the highest rank in their respective armies, had known each other slightly during the Mexican War and exchanged awkward personal inquiries. Characteristically, Grant arrived in his muddy field uniform while Lee had turned out in full dress attire, complete with sash and sword. Lee asked for the terms, and Grant hurriedly wrote them out. All officers and men were to be pardoned, and they would be sent home with their private property–most
al conveyed a sense that the Wizards recent malaise is just a temporary bump in the longer road of optimism and success. “Given the injuries and what we’ve been through so far, it’s not as bad as people think it is,” he said after Sunday’s loss to Dallas. “We’re not where we want to be, but we’re still competitive and competing. There is still a lot of games to be played. There’s a few we wish we could have gotten back, but there’s a few we have made up for as well. At the end of the day we can’t worry about the games we lost and are in the past, we have to control what we can control and continue moving forward and do what we can.” The Wizards will need that optimism, and more, headed into this evening’s game against the Miami Heat. The Heat are in first place in the Eastern Conference with a 12-6 record, and they’ve won seven out of their last 10 games. They are coming off back-to-back victories over the Cavs (sans LeBron) and the Thunder (with Westbrook and Durant present and playing). Miami has been without Luol Deng (hamstring) for the past five games, but that has been offset by the play of Goran Dragic and the ageless Dwyane Wade, who has averaged 23 points, 4 assists and 4 rebounds over the last two games. By his own admission, Dragic has struggled to find offensive chemistry with Wade and Chris Bosh, but has averaged a very solid 15.5 points and 7.8 assists in the last two. This is probably a good time to mention that Wes Matthews was in a bit of an offensive haze before his game against the Wizards—and we know how that ended. Heat PG Goran Dragic looks to continue recent improved play Monday vs Wizards. Dragic: "I just needed to be myself" https://t.co/ZEfvpwmWss — Michael Wallace (@MyMikeCheck) December 6, 2015 The last time these two teams met in the regular season, Miami was the short-handed, lottery-bound team (Wade, Bosh and Deng did not play), and the Wizards were healthy and en route to the playoffs. The Wizards led by as many as 32 points, then watched Michael Beasley heat up to bring the Miami within two points before John Wall and Co. righted the ship and eked out a two-point victory. Maybe that means there is hope for the Wizards, who not only have to face Wade and Bosh but also Hassan Whiteside (13 points, 10.9 rebounds and 4.6 blocks per game) with only Ryan Hollins and DeJan Blair as the big men. If there was ever a time for Wittman’s team to sort out the best of small ball, it’s right now. Whether they’re ready, or even able, remains to be seen.2017 NWSL Championship. 2nd minute. Taylor Smith beat Tobin Heath to a ball in the center of the park and then angled herself to get position. Heath did not stop. Instead she ran up the back of Smith and shoved her down with two hands. Foul called but no card. Smith slowly got to her feet and came off favoring her right shoulder. She gave it a good run, briefly returning to the pitch where she tried to play without full use of her right arm. By the 11 minute mark she was down again, this time for good. Makenzy Doniak came in to replace her. With that, the life was sucked right out of the NWSL’s flagship match of the year. “That was probably the ugliest soccer game I have ever played in,” Thorns defender Meghan Klingenberg said. Sam Mewis almost saved the match. In the 14th minute she intercepted Adrianna Franch’s clearance and beat the NWSL’s Best XI keeper with a well-weighted chip. But the ball came down on top of the crossbar and the match remained 0-0. Minutes after Mewis’s near miss and before the Courage had further meaningful possession, eventual MVP Lindsey Horan was beaten to a ball by McCall Zerboni. Horan did not stop though. She bumped Zerboni at full force and stuck one leg around Zerboni’s in an impossible attempt to win the ball. Zerboni stayed down for a spell before popping up and having a brief chat with referee Danielle Chesky. Horan received a stern talking to, but nothing further. To most in the stadium, it was too late anyway. “The referee got a grip second half and settled the game down,” Courage coach Paul Riley said. “Probably should have done it a little earlier.” By the time Horan obliterated Zerboni, the Courage were down a right back and a sub and the energy inside Orlando City Stadium had changed. The coaches were mad—both of them according to The Equalizer’s Allison Lee who watched the match from a vantage point close to where Mark Parsons was patrolling the Thorns’ sideline. By the end there were profane chants coming from at least one side in the exhcanges between supporters. The first postgame question about how the match was officiated mentioned that “their players were clattering into yours all over the place.” “I’m glad you said that not me,” the coach responded before admitting that the tactic made it difficult to get a rhythm. “Yeah, they were physical,” Riley continued. “Overstretched from physical. I think they had more tackles than passes in the first half. It almost looked like it was their game plan.” Heath was eventually carded near the end of the half. She avoided a foul on a questionable play that resulted in Kristen Hamilton going down awkwardly and having to come out of the match. Hamilton had been the one to drop back to right back after Smith had to leave and her subsequent ext left Doniak as the last line of defense on the right. Hayley Raso picked up a card as the clocked ticked over to stoppage time. Doniak probably should have for a challenge on Heath in stoppage time. It was all getting out of control. Both coaches had to be nudged to leave the pitch for halftime. Credit to both coaches for finishing the game. 99% sure I would've gotten tossed. — John D. Halloran (@JohnDHalloran) October 14, 2017 “I thought Tobin received the two worst challenges of the game,” Thorns coach Mark Parsons said, voicing what was clearly the minority opinion on the day. “It was horrific. It was always going to be a physical game. Carolina have built an identity around being physical, around being fast.” Parsons said there was no directive to be physical on the day. He said it was not discussed before the game nor in the week leading up to the game. “We’ve held these players back from touching each other in training for two weeks,” he said. “It was almost non-contact soccer. It’s worse than we saw tonight. These players know one thing to do. Going into Chicago regular season game they’re smashing, hitting each other, pressing, recovering in the Wednesday 11-v.-11 as much as in any other game. We learned that we can’t do that. People were getting knocks from honest, good hard work. “If there is a reason why we had a little extra spice tonight it’s because they haven’t felt contact for two weeks in training.” As is often the case in these matches, there was not going to be any agreement between the two sides. Most Courage players declined specific comment about how the game was called. Zerboni though put in her two cents while sitting next to Riley in the press conference. “The rules of the game are such that you want the referee to get control of the game and hold on to the game, that’s what they’re there for,” she said. “Otherwise we would just take them out and be balls to the wall. I thought she did her job. I thought some things could have been changed and gotten control of the game earlier with maybe a couple of cards shown. I thought there were a couple of tackles that maybe could have been a red card honestly. It was clear what their game plan was.”While mental health and substance abuse is slowly becoming a topic that is more openly discussed, there are still many individuals suffering from mental illness or addiction who aren’t getting the treatment they need. In fact, less than half of people with a mental disorder ever get the necessary professional treatment. Not only that, but many of those individuals with a mental disorder also have several other chronic diseases or conditions or comorbidity. This can make it even more difficult for the person to get the help they need. When battling several undiagnosed or untreated conditions, it is all too easy for these individuals to end up in prison, to end up on the streets, or in some cases, worse. To become a contributing member of society, they need treatment. The unfortunate reality is, those who need treatment the most may not have the resources necessary to get help. Elevated Billing Solutions has made it their mission to fight for those who do not have the finances or healthcare in place to receive necessary treatment services. By specializing in behavioral health revenue cycle management services, Elevated Billing Solutions advocates for those in need of treatment. To date, they have been successful in this mission by donating more than $400,000 to individuals in need of treatment. But with a dream to help as many people as possible who suffer from addiction and mental illness, Elevated Billing Solutions partnered with 10,000 Beds in April to continue their fight in extending services and treatment to those who need them. This partnership with 10,000 Beds will help to extend scholarships to those who aren’t able to get treatment for addiction and mental health disorders. Jean Krisle from 10,000 Beds said it is an honor to be working with Elevated Billing to bring their shared passion to fruition; ethical practices in the behavioral health industry. Elevated Billing will continue to be able to advocate for those in need of treatment, and the partnership with 10,000 Beds will only aid the cause by being able to reach out and help as many people as possible, giving them access to necessary care. Together, Elevated Billing and 10,000 Beds hope to elevate the conversation and perception of mental illness; addiction is real, but so is recovery. Elevated Billing will be going along for the ride as 10,000 Beds begins their nation-wide campaign, #ontheroad4recover, to advocate for the right to treatment and provide scholarships to those in need of services. The top priority for Elevated Billing Services and 10,000 Beds is to provide appropriate ​substance abuse ​treatment ​and ​​ethical mental health billing ​on behalf of ​ those with these disorders. Share this post: on Twitter on Facebook on Google+Washington, D.C. — On Monday, coal ash spilled into Lake Michigan from a bluff near the We Energies Oak Creek Power Plant in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has stalled on plans to release the first-ever coal ash regulations that might have prevented this spill. In the meantime the House passed a bill preventing EPA from moving forward and the Senate is currently considering the same bill (S. 1751). The following statement is from Earthjustice attorney Lisa Evans: Cleanup of the Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash spill in December 2008. (TVA) “How many coal ash spills are going to have to occur before Congress and the EPA acknowledge the very real dangers posed by this industrial waste? This is not some ‘freak accident,’ for a century billions of tons coal ash has been buried, piled and ponded without regulation and without consideration of the consequences. We’re coming up on the three-year anniversary of the TVA coal ash disaster and it is disheartening that we still have no measures in place to protect the public against toxic ash. “While we wait for yet another clean-up, we’re battling Senate polluter benefactors who deny that coal ash is anything but mud. If this Senate legislation sees the light of day it must be stopped in its tracks by the White House. This event must be a wake-up call for our government to take action now.”An ugly pimple crops up on your face and you have an interview the next day? You could put a little tea tree oil or benzoyl peroxide on it, but the spot treatment of the moment are acne patches. Long gone are the days of trying to dry your pimples out with toothpaste and baking soda (both are irritating and could make scarring worse by increasing inflammation). There are a few advantages to using acne patches: They protect your pimple from rubbing and touching (whether you’re doing it subconsciously or just rubbing your face on your pillow at night), which can lead to infection and scarring from rubbing and touching (whether you’re doing it subconsciously or just rubbing your face on your pillow at night), which can lead to infection and scarring They can create a moist environment for faster and better healing They can deliver active ingredients to your pimple and the bandage can make them penetrate more effectively to your pimple and the bandage can make them penetrate more effectively They can absorb fluid from your pimple from your pimple They can protect your pimple from UV light, which can decrease pigmentation , which can decrease pigmentation They’re usually waterproof, so you don’t need to reapply them every time you wash your face There are two types of acne patches: hydrocolloid bandages and treatment patches. Hydrocolloid Bandages Hydrocolloid bandages are flexible bandages made of a water-attracting material attached to a thin plastic film. The bandage is stuck to an open wound with the water-attracting film facing downwards. Hydrocolloids were originally designed to be used for ulcers, but they’ve become more popular for acne, particularly in Asia. The tough, outer plastic film is usually polyurethane and keeps everything in place, as well as preventing the water from evaporating and drying out the wound, so the wound heals faster and the new skin that forms is supple rather than tight and stiff. It also protects the wound against rubbing and scratching. The water-attracting material is usually made of carboxymethyl cellulose, gelatin and/or pectin, which have lots of water-binding groups in their chemical structure. This sucks fluid out of the wound. As fluid enters the bandage, it goes from transparent to white and swells up, which means you get a very satisfying white spot: There are quite a few studies on the benefits of hydrocolloid bandages in different types of open wounds, but only one on using hydrocolloids in acne. They found that using 3M Acne Dressings for a week on pimples (with bandage changes every 2 days) decreased the severity of the pimple, as well as redness, oiliness and dark pigmentation, compared to using skin tapes. Acne Treatment Patches Treatment patches contain active ingredients that are delivered to your pimple while it’s on. The most common active ingredients in acne treatments are salicylic acid and tea tree oil – most patches contain both. There are some advantages to using these treatment patches instead of applying a normal product: The patch increases penetration of the active ingredients due to occlusion – the patch keeps the skin under it moist, which increases skin permeability. On the flip side, if you’re sensitive to anything in the patch or if your skin isn’t clean, your reaction will be amplified of the active ingredients due to – the patch keeps the skin under it moist, which increases skin permeability. On the flip side, if you’re sensitive to anything in the patch or if your skin isn’t clean, your reaction will be amplified The patch keeps the active ingredient in place so it doesn’t get rubbed off accidentally so it doesn’t get rubbed off accidentally The patch protects your pimple from rubbing and touching, and it keeps the wound moist so it heals faster and better Even though the active ingredients are usually the same, the patches perform differently so it’s a good idea to read some reviews of them before choosing one to buy. Should I use a hydrocolloid bandage or an acne treatment patch? Hydrocolloids and treatment patches look similar but act differently. Use a hydrocolloid bandage if your pimple is raised or has visible pus, so it can suck out the fluid and flatten out the pimple. However, if your pimple is too wet, it can make the bandage stick badly and fall off. If your pimple doesn’t actually have any fluid in it, a hydrocolloid patch won’t do much. Use an acne treatment patch if your pimple is inflamed but doesn’t contain much fluid. They won’t be able to absorb much fluid, so if your pimple is wet at all it will fall off quickly. Acne treatment patches are thinner than hydrocolloids – if your pimple is already quite flat, they’re almost invisible to the eye and you can wear them outside without it being too obvious. Acne Patch Reviews The products I’ve tried are: 3M Nexcare Acne Absorbing Covers (Amazon, eBay ) – These are the original hydrocolloids for acne and come in a pack containing 2 sizes of circles – 6 mm and 12 mm across. They work fantastically for sucking out pus, but I found them a bit thick and the colour doesn’t blend in with the skin very well so they’re not very good for daytime use. They also feel a bit stiff and get stiffer as they’re exposed to air. I bought these on eBay. Spot Medic Individual Hydrocolloid Masks for Pimples (Priceline) – Spot Medic’s bandages are almost identical to the Nexcare bandages, coming on a sheet with a mixture of 6 mm and 12 mm circles. They’re a little thinner and uncoloured, and less stiff so they stay on better during the night. However, they don’t absorb as much fluid and it’s a little more expensive to buy these in Priceline than to order hydrocolloids online, but they’re convenient. Coloplast Comfeel Dressings (Amazon, eBay ) – My mum is a nurse with an amazing collection of bandages, so I grabbed this from her stash. This comes in big rectangles, and you can make about 24 medium sized bandages from a 4 cm x 6cm rectangle, which works out to be a little cheaper than the individual dots (if you buy bigger rectangles it works out to be even cheaper). It’s less convenient, and the bandages cut from the centre are quite thick, so they are a bit uncomfortable, but they absorb lots of fluid. These stick on like crazy! Formula 10.0.6 Overnight Success Spot Minimizing Patches (Priceline, eBay ) – I only recently noticed these appearing in stores in Australia. These patches come in a box of 7 sachets, each containing 12 stickers (half 11 mm and half 14 mm). They’re very thin and barely noticeable on your skin. It tingles a little when you apply it, probably due to the tea tree oil and salicylic acid in the formula. Be careful how you use these – I applied it to a pimple that had already come to a head, without cleaning the area sufficiently first (I know – rookie error!), and the next day I woke up to what my boyfriend called “the biggest pimple [he’d] ever seen in [his] entire life”. A’pieu NonCo Tea Tree Spot Patch (Day Care) (Amazon, eBay ) – I bought these on eBay based on reviews from Fanserviced-B and ColorCrush. These patches are almost identical to the Formula 10.0.6 patches, except that they don’t tingle quite as much. Apart from that, I haven’t really noticed any difference, and the ingredients are almost exactly the same. I haven’t found any of these patches useful for cystic acne though, only shallow pimples – it’s more likely that the acne treatment patches will work for them though, since the hydrocolloid bandages only work by absorbing fluid. Where can I buy hydrocolloid bandages and acne patches? Acne patches are increasingly popular so you’ll be able to find both in pharmacies like Priceline. You can also buy them online on Amazon and eBay. Since a lot of Asian brands have these products, places like TesterKorea, Sasa and RoseRoseShop. Round hydrocolloid dots designed for pimples: MEDca (Amazon), 3M Nexcare (Amazon, eBay ), COSRX (Amazon, eBay ), Spot Medic (Priceline), Skinfood (Amazon, eBay ) Hydrocolloid dressings that can be cut to size: Duoderm (Amazon, eBay ), Coloplast Comfeel (Amazon, eBay ), Johnson & Johnson Tough Pads (Amazon, eBay ) Acne treatment patches: A’pieu (Amazon, eBay ), Formula 10.0.6 (Priceline, eBay ), Innisfree (Amazon, eBay ), Peter Thomas Roth (Sephora, eBay ) Be careful when you’re buying acne patches. The two types look very similar and usually come in sealed packets, so make sure you’re buying the one you want! Hydrocolloid bandages are usually more expensive (more than 15 cents a bandage) and will specifically say “hydrocolloid” on their packaging, while treatment patches are generally cheaper (more than 5 cents a bandage) and will list their active ingredients. References S Thomas, Hydrocolloid dressings in the management of acute wounds: a review of the literature, Int Wound J 2008, 5, 602-613. C-M Chao, W-Y Lai, B-Y Wu, H-C Chang, W-S Huang & Y-F Chen, A pilot study in efficacy treatment of acne vulgaris using a new method: results of a randomized double-blind trial with Acne Dressing (open access), J Cosmet Sci 2006, 57, 95-105. J Wohlrab, Skin tolerability of transdermal patches, Expert Opin Drug Deliv 2011, 8, 939-48. The Formula 10.0.6 patches were provided for review, which did not affect my opinion. This post also contains affiliate links – if you decide to click through and support Lab Muffin financially, thank you! For more information, see Disclosure Policy. Have you tried hydrocolloid bandages or acne treatment patches for pimples? What do you think of them?Following on from the Turtles comes a scale figure of Shredder! Shred this! The popular series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures based on renowned artist James Jean’s illustrations have now expanded into a series of villains for fans to add to their collection! The series is led by the Turtles’ most formidable foe, Shredder, and will also include Bebop, Rocksteady and Krang to recreate the full diorama from James Jean’s original illustration! About James Jean James Jean is a visual artist based Los Angeles known for both his commercial and fine art work. Some of his past clients include The New York Times, Nike, Warner Bros and Prada. He is now focused on his fine art and personal publishing projects and can be followed at @jamesjeanart across a variety of social media.The Jewish Chronicle reported last week that a video made by Alan Duncan, UK minister for international development, infuriated the Israeli lobby so much that it was withdrawn from the ministry’s website. In the video Duncan said that, “The wall is a land grab. It hasn’t just gone along the lines of the proper Israel boundary. It’s taken in open land which actually belongs to Palestine”. He added: “Israeli settlers can build what they want and then immediately get the infrastructure so that takes the water deliberately away from Palestinians here.” Horrified that a government minister could say such things, the lobby went into action. The Board of Deputies of British Jews wrote to Duncan to demand the withdrawal of the video, copying in his boss, Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell, and Foreign Secretary William Hague. Board president Vivian Wineman commented: “Mr Duncan’s apparent disregard for Israel’s legitimate security concerns is of great concern.” The episode seems to have caused a row between Duncan’s department (DFID) and the Foreign Office. According to the JC, “Civil servants at the FO made it clear that they did not believe Mr Duncan had struck the right diplomatic tone with the language he had used. However, they did not refer the matter to ministers when DfID and Mr Duncan defied the advice.” But the FO has now prevailed. Duncan has been brought to heel and the video withdrawn. By way of explanation a spokesperson said, “The video was aimed at highlighting DfID’s work to alleviate poverty in the OPTs [Occupied Palestinian Territories], as well as some of the key challenges facing the Palestinian people. Unfortunately, some elements were misinterpreted and Mr Duncan has asked for it to be taken down”. It is not clear whether Duncan believes his views were misinterpreted. But one thing is definitely clear – whilst the Israeli lobby in the UK is not visible as its US counterpart, it is still very effective.Abstract Compared with the First World War, which ended quite quickly once the position of Germany became strategically hopeless, the Second World War proved exceedingly difficult to end even after the overwhelming economic advantage of the Allied powers had turned the strategic tide decisively against the Axis. Both German and Japanese forces continued to fight tenaciously long after any realistic chance of victory had disappeared. Part of the explanation lies in the extremely violent battlefield culture that developed in two key theatres of the war, which deterred soldiers from surrendering, even when they found themselves in hopeless situations. This culture had its origins on the Western Front during the First World War. But in the Second World War it became official policy on both sides, not only on the Eastern Front but in the Pacific theatre as well. Only when the Allied authorities adopted techniques of psychological warfare designed to encourage rather than discourage surrender did German and Japanese resistance end.Octomom From Dropping Babies... to Dropping Rhymes! Octomom Releasing Dance Song -- From Dropping Babies to Dropping Rhymes! EXCLUSIVE as the day music died. has been a porn star, a horror film actress and a bankruptcy filer... and now she can add one more title to that list -- SINGER -- because the mom of 14 is releasing a DANCE SONG!!!!Octo signed a recording deal with Global Groove Entertainment and already cut a dance track called "" that features Octo both singing AND rapping... no joke.The song is being produced by two guys namedand... both of whom have worked with HUGE artists like Britney Spears, Usher, Beyonce and Taylor Swift.Sources tell us... the recording gig came about thanks to Octo's sex tape. We're told she felt so liberated after filming the self-pleasure video, she wanted to find another way to express herself.We're told she took the job super seriously... taking two whole voice lessons to prepare. Check her out recording (above) with singer Adam Barta -- who's also featured on the tune.The song will be released August 1st... so mark your calendarsHow To Make Healthy Eating Easier On The Wallet? Change The Calculation Enlarge this image toggle caption iStockphoto.com iStockphoto.com If you're already a kale and lentils kind of person (we know there are a lot of frugal foodies out there) — you won't be surprised by this finding: According to a new study from some economists at the USDA, eating a healthy diet isn't necessarily more expensive than a diet loaded with sugar and fat. In fact, fruits and vegetables are often cheaper when you calculate the cost in a smarter way. Cost is often cited as a barrier to eating well. But USDA's Andrea Carlson and her colleagues analyzed the cost of more than 4,000 foods using three different measures: Price per calorie (or food energy), price by weight, and price per average amount consumed. By using this last measure — which is a good proxy of what actually makes it onto our plate — the news is good. "We find that fruits and vegetables — especially vegetables — come out much less expensive than the less-healthy food such as potato chips, ready-to-eat cereals [which are] often high in sugar, [and] anything with a lot of fat like cookies and pies." That's because you get more bang — like vitamins and minerals — for the buck. So how do you do it? Well, for starters, when you're trying to get the most nutritional and economical benefit in the protein category, think legumes. Lentils and beans are very affordable, and a good alternative to meat. Also, check sugar labels. For the purposes of this study, lots of foods people may think are healthful actually ended up in the "less-healthful" category because of added sugars. Think yogurts sweetened with jam, sugary cereals and granola bars. And for veggies: Shop the frozen food aisle. You don't have to consume an entire package in a single use (frozen peas will last weeks). And frozen veggies are just about as nutritious as fresh — with a lot less work on your part. For the full USDA report, click here.Hillary Clinton's Fight For Gefilte Fish Enlarge this image toggle caption William Thomas Cain/Getty Images William Thomas Cain/Getty Images Of the more than 7,000 pages of Hillary Clinton's emails released by the State Department this week, one was (literally) fishy: State Department Gefilte fish is a Jewish dish (some would say delicacy) made of chopped fish. The night of the email release, reaction and theories on the story behind that email came in quickly: In reality, the email was sent during a 2010 U.S.-Israeli trade dispute. Israel had imposed a large tariff on imported carp (often used in the dish). That tariff was particularly harming one American fishery that exported a lot of carp to Israel. Schafer Fisheries in Thomson, Ill., was the leading provider of Asian carp, which are caught in the Mississippi River, to Israel. But because of the tariff, the company had about 400,000 pounds of frozen carp held up, owner Mike Schafer told NPR's All Things Considered back in 2010. The Israeli factory he worked with couldn't "afford the tariff on that product and still be able to sell it to their different stores and outlets," he said. The fish crisis happened ahead of Passover, when gefilte fish is often served. Hillary Clinton got involved, and some of the fish was let back into Israel. So where are we on gefilte fish? According to Schafer, "Israel is still holding steadfast on their tariff over there, and it's impacting what they do." His said his company doesn't really deal much with Israel anymore. Instead it has expanded to other countries like the Dominican Republic and China. And as for Schafer's hundreds of thousands of pounds of carp that were held up back then? The inventory "actually ended up going to fertilizer," he said."Please co-sign the Grayson-Takano letter promising to vote against any bill that cuts Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security benefits." Over the next few weeks, we'll be in the fight of our lives to save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits. House Democrats can help take these programs off the chopping block by co-signing a letter written by progressive champions Rep. Alan Grayson and Rep. Mark Takano that draws a line in the sand on benefit cuts. You can read the entire letter below, but here's the key part: Voters across the political spectrum oppose cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security benefits, and we must do whatever it takes to protect these vital benefits from cuts. That's why we write to let you know that we will vote against any and every cut to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security benefits -- including raising the retirement age or cutting the cost of living adjustments that our constituents earned and need. Tell House Democrats: Co-sign the Grayson-Takano letter to take Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits off the chopping block. If we act boldly, progressives have an opportunity to change the debate that is happening in Washington, DC. That is why we are joining an incredible coalition including the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Democracy for America, MoveOn and other progressive movement groups to build support for the Grayson-Takano letter. Tell House Democrats: Co-sign the Grayson-Takano letter to take Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits off the chopping block. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are extremely vital, and extremely successful, parts of our social safety net. But Republicans are cynically using the deficit as an excuse to undermine and destroy these programs. And unfortunately, President Obama is playing into their hands. It's not enough for Democrats to take action after another bad deal is cut. If enough House Democrats stand together now by co-signing the Grayson-Takano letter, they can take cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits off the table. Tell House Democrats: Co-sign the Grayson-Takano letter to take Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits off the chopping block. Here's the text of the Grayson-Takano letter:next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 Former U.S. President Barack Obama is ending a five-day international trip in Paris, where he is lunching with French President Emmanuel Macron and scheduled to give a speech to business leaders. Obama arrived at the presidential Elysee Palace at midday on Saturday. The area was placed under high security. The French presidency said the private lunch was expected to include a presentation about the Obama Foundation. No journalists were allowed at the meal. Earlier Saturday, Obama discussed climate issues with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo. He also planned to meet with former French President Francois Hollande. His evening speech organized by a club for leaders from the internet and communications industries is on the theme, "Fear Less, Innovate More." Obama was in China and India before he arrived in France.MONTGOMERY - Rep. Mike Ball, R-Madison, says he if he gets enough support he may sponsor a proposed constitutional amendment in the 2012 legislative session that would allow voters to decide the issue of lawmakers' pay. Ball would link legislative pay to the median income of Alabama households - now half of households make less than $43,000 a year - and set reimbursement for mileage, food and lodging at federal government rates for its employees. Democratic leaders in the House and Senate scoffed at the plan, saying Republicans are simply deflecting their 2010 campaign promises to repeal the 2007 legislative pay raises that provoked voters. "All they're trying to do is to put a red herring out there to dodge what they promised to do," said Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, Senate minority leader. "We should take a straight up and down vote to repeal it." Many first-time Republican candidates used the pay raise issue to win election in 2010 when the GOP took control of the Legislature for the first time in 136 years. But Republican leaders have said the issue was not part of their "Handshake with Alabama," the party's 2011 legislative agenda. Legislative salaries in Alabama became a hot-button issue since when legislators, on a voice vote, approved a 61 percent raise for themselves. Then-Gov. Bob Riley vetoed the plan, but the Democratically-controlled Legislature, with help from some Republicans, easily overrode his veto. In addition to raising legislators' pay from $30,710 to $49,500, the 2007 legislation also required the $3,850 fixed monthly expense to be adjusted annually, based on the U.S. Department of Labor's Consumer Price Index. Those adjustments have pushed pay for a typical lawmaker to about $53,400. Actually, the state constitution in 1901 set lawmakers' pay at only $10 a day. To get around that, legislators over the years have increased their monthly expense payments. Ball said a constitutional amendment to take the pay issue out of the hands of the Legislature and tie it to the median income of Alabama households would be more equitable. "If the people of Alabama prospered, we'd prosper," he said. "If they did not, we also would not. It would also assure that what happened in 2007 never happened again." Republican House Speaker Mike Hubbard said he liked the concept of Ball's proposal, although he added he was unclear why expenses should be tied to what the federal government pays as opposed to state reimbursement. In Louisiana, the mileage and daily meal and lodging allowance for lawmakers is tied by law to the rates the federal government pays its employees for their on-the-road expenses. Federal employees are reimbursed 55 cents per mile, with a per diem of $77 for those working in the Montgomery area. Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston, president pro tem of the Senate, said he had no problem with a constitutional amendment that would allow Alabama voters to decide the issue. Marsh said he had supported a failed bill in the 2011 session by Sen. Phil Williams, R-Rainbow City, that proposed a constitutional amendment to create a six-member Legislative Compensation Commission. Williams' bill, which died in a Senate committee, would have created a panel to recommend salary and expenses every four years and assure that pay couldn't be altered during that period. The panel would have been appointed by legislative leaders. "I would love to see it resolved," said Marsh. "Good people have different opinions, based on when they were elected. It's something that keeps cropping up." Marsh said he would like to see the Legislature act on a proposal early in the 2012 session. Rep. Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, House Minority Leader, said the issue will ultimately be resolved by Republicans because they hold super majorities in the House and Senate. Ford said he would support an independent, non-political pay commission whose members were from across the state. Under the current system, he said, it's unfair for a legislator who lives in Muscle Shoals, for example, to be compensated at the same rate as one who lives in Montgomery who has little in the way of expenses. In April, three-fourths of the members of the House and Senate asked for a pay cut or refused to take a scheduled cost-of-living raise in response to critics who say they hadn't done anything to repeal the 2007 raise. Hubbard and Marsh have never taken any pay raises. According to legislative records, Ball did not take the cost-of-living raise this year, and he rolled back his pay by 15 percent to coincide with proration in the General Fund ordered by Gov. Robert Bentley. None of the 12 Democrats in the Senate took the 15 percent pay cut. Eight of 22 Republican senators took the cut through the end of the fiscal year, which will end Sept. 30. They were Slade Blackwell of Mountain Brook, Jimmy Holley of Elba, Arthur Orr of Decatur, Trip Pittman of Daphne, Greg Reed of Jasper, J.T. Wag
able hardware with very short boot time, [but] if you want to do high performance computing, using more than your first CPU core and first 3 to 4GB of RAM gets really ugly in DOS. People forget that if they try to'simply' run browsers or office software on DOS, said software will have to bring most of the complexity that they wanted to get rid of with it to DOS, as DOS itself simply has no GUI, no multitasking, no Unicode TTF, no networking and so on.” So don’t expect huge clouds of FreeDOS-based gaming servers any time soon. Don't expect Chrome for DOS. But in the long term, that may not matter, as FreeDOS’ parts find their way into places no DOS has gone before. “We did have someone try to launch an effort a couple of months ago to see what would it take to bring FreeDOS to ARM,” Hall said. “You don't need a ton of power for DOS, but it’s probably going to be a lot of coding because DOS assumes there’s a BIOS. You could do some emulation and other things in the middle to fake it as far as the kernel is concerned—I’d really like to see that happen.” Hall also sees the potential for FreeDOS “inside another container—for example, what if you had a minimal Linux environment that boots up DOSEMU (the DOS emulator, which can run FreeDOS).” Hall said that could give people the equivalent of a multitasking DOS. Auer said ultimately the applications of FreeDOS aren't what will keep devs interested. Instead, it's the same thing driving interest today that drove many contributors to computing in the first place—the tinkering aspect. “I generally think having fun with DOS is an important factor,” he said. “In that sense, it is also a bit like a model train. You can learn to know a lot about it, and you can do a lot with it yourself, but you would not use it for your daily commute. Of course, DOS also still is important for those who worked with it because it lets them keep their old custom-made software. Sure, some ARM board might run the milling machine in your wood workshop as well, but the DOS software you wrote for it probably still works, and using a FreeDOS PC to run that makes it more pleasant than having to stress about new Windows compatibility of your old tools or new hardware compatibility.”MANILA- Former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez on Saturday tagged Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Director Mario Louie Jacinto as "the worst,” citing challenges in working with the official during her time at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). In an interview on DZMM, Lopez said Jacinto was hard to work with as the latter allegedly refused to heed her instructions and attend meetings. “Si Louie Jacinto is the worst MGB head. I complained that to the president eh. He does not come to the meetings. I cancelled mines and he gave them presidential awards and I said ‘ano ba yan?’ ano,” she said. ABS-CBN News tried to reach Jacinto’s office for comment but he was unavailable as of posting time. President Rodrigo Duterte named Jacinto director of the MGB in July last year, replacing Leo Jasareno. “He’s not good at all and he just doesn’t come to the meetings, deadma. [He] doesn’t answer phone calls, texts and he’s still there 'no. I don’t think he will be a good MGB head,” Lopez said, expressing fears that Jacinto may replace her. “And the Chamber of Mines want him to be DENR secretary, yan ang choice ng Chamber of Mines so parang nakakatakot,” she said. Lawmakers last Wednesday rejected the appointment of Lopez, who cracked down on alleged unsafe mining practices during her 10 months in office. Lopez cited the lack of coordination among officials as one of the problems she saw at the DENR. “They’re too iba-iba eh,” she said. Lopez, who brought her own staff to the department, however noted that there were “good” officials within the DENR. “There’s some very good ha. And the existing RDs (regional directors) now, I really like them. They’re good, they’re honest, they’re direct,” she said.What follows is an account of an instance where I, a person of relatively sound mind and body, could not believe the evidence before my own eyes. It might not have been a hallucination that I experienced, but it was surely a great jolt of consciousness. The scene: I’m in my closet-sized cabin, inside a white dome built to house a crew of six for four months as part of an isolation experiment. As a crew, we are working and living as ‘explorers’ stationed on the surface of ‘Mars’. Our colony is lifelike and NASA-funded, but it is situated in a place quite a bit closer to home, on a remote slope of a Hawai’ian volcano. It’s only a couple weeks before we are to be released, and I’m sitting on my bed with my laptop, sorting data from a sleep study I’ve been conducting on myself and my crewmates for the past three months. My cabin door is open. From the corner of my eye, I see a stranger walk into the washroom a few meters away. It’s odd, I think, for a stranger to be here. Our doors are not locked during the day, but our habitat is positioned in an isolated area, at a high elevation, far away from paved roads and pedestrians. The sight of an unfamiliar person nonchalantly using our facilities is enough to jack up my senses to high alert. I watch as the stranger goes into the washroom and splashes water on his face. Do I know him? Why can’t I tell? If he is an intruder, why is he here? And what will he do when he’s done freshening up and sees me staring at him? I have three male crewmates and the man washing his face looks like none of them. Our crew commander shaves his head while this man has thick brown hair, slicked back. Another crewmate almost always wears buttoned-up long-sleeved shirts. The stranger is in a baggy black T-shirt. My third male crewmate is larger than the unfamiliar man and has curly red hair and a beard. This man is clean-shaven. Finally, the stranger steps out of the bathroom and confronts me. ‘What,’ he says, less a question, more a bark. His voice kicks me to reality. It’s Simon, our red-headed engineer who has evidently shorn his beard and lost more weight over the mission than I had previously noticed. Still, my heart is racing and a surge of blood warms me from earlobe to fingertip. ‘I didn’t know who you were,’ I say. He nods and gives a slight smile. We both laugh uneasily at the absurd thought of an intruder. It’s almost too impossible for us to imagine. And it was shortly thereafter, as the tail end of my terror entwined with the emergent joy of relief, that I notice I hadn’t felt anything so strongly in months. I had been living in a kind of torpor. I had believed myself to be quite busy and occupied with important tasks during our time on Mars but, somewhere along the way, mental fatigue had become my baseline state. I was loathe to admit it at the time, because it implied a poor personality match with adventurers and those of the explorer class in which my crew and I – acting earnestly as astronaut stand-ins – saw ourselves. Yet, in retrospect, there is no escaping it: I was bored and had been bored for quite some time. What kind of person gets bored? Only a boring one, ha-ha. Or, children who have piles of toys but no motivation to play. Also teenagers, who now use Twitter as a megaphone to fascinate (or bore) the rest of us with short descriptions of educational ennui. But to be bored as an adult? Perhaps you aren’t as busy with family and work as you should be. Hasn’t technology obliterated our opportunities for boredom? Don’t we reach for our phones at the first itch of idleness, to check in on the Facebook feed, thumb through work email, or text a funny observation to a friend? Conventional wisdom tells us that an adult with enough downtime to be bored has surely taken a wrong turn in life. There are exceptions, of course. It is acceptable for you, an adult, to be bored with certain tasks, or with your career, or even your life. You can decry the fact that your days blend into weeks, and weeks into months, Wednesday barely distinguishable from October and so on. Maybe you are more bored than ever when you watch movies and television, read books and have conversations. You can even become bored scrolling through never-ending and inane Facebook updates, or an infinite Twitter feed of predictable headlines, celebrity photos, and the master-crafted self-promotion of your peers. But suppose you never get bored. Suppose you can honestly say you are fully engaged and interested, almost always, in life and its offerings. You might find comfort in all of this busyness, but science has some bad news for you. Recent psychology research suggests boredom is good for you. It can lead to prosocial activities such as donating time or money to charity. And the daydreaming it prompts can produce insights and spur creativity, enabling happiness you didn’t know you were missing. Now, say you are often bored. Maybe you’d rather not be bored or maybe you don’t care, but either way, you simply cannot avoid it. Bad news for you, too. Psychological studies have concluded that boredom leads to accidents and poor performance at work, to substance abuse, to overeating and binge-eating, and even to heart attacks. has boredom become the psychological equivalent of a glass of red wine, to be enjoyed, guilt-free, only in moderation? So what is it, then? Is boredom bad or good? Should we do our best, for the sake of our health and employment, to avoid it? Or has boredom become the psychological equivalent of a glass of red wine, to be enjoyed, guilt-free, only in moderation? Is the moderation of boredom desirable or even possible? How many successive rhetorical questions does it take to bore a reader? No one knows. According to the contemporary Norwegian philosopher Lars Svendsen, the concept of boredom as we understand it today is distinctly modern. In A Philosophy of Boredom (2005), Svendsen notes that while it’s ‘always possible to find earlier texts that seem to anticipate the later phenomenon… boredom is not thematised to any major extent before the Romantic era’. It was during that time, he writes, that the concept became democratised, and not solely ‘a marginal phenomenon reserved for monks and the nobility’. ‘Boredom is the “privilege” of modern man,’ he adds. And so here we are. Whether you believe we are experiencing peak ‘boredom privilege’ or whether you believe that a life well lived simply offers no time for boredom, most people agree: boredom itself is interesting. If only we knew what it actually was. You might have a sense of what boredom feels like to you, but it’s the very subjective nature of boredom that makes it difficult to agree on a single definition. Psychologists believe, broadly, that boredom can be divided into two major categories: situational boredom and existential boredom. Situational boredom is the kind that arises when an environment or situation doesn’t hold our interest, like staring at an uneventful radar screen for an hour. Existential boredom extends beyond discrete situations. It wraps itself, like a wet woollen blanket, around every aspect of life, so that a sufferer lives a life devoid of satisfaction. The German psychiatrist Martin Doehlemann identifies two categories of boredom beyond situational and existential. These are a boredom of satiety, when one gets too much of something so that it loses its meaning, and a creative boredom, which is characterised by the way it compels a person to try something new. But that’s not all. It seems there might also be five other boredom categories, wholly distinct from Doehlemann’s, as derived by the German psychologist Thomas Göetz. In 2006, Goetz outlined four categories of boredom based on questionnaires. And last year he announced the surprise discovery of an unexpected fifth type of boredom. Boredom, then, is a multifaceted jewel with a glint dependent on ambient light. One of the great paradoxes of boredom is that it often plagues those in the most exciting of professions: explorers, astronauts, pilots, firefighters, sailors, and soldiers. In these fields, boredom is considered a real danger, because long periods of downtime must be endured between bursts of alertness and adventure. Perhaps nothing is more boredom-producing than the monotony, idleness, and sensory deprivation endured when stranded for months on an ice floe in the Antarctic awaiting rescue. Such was the fate of the adventure-seeking crew of the Endurance, Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated 1914 attempt to reach the South Pole. In his diary, the first officer Lionel Greenstreet wrote: Day passes day with very little or nothing to relieve the monotony. We take constitutionals round and round the floe but no one can go further as we are to all intents and purposes on an island. There is practically nothing fresh to read and nothing to talk about, all topics being absolutely exhausted… I never know what day of the week it is except when it is Sunday as we have Adélie liver and bacon for lunch and [it] is the great meal of the week and soon I shall not be able to know Sunday as our bacon will soon be finished. The pack around looks very much as it did four or five months ago… Around the same time that Greenstreet complains of monotony, one of the expedition’s surgeons, Dr Alexander H Macklin, writes on idleness: I am absolutely obsessed with the idea of escaping… We have been over 4 months on the floe – a time of absolute and utter inutility to anyone. There is absolutely nothing to do but kill time as best one may. Even at home, with theatres and all sorts of amusements, changes of scene and people, four months idleness would be tedious: One can then imagine how much worse it is for us. One looks forward to meals, not for what one will get, but as definite breaks in the day. All around us we have day after day the same unbroken whiteness, unrelieved by anything at all. More recently, in November 2011, the British explorer Felicity Aston embarked on a solo journey across Antarctica, skiing for a total of 59 days. The secret of her motivation, she told the website Travelbite in 2012, was the simple act of following a routine, as well as a mix of more than 800 music tracks – although, by the end of it she was, she said, ‘bored with pretty much all of them’. Aston also described a visual monotony and social isolation she experienced while skiing that seemed maddening: Because I had no one else to talk to I found that I started talking to the sun (as it was the only different thing in the landscape!), as if it was a friend accompanying me on the trip. Sometimes the sun would even answer back, asking why I was doing such a silly thing! It’s conditions such as these – monotony, idleness, tedium, sensory deprivation, loneliness – that concern NASA psychologists who want to send a crew to Mars. Using existing technologies, a trip to the red planet will take 200 to 300 days of travel. Most of the time will be spent inside a cramped capsule. There will be a communication delay with Earth of up to 20 minutes due to a yawning gap of tens of millions of miles. Real-time chatting or video calls with friends and family and mission support will be impossible. Mars crews would likely need to operate with a high level of autonomy because of this communication delay. Many people believe autonomy, which implies freedom of choice, can stave off boredom. Indeed, work imbued with personal meaning can be a potential salve, but it can’t fix everything. In addition to the isolation and sensory deprivation, there will still be repetition of meals and routines and clothing and conversations between crewmembers. The workloads will still likely be full of tedium with narrow margins for error. In short, a mission to Mars has the perfect ingredient list for boredom and disaster borne of boredom. Crewmembers aboard Antarctic exploring vessels need to climb masts, secure lines, and so on. And even if they’re not involved in these activities, they likely at least feel the sensation of wind against their bodies and wood and ice underfoot, all tangible reminders of the passing of time and the harshness and dangers of the environment. Mars explorers, in contrast, would live in a much smaller ship with far fewer sensory inputs. Technology, from propulsion systems to plumbing, would lay hidden behind panels, displays, and buttons. Time will more easily blur and dangers will be more difficult to sense. To bored crewmembers, a system failure might present as an alarm clock trying to rouse a person from sleep When Shackleton’s Endurance was trapped in ice, the crew could hear the creaking, whining, and eventual explosions of the wooden hull, leaving no doubt to the seriousness of their situation. On a Mars-bound ship, danger might creep into crew consciousness with a blinking light or a beeping alert. To bored crewmembers, a system failure might present itself as something like an alarm clock feebly trying to rouse a person from the haze of sleep. On the International Space Station, 250 miles above the planet’s surface, astronauts spend much of their leisure time gazing at and photographing Earth. As a Mars-bound ship drifts millions of miles from home, this major source of interest and connection to humanity will recede into the void. A trip to Mars, with its invisible technology and vast, unprecedented distance from home, could estrange or alienate a crew to an unprecedented degree. Such a distance could produce an entirely new kind of boredom, impossible to imagine on Earth. Or, it might not be so bad. In addition to selecting astronauts with sound minds, providing the crew with careful and considerate mission support, and enabling crew autonomy in work and leisure (such as with games and films), another way psychologists suppose NASA could beat boredom could be through interior design. One suggestion has been to include a periscope inside a Mars-bound ship that could magnify an image of Earth for gazing. Another is to include a system that projects Earth images onto a screen, or a kind of holodeck, like the one from the 1980s TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation. It could also be important for mission support to remind the crew, often and in varying ways, about the importance of the goal, for all humanity, of exploring Mars. The 19th-century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer wrote in his essay On the Vanity of Existence (1851), ‘as things are, we take no pleasure in existence except when we are striving after something’. This would seem to be especially true for high-achieving people such as those traditionally selected as astronauts. Some creative people claim that there are generative benefits that come from spending time in a state of low arousal and monotony, as though boredom primes their minds to receive new ideas and connections. Siegfried Kracauer, the 20th-century German writer and critic, wrote an essay called Boredom (1924), in which he argues its virtues and claims: If… one has the patience, the sort of patience specific to legitimate boredom, then one experiences a kind of bliss that is almost unearthly. A landscape appears in which colourful peacocks strut about and images of people suffused with soul come into view. And look – your own soul is likewise swelling, and in ecstasy you name what you have always lacked: the great passion. Were this passion – which shimmers like a comet – to descend, were it to envelop you, the others, and the world – oh, then boredom would come to an end, and everything that exists would be… This sentiment accompanied David Foster Wallace while he was writing The Pale King (2011), a novel about IRS employees and boredom, published after his suicide in 2008. In a note accompanying the manuscript, Wallace wrote: Bliss – a second-by-second joy and gratitude at the gift of being alive, conscious – lies on the other side of crushing, crushing boredom… Pay close attention to the most tedious thing you can find (Tax Returns, Televised Golf) and, in waves, a boredom like you’ve never known will wash over you and just about kill you. Ride these out, and it’s like stepping back from black and white into colour. Like water after days in the desert. Instant bliss in every atom. This bliss is just the sort of thing that might launch a creative project or spur a major life change, for better or worse. Perhaps it was boredom, coupled with the remnants of my childhood dream of being an astronaut that prompted me to apply to the four-month isolation experiment to simulate a Mars mission. And, in full circle-fashion, that’s where I finally came to know my own particular flavour of boredom and how it manifests in me. The Mars project, called HI-SEAS (Hawai’i Space Exploration Analog and Simulation), was designed to investigate a particular type of boredom called menu fatigue or food boredom. Because food is crucial to energy, health, and morale, and because astronauts tend to tire of the same pre-packaged meals and eat fewer calories, NASA funded the HI-SEAS project to see whether it might be better to let a crew cook some meals for themselves once they regained gravity on the Martian surface. The study ended last August, and the results aren’t yet in, but I suspect that the variety of food available was sufficient so that cuisine wasn’t my major source of boredom. There were other, more insidious culprits. About halfway through the mission, the journalist Maggie Koerth-Baker emailed to ask how we were holding up, boredom-wise. She was writing a New York Times magazine piece on the topic. As a crew, we discussed it: we certainly didn’t feel bored. We always had something to do, from personal projects, to exercising, to chores and maintenance, to putting on spacesuit simulacrums to venture outside, to writing reports and summaries of our activities, to filling out the numerous, sometimes lengthy, daily surveys and writing journal entries. In fact, we felt like we couldn’t quite catch up. A good night’s sleep proved difficult for most of us; you could often hear at least one person tapping away on a keyboard well past midnight. In retrospect, our leisure time was quite minimal. Two nights a week we watched a movie that, while scheduled and enjoyed, often felt a little forced. Sundays were mostly free days, although surveys and meal reports were still required, and many of us used that day to catch up on lingering work obligations. We did, however, celebrate monthly milestones and birthdays with specially prepared food and music. With some distance from the project, I see now that it had its own brand of monotony that began to wear us down. Some of us didn’t go outside much. Putting the suits on was a hassle and it seemed to detract from personal projects, most of which were done indoors. We kept the same daily schedule for exercise, meals, chores, and work; we sat in the same seats around our table; we answered the same survey questions day after day; we wore the same few outfits week after week. The dome, while beautifully designed, was covered in white vinyl that none of us modified with paint, fabric, pictures or posters. We began to joke about our ‘puffy white walls’, and an institutionalised life. Of course, we all found ways to distract and entertain ourselves. I, for instance, juggled tennis balls, batted around balloons, and tried, without success, to play the ukulele. I also read a good number of books and articles, and spent time writing and listening to podcasts and music. One crewmate took up night photography, a satisfying and ever-evolving challenge. Another crewmate staggered her research projects throughout the mission so she would have a new one to look forward to every couple of weeks. Others played video games and listened to music. a crewmember joked, with a wild look in his eye, that he imagined ripping through the habitat cover and going for a walk, sans spacesuit It’s easy to see how we believed we weren’t bored at the time, especially since we all knew the negative association boredom has for astronauts and explorers. We did begin to feel restless at the end, though. At the time, one crewmember joked, with a wild look in his eye, that he imagined ripping through the habitat cover and finally going for a walk, sans spacesuit. Before Mars, I had always assumed I wasn’t the type to get bored. I was never compelled to call anything boring, no matter how monotonous; it seemed like a simplistic dismissal. After all, life was far too interesting for that. But after the shock I felt that fateful day when our engineer masqueraded as a beardless stranger outside my room, I started to take boredom more seriously. The extreme contrast between an emotional height and my previously muted state let me see my own version of boredom for what it was. And indeed, I had experienced it before. After doing some reading around on the topic, I discovered that certain behaviours – imagining oneself in the future, making new plans, learning new skills, setting goals, trying to refresh and start anew – are typical of someone who feels bored. I could check all of these off. For as long as I can remember, I’ve responded to an ill-defined niggling inside that propels me to try new things. I was often inspired to try new things on Mars, whether it was new kinds of writing, sketching, or picking up an instrument. And there was absolutely a point in the mission when all I could do was think about future plans: my wife and I signing up for a timeshare yurt with friends, for instance, or travelling to Puerto Rico, or writing a new book. Some of these imaginings certainly bordered on bliss. All this felt familiar, somehow. Might I actually suffer from chronic boredom and not even know it? My time on Mars showed me the light and dark side of boredom. My creative side relished the opportunity for a quiet mind that could seek out new tasks and get lost in an imaginary futures. But the wannabe astronaut in me worried that boredom lowered my interest in certain necessary and repetitive tasks and led to needless ennui. If only boredom could be compartmentalised. And I wonder now if that’s what all this talk about missions to Mars is about. Our astronauts and explorers act as collective bearers of boredom as we search for new worlds and experiences.The iWatch won’t be an official product until it’s announced on the stage of an Apple press event, but a Thursday report lends more credibility to rumors that Apple’s smartwatch is imminent. Referencing various anonymous supply-chain sources, Reuters has reported that Taiwan’s Quanta Computer will begin production of Apple’s mythical wearable in July. Details are scant, but the Reuters report says Apple’s smartwatch will feature a 2.5-inch, slightly rectangular, arched touch display, and will be juiced by wireless charging. The gadget will have a heart rate sensor, and connect only to Apple devices running iOS. The watch would go on sale in October, and Apple expects to sell 50 million units within one year of the wearable’s release. LG will make the watch’s display, and Quanta—a company that already makes Macbooks and iPods—will account for at least 70 percent of total iWatch production. Or at least that’s the news from a trio of sources that Reuters quotes off the record. Image: Todd Hamilton To date, Todd Hamilton has created the most wowing concept images of what an iWatch might look like. It could be bad news for Apple if the final iWatch product doesn't look as enchanting as what Hamilton has conceived in his imagination. Should Apple release the iWatch (or whatever the gadget is to be called), Microsoft will be the last remaining consumer-tech giant left standing on the sidelines of the wearables space. Hardware manufacturers see wearables as the next step in mobility beyond smartphones and tablets, but an Apple wearable is far from a sure consumer hit. The wearables market is expected to grow by 500 percent by 2018, but currently not a single smartwatch has successfully made the transition from nerd-oriented curiosity to mainstream success. The Pebble watch is just an idie cult favorite. Sony’s two smartwatches have near-imperceptible public mindshare. And Samsung’s four smartwatches, while the recipients of generous marketing support, have yet to fulfill Samsung’s own promise of being the “next big thing.” Still, if any smartwatch stands a chance of success, it’s the iWatch. Apple enjoys the benefits of an extremely unified, consistent, user-friendly hardware-software ecosystem. So if the company can position the iWatch as the perfect wrist-worn complement to the iPhone, the Apple wearable truly could become “the next big thing.” The keys to any iWatch success will be simple elegance and execution. How easy will it be to use apps on the extremely limited screen real estate of a 2.5-inch display? How will Apple surmount perennial wearable bugaboos like Bluetooth dropouts and short battery life? And what whiz-bang features will convince fence-sitters to put a completely new gadget type on their wrists? If any company can figure out the smartwatch conundrum, it’s Apple. But the company will need to move quickly—and keep an eye trained on the competition. At next week’s Google I/O conference, Google is expected to demo LG’s G Watch, which runs the Android Wear OS. It essentially puts the highly acclaimed Google Now digital assistant on the user’s wrist. Android Wear smartwatches won’t be anything like what Apple is poised to deliver in the iWatch. But they could put serious pressure on the iWatch, four months before Apple’s wearable is even released. This story, "Source: Apple's iWatch will hit production in July with 2.5-inch display, wireless charging" was originally published by TechHive.YOU KIND OF WANT the fashion designer Rick Owens to be a monosyllabic, misanthropic recluse. It’s what the embodiment of his clothes should be, if we were going by some unwritten aesthetic script. After all, the fashion Owens presents four times a year, for men and women, on the grand Paris stage, isn’t free and easy. It isn’t simple. It often looks like rags: Precious fabrics, like cashmere, are pilled and laddered, and leather is repeatedly washed to give it the texture and appearance of a prehistoric animal’s skin. There is something monstrous about his gothic garments, with their strange, disturbing proportions attenuated and exaggerated, draped like ectoplasm clinging to thin limbs. When people wear them head to toe, as Owens’s most enthusiastic followers frequently do, they don’t look human. They look other. “Troll clothes for the most desperate lemmings in the fashion herd,” one observer wrote in 2008 on The New York Times’s On the Runway blog. Owens appreciated the sentiment so much that he ran the phrase on his website, alongside near-universal plaudits from the rest of the fashion world. There is, however, a disconnect between Rick Owens the man and Rick Owens the fashion designer. In photographs, Owens looks arresting, even sinister, with his poker-straight black hair and shroudlike attire, like the Grim Reaper crossed with a West Coast surf bum. (He often wears diaper-wrap shorts and sneakers, which undermines the goth undertones.) His spiky, sharply drawn features appear a little cadaverous. Presented in print, Owens — generally quoted on topics such as death, renewal, creation — can come across like a prophet of the apocalypse. And those monstrous “troll clothes” he designs often seem, at first glance, cold and hard, solid carapaces of fabric, sharply cut and difficult to wear. “I miss archness,” he murmurs, as if by way of explanation. “I think there was an arch moment in the ’40s in fashion, and I’m thinking forward, thinking about fashion cycles — that’s kind of a good cycle to bring back.”At the very beginning of Jocelin of Brakelond’s Chronicle of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds tells us his monastery was in serious trouble. From the years 1157 to 1180 the English abbey was led by Abbot Hugo. Jocelin of Brakelond, then a young monk at Bury St Edmunds, explained that he and his fellow brothers were following the Benedictine rule and behaving in the manner of exemplary Christians. However, even a monastery does not survive on prayers alone: It is true that discipline and the service of God, and all that pertained to the rule, flourished greatly within the cloister, but without the walls all-things were mismanaged. For every man, seeing that he served a simple and ageing lord, did not that which was right, but that which was pleasing in his own eyes. The townships and all the hundreds of the abbot were given to firm; the woods were destroyed, and the houses on the manors were on the verge of ruin; from day to day all things grew worse. The abbot’s sole resource and means of relief was in borrowing money, that so it might at least be possible to maintain the dignity of his house. For eight years before his death, there was never an Easter or Michaelmas which did not see at least one or two hundred pounds added to the debt. The bonds were ever renewed, and the growing interest was converted into principal. Jocelin of Brakelond’s chronicle is a fascinating account of the day-to-day workings of a medieval monastery. Bury St Edmunds, located in the county of Suffolk, had been operating since the year 1020, and served as the home for the relics of the Anglo-Saxon king and saint, Edmund the Martyr. It would become a popular destination for pilgrims, and over the decades would amass a large amount of wealth and property. However by the later half of the thirteenth-century the abbey was experiencing financial troubles, taking on debt. After the death of Hugo, the next abbot would have his hands full in keeping the monastery going. The person who was chosen, Samson of Tottington, is the main figure of Jocelin’s account, and he offers an in-depth look into this man, which at times was full of admiration and praise, but at others also showed tensions within the monastery. In many ways, Abbot Samson would resemble the Chief Executive Officer of a company – indeed, he was actually running a corporation that would have been worth tens of millions of pounds in today’s money – the abbey owned dozens of farms, mills and buildings, which provided the income needed to maintain the monks. Bury St Edmunds was also a place to visit, for kings as well as commoners, and not just for its churches – the monks made sure their hunting parks were well stocked, and that guests would have the best meals and service. Abbot Samson would be in charge of all this for nearly 30 years, starting in 1182. He had been a monk for about sixteen years at this point, and had served in many jobs within the monastery. He had allies and friends, but also made enemies. Jocelin was a novice monk who learned under Samson, and seems to have often confided in him. He once asked Samson, before he became abbot about the poor state of the monastery and why he didn’t do anything about. “Why do you keep silence when you see and hear such things you, who are a cloistered monk, and desire not offices, and fear God rather than man? “ Samson’s reply: “This is the hour of darkness; this is the hour in the which flatterers triumph and are believed; their might is increased, nor can we prevail against them. These things must be endured for a while the Lord see and judge!” He waited for his time and eventually it came – once he became abbot Samson took a very active role in managing the vast array of properties. Jocelyn would serve as his chaplain during his early years, and his account reveals much about Samson’s personality and management style: By his command, a general account was drawn up for every hundred of the leets and suits, of the hidages and customary supplies of fodder, of the hens which ought to be paid to him, and of all the other customary dues, revenues, and expenses, which the tenants had always concealed to a great extent. All these things he reduced to writing, so that within four years of his election, no one could deceive him as to the resources of the abbey even to a penny’s value, whereas he had received nothing in writing from his predecessors concerning the management of the abbey, except a little schedule containing the names of the knights of St. Edmund and the names of the manors, and the rent which attached to each farm. Now he called this book of his his Calendar, in the which also were written down all the debts which he had paid. And he consulted this book almost daily, as though it were a mirror reflecting his own integrity. One gets the impression that Samson was a somewhat harsh man, just interested in making and saving money. He earned much grumbling from his fellow monks, especially because he cut back on the spending over the food they ate. He could have a temper as well, lashing out against his fellow monks, including even at Jocelyn when the latter tried to reason with him. But he was also a man under much pressure, as the abbey’s debts had piled up under his predecessor. Jocelin notes: Now at that time, wheresoever the abbot went, there hastened to him both Jews and Christians demanding payment of the debts due to them. And they so disturbed the abbot, and caused him such anxiety, that he lost his sleep, and grew pale and thin. Then he said, “There will be no rest for my soul until I shall see an end of my indebtedness.” At times Samson complained that he would rather have been the abbey’s librarian instead of its abbot. Another time when Jocelin asked him why he was so restless the previous night, the abbot replied, “This is no cause for surprise. You share in my wealth – in food and drink and travel and so on – but you scarcely give a thought for the things that worry me – the administration of the abbey and of my household, and the many difficult matters that I encounter in my pastoral role. These are things that cause me misery and heartache.” It is no surprise to learn that after 14 years in this job that Jocelyn had seen his hair, once black and gray,
in second: the United States. If you're scratching your head, one reason may be that the ranking confounds the common perception "that generosity and wealth are connected to one another," says Adam Pickering. He's the international policy manager of the London-based Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), which publishes the annual World Giving Index, now in its sixth year. Only five of the G20 countries appear in the top 20, he points out. So "even though you might think it would," wealth does not necessarily translate into greater generosity. Another reason is that it's not the total amount of money given that the index is measuring. It's the act of giving itself, in the form of three specific charitable behaviors. The Gallup World Poll asked people from 145 countries: In the last month, have you donated money to a charity; volunteered time to an organization; helped a stranger or someone you didn't know who needed help? When the results to all three questions were averaged, Myanmar came out on top. Still, why Myanmar? The answer lies in the strong influence of the particular form of Buddhism (called Theravada) practiced there, according to Paul Fuller, lecturer in Buddhist Studies at the University of Cardiff. Throughout the country, he explained in an email, "The notion of 'generating merit' is very pervasive." The belief is that whatever you do here, in this life, will have consequences for your next life, he explains. Thus, the more merit you acquire now, the more you increase your chances of your next life being a good one. Acquiring merit in different ways — such as meditation or ethical acts — is important in all forms of Buddhism. But in Myanmar, special emphasis is placed on acts of giving. And the most common manifestation is making daily offerings of alms or food to monks — so much so that they have become what Fuller calls "an essential religious practice." May Oo Lwin, who is originally from Myanmar and visits there frequently with her husband, Paul Fuller, says, "'There's a strong culture of giving, not necessarily an obligation but more like giving what one can possibly contribute to those in need. It doesn't have to be big but something meaningful and something you could do to help a bit. In that way, you are doing a good deed, [you] generate some merit as a family and making [the recipients] happy brings happiness to you as well." For example, when Lwin and Fuller visited Myanmar in April, they made a point of going to an orphanage that cared for children who had lost their mothers to AIDS and made an offering of several hundred dollars. "I wanted to do something nice and meaningful as a family as we have never done it before," Lwin wrote in an email. "I thought of our children who are so lucky compared to those children who are being deprived of so many things." This tradition of giving can be traced through the country's art, says Catherine Raymond, associate professor, Southeast Asian Art and Director, Center for Burma Studies at Northern Illinois University. "Religion and culture are intertwined there," she says — evident in the inscriptions of donations recorded at the entrances to temples dating back to the 11th century. "In Buddhism, there is the notion of dana, which means giving." It means you "give rice to the monks who come to your door every morning. Or you bring some food to the monastery, or you sponsor a young kid who will come to the monastery, or you build a religious structure or you donate a painting" to it. As impressive as this tradition is, in more recent decades, Myanmar has become associated with the repressive military rule that ended only in 2011. And yet this strife may also have served, in a counterintuitive way, to solidify the culture of giving. According to Jenna Capeci, who has worked on projects in Myanmar as director of Civil and Political Rights at American Jewish World Service, the turmoil "has done more to reinforce this culture of charity and resilience because the people could not count on the military junta or local authorities to provide anything for the community." Billie Goodman, who has also worked on Myanmar projects for AJWS, notes that "generations have grown up in the last decades seeing a government that does not provide services or take care of them." As a result, "what emerged is an incredible resilience and an incredible need to take care of each other." Her examples are myriad. "If you need a road in a rural area, the government is not going to provide it. But you can get together with your neighbors to build it. Education is another example where in a lot of rural areas and ethnic minority areas the schools that exist have been built by community members, who have contributed money to pay for the teachers salaries, they have themselves built the structures, and they are the ones who are doing this. It has been necessary for people to survive, really." It's an example of solidarity in crisis — and in giving.Mystery: President Trump Delays Leaving Air Force One for Forty-Five Minutes on Return to DC Sunday Night President Donald Trump mysteriously delayed deplaning from Air Force One for forty-five minutes upon arrival at Joint Base Andrews just outside of Washington, D.C. Sunday night from a weekend at Trump’s golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey. Reporters were left in the dark as the door to Air Force One remained closed even though the mobile staircase had been rolled up to the plane for Trump to walk down. Air Force One landed at 8:40 P.M. EDT. Trump left the plane at 9:25. Senior Trump aide and son-in-law Jared Kushner left Air Force One and returned two times before Trump left. Kushner told the media that the President was “just working on something.” A White House official later said on background Trump was holding a meeting but did not explain further. It was reported that Deputy National Security Advisor KT McFarland was seen on Marine One, the helicopter used to shuttle the President between the White House and JB Andrews. When Trump appeared, he looked sober and weary in wire service photos taken as he left Air Force One and then minutes later Marine One at the White House. BACK TO THE GRIND: President Trump arrives at The White House Sunday night. pic.twitter.com/Zy1pQBZbpR — The TRUMP PAGE (@MichaelDelauzon) May 8, 2017 President Trump remains on board Air Force One, a half hour after they landed at Joint Base Andrews. Front door remains closed. — Steve Brusk (@stevebruskCNN) May 8, 2017 Air Force One landed. Yet Trump didn’t leave the plane for 45 minutes. It was a bit strange – I’m not sure whom he was meeting with or why. pic.twitter.com/qv8ssMt9j6 — Tara McKelvey (@Tara_Mckelvey) May 8, 2017 Trump remains on Air Force One almost 40 minutes after landing, per pool. Kushner got off plane, came back on, left again and now back on. — Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) May 8, 2017 Kushner came over to the press pool, and Trump is finally off plane. "Everything is good. He was just working on something," he said. Hmm… https://t.co/AufFeBCGKJ — Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) May 8, 2017 White House asks press pool to distribute the following statement on plane delay: "On background, the President was finishing a meeting." — Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) May 8, 2017 Reports of KT McFarland's banishment to Singapore have been greatly…premature at best. Pool reports have her on Marine One with POTUS. — Annie Karni (@anniekarni) May 8, 2017 Though Air Force One landed at @JBA_NAFW at 840pm, Pres Trump didn't disembark until 925pm. No explanation given. pic.twitter.com/oWKWPZJMYL — Mark Knoller (@markknoller) May 8, 2017 Asked why @POTUS on board so long, son-in-law & advisor Jared Kushner told press pool he was "working on something," but didn't elaborate. — Mark Knoller (@markknoller) May 8, 2017 WH official later explained Pres Trump was finishing up a meeting to explain his 45-min stay on Air Force One after landing. pic.twitter.com/pCAvY7XB7g — Mark Knoller (@markknoller) May 8, 2017 Pres Trump lost no time stepping off Marine One on return to the WH, but didn't respond when asked why the delay on Air Force One. pic.twitter.com/H02zXERXfI — Mark Knoller (@markknoller) May 8, 2017 Video of Trump’s return to the White House shows him walking alone across the South Lawn and flashing a thumb up to the media with his right hand. Donald Trump returns to White House on Marine One pic.twitter.com/sDkDVtRZZJ — Demetri Sevastopulo (@Dimi) May 8, 2017 Senior White House aide Dan Scavino, Jr., posted video from inside Marine One as Trump walked solo across the South Lawn.Bitcoin Bitcoin Unlimited Support Overtakes SegWit For the First Time The percentage of blocks that are signaling support for Bitcoin Unlimited has surpassed Segregated Witness, making it the most popular scaling solution at the moment. Scaling Bitcoin Scaling is the most important and pressing issue in Bitcoin at the moment. The current block size capacity allows for three to seven transactions per second to be made in the network. With many blocks getting close to being full, the Bitcoin network will soon be unable to support its growing user base, which means that users may be subject to larger-than-usual fees or delayed confirmation times. As so, there are currently multiple solutions being put forward on how to increase the transaction capacity of Bitcoin moving forward. The two front-runners are Segregated Witness (SegWit) and Bitcoin Unlimited. These two options, although close in popularity, differ greatly from one another and represent the opposing sides of the ongoing block size debate. While the SegWit update got a lot of media attention and was quick to capture the support of multiple mining pools and other services, the percentage of blocks mined that are signaling approval for SegWit has stagnated around the 25% mark and has been slightly dropping in the past few weeks. Bitcoin Unlimited, however, has been gaining support throughout these last weeks and has just overtaken SegWit into the lead. This change could become a pivotal moment for Bitcoin, as SegWit supporters may flock to the most popular solution in the hopes of ending the block size debate once and for all. Who Supports What? It’s worth noting that the opinions on this subject differ not only within the community but also among the companies that provide Bitcoin services such as mining pools, exchanges and wallet providers. Many of the leading services in the industry have planned or are currently supporting the SegWit update. These include services like Blockchain.info, Ledger Wallets, Electrum, OKCoin, Bitfinex and Coinfloor. Some of the most popular pools like BitClub, BTCC and Bitfury are also signaling their support for SegWit. In contrast, companies that support the Bitcoin Unlimited protocol have not been as vocal on the subject. However, it is possible to see that large mining pools like Bitcoin.com, BTC.TOP, ViaBTC and SlushPool are currently supporting Bitcoin Unlimited, with the latter, Slush, actually supporting both solutions. We can see in the “Bitcoin Blocks” chart below that the support is dropping, not only for SegWit but for Bitcoin Core as well. While Bitcoin Unlimited continues to gather supporters, despite the bug that recently caused Bitcoin.com to mine an invalid block. Bitcoin Unlimited Bitcoin Unlimited is an alternative Bitcoin protocol that allows the block size limit to be set dynamically instead of requiring constant changes to increase the block size limit as the network user base grows. This means that the block size limit can be adjusted without the need for hard forks, provided that a majority of nodes vote on the adjustment. Users can indicate a preference on the block size issue, and direct their node to only relay blocks below their preferred size, thus hampering the distribution of larger blocks across the network. This gives a “voice” to all participants of the network and not just miners. Nevertheless, this approach has raised some centralization concerns, given that the decisions in the network could be driven by a small group of users who control a significant portion of the economic power in the network. SegWit Segwit is an update, among other things, allowing the witness data contained in each transaction, also known as a digital signature, to be removed from the transaction itself and to be moved into what is called an extended block, allowing transactions to be smaller, thus increasing the transaction capability in the network. In order for either Bitcoin Unlimited or Segwit to be approved, 95% of the nodes in the network must signal their approval, which can be done for the latter by running Bitcoin Core’s latest version. Bitcoin is not the only blockchain currently trying to implement SegWit. Litecoin is currently having a similar vote, where currently 2.4% of the network is signalling their support for the update. What do you think? Could Bitcoin Unlimited become the future of Bitcoin? Or can SegWit recover its popularity and reach the 95% threshold? Images courtesy of CoinDance, Bitcoin News, ShutterstockMay 23, 2016; Orlando, FL, USA; Orlando Magic general manager Rob Hennigan talks with media as Frank Vogel is introduced as the new head coach during a press conference at Amway Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports The widely held assumption that the Orlando Magic would fire Rob Hennigan if the team missed the Playoffs may not be true, according to Basketball Insiders. There is a widely held assumption Orlando Magic general manager Rob Hennigan needed the Magic to make the Playoffs to remain in his position. This season brought with it a massive change to the team’s rebuilding process and expectations. The Magic cashed in young players like Tobias Harris and Victor Oladipo for a chance at free agency and veteran forward Serge Ibaka. The amount of money they spent and the focus they brought in to make the Playoffs made it clear there was pressure to win and win now. The season has not gone to that plan. The Magic quickly fell out of the Playoff picture in December and January. All the while, they never established the defensive identity both coach Frank Vogel and the makeup of their roster seemed to suggest they would have. Yet, this season has not gone at all to plan. It is becoming clear — if it was not already — this team is not making the Playoffs and the whole gambit to push in for the Playoffs with a mismatched roster will not work. And, wherever the win-now directive came from, there is only one man ultimately responsible. The buck stops at Rob Hennigan and the roster he put together. But the reality for the Magic and their future might be different than what the sense has largely been. Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reports Hennigan’s job may be more secure than many on the outside might believe considering how massive a failure this season has quickly become. Sources close to the process say they are not sold that Martins will fire Hennigan. Much like the first year in 2012, Martins knew the team was embarking on a new course, one built around more veterans. The Magic landed a few in free agency and will be set up nicely this summer to pursue more. As the Magic sit today they have just $67.4 million in salary commitments for the 2017 season, with the salary cap set to be just at $102 million, giving the Magic about $34.6 million to spend this summer. While some may question the virtue of letting Hennigan take more swings at the piñata, the view from inside the Magic is the job is not done yet, and there is still a commitment to Hennigan to deliver on the plan everyone agreed to. It is important to note, a lot can still change. If the Magic make a bad deal or cannot find a deal that sets up their future more clearly at the trade deadline, that may necessitate a change. As Kyler also notes on the latest episode of the Basketball Insiders Podcast, ownership could also step in and demand a change without a clearer path forward. It will be interesting to see how this plays out if it indeed is not as cut and dry as fans seem to think. As Kyler notes, there are some business considerations that will quickly come into play. Many of the Magic’s corporate partnerships expire at the end of the season. And the team could face some angry season ticket holders if there is no demonstrable progress soon. On top of all this, while the DeVos family is around, they stay largely hands off on the day to day decisions. Whether the Magic move on from Rob Hennigan is completely up to CEO Alex Martins. That is unless ownership intervenes. And that is completely possible too. The focus for the Magic right now is on the trade deadline. Hennigan will get at least that to carve a path for the future and sell Martins and ownership on his vision for the team. Keith Smith of RealGM reports the Magic appear ready to focus on a rebuild rather than trying to buy their way into the 2017 Playoffs. The team has fallen six games out of the Playoffs with about 24 games to play this season. League sources indicate Orlando has begun pursuing trades for a rebuild. Last night's loss dropped Magic 6 games out of the playoff picture. — Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) February 10, 2017 The Playoff dreams are quickly going away. And Hennigan certainly holds responsibility for tearing the roster down and building it up into this season. The question now becomes whether Martins and ownership give him another chance to repair things and get their rebuild project back on track. To Hennigan’s credit, he said publicly he would not make a deal to ruin the franchise’s future. His decisions will have the Magic’s future ahead of his own. But the assumption that missing the Playoffs would seal Hennigan’s fate may not be entirely correct. Hennigan may get a chance to see this thing through. We will see what direction the team goes.By Tim Judah Balkans analyst The discovery of a mass grave in Serbia, thought to contain the bodies of about 250 Kosovo Albanians, is a brutal reminder of the wars of the 1990s. But Serbia's readiness to publicise the find is a sign that some things have begun to change. Some 744 bodies from Kosovo were found at a Serbian airbase in 2001 "This is more proof that Serbia does not shy away from its dark past and is ready to bring to justice all those who have committed crimes," said Vladimir Vukcevic, Serbia's war crimes prosecutor, announcing the discovery of the site at Raska, close to the Kosovo border. On the face of it, 15 years after the end of the Bosnian and Croatian wars and 11 years after the end of the Kosovo war this would indeed seem to be the case. But in reality, progress towards reconciliation, and facing up to the past across the Balkans, has been a patchy affair. Homage to victims A major step forward was made in Serbia in March, when parliament passed a resolution condemning the massacre by Bosnian Serb forces of some 8,000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men and boys when they captured the town of Srebrenica in July 1995. Srebrenica was the worst single crime in Europe since the end of World War II, and while the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found that Serbia was not guilty of genocide in this case, it also found that its responsibility lay in failing to prevent the killings. The resolution came five years after Boris Tadic, Serbia's president, went to Srebrenica to pay homage to the victims. However, it was a struggle for him to get the resolution through parliament, and most Serbs were lukewarm about it, if not downright hostile. President Tadic was only able to get the resolution passed by promising that there would be another one, condemning the deaths of Serbs during the wars. In the wake of the Srebrenica resolution, the next big story was the speech of Croatian president Ivo Josipovic to the Bosnian parliament in Sarajevo in April. There he expressed regret for Croatian policies during the Bosnian war, which he said had "led to human sufferings and to divisions that still plague us today". This statement proved just as divisive in Croatia as the Srebrenica declaration had been in Serbia. Many regarded it as a political jibe against the ruling Croatian Democratic Union party, which was also the party in power during the war years. Mr Josipovic is a Social Democrat. Vigorous debate Indeed, every time a war crimes suspect is arrested or a move to express regret or acknowledge responsibility is made, there will always be some who consider that in a negative light. Some critics argued that the only reason Serbia passed the Srebrenica resolution was to look good in the eyes of the European Union, which it aspires to join. Likewise, just after Serbia passed its resolution on Srebrenica the government of Republika Srpska, the Serb part of Bosnia, issued a statement calling into question its previous recognition of the facts and claiming that the numbers of those killed had been inflated. Bosnian Serb wartime commander Ratko Mladic remains at large In Kosovo, too, there has been little open discussion about crimes committed on the Albanian side during the conflict. Allegations that hundreds of Serbs and Albanians were murdered in Albania during and after the war by the Kosovo Liberation Army have met with blanket denials. Among the most gruesome allegations are that some of those prisoners had their organs removed, in order to sell them, before being killed. Albania has dismissed the claims as fiction, but the UN and non-governmental organisations are still pressing for a full investigation. Kosovo and Serbia are far from establishing an official dialogue on war crimes. However, Serbian and Croatian leaders have not only begun to talk about the past but to act too. Their two presidents have recently agreed to work on setting aside their cases at the ICJ in which each has accused the other of genocide during the wars. Another hopeful sign is the vigorous debate which is now taking place between non-governmental organisations across the former Yugoslavia over the creation of what is called the RECOM initiative. This aims to establish the facts about war crimes in order, in part, to establish a basis for reconciliation but also to prevent facts being distorted for political ends in future. Tim Judah covers the Balkans for the Economist. He is the author of The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia, a new edition of which has recently been published. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable versionBobby Boswell, right, tries to stop Montreal’s Dominic Oduro in first half at RFK Stadium. (By Tony Quinn) D.C. United’s first home match in a month Saturday never felt quite right, beginning before kickoff when goalkeeper Bill Hamid was scratched at the last moment and into the first half when United lacked urgency and energy. United fell behind inside 15 minutes for the third consecutive game and, unlike the previous two weeks, didn’t marshal a response, falling to the Montreal Impact, 1-0, before an announced 14,993 at RFK Stadium. The defeat spoiled a modest run of prosperity over five weeks, inflicted a fifth shutout in nine outings and left United (3-4-2) with only seven of a possible 15 points in five home dates. Coach Ben Olsen was livid with his team. [D.C. United is getting goals and points; the other stats don’t really matter] “I thought the whole first half we were full of [expletive]. We looked like posers,” he said. “We thought it was an easy day at the office. We didn’t have enough courage and we didn’t have enough soccer.” Later, Olsen added: “They had a little more to them in the first half and seemed like the game meant more to them than to us, and that’s unacceptable, in particular in this building.” United raised its game in the second half but manufactured few threats against a stubborn Montreal side. “We’re not good enough to think we have a switch where we can turn it on and off,” defender Bobby Boswell said. “We have to be on all the time. Our effort has to be there. That’s the frustrating part: The effort wasn’t necessarily there as a group in the first half. The second half was better, but the damage was done.” United’s issues began before kickoff. Hamid was on the lineup sheet, but when the player procession snaked onto the field, Travis Worra was in line instead. Last Sunday in Atlanta, Hamid strained a groin muscle while making a save in the third minute but remained in the match. An MRI exam showed no major problems and he seemed on track to start. “We had a talk and there was some hesitation,” Olsen said. “When there is hesitation with a player who means that much to us, I made the call to give him another week to make sure he is 100 percent.” Despite the setback, Hamid was available on the bench in case of emergency. Long-standing injuries, however, had ruled out captain Steve Birnbaum, Patrick Nyarko, Nick DeLeon and Rob Vincent. The Impact arrived in Washington without ailing striker Matteo Mancosu. At the start of a three-game homestand, Luciano Acosta evaded six challenges in short order and sprayed the ball wide to Lloyd Sam, who chose to cross instead of shoot from an angle. The feed failed to find a recipient. Montreal (2-3-4) went ahead in the 13th minute on a sterling solo effort by Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla, an 18-year-old homegrown midfielder. He warded off Jared Jeffrey about 35 yards from the target and pulled away from Acosta, who didn’t make enough effort to disrupt the run. Tabla surged into space and, when Kofi Opare backed off, teed up a 18-yard shot beyond Worra’s reach and into the lower left corner. “We came out soft,” Jeffrey said, “and gave up a soft goal.” Worra was under pressure several times in the first half, which ended without United mustering a proper response. Olsen’s halftime message lit a fire. While hunger and purpose improved, execution remained imperfect. Acosta’s dynamic work almost produced the equalizer in the 57th minute as he split two defenders and ripped a 20-yard effort off the top of the crossbar. United grew increasingly frustrated with referee Robert Sibiga, who, in the 64th minute, allowed play to continue despite Sam being bloodied by an elbow. Substitute Patrick Mullins, in his first extended appearance since the third match, failed to finish two late chances. Opare’s apparent equalizer in the 85th minute was correctly disallowed because he was offside by a step. The match ended in turmoil as teammates held back Boswell from going after Anthony Jackson-Hamel, who had struck him in the face in the waning moments. “I was more unhappy about our performance. We should win at home,” Boswell said. “We had a chance here to put nine points on the board [on the homestand]; we just missed an opportunity to put three.” United notes: Reserve midfielder Julian Buescher was a late scratch with a knee ailment, leaving six available subs instead of seven. … United will host the Philadelphia Union (1-4-4) next Saturday.North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory said Tuesday that if Caitlyn Jenner visits the state, she will be required to use men’s bathroom facilities. “In the private sector in North Carolina, she can go wherever the private sector wants her to because we don’t want to be in the private business of the private sector,” McCrory said Tuesday during a gubernatorial debate, when asked which facilities Jenner—who came out as a transgender woman last year—would be able to use. The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample Sign Up Now “If she’s going to a shower facility at UNC-Chapel Hill after running around the track, she’s going to use the men’s shower,” McCrory said. Jenner has become one of the most high-profile advocates for transgender rights since coming out. Tuesday’s debate question referred to a controversial state law that requires people to use bathrooms corresponding to their sex at birth. It has been heavily criticized as discriminatory by celebrities, politicians and business leaders. McCrory has stood by the law, denouncing as “political retaliation” any efforts by businesses and athletic organizations to show their opposition. Write to Katie Reilly at [email protected] DELHI (Reuters) - Veteran Indian social activist Anna Hazare was detained by police at his home on Tuesday to prevent him from defying authorities with a fast to the death to force a beleaguered government to pass tougher laws against corruption. Supporters of veteran social activist Anna Hazare (C) crowd around him after he offered prayers at the Mahatma Gandhi memorial at Rajghat in New Delhi August 15, 2011. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi Images of Anna Hazare, decked out in a plain white shirt, white cap and spectacles in the style of Mahatma Gandhi, being whisked away by police are sure to inflame tensions already high over mounting corruption and soaring inflation. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has struggled for months over how to deal with the popular Hazare and his followers, who have become a serious challenge to the authority of the government. A string of corruption scandals has shaken India in recent months, smothering Singh’s reform agenda, denting investor confidence and distracting parliament at a time when the economy is being hit by inflation and higher interest rates. “Delhi police detained Anna and several colleagues this morning,” Kiran Bedi, a social activist and member of Anna’s anti-graft movement, told reporters. “The protest will go on,” added Bedi, who was also detained. Television pictures showed Hazare being taken away to an undisclosed location by plainclothes police in a white car. Hundreds of supporters were gathered outside the activist’s home waving Indian flags. Police denied the septuagenarian Hazare permission on Monday to fast near a cricket stadium because he had failed to meet certain conditions, including ending his fast in three days and ensuring not more than 5,000 people took part. Dozens of Hazare supporters were also detained on Tuesday at two sites in the capital, which had been planned to be used to protest against rampant corruption in Asia’s third largest economy. Local media said police took Hazare into preventative custody to stop a breakdown in law and order in New Delhi as thousands of followers were due to take part in the fast. Hazare has become a serious adversary for Singh’s government, challenging it over its failure to tackle mounting corruption in Asia’s third largest economy. He became the unlikely thorn in the side of the Congress party-led coalition when he first went on a hunger strike in April to successfully win concessions from the government. “My fast is starting tomorrow...I will fight till my last breath to ensure that the Lokpal (anti-corruption bill) is passed, I will not go back,” Hazare told reporters on Monday. “The government has become unconscious in its own power... We placed our demands before them and they just turned a blind-eye to them.” Tapping into a groundswell of discontent over corruption scandals in Singh’s government, Hazare lobbied for a parliamentary bill creating a special ombudsman to bring crooked politicians, bureaucrats and judges to book. Hazare called off his fast after the government promised to introduce the bill into parliament. The legislation was presented in early August, but activists slammed the draft version as toothless, prompting Hazare to renew his campaign.Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) proposed a budget Tuesday that would increase the average residential property tax bill by 8.7 percent — the biggest increase in eight years — to fund a fast-growing school system and replace revenue lost when the Supreme Court ruled last year that Maryland’s income tax system was unconstitutional. The $5.2 billion operating budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, which goes to the County Council for consideration, increases government spending by just under 2 percent. It lifts the property tax rate by 3.94 cents per $100 of assessed value, from 98.7 cents to $1.02. That means that taking into account rising assessments, the owner of an average home valued at $464,000 would pay an additional $325 a year in property taxes — $4,075 instead of $3,750. Property taxes have remained relatively flat in recent years. Last year, Leggett signaled the likelihood of a significant tax increase, citing sluggish economic growth, potential losses from the income tax case and urgent needs in schools. On Tuesday, he told council members that waiting was no longer an option. “The budgetary pressures on the County are long-term pressures and can no longer be addressed through short-term fixes,” Leggett said in a letter to Council President Nancy Floreen (D-At Large). [In wealthy Montgomery, some high-earning congressional candidates] The proposal probably will cause political heartburn for council members, especially those who aspire to run for county executive in 2018, when Leggett is expected to retire after completing his third term. Also lurking in the wings is a possible term-limits proposition on the ballot this fall. Boyds activist Robin Ficker said he is gathering signatures to place the issue before voters. The measure would limit the county executive and council members to three consecutive four-year terms. A similar proposal drew 48 percent support from voters in 2004. A tax increase this spring, combined with hostility toward “career politicians” evident in the 2016 election season, could add momentum to the measure. The Ficker proposition would be effective retroactively, meaning that four council members known to be interested in Leggett’s job — Roger Berliner (D-Potomac-Bethesda), Marc Elrich (D-At Large), George L. Leventhal (D-At Large) and Floreen — would have to step down in 2018. They could still run for county executive. “It’s a very large increase,” said Floreen, who will lead the council’s budget deliberations over the next several weeks. “The real issue is our calculation of what our residents can afford.” The lion’s share of funds from the proposed tax hike would go to the 156,000-student public school system. Enrollment has mushroomed by more than 18,000 since 2007 and continues to rise by about 2,000 students a year, creating serious overcrowding in some schools. The $2.4 billion county appropriation would be nearly $90 million more than state-mandated minimum spending requirements, or “maintenance of effort.” An additional $33 million in school fund balances would be folded into the spending plan. Per-pupil funding in the county hasn’t grown since fiscal 2009, which Leggett said was an untenable situation for a system whose challenges include a growing number of non-English-speaking students and a significant achievement gap between minority and non-minority students. “We must provide the Board of Education with additional resources to further address many of these challenges,” Leggett said. The total increase in county funding for schools — just under $136 million — falls about $44 million short of the amount requested by the Montgomery County Board of Education. Nevertheless, Board of Education President Michael Durso said he was pleased with Leggett’s proposal. “I don’t think it gets us as far as we wished,” he said, “but I think this is another step forward in the whole budget process... and I think it’s a positive step.” [Rep. Donna Edwards: Why aren’t black women described as ‘born to’ the U.S. Senate?] Leggett’s other priority is replacing revenue lost as a result of the 5-to-4 Supreme Court decision in Comptroller of the Treasury of Maryland v. Wynne. The case was brought by a Howard County couple who challenged a provision in state law that denied residents a full credit for taxes paid on income earned outside the state. The court said the system constituted illegal double taxation and ordered the state to give refunds to residents who had filed claims. The ruling means that the county would experience reduced revenue distributions from the state by at least $50 million in 2017 and more than an estimated $200 million over the next four years. If the Maryland General Assembly votes to slow the reduction, the proposed tax increase could be lowered, Leggett said. The budget includes about $14 million in raises and longevity payments to police, fire and county employees that the county negotiated with the workers’ unions. The library system would get an additional $1 million, restoring some weekend hours. Also included are funding for police body cameras and protective vests for officers. One issue the council will debate is how many votes are needed to pass the budget. A charter amendment approved by voters after a big increase in 2008 — the product of another Ficker initiative — caps the amount of property tax revenue the county can collect each year. Because Leggett’s plan breaks the cap, approval could require a unanimous council vote. But a 2012 law carved out an exception to that rule if the new revenue is dedicated to education — an exception used last year by Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D) to circumvent a county spending-limitation law in his push last year for a tax increase. Montgomery County lawyers have advised that passing Leggett’s budget with a simple majority vote would probably be challenged in court.Dear Marius Gripsgard, The UBports Team There need to be some serious changes in the UBports project. There are many people who spend a lot of time and money but never see the fruits of those efforts. There's no direction to any of its work. Some of us wait weeks, and even months, to hear from you. We don't want to continue like this any more. Here's what's wrong, and what can be done. We are writing this as a last resort: we've all talked to you about these exact issues before and been either ignored or brushed off. We're tired of this, and so is the community at large. What's the direction? Developers at UBports fly solo and blind. There's no direction to our project. We don't have a good definition of milestones or dependencies, we don't even have much of a hierarchy. Developers need to know what their goal is, and be able to have the resources to reach it. There needs to be someone managing the project at a high level to set its direction. What do you
the Canadian Wheat Board’s single desk, wartime monopoly was brought to a close. It ended on Aug. 1, 2012. I am writing because I’m wondering when and where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will draw the line on apologies, and on paying compensation for the hardship and oppression of Canadian citizens. Perhaps, he will want to make his way to an Alberta farm meeting, apologize on behalf of the government, shed a tear, and settle up for the financial losses suffered by thousands of western grain growers. Noel Hyslip farms 6,500 acres in the Vulcan area, producing wheat, barley, canola, peas and durum.Get the latest news and videos for this game daily, no spam, no fuss. Following last week's announcement that you could sign up to test Pokemon Go, the beta program--or field test, as it's called--officially starts today. Tests are already underway in Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. It's not too late to sign up for the Pokemon Go US beta test, as you can still head to the game's website to put your name down. The Pokemon Company also shared some information on Pokemon Go's battle mechanics and more. There will be "more than a hundred" different Pokemon to find and catch, the developer said. When you're out in the world, your phone will buzz when a Pokemon is nearby. A Pokemon Go Plus wristband that lights up and buzzes where creatures are close will also be available to buy. When a Pokemon is nearby, you can use your phone's touch screen to try to catch the creature in a Poke Ball. Poke Balls and other items can be found at "PokeStops." These are located in the real world at places like "public art installations, historical markers, and monuments," though a list of specific destinations was not provided. Pokemon Go will also invite players to join a team and take part in Gym Battles. As with PokeStops, Gyms are also found at real places in the world. In terms of battle mechanics, here is how The Pokemon Company explained the setup: "Players can battle using the Pokemon they've caught to gain control of a Gym. By using their own Pokemon's attacks and dodging incoming attacks by swiping left and right on the screen, Pokemon Go players can defeat the defending Pokemon to reduce the Gym's Prestige," reads a line from the game's description. "Once the Gym's Prestige reaches zero, the defending team loses control of the Gym, and the victor's Pokemon can be assigned to defend the Gym. When a team has control of a Gym, team members can increase its Prestige and level by training their Pokemon with other defending Pokemon. As the Gym gets to a higher level, the defending team gains the ability to assign more Pokemon to defend it. They can also team up with friends and battle together at a rival Gym to take down stronger Gyms faster." Set to launch in full this year for iOS and Android devices, Pokemon Go is a free game, but players can spend real money to buy PokeCoins, the in-game currency. These can be spent on power ups and other items. Pokemon Go builds off Niantic's work on the similar, location-based real-world/video game hybrid Ingress. It's part of what Niantic is calling its "Real World" gaming platform, which aims to motivate players to go outdoors and explore the real world.You’ve heard it before: Canadian housing is in a bubble, and a price crash is headed our way. It’s been said enough times in the past six years or so that it seems safe to discount the warning altogether. But lately, Canada's housing markets have truly defied common sense. Despite a recession in the first half of the year, unimpressive wage growth and record household debt levels, house price growth in some markets, like Toronto and Vancouver, has accelerated into double digits over the past year. For instance, if you are the owner of an average detached home in Toronto, your property has been growing in value by $8,500 a month. You could make more money if you quit your job and flipped houses, which is certainly a thing these days. Those price hikes are at least partly the result of the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts, but they have some experts worried. With interest rates already at rock bottom, some are calling the end of Canada's long house price boom. Here are five recent signs that Canada’s housing market has grown out of control, and could be headed for a correction of one kind or another: 1. We’re topping the global housing bubble rankings. The Economist earlier this year identified Canada as having the most overvalued housing market among three dozen advanced economies. Canada, along with Australia, is where “prices seem most out of kilter,” the magazine said, noting that “the cheapness of borrowing” has pushed up prices in Canada and elsewhere. Deutsche Bank has also declared Canada to have the world’s most overvalued housing market, arguing in 2013 that prices were 60-per-cent overvalued at that time. Of course, simply having an overvalued market is no guarantee of a correction. But it certainly increases the odds. 2. Global investors are betting against Canadian housing in record numbers. The global investor community is looking at Canada’s housing numbers, and not buying them. According to research firm Markit, investors are taking out a growing number of “short” positions on Canadian companies involved in mortgage lending, such as banks and insurers, meaning these investors expect stock prices to fall. Home Capital Group, one of Canada’s largest mortgage lenders, is now the most-shorted stock in Canada, CNBC reported last week, and three of the 10 most-shorted stocks are financials institutions. 3. Mortgage fraud is "thriving." If there’s one reason why Home Capital is such a large target for short sellers, it’s likely that the lender cut ties with 45 mortgage brokers earlier this year, over allegations they falsified borrowers’ incomes. That has turned attention to the issue of mortgage fraud, which economists say played a role in the U.S.’s housing bubble bust last decade. Canada isn’t seeing the levels of lending craziness seen south of the border; we have yet to hear of “NINJA loans” (no income, no job, no assets) being peddled to homebuyers. But a recent investigation by the Globe and Mail asserted that mortgage fraud “is thriving” in the current real estate environment. In an online presentation on fraud and identity theft from 2012, mortgage insurer Canada Guaranty notes that “one in 10 mortgage applications will have some element of fraud.” Credit bureau Equifax says it had been able to flag nearly $1-billion worth of attempted mortgage fraud among its lender clients since 2013. In some cases borrowers are simply trying to buy a home that is out of their reach financially. In others, the borrowers could qualify if they had a bigger down payment and paid a higher interest rate, but instead alter pay stubs and bank statements in order to qualify for the cheapest possible mortgage…. 4. Foreign investors are emptying out neighbourhoods — or is this racism rearing its head? A recent study carried out at the University of British Columbia seems to have borne out some observers’ worst fears that foreign investors are having a disproportionate effect on house prices. The survey found that, in a recent six-month period, 70 per cent of homes on Vancouver’s west side were sold to what the study believed to be “Mainland Chinese” nationals. But the study — which, in an absence of data, tried to determine nationality from homeowners’ names — was accused of racism. “I’m very concerned with the racist tones that are implied here, and we have to get away from that. We have to deal with this as a housing challenge we have,” Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said. All the same, the phenomenon of houses standing empty in desirable neighbourhoods is real. “I see a house sold now – and you just know it’s going to get demolished,” Point Grey, Vancouver, resident Clare Cullen told the Globe and Mail recently. “The houses they build are empty – or people are only here for a month.” Cullen suggested that these partially empty neighbourhoods may be more dangerous than fully-occupied ones. The banks are happy to go along with it, and are even encouraging the trend. RBC this week announced it's scrapping its limit on newcomer mortgages, reportedly to keep up with demand from Chinese nationals. Yes, foreign investors take mortgages to buy homes in Canada. Residents of Vancouver's Point Grey say the neighbourhood is increasingly empty as foreign investors snap up homes. 5. Even the CMHC thinks it's gone too far. As Canada’s government-run mortgage insurer, it’s CMHC’s job to keep Canadian housing and homeowners on an even keel. So it’s somewhat worrisome that this institution is now raising the alarm bells about overvaluation. A new report from the corporation found overvaluation in 11 of 15 markets it looked at in Canada, and warned of possible condo overbuilding in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. "The evidence of overvaluation has increased since the previous assessment in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton, and Saskatoon as price levels are not fully supported by economic and demographic factors,'' CMHC economist Bob Dugan said in a statement. But Dugan notes there could be a simple solution to the problem that won't require a painful housing bust. "Problematic overvaluation conditions in local housing markets could be resolved by moderation in house prices and/or improving economic conditions," he said. Let’s hope those “improving economic conditions” show up before the market finds a more draconian solution. This colour-coded chart shows the degree of housing market risk that CMHC sees across 15 Canadian housing markets.ES Football Newsletter 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 Tony Adams' first match in charge of Granada ended in a comprehensive 3-0 defeat against a second-string Celta Vigo. The former England defender took over the hotseat at the La Liga strugglers earlier this week following the dismissal of Lucas Alcaraz. Adams, who had been working with the club since November as part of his role with the Chinese owners, admitted Granada need a miracle to avoid relegation. But there was no sign of that occurring on Sunday as Jozabed's first-half goal and second-half efforts from Marcelo Diaz and Claudio Beauvue clinched victory for Celta. It looked a golden chance for Granada to take something from the game, with Celta's team selection very much focused on Thursday's Europa League quarter-final. Celta take a slender 3-2 lead into their second leg against Genk, and goalkeeper Sergio Alvarez is the only player likely to keep his place. But Granada could not take advantage and remain seven points adrift of safety with six games remaining. The hosts started well and Andreas Pereira saw a close-range shot blocked in the opening moments before Artem Kravets shot over the bar. But the incisive play was mostly coming from Celta, and Granada were given a warning in the 19th minute when Beauvue finished off a flowing move by shooting just over the bar. Four minutes later the visitors took the lead. A defensive mix-up was the catalyst and, when Beauvue found Jozabed, he expertly chipped the ball over Guillermo Ochoa. The frustration of the home fans was evident as Granada sought a response after the break. The momentum seemed to be with the home side as first Sverrir Ingason headed wide from a corner, then Pereira swept a shot into the arms of Alvarez before Uche Agbo's powerful, swerving shot from 30 yards hit the bar. Had that gone in, the result might have been different, but five minutes later Diaz's free-kick found the top corner to effectively end the contest. Three minutes later it really was all over as Beauvue netted the third, reacting sharply to tuck home after Theo Bongonda's shot had hit the near post. Granada could not even manage a consolation, Ezequiel Ponce shooting wide from right in front of goal.My Kitchen Santa definitely shopped just for me. In my profile I mentioned my love for cooking [and drinking!] and all things spicy; I was rewarded with a ghost pepper sea salt [I LOVE GOURMET/FINISHING SALTS SO MUCH] and a spice rub made with datil peppers. Both of these are made locally to my K.S., so it's unlikely that I would have ever had the chance to find them around town. So awesome! Also included - another local souvenir from my K.S.! A shiny shot glass from Epcot in the most gorgeous shade of blue. I do love me some liquor! I think I'm going to put on my brave face and do some tequila shots this weekend with it and the ghost pepper salt. Wish me luck! Ghost peppers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhut_Jolokia Datils: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datil_pepperI didn't find the package where the delivery driver left it until late in the evening. It was such an amazing surprise to find it just before bed. I just couldn't wait to open it! The box rattled as I ran upstairs with it to find a knife to open it with. OOoohh.. it rattles, what could that mean?! Inside, I found a bunch of packages all neatly wrapped and my chest just swelled with that same child-like joy I used to feel on christmas morning. The first one I grabbed was wrapped in brown paper. the kind used for padding when shipping breakable items... which just made me even more curious. I went for that one first. It was a big glass mug with custom etching. On one side, it says "That's what I do. I drink, and I know things." A quote from one of my favorite shows, Game of Thrones! Who doesn't love Tyrion Lannister?! On the back of the mug it said my name, and 'Secret Santa 2016'... omg I actually squeeled. Not only is the quote one of the more memorable moments for one of my favorite characters, but it absolutely fits me personally! the next one I grabbed was a thin, bendable package. Inside was a banner for house Lannister, so I can proudly display my colors! Its gorgeous!! Next, was the small package that rattled. I was so curious. Inside, I found two sets of tabletop gaming dice. They're an absolutely beautiful swirl of teal and purple colors. I can't wait to try them out! Santa must have seen on reddit that I just barely started playing DnD and have been looking for a game to join in my local area. I'm so excited! There was still another package. What more could santa have possible got for me?? These are already amazing!! I tear into the package and... COFFEE!!!! Not only coffee, but the world's strongest coffee! Deathwish Coffee. I am so nervous to try it, and I can't wait! Hidden under all the packages, I found a letter from Santa. It was such a sweet note, explaining all the packages and why they were chosen. I'm such a happy girl right now! Santa, you rolled a natural 20 with this gift! I couldn't be more thrilled. Thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!!A Greek court ruled Wednesday (4 October) to extradite Russian cybercrime suspect Alexander Vinnik to the US, where he is wanted in connection with a $4bn (£3.1bn) bitcoin fraud case. A three-member panel of judges backed the US extradition request for the 37-year-old, who was arrested while on vacation in northern Greece on 25 July this year. Soon after the decision, Vinnik's lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court on behalf of their client. Russia is also seeking Vinnik's extradition on separate fraud charges, but no date has yet been set for that hearing. Vinnik's lawyers said that he would not contest the Russian request. "We have not seen the formal decision and we'll wait for it to come out before making comment," Vinnik's lawyer Alexandros Lykourezos said. "We have taken immediate action and appealed the ruling and the case will be examined by the criminal division of the Supreme Court." Authorities accused Vinnik of running digital currency exchange BTC-e and of involvement in laundering money from criminal proceeds, charges he denies. In August, a US Department of Justice (DoJ) indictment said withdrawals from admin profiles were sent "directly" to Vinnik's own bank accounts. The Russian suspect was also described as the "beneficial owner" of BTC-e's managing company, Canton Business Corporation. The legal papers from US authorities linked him to an attack against another cryptocurrency exchange known as Mt Gox, which was forced offline by hackers in 2014. BTC-e received more than $4bn worth of bitcoin over the course of its operation, the indictment said, adding it was used to facilitate transactions for cybercriminals worldwide. The exchange allegedly received money from a slew of crimes including computer hacking, identity theft, tax refund schemes, drug dealing, public corruption and drug trafficking. Greek police branded Vinnik "an internationally sought mastermind of a crime organisation". But speaking during Wednesday's hearing, Vinnik repeated that he had nothing to do with the digital platform he is accused of running to commit the bitcoin fraud. He said he was merely a technician and the platform was one of his clients. "I have nothing to do with what I am accused of," he told the judges. Vinnik said that electronic equipment confiscated during his arrest was not related to his job, and that the laptop seized by police contained only cartoons for his children. In August, US attorney Brian Stretch said: "Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin provide people around the world new and innovative ways of engaging in legitimate commerce. "As this case demonstrates, however, just as new computer technologies continue to change the way we engage each other and experience the world, so too will criminals subvert these new technologies to serve their own nefarious purposes." The US indictment charged Vinnik with one count of operation of an unlicensed money service business, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, 17 counts of money laundering and two counts of engaging in unlawful monetary transactions. If convicted of those crimes, Vinnik faces up to 55 years in US prison.The new Xbox music service will offer free streaming of songs from a central catalogue to an Xbox 360 games console. The service will also be available on Microsoft PCs, tablets and mobile phones after the launch of Windows 8 at the end of the month. Microsoft has been trying for a number of years to make the household living room an entertainment hub with its Xbox. More than 67 million consoles have been sold since 2005. The latest version of Windows, which will have both a tablet operating system and Windows 7 working alongside it, is designed to fight off challenges from Apple's iPad and Google's Android tablets. The new music service will be available on the forthcoming Surface tablet from October 26, while it will be available for mobile phones soon afterwards. The Xbox Music service will also allow customers to access songs offline through a "Xbox Music Pass". The pass costs $9.99 (£6) but it will be free from advertising and users will be able to play any track from a subscription catalogue an unlimited number of times. The pass gives access to tens of thousands of music videos on the Xbox. Microsoft has developed the "Xbox Music Store", where users can go to purchase individual songs and albums from the selection of more than 30 million in the store. Apple's iTunes library has around 26 million songs. The company says cloud storage will be available in the next year and users will be able to add tracks which were bought through other services to their personal Xbox cloud catalogue.This actually is one of the things that “activists” are fond of, if they don’t get concessions they want to go after cities for money through the legal system, over any damage or perceived damage that might have occurred. It serves the dual purpose of attempting to cow cities from prosecuting or dealing with them, as well as allowing them to continue their “activism” on the taxpayers’ dime. So a bedraggled set of thrown away books/articles on Occupy and Communism translates to “thousands” in a “People’s Library”, justifying over two hundred thousand dollars? Unbelievable. Via NYDN: That’s one hefty library fine. Occupy Wall Street’s “People’s Library” settled a federal lawsuit Tuesday with the city over the destruction of 2,800 books during the police raid on Zuccotti Park in November 2011. The city agreed to pay $232,000 — $47,000 to cover the costs of the books and $185,000 to civil rights attorney Norman Siegel, who brought the lawsuit last year. The city also agreed to shell out another $133,000 to settle two other lawsuits growing out the raid, which evicted members of the protest movement from the park after a lengthy encampment. Global Revolution TV is getting $75,000 for damaged electronic gear, and their lawyers are getting nerly $50,000. Time’s Up, an environmental nonprofit, will receive $8,500 for 16 damaged “energy” bicycles. As part of the settlements in Manhattan Federal Court, the city admitted it was “unfortunate” that the books and the other items had been ruined. The donated books were hauled away by the Sanitation Department. “This is not just about the money,” said Siegel. “It is about holding the city accountable.”Even as he received red carpet treatment in Beijing last month, lauded by China as an "old friend" and "renowned leader", Robert Mugabe was in danger of being upstaged by a colourful, charismatic presence at his side. His first lady, Grace Mugabe, sporting a series of vivid outfits during the official visit to China, was once a lowly member of the presidential typing pool. Then she caught Mugabe's eye. Now the woman better known to headline writers as "DisGrace" or "First Shopper" is making a surprise entrance on to the political stage and, it is speculated, might be central to her autocratic husband's plan to build a dynasty. The 49-year-old was recently nominated as leader of the ruling Zanu-PF's women's league, as well as having a place on its central committee. She insists she is ready. "The time has come to show people what I am made of," she told a crowd in Mazowe, the Zimbabwe Standard reported. "People should learn to wait for their time… I had never dreamed of entering politics, but you have approached me and I am ready to go." With her election virtually assured at a party congress in December, she will take a seat on Zanu-PF's politburo and, as Mugabe's wife, be untouchable. Tendai Biti, the former finance minister, thinks she will go on to lead Zanu-PF. After years of speculation over who will succeed Mugabe, some believe the next leader has been hiding in plain sight. The rise and rise of Grace may reflect her husband's confidence that, at 90, he is more powerful than ever. Africa's oldest leader looks certain of his party's nomination for the 2018 election at a time when the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is in disarray. He was recently elected chairman of a regional bloc of 15 southern African nations and looks set to become chairman of the African Union, while western powers have lifted most of the sanctions against Zimbabwe. It appears he is able to do as he pleases. "I heard that someone asked my nephew to tell Mrs Mugabe to leave Harare," Mugabe reportedly told hundreds of cheering young people bussed to Harare airport to welcome him back from China. "Where do you want her to go? We don't want such arrogance." Grace's ascent has also thrown a grenade into the bitter succession battle within Zanu-PF, which Mugabe has divided and ruled for decades. But even he, it is supposed, cannot live for ever. According to one theory, his wife is a weapon to derail the presidential ambitions of another woman, Vice-President Joice Mujuru, who is locked in a power struggle with justice minister Emmerson Mnangagwa. As the infighting worsened, Simon Khaya Moyo, Zanu-PF's chairman, issued an edict: "I must warn the party leadership, at every level, not to use the media to abuse the first lady's name for whatever reason. The first family must be respected at all times." Born in South Africa to Zimbabwean parents, Grace was a 20-year-old divorcee when she got a secretarial job in the president's office. Mugabe's first wife, Sally, was alive (she died of kidney failure in 1992) when he began their affair. In an interview on South African television last year, he offered an oddly worded defence: "After Sally was gone, it was necessary for me to look for someone and, even as Sally was still going through her last few days, although it might have appeared to some as cruel, I said to myself, 'Well, it's not just myself needing children.' My mother has all the time said: 'Ah, am I going to die without seeing grandchildren?' So I decided to make love to her. She happened to be one of the nearest and she was a divorcee herself, and so it was. We got our first child when my mother was still alive." The couple married in 1996 in a Catholic mass dubbed the "wedding of the century". Mugabe was 73 when she gave birth to their third child. Grace has since gone into business‚ launching a dairy range‚ and set up a children's school, but has shown little appetite for diplomacy. In 2009 she punched a British photographer outside a hotel in Hong Kong, an incident she recalled laughingly on TV. Speaking to Dali Tambo, founder of Artists against Apartheid and son of South African anti-apartheid leader Oliver Tambo, she also denied having an affair with the governor of the central bank – saying of Mugabe, "I know he trusts me" – and rejected claims that she made big spending expeditions to Harrods in London. "It's one place that I've never bought an outfit," she said. "The only thing I've bought in Harrods? Almond nuts. Because I eat lots of almond nuts. I want to eat healthily." Her sudden appearance on the political stage has taken many by surprise. Vince Musewe, a Zimbabwean political commentator, described it as a classic Mugabe tactic to conceal the country's deepening economic woes. "I really think this is a sideshow," he said. "The master politician has reframed the problem and taken attention away from his failures. We've got a 90-year-old with no energy and no idea of the way forward, and who's failed to groom a successor. "To me, Grace is just a pawn. There's no way she's going to be anything after Mugabe dies. She's not educated; she does not understand the complexities of taking Zimbabwe forward; she does not even know women's issues. She's part of the elite and there's absolutely no way the security guys can accept her being president. She doesn't have the gravitas to lead Zimbabwe." Musewe said he was aware of rumours that Mugabe, who has been in power for 34 years, wants to promote his wife to be a vice-president early next year. "That means for the next few years no one can challenge her. But the moment he drops, she's finished." This view was echoed by Piers Pigou, project director for southern Africa at the International Crisis Group. "I just cannot see Grace Mugabe providing any kind of serious credibility for the leadership of Zanu-PF," he said. "It would make Zanu-PF even more of a laughing stock than it is in some quarters already. It would be a reflection more of desperation than anything else." Political opponents are equally sceptical of the notion of a President Mugabe Mark II. Nelson Chamisa, organising secretary of the MDC, said: "If I look at the chances of her becoming president, I would find it easier to impregnate a man or change Europe to Africa, or Africa to Europe." But Grace does have one fan: Dali Tambo. He said: "A businesswoman and a dairy farmer, I found Grace Mugabe to be a woman of considerable beauty who speaks frankly and openly with self-confidence and constant humour. She is a young first lady with an easy laugh and a busy manner." Asked if she could be president, Tambo paused, then replied: "Why not? She has all the qualities. But politics is a complex thing, and I don't think it's for me to comment. It's for the people of Zimbabwe to decide."SPEC CPU ® 2017 The SPEC CPU® 2017 benchmark package contains SPEC's next-generation, industry-standardized, CPU intensive suites for measuring and comparing compute intensive performance, stressing a system's processor, memory subsystem and compiler. SPEC designed these suites to provide a comparative measure of compute-intensive performance across the widest practical range of hardware using workloads developed from real user applications. The benchmarks are provided as source code and require the use of compiler commands as well as other commands via a shell or command prompt window. The SPEC CPU 2017 benchmark package contains 43 benchmarks, organized into four suites: The SPECspeed ® 2017 Integer and SPECspeed ® 2017 Floating Point suites are used for comparing time for a computer to complete single tasks. 2017 Integer and SPECspeed 2017 Floating Point suites are used for comparing time for a computer to complete single tasks. The SPECrate ® 2017 Integer and SPECrate ® 2017 Floating Point suites measure the throughput or work per unit of time. More information: Results Submitted Results Text, HTML, CSV, PDF, and Configuration file outputs for the SPEC CPU 2017 metrics; includes all of the results submitted to SPEC from the SPEC member companies and other licensees of the benchmark package. Search across all the SPEC CPU® 2017 benchmark results in SPEC's online result database. Benchmark Press Releases Press release material, documents, and announcements: Benchmark Documentation Index of SPEC CPU 2017 documentation, the Run and Reporting Rules, benchmark descriptions, etc. All documentation available for the benchmark distribution is found/maintained/updated here. Support If help is needed with running the SPEC CPU2017 benchmark suites, please see the technical support page. You may also want to check the FAQ and the known issues pages. Related Publications Benchmark case study How a cloud computing company uses the SPEC CPU2017 benchmark suites. Research - Simpoints Simpoint "pinballs" for portions of the CPU2017 workloads Flags Flag Descriptions - explanations from the testers for what all those cryptic flags in the results' notes section really mean.We have been busy advocating for rejuvenation biotechnology. Elena Milova recently attended the first International Longevity and Cryopreservation Summit in Madrid with a talk about how to deliver the most effective messages to engage the general public to support aging and rejuvenation research. We will shortly have a number of exciting articles about the conference, including exclusive interviews, but while we prepare them, we have rushed this very exciting news to you. Elena had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Aubrey de Grey from the SENS Research Foundation at the conference, and she asked him one of the most important questions about SENS: where are we now? Here is what Aubrey had to say about this question. The SENS Research Foundation has divided aging damage into seven broad categories, each with a solution in order to treat or prevent age-related diseases. We have summarized all of these aging damages below as well as the current state of progress for each. It is important to note that while SENS is slightly different from the Hallmarks of Aging, which we normally talk about at LEAF, they are essentially similar, as they both promote a damage repair approach. Indeed, we consider these approaches to be compatible in their aims, and thus we support them both. RepleniSENS: Cell loss and tissue atrophy Over time, our cells are damaged from various sources, including trauma, environmental exposure to toxins, oxidative stress and other stressors. Sometimes, the damaged cells are repaired, but sometimes they are destroyed, become dysfunctional and cease dividing (senescence), or are so damaged that they destroy themselves (apoptosis) to protect the body. Some of these lost cells have to be replaced by pools of tissue-specific specialized stem cells, but, over time, these reserves run low, leading to increasingly less effective repair. Over the course of decades, long-lived tissues – such as the brain, the heart, and skeletal muscles – gradually lose cells, and as replacement dwindles, their function becomes compromised. This leads to loss of muscle strength, poor injury recovery, and muscle wastage known as sarcopenia – one of the reasons why older people are frail. The brain also loses neurons, which leads to cognitive decline and dementia as well as the loss of fine muscle movements and, ultimately, Parkinson’s disease. The immune system also suffers, with the thymus gradually shrinking and losing the ability to produce immune cells, leaving you vulnerable to diseases. Where are we now? Thankfully, this is already a well-advanced field. SENS has not needed to get involved in this area, as it is well funded and moving along very rapidly. Only this month we have seen hematopoietic stem cells produced for the first time, and research in this field is moving forward at a furious rate. It is plausible that, in the near future, we will be able to produce every cell type within the body to replace age-related losses. This will allow us to replenish the immune system, repair the damage caused by neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and repair organs. OncoSENS: Cancerous cells Two types of damage accumulate in our genes as we age: mutations and epimutations. Mutations are the result of direct damage to the DNA itself, and epimutations are damages to the scaffolding of DNA that controls gene expression somewhat like a lens. Both forms of damage lead to abnormal gene expression, which causes the cell to malfunction. The most common form of cell malfunction is uncontrolled growth, better known as cancer. Cancer can use two different pathways to grow: hijacking telomerase and the Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT) mechanism. Both allow cancer to maintain its telomeres, thus remaining immortal and growing out of control. Therapies that can inhibit these pathways could be combined and are therefore a potential way for us to defeat all cancers. Where are we now? ALT therapies are progressing following a successful fundraiser on Lifespan.io last year, which raised an amazing 72k. SENS has been developing a high-throughput assay for ALT, allowing cost-effective candidate evaluation for drugs that can inhibit or destroy cancer cells using ALT. Within the next year, a company based on ALT should be possible. Telomerase-inhibiting therapies are being developed by a number of organizations and companies, so the SENS Research Foundation does not need to get involved with this. Therapies that inhibit telomerase in cancer cells are already in clinical trials and are well funded. MitoSENS: Mitochondrial mutations The mitochondria are the power plants of the cell, converting nutrients from food into energy known as ATP, a form of energy that powers cellular function. Unlike the rest of the cell, mitochondria have their own DNA, known as mtDNA, which is outside of the cell nucleus where the rest of our genes are kept. The problem is, as mitochondria produce ATP, they also generate waste byproducts; in this case, they are highly reactive molecules called free radicals. Free radicals can strike and damage parts of the cell, including mtDNA, which, due to its close proximity to the source of free radicals, is very vulnerable to these damaging strikes. A strike can delete sections of mtDNA, leaving the mitochondria unable to produce ATP. Even worse, these damaged mutant mitochondria enter an abnormal metabolic state to remain alive. This state produces little energy and generates large amounts of waste that the cell cannot dispose of. Ironically, the cell even preserves these damaged mitochondria instead of disposing of them and sends healthy ones to be recycled instead; this means that mutant mitochondria and their progeny can rapidly take over an entire cell. This leads to cells with damaged mitochondria that dump waste into the circulatory system, causing system-wide levels of oxidative stress to rise and driving an aging process. The solution to this problem is to move the mtDNA to the cellular nucleus, where it will have a far greater level of protection from free radical strikes. Indeed, evolution has already started doing this in our cells and has already moved around 1000 mitochondrial genes to the nucleus. SENS Research Foundation is proposing to accelerate the process that nature has started. Where are we now? The SENS Research Foundation successfully fundraised for the MitoSENS project on Lifespan.io back in 2015. It then followed up with a publication in the prestigious Nucleic Acids Research journal, showing its results in September 2016. Thanks to the support of the community, the MitoSENS project succeeded in migrating not one but two mitochondrial genes to the cell nucleus, a world first. Since then, progress has been rapid, and the researchers have now almost migrated 4 of the 13 mitochondrial genes. They are currently refining the process into a standardized therapy. ApoptoSENS: Death-resistant cells Our cells have a built-in safety mechanism known as apoptosis, allowing them to destroy themselves when they are damaged or dysfunctional and eventually be disposed of by the immune system. However, as we age, cells increasingly fail to dispose of themselves in this manner, and they enter a state known as senescence. Senescent cells do not replicate or support the tissues of which they are part; instead, they send out pro-inflammatory signals that poison their healthy neighbors, causing them to also become senescent. The same pro-inflammatory signals block stem cell activity and prevent them from repairing tissue. As we age, more of these cells build up, leading to increasingly poor tissue repair and regeneration. The solution to this problem is to remove senescent cells periodically in order to help maintain tissue repair and maintenance. Therapies that remove senescent cells are known as senolytics and have been big news for the last year or so. Where are we now? There has been a huge level of interest in senescent cell removal therapies in the last year or two, and a number of companies are currently developing senolytics. Unity Biotechnology is taking the first generation of senolytics into human clinical trials this year, after being successfully funded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and a number of other big investors. However, the heat is on as other companies are following up close behind, with potentially more sophisticated approaches for removing senescent cells, such
He was one of five guests of The Children's Wish Foundation of Canada and Make-A-Wish America, each of which grants wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses.When it comes to its dealings with China, the UK is at a critical juncture. Following the Brexit vote, the debate on Chinese investment in Britain, and unfavourable media coverage of President Xi Jinping’s lavish reception last year, the challenge for the British leadership now is to develop a new strategic engagement with Beijing. It is vital in doing so that the UK stands its ground, alongside other like-minded governments, and promotes an approach that balances its business, trade and diplomatic interests with a respect for the rights of the Chinese and Tibetan people. It must hold fast to its commitment to upholding the democratic values that shape the spirit of this great country. I have recently been elected to serve a second term as the sikyong, or political leader, of the Central Tibetan Administration, based in exile in India. Our democracy, which is a source of great pride among Tibetans everywhere, was a culmination of the vision and actions of His Holiness the Dalai Lama – who has emphasised the importance of democracy and education since his escape from Chinese-occupied Tibet in 1959. Failing to stand up to China only endorses its efforts to impose an anti-democratic narrative on the rest of the world Britain has been an inspiration to Tibetans not only as one of the world’s oldest democracies and a bastion of free speech, but also because of its has a special relationship to Tibet. Prior to the Chinese invasion in 1949, Britain was the only country to formally recognise Tibet as an independent nation. This is because British representatives were stationed in Lhasa from 1904 to 1947 to liaise with the Tibetan government. In 1949 Mao Zedong, the newly victorious leader of the Chinese Communist party, announced over the radio waves his intention to “liberate” Tibet from this “foreign imperialism”. Over the past 60-plus years, of course, Tibet has been anything but “liberated” by the Chinese Communist party. In 2008, Britain rewrote the historical record on Tibet. An apologetic statement by the then foreign secretary David Miliband stated that Britain now recognised Tibet as part of the People’s Republic of China, after almost a century of recognising Tibet as “autonomous”, with China having a “special position” there. This was a major shift in position, and signalled the beginning of a more accommodating stance. But it only led China to push for more concessions, limiting the UK’s leverage still further. After David Cameron met with the Dalai Lama in 2012, China subjected him to censure, consigning him to the diplomatic deep freeze. Last year, the UK’s red carpet reception of Xi was widely criticised, with sinologists pointing out that standing up to China is not only preferable for moral reasons but is also in the interests of Britain’s economy and national security. Dalai Lama visit to Strasbourg provokes threats from China Read more How much better, instead of struggling in the face of China’s efforts to divide and rule, if those governments that China coerces stood shoulder to shoulder, bound by their common values. Failing to do so only endorses China’s efforts to impose its narrative on the rest of the world – a discourse that is anti-democratic, in which the law is viewed as a tool to maintain power and not to achieve justice, and one that is hostile to any views that do not accord with the official party line. The need for such a joined-up approach is becoming ever more urgent – regardless of Brexit – as the Chinese government continues to oversee an unprecedented crackdown on basic human rights and civil society, and steps up its efforts to subvert and undermine the values of western democracies. In Tibet, China asserts its control through policies of intensified militarisation, hyper-securitisation, enhanced surveillance and ideological campaigns. Given Tibet’s importance as the “roof of the world”, source of most of Asia’s major rivers and epicentre of climate change, this should be of profound concern to us all. China’s disregard for fundamental freedoms is demonstrated in the continuing large-scale demolitions at the internationally renowned Tibetan Buddhist institute Larung Gar – the largest Buddhist academy in the world. In recent months we have seen two initiatives where governments have joined together to tackle China about major issues of concern; the first a letter signed by four governments and the EU, telling China that its new laws on cyber-security, counter-terrorism and control of foreign NGOs go too far, and an unprecedented joint statement by 12 governments at the United Nations human rights council, criticising China over its detention of lawyers and disappearances of Hong Kong booksellers. As China seeks to bend the rest of the world to its anti-democratic principles, such collective statements can only be in the interests of the UK and other European nations, as well as serving the Chinese and Tibetan people who struggle for peaceful reform of a one-party state. British people are among the most staunch supporters of our Tibetan cause; tens of thousands of them joyfully sang happy birthday to the Dalai Lama at Glastonbury last year. So many have expressed their profound sadness at the unprecedented wave of self-immolations that has swept Tibet since 2009 – a terrible act that is testimony to often unbearable oppression as well as an expression of the desire for freedom, and for the Dalai Lama to return home. As new alignments form and the ramifications of Brexit become clearer, it is time for a re-evaluation of Britain’s engagement with China. There may have been a change in language on Tibet, but the historical and cultural connection between the British people and Tibetans is irrefutable. The UK should take a leading role in reaching out to other like-minded governments, to act together from a position of strength to confront the Chinese leadership. A united front can be used to push for a meaningful dialogue based on the Central Tibetan Administration’s middle way approach to resolve the longstanding issue of Tibet. It cannot allow Brexit to distract or damage relationships with other EU nations that will be needed if change is to be secured.Partnership with Credit Card Companies in Japan Fueling Rise of Ripple and XRP 5 (100%) 1 vote (100%)vote On December 27th (Wednesday) we noticed that XRP rose by almost 20% to reach an all-time high of $1.43. The rise started soon enough after news started creeping in about creation of a consortium by SBI Holdings (a financial services company based in Tokyo) and SBI Ripple Asia (its subsidiary) along with few credit card companies in Japan for utilizing the blockchain technology. Growth of Ripple and XRP Ripple CEO explains why his digital currency can transform banking from CNBC. It is worth mentioning here that SBI Holdings and Ripple developed the SBI Ripple Asia way back in 2016 and Ripple makes use of blockchain technology for developing payment networks for digital asset exchanges, banks as well as other financial institutions. Moreover, all the participants in this system make use of XRP as their digital coin for completing their transactions. Ripple’s InvolvementThe video will start in 8 Cancel Get the biggest daily 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 One in five Labour MPs has appeared on a deselection “hit list” drawn up by pro-Corbyn campaigners in South Tyneside, it has been reported. The Momentum activists group complied a list of 49 sitting MPs who, it suggested, could “join the Liberals”, according to The Times. They were said to include Chuka Umunna - who led a revolt on leaving the EU single market in the Queen’s Speech debate - Chris Leslie and Jess Philips. The post appeared on the Facebook page for Momentum: South Tyneside but has since been removed. Momentum dismissed The Times report as “laughable” saying that the list did not reflect the group’s national policy. “The list was published by a local Momentum Facebook page with 136 likes, and in no way represents Momentum’s national policy,” a spokesman said. A YouGov poll for The Times put Labour eight points ahead of the Conservatives (46-38) in its first opinion poll since the General Election. The hit list report came however amid fears among some Labour MPs that Mr Corbyn’s left wing supporters, emboldened by unexpected success in the general election, will seek to force out MPs who have criticised him. Concerns were heightened when one senior ally of Mr Corbyn warned it was “unreasonable” for Labour MPs not to face the prospect of re-selection as he took aim at the party’s right. (Image: PA) Frontbencher Chris Williamson said MPs must have the support of the party’s membership, which has overwhelmingly supported Mr Corbyn in two leadership elections, and no members of the Commons should be guaranteed a “job for life”. “There are interest groups and individual MPs in this party who think it’s their god-given right to rule,” he said. “No MP should be guaranteed a job for life and it’s crucial that we all get with the times. “MPs elected in earlier phases of this party run the risk of failing to understand what is really going on out there in society. “Although this party’s hundreds of thousands of new members were once demonised the election has shown that the political instincts of these members are in line with popular opinion. “For our party to succeed these members must be listened to.” Earlier this month party chairman and Wansbeck MP Ian Lavery said in an interview with the Huffington Post that Labour “might be too broad a church”. But he later told the Chronicle: “I never once mentioned deselection. We’ve got a fantastic group of MPs.” He added: “The Labour Party has been an extremely broad church. The difference between ourselves and the Tory party is we are an extremely broad church and rightly so. We encourage diverse views and opinions.”I’m beginning to appreciate the beauty and elegance of JUnit theories as included in JUnit 4.5 and above. JUnit theories allow you to easily test code using multiple data points. Much like the name suggests it treats code as “theory” that you are trying to prove. You can also reuse the same data points to test multiple functions. You can even use the Cartesian product of multiple data-points, if that fits your code. If you have multiple methods annotated with @Theory, each of these methods will be called for each data-point. This has enormous power. I tend to hate writing tests generally, but with theories, writing tests feels so much more effective. You can use the following annotations to configure your theories: @Theory - annotates the test methods (instead of @Test) @RunWith(Theories.class) - annotate the class to use JUnit theories @DataPoint - annotates a public static single data-point @DataPoints - a public static method returning multiple data-points Here’s another great post on junit theories. For a great example of using JUnit theories, check out dollar.Rick Majerus, 64, will not coach the Saint Louis men's basketball team this season because of heart issues, team spokesman Brian Kunderman told USA TODAY Sports Friday evening. The school has named Jim Crews its interim head coach for the 2012-13 season, and it's too early to make a decision about the following season, Kunderman said. "Rick is in a California hospital undergoing evaluation and treatment for an ongoing heart condition," Saint Louis athletic director Chris May said in a statement. "His health is the most important issue right now, and our hope is for full and complete recovery." Crews, who joined the Saint Louis coaching staff last fall, will take over as interim head coach immediately, the school said. "The players are being informed of coach Majerus' condition and the subsequent announcement of Jim Crews' appointment," May said. "It is an emotional time, and while our thoughts and prayers are with Rick, our focus is on our student-athletes and continuing to give them the best experience possible." In his five years as SLU's head coach, Majerus has lead the Billikens to a 95-69 record. Last year, they reached the third round of the NCAA tournament in Saint Louis' first NCAA appearance since 2000. The team returns almost everyone, and it is expected to be a top-25 squad this season. This is not the first time Majerus has dealt with heart issues. At Utah, he took multiple leaves of absence. In his first season with the Utes, he underwent coronary bypass surgery in December 1989 after coaching the first six games of the season. In January 2004, he was hospitalized again for heart problems. Majerus left Utah after that to work as a TV analyst before returning to coaching in 2007. At this point, Majerus' future at Saint Louis is uncertain. Majerus' contract runs out after this season, and he may opt to take a break from coaching like he did after his second health scare at Utah. Majerus' replacement, Crews, is no stranger to head coaching, though he hasn't held the title in three years. He served as head coach at Army for seven seasons (2002-09), and he held that position for 17 years at the University of Evansville. Crews' career head-coaching record is 354-348.Ballot laws are usually designed to keep most political choices unavailable to the voting public. In a recent NPR affiliate interview at Illinois State University, the chair and vice chair of the McLean County affiliate of the Libertarian Party of Illinois, Bennett Morris and Christopher Howick, explained the injustice of the restrictive ballot access laws in Illinois: When you’re running for elected office, you need to get people to sign your nominating petitions to get on the ballot. It can be a slog, with every waking moment pestering shoppers leaving grocery stores or asking your neighbors for their John Hancock. For Christopher Howick of Bloomington, it’s even worse. Howick is running for the Illinois House in 2018, the seat currently held by state Rep. Keith Sommer, R-Morton. But because Howick is a Libertarian—not a legally established party statewide—he must collect a minimum of 2,500 signatures to get on the ballot, five times as many as Sommer and Democratic challenger Jill Blair. It’s hypocritical for Democrats to complain about electoral fairness—you may have heard Trump didn’t win the popular vote—or Republicans to worry about voter fraud, Howick said. “To me what is the biggest fraud and the biggest unfairness is that we have to jump through hoops, obstacles, all over the place, simply to give people an extra choice on the ballot,” Howick said. The issue of ballot access has new urgency in McLean County, as local Libertarians try to make some noise and inroads against the two-party system. Libertarians mounted a run—unsuccessfully—last spring in the surprisingly contested Normal Township race. And now local Libertarians like Howick are making runs for McLean County Board and the Illinois House.The Returned and Services League, Australia (RSL) is a support organisation for men and women who have served or are serving in the Defence Force. Mission [ edit ] The RSL's mission is to ensure that programs are in place for the well-being, care, compensation and commemoration of serving and ex-service Defence Force members and their dependents; and promote Government and community awareness of the need for a secure, stable and progressive Australia. However, even as late as the 1970s it had been an "inherently conservative" organisation, according to Professor John Blaxland.[1] History [ edit ] The League evolved out of concern for the welfare of returned servicemen from the First World War. In 1916, a conference recommended the formation of The Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League of Australia (RSSILA), which included representation from Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria. New South Wales was admitted to the League the following year, Western Australia in 1918. In 1927, the Australian Capital Territory formed a branch and was admitted. During the inter-war period (i.e., 1919 to 1939), the RSSILA was recognized as the appropriate body to represent the interests of returned Australian servicemen, in exchange for extending political co-operation to the Nationalist Party of Prime Minister Stanley Bruce. Beyond this co-operation, the RSSILA was noted for its right-wing politics, in 1919 drawing upon its membership to form a 2,000-strong paramilitary force called the "Army to fight Bolshevism", and permitting various right-wing Australian militia groups access to its membership lists to convince returned servicemen to join them.[2] In 1940, the name of the League changed to the Returned Sailors' Soldiers' and Airmens Imperial League of Australia (RSSAILA), and a subsequent change of name took effect in 1965, as the Returned Services League of Australia (RSL). Two more name changes occurred: in 1983, to Returned Services League of Australia Limited (RSL), and in 1990, to Returned & Services League of Australia Limited (RSL).[3] The objects of the League remain relatively unchanged from its first incorporation. RSL badge symbolism [ edit ] At the top of the badge is the Crown signifying allegiance to Queen and country. Below the crown are the national flowers of Australia, Wales, England, Scotland and Ireland: the wattle, the leek, the rose, the thistle, and the shamrock. In the centre of the badge are a sailor, a soldier, an airman and service woman marching with their arms linked, symbolising friendship and the unity of services and all ranks in comradeship. The red of the badge symbolises the blood tie of war. The white background stands for the purity of motive and the rendering of service without personal gain. The blue is a symbol of willingness to render service to a comrade anywhere under the sky.[3] The badge may only be worn by members of the League; and, moreover, it is an offence under the laws of most Australian States/Territories for an individual to wear an RSL badge (a) that has not been issued specifically to them by the RSL, and (b) unless they are entitled to wear the badge, at that time, under the rules of the League (e.g., a non-financial member is not permitted to wear the badge until their fees are paid).[4] Influence [ edit ] The influence of the League comes from its founding days organising rituals for ANZAC Day dawn services and march, and Remembrance Day commemorations. However, even as early as the 1920s, the role of the League became controversial as it banned women from attending the dawn service because of their wailing. As well as arguing for veterans' benefits, it has entered other areas of political debate. It was politically conservative, Anglophilic, and monarchist. Many veterans from the Vietnam War found the RSL, dominated by the ranks of World War II veterans, an unwelcoming, alien environment, and chose not to participate, but have over the past 20 years become actively involved. This may have been reflective of the changing status of Vietnam veterans in the 1970s and 80s. (See also Social attitudes and treatment of Vietnam veterans).[5] Fewer World War 2 veterans is another factor as the youngest survivors are in their 90's, as at 2018. Even the youngest Vietnam veterans are approaching 70 years old. Nevertheless, the focus of the RSL is above all on the welfare of Australian men and women serving in the armed forces. It has advocated for veterans entitlements, the protection of former battlefields and the rights of serving soldiers, sailors and airmen. The RSL also ensures that those who have served the country are commemorated for their service by providing funeral information to those who have served with the deceased and handing out individual red poppy flowers at the funeral to ensure that the deceased service to their country is acknowledged (see In Flanders Fields). In 2003 Peter Phillips, the National President, endorsed a statement criticising the decision of the Howard government to send forces to Iraq without a mandate from a United Nations Security Council resolution. Organisation [ edit ] The League is overseen by a National Executive that consists of the National President; the Deputy National President; State Branch Presidents for New South Wales, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, and Western Australia; and the National Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the National Treasurer, the National Legal Adviser, the National Defence Adviser, and Veterans' Affairs Adviser.[6] Many RSL branches display redundant military hardware, such as this Leopard 1 tank outside the Kilcoy sub-branch in Queensland The National CEO has operational control of the National Office. In 2015 the redevelopment of the site of the Office on Constitution Avenue, Campbell, in Canberra commenced. A new building should be completed in 2019. In the interim, the National Office is in temporary accommodation at 7–9 Geelong Street, Fyshwick. Each State and Territory is a Branch of the National League and has a similar hierarchical structure that brings together the interests of the state members. Within each Branch, there are a series of Districts and Sub-branches that bring together the interests of members in a particular geographic area.[7][8] The naming of these Branches and Sub-branches should not be confused with the commercial entities, generally called RSL Clubs.[7] National Presidents [ edit ] Controversy involving National President [ edit ] On 4 October 2016, the Sydney Morning Herald and ABC News reported that RSL national president Rod White, a retired Major of the Australian Army Reserve, received a share in nearly $1 million in consulting fees paid by an arm of the veterans’ organisation called RSL LifeCare and failed to disclose conflicts of interest.[10] Mr White denied any wrongdoing and is quoted as saying "I believe I have personally fulfilled my obligations legally and ethically and I'm just absolutely surprised at your questioning of my integrity in that regard," when responding to questions from an ABC News reporter.[11] On 22 October 2016, legal advice provided by the law firm Henry Davis York which was commissioned by the RSL’s New South Wales Branch indicated Mr White may have broken the law by receiving shares in $1 million in consulting fees while holding a voluntary position in the veteran's group.[12] This led to many calls for White to step aside to rebuild public trust.[13][14][15] On 7 November 2016, ABC News reported that Mr White agreed to stand down pending an investigation into the consultancy fee payments and that new documents obtained by ABC reveal that the amount of consultancy fees paid were far greater than originally thought – totalling more than $2 million since 2007.[16] On Remembrance Day 2016, ABC News (Australia) announced that the New South Wales Branch of the RSL was at risk of losing its charity status as a result of the payment scandal. That the Australian Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission had concerns that the RSL may have not been meeting its obligations as a charity and warned that the ACNC may use its powers to revoke its charity status if it finds evidence that the ACNC rules have been broken.[17] “If we decide to take compliance action, which could potentially include revocation of charity status, we will publish this on the Charity Register and on our website,” said ACNC Assistant Commissioner David Locke.[18] On 25 November 2016, the RSL National Board was to brief the Government of New South Wales on the investigation into consultancy payments.[19] The National Board was reported to be working with “regulatory bodies to deliver an appropriate corporate governance structure to ensure there is no maladministration in the NSW Branch. We are determined to expose any wrongdoing” said RSL acting national president Robert Dick.[20] On 9 March 2017, Rod White resigned as President of the RSL after being in the position for eight months.[21] RSL Queensland [ edit ] The Returned and Services League of Australia (Queensland Branch) is a branch of the RSL in Queensland. RSL Queensland assists all current and former members of the ADF, veterans, and their dependents,[8] and also established the Eternal Flame Foundation for financial relief and to provide care for ex-service men and women, and their dependents, in necessitous circumstances.[22] In 2015, RSL Queensland was a recipient of the Queensland Greats Awards.[23] In 2016, a number of ex and current members of staff and volunteers publicly questioned the viability of the organisation with financial troubles and cultural problems.[24] Licensed clubs [ edit ] The Granville RSL Sub-Branch Club in suburban Sydney Licensed clubs were formed as commercial activities to initially provide services by sub-branches to its members, including providing an environment for the protection and promotion of the ideals of the ANZAC spirit and heritage. The venues were established to provide hospitality for war veterans and a place for war veterans to build on their comradeship. The venues were often located on land granted by the State government.[25] Over time these commercial entities, known generally as RSL Clubs (but also called Ex-Services, Memorial, Legion or other similar names)[25] generated profits and also often made regular donations to local community services.[7][25] The membership base of the licensed clubs differs significantly from membership of the League. Membership of the League does not automatically confer rights of entry or membership to a licensed club. In recent years, in some jurisdictions, serving members of the ADF are granted honorary membership to a licensed RSL (or similar) club.[25][26] Licensed clubs operating under the RSL 'banner' usually have bar and dining facilities for their members and guests, and sometimes have extensive gambling areas. In licensed (RSL) clubs, each evening at 6 pm "The Ode" is read, followed by one minute's silence to honour those who died serving their country.[27] Other commercial activities [ edit ] RSL Care [ edit ] RSL Care is one of Australia's largest providers of retirement living and aged care services with more than 28 retirement communities throughout Queensland and New South Wales and several others in development. Its history originated from an aged care hostel provided to accommodate 64 ex-servicemen that opened in Taringa, Queensland in 1938. A second facility for 80 residents was opened in Caboolture in 1947, and two more facilities in 1968 and 1975, respectively, including a 30-bed nursing home. Over the subsequent 35 years, the number and type of facilities expanded, as well as their geographic spread, throughout Queensland and into the Lake Macquarie area of NSW.[28] RSL Cabs [ edit ] Operating under a co-operative structure, in 1946 a group of returned servicemen established RSL Ex-Servicemen's Cabs & Co-Operative Members Limited providing taxi services to Sydney. By the 1950s, the co-operative had expanded to over 60 drivers,[29] and now operates on a commercial basis, with drivers not required to be members of the League. RSL Art Union [ edit ] Commenced in Queensland in 1956, the RSL Art Union is a lottery that raises funds to provide welfare services to ex-service men and women, their dependents and to other members of the community. A major prize of a luxury waterfront home on Queensland's Gold Coast is usually offered, together with a range of bonus prizes. Since its inception, the RSL Art Union has given away A$80 million in prizes and has also raised over A$70 million for the development and maintenance of RSL nursing homes, hospitals and centres, as well as retirement complexes for elderly people.[30] Despite the Art Union winners being able to be from any state in Australia, only Queensland-based veterans and programs benefit from any funds raised. See also [ edit ] Similar veterans' organisationsThe Warehouse The Warehouse presents Wrong Turn. Bigger and better than ever. 60,000 square feet of pure insanity. We will make your blood curdle, and leave your soul questioning existence and bring your nightmares to life. Wrong Turn is not for the faint of heart. Every decision you make could be your last. There is something lurking around every corner. Pay no mind to the screams in the distance, or the sinister chuckles of our demented minions who only live to please their master. Spookville Are you looking for something spooky to do this Halloween with your little spooks. We have just the thing. Introducing for the first time ever, Spookville. Our spooky but not so scary Halloween attraction for little kids. Enjoy the pumpkins in Jacks pumpkin patch to the silly skeletons in the bony tavern. Once through the attraction the little spooks can play Halloween themed games and jump in the bouncy house. Admission includes everything. Weddings If you have an affinity for all things spooky, there's a chance you may be considering a Halloween-themed wedding. Better yet let us perform your ceremony. Experience the eerie phenomena for yourself when you book your wedding with us. It can be as simple as saying, “I do” in a simple ceremony dressed up as your favorite scary character or a little more extravagant with your family and friends and the greatest costume party ever. It’s really all about what you want. Call or email us for more details. We would love to be part of your “Happy Never After”…(CNN) -- The FBI is warning law agencies that the new Barbie "Video Girl" doll could be used as a tool by pedophiles to make child pornography. In an alert entitled "Barbie 'Video Girl' a Possible Child Pornography Production Method," the FBI said the doll has a built-in hidden camera in the chest and a small LCD screen for video display in her back. The FBI "cyber crime alert" doesn't cite any misuse of the doll, which has been on the market since July, but talks about the possibility. "FBI investigation has revealed instances where an individual convicted of distributing child pornography had given a Barbie doll to a 6 year old girl," the alert said. The document went on to cite the findings of another investigation that found "examples where a concealed video camera had recorded child pornography." That camera didn't involve a doll, FBI special agent Frederick Gutt in Seattle, Washington, said Friday. "The possibility of the combination of these two in a single device presents a concern for investigators," said the alert, dated November 30. "Law enforcement is encouraged to be aware of unconventional avenues for possible production and possession of child pornography, such as the Barbie Video Girl," the document said. The FBI regularly distributes such alerts to help investigators improve policing. No incidents involving the new doll have been reported, according to Gutt and another FBI special agent, Steve Dupre. The doll's camera can capture 30 minutes of footage, and the video can be downloaded and streamed live to a computer, but there is no indication it can be streamed directly to the Internet, the FBI alert said. The notice is written for law agencies only, but someone at the FBI mistakenly sent it to media outlets in Seattle, said Dupre of the FBI's Sacramento, California, office, which distributed the notice. "It was an inadvertent dissemination of the document," Dupre said. "There have been no reported incidents of this doll being used as anything other than as intended." Seattle media accounts of the FBI alert prompted some parents to express concerns about the doll. "That plays into these people who prey upon our children's ideals. It frightens me," William Porres, a Tacoma, Washington, grandfather, told CNN affiliate KING. He said he will not buy the doll for his 6-year-old granddaughter. "Oh, she would love it, but she's more important to me than a giggle on Christmas morning," Porres said. A Mattel Inc. spokesman could not be reached for comment, but the toymaker issued a statement to KING: "The FBI is not reporting that anything has happened. Steve Dupre from the FBI Sacramento field office has confirmed there have been no incidents of this doll being used as anything other than its intent. Mattel products are designed with children and their best interests in mind. Many of Mattel's employees are parents themselves and we understand the importance of child safety -- it is our number one priority," the statement said. FBI special agent Gutt said the alert apprised other agencies about how the new doll's videotaping capabilities could contain evidence. "The cyber alert was meant for law enforcement only and was taken out of context," Gutt said. "The intent was to aid law enforcement in evidence gathering." The Mattel website says the $49.99 doll, for kids ages 6 and up, has been nominated for the 2011 Toy of the Year Award. "Budding filmmakers, take note: Barbie doll now doubles as a video camera!" the website says. "Girls can record and play back clips with this multi-tasking doll, which has a video camera built right in. Capture everything from a doll's-eye-view, then watch it instantly or upload to your computer. There's an LCD screen on Barbie doll's back, and a camera lens hidden discreetly in her necklace. Talk about making movies in style!"World's Largest English Language News Service with Over 500 Articles Updated Daily "The News You Need Today…For The World You’ll Live In Tomorrow." Obama Tells Russian Leader… …“US Constitution Dead” “Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” Thomas Jefferson, Third President of the United States (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) One of the saddest Kremlin reports we’ve ever read stated that during President Obama’s meeting with President Medvedev at the Asia-Pacific summit of APEC Nations in Singapore, the American leader when asked his thoughts on Prime Minister Putin’s warning that the United States should cease its march towards socialism replied, “It doesn’t matter since for all intent and purposes the US Constitution is dead”. In his speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this past winter Putin had warned Obama of the dangers of socialism by saying, “In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state’s role absolute, in the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.” Putin further cautioned Obama against using military Keynesianism to lift its economy out of recession, saying, “In the longer run, militarization won’t solve the problem but will rather quell it temporarily. What it will do is squeeze huge financial and other resources from the economy instead of finding better and wiser uses for them.” Unfortunately for the American people, Obama has not only failed to heed Putin’s warning, he has embarked upon an unprecedented mission since taking office of subverting the United States, and its people, by literally bowing down before the leaders of a Globalist elite intent upon the destruction of our present World so as to remake it in an image more befitting the ancient era of omnipotent Kings who ruled over their subjects with iron fists and tolerated no dissent whatsoever. In Obama’s bowing down before the brutal Saudi Arabian King with the “beaming” Jewish French President Nicolas Sarkozy looking on [photo top left], to be followed this past week by his bowing down before the Japanese Emperor [photo top right] whose people consider him to be a “god”, the American people have been given the clearest example possible that the World they once knew is totally gone. And to this “New World” these American people are entering they haven’t the slightest clue about the horrors they are about to face, a fact made more cruel because of their propaganda media organs all being a part of the greater plot to see these once great people, and their Nation, completely destroyed and sacrificed upon the alter for an elite class of rulers who include the CEO of the Goldman Sachs banking giant Goldman Sachs (who have engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression - and are about to do it again) who this past week in London said, and I quote exactly, that they are “doing God's work” by their making hundreds of billions in profits off the backs of the American people who are losing their jobs and homes by the tens-of-millions. For those American people believing that Obama is going to protect them against monsters such as this they should think again too, because the fact that he, Obama, is President of the United States at all is due to his being placed in power over them by Goldman Sachs in the first place, who by all accounts “own Obama, lock, stock and barrel.” So, if the American people are no longer being protected or told the truth by either their leaders or their propaganda news media, who is this battle being left to? Simple, those of us who have dared to stand up against this tyranny of lies and destruction and SHOUT as loud as we can of the dangers coming so that they can protect themselves. But we can’t do this without you, and whether you realize it or not, you need us now more than you have ever needed us before. Unfortunately for us, and those like us, this is an expensive battle and those we are opposed to are relentlessly ruthless is silencing us and keeping you from knowing the truth about what is happening now, what has happened in the past, and what is going to happen in the future. Only you can decide what you are going to be told, to whom you are going to listen to….isn’t it time that you stopped listening to lies? If so, than ACT to protect those few of us left still willing and able to tell the truth before you no longer have any choices left. Without your support we cannot survive into next week, let alone next month, please don’t let this happen because when you turn away from us you are turning your back on the truth. If every one of you reading these words gave just $50.00 we would be able to survive for an entire year. But because so few of you do we have to continually ask for your support. And when you will finally wake up to the reality that you are a combatant in a real life and death war, and your enemy is your own government and press, you had better hope that we, and other like us, are still around otherwise you’ll be totally uninformed and unprotected. Just like the people in Ukraine, who without our reports, and others using our reports to further inform these people, would have no idea about what is happening to them. And make no mistake about this, what is happening in the Ukraine IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO YOU, the only question you have to answer is how much you trust your own government and press to warn you ahead of time? The time for fun and games is OVER…WAKE UP, START ACTING LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU DO…IT DOES! (Please note that those who respond to this appeal, in any amount, with receive, at no charge, Sorcha Faal’s November, 2009/Decemberr, 2009 lecture series to the Sisters of the Order titled “Total War: the Collapse of the United States and the Rise of Chaos: Part 11”. This is another one of Sorcha Faal’s most important lectures dealing with the coming timelines of war, famine, catastrophic
former American football coach best known for being head coach at the University of Michigan from 1990 to 1994. During his five seasons at Michigan, he won 44 games, lost 13 and tied 3 for a winning percentage of.758. In Big Ten Conference play, his teams won 30 games, lost 8 and tied 2 for a winning percentage of.775, and won or shared conference titles in 1990, 1991 and 1992.[1] He is the father of former Cleveland Browns offensive line coach Andy Moeller.[2] Moeller resigned in May 1995 after tapes were released of his alleged drunken outburst following an arrest on a charge of disorderly conduct at the now-defunct Excalibur restaurant in Southfield, Michigan on April 28.[3][4][5] He was succeeded by Lloyd Carr, who had assisted him at both Illinois and Michigan. Both Moeller and Carr served under UM coach Bo Schembechler from 1980 to 1989. Biography [ edit ] Moeller was a three-year letterwinner at Ohio State University, playing primarily at linebacker under head coach Woody Hayes. He served as team co-captain in his senior year, along with offensive tackle Bob Vogel. After graduation in 1963, Moeller coached in the high school levels for several years before joining Bo Schembechler at Miami University. He moved with Schembechler to Michigan in 1969, where he served as defensive ends coach until 1973, when he was promoted to defensive coordinator. Schembechler had also been an assistant coach at Ohio State when Moeller was a player, and both were members of the FWAA 1961 National Championship team. Moeller was head coach of the University of Illinois from 1977 to 1979. He rejoined the Wolverines as quarterbacks coach for a season in 1981. Moeller has the rare distinction of serving as both an offensive (1987–1990) and defensive (1974–1976, 1982–1987) coordinator during his time at Michigan. He coached the Wolverines to a victory over Alabama in the 1988 Hall of Fame Bowl, while Schembechler recovered from heart surgery. Individual Michigan players to win national honors under Moeller include Desmond Howard, winner of the Heisman Trophy and other awards in 1991. Erick Anderson won the Dick Butkus Award in 1991. Moeller resigned from the head coaching position in May 1995 following a drunken incident at a local restaurant.[6] After Michigan, Moeller was hired in June 1995 by the Cincinnati Bengals as tight ends coach under head coach David Shula and spent two seasons there. In 1997, he joined the Detroit Lions as the assistant head coach and linebackers coach under new head coach Bobby Ross. In 2000, Moeller was named head coach following Ross's sudden resignation nine games into the season.[7] He was given a contract for the remainder of the season and two additional years by owner William Clay Ford, Sr., a move that seemingly guaranteed a future with the team. After the team narrowly missed the playoffs (losing their final game on a last-second 54-yard field goal), ownership endorsed Moeller as the Lions head coach for the foreseeable future. However, he was eventually fired by new team president Matt Millen in early 2001 and replaced by Marty Mornhinweg.[8] Moeller finished with a 4–3 record as head coach, making him the only Lions head coach since Joe Schmidt to post a winning record during his tenure (Moeller has since been joined by Jim Caldwell in this regard). In 2001, Moeller joined the Jacksonville Jaguars as defensive coordinator under head coach Tom Coughlin.[9] He voluntarily stepped down from that position after one season, signing a three-year contract with the Chicago Bears as linebackers coach under head coach Dick Jauron.[10] He served in that role for two seasons, leaving when Jauron was fired after the 2003 season. Head coaching record [ edit ] College [ edit ] NFL [ edit ] Team Year Regular Season Post Season Won Lost Ties Win % Finish Won Lost Win % Result DET 2000 4 3 0.571 3rd in NFC Central 0 0.000 Lions' Total 4 3 0.571 0 0.000 – Total 4 3 0.571 0 0.000 – Coaching tree [ edit ] Assistant coaches under Gary Moeller who became NCAA head coaches: See also [ edit ]Eight of the nine milk bottles found in the Old Main cistern were from one local dairy, the Snow and Palmer Dairy of Bloomington. Before effective refrigeration was available during transport, only local milk would have been available. In the mid-nineteenth century, milk was primarily given to babies when mother’s milk was unavailable, but this carried some risks, as milk was dispensed with a ladle from street vendors ( Robert Dirks, 2011, Come & Get It: McDonaldization and the Disappearance of Local Food from a Central Illinois: pg 172 ). Bacteria grew in the containers, especially during the warmer months of the year, causing “‘summer diarrhea’ a disease that often proved lethal among children. Gastrointestinal disease accounted for up to 25 percent of infant mortality in the United States as late as 1900” (Dirks 2011: 172). In the town of Normal, at the turn of the twentieth century, consumers could choose from several dairy options. Dirks notes “early supermarkets stocked bottled milk and other dairy products, but most families preferred to purchase them from a ‘milkman’ who delivered right to the door” (2011: 172). The Snow and Palmer dairy was started by Willis Snow in 1870, who formed a partnership with Harry Palmer in 1897 (Dirks 2011:174). Bloomington passed ordinances to ensure the safety of milk in 1911, which outlawed selling milk from canisters, and necessitated bottled milk (Dirks 2011: 173). Pasteurization was introduced in 1895, and mandated by the city of Chicago in 1908. “In Bloomington, the Snow and Palmer Dairy was the first to introduce pasteurization to its customers” (Dirks 2011:173). They merged with Beatrice Creamery in 1925, and began selling milk products under the Meadow Gold brand (Dirks 2011:174). The eight milk bottles then can be firmly dated within the 28 years of the Snow and Palmer partnership.A few of these Lego brick riddles can be easily solved. The rest? Not so much. In fact, some of them are really hard—but definitely doable. They just require a little bit of imagination. Give them a try and post your answers in the comments. We will send a nice Lego set to the first person who gets them all right. Lego created these for the 55 anniversary of the Lego brick. Advertisement If you would like to know more about how bricks are made, check out our exclusive Lego factory footage. It's a truly fascinating tour. You can also check out our Lego timeline here. It covers the last 50 years of the company. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement AdvertisementEffective Macroprudential Policy : Cross-Sector Substitution from Price and Quantity Measures Author/Editor: Janko Cizel ; Jon Frost ; Aerdt Houben ; Peter Wierts Publication Date: April 21, 2016 Electronic Access: Free Full Text. Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this PDF file Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate Summary: Macroprudential policy is increasingly being implemented worldwide. Its effectiveness in influencing bank credit and its substitution effects beyond banking have been a key subject of discussion. Our empirical analysis confirms the expected effects of macroprudential policies on bank credit, both for advanced economies and emerging market economies. Yet we also find evidence of substitution effects towards nonbank credit, especially in advanced economies, reducing the policies’ effect on total credit. Quantity restrictions are particularly potent in constraining bank credit but also cause the strongest substitution effects. Policy implications indicate a need to extend macroprudential policy beyond banking, especially in advanced economies.Ed Miliband photographed for the New Statesman in 2012. Photo: Kate Peters/New Statesman No British election since 1979 has been as momentous as that which will be held on 7 May. The United Kingdom’s continued EU membership, the size and purpose of the state and the survival of the British Union are all at stake. The end of the long era of political and economic stability that followed the 1997 election, in which Labour returned to power under Tony Blair, has reanimated arguments once thought settled. Having served a full term in government, the contention of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats is that they deserve to be rewarded for their record, the former by winning their first majority since John Major won more than 14 million votes in 1992 and the latter by acting as a moderating influence in another hung parliament. It is the coalition government’s erratic record, however, that provides the greatest evidence of why they should not be entrusted with power. The coalition entered office in 2010 determined to eliminate the Budget deficit in one parliament: this was to be our new era of fiscal rectitude. We warned repeatedly that this aim would be imperilled by premature consolidation – and so it proved. The increase in VAT, the deep cuts to infrastructure spending and the hyperbolic and fatuous comparisons made between the UK and Greece all helped to halt, or “choke off”, the recovery that was under way in May 2010. Indeed, Britain endured its worst-ever post-recession performance. Growth eventually returned and employment rose to a record high of 73.4 per cent but it was too concentrated in low-wage, low-skill sectors. The resultant shortfall in tax revenue forced George Osborne to extend his deficit reduction programme by four years. Yet, far from learning from this error, the Chancellor now proposes to repeat it by promising a Budget surplus by 2018-19 – an ambition that could be achieved only through extreme and almost certainly undeliverable spending cuts. Through an act of political conjuring, the Tories have transformed economic failure into the appearance of success. However, the financial stability that they trumpet is threatened by their pledge to stage an in/out EU referendum by the end of 2017. This policy, forced on David Cameron by his recalcitrant backbenchers and the UK Independence Party, represents the greatest risk to prosperity, to Britain’s global influence and to the survival of the Union. Were the UK to vote to leave, the Scottish National Party would demand a second independence referendum on the grounds that the state that Scotland chose to remain part of had been fundamentally altered. A rampantly Europhobic Conservative Party, which would find it far easier to win majorities in a rump UK, may now regard this as a price worth paying. The promise to shield the poorest from the worst of austerity, emblematic of David Cameron’s “compassionate Conservatism”, was not kept. Measures such as the “bedroom tax”, the household benefit cap and the arbitrary use of benefit sanctions have frayed the safety net and contributed to the rise in food bank usage to more than one million. The £12bn of further welfare cuts promised by the Conservatives would inflict much harm on the unemployed, the working poor and the disabled. Years of privation for some have been accompanied by years of plenty for others. The 50p income tax rate, which the Tories originally suggested they would retain in 2010, was abolished and, even as property values swelled, Mr Cameron rejected a “mansion tax” on the grounds that “our donors would never put up with it”. His party’s promise to eliminate the remainder of the deficit through spending cuts alone would further widen the UK’s already vast inequality. After entering office, inspired by iconoclastic advisers such as Steve Hilton, the coalition pursued public service reform with absurd haste. The results did not justify the rhetoric. The NHS was subjected to an unpromised and unnecessary reorganisation that squandered £3bn at a time of fiscal restraint. The botched implementation of Iain Duncan Smith’s master plan, Universal Credit, wasted further resources and reduced welfare reform to mere austerity. Liberal Democrat supporters of the coalition point to achievements such as the introduction of equal marriage, the pupil premium and the fulfilment of the 0.7 per cent foreign aid target. These gains are outweighed by the damage inflicted elsewhere. The Liberal Democrats blocked many of the Conservatives’ worst proposals but they are equally culpable for the government’s failures. Having gifted Mr Cameron the majority he lacked in 2010, they achieved little in power, notably on constitutional reform. Nick Clegg’s clear preference in this campaign for another partnership with the Conservatives, even at the cost of the UK’s EU membership, demonstrates that his party could enable further harm. Neither of the coalition parties deserves to be returned to government. The Prime Minister boasts that the Tories are now the “party of working people”. Yet absent from his re-election campaign is any sense of moral mission. It is not enough simply to say, as Mr Cameron does, that the country is doing better under him. The people have to feel it and believe it. They do not. The lack of any meaningful swing towards the Tories in the opinion polls reflects this truth. Instead, it is Labour, after a single term in opposition, that has the best chance of entering office, even if only as a minority administration dependent on support from smaller parties. We endorsed Ed Miliband in the 2010 leadership contest as the candidate most committed to breaking with New Labour and to effecting far-reaching political and economic reform. Mr Miliband has remained true to this vision while keeping his party unified. He has performed well in the election campaign, growing in confidence as a communicator as his personal ratings have improved. But his five years as opposition leader have revealed severe limitations and strategic weaknesses. He has never succeeded in inspiring the electorate and has struggled to define himself. His narrow rhetorical and ideological focus on political economy has left him unable to reach the aspirational voters required to build a broad electoral coalition (see Jason Cowley’s report on Harlow in this week's issue). Finally, even after the SNP’s victory in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, which we predicted, he remained complacent over Labour’s decline in Scotland, where he is even less popular than David Cameron. It is the surge in support for the SNP, which has positioned itself to the left of Labour, that has definitively ended Mr Miliband’s hopes of winning an absolute majority. Should he become prime minister, he will now almost certainly be reliant on the support of a large nationalist bloc to govern. In such circumstances, perhaps his greatest task as prime minister would be to reimagine British nationhood, if this is even possible, and craft the reconfigured Union that is essential if Scotland is not to break away in the next decade. A more nimble and agile leader than Mr Miliband would have better exploited the historic opportunity provided by the collapse of support for the Liberal Democrats and the divisions on the right created by the rise of Ukip. The paradox of austerity is that it offers opportunities to be creative and to rethink social democracy in a cold climate. Mr Miliband has not changed the character of his party enough. He has not created a sentiment from which truly transformative policies could have flowed. He argues simultaneously for more austerity and more socialism. Yet the programme put forward by Labour in this election is still one that is worthy of support. Inequality, the root of so many of the our maladies, would be tackled through a more redistributive tax system, an increase in the National Minimum Wage to £8 and employee representation on company remuneration committees. A more productive and balanced economy would be built through the establishment of a national investment bank, the transformation of vocational education and the devolution of £30bn to city and county regions. The housing crisis would be urgently addressed through the construction of 200,000 homes a year by 2020. (We would also like to see land reform and the introduction of a land value tax.) The deficit would be cut pragmatically, rather than with ideological haste. The most egregious measures imposed by the coalition, such as the bedroom tax and the Health and Social Care Act, would be repealed. The unelected House of Lords, an embarrassment in a modern democracy, would be replaced with an elected senate of the nations and the regions. And the UK’s EU membership would be safeguarded through the avoidance of an unnecessary referendum, though reform of the EU is necessary. But even those who feel little enthusiasm for this programme ought to consider voting Labour if they wish to evict the Conservatives from office. As a result of our antiquated first-past-the-post system, which we hope will not survive beyond this election, they cannot do so otherwise. We have been cheered by the emergence of our new multiparty democracy but only a reform of the voting system will produce genuine pluralism. In the Labour-Conservative marginals that will determine the result, a vote for the Green Party or other progressive alternatives only aids Mr Cameron, who has been demonising the SNP in recent weeks in a desperate attempt to cling on to power. Britain is a great country, one of the safest and most prosperous in the world. It has the potential, also, to become a more equal and more democratic country in the next five years. The best means of fulfilling these hopes is to return a Labour government on 7 May.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted on Tuesday that Israel operates in Syria. "We're operating in Syria from time to time in order to stop the country from becoming a front against Israel," he said at the Galilee Conference in Acre. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "We're operating against another terror front that Iran is trying to build in the Golan, and in order to thwart the transfer of particularly deadly weapons from Syria to Lebanon. We will continue doing this," the prime minister continued. Apart from ambiguous hints or what could be better defined as an unintentional slip, this is the first time an Israeli official - particularly, the prime minister - declares that Israel does indeed hold military operations where Assad forces, different rebel groups, Hezbollah and Iran are all fighting. Netanyahu at the Galilee Conference (Photo: Kobi Gideon, GPO) A series of airstrikes has been attributed to Israel over the past few years, but Jerusalem has never officially claimed responsible for it. Netanyahu, who returned from the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, said he met with over 100 leaders from all over the world. "Israel is portrayed as an isolated country, beaten, down and out, but the opposite is true," he said. "I met with US President Barack Obama, with European leaders, and with my friend Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India. He spoke to me at length and told me: How do we continue the cooperation between Israel and India? "Modi spoke to me about the economy, security, cyber, scientific cooperation, agriculture and water. And like him, as did leaders from Africa, the Japanese prime minister, leaders from all continents. From Australia to South America. Everyone," he continued. 'Funds for Galilee, Negev go to isolated settlements' Earlier, opposition leader Isaac Herzog (Zionist Union) accused Netanyahu of diverting funds meant for the Galilee and the Negev to isolated settlements in the West Bank. "Bibi will come here soon and tell you how much he did for the Galilee. He cannot continue lying. Every child in an isolated settlement outside the main blocs in Judea and Samaria gets more than a child in the Galilee," Herzog said during the 8th annual Galilee Conference held in Acre. He accused the right wing parties of emptying out the state's coffers by putting pressure on the prime minister. "You can't keep extorting everyone," Herzog said. Opposition leader Herzog (Photo: Ido Becker) He also once again ruled out joining Netanyahu's government. "Those who think we can join a unity government when the priorities are so twisted, are mistaken. There's nothing for me in a unity government," he said. Herzog's comments caused uproar, with MK Moti Yogev (Bayit Yehudi) accusing Herzog of incitement. "You're irresponsible, it's a good thing you didn't join the government," Yogev said. "This is the truth," Herzog insisted. "You, the lobby of isolated settlements and of Judea and Samaria in the Likud and Bayit Yehudi parties, are grabbing the government and its leader by the most delicate places. This lobby sits inside the Prime Minister's Office and sucks up all of the funds for the Galilee and the Negev. Netanyahu is incapable of moving an inch on the diplomatic front, change anything in the Israeli economy, or change the national priorities in favor of the Negev and the Galilee."On March 19, a 27-year-old Afghan woman named Farkhunda was attacked in the center of Kabul in bright daylight, wrongly accused of burning a copy of the Quran. The Kabul police initially tried to protect Farkhunda but eventually handed her over to a mob that savagely beat her, killed her and then burned her body. This is the single most shocking instance of brutality and violence against a woman to occur in Afghanistan since the systematic stoning of women under the Taliban. What makes this event different from the attacks and crimes against women that occurred under the Taliban is that it was committed by seemingly ordinary Afghan men from the relatively progressive capital of Afghanistan. How, then, do we make sense of this shocking violence? State should defend women’s rights Back in 2001 when the US and its NATO allies began their state building project in Afghanistan, one of the main justifications was the defense of women’s rights. After more than 12 years of military occupation, the US and NATO announced their imminent departure from Afghanistan last year. An analysis of US-led efforts to build a state infrastructure in Afghanistan can help shed light on why the mob turned on one woman walking through a city market. First, her killing is a failure of the new state to protect one of its citizens. In particular it demonstrates the weakness of the police and the institutions of justice and law enforcement – main pillars of a modern state. Second, there seems to have been a failure on the part of US and NATO allies to see the potential contradiction between their nation building project and their stated goal of defending women’s rights. What I am referring to here is what Turkish feminist Deniz Kandiyoti has described as a crisis of patriarchy. In Afghanistan this crisis has reached an acute moment. Patriarchy’s hold Patriarchal structures of rule and power have hindered the emergence of a modern state in Afghanistan. Women’s roles in the private and public spheres have been interpreted through traditional, rural and conservative norms that subordinate women to men. In traditional patriarchal societies, men define their roles as breadwinners who work the land, ply their trade or engage in a skilled craft. However, decades of war and economic disruption have crippled most of the rural economy. This in turn has undermined the material foundations of patriarchy in Afghanistan. It is against the background of patriarchy under pressure that women’s empowerment – seen by the Western occupiers as integral to Afghanistan’s rebuilding – has taken place. It is no surprise that what is, in effect, a shift in women’s social status is seen as a direct threat to the deep-seated, traditional power of men. The allies’ state building has increased women’s participation in public life but it has failed to enact policies to manage the crisis for men. The country is run primarily by educated, formerly exiled Afghans who returned from Pakistan, Iran and the West after the expulsion of the Taliban by US forces in 2001-2002, and a large number of international aid groups. According to the New York Times, as of December 2014, there were more than 2,300 aid agencies and more than 3,000 international aid workers in Afghanistan. Afghan society was modernized overnight with an influx of laptops and smart phones, but there has been little effort to transform gender relations. The result of all of this is that there is a significantly large group of men who feel excluded from the benefits of the new Afghanistan, as evidenced by my examination of comments by Afghan men on social media over the past decade. These men tend to view women, especially successful and/or independent women in public spaces, as a symbol of men’s collective failure. This crisis has reached a boiling point: women increasingly feel threatened by ordinary men in everyday situations. Previously – when the patriarchy was powerful – men felt the public space belonged to them. Now they are unemployed and unskilled, but even those who are employed feel their traditional source of power in public and private spheres vis-a-vis women is on a decline. Their anxiety about their status is being expressed violently, especially when men come together as a group, as they did in the case of Farkhunda. Calls for justice Public anger against Farkhunda’s murder has resulted in the arrest of 19 suspects. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail The country’s new president Ashraf Ghani has denounced her killing as a “heinous crime” and ordered an investigation. In the meantime, however, conservative voices such as those of Mullah Ayaz Niazi are still trying to defend the old patriarchal system and are threatening that any significant sentence against the alleged murderers of Farkhunda will result in public outrage by Afghan men across the country. If the Afghan state is to establish its legitimacy it will have to deliver justice as a first step. As a second step, however, it must be acknowledged that women’s rights and their physical safety cannot be guaranteed solely by facilitating their ability to take part in public life. As a long-term strategy, there is a serious need for educational and vocational programs that can integrate those left out of the mainstream. It is also imperative to bring economic development to rural parts of the country and, in the process, redefine the roles of men and women to combat gender based violence. The murder of a woman by a group of men has unified public support against the persistence of violence related to patriarchal structures of power in Afghanistan. In the past week, thousands, including progressive men who are part of an emerging civil society in Afghanistan have taken to the streets of Kabul demanding justice from the government. Debates and discussions on Afghan television and in the media have highlighted the importance of women’s rights and women’s safety. At the same time, however, it is undeniable that there are conservative social forces (warlords, religious elites and a number of state officials) that still are powerful and not easily defeated by recent public mobilization. The coming days will be a test of the Ashraf Ghani government – not just of its commitment to women but also of its ability to rule.Mountain lions or cougars have been spotted inside city limits before, but this time, a man and his wife saw one chasing after its dinner right next to Millard North High School. At Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo, cougars are an every day sight. “We call him 'Omaha;" we thought that was appropriate,” said Alan Holst, Cats and Bears Supervisor at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo. Omaha was captured about nine years ago, after he was spotted in West Omaha. Tuesday, Jim Beck and his wife say they spotted another mountain lion. “We saw a deer run across the street from the Boys Town property to a soybean field on the other side,” said Beck. Beck says he was traveling southbound on 144th Street when the mountain lion crossed into a field, where a combine was doing field work. The field is just yards away from Millard North and several residential areas. "They are wild animals, just real big stride and tails up. It was an amazing sight," said Beck. “They are just trying to make a living like the rest of us. They wander into this situation,” said Holst. In Beck's case, he called 911 immediately, but was transferred to the Nebraska Humane Society. “This isn't a tabby cat, this is a real animal,” he said. The Beck's haven’t seen the cougar again, but the thought that it could be out there has both of concerned. If you spot a mountain lion, don't follow it. Just like humans are scared of mountain lions, they are scared of humans. If the mountain lion feels trapped or threatened, the situation can become dangerous.About “Ren Hu” is a spiritual successor to “God Hand” setting out to challenge even the most skilled players with high-paced action, on-the-fly customizable combos and emergent gameplay. Its artstyle showcases first-in-games Bitstream style and Synthwave tunes from award-winning artists Ogre and Ex-Machina, A story dealing with themes of neo-darwinism, ultra-liberalism, and personal liberty in a post-human world, featuring 4 different endings representing philosophical player choices. A community-driven hardcore game renaissance where YOU can shape the world. That is right! You do not have to trust our word that "Ren Hu" is a real thing. We worked incredibly hard so that you can download our Kickstarter Alpha Demo right NOW. It is available for Windows, Linux or Mac [Linux and Mac coming soon!]. This demo includes a full chapter of the game, and although some parts are still WIP, it should give you a taste of what´s to come. “Ren Hu”´s on-the-fly combo changer system allows player to select 14 attacks and create 4 combos that can be changed while in combat, setting up a platitude of tactics and strategies to approach each combat situation uniquely. The on-the-fly combo changer slows time down so that players can choose their best attacks for any given enemies while in free-flow motion. Combo Changer in real time Players can choose from 50 attacks separated in categories such as “Normal”, “Guard Break”, “Stun”, and extremely powerful “Limit Attacks”, which are unlocked by finding Level Guitars scattered over the world. Every attack type changes its power and characteristics based on how much energy the player has stored by fighting enemies or by obtaining items. Enemies might, however, be resistant to these or even parry some, therefore dealing terrifying damage to the player. This is not a game for those looking for an easy challenge! Players might also be inflicted statuses by losing all their energy or receiving specific enemy attacks. Choose your strategy wisely “Bitstream” is a new-in-games graphic style created by german artist Sylvia Ritter, which creates a high-resolution retro look. Her evocative style implies form without stating it, giving “Ren Hu” a unique look used as a stylistic choice where no curves are used in any static object in the world. Bitstream in action This style combined with 3D-to-2D render technology allows “Ren Hu” to showcase very fluid animation within an HTML5 game confined to a 2D technology. Musicians Ogre and Ex-Machina set the tune to this first chapter with their award-winning Synthwave tunes. Players must unlock songs by retrieving Cassette tapes from all over the world, therefore also unlocking the Cassette Room where they may listen freely to all the game’s songs. Enjoy a teaser of some of the songs in the demo right now! A new song is found! An Arcade Room is on the works where players will solve puzzles or discover secrets by beating in-game arcade mini-games inspired by arcades from the 80s and 90s. Just another mini-game to find! CAN THE CREATED BECOME THE CREATOR? Isaac Asimov's Laws of Robotics “Ren Hu: Rebel Yell” is the first chapter of a 5 chapter post-human storyline based on classic games like “Panzer Dragoon” and literary works in the "I Robot" series by Isaac Asimov, and “Naussicaa of the Valley of the Wind” by Hayao Miyazaki. During these 5 chapters 4 philosophies will be explored through different characters: neo-darwinism, ultra-liberalism, and personal liberty... and we won't spoil the surprise for the last one! These personal agendas are explored against the background of a post-human world, where after the great cybernetic war the few remaining humans must endure a dying world. “Ren Hu” explores The Frontier that separates humans from The Machines that caused the fall of The Ancients. "Ren Hu" features 4 endings, one for each philosophical theme and one extra ending that we will not spoil here, but we are confident it will surprise you! Here are some of the characters that will shape the post-human world of Ren Hu, and change The Frontier forever [spoiler free]: Main Story Characters Hu : An ex-soldier trying to redeem a world-changing mistake and find freedom. : An ex-soldier trying to redeem a world-changing mistake and find freedom. Xin : A powerful dictator whose sole purpose is to save mankind from extinction. : A powerful dictator whose sole purpose is to save mankind from extinction. Dai : A mysterious young woman with powerful allies. : A mysterious young woman with powerful allies. Yu: An old lady who holds the key to the future... one way or the other. Let´s state this very clearly: we want to make an awesome game, we want the community -YOU- to be involved, and we want "Ren Hu" to retain creative freedom. Making games is expensive both in terms of money and creative investment, and although we have progressed a lot with our initial savings, it has become time to take a step forwards in quality, scope and particularly outside involvement. Kickstarter gives us the visibility to get hardcore gamers involved in the creation of the game, to assess if there is interest in such a niche title, and with your help, fund this vision into a reality. We want you to be part of this strategic beat'em up game renaissance movement, and we expect to see amazing things brought up by the community through mutual interaction, and the project´s creative rewards! “Ren-Hu” is currently in early beta, and you can play its first chapter “Ren Hu: Rebel Yell” for free on PC platforms (Windows, Linux, and OsX) NOW! We are constantly working to improve our builds. Here is an approximate breakdown of the work already done: This Kickstarter campaign which would allow development of [at our initial goal] 2 additional chapters and add lots of content to the game, to become available along 2016 ending with the final chapter in autumn 2016. Read further below to find out our development roadmap for the next 6 months. We have tried to create rewards that can inspire everyone; from music lovers to those of us that want to be a full part of the creation process. Plus, depending on the reward tier you will receive up to 4 game copies to share with your friends! We are particularly happy about our creative rewards. Create a secret to be found in game, an enemy, or even a full level! Set your inner gamedev free! Rewards Chart For more details on each reward tier please refer to the right sidebar. We want to create an amazing game. We have taken the first steps, and now it is time to realize all of "Ren Hu"'s potential! These are our stretch goals: Software development is not a straight-line proces; much like a child, its development sometimes takes turns, but we know the next steps to take in order to fulfill our wish to reawaken old-school beat'em ups. Some of them are listed below: Current Development Roadmap We have worked on "Ren Hu" for the last 6 months, which gives us a very precise knowledge of our previous expenditures and burn rate, allowing us to forecast the project-wide expenses seen here: By analyzing our burn rate, we feel confident that our goal and stretch goals are realistic and will allow for sustainable development. We have made it so far with very little funding, so we understand the importance of setting realistic budgets! At Lethal Games we are fortunate enough to all work in what we love, and even though sometimes it is really hard work, we all have a great time creating Ren Hu! You can find a bit more about us here: Lethal Games is surprisingly composed of actual people! And of course you can contact any of us directly in our social media! We love to hear from the community:Disregard what you may believe happened over the last few days, as history has changed and NBC has not cancelled their freshmen time travel drama Timeless. As series co-creator Erik Kripke puts it: The #TimeTeam went back 3 days, and changed history. @nbc picked us up for 10 episodes. Seriously. Airs next summer. #TimelessRenewed pic.twitter.com/SDkeShlByL — Eric Kripke (@therealKripke) May 13, 2017 The network announced today that they have reconsidered their cancellation decision and will instead bring the show back for a ten episode second season that will air in either Spring or Summer 2018. The reasons for the change of heart by the network executives are all over the board, but I have to believe that the massive outpouring of support for the show by the fans played at least a part of their decision. Word is that Sony, which co-owns the show with NBC, was working hard to shop it around to other networks. And perhaps part of that involved some re-negotiations with NBC that made it more attractive to the network. And the fact is that the show’s numbers were not that bad when you factor in delayed-viewing, and allegedly NBC execs liked the show as well. But in any case, the show is coming back for at least ten more episodes, and if its fans remain diligent, perhaps more beyond that. CBS uncancelled Jericho back in 2007, but that show’s second season ended up being its last. Though that one never had the same level of support from its network, so perhaps Timeless can fare better. The Timeless fans should definitely be commended for their tireless efforts and support, which for once was rewarded by a network making the decision. I personally believe that the networks need to see this level of fan support as an asset and that they should partner with those fans to assure that they stay active on the social networks to keep drawing attention to their shows. In the uber-competitive environment of Peak TV, I believe that the networks that move in that direction will have a better chance of surviving. But for now, let’s just bask in this good news as well as the surprise renewal announcement for The Exorcist, and also appreciate the fact the we have many, many sci fi and fantasy shows to choose from across the
Republic essay, I called it “Do What You Love” – a shorthand for a genre of blogs that eschew conventional jobs and climbing the ladder. Things to avoid, according to one of many downloadable “manifestos:” “sitting at a desk for 40 hours a week for an average of 10 hours of productive work,” going overseas “twice in your life, to somewhere safe like England” and going to college “because someone said you should get a degree.” Followers can’t imagine finding satisfaction in a reliable General Schedule paycheck or a nonprofit gig with good health benefits. They don’t work within the halls of power; they become one-person governments limited only by their drive and bank accounts. And they regard hierarchies and traditional gigs – even those with a supposed civil function that are woven into the District’s economic and cultural fabric – as the enemy of self-actualization and fulfillment. Still (or maybe, because), I’m completely hooked. Instead of scrolling through Pinterest for recipes I’ll never make or beaches I’ll never visit, I fall down Internet rabbit holes learning how to maximize frequent-flyer miles, how they earn money from blogging, how to attempt a lean start-up and how I “don’t have to live the life everyone expects me to.” * * * “Do What You Love” asks its followers, “How do we live a remarkable life in a conventional world?” Everyone answers differently. As I wrote last summer, after attending the three-day conference: Each of the few thousand attendees has a slightly different answer: They are motorcyle-riding life coaches, motivational podcasters, school teachers who visit psychics, stay-at-home moms who craft children’s books. They are everyday bloggers and wannabe e-book writers and corporate refugees. They are travel fanatics, Boeing engineers who listen to the podcasts and read the blog posts from other WDS speakers. The event, which began in 2011, evolved from local meet-ups based on his website and book tours. I haven’t done anything quite so dramatic. But after becoming hooked a couple of years ago, I began taking baby steps to a more independent, creative and adventurous life. I stashed away a tiny bit of money from my paycheck each month and used the savings, in part, for the cross-country flight and $500 admittance ticket to WDS (no discounts for press). I blogged, briefly. I bought countless Lonely Planet travel guides, with no real intention to live elsewhere. In moments of textbook post-graduate ennui and settling into the inevitable realities of emerging adulthood, the movement seemed appealing to me – as I’m sure it does to many other millennials. At the same time, I wasn’t really unhappy. Studying this movement brings questions ofwhether a steady desk job, happy hours and extra-curricular activities are existential shackles, but I still believe routines can provide purpose and meaning. The movement’s founder, Chris Guillebeau, 36, however, might disagree. He started his blog, “The Art of Non-Conformity,” in 2008 and managed to amass a huge, loyal following. He now also boasts 125,000 followers on Twitter. Guillebeau wrote the New York Times best-selling “The $100 Start-up” and “The Art of Non-Conformity.” He’s out with a new book, T”he Happiness of Pursuit,” part travel-memoir about visiting all 193 countries by age 35. It’s also part sociological exploration of real-life “quests,” which he defines as a challenge or adventure of Greek mythological portions. “General life improvement” – losing weight, writing a book, running a marathon – won’t do. Guillebeau is, after all, a high school dropout who hacked his way through community college courses, made money on eBay when the money was good and traveled to all 193 countries before age 35. He has never worked a full-time day job in his life. Guillebeau once assured me that he was not trying to paint working stiffs like me as the “other.” He knows his followers are privileged, and he argues that those of us with disposable income in the first world have unique opportunities to ask philosophical questions on what makes a good life. Yet his writing is slightly more pointed. It includes bromides like “Realistic is the adjective of cynics” and a warning that “gatekeepers”– like lawyers, political parties, the media and labor movements — will tell you what to think, to do, which choices you have or “all of the above.” It seems like a hard sell for the type A, career-driven people who fill D.C.’s bars and yoga classes. Yet when Guillebeau stopped by local bookstore One More Page, people packed in rows of folding chairs and spilled out into standing room. In attendance: high-ranking federal bureaucrats who run motivational speaking businesses on the side, a mother-daughter pair who drove from West Virginia in Beltway traffic to see Guillebeau, lawyers-turned-yoga teachers. There were lots of millennials, along with a surprising number of boomers looking for second acts. Terry Nebeker, special events coordinator at the store, introduced Guillebeau. “Here in DC, we’re so goal-oriented,” Nebeker said. She listed off the usual high-achieving upper-middle-class family routine: soccer practices, AP classes, SAT tutors. “I wonder what we’re teaching and modeling for our kids. That’s why I’m so excited Chris is here.” During his talk, Guillebeau introduced a young Baltimore couple named Liz and Ryan Bower, who sat beaming in the corner of the room, preparing to embark on a multi-continent, yearlong journey around the world chronicling positive marriages. He introduced Kelly Newsome, a Washington resident who left a law firm to start a yoga studio. Guillebeau also told the audience about the men and women and the “quests” he chronicled in “The Happiness of Pursuit”: a blind woman who trained her own guide dog, a man who ran 250 marathons in one year, a mom in Tulsa who resolved to make a meal from every country in the world, several Guinness world-record-breaking “questers.” Though there’s an undercurrent of vaguely libertarian, mistrust of institutions running through Guillebeau’s work, his rhetoric is completely palatable to a Washington crowd. In order to win Guillebeau’s attention for the book, “quests” had to be specific goals with endpoints (“every good goal has a deadline,” Guillebeau advises), and driven by a “calling” or mission. They also required sacrifice of some kind: “There is no having it all when it comes to a quest,” Guillebeau says in his book, sounding as though he’s more tapped into the corporate psychology zeitgeist than he seems. The book’s introduction includes a checklist for those considering a quests – Guillebeau’s writing frequently warns that following his worldview isn’t for everyone: “Do you enjoy making lists?” it asks. “Have you always enjoyed setting goals?” Do you enjoy planning? But planning and goals and the sort of “World Domination” he espouses all require more than imagination and grit. Every travel hacking trick on the blogs won’t make it free; training for 250 marathons is a lot of time spent devoted to personal develoment. Guillebeau’s “quests,” in the end, all impress. In that way, it isn’t hard to imagine that his brand of “Do What You Love” bootstrapping independence would have an audience in a city synonymous with ambition and power. It helps me to think so. This way, I can have my “Do What You Love” blogs and enjoy my brunch, too.Rand Paul finally ended his 13-hour filibuster of John Brennan, Obama’s nominee to head the CIA, at 12:40 a.m. this morning. Whatever you think of the specifics of Paul’s speech, his filibuster was a good thing — it sparked public discussion about Obama’s drone policies and the weak legal rationale for targeted killing the administration has publicly released. But Paul’s filibuster did more than that. It also perfectly showcased — in an unexpected way — the problems that have rendered the Senate so dysfunctional. Even as Paul’s filibuster consumed all of our attention because of its uniqueness — no one mounts “talking filibusters” anymore — another filibuster that took place yesterday was treated by the political world as routine, as business as usual, as an entirely normal episode in the day-to-day running of the government. I’m talking about the GOP filibuster of Caitlin Halligan, Obama’s nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Paul’s filibuster was born out of concern about an actual issue — objections to Obama’s approach to drone warfare that are shared on both sides of the aisle. By waging his talking filibuster, Paul gave us a chance to hear his objections and judge their validity. By contrast, the GOP filibuster of Halligan was part of a concerted, party-wide GOP strategy to do everything possible to render government dysfunctional when it comes to even routine business, for purely partisan reasons. The reason Republicans offered for their filibuster — that Halligan once participated in a lawsuit against the gun industry — had nothing to do with any substantive objections to her qualifications for the bench. Unlike Paul, Republicans didn’t carry out their filibuster of Halligan on the Senate floor, in full view of the public. They didn’t have to. Republicans continue to require Dems to clear a 60 vote threshold for Obama’s nominations to keep the courts and government agencies functioning, day in and day out, with complete procedural ease — paying no price in the press, which treats this as perfectly routine. As David Firestone notes, Paul’s filibuster ended, but the real filibustering will continue. The very fact that Paul’s filibuster (one built on genuine convictions surrounding real issues that were fully aired in public) was treated as so extraordinary is a reminder of the degree to which we’ve accepted nonstop secret filibustering (which has become nothing more than a tool for partisan across-the-board obstructionism) as entirely ordinary. * Ryan budget will keep Medicare savings Romney/Ryan denounced: So there you have it: The New York Times reports that the budget Paul Ryan will roll out next week will include the Obamacare Medicare savings Mitt Romney and Ryan ran against last year, as well as the fiscal cliff tax hikes on the wealthy that Republicans all but denounced as a threat to American civilization. Accepting the Medicare savings resulting from Obamacare — which Republicans still vow to repeal — will help them avoid including politically damaging Medicare cuts to those over 55. Moral of the story: Medicare cuts on the provider side, and tax hikes on the wealthy, are good ways to achieve deficit reduction! * What’s really driving Obama’s “schmoozing” strategy: Obama’s dinner with Republicans last night was about more than making nice. As Politico explains: While the White House is still intent on hammering House Republicans they view as unreachable, Obama increasingly sees a path out of gridlock through the Senate GOP conference, whose members want to prove their party is capable of big, meaningful bipartisan deals that belie the “Party of No” label. As I reported here yesterday, there’s a deeper strategic shift at work among Dems, in which a long, drawn out war of attrition, and concerted outreach to GOP Senators who are open to new revenues, ultimately leads to a deal in the Senate. * White House is playing a long game: Relatedly, E.J. Dionne has a terrific explanation of the strategic long game the White House is playing in hopes of reaching a big deficit deal. It involves peeling off individual Republican Senators who recognize that lurching from crisis to crisis is not in the party’s (or the country’s) best interests, and the bet that the pain the sequester inflicts on individual House districts will force even some House Republicans to break. * Public supports gun control: A new Quinnipiac poll confirms yet again that solid to large majorities support Obama’s gun proposals: Eighty eight percent of Americans support universal background checks; and 54 percent support bans on assault weapons and high capacity magazines. Strikingly, the poll also finds that respondents trust Congressional Republicans slightly more than Obama to handle gun policy, by 44-42, even though they oppose all the policies the public supports. This perhaps is a reminder of what an excellent job the “gun rights” has done in obscuring the true nature of gun control policy goals. * Gun control is good politics for Dems: A new Huffington Post/YouGov poll finds a striking jump in support for a hypothetical Dem candidate if respondents are told he or she supports universal background checks and the GOP opponent doesn’t. The assault weapons ban elicits a smaller jump, but it’s clearly not a liability, either. The poll is a reminder of how much of a no-brainer universal background checks really is, and suggests the unthinkable: What if the politics of gun control are not only no longer risky for Democrats, but are actually good terrain for them? * Puncturing the NRA’s myths: Mother Jones’s Dave Gilson does a nice job shredding multiple tenets in the NRA’s mythology, from the claim that “guns don’t kill people, people do,” to the assertion that more guns make for a more civil society. * Overwhelming support for minimum wage: A new Gallup poll finds that 71 percent of Americans support raising the minimum wage to $9 per hour. Even conservatives favor this policy by 54-44, and Republicans favor it by 50-48. It’s yet another issue where the GOP Congressional leadership is out of step even with their own voters. * And keep an eye on this in 2014: Via Taegan Goddard, a good point from Stuart Rothenberg: While the fight for the House of Representatives will take center stage next year, another battle could be almost as important for the two parties: control of a handful of big-state governorships. Republicans like to point out that while they lost the presidency and seats in both chambers of Congress in 2012, their party continues to hold governorships in 30 states, including nine of the country’s 12 largest states. But most of those governors — 23 to be exact — were elected in 2010, a great GOP year that doesn’t reflect the nation’s (or many states’) political fundamentals. What else?Mauricio Pochettino says he will never forget Ryan Mason’s contribution to kickstarting his tenure at Tottenham Hotspur and revealed he visited the Hull City midfielder in hospital as the player recovers from the fractured skull suffered at Chelsea on Sunday. Pochettino described Mason, who came through the youth ranks at Tottenham before moving to Hull last summer in a £10m deal, as “a very special player and a very special person”. One moment, in particular, has stayed with the manager. Pochettino was in his early weeks at Tottenham in September 2014 when his team hosted Nottingham Forest in the Capital One Cup, on the back of four matches without a win. The alarm bells were ringing when Jorge Grant put Forest in front on 61 minutes and it was when Pochettino turned to Mason for the first time. Mason had played the 90 minutes for the club’s under-21 team at Sunderland only 48 hours previously and he had played so well that Pochettino had named him among his substitutes against Forest. He took seven minutes to make his mark, scoring the equaliser from distance, and he had a hand in the team’s second goal, scored by Roberto Soldado. Tottenham would win 3-1. Mason changed the whole atmosphere of the occasion and it was one that Pochettino can reflect upon as a turning point. He also has fond memories of Mason’s all-round contribution to a hard-fought win at Aston Villa in November of that year, which included a little dig at Christian Benteke. The Villa striker responded by putting his hand in Mason’s face to incur a red card. Villa were 1-0 up at the time. “It was special,” the manager said. “I always remember it was a Wednesday night and Ryan had played in Sunderland with the under-21s on the Monday – very, very late; it was eight o’clock. We called [the academy manager] John McDermott after the game and John said Ryan had been fantastic. For 90 minutes, he fought and showed character on a very difficult pitch and on a very cold night. “I said he would train with us on the Tuesday morning and, after training, I said he would be on the bench against Forest. The game was difficult and at 1-0 down, I turned to Jesús [Pérez, the assistant manager] and said: ‘Tell Ryan to be ready.’ And, with his first touch of the ball, he scored an unbelievable goal. True, he was a little bit naughty against Villa but his contribution on the game was key. We were in a very difficult position. For me, and my present [squad] today, Ryan deserves a lot of credit because he helped us a lot.” Pochettino and his Tottenham squad watched Hull’s game at Chelsea in Barcelona, where they were enjoying a warm-weather training break and they were horrified when Mason suffered the injury in a clash of heads with Gary Cahill. Mason was taken to St Mary’s hospital in west London, where he underwent surgery on Sunday night. Pochettino said the squad had sent Mason a video message from Barcelona and that he, Pérez and McDermott went to visit him in hospital on Thursday afternoon. They had returned from Barcelona late on Wednesday night. “From day one, when we arrived at Tottenham, we saw Ryan as a player with big talent but who had a bit of bad luck in his career [with injuries],” Pochettino said. “It was our challenge to provide him with the tools to be a first-team player. We were right to trust in him. It was difficult to let him go to Hull but that is football. We have split now but the love and emotion – always, you keep that inside.” Pochettino reported that Harry Kane, Toby Alderweireld and Danny Rose would not play at home against Wycombe Wanderers in the FA Cup on Saturday because of minor knocks but he was confident the trio would be back for Tuesday’s league fixture at Sunderland. He also said that he did not envisage any additions to his squad before next Tuesday’s transfer deadline. “Every fan, every person can have their opinion and in that moment, it’s 80,000 managers, 80,000 chairmen, 80,000 sports scientists,” Pochettino said. “But we cannot listen. We have a strong squad – enough to compete in the next four months. It’s not impossible [to sign a player] – 1% maybe – but I don’t believe we will.”Low Cost Wind Energy Could Breathe New Life Into Coal Power Plants March 9th, 2015 by Tina Casey The new report was released last week by PJM, which happens to be the largest regional transmission operator in the US. The grid operators that network into PJM straddle coal and natural gas regions in Appalachia as well as the wind-rich Great Lakes states and solar-friendly New Jersey, giving it a front-row seat to the cost interplay between fossil fuels and renewables under the propose Clean Power Plan. When Is More Coal A Good Thing? For those of you new to the topic, coal still accounts for a large chunk of the US energy supply, and our aging fleet of coal power plants still accounts for an outsized part of our carbon footprint. Coal got into its dominant position because it is cheap and abundant. However, when you factor in the cost of carbon emissions from burning coal as well as related economic, environmental, and public health costs, the “cheap” thing falls apart. (A study led by the former director of the Harvard Medical School Center for Health and the Global Environment found the extra cost to the US to be $500 billion… per year.) As for so-called “clean coal,” last month, the US Energy Department pulled the plug on federal support for the $1 billion showcase FutureGen “clean coal” carbon capture project, effectively making the point that there are more cost-effective ways to manage our national carbon footprint. Under the proposed Clean Power Plan, many coal power plants would be out of compliance, which in grid operator parlance means they are “at risk of retirement.” Until the renewable energy supply chain ramps up to speed, the conventional replacement scenario has been based on natural gas. However, the devil is in the details, especially if you consider that “cheap” natural gas is just as much as chimera as cheap coal. Natural gas does result in lower emissions at the burn point. However, there are hidden costs all along the natural gas supply chain, including toxic waste, “fugitive” methane emissions from drilling sites and pipelines, and earthquakes. Given all these factors, under the right scenario, you could come out with an energy landscape that balances high-emission coal with near-zero-emission wind, resulting in overall lower emissions and lower costs than you would get from integrating more natural gas into the grid. Low Cost Wind To Replace Natural Gas The idea of using low-cost wind energy to replace natural gas might seem counter-intuitive, but take a look at the report and see what you think. You can find a link on PJM’s home page under the title “PJM Economic Analysis of the EPA Clean Power Plan Proposal.“ For those of you on the go, the American Wind Energy Association blog Into the Wind has a detailed summary, and for those of you really on the go, we gleaned a few snippets from PJM’s fact sheet. Buried near the end of the fact sheet is the observation that a fair number of coal-fired power plants in PJM’s territory have been slated for near-term retirement even without Clean Power Plan implementation. That’s a good reminder that, like every other major industrial facility, coal power plants have a “natural” lifespan. Sooner or later, they will have to be replaced or upgraded. Another thing to keep in mind is that the report is necessarily based on a lot of factors that are subject to change. The wind-to-replace-gas scenario is just one of 17 under consideration, and PJM analyzed each of them at three different points in a 10-year Clean Power Plan compliance schedule. For example, there is also a worst-case scenario in which the supply of renewable energy falls far short of expectations, while natural gas prices rise and PJM’s grid operators lose half of their nuclear capability. Ouch! On a brighter note, take a look at proposed renewable energy projects within PJM’s territory in the map below, and you can see cause for optimism. Note the east-west breakdown between wind (pink dots) and solar (yellow dots) — that’s not even taking into account the full force of offshore wind energy resources on the Atlantic coast: It’s also important to note that the report is the result of a request from the states in PJM’s territory, in which they asked that it find an integrated regional solution rather than taking a state-by-state approach. That helps even out some of the bumps from an overall sustainability angle, and more to the point, it is expected to lead to lower wholesale prices. However, the regional scenario also means that some local communities could get left holding the short end of the stick, by continuing to host coal power plant facilities that otherwise might have been retired. PJM would also like to remind you that this is an economic analysis, not a reliability analysis. PJM expects to have lots more to say about reliability later this spring, and in that context you can expect a continued discussion of how gains in energy efficiency will factor in. You can also expect to factor in the transition to a demand-response model, in which utilities communicate with customers in real time to ease grid bottlenecks and ensure reliability. PJM is active in this area and if you want to know more, look up its “Evolution Of Demand Response” white paper. Follow me on Twitter and Google+. Image Credits (screenshots): Courtesy of PJM.The accolades continue to pour in for rising Halifax Mooseheads star Nico Hischier. The high scoring forward has been named Captain for Team Orr at the upcoming CHL/NHL Top Prospects game to be played on Monday, January 30th in Quebec City. “It feels really good because it’s an honour for me and I’m really excited about it,” Hischier said prior to boarding the bus with his Mooseheads teammates on the way to Cape Breton on Tuesday. Hischier is one of 40 players participating in the game filled with the best CHL prospects for the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. The players were chosen by all 30 NHL clubs and divided into teams by NHL Central Scouting. This season’s event marks the 22nd annual showcase of the CHL’s top-40 NHL Draft eligible players featuring talent from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League, and Western Hockey League competing before hundreds of NHL scouts in attendance. Top ranked prospect Nolan Patrick of the Brandon Wheat Kings will serve as Team Cherry’s Captain. The Mooseheads’ prized rookie has played center on the top line for most of the season, producing 60 points (30 goals and 30 assists) in 36 games played. That puts him sixth in QMJHL scoring and he is by far and away the top rookie scorer. Hischier is looking forward to getting on the ice with the top skaters in the Canadian Hockey League. “It’s a good experience and a chance to meet new friends so it should be fun.” His performance with Switzerland that saw him nearly lead the team to a quarter-final upset of the eventual gold-medal winning Americans made hockey fans from around the world take notice of his skills. However Hischier isn’t putting any pressure on himself as he gets set for the latest showcase of his talents on a big stage. “I don’t really expect something and I’ll just try to have fun out there.” The rosters include all 17 CHL players who received ‘A’ ratings by NHL Central Scouting in their November Players to Watch list including Nolan Patrick of the Brandon Wheat Kings, Maxime Comtois of the Victoriaville Tigres, and Gabriel Vilardi of the Windsor Spitfires who will compete for Team Cherry. Team Orr includes ‘A’ rated players such as Nico Hischier of the Halifax Mooseheads, Matthew Strome of the Hamilton Bulldogs, and Kailer Yamamoto of the Spokane Chiefs. For more information please visit sherwin-williamstopprospects.ca.We want to once again thank all of the amazingly generous backers for helping to make this dream come true. We still have a lot of hard work in store for us to bring Story Realms to completion for a launch in the Summer of 2013, but you're devotion and support will carry us through. We will keep posting updates in the weeks and months ahead and you're going to see some wondrous art and stunning developments. Stay with us for a great journey as we bring Storm Hollow and Story Realms to life! Click any image below to make it BIGGER. What makes Story Realms different from any other board game or role playing game? Almost Everything! Here's a quick look at some of the reasons Story Realms is like nothing you've ever seen before. A complete Story Realms "Chapter" plays in about an hour. Story Realms is a storytelling adventure game that the whole family can enjoy together--even little kids can play Story Realms and there’s plenty there for adults to get into as well. The gameplay in Story Realms encourages teamwork, creativity, and imagination (thing that kids are amazingly good at) to accomplish great deeds, explore an amazing world, and discover your inner hero.. Playing Story Realms is an opportunity to build a shared family experience of adventure, fun, cooperation, and creative memories that will last long after the game is over Storm Hollow, the setting for Story Realms, is a vibrant storybook world that merges the familiar with the fantastic to provide an immersive backdrop for epic adventure that touch on the resonant themes of light versus dark, the power of a good story, and the boundless nature of creativity. So, what's in those pretty boxes? Books and boards and dice and meeples and cards and cards and more cards. In short, lots of adventure! Preludes has 231 items in the box and books with more than 180 pages. Pieces of a Broken World has 173 items and books with 160 pages. Click the pic above to see the whole list for yourself. Herwin Wielink is the amazing cartographer and artist behind the world map of Storm Hollow. Imagine this richly detailed and wildly imaginative map as a quad-fold game board at the center of your gaming table! We are pleased to present a hi-resolution image of Herwin's amazing creation. Just click the pic for the big picture. The Poppin’s Guide to Storm Hollow is filled with pictures, descriptions, and fun little stories about the world of Storm Hollow. The guide gives everyone a fun read and a good understanding of this imaginative, storybook world. As you can see with the Riftwalker page shown above, the book has detailed explanations about each hero type and their powers. It also has a short story about a legendary Poppin of that hero type. Poppin's Guide to Storm Hollow is meant to be something you can hand out to friends and family members, just to enjoy getting to know about Story Realms without ruining any of the surprises the Storyteller's adventures may have in store for you. The two-page spread shown above if from the section on the Rifts of Storm Hollow. We think this will be a gazetteer unlike any you've seen before. The Storyteller has an important role to play and the Teller's Tome is a useful tool for fulfilling that role. By giving the Storyteller his or her own space on the table, it gives a place to to keep important storytelling items like trackers, scene cards, meeples and markers. This way the Storyteller has everything needed for the story right at hand and can avoid even having to look up rules while running the adventure. We've flown past our initial funding goal of $20,000 and now we're pressing forward with the stretch goals. We set up stretch goals and rewards every $5,000 to add lots of great game-enhancing items you're going to WANT in your copy of Story Realms. So, click the pic to see our big big stretch goal chart and then consider increasing your pledge to the next level. Take a look at the items in the Boutique, Emporium and Bazaar below to see items you can add to your pledge to get us closer to the next stretch goal. The shopping list linked above will help you decide exactly what your pledge level contains and all the fun stuff you can add to your pledge. Welcome to the Boutique. Fancy Add-ons for Fancy Backers This book was previously called "The World of Storm Hollow" and it is included in every Story Realms: Preludes box. This is an extra copy of the book that has been signed by game designers Angela Hickman Newnham and Julian Leiberan-Titus. click pic to enlarge This is a rolled (never folded) copy of the map offered in the Bazaar. It has also been signed by artist and cartographer, Herwin Wielink. It will make a stunning addition to any Hero's bedroom. click pic to enlarge YOU DO NOT NEED THESE DICE. Six talent dice and one storm die are already included in the Story Realms: Preludes box, and you do not need duplicates. But several people said they wanted a backup set incase they lost one. So, here it is. click pic to enlarge Treat your dice nice in a handmade quilted DiceKerchief. Each DiceKerchief comes in a choice of bright colors or in a Story Realms custom pattern called "Map & Talents". A DiceKerchief will hold a handful of dice and we're included a hinged card case for your Artifact and Power cards. click the pic to enlarge You can add Emporium and Boutique items to your pledge by increasing your pledge amount by the prices shown above. If you add one or more items to your pledge and live outside of North America, please add $10 to your total pledge for International shipping. Welcome to the Emporium. Useful Items for Storytellers & Heroes A set of six 5x7" drawstring bags, each stamped with a different Talent icon. Also includes a hinged card box to hold the powers and artifacts you accumulate while adventuring in Storm Hollow. click pic to enlarge A deck of double-sided blank Lore cards and a pack of tarot-size card sleeves. Use our art cards, write your own backstories and adventure cues, then slide them into a card sleeve and start adventuring. click pic to enlarge This new Emporium item is NOT for you; it's for the teachers and kids in a school, library or community center. We'll gift a copy of Story Realms: Preludes in your name and add in a comprehensive curriculum plan and activity guide developed by a team of education experts for using Story Realms to promote literacy, reading fluency, creative thinking, problem solving, and a host of other skills. You can add Emporium and Boutique items to your pledge by increasing your pledge amount by the prices shown above. If you add one or more items to your pledge and live outside of North America, please add $10 to your total pledge for International shipping. Welcome to the Bazaar. Fun stuff for the adventurous kid in all of us. This final item in the Bazaar is our Create-A-Kit Kit. It comes with 48 stickers on 8 sticker cards and six blank Adventuring Kit cards. Just peel off the items you need for your next trip to Storm Hollow and stick them to a blank card. Write your name on the back of the card and you're all set! Don't carry useless stuff on your adventure; make your own kit then go explore Storm Hollow! Click the pics above for larger images. Throughout the campaign we will add new items to the Bazaar, so keep coming back to check it out. Backers who pledge at Riftwalker level, or levels that include Riftwalker bonuses, will receive one of each Bazaar item for FREE. So, the savings and swag just get better and better for the Riftwalkers. Don't feel left out, though, because EVERYONE can add Bazaar items to their rewards package just by increasing their pledges by the amounts noted next to each item. Ordering multiples is fine, just do the math. If you want two sets of bookmarks and three sets of postcards, just increase your regular pledge amount by $50. Before the project wraps up, we'll add a link for a shopping list, so you can tally up all the Bazaar items you want to get. We're providing a copy of the basic rules that make Story Realms work. Some of the art is still in production, and we'll be hiring a proofreader to give it a thorough review, but this will give you a good set of rules to look over. Storyteller's Guide (rules) We've also prepared a FREE print and play file-set for the first adventure in Story Realms: Pieces of a Broken world. The set contains two files: Den of Darkness Adventure Den of Darkness Components None of the files above are small and they are not "low ink" compliant because Storm Hollow is not a place for low-res black and white stories. Story Realms is Full Color, Full Resolution, and Full of Fun! We're also posting a couple of videos below with a look at how heros are created and how a story scene is played out. We know the camera work leaves a lot to be desired. Sorry. We're gamers, not videographers :-) Excited gamers and eager families have been demoing Story Realms for months. It's been showcased at GameStorm, Origins, GenCon and now PAX Prime. So, what do these folks have to say? Dan Zuccarelli of PERPETUAL GEEK MACHINE Podcast Richard Bliss of FUNDING THE DREAM Podcast Paco Garcia Jaen of GMSMAGAZINE Podcast Erik Wecks & Jonathan Liu of GEEKDAD Michael Fox of THE LITTLE METAL DOG SHOW Moss Scheurkogel on THE GAMES SHOPPER DefectiveYeti of PLAYTEST RPG KICKSTARTERS Pat on THE STUTTER Angie & Julian on ESCAPADE GAMES Great games and good stories bring people together. We want to provide both in one package. For us, Story Realms isn’t just a game. It’s an opportunity to help families and friends create memorable experiences together. Storytelling games have meant a lot to us in our lives. They’re more than just good fun. Storytelling games are how we’ve met some of our closest friends, including each other. More than anything, we want Story Realms to be a gateway for new players to enjoy these games and a magnificent bag of tricks for experienced players to tell great tales. -- Angie & Julian Each pledge level INCLUDES SHIPPING and is marked Worldwide or USA & Canada or International. Please double check to see that you are selecting the correct pledge level for shipping from the USA to your place of residence. The Springboard Seal of Quality is your assurance that a new game project is worth your time and attention. All titles approved for Springboard campaigns are vetted by the game professionals at Game Salute. During this comprehensive evaluation process, Game Salute play tests the game to make certain it is solid and fun, and examines all aspects of production plans to verify that you are getting the highest quality for your pledge dollars. Story Realms will be available locally all around the world through Select Stores and will be available online through Shop.GameSalute.com for delivery worldwide. You can find local stores through GameStoreLocator.com. If your favorite store is not on our Select Stores list, be sure to ask them to sign up today at GameSalute.com/SelectStoreSignUp. We have special Preview Nights bundles available for local stores. These bundles provide retailer pricing, free shipping with minimum order, complimentary demo copies, and more. Contact James Takenaka at [email protected] or 1-800-459-5516 to pre-order your Story Realms products now. Fully-playable Story Realms prototypes are available to board game and RPG reviewers for a nominal shipping fee. Story Realms is pleased to offer access to our game designers and creative team for podcast, blog, newspaper, or television interviews. Team members can also be present for conventions and event appearances with a timely invitation and appropriate travel and lodging expense allowances. Please contact David MacKenzie at [email protected] to discuss any of these media support opportunities. Game Design and Development: Angela Hickman Newnham & Julian Leiberan-Titus Art Director: Dann May Artists: Dann May, Kelly McClellan, Luis Felipe Peredo Noguez Cartographer: Herwin Wielink Graphic Design: Dann May and Cody Jones Executive Producer: W. David MacKenzie Design Studio: Escapade Games Publisher
present moment, or 7.34am, July 10, 1993, etc.), and Extended-period well-being, or how well off someone was during a particular period or stretch of time—say, a day, a week, a month, an entire chapter of her life, or (in the limiting case) her life considered as a whole ( lifetime well-being ). [4] In this paper, I will assume that lifetime well-being is the normatively significant notion. That is, only lifetime well-being is itself worth promoting for someone’s sake, and an ultimate source of self-interested reasons for someone. The other kinds of well-being, to the extent that they matter for someone at all, matter only derivatively, by having implications (either constitutive or causal) for her lifetime well-being.[5] Consequently, I will treat the following as the fundamental question in the philosophy of well-being: What determines the various respects in which someone’s life considered as a whole went well or poorly for her? Given this way of understanding what is at issue, a natural definition of hedonism is as the view that the various respects in which someone was well or poorly off in her life considered as a whole are fully determined by her pleasures and pains. More precisely: Hedonism. Any two beings who are identical in what pleasures and pains they felt during their lives must also be identical in any respects in which they were well and poorly off in their lives considered as wholes. It may be objected that this definition is not precise enough, for it counts what Feldman refers to as dolorism—i.e., “the view that pain is the Good and pleasure is the Bad” (Feldman 2004: 182)—as a version of hedonism. However, like Feldman (whose own proposed definition of hedonism shares this implication), I do not find this too worrying. If you are worried by it, feel free to add to the above definition “where, in some suitable sense, pleasure is the good and pain is the bad”.[6] Finally, I will assume here the following conception of benefiting and harming: Benefiting and Harming. To benefit somebody is to make her better off in some respect in her life considered as a whole than she would otherwise have been. To harm somebody is to make her worse off in some respect in her life considered as a whole than she would otherwise have been.[7] To work out whether some particular event benefited a person, it is necessary and sufficient to compare her actual whole life with the whole life she would have had had this event not occurred, and see if she is better off in any respect in the former than in the latter. On this assumption, hedonism implies the following view about benefiting and harming (which will be important later on, in Section 3): Hedonism about Benefiting and Harming (HBH): Benefiting and harming just consist in affecting pleasures and pains in various ways. Now that it is clear what I think we should mean by hedonism, let us turn to the question of why hedonism is attractive. 3. The Appeal of Hedonism Many motivations have been offered for hedonism. Most of these, it is fair to say, are not very convincing.[8] But one seems to me highly compelling: The Experience Requirement. Something can benefit or harm a being only if it affects her experiences in some way—specifically, their phenomenology (or ‘what it is like’ to be having them).[9] If the experience requirement is true, then hedonism seems likely to be true as well. This is because: If things must affect someone’s experiences in order to benefit or harm her, this is likely because benefiting and harming just consist in affecting people’s experiences in various ways. If benefiting and harming just consist in affecting people’s experiences in various ways, this is likely because they just consist in affecting people’s pleasures and pains specifically (HBH from above). I will take (2) for granted. But I want to consider an important objection to (1). It may be suggested that, while it is indeed necessary in order to benefit or harm someone that one affect her experiences in some way, more is required. For example, it may be that in order to benefit someone, one must give her, not only a pleasure, but, say, actual fame (or friendship, health, success, desire-satisfaction, or whatever it may be). Such a view does not count as hedonistic on my definition (since, according to such a view, benefiting and harming do not just consist in affecting people’s pleasures and pains in various ways), but it seems to satisfy the experience requirement. However, on closer inspection, such a view does not in fact satisfy this requirement. Suppose that somebody, having been given pleasure and fame (and so, on such a view, having been benefited) then loses the fame, but retains the pleasure. On the view in question, the loss of this fame would constitute a harm to this person, since she no longer has both the pleasure and the fame. But her experiences need not have been affected in any way (if, for example, she was ignorant of the loss of her fame). So, on such a view, there could be benefits or harms without changes in experiences. I will take it, then, that not only (2), but (1) also, is true. The crucial question now is Why believe the experience requirement? Many people (including myself) feel that something that has no effect on a person’s experiences does not ‘touch’ or ‘get to’ this person in the sort of way required for something to benefit or harm someone.[10] But many others claim not to have this intuition.[11] Is there an argument for the experience requirement that might sway these others? I believe there is. It is this: 1. If something could benefit or harm someone without affecting her experiences (say, fame, success, desire-satisfaction, or whatever it may be), then it could do so even after she is dead. . 2. Nothing can benefit or harm us after we are dead (there can be no posthumous benefits or harms). Therefore, 3. Nothing can benefit or harm someone without affecting her experiences. Let me say something in defense of each premise, starting with (2).[12] Consider Vincent Van Gogh, Emily Dickinson, Nick Drake, Emily Brontë, and John Kennedy Toole, each of whose lives were all-things-considered pretty unfortunate (or, at the very least, not especially fortunate)—full of loneliness, illness (physical and mental), fractured family relationships, and perhaps worst of all, a deep despair that came from knowing that their artistic works, to which they had devoted their lives, were almost totally unappreciated by their contemporaries. Each of them, however, went on to achieve tremendous posthumous success, fame, and desire-satisfaction (since each dearly wanted their works to be appreciated). Now, if posthumous events could be good or bad for one, then surely the truly enormous posthumous success, fame, or desire-satisfaction that these individuals achieved would mean that their lives were not so unfortunate after all. But it doesn’t. (Intuitively, this is part of the reason their lives were tragic.) Therefore, there can be no posthumous benefits or harms.[13] Now consider (1). The burden here seems clearly to be on those who would deny (1) to answer the following question: If the contribution to our well-being of success, fame, desire-satisfaction, or whatever it is, does not depend on our experiences being affected, then why should it matter whether we are still alive or not for this contribution to be made? Some have suggested that it is because death removes the subject, and without a subject there is no-one left to be harmed. However, even after death, there remains a subject in one sense: the person who once existed. If it is replied that this is insufficient, that there must continue to be a living, breathing being for there to be a subject of harm, then we are back with the original question: Why must one still exist in order to be harmed by things if their harming one does not require their affecting one’s experiences? The experience requirement, by contrast, provides a very natural explanation of why there can be no posthumous benefits and harms. What, after all, is death? On a plausible conception, it is just the permanent cessation of one’s experiences. Death, then, we can say, ends one’s ability to be benefited and harmed precisely because it is the end of one’s experiences, and benefiting and harming require affecting one’s experiences. I conclude that we have, in the experience requirement, a very powerful reason to believe hedonism. 4. The Nature of Pleasure What should a hedonist say about the nature of pleasure and pain? There are two main competing theories: felt-quality and attitude-based ones. According to felt-quality theories, some bit of phenomenology counts as a pleasure or a pain just in virtue of its phenomenology (i.e., ‘what it is like’ to be experiencing it).[14] By contrast, attitude-based theories say that some bit of phenomenology counts as a pleasure or a pain just in virtue of the subject’s attitude toward it (e.g., whether it is liked, wanted, etc.).[15] On the most sophisticated attitude-based theory, Heathwood’s, some bit of phenomenology counts as a pleasure just in case its subject has an intrinsic de re desire at time t that it be occurring at t.[16] Felt-quality theories seem to have commonsense on their side. To many, it seems that we like or want pleasures because they are pleasurable, and hate and seek to avoid pains because they are painful. Why do I like or want the feeling of orgasm? Intuitively, it is because this feeling is pleasurable (or feels good). It does not feel good because I want it. Why would I want it if not because it feels good? Similarly, why do I hate the feeling of headache? It is because it is painful. It is not painful because I hate it. What is the feeling of headache even like without the painfulness? And why would I hate that? Attitude-based theories seem to get the order of explanation the wrong way around. Despite this, most philosophers today favour attitude-based theories. This is mainly due to a widespread belief that felt-quality theories have been refuted by what has come to be known as the heterogeneity objection. This objection is as follows: 1. Felt-quality theories entail that all pleasures feel alike in some way. 2. All pleasures do not feel alike in some way. Therefore, 3. Felt-quality theories are false. Feldman, for example, writes: Consider the warm, dry, slightly drowsy feeling of pleasure that you get while sunbathing on a quiet beach. By way of contrast, consider the cool, wet, invigorating feeling of pleasure that you get when drinking some cold, refreshing beer on a hot day.… [They] do not feel at all alike. (2004: 79) He and others conclude that felt-quality theories are unacceptable. Attitude-based theories, by contrast, have no trouble accounting for the felt diversity of pleasures. What does a pleasure of sunbathing have in common with one of drinking a cold beer on a hot day? Simply that its subject happens to like it or want it to be occurring. I believe a hedonist should accept a felt-quality theory.[17] This is for the following reason: Only hedonism paired with a felt-quality theory is consistent with the right motivation for hedonism, the experience requirement. Suppose hedonism is true, and some attitude-based theory of pleasure is also true. In this case, there could be changes in well-being without changes in phenomenology. Why is this? It is because, on attitude-based theories, there can be changes in a person’s pleasures and pains without changes in her phenomenology. On attitude-based theories, it is enough for there to be a change in one’s pleasures and pains that there be some change in whether or the extent to which one intrinsically wants some bit of one’s current phenomenology to be going on. For example, a bit of phenomenology that is for me right now neither pleasurable nor painful could become pleasurable simply in virtue of my coming to intrinsically want it to be going on. It may be objected that, while it is true that, on attitude-based theories, there can be changes in pleasures and pains without changes in phenomenology, a hedonist is not committed to the view that every change in pleasures or pains affects well-being. A hedonist could say that it is only changes in pleasures and pains that do happen to involve changes in phenomenology that are ones that can affect a person’s well-being. But this is hardly satisfactory. Such a hedonist would lack an explanation of why the experience requirement is true. She could not hold the appealing view that benefiting and harming require a change in phenomenology because hedonism is true. A different response on behalf of attitude-based theorists is that intrinsically desiring some particular bit of phenomenology to be going on is a state that itself possesses a certain kind of phenomenology. If this is true, then changes in whether or the extent to which one wants some bit of one’s phenomenology to be going on does necessarily involve some change in one’s phenomenology. But even assuming that some desires can have phenomenology of their own (so-called ‘intrinsic phenomenology’[18]), and that the intrinsic desire that is involved in making some bit of phenomenology count as a pleasure is among them, this would undermine the key motivation for holding an attitude-based theory in the first place, the heterogeneity objection. It would suggest that all pleasures do feel alike in some way—they would all share the phenomenology that is involved in the sort of desire that makes some bit of phenomenology count as a pleasure.[19] Either way, then, the hedonist is going to have to contend with the heterogeneity objection. In light of this, it seems best simply to embrace the more commonsensical of the two kinds of theories—i.e., felt-quality ones—and attempt to respond to the heterogeneity objection. Now, there is, I believe, a good response to the heterogeneity objection. This is that our knowledge of (the intrinsic features of) our own phenomenology is far from infallible. Not only can we have false beliefs about it, there are aspects of it that can be hard or even impossible for us to have true beliefs about. In a book and series of fine papers, Eric Schwitzgebel argues that we make gross, enduring mistakes about even the most basic features of our currently ongoing conscious experience (or “phenomenology”), even in favorable circumstances of careful reflection, with distressing regularity … The introspection of current conscious experience, far from being secure, nearly infallible, is faulty, untrustworthy, and misleading—not just possibly mistaken, but massively and pervasively. (2008: 247–259) Schwitzgebel presents cases of mistaken beliefs about one’s own visual imagery (Schwitzgebel 2002), auditory experience (Schwitzgebel 2000), and emotional experience. Concerning emotions, he writes, Is emotional consciousness simply the experience of one’s bodily arousal, and other bodily states, as William James (1981 [1890]) seems to suggest? Or, as most people think, can it include, or even be exhausted by, something less literally visceral? Is emotional experience consistently located in space (for example, particular places in the interior of one’s head and body)? Can it have color—for instance, do we sometimes literally “see red” as part of being angry? Does it typically come and pass in a few moments (as Buddhists sometimes suggest), or does it tend to last awhile (as my English-speaking friends more commonly say)? If you’re like me, you won’t find all such questions trivially easy. You’ll agree that someone—perhaps even yourself—could be mistaken about some of them, despite sincerely attempting to answer them, despite a history of introspection, despite maybe years of psychotherapy or meditation or self-reflection. (2008: 249–250) He offers an example of a husband who is entirely oblivious to his own feelings of anger while doing the washing up: My wife mentions that I seem to be angry about being stuck with the dishes again (despite the fact that doing the dishes makes me happy?). I deny it. I reflect; I sincerely attempt to discover whether I’m angry—I don’t just reflexively defend myself but try to be the good self-psychologist my wife would like me to be—and still I don’t see it. I don’t think I’m angry. But I’m wrong, of course, as I usually am in such situations: My wife reads my face better than I introspect. Maybe I’m not quite boiling inside, but there’s plenty of angry phenomenology to be discovered if I knew better how to look. Or do you think that every time we’re wrong about our emotions, those emotions must be nonconscious, dispositional, not genuinely felt? Or felt and perfectly apprehended phenomenologically but somehow nonetheless mislabeled? Can’t I also err more directly? (2008: 252) Daniel Haybron, too, argues that there are good reasons for doubting that any of us have a firm grasp on the quality of our experience of life, in particular its affective character. Possibly, many of us are profoundly ignorant about such matters, to the point that we often don’t know whether we are happy or unhappy, or even whether our experience is pleasant or unpleasant. (2007: 395) He asks us to consider, for example, how a tense person will often learn of it only when receiving a massage, whereas stressed or anxious individuals may discover their emotional state only by attending to the physical symptoms of their distress. (2007: 398) He goes on: Perhaps you have lived with a refrigerator that often whined due to a bad bearing. If so, you might have found that, with time, you entirely ceased to notice the racket. But occasionally, when the compressor stopped, you did notice the sudden, glorious silence. You might also have noted, first, a painful headache, and second, that you’d had no idea how obnoxious the noise was—or that it was occurring at all—until it ceased. But obnoxious it was, and all the while it had been, unbeknownst to you, fouling your experience as you went about your business. In short, you’d been having an unpleasant experience without knowing it. Moreover, you might well have remained unaware of the noise even when reflecting on whether you were enjoying yourself: the problem here is ignorance—call it reflective blindness—and not, as some have suggested, the familiar sort of inattentiveness we find when only peripherally aware of something. In such cases we can bring our attention to the experience easily and at will. Here the failure of attention is much deeper: we are so lacking in awareness that we can’t attend to the experience, at least not without prompting (as occurs when the noise suddenly changes). (2007: 400–401) If these philosophers are right, then our inability to introspect a common feel to all pleasures should not weigh all that heavily against felt-quality theories.[20] I conclude that hedonism should be paired with a felt-quality, rather than an attitude-based, theory of pleasure and pain. 5. The Philosophy of Swine The first objection to hedonism I want to consider is The Philosophy of Swine. J.S. Mill put it like this: To suppose that life has … no higher end than pleasure—no better and nobler object of desire and pursuit—[is] utterly mean and groveling … a doctrine worthy only of swine.[21] Feldman makes the objection vivid in his example of Porky, a human being who spends all his time in the pigsty, engaging in the most obscene sexual activities imaginable … Porky derives great pleasure from these activities and the feelings they stimulate. Let us imagine that Porky happily carries on like this for many years. Imagine also that Porky has no human friends, has no other sources of pleasure, and has no interesting knowledge. Let us also imagine that Porky somehow avoids pains—he is never injured by the pigs, he does not come down with any barnyard diseases, he does not suffer from loneliness or boredom. (2004: 40) Porky’s life, for all its pleasures, does not seem high in well-being (compared with a normal human life). Importantly, this seems true no matter how long it lasts for. But how can a hedonist accept this? We can formulate the worry more precisely as follows: 1. Hedonism entails that a pig’s life (or a human life like Porky’s) could be high in well-being (compared with a normal human life). 2. A pig’s life (or a human life like Porky’s) could not be high in well-being (compared with a normal human life). Therefore, 3. Hedonism is false. Some hedonists have proposed biting the bullet—i.e., accepting that Porky is well off (compared with a normal human being). They have tried to explain away our intuition to the contrary in a number of ways. Heathwood, for example, suggests that we are inclined to feel this way only because we see that Porky’s life is lacking in certain other respects, like “dignity, virtue, or achievement” (2006: 553), and our awareness of this is causing confusion. But this is an extremely large bullet to bite. There is, I believe, a better response. A hedonist can explain why a life like Porky’s is not high in well-being (compared with a normal human life). There are two reasons that it is not. Let me explain them in turn. The first reason is that, while a Porky life contains many pleasures (and, let us assume, no pains), bodily pleasures like Porky’s aren’t especially pleasurable. The most pleasurable kinds of pleasures are not bodily ones, but rather some of the pleasures of love, learning, aesthetic appreciation, and so on. Porky is missing out on these highly pleasurable pleasures. To attempt to convince you of this, I want to invoke a distinction from the previous section, between feeling or experiencing a pleasure (i.e., having some particular pleasurable phenomenology) and being aware of it. Now, certain pleasures, it seems, can be hard to attend to or to become aware of, while others can be difficult to miss. With this in mind, we can distinguish two senses in which a pleasure may be intense: In the sense of being easy to attend to or even hard to miss. In the sense of being highly pleasurable (i.e., being pleasurable to a high degree). [22] Bodily pleasures, I want to suggest, are often extremely intense in the first sense. The pleasures of orgasm, massage, sunbathing, and so on, are (for most of us, in most cases) easy to attend to, and even hard to miss. It does not follow, however, that they are intense in the second sense, of being highly pleasurable. While the pleasures of orgasm, for example, typically feature prominently in one’s consciousness, it may be that what one sees of them at these times is all that exists of them. By contrast, what one sees of the pleasures of love, learning, aesthetic appreciation, and so on, when one introspects them, may be merely the tip of the phenomenological iceberg, so to speak. There may be far more to these pleasures than typically meets the introspective eye. So far I have identified these things merely as possibilities. Is there any reason to think that they are actually so? I believe there is. Consider some of the key factors that go into determining how easy it is to attend to or introspect a given pleasure: Whether the pleasure has (or is associated with) a particular bodily location, or rather permeates one’s entire experiential field. Permeating pleasures, other things being equal, are harder to attend to than pleasures having a particular bodily location. [23] How the pleasure begins and develops. Pleasures that begin in only a small amount and then build up slowly over time are, other things being equal, harder to attend to than pleasures that come on suddenly. [24] Whether the pleasure is a flow pleasure (i.e., involves mental absorption in some thing or activity). Flow pleasures are, other things being equal, harder to attend to than non-flow pleasures. [25] Now, the pleasures of love, learning, and aesthetic appreciation, for the most part, are permeating pleasures (they lack specific bodily locations), build up slowly (as one gets to know a person, improves or builds upon one’s knowledge or understanding of the world, or makes one’s way through a novel, film, piece of music, etc.), and require that one’s mind be somewhere other than on the pleasure (say, on one’s friend, on the feature of the world one is learning about, or on the novel, film, or piece of music in question).[26] As Sidgwick writes, The pleasures of thought and study can only be enjoyed in the highest degree by those who have an ardour of curiosity which carries the mind temporarily away from self and its sensations. In all kinds of Art, again, the exercise of the creative faculty is attended by intense and exquisite pleasures: but it would seem that in order to get them, one must forget them: the genuine artist at work seems to have a predominant and temporarily absorbing desire for the realisation of his ideal of beauty. (1913: 49) For these reasons, it seems plausible to think that there may be significantly more to the pleasures in question than one can easily introspect or attend to. By contrast, bodily pleasures tend to have specific bodily locations, come on suddenly (as one eats, gets drunk, is caressed by one’s lover, takes a drug, or collapses exhausted into bed), and in general do not require that one’s mind be somewhere other than on the pleasure—indeed, with bodily pleasures, attending to them often enhances the pleasure. It therefore seems reasonable to think that there is little or no more to most such pleasures than one can easily introspect or attend to. Turn now to the second reason that a Porky life is not high in well-being (compared with a normal human life). This has to do with the value for one of diversity in one’s pleasures. There are two parts to this reason: Purely repeated pleasures —i.e., pleasures that introduce nothing qualitatively new in terms of pleasurableness into a person’s life—add nothing in and of themselves to her lifetime well-being. [27] A life of purely bodily pleasures, unlike one involving some of the pleasures of love, learning, aesthetic appreciation, etc., can involve very little qualitative diversity in pleasures. Its pleasures quickly become ‘just more of the same’. Let me defend these two claims, starting with (2). I want to begin my defense of (2) by explaining why there is a great deal of qualitative diversity available in the pleasures of love, learning, and aesthetic appreciation. Consider, first, the pleasures of love. What it is like to come to know or love a particular person is not just the same as what it is like to come to know or love someone else. Each person is unique, making the pleasures associated with friendships and relationships qualitatively unique for the people involved. Moreover, there are many qualitatively new pleasures that are made possible by friendships and relationships as they evolve or deepen over time, or as those who are involved in them overcome challenges or share new experiences together. Consider, next, the pleasures of learning. These also do not consist of just the same kind of pleasure (say, a warm glow or ‘zing!’) over and over again every time one learns a new fact. On the contrary, they have quite a different phenomenal character depending on what one has learned, the particular way in which one’s mind has been opened up, and how one’s new knowledge or understanding fits with what one already knows. Compare, for example, the pleasures of learning algebra with those of learning to ride a bike, watching David Attenborough’s “The Life of Birds”, understanding the basic problems of philosophy, or understanding some of the proposed solutions to these problems, etc. All of these, intuitively, are qualitatively very different. Finally, consider the pleasures of appreciating great works of art, music, literature, etc. Great novels and films typically transport one to places that no other work does, or involve characters that are so realistic that they are, like real people, unique, or offer insights or explore ideas in ways that no other work does. The pleasures associated with such works are correspondingly unique. Enjoyment of Hitchcock’s Vertigo is very different from enjoyment of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, which is very different again from enjoyment of a different Kubrick film, say, Full Metal Jacket. Similar remarks apply to great paintings, sculptures, and musical compositions. Enjoyment of a Chopin Nocturne differs greatly from enjoyment of The Beatles’s She Loves You, which in turn differs greatly from enjoyment of a different Beatles song, say, I Am The Walrus. Moreover, one’s enjoyment of a particular piece of music may itself deepen or evolve in wonderful ways over the course of weeks, months, or even years. One mark of a great film, novel, or song is that it tends to reward re-watching, re-reading, or re-listening. One finds there is often more to discover—including qualitatively new pleasures—each time one returns to it. Turn now to purely bodily pleasures. While there is certainly some qualitative diversity available in these—the pleasures of sex, for example, differ in character from those of sunbathing—further instances of each of these sorts of pleasures seem rapidly to become just more of the same. Heathwood (personal correspondence) objects to my claim as follows: We can stipulate that Porky does all different things with the pigs, that he does these things on all different farms with all new scenery, that he eventually moves on to other animals, that he eventually starts supplementing the experiences with bondage equipment and drugs (all the while managing never to get bored, addicted, or filled with despair). I accept that by changing Porky’s life in these ways we might succeed in adding some new kinds of pleasures to it. But I doubt we can add very many. Porky’s pleasures, after all, are not due to the unique personal characteristics of the pigs (as they might be if he were to have loving relationships with them), the beauty of the scenery (as they might be if he were any kind of aesthete), or his learning anything about himself or deepening in his understanding of the world. Any attempt to diversify Porky’s pleasures by introducing him to new pigs, new settings for his sordid activities, and so on, would succeed in giving him, for the most part, merely new vehicles for what would be qualitatively the same pleasures. Suppose this is granted. What can be said in defense of (1), the claim that purely repeated pleasures add nothing in and of themselves to lifetime well-being? Surely, you might insist, some purely repeated pleasures add at least something to some people’s lifetime well-being. Is there really nothing of value for, say, Mary, in her enjoyment of her morning coffee, an enjoyment that presumably is qualitatively identical each time? Or suppose I am walking down the street and pass my favourite flower (a gardenia), inhale, and greatly enjoy the scent. I may have experienced this pleasure a hundred times before, so often, in fact, that there is now nothing new about it. Still, the experience is glorious. I savour it, and am glad to be alive. Is this pleasure really of no worth for me because it has happened before? There are two things to say in response to this worry. The first is that many pleasures that might seem on first glance to be purely repeated ones involve subtly new elements. They may be deeper or more intense than previous instances (as can happen, for example, when we become appreciators of something like coffee, wine, beer, certain kinds of food, etc.). Alternatively, the new context in which they are felt may add a new dimension to them. For example, what may seem to be a purely repeated pleasure of drinking coffee may be different if one is drinking the same coffee in a new setting (say, an interesting new cafe), with new friends, or with old friends but while discussing interesting new topics. The second thing to say is that even pleasures that are purely repeated ones, while they add nothing in and of themselves to lifetime well-being, can have considerable instrumental value for us. Such pleasures can relax or stimulate us. They can rejuvenate or sustain us. They can help to clear our heads. They can vividly remind us of what pleasure can feel like, and so give us a hint of what qualitatively new pleasures may be on the horizon. They can help to make our lives interesting for us in the gaps between qualitatively new kinds of pleasures. They can, in all these ways, be a sort of oil for our joints. Without a good deal of purely repeated pleasures, we may never make it to the new ones. We must be careful not to confuse a pleasure’s having instrumental value for one with its adding in and of itself to one’s lifetime well-being. I want to conclude this section by considering two important objections to my claim about the value of diversity in one’s pleasures. The first is that, while diversity in pleasures is valuable, I have given the wrong account of why it is valuable. Diversity is valuable, it may be suggested, just in order to preserve the pleasurableness of one’s experiences. Without some diversity, we tend to get bored or lose interest in things. The Beatles’s music may be wonderful, but if one listens only to The Beatles, one will soon cease to enjoy their music as much as one did. I accept that diversity is valuable for this reason. However, this is compatible with its having the other sort of value for us as well. Indeed, I suspect (though I admit this is pure speculation) that part of the reason we tend to lose interest in or gain less pleasure from things we have had a great deal of contact with lately is that we are implicitly aware that there are now fewer qualitatively new pleasures to be had from the thing in question, and so its value for us is reduced. The second objection I want to consider is that a hedonist cannot consistently assign to diversity in one’s pleasures the value I have assigned to it here. In particular, a hedonist cannot maintain that purely repeated pleasures have no value for a person. This is because a hedonist must say that the amount a given pleasure adds to one’s lifetime well-being is directly proportional to its degree of pleasurableness. Otherwise, she is appealing to considerations other than the pleasurableness of a pleasure. However, there is no good reason to think that a hedonist must appeal only to the degree to which a pleasure is pleasurable in explaining its value for one. So long as a candidate explanation does not breach what I have called the experience requirement, there is no reason a hedonist cannot embrace it. And there is nothing in my proposal about diversity that breaches this requirement. I conclude that hedonism can accommodate our intuition that a life like Porky’s, no matter how long it lasts, is not high in well-being (compared with a normal human life). 6. The Experience Machine In The Examined Life, Robert Nozick writes: Imagine a machine that could give you any experience (or sequence of experiences) you might desire. When connected to this experience machine, you can have the experience of writing a great poem or bringing about world peace or loving someone and being loved in return. You can experience the felt pleasures of these things, how they feel “from the inside.” You can program your experiences for … the rest of your life. If your imagination is impoverished, you can use the library of suggestions extracted from biographies and enhanced by novelists and psychologists. You can live your fondest dreams “from the inside.” Would you choose to do this for the rest of your life?... Upon entering, you will not remember having done this; so no pleasures will get ruined by realizing they are machine-produced. (1989: 104) If hedonism were true, Nozick suggests, then “plugging in would constitute the very best life, or tie for being the best, because all that matters about a life is how it feels from the inside” (1989: 105). Intuitively, however, Nozick continues, this is not so—there are alternatives that would be better for one. Therefore, hedonism is false.[28] What should we make of Nozick’s argument? The standard response to it by hedonists is to accept that plugging in would be best for one, and then to try to explain why some of us are inclined to feel otherwise. For example, some may be failing to keep firmly and vividly in mind various important features of the case (such as that one’s experiences in the machine would truly be reality-quality, or that the machine is guaranteed not to malfunction). Others may be allowing their intuitions concerning related matters (say, whether it is best simpliciter or morally permissible for one to plug in to the machine) to interfere with or contaminate their intuitions concerning well-being. Others still may be being misled by an irrational fear of technology, feeling of disgust, or bias they possess in favour of preserving the status quo.[29] These are all interesting suggestions. However, they seem to me not fully to account for our feelings here. When we keep in mind these important features, focus just on well-being, and set aside our fears, biases, etc.—all things that seem possible for many of us to do—we continue to feel that plugging in would not be best for a person.[30] I want to suggest a different response. This is that hedonism might be compatible with the claim that plugging in would not be best for one. Indeed, hedonism might offer the best explanation of why it would not be best for one to plug in. How could this be true? The answer, I believe, is that Nozick’s machine might be unable to give one the most intense and diverse pleasures of all: the full range of the pleasures of love and friendship in the long run. Consider what is necessary in order to experience these pleasures in real life. It is a familiar fact that if one’s close friend, partner, or family member, does not truly love one (where such love includes feeling real affection for one), then—even if this person thinks they truly love one, or is trying their hardest to—one’s interactions with them will be missing something important. Their behaviour toward and around one, both bodily and verbal, will be ‘off’ somehow. They will fail to say quite the right things, display quite the right facial expressions, or perform quite the right gestures or
experienced a high amount of success in the United States Youth Soccer Association prior to her enrollment at WKU. Playing with the Legends FC club in southern California during the 2013 season, Chua led her squad to a Region IV Championship and an appearance in the USYSA National Championship. Chua will put her skills to the test against Canada's best young players for a week with aspirations of eventually representing the country in the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. For more information on Chua and WKU Soccer, follow the program on Twitter at @WKU_Soccer. CANADA U18-20 National EXCEL Camp Participants GK- Devon Kerr | CAN / Women's Regional EXCEL Centre Ontario GK- Priya Sandhu | CAN / Simon Fraser University GK- Patricia Koutoulas | CAN / Women's Regional EXCEL Centre Ontario D- Jordane Carvery | USA / Louisiana State University D- Simmrin Dhaliwal | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Girls Elite (Women's Regional EXCEL Centre BC) D- Jordan Lundin | USA / Radford University D- Easther Mayi-Kith | CAN / Québec Centre D- Victoria Pickett | CAN / Women's Regional EXCEL Centre Ontario D- Marike Saint-Pierre Mousset | CAN / Québec Centre D- Bianca St-Georges | CAN / Québec Centre M- Hannah Chua | USA / Western Kentucky University M- Vanessa Grégoire | USA / Princeton University M- Sarah Kinzner | CAN / Alberta Centre M- Carla Portillo | USA / West Virginia University M- Taylor Price | USA / Pittsburgh University F- Sope Akindoju | USA / Jacksonville University F- Gabrielle Carle | CAN / Québec Centre F- Chelsea Harkins | USA / Washington State University F- Alexandra Lamontagne | USA / Syracuse University F- Marie-Mychèle Métivier | CAN / Québec CentreThere are Android tablets... and then there are Android tablets. And if I understand Google's plan, the online giant will soon release its own Android-based tablet, much as it also has its own Android-based smart phone in addition to allowing partners to create their own devices. Such a Google-made tablet would be very interesting. Very interesting, indeed. News of Google's first tablet comes via an Italian newspaper called Corrier della Sea, which recently interviewed Google chairman Eric Schmidt. And thanks to the wonders of Google's Translate feature in Chrome, we can sort-of discover what Schmidt said, in broken English. "Within the next six months we plan to market a high quality tablet," Schmidt said, I think. "As with the smart phone market, you will see brutal competition between Apple and Google Android." OK, so that was literally all he said about a tablet, and actually "literally" is probably not correct since this is a rough translation. But you get the idea. Today, the Android tablet market is a mess. There are basically two successful Android tablets, the Amazon Kindle Fire and the Barnes & Noble Nook tablet, but they both, ironically, are successful despite (or because) they have removed any and all Android-ness from the device software. Traditional Android tablets (read: iPad rip-offs) are a dime a dozen and none have sold well in the market. In the smart phone arena, Google's own handsets, like the recently released Nexus Prime, are highly regarded and widely thought to provide a more "pure" Android experience. So hopefully Google's Android tablet will do the same thing for that device type. I'm very curious to see one, and to see whether the Android Market is further improved in lock step to provide better device/online services integration, as with Apple's various services, such as the iTunes Store, App Store, iBooks Store, and iCloud.When Jon Stewart took a break from The Daily Show this past summer to direct his first feature film, the man that stepped into his comedic shoes was correspondent John Oliver. Oliver passed the test with flying colors — and now he'll be getting his own show on HBO. As reported by Variety, the as-of-yet unnamed show will be a weekly comedy series with a topical slant, a description that could be applied to another HBO program: Real Time With Bill Maher. "We weren't otherwise searching for another weekly talk show," said Michael Lombardo, HBO's head of original programming. "But when we saw John Oliver handling host duties on The Daily Show, we knew that his singular perspective and distinct voice belonged on HBO." Oliver's show is currently envisioned as a Sunday evening program that would premiere sometime in 2014, adding one more culturally influential voice to the network's already impressive lineup of original programming. In a statement, Oliver struck the same kind of tone that Comedy Central viewers have come to expect from the comedian. "I want to thank Comedy Central, and everyone at The Daily Show for the best seven and a half years of my life," he said. "But most of all, I’d like to thank Jon Stewart. He taught me everything I know. In fact, if I fail in the future, it’s entirely his fault."Over 150 schoolgirls in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul fell sick after smelling gas and drinking water, and are now being examined for possible poisoning, hospital officials said on Wednesday (May 1). While instances of suspected poisoning are sometimes found to be false alarms, there have been numerous substantiated cases of mass poisonings of schoolgirls by elements of Afghanistan’s ultra-conservative society that are opposed to female education. Hospital officials said the girls appeared to become ill after smelling some kind of gas and drinking water at the Sultan Razia school in Kabul. “We have received around 150 schoolgirls to the hospital; around ten of these girls are in critical condition and are under treatment,” said Doctor Amin, head of the Kabul hospital where the suspected poisoned victims were taken. ”There was a bad smell in our class, our teacher advised us to open windows, when we opened windows, students started yelling and then we all become unconscious. Later we were taken to hospital,” said Sameera, one of the schoolgirls having treatment at the hospital. Since the 2001 ousting of the Taliban, which banned education for women and girls, females have returned to schools, especially in Kabul. But periodic attacks against female students, their teachers and their school buildings, continue. Afghan women have won back basic rights in education, voting and employment since 2001, but fears are growing that such gains could be traded away as Western forces prepare to leave and the Afghan government seeks peace talks with the Taliban. Last Update: Wednesday, 1 May 2013 KSA 18:13 - GMT 15:13Neil Craig says it is certain James Hird will be Essendon's senior coach next year SENIOR Essendon official Neil Craig is adamant that James Hird will be the club's coach next season. Hird's future in the role appeared tenuous at the start of this month after he broke ranks with the club over their unsuccessful joint Federal Court actions. There was widespread speculation at the time that Essendon were on the verge of sacking Hird because he was going ahead with an appeal against the verdict. Chairman Paul Little added it would be "potentially reckless" for the club to make significant decisions while Hird went ahead with his Federal Court appeal and ASADA issued amended show cause notices against current and past Essendon players. But on Wednesday night, Craig was much more definitive about Hird's future at Essendon. "Clearly James Hird is and will be the senior coach of Essendon for 2015," Craig told SEN. Craig, who is Essendon's head of coaching development and strategy, was speaking after the club announced three-time premiership player Mark Harvey was returning as an assistant coach under Hird. That appointment completes their match-day coaching staff. But Mark Thompson's AFL future remains unclear. Thompson had a successful stint as interim Essendon coach this season while Hird served a 12-month AFL suspension. Thompson made it clear at Essendon's best and fairest function that he did not want to return to a senior assistant role. He is back from an overseas holiday and Craig said Thompson had spoken to Little and chief executive Xavier Campbell. Craig was hopeful of a decision in the next few days. "Those discussions need to take their time, because it's really important for Mark if he wants to stay in footy... and at Essendon, that he has what I would call a meaningful job, that gives him energy and passion to get out of bed in the morning," Craig said. He was the most notable name among four players who are leaving the Bombers. Johnny Rayner and Sean Gregory did not make their senior debuts and it was well-known that free agent Leroy Jetta would not stay at Essendon.We read the interview with Dr Kehinde Andrews (Universities accused of institutional racism, 24 October) and there is not much to disagree with. There are clearly race-related issues in higher education that need to be tackled, but things can be done and we do not have to accept the status quo. At UCL, we are determined to tackle inequality in all its facets. We achieved a bronze race equality charter mark in 2015, enabling us to begin the difficult work of ensuring equality of opportunity and outcome for all staff and students. We are working in a number of areas, including curriculum review, widening participation, academic promotion, implicit bias training and recruitment. We have had success in addressing equality issues, for example identifying and addressing pay gaps to ensure that black and minority ethnic (BME) professors are paid the same as white professors. We are working to tackle the differential attainment gap, learning from the departments where student success has no ethnicity element. We are also instituting a widening participation strategy to encourage successful applications from BME candidates and those from poorer backgrounds. Finally, we are piloting a sponsorship scheme to remove any barriers to promotion that may affect BME staff. While we do not claim to know which interventions will work best, and we know that culture change takes time, we are willing to learn from best practice around the world. Our goal is to demonstrate that UCL is proactive on race equality and we aim to achieve real results. Michael Arthur President and provost of UCL Ijeoma F Uchegbu Professor of pharmaceutical nanoscience and provost’s envoy for race equality • Join the debate – email [email protected] time around, Peter Dengate Thrush, the chairman of Icann, said he thought the board would give the go-ahead. “We’re feeling reasonably confident at this stage because of the feedback we’ve been getting from all the players,” he said. Such a vote would be a personal triumph for Mr. Dengate Thrush, given that the meeting in Singapore is set to be his last as chairman. Icann says the expansion would give Internet users vastly greater choice, leading to innovations in online marketing, among other things. Yet critics of Icann question the need, saying existing suffixes provide plenty of choice. They say Icann wants to railroad the plan through without addressing their concerns. Owners of corporate brands and other trademarks — who remember the cybersquatting that marred the early days of the Internet, when profiteers claimed brand names and then resold them to their owners — say the expansion would open the door to a new round of intellectual property abuses. “It’s an unproven idea that has been handled very poorly from a project management standpoint,” said Alan C. Drewsen, executive director of the International Trademark Association. The primary beneficiaries of the change, critics contend, will be the registrars that maintain Internet addresses; unlike Icann, a nonprofit organization, many registrars are commercial entities. “The more domains they have out there, the more names they can register and the more money they take in,” said Josh Bourne, president of the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse, a Washington-based lobby group. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Icann plans safeguards to thwart cybersquatters and other opportunists. The price of the new extensions has been set at a steep $185,000, for example, with a further $25,000 annual fee to maintain them. Trademark owners would be allowed to claim their names for use in addresses during “sunrise” periods following the rollout. These protections have been strengthened since the proposal was outlined. 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. “My expectation is that people will look at this in a fairly commercial way,” Mr. Dengate Thrush said. “My hope is that they aren’t going to waste a lot of time and money applying for names that don’t stand a chance.” Mr. Dengate Thrush acknowledged that there were still unresolved issues around implementation. But he said these could be resolved after a vote to go ahead. Icann plans a four-month communication period before applications for addresses will be accepted. During that time, trademark owners will have to wrestle with some big questions. Should they apply for the new suffixes? Should they register their names for use with other new extensions? Or should they do neither? A lot of money hangs on the decisions. Mei-lan Stark, senior vice president for intellectual property at News Corp.’s Fox Entertainment Group, recently told a U.S. congressional committee that the change could cost her company at least $12 million in the initial stages alone. That estimate was based on the cost of registering 300 names in an initial round of 400 new address extensions, at a cost of $100 each, she said. The cost, and related legal bills, would rise as the list of suffixes grew, Ms. Stark added. Planning is complicated by the fact that brand owners do not know how consumers will react. Icann has already been adding suffixes one by one, in advance of the big bang it envisions. Most recently, it approved.xxx for sexually explicit sites. With a few exceptions, however, marketers prefer.com over other extensions, like.web,.net or suffixes that represent a specific country. The.xxx extension appears to have had little support from the pornography industry, and its approval prompted dismay in political capitals around the world, including Washington and Brussels. The government advisory council, which monitors Icann and its independent board, had previously voiced concerns. Neelie Kroes, vice president of the European Commission, wrote in a letter to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke of the United States that the introduction of.xxx could create unexpected consequences, perhaps prompting censorship-minded governments to block entire portions of the Internet. Advertisement Continue reading the main story In a response, Lawrence E. Strickling, an assistant commerce secretary who is responsible for Internet policy, agreed, but added that the Obama administration did not think it was “in the long-term best interest of the United States or the global Internet community for us unilaterally to reverse the decision.” The fact that Icann has ruffled feathers in Brussels and Washington, among other capitals, is not necessarily a bad thing. At a time when governments all over the world are taking a greater interest in what happens in the digital world, the Internet needs an independent guardian and Icann is one of several groups that play an important role in this regard. But it may have to pick its fights carefully. Ms. Kroes wrote in an e-mail that she continued to support the “multistakeholder” approach to Internet governance, as embodied by Icann. But she said that the board of the organization should be “extremely sensitive to the views of public authorities” as it proceeded with projects like the expansion of Internet addresses. “Overall, I am concerned that certain public policy issues, which are of great importance to the economic and social well-being of European citizens and businesses, have not been taken into consideration by the Icann board as much as they would deserve,” she said in the e-mail, sent via a spokesman.Two years ago, Toronto artist Steven Twigg discovered a novel way to rake in the rent instead of paying it himself. The 26-year-old illustrator rebranded himself as a professional house sitter to try to lower his overhead, bringing in about $900 a month by moving around the city, looking after dogs and watering plants in various locations around town. But the transient lifestyle has left Twigg living mostly out of a backpack, and in the 10 months since CBC Toronto first spoke with Twigg, he's fostered thoughts of settling down. While hopping around the city has been fun, Twigg said, he'll eventually want a place of his own — and if rent continues to climb, like other struggling tenants, he'll have to consider moving away. Steven says he's found a way to turn the tables on Toronto's crazy rental market, but like others in the city, eventually wants to settle down without handing entire paycheques over to his landlord. (Grant Linton / CBC Toronto) Twigg was one of dozens of renters CBC Toronto featured this past spring, as part of our series, No Fixed Address. From young professionals, to students, and folks living on disability, a number of people expressed their frustration at barely keeping up with sky-high rent, or finding themselves in bidding wars over dingy basement apartments. While some argued it was simply the cost of living in Canada's biggest city, a number of real estate watchers blamed a perfect storm: would-be first-time home buyers unable to break into the ownership market, forcing them to rent longer and leading to record low vacancy and rising rent. Another major part of the problem: not enough purpose-built rental construction to meet the pent-up demand. The province of Ontario announced sweeping changes in April, expanding rent control in hopes of protecting tenants from unlimited rent increases. The so-called Fair Housing Plan also included new incentives for developers to build dedicated rentals, especially for the middle- and lower-income market. What does renting look like in 2018? Not great Half a year later, on the cusp of 2018, it seems not much has changed in Toronto's rental market. In fact, some say it's worse. "The market has become even more challenging since the new rules came in," said Shaun Hildebrand, senior vice president for Urbanation, a real estate consulting firm. "Ironically it's become even more difficult to find a rental property." Vacancy rates remain historically low, he says. Traditional rentals have an average vacancy rate of one percent, while condo apartments are even less. Plus, rents continue to rise. According to Urbanation's data, 10.3 per cent year over year. The average condo apartment rents for about $2,219 per month. Hildebrand says it's not all bad. Several higher-end rental properties will finish construction in the new year. A number of condo buildings will also enter the market, which for the past decade, has supplied much of the GTA's rental inventory. Urbannation's Shaun Hildebrand says without enough supply to meet demand, rent will likely continue to increase in the coming year. (Urbannation Inc.) But Hildebrand points out condo investors may be tempted to sell, rather than rent out their units. Not only has the condo market remained red hot, the new rent controls may be too big of a turn off, he says. Either way, renters can expect the competition to remain fierce. "We have a very substantial amount of pent up demand that is looking for new rental properties. So when these units come up for rent, they will be leased out very quickly at an increasingly higher rates of rent," Hildebrand predicted. Beefing up rental supply While tenants may not be seeing double digit increases to their rent, thanks to the new rent control, the most pressing issue now is supply, according to Toronto's Deputy Mayor, Ana Bailao. "It's definitely a balancing act," said Bailao, who is also the chair of the city's affordable housing committee. "The province did bring in rent control but they are speaking with the industry on a regular basis to tackle the supply issue, and we are as well." Coun. Ana Bailao wants a more inclusive rental market that doesn't push lower-income renters out of the city. (CBC News) In October, Toronto city council approved nearly $28-million worth of incentives to build 600 affordable housing units on land provided by Queen's Park. But while the vote may be good news for low- and moderate-income people struggling to find a place to stay, it's unclear when the apartments will be ready. The city has approved other projects in recent years but few have opened. "We want to have people that want to live here, that have lived here, to be able to continue to live here," she said. "For me, it's one of the most important issues we need to continue to tackle." And if it gets any worse... Steven Twigg, the enterprising house-minder, agrees with Bailao and wants to stay within city limits. "Twelve hundred would be nice," he said, citing a monthly rent payment, an amount that would allow Twigg to treat himself once in a while. But when it hits $2000, "then it's like, well, this is what I live for. To pay for rent." Twigg thinks rent control changes made earlier this year might prevent rents from leaping out of his price range, but for now, he's pessimistic. "I don't know if it's going to bring it down to a manageable level. I think we need more housing for that." Twigg says he'd rather stay in the city, but thinks it wouldn't be wise to blow the money he's saved on a rental. (Steven Twigg) And given his belief that "there's always a loophole" when it comes to rental regulations, he doesn't expect a sudden freeze on prices. "I'm thinking of moving elsewhere for the most part," he sighed, noting that he's been saving money for a cabin up north or a cheap place in the tropics, lest affordable housing become so scarce in Toronto he simply can't live here. The possibility strikes Twigg as less than ideal. "I'd rather stay in Toronto because of the city that it is," he said. "All my friends are here."brandeins: Some time ago Wolfgang Streeck, former director of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, published a book of essays entitled How Will Capitalism End? Essays on a Failing System. Is that a question that interests you, too? Werner Abelshauser: Very much so, because everything that has an end can, or rather must, come to an end. Karl Marx himself, no less, predicted that capitalism would destroy itself. However, despite various signs of crisis, this issue is of no immediate concern today. I do not see that this mode of production is threatened at its core in the near future. Does it make any kind of sense to talk of capitalism as a single entity? Only at a very general level. Capitalism has certain preconditions. These include private ownership, markets and the drive to accumulate, meaning the urge to achieve surplus value. You might also call it the entrepreneurial spirit. These conditions now exist nearly all over the world since the fall of the Iron Curtain. However, they give rise to very different economic cultures or capitalisms plural if you prefer that term. The ways in which the economy is conceived, organised and practised are so different that, for example, there is no great competition between the USA and Germany but there is between the USA and China. Could you explain that in more detail? For more than 100 years the strength of the German economy has been in post-industrial made-to-measure production. That means the manufacture of complex machines and systems tailored to the needs of the customer, with a high level of added value not based on the materials used. It depends on training skilled workers. The strength of the USA economy, however, is based on the mass production that takes its name from Henry Ford. The Americans have successfully transferred this principle from old industries such as car manufacturing to new ones such as the IT sector. And in the services sector – from fast-food chains to international law firms. This “Fordist design” needs a few highly qualified people at the top and a lot of less qualified staff who mostly only get basic instruction on how to do their jobs. As these two economic cultures are so very different, we do not tread on the Americans’ toes. The Chinese, by contrast, have commandeered American Fordism, adapted it to their culture and so conquered markets, as millions of American industrial workers have found out the hard way. That has had political consequences. Many people in the USA now reject globalisation and the mantra of President Donald Trump is “America first”. For good reasons. I can certainly understand Trump’s stance on this issue. A country does not have to accept the global economy developing in a way that is harmful to large sections of the population. In such cases, politics has to intervene, which has so far failed to happen in the USA. Politics can, for example, help with the process of structural change, as happened in Germany with the coal mining and steel areas in North Rhine-Westphalia or the Saarland. Or it can protect certain sectors. The German chancellor Otto von Bismarck was very skilful in the first phase of globalisation towards the end of the 19th century – in a situation that resembles that of the USA today. In what way? With the rise of the chemical and electrical industries, a new economy emerged in Germany that immediately dominated the world market, definitely comparable with the position of the American IT industry today. At the same time, other industries were in crisis, such as steel and agriculture in the east of the former German empire. That is why in 1879, in the middle of a globalisation hugely beneficial to Germany, Bismarck introduced protective tariffs. They stabilised the country without weakening its position in world markets, because the deal was based on free trade in all other products. Leaving vast numbers of steel or agricultural workers impoverished would have had far worse consequences for Germany and the global economy than a few unimportant tariffs. Will Trump prove as shrewd as Bismarck? That remains to be seen. At any rate, there is no simple contradiction between free trade and protectionism. All great economic nations have protected certain industries or sectors in the course of their history, and continue to do so. They would not be where they are if they hadn’t. You said Germany need not be afraid of the economic power of China. Many politicians and business people take a rather different view. This fear is just as uncalled-for as it was in the late 19th century when it first emerged. China was already an up-and-coming power with an efficient economic culture then. It had privately owned businesses on the one hand and strong state control on the other, so not unlike the present system. In Germany, people were very afraid of this so-called “yellow peril”. My counterparts in those days warned of it at every church congress. Engineering firms that exported machines to China were branded traitors. However, as we know, China later disappeared from the world market and did not re-appear again until 1978. And China has now overtaken Germany as world champion exporter. Is there still no cause for concern? No, because it is German firms that supply China with the technology that makes Fordist production possible there. They are the biggest beneficiaries of the rise of the People’s Republic. But crucially, the institutions supporting our German economic culture are extremely hard to copy. Take the skilled workforce, for instance. It may seem paradoxical, but it is relatively easy to promote an elite. Colleges for training executives or engineers can be set up quite quickly. It is much harder to establish a twin-track system of vocational training, because that depends on co-operation between companies and the state. It took Germany from 1897 to 1938 to consolidate the system of work experience and state vocational training schools. This type of education also had an impact on industrial relations. The key word is co-determination [co-operation between management and workers]. Skilled people are valuable; you can’t just hire and fire them, or keep them on a short leash. For them, trust is good, control is expensive. What is more, the German model rests on patient capital, meaning banks and other institutions invest in companies for the long term. It also relies on chambers of commerce and trade associations that help small firms go international. That is one reason why German family firms are doing so well. Not to forget German economic policy, which has traditionally promoted the export of plant and machines for equipping newly industrialising countries. China is just one example. Federal Germany has been consistently pursuing this policy for a long time – with one historical exception. When was that? In the 1950s and 1960s it was thought that the US model of mass production would work in Germany too, and millions of “guest workers” were recruited who were not skilled and were not intended to be. It took some time before those in politics and business remembered where the strength of the German system lay. So what is the lesson to be learned: know your economic culture and remain faithful to it? I would say: know your economic culture and exploit the competitive advantages it gives you. When you look at the different varieties of capitalism – which would you personally prefer? Capitalism thrives on variety. It would be senseless and unproductive to back just one form. Globalisation does not lead to different cultures becoming more alike but rather to them being able to make full use of their respective advantages. That could also be one of the strengths of the EU, because it consists of different economic cultures. There is the Rhineland-type capitalism extending from Scandinavia to northern Italy and from the Seine to the Oder. Then there is the Anglo-Saxon variety in Britain (while it remains a member) and some East European countries. And the Mediterranean capitalism of Spain, Portugal, southern Italy and the south of France, which features family firms and for historical reasons has excellent relations with South America and Africa, for example. My ideal would be a European community that strengthens these cultures and networks them sensibly without harming them. Is the euro required for that? No. The euro was a political project. Economically, it makes no sense. The EU would be better served by different currencies with fixed exchange rates. Earlier, you mentioned signs of a crisis of capitalism. What signs do you mean? The biggest problem is the instability of the global financial markets. Since the 1990s a financial capitalism has emerged that is detached from the real economy. One symptom of the crisis is the degree of debt incurred by companies, states and private individuals, as measured against gross domestic product. This figure has trebled around the world since 1975 and in the USA it has risen by even more. If this financing phenomenon gets out of control it will shake the global economy to its core, as we saw in the year 2008. The financial system is the Achilles heel of capitalism – and that applies to all its varieties.A sweet festive treat that has been created and enjoyed by generations, traditional White Christmas made with Copha, sings the Chrissy song with cheer. We made this rice bubble treat as kids with nanna, we’ve enjoyed it as adults and so of course, we had to re-create it the myfoodbook way, with a simple step-by-step how to video. A perfect recipe for little helpers to assist with, this idea is no bake, so that means just a quick mix of ingredients, and off to the freezer to set. If it lasts long enough in your house, White Chrissy also makes the perfect edible gift idea. Wrap your jewelled delight up in cellophane, tie with colourful ribbon and give to neighbours, work colleagues and those who you wish to share the festive cheer with.But one of the most controversial requests that the cop bosses are making involves how they go about identifying anonymous users online. The resolution calls on the federal government to craft a warrant that allows police to intercept and search parcels and letters they believe contain contraband. They say that a lack of cooperation from cell phone providers is limiting their power to catch drug dealers, and that forbidding cops from opening Canadians' mail means that the postal service is delivering "guns, grenades, a rocket launcher, stun guns, dangerous chemicals, and drugs such as cocaine, heroin and marihuana." Earlier this month, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) adopted eight resolutions, calling for specific new powers to help them fight child pornography, cybercrime, drug dealing, and arms trafficking. With a federal election in its home stretch, Canada's chiefs of police have issued a wish list of investigative powers they are hoping that the country's next prime minister can deliver — everything from allowing them to search Canadians' mail, to pulling back the curtain on anonymity online. Read more With a federal election in its home stretch, Canada's chiefs of police have issued a wish list of investigative powers they are hoping that the country's next prime minister can deliver — everything from allowing them to search Canadians' mail, to pulling back the curtain on anonymity online. Earlier this month, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) adopted eight resolutions, calling for specific new powers to help them fight child pornography, cybercrime, drug dealing, and arms trafficking. They say that a lack of cooperation from cell phone providers is limiting their power to catch drug dealers, and that forbidding cops from opening Canadians' mail means that the postal service is delivering "guns, grenades, a rocket launcher, stun guns, dangerous chemicals, and drugs such as cocaine, heroin and marihuana." The resolution calls on the federal government to craft a warrant that allows police to intercept and search parcels and letters they believe contain contraband. But one of the most controversial requests that the cop bosses are making involves how they go about identifying anonymous users online. The resolution, adopted at a recent conference in Quebec City, is calling on Ottawa to introduce a database that gives police the power to strip Canadians' of their anonymity online. As Motherboard reported last week, the proposal is a work-around for a 2014 Supreme Court decision that put an end to warrantless requests from police to Canada's telecommunications companies, seeking to pair users' IP addresses to their names, addresses, and phone numbers. The resolution calls for "the creation of a reasonable law designed to specifically provide law enforcement the ability to obtain, in real-time or near real-time, basic subscriber information (BSI) from telecommunications providers." Halifax-based privacy lawyer David Fraser calls the proposal "quite troubling." He supports making it more efficient to make the requests, which are often instrumental for child pornography investigations, but he underlines that there still needs to be some form of judicial authorization. "If it was easy, and if it was convenient, we'd be in a peace state," Fraser says. Micheal Vonn, policy director at the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, says this sort of data that the police are requesting is fundamentally worrying. "The simple fact is that the police want BSI of any kind because it is the key to finding out something significant and ordinarily private about an individual," she says. "To state the obvious, it's not being sought because it's insignificant. And that's precisely why we need the warrant process to protect the information." Related: Canadian Police, Spies Eyed Hacking Team Tech — and the Law Now Makes it Easier to Acquire As Canada is in the middle of closely-fought election campaign, VICE News reached out to the three main political parties to get their take on the CACP proposal. The governing Conservative Party, which had tried to expand cops' ability to make these warrantless requests that were declared unconstitutional by the courts, said merely that "we have no plans to change laws on these matters." A campaign spokesperson, however, added that "We will of course review any proposal from CACP." The opposition NDP, currently leading in the polls, used the opportunity to dig at their chief political rivals. A statement from member of parliament Charlie Angus, the party's main spokesperson on privacy issues, said privacy breaches at Canada's tax agency, a massive metadata-collection pilot program in the country's airports, and expansive lawful access legislation "are all contributing to Canadians' concerns that Stephen Harper's Conservatives have failed to respect their privacy rights and may have opened the door to greater abuse through ill-conceived legal reforms." While the NDP didn't comment on the CACP proposal itself, they had previously opposed the Conservatives' legislation, bill C-13, which would have provided legal immunity to telecommunications companies that fork over Canadians' data without a warrant, had it not been for the Supreme Court decision which kiboshed those requests. The Liberal Party did not respond to a request for comment. That party, however, did support C-13. A separate resolution adopted at the conference also calls for greater investigative powers to investigate crime online. The police association says they are interested in new legislative efforts that would would allow them to obtain warrants to seize data hosted in foreign countries, and that they're looking for the government to "modernize" how they can obtain Canadians' data without a warrant. When it comes to mail seizures, the chiefs are asking the government to grant them the ability to obtain a judge's approval to "seize, detain or retain parcels or letters". Related: Civil Liberties and Media Advocates Have Filed A Legal Challenge to Canada's Anti-Terrorism Law Another resolution is taking aim at 'dial-a-dope' operations — drug dealers who set up transactions over the phone — by either canceling or flooding drug dealers' phone lines. The resolution identified four possible ways to deal with the customer-service-oriented drug dealers. One idea was to have the telecommunications providers cancel the dealers' cell phone contracts outright. In the same vein, the CACP suggested going to the government telecommunications regulators and asking them to cancel service to these dealers. The other two ideas would be significantly more intrusive. The CACP drew some inspiration from telemarketers, suggesting that some sort of "denial of service technology" could interrupt those phone numbers. "This can be accomplished through the use of auto-dialing computers that call the drug traffickers phone number with sufficient frequency to render the phone number unusable," the resolution reads. Currently, they note, the law forbids that sort of activity, so the federal government would have to pass specific authorizations. Under current laws, police can often seize a suspect's car, cash, and even their home if they are convicted of various drug offences. Police now want that power to extend to Canadians' cell phone numbers. In addition, the chiefs have called for the formal creation of a "Canadian Community Safety Information Management Strategy," or CCSIM. While there is little detail offered in the resolutions about exactly what that system would look like, it appears the CACP envisions more legal authority to request Canadians' information from other public safety agencies — even if they're not suspected of a crime. Vonn raises CCSIM as a particular concern. "This resolution has received very little
personal suffering? When on earth was he trained to do this? I certainly never was. Does the title “rabbi” have some magical quality that confers on its receiver new insights and wisdom that he never thought about before? And if someone should offer the well-worn cliché, “But everything is in Torah!,” my response would simply be, “Fine, then let me fill your cavity.” There are two problems here: The public has a gross misunderstanding of what becoming a rabbi entails. Perhaps it stems from a childish desire to believe that someone has the answers. Perhaps it is simply an entrenched community habit that people are afraid to break. The rabbis have a gross misunderstanding of what they are trained to do. Exhibiting an audacious lack of humility, rabbis believe they have the wherewithal to respond to questions well beyond their formal training. I am embarrassed to admit that, while I studied a lot of Talmud, I was never forced or even encouraged to synthesize and conceptualize my learning. I never wrote a paper to help cohere my thoughts or learning. To become a rabbi I did not have to read a single book on marriage, human relations, child-raising, or spiritual growth. My deep hope is that one day we will stop training rabbis how to become religious leaders in seventeenth century Europe and give them the tools to become authentic spiritual leaders today. Learning to become a rabbi today focuses primarily on the “externals,” as in mastering Jewish Law. But we need more than Jewish lawyers – we need souls with inner awareness and depth who can also focus on the “internals.” This is the clear message and yearning so present in the Jewish community today. A rabbinic program today needs to raise this awareness and directly address the issues of personal and spiritual growth. When I ask rabbis how this can be done, they often they often respond with classic camp-like activities, saying: “Yes, we should sing more niggunim, we should tell more Chassidic stories, we should have night hikes.” Personal and spiritual growth cannot be relegated to clichés like this. I would offer some out-of-the-box suggestions to help begin the conversation about what religious leaders need to become authentic spiritual leaders in today’s world. And while these suggestions are certainly not enough to cultivate expertise, they may be enough to create the awareness in rabbis that they (we) need to grow in these fields. A rabbinic training program should include: For spiritual awareness and growth: Formalized time for personal reflection and journaling Studying great works of poetry, art, and drama that enrich the soul A series of meetings with a spiritual leader For personal awareness and growth: Reading great works of fiction that focus on personal character development Therapy sessions for the potential rabbi Meetings with professionals in mental health and wellness fields Plus a weekly partner to discuss individual personal and spiritual growth. Of course each course should conclude with written papers summarizing each subject studied and the rabbi’s personal connection to the subject. Today we need rabbis who know more than halakhic content. We need spiritual leaders who can help provide inner well-being, compassion, and deep wisdom. Fortunately, some rabbinic programs are already moving in this direction. But in the more traditional world – and certainly in Israel – there is little awareness of the need. The time has come. I need a rabbi who can do some deep root canal work on my soul.The Metropolitan police initiated an embarrassing climbdown after a police station in Belgravia, west London, published a leaflet asking the public and businesses to report anyone with anarchist sympathies. The call for information on a political rather than criminal group echoed a similar appeal for information about al-Qaida activity and “could have been better worded”, Scotland Yard admitted. City of Westminster police’s “counter-terrorist focus desk” had last week called for anti-anarchist whistleblowers, stating next to an anarchist emblem: “Anarchism is a political philosophy which considers the state undesirable, unnecessary and harmful, and instead promotes a stateless society, or anarchy. Any information relating to anarchists should be reported to your local police.” The move angered some anarchists who insisted that being an anarchist does not imply criminal behaviour, indeed the biggest problem with the anarchist movement is the predominance of Pacifists.. Capitalists, on the other hand are unanimously criminal and should be reported immediately The City of Westminster is not a fan of anarchists, it seems, after their counter-terrorism unit sent out a document that includes a warning about the dangers posed by anarchists. Helpfully, the document defines anarchism for us. In fact, it defines anarchism in exactly the same words (and with exactly the same punctuation) as the Wikipedia entry for anarchism. Isn’t that a coincidence? Anyway, the document urges the reader to report any instances of anarchism to the police.Hikikomori asked what they would do if their parents, for most their only source of income, were to die overwhelmingly gave responses such as “commit suicide” or “starve to death.” An Osaka University researcher studying the uncertain number of hikikomori Japan harbours soon discovered many hikikomori regarded the only way out of their miserable parasitism was death. He found that amongst the “first generation” hikikomori, now aged 40-45, many will over the next decade face the prospect of losing their parents as they begin to succumb to old age, and perhaps more importantly their pensions will no longer exist to support them. Asking these hikikomori what they would do were their parents to pass away, he found the majority of answers were along the lines of “commit suicide” or “starve to death,” with only a small minority prepared to finally enter society as working adults. Indeed, he claims that cases of hikikomori suicide for this reason have begun to come to light, not welcome news for a nation experiencing record levels of suicide. Generally, the only way hikikomori are thought to be able to sustain themselves is through lavish parental indulgence, as Japan’s benefit system is inadequate to sustain such indolence for any great length of time. With Japan’s ballooning population of pensioners desperately concerned about whether they will be able to extract enough taxes from the shrinking younger generations to support their lavish pensions, it seems media hysteria about hikikomori, NEETs and freeters is only set to grow.It’s been a bit more than a year since my bra-velation, and since then I’ve had the opportunity to try 8 or 9 bras from the dazzling full bust brand, Curvy Kate. I am very sad to report that none of these beautiful bras ended up “sticking.” Rather, after trying a Curvy Kate bra, I usually end up feeling like this: While I have found great fits in Panache, Cleo, Freya, Fantasie, Gossard, Claudette, et al. it appears that Curvy Kate is simply not my brand. And she’s close! She’s definitely oh so close every time! And there are about 5,000 things to write home about what Curvy Kate does well! But it just seems like every time one of my fit problems is diminished, another fit problem pops up. Instead of being my unicorn, Curvy Kate, for me, is an unconquerable hydra. In what follows, I will review some of Curvy Kate’s newer unlined bras. In my next post, I will look at the padded bras. I will attempt to point out why the bras don’t quite work for me, and also for whom they may be a success. Let’s start by taking a real good look at Bardot: Seriously beautiful. I wasn’t very attracted to Bardot in the marketing pictures, but in real life Bardot is a stunner. Just look at those bows! Are they not the most perfect bows you have ever seen? They are not normal, standard bows. I almost want to keep just the bows…maybe Amazon won’t notice? 😉 The light, cheery purple color chosen is truly unique, especially when mixed with the sheer black. The result is minimalist, sultry, and fresh-looking. Definitely a good Spring/Summer black bra! Note that the purple continues as a lace frill outlining the entire bra – even the band. This is significant, because I have seen so few full bust bras that do not look intolerably boring from the back view. Can we please have more bras with a little “this and that” on the back, like Bardot? The black sheer cups speak for themselves – this bra is sexy. But what is also remarkable is the shiny black satin at the gore and on the wings of the bra. This satin shine is a nice luxe detail that was unexpected. Curvy Kate, more than any other brand, consistently offers these pretty finishing touches. Here’s what Bardot looks like from the front, in size 30G: Not bad! From the front, Bardot has a typical balcony shape, with a slightly lower-than-average gore (in this size range). Looks a bit like Cleo Lucy, but less uplifted. The cleavage here is definitely more on the subtle side, but it looks nice. From the side view, we get a sorta round shape (oh, that bow!): Pretty good so far. But that’s my small boob side! My larger boob is not faring as well: Now there’s some pretty bad cutting-in. But I still think that the bra is true to size, however. This is the right size for me; I do not think going up a cup would be the solution, as there seems to be a shape mismatch. The top of the cup seems to be bit too closed off, and so I would be wary if you are full on top or have tall roots. For reference, Cleo Lucy fits me well in 28G without cutting in, so it appears that Bardot is less full on top friendly than Lucy. There is a nice amount of projection at the bottom of the cup (which appears to suit me perfectly), so in this size range you may want to have at least some moderate projection to make this bra work. Like all Curvy Kate bras, the bra feels sturdy, and is holding my breasts nicely in place. The wires are about average length. The band is firm (3 rows of hooks – Curvy Kate does that well!), and the straps are strong and thick. As for comfort, this bra is not as bad as other Curvy Kates, for me. As we shall see, Curvy Kate bras are usually too wide for me, and the straps and tops of the cups cut into my armpits. This is certainly the case for Bardot, but perhaps it’s not as bad as some of the others. Take this fact with a grain of salt, as I am high set with a petite torso. Here’s how Bardot looks under a shirt: I swear, I’ll let that purple bow peek out the side any day! Bardot looks nicely rounded under a shirt. There is uplifting, but in a much more natural and subtle way compared to Cleo. Surprisingly, the seams don’t seem to show all too much. Pretty smooth! All in all, while Bardot is not the best for my full on top shape and petite torso, I think that Bardot is going to work beautifully for many other ladies. If you’re interested, some sizes are under $35 on Amazon, at the moment. Next, we will look at two of Curvy Kate’s newer unlined plunges: Dare and Daisie. Now, just a warning, they aren’t quite going to work for me, but apparently they signify great improvement in Curvy Kate’s unlined plunges, and are worth trying. For example, Florence from Science and Silicone seemed to make both of them work, and Erica from A Sophisticated Pair had a lot of praise for Dare, even giving it an A! Please forgive the terrible quality of these photos – I took them before I brought this blog into being! Here’s Dare, in 30G: Again, a really pretty aesthetic. I absolutely love the shiny silver overlaying the pink. And for an unlined plunge, this is giving some awesome cleavage! I love it from the front! You can, however, clearly see the cup cutting in to my bigger breast – so the nice cleavage here may be an accident caused by a bad fit. It appears that I can do with a little more flexibility in the cup for inner and upper fullness – although this may in turn compromise structure and support. Harrrumph. Gosh, bra engineering is hard! Let’s take a look at the side view. On my boobs, this bra takes on a slightly projected look. There is not a whole lot of lifting up going on, either. Like Bardot, there is definitely some room for projection at the bottom. Note, however, that the wires are wider. Here is Dare under a shirt. Sweet from the front! Definitely great for a deep V-neck. Dare is also not showing too much in the way of seams. I was not too thrilled by the side view, however. There is a pretty deep ski-slope look to the silhouette. I am wondering if it is my shape that is making the bra do this, but Erica from A Sophisticated Pair also pointed out how the stiff upper fabric leads to a more downward pointing shape. As for comfort – again, the bra is too wide for my frame. Literally (in the figurative sense!) eating my armpits. I would venture a guess that Dare (in this size range) is best for those with moderate projection, even fullness, and for those who do not mind wider wires. A certain amount of firmness would also contribute to success, it seems. You can try Dare here on Amazon for around 20 bucks in some sizes! I’m so sad about Daisie, the last bra I’ll show you today. Daisie in 30G is a dream come true from the front: That is some holy grail unlined bra cleavage. Alas, it comes at a cost: See that pointiness in the second photo? What is that? Why is that happening to me? I honestly do not know how to interpret the problem here. I imagine that not everyone gets this shape. Is the bra too projected for me? Are the cups too small? It’s such a tragedy, because I love it from the front! The wires here are fairly wide (in this size range). The bra, again, is also very wide, which compromises comfort significantly. Sigh. If you think you may fare better, Daisie is hovering around $30 in some sizes and colors here on Amazon. I probably won’t give up on Curvy Kate unlined bras. They are too pretty. I’m interested in trying some more of the balcony bras (like Jewel), as well as the newest unlined plunge, Dita. Dita is supposed to be similar to Dare, but I hope that it is different in the right way. 😉 Anyone else have either success or failure with Curvy Kate? How do you fare in the newer unlined bras? Stay tuned for a look at 5 different padded bras from Curvy Kate!(This deal has expired but if you’d like to be alerted to baby and maternity deals, you can sign up for our newsletter or “like” our Facebook page) If you’re planning on or currently pumping breast milk, here is a hot deal for you! SimpleWishes.com is offering free Hands Free Signature Pumping Bras and all you have to pay for is shipping! There is no limit to how many bras you can order although the shipping free will increase with multiple bras. Just go to this page, choose your size and quantity and click “add to cart”. Use the coupon code HFHDEC at checkout and you’ll see a discount of $29 appear! For my address, one bra cost $6.70 and two cost $7.25. Wow! Shipping fees will probably vary depending on your location. (This is an amazing deal, thanks for sharing it Jane!)A couple of weeks ago, I had the chance play in a local tournament, my first time playing the game in months since classes began in September. At the tournament, I got my first first-hand experience against two variations of the Palpatine’s Aces lists that are doing so well on the tournament scene right now. For those that are unaware, these lists follow a basic structure that look something like this. 29 - Omicron Group Pilot w/ Emperor Palpatine 35 - Soontir Fel w/ Push the Limit + Royal Guard TIE + Stealth Device + Autothrusters 34 - Carnor Jax w/ Push the Limit + Royal Guard TIE + Stealth Device + Autothrusters There are variations, some run Darth Vader, some run Whisper, my first round opponent downgraded Soontir to a Royal Guard and upgraded to Captain Kagi for some extra synergy and flavor with Carnor Jax, but the key component is Palpatine crew on a Lambda with an Interceptor(s) with PTL, Stealth and Autothrusters. The Palpatine lists are so powerful because their damage mitigation per turn is so incredibly high, able to deflect 6-8 damage per turn with minimal defense rolls. If an Interceptor with focus and evade rolls just 1 natural evade per attack from its 4 defense dice, and triggers at autothrusters at least once, than it will be negating 7 damage against 3 attacks, 3/12 from natural evades, 1 for the focus, 1 for the evade, 1 from autothrusters and 1 from the Emperor. Even more is possible with good defensive rolls. And the strongest damage mitigator in the list, Palpey, is on a ship that you would otherwise never want to attack first. The only way someone playing this list can lose, IMO, is either because their opponent’s list is specifically handicapped to beat them (Vader+Gunner on a Decimator, Ten Numb w/ Mangler, Connor Nets etc.) or if they make a huge mistake by crashing one of their aces onto a rock or into the front of a formation. I truly believe that unless you can prevent the Interceptors from taking actions before you shoot at them, you’re not going to hit them barring some absolutely insane dice rolls on both sides, or just plain bad action management (like taking an evade instead of a focus when you have autothrusters active). That doesn’t mean the list is unbeatable, it just means that victory or defeat pretty much lies in the hands of the Palpatine player unless you are willing to spend points on upgrades that are useless against things like Y-Wings and B-Wings. I learned a lot from both of my games against these lists, which I will share with you. In particular, I learned a great deal from the huge mistakes I made in the first game that resulted in crushing defeat, and I was able to learn from those mistakes and apply those lessons in the final round against the same type of list and obtain victory against very long odds. Here is what I learned about how to fight this very powerful list. Play Conservatively This was difficult for me, as I am the type of player that likes to be proactive in the early turns and set the terms of engagement to benefit me. I believe that the player that can identify the most important objective first and move to claim it decisively will have the advantage in most games. The problem is that as long as the Interceptors have their armor up and are able to react with their actions, any kind of direct attack on them is going to fail. In my first game, I tried to rush the Interceptor that he deployed separately (which was Carnor) and get into range 1 to throw 3 4-dice attacks with no autothrusters. My attack failed to penetrate Carnor’s defenses, and Poe took 5 damage in return, dying next turn. Basically, you need to bide your time until either your opponent makes a mistake or the opportunity arises to force your opponent to make a mistake. In my second game against this list (4th round), I realized that an aggressive frontal assault was going to get me killed again, and decided to try a slow approach, inching forward, just keeping my distance to my target, Soontir who had been deployed separated from his other 2 ships, so as to keep him on the defensive, to keep him from being able to punish an overly aggressive maneuver with a side-step. He was forced to turn away from me and dance out of range while his other ships were trying to rejoin the fight, but I kept pushing methodically, measured you towards Soontir, waiting for him to make a mistake, making sure that my guns and a blocker was there pointed at him if he ever decided to get clever and turn back into the fight thinking that I might turn away from him to protect my flank. My reconstruction of the fated turn in the top right corner of the map. Poe moves first, then Carnor, then Han. This opportunity only arose because I was patient and stayed ready. Finally when the fight had progressed to his deployment corner where Soontir had originally deployed, Carnor became too hasty to join the fight and flew too close to a debris that was near the corner, such that it was right in front of him to his right, and the only way to avoid hitting it was to hard turn to the left away from my ships and towards his own deployment edge. I saw this as my chance, and Poe who was on the other side of said debris on Carnors right pulled a wide sharp turn, placing himself as a second obstacle to Carnor’s left. My opponent predicted this move and banked left instead of hard turning, but this put his template just across the edge of the debris, crippling him and even giving him a Damaged Engine. This also put him right into Han’s arc at range 1 after he did a sharp turn to the left. I then rolled 3 hits and Carnor rolled 0/4 evades, just barely enough to finish off Carnor. If he hadn’t taken that unlucky crit from the debris, or if Han hadn’t been in the right place to have a range 1 in-arc shot, Palpatine would have been able to save him from death there, and I’m not sure if I would have been able to finish him off. Later in the game, Soontir was able to get right onto Poe’s tail, but again made a mistake, not realizing that an Interceptor cannot chase an X-Wing’s 6 o’clock without being forced to overshoot by the X-Wing’s 1-straight. Instead of breaking off the chase, he bumped right into Poe’s rear engines and Han came up right behind and removed Soontir’s stealth device, and then Han and Poe were both able to finish him off after a k-turn. When I saw what I was up against, I honestly didn’t think I had a chance of defeating this kind of list with mine, and I found out after the match that my opponent had the same opinion of the match-up. It was only by playing extra defensively and giving my opponent enough time to start making mistakes in their attempts to break my defenses and positioning that I was able to win this game. I had some luck to help push it into my favor, but luck only comes to those that put themselves in the position to roll the dice, which against these types of lists must come from patience, steadfastness and uncanny timing. Get Them to Split Up Find a way to isolate one of the Interceptors from the rest of the ships first. As long as they are separated, you can attack one of them without having to worry about getting hit by the other one. This is a great tactic in any X-Wing battle, but it’s especially important here, as you need time to establish a good position and let the interceptors dance themselves into a bad one, and the Interceptors operate best when they can simultaneously evade you on one flank while attacking you on the other. In my 4th round, I used a refused flank deployment maneuver, aka a redeployment, to keep my opponent’s forces split, so that I could have enough time to harrass one of his ships, as well as forcing him to rush with his other ships to get them into the fight, making it easier for him to make a mistake in his haste to unite his forces against me. He deployed the lambda in the top left corner, so I deployed Poe in the bottom left, wanting to keep him far away from the fighting to take advantage of his upgrades. My opponent deployed Carnor next to the Lambda, so I deployed Han across from them, and Soontir came down across from Poe. Using a Refused Flank maneuver allows me to isolate Soontir from the rest of his squad for several turns, forcing Soontir to play defense and my opponent to make awkward maneuvers and fly through obstacles to reunite his ships. I placed obstacles and Poe such that he could adjust his trajectory towards the middle without hitting the debris if Soontir was to execute a refused flank against me. The set up greatly benefited my opponent if we just flew straight at each other, so I used that to my advantage. While Carnor and Lambda flew straight at Han and next to their corner asteroid, Han did a hard turn and boost towards the right flank and Soontir, who also rushed forward for the same reason as Carnor. Carnors 2 straight was confident enough to send him in the wrong direction, but cautious enough to make it difficult to adjust and catch up to Han. Meanwhile Poes 1 straight meant I could either commit to the right flank or have enough room to adjust towards it middle of Soontir also went for a refused flank. Because of the difficulty of maneuvering a lambda and interceptor through an asteroid fields effectively, I had about 4 turns to slowly, patiently chase Soontir up the right flank with little interference from the other 2 ships, 4 turns where I was dictating my opponents movements, making them react to me, making them take risky moves to regain control of the fight. If technique fails and you can’t separate the aces, then my next plan would be to force one of the aces to retreat temporarily by threatening it with a feint, which should draw their lambda forward, and get behind the Lambda so it’s not a threat, and keep using feints to scare off the interceptors until they either make a fatal mistake or you can catch them calling your bluff by committing to the second or third attack instead of just feinting (hope that all makes some kind of sense). Those two tips are the most important things I learned from this tournament, but here are a few smaller tips that I learned to support those things. Deploy Obstacles Strategically at the Edges Deploy rocks halfway between deployment zones, near the edges. This is where flanking interceptors like to turn in from the edge after speeding towards your deployment zone, and most likely aces players will place their rocks along their own edge, making a nice field on their side of the board that will make it more difficult to adjust to a sudden redeployment. Then put a rock in the corner near their deployment zone that they have not already placed one in. Most interceptor players will place obstacles near their deployment zone early on, allowing you to keep your side of the board clear and giving you more space to pull big redeployment maneuvers. Maximize your Damage per Turn While you’re goal is to keep guns on interceptors at all times to be ready when they screw up, if the choice of targets that turn is between an armored up interceptor and the shuttle, shoot the shuttle. Damage on the shuttle will stick, but damage negated by a token doesn’t and there will be turns where Palpatine becomes an opportune target without having to go out of your way, and you’ll be unhappy with yourself when Palpatine survives with 1-2 HP and flies away to be a nuisance the rest of the game. Hopefully this helps those of you a bit that are struggling against this list. Keep in mind that these insights come from just 2 games against the list, and my second opponent was less experienced than my first, who was also fresh in the first compared to my 4th round opponent who had never played in a tournament before (but was still quite good and only made the narrowest of errors) but with such drastically different results between the first game and the second after applying these lessons, I can’t help but think I am on to something here. Let me know your thoughts on fighting this list with your Comments and reblogs of course. And for those of you that really like this blog but can’t stand the wait in between articles while I finish up the school term (only 2 more weeks!) and are looking for more of these kind of generalized strategy articles, I highly recommend checking out Redbeard’s 40k Guide. It’s geared towards 40k, but almost everything in it is strategic thinking that an be applied to X-Wing as well thanks to the few similarities between the games, and this book fundamentally shaped how I approach tactical miniatures wargames. It’s a light read, but it’s packed with strategic insights into how to win wargames like X-Wing. http://kallend.net/40k/guide/There are so many pieces that make up the college experience. From my time as a campus tour guide, I’ve learned this in a very practical way. Parents want to hear about things like campus safety, academics, campus resources, and financial aid. Students want to hear about campus life, student organizations, signing up for classes, places to hang out, late-night food, Greek life, and more. Then there’s the one topic on my tours that makes both parents and students listen up, the one topic that’s the selling point for my university, arguably the most important piece of a healthy university: housing and residential life. Now, don’t get me wrong. I was once like many others. I once threw around the D-word without a second thought. One of my favorite phrases had to do with rule enforcement, as in the criminal usage of hot plates or candles, “not in the dorms!” I saw university housing as a place to lay my head at night, a place with the dining hall on the first floor, and a place to run away from whenever my parents promised they’d cook for me on a weekend. For a long time, university housing was no more to me than the sum of its parts. I grew in my understanding of housing, though. And very soon into the process, I packed up my dorm and made the choice to move into a residence hall. It’s a very slight change in language, but it means so much. At the beginning of my first semester as a freshman, I joined a hall government. Within that, I was introduced to an entirely new world of student affairs: putting on programs, promoting diversity and inclusion, and creating leadership opportunities for residents. All the while, as I was doing my civil duty as one who creates a culture of community, inclusion, and leadership, I found that a change in language, however small, can mean the difference between isolation and community. A dormitory is defined as “a building containing a number of private or semiprivate rooms for residents, usually along with common bathroom facilities and recreation areas.” Now, I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t appear to me to paint the entire picture. Where’s the notion of student resources in this definition? Personal and professional development? How about community? So I discovered, in my time in hall government, that the D-word is not enough to describe the dynamic, beautiful community in which we live. The D-word cannot contain all that we’ve experienced, all the makeup-smearing, teary-eyed, heart-to-heart late-night talks we’ve had, all the HGTV we’ve binge-watched, all the 2 a.m. pizza orders and study sessions and instant coffee we’ve consumed, and all the love we’ve shared. Because all of that is so much more than a building containing private or semiprivate rooms for residents. It is so much more than the sum of its parts. It’s the creation of a family, or a group of best friends, or a collection of experiences that we’ll have for the rest of our lives. It’s not called a dorm; it’s called a residence hall. And switching from one mindset to the other will make all the difference. So pack up your things, check out of your dorm, and make the linguistic change to a residence hall. You won’t believe the difference it’ll make.The accompanying table provides information on the date and time of each reported fireball event with its approximate total optical radiated energy and its calculated total impact energy. When reported, the event’s geographic location, altitude and velocity at peak brightness are also provided. Note that data are not provided in real-time and not all fireballs are reported. A blank (empty) field in the table indicates the associated value was not reported. Peak Brightness Date/Time (UT) Latitude (deg.) Longitude (deg.) Altitude (km) Velocity (km/s) Velocity Components (km/s) Total Radiated Energy (J) Calculated Total Impact Energy (kt) vx vy vz Use the "Print" button above to print data contained in this table. Use the "CSV" or "Excel" buttons to download the data for use in your spreadsheet program. Allow a few seconds for downloads of large datasets.St. Thomas will sell the Winton Guest House, designed by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry and moved several years ago to the university’s Daniel C. Gainey Conference Center in Owatonna. The Board of Trustees voted last week to sell the house, and St. Thomas will contract with Wright, a Chicago and New York modern and contemporary design auction house, to handle the sale. Richard Wright, founder and principal, plans to place the house on auction May 19 in Chicago after an exhibition during Art Week in New York City. The university faces an August 2016 deadline to move the house from its 180-acre Owatonna site, sold last summer to Meridian Behavioral Health Services. The New Brighton-based company renovated the Gainey property for use as an addiction treatment center, opening Beauterre Recovery Institute in January. St. Thomas retained the ownership rights to the Winton Guest House but agreed to move the house. A committee led by Dr. Victoria Young, professor of modern architectural history and chair of the Art History Department, examined several options. “One option was to move the house to the St. Paul or Minneapolis campus,” Young said, “but there was uncertainty about location because we are beginning a campus master planning process and could not commit to a specific site. “We also studied whether an arts or cultural organization in the Twin Cities would be interested in taking over the house, or whether we should disassemble it and store it until we found the right location. In the end, St. Thomas decided the best option would be to sell the house.” Young views Wright as an excellent choice to handle the sale. Since opening the auction house in 2000, Wright and his team have sold 40,000 lots across the spectrum of 20th century art and design, including a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Rockford, Illinois, and more than 100 other pieces of art designed by the late architect. (The Wrights are not related.) “The Winton Guest House is a seminal work … a breakthrough structure articulating Gehry’s ‘village concept’ where rooms become individual structures,” Richard Wright wrote in his proposal to St. Thomas. He called the house “a work of art that will appeal to our vast audience. In the architect’s own words, it may be seen ‘as a large, outdoor sculpture.’ ” House created in 1980s Mike and Penny Winton commissioned Gehry in 1982 to design a guest house on their Lake Minnetonka property. Completed in 1987, the house won House and Garden magazine’s design award of the year and made Time magazine’s “Best of ’87” design honor roll. The Wintons sold their property to real estate developer Kirt Woodhouse in 2002, and he subdivided the land and donated the Winton Guest House to St. Thomas in 2007 with the provision that the house be moved. Composed of five separate geometrically shaped rooms projecting from a central 35-foot-tall pyramidal living room, the 2,300-square-foot house was divided into eight sections for the 110-mile move to Owatonna in 2008. Renovated on the Gainey property, the house was dedicated in October 2011, opened for public tours and used by St. Thomas Art History faculty and students for academic purposes. “You did an incredible job,” Gehry said at the dedication ceremony. “It is staggering to see it … I never had had houses of mine moved. I have had them torn down. It is a special treat to have them moved.”There are typically three things that people associate with SEGA: Sonic the Hedgehog, consoles that never got to shine, and great music. SEGA has undoubtedly housed some of the most creative composers in the industry, making everything from sweeping, pseudo-orchestral soundscapes, to fast-paced, pumped-up techno. But the best composers don’t let their skill and talent end with their music. Enter Tomoko Sasaki, best known to SEGA fans as the main composer of NiGHTS into Dreams…. Her sound, helped along by Naofumi Hataya and Fumie Kumatani, is what arguably sold NiGHTS‘ surreal dream worlds and energetic gameplay. It’s often considered one of the best soundtracks in SEGA history, let alone on the Saturn, but it was only Sasaki’s third composition. And even then, it wasn’t even the strangest thing she ever did. A Rising Star… Tomoko Sasaki got her start at SEGA, and seemingly video games in general, with World of Illusion, the 1992 Genesis/Mega Drive game starring Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. Here, her work was credited as “Maguro,” which, fun fact, refers to the bluefish tuna, a common fish served in sushi. Without discussing the game itself, Sasaki’s score does an alright job complimenting the visuals and atmosphere. However, the tracks lack any of the ethereal, even bouncy qualities of later scores, and is devoid of memorable melodies. It is excusable though, given it’s the first game she composed, and because her talents improved greatly after. A few years after her work on World of Illusion, she was put to task as the sole composer for the 1995 Genesis classic, Ristar (though she received minor assistance from Hataya), while also assisting composer Chiyako Fukuda on the Game Gear version. Despite only being her second game as lead composer, Sasaki shows an immense amount of improvement over her previous work. Before, her songs lacked melody and substance; now, the score runs a massive gambit of ambient tunes, bouncy and energetic melodies, and fun, catchy songs. Perhaps most amazingly though, is that the music displays a sincere mastery
relationship to her own son. This slow building plot line is deeply affecting: BoJack’s own childhood trauma has been a standby throughout the series, as we’ve seen little BoJack’s attempts to reach out to both of his parents, each time getting rather cruelly rebuffed. And we have gotten many hints at how his mother’s constant lack of approval shaped the way that BoJack sees himself and the world around him. The show walks a tremendously difficult line—encouraging us to empathize with Beatrice Horseman, while still holding her accountable for her cruelty to her son, and showing how trauma can pass from generation to generation. The heart of “BoJack Horseman," and what makes it easily the best series of the 2010s, is its insistence in not only finding meaning in pain, but in also creating something tender and beautiful out of it. Many people seem to act surprised in seeing a cartoon traverse the wildly complex terrain of what it means to be human, but, the truth is, animated tales have long presented sadness as something that is worthy of investigation—from “Peanuts” cartoons that focus on Charlie Brown’s deep alienation, to early episodes of “The Simpsons” that consider the joys and struggles of being a family, to the zany, existential antics of “Rick and Morty,” which forces viewers to confront a potentially meaningless universe where there are so many possible realities that none of them actually really matter. Advertisement And yet, what distinguishes “BoJack Horseman” from other animated masterpieces is its earnestness. The joke in so many cartoons is that the characters are perpetually stuck—forced to wear the same clothes; to repeat the same catch phrases and jokes; to remind the viewer that whatever kooky adventure happens, they will remain pretty much unchanged. Season four of “BoJack Horseman” challenges viewers to see BoJack and his friends not as unchanging stock characters (like the characters in BoJack’s stale-yet-beloved ‘90s sitcom “Horsin’ Around”), but as people (and horses and cats and dogs) capable of transformation, of making choices, of getting worse, and, maybe, just maybe, also getting better. In the final moments of season one, BoJack desperately wants Diane to tell him that he is good person, and she refuses, arguing instead that she doesn’t think that people are good or bad. “I kind of think that all you are is just the things that you do.” The joy of “BoJack Horseman” comes not simply from its clever visual gags, and sense of whimsy, but in its humane portrayal of a world where stories might not be able to save us from sadness, death, alcoholism, drug addiction, or regret. Instead, stories can help us push through, move forward, and do the work of growing, changing, and being kind. Next Article: Ryan Murphy Tackles Trump’s America in Daring “American Horror Story: Cult” Previous Article: Home Entertainment Consumer Guide: August 24, 2017 Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. DisqusLast week, the Associated Press reported that there’s little scientific evidence to show regular flossing is important for plaque reduction. Reluctant flossers rejoiced: If the government had no data to prove flossing prevents gum disease and tooth decay, then why do it? But in the wake of the revelations, the American Dental Association has stood its ground. In a statement, it said it would continue to call for the use of “interdental cleaners” as part of a regular oral hygiene regimen. Floss, according to the ADA, is really the only way to efficiently remove food and debris from between your teeth that can ultimately lead to the plaque buildup that causes tooth decay and gum disease. (These recommendations have been handed down from past surgeon generals and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among other groups, which continue to support the importance of flossing.) As a practicing physician who has lost a tooth herself, I have to agree that this is not the time to abandon flossing. With our subpar oral hygiene trends, Americans don’t need an excuse to become lazier about our morning and evening routines than we already are. Oral health is actually a significant public health challenge, not just here in America but across the world — if for no other reason than the simple fact that tooth decay and subsequent tooth loss negatively impacts overall quality of life. And so this is a case where the burden of proof must be forgiven: The potential benefits of flossing are clear, and the risks are few. The state of oral health in America is pretty bad Recent estimates suggest that only about 60 percent of Americans visit a dentist every year, and surveys have found that about 30 percent of Americans are not regularly brushing their teeth. This is particularly problematic given that the World Health Organization estimates that nearly 100 percent of adults worldwide have dental cavities. The CDC estimates that nearly 50 percent of Americans have some sort of gum disease. Cavities can progress rather rapidly to other problems once they get past tooth enamel. And despite regular dental screenings, when one cavity gets missed and then rapidly progresses past the enamel, you can get what dental experts tell me is known as “spontaneous nocturnal pain.” This nocturnal pain is a sign of irreversible pulpitis, which is dental speak for: It’s time for a root canal. How I lost a precious molar to gum disease I grew up in a home where my parents always made sure I went to the dentist. But thanks to a sweet tooth and a mediocre dental hygiene regimen in college, I got a few cavities. And 10 years ago, after waking up in unbearable agony from a toothache that just would not let up, I had a root canal done. After it was over, I continued my regular dental hygiene regimen and dental check-ups every six months. But then one day, I noticed swelling along my gum line by the molar where I’d had the root canal done. An endodontist soon told me that my root canal had failed and I now had a giant abscess sitting underneath my crown. Even after multiple rounds of powerful antibiotics and repeat root canals, my tooth could not be salvaged. I have always had dental insurance, and mine paid for the root canal. Without insurance, a root canal will cost upward of $1,500. The only other solution? Have the tooth removed. If your medical insurance covers extractions, then you are in good shape, except for anesthesia (in my case it was an out-of-pocket expense of about $700). After the tooth has been removed, you’re looking at dental implants (if you want to ensure a normal bite and good jaw health). Mine cost close to $3,000, which came out of my pocket as well. But I am positive that if I had been better about my overall dental hygiene regimen in college, including flossing regularly, then maybe that cavity would never have formed in the first place and I wouldn’t be waiting to be fit for a crown that will screw into my new dental implant. I’m lucky to have dental insurance -- the CDC has found there are three times more adults without dental insurance than without health insurance. And the absurd cost of oral health care for those without dental insurance explains why 40 percent of low-income adults in US are likely to have untreated tooth decay, compared with 16 percent in higher incomes. Most of these patients will force themselves to ignore their nagging toothache if they’re rationing funds to ensure that they can afford other medications. And this is why, unfortunately, oral health often takes a back seat to other matters of health. What can oral health say about overall health? Little research has been done on what oral care can tell us about one's overall health, although one study did find that tooth loss may be associated with increased coronary artery disease and another found gum disease is risk factor for coronary disease. There is also some evidence that gum disease can worsen glycemic control in people with Type 2 diabetes by exacerbating the underlying inflammatory state that aggravates insulin resistance. It makes sense that people with chronic diseases like diabetes and chronic kidney disease may suffer from more complications from oral diseases. But if we head in a direction where people start to care even less about their oral hygiene, then how much worse does our oral health stand to become? Future research in the realm of oral health could work toward better establishing the benefits of cleaning between your teeth. But for now we don’t need a large body of evidence to tell us that flossing could help alleviate bacteria that contributes to plaque buildup and subsequent tooth and gum disease. Taking a few seconds to floss every night is well worth it to save you from the risk of tooth loss. Farah Naz Khan is a doctor and a writer in Atlanta, Georgia. Find her on Twitter @farah287 or via her website FarahNazKhan.com.SINGAPORE - Brunei's DPMM bagged their first S-League title with a 4-0 victory over Balestier Khalsa in Bandar Seri Begawan on Saturday night. The result ensured that the Bruneian side finished top of the 10-team table with 52 points, just edging out Tampines Rovers (48 points) who were held 1-1 by Malaysia's Harimau Muda in a heated match played concurrently at the Jurong West Stadium. DPMM are the second foreign club to claim the trophy after Singapore-based French outfit Etoile FC triumphed in 2010. DPMM's coach Steve Kean praised his squad, saying: "It feels great. I'm so happy for the players and I give credit to all of them. They used the experience of last year's disappointment and looked so mature and calm in a game full of excitement and played with cool heads." The team had finished second in 2014, losing the title to eventual champions Warriors FC in the final match of the season after being beaten 2-1 by Tampines. Japanese outfit Albirex Niigata were third this time round after beating bottom side Hougang on Friday to move to 45 points. Balestier, who remained on 44 points, finished fourth. Harimau Muda ended seventh on 35 points, behind fifth-placed Warriors FC (37 points) and sixth-placed Home United (36). Geylang International (28), Courts Young Lions (27) and Hougang (21) rounded off the bottom three. [email protected]'s Prince Albert II apologized Thursday for his country's role in deporting Jews to Nazi camps during World War II — more than seven decades after police rounded up scores of people from the seaside principality, including those who had sought refuge from the Holocaust in what they thought was a safe and neutral land. "To say this today is to recognize a fact. To say it today, on this day, before you, is to ask forgiveness," Albert said in a poignant speech recounting actions by Monegasque police during the war. At his side were Serge and Beate Klarsfeld, renowned Nazi hunters and Holocaust researchers who encouraged Albert's father to begin examining Monaco's role during the war. Prince Albert II next to French Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld after unveiling a monument for Jews deported during World War II. A{ Albert unveiled a monument at the Monaco cemetery Thursday carved with the names of Monaco's deported Jews. The date was chosen to mark 73 years since Monegasque authorities, under pressure from Nazi collaborationist leaders in France, rounded up at least 66 Jews on the night of Aug. 27-28, 1942. They were among about 90 people deported from Monaco, or Monegasque residents deported from neighboring France, during the war, according to a government report completed this year. Only nine survived. Monaco was officially neutral at the start of the war, and was later occupied by Italian, then German forces. "We committed the irreparable in handing over to the neighboring authorities women, men and a child who had taken refuge with us to escape the persecutions they had suffered in France," Albert said. "In distress, they came specifically to take shelter with us thinking they would find neutrality." Albert said the Monaco government has approved nine requests for compensation for property of deported Jews sized by Monegasque authorities. European Jewish Congress president Dr. Moshe Kantor said "we welcome today's event and the desire of the principality to properly examine its role during these dark days of the Nazi occupation." 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. Close In a statement to The Associated Press, he said: "There is no time limit on true introspection and regret."Los Angeles Kings forward Trevor Lewis will be blogging for NHL.com throughout the Stanley Cup Final, offering his insight on what is happening inside the walls of his team's locker room and within the confines of the rink. LOS ANGELES -- I've been asked by NHL.com to keep a blog during the 2014 Stanley Cup Final, so I'll be talking about our series with the New York Rangers, my career and my time with the Los Angeles Kings. It has been a crazy ride for us during these playoffs, so before Game 1 against the Rangers let's look back at how we got here in the first place. We started with the San Jose Sharks and in the first two games they came out and dominated us in every aspect of the game. In Game 3 we came back to Staples Center and lost in overtime, but we got a little bit better. I think from then on we started to play our play game and focused on one game at a time because you never know what can happen. I think the belief in our room and the confidence in here grew a lot during that series. It started with winning the fourth game and then each one into the seventh game. That was a big boost for us. This group has been through a lot together. I think we believed the whole time against San Jose, but once we got that first win it kind of just grew from there. We kept going and kept getting better. It was pretty cool to come all the way back, but we didn't have much time to think about it. We were right into the next series. I'm sure after everything is done we'll have time to sit back and think about how cool it really was to come back from down 3-0 and win. Next up was the Anaheim Ducks in the second round. It was definitely great for California hockey to play the Sharks and then the Ducks. Anaheim has a great team and the Ducks had a great year. We knew it was going to be tough. When we were in their building there was a lot of Kings fans too. Sometimes we couldn't tell who was cheering for who because you couldn't make out the words. But it was an exciting time for California hockey. Going into Anaheim and getting those first two wins was huge. Obviously they came back and got a few on us, but it seems like every time this team has its back against the wall is when we come out and show our true selves. When we got to Game 7 with the Ducks, our belief and our confidence was very high. There are so many guys in our room that have been through Game 7s and tough times. I think we just pulled together. We had a great start and just took over from there. Then we had to face the Chicago Blackhawks. Not only were they the defending champs, just look back at last year when they beat us in five games. They took it to us pretty good. It was a big challenge for us and we knew how hard it was going to be. We actually might have played our best game in Game 1 and ended up losing, so we knew right away that it was going to be tough. Getting that win in their building in Game 2 was a huge boost for us. They hadn't lost a game there all playoffs, so that was a big turning point for us. Every time you win a round the level of hockey goes up. The Blackhawks were defending champions for a reason. They know how to win. That was a different challenge for us. They've won too, and they've won two of the last four years. That's why it was so great for us to just find a way in Game 7. We had to inch it out and find a way to close it out, but it was a great win. Now we will play the Rangers for the Stanley Cup. It is so exciting to be back in the Final. Once you win it once you just can't wait to get back and try to do it again. We are all just excited to get going and I can't wait to get Game 1 started (8 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, RDS). Talk to everyone again soon.JERUSALEMIsrael's policy on issuing guns is restrictive, and armed guards at its schools are meant to stop terrorists, not crazed or disgruntled gunmen, experts said Monday, rejecting claims by America's top gun lobby that Israel serves as proof for its philosophy that the U.S. needs more weapons, not fewer. Far from the image of a heavily armed population where ordinary people have their own arsenals to repel attackers, Israel allows its people to acquire firearms only if they can prove their professions or places of residence put them in danger. The country relies on its security services, not armed citizens, to prevent terror attacks. Though military service in Israel is compulsory, routine familiarity with weapons does not carry over into civilian life. Israel has far fewer private weapons per capita than the U.S., and while there have been gangster shootouts on the streets from time to time, gun rampages outside the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are unheard of. The National Rifle Association responded to the Dec. 14 killing of 20 first-graders and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school by resisting calls for tighter gun control and calling for armed guards and police at schools. On Sunday, the lobby's chief executive, Wayne LaPierre, invoked his perception of the Israeli school security system to back his proposal. NRA VP calls for guns in schools NRA speaks out, reignites gun control debate "Israel had a whole lot of school shootings until they did one thing: They said, `We're going to stop it,' and they put armed security in every school and they have not had a problem since then," LaPierre said on the NBC News show "Meet the Press." Israel never had "a whole lot of school shootings." Authorities could only recall two in the past four decades. In 1974, 22 children and three adults were killed in a Palestinian attack on an elementary school in Maalot, near the border with Lebanon. The attackers' goal was to take the children hostage and trade them for imprisoned militants. In 2008, another Palestinian assailant killed eight young people, most of them teens, at a nighttime study session at a Jewish religious seminary in Jerusalem. An off-duty soldier who happened to be in the area killed the attacker with his personal firearm. Israel didn't mandate armed guards at the entrances to all schools until 1995, the Education Ministry said — more than two decades after the Maalot attack and two years after a Palestinian militant wounded five pupils and their principal in a knifing at a Jerusalem school. Israel's lightly armed school guards are not the first or the last line of defense. They are backed up by special police forces on motorcycles that can be on the scene within minutes — again bringing out the main, but not the only, difference between the two systems. Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor spelled it out. "We're fighting terrorism, which comes under very specific geopolitical and military circumstances. This is not something that compares with the situation in the U.S," Palmor said. Because it is aimed at preventing terror attacks, Israel's school security system is part of a multi-layered defense strategy that focuses on prevention and doesn't depend on a guy at a gate with a gun. Intelligence gathering inside Palestinian territories, a large military force inside the West Bank and a barrier of towering concrete slabs and electronic fencing along and inside the West Bank provide the first line of defense. Guards are stationed not just at schools, but at many other public facilities, including bus and train stations, parking lots, malls and restaurants. "There are other measures of prevention of an attack taking place, which are carried out 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all over the country," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Many are not for public knowledge. Gun lobbyists who might think Israel hands out guns freely to keep its citizens safe might be less enamored of Israel's actual gun laws, which are much stricter than those in the U.S. For one thing, notes Yakov Amit, head of the firearms licensing department at the Ministry of Public Security, Israeli law does not guarantee the right to bear arms as the U.S. Constitution does. "The policy in Israel is restrictive," he said.In school, I was asked what did I want to do when I got older? What did I want to study in college? There was always one answer. I wanted to teach. In school, I was asked what did I want to do when I got older? What did I want to study in college? There was always one answer. I wanted to teach. So I went to college feeling incredibly blessed to be able to do so. I was going to have a respectable job and a job that I loved. In first year, we found out that, due to the recession and cutbacks, newly qualified teachers who qualified after 2011 would be hit with a cut in their pay. At the time, this didn't really bother us. Qualifying seemed like a distant dream when you had essays to write, teaching practice to prepare for - and a daunting thesis that needed to be finished. I loved every minute. Then in 2013, reality hit. Jobs were nowhere to be found. After we graduated, over half my year left Ireland for jobs overseas. I decided to stay home and upgrade my CV. So I enrolled in a Master's degree in education. In total, I spent five years studying to get a job. I left college with my degree in one hand and my Master's in the other, ready to face the world. How naive I was. My first year out, I was unemployed for months. I received my first job in November 2014, a six-hour maternity cover contract. I was delighted - employed until May 2015. When summer 2015 came along, I signed on to receive the social welfare. As time went by, anxiety, depression and anger began to set in, one thought constantly haunting me: 'I have done what society has asked of me, I made all the right choices, I worked hard, I went to college, and here I am lining up to collect my social welfare every week.' After a few weeks on social welfare, I received a letter from my local office stating I had to attend a meeting. This meeting would, according to the letter, help me find a job. It would introduce me to the JobBridge programme and I would get my own career guidance counsellor. The anger, anxiety and depression began to set in deeper. I did not need JobBridge and I did not need a career guidance counsellor. I needed a job, a job that I trained for. I needed the Department of Education, the Minister for Education and unions to hear me. Instead, I felt alone and forgotten. September 2015 passed and I found myself yet again without a job. In December 2015, a guardian angel was looking over me, and I found myself with two jobs in two schools. I work a total of just seven hours a week, divided between two schools. After tax one week I earned €80. I will be receiving the social welfare again in the summer. If I did not have the security of living at home with my parents, I would be living out of my car. I would be homeless. This is my life. I cannot save money, I cannot move out of my family home and I cannot plan for my future. I am faced with constant job insecurity. I am not alone with this struggle. There are thousands like me. Newly qualified teachers are fighting for equal pay. I am 100pc behind all teachers fighting for equal pay for equal work. One thought, however, lingers in my mind. What good is this pay equality, when I cannot get a full-time job? Some people have forever scrutinized teachers over our holidays and short working days. Now we face more scrutiny for wanting to be paid as equals. If they knew that teachers are living in such poverty with no job prospects, what would they say? Irish IndependentGary Staker used to be a Chelsea steward before his current job title From working as a Chelsea steward on the sidelines, to Claudio Ranieri's translator, to sitting next to Antonio Conte's family in the VIP area. Meet Gary Staker, the Chelsea backroom official who was spotted in Udine alongside Daniele Conte, the brother and agent of the Italy manager, on Thursday night. Part of the Stamford Bridge set-up since before 2000, Staker's current job title is player liaison officer, but he is rarely seen in the stands as he was at the Dacia Arena. Chelsea player liaison Gary Staker (second from left) was spotted talking with Antonio Conte's agent and brother Daniele (sat in front) ahead of Italy's friendly international against Spain in Udine Staker worked as Claudio Ranieri's translator at Chelsea after previously being a steward at Stamford Bridge Staker's presence at the friendly fuelled speculation that Italy boss Antonio Conte will take charge at Chelsea Jose Mourinho (centre) pictured sharing a joke with Chelsea staff member Staker (left) in 2004 in Porto Instead Staker can forever be found by the tunnel; the man stood behind the Chelsea manager, from Gianluca Vialli in 1998 to Guus Hiddink in 2016. A club insider told Sportsmail: 'Gary is a club stalwart. He is a consistent part of the club staff that mostly goes unnoticed - until sitting with your not-yet-confirmed manager's brother.' And that's the point. Staker - who is half-Italian - sitting next to the man who represents the manager tipped to take over at Stamford Bridge in the summer could have been a coincidence. Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri in tears at the final whistle after beating Arsenal 2-1 with his translator It could also have been a coincidence that, according to an eye witness, Elisabetta Conte, wife of Antonio, turned to Staker and punched the air when Lorenzo Insigne scored the opener for Italy. Staker was invited to the international friendly by the FIGC - the Italian football federation - and apparently in the country on family business rather than Chelsea. Is it possible the person who sorts out the seating plan at the Italian football's governing body just has a good sense of humour, or felt like causing a stir? Staker is part of the inner circle at Chelsea but has little say in the boardroom, so make of his presence in Udine what you will. Either way, it hardly rubbished the rumours that Conte is heading for Chelsea. According to a witness, Conte's wife turned to Staker and punched the air following Lorenzo Insigne's goal So, what does a player liaison officer do? Answer: just about anything. They can find a footballer a home, show his family the local sights, tell him what dress codes apply where, arrange English lessons, set up a Netflix account, whatever. You name it, he or she'll do it. It is his or her job to help overseas footballers in the Barclays Premier League and be the link between the manager and the players, paying attention to the dull details others might miss. Making sure you don't forget your passport for that European trip, for example, or telling you where to park your Ferrari on your first day. Former Chelsea chairman Ken Bates makes a presentation to Staker at the club's Christmas party in 2001 That, in a nutshell, is what they do; making footballers' lives better so they can play better football. Known as a cheery character, Staker can be seen at Stamford Bridge week in, week out, and at their Cobham training ground too. He started out as a tunnel steward but became Ranieri's translator in 2000 because he could speak Italian, given his family are from the north of Italy. That is something which could come in handy for Conte, and would have done for his brother on Thursday night too. 'He has been at the club for a very long time now and has witnessed many comings and goings,' a Chelsea source added when asked about Staker. 'As well as a lot of success. 'He is more than well-equipped in his work as player liaison, with such immense experience of world class international footballers, who are not always the easiest to look after.' Former Chelsea manager Ranieri talks with his interpreter following the PFA Awards in London Italian striker Pierluigi Casiraghi (left) with Staker at Stamford Bridge after signing for the Blues in 1998 Staker is believed to have had a spell in security at Stamford Bridge too but preferred looking after players a different way. The television crews chased him down the aisles in Udine and he and Daniele were far from discrete, given their seats were placed in front of the press box for the world's media to see. Italy drew 1-1 but took the game to Spain, who could easily have been beaten, and it gave the boys in blue in west London a glimpse into what life could be like under Conte. So too Staker, whose Italian may be heard echoing down the Stamford Bridge tunnel a lot more next season.President Donald Trump speaks during the Make America Great Again Rally on Aug. 22, 2017, in Phoenix. (Photo: David Kadlubowski/The Republic) President Donald Trump returned to Arizona on Tuesday in full campaign mode, making a full-throated defense of his previous condemnations of White supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, and touting his border-security agenda and efforts to reform the “Washington, D.C., swamp” while angrily baiting the “dishonest media.” Without mentioning their names, Trump also took shots at Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake, Arizona Republicans who have repeatedly crossed him. He riled up the crowd at the Phoenix Convention Center by alluding to McCain’s July 28 vote that sank the GOP’s immediate effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. MORE: Trump renews push for wall funding during his visit to the Arizona border And Trump said nobody — meaning Senate Republican leaders — wants him to talk about the other senator, Flake, whom he dismissed as “weak on borders, weak on crime.” But he said he didn’t have to mention Flake’s name because “nobody knows who the hell he is.” Speaking to a near-capacity crowd at the downtown convention center, Trump provided a lengthy rebuttal to critics and media who said he didn’t speak out “forcefully” enough after the Aug. 12 neo-Nazi “Unite the Right” rally exploded into violence. One woman was killed when a suspected white supremacist — “a terrible person,” according to Trump — ran his car into a crowd of counterprotesters. Two state troopers died in a related incident. While stressing the need for American unity, Trump walked the audience through his statements as he pushed back on accusations that he is racist or “a bad guy” because of his series of responses to Charlottesville, two of which included him blaming “many sides” and “both sides” for the violence. “Did they report that I said racism is evil?” Trump asked the crowd, referring to the media. They didn’t, because they are dishonest people, he said. Trump didn't mention, however, that in the wake of the violence he had cast blame on both white supremacists and counterprotesters. “When one part of America hurts, we all hurt,” Trump said. “And when one American suffers an injustice, all of America suffers together.” He blamed the media for giving a platform to “these hate groups.” “These are sick people,” he said at another point. 'Do the people in this room like Sheriff Joe?' Trump's appearance came the day after he delivered a buttoned-down, primetime speech in which he outlined a new U.S. strategy for Afghanistan. But in Phoenix, Trump quickly dashed any expectations that that he was taking a more traditionally presidential tone. Besides the sustained attack on the media and a reiteration of many of the campaign themes that won him the White House last year, Trump signaled that a presidential pardon might be coming for former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Several hours before taking the stage in Phoenix, the White House removed the suspense around one of the day's biggest questions: whether he would announce a pardon for Arpaio, who recently was convicted of criminal contempt of court in connection with a federal civil-rights case. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, confirmed earlier in the afternoon that there would be no pardon of Arpaio in Phoenix. But from the podium in Phoenix, Trump brought up the loyal Trump supporter and ally. “Do the people in this room like Sheriff Joe?” Trump asked the crowd, which went crazy at the mention of Arpaio’s name. “Was Sheriff Joe convicted for doing his job? “I’ll make a prediction, I think he’s going to be just fine. I won’t do it tonight because I don’t want to cause any controversy.” The suggestion that Trump might pardon Arpaio, a fellow immigration hardliner whose sheriff's office was found by a federal judge to have racially profiled Latinos in its immigration-enforcement activities, drew an intense public outcry and likely would have exacerbated an already precarious safety situation outside the convention center. 'I will never forget' Trump's trip to Phoenix was itself controversial from the start, coming 10 days after Charlottesville. Trump came under heavy criticism for what many considered a tepid response to the ugly episode. He did not make a visit to Charlottesville ahead of his trip to Arizona, which is the furthest he has traveled West since becoming president. Trump in the past has spoken of the connection he feels with Arizona, where he made seven campaign stops during the 2016 presidential election cycle. He considers an early, raucous July 2015 rally at the Phoenix Convention Center as central to his rise to the front of the GOP presidential pack in the race. Mike Pence, Vice President of the United States take the stage during the Make America Great Again Rally on Aug. 22, 2017, in Phoenix. (Photo: David Kadlubowski/The Republic) “You were there at the start, you were there every single day since,” Trump said. “And I will never forget — believe me, Arizona — I will never forget.” He won Arizona's Republican presidential preference election and carried the state over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by 3.5 percentage points. Vice President Mike Pence, among several speakers who warmed up the crowd for Trump, touted the president as "a man of his word" and "a man of action" and talked up their administration's "seven months of results." Since Trump has taken office, Islamic State terrorists are on the run, North Korea and Iran are on notice, unauthorized border crossing are down, among other accomplishments, Pence said. Trump added that the “forgotten men and women” are no long forgotten now that he is president. “I don’t think any president has accomplished as much as this president in the first six or seven months,” Trump boasted. 'Vintage Trump' Trump fans in attendance cheered his remarks. “Vintage Trump and he was on point. I mean, he’s still fighting the media all the time,” said Raymond Christian, who is from Texas but has property in Williams. “So he’s going to deal with that probably his entire term. When (the media) lost they fell into the loser mode and the only way they can get back at him is to turn every word he says around on him and the people that voted for him.” “I like him when he freelances, I understand that he puts his foot in his mouth every once in a while but that’s the honesty and the part that I like most about him.” Diane Bivona, a flight attendant from Peoria, said Trump and his remarks “were amazing.” The 65-year-old Republican, who donned an American-themed shawl and was just feet away from Trump as he spoke, said his remarks about securing the borders most resonated with her. “Especially being a border state in Arizona, it’s hard to tell people who don’t live on a border state that we are vulnerable to a lot of things that are happening in this country,” she said. “They’re coming through our border.” She said Trump was right to take on the media, saying they have treated him unfairly, especially after Charlottesville. “He’s down-home American,” she said. “He says it from his heart and he loves our country, and that is why there are thousands of people out there. We love this man.” Linda Knapp of Scottsdale said she believes Trump is “going to change our country and bring us together like no one has in generations.” “I like the fact that President Trump is not a politician, that he is one of us, he speaks to the people,” she said. “He’s my voice. He’s your voice.” Asked about his attacks on Arizona's senators she said: “I’m not going to talk about the senators. … I’m not voting for them. “I think that the president has the right to stand up for all of the people of Arizona that are very unhappy with Jeff Flake. His approval ratings are 18 percent and (Flake is) not speaking for me but President Trump is.” Ayhan Pauwelyn of Orange County, California, applauded Trump’s goal of “helping the country.” “He’s going to be the best and he’s not going to sit and explain every single detail because not everybody’s mindset can understand it,” she said. “So his incredible vision, future vision for the country is what matters.” READ MORE: Why did President Donald Trump choose Arizona for an outside-the-swamp rally? Roberts: Jan Brewer's defense of Donald Trump is embarrassing A question about Sen. John McCain sets off President Donald Trump Ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio: I'd take a pardon from President Donald Trump Trump waives environmental laws to speed border wall construction Would a President Trump immigration policy hurt or help the Phoenix housing market? Read or Share this story: http://azc.cc/2wwxyymFranklinton Mixed-Use Development Proposal Receives Updates Visuals by Kelley Design Co., provided by CASTO. Changes have been been made to the large mixed-use development planned for the former Riverside-Bradley public housing site in East Franklinton. The first phase of the project will now include 230 apartments, over 36,000 square feet of office and retail space, and a 290-space parking garage. The layout of the development has also been altered, apparently
ocal stand against this hatred and bigotry so we may continue to work together.”H/T One Old Vet The Trump/Mexican Judge row raises extremely important issues which cut ultimately to the question of whether the (white) American Nation can have leaders willing to defend it. (The MSM/Inside-the-Beltway Establishment shrieks NO!!!) Some valuable discussions on the Judicial aspects of the matter have appeared which I hope to review later. But the Media hysteria has separately fulfilled an historic function: panicking the GOP Leadership into prematurely revealing their Trump plan. This is to sabotage his campaign, sacrifice the 2016 Presidential election and (maybe) dispossess the Serfs again and get back control of the Party for 2020. And continue collecting bribes as usual. Two of the Treason Lobby’s GOP Senate assets, Arizona’s Jeff Flake (Numbers USA ranking C-) and Illinois’ Mark Kirk (Numbers USA ranking D-) are basking in MSM adulation because of announcing they will not support Trump. Another, the contemptible Lindsey Graham (NumbersUSA F-) is calling for a general GOP unendorsement (Lindsey Graham Wants Republicans To Unendorse Donald Trump Paige Lavender The Huffington Post 6/07/2016) Senate Leader McConnell (NumbersUSA ranking D) has bid for a share of this limelight with Mitch McConnell: It’s Time for Donald Trump to Stop Attacking Minority Groups by Lissandra Villa Time June 7 2016 (Time for you to start defending Whites, Mitch!) And the despicable Paul Ryan (NumbersUSA ranking F!!!)has got himself into an impossible situation by foolishly dropping the 21st Century political nuclear bomb on Trump: Paul Ryan Is Totally Appalled by Trump’s Racist Judge Comments, Supports Him Anyway By Josh Voorhees Slate June 7 2016. The fact is Trump represents a revolutionary Peasant uprising and the landowning Nobles were never going to go along with it. The Donald is on his own (except for the American People). Fortunately this reality has been revealed before the actual campaign is far advanced. We at VDARE.com have constraints about what we can say about actual elections. Not so Ann Coulter:ADVERTISEMENT In recent years, there has been a steep decline in labor force participation — essentially, the percentage of working-age adults who are either working or trying to get work. The House Budget Committee's recent War on Poverty report largely blames this trend on increased spending on anti-poverty programs, which supposedly reduce many people's incentive to work. This echoes arguments that many conservatives have made for years — essentially, that the social safety net has been turned into a welfare hammock. Taken to its extreme (and it often is), this line of argument suggests that welfare recipients are cashing in on an easy ticket to a comfortable life in which they opt out of work and instead spend all day smoking dope or playing video games or creating welfare babies to get bigger welfare payments. As Paul Ryan, chair of the House budget panel, said two years ago: "We don't want to turn the safety net into a hammock that lulls able-bodied people to lives of dependency and complacency, that drains them of their will and their incentive to make the most of their lives." The broad strokes here shouldn't be particularly controversial. After all, a person who can get $500 a month for free is going to be a lot less desperate for work than someone who doesn't get $500 a month for free. Both people may still be quite desperate — $500 a month isn't exactly a ticket to Easy Street — but there should be no doubt about who is more desperate. The real question is whether that effect actually produces any big effects, like being a cause of the falling labor force participation rate. The best way to measure whether the unemployed are behaving lazily is by examining the ratio of job seekers to job openings. If the problem is that unemployed people are slacking off work to enjoy the fruits of government welfare, we would expect to see a shortage of labor in the economy. Employers trying to recruit workers to expand their businesses would come up against the fact that job seekers are in short supply. Job vacancies would go unfilled and wages would be bid upward as businesses fight to recruit scarce labor away from the easy option of free welfare money. In such a scenario, cutting welfare would incentivize work, and help businesses fill vacancies. And here is where the evidence undercuts conservative attacks on welfare. The data shows decisively that the problem is not laziness at all, but a lack of job openings. There are still three jobseekers for every job opening. In the dark days following the 2008 recession, that ratio was as high as seven people for every job opening. Wage growth remains weak. Surely there are still people who would rather claim welfare than try to work, but with so few jobs available, these people don't make a real difference. Trying to nudge them off welfare won't expand the supply of jobs. It would increase the number of people looking for a job — and remember, there are already not enough jobs for those seeking employment. Here's the counterargument to what I just laid out: The number of job openings does not accurately represent the amount of work that is potentially available in the economy. Without welfare, the poor would have to find a way to eat and put a roof over their heads without the assistance of government. They would make their own jobs. In many poor countries, for instance, those with nothing to eat must sell trinkets or food on the side of the road. Desperation forces them to scrounge up some sort of money-making enterprise. So, the argument goes, welfare is still a job-killer because there are lots of jobs that would be created if life were even tougher for welfare recipients. I don't dispute that cutting welfare would make job-seekers more desperate. But that is not the same thing as creating more jobs. Without a strong enough supply of jobs for current levels of jobseekers, pushing more people into the job market is a recipe for desperation and misery rather than economic growth. It might lead to more trinket-sellers and window-washers at the roadside (as well as more thieves, hustlers, prostitutes, and beggars), but there is no guarantee that any of these people would make enough money to support themselves or their families. Additionally, as Frances Coppola and I argue, the drop in labor force participation in recent years is explained by young people spending more years at school. Instead of starting work at 16 or 18, greater numbers of young people aren't starting work until after college — when they might be 22 or even 25 or 26 if they complete post-graduate studies. It is foolish to enact measures that make the jobless more desperate for a job. There are three job seekers for each job opening. At some point in the future, if that ratio falls, and there are more job openings than job seekers, such welfare-constricting measures may well be appropriate. But we are a very, very long way from that. What is needed to reduce welfare bills and get more people into work is measures to create more jobs. Boosting infrastructure spending, as well as investing in basic research and technology, would be a start.New York City Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano is doing his best to get his 23-year-old son into the family business. Joseph Cassano currently works as an FDNY EMT “in an apparent bid to fast-track his promotion to firefighter,” the New York Post reports, but the kid isn’t doing himself any favors, using Twitter to publicly broadcast his various prejudices against black people, women, Jews, and his job. “Getting sick of picking up all these obama lovers and taking them to the hospital because their medicare pays for an ambulance and not a cab,” he tweeted last month. And that’s one of the delicate ones. Some other assorted Cassano wisdom in 140 characters or less: “MLK could go kick rocks for all I care, but thanks for the time and a half today.” “News flash to half of the island, ur white! Stop talking like ur a shwoog.” (Yes, shwoog means what you think it means.) “I like jews about as much as hitler #toofar? NOPE.” The FDNY, of course, is notorious for its lack of diversity and the EMS program, of which the younger Cassano is a part, is meant to address those concerns: “EMS members get first crack at joining the FDNY as firefighters under new federal diversity rules that put them ahead of ‘open competitive’ applicants to the Fire Academy,” the Post reports. But it also works for nepotism — Joseph and two others in the 100-person new class are the sons of FDNY leadership. “I regret posting some comments that were offensive, especially since I enjoy my job and treat every patient with great care and respect,” said Cassano this morning through an FDNY spokesperson. The @jcassano15 account has been deleted, but lives on through Google. And he made the last tweet count: “I really don’t worry if I make alot of money in my life, as soon as I can buy my wife new tits ill be a happy man.” Update: Little Cassano is set to resign over the above tweets, the Post reports. “I found the messages offensive,” said Mayor Bloomberg today. “It is my understanding that he has chosen to resign from the fire department. I think that’s the appropriate thing and I’ll leave it there.”Last Saturday night, images of a snow leopard and other imperiled creatures lit up the 380-meter-tall Empire State Building to call attention to the animals’ plight. But the cats are no stranger to heights. Snow leopards (Panthera uncia) in the Himalayan mountains often prowl at elevations between 3500 and 5000 meters. How the spotted, gray felines survive in such low oxygen environments has puzzled scientists for years. That’s because all cats—from the house cat to the African lion—have hemoglobin that isn’t very good at carrying oxygen in the blood. The trait can potentially cause hypoxia or oxygen deficiencies in tissues and should lead the creatures to linger in relatively low-lying areas where oxygen is plentiful. But no one told the snow leopard. Thinking the animals might have evolved specialized hemoglobin that transport more oxygen than other cats, scientists worked with zoos in the United States to obtain blood samples from five big cat species—African lion, tiger, leopard, snow leopard, and jaguar. After conducting genetic analyses, they discovered that the hemoglobin genes of snow leopards look and work pretty much the same as those in other cats, they report today in The Journal of Experimental Biology. For now, it seems, the snow leopard’s high-altitude tolerance remains as enigmatic as the seldom spotted wild cats themselves.Welcome to IPN: The Incident Page Network! IPN sends alerts on breaking police, fire and rescue incidents to your pager, cell phone or other wireless messaging device in real-time, as the incident is happening. With nationwide coverage, plus extended coverage in Canada and Australia, IPN is the worlds largest and most comprehensive breaking news notification network. Each day, IPN sends more than 600 alerts on incidents occurring around the nation, but chances are you don't want to receive 600 messages a day. That's why IPN is the only incident notification network to offer the ability to customize your account to receive specific types of incidents from specific cities & counties, and even allows you to control when you are notified. Here is a summary of some of the benefits of the IPN network: Ability to select specific states, counties & cities to receive info from. Ability to specify the types of incidents you want to receive. Ability to specify the hours you wish to receive alerts. Option to have your notifications delivered in mixed-case or in ALL CAPS. Option to change the way your notifications are displayed, and the content of your notifications. This is useful if your wireless carrier limits the number of characters you can receive. Option to have messages stored during the hours you have turned off, and have them sent to you when your service becomes active again. Option to have notifications sent to both your wireless device & email address (additonal monthly fee applies). All changes to your account are made right here on our web site and take effect instantly. You don't have to send your pager in to have it reprogrammed just to change your settings with IPN! Sign up now to start receiving alerts instantly, or click here for some frequently asked questions about IPN. You can also contact our 24-hour tech support team with any questions you may have.× Teen on hoverboard holding gun loses balance, accidentally kills cousin [van id=”van/ns-acc/2016/02/10/SE-017WE_CNNA-ST1-1000000003278a02″]Police in Florida say a teen riding a hoverboard and holding a gun, apparently lost his balance and shot and killed a 13-year-old boy. According to an arrest affidavit filed in Orange County, police were called to a home in Orlando on Sunday after a report that a boy was shot in the back of the head. The report says Lovardo Fisher, 13, Brandon Louis and Widmar Morame, both 18, were in a bedroom playing video games. Louis told police that he found a gun under a bed and while riding a hoverboard, lost his balance. The gun “went off,” the bullet hitting Fisher in the back of the head. The teen was transported to a local hospital in critical condition. He died Monday from his injury. The Orlando Sentinel reports that Louis and Morame are Lovardo’s cousins. Police say the gun belonged to Walter Morame, a convicted felon who was not home at the time of the shooting. Walter Morame, 35, has since been arrested and charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Other charges are pending, while the Orange County Sheriff’s Office investigates the case.Heirloom chili pepper This article is about the chili pepper. For the video game character, see BurgerTime Peter red pepper Mature Peter red chili next to a dried pod Species Capsicum annuum var. annuum Heat Medium Scoville scale 10,000-23,000[1] SHU The peter pepper, Capsicum annuum var. annuum, is an heirloom chili pepper that is best known for its unusual shape. It is a type of Capsicum annuum, though it is not officially recognized as a cultivar of the species. It occurs in red and yellow varieties.[2] The pepper is considered very rare, and its origin is unknown.[2][3] The pepper is most commonly grown in East Texas and Louisiana,[2] although it is grown in Mexico, as well.[4] It was first popularized in the United States by Frank X. Tolbert in his Dallas Morning News column about obscure local history, although he saw the pepper only once in his life. It has since been studied by horticulture experts at the University of Texas at Austin and Louisiana State University.[2] Though it is rare, its seeds are available from some private suppliers.[1] It is adaptable to a variety of growing conditions.[3] The seeds have also been exported to Asian countries, including South Korea.[4] The pepper has often been noted for its phallic appearance when fully grown. The pepper, particularly the red variety, has been described as a "miniature replica of the uncircumcised male organ".[2] The pod of the pepper is wrinkled and has a round tip with a cleft.[5] It is approximately 3 to 4 inches in length, and 1 to 1.5 inches wide when fully mature.[1] The pod of the pepper has also been noted for its pungency.[3] As it has a very high Scoville rating,[1] the pepper has been suggested for ornamental use rather than human consumption.[2] It is sometimes pickled, though.[3] It was described by Frank X. Tolbert, a Texas journalist, historian, and chili enthusiast in one of his columns called "Tolbert's Texas" he wrote for the Dallas Morning News. Jean Andrews, in her book Peppers: the domesticated Capsicums, states the peter pepper did have all the qualifications "to be honored by the pen" of Mr. Tolbert, who wrote about "little-known facts about little-known things that occur in little-known places in Texas".[6] Ms. Andrews described how hard it was to get the seed of this "little-known things that occur in little-known places" that she needed to study, but eventually she got the seeds, and was amused to see how "resulting pods naturally and consistently contorted themselves into a miniature replica of the circumcised male organ."[6] Appearance [ edit ] Peter peppers The unusual appearance of some chili peppers, and peter pepper in particular, causes amusement and leads to descriptive names such as "penis pepper". Some kind of peppers are more predisposed to produce strange shapes. Jean Andrews, in her book "The Pepper Lady's Pocket Pepper Primer, explains, "A latent predisposition manifests itself more often when the plant is grown under unfavorable conditions." Humans use the seeds of individuals that have some special appeals to them: taste, shape, color, size, etc., to plant a new generation of the pepper. By repeating such selections over and over again, humans are able to make desired characteristics even more distinguished. Peter/Penis pepper is a product of such repeated selections.[7] The most pornographic pepper [ edit ] Peter peppers There is a general belief that eating spicy food and chili pepper in particular heats up passion, but as Jon Bonné says in an article on MSNBC, "it's a big leap from heat in the mouth to heat between the sheets."[8] The penile shape Bonné signals is confirmed by Michael Albertson and Ellen Albertson in their book Temptations: Igniting the Pleasure and Power of Aphrodisiacs: the pepper is what "he looks like....This very hot Latin lover likes to brag about his size and heat. (What man doesn't?)"[9] Another name for peter pepper is "the Chilli Willy peppers". The uniquely shaped chilis have won a few awards, including the right to be called "The Most Pornographic Pepper" by Organic Gardening Magazine.[10] Growing peter peppers [ edit ] In Backwoods Home Magazine, Alice Brantley Yeager describes the process of growing peter peppers: "The best growing conditions involve a sunny spot in the garden, moderately rich soil and the same amount of water you’d give any other pepper plant when drought threatens." It is recommended to use a seed starter for a better result, but if a seed starter is not available, the seeds could be planted "in a plastic or clay pot in a sunny window".[11] See also [ edit ] References [ edit ]Germany women’s national team coach Steffi Jones has announced her final squad for the Women’s EURO 2017 in the Netherlands on Friday. It is as follows: Goalkeepers: Laura Benkarth (SC Freiburg), Almuth Schult (VfL Wolfsburg), Lisa Weiß (SGS Essen). Defenders: Anna Blässe (VfL Wolfsburg), Kristin Demann (Bayern Munich), Kathrin Hendrich (1.FFC Frankfurt), Josephine Henning (Olympique Lyon), Isabel Kerschowski (VfL Wolfsburg), Leonie Maier (Bayern Munich), Babett Peter (VfL Wolfsburg), Carolin Simon (SC Freiburg). Midfielders: Sara Däbritz (Bayern Munich), Linda Dallmann (SGS Essen), Sara Doorsoun (SGS Essen), Lena Goeßling (VfL Wolfsburg), Tabea Kemme (1.FFC Turbine Potsdam), Lina Magull (VfL Wolfsburg), Dzsenifer Marozsán (Olympique Lyon). Forwards: Svenja Huth (1.FFC Turbine Potsdam), Mandy Islacker (1.FFC Frankfurt), Hasret Kayikci (SC Freiburg), Anja Mittag (FC Rosengard), Lena Petermann (SC Freiburg). That means that apart from the injured Wolfsburg star Alexandra Popp, Pauline Bremer (Olympique Lyon), Johanna Elsig (1. FFC Turbine Potsdam), Lea Schüller (SGS Essen), Lisa Schmitz (1. FFC Turbine Potsdam) and Carina Schlüter (SC Sand) did not make the cut. According to the website of “FFussball Magzin”, the squad’s most experienced players are Anja Mittag (153 caps), Babett Peter (106 caps) and Lena Goeßling (93 caps). Meanwhile, Anna Blässe, Kristin Demann, Carolin Simon, Sara Doorsoun, Linda Dallmann, Lina Magull, Mandy Islacker and Hasret Kayikci are all without any senior EURO or World Cup experience for Germany. Before traveling to the Netherlands, the team will a friendly vs. Brazil at home on Tuesday. The choice of Brazil as the last opponent before the tournament is somewhat risky, given that they are known for their physical style of play (very unlike their men’s team), which may cause the Germans further injuries. Despite Steffi Jones’ choice of plenty of youth in the squad, Germany will be the favorites to lift the European Cup once again on the 6th of August.In our past post “Google Driverless Car – under the Hood of the Car”, we mentioned about computer, display and map and navigation system of driverless car of Google. We are posting these articles to give you a holistic view of Google driverless car and how it works. Now in this post, we will be explaining about the obstacle detection system of driverless car of Google. The obstacle/object detection unit of driverless car includes sonar devices, stereo cameras, a localization camera, a laser, and a radar detection unit. All of them have different fields of view and ranges. These sensors help robotic chauffeur (driverless car computer) to identify, track and predict the movements of pedestrians, bicycles, and other vehicles in the roadway. The robotic chauffeur makes driving strategies based on the information provided by obstacle detection unit. Suggested Read Under The Hood of Google Driverless Car Location and Use of Obstacle Detection Units in Driverless Car According to Chris Urmson (tech lead of driverless car project), the laser range finder of the car is “heart of the system”. The laser is mounted on its top. It measures the distance between the vehicle and the object surfaces facing the vehicle by spinning on its axis and changing its pitch in other words by rotating. Velodyne 64-beam laser is mounted on roof of the self driving car. The radar detection unit is used for adaptive cruise control systems. The radar detection is located on the front and back of the car as well as on either side of the front bumper. Sonar will be used also. Varieties of cameras are mounted on the car those are separated from each other by a small distance. The parallax from the different images is used to compute the distance to various objects which are captured by 2 or more cameras. Range of Obstacle Detection Units of Driverless Car: The sonar has a horizontal field of view of approximately 60 degrees for a maximum distance of approximately 6 meters. The stereo cameras have an overlapping region with a horizontal field of view of approximately 50 degrees, a vertical field of view of approximately 10 degrees, and a maximum distance of approximately 30 meters. The localization camera has a horizontal field of view of approximately 75 degrees, a vertical field of view of approximately 90 degrees and a maximum distance of approximately 10 meters. The laser has a horizontal field of view of approximately 360 degrees, a vertical field of view of approximately 30 degrees, and a maximum distance of 100 meters. The radar has a horizontal field of view of 60 degrees for the near beam, 30 degrees for the far beam, and a maximum distance of 200 meters. Suggested Read The Data Stored in Google’s Driverless Car This is all about the various detection units, their location in the car and their ranges. The purpose behind using different units of different field of view and range is that they provide superb situational awareness and works in all type of weather. Like in fog, cameras may not give correct information but radar can provide efficiently. The tech behind the car is very intriguing and we will be bringing more information about the car for you in upcoming posts.Be updated by following us on Google+ and liking our Facebook Page. You can follow our board at Pinterest.So the international break is over, and you’ve hit that big red button to throw your team into a car wash, and remove all the scud from your windscreen and shit from your wheels; you’re finally removing that annoying that bit of KdB that’s so far back, he might as well be in your boot. You want all the shiny in-form players to shoot you up the rankings, allowing you to mock your mini-league counterparts for your ingeniousness and their cautiousness. As with any team trying to fit in every premium player under the sun, money needs to be saved somewhere: the easiest place to do this is in defence. Now, with so many people clamouring to bring in the new and improved – to bring in the still baller – eugh – with so many people transferring in Marcos Alonso, defences around the country have shot up in price. For this reason, the premium spot will not be looked at here, we all know who they are and the good options for that spot. In terms of saving money, one premium defender seems to be the way to go, and after looking at the fixtures for the next 10 GWs, I think I have found the optimal selection to save funds in defence without compromising on the difficulty of fixtures and balance of your squad, and that defence is: Cedric – Naughton – Maguire – Mee – PREMIUM Costing a total of £19.1m (excluding premium of your choosing), these players rotate perfectly together for the 2nd and 3rd defender spots; don’t believe me? Have a look for yourself: Barring the piss-poor attempt at photoshopping these together – not my forte – these players rotate perfectly together up until GW14. That’s 10 fucking GWs of not having to worry about your defenders facing any of the big teams (barring your premium, but he’s never going to be benched anyway, regardless of fixture, is he?). By bringing these players in on your wildcard (hits for defenders are not advised), and by rotating them thusly, these are the fixtures your defence would face for the next 10 weeks (using Alonsoas example of premium, his fixture will be placed last each week – Home games capitalised – colours correspond to players’ colour above): GW4: WAT – CRY – lei (NEWbonus for 4th) GW5: hud – cry – ARS GW6: WAT – HUD – stoke GW7: bou – stoke – MAN CITY (whu bonus for 4th) GW8: HUD – WBA – palace (NEW – WHU bonus for 4th/5th) GW9: swa – WBA – WAT GW10: bha – NEW – bou GW11: BHA – BUR – MAN UTD (Soton bonus for 4th) GW12: bur – SWA – wba GW13: BOU – whu – LIV That’s a pretty darn good run (Average FDR = 1.7 for the rotating players – NOT THE PREMIUM), with room for 4th defenders on occasion as well. Looking at the pic above, unless you want to play a 4th defender in weeks not labelled, they would be up against one of the top 6. This rotation allows you to completely avoid the top teams (again, barring your premium) AND save money to be spread around the rest of your team. If you wanted to save more money, you could switch Maguire to Simpson and save 0.6m, but Maguire is likely to outscore his defensive counterpart so this move is illadvised unless funds are required. If I was playing my WC this week, this would be the tactic I would use, taking Alonso as the example, this formation results in (out of the 30 teams faced over 10 weeks) only 4 occurrences of playing the top 6, all of which are due to Chelsea’s fixtures. Not a bad looking set up is it? Want to save even more money, and maybe take a risk whilst doing so? Stokes’ fixtures fit nicely into this rotation as well, so Wimmer (priced so shitly at 4.4m a mere week ago) could be a viable alternative. He fits into this rotation instead of any of the players (barring Naughton), but Stoke’s fixtures match-up best when replacing him with Sotons’ Cedric, saving another 0.6m if you were so inclined to go down this path. The risk involves the uncertainty of his starting spot in the next few GW’s, but after spending £15m on him, you would think they will be looking to intergrate him into the team quite quickly. A quick look at the premium players FDR shows that in the next 10 GWs (until GW14): Man City & Evertons’ FDR = 29 Chelsea, United, Liverpool & Arsenals’ FDR = 31 As such, any premium is a viable option as they’ll likely be starting every game for you, and no teams’ fixtures are miles better than the others. So, if you’re looking to go cheap with your WC defence, this is the 4-man rotation strategy for you. If you want more shit like this then follow me on twitter @FPL_2SS. AdvertisementsHuber then described the abuse she claimed to have suffered throughout their relationship. “While under the influence of drugs, alcohol and steroids, he fractured my forearm, locked me in the house saying I couldn’t leave, smashed my phone and once he realized what he had done, he broke down crying and took me to the ER,” she wrote. “We broke up for a while after that.” Another time, she explained how he became so angry with her that he “ripped the bedroom door off of its hinges and threw it across the room and then put a hole in the bedroom wall.” He then went to the garage and drank a pack of beer within minutes. “He threw a beer bottle and it smashed on the wall next to me and cut my leg and foot and hand,” she wrote.Darkthrone‘s second album, A Blaze in the Northern Sky, turns twenty-five today. For much of the mid 90s, Darkthrone constantly referred to A Blaze in the Northern Sky as their first album as it was the first commercially released record to adopt the quick and dirty “necro” production style and to have been part of the Norwegian black metal second wave initiated by Mayhem. However most of the individual musical inspirations were audible on their prior Soulside Journey album recorded at Sunlight Studio; the compositions on A Blaze in the Northern Sky were just much more sparse and droning due to different overall compositional goals reflecting the shift from progressive death metal riff mazes to minimalistic Hellhammerism. The Celtic Frost influences on Soulside Journey are turned up to eleven and interspersed with the three-chord punk that influenced Celtic Frost so greatly. Riffs not rooted in these influences were often dissonant, bizarre but catchy things as if found objects from a more developed, dead civilization repurposed by primitive tribesmen as crude clubs for bludgeoning the brains out of wild animals. Nocturno Culto‘s complete lack of palm muting added emphasis to this. Celtic Frost provide the rhythms for the plodding verse-chorus riff pairs as in heavy metal that replaced the riff jigsaw puzzles. Fenriz‘s percussion was properly a simple alternation of snare and high hat cymbals interspersed with blasting and minimalist but well-used fills and emphasized hits that would be elaborated upon in later Darkthrone releases. Darkthrone’s primitive compositions lulled listeners into a trance before violent tempo shifts and riff changes joked them back to the carnage of the real, natural world. This pace emphasized the passage of a life punctuated by series of calamitous and fortuitous events without leaving behind the 1980s proto-death/black metal musical context. A Blaze in the Northern Sky ultimately shows the band in a transitional period between the pinnacles of their career but stills provides a memorable, conventionally-constructed bridge into the uncanny creations of Darkthrone. https://youtu.be/BmA6PDutNDE Tags: a blaze in the northern sky, anniversary, Black Metal, darkthrone, death metal, fenriz, nocturno culto, norway, Norwegian Black Metal, Norwegian Death Metal“May you live in interesting times.” – Old Earth curse Truly momentous events have occurred in the last 24 hours which confirm that humanity is not alone in the universe. Late on January 4th 3003, a pilot by the name of Cmdr DP Sayre was torn from hyperspace near the Pleiades Nebula, his ship disabled and a ship of unknown origin scanned him, whilst he watched helplessly. Many pilots have since been interdicted in the same way, leading to unprecedented levels of speculation across the galaxy. What we know so far: They haven’t attacked or damaged any ship yet The encounters are happening near the Pleiades Nebula The vessels appear to have a central ‘eye’ or cockpit They use a different form of propulsion to our own – they leave red vapour trails Their use of hyperspace also differs from ours – we don’t have the technology to interdict ships in hyperspace, for a start, and they do. Plus their hyperspace tunnels look completely different to ours – like a rent in the fabric of spacetime, to a weird greenish other dimension They travel at around 500 m/s Their shields are very strong – stronger than human ships are capable of achieving (verification needed) They appear to be made up of three round parts which move independently, and spin rapidly when they enter hyperspace They emit bright green light when they face the ships they’ve interdicted, which is reminiscent of a scan They are organic in appearance We are unable to ascertain their jump destinations via our primitive Framewake Scanners.They are armed – a scan reveals that they carry what our tech identifies as a ‘pulse laser’ They completely incapacitate our ships. They seem to be able to switch every system in them off at will, including your Christmas Tree Bobbleheads! This causes no lasting damage (as far as we can tell) CCN’s Chief Scientist Julian McCoy has released this statement: “This discovery of unidentified space vessels bearing incredibly superior technology is deeply concerning. After being violently displaced from a witchspace transit and subjected to an unknown scanning procedure by such spacecraft on two separate occasions–a terrifying experience–I’m quite certain that they are not of human origin and certainly related to, if not of the same class as, the multitude of crashed vessels within the Pleiades Nebula and surrounding regions. “As an advisory to all CCN members and the greater galactic community, I advise caution when approaching or being approached by the vessels. My personal hope is that this unidentified species, race, or life form proves to be of an intelligent nature like humanity and that we can coexist peacefully; however, we may be forced to defend ourselves.” The Gazette also caught up with Cmdr Unrealization, who experienced one of these encounters, and who kindly shared some truly remarkable footage. “It was pretty freaky, I gotta say.” he remarked. As of yet there are no reports of encounters in the Colonia region, though it is impossible to predict events in the days, weeks and months to come. Cmdr Souvarine, speaking on behalf of the CCN, makes the following recommendations: “These close encounters appear to be confined to a specific region of space a long way from Colonia. However, citizens of our region must take nothing for granted. In the unlikely event of one of these encounters, I urge all pilots to exercise restraint. So far, none of these encounters have been aggressive. Until we have more information, we should not attack these vessels.” Whatever the future holds, it is almost certain humankind has not seen the last of these encounters. Today the galaxy seems a little more mysterious, and the universe a little bigger. Whether these events transpire to be the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end, only time will tell. These are indeed interesting times! Photographs and video by Cmdr Unrealization, used with permission. AdvertisementsUpdate: Since we published this blog post, the jQuery team released version 3.1.0 to specifically address this issue. Now, exceptions in the ready handler will automatically get re-thrown. Props to @timmywil, @markelog, @mgol, and the jQuery team for such a quick update. jQuery recently had a major update to version 3. With it came a subtle change that might cause some headaches for you if your aren’t prepared for it. The Problem The $(document).ready function now uses a jQuery deferred promise internally. This is probably for the best but it has an unfortunate side effect of swallowing any exceptions that happen inside the callback. Take for example this typical jQuery hello world application. <html> <head> <script src= "https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.0.0/jquery.min.js" ></script> <script> $ ( function () { $ ( '#app' ). text ( 'hello world' ); }); </script> </head> <body> <div id= "app" ></div> </body> </html> Now see what happens when we introduce an error into our code to simulate an uncaught exception: $ ( function () { throw new Error ( 'boom!' ) $ ( '#app' ). text ( 'hello world' ); }); Just like in jQuery 2 we get a blank page and the application is completely broken, but unlike jQuery 2 the console is also completely empty. Before we would have had an error thrown and it would have been obvious what was broken. Now, without an uncaught exception, not only is debugging harder, but we also won’t see the error automatically reported to Bugsnag. There could be a broken page in production right now and we wouldn’t be able to rely on our existing instrumentation to find it. The Solution There are two ways around this problem. Deciding which one is better depends on how much of the application code is dependent on jQuery. Option 1. Use fail and throw to re-raise errors jQuery 3.0 now formally supports the promise syntax for listening to.ready(). jQuery. ready. then ( function () { throw new Error
project a part of, I will make a vinyl version. I just released a record recently with another band that I'm in, it was a project that I had for years, it used to be a lone venture but now I have a band that I work with on songs that we create. And it's called Davenport Cabinet and we just released a vinyl on that. But, that literally just came out two weeks ago, as of yesterday. And you know, maybe we'll just do a digital release. I pushed. I just said, no, I have to do vinyl. Sometimes, I guess, it just really doesn't make sense if nobody's going to want to buy it at all, but, yeah, I want to have it myself. I always said I have an excuse to put everything on vinyl. With 'In Keeping,' I didn't have the vinyl version anymore, I had a couple of warped copies, primarily wanted it to get re-released for me to have them! Being a collector, what's a favorite in your collection? I have a couple of box sets, of vinyl things that were re-released. I have one, Sonic Youth 'Dirty,' it has all these singles and stuff that it came with. I also have this old school boxed set of Fela Kuti vinyl, and then I have a couple of first edition like of the Dinosaur Jr. records, from back in the day, like 'You're Living All Over Me' on SST, and stuff like that. I have records that are really important to me, and that I may not even listen to as often but they're just like records that I just keep because they're memories that I had since I was a kid. Like, the original Black Sabbath that my mom had. Scratched to s--t, but my mother of all people had it. She actually was a fan of that record and I remember when I was a little kid, looking at that record with the woman on it, and being scared sh-tless, and then a couple of years later wanting to know what the hell that was and then falling in love with Black Sabbath that way. And so I keep stuff like that, kind of a stupid guitar, that's a piece of s--t, that you don't really care about it, but of course I have the brand new re-mastered you know, vinyl of that first Sabbath album, too. You know, so, I'm a collector in that sense, the sentimental as well. That's hard to name my favorite thing, my favorite record that I have. I have a real wide variety of records. As does Claudio. That's another important part of Coheed and Cambria, it's just a real diverse love of music. And I know every band would say that, but you'd be surprised if you came and looked at our record collection. You'd be listening to weird ass stuff, and some stuff that you'd be like, oh, that's normal. I listen to every classic rock kind of standard album, I'm going to have to it. But then again I might have some weird old hardcore album, or I might have some weird like funk album, I mean, I love a lot of soul and funk, and stuff like that. I have every Meters album on vinyl. Good stuff in there. Great picks. Last thing, you just finished this tour. What's on the horizon at this point for Coheed? Coheed will be working. We all have stuff that we're going to get in to, at home for our families for a second. But, we never stop working, individually or together. I know that together we will be working, and it's just a matter of time. Which, literally, we just got home yesterday, so it's kind of, alright, let's get our lives settled. Figure it out from there. It would be worth going out on tour, let's put it that way. Let's not... everybody's got there things that they'll be working on, while we're getting settled, too. But together we will work again very soon. Our thanks to Coheed and Cambria's Travis Stever for the interview. Learn more about the band's 'In Keeping Secrets' Audiophile Edition that's available on black 180 gram double gatefold vinyl at this location. Enter for a chance to win the release via Twitter by clicking the red button below. Contest ends Nov. 17.Share. The Return of John Gore. The Return of John Gore. Released in 2009, Mountain Sheep’s Minigore was a very fun and very polished twin-stick shooter. But there wasn’t really much to it. Just pick your character and your difficulty and try to survive as long as possible. With Minigore 2: Zombies the studio more than makes up for the original’s limited scope. This is an absolutely gigantic game, packed with hours of content and new ideas while maintaining the same storybook graphics and high level of polish that made the original so memorable. Gamers play as John Gore (or one of the ever-expanding roster of unlockable characters), once again shooting, chopping and smashing up horde of enemies with a wide variety of weapons including machine guns, shotguns, giant hammers and exploding sheep launchers. But as the sequel’s name implies, this time around Gore must mow down the perennial video game enemy: hordes of undead. Exit Theatre Mode It’s Minigore 2’s clever and elaborate progression system that truly makes the sequel stand out from the original. Gamers now have seven stages to work their way through, each concluding with a unique boss encounter. The first stage will be far too challenging to clear the first few times players jump in – Minigore 2 is designed with replayability in mind. After each session players can spend the souls of their defeated enemies to level-up their character and increase the power of each individual weapon. New characters and stages also have to be purchased, giving gamers plenty of goals to work towards. It’s an extremely compelling meta-game. Any time I came up against a tough new boss, I knew I was only one or two upgrades away from being able to take him down. But a meta-game only matters if the actual gameplay itself is fun and rewarding enough to dive back in time after time. Minigore 2 succeeds here, as well. The game’s engine is rock-solid – on a third-gen iPad I never experienced one lick of slowdown, even when hundreds of enemies were on-screen at once. Mountain Sheep hasn’t made any visual sacrifices that I can see to keep the experience fast and frantic. Each block-headed enemy is rendered with a sharp and distinctive style that makes me think of oldschool claymation. Weapons explode the enemies into cartoony buckets of blood and goop. Minigore 2’s fast pace and polished twin-stick mechanics reward skilled twitch gamers, but there’s plenty of depth for more tactical gamers to uncover as well. Sometimes it’s best to save up an especially strong weapon for the occasional unique miniboss enemy or super-strong giant minion. Players can also partially restore some lost health as long as it doesn’t drop beneath certain thresholds, making tactical retreats a must. Casual players also have access to a simple “auto-aim” mode that automatically points gamers at the nearest enemy – a welcome edition for less serious gamers. The lack of an endless survival mode in Minigore 2 is a disappointing and puzzling exclusion unfortunately. It makes the second half the game feel much more like a grind than it should. I cleared the final boss with most weapons only halfway upgraded and only around half the characters leveled up. It’s still fun to replay stages but without a highscore-based endless mode there’s no real motivation to keep earning souls to further power-up my equipment. Upgrades also crawl to a glacial pace in the game’s back half. By the end, a lengthy play session would only net me enough dough to buy one of the 150+ total upgrades remaining.William Irwin’s latest book, The Free Market Existentialist, is a novel attempt to ground libertarian political theory in existentialism. Irwin grants the difficulty of the task before him from the outset, observing that antipathy to the free market is “one thing that... both the analytic and continental schools agree on,” and remarking that he may be alone among academic philosophers in advocating “free market existentialism,” the free market’s few defenders clustered in the analytic school. But despite the obstacles in his way, by the end of his book, Irwin demonstrates that his case for free market existentialism is not an exercise in futility or mere contrarianism. Indeed, in presenting the argument that libertarianism and existentialism “fit together well,” The Free Market Existentialist gives us one of the more exciting philosophical treatments of libertarianism in recent memory. Irwin more than accomplishes his goal of establishing for free market existentialism a place in the “marketplace of ideas.” He develops, in clear, absorbing prose, a compelling, if controversial, vision of libertarianism based on a wholesale “rejection of objective values,” just the kind of values (for instance, natural rights) that commonly provide the foundation for libertarian arguments. Irwin’s attempt to reconcile existentialism and the values underpinning the free market spotlights and challenges the Marxist political commitments of Jean-Paul Sartre, “the person most identified with existentialism.” Irwin argues that Marxism is actually inconsistent with Sartre’s view of freedom, which posits the individual as a dynamic and responsible agent who creates value and meaning for himself. Sartre thus sees human freedom not as an aspect of human nature, the existence of which he emphatically denies, but as an implication of authorship and accountability. Because the individual is the ultimate source of his own values, forever remaking his reality in accordance with those values, he is, Sartre says, “condemned to be free.” It will surprise few that his fellow Marxists, dutifully pledged to a distinct and obdurate view of dialectical materialism, rejected Sartre’s thought “as self-indulgent, bourgeois individualism.” Among Marxists, it seems, any philosophy that accounts for the individual as more than a cell in the body politic or a grain swept along by the irresistible tide of history is designated for such treatment. And individualism, Irwin argues, is “the main link between existentialism and libertarianism.” Both stress the primacy and responsibility of the individual, the importance of autonomy and choice to living a meaningful, fulfilling life. We might wonder, then, how Sartre settled upon Marxism. Irwin’s answer considers the relationship between Marxism and existentialism both as “a historico-cultural accident of post-war France” and as an attempt by Sartre to embrace “socioeconomic liberation” as a central aspect of freedom. Sartre sought after a “thicker” and “broader” conception of freedom, one he could justify in light of historical realities whose consequences undeniably impact the lives of individuals and the choices available to them. Sartre believed that he had found this view of freedom in Marxist existentialism and said that he had “abandoned [his] pre-war individualism” in favor of a view that regards freedom not only ontologically but practically. Common criticisms of free market libertarianism (frequently “right libertarianism”) insist that ours is a narrow view of freedom, the hollow, unfulfilling freedom merely to consume—and to be consumed by pointless drudgery as we chase the latest products. If libertarians had their way, we are told, a world of greed and empty commercialism, full of superficial corporate drones, would eventuate. Irwin’s free market existentialism is a welcome refutation of such claims. Irwin’s libertarian society is one in which the individual is free to live out his subjective values, prosperous enough to avail himself to the full range of possible experiences, but not bound by the “manufactured desire” or alienation of consumerism. The existentialist emphasis on self-definition and the subjectivity of the individual experience, treated so extensively in Irwin’s book, recalls the philosophical legacy of the German iconoclast Max Stirner, the archenemy of all fixed ideological systems. Stirner’s sometimes inscrutable masterwork, The Ego and His Own, advances an unqualified revolt against the subjection of the incarnate, flesh and blood individual to any idea or abstraction—be it justice, rights, even morality itself. For Stirner, the individual invents himself and his reality; he is godlike, filling a formless void with his own creations. Stirner, anticipating existentialism, is “concerned with authenticity and the perils of self-deception,” attacking the tendency to elevate mere projections of the consciousness above the “Unique One,” the source of these projections. Confronted with the intense alienation that results from subordinating the individual and his values to the overwhelming power of social and economic institutions, existentialists like Sartre turned to the ostensible answers offered by Marxism. To the everyman, pulverized by the grinding gears of modern capitalism, socialism seems to present a route to genuine liberation, to a self-actualization not possible under the alienating realities of poverty. Still, it isn’t clear that we need the specific theory of alienation provided by Marx. In fact, the philosopher Isaiah Berlin observed that “the theory of the alienation of the proletarians was enunciated by Stirner at least one year before Marx.” Stirner’s fingerprints, it turns out, are all over the existentialism as we find it in the work of Sartre and in The Free Market Existentialist. The omission of Stirner from an attempt to syncretize existentialist and libertarian thought is therefore remarkable, even glaring. Stirner seems the obvious forerunner of so much that is today associated with the existentialists of the twentieth century; his work must be regarded as among the most important wellsprings of existentialism. But perhaps this neglect of Stirner stands to reason. We cannot, after all, brand Stirner a free market existentialist, for his derisive campaign against all political and economic ideologies positions him well outside of the laissez faire coterie. Many of Stirner’s egoist followers (e.g., Dora Marsden, Sidney Parker) challenged even the significant connection between Stirner’s egoism and anarchism, regarding the various proposed libertarianisms as new “spooks,” delusive attempts to enslave the individual to something exterior to himself and his will. The proto-existentialism of Stirner is not perfectly suited to any political program, even the most radical. On the other hand—and perhaps more importantly—we might attribute Stirner’s conspicuous absence to his eclipse by the similar and closely connected work of Friedrich Nietzsche. Describing him as one of “the big four of existentialism” (which quartet also includes Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Sartre), Irwin’s book makes Nietzsche one of its most cited figures. Nietzsche is frequently credited for propositions that Stirner advanced decades before Nietzsche’s active period. Indeed, more than a few Nietzsche scholars have suggested the possibility that his work is a plagiarism of Stirner’s (see, for example, John Glassford’s Did Friedrich Nietzsche Plagiarize from Max Stirner?). Whomever we credit with the extreme form of individualism found in both Stirner and Nietzsche, The Free Market Existentialist skillfully explains its relationship with modern libertarianism. Irwin is a master of rendering abstruse philosophical ideas clear and understandable to the layperson. He shows that “a world without morality” is not necessarily the grim dystopia that we might imagine, that it is better to discard the fallacy of objective morality than to remain in a state of self-delusion. Irwin proposes the replacement of “moral reasoning” with “prudential decision making,” again evoking egoists like Stirner. Irwin argues that an attention to prudence and to what is “prudentially undesirable” (rather than to what is morally wrong) can provide a foundation for a libertarian political system. This project is, of course, not entirely new. Influenced by Stirner, the libertarian publisher Benjamin Tucker dispensed with a rights-based libertarianism and instead espoused a moral anti-realist subjectivism similar to Irwin’s. Like Tucker’s, Irwin’s libertarianism rests on the idea that we should refrain from theft and assault not because of some moral duty, but because prudence recommends that we refrain. Guided selfishly by our long-term interests, we recognize the benefits of living with others in a free society; we therefore agree to forswear certain behaviors in which we are otherwise perfectly free to engage. The resulting libertarianism offers a way to minimize the conflict that inevitably marks relations between humans. Conflict, Sartre says, is “the essence of the relations between consciousnesses,” everyone jockeying for “a seat on the next bus, a scarce resource.” Similarly, the egoist Wolfi Landstreicher echoes Stirner in writing, “I see any power that stands outside of me as an enemy.” From such seemingly inauspicious philosophical starting points, Irwin builds a persuasive and original vindication of private property and free markets, one certain to generate important conversations in both the libertarian movement and the academic philosophy community.Advanced Media Framework Drivers, SDKs and Libraries The Advanced Media Framework SDK provides developers with optimal access to AMD GPUs for multimedia processing. This SDK may be used in developing wireless display, remote desktop, video editing, transcode and playback applications. Specifically, developers can use the AMF SDK for accessing AMD media accelerators for video encoding and decoding and color space conversions. Advanced Media Framework Benefits The AMF SDK allows optimization of application performance by utilizing CPU, GPU compute shaders and hardware accelerators for media processing. These optimizations are applicable to a wide range of applications such as gaming or content creation. Programming of AMD Video Engines (UVD and VCE blocks) is also an important part of the functionality that AMF provides to developers. Version 1.4 includes support for the H.265 encoder(HEVC) and bug fixes. Version 1.4.4 includes support for FFMPEG 3.3.1 and bug fixes. Version 1.4.6 has support for Game DVR and bug fixes. Version 1.4.7 has support for Video Stitching and bug fixes. Version 1.4.9 has support for Vulkan® and Linux® along with bug fixes (Vulkan encoder supports H.264 only). Requirements Related Overview blog. Note: The AMF SDK is a replacement for the AMD Media SDK. ResourcesGet the biggest Manchester 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 Demi Mitchell has been tipped to become a top modern day full-back because he is ‘impossible to stop’, according to academy chief Nicky Butt. The 20-year-old originally started life at Manchester United as a left winger, but has made a seamless transition to life at left-back since the turn of the year. Mitchell particularly impressed in the Reds' crucial 3-1 win over Sunderland last week, and was a constant menace down the left flank at the Eppleton Colliery Welfare Ground. And Butt, who has been in caretaker charge of the Reds' reserves since November, has been impressed by how Mitchell has slotted in. "It started out of necessity, if I’m honest, as we had no left-back when Cameron Borthwick-Jackson went out on loan," he told manutd.com. "So we needed a replacement and decided Demi could do it. He has got blistering pace. He’s strong, brave, can take people on and can cross a ball. "When he plays on the left wing, it doesn’t always happen for him as the space tightens up pretty quickly but I think, as a modern-day full-back or wing-back, Demi is perfect for that. He comes onto the game at pace and, once in full flight, he’s pretty impossible to stop. "He just needs to develop the defensive side of it now with coaching. But he’s keen to learn, which is good. I think modern-day full-backs are really attacking players and, if you can get the defensive side right as well, you’ve got a serious defender on your hands. "Both Demi and Matthew Olosunde [who has been playing right-back] are very attacking players and good on the eye. They have got to get better at defending one against one but that will come. They are pacey and exciting for fans to watch." Get all the latest Manchester United news first with our new app. Download it here nowDozens of people are tweeting, retweeting — and celebrating — that members of the hateful Westboro Baptist Church have been arrested in Oklahoma, where they were planning to protest to funeral of 9-year-old tornado victim Nicolas McCabe. However, an LGBT rights group suggests the arrest was not of Westboro members: Just got word that the arrest was NOT Westboro…but just a couple of “attention getters” — SoonerRights4OK (@SoonerRights4OK) May 24, 2013 That tweet is drowned out by claims to the contrary, including this “confirmation”: It’s confirmed that Westboro Baptist Church has been arrested in Moore for trying to protest without permit. #Boom — Shane Morrow (@ShaneGrafton) May 24, 2013 Two years ago Oklahoma passed a bill specifically targeting Westboro’s funeral protests, barring protests within 1,000 feet of a funeral. But this tweeter claims a new law was passed yesterday: “@hailey_nicole__: Westboro got arrested?!” The governor passed a bill yesterday saying its illegal to protest funerals. Hooray for the law! — Austin Duncan (@austinduncan24) May 24, 2013 Many are citing the lack of a permit, but again this has not been verified: Westboro members get arrested for protesting without permits! That’s amazing! I love Oklahoma! — JoSePh_MuElLeR_#52 (@Doom0723) May 24, 2013 Share this if you believe in love not hate. Share Tweet Share Email This person mocks Westboro’s history of litigious action: Westboro Baptist Church has allegedly been arrested in Moore protesting a funeral. Guess they have someone to sue now. — Nathan H (@norm_1142) May 24, 2013Holy balls, man. So as some of you may know, Dave Grohl is hosting Chelsea Lately all week. Which would have been big enough news for us to share with you, if Dave wasn’t already doing like 5,000 other things, that are even cooler, that we’re pretty much sick of talking about. Well, Elton John was a guest on the show tonight. And Dave and Elton shared the bombshell news that they played together on the new Queens Of The Stone Age album. Our inside sources enthusiastically confirmed that there’s an amazing track waiting to be heard, featuring Elton, Homme, Grohl, Troy, Mikey Shoes, and Dean Fertita. So, to recap, here is the current list of known guests: Dave Grohl Nick Oliveri Mark Lanegan Alain Johannes Trent Reznor Elton John Brody Dalle Jake Shears (Scissor Sisters)Want Single-Payer, California? Go for It! RUSH: California. California is pushing for a single-payer health care system. Democrat leaders — “progressives” in California — want the state to just get out of Obamacare totally and replace Obamacare with a single-payer, state health care system. From the Sacramento Bee: “It would cost $400 billion [per year] to remake California’s health insurance marketplace and create a publicly funded universal heath care system…” Do you know what the California state budget is per year? It’s $180 billion. The state budget of California is $180 billion. The Democrats there are serious in proposing that California go single payer. It would cost $400 billion. California would have to come up with… If they spent their entire existing budget on it, they would still need to come up with $200 billion additional dollars, and they’ve got a plan. According to the Los Angeles Times, the way they’re gonna make this money up is by way of a 15% payroll tax. Fifteen percent payroll tax. This $400 billion, I don’t think even gets close to what this is really gonna cost. Original government estimates of the cost of anything are it never right; they’re always low. When you top off this, you pay for this with a 15% payroll tax, that’s not even gonna get close to paying for it. What kind of economic activity is that gonna choke off? And, by the way, illegals and undocumented citizens… I’m sorry. They’re not citizens. Illegals and undocumented residents would be fully entitled to single-payer health care, even though they’re not paying for it. If they’re employed under the table, there is no payroll tax; they’re not paying it. Everybody else has to pay it for them. That’s why $400 billion isn’t gonna be enough. What do you think a 15% payroll tax is gonna do to job creation in California? What’s gonna happen to the California economy? They’re not even thinking of that. They’re just thinking about how wonderful it sounds to promote single payer, and they think that at $400 billion, they should do it. They also have a plan for a fast train (I forget the term they use for it) from LA to San Francisco. That’s $64 billion for the super-fast train, now $400 billion for state-run single payer, and the California budget at present maxes out at $180 billion. And the only mechanism they have is new taxes. A payroll tax of 15%, they say, would cover it. And if you analyze that, the only… A static analysis might give you somewhere… But there’s no way that people are gonna pay that. If there’s a 15% payroll tax, what do you think businesses are gonna do? They’re gonna let people off. That’s just unacceptable. That’s 15% on top of what the federal is! I mean, it’s absurd, and yet they’re dead serious about it. I hope it happens. I hope they actually move on this. I hope there is public action on this that the American people are able to witness.pragma solidity ^0.4.8; // accepted from zeppelin-solidity https://github.com/OpenZeppelin/zeppelin-solidity /* * ERC20 interface * see https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/issues/20 */ contract ERC20 { uint public totalSupply; function balanceOf(address who) constant returns (uint); function allowance(address owner, address spender) constant returns (uint); function transfer(address to, uint value) returns (bool ok); function transferFrom(address from, address to, uint value) returns (bool ok); function approve(address spender, uint value) returns (bool ok); event Transfer(address indexed from, address indexed to, uint value); event Approval(address indexed owner, address indexed spender, uint value); } // accepted from zeppelin-solidity https://github.com/OpenZeppelin/zeppelin-solidity /** * Math operations with safety checks */ contract SafeMath { function safeMul(uint a, uint b) internal returns (uint) { uint c = a * b; assert(a == 0 || c / a == b); return c; } function safeDiv(uint a, uint b) internal returns (uint) { assert(b > 0); uint c = a / b; assert(a == b * c + a % b); return c; } function safeSub(uint a, uint b) internal returns (uint) { assert(b <= a); return a - b; } function safeAdd(uint a, uint b) internal returns (uint) { uint c = a + b; assert(c>=a && c>=b); return c; } function max64(uint64 a, uint64 b) internal constant returns (uint64) { return a >= b? a : b; } function min64(uint64 a, uint64 b) internal constant returns (uint64) { return a < b? a : b; } function max256(uint256 a, uint256 b) internal constant returns (uint256) { return a >= b? a : b; } function min256(uint256 a, uint256 b) internal constant returns (uint256) { return a < b? a : b; } function assert(bool assertion) internal { if (!assertion) { throw; } } } /// @title Multisignature wallet - Allows multiple parties to agree on transactions before execution. /// @author Stefan George - <[email protected]> contract MultiSigWallet { // flag to determine if address is for a real contract or not bool public isMultiSigWallet = false; uint constant public MAX_OWNER_COUNT = 50; event Confirmation(address indexed sender, uint indexed transactionId); event Revocation(address indexed sender, uint indexed transactionId); event Submission(uint indexed transactionId); event Execution(uint indexed transactionId); event ExecutionFailure(uint indexed transactionId); event Deposit(address indexed sender, uint value); event OwnerAddition(address indexed owner); event OwnerRemoval(address indexed owner); event RequirementChange(uint required); mapping (uint => Transaction) public transactions; mapping (uint => mapping (address => bool)) public confirmations; mapping (address => bool) public isOwner; address[] public owners; uint public required; uint public transactionCount; struct Transaction { address destination; uint value; bytes data; bool executed; } modifier onlyWallet() { if (msg.sender!= address(this)) throw; _; } modifier ownerDoesNotExist(address owner) { if (isOwner[owner]) throw; _; } modifier ownerExists(address owner) { if (!isOwner[owner]) throw; _; } modifier transactionExists(uint transactionId) { if (transactions[transactionId].destination == 0) throw; _; } modifier confirmed(uint transactionId, address owner) { if (!confirmations[transactionId][owner]) throw; _; } modifier notConfirmed(uint transactionId, address owner) { if (confirmations[transactionId][owner]) throw; _; } modifier notExecuted(uint transactionId) { if (transactions[transactionId].executed) throw; _; } modifier notNull(address _address) { if (_address == 0) throw; _; } modifier validRequirement(uint ownerCount, uint _required) { if (ownerCount > MAX_OWNER_COUNT) throw; if (_required > ownerCount) throw; if (_required == 0) throw; if (ownerCount == 0) throw; _; } /// @dev Fallback function allows to deposit ether. function() payable { if (msg.value > 0) Deposit(msg.sender, msg.value); } /* * Public functions */ /// @dev Contract constructor sets initial owners and required number of confirmations. /// @param _owners List of initial owners. /// @param _required Number of required confirmations. function MultiSigWallet(address[] _owners, uint _required) public validRequirement(_owners.length, _required) { for (uint i=0; i<_owners.length; i++) { if (isOwner[_owners[i]] || _owners[i] == 0) throw; isOwner[_owners[i]] = true; } isMultiSigWallet = true; owners = _owners; required = _required; } /// @dev Allows to add a new owner. Transaction has to be sent by wallet. /// @param owner Address of new owner. function addOwner(address owner) public onlyWallet ownerDoesNotExist(owner) notNull(owner) validRequirement(owners.length + 1, required) { isOwner[owner] = true; owners.push(owner); OwnerAddition(owner); } /// @dev Allows to remove an owner. Transaction has to be sent by wallet. /// @param owner Address of owner. function removeOwner(address owner) public onlyWallet ownerExists(owner) { isOwner[owner] = false; for (uint i=0; i<owners.length - 1; i++) if (owners[i] == owner) { owners[i] = owners[owners.length - 1]; break; } owners.length -= 1; if (required > owners.length) changeRequirement(owners.length); OwnerRemoval(owner); } /// @dev Allows to replace an owner with a new owner. Transaction has to be sent by wallet. /// @param owner Address of owner to be replaced. /// @param newOwner Address of new owner. /// @param index the indx of the owner to be replaced function replaceOwnerIndexed(address owner, address newOwner, uint index) public onlyWallet ownerExists(owner) ownerDoesNotExist(newOwner) { if (owners[index]!= owner) throw; owners[index] = newOwner; isOwner[owner] = false; isOwner[newOwner] = true; OwnerRemoval(owner); OwnerAddition(newOwner); } /// @dev Allows to change the number of required confirmations. Transaction has to be sent by wallet. /// @param _required Number of required confirmations. function changeRequirement(uint _required) public onlyWallet validRequirement(owners.length, _required) { required = _required; RequirementChange(_required); } /// @dev Allows an owner to submit and confirm a transaction. /// @param destination Transaction target address. /// @param value Transaction ether value. /// @param data Transaction data payload. /// @return Returns transaction ID. function submitTransaction(address destination, uint value, bytes data) public returns (uint transactionId) { transactionId = addTransaction(destination, value, data); confirmTransaction(transactionId); } /// @dev Allows an owner to confirm a transaction. /// @param transactionId Transaction ID. function confirmTransaction(uint transactionId) public ownerExists(msg.sender) transactionExists(transactionId) notConfirmed(transactionId, msg.sender) { confirmations[transactionId][msg.sender] = true; Confirmation(msg.sender, transactionId); executeTransaction(transactionId); } /// @dev Allows an owner to revoke a confirmation for a transaction. /// @param transactionId Transaction ID. function revokeConfirmation(uint transactionId) public ownerExists(msg.sender) confirmed(transactionId, msg.sender) notExecuted(transactionId) { confirmations[transactionId][msg.sender] = false; Revocation(msg.sender, transactionId); } /// @dev Returns the confirmation status of a transaction. /// @param transactionId Transaction ID. /// @return Confirmation status. function isConfirmed(uint transactionId) public constant returns (bool) { uint count = 0; for (uint i=0; i<owners.length; i++) { if (confirmations[transactionId][owners[i]]) count += 1; if (count == required) return true; } } /* * Internal functions */ /// @dev Allows anyone to execute a confirmed transaction. /// @param transactionId Transaction ID. function executeTransaction(uint transactionId) internal notExecuted(transactionId) { if (isConfirmed(transactionId)) { Transaction tx = transactions[transactionId]; tx.executed = true; if (tx.destination.call.value(tx.value)(tx.data)) Execution(transactionId); else { ExecutionFailure(transactionId); tx.executed = false; } } } /// @dev Adds a new transaction to the transaction mapping, if transaction does not exist yet. /// @param destination Transaction target address. /// @param value Transaction ether value. /// @param data Transaction data payload. /// @return Returns transaction ID. function addTransaction(address destination, uint value, bytes data) internal notNull(destination) returns (uint transactionId) { transactionId = transactionCount; transactions[transactionId] = Transaction({ destination: destination, value: value, data: data, executed: false }); transactionCount += 1; Submission(transactionId); } /* * Web3 call functions */ /// @dev Returns number of confirmations of a transaction. /// @param transactionId Transaction ID. /// @return Number of confirmations. function getConfirmationCount(uint transactionId) public constant returns (uint count) { for (uint i=0; i<owners.length; i++) if (confirmations[transactionId][owners[i]]) count += 1; } /// @dev Returns total number of transactions after filers are applied. /// @param pending Include pending transactions. /// @param executed Include executed transactions. /// @return Total number of transactions after filters are applied. function getTransactionCount(bool pending, bool executed) public constant returns (uint count) { for (uint i=0; i<transactionCount; i++) if ((pending &&!transactions[i].executed) || (executed && transactions[i].executed)) count += 1; } /// @dev Returns list of owners. /// @return List of owner addresses. function getOwners() public constant returns (address[]) { return owners; } /// @dev Returns array with owner addresses, which confirmed transaction. /// @param transactionId Transaction ID. /// @return Returns array of owner addresses. function getConfirmations(uint transactionId) public constant returns (address[] _confirmations) { address[] memory confirmationsTemp = new address[](owners.length); uint count = 0; uint i; for (i=0; i<owners.length; i++) if (confirmations[transactionId][owners[i]]) { confirmationsTemp[count] = owners[i]; count += 1; } _confirmations = new address[](count); for (i=0; i<count; i++) _confirmations[i] = confirmationsTemp[i]; } /// @dev Returns list of transaction IDs in defined range. /// @param from Index start position of transaction array. /// @param to Index end position of transaction array. /// @param pending Include pending transactions. /// @param executed Include executed transactions. /// @return Returns array of transaction IDs. function getTransactionIds(uint from, uint to, bool pending, bool executed) public constant returns (uint[] _transactionIds) { uint[] memory transactionIdsTemp = new uint[](transactionCount); uint count = 0; uint i; for (i=0; i<transactionCount; i++) if ((pending &&!transactions[i].executed) || (executed && transactions[i].executed)) { transactionIdsTemp[count] = i; count += 1; } _transactionIds = new uint[](to - from); for (i=from; i<to; i++) _transactionIds[i - from] = transactionIdsTemp[i]; } } contract NewToken is ERC20 {} contract UpgradeAgent is SafeMath { address public owner; bool public isUpgradeAgent; NewToken public newToken; uint256 public originalSupply; // the original total supply of old tokens bool public upgradeHasBegun; function upgradeFrom(address _from, uint256 _value) public; } /// @title Time-locked vault of tokens allocated to Lunyr after 180 days contract LUNVault is SafeMath { // flag to determine if address is for a real contract or not bool public isLUNVault = false; LunyrToken lunyrToken; address lunyrMultisig; uint256 unlockedAtBlockNumber; //uint256 public constant numBlocksLocked = 1110857;
2.9 last year and Brito believes it will drop below 2 sometime next year. When that happens, this deal becomes a distinct possibility. *I knew that year working in capital management wasn’t a total waste! There’s another issue at stake, and that’s a legal one. In most of the world, this deal wouldn’t be a problem…but in the US and China, the anti-trust lawyers are already sharpening their knives. If AB InBev bought SABMiller as it currently exists, the new super-company would own about 80% of the American beer industry. That falls squarely into the “monopoly” category and the US government isn’t keen on handing over any red, plastic hotels right now…particularly to a company headquartered overseas. The same is true in China where SABMiller owns a 49% stake in CR Snow, the largest brewery in the country. AB InBev already has a substantial presence in China and their control of CR Snow would be too much for Chinese authorities. These two obstacles are eminently solvable, however. In the US, SABMiller and MolsonCoors (two former, bitter rivals) formed a joint venture called MillerCoors in 2007 in order to survive against the Anheuser-Busch marketing machine. That joint venture expires in 2013, and at that time, SABMiller could simply sell their domestic stake of Miller (and thus, their 30% control of the US market) to their current partners at MolsonCoors. So while SABMiller would still own the Miller brand elsewhere in the world, domestically Miller would become the first of the former “Big Three” to be swallowed up by one of its competitors. You’d still see Miller on the shelves, of course, but, in essence, the Big Three would now be a Big Two…Coors and Bud (aka MolsonCoors and AB InBev). By relinquishing control of the American market, SABMiller would eliminate the concerns of anti-trust lawyers. The same could easily happen in China where SABMiller would simply have to sell their shares of CR Snow. With those two smaller deals done, there would be no more hurdles in the way of AB InBev’s acquisition of its biggest rival. Whew…you got all that? It’s complicated and, frankly, a little overwhelming. On the surface, it seems like THE biggest story in the beer world. I mean…Bud buying Miller?! And Miller giving up their American market to Coors?! That’s crazy-talk! But the truth is, this kind of stuff happens all the time (though admittedly not at this scale) when companies enter the world of international finance and never-ending M&A deals. You can’t think of those companies as “Bud, Miller, and Coors…All-American beer!” anymore. Now it’s AB InBev, SABMiller, and MolsonCoors…three monstrous corporate behemoths helmed in Brussels, London, and Montreal respectively. So if you ignore the “nostalgia” angle, you’ll realize that this is just business. The bigger question, as far as the Aleheads are concerned, is what this means for craft beer. You might think the tiny Davids would be quaking in their boots at the thought of the evil AB InBev Goliath growing even fatter and richer. But pay close attention to this quote from the article: “SABMiller is attractive to AB InBev due to the London-listed brewer’s large operations in the high-growth emerging markets of Africa, South America and eastern Europe which will help AB InBev reduce its reliance on the tough U.S. beer market.” And why, do you suppose, the US beer market is so “tough” for AB InBev? Sure, beer consumption in general has declined a bit in the US, but not enough to explain why sales of Budweiser have dropped 30% in recent years. No, the blame/kudos goes squarely to the craft beer segment of the industry which has seen a meteoric rise even as overall beer sales have stagnated. With American craft growing by double digits every year, AB InBev is scrambling to come up with ways to compete against the little guys in a US market that provides over 90% of the company’s earnings. They’ve cut production/distribution deals with companies like RedHook and Kona and earlier this year they snapped up Goose Island lock, stock and barrel. The problem is that Aleheads everywhere have seen through these transparent ruses and have vowed to eschew former craft breweries that have the stench of AB InBev on them (I, for one, haven’t consumed a drop of Goose Island since the deal went through in March). In other words, those in-roads into the craft beer world may look good on paper for AB InBev, but they’re simply not going to make up for the losses that the company is facing. The best way for AB InBev to counter their flagging sales in America is to grow their brand elsewhere. If they focus on parts of the world where craft beer isn’t a threat, they can presumably make up for their declining earnings in the US. Unfortunately, many of those markets are dominated by SABMiller brands so gaining a foothold in them could be exceedingly difficult. So what’s the largest, richest brewing corporation in the world to do? Oh right…buy SABMiller and take over those new markets the easy way. Since AB InBev likes making major deals almost as much as they like making tasteless, watery beer, that possibility seems to be closer and closer to coming to fruition.* *Note: There’s one other little wrinkle to this story. SABMiller is finalizing a deal to purchase Foster’s, the Australian brewing giant, for $10 billion. This really shouldn’t slow down the deal by more than a few months, but it does make SABMiller a much more valuable company which means, presumably, that the deal would be quite a bit more expensive for AB InBev than it would have been had SABMiller remained Foster’s-free. Despite the potential price hike, it would give AB InBev a huge chunk of the Australian beer market, which presumably, actually makes SABMiller even MORE desirable** **”Foster’s…it’s Australian for lipstick on a pig.” If you look at it from this perspective, you realize that the AB InBev/SABMiller deal really isn’t about becoming an even larger company so as to crush the nascent craft beer industry. AB InBev is already large enough to swallow up every craft brewer in America if they really wanted to. The deal, to me at least, is more about AB InBev realizing that they CAN’T compete with craft beer here in the US. In my mind, you might as well consider the macros and the craft world to be two wholly separate industries at this point (and, if you ever conduct a head-to-head tasting between a Bud Light and a Bruery Rugbrød, it becomes pretty easy to think of those two products as apples and oranges). No matter what AB InBev does, the stigma of their products precludes them from gaining a foothold amongst craft drinkers. Even if they made a serious, concerted effort into brewing a legitimately tasty, all-malt product, Aleheads the world over would still ignore them. They simply can’t win at that game. So why bother? Instead, AB InBev is focusing on buying their chief competition in a segment of the industry that they understand better than anyone. A segment where marketing, PR, and brand recognition utterly trump the actual product being sold. So no, I’m not worried. Yes, it’s a big deal in the brewing world. And yes, if this actually occurs in a few years, AB InBev will truly be the undisputed King of Beer. But I don’t see this as having any real bearing on the world of craft. AB InBev has always been the 600-pound gorilla in the industry. What difference does it make if they control SABMiller’s brands in the rest of the world? Hell, even if AB InBev bought up SABMiller in its entirety and DIDN’T have to relinquish SAB’s American market share, I’m not sure it would have any effect on craft. Beer drinkers today aren’t debating between Bud or Bell’s…Miller or Moylan’s. They’re either craft drinkers, or they’re not. It’s a binary beer world, and the AB InBev/SABMiller deal simply reduces controlling interests on one side of the equation. Ah, but there may be ONE lasting consequence of this deal for Aleheads everywhere…and that’s a positive one. What happens when AB InBev devours its last, true competitor? What happens after they’ve bought up their largest competitor, paid down their debt, seen growth in some new markets…and then realized that their bottom line is stagnating once more? What happens when the company finally…FINALLY accepts that their failings in recent years aren’t because of high expenses or bad management, but because of producing an inferior product? Well, by then it will be too late. Craft beer will have become the dominant force in American brewing. We’ll have returned to the way it was before Prohibition, when there were hundreds upon hundreds of local and regional brewers making high-quality, all-malt brews. The endless variety, complexity, and innovation of the craft industry will be the law of the land and AB InBev will be on the outside looking in. It may take many years…decades in fact. But the seeds are being planted today. With this deal, AB InBev will have conquered its rival. But when there are no more world’s left to conquer, what then? The unwieldy, cumbersome giant will have to rage against the upstart brewers who will continue to nibble away at the behemoth’s bottom line. Craft may not have AB InBev’s deep pockets or marketing clout, but they have an insurmountable edge in the one thing that actually matters…the beer. It may seem counter-intuitive, and it may take a good, long while…but if this deal occurs…if this unprecedented victory for AB InBev actually comes to pass, it will eventually lead to something the company has never before faced. Failure. Go for it AB InBev. Grab that brass ring. And when you realize that there are no more rings left to grab, the rest of us will be sitting around the carousel, drinking our DIPAs and Saisons and watching you spin out of control and into oblivion. You will not be missed.News about a kids' lemonade stand in Ankeny spread fast at Ankeny Police Department.Seven officers stopped at the stand to support the children."It was a great example of what these officers and their department are all about and absolutely made our day," said Ashley Wilson.The smiles were priceless from the kids and the officers alike, she said.When was the last time you stopped at a kid's lemonade stand? Tell us your story in the comment box below or on the KCCI Facebook page. News about a kids' lemonade stand in Ankeny spread fast at Ankeny Police Department. Seven officers stopped at the stand to support the children. Advertisement "It was a great example of what these officers and their department are all about and absolutely made our day," said Ashley Wilson. The smiles were priceless from the kids and the officers alike, she said. When was the last time you stopped at a kid's lemonade stand? Tell us your story in the comment box below or on the KCCI Facebook page. AlertMeFinally, it’s back. After some down time due to the Posterous shut down, here is the Digital IPA recipe you’ve been looking for. Digital IPA is open source… use it as you please, remix it, and share it with others… but please acknowledge where it came from. If you think something along the lines of the Creative Commons Attribute-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported rules then you are on the right track. Note that this beer has evolved over the last couple of years, so there may well be other recipes with a 67c mash temp, a slightly different hop schedule (or two) and a higher OG. Never fear, It’s all just zeroes and ones until it hits your brewery. Yeastie Boys Digital IPA Recipe Overview Anticipated OG: 1.066 Anticipated ABV (%): 7.0 Anticipated IBU: 77.0 Anticipated SRM: 7.3 Wort Boil Time: 60min Malt 80.4% Pale Malt 11.5% Munich Malt Type 1 5.8% CaraPils 2.3% Caramalt 35 Hops (all pellets) n.ng/L* Pacific Jade 13.40%aa @ 60 min. 0.8g/L Pacifica 5.60%aa @ 10 min. 4.2g/L Nelson Sauvin 12.10%aa @ 10 min. 4.2g/L Pacifica 5.60%aa @ 0 min. 2.1g/L Motueka 6.90%aa @ 0 min. 1.75g/L Nelson Sauvin 12.10%aa @ 0 min. 0.85g/L Pacifica @ dry hop 0.85g/L Nelson Sauvin @ dry hop Yeast US05 Water Profile Calcium(Ca): 85.0 ppm Magnesium(Mg): 8.0 ppm Sodium(Na): 9.0 ppm Sulfate(SO4): 80.0 ppm Chloride(Cl): 48.0 ppm biCarbonate(HCO3): 67.0 ppm Mash Schedule Mash Type: Single Step Saccharification Rest Temp : 66c Time: 60min Notes * first addition of hops, at 60min, will depend on your own brewhouse utilisation.Bernie Taps into Something Deep in America The newspeople have noticed that Bernie Sanders is attracting crowds bigger and more enthusiastic than they'd have predicted. What's happening here, they've wondered? My hypothesis is that Bernie Sanders is tapping into something deep and strong in the American electorate: a desire to fight back against the Big Money power that's been stealing wealth and power from the American people. Bernie Sanders is speaking truth about several profound issues about which growing numbers of Americans are unhappily aware. That the middle class is being hollowed out, while the rich get richer, is something they experience in their daily lives. This is what Bernie Sanders has called the great moral, economic and political issue of our times. That money has become too powerful in our politics is something that, according to a poll just out from the New York Times and CBS, some 84% of the American people recognize. Bernie Sanders has declared his intention to deal with the corruption of our democracy by money, including overturning the Supremes' disgraceful Citizens United decision. That climate change constitutes a crisis we are morally obliged to deal with responsibly is something that growing numbers of people -- including a small majority of Republicans (according to a recent national poll) -- acknowledge. Bernie Sanders is speaking plainly about this, too. And on all these issues, Bernie Sanders is credible, having been consistent over the years on these positions. And he is articulate and he is passionate. With these pieces all in alignment, it seems entirely reasonable to believe that the response to Bernie Sanders -- seen in these big crowds in Vermont, Iowa and Minnesota -- represents the beginnings of what could become a "movement." There is a hunger in America that could express itself through the candidacy of this straight-talking Senator. The Challenge to Hillary Clinton Maybe this "movement" will become so powerful as to overcome Hillary Clinton's great advantages, and secure the Democratic nomination. But I would not bet on it. But even without a victory at the convention, if the Sanders campaign does become a "movement," that in itself will be something with which Hillary will have to contend. The question will be, when/if Hillary becomes the nominee, how much of the enthusiasm of that movement will transfer to her? A more extreme version of Hillary's challenge is found in the Democratic presidential politics of 1968. That year, the central issue was Vietnam, and the "movement" that arose to oppose that war lined up first behind Senator Eugene McCarthy and then also behind Bobby Kennedy. The candidate who got the nomination was Hubert Humphrey, the vice-president to LBJ, the president whose decisions had done the most to give us the disaster that was that war. For Humphrey, the challenge was to appeal to the part of the party where all the deep enthusiasm lay, while also not betraying the president and the party establishment that were giving him the nomination. His success at meeting that challenge was very limited, and in an extremely close election, he lost to Richard Nixon -- and the war ground on for another terrible seven years. There are important differences between 1968 and today. 1) It is not clear that the passions surrounding inequality and the theft of our democracy are as widespread and intense as those surrounding a war into which America's youth were being drafted to kill and die for what looked like for no good reason. 2) Primaries in 1968 determined only a minority of the delegates to the convention, so it was still possible for the likes of LBJ, John Connally of Texas and Mayor Daly in Chicago to decide the nominee in the backroom, disregarding the preferences expressed by citizens in the primary process. 3) And Hillary is not so inextricably tied to the problem of inequality as Humphrey was to the war. Nonetheless, Hillary's politics have hardly been the populism of Bernie Sanders. She has strong ties to Wall Street, and she has bridges that she presumably is not eager to burn. She does face the Humphrey danger: that those whose enthusiasm may be essential to her success in a general election may see her more as part of the problem than as part of the solution. So, assuming that the Bernie Movement continues to gather strength, it will be interesting to see in the coming months how good Hillary is at adopting -- or co-opting -- those issues that Bernie is using to tap into the political passion that is now becoming visible. Will she be convincing in representing herself as someone who will fight against inequality in wealth and power -- convincing enough so that, if she finally secures the nomination, the followers of Bernie are glad to rally around her to defeat the Republicans? Will she be convincing in representing herself as someone who will lead strongly on the issue of climate change? On both scores, her own history is mixed. So making that sale will require conveying real conviction, and not just words.Macadamia industry thriving again as booming demand in Asia sees prices soar Updated Sorry, this video has expired Video: An Australian Original (Landline) Australia's macadamia industry has bounced back after six difficult years, with booming Asian demand pushing nut prices to record highs. While this year's crop is estimated to reach 40,000 tonnes, it will not touch the sides of Asia's growing appetite for macadamia nuts. "There are many markets that haven't even been tapped," New South Wales grower Tamara Williams said. "We're not able to get macadamia nuts into India yet because there's just not enough supply to satisfy that level of demand." Australian Macadamia Society (AMS) chief executive Jolyon Burnett says the biggest growth has been in Asia. "Not just in China where everybody's had good growth, but in markets like Korea and Taiwan where they're beginning to associate macadamias with health, beauty and wellbeing," she said. Hinkler Park is the world's biggest macadamia grower, with farms in South Africa and Australia. It is owned by the Zadro family, and has a 50 per cent share in Queensland processor Pacific Gold Macadamias in Bundaberg. "The Chinese nut-in-shell market, which has just opened up, has awoken a sleeping giant," Hinkler Park's Peter Zadro said. New grading and bagging equipment was installed over the summer to meet Chinese demand for nuts in shell. The Zadro family is planting more trees in Bundaberg and is looking to expand Hinkler Park's footprint further north to Emerald. 'Huge room for growth': AMS Chefs praise versatile nut Several of Australia's best known chefs were invited to the macadamia's 40th birthday party at the Opera House. The three-course menu showed off the nut's versatility and included a macadamia macaroon 'tree' from superstar pastry chef Adriano Zumbo. Adriano Zumbo: I see it as a luxury. You think "macadamia, wow!". When you eat one it's pretty special. Kylie Kwong: Macadamia nuts will be in my kitchen and on my menus forever. It's very important, we need to celebrate this beautiful native ingredient. I sprinkle roasted organic macadamia nuts with Sichuan pepper, salt and chilli. It's the first biteful my guests experience - it's like "welcome to Australia". Karen Martini: I use them in cakes, muffins, slices - but I also love the versatility of them because they're so good in savoury dishes as well, be it stir fries, salads, dips, curries. I use them instead of candlenuts in my laksa. There are endless opportunities with macadamias. Simon Sandall (Aria): They're so rich and full of fat... good fats. They add a great, rich creaminess to any dish. I think it will be a staple in Australian cuisine. It's a native nut to Australia, why wouldn't you use it? I see it as a luxury. You think "macadamia, wow!". When you eat one it's pretty special.Macadamia nuts will be in my kitchen and on my menus forever. It's very important, we need to celebrate this beautiful native ingredient.I sprinkle roasted organic macadamia nuts with Sichuan pepper, salt and chilli. It's the first biteful my guests experience - it's like "welcome to Australia".I use them in cakes, muffins, slices - but I also love the versatility of them because they're so good in savoury dishes as well, be it stir fries, salads, dips, curries.I use them instead of candlenuts in my laksa. There are endless opportunities with macadamias.They're so rich and full of fat... good fats. They add a great, rich creaminess to any dish. I think it will be a staple in Australian cuisine. It's a native nut to Australia, why wouldn't you use it? But the AMS says a handful of growers expanding is not enough. Ms Burnett says unless there is a quantum leap in growth and investment, Australia will miss out on the opportunities in Asia. "We have demand strongly outstripping supply so there's huge room for growth, but we need financial resources to drive that growth. We really do need that money now," she said. "We make up around 1 per cent of the world trade in tree nuts. In the next 40 years I'd like to see us being 10 per cent of the world tree market. "If you look back on what we've achieved in the last 40 years there's no reason why we couldn't achieve something as ambitious as that in the next 40 years." High prices and booming markets are the perfect birthday present for an industry marking 40 years since the first commercial orchards were planted in northern New South Wales. There are now 6 million trees in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. The macadamia is Australia's most successfully commercialised bush food, and is worth $200 million a year. "If you look at some of the industries starting off in Australia around the time of the macadamia industry - like jojoba, emu, tea-tree - I think we're almost unique in being a well-established globally traded and commercially successful industry," Ms Burnett said. Push for Australians to invest in industry While 70 per cent of the crop is exported to 40 countries, Ms Burnett wants to spread the word in Australia that the macadamia is an Australian native. She would like to see local investors show more interest in their own nut. "We have a breeding program [that is] about to release varieties that potentially could have 30 per cent better yield than the current varieties," she said. "We have strong demand, and are one of the most flexible and versatile products in horticulture. "All these things mean investors can be confident there are opportunities for good returns." Former merchant banker and now macadamia nut grower Tamara Williams says investment is likely to come from overseas, rather than Australia. She was in Asia last month pitching the industry to potential investors. "A lot of them are actually already into agriculture and it's quite a substantial part of their investment portfolio," Ms Williams said. "So I think making the leap into macadamias is not a massive leap, whereas if you talked to some of the blue-chip investors within Australia, investing in macadamias is not on their horizon." Long-term return pushing away investors It is an attitude which bewilders accountant and retired macadamia grower Doug Rowley. Every morning when I wake up I think about macadamias... I wish I was 30 years younger. If I was 30 years younger I would probably double and quadruple the industry overnight knowing what I know today. Macadamia farmer Phil Zadro "Unfortunately the Australian investment community is more interested in the immediate and short-term gain rather than the long-term return that an agricultural-based investment is going to give," he said. Mr Zadro understands why investors shy away from tree crops. "There's a long lead time before you get a return because you have to plant the tree and let it grow and it takes several years before you really get a return," he said. "But then after that the potential is so enormous it's staggering. There's many parts of Australia where people can grow macadamias, but they just don't know about it and the potential it has." Macadamia nurseries say the rise in nut-in-shell prices, from a low of $1.50 per kilogram to $3.50 per kilogram, has seen an increase in inquiries. "There's a lot of positivity out there. People are very keen to get into macadamias," Alloway Macadamia's Ray Norris said. "The frustrating thing for me is I don't have the trees to give them, but in this Bundaberg area especially there's a bit of dissatisfaction with cane at the moment so we're seeing a lot of enquiries from cane growers." Hinkler Park's 81-year-old Phil Zadro is frustrated at the scale of the unmet demand in Asia. "Every morning when I wake up I think about macadamias," he said. "I see the need for expansion - how we're going to supply all the increase in demand around the world, be it nut in shell or as kernel, and I can't find an answer for that. The only answer I can see is plant more trees. "I wish I was 30 years younger. If I was 30 years younger I would probably double and quadruple the industry overnight knowing what I know today." See the full story on the macadamia industry’s 40th birthday on Landline's website. Topics: agricultural-crops, agricultural-marketing, fruit, rural, australia First postedThe main character in FINAL FANTASY VII. Originally a member of SOLDIER, he is now a mercenary who will take any job. After being hired by AVALANCHE, he gradually gets caught up in a massive struggle for the life of the planet. His enormous sword can cut almost anything into two. Young, beautiful, and somewhat mysterious, Aerith met Cloud while selling flowers on the streets of Midgar. She decided to join him soon after. Her unusual abilities allow her to heal the party, but she seems more interested in the deepening love triangle between herself, Cloud and Tifa. Bright and optimistic, Tifa always cheers up the others when they’re down. But don’t let her looks fool you, she can decimate almost any enemy with her fists. She is one of the main members of AVALANCHE. She and Cloud were childhood friends, and although she has strong feelings for him, she would never admit it. Head of the underground resistance movement, AVALANCHE, Barret is fighting the mega-conglomerate Shinra, Inc. which has monopolized Mako energy by building special reactors to suck it out of the planet. Barret depends on brute strength and his “Gun-arm” to see him through. His wife died in an accident several years ago, and he now lives with his daughter Marlene. Although you'd never know it by looking at her, Yuffie comes from a long line of Ninja. She forced herself into the group just to get a “certain something”. She's sneaky, arrogant and “way” selfish. But with her super shuriken and her special skills, there isn't anyone else you'd rather have on your side in a fight. Cid is a tough-talking, warm-hearted old pilot who hasn't forgotten his dream. There's no better pilot by air or sea. He believes that someday he'll be the first man in space. With his handmade spear and knowledge of machinery, he throws himself into any attack regardless of the danger. A mystical man, stern and upright while at the same time dark and mysterious. His past connection with Shinra, Inc. is what made him join Cloud and the others. He may seem frail at first glance, but hidden inside his body lurks a fearsome power. Just as his name implies, he is an animal with fire-red fur. But under his fierce exterior is an intelligence surpassing that of any human's. His sharp claws and fangs make him good at close-range fighting, but other than that, not much is known about him. It's not event certain that “Red XIII” is his real name. A real enigma. Cait Sith rides around on the back of a huge stuffed Mog he magically brought to life. Megaphone in hand, he’s always shouting orders and creating dopey attacks. When his slot machine attack works, the enemy lines look like an overturned toy box. His hobby is fortune telling, but like his personality, it’s pretty unreliable.Screenshot/Social Media The FBI has arrested the wife of the gunman who killed 49 people at an Orlando gay nightclub last year, taking her into custody in connection with the massacre, the US attorney general said on Monday. "I can confirm the arrest did occur," Attorney General Loretta Lynch told MSNBC on Monday. "This is a matter that we continue to take very seriously," she said. She noted that it was always the Justice Department's goal to determine if "there is any other accountability that needs to be had in this case." Noor Salman — the wife of Omar Mateen, who was killed by police during the rampage at the Florida club in June — was arrested at her home outside San Francisco, the New York Times reported, citing an unnamed law enforcement official. Salman faces federal charges of obstruction of justice, and aiding and abetting the attempted provision of material support to a foreign terrorist organization, ABC News reported, citing the FBI and her lawyer. Salman, who moved to the San Francisco area after her husband's attack, is expected to appear in federal court on Tuesday. She will then face extradition to Tampa, where she was indicted, ABC reported. Salman told The New York Times in November, in the presence of her lawyer, that she wasn't aware of Omar Mateen's plans to attack the Pulse nightclub in Orlando last year. "I was unaware of everything," she said. "I don't condone what he has done. I am very sorry for what has happened. He has hurt a lot of people." A photo of Omar Mateen taken from his MySpace page. Screenshot/MySpace The interview Salman gave to The Times differs from the story she told the FBI as they interrogated her in the hours after the attack. She initially told police that she was with her husband when he went to buy ammunition and a holster the night before he carried out the massacre. Salman, a Palestinian-American who grew up in Rodeo, California, told The Times that Mateen was physically and emotionally abusive, often hitting her and calling her the Afghan word for "slut." A nurse who has researched domestic violence and who evaluated Salman's case after the attack told The Times "she would be totally oblivious to clues that he is getting radicalized or planning anything." Mateen, a US citizen born in New York to Afghan immigrants, was living in Fort Pierce, Florida, with Salman when he rented a car and drove to Orlando to carry out the attack. He was armed with an assault-style rifle and a handgun that he had legally bought days before. Noor said Mateen gave her $1,000 the day before the attack for her and their 3-year-old son to go to California, and then didn't come home for dinner. Law enforcement sources said in the days after the attack that Mateen had gone further than that, adding Salman to his life insurance policy and giving her access to his bank accounts. Those reports have not been confirmed. Salman, who deleted her social media accounts shortly after the shooting and has since avoided the press, corroborated some preliminary reports in her interview with The Times. She confirmed that she and Mateen had met online on a dating site called Arab Lounge. She also said that the final text she received from Mateen — just before he was killed in a shootout with Orlando police inside the nightclub — was a question: Had she seen the news? Salman told The Times she replied that she had not. Mateen then told her he loved her, she said, and that was the last she heard from him. The shooting at the gay nightclub was the deadliest shooting in US history, with more fatalities than the mass shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007 and the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012. Reuters contributed reporting.Getty Image The mid-2000s saw the NBA reeling in the aftermath of the Malice at the Palace. Feeling alienated by the rise of expressions of hip-hop culture among NBA players, corporate sponsors were threatening to leave the league in droves. In order to bridge the growing gap between the league and its financial base, David Stern and the NBA’s white leadership commenced an all-out assault on the symbols of blackness sported by the hip-hop generation, with a dress code as its chief weapon. And as such, 12 years ago in October, Stern and the NBA implemented a dress code, one that remains in effect to this day. The new rules did not simply call for players to dress in “business casual.” The rules specifically outlawed certain clothing items strongly identified with hip-hop: sleeveless shirts, shorts, jerseys, T-shirts, sports apparel, chains, pendants, medallions, sunglasses and headphones were included among the banned items. “Headgear of any kind” was targeted in particular, unless said headgear was pre-approved by the team and included some sort of team identifier. NBA executives tried to pass it off as not a racist measure but one to foster professionalism. David Stern said, “The notion is that if you’re a professional, with it are certain protocols. One of them is the way you dress when you’re on business.”Like new music? Then you're in the right place. Here is the NME 100, a full century of brand new acts set to explode in 2017. Whether you're into grime, indie, rock, punk, hip hop, dance, pop or genres not-yet defined, your new favourite artist or band is in here – all you need to do is listen. AJ Tracey Jeaniq Amihyia From: West London Sounds like: Club-orientated grime with US appeal For fans of: Skepta, Novelist, Section Boyz Grime has always been a very British sound, strongly reflecting its London roots, with lo-fi elements inherited from pirate radio, the in-your-face nature of UK garage and a party atmosphere reminiscent of rave culture. But here’s one of the scene’s new wave who has his sights set on prospects across the pond. Buoyed by the growing popularity of grime over in the States (thanks, in no small part, to recent cosigns from the likes of Kanye West and Drake), 22-year-old Ladbroke Grove native AJ Tracey says he’s ready to “bridge the Transatlantic gap a little bit”. So far, he’s been laying down the right kind of foundations. Having played his first US shows earlier in 2016 (“That was a sick experience. I expected people to have no idea what I was saying, but New York is really in tune with London, they know what’s happening on the streets,”), Tracey landed on the radar of American audiences after hopping on a Clams Casino remix with A$AP Rocky and Lil B (‘Be Somebody’). His plans for A-list collaborations don’t stop there either, a dream collaboration, he tells NME, would be with Nas (“he’s my favourite rapper ever”) or face-tattooed newcomer 21 Savage (“he’s fucking hard”). “There’s definitely more collabs coming,” Tracey teases. “I can’t really talk about it right now, but there definitely is. In the very near future you’re gonna hear them. Like ASAP”. Sharethrough (Mobile) Despite his cross-continent aspirations, Tracey’s music doesn’t lose anything or get watered down in the process, instead his genre-warping remains exhilarating. His newly-released ‘Lil Tracey’ EP bends grime’s boundaries, veering through sounds as diverse as trill, southern rap and techno, with the MC all the while tying things together with his “London flow”. It was recorded in “mad expensive studios” and sounds “quite big”, he says. “I feel like every EP I do is another is like another level up. I’m gonna keep it moving like that.” In 2017, fans can expect a full LP (“Everyone’s asking me about an album and I’ll do it when I’m ready,”), as well as even bigger, better things. “What you’ve seen from me so far, that’s the lowest bar that you’ll see. It’s just going to go up from there.” Luke Morgan Britton My goal for 2017 is: “To better my craft and push everything upwards.” The one thing you need to know about me is: “I draw my inspiration from everything: reggae, club music, trance. Anything and everything that sounds good, I’ll listen to it and I’ll make any type of music.” Essential track: ‘Buster Cannon’French police have recaptured a cult leader jailed for child abuse after he escaped last week from a prison on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion in a helicopter. Dozens of police clad
process, not at the beginning. Professionally the marriage can be wonderful, as in Anne Washburn’s work with actors from The Civilians which led to the script for Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play. And yes, more groups are coming out of school programs, like the PigPen theater that played in Boston last year with The Old Man and the Old Moon. They all met at Carnegie Mellon and worked together in school before graduating and taking their work on the road. AF: Given all the examples taken from your decades of work with Beau Jest, the book almost comes off, at times, as a history of the group. Was that part of your intent in writing this book? What did you learn about the group’s accomplishments as you looked back? Robinson: No, I originally intended to write a book on Ensemble Creation and the Physical Actor to gather together all the exercises I use doing and teaching physical theater. My editors thought that was too broad a topic, and that I should focus solely on ensemble devising while mentioning exercises as needed or applied to doing devised work. As I began organizing the book and putting in order how people make work together, I saw how much ground Beau Jest had covered over the years. We began by making short pieces, then moved on to full length scripts, original work, comic strips, movies, novels, and most recently unknown Tennessee Williams plays. It was a good palette to draw from. And it was the work I knew best, so I referenced it a lot. We aren’t terribly famous, but I do know that we are a healthy group that has endured and changed with the times, and felt that was worth passing on. I also tried to include as many other groups as possible since I really have no interest in endorsing any particular aesthetic, style, or way of working. I talk about patterns, common problems, time-saving devices, movement fundamentals, and brainstorming techniques, but I hope the book is capable of helping people generate a diverse range of work. AF:As a critic, I am intrigued that — as a theater piece is being polished in its final stages — you think it would be a help to “invite strong critical eyes and thinkers you trust into the rehearsal every day…” Shouldn’t that kind of questioning come in earlier in the process? Isn’t there a critical component to the creative collaborative process? Robinson: There certainly is. You need to make sure a piece is stage-worthy before it goes public, and you need to hear where it is weak or confusing before the audience sees it and while there is still time to make changes. Some groups have more linear thinkers, and can plan out a rough draft of a show before rehearsals begin. Critical eyes are important at that stage, too. I work more intuitively, and like to have a month or two to just play freely with the company before anyone sees what we are doing. At that stage, the work is quite fragile and could go in several directions. The people in the room need to keep throwing paint at the canvas before inviting outside eyes in. When we do have a sense of the direction of the piece and a few scenes to show, we invite in trusted collaborators who know how we think: Libby Marcus, Larry Coen, Karen Perlow, Judy Gailen, or other actors or designers who have worked with us but aren’t in the show. That then starts the lengthy process of shaping, re-writing, editing, new scenes, etc, which could last anywhere from 3-5 months of work before the debut, which is a lot longer time frame than the typical rehearsal process. Final is a relative term. Once that show opens and we get actual critical response from audiences and writers like yourself, we do another round of re-writes and rehearsals to keep tweaking and fine-tuning the work until we feel it is “done”, at which point we either continue to tour it, or start work on a new piece. Bill Marx is the Editor-in-Chief of The Arts Fuse. For over three decades, he has written about arts and culture for print, broadcast, and online. He has regularly reviewed theater for National Public Radio Station WBUR and The Boston Globe. He created and edited WBUR Online Arts, a cultural webzine that in 2004 won an Online Journalism Award for Specialty Journalism. In 2007 he created The Arts Fuse, an online magazine dedicated to covering arts and culture in Boston and throughout New England.WARWICK, R.I. -- Two juvenile males from Warwick have been arrested in connection with the vandalism of the imPossible Dream playground last week. The police arrested the juveniles after receiving a tip and watching video posted on the Internet of "two juvenile males at the playground on the night of the vandalism," the police said in a press release. The police questioned both boys, charged them each with one count of vandalism and released them to the custody of their parents, the police said ina press release Monday. The charges came after a staff member for the imPossible Dream playground contacted the police and told them that a juvenile female had left a tip on the imPossible Dream playground's Facebook page about who was responsible for the vandalism. Intruders smashed playhouse windows, knocked a door out of its frame, tore down swings, split benches and broke mini-golf displays at the playground on Centerville Road sometime Wednesday night. The destruction at a playground designed to be accessible for disabled children led to an outpouring of support and donations from the community. Word of an arrest was first posted on the imPossible Dream's Facebook page Sunday evening, saying that police "have the responsible party." "Their fine work led to the suspects being apprehended and hopefully restitution will be made," the post said. The Facebook post continued to say the suspects were juveniles. -- This report was updated at 11 a.m.The University of Miami keeps expanding its brand in cool, technologically savvy ways. EON Sports VR, "the world's leading virtual reality and fan experience company,'' according to its just released email, has announced a partnership with the University of Miami "to create the first virtual reality (VR) channel for fans. Date of the intended launch: early October, when, according to EON Sports, "Immersive 360-degree content will bring fans closer to their favorite team and players than ever before." The partnership will enable the Hurricanes to be "the first college team to provide fans with an all-access virtual reality pass to experience intercollegiate athletics up close and personal,'' the release said. Content from men's and women's programs will be available. Canes fans can access the VR channel by purchasing a "UM-branded VR headset.'' Cost: $29.95. EON Sports said that examples of what fans will have access to include scrimmages, practice footage, huddles and interviews that will be streamed to the channel. “We’re incredibly excited to be working with EON Sports to put this virtual reality channel together. At the University of Miami, we strive to be on the cutting edge of digital, video, social, and web technologies and EON and their team have helped immensely in that endeavor," said Jason Layton, Miami Senior Associate Athletic Director for Communications and Sales. "After an investment in broadcast and video production, we wanted to expand into other ventures, including 360º video and we’re able to do that with this immersive product. As we look forward to an October launch, we’re excited to show off what our team has been working on in conjunction with EON Sports.” Get your credit cards ready. SUSAN MILLER DEGNANAfter a hectic Saturday and Sunday, Monday's camp was relatively uneventful. We have a small debate over the wide receiver depth chart after Greg Childs, as well as a bit of a medical discussion about the nature of his injury. Still, football moves on, and we will as well. Quick hits, injury report, media review, and developments with our second and third teamers. Big thanks to Vikings Fan Page, for helping to provide me with these updates. You can like them on facebook! Injury report: Greg Childs (knees) went in for surgery today. We at the Daily Norseman wish him well, even if that means no longer having a career in football. More on the story below. John Carlson (knee) was seen jogging, but clearly has "a hitch in his gait," according to Tom Pelissero at ESPN1500. He's currently wearing a knee brace and is still targeting a return well before Week 1. Robert Blanton (hamstring) also resumed jogging, but has no clear timetable Both Jordan Todman (ankle) and Pat Brown (knee) were in pads, but got very light work in team drills, if any. They are day-to-day. DeMarcus Love (shoulder/pectoral) does not need surgery, but will need over a week to return to strength Kamar Jorden (wrist) was not in pads, and stayed on the sidelines. He is expected to be day-to-day. Josh Robinson (hamstring) was in pads and took a few reps, although still not very many. He's progressing well. Adrian Peterson will remain on the Active/PUP list for at least another week, according to Frazier. He was not at practice in order to attend a court hearing. While I've posted about what I've learned about the patellar tendon tear, other media have also come forth with prognostications. The Star Tribune thinks there is a very high likelihood that this is the end of Childs' career. The Pioneer Press doesn't seem to take a strong stance, but heavily implies that the two previous NFL examples of bilateral patellar tendon tears bodes ill for Childs. ESPN1500 does a good job defending Spielman's draft decision on Childs and also argues (separately) that this isn't necessarily a death knell for his career. For what it's worth, I agree with all of them. The Childs injury is serious and could most likely spell the end of his career, but it doesn't mean he's down and out. Pelissero goes into great detail about Spielman's drafting strategy and notes, and specifically argues a few things of note: the first is that NFL teams traditionally draft high upside talent with red flags in the fourth round ( Everson Griffen and Ray Edwards, for example) because the salary risk is low—$300,000. The second argument that caught my eye was that there was no reason to expect this (or any other) injury to occur again. A quotation that effectively made his point: "A study co-authored by four physicians from the Steadman Clinic in Denver found 24 patellar tendon tears in 22 NFL players from 1994 to 2004. Every player participated in training camp the year after the injury, with all but a handful surviving final cuts." For what it's worth, Childs' attitude has been great, going so far as to say, "Coach, I'll be back. I'm going to do just like I did before. I'm going to work as I can. I'll be back out here to help the Vikings." Leading off the media review today will be the Star Tribune because they have another video. Summary: They lead with Greg Childs, who consumes most of their time. There's no likelihood of getting a veteran FA, but just opening up possibilities for current receivers on the roster. They discuss the pros and cons of three or four receivers. Some discussion on Adrian Peterson, nothing new. Don't expect too much "Vikings football" on Friday against the 49ers; we'll see a lot of our 3rd, 4th and 5th backs. Mark Craig posted his notebook, which is particularly content-heavy today. In it, he covers Childs (a common theme), the noticeable improvement for Burton, the advice Walsh received (slow down on your kicks), Sherel's strong grip on the number one punt returner job, Jasper Brinkley's lack of doubt, and Jared Allen's disdain for preseason games (he got the first one off last year and wants that again). Jerome Simpson compares Ponder to Andy Dalton, by way of Dan Wiederer. But not really, because NFL players don't do that too often. Kent Youngblood gets into the mix at the Star Tribune and writes about the potential breakout season we could see from Kyle Rudolph. Mostly, he has giant hands, and he's big and fast. He also writes about the problems of using the replacement referees, including troubling interviews from former NFL refs. Highlighted are the potential safety issues and missed calls. Over in St. Paul, the Pioneer Press ran their own story on replacement officials, with a native Minnesota referee providing the bulk of the criticism. Charley Walters, the author, does a pretty good job detailing some interesting specifics, but doesn't really mention that members of the NFLRA might be biased. Fowler noted that Harrison Smith and Everson Griffen got first team time, and also runs down a couple of other practice highlights. The folks at 1500ESPN produced two notebooks, one from Judd Zulgad and the other from Pelissero. In Judd's notebook, there is a small discussion on the "middle of the defense," where Spielman tells us we should expect more from Guion due to his positional focus at nose tackle (that he's no longer taking snaps at undertackle). Guion's additional strength along with his natural footspeed should help things here. He predicts that Mistral Raymond will win the other safety job opposite Harrison Smith, and repeats a Spielman quote indicating that Brinkley has had a good camp. Spielman calls Josh Robinson a bit of a steal, and emphasized his speed. More than that, Judd's discussion with Spielman revealed the organizations public thoughts about Christian Ponder, who they've feel has unequivocally improved. In particular, the general manager likes the clear difference in Ponder's ability to make reads and go through progressions. Zulgad, however, still likes the Blair Walsh story. Not only does he once again emphasize Walsh's leg, he talks about the biggest thing that has increased his accuracy (already reported; it's Priefer's advice to slow down). While doing live drills, Walsh has only missed two kicks of twenty six, both from over 40 yards. Peliserro's notebook is a bit less of a read, and kicks off with a story about Brandon Fusco's aggressiveness, and his goals—he already plays very physically, so he'll want to become smarter about it. He says playing across Kevin Williams has prepared him immensely. There's some more on the Griffen story, which I briefly touch on below. Pelissero calls Tuesday the roughest day for the offense yet, with a number of three-and-outs—although he is quick to exonerate Ponder, who was the victim of a poor running game and drops. Tom suspects Jasper Brinkley may be a bit annoyed with all the questions he's been getting about his health. He has a small interview with Brinkley in the notebook. The most significant development from ESPN1500, however, was the release of the Vikings' official depth chart. Like Pelissero points out, there aren't an extraordinary number of surprises, although it's not the depth chart the Vikings will use against the 49ers, as Schwartz is listed as the first backup to right guard, and has Arceneaux behind Childs. Still somewhat illuminating, though, as it has Burton ahead of Wright and Jenkins ahead of Aromashodu. Expect it to change as the preseason progresses, both as a result of injuries and talent evaluations. The ESPN mothership and its NFC North blogger Kevin Siefert took the time to visit Vikings training camp, and produced a " Training Camp Confidential " on the Vikings. It's another good read, but has been covered in a lot of roundups. The new information includes a bit about Greenway's locker room influence, how Ponder has clearly improved over last season, and again a small emphasis on the middle of the defense, with a brief mention of Guion at nose tackle and Smith at safety, and a larger story on the fact that Brinkley is healthy. Zulgad did a better job on this specific story, to be honest. He also goes through the trouble of pointing out reasons for optimism—clear franchise vision and an easy early schedule—and reasons for pessimism, which include a tough division. There's a bit of official Vikings media to cover, although I'm going to save that for tomorrow because this story has crashed twice while writing it, and rewriting is a pain. Twos and threes:Once in a while you see things on pinterest that you really want to make, like, right now! I got that ‘gotta make that right now!’ moment last friday. I saw this beautiful quilt made by nicole from ‘Modern Handcraft’ I knew would be perfect on our empty bedroom wall. With a thumbs up from the boyfriend I started searching for fabric online. Turns out I have tons and tons of fabric in my stash! *oops* Last sunday I started sorting the fabric and cutting little squares for the hexagons. On the blog was also the tutorial to make it, which was very convenient. As the tutorial stated I folded and tacked my little hexagons and pressed them so their shape would hold. And aren’t those things adorable? I had some left over white sheet cotton I used in another quilt (still need to do a blog post about that one, since it’s my favorite quilt ever!), that I cut in a rectangle. I cut the batting in roughly the same size. I tacked down the hexagons in the way I wanted it, with some basting spray, carefully measuring where each hexagon needed to be, and started quilting. I didn’t use backing fabric because a: I didn’t have anything I liked for the back that was a good size, and b: It’s a wall quilt so we are never going to see that back anyway. Maybe a little blasphemous for all the die hard quilters out there, sorry. The quilting took me a good afternoon to finish. Between empty bobbins and sore backs it went pretty quickly. I love how it turned out! In the end it only took me 1,5 day to finish from start to end, and because I already had everything I needed in my stash (hurray for hoarding, right?!), it didn’t cost me anything! Now those are quilts for my liking 🙂 You can see how it is quilted; through all the points. It was very difficult to get straight lines and the hexagons to line up. If you look closely you can see it’s not always the case. Really, it doesn’t bother me. I’m so glad we don’t have a big boring white wall in our bedroom anymore! Do you have any projects, you thought would take a lot of time, but was really quick to make?Get the biggest football 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 Italy's hopes of a last-gasp World Cup reprieve following their failure to qualify earlier this month have been dashed. The Azzurri failed to make it to Russia 2018 when they were beaten over two legs by Sweden in a play-off earlier this month, but fans were able to cling onto the hope that they might be present at next summer's tournament after all. That's because Peru's participation was thrown into doubt, due to state interference by the country's FA. A report in Libero claimed congresswoman Paloma Noceda wanted the Institute of Sport to control the football association, which was against FIFA's stance on governmental interference in football. (Image: Getty) If that was the case, one possible sanction would have been to have thrown the country out of the World Cup and replace them with a team of their choice - opening the door for the likes of Italy and teams such as Chile or the Netherlands who also failed to qualify. (Image: AFP) (Image: AFP) But Noceda has now withdrawn the government proposal, which would have seen Peru fall foul of FIFA's rules, meaning their place in Russia next summer is safe. "For everyone's sense of calm, the project will be retracted," Noceda wrote on Twitter."With effort and heart, the goal of reaching the World Cup was achieved and we all shout from one lung." Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now Peru can now go about continuing their preparations for their first World Cup since 1982, while the Italians can get their summer holiday's booked in.Since its launch on November 29, PlayStation 4 has sold over 530,000 units in the UK, making it the best selling home console in 2013. In the final week of 2013 it was a tight race between Xbox 360 and PS4, with Sony’s console just edging it in the end by a few thousand units. The PlayStation’s impressive sale record in just five weeks has made it the fastest selling machine in UK history. Speaking to MCV, PlayStation UK MD Fergal Gara stated, “We are delighted with the very strong sales of PS4 to date.” “Since we unveiled the console, gamers have shown huge interest in the PS4. Our focus now is rebuilding stock levels so those have not been able to get a PS4 can finally experience the next-gen. I’d like to thank the gamers, our retail and publishing partners who played a big part in making this success possible.” While Sony’s next-gen console outperformed its predecessor, it seems the same can’t be said for Microsoft with the Xbox 360 having more sales than Xbox One in 2013. However despite being the best selling home console in 2013, the PlayStation 4 didn’t sell the most gaming devices through the year. The Nintendo 3DS managed to sell more devices, however sale figures aren’t currently available. Source: *MCV Follow us on Twitter! Like us on Facebook!September 27, 2016 - In 1976, Björk made her first public appearance on the Icelandic radio station, Radio One. She was 9 years old. She released her first album, Björk, when she was 11. Since then she’s put out eight solo albums, most recently Vulnicura, in 2015.As told to Brandon Stosuy, 3484 words.Tags: Music Björk on nature and technology Nature and technology have always overlapped in your work. For me, nature and technology stand for hope, and for a movement onwards to the future. I’ve always been like that. I think it has to do with being brought up in Iceland. Even though it’s a capital in Europe, right now I’m outside my house, and I am literally walking on the beach. It’s a lot of space! I remember the first time when I was really into technology was going to the dentist. I was in this hippie school where everything was very wooden and real. Then it was a dentist’s office, and I was like, “Wow. This is the future!” He put all these things in my mouth, and I was like, “Okay, the future is here, this is where shit happens.” I think it’s also some sort of instinct, just knowing that if there is to be hope, we have to unite technology and nature. You have to make them coexist, and they have to be able to work together. I mean, it has to happen, if we’re going to survive. Maybe I’m being a bit limited, but the older I get, I realize better and better how I’m formed by my origins and where I’m from. But somehow it’s easier for me to imagine that happening in a natural situation—like me talking on a phone on the beach to you now from a capital in Europe. You have technology, or GarageBand in your iPhone and record a tune on top of a mountain. This has always been the ideal hopeful marriage for me. I’ve more or less always been into this—every album, I was like, okay, now I’m going to do something I’ve never done before. Then it always goes back to the same thing. Ever since I was a teenager in punk bands, and whatever, it’s been pretty persistent. People think I’m really, really good with technology. Actually, it’s the other way around. I’m really rubbish. When we were doing the tour of the album Volta, we had touchscreens. This was before iPads. Whenever there’s new technology, one of my favorite things—a sort of murder mystery thing—is to figure out, “Oh, what’s this for?” A lot of things are rubbish, but there’s always one thing where it’s like, “Oh, technology finally caught up with us, and now it can map out this very natural function in me.” It makes life easier. People think I’m really, really good with technology. Actually, it’s the other way around. I’m really rubbish. When an iPad comes along, it makes technology usable for me. When I did Biophilia, I was so excited about finally mapping out how I feel about education and how I feel about musicology, because when I was a kid in music school, it was almost offensive, how I was forced to study music, or resonance, or timbre, or scales—everything from a normal book, and sit and read something for hours. If it’s being seen and heard, it was something that needed to be felt and become visceral and physical. For me to do Biophilia, I rented this house on the beach, and we were there programming all the basic things in musicology, like rhythm and chords and melody and so on. It was very obvious somehow that the touchscreen was basically a 3D book. You can see that now. How it’s mostly used, it’s great for schools, and especially things like physics or math or music, or things that have to be 3D. It’s the same thing. It makes sense for me to go back to this, because it’s sort of like first you discover the tool, then it’s like meeting a new friend, and then you can try and figure where the magic happens, where the most potential is to grow. It’s that heat point, and that feeling of entering the unknown, that really excites me. How did you get interested in virtual reality? I’ve got a close collaboration with Andrew Huang, who I’ve done several videos with now. My interest in virtual reality came from that. When I was commissioned by MoMA to do the “Black Lake” video, we were going to do it in 360. Trying to squeeze into MoMA was a very exciting project for me. I think the shape of that song is influenced a bit by the fact that I was going to have it presented in a room, and I was thinking that people would walk in and out all day. It was this song that could loop forever. So, we were first going to film it in 360, and it was going to be in a 360 dome inside MoMA. Then that wasn’t possible for functional reasons, so we ended up doing it on two screens, which was actually perfect: I found a poetic reason for that because the song was written in a dark crevice in the middle of the night in Japan, so it was that claustrophobic feeling of being in a tiny canyon. [laughs] We set it up like that, and then just had crazy subs massaging you. That was that one piece. For me, the interest in virtual reality has been a gradual development. It’s been the opposite of Biophilia, where I basically cut everything off and created this space, went to a foreign island, and decided to make all these plants grow simultaneously; the technology, the programming, the music writing, the lyric writing. When we released it, it was ready on all the levels. But Vulnicura was almost the opposite, where the album was written really quickly, and then it leaked, which suited its character. It was like, okay, it’s this kind of beast. Thinking about it now, the leak influenced us in a good way, because my team kind of went, “Oh, okay, it’s one day at a time. There’s no master plan… fuck that.” So we had to be very reactionary and work with what we had. You just have to go with the flow, and go totally with your gut. If it feels right, it’s right. If not, then just go off the map. You lost your map, so just go off it. Like, when we were filming “Black Lake” in Iceland, we happened to have a camera with us that was 360 that this company had lent us. We were going to film “Black Lake” with it, and then me and Andrew looked at each other one evening and said, “How about we do ‘Stonemilker’ tomorrow?” That was the spontaneous sibling of “Black Lake.” It couldn’t have happened that spontaneously if there hadn’t been a year of difficult effort put into the “Black Lake” one. They coexist somehow. It’s been like that ever since. Next thing, we asked Jesse Kanda to do “Mouth Mantra.” I was at a place in my life where the only plan was that there is no plan. You just have to go with the flow, and go totally with your gut. If it feels right, it’s right. If not, then, you know, just go off the map. You lost your map, so just go off it. We are up to six videos now with eight different people. And, one thing with VR that you learn very quickly: VR isn’t just VR. 360 is completely different from VR, and then it’s like do you show it in a dome, or do you show it in the glasses? We almost just decided, me and James Merry, my co-creative visual director. I was actually just with him, and talking about stuff for three hours. It’s really a challenge for both of us. What we decided to do while this technology is still in the making—and it’s still being discovered, but people don’t know what it is—is to just use this search as an element. How do you hang a song on the wall? Each video almost has been done with different technology, different themes, different directors, different problem-solving, everything. Everything has been, similar to Biophilia, has been done like an exchange across people. It’s been really fun. Does the “Mouth Mantra” video go back to your early interest in dentistry? No, it does not. [laughs] I should say yes. I should be really clever and say yes there, but I have to credit Jesse. That’s his idea. VR is still being developed. A year ago, you’d have to wear some kind of huge helmet, and it keeps getting refined. Like you say, it’s this thing that hasn’t quite been figured out entirely. It hasn’t entirely congealed. Yeah, it’s exciting. I love the feeling of entering the unknown. You have to allow yourself a lot of mistakes, and then when you get it right, it’s so rewarding. I love the spirit. I love hanging out with those tech nerds and having ridiculous conversations. I’ve actually been talking to this company now who are doing these crazy sonic things—because, of course, it’s sonic, too. You can walk around and hear different sections of the song, so maybe you have different things in different songs. Like, how you experience sound in 360? I was talking to a friend about it the other day. It’s almost like every time there is a new something, like for example, when film came out, or theater—that was a very long time ago—or a CD, or the LP, it’s really fun to try to define it. For me, VR’s quite Wagnerian or something. It’s almost like I’m sitting there, and thinking, “Oh my god, how are they going to solve this for three hours, just looking at one stage?” People are interested. It’s such a different struggle than 2D or a concert. It’s literally the same kind of problem with VR, where you have the camera in the middle, and you can look all around you, and all the events, and kind of how you place everything. I think it’s just really exciting. Riddles to solve. It’s a privilege to be a part of figuring it out. Do you see VR as something that removes you from the natural world or do you see it as something that folds into reality? I think it’s both. I think it’s binary, and I think that’s almost the point. If you try to escape one thing and just do one or the other, you’re always going to end up at the same point. I don’t know if that makes sense, but it sort of eats its own tail. It’s always going to be that question, for sure, but I’m sure that was the same question people had with everybody on trains reading books or commuting or whatever. It’s always going to be, are they here with us in the train, or are they somewhere else in their book? I don’t think this is any different. There are obviously different challenges with this, though. I heard somebody say that he watched some crazy game, for like eight hours a day, that had the wrong physics in it—like all the distances to the mountains or whatever didn’t add up. So, what happened after a few days, is first he would get seasick when he was in the machine, and then he would actually get used to it. Then when he would take the machine off him, he would get seasick. He had to put it back on to not throw up. That’s obviously very scary. Then with anything, you have to work out things like the soul and humanity, and what’s good for you, and not be lazy. These good old ethics can come back. To not get addicted. Do you feel like with the Björk Digital that opens in the fall is something that you have more control of than your MoMA show? Do you feel like it’s complementary? I probably would never have done a MoMA show if it was my choice. I was very flattered to be offered it, actually. Klaus [Beisenbach] offered it to me many times. I turned it down until I said yes. It was a really educating experience for me, and I know it was done from his behalf with all the good intentions. I learned more about my universe. There are certain things that work for me and certain things that don’t work. What I really liked was, for example, premiering “Stonemilker” at PS1. That’s more the continuity of the music video, and a natural universe for me that I’ve been in since I was a teenager. It made me discover, also, that I like this one-on-one that you have when you listen to music with headphones, or an album, in your house and read the lyrics. That one-on-one journey you go through, that narrative of music. It’s different than 20th century visual arts. I probably would never have done a MoMA show if it was my choice … I turned it down until I said yes. I’m not criticizing it for a second. I just think it’s there’s a reason why people go to concert halls and sit there for an hour and a half, and it’s a good idea. It works. In a way, VR’s a better suited stage for this kind of universe than the white cube, or this sort of 20th century museum. “Black Lake” works in a museum; it’s as white cube-y as I’d go. That was the piece that I probably put most of my work into. I think the VR exhibition is what I would’ve done if I hadn’t done MoMA. Finding a roof for the VR videos—while people still don’t have headsets at home—in a punk warehouse-y setting. And it is true, in this way, technology really has enabled women to work outside the already formed hierarchical systems. Maybe the fashion element, too. I care about it, but I don’t care half about it as much as I care about the music and the visuals. I mean, that’s where my heart is. Also, life is short, and I need to just do new things, just do the stuff I’m doing now, and not a retrospective. If other people are interested in that, I’m really flattered, but I have to stay focused on the stuff I’m doing now. What I also discovered, actually, was how much Biophilia has grown since then. It happened first for three years in Reykjavik schools, and now it’s just done two years in Scandinavian schools and Greenland and the Faroe Islands. When we do the exhibitions, we call it ‘Björk Digital’ because people can come with headphones and the iPad, and they have the instruments there, and they can try them, and they can play them all day. We are setting up a situation focused on interaction. It’s not coming into a room and looking at paintings on the wall or acquiring visual art. It’s different. It’s more about people coming and trying Biophilia; it’s interactive. Then they go and try all the VR videos. We try to make it as immersive as possible. In Australia, there were 60 VRs, and people were there holding hands and crying. I mean, they would hang out in the Biophilia room forever. It’s kind of more about the last two pieces I did, and I tried to make them most immersive. People can come and experience that. Making basically a stage or a place where people can do that, and the interactive part—with good headphones, of course. [laughs] We adjust every time, and it’s always about who wants to work with us. For example, the Tokyo show was really different to the Australia show. The Australia show was part of a festival, so it was a million and a half people that walked through it. Tokyo was in the Museum of Technology, where they have all the robots and that, and where we actually had Biophilia three years ago. The same teachers were there three years ago, so they had history with the teaching part of it, the educational part. Yeah. They were really different kinds of shows. The “Black Lake” room was not in Tokyo. It’s just one day at a time, and we don’t really have a big plan. It’s about interest. The only other idea I’d like to say is that we try to add one new video in every place. The place commissions one piece. We would premiere “Family” in Montreal. Then we’ll just see how long it lasts. It’s almost like having your own traveling circus, and you can DJ. Invite your friends over. I’m playing with the idea that when my next album is ready, that that could be my venue or something, that it is a bit of a family circus. You’ve been doing marathon DJ sets after these events. I’ve been DJing with friends, yes. There’s a crazy amount of effort we put into preparing the sets and everything is so fun. It’s a lot
do, you discover this person is wonderful. I, coming from relatively sheltered English background, suddenly have trans friends, and people I simply never would have known. Zoom In There was a lot criticism later on about the trans character Wanda in Sandman: A Game of You. She represents a tragic trans character… I don’t see her as tragic. I would see her as tragic if everybody else in Sandman lived, and she was the one who died. I would absolutely go, what a tragic character. Sandman is filled with characters who die. It is one of the things they do; it is practically a hallmark of the series. She died because a) she was the character whose death, emotionally, meant something in that series. And b) because I had learned from my trans friends who were really upset about it, about friends of theirs who were being mis-gendered in death. The fact that people who were one gender were being buried by their family under a name that they did not think of as theirs, and being mis-gendered. I thought, I don’t like that. I just discovered that, and thought it was a bad thing, and decided I’d put that in Sandman. I was going to show that Death thinks that’s bulls—t, too. So that was my attitude on that. Wanda is big and complicated. I have seen as many trans people getting upset about Wanda as I have had trans people coming up to me saying, “I read Wanda and realized who I was, and she gave me the strength to come out and transition.” Mostly, for the first 20 years, what I got was people saying, “I’d never seen another trans character in a mainstream comic. Thank you so much.” I was happy with that. Wanda wasn’t written for any reason other than a lot of my friends were and are trans, and I didn’t see them represented anywhere in fiction … Yeah, I’m still proud of it. Would I write that comic today that way? Almost definitely not. Over the years as people have come up to asking about the stories that hadn’t made it into a book yet, did you keep them locked up in your head? Or did you tell them what might happen when you got around to the books? Before there was an Internet, I used to answer people’s questions. Back when we were in the days when I’d do a signing and they’d ask, “So, who is the missing brother,” and I’d say, “Oh, Destruction.” Because that was fine. The most that would happen would be they’d tell their friends. No big deal. I would happily tell people plot stuff that was coming up. Now the whole spoiler culture is such I don’t tell people things because I’ve been burned. So now I just shut up. How do you avoid leaning on nostalgia? That’s the first time anyone, when talking about Sandman, has used the word nostalgia, and I think that may break me! I don’t want people to go, “Yeah, that’s what people used to read in the good old days!” You try to write it for now as well as you can. Here, 26, 27 years on, the main challenge is to not write something you’ve written before. All the way though Sandman Overture, if there was a real problem, it was the point when I’d go, “So now I can do this.” And then, “Oh no, s—t, I can’t.” Trying to always not repeat yourself, and be new, is really frustrating. It would be very easy to do the same thing over and over. Then again, that was the nature and joy of Sandman. The stories were always not what they had been. In order to talk about Sandman, you had to talk about the whole. And I hope this is just that whole deeper, he said doing a clever thing with words.Lanza, 20, had lived there for 14 years before going on gun rampage Town council, which was given empty home, voted to destroy it The house where Sandy Hook killer Adam Lanza began his murderous gun rampage has been demolished. Councillors in Newtown, Connecticut, decided to knock down the large, picturesque house on Yogananda Drive, and tear apart its foundations, to stop it being a 'constant reminder' of Lanza's brutal 2012 massacre. Lanza, 20, gunned down his mother, Nancy, inside the home before moving on to the Sandy Hook Elementary School, where he murdered 20 first-graders and six members of staff. Demolition: Police watch as wrecking machinery finishes work on Yogananda Drive in Newtown, Connecticut, where Adam Lanza began the murderous Sandy Hook rampage by killing his own mother Before: The 3,100-square-foot home was set in two acres of its own land in the exclusive town. Newtown authorities were given the house by the bank which acquired it, and voted to destroy it Killer: Lanza, pictured above in two photos from some time before the 2012 killing, spent most of his time inside the house after dropping out of school The killer spent most of his life at the home, which his parents bought in 1998 before they divorced. In the years leading up to the horrific shooting, Lanza spent increasing amounts of time inside its walls, where he spent hours playing video games, and would communicate with his mother by email. An exhaustive report into Lanza's life by state officials concluded that he was allowed to slip into a 'padded' world, in which he rarely had contact with the outside world - which may have contributed to the killings. No more: The home, pictured above four days after the December 2012 killing, had already been completely emptied and everything inside burned in the hope of preventing a trade in looted Sandy Hook memorabilia Gone: Plans by the Newtown council call for the plot to be left empty and greenery planted there Parents: Nancy Lanza, right, lived with her son in the home. Her ex-husband, Peter Lanza, left, lived in Newtown with them until he divorced Nancy Lanza, who was on the autism spectrum and had other psychiatric problems, turned on his mother at the start of the December 14 rampage. He then drove to Sandy Hook and rampaged through classrooms, opening fire at young children and the teachers who tried to defend them. Lanza shot himself in the head just as police were arriving at the scene. Once the wreckage of the house, its driveway and foundations are removed, the space will be left empty. Demolition work began Monday, and the house has already been pulled down. Horror: Children are pictured above being led out of the school by their teachers on the day of the massacre Aftermath: First responders are pictured above at the scene. Lanza shot himself in the head when police arrived The town was given the 3,100-square-foot home, and its 2-acre lot, by a bank which acquired the property from the Lanzas. Bank officials had already gone inside and incinerated everything they could find, to stop any of the family's possessions becoming sick memorabilia of the massacre. The decision to rip down the house was made in late January, prompted in part by pleas from haunted neighbors. One, Dave Ackart, said: 'Not only is the property a constant reminder of the evil that resided there - those of us who walk, run, drive, ride or otherwise must pass it multiple times a day, are having a hard time moving on.' The plans call for the landscaped lot to be leveled later in spring, and new greenery planted. Victims: Pictured above are 25 of Lanza's victims, including his mother (bottom right)On May 26th some members of staff presented the management with a letter where they protested against decreased salaries for those employed in after-school activities (ger. “Hort”). Those primarily affected by this were all women. Parts of the teaching-staff made common cause with them. The next day, May 27th, the “Hort”-staff had a meeting with the bosses where they were told that the offer still stood and that they had to decide whether to take it or leave it by 12 o’clock on Friday the 30th of May. Then something odd happened: the next day, May 28th, the entire school staff received their termination notices. Some of them weren’t even told in person, but received a telephone call, telling them that their termination notices had been sent them as a registered letter. The staff were told they should apply for their jobs again. FAU Berlin’s members at the work place have no employment contracts. One of them has worked there without a contract for four years, the other one for three years. We consider this to be a very serious situation, as it means that there will be no room for negotiation about conditions, salaries and work hours during the re-hiring process. We ask ourselves if these terminations are a way of getting rid of critical voices at the work place. FAU Berlin has offered the school a chance to negotiate until the 4th of June. Otherwise legal and union action will follow. “Victoriaförsamlingen” (Church of Sweden in Berlin) is the owner (ger. “Träger”) of the Swedish School in Berlin. The CEO of the school is called Lena Brolin and is also the rector of the parish.The Smell of Politics – People Are Attracted to the Body Odor of Others with Similar Political Beliefs A new study reveals that people find the smell of others with similar political opinions to be attractive, suggesting that one of the reasons why so many spouses share similar political views is because they were initially and subconsciously attracted to each other’s body odor. During the study, 146 participants rated the attractiveness of the body odor of unknown strong liberals and strong conservatives, without ever seeing the individuals whose smells they were evaluating. “People could not predict the political ideology of others by smell if you asked them, but they differentially found the smell of those who aligned with them more attractive. So I believe smell conveys important information about long-term affinity in political ideology that becomes incorporated into a key component of subconscious attraction,” said Dr. Rose McDermott, lead author of the American Journal of Political Science study.CBC News has obtained video of another violent takedown by private undercover security guards, this time at Vancouver’s Pacific Centre Mall. The shaky cellphone video shows a man who appears to have one leg, in an electric wheelchair, surrounded by three undercover security guards who suspect him of shoplifting. One of the guards starts swearing, before knocking the man out of his wheelchair with a blow to the head. "I'll f--kin' throw you on the ground and f--k you up!" the guard is heard saying on the video. "Don't f--k with me... On the ground! On the ground! On the ground! You're so stupid — on your chest!" One eyewitness who doesn’t want her name used because she works nearby sent the video to CBC News. She said the incident was witnessed by up to 50 people, many of whom demanded the guards stop and called police. Doug King of the Pivot Legal Society says even if the suspect was physically resisting arrest, nothing justifies the violent takedown. "I wouldn’t even call that an arrest — I’d call that an assault," he said. "There’s nothing in the law that authorizes you to strike somebody like that." King says it’s unlikely the guards seen in the video were doing what they were trained to do. "The language really stands out — it proves that this wasn’t even an arrest, it was an act of violence," he said. "It’s an example of when security guards get a little too emotional in situations — just because someone commits a criminal offence, it doesn’t mean they don’t have any rights, and they have the right not to be assaulted by people." The B.C. Ministry of Justice has launched an investigation, Minister Shirley Bond said in a statement late Wednesday. "I have seen the video and I find it very troubling," Bond said. "The investigation will determine if there was any inappropriate action on the part of these security workers." Bond said there is a range of sanctions available to the registrar of the Security Services Act, "from warnings and violation tickets to license suspension or cancellation." Guards acted accordingly, says employer The guards are employees of the Genesis Security Group, which is under contract by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association to patrol member businesses, including those in Pacific Centre Mall. Genesis Security Group vice-president Ashley Meehan says man in the wheelchair resisted arrest and the guards responded to the situation accordingly. (CBC) Genesis Security vice-president Ashley Meehan says the company is investigating and takes the incident very seriously. "When we look at footage like that, obviously we need to look at the whole situation," he said. "We’re looking at about a 30-second video of something that would have been several minutes long as an incident." Meehan says the victim has multiple prior cases of shoplifting and theft. "He was identified in breaking the law, with shoplifting, and was approached on this and did resist and the guards themselves responded to it accordingly and obviously have to make the arrest," Meehan said. "As far as I know he was being aggressive towards them … and there was possible assault." Karen English with the Justice Institute of B.C., which created the curriculum for licensing security workers in the province, says it’s up to the guards themselves to ensure they work within the parameters of the law. "I think the individual’s responsibility begins before the training," she said. "The responsibility of the employer, the hiring process, the training is one thing — going beyond that is the individual and other things that may affect how they perform their actions." Both the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association and Cadillac Fairview, the company that owns Pacific Centre Mall, say they are also investigating the incident. According to the Vancouver Police Department, no charges were laid against the guards or the alleged shoplifter. The incident comes a week after CBC News broke the story of a teenager who was pushed to the ground and arrested by security guards at Burnaby's Metrotown Mall.Hami Kara is a goalkeeper who bounced around the soccer world after being an all-New Englander at Wethersfield High School. He played at the University of Pittsburgh, continued his career in Turkey, and even landed on a Major League Soccer roster back in 2013. Two years ago, he was going to start in net for Hartford City FC’s indoor team. But, he found out right before the season that the team had fallen apart. "I was very aggravated," Kara said. "It was a very devastating time. For two of three weeks, I probably didn’t even touch a soccer ball I was so disappointed." A federal investigation into the finances of the previous ownership group, Premier Sports Management Group, led to the Major Arena Soccer League to cut ties with the team. Eventually, Mitchell Anderson, the head of PSMG, pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering charges, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Now, the team is set to kick off its inaugural season on Saturday under new owner Aaron Sarwar. Like many of his teammates, Hami has a day job while he chases his dream down at night. The 27-year-old is a commercial underwriter at The Hartford, and he signed on with a different team in 2016 as he tried to put Hartford City FC behind him. But when new ownership bought the rights to the capital city’s team late last year, Kara was approached to play. "We all know how minor league professional sports can go. It can be around for awhile or it can come and go," Kara said. "I guess you just have to stay positive, keep training, keep the right mindset and hopefully a new opportunity comes. And it did." Head coach Christian Benjamin put the team together after tryouts in March with an eye toward having local guys on the roster. It's part of the team's initiative to dig into what they call "soccer capital" in the area. The hope is that the community will fall in love with a team filled with its peers. "As families become established here and as college players make their families here, you’re starting to increase that soccer base and that soccer capital in the area," Benjamin said. "That's what we are trying to tap into—some of these local talents." Now, the goal is to show supporters that the team isn’t going anywhere. The team gave out free tickets at a local kids day last weekend and, in the future, it hopes to host some free clinics. "We’re continuously trying to get our community of Hartford involved in soccer because soccer is so big here," Kara said. "We want everyone to understand that we are here to stay and we want their support because that’s going to help make us successful." On Saturday, Kara will captain the team in its first game against Kingston Stockade FC in New York. Next Saturday, May 13, Hartford City FC has a home opener at 6:00 pm against Seacoast United at Central Connecticut State University. An earlier version of this report said the first game against Kingston Stockade FC was in Rhode Island. It is in New York.Finding a guitar lesson and the right teacher Guitar lessons can be one of the most useful ways to improve your ability and have more fun playing guitar. Finding the right guitar lessons and the right guitar instructor can be a difficult task: you don't know what you are getting until you try it. Lessons.com is a great space for you to figure out what the best guitar lessons for you are - this can be done with ratings on the site and in extra teacher information. In addition to this, here are some things you can do to find the right guitar lessons and teachers. Start off figuring out what style you are looking for. Is it acoustic or electric? What music styles are you looking for? From country and bluegrass all the way to heavy metal and rock, there are so many different styles of guitar music. If you are just starting out and are not sure what to begin with, this is okay. Some instructors are very good at teaching beginners and helping them find out what they are passionate and good at. If you do know what you are interested in, the best thing to do is to find an instructor that teaches that style. On Lessons.com you can do this by reading through the teacher’s description. After you have selected a style and a teacher, you may want to keep some extra questions in mind for your first guitar lesson. An in person lesson can be very valuable, if you show up, and if you do the work that the instructor gives you for when you are not meeting. One of the greatest methods of improving is to consistently play. Play multiple times a week, get those practice repetitions in. Once you have made it to your first lesson, there are some questions you should consider asking. Ask the guitar teacher about their experience. How long have they been playing? How long have they been teaching? What are they best at? What styles do they teach? What is their method of teaching guitar lessons? What extra resources can you use to further your learning? It is key to ask these questions and listen. Once you have taken your lesson, you may want to look for free online resources to take a guitar lesson. From finding free guitar song tab sheets to watching YouTube of the best ways to learning guitar lessons, there is a wide range of free content when it comes to learning guitar lessons. Be sure to check back here on Lessons.com for free online guitar learning content. Right now, you are at your jumping off point. Find what you are interested in, and pick an instructor and try it out. There is no time like the present, and jumping right in to lessons can take you one step further than you were before. Before long you will discover the fun of taking lessons for guitar.BlackBerry 10 and Windows Phone 8 are still struggling to match the most popular apps on the dominant Android and iOS platforms, which could continue to slow sales of the smaller mobile platforms. After looking at a list of 102 popular apps on Android and iOS, we found that only 34 percent of the apps had BlackBerry 10 versions or equivalents, while 63 percent had Windows Phone 8 versions or equivalents. That means Windows Phone 8 has just kept pace with the leaders since its launch. When we first reviewed the OS in late October, it had 60 percent of the top 95 Android and iOS apps at the time. Why Popular Apps Matter Platform vendors regularly tout the size of their app stores, but we all know size doesn't mean quality. As many people have said, the world doesn't need another fart app. The smartphone world is dominated by Google and Apple. According to ComScore, Google and Apple currently own 90 percent of the U.S. smartphone market, with BlackBerry at 5.9 percent and Microsoft at 3.1 percent market share. In terms of current sales globally, numbers are even tougher. IDC said that Windows Phone had 2.6 percent market share and BlackBerry 3.2 percent of global sales in the fourth quarter of 2012. And while not every American has a smartphone yet - comScore says only about 53 percent of us do - most of the people buying smartphones know someone with a smartphone. When they hear about the hottest app or coolest thing that their friends are doing, they'll want to do it too, and not feel like a maroon. I collected the top 20 free and top 20 paid apps from the Apple, Google, and Amazon app stores, supplementing the Apple list with the company's top 10 overall free and paid apps of 2012. I skipped over apps that are impossible to duplicate on other platforms, like ROM managers and widget sets. Eliminating all duplicates, that left me with 102 apps, of which 68 were available on Android and 52 on iOS. I then searched the Windows Phone 8 and BlackBerry 10 markets for those apps. If an app wasn't available, I looked for a functionally equivalent app - a third-party Pandora client, for instance. Relatively generic flashlights and Sudoku games could be substituted for each other. If an OS had an app's features baked in (like Yahoo mail support) that also counted as having a functionally equivalent app. But apps from competing major brands (Accuweather vs. Weather.com, for instance) were not considered equivalents. At that level of brand recognition, people want the brands they want. Android vs. iOS Apps on BlackBerry and Windows Phone BlackBerry had 15 of the 102 apps, plus 20 functional equivalents, for a total of 35. Windows Phone had 35 of the 102 apps, plus 29 equivalents, for a total of 64. BlackBerry had slightly more iOS apps than Android apps proportionately. Of the 52 iOS apps surveyed, BlackBerry had 35 percent as opposed to 31 percent of the 68 Android apps. That's interesting because BlackBerry 10 is supposed to "run" Android apps. As I found out when developing my own app, that isn't entirely true. Android app developers (or pirates) have to submit their apps to the BlackBerry World store, and the apps can't contain a range of Android APIs including Google Maps access. BlackBerry also wants top developers - such as the ones on this list, presumably - to be writing custom BlackBerry apps, not just repurposing Android apps. Windows Phone had 63 percent of the Android apps, and 58 percent of the iOS apps. There's a bright spot for the minority platforms: most of the missing apps with no equivalents were games. While neither platform has Instagram, Pandora, or Office Suite Pro (to take some examples from the lists), they have first- or third-party clients for all of these services. The key problem both platforms had was matching popular games, whether it's big-name titles like Temple Run and Real Racing 3 or fly-by-night hits like Candy Crush Saga and Icomania. I can hear what some BlackBerry partisans, especially, will say: it sounds something like "Nar nar nar, we don't need any dumb games, we're hard at work, work work work." But these are the apps that current smartphone users are downloading, and if you're going to win people over from other platforms, they need to feel like they're not losing anything. An Uphill Battle To try to win developers over to their smaller markets, Microsoft and BlackBerry are offering hand-holding and incentives, and both companies are targeting the most popular apps. BlackBerry identifies the top 100-200 apps per country each month and courts those developers, execs said at the BlackBerry Z10 launch event in January. BlackBerry offers a bounty of up to $10,000 for developers who create high-quality, native apps. That garnered the new platform 70,000 apps at launch, which the company expects to be 100,000 apps by the time the Z10 comes out on AT&T. BlackBerry also puts out a weekly email alert noting high-profile apps new to the platform. This week's update shows how much the company focuses on apps that are popular in specific countries or regions; along with the globally popular Jetpack Joyride, I see apps for Canada (Rogers Smart Home), Italy (Twellness), Brazil (Ka'arupan) and Malaysia (The Star.) Microsoft doesn't offer bounties, but it's been working hard to make personal connections with developers and help market their apps. The company is currently running a "Next App Star" contest to feature an app in an upcoming TV ad, and its existing celebrity-focused ads show third-party apps on all the home screens. The platforms have exclusive apps and first-party features, too, of course. I've been using a Windows Phone as my primary device for a few months now, and I love the People Hub, live tile home screen, Nokia's HERE Transit (a real wonder) and Kid's Corner, for instance. These core features helped propel Windows Phone to win our Readers' Choice award for 2013. Windows Phone users, clearly, are satisfied. If they want existing Android and iOS users to join them, though, it would help to have more of these popular apps. The first smartphone with BlackBerry 10, the BlackBerry Z10, hits the U.S. on March 22 via AT&T. It lands on Verizon on March 28. For more, see PCMag's first look at the Z10 and our hands on with the upcoming BlackBerry Q10, which boasts the traditional QWERTY keyboard.To say that North Korea is a rogue state, ruled by a maniacal dictator, who's known to have 'traitors' killed on a whim by either feeding them to dogs or shooting them down with anti-aircraft guns, would be nothing out of the ordinary. Kim Jong Un having a light-hearted chuckle. Maybe while bumping off another traitor? Guess the next country North Korea is trying to direct its mischief at? I'll give you some time to think. In an international cyber threat report published earlier this week, which analysed the secretive Korean nation's online activity, North Korea's cyber stance against the Indian Space Research Organisation’s National Remote Sensing Centre, and the Indian National Metallurgical Laboratory's facilities is cause for major concern. Recorded Future (the guys who conducted the report) tracked outbound Internet traffic from North Korea between April 1 to July 6 this year, and they found an interesting trend. Where in the past suspicious cyber attacks like the Sony hack of 2014 have originated from North Korea, during the report's time frame there was next to no malicious cyber activity from the North Korean mainland. This is especially surprising because, during the same time, North Korea was in a heightened state of alert with extensive missile testing. Don't Miss 2.7 K SHARES 1 K SHARES 731 SHARES 226 SHARES 223 SHARES "This likely indicates," the report argues, "They (North Korea) are not using territorial resources to conduct cyber operations and that most state-sponsored activity is perpetrated from abroad." From places like India? What's clear from the report is that despite tough sanctions and massive international pressure, North Korea’s leaders aren't isolated from the outside world. Not in the least bit. And that North Korean presence (both physical and virtual) exists in several nations around the world. Nations from where North Koreans are likely engaging in malicious cyber and criminal activities, argues the report. India is part of this group of nations, as mentioned in the report, which also includes countries like Malaysia, New Zealand, Nepal, Kenya, Mozambique, and Indonesia. Other major revelations from the report mention that "North Korea has a broad physical and virtual presence in India." North Korea may also have students enrolled in at least seven universities in the country, and that nearly 20% of all suspicious North Korean activity was focused only on India, during the time frame of this analysis. India vs North Korea: Who Wins? Who Loses? But this is where the report sends alarm bells ringing. It seems some North Korean users were conducting research, or possibly even network reconnaissance (or spying), on a number of foreign laboratories and research centers -- including some present in India, the report argues, where "activity targeting the Indian Space Research Organization’s National Remote Sensing Centre, and the Indian National Metallurgical Laboratory raised flags of suspicion." How are bilateral relations between India and North Korea? According to this 2015 statement from our own government's Ministry of External Affairs... In light of this damning report of North Korea's cyber activity against India, it would be interesting to see how the relationship evolves in the near future.(Climeworks) The world’s first commercial plant to extract carbon dioxide at industrial scale from the air and sell it directly to a buyer opened near Zurich on Wednesday. The machine pipes the gas to a nearby greenhouse to help grow vegetables. The Swiss firm Climeworks external linkturned on the so-called ‘Direct Air Capture (DAC)’ plant in the farming village of Hinwil, Switzerland. The plant aims to supply 900 tonnes of CO2 annually to a nearby greenhouse to help grow vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers. The machine sits on top of a waste heat recovery facility that powers the device. During the capture process, fans push air through a filter system and CO2 is chemically deposited on the surface of a filter. Once the filter is saturated, the CO2 is then isolated at a temperature of about 100 degrees Celsius. In a statementexternal link, Climeworks described the plant as ‘a historic step for negative emissions technology’. “Highly scalable negative emission technologies are crucial if we are to stay below the two degree target of the international community,” said Climeworks co-founder and managing director Christoph Gebald in a statement. The new plant is intended to run as a three-year demonstration project. The CO2 captured by the machine can be used to carbonate beverages or produce climate-neutral fuels and other materials. Capturing CO2 locally for industrial uses enables customers to reduce their emissions and lessen their dependence on fossil fuels, the statement said. Beyond the initial local contract, the aim is to sell the pure captured CO2 gas to other clients in the commercial agriculture, food and beverage industries, the energy sector and the automotive industry. In coming future, Climeworks plans to launch additional commercial pilot projects and to test its potential to deliver negative emissions by combining it with underground storage. “We’re working hard to reach the goal of filtering one per cent of global CO2 emissions by 2025. To achieve this, we estimate around 250,000 DAC-plants like the one in Hinwil are necessary,” said Gebald. Gebald and Climeworks co-founder Jan Wurzbacher established the spin-off in 2009 after working on air capture during postgraduate studies at Zurich's Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ). swissinfo.ch/sb Neuer Inhalt Horizontal Line SWI swissinfo.ch on Instagram SWI swissinfo.ch on InstagramWell, life in Redfern is going very well, but we feel a little guilty for not checking in with our Penultimo followers for such a long time. It’s been great to see that the comments haven’t stopped, and the Tumblr reblogs continue too. Admittedly this can probably be explained by Spambots, and a few confused lost people who have stumbled onto the blog, only to rant at us from the comments field in a wacky, out-of-context diatribe. But to the meat of the matter. This area is changing fast, and we can scarcely keep up. We might need amend our list to, ahem… 5 places to watch in Ultimo (and surrounds) So maybe we touch on a bit of Pyrmont and Haymarket… everything happens on the fringe… ____________________________________________________________________________ 1 - Of cliffs and relics: The transformation of the Edwin Davey Flour Mill Now known as the “Harbour Mill”, the old Edwin Davey Flour Mill is transforming into a $90 million mixed use development at the end of Jones Street (technically Pyrmont). The developer is Ceerose. Here’s an old post by Penultimo with a little more detail. Right now there’s some impressive graf on the outside of the building, visible from the freeway. This “boutique” heritage refurb won’t be finished until 2014. They probably couldn’t have changed the area more radically: in a few years it’ll transform from an area that frequented by Sydney’s homeless (and graf artists), to a 10-level luxury development. The facade of the mill will be retained. Probably the best thing to come of all this is that Ceerose will be working with the City of Sydney to improve Pedestrian access between the Wentworth Park lightrail stop, and the flour mill area above. It used to be a no-go, a cliff, but opening up this access-way will greatly improve pedestrian amenity & connectedness in Ultimo. Images: Ceerose _____________________________________________________________________________ 2 - From markets to studentville to luxury city living: “The Quay” on Ultimo Road & Quay Street. Another heritage facade will have a fancy lookin’ mixed-use development tower looming over it. Are we sensing a pattern here? The Quay was the site of the old Poultry Market in Haymarket (well, it had a number of uses before then, see the archaeological report here). The delightful facade of the Poultry Market will be retained, but by the look of the renderings the towers above it will have little relationship to the facade. Still this is a part of Sydney that can cope with a bit of high-rise (and already has a fair bit). The Quay will consist of two towers, designed by WMK Architecture, Smart Design Studio and CHADA, 18 levels, including 2 levels of retail (presumably on the ground floors). It may have some kind of podium garden thing going on… Images: CBRE / The Quay _____________________________________________________________________________ 3 - Fast paced progress for Sydney’s Gehry: The Dr Chau Chak Wing at UTS Also on Ultimo Road, the UTS Business School will soon have a new building, and as everybody knows, it’s a Frank Gehry creation. Highly controversial, at least this building gets everyone talking about architecture in Ultimo, which is nice to see. Glass and sandstone-like light stone, depending on which side you’re looking at. The excavation should be complete rather soon (they say mid-2012), and the building is set to be ready for the business faculty by 2014. One of the most interesting things about this building is how it might spur change for the much-ignored surrounding areas - Omnibus Lane, and the old railway tracks (soon to be the extended Ultimo Pedestrian Network? More on that in a moment). Images: UTS _____________________________________________________________________ 4 - Penultimo’s favourite horse to thrash: The future of the Ultimo Pedestrian Network (UPN) It’s really happening! We’re so excited. Maybe it’s not a very nice acronym, but the UPN has a LOT of potential for making this part of the city more connected, dynamic and pedestrian friendly. It also has a lot of potential for improving the viability of retail in the area, and improving the urban amenity of Ultimo for workers and residents alike. Connectivity! Intersections! Urban dynamism! So many buzz words, so much blather. It’s not just us: many people see the potential of the UPN, and are working hard to turn it into something workable … but there are a huge number of complications with a project like this, not the least of which is the large number of stakeholders with sometimes conflicting interests. (Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority are the principal stakeholders.) Alright, for those of you still going, the UP-what? - What is it? The Ultimo Pedestrian Network, right now, is only in Stage 1. Stage 1 was recently completed – it’s that pedestrian walkway down the back of the ABC and the UTS student residences. This zone connects the Devonshire Tunnel & Railway Square down to Ultimo Road. We’ve gotta say, it’s not the most exciting urban space to crop up recently, but one thing is does have going for it: benches. Lots of them. And a hell of a lot of foot traffic. But here’s the exciting bit. Stage 2 of the UPN is in motion – this it will make use of the old railway bridge over Ultimo Road, extend past the Dr Chau Chak Wing, and down to the back of the Powerhouse. It’ll be like the High Line in NYC! Only daggier. Probably. And cheaper. Australia doesn’t have the philanthropists to imagine something as ambitious as the High Line, but the UPN has the potential to be much more useful. The Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority have selected Aspect Studios to design the linear elevated pedestrian walkway & cycleway. Consultations are happening this month, and they anticipate completion by the end of 2013 (that sounds a bit ambitious, but we’ll see…). Aspect designed Darling Quarter, among other things. There are plenty of options for going further than this too (like… taking the UPN down towards Chinatown and Darling Harbour), but of course, these will take time and money… Perhaps Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority might like to run a competition to rename the zone? UPN is dreadful, though the SHFA have their own acronym-related problems. Images: 1) Jesse Adams Stein; 2) Aspect Studios _____________________________________________________________________________________ 5 - Can’t see the forest for the trees: The Powerhouse Museum forecourt Things are going full steam ahead (so many cliches in this post!) with the revitalisation of the Powerhouse Museum and its forecourt. The ground foundations for the forecourt have been fixed up (and it’s much more open now - think steps not walls). But it looks like the Powerhouse Museum might be in a bit of a bind financially; they’ve really got the hat out, hoping for supporters to fund their ambitious Toland / Shigeru-Ban cardboard tree forecourt design. Go on, buy them a tree branch, it’s only $100. Image: Powerhouse Musem & Toland / Shigeru-BanRecently I had an opportunity to speak at the first edition of the Lean Agile Scotland conference
the audience about the danger of the liberal press: You saw these clips tonight, it’s stupid. And the problem is, these people have influence....They believe it. They’re killing everything they touch, they’re corrupting everything they touch, and they’re destroying it. We laugh at it because we need the relief, but they believe it. And they’re dead serious, they’re dead wrong, they’re dead stupid, they’re brain dead, and they are a problem. And they’ve got to be – in the arena of ideas – they have got to be beaten. “And here again, Brent Bozell, who knows how many people he is arming with information. Because nobody, nobody can stand to watch as much of this stuff as Brent makes his people do,” he added. Limbaugh concluded with another note of gratitude: And I cannot thank all of you enough. And again, to Brent Bozell and Media Research [Center], I hope they keep doing this as long as they want to because it’s always gonna be needed, worthwhile, entertaining, a great combination. Thank you all, folks, very much. I love you all. Other posts on the September 21 event: > Every Single Person We Don’t Like in the Liberal Media won the Quote of the Year Award. > To see Mark Levin praise the MRC and Brent Bozell, saying, “I rely” on them, go here. > CNN presidential history Douglas Brinkley scampered away with the Last Gasp Obamagasam Award. > Disgraced journalist Brian Williams, fittingly, won the Dan Rather Memorial Award for the Stupidest Analysis. > For the Kathy Griffin Celebrity Dumbass Award, lefty actress Ashley Judd vanquished tough competition. > For “The Funnies,” presented by Joe Piscopo. >> For a full rundown and all the video, check this section on MRC.org devoted to the evening. And for all the posts on NewsBusters. << Here are excerpts of Limbaugh’s remarks at the September 21 MRC Gala Featuring the Dishonors Awards:[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.69″ background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” border_style=”solid”] Today’s issue of The Daily Telegraph (26th August) had a very important question for people of the UK, asking ‘Time to go vegan?’ on the front page. Thankfully, so they didn’t force you to think too much over your lazy Saturday breakfast they gave an answer on the front of the Saturday section: ‘Go vegan!’ The popular British newspaper features an article by Diana Henry, winner of the the Cookery Book Writer of the Year award, who discusses just how much veganism has been rising in popularity in the UK recently. Supermarkets in the UK have caught onto this and Sainsbury’s has notably increased its inclusion of vegan products in the aisles, most recently adding a cheesy vegan pizza! Similary, M&S has had vegan product success, now including over 1,800 vegan food products on the shelves and reportedly their vegan sandwiches are very popular. Henry notes that ‘veganism’s rise in popularity is not necessarily to do with a concern for animals and some within the vegan movement…aren’t happy about this’. A lot of people in the vegan movement make a distinction between ‘vegan’ and ‘plant-based’. Although both avoid the consumption of animal products, veganism is motivated by the desire to cause less harm to animals, whereas plant-based diets may have other origins. Henry discusses the ways in which environmentalism and sustainability play a part in the public’s decision to try plant-based meals, commenting that ‘[t]he industrial farming of livestock is a major contributor to greenhouse gases; it also uses land, water and energy and requires food that could be eaten by humans.’ The Telegraph isn’t the first major publication to address vegan issues. Recently The Independent allowed an opinion piece to be included that called for an ‘end to the meat and dairy industry’. Today’s issue of The Telegraph has also provided some handy recipes anyone interested in plant-based foods can try! The recipes include light summer options such as Harissa Aubergine Kebabs with Cucumber Relish and also some heartier options like Pea and Potato Dumplings, presumably to prepare us of the end of summer (if it ever really arrived in Britain). Whether you’re a keen environmentalist, an animal lover or just a passionate foodie, it’s certainly worth picking up a copy of The Telegraph today and trying out some seriously tasty dishes. [/et_pb_text][et_pb_social_media_follow _builder_version=”3.0.53″ saved_tabs=”all” link_shape=”circle” url_new_window=”on” follow_button=”on” background_layout=”light” global_module=”4820″] [et_pb_social_media_follow_network social_network=”facebook” skype_action=”call” url=”https://www.facebook.com/livekindlyco/” bg_color=”#3b5998″] Facebook [/et_pb_social_media_follow_network][et_pb_social_media_follow_network social_network=”twitter” skype_action=”call” url=”https://twitter.com/livekindlyco” bg_color=”#00aced”] Twitter [/et_pb_social_media_follow_network][et_pb_social_media_follow_network social_network=”instagram” skype_action=”call” url=”https://www.instagram.com/livekindlyco/” bg_color=”#517fa4″] Instagram [/et_pb_social_media_follow_network] [/et_pb_social_media_follow][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]A compound found in many foods and energy drinks can decrease symptoms of depression and psychosis, which is where the person loses contact with reality. In our recent study, published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, we tested whether supplementing standard treatment with taurine would improve cognition and other mental health symptoms in young people who had experienced their first psychotic episode. A psychotic episode is an episode of psychosis, an umbrella term that represents a range of severe mental health symptoms. The most notable is a loss of contact with reality where someone perceives things that are not real (known as hallucinations) or holds beliefs not based in reality (known as delusions). Our results showed people given taurine had significantly improved overall mental health symptoms, including those of psychosis, compared to those given placebo. People given taurine also showed improvement in depression symptoms and overall social and occupational functioning. People experiencing psychosis commonly have impairments in cognitive function including reduced concentration, memory, and problem solving ability. We found no difference in cognitive function between the group given taurine and placebo. But taurine was found to be both safe and well tolerated. Antipsychotic medication is the first line treatment for psychosis, but it is not always effective, with a proportion of patients experiencing ongoing symptoms or unwanted side effects. Because of this, complementary treatment options are greatly needed. What is taurine? Taurine is an important compound that naturally occurs in the body. It has various functions, including aiding the function of the brain and cardiovascular system, made up of the heart and blood vessels. Taurine helps protect the brain from inflammation, toxins and protein deficiencies. It has an inhibitory influence on the activity of the nervous system – the network of nerves and cells that carry signals to and from the brain. Apart from being present throughout the body, taurine is found naturally in various foods including scallops, fish, poultry, dairy and breast milk. It is also used as an additive in energy drinks and baby formula and can be taken as a supplement. Humans have an estimated average intake of 40 to 400mg per day naturally in their diet. A study conducted in 1977 suggested taurine may help reduce severe psychiatric symptoms such as delirium, hallucinations and mental impairment. In the study, 22 patients undergoing treatment for alcohol withdrawal were given one gram of taurine three times a day over seven days. They experienced fewer psychiatric symptoms compared to a historical comparison group who hadn’t received taurine. Taurine concentrations have been shown to be decreased in people with schizophrenia, a condition in which people experience constant symptoms of psychosis. Higher levels of taurine in the frontal cortex – an area of the brain associated with cognition – of people with schizophrenia, were found to be associated with better cognitive functioning, specifically faster information processing. The effects of taurine have also been tested on patients with health conditions including depression, heart disease, diabetes, growth retardation and an eye disease called retinal degeneration. This historical evidence suggested taurine was worth investigating as a potential complementary treatment for first-episode psychosis. Why our study matters We tested the effects of taurine on 86 patients aged 18 to 25 who had experienced their first episode of psychosis. They were taking low-dose antipsychotic medication and attending early intervention services in Melbourne. Psychosis usually has its first onset in a person’s late teens or early twenties and affects around three out of every 100 people in their lifetime. We randomly allocated 47 patients to receive four grams of taurine, and 39 patients to receive a placebo, once a day over a 12 week period. Prior to the trial, we assessed their psychiatric symptoms, cognition, social and occupational functioning, tolerance to medication and side effects. We tested these again at six and 12 weeks. Our positive results provide evidence for the potential benefits of taurine as a safe, complementary treatment for psychosis and possibly other mental health conditions. As this was the first study to examine the efficacy of taurine in first-episode psychosis, the findings need to be replicated in trials with other samples before its use can be recommended in clinical treatment guidelines. Future research should aim to find the ideal dose and duration of time taurine should be taken for maximal benefit. Cognitive impairments emerge very early in the course of psychosis and so it is possible that supplements such as taurine need to be trialled earlier if they are to have a positive effect on cognition. Investigation into complementary supplements for psychosis and other mental health conditions is a growing area of research, which gives hope to people for whom standard treatments do not provide complete relief from symptoms. This article was co-authored by Colin O'Donnell from the Department of Psychiatry at the Donegal Mental Health Service in Ireland.DAVAO—Presumptive President-elect Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday said he had cancelled plans to visit the Vatican to personally apologize to the Pope for his slur last year against the Pontiff. “No more. That’s enough,” Duterte told reporters who asked about the trip. He said he had already sent a letter of apology to the Vatican. ADVERTISEMENT He said the trip “would be an exercise in duplicity.” Duterte, 71, the longtime mayor of Davao City, won the presidency in stunning fashion following an incendiary campaign in which he gleefully used foul language to disrespect authority figures. In a rambling speech to announce his presidential bid, Duterte cussed at Pope Francis for the traffic jams in Manila during the Pontiff’s visit to the mainly Catholic country in January 2015. “It took us five hours to get from the hotel to the airport. I asked who was coming. They said it was the Pope. I wanted to call him: ‘Pope, you son of a *****, go home. Don’t visit anymore’,” said Duterte. Catholic Church leaders condemned Duterte’s comments but, like his other controversial remarks during the campaign, they had little impact on his popularity. Duterte wrote the Pope a letter of apology during the campaign and received a standard response from the Vatican offering “the assurance of prayers.” He scheduled a visit to the Vatican to make a personal apology. His spokesperson confirmed on Thursday the next President still planned to make the trip. But on Sunday night, Duterte, in his first press conference since Election Day, said he had changed his mind. “I might go there (the Vatican) and they will say, ‘We are taking back the prayers’,” he said. ADVERTISEMENT Duterte said a senior official of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said that “it’s not clear whether I was forgiven.” “But you know God is my friend [and] I ask Him if I’ve been forgiven for all the sins I’ve committed on this planet,” he said, and God replied: “Now and forever.” Duterte was raised a Catholic, but among his closest friends and advisers is Apollo Quiboloy, leader of the Davao-based Kingdom of Jesus Christ sect who calls himself “the Appointed Son of God.” AFP Read Next LATEST STORIES MOST READGreetings! I'm on the plane and have some time to talk a little bit about Ashes. I've been getting a ton of questions about the game and I'm going to try to answer these questions in the clearest way I can. First, some house cleaning: 1. If there isn't a subedit on Ashes yet, could someone make it? The nature of this game is such that we really want to be able to talk to the community a lot prior to release. 2. We are instituting a new Founders system that we will apply retroactively to other games that have had founders programs (like GalCiv III). In essence, we will be giving Founders more exclusive stuff early on. That stuff may be made available later to everyone but we want people who supported us from the start to get first dibs on things. Next, Founders info: a. Re Supreme Commander & TA questions. Yes, Ashes is probably most similar to those games with one major difference - the maps themselves are broken up into regions. Thus, you have to control the region (ala Company of Heroes) and the contiguous regions back to your seed (Base) in order to receive the resources of that region. b. Re scale. I've seen a lot of people talk about how many units are in other games with an accompanying screenshot. The difference here is that one of those big battles would just be one of potentially many battles going on across the world. The difference in actual units is an order of magnitude higher than anything that's previously been done. c. Re Managing units. While each of the potentially tens of thousands of units can be commanded individually, that would be relatively insane to try. Instead, think of each individual as being a lego and being able to quickly and easily put together these legos into a single bigger unit which we call Meta units. The meta unit works together as if it's a single unit. You click on one, you have clicked on all of them and all their special abilities are available to use. They will automatically help each other (since they see themselves as part of a greater unit). d. Meta units are not control groups. A control group might have multiple meta units in it. A meta unit can be 1 unit or it might be 3000 units depending on what the player wants to do. Next, early debates on topics we can have: a. There are 3 main resources players are fighting: Metal (for constructing stuff), Radioactives (for advanced units and researching), and Computronium. Comporting acts as the victory point ticker in this game. It's a real word and a real concept. But we hate the name. We are open to ideas on a different name. Computronium is the theoretical name of an idealized computing substance. b. Map sizes. Our tiny map is about the size of the Bay Area in California. The largest map size is difficult to describe because it's so big. It takes a hour for a unit to travel across it. Based on who is reading this post, how long do you prefer your RTS games to last?Convicted drug offenders who are denied government food benefits upon release from prison are at greater risk of engaging in dangerous, sexual risk behaviors in order to obtain food, Yale researchers have found. Their pilot study appears in the journal AIDS Education and Prevention. Each year, nearly three-quarters of a million people are released from U.S. prisons. Many are already highly vulnerable to homelessness, HIV infection, and hunger due to uncertainty about how to find and pay for food (known as “food insecurity”). Making matters worse, many individuals convicted of drug felonies are banned for life by a 1996 federal law from obtaining food assistance via the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formally known as food stamps, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), formerly known as Aid to Families with Dependent Children. States were allowed to opt out of the federal law. Only 16 states and the District of Columbia did; 24 others implemented a modified version of the ban; 10 kept it fully in place for life, even for mothers and women who are pregnant. A possible result of this policy is that many released drug offenders, particularly women and mothers, are turning to prostitution and other behaviors that put them at risk for HIV and other negative outcomes in order to obtain food. The Yale researchers worked in collaboration with All of Us or None, a California organization that fights discrimination against current and former inmates and their families, to study the link between food insecurity and sexual risk behaviors among returning prisoners. They surveyed 110 individuals recently released from prisons in Connecticut and California, which have partial bans, and Texas, which has an outright, mandatory lifetime ban on food assistance for drug convicts. Some of their findings were: 91 percent reported themselves as “food insecure.” 37 percent did not eat for an entire day in the past month, which is food insecurity in its most severe form; they were more likely to use heroin, cocaine, or alcohol before sex, and were more likely to exchange sex for money than those who had at least one meal each day. 61 percent did not receive food assistance benefits, and those who did reported receiving insufficient benefits. 38 percent of women living with children did not eat for a day in the past month. 25 percent of women living with children reported their children not eating for a day in the past month. This is the first study to examine the association between food insecurity and sexual risk behaviors specifically among former inmates. “These individuals are incredibly vulnerable when they are released from prison. If they cannot get government food assistance, they are much more likely to be hungry and thus engage in dangerous sexual behavior in exchange for money or food for themselves and their children,” said first author Dr. Emily Wang, assistant professor of internal medicine at Yale School of Medicine. The New York Times recently published an editorial suggesting that the federal food stamp ban be eliminated. It reads, in part, “… it is already clear that the bans are counterproductive and that it is time for states that have not completely lifted them to do so.” Other authors are Gefei Zhu of Yale and Stanford, Amy Carroll-Scott and Lynn Fiellin of Yale; Linda Evans of All of Us or None; and Rani Desai of the West Haven Veterans Administration Medical Center. The study was supported by Yale’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS, through a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (Grant # P30 MH 62294). (Image via Shutterstock)Microalgae can remove ammonia, other nutrients and potentially reduce the pathogen load. Murdoch University researchers are investigating whether the effluent from piggeries can be effectively treated with micro and macroalgae so that species of the organism can safely be fed back to pigs. The Cooperative Research Centre for High Integrity Australian Pork (Pork CRC) has invested AUD$300,000 with the Algae Research and Development Centre at Murdoch University to investigate the proposals, which would cut costs, recover energy from waste and reduce the potential for groundwater contamination at piggeries. So far Centre Director, Dr Navid Moheimani and his team from the School of Veterinary and Life Sciences have discovered three different types of microalgae that can grow on untreated piggery anaerobic digestate effluent, which typically contains extremely high levels of ammonium. Recycling treated waste water Anaerobic digestion in lagoons or ponds on farms is currently the most common method used to process piggery waste. The discovery is a world first and offers a potentially cost effective means of remediating piggery effluent. They have found that microalgae removes ammonia, other nutrients and potentially reduce the pathogen load in the effluent, meaning that the treated waste water can be reused. The algal biomass produced is potentially a protein rich food source for pigs and other animals, although Dr Moheimani said extensive testing would be required. "We have high hopes that this method of treating effluent will ensure the algal biomass produced can be fed back to the pigs which will make Australian piggeries much less wasteful and more cost competitive, of course if this works for pigs, it could also work for different livestock" he says. The researchers are looking at methods to optimise the growth of the microalgae on the effluent and are bioprospecting for suitable species of macroalgae to grow on piggery effluent. The anaerobic digestion process currently used in piggeries produces a low quality fertiliser. A byproduct of this process is the creation of biogas. This is often used to generate electricity on farms. If they find the micro and macroalgae grown on effluent is unfit for consumption by pigs, Dr Moheimani said his team will investigate how algae can help to maximise biogas production from piggery effluent. Joint effort in this algae project This is a multidisciplinary project involving experts with different backgrounds. Dr Moheimani is the project principal investigator while his University colleagues Professor John Pluske, Emeritus Professor Michael Borowitzka and Dr John Huisman are contributing their expertise in nutrient studies, algal cultivation and economics and macroalgal bioprospecting respectively. Dr Sasha Jenkins from the University of Western Australia, is helping to investigate the anaerobic digestion process while Jeremy Ayre is conducting his PhD mainly on microalgae cultivation aspects of the project. Ayre is in his first year of study and his scholarship is co-funded by the Pork CRC and Murdoch University. The project is also supported by the Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia and the University of Melbourne (Dr Peter Cakebread).Image caption Officials had planned a birthday celebration to honour Mr Kato but they found him dead Police in Japan have arrested the daughter and granddaughter of a centenarian believed to be Tokyo's oldest man whose mummified remains were found last month. The pair are suspected of fraudulently receiving the dead man's pension. Records said he was 111 years old, it is thought he had probably been dead for 30 years. The case triggered a nationwide check that revealed nearly 200 centenarians registered as alive were missing. The police have been investigating the case of Sogen Kato ever since his mummified remains were found last month in the Tokyo house he shared with his family. His 81-year-old daughter, Michiko Kato, was arrested on suspicion of illegally receiving about 9m yen ($106,000) in pension payments, according to Japanese media reports. Her daughter, Tokimi Kato, 53, was also arrested.By PoliceOne Staff NORTH LOGAN, Utah — The North Park Police Department has released surveillance footage capturing the shooting of a gunman by an Adult Probation & Parole agent at a hospital May 16. The Herald Journal reports 34-year-old Jason Burr entered Cache Valley Hospital demanding to see a doctor when he was confronted by a security officer. Burr reportedly told him, “Someone is going to die today,” according to the Salt Lake Tribune. Burr brandished two handguns — a 9mm and a.38-caliber Derringer. Burr was confronted by two Adult Probation & Parole agents that were watching over an inmate being treated at the hospital. One of them, Agent Clint Lund, fired three shots at Burr after he refused to drop his weapons and pointed them at Lund. Burr was subdued and immediately transported to the ER. He was shot in the left arm, right side of his groin and left side of the chest, according to the report. Lund’s use of force was determined legally justified this week. Burr has been charged with attempted aggravated robbery, three counts of aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon, two counts of purchase or use of a firearm by a restricted person and two charges of carrying a concealed, dangerous and loaded weapon. He is due in court July 30.Highway-savvy birds don’t read road signs but they may pay more attention to speed limits than some human drivers do. As a car roars toward birds standing on the asphalt, they don’t check the driver’s exact speed when judging how soon to flap out of the way, says behavioral ecologist Pierre Legagneux of the University of Quebec in Rimouski. Instead, the speed limit on the road, rather than the speed of the approaching vehicle, is a better predictor of how close a car gets before a bird startles into the air, Legagneux and Simon Ducatez of McGill University in Montreal report August 21 in Biology Letters. Substantial numbers of birds get hit by cars, Legagneux says, so the new paper gives drivers another reason not to speed. Birds may not expect over-the-limit traffic and may fail to dodge away soon enough. The project also opens up evolutionary questions, he says. He looks forward to untangling how much of the birds&rsquoClimate Change Could Increase Global Fresh Water: MIT Water stress — the general scarcity of freshwater for people who need it — is considered by many scientists as one of the biggest challenges facing humanity and struggling ecosystems in a world increasingly affected by climate change. Studies differ on how much the world’s growing population will be affected by the growing difficulty of finding freshwater, but a new report by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found that climate change could actually provide more water to people in some parts of the globe while reducing freshwater for other areas. A farmer in Tanzania showing how a drought there affected her maize crop. Credit: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center/flickr Global warming may increase the overall amount of freshwater flowing in rivers worldwide by about 15 percent, easing water scarcity in many places, including the U.S. Midwest, according to MIT’s Energy and Climate Outlook 2014, released Monday. By the end of the century, during which time greenhouse gas emissions could double globally, the MIT outlook projects that water scarcity could also ease in Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Libya, China and Western Europe. In other places, water stress could worsen, especially in the U.S. Southwest, Pakistan, Turkey, South Africa and parts of North Africa. “All climate models predict a speedup of the hydrological cycle with warmer temperatures,” said the study’s lead author, John Reilly, co-director of the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change at MIT’s Center for Environmental Policy Research. “That means faster evaporation, more moisture in the atmosphere and more rainfall.” MIT researchers project that while more moisture in the atmosphere will increase freshwater flow 15 percent globally by the end of the century, consumption of freshwater for all human uses worldwide is expected to increase 19 percent, including water for industrial, domestic and agricultural uses. Of those uses, the outlook shows that domestic freshwater consumption could double from 348 billion cubic meters in 2010 to 698 billion cubic meters in 2100, and industrial use of water could increase from 763 billion cubic meters to 1,098 billion cubic meters, or about 45 percent. Irrigation use is projected to decline slightly worldwide. But more freshwater doesn’t paint the full picture. In a warming world, how and if that water can be made available for people to use gets complicated. Exploding human populations may overwhelm water supplies, creating new areas of water stress, according to the outlook. “This water stress arises because of increased water demand, and in some cases reduced runoff,” Reilly said. “As with almost all climate models, we project more precipitation poleward, and generally drier conditions in subtropical regions.” And, freshwater availability depends on how and when it falls from the sky. “Water stress, or not, is very much a function of precipitation in the right place at the right time, and in the right form,” Reilly said. Rain may begin to fall at times when it can’t be used for irrigation or can’t be captured for storage in reservoirs, he said. A big concern is precipitation falling as rain rather than snow, or snowpack melting earlier in areas that depend on snowmelt, such as much of the western U.S., he said. “Snowpack is nature’s water storage, slowly releasing water far into summer dry months and therefore providing even timing even when summers are dry,” Reilly said. “With less snowpack storage, we would need to make up for it by building reservoirs where possible.” A drought-ravaged village in Mauritania. Credit: United Nations/flickr Building new reservoirs is a costly proposition, and they’d have to be built to handle the added challenge of capturing water from extreme rainfall. “There is a general conclusion that more rain is likely to come in heavier downpours, with longer periods in between,” he said. “So that raises the specter of both flooding and drought because in a heavy downpour most of the water runs off, and unless there is man-made storage somewhere, it quickly ends up in the sea, and is no longer fresh water.” That’s a major concern in Rocky Mountain states such as Colorado, which contains the headwaters of some of the most important rivers in the West, including the Colorado River, which provides water to drought-stricken Phoenix and Los Angeles. Spring snowmelt in Colorado could come up to 17 days earlier than today, and some rivers the state relies on for fresh water supplies could see streamflows decline by up to 35 percent, according to a 2012 Colorado climate vulnerability study. “As the climate warms, more water will evaporate and sublimate from mountain snowpacks before it ever reaches reservoirs, and agricultural demand will rise,” meaning that there will be less water to go around as a booming population conflicts with a decreasing and less predictable water supply, Colorado State University atmospheric scientist Scott Denning told Climate Central in January. The MIT report cautions that any projections of regional precipitation patterns and the processes that control runoff from mountain snowpack in a warming world are extremely uncertain, and rain and snowfall are likely to vary widely from year to year and decade to decade. Not all studies focusing on water security have shown water stress easing much at all in a warming world. A 2013 study by researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact and Research showed that declining precipitation and increasing evapotranspiration will strain water supplies in many areas, especially the U.S. Southwest, affecting 2 billion people globally. A Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) study published in August showed that without any climate policy curbing global greenhouse gas emissions, half of the world’s population is will be living under “extreme” water scarcity by the end of the century. These studies reach different conclusions because there are multiple ways to measure water stress: Some studies focus only on water supply, while others, such as the MIT report, focus on both supply and demand. Each study also uses its own assessment of hydrology, the effects of climate change and other factors, said PNNL climate scientist Mohamad Hejazi, lead author of the PNNL water scarcity study. In some cases, studies may significantly underestimate overall water deficit in some areas in a warming world, he said. “This (MIT) study constitutes one plausible scenario, but it is not definitive,” he said. MIT’s report was published Monday following the United Nations Climate Summit in New York the previous week, when the Obama administration committed to greenhouse gas emissions cuts to be included in a treaty expected to be signed in Paris in 2015. The Paris negotiations will be known as COP 21, or the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. You May Also Like: Science Shows How Climate Change is Baking Australia Fracking Emissions Fall; Texas Still King of GHGs Climate Fueled Some of 2013’s Most Extreme Events Arctic Sea Ice to Reach Sixth Lowest Extent on RecordWhen we share our creations, we’re bravely putting a part of ourselves out there. We want to spread the joy of what we made, and have others give us feedback on what they love about it and to really connect over the love of making. Last week, I released community agoras for discussing and giving feedback about Cubehero itself to start. Today, I’m releasing it to all project physibles. Now, you can connect with your fans and collaborators of your work. Start discussing issues, trade urls, and show each other what you’ve done. Cubehero has a common agora for all project physibles of the same name. So if you fork a physible, you’re all part of the same community. If you’re the first to make a physible, you get the seed the agora. Once it’s been created, everyone will see a link to the community on every physible with the same name. No more button on the side, but a nicely formatted link to the community. In a fresh new agora, create a topic and seed it with what fans of your project might want to talk about. Any user can create a topic and comment on it. Over time, you’ll get to interact with others with the same interest in building the same thing as you. We all like to express ourselves in the way we really mean, so markdown has been enabled for comments, and in the text topics. If you want bold, you can have it–but not to the detriment of others! We don’t need another MySpace (the old version) on the internets. And lastly, all the topics can be upvoted with approval, so the most interestingly new topic is at the top. Classic upvoting with rising and falling topics. This part is a bit of an experiment. Most forum software don’t use this algorithm for ranking the topics, but I’ve found it useful in finding new and interesting things. Let’s see how this pans out. Let me know what you think about the new changes after you’ve tried it out. I’ve really enjoyed the feedback you guys have given so far. Let me know if you have any questions. Til next time, I’m still kicking out new features and benefits to help us all work on 3D printed projects together.IT MIGHT have been a moment of hope: an internationally negotiated ceasefire that would lead to a political deal to end a war that has probably killed nearly half a million people and turned millions more into refugees. The accord was thrashed out by America and Russia on February 12th in the wings of the annual Munich Security Conference, endorsed by the 17-nation International Syria Support Group—a cruel misnomer if ever there was one. Its chances of success were never good. Humanitarian aid to besieged towns was supposed to be the first part of the deal, followed by a “cessation of hostilities” within a week. There are some signs of the former—the UN announced an agreement with the regime on February 16th for access to seven towns, perhaps including air-drops into Deir al-Zor, a city largely held by Islamic State (IS). On February 17th some aid convoys began to roll out of Damascus. But there remains virtually no prospect of a ceasefire. Get our daily newsletter Upgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor's Picks. Nobody should be surprised, given the cheerful assertion by Sergei Lavrov, Russian’s foreign minister, that, despite signing the agreement, Russia would continue its air strikes against those it regards as “terrorists”. That is an elastic term. Jabhat al-Nusra (JAN), al-Qaeda’s powerful Syrian arm, fights alongside many other forces, both jihadist outfits and less extreme ones supported by the West, so Russia feels justified in bombing just about any rebels it chooses. Since Russia’s intervention at the end of September, supposedly to attack IS and JAN, the dynamics on the ground have been transformed. Once close to collapse, the regime of Bashar al-Assad is now confident of its survival and intent on regaining control of more territory. Pro-Assad forces are encircling the rebel-held parts of Aleppo, once Syria’s biggest city. Why should he and Mr Putin stop now? The only puzzle is what John Kerry, America’s secretary of state, thought he could achieve through his agreement with Mr Lavrov—except, perhaps, to expose Russian cynicism. As John McCain, the chairman of the Senate armed services committee, put it: “This is diplomacy in the service of military aggression. And it is working because we are letting it.” In the few days since the Munich agreement, the war has, if anything, widened and intensified. On February 15th nearly 50 civilians were killed when missiles hit rebel-held areas of Syria. At least 14 were killed in the northern town of Azaz when missiles hit two hospitals and a school where refugees were sheltering. Missiles also struck a hospital in Marat Numan, in Idlib province, south of Aleppo (see map). In all, five medical facilities were targeted. The UN condemned the attacks as a violation of international law. Turkey’s foreign ministry accused Russia of “an obvious war crime”. The animosity between Moscow and Ankara is further fuelled by the advance of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters under the umbrella of the PYD, the main Syrian Kurdish force. This had been America’s most reliable ally on the ground against IS. But now, aided by Russian planes and weapons deliveries, it is fighting in tacit alliance with Mr Assad’s regime. On February 2nd the SDF severed the corridor between Aleppo and the Turkish border that is critical for rebel supplies. On February 15th it seized control of Tel Rifaat, one of the first towns to rise up against Mr Assad, squeezing the “Azaz pocket”, a rebel bastion on the border with Turkey. The rush to Rojava The Kurds want to carve out a continuous autonomous area by linking up the two enclaves they control along Syria’s border with Turkey. In the recently opened PYD office in Moscow, there is a map of a future Syrian Kurdistan, called “Rojava”. It covers a lot of territory. Turkey is determined to stop the Kurds and has been shelling them for the past week. Its prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, says that Turkey “will not let Azaz fall” and threatens a “severe response” if the Kurdish-led forces try to take the town. Tens of thousands of refugees are flowing out of Aleppo, heading both north towards the Turkish border town, Kilis, and west into mainly rebel-held Idlib. The regime seems all too happy to let the city’s population flow out through its siege lines. Noah Bonsey of the International Crisis Group, a think-tank, believes that there is nothing indiscriminate about the bombing of civilian areas and infrastructure, including schools and hospitals. Both Aleppo’s main hospitals were systematically destroyed by Russian air strikes last week. The aim is twofold: to terrify civilians into leaving, so that even more ruthless tactics can be used against the fighters who remain; and to raise the price of resistance to the point at which communities will put pressure on fighters
position MP 348 MFLOPS 566 MFLOPS 767 MFLOPS 35.6% Primality 142 MFLOPS 231 MFLOPS 370 MFLOPS 60.3% Primality MP 260 MFLOPS 423 MFLOPS 676 MFLOPS 60.0% Sharpen Image 1.35 Mpixels/s 2.19 Mpixels/s 4.85 Mpixels/s 121% Sharpen Image MP 2.67 Mpixels/s 4.34 Mpixels/s 9.28 Mpixels/s 114% Blur Image 0.53 Mpixels/s 0.86 Mpixels/s 1.96 Mpixels/s 128% Blur Image MP 1.06 Mpixels/s 1.72 Mpixels/s 3.78 Mpixels/s 119% Average - - - 61.6% The FP tests for Geekbench 2 provide some very interesting data. While we saw consistent gains of 30 - 40% over our hypothetical 1.3GHz Cortex A9, Swift behaves much more unpredictably here. Let's see if we can make sense of it. The Mandlebrot benchmark simply renders iterations of the Mandlebrot set. Here there's a lot of floating point math (adds/muls) combined with a fair amount of branching as the algorithm determines whether or not values are contained within the Mandlebrot set. It's curious that we don't see huge performance scaling here. Obviously Swift is faster than the 800MHz Cortex A9 in Apple's A5, but if the A5 were clocked at the same 1.3GHz and scaled perfectly we only see a 9.6% increase in performance from the new architecture. The Cortex A9 only has a single issue port to its floating point hardware that's also shared by its load/store hardware - this data alone would normally indicate that nothing has changed here when it comes to Swift. That would be a bit premature though... The Dot Product test is simple enough, it computes the dot product of two FP vectors. Once again there are a lot of FP adds and muls here as the dot product is calculated. Overall performance gains are similarly timid if we scale up the Cortex A9's performance: 9 - 12% increase at the same frequency doesn't sound like a whole lot for a brand new architecture. The LU Decomposition tests factorize a 128 x 128 matrix into a product of two matrices. The sheer size of the source matrix guarantees that this test has to hit the 1MB L2 cache in both of the architectures that we're talking about. The math involved are once again FP adds/muls, but the big change here appears to be the size of the dataset. The performance scales up comparatively. The LU Decomposition tests show 35 - 40% gains over our hypothetical 1.3GHz Cortex A9. The Primality benchmarks perform the first few iterations of the Lucas-Lehmar test on a specific Mersenne number to determine whether or not it's prime. The math here is very heavy on FP adds, multiplies and sqrt functions. The data set shouldn't be large enough to require trips out to main memory, but we're seeing scaling that's even better than what we saw in the LU Decomposition tests. The Cortex A9 only has a single port for FP operations, it's very possible that Apple has added a second here in Swift. Why we wouldn't see similar speedups in the Mandlebrot and Dot Product tests however could boil down to the particular instruction mix used in the Primarily benchmark. The Geekbench folks also don't specify whether we're looking at FP32 or FP64 values, which could also be handled at different performance levels by the Swift architecture vs. Cortex A9. The next two tests show the biggest gains of the FP suite. Both the sharpen and blur tests apply a convolution filter to an image stored in memory. The application of the filter itself is a combination of matrix multiplies, adds, divides and branches. The size of the data set likely hits the data cache a good amount. We still haven't gained too much at this point. Simple FP operations don't see a huge improvement in performance over a perfectly scaled Cortex A9, while some others show tremendous gains. There seems to be a correlation with memory accesses which makes sense given what we know about Swift's memory performance. Improved memory performance also lends some credibility to the earlier theory about why integer performance goes up by so much: data cache access latency could be significantly improved.Much to the chagrin of the entire National Hockey League community, the Edmonton Oilers have had a top-10 draft pick every single year since 2007, and in that time they've picked first overall an absurd four times. It's so bad that the league's general managers are actively looking for a way to fix the problem. And as we were reading this story by our colleague Pat about those efforts by the GMs, we noticed the photo featuring a young man with mop-like hair, a nice orange tie and well-fitting suit. "Hey, he looks familiar. Wait a second. I know that kid." Well... OK, we don't really know him. But we feel like we do. And that's because over these last seven years, we've watched this little boy grow up from a young child to a young man. He's the son of team owner Daryl Katz, and been on stage for every top-10 pick the Oilers have made since 2009. Let's take a trip through Katz Jr.'s childhood. 2009: Oilers select Magnus Paajarvi 10th overall. 2010: Oilers select Taylor Hall first overall, and Little Katz didn't grow much since last year. 2011: Oilers select Ryan Nugent-Hopkins first overall, and heeeere comes the growth spurt! 2012: The year Katz Jr. got braces and also the Oilers picked Nail Yakupov first overall. 2013: Darnell Nurse selected seventh overall; Katz Jr. passes Gary Bettman in height. 2014: Leon Draisaitl picked third overall by Edmonton; Katz Jr. now tall enough to play in NHL. (Braces are gone!) 2015: Connor McDavid picked No. 1 overall, Katz Jr. is now basically an adult. 2016: Oilers select Jesse Puljujarvi fourth overall in the draft, and Katz, Jr. looks kind of tired of doing this every year. By the time the Oilers select first overall in the 2019 draft, Katz Jr. will probably be off to college and unavailable to pose in these draft photos. Until then, we look forward to his yearly check in at the 2017 NHL Draft in Chicago where the Oilers will (probably) again have a lottery pick. * * * photo credits: Getty Images, USA Today Sports ImagesThe Most Challenging & Dangerous Elephant Protection Operation When I was asked to come to Mali to train the new Anti-Poaching Brigade charged with protecting the last herd of West African desert elephants, I knew I would be learning as much as I would be teaching. I also knew that many people expected me to launch a war. Quite literally. This would be Mali’s first anti-poaching unit dedicated to protecting the elephants, and the first formal anti-poaching training for that country’s rangers and other armed services. Not only would we need to train the teams, but we would have to figure what “doctrine”, or combination of strategies, operations, tactics, skills and competencies would be most appropriate for the situation. That would mean first understanding the infrastructure, the ecosystem, the terrain, the needs and challenges of the different communities, the existing capabilities of the chosen protectors, the political will and available resources of the government and partners, and, of course, the threats, including all the different aspects of the poaching and trafficking business both locally and regionally. If that wasn’t enough of a hill to climb, we would have to take into account that the elephants themselves don’t behave as “normal” African elephants do, moving around within a well-defined conservation area. Instead, these herds go on an epic circular migration over the course of a year, through a range of over 32,000km2, across borders, through vastly different terrain and amongst completely different ethnicities, tribes and cultures. Finally, and just to make a stunningly daunting task seem absolutely impossible, we would have to deal with the fact that the country is recovering from a full blown war and in the grip of a long-running and worsening terrorist insurgency – with the elephant range being ground zero for this conflict. It is currently the United Nations’ most dangerous peace-keeping mission. In spite of all of this there was good news too. Great success had already achieved against all the odds in protecting the elephants and their habitat. This was the result of WILD Foundation’s ground-breaking and outstanding community conservation programme, the Mali Elephant Project. For eight years, under the directorship of Dr. Susan Canney of Oxford University and field manager, Nomba Ganame, the project had taken a different approach to protecting the elephants. Instead of trying to carve out and “fortify” areas that would be exclusive to the elephants, an impossible task in itself given the fact that elephants and communities had been co-existing and mingling since time immemorial, they realised that these elephants would only survive if they worked with the local people to ensure that co-existence continued. They also realised that this was possible because the communities associated elephants with healthy ecosystems and, therefore, their own well-being. Through the tragedy and chaos of recent times, it is easy to forget that this area has been known since ancient times for its love of wisdom. Timbuktu, at the Northern extreme of the area has been one of the greatest centres of learning and repositories of written wisdom in Africa. It is not for nothing that one of the first efforts made by the Jihadists, when they took control of Timbuktu in 2014, was to destroy the library of manuscripts that had been lovingly preserved and cared for over the ages. This ancient understanding of the people of “The Gourma”, that the elephant brings food, water and prosperity, is not built on myth, legend or children’s tales. It comes from a deep understanding of the ecosystem within which these people live. And it is upon this understanding and the work of the Mali Elephant Project that our anti-poaching law enforcement solutions and training have to be built. Looking at the training we have embarked upon, anyone would be forgiven for thinking that we are waging all-out war. Our teams are armed and often armoured. They are trained in military operations and tactics, in spotting IED’s and finding landmines, in combat tracking, interdiction and much more, and not only are they dressed as soldiers, but they are in actual fact military servicemen. All of the hardware and training however, is meant to protect not only the elephants and their habitat, but the rangers themselves and also the community from the extreme elements who wish to force them, through brutality, to give up their ancient culture and traditions. When the invading extremists took control of the region after the rebellion that followed the flood of fighters and weapons into the area after the fall of Ghadaffi in Libya, the elephant herds were immediately targeted. For the first three years the poaching was contained by the local community systems but in 2015, external trafficking networks aggressively targeted the elephant range at the same time as security deteriorated and 84 out of only a few hundred remaining were killed in just a year. Although the project has managed to bring down the rate of loss, the threat has continued and an intelligent and tailor made doctrine needs to be worked out and implemented through equipping anti-poaching units and getting them into the field on operations as quickly as possible. To protect the elephants, the greatest resource and most powerful weapon is the community. The rangers are taught proactive investigation methods which work harmoniously with the existing well-developed relationship that the Mali Elephant Project has built with the communities. A community that understands the importance of the elephants and experiences benefits to their health and happiness is only too happy to keep an eye out for poachers. The community can be an ally or an enemy and it all depends on how they are treated. Respect and understanding are the starting point and formed the basis of developing solutions that protected elephants and benefited local people. This type of community conservation then provides the foundation forgoing after the criminal elements using intelligence driven methods to build a clear picture of who exactly is doing the poaching. It is the only realistic long-term solution. Unfortunately, elephants don’t vote and therefore protecting them means demonstrating their importance to the health of the local environment and as a cornerstone of the community’s health and prosperity. Whilst assuring peace and security, rule of law, good governance and prosperity are crucially important, they are no more important than the people they aim to protect. There is much the world can learn from the people and the elephants of the Gourma. Learn more about the Mali Elephant Project, a program of the WILD Foundation & International Conservation Fund of CanadaIt wasn't the easiest thing in the world being in the same team as Brendon McCullum "Now you want to share space with me in the wickets column as well, I suppose?" © Getty Images This was supposed to be about Brendon McCullum: the Brendon McCullum I know. Well, you know what, I've written and talked so much about McCullum that this is going to be about me. I've had enough of Brendon, BMac, Mac, Macca, Baz, or whatever else you or I call him. He can take his chalk-like back, his over-tightened hamstrings, his gnarled, bent and busted fingers, his sleeve tattoos, his gymnastic physique, his good looks, his well-articulated pre- and post-match views, and move over. This is about me. Baz, you can take those quiet words of advice out in the middle during the battle, take the quiet hotel-bar conversations (where I might have just listened to you lot all talking, soaking it all in), and you can take all the net sessions where I feed your ego and let you pummel me to all parts. I'm sick of it. It's my time. Remember Adelaide in 2008, Brendon? I said I'd take the spinner, I'll shoulder the burden, and you can take the quicks. Can you remember that? "Baz, I'll deal with [Nathan] Hauritz. It's okay. I'll hide you from him. You take [Brett] Lee and [Mitchell] Johnson from the other end." "No, seriously, mate, it's okay, Hauritz is flying, he's just got Dan [Vettori] and Tim [Southee] out, I'll blunt him. You just hang about at the other end with me." Can you remember this, Baz? You oozed all the characteristics I wanted, did all the things I wanted to be able to be and do, and you appeared to not even have to try We put on 50 for the ninth wicket. It was great that you hung about with me. Can you remember when Lee put me on my backside with a bouncer? And he then proceeded to wander down and tell me he was going to - well, you know what he said. I didn't see you on your backside. I didn't see your batting whites, pads and gloves covered in red dust. You sat at the other end and showboated, run a ball, 43 of the 50-run partnership (the other 7 were extras). You reached another milestone, another fifty for you. Did I complain that I got a 54-minute duck (and might I add, I nicked it and was give out lbw)? Nope. It was all about your runs in our partnership. I'm sick of it. All about bloody you. You were even there for five of my six debuts. My first-class and List A debuts, you were in the opposition. My Test, ODI and T20I debuts, you were there alongside. You're there all the time. This is about me, not you. The only debut you weren't there for was my first domestic T20 outing. The first time we came across each other in T20s, you didn't last too long, did ya, Brendon? Just three balls from me and a top edge, caught, thanks. A footie genius, no doubt © Getty Images I remember breaking one of your fingers. A cold day at the Basin. A Test match. We were hosting the Bangladeshis. You were keeping and the ball was wobbling all over the place - that horrible wobble that happens after the ball is past the stumps. I was bowling quick, feeling great. I let one go, pitched a good length, bounced tall, past the edge, and wobbled through to you. Smashed into the end of one of your fingers and did some damage. You weren't even man enough to tell me - you just kept quiet and soldiered on. Didn't even make a fuss. Just gritted your teeth and got on with it. I didn't get any credit for it. All about you. I watched you and how you went about your business. You oozed all the characteristics I wanted, did all the things I wanted to be able to be and do, and you appeared to not even have to try. If you wanted to learn a new shot, you'd go away, you'd come back and you'd have it. No doubt you probably worked your bollocks off behind closed doors, worked tirelessly until you had it sorted. That was fine for you. Pfft, all about you. I was just trying to be good enough to keep my place. I was fretting over my position in the team. Can you remember sitting in the hotel bar in Nottingham, just after we had been beaten at Old Trafford and had driven across? I'd gone okay, busted my back bowling into that horrible wind, spent all my energy, and in a low moment was worried about maybe not playing the next Test, so I asked for your opinion. What kind of assurance, what kind of a message from a senior player was "Take it out of their hands. Make sure they can't drop you"? I mean that's really great advice, but what about me? I wanted you to tell me, "Nah, you did really good in that last Test, your spot is safe." It was all about you and you being all knowable and smart, being all prophetic. I just wanted some ego-boosting. Nope, all about you and the wisdom you just had to share. You know those double-hundreds, and that triple, Baz? Where was that when I was still playing? You've left me feeling horribly jealous of the guys who got to share those moments, those celebrations, with you Sometimes as a radio commentator you have to do a whole T20 by yourself. No other voice. There was a case like this last summer, at Edgbaston, Birmingham. All about me, for once. The whole BBC broadcast and just my voice. A chance to really own a broadcast, make it mine, showcase my talents. And guess what? Brendon Bloody McCullum makes it all about himself, again. He goes and equals his own previous best T20 score of 158. One hundred and fifty bloody eight. From just 64 balls. The highest score in the competition ever, and second best ever in all T20 history. Eleven bloody sixes and 13 damned fours. How is one person supposed to find enough words, have a vast enough lexicon, to describe that? Yeah, thanks for that Brendon. All about you. Again. And one more, while I'm here. You went and allowed the New Zealand team to just play. You went and gave them the freedom to play without fear. The way you had made a name for yourself. You didn't mould them into a squad of mini Bazes, you made them into better versions of themselves. How unselfish can you be? You went and shared all your experience, your ideas, and your feelings, and turned the team into almost world champions. Oh, wait. Hold on. Damn, you've done it again. I've gone and made this all about you. And you know what, it should be. What a player. What a guy. What a privilege it was to have shared memories with you and for you to have had an influence on my career. One thing I am disappointed about, though - you know those double-hundreds, and that triple, Baz? Where was that when I was still playing? You've left me feeling horribly jealous of the guys who got to share those moments, those celebrations, with you. I would have happily got a bottle of Sauv at the bar and had a glass and a half with you. You did leave me with one of the funniest things I've ever seen on a cricket park, though. Remember Daren Powell bowling to you - well, not quite bowling to you - in Napier? Oh, how we laughed… Former New Zealand fast bowler Iain O'Brien played 22 Tests in the second half of the 2000s © ESPN Sports Media Ltd.Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Tuesday said the Centre, Delhi government and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) should be held responsible for allowing his foundation to organise the World Culture Festival on the Yamuna floodplains in March 2016 — if any environmental damage was caused. “If, at all, any fine has to be levied, it should be levied on the Central and state governments and the NGT itself, for giving the permission. If the Yamuna was so fragile and pure, they should have stopped the World Culture Festival,” said Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in a statement issued on Tuesday. The tribunal had allowed the festival on March 11-13, 2016, saying that as the matter was ‘fait accompli’, they could not ban it. The three-day World Cultural Festival of Art of Living soon grabbed headlines for allegedly polluting and harming the ecosystems at the Yamuna floodplains. An interim environment compensation of Rs5 crore was imposed on the foundation for its alleged ‘environment damaging activities’ by the NGT while efforts were made to ascertain the exact cost of the damage. “World over, cultural programmes are held on riverbanks. The whole idea was to bring awareness to save the river. The Art of Living that has rejuvenated 27 rivers, planted 71 million trees, revived several ponds is being projected as destroying a dead river. What a joke,” said Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Even though the petitioner in the case and convener of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan, Manoj Misra, chose to reserve his comments on Tuesday, he had earlier said: “I have already stated in the petition submitted to the NGT that any activity on the Yamuna floodplains would be violating the green court’s earlier order and would prove detrimental to the floodplain.” “The Art of Living had obtained all the necessary permission including the NGT’s. The NGT had the application file for two months and they could have stopped it in the beginning. It defies all principles of natural justice that you give permissions and slap a fine for not violating any rules,” the statement read. An expert panel, headed by Shashi Shekhar, secretary of ministry of water resources, submitted a report to the NGT, stating that it would take more than Rs 42 crore and at least 10 years to rehabilitate the floodplain after the damage caused by the three-day festival in March 2016. “I invite all honest environmentalists to study the case and unveil the truth,” he said. First Published: Apr 18, 2017 17:12 ISTJewish Agenda Articles, Three Goals Of The New World Order Jews 3 GOALS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER JEWS By Brother Nathanael Kapner, Copyright 2008-2011 Articles May Be Reproduced Only With Authorship of Br Nathanael Kapner & Link To Real Jew News (SM) Please Help Support This Site! Or Send Your Contribution To: Brother Nathanael Kapner; PO Box 547; Priest River ID 83856 E-mail: [email protected] Sources: The World And Europe - A Hidden Agenda Behind A Hall Of Mirrors, Alexander Niles; The Empire Of “The City” - The Secret History Of British Financial Power, E.C. Knuth; EU And The Globalist Alliance, Fjordman; The Islamization of Europe and The European Union Here THE PROPAGANDA ARM of the New World Order is the Jewish-controlled major media. Here is the New World Order Jewish hierarchy: The Rothschild Banking Cartel: Jacob Rothschild is the pope. Ben Bernanke (Federal Reserve) and James D. Wolfensohn (World Bank) are the Cardinals. The Council Of Foreign Relations; Trilateral Commission; Bilderberg Group: Henry Kissinger, Alan Greenspan, Richard Perle, and Paul Wolfowitz are the Priests. Time, Newsweek, US News & World Report, Reuters (Rothschilds), The Economist (Rothschilds), CBS, NBC, ABC: Zuckerman of US News & World Report, Redstone (AKA Murray Rothstein of MTV/Viacom), Eisner of ABC, Tisch of CBS, Sarnoff of NBC, Murdoch of Fox News, are the Deacons. PLANNING A ONE WORLD GOVERMENT THERE ARE 3 SPHERES in which the NWO Jews have 3 specific goals: I. The Melt-Down Of National Borders: A) The invasion of illegals into the US. B) The invasion of Muslims throughout Christian Europe. C) The invasion of alien cultures into the Christian West. II. The Melt Down Of Financial Institutions: A) The dismantling of American Savings & Loan Banks in the 1990s caused by the Fed’s high-interest loans to the US government & forced low interest loans of the S&Ls. B) The dismantling of independent banks such as the recent takeover of Bear Stearns by JP Morgan and the Jewish-owned Federal Reserve Bank. (Bear Stearns was forced by the Fed to loan money to unqualified borrowers or be sued causing its collapse.) C) The dismantling of national banks by the Jewish International Finance Cartel run by the Rothschilds of London & France. III. The Melt-Down Of Christian Culture: A) The eradication of public Christian expression by the Jewish-run & funded ACLU in America through the Jewish-run US legal system. B) The eradication of Christian culture such as in Christian Kosovo wherein the Albanian Muslims of the drug-running KLA declared independence vis-a-vis sanction by the Jewish-run US State Department Here. C) The eradication of Christian political activity throughout the Western World vis-a-vis the Jewish lie known as “Separation Of Church & State” used in the Jewish-run American & European Courts. HOW DO WE STOP THE NEW WORLD ORDER JEWS? Here are 3 options: * Rent a spaceship and fly to another planet. * Get on a very slow boat to China. + Pray to the Lord Jesus Christ for a revival of Christianity in historic Christian regions: America - Europe - Balkans & The Middle East! Only Then Will The New World Order Jews Be Stopped! ___________________________________ For More See: “Putin Vs The New World Order Jews” Click Here And: “US State Department Is Run By Jews!” Click Here And:“The Jewish Conspiracy Behind The 1965 Open Immigration” Click Here CLICK: Brother Nathanael! Street Evangelist! Please Help Support This Site! Or Send Your Contribution To: Brother Nathanael Kapner; PO Box 547; Priest River ID 83856 E-mail: [email protected] 2007, when our first book hit the stores, I had never heard of celiac disease or gluten intolerance. In the past 7 years I’ve had quite an education on the subject. It all started here on the website. People were writing in to say they loved our method, but couldn’t eat wheat. There were many, many requests, so Jeff and I set off to develop recipes that fit our fast and easy method but used flours that were gluten-free. We’ve put gluten-free breads in all of our books since then, but they were just small chapters among a bunch of wheat filled recipes. It seemed unfair to the folks who couldn’t eat wheat to buy a book filled with recipes that didn’t suit their needs, so we decided to write a book for them. Last week Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day came out and we are thrilled to share the Master Recipe with you here. We’ve had great feedback from our original gluten-free recipes, but we wanted to simplify the method even more. That meant developing two flour mixes that all our recipes are based on, so you just have to mix the flour once for many loaves. You just mix up a big batch of our Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Mix and/or our Whole-Grain Gluten-Free Flour mix and you’ll be able to quickly mix and bake all 90 recipes in our book. (We’ve tried commercial flour mixes, but haven’t found one that is as tasty, nor do they produce as nice a texture. If you have a brand of GF flour that you like to use, give it a try, but you may need to make some adjustments, so we recommend making a small batch to make sure you like the results.) We also wanted to provide recipes that are mostly vegan (no eggs) and dairy free. Because eggs are a leavening ingredient, we do like the Master Recipe made with eggs for a lighter loaf. In fact, we find that the dough made with egg whites is the lightest of all the options. You can also use an egg substitute if you choose not to use eggs. And as always with our method, you save time by mixing a large batch and storing it in the refrigerator, pulling off dough to use as you need it. The following recipe is our Master Recipe from GFABin5 made with egg whites, but you can make the same recipe with whole eggs, egg substitutes or without any eggs at all. Gluten-Free Master Recipe from Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day on page 64, and the egg variation can be found on page 73). For a video of this recipe’s steps that’ll open in a new window, click here): 6 1/2 cups (2 pounds 3 ounces / 990 grams) flour mixture #1 from our book, which is reprinted at this link. We tested all our recipes with Bob’s Red Mill unblended flours, not their gluten-free flour mixtures. 1 tablespoon Red Star Active Dry or Quick Rise yeast (not Red Star Platinum, which isn’t gluten-free) 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons Kosher salt 2 tablespoons sugar or honey (we find that the gluten-free dough needs the sugar to brown nicely, although it is optional) 4 egg whites, plus enough warm water to equal 3 3/4 cups (*see picture below) – if you don’t want to use eggs, then just use 3 3/4 cups water. To mix the dough: *Put 4 egg whites in a large measuring cup, fill the cup with water until you have 3 3/4 cups liquid. In our GFABin5 we suggest using a Stand Mixer with the paddle attachment for the smoothest dough and ease of mixing. You can still do the mixing in a bucket or bowl, as we recommended in our past books, but it will take a bit more effort to get a really smooth dough. In a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, add the yeast to the flour mix #1. We tested all of the recipes with both Active and Quick Rise yeast from Red Star and find that they work equally well in our stored gluten-free dough. You can’t use their Platinum yeast, since it contains trace amounts of wheat, but we love it for our wheat breads. Add the Kosher salt to the flour mix. You can add more or less salt, depending on your preference. Blend all the dry ingredients for a few seconds. While the mixer is on low speed, slowly add all the liquid. Once all of the liquid is added to the mixer, turn it up to medium-high speed and let it blend for about 1 minute. The dough will look and feel like soft biscuit dough. Transfer the dough to a 4+ quart Food-Storage Container. The dough will rise some, but don’t expect it to double in size. Cover the container, but it shouldn’t be airtight. I poke a very small hole in the lid (you can see it in the exact center of the above lid) to allow the gas from the yeast to escape. If you don’t poke a hole… …then you will want to place the lid on the container, but don’t snap it all the way shut (see above photo). Don’t allow too much air to get into the bucket or the dough may dry out. Allow the dough to sit at room temperature for 2 hours. If your kitchen is cool, it may take 2 1/2 to 3 hours. You can use the dough after the initial rise or refrigerate the dough for about 5 days (10 if you don’t use eggs). When you are ready to bake, sprinkle some GF flour on a piece of parchment. Dust the surface of the dough with more flour. Scoop up a 1-pound piece of dough. Store the rest of the dough in the fridge for up to 5 days if using egg whites, or 10 days if you only used water. That’s where our method saves you time–all your subsequent loaves are made from pre-mixed, stored dough that will develop sourdough flavors as it ages. Unlike our wheat dough, this will not have any stretch when you lift it out, it will just break off. Place the dough on the parchment and shape it into a ball. It may not be smooth at this point. Using wet fingers, smooth out the surface of the dough. Creating a smooth surface also seems to help trap the gas from the yeast and improve the rise of the bread. Cover loosely with plastic and allow to rise for about an hour. If you are using fresh dough, then just 30 minutes. Preheat oven with a Baking Stone to 450°F. It is very important that your oven be hot enough, so use an oven thermometer to check the actual temperature. If you are using a thick Baking Stone, this can take 45 minutes or longer. Put a broiler tray on the bottom of the oven, which will be used to catch water to create steam in your oven. Once the dough is ready (it may not rise much while resting), dust it with more flour and slash the top with a serrated knife. Slide the loaf onto the preheated baking stone, add 1 cup water to broiler tray to create steam and quickly close the door. Bake the loaf for about 45 minutes or until nicely browned. Allow the loaf to cool to room temperature before cutting into it. The gluten-free bread will be quite gummy if you cut into it before it is totally cooled. Using a sharp serrated Bread Knife is the best for cutting this loaf. If you don’t finish the loaf in one or two days, wrap it well and freeze it for another time. It also makes wonderful toast the next morning, and you can use up the remaining dough over the next 5 days (if you used egg whites), or 10 days (if you only used water). See also our Gluten-Free Frequently-Asked Questions.Following days of speculation about whether or not he would return to rugby union or continue playing league for the Sydney Roosters, Sonny Bill Williams has this afternoon announced that he will be playing neither sport, and has instead signed a deal to play cricket with the Black Caps. In a statement sent to media just this afternoon, Williams said the decision had been an “extremely difficult one,” and was still weighing on him. He reaffirmed his passion for “fast-paced, intense contact sports, which, naturally, is what drew me to cricket.” Williams said he had first been inspired to play cricket a few years ago, when the New Zealand Cricket Board ran an advertising campaign with the slogan “Anything can happen.” “I mean, wow, the idea that anything can happen? That’s pretty neat,” he explained. “In rugby, we have rules, and they’re a bitch.” Black Caps coach Mike Hesson said Sonny Bill had been on the green playing cricket with the team “for days now,” and while he did not yet have a full grasp of all the rules, “or any of them, really,” he clearly had a passion for the game. “Well you have to understand that Sonny’s only been playing the game for – what? – two or three days now,” he said. “He still has to understand that the bat isn’t a weapon, and he’s not quite yet comfortable with the fact that he can’t tackle the wicket-keeper. But we’re confident that, with enough practice, he’ll be ready to play Bangladesh in a little over a week. “I think he just has to accept that, actually, the number of things that can happen is quite limited.” Williams’ sudden and unexpected career change follows his rejection last week of an offer to host the 2013 APEC summit.by Jess Camacho Tim Seeley is probably known more for his work in horror with “Hack/Slash” and “Revival”. This year, he and co-writer Tom King have been reinventing Dick Grayson in the pages of “Grayson” and Seeley has been a part of the much talked about “Batman Eternal”. Geeked Out Nation spoke to Seeley about his work on both Batman titles at this year’s New York Comic Con. Geeked Out Nation: So you’re three issues into Grayson at the time of this interview. This is really big departure for him, but it’s been really well received. I think fans are really excited about what you’re doing with him. There are always nerves when you release a new book but was this amplified a little more because of the direction you were going with Dick Grayson? Tim Seeley: I think there’s always a bit of hesitation when there’s any kind of change. The character has 75 years on him which is 40 more than I have [laughs]. Any sort of change is going to be greeted with a certain amount of fear. Stuff like ‘these people who are writing it are not worthy of this character’, which is totally understandable. So yeah the initial hesitations, we expected. Some of them were a little more angry than I expected but most of them were reasonable. You just have to say, wait and read the book. Tom and I knew that we didn’t screw up the character. We were completely confident that we had not messed up Dick Grayson. It was really about waiting, letting people read it and then saying we hope you liked it, we did
contains things from the blog, which is great for those of us who seem to be blind to the internet outside of goodreads. Maybe in 2015 I'll set myself some low reading goal for the year so I can focus more on catching up with this whole blogging craze. This will be a good time to do this, because I'm sure there will be something all new and exciting going on by then (or now) that I can be equally clueless about, but marvel at when it's released in book format.I don't think I've read any other humor books released this year, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is the best one. If not the actual best one, then the best one I've read.: I have borrowed this book from a friend, which is like getting it from Netgalley. I didn't pay to read it, and after a certain period of time it will no longer be in my possession, and I will have to get my own copy, or just leaf through it in a bookstore, or maybe a library, if I want to re-read it, or refer back to the book when three or four years from now someone decides to tell me that I'm not very clever or smart and that I was in fact wrong about finding this book funny, and then I'll feel the need to go back to the book to defend why I thought it was funny, which will be impossible because if someone doesn't find something funny it never adds improves the situation by describing to the person why something is funny. I've been amiss lately at adding necessary legal disclaimers to my reviews. It's almost safe to say (but not entirely true), that just about everything I've reviewed in the past few months was not purchased by me, and in most times not purchased by anyone. I'm certain this book has been purchased though. In the past six months I'm fairly certain that I have purchased 7 books, two of which I have read and one which I reviewed (favorably). I feel like I'm begging the question of, “what did you purchase, Greg?” It's not important.July 6, 2017 Press Statement The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement: The visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel marks a rupture in the long-held position of India which has viewed Israel as an occupying power of Palestinian territories. The announcement of a “strategic partnership” with Israel in the joint statement, which is a strategic alliance, amounts to a virtual abandonment of the Palestinian cause. This was reinforced by Modi not visiting Ramallah and the Palestinian Authority. Throughout the visit, the Indian Prime Minister did not say a word about India’s stand on the issue of a Palestinian State. The joint statement talks of cooperating to fight terrorism in all forms, when it is well known that as far as Israel is concerned, it is the Palestinian organisations fighting the occupation, who are labelled as terrorists. The BJP-led government’s alliance with Israel is a reflection of its pro-imperialist, Hindutva-oriented foreign policy. The CPI(M) demands that all security and military cooperation with Israel be ended forthwith.ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper has the Miami Dolphins taking Notre Dame offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley with the No. 8 overall pick. In his 2016 NFL Mock Draft 2.0, Kiper cites the Dolphins' need to protect quarterback Ryan Tannehill with "a potentially elite tackle." The 6-6, 315-pound Stanley played left tackle for the Fighting Irish, and was a consensus All-American last season. He helped pave the way for the Irish to average 471.5 yards per game, including 214.8 rushing. The Irish averaged 5.8 yards per carry, a modern school record. Stanley has been projected to be a top-10 pick in the NFL Draft for months. Stanley’s selection by the Dolphins at No. 8 could make sense because the offensive line remains a work in progress. But you view this possible selection with skepticism if Stanley can’t play guard. Here’s why: left tackle Branden Albert just made his second trip to the Pro Bowl. Right tackle Ja'Wuan James, a second-year player, has showed nothing but upside. While it’s true both Albert and James had injury-shortened seasons, the real weakness on the Dolphins’ offensive line is at right guard (Billy Turner) and left guard (Dallas Thomas) -- not at left tackle, right tackle or center, where three-time Pro Bowl selection Mike Pouncey plays. See who draft analysts have the Miami Dolphins taking with the 8th pick in the 2016 NFL Draft on April 28. So, there’s one school of thought that says if the Dolphins draft an OT at No. 8, he’d play RG or LG and eventually replace Albert. On the other hand, with so many holes to fill, you wonder if the Dolphins could afford to select a RG or LG in the first round while ignoring needs such as DE, CB or ILB. The first round of the three-day draft is on April 28th in Chicago.If I could meet you, I'll hug you so hard. I don't really know how to put it in words, but here goes..., these gifts, the gifts that you chosen. They are, for lack of a better word, perfect. I love Star Wars, you got me something for it. I love watches, you also got me a watch. I love playing around with photography and you bloody got me something for that too!! Everything you sent, they made me so happy. YOU make me so happy. I don't know how else to say it, I'm speechless I guess? Thank you SS. Thank you so much. I captioned the photos to let you know what I was thinking as I opened them. Whoever you are, I hope you have an awesome 2015.Time for me to move on... "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace." ... I think it's time for me to move on to other things which means I have to move on from pll and this blog. I wish you all good luck. Take care and thank you for sticking with me.A busty brunette says cops trampled on her God-given — and perfectly legal — right to flaunt what Mother Nature gave her when they arrested her for going topless in a Brooklyn park and forced her to cover up. Jessica Krigsman, 24, a burlesque dancer who performs a fire-eating bondage act under the name Nikki Talis, filed suit Tuesday against the NYPD and the two officers who arrested her in July 2012. Krigsman, of Gravesend, had taken off her shirt while relaxing on a bench in Calvert Vaux Park when the cops walked over and told her to cover up, according to her Brooklyn Supreme Court lawsuit. “She was minding her own business, sunbathing, and they approached her aggressively,” said Krigsman’s lawyer, Stuart Jacobs. “They asked for ID and told her to put on her shirt.” Krigsman told The Post Tuesday that she will continue to go topless in public. “I’m going to take my top off whenever I want,” she said in an interview at her Brooklyn apartment. “I just like the way the sun feels against my skin.” Krigsman, who has posted pictures of her body covered only in paint online, said she was flabbergasted that the cops were hassling her — because being topless outdoors in New York is legal. “I’m like, what? Haven’t you heard of People v. Santorelli?” Krigsman said she told the cops, citing the 1992 state Court of Appeals decision that a woman can be topless anywhere a man is allowed to be bare-chested. “This has been legal since the ’90s. Call your supervisor!” One of the cops told her to “stop mouthing off” and threatened her with arrest, court papers say. “The female cop picked up Jessica’s shirt and forced it onto her,” Jacobs said. “She didn’t resist in any way or fight in any way. They arrested her and cuffed her and took her to the precinct.” “The female cops hate to see topless women,” Krigsman explained. “The guys are always cool with it.” Krigsman said the officers added insult to injury when they shackled her with pink cuffs, then held her for five hours. She was eventually charged with “obstruction of a sitting area,” but the rap was dropped three months later, according to the suit. The female officer, who was identified as Colleen Canavan, was awarded “Cop of the Month” in 2008. On Krigsman’s Nikki Talis Facebook page, she is seen performing at the Mystic Circus Sideshow in Bushwick, where she stripteases and eats fire while straddling a man whose hands are tied and is bond to a chair. A description for the event reads: “Prepare to be strange, prepare to be altered! There will be nudity, blood, vulgarity and many other unspeakable things.” Krigsman dismissed puritans who don’t want to see her naked bosoms. Her suit seeks unspecified damages plus attorney fees. “People would say, ‘Well what about the children?’ ” Krigsman said. “Well, to that I say, ‘Where do you think they came from?’ ” Here is a video of Krigsman during one of her burlesque performances:National debt is running at £175,000 per household, five times more than thought, while each year the Government has passed 3,500 regulations, along with 100,000 pages of rules and explanation. 'The Rotten State of Britain' claims to be the first "deeply researched factual account" of Tony Blair's and Gordon Brown's time in office. The author Eammon Butler, a director of the leading think tank the Adam Smith Institute, claimed that his book had been turned down by two publishers because of the "unconventional" nature of the content. He said: "A new form of centralised government and authoritarian government has been created that is worse than ever in Britain's recent history." Among the claims in the book are that Britain has a quarter of the world's CCTV cameras, the largest of any country and that taxes have risen by 51 per cent since 1997. Mr Butler also claims national debt is running at £4.6 billion, or £175,000 per household, not £729 billion (£29,000 per household) as the Government claims. In the audit of 10 years of the Labour Government, Dr Butler says that there are now 1,406 litter wardens and dog catchers who have been given powers to levy on the spot fines. Dr Butler said he wrote the book because he got "so angry about the way that they have no concept of the rule of law". Dr Butler found that in just one year – 2006/7 – half of the 722,464 DNA samples collected by the police came from children, including a seven-month year old girl. One in nine hospital patients picks up an infection during their stay on a ward, while the total cost of outstanding claims against the NHS is £9.2 billion, Dr Butler claimed. He said that 30,000 of the 200,000 people who die of cancer and strokes each year would survive "if they lived anywhere else in northern Europe". Dr Butler also claimed in the book that the number of people receiving state benefits has risen from 17 million people in 1997 to 21 million people by 2007. He found that nearly six million families receive £16 billion-worth of child credit. Dr Butler said: "It's ridiculously high number of beneficiaries for something aimed to help the poorest." The result is that some families would be better off if the parents did not live together. He said: "Three-quarters of the poorest households would be better off splitting up. And when money is tight, that is exactly what happens."Ready to fight back? Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week. You will receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week. Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Support Progressive Journalism The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. Fight Back! Sign up for Take Action Now and we’ll send you three meaningful actions you can take each week. You will receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Sign up for Take Action Now and we’ll send you three meaningful actions you can take each week. Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue Travel With The Nation Be the first to hear about Nation Travels destinations, and explore the world with kindred spirits. Be the first to hear about Nation Travels destinations, and explore the world with kindred spirits. Sign up for our Wine Club today. Did you know you can support The Nation by drinking wine? A friend e-mailed me this morning, "Do you think events taking place in Wisconsin might be as important as what’s happening in Cairo, if the media really got the word out? Might it be the spark to halt the Tea Party Express?" Another friend e-mailed, "It’s possible that this labor strike in Wisconsin could become our Uncut." (In response to Britain’s draconian public spending cuts, citizens there formed UK Uncut, a Twitter-organized movement, to protest wealthy tax evaders. If the rich paid for their fair share of taxes, the movement argues, the pressure on the state budget would diminish or disappear.) Ad Policy Wisconsin’s Republican governor and Republican-dominated legislature are moving to destroy organized labor, moving to abolish democratic rights that were the essence of the New Deal, and treating working-class Americans as though they were meaningless in our country’s mosaic. Meanwhile, those who are responsible for the catastrophic financial crisis are riding high–and in the name of deficits they largely caused, they insist that those who worked a lifetime to build and own their homes, to send their children to public schools, to have security in their retirement years, to have decent medical care–that those citizens should pay the price for budgetary crises in honor, dignity and decency. There are some who still respect the contributions of working people: Contrast what Governor Walker is doing in Wisconsin with the constructive steps the new Democratic Governor of Connecticut, Dannel Malloy, is taking to address the same problems. But there are too many cheerleaders for fiscal austerity roaming our political landscape, abetted by a mindless mainstream media’s suffocating consensus. However, as the events in Cairo, and now Wisconsin, show us, this is a moment of extraordinary possibility. It is a time for global, nonviolent challenge to anti-democratic forces, wherever they may be–forces that have enriched themselves while promising stability based on coercion, suppression of rights and profound corruption. This remarkable moment is captured in a small book by Stéphane Hessel, a 93-year-old distinguished French diplomat, leader of the Resistance, survivor of Nazi concentration camps and drafter of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Published last October in France, Hessel’s "Indignez-Vous!" (which could be translated as "Get Angry!" or–my preference–"Time for Outrage!") and its message of resistance and nonviolence became a publishing phenomenon–unexpectedly reaching the top of France’s bestseller list and selling close to 2 million copies. We are proudly publishing Hessel’s 4,000-word manifesto in the next issue of The Nation. "Time for Outrage!" forces us to ask how we can look at today’s trends and not be angry. Hessel calls on the young, in France and around the world, to engage actively in defense of human and economic rights. His fervent advocacy of nonviolent activism captures the spirit of the revolutions in Tunisia and Cairo. It has also moved women marching in Italy to protest Silvio Berlusconi’s barbarism to display the book’s title on placards. It is a spirit that now animates brave and defiant workers, students and their allies all over the world. In rousing language, Hessel reminds us: "The motivation that underlay the Resistance was outrage. We, the veterans of the Resistance movements and the fighting forces of Free France, call on the younger generations to revive and carry forward the tradition of the Resistance and its ideas. We say to you: take over, keep going, get angry! Those in positions of political responsibility, economic power and intellectual authority, in fact our whole society, must not give up or let ourselves be overwhelmed by the current international dictatorship of the financial markets, which is such a threat to peace and democracy." There is a new spark in the world and in our country–lit by citizens of conscience resisting forces that would trample economic justice, decency and dignity. "To you who will create the twenty-first century, we say, from the bottom of our hearts, TO CREATE IS TO RESIST. TO RESIST IS TO CREATE." Stephane Hessel, October 2010MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — When 61-year-old Glen Turley lost his job as a coal company truck driver, he did what many people his age shudder to consider: He went back to school. Turley took advantage of free classes offered to laidoff miners and got certified as a HVAC technician. But as in many of the jobs taught at career centers in rural West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia, he doesn’t make nearly as much money as he once did. “There’s just no alternative to coal in the South that pays as well,” Turley said. “In the South, it’s dismal right now.” Thousands have lost their jobs in the coal industry, and free classes funded by federal money help only a fraction of them. Turley was let go in 2012 by a subsidiary of Alpha Natural Resources. He now works as a truck driving instructor and runs a side business — Turley Enterprises — doing HVAC work. He was making up to $21.50 per hour with Alpha; now he’s making “a little bit less than that.” Brett Dillon, a former coal miner, is director of the United Mine Workers of America’s West Virginia Career Center in Beckley. The center provides former coal workers with training in fields such as trucking and natural gas — an industry that has expanded rapidly as the federal government sought to curb carbon emission from coal-fired plants. The center has registered 500 former coal workers since 2012. Of that figure, Dillon said, “a good percentage have gone back to work,” without providing more specific figures. Much like similar programs in Virginia and Kentucky, funding comes through National Emergency Grants doled out through the Workforce Investment Act. West Virginia received more than $5 million for displaced mine workers in April, adding to $1.8 million it received in August 2012. When Christopher Armstrong, 22, lost his job as a coal company diesel mechanic, his mom nudged him toward the career center. He now has a Class A trucking license — a qualification he said helped him land a job as a mechanic with the city of Charleston. Armstrong used to make about $20 an hour, but now he tops out at $15 an hour. He said a lot of former coal workers are scared to think about a new career. “They say, ‘I’m going to have to go to school to go into a whole other field that I don’t even know about?’ They’d rather just go back to the mines,” he said. James Douglas Beverly, 30, of Hazard, Ky., worked in a TECO Energy coal mine for nearly five years after leaving the Coast Guard. The money was great, he said — $1,000 per week. With a small child and a wife working at a convenience store, he knew he couldn’t afford to be unemployed. So when he was laid off, he took emergency medical training classes on his own dime and eventually got work as an EMT. The pay was much less — $700 every two weeks — but it was better than nothing. This year, he heard about a coal miner re-education program that’s part of the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program. It’s an NEG-funded program much like West Virginia’s career center. Beverly is still an EMT, but now, in his spare time, he’s taking free classes to work on electrical power lines. Once he graduates, he said he’ll be in line for jobs that pays comparably to his old job in the coal mine. According to the program, eastern Kentucky has lost a total of 8,000 coal jobs since 2009; as of June this year, the organization had helped about 900 find new jobs. Beverly hopes his laid off former co-workers will find new careers. “There are jobs outside the coal mine,” he says. “You might have to jump through some hoops and take some classes to get them. But you can find a new field.”We already know that the new cantina music in Star Wars: The Force Awakens is written in part by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, but what if another rapper had got involved, say, the Notorious B.I.G.? It's a better fit than you might think, as this mash-up album of Star Wars music and Biggie lyrics proves. From The Imperial March to the Binary Sunset The album — titled Life After Death Star — was put together by nerdcore rapper Richie Branson and producer Solar Slim (collectively known as the Otaku Gang), and features all the expected refrains from John Williams' famous score. "The Imperial March" provides a spot-on backing for Biggie's posthumously-released "Dead Wrong," while the "Binary Sunset" theme (you know, that soaring one that plays when Luke is looking all folorn at Tatooine's twin suns) sits happily underneath the business advice of "Ten Crack Commandments." The best tune on the album, however, is easily the remix of "Party and Bullshit" set to a surprisingly slow and chopped-up version of the original cantina theme. After all, the Mos Eisley Cantina is a well-know hive of scum and villainy, so more than a few of its patrons will relate to lyrics like: "I was a terror since the public school era."Hawaii has a couple more days until the team kicks off the college football season against California in Sydney, Australia, but it's already been a memorable trip for the Rainbow Warriors' Ryan Tuiasoa. The redshirt junior running back, who came to the program as a walk-on, was surprised with a scholarship during the team's visit to Taronga Zoo in Sydney. Watch RB Ryan Tuiasoa get more than just a close-up of a koala at Sydney's Taronga Zoo, he received a scholarship! pic.twitter.com/b6Y9zf0gLN — Hawaii Football (@HawaiiFootball) August 25, 2016 MORE: Ball State walk-on gets surprised with scholarship during 'game show' Right after getting up close and personal with one of the zoo's koalas and posing for a picture, Tuiasoa was handed a piece of paper by one of the facility's workers. Caught off guard, Tuiasoa read the paper out loud as his teammates and him celebrated the scholarship announcement. RELATED: Notre Dame surprises walk-on with scholarship Making the moment even more special, the video shows Tuiasoa telling his family, who was on hand, the news as they shared hugs. That's one way to get a little extra motivation heading into the new season.Yesterday the United Nations moved to complete the promise of November 29, 1947. My friend, Rabbi Hillel Levine, brought this message home in a letter to a Palestinian-American friend. I share it with you, with modest edits and his permission, with great respect for the subtlety with which a great mind approaches this complicated issue: Dear S: What should I say to my dearest Palestinian friend? Mazal Tov? You are not only a man with many Jewish friends but in your own contemplative and dignified way, you are a friend of the Jewish people, understanding their strivings, vulnerabilities, and pretensions that cannot always be brought into balance. You know that wishing someone "good luck" is a diversion from hard effort but also a residual category for taking into account the failures of all sorts of good intentions. So, S, let it be, indeed, Mazal Tov! Let's dance a hora with feet kicking, together in a circle and let's turn it into a debka, as well, swinging from side to side but with steps moving forward with determination. Let's think of the tragedies that we have faced and let's rejoice in the hope and trust that we still can promulgate and share. Without getting into the details of the strained relations expressed in the prelude to any Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that are attempted, lets consider how appropriate it was of Palestinian leaders to choose November 29th for their appeal to the UN for recognition and dignity. And lets recognize how deaf many Jews must be not to hear in yesterday's political drama the earnest acknowledgement of your people that 65 years ago, when the insoluble problem of countervailing claims that could not be settled by any principles of justice and equity finally were placed on the table, that they could not partake in opting for compromise. After much bloodshed, exile, and suffering on all sides, we are back at the same point. Among the first words that every Jewish school child for millennia studied, particularly those like the "Settlers," who study the Talmud, is the following: "Two people who are grabbing to possess the same garment. One says, "It is all mine," and the other says, "It is all mine." The Talmud makes clear what the solution should be, without any sentimentality nor equivocation: "Yahloku, they should divide it." Pious Jews, from ancient times on, not only recited but enacted the principle through the laws of Jubilee, "The earth is the Lord's." We must now transform dance and drama and religious thinking into facts on the ground. I look forward to walking with you through the Israel and Palestine liberated from the destruction and self-destruction that the last 65 years have imposed on our peoples. Yesterday, I wrote your cousin Z, to whom you were so kind to introduce me, that I would love to meet with him in New York, as I think he said he would be, or better yet, in Boston with you joining us. I hope that this will happen. As always, HillelHead for the hills! Shake Shack is proud to announce that it will open in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens Thursday, May 26th at 11AM. Shake Shack, which started as a hot dog cart in Madison Square Park, is thrilled to head over the Queensboro Bridge and join a growing, vibrant community. Home is where the Shack is. Shake Shack is a modern day “roadside” burger stand known for its 100% all-natural, antibiotic-free Angus beef burgers, chicken (no hormones added ever), flat-top dogs, frozen custard, crinkle cut fries, beer and wine and more. With its fresh, simple, high-quality food at a great value, Shake Shack is a fun and lively community gathering place with widespread appeal. Following in the footsteps of its Queens Shack predecessors (Queens Center, John F. Kennedy Airport and Citi Field), the Forest Hills Shack will be serving up the Shake Shack classics. Additionally, the menu will feature three frozen custard concretes spun just for the new hood: Queens Bee (vanilla custard, marshmallow sauce, Liddabit Sweets honeycomb candy and strawberry purée), Hill of Beans (vanilla custard, Stumptown coffee beans, salted caramel sauce, chocolate truffle cookie dough and chocolate sprinkles) and the Austin Street Treat (chocolate custard, peanut butter sauce, sugar cone cookie and banana). In addition to Brooklyn Brewery ShackMeister® Ale, guests can kick back with a selection of local craft beer from Blue Point, Captain Lawrence, Ithaca Beer Co. and a rotating cast of seasonal beers. The Forest Hills Shack will also be pouring the Shack-exclusive Shack Red® and Shack White® wine from Frog’s Leap Winery, plus half bottles of Minetto Prosecco, Seghesio Zinfandel Sonoma and Adelsheim Pinot Gris. As part of Shake Shack’s mission to Stand For Something Good®, Shake Shack will donate five percent of sales from the Austin Street Treat to Queens Community House, providing essential social services to youth, families and seniors in Queens. “Queens Community House is thrilled to partner with Shake Shack on its new Austin Street location,” said Executive Director Ben Thomases. “For 40 years, we have been working to strengthen neighborhoods and bring special opportunities to children,youth, families and older adults within the borough. This partnership will allow us to help even more of our borough’s residents. You can have something delicious and help those in need in your community at the same time.” The team will also volunteer with the organization at local events. Talk about sweet! In keeping with Shake Shack’s signature community-oriented design, tabletops are made in New York City by CounterEvolution from reclaimed bowling alley lanes. The Shack’s chairs are designed in Brooklyn by Uhuru and walls are clad in reclaimed local barnwood.Outside of alcohol, there's no category in sports marketing that's as competitive as the insurance industry. Wisconsin-based American Family Insurance is hoping to raise its profile among the big players in the business by signing two of the biggest names in sports: Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant and Houston Texans defensive end J.J Watt. The company partly picked the two players because of their stellar reputations, said Telisa Yancy, the vice president of marketing for AFI. "When you compete in such a crowded space, you can either join the crowd or pave your own road," Yancy said. "We seek authenticity and people that are genuine because customers, in their moment of truth, when they have to use insurance, are seeking that." In addition to his on-court success, Durant is lauded for his humble disposition and became even more marketable after he paid tribute to his mother during his MVP acceptance speech last season. In the past year, Durant's agency, Roc Nation Sports, has signed its client to renewals with Nike, BBVA Compass and Sprint and added new deals as well (Sparkling Ice, Orange Leaf and Sonic). With 13 endorsement deals, he now has among the most, if not the most, in all of sports. Watt, who had 20.5 sacks and five touchdowns this season, is known for going above and beyond in the community. The deal will have a component that will tie into his charity. Watt is the second former University of Wisconsin star to join the company's roster; AFI's deal with Russell Wilson just expired. AFI, which ranks 10th in the country in total premiums collected among insurance companies, partly because they insure in only 19 states, has used sports in recent years to enhance its image. The company did deals with the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers. The latter was an interesting move since their logo is on the press conference banner behind Aaron Rodgers, who is competitor State Farm's biggest endorser. State Farm is also running ads with Chris Paul, Stephen Curry and John Stockton. Geico has put its money into former Cincinnati Bengals running back Ickey Woods and Progressive signed LeBron James a couple of months ago.In early June, the Environmental Protection Agency will launch the most determined assault on American business since the 1970's when they unveil new regulations governing the release of carbon dioxide by power plants. The new regs are ostensibly aimed primarily at coal-fired power plants. But similar regulations are in the works that will impact dozens of industries and tens of millions of consumers who will see their electric bills skyrocket (as promised by candidate Obama). The new regulations may also mean the virtual death of the coal industry, already hit hard by other EPA regs, costing tens of thousands of jobs. Once published, the EPA will ask for comments on the new regs, looking at the summer of 2015 for the rules to become final. There will also be legal challenges to be overcome. But with the Supreme Court already having ruled that CO2 is a "poison" and the EPA can legally regulate it, any challenge to the regulations faces an uphill climb. Politico: The move could produce a dramatic makeover of the power industry, shifting it away from coal-burning plants toward natural gas, solar and wind. While this is the big move environmentalists have been yearning for, it also has major political implications in November for a president already under fire for what the GOP is branding a job-killing “War on Coal,” and promises to be an election issue in energy-producing states such as West Virginia, Kentucky and Louisiana. The EPA’s proposed rule is aimed at scaling back carbon emissions from existing power plants, the nation’s largest source of greenhouse gases. It’s scheduled for a public rollout June 2, after months of efforts by the administration to publicize the mounting scientific evidence that rising seas, melting glaciers and worsening storms pose a danger to human society. “This rule is the most significant climate action this administration will take,” said Kyle Aarons at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, one of a host of groups awaiting the rule’s release. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) has urged the EPA to “go ahead boldly” with the rule, saying the agency must step in where Congress has refused to act. But for coal country, the rule is yet another indignity for an industry already facing a wave of power plant shutdowns amid hostile market forces and a series of separate EPA air regulations. Coal-state Democrats like West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin have joined the criticism, echoing industry warnings that the fossil fuel was crucial to keeping the lights on in much of the U.S. during this past brutal winter. “You have another polar vortex next year, how many people will lose their lives?” Manchin asked at a POLITICO energy policy forum Tuesday. Manchin may or may not have a point. Certainly, coal fired plants will find it too expensive to operate, thus reducing the amount of electricity generated in the US. But it's unclear whether there will be any actual shortages due to this loss of capacity as other plants can increase their output. Of course, all of this means much higher electric costs that will be passed on to the consumer. The EPA insists that coal and carbon regulation can co-exist: Despite opponents’ warnings that the rule will be a death sentence for coal-fired power, EPA leaders have been adamant that they’ll offer states ample “flexibility” to devise their own ways to cut carbon. Some states may join regional cap-and-trade networks, similar to an existing Northeastern compact that has co-existed with coal plants for years. Others could push for investments in wind and solar power, or in energy efficiency programs that help homeowners and businesses reduce their demand for electricity. The rule, set to become final in mid-2015, would apply to the nation’s thousands of coal and natural gas-fired power plants. But coal — the cheapest, dirtiest and most abundant fossil fuel — would bear the heaviest burden. That means its impact could be greatest in states like Kentucky, a major coal producer that gets as much as 90 percent of its power from the fuel — and which as recently as 2010 had the country’s lowest electricity prices. It’s also a crucial state in the 2014 Senate electoral calendar. All of this because the administration has determined that climate change is impacting the US now and cutting emissions will somehow save us. If we're that close to destruction, it's already far too late to reverse or slow down the warming process. Besides, there is no evidence that any of these regulations will reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by one, single molecule. That's because China and India -- who will be constructing dozens of new coal fired plants over the next few years -- will more than make up for any reduction in CO2 emissions from the US. The coal industry is still years away from any kind of clean burning process that would take most of the CO2 out of emissions. By that time, there probably won't be much call for coal as an energy source anyway.[np_storybar title=”What we know so far” link=””] Five people are dead and about 40 are injured. An armed attacker was shot dead by police after he fatally stabbed an officer. Two more victims were killed when a vehicle mowed them down on Westminster Bridge. PM Theresa May was at Parliament during the attack, but she is safe. [/np_storybar] LONDON — A knife-wielding man went on a deadly rampage in the heart of Britain’s seat of power Wednesday, plowing a car into pedestrians on London’s Westminster Bridge before stabbing a police officer to death inside the gates of Parliament. Five people were killed, including the assailant, and 40 others were injured in what Prime Minister Theresa May condemned as a “sick and depraved terrorist attack.” Lawmakers, lords, staff and visitors were locked down after the man was shot by police within the perimeter of Parliament, just metres from entrances to the building itself and in the shadow of the iconic Big Ben clock tower. He died, as did three pedestrians on the bridge, and the police officer. A doctor who treated the wounded from the bridge said some had “catastrophic” injuries. Three police officers, several French teenagers on a school trip and two Romanian tourists were among the casualties. Police said they were treating the attack as terrorism. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Metropolitan Police counterterrorism chief Mark Rowley said police believed there was only one attacker, “but it would be foolish to be overconfident early on.” He said an unarmed policeman, three civilians and the attacker died. Forty others, including three police officers, were injured. Islamic extremism was suspected in the attack, Rowley said, adding that authorities believe they know the assailant’s identity but would not reveal it
, immediately broadening the range of coverage, especially in North America. Houston left in 1977 to work on morning newspapers in Canada. This prompted the appointment of perhaps BN's greatest Editor of recent years, Harry Mullan. Circulation increased exponentially during the Mullan years, which doubled as a time of great change in the boxing world. Most notable new developments were the proliferation of 'world' titles and the increase in the number of major British promoters. Mullan was fiercely principled and tremendously well respected in the boxing fraternity. When Mullan left in October 1996, he was given this glowing tribute from then BN Publisher Peter Kravitz: "His writing stands comparison with the Lieblings, Hausers and Mailers of this century of boxing." Assistant Editor Claude Abrams succeeded Mullan in November 1996. Boxing News was redesigned and switched to a full-colour format and become more extensive in content. In March 1999 the paper went to A3 size before reverting to A4, and increasing in size to 48 pages (from 24) in September 2005. The magazine remained the main trade paper in Britain. Abrams left BN – after 22 years – in December 2009, just three months after the publication celebrated its centenary, and was succeeded as editor by Tris Dixon. Tris left the magazine in December 2014, with Matt Christie taking over as editor.The AFL advises it has been kept informed by the North Melbourne FC of its plans around selection for this weekend's round 23 match against Richmond. Under the AFL Rules, as detailed earlier this week, North Melbourne is entitled to consider the management of injury and fatigue for its players before the upcoming Toyota AFL Finals series. The rule states that: Clubs must at all times perform honestly and to the best of their ability in the pursuit only of legitimate competitive objectives. For the avoidance of doubt "legitimate competitive objective" includes the development of the team or players or management of player fatigue or injuries but does not include improving a Club’s draft position, improving a Club’s position with respect to a potential Player exchange or manipulating a Club’s position on the ladder for the purpose of improving its draw within the Finals Series. It was the AFL's view that the North Melbourne side, having had consecutive six-day breaks, was legitimately managing the fatigue and injury status for their players ahead of the finals next week. The objective facts and possible combinations of results over the weekend indicate that the club does not have an incentive to lose tomorrow night to manipulate its draw in the finals. As such, the AFL is satisfied North Melbourne's team selection decisions are in pursuit of legitimate competitive objectives.Thracian culture is one of the mysterious parts of Slavic Balkan state Bulgaria. Thracian’s culture was famous for it’s amazing amount of golden relics, artifacts and artistically rich remains they left. This time the famous and very valuable Thracian gold was exhibited in a Moscow Museum where visitors could learn about Thracian culture, it’s impact on Bulgarian Slavic culture and naturally were all history enthusiasts could enjoy researching how once famous culture looked like! via(source) [divider] Bulgaria as a country has a Slavic culture that has long had strong ties to Russia, both linguistic to cultural from their shared Slavic roots and their Orthodox Christian heritage. This was a cultural exchange, made in cooperation between Russian and Bulgarian ministries of culture and as such it has resulted in the arrival of the Ancient Thrace exhibit in the State Historical Museum. More so as the culture of Ancient Thrace is completely alien to modern Bulgaria and Russia. Ambassador Boiko Kotsev of Bulgaria has described these artifacts as “a unique exhibit, a pearl of European and world art.” Many scholars generally use phrase “Ancient Thrace” to describe the dominant culture of Balkans between about 500 B.C. and A.D. 100, more precisely in the territory corresponding to present-day Bulgaria and Romania. photos by Vladimir Filonov / MTPittsburgh Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell is facing a four-game suspension for a violation of the NFL's drug policy, sources told ESPN's Dan Graziano. The suspension is the result of missed drug tests, not a failed one, sources said. The appeals process is ongoing, which is why the suspension hasn't been announced. No date for Bell's appeal has been set, though it's expected that it will be heard before the regular season. If it isn't overturned, Bell would miss the first four games of the season. According to the NFL's substance-abuse policy, a player must miss multiple drug tests before he would be subject to a suspension. Bell was suspended for the first three games of 2015, which was later reduced to two games, for a violation of the NFL's substance abuse policy after he was arrested on charges of marijuana possession and DUI in the summer of 2014. Since Bell entered the league, his 119 yards per game from scrimmage leads all players. He caught 83 passes for 854 yards two years ago to go with his 1,361 rushing yards. Despite Bell's potential absence, the Steelers remain second favorites to win Super Bowl, along with the Green Bay Packers, behind only the New England Patriots (13/2) at Westgate SuperBook. The Bell news did not cause any changes to Steelers' Super Bowl odds, per Jeff Sherman of the SuperBook. Information from ESPN's David Purdum was used in this report."Spartacus: Vengeance" Beats "Game of Thrones" as Deadliest TV Series Posted: May 23rd, 2012 by WorstPreviews.com Staff FuneralWise examined forty TV series in which death is common, and found out that "Spartacus: Vengeance" easily has the largest body-count with an average of 25 dead bodies per episode. Taking second place is "Game of Thrones" with 13 deaths. Shows with non-human characters were also looked at and numbers show that "The Vampire Diaries" tends to kill 18 vampires per episode, topping "The Walking Dead," which eliminates 16 zombies. Both kill only one person per episode. Out of all the shows studied, "Revenge," "White Collar" and "Leverage" were the safest with zero humans and non-humans killed each episode. Check out the full list below. * Spartacus: Vengeance - Human (25), Non-Human (0) * Games of Thrones - Human (13), Non-Human (0) * Nikita - Human (9), Non-Human (0) * NCIS Los Angeles - Human (6), Non-Human (0) * Criminal Minds - Human (5), Non-Human (0) * Alcatraz - Human (4), Non-Human (0)) * Breaking Bad - Human (4), Non-Human (0) * CSI - Human (4), Non-Human (0) * Homeland - Human (4), Non-Human (0) * CSI Miami - Human (3), Non-Human (0) * Person of Interest - Human (3), Non-Human (0) * Rizzoli and Isles - Human (3), Non-Human (0) * Dexter - Human (3), Non-Human (0) * Fringe - Human (3), Non-Human (1) * Supernatural - Human (3), Non-Human (1) * Body of Proof - Human (3), Non-Human (0) * Justified - Human (3), Non-Human (0) * Southland - Human (3), Non-Human (0) * True Blood - Human (3), Non-Human (1) * NCIS - Human (2), Non-Human (0) * Boardwalk Empire - Human (2), Non-Human (0) * Hawaii Five-O - Human (2), Non-Human (0) * Castle - Human (2), Non-Human (0) * Unforgettable - Human (2), Non-Human (0) * Blue Bloods - Human (2), Non-Human (0) * CSI New York - Human (2), Non-Human (0) * In Plain Sight - Human (2), Non-Human (0) * Grimm - Human (2), Non-Human (1) * The Mentalist - Human (2), Non-Human (0) * Law and Order: SVU - Human (2), Non-Human (0) * Covert Affairs - Human (1), Non-Human (0) * The Closer - Human (1), Non-Human (0) * The Vampire Diaries - Human (1), Non-Human (18) * Bones - Human (1), Non-Human (0) * The Walking Dead - Human (1), Non-Human (16) * Burn Notice - Human (1), Non-Human (0) * Flashpoint - Human (1), Non-Human (0) * Revenge - Human (0), Non-Human (0) * White Collar - Human (0), Non-Human (0) * Leverage - Human (0), Non-Human (0) Source: FuneralWise You must be registered to post comments. Login or Register Displaying 33 comment(s) Profanity: Turn On Bullit writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 4:40:53 AM At least there is a plot, a story in Games of Thrones. Spartacus is just gory with no story: everything was said in Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece. trailertrash writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 6:33:42 AM Out of all those shows i've only ever seen the Walking Dead. Bullit Kubrick's Spartacus is the mutts and one of those films everyone should see at least once. Rambo writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 6:46:05 AM tried to watch the first episode of game of thrones...what a pile of crap.. Cinemaisdead writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 8:10:33 AM Rambo- No... just no!! How can you say that, Game of Thrones is one of the best shows on TV at the moment, probably one of the best fantasy shows of all time. What don't you like about it? The well written dialogue, the sexy naked prostitutes who get f*cked at least once an episode or the unpredictable story lines? bandolero999 writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 8:29:10 AM Nobody ever talks about Kirk Douglas Spartacus anymore. Before Gladiator and Braveheart Bullit writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 9:03:54 AM ^ ^ I just did mate. @Trailer: Yes mate, I saw that film many times and still have the same thrill. But my fav Kubrick's film is definitely BARRY LYNDON. I regret that I didn't read the book before but still, a brilliant adaption onto a screen. He used a camera lens borrowed from NASA in order to catch the candles's light during the game c Bullit writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 9:04:45 AM *during the cards game scene. Bullit writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 9:05:40 AM And what cinema said. bandolero999 writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 9:29:23 AM yea besides you guys. trailertrash writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 11:21:54 AM Bullit That movie the Vikings were always watched in our house as kids, Great films My favorite Kubrick movie stars Kurt Douglas during WW1 Paths Of Glory. Mate that is a really,really good movie. It's a little bit war action then it ends in a courtroom where the general tries to court marshall 3 of the men who wouldn't carry out the suicide mission for his own gains. Douglas is Awesome!! His best role EVER track it down and watch it if you haven't seen it. Rambo writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 11:29:31 AM @cinema recommend me a title of a good episode and I might give it another chance Bullit writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 11:48:43 AM @trailer: Yes mate, The Vikings, probably the best film ever made about it. About the The Paths of glory, did you know that it was banned in France until...the 90's? The Military took it as an insult and a serious matter of State. Bloody hypocrits, everybody knew since WWI that they were sending the French young troops in too many suicidal missions: men against bombs with no artillery back up. Yes, that film was forbidden for 40 years just for telling the truth. Needeless to say that I've seen many times all the 12 films he made. Cheers mate. Blank x25 writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 12:39:33 PM @Cinema - don't waste your time. All Rambo can ever come up with is "that sucked", or "what a pile of crap". If he isn't smart enough to realize you need to watch these shows in order, he will never comprehend television for adults. Him telling you to just name a random episode shows he doesn't understand continuity,story, and/or narrative. It really blows my mind how f*cking stupid and clueless some people are. Oh, and Game of Thrones is boss. Definitely lives up to that 9.4 on imdb right now. Now let the sophomore insults fly. Rambo writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 1:26:20 PM ^what a pile of crap...that sucked!!! billofill writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 1:53:36 PM A good episode title of Game of Thrones, lets see. UM THE FIRST ONE you hated, was great. The Last 3 episodes of Season 1 GREAT. kBob writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 2:15:33 PM Game of Thrones (tv series) is a great adaption, but read the novels from which the show is based off of. Song of Ice and Fire. They're quick reads and never fail to captivate. Dre-EL writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 2:25:17 PM yea cause this is something I was dying to know minkowski writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 3:39:29 PM People actually watch medieval fantasy television? Really? No offense, but...why? What ever int he world do you get from a show like that? Swords and sandals sh*t? Guess it's a hit because it's filmed in Ireland. Must be a national loyalty thing. Bullit writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 3:49:43 PM ^ ^ "the sexy naked prostitutes who get f*cked at least once an episode" There's your answer. Plus, the casting is mostly British with the english accent. Enough to make me going on top of all the other utterly useless shows. It's all about culture really...but no offense buddy, it's just, you know, the education we received & the inheritance we have to manage & update in our daily lives. At some points, we got bored with Eastenders... minkowski writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 3:56:15 PM Ah, so I was somewhat right. Well, I guess that's cool. Don't watch television really. Never got the appeal. Lots of hours staring at a stupid glass screen and rainbow-hued pixels, or phosphor dots. Whatever. Throw in some murderous robots and maybe I'll watch. Dekead writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 5:03:44 PM Yeah, there are people being paid to do this kind of stuff? Doing body counts and Avengers screen times? Cinemaisdead writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 6:10:05 PM minkowski- You don't like Lord of The Rings either do ya I remember you saying before? I love Game of Thrones just as much as any other dramatic film cause even though its fantasy the way they act is still pretty human. Also with shows you get more character development. I'm actually getting more in to tv now days with shows with bigger budgets. Dexter was amazing, Breaking Bad was one of the best things I've ever seen. None of the tension I experienced in those shows would work in film format unless they made sequels but even that wouldn't be enough time. Game of Thrones is good because even though obviously its fantasy, I care about the characters, I hate the bad guys and I want people to f*ck sh*t up. That's enough for me to stream it online every week. Cinemaisdead writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 6:12:39 PM And Rambo- watch episodes 2 and 3 and see if you get in to it, if not give up it wont make any sense watching random episodes. trailertrash writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 6:15:17 PM Bullit I didn't know that about the movie being banned in France for all those years. Doesn't suprise me, It didn't show them in a very good light. Cheers for the info bud..... trailertrash writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 6:16:19 PM Rambo - lol, Touche...... GIST writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 8:26:00 PM Did you know? Jack Gleeson who plays Prince Joffrey in Games of Thrones, is naturally is a f*ckin' prick in real life? minkowski writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 8:36:03 PM Well goddamn it, I guess I'll just have to pirate a few GoT eps then, because Cinema, who isn't easily impressed, has totally f*cking convinced me. Damn. sh*t. f*ck. No, seriously, I'll give it a shot. GIST writes: on May 23rd, 2012 at 10:18:52 PM Give it a shot Mink. It'd be Interesting to get your feedback on the show. Zeroguy writes: on May 24th, 2012 at 12:04:31 AM Game of Thrones is way more entertaining, compelling and smarter. Spartacus is just jerkoff fodder. Johnnyb writes: on May 24th, 2012 at 4:18:48 AM How about the sexual tv series of all the time category? I think Murphy's series will win all!!!!! seveltoto writes: on November 3rd, 2017 at 7:23:59 AM situs judi togel recreator9 writes: on November 28th, 2017 at 12:34:09 AM agen sbobet terpercaya nikitavirza writes: on January 29th, 2018 at 11:53:29 PM agen sbobet terpercayaLos Angeles, May 25 (IANS/EFE) The sight of a hitchhiker on the curb trying to hail some charitable driver could be a thing of the past as the practice of car sharing grows. As a result of the recent economic crisis, the US has seen a wide range of companies ready to convert any and every car into a rental vehicle and provide its proprietor with extra income, while offering clients much lower prices than what a taxi or a rent-a-car like Avis or Hertz would charge. Companies like Sidecar and Lyft, operating in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Boston and Washington, put drivers of private vehicles in touch with potential car sharers. Zimride is the alternative for longer distances. Car owners publish their destination and travel schedule with Zimride, which fixes them up with passengers with whom to share the ride, conversation and costs. The price per seat for a trip of 350 km is around $20. But for those just looking to make a little money and are not particularly interested in meeting people, companies like RelayRides, Just Share It, Getaround and FlightCar rent out cars when their owners aren't using them, if only for an hour. Getaround, for example, rents an Audi A4 to drive around San Francisco for $9 plus gasoline. Of the rent, the company keeps 40 percent. Unlike rivals that just serve as intermediaries, FlightCar invests in logistics and profits from the cars that fill airport parking lots. "We're the first to do this," Rujul Zaparde, cofounder of this company that operates in San Francisco and Boston, said. FlightCar offers free parking in its lot for cars that travelers leave before taking their flight, and pays the owners if someone rents them during their absence. Owners also get transport to and from the airport terminal and have their cars cleaned free. --IANS/EFE rdMedia playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan were shot dead in an ambush in south Armagh, as Vincent Kearney reports Irish police officers colluded in the IRA murders of two senior Northern Ireland policemen, an inquiry has found. Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan were shot dead in an ambush in March 1989 in south Armagh. The attack happened as they crossed the border into Northern Ireland after a meeting in Dundalk Garda station. In the report of his inquiry, judge Peter Smithwick said he was "satisfied there was collusion in the murders". Key findings Collusion: Peter Smithwick said that while there had been no "smoking gun" he was "satisfied" that there had been collusion by one or more Garda officers in the murders Former garda sergeant Owen Corrigan: "I also find that what may have started out as a professional relationship with subversives for the legitimate purpose of intelligence-gathering ultimately developed into a relationship of an inappropriate nature" Earlier investigations: O'Dea and Camon investigations were "inadequate" Missed opportunity: "The best opportunity of establishing the truth of the matter arose in the days and weeks following the ambush. In these circumstances, it is particularly regrettable that both police services acted swiftly to dismiss speculation of the possibility of collusion rather than to deal with that by means of a through and credible investigation" Culture: "The culture of failing adequately to address suggestions of wrongdoing, either for reasons of expediency or by virtue of misguided loyalty, has been a feature of life in this state" How the inquiry unfolded Judge Smithwick said the circumstances suggested information was leaked to trigger the IRA operation, and the timing suggested it was "more likely that the information came from Dundalk Garda station". He said the two policemen had arrived at the station no earlier than 2.20pm, and ten minutes later, the IRA had placed gunmen on the road where they were killed. "This was as a direct result of confirmation having been received that the officers had arrived at Dundalk," he said. He added: "Either the IRA did have an extraordinary piece of good fortune, or Harry Breen was the target of this operation. I believe that the evidence points to the latter conclusion. "I also think that this makes it significantly more likely that the Provisional IRA knew that Chief Superintendent Breen was coming, and were not simply waiting on the off-chance that he might turn up." The judge said he believed Harry Breen was the IRA's target, as after the killing of eight IRA men and a civilian in Loughgall, County Armagh, by undercover soldiers in 1987, he had been pictured with weapons recovered by police. 'Political expediency' "There was, in the wake of the murder, triumphalism in relation to the fact that the Provisional IRA had killed the officer who had appeared in that photograph 'etched in every republican's mind'," he wrote. Image caption The men were targeted on their way back from a meeting at Dundalk Garda Station He found that the IRA needed positive identification that Mr Breen in particular had arrived at the police station in Dundalk, and this positive confirmation would likely be from a member of the Garda. 'No smoking gun' "Given that I am satisfied that the evidence points to the fact that there was someone within the Garda station assisting the IRA, it also seems to me to be likely that the Provisional IRA would seek to exploit that resource by having that individual or individuals confirm the arrival of the two officers," he said. Timeline of events 20 March 1989: RUC Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan are murdered in an IRA ambush in south Armagh on their way home from a meeting at Dundalk Garda station. November 1999: Journalist Toby Harnden alleges in his book Bandit Country there was collusion between the IRA and Garda X and Garda Y in Dundalk 13 April 2000: MP Jeffrey Donaldson uses parliamentary privilege in the Commons to allege Garda X is former Dundalk garda Owen Corrigan October 2003: Retired Canadian judge Peter Cory recommends setting up of a tribunal of inquiry into the Breen and Buchanan collusion claims May 2005: Tribunal established by the Irish government to be chaired by judge Peter Smithwick March 2006: Private investigation phase begins 7 June 2011: Public hearings begin in Dublin The report is also critical of two earlier garda investigations into the murders, which it describes as "inadequate". The judge said it was "highly regrettable" that the most senior police officers on both sides of the border dismissed speculation of a mole in the immediate aftermath of the killings. He said this was "political expediency" at the expense of the victims. He said the culture of failing to adequately address suggestions of wrongdoing, either for reasons of political expediency or by virtue of misguided loyalty, has been a feature of life in this state. He concluded that "too often that culture has resulted, some years later, after doubts, grievances and injustices have festered, in the setting up of investigations, commissions or tribunals of inquiry". He said he hoped his report would contribute in "one small part to changing that culture". Judge Smithwick said there was "no smoking gun" and it was not surprising that the tribunal had not uncovered direct evidence of collusion. Bob Buchanan's son, William, said: "The findings of Judge Smithwick are both incredible and shocking, and confirm the existence of a mole in Dundalk station - this led to my father's death." Smithwick definition of collusion "While (collusion) generally means the commission of an act, I am also of the view that it should be considered in terms of an omission or failure to act. "In the active sense, collusion has amongst its meanings to conspire, connive or collaborate. "In addition I intend to examine whether anybody deliberately ignored a matter, or turned a blind eye to it, or to have pretended ignorance or unawareness of something one ought morally, legally or officially oppose." A solicitor speaking on behalf of Chief Supt Breen's family said the report was "a truly remarkable exposé and indictment of wrongdoing and collusion with terrorists by some within An Garda Siochána". The family said the report detailed in the most stark and dramatic fashion the failure by state systems to address these matters year upon year. Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter apologised "without reservation" for the failings identified in the report. "Even with the passage of 24 years and the positive developments which have taken place on the island since, our condemnation of their murder should be as strong today as it was then," he said. Mr Shatter said nothing in the report should detract from the good work of An Garda Siochána during the Troubles. His counterpart in Northern Ireland, David Ford, said the suggestion of garda collusion was "no different from the suggestions in the past of one or two RUC officers behaving inappropriately". "The important issue is that fundamentally the two organisations are good police services, they now work together in a extremely good way," he added. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption William Buchanan called the findings 'incredible and shocking' The publication of the report on Tuesday follows almost eight years of painstaking investigations. The Dublin-based tribunal was established by the Irish government in May 2005 and began its private investigation phase 10 months later. Public sessions began in June 2011, hearing from hundreds of witnesses including police from both sides of the Irish border, IRA members, undercover agents and politicians. It had been recommended by retired Canadian judge Peter Cory, as part of his report on several controversial killings presented to the British and Irish governments in 2003.Timothy James McGowan of Mill Valley picked up three DUIs in three days in three cities, authorities say. On May 18, McGowan, 50, tried to enter a closed bank and drove off while drunk in San Rafael, police say. On May 19, he was arrested for drunken driving in San Francisco. On May 20, he got busted in Novato after he was spotted staggering near his Volkswagen Beetle, asking a woman for a ride to Burger King and then getting into his car and making a wide right turn in front of police, authorities say. A blood test showed that his blood-alcohol level in the Novato incident was more than 0.15 percent, nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent, said Deputy District Attorney Kevin O’Hara. On Friday, McGowan pleaded not guilty in the Marin County cases. He is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail. If convicted, McGowan could face two years in jail. McGowan has previous convictions for DUI, petty theft, resisting arrest and drug possession. He was also arrested four times on suspicion of public intoxication in Mill Valley from January to April.Team New Zealand believe they may have found the "ultimate recipe" for this America's Cup and it stretches beyond their radical move to pedal-powered grinding stations. The Kiwis continue to train and develop their boat on Bermuda's Great Sound ahead of official racing which opens with the first round-robin of the Louis Vuitton qualifying series on May 27. Team NZ mechanical designer Tim Meldrum revealed on Friday there was more to the magic of the Kiwi boat than just the pedal stations, even though that was the most obvious innovation. EMIRATES TEAM NZ Team New Zealand and Ben Ainslie Racing tangle in Bermuda. "It was a bold decision, it challenged the norm if you like," Tim Meldrum said of getting the grinders to wear lycra and sit in a saddle for the job. READ MORE: * Spithill overboard as G-forces take over * TNZ make strong start in practice racing * Team NZ toiling with their foiling * Team NZ's lucky escape "But I think we had done our homework and we had all the numbers on the table. We are constantly searching for perfection, for the ultimate performance, for the ultimate recipe and we believe we might have found it," Meldrum said. EMIRATES TEAM NZ Team New Zealand in full flight on Bermuda's Great Sound. His cause for optimism went beyond the bikes. "Cycling as an innovation is really just one of many innovations on the boat. It gets the lion's share of the media because it's so visible. But it's not like we are driving a propeller that actually makes the boat go faster. If we make more energy, we've got to be the smarter team that actually benefits from what we can do with that energy. "There are probably 20 if not more equally impressive innovations on this boat that we have got to make work as well." Meldrum marvelled at the way the grinders had taken up the challenge to start using their legs rather than their arms and said there was a competitive feeling within the group of eight grinders that would show in the boat's performance. "There are still positions to be fought for so you are seeing a massive amount of hunger from the guys to want to do a really slick transition and put out some big power. There's everything to play for and the good news for us on the design side is the guys have really taken to it and are trying to make it work." Team New Zealand managed to keep their cycling concept secret long enough to probably prevent rivals copying it. "It was a sort of soft decision really," Meldrum said of the initial look at the dynamics of the bikes on boats approach. "We had a covert internal programme going where we tried to keep a very limited number of people in on the early days concept. "But the decision was early on that bikes were a serious contender. "The bikes ran in parallel with grinding for a while, we had to really prove that it was here to stay. "Gradually it just grew and grew and then one day it became pretty serious, we built a one-for-one full trampoline mock up and started to do some live training. "I think everyone took it a lot more seriously when we put some bikes in the actual hull."It lasted 11 games. It was confined to 19 days. It spanned two countries and four cities, and there was a moment in the middle there when you started to wonder if your eyes were playing Jedi mind tricks on you. These things simply don’t happen, not in professional sports, not in the 21st Century, not when basketball players are first spotted as fifth-graders, their every move thereafter painstakingly recorded and charted and filmed and digested. You can’t simply drop out of the sky, like some basketball Sidd Finch (only real). Doesn’t happen. Can’t happen. And yet Linsanity happened. It’s a matter of record. It’s a matter of history. It’s a matter of memory. It was a stretch of excellence that a basketball-starved city embraced as it would a long-lost son, one it still recalls fondly even as the star of that unparalleled show, Jeremy Lin, sits in street clothes on the other side of the Manhattan Bridge, an eternal reminder of how fickle these things can be. Five years somehow have passed since Linsanity overtook Madison Square Garden, overwhelmed New York City, overhauled the imagination of Knicks fans who were looking for something, anything, they could believe in. Next Saturday, in fact, will mark exactly five years from the moment Lin tore off his warm-ups at the Garden, hopped to the scorer’s table, and checked in for Iman Shumpert with 3 minutes and 35 seconds left in the first quarter of a game with the Nets. It was a wrinkle in time that still can take your breath away once you realize, all over again, that this wasn’t a fantasy. This was real. This happened. This is what it was like: Part One: Linvincible! That was The Post’s first back-page pun, though it was only a “trace” — a secondary box at the top of the page, teasing a story inside — on Sunday morning, Feb. 5, 2012. There was a good reason for that: Jeremy Lin could have scored 100 points the night before and the big story was still going to be the Giants playing the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI later that day. Still, as these things go, that was an awfully interesting oh-by-the-way. The Knicks entered the game 8-15 for the lockout-shortened season. They were playing a third straight night and already had lost the first two. They would fall behind 30-18 in this one. They desperately were awaiting the arrival of a point guard they believed held the key to turning the whole season around. But it wasn’t Jeremy Lin. It was Baron Davis. “We want when he comes back he could stay back and not risk the in-and-out and all that stuff,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said of Davis, who had yet to don his No. 85 jersey. Then Lin came in, he shot 10-for-19, scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half, he handed out seven assists, he completely dominated the Nets’ Deron Williams. Before long the Garden was chanting “JER-E-MEEEE!” and “M-V-P!” and the Knicks were enjoying a 99-92 win, and Lin was shaking his head after the game, as surprised as anyone. “The night hasn’t sunk in yet,” he said. “I’m kind of shocked by everything that happened. I’m trying to soak it all in.” D’Antoni, who believed he was a day or two away from getting fired, immediately suggested Lin was his new starting point guard, which was remarkable when you consider that for most of the year Lin was the team’s fifth option at that position — behind Toney Douglas, Mike Bibby, Shumpert and Davis. “We’ve got to go back to that well,” he said. Others weren’t quite so sold. “I think,” Nets coach Avery Johnson said, “he’ll have a good day at church tomorrow.” But over the next two games, Lin hinted that his Saturday night Garden special wasn’t a fluke. In a 99-88 home win against the Jazz, he shot 10-for-17, scored 28, and handed out eight assists. Two nights later, in Washington, he had 23 and 10 assists in outdueling the Wizards’ John Wall. That last game especially was notable because the Knicks were without both Amare Stoudemire, who was tending to a death in the family, and Carmelo Anthony, sidelined with a groin injury. And also because Lin dunked on a breakaway, causing the sellout crowd at Verizon Center to explode in a frenzy. “Indescribable,” Lin said. “I don’t think anyone saw this coming, including me.” Steve Nash gushed on Twitter: “If you love sports you have to love what Jeremy Lin is doing. Getting an opportunity and exploding!!” Quoth the Post: ALL-LIN! Part Two: the Peak Lin already was blowing up the Garden’s box office. In a wonderful scheduling quirk, the Knicks would play five of their next seven games at home, and the secondary ticket market already was commanding upwards of 40 percent mark-ups for tickets that, a week earlier, they were lucky to sell for $5. First up were the Lakers, in the first phase of decline but still formidable, and still boasting Kobe Bryant — suddenly the No. 2 drawing card of the night, and none too happy about that. “I know who he is but I don’t really know what’s going on too much with them,” Kobe said the night before, in Boston, amazed that somehow this kid, Lin, had upstaged even a Lakers-Celtics game 200 miles away. “Honestly, I
in the last eight seasons and the Cadets are now three wins away from securing the program's fourth national championship. Piacentini scored at the 4:12 mark of the first period, beating Salem State goalie Jason Pucciarelli with a wrist shot into the top left corner of the net and over the blocker for his 15th goal of the season. Cody Smith (Hudson, Mass.) and William Pelletier (St. Jean Chrysostome, Quebec) picked up the assists on the power play goal. The assist was Smith's 30th of the season, leaving him just three shy of Bill Nash's '86 single-season record of 33 assists for a defenseman. Salem State (15-10-3) controlled the action for large portions of the second period, but Ostepchuk was brilliant between the pipes making four saves in a span of two minutes, including a breakaway stop on John Needham to stymie the Vikings' offense. Norwich carried the 1-0 lead into the second intermission despite Salem State controlling the second period. The Cadets got a big insurance goal at the 8:36 mark of the third period with Thompson scoring his third goal of the season and first since Jan. 13. He beat Pucciarelli five-hole with a slap shot from the top of the left faceoff circle off a 2-on-1 rush with Austin Surowiec (Louisville, Ky.). Taeron Lewis (Winnipeg, Manitoba) started the play with crushing check in front of the NU bench that sprung Surowiec on the break up ice. NU increased the lead to 3-0 at the 14:04 mark of the third period with Baldillez scoring off assists from Anthony Flaherty (South Boston, Mass.) and Nick Pichette (Massena, N.Y.) for his fourth goal of the season. Salem State got one goal back at the 18:47 mark with a pretty back hand into the top left corner of the net by Casey Miller off a rebound on an initial shot by Mackenzie Cook. Pucciarelli finished with 25 saves for Salem State, while Ostepchuk had 22 for Norwich to improve to 15-0-0 on the season. Salem State was making its third NCAA Tournament appearance in the last four seasons after winning the MASCAC title in 2014, 2016 and 2017. The Vikings also had their season come to a close at Kreitzberg Arena in 2014 after NU beat Salem State 8-2 in the first round as well. In other NCAA Tournament First Round action; Endicott defeated Hobart 4-3, Hamilton beat Oswego State 3-1 and Trinity beat Plattsburgh State 4-1. Endicott will face Trinity next Saturday, while St. Norbert meets Augsburg and Wis. Stevens Point faces Adrian.Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence Michael (Mike) Richard PencePence meeting with Senate GOP ahead of vote to block emergency declaration 'And the award for best political commentary by an Oscar nominee goes to...' UN nuclear watchdog: Iran maintains compliance with 2015 pact MORE on Friday said Donald 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’s campaign is having internal discussions about how to handle the media after coming under criticism for its blacklist of select media outlets. "We going to have those conversations internally, and I fully expect in the next 100 days [until election day] we're going to continue to be available to the media whether they're fair or unfair," said Pence in a phone interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. ADVERTISEMENT During the past few months, the Trump campaign has deemed major outlets such as The Washington Post, Politico, Buzzfeed and the Huffington Post as unfair and biased and revoked their press credentials. Pence, the governor of Indiana, says he has generally had a positive relationship with the press, noting legislation he authored as a congressman to protect confidential sources for reporters called the Free Flow Information Act. "Compelling reporters to testify, and in particular, compelling them to reveal the identity of their confidential sources, is a detriment to the public interest," Pence said in a September 2011 statement. "Without the free flow of information from sources to reporters, the public is ill-equipped to make informed decisions." "As a conservative who believes in limited government, I know the only check on government power in real time is a free and independent press," Pence continued. "The Free Flow of Information Act is not about protecting reporters; it is about protecting the public's right to know." Pence's latest comments came as CNN's Chris Cuomo said the network and his show in particular were being "punished" by Trump and also blacklisted "because of how we conduct our interviews." Trump has not appeared on CNN in any capacity since a June 13 interview with Cuomo on the morning program "New Day."Israeli officials believe that the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah has amassed around 150,000 rockets, including a number of long range Iranian-made missiles capable of striking Israeli cities from north to south. The estimates represent a 50 percent increase in the group’s weapons stockpiles since May, when a senior Israeli intelligence official put the number at 100,000. The revised valuation on rockets suggests Hezbollah is ramping up efforts to acquire weapons whose purpose is to attack Israel, despite its deep involvement in the Syrian civil war. Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up Hezbollah forces have been operating in Syrian territory for over three and a half years. Thousands of the organization’s fighters are thought to be on Syrian soil and hundreds, some say thousands, have been killed there, including at least one senior officer. The organization has simultaneously continued to amass short- and medium-range rockets from Syria while also increasing its cache of Iranian-made long-range missiles. Hezbollah has also established a fleet of unmanned combat drones, designed for more than simple intelligence gathering. The group is continuing its efforts to acquire SA-17 and SA-22 ground-to-air missiles as well as P-800 Oniks air-to-sea missiles. In light of the events in Syria and and the ongoing civil war, as well as the Israeli attacks on weapons convoys en route to Hezbollah, the organization has upped its efforts to bring in more Iranian weapons. The group fought a three-week war with Israel in 2006 that saw thousands of rockets pound Israel’s north. Israeli officials say they consider the transfer of advanced weapons to the group to be a red line; a number of airstrikes in Syria have been attributed to Israeli efforts to stymie the movement of missiles. On Wednesday, websites affiliated with the Syrian opposition reported an Israeli strike near Damascus airport. Witnesses described huge explosions, and blasts could be heard for several minutes. According to number of unconfirmed reports, the target of the strikes was an Iranian arms shipment destined for Hezbollah. Less than two weeks ago, Syrian media reported that Israel Air Force jets attacked military bases of both the Assad regime and Hezbollah in the Qalamoun Mountains region near the border with Lebanon. Despite the assessment of increased weapons stockpiles, the prevailing view in Israel is that Hezbollah is not interested in a confrontation or a war now. On Wednesday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that his organization was “proud that the little Satan and the great Satan devoted their meeting in the White House to the issue of Hezbollah,” referring to discussions between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama. “Hezbollah is at the forefront and in a real position of influence over the region,” he said.New supercooling technique preserves transplant organs for four days SCIENCEALERT STAFF 1 JUL 2014 Image: Wally Reeves, Korkut Uygun, Maish Yarmush, Harvard University Researchers at the Centre for Engineering in Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital in the US have developed a new supercooling technique that preserves organs outside the body for up to four days after being harvested. Medics currently use a chemical solution and cold temperatures to keep organs viable for up to 24 hours. This timeframe is not always enough to prep the receiving patient and doesn’t allow intercontinental transplants. The researchers tested the new method in rat livers, which usually last for about 12 hours after being harvested. The new supercooling technique involves pumping a glucose compound (3-0-methyl-D-glucose) through the organ to keep it functioning outside the body and delay cell death, explained Liat Clark at Wired UK. The substance provides nutrients to the organ and also acts as a sort of anti-freezing barrier, keeping the cell membranes cool, but not frozen. The livers were cooled to -6 degrees Celsius and kept supercooled either for 72 or 96 hours. To rewarm the organs the researchers used machine perfusion, a way of delivering nutrients and oxygen to blood vessels in tissues outside the body. They then transplanted the livers into rats. Clark reports that the rodents that received the livers that remained supercooled for three days responded well to the transplant and survived for at least three months. The rats who got the livers that were supercooled for four days didn’t do as well—the survival rates dropped 58%. Keeping organs human outside the body for more than 24 hours has been quite a challenge, as these start to decompose as soon as they are out of the body and freezing them can damage the tissue. The researchers have explained that although promising, these results were achieved only in rats and more studies in larger animals need to be conducted before human trials. “The longer we are able to store donated organs, the better the chance the patient will find the best match possible, with both doctors and patients fully prepared for surgery,” said tissue engineer Rosemarie Hunziker, program director of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine at National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering in the US, in a release. “This is a critically important step in advancing the practice of organ storage for transplantation.”As part of Ubisoft's 30th anniversary celebrations, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell will be free to download for a month. If you head over to the Ubisoft Store from July 13 you can download the sneaky-shooty-chokelock classic at no charge. Once you've done so, the game is yours to keep forever. If you don't already have a Uplay account, then now's probably the time to start. Ubisoft is currently cycling its repertoire, and offering one free game a month. Right now you can grab Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, a classic which kick started the Assassin's Creed free-running revolution, and is undoubtedly the most awesome Prince of Persia game ever made. Splinter cell is now a mighty 14 years of age, and was released as one of the first games on the original Xbox console back in 2002. It's no longer a work of beauty, but we think you can probably still wrangle some fun out of doing the splits and waiting for unsuspecting prey to wander beneath your thighs.page 1 Hi MajorGiant Greeting from San Francisco! To try end find some interesting things to sent you, i took a walk around the city and stopped at a few neat places. I originally wanted to find some foot items to include, but most of the food SF is known for is either kind of boring (bread) or doesnt ship well, or is disgusting (rice-a-roni), We do have a lot of cofee roasters, but you seemed to be more of a tea drinker, so i decided to give that a miss/pass. So with the goal of including at least something local andedible i went to the TCHO Chocolate Factory, Which is on Pier 17 in SF (the piers ring the entire bay side of the city, for the most part) We have a lot of chocolate makers in the area, but i think TCHO is the only one that's in SF Proper. There's Page 2 A more famous company Ghirurdell that started here but their old factory (which looks very willy wonka on the outside) is just a tourist attraction now and all of the chocolate is made elsewhere. Plus it's only ok at best, TCHO is good chocolate and while its not exactly unique to SF, it is at lease made here! Literally next door, on Pier 15 (the piers north of the Ferry Building are always odd numbered, the ones to the south are even), is a science museum called the Exploratorium. I found some neat items in the shop there. First up is a map of SF, in case you find yourself here in the future. Plus it has some interesting facts about places in the city on it. Also, it can be crumpled up, which is fun for stress relief when you're lost. Then there's a modem of a cable car, cut into a thin piece of steel. There's some assembly required on that one im afraid. Nowadays Page 3 The cable car system is mostly for tourists but you can still use a bus pass on them like any other bus or train in the city. They run later in the night than you guess. Til 1 or 1:30 am on some lines. Next up, i checked out the store at the Je Young museum, which is in the middle of Golden Gate Park, over on the western half of the city. The park is enormous and was apparently built (at least partly) to show up New York's Central Park. It has two museums, a bunch of lakes, a golf course, and lots of other stuff The main road hrough it is closed to cars on weekends so it's always parked on those days. Anyway, at the De Young, I got you a magnetic Puzzle with a painting of SF on it. The neighborhood in the painting is Russian Hill, one of the many hills that make walking around the city harder than you'd expect from looking at a map. Honestly, there's nothing Page 4 expecially remarkable about Russian Hill, but i lked the painting, so there you go :) Oh! Actually i just remembered that it does have the famous "crooked" part of lombard street that you always see photos of. It's nickname "the crookedest street in the world" but really it's not even the crookedest in San Francisco. It's beated by Vermont Street, Which is steeper and has Thighter turns. But it's not as scenic or easy to get to. Last up is probably the most famous SF landmark, the Golden Gate Bridge. Fun Fact, the color is actually called "International Orange" It was a compromise between the Navy and basicly everybody else. When it was built, the Navy (which used to have a bunch of bases in SF Bay) was really worried about visibility in the fog (which we get a lot of) So they wanted the bridge painted in black with yellow Stripes. Hooray for compromise because yikes. Page 5 The SF end of the bridge is in the Presidio. It's a park now, but for a long time it was a military base. And not always the US Military. It started off as a Spanish fort, Actually less then 2 months after the US declared independence from England. Then it belonged to Mexico for a bit. (along with the rest of California) and.. then it was not Mexico's anymore. It was used by the US during the civil war, out of fear that the confedarate Navy would sail all the way around the tip of South America and try to take San Francisco Bay, There's a fort at the very north tip of the city that dates from that time. It's called Fort Point (very imaginative) It's open to the public to walk around, and i bought you some postcards from there. It's a set of five poster images for different things in the Golden Gate Area. There's the bridge itself, The fort and the presidio. Then there's Crissy Field. Thats the strip of SF Coastline between Fort Point and Fort Mason (yep, double forts) Page 6 It's ridiculously nice walk on a sunny day, and kind of under appreciated by visitors to the city (i think). The last postcard is for Alcatraz, which probably doesn't need a lot of explanation since it's pretty famous. Fun Fact: i've lived in or around SF my whole life and i've never been to Alcatraz. Oh, Back to Fort Point for a second.. When the Golden Gate Bridge was Built, the fort was in the way. Rather then tear it down they built a miniture bridge over it. Thats why if you look at a picture of the bridge, there's a little baby bridge before the proper suspension span on the south side. Also Located in the Presidio is Lucasfilm. I went and looked, but they don't have a shop or anything that's open to the public, and i don't know anyone who works there anymore. They do have a pretty awesome Yoda Fountain out front though. I had some extra room in the box, so i packed? it out with candy. Nothing. Page 7 In the group is Super San Francisco-ey, But the red vines are a local favorite, Twizzlers is the more national brand, But people from California thent to prefer Red Vines. Because twizzlers are disugsitng candy and Rid Vines are delicious. The rest is pretty much a grab-bag though. I have no idea what is and isn't availible in the netherlands, so hopefully some if not all are new and interesting. Im a big fan of cinnamon candy, so there are two kinds in there :) Hopefully there's been some interesting stuff in this letter, and my handwritting has been legible? most of the time. if not, thanks for sticking with it to the end! :) Enjoy the gifts and candy.The University of Michigan played unwitting host to a pair of racist graffiti incidents in as many days, both targeting black students. Last weekend, racial slurs were written on dorm door name tags at the Michigan Community Scholars Program, a living community “centered around intercultural dialogue, social justice, and civic engagement. ” “We expect an appropriate response from The University, including an investigation and consequences for those involved in the vandalism,” the UMich Black Student Union responded in a statement. “In times like these, it is important that we do not act solely out of the frustration, anger, and sadness we may be feeling. We have to channel these emotions into productive action, in an attempt to leave the campus better than we found it.” A day later, the campus Ann Arbor Mural was discovered to have “Free Dylann Roof, I Hate N——” scrawled on it. Roof was the murderer of nine African-Americans in a Charleston, South Carolina church two years ago. A poster featuring Roof face and the words “Free Dylann Roof” was found as well. hey what the fuck is wrong with people on this campus/in this city this is disgusting pic.twitter.com/Erc8G3x6ri — amal ✨أمل (@cptnamal) September 16, 2017 Last evening, around 200 protesters gathered to “demand answers” from UMich President Mark Schlissel regarding the incidents. After Schlissel addressed the crowd for roughly 20 minutes, the protesters proceeded to follow him all the way to his home. From the story: Schlissel explained his intention to work together with Black students on prevention and education. “I’d love to hear your ideas, and what you expect of us,” Schlissel said. “I want to learn what you think the administration should be doing beyond what we’ve already done to help make this a better place for you so that you can get what you want out of Michigan. You all belong here, and I want to make sure you get that message.” Many, however, decried a lack of updates from police investigations into racist incidents. University NAACP chapter President Isaiah Land, an LSA senior, questioned the lack of resolutions or perpetrators’ identities. “I had a meeting earlier with Schlissel in the (president’s) house, and he basically told me all of the things that I didn’t want to hear,” Land said. “I asked him how many people have been caught in these investigations when racial incidents pop up, and he told me that there were zero people caught in the last four years. They couldn’t even find the people who were doing this stuff over the internet, and we have a hackathon at the University every year? That’s just ridiculous.” … LSA freshman Madison Peterson called for more than investigations. “To me, investigation just means it is going to be swept under the rug, and I actually want punishment for these people, because I want to feel safe on campus,” she said. “I don’t want to be targeted in the classroom, outside of the classroom, at social events, I just want to come here and get an education without being targeted for being a Black girl.” Does anyone really believe that if the perpetrator(s) of these acts turns out to be the perfect progressive caricature of such a suspect (i.e. a Trump-supporting straight white male) that the university would sweep it under the rug? On the other hand, if the suspect turns out to be a minority — the graffiti/placard used to “galvanize the community” in order to have “hard conversations” about race — do you think administrators would be likely to withhold that reveleation? It’s certainly happened before. Not to mention, it’s not as if U. Michigan is immune to hoax shenanigans. Consider: A racist/white supremacist just casually strolling through a dorm dedicated to “intercultural dialogue” and “social justice” … scribbling on people’s doors? No witnesses? No camera surveillance? We’re not definitively calling these hoaxes, but the elements of such are there. Stay tuned. Read more. MORE: Protesters hijack conservative student meeting, call them ‘white supremacists’ MORE: Notes reveal: Harvard Law professors worked closely with campus race protesters IMAGE: Blue Sky Image/Shutterstock Read More Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on TwitterFollowing a speech given in Philadelphia to Democratic National Convention delegates by Bernie Sanders, his wife, Jane, was caught on a hot mic, saying, “They don’t know your name is being put in nomination. That’s the concern.” The comment came just after Sanders told delegates on Monday that in order to defeat Donald Trump, “we have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine.” Sanders’ instruction was met with a collective loud “No!” followed by boos before the room erupted in “We Want Bernie!” chants. After the boos subsided, the senator’s wife, Jane Sanders, came on stage and made a curious statement that was accidentally caught on the microphone. Leaning in, Jane said, “They don’t know your name is going to be put in nomination. That’s the concern.”Note: We have temporarily discontinued the final vote and tallying options of this feature. Learn why. The feature itself remains unchanged, and we encourage you to try it. On the following pages, you will be asked the same question seven times: "Based on what you now know, do you think we should raise genetically modified (GM) crops?" Each time, you must answer Yes or No to that question, and each time, depending on how you responded, you will be presented with a new counterargument meant to challenge your stance. Thus, this feature presents six arguments for growing GM crops and six against, but whenever you answer yes or no, you will only see one side of the argument -- the one meant to challenge your position. However, before answering the question for the seventh and final time, you will be shown all 12 arguments for and against. At that point, you may choose Yes, No, or Undecided and then see where your vote stands vis-à-vis those of others. Introduction Industry, government, and many academic scientists tout the benefits of genetically modified (GM) foods for agriculture, ecosystems, and human health and well-being, including feeding a world population bursting at the seams. With equal passion, consumer groups, environmental activists, religious organizations, and some scientists warn of unforeseen health, environmental, and socioeconomic consequences. The debate concerns something very personal to each of us: what we and our children are eating. And whether you realize it or not, you've been consuming GM foods for some time. GM ingredients, in the form of modified enzymes, are found in virtually all breads, cheeses, sodas, and beers, and farmers have been raising GM food crops such as corn, soybeans, and potatoes since the mid-1990s. While you'll find few GM whole fruits or vegetables in your supermarket today, highly processed foods like breakfast cereals and vegetable oils very likely contain varying amounts of GM ingredients, because food companies pool raw materials like soy and corn from many sources into a single processing stream. GM crop farming is expanding rapidly around the world. Global acreage of GM crops has risen 25-fold in just four years, from approximately 4.3 million acres in 1996 to about 100 million acres in 1999. Worldwide sales of GM foods rocketed from an estimated $75 million in 1995 to a staggering $2.3 billion in 1999. It's too early to know which of the aids or ills foreseen for GM foods will materialize. In the meantime, GM technology raises thorny questions of science, ethics, law, and economics that need to be thoroughly debated. Note: View all 12 arguments for and against GM foods at once or readers' opinions on the subject. Peter Tyson is editor in chief of NOVA Online.Lehava, the right-wing, anti-miscegenation group whose main activity is to incite against Arabs as a way of dissuading Jewish Israeli girls from dating them, has taken its incitement beyond intermarriage and into the realm of security. A new poster on its Facebook page encourages Israeli soldiers to act trigger happy when it comes to Palestinian protestors. It reads: Soldier! Stones and firebombs can kill you! Do you feel your life is in danger? Pick up your weapon and put a bullet through the murderer’s head. It’s better to sit in jail than die. ‘Kill or be killed’ [quote from Sages] IDF soldiers and Border Policemen, the Israeli people love you and embrace you. This comes just one day after an Israeli policeman shot and killed 22-year-old Khir Hamdan in the village of Kafr Kanna after he attempted to attack them with a knife, but did not appear to pose any direct threat to their lives, leading to accusations the police shot him in cold blood and lied about it. The Lehava poster effectively weighs in on the matter, defending the police and sending the message that when in doubt, soldiers must forget protocol, forget the law, and simply shoot to kill. My question is, what is a group that claims to be committed to preventing intermarriage doing getting involved in this issue? The answer seems clear. They are following in the footsteps of both Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich, who essentially endorsed the extra-judicial killing of murder suspects, following last week’s terror attack in Jerusalem, and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, who defended the police action, saying Hamdan was a “frenzied Arab terrorist.” Related: Couple hires wedding security for fear of anti-miscegenation group Jewish anti-miscegenation groups distribute racist, sexist flyers How police lied about the deadly shooting of Khir HamdanThe Meaning of Wine Bottle Sizes Curiously, the historic convention for naming wine bottle sizes is after biblical kings! As with many parts of the aesthetics of wine, nomenclature for wine bottle formats reconnects us to the structures of wine culture. Wine has long been a living part of our history and day-to-day lives, and so unsurprisingly the bottle names are connected to one of our oldest written documents. To be fair, no one really knows how this convention started for sure. We could do some “research” and see if the answer can be found at the bottom of six liter (aka “imperial”). I bet you we’d discover something. Below is a list of wine bottle sizes and their names. Wine Bottle Sizes Chart 187.5 ml Piccolo or Split: Typically used for a single serving of Champagne. 375 ml Demi or Half: Holds one-half of the standard 750 ml size. 750 ml Standard: Common bottle size for most distributed wine. 1.5 L Magnum: Equivalent to two standard 750 ml bottles. 3.0 L Double Magnum: Equivalent to two Magnums or four standard 750 ml bottles. 4.5 L Jeroboam: Equivalent to six standard 750 ml bottles. (In sparkling wines a Jeroboam is 3 liters) 4.5 L Rehoboam: A sparkling wine bottle with six standard 750 ml bottles. 6.0 L Imperial: (aka Methuselah) Equivalent to eight standard 750 ml bottles or two Double Magnums. 9.0 L Salmanazar: Equivalent to twelve standard 750 ml bottles or a full case of wine! 12.0 L Balthazar: Equivalent to sixteen standard 750 ml bottles or two Imperials. 15.0 L Nebuchadnezzar: Equivalent to twenty standard 750 ml bottles. 18.0 L Solomon: (aka Melchoir) Equivalent to twenty four standard 750 ml bottles. Facts about wine bottle sizes Box wine is commonly 3 liters or a double magnum size Rehoboam in terms of Champagne bottles is only 4.5 litres or 6 bottles. Methuselah is the same size as an Imperial (6 litres) but the name is usually used for sparkling wines in a Burgundy-shaped bottle Get The Book! Want to improve your knowledge and confidence with wine? Wine Folly’s latest book is your guide to wine, whether you’re just getting started or working in the trade. Take a look inside!Bill Wippert/Associated Press It's been almost three years since former All-Pro safety and current Buffalo Bills defensive backs coach Ed Reed last played in the NFL, but he believes he could still produce some solid seasons in the league. On Thursday, as the Bills prepared for their opening game against Reed's longtime team, the Baltimore Ravens, the 37-year-old told Matthew Fairburn of NewYorkUpstate.com that "there's no joke about it." "I got two, three years in me, but I'm not giving it to the league," Reed added. "I already decided not to. Things could happen, but I don't think there's enough finances to get me in those cleats anymore." When asked how much money it would to take to get him back onto the field, Reed jokingly asked how much the current jackpot of the lottery is, suggesting $306 million to $308 million might be just enough to get him to lace up the cleats one more time. But even then, Reed wouldn't want to come back. "Man, I've been knowing that I'm no longer a player a long time ago," he said. "That's why I retired. All that's gone. That stuff's behind me, man. Here I am, Coach Reed." During his 12-year career with the Ravens, Houston Texans and New York Jets, Reed became one of the premier safeties in the league. With nine Pro Bowl selections, he led the league in interceptions on three different occasions, compiling a total of 64 picks throughout his career. That ranks seventh on the NFL's all-time list behind notable names such as Paul Krause, Emlen Tunnell and Charles Woodson. Reed's 1,590 interception return yards rank first in league history, while his 13 non-offensive touchdowns are fifth on the all-time list. He helped lead the Ravens to the playoffs seven times, including a Super Bowl XLVII win over the San Francisco 49ers. His presence in the Ravens secondary was so influential that it even coaxed this out of New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, per Monique Jones of the Baltimore Sun: "[I] can't say I've ever coached against anybody better than Ed Reed in the secondary." Regardless of whether he wants to play, Reed looks like he could still suit up, as the NFL showed: Even Bills head coach Rex Ryan jokingly suggested Reed should stay in shape in case the team needs help at the safety position, per Fairburn. However, Reed seems to be at peace with his life in his post-playing days, and he'll try to get the Bills secondary to produce the same kind of play that made him a threat for more than a decade. Stats courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com.Anthem, the new project from developer BioWare, was a topic of much discussion after it was officially revealed at E3 2017. In particular, fans of the developer’s previous games were asking questions about the game’s format, with the title looking very different from BioWare’s normal penchant for story-driven, single player games. Something that may help alleviate any fears is the fact that Drew Karpyshyn, the acclaimed BioWare veteran, has returned for the project. For the uninitiated, Karpyshyn is the hugely respected writer who was a major part of BioWare for a number of well-received titles. Chief among his back catalogue are the first two Mass Effect games and Knights of the Old Republic, as well as a number of novels from both properties. Karpyshyn has now confirmed that he is back for Anthem. Karpyshyn had initially confirmed his return to BioWare back in 2015 after retiring from video games, but it was not exactly certain what the writer would be doing at the company. Now, the veteran has confirmed that he returned to the developer to work on Anthem, as seen by his Twitter update below. Yes. Yes I am. 🙂 — Drew Karpyshyn (@DrewKarpyshyn) June 13, 2017 The confirmation that Karpyshyn is working on Anthem may well help those skeptical about the game feel a little more at ease with the project. After all, it seems to showcase a very different type of gameplay from BioWare’s usual style, leading some to state that Anthem could be a competitor to Destiny 2. If Anthem’s genre does look likely to match that MMO shooter typing, then having a great storyteller on board could certainly help Anthem stand out from the others. BioWare fans were able to get a brief glimpse at the game in action, thanks to an Anthem gameplay trailer revealed as part of E3 2017. There, the game’s action focus was clear, through a seven minute showcase of several players teaming up on a mission, although little was shared about the game’s overall plot or narrative. Hopefully, it won’t be too long before gamers will be able to see more of the game, and based on previous comments some kind of pre-release trial may be on the cards. Previously, game director Jonathan Warner had suggested that a public beta might be available, after all. Anthem is currently scheduled for release in fall 2018.I wrote a few weeks ago about the Romney campaign's refusal to clarify what contact, if any, the candidate had with Bain Capital after taking over the Salt Lake City Olympics in 1999. AP has a report today that goes a way toward answering the question: [A]ccording to Bain associates and others familiar with Romney's actions at the time, he stayed in regular contact with his partners over the following months, tending to his partnership interests and negotiating his separation from the company. Those familiar with Romney's discussions with his Bain partners said the contacts included several meetings in Boston, the company's home base, but were limited to matters that did not affect the firm's investments or other management decisions. Yet Romney continued to oversee his partnership stakes even as he disengaged from the firm, personally signing or approving a series of corporate and legal documents through the spring of 2001, according to financial reports reviewed by The Associated Press. The details of Romney's contacts with his Bain partners between his 1999 departure and his separation from the company in mid-2001 could show how involved he was — either as CEO or passive investor — in several multimillion-dollar investment deals, bankruptcies and a spate of layoffs and overseas job shifts at Bain-owned companies that reportedly occurred during that span. Romney's role became a campaign issue in recent weeks because corporate records from the time showed his interests in some of those deals — despite his insistence that he gave up any decision-making authority once he left Bain. … Several associates now say that Romney made repeated trips between Salt Lake and Boston, where he met at times with his former partners, mostly to discuss his severance from the firm. The Boston Globe reported last week that Romney also met with his Bain partners at a 15th anniversary celebration in Palm Beach, Fla., in early 1999. "Some were group conversations. Some were one on one," said a legal expert familiar with Romney's discussions with his Bain partners. This person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential business dealings, said that Romney did not relinquish his Bain ownership after taking the Olympics role but that Romney took care to avoid the day-to-day role of a corporate manager.Free delivery and returns are unsustainable for many entrepreneurs, who are turning away from offering online shopping As the fastest growing retail market in Europe and North America, e-commerce is seen by many as essential for business success. At Christmas in particular, 73% of UK consumers will buy gifts online – that amounted to £24.4bn in 2015. For many small businesses, e-commerce has allowed them to explore new markets and enabled significant growth. But for some, online trading hasn’t been plain sailing. Is your small business ready for Christmas? Read more Earlier this year, research from Barclaycard revealed that six in 10 retailers were negatively affected by the growing number of people returning items after buying online. Online-only businesses were hit the hardest, with 31% saying that managing returns was affecting their profit margins. One in five businesses admitted to upping their prices to cover the cost of returns. Unsustainable costs The problem is such that some small businesses are actively turning away from online trading. According to Barclaycard’s research, more than a fifth (22%) of bricks and mortar retailers choose not to sell online due to concern about the costs of managing delivery and returns. They include Dale and Kate Fletcher, who run independent shoe retailer Molemi, with shops in Chipping Campden and Stratford-upon-Avon. They originally embraced e-commerce, offering an online shop, free delivery and free returns. But it quickly turned into an expensive exercise. “More and more products were coming back,” says Dale. “When consumers click to order, they don’t see it as buying until it’s landed on their kitchen table and they can just send it back.” The ease of online shopping has fundamentally
harshly criticized Republicans, writing on Twitter that “they look like fools” for their failure to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. The president used that criticism to once again blast the Senate’s filibuster rules, saying Republicans “will NEVER win” if they don’t get rid of a rule that requires a 60-vote majority for some bills. With that rule in place “many great Republican bills will never pass,” the president warned. That seemed to put in evidence Trump’s “uncertain understanding of the legislative process,” as the New York Times puts it, because the filibuster rules had nothing to do with the failure of the health care legislation this past week. If the Senate Democrats ever got the chance, they would switch to a 51 majority vote in first minute. They are laughing at R's. MAKE CHANGE! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2017 After seven years of "talking" Repeal & Replace, the people of our great country are still being forced to live with imploding ObamaCare! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2017 The Washington Post tries to make sense of the president’s logic: Trump knows that some health-care bills could pass through the Senate with a simple majority of votes. Friday’s “skinny repeal” bill could have done it with only 50, for example. But Republicans need to kill the filibuster anyway, Trump argues, lest it allow Democrats to block a more sweeping health-care reform bill — which does not yet exist but will be supported by a majority of senators (but not 60 of them) once it is written. Making it clear that he isn’t giving up on health care, Trump insisted the efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare aren’t dead “unless the Republican Senators are total quitters.”White House Says It Can Withhold Vulnerabilities If It Will Help Them Catch 'Intellectual Property Thieves' from the say-what-now? dept Disclosing a vulnerability can mean that we forego an opportunity to collect crucial intelligence that could thwart a terrorist attack stop the theft of our nation's intellectual property, or even discover more dangerous vulnerabilities that are being used by hackers or other adversaries to exploit our networks. We've been among those critical of the White House for the administration's dangerous policy of not revealing security vulnerabilities it discovers, as it seeks to exploit them. In trying to respond to some of the criticism about this policy, the White House has put out a blog post by White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Michael Daniel, in which he explains how the intelligence community determines whether to disclose a vulnerability... or hoard it for its own use. He lists out three potential reasons for not disclosing:As Marcy Wheeler points out, withholding the release of such vulnerabilities for terrorism purposes is not new or surprising. Ditto for so-called cybersecurity (protecting against "hackers or other adversaries" looking to "exploit our networks") What's a bit of a surprise is the new inclusion of "intellectual property theft." However, the NSA, DHS and various supporters have long used claims of China "stealing intellectual property" as an excuse to try to ratchet up surveillance powers. Rep. Mike Rogers, author of CISPA, used the "scary Chinese stealing our IP!" FUD card to push CISPA a few years ago. And former cybesecurity czar Richard Clarke has argued that China stealing intellectual property is a good reason for DHS to be able to spy on all internet traffic.So, the fact that this argument is used as a sort of "cybersecurity" claim perhaps isn't that surprising. However, it still seems like a massive logical leap to go from "well we need to protect corporate intelletual property from the Chinese" to arguing that's a good reason for withholding the disclosure of key technical vulnerabilities that might put everyone at risk. Does anyone honestly believe that the US government should withhold details of a major technical vulnerability... just so it can catch some IP infringers?And of course, by broadly allowing the NSA and others to fail to patch vulnerabilities, because they want to "prevent intellectual property theft," it's just opening up the whole system to be abused even more widely than before. Sure, they may mean "stopping Chinese hackers from swiping plans for a new fighter jet," but vaguely denoting that it can withhold info on zero day vulnerabilities because of "pirates" seems wide open to abuse -- especially given the way many in law enforcement and the administration seem to want to equate every day file sharers with "internet terrorists" or whatever. Filed Under: cybersecurity, disclosure, intellectual property, michael daniel, nsa, surveillance, vulnerabilities, white houseLess than a month after Kind of Blue was recorded in 1959, John Coltrane first entered the studio to make what in many ways was that mighty album’s equal: Giant Steps. The album contains some of Coltrane’s best known compositions but equally importantly laid down the harmonic changes that Coltrane had been developing throughout the early part of his career. Stuart Nicholson tells the full story of one of the greatest albums in jazz history In October 1958, a strap-line on the cover of Downbeat magazine announced that John Coltrane was “a happy young man.” It came following a period where he confessed he had been “dejected and dissatisfied” with his playing, but now he was looking forward to the future with optimism. Things, he felt, were finally coming together after what the magazine described as a “frustrating past.” The interview, conducted by Ira Gitler in the Park Central Hotel in New York, discreetly avoided Coltrane’s recent recovery from drug addiction which had inflicted a heavy toll on his ability play. Now he seemed transformed, as his performances on a broadcast from Café Bohemia in New York with the Miles Davis Quintet in May that year or on Jazz at the Plaza: The Miles Davis Sextet from 9 September, attest. His solos, bursting with notes, dubbed “sheets of sound” by Gitler, threatened to overwhelm his audience. The French critic Francois Postif, who saw him perform several times after his recovery, predicted that his influence on his generation would be, “As great as that of Charlie Parker.” He also reported that pianist Bud Powell was so impressed by the stepchange in his ability as a soloist that he was in the audience four nights in a row. Coltrane was on the up. Born on 23 September 1926, John William Coltrane studied music in Philadelphia and initially came under the spell of Charlie Parker. When he got his first call from the big-time, an invitation from trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie to join his ensemble in 1949, he would later say he felt ready for the challenge. Gradually, however, he was disabused of any false confidence. “What I didn’t know with Diz was that what I had to do was really express myself,” he confessed. “You can only play so much of another man [Parker].” Returning to Philadelphia in 1951 dejected, he joined a group led by Earl Bostic playing rhythm and blues, followed by almost three years in a group led by the celebrated Ellingtonian Johnny Hodges, “It was my education to the older generation,” he explained. Four years later he returned to Philadelphia where he got a call to join the Miles Davis quintet. Here the trumpeter encouraged him and stimulated his harmonic thinking. “Miles is the number one influence over most of the modern musicians now,” Coltrane told Downbeat. “There isn’t much harmonic ground he hasn’t broken. Just listening to the beauty of his playing opens up doors… Miles has shown me possibilities in choosing substitutions within a chord and also new progressions.” But in April 1957, Davis sacked Coltrane along with his drummer Philly Joe Jones because of problems associated with their drug addiction. Tenor saxophonist Charles Lloyd relates how Cannonball Adderley told him how Coltrane had overdosed in San Francisco while with Davis. “Somehow Philly Joe and Paul [Chambers, Davis’ bassist] pulled Trane through. He was very sick, but Cannonball said Trane quit his habit right there and that was it.” There are other reports, by saxophonist Jackie McLean in Jazz Times, that in breaking his addiction pattern without the help of substitute drugs such as methadone he was turning up for work with Davis sick, dishevelled and resorting to drink. After an engagement at the Café Bohemia in New York, Davis could take no more and let him go. Coltrane took the opportunity to get his personal life in order with the help of family and friends and began rehearsing informally with Thelonious Monk. The pianist had begun a trio engagement at the Five Spot in East Greenwich Village on 4 July that year, and extended an invitation to Coltrane to join him at a wage of 100 dollars a week beginning on 18 July. Although this was a significant career move for the saxophonist this period is not particularly well documented on record, with just one trio piece, three pieces with a septet and three pieces in the classic Monk quartet line-up for the Riverside label. These studio sessions were re-released three years ago, complete with false starts and outtakes, as Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane: The Complete April and July Riverside Recordings. However, even with the new material it represented a small return for their five month, six-nights-a-week residency that producer Orrin Keepnews called “one of the most memorable collaborations in the entire history of jazz.” It has been said that during this period Coltrane, now fully recovered from addiction, collected himself at last as an artist. Challenged by Monk and the discipline of his compositions and their probing, angular harmonies resulted in significant artistic growth during their association. What this collaboration held out musically for Coltrane became clearer in 2006 with the release of a newly discovered live performance by this group, Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall, recorded on 29 November 1957. Comprising eight Monk originals and a performance of ‘Sweet and Lovely’, it reveals how Monk let Coltrane solo at length, creating passages of intricate and original patterns and squalls of semi-quavers. This cameo of nine performances provides a brief overture to a 10-year creative high that was only silenced by Coltrane’s death in 1967. Of his association with Monk, the saxophonist told Downbeat in 1960 that “working with Monk brought me close to a musical architect of the highest order. I felt I learned from in every way – through the senses, theoretically, technically. I would talk to Monk about musical problems and he would sit at the piano and show me the answers just by playing them. I could watch him play and find out the things I wanted to know. Also, I could see a lot of things I didn’t know about at all.” Having been enveloped in the creative hothouses of two acknowledged geniuses of modern music, Coltrane was now emerging as a rugged individualist whose artistic vision was beginning to coalesce. “Miles and Monk are my two musicians,” he told Downbeat. In early 1958 Coltrane rejoined Davis where he would remain for the next fifteen months. It was a very different player who lined up alongside Davis on trumpet, Julian “Cannonball” Adderley on alto saxophone, with Paul Chambers on bass and from around April 1958, Bill Evans on piano, and from the following month, Jimmy Cobb on drums. In an interview in Downbeat in 1958, Adderley observed, “Coltrane and Sonny Rollins are introducing us to some new music, each in his own way. I think Monk’s acceptance, after all this time, is giving musicians courage to keep playing their original ideas, come what may.” As the year 1958 drew to a close, Coltrane continued to be highly critical of his work but the “dejection and dissatisfaction” he experienced as a younger man was replaced by a desire to improve, supported by the self knowledge that he had it within him to do so. “I have more work to do on my tone and articulation,” he told Downbeat that year. “I must study more general technique and smooth out some harmonic kinks. Sometimes when playing I discover two ideas, and instead of working one, I work on two simultaneously and loose continuity.” On 26 December 1958, Coltrane was involved in his final date as a leader for the Prestige label, a quartet session with pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers and Art Taylor on drums. Of the six tracks recorded that day, ‘Time After Time’ and ‘Then I’ll Be Tired of You’, the latter with Freddie Hubbard added on trumpet, appeared most recently on the album Stardust. They give no indication that his next date as a leader would be a key event in jazz history. By the following year, Coltrane was now earmarked by musicians and public alike as a player to watch and was poised to participate in the most famous jazz album ever made, Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue. Recorded on 2 March and 6 April 1959 at Columbia’s 30th Street Studio in New York city, it has been described with some justification as “one of the most important as well as sublimely beautiful albums in the history of jazz.” On this album, perhaps more than any he recorded with Miles Davis, Coltrane offers a perfect contrast to Miles Davis’ eloquent minimalism, adapting his style to fit the needs of music. On Kind of Blue harmony remained static, often for as long as 16 bars at a time, challenging the improviser to create meaningful solos with the minimum of harmonic guidance. Twenty-four days after the first Kind of Blue session and sandwiched between the final 6 April record date, Coltrane went into the Atlantic Studios to begin work on his debut with Nesuhi and Ahmet Ertegun’s Atlantic label. It was to be an album whose harmonic approach was the complete antithesis of Kind of Blue. However, Coltrane’s first sessions for Atlantic on the 26 March sessions remained unissued until 1974, but at least they yield first versions of ‘Giant Steps’ and ‘Naima’. The key track is ‘Giant Steps’, which would subsequently provide the title track of the album. Here, with pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Lex Humphries, the tempo is slower than the final issued take, and sees Coltrane’s conscientious application of patterns, most notably a i-ii-iii-v grouping (equivalent to do, re, mi, so in Tonic sol-fa) which in both root and inverted forms appears numerous times throughout his solo – indeed, on the master take Coltrane would use the pattern in root form some 35 times. This use of patterns was hardly new in jazz, in 1927 Louis Armstrong employed an amazingly modern-sounding nine bars pattern running during his vocal on ‘Hotter Than That’, and Sonny Stitt systematically applied patterns to negotiate his way through the complex, extended chord progressions of bop, such as his 1949 version of ‘All God’s Children Got Rhythm’. There are two forms of pattern running, or “sequencing” as it is sometimes known. “Melodic Sequencing” is to do with preserving the relationship of a group of notes, one to another, through a sequence of chords so that, for example, the tonic, the mediant and the dominant of one chord are played as the tonic, dominant and mediant of another. In the case of ‘Giant Steps’, the frequently used tonic, supertonic, mediant and dominant sequence (i-ii-iii-v) of one chord becomes the tonic, super-tonic, mediant and dominant of another chord. “Rhythmic Sequencing” is the repetition of a rhythmic figure in which the notes don’t necessarily retain their melodic relationship one to another, as in “Melodic Sequencing,” but their rhythmic relationship is preserved. Coltrane handled patterns derived from pentatonic scales, transposed to fit each chord as it flew by, exceptionally well. The master take of ‘Giant Steps’, with a different group to the 26 March session with Tommy Flanagan on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Art Taylor on drums, was recorded on 5 May 1959 and the final issued take is taken at a brighter tempo than the earlier session. There are 26 chord changes in the 16-bar theme of ‘Giant Steps’ which provides a formidable challenge for the improviser with its quickly changing key centres. It is a challenge that proved almost too much for pianist Flanagan (however, later in life he proved he had thoroughly mastered the changes when he recorded the composition on his 1982 trio album In Memory of John Coltrane: Giant Steps). In contrast, Coltrane’s masterful application of pattern running techniques throughout this piece proved to be widely influential. As Lewis Porter, author of John Coltrane: His Life And Music, notes: “This use of ‘pentatonic patterns’… is widespread today, primarily through Coltrane’s influence.” “‘Giant Steps’,” Porter points out, is effectively an étude – or a thorough study – of third-related chord movement. Chordal movement in major thirds was not common at this time in jazz. Among the few pieces where the improviser would be confronted with this kind of harmonic movement was the middle eight of ‘Have You Met Miss Jones?’ which has key centres moving by major thirds for the whole eight bars. Equally, ‘Giant Steps’ has the root movement of the underlying harmonies moving in same way. However, Porter argues it was probably less the influence of “Miss Jones,” more the influence of Nicolas Slonimsky’s Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns that gave the final eight bars of the composition its final shape. “Everybody was looking at Slonimsky’s book, trying to see how it fitted into Coltrane’s thinking on ‘Giant Steps,’” he said down the line from New Jersey. “Everybody was poring over it and nobody thought of looking at the introduction. And here Slonimsky said – and I paraphrase – ‘you might enjoy putting chords under some of these patterns.’ And as an example he gave one of his patterns harmonised, and it turns out to be very close to the second eight bars, the second half, of ‘Giant Steps.’ It was there all along right in the front of the book where nobody checked!” Here, in the final eight bars, Coltrane adapted Slonimsky’s “patterns” to form a series of iiv-i progressions (the most common chord progression in jazz), again separated by major thirds.” Today, as Lewis Porter, who is also associate professor of music at Rutgers University, points out, ‘Giant Steps’ has “become a test piece for jazz musicians and is required fare in jazz education programmes.” But as Norwegian saxophonist Petter Wettre recalls, being faced with this piece for the first time as a student can be a very daunting experience. “At some point in your career as a student, or later, you are going to be confronted with ‘Giant Steps,’” he says. “At first I had no idea how to play it because it is so hard. When I was at Berklee College of Music, you get ‘Giant Steps,’ you get the transcription of the solo and you learn that and after that you’re on your own. But there is so much information packed into that performance. Now, teaching myself I spend a lot of time on it, for saxophonists it is something you must know, and have a deep understanding of. Everybody learns it, although today hardly anybody plays it!” Wettre helps students quickly reach a working knowledge of the piece. “Viewed separately, none of the chords in ‘Giant Steps’ are difficult. It’s when you string them together it gets tricky,” he says. “Although ‘Giant Steps’ has 26 chords, there are only 10 key changes, and those 10 key changes involve just three keys – B, G and Eb. Using the dominant’s pentatonic scale of each key centre means you basically have to learn three pentatonic scales to improvise over the tune – F#, D and Bb. But watch out, this only works if you pay close attention to where the chords change. But having tried it both ways I would say you will get results much easier than the ‘conventional’ way – i, ii, iii, v and i, ii, iii, v and so on. My personal view is that the main challenge lies with tempo. But since chords, melody and form are already predetermined, you are free to choose tempo. In other words, bring the tempo way down when you practise it. And why not try it in a slow tempo when you perform it? It’s a beautiful line with an organic melody curve that benefits from a slower tempo.” From his perspective as both performer and educator, Wettre wonders, tongue-in-cheek, why women jazz musicians don’t seem quite as attracted to “Giant Steps” as men. “Why is this?” he asks. “So I asked my girlfriend, ‘What is the deal with women and ‘Giant Steps?’ She said, ‘It’s a guy thing.’ This got me thinking. Is it really a guy thing, to sort the men from the boys? I decided to call the Norwegian female saxophonist Frøy Aagre for a comment. What did she think? Aagre said: “I used to practise ‘Giant Steps’ a long time ago. As a student. To overcome technical difficulties. In my case was never intended for public hearing. ‘Giant Steps’ didn’t address me emotionally. It’s about pure technique. ‘Giant Steps’ is a typical tune that serves the purpose of competing with other musicians to see who’s the best. It triggers the competitive instinct which is much stronger with men than with women. My personal opinion is that women more often compete with themselves rather than with others. With men, it’s the other way around.” Wettre concedes Aagre’s response was surprisingly similar to his girlfriend’s statements. “I tried to tell my girlfriend that John Coltrane was perceived by everyone who knew him as the world’s most humble person. I told her, ‘There is no way he’d degrade himself to commit a difficult tune just to separate the men from the boys.’” He also notes that while his generation used to use ‘Giant Steps’ as a rite of passage, this is now changing among jazz musicians of the current generation. “I consider myself an ‘old school’ improviser – form, chords, melody – but younger musicians coming through, students, twenty, twenty-five, I’m not going to generalise, but it doesn’t have the same impact as when I first started playing it 25 years ago. Fifty years after it was recorded it’s not seen in the same sense as it used to be, today it’s open forms, simpler harmonies, I won’t be drawn about whether that’s good or bad, but after another fifty years my guess is its impact will be lost.” The complete Giant Steps album, including the title track, was recorded with a second group of musicians comprising Tommy Flanagan on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Art Taylor on drums on Monday 5 and Tuesday 6 May 1959. Clearly Coltrane was thoroughly absorbed in the cyclic harmonic pattern of ‘Giant Steps’ since ‘Countdown’ – the third track on the original album Atlantic 1311 – while being a contrafact of ‘Tune Up’, uses a similar ‘Giant Steps’ substitute progression (other pieces that do included ‘Central Park West’, ‘Exotica’, ‘Fifth House’ and ‘Satellite’). In what was his first album comprising entirely of his own originals, three pieces, ‘Naima’, ‘Cousin Mary’ and ‘Syeeda’s Song Flute’ are dedicated to Coltrane family members. ‘Naima’ is a serene, almost exotic tribute to his wife and is largely based on a pedal point (a sustained note, usually in the bass) with a hypnotic, pre-arranged bass part. It’s a piece that is very difficult to describe as “a ballad”; perhaps tone poem is more appropriate. ‘Cousin Mary’, the second track on the original album, is a blues that began life as ‘Old Blues, New Blues’ and is dedicated to Coltrane’s cousin Mary L. Alexander with whom he lived as a child in North Carolina and later in Philadelphia for the better part of two decades. Coltrane’s approach to the blues here and on the minor blues ‘Mr. P.C.’ – dedicated to Paul Chambers (the final track on Giant Steps) and now a jam session favourite among musicians – uses more basic changes than Charlie Parker’s approach to the blues with its chromaticism and use of ii-v-i substitutions. ‘Syeeda’s Song Flute’, is dedicated to Coltrane’s stepdaughter who at the time was learning the recorder. Track five on the original album, it reflects the influence of Thelonious Monk. Giant Steps was released in January 1960, and reviewed in Downbeat in their 31 March edition where Ralph J. Gleason presciently observed “You can tag this LP as one of the important ones.” “Coltrane revolutionised jazz instrumentally, harmonically and rhythmically” In a career that can be broadly divided into three phases, Coltrane revolutionised jazz instrumentally, harmonically and rhythmically. The first phase was his “change-running” or hard bop period culminating in Giant Steps, which is used in histories to act as a neat bookend for this first part of his career. Of course, it wasn’t quite as neat as that, as subsequent albums like Coltrane Jazz attest, but its towering aesthetic, artistic and technical achievement diminishes such semantics. The second phase was his “modal” period from 1960 to 1965 with his “classic” quartet that included pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones that culminated in A Love Supreme and the third was his “free” period from 1965 until his death in 1967 that was characterised by free-form pieces, simultaneous collective improvisation and a greater involvement with Eastern musical concepts. What is remarkable about each of these three phases was the impact they had on his fellow jazz musicians – it was as if Charlie Parker had appeared in jazz three times. While Giant Steps may seem like a springboard into the next phase of his career, Lewis Porter suggests the path Coltrane would follow was suggested not by Giant Steps at all, but by Kind of Blue. “On ‘So What,’ the opening selection, Coltrane spontaneously composed a tightly unified solo notable for both the abstract quality of its melodic motives and for the way he develops each motivic idea,” he says. “The ‘So What’ solo indicates the direction Coltrane’s music was to take during the 1960s. He became more and more concerned with structural aspects of improvisation; as he did so he concentrated more exclusively on modal backgrounds, which gave him the time he needed to develop his ideas at length.” Historically, Coltrane appears as the link between the song-based techniques of Charlie Parker and the more abstract “free jazz” approach of Ornette Coleman. But he is also something more. Coltrane embraced the notion of continuous artistic evolution, his questing musical curiosity forging a musical path that celebrated musical style as a process, not an arrival point. Listening to his recordings from each of his three periods we can peer across the boundary of time to hear Coltrane’s music as it sounded during his transition from star sideman (with Miles Davis) to a leader in his own right continually pushing the boundaries of musical possibilities, whether it was cyclical song forms such as ‘Giant Steps’, adapting modes to song forms such as ‘My Favourite Things’ that lead to open form pieces like ‘India’ and ‘Óle’, to the freedom and abstraction of the “final” period on albums such as Live in Seattle or Interstellar Space. It is the flowering of a true jazz giant whose range both musically and emotionally is only beginning to be understood today. “It is not unreasonable to suggest that among jazz musicians, and so within jazz itself, Giant Steps may well be the most influential jazz album of all time” Today, Coltrane continues to be a musical inspiration for both fans and musicians alike, and his recorded legacy is essential study for any aspiring jazz musician. ‘Giant Steps’ and the underlying harmonic movement of Coltrane’s 16-bar composition – often called “the Coltrane Changes” – have long been a settled module in jazz education pedagogy. So with almost all professional jazz musicians under the age of 40 having enjoyed at least some degree of formal jazz education, it is not unreasonable to suggest that among jazz musicians, and so within jazz itself, Giant Steps may well be the most influential jazz album of all time. Coltrane’s solos have been transcribed and analysed by countless scholars, he has been the subject of hundreds and hundreds of academic dissertations and there have been seven biographies of him in the English language alone, the most recent Lewis Porter’s definitive John Coltrane: His Life and Music. Indeed, so much has been written about Coltrane that it might appear you need a doctorate of music to go anywhere near his recordings. Nothing could be further from the truth, as Giant Steps demonstrates so eloquently. His music contains universal values that still speak to us now – the essential humanity of his work, the sheer joy of music making and the power and energy of his playing that even today can be both moving and uplifting. These are values that can be enjoyed by anyone and everyone, just as Coltrane intended. This article originally appeared in the Dec 09 / Jan 10 issue of Jazzwise. Subscribe to Jazzwise. Discover... Feature John Coltrane – In the Temple of Trane Feature Miles Davis – Kind of Blue Review Thelonious Monk – Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane ★★★★★A Mantis shrimp (Gonodactylus smithii) is seen in this undated handout photograph released in London May 14, 2008. REUTERS/Roy Caldwell/Handout LONDON (Reuters) - A giant shrimp living on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef can see a world beyond the rainbow that is invisible to other animals, scientists said on Wednesday. Mantis shrimps, dubbed “thumb splitters” by divers because of their vicious claws, have the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom, capable of seeing colors from the ultraviolet to the infrared, as well as detecting other subtle variations in light. They view the world in up to 12 primary colors — four times as many as humans — and can measure six different kinds of light polarization, Swiss and Australian researchers reported. polarization is the direction of oscillation in light waves. Just why Gonodactylus smithii needs this level of rarefied vision is unclear, although the researchers suspect it is to do with food and sex. “Some of the animals they like to eat are transparent and quite hard to see in sea-water, except they’re packed full of polarizing sugars. I suspect they light up like Christmas trees as far as these shrimp are concerned,” said Andrew White of the University of Queensland. And the shrimps probably use tiny changes in color and polarization to send sexual signals between males and females, the researchers believe. Their findings were published online in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE, hereStory highlights 13 plaintiffs, including four U.S. vets, sued in 2010 after being stopped from traveling in aircraft The plaintiffs say they believe they are on the federal no-fly list They call other means of travel, such as boat trips lasting more than a month, impractical The ACLU hails the ruling; the Justice Department would not comment on the case In a lawsuit challenging the federal no-fly list, a U.S. District Court in Oregon has ruled that passengers have a constitutional right to fly internationally, but it has yet to decide if the government's procedures are enough to deny that right due to security concerns. The 13 plaintiffs, including four U.S. military veterans, sued in 2010 after being stopped from traveling in aircraft. They say they believe they are on the federal no-fly list. They also say they were prevented from traveling overseas to make religious pilgrimages, visit family and attend school, since other means of travel, such as boat trips that would have lasted more than a month, were impractical. The American Civil Liberties Union, which supported the case, hailed the partial decision as a victory. "This is the first federal court decision to recognize that when the government bans Americans from flying and smears them as suspected terrorists, it deprives them of constitutionally protected liberties and must provide these Americans a fair process to clear their names," Nusrat Choudhury, a staff attorney for the ACLU who argued the case, told CNN. The Justice Department would not comment on the case. The plaintiffs also say the government violated their right to due process when they were put on the list with no notice or meaningful way to fight the inclusion. About 20,000 people were on the no-fly list as of 2012, according to a counterterrorism official, including about 400 Americans. U.S. officials will not confirm who is on the no-fly list or various other terrorist watch lists complied by the F.B.I. and used by the Transportation Security Administration, airlines and other countries. The judge has asked both the government and the plaintiffs' attorneys for more information about the redress process before deciding if the procedures are enough to prevent people from flying. There is a process for removing a person's name by submitting information to the Department of Homeland Security. If would-be passengers aren't happy with the results, they can take the government to court. The plaintiffs said that process is not adequate, since the government never holds an administrative hearing, acknowledges if a person's name is on the list or if it has been removed, or tells why the name was on the list in the first place. The government argued in court documents that it can't tell people if they are on the no-fly list because that would reveal classified information that needs to be "shared across the government to maximize the nation's security, without fear that such information will be disclosed whenever anyone cannot travel as he or she might choose." The next court date is set for September 9.http://www.trueactivist.com/uk-city-installs-giant-eyes-to-spy-on-citizens-public-thinks-its-a-great-idea/ Advertising screens shaped like enormous human eyes have been installed in Birmingham, England, reported the BBC this week. The screens, which sit above three entrances to a newly-designed rail station in the city, have a dual purpose: firstly, to scan passers-by in order to try sell them the right kind of sh*t they don’t need, and secondly to record their every move. “They use cutting-edge facial recognition technology to profile groups of passengers and shoppers before picking which adverts to display,” explains the anchor. The eyes are made up of 500+ individual television screens, which act as “hidden cameras that will effectively look at people as they come in and out of the station.” These cameras are sophisticated enough to determine the gender, age and demographic group of individuals as they walk by, and will be the biggest ever installed in the UK when the train station re-opens next month. But the blatantly Orwellian design of the screens- which seem to say ‘Yes suckers, Big Brother is watching you, and at this point he’s not even hiding the fact’- isn’t the worst thing about this news. What’s even more disturbing than these intrusive gigantic digital eyes is the general public’s overwhelmingly positive reaction to the issue of mass surveillance. Here are the comments a reporter heard while asking passers-by their opinions: “Ahhh, it’s the way things are going with technology now. I wouldn’t be worried about it,” says the first interviewee. “That’s amazing,” gushes the second. “I think it’s quite cool in terms of technology and the way the future is evolving and so on,” agrees a third. While it’s entirely possible (and very likely) that the BBC edited these vox pops to leave viewers with a positive opinion of modern-day surveillance technologies, the sad fact is that the reactions here are mirrored across British society. In fact, most people in the UK have never heard of George Orwell, let alone read his terrifying novel 1984 which undoubtedly inspired the contemporary concept of Big Brother spy programs. Maybe we need to start a campaign to get this accurate portrayal of our contemporary society on the reading list of every school in the country (if not the world)… ———– thanks to JoelH for the link.. in your face..all of it..fear the eye..no subtlety any more.. “I think it’s quite cool in terms of technology and the way the future is evolving and so on,” agrees a third.” the zombified and hypnotized sheep are loving it..so asleep.. *sigh 401 Share this: Twitter Facebook Pocket Reddit Pinterest Tumblr Google LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Skype More Email Print Like this: Like Loading... Related Posted in UK, World NewsTXL Films Reel Take a look at some of our favorite projects we’ve been honored to be part of over the years. From feature films, to music videos for upcoming artists, to short films chock full of familiar faces, to a piece choreographed by Emmy-winning duo Nappytabs… Our Oath Directed by: Taron Lexton Written by: Phenomenon Produced by: Nathan Lorch, Milena Ferreira, Nick Lane, Kim Kutner & Karin Ostrander Cinematography by: Kevin Garrison Production Design by: Todd Jeffery Production Sound by: Robert Filios Hair & Makeup by: Mariah Nicole Wardrobe by: Sara Acevedo Editorial by: Union VFX by: The Mission, Bryan Shoop Music by: Keith Kenniff Color by: Siggy Ferstl, Company 3 Sound Design & Mix by: Therapy Phenomenon: Chief Creative Officer: Chris Adams Head of Integrated Production: Chris Kyriakos Group Brand Director: Jon Levine Creative Director: Tim Bateman Creative Director: Jeff Heath Brand Director: Meghan Dougherty Producer: Karin Ostrander ACD Art Director: Julian Newman ACD Copywriter: Steve O’Brien In Search of Fellini Client: Spotted Cow Entertainment Directed by: Taron Lexton Written by: Nancy Cartwright & Peter Kjenaas Produced by: Peter Kjenaas, Nathan Lorch, Milena Ferreira, Monica Gil, Taron Lexton & Michael Doven Cinematography by: Kevin Garrison Music by: David Campbell Music Superv
for mass production. In our game the E-100 will be a top-ranked heavy tank. It’s more maneuverable than the Maus, but features the same turret and guns with a less armoured hull. Answers to readers' questions: 1. Why have you decided to add E-100? How can I get the Е-100? Answer: This vehicle is on the more “powerful” side of the E-series and we think that it is a very interesting and anticipated addition for our players. We decided that it is well suited for one of the autumn specials. Details will follow, so keep an eye on the news for more information. 2. The E-100 had 75 mm side-screens will they help against HEAT and HE? Will we be able to rip em off? Answer: The E-100 will have the side-screens and they can be ripped off after receiving a couple of hits. 3. Will the performance of the main gun and ammo ballistics be different from the ones of the Maus? Answer: No. 4. Will the Е-100 be the only tank of the E-series? Answer: Yes, we don’t plan to add or create any other E-series vehicles. From the E-series, the only value lies with the E-100, because the other projects, the E-50 and E-75 had similar characteristics to the Panther and Tiger II (combat weight, weaponry, armour). Thus they were not constructed in any form at all, as opposed to E-100, which was designed and built to a fairly advanced state.Casey Curlin Articles by Casey Curlin Clash at Brandeis U. over Israeli speaker Students at Brandeis University, which is historically Jewish, are protesting Israel's ambassador as their commencement speaker, arguing that the school is biased against Palestinians. Published April 30, 2010 Shares Police adjust to a world caught on tape The March 3 confrontation between a University of Maryland student and the Prince George's County police force dramatizes the revolution in law enforcement wrought by video recorders and cell-phone cameras. Published April 26, 2010 Shares Texas students see religious bias with 'year of Our Lord' Students at a Texas college are demanding that their diplomas not be dated "in the year of Our Lord," prompting school officials to consider removing that phrase while leaving what others consider another obvious reference to Christendom — the school's name, Trinity University. Published April 21, 2010 Shares Rule change in Scrabble prompts purists' ire Now, a player in Europe will only need to know who's hot -- or who's not -- in pop culture to dominate opponents. Published April 8, 2010 Shares Health reform a bitter pill for Fla. voters The most powerful - and consequential - aftershocks of the Obama's just-passed health care plan may be felt in the state that helped make him president. Published April 2, 2010 Shares Ayala wins Templeton Prize In Pablo Picasso's painting "Guernica," a woman's pained face is turned upward as she wails over a dead child in her lap. Various other faces appear scattered over the canvas, each one clearly in some kind of suffering. Published March 26, 2010 Shares Reality TV spices Arab politics First, mix "American Idol" with "The Real World." Pour the contestants into the same house, stir in the same grungy, bubble gum pop outfits, and watch their reaction. Then ice with a singing contest in which voters decide the winner. Published March 26, 2010 Shares Coulter seeks prosecution in Canada over free speech While Ann Coulter is making her speaking tour of Canada this week, she could face a legal issue that has not hindered her in the United States — restrictions on free speech. And her reaction? Bring it on. Published March 24, 2010 Shares Canadian protest shuts down Coulter Conservative commentator Ann Coulter, on a speaking tour of Canada this week addressing political correctness and freedom of speech, found herself silenced Tuesday when organizers canceled a speech at the University of Ottawa after deciding it was too risky to stage the event. Published March 23, 2010 Shares Blockbuster chain mulls bankruptcy Make it a Netflix night. Or make it a Redbox night. Or make it an On Demand night. But "make it a Blockbuster night"? Published March 19, 2010 Shares Green Yule for virtual Salvation Army Last Christmas, the famous bell-ringers went "cyber" in new ways - and Americans had the Salvation Army's "virtual" kettles overflowing with record donations of $139 million. Published March 19, 2010 Shares Suicides spur review of Massachusetts bullying bill Prompted by the recent suicides of two students, Massachusetts state House lawmakers on Monday will review a bill that would add bullying prevention to statewide education goals. Published March 15, 2010 Shares Obama's teacher hard line spurs debate President Obama's approval of the recent firing of teachers at a Rhode Island high school has spurred a debate among education specialists about whether staff turnover will help underperforming schools. Published March 10, 2010 Shares Olympics' impact felt beyond Vancouver The flame has gone out for now, but the political and cultural reverberations from the just-concluded 2010 Winter Olympics are still being felt far beyond the slopes, rinks and luge tracks. Published March 1, 2010 Shares 'Young Guns' target House GOP gains Pat Meehan is just one of the NRCC's premier recruits in a full-bore drive to reclaim control of the House in November's midterm elections. Published February 26, 2010 Shares Students, schools clash in cyberspace Coarse language and bad manners are nothing new on Facebook and other social-networking sites, but courts and state legislatures are divided over how to curb personal attacks and cyberbullying while respecting students' First Amendment rights to free speech. Published February 24, 2010 Shares Conservatives woo Hispanics A conservative group has begun a new initiative to bring Hispanics into their movement by emphasizing traditional social issues, but the fight over immigration may prove this to be a futile effort. Published February 19, 2010 Shares Blizzards heat up warming debate In Washington, even a snowstorm is a political event. As residents trudge through blizzards and shovel out stranded cars, climate-change skeptics have been tossing verbal snowballs at those arguing that the planet is heating up. Published February 12, 2010 Shares Study finds lack of civic learning in college College fails to teach civic knowledge - including American history and national institutions - and has an influence on liberal leanings among students, a new study says. Published February 11, 2010 SharesGenes help shape intelligence, period. That’s not new news, even though it continues to be a source of dispute for a number of reasons, mostly historical. It’s also not new news that no single gene, or even a small group of genes, govern intelligence. In past years, researchers identified a dozen genes associated with intelligence. Now a huge meta-analysis of studies on some 60,000 adults and 20,000 children has unearthed 40 more. So the total is now 52. Six takeaways from the massive new study of genes for intelligence, published in Nature Genetics. 1. This study was not about genes for “intelligence,” however you define “intelligence.” It was about genes that influence the ability to do well on standardized tests aimed at quantifying cognitive abilities. At earlier points in the history of Homo sap, “intelligence” might have meant being able to remember where and what time of year a particular tree would be festooned with fruit, or to read the landscape so as to track prey animals. Today, in much of the world, intelligence tests are a not-unreasonable surrogate for that squidgy concept, “intelligence.” For one thing, test scores correlate with other measures of success in modern life, such as educational achievement and good health and longevity. For another, let’s be practical here, test scores were one kind of data available to the researchers who were studying another kind of data in their subjects: their genes. 2. There’s still quite a way to go. Researchers believe thousands of genes could be involved in intelligence. (Not to mention thousands–millions?–of equally important environmental factors, nearly all of which await discovery.) The researchers describing their new study think that the current haul of 52 genes accounts for less than 5% of variation in IQ scores, Ian Sample tells us at The Guardian. Each gene appears to have only a tiny effect on the ability to do well on intelligence tests. 3. Despite the massive number of people included, data obtained by merging 13 different past studies, all 78,308 study subjects were of European descent, Stephanie Pappas pointed out at LiveScience. Patterns of intelligence genes will probably be at least somewhat different in other ethnic groups. 4. What do these genes do? Lots of stuff. Not surprisingly, many are active in the human brain. “A couple seem to be involved in the controlled death of neurons that takes place as the brain is developing. But many others were more generally involved in development, either of the brain or other organs,” says John Timmer at Ars Technica. One puzzle is how genes active very early in development can contribute to test scores decades later. It appears that, to understand human cognitive abilities, we’ll need to understand a lot more not just about neurons and the early brain but also about how the environment shapes intellectual development. 5. Some of the genes possess variants that figure in human disorders–or protect against them. “Seven genes for intelligence are also associated with schizophrenia; nine genes also with body mass index, and four genes were also associated with obesity. These three traits show a negative correlation with intelligence. So, a variant of a gene with a positive effect on intelligence has a negative effect on schizophrenia, body mass index, or obesity,” first author Suzanne Sniekers told GEN. Some of these genes seem even to discourage smoking or make it easier to quit. Some genes were associated with the autism spectrum and height. Others seem somewhat protective against Alzheimer’s, depression, and neuroticism. “So these clearly aren’t “genes for intelligence,” per se; they’re genes that influence a broad range of biology, some of which influences how we perform on intelligence tests,” Timmer observed. 6. Not likely to be possible for a long time but always fun to ponder: Future consequences of intelligence gene studies might include drugs and maybe other treatments to boost intelligence or prevent its opposite, Sample speculated. Or what about delaying cognitive aging and identifying learning strategies most suitable for particular students? And, of course, a topic discussed here just last week: designer babies. With designer IQs.Today on KNEB.tv News: New information released following Monday afternoon fire in Gering Crawford burglary suspect in custody Scottsbluff man to be re-sentenced following 2015 sexual assault of a child Sidney man loses appeal to Nebraska Court of Appeals Gering Library Board prese... KNEB.tv News: February 26, 2019 Today on KNEB.tv News: New information released following Monday afternoon fire in Gering Crawford burglary suspect in custody Scottsbluff man to be re-sentenced following 2015 sexual assault of a child Sidney man loses appeal to Nebraska Court of Appeals Gering Library Board prese... Read More Goshen County Attorney's Office requests investigation into Clerk of the District Court office The State of Wyoming is investigating the Goshen County Clerk of the District Court office. In a media release obtained by KNEB News, the Goshen County Attorney's Office requested an investigation of the records of the 8th Judicial District Court Clerk. The request for the investigation was su... Read More Nebraska authorities issue subpoenas to Catholic Churches, institutions The Nebraska Department of Justice, along with law enforcement agencies, issued subpoenas Tuesday to over 400 Catholic churches and institutions across the state. The subpoenas request all records or information related to any child sexual assault or abuse that has occurred by those employed or a... Read More Gering Public Schools Foundation unveils new website Gering Public Schools Foundation announced the launch of its new website Tuesday. According to a news release from the Foundation, the goal is to utilize the site as a communications tool for storytelling about the work of their donors, grantees, alumni and staff. "One of the exciting things... Read MoreBaghdad (IraqiNews.com) A new video was released by the Islamic State extremist group that presents a tutorial on how to kill what it calls ‘disbelievers’ and the video includes the execution of a man on a crucifix. The video was released in French by ISIS media channels in Wilayat al-Raqqa, and was titled ‘You Must Fight Them O Muwahhid (believer of Allah)’. The video begins with a French Islamist song, and footage and images of past ISIS attacks across the world, including the attacks on Germany, Finland, Russia, the United States and France. The video focused mainly on “revenge” and called on ISIS sympathizers and supports in European countries to carry out attacks and suicide operations using either a knife or an improvised explosive device (IED). Then the video started to explain how to attack “disbelievers” with the weapons, in addition to showing executions of ISIS “spies” by knife and by suicide vest. The footage also showed a French-speaking ISIS militant while explaining how best to choose a knife for an attack, then he started to demonstrate by slaughtering a man on a crucifix. The man was accused of being a spy for the international coalition. In the last part of the video, a “spy” named ‘Abd Isma’il Muhammad ash-Shayk, 23, is forced to run for his life while wearing a backpack containing a bomb. He is alleged to have been working with the Kurdish PKK to carry out a car bomb attack on ISIS in Raqqa, and as he runs ISIS militants fire at his feet, then detonate the bomb.Adrian Wojnarowski breaks down the possible action that Cleveland could take with Isaiah Thomas and the Celtics depending on Thomas' medical evaluation. (0:59) What do Cavs do next with Thomas? (0:59) In the aftermath of issues resulting from Isaiah Thomas' physical examination on Friday, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics are planning a telephone call for Saturday to discuss the status of the teams' blockbuster trade, league sources told ESPN. The proposed deal sending Cleveland's four-time All-Star guard Kyrie Irving to the Celtics for Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and a 2018 first-round pick via Brooklyn has been thrust into uncertainty with medical questions surrounding Thomas' injured hip, league sources told ESPN. It is possible that Cleveland could request further compensation from Boston before it'll approve the trade, league sources said. Cleveland has until Thursday to make a final decision on approving the trade, sources said. Cleveland can veto the deal based on a failed physical, sending players back to their respective teams. Thomas took the exam in Cleveland on Friday before flying back home to the West Coast, league sources said. "It's a very sensitive situation," one source involved in the process told ESPN. Irving, who had requested a trade from Cleveland, is set to take his physical with the Celtics on Saturday, league sources said. The deadline to report and submit to a physical for the players involved in the trade is 10 a.m. Wednesday, and the deadline to pass the physical is 10 a.m. Thursday, per league rules. However, if both teams mutually agree to extend the deadline, they can. Thomas has been rehabilitating a hip injury that ended his season in the Eastern Conference finals, and sources have told ESPN that the All-Star guard has yet to begin a regimen of running this offseason. Boston doctors had decided that Thomas' hip did not require surgery and prescribed a summer regimen of rehabilitation and rest. Celtics general manager Danny Ainge, when asked whether Thomas' injury played a part in making the trade for Irving, told reporters: "Some." ESPN's Dave McMenamin contributed to this report.Motörhead Day 2 to take place on 20th July 2017, announces live stream of the event By Sophie Nevrkla Lemmium.org, the organisers of the Motörhead Day tribute, have announced today that fans around the world will be able to watch a live stream of the event at www.Lemmium.org. John Wright, of Lemmium, said: "We have a very deep connection with our global followers and ahead of our ambitions to establish Motörhead Day in other countries around the world, we felt the next best thing was to enable fans to watch the event streamed live via the internet, bringing fans and friends together to celebrate a very special event." The event, which will take place this Thursday July 20 at Our Black Heart, Camden, marks the anniversary of the band’s first gig in 1975 at Camden Roundhouse. The event is scheduled to begin at 4pm, with the first live set at 8pm, with top UK Motörhead tribute act, Motörheadache, set to perform. Wright added: "We are currently working to unveil the first Motörhead Landmark, think Blue Plaque but with attitude. We are delighted that fans will have the opportunity to contribute to the fundraising and we know that building a permanent legacy is something that unites the band, the fans and Lemmium.org."CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Phoenix Racing owner James Finch has a potential buyer that could keep his South Carolina-based Sprint Cup team running the rest of the year. Finch declined to say who the buyer was, other than he is in racing and "has the money to do it." A source close to the situation told ESPN.com the potential buyer is Harry Scott Jr., the co-owner of Turner Scott Motorsports, which competes in the Nationwide and Truck Series. Finch, 63, said he should know if the deal will go through by July 15. If not, he said the organization, which gets engines and chassis from Hendrick Motorsports, will shut down after the July 28 race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway due to a lack of funding. "My last race is going to be the Brickyard [400] that I'm going to fund," Finch said Friday. "I've been trying to make this sale happen to keep my employees. I've got some of them jobs with different teams if I shut down. If the guy buys the team, they will be able to stay and go forward racing." Finch has 18 employees in his Spartanburg shop located just over an hour from the NASCAR hub in Charlotte. He has run off and on in the Cup series since 1990, his only win coming with Brad Keselowski at Talladega in 2009. He has 13 wins in 538 Nationwide Series starts. Finch didn't attempt to run a full Cup schedule until 2011. In 2012, he gave 2004 champion Kurt Busch a ride after Busch was released from Penske Racing. This year, Phoenix Racing has run every race with five different drivers -- Regan Smith, AJ Allmendinger, Austin Dillon, Bobby Labonte and Jacques Villeneuve. Smith finished seventh in the Daytona 500 and sixth at Talladega. Finch had hoped to run a full season, but the inability to lure sponsors has forced him to sell or shut down. "If this guy buys it, I might come up there and run a Nationwide race or two with him, just to play around," said Finch, who owns Phoenix Construction in Panama City, Fla. "But it's to the point I've got to quit because of expenses and no sponsorship. I know the difference between having a little money and being broke, because I started broke. "I don't want to go broke trying to beat Ford Motor Company." David Newton covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at [email protected] is how India celebrated Holi 2017 35 Amazing Photos of India’s most colorful festival Halla_photo_contests Blocked Unblock Follow Following Mar 20, 2017 We arranged Holi 2017 special photo contest which ended on 18th March. We asked photographers to show how India celebrate this most colorful festival through their photographs and we got more than 400 colorful entries. Here are some photos of India’s Holi 2017 celebration. Tell us which one you liked the most. 1. Festival of Colours Holi in Kolkata by Sayan Raha He took this picture near burrabazar,Kolkata from the rooftop of a building. 2. Colour of Barsana by Mohammed Anzaar Nabi 3. Colors of Spring by Krishanu Das The image is shot at Jorasanko Thakurbari, Kolkata 4. Let’s forget the world for a day by Kanishka Paliwal I wish like how this festival washes off the colours and stains, we wash off all the negative vibes we have… 5. Holi picture by Lakshya Kapoor 6. Holi celebration becomes more fun, when you’re friends are as crazy as you! by Chirag Ameta 7. Samaaj by Puneet Jain Holi celebrations at lord Krishna birth place, nandgaon where During the celebrations at the temple courtyard, people from both the villages( nandgaon and barsana) sit across each other singing, dancing and conversing and this meet-up is termed as ‘samaaj’. 8. Rang-leela by Luzina Khan Glimpse of Nandgao Holi celebration 9. Tricolor based Holi by Akanksha jadhav This tricolor was not done intentionally..me and the photographer parag sawant realised it later while viewing the pictures.. 10. Rang barse by Prashant Samaj is siting in complex of radharani mandir at barsana. 11. HAPPY HOLI by Sarvesh Keer 12. Mohe do Rang Laal! by Satyam Roy Chowdhury This shot was taken on the occasion of Holi in Kolkata. 13. Energy Photo by Shweta Photo of my little one, enjoying the joy of colors and spreading positive vibes. 14. Holi hai…Photo by Angshuman Paul Students of RBU, Calcutta, celebrate festival of colour, Holi. 15. Trace me in your colors, wild and beautiful, vivid and vibrant, flourishing me even in this flaccid world… Photo by Suyash Vij 16. Basanta utsav…Photo by Joydeep Mukherjee This is a picture of basanta utsav (holi) at Kolkata. Here dancers are dancing with the rhythm of Rabindra sangeet also playing with colour. 17. Holigraphy! Photo by Hrushikesh pardhi Clicked at pune where most important content of holi is …GULAL! Happy Holi! 18. Rahad Rangpanchmi (peshaveklin culture) Photo Chetan rathod महाराष्ट्रात सर्वत्र होळीच्या दुसऱ्या दिवशी धुळवडला रंग खेळळा जातो. मात्र, नाशिकमध्ये पंचमीला रंग खेळण्याची परंपरा आहे. इतर ठिकाणांपेक्षा नाशिकला रंगपंचमी वेगळी खेळली जाते. पेशवेकालीन रहाडीत पाणी आणि रंग मिसळून जलदेवतेची पूजा केली जाते. त्यानंतर रंग खेळण्यास सुरुवात होते. सध्या शहरात शनी चौक, दिल्ली दरवाजा, तिवंधा चौक, तांबट अळी आणि मधली होळी अशा पाच रहाडी असून त्यातील शनी चौक, दिल्ली दरवाजा आणि तिवंधा या रहाडी उघडल्या जातात. 19. Holi Scene in goa 2017 Photo by Anchal priyadarshini 20. COLOUR OF LIFE…Photo by Dimpal Pancholi All people in treble area for the holi festival Colorful life. 21. Lathamar Holi Photo by Rajdeep Biswas Men from Nandgaon(UP) visit the town of Barsana(UP) every year, only to be greeted by sticks (i.e. lathis) of the women there. The ladies hurl sticks at the men, who try to shield themselves as much as they can. 22. Give Me Red…Photo by Nilanjan Pathak Holi is celebrated all over India with fun and joy. This is man is having a gala time in Barsana, Uttar Pradesh during Holi. 23. Festival of color by Abhishek Purohit Colors are brighter when the mind is open.people start playing with colours. the following image is taken by me at ganshyam ji temple oldest temple of Jodhpur were holi is played with flowers and Gulal. 24. Daddy’s Girl… Photo by Raja Sharma This image shows the love and bond between the father and daughter that too while celebrating holi. They do not belong to this country but the immense joy and happiness they show proves that caste, creed, culture and religion doesn’t matter till it’s giving happiness. 25. Smiling Colors…Photo by Kartik Kumar S Kids having a relaxing time after playing holi with their friends in streets of Bengaluru by watching through the window of autorikshaw. 26. Water hat…Photo by Ankit pawar 27. Strong Women… Photo by Akash Da Hustla While capturing the celebrations at temple of Nandgaon I came across this amazing woman who in my view enjoyed holi to the true essence of it. She danced, splashed holi and also used her walking stick to land so soft knocks at the people gathered as a part of tradition. Later I was told by a friend that she is the most respected woman in Nandgaon holi and last year she started the Holi celebrations. She has taken Lord Krishna as her own son and dedicated her life to it. I admire the energy she showed. 28. Colors… Photo by Akshay Jain Holi celebration. 29. Widow Celebrates Holi at Vrindavan…Photo by Subhash barolia Hundreds of widow Play Holi at Gopinath temple, Vrindavan Mathura in Uttar Pradesh. 30. Colorful Baby…Photo by Kailas Mahant Happiness in her eyes for Holi 31. SPLASH…Photo by Arghya Bhakta This photo was taken at korasan ki thakur bari while basanta utsav and I would like to say thanks to that lady… 32. RANG BARSE… Photo by Dushyant Raval This image is describe Rang ( Colors ) of our life. When it comes in our life it spreads a happiness. Specially taken by High Speed Sync light setup. Picture By Dushyant Raval ( Insta @dushyantravaldz ) In the Frame Chinmay Roy ( Insta @chinmayroydz ) Assisted By Dharmesh Mistry & Harsh Mistry Location : Ahmedabad, Gujarat. 33. Look forward into the colors of life… Photo by Venky Alla 34. Rang barse Photo by Vedang P. KandalgaonkarIt was supposed to be a celebration of inclusiveness and new beginnings. But a Canada Day party and citizenship ceremony at a Brossard Islamic community centre on Friday faced some backlash on social media. On Facebook, one person called the organizers traitors to Canada. Others made rude remarks about the Islamic faith. The choice of the venue was to gather different members of the community, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, said Liberal MP Alexandra Mendes. Mendes took part in the ceremony. She also received some criticism after inviting her constituents to the cultural centre, which includes a mosque. "There was some controversy around the choice of venue because people stopped at the word mosque, and not the word cultural centre," Mendes said. "But I also received lots of support from people who said it was an excellent idea. "We are Canadians and we celebrate being Canadians," she said. Foudil Selmoune, the mosque's imam, said he wanted to improve the image of Muslims with the ceremony. "It's very important to counter the negative ideas people have, that we're negative people, that we're isolated," he said. Mendes said next year's ceremony won't be held at the Islamic centre, but denied it has anything to do with the backlash.The drug war in Mexico was ranked 2016's second deadliest conflict in the world, with only the war in Syria being labelled worse, a new annual survey has revealed. This means Mexico experienced levels of violence far more extreme than that of Iraq, Yemen or Afghanistan. As the war against Isis in Iraq, the civil war in Syria, and the conflict between the forces of Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and the Houthi rebels made the headlines, violence in Mexico has gone relatively underreported. The activities of criminal organisations there have now reached the level of a full-blown armed conflict. Violence in Mexico between state forces and cartels claimed 23,000 lives during 2016, second only to Syria, where 50,000 people died as result of a multi-dimensional civil war which included hundreds of air strikes by Russia and the US-led coalition, all-out urban warfare, and widespread use of suicide attacks. Armed conflict related deaths in 2016 50,000 23,000 17,000 16,000 7,000 Iraq Afghanistan Mexico Syria Yemen Source: International Institute for Strategic Studies Armed conflict related deaths in 2016 Syria 50,000 Mexico 23,000 17,000 Iraq Afghanistan 16,000 Yemen 7,000 Source: International Institute for Strategic Studies "The death toll in Mexico's conflict surpasses those for Afghanistan and Somalia. This is all the more surprising, considering that the conflict deaths are nearly all attributable to small arms. Mexico is a conflict marked by the absence of artillery, tanks or combat aviation," said John Chipman, chief executive of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), which has just released its annual survey of armed conflicts. The Mexican drug cartels have an annual income of between $19bn and $29bn from the drug sales in the US, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The latest data released by the Mexican executive department of the national system of public safety shows that the rate of homicide in gang related violence has risen gradually in the country since 2014, reaching 39,837 victims in 2016. This is sign of the territorial expansion of criminal groups and of an increasing level of tension between rival cartels. Gang related homicides in Mexico 39,837 4k 36,289 35,955 3k 2k 1k 0 2014 2015 2016 2017 Source: Executive Department of the National system of public Safety, Mexico. Gang related homicides in Mexico 0 1k 2k 3k 4k 2014 35,955 2015 36,289 2016 39,837 2017 0 1k 2k 3k 4k Source: Executive Department of the National system of public Safety, Mexico. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and his administration are working towards a less militarised approach to the drug cartel problem. However, the latest data for 2017 reveals that homicide rates in the country have not stopped rising in the first three months of the year. There have also been significant arrests of important names in the Mexican criminal scene, such as Damaso Lopez Nunez, one of the leaders of the Sinaloa drug Cartel, who was arrested on 2 May in Mexico City. This arrest follows the extradition in Janaury of "El Chapo" Joaquin Guzman, considered to be the head of the Sinaloa Cartel, the world's largest drug-trafficking organisation.2017 is finally here, and we think it's going to be a big year for Windows 10. Microsoft made several announcements last year about Windows 10 that should begin showing up in 2017. There were also several things not officially announced, such as Project NEON, that will also begin showing up in 2017. Here's are the biggest things we expect to see from Windows 10 this year. Before we begin, keep in mind this isn't an all-inclusive list of everything that should show up in 2017. We're sure there will be a lot more things showing up in Windows 10 throughout 2017, things that have been announced and things that haven't. 2017 will be an exciting year for Windows 10 users, and we can't wait to see everything that's coming! Project NEON As we exclusively revealed late last year, Microsoft is working on an improved design language for Windows 10 that aims to add some flair to the currently static design that we know in Windows 10 today. Although not an incredibly major design overhaul, it's still enough to get excited about, as Microsoft is planning to streamline their design across all their apps and software, and provide better UX guidelines to developers. One goal for the new design language is for it to work universally across all Windows devices and platforms. Right now, there's somewhat of an inconsistency between the designs used on Xbox, HoloLens and Windows 10. The apps, for the most part are the same, but the Shell and other OS elements aren't. Microsoft wants to combat this with Project NEON, which is great for keeping consistency across devices. We're expecting the bulk of this design refresh to show up with Redstone 3 in 2017, with some apps such as Groove Music already featuring early Project NEON elements. We think Project NEON will be a big deal for Windows 10 later in 2017, and we can't wait to see it in action. Big Cortana Push We're expecting to see Cortana find its way into more products and devices this year, with Microsoft eager to get the virtual assistant into cars, smart-connected devices, VR/AR devices, and more. We already know Microsoft is planning to build Cortana into the set-up experience on Windows 10, and it's unlikely they're going to stop there. Cortana will find its way into more apps and services, and will be a star-feature when Home Hub eventually shows up. Because of this, it's likely we'll see Cortana roll out to more markets throughout 2017, something I see Insiders constantly asking for in the Feedback Hub. Microsoft is enabling Cortana on IoT devices with the Creators Update, which is the first major stepping stone in getting the feature out on all kinds of interesting and unique devices. Harman-Kardon has already teased a Cortana-enabled speaker, similar to the Amazon Echo, and Nissan/Renault just last week announced their Cortana in the car initiative. We'll also see Microsoft continue to update and improve Cortana on iOS and Android, two major platforms that will play a big role in getting users into the Cortana/Microsoft ecosystem. Windows 10 Mobile users won't be left in the cold, as 95% of the Cortana features that show up on Windows 10 desktops also come to phone. Windows 10 on ARM We already know that Microsoft will be pushing Windows 10 on ARM in 2017, which means we should expect to see new, unique and innovative devices from hardware makers running full Windows 10, with incredible battery life and Win32 emulation. We're not expecting Microsoft to show off a Surface phone in 2017, but never-say never. When a Surface phone does eventually show up, we wouldn't be surprised if it was running full Windows 10 for ARM. Home Hub will likely benefit from Windows 10 ARM, as well as Intel chips of course. Home Hub devices will come in all shapes and sizes, and will be great for controlling your smart-home and using voice-assistance around the house. We definitely won't see Microsoft quit the mobile industry in 2017, something many have been expecting the company to do. Windows 10 Mobile will continue receiving updates, which should come as no surprise if you're familiar with the "One Windows" prospect Microsoft has going right now. Continuum is in-line to receive some much needed improvements, bringing windowed apps and an a more familiar desktop experience to phones. We should also see Project NEON show up on phones as well, which is to be expected as apps that are updated with NEON designs will likely be universal and run on phones. We do think that over time, Windows 10 Mobile will turn into the "low-end" option for hardware makers, as high-end smartphones will likely want to run full Windows 10 on ARM. Regardless, the experiences will be the same, with Windows 10 Mobile being an excellent, light-weight option for devices. Holographic Shell Microsoft will be introducing the Holographic Shell for Virtual-Reality headsets in 2017, opening the door to a whole new market of devices powered by Windows 10. The Holographic Shell looks and behaves similarly to the shell found on HoloLens, and that's because for the most part, it is the same.At 9:29 am on November 24, 1971, Henry Kissinger, the US National Security Advisor, convened a tense and confidential meeting of the Washington Special Action Group (WSAG) in the White House Situation Room. The WSAG, consisting of the US top brass, had come together to discuss the escalating conflict in the Indian subcontinent after India crossed into the erstwhile East Pakistan to join the New Delhi-backed Mukti Bahini rebel group. “Why do we have no independent intelligence?” Kissinger had to ask the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), as lack of intelligence was stonewalling his diplomatic options. Contrary to the popular perception of the famed capabilities of the US spy agency, the CIA, or “Langley” as the agency is referred in the diplomatic and spy world after the location of its headquarters, had little intelligence or an accurate assessment of a crisis the American leadership was deeply interested in. A study of the declassified CIA papers by Hindustan Times reveals that the 1971 war remains the single most important episode of interest for Langley. These documents, posted online on January 17, were declassified after the mandatory 25-year period, but this is the first time the CIA has put more than 12 million documents on its website. The intelligence briefings, memoranda, minutes of meetings and transcripts of conversations are a treasure trove of information on how keenly the US wanted to avoid a crisis in the subcontinent, which
, each neuron specialises in detecting local edges — the separation lines between light and dark regions in a part of an image — of a particular orientation. Some detect horizontal edges, others detect vertical edges, others edges that are inclined at a 45° angle, and so on. Each hypercolumn contains columns of neurons of all orientation preferences, so that a hypercolumn can respond to edges of all orientations from a particular region of the visual field. It is the lay-out of hypercolumns and orientation preferences that enables us to detect contours, surfaces and textures in the visual world. Connections in V1: Neurons interact with most other neurons within a hypercolumn. But they only interact with neurons in other hypercolumns, if the columns lie in the direction of their orientation, and if the neurons have the same preference. Image from [2], used by permission. Over recent years, much anatomical evidence has accumulated showing just how neurons with various orientation preferences interact. Within their own hypercolumn, neurons tend to interact with most other neurons, regardless of their orientation preference. But when it comes to neurons in other hypercolumns they are more selective, only interacting with those of similar orientations and in a way which ensures that we can detect continuous contours in the visual world. Bressloff, in collaboration with Cowan, the mathematician Martin Golubitsky and others, has generalised Cowan and Ermentrout's original model to take account of this new anatomical evidence. They again used the plane as the basis for a model of V1: each hypercolumn is represented by a point on the plane, while each point in turn corresponds to a hypercolumn. Neurons with a given orientation preference (where is an angle between 0 and ) are represented by the location of the hypercolumn they're in, together with the angle, that is, they are represented by three bits of information,. So in this model V1 is not just a plane, but a plane together with a full set of orientations for each point. If two elements (x,y,θ) and (s,t,θ) interact, then so do the elements of the same orientation at (x+a,y+b) and (s+a,t+b), and the elements of orientation -θ at (x,-y) and (s,-t). In keeping with anatomical evidence, Bressloff and his colleagues assumed that a neuron represented by interacts with all other neurons in the same hypercolumn But it only interacts with neurons in other hypercolumns, if these hypercolumns lie in their preferred direction : on the plane, draw a line through of inclination Then the neurons represented by interact only with neurons in hypercolumns that lie on this line, and which have the same preferred orientation. This interaction pattern is highly symmetric. For example, the pattern doesn't appear any different if you shift the plane along in a given direction by a given distance: if two elements and interact, then the elements you get to by shifting along, that is and for some and, interact in the same way. In a similar way, the pattern is also invariant under rotations and reflections of the plane. A lattice tunnel hallucination generated by the mathematical model. It strongly resembles hallucinations seen after taking marijuana. Image from [1], used by permission. Bressloff and his colleagues used a generalised version of the equations from the original model to let the system evolve. The result was a model that is not only more accurate in terms of the anatomy of V1, but can also generate geometric patterns in the visual field that the original model was unable to produce. These include lattice tunnels, honeycombs and cobwebs that are better characterised in terms of the orientation of contours within them, than in terms of contrasting regions of light and dark. What's more, the model is sensitive to the symmetries in the interaction patterns between neurons: the mathematics shows that it is these symmetries that drive the formation of periodic patterns of neural activity. So the model suggests that it is the lay-out of hypercolumns and orientation preferences, in other words the mechanisms that enable us to detect edges, contours, surfaces and textures in the visual world, that generate the hallucinations. It is when these mechanism become unstable, for example due to the influence of a drug, that patterns of neural activity arise, which in turn translate to the visual hallucinations. Beyond hallucinations Bressloff's model does not only provide insight into the mechanisms that drive visual hallucinations, but also gives clues about brain architecture in a wider sense. In collaboration with his wife, an experimental neuroscientist, Bressloff has looked at the connection circuits between hypercolumns in normal vision, to see how visual images are processed. "People used to think that neurons in V1 just detect local edges, and that you have to go to higher levels in the brain to put these edges together to detect more complicated features like contours and surfaces. But the work I have done with my wife shows that these structures in V1 actually allow the earlier visual cortex to detect contours and do more global processing. It used to be thought that you process more and more complex aspects of an image as you go higher up in the brain. But now it's realised that there is a huge amount of feedback between higher and lower cortical areas. It's not a simple hierarchical process, but an incredibly complicated and active system it will take many years to understand." Practical applications of this work include computer vision — computer scientists are already building the inter-connectivity structures that Bressloff and his colleagues played around with into their models, with the aim of teaching computers to detect contours and textures. On a more speculative note, Bressloff's research may also one day help to restore vision to visually impaired people. "The question here is if you can somehow stimulate part of the visual cortex, [bypassing the eye], and use that to guide a blind person," says Bressloff. "If one can understand how the cortex is wired up and responds to stimulation, perhaps one would then have a better way of stimulating it in the right way." There are even applications that have nothing at all to do with the brain. Bressloff applied the insights from this work to other situations in which objects are located in space and also have an orientation, for example fibroblast cells found in human and animal tissue. He showed that under certain circumstances these interacting cells and molecules can line up and form patterns analogous to those that arise in V1. People have reported seeing visual hallucinations since the dawn of time and in almost all human cultures — hallucinatory images have even been found in petroglyphs and cave paintings. In shamanistic traditions around the world they have been regarded as messages from the spirit world. Few neuroscientists today would agree that spirits have anything to do with it, but as messengers from a hidden world — this time the hidden world of our brain — these hallucinations seem to have lost none of their potency. Further reading Bressloff's work on visual hallucinations is summarised in the paper What geometric visual hallucinations tell us about the visual cortex ([1]). A more detailed description can be found in the paper Geometric visual hallucinations, Euclidean symmetry and the functional architecture of striate cortex ([2]). About this article Paul Bressloff was interviewed by Marianne Freiberger, co-editor of Plus, in August 2009. Paul Bressloff graduated with a degree in physics from Oxford 1981 and completed a PhD in string theory at King's College London in 1988. He then spent five years as a research Scientist at GEC-Marconi Hirst Research Centre, where he worked on dynamical systems theory and neural networks. In 1993 he joined the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Loughborough University, where he built up a group in mathematical biology and became Professor of Applied Mathematics in 1998. Tenured Full Professor at the University of Utah he built up a group in mathematical neuroscience between 2001 and 2009. He returned to the UK in July 2009 to take up an appointment as a University Research Professor in Mathematical Neuroscience at the University of Oxford. He has also been awarded a Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award (2009-2014). Bressloff has spent the past 20 years working at the multidisciplinary interface between applied mathematics, theoretical physics and neuroscience. The main focus of his work is to understand how the brain functions as a complex dynamical system at multiple spatial and temporal scales in healthy and diseased brains. He has published more than 120 papers in research journals and co-authored one book. He has mentored ten PhD students and four postdocs.This is simply what I understand beta release to require. I might be missing part of the picture and I might simply be mistaken, so please do not take this as gospel. - Omni ​ ​ 1. What still needs to be done before beta release? Please try to refrain from calling something a spoiler. Use code names if you have to, but we would appreciate a little perspective. ​ ​ ​ Quite a bit. We need to gear up tier 2 and tier 3 story quests, flesh out quests in general, party mechanics. Lots of stuff. The roadmap has much of this information already. We want the universe to feel "lived in" much more than it currently does. I mean, some things that seem simple still need adding, like, "configurable keys." Or even, "gui for more options." Just a million little things to actually bring the game to a shippable level of polish, and turn it from a bunch of systems into an actual game that you can have fun playing. 2. Has the number of things needing to be done before beta changed at all in the past few months, and if so, how and why?​ Not really. It's always been a pretty long drudge. ​ ​ 3. How stable do you think the game needs to be in regards to crashes and bugs at beta release?​ Crash stability isn't really what I am worried about. I'm more worried about world generation stability. I don't want to have situations where we invalidate save files more often than absolutely necessary. Not having a public release gives us the freedom to invalidate save files on a whim if it will make the game better. And we do so very regularly. ​ I'm worried about data/time loss. There's nothing more frustrating than losing progress because of a crash bug. I don't really care if the game crashes if you can pick up right where you left off, but if you lose progression, that's really horrible, and it's caused me to ragequit otherwise wonderful games. ​ ​ 4. Why does the release date estimate for beta and final keep changing?​ Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law. ​ Here are a few good examples: ​ Starting off with the new action bar mechanics. I honestly expected it to be an afternoon project. Instead, it took me like an entire freaking week to hammer out and touched 4 different layers of code (/client, /core, /game, /frontend), and it went through 5 different iterations. And caused me to create 12x12 matrices to figure out proper behavior. ​ Other things that took me far longer than expected. I rewrote much of the Gui code a few months back. Now we're using what amounts to a primitive toolkit, complete with arbitrary encapsulation, extensibility, etc. It operates like a subset of Qt, and it's completely data driven. That took me nearly a month. But it was required for things like scroll areas and such that the old Gui simply was simply not powerful enough to handle. ​ It took me a day or two to begin porting our 7 or 8 separate implementations of a progress bar over to the one progress bar implementation to rule the world, one that you can actually put in JSON and configure (modders rejoice). Now we only have like 5 or 6 separate implementations, which I'm going to pare down as I touch nearby code. ​ I mean that's just Gui stuff. There's a lot of little things. Sometimes things that look to be finished wind up having problems. For instance, the action bar changes I mentioned wound up breaking the matter manipulator, because (and this took me hours and hours of agonizing debugging to uncover) the item was being double initialized and it was trying to read the location of the wrong hand. Making the beam start from the center of the player rather than from the end of the hand. This is a bug that was always there, but it was only exposed by the action bar changes. ​ ​ 5. What was the point in having the i49 "world premiere" be a Yogscast event as opposed to having you guys show off the games' fundamental feature such as procedural world generation?​ Because love them or hate them, Yogscast has fans that don't know Starbound. It was very good exposure for us. I mean, we already have days worth of live stream footage of devs just playing around in the game showing off things like procedural world generation. ​ ​ 6. Do you feel that feature creep is a non-issue or has possibly led to delays?​ Our feature list hasn't really gotten much bigger. ​ ​ 7. What constitutes a game-breaking bug, in your opinion​ Anything crash that causes time investment loss. ​ ​ 8. Do you believe releasing a beta as-is would be faster at finding and squashing bugs than a beta released upon "feature completion"​ We're not waiting on feature completion as far as I'm aware. I'm pretty sure we're just going to get the first 3 tiers going. ​ ​ 9. How do you feel about games that allow for a sort of alpha-release testing?​ If it works for them, great. I don't think it will work for us though. There's really two things that will keep a person playing this game, and keep excitement up about it. The ability to build worlds, and the ability to play story. Currently, we only have the first, and that's hampered by the aforementioned constant invalidation of save files because of serialization differences. ​ ​ 10. Why is releasing a demo much like the one Yogscast and those at i49 considered not feasible? Some people feel as if the given reasons were not adequate, so perhaps an expanded explanation of your reasoning would be more accepted.​ The i49/Yogcast demo had a game breaking bug in it that was discovered 5 minutes before we started the demo. It only shows up using certain build options, but those are the build options we're going to have to use for the beta. It has to do with strong authentication being turned off, and then a user leaving a multiplayer session. ​ In Linux it works fine, because I wrote the code and tested it on Linux while flying to i49, because I needed to bypass mandatory authentication to work without internet on the plane.* ​ In Windows it crashes the server, corrupts the world file, and kicks everyone off without saving their character file. ​ Needless to say, if you felt a ball of extreme stress just to the left of Molly off camera during the stream, that was me. Also bart was incredibly stressed too. ​ Additionally, there's some sort of memory leak or resource leak in the Windows build of the server, because the resource usage just goes up and up, it was fine for an hour, but much more and I was getting really nervous. ​ Finally, tier 1 is only partially finished, we're using a boss that's probably not even going to be the tier 1 boss. There's no side quests, nothing outside of the main tutorial line of quests. We don't have serialization stability. Party mechanics are only accessible via chat commands, as are much of everything else. The state the game is in is kinda cool to kick around in for about an hour. But it really isn't ready to be released to the general public. ​ ​ 11. Increased forum-based interaction is something people would like to see. Would this detract too much from development time to be possible?​ I try. I really do. ​ ​ 12. Is the "Beta 2013, release... sometime after that" statement considered the correct current response?​ As far as I'm aware. ​ ​ 13. How many "tiers" of gameplay should we expect to be in a beta? Are we going to have all 10 (11 with post-game), or will some of the later tiers be added at a later time?​ Latest murmurings I've heard are 3 for beta. Once we get everything situated the way we want it with regards to world generations, etc. And then we'll release tiers as we complete them? Not really sure what the plan is there. ​ ​ 14. Some users believe that sacrificing a few daily updates per week might be worth creating a larger, more in-depth "Big Friday Update" (or whatever you might consider calling such a thing), which would have a recurring list of things (spoilers left intact, codenames where necessary) that have the weekly progress for each item/items that were worked on summarized. Would this be something you would consider doing?​ It's rather difficult to just find the time to do the update every day, to be honest. I mean, you can ask for more. I'm not going to say you're ungrateful for asking or anything, but please just a bit of perspective, we're already doing daily updates, which is far above and beyond nearly every other video game development firm that I'm aware of. ​ ​ 15. We feel as if a few important things were gleaned over that people may have been looking forward to, but have not been addressed. Such things include the Q&A thread, a trailer [[I believe this was addressed somewhere with "We would like such a trailer to more accurately represent the finished product", so this may come with the Beta]], the roadmap, and the inclusion of Hylotl lore.​ We've been kinda letting some things float because we've been running on crazy push mode for quite a while now. I'm terribly sorry. I haven't forgotten about the Q&A thread, or the trailer, or the roadmap, or the lore. It's just been pushed as "not as important as beta release." I'm sure you can agree. ​ ​ 16. Have any community suggestions made their way into the game thus far? A list of things that you guys have adopted/plan on adopting during/after Beta would go a long way to booster morale for many community members.​ A few. One example that comes to mind is the flavor text for the matter manipulator, which was suggested by a redditor. "Manipulates anything that matters." I don't know of a master list of these things though. ​ ​ 17. Gameplay suggestion: Medpacks should only be useable when you are missing health. Otherwise, if you have a medpack in hand, you should be able to patch up another player or pet. (This might be better placed in the mechanics suggestion thread currently ongoing)​ ​ Yeah, this is important. Healing items are actually rather new in the grand scheme of things. Being a problem that is both easy to solve and self-contained, we let it sit for a long while as low hanging fruit. As a result we haven't fixed some of the usability problems with them yet. ​ 18. Please tell me you aren't talking about DRM that requires an internet connection to play the game.​ ​ZAHIRUDDIN CHITRAL: As flash floods triggered by torrential rain inundated large swathes in the country — particularly in Chitral district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where roads, bridges and water schemes were washed away — the Met Office forecast on Monday that the water level in the Indus, already in medium to high flood, would rise further at Kalabagh and Taunsa in a couple of days. Even though the floods did not cause large-scale losses of life, one man and his five children drowned on Eid day (Saturday) when the man tried to drive through a fast-flowing channel in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The central parts of Chitral district have been cut off from Mastuj sub-division and Garam Chashma valley because the connecting roads have been swept away by floodwaters at Kuragh and Shahsha. According to sources in the district administration, roads leading to more than 20 of the 36 valleys have been closed, including those in Sheshi Koh, Bumburate, Birir, Rumbur, Garam Chashma, Karimabad, Gobor, Yarkhoon, Laspure, Oveer, Melp, Rech and Khot. Ten suspension bridges have been washed away, including two each in Broze and Rech villages and one each in Kuragh, Kosht, Booni Gol, Awi Gol, Baroghil road and Osiak Drosh. About 80 per cent of the water supply schemes have been adversely affected. As a result, residents have been forced to use contaminated water. In the severely-hit Bumburate valley, three small hydroelectric projects have been washed away. And almost all the main power houses in the district including Reshun (4MW), Chitral city (1MW) and Ayun have been inundated and their transmission lines badly affected. With many power pylons toppling over, the entire district has been without electricity for the last six days. With roads unlikely to be restored within the next three to four days, a shortage of food is looming over remote valleys and other areas, according to sources. In a statement, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority instructed the deputy commissioner of Chitral to declare emergency in the district and asked him to call on duty personnel of the communication and works and other line departments. The statement said the available machinery and manpower had been deployed for helping reopen traffic by the C&W department. The army’s engineering corps had been requested to provide heavy machinery for the rehabilitation and restoration of the damaged roads in Bumburate and Mastuj, the statement added. A statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations said that more than 50 people had been rescued during relief work carried out in Garam Chashma, Shoghore, Mastuj, Kuragh, Orghoch and Bumburate. Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, meanwhile, issued instructions that immediate steps be taken for restoration of damaged roads, bridges and water supply schemes in Chitral district. Mr Khattak also ordered disbursement of Rs1 million to the district administration for providing essential food items to the affected people. RIVER SITUATION: An official of the Met Office in Lahore told Dawn that Indus was in medium to high flood on Monday. “At present, there is medium to high flood in the river, as the current flow is 423,000 cusecs at Kalabagh and 380,000 cusecs at Taunsa headworks,” Muhammad Akram said. He added that the water level in the river was likely to rise after water from other rivers entered it at Kot Mithan and because rainfall was likely in the catchment areas. Though the design and discharge capacities at Taunsa and Kalabagh headworks were 1,000,000 and 950,000 cusecs respectively, the prevailing medium to high flood in the river at the spots was considered to be serious. He said that Jhelum, Chenab, Sutlej and Ravi were flowing normally. The flow in Jhelum at Rasul headworks was 47,040 cusecs, while in Chenab it was 72,462, 76,148 and 108,000 cusecs at Marala, Khanki and Trimmu. Ravi was in low flood, he said. Similarly, the Sutlej was below flood level. Meanwhile, the Layyah district administration has ordered the departments concerned to immediately set up relief camps in various affected villages in view of flooding of the streams due to heavy rains in Koh-i-Suleman area. BARRAGES IN SINDH: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has been informed that water flow recorded at the Guddu barrage is 353,361 cusecs and at the Sukkur barrage 269,560 cusecs. Chief Secretary Siddique Memon informed the chief minister that discharge would increase to 345,000 cusecs at Guddu by Tuesday. “(The Indus) would be in low flood... but all necessary measures have been taken to cope with any emergency situation,” he said. SIX KILLED: According to police, a man and his five children drowned in a water channel in Bhimber district of Azad Kashmir on Eid day when their car was swept away by strong currents. Their bodies were retrieved by divers on Sunday morning. Mohammad Riaz, a taxi driver, was returning to Mirpur city from his Choki Dhadra Parati village through Kasgumma-Samahni link road when they met with the tragic incident in Kallar Nullah. The deceased had taken his three sons and two daughters, aged between 7 and 21 years, to visit their grandmother. Eyewitnesses said that Mr Riaz waited for about two hours along the bank of the swollen channel but later decided to drive through it, against the advice of the people present there. Khalid Hasnain in Lahore and Tariq Naqash in Muzaffarabad contributed to the report Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2015English Many families face the challenge of divorce or separation. Whatever the causes of the separation, and whatever the circumstances, it’s hard on everyone involved. Parents want the best for their children. They want stable, loving relationships in their lives. And they want their children to thrive. Yet big changes must be made. There are many ways of helping children with divorce. This article will outline some steps that are simple, but not easy to do in the swirl of emotion that accompanies separation in a family. Both parents may not be able to agree to take these steps, but for at least one parent to head in these directions will help greatly. Three sources of hurt to keep in mind when helping children with divorce: There are three basic sources of hurt for children when their parents separate. One is the loss of the family configuration that has anchored them. The children may retain the relationships, but their homes change, who is at home changes, their parents’ work schedules and their own school situations may change, and their parents’ economic circumstances change. These core changes can feel threatening to children, even if they eventually lead to positive outcomes. Second, children are often aware of their parents’ raw, unhappy feelings about each other and the depth and intensity of those feelings also rocks a child’s world. And third, children are built to abide in a loving, cooperative community. The end of a living arrangement they trusted and depended on forces a loss of innocence, a breach in their ability to feel that the world is a safe and welcoming place for them. Shielding children from unnecessary hurt: There are a few commitments that separating parents can make that will shield their children from some of this hurt. These are commonsense commitments, but in a heated situation, they take work to remember. A parent needs to consciously add support and resource to his or her life to keep steering him or herself in a direction that benefits the children. • When children are present, I will speak and act respectfully toward my child’s other parent, his or her family, and friends. In a stressful situation, a parent’s need to talk and to express anger, outrage, grief, fear, and other deep feelings is strong. Unguarded and extended expression of emotions can be very helpful in clearing a parent’s mind enough to be able to focus on the needs of their children. But parents must seek adult listeners—trusted friends, counselors, rabbis or pastors—in whom they can confide. Children are not at all equipped to listen to parents’ negative feelings about each other. No matter what the other parent has or has not done, children are far better off when parents act respectfully toward one another in their presence. Respect doesn’t imply that one isn’t allowed to set limits with another adult who is behaving poorly. It does mean that, as limits are announced, the limit-setter refrains from personal or physical attack. • When children are present, I will not display my upsets about their other parent. We humans have a million ways to convey what we’re feeling. When we’re upset, we roll our eyes, heave loud sighs, grunt, stomp, slam, throw up our hands, clench our fists: the litany of expressions of upset is long. None of this is verbal, but all of it is hard on children. They are built to see the expression of love, confidence and relaxed cooperation. Separating parents don’t need to put up a false front, but they do need to model simple decency toward one another. Their displays of upset can be saved for adult company. With an adult who agrees to listen to the feelings, it can be a huge relief to show every bit of the upset. It’s a relief to use choice language, make angry gestures, groan, or pound on the wall. The feelings are there, throbbing for release. Show them to a grown person (not your child’s other parent) who can handle them. • When children are present, I will not conduct extended arguments with my child’s other parent. Parents can’t help but have differences of opinion and arguments. And some arguments, conducted with ground rules that ban attacks on character and categorical statements, can actually help to rebuild a sense of caring. But in a family that is thoughtful of its children, the meaty part of a fight will be conducted out of earshot of the children. • I will not recruit my child to agree with my grievances about their other parent. A separation is painful enough for children, without the additional pressure to side with one parent or another. Children love both their parents, and want the best for both their parents. It is heartbreaking to a child to have to choose between them. • To the best of my ability, I will not assume a victim role. Each parent in a separation feels like a victim, and most feel pulled to cast blame for the breakup. These are our tendencies under stress, because our strongest feelings got their start in childhood, when we were helpless to defend ourselves, and were blamed, or learned to blame ourselves, for any lapses of judgment we had. Attaching ourselves to the role of the injured party tends to keep us from pulling up our socks and building good into our lives in every way that we can. The feelings of being a victim are probably unavoidable, but we don’t have to believe those feelings. It’s far more constructive to cry hard or rage, with a good listener, until we can see a way to make things work well for us and for our children. When that path isn’t yet visible, it’s still possible to make a commitment to keep taking the initiative, to keep one’s attention on the positive moments and the lessons being learned. One young child I know, who is battling her fears of being in social situations, cries and rages as she says to herself, “This fear will not win! I won’t let it win!” That’s an attitude that will move her forward, even at the moments when she is stricken with panic. That’s an example of a path out of the victim role. Working hard at keeping these commitments gives children maximum exposure to their parents’ good will and caring, and minimum exposure to adults in emotional upheaval, and therefore unable to put the children’s interests first. Handling the hurt of separation: In order to begin to thrive in new circumstances, children need to offload their feelings about the changes in their beloved family. And parents can help their children regain their confidence after big changes have unsettled them. Here are a few of the headlines. • Children often unload their feelings about big, difficult events by erupting over small, insignificant triggers. A child can do an hour of healing work about missing Daddy or Mommy when the corner falls off their cookie, or they spill a drop of water on their pajamas. If you move in, put your arm around your child, and gently refuse to “fix” the upsetting little thing, your child can use it like a can opener. They scream about needing a whole cookie, or a change of pajama tops, and you hold them, look into their eyes and offer love and understanding. So many feelings, so passionately released! After a big cry or tantrum about such a small thing, a child feels much more secure in the world, and much less troubled, because you were there for them. You listened. You cared. He has grieved over something amiss, a small thing that’s a stand-in for the frightening events that he feels overwhelmed by. You’ll see your child relax, if you’ve been able to listen to him all the way through. • At transition times, make time for children’s feelings to be heard. It’s healthy for children to have upsets around transition times. These are the times when the reminder that things aren’t the same is strongest. Far better to have a child who can powerfully cry that he doesn’t want to leave, or doesn’t want to stay with the parent he’s going to, than to have a child who swallows his feelings and winds up either subdued and separate or aggressive because he has too many feelings to manage. Often, children can fully feel their love for a parent directly after a huge cry about how they don’t want to be with him or her! This is one of the powerful paradoxes around emotional release. A child feels “I don’t want to go to Mommy’s” very strongly, cries hard about it, finishes, and has a good time at Mommy’s after all. It’s not pleasant to hear that your beloved child doesn’t want you, but if those are the feelings stuck inside, then your fastest way to a closer relationship is to assist your child to cry or rage until he’s done. What do you say to a child who’s rejecting you? In a way, what you say is less important than how you are. Children read body language and tone of voice very clearly. Keep eye contact with your child, and imagine that you are taming a small, frightened animal by showing that you are trustworthy. Say, “I know,” with quiet acceptance, when your child says, “I hate you,” or “I don’t want to go with you!” You can say, “But I want to be with you.” You can say, “You’ll see [your other parent] again soon.” You can say, “I’ll listen to you until you are ready to come with me.” These will be balm for your child’s troubled spirit, though he or she won’t show that it’s helpful until this big outburst is over. • Make your child’s arrangements. Listen to your child’s feelings about the custody arrangements, and take those feelings into consideration, but parents are the ones who need to make the decisions about when and how custody is shared. To leave children in charge of custody arrangements is too much like forcing them to choose sides. If your child is longing for her other parent while she’s with you, listen to her feelings, rather than cart her back to the other parent’s place. This will strengthen your child’s relationship with you, and will help him/her overcome the stored feelings about separation that have been triggered by the current situation. • Always reassure a child that their other parent loves them, or would love them well if he/she could. Some children lose all contact with a parent, and some children have parents whose minds are deeply affected by addiction or other difficulties that bend their lives away from effective parenthood. But the underlying truth is that, if their child’s parent were healthier, better supported, had access to more love and opportunity, was blessed with beginnings that were gentle and kind, that parent would be delighted with them. It’s hard to explain human frailty to children, because it breaks our hearts to see them hurt by it. But we need to let them know that it’s not their fault that their Mommy or Daddy isn’t able to be in their life. Something has been missing from their parents’ life. There’s nothing missing in them. Here’s how it can work: Here’s a quick story that gives an example of a parent who gathered enough presence of mind to treat her child well in a moment of emotional turmoil. It’s a small picture of a healing moment, both touching and funny. The healing action of emotional release is at work for both mother and child. “My husband left me suddenly, when my daughter was eight months old. He had been having uncontrollable rages aimed at her, and he left angry, but I think underneath, it was to protect her, and me. He gave us no financial support whatsoever. This made life very difficult for me for several years. “One day, he called and we had had a fight over the phone. My daughter was going on three years old. I got angry, slammed the receiver down hard, and began to cry. She came in from the other room and said, “Mommy, who were you talking to?” I said, “I was talking to your Daddy.” She said, “Oh, I miss him too!” and burst into tears. I picked her up, held her, and we both cried for a good long time about her Daddy. She for her reasons, me for mine.” —a mother in Palo AltoHundreds of women take part in mass breastfeeding protest to show support for mother who was branded a 'tramp' for feeding her baby in public More than 600 women gathered to fight for the right to breastfeed in public Emily Slough, 27, was pictured in Rugeley and ridiculed on social media Today, protesters sat on street across UK including Rugeley and Newcastle Hundreds of women breastfed on the street in support of a woman who was branded a 'tramp' for feeding her baby in public. Emily Slough, 27, was photographed on the steps of a restaurant last Friday feeding her eight-month-old Matilda. The anonymous photographer posted the image on Facebook, writing: 'I know the sun is out n all that but there's no need to let your kid feast on your nipple in town!!! Tramp.' Protest: Between 600 and 1,000 women turned out in Rugeley, Staffordshire, to breastfeed today They sat on the street outside The Shrew pub where Emily Slough, 27, was first pictured last Friday Today, women across the country gathered in town centres to campaign for the right to breastfeed in public. One protest, organised by Mrs Slough in Rugeley, Staffordshire, featured between 600 and 1,000 demonstrators who crowded around The Shrew pub - where she was spotted last week. In Newcastle, more than 50 mothers sat on the pavement with their infant children, discussing the issue with passers-by. Janet Murphy, 32, who co-organised the Newcastle gathering, said: 'This woman was labelled a tramp on a social networking site and we're here to try and make everyone aware that it's ok, normal and natural for a woman to breast feed wherever she wishes to. 'If someone criticized me, I'd tell them it
ran away with Navarro four days after her 18th birthday, her father told investigators. However, Leedy began to make plans with her family to leave Navarro, finish her GED and go to college, specifically art school, according to court documents. Navarro reportedly knew of these plans, which angered him. He called 911 at 11:50 a.m. Saturday to report he had strangled Leedy. He made up lies to the 911 operator, saying he was armed with a Glock handgun and had set up a propane-fueled booby trap at the Renton apartment the couple shared in the 1300 block of South Eagle Ridge Drive. The victim's grandfather also called 911 after reportedly receiving the following text message from Navarro: "If you are getting this you are responsible for Allison's death, you turned her against me, you abused her heart by offering her to go to college." Responding officers found Navarro standing outside and ordered him to surrender, but he ran into the apartment. Officers fired into the front and rear windows to ventilate the apartment in case explosive gas was indeed inside. The shots prompted Navarro to leave the apartment and surrender. Leedy was found face-down on the bed inside, dead at the scene. After being taken to the Renton Police Department, the man told detectives his alternate personality, "Frost," was responsible for killing Leedy. Upon investigation, detectives learned that multiple other family members of Leedy received text messages from Navarro at the time of her death, including her father and younger sister. He texted messages such as "She's dead," "I have the last laugh" and "You did this," reports say. The autopsy showed that Leedy suffered fingernail abrasions on her neck, as well as internal bruising to her neck muscles. The hemorrhaging found on her face incidated she was strangled for at least three minutes, according to the affidavit. Navarro has no known criminal history. His arraignment is scheduled for May 1 in Kent. Lynsi Burton can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @LynsiBurton_PI.Projections show party led by Andrej Babiš to benefit from voters’ desire for change over tax, immigration and EU relations The billionaire businessman Andrej Babiš is in line for a big win in parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic, projections have shown. With voting taking place over Friday and Saturday, Babiš’s ANO party, which has vowed to cut taxes, increase investments and curb immigration, is expected to win 29.7% of the vote, more than twice that of any other party. It would be the first group to break a quarter of a century of dominance by two mainstream centre-right and centre-left parties, highlighting a shifting political landscape in Europe where an influx of refugees has given rise to protest groups. The best result from the Czech elections would be chaos | Jakub Patočka Read more At 7.2%, the ruling Social Democrats, led by the prime minister, Bohuslav Sobotka, are on course for their worst result since the country separated from Slovakia in 1993. The Czech economy has experienced rapid growth, a balanced budget and the lowest unemployment in the European Union in the last four years, but the Social Democrats, who led a government with ANO and another partner, have not been able to capitalise. Instead, ANO and other anti-establishment groups took advantage of voters’ desire for change by promising to fight corruption, stop deeper EU integration and prevent the country from accepting quotas for taking in refugees imposed by Brussels. Babiš himself has promised to bring a businessman’s touch to government, which has resonated with voters. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Andrej Babiš casts his ballot in Prague on Friday. Photograph: Martin Divisek/EPA Result projections, modelled on actual voting results with 58.6% of voting stations reporting, showed the centre-right Civic Democrats to be the second strongest party, with 11.4% of the vote. Eight parties are expected to win seats. Apart from caretaker administrations, the Social Democrats or the Civic Democrats have led every Czech cabinet since Czechoslovakia split. Babiš has taken a tough line against further EU integration, accepting refugees and adoption of the euro, raising the prospect he may join Hungary and Poland on a collision course with the bloc. His swipes at Brussels play well with Eurosceptic Czechs. However, Babiš also praises EU membership and does not share the relatively illiberal ideology of the governments in Budapest and Warsaw. Babiš has maintained his popularity despite accusations of conflicts of interest related to his food, chemical and agriculture business holdings, which were placed in a trust earlier this year. Concerns about Babiš mainly centre on his strong managerial style and vast business and media influence that would be amplified by him becoming prime minister. He also faces police charges that he illegally received a €2m (£1.8m) EU subsidy when he ran his business empire, before entering politics. He has denied any wrongdoing, saying the charges were a plot by opponents to push him out of politics. “The more people organise campaigns against him the more it helps him among others,” said one ANO voter, Alena Chlostova. ANO will have to form a coalition, with talks likely to take weeks. If negotiations with mainstream parties fail, there is the possibility ANO may form a cabinet with backing from the Communists and the far-right, anti-EU Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party. The Czech president, Miloš Zeman, has said he will allow a month for negotiations before calling a new parliament, the trigger for the current administration to depart. By custom, he asks someone to lead talks before appointing a prime minister.If you think your only two choices are to be a nerd or a jock, writes Noah Brand, you are doomed from the start. Previously published at No Seriously What About Teh Menz. I first saw Revenge Of The Nerds on home video, back when you could rent a VHS player in a big plastic case to watch your movie on. It came with instructions on how to hook this strange device up to your television. I was about seven or eight years old. I loved it. I adored it. It was inspirational and wonderful and funny and sexy and true and I imprinted on it like a baby duckling. I did not watch it again until a couple months ago. Please note the title of this post. For those who haven’t seen this film, an adequate synopsis is here. For those who have, just roll with me for a bit. First, the defense of the film. It legitimately is funny in many places, especially the second-act party scene where a lame party suddenly comes to life when Booger pulls out his weed stash. That has a fast string of killer bits, including Timothy Busfield suddenly discovering he can dance: And an understated sight gag that may be my favorite boob joke ever: Don’t like ads? Become a supporter and enjoy The Good Men Project ad free Also, the inspiring speech at the end legitimately works. When you’re a skinny eight-year-old who gets picked on every day at school, it’s hard to overstate how badly you need to hear that speech. It’s wonderful. Then, too, it has American pop culture’s first and so far only positive portrayal of a gay rapper: Okay, that’s it for the good stuff. Now on to how this movie ruined my life. Two minor points first off: Number one, this is a movie about college, about nerds, in which nobody ever goes to class or studies. Seriously, there is not a single frame of this film in which anyone attends a class or cracks a textbook. Not for one twenty-fourth of a second. I’m not saying this movie is the reason my class attendance in college was so poor, but it’s an eerie coincidence. Number two, this movie is hella racist. The Japanese character has the accent Mickey Rooney used in Breakfast At Tiffany’s and his job is annoyingly taking photos of everything. The black characters, apart from the aforementioned gay rapper, appear at the end, where their narrative role is to scare the piss outta white folks. This is aided by the fact that they naturally secrete funk music. Do not start me on the gay character. I mean, at least he’s in the movie, but good lord. ♦◊♦ These, however, are mere quibbles compared to the two largest sins of Revenge Of The Nerds: rape culture and Cartesian dualism. Let me be clear. Revenge Of The Nerds has so much rape culture, you could use it to make rape yogurt. The women in the film are entirely represented as objects, and their sexual consent or lack thereof is explicitly portrayed as irrelevant. The heroes and the villains are theoretically competing for Adams College’s version of Hogwarts’ House Cup, but in point of fact the prize they’re competing for is the blonde cheerleader, Betty. At the start of the movie, she is the property of Stan Gable, the villain, but in the end, the hero, Lewis Skolnick, triumphs by claiming her as his own via rape. I’m not kidding, that’s actually what happens. The hero’s big triumphant payoff moment is when he rapes the villain’s girlfriend. And she falls in love with him as a result. Incidentally, while he’s raping her, his fraternity is having another heroic triumph at the fundraising event, selling nude photographs of Betty that they obtained without her knowledge or consent by planting cameras in her house. (Huge 80s cameras, too. Very difficult to conceal.) Again, this is explicitly presented as a heroic, cool action. When the villain finds out what they’re doing, his reaction isn’t “Holy shit that’s like ten kinds of illegal” it’s “Hey! That’s my pie!” At this point, I’m wondering who the hell thought this was a good movie to show to an eight-year-old. ♦◊♦ The deepest damage wrought by this film, however, wasn’t in how it made me view women (though fucking hell, it did not help). It was in how it made me view myself. I walked away from the movie with a certain knowledge that I remember quite clearly as a big influence on my thinking growing up: you can be a nerd, or you can be a jock, and jocks are bad. I literally got up from the living room floor where I first watched the movie and triumphantly declared “I’m a nerd!” Holy shit, has that done a number on me over the years. I was already, at eight years old, the “smart kid”, and this movie confirmed for me that I was in the right tribe. You could either be smart or athletic, I was assured, and it was time (third grade) to choose. I chose smart because Lewis and Gilbert were the good guys. For years I wanted glasses, not because my vision was bad but because they were the universally-acknowledged symbol of my chosen tribe. Don’t like ads? Become a supporter and enjoy The Good Men Project ad free I hated sports, not because I had any real reason to but because they were the symbol of the enemy tribe. Did I know anything about sports? No, not really. I didn’t need to; they were the enemy and that was plenty. I carried this stupid tribal notion around long after I should have outgrown it, and in a lot of ways I still carry it. Thing is, I’m a strong, physically capable guy. Always have been. I’m fast and graceful and I build muscle easily, but I never developed my body. When I was forced by schools to play sports, I picked up the physical skills easily, but refused to play more than the minimum required. I could throw the ball to any position, sure, but damned if I’d let them make me. Because I was a nerd, not a jock. (Not that I studied. See above.) To this goddamn day, in my mid-goddamn-thirties, I have to overcome a reluctance to exercise, because I still feel like I’m not on the team that exercises. I declared allegiance to the other team during the Reagan administration, after all, and how can I go back on that? Yeah, it wasn’t just Revenge Of The Nerds that taught that nerd/jock dichotomy, that told all the little boys that they had to choose between their body and their mind. That line runs through a lot of the culture. But that movie was pretty distinctly what taught me that bullshit false choice, and that hasn’t been good for me. It hasn’t been good for a lot of other men I know, either, guys who learned that good grades were for the other team, that they had to run faster or lift more or throw harder than the other boys instead of getting an education. All of us damaged boys, trying to be either all mind or all body, buying into René Descartes’ lousy dualism centuries after it should have gone out of style. Don’t like ads? Become a supporter and enjoy The Good Men Project ad free I can’t say whether this false dichotomy has damaged your own life, reader, in one way or the other. I can’t say what your own experiences with trying to be a nerd or a jock have been, or what your regrets might be. I can only speak from my own experience, the lies I now realize I should never have believed, the doors I closed for the wrong reasons. In the end, all I can say is this: Fuck you, Lewis Skolnick, you rapist bastard.The Aluminum Element: Fabricating My Civic’s Lightweight Exhaust When people modify a vehicle for performance, there are typically crucial goals to achieve, which act as the driving force behind the vision of the finished vehicle. Whether it’s to have the latest and greatest parts, the widest wheels with the lowest ride height, or the fastest racecar; auto enthusiasts can agree there is always an individual build goal. My goal while building my Honda Civic is to shed as much weight as possible. Throughout the initial assembly process, I scratched the surface of possible weight reduction, and since then I have continued to knock the pounds down piece by piece. My goal is not to have the lightest Civic, but to have a street-drivable lightweight Civic; this way during track days I can get the most out of the balanced car’s available power. If I did something like cut the floor out, the car would weigh a lot less but it wouldn’t exactly be rigid come track day. My mission was – and still is – to drop the weight without sacrificing other strengths of the car. One component that has always bugged me is the stretch of stainless steel exhaust piping that stretched the entire length of the floor. It’s just an outlet for burnt exhaust gases to escape the engine and find their way to the atmosphere – preferably behind the driver’s nostrils. So why does it have to be made out of heavy steel, and why does it need to meander through a maze of power-hindering bends before it exits at the furthest rear point of the car? Along with the help of a friend, I decided to tackle this issue head-on and create my own lightweight exhaust from scratch. As stated above, the goal is to not only shave weight, but remain drivable, while increasing the exhaust flow in the process. Enter Vibrant Performance, a one-stop-shop for performance exhaust and induction products. Founded in 1997, the company designs and produces high-quality, innovative exhaust and induction solutions. They offer bare piping in various materials, diameters, lengths, and angled bends – perfect for any fabricator trying to build a custom exhaust setup from scratch. They also offer their own line of performance race mufflers, a lightweight solution to adhere more closely with noise regulations at racetracks while granting a free-flowing straight-through design. One of the alternative materials offered by Vibrant is lightweight T6061 aluminum. Weighing in at about one-third the weight of stainless steel, this metal’s greatest strength lies within its ability to offer high performance with a reduced weight penalty. The Background There are many positives to using an exhaust system crafted from T6061 aluminum where possible instead of a stainless steel variant. T6061 aluminum has high corrosion resistance due to its alloy makeup, which includes other elements like magnesium. Aluminum also has much better thermal conductivity and heat dissipation characteristics when compared to steel, which is why it can be found in the production of many radiators. So now I know what you’re thinking… if it’s so great, why aren’t all exhausts made from of aluminum? Well, there is also a list of cons involved with using aluminum for exhaust components, especially on a street car. These include its difficulty to weld compared to stainless steel, the inability to retain rigidity once temperatures exceed 400 degrees F, and how easily it can be bent or torn in the event of impact – think soda cans. Luckily, my friend Mark Lettieri is a talented fabricator who was more than open to the idea of welding together a custom aluminum exhaust system for me. The potential issues listed above don’t apply to how this vehicle gets used, and I don’t plan on smashing the exhaust into anything, so these weren’t much for deterrents. The Fabrication I brought my Civic over to Lettieri’s shop with numerous boxes of 2.5-inch aluminum Vibrant piping products in tow. We removed my Feel’s header, which he determined needed a bit of modification in order to work with the custom exhaust setup he had in mind. The stainless steel two-bolt flange on the header worked fine with my previous exhaust system, but without a solution for an aluminum two-bolt flange on the exhaust side, we decided to convert the header to a stainless steel V-band connection, which allows the two metals to be securely fastened together. After some careful measuring, Lettieri mapped out the perfect place to splice the flange from the header’s collector and let the fireworks commence. The result was a very straight – but not so clean – cut separating the flange from the collector. In order to clean up the surface for an ideal welding location, he sanded and filed the edge of the material to produce a completely fresh metal surface, ripe for connection to the Vibrant stainless steel V-band connector we would be using. Similar to bodywork on cars, the surface prep in fabrication is crucial to the outcome of the final product and the ultimate strength of the metal connection – weld porosity doesn’t promote any sort of longevity. Unfortunately, a slight miscalculation by me resulted in the mating of a 2.5-inch V-band connector with a 60mm (approximately 2.35-inch) piece of the foreign market header. Unbothered by it, Lettieri began laying the first tack welds on the connector with his HTP Invertig 221 TIG Welder, eventually cleaning up the material mismatch masterfully. With the header and connector mocked up in place, it was time to begin routing the exhaust pipe down the OEM exhaust channel in the car’s body. The first straight piece was tack welded to its aluminum V-band connector, then installed under the car for measurement purposes. Without 3D-mapping software to help plan the necessary bends, this exhaust system was crafted using the old-school method of fabricating each piece, installing the exhaust back on the car to map out the following section, then measuring, cutting, filing, sanding and welding. While this is the tedious way to create a perfect-fitting exhaust system, it was necessary without the use of a lift. After the straights were set up, a slight turn was required to distance the vehicle’s exhaust system from its shift linkage; two 60-degree bends cut at varying lengths were added to the design. This also proved to be the section of pipe that held the exhaust hangers. A mockup hanger was put into place as a substitute for a more refined solution, which was fabricated at a later time. We thought immediately following the exhaust hanger would be the optimal location to place the heaviest piece of the system – the 2.5-inch Vibrant aluminum Race Muffler. Also made from aircraft-grade T6061 aluminum, this straight-through muffler is designed to reduce decibel levels and provide ideal exhaust flow at a fraction of the weight of its stainless steel counterpart. A remaining straight piece of tubing was tacked onto the exit of the muffler, followed by a 90-degree bend and two more angles to route the exhaust to its final location. At this point, a host of empty boxes populated Lettieri’s shop floor as a reminder of how much work and how many different pieces it took to create the end product. By the end of the mockup day, the masterpiece was tacked into place, and I left it with him to finish up over the course of the week. Progress photos via Frank Lettieri In approximately ten more hours, he was able to revise the exhaust hangers and the bends before the muffler in an effort to tuck it further under the car. He also welded new angled bends on after the muffler to clean up the exhaust’s final appearance. He then finished the fabrication by slash-cutting the exhaust exit and placing a solid bead of weld around every joint on the entire system. The Final Product The previous exhaust on this car was Buddy Club’s Spec II, which uses a resonated straight pipe made from 2.25-inch stainless steel material. This system weighed 19.5 pounds, just over half the weight of a 36-pound stock muffled Honda exhaust system. This exhaust lacked the necessary muffler to make this system street drivable, and packed a higher decibel rating than most local racetracks deem acceptable. Its replacement is the new custom 2.5-inch muffled exhaust system made entirely from T6061 aluminum, which only weighs six pounds. Yes, the same six pounds as a household bag of rice or flour. That’s right, only a single pound more than one of those dusty free weights sitting in the corner of your bedroom. There were several sections where we achieved weight savings, including the addition of the V-band connection instead of the bulky two-bolt flange with donut gasket. The exhaust system was also trimmed in length, and now exits just before the rear wheel in an effort to eliminate unnecessary material and bends over the vehicle’s rear-lower-control-arm. The final result is better than I could have ever imagined. I was expecting to only save a few pounds going from a straight pipe to a muffled exhaust, regardless of material construction. With weight savings more than two-thirds the amount of the already lightweight Buddy Club, the quality of the Vibrant product and the beauty of Lettieri’s fabrication skills created my dream exhaust. Now it’s time to go rip the racetrack!Despite Europe's clear disdain for President Trump it seems as though he's over there every other week. In fact he's arriving in France on Thursday at the invitation of President Emmanuel Macron to help celebrate Bastille Day and have dinner at the Eiffel Tower. Considering that Trump has implied repeatedly that Paris is nothing but a hellhole these days, it's a testament to just how desperate he is to get out of Washington. The heat is on and he wants out of the kitchen. You have certainly heard that Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort met with a Russian lawyer to get some promised dirt on Hillary Clinton that was represented as being part of a Russian government program to help Trump get elected. Now we know their breathless protestations that they didn't know nothin' about no Russians were lies, and we also know that this particular tawdry scheme reached into the highest levels of the campaign. We'll have to wait for the next shoe to drop. There is always another shoe. Advertisement: There was one new story on Wednesday that added an interesting detail to the saga and points to a possible larger conspiracy. McClatchy reported that House and Senate investigators as well as the Justice Department are looking at the Trump campaign's digital operation, one of Jared Kushner's pet projects (financed by big-daddy benefactor Robert Mercer), to determine if it may have worked with Russia's sophisticated micro-targeting and propaganda program during the 2016 campaign. McClatchy also reported that the Justice Department is looking into "whether Trump’s campaign pointed Russian cyber operatives to certain voting jurisdictions in key states – areas where Trump’s digital team and Republican operatives were spotting unexpected weakness in voter support for Hillary Clinton." That's an issue I've written about previously here on Salon, based on some post-election investigative reporting by the New York Times. This raises once again the question of just what was going on in the Republican Party during this period. After all, it wasn't just Donald Trump who benefited from Russian hacking. The GOP-dominated House majority was a major beneficiary as well. Remember, the congressional leadership knew in 2015 that it was happening. Reuters has reported that the so-called Gang of Eight (Republican leaders in Congress) was told that Russian hackers were attacking the Democratic Party but that the information was so top secret they could not share it. As we know, hackers attacked the Democratic National Committee and the personal email of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta. But they also hacked the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and information gleaned from that hack was put to use in some 2016 campaigns for Congress. Also recall that one month before Donald Trump Jr. took that meeting with the Russian lawyer, House Majority Leader Kevin "loose lips" McCarthy was talking about Trump's connections to Vladimir Putin in a room full of Republicans: A month before Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination, one of his closest allies in Congress — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy — made a politically explosive assertion in a private conversation on Capitol Hill with his fellow GOP leaders: that Trump could be the beneficiary of payments from Russian President Vladimir Putin. “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, according to a recording of the June 15, 2016 exchange, which was listened to and verified by The Washington Post. [...] House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) immediately interjected, stopping the conversation from further exploring McCarthy’s assertion, and swore the Republicans present to secrecy. This was the day after news had broken that the Russians had hacked the DNC and Ryan and McCarthy had just come from a meeting with the Ukrainian prime minister, who "had described a Kremlin tactic of financing populist politicians to undercut Eastern European democratic institutions." Advertisement: Republican leaders kept this from the public for a year, then lied repeatedly about it when confronted until someone produced an audiotape, at which point McCarthy, Ryan, et al., said it was just a joke. Maybe it was. But we know for sure that this idea about Trump being under Putin's thumb was in the ether in GOP circles even as the party was getting ready to nominate him as its presidential candidate. Fast forward to late August when the intelligence community was becoming frantic over the evidence of Russian interference and Director of National Intelligence John Brennan held private classified briefings with eight top congressional leaders, telling then that there was evidence the Russians were helping Donald Trump and that unnamed advisers to the Republican nominee might be working with them. In September, intelligence officials convened a big meeting with the Gang of 12, meaning the House and Senate leadership along with chairmen and ranking members of committees on intelligence and homeland security. It was assumed this would result in a "show of solidarity and bipartisan unity" to protest this threat to the integrity of the American democratic process. That was an erroneous assumption. The Republicans refused to sign anything that implicated the Russian government, only agreeing to tell state elections officials to beware of "malefactors" attempting to hack election software. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly said he would consider any effort by the White House to challenge the Russians publicly "an act of partisan politics." That was that. Since the election, when Republican officials aren't actively helping the White House cover up and misdirect, as House Intelligence Committee chair Devin Nunes did, with a few exceptions they still dismiss the scandal, even in the face of documentary evidence like the Donald Trump Jr. emails. Advertisement: There's a lot of punditry every day bemoaning the fact that President Trump refuses to admit that the Russian interference in the campaign happened, seeing it as a stubborn (and insulting) rejection of the U.S. intelligence community and a dangerous unwillingness to take needed action to prevent it happening again. But really, why is Trump the only one on the hook? The Republican leadership has turned a blind eye to what was happening since 2015. They knew. They may have even known more about it than Trump did, at least in the beginning. They did nothing about it then and have shown no signs that they plan to do anything in the future. It's not all on Donald Trump. He may been the principal beneficiary but the leaders of his party aided and abetted the crime. We may just learn that they benefited from it too.Antonio Villaraigosa said when he left the Los Angeles mayor’s mansion in 2013, he had “no job, no house, no car.” A glimpse at the gubernatorial candidate’s tax returns illustrates how he made millions since then, that he’s still paying for personal foibles and that he remains connected with the Hollywood red carpets he once enjoyed walking. Since leaving office, Villaraigosa has made more than $4 million by advising companies such as Herbalife, Banc of California and natural resources company Cadiz; teaching at USC; and earning speaking fees, according to six years of tax returns his campaign released this week. Villaraigosa also earns an annual pension payment worth about $100,000 from his service in local government. Villaraigosa was a state assemblyman from 1994 to 2000 before being elected to the Los Angeles City Council for two years and then serving as mayor from 2005 to 2013. A key question when he ended his mayoral tenure was how Villaraigosa would replicate the highflying lifestyle to which he became accustomed while serving as a state and city leader. The answer appears to be consulting work for nearly two dozen clients, some more controversial than others. Villaraigosa’s financial situation dramatically improved after he left office. In 2012, the final full year of his mayoral tenure, Villaraigosa reported $155,775 in adjusted gross income. In 2014, his first full year out of the mayor’s office, Villaraigosa reported $1.38 million in adjusted gross income. Adjusted gross income: 2011: $167,542 2012: $155,775 2013: $593,725 2014: $1,380,096 2015: $1,280,296 2016: $1,312,666 His longest working relationships are with Herbalife and Banc of California. The sole company he continues to advise even as he runs for governor is AltaMed, a large network of Southern California clinics that serve low-income patients. It’s unclear exactly how much he was paid by the companies, or how his duties are defined. Aside from a brief window in 2013, he was compensated through a multi-member limited liability company and was not required to disclose how much each client paid for his services. The first six months after he left office, Villaraigosa was paid through a single-member LLC, which did require him to disclose on his personal tax returns how much he was paid. He earned more than $650,000 in consulting fees during that period, with nearly half the money coming from Herbalife and Banc of California. Consulting fees paid to Villaraigosa in the final six months of 2013: Herbalife: $162,500 Banc of California: $150,000 Pro Tour Memorabilia: $100,000 Harry Walker Agency: $90,800 Edelman: $68,750 Cadiz: $50,000 Gateway Science and Engineering: $30,000 Nutrition supplements company Herbalife has been called a pyramid scheme by its critics, who allege the multilevel marketing company preys on the poor and minorities. In a 2016 settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Herbalife agreed to pay $200 million to its sellers and to change its business practices, though the company said it was settling to avoid the cost of protracted litigation. Villaraigosa said in a recent interview that he was proud to work for the company. “They were an L.A. company, an L.A. company whose product and their whole platform is about health and nutrition; they give people a shot at building, if not a small business, at least a little extra income on a monthly basis,” Villaraigosa told La Opinion this month. “My mother sold Tupperware and Avon, I know why Latinos and blacks do it: they need a few extra bucks. It’s called a multiple-level marketing company. That’s what Tupperware is, what Avon is — they’ve been around for 30 years. Pyramid schemes aren’t around for 30 years.” Villaraigosa also served as a strategic advisor to Banc of California, focused mainly on expanding its business, notably in Latino communities. At one point, billboards advertising the bank lined area freeways, featuring a smiling picture of Villaraigosa with black football paint under his eyes to highlight the bank's relationship with USC athletics. In January, Steven Sugarman resigned as chief executive and chairman of Banc of California as the Irvine bank announced it was under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The probe was believed to be related to questions about connections between bank insiders and an L.A. financier who pleaded guilty to securities fraud charges. Another notable client is Cadiz, which has been harshly criticized by Democrats including Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) over a proposal to pump water from an aquifer in the Mojave Desert to provide water to Southern California cities. The company was co-founded by Keith Brackpool, one of Villaraigosa’s closest friends. His business dealings are likely to be raised on the campaign trail ahead of the June 5 primary. The tax returns also showed that since Villaraigosa left office, USC has paid him $261,362 to teach at its Sol Price School of Public Policy. He also earned smaller paychecks from cameos on comedian George Lopez’s television show: $2,446 from Cast & Crew Talent Services and $899 in SAG/AFTRA residuals in 2016. L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa pays a personal visit to George Lopez on the comedian's TV show in 2005. He made a cameo on another Lopez show in 2016. Byron Cohen / ABC. Expenses The returns also provided a look into Villaraigosa’s personal life. Antonio Villaraigosa and Patricia Govea attend the 2016 Pre-Grammy Gala and Salute to Industry Icons. Kevin Mazur / WireImage Following a highly publicized affair with a television news reporter while he was mayor, Villaraigosa and his wife Corina divorced. Between 2011 and 2016, he paid her $198,387 in alimony. He filed as a single person until 2016, when he filed jointly with new wife Patricia Govea. That year he claimed her son, Sebastian, as a dependent. After his 2015 purchase of a $2.5-million home in the Hollywood Hills with sweeping views stretching from downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Ocean, Villaraigosa deducted $57,432 in mortgage interest payments. In 2015, Villaraigosa bought a $2.5-million home in the Hollywood Hills. Redfin.com | Inset: Associated Press Rising income, rising taxes As Villaraigosa’s income rose, so did his tax bill. By 2016, he paid $471,292 in federal taxes and $121,480 in state taxes. His federal tax rate varied between 21.4% and 41%. Villaraigosa gave just over $10,000 to charity in 2014, nearly $12,000 in 2015 and $8,000 last year, including donations to Los Angeles schools he attended, the Wounded Warrior Project and the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, a nonprofit he created to raise money for the public schools he took over as mayor. He did not report contributing anything to charity in 2011, 2012 or 2013. Villaraigosa is the last major Democratic candidate in the race to release his tax returns. He allowed reporters to review — but not copy — six years of returns for three hours on Tuesday at the San Francisco office of his campaign consultants, as did front-runner Gavin Newsom when he released his taxes earlier this year. In his first five years as California’s lieutenant governor, Newsom made more than $4 million from his wineries, restaurants, hotels and other hospitality businesses. That’s on top of his government salary, which is $142,577 a year. State Treasurer John Chiang and former state schools chief Delaine Eastin reported far more modest incomes. Support our journalism Please consider subscribing today to support stories like this one. Already a subscriber? Your support makes our work possible. Thank you. Get full access to our signature journalism for just 99 cents for the first four weeks. [email protected] For the latest on national and California politics, follow @LATSeema on Twitter. ALSO Gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom shared his tax returns — here's what we learned A government paycheck makes up most of California treasurer John Chiang's income, taxes show Delaine Eastin's tax returns show most of her income came from state pension, investmentsFrom today's practice at Centennial Sportsplex, Josh Cooper brings the word we've all been dreading since Friday night's game at Colorado: #preds say Josi has a concussion — JoshuaCooper (@JoshuaCooper) October 6, 2013 Roman Josi was steamrolled by Colorado's Steve Downie, on a high, hard hit as he turned up-ice in the defensive zone. The NHL decided not to apply any supplemental discipline on the play, which, frankly, is all-too-typical when it comes to Predators players getting run. Since the 2005-6 season, only two players have ever been suspended by the league for violent incidents against the Preds; Bobby Ryan in 2011 playoffs when he stomped Jonathon Blum's foot with his skate, and the 2012 playoffs when Rostislav Klesla boarded Matt Halischuk. Big-market teams like the Rangers, Blackhawks, Red Wings and Flyers seem to get much more protection (the details are right here). Well, at least we know the NHL Front Office watches the playoffs. Roman Josi #59 / Defenseman / Nashville Predators Height: 6-1 Weight: 192 Born: Jun 01, 1990 With concussions, the recovery timetable is quite uncertain, given the increased awareness of their potential long-term severity. Personally, I wouldn't expect to see him in any of the five home games coming up over the next two weeks. Defense Depth To Be Tested In the meantime, the Predators do have six other defense
stable norms, prophets renew old stories or produce novel ones, building bases out of sheer charisma. Priests deal in the mundane problems of daily life, applying static premises to failing marriages, financial upsets, illness, anxiety, death; prophets, meanwhile, insist upon abstraction, detest minutiae, and push dizzyingly powerful narratives. Aschoff’s prophets of capital, which she considers in a series of wry and adroit case studies of people like Gates, Sandberg, and Mackey, have become famous for being rich and successful. Each of them, Aschoff argues, tells a different story with the same outcome: to patch up leaks in capitalism and advance its shuddering bulk for one more day. If in midcentury America it was Christianity that was deployed to offer this endorsement, now it is Oprah. But in each of Aschoff’s careful considerations of capitalism’s storytellers, glimmers of the past pro-capitalist Christian crusades shine through. She traces Mackey’s capitalist ethos of responsible entrepreneurship to the Physiocrats, for example, a set of eighteenth-century French philosophers including Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot and François Quesnay, both Catholics and fathers of libertarian economics. Mackey, like his Catholic forebears, senses a natural order to the world; you can resolve all matters between men simply by leaving them alone. Just as Turgot and Quesnay co-opted pieces of Catholic natural-law theory to advance economic liberalism, Mackey borrows from Physiocratic commentary on natural order to press for a lifestyle of organic-therapeutic consumption that takes the place of a genuinely revolutionary politics. We will be healed, to hear Mackey tell it, by eating right and being kind to one another. No need for any intervention from states or unions. Capitalism’s narratives, Aschoff implicitly reveals, always cannibalize their predecessors, repackaging old stories to shore up discontent. While Oprah’s lifestyle branding is mostly about how to achieve happiness through a vague mix of nondescript spirituality, bootstraps-hoisting, and endless therapeutic introspection, her schema is new only in its styling. Long before Oprah took to the airwaves and pages to proclaim her own story of self-invention, the prosperity gospel preachers of the ’70s and ’80s—folks like prolific televangelists Jim Bakker, Creflo Dollar, and Kenneth Copeland—had brought self-improvement testimonials sprinkled with holy water to rapt middle Americans. The spiritual inheritors of these televangelists are, according to Kate Bowler’s 2013 book, Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel, self-help ministers like Joel Osteen, who has unsurprisingly enjoyed plenty of time on Oprah’s stage. Oprah’s version of spirituality is similar enough to Osteen’s, but nonspecific. While Osteen and his overtly Christian ilk minister to their flocks, Oprah’s message is broad enough to be enjoyed by all: a better business decision, at any rate. In other words, the prophets of capitalism have a way of using the workable parts of older pro-capitalist narratives to meet the needs of changing audiences, while shedding the vestigial bits. As religiosity drops off in the United States, replaced either by faithlessness or individual spirituality, capitalism will have to reformat its defenses to match those proclivities, rather than catering purely to committed Christians. And that may ultimately be the best possible thing for Christianity in the United States. After all, if the Christian ethos has suffered any great harm from its recruitment in support of capitalism, it has been the tamping down of a uniquely anti-capitalist, revolutionary sentiment in the Gospel. Pope Francis, being from the global South, has repeatedly criticized trickle-down economics from a Christian perspective, an approach that registers as baffling to a certain segment of his American audience. But within the Catholic tradition, criticism of capitalism is perfectly common: It is only in the U.S. context, beset by a curious interlude of manufactured hypercapitalist Christianity, that the Pope’s economics seem jarring. Capital, Aschoff observes, is inclined to glide from one narrative to the next as its needs change. If the Christian story is the latest to be shucked aside by capital, then Christianity might find itself slipping the grip of a rather oppressive relationship. American Christians would then be free to offer up a genuinely revolutionary Christian politics: one that neither seeks to bolster capitalism blatantly nor offer meager patches for its systemic problems. Having a historical perspective on the ways in which Christianity was co-opted in service of each of those purposes could help new Christian activists avoid the pitfalls of the recent past. Perhaps Christianity’s long rendezvous with capitalism has been a necessary crucible, and one that may be sputtering toward its end.Holiday goodies from Maite Zubia of Maitelates. Photo by David Haines I plan to have a great time this week. My father-in-law will be visiting us, and we're going to have a quiet family Thanksgiving followed by get-togethers with friends. What I don't plan to do is be up at a ridiculous hour to participate in the madness that is Black Friday. While there are some children and others on my list for whom I'll bend and get the latest whatever that's within my budget, most of my holiday shopping this year will be via the talented food artisans in this area. Michigan was praised by the recently-departed Gourmet magazine as having the second greatest variety of produce after California and a wonderful "fresh market" industry. This is fine praise, indeed, as California is widely seen as the trendsetter of the U.S. food artisan market. Our climate, rich soil, and the initiative of small food business owners and local farmers may be something that helps to pull us from the economic quagmire that we've been experiencing for the last several years. Kern Road Farm chutneys and jams. Photo by Jennifer Haines By patronizing our local food artisans, you bring a gift that is truly unique and reflects our area, you send something delicious that won't take up room or become a white elephant gift, and for those who care about such things, you put dollars back into the Michigan economy. During my walk through the Farmers Market on Saturday, the items below caught my eye, but there are also wonderful options that include handmade jewelry, pottery, Christmas ornaments, tea towels, exotic jams, hot and pasta sauces and wreaths and centerpieces of all types and sizes. Biscotti Factory Christmas cookie platter. Photo by Jennifer Haines This gorgeous platter of Christmas cookies (also available in smaller quantities of gift boxes) was created by Barb Gibson, of The Biscotti Factory. Barb is a long-time clay artist, who's taught at both U. of M. and Schoolcraft, but who turned to biscotti making recently and brings the same artist's mentality to her delicious cookie selections. For order information, please call 734-464-8210. The Oliverio sisters of Pasta e Pasta are selling their wonderful pastas in beautifully wrapped gift baskets for holiday shopping. Cecilia's Pastries Rustic Apple Tart. Photo by Jennifer Haines A newcomer to the Market, Cecilia Mercante of Cecilia's Pastries, provides Parisian Macarons in a variety of flavors, along with beautiful tarts, presented in lovely gift boxes. Maite Zubia of Maitelates, has order forms for her over-the-top alfajores - the Chilean cookies that are decadent, delicate cookies, spread with dulce de leche and other purees (including Michigan cherry and quince) and covered in a rich dark chocolate. You can also buy jars of Maite's fabulous dulce de leche. Each cookie is wrapped individually with beautiful labels, and the gift packages are either bags tied with rustic twine or elegant gift boxes. Tasty Bakery's gluten-free baked goods. Photo by David Haines For the gluten-free recipient on your list, Julie Rabinovitz of Tasty Bakery is also offering a huge variety of tasty treats, including gluten-free pies for your holiday meals. She will have order forms for Christmas out shortly. This is just a small sampling of the many options that are available in our area. The foods in this post were found at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market this past Saturday; other wonderful options abound from Sweet Gem Confections, holiday torrones and pan fortes at Morgan and York, various holiday treats (including their wonderful jams) from The Produce Station, fresh baked Polish pastries or fresh pierogies from Copernicus, gift baskets or Avalon bakery Stollen from The People's Food Co-op, and undoubtedly similar options from Arbor Farms. I'm Jennifer Shikes Haines, and my blog is a2eatwrite.The gun violence which has plagued Chicago all summer took the life of one of the city's most promising athletes, just as he was preparing to depart for a bright future in college basketball. Iona basketball recruit Michael Haynes — Rivals.com As confirmed by the Chicago Sun-Times, New York Daily News and a variety of other sources, Iona basketball recruit Michael Haynes was shot dead on Thursday night in Chicago. According to Haynes' cousin, the 6-foot-7 forward was shot in front of his house while trying to break up a fight, with bullets piercing his wrist, chest and lower back. Scroll to continue with content Ad The Sun-Times reported that Haynes was transported to a nearby hospital shortly after the attack but died a little more than an hour after being shot. Haynes' cousin, 25-year-old Kandice Blouin, said that Haynes was a completely innocent victim in the altercation that took his life. "He was an innocent victim, very loved by everybody," Blouin told the Sun-Times. "He was our meal ticket. He was going to heal this hood and they took his life." [Iona coach Tim Cluess on Haynes' death: "He was one of those kids you wanted to coach because he was a different personality"] Haynes was known around his community for trying to help others out, a facet of his personality which shone through in the final tweet he sent before his death; a message for St. John's point guard Phil Greene, encouraging him to work hard in the summer so others didn't catch up to his skills. Story continues Haynes, who recently completed a year at Indian Hills Community College after playing for two Chicago high schools -- Washington and Fenger -- and Heat Academy in Virginia, was seen as a bright spot in Iona's incoming class, both because of his talent and personality. His coach at Indian Hills, Barret Peery, previously described Haynes in an interview with SNY.tv as a versatile power forward who can run the floor and can defend against multiple positions. Perhaps most notable, he was frequently lauded for his immense passion for the game. Immediately after learning of his death, Iona coach Tim Cluess told the Daily News that he was in a state of shock. He also spoke in much more detail with Prep Rally's brotherly college basketball blog, The Dagger, about his recruit's tragic death. "It's just so hard," Cluess said. "I don't know how to describe it. Once you got to know Michael you just couldn't wait to coach him. He came from a very rough area in Chicago and he just wanted to make a better life for himself. He was just looking for a chance to change his life." Now Haynes will never get that chance, the latest tragic repercussion of a brutal summer of violence in the windy city. Want more on the best stories in high school sports? Visit RivalsHigh or connect with Prep Rally on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Other popular content on the Yahoo! network: • Jason Cole: Peyton Manning makes rockstar Broncos debut but his arm remains mystery • Paul Pierce's offseason fitness regimen of biscuit eating sounds awesome • Japan earns 'Miracle of Glasgow' with surprise men's soccer win over Spain • Shine: Taking protein diet too far has dangerous consequencesLabour has accused Theresa May of having “misjudged her hand” on Brexit following damning reports about her dinner with Jean-Claude Juncker at No 10 last week. An account in German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung claims that the European Commission president called Angela Merkel after the meeting to claim that Mrs May was “on another galaxy”. Among the issues of contention were the EU’s stance that the UK must pay a “divorce bill” to cover its liabilities, and Mrs May’s suggestion that the issue of the rights of UK citizens living in the EU and EU citizens living in the UK could be resolved as early as the end of June. Mr Juncker is reported to have remarked: “I leave Downing Street ten times as sceptical as I was before.” Mrs May responded yesterday that she was “not in a different galaxy”, and insisted that her goal of a comprehensive trade deal alongside the two-year process for disentangling the UK from EU institutions was realistic. “I think what this shows, and what some of the other comments we’ve seen coming from European leaders shows, is that there are going to be times when these negotiations are going to be tough,” she told the BBC. The Government has also denied the report. A spokesman said: “We do not recognise this account. As the Prime Minister and Jean-Claude Juncker made clear, this was a constructive meeting ahead of the negotiations formally getting underway.” But Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer said the report showed the need for a “new approach” to relations with the EU, and said Labour would immediately set a “different and more positive tone” if it wins the general election. “Whatever the purpose of these leaks, this is a deeply worrying account and further evidence that Theresa May’s rigid and complacent approach to Brexit negotiations risks leading Britain over a cliff edge,” he said. “It is clearer by the day that an extreme Tory Brexit poses a severe risk to the British economy and to people’s jobs and living standards. “Theresa May talks about strengthening her hand, but in reality she has misjudged her hand at every turn, weakening Britain’s position. By refusing to acknowledge the complexity and magnitude of the task ahead the Prime Minister increases the risk that there will be no deal, which is the worst of all possible outcomes. “In pursuing a rigid and complacent approach, the Prime Minister now finds herself marginalised and isolated across the continent. Since day one, she has been driven not by the national interest, but by the interests of the Tory party.”It's been nearly 16 years since Leon Lett taught the world to not touch the ball after a missed field goal. (Crap, I"m old.) Sadly, current high school kids were too young to learn that lesson. A high school football game ended tragically this weekend, when a potential game-winning field by Jericho Mount Mansfield in Vermont—that's the school, not the kicker's name—fell very short and into the arms of a waiting Otter Valley player. Otter Valley had just finished a remarkable comeback to take a 2-point lead with 16 seconds left and the missed desperation field goal as time expired seemed to seal the deal. Except the Otter Valley player took the ball on the fly, ran out of the end zone with his arms raised in celebration, then spiked the ball on the ground. As the former Dallas Cowboy could tell you, the play was not yet dead. An alert Mount Mansfield player scooped up the ball and ran into the end zone. Touchdown. Game over. Why the coach put two players back to receive the kick may never be known, but we won't name him or the player out or respect for their loved ones. Alert play leads to bizarre ending in Vermont football game [Max Preps] Move over Bartman [The Pigskin Doctors] [Video via WCAX]VoIP Software Helps Make Small Businesses Competitive Once upon a time VoIP was just a way for the extremely computer savvy to save a few bucks by making computer to computer "phone calls" to a limited circle of friends who were running the same software and had a microphone and a set of speakers or a headphone. Fast forward to modern times where VoIP provides economical phone solutions for consumers from all walks of life and can provide a competitive edge for businesses, especially small businesses. Today's VoIP allows the use of real phones and users can call any phone number in the world using a service such as Skype for a very small fee. Add to that the voice technology software for things like autodialers and auto appointment reminders and a small business can really start to get competitive with the big boys. They always used to say that the rich get richer while the poor get poorer and that has never been truer than in business today. The other old saying that helps to explain this phenomenon says that time is money. Traditionally big businesses with big budgets were the only ones who could afford the time and money saving solutions like autodialers and appointment reminders while small businesses were forced to use their already limited manpower resources making endless phone calls, with much of that time spent listening to the phone ringing or busy signals. There is a wide array of VoIP software solutions offered these days that make time-saving and money making phone solutions accessible for everyone and give small businesses a chance. First impressions are difficult to change, especially for a small business. Using the same tools that the big companies do adds a certain level of credibility to a business that may otherwise be elusive. When marketing products and/or services via the telephone the customer is going to judge the company's entire image based on how the phone call is executed as it is their only point of reference. VoIP technology has made a great deal of progress in the last ten years and currently provides a practical alternative to the pricey services offered by the phone company. In today's economy small efforts to save time and money can be the difference between success and failure, especially for the small business. VoIP software solutions can provide that competitive edge to keep small businesses profitable. A company such as Voicent can provide software solutions such as autodialers, auto appointment reminders, text to voice and broadcast email solutions to give small businesses that competitive edge they are seeking. Couple those types of software solutions with an affordable VoIP service provider such as Skype and even the smallest business can project a successful image that will add to their bottom line even during the most trying economic times. A successful image, higher productivity and financial savings are all benefits of using VoIP software and services over those offered by traditional phone companies and Voicent and Skype are top notch choices available in today's market. About the Author Ray Subs works with Voicent as a public relations consultant, more information about Voicent can be found at http://www.Voicent.com. Voip Business Solutions Presents:by Ray SubsVoip Business SolutionsA royal edict from the president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) may have effectively made it illegal for anyone in the country to use a VPN or secure proxy service. Those caught could face jail time and fines of between 500,000 and 2,000,000 UAE dirham (US$136,130 and $544,521). The change was announced this week by the UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan in a proclamation that amended federal laws. The wording is ambiguous and technologically illiterate. Essentially, it seems, you are not allowed to use systems that hide the fact that you're committing a crime or covering one up. If you're routing your network traffic through a secure VPN or proxy server, you could be evading the eyes of the state while breaking a law, and that's now a big no-no. You could claim you were using the VPN or proxy for legit reasons, and that no criminal activity was being committed or concealed, but since your packets were encrypted, you may have a hard time proving your innocence. The tweaked law now reads as follows: Whoever uses a fraudulent computer network protocol address (IP address) by using a false address or a third-party address by any other means for the purpose of committing a crime or preventing its discovery, shall be punished by temporary imprisonment and a fine of no less than Dhs 500,000 and not exceeding Dhs 2,000,000, or either of these two penalties. Less than 15 per cent of the desert kingdom's inhabitants are locals, with the rest of the population made up of expatriates, many of whom want to access private corporate networks and the internet at large without being limited by the filtering systems the country has set up. The state telco blocks anything seen as being against UAE values, any Israeli domains, and pornography sites, as well as many VoIP services for calling home. There are two state-sanctioned VoIP services, Etisalat and Du, but they are relatively expensive. Skype was outlawed in the kingdom, but that ban was lifted in April after Microsoft and business leaders complained that the blockade was discouraging businesses from coming to the country. In the meantime, if you're visiting the UAE, using a VPN or proxy server may be problematic. The new law is now in effect, and you may get a knock on the door by the police if you try using one of those services. ®After four years at the helm of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean is preparing to relinquish his chairmanship. Dean, who has been serving in the post since 2005, has said in the past that he would serve only one term, though his successful work with the Obama campaign had led some Democrats to wonder whether he would stay on into the next administration. This won't be the case, officials at the DNC confirm. He will serve as chair until his term ends in January. The party will settle on a new head when it hosts a meeting during the week of Obama's inauguration. In sheer political terms, the choice really wasn't Dean's to make. Indeed, any decision on who will serve as the next DNC chair will come with directives from Obama and his aides. And a name being floated around as a possible Dean replacement is one of the president-elect's closest allies: Claire McCaskill, the junior Senator from Missouri and a national co-chair of the Obama campaign. "My sense is that the Obama folks are pretty insular and don't want somebody else building the party and haven't even decided what building the party means for them," explained one aide. "I bet they go with a split chair again... McCaskill at Chair, and somebody like Steve Hildebrand [Obama's Deputy Campaign Manager] at Operational Chair." Regardless of who takes over, the next chair will inherit an organization far different from the one that existed four years ago. Under Dean's tenure, the DNC implemented the hotly-debated 50-state-strategy, a program designed to rebuild the party into a continental force, one in which Democrats drained the resources of Republicans while simultaneously building up younger talent. Obama's incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and others were critical, believing that the policy wasted valuable resources on impossible races and needlessly forfeited otherwise winnable seats during the 2006 congressional elections. Successes in 2008, however, have largely quieted those critiques. Indeed, four years later, it seems, Dean's vision is poised to become party orthodoxy. Dean told a Democratic operative that he is hoping to extract promises from all potential replacement candidates to preserve the 50-state-strategy. Other insiders, meanwhile, say that the next DNC chair, regardless of who it is, will build upon the model because of its tangible successes.This week's theme Words about words This week's words rhopalic periphrastic epanorthosis monepic ploce Next week's theme Miscellaneous words This week's comments AWADmail 389 Discuss Feedback RSS/XML Words about words A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg ploce PRONUNCIATION: (PLO-see) MEANING: noun: The repetition of a word or phrase for rhetorical emphasis or for extended meaning. Examples: "Why wilt thou sleep the sleep of death?" (William Blake) "Make war upon themselves - brother to brother / Blood to blood, self against self." (Shakespeare) ETYMOLOGY: From Latin ploce, from Greek ploke (plaiting), from plekein (to plait). USAGE: "Theme and irony both seem to echo through the following lines, in which ploce and pronouns play off one another. Duncan speaks to Lady Macbeth about love and thanks her for the 'trouble' of hosting his visit: The love that follows us sometimes is our trouble Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you How you shall bid God 'ild us for your pains, And thank us for your trouble." Paul Pellikka; Echoes of Sound and Sense in Macbeth; Style; Spring 1997. See more usage examples of ploce in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey. -Kenji Miyazawa, poet and story writer (1896-1933) We need your help Help us continue to spread the magic of words to readers everywhere DonateMissiles slammed into several public facilities in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo on Monday, claiming more than a dozen lives. In Azaz, a town near the Turkish border, at least five people were killed when missiles demolished a school that was sheltering families fleeing the onslaught. Bombs also hit a children's hospital and a refugee center. "We have been moving scores of screaming children from the hospital," medic Juma Rahal said. At least two children were killed and scores of people injured, he added. Separately, least seven people have been killed and eight more are missing after a series of airstrikes destroyed a Doctors Without Borders hospital. The aid organization, known by its French initials, MSF, issued a scathing response. "This appears to be a deliberate attack on a health structure, and we condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms," said Massimiliano Rebaudengo, MSF's mission chief. "The destruction of the hospital leaves the local population of around 40,000 people without access to medical services in an active zone of conflict." Officials from the organization believe that Russian or Syrian forces were behind the attack. "There were at least seven deaths among the personnel and the patients, and at least eight MSF personnel have disappeared, and we don't know if they are alive," said Mego Terzian, the MSF president. The hospital is in the northern Syrian province of Idlib, near the town of Murat al-Numan. The facility, which has been financed and supplied by MSF since September, had 54 staff members and 30 beds, two operating rooms and an emergency room. Allegations against Russia The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at the destroyed hospital at nine and also blamed Russian warplanes for the attack. The Observatory added that dozens more were wounded. Backed by Russian airpower, Syrian troops have made considerable territorial gains in recent weeks, particularly in the country's northern province of Aleppo. They're aiming to recapture the country's largest city, Aleppo, which had a prewar population of more than 2.3 million residents. "The entire building has collapsed on the ground," opposition activist Yahya al-Sobeih said via telephone from Murat al-Numan. He added that five people were killed near the clinic and "all members of the medical team inside are believed to be dead." Hospitals in northern Syria have been devastated by a recent spate of aerial assaults. At least 10 hospitals in Aleppo province have been rendered inoperable. bik/kms (Reuters, AP, dpa)If Coors Light has its way, next year's Coors Light NHL Stadium Series will feature some Rocky Mountain Freshness. Coors Light Explorer delivers beer at Stadium Series The title sponsor of the NHL's new series of four outdoor hockey games has asked the league to bring the event to its backyard of Denver in 2015 after stops at New York's Yankee Stadium, Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles and Chicago's Soldier Field this year, said Adam Dettman, director of sports & entertainment marketing for MillerCoors. NHL CMO Brian Jennings confirmed the Colorado Avalanche are under consideration to host a Stadium Series game next year. Following the success of its six-year old Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic, the league scheduled six outdoor games this season: the four NHL Stadium Series games being played across the U.S.; the Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic in Vancouver, Canada on March 2; and the Winter Classic, which took place at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich. on New Year's Day. Washington D.C. is already set as the location for the 2015 Winter Classic. The number of Stadium Series games next year, and their locations, have not been decided yet. Mr. Dettman said the brewer's so pleased with its multi-year title sponsorship of the Series, its pushing for Denver to be in the rotation next year. And what do you know? The game could be played at Coors Field. "It would be special no doubt," said Mr. Dettman on Sunday, as the New York Rangers defeated the rival New Jersey Devils 7-3 in the first hockey game played at Yankee Stadium. "Again, the heritage of the brand, being from the Rocky Mountains, we'd welcome that." The NHL's Mr. Jennings joked that Mr. Dettman brings up the topic at every meeting. The league is "absolutely" considering an outdoor Avalanche game next season. "It's just a great marketplace and a deserving marketplace," said Mr. Jennings. The ability of the NHL to pull off an outdoor game in Southern California Saturday night bodes well for Coors Light, said Mr. Dettman. The LA game opens the possibilities of future events being held in other warm weather sites in California, Arizona and Florida. With multiple outdoor games rather than the two played in 2012, the NHL can also "backfill" by revisiting markets such as Boston where the Winter Classic otherwise wouldn't return for years, Mr. Jennings said. The third Stadium Series game will take place tonight at the House that Ruth Built, with the Rangers vs. New York Islanders. The Stadium Series then concludes in the Windy City, with the Chicago Blackhawks taking on the Pittsburgh Penguins March 1. At the halfway point of the inaugural Stadium Series, Coors Light gives the new event a "super cold thumbs-up," said Mr. Dettman. "If the momentum keeps up from the first two, we see nothing but upside here. We're thrilled." During Sunday's at Yankee Stadium, the brewer activated its sponsorship by having its "Explorer" characters from TV commercials mingle with fans. New York hockey fans posed for pictures with the characters as they made in-game "beer deliveries" to the stands. The Stadium Series has generated nice numbers so far for broadcast partner NBC, according to Nielsen. Sunday afternoon's Rangers-Devils averaged 2.079 million viewers, and a 1.3 fast national TV rating. With the exception of Winter Classics, that made it the most-watched and highest-rated regular-season game ever on NBC. Outdoor games have "been a very good thing for the NHL in terms of being responsive to marketer's needs for new, exciting and relevant assets rather than the same old packages of logo rights [and] one all-star game a year," said Jim Andrews, VP-content strategy for EG, a sponsorship, research and consulting firm owned by WPP.We asked 1000 Brits to name the capital of Brazil byon 12 June 2014, 09:06AM image credit: Thomás Today marks the exciting start of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. This will be the 20th World Cup to date and is taking place in Brazil, who was officially elected as the host nation in October 2007. In 2003 it was announced that tournament would be held in South America. Brazil and Colombia put themselves forward as hosts, but when Colombia withdrew their candidacy, Brazil was left unopposed. This will be the second time Brazil has hosted the World Cup with the previous time they hosted was back in1950. In order to find out how many people in Britain know about Brazil, we asked 1,000 people to name the capital of Brazil…the results were very revealing. Apparently the majority of us don’t know the capital of Brazil. The most popular answer was Rio de Janeiro and a staggering 46% of people gave the wrong answer. The correct answer is in fact Brasilia and 41% of individuals got this right. People all across the world will be watching the match between Brazil and Croatia tonight. With so many eyes on Brazil, it would good if we knew a bit more about the country. During the 2014 World Cup, there are total of 64 matches being played across twelve cities in Brazil. According to the BBC, 13.5 million people tuned in to watch England get defeated in the 2010 World Cup! Spain won narrowly by beating the Netherlands 1–0 during a nail-biting match. The anticipation is mounting whether the defending champions will lift the trophy once more. But with so many good teams across all the groups, the game is wide open! Check out the chances of each team in Travelbag’s World Cup quizzes. We are looking forward to every minute of it!Image caption Bob Diamond's severance package has not yet been decided, Barclays says Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond has resigned a week after the bank was fined a record amount for trying to manipulate inter-bank lending rates. BBC business editor Robert Peston said he was encouraged to go by the heads of the Bank of England and the FSA. Mr Diamond said he was stepping down because the external pressure on the bank risked "damaging the franchise". Chief operating officer Jerry del Missier has also resigned, the third top executive in two days to do so. Barclays chairman Marcus Agius, who had announced his own resignation on Monday, will now take over the running of Barclays until a new chief executive is appointed. 'Cynical greed' BBC business editor Robert Peston said the heads of the City's two main regulators had been unable to force Mr Diamond out "because the recent FSA investigation into how Barclays attempted to rig the important Libor interest rates did not find him personally culpable". It is a soap opera like no other I can remember in my 30 years of reporting on the City FSA boss slams 'greed' at banks "However, as a regulated institution, it was impossible for Barclays' board to ignore the revealed wishes of the two most powerful regulators in the City." Earlier, Lord Turner, the chairman of the Financial Services Authority, described the outrage that has built up over the bank's actions. "The cynical greed of traders asking their colleagues to falsify their Libor submissions so that they could make bigger profits - has justifiably shocked and angered people, in particular when we are facing hard economic times provoked by the financial crisis," he told the Financial Services Authority's annual meeting. Committee appearance How Libor scandal developed • 27 June: Barclays fined £290m by US and UK regulators for attempting to manipulate Libor rates • 28 June: Barclays shares plunge 15% • 29 June: Bank of England governor calls for change in banking culture • 1 July: It emerges that RBS has sacked four traders over Libor and there are calls for changes in the law to cover Libor-rigging • 2 July: Barclays chairman Marcus Agius resigns and the government launches two inquiries into Libor and banking standards • 3 July: Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond resigns Timeline: Libor-fixing scandal Criminal charges: The problems Mr Diamond will still appear before MPs on the Treasury Committee on Wednesday to answer questions about the Libor affair. "I look forward to fulfilling my obligation to contribute to the Treasury Committee's enquiries related to the settlements that Barclays announced last week without my leadership in question," Mr Diamond said in a statement. He is expected to be questioned about a conversation he had with the deputy governor of the Bank of England, Paul Tucker, about Barclays' Libor submissions at the height of the credit crunch in 2008. Barclays' managers came to believe, after the conversation between Mr Diamond and Mr Tucker, that the Bank of England had sanctioned them to lie about what they were paying to borrow when providing data to the committees that set the Libor rate. Inquiry row Chancellor George Osborne welcomed Mr Diamond's departure and said he hoped it was the "first step towards a new culture of responsibility" in banking. Crisis jargon buster Use the dropdown for easy-to-understand explanations of key financial terms: AAA-rating AAA-rating The best credit rating that can be given to a borrower's debts, indicating that the risk of borrowing defaulting is minuscule. "It is the right decision for the country," Mr Osborne said, saying the UK needed a strong Barclays concentrating on lending and contributing to economic recovery. Labour leader Ed Miliband said it was "necessary and right" that Bob Diamond stepped down. "But this is about much more than one individual, it's about the culture and practices of the banking industry," he said. "That's why we need a full, judge-led, independent inquiry, to get to the bottom of those practices and make recommendations for change in the future. We've had missed opportunities before, we've got to seize this moment." Labour is critical of the government's decision to call a parliamentary inquiry, chaired by the head of the Treasury Committee, Andrew Tyrie MP, rather than a full Leveson-style inquiry, independent of politicians. Big pay-off? Last week, regulators in the US and UK fined Barclays £290m ($450m) for attempting to rig Libor and Euribor, the interest rates at which banks lend to each other, which underpin trillions of pounds worth of financial transactions. Libor is to banking what the Millie Dowler case was to phone hacking Q&A: Row over Barclays inquiry Labour'must see sense on banks' Staff did this over a number of years, trying to raise them for profit and then, during the financial crisis, lowering them to hide the level to which Barclays was under financial stress. Mr Diamond is one of the UK's highest paid chief executives, earning £20m last year, and was described as "the unacceptable face" of banking by the then business secretary Lord Mandelson in 2010. The details of any severance package are not yet known, but former City minister Lord Myners suggests it could add up to £20m-£30m. "I think his resignation letter is drafted with an eye to that [pay-off], because he admits no guilt on his part at all," the Labour peer told BBC News. "The shareholders of Barclays will be expecting the board to ensure that not a penny more is paid to Bob Diamond than that to which he is legally entitled," he said. US-born Mr Diamond was head of Barclays Capital, its investment bank division, when its staff were trying to manipulate the key inter-bank rates. "He maintains that he didn't know what was going on," says Robert Peston. Investigations are continuing in the UK and the US into other banks over Libor fixing, including criminal investigations by the
’t seem as interested? Government should absolutely be tracking these issues very closely; however, this isn’t just about the US. What’s happening in Europe right now is critically important—what’s happening in India, in China. What’s coming down the pipeline as soon as May next year with GDPR [the European Union’s stringent new data privacy rules]. We’ll continue to do the research we think will guide policy in the future. When and where that gets taken up is not our decision—that’s well above our pay grade. But what we can do is do the best work now, so that when people are making decisions about safety-critical systems, about rights and liberties, about labor and automation, they can make policy based on strong empirical research. You also call for greater diversity in the teams that make AI, and not just by fields of expertise. It’s much bigger than just hiring—we have to talk about workplace culture, and we have to talk about how difficult these questions of inclusivity are right now. Particularly in the wake of the James Damore memo, it’s never been more stark how much work needs to be done. If you have rooms that are very homogeneous, that have all had the same life experiences and educational backgrounds and they’re all relatively wealthy, their perspective on the world is going to mirror what they already know. That can be dangerous when we’re making systems that will affect so many diverse populations. So we think it’s absolutely critical to start to make diversity and inclusion matter—to make it something more than just a set of words that are being spoken and invoked at the right time.A lawsuit filed against a city bus driver claims he was texting behind the wheel, but newly released video obtained by ABC affiliate KOAT-TV shows he was doing something else.The video shows bus driver Jeremy Perea was eating a burrito with both hands seconds before causing a multi-car pileup.The surveillance video shows Perea look down at his burrito several times. He takes a sip of a drink before using both hands to take a bite of the burrito.The driver didn't realize the cars in front of the bus had stopped, and it was too late to stop the bus by the time he put the burrito down.One of the people involved in the crash claims they were hurt and filed a lawsuit. The city refused to comment on the case, but it did say its drivers are not supposed to eat or drink while driving the bus.The driver is still on the job. City officials say he was retrained and has not been involved in an accident since.When it comes to climbing in Red River Gorge, this crown jewel is home to 400+ routes across 20 different crags within it’s valley. See why over 40,000 climbers a year hang, whip and send in Muir Valley! The Red River Gorge in Kentucky is considered one of the greatest climbing areas of the United States, home to thousands of climbing routes across the region. The first thing we realized as a group researching climbs at Red River Gorge is the vast amount of places there are to go climbing in this place! As “outsiders” looking in we had to first decide whether we were going to the North or South region of the gorge. Once that was determined, we discovered there are multiple sections within each of the the regions! As an example the Southern region contains PMRP, Torrent Falls, Muir Valley, Roadside etc. Once we figured out what sections we wanted to explore we had to figuring out what crags/walls to climb within them! This was incredibly exciting but honestly quite overwhelming at the very same time! Now our motley crew of sport climbers like most had a decent spread when it came to the grades we were looking to climb, we had climbers in our group that wanted to shoot for long 5.8’s and others looking to crush 5.12 projects. So our first objective was finding sections within Red River Gorge that offered a healthy mix of routes allowing our entire group to have a blast! There was one section in the south region of the Red River Gorge that that grabbed our attention the moment we found it: Out of the dozen sections within the Red that we researched, Muir Valley had the greatest abundance of routes 5.10 & below! Now before you get your ego all puffy and think this place is not for you,there are also as many, if not twice as many routes above 5.10 inside of Muir Valley as the other sections for climbing in Red River Gorge for all you “rock warriors” out there! We made our choice, grabbed the gear, packed the cars, and drove out to Muir Valley the very next morning! We took the sharp turn onto Muir Rd, going down for a mile or so as it turned unpaved and pulled up to Muir Valley. Most climbing spots I’ve been to around the country are usually rugged dirt roads with no signs, and you have to make your own parking spot. I expected this place to be no different. When we pulled into Muir Valley there was nice gravel parking lot, greeters, a pavilion, a soda machine, and Loaner stick clips?!? (You would think I pulled up to the VIP section at the Gunks) We are immediately greeted by an older couple who were none other than Rick & Liz Weber the original founders of Muir Valley! They look at our plates, saw NJ on each one and said “Welcome to Kentucky!” as they began to shake each one of our hands. Talk about southern hospitality! Rick begins to give us a full orientation of Muir Valley, the layout, crags and even about “Jake the Snake” in front of the bulletin board at the Pavilion. We are immediately blown away by the amount of strategic planning and safety procedures established for Muir Valley. There are emergency Radio stations established throughout the valley equipped with instructions at each one with what to do in the case of an injury/emergency. With over 20 crags within Muir Valley this is huge! Each one of these stations had a corresponding number to it providing an effective and efficient means to give guidance to rescue crews on your location within the valley. The routes within Muir Valley are setup with the distance of bolt placement in mind. We were actually told “If you don’t use a stick clip please don’t climb here” pointing to the corner where there was a number loaner stick clips saying with a smile “Please feel free to borrow one if you need it”. The first bolt on the majority of the routes are actually set higher to help prevent decking and reduce the chances of a potential ground fall. **USE THE STICK CLIP!** No one wants a busted leg or ankle. You won’t lose street cred I swear! The bolts after the first one are place reasonably apart from each other, roughly 5-8 feet apart depending on the route and what it is protecting from. Other areas within Red River Gorge such as PMRP as one example I came across bolt distances as much as 10-14 feet apart.(I did not got to it with a tape measure, but when my feet are few feet above my last bolt and I’m looking up seeing there is a couple of feet to go to the next bolt I consider that a reasonable gauge silently cursing to myself in the process) There a number of wonderful routes and features to be found within Muir Valley! One of our favorite routes to climb and an area classic is “Getting Lucky in Kentucky” a 5.10b sport climbing route located at the Tectonic Wall. This route along with the adjacent climbs around it have these large flat plates scattered across the wall with thin lips to them offering great crimpy holds among the sea of hueco pockets found all in between the plates. Make sure to shake out and grab a rest when you can as you are climbing. The huecos can be deceiving as you climb the route burning a lot of energy trying to find the good holds. A really nice feature that Muir Valley has that I do not see in many climbing areas is the medallion coins stamped in at the base of climbs identifying the name, grade & style of the route. Some folks in our group were on the fence about them. Some thought this was not necessary to have on each climb and took away from the exploratory feel of the area. After about half a day everyone seem to be taking full advantage of this little feature making it a lot easier to find the route you are looking to climb especially when you are looking for a 5.8 and a 5.12 is sitting right next to it! Another great wall for climbing in Muir Valley is the Bruise Brothers Wall. This crag is one of the taller areas in Muir and home to roughly 30 routes ranging from 5.6 to 5.11. Top 3 picks on this wall recommended: Return of the Manimal – 5.10d – (85 ft) Send me on my Way – 5.9- (75ft) Ohio Climbing – 5.8 (50ft) Another nice feature to this part of Muir Valley if you take a 5 minute hike down the trail from bruise brothers wall is this gem: A great spot to explore and have lunch in the shade, this spot is actually a waterfall. It was rather dry this time of year when I had taken the photo you can see the mist gleaming in the sunlight as the low flow of water made it’s way down. Besides being one of the top climbing destinations inside of Red River Gorge, Muir Valley is also a nature preserve home to a number of beautiful creatures such a deer, black bear, salamanders, turtles and more! You can find these guys all through out the base of the cliffs and along the trails throughout the valley floor. When ever we came across a damp area of the forest or especially when it began to drizzle the forest floor would come alive with little orange beings scurrying around! So watch your step you will find dozens of these beautiful little salamanders while climbing and or hiking throughout Muir Valley Nature Preserve! The amount of work, thought, and dedication that has been put into Muir Valley is nothing short of impressive! There are very few climbing areas in and around the United States that have this much vested time & resources into it. A true love for the land, wildlife and climbing here exists and it shows! Learn more about Muir Valley – Muir Valley Website To support the amazing work at Muir Valley – DonateCatholic hospital administrators argued they shouldn’t be held responsible after one of the hospitals under their control followed the bishops’ policies and refused to provide proper information and medical care to a woman in the middle of a miscarriage. Tamesha Means was 18 weeks pregnant when her water broke, and she rushed to the only hospital in the area for treatment.Unfortunately, it was a Catholic hospital, and because of the bishops’ rules, the hospital didn’t tell Means that the pregnancy was doomed and that the safest course was an abortion. The hospital sent her home — not once, but twice — while she was in excruciating pain and developing an infection. Only once she began to deliver during her third visit did the hospital start providing care. Tamesha sued, and the hospital administrators argued that because of their religious beliefs, her case should be thrown out. The judge agreed, but neither Tamesha nor the ACLU is giving up. We have filed an appeal and will keep fighting to prevent other women from being denied appropriate medical treatment when they go to the hospital.“Why did you say five minutes?” Whovians have only had one season away from the Eleventh Doctor, and it’s rough for some to remember that this year isn’t a brief reprieve before his return. Fans are missing his childlike wonder, his comforting cadence, his attractive-science-professor fashion sense, his undeniable sweetness in the face of a universe worth of terrors. Is that his legacy, though? Safe to say that he will be thought of fondly, but that’s not what made his run remarkable. When the Eleventh Doctor appeared on The Sarah Jane Adventures, he met up with two former companions—the show’s eponymous leading lady and Jo, who’d been the Third Doctor’s pal during his Earth-bound UNIT days. After realizing that Sarah Jane had seen the Doctor even following her time traveling in the TARDIS, Jo assumes that the Doctor hadn’t liked her very much; why had he never visited? The Doctor admits to her that he did, that he had observed from a distance. That before the Tenth Doctor regenerated, he went to visit all of his former companions, to peek in on their lives and find out how they were doing. And what he found was remarkable. All these people whose lives he had touched—they had all managed to live extraordinary lives of their own. They were having grand adventures, helping others, using everything they had learned to better the world. None of them had stopped just because he’d left them behind. They were every bit as remarkable as the day he’d met them, and then some. This was a theme throughout Russell T. Davies’ tenure on the show—that knowing the Doctor encouraged ordinary people to do incredible things. That traveling with the Doctor meant that you would never be satisfied with a humdrum day-to-day existence. You’d seen the universe, you’d traveled through time, and you were obliged to be amazing. It was an uplifting message for sure, and it was meant to reflect outward to the audience; you’ve witnessed these adventures too, now you go and be amazing. A beautiful sentiment for a show that is aimed at children, dreamers, and would-be heroes. Then Matt Smith showed up, and he seemed to play into those exact sensibilities, perhaps even moreso. A watchful guardian of crying children, a mad man with a box, one of the most encouraging and praising versions of the Doctor yet. So it’s interesting—isn’t it?—that the Eleventh Doctor’s run is primarily marked by loss and failure. His track record is perhaps only comparable to the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) in how many unwanted goodbyes he had to make, what he sacrificed, and how often he lost the larger battles. This isn’t to say that the Eleventh Doctor’s achievements (of which there were many) are somehow unremarkable. It’s simply that the Eleventh Doctor’s failures are what set him apart, what make him distinct in the show’s current run, when he uprooted Who’s newer set of mythology in favor of a centered, family-like dynamic. That family, of course, is the Ponds. The Doctor has had family with him before, in a very real sense—he began these adventures with granddaughter Susan—and he has enjoyed certain adopted families on pit stops (the Tylers being the most obvious among their number), but the Ponds were not the same. They came in and out of his life year by year. They ran away with him on their wedding night, and set a place for him at Christmas dinner, every Christmas. They let him live in their house for a while. And certainly, they owe some of their successes to him; he encouraged them to look beyond a future in the sleepy town of Ledford. But it all came to an abrupt ending in New York City. We can say that Amy and Rory were still happy after being stranded in the past, that they never blamed the Doctor for their lot or held it against him. That doesn’t change the fact that their fate was not part of the plan. That the Doctor had a very hard time keeping the promises he made to them, and a harder time telling them the truth when they needed to hear it. That—if we want to take the long view of Amy’s life—the Doctor damaged her as a person in ways that are unimaginable to your average human being. It seems like a fairy tale, but it’s not the “happily ever after” sort. It’s the one where the fairy godmother gets all your wishes wrong, and you’re left with a great big mess to clean up on your own. Think about it: Amy spends the majority of her childhood being told that the man who rescued her from the monsters in her house is made up. She is sent to countless child psychologists who tell her she’s clinging to a fantasy. She’s encouraged to call this man her “imaginary friend.” Her fantasies cause her to be teased mercilessly. She changes her first name to distance herself from the girl who believed in that raggedy phantom, but the only people who she truly allows close are willing indulge that fixation; Mel asks her questions about the Doctor all the time, and Rory is willing to pretend to be him. Amy might have come out of this less scathed, but for one tiny problem: Her encounter with the Doctor was real and she knows it. Having your real experiences passed off by droves of adults because you can’t prove them is bound to make you distrusting. But she’s lucky! Her imaginary friend returns to her, and he didn’t mean to be late, it’s just that time travel is sort of like building a house of cards backwards, and he can’t really be held to these things. Right? It is remarkable because the Doctor never screwed up a meet cute so badly. Martha’s stop outside the hospital was out of joint, but didn’t mess too badly with the fabric of space-time, Donna refound the Doctor after a relatively short period of searching, even Sarah Jane Smith (who felt somewhat betrayed over being abandoned by the Fourth Doctor) didn’t rack up the early development nightmare that was Amy Pond’s childhood. Making that mistake, it could be argued that the Doctor felt the need to make it up to her in the grandest of fashions… but that doesn’t go at all as he planned. The Doctor gamely attempts to fix things by making life easy for the Ponds. He situates Amy and Rory in such a way that they flourish back on Earth—nice home, fancy car, perfect location for Amy to start a modeling career. Interestingly, the Ponds have no desire to pursue great deeds outside of their time with the Doctor. They’re not like the Sarah Jane Smiths and Jo Grants and Tegan Jovankas and Ian and Barbara Chestertons that traveled with the Doctor before—rather than working toward improving and safeguarding the world around them, Rory and Amy are busy trying to keep their own lives together. And it takes them quite a long time to find that equilibrium; the Doctor has to intervene again to save their marriage, when it falls apart after Amy finds she can no longer have children. Yet the Doctor takes it upon himself to fix their marriage—and he succeeds. It’s no wonder that one of the primary themes of Amy’s tenure on the TARDIS is her need to let go of the Doctor. And despite her revelation in “The God Complex,” a moment when he Doctor himself tells Amy that she needs to grow beyond him, she still requires his help to salvage her life. You can’t really blame her in this—she’s used to the Doctor showing up to fix her problems. But because little Amelia holds the Doctor up as a hero for so long, she never takes him to task for the difficulties he alone inflicted on her life. She loves him too much. She believes in him no matter how many times he lets her down. Which may go far in explaining why, when her infant daughter was stolen from her (an act directly caused by her association with the Doctor), she trusted the Time Lord to get the baby back—which he never manages. Instead, the Doctor offers several bland excuses, then conveniently never bothers to come clean and admit that he can’t do it. He cannot restore Melody Pond (now River Song) to her parents. She will grow up trained to murder him, then to love him, and then wind up in prison for a good long while. Occasionally, he’ll drop her off for a glass of wine with dear old mum. Same difference? Poor River Song. The Doctor never really does well by her either. Never finds her in childhood, never rescues her from Madame Kovarian’s conditioning, never puts the proper effort forth in helping her to reconnect with her family as an adult. (And yes, she spends childhood time with them as Mel, but that barely counts, since her whole purpose then is using her future-parents to find the Doctor.) In fact, River spends all of her time rescuing him—from a foretold death by messing with time, from an unforetold death by giving him all of her regenerative energy, from having to say the words that will lead Amy to follow Rory back in time and live out the remainder of her life in the past. She also spends most of her time absolving the Doctor of responsibility with catch phrases: “The Doctor lies.” “He doesn’t like goodbyes.” What River is constantly masking on the Doctor’s behalf are his shortcomings, his errors. She’s maintaining his legend, even at moments when he’s not up to snuff. Then the Ponds are gone from his life, and we arrive at Clara Oswald. The “impossible” companion whose whole purpose hinges on fixing things for the Doctor. She kicks him back into gear when she finds him in “The Snowmen,” and then proceeds to get him back to his old tricks when he encounters her in present day. When the Doctor heads to Trenzalore to confront his supposed grave, we find out that Clara has a special function as a companion. With the Great Intelligence threatening to wipe out his existence, Clara throws herself back through time and space, showing up during key points in the Doctor’s life to shove him back in the right direction. It turns out to be the whole reason she is traveling with him at all. He requires Clara—and the telepathic ghost of River Song—to defend him from a universe that worries he has grown too powerful, too grand, too dangerous to continue. And when the Doctor chooses to live out the remainder of his life in a town called Christmas, he does so while simultaneously defending its inhabitants and watching the entire run of its occupants’ lives. He’s probably come to expect it by that point. The Eleventh Doctor has lost so many people; the child that was Amelia Pond, Rory over and over, Clara over and over, Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart—not just the random ones who get caught in the crossfire, but people who are vibrant and close to him. How could an entire town, generation by generation, be all that surprising? Yet again, it’s Clara who pulls him out of the fire, asking the Time Lords to give him the top-up he needs to destroy the Daleks and regenerate. Is it any wonder that the next Doctor needed to ask Clara whether or not he was a “good man”? Even on his best days, the Eleventh Doctor must have feared that answer. He lost a family, a lover, old friends and new ones, and it’s likely that he didn’t feel that same swell of pride the Tenth Doctor garnered from looking in on his old companions. Eleven had to have wondered whether or not he was a benefit to the lives he touched—and their weren’t many who were in the plain affirmative on that question. (Craig? Kazaran?) But despite how morbid that seems, this was everything that made the Eleventh Doctor unique. When you look back on the show’s tenure, his specific inability to create magical fixes, to better the lives of the people who mattered most to him, that is what makes Eleven’s story so potent. He danced around those problems, or wove through them the wrong way. He lied. And it made him into a fascinating incarnation of a character five decades in the making. Which is just as—or more—important than being lovable any day of the week. Emily Asher-Perrin has a lot of feelings about how much the Doctor screwed up poor Amy Pond. You can bug her on Twitter and Tumblr. Read more of her work here and elsewhere.Sign-up for the Urban Milwaukee daily email The last six months have been a roller coaster for Wisconsin’s open records law. After the Legislature’s failed attack on the law over the Independence Day holiday, August brought a new threat. A little-known state board expanded the definition of “transitory records,” which can be immediately destroyed. Once this action was revealed, there was an impressive outcry from the public and that change was dialed back last month. But there is still cause for concern. The state Public Records Board sets retention schedules for state and local government records. Retention is important—if records aren’t retained, they can’t be requested and obtained by the public. State law makes retention the rule, and records can be disposed of only if the Public Records Board grants permission. The board’s mandate is to “safeguard the legal, financial and historical interests of the state in public records.” But in 2010, the board made the questionable decision to allow immediate deletion of some correspondence. Such “transitory records” were deemed of such temporary value as to not require any retention. State agency employees could simply delete these records after they were created, without any further oversight. On August 24, 2015, the board held a meeting and expanded the transitory records category. Now it included not just correspondence, but other documents such as “interim files” and “recordings used for training purposes.” The board’s meeting notice and minutes contained no indication of this change, later prompting the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council to file an Open Meetings complaint with the district attorney. The day after the new definition was passed, the Walker administration notified the Wisconsin State Journal that records it previously requested had already been destroyed as “transitory.” News outlets then reported the Public Record Board’s actions, and the reaction was swift. Critics said the change undermined the records law and the public’s right to know, inviting abuse. They pointed out that records the board defined as “transitory” were actually of significant public interest. There were also concerns that whole categories of electronic communications would be deleted as “transitory.” The Public Records Board was flooded with nearly 1,900 emails. Fortunately, the board listened. At a meeting in January, it rescinded its August decision to expand the definition of “transitory records.” But the danger has not passed. The old, 2010 definition of “transitory records” is still in place. Records custodians can still immediately delete some correspondence. Comments from board members in January suggested they are resistant to eliminating this category, despite state law suggesting that no records can be instantly deleted. Board president Matt Blessing said the issue would be revisited at a future meeting. The board next convenes on March 7. Another positive step is a bill being circulated by Democratic lawmakers that would create penalties for destroying public records. As Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca observed, “There’s no recourse if agencies destroy records.” The bill would shore up existing provisions in the law that deter premature destruction of public records. Let’s hope one or both of these potential fixes advance. Otherwise, Wisconsin’s weak records retention requirements will continue to undermine the public’s right to know. Christa Westerberg is an attorney at Bender Westerberg LLC in Madison, and co-vice president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council.Fantasy Football Trade Tips For some people, Fantasy Football trading is the only reason why they play the game. These owners tend to get lost in the whole concept of what the ultimate goal here is, but a “trade junkie” is the kind of person that makes Fantasy Football fun. A league that never trades, or has a ton of red tape in order to get a deal done, can be frustrating. Some leagues feel that a bad deal could hurt the league as a whole, making one team too strong and allowing them an easy path to a championship. This problem can cause lengthy discussions, league voting, and even the overruling of a trade even if both owners are happy with the deal. Usually, keeper leagues have the biggest problems as owners trading for players on IR to build for the next season can stack a roster with players by giving up quality talent this season. Whether your league is a dusty old group or owners that never make deals happen or a league that has weekly trades at will, I have put together some quick tips to help you rake in the best offers. 1. Watch them Bleed, Wait for Monday Don’t like my trade offer on Friday? Well.. let’s just see how you feel after another loss on Monday. One of my favorite fantasy football trade tactics is to make an offer just out of reach on Friday, hope they can’t get a deal done with someone else, and then send a follow-up offer on Monday after they’ve lost. Fantasy owners fresh off a loss are more likely to want to shake up their roster with a trade than they are at the end of the week when they’ve already gone through a waiver claim. No better feeling than having a trade offer rejected on Friday, only to have the owner lose & send you the same offer Monday #dynastytrades — Mike Rigz (@MikeRigz) September 25, 2017 I find trades at the end of the week are due to injury or bye week problems. The early week deals are, from what I’ve seen, more blockbuster. The waiting game can backfire, but you will get more if his players continue to disappoint, and the players you’re offering had solid performances in the games over the weekend. Don’t get too greedy, but you can increase your offer if the situation has become more bleak. 2. Trade for Players Who’ve Had Bye Weeks Usually, we have to wait until week 4 or 5 before NFL Bye weeks start, but due to hurricane Irma, the Miami Dolphins and Tampa Buccaneers have already had their bye week for the season. This makes things interesting if you think of a trade in terms of games played, as trading for a Dolphin or Buc would gain you an additional weekly starter. For example trading Michael Crabtree for DeVante Parker might seem fair to some, as Crabtree is averaging 11.7 Fantasy points per game and Parker is averaging 11.1, but Oakland still hasn’t had their bye week gaining you an extra week for your starting lineup. This trade tactic can sometimes be very obvious when it’s just a one-for-one deal. But when six to seven players are on the table, your opponent will be more concerned about what’s coming and going, and will often forget about bye weeks or games played. If you’re smart, you can offer multiple player trades where you gain starters who have had their bye week and sell players who still have their bye week upcoming. Tip: Gridiron Experts has a great NFL Schedule page, bookmark that for research. 3. Make it Known You Want To Deal Take advantage of league email, message boards, group chat and contact lists. Most Fantasy Football commissioners will post a contact list of phone numbers or emails of the league owners for easier use to get a hold of someone. You need to use that to get the word out that you’re looking to trade. Talk to everyone. Pre-write a text message and send it to each owner in the league. Also, what you say is important, don’t seem desperate. Your first message should be very simple, vague, you just want to get the conversation going. This is actually an area where a lot of Fantasy owners struggle. By sending a text like “What do you want for Julio?” catches the person off guard. They put their front up and will either say “not for sale” or make a ridiculous counter offer which ends the conversation. You need to bullshit a little bit. Try breaking the ice, be friendly and just get them talking. I try to avoid player names in the first message. Maybe even work an angle for a bench warmer and then work your way up to a bigger offer for a star player. Put in the time. 4. Play Owners Against Each Other The best way to squeeze more out of a fantasy owner is to offer the players he’s interested in, to other owners. Once you have another offer on the table, all it’ll take is a screenshot to prove you can do better somewhere else. This is a really dirty move because if your league owners start talking to each other, then they’ll figure out what you’re up too. Nevertheless, once he see’s you in the works for another deal, he’ll either up his offer or storm off. The trick here is you send the “nice guy” follow-up email and say you were the first player interested, and that you want to “help them out” by getting a deal done. 5. Squeeze the Streamers If there are a few owners in your league that want to stream their quarterbacks week to week, make life difficult by stockpiling a few QB’s if you have the bench space. This puts pressure on them to trade especially as we start to see more and more QB’s get injured. This trick is best to recommend for teams with winning records and in large leagues. I have even used a waiver claim to pick up a QB, only to trade that QB to a player who missed out. 6. Buy Low, Research the High We’ve all heard it before Buy Low, Sell High, it’s the most common expression when it comes to trades. I agree with trading for players coming off average to bad games. However, I’m not your typical “Sell High” type of owner. If an offense is getting hot, the targets are high, the carries are strong or the matchups look great, then hold on to that player as long as possible. I think there is a misconception of what type of player falls under the “Sell High” category. If you have a player on your bench that you would never start or need, then yes… trade that player away. Buck Allen was a sell high player this time last week. Those who held on to him will now have wait for a bounce-back game. You missed your opportunity to sell high. However, a player like Pierre Garcon, who finally had a strong game is not a player I want to move. Some would argue now would be the perfect time to sell after his strong Thursday night performance against the Rams and the three-game road trip the 49ers are about to kickoff, but I like having WR1’s on bad teams. If the 49ers are going to struggle, then they’re going to need to throw the ball to catch up into games and rack up garbage time. Brian Hoyer and Garcon finally look like they’re on the same page. Make sure you research the players you want to get rid of. Look at the team schedule, targets, reps, and decide on how you see the player performing down the road. Also, have a peek at the matchups in weeks 14 through 16. Your goal is to make the playoffs, not to win next week. Final Advice Make trades that make sense for the season, not for the week. Every trade you make should improve your chances of making the postseason. Got anything more for me to add to this article? Leave me a comment below. Also, follow me on Twitter to talk trades and tactics: @MikeRigzFor reasons only it could justify, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Saturday (April 2) gave out medals to some of the policemen involved in a violent clash with farmers in Kidapawan Highway in Cotabato. Saleema Refran of GMA News said some members of the PNP who faced the protesting farmers were given the “Medalya ng Sugatang Magiting.” The recognition of the policemen came a day after at least three farmers were killed and over 40 were injured while staging a protest along the national highway to appeal for the local government’s assistance regarding the El Niño phenomenon that has severely affected their livelihood. SILG Sarmiento, ginawaran ng Medalya ng Sugatang Magiting ang mga sugatang pulis sa Kidapawan. pic.twitter.com/y8quL0vROA — Saleema Refran (@saleema_refran) April 2, 2016 The PNP has claimed that it exercised maximum tolerance in dealing with the protesters, and it was the farmers who instigated the violence by hitting some of the policemen who were deployed to the area with rocks. Two cops are in critical condition after the incident, with one suffering a brain hemorrhage.Antonio Conte delivered the tactical masterclass of Euro 2016 so far to help Italy outwit Belgium on Monday night. Scepticism has long surrounded what some feel is the worst Azzurri squad in decades, but superior organisation and shrewd strategy underpinned a strong defensive display that quelled the underwhelming stars of Belgium's so-called "Golden generation". The Italian lineup was not a glitzy one, with Conte using a workmanlike midfield five in front of three robust centre-backs. They alternated between 5-3-2 and 4-4-2, and shuffled from side to side in order to reduce space for Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne, who had started out wide to accommodate Marouane Fellaini just behind Romelu Lukaku. It worked a treat. On the ball, Italy passed directly to the feet of the two strikers, Eder and Graziano Pelle, who stuck close together to link up and bring teammates into play. They would often try to pick out onrushing wing-backs or central midfielders, though the first goal came straight from the defensive line, when Leonardo Bonucci's lofted pass was converted by Emanuele Giaccherini. Belgium created little before the break, and yet it still took more than an hour before coach Marc Wilmots made changes. More creative players entered throughout the second half as Hazard and De Bruyne got more involved, but Italy held firm before Pelle's volley made it 2-0 late on. It was a victory of organisation and tactics, and though Wilmots later spoke of individual errors, the defeat reflected far worse on him than any specific player. Italy build through strikers Before kick off, it was hard to see where Italy's goals would come from. They scored just 16 times in 10 qualifying games and took five of their seven victories by a one-goal margin. The top scorer was Pelle with three goals, while Eder had one league goal since January. Just behind them were industrious wing-backs Matteo Darmian and Antonio Candreva, dynamic central midfielders Giaccherini and Marco Parolo and anchor man Daniele De Rossi. The plan was all about movement and timing. When playing out from the back, Italy pushed the wing-backs high and wide to stretch Belgium, making the shape resemble a 3-3-4. That helped the centre-backs play passes directly to the strikers, who then spread it wide. These passes could be layoffs to the central midfielders, or direct deliveries into space for the wing-backs. This did seem the best bet, because Italy had no numerical advantage in the centre and were up against a solid midfield trio in Axel Witsel, Radja Nainggolan and Fellaini. It also helped that Belgium hardly pressed the centre-backs. Lukaku watched Bonucci, the best passer in the backline, but Andrea Barzagli was allowed to carry the ball out on the right side and consequently became Italy's top passer, with 40 out of 48 completed. Seven of these went directly to Pelle, who helped Italy move up the pitch and build attacks. Flexible defence stops Hazard, De Bruyne Belgium's plan was less successful. Italy
ghostly" on radiographs. [78] Diastema is a condition in which there is a gap between two teeth caused by the imbalance in the relationship between the jaw and the size of teeth.[79] See also [ edit ] Lists [ edit ] References [ edit ] Notes [ edit ] Sources [ edit ]U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead Saturday, CBS News has confirmed. A spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service said he appeared to die of natural causes. According to the San Antonio News-Express, which was first to report his death, Scalia was found dead in his room at a West Texas resort. Scalia, 79, was one of the staunchest conservative members of the court. He was nominated in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan and is the longest-serving member on the court. He championed the philosophy of "orginalism," meaning he interprets the Constitution according to what he believes the original authors intended over 200 years ago. In a 2008 interview with "60 Minutes," he told correspondent Lesley Stahl that he believes the Constitution is an "enduring" document he wants to defend. Justice Scalia on 60 Minutes, part 1 "It's what did the words mean to the people who ratified the Bill of Rights or who ratified the Constitution," Scalia said. "But you do admit that values change? We do adapt. We move," Stahl asked. "That's fine," he answered. "And so do laws change. Because values change, legislatures abolish the death penalty, permit same-sex marriage if they want, abolish laws against homosexual conduct. That's how the change in a society occurs. Society doesn't change through a Constitution." In a statement on behalf of the Supreme Court and retired Justices, Chief Justice John Roberts called Scalia, "an extraordinary individual and jurist, admired and treasured by his colleagues." "His passing is a great loss to the Court and the country he so loyally served. We extend our deepest condolences to his wife Maureen and his family," he added. Justice Scalia on 60 Minutes, part 2 Scalia's replacement to the court would be President Obama's third nomination. He previously nominated Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. But CBS News Chief Legal Correspondent Jan Crawford said it is unclear whether the Republican-held Senate will entertain a nomination from Mr. Obama or wait for a new president to be elected this November. "It could be very unlikely that President Obama that will get that nomination," Crawford said. "This court could remain with eight justices until the next president takes office. I think that's very unclear what will happen." "This vote will change the balance of the Supreme Court if a liberal is nominated," she added. Mr. Obama was informed of Scalia's death Saturday afternoon. He and Michelle Obama extended their deepest condolences to Justice Scalia's family. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, suggested that the Senate will not entertain a nomination from Mr. Obama. "The American people‎ should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new President," he said in a statement. And Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, one of the 2016 presidential candidates, said the responsibility should fall to the next president. Justice Scalia was an American hero. We owe it to him, & the Nation, for the Senate to ensure that the next President names his replacement. — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 13, 2016 But Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, argued that President Obama "can and should send the Senate a nominee right away." "With so many important issues pending before the Supreme Court, the Senate has a responsibility to fill vacancies as soon as possible," Reid said in a statement Saturday. "It would be unprecedented in recent history for the Supreme Court to go a year with a vacant seat. Failing to fill this vacancy would be a shameful abdication of one of the Senate's most essential Constitutional responsibilities." Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton added her own admonishment for those calling to keep Scalia's seat vacant. "The Republicans in the Senate and on the campaign trail who are calling for Justice Scalia's seat to remain vacant dishonor our Constitution," she said in a statement. "The Senate has a constitutional responsibility here that it cannot abdicate for partisan political reasons." Scalia, the son of Italian immigrants, was born in Trenton, New Jersey and raised in the Queens neighborhood of New York City. He attended at Georgetown University and Harvard Law School. Former President Bush said in a statement that Scalia was a "towering figure and important judge on our Nation's highest court. He brought intellect, good judgment, and wit to the bench, and he will be missed by his colleagues and our country." CBS News Justice Department Producer Paula Reid contributed to this story.A new report from Government Accounting Office (GAO) explains that the federal government lost almost $125 billion—that’s billion, with a B—last year through improper payments to participants in programs like Medicare: For the first time in recent years, the government-wide improper payment estimate significantly increased—to $124.7 billion in fiscal year 2014, up from $105.8 billion in fiscal year 2013. This increase of almost $19 billion was primarily due to estimates for Medicare, Medicaid, and the Earned Income Tax Credit, which account for over 76 percent of the government-wide estimate. As the report drily notes, “Efforts to reduce improper payments could result in significant cost savings.” Of course, sometimes the efforts to recoup lost money generate their own problems. As the Washington Post reported last April, the IRS has taken to garnishing people’s tax refunds to collect payments missed by their deceased parents decades ago.This post was co-authored by Thakur Harsh Raj Singh, Senior SWE Lead, Enterprise Service BI.​ Azure SQL Data Warehouse is a SQL-based fully managed, petabyte-scale cloud solution for data warehousing. With tight integration between other Azure products, SQL Data Warehouse represents the backbone of any major cloud data warehousing solution in Azure. With decoupled compute and storage, elastic scale-out functionality, and the ability to pause and resume to meet demand, SQL Data Warehouse gives customers the flexibility, cost-savings, and performance they need, right when they need it. Microsoft Enterprise Services (ES) is one of the largest consulting and support businesses in the world. Microsoft ES operates across more than 100+ subsidiaries around the globe operating in spaces such as cloud productivity, mobility solutions, adoption services, and more. With the speed and scale at which clients’ operations transform and grow, it is paramount that ES stays ahead of the curve to meet future demand. Right data at the right time allows ES to make the best decision about where to fund resources and how to best serve their customers. Traditional data warehouse reporting stacks took far too long to deliver reports and were far too inflexible to change models. Adding to the costs of complexity, maintenance, and scaling to match growing data, their traditional on-premise data warehouse was producing less value than the cost of upkeep and development, distracting from the core business value of delivering insights. The move to a modern data warehouse solution was becoming readily apparent. ES analytics split their workload into data processing and distribution. Core requirements for ES included easy scalability, high IO, multi-terabyte storage, row level data security, and support of more than 200 concurrent users. Working through the host of Azure service offerings, ES landed on a solution with Azure SQL Data Warehouse as their data processing and ad-hoc analysis workload with IaaS SQL Server 2016 Always On instances as their data distribution layer. Implementation The implementation for ES at a high level takes audit and historical data from a variety of sources on-premise which first land into Azure Storage Blobs. Polybase is then used to load data in parallel quickly into the Azure SQL Data Warehouse where it is then processed and transformed into dimension and fact tables. Afterwards, these dimension and fact tables are moved into Analysis Services and SQL Server IaaS instances to support quick and highly concurrent access a variety of business users. Across this solution, Azure Data Factory acts as the orchestrating ELT framework, allowing for a single interface to control the data flow for the majority of the pipeline. 8 Tips for SQL Data Warehouse Putting together a solution like this, while performant, is not a trivial task. Listed below is some guidance straight from the ES team on designing solutions with Azure SQL Data Warehouse: 1. Stage the data in Azure SQL DW: One of the guiding principles of our warehouse has been to stage the data in its native form, i.e. the way it is available in source. There are various reasons as to why we persist a copy of the source like performance, data quality, data persistence for validation, etc... because of staging the data, we are able to distribute data as per our needs and ensure we have minimal data skew. Rarely, if at all, have we used round robin mechanism to store data. 2. Arriving at a common distribution key: The data staged into the Azure SQL Data Warehouse instance was ingested from a 3NF data source. This helped us to slightly change the schema from source and include the base table’s foreign key as part of all tables, which are distributed on the same key. During our fact load we join the tables on these set of keys thereby minimizing all DMS operations and in some cases, no DMS operations occur. Hence this gives us an edge in terms of performance. As an example, the data in source systems have one to many relationships between tables. However, in our SQL DW we have inserted a common distribution key across all tables, based on business logic and because this key gets loaded when ELT runs. However, we would recommend checking the data skew before going ahead with this approach as the distribution key must be chosen completely based on the skew that one may see. When data skew is high or the joins are not compatible we create an interim table, which is distributed on the same key as the other join table. We us CTAS to accomplish this which incurs one DMS operation to get all keys but improves performance when there are complex joins. 3. Vertical Partitioning of Wide Tables: We had a row size limitation of 32KB in Azure SQL DW. Since we had several wide tables with 150+ columns and many with varchar(4000) we came up with an approach to vertically partition the table on the same distribution key. This helped us to overcome the challenge of 32KB and at the same time provide the required performance while joining the two tables as the distribution key was the same. Note: SQL Data Warehouse now supports 1MB wide rows 4. Use the right resource class: In several cases we had complex facts that would need more resources (memory and CPU) to speed-up the process of fact loads. Not just facts, we also had dimensions which had complex business rules and type 2 kind of implementations. We designed our ETL in such a way that lesser complex facts and dimensions would run on smallrc resource class providing for more parallelism, whereas the more complex facts which would need more resources would run using largerc resource class. 5. Use the primary key as distribution column for master tables: In the source from where we ingest data into SQL DW, we have many master tables that we use in SQL DW to look up these tables for building our facts. In such a case, we have made these tables with reasonable amount of data (>1 million rows) being distributed on the primary key, which is a unique integer. This has given us the advantage having even data distribution (minimal to no data skew), thereby making our look up queries really fast. 6. Using Dynamic Scale up and Scale down for saving costs: Our ELTs using ADF are designed in such a way that prior to the scheduled ELT kick off, we scale up our instance from 100DWU to 600DWU. This has led to huge cost savings. Our ELT runs for nearly 4-5 hours during this time and the DWU usage is capped at 600 DWU. During month end when there is a faster need for processing and businesses need data faster, we have the option of scaling to 1000 DWU. All this is done as part of our ELT’s and no manual intervention is needed. 7. Regular Maintenance: In our case, we included updating statistics and index rebuilds as part of the ELT process. No sooner the dimension and fact load is completed, we check for all the CCI’s where the fragmentation is > 5% and rebuild the index. Similarly, for the key tables, we are updating statistics to ensure best performance. 8. Leverage SQL Server 2016 for data marts: Azure SQL DW is the primary data processing engine, whereas we chose to have SQL Server 2016 running on DS 14 IAAS VM’s are our primary source of data distribution. This has enabled us to leverage high concurrency provided by SQL Server and use the power of Azure SQL DW for processing. We have close to 1000+ users who would be using the data provisioned from Azure SQL DW. Using Azure SQL Data Warehouse as part of their solution, Microsoft Enterprise Services was able to reduce run times by up to 40% and provide insights to business users with reduced latency. If you have not already explored this fully managed, petabyte scale cloud data warehouse service, learn more at the links below. Learn more What is Azure SQL Data Warehouse? SQL Data Warehouse best practices Video library MSDN forum Stack Overflow forumAs dance music continues to grow globally, so do the actors that are pushing out the music in new and innovative ways. Madison House, Inc, a well-respected booking and management agency, which represents artists across EDM, the jamband community and even some funk groups like Bassnectar, Keys N Krates, Black Tiger Sex Machine, Lotus, Twidle, The String Cheese Incident and Dumpstaphunk has announced that it will be expanding from its Boulder, Colorado offices to Toronto, Canada. The move comes as the Electric Forest curator looks to expand its operations booking its clients at shows and on tours throughout Canada. It is also actively seeking to add Canadian artists to already large roster. "We're excited to further our reach with Canadian venues, festivals and talent buyers," says Nadia Prescher, Madison House co-founder in a statement via Thump. "Having a physical presence in the region will help us fully realize this goal and will benefit our clients immensely." To ensure a smooth transition for the company to hit the ground running, Madison House has brought in Perry Gilman, formerly of The Feldman Agency to spearhead the expansion. "I've always respected and admired Madison House and I'm excited to continue growing as an agent and developing my artist roster as part of the company," Gilman says on his new position. "I look forward to bringing new opportunities to existing and future clients, and to signing and developing new talent throughout North America." Gilman will bring his current repertoire of clients to Madison House Canada, which includes Canadian favorites Keys N Krates, Grandtheft, Thugli, Torro Torro, and Jillionaire of Major Lazer." Many of the Madison House artists have developed very strong fan bases through touring in the United States. This new expansion will give the booking and management agency the boots on the group to put together the types of tours that could advance their client's careers in the Great White North.The problem of police decision-making on who is permitted to take photographs of what is highlighted again in a disturbing incident at the weekend, where film was seized at an anti-fascist protest in Brighton. According to a statement by Sussex Police: "Under Section 19 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act [1984], an officer policing the event seized a video tape from a member of the public. Section 23 of the Act states that this can take place in 'any place', providing the officer is lawfully there and has reasonable grounds to believe it provides evidence of a criminal offence. "The officer reasonably believed the tape contained evidence of a protester being assaulted by someone taking part in the march. It has been seized temporarily to ensure that evidence cannot be inadvertently lost or altered and will be returned, intact, to the owner as soon as possible." This is an interesting development legally and not one that has been heard of elsewhere in the police. We spoke with the Met, and while they were unable categorically to deny the use of s19 in this fashion, our contact there suggested that in his experience the easiest way to obtain photographic evidence of a crime was "to ask the individual concerned – or their editor where news media were involved". What about ACPO? They are in the process of updating their guidelines on the release of images to the media, and have also recently updated their guidance note on the rights of the public to take photos in public places – but have said nothing on this matter. This may be a one-off - if not, it is worrying. Photographer and blogger Marc Vallée spoke to human rights lawyer Anna Mazzola of Hickman & Rose. She said: "This episode reveals a worrying policy. "Sussex police clearly think that Section 19 entitles them to remove film and footage from people where they suspect they have evidence of a crime and they can say that they have reason to believe the person may destroy that evidence. "That is disturbing news for journalists and amateur photographers, particularly those covering public order events. While the police obviously have a duty to prevent and detect crime, they also have to provide some assurance that they will not use Section 19 to seize journalistic material." ®Nearly the entire defense team for the USS Cole bombing suspect has resigned under the suspicion that the U.S. government has been spying on their conversations with their client at Guantanamo Bay, the Miami Herald reports. "At present, I am not confident that the prohibition on improper monitoring of attorney-client meetings at [Guantanamo]... is being followed," wrote the chief defense counsel, Brig. Gen. John Baker. "My loss of confidence extends to all potential... meeting locations at [Guantanamo]." The defense lawyers cannot discuss the specific details for their departure with either their client or the public because it involves classified information. Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri of Saudi Arabia stands accused of organizing the 2000 al Qaeda suicide bombing on the USS Cole off of Yemen, which killed 17 Americans. The death-penalty case was the first at Guantanamo in the post-9/11 era. "Pretrial hearings in the USS Cole case have gone on for nearly six years with both sides still litigating over what evidence Nashiri or his lawyers can see, how to substitute for destroyed CIA evidence, and how much damage Nashiri suffered while in CIA custody from 2002 to 2006," the Miami Herald writes. "Unclassified documents show he was waterboarded, abused rectally, confined to a coffin-sized box, and subjected to other 'enhanced interrogation techniques' to break him in interrogation." On Friday, defense attorney Rick Kamman was released from the case, followed by the exit of two other defense attorneys. Nashiri is now only represented by the legal team's most junior member, who has no death penalty experience. Legally, the case cannot move forward without an experienced capital punishment lawyer. Family members of victims and survivors claim the departures are a stunt by the defense, although Kammen said: "If the government would declassify all the various pleadings that are classified, they would understand why it's not. They would understand." Read the report at the Miami Herald. Jeva LangeCLOSE Meet the 22-year-old sexual assault survivor who ignited a federal investigation of how her university handles Title IX reports. Buy Photo Jennifer Schoewe, a 22-year-old senior at the University of Cincinnati, filed a complaint with the federal government after she was sexually assaulted at another student’s apartment off campus. Her complaint launched an investigation into how the university handles reports of sexual assault. (Photo: The Enquirer/Meg Vogel)Buy Photo A recent graduate of the University of Cincinnati has filed a lawsuit against UC for the university’s “deliberate indifference to student-on-student sexual assault.” The nine-page lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, claims UC violated Title IX by creating a “hostile environment” in failing to get Jennifer Schoewe's alleged attacker off campus in a timely manner after she reported she was sexually assaulted in the fall of 2015. Schoewe was a 20-year-old junior when she says Tyler Gischel, then a 19-year-old hockey player at UC whom she had never met, raped her at his apartment after a night of drinking with friends. Gischel said they had consensual sex. The university investigated the case, interviewed several witnesses, held an administrative hearing and ultimately found Gischel responsible for “physical abuse and/or harm." More: In the dark: Meet the sexual assault survivor who ignited a federal investigation of UC He was expelled about eight months after Schoewe reported the assault. Gischel was also indicted by a Hamilton County grand jury on a sexual battery charge, but that case was dismissed in November 2016. Gischel is also suing the university. His federal lawsuit, filed less than two weeks ago, claims the school ignored evidence of his innocence and unlawfully disciplined him for sexual assault. More: Lawsuit: UC has 'anti-male bias' in sexual assault cases Schoewe’s complaint isn’t about UC’s decision, but its “lack of action” in the weeks that followed her report. Her lawsuit claims UC violated Title IX, which protects people from discrimination based on gender or sex in education programs or activities, by: Failing to issue Gischel a “no contact order” in a timely manner. Failing to issue Gischel an “interim suspension” in a timely manner, because the university waited until he was indicted more than a month after the incident. Waiting eight months before holding Gischel’s disciplinary hearing. The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights says the process should be completed within 60 days. UC’s violations, the lawsuit says, subjected Schoewe to a “hostile education environment,” deprived her of equal access to educational opportunities and caused her to suffer “significant, severe, and ongoing emotional distress and mental anguish.” Schoewe is asking for: 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 Damages including tuition reimbursement; payment of Plaintiff’s expenses incurred as a consequence of the sexual assault; damages for deprivation of equal access to the educational benefits and opportunities provided by the University; and damages for past, present and future emotional pain and suffering, ongoing and severe mental anguish, and loss of past, present and future enjoyment of life. Pre- and post-judgment interest. Costs and attorneys’ fees. In late 2016, Schoewe filed a complaint with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, which is now investigating how UC handled her report of sexual assault. It is among nearly 350 such complaints the department is investigatingat colleges around the country, including Miami University. UC officials did not return messages seeking comment. Read or Share this story: http://cin.ci/2w0myVBSpeaking to a crowd in Ames, Iowa, he Texas senator rattled off a number of policy positions, including his plans to repeal Obamacare, curtail the administrative state and rebuild the military. ADVERTISEMENT “I will go to Congress and we will repeal every world of Obamacare,” Cruz said. “We’ll adopt common-sense healthcare reform that makes health insurance personal, portable and affordable, and keeps government from getting in between us and our doctors.” On Day One of his presidency, Cruz pledged to rescind all of the executive orders issued by President Obama and open a Department of Justice investigation into Planned Parenthood. He also said he would move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem to signify recognition and support of the Jewish state. Despite what has become a heated nominating contest, Cruz made almost no mention of his Republican primary rivals. He did, however, note the strangeness of the election. “It’s been an entertaining year,” he said. “Next cycle I’m told Lady Gaga is gonna run.” While conveying a sense of urgency about the direction the country is headed, Cruz managed to stay optimistic throughout the speech. He predicted that an “awakening” in America is underway. “All of us are here today because our country is crisis,” he said. “Because we’re bankrupting our kids and grandkids, because our constitutional rights are under assault each and every day, and because America is receding from leadership in the world. “And yet I’m here today with a word of hope and encouragement and exhortation,” he added. “All across this country, all across Iowa, and all across this nation, people are waking up. There is an awakening that is sweeping this land. And so I want everyone to look forward to January 2017.”Super cropping: how “pruning” (training) can help you produce bigger, better buds. So the question we all want answered is “ how do I get the biggest buds from my cannabis plants?” Providing the optimum environment, the right lighting, the best nutrients etc all comes into it, but advanced level growers use sophisticated techniques to push bud production even further. Pruning your plants not only alters their shape, but also their hormone (axuin) distribution. (see our overview of cannabis pruning techniques here). Super cropping (or as we joke, “high stress training”) manipulates the plant physiology to maximize bud production from a cellular level. Its a combination of multiple pruning techniques. Brief botany lesson: understanding why super cropping works: At its most basic, pruning is used by gardeners to keep long living plants healthy and at low risk of disease. More advanced techniques are also used to shape and train plants. Understanding the principles of how and why plants respond to pruning is the key to realizing their potential and ever resourceful marijuana growers have adapted some of these useages to get better harvests. So lets have a quick botany lesson. (if you want, skip this bit and go down to “How to supercrop”!) 1: APICAL or terminal bud (growing point) 2: LEADING SHOOT 3: AXILLARY BUDS form in leaf axis 4: LEAF STALK 5: LATERAL SHOOT develops from a lateral or axillary bud. It will have its own apical bud. 6: a NODE is a point from which leaves and stems develop. The stem between nodes is called an INTERNODE. Understanding apical dominance The most active site of cellular activity in plants is at the green shoot tips at the top, where the hormones that stimulate and control the plant’s growth are made. The most growth is made just below the apical bud, in the leading shoot. This is because the top bud imposes what is called apical dominance, whereby the hormones move down the stem and inhibit the growth of the side buds (the lateral buds). These lateral buds will only grow into side branches once the growing tip has grown away strongly. Meristem tip pruning exploits apical dominance. When you prune the growing tip, apical dominance moves down the plant: shoots then sprout from buds immediately below the wound and from lower down on the stem. The topmost remaining stem will grow most strongly, but because it does not have absolute dominance, shoots will also grow from the axillary buds lower down the stem. Horizontal training. Because apical dominance is strongly associated with vertical growth, it can also be broken by pulling a vertical shoot down to almost 90º and tying it in horizontally. LST is – by its name, a low stress training technique that exploits this. When you force a lateral shoot into a horizontal position, you break the dominance of the lateral apical bud. A number of side shoots then develop simultaneously from buds along the stem, all will grow upwards with similar vigour and flower (this technique is used for cordon fruit trees to increase crop yield from the one tree, or climbing roses to encourage flowering). Knuckling pushes the marijuana plant a little harder than LST does. I’d hate to call it EXTREME STRESS TRAINING because we never want to put our cannabis plants in danger … but in some ways the name is apt. LSTing depends on gently encouraging the lateral stems on the plant to grow out horizontally through tying in or weighing down. With knuckling you don’t encourage, you DEMAND the plant … and here’s a little more botany to explain why. The second area of intense cellular activity is in the CAMBIUM layer. 1: Tough outer skin (the “herd”) which protects the soft tissue within, and minimizes water loss. 2: In the cambium layer, cells divide and diversify to create vascular bundles of transporting tissues and increase stem girth. 3: Vascular bundles of cells carrying water and mineral salts (xylem) or manufactured food (the phloem) from the leaves to all parts of the plant. 4: The pith is a connecting matrix for other tissues. Crimping & Knuckling both exploit the high level of activity in the cambian layer. Stressing the stem within the cambian layer (without breaking the outer “herd” puts the cells into hyperdrive as they work to repair the perceived damage. Not only do they repair the damage, they strengthen and improve it, with the xylem and phloem cells bigger than before. Thus the stem receives more food and water more quickly. If you think of these vascular cells as a road infrastructure, they’ve just been upgraded from a country lane to a 3 lane motorway. Stem crimping. Gentle but firm is the key to this one. Starting from seedling stage, gently twist the stem in opposite directions. Continue up the branch every 5cm or so and repeat once a week. Remember the aim is to simulate extreme flexing for the plant, not put pressure on the root system or damage the outer protective layer. One issue with crimping is that if you have a lot of plants which you’ve topped (meristem tip pruning) to create multiple stems, this is going to be very time consuming … you can simulate the same effect to a lesser extent by making sure you have a fan aimed at the plants stems. This is what creates stronger cambian tissue in nature (well wind, rather than a fan!) So what is supercopping? And how do you do it? Combine stressing at cellular level with breaking the vertical apical dominance through horizontal training and the end result is, quite simply, more marijuana bud. Supercropping is simply combining methods of training. Its not a case of supercropping vs topping, both techniques can be combined. Pick the techniques which seem best to you … OK so that’s the theory, how does it work in practice? Here’s what we’ve done for super-cropping. We broke absolute apical dominance by topping the plants after around 2-3 weeks of vegetative growth. This encouraged 3 main stems to develop instead of one. Knuckling. (if anyone knows a better name for this I’d be grateful!) If LST uses weights or ties and SCROGing involves a screen and weaving plants, knuckling uses the repair abilities of the cambian layer to make the plant make its own support structure. All work on the principle of breaking vertical growth dominance. (and if you skipped the botany lesson above, you’ll have to go back and read it if you want to know why) But you have to be brave to create knuckling. With one hand support the lower stem. With the other, bend the stem into a right angle until you feel the inner core snap. (Yes you read that right). Try not to tear the outer protective layer (this will take longer to heal) but if you do, splint with cloth or even gaffer tape. When to start super cropping? We did this 5 weeks into vegetative growth. This photo taken a few weeks later shows the formed knuckle and increased stem width after the bend. These white widows have been grown in pots, in a coco-perlite mix. Move ability is key for watering, and I knew they would need to be transported before end of flowering so couldn’t tie or scrog them. Knuckling has induced horizontal training without any external support structure: The 3 thick stems now spread horizontally and there are innumerate sideshoots growing vertically. When put into flower, each of these side shoots will form their own colas. Now we’ve exaggerated this whole process for the purpose of writing this article. The white widows have been left in vegetative growth for a long 14 weeks, which you wouldn’t normally do with an indoor marijuana plant. It does show you however how its possible to get one hundred heads on an outdoor cannabis crop – and keep the plant neat, tidy & just a little less noticeable …. The technique we’ve described doesn’t need such a long veg stage nor such big marijuana plants though … it will even work on autoflowering cannabis, which has virtually no vegetative stage at all. What we have noticed though is that the process needs to be done before flowers start. Super cropping during flowering means stress that will delay flowering whilst the plant attends to damage done by the techniques. But I guess that goes without saying really. What we need now is a photo of the finished plant once its flowered … hang tight for an update, or follow Heavy Ds grow! Here we go, a super stinky auto thats been knuckled heavily to reduce its height. This pure sativa based auto grows BIG BIG BIG and isnt normally recommended for an indoor grow. However its been grown under a Fero LED Adjustable indoors and its turned out great! This plant is a monster! It takes up a 1.5m by 1.2m square area and stands at 80cm. It has its own self-supporting scrog effect thanks to the knuckling, and has survived moving house in the back of a van fine! Still unsure about how to super crop? Watch our video about Super cropping and Scrogging to max your yields and see just how easy it is! There’s also some great timelapse photography of how the plants respond to these techniques!When a controversial B.C. lawyer died last spring, the Western separatist movement he had built over nearly three decades was in “dire straits,” his successor wrote to a dwindling pool of supporters. Doug Christie — the self-proclaimed defender of free speech known for representing Holocaust deniers, neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Canadian courts — and his Western Block Party hadn’t managed to gain much momentum in the three federal elections since the separatist party’s inception. Mr. Christie had managed, however, to keep membership high enough to be considered a legitimate political entity in the eyes of Elections Canada. “We must keep this party alive,” read a letter from the party’s newly named interim leader, Paul St. Laurent, asking that supporters officially declare their support so the party could survive to see another federal election in 2015. “If we lose our registration I fear we will be unable to regain our status as a national political party,” he wrote, shortly after Mr. Christie’s death on March 11, 2013. But on Tuesday, Elections Canada announced that the Western Block had not reached the necessary 250 member signatures and would be involuntarily removed from the short list of registered parties by the end of the month. The announcement served as a reminder of “a tumultuous chapter in Western Canadian political history,” veteran Alberta politician Preston Manning told the National Post, adding that the advent of the Reform party in the late ’80s spared Canada from a potentially “full-blown Western separatist movement.” It was the Reform party, said former leader and founder Mr. Manning, that channelled voters away from separatist movements of the 1980s and “into reforming and rebalancing the federation — rather than blowing it apart.” Formed in 2005, the Western Block Party was bent on severing Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. from the rest of the country. The party began as an off-shoot of Mr. Christie’s Western Canada Concept party, which saw moderate success in the 1980s with a briefly held seat in the Alberta legislature. In the past three federal elections, Mr. Christie’s Western Block fielded only four candidates — none of whom earned more than 1% of the vote in ridings in B.C. and Alberta. In 2011, white supremacist and anti-immigration campaigner Paul Fromm was the Western Block candidate in the Calgary Southeast riding, placing last with 193 votes out of more than 63,000 cast. Membership in the party peaked at more than 1,000, officials said. But despite positive feedback at Alberta gun shows and farmers’ markets, the party could not attract enough new support because supporters were reluctant to let “the government know their political affiliation,” Western Block interim leader Mr. St. Laurent said. Throughout his career, Mr. Christie was often in the national spotlight as the lawyer for white supremacists and neo-Nazis in high-profile hate-speech cases — cases he took on because of his dedication to preserving fundamental freedoms, not because he agreed with his clients, Mr. Christie’s widow, Keltie Zubko, told the Post in March after his death. “He was a very powerful man. … It’s impossible to fill those shoes,” said Mr. St. Laurent, who added that party faithful had yet to meet to discuss the next step, but it was possible they would refocus on local politics. “It’s definitely a sad day, but it’s not the end,” he said. Political observers in the region said Tuesday that Western separatism has long since reached its high water mark and is more or less “spent.” “It may always be a latent force awaiting some new outrage, but I don’t have a sense that it’s got legs right now,” said Roger Epp, a professor of political science at the University of Alberta. For Ms. Zubko news of the party’s demotion Tuesday was a blow, the collapse of her husband’s dream to see “a free and independent Western Canada.” “For me,” she said, “it’s the end of an era.” National Post, with files from Sarah BoesveldThe term democracy is used today to denote everything that is wholesome in the social world. Yet there is such a thing as too much democracy. By this I do not mean that democracy needs to be tempered by some autocratic or elitist political ideal. Rather, I mean that we must reserve space in our shared social lives for that which is not political at all. Even in a democracy, politics must be kept in its place. Keeping democracy in its place is not easy. The very idea of collective self-government tempts us into thinking that citizens must be perpetually fixated on the task of ruling themselves. Accordingly, a central message of most democratic theory has been that our social lives as such should be driven by democratic aims and projects. And this theoretical message has clearly worked its
judgments against Westboro, a decision that I agree with on first amendment grounds. The Supreme Court has taken up the case. The Church has announced that it will use the money to fund more protests at the funerals of fallen soldiers and Marines where Church members wave signs reading “You’re going to hell,” “God hates you” and “Thank God for dead soldiers.” The Fourth Circuit ordered the family to pay more than $16,000 in costs requested by Westboro for copies of motions, briefs and appendices, according to court documents. The Church members view the entire matter in more apocalyptic rather than procedural terms. Phelps, one of its leaders and lawyers, stated: “When the Supreme Court unanimously upholds the 4th Circuit, it’s going to put this country in a rage, and we will be expelled,” she said. “But whenever it was time for an epic event in the Bible, the thing that happened right before is the prophets were removed from the land, and that’s what’s going to happen to us. … We’re going to sprint to the end of this race.” Rule 39 states: Rule 39. Costs (a) Against Whom Assessed. The following rules apply unless the law provides or the court orders otherwise: (1)if an appeal is dismissed, costs are taxed against the appellant, unless the parties agree otherwise; (2)if a judgment is affirmed, costs are taxed against the appellant; (3)if a judgment is reversed, costs are taxed against the appellee; (4)if a judgment is affirmed in part, reversed in part, modified, or vacated, costs are taxed only as the court orders. I disagree with the assignment of such costs. For years, some jurists and politicians have been moving toward an “English rule” where losers pay costs in litigation. It is a rule that has a decidedly negative impact on public interest and consumer lawsuits. This is not as extreme as the English rule but it creates a chilling effect for any family that wants to be heard in such a case. It is particularly troubling when the family prevailed at trial in a clearly non-frivolous case. While I believe the Church has free speech rights in conducting these protests, I do not see the wisdom in the awarding of costs as a general rule in such cases against a private — as opposed to a governmental — litigant. For the full story, click here. Share this: Twitter Reddit FacebookAbout Who is Grendel? Grendel is the masked identity of Hunter Rose, a successful author. As Grendel, he worked as an assassin before taking control of New York City's organized crime. He is the creation of artist Matt Wagner and made his debut appearance in 1982. Who are we? I, Michael C. Poole, was an avid collector of independent comic books while growing up, and Grendel was one of the titles I enjoyed most. From the first time I picked up an issue I could envision Grendel as a thrilling series of movies. In 2007 Warner Bros optioned the comics from Matt Wagner, however in true Hollywood fashion, they never got produced. Fed up with this frustrating Hollywood debacle, several of us filmmakers decided back in July 2011 to bring this extraordinary comic book to life. Heading up the project is I, Michael C. Poole, director of the award winning short movie The Machine (2010). Also involved is producer Phil Roberts (The Branch Report (2010), Travelling through Life (2012)) and Gabriel Pan. Those of us involved are dedicated and have decided to actively pursue film as a full-time career. Over time we have worked closely with one another and have grown as a team. The movie stars John Duza as Argent, Mick Towers as Hunter Rose and Val Vega as Christine Spar. Grendel How can you help? Since this is categorized as a fan film, we will not be able to sell the end product, and thus cannot get investors... but we can take donations!!! Over the last several months we have received a few donations, but much of this venture has come out of our own pockets. We feel that now is the time to reach out to others for help in finishing this beautiful movie, which is why we've undertaken this funding campaign. So whether you’re a fan of short film, martial arts, comic books, or a good old fashioned crime drama, we thank you for your interest in our film! Grendel strikes back at Argent What am I supporting? Costuming - The look for the characters is definitely unique in this movie. In addition to the clothing, which ends up mutilated and bloodied, we had to have multiple custom masks and prop weapons made. Locations - This is for the rental of a unique theater rooftop in the heart of downtown San Diego where much of the movie takes place. Sound & Lighting - Both are integral parts of any movie making process. We really want this film to sound and look great, and with your help we will be able to cover what we need to do so. Hair & Makeup - Hair and Makeup in a film is key to a good looking film. With your support we be able to pay for Hair and Makeup supplies that will continue to keep this production at a top notch level. A professional polish that can only come with top quality hair design and makeup application! Equipment & Expendables - We are using mostly all of our own equipment in the making of this film. We need to purchase media to transfer and store the footage and we need to maintain all of the equipment that we do have once we enter the post production stage. Craft Services - Please help us feed our cast and crew. It may be last on the list but this is very important! A hungry cast and crew is not a happy one to deal with. Argent faces off against Grendel FAQ Do you have to reach your goal? Yes. We need to reach or surpass our goal to in order to keep any pledges made towards our film. If we do not reach our goal we receive nothing. What happens if you exceed the goal amount? Great question! If we exceed our goal by enough, we will use that money to raise the level of our production by reaching out to talented individuals that will provide technical assistance in lighting, camera lenses, and editing consulting. We know with this extra technical help we can take the support we receive from the Kickstarter community and produce an amazing film! What’s the shoot date? Much of the film has already been shot, and thus we have only a few major shoot dates left, but they are costly. We anticipate wrapping up shooting in late November with a late December release. We will update this page as we progress through the various stages of production to keep you informed on how things are coming together. Can I give my reward as a gift? Yes you can! We will send rewards to those you’ve designated as the recipient. Christine Spar THANK YOU We deeply thank everyone for stopping by this page and donating to our film! If you are considering supporting a group of hardworking, dedicated and enthusiastic film makers please consider us. We will provide updates to this page so you can follow our progress through this campaign. If you haven’t made a pledge to Matt Wagner's Grendel - a fan film, we hope you will consider doing so! Have a question? If the info above doesn't help, contact us! Thank you all again! Michael C. Poole ArgentEDMONTON- Alberta’s oil and gas workers will be looking to 2016 with both hope and uncertainty as 2015 ends with the price of oil still sitting at below $40 U.S. a barrel. “(It’s) probably one of the toughest years we’ve had in my time,” said Greg Jorgenson, vice-president of the Canada region for Tuboscope, an oilfield service company. According to Jorgenson, his company’s business was down by about 40 per cent in 2015 and he expects that to get even worse in 2016. “When we see them cancelling major projects and drilling programs and laying off mass amounts of people to go with that, that just tells us that they’re probably not going back to full operating mode any time soon,” said Jorgenson. The slumping oil prices have prompted Alberta’s NDP government to say it may need to re-evaluate some of its campaign spending promises. “The situation with commodities is dire,” Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci said in December, adding that wasn’t just the case for Alberta but “all of Canada.” Thousands of Albertans have lost their jobs in the energy sector over the past 12 months and while there’s still no guarantee prices won’t continue to slide, at least on analyst thinks Alberta’s already hit rock bottom. “A slow and tepid recovery is probably what people should be looking for,” said Josef Schachter, president of Schachter Asset Management. Schachter, an energy sector analyst, said he believes oil prices may have finally bottomed out and points out demand is on the rise just as North American oil production is set to slow down. “When we start seeing North American production falling materially and we see the inventories on a worldwide basis start to come down, then you could be looking at $60 U.S. oil, potentially in winter 2016-2017, so a year from now,” he said. Schachter said a return to $100 U.S. per barrel prices may be a bit optimistic though: “The most optimistic scenario I can have for $100 (U.S.) oil is 2018, and that requires a lot of under-investment by OPEC and the decline rates to kick in.” Jorgenson, however, said he’s not certain the worst is over yet. “I don’t want to be pessimistic, but I’m not even sure we can see the light at the end of the tunnel yet.” A review of Alberta’s energy royalty regime is expected to be released some time in 2016. Premier Rachel Notley had pledged to commission a royalty review during her election campaign and later promised that a panel report on the issue, along with the government’s response, would be ready before the end of 2015. In December, Notley said the review would be delayed to ensure the government has the time to respond appropriately. -with files from Tom VernonAt the very beginning of this series about introverts, I described the basic difference between an introvert and an extrovert in Introverts Walk Among Us. Last week, in Introverts And The Game Of Life, I talked about how introverts survive in today’s corporate environment and how having a mission is important. Today, I would like to dig deeper into how to lead a team of people comprised of both introverts and extroverts (as is usually the case) and how to do it when you are an introvert yourself. To set the tone, I strongly believe that it is easier for introverted person to lead these mixed teams than it would be for extroverted person. You as an introvert have one advantage, one skill that is not easy to learn: you know how to listen and you can adapt your strategies based on the feedback you are hearing or seeing more easily. And since leadership and management is a rather broad topic let me focus just on the basics. Setting the goals and following up The very first difference in how to handle introverts and extroverts comes as early as in setting the tasks and following up. While the actual task may be described the same way chances are that extrovert will ask for clarifications immediately on the spot while introvert may need some time to think it over in quiet and will have questions later on. This is especially applicable when it is being done in a group setting. When you combine this with the fact that introverted person will be easily discouraged from asking if you are not approachable, you can get into trouble. The best thing for you to do is to follow up regularly to create opportunities for questions. One-on-one follow up is anyway a great way how to manage your team. If it is difficult for you as introvert to talk to bigger teams, then create opportunities to meet the members individually or in smaller groups. This will give you a chance to act more naturally in introvert-friendly settings. When having a meeting with your team you may find it difficult to “be in charge” and talk all the time. One of the tricks here is to make a virtue of your ability to listen and give others opportunity to learn and lead. You can, for example, decide to have a rotating meeting moderator who will be forced to speak more and keep the structure of the meeting while you can listen more and have more time to prepare for your contributions. Providing feedback Any corrective or developmental feedback is better provided in private regardless of personality type. For most introverts the difficult part is figuring out how to start a difficult discussion and the body language they exhibit. You may know what you want to say, but it is equally important, if not more, the way you say it and how you behave while saying it. You need to project confidence and be firm in your assessment and the next steps. I love the 3F acronym (Fair, Firm, Focused). You need to be fair in your dealings to keep open mind and ability to listen. You need to be focused, again trait that should come naturally to introverts. And you need to be firm with your expectations. Good rehearsal would help you polish your talk and feedback from a trusted friend, some role-play, or practicing on video can help you identify quirks in your body language that may betray the message. Make sure you focus on what you want to say, you look the other person in the eyes, you keep your voice leveled, you don’t fiddle with your hands, and you sit straight but comfortable. These are the basics that should get you through. And if the other guy gets emotional and aggressive? Have one or two sentences ready for this eventuality as a way how to end the meeting gracefully and quickly. You want to treat people with respect and dignity and you expect them to do the same. The moment someone starts shouting you need to calm him down before continuing and if you know that you cannot handle it then have a way out. If you want more tips and tricks on how to provide feedback and build some confidence you may check out Now, How May I Help You? and The One Thing You Need To Lead. Recognizing achievements Curiously enough, this might be sometimes even more difficult than providing corrective feedback. If you are an introverted leader, you need to recognize that people need different levels of encouragement. In my experience, introverts prefer more individual and private recognitions while extroverts want to bask in the spotlight on the big stage (exaggerating here a bit). Getting people stand up on company meetings and list all their achievements and even ask them to say something witty is a great way to recognize extroverts, but it would traumatize introverted person. And vice versa, heartfelt thank you in a small round of closest team mates is a great way to recognize achievement of introverted person while it would feel rather an empty gesture to his extroverted friend. Leading by example For a manager it is important to being heard. When you say something you want to make sure the message is received. I have met many people who seemed really quiet at the first glance but when they spoke everyone listened. Why? Because they spoke only when they had something to say. Everyone knew that and so everyone listened as there was a piece of wisdom coming. The lesson here is that you shouldn’t force yourself to speak for hours when you have content for minutes and when you know you don’t have the skills to carry on long speeches. And what is the shortest way to be seen as a leader even when you are not the loudest person in the room? You lead by example. No need for many words and being in the spotlight. Just get in the trenches with your team, be one of them and the leadership won’t feel so out of your realm of comfort. And luckily enough it will be seen as a sign of strength of your leadership. You show that you are not afraid to get your hands dirty and do the actual work with the team. Dealing with the chatty ones How do you find your voice when chatting with a fast talking extrovert? How do you ensure he doesn’t run you over with a fast talk and animated body language? You reset the rules of the game. You demonstrate that it is ok to pause and be quiet for a minute. A simple pause followed by a short statement with question that needs the others to think can get the discussion to a pace you can cope with. Of course your body language and tone of voice needs to send the same message. You need to look like there is no rush and no need to finish the whole conversation in thirty seconds. And what if you encounter the endless orators who never know when to stop their story? Again, for an introvert it may be rather difficult to stop other people from talking and so you can use a simple time management trick. Keep reminding them what time it is. "Let us discuss this topic, I have 15 minutes to do it." and as you go through it bring it up again and again "OK, so here we are, we have 10 more minutes, how do you want to use them?" In these situations, it is completely acceptable to interrupt the person if he starts moving to unrelated and irrelevant topics and put him back on the right track. If he is your direct report you probably want to make this very explicit and define this as a development need for that person. You define that the person needs to be able to go more to the point, don't get distracted by side-topics and focus on the point he is training to make. What is the key lesson? Keep in mind that most of the things you perceive as weaknesses and obstacles for you to become a strong leader can be nicely turned around to become your strengths. Just spend some time to think about it and try it out. And the most important rule of personal development: don’t be afraid to be uncomfortable! More on topic of Leadership and Communication: Don’t Panic Rule Of Leadership You Can’t Lead Without Values And Principles You Are A Leader, Not A Messenger. Act Like It! How To Influence Others To Act Leadership And "I'm Waiting For..." Active Questions As A Way To Trigger Change How To Deal With Communication Issues How To Deal With Broken Promises How do you lead others if you are introverted person? Do you distinguish between leading introverts and extroverts? What are your strategies? Photo: CreativeMagic / Pixabay.com For more read my blog about management, leadership, communication, coaching, software development and career TheGeekyLeader or follow me on Twitter: @GeekyLeaderDaryl Hall and John Oates, often referred to as Hall & Oates, are an American pop rock duo. Daryl Hall is generally the lead vocalist; John Oates primarily plays electric guitar and provides backing vocals. The two write most of the songs they perform, separately or in collaboration. They achieved their greatest fame from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s with a fusion of rock and roll and rhythm and blues.[1] Hall and Oates have sold an estimated 40 million records, making them the best selling music duo in history.[2] They are best known for their six No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: "Rich Girl", "Kiss on My List", "Private Eyes", "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)", "Maneater", and "Out of Touch", as well as many other songs which charted in the Top 40 including the single "You Make My Dreams". In total, they had 34 chart hits on the US Billboard Hot 100, seven RIAA platinum albums, and six RIAA gold albums.[3] Billboard magazine named them the most successful duo of the rock era, surpassing Simon & Garfunkel and The Everly Brothers. They have enjoyed moderate success in the United Kingdom with two UK top ten albums, spending a total of one-hundred and seventeen weeks in the UK top 75 album charts and eighty-four weeks in the top seventy-five of the UK Singles Chart.[4] In 2003, Hall and Oates were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Billboard magazine had Hall and Oates at No. 15 on their list of the 100 greatest artists of all time and the No. 1 duo,[5] while VH1 placed the duo as No. 99 on their list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2014.[6] On September 2, 2016, they received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[7] History [ edit ] 1967–1972: Formation and early years [ edit ] Daryl Franklin Hohl (born in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, on October 11, 1946)[8] and John William Oates (born in New York City, New York, on April 7, 1948)[9] first met at the Adelphi Ballroom in Philadelphia in 1967.[10] At the time they met, each was heading his own musical group, Hall with The Temptones and Oates with The Masters. They were there for a band competition when gunfire rang out between two rival gangs, and in trying to escape, they ran to the same service elevator.[10] On further discovering that they were interested in the same music and that both were attending Philadelphia's Temple University, they started spending time together on a regular basis and eventually shared a number of apartments in the city.[10] One of the apartments they shared had "Hall & Oates" on the mailbox, which became the duo's name.[11] It would take them another two years to form a musical duo, and three years after that, they signed to Atlantic Records and released their debut album.[12][13] The two didn't start working together seriously until 1970 after Oates got back from an extended stay in Europe.[8] 1972–1974: First albums [ edit ] Early in their recording careers, Hall and Oates had trouble clearly defining their sound, alternating among folk, soul, rock and pop. None of their early albums - Whole Oats, Abandoned Luncheonette and War Babies - was very successful. Despite being produced by such big-name producers as Arif Mardin and Todd Rundgren, they had no hit singles during this time period, though Abandoned Luncheonette contained "She's Gone". This song would be covered by Lou Rawls and Tavares before Atlantic Records re-released the Hall and Oates version in 1976. "She's Gone," as covered by Tavares, did go to Number One on the R&B charts in 1974. It was originally written for Hall's first wife, Bryna Lublin (Hall), and initially inspired by Oates' being stood up on a date on New Year's Eve. Another Abandoned Luncheonette single, "Las Vegas Turnaround", was written about (and mentioned by first name) Hall's girlfriend, flight attendant and future songwriting collaborator Sara Allen. Despite the fact that none of the Atlantic albums was a huge national hit, in Minneapolis–St. Paul, a number of tracks on Abandoned Luncheonette received significant airplay on local FM station KQRS, making it a local hit. This and the other regional success the album achieved were enough to push the album into the charts, reaching #33 on Nov. 20, 1976 and staying on the charts for 38 weeks.[14] 1975–1977: First hits [ edit ] The Plain Dealer newspaper on December 5, 1976 Print ad for Belkin Productions, Cleveland Public Hall, WMMS Radio innewspaper on December 5, 1976 Hall and Oates left Atlantic Records after the release of War Babies to join RCA Records. Their first album for the new label, Daryl Hall & John Oates (often referred to by their fans as the silver album because of the silver foil material on the original album cover), was their first legitimate success. It contained the ballad "Sara Smile," a song Hall wrote for his aforementioned girlfriend Sara Allen. It also featured an album cover in which Hall and Oates are overly made up with cosmetic blush to the point where they looked like women, especially the long-haired and clean-shaven Hall. Hall would later say in an interview for VH1's Behind the Music that he looked like "the girl I always wanted to go out with" on that album cover. This cover was made by Pierre LaRoche, who created Ziggy Stardust for David Bowie.[15] "Sara Smile" became their first Top 10 hit, reaching No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in June 1976. "She's Gone," re-released by Atlantic Records after "Sara Smile," also went to the Top 10, reaching No. 7 in October 1976. Hall and Oates followed those hits with the more pop-oriented album Bigger Than Both of Us later that year. Though the album's first single—the Philadelphia soul-oriented ballad "Do What You Want, Be What You Are"—barely made the Top 40, their second single, "Rich Girl," was a smash. The song was Hall and Oates' first No. 1 hit, reaching the top spot for the week ending March 26, 1977.[16] 1977–1980: Leaner years and Sacred Songs [ edit ] After this small run of hits, Hall and Oates still encountered difficulty getting radio play. Despite touring constantly and recording albums with efficiency, the duo could not find any pop success for a number of reasons, mainly because of the popularity of the disco genre. By the time they released the rock-oriented albums Beauty on a Back Street in 1977 and Along the Red Ledge in 1978, disco music was trendy and taking most of the spots in popular music. Hall and Oates released X-Static in late 1979, which combined rock with dance music. The album did not fare well, although "Wait for Me" did hit the top 20. They did release a few hit singles during this period: the follow-up to "Rich Girl" ("Back Together Again") hit the Top 40, and "It's A Laugh" (from "Along The Red Ledge") hit the top 20 in 1978. In 1977, RCA attempted to push Daryl Hall to the fore with his first solo effort Sacred Songs. However, after being presented with the highly experimental recording (produced by Robert Fripp of King Crimson), RCA became unwilling to release what was, in their view, a non-commercial album. "Sacred Songs" was eventually released in 1980. 1980–1981: Voices [ edit ] The 1980s brought about significant changes for Hall and Oates. The pair felt that the biggest hindrance to their success was that their music was being filtered through outside producers, and that studio musicians were not familiar with their own tastes and thoughts. They also wished to capture the sound of New York City which, by then, had become their home. As a result, instead of recording in Los Angeles, as they had done previously, they decided to record at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, just five minutes away from their apartments, and began producing their own recordings with their touring band backing them in the studio. They also enlisted Hall's girlfriend Sara Allen (and also her younger sister Janna) as songwriting collaborators, as well as beginning a working relationship with Neil Kernon, an engineer on Voices who would work as co-producer on their succeeding two albums. The resulting album, Voices, was written, produced and arranged by Daryl Hall & John Oates in one month, according to their authorized biography Dangerous Dances (by Nick Tosches). The first two singles from the album charted fairly well, with "How Does It Feel to Be Back" charting at Number 30. The well-received cover of The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" just missed the Top 10, peaking at Number 12, but spent 14 weeks in the Top 40. After the release of that song, Oates' contribution as the lead vocalist diminished on future releases. The third single "Kiss on My List" hit Number 1 in April 1981 and remained there for three weeks. The follow-up single "You Make My Dreams" reached Number 5 in July of that year. The other well-known song from Voices is the emotive ballad "Everytime You Go Away", with powerful lead vocals by Hall, who wrote it. British singer Paul Young had a Billboard Number 1 hit with a cover of the song in 1985. Though the Hall and Oates original (recorded in a Memphis-soul style) was never released as a single, it remains a fan favorite on the duo's greatest hits albums and was featured on their Apollo Theater album in 1985, and is frequently featured in their live set to this day. 1981–1982: Private Eyes [ edit ] By the time "You Make My Dreams" was falling off the charts, Hall and Oates had already released their follow-up album Private Eyes. Having worked in the studio while Voices was at its peak in popularity, the two had already recorded most of their material and perfected a fusion of their doo-wop and soul roots with New Wave energy and hard rock grit.[17] The result was a pop classic that is often considered one of the greatest albums of the 80s[17] and was the first Hall and Oates album to reach the Top 10 on the Billboard 200 album chart, while four singles from Private Eyes all reached the Top 40. The title track and "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" were nearly consecutive Number 1 hits, separated only by the ten-week stay at Number 1 by the monster hit "Physical" by Olivia Newton-John. "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" was one of the few songs ever recorded by a white act to reach Number One on both the R&B and the pop charts. "Did It in a Minute" reached Number 9 in the spring of 1982, and "Your Imagination" peaked at No. 33.[18] This album is now considered among the duo's best albums, mixing soul, new wave and power pop. 1982–1983: H 2 O [ edit ] Their next album, H 2 O, a very polished, synth-heavy effort, became the duo's most successful album, with US sales eventually approaching four million copies. H 2 O reached #3 on the Billboard album chart (where it held for 15 weeks) and spawned three Top 10 singles. "Maneater", the biggest hit of their career, reached Number 1 on December 18, 1982 and stayed there for four weeks. The soulful ballad "One on One" and a cover of Mike Oldfield's "Family Man" reached Number 7 and Number 6 in March and June 1983, respectively. “ We try and take chances. Our new single "Maneater" isn't something that sounds like anything else on the radio. The idea is to make things better. Daryl Hall - NME - November 1982[19] ” According to John Oates, they recorded approximately 20 songs for the album, of which 9 didn't make the final cut. He went on to say they usually would have 5 or 6 tracks left over per album.[20] "One On One," with its clever mixed-metaphorical references to romance and basketball, was used in NBA commercials of the period.[21] The commercial featured numerous players, including Hall of Famer James Worthy performing a 360-degree slow-motion lay-up during the saxophone solo.[22] For the H 2 O album, Hall and Oates made some permanent changes to their current band. Drummer Mickey Curry, who had appeared on some Private Eyes tracks, including the title song, replaced Jerry Marotta full-time. Bassist Tom "T-Bone" Wolk, who had mimed John Siegler's bass line in the "Private Eyes" video, replaced Siegler full-time. These two joined the band's holdovers—lead guitar player G.E. Smith, and saxophonist Charlie "Mr. Casual" DeChant. De Chant and Wolk continued to perform with the duo until Wolk's death in early 2010, while Curry returned for the Do It for Love sessions. 1983–1984: Rock 'n Soul Part 1 [ edit ] By the fall of 1983, Hall and Oates were one of the biggest pop music acts in the United States. They had five Number 1 singles to their credit, two consecutive Top 10 albums and were one of the biggest names on MTV. Two covers of the 1957 Bobby Helms classic "Jingle Bell Rock" were recorded—one with Daryl on lead vocals, and the other with John on lead vocals—and released in time for Christmas 1983, complete with a humorous video of the band, that received extensive airplay on MTV. In 1983, they released their first greatest hits album entitled Rock 'n Soul Part 1. The album peaked at Number 7, and the two new songs that were written and recorded for that LP also became Top 10 hits as well. The first single released from this album, "Say It Isn't So", battled six weeks for the Number 1 spot with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson's "Say Say Say" at the peak of Thriller mania. "Say It Isn't So" remained at Number 2 for an impressive four weeks from December 1983 to January 1984. Hall and Oates' follow-up single "Adult Education" received heavy airplay at both pop and black (urban contemporary) radio, and reached Number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1984. It was accompanied by a dark, New York City-oriented music video set in a cave. Oates later told VH1 that the clip resembled the Survivor TV show on acid. 1984–1985: Big Bam Boom [ edit ] Hall and Oates returned to the studio in 1984 after a rest period to begin work on the Big Bam Boom album. This album had even more of an electronic, urban feel to it than H 2 O, combining their song structure and vocalization with the latest technical advances in recording and playing. The album employed some of the most sophisticated equipment ever used in the recording industry at the time (most notably the Synclavier II, one of the first computerized synthesizer workstations, as well as the Fairlight CMI). Noted remix and hip-hop icon Arthur Baker worked very closely with the duo as a consultant, and produced dance remixes of four of the album's singles. The lead-off song "Dance on Your Knees" (written by Hall and Baker) is basically an homage to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's song "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)".[citation needed] Released in late 1984, the first single from the LP, "Out of Touch", became the group's sixth number 1 hit on December 8, 1984. "Method of Modern Love", which debuted on the pop charts while "Out of Touch" was at number 1, reached number 5 in February 1985. "Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid" reached number 18, and "Possession Obsession" (a song in which John Oates sings lead) reached number 30 in 1985 as well. The group's "Live Thru '85" tour to promote the album began in November 1984, sponsored by Pontiac's latest sports car, the Fiero. In addition, Pontiac allowed Oates, a skilled amateur racer, to drive in Pontiac's factory IMSA GTU race car in Camel GT pro races. In April 1984, the Recording Industry Association of America named Hall & Oates the most successful duo in rock history.[8] 1985–1988: Live at the Apollo [ edit ] Hall and Oates have almost always toured extensively for each album release. But in 1985, the duo took a break after the release of their Live at the Apollo album with David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks—voices of The Temptations and two of their heroes. This was RCA's second attempt at a live Hall and Oates album, following the 1978 release Livetime. Live at the Apollo was released primarily to fulfill the duo's contract with RCA, and contained a top-20 hit with a medley of "The Way You Do the Things You Do" and "My Girl", both hits Ruffin and Kendrick had recorded with the Temptations in 1964. Hall and Oates had collaborated on the USA for Africa "We Are the World" project, with the former as one of the soloists and the latter as a chorus member, and performed at the Live Aid concert in Philadelphia, with Ruffin and Kendrick. The Hall and Oates band also backed up Mick Jagger's performance at this show. Hall, Oates, Ruffin and Kendrick performed again at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York later that year, complete with an Apollo Theater-style marquee descending on the stage during their performance. In May, 1985, Hall and Oates performed at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium.[23] Just prior to Live Aid, on July 4, they participated in Liberty Concert, an outdoor benefit concert at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey for the restoration of the Statue of Liberty. It became a major music event, drawing an estimated crowd of over 60,000 people. In 1986, Daryl Hall scored a Top 5 US hit with "Dreamtime", from the album "Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine". That album also included the Top 40 hit "Foolish Pride" and the Top 100 hit "Somebody Like You," later performed by the duo live on their "Behind the Music" set. Although John Oates did not have a solo hit as a singer, he did receive credit as co-songwriter (with Iva Davies) of the 1988 Icehouse top 10 US hit "Electric Blue." Oates also worked as producer, co-songwriter and co-lead vocalist of the single "Love Is Fire" by The Parachute Club, which was a top 40 hit in Canada in 1987. 1988–1990: The Arista years [ edit ] Hall and Oates signed with Arista Records, their third record company, in 1987, shortly before the string of Top 10 hits ended, in Tommy Mottola's effort to keep them under contract when their RCA obligation ran out. Their first album for the label, Ooh Yeah!, included the hits "Everything Your Heart Desires" (Number 3 in May 1988—their last to make the Top 10), "Missed Opportunity", and "Downtown Life". Beginning with Ooh Yeah
most part, nearly everything I've seen around the show is still little more than tech demos rather than anything that you'd want to play more than once. I tried a driving simulator Driveclub VR that was startlingly realistic -- I felt palpable panic when I lost control of my car, and my brain expected my body to move when I hit the brakes or went around a turn. That disconnect was a bit jarring, but I definitely had moments where it truly felt like I was driving. But it was just an engineering demo -- maybe it'll become a real game, but we just don't know yet. Another title I tried out called Job Simulator: the 2050 Archives was a hilarious VR experience in which I explored a future society's reconstruction of an office drone's late-'90 cube. It's reveal trailer got an unexpected amount of laughs and cheers, and I definitely had fun with the game itself, but how that'll turn into a full-fledged game is beyond me. And Sony itself still isn't saying which demos being shown off at PSX will actually turn into fully-fledged launch titles. The fact that it has taken developers a little while to figure out how to make a compelling VR game isn't at all unreasonable when you think about how far we've come in the last few years. "Quite often [when developing a game], you're iterating on a known mechanic," Raynard said, "but with VR, you're doing huge leaps, trying something that's never happened before." That's the draw of VR: getting to build entirely new styles of games, even though it takes a ton of error. Jamie Griesemer of Highwire Games said that "new challenges, new problems, new game design that no one's had to work on before" are what drew him to VR. And his studio showed off one of the more intriguing VR titles thus far, a game called Golem that introduced a character who sees through the eyes of a stone giant and can control his movement. It looked like both a unique game concept and a meta commentary on VR itself -- the girl in the game appeared to be having the same experience that a gamer playing in VR would have. There were a number of other full-fledged gaming experiences shown during the keynote, including 100 Foot Robot Golf, Psychonauts VR, Rez Infinite, and Ace Combat 7. Most of these were playable on the show floor, but they give me hope that VR gaming is almost ready to have those much-needed killer apps. In just a few years, we've gone from pure tech demos with no gameplay value to something like EVE: Valkyrie, the first VR game I've ever tried that actually feels like a title that people would go out and pay money for. We still need more games like EVE: Valkyrie and Golem before VR gaming can really take off. But if what Sony showed off today is any indication, one of the next big video gaming events, be it next year's GDC or E3, should finally have a slate of VR games that might make customers want to open their wallets and bring VR gaming from promise to gaming reality. [Image credit: Chesnot/Getty Images]In what can only be described as hate crime, a Pagan family in Florida has been harassed and even had their house fired on. The Withers live in New Port Richey, Florida in a house they call the Glitter Dome. They painted it in kaleidoscopic hues to make people who see it happy. But some of their neighbors didn’t get the memo. It began as drive-by yelling and horn-blowing but soon escalated as a pellet gun was fired into the home’s windows. Then, 2 weeks ago – on the same day as the Boston Marathon bombings — two acid bombs were tossed into their yard. Kyrja (KEE-ruh) Withers says that the situation has become very tense: “We couldn’t sit down to our dinner table for one hour, not for one hour without being concerned that someone else was coming by to do something to us.” Kyrja is a children’s book author, writing about a bunny named Rupert who learns about Pagan holidays. She began writing when she lost her job in the construction industry in 2008. Like many who come to Paganism from other faiths (Kyrja was a Catholic), she found herself judged by others, often hearing about how she would burn in hell. To help counter the misinformation about Pagans, Kyrja began writing Rupert’s Tales, children’s stories about love, tolerance and acceptance. Apparently her choice of topics doesn’t sit too well with some of New Port Richey’s other, less civilized residents. At first, they drove by and yelled things like, “F**king witch!” Then someone fired pellets at the home she shares with her husband, Randy, and his daughter, Heather. In the latest attack, on April 22nd, a blue car drove by, circled back and then a boy inside threw 2 bottles of liquid. Heather was outside the house and saw the car and the two young men inside as they tossed the 2 acid bombs her way. She suffered from chemical inhalation and is being treated physically but the emotional effects are still with her. “Every time I close my eyes, I see the bottle expanding.” Local authorities, who are, thankfully, taking this seriously and treating it as a hate crime, are being aided by the Lady Liberty League. The LLL is a national organization that supports and helps Pagans with civil rights and religious freedom cases. Executive Director Selena Fox is grateful for the attention the authorities are giving to this case “We are assisting law enforcement in helping protect Kyrja, her family, and home. Many of LLL’s recommendations for the Withers have now been put into effect. The organization will continue to assist law enforcement and work with Kyrja and her family to ensure their safety as the situation unfolds.” The Withers are offering a $200 reward for information leading to an arrest. A crowd funding drive to raise money for a security system for the Withers’ home reached its goal of $1200 in less than 48 hours. Instead of hiding and giving in to the fear that her attackers wish her to feel, Kyrja is still writing, still lecturing and still reaching out to her community. “We need to be out and say who we are. I am a witch. Come and find out who I am.” T. Steelman is a life-long Liberal. She has been writing online about politics since 2007. She lives in Western Washington with her husband, daughter, 2 cats and a small herd of alpacas. How can anybody be enlightened? Truth is, after all, so poorly lit…ADVERTISEMENT First-generation ethanol producers who are looking for ways to provide advanced biofuels for the U.S. renewable fuel standard (RFS) may find an easy “in” with sweet or biomass sorghum, according to a group of scientists from Purdue University, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the University of Illinois and Cornell University. In a paper published in the scientific journal Biofuels, Bioproducts & Biorefining, titled “Envisioning the Transition to a Next-Generation Biofuels Industry in the U.S. Midwest,” the researchers examine how the existing biofuels infrastructure could be used for second- and third-generation biofuels production and highlight sorghum as a bioenergy crop that is particularly well suited for use in existing facilities. “In the near future, we need a feedstock that is not corn,” Purdue agronomy professor Cliff Weil said. “Sweet and biomass sorghum meet all the criteria. They use less nitrogen, grow well and grow where other things don’t grow.” Logistical considerations for biomass-to-fuel processes require further refinement, but Maureen McCann, a Purdue professor of biology and director of the Energy Center and the Center for Direct Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Biofuels, suggests that sorghum could be transported from harvest locations to collection points such as grain elevators using existing rail lines. From there, sorghum could be densified before being transported to the biorefinery for further processing. “Biomass has roughly half of the energy content of gasoline – even if it’s very compressed and tightly packed,” she said. “The issue is really how to increase the intrinsic energy density by preprocessing conversion steps that could be done on farm or at the silo so that you’re transporting higher-energy products to the refineries.” The researchers also predict that farmers may be more willing to grow an annual energy crop such as sorghum rather than a perennial crop. “If we’re talking about planting switchgrass, that’s a 15-year commitment,” said Nathan Mosier, a Purdue associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering. “You can’t switch annually based on the economy or other factors. You are committed to that crop.” According to the National Sorghum Producers, a group representing 1,100 sorghum growers, between 5 million and 7 million acres of sorghum are grown annually in the U.S. About 35 percent of the grain sorghum crop is currently being used for ethanol production, however the majority of the crop is used for animal feed. In 2010, the Top 5 sorghum-producing states were Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and South Dakota, according to the NSP. The group expects biomass and sweet sorghum acreage to expand most noticeably in the Southeast region of the U.S. and in South Texas as demand for biofuels grows. Growers’ main concerns related to sorghum are weed control and lack of a market, and the United Sorghum Checkoff Program is working to address both issues through research and market development.University of Pennsylvania evolutionary biologists have resolved a long-standing paleontological problem by reconciling the fossil record of species diversity with modern DNA samples. Cataloging the diversity of life on Earth is challenging enough, but when scientists attempt to draw a phylogeny -- the branching family tree of a group of species over their evolutionary history -- the challenge goes from merely difficult to potentially impossible. The fossil record is the only direct evidence scientists have about the history of species diversity, but it can be full of holes or totally nonexistent, depending on the type of organisms. The only hope in such cases is to infer historical diversity from modern DNA sequences, but such techniques have a fatal flaw: the results they provide are demonstrably incorrect. The Penn team has developed a new technique for analyzing phylogenies and shown that the results stand up against the known fossil history of whale species, a gold standard in terms of fossil records. "We've put contemporary molecular approaches on equal footing with classical paleontological approaches," said Joshua B. Plotkin of the Department of Biology in Penn's School of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Computer and Information Science in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Plotkin conducted the research along with postdoctoral fellows Helene Morlon and Todd Parsons, both of Biology. Their work will appear in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The limitations of the fossil record -- and the lack of good alternatives -- represent a longstanding problem in paleontology. Some species, due to the makeup of their bodies or the geology of the areas where they lived, don't leave fossils. If they leave any legacy to the present, it must be inferred from the DNA of their modern descendants, or from the descendents of their relatives. For a few decades, scientists have compared the DNA of modern species, making mathematical inferences about the history of species diversity in a group going back to their most recent common ancestor. This reconstructive technique held much promise for the field, but a problem with the approach is now evident. "When scientists use these phylogenetic techniques, they always infer patterns of increasing diversity. In whatever group of species they inspect, they see virtually no extinctions and a steadily increasing number of species over time," Plotkin said. "This molecular inference is problematic because it's known to be false. The fossil record clearly shows extinctions and long periods of diversity loss." The cetaceans, a group of species that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises, are ideal for testing ideas about evolutionary diversification, as their fossil record is especially clear. Because they are large animals, and the sea floor is well suited to fossilization, paleontologists are confident that the cetaceans came into existence about 35 million years ago and reached a peak of diversity about 10 million years ago. The number of cetaceans then crashed from about 150 species to the 89 species in existence today. "The problem with phylogenetic inferences is that you get the opposite view when you apply it to the cetaceans. You would see the number of whale species increasing over time, so that the 89 species we have today is the apex. But we know that this is flat-out wrong because it's directly contradicted by the boom-then-bust pattern in the fossil record." This realization was a major blow for the field; if molecular reconstructions can't be trusted, there would be no way for scientists to ever learn the history of species that don't have good fossil records. The only hope was that phylogenetic methods could be refined. In their study, Plotkin and his colleagues added new variables to these methods. The flaw in existing techniques was the reliance on a static rate of diversification. Because that variable could never be negative, the number of species inferred necessarily increased over time. "What we've done is a fairly modest extension of these techniques, but we allow for changing rates of speciation and extinction over time and among lineages," Plotkin said. "Most importantly, we allow for periods of time during which the extinction rate exceeds the speciation rate." When applied to the DNA of the 89 whale species that survive today, Plotkin's molecular method closely matched the dynamics in the number of whale species during the last 35 million years as determined through traditional paleontological approaches. "It's almost miraculous that we can inspect the DNA sequences of organisms living today and figure out how many such species were present millions of years ago," Plotkin said. "We're studying some of the largest species to have ever existed, and we are deciphering their evolutionary history based on information encoded in microscopic DNA molecules." The research was supported by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and James S. McDonnell FoundationI had the opportunity to meet with 11 Bit Studios about their upcoming game Frostpunk, the next title from the This War of Mine developers. Frostpunk is a city management game where exploration plays a key role, with everything working towards one goal: survive. Frostpunk takes place in an alternate 19th century where the world has mysteriously frozen over and, as far as you know, the only group of people surviving happens to be you and the people living around the Generator. The Generator is a massive tower that creates heat, forming the center of your growing city. Heat is the underlying mechanic as keeping people warm where the live, sleep, work, and more is vital when one day it can be -20 and the next -40. While surviving through gathering food, building shelter, and providing heat is of the utmost importance, the contentment of your people plays a big role as well. There is a happiness and hope meter to manage, where certain conditions (like lack of shelter) or certain decisions will affect the meters one way or another. People are the backbone as they are the workforce towards surviving. They do the gathering, the building, the scavenging—everything. The more you get, and you can find more, the better off you’ll all be as the more resources you will be able to acquire. There are different classes of people too, with their own abilities. There are children, your general workers, engineers, and more. 11 Bit stressed that this was more than a city management game with a survival emphasis. Creating a society and populace with its own set of beliefs, its own culture, is important as well. As the leader, various problems will be brought to your attention and you can decide what to do with them, while considering the potential consequences. More broadly, you have the power to enact laws that have great effect. For example, the one shown to me was enacting a law allowing child labor. Desperate times call for desperate measures in Frostpunk, but the populace has their own thoughts on them as well. They understand the necessity of the choice, but it can still effect their overall mood and hope. Of course, there are some unforeseen consequences that can crop up. Sent the children to work? Well, now one got injured and you get the choice of sending them back to work or letting them have time off to recover. Depending on the situation you are in and your own personal philosophy you have chosen to take in the laws you are enacting, you could go either way. There’s no wrong answer really, it’s all about the context of the decision. That society management is huge as the people can react violently if you go too far. So, it seems players will have to be careful if they want to be an authoritarian with little care for the comfort and well-being of their people. In addition to the laws, which have sweeping effects, Frostpunk also has a tech tree where you can research new buildings and more. That seems to be where the progression of your city will begin, slowly evolving overtime as you go down the tech tree. It is here too, as well as in the laws, you can forge a path based on your decisions with multiple ways to play. The other portion of the gameplay, which I only saw briefly, was the exploration. Most of your time is spent looking at your city, managing it and making decisions. But, there is a whole world outside your city, so you have the option of sending out scouting parties to check out different areas. This is where, I was told, the secrets of what happened to the world and why, among answers to other questions, will be found. It’s also where people can be rescued and other things acquired. Frostpunk features a main story to go through and will also feature scenarios you can take on to challenge yourself in different ways in the game. Keep an eye out here at TechRaptor for an upcoming interview we have on Frostpunk as well! Frostpunk releases sometimes this year on PC. If you want to know more about this and other announcements happening at E3 then be sure to check out our E3 2017 Coverage Hub. Share Have a tip for us? Awesome! Shoot us an email at [email protected] and we'll take a look!Huawei's latest flagship phone is official, but you won't be able to get it in the US. That didn't stop Huawei from showing off the new Mate 8 at CES today. It will, however, launch in more than two dozen countries in the first wave starting now. Pricing will vary by region, but it won't be cheap. The base 32GB model is about €599 with a 64GB upgrade for €699. Maybe that'll seem worth it when you learn this phone has a massive 4000mAh battery. Here are the specs for the Huawei Mate 8. Display: 6.0 inch LCD, 1920 x 1080, 368 PPI Operating System: Android 6.0 + EMUI 4.0 Processor: 2.3GHz Kirin 950; Octa-core, 16nm Memory: 32GB ROM/3GB RAM or 64GB ROM/4GB RAM; microSD expandable up to 128GB Camera: 16MP OIS, F2.0, BSI CMOS, dual-tone flash, Front: 8MP, F2.4 Battery: 4000mAh Dimensions: 157.1 mm × 80.6 mm × 7.9 mm; 185g Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.2 ; Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n/ac, 2.4G+5GHz ; USB 2.0 Sensors: Gravity, Light, Proximity, Fingerprint, Hall, Gyroscope, Barometer, Compass This phone will include Huawei's new octa-core Kirin 950 SoC, which is based on the Cortex-A72/53 big.LITTLE architecture. The two different versions of this phone have different amounts of storage, but the RAM also varies. You get 4GB in the 64GB phone. The 32GB base model only has 3GB. Both models have a gigantic 4000mAh battery, which Huawei says is good for almost two days of very heavy use. Huawei says the fingerprint sensor on this device will be an improvement over its previous phones. The unlock speed has been boosted by 100% (possibly thanks to the Android 6.0 software?) and it supports extra features like document/app lock and a quick access camera shortcut. The camera too is updated on this device with robust OIS that can compensate for a 1.5 degree change in angle. I mean, just look at that exploded camera graphic. That's how you know it's good. As mentioned above, this device will run Android 6.0 with a new version of Huawei's EMUI on top. It's still a major departure from stock Android with no app drawer and strange iOS styling throughout. US consumers won't have the chance to be annoyed by the new EMUI, though. There are no current plans to release a US version of this phone.St Johnstone ended a run of five matches without a win in stunning style to knock Inverness Caledonian thistle off the top of the Premiership. The opener came through Stevie May's finish from Gary McDonald's cross. May then turned provider, Dave Mackay striking home from the centre of the penalty area. And Steven MacLean benefitted from two more May assists to net Saints' third and fourth goals in the second half as the visitors toiled in Perth. The hosts' first victory since a 4-0 rout against Ross County was another emphatic win for manager Tommy Wright and deserved a bigger audience than the 3,020 inside McDiarmid Park. Media playback is not supported on this device Interview - St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright For Inverness, their second defeat of the season drops them down to second, three points behind Celtic and seven ahead of sixth-place Saints. St Johnstone's play was quick and slick straight from kick-off and they deservedly went ahead when Caley Thistle could not cope with the superior passing and movement that led to May stabbing home his seventh goal of the season. That lead was doubled when a carbon copy build-up again opened up the Inverness defence and Mackay burst through for a shot which goalkeeper Dean Brill got a hand to but could not keep out. Caley Thistle blasted out of the blocks at the start of the second half to try to turn things around but it was St Johnstone who threatened again with a Nigel Hasselbaink shot which was tipped over the bar by Brill. And there was a similar save at the other end from Alan Mannus to deny Aaron Doran's 25-yard effort. Media playback is not supported on this device Interview - Inverness CT boss Terry Butcher St Johnstone put the match out of the reach of Inverness when 20-year-old May picked out MacLean at the edge of the penalty box and he placed a shot into the corner of the net. And MacLean struck again to complete the scoring. It was all down to the persistence of the outstanding May, who won a tussle with Graeme Shinnie at the corner flag and knocked the ball across goal for MacLean to tap.Dare to find the answers in the climactic final chapter of this epic trilogy - for once you gaze into the Black Mirror, you won't be able to look away! Return to face the dark forces that haunt the ominous Black Mirror Castle as you search for the secrets the lie behind the tangled web of haunting riddles, mysterious secrets and dark characters. Alternate between two playable characters as you explore over 100 highly detailed and atmospheric locations, and interact with over 50 characters in your quest to find redemption.. In the final chapter in this acclaimed horror trilogy, Black Mirror III picks up right where the thrilling ending to Black Mirror II left off. In the final chapter of this acclaimed horror trilogy, Black Mirror III picks up right where the thrilling ending to Black Mirror II left off.Only a short time ago, Darren Michaels was a quiet store clerk in a sleepy New England town. Now in Willow Creek, England, a tormented Darren barely reacts as police handcuffs are closed on his wrists. All the evidence points to him, and the police have arrested Darren as their primary suspect in a fatal crime. He's subjected to extensive questioning, but Darren is numb to the events occurring around him, and has withdrawn into a deep emptiness. Then after several weeks of incarceration, Darren is unexplainably released.But he is not free. Darren remains terrorized by sleepless nights, nightmare-like visions, and the chilling specter of murder and death,.Now alone, Darren must continue his search to uncover what has been happening to him and lift the veil on his clouded past. What has he really seen? What do his torturous nightmares really mean? Who is the mysterious person that posted the bail to set him free? What demons lie waiting in the crypt?Return to face the dark forces that haunt the ominous Black Mirror Castle as you search for the secrets that lie behind the tangled web of haunting riddles, mysterious secrets and dark characters. Alternate between two playable characters, as you explore over 100 highly detailed and atmospheric locations; interacting with over 50 characters in your quest for redemption. © 2014 Nordic Games Licensing AB, Sweden. Published by Nordic Games GmbH, Austria. Developed by Cranberry Production. All other brands, product names and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. All rights reserved.Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has called on the European Union to reconsider its open-door policy of welcoming migrants as it motivates many more to leave Africa. He said this week during an interview with a German media that European countries should take measures to make it more difficult for migrants to leave Africa through the current transit routes. “On the one hand you want to demonstrate generosity and take in refugees, but the more generous you are, the more word gets around about this – which in turn motivates more people to leave Africa,” the Microsoft founder said. Gates also advised Germany, which has an open door policy that it “cannot take in the huge, massive number of people who are wanting to make their way to Europe.” On the one hand you want to demonstrate generosity and take in refugees, but the more generous you are, the more word gets around about this – which in turn motivates more people to leave Africa. He rather called for an increase in foreign aid while praising Germany for donating 0.7 percent of its GDP in that regard. This stance of Bill Gates is a reverse of what he previously advocated for. Last year, he called on the United States to learn from Germany and Sweden and open its doors for migrants. The 61-year-old has a foundation that invests a lot of money in Africa to fight poverty and diseases among others. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 3,314 people reached Spain by sea between 1 January and 30 April. More than a half million migrants have poured into Italy since 2014, but most of them have paid far less to Libya-based smugglers (usually between $800 and $1,300) to board overcrowded and unseaworthy boats for a voyage that often ends in tragedy. The European Commission announced 35 million euros ($40 million) in extra cash for Rome in response to Italian demands that its neighbours share more of the burden of handling thousands of migrants coming by boat every week. It also set out a list of other measures for EU ministers to discuss on Thursday including beefing up Libya’s coastal rescue services to curb the number of people picked up close to shore by international charities.Get the latest news and videos for this game daily, no spam, no fuss. The era of plastic musical instrument is set to return in a big way this year with new hardware-focused rhythm games from Guitar Hero and Rock Band. But while Rock Band is taking a more traditional stance and incorporating both instruments and DLC from previous games, Guitar Hero Live is starting over from the beginning. We'll likely learn more at E3 about exactly how the song system will work, and what the balance will be between on-disc and online music. But in the meantime, we've gotten weekly updates on songs that will be available on the Guitar Hero roster. To learn what goes into choosing those songs, and possibly get some clues as to what additional songs we'll learn about next, we talked with FreeStyle Games studio head Jamie Jackson in the Q&A below. GameSpot: Earlier GH games were very much guitar-focused, but you're branching out into pop and even electronica/dubstep with GH Live. How come? Jamie Jackson: In the past five years since the last Guitar Hero game launched, there has been a complete musical renaissance. I think if you look at the way people now discover music--whether it be through Pandora, Spotify, Soundcloud, or what have you--you find that genres have evolved and diversified so much in the past few years alone. At FreeStyle Games we are insatiable about all different types of music, and we really want that to shine through in Guitar Hero Live. And of course, we're still staying very true to rock. You'll still have the mind-melting heavy metal, both new and classics, and many favorites from the past. You'll also see a ton of new songs that have never been in previous Guitar Hero games. We can't wait for fans to check them out. Are there any core tenets that every song in the game needs to have? At the very base, the song has to have the type of energy that makes it fun to play. With the new six-button layout of the guitar controller, we try to find music that really takes advantage of the design, whether it be through a particularly challenging chord progression or a killer guitar solo. What makes a good Guitar Hero song? I'd say a lot of what I described above. Anything that takes full advantage of the new guitar controller layout. There's that one Gary Clark Jr. song, "Don't Owe You a Thang," that's just so fun to play because your fingers are all over the fret board at a super fast rate. When you get into a flow and you hit all the notes, it's a total rush. How do you balance accuracy and getting that "feel" of playing a guitar versus making something that's just plain fun to jam on? I think that's the beauty of the new guitar controller. Like we've said before, we found in research that there was a barrier to entry with songs that required you to use your pinky finger, or as we affectionately call it, the "danger pinky." So while we wanted to mimic the feel of playing a guitar by altering the button layout to better resemble a chord-playing experience, we also wanted to make the game more accessible through various difficulty levels for those who don't want such a huge challenge. Still, at the top level, all the notes are marked up, so it's gonna be a challenge. Have you focused on different songs because of the button layout (more chord-based tunes versus songs that require lots of work up and down the neck)? Well, the goal is to have a variety of both, and certainly there are some songs that have great catchy hooks and others that have just mad crazy solos. But then you have a bunch of songs that have a mix of both. Take for instance "Cry of Achilles" by Alter Bridge. That song starts with some heavy chords, but then towards the end you have some really interesting tempo changes and a great solo, which we think just makes for a really well-rounded Guitar Hero experience. Why no rhythm guitar? For Guitar Hero Live we really want to make the guitar the star. You are the one anchoring the band with your skills; you are the heart and soul of the song. Have any artists come to you, or have you been doing all the pitching to artists/labels? It's been a good mix of both. We've been working closely with major labels as well as indie ones to get music that we love in the game. It's not uncommon for us to talk to the labels about a certain artist, but then they'll present us with another band and we say, "Yes, get them in this game." We can't wait to announce more songs in the coming months. How are negotiations going with Led Zeppelin? But seriously, have you talked to them? Unfortunately there's nothing I can really say on that front…Loading Map.... Southampton Climbing Wall St Marys Leisure Centre - Southampton Events St Marys Leisure Centre - Southampton 50.9106019 -1.3992045999999618 Date/Time Date(s) - 04/09/2015 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm Location Southampton Climbing Wall In support of the brilliant RNLI and Hampshire and IOW Air Ambulance service, we are holding a fund-raising event at Southampton Climbing Wall on Friday the 4th of September. These guys provide essential emergency response to all manner of outdoor enthusiasts in all weather conditions, and we have even had to call on them ourselves recently! So this is an excellent opportunity to show our thanks and ongoing support. Details of event: Included in the ticket price will be climbing for all from 6pm at SCW, followed by a showing of Reel Rock at 8pm to get you all inspired! There will also be a raffle with some excellent prizes including the top prize being an hour-long pleasure flight, various items of climbing gear, and more! If you have any ideas for prizes, or can offer something yourself then please do let us know – the more the merrier. Drinks donated by SCW will be available to buy during the film showing, including beer, cider and hot chocolate – with all proceeds going towards these two great causes. Help from SCC members in organising this event will of course be greatly appreciated, particularly to belay aspirant climbers on the day. So bring your friends, families, work colleagues and anyone else you can think of for what promises to be a fun-filled and worthy evening! And, in case you are wondering, I can almost guarantee there will be a contingent ending the night in a certain local nightclub… Cost: This event will cost a mere £4 to SCC members, and £5 to the general public – a bargain for a whole evening’s entertainment! To buy your ticket sign up to the event below as usual. There will also be tickets available to buy at the wall if you prefer. We hope to see you there! Photo credit: Anna Svensen The location for our regular weekly meet on Tuesday evenings from 8pm to 10pm, usually followed with a local pint.lightbar Hood River County Sheriff's Deputy Marc Smith was arrested Sept. 9, 2016, on allegations including sex abuse and luring a minor, according to the county sheriff. (The Oregonian/File) UPDATE: Former Hood River County deputy allegedly used work phone to film minor in state of nudity A Hood River County sheriff's deputy was arrested Friday on allegations including sex abuse and luring a minor. Deputy Marc Smith allegedly committed the crimes while he was off-duty, the county sheriff said in a news release. Matt English, the sheriff, said Smith was "immediately" put on administrative leave Thursday after English was told of his "alleged serious misconduct." English asked the Oregon State Police to investigate the allegations. Smith is facing two counts apiece of third-degree sex abuse and private indecency, as well as luring a minor and public indecency charges, English said. Smith is being held at the Northern Oregon Regional Corrections Facility in The Dalles. The Crook County District Attorney's Office will prosecute Smith. "While Mr. Smith's conduct happened off duty, making certain that our organization maintains the highest standards of conduct and professionalism is paramount," English said in a statement. "I am committed to ensuring that our employees are held to the same standards as every citizen and that we are accountable for our actions whether on or off duty. "This incident, while deeply disturbing, should not overshadow the hard work that is done by the professional men and women in our organization every day." -- Jim Ryan [email protected] 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015Contrary to what some may think, Outlander is more than just a dashing Scotsman flirting with an intrepid time-traveling nurse. There’s action, too! But while there have been duels, skirmishes, and some nasty dustups before, Outlander is about to launch its first full-fledged battle. Devoted Outlander fans and Scottish history scholars will recognize the title of Episode 10, “Prestonpans,” as a reference to the first clash in the Jacobite rising of 1745. All season Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) and his time-traveling wife, Claire (Caitriona Balfe), have been trying to prevent the Scottish uprising and the disastrous Battle of Culloden of 1746. But the political intrigue proved too much for them and, here, Jamie is on the front line. In an exclusive clip above, Bonnie Prince Charlie (Andrew Gower) makes a triumphant return and proves to be just as slimy as ever. Jamie, like the rest of us, already knows that the Battle of Prestonpans doesn’t end in Scottish slaughter. (Time-traveling wives can be handy that way.) According to writer-producer Matt Roberts, the sequence in the episode is very accurate to the actual battle, which was, in fact, a quick victory for the Jacobites. “We stay true to the actual battle; it was about eight minutes long total and we pretty much almost show it in real time,” Roberts said. So brace yourself for some gruesome hacking and slashing from the Highland troop Jamie joins up with. And enjoy. Get Vanity Fair’s HWD Newsletter Sign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood. E-mail Address SubscribeFor years, eBay’s advertising business was something of an afterthought compared to its core commerce operation — so much so that eBay had another company selling ads on its behalf. Company executives say that is all changing. EBay is in the process of building up its own internal advertising sales team, cutting ties with the outside sales firm along the way. It is also eliminating product ads that link to other websites and replacing them with advertising options that help brands drive sales directly on eBay. The moves come as Amazon continues to ramp up its own products for advertisers, particularly when shoppers search for products on its site. The changes are also meant to appeal to big brands that are looking for new ways to drive sales through digital advertising, as e-commerce eats up more of traditional retail sales. EBay generated $313 million in marketing services revenue on its marketplace in the fourth quarter, a 4 percent drop from the same quarter
on his experience in Brooklyn. The Companies After Murray In the fall of 1928, ill health forced Thomas E. Murray to retire from active participation in the work of the electric companies, including resignation from the vice chairmanship of New York Edison. He died at Wickapogue, his summer estate in Southampton, Long Island, on 21 July 1929, but his impact was, and remains, unmistakable. Beyond the giant power stations and the innovation he promoted, the immediate impact of his efforts could be seen in the customer’s electric bills. In 1900, the price of electric power for residential customers in Manhattan was US$0.20/kWh, and by mid-1917, both companies had cut that to US$0.07/kWh, a 65% reduction. Similar reduction in cost took place in Brooklyn, with the US$0.07/kWh level being reached after the completion of the Hudson Avenue plant. The affiliated companies matched those reductions within US$0.01 on average. The standardization Murray encouraged by his support of Smith and United was advanced with Sloan’s drive for standardization. Although Sloan departed the company several years after Murray’s death, the planned unification came about within a few years. Successive mergers unified New York City’s electrical supply by 1952. That Murray held a wide understanding of all aspects of electric power plant operation was exemplified by his frequent addresses to industry associations. The subjects were often that of power station design, the most economical use of fuel, and other operational details. In 1912, for example, he detailed to the AIEE the economics of power system operation and the cost to finance new projects. Throughout his career, Murray exchanged information and ideas with a wide range of inventors and industrialists. See Figure 9for a picture of Murray, Thomas Edison, and Walter Chrysler taken during a group tour arranged by Murray of the Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, factory of the Metropolitan Engineering Company. Murray’s inventions extended beyond electric power into the automotive and other fields. Chrysler was a customer of Murray’s manufacturing company. Murray also advanced the careers of younger associates destined to continue development efforts. Philip Torchio, listed in 1903 as an assistant on the Gowanus rapid transit plant and also on some Murray patents, moved up the ranks of New York Edison. By the 1920s, Torchio was a vice president and a leading figure in the improvement of the system. The accomplishments of Thomas E. Murray were best summed up in the obituary published in the Electrical World of 27 July 1929: “Rich in the world’s goods, rich in progeny and rich also in accomplishment, Mr. Murray rounded out what his intimate friends knew to be a well-ordered life. There was no show or braggadocio about him through his allotted three score and ten years. As the industry grew by leaps and bounds, Thomas E. Murray grew with it.” It went on to note his reorganization efforts and that he had power stations in New York and other states with more than 2 million kW combined capacity to his credit. His role as inventor and consultant was noted as was his church work and family life. It concluded that “he knew and showed the joy and satisfaction epitomized in the saying: It is more blessed to give than to receive.” The New York Times obituary was similar, with the comment “He was held in such high regard that he was placed in virtual charge of all major operating decisions and policies established by the companies. The creativity and genius of Murray brought a uniformity to the systems that facilitated interconnection and eventual consolidation.” His church work was such that he was made a member of the Knights of St. Gregory and also of the Knights of Malta. He was one of the few people in the United States privileged to have Mass said, and the consecrated Host reserved, in the private chapel in his Brooklyn home. National Inventors Hall of Fame The National Inventors Hall of Fame was founded in 1973 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the National Council of Intellectual Property Law Associations. To be considered for induction into the Hall of Fame, located in Akron, Ohio, a candidate must hold at least one U.S. patent where the invention has contributed significantly to the welfare of mankind and has promoted the progress of science and the useful arts. Induction ceremonies for successful candidates are held each May. Thomas E. Murray was granted 462 U.S. patents in a wide range of technical areas during his long and remarkable career. He was formally inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame on 4 May 2011. His specific citation was for “Improvements in Electric System Safety” with particular reference to his work on electrical safety devices and fuses. Figure 10 is the patent drawing for one of Murray’s fuse inventions. Epilogue While the talents and accomplishments of Thomas E. Murray were many, the most impressive characteristic is the equanimity of Murray in his interaction with associates. He partnered with John Lieb to advance dc distribution for immediate demand, while he strongly supported the efforts of Frank W. Smith to foster development of ac distribution for the future. That approach to business was exemplified in the books that detailed the plants he had designed. The 1910 volume devotes significant space to dc substations, but none are referenced directly in his 1922 work. Such vision and confidence in the orderly progression of technological development is a rare gift indeed. The utility system that today powers New York City, the most dense concentration of electrical load in the world, is a product of constant innovation and evolution guided by long-range planning. Murray’s initiative and vision set the standards that became the base on which his successors built. A man who shunned notoriety and attention for his achievements and who even refused recognition for acts of charity with the declaration that such “was not charity but advertising,” Murray’s name has largely been lost in time. In another sense, however, his name is posted “in lights” for all to see; the bright “skyglow” visible over the city for miles from sea, land, or air is the legacy of his pioneering accomplishments of a century ago. For Further Reading T. E. Murray, Electric Power Plants: A Description of a Number of Power Stations Designed by Thomas Edward Murray. New York: privately published, 1910. T. E. Murray, Power Stations. New York: privately published, 1922. T. E. Murray, Applied Engineering. New York: The Ferris Printing Company, 1928. S. Birmingham, Real Lace: American Irish Rich. New York: Harper & Row, 1973. J. Corry, Golden Clan—The Murrays, the McDonnells & the Irish American Aristocracy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977. S. MacGuire. (2011, 25 June). Thomas E. Murray. Available Online Hall of Fame/inventor profile. (2011). Thomas E. Murray. Available Online J. Argyle, “How many inventors does it take to screw in a lightbulb?” Solares Hill, vol. 32, no. 20, pp. 1, 3, and 7, May 2011. A. H. Kehoe, “Underground alternating-current network distribution for central station systems,” AIEE Trans., vol. 43, pp. 844–853; discussion pp. 869–875, June 1924. R. J. Landman. (2008, 2 May). Underground secondary ac networks, a brief history (2007 IEEE Conference on the History of Electric Power, 3–5 August). Available Online T. Murray, L. Stockton, and G. Marcus. (2011, 1 Nov.). Forgotten genius (Planned documentary film on the life and work of Thomas E. Murray). Available Online H. Richter, “Evolution of the ac network system,” Electric J., vol. 22, pp. 320–336, July 1925.Artificial intelligence tools like deep learning have come on in leaps and bounds in recent years, powered by two main resources: cheap processing power, delivered by the cloud; and stacks and stacks of user data. For a company like Apple — which has banged the drum of user privacy like no other — this presents a problem. How does it deliver deep learning smarts without constantly sending your data to the cloud? And how does it get that data in the first place? "We're doing it on your devices, keeping your personal data under your control." At this year's WWDC, the company promised that it can square the circle. New deep learning-powered features like facial recognition in your photos and conversational suggestions in your messages were showed, but Apple stressed that all the computation was happening on your device. "When it comes to performing analysis of your data," said Apple's Craig Federighi. "We're doing it on your devices, keeping your personal data under your control." Google's, by comparison, happens in the cloud. Apple also said it would be using a technique known as "differential privacy" to comb through users' data while keeping them anonymous. This includes techniques like hashing, subsectioning, and noise injection to scramble their own data. This makes it difficult, in theory, to ever trace information back to an individual user, while still providing Apple's computer scientists with workable datasets with which to train their deep learning tools. Apple says it even bought in a third-party privacy researcher (and differential privacy expert), Aaron Roth of the University of Pennsylvania, to assess the company's efforts. In what came as a surprise to no one, he was impressed, and was quoted on stage as saying that Apple's efforts positioned it as the "clear privacy leader among technology companies today." The question is: how much of this is bluster? How good is Apple's AI going to be compared to Google's, which isn't as hamstrung by pledges of user privacy? And how will deep learning operate locally? Apps that use local deep learning could be slower (working on just your phone rather than a rack of servers), they could be bigger (downloading all those neural network models), and balancing out these constraints might mean they end up simply not working as well as the competition. And unfortunately, while we'll be able to judge pretty quickly how well Apple's on-device deep learning functions (does it categorize your photos better or worse than Google's? Just try both!), the success or failure of privacy models aren't always as obvious. Problems tend to emerge over time, and despite what Apple says, security researchers have found that "anonymized" data doesn't always stay anonymous. We'll have to closely watch the company's results — and not just its presentations — to find out. See all of the Apple WWDC 2016 news right here!Following Ida's Oscar win for Best Foreign Language Film, Poles ruminate over their role in the Holocaust and an Israeli group weighs in on the importance of restitution. Pawel Pawlikowski's film Ida's Oscar win on Sunday has sparked a debate about the role of Poland in WWII and the relationship between Poles and Jews since then. "It shows history in a distorting mirror, and portrays Poles as anti-Semites. This is a false image. Germans were the anti-Semites, Germans committed the mass murders," historian Tadeusz Pluzanski told Polish news daily wPolityce. "The world again saw and awarded a film which shows Poles in an unfavorable light. This is a pedagogy of shame which we have been fed for a long time, and which we impose on ourselves." The film, which portrays a Polish woman who is aspiring to be a nun in 1960s Poland, has a scene in which her birth parents and brother are killed by a Polish man during WWII, who then acquires their farm. In Israel, the film received a fitting response. "Poland is the only major country in Eastern Europe that has not passed legislation to address the loss of Holocaust-era property. Hundreds of thousands of Jewish homes were simply taken and no compensation ever paid," Chair of Operations for the Jewish Restitution Organization, Gideon Taylor wrote in the Times of Israel. "Yet Poland was alone among [Eastern bloc] countries in not addressing the issue in any kind of national framework." In January the Polish Anti-Defamation League, a Polish nationalist group which seeks to "protect the good name" of Poles and Poland, circulated a petition against the film, demanding that the director added contextual captions that explain that Poles were also mass-murdered during WWII and that many Poles sheltered Jews from Nazis.A New Way to Look at the Old Universe An international team of astronomers has broken the record for detecting the signals emitted by hydrogen gas. They have detected signals from a galaxy more than five billion light-years away, nearly double the previous record. The team used the Very Large Array of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in the US to observe the radio emission from hydrogen of the distant galaxy. Since it is in greatest abundance in the galaxy, hydrogen is used by radio astronomers to detect and understand the makeup of other galaxies. However, radio telescopes have only been able to observe hydrogen emission signatures from nearby galaxies. That is until the VLA received upgrades. CHILES Survey Collected Data That Makes a Difference The study, published in Astrophysical Journals, is part of the “COSMOS HI Large Extragalactic Survey’, or CHILES survey. Once completed, the CHILES survey will have collected data from more than 1,000 hours of observing time.Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window) As we get closer to the trade deadline, the Ducks continue to emerge as potentially huge players. With a boatload of good young defensemen and an offense that could use a punch — Anaheim sits 19th in the NHL in goals per game — all the makings are there for a significant move. So where do things stand? “The phone has started to ring,” GM Bob Murray said, per the O.C. Register. “Not specifically about the young defensemen but more about teams preparing for the deadline.” Ah yes, the young defensemen. Anaheim has one of the best 25-and-under collections in hockey. Last month, AHL standout Brandon Montour made his big league debut, thereby joining a group that already included Shea Theodore, Cam Fowler, Sami Vatanen, Hampus Lindholm and Josh Manson. The latter three are already established as full-time NHLers. Beyond those, there’s also ’15 first-rounder Jacob Larsson (who made his NHL debut earlier this year) and Swedish blueliner Marcus Pettersson, who was taken 17 spots ahead of Montour at the ’14 draft. Fowler, of course, has been floated in trade rumors for a while. There was widespread speculation he’d be moved at last year’s draft, to the point where even he expressed surprise that he wasn’t dealt. But such a move seems unlikely now, largely because he’s been arguably Anaheim’s best blueliner this season. Which points to other assets potentially in play. Also in play? The looming specter of this summer’s expansion draft. From the Register: Murray also has to factor in the expansion draft and the three defensemen to protect in order to make seven forwards off limits. Being able to get defender Kevin Bieksa to waive his no-movement clause will be key in any 7-3-1 expansion plan. But if he’s going to move one of his prized assets, it is going to be for someone who is going to remain with the Ducks beyond this season. “Any young player deal would be a hockey deal,” Murray said, “not a rental.” At this stage, it’s hard not to connect the dots to Colorado. The Avs are in major need of blueline help, have two good forwards in Gabriel Landeskog and Matt Duchene — both under contract through 2021 and 2019, respectively — and Avs GM Joe Sakic was in attendance for recent Ducks game. Related: Is Anaheim readying to move a defenseman?Actor Cliff Curtis (Fear The Walking Dead, Whale Rider) makes a strong impression in the remarkable, riveting and inspiring New Zealand-set movie The Dark Horse, based on the true-life story of Genesis “Gen” Potini, a bipolar speed chess champion struggling his whole life with mental illness who manages to not only help a group of underprivileged kids discover his game but also in the process lifts himself up against all odds. As I say in my video review above, writer-director James Napier Robertson deftly avoids any temptation towards sentimental slop in this tough tale of a man who tries to overcome his own illness as well as the violence inherent in his family to forge an optimistic view of life and do some good. Based on the 2003 documentary Dark Horse from director Jim Marbrook, this theatrical version of Potini’s story benefits greatly from New Zealand Maori actor Curtis, who is simply amazing as a man who defies enormous obstacles to make a difference in the lives of several kids. In and out of mental institutions, Genesis finally is released to the care of his brother Ariki (Wayne Hapi), who is a bad influence and lives a life of gang-infested violence. To escape this, Gen volunteers at the Eastern Knights Chess Club, where he trains a group of eager Maori kids to compete in the National Chess Championship. Things get complicated though when his own nephew (James Rolleson), his violent brother’s son, also decides he wants to play. This angers Ariki and causes big trouble for Gen. At its center of this is a stirring must-see underdog story with faint elements of Rocky-like movies but which has a beating heart all its own. Audiences will be standing and cheering for all the right reasons. The New Zealand-born Curtis is the ideal choice for this role and brings authenticity and real gravitas to it. Rolleson and Hapi are excellent, and the supporting cast of kids, all non-actors, is perfectly chosen and will certainly steal hearts without being cloying. Although Gen was involved in the early stages of the development of this adaptation, sadly he didn’t live to see it completed and died five years ago. His spirit lives on in Curtis’ portrayal and in the film’s optimistic life message. Tom Hern is the producer of the pic, which Broad Green Pictures sends out into limited release beginning Friday. Do you plan to see The Dark Horse? Let us know what you think.bufkill.vim : Unload/delete/wipe a buffer, keep its window(s), display last accessed buffer(s) script karma Rating 291/105, Downloaded by 5401 Comments, bugs, improvements Vim wiki created by John Orr script type utility description NOTE! This location is no longer the latest code - it's moved to github, and set up as a pathogen-style bundle, here: https://github.com/qpkorr/vim-bufkill Basic Usage: When you want to unload/delete/wipe a buffer, use: :bun/:bd/:bw to close the window as well (vim command), or :BUN/:BD/:BW to leave the window(s) intact (this script). To move backwards and forwards through the chronological list of buffers accessed, use :BB and :BF, respectively. Mappings are also defined. Detailed Description: This is a script to a) unload, delete or wipe a buffer without closing the window (or windows) it was displayed in b) in its place, display the buffer most recently used in each window it was displayed in. This selection is taken from the full list of buffers ever displayed in each respective window (since vim was started) c) allow one level of undo in case you kill a buffer then change your mind d) allow various customizations via option variables Since the script maintains a list of buffer access order for each window, commands are also provided to move backwards and forwards between the buffers in this order, similar to going backwards and forwards in a web browser. The inspiration for this script came from a) my own frustration with vim's lack of this functionality b) the description of the emacs kill-buffer command in vimtip #622 (this script basically duplicates this command I believe, not sure about the undo functionality) c) comments and many mails from Keith Roberts when the issue was raised in the [email protected] mailing list. install details The usual - drop the file into your $HOME/.vim/plugin directory (unix) or $HOME/vimfiles/plugin directory (Windows), etc. Use the commands/mappings defined to invoke the functionality (or redefine them elsewhere to what you want), and set the User Configurable Variables as desired. You should be able to make any customisations to the controls in your vimrc file, such that updating to new versions of this script won't affect your settings. rate this script Life Changing Helpful Unfulfilling script versions (upload new version) Click on the package to download. package script version date Vim version user release notes bufkill.vim 1.11 2012-12-11 7.0 John Orr Major bug fixes by David Emett, especially relating to the creation of new buffers when the last buffer is killed. Also improved restoring of column on console vim. Key mappings can be disabled by setting g:BufKillCreateMappings to 0 (thanks to various contributors) bufkill.vim 1.10 2011-06-16 7.0 John Orr Improved handling of quickfix buffers, and various other fixes bufkill.vim 1.9 2010-12-30 7.0 John Orr Remove unnecessary mapping delays, and a debug message bufkill.vim 1.8 2010-12-30 7.0 John Orr Improved mapping handling, and robustness bufkill.vim 1.7 2010-06-12 7.0 John Orr Convert to Vim 7 lists instead of string-based lists. Add buffer navigation (move backwards and forwards through most recently used buffers), support for scratch buffer removal. Improved honouring of the 'confirm' vim option - thanks Magnus Thor Torfason Added (opt-in) Ctrl-^ override support to preserve cursor column. Minor additional improvements. bufkill.vim 1.2 2010-06-12 6.0 John Orr Add column-saving support, to ensure returning to a buffer means positioning the cursor not only at the right line, but also column. Last version that will (should...) work with Vim 6.0. bufkill.vim 1.1 2004-12-01 6.0 John Orr Fix handling of modified, un-named buffers bufkill.vim 1.0 2004-12-01 6.0 John Orr Initial upload ip used for rating: 128.148.231.11Two Jews and a Presbyterian are at a Passover seder. Sound like a joke? That’s because it is. This year, sedergoers can take the edge off those bitter herbs with a new side-splitting haggadah parody, “For This We Left Egypt? A Passover Haggadah for Jews and Those Who Love Them.” The plague-friendly, pocket-sized primer lands on seder tables this Passover 5777 courtesy of two accomplished Jewish writers, Alan Zweibel and Adam Mansbach — and their friend (and son of a Presbyterian minister) Dave Barry. “If you reverse my names to Barry David, it sounds quite Jewish,” Barry tells The Times of Israel. “But as it is, Dave Barry, it sounds Irish, which is what I am.” Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up His co-author Zweibel was one of the original writers on Saturday Night Live and a celebrated author of books, plays and more. Zweibel collaborated previously with Mansbach, author of “Go the F–K to Sleep” and other works. Their joint effort resulted in a similarly profanity-laden title, “Benjamin Franklin: Huge Pain in My Ass.” Naturally, Barry gave that book his endorsement: “This is absolutely the funniest book about time-traveling mail and Benjamin Franklin that I have ever read. And I have read them all.” Barry is a wildly successful American humor columnist and the author of too many books to list. Like Mansbach, he has also co-written with Zweibel in the past, the result of which was “Lunatics,” a screwball comedy of errors and political satire. It was only a matter of time before these three 21st century stooges, Barry, Zweibel and Mansbach, brought the latter’s brainchild to life. The idea was simple kismet for Mansbach, who is not alone in enjoyment of dropping the F-bomb, as evidenced by his New York Times bestseller. “Last time I went to a seder, I made a million hilarious jokes, and I was like ‘Hey, I should write a fucking parody haggadah,’” Mansbach tells The Times of Israel. “I’d hung out a bunch with Dave, because he and Alan are friends and co-authors and we all, Dave by himself, Alan and I together, had kids’ books out with Hyperion at the same time, and the three of us had a great comic chemistry together. So I suggested we do this. They said yes, and we got to work.” The trio each bought a copy of a classic haggadah online, though Zweibel, who usually relies on the Maxwell House edition at his annual seder and now plans to augment that with his own, could not recall which version the team bought. “I might have thrown it out,” Zweibel says. Still, the guys divvied up the text like it was the middle matzah. “I’m in Jersey. Dave is in Florida and Adam is in Berkeley,” says Zweibel. “We just jumped all over it… we each chose the portions, the chapters we wanted to write. It was all emails. We were never in the same room.” The three are a comic trifecta. Among the book’s strong points is its fun-poking at Maxwell House, which inspired the book’s simple line illustrations and its two-color print job. Their haggadah also contains rap and pop culture references, thanks to Mansbach. And the outsider’s perspective is owned by Barry, who, as it turns out, is not all that much of an outsider. His second wife, Michelle Kaufman, is a Cuban Jew. “They call themselves Jewban,” says Barry. “I say, ‘They didn’t come on rafts. They parted the Caribbean.’” While his ancestors may not have escaped Pharaoh, Barry could still be called a Jew by association. For example, he is a member of a synagogue. “They are so Reform, they let me in,” he says. “I consider myself to be a better Jew than Adam Mansbach, to pick one name at random, because I actually go to Temple.” Periodically, he says, his wife reminds him of an upcoming Jewish holiday. “There is no way to tell when they are coming up,” says Barry. “And then I’ll say, ‘What are we doing this weekend?’ And she will say, ‘It’s Harish Kardarma. It’s the third holiest Jewish holiday.'” When asked why his example sounds strangely Hindu, Barry pays no mind. “I have no way of knowing,” he says. “We end we end up in Temple for what feels like days. I grew up in the Christian tradition and you go every weekend. Jews save it up. They don’t go for a long time. And then they go for a long time.” ‘I consider myself to be a better Jewish than Adam Mansbach because I actually go to Temple’ Barry says his teenage daughter Sophie is a cool Jew — a reference this reporter appreciates — who celebrated her bat mitzvah and is active at their shul. His adult son from his first marriage, Rob, lives in New York. “Not only did I marry a Jewish woman, but my son did and I was the sandak,” Barry says. “I’m blanking on the name for the circumcision. I forget everything.” His haggadah, however, is a taste of magic. In a stroke of comedic genius, the book — despite being written in English — opens from right to left. And the combination of the letters, “G,” “O,” and “D” is never spelled out. It is consistently spelled with a hyphen, even when quoting other words containing these three letters, such as “Waiting for G-dot” or “The G-dfather.” Also distinct is the voice of the Borscht Belt humor that gave Zweibel his start writing jokes for $7 each fresh out of college in Buffalo. Take the following excerpt: Because the Israelites had ticked G-d off, they did not get to go directly to the Promised Land. Instead, they wandered in the desert for forty years. Which is a lot of wandering, when you think about it. Let’s say for the sake of argument that a standard Israelite wanders five hundred steps per day, with an average distance of two feet per step. That works out to a thousand feet per day. So for more than forty years — even if they didn’t wander at all on Shabbat, major Jewish holidays, Elie Wiesel’s birthday, and so on — the Israelites would wander about twelve million feet, which is more than two thousand miles. This means that, starting in Egypt, the Israelites could easily, with minimal exertion, have wandered to Norway. It’s not all simply added levity to what the book jokes are often interminable festivities — the meat is there, too. “We wrote it in such a way that you can conduct a seder with it, with all the washing of hands and the cups of wine,” Zweibel says. Coming on the heels of Purim, it is still a bit early in the season for Passover reading. But the little book that could is already a No. 1 bestseller on Amazon in the category of Jewish holidays. The trio seem to be getting a good laugh already. and are considering another spoof we never knew we needed. “We are trying to figure out the next thing to do with these guys because we get along so well,” Zweibel says. “Writing is a very solitary thing. You spend the day alone with your laptop… If you can have a dialogue, it’s a diversion to make each other laugh and before you know it, there’s a book.”MOSCOW -- Sergei has watched in horror as Russian television has been flooded with harrowing stories about vicious debt collectors terrorizing households with threats and violence in order to recover overdue loans. He worries his family could be next. In December, the 29-year-old from the southwestern city of Voronezh became one of 11.5 million Russians to fall behind on loan payments, after he was diagnosed with a brain disease that stopped him from earning a paycheck and making payments on two loans. His total debt: $330. Despite the relatively small sum, Sergei says that he and his friends and acquaintances have been hounded for the past month, received threatening phone calls day and night from thuggish-sounding debt collectors demanding that the money be repaid. "I hope this all ends peacefully, but I have my doubts that it will," says Sergei, who does not want his last name published for fear it could worsen his predicament. Dubbed "black bailiffs" and "vultures of the crisis," overzealous debt collectors have shot to prominence in Russia as its economy founders -- an unsavory byproduct of a prolonged recession fueled by the collapse of world oil prices and compounded by Western sanctions over Moscow's interference in Ukraine. Debt collectors are unloved around the world, but some of the recent cases in Russia chill the blood. They have led to calls for a crackdown on collectors, along with concerns that new legislation would have little effect in a country where justice is often compromised by cash. On January 27, the authorities said, a collector chasing down a 4,000-ruble ($53) debt threw a firebomb through a debtor's apartment window in the city of Ulyanovsk. It exploded near a sleeping 2-year-old boy, badly burning his face and 40 percent of his body. A few days earlier, aggressive debt collectors were blamed when a Siberian logger who owed 3 million rubles ($40,000) killed his pregnant wife and their two children before turning the gun on himself. And in December in the southern Rostov region, police with sniffer dogs and bomb-disposal technicians urgently evacuated a kindergarten after a teacher who owed money was told the premises would be blown up unless she paid. Debt-retrieval agencies worldwide buy consumer credit owed to banks at knockdown rates and then chase down the debtors. But at the violent, loosely regulated end of Russia's debt-collection industry, the crossover with organized crime is palpable. In the spotlight are "microfinancing organizations," which sounds like a euphemism for loan sharks and sometimes is. Small lenders that sometimes pay little regard to banking regulations, they hand out short-term loans to poorer clients at high rates -- and often have in-house debt collectors. The firebombing in Ulyanovsk caused national uproar and has been blamed on one such organization, RosDengi, where the child's grandfather had taken out a 4,000-ruble loan for medicine that ballooned to 40,000 rubles ($530) as interest mounted. The debt collector arrested over the attack was reportedly a former police officer who had been fired after a theft conviction. Disabled And Desperate Sergei turned to a microfinancing organization in June 2015. Suffering from scary, unexplained blackouts, he began costly medical treatment in March and took out loans for $200 and $130 so that he, his wife, and their year-old child could subsist until he was able to work again. But in July he was diagnosed with a brain disease and pronounced "disabled" by doctors, ruling him out of work. He plowed his paltry monthly disability allowance of 8,500 rubles ($112) into loan repayments, but by December he couldn't keep up. Sergei told the lender he was behind and asked for a reprieve, but the debt has continued to grow. He says he owes triple what he borrowed. He now works from home in logistics, having lied to his boss about his illness. "I'm not scared of threats and intimidation," he says of debt collectors, but suggests that's because he has even bigger things to worry about. "I have a serious illness, I have everything to fear, and fearing people like this is stupid." Delinquent consumer debt is not about to bring down Russia's economy, but the number of debtors is growing fast -- and that has given politicians grist for proposals to ban debt collectors outright ahead of parliamentary elections in September. Unpaid consumer debt soared by 48 percent in 2015 and hit 1.15 trillion rubles ($15 billion), according to the Moscow-based United Credit Bureau, which tracks borrowing and compiles credit histories. The United Credit Bureau tells RFE/RL the number of Russians late on consumer-credit payments rose from 8.5 million to 11.5 million in 2015. As of the end of the year, 7.3 million had not serviced their loans for longer than 90 days -- a technical cutoff date, meaning many are unlikely to pay at all. In a country of 142 million people, there are 42.5 million Russians with loans and credit-card debt. "Obviously, the bad debts have got worse this year with the crisis, but within fairly normal parameters," says Tom Adshead, a partner at Macro-Advisory, a Moscow-based financial consulting firm. Preelection Populism The parliamentary vote will be the biggest test of the electorate's mood since 2014, when the collapse of world oil prices hit the Russian economy hard and Western sanctions -- punishment for seizing Crimea and stoking a bloody conflict in eastern Ukraine -- increased its isolation. President Vladimir Putin's poll ratings have suffered only limited damage so far. But the Kremlin has shown concern about the sentiment of his support base now that the unwritten pact of his first two terms -- I provide economic growth, you stay away from street protests -- is unraveling. There has been no shortage of legislative proposals to rein in debt collectors in recent weeks. In the wake of the firebombing in Ulyanovsk, the speaker of the upper parliament house, Valentina Matviyenko, on January 28 called for the activity of collection agencies to be halted entirely, pending new legislation that would regulate the industry. On January 19, Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party submitted a draft bill in the lower house, the State Duma, that would effectively outlaw collection agencies, as it proposes to prohibit the recouping of debts by any other entity than the original creditor -- the bank itself. St. Petersburg legislators also jumped on the bandwagon, submitting proposals to the Duma that would make it illegal for collection agencies to pursue debts outside a courtroom. Vitaly Milonov, a prominent antigay lawmaker in St. Petersburg, said on January 16 that he would battle against debt collectors with the same vigor he showed in promoting a law that banned the spread among children of the "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations." "We recognize collectors as a new kind of homosexual," Milonov said. The National Association for Professional Debt Collector Agencies, which says it represents collection agencies that make up 90 percent of the market, welcomes more regulation in the sector. It says that the problem lies largely with smaller agencies, and particularly "microfinance" organizations. Association head Boris Voronin says nobody knows how many collection agencies there are in Russia. Prosecutor-General Yury Chaika suggested in December that law enforcement lacks the tools to rein in the abusive ones, saying that while there had been 21,000 complaints about collection agencies since 2013 only a few have led to criminal cases. Collection agencies are "still not regulated by the federal law and are not licensed," Interfax quoted him as saying. But Voronin dismissed the lawmakers' proposals as "preelection populism" linked to the September vote. "Naturally, over 40 million borrowers are a serious electorate and one that deputies would like to obtain," Voronin said. "Of this 40 million, over 10 million are debtors." More likely to pass is a bill being drafted by the Economic Development Ministry, which could reach the Duma in March. 'Deadly Debts' Meanwhile, the state has taken to prime-time television to warn Russians against predatory lenders. Federal Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin, who unpacks a crime a week in a show on state-run TV, warned Russians about the perils of borrowing in a November episode called Deadly Debts. It featured the story of a man Markin said was murdered by a collector after he was fired from his job and got stuck in a spiral of debt. Markin seemed to suggest that in such cases
list is due (before the start of round 1 in constructed, before your first round of play in limited). Meld cards now meet the official card definition. You can’t look at the sideboards of opponents you are controlling. Sorting should continue to happen during deck registration. And, the not-a-scry at the start of the game gets treated as a scry for shortcut purposes. Really, it’s a scry… See? Small stuff. Nothing to be worried about. But even a small update like this takes a village of contributors. Special thanks to Isaac King, Ian Smith, Andrea Mondani, Jeff Morrow, and everyone who pointed out that section 4.8 accidentally got renumbered to 4.4 in the last edition. We’re always on the lookout for ways to make things clearer to judges around the world, so contributions are welcome!This first complete studio recording of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, made between 1958 and 1966, was a groundbreaking technical and artistic achievement, the most ambitious and intricately involved opera recording project of the 20th century. Produced for Decca by John Culshaw, whose vision and untiring devotion brought the gargantuan project to completion, the 14 ½-hour release set a new standard for opera recordings. The details Culshaw lavished on the production, which included building new musical instruments, precisely calculating the placement and choreography of each singer to maximize the theatricality of each scene, and creating an array of fabulous special effects resulted in a landmark recording that has lost none of its power with the passage of time. Culshaw and conductor Georg Solti assembled the most impressive Wagnerian musicians available. The Vienna Philharmonic, one of the very finest orchestras in the world, plays with a sure grasp of Wagner's style, with passionate intensity and with impeccable musicianship. Solti's epic vision of the Ring glows in its details and overwhelms in its sweeping drama. A number of very fine interpretations of the Ring have been recorded since, but Solti's version remains close to the top and is in a class by itself. Casting the many daunting roles was a challenge, but for the most part the soloists are wonderfully effective. The producers were able to enlist Birgit Nilsson, one of the outstanding Wagnerians of the century, as Brünnhilde, when her voice was at its peak, with both a youthful bloom and a towering artistic maturity, as well as Kirstin Flagstad, the leading Wagnerian soprano of her generation, then in the twilight of her career, as Fricka in Das Rheingold. Heldentenors are a rare breed, and two of the few weak links in the cast are Wolfgang Windgassen as Siegfried and James King as Siegmund. George London is superb as Wotan in Das Rheingold, but Hans Hotter beings even greater gravity and insight to the role in Die Walküre and Siegfried, even if his voice had lost some of its luster. Régine Crespin is warmly ardent as Sieglinde. Gustav Neidlinger's Alberich is appropriately forceful, and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a smoldering, fiercely troubled Gunther. The cast list is dazzling, and, with principals including Set Svanholm, Gottlob Frick, Christa Ludwig, Brigitte Fassbaender. Even relatively minor roles feature such luminaries as Eberhard Wächter, Helga Dernesch, Lucia Popp, Helen Watts, and Joan Sutherland. Listeners looking for an introduction to Wagner's massive opus can't go wrong with this monumental version.WASHINGTON — The United States Postal Service announced plans today to transition to a new delivery schedule during the week of Aug. 5, 2013 that includes package delivery Monday through Saturday, and mail delivery Monday through Friday. The Postal Service expects to generate cost savings of approximately $2 billion annually, once the plan is fully implemented. “The Postal Service is advancing an important new approach to delivery that reflects the strong growth of our package business and responds to the financial realities resulting from America’s changing mailing habits,” said Patrick R. Donahoe, Postmaster General and CEO. “We developed this approach by working with our customers to understand their delivery needs and by identifying creative ways to generate significant cost savings.” Over the past several years, the Postal Service has advocated shifting to a five-day delivery schedule for mail and packages. However, recent strong growth in package delivery (14 percent volume increase since 2010) and projections of continued strong package growth throughout the coming decade led to the revised approach to maintain package delivery six days per week. “Our customers see strong value in the national delivery platform we provide and maintaining a six-day delivery schedule for packages is an important part of that platform,” said Donahoe. “As consumers increasingly use and rely on delivery services — especially due to the rise of e-commerce — we can play an increasingly vital role as a delivery provider of choice, and as a driver of growth opportunities for America’s businesses.” Once implemented during August of 2013, mail delivery to street addresses will occur Monday through Friday. Packages will continue to be delivered six days per week. Mail addressed to PO Boxes will continue to be delivered on Saturdays. Post Offices currently open on Saturdays will remain open on Saturdays. Market research conducted by the Postal Service and independent research by major news organizations indicate that nearly seven out of ten Americans (70 percent) supported the switch to five-day delivery as a way for the Postal Service to reduce costs in its effort to return the organization to financial stability.¹ Support for this approach will likely be even higher since the Postal Service plans to maintain six-day package delivery. The Postal Service is making the announcement today, more than six months in advance of implementing five-day mail delivery schedule, to give residential and business customers time to plan and adjust. The Postal Service plans to publish specific guidance in the near future for residential and business customers about its new delivery schedule. Given the ongoing financial challenges, the Postal Service Board of Governors last month directed postal management to accelerate the restructuring of Postal Service operations in order to strengthen Postal Service finances. “The American public understands the financial challenges of the Postal Service and supports these steps as a responsible and reasonable approach to improving our financial situation,” said Donahoe. “The Postal Service has a responsibility to take the steps necessary to return to long-term financial stability and ensure the continued affordability of the U.S. Mail.” The operational plan for the new delivery schedule anticipates a combination of employee reassignment and attrition and is expected to achieve cost savings of approximately $2 billion annually when fully implemented. The Postal Service is currently implementing major restructuring throughout its retail, delivery and mail processing operations. Since 2006, the Postal Service has reduced its annual cost base by approximately $15 billion, reduced the size of its career workforce by 193,000 or 28 percent, and has consolidated more than 200 mail processing locations. During these unprecedented initiatives, the Postal Service continued to deliver record high levels of service to its customers. While the change in the delivery schedule announced today is one of the actions needed to restore the financial health of the Postal Service, legislative change is urgently needed to address matters outside the Postal Service’s control. The Postal Service continues to seek legislation to provide it with greater flexibility to control costs and generate new revenue and encourages the 113th Congress to make postal reform legislation an urgent priority. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. ¹ Sources: Gallup Poll, March 26, 2010 • New York Times/CBS News, June 27, 2012 • USA Today, March 17, 2010 • Washington Post, March 30, 2010 # # # For reporters interested in speaking with a regional Postal Service public relations professional, please go to http://about.usps.com/news/media-contacts/usps-local-media-contacts.pdf. Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at http://about.usps.com/news/welcome.htm. We will provide a satellite/fiber feed from 3 p.m. EST to 5 p.m. EST. We will continuously re-feed the press conference video during this timeframe. Stations can contact Encompass directly to arrange a fiber switch. 800-243-1995. Stations experiencing technical difficulties should call the Encompass Technical Operations Center (TOC) at 678-421-6604. G17-K13 Slot B (9MHz) D/L Freq: 11955.5 H FEC: 3/4 SR: 6.1113 DR: 8.448 SD 16x9 A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation — 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office™ Boxes. The Postal Service™ receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com®, the Postal Service has annual revenue of approximately $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. In 2011, Oxford Strategic Consulting ranked the U.S. Postal Service number one in overall service performance of the posts in the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute. Follow the Postal Service on www.twitter.com/USPS and at www.facebook.com/USPSDeep in the jungles of the Yucatan peninsula, residents of the remote Mexican village of La Mancalona are producing clean drinking water using the power of the sun. For nearly two years now, members of the community, most of whom are subsistence farmers, have operated and maintained a solar-powered water purification system engineered by researchers at MIT. The system consists of two solar panels that convert sunlight into electricity; these, in turn, power a set of pumps that push water through semiporous membranes in a filtration process called reverse osmosis. The setup purifies both brackish well water and collected rainwater, producing about 1,000 liters of purified water a day for the 450 residents. The MIT team had previously demonstrated the technology’s feasibility in the lab and in the field. Now, in a study published in the journal Desalination, they report that residents of La Mancalona have successfully run the solar-powered system, having been trained by MIT researchers to operate and maintain the system. The villagers are paying the community operators for their drinking water at a price they can afford, and one that makes the system self-sustainable. Steven Dubowsky, a professor emeritus of mechanical engineering at MIT, says the case study in La Mancalona demonstrates that with careful design and proper training, non-expert communities can independently operate high-tech systems. “We’re using MIT intellect to produce technology systems that are of the highest quality, and we can train people to use them, and change the culture down in these poor communities,” Dubowsky says. “This is a whole new paradigm for providing clean water for people in need.” In so many words In 2012, Dubowsky and MIT students and research staff including Amy Bilton began designing and installing the technology, known as a photovoltaic powered reverse osmosis (PVRO); MIT researcher Huda Elasaad was central to training community residents to operate and maintain the system. A local aid organization had identified La Mancalona as a potential site for the system, as the community lacked dependable sources of clean drinking water. The region also receives ample amounts of sunshine — an ideal environment for a solar-powered system. In installing the system, the MIT team found willing and resourceful helpers in the community. “When you live in a very rural area, you have to do everything yourself,” Elasaad says. “Farming, if there’s something wrong with your well, you’re the one stuck fixing it, because no one’s going to drive into the jungle to help you. So they were very handy, which made it easy for us to train them.” The main challenges in this training stemmed from the language barrier: A local aid worker typically would translate the researchers’ instructions in English into Spanish, and then into the Yucatan version of Spanish, and finally to the local indigenous dialect. “The entire time, you’re just hoping nothing gets lost in translation,” Elasaad says. “The nice thing about technology is, it kind of speaks for itself. You can show with very easy diagrams and hands-on training, right next to them, that turning a valve doesn’t have to be said in so many words — you can just show them.” A new economy Since the PVRO system was installed, the village has been operating it as a business, selling 20-liter bottles of water to residents for 5 pesos — a price that the community agreed upon, and about one-tenth the price of bottled water that is intermittently supplied by a centralized facility an hour’s drive from the village. At this price, the community reaps a profit of about 49,000 pesos, or $3,600, per year. The community has appointed a committee to manage the incoming funds, setting aside some money for maintenance and repair of the system, and investing the rest back into the community. “They’re also trying to develop a business plan focused on selling clean water to tourists who come to the local Mayan ruins,” Elasaad says. “So it’s been interesting seeing what they’ve done with this new economy.” She adds that the residents in La Mancalona have taken ownership of the technology, having been trained to operate it on a day-to-day basis, from changing out ultraviolet lights and filters to testing the water quality and replacing batteries. They also have a list of local suppliers for replacement parts. Aside from the system’s economic benefits, Elasaad suspects it may also improve the residents’ health — a trend that she hopes to investigate in the future. “Before, they couldn’t afford clean water, but they could afford soda, which was actually cheaper than bottled water in that village,” Elasaad says. “Now we see a shift: These children are drinking more water and becoming more healthy and hydrated.” MIT’s experience in La Mancalona has spurred Dubowsky and his team to try to distribute similar solar-powered water purification systems to other communities in need, whether jungle villages or crowded cities. The system, he says, is uniquely designed to adapt to the water quality of any given region, making it flexible and affordable for a range of environments, and can utilize a variety of different water purification processes, including reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, or electrodialysis. The approach is focused on the design and control of these systems, which can enable widespread use. “This technology would enable hotels, schools, hospitals, governments, et cetera, to produce water at a greatly reduced price,” Dubowsky says. “The technology MIT has developed is capable of producing economic value in these countries.” This work was supported in part by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.(play this, and read on) In 1991, to all intents and purposes, world peace broke out. The US had won. Truth, Justice and the American Way – democracy itself – had been vindicated by the economic collapse of the Soviets. Even with 50% defense spending in the US, even with tensions between the US and China, even with all the small wars, the world was at peace with America victorious. The last gasp of the nuclear weapon, the stray terrorist bomb, continued to haunt us but it was a threat we could face, unlike the threat of mutually assured destruction and its unspeakable, unimaginable true meaning: the loss of all life on earth in a single day. We had arrived at the place longed for and sought for through generations of sacrifice. 20 years later the world is bankrupt and America is broken. What went wrong? The country failed to make the turn, to adapt to peace, and now it is losing wars and bankrupted. What happened? For 10 years, 1991 to 2001, the US maintained huge defense spending. The “peace dividend” was tiny. Most importantly no new social roles were opened up for former soldiers. A declaration of victory, of peace, followed by slashing defense spending and using the money to put former soldiers and defense contractors back into the peacetime economy, a Marshall Plan for America is what was needed. But the standing army was left standing. The communal celebration which could have saved America’s soul was not held. The party that could have saved our civilization was not thrown. Without the communal celebration of the collapse of the Soviet Union the relief that was was over never became a part of our collective consciousness, our social narrative. Project for a New American Century nibbled away at the wires, and when finally Bush came to power the chance to demilitarize, re-arm, and go after Permanent Sole Superpower Status came with 9/11. The agenda in Rebuilding America’s Defenses was tried, and failed. The US is mired in two wars. Real unemployment figures hover around 20%. The world financial system has been bailed out by borrowing money from future generations which will never be paid back. The entire thing is rickety and clapped out, with none of the resilience needed to cope with climate change and the onrushing crises of globalization because of the Puritan reluctance to declare Jubilee. In 1991, we needed to declare victory. We needed to throw the party to end all parties – indeed, the party to end all wars. We needed to tell ourselves, and each-other, that we were safe from Stalin’s legacy and that if we worked together, the peace dividend could last forever. And one man ended this dream. You may want me to say Osama bin Laden, but it was not. It was George Walker Bush who, with his backers, took a tragedy and started two religiously inspired wars of opportunity, to finally fly the Christian flag over the middle east, and the American flag over its oil reserves. We watched them invade Iraq, a country completely unrelated to the 9/11 attacks. We watched them kill a million people there, give or take. Now President Obama claims that it is legal to murder American citizens and to criminalize those who would offer those citizens legal council. All of this because we were not willing to declare victory when the Cold War was won. We did not declare peace, we did not cut military spending, we did not make new social roles for the former members of the military-industrial complex returned to productive employment. And now the world is bankrupt from the most expensive war in history. Blood and treasure burned in the sand, a false sacrifice to the vain gods of Empire. This financial collapse did not just happen because of lax banking regulations. It happened because a society cannot maintain a war footing for nearly a century, cannot maintain the hypocrisy of preaching peace while making war, of exporting democracy at the point of a sword, and of leaving its own children ill-fed and poor while shattering the lives of entire generations. I have worked closely with the military, specifically the American military, trying to forge paths to peace. I went as an infrastructure specialist, as somebody who knew how to rebuild and remake. I went to try and build a road out of the quagmire. I will not say it was for nothing, but it was glacially slow progress and not much to show for nearly ten years. One rather good paper, and its associated project, is not what I’d hoped for. Now, at the end of my rant, let me propose the three conclusions. The failure to declare victory, or to declare failure, damages us by trapping us in old struggles, whether we won or lost them. The celebration, or the sorrowing, is the emotional phase of letting go of an old way of life. If we do not do this for the time of material abundance we have enjoyed, at the cost of mortgaging all life on earth to our greed as we burn the biosphere for industrial productivity, we will not be able to exit this phase cleanly. We need a ritual to exit the phase in history when we, the victors, had everything and when the Earth was sufficiently strong to shoulder the burden of our foolish and absurd greeds without visible complaint. We stand at the gateway of a new chapter, when peace – the silent, quiet peace of a world at bay – and war, the bloody war over the last scraps of oil-fueled prosperity – are both possible. How are we to have the celebration and the sorrowing for our industrial prosperity, and for the over-consumption which has blotted our our fears of nuclear annihilation for generations as we labored under the Cold War’s umbrella of unholy terror? Now that the nuclear rockets are gone from our skies, we can think straight, open our eyes, and look at the world around us, and each other, and say – sober and sane – that we have gone astray. The terror blinded us, and we slaked our fear at the mall. It is over and we must clearly, consciously and without reservation come in our hearts to the realization that our madness has ended, and it is time to clean up from our insane century of war, holocaust and nuclear terror. It is possible to think again, because the flash from the skies is gone. I want us to throw the party which never came, the party at which we declared war is over, and peace has come. I want us to throw it in the ruins of a bankrupt America, as the troops come home because there is no financial alternative. I want us all to set the world to rights by acknowledging that it is over, the terror from the skies, and we can stop shopping, start taking care of each other, and building a world worth living in for everybody. Because we did not declare peace when we had the chance, we got another round of war. When the chance for peace comes again, as it must, let there be celebration and sorrowing, and the admission the world of war and excess, which we have suffered and reveled through, is ended.Contender for Donald Trump's cabinet, Kris Kobach, accidentally revealed plans for a national Muslim registry and a Syrian refugee ban when photographed with documents outlining the proposals as he met the President-elect on Sunday (20 November). The Kansas secretary of state met Trump in Bedminster, New Jersey as Trump continues to choose members of his upcoming administration. According to The Guardian, Kobach has been rumoured to be up for several positions, but the documents he was seen carrying indicate he may be under consideration for Homeland Security (DHS). The papers indicate a "strategic plan" for DHS in the first year of Trump's presidency. Among Kobach's proposals is the reintroduction of a programme used by the Bush Administration following the 9/11 attacks that tracked individuals from "high-risk areas". The National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) was a programme based on the country of origin and was considered to be a Muslim registry. Kobach was the chief architect of the programme while he served in the Justice Department under Bush. Esquire noted that the programme was shelved in 2011 "because it was ineffective, costly, and often seen as harassment". Trump has often floated around the idea of a Muslim registry and has repeatedly refused to rule out one. Reince Priebus, who was appointed Trump's chief of staff, said on Sunday (20 November): "I'm not gonna rule out anything, but we're not gonna have a registry based on a religion." Trump has advocated "extreme vetting" of incoming immigrants from certain parts of the world. Kobach included extreme vetting in his proposal. "Add extreme vetting questions for high-risk aliens: question them regarding support for Sharia law, jihad, equality of men and women, the United States Constitution," his plan read. Kobach also hopes to "reduce the intake of Syrian refugees to zero". According to the Topeka Capital-Journal, the Council on Islamic-American Relations expressed alarm about Kobach's plan, calling his proposal "inquisition-style questions." Spokesman Ibrahim Hooper, however, said he was not surprised. "I think this unfortunately in line with the actions we've seen from President-elect Trump's transition team," Hooper said. The document, which was partially obscured by Kobach's hand and arm, also made references to the border wall between the US and Mexico, the post-9/11 Patriot Act and the National Voter Registration Act. Micah Kubic, director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, was equally concerned about Kobach's proposals. Kubic told the Topeka Capital-Journal that Kobach has a record of making voting and the life of immigrants more difficult. "All of that we find reprehensible, unconstitutional, illegal and un-American," he said.Having just wrestled the word "netbook" free from the legal grasp of Psion, Microsoft now wants to change the name of these low-cost slabs of white plastic riding Intel's Atom processor. Oh joy. Apparently unhappy with the choices of netbook, smartbook, MID (NVIDIA's definition, not Intel's), thin-and-light, and ultra-portable, Microsoft's preference is, are you ready, "low cost small notebook PC." Man, that flows like a sonnet. The new name proposed by Steven Guggenheimer, general manager of Microsoft's Application Platform & Development Marketing Division, is meant to reflect netbooks that do more than Internet browsing. What Steve-o doesn't say is that by creating a new product division above netbooks, Microsoft can require beefier versions of its Windows OS installed for higher profits on higher margins -- especially now that they've dropped the three application limit from its entry-level Windows 7 Starter Edition. Hey Microsoft, if it's all the same to you, we're just fine with the term netbook thankyouverymuch. Given the near-universal positive press heaped on Windows 7 thus far, you'll be raking in the cash starting October 22nd, no need to shake us down, ok?We use to think about cold Christmas. We relate Christmas with coats, scarves and gloves and we feel good joining the family around the Christmas tree in a warm atmosphere. But things change on New Year’s Eve. It is also cold, and we are also used to it but we would prefer warmer temperatures so we can party in the street without worrying about how to look elegant and sexy with layers of clothes. If you are dreaming of a sunny Christmas the Canary Islands are your ideal destination for the end of the year. Hot temperatures and sunny long days are waiting for you in the southest place of Europe. Once there you will spend most of your time in the beach, what about visiting one of the best beaches of the archipielago? Here you have the 10 best beaches in the Canary Islands. Corralejo Beach, Fuerteventura Corralejo is an amazing beach located in the North of Fuerteventura island. It is a very quiet and calm beach so you can let the children enjoy on their own while you contemplate its wonderful dunes as if you were in the desert. This beach is very close to the village so you won’t need to travel a lot or take any means of transport in order to get to it. You only need to walk down the main street and you will suddenly be in front of the ocean. El Bollullo Beach, Tenerife El Bollullo is a special beach. Due to the volcanic origins of Tenerife its sand is darker and thicker than the expected. In this beach you will face the ocean on one side and a stunnig volcanic landscape on the other. Forget about white-sanded beaches and enjoy the peculiarity of El Bollullo beach. El Bollullo is located in the North of Tenerife island, very close to Puerto de la Cruz. The perfect place to watch the sunset. Maspalomas Beach, Gran Canaria When you are in Maspalomas you may think that you actually are in the Sahara desert as its golden sand forms spectacular dunes before giving way to a quiet soft-sanded beach. This is a big beach where people lay down and take sunbaths during the whole day. This is a very special beach as it is allowed to go naked if you want. Do you dare? Las Conchas Beach, La Graciosa In front of the North coast of Lanzarote you will find a small and tropical island called La Graciosa. For those looking for peace and a place to forget about everything Las Conchas is the perfect beach for them. Its main characteristics are its gold sand and its turquoise water. Las Conchas will be one of your most beloved beaches all over the world. Caleta de Fuste, Fuerteventura The main beach in Caleta de Fuste is Castillo beach, located in a protected natural bay which perfectly combines wild nature and many services. Some of the main attractions in this beach are the promenade and the marina. To the South of this beach you will find some small artificial beaches which are really close to the main hotels in the resort, so they are perfect to relax. Verodal Beach, El Hierro In Verodal you will enjoy wild nature and strong waves, the perfect beach for thrill seekers. This wonderful beach is located in La Frontera village and is usually a quiet beach with no many people and also few services. This beach is one of the most picturesque beaches in the Cannary Islands, with its reddish sand, and visiting it is one of the musts in any trip to El Hierro island. Los Cancajos Beach, La Palma Black is the centre of attention in Los Cancajos beach. As it is quite usual in the Canary Islands its sand is black but also its coastline is black, formed by dark rocks. As La Palma is not crowed with tourists it is easy to relax in a semi-desert beach while enjoying the landscape and the good weather. La Caleta Beach, La Gomera La Caleta beach is located in the North of La Gomera island, close to Herigua village, and it is characterized by its choppy water and its black sand. The waves in movement contrast with the quietness of the beach where you can enjoy good views of Teide volcano. La Caleta is surrounded by an arid landscape, take advantage of this situation and discover the different characteristics of the volcanic rocks and cliffs. Papagayo Beach, Lanzarote Papagayo is a small beach recognised as one of the most beautiful beaches in Lanzarote. Located in the South of the island it is quite apart from crowded places, so it is possible to enjoy it despite its fame. Papagayo beach is part of Los Ajaches Natural Reserve, a good place for snorkelers and nudists. Sotavento Beach, Fuerteventura Located in Jandia peninsula, Sotavento is perfect for sport lovers as it is perfect to practise many of the most common aquatic sports. Its golden sand and its transparent water are its main characteristics. This is one of the most famous beaches in Fuerteventura not for nothing it is the beach which appears in almost all the touristic leaflets. And what is your opinion? Which is your favourite beach in the Canary Islands?A federal judge on Wednesday struck down Texas’s ban on same-sex marriage, declaring that it “demeans the dignity” of same-sex couples “for no legitimate reason.” US district judge Orlando Garcia stayed his ruling pending an appeal by state officials, so marriage practices in the state were not set to change immediately. In a methodically argued 48-page ruling, Garcia said that the Texas ban “conflicts with the United States constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and due process.” A US supreme court ruling last year that found a key provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (Doma) to be unconstitutional was central to the judge’s ruling. In United States v Windsor, the high court ruled that a federal definition of “marriage” as between a man and a woman was unconstitutional. “Now, the lower courts must apply the supreme court’s decision in Windsor and decide whether a state can do what the federal government cannot – discriminate against same-sex couples,” Garcia wrote. The answer was no. Gay marriage opponents moved swiftly to condemn the ruling. Texas governor Rick Perry, a Republican, vowed to “fight for the rights of Texans to self-determine the laws of our state.” “Texans spoke loud and clear by overwhelmingly voting to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman in our constitution, and it is not the role of the federal government to overturn the will of our citizens,” he said. Texas attorney general Greg Abbott, a Republican who is expected to face Democrat Wendy Davis in the governor’s race, promised to appeal the decision. “This is an issue on which there are good, well-meaning people on both sides,” Greg Abbott, the Texas attorney general, said in a statement. “The US supreme court has ruled over and over again that States have the authority to define and regulate marriage,” Abbott said. “The Texas constitution defines marriage as between one man and one woman. If the fifth circuit honors those precedents, then today’s decision should be overturned and the Texas constitution will be upheld.” Earlier this month, Davis said that she is in favour of same-sex marriage. Texas Democratic party chair Gilberto Hinojosa said on his party’s website: “We look forward to the day in Texas when everyone can marry who they love. This is a historic day for the LGBT community and the state of Texas.” “We are extremely happy – happy beyond words,” Mark Phariss and Victor Holmes, one of the couples who filed the lawsuit, said in a statement. The other, Cleopatra De Leon and Nicole Dimetman, who married in Massachusetts and have a young son, said in a statement: “Ultimately, the repeal of Texas’s ban will mean that our son will never know how this denial of equal protections demeaned our family and belittled his parents’ relationship. We look forward to the day when, surrounded by friends and family, we can renew our vows in our home state of Texas.” Rebecca Robertson, the legal and policy director of the ACLU of Texas, praised the decision. “ Gay and lesbian couples want the same thing as other loving couples – to stand before family and friends and declare their lifetime commitment to each other, and to enjoy the same recognition and protection for their families that only marriage can bring. We applaud the judge’s preliminary ruling, but we also recognize that there is a great deal of hard work to do to bring full equality to every Texan.” The plaintiffs in the Texas suit were two couples. One was a lesbian couple who were married in Boston in 2009 and have a child together, although the non-biological mother had not undergone a formal adoption process. The second was a gay pair who have been together 17 years and are seeking to get married in Texas. Both couples include a US air force veteran. Federal judges in recent weeks have struck down gay marriage bans in Utah, Oklahoma and Virginia without trials. At least 17 states and the District of Columbia now allow marriage by same-sex couples. Earlier this month, a district judge in Virginia found that the state’s voter-approved ban on gay marriage violated the 14th amendment. A challenge to Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriages opened on Tuesday. Attorney general Eric Holder said Monday that state attorney generals would not be required by the Department of Justice to defend their state’s bans on same-sex marriage. Garcia’s decision in Texas overturned a constitutional amendment that enjoyed wide approval when it was passed in 2005. Proposition 2, as the amendment was known, passed a statewide referendum by a margin of 76-24. Garcia found the amendment to be a violation of constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection before the law. “Texas’ current marriage laws deny homosexual couples the right to marry, and in doing so, demean their dignity for no legitimate reason,” Garcia wrote. Dan Patrick, a Houston-based Republican state senator who is running for lieutenant governor in next week’s Republican primary, condemned Garcia’s ruling. “Marriage is between one man and one woman. Period,” Patrick wrote on Twitter. “As lieutenant governor I’ll fight activist judges and defend our traditional Texas values,” he added. However, this trenchant stance was somewhat undermined by an apparent slip-up earlier in the day, as captured by Twitter users including Aman Batheja of the Texas Tribune: Aman Batheja (@amanbatheja) Preserved for history. RT @amanbatheja: I defy you to find a better typo today: https://t.co/OY7xXWWCYy pic.twitter.com/G1LxTkNqsA A University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll this week showed that 31% of likely voters support Patrick in the 4 March primary, with the incumbent, David Dewhurst, leading with 37%. Since he unexpectedly lost to Tea Party darling Ted Cruz in a battle for the Republican senate nomination in 2012, Dewhurst has sought to emphasise his conservative credentials. “I am a longtime defender of marriage as a union between one man and one woman, which is why I led the effort to pass the Defense of Marriage Act back in 2003 and pressed for a constitutional amendment in 2005,” Dewhurst said Wednesday in a statement. “Once again, an activist federal judge has unilaterally attempted to undermine the will of the people of Texas who affirmed this amendment with 76% of the vote. I am insisting that the state of Texas appeal this ruling to protect our time-tested, traditional Texas values.” The amendment to the state constitution which defined marriage as between a man and a woman was approved by more than three-quarters of Texas voters in 2005. Recent years have seen a significant shift in opinion towards support of gay marriage in large parts of the US, including the Lone Star State. A poll last year found that an increasing number of Texans are in favour of gay marriage or civil unions, with the majority of respondents in support of some form of same-sex union. The Associated Press contributed to this report.Police shot and killed 19-year-old Niko Husband outside of a club in the Gresham neighborhood on the South Side in July 2011. Two weeks before the release of video in Laquan McDonald's shooting thrust the issue of Chicago police brutality into the national spotlight, Priscilla Price sat in a nearly empty Cook County courtroom as a jury found that a cop had killed her 19-year-old son without justification in 2011. Price's sense of relief was short-lived, however. In a controversial move, the judge overseeing the case negated the jury's award of $3.5 million in damages and instead found in favor of the city. It turned out that the jury, in answering a written question as part of its verdict, had found that the officer had a reasonable belief that his life was
and by the way, as one may say, under careful watching, they were not disturbed by the change in their manner of life, and were becoming different without knowing it.” (26) Völuspá.org (39) is a website for the studies of “Forn Seðr ‘Old Customs’, Heritage, Culture and Lore of various Germanic Tribes.” They write that “Having witnessed the brutality of the Romans toward the Gaulish people and the loss of life and property, many of the Germanic people felt they did not want the same fate to fall upon them.” (39A) And then, a rebellion broke out in the Roman province of Illyricum (today, the Balkans) and Tiberius was forced to send his eight legions there to deal with the uprising. (3) To replace Tiberius, in 7 A.D. Emperor Augustus assigned the Imperial Roman legate Publius Quinctilius Varus to consolidate the new province of Germania in 7 A.D. (51) (53) (55). Conquering it may have been a prestige project for Augustus to gain legitimacy like his predecessor, Julius Caesar, who had conquered Gaul. (37) If so, it would backfire. Varus was “linked by marriage to the imperial family and had served as Emperor Augustus’ representative in the province of Syria” (1) which included Judea where he was known for his harsh rule, high taxes and the crucifixion of 2,000 Hebrew rebels. (33) It was said that he “entered the rich province a poor man, but left it a rich man and the province poor.” (27) Benario writes that “Varus was a very good administrator, but he was not a soldier … To send him out into an unconquered land and tell him to make a province of it was a huge blunder on Augustus’ part.” (1) “… When Varus became governor of Germania, “he strove to change them more rapidly. Besides issuing orders to them as if they were actually slaves of the Romans, he exacted money as he would from subject nations. To this they were in no mood to submit. “ (26) Creasy writes that Varus was “Accustomed to govern the depraved and debased natives of Syria, a country where courage in man, and virtue in woman, had for centuries been unknown, Varus thought that he might gratify his licentious and rapacious passions with equal impunity among the high-minded sons and pure-spirited daughters of Germany. When the general of an army sets the example of outrages of this description, he is soon faithfully imitated by his officers, and surpassed by his still more brutal soldiery.” (25) This would not be Varus’s last in a litany of mistakes and misjudgments. “Florus, Cassius Dio and Paterculus suggest that the taxes provoked resistance among a population that was at first willing to accept Roman rule. They agree that Varus did not see the gathering storm … The rebels (or freedom fighters, depending on one’s perspective) must have made their preparation during the late summer.” (14) And, it was more than just taxation. Völuspá.org writes that this was “a time in Germania when the Germanic tribes faced their greatest threat, of annexation by Rome and the consequent loss of their freedom, language, culture and heritage.” (39B) Only the three legions XVII, XVIII and XIX, were available to Varus because the Balkan revolt drew in many of the available Roman legions. Varus also commanded six cohorts of auxiliary troops and three squadrons of cavalry (55) although the latter lacked battlefield experience. (51) ARMINIUS’ DECEPTION “Arminius … was assigned to the legions of Varus as a trusted advisor, but in secret he plotted with the German tribes to attack the Roman legions.” (53) “Arminius saw the oppression of the Germanic tribes and secretly sought to bring together an alliance of the Cherusci, Marsi, Chatti and Bructeri people. Traditional enemies were united in outrage at the financial burdens put upon them by the Empire.” (51) Arminius’ motives are obscure, and some historians believe he may have had dreams of becoming a Germanic king. (1) What is known is that he was averse to Romans’ treatment, taxation, and brutality of his people. Arminius and his father Segimer were Varus’s constant companions and often dined together. (26) Varus “accordingly became confident, and expecting no harm … refused to believe all those who suspected what was going on …” (26) This, too, would be another of Varus’s misjudgments. Having been trained by the Roman military, Arminius understood that the Germanic tribesmen were no match for the Romans’ traditional military tactics on the open ground. He needed to overcome Roman discipline, tactics, and their superior weaponry. (14) He needed to draw the legionnaires out of open fields and onto irregular ground and dense forest where they couldn’t employ their traditional military tactics. Only by adopting guerilla tactics could an unconventional force like the Germans defeat the experienced and professional Roman Legionaries. THE ROMAN ARMY The Roman army was noted for standardization, systematization, engineering, strong discipline and a ruthless persistence. “A legionary typically carried around 27 kilograms (60 pounds) of armor, weapons, and equipment…” (1) “Their primary weapons were spears, but they also used the gladius, a short two-edged sword that was well suited for thrusting, slashing, blocking, and parrying. They also carried rectangular shields that, when locked together in formation, made them almost invulnerable to attack. They used a battle formation known as the maniple, similar to the Macedonian phalanx, but looser and more flexible and therefore effective on a variety of terrains.” (35) “The Germans lacked the discipline of the Romans, and their steel was of inferior quality. But they possessed more than size, strength, and courage in battle. The army consisted of all able-bodied freemen, and they fought with shields, spears, battle-axes, and occasionally large broadswords, more powerful than the Roman gladius but more difficult to use in close infighting. They commonly attacked using a wedge formation, and cowardice in battle was punishable by death. They fought with machine-like efficiency in smaller groups but were unused to fighting together in large armies.” (35) That is, until Arminius united them and led them into battle. AMBUSH AND MASSACRE “There are four authors whose accounts of the battle in the Teutoburg Forest survives. Their value is questionable because none of them was an eyewitness of the Roman defeat, but they all use older sources which can be shown to be (near-)contemporary.” (14) Romans such as Cassius Dio, Tacitus and Paterculus wrote about this battle (55) as did Publius Annius Florus (14) Any description of a battle 2,000 years ago is, by necessity, conjectural. They say that the victors write the history books. In this case, history was written by the losers who happen to be literate (Romans) and not the victors (Germans) because the Germans were still illiterate at that time. It was not uncommon for Roman Emperors to have their chroniclers re-write their predecessors’ histories to make themselves look better in comparison. As well, Romans writing immediately after the ‘Varus Disaster’ had to be careful what they said to avoid jeopardizing their livelihoods or offending those still living. Being closer to the event might have given them more accuracy, but that had to be tempered with circumspection whereas later writers’ incomes and health didn’t depend on pleasing a deceased Emperor. It’s not surprising that an event 2,000 years in the past still generates many questions and not a few disagreements among scholars including the battle’s exact location. Der Spiegel reports that “Some historians still have their doubts about Kalkriese, but they are now in the minority because the certainty that this is the true battlefield has grown steadily over the last two decades.” (8) As Mike Anderson says, “Lack of details does not change the major facts of the battle or its significance, however.” (53) In any case, having returned to his tribe in 7 AD, Arminius had two years to form an alliance among Germanic tribes to build earthen fortifications at an ambush site. This also allowed time for the fortifications to return to a natural, undisturbed state thus camouflaging it to the Roman Legions. (39A) The wall had gates and passageways for the Germanic warriors to enter and withdraw from the battlefield. “It also had a drain to prevent the rains from washing it away.” (58) Arminius sprang his trap in September, 9 AD when Varus and his army were on their way back to winter quarters. (41) (55) Arminius convinced Varus, to take his legions on a more northern route to supposedly quell a rebellion. There was no rebellion; it was a ruse. Guided by Germanic auxiliaries, the route took the Romans into unfamiliar territory. “Confidently Varus marched on, still believing that Germania had been pacified and this was nothing more than a minor rebellion; as with many other Roman commanders they believed in using a show of force to give the locals second thoughts in rebellion; there is little doubt Varus believed this is what he was doing … ” (39C) The Romans set off in a casual march because they saw this as a routine mission. “Having campaigned all summer, it is likely the soldiers were growing weary and looked forward to the more relaxing winter encampments along the Rhine. This weariness may have contributed greatly to not observing their surroundings for signs of ambushes.” (39C) Besides, “the Romans,” says Wells, “thought they were invincible.” (1) Ultimately, Rome vastly underestimated the “barbarians” they faced. (29) Dios writes that “The Romans, even before the enemy assailed them, were having a hard time of it felling trees, building roads … They had with them many waggons and many beasts of burden as in time of peace … and a large retinue of servants were following them – one more reason for their advancing in scattered groups. Meanwhile a violent rain and wind came up that separated them still further, while the ground, that had become slippery around the roots and logs, made walking very treacherous for them…” In the driving storm, the tops of old-growth trees would break and fall causing confusion and creating what modern loggers call ‘widow-makers.’ Even with Roman axe-men felling trees, their roadway would have been narrow so they would have been stretched out in a long, thin and very vulnerable column. The terrain became more arduous and the forest denser. The line of march stretched out perilously long. When the army reached a point northeast of Osnabruck, they were ambushed. Dio says that Arminius had asked to be excused to check on auxiliaries but instead met up with the Germans to set up the attack. “While the Romans were in such difficulties, the barbarians suddenly surrounded them on all sides at once, coming through the densest thickets, as they were acquainted with the paths. At first they hurled their volleys from a distance; then, as no one defended himself and many were wounded, they approached closer to them. For the Romans were not proceeding in any regular order, but were mixed in helter-skelter with the waggons and the unarmed, and so, being unable to form readily anywhere in a body, and being fewer at every point than their assailants, they suffered greatly and could offer no resistance at all.” (26) “Roman armies were geared for set battles of mass maneuver, not for the guerilla warfare they would encounter in the rough terrain of a northern European old growth forest, just like the British and Hessian troops of King George III discovered in the dense old growth woods of the American back country during the Revolution.” (53) The battle was a regular ambush affected on a large scale. (55) Usually, undisciplined barbarians “generally vented their fury in the first onslaught: after that they could be butchered. Arminius plan was to keep the Romans on the defensive and allow his men to sustain their assault.” (55) The German strategy was to pin the Romans into a tight area of unforgiving forest and marshy terrain in which they could not execute their usual combat tactics. (29) “Since they were marching in close formation and few could see much beyond the men immediately around them, those behind kept marching forward and crashed into their fellows. At first, soldiers farther back in the column were unaware of what was happening toward the front, and they kept pressing on.… Like a chain-reaction highway crash, men piled into one another.…” (35) This is similar to military tactics known as “defeat in detail” (34) where attacking units are strengthened by proximity to supporting units. The attackers exploit the failure of defenders to coordinate and support their units under attack as well as taking advantage of defenders’ lack of communication with their commanders. “Wounded, dying, and already dead men quickly covered the track, making movement increasingly difficult for the others. The scene was one of complete chaos — spears falling like hail, men collapsing and gasping, even those not yet wounded struggling to remain on their feet, and occasionally frenzied horses and mules crashing through the swarm of troops. Within minutes, thousands of Roman soldiers lay dead or dying, pierced by spears, while others struggled to stay on their feet and to use their shields for shelter.” (35) One major disagreement among historians is the duration of the battle. “Was it a long, drawn-out, three or four-day affair or was it a single furious assault?” (55) Roman historians may have stretched it out to show the Roman army in a more favorable light. Accurate Roman accounts of the battle are scarce because the totality of the defeat produced so few survivors and they were ordinary soldiers lacking the overall perspective of the commanders. (14) “The discrepancies reflect their different positions during the chaotic battle, and are in fact proof that our authors are not simply repeating imperial propaganda.” (14) Velleius Paterculus writes the battle lasted three days while Dios says four days. Despite Arminius’s strong leadership, it would be surprising if the undisciplined Germanic tribesmen could have held it together for so many days on end. In any case, the results speak for themselves. Der Spiegel writes that “Traces of fighting have been found in a wide area around Kalkriese, which ties in with accounts by Roman historians that the battle lasted four days and began with ambushes on the thin column of legionnaires and supplies that stretched 15 kilometers along narrow forest paths.” (8) The rain soaked and loosened the sinew strings of the Roman bows rendering them useless. Their wood and hardened leather shields became waterlogged and cumbersome as well as soft and vulnerable. “Their opponents, on the other hand, being for the most part lightly equipped, and able to approach and retire freely, suffered less from the storm. Furthermore, the enemy’s forces had greatly increased, as many of those who had at first wavered joined them, largely in the hope of plunder, and thus they could more easily encircle and strike down the Romans, whose ranks were now thinned, many having perished in the earlier fighting.” (26) In brief, the Romans were in unfamiliar territory, trapped in a rough and wooded terrain in a driving rainstorm, unable to execute standard military tactics and double-crossed by allies communicating with the enemy. They were confined to a narrow gap between the woods, a 350-foot high hill (Kalkreise) and the swampland at the edge of the Great Bog. “From a tactical standpoint there is no way the Roman Army could have survived this ‘perfect storm’ of tactical obstacles.” (53) Arminius deliberately chose the season, the route and the terrain to maximize the Germans’ advantage and minimize the Romans’. From his Roman military experience, Arminius knew that the Legionnaires would be weary from a long summer of campaigning. As well, he recognized and capitalized on Varus’s incompetence as a General. There was ample time that summer for the tribesmen to have dug a trench and construct a zig-zag wall about 500 yards in length. Arminius’ understanding of Roman military tactics and their weak points was evident in the archaeological discovery “of a wall 4 feet high and 12 feet thick, built of sand and reinforced by chunks of sod … The wall zigzagged so that the Germans on top of it could attack the Romans from two angles. They could stand on the wall, or rush out through gaps in it to attack the Roman flank, and then run back behind it for safety. Concentrations of artifacts were found in front of the wall, suggesting that the Romans had tried to scale it. The dearth of objects behind it testifies to their failure to do so.” (1) Paterculus writes that, “Hemmed in by forests and marshes and ambuscades, it was exterminated almost to a man by the very enemy whom it had always slaughtered like cattle, whose life or death had depended solely upon the wrath or the pity of the Romans.” (27) It was indeed a slaughter. “Roman casualties have been estimated at 15,000–20,000 dead…” (3) Estimates … peak at 25,000.” (51) “All Roman accounts stress the completeness of the Roman defeat.” (3) VARUS’ INCOMPETENCE Varus’ other mistakes and misjudgments include: – Rival chieftain Segestes who was Arminius’ father-in-law, warned Varus of Arminius plans, but Varus trusted Arminius and dismissed the allegations as a continuation of a personal feud between Arminius and Segestes. (1) (51) – He expected no ambush and thus did not send out reconnaissance parties ahead of his troops. (3) (51) – He positioned his legions where their fighting strengths were minimized, and those of the Germanic tribesmen maximized (33) Varus, “the wrong man in the wrong place” (31) making his last misjudgment took his life by falling on his sword in the prescribed Roman tradition. Ironically, his father, with the same name Sextus Quinctilius Varus, had also committed suicide (33) after the Battle of Philippi. and, according to Paterculus, so too had his Grandfather died before him. (27) “Varus, therefore, and all the more prominent officers, fearing that they should either be captured alive or be killed by their bitterest foes (for they had already been wounded), made bold to do a thing that was terrible yet unavoidable: they took their own lives.” (26) Thus Varus’s suicide left his men leaderless and destroyed what little morale and discipline they had left. “When news of this had spread, none of the rest, even if he had any strength left, defended himself any longer. Some imitated their leader, and others, casting aside their arms, allowed anybody who pleased to slay them; for to flee was impossible …” (26) “Only a handful of survivors managed somehow to escape into the forest and make their way to safety. The news they brought home so shocked the Romans that many ascribed it to supernatural causes …” (1) Stay tuned for Part 2 where we examine: The Battle’s Aftermath Modern-day consequences of the Battle Spineless Ass Media Who Rules Us? It’s going to get very interesting and extremely politically incorrect. Gerold August 1, 2016 Your comments are welcome! If you like what you’ve read (or not) please “Rate This” at the bottom. . REFERENCES (1) The Ambush That Changed History (3) Battle of the Teutoburg Forest explained (4) Arminius (6) Arminius (Badass of the Week) (7) Battle of Arausio (8) Battle of the Teutoburg Forest: Germany Recalls Myth That Created the Nation (10) Fox Eyes Roman-Era German Hero ‘Arminius’ (14) The battle in the Teutoburg Forest (16) The Battle of Teutoburg Forest (17) Battle of the Teutoburg Forest – Conflict & Date: (18) THE GERMAN-ROMAN WAR (21) Romans win battle of teutoburg forest: What is the result. (22) The Romans in Ancient Germany – A 2000th Anniversary (25) The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World/Chapter V (26) Cassius Dio on the battle in the Teutoburg forest (27) Paterculus on the Battle in the Teutoburg Forest (29) THE BATTLE THAT STOPPED ROME (30) (31) http://books.wwnorton.com/books/The-Battle-That-Stopped-Rome/ (32) Teutoburg Forest Explained (33) Publius Quinctilius Varus Explained (34) Defeat in detail explained (35) Teutoburg Forest: The Battle That Saved the West (37) Why did the battle of Teutoburg Forest have such an impact on Roman expansion into Germany? (38) A Look at the History of Germany – Rick Archer (39) Völuspá.org (39A) Build-up to war (39B) The Germans (39C) Teutoburg Forest (39D) The Spoils of War (39E) Impact after the Battle (39F) Modern Impact (40) Rome In The Teutoburg Forest (41) Annex A: Battle of the Teutoburg Forest between Paderborn Plateau and Haar (42) Once Upon a Time The Battle Of The Teutoburg Forest (44) ROME IN THE TEUTOBURG FOREST by James L. Venckus, LCDR (PDF) (51) Battle of Teutoburg Forest (53) Massacre at the Teutoburg Forest by Mike Anderson (58) The Varus Battle (Clades Variana) . ADDTIONAL SOURCES The Roman Empire and It’s Germanic Peoples – Wolfram, Herwig, tr. by Dunlap, Thomas The Battle That Stopped Rome – University of Minnesota specialist in Iron Age European archaeology, Peter S. Wells Battle of the Teutoburg Forest – Wikipedia (27) Paterculus on the Battle in the Teutoburg Forest Velleius Paterculus (c. 20 BCE – after 30 CE) Roman officer, senator, and scholar, author of a brief Roman History. In his Roman History, the Roman officer-historian Velleius Paterculus (20 BCE – after 30 CE) has included a description of the battle in the Teutoburg Forest (September 9 CE). The author was active in the Germanic wars and knew many of the actors personally. His account is the oldest surviving description of the battle and relies on eyewitness accounts; the battlefield has been discovered at Kalkriese. The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 1 The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 2 . SOURCES NOT USED (2) Book review: The Battle That Stopped Rome by Peter S. Wells (5) Duplicate of (4) Arminius Explained (9) Questionable source – Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (11) Current affairs, not relevant to the article – Merkel Confronts Facebook’s Zuckerberg Over Policing Hate Posts (12) Summary of Der Spiegel article (8) – Germany Recalls Myth That Created the Nation (13) Book review – How the eagles were tamed http://www.spectator.co.uk/2004/03/how-the-eagles-were-tamed/ (15) – Biased source – The Return of the Warrior… Rise Arminius! HTTP://THINKTRIBALLY.ORG/ARTICLE/THE-RETURN-OF-THE-WARRIOR-RISE-ARMINIUS/ (19) – Unreliable source – Teutoburg Forest – The Worst Defeat in Roman History http://historum.com/ancient-history/42-teutoburg-forest-worst-defeat-roman-history.html (20) Current affairs – not relevant to this article – Germans needed for National Geographic filming! http://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/thread-5951.html (23) Readers’ comments – What prevented the Romans from conquering, or at least colonizing present-day Germany? (24) Repeat of Creasy (25) – The Great Events by Famous Historians/Volume 2/Germans under Arminius Revolt Against Rome (28) Book review – Review of Peter S. Wells’ ‘The Battle That Stopped Rome’ (30) Another book review of Peter Wells’ book above (36) Questionable source – The Decissive Battles of History: Ancient Battles –Teutoburg Forest (9 AD) http://histclo.com/essay/war/swc/bat/anc/bat-tf.html (43) Book review – Rome’s Greatest Defeat: Massacre in the Teutoburg Forest Paperback by Adrian Murdoch (45) Battle of Teutoburg Forest Antimoon (46) Quora reader’s comments – How did the Battle of Teutoburg Forest shape modern German history? (48) Book summary – http://listverse.com/2015/09/06/10-tiny-things-that-nearly-changed-history/ Morris M. September 6, 2015 (49) Book review – Rewriting History: A Collection Of Essays Ponders The Possibilities If Things Hadn’t Happened The Way They Did (50) Readers’ comments – Battle of tuetoberg forest essay (52) The Teutoburg Massacre – End Game by Mike Anderson (54) Readers’ comments – Why were the Romans unable to conquer Germania? (55) Questionable source – IBDP battle of Teutoburg Forest (56) Almost identical to Der Spiegel article (8) – Battle of the Teutoburg Forest Germany Recalls Myth That Created the Nation (57) German Archaeologists Hail New Find – Discovery of Roman Battlefield Poses Historical Riddle (60) Readers’ comments – Why were the Romans unable to conquer Germania?News in Science Massive galactic cloud survey begins Galactic gas Astronomers have begun the mammoth task of mapping the largest structures in the Milky Way galaxy, the giant molecular clouds where stars are born. The survey, led by Professor Michael Burton of the University of New South Wales, could answer long standing mysteries about how these clouds are created, and whether they're the missing source of high energy gamma rays. "One of the largest unresolved mysteries in galactic astronomy is how these giant, diffuse clouds form in the interstellar medium," says Burton. "These clouds are the centres of the galactic ecosystem. They play a key role in the cosmic life cycle of the birth and death of stars." Galactic clouds contain molecular hydrogen and other gases, the building blocks of new stars, at temperatures of just a few degrees above absolute zero (-273°C). Only gas at this temperature moves slowly enough to form the molecules that will eventually form new stars. In the Milky Way, a new star is born about once a year on average. Stars that die and explode enrich these clouds with new elements. Each of these clouds can be up to a hundred light years wide, covering vast expanses of interstellar space, and containing up to a million times the mass of the Sun. "But we don't yet have a clear view of where these molecular clouds lie," says Burton. "We're making a new map, scanning along the southern Milky Way galaxy at a higher resolution than has ever been seen before. We only have a fairly murky view of what it looks like at the moment." Cold molecular hydrogen is hard to detect, because it doesn't emit energy at such cold temperatures. So instead, Burton's team are looking for carbon monoxide, which does emit energy. "It is the second most abundant molecule and the easiest to see, so we can use it to trace where these clouds are located." says Burton To find these clouds, Burton's team is using the 22-metre Mopra millimetre wavelength radio telescope at Coonabarabran in outback New South Wales, which survived the devastating bushfires which ravaged the region earlier this year. "Despite being the most massive objects in our galaxy, it's still a big mystery as to how they [the clouds] come together," says Burton. "They must form out of atomic gas, but the process has been completely invisible." The dark side Burton's team will also be looking for "dark" galactic gas clouds, which contain very little carbon monoxide and which are thought to be mostly made up of molecular hydrogen. They'll use telescopes in Chile and at the South Pole to search for the presence of carbon atoms, rather than carbon molecules, a process Burton calls "following the galactic carbon trail". Dark clouds could be the missing source of gamma rays, produced when high-energy cosmic rays generated by extremely powerful events such as supernovae, collide with the nuclei of gas atoms or molecules. "The source of more than 30 per cent of gamma rays remains unidentified - another big mystery our research could throw light on," says Burton. "Telescopes have started to make the first maps of our galaxy in gamma rays, and it's turning out that these maps are looking roughly similar to the molecular cloud maps." "So there's clearly an association between the production of gamma rays and where the molecular clouds are," says Burton. "Part of what we are trying to do is understand what that association is." The results of the initial 'pilot' stage of the survey appears in the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia.Israel's Operation Protective Edge enters its third week on Tuesday, and the IDF's ground incursion into the Gaza Strip moved into its fifth day. Nine IDF soldiers were killed on Monday, raising the number of Israeli military fatalities since the operation commenced to 27. At least 130 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began its ground operation, raising the recent escalation's death toll in Gaza to 604, with 3,700 wounded. International efforts to stop the fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip will resume Tuesday, following Monday’s arrival in the region of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. The topic of discussion will be another humanitarian cease-fire, in the hope that if both sides agree, it will then be possible to move forward toward a lasting cease-fire based on the Egyptian proposal. SUBSCRIBE TO HAARETZ AND GET FULL COVERAGE For Monday's live updates, click here 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. Close Latest updates: 7:52 A.M. Senior Israeli officer tells Haaretz: IDF attacked 20 'terror targets' in Gaza overnight, 20 terrorists killed in the past 24 hours. (Gili Cohen) 6:53 A.M. Rocket siren sounded in Hof Ashkelon, Eshkol regional councils. (Haaretz) 5:11 A.M. Two Israeli soldiers were killed Tuesday evening in fighting in Gaza Strip, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit says. The deceased are Capt. Dmitry Levitas, 26, of Jerusalem and Geshur and 1st Lt. Natan Cohen, 23, of Modiin. They were both officers in the IDF armored corps. They were killed by sniper fire in the Gaza Strip. Over the last 24 hours, three soldiers were seriously wounded, nine were moderately wounded, and eight sustained light wounds. Since the Gaza operation began, 29 soldiers and officers were killed. (Haaretz) 4:44 A.M. Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg urges the reversal of the U.S. ban on flights to Israel, and says he will board a flight to Tel Aviv in solidarity with Israeli people. 4:35 A.M. Palestine Liberation Organization senior official Yasser Abed Rabbo says PLO endorses supports Hamas' demands for halting Gaza hostilities. "The Gaza demands of stopping the aggression and lifting the blockade in all its forms are the demands of the entire Palestinian people and they represent the goal that the Palestinian leadership has dedicated all its power to achieve," Abd Rabbo says in Ramallah, the West Bank. "We are confident Gaza will not be broken as long as our people are standing beside it to support it through all possible means until the invaders understand that our great people inside the homeland and outside will not leave Gaza alone." (Reuters) 3:05 A.M. For the first time since an unprecedented diplomatic rift among Gulf powerhouses, Qatar's emir flew to Saudi Arabia late Tuesday in a surprise visit and met with King Abdullah to discuss the Gaza cease-fire efforts. A senior Saudi official told The Associated Press that Saudi Crown Prince Salman, and Deputy Crown Prince Muqrin also attended the meetings with Qatar's Sheik Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in the coastal city of Jiddah. (AP) July 22 11:16 P.M. The UN Human Rights Council is slated to hold a meeting Wednesday morning over the IDF operation in Gaza, and is expected to issue a severe condemnation of Israel, to include operative steps. The Palestinians and Arab countries have filed the Council with a draft, which includes the establishment of an international commission of inquiry to probe alleged war crimes and violations of international law by Israel. The draft does not mention Hamas. Despite Israeli lobbying with the Council's member states to prevent the meeting taking place, the Palestinians managed to get the signatures necessary to hold the meeting. The U.S., most of the EU states and additional Western states, including Australia and Canada, are expected to oppose the draft. However, the Palestinians are believed to have a majority. (Barak Ravid) 11:06 P.M. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asks U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to intervene to resume U.S. flights to Israel, sources in the Prime Minister's Office say. Earlier it was reported that the FAA prohibited all U.S. airlines from flying to and from Ben-Gurion Airport "for a period of up to 24 hours."(Barak Ravid) 10:52 P.M. An unexploded rocket lands near a house in Rahat in southern Israel. Damage was caused to the house, and three people suffered from shock. On Tuesday, 67 rockets and mortar shells landed in Israeli territory, and 18 rockets were intercepted by Iron Dome. (Shirly Seidler, Gili Cohen) 10:42 P.M. Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Tel Aviv turns back, airline halts flights for 24 hours. (Reuters) 10:27 P.M. Rocket alert sirens in Be'er Sheva. 10:20 P.M. IDF bombs the Khan Younis house of Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas' military wing, according to Palestinian sources. 10:07 P.M. Two Palestinian gunmen open fire at Givati Brigade soldiers in southern Gaza. No soldiers wounded, and the Palestinians were killed in returned fire. (Gili Cohen) 10:04 P.M. Four rockets explode in open areas in the Be'er Sheva area. No damages. (Shirly Seidler) 9:57 P.M. Sirens sound in southern city of Be'er Sheva, surrounding areas. 9:54 P.M. Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour appealed on Tuesday for the United Nations Security Council to adopt a resolution calling for a cease-fire. "The council must play its rightful role and contribute to the urgent efforts to secure a ceasefire," Mansour said. "The Security Council still has a responsibility to act to stop the slaughter of innocent men, women and children... We are not numbers, we are human beings," an emotional Mansour said, showing the council photos of Palestinian civilian victims. (Reuters) 9:26 P.M. Europe Air Safety Agency (EASA) to issue "strong recommendation" to avoid Ben-Gurion International Airport until further notice. (Reuters) 9:22 P.M. France Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says the death toll exceeding 600 in Gaza is not acceptable, and calls for the "massacres and attacks" to stop immediately. "It was not acceptable that a country was threatened by missiles and that missiles landed on it, but the response must be proportionate," Fabius told TF1 television. "When we are talking about 600 dead, it is obviously something that we can't accept. The massacres and attacks must stop immediately."(Reuters) 9:18 P.M. Barrage of rockets fired at south and central Israel 9:17 P.M. Rocket intercepted over Bat Yam, another rocket explodes in open area in Gan Raveh in southern Israel. (Gili Cohen) 9:15 P.M. UNRWA discovers a hidden rocket cache in an abandoned school for the second time in a week. UNRWA states in a press release that the abandoned school was located between two schools, and "strongly and unequivocally" condemned the group responsible for storing the rockets there. UNRWA says it will launch a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding this incident. (Barak Ravid) 9:01 P.M. Air Canada cancels tonight's departing flight and tomorrow's return flight to Israel, following the lead of U.S. and European airlines. 8:59 P.M. Rocket sirens sound in West Bank, central Israel and southern Israel. 8:52 P.M. Since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge, pilots from El Al, Arkia Israel Airlines and other foreign airlines reported daily attempts to blind them, which originated from Qalqiyah, Jaljulia and Kfar Qasim. Police are handling the complaints and transferring them to the Counter-Terrorism Unit. (Yaniv Kubovich) 8:36 P.M. Israel's Transportation Ministry called on the airlines to reverse their decision and said it was trying to explain that the airport was "safe for landings and departures." "Ben-Gurion Airport is safe and completely guarded and there is no reason whatsoever that American companies would stop their flights and hand terror a prize," it said in a statement. (Haaretz) 8:28 P.M. Lufthansa Airlines - which includes Germanw
for the Senate against a little-known Barack Obama in 2004, lost his job on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown in the immediate aftermath of offering critical remarks about the president, whom he termed the worst in history. “This is the land the land of opportunity because you can be anything you want to be if you work,” the 76-year-old said. “If you don’t work, that’s a different problem.”A new Swiss study implying LSD assisted treatment has recently been conducted. Its very positive results seem to second the findings that were once commonly accepted (especially during the 1960’s). LSD (i.e. lysergic acid diethylamide) is a compound whose properties are psychoactive and were first discovered by dr. Albert Hofmann in 1943. The doctor was the first to conduct series of experiments and studies to prove that its therapeutic qualities should be part of the formal medicine. Dr. Hofmann also discovered that Psilocybin is found in psychedelic mushrooms (which have been used as an alternative form of treatment by various cultures in history). The first experiments conducted at the beginning of the LSD research the correlation between the studies was widely accepted and the scientific community encouraged it as alarge scale tratment for different affections. In 1963, Charles’ Savage of Standford University study on 144 patients who were given LSD and mescaline reflected the undeniably positive results: during the follow-up, up to two years after the study, 83 per cent of the subjects described their experience as one of ‘long benefit’. The experiments were resumed during the last decade, as controlled clinical trials. The LSD-assisted psychotherapy study in people suffering from anxiety associated with advanced-stage life threatening diseases was sponsored by Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). Its results show that LSD-assisted psychotherapy with 200µg LSD generated a clinically relevant response ion subjects, before and after the adjustments for multiplicity. The statistical significance in state anxiety and the trend in reduction in trait anxiety were proven as well. The safety conclusions of the study brought out that the LSD-assisted psychotherapy didn’t have any serious adverse effects on the subjects, and the small ones (described in the literature) were self-limiting and didn’t require any type of intervention. Rick Doblin, the founder and president of MAPS declared on a recent interview that ‘[w]e’ve just completed the world’s first study of the therapeutic use of LSD in over 40 years, in Switzerland to treat anxiety associated with end-of-life issues. Eleven of the 12 subjects had never done LSD before and there were no serious adverse events, even in people facing death’. Another great finding of the research is that the anxiety remained at reduced level even a year after the study was made, impliying that the effects are rather durable as well, reason for which the study will be pursued on a larger scale. Enjoyed this article? Join 40,000+ subscribers to the ZME Science newsletter. Subscribe now!The mother of Amar Ateek, 19, of the rebel Free Syria Army (FSA) mourns during his funeral in Anadan, north Syria, on April 21, 2012 - Freedom House The two Norwegian-Somali teenagers who left last week to fight in Syria have told their father that they are ready to die in the struggle. Norwegian channel NRK spoke to the father in Hatay, on the Syrian border with Turkey, on Tuesday night, as he tried to find his two daughters before they crossed into the war-torn country. He said that he had managed to get through to the eldest daughter on her phone since she left Norway, and had received an email from them. "Both in the email and the phone call, she told that she has traveled to Syria to participate in jihad and perhaps die there," he told he channel. "She is willing to die." He said he believed that the two sisters, aged 16 and 19 years old, had been brainwashed. "Both must have been brainwashed. I do not know by whom, but it must have happened in Norway. I call it brainwashing when you are persuaded by one or more people that you have to go to Syria to die there," he said. The father contacted Norwegian police as soon as he received the email from the two sisters, who then put out a message on interpol. The father told NRK that he believed the two girls were still in Hatay and had yet to cross the border, although the eldest had now stopped picking up her phone. "She answered the phone when I called. I tried to convince her that what she had done was wrong," he said. "She interrupted me and said, "Dad, just forget it. It's too late. " He said he believed that the daughters planned to help by doing humanitarian work, rather than fighting. The family is not particularly religious, but the older girl recently became radicalised and started wearing a full-face veil, or niqab.FILE PHOTO - A man looks from a building in the financial district of Canary Wharf in London, Britain November 3, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Coombs LONDON (Reuters) - International executive search firm Odgers Berndtson is opening an office in Dublin as companies set up businesses or add staff in the Irish capital following Britain’s decision to leave the European Union. A number of firms have said they plan to expand or open subsidiaries in Dublin if Britain does not retain access to the single market, including insurer XL XL.N and asset manager Legg Mason (LM.N), though the city is competing with other centres for such business, including Frankfurt and Luxembourg. “The growth of our business depends on being able to provide a high level of support to major global clients as they address some very significant challenges posed by Brexit,” said Odgers Berndtson’s chief executive, Kester Scrope. Use of the English language and high levels of education were among the attractions of Ireland and the Irish workforce, Charlie Thompson, a partner in the financial services practice at Odgers Berndtson, told Reuters. Odgers Berndtson has 56 offices in 28 countries following the Dublin opening.City of Portland transportation officials have issued $67,750 in fines to the ride-sharing company Uber, but have yet to penalize a single driver. Uber has been operating its service in Portland for 10 days, defying city rules for taxis and town cars. The city, led by Mayor Charlie Hales and Commissioner Steve Novick, has sued Uber, seeking a judge's injunction to block the company from operating. City code enforcement officials have in those 10 days issued 16 penalties to Uber, a San Francisco company valued at $40 billion. The city has issued a fine to Uber each time city code enforcement officers with the city's Bureau of Transportation have successfully ordered a ride from the company's phone app. The fines started at $1,500, but have since gone up to $10,000 for each incident—$5,000 for operating a cab without a permit, and another $5,000 for not displaying a valid taxi decal on the vehicle. Frank Dufay, the city's private for-hire transportation manager, says officials have chosen to not fine any of the drivers caught so far. Instead, the city has sent drivers warning letters. But he warns the grace period is ending. "We wanted to give them a warning before we started hitting the drivers with the big penalties," Dufay says. "We're going to start that this week." Meanwhile, a federal judge today rejected an effort by city officials to move its lawsuit against Uber back to Multnomah County Circuit Court, where the city first filed it. Uber got the case moved to in U.S. District Court last week, arguing it would lose more than $75,000 by complying with city rules.When it comes to third party game development, Nintendo — particularly with the Wii — hasn't had the best of luck. Surprisingly, despite the uncertainty of its success, the Wii U has received a decent amount of third party support from developers and publishers, at least when you look at their past systems. Ubisoft, EA, Activision are just a few of the companies committed to bringing their games to the Wii U. Maybe they see some potential in the Wii U's hardware? Or maybe it's just a convenient system to develop for. Vigil Games, a developer who is currently porting Darksiders 2 to the Wii U, described the process of bringing their game to the new system as "surprisingly easy". "Technically, it’s one of the easier platforms to develop for," Vigil Games Lead Designer Haydn Dalton told us. "We had our core game up and running on it in a very short amount of time." "There were no major problems for us developing the Wii U version," he said when asked if the process of porting Darksiders 2 to the Wii U was a difficult one, "other than making sure we had a dedicated team to do it justice. For a new platform, it was surprisingly easy to port it to the Wii U." "Initially, the base code port was tackled by our internal tech team, but as Darksiders 2 started to ramp up heavily, we handed ownership over to a separate team at THQ Montreal," Dalton explained. "The Montreal team sent us regular updates and documentation about how they were going to implement the unique elements of the Wii U’s hardware." As far as Darksiders 2's gameplay and graphics on the Wii U, Dalton wouldn't commit to saying they were a step up, but rather a "step in a different direction." Owners on the Wii U can enjoy numerous bonuses including extra content, the option to play solely on the GamePad's screen, and the ability to easily navigate within the inventory directly from the GamePad screen. Darksiders 2 is set to release for the Wii U on November 18, 2012, alongside the launch of the console. As far as other third party developers and publishers working on the Wii U, if the process is as easy as Vigil describes, we'll hopefully see more support in the future.An end to spot checks There is, however, an alternative. “Because we apply the temperature sensors directly to the sealing bar, we receive direct information about every single packaging unit for each sealing process,” explains Gregor Wendt, scientist at Fraunhofer IVV in Dresden. If the temperature is too high or too low, it can be adjusted immediately at the machine – before large numbers of incorrectly sealed units of packaging start flowing off the line. The inline quality inspection method also reliably recognizes products that have become wedged in the packaging, such as a piece of candy that has slipped into the seam. This works as follows: when sealing bars seal films together, the films absorb some of the bars’ heat. Accordingly, the bars cool down a little. How far the temperature drops depends on the mass of the object wedged in the packaging. If a piece of candy has strayed into the sealing zone, it also absorbs some of the heat – the bars cool down faster than without wedged goods. The highly sensitive system is even capable of detecting coffee powder in the seam – and of doing so faster and more accurately than the sensors that have been used in sealing processes up to now. For the sensor itself, the coating specialists use thermocouples manufactured in established thin-film processes. They vapor-deposit the various materials of the thermocouple in a vacuum directly onto the sealing bar. With a layer just a few hundred nanometers thick, the resulting sensor is extremely thin and has a very short response time. At Fraunhofer IWM, researchers are developing adapted protective coatings for specific industrial applications. Meanwhile, their colleagues at Fraunhofer IVV in Dresden are integrating sensor-fitted sealing bars into packaging systems and handling the ways in which sensors make contact. In tests on a laboratory sealing unit, the research team has already been able to verify that the sealing process with an integrated thin-film sensor functions properly. In further steps, the scientists are currently working on solutions to adapt this technology to the tools generally used in industrial manufacturing including the high number of cycles and wide variety of film materials this entails. Thermocouples For the thermocouple sensor, the Fraunhofer research group connects two conductor tracks made from different materials – nickel and nickel-chrome – to each other at one end. If the temperature at this connection is higher or lower than at the “loose” end of the wires, a temperature-dependent electrical voltage is created between the tracks. Using this voltage, the temperature can be quickly and accurately calculated. “Thanks to our technology, companies can be virtually certain that each and every unit of film packaging is properly sealed– whether it contains food, drugs, or cosmetics. As a result, the probability of a packaged item not being correctly sealed is reduced significantly.” Contact Alexander Fromm Phone: +49 761 5142-134 Send E-mailIn what could be the largest (known) bartab in history, an unknown gentleman spent £203,948.80 ($323,483 at the closing GBPUSD spot rate) at Liverpool nightclub PlayGround - a purchase which included a £125,000 bottle of the world's most expensive champagne, Nebuchadnezzar of Armand de Brignac Midas, as well as a whole lot of other drinks, including among them 42 instances of "Pussy" at a low price of £3.00 (the Dire Straits definitely had that part right). The man "was there with about ten friends on a private table but after the big bottle came in they were mobbed by gorgeous girls." As for the man's background: an FX trader believed to be "in his early twenties." Sure enough, this will hardly help bridging the already uncrossable chasm between the 99ers (of whom virtually all can live for this amount for at least one year) and the "balance." Naturally, every hedge fund will now scramble to find and hire said generous patron, who due to his age one can assume was not former SNB head, and comparable FX trading whiz-kid, Philipp Hildebrand. From The Sun: Clubbers watched in shock as the man, believed to be a foreign exchange currency trader in his twenties, ordered it. Nightclub boss George Panayiotou ordered the DJ to play the iconic opening music to the film 2001: A Space Odyssey — Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra as it was ferried to the trader's table. One clubber said: "The club went wild when he popped this huge bottle of champagne, and they were handing out glasses of champagne to everyone in the VIP room. "There must have been about 60 of them at any time vying for his attention and he then ordered shots for every single woman in the club." And that kids, is why going to college is overrated, and everyone should start frontrunning central banks at the earliest age possible. Those curious what the club is like, here is a clip from the opening:Amazing Revelation from Hillary Clinton's Upcoming Book: Men Treated Me Badly and Made Me Lose I had no idea. Why couldn't she have shared this with us earlier? Specifically, she blames Bernie Sanders, who is, most agree, a man, and his "Bernie Bros" supporters, who are, some claim, also men, Specifically, she blames Bernie Sanders, who is, most agree, a man, and his "Bernie Bros" supporters, who are, some claim, also men, for her being a charmless grifter who didn't bother sending campaign literature to ground forces in Wisconsin. She said that his attacks against her during the primary caused "lasting damage" and paved the way for "(Donald) Trump's 'Crooked Hillary' campaign." Clinton, in a book that will be released September 12 entitled "What Happened," said Sanders "had to resort to innuendo and impugning my character" because the two Democrats "agreed on so much." This quote is included: This quote is included: "President Obama urged me to grit my teeth and lay off Bernie as much as I could. I felt like I was in a straitjacket." - HRC Obama too? The sacred scrolls say that he too has some features which may be confused as "man-like" at a distance. Obama too? The sacred scrolls say that he too has some features which may be confused as "man-like" at a distance. "Some of his supporters, the so-called Bernie Bros, took to harassing my supporters online. It got ugly and more than a little sexist," she wrote. "When I finally challenged Bernie during a debate to name a single time I changed a position or a vote because of a financial contribution, he couldn't come up with anything," Clinton wrote. "Nonetheless, his attacks caused lasting damage, making it harder to unify progressives in the general election and paving the way for Trump's 'Crooked Hillary' campaign." All these men doing this woman wrong. All these men doing this woman wrong. This is pretty funny: This is pretty funny: "She says a lot in this book, and some of it is going to surprise people..." a Clinton aide said, asking not be named because they were not authorized to discuss the book. We're all very surprised that the man-hating harridan is blaming man-like creatures, and that the self-pitying drunk is shifting blame to others. It's all too shocking, and I'm sure this will be riveting, rewarding read. We're all very surprised that the man-hating harridan is blaming man-like creatures, and that the self-pitying drunk is shifting blame to others. It's all too shocking, and I'm sure this will be riveting, rewarding read. Posted by: Ace at 04:35 PM MuNuvians MeeNuvians Polls! Polls! Polls! Frequently Asked Questions The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick Top Top Tens Greatest Hitjobs News/Chatby Staff | Aug 20, 2012 6:21 pm (8) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author Three weeks after a 15-year-old went missing, city detectives found her safe and sound at a friend’s house on Edgewood Avenue, according to Assistant Police Chief Archie Generoso. The girl, Leah Jackson (pictured), went missing since July 28. Her family feared she had arranged to meet an older man known as “Johnny” with whom she had conversed on Facebook. Police and the family issued several calls for public help in tracking her down. Police got a break over the weekend when Leah was caught on camera as she and some friends made a purchase at Target in Milford, Generoso said. Detective Rosealee Reed, who led the case, traced the credit card that was used in the purchase to an address in New Haven. The address was a year old, but it started a trail police were able to follow. The Target lead was the result of fliers put up by the family, said Leah’s mom, Shari Muhammad. A Target employee saw the fliers the family had put up about Leah’s disappearance, Muhammad said. That trail led to a home on Edgewood Avenue, where police found Leah Monday around 4:40 p.m., according to Generoso. Leah was safe with a friend and that friend’s family. “There was nothing nefarious,” Generoso said. “She was staying with a female friend her age she had found on Facebook. She was sitting watching TV.” Muhammad said on Tuesday that she had been telling cops from the beginning that Leah was with her friend Daisy, but she didn’t know where Daisy lived. She said the family still doesn’t have a clear sense of why Leah ran away. “She just shrugged her shoulders.” It took a while for Leah to understand just how worried her parents had been, Muhammad said. She said she took Leah to the hospital on Monday to get checked out, then came home late at night. When Leah saw the fliers her parents had made and posted around town, she started crying and saying, “I’m so sorry,” Muhammad said. “It took her a while to process everything, to come back to herself,” Muhammad said. “We don’t know what she endured.”Build an awesome Hero Header When people arrive on your homepage you have mere seconds to impress them, explain what you’re about and convince them to stick around. This is an important moment yet most sites miss the opportunity to impress and connect with their visitors. Let’s make sure your hero header stands head and shoulders above the rest. What to include in your Hero Header There are all sorts of ways you can tackle your hero header. You might want it to take over the entire page, maybe it needs to showcase new products, or explain in one short sentence what your brand does. There are some ingredients most hero headers share. These might include: An eye catching headline A call to action Large striking background image or video An embedded explainer video or animation A carousel showcasing featured content Company branding - logo or slogan Branding and navigation Animation Let’s go through each of these and see how each can be built into our hero header section. The headline We start with the headline. This is likely the first thing your visitors will read. It needs to be easy to understand while also conveying the right message. In this example, Mailchimp uses the space to explain that their service helps you “Send better email” and “Sell more stuff”. This is short and easy to read but also lets me know just what it is Mailchimp does. Getting the style right When making your text easy to understand, it also needs to be clear. Again in the previous example the dark text is set against a plain white background. There’s no way to miss that headline! A large, bold font helps too. In this example from Tito we see the text set against a background image. The image is faded a little to let the text stand out better. If you’re using background images it’s usually a good idea to go for large white text as it tends to be easier to read than dark text. Here are some handy tips on helping your text stand out on an image. The call to action Once you’ve established your initial message through the big, eye catching headline the next step is to guide your visitor into the action you want them to carry out. This might be clicking a “sign up” button, encouraging them to see your products or projects, or leave their email with you. This usually takes the form of a button or a form (with a button) and is called the “call to action”. When designing your call to action you need to make sure it stands out visually. This could mean using a brand colour as the background, making it large or placing it in a prominent position on the screen. Front and center just under the headline is a popular choice, but it doesn’t have to be. A good highlight colour can make a call to action stand out even when it’s up in the top right corner, like on this example from Each&Other. Once you have it in place, the next thing to consider is your choice of words. Think in terms of actions. What would you like your customer to do? Phrases such as “Get started”, “Download now” or “Sign up” are all very action oriented and help your visitor understand what the button means. Try to avoid terms like “Submit” or “Go”. A vague phrase here can slow people down, and what you really want is for your happy visitor to confidently press the button. The background image We have a strong message and an action. You might want to consider the wider page next. Many hero headers make use of large background images. These can really bring life to your design and help people connect with the message or feeling behind the design. There are lots of great places to buy royalty-free images. A Google search will turn up loads. When I’m getting started on a design I’ll often turn to Unsplash as they provide a load of great, free images that I can quickly try in designs and see what sort of images work best. Dimensions and file size When you’ve found your ideal image, you need to prepare it for your hero header. You want the image to be big enough to cover the screen, but not so massive it takes a long time to download. Photos tend to scale up on very large screens quite well so I would usually scale a photo down to about 1400 to 1600px wide. This should look good on most screens. Photos should be saved as JPEG files and compressed. Depending on the type of photo you could expect the finished file size to be about 200 to 500KB. Larger sizes will become slow and noticeably delay your site’s loading times. You really want your hero header to appear quickly, so making sure the images you use are compressed is important. I use Tinypng as a last step in compressing my images. Don’t worry about the name, it’ll work on.jpg files too! Filling the entire viewport Screens can be all sorts of sizes. Often we want our hero header to fit itself to the screen but it’s hard to know whether people will have a wide short browser window, or a narrow tall window. We can use two tricks to get our hero header to fill the available space. Setting the background size to cover and the height of the hero header to 100vh. .hero-header-container { background: url(/images/awesomephotodude.jpg) no-repeat center; background-size: cover; height: 100vh; position: relative; /* Useful for any “absolute” positioned elements inside */ } Setting the background image size to cover tells the browser to scale and crop the image in such a way that it fills the available space. Keep in mind this means it could crop the sides off on a tall screen, or lose the top and bottom on a wide screen. Experiment to see which works best for you. (Hint: using media queries to show different images at different widths and heights could be an idea here.) The “vh” stands for “viewport height” and is a percentage. In this way 100vh means the entire viewport height. Adding a gradient on top We have our lovely background image but now we find it’s hard to see our headline! This happens a lot. There are a couple of ways we can fix this. One way might be to blur or darken the original photo. Like in the Tito example above, applying a filter to tone the image back really helps the headline stand out. Another approach might be to use the power of CSS. We can make use of CSS to apply a background gradient on top of our hero header’s photo. One way to do this might be to use a pseudo-element: .hero-header-container:before { background: linear-gradient(to bottom, rgba(0,0,0,.5), rgba(0,0,0,.8)); content: ""; position: absolute; top: 0; right: 0; bottom: 0; left: 0; } Here we add a before pseudo-element that sits behind our content but in front of the background image. In this case it’s a gradient from grey to darker grey. You could substitute a solid colour or a different gradient, or even a background image. Alternately you could add a background colour or image to your heading. The main idea is to make sure your foreground text stands out against the photo, like in this example from Bulmers.ie. Background video Sometimes having a big image isn’t enough, and you need something more. A popular option is to embed a video in the background of the page and have it play automatically on load. In this example from Storyful we have a full-screen background image showing the way the company works. Videos can look great but you need to make sure they’re optimised for the web. This means keeping them short, usually 10 to 20 seconds at most. They should be scaled down to a relatively low resolution and compressed so that the file size is close to 10MB or so. Videos can be hosted on your own server but it’s usually better to use a service such as Embed.ly to take care of the hassle. If you’re looking for great free videos to get started, I’ve found Coverr a great starting point. It’s like Unsplash but for video. You can even mix in a bit of a background image with transparency to act as a mask in front of the video, as seen on this lovely site from Adapt. Explainer video Setting the scene on your hero header with a background image or video might not be enough. We can still use video though, but put it front and center to tell the story of our brand. In this example from the (now dead, sadly) HomeHero site we see a big video that automatically plays on load. We can embed videos like this from Youtube (or Vimeo if you prefer). If using Youtube, the simplest way is to use their iframe embed option. You can add some custom settings to make it look tidier. Here’s an example: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0jhDAVkdsAI?modestbranding=1&cc_load_policy=0&iv_load_policy=3&vq=hd720&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> In this I’ve set the modestbranding to “1”, the vq to “hd720” and rel to “0”. Modest branding means the Youtube logo is more subtle, the vq setting tells it to use a higher quality than the default, and the rel tells it to not show related videos after the video finishes. There are loads more options in Youtube’s docs. Carousels This can sometimes be a tricky one. In the earlier days of the web we had this idea that there was a “fold” (a newspaper term) at the bottom of the screen beyond which all content and hope was lost. This is not necessarily true but the idea persists. Before considering whether a carousel is the right idea, read up on how to do it right. You might not need a carousel at all. Still, rules are made to be broken. Apple.com uses a carousel on their home page. They do so in a way that uses a small number of different screens, which change slowly. Their hero carousel also stops animating once you interact with it and has navigation at the bottom. A carousel can be useful for your hero header but be cautious. You don’t want to confuse your visitors with too many messages. Branding and navigation With an eye catching headline, a clear and intruitive call to action, beautiful images and video, your hero header is looking pretty good. Don’t forget your branding and navigation! As we can see in the examples pictured above, it’s common to place your logo in the top left and the menu on the top right. This is a convention and helps visitors know where to look for this information. Sometimes your call to action might be placed alongside the menu. If you do, it can be helpful to highlight it as a button to help it stand out as the most important action. Make sure the logo and navigation links are easy to read. If using a large background image you might want to place a bar along the top to help the logo and links stand out. Thinking beyond the “fold” While it can be impressive to take over the screen with your hero header, it’s also ok to let people know there’s more to see below. People are pretty good at scrolling on the web and on mobile it’s even easier than clicking. You can make use of this by having the content that follows your header be visible, encouraging people to scroll. Still, studies do show that the information that people see first is more important than the rest of the page. “What is visible on the page without requiring any action is what encourages us to scroll.” In short, make the most of what’s visible when the page first appears, but also keep in mind that people do scroll. Even if they find that content less important. Break the rules! The approaches laid out here are hopefully useful but don’t be afraid to try your own approach. A nice example is the landing page from BaseCamp. At first glimpse it seems a little chaotic. Their logo is in the middle. Their menu is split up on both sides and they have three headlines. Still the header works in my opinion. It clearly shows the problem being solved, it has a highlighted call to action on the top right and the layout encourages people to scroll. Animation With an awesome hero header in place, something is missing. It’s just loads and appears suddenly. The next step is to add in animation! Next we’ll make your hero header animated.When President Obama took the stage at McCormick Place in Chicago well after midnight, we were all too wiped out with joy or depression or Nate Silver auto-refresh fatigue to pay careful attention to the speech the newly reelected president delivered. The phrase that lingered in most of our sleepy ears was the reprise of his career-launching invocation of the United States as being more than red and blue states. So soaring, so unifying. But those words were merely the trappings of magnanimity draped over an argument that was, at its core, harsher than the one he had regularly delivered during the campaign. The telling phrase came when Obama turned away from the thank-yous and patriotic hymnals into the guts of his remarks. “Despite all our differences,” he transitioned, “most of us share certain hopes for America’s future.” The key term here is “most,” as opposed to “all”—“most” meaning less than 100 percent and possibly as little as 51 percent. He attributed to most Americans a desire for great schools, a desire to limit debt and inequality: “a generous America, a compassionate America.” Obama then proceeded to define the American idea in a way that excludes the makers-versus-takers conception of individual responsibility propounded by Paul Ryan and the tea party. Since Obama took office, angry men in Colonial garb or on Fox News have harped on “American exceptionalism,” which boils our national virtue down to the freedom from having to subsidize some other sap’s health insurance. Obama turned this on its head. “What makes America exceptional,” he announced, “are the bonds that hold together the most diverse nation on Earth. The belief that our destiny is shared; that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future generations.” Obama invoked average Americans living out this ethos of mutual responsibility (such as a “family business whose owners would rather cut their own pay than lay off their neighbors,” the example of which stands at odds with the corporate ethos of a certain ­Boston-based private-equity executive). And even the line about red states and blue states began with the following statement: “We are greater than the sum of our individual ambitions.” Presumably more was at work here than mere uplift. The president was establishing the meaning of his victory. Even in the days leading up to Tuesday, clouds of dismissal had already begun to hover overhead. The election was “small,” in the words of one story in the conventional-wisdom-generating machine Politico, and “too narrow and too rooted in the Democratic base to grant him anything close to a mandate,” in the words of another. “I don’t think the Obama victory is a policy victory,” sniffed Romney adviser Kevin Hassett. “In the end what mattered was that it was about Bain and frightening people that Romney is an evil capitalist.” Like every president, Obama won for myriad reasons, important and petty. But his reelection was hardly small and hardly devoid of ideas. Indeed, it was entirely about a single idea. The campaign, from beginning to end, was an extended argument about economic class. It began last December, when Obama delivered a trademark Big Speech in Osawatomie, Kansas, where Teddy Roose­velt once spoke, on government’s place in mitigating income inequality. It was, in a sense, an extension of his failed budget negotiations with House Republicans. Obama had decided that his reelection effort would be an attempt to go over Speaker of the House John Boehner’s head and bring to the voters the proposition he couldn’t get the opposing party to accept: that both moral decency and plausible budgeting required an end to George W. Bush’s tax cuts for the rich. Though liberals may have found Obama’s second presidential campaign less joyful than his first, it’s worth noting that it was thematically sharper and more progressive. Even the ads attacking Mitt Romney’s history at Bain Capital, which could charitably be described as one-­sided, supported the general theme. Republicans had deified the rich—they were “job creators” whose interests were wholly synonymous with those of the rest of us. The testimonials of the victims of Bain Capital certainly were a personal attack on Romney, but to view them as just a personal attack is to miss the blunt symbolic overtones. Conservatives, of course, were dying to join the great debate over class—dying to listen to their standard-bearer assail Obama as a redistributionist and lay out a ringing defense of economic freedom. Romney constructed much of his summer campaign around Obama’s wrenched-out-of-context line “You didn’t build that,” conveying the party’s belief in the centrality of business owners, a notion for which Romney himself served as the main avatar. And when he selected Paul Ryan, the chief party ideologist, as his running mate, it seemed as though the battle of ideas was about to be joined in full.Does the US government prevent academics from using WikiLeaks material? New Internationalist digital editor Chris Spannos explains. *This is part two of a series on the ongoing war between WikiLeaks and the International Studies Association. Read part 1 here. The International Studies Association (ISA) and its associated journal, the International Studies Quarterly (ISQ), have not always prevented the publication of academic analysis that relies on classified and leaked data. The ISQ published classified data from the Pentagon Papers -- a now well-known secret Department of Defence study examining US political and military intervention in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967 -- which then-military analyst Daniel Ellsberg leaked to the public in 1971. The Pentagon Papers were not declassified until 2011, but decades before the ISQ accepted -- and published -- submissions that aimed to understand how the US had tacitly deceived its negotiating partners in the 1954 Geneva Conference (including by, for example, declaring desired political outcomes in public while expressing different more self-interested goals in private). While the ISQ's 1979 paper relied sparsely on the then-classified papers, another study the following year cited the documents as part of its primary source material. "The Search for the 'Breaking Point' in Vietnam: The Statistics of a Deadly Quarrel" by John E. Mueller sought to understand the US rational for trying to smash Vietnamese resistance during the war. Mueller relies on the Pentagon Papers to “prove” the “reasonableness” of the US’ strategy in Vietnam and the region. It was reasonable for the US “to go on bleeding [the North Vietnamese] until Hanoi wakes up to the fact
she issued orders. "Shino, you and Hinata are playing tag with my clone," Anko said, raising her voice just enough to be heard. "Being tagged is bad, so don't get tagged." Two of the clones crumbled away; the survivor sped up and started coming for both Shino and Hinata. Razor-sharp steel glinted in each hand. "Naruto, you and I are working on the uses you and Shino discussed for that earth jutsu," Anko said. "Grab some kunai." "Yes, sensei," Naruto said quickly. He reached into his kunai pouch...and paused. He tugged, but his hand stayed firmly inside the pouch. "Uhh...," he said. "Sensei...I think I'm, uh, stuck." Anko raised an eyebrow. "This is no time for games, Naruto," she said disapprovingly. "Get the damn kunai and let's get to work, I'm not in the mood." She produced a kunai of her own and started twirling it between her fingers. Naruto watcher her do it and started to sweat. He tugged harder, still without success. Hinata twisted aside from the Anko-clone's latest lunge, frowning. "Sensei, there's syrup from a Syrup Trap jutsu inside Naruto-kun's pouch." Anko raised an eyebrow. "Really? Hm. Okay, bring it in." The clone that had been chasing the other two genin crumbled. Gratefully, a panting Shino and Hinata slowed down and rejoined their teammates. Anko shook her head in disappointment. "Naruto, I find it rather embarrassing that my student was so inattentive. How could you let this happen?" "Well, I...um," Naruto said, distracted by his efforts to pry his hand out of the pouch. He'd untied it from his belt so at least his arm was free to move, but he couldn't get it out of the pouch and was having no luck peeling the pouch off his hand. Shino frowned. "Do we know when it happened?" he asked seriously. "It would be useful to know in order to prevent it from happening again." Hinata cocked her head in thought. "Sensei...," she said slowly. "Did you put the syrup there?" "Hm?" Anko said innocently. "Why would you think that?" Hinata eyed her suspiciously. "It occurred to me that I did not notice whoever put the syrup in Naruto-kun's pouch. Furthermore, I did not notice the syrup itself, which I would have if my point of focus had ever been on Naruto-kun. It hasn't been, though...on the way out here we were required to take separate routes while you hunted us through the streets. Since we got here, you've kept us all running from your clones. You put the syrup there, didn't you?" "I swear I did not put syrup in Naruto's pouch," Anko said virtuously. "I haven't played any pranks on him since we got to Sound." "Hang on," Naruto said. "You said you didn't put the syrup there, you didn't say you weren't involved. You were deliberately being a distraction, weren't you? But you wouldn't help someone from Sound..." He looked over to where Shino stood, stone-faced as always. "Shino-kun?" "Yes, Naruto-kun?" Shino asked. "Did you put syrup in my kunai pouch?" Naruto demanded. "Hm," said Shino. "It's a bit of an epistemic question, wouldn't you say? If the Universal Genjutsu theory is true, then you are nothing but a figment of my imagination. In such a case, could it be said that the pouch in question was yours? Or, alternatively, perhaps you are the target of the Universal Genutsu, and I am merely a figment of your imagination. In that case, you would effectively have put the syrup in your own pouch. Alternatively, it could be that—" "Graar!" Naruto said, pouncing on his teammate in mock-fury. Shino shunshined aside, laughing, then started running as his teammate pursued, waving his trapped hand dramatically overhead. o-o-o-o Three days later, the team was breaking for lunch. Anko had been having them explore the city for the past few days instead of spending all their time at the training field. The extra free time had caused the prank war to escalate out of control; Shino and Naruto had each suffered a variety of petty indignities and minor embarrassments, with the first day going mostly in Shino's favor due to clever use of his kikai. Naruto found his bum being tickled by kikai wings when he sat on the toilet. Two hours later, his pants dissolved in the supermarket, revealing themselves to actually have been a physical-henged bug clone of his pants. He walked out an office building only to find that the stairs had been subtly displaced three inches through careful use of illusion-henged bug clones lying on the steps. He tried to hide in the crowd by making dozens of clones; no matter how many he made, Shino always knew which one was really him and would target him unerringly with simple kitchen jutsu that soaked him, soaped him, or scoured him clean. In contrast, Naruto's initial attempts at retaliation were repeatedly foiled—multiple shells of kikai warned their master of the blond's approach every time, and whenever Naruto thought he'd finally mousetrapped Shino it turned out to just be a bug clone...which would then promptly swirl into the words 'ha ha you missed' or something less polite. On the second day, the balance of power had shifted rapidly when Naruto realized that the kikai bugs couldn't resist nibbling on available chakra and they tended to get sleepy when they overate. He plunged repeatedly into the middle of Shino's swarm, flaring his chakra to force-feed the bugs until they were so sated they couldn't stay awake. With Shino's eyes thus disabled, the scales of prank justice started rapidly evening up. First, Shino found the contents of his canteen replaced by pure sake. Next, he was caught by a low-powered explosive tag which blasted the contents of a paint-filled balloon all over him. Things went downhill from there. Anko had insisted on certain rules: Hinata wasn't allowed to help either side, the bedroom was safe, mealtimes were safe, and anyone pranking her would earn a fate more painful than a thousand lemon-soaked razors. Because of the enforced meal-time armistice, and because Anko was in a remarkably good mood and had allowed actual cooking for lunch, the team was able to laugh and joke together while eating their rice and chicken. Shino's mouth still tightened slightly when Naruto's hand rested briefly on Hinata's leg or back, but he was referring to his teammate as 'Naruto-kun' again. o-o-o-o Two weeks later, night was spreading its cloak when the team arrived at their cottage to find Orochimaru lounging on the porch. He was sprawled bonelessly in a rocking chair, eyes closed, fingers laced over his stomach, with outstretched legs crossed at the ankle. "What do you want, sensei?" Anko demanded. Orochimaru lazily opened one eye and studied his former student before opening the other and sitting up with an exaggerated stretch. "I was wondering when you'd get back," he said, flowing up to his feet. "Aren't you going to invite me in for tea? Surely I taught you better manners than that, little bird?" Anko's lips pursed as though she'd bitten something sour. "Won't you please come in and have tea, sensei?" she asked. "Oh...," Orochimaru said. "Well, I had intended just to stop by briefly, but it would be rude to refuse an invitation. Yes, thank you, I'd be delighted." He turned and strode inside. Anko watched after him grumpily before leading her team inside. Orochimaru was waiting in the living room, kneeling seiza with a quiet smile. Anko waved the genin to sit while she went off to the kitchen to make the tea. Hesitantly, they sat down in a circle in front of Orochimaru. "I assume that Hinata-san has told you about her intention to immigrate?" Orochimaru said politely. "Yes," Naruto said. "Why?" "Well—ah, thank you, little bird," Orochimaru said as Anko came back in with a tea tray. "Your tea, sensei," she said, setting a cup tea down in front of him with a little too much force; some of the tea slopped onto the floor. Orochimaru shook his head regretfully. "Ah, little bird, you need to stop being so careless." He used a minor kitchen jutsu known to every housewife in the Elemental Nations to evaporate the water, then took a sip of the tea. "I thank you for your excellent tea," he said, giving Anko a polite nod. She passed the other tea cups out to the genin and took one for herself. Orochimaru took another sip, then set the cup aside. "So. Hinata-san will be joining Sound. The next question is what the three of you will be doing." "Hinata's not joining—" Anko said, before stopping in surprise as Orochimaru laid a finger across her lips. "Little bird, I grow weary of your voice," Orochimaru said, smiling gently. "I think it would be best if you were seen and not heard for a time." She glared at him, but remained silent; she knew better than to disobey her former teacher when he used that very calm tone. "Now, let's see...," Orochimaru said. "Where to start...? Hinata-san, you will be pleased to know that your emigration to Sound has been arranged. Konoha has convincing evidence that you are dead, so no one will be looking for you. Alas, your father's injuries ended up being non-fatal. My apologies for that." The team stared at him, appalled. "W-w-what?" Hinata said. Orochimaru sipped his tea quietly, then set it down gently. "I felt it necessary to provide a strong message that child abuse is not acceptable," he said. "To that end, I sent my agent to Konoha equipped with one of my five remaining claymore mines. Four days ago, as your father was walking to the Council hall, my agent detonated the claymore twenty yards away from dear Hiashi-san. The blast filled the entire street, so there was nowhere to dodge; unfortunately, your father used his Kaiten jutsu to block the actual balls. The blast hurled him into a wall, breaking both legs, his pelvis, and his left arm, but he was released from hospital yesterday and is expected to make a full recovery." "B-bu-but...but..." Hinata stammered. "Y-y-you...but..." "There was, of course, a pursuit," Orochimaru continued. "My agent was seen running into the woods around Konoha, where he was met by an escort of missing-nin, you among them. A team from Konoha caught up to them; there was a major battle, the signs of which were visible for quite some distance. When a follow-up team of ANBU arrived, they found that the forest had been destroyed in a half-mile radius after an immense ninja battle. There were bodies—well, pieces of bodies—scattered everywhere, nearly all of them burned beyond recognition. One of those bodies was yours; although none of the pieces were large enough to be firmly identified, a DNA analysis will confirm your identity. You are quite convincingly dead and therefore in the clear." "But...my father...the Byakugan will show that the body isn't mine," Hinata said desperately. "The exact locations of my tenketsu, the specific folding pattern of my brain tissue—" "Will all match," Orochimaru said. "The 'you' that was killed was a clone." He paused, then shrugged and sipped his tea. "Well, there will be differences due to prenatal development, but I doubt very much that the inspection will be that close." Hinata frowned. "Wait, a clone? Wouldn't it have just popped?" "Not a chakra clone," Orochimaru said. "A genetic clone. I took a sample of the blood left behind from your session in my laboratory and grew a copy of your body. Unfortunately, the technique that I use to accelerate cell division does not cause the mind to develop as quickly, so the body had the mind of a week-old infant; even a cursory encounter with a living clone would demonstrate that it wasn't the original. That won't matter here, though; my team were very careful to add enough battle damage to make it convincing that you had fought alongside them. And that, of course, was before they blew it up and burned it." "You...you made them think I attempted to assassinate my father?" Hinata demanded, shocked. "How could you?!" Orochimaru shrugged. "Rather easily, actually. Growing a clone is something I was doing back before I left Konoha; I've had years to perfect the technique. Trust me, it will pass muster." He took another sip of his tea, then gave Anko an approving nod. "Mm, this really is excellent tea, my dear. You haven't lost your touch." "Why would you do that?" Hinata asked, tears starting to run down her cheeks. "You wished to immigrate," Orochimaru said. "This was the most effective way. Had you simply disappeared your father would have insisted on an unending series of missions to locate you in order to ensure that your eyes didn't fall into the hands of outsiders. Had you been killed attempting to return to Konoha, he would have insisted on that same series of missions to erase the stain on the family honor caused by your defeat by a 'clanless inferior'. No, the narrative here is clear: you grew weary of the abuse, so you defected—which is true—and you were recruited to lend your insider's knowledge to a mission intended to assassinate the head of the Hyuuga clan and therefore destabilize Konoha." He considered the teacup for a moment, then set it down and poured himself a fresh cup. "When the Hokage and the Hyuuga start digging, they will find evidence that one of your father's political rivals—Nishimura, one of the civilian representatives—may have been behind the attack. It will seem quite plausible, since Hiashi-san is currently the sole obstacle to a land deal that would benefit Nishimura-san to the tune of several hundred million ryo. Behind that, though, is another set of trails showing that the evidence against Nishimura is false, planted by agents of Lightning in an effort to destabilize Konoha." Team Anko stared at him in horror. "Let me get this straight," Naruto said. "You thought that the best way to help Hinata-chan immigrate to Sound was to make it look like she had betrayed her home and tried to kill her father?" Orochimaru eyed him with a raised eyebrow. "Yes," he said. Naruto scowled at him. "That's...that's just...Gah!" "Understand something, all of you," Orochimaru said. "This is not a game. Ninja villages are populated by very powerful, very paranoid murderers. Hinata-san is the heiress to the most powerful clan in the most powerful ninja village in the Elemental Nations. Her departure from Konoha needed to be absolutely convincing, and needed to form a narrative that would be believed easily enough to not be questioned too deeply. I've created an explanation that should do that; the death is incontrovertible and the story behind it is solid. The average person will believe that Nishimura moved to eliminate a rival. More clever people, and those with an intelligence background, will look underneath that trail and find the connection to Lightning. Should anyone somehow manage to see underneath that underneath, they will find no evidence to lead back here." Anko raised a hand like a student wanting to be called on. "Yes, little bird?" Orochimaru said. "There is no way that they'll believe it," Anko said. "The Konoha intelligence division is the best; whatever lies you've laid down over the past couple of weeks, they'll find the holes and figure it out." Orochimaru snorted. "Oh please," he said. "I've been laying these trails for over a decade; they're rock solid." "You what?!" Anko said. "Well what do you expect?" he asked. "I knew I was eventually going to want to kill someone in Konoha. I've been setting up the methods ever since I left; it was simply time to activate the plans for dear Hiashi-san." He sipped his tea again, then sighed. "I do regret that the attempt failed," he said. "Removing him from the Council would have opened up some extremely useful political options, as well as making operations in Konoha simpler by removing the strongest Byakugan user." He shook his head. "The man can see the entire damn village at all times. I ask you, how am I supposed to get anything done under those conditions?" He sighed. "Oh, and I hate to disappoint you," he said, "but the Konoha intelligence division is actually quite unimpressive. For example, they don't even know where Tsunade is right now—one of the most powerful ninja in the world, definitely the best medic, and they let her drop right off their map." He shook his head in disgust. "Ridiculous. Not only that they don't know where she is, but that they let her go in the first place." "She had the right to leave," Anko said. "The losses she suffered during the War broke her." Orochimaru snorted. "Don't be an idiot," he said. "During the war, she wanted to train medic-nin and incorporate them onto teams, but sensei told her that we didn't have enough resources; fine, perhaps that was true. She was useful on the battlefield, that's certain—Jiraiya even felt that she is the reason we won the war. Stupid and wrong, of course, but a grain of truth in it. After the war, though, she should have been immediately assigned to training every ninja with the slightest desire to become a medic. She also should have been given therapy so that she didn't go into that stupid depression and leave." Anko raised an eyebrow. "Why, sensei, you sound...sentimental." Orochimaru rolled his eyes. "She was my teammate, my friend, and an incredible asset that the village threw away. And now they don't even know where she is! Idiots!" "Why haven't you recruited her, then?" Naruto asked. "If she's such an incredible asset, why is she wandering around out there instead of in your hospital teaching people?" "For a time, she was," Orochimaru said calmly. "We had a disagreement about experimental protocols and she left." "Excuse me, but I believe we are wandering off-topic," Shino said. "The focus here should be on what you did to Hinata-chan." "I did nothing to Hinata-san," Orochimaru said. "I simply arranged for her to get what she wanted—to be out from under her abusive family and safe in an environment that will reward her considerable skills." "But...," Hinata said, before trailing off. Tears were running freely down her cheeks and her body was shook with silent sobs. "Now, the question remains as to what we do with the three of you," Orochimaru said. "I certainly don't intend to hold you against your will—" Naruto snorted. "—however, you should be aware of the implications of your actions," Orochimaru continued, smoothly ignoring the interruptions. "Should you return to Konoha now, you will need to explain how Hinata-san became separated from your team long enough to defect. They will also want to know who the people are that she became involved with, and how she came in contact with them without your knowing and stopping her. "You have several options," he said. "You are welcome to stay here; should you wish to enlist, I have plenty of useful tasks for all of you. Alternatively, if you prefer to remain on the civilian side, there is a great deal of work for non-combat ninja—plowing and irrigating fields, digging sewers and foundations, raising walls for buildings, producing small Syrup Traps for temporarily fastening things together, the list goes on." He paused to survey the disgruntled expressions on the faces of his audience for a several moments before shrugging. "Alternatively," he said, "you could depart. I would suggest becoming missing-nin instead of trying to join one of the other villages; your value as sources of intelligence on Konoha outstrips your value as individual ninja and you would most likely spend the rest of some short and unpleasant lives in the Torture and Interrogation department of whatever village you went to." The genin looked at each other unhappily. "Well done, sensei," Anko said sourly. "You've chopped off all the options, haven't you?" "By no means," said Orochimaru. "You could also go back to Konoha and tell them the truth...that you were captured by the traitor Orochimaru, who brought you unharmed to his village, provided you with comfortable quarters and a certain amount of training, and kept you there for weeks—during which time you failed to use a summoning message to notify the village of your whereabouts—and then let you go." He calmly sipped his tea again. "You should probably also have an explanation for why Hinata-san's dead body was found alongside a group of missing-nin who had just killed a number of Konoha nin, but how that was an imposter and the Hinata-san who is returning with you is the real one. Oh, and, should you decide to invalidate all the work I did in arranging Hinata-san's emigration, you might want to figure out how you're going to prevent her abuse from continuing. I feel confident her father would beat her quite badly in punishment for 'embarrassing the clan' by being cast as a defector. I expect that hospitalization would be the best outcome, with death seeming far more likely." He sat back, studying them carefully while team exchanged unhappy and helpless looks. "Suppose we did stay," Shino said. "What would our lives look like?" "That would be largely up to you," Orochimaru said. "For you, Shino, my preference would be to have you as the first instructor at the Sound College I am building. I wish you to train others in the rationality techniques of your clan. I would, of course place you in charge of a fully-staffed biology laboratory so that you can breed and study your kikai. "Hinata-san, you would be spoiled for choice as to your assignment," he said. "Your record at the Konoha Academy was extremely impressive, you have nearly perfect chakra control, and the Byakugan allows you to read and synthesize immense amounts of material at once. If you prefer helping people, you could go for medical training, become an intelligence analyst, or join the administration and help me with the thankless task of keeping forty thousand people fed, clothed, and not killed by a foreign village. If you prefer fieldwork, I have a wide array of intelligence-gathering missions that you would be perfect for." "I...I...um...t-th-thank you," Hinata said. She bowed her head, twisting her fingers together miserably. Orochimaru eyed her for a moment. "If you prefer something else, we could probably make it work," he said. "I will add that I hope you choose to become an intelligence analyst. I desperately need help learning the secrets of the Republic and working out a plan for how to stop them, and you would be more valuable at that than ten other ninja. Regardless of your choice, I would like to arrange an appointment for you with a therapist. A history of abuse is a pervasive thing, and talking to a trained professional about it can help." "Oh...um...t-thank you," Hinata said, pressing her fingers together. Orochimaru gave her a polite nod of respect before turning to the last member of the team. "Naruto-san, I have considered the discussion we had while you were in the hospital," he said. "I am not convinced that training you is the best use of my time, but you have enough potential that I'm willing to give you a chance. I will accept you as a student on an interim basis; if you can prove to me that you're worth my time, I'll make it a permanent arrangement." He held up a finger to halt Naruto's outraged response. "Understand, my duties as Chuikage leave me very little time. Anko will have to remain your primary sensei, as I will have only an hour or two a day to work with you. If you prove yourself, I will give you a slot in the Grand Tournament six weeks from now. I am looking for a protégé to be the next Chuikage, and the top four in the Tournament will be the first candidate pool." "Are you kidding?" Naruto said. "I'm not going to be your minion! And Anko-sensei is my sensei! Sure, she's crazy and violent and mean as a snake—no offense, sensei—but she's mine! I'm not going to study with you!" "Ugh," Orochimaru said in disgust. He glanced over at Anko. "Really, little bird, what have you been teaching him?" "Hey!" said Naruto. "Listen, boy," Orochimaru said. "You want to become strong so that you can protect your people? Anko is a highly skilled jonin, worthy of respect from any A-rank ninja in the world. I am the Snake Sannin." Anko quickly jumped in, her face pale. "Sensei, he didn't mean—" "I fear I overestimated you, boy," Orochimaru said, ignoring Anko completely. "I had assumed you would be smart enough to take the opporunity to study with me; my only question was how you would justify it. I was hoping that you would show gratitude while pretending to be reluctant...perhaps even saying something about how, since 'Hinata-chan' was going to be here in Sound now, you would need to find a way to fit in. I was expecting that you would be surly, seeing the advantages but too poor an actor to pretend. I have to admit, I didn't expect you to be a big enough moron to refuse." He shook his head. "Honestly. Here you had the opportunity to study with one of the greatest ninja alive and, more importantly, spend time at my side—just think of the possibilities! You could have built trust in order to exploit it later. You could have gained access to village secrets—personnel files, maps, intelligence reports—any of which would be useful in your later escape attempt. You could perhaps even have attempted to contact Konoha and set up a position as a double agent." He shook his head again and pushed himself to his feet. "Never mind. You're powerful, but too stupid to bother with. I'll arrange a rear-echelon job for you; your power and the number of clones you can make will let you be useful, but you're too oblivious to be trusted with anything important." He sighed. "Be glad you're in Sound, boy. Here, you'll have a chance to be helpful. In any other village, you'd stay in the field until your foolishness killed you. Probably before you turned fourteen." "But—" Naruto said. Orochimaru waved a hand dismissively even as he turned to leave. Before he could take more than a step someone started pounding on the door. "Lord Chuikage! Lord Chuikage!" the voice called. "The gas lines have burst! The Eastern District is burning! Help!" Orochimaru's eyes went wide and the blood drained from his face. With the speed of his namesake animal, he grabbed Naruto by the collar and shunshined. He wasn't wasting time with doors; the entire wall exploded out of his way. Author's Footnote: I have a mailing list. (bit. do /dks-list for those who can't see links.) List members receive copies of my work before it is posted for sale on Amazon, as well as bonus content. Speaking of Amazon, you can look there for my other writing (bit. do/books-dks for those who can't see links). Finally, there's also a campaign (bit. do/dks-) should you feel generous and have a few disposable dollars. No worries though; I'll keep publishing stuff with or without donations.NVidia’s much-rumored GTX 1070 Ti will launch on November 2, 2017, with initial information disseminated today. The 1070 Ti uses a GP104-300 GPU, slotted between the GP104-400 and GP104-200 of the 1080 and 1070 (respectively), and therefore uses the same silicon as we’ve seen before. This is likely the final Pascal launch before leading into Volta, and is seemingly the response to AMD’s Vega 56 challenger of the GTX 1070 non-Ti. The 1070 Ti is slightly cut-down from the 1080, the former of which runs 19 SMs for 2432 CUDA cores (at 128 shaders per SM), with the latter running 20 SMs. The result is what will likely amount to clock differences, primarily, as the 1070 Ti operates 1607/1683MHz for its clock speeds, and AIB partners are not permitted to offer pre-overclocked versions. For all intents and purposes, outside of the usual cooling, VRM, and silicon quality differences (random, at best), all AIB partner cards will perform identically in out-of-box states. Silicon quality will amount to the biggest differences, with cooler quality – anything with an exceptionally bad cooler, primarily – differentiating the rest. As we understand it now, users will be able to manually overclock the 1070 Ti with software. See the specs below:Wrote daughter note: 'Sorry there are so many bags to go to clothing bank' A couple left their daughter thoughtful domestic notes before carrying out a meticulously-planned joint suicide pact, an inquest heard. Martin and Catherine Joyce, aged 68 and 66, also warned emergency service crews about the dangerous gas they had used to kill themselves at their £1.5million flat. Prior to their death in July, the pair - who are thought to have been plagued by mounting debts - taped a sign on a chair at their south Wimbledon property which read: 'Stop. Danger. We've committed suicide using gas.' Emergency services raced to the scene of the couple's £1.5million Wimbledon flat in July The couple were found lying side by side on the bed in their night clothes having planned their deaths in detail The couple were found lying side by side on the bed wearing their night clothes, having planned their deaths in detail. They packed up their possessions for their daughter Amanda and left a note on the kitchen table which read: 'Sorry there are so many bags to go to the clothing bank.' The couple, of Oxford House in Wimbledon, were directors of real estate company Insignia Partnerships Limited which is believed to have had debts of £87,000. Westminster Coroners Court heard the pair killed themselves because they could no longer 'lead the life they wanted.' Martin and Catherine Joyce warned emergency service crews about the dangerous gas they had used to kill themselves at their home (pictured) Coroner Shirley Radcliffe said: 'They were faced with the prospect of a change in their circumstances and lifestyle. 'They thought they weren't going to live the life the wanted. They agreed they didn't want to face that. 'It was incredibly well thought out and planned with minimum disruption to everybody.' 'They left notes making cogent reasons why they made this decision. 'They did not consider themselves depressed or fed up. This was a way of ensuring a good death.' On July 21, residents in the neighbouring flats were evacuated when alarms were raised about the presence of gas in their homes, before officers forced entry into the building. Detective Constable Talia Schurr told the inquest she found the sign on a chair as the entered the flat. The coroner said the rest of the flat was immaculate, adding: 'Everything was in place until entering the bedroom. There were no signs of anything of a violent nature or a struggle taking place. 'They made sure no one came into contact with hazardous substances when finding their bodies. 'There's no suggestion that one forced the other to do something they didn't want to do. 'It's extremely clear from the notes they left that they both made a decision together. It was agreed and planned'. Detective Constable Talia Schurr told the inquest she found the sign on a chair as the entered the flat The coroner said the couple had packed up their clothes for their daughter Amanda and left a note: 'They had prepared the bags and written that there was a supermarket trolley in the basement that could be used to load the bags into.' Ruling a verdict of suicide, Coroner Radcliffe said: 'Martin and Catherine were fit and well for their age. 'They were clearly well loved by each other and by their daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren. 'They very carefully thought out and planned a means by which they both killed themselves together in a relatively straightforward and painless way.' The post-mortem showed neither Martin or Catherine were under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of their death. The coroner recorded a verdict of suicide by asphyxiation in both cases.Getty Images Eventually, the annual “Sean Payton may leave the Saints” rumor is going to be right. That year could be this year. With multiple national reporters connecting Payton to the Rams, Larry Holder of the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that the Rams plan to seek permission to speak to Payton this week, and that Saints G.M. Mickey Loomis would be open to trading Payton. Technically, the Saints and Rams would work out the terms of compensation before the Rams speak to Payton about a contract to coach the Rams. It’s not a trade in the classic sense; the Saints don’t send the remaining contract to the Rams. Instead, the Rams work out a deal with Payton. And the Rams work out a deal with the Saints. As a practical matter, plenty of the nuts and bolts will be worked out on a wink-nod basis, with hypothetical conversations setting the parameters before the official launch sequence is engaged. Essentially, if the Rams and Saints ever get to the point where they are negotiating the terms of compensation for Payton, the Rams will know that they’ll be able to do a deal with Payton.FC Edmonton fights back twice to earn a point on the road The San Antonio Scorpions earned a point in a 2-2 draw with FC Edmonton thanks to Omar Cummings’ league-leading eighth goal and two assists from Billy Forbes. Forbes and Cummings showed early on why they are the Scorpions’ go-to offensive weapons. In the 17th minute, Rafael Castillo played a ball to Forbes on the right side of the Edmonton 18-yard-box. Forbes was tackled and briefly lost possession, but Cummings picked up the loose ball and fired a shot into the left inside netting to give the Scorpions a 1-0 lead. However, the young Eddies - whose lineup totaled just two goals on the season heading into the night - found their first goal in the 36th. Forward Michael Nonni tapped in a cross from left winger Johann Smith, evening the score before halftime. With inspiration from Julius James’ video message on the scoreboard, the red and black found the net once again in the 57th minute, this time from César Elizondo. Billy Forbes made a high-energy run along the left wing into the box, played the ball across goal, and found Elizondo with no one in front of him. The Costa Rican forward deposited his first goal of the season into the back of the net to give the Scorpions the 2-1 advantage. The most dramatic goal of the night came in the 72nd, this time off the foot of Edmonton midfielder Cristian Raudales. Left back Allan Zebie found Raudales unmarked on the edge the right side of San Antonio’s area. With a lack of pressure on the ball, Raudales stepped up and blasted a one-time effort past a diving Scorpions goalkeeper Daryl Sattler to even the game once again. One of the last real chances for the Scorpions came in the 78th minute with Forbes and Elizondo teaming up again to nearly give the Scorpions the winner. Forbes made yet another run into the left area of the box and played a cross. Elizondo was able to get a foot on the ball, but the shot sailed up and over the crossbar, preserving the tie. While the Scorpions couldn’t find the defense to capture their second win in a row, Billy Forbes made Scorpions history by appearing in his 35th consecutive game for the Alamo City boys. His 35-game streak surpassed former Scorpions forward Esteban Bayona’s all-time consecutive match streak, further cementing the Turks and Caicos Islands international’s legacy. Forbes’ two assists, his fourth and fifth of the season, also vaulted him to the top of the league’s assist leaders, tying him with Tampa Bay’s Georgi Hristov. As has been the case for the Scorpions this past week, rest will prove to be extremely valuable as the Scorpions will travel to North Carolina to face the third-place RailHawks on Saturday night to play their third game in eight days.Greg Oden was sidelined on Wednesday for the second straight practice due to swelling in his left knee. The Heat practiced in New York at Basketball City on Pier 36 in advance of Thursday's preseason game against the Nets. Oden, who is attempting a comeback despite chronic knee problems, sat out the Heat’s shootaround on Tuesday at
sunset Riddhi Shah Blocked Unblock Follow Following Apr 3, 2015 Like millions of others who grew up in the city during the 80s, I’ll never be able to call it Mumbai. The name Mumbai smacks of parochialism and insularity. It’s a reminder of the regional chauvinism that has begun creeping into every facet of life in the city — from street signs scrubbed clean of their colonial origins and replaced with the names of Hindu nationalist heroes; to bans on cow slaughter; to crackdowns on Valentine’s Day celebrations. But it also speaks of a city playing furious catch-up in a globalized world. As India’s nascent free-market economy booms and the country reaches for super-power status, Bombay becomes the primary vehicle for its aspirations. My Bombay, though, harks back to a quieter, gentler time — before freeways and sea-links crisscrossed its landscape, before skyscrapers rose in its amber sky, before malls, before Michelin-starred restaurants. All these symbols of the modern megapolis push Bombay further and further away from its origins as a collection of languid fishing villages. To experience the Bombay of times gone by, you must work a little. You must get out of your air-conditioned Uber, let the heat and humidity wash over you, and walk down lanes without names, asking locals for directions to that restaurant or bar that never made it on to the tourist map. A. Rama Nayak’s Udipi and Sri Krishna Boarding Your day starts at A. Rama Nayak’s — perhaps the oldest udipi restaurant in the city. It was founded in 1942 to feed bachelors who were arriving in droves from South India. Not much has changed since then. It sits on the second floor of a municipal market in the residential suburb of Matunga, and its patrons are largely working men. The restaurant isn’t much to look at: long granite-topped tables, flanked by red fake leather chairs, line the two sections of the restaurant, and the walls are bare. But what it lacks in decor, it makes up for with the food. During the lunchtime rush you’ll receive a numbered token, and be asked to take your place in the waiting room. Then, an electronic indicator will tell you when it’s time to enter the dining room. You can choose the unlimited thali (full Indian meal), which is served on a banana leaf and comes with multiple servings of rice, puris or chapatis (bread), vegetables, buttermilk, rasam (soup), dal (lentils), pickle and yogurt. If you’re a little less adventurous, opt for the plated meal which has limited quantities of each item. The food is simple and delicious, a world apart from the heavy curries that have become synonymous with Indian cuisine. A word of caution: You’ll only receive cutlery if you ask for it; they encourage you to eat with your hands. Ranwar Village With your belly pleasantly full, hail a yellow and black auto-rickshaw and head over to the hip Western suburb of Bandra. Tell the driver to take you to St. Jude’s Bakery in Ranwar village. He may have to ask around for directions but he’ll eventually drop you off at the mouth of a little enclave that’s markedly different from the glitzy shopping complexes and fancy apartment buildings that line Bandra’s narrow roads. Ranwar is the suburb’s only surviving “heritage precinct,” its residents are largely Catholic, and life here is unhurried and purposefully communal. Walk around the area, weaving in and out of small squares and interlinked lanes; stop at lime-washed crosses where women in frocks pray with rosary beads; and admire the 400-year-old cottages. Ranwar is also home to some interesting community-sanctioned graffiti. If you have a few minutes, stop at a house called ‘The Trellis’ for tea and a chat with Father Larry Pereira, who has appointed himself the village’s official historian. While efforts are underway to restore some of its crumbling cottages, signs of unrelenting modernization are tiptoeing into the neighborhood — in glass-fronted cyber cafes and the occasional multi-storied monstrosity. Visit the village before it gets swept away with the tides of the 21st century. David Sassoon Library Take a local train from Bandra into downtown Bombay, and get off at Churchgate station. The overground railways are the city’s lifeline, ferrying millions to and fro every day, and a ride on one of the trains offers an uncompromising — and sometimes disturbing—look at what residents must endure each day. From Churchgate, you’ll walk, or take a taxi, to the Fort area, from where the British administration conducted much of its business during the Raj. Photos by Hersh Acharya You’re looking for a respite from the afternoon sun, so head over to the David Sassoon Library and Reading Room, a colonial behemoth of a building in Kala Ghoda, Bombay’s art district. The library is home to thousands of rare books, but its true draw is the Victorian architecture —including a stairway lined with ornate balustrades, and shaded balconies lined with reclining wooden chairs that are perfect for an afternoon siesta. The 160-year-old library isn’t always open to the public, but sometimes you can get lucky if the librarian is in a particularly generous mood. If not, though, there’s also an art gallery in the foyer promoting new artists, along with manicured gardens that are open to all. You can also hop across the street to the bohemian Cafe Samovar inside the Jehangir Art Gallery. Samovar hasn’t changed much since the 1970s, where it was often a hotbed for activism and socialist conversation. It’s less revolutionary today, but maintains much of the charm. Try the samosas or the parathas if you’re in the mood for an afternoon snack. Bayview Bar at Hotel Harbor View Daylight is now slowly fading, and you want to be by the city’s shoreline to watch the sun dip into the Arabian Sea. Apollo Bunder, where the Gateway of India and the famed Taj Mahal Hotel are located, is a 17-minute walk away. But you’re not going to the Taj’s popular Sea Lounge restaurant to enjoy the sunset — it’s expensive and far too touristy. Instead, you’re going to walk further down the street to the little-known Hotel Harbor View, and then you’ll make your way up to its Bayview terrace bar. Here, you’ll sit amongst middle-class professionals and college students for an expansive view of the blue-grey sea and the many-hued dinghies bobbing up and down in it — for a fraction of the price.As the British gear up for a referendum to decide whether or not to remain in the EU, the most important fact about the EU is never mentioned. This is the overwhelming influence the US exerts on it. Britain’s politicians and media completely ignore this, focusing instead on Germany. Wild claims are even made the EU is a “German empire”. The EU is not a German empire. Germany is not the EU’s master. Rather its role is that of the US’s leading vassal. © AFP 2018 / MARC MÜLLER Europe and Germany Need New Government ASAP...'Without Angela Merkel' The dominant silent partner in the EU is not Germany but the US. What makes British silence about this so strange is that it is not even a secret. For example a source has told me US representatives routinely attend the EU’s Committee of Permanent Representatives (“COREPER”), though minutes of its sessions are edited to suppress the fact of their presence. However their regular attendance at sessions of a key institution of the EU — of which the US is not a member state — has been complained about on the floor of the European Parliament. Since COREPER prepares the agenda for the EU’s Council of Ministers (the EU’s key law making body) and co-ordinates the work of some 250 EU committees and working parties — in effect the entire EU bureaucracy — US presence at its sessions gives the US a decisive voice in the making of EU policy. Since the European Council decided to impose sectoral sanctions on Russia by the European Council on 31st July 2014 every single decision to extend the sanctions has been taken not by the European Council but by COREPER, though COREPER’s legal authority to make such decisions is questionable to say the least. © Flickr / David Levitz German Business Hungry to Return to Russian Market Despite Sanctions What happens in reality is that US President Obama tells German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Hollande to extend the sanctions, the Commission drafts the decision, COREPER ratifies it, and it is then published without further discussion on the Europa website. Italian Prime Minister Renzi has complained German Chancellor Merkel talks about EU decisions to French President Hollande and EU Commission President Juncker. They are then announced, and it is only then he learns about them. The EU is not unconditionally subservient to the US. President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry have admitted that a key reason the US agreed to the nuclear agreement with Iran was that the leading EU states insisted on it. However that it is the US which has the dominant voice in the EU is obvious. © REUTERS / Yannis Behrakis Get Out! German Politicians Want to Exclude Greece From Schengen Area German Finance Minister Schauble has for example said that during the Greek crisis last July German Chancellor Merkel reversed her backing for his plan for Greece to be expelled from the eurozone after being told to do so by US President Obama. The US objected to Greece’s expulsion from the eurozone from fear it might increase Russian influence there. Even in small matters like the escape of the US whistleblower Edward Snowden the EU simply did what the US told it. No EU state was prepared to grant him refuge. Instead they all came together to force down the plane of the President of Ecuador in the belief he was a passenger, despite this being contrary to international law. Though all this is well known to EU insiders, the people of the EU are told none of it. Nor are the people of Britain. Atlanticist sentiment in Britain is very strong, so possibly they would not object to it if they knew about it. The fact however remains they are being asked to vote about an EU they are not told the most important thing about. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Sputnik.Software development teams often make decisions about software architecture or technological stack based on inaccurate opinions, social media, and in general on what is considered to be “hot”, rather than solid research and any serious consideration of expected impact on their projects. I call this trend Hype Driven Development, perceive it harmful and advocate for a more professional approach I call “Solid Software Engineering”. Learn more about how it works and find out what you can do instead. New technology — new hope Have you seen it? A team picking newest, hottest technology to apply in the project. Someone reads a blog post, it’s trending on Twitter and we just came back from a conference where there was a great talk about it. Soon after, the team starts using this new shiny technology (or software architecture design paradigm), but instead of going faster (as promised) and building a better product they get into trouble. They slow down, get demotivated, have problems delivering next working version to production. Some teams even keep fixing bugs instead of delivering new features. They need ‘just a few more days’ to sort it all out. Hype Driven Development Hype Driven Development (HDD) has many flavors and touches your project in many different ways: Reddit driven development — when a team or individual decide on technology/architecture/design based on what popular blogger wrote or what is hot on reddit, hackernews, blogs twitter, facebook, GitHub or other social media. — when a team or individual decide on technology/architecture/design based on what popular blogger wrote or what is hot on reddit, hackernews, blogs twitter, facebook, GitHub or other social media. Conference driven development — watch carefully what happens after people are back from the conference. People get inspired. And that’s a two-edged sword. Starting to use newest hottest lib/framework/architecture paradigm without enough research might be a highway to hell. — watch carefully what happens after people are back from the conference. People get inspired. And that’s a two-edged sword. Starting to use newest hottest lib/framework/architecture paradigm without enough research might be a highway to hell. Loudest guy driven decisions — is when one guy is talking all the time about this new framework/lib/tech’s that he has no experience with but talks about it all the time and finally the team decides to use it. — is when one guy is talking all the time about this new framework/lib/tech’s that he has no experience with but talks about it all the time and finally the team decides to use it. Gem/lib/plugin driven development — especially strong in Ruby On Rails community, where occasionally I can see a Gemfile so long that the only thing longer is the time it takes to load the app. It comes from the idea that every problem in rails should be solved with a gem. Sometimes it would take a couple of lines to build a solution ourselves. But we’re just solving problems by adding libs, plugins, gems or frameworks. — especially strong in Ruby On Rails community, where occasionally I can see a Gemfile so long that the only thing longer is the time it takes to load the app. It comes from the idea that every problem in rails should be solved with a gem. Sometimes it would take a couple of lines to build a solution ourselves. But we’re just solving problems by adding libs, plugins, gems or frameworks. I would also mention here behavior popular among hype driven developers — Stack Overflow driven development — when developers copy-paste solutions from Stackoverflow (or in general from the internet) without really understanding them. HDD is how teams bring doom on themselves The problem with hype is that it easily leads to bad decisions. Both bad architectural decisions and technological stack decisions often haunt a team months or even years later. In the worst case, they may lead to another very problematic situation in software engineering: The Big Rewrite. Which almost never works out. The root of all evil seems to be social media — where new ideas spread much faster than they get tested. Much faster than people are able to understand their pros and cons. The Anatomy of Hype Most hypes have a similar structure. Here it goes: Step 1: Real problem and solution They start in some company with a problem. A team within some company decides that solution to the problem is beyond the current technological stack, process or architecture. The company creates a new framework, library or paradigm and soon the problem is solved. Step 2: Announcement, buzz, and keywords The team is excited to show their work to the rest of the world and soon they write blog posts and do talks on conferences. The problem oftentimes is non-trivial, so they are proud to present the impressive results of a non-trivial solution. People get excited about the new technology. The only problem is not everybody who gets excited is able to fully understand what the exact problem was and all the details of the solution. It was a non-trivial problem with a non-trivial solution after all. Takes more than a tweet, chit-chat or even blog post to explain. With communication tools like social media, blog posts and conference lightning talks the message gets blurred along the way. Step 3: Mania starts All shades of hype driven developers read blog posts and attend conferences. Soon the teams all over the world start using the new technology. Due to the blurred message — some of them make hasty decision to use framework even though it does not solve any of their actual problems. Yet the team does have the expectation that this new technology will help. Step 4: Disappointment As the sprints go by, the technology does not improve the team’s life as much as people hoped but brings a lot of extra work. There’s a lot of rewriting the code and extra learning for the team. Teams slow down, management gets pissed off. People feel cheated. Step 5: Realisation! Finally, the team does retrospection and realizes what are the tradeoffs of the new technology and for what purpose it would be more relevant. They get wiser… till the next hype shows up. Examples of Hype: Let’s examine some examples of hypes and see how those went through. Example 1: React.js Step 1: Facebook has a problem — advanced one-page apps like Facebook itself have, so many state changing events that it is hard to keep track what’s going on and keep the application state consistent. Step 2: Facebook promotes new paradigm with buzzwords: functional, virtual DOM, components. Step 3: Mania: Facebook has created the front-end framework of the future! Let’s write everything in react from now on! Step 4: Wait there is a lot of work, but no quick return on investment! Step 5: React is great for an advanced one-page app with lots of real-time notifications but does not necessarily pay off for simpler applications. Example 2: TDD is dead by DHH Step 1: David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH, creator of Ruby on Rails framework) realises that it is hard to do TDD with Rails as this framework doesn’t have architecture supporting good OOP. Makes a pragmatic choice — not to write tests upfront. Step 2: Hype starts with DHH blog post and conference talk. Hype keywords: TDD is DEAD. Step 3: Let’s skip tests! Our Guru says so. We didn’t write them anyway. Now we’re at least not pretending. We’re finally honest. Step 4: Wait! Even fewer things work now than before. We’ve built a buggy code. Step 5: “TDD is not dead or alive. TDD is subject to tradeoffs, including risk of API changes, skill of practitioner and existing design” — Kent Beck. Example 3: Microservices Step 1: Big monolith application scales hard. There is a point when we can break them down into services. It will be easier to scale in terms of req/sec and easier to scale across multiple teams. Step 2: Hype keywords: scalability, loose coupling, monolith. Step 3: Let’s rewrite all to services! We have a ‘spaghetti code’ because we have a monolith architecture! We need to rewrite everything to microservices! Step 4: Shit! It is now way slower to develop the app, difficult to deploy and we spend a lot of time tracking bugs across multiple systems. Step 5: Microservices require a lot of devops skills in the team and with right investment might pay off as a way to scale the system and team. Before you reach serious scale issues it’s an overinvestment. Microservices are extracted not written. You must be this tall to use microservices. Example 4: NoSQL Step 1: SQL databases have problems with high loads and unstructured data. Teams around the world start developing the new generation of databases. Step 2: Hype keywords: Scalability, BigData, High Performance. Step 3: Our database is too slow and not big enough! We need NoSql! Step 4: We need to join tables? That is a no go. Simple SQL operations are becoming increasingly challenging. Development is slow and our core problems are not solved. Step 5: NoSql are tools to solve very specific problems (either extremely high volumes of data, unstructured data or very high load). SQL is actually a great tool and handles high load and huge data volumes well if used skillfully. The case for NoSql is still pretty rare in 2016. Example 5: Elixir and Phoenix (or put your favorite lang/framework pair here) Step 1: Web frameworks like Ruby On Rails don’t deal well with high performance applications, distributed applications, and websockets. Step 2: Hype keywords: Scalability, High Performance, Distributed, Fault-tolerant. Step 3: Oh my god, our application is slow and our chat is not scalable! Step 4: Wow, learning functional programming and distributed approach is not that easy. We are now really slow. Step 5: Elixir and Phoenix is great framework, but takes a significant effort to learn. It will pay back in a long run if you need specifically high performance app. The list goes on and on: In this crowded space of computer engineering, we have a lot of areas where hypes are common. In JavaScript world, new frameworks are born everyday. Node.js (keywords: event programming), reactive programming, Meteor.js (keywords: shared state), front-end MVC, React.js. You name it. In software engineering, new architectures are born: Domain Driven Development, Hexagon, DCI. What is your favorite hype?If you surf the internet, it's thanks to him Father Roberto Busa was born on November 28, 1913, in Vicenza, Italy, and died in August 2011. He entered the seminary in 1928, the Society of Jesus (that is, the Jesuits) in 1933, and was ordained a priest on May 30, 1940. He studied philosophy at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and his thesis on “the Thomistic terminology of interiority” it was published in 1949. His thesis, however, was not his most important work on Aquinas: Father Busa is also the author of the “Index Thomisticus: Sancti Thomae Aquinatis operum omnium indices et concordatie,” a work in 56 volumes of almost a thousand pages each. That’s quite a resume on its own, but Father Busa, in a classic Jesuit fashion, went magis. That is, excelsior. Father Busa (who, of course, was a professor of Thomist philosophy, and mastered Latin, Greek, German, French, English and Spanish in addition to his native Italian) is the father of hypertext. Stefano Lorenzetto, a journalist from L’Osservatore Romano, summarizes Busa’s work stating that “if you browse the internet, you owe it to him; if you go from one site to another by clicking the links marked in blue, you owe it to him. If you use your PC to write emails and text documents, you owe it to him.” Once Busa finished his Index Thomisticus (a job that took him about 50 years, covering nine million words, as explained in this article published by the Venezuelan Jesuit SIC Magazine), he met with the founder of IBM, Thomas Watson, in order to produce a digital version of the Index in which a researcher could effectively search for related concepts in Aquinas’ work. Watson told Busa that the computers they had back then could not relate the contents included in the Index in any way. But Busa, of course, insisted. This conversation gave birth to the hypertext project: a structure for sharing and linking information between different sources, through links. Next time you click on a link like this — or need to search the digital edition of the Index Thomisticus — give thanks for this Jesuit!The news that Boston no longer wants to host the 2024 Summer Olympics isn’t really a shock. Few cities these days do. But the Olympics don’t have to be bad for the host city—and done right, they can actually benefit it. Nowhere is that clearer than Los Angeles, the new frontrunner for 2024. The Olympics would be good for LA, and even more importantly—LA will be good for the Olympics. These days, hosting the Games is rarely seen as the boon for cities it once was. Just look at our Olympics news over the last few months: Japan canceled its stadium, Rio isn’t ready, Sochi is a ghost town, Greece, well, you’ve heard about Greece. But Los Angeles achieved something special when it hosted the Summer Olympics in 1984—they ended up being the most successful games in history. To give the city another chance to replicate that success would be a very smart thing for the IOC to do. Advertisement LA would give the Olympics a clear victory on the global stage and help set a roadmap for how cities might efficiently, sustainably, and responsibly host the games in the future. LA would help the Olympics win back the world’s goodwill. And here’s how that could happen. LA’s games were the most fiscally responsible, ever The city has hosted the Olympics twice already: Once in 1932, once in 1984. Both times, LA did something remarkable: It made money. In fact, due to smart investing, LA is still making money from the games. Where other cities faced ballooning costs and years—decades, even—of paying off debt, LA achieved the impossible with a smart combination of corporate sponsorships, broadcast rights, and private funds. No Angelenos were taxed for the games, and no government money was used. The strategies that helped LA be successful the first two times around will be employed again to make sure the city stays flush with cash. Advertisement No wasteful or outrageous infrastructure will be built Overbuilding giant venues has become a disheartening trend for major sporting events. Just look at the glut of stadiums built specifically for World Cup games in Brazil and Qatar, sometimes at great human cost. In the years after the games, the stadiums are often abandoned or fall into disrepair. In LA, the big events, including the opening and closing ceremonies, would happen at the LA Coliseum in Exposition Park, which was built in 1932 for the first Olympics and reused for the 1984 games as well. Los Angeles’ proposal claims that the only purpose-built development will be some athlete housing which will be reused as affordable housing and office space. This is LA’s big advantage, Barry Sanders, chair of the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games, told me. “The key element for any proposal for LA is our flexibility. We have no need to build any new permanent venues—we might choose to, but we have no need to. We not only have enough venues, we have more than enough venues.” A transportation boom will prevent logistical nightmares One of the most legendary tales of the 1984 Olympics was that people were so afraid of getting trapped in one of LA’s famous traffic jams that everyone stayed home or left town, allowing athletes and spectators to zip around town on empty roads. Officials could scare Angelenos off the road again (remember Carmageddon?) but they likely won’t have to: LA is in the midst of a public transit renaissance, building out several critical rail lines faster than any other American city. An accelerated timeline would mean many of those major lines will be completed right around the time of the Olympics, including a rail connection and people mover to efficiently deliver riders to and from LAX (finally). The plan says it will deliver 80 percent of spectators by transit. I think that’s totally doable. Advertisement Sprawl actually works in LA’s favor Speaking of traffic, that’s one of the reasons Boston residents were terrified of hosting the games. Boston’s proposal centered around walking and transit, and yes, everything would have technically been very close and convenient. But that’s actually problem when you look at how dense the city is. Imagine hundreds of thousands of people trying to move around such a limited geographical area—it’s destined to be claustrophobic. Los Angeles is about 400 square miles and the venues will be clustered into four major nodes, some of them 30 miles apart. There won’t be a particular part of the city that will be completely incapacitated due to crowds. People in LA actually want the Olympics Boston’s leaders might have bid for the games, but its residents didn’t really want them: 50% of the population said they did not support the Olympics. Not every single person wants the Olympics in LA but I would describe the vibe here as generally pro-Olympics. Most importantly, key Angelenos have consistently voiced an emphatic “yes” to the games. Mayor Eric Garcetti issued a statement yesterday saying he’s in: “I would be happy to engage in discussions with the USOC about how to present the strongest and most fiscally responsible bid on behalf of our city and nation.” Advertisement LA will force the IOC to reform The cities that are going to fare the best in the Olympics going forward are the ones that will stand up to the IOC’s jerky rules. LA’s leaders have a proven track record for not being bullied and they have the grounds to tell the IOC to back off and let them do the games their way. The IOC has already introduced some plans for reforming the games, now LA will allow them to show those reforms can help produce even better Olympics. The city is getting a test run right now Sure, the Olympics worked great in 1984, but the city has changed, and so have the way large events are run. Well, you might not know this, but Los Angeles is hosting the Special Olympics World Games right this moment. The opening ceremonies happened over the weekend at the LA Coliseum—the same venue that would will be used again in 2024. The Special Olympics is the largest sporting event happening anywhere on the planet this year: 6,500 athletes and 2,000 coaches representing 165 countries, 30,000 volunteers and 500,000 spectators. All the venues are being tested right now. So far LA is holding up well. Advertisement We had a dude in a jetpack—31 years ago If we had this kind of technology three decades ago, just imagine what we could do in 2024. I mean, really, what else is there to say?Corazon Aquino (far right) in 1986. By Reihana Mohideen August 14, 2009 – Former president of the Philippines Corazon Aquino died on August 1. Following the 1983 assassination of Benigno Aquino, her husband, Cory Aquino became the Philippine’s leading bourgeois opposition figure to the US-backed dictator Ferdinand Marcos. She stood against Marcos in the 1986 presidential election. After Marcos was proclaimed the winner of the blatantly rigged election, a mass uprising – dubbed the ``people power revolution’’ -- overthrew Marcos and Aquino became president. She was in office from 1986 to 1992. The Philippines left’s reaction to the death of Corazon Aquino has been intriguing. The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) did a complete about-turn, recanting its previous position that Cory Aquino was a representative of the reactionary classes. The CPP-influenced National Democratic Front statement laid the blame for the massacre of unarmed peasants at Mendiola during the Aquino administration (one of the most tragic episodes in the history of the left in the Philippines) at the feet of the “military and police [who] caused the termination of the ceasefire agreement between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the NDFP when they indiscriminately fired on the peasants and their urban supporters marching for land reform on January 22, 1987.” Thus a massacre became an “indiscriminate firing” and the Aquino administration was relieved of all responsibility in a stunningly hypocritical rewriting of history. As for Cory Aquino’s active support to keep the US military bases in the Philippines in opposition to moves by the Philippines Senate to remove the bases, the NDF statement had only this to say: “She was openly critical of the long-running support of the US for the Marcos dictatorship in exchange for the aggrandizement of US economic interests and the continuance of the US military bases.” Not a word on her pro-US bases stance after she came to power. Even those of us now well-accustomed to the CPP’s unashamed pragmatism swallowed hard while reading the NDF statement signed by top CPP leaders including Jose Maria Sison. However, this is not the first time that history has been rewritten, especially by the CPP, to suit the various twists and turns in its political line. Partido Lakas ng Masa The Partido Lakas ng Masa (Party of the Labouring Masses), on the other hand, issued a statement by its chairperson Sonny Melencio outlining its assessment of the main characteristics of the Cory Aquino regime. It read in part: “Cory Aquino was the icon of the revival of pre-dictatorial ‘elite democracy’ in the country. She was the symbol of a ‘people power revolution’ which deposed the dictator Marcos but failed to institute a people’s power government. The governmental alliance that she established under her ‘revolutionary government’ quickly transformed into a government headed by elite groups previously persecuted by the Marcos dictatorship.” Most importantly the PLM statement implied that what was really posed was the possibility of the left leading the anti-dictatorship movement and taking political power. “While Aquino was seen as leading the downfall of the much-hated Marcos dictatorship, it is classes and not individuals that make history. There were various factors and players at work who made the ouster of Marcos a reality. Edsa 1 [the 1986 people power uprising] itself was a confluence of a military mutiny and a people’s uprising. The build-up to Edsa 1 was a series of protests, sacrifices and small-scale rebellion led by the Left and other progressive forces. It is unfortunate, however, that the Left which has sacrificed the most during the period of the dictatorship, ended up ‘politically isolated’ due errors related to its strategy and tactics.” It concluded by arguing that the current crisis facing the people under the rotting carcass of the current regime of President Gloria Macapagal is a part of Cory’s legacy: “In a sense, Gloria Macapagal’s rise to power was a product of the limited and distorted character of Cory’s ‘revolution’”. Akbayan The left electoral party Akbayan did not release a formal statement, but some of its individual leaders attempted to expose the real record of the Aquino administration, such as its active opposition to the removal of US bases and the burdensome legacy of debt left to the future generations, enshrined in what became known as the ``Cory constitution’’, which made the annual repayment of the foriegn debt mandatory. One of the leaders of Akbayan argued that the problem was bad advisors who surrounded Cory Aquino. Others argued that despite its anti-people record, the Aquino administration was still seen by the people as a representative of the ideal of freedom and democracy. ``Who could forget the Aquino governments pro-US military bases stance? Who could not recall her government’s US-backed low intensity conflict and total war policy against `insurgents’ which in truth harmed the masses more than its perceived enemies?”, asked Emanuel Hizon, an Akbayan leader, in another article. He went onto explain the mass support for Cory “… this woman despite her regime’s numerous social and economic transgressions is so loved and cherished by a people representing three generations of Edsas. Its not so much because she is religious, a mother-like figure to many, a glorified widow or simply a martyr; beyond the labels, our ideological flexing and the comfortable branding of pundits, Cory has been duly recognized by the people as an icon in their transition from despotism to rule of law, their struggle from tyranny towards a sense of freedom and democracy. Cory is first and foremost the representation of that ideal, of that difficult journey towards democratization, of that collective national experience.” And it did not stop there. ``She will also be remembered as a defender of that particular form of democracy, flawed and wanting it may be in so many ways, not measuring up to our Marxist concept of a democratic archetype. From people power 2 which removed an incompetent and corrupt regime up to her participation in the fight to throw out the illegitimate Arroyo regime and its sinister plan to amend the constitution, Cory will be remembered and respected as a person who despite her privileged status joined the people in their most trying and important political junctures.” No lessons reviewed What struck me most about the left analysis of Cory Aquino and her years, however, was the lack of any serious assessment of the lessons that this critical period in history holds for left strategy today. In this sense the analysis has been ahistorical. In most cases it hasn’t gone beyond the role of Cory Aquino as an individual or the reviewing of some facts of her administration’s record, instead of analysing and attempting to understand the lessons they hold for left strategy today. Does this mean that the left has nothing to learn from the revolution that overthrew Marcos and stabilised the system of elite rule? Or is this a form of denial, a refusal to collectively look at the period head on and draw the relevant lessons for today? After all, the Aquino years were a traumatic period for the revolutionary left, having to come to terms with it's own failure in losing the leadership of the political revolution, as well as having to suffer ongoing repression with the massacre of farmers in Mendiola, as well as the assassination of leaders of the movement, Rolando Olalia and Lean Alejandro. The people power revolution was a double-edged sword for the revolutionary left: a partial victory in building a mass movement that overthrew the dictatorship, but also a defeat of the left’s strategy. Most importantly, today, we continue to live with the legacy of all this. I think that the left has only made a partial assessment of the 1986 revolution and its aftermath. I have always believed that a more comprehensive assessment is necessary, because it is of the utmost importance that we learn the lessons for today. As historical materialists our starting point should be, as the Partido Lakas ng Masa statement correctly points out, “it is classes and not individuals that make history”. We should also internalise that Napoleonic dictum that ``Defeated armies learn well’’. This is something that the Cuban revolutionaries managed to do in the aftermath of the defeat of the Moncada rebellion on July 26, 1953, and then went on a few years later to lead a successful insurrection resulting in the Cuban Revolution in 1959. I think that the Philippines left is still grappling with this and is an army that has not, as yet, learned its lessons well. Some lessons and more questions Some lessons have been drawn by sections of the left and its important that these are summarised. While these positions are differently nuanced amongst the various political parties or blocs, the main lessons can be identified as follows: (i) The importance of the left intervening in the electoral arena, and (ii) the rejection or questioning of the Maoist strategy of protracted people’s war. Others have also pointed to the important role that the military plays in an insurrection or political revolution. The transitional demand for a ``Transitional Revolutionary Government’’ put forward by Laban ng Masa during the height of the struggle to oust the Gloria Macapagal regime was also partially referenced by the government of Cory Aquino which was then referred to as a ``revolutionary government’’. A key lesson of the 1986 revolution is the importance of the electoral tactic in the mobilisation of the masses and the capture of government
’s see what happens.” Well they always win. They’ve been completely defeating ISIS systematically on the ground, and at the moment, they’re marching on the ISIS capital. Interviewer: So this is “We’ve all got each other’s back?” That’s their vibe, yeah? That’s their idea. And so you said they’re marching on … DAVID GRAEBER: Raqqa. American is in the ironic position of having to back a bunch of anarchists. These are the only people who are good military fighters in the region who are actually trying to take out the fascists. Interviewer: I thought it was quite strange, on my way here I thought I might be asking David about project management, given your work on bureaucracy and bullshit jobs. But in a way, these people are kind of exemplifying good project management, are they not? DAVID GRAEBER: Oh, yeah. People misunderstand; they think that people who are against … that anarchists are against all forms of anything that even looks like a bureaucracy; any form of administration, any form of management; any form of organization, even. This is … I’m sure there are some individuals like that. But as Malatesta used to point out, “If you say that anarchists are crazy people who are just against everything, all people who are crazy people who are just against everything will start to call themselves anarchists.” That doesn’t actually mean much about what the other ones who are always calling themselves anarchists will say. Anarchism isn’t against organization; it means people don’t have to be compelled to organize themselves. In fact, they believe in organization more than anybody else. Interviewer: Okay, because actually the thing that I was wondering was, what are your tidbits of … your tips on project management? DAVID GRAEBER: Well, I think that accountability is key. If you have a system where anybody can say what they want, you’ll have to come up and nobody can be compelled to do something; that’s obviously stupid. You’re going to have to make it a common sensical. For example, consensus process. Everybody talks about it as if it’s a complex set of rules, like Robert’s Rules of Order, and they’ve had to press it. But they’re doing it wrong. The idea is that nobody should be forced to do something that they violently object to. If you don’t have the means to do so, whatever you do will be a consensus because you’re going to have to listen to what everybody thinks, and you’re going to have to come around to a position that nobody finds violently objectionable, which is basically all consensus is. Interviewer: But what happens when people say, “We don’t have enough time to listen to everyone?” DAVID GRAEBER: Well then, that depends on the situation. If something has to be done, then it’s okay to say all right, for the next three hours she’s in charge. There’s nothing wrong with that if everybody agrees to it. Or you improvise. But consensus is the default mode, and all I believe in is taking that basic principal that if you can’t force people to do things that they don’t want to do or they think is absolutely wrong or idiotic, then you’re going to have to develop a structure of hearing people out. That’s the only thing I wouldn’t compromise on. Everything else is like what’s the most effective way to do that? For example, in Kurdistan they actually came up with a very interesting and creative solution to this. They say that they make a distinction between technical matters, and moral or political matters. And they say with the technical things you can do a majority vote. “Are we going to meet at four or are we going to meet at five?” Then show of hands. If it’s like, “Should we be violent or non-violent?” Well, then you have to have consensus. And then of course, obviously the question is who gets to decide what’s a moral question and what’s the technical one? So somebody might say, “Well, the question of four or five bears on disabled people, and that’s a moral question.” So that becomes a little bit of a political football. There’s always things to debate and points of tension. But nonetheless, you can be efficient when you have to, but you’re efficient with the things that efficiency is more important than what is at stake. Interviewer: I once asked you about bureaucracy in activist circles, had you ever seen it. And you told me that you could possibly talk about that forever. But if you could just tell me about that. DAVID GRAEBER: That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Now, people who don’t understand that these are a set of principles around which one can improvise and find the thing which is best for a particular group of people and a particular thing they’re trying to do, will tend to act like everything is a set of rules that you have to obey. And it’s so frustrating to me. I often have people within Occupy who were convinced that I was the guy demanding that there’s a rule book of consensus, because I abhor consensus. I mean, I’m not for absolute consensus, modified consensus. There always has to be something [inaudible 00:15:24]. There’s always one or two people who are crazy or unreasonable or something. So, everything within reason, including reasonableness. But nonetheless, there’ll be some people thinking I’m the rule book guy, and other people saying I’m the crazy anarchist rip all the rules guy, which maybe that shows I’m hitting the right point in the middle. But yes, there is a tendency for creeping bureaucratization to set in and there’s various reasons for that. I’ve actually … one of the things I was interested in looking at in the book is why that happens. Language is a great example of this. On the one hand, languages are always changing. There’s no language on earth that’s the same as it was 100 years ago. Why is that? Well, people like to play around. Everybody who is … doing it a little different, they’re having fun with it a little. And gradually, things … doesn’t matter if you’re in Sweden or New Guinea or Ecuador or anyplace else. People want to have fun. They’ll play around with the language. But on the other hand, if you tell people they’re doing it wrong, they’ll believe you. So if you take a rule book for how language was in 1910 and say, “Look, look. You have corrupted the language.” They’ll say, “Oh my God, you’re right. Teach us how to speak right.” They’ll all use slang and slack off and come up with funny new ways of talking, and then they’ll believe you if you say that they shouldn’t be doing that. And in a way, this is the fundamental dilemma that makes bureaucracy possible. Interviewer: So you mean, for example language is something which happens to have rules, and if somebody comes in and says [inaudible]? DAVID GRAEBER: But the rules are changing all the time. Interviewer: Right. Do you think that we just like being dominated? DAVID GRAEBER: I don’t know if that’s it. I mean, some people obviously do. Sometimes it’s laziness; they just don’t want to have the responsibility of having to decide things all the time. One of the reasons we like being dominated is because that way we can blame somebody else when something goes wrong. There’s a certain heavy weight of responsibility when I constantly have to be part of … the person making the decision. I mean, the aspects of power that are pleasurable are balanced by the aspects of power which are scary, and to some people, definitely they think it’s worth the risk and enjoy the pleasurable parts a lot more than they’re scared by the scary parts, and other people are the other way. And that’s one thing that allows power to emerge. I mean, I feel very strongly, by the way, that compulsory participation in direct democracy is just as wrong as not allowing people to participate. In any example of successful, long-term democracy I know, some people don’t show up. It’s usually actually a quorum of maybe about a third of the people in a kibbutz or something like that. They’re the process junkies. They’re the political guys. But they’re acting in the knowledge that if the do something people don’t like, those people will show up at the next meeting no matter how lazy they’ve been up until now. So in a way, they have to keep … bear everybody’s interests in mind because they don’t have a right to represent them.Nothing says home cooking like walking into the house at the end of a long day to be greeted with thick, savory aromas from the Crock Pot. Slow cooking a pork sirloin roast with the Red Dread Imperial Red Ale from Bitterroot Brewing creates a memorable meal. Tangy Red Ale Pork Roast Ingredients 2½ lbs. pork sirloin roast 1 cup Red Dread Imperial Ale 1 large onion, diced ¼ cup brown sugar 3 TBSP rice wine vinegar 2 TBSP soy sauce 1 TBSP ketchup 1 TBSP Eric's Wicked Seasoning ½ teaspoon kosher salt Hot sauce, or to taste Instructions Arrange onion evenly over the bottom of the slow cooker Mix together red ale, brown sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, ketchup, seasoning, salt, and hot sauce Pour over onions and mix Place the roast on top of the onion mixture Cover and cook on Low for 8 hours 5.0 AleMeals.comIf there's one thing tech enthusiasts love more than an underdog, it's an underdog with high specs. The Meizu Pro 5 Ubuntu Edition is just such a device. It's powered by the same 14nm Samsung Exynos processor as the flagship Galaxy S6. It has a 21-megapixel camera with laser-assisted phase-detect autofocus and a Hi-Fi audio chip from ESS. Clad in an aluminum unibody shell and sporting an AMOLED display, it's as modern and good looking as any smartphone out here at Mobile World Congress. But it runs Ubuntu, and that makes it too much of an underdog. With the two Goliaths of Android and the iPhone dominating the mobile landscape, most attempts at offering an alternative operating system have understandably petered out. Firefox gave up on Firefox OS, BlackBerry switched to Android, and Microsoft is pouring more resources into developing its Android and iOS apps than the next Lumia. It's a dire hellscape. And into this barren wasteland strides Ubuntu, a well regarded and widely used Linux variant that nevertheless has no mobile credentials to speak of. When Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, tried to crowdfund a smartphone of its own in 2013, it missed its goal by a wide margin of $19 million. Since then, it's pivoted to working with partner manufacturers who reissue their Android smartphones as Ubuntu Editions. The Meizu Pro 5 is the fifth such handset launched in the past year and it's easily the highest-specced one of the bunch. It's flagship-tier hardware. Instead of apps, Ubuntu gives you Scopes Unfortunately, the mobile Ubuntu is simply not flagship-tier software. Other than the essential basics like a web browser, email client, Here maps, and a few messaging clients like Telegram, Ubuntu has almost no app ecosystem. It's not attempting to create one, either, as its big point of distinction from Android and iOS is that it has so-called Scopes that collate information and content from online services into customizable streams. Instead of a Soundcloud app, you just get Soundcloud content pumped into your Music Scope. This has always been an intriguing concept, but I've never seen it executed well, and the Meizu Pro 5 doesn't do anything to alter that situation. Despite its mighty hardware spec, the Pro 5 Ubuntu Edition is frustratingly slow. Canonical points out that it's not finished software yet, but at the same time it's advertising the phone as ready to preorder (which is actually just a sign-up page on Meizu's website that will alert people when the Pro 5 is available to buy in March). I want to believe that Canonical can optimize everything and bring the user experience up to the high standard of responsiveness set by Android and iOS, but I can't see how that can be done in the space of a couple of weeks. The Pro 5 is slow to respond to taps and doesn't register every input reliably. This disappoints me because I've been waiting a long time to finally see the promise of Ubuntu's unique mobile interface executed on a top-tier smartphone. A different approach is welcome, but it needs the speed of Android and iOS The Meizu Pro 5 itself is a laudable handset. It comes equipped with a 5.7-inch AMOLED screen with 1080p resolution and is very close in size and shape to Apple's iPhone 6S Plus. That similarity extends to the 2.5D glass up front, which gently slopes off at the edge before meeting the aluminum sides. I can't fault the Pro 5's design and build quality, and I like that it's sporting the new USB-C connector at the bottom. If only the Ubuntu software on board could also match iOS for speed and fluidity, I'd be recommending this as a refreshing change from the monotony of Android domination here at MWC. If only. The Meizu Pro 5 Ubuntu Edition will be on sale in March with 32GB of storage and 3GB of RAM for a price of $369.99. Buyers will be able to grab one from the JD online store, which will provide global shipping.This year Apple succeeded in making their 2014 WWDC one of the key talking points throughout their entire developer community. The event’s keynote contained what many analysts predicted, a new point release of OS X (10.10) as well as a new major release of iOS (8). However, Apple decided to treat developers to a brand new programming language that they hope will supplant Objective-C, Swift. Hello, World Swift Apple wanted a language that would be modern, fast and safe. To anyone who has done a bit of Objective-C in the past, hearing the term “modern” should be music to his or her ears. Apple has delivered in that regard, with adding plenty of syntactic sugar onto the language. It is evident that they were inspired by modern scripting languages such as Ruby, Python, Groovy and of course JavaScript. I’m now going to put my JavaScript goggles on and give you my first reactions of things I like, hate, and don’t care too much about when it comes to Swift. Disclaimer: I am by no means an expert in Swift. I do not think anyone outside of those who worked on the project is at this point, so I may draw some invalid conclusions. Please feel to correct and/or debate me on them in the comments below. The Good Syntax One of my biggest pet peeves with Objective C is that any kind of source code written in the language looks like a tornado of non-alphanumeric symbols (reminds me of Perl & PHP). In contrast, Swift looks very elegant and minimalistic, like the modern scripting language it’s trying to be. Just the little simple things like invoking functions with (), or declaring a string variable using “” is a pleasant sight. Strings One of my favorite features of Swift is “String Interpolation” (a.k.a templating). Using () you can build a string using constants, variables located in scope as well as the results of expressions. let constantString = "Hello"; let intValue = 1; var helloWorld = "\(constantString) World; 1+1 = \(intValue + 1)"; Simple definitions of Arrays and Dictionaries Now you can define arrays and dictionaries (key/value maps) using shorthand operators ( [], [:] ). // Arrays var emptyArray = String[](); var emptyArrayAlt:String[] = []; var myArray = ["foo","bar","baz"]; println(myArray[1]); // returns bar // Dictionaries var emptyDictionary = Dictionary(); var carMakesModels = [ "Honda" : ["Civic", "Accord", "S2000"], "Toyota" : ["Corolla", "Camry"] ]; println(carMakesModels["Toyota"]); // returns [Corolla, Camry] Iteration Looping an array or dictionary has become greatly simplified compared to Objective-C. Especially for dictionaries you no longer need to call the objectForKey method as you now specify a tuple for your key and value in the iteration statement. // Looping an array for value in myArray { println("Value is: \(value)"); } // Looping a dictionary for (key,value) in carMakesModels { println("Make: \(key) and Model: \(value)"); } Functions In Swift you can now write functions as you would a function expression in JavaScript. One of my other favorites is that now your function can return a tuple. You no longer need the overhead of defining an array, dictionary or some sort of data structure when you want to return multiple values. It is similar to returning a plain JavaScript object, and you can interact with it as one. func getValues(input:String) -> (result:String, count:Int, valid:Bool) { var result = input; var count = countElements(result); var valid = true; return (result, count, valid); } var values = getValues("Hello World"); println("\(values.result) \(values.count) \(values.valid)"); Classes Defining classes is vastly improved in Swift. It is now far simpler and more intuitive, especially when extending other classes. class Car { let make:String; let model:String; let price:Int; init(make: String, model: String, price:Int) { self.make = make; self.model = model; self.price = price; } func drive() { println("Driving"); } } class SportsCar: Car { let isExotic:Bool; init(make: String, model: String, price:Int, isExotic: Bool) { self.isExotic = isExotic; super.init(make: make, model: model, price: price); } override func drive() { println("Driving fast"); } } var toyotaCamry = Car(make:"Toyota", model:"Camry", price:20000); toyotaCamry.drive(); // prints "Driving" var ferrari458 = SportsCar(make:"Ferrari", model:"F458", price:200000, isExotic: true); ferrari458.drive(); // prints "Driving Fast" REPL and Playgrounds For any developer working with a scripting language a REPL is invaluable, especially when toying with ideas. The conventional compile & run cycle does not allow for rapid experimentation, thus the addition of a REPL and live-reload Playgrounds are great things to have. The Bad Can not change type after variable assignment Swift allows you the privilege of not having to define the type of a variable. However, once you assign a value, the variable is locked in to that type. This is unnecessarily confining in my opinion. var myValue = "FOO"; myValue = 5; // Compile-time error Conditional Statements do not evaluate expressions A great thing about JavaScript is that it will evaluate objects and literals as booleans inside a conditional statement. In Swift, these expressions must explicitly return a boolean value. For those who used to writing JavaScript will find this cumbersome. var intValue = 5; // Works if(intValue > 0) { println("Hello World"); } //Fails if(intValue) { println("Hello World"); } Optional semicolons and parenthesis in conditional statements Call me old school but I like to explicitly end my statements. This is also a topic of contention in the JavaScript community. I also like to put parenthesis around if conditionals. I believe it helps readability and can lead to a lack of uniformity across code bases. Optional Values The Swift programming guide did a poor job describing this feature; this link does a much better job of it. I do not like the fact that you cannot assign nil (null) to a non-optional value (most of the variables that will be created). var optionalValue: String? = "FOO"; println(optionalValue); // FOO optionalValue = nil; println(optionalValue); // nil optionalValue = "ABC"; println(optionalValue); // ABC var nonOptionalValue = "FOO"; nonOptionalValue = nil; // Error The Superfluous Parameter name aliases in functions In Swift you can write an alias to a parameter that will be used inside the function. This alias is different than the parameter name used when invoking the function. Why not just pick one correct name? This is a code smell in my book. func calculate(arbitraryValue value:Int) -> Int { return value * 2; } Typealias I understand the reasoning behind this, but I believe this could have been implemented in a much simpler fashion. Why not do it as you would in JavaScript and assign a reference to a variable (or constant in this case)? typealias UnsignedInt = UInt16; Summary From a JavaScript developer’s perspective Swift is a leap in the right direction coming from Objective-C. Like with any first impression of a new language, there are some things that just do not sit right. I feel the language is in an identity crisis caused by its own fundamentals. It tries to be modern but many of the features are strained by its desire to be safe for the developer. In trying so hard to be modern it makes some great deviations from the beaten path of procedural programming, but even those moves are hindered by its overbearing protection and inflexibility. I see Swift as a complete replacement of Objective-C and do look forward to seeing many existing libraries (primarily Cordova) being rewritten in Swift in the not-too-distant future. With only four years of development Swift is still immature. However with Apple’s full support as well as an emerging developer community we should expect promising improvements in the coming months and years. Further ReadingThe French government wants to ban the use of the chemical bisphenol A in plastic packaging in 2015. The plastics industry has responded by saying the government is being “unrealistic” about the challenges this change will produce. EURACTIV France reports. France has declared war on bisphenol A. The government presented a report to the French Parliament on 21 November, in which it assessed the possible substitutes for the chemical. Numerous studies have demonstrated the negative health effects of exposure to bisphenol A, particularly to the liver, the kidneys, the reproductive system and the mammary glands. Bisphenol A (BPA), together with other chemicals, is used in the manufacturing of plastics and resins. It is found in many everyday objects, like cutlery, kettles, coffee machines, food mixers, food packaging and bottles. BPA helps to preserve the flavour of foods and protect them against contamination from microorganisms. On 1 January 2010, France banned the use of BPA in products that come into direct contact with food for babies and young children, like feeding bottles. An EU-wide ban followed in January 2011. France will soon introduce a new law, banning the use of BPA in all food packaging from 1 January 2015. >> Read: EU bans baby bottles made with Bisphenol A 73 substitutes for Bisphenol A In its report, the French government identified an abundance of alternative materials that could be used from 1 January 2015. Further research is needed into the possible alternative uses of these materials. Among the 73 alternatives to bisphenol A mentioned in the report, polycarbonate, a rigid and transparent plastic, has already been substituted “without major difficulty”, for the containers used in water fountains. The substitution of thermal paper (used in till receipts) is also already under way. >> Read: EFSA consults on hormone-affecting chemical Bisphenol A Inadequate or non-existent BPA substitutes According to the report, “industry representatives say that at the current stage of testing, the results are satisfactory for the large majority of the substitutes used, and they believe they will be broadly ready for the entry into force of the new law on 1 January 2015”. This claim is refuted by PlasticsEurope, the association of European plastics manufacturers. Jasmin Bird, of PlasticsEurope, expressed the concern that “the report is being interpreted as confirmation that a switch to substances other than BPA would be immediately feasible and comparably easy”. But the alternatives “either do not exist or do not perform to the same level as BPA for different applications”, according to the lobby. Ralf Maecker, of the Epoxy Resin Group, said “this interpretation would be an unrealistic simplification of the challenges, and it contradicts to a large extent industry’s own assessment”. PlasticsEurope also criticised the government’s report for not providing scientific or toxicological assessments of the materials it proposed as substitutes for BPA, saying it “misrepresents” their suitability to replace BPA. Industry finds BPA ban in food packaging unnecessary PlasticsEurope has opposed the French government’s plans to stop the use of BPA in food packaging, saying the alternatives have not been subjected to sufficient examination, and that the new law “contravenes the current EU-wide rules for plastics in food contact materials and provides no health benefit”. The lobby group believes that a simple ban on bisphenol A in food packaging would lead to the disappearance of a large number of products, which would become more difficult to store. The alternatives to BPA are still too little understood, they say, particularly with regard to their durability and toxicity, and the new law could put the safety of consumers at risk. >> Read: Plastics to be banned from European landfillBonus Item Code included! Redeeming the included bonus code will grant you a “Stuffed Baby Behemoth” furnishing item. Reminder: The stuffed baby behemoth is an indoor furnishing. The stuffed baby behemoth cannot be traded or sold on the market board. Owners may lose access to the furnishing item under the following conditions: If it is removed from the estate by another player. If the owner leaves, or is discharged from, the free company. When losing access to a shared estate. In the event that the estate is demolished. A service account for FINAL FANTASY® XIV must be registered to your Square Enix account in order to use the bonus item code. If you have yet to register a service account, please visit the official website for details. The bonus item code can only be redeemed once. All characters on the selected FINAL FANTASY® XIV service account will receive the in-game bonus item. This item does not grant any beneficial effects. Once registered, the bonus item code cannot be removed from your service account. Transferring, selling, offering to sell, or any actions with these intentions (such as listing it on internet auction sites) in or out of the game is strictly prohibited. This bonus code is strictly for service accounts associated with the full product version of FINAL FANTASY® XIV. You may not redeem this code through a free-trial version or while logged in from an internet café. The bonus item code is a string of 20 alphanumeric characters. Please be sure to enter your bonus item code accurately when prompted to do so. Please do not lose the bonus item code, as a replacement code cannot be issued. In-game Item code can be redeemed by logging into your Square Enix Store account after completing your check out. The code attached with the actual product has expired on December 31, 2018; please disregard this code and be sure to log into your store account to redeem the code. In-game item code not available for guest checkout. If you would like to purchase this item with in-game item code, please log in or register for a new Square Enix Store account. Due to code being distributed separately, all sales are final and there will be no refunds available. Shipment may take longer if the parcel contains an import product and faces delays due to customs and duties. Also, please be aware of potential release date changes which shall be announced on the website.I’m no different than any other writer out there. I want my words be to be read, commented on, shared, and appreciated. I can’t imagine I’m much different from most writers that way. That’s why I have a hard time explaining the panic that set in when one of my Tech.co articles started to go viral. (Here it is: Which Universities Produce the Best Startup Talent?) “Umm, why are THAT many people reading this?” With most of my posts, I’m generally pretty happy to see that it was shared over 100 times. That’s sort of become my litmus test: 100+ shares = decent post. Hopefully a couple comments show up as well. But this one time, without any warning, my article climbed to more than 15,000 shares, with dozens of comments. And not only did it climb high, but it climbed high quickly. The first 10,000 shares happened within the first week. Now, I partly knew what I was getting into. The article was written for two reasons: my unrivaled interest in higher education and the fact that I knew it’d get a few more clicks than the average post. People love rankings, especially when they involve something as precious as their alma mater. Some wins There were some early indications the post was going to be popular; things started happening that don’t happen for most stories I write. First, the article was not only shared a lot, but it was shared by accounts with large followings, including by many of the very schools I’d written about. On Reddit, where I often post my published work, the story did really well on several different subreddits. If there’s one thing I’ve learned the hard way, it’s that Reddit isn’t always very kind to my writing. And Redditers especially hate self-promotion. This one passed the test, though. Lastly, the man who founded Tech.co tweeted out the story himself. Not bad validation that the company was happy with the direction of the article. I made mistakes I’m not going to say I rushed the story out; it took me plenty of time to come up with the concept for ranking the schools, to develop a methodology, and to actually compile the research before even typing my first word. But where I failed was that I didn’t adequately explain my methodology for compiling the schools in enough detail in the article. And with college rankings, that’s bound to rub someone the wrong way. I was consequently blasted in the comments. For clarification, my methodology used an inverse score quality based on where schools were ranked in the top 25 for computer science related fields in given publications like US News and World Report, LinkedIn and Angellist. So if a school was ranked #1, they’d get 25 points for that ranking, #25 ranking would be 1 point. Then I added up the scores from the various rankings to come up with the final list based on total points. I capped it at 25, because given how few schools would make the final cut, it felt unnecessary to dig for schools listed past 25 in various rankings. The most scientific thing on earth? No. But I’m confident it gave a great general idea which schools were producing the best startup talent — and that was the whole idea. Then I divided up the public and the private schools when I published the story. Reflections I consider myself lucky to write for great publications in the first place. I was a fan of Tech.co (formerly Tech Cocktail) long before I ever figured on writing for them. Working for technology companies in San Francisco, they’ve been a fantastic resource to learning industry insights. So to have anything I write for them receive traction is a pretty flattering feeling. The story reminded me to keep a thick skin. The comments came pouring in, and while some were appreciative of the work, many were haters. And that’s OK. It wasn’t entirely bad that the results were debatable. Each one of the rankings I used to compile my list were debatable in their own right. Readers debating your story means that people are engaged with it. It’s good to remember that instead of construing it as sharp criticism; we all need to question what we read. I was trained in college to restrain myself and not respond to criticisms in the comments of my stories, so I let them slide. It’s all part of the process. Still, there’s also a dirty feeling I get when I think about what I did. I ended up with a Journalism degree, and wanted to be a journalist as early as my sophomore year of high school. But I wasn’t taught to create material so that it would be shared; I was taught to create stories that are compelling, thought provoking, and truthful. There’s an aspiring journalist that dies inside me when one of my main motivations for writing is exposure. I think about all the professors I had: old school, tried-and-true, tested soldiers of the trade who told me it was worth the $10 they’d collect for the stories they’d write for whatever small town paper in North Dakota that gave them their first start. As long as they got to tell the truth. “Adapt or die.” But let’s be real. We don’t live in that world anymore. Our content needs to be sharable. The game has changed and so have the journalists. And for that, I’ll celebrate my wins when I get them. I’m still pretty surprised the article caught on like it did, and I’m forever grateful for it. I’ve now written one of those stories. The ones I read from social media because one of my friends recommended it. With any luck, it won’t be my last. Chad Reid serves as the Director of Communications for JotForm, a popular online form builder. He loves all things related to cats, and never turns down free food.Zalgiris Vilnius believe moving to the Ekstraklasa is the right choice for their club development / Ekstraklasa Zalgiris Vilnius Considering Switch from A Lyga to Polish Ekstraklasa WARSAW, Poland. January 17 (PSN) – FC Zalgiris Vilnius officials are seriously considering leaving the A Lyga and moving to the Polish Ekstraklasa. Lithuanian media reported today that their domestic champion is thinking about changing leagues, as the current is not seen competitive enough, which inhibits the development of the club. The club from the capital admittedly has only six titles on their account, but recently won the A Lyga three times in a row, and since 2009 they had not finished any lower than third place. It is worth noting that UEFA, in contrast to other European federations representing other sports, presents a much tougher stance on changing leagues. The idea of switching leagues has been confirmed by the city authorities, which cites the example of the basketball and hockey sections of Vilnius, who are already playing in other countries. Sometime ago there were discussions regarding the creation of a Baltic League which would have included teams from Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. The idea of clubs playing in a league of a different country in football is nothing new. The English Premiership features Swansea FC, a team from Wales with the same in the French Ligue 1 with AS Monaco FC. Meanwhile, the United States MLS holds several teams from Canada – Toronto FC, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps. For breaking stories and all the great banter like us on Facebook: facebook.com/psnfutbolRaise your hand if you think the United States Air Force has a special forces branch? If your hand is in the air, you are correct: the USAF does man a wing (no pun intended) in Special Operations Command, and their most notable asset is the Parajumpers, or “PJ’s”. As a former Marine and Afghan vet, I will be the first to stand up and vouch for the PJ’s (these guys aren’t your average Airman); they’re absolutely legit. Until now, the Air Force hasn’t allowed a peek into the PJ’s training or life on deployment, which is where National Geographic TV comes into play with their latest smash hit, “Inside Combat Rescue”. So what in the world does Leeroy Jenkins have to do with any of this? If you haven’t seen an episode, then you’ll have no idea; heck, if you’ve only seen one episode you may not have caught it either. Hit the link below for the answer, and also my slightly qualified thoughts on the importance of humor in the (combat) workplace. Leeroy Jenkins in the Workplace Oh Leeroy. For those who haven’t experienced “Inside Combat Rescue” on NatGeoTV yet, Leeroy Jenkins actually only makes an audible appearance, and quite honestly, its a sound that you do not want to hear. Sadly, it’s a sound bite these gentlemen and everyone watching hear all too much, because it’s played over the speakers in the soldier’s barracks area alerting the teams on standby that they’ve got a wounded soldier on the ground that needs an immediate MEDEVAC (medical rescue flight). The PJ’s get the call more times than not for the tougher rescue missions: rescues under fire, rescues for fellow SPECOP teams in the area, and the more complex scenarios where you simply need more experience, and more firepower during a rescue that a regular Army MEDEVAC simply cannot, or will not do. So is the sound bit appropriate? Yes and no. I guarantee the only time those guys laughed at or about it was the first time they heard it, simply because A, they know all too well what it really means, and B, they’re already mentally preparing themselves to drop down into a combat zone. I think it’s appropriate, and from a leadership perspective, it keeps your guys loose subliminally, regardless of serious it gets. Deployments are long; if you’ve ever thought you’ve had a bad work week, try doing a 7 or 12 month work week where there is no Saturday to look forward to. Well, there is, but it’s as far as 7 months out. So I promised a funny deployment story, didn’t I? Female Pilot on the Radio So there I am, walking to the pisser at COP Spin Ghar in northern Nawa District, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, when a fellow Lieutenant runs by me going the other way towards the COC. My initial guess: one of our patrols came in contact, or an IED went off and the QRF (Quick Reaction Force) had to get spun up. When I yelled to ask what was up, all I heard as he ran the other way via the Doppler Effect was, “FEMALE PILOT ON THE RADIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Instantly, I understood, and was up on his heels and through the door of the COC to join the party. Why all the hysteria, you ask? When you go without seeing an actual female/woman for months on end, when you hear one on the radio, guys will be guys, or more specifically, Marines will be Marines. This was the typical conversation, “She sounds hot”; “Ask her what kind of ord
.The Edmonton Eskimos signed a pair of pending free agents on Friday, keeping them off the market. Wide receiver Natey Adjei and linebacker Blair Smith both signed with the Eskimos through the 2018 CFL season. Adjei, 27, played 12 games for Edmonton last season, making six catches for 53 yards with five special teams tackles. The Toronto product was originally selected in the 2013 CFL Draft out of the University of Buffalo by the Toronto Argonauts where he played for two seasons before signing with the Eskimos in July 2016. Smith, 26, of Mississauga, Ont., played in 15 games with the Eskimos last season, collecting four defensive tackles and 15 special teams tackles. Smith was selected by the Eskimos in the 2015 CFL Draft out of Angelo State University. In two seasons with the club, he has 35 special teams tackles and four defensive tackles in 33 games.- CM Punk's WWE Championship victory over John Cena and Big Show Sunday at SummerSlam extended two pay-per-view streaks. His win marked as his ninth consecutive successful title defense on pay-per-view. However, despite his reign atop WWE, it was the eighth consecutive pay-per-view in which he did not defend the title in the main event. - Jim Ross took a swipe at WWE's past pay-per-view efforts Sunday via Twitter, writing, "SummerSlam has been a 'clean' show devoid of bad attempts at humor or endless non wrestling content. Big money matches merit big $$ effort." - WWE Universe members didn't waste any time in chanting "Kobe Bryant" during the WWE Tag Team Championship Match between Kofi Kingston, R-Truth and The Prime Time Players at SummerSlam in response to The Players' manager A.W. being released following a Kobe Bryant rape joke on Raw weeks ago. A.W. was informed of the chants on Twitter and responded, "To all the fans that showed their support with the chants and tweets I really want to say "THANK YOU"!!! You guys are truly.. #UNSTOPPABLE!" A.W. also reacted to WWE confiscating a sign at SummerSlam Axxess today that featured a printed screenshot of WWE chief Vince McMahon distorting his face in a backstage segment on Raw two months ago to ridicule Jim Ross' facial paralysis: "That really sucks! People pay their hard earned money to show their support for @WWE and that's how they get treated. #Bully."A Norwegian zoo has provoked parents' fury after feeding a whole dead zebra to its tigers in full view of visitors. The beheaded carcass of the zebra was place in the tiger enclosure at Kristiansand Dyrepark, which is Norway's most visited attraction. Officials at Kristiansand Dyrepark have admitted that the healthy zebra had been put down and fed to the tigers because the zoo because they had too many of them. Outrage: The beheaded carcass of the zebra was place in the tiger enclosure in full view of visiting children The row started when one visiting parent posted a snap of the butchered zebra on Facebook with the caption: 'Should take a look at the tigers today. What met me was a little macabre.' Angry parents taking young children to see their favourite animals on the day condemned the spectacle as 'traumatic.' The blood-stained carcass had been left in the part of the tiger enclosure that can be viewed by the public. One protestor online said: 'A little too macabre for me. Animals eat animals, but I did not think I would see that at the zoo.' Another said: 'Horrid. Traumatic for young children.' Natural behaviourThe zoo's veterinarian Rolf-Arne Ølberg defended the decision, saying 'we must not avoid the fact that predators eat other animal Kristiansand Dyrepark, near Kristiansand, south Norway, is the Scandinavian country's most visited attraction But zoo officials claimed they were simply trying to give their large predators a more natural diet. Vet Rolf-Arne Olberg said: 'I think most people realise that a tiger eats meat. 'There is no point hiding it away.' He added: 'I understand people's reactions, but it is quite normal for a tiger or lion to eat their prey. 'With a whole animal to eat, they must spend some time tearing it apart with their claws and teeth. It stimulates natural behaviour.© Provided by CBS Interactive Inc. Forest's fifth leg does not work and dangles at his side as he runs around with other lambs. A little lamb shocked her new family when it was born with five legs. Meet Forest, a lamb born last week on a Debyshire, England, farm with an extra limb. Ten-year-old Zara Bayley, who was helping her father deliver the lamb, alerted him to the fifth appendage. "I hadn't noticed, when my daughter said, 'Dad, look, that lamb has five legs,'" said Mark Bayley, according to Caters News. "We were amazed and couldn't believe it. I have never seen anything like it." Forest does not seem to have control of his leg, which dangles as he runs. Bayley said he made sure Forest was doing well before telling his kids they could keep him as a pet. "We checked him over and he seems to be fine," Bayley said. "He was healthy, drinking from his mother, and doing everything he needed to do." He said his kids Zara and Jake, 12, have quickly become enamored of the lamb, but they were not the only ones to bond with little Forest. "Forest was happily playing with the rest of [the lambs]," Bayley said. "There was one lamb that looked at Forest, and then down at itself, as if to wonder why it was missing a leg."What a week or so it’s been for supporters of Paris Saint-Germain. The club won their fifth Trophée des Champions in a row and kicked off their Ligue 1 campaign with a win over Amiens SC at the Parc des Princes. Oh, and they signed someone named Neymar Jr. from FC Barcelona. He might be pretty good. Dave (@Meunierist) jumps back on the mic to host another episode of our flagship show, PSG Talking, and he welcomes Guillaume (@Ofthedoor1), Matt (@PSGTourist), and Cose (@CoseEspinosa) to discuss what has arguably been the most exciting couple of weeks in PSG history. How will Neymar fit into the starting lineup? Will he play on the wing or as a second striker? Do PSG need to strengthen any positions before the transfer window closes? Is Unai Emery the man to lead this team of world class talent to the promise land? Subscribe, download, and listen to find out the answers to all these questions and more! As always, the best way to contact us is via Twitter at @PSGTalk, and be sure to subscribe and rate the podcast on iTunes and Google Play. Thanks for listening! Music courtesy via Paris, Lisbon by Jahzzar licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.Two years ago, the entrepreneurs in bitcoin were inexperienced and those investing in the space were merely a collection of friends, according to Meyer “Micky” Malka. Flash forward to today and the Bitcoin Foundation board member and founder of VC firm Ribbit Capital can find more than a few reasons to be optimistic about the future of bitcoin, even in the face of continued price declines, issues in the mining community and questions about the commercial viability of bitcoin technology. Before it can propel itself forward to new highs, however, Malka believes bitcoin must first account for mistakes made during its impressive hype cycle that began at the end of 2013. He predicts we’ll see a “reshuffling” of the ecosystem, as sectors like mining are forced to recover from a bullish run of investments founded on lofty expectations. Suggesting that this might be another transitional year for the bitcoin market as a whole, Malka told CoinDesk: “There’s going to be an adjustment in the market, and now my expectation is this is a year when we’ll see more clarity and guidance from regulators around the world.” In this light, Malka sees announcements like Coinbase’s recent recordsetting $75m funding round as part of a slow but steady turnaround for the industry. This period, he expects, won’t be marked by any impressive leaps forward, but rather a steady build-up of trust between consumers and businesses and a potentially transformative technology. Building consumer trust Through most of the conversation, Malka returns to his bedrock belief, that building consumer trust is essential for the bitcoin ecosystem. “We always thought that you had to have consumer-centric brands that the general public will trust, the same way they trusted PayPal in 1999,” Malka explained. “If you look at our portfolio, they are all companies that are building consumer brands and that create trust.” Despite his status as a bitcoin advocate and investor, Ribbit Capital, the company he runs with Nick Shalek and Nikolay Kostov, has made few moves in the bitcoin ecosystem to date, a factor Malka attributes to this philosophy. Ribbit Capital investments include peer-to-peer lending startup BTCJam, Coinbase and bitcoin security leader Xapo. Malka pointed to Coinbase and Xapo as two brands that have succeeded at building trust, even amidst a sometimes turbulent bitcoin ecosystem, noting the partnerships Coinbase has secured with tier-one merchants. “This reinforces trust over time and like in any sector, when it starts to mature, some companies become the clear leaders in the category,” he added. Malka went on to suggest that this process is already visibly underway, comparing the issues experienced this year by bitcoin exchange Bitstamp, with that of the implosion of the former market leader Mt Gox in 2013. “Fast forward a year and companies go through troubles, but you see how Bitstamp managed its problems, how they were transparent, how they said what happened and how they committed to getting capital to make it up to all the clients,” Malka said. “That’s astonishing.” Silk Road spectre wanes Alluding to the ongoing, high-profile court case, Malka suggested that there is a broader understanding in the mainstream media that bitcoin and the online black market Silk Road, while intertwined in history, are not correlated. Smart companies, Malka argued, have always built bitcoin business with the understanding that bitcoin needs to be regulated – as Coinbase and Xapo, two companies that act as custodians for customer funds, have always recognized. “Each one of the entrepreneurs that we’ve backed, they understand that their business is one that, one way or the other, will have some regulation, because that’s what happens, and they have to be willing to work in that environment,” he said. Malka cited Xapo CEO Wences Casares as an example given his long experience as an entrepreneur working within regulatory environments. Casares’ previous work includes projects like the Lemon digital wallet, which was sold to LifeLock for $42m in December 2013. Further, he indicated that Coinbase founders Fred Ehrsam and Brian Armstrong always demonstrated a willingness to work with banks, a factor that set them apart from other younger entrepreneurs Ribbit Capital considered. Still a venture space Despite the growth and maturation he’s seen, Malka believes that the bitcoin ecosystem is still one best suited to venture capitalists, not more risk-averse investors. Notably, he ended by referencing the existential risk the bitcoin ecosystem faces, suggesting that for all the work, bitcoin could still prove an impressive failure. “The chances of things blowing up is still very high, it could be a price drop, it could be the government blows up … so we have to be aware of that, the risk is still that it can go away,” he cautioned. Still, Malka seems convinced that these risks, while real, won’t come to pass. Instead, he believes that those involved in bitcoin’s development will look back on current developments with a wistful nostalgia that exposes how truly impressive its evolution has been. “We’re going to look back and say, ‘Oh the government was trying to get bitcoin to auction, they consider it an asset’ … ‘Oh wow, Fortune 500 companies were starting to back companies,” Malka said, adding: “Those are the things that are changing. Those are very powerful experiences that will take a while for people to realize.” Images via About.me, YouTubeAmerica is on the verge of #Blaxit – a mass exodus of black people. Where we will go I don’t know, but it’s clear that black lives don’t matter here, and it’s even more apparent that the powers that be are doing everything possible to make America white again (except America was never white to begin with). So if we must go, whether voluntarily or by force, we’re taking these things with us: 1. The NFL, NBA, and NCAA football/basketball 2. Beyonce 3. The Obamas 4. tRap music 5. Real lips, butts, and melanin 6. The word “Fleek” 7. Neil Degrasse Tyson 8. Every invention by black people (http://blackinventor.com/) 9. Our 1.2 trillion dollar annual buying power 10. The whip and nae nae 11. Rhythm 12. Soul food 13. Oprah 14. Cornrows 15. Gospel music 16. Will Smith 17. Morgan Freeman’s voice 18. Michael Jackson, Prince, and Whitney Houston’s entire catalogs 19. Shondaland 20. HeLa Cells 21. Cadillac Enjoy your rhythm-less nation without us.Four Roses Single Barrel bourbon comes in an elegant glass bottle with an engraved four roses. The bottle has a simple yellow label with four red roses. Each bottle has a warehouse and barrel number. My bottle’s warehouse number is NS and barrel number is 12-5N. The dram of Four Roses Single Barrel is tawny in my Glencairm glass. When swirling the tawny liquid in my glass the bourbon lightly coats the glass. Product Specifics Maker: Four Roses, Bottled By: Four Roses Distillery LLC, Lawrenceburg, KY Type: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Website: http://www.fourrosesbourbon.com/ Proof: 100 (50% ABV) Bottle: (750 ml) Notes Nose: I pick up spice, dried fruit, vanilla, floral, maple, and wood. Palate: Four Roses Single Barrel has a thick velvety texture and is full-bodied. There are kitchen spices: pepper, nutmeg, and clove. Dried fruit, specifically pear is evident as well as sweeter notes of vanilla and toffee. Additionally, there are subtle floral notes that soften the initial spice. Finish: The Single Barrel finishes clean and smooth. Cigar pairing: I would recommend a medium-full to full body cigar to complement the spicier notes in the Four Roses Single Barrel. Here are a few recommendations: Murcielago Hispaniola Cristobal Colon 1492, or Joya De Nicaragua Antonio 1970. Where to Try: On The Rocks and Brandy Library. Awards: 2008 Gold Medal, 2009 Silver Award, 2009 Number 1 Bourbon, 2010 & 2009 Double Gold Medal, 2010 Strongly Recommended, 2010 Wine Enthusiasts Best Buy, 2012 Gold Medal, 2012 Ultimate Recommendation. Conclusion Four Roses Single Barrel bourbon is excellent. The bottle can be found between $40-$45 in the New York area. I recommend finding this delectable bourbon at a liquor store or sip it at a bar. Grade: A Where to Buy Manhattan (Chambers Street Wines, California Wine Merchant, Winfield Flynn Wine & Spirits, Sherry-Lehmann); Brooklyn (Heights Chateau).Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have agreed to add four more debates, including one this Thursday in New Hampshire just days before that state's primary. The decision expands the total number of Democratic debates from six to ten, and suggests both campaigns are prepared for a drawn-out primary battle that will extend at least until May. The first additional debate will take place in New Hampshire on Thursday. The campaigns have also agreed to a March debate in Flint, Michigan, and two more debates in April and May. The May debate is likely to take place in California. What remains undecided is where the Democrats will hold the April debate. The Clinton campaign is pushing for a debate in Pennsylvania, given the state's importance in the general election. The Sanders campaign wants to hold that debate in Brooklyn, New York. Related: Democratic candidates defy party and consider new debate Sanders spokesperson Michael Briggs confirmed that the campaigns had agreed to the four debates. When asked to confirm a Washington Post report that put the April debate in Pennsylvania, he said his campaign "would still also like one in New York." The Clinton campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced the news of the additional debates in a statement on Wednesday. Sign up for the Reliable Sources newsletter "Having our candidates in agreement on their desire to add debates to our sanctioned schedule, the DNC has sanctioned an MSNBC debate on February 4 at the University of New Hampshire in Durham," Wasserman Schultz said. "The candidates have also agreed to participate in three newly scheduled DNC sanctioned debates to be held in addition to the February 11 PBS News Hour, and March 9 Univision debates already planned. The first of these new debates is confirmed to take place in Flint, Michigan on March 6th, with the remaining two taking place in April and May with times and locations to be determined. We will continue to work closely with both campaigns as we finalize the remaining details." Whatever the venues, the additional debates are a boon to Democrats who believed the initial primary schedule was too limited. Both the Sanders and the Martin O'Malley campaigns had criticized the DNC for holding just six debates, and for holding many of them on weekends. Thursday night's debate will take place at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. It will be moderated by Chuck Todd and Rachel Maddow.by Marco Cummings Writer for and on behalf of the City of Glendale The summer weather isn’t the only thing heating up this time of year. The month of August also ushers in the heated competition of the Serevi RugbyTown Sevens (SRS) tournament, which will take place in Glendale on Aug. 15-17 at Infinity Park. Rugby 7s is a faster paced version of the traditional 15-a-side rugby union, which is a sport that will debut at the Olympics at the Rio 2016 Games. “It’s competitive, fast and skillful,” Glendale Raptors head coach Andre Snyman said of the competition. “We as a team like to play at this high level of competition, as it gives our players a great way to measure themselves against some of the best players out there.” The Raptors will be participating as tournament hosts, having invited a variety of world-class rugby teams to RugbyTown, USA. Glendale’s tournament offers high stakes. Seventeen teams from seven coun tries (including three national teams) will be competing for the winner-take-all $10,000 purse as well as an automatic bid to the 2014 Bayleys Fiji Coral Coast Sevens, in the homeland of Serevi founder and rugby legend Waisale Serevi, the “King of 7s.” In addition to the national and club teams, each branch of the United States armed forces will be fielding a side. Each military team is made up of active duty and reserve servicemen. The United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard won’t be the only military presence at the SRS tournament. The Royal Air Force Spitfires will also make the trip from the U.K. This year marks the Spitfires’ third visit to the City of Glendale. “Our best moments have to be the awesome welcome we get from the city and its residents every time we visit RugbyTown, USA,” remarked Royal Air Force manager Steven Mills. “The facilities and the commentary team are awesome too!” Long travel times have not deterred many of this year’s entrants to the SRS tournament. Bermuda will endure over eight hours of travel time before training and competing at the Mile High altitude, where the team will make its second appearance at the Serevi RugbyTown Sevens. Bermuda will be one of two Caribbean participants in this year’s edition of the Serevi RugbyTown Sevens. Team Bahamas will make its inaugural appearance at the SRS tournament. However, the teams from England and the Caribbean may not be the most exotic, nor the most well-traveled in this year’s tournament. The Republic of Georgia Rugby Club Academia is also scheduled to make an appearance. Hailing from a country nestled in the Caucasus region, which marks the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, the Georgian team is comprised of 13 ruggers and four coaches and trainers, many of whom are involved with the Georgian National Team. Of course, one needn’t leave the defending SRS Champions out of the conversation. The USA All-Americans will look to defend their 2013 crown by making a visit to this year’s tournament. The team is comprised of many of the best collegiate talent from across the United States. Despite only being founded in 2011, the All-Americans already have many accolades on their résumés. In addition to last year’s SRS Championship, they were SRS plate winners in 2012 and champions of USA Rugby’s All Star 7’s Cup that same year. The All-Americans are just one of multiple former SRS champions making a return to the tournament in 2014. The USA Falcons, 2012 winners of the Serevi RugbyTown Sevens Championship will also make an appearance at this year’s tournament. The Falcons serve as the development team for the U.S. Eagles National Sevens Team and one of multiple teams in the SRS tournament that boast players in the USA Men’s Eagles Sevens National Team player pool (including the Raptors). Another SRS team loaded with up and coming talent on its roster is the Northeast Olympic Development Academy. The Northeast Rugby ODA has been sanctioned by USA Rugby as the official Academy in the Northeast USA and a designated pathway to USA Eagles selection. Rounding out the American teams is the Texas-based Negro y Azul. The “Black and Blue” were Serevi Invitational Plate Champions in 2013 and are hoping to add a Serevi RugbyTown Sevens Championship to their trophy case in Austin. While the United States will certainly be well represented at SRS, the Americans’ neighbors north and south of the border will also have teams in the hunt. The Lionheart Elite 7s out of Edmonton will represent the Canadians. The globetrotting team earned a championship on home soil at the Vancouver 7s tournament in 2012, but holds hardware from as far away as Dubai. The Mexican National Team (Mexico Serpientes) will visit Glendale from south of the border. Formalized in 2003, the Mexican Federation of Rugby, B.C. (FMRU) is relatively new on the stage of world competition, but “Los Serpientes” are beginning to make noise. Most recently, Mexico’s U19 team finished as 2014 NACRA Cup Champions held during the third weekend of July. In addition to the rugby action, Glendale will host a Bruises and Brews beer fest on Saturday, Aug. 16 and a Taste of Glendale on Sunday, Aug. 17. The beer fest will feature unlimited tastings from 20 local craft breweries and distilleries while the “Taste of Glendale” will offer meals and treats priced at $5 or less from a selection of local eateries. So whether you’re a newcomer or an avid rugger, there’s sure to be something you’ll enjoy at this year’s Serevi RugbyTown Sevens.쇓The tents open at around 10 am. and fill up steadily through the day, often becoming completely full by 5 pm... One of the favourite postcard scenes from the Oktoberfest is of a... waitress dressed in traditional costume and carrying an amazing number of foaming one-litre mugs of beer — often around ten — and still managing to smile. One of the most interesting things about the Oktoberfest, from an economist’s point of view, is the form of the contractual relationship she has with the owner/operator of the tent in which she works. She is employed just for the duration of the Oktoberfest, and has probably the most high-powered incentive contract you will find anywhere. She has no fixed wage, but receives 9 per cent of the revenue on the beer she... brings to the table, as well as tips of course. Thus she has the incentive to maximise sales revenue as well as give good service. This is not a trivial thing. She works more than a 12-hour day, and the fetching and carrying is very hard work, particularly when the tent becomes full and turns into an enormous disco... This usually happens from around 6 each evening. It is easy to see that a fixed wage unrelated to revenue would have very poor incentive properties.... The revenue-sharing form of contract means that the presumably risk-averse waitress receives no insurance, in the form of a fixed payment, from the tent owner, who is far richer and therefore likely to be less risk-averse, if not risk-neutral. This leads one to ask whether there may not be an alternative way of providing incentives. A noticeable feature of one of the large beer tents is the variation in waitress effort and rewards there must be across locations. Tables differ in their distance from the serving points and therefore in the work involved. Some areas fill up earlier than others, for example those closest to the bandstands, and therefore generate more revenue. In particular, there are areas of the tent reserved in ‘boxes’, which are booked by companies and groups, and these generate more tips than other areas, as well as higher value sales. So one could imagine a tent operator running an incentive system in the form of a tournament, in which high effort... would be rewarded by allocating waitresses to the best groups of tables. In fact however this does not take place. Waitresses as a rule serve the same set of four tables in the same tent year after year, and moves between areas are infrequent. The reason for this appears to be the importance of teamwork, as well as long-term customer relationships. Usually, a team of four waitresses work their set of four adjacent groups of four tables collectively, keeping the same team over a number of years. They share the fetching and carrying, which smoothes the burden of work and allows more regular individual rest periods, and they allocate arriving customers across tables, which effectively pools revenues.... Moreover, customers form attachments to particular groups of waitresses and return year after year. A tournament system would disrupt these kinds of relationships, while of course they provide self-made insurance and incentive mechanisms. The price of an Oktoberfest Mass, the litre mug of beer which is the standard unit of consumption, is regulated, and is set each year by a committee consisting of representatives of the tent operators and of the City Council. Its announcement is always followed by a storm of protest — the increases are usually above the rate of inflation. For waitresses, the crucial numbers are those after the decimal point. Apparently, customers almost always round up to the nearest Euro, so a price of €7.80 is bad news, €8.20 good. For a waitress serving around 1000 Mass per Oktoberfest, this would make a difference of about €600 in tips. On the other hand, since waitresses typically work over a long run of years, it all averages out in the end. There is no data enabling us to test whether the rate at which waitresses quit is sensitive to the price of a Mass. Love it or hate it, the Oktoberfest is a fascinating economic enterprise. It certainly gives economists plenty to talk about over our beer.WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Prosecutors unsealed an indictment against a son-in-law of Osama bin Laden on Thursday that charged him with conspiracy to kill Americans, after government sources said he was arrested overseas and brought to New York. A man identified as Suleiman Abu Ghaith appears in this still image taken from an undated video address. REUTERS/Handout Suleiman Abu Ghaith, a militant who appeared in videos representing al Qaeda after the September 11 attacks in 2001, had initially been picked up in Turkey and was brought to the United States in an operation led by Jordanian authorities and the FBI, the sources said. The Turkish government deported him to Jordan, the sources said, where local authorities and the FBI took custody of him. He was brought to the United States in the last few days, a law enforcement source said. U.S. officials including Attorney General Eric Holder announced the indictment on Thursday, saying he would be arraigned on Friday at U.S. District Court in lower Manhattan, only blocks from the site of the World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the September 11 attacks. Abu Ghaith becomes one of the highest-ranking al Qaeda figures to be brought to the United States for civilian trial. When Holder previously announced plans to try defendants in the September 11 attacks in the same courthouse, he was forced to back down by public opposition, and the trials were moved to the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. New York police were less concerned Abu Ghaith’s case would present a security problem than they were about the trials of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others charged with plotting the attacks, a law enforcement source said. “It’s not the same. It doesn’t rise to that level,” said the source, who is familiar with the department’s views and spoke on condition of anonymity. The indictment accused Abu Ghaith of acting in a conspiracy that “would and did murder United States nationals anywhere in the world,” listing actions before and after September 11, 2001. “Among other things, Abu Ghaith urged others to swear allegiance to bin Laden, spoke on behalf of and in support of al Qaeda’s mission, and warned that attacks similar to those of September 11, 2001 would continue,” the indictment said. It cited a May 2001 gathering at a house in Kandahar, Afghanistan, alleging Abu Ghaith urged guests to swear allegiance to bin Laden, and it says bin Laden summoned Abu Ghaith on the evening of September 11, requesting his assistance. Bin Laden and Abu Ghaith appeared together the next morning, when the defendant warned the United States and its allies that a “great army is gathering against you” and that “the nation of Islam” would do battle against “the Jews, the Christians and the Americans,” the indictment alleges. FIRST WORD FROM CONGRESSMAN Initial public confirmation of Abu Ghaith’s capture came from Representative Peter King, a senior Republican member of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee and former chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security. “I commend our CIA and FBI, our allies in Jordan, and President (Barack) Obama for their capture of al-Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith. I trust he received a vigorous interrogation, and will face swift and certain justice,” King said in a statement. U.S. sources indicated that, while a CIA role in the capture of Abu Ghaith could not be ruled out, the FBI took the lead role in the operation under the auspices of an interagency body known as the High-value Detainee Interrogation Group. The group was created by Obama’s administration after the president ordered the shutdown of a CIA program in which militant suspects were detained and held in a network of secret prisons during the administration of President George W. Bush. The suspects were sometimes subjected to controversial and physically coercive “enhanced interrogation techniques,” and also were sometimes transferred without trial to third countries under a procedure known as “extraordinary rendition.” Still image from video obtained by Reuters in May 2002 shows a man believed to be al Qaeda spokesman Suleiman Abu Ghaith. REUTERS/Reuters TV/Files Records compiled by a United Nations sanctions committee show Abu Ghaith was born in Kuwait in 1965. After the September 11 attacks, Abu Ghaith first surfaced as one of al Qaeda’s main spokesmen. Later, U.S. officials believe he was part of a group of top al Qaeda figures that included one of bin Laden’s sons, Saad, who allegedly traveled to Iran, where the Iranian government said they were being held “in custody.” The Long War Journal, a counterterrorism blog published by the conservative Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, reported in 2010 that Abu Ghaith had been released by Iranian authorities and supposedly had returned to Afghanistan.AFP / Carl De Souza | A file photo taken on May 20, 2015 shows policemen holding a position in the Musaga neighborhood of Bujumbura during a demonstration against the Burundian President's third term Burundi said Saturday it wanted only to crush "terrorism" as it dismissed international fears of fresh bloodletting if the government carries out threats to stamp out resistance to the president. ADVERTISING Read more "There will be no war or genocide," presidential communications chief Willy Nyamitwe told AFP, after world leaders voiced concern over a government escalation of already strident rhetoric, warning of tough measures to quash resistance to President Pierre Nkurunziza's recent re-election. But Nyamitwe said the government was trying to suppress "acts of terrorism, as with Al-Shebab in Somalia," referring to the Islamist insurgents that Burundi troops are fighting as part of an internationally-backed African Union force. "It is amazing to see that a government that wants to put an end to terrorism is criticised instead of being encouraged," he added. International alarm has grown after the government issued a five-day deadline which expires this weekend for civilians to hand over weapons or face a new regime crackdown. The US State Department on Saturday warned the "inflammatory rhetoric deployed in recent days by some government officials and President Nkurunziza's planned security crackdown this weekend are increasing the risk of an outbreak of mass violence." But Nyamitwe said the international community had "fallen into the trap" of those who have wrongly warned of genocide, saying government speeches had "several meanings". "They have been interpreted in a negative manner," Nyamitwe said. 'Frightening lawlessness' At least 200 people have died in the latest turmoil and 200,000 have fled the country, recalling some of the darkest periods of recent history in the region. But rights activists said people were deeply fearful of the government messages. "Ask anyone in Bujumbura and they will tell you the same thing: dark days lie ahead," Carina Tertsakian from Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned. "Burundi seems to be descending into uncontrolled violence. A frightening lawlessness is taking hold, which some authorities appear to be taking advantage of to justify brutal repression." Burundi was wracked by 13 years of conflict, ending in 2006, between Hutu rebels and the minority Tutsi that left 300,000 dead. Last week, the country's Senate president Reverien Ndikuriyo threatened to "pulverise" regime opponents who do not lay down arms before the deadline which expires later on Saturday. "Today, the police shoot in the legs... but when the day comes that we tell them to go to 'work', do not come crying to us," he said. The loaded term "work" was a euphemism used in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide to describe the mass killings of at least 800,000 mainly Tutsi people by extremist Hutu militias. "The language is unambiguous to Burundians and chillingly similar to that used in Rwanda in the 1990s before the genocide," the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank said. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday that the discovery of bodies -- "many apparently summarily executed" -- has become a "regular occurrence" in Burundi's capital Bujumbura. In The Hague, the International Criminal Court said it was ready to prosecute the instigators of any large-scale violence. 'Panic has set in' Bujumbura was reportedly relatively calm on Saturday, although tensions remain high, and many people are fleeing their homes after the government warnings. "Burundians take these warnings seriously, having seen relatives, friends and neighbours shot dead by the police during nightly raids," HRW added. "Panic has set in, and some residents of Bujumbura have been packing up their belongings and fleeing." On Friday, a radio journalist arrested by the army was handed over to the widely-feared National Intelligence Service (SNR). Blaise Celestin Ndihokubwayo, who works for the private radio Isanganiro, was arrested just outside Bujumbura, radio director Prasanth Maniradutunga said. The political crisis has seen many independent media outlets shut down, and many journalists have fled the country or have gone into hiding because of threats and attacks. The UN Security Council is to meet on Monday to discuss the crisis. (AFP)‘It’s Eric from the Department of Government with your free money.” MANCHESTER, NH – Maybe this has happened to you: You’re sitting at home thinking about Christmas, or bills, or work-related stuff, when your cell phone rings. You love to answer your cell phone because it’s usually someone you like, someone who has your number – it’s one of the perks of abandoning your landline in an age of wireless technology. Related story: U.S. Marshals urge public to report phone scams to the FTC But you see “No Caller ID” flashing on the incoming call screen. You hesitate to answer, but then you think back to other calls that register that way – often local police or other government agencies which have blocked incoming numbers. You think about your loved ones, and hope nobody’s in trouble. So you answer. On the other end, a person with a heavy accent introduces himself as “Ahc Tomxyx” and you hear something about “congratulations” and “government grant money.” I have received many of these calls lately. Sometimes the person on the other end is from the IRS and warning me that I’m going to be “very sorry” if I don’t respond to their calls. But on Dec. 6, I learned (after asking him to repeat his name, twice) that it was “Eric Thomas” of the “U.S. Government” who was congratulating me as one of only 1,500 people selected to receive a $9,000 government grant because of my “good record.” I resisted the urge to hang up on Eric. “Oh-kaaaaay?” I said. “You pay your bills and taxes on time, you have had no criminal case for the last six months, and you are low income,” Eric said. “Now, this grant money – we don’t want you to misuse it for drugs, gambling and drinking. This comes once in your lifetime. We
. It's like high-school level meanness, directed at someone who wants to be a star and is really going for it. It's like being punished for ambition. Of course, ambition is helpful primarily when you've got the talent to make it pay off. In this, I'd say the jury is still out when it comes to the material on Born To Die. Del Rey has a voice and a way of phrasing that I find fascinating. Most of the time, she pitches her voice into a low register and pushes her words out as though she's moaning her blues. Enlarge this image toggle caption Nicole Nodland/Shore Fire Nicole Nodland/Shore Fire The tune, "Born to Die," is the album's title song for a reason — it features Del Rey's most typical vocal, a sort of moody croon that increases to a supplicating intensity. The lyric actually contradicts the eye-grabbing title: The phrase "born to die" may imply pessimism or moroseness, but Del Rey is actually pitching a message that's something more like "live life to the fullest." Del Rey does make a few false steps on this album, most notably the bad rapping — stilted and affected — that she does on "National Anthem." What it comes down to, ultimately, is that for all the charges that Lana Del Rey is a manufactured pop star, she's actually squarely in the tradition of young performers with an assertive naivete about how much of a rebel she wants to be. She's referred to her music as "Hollywood sadcore" and herself as a "gangsta Nancy Sinatra." Oh dear: Wasn't Nancy Sinatra, with her flat affect and boots made for walkin' pretty "gangsta" herself? Del Rey sings about her quote-unquote "tar-black soul" but I think at her best, she's got a good, red-romantic heart.Look! Up on the TV! It’s a straight-appearing woman who’s high femme! It’s the human closest to Kara Zor-El of Krypton! It’s… Supergirl’s lesbian sister! Yes, Alex Danvers, played by Chyler Leigh, revealed on Monday’s episode of Supergirl on the CW Network that her adopted sister Kara isn’t the only one with a secret identity. She came out in the episode, “Crossfire.” Executive producer Jeffrey Kreisberg told the Hollywood Reporter their goal is to tell Alex’s story in a “respectful, educational, entertaining and thoughtful” way, surrounded by supportive family and friends. “The writers were foreshadowing for weeks,” says YouTube personality and Supergirl superfan Melody Maia Monet, a trans woman in Orlando, Fla. She guessed last week in an Instagram post that this was about to be revealed: In the episode, detective Maggie Sawyer played by Floriana Lima gets dumped by her girlfriend, and mistakes Alex’s invitation to get drinks as asking her out on a date. Maggie tells Alex she didn’t realize that Alex was gay. Alex of course at first denies it and bolts, but after some soul searching she comes out as gay to Maggie by the episode’s conclusion. “What I’m interested in, because I love Alex, is that I want Alex to be happy,” executive producer Andrew Kreisberg tells The Hollywood Reporter. “There was always this sadness about her last season that I think we’re really getting underneath now. No one should ever feel like they’re trapped. No one should ever feel like they’ve got a secret inside of them. The idea that, in going through this, even if it is painful and rough going, that Alex is going to come out the other side a happier and more complete person, as someone who loves Alex Danvers so dearly like a sister, that she is going to go on this incredible journey makes me so happy.” Click here to watch the episode from the CW. This Story Filed UnderAbstract ‘To twerk is to dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squat stance.’ But twerking is also about redefining whiteness in a queered millennial era. Recent cultural appropriations of this African-American dance by mainstream media shows how twerking might be misjudged as trash and degrading for women. Confronting France and the United States in this topic allows a cultural and postcolonial understanding of big black butts. Keywords butt, dance, fat, trash, twerking References Section: Choose Top of page Abstract Turning gender dynamics ‘... Nicki Minaj versus Miley... Of butts and legs: white... Conclusion: why aren’t we... References << Other documentation Blogs consulted Author biography Lucille Toth is Assistant Professor at the Ohio State University. Her work explores the links between dance, literature and medicine. In 2015, she co-edited the volume Danse contemporaine et littérature, published by the Centre National de la Danse. She is currently finishing a book exploring the idea of viral in the current post-AIDS era. Her next work will trace a genealogy of fat and ‘excessive’ bodies on stage in both France and the US. Other documentation Section: Choose Top of page Abstract Turning gender dynamics ‘... Nicki Minaj versus Miley... Of butts and legs: white... Conclusion: why aren’t we... References Other documentation << Blogs consulted Author biography Lucille Toth is Assistant Professor at the Ohio State University. Her work explores the links between dance, literature and medicine. In 2015, she co-edited the volume Danse contemporaine et littérature, published by the Centre National de la Danse. She is currently finishing a book exploring the idea of viral in the current post-AIDS era. Her next work will trace a genealogy of fat and ‘excessive’ bodies on stage in both France and the US. Blogs consulted Section: Choose Top of page Abstract Turning gender dynamics ‘... Nicki Minaj versus Miley... Of butts and legs: white... Conclusion: why aren’t we... References Other documentation Blogs consulted << Author biography Lucille Toth is Assistant Professor at the Ohio State University. Her work explores the links between dance, literature and medicine. In 2015, she co-edited the volume Danse contemporaine et littérature, published by the Centre National de la Danse. She is currently finishing a book exploring the idea of viral in the current post-AIDS era. Her next work will trace a genealogy of fat and ‘excessive’ bodies on stage in both France and the US.In our review of Noctua’s latest flagship, the NH-D15, we proclaimed it the king of air coolers, for its massive cooling performance and silent operation. However, while the NH-D15 is the definitive solution where space is not a concern, it is definitely not the end all be all, especially for those looking for a cooler for their small form-factor systems. Mini-ITX users fear not, as Noctua also has a solution such situations as well. The company’s NH-L9x65 promises an ultra compact design, as well as Noctua’s signature silent operation, but can it keep even the most demanding overclocks cool? Let’s find out! PACKING, PRICING AND SPECIFICATIONS Packaging is very much the same as with the NH-D15, only much smaller. We have Noctua’s standard white and brown/black color-scheme with a faint image of the cooler on the front of the box. We also have some key features, and specifications on either side, as well as a multilingual product description around back. The NH-L9x65 features an ultra compact design, complete with a super low-profile NF-A6x25 PWM. The cooler also uses Noctua’s standard SecuFirm2™ mounting system which features support for Intel’s LGA115x, 2011/2011-v3, and AMD’s AM2/AM2+, AM3/AM3+, FM1, FM2/FM2+ sockets. A quick search on Amazon brings us a current pricing of $55.99, making it a fairly premium cooling solution. Inside the box we’ll find the mounting kit and accessories box packed neatly at the top, underneath that we’ll find the cooler itself with the fan pre-installed, encased in some thick cardboard packaging which should have no issues protecting it in shipping. Inside the accessories box we’ll find the Intel and AMD installation sets packaged separately in easy tear plastic bags, a set of installation manuals, a backplate for Intel 115x motherboards, as well as the low-noise adapter for the fan which changes its maximum RPM from 2500 down to 1800. We’ll also find a very nice Noctua case badge, a tube of Noctua’s NT-H1 thermal compound and a Phillips head screwdriver to help with installation. While the NH-L9x65 does command a bit of a higher price than similar low-profile coolers, the included extras such as the premium case badge, low-noise fan adapter and convenient screwdriver really do help justify the cost, and make the overall package much more premium.The controversial CISA (Cyber Information Sharing Act) has been reviled in tech and privacy circles for offering governments and the private sector a way to sidestep privacy and Net neutrality rules. But earlier this week, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence voted by 12-3 to approve the bill, thus nudging it closer to the Senate floor. Originally devised as a way to allow freer information sharing between the government and businesses for the sake of thwarting or minimizing damage from cyber attacks, CISA has come under fire for the way it implements those concepts. For example, businesses that provide personal information with the government under the guise of informing them of a security threat are rendered immune from lawsuits. That provision's clearly intended to allow companies to share needed information without fear of reprisal, but it might also embolden them to act recklessly. CISA's chief proponents, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Vice Chairman Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), claim the bill has sufficient privacy and liability protections in place and requires reports on how it's implemented to be presented to various agencies and offices. The bill's defenders claim its wording and intentions are narrow enough. "The focus of the bill is narrowly on cyber security information sharing," said Feinstein's office in a statement, "and it does not affect intelligence programs, Net neutrality, or the establishment of cyber standards." The statement noted that amendments while the bill was in committee were made "to further strengthen privacy protections in the bill, clarify authorization language, and make technical changes." But Senators Ron Wyden (D-Or.) and Mark Udall (D-Co.), who voted against the bill, says it "lacks adequate protections for the privacy rights of law-abiding Americans, and that it will not materially improve cyber security. We opposed the bill for these reasons, but we stand ready to work with our colleagues to address its shortcomings." A key reason for criticism of the bill's wording is the open-ended protection for those who fall under its umbrella, allowing actions to be taken under its provisions to circumvent privacy or Net neutrality. In one widely discussed example, the bill could conceivably be used an excuse by an ISP to throttle Netflix as a defensive measure. It isn't clear if the version of the bill that passed the committee prevents such scenarios, since the full text of the revised bill won't be released until next week. Versions of CISA have bubbled up before and been defeated for many of the same reasons -- that it provides far more loopholes for domestic spycrafting than it does useful tools for addressing cyber attacks. Last year's CISPA (Cyber Information Sharing and Protection Act), the previous incarnation of the bill, made it as far as the House, but it was blocked in the Senate and faced a flat-out veto by President Obama. Given that history, the current version of the bill might share the same fate. Other initiatives for sharing information about cyber threats, outside of legislative avenues, have been taking shape. Most recently, Microsoft created Interflow, a cyber crime data sharing and collaboration platform for both business and government users, although there were concerns such a thing would be hidebound by it being deployed via Microsoft's proprietary platform. This story, "CISA bill -- and Internet privacy rights -- moves to Senate for a vote," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.More to Digest than Popcorn: An Interview with Peter Weir June 4, 1998 by Dan Lybarger Originally appeared in the June 4-10, 1998 issue of Pitch Weekly......................................................................................................... "I heard someone say the other day, 'What a bizarre movie,'" recalls Australian director Peter Weir. "I don't think so. I think life is outrageous right now, and the film is reflecting that." The movie in question is Weir's most recent effort, The Truman Show, and it is certainly unconventional. The film stars rubber-faced comic Jim Carrey (Liar Liar) as an insurance salesman whose entire life has been televised internationally without his knowledge. Speaking by phone from Chicago, Weir says, "Some have said to me that they looked at things differently after they came out and made jokes about whether they were on-camera or not." Probably the strangest aspect of The Truman Show is the fact that Weir cast the frequently hyperactive Carrey in an everyman role. Weir claims that putting Carrey in such a position is hardly a stretch. "The ability to make people laugh is unique and something you're born with or not. It's possible for someone who has this gift to make the transition to drama, but not the other way around," he says. "You don't think of Larry Olivier as good at light comedy. When he tried it, I wouldn't say that's what we remember him for." The Truman Show has several offbeat touches (strange camera angles and a shot of the moon being used as a spotlight). Weir remembers several of the ideas that he and his collaborators had were left out so the storytelling would not be sacrificed. "I even had a crazy idea at one time, which was impossible technically. I would have loved to have had a video camera installed in every theater the film was to be seen. At one point, the projectionist would cut power and could cut to the viewers in the cinema and then back to the movie. But I thought it was best to leave that idea untested," he says. If The Truman Show does poke fun at the absurdities of media voyeurism, Weir doesn't directly condemn it. He declares, "I think, as we saw with the whole Lady Diana business, the very people who were outraged at the perceived cause of her death, which were the paparazzi chasing the car, were the same people who bought the magazines and the sensational tabloid papers. That's a complex situation, and you can't blame them. They loved her, but they wanted to watch every moment of her life. If they'd had a camera in her house, they would have had the viewership of The Truman Show or more." In fact, the 53-year-old filmmaker recalls that television, particularly classic American shows like I Love Lucy and The Twilight Zone, was an important influence when he was growing up in Sydney. "I was 12 years old when television came, and I couldn't believe it," he recalls. "I just was transfixed by it. I used to darken the room down like a theater at night, like a movie house. My father used to always get annoyed and said, 'You've got to leave a lamp on, or you'll lose your eyesight.' I said, 'It'll be worth it.' No one was allowed to talk. At one stage, I wouldn't let anyone go to the bathroom. That didn't last long." Weir says he and other Australian directors of his generation, such as Bruce Beresford (Tender Mercies) and Gillian Armstrong (Little Women), benefited from their exposure to imported culture from the United States and Europe. He says seeing American movies helped him and others adapt to Hollywood moviemaking and to create an Australian brand of cinema. "We had a culturally similar diet to Americans of the same generation. (Australians) had no culture. We were a simple people until recent times. We were Europeans in the bottom end of the world. As with any new colony, the arts are the last thing to be developed. I think my generation was the first to not withdraw and go to London, like the generation before us did. We stayed. We were determined to make our mark, like the kid who's been the short kid in school and been bullied," he says. Before his crossover success in America (he received Oscar nominations for directing Witness and Dead Poets Society and for writing Green Card), Weir first gained notoriety for his eerie 1975 Australian drama Picnic at Hanging Rock. The movie is loosely based on a real but undocumented disappearance of students and a teacher from a girls school at the turn of the century. Previously unavailable in the U.S. (except for bootleg copies), the film is being rereleased and is scheduled to play in Kansas City in July. "I remastered the soundtrack and made some cuts in the movie itself." He laughs and adds, "I think it's going to go in the Guinness Book of World Records as the only director's cut that's shorter than the original." In the films that Weir has in current release, and with his previous movies, he often sidesteps the obvious. For example, Witness and The Year of Living Dangerously are remarkably steamy even though neither shows much skin. "When the Hays Code (which governed Hollywood movies from 1930 through 1966) operated, directors were far more inventive with the way they showed strong attraction between male and female, love and lust. With the Hays Code gone--and who would argue it should be there--I tried to use the lessons I learned from those directors, that less is more. You allow the viewers to join in making the film and apply their imagination," Weir explains. His approach does have its drawbacks. "Of course, that implies the presumption the audience will join you and has that imagination. It can get harder these days because films are so didactic, and they so present everything to the viewer," Weir says. "All (the audience) has to do is sit and eat their popcorn and keep their eyes open. Whereas, I like a film and like to make films in which, at least emotionally, you are joining in and completing the picture with me." Back to Home[JURIST] Russian President Vladmir Putin [official website] signed a law on Sunday that allows for foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or firms deemed “undesirable” on national security grounds to be sanctioned and banned from operation within the country. Further, the term undesirable is open to interpretation and not specifically defined within the statute. Under the law, Russian authorities would essentially be allowed to prosecute organizations they believe pose a threat to Russia’s Constitutional order, defensive capacity and national security. These organizations could face up to six years in prison as well as fines. The US Department of State [official website] said it was “deeply troubled” by the new law. Advocacy group Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] said [AI report] that the bill would “squeeze the life from civil society” while Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] warned [HRW report] that it would be locals who would be most heavily impacted. HRW Europe and Central Asia Director Hugh Williamson [official profile] stated, “There is little doubt that [the law’s] primary targets are Russian activists and Russian Independent agencies.” Supporters of the law said that the law is necessary due to Russia’s involvement in the Ukraine. With the signing of this law, Russia is building on its already restrictive laws for foreign NGOs within the country. In 2012 the Russian Federal Council, the country’s upper house of parliament, approved a bill [JURIST report] that labels NGOs that accept international funding as “foreign agents.” In August 2013, Russia’s Constitutional Court received [JURIST report] the first official complaint against the country’s new law, which requires political NGOs receiving funding from abroad to register as “foreign agents.” Kostroma Center was fined 300,000 rubles (USD $9,000) for organizing a roundtable with US diplomats, which investigators said counted as “political activity.” Since the NGO law took effect [JURIST report] in 2012, Russian activists have vowed to challenge it. Leading rights groups, including Memorial [official website], election-monitoring body Golos [official website, in Russian] and the Moscow Helsinki Group [official website] have all chosen to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website]. The US State Department claimed [Reuters report] it had “deep concern” about the new bill, but was likewise reminded by Moscow that such an issue involves domestic rather than international policy. In April 2013, HRW released a report [text, PDF] analyzing the law and calling for its repeal.CLOSE Two hospital physicians in India have been fired after pronouncing a baby dead, only to have the child wake up in a bag while the family was driving to his funeral. Buzz60 The Max hospital in a suburb of Delhi, India, where a baby was declared dead and then was found to be alive on the way to his funeral. He subsequently died on the way to his funeral. (Photo11: Barcroft Media via Getty Images) A baby who was declared dead and woke up in a plastic bag while the family was driving to his funeral has now died, according to local media. The baby boy, born on November 30 in a suburb of Delhi, India, died late on Tuesday, a police spokesman told The Times of India. The incident began following the premature delivery of twins, a boy and a girl, after a five-month pregnancy. The girl was declared stillborn; the boy was declared dead a short time later. The babies were placed in plastic bags and the family was driving to the crematorium when they saw movement. They opened the bag to find the live child. The baby was placed on life support, according to local TV news channel NDTV. "We are shaken and concerned at this rare incident," said a spokesperson for the private Max Hospital. Delhi police said they had collected hospital records for the mother and treatment records for the newborn babies. Video from the hospital also was being reviewed, they said. More: Two doctors fired after 'dead' baby wakes up on way to funeral More: Ivanka Trump visits India for Global Entrepreneurship Summit The hospital, with more than 300 beds, is one of 14 in the Max Healthcare system across India. It is dubbed a "super specialty hospital" on the company's website, boasting a wide array of medical disciplines. In the aftermath of the incident, which sparked outrage across the country, Max Healthcare fired two doctors, AP Mehta and Vishal Gupta. The Indian Medical Association weighed in on the case, issuing a warning for hospitals that a body's metabolism can be "suspended" in cases of severe hypothermia and may protect against oxygen deprivation for an extended period of time. USA TODAY's John Bacon contributed to this story. Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2Acyf26“A political leader of any party is judged on the achievements of that party while they are in charge. And that’s fair enough – what else is there to judge them by?” That was the first paragraph of the piece I wrote on the day Richard Di Natale, who today spoke at the National Press Club, was elected Greens leader. (Yes, quoting myself is probably a form of jumping the shark. It’s been a long campaign. Forgive me.) It’s a simple enough statement, but there is some complexity in that word “achievements”. What counts as an achievement? The obvious place to start is the vote. In 2010, the hung parliament election, when dissatisfaction with both major parties was high, the Greens received a 4% swing, and just under 12% of the nationwide vote in the lower house, their best result. They won a lower house seat (for Adam Bandt, in Melbourne) and a seat, house or senate, in each of the six states. It was a significant achievement, though assisted, of course, by the various ways in which Labor and the Coalition had made themselves repellent to a fair portion of voters. Before Malcolm Turnbull was elected leader of the Liberal Party late last year, the Greens were doing well (I’m looking at Newspoll), on track to better their 2010 result. But after that fateful day their vote dropped, just slightly. According to the last two Newspolls it is now down to 10%, having fallen further during the campaign period. This is interesting because, just as in 2010, the major parties aren’t very hot right now. In fact their primary votes look even lower than they did in 2010. But dissatisfaction this time around isn’t flowing to the Greens; instead, it’s going to independents and others, most notably the Nick Xenophon Team. We are over a week out from the election, and really it is too early for a post-mortem based on votes. Anything might yet happen. But the early indications are at least curious. What does it reflect? A failure on Di Natale’s part? The runaway Xenophon train sucking up all the oxygen that would ordinarily go to other minor parties? Or the constant attacks on the Greens by the men with the two largest loudspeakers in the nation, Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten? Which brings us back to this complex question of achievements. Turnbull’s attack on the Greens is largely an attack on Labor, made via the Greens. By reminding people of the years of minority government, Turnbull believes he emphasises his stability message, which will deliver him victory. Shorten’s attack on the Greens is in turn driven partly by the need to defend himself against Turnbull’s attack. But both men, and in particular Shorten, have also gone hard on Di Natale’s outfit because they perceive the Greens as a threat. Regardless of the Greens’ share of the national vote, if they succeed in retaining Melbourne, and taking Batman from Labor’s David Feeney, then their strategy can be said to have succeeded. And of course they are targeting other seats, mostly Labor-held, in inner-city Sydney and Melbourne. It’s this strategy that is the most fascinating thing about the Greens in this election, and providing a window on to how the party sees its purpose. What is sometimes not appreciated in all of these debates about Labor–Greens alliances is how deeply many in the ALP hate their “ally”. This detestation comes from a fundamentally different view of politics. Labor’s view is that good can be done from government, and that winning government demands taking the centre. Many ALP members see the Greens as show-ponies, waving around policies they will never have the ability to implement, pretending to be pure while playing politics hard, foregoing the hard work of governing for the easy satisfactions of moral purity. Many Greens, in turn, have contempt for Labor, believing it has sold out a belief in genuinely progressive politics for a chance at power. They ask what the point of winning government is if you can’t actually do anything useful when you get there? Di Natale constantly refers to Labor and the Coalition as the “Coles and Woolies of Australian politics”, with little to separate them, operating as a duopoly “coming together to lock out any competition from more progressive voices, more independent voices”. Labor and Liberal consensus on some policy areas, in particular asylum seekers, have given Di Natale’s argument momentum. You think the two major parties hate each other? It pales next to the animosity between Labor and the Greens. Before 2010 the Greens were largely content with attempting to influence the direction of Australian politics by the force of rhetoric, as well as actions in the senate. What has changed in this election is that the Greens are now putting their arguments with the direct aim of increasing their representation in the lower house. Greens strategists have told the Guardian they are fighting to win eight lower house seats over the next two elections (which is different from saying they believe that is a realistic target). And it was Adam Bandt who set the Liberal and Labor hares running with his comments early in the campaign that “There’s a prospect of more Greens getting elected to the lower house and that may then result in … as in 2010, no side wins.” Yes, the Greens would be willing to govern in coalition with Labor. And off we went. There have been so many claims and counter-claims about the Greens and preferences by now that it is hard to keep up. Certainly many attacks on the Greens on this topic have been overdone. But in Anthony Albanese’s seat of Grayndler the party began its campaign by refusing to rule out preference deals with Albanese’s opponents. It also earlier seemed possible the party would run “open tickets”, where it does not preference anyone, in some suburban marginal seats. These would be legitimate decisions for a party which has now decided that its best chance of influencing Australian politics is winning seats in its own right. But of course Labor doesn’t see it that way. In its view, the Greens, by forcing Labor candidates like Albanese to work harder in their electorates and suck up resources that could be used elsewhere, and by refusing to preference Labor in every seat, make the election of a Liberal government more likely. It’s fascinating because it’s a genuine philosophical divide. Labor believes the worst evil is a Liberal government, and that anyone calling themselves progressive should do everything they can to prevent that evil. The Greens argue that the Liberals and Labor are not that far apart, and they are entitled to do as much as they can to get themselves elected. Perhaps oddly, especially for the Greens who are so often associated with activism, both views stem from a belief in the primacy of parliamentary politics. For those who tear their hair out in frustration at what they see as “the left” in this country tearing itself apart, these are some of the reasons. There’s no easy resolution, no “kumbaya” on the horizon. Both cases can be argued. So, back to achievements. If Di Natale has instilled a genuine desire in his party to do whatever is necessary to win seats, then that might be seen as a philosophical shift for which he can take credit. But in politics everything comes back to votes. If the shift translates into seats, then that will be significant, and he will be a hero to his party. But if no seats are won, and if, in addition, the Coalition is re-elected, and if that can be painted as in any way a result of his decisions, then the Di Natale years will be remembered pretty bleakly. What actually happens in parliament will be crucial too, of course. But first you have to actually be in parliament. Politics at its best is about ideals. But there’s no getting away from the fact that at election time, it’s all about results. Correction: I did say it was difficult to keep up with the preference skirmishes! An earlier version of this article suggested the Greens were still considering running open tickets in some marginal seats. While this was reported as a possibility at one stage, the Greens have since announced that it will not be happening. Today’s linksThe Director of the Newark Department of Economic and Housing Development (DEHD) is out and the Chief Real Estate Officer and Executive Vice President of the Newark Community Economic Development Corporation (NCEDC) is in. Jersey Digs has confirmed that Carmelo Garcia has replaced Baye Adofo-Wilson in this position, which is also branded as ‘Deputy Mayor for Economic and Housing Development’ in New Jersey’s largest city. The City of Newark already referred to Garcia, a Hoboken resident, as “Deputy Mayor Garcia” in a statement issued today about a new 7-Eleven location that is coming to the South Ward. Julian Diaz of the NCEDC confirmed the news but referred all questions to the Newark Press Information Office, as did a representative of the DEHD when reached by Jersey Digs. A source who asked not to be identified stated that Adofo-Wilson has submitted his letter of resignation, and that he is leaving to pursue employment in the private sector. Garcia has been serving in an acting position for the last two weeks, and will continue to be the Acting Director during the transition period, according to the source. Adofo-Wilson, a Montclair resident, is still listed as the Director on the City website. He was appointed by Mayor Ras Baraka in July 2014 at the beginning of his administration after teaching at Harvard University and serving as the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District (LPCCD) in Newark. Earlier this month, Jersey Digs reported that the DEHD executed an agreement with the LPCCD to provide $250,000 in City funding for the long awaited South Park Calvary United Presbyterian Church performing arts project. The Star-Ledger reported in 2014 that Adofo-Wilson “said he would not handle any Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District matters while serving as head of economic development.” Although thousands of residential units have been proposed for Newark and new businesses have come to the city under his time in office, Adofo-Wilson has faced criticism from groups like NJ Communities United and individuals such as former NCEDC Chief Executive Officer Victor Emenuga. Garcia joined the NCEDC in 2015, and was previously a New Jersey State Assemblyman before stepping down, as well as the Executive Director of the Hoboken Housing Authority (HHA) and Hoboken’s Director of Health and Human Services. He was sued by the HHA for “breach of an employment contract, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and breach of fiduciary duty” over allegedly accepting bribes during his time as Executive Director, according to Law360. Under his term at the NCEDC, dozens of development plans have advanced, including the proposals for West Side Heights and Peddlers Square. David Lippman of the Press Information Office stated that he did not know about the change in Deputy Mayors and referred questions to other staff members in the office. Jersey Digs will keep you updated as additional information is released.CHANNELVIEW, Texas -- A number of Channelview ISD teachers are being disciplined after naming a student “most likely to become a terrorist.” “They just found it as a joke,” said 7th grader Lizeth Villanueva. She got the certificate during a mock awards ceremony this week at Anthony Aguirre Junior High. Lizeth says the teacher who signed it handed out certificates to a number of students while other teachers watched and laughed. “She said that some people might get offended, but she doesn’t really care about our feelings," Lizeth said. “She was laughing about it.” It’s no laughing matter to Lizeth’s mom. “I read it twice. I’m like, 'What is this?!'" Ena Hernandez said. Hernandez says her daughter is in an advanced academic program and has never had a discipline problem. “It doesn’t look good at all, especially coming from a teacher, a grown-up woman,” Hernandez said. “It doesn’t look good because everything that’s going on right now.” Sign up for the daily 5 Things to Know Newsletter 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 5 Things to Know newsletter Please try again later. Submit They say the principal personally apologized during a meeting at the school. “I just think it’s going to stop, it’s going to end there,” Hernandez said. The district would not confirm the names of any teachers because it’s a personnel matter, but a spokesperson says those involved are being disciplined in accordance with policy. Lizeth knows what she’d like to see happen. “Get fired, at least, or something,” she said. She hasn’t been back to class since receiving her certificate. Channelview ISD released this statement: "The Channelview ISD Administration would like to apologize for the insensitive and offensive fake mock awards that were given to students in a classroom. Channelview ISD would like to assure all students, parents and community members that these award statements and ideals are not representative of the district’s vision, mission and educational goals for our students. "The teachers involved in this matter have been disciplined according to district policy and the incident is still under investigation."Super Junior‘s Kyuhyun requested fans not to trade premium tickets. On October 2, he requested not to trade high-priced premium tickets by posting a comment on his twitter, “I hope you would not buy premium tickets. If you are E.L.F (the fan club name of Super Junior), if you are a fan of me, I would not be happy to see you come to my concert in that way. There will be many concerts in the future. Don’t worry.” He comforted those fans that cannot come to the concert. The tickets for Kyuhyun’s concert, ‘And Autumn Again’ were sold out only one minute after the reservation was opened on October 1. There is increasing number of illegal ticket brokers who try to sell the tickets at high price to the fans who could not buy the tickets. From November 6-8 and 13-15, Kyuhyun’s first solo concert, ‘And Autumn Again’ will be held 6 times at SM theater of SM town Coex Artium in Samseoungdong, Seoul.CHALFONT, Pa. (AP) — A legal battle is brewing over the classic arcade game Skee-Ball. The suburban Philadelphia company that owns the trademark is at odds with the New York creators of Brewskee-Ball. Participants in Brewskee-Ball drink beer while competing for high scores in the bowling-style game. The league is based at the Brooklyn bar Full Circle. League founder Eric Pavony tells The Intelligencer (http://bit.ly/1l2wiV7 ) the CEO of Skee-Ball Inc. gave the outfit his blessing in 2005. But Skee-Ball Inc. sued Full Circle for trademark infringement. Full Circle countersued, claiming Skee-Ball's trademark is generic and should be canceled. The lawsuits have been joined and the case is pending in federal court in New York. Brewskee-Ball supporters set up a crowd-funding site this week to help with legal fees. ___ Information from: The Intelligencer, http://www.theintell.comEdgar Rice Burroughs, a man who quit the pencil-sharpener wholesale business to give writing a stab, is most known for his creation of Tarzan of the Apes, but that jungle swinging pulp hero was just the tip of the iceberg in the fertile imaginative mind of one of the 20
hy. I used Flash 8 to make this. And considering it’s my very first piece of artwork, it took me quite a bit of time to put it all together. The background was the easy part. The hardest part was getting the gradients in Fluttershy’s eyes to come out as close to show accurate as I could get. I had never worked with gradients before, so it was a bit of a learning curve. All in all though, I’d say this came out very well. Tons better than I thought I was going to do when I first started it. It may not be total perfection, but I have to say that I’m very pleased with how everything came together for my very first piece of pony fan artwork. Character Design © Lauren Faust...aka... *fyre-flye here on dA. MLP, Fluttershy©Hasbro ©WildAnimeLast month, City Council took up one of their first large zoning cases, a proposed apartment complex near Burnet Road. Many of them used the opportunity to expound not only on the case in question, but some of the principles behind their decision, and I duly blogged those takes. Zoning changes require 3 “readings” (i.e. 3 different votes). If there’s no disagreement, all 3 readings can happen on the same night. But in this case, there was disagreement, so they only passed the vote “on first reading,” and this last Thursday, revisited it. If you’re interested in the background and outcome of the decision, check out Liz Pagano’s take in the Austin Monitor. Me, though? I’m interested in hearing what the Council Members had to say about their approach to zoning. District 10 Council Member Sheri Gallo Gallo here notes that the majority of Austin rents, neighborhood associations don’t always do a good job representing them, and it’s the responsibility of City Council to look out for all residents, not just the organized ones. Readers of this blog will be familiar with both the renting and neighborhood association ideas. Here, Gallo gives her opinion that the reason why rents have risen in Austin is an imbalance of supply and demand, and suggests more housing supply is needed to stop price increases. This, again, is familiar territory on this blog. District 3 Council Member Pio Rentería CM Rentería, similar to CM Gallo, believes that raising supply will stabilize prices. District 4 Council Member Greg Casar Casar offers a number of ideas here. First, he discusses a “filtering up” mechanism, where, if new housing doesn’t get built, old (or “vintage”) housing can become more expensive, giving as an example housing his brother lives in in Los Angeles. Another two ideas that Casar argues for are that: 1) building housing is in and of itself, a “community benefit.” 2) There is an additional “economic integration” community benefit to having some portion of that housing be mandated Affordable Housing. Neither of these ideas are new to council. Nevertheless, it’s interesting to hear both of them in the same speech. Frequently, the “economic integration” argument appears on the side of somebody arguing against denser zoning. In this case, though, Casar appeared to be arguing for greater density as a mechanism for making more Affordable Housing economically viable for the developer. Mayor Steve Adler I publish this not because Adler offered much background on his approach to zoning here, but because of the previous rarity of seeing a Council Member ask a developer to consider greater density on a site. (Sorry, I accidentally cut the video short; the developer said yes, he would consider it.) District 2 Council Member Delia Garza Garza offers two items of note: 1) delays in the development process add to the costs of housing, and 2) Austin is a high-demand city, and when there isn’t enough housing supply in richer areas, this adds to gentrification pressures in poorer areas. District 8 Council Member Ellen Troxclair Troxclair offers a bit of a procedural take, arguing that Council’s way of using zoning as a negotiation tool encourages parties to take extremist positions. She appears to have misspoke when she said she couldn’t support MF6; she voted, as she did in the previous reading, for the higher-density MF6 and against the lower-density zoning. The Developer Finally, we hear from the applicant, C.J. Sackman, the developer of the project. I’m including this testimony not because his views will have lasting impact on the Council the way that Council Members’ do, but because they’re broadly representative of developers’ views. The Rest CM Pool (District 7), CM Kitchen (District 5), and CM Houston (District 1) emphasized that, because there was disagreement between a neighborhood association objecting to the project and the developer and because the two hadn’t fully negotiated, they wanted to pass a lower zoning category on 2nd reading only, to pressure the two sides to negotiate. CM Zimmerman (District 6) thought there had been enough testimony, and moved for the decision to be made for the higher zoning category on 3rd reading. Mayor Pro Tem Tovo (District 9) voted with Pool, Kitchen, and Houston. In her testimony, Tovo focused on whether the developer could have provided steeper discounts on the Affordable Housing apartments, to target a poorer population.ABX in the Press Democrat: "Santa Rosa Marijuana Processing Plant Back in Business" CannaCraft this week received a final level of approval from the city of Santa Rosa to run its multimillion-dollar enterprise, making it the first in the city — and among only a handful of companies statewide — to receive local authorization to manufacture marijuana-infused products for medicinal use. READ MORE ABX in The NY Times: "Medical Marijuana Is Legal in California. Except When It’s Not." The New York Times reports on the ABX raid and the legislative changes that have occurred in the aftermath. In the article, they discuss our efforts to break the stigma associated with the cannabis industry and come out of the shadows as a company providing the highest quality medicine, and the difficulties that arise from conflicting viewpoints of local regulations and federal agencies. READ MORE TAKE ACTION in Support of ABX and Care By Design Thursday, June 16th at 11:00 A.M. at the Sonoma County Superior Courthouse in Santa Rosa. Santa Rosa, CA READ MORE CBD Guild Raided While Operating in Full Compliance with California State Law This law enforcement action is unprecedented, unfortunate, and has the potential to deprive thousands of profoundly sick patients of much needed medicine. CBD Guild--manufacturers of Care By Design and ABX in California--will cooperate fully with law enforcement in an effort to resolve this as quickly as possible, and hope to have nearly a hundred employees in Sonoma County back to work this week. READ MORE Survey: Cannabis Better Than Big Pharma Meds for PTSD A recent Care By Design survey of 300 patients suggests that cannabis is better than Big Pharma meds for PTSD. The survey offers hope for PTSD sufferers. A growing body of research suggests that there is a strong connection between the endocannabinoid system and PTSD, and that cannabis therapy may help address the root causes of PTSD, including impaired fear extinction, poor memory consolidation, and chronic stress. READ MORE ABX Proudly Supports the Save a Million Vets Tour ABX is the proud sponsor of the Save a Million Vets tour. A national tour sponsored by the non-profit Grow For Vets, Save a Million Vets aims to call attention to the million plus veterans living with PTSD. The anxiety disorder is believed to be a major contributor to the staggering number of veteran deaths each year from prescription drug overdoses and suicides, and may respond to cannabis. READ MORE Emerald Cup and ABX Partner to Showcase Mendocino Cannabis Emerald Cup Concentrates and ABX partner to offer California medical marijuana patients disposable vape cartridges based on two specialty Mendocino-bred strains: Berry White and Royal Kush.“We’re thrilled to collaborate with The Emerald Cup, a group known for integrity and innovation when it comes to outdoor, naturally grown cannabis cultivation and breeding,” said an ABX spokesperson. READ MORE ABX Provides Relief to Victims of Valley Fire ABX and Care By Design donating $30,000 of medical marijuana products to patients who lost access to their medicine due to the fires in Lake and Napa Counties. The companies are partnering with local dispensaries throughout Northern California to assist patients impacted by the Valley Fire, which wasi reported to be the third worst fire in California history. READ MOREReports suggest that the Japanese company has “ceased operations”. Turntable and mixer manufacturer Vestax may have gone out of business. As spotted by gear website DJ Tech Tools, Japan’s Teikoku News Online is reporting that the business “ceased operations August 31”. DJ Tech Tools has pointed to a number of potential events in recent months that suggest there’s more than a grain of truth to the speculation, from a lack of social media activity to the fact that the company was not present at the BPM trade show in the UK and had no new products to unveil at NAMM 2014. While these reports are as yet unconfirmed by Vestax themselves, you can peruse the developments in the manufacturer’s chequered 2014 over at DJ Tech Tools. The news will come as a blow to DJs and devoted diggers out there, with Vestax favoured ahead of the competition when it comes to portable turntables – their Handy Trax model featured in The Vinyl Factory’s recent rundown of the eight best portable turntables.In this file picture, Trafalgar residents who were against the nudist beach stroll on the contested piece of coastline. Picture: Bongani Mbatha Durban - The public protector has ruled against the proposed South Coast nudist beach, much to the relief of the Concerned Citizens Group which opposed it. The outcome of the probe into whether the Ray Nkonyeni (formerly Hibiscus Coast) Municipality should have approved an application for nudists on Mpenjati Beach, was announced by the group in Marburg on Monday. This was at a meeting with community members on behalf of whom the group had lodged the complaint to prevent the 500m stretch of beach near Trafalgar becoming South Africa’s second official nudist resort. The group’s Reverend Mike Effanga later told The Mercury that the final report was hand-delivered to him on Friday. “This is a victory, any wise municipality will realise this idea is dead. Laws are informed by morality and if you break the laws, you are offending morality. In contravening the laws, the municipality breached morality. And there is a zero possibility that the municipality can do anything now because they can’t change the law in 30 days,” said Effanga. He was referring to the deadline for the implementation of remedial action. “This is what they should have done three years ago, reject the application.They should have told the nudists to go be naked in their bathrooms like everybody else,” said Effanga. In her findings, Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane said the Ray Nkoyeni Municipality had breached its own anti-nudity policies. This means the October 2014 council resolution to “relax” the by-law was in violation of the national legislation, (Local Government: Municipal Systems Act). She called the use of the phrase; “relaxing the by-law” a “whitewashing and sugar-coating exercise intended to make the municipality’s unlawful act seem more appealing or pleasant when in actual fact it was unlawful and improper”. Mkhwebane said while the municipality fulfilled its obligation for public consultation, it was not proper and meaningful as the views of the majority - who objected - were completely ignored “without even laying the legal or factual basis”. The municipality was ordered to “reconsider” the resolution approving the application. The public protector also ordered the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) to, within 60 days, review the municipality’s coastal management programme in relation to the establishment of a nudist-friendly beach at Mpenjati. The MEC would then have to advise the municipality on whether to amend or replace the programme. Ray Nkonyeni Municipality spokesperson Simon April said he was not aware that the report had been finalised and issued. “Last we dealt with was making written and oral submissions after the public protector issued a provisional report,” he said. This was in early September. April would not be drawn on the nature of the municipality’s submissions as they were advised that - like the provisional report - any submissions were confidential. He said once the municipality had sight of the report, they would seek legal advice on the way forward. Legal action was also a consideration for the applicants. Athol “Lofty” Lutge, the chairperson of the South African National Naturists Association whose KwaZulu-Natal affiliate made the application, said they were disappointed at the public protectors’ decision. The association had also not seen the report but he said if procedure was the issue, there was nothing stopping them from applying again and this time making sure the municipality followed the correct procedures. The MercuryThe man arrested Wednesday and accused of being the "Flint serial killer" is a Christian from Israel who tried unsuccessfully to put down roots in Northern Virginia and once worked with troubled children at a Leesburg mental health facility, according to friends and court records. Elias Abuelazam, 33, married twice and tried to settle down in the region, first in Fairfax County and then in Leesburg. Both marriages ended in divorce, and after the last one in 2007, Abuelazam's life became more nomadic. He bounced between Loudoun County, Michigan, Florida and Israel, the friends and court records say. Nothing in Abuelazam's past could have predicted what authorities say he has done since May, the friends said. Over the past 11 weeks, Abuelazam began randomly stabbing and attacking men -- most of them black -- in Michigan, Virginia and Ohio, police say. About 10 p.m. Wednesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents paged him over a loudspeaker at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where he was about to board Delta Flight 152 for Tel Aviv. Abuelazam was being held Thursday in Georgia, awaiting extradition to Michigan to face charges in one of the stabbings. Police in Michigan said Thursday they think he fatally stabbed five men in the Flint area and slashed nine others. Leesburg police said he stabbed two men there and attacked a third with a hammer last week. He is also suspected of stabbing a man Saturday outside a Toledo church. Sixteen of the victims were black; one was a dark-skinned Hispanic man; and one was white. "There's no understanding why he would have done such a thing," said Virginia Scott-Bey Kage, whose 15-year-old son, Anthony, was stabbed Aug. 3 as he jogged in Leesburg. Leesburg Police Chief Joseph R. Price said Thursday that he was confident that the attacks were racially motivated. "My belief is he selected the victims in Leesburg based on the color of their skin," Price said. That doesn't jibe with the way friends and family remember Abuelazam. "I just can't see him doing this," said Paul Lozinsky, 39, who worked with Abuelazam at the Piedmont Behavioral Health Center, now called North Spring Behavioral Healthcare, in Leesburg in the early 2000s. "I can't believe he's the type of guy who would do this. He was a nice guy to me. We got along together." But Lozinsky and others said that although they found Abuelazam friendly, they weren't really friends. His private life was a mystery. Even Lozinky's brother Daniel, whom Abuelazam asked to testify at his first divorce proceeding, said they didn't socialize outside work and had not kept in touch. Their chatter, he said, was always casual. "Wow. Maybe a lot has changed," said Daniel Lozinsky, 37. "I really didn't know that side of him. He seemed like a caring guy to me." Patrons and colleagues at the Michigan liquor store where Abuelazam most recently worked said nothing seemed unusual about the man behind the counter.Giant Coal Excavator Occupied from Hambach Forest Blog The Hambach Forest, in Southwest Germany, is the site of an ongoing forest and meadow occupation against the expansion of the adjacent lignite (brown coal) mine. In the night from Saturday to Sunday at about 00:30 am, activists of the anti-coal-movement have occupied an excavator inside the opencast-mine Inden. One person is locked on, three others have climbed the digger with harnesses. A banner reading “Lignite kills. Everywhere.” was dropped. “The deadlock of the excavator, which is one of the centrepieces of RWE, means a massive intervention in the smooth running of the corporation. Thereby we deliberately disturb the continued exploitation of a source of energy which entire ecosystems fall victim to”, says Konny L. (name changed). “Due to the expansion of the pit people are displaced and dispossessed. At the Hambach mine, an old forest is being cut down, which was since the beginning of the Middle Ages in citizens‘ hands – if a forest can ever belong to someone – and was ever since managed relatively sustainable. Now RWE has bought it, with the sole purpose of utterly destroying it for the profits from coal mining.” However, it is not only the regional consequences that prompt the activist into action. Konny L. illustrates: “The global warming caused by lignite combustion leads to droughts, floods, epidemics, etc. These cost hundreds of thousands of lives and force countless people to flee. “ From the activists‘ perspective, active resistance against a profit-oriented business model is the only way to effectively counteract these problems in order to “end this catastrophe that will sooner or later be felt fiercely worldwide. Those who only think of their own interests or believe in governments and business to do the job, will in the long run destroy their own and future generations‘ livelihoods.” The occupants have announced to block the work of the excavator for as long as the eviction by the police will take. The occupation is still ongoing. The digger is locked dead – caused by not even by 10 determined people! A system is not unstoppable, if the will is there and if people start using their own the heads for decisions, instead of just ruminating given rules and opinions. Then another way of life becomes possible, with no one starving and no one afraid of their own species. A way of life, where people treat each other respectfully and without oppression. The action is in solidarity with the people in and around Fukushima, who, like so many people worldwide, have become victims to the greed of few. The resistance movements against coal and nuclear energy are going hand in hand, because both sources of energy do (sooner as well as later) cause large-scale environmental destruction and thousands of casualties. We will not be intimidated by repression and threats. Unless all living beings get the possibility to live and grow without human oppression, something is going horribly wrong. Let’s fix it! Come to Blockupy Action Day in Frankfurt (18.3.), the eviction of the occupied-by-refugees Gerhart-Hauptmann-Schule in Berlin (19.3.), the protests against the G7 summit in Elmau, Bavaria (2.-8.6.). Let’s live resistance and start rebellion together! Digger Occupation – News Ticker The bottom is being cleared – the top is still untouched 07:50 The eviction of the partial occupation by three persons in the lower / mid range of the excavator is has proceeded quite far. One person is already in custody. The V-shaped steel tube, in which another person’s both hands are chained to each other, has already been cut open, presumably by grinding. Thus, it is anticipated that the two other persons won‘t remain on the excavator very much longer. The three other persons, who occupied the tip of the excavator at 70 meters height with climbing equipment, after all didn‘t have any police contact. One embedded press person is also, after all, in place. . Climbing Cops arrived about 06:30 The climbing unit of the police is on site and will probably sooner or later start preparing eviction. . Trickle is redirected 05:37 A small digger has shown up (or rather a regular-sized one, which is of course tiny in relation to the giant excavator). Using this, the trickle, which (as we all know) threatened to tilt the giant digger and kill the climbers, has been begun to divert. So just in case any autonomous sports groups are around in the mine, please do not under any circumstances sabotage the activities of this digger – it guards the lives of our comrades! (… and along the way, the capital of RWE …) . Helicopter doesn‘t do anything 04:05 As mentioned. It came, it saw, and it didn‘t do anything. . Police submit a request to God to tilt the excavator 03:39 Some of the uniform wearers were, in company of RWE employees, on the excavator in order to speak to a part of the occupants. According to them, the excavator at it‘s current position is being undermined by a trickle and therefore threatens to tip over. Of course RWE happen to have noticed just right now that they have parked their giant digger in quicksand. Now isn‘t that delightful for the activists, to finally have a meaningful and so very funny reason for not leaving a perilous place? . Police arrived 02:07 About 15 policeofficinated‘s have arrived under the digger and made contact with the RWE employees. By the way, the excavator has not moved despite the threats. . RWE workforce once again life threatening 01:08 Staff of RWE pronounced to pivot the occupied excavator after the activists were already on top of it. This indeed could be life-threatening for the climbers, some of whom are located on the tower of the digger and some in moving parts. After this fact had already been clearly pointed out to the empolyees, they explicitly threatened to activate the machines if the people would not within five minutes be down. And an end to the open death threats is not in sight. Share this: Google Reddit Twitter Facebook Print Email More LinkedIn Pinterest Pocket TumblrIf Domenic Broccoli's plans come to fruition, America's largest Revolutionary War burial ground will be transformed into an International House of Pancakes, according to a report from RealClearLife.com. The Fishkill Supply Depot in the Hudson Valley, established by George Washington, has been proclaimed "the largest burial ground for Revolutionary War soldiers in the country" by the National Park Service, with hundreds believed to be buried there. Developer Domenic Broccoli wants to transform 10.47 acres of that land into Continental Commons, an "18th century colonial village," that will "function as a commercial, social, and educational center," RealClearLife.com reports. At various town planning board meetings, the developer indicated intentions to build an IHOP restaurant at the site, Lance Ashworth, president of Friends of the Fishkill Supply Depot, told RealClearLife.com. "They are going to destroy an authentic historical site for the sake of building a cheap replica," Ashworth told the New York Daily News. Current plans leave a quarter of an acre untouched as a tribute to the Revolutionary War soldiers. An IHOP spokeswoman told the Daily News it has "no approved plans to build an IHOP restaurant at the location." 12 must-visit historical sites in Upstate NYBitter and Salty – Episode 63 – Pants Drop Need Posted by Bitter and Salty In the sixty-third World of Warcraft podcast episode, we ring in the new year by destroying everything with TSM_Destroying, Molsan runs Ulduar 25 on his Hunter and gears up for HotT raiding but has to give up his pants, we ask about in-game pet gifting etiquette, we give out our WoW year’s resolutions and announce changes to the show format, we learn about Gul’dan and the Stormreaver Clan for our Thirty Weeks of Warlords of Draenor, and we conduct and intense, revealing, one-on-one interview with the one and only Salty Sláinte. Bitter and Salty is brought to you weekly by Molsan and Sláinte. TSM_Destroying Goodbye disenchanting/milling/prospecting macros!! All you need is this add on and the macro to call /click TSMDestroyButton Will auto-queue up items that can be destroyed based on your profession Can shift-click to hide items during a session or permanently Tales from Ulduar 25 Teabiscuit, the Mighty Cow and the Tier Pants The Astral Walker Gearing Hunter for HotT… Can’t wait!! Holiday Greeting from Strumpet Random Gift-Giving Etiquette Giving out pets people already have… Is it okay to return them or do you HAVE to learn them again? WoW Year’s Resolutions Interviews and Guests!! TWoWoD Week 5 – Shadowmoon Valley and the Stormreaver Clan led by Gul’dan Interview with Gul’dan With the assistance of the Shadow Council, worked with Medivh to open the Dark Portal between Azeroth and Draenor Gul’dan along with Cho’gall manipulated the Horde as they waged war on Azeroth Gul’dan manipulated the election of Blackhand as the first Warchief of the Horde Upon learning of an attack on Medivh at Karazhan, Gul’dan entered a psychic link with Medivh’s mind and was put into a coma when Medivh was slain by Khadgar, Lothar, and Garona Who are the Stormreaver Clan? We don’t know if the Stormreaver Clan was founded during the First War or Second War Small but powerful group whose purpose was to protect Gul’dan from Orgrim Doomhammer During the Second War of the Eastern Kingdoms, they intended to find the lost tomb of Sargeras Gul’dan and the Stormreavers abandoned the Siege of Lordaeron, raised the Tomb of Sargeras from the bottom of the Great Sea, and attempted to steal the demonic power from the tomb for their own. According to the promise of the tomb, It would have made Gul’dan a god (it was in fact the promise of the Tomb of Sargeras that led Gul’dan to first open the Dark Portal). Gul’dan himself was later torn apart by the Tomb’s Guardians, at the very threshold of the Eye Chamber (once the Courtyard of the Moon), and his armies destroyed by the enraged legions of Orgrim Doomhammer, who had been forced to break off their assault on Lordaeron in order to deal with Gul’dan’s treachery. What’s up with Shadowmoon Valley? Official description from Blizzard: “Hidden under a shroud of perpetual night broken only by bright starlight, the lush, idyllic forests of Shadowmoon Valley are home to a majestic draenei tomb and sanctuary: Karabor. While many of Shadowmoon’s denizens study prophecy among Karabor’s ancient stone circles, plotters with darker ambitions lurk in the valley’s vast underground cave network, gazing greedily at the sacred temple.” This is what we played at Blizzcon, right? Karabor is the Draenei tomb and sanctuary… that later becomes the Black Temple Very blue… like Zangarmarsh, but looks like Azuremyst Isle Email Kadabro Hi Molsan and Slainte, So glad you accepted my request to join the B&S guild. I’ve listened to the show every week since about episode 30 and have since gone back and listened to all other eps (I play WOW with no music with B&S going in the background). I’m an Australian WOW player who refuses to play on anything but US servers and due to the time difference I have gotten very used to playing alone, questing alone, logging on when I am only guildie online (out of a guild of sometimes 400+ members) but funnily enough, this podcast and guild has made me feel like I’ve finally found some people who ‘get’ WOW. Without gushing too much, I just have to say the greatness of your show and your refreshing and down to earth perspective on WOW has left me with 2 questions: “I wonder how much more I would’ve enjoyed this game had I known about podcasts in general and/or had your show been on the Net back say, 6 years ago?” and “Why didn’t I give the Horde a proper chance till now when I rolled a Troll Druid on Earthen Ring solely to join the B&S guild? The Horde aren’t filthy scoundrels as I once thought, they’re deep and misunderstood…when they’re not chopping down Ashenvale.” Enough butt-kissing – time for Thrall and Aggra. Playing only Alliance toons till this year meant I knew very little about Thrall but funnily enough I went back on my Nelf Hunter (my main) and did the Hyjal/Deepholm/Uldum quest where he gets kidnapped and Aggra and I brought him back. I now see why so many people idolize him and seeing his feelings for his true love Agra – and him wanting little green babies with her – solidified that. Varian is nowhere near as interesting or deep and one wonders if he would share the same resolve that Thrall does to lay down his title of King and fight for the planet rather than for the good of the Alliance? Thrall is far too awesome to lead the Horde… he is destined for far greater things. Thrall and Cenarius vs Ragnaros in Hyjal was amazing. As for Aggra, her influence on his Shamanistic skills and life is only positive and makes their story and more importantly, their son. so much more interesting. I for one would love to see how Anduin and Durak (Thrall’s son) interact and how their story is played out in future expansions or possibly…. the next WOW game! That’s it from me – stay classy and please invite my Hunter to the guild when I server/race change him to Earthen Ring! Zahbs. Orc Hunter on Arthas-US hey guys! First time writing in. Stumbled on the show (luckily!) on the very first 30 weeks of WoW and have been tuning in every week since. Anyhow. I completely agree that WoD should and will hopefully be all about character development. Too many amazing heros and even more bad ass villains have fell by the way-side by blizz. More Sylvanas! More Orc tribe leaders! But most of all, as a hunter since start of BC till Today…REXXAR! I mean his home planet is dranor. Hes half orc and half ogre…that sounds like WoD to me. He was deemed a “champion of the horde” by thrall back in warcraft 3. Would love to see what he does back home to prevent the terrible place that what we know as “Outlands” from ever existing Thanks guys, keep up the great work! TWoWoD Week 6 – Mythic and Flex Raiding and Raid Finder Q&A with Sláinte With all the cross-realm and realm merge changes… why do we still need guilds? With all the b.net friend stuffs, raid finder tools and what not… no need for guilds, right? After you complete something you’ve been working at for so long, do you ever miss some of your routines like dailies? Do you miss the factions and quest-givers? Doesn’t playing and talking about PvP / battlegrounds mean that you’re bored with the game right now? What is your biggest raiding pet peeves? How are your profession cooldowns (Sky Golems and ingots) coming along? What have you been doing since you received your Legendary Cloak? Have you done Ordos or Garrosh yet? Call from Lagerhoof – Week 8 of Favorite BBQ Call from Strumpet – Week 8 Favorite BBQ Music Clips of intro and outro music taken from “Urbana-Metronica (wooh-yeah mix)” by spinningmerkaba Additional clips of music taken from “Ylvis – The Fox (Karaoke/Instrumental)” by danielh7052 and The Knack My Sharona THE BEST instrumental version by Rodrigo B.V. Contact Info Email: [email protected] Phone: 413 BIT SALT or 413 248 7258 Molsan Method: http://molsanmethod.com Twitter http://twitter.com/bitterandsalty http://twitter.com/molsan http://twitter.com/saltyslainteThree Nephites Encyclopedia of Mormonism: Author: Wilson, William A. LDS stories of the Three Nephites comprise one of the most striking religious legend cycles in the United States. Bearing some resemblance to stories of the prophet Elijah in Jewish lore, or of the Christian saints in the Catholic tradition, Three Nephite accounts are nevertheless distinctly Mormon. Part of a much larger body of LDS traditional narratives (see Folklore), these stories are not official doctrine and are not published in official literature. They are based on the Book of Mormon account of Christ's granting to three Nephite disciples, during his visit to the New World following his death and resurrection, the same wish he had earlier granted to John the Beloved-to "tarry in the flesh" in order to bring souls to him until his second coming (John 21:22; 3 Ne. 28:4-9). The Book of Mormon account states: "And they [the Three Nephites] are as the angels of God, and…can show themselves unto whatsoever man it seemeth them good. Therefore, great and marvelous works shall be wrought by them, before the great and coming day [of judgment]" (3 Ne. 28:30-31; see also Book of Mormon: Third Nephi). As the newly founded Church grew in numbers, an ever-increasing body of stories began circulating among the people, telling of kindly old men, usually thought to be these ancient Nephite disciples, who had appeared to individuals in physical or spiritual distress, helped them solve their problems, and then suddenly disappeared. Because they span a century and a half of LDS history, these narratives mirror well the changing physical and social environments in which Latter-day Saints have met their tests of faith. For example, in pre-World War II agrarian society, the stories told of Nephites' guiding pioneer trains to water holes, saving a rancher from a blizzard, providing herbal remedies for illnesses, plowing a farmer's field so that he could attend to Church duties, or delivering food to starving missionaries. In the contemporary world, the stories tell of Nephites' leading LDS genealogists to difficult library resources, pulling a young man from a lake after a canoeing accident and administering artificial respiration, stopping to fix a widow's furnace, guiding motorists lost in blizzards, comforting a woman who has lost her husband and daughter in an airplane crash, and pulling missionaries from a flaming freeway crash. Even though the settings of the newer stories have moved from pioneer villages with a country road winding past to urban settings with freeways sounding noisily in the background, some circumstances have remained constant. In the stories, the Three Nephites continue to bless people and, in telling these stories, Latter-day Saints continue to testify to the validity of Church teachings and to encourage obedience to them. The stories continue to provide the faithful with a sense of security in an unsure world, persuading them that just as God helped righteous pioneers overcome a hostile physical world, so will he help the faithful endure the evils of urban society. Taken as a whole, then, the stories continue to provide understanding of the hearts and minds of Latter-day Saints and of the beliefs that move them to action. Bibliography Encyclopedia of Mormonism entry, William A. Wilson. Lee, Hector. The Three Nephites: The Substance and Significance of the Legend in Folklore. University of New Mexico Publication in Language and Literature, no. 2. Albuquerque, N.M., 1949. Wilson, William A. "Freeways, Parking Lots, and Ice Cream Stands: The Three Nephites in Contemporary Society." Dialogue 21 (Fall 1988):13-26. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Some leaders of the church have professed that the 3 Nephites are real and still among us such as Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said: “These three Nephites continue in their translated state today, just as when they went throughout the lands of Nephi. At one point Mormon was about to reveal their names to his latter-day readers, but he was forbidden by the Lord from doing so. Nevertheless, these three ministered to Mormon and Moroni, and they are yet ministering to Jew, Gentile, and the scattered tribes of Israel, even all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people. (Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant: The Messianic Message of the Book of Mormon, p.307) LDS Guide to the Scriptures Three of Christ's chosen Nephite disciples referred to in the Book of Mormon. The Lord granted to these disciples the same blessing granted to John the Beloved—that they might stay on the earth to bring souls to Christ until the Lord comes again. They were translated so that they would feel no pain and would not die (3 Ne. 28). Book of Mormon Seminary Manual The following is from the 2012 LDS seminary manual for youth: Avoid speculation about the Three Nephites. Many have heard stories about supposed visits of the Three Nephites. Rather than share these stories, teach what is taught in the scriptures. Remember Mormon's statement that the Three Nephites would be among the Gentiles and Jews, who would "know them not" (3 Nephi 28:27–28). Refrain from discussing stories or other information that is not found in Church-approved sources. Book of Mormon Gospel Doctrine Teacher's Manuals In Chapter 46: "3 Nephi 27–30," Book of Mormon Teacher Manual, (2009), pp. 170–73, The church teaches that "many of the stories people hear about the Three Nephites are probably untrue": Point out that the Savior told the Three Nephites that they would be among the Jews and Gentiles, who would not know them (see 3 Nephi 28:25–30). Therefore, many of the stories people hear about the Three Nephites are probably untrue. Also explain that the phrase "ye shall never endure the pains of death" (verse 8) is often misunderstood to
weekly meetings. Soon after, on Mother's Day 1998[16] Bentley took over leadership of the group, and it became more of a revival movement. He traveled to India, Africa, South America, Mexico and Europe taking part in crusades and revivals.[17] This became Fresh Fire Ministries Canada which was led by Bentley until the time of his resignation in August 2008[18] after his separation from his wife. That ministry changed its name to "Transform International" in 2009.[19] That same year, Bentley, with the help of Rick Joyner, created a new ministry called Fresh Fire USA.[20] Fresh Fire USA leases space adjacent to Joyner's Heritage International Ministries Conference Center where they have a "FreshFire Healing Center"[21] and a "Secret Place Church."[22] Leadership of Lakeland Revival [ edit ] Beginning on April 2, 2008, Bentley was invited by Stephen Strader, pastor of Ignited Church, Lakeland, Florida, to lead a one-week revival.[23] The revival attracted up to 10,000 attendees nightly and around 30,000 over the week[24] with Bentley as the primary preacher.[15] In addition to showcasing Bentley's evangelism, the revival featured colorful light shows and power-chord Christian rock music. The Ignited Church also took a multimedia approach to publicizing the event, posting webcasts online. The revival streamed live via Ustream and received over 1 million hits in the first five weeks of transmissions.[25] After the initial weeks, GOD TV, a Christian satellite channel, pre-empted its primetime programming and broadcast the Lakeland meetings nightly.[23] Faith healing was a major focus of the revival. Inspired by Biblical New Testament accounts of Jesus healing the sick, the contemporary practice of faith healing is important for Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians.[26][27] Healing testimonies were common at the Lakeland meetings. The hope of supernatural healing explains some of the Lakeland revivals' popularity, as there were many first-person accounts of miracles.[28] ABC's Nightline[15][verification needed]) reported that "Not a single claim of Bentley's healing powers could be independently verified." However, the Charlotte Observer reported on the same series of meetings, "The revival's media relations staff has tried to document healings. They e-mailed the Observer information on 15 people reportedly healed, providing phone numbers for each and noting that 12 had received medical verification. The Observer contacted five, plus three whose names were not provided, including Burgee. Each said God had healed them through, or related to, Bentley and the Lakeland services."[29][30] Strader responded to the Nightline report with the following statement, "Strader said privacy concerns and laws forbidding the release of medical records have prevented revival officials from releasing complete information about the identities and conditions of people claiming to be healed."[31] Bentley was also criticized for occasional violence done to participants in prior meetings.[30][32][33][34] He was known to kick, hit, smack, or knock over participants. In one incident, a man was knocked over and lost a tooth. In another, an elderly woman was intentionally kicked in the face. Bentley held that the Holy Spirit led him to such actions,[32][33] saying that the incidents were taken out of context and adding that miracles were happening simultaneously.[30] On 9 July 2008, ABC News' Nightline broadcast an investigative report on Bentley, focusing on his faith healing claims, finances, and criminal past.[15] Following the report, Bentley took time off from the revival, but returned on 18 July 2008.[15] Five days later, Bentley and Strader announced that Bentley would be leaving the revival permanently and that his last day would be 23 August 2008.[31] Bentley's last day of preaching that year was on Friday 8 August 2008 when he left Lakeland for his first, and only, day of "taking the revival on the road." He drew a small crowd in South Carolina during an open air meeting at Heritage International.[35] Three days later it was reported that Bentley, "has filed for separation from his wife, a former spokesperson said Monday, and will not return to the ongoing revival."[36] Four days after that on August 15, 2008 the news of his resignation became public.[18] After the news of the resignation was released, many Christian leaders released statements filled with opinions on what had gone wrong with the Lakeland Outpouring. While they all admitted there were serious issues, they did not agree on the specifics as some came from old friends,[37][38][39] others from those trying to be neutral,[40][41][42] and others were calling Bentley a "false prophet."[43][44][45] Divorce Issue [ edit ] Bentley announced his separation from his wife, Shonnah, in August 2008,[2][46] and resigned from the Board of Fresh Fire.[47] A statement released by the remaining Board members said, "Todd Bentley has entered into an unhealthy relationship on an emotional level with a female member of his staff," and that he would "refrain from all public ministry for a season to receive counsel in his personal life."[48][46] Some of Bentley's Christian contemporaries called for him to step down in the wake of the scandal, stating that Christian leadership is incompatible with marital unfaithfulness.[49][50][6] In response, a committee made up of Rick Joyner, Jack Deere, and Bill Johnson was formed to oversee the process of spiritually restoring Bentley's family.[51] In November 2008, the Board of Fresh Fire announced that, "Todd has yet to enter into a clear system of accountability with the leaders he identified."[7] On March 9, 2009, Rick Joyner announced that Bentley had remarried.[37][52][53][54] A 2009 Charisma magazine interview with Rick Joyner refuted adultery claims while characterizing the relationship as wrong and premature. Joyner told Charisma that the new couple was committed to their marriage and would "continue to serve the Lord in the best way that they can."[55] As the "restoration" process progressed, Joyner wrote this about some of his most outspoken critics, "Another level of shock came when I found that many who were the most critical and the most vocal of Todd’s restoration had been through a divorce themselves, and most without going through any restoration for their failure. From my perspective, this was a shocking level of both hypocrisy and hardness of heart."[56] Return to the Ministry [ edit ] In 2010, Rick Joyner released Bentley into "limited ministry"[57] and Bentley eventually returned to preaching and leading crusades. Following adverse publicity of an impending visit to the United Kingdom in August 2012, Bentley was made the subject of an exclusion order barring him from entering the country. The UK government's home office stated, "The government makes no apologies for refusing people access to the UK if we believe they are not conducive to the public good. Coming here is a privilege that we refuse to extend to those who might seek to undermine our society."[58] In December 2012, following the death of Croydon MP Malcolm Wicks, Bentley was criticized in the UK press after making a video commenting on the MP's death.[59] The transcript of the video released on MorningStar Ministries website stated, "Bentley: But September 29th, I was preaching in Ohio. And just before midnight, I got a report that the man that led the ban and the campaign against us in England died suddenly of cancer; on September 29th. Joyner: Remember the Lord said, “Mark your calendar.” Now this is an important revelation. Bentley: And I almost—even just sharing the story with trepidation—I-I-I, started weeping. And I thought, “Lord, this man had been battling with stage 4 cancer. And led the campaign. And all the news reports were ‘faith kicking evangelist that cures cancer.’ And it was all against, whether there’s been anybody who has really been healed of cancer." Bentley then went on to pray for the MP's family.[60] Bentley started a series of meetings in South Africa in April 2013. He returned to GOD TV, which broadcast meetings held in Tongaat, South Africa,[61] on April 12, 2013. In May they broadcast some meetings in Pretoria[62] and from Cape Town in June.[63] On September 21, 2015 Bentley uploaded a smartphone video to YouTube taken the night before at a crusade in Pakistan where he claims that a man was raised from the dead on the stage.[64] He then went on MorningStar TV.,[65][66] showed the video and claimed that three men were raised from the dead that evening.[67][68] The video does not provide medical evidence that anyone was clinically dead. Theology [ edit ] Bentley highlights scriptural passages in his sermons. He emphasizes that spiritual or supernatural encounters in an individual's life are gifts from the Holy Spirit.[14][69] He has stated that his priority is to help people experience the presence of God. He wants the "Holy Spirit to manifest His glory in such a way that people can't deny the presence of a living God and they have a true born-again experience."[70] He also says: "Miracles and healings are evidence [...] they are signs of the Kingdom, and if we don't have signs then all we have is a bunch of theology."[71] Bentley's testimony includes certain controversial claims, including encounters of meeting with Paul the Apostle.[24] He has also preached about an encounter with an angel he called 'Emma',[72] at an Assemblies of God church in 2001.[citation needed] The angel appeared in female form "and sprinkled 'gold dust,' illustrating financial blessings, on the congregation where he was preaching."[73] In response to criticism about the Biblical inspiration of a angel who appeared female, Bentley wrote that it was God's choice, and not his own, that an angel appeared to him in that manner.[74] Bentley explained: "In the case of the angel called 'Emma,' who I described as having mother-like nurturing qualities, some have automatically assumed that my doctrine is that I believe in female angels. This has never been the case! For whatever reason God chose to show me this angel in a female persona, He did. This isn’t to say that the angel was female. Angels are spirit and appear in many forms. Perhaps that’s the form God chose this angel to take for the purpose of the revelation He gave me. They are spirit beings of light, created out of God’s glory, without gender, and appear in whatever form God chooses to send them to us."[75] Pastor Strader of Ignited Church who invited Bentley to Lakeland said: "We watch over everything. Everything that happens on the platform is scriptural [...] The nightly message has been totally 100 percent nothing but Jesus. People are saved, people are healed, and Jesus is being glorified. [...] Even some of my so-called friends are questioning my integrity, but they never come to the services. It's not fair just to watch [them] on TV."[76] Joel's Army [ edit ] Bentley sponsored an internship program with Fresh Fire Ministries Canada called 'Joel's Army',[77] in addition to having the words "Joel's Army" tattooed across his sternum with military dog tags,[78] demonstrating a level of commitment to the Latter Rain doctrine of the Manifest Sons of God, (or Man-Child Generation), as preached by William M. Branham.[79] The program's doctrine is associated with an interpretation of Chapter 12 of the New Testament book, Revelation—that in the last age before Jesus returns, there will be a generation of specially endowed Christians who will be able to do many miracles, and will usher in the reign of God. This is in the tradition of Branham and the healing revivals of the 50s, overlapping with Latter Rain Movement theology.[79] Appearance [ edit ] Bentley's physical appearance has been noted as being unconventional for that of an evangelist. He has dozens of tattoos, multiple facial piercings, and a preference for T-shirts over ties. His preaching style is also flamboyant and he is known for mannerisms including shouting 'Bam!' during his delivery.[72] Publications [ edit ]New York City Reports 22 Percent Reduction in Marijuana Arrests NEW YORK, NY — Low-level marijuana arrests dropped 22 percent last year amid scrutiny of how the nation’s biggest city polices small amounts of pot, according to new data available as the governor and mayor call for changing a law that has spurred a flood of arrests and criticism. Still, more than 39,000 people were picked up on minor pot possession charges citywide in 2012, according to state Division of Criminal Justice Services data obtained by The Associated Press. Low-level marijuana offenses remained the number-one cause of arrests in the city 35 years after state lawmakers decided it wasn’t a crime to have a small amount of pot if it’s out of sight. Article continues after ad Advertisement The New York Police Department says it can’t pinpoint what caused the drop, which measures the first full year after an order meant to thwart a tricky arrest practice. Critics say the number still measures a toll of questionable police tactics. Otherwise, “these arrests would drop dramatically,” said Gabriel Sayegh, the New York state director for the Drug Policy Alliance. “We need to reform the laws and bring accountability to the NYPD.” After averaging about 2,200 a year for about two decades, the marijuana arrests began rocketing up in the late 1990s and topped 50,000 in some recent years, including 2011. The lowest-level marijuana crime accounted for 1 in every 8 arrests in the city last year, according to the Drug Policy Alliance, which has analyzed years of state data. Article continues after ad Advertisement Critics have long said the arrests do little for public safety but inflict a lot of personal harm. Now some of the state’s most powerful politicians are saying so, too. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who tried last spring to ease the pot possession law, used his State of the State speech last month to emphasize that he’ll try again this year. Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced in his State of the City address Thursday that the city would change how it handles the arrests to save police time and spare many people the lengthy process of being booked and held for arraignment. The discussion in New York comes at a dynamic moment in the decades-long national debate over marijuana and its place in drug policy. After several states OK’d medical marijuana, Washington and Colorado voters agreed this fall to decriminalize small-scale marijuana possession for recreational use. Article continues after ad Advertisement Under New York’s 1977 law, it’s a non-criminal violation to have less than 25 grams — about 7/8 of an ounce — of the drug in a drawer, pocket or bag. That means a ticket, not an arrest. But if the pot is “open to public view,” it’s a misdemeanor. That spurs an arrest and carries the potential for a criminal record and up to three months in jail, though such cases often get dismissed or resolved with no incarceration except the time spent in custody between arrest and arraignment. In New York City, that can easily be 24 hours or more. Alfredo Carrasquillo got to know the drill all too well in his teens and early 20s. He estimates he was arrested about a dozen times on pot possession charges, though he says he never had the drug out in the open. The arrests generally meant a trip to the city’s central booking facility, then waiting for his turn in a busy arraignment court and sometimes missing work, he recalls. “A few times, I had to literally call out from work from the freaking precinct because I was about to go to central booking,” said Carrasquillo, now 29 and a community organizer. Starting next month, such arrests will be handled with an appearance ticket — a summons for a future court date — unless the person lacks identification or has an open warrant, Bloomberg announced Thursday. “You’re just clogging the jails, you’re clogging the courts, you’re clogging the police schedules,” he added on his WOR-AM radio show Friday. About half those arrested on marijuana charges already get appearance tickets, chief New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said. While welcoming the appearance-ticket plan, critics of the marijuana arrests say the law and police tactics are what ultimately need changing. The activists see the rise in marijuana arrests as an outgrowth of the NYPD’s practice of stopping, questioning and sometimes frisking hundreds of thousands of people on city streets each year. Police say the technique deters crime. Critics say the stops intimidate innocent people, smack of racial profiling and beget dubious marijuana arrests. Officers tell people to empty their pockets and bags, thereby bringing pot into public view, earning the Big Apple’s reputation of the “Pot Bust Capital of the World“. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly reminded officers in September 2011 that they couldn’t induce people to bring marijuana into the open, though he said he had no indication that was happening. Amid the debate, Bloomberg and Kelly are backing Cuomo’s proposal to decriminalize possession of up to 15 grams of marijuana even if it’s publicly visible, as long as it’s not being smoked. “These arrests stigmatize,” Cuomo said in his State of the State address, noting that they can hurt people’s chances of getting into college or landing jobs. “It’s not fair. It’s not right.” The idea has strong Democratic support in the state Assembly and Senate, but a similar proposal from the governor ran into opposition last year from Senate Republicans. Nearly three-fifths of New York City voters favor the concept, according to a Quinnipiac University poll last June of nearly 1,100 city voters. But some say government shouldn’t send a message that an illicit drug is no big deal if it’s not a big amount. “I think the signal of saying, ‘It’s OK to break the law a little bit’ is wrong,” said Michael Long, the chairman of the state Conservative Party. Tags: Andrew Cuomo"We will go into these elections as two separate parties. We have built the government with them and we agreed on a budget that I was very proud of," Löfven told reporters on Friday. "We are open to cooperation - more cooperation - both us and the Greens, and we've said this the whole time." He added that he has never changed his stance on this issue. Gustav Fridolin, one of the leaders of the Green Party, agreed that there was nothing dramatic in the announcement. "I think the last few days on the Swedish political scene have been dramatic enough without us needing to over-dramatize this," he told reporters in Brussels. The move, however, can be regarded as the Social Democrats taking "a step away" from the Greens, said political scientist Nicholas Aylott from Södertörn University in Stockholm. Analysis: A new government by the Spring? "They were in government together for such a short time, they had their own budget, they said they would campaign on it, but they seem to have changed their minds," he told The Local. He said that there were two possible reasons why the party would want to distance itself from its coalition partner. "Firstly, it could be a gesture to get the trade unions on board. The head of the LO trade union said recently that he thought the party must do exactly this. LO and the Social Democrats have extremely intimate ties both historically and currently, and it will be difficult for the Social Democrats to mobilize support without help from the unions," he explained. "Secondly, and more generally in a political sense, there's been an awful lot of speculation about how forging a coalition with the Greens was a big mistake for the Social Democrats. Everyone should have known this really, but it turned out the Greens' policy preferences were difficult for the Social Democrats to accept, and they also complicated the chances of making any deals with the Alliance." Who's who in Swedish politics? "The Social Democrats and the Greens are almost doomed to collaborate, but for the moment, I think it probably suits the Social Democrats to put a bit of distance between themselves and the Greens," he said. Sweden's Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Friday that she was hoping to expand the Social Democrats range of inter-party cooperation. "We've had a very constructive cooperation with the Green Party," she told the TT news agency. "But I'd really like to see cooperation with several parties, in one way or another."A Bahraini woman who witnessed her father, a well-known human rights activist, being seized by masked soldiers, beaten unconscious and then taken into custody, has told the Guardian that she is willing to die on hunger strike unless he is released. Zainab al-Khawaja, 27, will today enter her fourth day without food in protest at the violent arrest and subsequent disappearance of the outspoken dissident Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, 50, along with her husband and brother-in-law. Zainab, who was brought up in exile in Denmark, is taking only water, and told the Guardian she is already feeling weak, with breast-feeding sapping her strength faster than she had expected. She says she will leave her 18-month-old child with family members if she dies. Around a dozen masked and heavily armed soldiers, apparently from Bahrain's special forces, stormed her apartment in the capital, Manama, at 2am on Saturday. Her father had previously called for Bahrain's king to face trial for murder, torture and corruption. The family's attempts to find out from the police what has happened to the men have failed and they fear they are being tortured. Zainab, who started her fast on Monday, said she now dreams about her father's fate. "I am willing to go all the way," she said. "Either they come out or I will not eat. I don't care where it ends up." Asked whether she was willing to die, she replied: "Yes. It is difficult with a child but I am willing to make that sacrifice. My daughter has great aunts and grandmothers who will look after her if anything happens to me … We have the feeling that sacrifices are necessary to bring changes to our country, but what is making it harder is the way the world is reacting. Still the US administration is standing with the dictator here." Her threat to take her own life came amid signs that the Bahraini regime is toughening its stance against pro-democracy activists. Yesterday was the funeral of the third protester to die in police custody this month. Chanting mourners in Manama pulled the burial cloth off Kareem Fakhrawi, a member of Wifaq, a leading Shia opposition group, to reveal a puncture wound to his neck, extensive bruising across his upper arms, sides and abdomen, and lesions around his lower leg and ankle. Zainab is documenting her starvation on her Twitter account under the name angryarabiya. On the site she explains: "I love democracy & freedom. Therefore, I hate Arab dictators, and American neo-colonialism. Wanna know why Arabs are angry, I'll tell u." More than 8,000 people have signed up to follow her. Human Rights Watch yesterday called on Bahrain's public prosecutor to investigate deaths in custody reported since 3 April, citing "signs of horrific abuse" on the body of Ali Isa Ibrahim Saqer, who died after turning himself in to the police, who had threatened to detain members of his family if he did not. The authorities alleged he had tried to run a policeman over in a car during an anti-government protest. The interior ministry issued a statement published in Bahrain newspapers saying that he had "created chaos" in a detention centre "which led security forces to bring the situation under control". The ministry attributed the death in custody of Zakariya Rashid Hassan, 40, arrested on charges of calling for the overthrow of the regime, to "sickle cell anaemia complications" despite his brother showing Human Rights Watch a photo he said he took during pre-burial cleansing which showed a wound on his right shoulder, a gash on his nose and blood that had issued from his ears and lips. "If those responsible are not stopped soon the number of dead in custody will exceed those killed during the protest," the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights warned yesterday. A coalition of 19 Middle Eastern human rights organisations also condemned Bahrain's latest crackdown and warned that Abdulhadi al-Khawaja "is at great risk of being subjected to additional torture and ill-treatment while being detained incommunicado". The government remains defiant in the face of allegations that they are violating human rights, and Khalid al-Khalifa, Bahrain's foreign minister, posted on Twitter that al-Khawaja "is not a reformer … he called for the overthrow of the legitimate regime … he violently resisted the arrest and had to be subdued". In an account of the raid posted on her website, Zainab al-Khawaja described how her father was "grabbed by the neck, dragged down a flight of stairs and then beaten unconscious in front of me". "He never raised his hand to resist them, and the only words he said were: 'I can't breathe,'" she wrote. "Even after he was unconscious, the masked men kept kicking and beating him while cursing and saying that they were going to kill him." She said the special forces also beat up her husband, Wafi Almajed, and her brother-in-law, Hussein Ahmed, but their focus was on her father, who they repeatedly called "the target" during the raid. She is also demanding the release of her uncle, Salah al-Khawaja, arrested three weeks ago. Zainab said yesterday: "Before they arrested people you thought, yes, they may be tortured, but you will see them again. Now you can't be sure." She added that the spate of deaths in custody appears to be a deliberate government tactic to increase fear among dissidents. "The government seems to be proud of this because they are the ones announcing the deaths." "It's outrageous and cruel that people are taken off to detention and the families hear nothing until the body shows up with signs of abuse," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The authorities need to explain why this is happening, put a stop to it, and hold anyone responsible to account." Amnesty International estimates the government is holding more than 400 activists over protests that began on 14 February. The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights said the number is more than 600.Beta release for Python support By: Rémi Verschelde This is a guest post by Emmanuel Leblond (touilleMan), a Godot contributor and Python lover who develops a GDNative interface to use Python 3 as alternative scripting language in Godot. To answer the obligatory question: yes, the plan is still to ship Godot 3.0 with GDScript, VisualScript and C# support. Python support should also be ready by then and usable plug 'n play thanks to GDNative; its main advantage compared to the Python-like GDScript will be the access to the whole Python ecosystem. Who said Godot's only about waiting? Today we are releasing the first beta version of Python for Godot, the GDNative interface that enables you to use the full-blown Python 3 as a scripting language for Godot games. Now we need you to try it and give your feedback, so that it can be made as good as possible for the upcoming 3.0 release! All core features of Godot are expected to work fine: Builtins (e.g. Vector2 ) ) Object classes (e.g. Node ) ) Signals Variable export RPC synchronization On top of that, mixing GDScript and Python code inside a project should work fine, have a look at the Pong example to see how you can convert one by one your existing GDScript code to Python fairly easily. This release ships a recent build of Godot 3.0-alpha (yes, it's a beta based on an alpha...) and CPython 3.6.1 with the standard library and pip, ready to work with the Python ecosystem in its full glory (can't wait to see people experimenting game AI with Pytorch!). The project is Linux-only so far, however you should be able to compile it from the sources if you are on macOS (let us know if you do so). Binaries for all platforms will eventually be provided when Godot 3.0 gets stable. As always, keep in mind this is a beta and you are expected to encounter issues and maybe crashes. If so, make sure to report them on the project's bug tracker ;-) PS: A talk about Godot & Python was given last Monday at EuroPython 2017. You can watch the (for now unedited) recording on YouTube; the edited version should be available later on EuroPython's YouTube channel.WASHINGTON, Nov 29 - The U.S. lawmakers who helped bring the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau into being rose to defend it on Tuesday, urging the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to review a ruling that poses an existential threat to the agency. In an amicus brief, 21 current and former members of Congress said the whole court should review a decision reached by three of its judges in October that the CFPB’s sole director has too much power and that the President should have power to fire the director. Earlier this month the CFPB asked the full court to review the decision, in a lawsuit involving PHH Corp. The decision was stayed pending appeal. In their brief the lawmakers said the decision will hamper the agency’s ability to function as Congress intended, create constitutional confusion for other agencies with single directors, and go against legal precedent. An agency to protect consumers from bad loans and financial products was the brainchild of Elizabeth Warren, now a Massachusetts Senator. It was created through the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law passed in the wake of the massive financial crisis that was fueled by defaulting mortgages. Warren signed the brief alongside one of the law’s chief authors, former Representative Barney Frank. Both figures are Democrats and the other signatories also belong to the party, including California Representative Nancy Pelosi, who leads the House Democrats. Ten consumer protection and civil rights non-profit organizations, including Americans for Financial Reform and the National Consumer Law Center, also filed a brief supporting the CFPB’s petition. It is rare for lawmakers to enter a legal fray, although Frank signed a similar brief in a court challenge to the Financial Stability Oversight Council, which was also created in the Dodd-Frank law. “Congress carefully designed the CFPB to elevate the interests of consumers above those of a well-heeled industry and provided for a single director removable for cause to ensure accountability and effectiveness,” Pelosi said in a statement after the brief was filed. “Under the Constitution, Congress has considerable latitude to shape the structure of independent agencies.”Anyone who has traveled to the United Kingdom has probably marveled at the imperial bulk of the standard U.K. wall plug. With three chunky, rectangular pins, the design at first glance seems almost ridiculously inefficient, especially compared to the svelte footprints of the U.S. and European wall plugs, which manage to get juice to your electronics in under half the space. But first impressions can be deceiving. In fact, as Tom Scott explains in a new video, the U.K. wall plug is a design classic that is substantially safer than any other plug design on Earth. The main thing to know about the U.K. wall plug is that while it is bulkier than other designs, every ounce of that additional bulk makes the design safer. This is accomplished in four main ways: • Prong Design: Like standard U.S. grounded plugs, the U.K. wall plug has three prongs. But the design of these prongs makes it nearly impossible for you to shock yourself accidentally. Unlike in U.S. plugs, half of each prong is coated in insulation. Because of this, even if a plug is not fully inserted into a socket, touching the exposed part of the prongs can’t give you a shock. • Socket Design: Any kid with a fork or a screwdriver can light his hair on fire in the United States by jamming it into a wall socket. Not so in England, where it would take at least two screwdrivers to manage the same calamitous trick. The U.K. plug is designed so that the grounding prong is slightly longer than the prongs responsible for transferring current. Like a tumbler in a lock, this grounding prong is responsible for “unlocking” the socket, giving access to the more dangerous live and neutral terminals. • Built-In Fuses: During World War II, a copper shortage resulted in the British government putting fuses into every plug, instead of wiring them directly. Although the built-in fuse adds bulk to the U.K. plug design, it’s also safer: In case of an unexpected electrical surge, the fuse simply blows and the electricity shuts off, preventing fires, electrocutions, and other accidents. It also makes U.K. plugs easier to fix. • Circuit Design: Finally, there’s the wiring inside the plug itself. Not only is it extremely intuitive, but it has been thoughtfully designed so that if the plug is tugged and the wiring frays, the live and neutral wires are the first to become disconnected, while the grounding wires–the ones responsible for preventing human electrocution when they come in contact with a circuit–are the last to fray.It was a packed house last night at Jillian’s in Manchester, where Ron Paul supporters gathered to watch the debate, hear a couple speakers and listen to great music. This was Ron’s best debate performance yet by far, and the crowd loved it. (I would still urge that the term “business cycle” be avoided completely, since almost no American knows what it means; still less should the phrase “liquidate the debt,” which even many of his own supporters are confused about, be used.) The second half of the debate saw far fewer questions directed Dr. Paul’s way, but in New Hampshire it almost didn’t matter — Ron Paul commercials were all over the place during the breaks. The other candidates ran ads, too, but Ron’s were relentless. And a 60-second version of Revolution PAC’s ad ‘The Compassion of Dr. Ron Paul’ ran three times during the debate, to the cheers of the crowd in Manchester. In my own remarks, I asked the youngsters in what was predominantly a young crowd how many of them had held different views before encountering Ron Paul, and then after learning about him began to look at the world altogether differently. Huge cheer. Then I asked, “Now how many people do you think have ever said, ‘My life was changed forever when I first discovered the philosophy of Mitt Romney’?”The idiomatic phrase, "a bone to pick,” in English refers to an argument or disagreement between two people. In some slightly different meanings, it can mean that someone has offended someone or done something wrong to them. Either way, if someone says, “I have a bone to pick with you,” they are expressing a problem or disagreement that exists between themselves the another person. Experts date the origin of the phrase back to the 1600s. An alternative phrase, “bone of contention,” has also been established in the English lexicon. Both of these phrases relate to a specific metaphor. The metaphor is that of two dogs fighting over a bone. The word “pick” is related to the idea that a dog will pick a bone clean, or chew all of the meat and residual tissue off of the bone. In a more general context, the idiom, “a bone to pick,” goes along with ideas of people, like dogs, having “territory” or “turf.” This does not really figure into most uses of the phrase, though, since it is frequently used not to describe a territorial issue, but instead, an issue of actions that are seen as offensive. In using the phrase, the speaker just generally shows that he is upset about something that someone else has done.NBC football analyst Rodney Harrison was on a local sports radio show in Houston this morning, and he offered a truly bewildering take on the Colin Kaepernick situation. When asked about Kaepernick’s refusal to stand for the National Anthem, Harrison had this to say: I tell you this, I’m a black man. And Colin Kaepernick, he’s not black. He cannot understand what I face and what other young black men and black people face, or people of color face, on a every single (day) basis. When you walk in a grocery store, and you might have $2,000 or $3,000 in your pocket and you go up in to a Foot Locker and they’re looking at you like you about to steal something. The host then asked Harrison to elaborate on his claim that Kaepernick is not black and is therefore not qualified to stage such a protest. Harrison answered: I’m not saying that he has to be black. I said his heart is in the right place, but even with what he’s doing, he still doesn’t understand that we face as a black man or people of color, that’s what I’m saying. So one of two things is going on here. Either Rodney Harrison has a very strange method for defining who is and isn’t black, or he literally does not realize that Colin Kaepernick is a black man. I’ve listened to the interview multiple times now—I urge you to listen for yourself right here—and I honestly cannot tell if Harrison is extremely dumb or just extremely confused. Advertisement Update (1:30 p.m.): Harrison has apologized, although it is still unclear if he understands that Colin Kaepernick is black: Advertisement Update (1:44 p.m.): And here we have it, poor Rodney had no idea:Big changes are coming to Memorial Drive, near the Edmonton Trail and 4th Street N.E. intersections, including a lowered speed limit and a new reversible left turn lane. “We believe this is an enhancement for all users: pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists,” said Pat Grisak, a leader with the city’s traffic division. The busy road, which often backs up with people driving into downtown during the morning rush hour, will soon have a new reversible left turn lane that will allow for dual left turns from Memorial Drive N.E. onto Edmonton Trail N.E. The city expects the new lane will result in a 70 per cent reduction to delays for motorists driving into the downtown core. The changes also include a reduction in the speed limit on Memorial Drive from east of Edmonton Trail to the Centre Street Bridge from 70 km/h to 50 km/h, a move Coun. Sean Chu, who is serving as deputy mayor, questioned. “There’s no point of dropping to 50. That’s irritating to commuters,” he said. Changes for pedestrians and cyclists include pathway improvements, a countdown timer and audible signal at the crosswalk and a dedicated signal for cyclists to cross Memorial Drive to and from the new Edmonton Trail cycle track. Grisak said the area is heavily used and it
14 games in his debut season. Five years later, he was one of Greece's best performers at the Euros and had secured his place near the top of the teamsheet as a guaranteed starter for a Schalke side that finished third in Germany. In the past, Papadopoulos has been linked strongly to Chelsea, and last summer Schalke's untenable financial situation led them to accept a £16M offer for him from Zenit St. Petersburg. At the time, the player turned down the chance at a payday the move to Russia would have meant. It is widely believed, though, that a club in one of Europe's top leagues could tempt him away from a Schalke side facing another season where administration will be a genuine concern. Technically sound, Papadopoulos can command a backline like a ten-year veteran, and despite his young age he has a wealth of experience and a near flawless ability to read the game defensively. Not the fastest player on the pitch over distance, that ability to read the game and an imposing physical presence have nevertheless gained him a reputation as one of the most promising defensive prospects anywhere in football. His lack top end speed remains a concern, as does a knee injury that sidelined him for much of 2012-13. Still, of all the young defenders Liverpool have been linked to, Papadopoulos is by far the one most ready to start from day one. While the likes of Stefan de Vrij and Tiago Ilori could end up projects similar to Sebastian Coates—too inexperienced to be fully trusted yet desperately in need of playing time to develop—Papadopoulos would arrive at least penciled in to start alongside Daniel Agger.Are you asking me whether I am gay or not?”, inquires Tom Hollander midway though our interview. “Because no, I’m not, but I play a lot of gay parts.” I wasn’t asking and I had assumed he isn’t, having read of the currently single actor’s various girlfriends over the years. What I was asking him about was a recent article he wrote for The Spectator about the expectation on Eddie Redmayne to speak on behalf of transgender people as a result of his role in the film The Danish Girl. Hollander went on to discuss being “accommodating when it came to my sexuality” early on in his career. Join Independent Minds For exclusive articles, events and an advertising-free read for just £5.99 €6.99 $9.99 a month Get the best of The Independent With an Independent Minds subscription for just £5.99 €6.99 $9.99 a month Get the best of The Independent Without the ads – for just £5.99 €6.99 $9.99 a month “I was half-pretty and boyish, and a lot of gay people seemed to have influential positions in the theatre,” he wrote. “So I went along with it, up to a point,” he explains, when we meet in Notting Hill, west London, “I wasn’t trying to suggest that I slept my way to the lower-middle, no.” “Young people are variously desired by older people, whether they’re trying to have sex with them or not. And actors are in the market for selling their appearance. So, you’re very aware if somebody fancies you so you play up to it so that they have a nice time and you get the job. Nothing more than that.” As it happens his latest character on television, Corcoran, in the BBC’s new adaptation of John Le Carre’s 1993 novel The Night Manager is the gay associate of an arms dealer played by Hugh Laurie. The lavish and rather excellent series also stars Tom Hiddleston and Olivia Colman, who was Hollander’s wife, Alex, in the sitcom Rev. “I just have to say that I’m not a John le Carré expert by any means,” declares Hollander on arrival, flushed from cycling across town. “Nor am I an enthusiast... I didn’t go ‘Oh I’ve wanted to do it all my life’, like Hugh Laurie did... just in case that ticks off any questions”. If that last remark makes him sound snarky, I should say he’s highly intelligent yet understated and I find myself liking him a lot. He could conduct a very entertaining interview with himself. Hollander’s range is also pretty impressive, from comedy (minister Simon Foster from In the Loop and, of course, Rev’s Adam Smallbone) through to costume drama (a repressed George V in Stephen Poliakoff’s The Lost Prince, John Ruskin in BBC2 series Desperate Romantics, and Mr Collins in Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice) by way of Guy Burgess, David Cameron and a dying Dylan Thomas. “This pint-sized virtuoso has an absolute protean talent,” declared one critic after seeing an early turn of his, as Baby in Jez Butterworth’s 1995 play Mojo. Not that the 5ft 4in Hollander grew up with the sense of being “pint-sized”. “Funnily enough I never thought of myself as being short,” he says. “Being an actor has made me much more conscious of it than I would have been otherwise.” Is there such a thing as “heightism” in the industry? “They haven’t said it, but let’s be clear I would never have been on the list for James Bond, so I’m not labouring under that misapprehension.” But what about Tom Cruise, his co-star in 2008 Second World War drama Valkyrie and last year’s Mission: Impossible instalment, who comes in under 5ft 6in and gets to play the originally 6ft 4in Jack Reacher? The question has Hollander reaching for his phone. “It’s a private photo” he says, changing his mind. “We’re standing next to each other and he’s a good two or three inches taller. With Valkyrie, I was excited at meeting this short superstar and was horribly disappointed to discover he was perfectly average.” If there has been a change in perception about Hollander it’s largely thanks to three series of Rev, which won him a Royal Television Award in 2011, and which still has people stopping him in the street. “If I wear my hi-vis cycling jacket they do,” he says, referring to his character’s signature look. “So I wear a dark one. Not that I mind it. The fact that people love that show is a truly marvellous thing.” Shape Created with Sketch. Musicians and Actors on Growing Old Disgracefully Show all 5 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Musicians and Actors on Growing Old Disgracefully 1/5 Lemmy The Motorhead frontman recently revealed his excessive lifestyle - rumoured to involve drinking a bottle of whisky a day - had to be scaled back after he started being unable to stand up during a recent show. Getty Images 2/5 Willie-Nelson 82-year-old Nelson says he started smoking cigarettes when he was just six, and that his love affair with marijuana was the “smoothest” of all his marriages. He even has his own brand of marijuana called 'Willie’s Reserve'. Getty 3/5 Shane-MacGowan The Pogues singer was kicked out the band in the nineties for his excessive drinking, and was given just six weeks to live, and is still partial to a G&T after a doctor suggested he stick to clear liquids. Getty 4/5 Keith-Richards The Rolling Stone guitarist is still a fan of marijuana. "“I smoke regularly, an early morning joint. Strictly Californian,” he told Mojo. Getty Images 5/5 Jack-Nicholson The legendary actor knows his limits, even if they are extreme. “I’ve woken up in trees, I’ve woken up almost hanging off cliffs, but I’ve always known how to sort myself out.” Getty Images 1/5 Lemmy The Motorhead frontman recently revealed his excessive lifestyle - rumoured to involve drinking a bottle of whisky a day - had to be scaled back after he started being unable to stand up during a recent show. Getty Images 2/5 Willie-Nelson 82-year-old Nelson says he started smoking cigarettes when he was just six, and that his love affair with marijuana was the “smoothest” of all his marriages. He even has his own brand of marijuana called 'Willie’s Reserve'. Getty 3/5 Shane-MacGowan The Pogues singer was kicked out the band in the nineties for his excessive drinking, and was given just six weeks to live, and is still partial to a G&T after a doctor suggested he stick to clear liquids. Getty 4/5 Keith-Richards The Rolling Stone guitarist is still a fan of marijuana. "“I smoke regularly, an early morning joint. Strictly Californian,” he told Mojo. Getty Images 5/5 Jack-Nicholson The legendary actor knows his limits, even if they are extreme. “I’ve woken up in trees, I’ve woken up almost hanging off cliffs, but I’ve always known how to sort myself out.” Getty Images Hollander seems to have swayed between declaring himself an atheist and saying that he believes in some greater power – did the show change his attitude to religion? “Well, yes, sure. And it opened a whole world of possibility... not one that I’ve embraced particularly. I can now see why other people have faith, that’s for sure. “We have a very disabled person in our family who is cared for by someone who lives a life most other people would find impossible, and her faith is making it a joy for her. And you can’t argue with that. I mean you can, but it’s fruitless.” Drama wasn’t Hollander’s first vocation: born to teacher parents, he won a music scholarship to Cambridge while his sister, Julia, went on to become English National Opera’s youngest ever female director. He joined the Footlights club at Cambridge and caught the acting bug; his friend, Sam Mendes, directed him in several productions, including a Cyrano de Bergerac that co-starred Nick Clegg. His career got going in the Nineties with a run of theatre successes and he has the most nominations (four times, winning once) for the Ian Charleson Award for best classical stage performance by an actor under 30. His big screen breakthrough came in 2001 with Robert Altman’s Gosford Park, scripted by Julian Fellowes of later Downton Abbey glory, and Hollander has been reunited with Fellowes in the writer’s first post-Downton project, a three-part adaptation of Anthony Trollope’s Doctor Thorne, in which Hollander takes the title role of the country physician who tries to do right by his niece. “I loved playing it because I have not been asked to just be straight like that,” he says. “Corcoran in The Night Manager is more familiar... a quirky character part. Rev is the lead but he’s not a straight lead because it’s a comedy, so for me Thorne was as exciting as other actors would feel about being cast as Mad Max.” Hollander also plays a doctor in the a long-in-the-works film adaptation of Tulip Fever, Deborah Moggach’s novel set in 17th-century Holland (“A dodgy doctor, unlike Doctor Thorne, who is very undodgy.”) And, in the midst of all this, he has also found time to set up a production company, Bandstand, with Hannah Pescod, one of the producers from Rev. “I enjoyed the process of creating Rev and I wanted to keep doing it – the process of ideas and turning them into scripts,” he says. “At the moment we’re a piece of headed notepaper.” Working more behind the camera would also mean avoiding a direction that he doesn’t believe would be very congenial – following his The Night Manager co-star, Hugh Laurie, into a long-running American TV show like House. “I’ve avoided it because I would feel very lonely and far away from my family, just being stuck in LA for that long.” He does feel a touch rueful about turning down a part in Game of Thrones though, that of Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish, who was subsequently played by Aidan Gillen. “We were doing Rev at the time and I didn’t want to. But had I been told that Game of Thrones would become the biggest show in the world... funnily enough, somebody did say ‘you should think seriously about that’ and I was ‘No, no, no’. I wasn’t particularly drawn to the wolf pelt thing. I was thinking ‘six years of wolf pelt in Belfast?’.” The Night Manager begins on BBC1 tonight and Doctor Thorne begins on ITV on 6 MarchThe following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company. TV Gamer, July 1984 - It's not often you find gold in old game magazines, but man, this is absolutely fascinating. "How to play Adventures in the 1990s" by Richard Porch is a fever dream of what Arcades would be like in the decade coming up. This was written in 1984 - directly in the middle of the American Video Game Crash (though written in the UK) and a few years after Tron happened and no idea on how Japan developers like Nintendo and Sega would change the world in a year or two. It's about how Arcades will evolve into giant Blade Runner style buildings where arcade games will be "modules" and essentially become the giant Vegas style casinos we see today. It's an absolutely fascinating read to see what this guy thought would happen in the 90s, much like how Back to the Future expected 2015 to be pretty wild. It's so fascinating that I've transcribed the whole article here for easier reading. I don't know where you are now, Richard Porch, but you're probably disappointed. Transcribed: The video game arcades of the 1990s and beyond will make today's arcades look like the cinemas of the silent era - antique and full of decrepit machines. The arcades of the next two decades will be adventure playgrounds for people of all ages, and centres of urban drama. The new arcades will stop inhabiting other people's cast-off buildings with their faulty fluorescent lights, second-hand carpet-tile floors and Neanderthal arcade staff. Arcades of the 1990s will be purpose-built, computer-controlled leisure complexes, composed of gleaming ductwork, exposing servicing and steel supports. Acres of smoked mirror-glass will project an air of alien aerospace efficiency to the world, hinting vaguely at the almost incredible contests inside. They won't look like conventional buildings. They may be just an assembly of themed game pavilions, hanging in modular groups from a series of support columns. Of those modular arrangements may be clustered around a large, central resource tower. In addition to providing structural support, the tower also carries all of the power cabling, utilities, air conditioning and piped music. Atop the resource tower would be a service crane to hoist the latest arcade modules into place and take down others. They would disappear on the back of the next articulated truck. Such a modular approach to arcade design means the entire arcades, and all the games they house, will come ready-made to site on the back of large vehicles. They need only to be lifted by the service crane up to the appropriate'slot' on the resource tower and hooked up to the tower and service supply. The interiors of these arcades will obviously tend to have more in common with sky labs rather than Joe Bloggs' video emporium on the high street. In other words, their design will mirror the futuristic pretensions of the game technology they sprang from. Gone will be the familiar upright video game cabinet adorned with third-rate graphics. In will come game consoles and screens built directly into the wall. Screen sizes will increase, and certain complex games will require the player to use headphones. Automatic cash dispensers will be introduced and any human element phased out. It's impossible to predict exactly the design of the new arcade modules as they will all probably be themes to suit the game programs they'll house. For example, a combat game's arcade module of the 1990s might be designed to resemble the flight deck of some futuristic starship. An entrance pathway into the module could branch off into groups of consoles at which are seated dozens of head-setted people, who are selectively either fending off or attacking a computer-generated foe. A module commander - again computer generated - calls out strikes and counterstrike to the defence group, simultaneously feeding tactical defence positions and targets. Such a game might be played with up to a dozen or more competitors in either an attacking or a defensive posture, the module's survival being the aim of the game. Groups of people would form into self-selected bands of informal 'buddies' whose role is either attack or defence. Gone will be the days of the lone games player, single-handed against the program, with a small crowd people straining to watch. I feel that these modular arcades will form only a small part of any future arcade system. They will be fine for use in compact, urban high streets, where economy of space is everything and the only way to build is up. But when significant sites of some size are obtained, we'll begin to get an architecture and design sensibility worthy of the micro-computer age. On a decent sized site, a mixed assemble of structural envelopes could be built in cater for the aspirations of all the games players. There will be no fixed building as such, only a central-service package which would supply heating, ventilation, air-support pumps and power. Different arcade structures would prevail, ranging from the inflatable to the modular, tented or domed arcades. The arcades would be rented out to individual computer companies or software houses, for them to fit our as they like. The changeability would mean an extra dimension of visual attraction to passers-by and tourists. Arcades might be housed in an inflatable structure one week, in a module the next or under a transparent dome the week after. This is a theme park approach to video arcades. It is geared to give away the maximum stimulus to spend a day or more at the games complex, not just a lunchtime flying visit. Naturally, the visitor would have to eat, drink and relax; in the larger centres, this would be possible. Fast-food concession stands would be encourages, as would "performance plazas" for music, software sales and games demonstrations by star players or visiting guests. You should be able to eat, drunk and unwind - while staying in touch with your favourite arcade by watching the overhead screens and video display walls. White-noise generators in overhead positions would create pools of quiet, in what could otherwise be a cacophonous environment. Gleaming steel escalators and glass lifts raise you through the main mass of the arcade assembly, giving you marvellous views through and over the terraced levels, alive with people colour and intriguing sound effects. The 'whap-whap' of the combat arcades mingles with the eerie cries and groans coming from the fantasy dome, as intrepid gamers confront Gothic doom in an urban arcade leisure complex. Winking neon signs advertising the latest software and fast-food bars catch the eye. Electronic news panels break the latest from the grim workaday world outside. And when you're exhausted or broke and the end of a hard day's gaming, what better way to end it than by booking in at the Residential Games Motel? Naturally, such large entertainment complexes would have to open 24 hours a day to make them pay. So for out-of-towners or the purely exhausted, it will make sense to supply accommodation. After all, such a large scale arcade complexes would be far too big to take all in one go. At the end of a day's visit, you'd make your way to the accommodation towers at the rear of the main complex. Accessed by glass lifts, you'd rise gently a few storeys above the surrounding city and claim a room module for the night. Don't think I'm fantasising. There's been such a capsule-accommodation tower, housing tired commuters on Ginza Strip in down-town Japan for nearly 20 years. Pod-housing, slung from a main service tower, was first suggested as a housing system in the 1950s, but dismissed as absurd. Nothing I've described here is technologically possible nor financially out of the question. It will take a bold initiative. But the computer industry is not short of bold individuals nor the necessary venture capital. Something like the leisure complex I've outlined could be built in literally a couple of years. As for the individual arcades, changes in game technology will certainly have some bearing. The crude game cabinets we are so familiar with today will disappear and be replaced by more skilfully integrated units. In the arcades of the 1990s and beyond, video screens will be recessed into the arcade walls or bulkheads, with the game controls suspended from the ceiling or obtruding from the wall on stalks. To change a game program, the arcade staff will simply remove a small wall panel and insert a new program cassette or key-plate. To play the combat games of the 1990s, you might need a helmet, to view the game in 3D - and to smell it. The odour of dank dungeons will mingle with the exhaust gases of your galactic runabout, as the pungent tang of your recently fires missile battery still lingers in the nostrils. In a still more advanced phase of the video games arcades' future, you may be playing the game with the controls attached externally by electrodes to your skull. The game will take place directly inside your brain with minor electric shocks: the electrodes are strategically places to encourage the most startling mental imagery and confrontations, tapping resources from your subconscious mind. Using such a direct form of game playing format would obviously make for a totally unique experience and a different game every time. All your senses would be engaged, even down to taste and small sensations. Such a game would represent perhaps the ultimate gaming experience... the game as therapy? The arcade that caters for this type of game might take on a slightly disturbing aspect. Rows of seated people with a host of wires attached to their heads, all linked to the central image-generating computer, live out their unique fantasy or nightmare. Such an arcade will, in a very real sense, realise some of the exciting leisure potential that an advanced industrial society could unleash. It would use the new frontiers of the leisure experience, first hinted at by Aldous Huxley in the novels such as Brave New World. The vague outline I've tried to sketch out in this article is one which I hope arcade owners and future entrepreneurs will consider. There's a great leisure potential going unrealised these days. Arcades should cater more for the user. They should offer hot food and a place to sit down. They should also be placed where you can buy the latest software from the home system and magazines. A comprehensive view of the arcade as a social meeting place will lead to improved standards of design, and their evolution into the true leisure centres for people in the 1980s as well as the 1990s. Arcade owners should be studiously courting their clientèle. The arcades I've been describing will come into existence. But they will probably not be in Britain but in America.Image copyright Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service Image caption The lorry driver was taken to hospital as a precaution A couple in Gosport who had agreed the sale of their house hope their buyer can wait for it to be repaired after a Royal Mail lorry ploughed into it. Len and Anne Wiles' house in Wheatsheaf Mews, off Brockhurst Road was struck by the 7.5 tonne lorry while they were sleeping just after 06:00 GMT. Mr Wiles said: "I'm hoping our buyer can hang on until the house is repaired - it's a beautiful house." The two bedroom property is due to be assessed for structural damage. 'Gaping hole' Mrs Wiles said: "The house is sold and we put an offer on another property yesterday which was accepted. "We don't know what's going to happen now, but at least we're all alive." The couple said they were dozing in bed "and the next thing all hell broke loose." Mr Wiles said: "Ten minutes earlier and I would have been on the stairs and either under the lorry or not here at all." The couple said their first thoughts were for the lorry driver and if he was hurt. "We were trapped in our bedroom as there was a gaping hole where the stairs were," Mrs Wiles said. 'Expecting a parcel?' The couple's neighbours have also had to leave their homes which suffered structural damage during the impact. Following the crash firefighters had to remove a window from the first floor to rescue the couple who are in their 60s. Mr Wiles said: "The fireman poked his head through the window and said, 'were you expecting a parcel?'" The lorry driver was taken to hospital as a precaution. The couple were treated at the scene for shock by ambulance crews. The lorry has since been removed. In a statement Royal Mail said: "We are carrying out an internal investigation into the circumstances and we are thankful that no-one was injured as a result of this accident." The couple said they had yet to hear from Royal Mail. The A32 Brockhurst Road in Gosport has been closed in both directions between Eastbourne Avenue and Elson Road.So I’ve been having what I like to call a “Golden Sun Fit” because I love Golden Sun (And I mean love it) but how much I think about it usually comes and goes. Lately though has been nothing BUT GS practically. And so I’ve (naturally) been thinking about Weyard’s ancient past and how it fits together with the story of the first two games (I’m sorry DD) and I decided I’d try and sketch out how I think the continents were placed when they were all paengaea-like. The dotted lines are where I think there have been landmasses before the seal on alchemy. The drawing itself is based on official maps (most noteworthy, the map of Ancient Weyard in King Hydros’ throneroom). Also, I apologize if my handwriting is illegible. More info under the cut So far, this map only has names of the various continents, but I do intend to mark specific locations, such as the elemental lightouses and rocks, and also the cities I think were prominent during the ancient past (of these Lemuria and Anemos/Contigo are probably the largest) but also things that might have been something notable such as the Altin caves or Madra catacombs, which show some sort of decline, but a small glimpse into the past. Finally, I’d love to discuss GS Lore with anyone! I’m mostly versed in the first two games, but I do know about DD as well!Excuses -- we all make them regularly. Whether it's why we couldn't make it to the gym or stick to that new budget, there's always a reason for our shortcomings. However, then you hear stories like that of Shaquem Griffin and realize how virtually anything is possible with strong will and dedication. The 2016 American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year's profile in Sports Illustrated is one of the most inspirational stories you'll come across. Playing linebacker for the University of Central Florida, Griffin regularly succeeds with one hand, and on October 29, 2016, he played with a broken right arm -- meaning he was working with zero fully functional arms -- yet still racked up 14 tackles, one interception, and one fumble recovery in a 31-24 loss to Houston. . @Shaquemgriffin and @Lowlifebam slept in the Wayne Densch building during preseason practice. Shaq wanted to enjoy every moment of his last year. All the dedication, blood, sweat and tears comes down to this Saturday in the #BounceHouse. Get your championship Shaquem! pic.twitter.com/lS9AqKAoEZ — UCFSportsInfo (@UCFSportsInfo) November 28, 2017 Griffin began making the most of his situation when his left hand was amputated at the age of four. Prior to the operation, the amniotic band syndrome he had since birth caused him such excruciating pain that Griffin attempted to do the job himself. "When I got into the kitchen, he had a knife in his hand," Shaquem's mother, Tangie Griffin, told SI. "He was getting ready to cut the digits off." Tangie stopped Shaquem, but the incident prompted surgery the next day. The operation would relieve Shaquem of the unbearable pain and begin to shape the man the 22-year-old is today. Shaquem has a twin brother, Shaquill Griffin, who plays cornerback for the Seahawks. Shaquill has all of his appendages, but says their parents treated both him and Shaquem the same growing up. Their father, Terry, taught both of them how to catch and threw the ball to each of the brothers with equal force. "He didn't want me to make any excuses for why I couldn't catch the ball," Shaquem said. "I took a couple footballs to the face before I learned to catch." From there Shaquem learned to train for the sport he loved on his own by building custom contraptions so that he could lift weights and develop like his brother and fellow teammates at Lakewood High. UCF's former coach George O'Leary offered both Griffin brothers scholarships, but in his first three years Shaquem did not receive much playing time, while his brother Shaquill started for the Knights. When O'Leary retired during the 2015 season, the new coaching staff saw potential in Shaquem and he went from being buried on the depth chart in the spring to becoming a starter by the 2016 season. As a redshirt junior Shaquem racked up 92 total tackles, 11.5 sacks, one interception and two forced fumbles on his way to becoming the 2016 AAC Defensive Player of the Year. This year Shaquem has 56 total tackles, one interception and two forced fumbles helping the No. 12 Knights to an 11-0 record. The UCF Knights will play against the Memphis Tigers in the AAC championship on Saturday for a chance to play in one of the New Year's Six bowl games. After that, Shaquem plans on continuing his amazing journey by playing in the NFL. "A lot of people in our generation like to make excuses about little things that really don't hinder them from doing what they want to," Shaquem said. "It always comes down to the work ethic." For more inspiring and fun football stories, follow The Checkdown on Twitter.I saw George Stephanopolous and his panel of Bill Kristol and 3 other neocons this morning. They all agreed: Trump is dead because people will want a man experienced in government and foreign and intelligence affairs, like the puppet Rubio. Or like the heads of the French state? Also, the US must invade Syria, murder Assad, install al-Qaeda, and finish the destruction of that country for the benefit of the empire and the local mini-empire. An anti-Islamicist Arab leader cannot be allowed to continue in office.See Sadddam Hussein and Khadaffi. No hint anyplace of Ron Paul’s warning about blowback. France has been killing Muslim civilians in North Africa and the Middle East for more than 2 centuries, to maintain its control and its looting. Now it does so as a US satrap. In all modern wars, civilians comprise the vast majority of deaths and maimings. Of course, the Muslims were horrifically wrong to attack civilians. But only (some) Christians agree with Jesus Christ on such matters. Not anyone else. But is direct terrorism worse than the remote terrorism of drones and fighter-bombers? Like all forms of warfare, it is to be bitterly condemned. But the Kristolian notion that the answer to terrorism is more killing and destruction, and a massive, new war, is insane. Or, it would be insane if he were not, like all neocons, a destructivist, a “the worse the better” kind of guy, like Lenin. Want to stop terrorism? Ron Paul had it right: get out of Muslim countries. Stop bombing. Stop installing dictators. Stop stealing. Stop intervening. Stop killing.Since John F. Kennedy won the state in 1960, every successful presidential campaign has won Ohio. But the Clinton campaign is sending signals that it’s abandoning the battleground state. According to a new report from The New York Times’s Jonathan Martin, Clinton has at least one foot out the door in the Buckeye State, where Trump has held a small lead for the last several weeks. “Hillary Clinton has not been to the state since Labor Day, and her aides said Thursday that she would not be back until next week, after a monthlong absence, effectively acknowledging how difficult they think it will be to defeat Donald J. Trump here,” Martin writes. Former Ohio Democratic Party chair James Ruvolo told Martin that the Clinton campaign won’t abandon the state entirely, however. “They’ll keep putting in money, but I don’t think they’re going to put a lot of her time in here.” Martin and a number of the people he spoke to note that Ohio is not quite the crucial bellwether state it once was. Clinton has many paths to get to 270 electoral votes and Ohio, which is “whiter, older, and less-educated” than the nation as a whole, may not be as easy to win as other key states, like North Carolina and, most importantly, Florida. But the Clinton campaign’s decision not to fight tooth and nail for Ohio is still notable. It wasn’t so long ago that it was eyeing an electoral landslide—six weeks ago they were talking about invading Arizona and Georgia. With less than 40 days until the election, the campaign appears to be shifting to a strategy of putting more resources into fewer states. And for all the demographic challenges Ohio presents, Barack Obama won the state twice, meaning that there is a way for a Democrat to win Ohio if Clinton can convince voters there that Trump is not the populist defender of the working class he pretends to be.Hearing loss among Indigenous children in NT detention 'widespread': royal commission submission Updated A psychologist has given scathing testimony about the lack of provisions for screening and managing children with hearing loss in Northern Territory juvenile detention, while other specialists say decades have passed without significant improvement. Key points: Psychologist says hearing loss communication problems misconstrued as non-compliance Several experts say staff training, testing for hearing loss in juvenile detention centres inadequate Deafness contributes to "cycle of disadvantage that leads children into justice system": audiologist Darwin psychologist Dr Damien Howard made the statement in a submission to the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory last week, which heard deafness in the prison population is widespread. Dr Howard said the prevalence of hearing loss in Aboriginal communities was higher than in non-Aboriginal communities, and it usually began with prolonged ear infections in children. He said this factor, as well as noise-induced hearing loss experienced by young children, were contributing to an "alarming new wave of preventable hearing loss that would lead to the increased prevalence of hearing loss among Aboriginal people". With the social interaction problems that arise from hearing loss, such as isolation and issues with psycho-social development, Dr Howard said children may also have issues communicating with police, in court and with correctional officers. Authorities 'failing to address' hearing loss problem The psychologist said communication problems caused by hearing loss tend to be misconstrued as cultural differences, and in the corrections context, as non-compliance. "This is a major factor in why this important issue remains invisible and points to the importance of cross-cultural education for those working with Aboriginal people, incorporating information on hearing loss contribution to communication problems and interacting with cultural and linguistic factors also influencing communication," Dr Howard said in his submission. Dr Howard said he had been researching the area since the early 1990s, and as fair as he was aware, there was no testing for hearing loss in juvenile detention centres, nor any training of staff to accommodate their needs. He also said he was not aware of any testing for deafness by the Department of Children and Families and that the department as a whole had no awareness of hearing loss issues as relating to psycho-social health, and no skills to address it. Dr Howard and peer Jody Barney had lobbied the Territory Government for more than 20 years, and were sharply critical of the Government's response over the years. "While these efforts have, at times, received some positive response from Northern Territory government agencies, this has been rare and in no instance followed through to result in improved service provision," Dr Howard said in the statement. "In terms of provision of services by Government in relation to addressing the outcomes of hearing loss that contribute to overrepresentation of engagement of Aboriginal youth, in my view, there has been minimal tangible improvement since when I commenced publishing research in the area, and attempted to lobby government, in the early 1990s." Ms Barney, a deaf Indigenous community consultant, said she understood many boys at Don Dale Youth Detention Centre did not understand why they were there and what their rights were — an experience that was compounded in detainees with hearing loss. "As a starting point, there [should be] a requirement for assessments and induction processes upon intake, which should identify any hearing loss issues and inform young people of their rights and obligations in a manner that takes into account their hearing loss," Ms Barney said. Many prisoners 'unaware they've suffered hearing loss' NT research audiologist Dr Judith Boswell agreed hearing loss was a big problem in prisons and was often mistaken for other issues like a lack of English, wilfulness or deliberately ignoring officers. She said screening for hearing problems in Territory prisons would be highly beneficial. "Sometimes prisoners don't know they've got a hearing loss. They might just perceive themselves as finding it hard to understand and it may be the staff around prisons may be thinking this person isn't understanding me because they don't have solid English skills," Dr Boswell told the ABC. Dr Boswell said deafness could contribute to a cycle of disadvantage that leads children into the justice system, and in her three decades working with Indigenous ear health in the Territory, not a great deal had improved. "In some remote communities virtually all Aboriginal babies develop ear disease in the first three months of life," she said. "So the fact it starts very early means it quickly becomes chronic, it doesn't recover spontaneously and it can become quite resistant to the treatments that have been offered." Topics: indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, prisons-and-punishment, law-crime-and-justice, health, child-health-and-behaviour, ear-nose-and-throat-disorders, diseases-and-disorders First postedGhost
choose sides, and if he chooses poorly, the Earth is lost! http://marvel.com/comics/issue/38636/silver_surfer_2010_3 #4 – May 18, 2011 High Evolutionary’s grand design is rewriting the world and Surfer can’t save us on his own. The Future Foundation joins the fight as our penultimate issue builds to a cosmic climax that will be the Silver Surfer’s greatest sacrifice ever! http://marvel.com/comics/issue/38638/silver_surfer_2010_4 #5 – June 22, 2011. (Photo:.) The top federal prosecutor in New Jersey announced Friday that his offices have collected $89.4 million through criminal and civil litigation in 2016. The New Jersey collections are just a portion of the total $2.93 billion collected this past year by federal prosecutors, said U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch. “Every day, the men and women of the Department of Justice work tirelessly to enforce our laws, ensuring that taxpayer dollars are used properly and that the American people are protected from exploitation and abuse,” Lynch said. “Today’s announcement is a testament to that work, and it makes clear that our actions deliver a significant return on public investment. Over the past five years, under U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, the New Jersey offices have collected more than $682 million in a combination of civil and criminal actions and forfeitures. U.S. ATTORNEY: Feds charge Ridgefield Park man in real estate fraud scheme TAX EVASION: Cliffside Park businessman faces prison time for tax evasion U.S. ATTORNEY: Mob captain for gang that inspired 'The Sopranos' admits to murder plot “We continue to collect far more in fines, penalties, asset forfeiture, restitution and settlements than we spend in our mission to keep the public safe from violent crime and protect them from financial exploitation,” Fishman said. Fishman listed some significant recoveries over the past year, which included: The sale of a New York condominium owned by Garrett Bauer for $8.725 million after Bauer was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2012 for his conviction in an insider trading scheme. A combination of property and funds seized from various defendants amounting to $2.3 million in the Morris County-based Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services case, in which millions in bribes were paid to doctors in exchange for medical testing referrals to the lab. The New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s annual budget appropriation is $29.2 million for this past year. Read or Share this story: http://northjersy.news/2hPQFvXSpecial Photo Shawn and Emilie were inseparable. * * * Photo by Freddie DeFreitas Stout lost a brother on Aug. 14. “ Shawn would win or lose with us; he had guys fighting every other weekend, and he carried that stress with him all the time. Not all trainers do that; they don’t care like Shawn cared about us. ” -- Sam Stout, brother-in-law of Tompkins She will never forget the flimsy excuse he used, how he was going to show her the California he knew, starting with the Santa Monica Pier. They had barely touched down and were hardly unpacked, yet he persisted. It was after midnight, though time did not deter him. Nothing would. He had something in mind and had a boyish way of coaxing her into taking a walk, so she obliged.Strolling alone and holding hands, they were lost in conversation, drowning out the creaky sound of loose wooden boards under their feet. A radiant moon pierced the darkness surrounding them, reflecting off the Pacific Ocean below. It was perfect, as perfect as a scene gets for what he was about to do.She could not feel the nervousness coursing through his hand, but he had to be twisting inside with anxiety, even though he knew what the answer would be to his life-altering query. After a deep breath, Shawn Tompkins finally mustered up the courage to wheel around on one knee and propose to Emilie Stout.It is a priceless moment in time Emilie, now Emilie Tompkins, perpetually embraces, a keepsake locked in her memory trove of a soulmate, best friend, confidante and loving husband. Shawn Tompkins was all of those things to Emilie and many, many things to the numerous people he touched, nurtured and helped transform into not only elite MMA fighters -- but into good human beings.He was universally known as “The Coach,” so well respected he did not need a name. If you walked into the Tapout Training Center or Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts in Las Vegas or the Adrenaline Training Centre in London, Ontario, Canada, and asked for “The Coach,” invariably a grinning, gregarious 5-foot-10, 215-pound ball of granite would be bounding your way with an extended hand.Tompkins trained a distinguished list that includes Mark Hominick Vitor Belfort and Sam Stout, Emilie’s younger brother. They were “his boys,” the ones upon whom Tompkins left an indelible emptiness, the ones with whom he lived and died each time they stepped into the cage. They were the Tompkins troupe, wandering through small towns like vagabonds in those early days, with their gear and junk piled into a van. There was Tompkins, constantly leading, playing the ever-vigilant den mother to this bunch of jovial marauders. No wonder he swam inside them. When they fought, he fought. When they lost, he lost.On Sunday, Aug. 14, 2011, the tension caught up to him. Tompkins, the man that impacted so many as everyone’s “coach,” possessed a great beating heart that gave and gave and gave until, finally, it was not able to give anymore. Tompkins never woke up, dying suddenly, unexpectedly, of a heart attack at the too-young-age of 37. In his charismatic wake, he left a huge gaping void in their lives: Emilie, Stout, Hominick, Silva and Horodecki. So they move forward as one, constantly in touch with each other, forever bound by that common bridge, a cable-strong thread that fortifies them with the need to continue what he built with Team Tompkins Perhaps the toughest of them has been Emilie. She does not embody the tragic widow of 30 -- and it is not a good idea for you to view her that way. She finds it remarkably easy to talk about Tompkins, maybe because he enhanced what was already pretty remarkable to begin with: a head-turning, stunningly attractive blonde with the unbending sensibility of a Midwestern girl next door. Emilie was the rock in Tompkins’ life, his go-to person any time he wanted to knock around an idea and see what response bounced back. They were a team, and they shared everything.Now she finds herself starting all over again. She has the strength and willingness to do it, and she has Tompkins. It is a blessing mixed with a good visceral tug. The hurt cuts deep.“It’s something I struggle with day to day. I like to think that whatever I do I’m trying to impress him,” said Emilie, who remains involved with MMA through the Tapout Training Center. “The hardest thing to explain to other people who miss Shawn, his big personality and his importance to so many people, is that I see Shawn every single day.”Emilie cannot escape him, nor does she want to. Each time she steps into the Tapout Training Center, she is greeted by her late husband’s beaming face, which adorns a banner that memorializes him and hangs across the front lobby. Emilie rotates various pictures of the two of them together on her computer’s screensaver. If she wants to see a movie, she resorts to thinking it is probably one Tompkins would have liked. She misses all that they shared.They originally met at a party, the 19-year-old drawn to the larger-than-life tattooed 26-year-old talking about conquering the MMA world. They were both from London, Ontario, and were frequently around the same group of friends.“I wondered who this new guy was in our group, so I went up to him and started talking and, a week later, he asked me out on a date, and we were together every day for 11 years,” Emilie recalled. “I still lived with my parents then, but I probably drove Shawn crazy the first couple of years, always stopping by his house every day. When I first met Shawn, he was running his own kickboxing/karate school gym. He’d travel one weekend a month, and I used to think it was so much time apart.”Emilie knew Tompkins was a kickboxer nearing the end of his fighting career. She attended his demonstrations while she was working toward a teaching degree, cringing in the shadows each time he lay down on a bed of nails or had a cinderblock crumbled over his stomach.“I remembered when I dated him people would ask what my boyfriend does, and I’d tell them he runs a boxing gym, or he teaches kickboxing and simplify it a little bit,” Emilie remembered.“I was always amazed how passionate and driven Shawn was about MMA. We used to watch Pride [Fighting Championships] together and see Wanderlei fight. I’ll never forget Shawn telling me, ‘I want to train a guy like that one day,’ and he eventually did. That’s the more amazing part. I watched from the ground up how Shawn made his dream turn into reality.”The last time Emilie saw him alive was over Skype. Emilie was in Las Vegas, where Tompkins established himself as one of the top trainers in the business and dropped anchor at the Tapout Training Center. He was home in London, Ontario, preparing Horodecki. Strangely enough, Emilie was struck with a sudden melancholy chord by their few weeks apart, to the point it caused her to cry -- and Emilie is not exactly a crier. It was an eerie sixth sense that overwhelmed her. Not long after,arrived.“Shawn promised he would be back and he told me how much he loved me and how much we both looked forward to being back together,” Emilie said. “I was at a hotel pool with my friend Angelica, and we both thought it was strange my family kept calling her. She answered and it was my brother, Sam, who asked where I was. Angelica handed me the phone and Sam immediately passed the phone to my father. I got scared, because I thought something had happened to my mother. She’s always been the one in my family that’s been the messenger for important things, but I could tell something was wrong.”Then the words spilled out, almost surreal like, from Emilie’s father: “Shawn is gone. He went to sleep, and he didn’t wake up.”The news stunned Emilie.“It’s one of those things you remember every second of, because you don’t believe what you heard,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it. Sam was too distraught to talk, because Shawn was more of an influence on his life than anyone else. Shawn was everything to Sam. He taught Sam how to be a man. Then I remember Sam saying, ‘I love you, and I’m going to need you so much.’ I got off the phone and told my friends, ‘Shawn is gone.’”Then Emilie collapsed.Stout appeared to be a teenager without a direction -- until his sister came home one day with this cool-looking dude who was into kickboxing. A basic misconception holds that Sam introduced Emilie to Tompkins, but it actually was Emilie who introduced her boyfriend to her younger brother, separated by two years. Stout was 16 at the time and did not take sports seriously, other than banging around playing with friends recreationally.However, this new man in his sister’s life saw something in Stout, something he did not detect in himself at that early age, so he began training with Tompkins, and the two began butting heads because “The Coach” demanded perfection.He demanded an effort, and, at the time, Stout had no other driving motivation than meeting girls. He used to come home frustrated, telling Emilie he was a clod with two left feet, and that this thing Tompkins was getting him to do was a fruitless endeavor that would not amount to anything.“Oh, I remember,” said Stout, letting out a slight laugh. “It was a little frustrating at first. I had my moments of doubt when I wondered if I wanted to keep doing this. One time, I was about to go on a trip with some friends, and I remember Emilie telling me to go back and work with Shawn. I was like, ‘I’ll get back to him later.’ But Emilie put me straight, telling me Shawn was investing all of this time and effort into me, and, at some point, he wanted to get some return on it. I stayed home and worked with him.”Their relationship grew beyond mentor and pupil. Tompkins was the kind of coach everyone wanted to please, the great hooded sensei on the mountain top, the Yoda in the cave with all the answers who did not pass out words of praise that easily. However, when you got one, you clutched it like a piece of gold, and Stout yearned for his approval.“Way before Shawn and my sister were married, I considered Shawn like my brother. We were close,” Sam said. “I wasn’t a criminal by any means, but I had no direction as a teen-ager. I met Shawn through Emilie, and I remember when she used to bring him around the house. To me, I was, like, ‘Wow, this guy is cool.’ He invited me to watch a kickboxing show at his gym and had me run gloves down to the fighters. I remember thinking I wanted to do this. From then on, I was hooked.“Shawn and I got really close. People comment on the closeness of our team. It started there,” he added. “Because MMA wasn’t legal in Ontario, we’d hold these smokers in local gyms and, a few times a year, travel all over the place to these small shows, taking 12-, 15-hour drives all packed in a van. It’s some of the best memories I have coming up. Shawn was my coach but also a mentor to me. I aspired to be like him. Whatever it was, with training or girls, I spoke to him about everything under the sun. We were brothers by choice, which made it even more special.”Stout, Hominick and Horodecki went everywhere together. Tompkins was always behind them, this living, breathing, walking life force. He had an uncanny, unerring eye for picking up weaknesses in opponents. Each time any of them won, they habitually sought out Tompkins before anyone else. As the victories mounted and the Ultimate Fighting Championship came calling, Stout began noticing something else: Tompkins stressed over the fights far more than any of his fighters.“That’s because he wanted us to win so badly,” Stout said. “Shawn had a bad family health history. Because he was constantly traveling, he didn’t always live the healthiest lifestyle, but I think it’s the stress that killed him. Shawn carried so much stress into my fights, into Chris’ and Mark’s fights. Shawn would win or lose with us; he had guys fighting every other weekend, and he carried that stress with him all the time. Not all trainers do that; they don’t care like Shawn cared about us. He was so emotionally invested into his fighters and the sport that the stress contributed to his passing. I really believe that.”Stout was taking a five-hour drive home from a cousin’s bachelor party on that fateful August day. His cell phone battery was almost zapped when Roy Stout, his and Emilie’s father, reached him with an ominous tone of urgency in his voice, telling Sam to get home as fast as possible and to “expect the worse.”“I got scared it was something involving my mother, because my mother is always the one that makes those kinds of phone calls,” Stout recalled. “Shawn wasn’t even a consideration, because Shawn was invincible in my mind. I remember stepping on the gas and freaking out. When I got to the house, my father told me Shawn had a heart attack and was dead. I couldn’t comprehend it. My father was trying to get a hold of Emilie through her best friend, because my father wanted to make sure Emilie was with someone when we called with the news. I started calling Angelica, and we were lucky that they happened to be together. My father told her, and that’s when the nightmare all started.”Update 5:10pm PT: With over 350 tallies, the event was a success! Everyone can receive a free Change Appearance Token from the Zen Market on October 30 starting at 10am PT. We had tons of fun and hope you guys did too. Let us know on the forums how many of us you found! Riddles for our hiding spots below! Riddle for Drizzt Du'Rhuhwhat@ironzerg - Instance #12: Sticky like tar Ugly like scar This water is death To all who draw breath Riddle for CM StrumSlinger@strumslinger - Instance #2: The tunnels run deep Where evil doth creep A dark game is played Your mind to be flayed Riddle for Alustrial Færÿdae@kreatyve - Instance #18: Where the dead do dwell, And leaves have long since fell. Lingering beyond the bridge of wood, Find me there if you would. Riddle for 'Old Zeb'@zebular - Instance #2: The Weave's Rift runs Deep, A Scrying Tower we Gate, Into the Unhallowed we Weep, Right by sight of Mystra's Fate. With Underdark approaching ever closer, we’ve decided to shroud the community in more hype by hosting a community hide and seek event on Monday, October 26 from 4-5pm PT (Pacific)! In this event, the community team will be hiding in several “dark” locations to prepare everyone for what’s to come in the Underdark. If enough adventurers are able to find them, there will be a server-wide reward! Here’s how it’ll work: Each community member will be hiding in a different adventure zone in a different instance. The community team participants are (from left to right): Ditzz Du’Rhuhwhat@ironzerg CM StrumSlinger@strumslinger Alustrial Færÿdae@kreatyve ‘Old Zeb’@zebular At 4pm PT, there will be four admin broadcasts with riddles on where our exact location is – including our instance numbers. This is your cue to start seeking! Once you find one of us, confirm it by doing the “Zombie Dance” emote right in front of us so we can tally it – do it a couple times just to make sure. Afterwards, go out and find the next community member! (We’d appreciate if you don’t announce our whereabouts so it doesn’t spoil the fun.) After one hour at 5pm PT, we’ll announce how many times the community has found us total! If the count is over 100, the entire server will get a Change Appearance Token for free on the Zen Market on October 30 to commemorate Halloween! So brush up on your seeking skills while we brush up on our hiding skills! Muahahaha! Discuss on the official forumsTechNoTrance Profile Joined May 2012 Canada 1006 Posts #1 Team Gravity is excited to announce a new long-term partnership with Azubu.tv. This means that Fight Night and Team Gravity player streams will all be featured on Azubu.tv! Team Gravity's Fight Night series of showmatches have been running every week since the start of 2015, and we have no plans on stopping! Thanks to Azubu, we've doubled our prize pool to $200 every week. And every five weeks, four main event winners will be invited to a 4-man tournament, the Tournament of Champions. You will be able to expect an even higher level of games and production, all with the cool new features of Azubu 3.0. Team Gravity's Fight Night series of showmatches have been running every week since the start of 2015, and we have no plans on stopping! Thanks to Azubu, we've doubled our prize pool to $200 every week. And every five weeks, four main event winners will be invited to a 4-man tournament, the Tournament of Champions. You will be able to expect an even higher level of games and production, all with the cool new features of Azubu 3.0. Prize Pool: Main event: 1st place: $100 Runner up: $50 Preliminary events(2): $25 to each winner Azubu has recently launched "Azubu 3.0", a new iteration of their growing streaming service. So what exactly has changed? -Streaming is now open to everyone -New HTML5 video player -Addition of a new live rewind feature -And much more www.azubu.tv/teamgravity Team Gravity Website : Facebook : Twitter : Stream : Our first event on Azubu.tv is set to take place this Saturday, October 17, 2015 at 6 PM EST/12 AM CETWebsite : http://www.TeamGravity.net Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/TeamGravityOfficial Twitter : https://twitter.com/TeamGrav Stream : https://www.azubu.tv/TeamGravity -Streaming is now open to everyone-New HTML5 video player-Addition of a new live rewind feature All we have the decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.Democrats panicked by third-party candidates drawing support away from Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonSanders: 'I fully expect' fair treatment by DNC in 2020 after 'not quite even handed' 2016 primary Sanders: 'Damn right' I'll make the large corporations pay 'fair share of taxes' Former Sanders campaign spokesman: Clinton staff are 'biggest a--holes in American politics' MORE are ramping up their attacks against Gary Johnson Gary Earl JohnsonPotential GOP primary challenger: Trump's 'contempt for the American people' behind possible bid The Hill's 12:30 Report — Presented by Kidney Care Partners — Trump escalates border fight with emergency declaration Former Mass. governor takes step toward Trump primary challenge MORE and warning that a vote for a third party is a vote for Donald 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. Liberal groups are passing around embarrassing videos of Johnson and running ads against him warning about his positions on issues like climate change that are important to young voters and independents. ADVERTISEMENT The Clinton campaign will rely heavily on Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernard (Bernie) SandersPush to end U.S. support for Saudi war hits Senate setback Sanders: 'I fully expect' fair treatment by DNC in 2020 after 'not quite even handed' 2016 primary Sanders: 'Damn right' I'll make the large corporations pay 'fair share of taxes' MORE (I-Vt.) in the coming weeks as it seeks to shore up its deficit among young voters and left-leaning independents who are not energized by her campaign and are considering casting a vote for either Johnson or Green Party nominee Jill Stein. The Libertarian ticket of Johnson and Bill Weld is running surprisingly strong among young voters — a cog in the Obama coalition that Democrats need to turn out for Clinton if she’s to pull away from Trump. Whether Clinton reaches those voters could determine the outcome of critical battleground states like Colorado, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Democrats still vividly remember the 2000 election and blame Ralph Nader for costing Al Gore Albert (Al) Arnold GoreOvernight Energy: Trump ends talks with California on car emissions | Dems face tough vote on Green New Deal | Climate PAC backing Inslee in possible 2020 run New climate PAC will back Inslee for president Howard Schultz must run as a Democrat for chance in 2020 MORE the presidency in the closest election in history. They’re worried history could repeat itself in 2016, as third-party candidates are attracting more interest than they have in decades. The Clinton campaign and its liberal allies are increasingly taking the threat from Johnson and Stein seriously, making direct appeals to young voters and punching down at the third-party candidates they view as potential spoilers. “Young voters are suggesting that they’re uncomfortable with Clinton and are using Johnson and Stein as protest votes,” said Douglas Schoen, a former official in the Bill Clinton William (Bill) Jefferson ClintonInviting Kim Jong Un to Washington Howard Schultz must run as a Democrat for chance in 2020 Trump says he never told McCabe his wife was 'a loser' MORE administration. “The campaign must make the case that unless young people vote for Clinton, they’re effectively voting for Trump.” NextGen Climate, the group run by liberal billionaire and environmental activist Tom Steyer, is on the ground in eight battleground states with a message that is almost exclusively aimed at reaching the millennial voters who are energized by the issue of climate change. Last week, the group threw six figures behind digital ads mocking Johnson as a climate change denier and warning millennials that climate change will cost them trillions of dollars. A source at NextGen told The Hill the group will be looking to turn out young voters for Hillary Clinton and down-ballot Democrats with a texting campaign in the battleground states and a carpooling service that will drive them to the polls. The Libertarians have also attracted the ire of a group called ShareBlue, which is owned by longtime Clinton ally David Brock. The unabashedly pro-Clinton, for-profit media company has a strong following in the realm of progressive social media and has been using its platform in part to hammer Johnson as a flaky Republican. ShareBlue CEO Peter Daou, a veteran of John Kerry John Forbes KerryOvernight Defense: White House eyes budget maneuver to boost defense spending | Trump heads to Hanoi for second summit with Kim | Former national security officials rebuke Trump on emergency declaration 58 ex-national security officials rebuke Trump over emergency declaration Ex-national security officials to issue statement slamming Trump's emergency declaration: WaPo MORE’s and Clinton’s past presidential campaigns, told The Hill he’s targeting Johnson and Weld from the policy side and making the case for why their platform should be anathema to progressives. Daou's website is also targeting Stein, who is pulling support from the far left. A recent post argued that Johnson and Stein "are not serious candidates." Johnson and Weld hold liberal views on issues like marijuana legalization, abortion rights and non-interventionist foreign policy that have helped them gain traction among some young voters. But both former Republican governors tend to hew closer to the conservative orthodoxy on issues like taxation, minimum wage, Social Security and Medicare, environmental regulation, and school choice. “What we are trying to argue here is these are not the options you think they are,” Daou said. That message is being amplified on social media by liberal celebrities like Cher, George Takei and Seth McFarlane, as well as some of the nation’s most prominent liberal writers, who are seeking to shame young voters away from the Libertarian ticket or warn that it could lead to a Trump presidency. “I’d like to make a plea to young Americans: your vote matters, so please take it seriously,” Paul Krugman wrote in a Libertarian takedown in The New York Times last week. In many cases, young voters and independents are not considering voting for Trump, the Republican nominee. But they’re also not enthusiastic about voting for Clinton and appear to be attracted to the same outsider appeal of the Libertarians that once had them flocking to Sanders rallies. “I think there’s a great deal of dissatisfaction among … young people, in particular with status quo establishment politics, and the two third-party candidates are coming across as not being part of the establishment,” Sanders said on MSNBC on Monday night, as he urged young voters to look at Clinton’s positions on climate change and college cost. Sanders could ultimately be the campaign’s secret weapon. He drew young voters by the tens of thousands during the Democratic primaries and revealed on Monday that he’s plotting a “very, very vigorous” campaign schedule for Clinton. The Clinton campaign isn’t putting any money behind its anti-third-party message yet. But vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine Timothy (Tim) Michael KaineTrump claims Democrats ‘don’t mind executing babies after birth’ after blocked abortion bill Democrats block abortion bill in Senate Trump unleashing digital juggernaut ahead of 2020 MORE raised the specter of the Libertarians as spoilers in an interview with Yahoo’s Katie Couric last week, arguing that there never would have been a war in Iraq if Nader hadn’t cost Gore the election. “Casting a vote, a protest vote, for a third-party candidate that’s going to lose may well affect the outcome,” Kaine warned. “It may well lead to a consequence that is deeply, deeply troubling. That’s not a speculation — we’ve seen it in our country’s history.” There are several battleground states where it appears the third-party effect is working against Clinton. A CNN-ORC survey that showed Trump with a 1-point edge in Colorado found Johnson and Stein combining for 30 percent support among those under the age of 45. In Monmouth University polls of Nevada, Clinton once had a 5-point lead over Trump based on her strength among independents. The latest survey found Trump moving into a 2-point lead as independents moved away from Clinton into Johnson’s column. And one eye-popping Christopher Newport University survey of Virginia found Clinton taking 34 percent among voters aged 18 to 34, followed closely by Johnson at 27 percent. Clinton still leads by 6 over Trump in that poll but only pulls 39 percent support overall. Liberals interviewed by The Hill aren’t in full panic mode yet. Some are more concerned that the lack of enthusiasm is what could doom Clinton, rather than voters actually turning out for Johnson or Stein. “The real risk is voters that should stand with Democrats and progressives in this election will not show up,” said Democracy for America spokesman Neil Sroka. “That’s why a proactive, positive-issues campaign is so important — we need to give people a reason to vote for the Democrats.”Anne Pressly Murder Update: Curtis Lavell Vance Arrested (Mugshot) A suspect in the October murder of Little Rock news anchor Anne Pressly was taken into custody at 11:00 p.m. on Wednesday night.28, was reported to be at a home in Little Rock, where a contingent of police officers converged and took the man into custody. He is being held on a charge of Capital Murder. Earlier in the evening, officers held a news conference and identified Vance as their suspect. He was described as 6 ft., 240 pounds and was reported to be armed with a 9mm High Point pistol. The public appeal resulted in a tip that led police to the residence where he was captured, without incident, an hour later. According to Police Chief Stuart Thomas, they have "a very, very solid case due to solid detective work." Police Lt. Terry Hastings remarked about the tip they received, "we went there and he's in custody." A KATV Channel 7 news anchor, Pressly was attacked on October 20 and died of her injuries on October 25, 2008. She was 26 years old. January 9, 2009 UPDATE: Curtis Lavell Vance, 28, was formally charged Thursday with capital murder, rape, residential burglary and theft, according to Prosecutor Larry Jegley. He is schedule to appear next Thursday, January 15 in Pulaski County Circuit court, where he will enter a plea in the high-profile case. Check out the rap sheet that led to his capture below. Click to enlarge.It was Richard Dunne’s late own-goal that gave 10-man Queen’s Park Rangers a 1-1 Premier League draw against Aston Villa at Loftus Road. Dunne put the ball in his own net in the third minute of stoppage time, after Stephen Warnock’s clearance ricocheted in off the luckless Irishman. Dunne is the Premier League’s record own-goal scorer, and took his tally to nine with this latest misfortune. Dunne’s goal cancelled out Barry Bannan’s controversial 58th-minute penalty, which was awarded for a slight shirt-pull by Armand Traore. Traore was to suffer further misery after beings sent off late on for a second bookable offence. On the whole, a draw was probably a fair result after a highly competitive encounter in which six Villa players were booked. Warnock flew into a rash challenge a few minutes before half-time, and you did not need to ask who had it was who had suffered from his tackle. Such is Barton’s reputation now, he draws a lot of strong tackles, although Barton is more than capable of dealing with such an attitude. In fact it was Barton’s arrival at Loftus Road that risked marginalising Adel Taarabt who had already lost the captaincy to the Liverpudlian. But Taarabt was in lively form, hitting the outside of Shay Given’s post with an audacious banana shot early on. That set the tone for a long spell of QPR dominance, and it was Taarabt who might have scored when fed inside the box by Shaun Wright-Phillips, but his effort was deflected for a corner. Jay Bothroyd then put a header wide from a Barton corner. QPR were left wondering what exactly their creativity could do if they had a more effective finisher than Bothroyd. Villa had a late chance in the first half, as they came close through a superb Bannan free-kick that required all of Paddy Kenny’s effort to prevent a goal. Villa’s dominance continued after the break, when Fabian Delph saw his effort blocked, and hit just wide after beating the rushing Kenny to a ball at the edge of the box. As the game progressed, it was referee Michael Oliver who quickly became centre of attention when he penalised Traore for infringing Gabriel Agbonlahor. All in all, the call was a tough one as whilst there was a tug on Gabby’s shirt, it arguably didn’t impede him as far as to draw a penalty. It was young Barry Bannan who converted the penalty with a low effort into the right corner giving Kenny no chance. Shaun Wright-Phillips was close to levelling the score after a low shot that brought a brilliant save from Given, before referee Oliver turned down a penalty appeal from QPR after Alan Hutton blocked a goalbound Shaun Derry header with his hand. Oliver turned down a second penalty appeal for handball against Hutton, not long before Traore saw red for a reckless foul. Just as Villa were moment away from escaping Loftus Road with all three points, QPR managed an equaliser. Subsitute Heidar Helguson crossed low from the left, and Stephen Warnock’s defensive clearance only managed to rebound off the body of Richard Dunne, which meant an unfortunate own goal from the Irishman. Conclusion After a game that was, if you pardon the cliche, very much of two halves, Villa were probably fair value for a point with two penalties claims against full back Alan Hutton. Whilst I, like many fans, were disappointed to concede a late own goal from Richard Dunne’s rebound into the net, on the overall performance, a draw was a fair result. Of course, we could have done better in the first half, of that there is no doubt, but whatever Alex McLeish said to the team at half time clearly had an effect. Can we lambast McLeish for the poor effort, or his contribution to the first half? I’m not overly sure there given that it is ultimately players who make performances. This is further evidenced by the fact that the formation was largely the same in the second half, but the performance was much better. How people can somehow suggest that an identical tactic is poor but also yield results down to the manager is a tad beyond me. Whilst McLeish wasn’t even on my list of candidates expected to take the job initially, I think he deserves credit for the team talk. Clearly motivation is something he has excellent ability in, because there was a passion to the team second half. We should have started the game a lot stronger, but I’m not overly sure that is attributed to the manager, and even if it was, you could argue a very strong case for us putting the feelers out first half to see how our team would compete against a 4-5-1 away from home. Whatever your opinion, few can argue that the second half was full of a lot more energy and effort, where players like Delph and Ireland benefited heavily from the attacking, one touch passing. Thus I think it will have to be the way forward (our second half performance), because if we are to utilise the creativity of attacking players, we need to be attacking. Including Ireland in a defensive minded team is foolhardy, and bordering on idiotic, as if he isn’t going to attack and use his skillls, he shouldn’t play at all. We saw glimpses from Ireland today to show what we might actually have in his talent. The future, it would seem, may still be bright even after a series of disappointing draws.In this paper I want to link together two strands of literature that have often been considered separately, despite of their important interconnections: the feminist literature on social reproduction and the literature on surplus populations, as it plays out in the specific question of the status of migrants within their countries of arrival. I want to suggest that when we consider these debates in conjunction with one another, theories of social reproduction and surplus populations become a privileged site for analyzing the intersection of racial and gendered oppression with class exploitation. However, unlike the many others who make this point, I will argue against an overextension of the category of surplus population. When we consider the question of surplus populations from the point of view of the feminist literature on social reproduction, we see that migrant women do not constitute a surplus population, or reserve army, in Europe, but rather a “regular army,” which is totally necessary to capitalist production. While the widespread debate around surplus populations rightly highlights unemployment as a cause of migration, it runs the analytical and political risk of obscuring the fact that most migrant women do not take the jobs of others, and are waged rather than “superfluous” in their countries of arrival since much of the socially reproductive activity in the Global North has become commodified. In order to make my argument, I need first to clarify in what ways I use the notion of both social reproduction and surplus populations. Social reproduction feminism In the
to work with UTF-8 and other character sets with MSVC. It’s very hard to compile code that contains non-ASCII strings cross-platform—we refer to this as the source character set. And because the compiler interprets strings differently based on what environment the program is run in, it’s difficult to write code that will be compiled on different operating systems that treat non-ASCII strings the same everywhere. We refer to this as the execution character set. We’ve added several new command-line compiler options that allow you to specify explicitly the source and execution character sets. Because UTF-8 is the a commonly encountered character set with cross-platform code, we’ve also introduced an option that sets both the source and execution character sets to UTF-8. There’s a great blog post by Jim Springfield that explains how we’re handling character sets here: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/vcblog/2016/02/22/new-options-for-managing-character-sets-in-the-microsoft-cc-compiler/ Empty base class optimization NB: Empty base class optimization is in Update 2, not Update 2 CTP Sometimes you’ll write an empty class to be the base of a hierarchy. But that empty class isn’t really empty: C++ requires that a class have a non-zero size to ensure object identity. If, for a given class C, sizeof(C)==0, math done on a pointer to C could cause a divide by zero. (For example, how would you compute the number of elements between x and y in this expression: &a[x] - &a[y]? You’d divide the distance between the pointers by the size of the elements which cannot be zero.) Because of this, empty classes are given a minimal size. But while the size of any empty class is always non-zero, when an empty class is used as a base class it can have effectively zero size. There’s a well-known optimization called “empty base class optimization” that makes an empty base class have zero size. MSVC previously only did this optimization in a limited fashion. With Update 2 we now support it broadly. Currently you have to mark every class where you want this optimization performed with a __declspec. For example, struct empty1 {}; struct empty2 {}; struct empty3 {}; struct __declspec(emptyBases) MyStruct : empty1, empty2, empty3 { int i; int j; int k; } 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 struct empty1 { } ; struct empty2 { } ; struct empty3 { } ; struct __declspec ( emptyBases ) MyStruct : empty1, empty2, empty3 { int i ; int j ; int k ; } We also created a compiler option, /d1reportEmptyBasesClassLayout to help identify classes where this optimization would be useful. The switch is what we call a “d1” switch, meaning that it’s a temporary and unsupported compiler switch that will be removed one day without notice. Why didn’t we just turn on empty base class optimization by default? The optimization changes class layout, meaning that it would be a binary breaking change. We try to minimize breaking changes and we know that binary breaking changes are especially painful for developers. One day we’ll be able to make this breaking change and you’ll no longer need to use the __declspec. But for now, removing the size of empty base classes can save significant binary size in some codebases so we wanted you to be able to do the optimization where appropriate in your code. You can read more about empty base class optimization in this blog post: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/vcblog/2016/03/30/optimizing-the-layout-of-empty-base-classes-in-vs2015-update-2-3/ In closing You can enjoy even more new capabilities beyond the compiler in VS2015 Update 2. We’re eager for you to try out the changes and give us feedback in the comments below or through the usual channels: email, Suggestions, Connect (for bugs), or even Send-A-Smile. NB: Edited this post on 31 Mar ’16 to reflect that Empty Base Class Optimization shipped in the full release of Update 2. Also note this post on Partial Support for Expression SFINAE in VS 2015 Update 1: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/vcblog/2015/12/02/partial-support-for-expression-sfinae-in-vs-2015-update-1/Stjepan "Steve" Šipek, known by his screen name Steve Hawkes (born 1942) is a Croatian-born American actor and animal sanctuary owner.[1] Life [ edit ] Sipek was born in what is now Croatia relocated to Canada in 1959 and subsequently acted in B-movies as Steve Hawkes. He played Tarzan in the 1969 Spanish-made film Tarzán en la gruta del oro / King of the Jungle / Tarzan in the Golden Grotto alongside Kitty Swan, filmed in Suriname, Florida, Africa, Spain and Italy where the producers ran out of money and had to begin filming again. Sipek, working under the name Steve Hawkes, claimed the film company couldn't pay the huge licensing fees from Edgar Rice Burroughs' estate and settled for the name "Zan" for the character.[2] A 1972 sequel Tarzan and the Brown Prince followed with sequences filmed in Rainbow Springs, Florida,[3] where both Sipek and Swan were burned in a fire that got out of control. When the two actors were tied down in a scene, some spilled fuel began a blaze that panicked the film crew. The lion in the film who had been trained to remove Hawkes' bonds freed him.[1] though he suffered 90% burns to his body.[4] Sipek vowed he would pay the lion back by looking after big cats.[5] Sipek also wrote, directed and starred in other films such as Blood Freak and Stevie, Samson and Delilah. The film was based around his love of his immediate family and how they integrated with his beloved pets. An animal lover, Sipek later relocated to Loxahatchee, Florida where he started an animal sanctuary[6] that attracted attention when a Bengal tiger escaped and was killed.[7][8] Sipek was arrested at his Florida home and his animals confiscated on February 27, 2012 for non regulatory compliance in regards to animal permits.[9][10] Notes [ edit ]Baltia has one plane, a 747 MID-HUDSON NEWS EXCLUSIVE REPORT NEW WINDSOR – A “paper airline” that has tried to get off the ground and provide flights to Europe and Russia from US airports for some 27 years, is planning to change its name and seek those routes from Stewart International Airport. Baltia Airlines has new leadership and board of directors and next Thursday will vote to change the airline’s name to U.S. Global and seek federal approvals to fly from Stewart to Eastern European and Mediterranean cities and even offer the only non-stop service from the U.S. to St. Petersburg, Russia, airline spokesman John Lampl told Mid-Hudson News on Thursday. “They are in the process of getting their certificate so they can operate a full-fledged, what’s called a Part 121 airline, carrying passengers, cargo and mail,” Lampl said. “The aim is to hub at Stewart and fly on various routes into Europe that are covered through the E.U.-U.S. Open Skies agreement.” The new airline has already rented office space from Atlantic Aviation, a fixed base operator at Stewart and plans to house its aircraft in the former General Electric hangar, which Atlantic purchased months ago. How long it will take to secure approvals and start service has yet to be determined, because as a start-up, the airline has no airplanes and employees. Stewart's first European service, on Norwegian Airlines, will begin in late June.Two private preschools in New York City now accept bitcoin and two other cryptocurrencies for tuition payments, according to their co-founder. Montessori Schools, based in the Flatiron and SoHo neighborhoods of Manhattan, began accepting bitcoin, ether and litecoin in June. Payments are accepted by way of an integration with digital currency startup Coinbase, which automatically converts the crypto payments to US dollars. The preschools ascribe to the Montessori philosophy of education, an approach to learning developed in the early 20th century by Maria Montessori. According to online materials, tuition at the schools can run as high as $30,950 per annum – worth roughly 12.3 BTC at current prices. Marco Ciocco, co-founder and chairman of the schools, told CoinDesk that the move to accept digital currencies for tuition payments began more than a year ago, following requests from parents. As more requests came in, Ciocco said, school officials started to seriously weigh how it could work. He went on to explain: “Parents who were early adopters are now able to take advantage of the appreciation of their digital assets and use them to pay for their children’s education – something that will ultimately have a lifetime impact on their families.” Ciocco, who said that he had personally been following the cryptocurrency space for the past several years, added that “many” parents had begun to utilize the payment option – a trend he expects to continue as time goes on. “As a forward-thinking administration, we like to stay ahead of the curve and would not be surprised if the percentage of tuition paid in digital currencies continues to grow every year and becomes a substantial portion of our payments,” Ciocco told CoinDesk. Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Coinbase. Kindergarten image via ShutterstockProgramming is tough going. Well, stringing together lines of code isn’t that difficult, and prototyping an idea can be pleasant and easy. But as the size of the program scales up, and the maintenance time lengthens, things tend to get tricky. Eventually, if we’re unlucky, we’re overcome by the complexity — not necessarily the complexity of the problem we started out solving, but the complexity of the program itself. We get gray hairs from debugging, or we’re simply at a loss for how to extend the program to do what we want. So we turn to the history of programming, seeking advice as to how to combat complexity. And the answer sits there, clear as day: limit extent. If you’re architecting programs with hundreds or thousands of types of components, you’ll want those components to interact through only a very small set of surfaces… otherwise, you’ll simply lose control. Otherwise, combinatorics will defeat you. We see this principle at every single level of programming, simply because it’s such a primary thing: Separation of Concerns, Do One Thing And Do It Well, BCNF, monads, routines, classes, roles, modules, packages. All of them urge us or guide us to limit the extent of things, so we don’t lose to combinatorics. Perhaps the simplest example of this is the lexical variable. { my $var; # $var is visible in here } # $var is not visible out here Yeah — that is today’s “cool feature”. :-) Here’s what makes it interesting: Perl got this one wrong from version 1 and onwards. The default variable scope in Perl 5 is the “package variable”, a kind of global variable. Define something inside a block; still see it outside. $ perl -v This is perl 5, version 12, subversion 1 (v5.12.1) $ perl -E '{ $var = 42 }; say $var' 42 $ perl -wE '{ my $var= 42 }; say $var' Name "main::var" used only once: possible typo at -e line 1. Use of uninitialized value $var in say at -e line 1. In Perl 6, the lexical variable is the default. You won’t get past compilation if you try to pull off the above trick in Rakudo: $ perl6 -e '{ $var = 42 }; say $var' # gotta initialize with'my' ===SORRY!=== Symbol '$var' not predeclared in <anonymous> $ perl6 -e '{ my $var = 42 }; say $var' # still won't work! not visible outside ===SORRY!=== Symbol '$var' not predeclared in <anonymous> You might say “okay, this is great for catching a typo now and then”. Yes, sure, but the big advantage is that this keeps you honest about variable scoping. And that helps you manage complexity. Now let me just rush to the defense of Perl 5 by saying a variety of things at the same time. Perl 5 does try to steer you in the right way by having you use strict and use warnings by reflex; Perl 5 is bound by its promise of backwards compatibility, which is very good and noble; Perl 1 certainly was not about writing large applications and managing the resulting complexity; and global variables do make a lot of sense in a one-line script. Perl 6 has an inherent focus to help you start small, and then help you put in more strictures and architectural underpinnings as your application scales up. In the case of variables, this means that in scripts and modules, lexical variables (à la strict ) are the default, but in those -e one-liners the default is package variables. (Rakudo doesn’t implement this distinction yet, and one has to use lexical variables even at the command line. After it’s been implemented in Rakudo, I’d expect the perl6 invocations above to get past compilation, and produce outputs similar to the perl invocations.) Moving along. At this point you might consider all that’s worth saying about lexical variables to have been said — not so. You see, the result of designing things right is that surprising and awesome bonuses keep falling out. Consider this subroutine: sub counter($start_value) { my $count = $start_value; return { $count++ }; } What’s returned at return { $count++ } is a block of code. So each time we call counter, what we get back is a little disconnected piece of code that can be called, as many times as we want. Now look what happens when we create two such pieces of code and play around with them: my $c1 = counter(5); say $c1(); # 5 say $c1(); # 6 my $c2 = counter(42); say $c2(); # 42 say $c1(); # 7 say $c2(); # 43 See that? The vital observation here is that $c1 and $c2 are acting entirely independently of each other. Both keep their own state, in the form of the $count variable, and although this might look like the same variable to us, to the two invocations of counter it looks like two different storage locations — because each time we enter a block of code, we start out afresh. The little block of code returned from some run of counter retains a relation to that particular storage location (it “closes over” the storage location, protecting it from the grasp of the Grim Garbage Collector; thus this kind of block is called a closure.) If closures look a lot like lightweight objects to you, congratulations; they are. The principle behind closures, regulating the way values are accessed, is the same as the principle behind encapsulation and information hiding in OO. It’s all about limiting the extent of things, so that they can wreak as little havoc as possible when things turn ugly. You can do nifty things like closures with lexical variables. You can’t with package variables. Lexical variables are cooler. QED.A new chemical may soon allow scientists to see exactly what's on your mind—because the substance turns brain tissue totally transparent. Known as Scale, the new chemical makes body tissue so crystal clear that light can penetrate deeply enough for researchers to directly see fluorescent markers embedded in cells and other structures. This advance could unveil new frontiers in medical imaging, according to its creators. (See pictures: "Glowing Animals—Beasts Shining for Science.") "Our current experiments are focused on the mouse brain, but applications are neither limited to mice nor to the brain," Atsushi Miyawaki, of Japan's RIKEN Brain Science Institute, said in a press statement. We envision using Scale on other organs such as the heart, muscles, and kidneys and on tissues from primate and human biopsy samples." Paul Thompson, a neurologist at the UCLA School of Medicine who's unaffiliated with the research, said pictures of transparent organs and embryonic mice treated with Scale are incredible. "I've worked in brain imaging for 20 years, and seeing something like this really had a wow factor," he said. Transparent Brains to Reveal Drug Activity? The Scale substance is made from relatively simple ingredients: urea—the prominent compound in urine—glycerol, and a detergent called Triton-X. Soaking brains and even entire mouse embryos in the chemical solution for two weeks rendered them transparent. (Related pictures: "Weird Fish With Transparent Head.") Previous substances have been developed to help make cells clearer for medical imaging. But unlike its predecessors, Scale doesn't also wash away the signals of fluorescent proteins, which scientists use to mark neurons, blood vessels, and other small structures in the body. Fluorescence imaging is currently used, for instance, to map the cellular architecture of the brain, something Scale could make more effective than ever, RIKEN researchers say. Scale could also be used to help researchers refine their imaging targets before they turn to more complicated, expensive techniques, such as CT scans and MRIs, UCLA's Thompson said. "I think there is the potential to visually see if treatments are really getting to the parts of the brain or the organ you're trying to target," he said. "If you have a treatment for Alzheimer's, and the goal is to treat plaques building up in the brain, you might see if a drug is really getting rid of them, and that could be a big boost." No Living "Invisible Man"... Yet Lab animals won't be having "invisible man" experiences any time soon—Scale is too toxic to living creatures, though Miyawaki hopes that limitation can eventually be lifted. "We are currently investigating another, milder candidate reagent, which would allow us to study live tissue in the same way at somewhat lower levels of transparency," he said. "This would open the door to experiments that have simply never been possible before."Just a few weeks ago my wife and I hosted my best friend from Germany and his girlfriend. For her, it was the first time in the US, and so we planned a few very American things such as bowling, bagels & burgers. Another great thing about the US is the wealth of things to explore in nature and National Parks, and so we decided to spend a few days “up north” on the Lake Superior shore hiking and fishing. Since Microsoft had recently provided us with a Lumia phone, we used it almost exclusively as our point-and-shoot camera but I also brought along my Nikon D800, which made for an interesting comparison. Getting there From St. Paul, MN it was about a 4 hour drive to our destination of Beaver Bay where we stayed in a rented townhouse right on the lake. After a delay in our departure, we hurried up north using our smartphones to guide us. Traditionally, we have used Google maps almost exclusively on our android phones and generally, I have always been happy with it. Since Google maps is not available as an app for Windows Phones, we used the highly praised Nokia Here app as well this time. Apart from slight differences in the layout, both apps do the same job, and Nokia even has a speed limit alarm that goes off every time you surpass it – generally I am sure it’s useful but we decided to turn it off during this trip. With the delay, we debated whether to eat out or not, and so we checked for possible restaurant options using our smartphones. Even though we were close to the shore, the reception isn’t great and there are certainly parts of the road on which we went completely without reception. So, having made a decision to cook on our own, I realized that I could not get Google maps to work anymore since we had no reception. On the other hand, the Nokia Here maps shined because it also works offline, and so it was not problem to find our way. Once we made it to the small town of Beaver Bay, we had reception again and Google maps found the little side street we had to take while the Nokia couldn’t. Overall, it seems to be like Google maps is more detailed and superior in rural areas, while Nokia Here has a big advantage in subways or areas without reception. It was an essential companion for this kind of destination. Hiking and Fishing The next day, we went for a hike close to a series waterfalls and stopped at our first vista of Lake Superior from Palisade Head, which provided stunning views. The weather was dry and not overly hot, so we were lucky and got a few nice shots in. Within a few miles we found a nice panoramic overview as well as shore hiking access and waterfalls. The colors of the Lumia are saturated and it looks even more beautiful in the picture. Overall, it was a quiet and peaceful day and so the North Shore is an excellent destination to both escape busy working days and give our visitors a glimpse of the natural landscape of our state. During the summer it is actually rather warm up north although the proximity to the water keeps the heat moderate. While you can witness the changing of colors of the leaves during the fall, in summer you get to see the large number of rapidly aging birch trees that populated the area after loggers clear cut the area in the 1920’s. Once back at our house we grilled some steaks, and not long after dark a bright moon rose at the horizon. The view was great and so I decided to do a truly unfair comparison shot from my $3,000 camera and the $500 cell phone. Of course, I know that my full-frame sensor camera would certainly win the comparison by a wide margin, especially when zoomed in to 100%, however most people don’t look at pictures that way and I was wondering what was possible. The key at such low light levels is to move the camera as little as possible, and so I found a railing that I could use to minimize camera / phone shake. Above, you can see the shot with the Lumia. It is dark, and maybe a little bit darker than it was when I took the picture, but I was pretty impressed that I was able to see the water and trees at all. I wish it was possible to control the exposure manually because in many situations like this one, automatic modes just don’t work. On the other hand, most people simply want to point-and-shoot without manually setting the exposure. However, pulling out the phone and taking a quick shot was always a far easier proposition than getting our my Nikon, and hence, my wife and I used it much more often during the trip. Nevertheless, I think the Lumia 928 could take even better pictures with a manual setting. Below, you can see the D800 shot rendering more details and low noise levels. Obviously the D800 outperformed the Lumia 928 but then again, it was a professional camera vs. a cell phone, and the convenience factor of the phone is a serious benefit. The next day, we took a chartered fishing tour with a local fisherman. He kept a precise log of what lures he used at each combinations of depth, time of the year and location, in addition to a ultrasound machine that located schools of fish. Without him, we would likely not caught anything at all. At the time, it was Lake Trout season and so that’s what we caught over a period of 4 hours. Ironically 3 of them bit withing the first 30 minutes. Overall, I would not do it again, as a heavily rocking boat is not for me, but hey – it was an experience. Thankfully, our catch was extremely tasty. Unlike the moon shot, the small Lumia picture looks almost better than the D800 picture, because the colors are stronger and the jpg. mechanism is optimized in the phone. While the picture of the D800 is actually more accurate, the Lumia picture looks better. Of course, neither of these shots have been post-processed so they are just like they came from the camera – just downsized for viewability. Later, we put our fish on our portable, highly recommended weber gas grill and after 6 minutes on high it was perfectly juicy and flavorful. The glaze I made out of soy sauce, honey and BBQ sauce provided the trout with a hearty taste without overpowering the flavor of the fish itself. Overall, the Lumia made for an excellent nature trip companion – it wasn’t too bulky to carry hiking, it was easy to immediately flip on the camera from the external button for quick shots, and it produced very nice photos indeed. Next time we head to the wilderness, we wouldn’t be upset if we forgot the D800. What plans do you have for the summer, and what do you think of the Windows phone camera?Here’s a (totally unedited except for the addition of some line breaks to make it easier to read) conversation that some guy who managed to get hold of Eben’s email address started with Eben today. We have to laugh, because otherwise we’d be crying; this is an extreme example of a conversation that everybody at the Foundation has at least once a day with someone or other. Read to the bottom, because it just gets better and better. Steve: Hello Eben Sent at 3:46 PM on Friday Steve: It’s Steve, B.A Applied Math Student Do you have a minute? Sent at 3:47 PM on Friday me: yes Steve: I wanted to present to my lecturers and administration your computer I mean the RP And because I am going to visit my high school too I can show it there too so if they will be interested then they may buy thousands of units me: excellent Steve: Can you please send me sample of model B so they can see it? me: sorry, I’m afraid we can’t provide free samples Steve: But what I do is a free advertisement for you what will I get if they will buy thousands? Sent at 4:02 PM on Friday Steve: It doesn’t cost you 30 dollars, show me please where will you find free advertisement with potential for thousand units to be sold? me: sorry Steve – it’s foundation policy Steve: But you are the director aren’t you? me: I am indeed Steve: then you can decide Sent at 4:06 PM on Friday Steve: Look I see that my offer doesn’t interest you. I am totally respect your decision. There is a similar board that is sold and you can make it a computer too. They told me that I will get a free sample for ad purposes. me: understood – which board are you considering using? Steve: I can give you the name but I am not interested, only because I should get the samples soon their project is similar to yours but offers much more options small board, computer but for large purposes If you decide to send me the free sample that doesn’t cost you anything you will get much more. Sent at 4:11 PM on Friday Steve: Think that university and a high school and maybe the town I live in will be interested! Sent at 4:13 PM on Friday Steve: If it so difficult for you to send me a sample, to make a post about this on your blog with a video I will do then I will go to your competitors who agreed to send me some free samples. Sent at 4:14 PM on Friday me: okay, thanks Steve Sent at 4:17 PM on Friday Steve: If you don’t mind I will publish that conversation to some press because we were interested how friendly you are to new potential customers. Sent at 4:18 PM on Friday Steve: Eben, I have been second ago with the IT admin who was interested in your product. He asked me to talk to you and ask for a sample. Sent at 4:20 PM on Friday me: I’m sorry Steve, I can’t help you with this. Sent at 4:25 PM on Friday At this point, Eben closes the conversation window. But Steve is not put off: Steve: Hello Eben Steve: I think you can but for some strange reason can’t even try to send me a sample. If you wanted to, I am sure you could find the way to send it. Sent at 4:41 PM on Friday Steve: Meanwhile we are contacting the inventor of the board I mentioned before and I think we will buy the boards from him. You have a great customer service me: okay, best of luck with your project Steve: First time I get such customer service, even Samsung sent us some equipment for free before we bought it. Sent at 4:44 PM on Friday Steve: Maybe be some comments and youtube video we will upload along with a coverage in press will show you how to treat potential customers. me: that’s certainly a possibility Steve: What did we ask from your company? To send a sample that’s all It’s worldwide practice before buying to send a sample. Sent at 4:47 PM on Friday Steve: I thought I am talking to a company who knows about worldwide standards and treats people who may transfer thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars. We are amused here, all of us me: understood Steve: And what does it mean? We don’t need your understanding we want to know what is the reason not to send a sample. Sent at 4:50 PM on Friday Steve: You are the director. You can order your people to send us the sample as ad. compaign. campaign* Sent at 4:52 PM on Friday me: I can, but I don’t see anything to indicate that sending you a sample will result in sales of enough units to cover the cost of the sample Steve: What do you want to get if you will send the sample? Sent at 4:53 PM on Friday me: I would need to be convinced that there is a credible prospect of a significant number of sales. Steve: Ok but if you will send me this sample I will show it in my university and high school Firstly they need to connect it and see what they can do with it. To test it in various laboratories. And to see if it is good enough. If yes, lecturers have grants and they can buy your product. me: I understand the pitch, I’m just not interested, sorry. The foundation doesn’t send out free units. Steve: Why? It’s a worldwide practice. So you confirm you don’t want to have a potential customers who will buy like 2000-3000 units? Sent at 5:00 PM on Friday Steve: Your answer please So you confirm you don’t want to have a potential customers who will buy like 2000-3000 units? Sent at 5:03 PM on Friday Steve: Eben? So you confirm you don’t want to have a potential customers who will buy like 2000-3000 units? me: we’re absolutely interested in customers of that sort Steve: And I can give you such customers me: however, they tend to be prepared to pay $35 for a trial unit first Steve: if you will send me a sample they should buy the amount. But you are keeping to be on your position and lose such customers – those who can hear from me about your product Sent at 5:06 PM on Friday Steve: I the places I have been to including the army there is a need in such devices, but I am not going to show or tell about your product if I will not get the sample. It’s a payment for me to do this. In* me: I appreciate that Steve: Don’t you think you should grant me with a sample for my hard work to tell and advertise your product? me: no Steve: Don’t answer me such answers, I am a journalist who works for a newspaper in New York Do you really want me to post that you refused to have customers and didn’t want to grant a good guy who advertised your product? me: I suspect that demanding free product in return for positive coverage in a newspaper might be considered ethically dubious in most countries Steve: Maybe because I am Jewish Now I get the point, you don’t want to do it because of my nationality. Sent at 5:11 PM on Friday Steve: This was the reason and now I understand it. I am totally shocked and I will cover the real reason for your refuse. me: classy Steve: “Eben Upton refused to have deal with Jews” I think I will add some and write a great coverage about the customer service of the director of RP Sent at 5:16 PM on Friday me: that’s certainly an eyecatching headline Steve: I see you want me to publish it ok, as you wish Sent at 5:18 PM on Friday me: thanks for your time Steve: You have taken time from me Hope my coverage will hurt your sells Maybe then you will talk in a different manner Sent at 5:20 PM on FridayEver since Colorado and Washington state voters legalized recreational marijuana use, Partnership at Drugfree.org has been lobbied to run ads criticizing the decision. But that's the last thing the group wants to do. "A public-service ad that says: 'By the way, voters of Colorado, you don't know what you are doing.' Come on," said Steve Pasierb, the partnership's CEO. Pot legalization is "happening in America," he added. Pot's popularity has been steadily growing, even before the two states voted to legalize it. From 2002 to 2010, marijuana consumption in the U.S. jumped 40% while cocaine use fell by half, according to recently released estimates from Rand Corp. published in a report to the White House. The report found that collective total spending on cocaine, heroin, marijuana and meth has remained relatively flat in recent years at $100 billion annually. The Partnership is taking a practical approach in Colorado and Washington with an educational PR effort. In July the group hosted a panel discussion in Denver to discuss what pot legalization will mean for kids. Parents have a "critical role to play to ensure that the readily available marijuana in these states do not result in higher levels of use by... their children and young teens," the group said in August. Research conducted by the group found that while the public is in favor of marijuana reform, including legalization and decriminalization, "they expect that it will come with no marketing, all kinds of restrictions and none of this will be exposed to their children, when in fact that is not true," Mr Pasierb said. "Legalization means that this is now legally protected commercial speech." Both Washington and Colorado have regulations meant to keep pot advertising from kids. In Colorado, retailers are allowed to advertise in newspapers and on TV and radio only if they can prove that no more than 30% of the audience is younger than 21. The Partnership opposes the mass advertising of marijuana, but Mr. Pasierb said "nobody believes that … the advertising bans in place will hold when challenged in court."A coalition of progressive organizations published an open letter to Hillary Clinton on Wednesday, urging her to keep Wall Street veterans out of her administration if she wins the presidency. The 15 signatories, which include advocacy groups, a labor union, a political party, and other organizations, wrote the letter to "reaffirm the importance of selecting executive branch appointees with a documented record of fighting for the public interest." "Historically, too many Wall Street executives and corporate insiders have traveled through the revolving door between private industry and government," the letter states. "The result of this practice is that the interests of elites are over-represented in Washington." Earlier this year, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released a report which found that Washington's revolving-door system is part of what allows corporate crime to run rampant. The groups include advocacy organizations Public Citizen, MoveOn.org, and RootsAction.org, as well as the union Communications Workers of America (CWA), which in December endorsed Clinton's then-rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for president. Ending economic inequality became a well-known cornerstone of Sanders' campaign. Clinton should end her controversial associations with Wall Street to demonstrate to voters that her proclaimed commitments to increasing regulation of big banks and opposing destructive trade deals like the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) are serious, the groups write: SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT Help Keep Common Dreams Alive Our progressive news model only survives if those informed and inspired by this work support our efforts We are heartened to see that the Democratic Party's 2016 platform is perhaps its most progressive one to date. But to realize its promise—including serious regulation of the banks, action to confront climate change, revitalized antitrust enforcement, support for fair trade and labor rights, progressive telecommunications policy, and so much more—we must remember the maxim, "personnel is policy." [....] As you begin to consider who would serve in your administration, we write to urge you to follow through on these commitments and the general spirit behind them. By doing so, you will ensure that your public positions on issues ranging from trade to Wall Street reform will not be undermined by executive branch appointees. "Moreover," they continue, "we urge you to publicly state that, should you win the presidency, you will appoint personnel from backgrounds in public interest advocacy, academia, and public service to influential positions within your administration, rather than merely drawing from the usual set of corporate insiders." The letter comes ahead of Clinton's economic speech on Thursday outside of Detroit, which progressives are using to amp up pressure on Clinton regarding her TPP stance. Though she now says she opposes the trade deal, activists are pushing for her to make her position more concrete. Other signatories to the letter include the Center for Popular Democracy Action, CREDO Action, Daily Kos, Democracy for America, New York Communities for Change, Other98, Presente.org, Progressive Change Campaign Committee, the Rootstrikers Project at Demand Progress, and the Strong Economy for All Coalition.Posted on Apr 26, 2010 in Health, Food News, & Big Pharma Senate Bill 510, the Most Dangerous Bill in the History of the US Dec. 20th Update: The modified version of SB 510 passed the Senate late Monday night in a sneaky voice vote. All Senators voted for it, Republicans and Democrats alike. Not a single U.S. Senator – not even Oklahoma’s Tom Coburn – objected to its passage. The bill now returns to
title as Mercedes are still "quite a way" ahead of the chasing pack. Last week's final pre-season test saw Mercedes finally bolt on a set of soft tyres and go for a performance run. Rosberg crossed the line at the Barcelona circuit with a 1:22.792 to clock the week's best lap time while his team-mate Lewis Hamilton did a 1:23.022 the following day. What will be a concern for Mercedes' rivals is that the week's third fastest time, a 1:23.063 set by Valtteri Bottas, was done on what should be the slightly quicker supersoft rubber. So it is no wonder that Vettel, who posted his fastest time on Sunday of a 1:23.469, reckons Mercedes are yet again the team to beat. "It's difficult to say on March 1, in two weeks we will know more, but it's clear that Mercedes is in front by quite a way," he told ESPN. The German, though, reckons Ferrari will at least get involved in the battle for best of the rest, joining Williams and Red Bull in that fight. He added: "After that there seems to be a bit of a gap and then it is a lot closer with many teams. "It's difficult to say who is right behind, but I think it's probably very close between Williams, Red Bull and ourselves." Pressed as to which teams would take the front three rows of the grid at the season-opening Australian GP, Vettel said: "The first two is easy unless they have some issues, it's the Mercedes unfortunately. Then I hope two Ferraris and then I don't care."The Republicans have a plan: pit older workers who receive Social Security Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) against so-called “freeloading” beneficiaries of disability insurance. The plan is being sprung just in time for the 2016 election. No sooner than the first week of the 114th Congress, GOP legislators in the House of Representatives passed rule changes that would allow “any member to raise a ‘point of order’ if the House considers a ‘clean’ bill to fix a predicted shortfall by authorizing an internal re-allocation of Social Security funds.” The “point of order” would prevent a transfer of funds – done 11 times by Congress spanning Democratic and Republican administrations alike – from the Social Security trust fund to the disability program. The problem: payroll tax deductions only account for 80 percent of the disability fund. “If Congress does nothing, the program’s 10 million enrollees could face a 19 percent benefit cut, about $200 per month for the typical beneficiary.” The GOP intention is clear: “force us to look for a long-term solution for SSDI rather than raiding Social Security to bail out a failing federal program,” explains rule co-sponsor Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y. “Retired taxpayers who have paid into the system for years deserve no less.” It’s patently obvious they’re trying to convince retired workers that in order to preserve the system, the disabled should be sacrificed. Presidential aspirant Rand Paul took the ploy on the road in a recent swing through New Hampshire claiming “Over half of the people on disability are either anxious or their back hurts.” But Paul knows full well typical beneficiaries aren’t gaming the system – most are either physically disabled or injured workers no longer able to hold down a job. Only about 25 percent of the disabled who apply for the benefits are even approved. Over 30 percent are between 60 and 65! Many have been forced to seek disability benefits because of legislation that has raised the age that people are eligible for the regular old-age benefits. Will the scheme hatched by Paul and his cohorts work? Last November’s election suggests such appeals to older beneficiaries should not be discounted. Those who think that it is the intention of Republicans to cut disability benefits so they can save Social Security overall should remember that the GOP has shown by its past deeds that it has no intention of saving Social Security but rather seeks to privatize it. Senate Democrats have voiced opposition to the plan. But what could happen in future budget negotiations? One thing is clear: Only unity between older and younger, able-bodied and disabled, will prevent significant cuts to the program. Call your Congressperson and let them know you will not tolerate cuts in the disability program. Photo: The latest parliamentary maneuver by the GOP-controlled House is just one more salvo in an 80-year attack by that party on Social Security ever since it was signed into law by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933.The great fact-checking crusade of 2012 by FactCheck.org, PolitiFact, The Fact Checker, CNN Fact Check, AP Fact Check, etc. has told us something very important about the workings of democracy that we already knew: Candidates bend the truth, distort the facts, fudge the numbers, deceive, delude, hoodwink, equivocate, misrepresent, and, yes, lie, as a matter of course. Both major-party presidential candidates and their campaigns routinely lie, as a Time magazine cover story recently documented, although the publication gave Mitt Romney’s campaign top honors for lying more frequently and more brazenly. Time is not alone in its assessment: Romney also leads Barack Obama in the Washington Post‘s Fact Checker “Pinocchio” sweepstakes. But the lies will continue until Nov. 6, after which the chief mission left to the checkers will be to determine whether the winner was a bigger liar than the loser. The candidates lie about each other, they lie about themselves, they lie about issues they know intimately, and they lie about issues they barely understand. Of Romney, the Washington Post‘s Dana Milbank writes today that the candidate has changed, reversed and obliterated his views so many times that “Whatever Romney’s positions were, they are no longer.” If either presidential candidate met you, he’d tell you a lie within 15 seconds of shaking your hand, and if he knew he were going to meet your mother, he’d invent a special set of lies for her. Politicians lie not because they’re wicked – though some are – but because they’ve learned that political markets rarely reward honest campaigners. Say what you will about Ralph Nader and H. Ross Perot, but they ran relatively honest campaigns on the issues, and the voters rejected them. The political market spoke many years ago and continues to speak: Telling the truth is not great for campaigns – and if it were, more people would be doing it. The one presidential candidate in recent memory to win the White House posing as a truth teller was Jimmy Carter, who famously promised early in his campaign: “I’ll never tell a lie” and “I’ll never knowingly make a misstatement of fact” as president. These promises drew instant fire from the press, most notably Steven Brill, who flayed him in a March 1976 Harper’s piece titled “Jimmy Carter’s Pathetic Lies” (subscription required). Carter, who told no fewer lies than the average candidate, paid a political price for his promise, as everyone turned up their radar. “By saying that he would never tell a lie, Carter decided for himself that that’s going to be his standard,” said Alan Baron, George McGovern’s press secretary. “Well, fine, let’s hold him to it.” As soon as they could, voters replaced the non-lying liar with Ronald Reagan, a man so smooth even he didn’t know when he was lying. Some of the lies the candidates tell are innocuous and are not held against them, as Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Paul Waldman write in their 2003 book, The Press Effect: Politicians, Journalists, and the Stories that Shape the Political World. For example, “It’s great to be in Kansas City” is a completely acceptable lie, as is the platitude, “Nothing is more important to me than the future of our children,” Jamieson and Waldman write. Nor do voters care much if candidates claim to have “led the fight” for a piece of legislation if all they did was vote for it or sign it. Moving up the ladder of lying, candidates rarely are forced to pay a political price when they butcher the truth, even in presidential debates. ”You can say anything you want during a debate and 80 million people hear it,” said Vice President George H.W. Bush’s press secretary Peter Teeley in 1984, adding a “so what?” to the fact that reporters might document a candidate’s debate lies. ”Maybe 200 people read it or 2,000 or 20,000.” Campaigns can survive the most blatant political lies, but candidates must be careful not to lie about themselves – or even appear to lie about themselves, as Jamieson and Waldman demonstrate in a long chapter about Al Gore’s image problems. Gore never claimed to have invented the Internet or to have discovered Love Canal. He did, however, falsely claim during the 1988 presidential contest to have gotten “a bunch of people indicted and sent to jail” while working as a reporter. Voters demand authenticity in their presidential candidates, even if the authenticity is fake, as was George W. Bush’s just-folks manner. To lie about an issue is to be a politician. To lie about a corporation is to be a public relation executive. To lie about a legal matter is to be a lawyer. To lie about international power relations is to be a diplomat. But to lie about who you are is to be a hypocrite, and voters despise hypocrites. The telling of durable, convincing lies signals to voters that a candidate possesses the political skills to run the Executive Branch. “In American politics today, the ability to lie convincingly has come to be considered an almost prima facie qualification for holding high office,” Eric Alterman writes in When Presidents Lie: A History of Official Deception and Its Consequences. More in sadness than in anger, Alterman beats up on Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan for their presidential lies. So much of governance is about deception, bluff, and double-dealing. Voters especially don’t mind if their presidential candidate tells a lie that appears to repudiate the party’s most sacred principles. For instance, in the first of the 2012 presidential debates, Mitt Romney claimed to be for economic regulation. “Regulation is essential. You can’t have a free market work if you don’t have regulation,” said Romney. Few Romney supporters flinched at their man’s endorsement of government intervention into business, because they knew he knew his lie was designed to make himself look palatable to easily duped Democrats and independents. If they’ve hung with him this long, Romney supporters know that his presidential campaign has been one long lie – first to convince the Republican Party that he was an honest conservative and now to convince voters in the general election that he’s a devoted moderate. The pervasiveness of campaign lies tells us something we’d rather not acknowledge, at least not publicly: On many issues, voters prefer lies to the truth. That’s because the truth about the economy, the future of Social Security and Medicare, immigration, the war in Afghanistan, taxes, the budget, the deficit, and the national debt is too dismal to contemplate. As long as voters cast their votes for candidates who make them feel better, candidates will continue to lie. And to win. ****** I’m an honest man only because my memory isn’t good enough to remember all of my lies. Send your lies to [email protected] and fact-check my Twitter feed at your own peril. Sign up for email notifications of new Shafer columns (and other occasional announcements). Subscribe to this RSS feed for new Shafer columns. PHOTO: Pencils in the colors of the Italian flag with the head of Pinocchio are displayed for sale in Rome, July 23, 2010. REUTERS/Alessandro BianchiBATH, Maine — Overnight Thursday into Friday morning, cranes at Bath Iron Works lifted the 900-ton deckhouse of the future USS Michael Monsoor and lowered it carefully onto the hull of the second Zumwalt-class “stealth” guided-missile destroyer built by BIW for the U.S. Navy. The 155-foot-long, 60-foot-high composite deckhouse, built by Huntington Ingalls Industries in Gulfport, Mississippi, arrived by barge in September. After inspection, the barge and deckhouse were moved into BIW’s drydock last week, and this week, the hull was moved forward on the Land-Level Transfer Facility, shipyard spokesman Matt Wickenheiser said Friday. “We lowered the deckhouse carefully onto the hull, secured it and began to translate the ship back into its construction space [Friday],” Wickenheiser said in an email. “All in all, I’m told the roughly 10-hour move went very, very well.” In December 2012, the deckhouse of the DDG 1000 — the USS Zumwalt — was lifted into that ship’s hull. At the time, Cmdr. Brian Metcalf, the Navy’s on-site DDG 1000 program manager at BIW, said the lift was a feat on a scale that has happened few times in the history of American shipbuilding, and probably never before in the construction of sea-surface combatants. Like the DDG 1000, or USS Zumwalt, the nearly $4 billion DDG 1001 boasts a futuristic design and technology aimed at providing the Navy with advanced missile and gun support for shallow water and land attacks. Bath Iron Works is building three DDG 1000s for the Navy, which truncated the line after deeming construction costs to be too high. The ships, at 610 feet long, are the “most complex surface combatants the U.S. Navy has ever developed,” Zumwalt class program manager Capt. Jim Downey said in October 2013, as the USS Zumwalt was prepared for launching into the Kennebec River. That ship was christened in April. The DDG 1001 is scheduled for delivery to the Navy in early 2015, and the third stealth destroyer, the DDG 1002, to be named the USS Lyndon B. Johnson, is due in 2018.Ah, December, that time of year when store fronts are festooned with holiday decorations, and another year is reaching its close. If you live in the northern hemisphere, December might mean pulling off your boots so you can curl up with your smartphone and read Dictionary.com (hey, we can dream). But, what does December mean in the Dictionary? And, where did the 12th month of the year get its name? What is December named for? December has marked the end of the year and the coming of winter since the ancient Romans established their first calendar. As its etymology indicates, December is formed from the Latin root decem- which means “ten” … but December is our twelfth month. The strange numbering discrepancy is also present for the months of September, October, and November, which mean “seven,” “eight,” and “nine,” even though they’re our ninth, tenth, and eleventh months. Our brain hurts. Why? Well, the ancient Roman calendar only had ten months in the year, beginning with the month of March. January and February were eventually added after December to the end of the year. But, by the time the Julian calendar was established in 45 B.C., January and February appeared at the beginning of the year, which bumped all of the original months (and their originally assigned names) back by two. Old names for December Before December entered Old English, the terms for December were Ǣrra Gēola or Gēolmōnað, meaning “yule month.” The early Germanic people celebrated the mid-wintery season during a time that was called yuletide, a two-month period that spanned December and January. With the rise of Christianity, the yule was condensed and adopted into the liturgical year under the Christian name Christmastide, which begins on Christmas day and lasts a total of twelve days—the twelve days of Christmas. Our memory of the yule may be limited to yule logs, but every time Santa is described as “jolly,” remember the fact that jolly may have derived from the same Old Norse root that brought us yule. WATCH: Kids Redefine Nostalgic Words From Your Past Previous Next Even if we no longer call it the “yule month,” the association we have with December and holidays hasn’t diminished. If you’re facing another cold winter, celebrating the Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, or New Year’s Eve is sure to lift your bah humbug spirits!- A suspected child rapist is behind bars and police are investigating if there are more young victims out there. Michael Pankey, 37, is in federal custody on charges of possession and production of child porn. He's also awaiting trial in Detroit on charges that he sexually assaulted a 5-year-old girl he was babysitting. Investigators have learned that Pankey worked at four daycare and child care centers in metro Detroit since January, 2016. At one time he went by the name Michael Leverette. Detroit police would like to locate more children who had contact with Pankey and may have been victims. He also worked at: Rainbow Child Care Center - formerly Little Munchkins and Cribs to Crayons in Sterling Heights Urukul Montessori Academy in Troy Oakland University Lowrey Center Daycare on the Oakland University campus in Rochester. North Hills Child Care Center in Troy. If your child had contact with Pankey contact Detroit police (313) 596-5200.Recently President Obama announced that he supports gay marriage. But he also said that if states want to continue discriminating against gays, it’s their decision. I assume the President also believes Abe Lincoln should have stayed out of the slavery issue under the theory that the states should decide which rights they grant their minority populations. (Someone clever said that before I did. I forget who.) Meanwhile, President Obama is using scarce federal funds to shut down marijuana dispensaries in states that have legalized medical marijuana. On this issue, the President is opposed to states’ rights. The interesting thing about the dual issues of gay marriage and medical marijuana is that both have a track record that can be evaluated. Why not use science, or at least economics, to figure out what works? In places where gay marriage has been legal for some time, what has been the cost to society? Has the social structure crumbled? Did taxes go up? Did any hetero Christians turn gay from peer pressure? Was there an outbreak of bestiality? Did it rain toads? Medical marijuana has also been practiced long enough in some places to have a track record. Did the states that legalized medical marijuana experience an uptick in traffic deaths? Or did all of the stoners driving home from the dispensaries slow commute traffic and make things safer? Did residents eat too many munchies and become obese? Did cancer patients start robbing convenience stores to pay for their habit? One could argue that the minimum requirement to be called a leader is that you don’t wait for your Vice President to become so embarrassed by your position on a prominent national issue (gay marriage) that he takes control, forcing you to meekly follow. President Obama glibly said that Vice President Biden “got over his skis” when he came out in support of gay marriage. Actually, Biden displayed leadership. I understand why the President didn’t recognize it. On the Republican side, Romney is like a bag that’s half snakes and half candy. When you put your hand in, you never know what you’re getting. Romney might be awesome. I like the general idea of putting a turnaround expert in the oval office at a time when we need one. But the reality is that we don’t know what we’re getting with Romney. He is, after all, a robot that professes a deep belief in magic. Good luck predicting how that would shake out. President Obama is getting a lot of credit for killing Bin Laden. But how much credit should we give to luck? It was lucky timing that our intelligence people located Bin Laden during Obama’s term. And if no one knew for sure that Bin Laden was at the compound before the attack was launched, the President was guessing. He guessed right, but guessing isn’t a repeatable skill. And realistically, you and I would have made the same decision to launch a strike. In theory, the United States is protected from revolution because we have the option of voting out the bums we don’t like. The reality, which is sinking in, is that our only option is to replace bums with bums. As long as no candidate feels the need to be philosophically consistent, or to base decisions on data, we don’t have a functional government. That’s why I favor starting an emergency backup government using social media. I think we need an insurance policy against the total breakdown of civilization. We need a backup government that’s ready to go in case our existing form of government loses its last shred of credibility and citizens start ignoring it. Other countries have an emergency backup government in place. It’s called the army. When the civilian government loses credibility with the people, the army can step in and maintain order while a new government is formed. That’s roughly the case in Egypt and Pakistan, for example. But that sort of system has a high cost. The citizens of the United States wouldn’t want a military government as an emergency backup. I think this country would prefer some sort of government-in-a-box backup solution that is organized over the Internet. I think the major problem with our current form of government is that although the major parties are competing with each other, the system itself is a monopoly. There’s no competition for the federal government as a whole. I think it would be useful to form a shadow government on the Internet, complete with chosen leaders and policies. That would create a sort of competition for the existing government. The media could keep tabs on how many citizens have a preference for the shadow government over the existing one. If the shadow government gets too much support, the existing government is likely to evolve to avoid relegation. Competition is good. We need some competition for our entire system of government, not just competition within it. We also need an insurance policy in case citizens decide to revolt. Admittedly, that’s a small risk, but that’s the point of insurance – to protect against small risks with catastrophic potential. If you think competition is good, insurance is prudent, and fact-based leadership is better than naked politics and superstition, you should be in favor of forming an emergency backup government on the Internet.(CBS) The White Sox will have quite the unique look next Thursday when they host the Mariners at U.S. Cellular Field. The team will wear collared, V-neck jerseys that will be untucked as part of a “Throwback Thursday” promotion that’s a nod to the 1976 White Sox, who first introduced the innovative look to baseball. Those old White Sox also became the first and only baseball team to wear shorts in a game, though this version of the White Sox won’t go that far. “We are thrilled to bring a present-day social media trend – Throwback Thursday – to life in the ballpark as we honor an old baseball craze that came to life on the South Side in 1976,” White Sox senior vice president of sales and marketing Brooks Boyer said. “Generations of baseball fans remember the unique look of the 1976 uniforms, and we hope Throwback Thursday will bring fans of all ages together to share their fond memories and create new ones at the ballpark.” White Sox teams after 1976 also wore the jerseys sometimes, to mixed reviews. “It was the most comfortable – not the prettiest – uniform I ever wore,” former White Sox player Harold Baines said. “No belt, length of pants didn’t matter; you just had to put on your socks to be ready.”by The Ass Press Posted: 08/27/2012 12:00:14 PM PDT Culver City, CA — South Park fans around the world have one more reason to love South Park, literally. The creators of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, announced today they are launching a contest to show their appreciation to fans for all the love and support they have shown them over the years. “It’s been an amazing 16 years of creating South Park,” says Stone. “We want to give something back to our fans because with out them, the show wouldn’t be where it is today.” The ‘WHY I LOVE SOUTH PARK’ contest is simple says the show’s creators. Simply write 1-3 paragraphs explaining why you love South Park. On December 25th, 2013 the top 1,000 entries will win a boxed set of all 16 seasons of South Park signed personally by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The top 3 winners will receive an all-expense paid trip to South Park Studios to watch how the show is made and to meet Stone and Parker. The organizers of the event have setup a Facebook page to post your submissions located here. Paul Horner who is a producer at Comedy Central says he supports what Stone and Parker are doing. “This is a great way for South Park fans around the world to get together and show their love for such an amazing show. I’m excited about this event and can’t wait to see some of the submissions posted by fans.” South Park Studios says winners will be notified via their Facebook account on December 25, 2013.So I’ve been browsing vita games and have been playing a lot of Persona 4 Golden (Amazing game 10/10) and Conception II (Meh gameplay repetitive but the “Waifu Selection” as my friend jokingly calls it was pretty good and the romance felt genuine and tropey (I like anime romance tropes) so it got me wondering what other games like the two above am I missing out on? I tried the One Piece games but they was neither in any of them (an article said so I bought Unlimited World Red and google the rest.) So yeah that’s what I’m looking for something with Character Creation (can range from name change all the way to Ragnarok Oddassy Ace levels and beyond, also so sorry for misspelling that) and any kind of Romance involving the MC. If you suggest any Japanese or ASA titles please tell me if they have an English patch. Romance must be Male MC x Female character.(Featured image from Bridging the Gaps)Дрозды With the recent horrific disaster in Nepal, many of you may have reached your giving limit or are planning on spending your extra money on giving to those affected by the earthquake. If that is the case, you’re awesome. Those who have given their limit can go ahead and read the rest of this post knowing that you have done your part to make the world better for people currently suffering. If you want to give to Nepal and don’t know where to give, may I suggest the Helambu Project. My buddy Chris (Ultimate player from Madison, Wisconsin, USA), has been in rural Nepal and has been working mostly in education, but now is focussed on providing basic needs for rural peoples in this time of great need. If you are interested in donating to helping Chris and the rest of his team there check out their website or you can drop him a line directly for more information at [email protected]. If you are looking to give to Ultimate Frisbee causes in Asia, a few great options have recently come across my desk: Of course I was going to start with my hometown boys. If you haven’t yet seen Swa, Cambodia’s youth ultimate team, you’re missing out. They run hard, jump high, and love to get dirty. Their skills are improving daily (seriously, they are much better than at Zone in december. Watch out), mostly because of the hard work they put in. How many days a week do you start throwing practice at 5:30 am (seven for them)? They’re a great bunch of kids who I have gotten to see grow both as ultimate players, and as confident young men. At the end of June, they will be headed to compete at Zone Cup in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, for a second time. This time they are bringing more players and are ready to leave it all on the field. They will be assisted by some international women (and one washed-up American guy), but all eyes will be on the Swa phenomenon. How were they at Zone last time? Ask anyone who went. Please do. Now, they’re better players, taking more of a leadership roll, and expecting success. What they don’t have is money. Many come from some rough circumstances, making funding for this trip very hard to come by. It would be a short trip for us, but for these players, this is a trip of a lifetime. You can help them head to Ho Chi Minh City by giving at their crowdfunding site. And learn more about the team at their website. If you don’t know yet, I’m a big fan of India Ultimate. They are growing the game on all levels. They are sending teams to world championships and spreading the game to rural areas. The award-winning film 175 Grams tells one story about the growth of the game in one area, but that is only one of many stories about the Indian Ultimate community (but it is a good story, do watch it if you haven’t already). Here are two great ultimate causes in India that you might want to consider helping out. The Indian teams at the World Championships of Beach Ultimate in Dubai were fun to watch. I can only imagine what their Under-23 team is going to look like. This year, India’s U23 mixed team will be headed to the UK for the U23 World Championships in London. This is an ambitious trip, but one the players, coaches and supporters have been working hard to make happen. The 20 players come from seven different cities and they represent a mix of religions, languages and genders making what one coach calls a “truly national team.” To help these talented, dedicated players make this dream come true, you can give at their Ketto site. Meanwhile in India… this month brings us the third Bridging the Gaps Youth Camp, this time in Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat. Bridging the Gaps works to “inspire a generation of Indian youth to bridge the gaps created by poverty, gender, and caste through a uniquely designed sport-art camp.” This five-day overnight camp brings teenagers, to participate, and college-aged men and women, to coach, together from across India. At Bridging the Gaps, the campers and coaches engage in a curriculum of visual and performing arts as well as sport to bring participants from a variety of backgrounds together. In doing so, the campers and coaches learn to “understand and disregard stereotypes, respect others’ differences and build a natural curiosity towards other cultures and traditions.” And what other sport would you use to achieve this than Ultimate Frisbee. Ultimate’s co-ed play, self-officiation, and spirit circles are used to create community and gain murual understanding where it may not have existed before. To help out Bridging the Gaps, they have both Rupee and US Dollar donation sites. You make a donation yet? Who are you giving to and why? Are there any other great Ultimate causes I missed? Check out the Asian Ultimate Life Facebook page and follow us on twitter @asianultyblog to keep in touch with what’s going on in Asian Ultimate.Two months ago we had the honor of premiering the first new song by Norway’s In the Woods… in 17 years. The name of that song was “Cult of Shining Stars” and it appears on a a new album entitled Pure that will be released by Debemur Morti Productions on September 16. Since then Debemur Morti has revealed another song (accompanied by a beautiful music video), “Blue Oceans Rise (Like A War)”, and we have published our review of the album (by Andy Synn), who called Pure “as unique and enigmatic a musical experience as you could wish for” and “one of the most compelling, captivating, and truly complete musical masterpieces of the year”. Today it’s our pleasure to bring you a third song to hear in advance of the album’s release, and the name of this one is “Mystery of the Constellations”. When Andy reviewed the album, he wrote that “some of [the songs] rock a little harder, and some of them err a little more sombre. Some of them brood, some of them swagger, and some of them drift in a dreamless languor – at times all within the same song – but each and every one of them has something special about it, something magnificent that truly lets it soar… its own particular identity, its own particular brace of distinctive hooks and melodies.” And “Mystery of the Constellations” is further proof of that. There is a deeply haunting and melancholy quality to the music, which slowly builds in power and intensity until an extended guitar solo flares like a meteor shower in a wintry night sky, followed by another ebb and flow, and a second solo that’s as wondrous as the first one. You already know from the first two track premieres what an amazing voice James Fogarty has, and it remains as expressive as ever, but the solos take center stage here… and the song’s melody is yet another one that won’t leave your head any time soon. To repeat, Pure will be released on September 16. It’s available for pre-order right now on Digipack CD, Special Edition CD, Gatefold 2×12 LP, and Special Edition vinyl; the special editions are limited to 200 hand-numbered copies and come with exclusive extras. To learn more and to pre-order, go to this location: http://www.debemur-morti.com/en/235-in-the-woods-discographyAustin-Travis County Emergency Medical Service recovered the body of a 62-year-old man who drowned while swimming in the Colorado River near East Cesar Chavez Street Wednesday afternoon. EMS said the man was reported missing in the 2800 block of East Cesar Chavez at 4:10 p.m., and that he hadn't resurfaced for five to 10 minutes. At 4:35 p.m., EMS said they transitioned from rescue mode to recovery mode. At 4:49 p.m., the man was located by a firefighter, He was pronounced deceased at the scene. Austin Fire Department Chief Palmer Buck said the man was swimming with a woman at Longhorn Dam when the woman noticed he was missing and called police. Rescue crews found his body in water that was 8 feet deep. Palmer said open bodies of water are dangerous and recommends that swimmers know their abilities. The area is seven-tenths of a mile away from the Colorado River, according to Google Maps. This is a developing story. KVUE will update this page as more details emerge.TOKYO (Reuters) - Fitch Ratings downgraded Japan’s credit rating by one notch after the government failed to take steps in this fiscal year’s budget to offset a delay in a sales tax increase, the agency said on Monday. Japan's national flag is seen behind a traffic signal of a red man at the Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo in this file photo taken on November 19, 2014. REUTERS/Yuya Shino Fitch cut its rating on Japan by one notch to A, which is five notches below the top AAA rating. The outlook is stable. “One reason why Japan is at single A, which is a low rating, is the fragility around the baseline case for the public debt,” said Andrew Colquhoun, head of Asia-Pacific sovereigns at Fitch. “The tolerance to fluctuations in growth and interest rates is low.” The yen JPY= briefly fell to 119.42 per dollar from 119.17 before the announcement but then pared its losses to trade around 119.30 versus the greenback. A plan to lower the corporate tax rate also increases uncertainty about whether the government will generate enough revenue to address its debt burden, Fitch said in a statement. Fitch’s move follows a similar downgrade by Moody’s Investors Service late last year and could pressure the government to take tough measures in a fiscal discipline plan that is due sometime around June. The government’s use of stimulus spending, disappointing economic growth and worries that corporate profit growth is not sustainable are also negative for Japan’s rating, Fitch said. In December, Moody’s downgraded Japan to A1, which is one level above Fitch’s rating, due to a delay in the sales tax increase. Standard & Poor’s has an AA- rating on Japan, which is three notches from the top rating of AAA. S&P’s rating on Japan has a negative outlook, meaning a downgrade is possible. Abe’s decision late last year to delay a sales tax hike to 10 percent from 8 percent that had been scheduled for this year has made it difficult to eliminate the primary budget deficit in fiscal 2020, an important fiscal consolidation target. The primary budget deficit excludes debt servicing costs and income from bond sales. Some government advisers has said the updated fiscal discipline plan in June should focus more on lowering the ratio of debt to gross domestic product. Focusing more on the debt-GDP ratio is not a major problem, but the government needs to make sure its economic forecasts are realistic, Colquhoun said. Japan’s public debt, at twice the size of its economy, has the worst debt-to-GDP ratio of any industrialized country. The country’s ample domestic savings have financed most of the debt so far, although analysts warn that a rapidly ageing population will erode those savings in coming years. Some economists worry that the Bank of Japan’s purchases of government debt via its quantitative easing could make the government complacent on fiscal policy because yields are kept very low, or in some cases even go into negative territory.Contemporary Composer: Helmut Lachenmann Philip Clark pays tribute to a true original Helmut Lachenmann Born Stuttgart, November 27, 1935 Education Stuttgart Musikhochschule (1955-58); privately in Venice with Luigi Nono (1958-60); the electronic music studio at the University of Ghent (1965) Career Taught many times at the Darmstadt summer courses (1978-2006); and in Hanover (1976-81) and Stuttgart (1981-99) Pupils Mark Andre, Kunsu Shim, Elena Kats-Chernin, Erik Ulman, Clemens Gadenstätter Breakthrough work Schwankungen am Rand at the Donaueschinger Musiktage in 1975 Definitive work Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern, 1996 On Lachenmann ‘His music recalls and reconsiders the past, but breaks free, so that filtered, fragmented shards of the musical past – Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Mahler, Strauss, Xenakis, Stockhausen – drift by at a surreal distance.’ (Paul Morley, 2010) Lachenmann on Lachenmann ‘My music might not be music,
* J. Frank Parnell (driving the Malibu and singing softly): Forty-niner and his daughter Clementine. Oh my darlin, oh my darlin... (he's singing lyrics from "Viva Las Vegas") Motorcycle cop pulls the car over, gets off motorcycle and raps on car window. J. Frank Parnell: Clementine Clemen- County Sheriff: Let me see your drivers license. Motorcycle Radio: Post ten-eighteen. Post ten-eighteen. County Sheriff: From out of town, hmm? What's you got in the trunk? (this was preceded by some questions about whether Parnell is intoxicated and Parnell explaining that he is "High on life") J. Frank Parnell: oah...you don't want to look in there. County Sheriff: Give me the keys. * Looking from the back of the car as the Sheriff says this, we see that the driver is no longer wearing glasses and appears to be a completely different person. * The motorcycle cop takes the keys, walks around to the back of the car and opens the trunk. The car has New Mexico license plates KBB-283. In every scene after this when the plates are visible, they will be 127-GBH. This might refer to "Charged GBH", which was (and may still be) a British punk band, or to the possibility that some consider GBH to stand for "Grevious Bodily Harm". * In several scenes we see the plates on the front of the car, but it has been reported that New Mexico only uses plates on the rear. * County Sheriff: AHHHHHH! The motorcycle cop gets disintegrated, leaving behind a pair of flaming boots (a reference to the movie Timerider, which was co-written and produced by Michael Nesmith). Parnell watches from side mirror, where we see that the left side of his sunglasses have no lens. * Parnell drives away without bothering to retrieve his keys from the Sheriff. * J. Frank Parnell (driving away): Oh my darlin Clementine, you are lost now gone forever, dreadful sorry Clementine. Otto and Kevin, in the supermarket, facing cans of generic yellow cling sliced peaches (cans of spinach). Kevin and Otto are wearing pale blue aprons, pale blue striped shirts and black bow ties. They have a large button on their apron, but I've not been able to make out what it says (HI! I'M _____! I'M HERE TO SERVE). Otto very noticeably has an earring in his left ear, a dangling silver cross. The sale sign behind the cans, and others in the scene, identify the market as the "Pik 'n Pay". "Pick 'n Pay" is a major chain in South Africa, which supposedly has something to do with producer Jonathan Wacks. Kevin is singing the 7-up jingle. Note that the actual words have been reported as being "It's a crisp refreshing feeling, crispy clear and light, America's turning 7-up and it sure feels right..." Kevin: Do Do Do De Do De Do De Do De Do Feeling Do De Da Do DeDo De Do Feeling seven-up. I'm feeling seven-up. Feeling seven up. I'm feeling seven up. It's a crisp refreshing feeling crystal clear and light. America's drinking seven-up and it sure feels right. Feeling lucky seven. Otto puts price sticker on Kevin's glasses. Otto: Kevin stop singing man. Kevin: Feeling seven eleven. Kevin: Hum. I wasn't singing guy. Otto: I'm standing right next to you and you're fucking (flippin) singing. Cut it out. Kevin: Jeeze. Why so tense guy? (At this point, Otto catches Duke trying to shoplift. The scene ends and cuts to a conversation between the two in which Otto tells Duke that he's living in his parents garage, something we can briefly see in one of the deleted scenes.) The Assistant Manager arrives, flanked by a security guard Mr. Humphries: Otto? Kevin: Mister Humphries! Mr. Humphries: You were late again this morning. Now normally I'd let it go but it's been brought to my attention that you're not paying attention to the way you space the cans. Many young men of your age in these uncertain times- Mr. Humphries: Otto! Are you paying attention to me? Luis: Hey! He's talking to you! Otto [ giving Luis the middle finger with both hands ] : Fuck (flip) you! Kevin chuckles Otto grabs Kevin by the front of his shirt, steps around him, and pushes him into the stack of cans *(this has been reported as a goof but it's clearly just a case of awkward staging used to make the shot work)*. Luis pulls his gun. Luis: (Basta!) [ Bendecho. Come on fucker. Come on just try it. Come on. ] Kevin: You gotta love getting fired from your job in a big way, Otto. Mr. Humphries (to Kevin): What are you laughing at? Louie, throw him out too. Luis: Come on you [ fucking ] worm. Get out of here. Luis shoves Kevin down aisle where Otto is walking out. Otto takes off his clip-on bow tie and tosses it back towards Luis. Luis twirls his gun and puts it away. Note that the store aisle is lined with nothing but generic products, plain black lettering on white background. All products in the movie have this appearance. Punks slamdancing to Coup D'etat in the back of a warehouse. Otto is there slamdancing and Duke walks up, the two of them swing each other around. Behind them, the graffiti on the wall says "Circle Jerks", a band which will appear later in the movie. Otto: How you doing dude? When did you get out of the slammer man? * Reports say that Otto's mouth is not moving or properly synchronized, but it looks ok to me. * Otto enters bedroom where Debbi is waiting in bed. (Otto tells Debbi that he's been drafted, but that he can't skip town because he has to finish school so his father will pay for him to go to Europe.) [ Otto, getting undressed: Ah. Excuse me while I fold my pants. Debbi: What's the difference? ] Otto: Huh? Otto lays back on the bed and puts his hands behind his head. Otto: okay Debbi pulls back his shirt a little and begins kissing his stomach, then stops. Debbi: Otto. Otto. Otto: What? Debbi: Get me another beer. Otto goes downstairs and there's a party going on. He passes Archie on his way to the kitchen. (Archie turns and enters the bedroom after Otto passes). Institutionalized plays in background. (Kevin brags about a sexual conquest) (Kevin brags about a wild punk weekend) Kevin: Ow. Cool. Ow. Dammit. I'm supposed to be the host here. Kevin: Ow! (Otto returns to the bedroom with beer but finds that Debbi and Archie are there "getting down". Back in the kitchen, he and Duke are arm wrestling while Kevin talks about buying a gun. These scenes are shown in the "Missing Scenes" featurette on the DVD but were never used.) (Now Kevin brags about the sexual conquest, followed by a discussion of Otto having to go fight in Mexico or Guatemala or somewhere) Kevin: I think you done the right thing, Otto. I mean, we're all gonna get killed anyway. If the Government decides there's got to be a war, well, then, there's go to be a war, right? I mean, if you can't trust your leaders, who you gonna trust? The RUSSIANS? Otto returns to the bedroom Otto: Debbi honey. I got you a beer. Otto turns on light and finds Duke there with Debbi. [ Otto: Shit. Debbi: Just ignore him Duke he's nothing but a big baby. Duke: Turn the fucking light out. ] Otto leaves room just as Kevin arrives and looks in the door. Kevin: What are you doing? Nobody supposed to be up here. This is my parent's room. (Kevin: Dude, nobody supposed to be up here, this is my parent's room.) [ Otto in a vacant lot drinking a beer. It's early morning and Otto starts walking. Otto: Don't want to talk about anything else. We don't want toknow. We're just dedicated...to our favorite shows. Saturday night live,Monday night football, Dallas, Jeffersons, Gilligan's island, Flintstones. (these are the lyrics from the song TV Party, but the way Otto says them could just barely be considered singing) ] (the Malibu pulls up and passes Otto in slow motion) Otto still walking, but it's light now. Otto walks up street with what sounds like a slow version of Reel Ten playing in the background. After turning a corner, he walks by a blue sedan with Bud stting in the driver's seat and the windows open. Bud: (whistles) Hey kid! (Hey Punk!) (Honks his horn) Hey! Hey kid! Hey! Hey! Are you hard of hearing? Otto: What do you want? Bud: You want to make ten bucks? Otto: Fuck you, queer. (Shove off, pervert) Bud: Now wait a minute, wait a minute kid you got the wrong idea. (offers Otto a cigarette - "Commanders") Look my old lady is real sick and I got to get her to the hospital, okay? Otto: So what? Take her there. Bud: I can't. I can't leave her car in this bad area. Look I need some helpful soul to drive it for me, okay? She's pregnant. She's with twins. She could drop at any time. All right? Otto: Well, uh, how much are you going to give me? Bud: Fifteen bucks. Otto: No. Won't do it for less than twenty. Bud: Twenty-five. Follow me in my old lady's car. It's right here. okay? Otto: All right... Where's, uh, where's your old lady at? Bud: Never mind about that. Right now we need to get both of my cars out of this bad area, all right? Come on. Otto approaches car, a white 4-door Cutlass sedan. [ * Looking out of a window from an apartment overlooking the street, somebody pulls back a curtain to show Otto opening the door of the car, which has now become a 2-door coupe. * from apartment:(a baby is crying) eh, Papa! (?) aqui. un gringo (en la calle consu coche) ] Otto sits down in the car, which is now a 4-door Cutlass sedan again. Looking in from the front, we see a dashboard Virgin Mary and a Christmas Tree air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror. (Radio: -- confirmed reports that radiation levels in Los Angeles have risen drastically during the last month. A spokesman for the NRC said this was normal for the time of year --) Bud, in front, backs up. Bud: Let's go. (Honks his horn several times) A couple, probably in their 50s, come running around the corner as the music "El Clavo Y La Cruz" begins to play. The man reaches in the window and grabs hold of Otto. Car owner: (Vete la chingada!) (Hijo de puta!) (followed by several more exclamations in Spanish) As Otto drives off, the man holds on while running along side, but is thrown to the ground after just 1-2 seconds. Otto drives off and throws a dashboard Virgin Mary out the window while laughing the whole time. (The woman running after the car throws a rosary which gets caught and dragged, but then a handwritten notation on the script says that Otto finding it on the mirror and throwing it out the window is preferred.) (FREEZE FRAME. Unfold the dread words: REPO MAN) (Credits Roll in handwritten notation.) Bud and Otto drive down freeway, Chevy Malibu swerves in front of them. It is moving right across the lanes but has the left blinker on. Otto follows Bud as he turns into the Repo Yard, with Miller opening the gate and waving them in. The music is muted when the camera shot shifts from inside Otto's car to outside, giving us the impression that it was playing on the radio in his car. Bud and Otto enter the Helping Hand Acceptance Corporation Miner, a large, muscular repo victim, and his girlfriend Delilah are standing by the entrance arguing with Oly. A low partition prevents them from entering the office. During this entire scene, Marlene is talking on the phone simultaneously with the other conversations. Marlene: Helping hand acceptance corporation, Marlene speaking. Miner: You know damn straight what I'm talking about. It's sitting right out side. It took me two weeks to get this money up so I can come and get it. Marlene: I don't think so sir you'll have to call back. I'll call you back O.K.? Oly: That ain't your car. Delilah: Hey don't let him lie to you like that. Unh? As Delilah says this, Bud enters and unlocks a door which lets him into the office. Miner and Delilah follow, approaching Oly who is sitting behind a desk. Marlene: Thanks Bud. Miner: Are you going to give me my car or do I got to go to your house and shove your dog's head down the toilet. Marlene: Helping hand acceptance corporation Marlene speaking. Plettschner: (sitting and knitting) Take it easy sonny boy. Delilah: Shut up rent-a-cop. Oly: Best goddamn (gol-durn) car on the lot. Miner: You damn right it is. Oly and Miner nervously exchange keys and money, then both begin laughing. Miner and Delilah turn and start to walk out. Marlene: Will you, Will you hold please? Marlene: Helping hand acceptance corporation Marlene speaking. Miner: (to Marlene) Say moma what's happening? You want to take a lift? Marlene: No thank you. L.A.P.D. I wanted to report a repo in Boro heights area. Delilah: Let's go. Miner and Delilah exit Plettschner: A Cadillac. Is he a pimp? (Live in a Cadillac, sleep in a tent.) Bud: Shut up Plettschner. Otto enters. As he comes in the door, he appears to have just finished reversing the Open/Closed sign which previously read "Open" on the inside of the room but now says "Closed". * Throughout the rest of this scene, the sign changes back and forth several times. * Marlene: Bud what street was that car on? Bud: Honey I don't know, some alley uh. Hey kid! Otto: What? Bud: Hey what street was the Cutlass on? Otto: I don't know. What happened to your old lady? Marlene: They don't know I'll call you back. Marlene: Helping hand acceptance corporation Marlene speaking. Bud: My old lady? Oh shit (shoot)! I forgot all about her. Well she'll take the bus. She's a rock. Marlene: What kind of car? What kind of car? Bud: Hey come on in. Marlene! Marlene! Marlene: Can you hold? Oly: Got a name kid? Otto: Yeah! It's Otto. Oly: Otto! Otto parts? HAHAHA Oly throwing Otto a beer: Here kid. The phone rings and Oly answers Oly answering the phone: Helping hand. * Marlene is talking on the phone, but a continuous cut now shows her holding a pencil in both hands. * Marlene: You got a drivers license honey? Oly on the phone: Oh Yeah! Fuckin-a (flippin right) we ripped your car. Asshole (airhead)! Marlene: Let me see it. Oly on the phone: You want to know who told us where it was? Your goddamn (gol-durned) brother. Marlene: Are you really twenty-one? Otto: That's what it says doesn't it. Oly: Hey you want some help with that beer kid? Otto: You're all repo men. Oly: What if we are? Otto pours the beer on the floor. (Otto simply mumbles that being a Repo Man is like being a landlord. After laughing at him, the Repo Men splatter him with beer. A handwritten note says that Otto isn't "tuff enuf" and maybe should pour beer on the floor to get back at them.) Bud: You know kid, uhh, usually when someone pulls shit (stuff) like that my first reaction is uhh I want to punch his fucking (flippin) lights out. Bud: But you know something? Bud and Oly: (in unison) You're all right! Bud: Right Lite? Lite enters Lite: Got any messages for me baby? Marlene: Yeah. Here you go. Oly: Cracks me up. Lite: Somebody pissed (puked) on the floor again? Oly: Maybe he's looking for a job? Huh budsky? Bud: Could be? What do you say kid were always on the look out for a few good men. Otto: Screw (stuff) that! Ain't going to be no repo man. No way! Marlene, handing Otto the 25 dollars: It's too late...you already are. Otto out in the repo yard with Miller Miller (handing Otto a pine tree air freshener): You find one in every car. You'll see. (This is where the scene in the market with Mr. Humphries firing Otto takes place. This is followed by a short version of the Otto at Home scene which is followed up with a shot of Otto living in the garage as seen in the deleted scenes. There is then a moderately long Kafka-esque scene of Otto at his Army examination where we get introduced to Captain Bellknap and his blond assistant Danvers. Back in the Desert and Otto and Kevin in the Rain are not in this version of the screenplay.) Back in the desert We begin scene looking through the windshield of a police motorcycle. The windshield of the police motorcycle naturally has a pine tree air freshener hanging from it. We see some people searching around in the desert, most of them in radiation suits, with a local sheriff following a woman in a business suit. We can faintly hear both the police radio on the motorcycle and the sheriff talking. Radio: Come in Officer Labeef do you read me? Radio: Chuck, will you stop screwin' around? Sheriff: [ Years ago I saw five cows mutilated. Legs sticking up in the air. Their ah their ah testicles were cut off. I think Canadian bacon is better myself. ] I've never seen the like of that. Radio: I've got the stats on that car, Officer Labeef. Radio: Ten-forty Baker... Sheriff: What could have done that to him? Gasoline? Napalm? Agent Rogersz: It happens sometimes. People just explode. Natural causes. Sheriff: What? Agent Rogersz: Suspect presence on west coast confirmed. Do not notify police. Otto and Kevin in the rain Otto and Kevin are sitting on a ledge with people going in and out of a door behind them. It's an unemployment office. Kevin has a newspaper on his lap along with some other papers. Otto is wearing what looks like some kind of red Chinese hat. Otto: Night watchman in Pomona. Kevin: Yep. Otto: Asbestos worker. City of industry. Kevin: Yep Yep! Otto: French fry maker Agoura. Ha Ha that's absurd. Kevin: Yeah? Well you think it's funny huh? There's fucking (lots of) room to move as a fry cook, man. You know I could be manager in two years? King! God! (egad!) Otto: You know Kevin, I had this wild fucking (flippin) dream the other night. Kevin: I bet. Otto: It was with you and me and we were working in this sleazy shithole (shabby) motel down in Miami, Florida. And we were bellhops and we were sixty-five years old. It was so real it was really real, realistic. Kevin: And then what, you woke up in a puddle (cold sweat)? Otto: Fuck you! (drop dead) Fucking (you) jerk. Otto stands up and starts to walk away. Kevin: Where you going asshole (snotnose)? Otto: Away from you. Otto at Home The Edge City #127 bus pulls forward and stops. As a crowd of people get on, Otto struggles to get off, taking off his "chinese hat" and setting it on the head of a child getting on the bus. Happy Animals plays in the background on a radio. Note: Edge City, the name of the film's production company, was the alternate title for Alex Cox's first film Sleep is for Sissies, made while he was attending film school at UCLA. It appeared originally as a recurring theme in Tom Wolfe's "Electric Kool-Ade Acid Test". We now cut to the Reverend Larry's face on a television screen, and then discover that we are inside of Otto's house where his parents are watching TV and Otto is just entering. Note that in the credits, the parents are listed simply as "Otto Dad" and "Otto Mom". Reverend Larry on the TV: The lord has told me personally. Yay for I walk with the lord, Amen. He said Larry you and your flock shall seek the promised land. But only if you first destroy the twin evils of godless communism abroad and liberal humanism at home. Oh joy and Hallelujah smash'em down. Now my friends. Otto: Mother, father. Got anything to eat? Otto goes to the kitchen, opens the referigerator and pulls out a can of generic "food". He begins eating straight out of the can. Reverend Larry: Occasionally we get a letter from a viewer that says now the only reason Reverend Larry comes on your television set is because he wants your money. And do you know what? They're right! I do want your money. Because god wants your money. So I want you to go out and mortgage that home and sell that car and send me your money. You don't need that car. (continues in background) Otto mom: Put it on a plate son you'll enjoy it more. Otto: I couldn't enjoy it any more mom MMM MMM MMM This is swell. Otto: Dad? Hey Dad? Otto dad: What is it son? Otto: Do you remember that you once told me along time ago. Well not too long ago but ummm. That you told me that you'd give me a thousand dollars to go to Europe if I finish school. Well you know something? You were right. About finishing school that's ah that's what I'd like to do. But umm I want to know if I could have the money first. Like now. [ You know I really love you Dad I've always loved you. You too mom. What do you say? Otto mom lights a joint. Otto dad: I don't have it anymore. Otto: What? ] Otto mom takes a drag off of the joint. Otto mom: You father gave all our extra money to the Reverend's telethon, Otto. [ We're sending bibles to El Salvador. ] Otto: Well what about me? Otto dad: You're on the honor roll of the chariots of fire. Same as us, Otto. It was a gift. From all of us jointly. Otto mom: We're sending bibles to El Salvador. Otto beds down in parents garage and smokes a joint. This scene can be seen on the "Missing Scenes" featurette. Otto and Bud riding in Bud's car See See Rider plays on the radio. In almost all scenes inside of Bud's car, Jazz music will be playing on the radio. In this sequence the background changes from day to night, back to day, and back to night again (during the speed snorting scene) even though the dialog (and radio music) seems continuous. This was intentionally done to show the passage of time, but the disjointed events are cut so smoothly as to make it seem like a continuity goof. It's clearer in the TV version where there truly is a break between the line about speed and the actual snorting. Otto: So how much do I get paid, twenty-five bucks a car? Bud: Paid? You don't get paid. Are you kidding, you work on commission, that's better than getting paid. Bud: Most cars you rip are worth two or three hundred dollars. Fifty thousand dollar Porsche (german pronounciation) might make ya five grand. Bud honking at car in front of him: Come on dickhead (dumbhead). Cut to night Bud: It helps if you dress like a detective, too. Detectives dress kind of square. People think this guy is a cop. They're going to think you're packing something. They don't fuck (mess) with you so much. Otto: Are you? Bud: Am I what? Otto: Packin' something. Bud: Ha. Only an asshole (a jackass) gets killed for a car. Note that later in the film we will discover that Bud actually does pack something. Cut to day (A brief exchange occurs based on Otto telling Bud that doing repo work sounds better than juvy). Bud: Guys who make it are the guys who get into their cars at any time. Get in at three A.M.get up at four. That's why there ain't a repo man I know that don't take speed. Otto: Speed huh? Bud at payphone Bud is talking on phone. (Bud is chewing out a woman named Dolores for not making her payments when the phone goes dead.) Bud: I'll call you back! (hangs up) Flippin general telephone. Bud picks up phone and dials. Phone begins making a loud whining noise. Bud gets sledgehammer from car and destroys phone while Otto watches. When Bud is done, Otto gets crowbar from car and beats side of phone with it while laughing. Bud: C'mon. (Let's go see your friend.) Otto and Bud in car in alley (In the television version, this entire scene takes place while watching Bud's car drive down a road, but you can still hear the snorting in the background.) [ Bud snorting a line: Jesus Christ. ] Bud: Never broke into a car. Never hot-wired a car. Kid. I never broke into a trunk. I shall not cause harm to any vehicle nor the personal contents thereof. Nor through inaction let that vehicle or the personal contents thereof come to harm. That's what I call the repo code, kid. Don't forget it, etch it in your brain. Not many people got a code to live by anymore. Bud: Hey! Hey look at that. Look at those assholes (that) over there. We see a tow truck with a car hanging from it. Four tennis players are running around next to the car and appear to be very agitated. Lite is leaning calmly on the tow truck while the driver stands and watches. Bud: Ordinary [ fucking ] people I hate 'em. Otto: Me too. Bud: What do you know? See an ordinary person spend his life avoiding tense situations. Repoman spends his life getting into tense situations. (during a tornado chasing scene in the movie Twister, two flunkies in one of the chase vehicles quote this line) Bud: [ Assholes ]! Lets go get a drink. (Instead of drink, it's Club, but a handwritten note suggests changing the name to something non-product specific.) Otto and Bud in a store Bud sets 2 six packs of "drink" down on the counter. Bud: Tense situations kid. Get into five or six of them a day and it don't mean shit (zilch) any more. I mean I seen men stabbed and it didn't mean shit (zilch). I've seen guns. Guns too they don't mean shit (zilch) but that's when you got to watch your self. Here I'll handle it pal. Uh settle down. Bud: Have a nice day. Or night. Night, day, it doesn't mean shit (zilch). Duke, Archie, and Debbi rise from behind counter as Otto and Bud leave. They are holding guns on the cashier and rifling the cash register. Duke: Wasn't that Otto? Debbi: Otto who? Duke: You gotta watch yourself. (takes off mask) Have a nice day... night. Parnell drives Malibu across bridge The Malibu passes Agent Rogersz van. It's parked on the bridge and two men in radiation suits are working under the hood. Otto and Bud in front of house with tow truck Bud: This is what I call phase 2 ace. If the dealer don't have the keys, you call the truck. And it is a heartbreak to be sitting waiting for the truck and the giblet comes out and drives it away. Once you've got this baby on the hooks, she's all ours. Man comes out of house with shaving cream on face. Pakman: Oh no you don't. I'm nipping this in the bud right now. You are not going to take this car. I know my rights. There is absolutely no way you're going to take it. Bud: Uh, are you miss Luann Pakman? Pakman: Obviously not. I'm Arthur Pakman. Luann is my daughter. Now you're going to have to take this matter up with her. Bud: Well don't think I haven't tried, sir, but she hasn't had the decency to call us in months. I mean, I've skipped trace this car all over town. Pakman: Well, uh, Luann is sick. Now the damn car isn't working anyway, and I know, I know that's why she hasn't paid you. Bud: Well, she could have called us? Look, all you've go to do is call my branch manager, I will abide with whatever he says. Bud hands Pakman a business card. Pakman reading card: I. G. Farben... What do you take me for, a moron? If I go in there, you're going to take this car away. note: see the FAQ for information on I. G. Farben. Bud: What, and lose my job? The law requires that I stay right here until you call my branch manager. Pakman: That's the law? Bud: That's the law. Pakman begins walking toward house. Pakman: I'll be right back. Pakman goes inside and Bud and Otto leave with the car as Pakman comes running back out of the house. Otto and Bud driving down concrete riverbed Bud: There's going to be some bad shit (stuff) coming down one of these days kid. Otto: Oh yeah? Where you going to be? On the moon? Bud: Ung Uh, I'm going to be right here heading north at a hundred and ten per. Otto: In this junker? The Rodriguez brothers pull up along side of them in a red convertible with black fuzzy dice hanging from the rear view mirror. Latino music plays on the radio. Otto: Cool car. Bud: Uh Oh! The Rodriguez brothers. [ Lagarto flips them off Otto: Motherfucker just flipped you off. Bud: Roll the window down. ] Roll the window down. Lagarto: A donde vas, pendejo? Bud: A chingas tu esposa! A brother: Hey Bud, hey Bud, who's your new girlfriend? Otto: Watch it mother fucker. (Girlfriend? watch it melonfarmer!) Lagarto: Hey fuck you pussy punk. (flip you, you punk.) [ Otto: Holy shit. ] Napo: Want me to take them? Otto: Wo! Hey! They chase each other and end up sliding out in a huge puddle. * In one shot during the chase, Lagarto is missing from the passenger's seat *. Bud: God damn dipshit Rodriguez gypsy dildo punks. I'll get your ass! (Bud: dang blamed dumb suck Rodriguez gypsy devil punks. I'll get your can!) Otto: HAHAHA WOW! That was intense. Bud: Repo man's always intense. Come on let's go get a drink. Otto: Gee bud. You never told me it was going to be like this man. Cops and robbers. Hahahahah. Real live car chases. Hahahahah. Duke, Archie and Debbi leaving a liquor store they just robbed Archie has a bag over his head. Debbi, wearing a ski mask, fires a shotgun into the air for no apparent reason. Archie: Shit (shoot)! Duke! Duke: If you say our names we'll have to kill all these people, Archie. Archie: They all ran away. Debbi: Come on you douchebags. (come on, get the lead out.) They run out, Archie's bag flying off his head. Bud and Otto enter just after they leave. Bud: Awful quiet in here. It's too quiet. Otto: So who are these Rodriguez boys. Bud: Rodriguez brothers. Lagarto and Napoleon. Two notorious delinquents currently responsible for at least thirty vehicles in the field. Quick shot of Rodriguez brothers in car lot signing papers on a car. (Bud: What they do is this. One of them buys a hundred-dollar junker and they pay it off in time. Never miss a payment. Now they've got a perfect CREDIT RECORD. Dig?... A week later they come back looking for another car. They sign the papers and they're outta there in a brand new Chrysler LE BARON. With no money down. And that's the last dealer ever sees of 'em. Three missed payments later, it's another job for REPO MAN.) (Lite does not appear until much later in this version of the screenplay; the following scenes with Lite and Otto were added later) Lite and Otto driving in Lite's car Otto: Scumbags Lite: They ain't scumbags. They car thieves just like use. Lite: There's Miss Magruder. You want to go for it? As Lite comes to a stop, he hands Otto a bag. Otto looks inside and laughs. Otto: Good gag, you pull this one a lot? Lite: Only on the women. It never fails. Otto gets out of the Lite's car and approaches a convertible. Otto: Excuse me? Miss Magruder? I have something here for you. Otto takes dead rat from bag and tosses it into Ms. Magruder's car Ms. Magruder: Uhm how utterly charming. Ms. Magruder sprays Otto in the face with mace and then drives off when the traffic light changes. The music changes to Reel Ten as Lite takes off in pursuit. Otto: Ow! Ow! Ow! Motherfucker! (mother...) Ow! Ow! Ow! Christ! I'm blind man. Lite? Lite, where are you man? (in a quick scene, Marlene informs the repo men that the collateral on the Malibu has been raised from one thousand to five thousand dollars.) Otto and Bud driving in Bud's car A few bars of Reel Ten play in the background and taper off. The car comes to a stop. Bud:Bruce I. Peason, brokerage consultant. Fucking (flippin) millionaire six payments behind. I've never understood it. Otto: What's that? Bud: The fucking (flippin) millionaires. They never pay their bills. See you at the yard. Otto: Let me get this one. Bud: No. I'll handle this one. Mister Peason is carrying a permit for a pistol. Bud: Hey! Hey! Hey! Give me that. Otto grabs the keys, gets out of the car and jauntily approaches a huge red Cadillac convertible parked in front of a laundromat. Otto: (turning back towards Bud) Don't underestimate me ace. Inside laundromat, talking to two kids: Peason: And also, naturally, I'd like them to be right next to each other. In addition I'd like them to be as close to the window as possible so I can sit in my car and watch my things. So all you have to do is take your clothes out of here like this and put them into a machine over there like that. Peason Sees Otto driving off with the car. Peason: Oh my god (lord)! Oh! Oh my god (lord)! Stop! Peason runs out door after car. Two kids grab Peason's clothes and throw them out the door while laughing. Otto driving the car, a red Cadillac Car radio plays Pablo Picasso. Otto sees Leila running on the sidewalk and slows down while watching her. Otto: Hey! Hey! You want a ride? Hey babe need a ride? Otto runs into some garbage cans, stops and gets out just as an old lady walks up. Old lady: Pick it up! Look at you. You pick it up. You know yourself you were wrong. Otto: Well what were they doing out in the middle of the street? Old lady: They weren't in the middle of the street. That not the middle of the street that's the corner. Old lady: Go on you pick it up. Otto: What? Old lady: You pick it up. Otto: Haha, no way. You still
that only 3% of the target has been reached. Meanwhile new walls have been announced, or have been built. Some are real, such as the fence that Hungary intends to reinforce on its border with Serbia. There are also virtual barriers impeding migrants who want to cross from France to the UK, or from Italy to France through Ventimiglia. The sentiment of fear and reluctance towards immigrants is increased because no one can convincingly predict the effect of a more diverse society on economic wellbeing. Diversity and development Stakeholders dispute whether cultural diversity creates economic costs or benefits. On one hand, a richer pool of expertise and experiences can create organisational synergies, leading to better outcomes for all. At a macro level, diverse societal norms, customs, and ethics can nurture technological innovation, the diffusion of new ideas, and so the production of a greater variety of goods and services (Ager and Brückner 2013, Ottaviano and Peri 2006). On the other hand, heterogeneous environments may produce coordination problems – for instance, when many languages are spoken – increasing transaction costs (Gören 2014, Easterly and Levine 1997). Racial fragmentation can also adversely affect social cohesion and interpersonal trust, and create irreconcilable divisions (Alesina and La Ferrara 2005, Montalvo and Reynal-Querol 2005, Esteban and Ray 2011). In a recent paper, we explore how, and how much, immigration affects economic development through its effect on the cultural and ethnic composition of the destination country (Bove and Elia 2017). Most existing studies are cross-sectional, and explore the effect of ethnic and linguistic diversity on economic growth using time-invariant measures based on language and ethnicity (Alesina et al. 2003, Montalvo and Reynal-Querol 2005, Gören 2014). The racial and ethnic composition of modern societies have dramatically changed in the last few decades, however, as a consequence of mass migration. Between 1960 and 2000 the global migrant stock increased from 92 million to 165 million (Özden et al. 2011). By 2010 it reached 222 million (UNDESA 2016). Arguably the effect of cultural heterogeneity is likely to differ over time. This is confirmed by Figure 1, which displays the percentage changes in birthplace diversity between 1960 and 2010, for all world countries. We used an almost-exhaustive dataset on international migration between 1960 and 2010, and computed diversity by identifying the nationality of the immigrants.1 Figure 1 Percentage change in birthplace diversity, 1960-2010 More importantly, the existing cross-country research combines low- and high-income countries, neglecting the possibility that diversity could play a different role at different stages of development. Previous estimates were unlikely to capture the complexity of the relationship because they provided an average estimate. Recently released data on migration show how important it is to focus on less-developed countries. Between 1960 and 2000, South-South migration dominated global trends and was half of all international migration in 2000 (Özden et al. 2011). In 2015 almost half of international migrants lived outside Europe and Northern America (UNDESA 2016). This lack of attention to the initial level of development of a country is more remarkable if we consider cross-country empirical research on growth, which reveals substantial differences between the aggregate production functions of economies with different initial conditions (Durlauf and Johnson 1995), a theoretical consequence of endogenous growth theories (Vandenbussche et al. 2006). We therefore revisit the empirical relationship between cultural heterogeneity and growth, and explore whether this relationship depends on the level of development of a country. By using data on a large sample of world economies for 1960-2010,2 we construct two indexes of diversity: Fractionalisation: the likelihood that two individuals randomly selected from the population were born in different countries Polarisation: how far the distribution of the groups in one country is from a bipolar distribution where there are only two groups of equal size. Causality can run both ways – countries that have a higher growth rate might attract more immigrants from a variety of origins, thereby increasing the degree of diversity. Therefore heterogeneity might be the effect rather than the cause of economic growth. Also immigration policies could be important drivers of immigration and, if unaccounted for, they could lead to incorrect inferences. To address this we exploit the dyadic nature of our dataset to predict countries’ bilateral migration flows using a set of pre-determined or ‘exogenous’ dyadic variables such as geographic distance. We then use the predicted immigration flows to construct predicted indexes of diversity. This approach allows us to isolate the portion of the correlation between diversity and economic growth that is due to the causal effect of diversity. We also exploit the time dimension of our dataset to control for unobserved heterogeneity by estimating a dynamic panel data model. This approach would remove any time-invariant country-specific unobserved factors that might possibly drive the relationship between diversity and economic growth. We find that both indices of cultural heterogeneity – fractionalisation and polarisation – have a positive impact on the growth rate of GDP over long time periods. For, example, between 1960 and 2010, the growth rate of per capita GDP increased by about 0.15 percentage points when the growth rate of fractionalisation variable increased by one percentage point. Does the effect of diversity on growth differ between developing and developed economies? The literature on immigration emphasises that immigrants represent human resources, particularly appropriate for innovation and technological progress (Bodvarsson and Van den Berg 2013). So, as with the effect of education, the level of heterogeneity in their composition should enhance human capital formation and favour the adoption of new technologies (Nelson and Phelps 1966). Rich countries are closer to the technological frontier, thus the strength of the catch-up effect becomes smaller the more developed the host country is. This implies that developing economies would benefit the most from diversity. To test this hypothesis, we split countries into two subgroups according to their initial level of development, and find that developing economies are more likely to experience an increase in GDP growth rate following changes in the degree of diversity. The most conservative estimates suggest that a one percentage point increase in the growth rate of fractionalisation (polarisation) boosts per capita output by about 0.1 percentage points in developing countries. Our evidence suggests that immigration-fuelled diversity is good for economic growth. We recommend more openness to immigration so as to reap the large unrealised benefits from an increased range of skills and ideas in the destination country. Cultural diversity is a phenomenon that is continually changing, and difficult to define. Individuals have many observable characteristics – race, language, religion, nationality, wealth, education – but only some categories have economic salience. Because we don’t yet know which markers of identity are economically important, this subject will be a fertile area of study for the foreseeable future. References Ager, P and M Brückner (2013), “Cultural diversity and economic growth: Evidence from the US during the age of mass migration” European Economic Review, 64, 76-97. Alesina, A, A Devleeschauwer, W Easterly, S Kurlat and R Wacziarg (2003), “Fractionalization”, Journal of Economic Growth, 8(2), 155-194. Alesina, A, J Harnoss and H Rapoport (2016), “Birthplace diversity and economic prosperity”, Journal of Economic Growth, 21(2), 101-138. Alesina, A and E La Ferrara (2005), “Ethnic Diversity and Economic Performance”, Journal of Economic Literature, 762-800. Bodvarsson, Ö B and H Van den Berg (2013), “Economic growth and immigration”, in The Economics of Immigration (pp. 217-248). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Bove, V and L Elia (2017), “Migration, Diversity, and Economic Growth”, World Development, 89, 227-239. Durlauf, S N and P A Johnson (1995), “Multiple regimes and cross-country growth behaviour”, Journal of Applied Econometrics, 10(4), 365-384. Gören, E (2014), “How ethnic diversity affects economic growth”, World Development, 59, 275-297. Easterly, W and R Levine (1997), “Africa's growth tragedy: policies and ethnic divisions”, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1203-1250. Esteban, J and D Ray (2011), “Linking conflict to inequality and polarization”, The American Economic Review, 101(4), 1345–1374. Montalvo, J G and M Reynal-Querol (2005), “Ethnic diversity and economic development”, Journal of Development Economics, 76(2), 293-323. Nelson, R R and E S Phelps (1966), “Investment in humans, technological diffusion, and economic growth”, The American Economic Review, 69-75. Ottaviano, G I and G Peri (2006), “The economic value of cultural diversity: evidence from US cities”, Journal of Economic Geography, 6(1), 9-44. Özden, Ç, C R Parsons, M Schiff and T L Walmsley (2011), “Where on earth is everybody? The evolution of global bilateral migration 1960–2000”, The World Bank Economic Review, 25(1), 12-56. UNDESA (2016), International Migration Report 2015: Highlights (ST/ESA/SER.A/375). Vandenbussche, J, P Aghion and C Meghir (2006), “Growth, distance to frontier and composition of human capital”, Journal of Economic Growth, 11(2), 97-127. Endnotes [1] In a similar vein, Alesina, Harnoss, and Rapoport (2016) computed diversity according to the nationality of immigrants and found that diversity of skilled immigration relates positively to economic development. [2] Data on migrant stocks—the number of people born in a country other than that in which they live—are taken from the World Bank Global Bilateral Migration Database for 1960 to 2010, and recently integrated throughout 2013 using the Bilateral Migration Matrix.A 43-year-old Wake Forest woman is charged with trying to get a Raleigh bank to transfer more than 15 million dollars to her personal account. Raleigh police say the woman posed as the CEO of Cede & Company - which is described online as clearinghouse for stock transactions.In one instance, the woman, Angela Dozier-Carter, was apparently successful at getting $400 from New Bridge Bank branch on Falls of the Neuse Road in North Raleigh. But when she requested two more transactions for $14,000,000 and $1,150,000, investigators say the bank told her that would take time. They became suspicious and called police. They claim that Dozier-Carter returned to the bank while an RPD officer was there, and she was arrested.Charged with one count of obtaining property by false pretenses and two counts of attempting that same crime, Dozier-Carter told a judge at the Wake County Justice Center Wednesday afternoon that her half-million dollar bond is too high.However, she told the judge in Wake District Court, if she had to post the bond, she could by using property deeds. Dozier-Carter said, "I could sign over my title deed to the Earth to be released as collateral that I'm willing to appear in court. I also have the title deed to the White House that I could put up which is worth 300 million dollars. But the Earth, the worth of the Earth is priceless."After conferring with the prosecutor, the judge decided not to lower the woman's bond. He did approve a court-appointed attorney. Although he warned her not to discuss details of the case, she added, "I'm not guilty of these charges. I'm the owner of Cede & Company."According to the State Department of Corrections, Dozier-Carter has a lengthy criminal record. That record includes numerous other fraud and drug charges.The first United Nations development aid program financed solely by African countries for their own benefit was announced recently at the UN headquarters in New York. Unitlife, which was presented as world leaders convened at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly, will tax the sale of oil, gold and other natural resources in African countries and use the money to buy food supplements for those countries’ malnourished children. The Republic of Congo, Guinea, Mali and Niger are the first countries to sign up for the program; all are rich in natural resources but have varying degrees of political and economic stability. Nevertheless, starting in 2017, Congo has said it will contribute 10 cents on each barrel of oil it sells and Mali will contribute 10 cents from each gram of gold it sells to a Unitlife fund managed by Unicef, the United Nations Children’s Fund, to be used to buy food supplements. Guinea and Niger will also contribute funds from the sale of their resources to the Unitlife fund, but which resources’ sales will be taxed and the size of the taxes are still being discussed. “Africa’s and indeed the world’s natural resource wealth are part of an endowment for future generations, but what is the use of this endowment if we cannot spend a portion of it on our children immediately and today?” said Denis Sassou N’Guesso, the president of Congo, in a September 2014 Innovative Finance Foundation report tracing the contours of Unitlife. The foundation is a Swiss charity that raises money for social programs. Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, the president of Mali, said in a separate statement: “I am very pleased that Mali is one of the founders of this innovative financing mechanism because we want to scale-up the fight against child malnutrition in our country and in the region.” But activists have expressed concerns about the narrow scope of the scheme, and some research has shown that promoting gender equality is one of the most important ways to reduce malnutrition among children. “It’s a very good initiative, but these revenues should also be distributed to meet basic social needs such as health and education, which are essential aspects of child well-being,” said Kadidia Sangaré, the head of the Mali National Human Rights Commission, a nongovernmental organization based in Bamako, the capital. “This will have to be implemented in tandem with information and awareness campaigns for women to learn about the healthy foods children need.” The UN’s Human Development Report for 2014 found that 30 percent of Congolese children, 34.5 percent of Guinean children, 27.8 percent of Malian children and 43.9 percent of Nigerien children under 5 years old are too short for their age — stunted — because of a persistent lack of adequate food. Besides giving mothers knowledge about health and nutrition, education can play an important part in enhancing their receptiveness to modern medicine, according to research by a team of malnutrition experts that was published in The Lancet, the British medical journal, in June 2013. Marie T. Ruel, who heads the poverty, health and nutrition division at the International Food Policy Research Institute, a nonprofit group in Washington, D.C., and her co-authors of The Lancet research report also found that a mother’s education, as measured by her number of years of schooling, affects a child’s nutrition more than does a father’s education. Because of this effect, according to the research, children of mothers who have secondary education are 25 percent less likely to be stunted (too short for their age because of chronic undernourishment) than the children of mothers who do not have secondary education. This may explain why South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the two regions in which girls receive the least amount of education worldwide, at averages of 3.5 years and 3.7 years respectively, have the highest number of stunted children, according to the UN Human Development Report for 2014. Across the nine countries that make up South Asia — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — 46.7 percent of children who are under 5 years old are at least half as short as the global median for their age group because of undernourishment, the report found. The high percentage in South Asia is mostly sourced to India, which has the world’s highest number of stunted children. The percentage for sub-Saharan Africa is 37.8. Research by two US-based economists, Lisa Smith and Lawrence Haddad, published this year in World Development, a top-ranked development studies journal, showed that increasing access to safe water and improving women’s education had been the most efficient ways of reducing child malnutrition across 110 developing countries from 1970 to 2010, responsible for 25 percent and 22 percent of reductions in stunting, respectively. Based on their findings, the researchers said that increasing food availability should “not feature near the top of the priorities for accelerating undernutrition reductions in either South Asia or sub-Saharan Africa.” Instead, Smith and Haddad advised, gender equality must be a stronger priority for reducing the number of stunted children in South Asia as girls there receive far less food and health care compared with boys. If girls and boys in South Asia had equal life expectancy, stunting there would be reduced by 10 percentage points, the researchers said. Similarly, they noted that improving women’s education and gender equality are crucial goals in reducing the number of stunted children in sub-Saharan Africa. Robert Filipp, a creator of Unitlife, said the still-to-be-formed leadership of the new scheme with the four African countries would decide whether it should expand its scope beyond providing supplements. “Policy is to be decided by the board,” Filipp, who is president of the Innovative Finance Foundation, said in a Skype call. “Personally, I think that there is some scope to do something on women’s health. I think women’s education would probably be a stretch. But, again, the board would have to decide.” Filipp and the Innovative Finance Foundation will not be involved in running Unitlife. Filipp and Philippe Douste-Blazy, the UN under secretary-general for innovative financing for development and a former French foreign minister, came up with the idea for Unitlife. They modeled Unitlife on Unitaid, a World Health Organization-hosted program that Douste-Blazy created in 2006. Unitaid funds efforts to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, mostly through a $1 surcharge on plane tickets sold in France and 11 other countries. The program has raised more than $2.4 billion and has financed projects in 105 developing countries since its inception. Unitaid now finances the treatment of 80 percent of children with AIDS, and through long-term bulk buying reduced the price of HIV drugs by 10,000 percent and malaria drugs by 85 percent from 2006 to 2014. Last year, Douste-Blazy and Filipp visited African countries that have significant mineral or oil wealth but large numbers of malnourished children. Through face-to-face conversations, they convinced the presidents of these countries that child undernourishment — which impairs brain development and causes other permanent growth defects — is a pressing problem that they need to address. At least one of the countries, Mali, is emerging from a conflict. Guinea is still contending with lingering effects of the 2014 Ebola epidemic. “Just imagine you are president of a country that has oil or gas or gold mines, but 30 percent of your future generation could basically be mentally retarded — what kind of future would you have? That convinced them that they really have to do something about it immediately,” Filipp said. The initiative is expected to generate at least $100 million a year starting in 2017, when it becomes fully operational. The UN says that $50 billion needs to be raised over the next 10 years to reduce the number of children under age 5 who are stunted by 40 percent by 2025. Unicef will manage the collected funds, provide administrative support to Unitlife and buy and deliver the supplements. A Unitlife committee will evaluate proposals on what supplements should be bought. Unicef will hire the head of Unitlife and its staff later this year. The program’s headquarters will be based in Geneva to coordinate efforts with Scaling Up Nutrition, a pressure group led by David Nabarro, the new UN special envoy for food security, which aims to strengthen political commitments to fight child and maternal malnutrition. Nabarro, who is British, most recently served the UN as special envoy for Ebola. Sangaré, the head of the Mali human-rights group, is concerned that Unicef may use Malian funds given to Unitlife to pay Unicef’s administrative costs. “The funds allocated for this program should not, in any case, be spent on managerial tasks to ensure the functionality of Unicef or other organizations,” she said. “The funds should be used directly to fight malnourishment.” Najwa Mekki, a Unicef spokeswoman in New York, said in an e-mail: “Unitlife would only support projects directly related to nutrition interventions. Implementing partners will be allowed to recover overhead costs, but only for those costs that arise in the context of nutrition interventions supported by Unitlife.” “Every agency,” she added, “has an applicable rate for overhead costs that is approved by its board. For Unicef, that rate is 8 percent.” Sangaré also expressed concern that the new program could remove the pressure that local activists are putting on the Malian government to solve childhood malnutrition through eradicating corruption. “Corruption costs Mali 100 billion CFA [$173 million] annually,” Sangaré said. “These funds that are lost because of corruption could contribute considerably to the fight against malnourishment — they could be even enough to eradicate it. Fighting corruption, therefore, goes hand in hand with fighting against malnourishment and other obstacles to the well-being of the Malian child. Filipp said Unitlife would not supplant efforts to fight corruption. “[Unitlife’s] job is to use collective bargaining power to reduce prices,” he said. “There are other donors and other players and advocates and NGOs who monitor governments all the time. I don’t think that we can pretend to solve everybody’s problems.” Mali has consistently ranked among the most corrupt countries in the world, according to Transparency International, a nonprofit organization based in Berlin. In 2014, Mali was 115th on a list of 175 least-corrupt countries published by the organization. Corruption, population increases, climate-change related drought and a lack of educated farmers have all led to long-term food shortages across Mali, according to a 2011 report by a group of food security researchers at Michigan State University. The UN in August this year said that more than a fifth of Malians lack food, including 715,000 of the country’s 2.6 million children under 5 years old. “The fight against corruption in Mali will be a long-term effort, and to make malnourished children wait until that battle is won strikes me as very unfair to those children,” John Staatz, an economics professor and member of the research group at Michigan State University, said in an e-mail. “Fighting corruption is very important for Mali’s long-term human development and economic growth, but one step in that is ensuring, through collaboration between government ministries and organizations like Unicef, that funds from such efforts as this one, are spent correctly.” Regardless of its perceived shortcomings, Unitlife is a potentially more effective way for African governments to use their own funds to improve their people’s lives, as it uses the experience and expertise of Unicef and other UN agencies while relying on a new, possibly enduring revenue stream with no strings attached. As Staatz said: “[Unitlife] is a way of putting more of the financing to fight malnutrition on the government budget rather than relying, as in the past, primarily on donor funds to support those efforts. Often, when the donor projects end, so do these efforts to reduce malnutrition. So this type of effort may make the fight against malnutrition more financially sustainable.”A United Nations investigative group described the effort by a company based in Dubai called Sterling Corporate Services to create the force as a “brazen, large-scale and protracted violation” of the arms embargo in place on Somalia, and has tried to document a number of grisly cases in which Somali trainees were beaten and even killed. In one case in October 2010, according to the United Nations group, a trainee was hogtied with his arms and feet bound behind his back and beaten. The group said the trainee had died from his injuries, an accusation disputed by the company. Sterling has portrayed its operation as a bold private-sector attempt to battle the scourge of piracy where governments were failing. Lafras Luitingh, a senior manager for the project, described the October 2010 occurrence as a case of “Somali-on-Somali violence” that was not indicative of the overall training program. He said that the trainee had recovered from his injuries, and that “the allegations reflect not the professional training that occurred but the fact that professional training was needed,” he said. A lawyer for the company, Stephen Heifetz, wrote an official response to the United Nations report, calling it “a collection of unsubstantiated and often false innuendo assembled by a group with extreme views regarding participants in Somali politics.” Photo Sterling officials have pointed out that in March, a United Nations counterpiracy organization — a separate entity from the investigative group that criticized Sterling — praised the semiautonomous Somali region of Puntland for creating the program. Moreover, the company argues, Somalia already is a playground for clandestine operations, with the C.I.A. now in the midst of an extensive effort to arm and equip Somali spies. Why, they ask, is Sterling Corporate Services singled out for criticism? Concerned about the impact of piracy on commercial shipping in the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates has sought to take the lead in battling Somali pirates, both overtly and in secret by bankrolling operations like Sterling’s. American officials have said publicly that they never endorsed the creation of the private army, but it is unclear if Sterling had tacit support from parts of the United States government. For instance, the investigative group reported in July that the counterpiracy force shared some of the same facilities as the Puntland Intelligence Service, a spy organization answering to Puntland’s president, Abdirahman Farole, that has been trained by C.I.A. officers and contractors for more than a decade. With the South African trainers gone, the African Union has turned to a different security contractor, Bancroft Global Development, based in Washington, to assess whether the pirate hunters in Puntland can be assimilated into the stew of other security forces in Somalia sanctioned both by the United States and the African Union. Among those groups are a 10,000-man Somali national army and troops of Somalia’s National Security Agency, based in Mogadishu, which is closely allied with the C.I.A. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Michael Stock, Bancroft’s president, said a team of his that recently visited the camp where the Puntland force is based witnessed something out of the Wild West: nearly 500 soldiers who had gone weeks without pay wandering the main compound and two other small camps, an armory of weapons amassed over two years at their disposal. Although the force is far from the 1,000-man elite unit with helicopters and airplanes described in the United Nations report, Mr. Stock and independent analysts said the Puntland soldiers still posed a potential threat to the region if left unchecked. 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. “Sterling is leaving behind an unpaid but well-armed security force in Puntland,” said Andre Le Sage, a senior research fellow who specializes in Africa at the National Defense University in Washington. “It’s important to find a way to make them part of a regular force or to disarm them and take control of them. If that’s not done, it could make things worse.” Mr. Stock, whose company trains soldiers from Uganda and Burundi for counterinsurgency missions in Somalia under the African Union banner, said Bancroft would not take over Sterling’s counterpiracy mission. The Sterling operation was shrouded in a degree of secrecy from the time Mr. Luitingh and a small group of South Africans traveling in a private plane first touched down in Bosasso, Puntland’s capital, in 2010. The men worked for Saracen International, a South African private military firm hired by the emirates and composed of several former members of the Civil Cooperation Bureau, the feared paramilitary squad during the apartheid era. Photo The following year, after The New York Times wrote about the operation, Saracen hired a prominent Washington law firm to advocate for the mission at the State Department and the Pentagon, and a rebranding campaign began. A new company, Sterling Corporate Services, was created in Dubai to oversee the training in Puntland. It was an attempt to put distance between the Somalia operations and Saracen’s apartheid-era past, but some of the officers of the two companies were the same. Two well-connected Americans were also involved in the project. Michael Shanklin, a former C.I.A. station chief in Mogadishu, was hired to tap a network of contacts both in Washington and East Africa to build support for the counterpiracy force. More significant was the role of Mr. Prince, who had become an informal adviser to the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. At the time, Mr. Prince was also involved in a project to train Colombian mercenaries at a desert camp in the emirates to carry out missions at the behest of the Emirati government. But the emirates’ refusal to publicly acknowledge their role in the operation, or to make a formal case to the United Nations Security Council to receive permission to build the army under the terms of the Somalia arms embargo, drew the ire of United Nations arms monitors, who repeatedly pressed the emirates to shut down the mission. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Lawyers for Sterling gave extensive briefings on the program to the State Department, the Pentagon and various United Nations agencies dealing with piracy. Yousef Al Otaiba, the emirates’ ambassador to Washington, declined to comment for this article. American officials said they had urged Sterling’s lawyers, from the firm of Steptoe & Johnson, to have the operation approved by the Security Council. Mr. Heifetz, the company’s lawyer, said Puntland and other Somali authorities did receive permission to build the police force. A spokeswoman for the State Department said the United States government never approved Sterling’s activities. “We share the monitoring group’s concerns about the lack of transparency regarding the Saracen and Sterling Corporate Services’ train-and-equip program for the Puntland Maritime Police Force, as well as the abuses alleged to have occurred during the training,” said Hilary Renner, a State Department spokeswoman, referring to the United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea, the investigative arm. For Sterling, the beginning of the end came in April, when one of the South Africa trainers, Lodewyk Pieterson, was shot dead by one of the Somali men he had been training to chase pirates. Sterling said in a statement that the death was an isolated occurrence and that the trainee accused in the killing had been arrested. “The murder was an aberrational incident involving a particular trainee who was not well suited” to the police force, the statement said. After the death, it said, Sterling tightened its screening of applicants for the Puntland force. But there would be no need for that. By the end of June, Sterling whisked the rest of its trainers and their equipment out of the country, and the Puntland force was left on its own.Get the biggest Everton 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 Neville Southall will finally be inducted into the National Football Museum’s Hall of Fame in October – 14 years after the inaugural 22-man line-up was unveiled. Campaigns for his inclusion by this column and the Everton Heritage Society have been met with polite rebuffs. In 2013 the Museum replied: “Neville Southall is on the voting shortlist each year and consistently comes very close to being selected. His name will be retained on the shortlist for 2014. We are sure he will be selected in due course.” Now he has been. Southall made more appearances for Wales and more appearances for Everton than any other player, has won two league titles, two FA cups – 11 years apart – a European Cup Winners Cup and in 1985 was voted Footballer of the Year. At his peak – for the second half of the 1980s – he was regarded by many as the finest goalkeeper in the world. He will join Rio Ferdinand, Denis Irwin, Mark Lawrenson, Billy Liddell, David Seaman, Gordon Strachan, John Robertson and England Cerebal Palsy player Martin Sinclair in the latest additions to the Hall of Fame. And he isn’t the only former Everton goalkeeper who will be inducted. Two former Everton Ladies, Rachel Unitt and keeper Rachel Brown-Finniss, will also be added to the roll of honour. In addition to the individual players joining the Hall Of Fame, two new team awards will be presented. Nottingham Forest’s remarkable achievements from 1978-1980 will see the double European Cup-winning side inducted to the Hall Of Fame, while Notts County will also be honoured as the world’s oldest professional football club. Inductees are chosen by a panel featuring the Museum’s President Sir Bobby Charlton, Vice President Sir Alex Ferguson, who once tried to sign Southall, and Gordon Taylor. National Football Museum Director Dr. Kevin Moore said: “Our expectations have been surpassed this year as our inductees have continued to amaze us not just with their talent, but their commitment to the game. “These footballing greats will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at an awards dinner in October. The evening will be an experience like no other where the inductees can collectively reflect on their successes, spanning over five decades.” Better late than never. As an aside, all living inductees into the Hall of Fame now automatically join the National Football Museum’s Selection Panel. Perhaps Nev can now start to campaign for his Everton team of 1984-87 (two league titles, one runners-up spot, three successive FA Cup final appearances, a European trophy and a League Cup final appearance), to join the Manchester City 1968-70 team on the Hall of Fame’s ‘Teams’ roster?The Associated Press LONDON - A British military stunt team member whose chute failed to open properly owes a big thank you to a teammate who grabbed his parachute and got them both to a safe landing. The Red Devils display team was performing Friday at the Whitehaven Airshow in northwestern England. Eyewitness Lucy Milne told the BBC on Saturday that spectators watched aghast as one of the men frantically kicking before his teammate rescued him. A message posted on the show's Facebook page assured spectators that both were fine after "one team member caught his teammate and brought him into Queens Dock." The parachutists landed in water and were plucked to safety. The Red Devils, comprised of members of the Parachute Regiment, carry out some 60 displays every year.M. Night Shyamalan on Screenwriting In this extensive interview, M. Night Shyamalan discusses his two most famous films, explores his writing process, and reveals what he should have made The Sixth Sense about. By Daniel Argent. In a career that already spans over twenty years, Oscar and Bafta nominated filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan has produced thirteen films, directed fourteen, and written screenplays for sixteen. Yet perhaps he remains best known for two of his early films, The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. Creative Screenwriting first met M. Night Shyamalan in 1999, before the opening of The Sixth Sense. Fourteen months and $293 million later, The Sixth Sense was the tenth highest domestic grossing film of all time, and we spoke to Shyamalan again as he worked on his next film, Unbreakable. The following article contains highlights from these conversations. What idea sparked The Sixth Sense? Well, there are two scenes. The first scene isn’t even in the movie; it’s fantastic. But the other scene is somewhat in the movie. I saw a wake at a house, and the food’s out, and people are walking around in dark clothes, and this child was sitting on the stairs talking to somebody, but nobody’s there. How intriguing that was, what that child was feeling, and who he was, and that perhaps he was talking to the person that everyone was mourning, and that the people were looking at this kid like, “Wow, that’s one weird kid, he’s not handling this very well,” and going out from there. And so that became the Collins scene at the end of the movie, when Cole goes to the house with the box. What was the scene that wasn’t there? Well, The Sixth Sense started out as a serial killer movie [laughs]. Malcolm was a crime scene photographer, a burnt-out one at that, and not a great dad. It was Parents Day at the school, and the parents are in the classrooms looking at the artwork, and his kid’s in there, and Malcolm’s outside, smoking in a non-smoking hallway, and he’s staring at a wall of these kids’ drawings, and suddenly his attention becomes focused and he walks towards the wall and stops smoking. More and more we get focused on this one particular drawing, a crayon design, a star of some kind. We’ve seen it before, it’s a design that’s on the victims of a serial killer, and this child has drawn this same exact design in crayon. So Malcolm lifts the paper that’s folded over it to see who drew it, and it’s his own son. That’s the movie; it’s about Malcolm realizing that his son is seeing the victims of this killer. You said in an interview, “Once I see how they can sell the story, then I can write it.” How did that work
an independent author, it’s no fun knowing stuff like this because there’s nobody to talk about it with — you have to wait for the rest of the world, and then it’s new to them but not to you, and so you wind up feeling weirdly left out. I tell kids that whenever I do school visits, and they never believe me. But I swear it’s true. Because fans have asked, I want to make sure something’s clear about The Weapon of a Jedi and the other “Journey to The Force Awakens” books: Nothing in them is going to spoil the new movie. In Weapon of a Jedi, for instance, Luke’s story is bookended by brief chapters set in the same timeframe as The Force Awakens, but that material isn’t part of the plot of the film. The idea is that fans — of whatever age — get a satisfying tale that stands on its own, and as a bonus they’ll encounter some stuff (to be horribly but necessarily vague about it) that they’ll see again in December and will make them go, “Hey, I remember that!” Is there anything you’re really looking forward with The Force Awakens? Wendig: Seriously, I could not be more excited. If you had to pin me to the corkboard for an answer, I’d say BB-8. BB-8 is my master, now. Castellucci: I can’t wait to see the band of rebels back together again. And I’m excited about every new character even though I have no idea who they are. Pretty much, I’m looking forward to falling in love with them. Fry: All of it! But then that’s true of Star Wars Rebels, and the books and comics coming out, and everything else. This is such a rich, exciting time for Star Wars storytelling, and I pinch myself every day that I get to play some small part in it. Gray: The better question would be whether there’s anything I’m not looking forward to with TFA, because I’m hugely psyched for it. But my prediction is that I’m going to lose it, possibly to the point of tears, the first time Princess Leia appears. As a little girl growing up in the 1970s, Leia was one of my great heroines. Seeing her again after this long — I’m getting a little misty just thinking about it. Rucka: All of it, man. All of it.WhatsApp Share Email 422 Shares The applause that rose up around this writer at the final knock was bigger than any applause that had come before it. There were high hopes for the match, and the least that everybody seemed to think was that it could never be worse than the matches that had been played on Saturday. And the match started well, but then deteriorated into an absolute shambles. Sure it was raining, making handling tricky, but Ireland played without any depth for the entire first half and for most of the second half. Wales did, but made so many errors at crucial moments, they did not get anything out of it. But it was like watching a boxing match between a fat guy who hits hard, but never really hard enough, and doesn’t really move about, and a very mobile guy who jabs with his pinky finger. Wales showed imagination, but no clout. Ireland showed plenty of clout but barely any imagination, or even ambition. At first, everyone was watching in quiet anticipation – this writer included. But very quickly there were sighs, groans and curses. And rightly so. The match was atrocious. A draw was not a deserved result for either side. They both lost here. And the worst thing of all is that it really does epitomise the demise of northern hemisphere rugby. All six big teams played absolutely horrendously. England and Scotland managed to make a proper game out of it, but it was not great. France, Ireland, Italy and Wales were nothing more than a shambles. And the fact that the title favourites can be this useless is just all too typical. During the last round of the World Cup the northern nations were a shambles, and only Scotland stood out. This whole weekend of rugby showed it has only gotten worse. This writer thought the comedy rugby of the France-Italy game was the epitome of it, but he was wrong. It was the monster of a match between Ireland and Wales. It lacked ambition, skill and depth. Both sides made ridiculous basic errors and were just all over the place. Both used their wingers to take balls into touch from a standstill, inside the tram lines, probably the dumbest thing you can do. Watching it, this writer was not alone. There were shakes of heads at those moments and shouts of “take the hit!”, “why did you do that?” and some swear words in multiple accents. Speaking as a youth coach, there is one single thing this writer hates seeing more than anything else: players bunched up in a tiny part of the field. If a team does that when they try to drive over the line from five meters out, that’s fine, but in general play it is unforgivable. It means you have no options. You can only take the crash ball, and the only thing you can do is try to muscle through. Kids have a tendency to do it, being drawn to where the play is, but in these guys it is unforgivable. This writer hopes next weekend is better, or all of us rugby lovers in the northern hemisphere will be faced with some very dark and depressing days. Maybe we should all watch the Americas Rugby Championship instead. It seems they at least know how to play… Paul Peerdeman, Pundit Arena WhatsApp Share Email 422 SharesUS President Donald Trump's recent tweet suggesting that the ongoing cold snap gripping the nation disproves global warming has raised an outcry in response from climate scientists. On holiday in Palm Beach, Florida, on Thursday, when the temperature was 22 degrees Celsius, he tweeted: "In the East, it could be the Coldest New Year's Eve on record. Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay trillions of dollars to protect against. Bundle up!" CNBC reported. What he does not understand or has chosen to ignore, however, is that "weather" and "climate" are not the same thing. Weather, according to NASA, is what conditions of the atmosphere are over a short period of time, while climate is how the atmosphere behaves over relatively long periods of time. Climate scientists have long warned against using individual weather events to ponder the existence or otherwise of global warming and have sharply reacted to Trump's comment. "What's going on in one small corner of the world at a given moment does not reflect what's going on with the planet," Anthony Leiserowitz, director of Yale University's project on climate change communication, said referring to Trump's tweet as "scientifically ridiculous and demonstrably false", the Guardian reported. Ignorant Misconception Matthew England, a climate scientist from the University of New South Wales, has also called Trump's comment "an ignorant misconception of the way the earth's climate works". "Nobody ever said winter would go away under global warming, but winter has become much milder and the record cold days are being far outnumbered by record warm days and heat extremes." Climate modeling has shown that despite year-to-year variability, the average coldest temperature in December in the north-east of the US has increased in the past 50 years. According to the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration, the 10 hottest years ever measured were in the last two decades—with the top three being 2014 through 2016 and 2017 set to be the next warmest on record. Experts also know climate change is linked to a dangerous pattern of major weather events. There had been at least 15 extreme weather and climate events this year in the US, including Hurricane Harvey in Texas and wildfires in California. This is far from the first time Trump expressed skepticism about climate change. In 2012, he called global warming a "hoax" that the Chinese created in an effort to hurt the American economy. His repeated attempts to pour skepticism on global warming match his decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, which aims to curb carbon emissions.Summer is here, and with it comes the excitement of outdoor fun and swimming in Chicago. Often on our walking tours, I am asked, “What is your favorite thing about Chicago?” “THE BEACH,” I respond without hesitation. Any free afternoon I get this summer, you’ll find me at a Chicago beach, swimming in the water and picnicking with a book. Today, Lake Michigan and its beaches provide obvious beauty as well as recreation, exercise, and nature to locals and tourists alike. Historically, Chicago’s lakefront was not always a desirable site, nor was it so accessible. I decided to dig deeper into the history of Chicago’s beaches and swimming in Chicago, generally. I had always heard that Chicago beaches are built on the debris created by the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. Dumping debris in the lake seemed like an easy answer to the volume of destruction. With a little research, I found that land-filling in Lake Michigan solved an erosion problem as well as generating more city land, so it became quite popular, quite quickly. These first public beaches came out of work done by progressive women, like Dr. Sarah Hackett Stevenson through the Municipal Order League, a women’s reform organization. She urged Chicago to make use of “nature’s tub” as relief of sanitary conditions within congested, working neighborhoods. Glamorous, right? The very first public bathing beach of Chicago dates to 1895 at the shore between Fullerton Avenue and Diversey Parkway, as a part of Lincoln Park. Until this point, it isn’t that there weren’t any beaches to let people go swimming in Chicago; it was that beaches were private affairs belonging to clubs and hotels, which meant they cost money. Only the highest class of Chicagoans traveled north of the city or across the lake for bathing beaches. The Lincoln Park beach was free if you wore your own suit or a nickel to rent one, if you can imagine, and it established that working class people could be bathers, too. A Chicago Tribune article of the same year about the perfect lakefront trail bike ride describes this Chicago beach, where you could have witnessed “the antics of the hundreds of little newsboys in swimming” for endless amusement. At this Chicago beach, bathers were separated by gender not only when they changed their clothes but also when entering the water. The Tribune article describes a rope that divided the swimming area to keep things proper and modest between the sexes. There were also tough restrictions on what was considered proper attire to swim in Chicago, and breaking these dress codes was an offense that could lead to arrest. Consider the costumes necessary to swim in public shown here; bare knees would not be admissible for several years to come. Remember the Chicago River at this point still flowed into Lake Michigan, bringing sewage into it. In 1900, the Sanitary and Ship Canal was completed to aid in the reversing of the flow of the river. The positive effects of this reversal on the cleanliness of the lake water took a few years to become evident. Desire to go swimming in Chicago’s section of Lake Michigan grew as the quality of its water improved. In 1909, the Chicago Council established a Committee on Bathing Beaches to better meet the growing demand for more public beaches. The same year, Daniel Burnham’s Plan of Chicago was released, which called for the lakefront to be reserved as park space as well as several Chicago beaches as part of the urban design for the city. From the Great Fire to the Burnham Plan, Chicago beaches are a hodge-podge of public and private efforts. The idea of a consolidated Chicago Park District doesn’t happen until 1934, as the city responds to the difficulties of the Great Depression and attempts to access New Deal assistance. This puts both the vast sands of the south and the street-end beaches of the far north under one administration and continues construction projects that had been on hold since the crash. The Chicago Park District continued to acquire private beach property into the 1950s. Today, Chicago has more than 26 miles of public beach, which afford endless opportunities of free swimming in Chicago’s Lake Michigan. If Chicago beaches aren’t your scene, stay tuned for Part Two, where we’ll explore the history of Chicago’s public pools. — Elizabeth Tieri, Chicago Detours Tour GuideAnton has been defeated but the dark energy from his remains have corrupted the minds of the Antony brothers Only the Golden Antony has resisted the corruption. All his brothers have lost their minds and have gone insane, causing trouble everywhere. The Golden Antony truly believes he can bring his brothers back to normal. In order to do that, we must catch them alive. Period: SEP 06 ~ Sep 27, 2016 (UTC) until maintenance Where are the Antonies? Antony brothers can be found in the Lv. 17+ Optimal Level Dungeon boss rooms. # Please note: - Antony brothers appear in pairs. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── They must be caught alive. Purchase Nets from the Golden Antony in Seria's room. Catch the Antonies alive by using the 'Net' on them. # Please note: - The only way to get Antony materials is by using the Net to catch them. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Rewards Antony (Dead or Alive) Icons Name Description Magtonium It has a chance to drop when you kill or catch antonies. Antony (Alive) Icons Name Description Green Antony 100% chance to acquire these upon catching each Antony alive. Blue Antony Red Antony Gold Antony Shop Icons Name Price Antony Net 100 Gold Chronicle Set Box Green Antony X 100 Quest Legendary Box Blue Antony X 200 Gigantic Presence Accessory Box Red Antony X 100 - Dungeon Fighter Online Support TeamIn an interview with Rolling Stone in 2008, My Morning Jacket frontman and songwriter Jim James identified four artists he considered to be MMJ’s “big-brother bands”: Wilco, Björk, Radiohead, and Pearl Jam. While that spectrum alone is telling — this was the anything goes era of Evil Urges — that last one is particularly relevant. Like Pearl Jam, MMJ is a band that has, for many years now, held a reputation primarily based on their stunning live performances. Let’s just get this out of the way: the purest, most essential element of MMJ is their live show. It would be nonsense to argue otherwise. This is a band to be experienced live, and almost every time it’ll be transcendental. But as much of a truism as that might be, it does a great disservice to their studio work to write it off as simply an excuse to keep them on the road promoting a new album. What gets overlooked when people talk about MMJ is not only the sharpness and consistency of James’s songwriting that’s readily evident on their records, but also the way in which they have deftly, and somewhat unexpectedly, used the studio as an instrument for years now. That’s something you’d more readily associate with another of James’s supposed forebears, Radiohead, not from his own initially rustic, seemingly bred for the road, rock troupe. Nevertheless, there’s a narrative evident in the progression of MMJ’s studio work, inscribed by studio technique and songwriting approach alike. Those early records are as mythologized as the frontier they emerged from, James then favoring sprawling Americana that appeared without borders, with reverb so cavernous you’d swear you could live inside these albums. On Z onwards, the production got slicker and the song lengths reined in-tighter, psychedelic vehicles for shooting off into parts unknown. Evil Urges is only made logical by assuming it’s from another planet. Circuital was a return to Earth bearing the new strange knowledge, its anchors as diverse as the traditionalist rock of its title track and foreboding “Victory Dance” or otherworldly funk of “Holdin’ On to Black Metal,” songs that seem to have no association with a specific place or time. In a way, the studio work of MMJ is crucial as a way in to a band that is messily hard to define. As much as you can try to pigeonhole them, they seem to slip through it. They are as influenced by What’s Going On as Music From Big Pink, as likely to cover Curtis Mayfield as Elton John. They’ve been called alt-country, Southern rock, then indie; the jam-band world has half a claim to them, itself an oddity considering many of the instrumental passages in MMJ’s music are actually orchestrated, not totally improvised. And with an ever-growing body of live bootlegs wherein you have to wade through a three hour set in which all these split personalities jostle together, James & co. gleefully jumping from robo-funk to Crazyhorse-indebted guitar freakouts, these studio albums become not only worthwhile as strong listening experiences in and of themselves, but a road map into MMJ, the counter-narrative to flesh out the main narrative. Given that, this list is about studio albums, and doesn’t include official live releases. I also omitted their EPs; while songs from the Split EP with Songs: Ohia or Chocolate & Ice remain relevant, like “Cobra” or the excellent “O Is The One That Is Real,” any setup of this list would have to operate on a subjective metric that would decide those two are canon and yet My Morning Jacket Does Xmas Fiasco Style and a smattering of other EPs are not. So here’s MMJ’s six studio albums, ranked from worst to best. Evil Urges sympathizers can make their case in the comments. Start the Countdown here.And that is where the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation – again under fire by the Abbott government – is absolutely crucial. The NSW government is likely to impose tough requirements on developers of wind farms. Credit:Nic Walker Despite what the government has been saying, the role of the CEFC has never been to back emerging or even "mature" renewable energy technologies. That role belongs to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency – which the government would also like to abolish if it could get the numbers in the Senate. Why there is a need for a green investment bank is that our banking industry is not particularly innovative when it comes to backing new technology – whether renewable energy or other sectors. Accounting rules typically demand investments pay off within very short periods, adding to the reluctance by many companies to invest in energy savings as well as renewable energy ventures. In finance-speak, the CEFC exists to "de-risk" the sector so that banks and companies venture where they would not otherwise do so, much like we help agriculture or even exports. Major banks such as Commonwealth and NAB are among those partnering with the fund on a range of projects. As one insider put it, the ultimate aim of the CEFC is to create "a distinct green asset class" that will attract more investment and more attention to the sector. Most banks, for instance, don't have the in-house ability to conduct due diligence on many of the projects without outside help, which is what the CEFC brings to the deal. As banks gain expertise and confidence, more interest and funding will flow and the fund won't be needed. But that's not the case now in Australia or in the many countries which operate similar "green banks" such as the UK and the US. In unhelpful timing for the Abbott government, the CEFC is also expected to release its latest annual results this week showing that it is delivering a positive return on its investments to date. Harder to fathom The government's efforts to change the mandate of the CEFC to exclude investment in large-scale wind farms or solar panel programs adds to a confusing approach to the sector. Prime Minister Tony Abbott may have declared coal to be "good for humanity" but his government will later this month present long-term targets for cutting Australia's greenhouse gas emissions that recognises the damage carbon pollution is doing by stoking climate change. Coal use will have to be curbed if Australia is going to meet anything like the 24-28 per cent reduction on 2005 levels by 2030 that is reported by Fairfax Media to be the Abbott government's likely pledge ahead of the global climate summit scheduled for late this year in Paris. (The release of the targets has now been put back to August, well after most other nations have disclosed their goals.) Renewable energy must fill much of that void, and Australia has excellent wind and other renewable sources that could replace much of the coal-fired sector. It is also remarkably popular with the electorate, making any roll-back moves likely to trigger some response in the electorate. As a recent Ipsos poll found, 87 per cent of those surveyed back roof-top solar panels, and 72 per cent supported wind farms that Mr Abbott has declared to be "visually awful" and Treasurer Joe Hockey called "utterly offensive". Coal-fired power collected just 23 per cent of support, less than nuclear energy's 26 per cent backing. And yet, the government has been trying to end both ARENA and now the CEFC. Mr Abbott failed to abolish the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), the body set up to fund emerging technologies, but it stripped out most of its near-term financing. In February, Mr Hockey and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann used their powers to make it more expensive for the CEFC to lend any of its funds. Instead of using the government's long-term bond rate, the government raised that bar by an additional 4.5 percentage points, more than doubling it. The action prompted CEFC chair Jillian Broadbent to write back to both ministers saying the lending rate rise would make the increased returns necessary "highly challenging, and in my experience, outside the scope of normal market opportunities". On Monday, the fund said it was "taking advice" about who the latest changes would affect its operations. However, despite the higher investment hurdle to be cleared when the CEFC makes any new loan, it has managed to continue to unveil new projects such as the launch this month of a $100 million, 12-year fund with Origin Energy to promote more commercial use of solar panels, with more to be announced within days. Whether Labor and the Greens are right to dub the Abbott government's moves against the CEFC as a form of "industrial sabotage" to protect coal remain to be seen. Either way, they aren't likely to delay the international rise of renewable energy even if they slow its advance in Australia.Numeris issues a special statement to Canadian radio stations explaining why the important A25-54 demos are being negatively impacted by the new digital Online Radio Diaries (ORD) used in the 2017 Spring Diary Radio Ratings and 2016 Fall Diary Radio Ratings. Click here to see the Numeris statement. Click here to find out why the new Online Radio Diary (0RD) may cost Canadian radio stations millions of dollars in lost revenue. Bell Media & Numeris Breakdown of Spring 2017 Adults 12+ and Adults 25-54 Diary ratings for 9 Ontario Radio markets The 13 week Ontario 2017 Spring Radio Diary Ratings were conducted February 27 – April 23, 2017 by Numeris. Anyone 12 years of age or older living in a randomly selected Ontario residence by Numeris was eligible to fill out a ballot for one week. Participants listed the radio station’s call letters they listened to in 15 minute time blocks. At the end of the week, they mailed their ballots back to Numeris to be tabulated. In all, there were 13 weekly groups of ballot holders who participated in the 2017 Spring ratings in Belleville/Trenton, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener/Waterloo, London, Oshawa/Whitby, Ottawa/Gatineau, St. Catharines/Niagara and Windsor. Many Ontario radio stations do not subscribe to both the Spring and Fall Radio Diary Numeris ratings. Some prefer to subscribe to only one of the two rating periods. Results provided to kowchmedia by Bell Media and Numeris are listed below. In markets where Bell Media has no radio stations, the results are limited to Adults 12+. In communities where Bell Media has radio stations we have ratings for Adults 12+ and Adults 25-54. NEW In markets where there are CBC stations, Numeris A12+ ratings for the CBC are included. Bell compiles ratings only for commercial radio stations in the different markets to better reflect actual listenership numbers on radio stations that air commercials. In Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, Numeris used Portable People Meters (PPM) for the 2017 Spring ratings between February 27 and May 28, 2017. Results of the Spring 2017 PPM ratings will be released on June 7, 2017. We start with the definition box: Questions you need to ask yourself to increase ratings start with why aren't people listening to your radio station. The answer is at On The Kowch CBC Kitchener ratings: CBC London ratings: kowchmedia Exclusive New Share of Ear Canada study shows radio enjoys a 61 per cent share of all Canadian listening compared to streaming with a nine per cent share. Click here for indepth analysis and opinion on what the study really means and why radio execs might not agree with the findings of the On The Kowch blog. CBC Ottawa ratings: CBC Windsor ratings: Click here for more ratings in other radio diary marketsA man says he was fired as a security guard at Reliant Stadium after taking a picture with Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. The former guard says he'd finished his job for the day, so he thought it was OK, but the company that fired him says they're still standing by its policy. Joel Williams says he's worked as a security guard for Contemporary Services Corporation for the past year and a half. The TSU grad student says it wasn't so much the $7.25 an hour but he enjoyed the job, being a part of Texans games. "I just escort people to their seats and make sure everybody is in the right seat," Williams said. After Sunday's game, he says he had finished his ushering duties when he saw Brady in the hallway. "I said, hey Tom Brady good game, it was excellent. You're my favorite quarterback and all that good stuff. And he said, why thank you," Williams said. That's when Williams and his co-worker both asked for pictures and Brady agreed. Shortly after, the call came from the boss. "She says you are terminated, you guys are gone," Williams said. A spokesperson for Contemporary Services Corporation issued the following statement regarding the incident: "It is strictly against CSC policy for its employees to request photos or autographs from players. CSC stands by its decision to terminate the two employees who violated this policy." Williams will graduate with a master's in public administration in December. He says it's not the job he's concerned about. "What happened was I was already relieved of my duty and that's when I chose to take the picture," Williams said. But he wanted to tell his story. "I think it was three things: I think first of all, they were upset the Texans lost. I think second of all, because they lost in the fourth quarter. And then third of all, because it was Tom Brady," Williams said. Williams claims he's had a solid record with the company and had never been reprimanded until Sunday. Find Christine on Facebook at ABC13ChristineDobbyn or on Twitter at @christinedobbyn Take ABC13 with you! Download our free apps for iPhone, iPad and Android devicesIn just a few short years, Animal athlete Dan "BOSS" Green has established himself as one of the greatest professional powerlifters of all time. Ranked as one of the 50 fittest athletes in the world by Men's Health magazine (number 20 in 2014, ahead of athletes like Usain Bolt, Colin Kaepernick, and Novak Djokovic), BOSS has had a tremendous impact on the platform and in the gym. As the founder of Boss Barbell Club in Mountain View, California, BOSS also oversees the training of a growing community of serious lifters and strength athletes. As dominant as he's been on the platform, he's just as effective as a coach. And his role as teacher flows naturally forth from the fact that he is, at his core, a true student of the game. Standing by our ethos at Animal, that useful knowledge represents true power, we're striving to put some of the best lifters and bodybuilders in a unique position to educate strength athletes all over the world. We call it "Big on the Basics Beyond." Think of it as a kind of master's class in the art of lifting. In this video feature, Dan Green displays his mastery of one of the most simple and brutal exercises in a nuanced, thorough fashion. He shares the cues that he has personally used—both for sumo and conventional-style pulling—to achieve world records in two weight classes, 220 and 242, as a raw powerlifter. If you want to build serious strength and size with one of the world's best exercises, BOSS will be your guide. Big on the Basics Beyond Deadlift with Dan "BOSS" Green Watch the video - 21:41 Once a lifter has learned the basics of the deadlift, and they've started to experience the addictive strength and mass gains that can be gained with regular heavy deadlifts, the logical question arises: How do you lift more? There is no secret. The truth is, getting better at deadlifting comes down to two very basic things: strength and technique. Both are equally important. To make these two words more meaningful, and to provide some much-needed context, let's look at what's happening during a typical deadlift. To me, the deadlift consists of three phases. Each one sets up what comes after it, so treat them all as equally important. Deadlift Phase 1 Prelift Setup and Tension I talk in the video about the basics of setup, including how to keep the bar from getting either too far from or too close to—yes, there is such a thing as too close—your shins. Before the lift begins, set your feet, grip the bar, and create tension against it. Once your body is in place, take a breath, hold it while bracing your abs, and begin creating tension—first with the muscles of your upper back, and then the lower, as if you were going to row the weight. The more tension you can create throughout your body before the bar breaks off the floor, the more you can expect the bar to accelerate off the floor. Once your body is in place, take a breath, hold it while bracing your abs, and begin creating tension—first with the muscles of your upper back, and then the lower, as if you were going to row the weight. I recommend pulling against the bar with your back to create maximum tension throughout your body. This is what lifters really mean when they say, "Pull the slack out of the bar." This allows you to be in the best position when you initiate the first pull. Pulling with your back may sound like exactly what you don't want to do during a deadlift. But the truth is that the bent-backed deadlift we've all seen is the result of people pushing with their legs first. Their hips pop up, and their back ends up doing way too much of the work. The most important thing when you're about to lift is to put tension in your back first, so you're pulling the bar before your legs drive. Then load up your legs to do the work. Deadlift Phase 2 The First Pull The "first pull" begins when you first begin to break the weight away from the floor, and lasts until the bar is at the top of your shins. During this phase, you have to stabilize the spine while generating upward acceleration from the force of the leg drive. The "first pull" begins when you first begin to break the weight away from the floor, and lasts until the bar is at the top of your shins. Because the bar still has to pass in front of your knees, you are limited in how much your legs can do by how much stability your spine can create. During this phase, the spine is effectively experiencing isometric and then eccentric loading. Here's what I mean by that: Even though the legs are creating upward momentum in the lift, your spine is fighting to stay in position and, as the weights increase, providing as much tension as possible while being flexed forward. This concept of isometric and eccentric loading is really important when I work with a student in trying to troubleshoot poor starting strength and technique. Make no mistake—it's different from the type of back strength required during the final phase of the lift. Deadlift Phase 3 The Second Pull The "second pull" begins when the bar starts to pass the top of your shins, and it ends when you complete the lockout and stand tall with the weight. Technically speaking, this phase begins when you switch from eccentric loading of the back (flexing the spine) to concentric loading. In other words, once the spine has stabilized, the second pull is the process of extending the spine again. The "second pull" begins when the bar starts to pass the top of your shins, and it ends when you complete the lockout and stand tall with the weight. During this phase, the legs are creating drive and the back is pulling. You are using all of their strength and your willpower to extend your entire body against the weight. But again, what's important here is that it's the phase during which the spine is extending. Creating that kind of strength is different from what's needed in the first pull. So, how do you create it? Assistance exercises can help, of course, and I'll give you my favorites below. But, in my experience, the answer is even simpler than that. The power of a pause The best way I've found to coach the technique so that a lifter will be fundamentally sound in all three phases of the lift is to focus on static holds or pauses at all the transitions between phases. This basically amounts to pausing with the bar either an inch off the floor and then accelerating upward, or pausing at the upper shin and then accelerating upward (don't practice both at the same time). If you are able to hold these positions under load and maintain your spine's stability, and balance on the midfoot, then you'll be in a position to optimally generate force and therefore accelerate the bar out of that position. The idea of balance bears repeating. At the point of the pause, you should feel balanced. If you feel like you're out of balance, you should be able to use that to figure out the problems you've got. Why is that so important? During a deadlift, if you get out of proper position, you won't be able to generate maximum force. Instead, you will be relying on the momentum the bar already has to complete the lift. A proficient lifter is always in the optimal position to maximally generate force. A proficient lifter is constantly trying to accelerate the bar. If you do the work and focus on accelerating the bar past your knees and to lockout, your technique will be ready to stand up to your heaviest sets. Accelerate to Lockout The idea of keeping the bar accelerating is absolutely critical. I can't stress it enough. But, just to be clear, acceleration is different from bar speed, which is how fast the bar is moving. Acceleration is about how fast the bar is gaining speed. If you yank the bar off the floor, it has accelerated quickly to a high speed. But if the bar slows down because you neglected to stay in an adequately strong position, then the bar will decelerate. Yeah, that's bad. Without getting all fancy and scientific, the takeaway is simple: You want the bar to accelerate off the floor and past the knees. Again, these positions mark the transitions between the three phases of the deadlift that I described above. This is why I encourage lifters to practice pausing in and accelerating out of those positions. This is the simplest way to fix your deadlift, period. If you do the work and focus on accelerating the bar past your knees and to lockout, your technique will be ready to stand up to your heaviest sets. Universal Nutrition Animal Whey For a limited time, buy 1 Universal Nutrition Animal Whey, 2 Lbs. in the flavor of your choice & get 1 50% OFF! Go Now! Fixing A Weak Start Working with pauses will go a long way toward patching up the holes that are keeping you from a bigger deadlift. But some other strategic assistance work will help as well. Here are my other favorites. Block Pulls These build torso stiffness to allow for greater power transfer from legs. Use 4-inch blocks for sumo and 6-inch blocks for conventional. While block pulls work well for both styles, I really stress them a lot for sumo pullers. Stick primarily to sets of 3-5 reps. Squat Legs create acceleration upward. I like front squats for sumo pullers and back squats for conventional lifters. Safety-bar squats are also fantastic for building the deadlift. Stiff-Bar Deadlift If you normally train on a deadlifting bar or a bar that has more whip, try deadlifting with a regular power bar. Less "give" off the floor will make you much stronger and give you a ton more acceleration when you return to the regular deadlift bar. Stiff-Bar Deadlift Fixing a weak lockout Deficit Deadlift This is where you deadlift while standing on a small box or mats. For conventional pullers, this really is the silver-bullet exercise that everyone is after. This lift will make you better at finishing the lift because you are starting further from the lockout and in a more difficult position to pull from—and that is the key. Sumo pullers should also do these conventional to hit the back where sumo misses. Most people can use a 2- to 4-inch box. This exercise puts the pulling muscles of the back, glutes and hams under tension for a longer of time, across a greater range of motion, and teaches you how to bend the upper back a little bit to get down to the bar. This single exercise will allow you to pretty much make massive gains in strength. Rows Rows of all types are necessary to create the upper-back strength a lifter needs to pull big weights. They are also especially helpful in the lockout. Make sure the motion includes a big stretch of the lats and traps to get optimal carryover to your deadlift. Stiff-Legged Deadlift Stiff-legged deadlifts are basically the poor man's hyperextension. Stiff-leg deadlifts build the back and hamstrings without the help of leg drive. This means you'll need to use weights that are a little lighter. I prefer to start with sets of 10 when I am far from a competition, and then switch to sets of 8 and eventually 6 to handle heavier weights. I prefer not to hit lower reps than
the atrocity. Local guides, some of whom lived through the battle, offer tourists the opportunity to visit these and other sites on walking and bicycle tours.[201] Every November, Vukovar's authorities hold four days of festivities to commemorate the town's fall, culminating in a "Procession of Memory" held on 18 November. This represents the expulsion of the town's Croat inhabitants and involves a five-kilometre (3.1 mile) walk from the city's hospital to the Croatian Memorial Cemetery of Homeland War Victims. It is attended by tens of thousands of people from across Croatia.[202] Local Serbs have avoided participating in the Croatian commemorations, often preferring either to leave the town or stay indoors on 18 November. Until 2003, they held a separate, low-key commemoration at the Serbian military cemetery on 17 November.[203] Such commemorations have been held on 18 November since then. The RSK-era term "Liberation Day" has been dropped, but Serbs also avoid using the Croatian terminology, instead calling it simply "18 November".[204] The issue of how to remember the Serb dead has posed particular difficulties. Local Serbs who died fighting alongside the JNA were buried by the Croatian Serb authorities on a plot of land where Croatian houses had once stood.[203] The gravestones were originally topped with a sculptural evocation of the V-shaped Serbian military cap, or šajkača. After Vukovar's reintegration into Croatia, the gravestones were repeatedly vandalised. The Serb community replaced them with more neutral gravestones without overt military connotations.[205] Vukovar Serbs report feeling marginalised and excluded from places associated with Croatian nationalist sentiment, such as war monuments. The Croatian sociologist Kruno Kardov gives the example of a prominent memorial, a large cross made from white stone, where the Vuka flows into the Danube. According to Kardov, Serbs rarely if ever go there, and they feel great stress if they do. A Serb boy spoke of how he wanted to know what was written on the monument but was too frightened to go and read the inscription; one day he got up the courage, ran to the monument, read it and immediately ran back to "safety". As Kardov puts it, Vukovar remains divided by an "invisible boundary line... inscribed only on the cognitive map of the members of one particular group."[206] The Memorial Cemetery of Homeland War Victims was built between 1998 and 2000. It is marked with 938 marble crosses. The battle is widely commemorated in Croatia. Almost every town has streets named after Vukovar.[172] In 2009, the lead vessel of the Croatian Navy's two newly launched Helsinki-class missile boats was named after the town.[207] The Croatian Parliament has declared 18 November to be the "Remembrance Day of the Sacrifice of Vukovar in 1991", when "all those who participated in the defence of the city of Vukovar – the symbol of Croatian freedom – are appropriately honoured with dignity."[172] As a symbol of Croatia's national identity, Vukovar has become a place of pilgrimage for people from across Croatia who seek to evoke feelings of "vicarious insideness", as Kardov describes them, in the suffering endured during the country's war of independence. Some gather in front of the town's main memorial cross on New Year's Eve to pray as the year ends, though such sentiments have attracted criticism from local Croats for not allowing them to "rejoice for even a single night", as one put it.[203] The town has thus become, in Kardov's words, "the embodiment of a pure Croatian identity" and the battle "the foundational myth of the Croatian state". This has led to it becoming as much an "imagined place", a receptacle for Croatian national sentiment and symbolism, as a real place. Kardov concludes that it is questionable whether Vukovar can ever once again be "one place for all its citizens".[208] In November 2010, Boris Tadić became the first President of Serbia to travel to Vukovar, when he visited the massacre site at Ovčara and expressed his "apology and regret".[209] Films and books [ edit ] The battle was portrayed in the Serbian films Dezerter ("The Deserter") (1992),[210] Kaži zašto me ostavi ("Why Have You Left Me?") (1993)[210] and Vukovar, jedna priča ("Vukovar: A Story") (1994);[211] in the Croatian films Vukovar se vraća kući ("Vukovar: The Way Home") (1994)[212] and Zapamtite Vukovar ("Remember Vukovar") (2008); and in the French film Harrison's Flowers (2000).[213] A 2006 Serbian documentary film about the battle, Vukovar – Final Cut, won the Human Rights Award at the 2006 Sarajevo Film Festival.[214] The battle is also at the centre of Serbian writer Vladimir Arsenijević's 1995 novel U potpalublju ("In the Hold").[215] Notes [ edit ] References [ edit ] Books News reports Other sources Coordinates:Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. July 22, 2016, 3:29 AM GMT / Updated July 22, 2016, 2:53 PM GMT By Mark Murray "I will present the facts plainly and honestly," Donald Trump said in his address Thursday accepting the Republican presidential nomination. "There will be no lies. We will honor the people with the truth and nothing else." So how did he do? Some of the statistics and facts he cited checked out. Others? Not so much. TRUMP CLAIM: We all remember the images of our sailors being forced to their knees by their Iranian captors at gunpoint. This was just prior to the signing of the Iran deal. THE FACTS: It actually came AFTER the signing of the Iran deal, which happened on July 14, 2015. The sailors were captured in Jan. 2016 — right before President Obama's State of the Union address. TRUMP CLAIM: My opponent wants to essentially abolish the 2nd amendment. THE FACTS: Clinton has proposed gun regulations, like background checks to purchase firearms. Yet the 2008 Supreme Court decision protecting and individual's right to possess firearms also stated that the right isn't unlimited — and can be subjected to regulations. TRUMP CLAIM: Homicides last year increased by 17 percent in America’s fifty largest cities. That’s the largest increase in 25 years. THE FACTS: Trump is correct that there has recently been an uptick in crime, including in some (but not all) of America's largest cities. But overall, violent crime is down significantly since the 1980s and 1990s, according to FBI statistics. And the current violent crime rate is lower today per the most recent data (365 incidents of violent crime per 100,000 people) than when President Obama first took office in 2009 (431 incidents per 100,000 people). TRUMP CLAIM: The number of new illegal immigrant families who have crossed the border so far this year already exceeds the entire total from 2015. THE FACTS: That statistic is true, but it's also a bit of cherry-picking. In Fiscal Year 2014, there were more than 68,000 apprehensions of immigrant families crossing the border. That number declined to 40,000 in Fiscal Year 2015. In Fiscal Year 2016 (which ends in September), the number stands at 51,000 — so higher than in 2015, but lower than 2014 (see here and here). TRUMP CLAIM: Nearly four in 10 African-American children are living in poverty, while 58 percent of African-American youth are now not employed. Two million more Latinos are in poverty today than when the President took his oath of office less than eight years ago. THE FACTS: Yes, 38 percent of African American children are living in poverty, according to Census data. But Trump isn't correct that 58 percent of African American youth are unemployed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics finds that the African American unemployment rate for those ages 16-19 is 28.4 percent (versus 16.9 percent for all youth that age). And Trump is misleading on his claim about Latinos living in poverty. In 2009, 12.3 million Latinos were living in poverty (with a rate of 25.3 percent). In 2014, the number jumped to 13 million — but the rate actually DECLINED to 23.6 percent. TRUMP CLAIM: President Obama has almost doubled our national debt to more than 19 trillion dollars, and growing. THE FACTS: He’s right. When Obama took office on Jan. 20, 2009, the public debt stood at $10.6 trillion. It is now $19.4 trillion, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. TRUMP CLAIM: Where was sanctuary for all the other... Americans who have been so brutally murdered [by undocumented immigrants], and who have suffered so, so horribly? THE FACTS: Researchers have found that first-generation immigrants (legal or not) commit less crime than native-born Americans or second-generation immigrants. TRUMP CLAIM: [Hillary Clinton] supported NAFTA, and she supported China’s entrance into the World Trade Organization — another one of her husband’s colossal mistakes and disasters... She supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership. THE FACTS: Trump is correct that Clinton backed NAFTA and China's entry into the WTO, which took place while her husband was president. Yet although touting the TPP trade agreement while she served as secretary of state, Clinton has since opposed the measure. Notably, Trump's vice-presidential running mate Mike Pence also has praised NAFTA and TPP.AMC’s Revolutionary War drama Turn: Washington’s Spies has been steadfastly avoiding introducing Alexander Hamilton, seemingly in fear of drawing comparisons to that other project. Well, now they’ve finally nutted up and done it: As EW reports, Monday’s episode will bring the future treasury secretary into the mix. Played by former extra Sean Haggerty, Turn’s Hamilton appears in his capacity as George Washington’s right-hand man as the duo crosses paths with Benedict Arnold, a real historical event that was left out of the musical thanks to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s absolute hatred of egg puns. Lafayette is there too, although he doesn’t rap super-fast, or at all, in this one. Now if only the series could find a way to make time for Hercules Mulligan (takes deep breath), a tailor spying on the British government, he takes the measurements and information and then he smuggles it up to his brother’s revolutionary covenant; he’s running with the Sons of Liberty and he is loving it. See, that’s what happens when you’re up against the ruffians — we’re in the shit now, somebody’s got to shovel it. Hercules Mulligan, he needs no introduction, when you knock him down he gets the fuck back up again! (Passes out.)- Advertisement - In my previous piece chastising the Iowa Republican Party concerning their non-inclusion of Congressman Ron Paul in an upcoming debate to be fair and balanced, I noticed that in last night’s Democratic debate absent was former Senator Mike Gravel. I do not care how he is polling and what funds he has raised, the public had a right to hear his views especially when it comes to the Iraq War and any possible war with Iran. Many of the Democratic candidates spoke of how they would end the war and again, I will state, former Senator Gravel could have told each senator currently holding a senate seat how they could do so now. As I have written of before all it takes is 41 senators to support a filibuster to end this war. The former Senator single-handedly filibustered to end the draft when it came to the Viet Nam war and saved countless lives in the process. He choked off the military personnel being offered up to the Nixon administration and all of which led to the end of that heinous war. The same needs to be done in this war as well. He could have stated to the front-runner, Senator Hillary Clinton: Why aren’t you filibustering to end this war given the fact you have said power? I would have loved to have heard any response coming from the senator since she is my senator. While she was back in her game last night having recovered from the driver’s license issue that has dominated the news not only within my state but clear across the nation, he could have challenged her further thereby not allowing her to recover any lost ground. Democrats especially the ones in power love to say they are the inclusive party, yet they excluded someone from this debate and I find that unfair to the American electorate. - Advertisement - As I was watching this feed where Mrs. Elizabeth Kucinich was speaking to a group at the Mercury Café in Denver, Colorado, she said something remarkable about her husband about having walked the walk. Well the same could be said of Mike Gravel in walking the walk to end one war. In this feed, Mrs. Kucinich says “the only thing that makes Dennis un-electable is an electorate that does not believe in itself” and quite frankly, I believe that as well. She also states that this race is a “call to courage” and that too rang so true. Yet, the Democrats showed anything but as they excluded Mike Gravel from that debate. In past debates, Mike Gravel challenged the top-tier candidates and I feel they should have been challenged more to bring enlightenment to this campaign. Which is another point brought out by Mrs. Kucinich. If we are going to grow as a democracy we need the light to be shed in all areas that are important to our very survival as a republic. - Advertisement - To shed light of how Governor Eliot Spitzer came to his decision not to issue licenses to illegal immigrants I am going to be blunt in my belief that he came to this decision on the heels of this debate. Senator Clinton could have been questioned further concerning her recent comments where on one hand she supported it and on the other hand tried to distance herself. I noticed in last night’s debate when asked by Wolf Blitzer who amongst the candidates supported this program, she gave an affirmative “No”. Note to my senator, Senator Clinton, I do not believe you and quite frankly, I do not think that many within New York State believe you as well. Why do I believe this? She voted in favor of the comprehensive package on immigration reform along with my other senator, Chuck Schumer. While I was glad to see the second-tier candidates such as Senators Biden and Dodd as well as Governor Richardson given more time, still former Senator Mike Gravel should have taken part in this debate. As an independent with no party affiliation, I have no dog in this race since I cannot vote for any of them in the upcoming primaries; I would have liked to hear more coming from Cong. Kucinich. You could see through his facial expressions his annoyance at not being questioned as much as the others. At least he brought up the fact that he brought to the floor an impeachment bill. That resounded at cheers coming from the audience. In watching Lou Dobbs each night concerning the goods coming from China and how dangerous many of them are since many of these products do not meet U.S. safety standards, I would have valued Kucinich’s opinion on NAFTA, CAFTA and the WTO. Those are important trade agreements that do affect each and every American. In fact prior to NAFTA being signed by former President Bill Clinton, H. Ross Perot stated of this agreement you would “hear a giant sucking sound” should it come to pass and how correct he was. Americans are losing their jobs and livelihoods due to outsourcing. We are being bled dry by these trade agreements. We have become a debtor nation. What security do we have as a nation when we are beholden financially to countries such as Japan, China and Mexico? On the Republican side, Congressman Ron Paul has also been outspoken against these trade agreements. When his wife spoke of courage, one must congratulate Kucinich in bringing impeachment to the floor since Speaker of the House; Nancy Pelosi has continually stated that any impeachment of Bush was “Off the table” She might as well put it back on the table since many of the bills passed by the house have been vetoed by Bush. Yes, I realize that this too will go no where; at least it would result in investigations in which the American people can see for themselves the illegality of this war, the wiretaps and yes torture. With the demise of the illegal immigration bills that came to the senate twice, it was stopped dead in its tracks by the American electorate as they phoned into their senators. Maybe as a result of opening up investigative proceedings on the floor of the house and senate, the same ground swell can come forth by the American people to impeach this president. It may bring pressure to bear on those Republican senators who would look to block any impeachment of President Bush, Vice President Cheney or both. At least we the American people would see some productivity coming from congress. Maybe their dismal polling numbers would rise. - Advertisement - I do think a disservice was done to the American electorate especially independents like me when a former Senator was excluded from this debate. Democracy in my eyes is where we hear from all corners concerning the destiny of this republic. Former Senator Mike Gravel should have been included in that debate period. As an American I have every right to hear of his opinions as do all Americans. At least he knew how to stop a war dead in its tracks and one must ask: Where is the courage of these other senators when it counts most to the American people. We are broke and we cannot continue to fund this war for years to come. More importantly we cannot even think of waging war with Iran. That is something that former Senator Mike Gravel has often warned us against as he spoke in prior debates challenging both Senators Clinton and Obama. But, what did Senator Clinton do? She voted in favor of the Kyl/Lieberman resolution. As Obama chided her, let it be known he did not even vote up or down concerning that resolution. At least Senators Dodd and Biden showed the temerity in not voting in favor of it.A housewife died after she was set on fire for dowry in Lakshmipur and a Hijra was lynched in Noakhali while at least four other people were killed in Natore, Jhenaidah and Jessore on Sunday night and Monday. In Lakshmipur, a housewife succumbed to her burn injuries after she was set afire allegedly by her husband for dowry at Pashchim Laxmipur under sadar upazila on Saturday night. The deceased was identified as Salma Begum, wife of Khalil. Police said Khalil married Salma three months ago, and since then Khalil demanded dowry from her and often tortured her. On Saturday night, Khalil beat her up and set her on fire after pouring kerosene on her body at one stage of quarrel. She died from her injures on way to Dhaka about 11:30pm. Khalil fled after the incident. New Age Lakshmipur correspondent reported that a Hijra was lynched and five others injured at Nutan Bajar of Charkakra under Companigaonj on Sunday. Police detained one in the connection. The deceased was identified as Luky Akter 23. Companiganj police officer-in-charge Sajidur Rahaman Sajid said that 15 days ago some Hijra went to a wedding ceremony in the house of Wahab Patwary for dancing and singing. After the ceremony they demanded money. But the house owner refused to pay them. They went away without taking money. On Sunday morning, they went to Wahab Patwary’s house and demanded Tk 50,000. But the house owner again refused to pay the amount. They then picked a quarrel with the inmates and started dancing taking off their dresses. Then the house inmates and locals started beating them up and injured Luky died on the way to hospital. New Age Jheniadah correspondent reported that the decomposed body of a minor girl was recovered on Sunday afternoon, six days after she was abducted for a ransom of Tk 3 lakh. The deceased was identified as Manira Khatun, 5. Assistant superintendent of police Gopinath Kanzilal said Manira was abducted on July 7 near at Achintapur village under when she was playing. Later the victim’s father Ramjan Ali filed a case with Jhenaidah sadar police alleging that the abductors demanded Tk 3 lakh over mobile. In Natore, a freedom fighter and his wife were strangled by unidentified miscreants at Shaol under Singra early Sunday. The deceased was identified as Noni Gopal Kundu, 70, a freedom fighter and a resident of the village, and his wife Chitra Rani Kundu, 62. Miscreants might have killed them in their house in the early morning, said Nasir Uddin, OC of Singra police station. New Age Jessore correspondent reported that a rickshaw-van puller was killed at Prembagh under Abyanagar on Sunday. The deceased was identified as Imadul Khan, 30, Abhaynagar police OC Sheikh Nasir Uddin said that miscreants killed the rickshaw-van puller near the rail track at Prembagh following a feud over irrigation of a piece of land in the area around 4:30pm. The youth died on the spot. In Chittagong, a youth, M Kamal, 26, was stabbed to death during a clash between two families over a trifling matter at Chanhara under Patiya on Sunday noon. Locals said a quarrel took place among the children of the two families around 2:30pm which then turned into a clash. At one stage, rivals stabbed Kamal indiscriminately, leaving him dead on the spot. Police arrested three people in this connection, said assistant police super (Patia circle) Shamim Hossain. In Rangpur, a transport worker, Limon Miah, 26, was hacked to death and a driver was injured in an attack by unidentified miscreants at Dhap in the city on early Sunday. A group of 5/6 masked youths suddenly stabbed Limon to death, said Kotwali police OC Abdul Kader Zilani.US Citizen Goes To Jail For Collecting Rain Water [youtube_sc url=”http://youtu.be/agAsxFg0ifI”] (Jim Hoft) Gary Harrington, the Oregon man convicted of collecting rainwater and snow runoff on his rural property, went to jail today. He was charged with collecting rainwater. Gary Harrington will be serving in jail until September 2014 for collecting rainwater. CNS News reported, via Right Wing News: Gary Harrington, the Oregon man convicted of collecting rainwater and snow runoff on his rural property surrendered Wednesday morning to begin serving his 30-day, jail sentence in Medford, Ore. “I’m sacrificing my liberty so we can stand up as a country and stand for our liberty,” Harrington told a small crowd of people gathered outside of the Jackson County (Ore.) Jail. Several people held signs that showed support for Harrington as he was taken inside the jail. Harrington was found guilty two weeks ago of breaking a 1925 law for having, what state water managers called “three illegal reservoirs” on his property. He was convicted of nine misdemeanors, sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined over $1500 for collecting rainwater and snow runoff on his property. The Oregon Water Resources Department, claims that Harrington has been violating the state’s water use law by diverting water from streams running into the Big Butte River. But Harrington says he is not diverting the state’s water — merely collecting rainwater and snow melt that falls or flows on his own property.Maj. Michael J. Brown was convicted in July 2004 of attempting an indecent act on a Filipina barmaid in a highly publicized trial on Okinawa. He was arrested Tuesday in Maryland on a kidnapping charge. Major arrested in Maryland on kidnapping charges CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — A Marine major, convicted last year after a 19-month trial on Okinawa of attempting an indecent act on a Filipina barmaid, was arrested in Maryland on Tuesday on a kidnapping warrant. Michael J. Brown, 42, was arrested at his brother’s home in Laurel, Md., on a charge he kidnapped an 18-year-old high school student from a flea market in Milton, W. Va. “We’re obviously all shocked and dismayed,” Brown’s older brother, Raymond, said in a telephone interview Friday. “They sent a SWAT team here at 10 o’clock at night to get him. It traumatized the kids.” He said he has not spoken to his brother at length about the new charge. “We’ve hired one of the best defense lawyers we know of — Victor Kelly, a former Marine JAG officer — and we’re hoping to work this all out.” Michael Brown was arrested in November 2002 on a charge of attempting to assault a Filipina waitress who worked at the officers’ club on Camp Courtney. He was accused of trying to rape her in her car after she offered to drive him to his off-base home. But during the highly publicized trial the waitress, Victoria Nakamine, retracted the story she’d given Japanese police. She said she exaggerated what had happened so she could get Brown to pay for throwing her cell phone into the Tengan River, near where they had parked. Brown was convicted in July 2004 of attempting to commit an indecent act and destroying Nakamine’s cell phone. He was given a one-year prison sentence, suspended for three years. He appealed the Naha District Court decision all the way to Japan’s Supreme Court, which dismissed the appeal in July on a technicality. Brown, originally of Menard, Texas, left Okinawa in August and reported for duty at Quantico, Va., on Sept. 4. He was commuting from his brother’s house and awaiting administrative action on his discharge from the Marine Corps after 21 years of service. “They were to decide on whether he’d be retired as a major or captain because of the Okinawa conviction,” Raymond Brown said. Michael Brown’s wife and two children already had moved to Texas in anticipation of his retirement. The latest charge involves the alleged kidnapping of Lu Jin, 18, a high school senior who worked at a flea market on weekends selling collectible coins. According to the complaint, Brown approached Jin and her father at their flea market booth Oct. 2 and identified himself as a federal law officer investigating the sale of fraudulent coins. According to the complaint, he is accused of then putting Jin in his SUV, ostensibly for further questioning, and driving away. Police in West Virginia said she escaped from the vehicle about two hours later when he pulled off the road and attempted to molest her, according to the complaint. She was picked up by a passing state trooper, according to the complaint. Brown was identified as a suspect from a cell phone call reportedly made to Jin’s father and from the Texas license plates on his SUV. The girl and several witnesses picked Brown’s photo, provided by Texas law officials, out of a lineup, the complaint said. Brown, who is being held in the Baltimore County Jail, waived extradition to West Virginia on Wednesday. He is expected to be transferred next week. “We don’t know what to think,” Raymond Brown said Friday. “We know the charges in Okinawa were pressed because of political issues between the local government and the Marines and the guilty verdict was handed down to save face. “We have faith that this new charge is also baseless,” he said.Toyota is being bullish about how our cars will be powered in the future. It won’t sell pure petrol or diesel cars by 2050, and it sees hydrogen as the ideal solution. “Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are the ultimate eco car,” Kiyotaka Ise, Toyota’s engineering boss, told Top Gear. “But an improvement in infrastructure is a must.” Toyota currently produces 3,000 fuel cells a year – the Mirai saloon being its key hydrogen car – but it wants that number to be ten times as large by the early 2020s. Cost will be a big factor, with the Mirai currently around £66,000 in the UK. But Ise tells us that by 2025, a hydrogen car will be the same price as a hybrid. That means the Mirai will match the Prius, which is £25,000 in today’s money. But that doesn’t mean hybrids – or pure electric cars – are being replaced. “Hydrogen and EV will co-exist,” Ise says. “An EV is a better option in compact cars, while fuel cells work for larger cars.” Electric cars will also major in countries short on hydrogen filling stations, he says. Toyota used the Tokyo motor show to reveal not only a fuel-cell people carrier, but a bus, which is ready for production and will transport people at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Why is hydrogen so good? Fuel cell cars typically have a similar range to a petrol car and are filled up in a similar way, while the hydrogen that powers them can be made from just about anything, human waste included. Yep, in ten years you might be driving a poo-powered Toyota. To stifle childish giggles, we ask Ise if he wants to make a fast fuel cell. “In sports cars you need engine noise, and an EV or fuel cell doesn’t have that,” he says. “Using fuel cells for Formula E would avoid the need to swap cars or batteries and would allow for a normal race, perhaps with refuelling. It could replace regular gasoline racing but you’d be missing the noise.” So while pure petrol cars won’t be on Toyota’s price list in 2050, there will still be petrol power underpinning the hybrids it makes. If that means the mighty Century still has a V8 in it in 33 years’ time, we’re not quite sure…I warned all of you a year ago. February 14, 2016, I TOLD you all Trump was ineligible to be the President of the United States. You didn’t listen to me. This is on you, because he is now the President and STILL making the same mistakes. He is ordering steaks well done. Not only that, but he eats them with ketchup. There is a detailed report of his recent dinner at BLT Steakhouse in Washington, and Benny Johnson of IJR puts in a full quote from an anonymous waiter. The President ordered a well-done steak. An aged New York strip. He ate it with catsup as he always does. The sides and appetizers on the table were shared. Three jumbo shrimp cocktails were delivered before the meal. At one point, the President looked at his watch and remarked ”They are filming ‘Saturday Night Live’ right now. Can’t wait to see what they are gonna do to me this week.“ It was hard to serve him because he is so funny and relaxed, it makes you laugh. This is, as you can imagine, the end of the Republic as we know it. Both Jezebel and AV Club, distinguished journals of political commentary, took Trump to task over the revelation. Vanity Fair also wrote a piece on it. Everyone realizes, as I do, that Donald Trump is a monster who should not hold the highest office in the land. As usual, Trump supporters came out in defense with mind-boggling statements. Fact: Only idiot hipsters who are trying to be trendy order their steaks anything less than medium-well. https://t.co/7fliP06LIc — Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) February 27, 2017 Let us be absolutely clear here. If you order anything above medium, you are a monster who does not understand how to cook, treat, and eat steaks. States should pass laws requiring these monsters to be identifiable on their driver’s licenses. Congress should ban them from even buying steaks. The Republican has never been in greater trouble. If you disagree with this post, identify yourselves in the comments and I will ask the moderators to deal with you accordingly. This cannot stand. Even worse, ketchup. KETCHUP, people. This isn’t just wrong, it’s un-American. This is borderline Communism. Vladimir Putin probably eats his steaks with ketchup. Because it’s red. Like Communism. What’s really bad here is that Donald Trump knows the Media will look for any reason to oppose him, and he is readily giving them ammo to do so. The Media will of course latch on to this story and use it as further proof that the man is unhinged and unworthy of the office. And they would be right. This is a major issue, and I hope Sean Spicer comes out tomorrow and clarifies that this never happened, that the waiter who leaked this info has been found and fired and possibly sent to Guantanamo, and that Trump will speak to Congress tomorrow and eat a medium-rare steak in front of everyone assembled just to prove he is not a monster. The Republic must stand.This morning, the internet was assaulted with illicit videos of sexy robots. No, it's not what you think. It's Titanfall footage, taken from Respawn's currently running limited technical test. As part of their not-a-beta, select Xbox One players have been given the chance to wall-run and jet-boost around the game. And a few of those testers have sneakily uploaded their sessions for all to see. At least, for all who get there before the inevitable removal to see. Assuming the above embeds have video footage (and not that of TF2's engineer saying "nope" ), then you'll have a pretty good idea of how Titanfall rounds can play out. It's certainly a game from the people who created the Modern Warfare series, with a similar focus on quick bursts of gunplay. Here, though, we also get an impressive amount of manoeuvrability throughout the map, and the chance to call in big stompy mechs, to gun and/or punch things with. Will it be enough to keep a familiar formula fresh. From the reports of people who've played the game - including our own Tom Senior, who went hands-on with it at Gamescom last year - it sounds like it might. We'll get a more definite answer when the game's released in March.A fundamental law of material science could be rewritten by graphene: in simulations and experiment, scientists have shown that graphene's heart absorption varies with the size of the sample, which means it could absorb an unlimited amount of heat. Up until now, French physicist Joseph Fourier's observations have held true: namely, that conductivity is an intrinsic material property, that's independent of size or shape. But researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P) in Mainz and the National University of Singapore have shown that might not be the case for graphene. Davide Donadio, one of the researchers, explains to R&D: "We recognized mechanisms of heat transfer that actually contradict Fourier's law in the micrometer scale. Now all the previous experimental measurements of the thermal conductivity of graphene need to be reinterpreted. The very concept of thermal conductivity as an intrinsic property does not hold for graphene, at least for patches as large as several micrometers." Advertisement Indeed, through computer simulation and real-life experiment, the team found that the thermal conductivity of graphene increases logarithmically with the size of the sample. That means that, as you use larger samples, more heat can be absorbed per unit length. It's a material science first, and one that changes the way scientists think about the heat absorption of materials. Why care? Well, the finding could be massive news for micro- and nano-electronics., where heat rejection is a massive limiting factor. Introducing materials with theoretically unlimited thermal absorption would be an amazing advance alone; remember that graphene conducts, and you're essentially looking at the possibility of developing self-cooling circuitry. In other words: this could be an electronics engineer wet dream. [Nature Communications via R&D] Physicists show unlimited heat conduction in graphene Based on recent experiments and computer simulations, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for… Read more Read Advertisement Image by CORE-materials under Creative Commons licenseAsylum seekers from Somalia sleep in front of the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service in's-Hertogenbosch on August 1, 2012 (AFP Photo/Jerry Lampen) The Hague (AFP) - The Dutch government on Tuesday rejected a call from UN rights experts to provide thousands of homeless migrants with food and shelter during the bitter north European winter. An estimated 8,000 asylum seekers are turned down every year in the Netherlands and left up to their own devices pending expulsion. Many end up living on the street. "In these dark days before Christmas, it is appalling that the Dutch government will not even commit less than 0.01 percent of its yearly budget to help people living in absolute misery and poverty," UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human right, Philip Alston. "Assisting migrants living on the streets is not a matter of charity," he said in a statement on Tuesday, noting that the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) had recently ruled that the Netherlands was "violating the right to emergency assistance of adult homeless irregular migrants". The Dutch government recently rejected a 15-million euro ($19 million) appeal from 60 local municipalities to look after homeless migrants over the winter. Junior security and justice minister Fred Teeven of the liberal VVD party said he does not want to encourage rejected asylum seekers to stay in the Netherlands. But his ministry contested what it called "one-sided information" from the ECSR that informed the UN rapporteur's complaint. "The Netherlands endeavours to prevent foreign nationals without lawful residence ending up on the street," the security and justice ministry said in an email to AFP. The ministry repeated its position that it is waiting for a meeting of EU foreign ministers that is expected to discuss the matter in February or March. "Calling for measures to be adopted is at this stage premature," the ministry said, repeating that it would not refund town councils any money they spend looking after homeless asylum seekers. Immigration is a sensitive issue in the Netherlands, with the ruling liberal VVD party competing for votes with the far-right anti-Islam PVV party. "Politicians in the Netherlands have been trying to score political points at the expense of homeless irregular migrants in the national debate about immigration," said the UN special rapporteur on the rights of migrants, Francois Crepeau. "Human migration patterns will not change by letting migrants sleep on the streets," he said. Other Dutch political parties, including the
of Berkeley. Original story, Aug. 14, 1 p.m. A man died this week after passing out at the Ashby BART station in South Berkeley, authorities reported Wednesday. The incident took place just before 11:15 p.m. Tuesday, according to BART. Tuesday night, the Berkeley Fire Department responded to the west lot of the Ashby BART station for a report of a sick man who had passed out. BART officers also responded and found a transient man and his wife at the north end of the lot, by Ashby Avenue. The woman said her husband suffered from a number of medical issues, including heart problems, respiratory problems and low blood sugar. The couple had been resting on the ground when the man sat up and told his wife he felt light-headed. He then passed out and fell on top of her. The man was taken by ambulance to Alta Bates Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. According to BART, there are no signs of foul play and the man’s death appears to be attributable to pre-existing medical conditions. BART Police Lt. Steve Coontz said the husband and wife were transients who frequent the Berkeley area. He said an official release of the man’s name would have to come from the coroner’s office. The Alameda County coroner’s office has not yet responded to a request for the man’s name, but Berkeleyside will update this story if that information becomes available. Related: Man found dead in Berkeley’s Codornices Park (01.21.14) Man dies outside North Berkeley CVS (06.12.13) Man dies after suspected overdose in People’s Park (05.29.13) Get the latest Berkeley news in your inbox with Berkeleyside’s free Daily Briefing. And make sure to bookmark Berkeleyside’s pages on Facebook and Twitter. You don’t need an account on those sites to view important information.Kelly O’Connell adopted Charlie Bear when he was just a pup. She was 19 at the time, living in New York state. Charlie, a 12-week-old black lab mix, had been found in a shopping cart, in the middle of winter. She wasn’t looking for a dog to adopt, but she saw Charlie in the shelter one day, and she just knew. 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. “It was just kind of like, yeah he’s mine,” O’Connell said. Time went by. Years, really. Kelly moved to Colorado. Charlie came, too. They were like two kids, Kelly said. Then Kelly met James Garvin, and the two moved in together. (Charlie came too, of course.) O’Connell and Garvin, both veterinarians, got married this September. And they wanted Charlie to be there. But Charlie, who was 15 years old, had been diagnosed with a brain tumor earlier this year. His condition had deteriorated. And it was clear Charlie wouldn’t live much longer. “I had actually made an appointment for somebody to come to the house and we were going to put him down a week before the wedding, because he had had five seizures and we were just like ‘this is too much, I don’t want to do this for him anymore,'” O’Connell said. “Eventually, it was almost as if he was like ‘no I want to see this.’ He got better.” Charlie did attend the wedding. He made it down the aisle, O’Connell said. But he couldn’t make it back. That was when O’Connell’s sister, the maid-of-honor, swooped down and scooped him up. She carried him down the aisle herself. “There isn’t enough mascara in the world for these moments,”Jen Dziuvenis, the wedding’s photographer, wrote on a Facebook post. “Dog people are the best people.” “The world,” O’Connell said of her sister’s effort. “It meant the world to me.” “This is what love looks like,” Dziuvenis said of the moment. “Love for family, love for animals, love for your sister. It was just the most touching display of that that I’ve seen, and it was spur of the moment, it just happened, because that’s how these people are.” Dziuvenis, a Colorado-based photographer, said that she was close friends with the bride’s sister, and described the family “crazy animal people, all of them.” She knew that Charlie was sick, she said, but didn’t realize how dire his condition was, and didn’t realize he was going to be in the wedding until she showed up to shoot it. “And that was kind of when I learned that they didn’t think he was going to make it that long, and that he had just a few days, maybe, after the wedding to live,” Dziuvenis said. “But they really wanted him in the wedding, because that’s the bride’s — that’s like her soul dog.” After O’Connell’s sister carried Charlie back down the aisle, bride and groom dropped to their knees and hugged the dog, O’Connell said. “I just kept saying, ‘you made it buddy, you made it,'” O’Connell said. “He just had a giant grin on his face.” As a veterinarian, O’Connell is familiar with conversations with pet owners: when do we know it’s time? She tells people to count five things that their dog loved, and if they can take away three of those things, then its clear their pet’s quality of life is dropping. Charlie was O’Connell’s marathon training buddy, so seeing him not be able to walk a few feet, she said, was “kind of like a sucker-punch to the gut.” “I think despite that feeling though, when I look at the pictures, especially the one where the flowers are all around him, I just think he looks so happy in those pictures,” she said. “I just think to myself, despite that feeling of did I push it too far, or did I force him to stay around for this wedding, looking at those makes me think, he just wanted to see that, us come together, and I guess his mom be taken care of.” O’Connell said Charlie was put down a few days after the ceremony. She described the wedding pictures as “priceless, absolutely priceless.” “He may not have been able to do what he wanted to do, and his body was definitely failing him,” O’Connell said. “But he was happy to be there.” Copyright: Washington Post 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 nowWest Oakland Punks Hold Vegan Bake Sale to End Gentrification OAKLAND, Calif. — The West Oakland punk community gathered this past weekend to hold a vegan bake sale fundraiser as part of a series of continuing efforts to combat the scourge of gentrification across their city, beanie-clad sources confirmed. “It is amazing how much the neighborhood has changed since I moved here about a year ago,” said Dave Myers, a software developer for Uber. “What first attracted me to the area was its energy. It had this… feeling. I want to do my part to help bring that back.” The event, sponsored by the Oakland Soul Collective, was particularly successful at bringing in newer members of the community concerned about gentrification. “We reserved the [basketball] courts using this new app called Open Spaces. At first the local kids seemed pretty bummed they couldn’t play here today, but now I think they understand what we are doing is to benefit the community, so it’s cool,” said Taylor Houghton, one of the bake sale organizers and an artisanal vegan soap maker. “Everything here is five dollars or less if you have a valid, government-issued, photo ID to show you are from the neighborhood.” The event brought in bearded vendors from a variety of businesses all across the city who have benefited from Oakland’s reasonable rents and rapidly-changing economy. “We have vegan pies, vegan cakes, vegan cupcakes, even vegan brownies, if you can believe that,” said Liam Martin, owner, and proprietor of Fresh Batch, an artisanal vegan confectionary shop with a Scandinavian theme that recently opened downtown. “This is the true flavor of the neighborhood.” In addition to coffee and treats, the Collective tabled with reasonably-priced zines and pamphlets to promote local culture. “I’m killing it selling my zines. Plus, I’ve gotten exposure for my grind band by playing our demo on loop at the table,” said Becky Newman, a local artist specializing in cruelty-free sculpture. “It’s just people helping people. Once we decide where to donate the profits, we’ll definitely see improvement.” While the event was considered an overall success by those involved, Houghton did voice disappointment towards longtime residents of the neighborhood who didn’t bother to show up. “I’m making a change,” she said. “If people can’t accept that then they can leave.” Photo by Somelazyartist and Philadelphia Water.Truth About It.net’s D.C. Council: setting the scene, recapping key points, providing the analysis, evaluating players, and catching anything that you may have missed from the Washington Wizards. NBA Playoffs 2014, Round, 1 Game No. 1: Wizards at Bulls; contributors: Rashad Mobley, Sean Fagan and John Converse Townsend from the East Coast, not the Midwest. Washington Wizards 102 at Chicago Bulls 93 [box score] The Wizards, led by postseason first-timer Randy Wittman, won Game 1. In many ways it was an unlikely victory in a hostile environment for Wittman & Co., even if they were tied for the best regular season road record in the East. After a very promising start from the 5-seed visitors, the Bulls, spurred by a raucous crowd, found their stride. The Wizards were out-scored in both second-chance and paint points by a physical (if less skilled) Bulls offense, and as a result were forced to play from behind (against a top-ranked Bulls defense) for nearly 20 minutes between the second and fourth quarters—not an enviable position. The Wizards were down as many as 13 points early in the third quarter, but kept calm and carried on, as if Wittman had channeled the British Ministry of Information circa 1940 during his halftime speech: “Your courage, your cheerfulness, your resolution will bring us victory.” With four minutes left to play, the score was tied at 88. The Bulls would then score just five points in 240 seconds. The Wizards? Twelve, including eight from the free throw line (they were a perfect 12-for-12 in the fourth quarter). … Free throws! The Bulls, over 82 games in the regular season, surrendered an average of 20.3 free throws per game. The Wizards (averaging 20.9 attempts) on this night drew foul after foul, especially in the first half where they lived in the bonus, en route to 35 attempts (making 26). Nene, who was available for the Wizards’ two regular season wins over Chicago (but not for the one loss), was again the biggest, widest X-factor. He led all players with 24 points, sinking seven of his 13 midrange attempts and making all four of his attempts in the paint. Trevor Ariza was as patient as a venus flytrap. He scored 18 (more than any single Bulls player) on just eight attempts from the field. Gortat had 15 points on 10 attempts (plus 13 boards). So while John Wall and Bradley Beal shot a combined 7-for-25, the Wizards were able to make nearly 50 percent (48.6%) of their attempts and grab the first round by the horns: Game 1 winners have advanced in 77 percent of best-of-seven series in NBA history. #WhyNotWizards? —John Converse Townsend (@JohnCTownsend) Nene. Before it was announced that he would be in the starting lineup for Game 1 of the playoffs, Nene came off the bench for four of the Wizards’ last five games and played no more than 24 minutes in any of those games—a limit Nene insisted upon keeping. Given that he really hadn’t played at full strength for a sustained period of time since a Feb. 22 game against the New Orleans Pelicans, there were legitimate reasons for Wizards coaches, players, and fans to be a bit concerned about the type of sustaining performance he had to offer. Twenty-seven seconds into the game, Nene took those fears (along with Carlos Boozer) and did this: From that point on, Nene was Washington’s version of “The Answer.” When Beal and Wall got off to a slow first quarter (honestly, they were off the entire game), it was Nene who was there with eight points in the period. When Wall came off the pick-and-roll and was met by two Chicago defenders, it was Nene who bailed him out. When Trevor Booker could not keep Taj Gibson out of the paint and off the boards, it was Nene who stepped in and effectively smothered Gibson, knocked him down, and left him looking to the referees for help. Nene even pulled off a fast break layup off a steal for good measure. If the next game was on Monday night, Nene’s 35 minutes of play would be cause for concern. But with the next game not until Tuesday at 9:30 p.m., there are no such worries. As Nene said just a few days ago, “Haters know the past, I know the present, but the future, only God knows.” —Rashad Mobley (@Rashad20) Trevor Booker. Nene reclaimed his starting spot, which meant the reemergence of Trevor Booker would have continue in a reserve role. Unfortunately, no such thing took place. Less than a minute after checking into the game, Booker had to stop to tie his shoes while the rest of his teammates ran down the court. He then seemed to be a step slow for the remainder of the night. Booker could not keep Taj Gibson out of the paint on the defensive end, and on offense he was not a legitimate threat to score. As TNT’s Kenny Smith observed, the Chicago Bulls second unit is just as effective as their starters. Trevor Booker (now as a member of the Wizards bench mob) will have to contribute more than three points and porous defense for 19 minutes. First-game jitters or not, it will be interesting to see if Randy Wittman counters with more minutes for Drew Gooden (2:32 on Sunday) or Al Harrington (1:43) instead of Booker during Game 2 on Tuesday. —Rashad Mobley (@Rashad20) The Polish Machine. After a first half as loud as an idling Prius (three points, five rebounds, and an accepted invite to Carlos Boozer’s soirée), Marcin Gortat let loose a coal-powered roar to finish the game. He went 5-for-6 from the field in the second half (including two third-quarter dunks) for 12 points and added eight rebounds, keeping important playoff possessions alive with tap-outs that would make Jan Vesely (and Eva) proud. Gortat double-doubled, as he often does (he led the team with 37 this season), and finished with 15 points, a game-high 13 rebounds, and the top aide title in a huge win. —John Converse Townsend (@JohnCTownsend) That Session Was … Straight Thievery. If someone were to tell you prior to Sunday night’s tip off that the Wizards would manage to pull out a playoff victory on the road with the duo of John Wall and Bradley Beal going a combined 7-for-25 from the field, well … you would consider escorting that person to the nearest mental institution (or take them to a Catholic priest for an exorcism). But that is just what the Wizards achieved through the miraculous resurrection of Nene and some solid play (offensively) from Marcin Gortat, and now Chicago has to be reeling heading into what may amount for them as a must-win game. (OK, so they’re all must-win games in the playoffs, but heading to D.C. in an 0-2 hole could be a Polish Hammer’d nail in the coffin.) To allow both Wall and Beal a game to shake off the playoff jitters but escape with a win was the worst possible outcome for a Bulls team that was going to win this series through intimidation and defense. Because the simple truth of the matter is that while Coach Tom Thibodeau can say that his defense “wasn’t good enough,” it’s the glaring holes in his offense (and the radiant light of Nene) that might prove to be his team’s undoing. For further consideration: The Wizards won this game without any notable contribution from their bench with the exception of a clinic put on by Professor Andre Miller in the fourth quarter. Trevor Booker wilted under the bright lights and got shoved around. Martell Webster once again took his one-man act, “The Disappearing Man,” onto the court for a total of 17 minutes. Drew Gooden and Al Harrington looked their age in very limited minutes. Yet, the Wizards eked out just enough offense and tightened up on defense to the point where all those things didn’t matter. The Bulls wanted this series to be a rock fight. They wanted to slow it down and beat up the Wizards on the glass. Well, they achieved those aims tonight and still lost. So what does Thibodeau do between now and Tuesday to right the ship? —Sean Fagan (@McCarrick) Sometimes checkers does defeat chess. When the Bulls stormed out after halftime to go on a 10-3 run, it looked like Coach Tom Thibodeau had made those “critical half time adjustments” that talking heads love to discuss, and that Randy Wittman may have spent his 20 minutes perusing the fruit plate. Instead, Wittman made two of the guttier decisions of the season which helped his team achieve victory. The first was that he was going to ride or die with Nene, even if it means that all of the Brazilian’s appendages may fall off on the bench by Game 5. Wittman left Nene out there for 35 minutes (and six personal fouls), and while the gauge may have read “empty” for the last five minutes, Wittman was not about to take his most useful, playoff-tested veteran out of the game. The second and more controversial decision that Wittman made was to take John Wall out of the game in the third quarter and leave him stapled to the bench until fewer than five minutes remained in the fourth quarter in favor of the the slow jam stylings of Prof. Andre Miller. The move worked out, as Miller worked D.J. Augustin over with his rec league game of post moves and spot-up jumpers. However, stars win playoff series, and one has to blanch at the thought of Wittman leaving his best player on the bench in favor of riding the ever popular “hot hand.” Wittman called the performance of his team a “good, gritty win” but it was also a validation of his coaching methods throughout the season. For all that the Wizards offense can still resemble a group of five-year-olds chasing a soccer ball, the positives are often overlooked as there is a belief that Wittman is never getting the most out of the talent on hand. It is easy to forget that the Wizards have a top 10 defense and have become steadily better in that department since Wittman took over. It’s also easy to forget how Wittman has maxed out the talent of his big men, putting both Nene and Gortat in positions to thrive while hiding their weaknesses enough to make them one of the more effective frontcourts in the league. On Easter Sunday evening, checkers beat chess and the series stands at 1-0, Wizards. Many can honestly say they never expected to see Randy Wittman at the postgame podium in the playoffs, but now no one can say he didn’t deserve it. —Sean Fagan (@McCarrick) John Wall 2 out of 5 stars 35 min | plus-11 | 16 pts | 4-14 FGs | 8-10 FTs | 6 reb | 6 asts | 2 stls | 3 TOs John Wall would like his coming-out party back, please. Unfairly, the lasting memory of Wall from this game will be his look of forlorn resignation as his sat on the bench while Randy Wittman decided to roll with Andre Miller for a majority of the fourth quarter, until Miller became ineffective or expired. Stars are supposed to be starlike, and Wall’s performance from the field (4-14 FGs) leaves something to be desired. But, he also noticeably ratcheted up his defense on D.J. Augustin and Kirk Hinrich as the game progressed and was a tidy 8-for-10 at the free throw line. Wall will get ‘his’ before the series ends and perhaps this was the best way for him to make his debut on the big stage. Let the elder statesmen have their turn and take a game to shake off the jitters. Two days is an eternity for John Wall to kick himself about this performance and get ready for the second game of the series. —S. Fagan Bradley Beal 2 out of 5 stars 42 mins| plus-11 | 13 pts | 3-11 FGs | 7-7 FTs | 7 asts | 2 rebs | 1 blk | 0 TOs We’ll start with the positive. Beal was perfect from the free throw line, and despite the disappearance of his jumpshot, he found ways to get his teammates involved via his seven assists. He also had a key block of D.J. Augustin with 5:11 left in the game. But it is Beal’s job to hit the outside shots in order to open up the lane for Nene, Gortat and Wall, not play the facilitator and focus on the intangibles. Nene and Gortat (17-for-27) were able to thrive in the post in spite of Beal’s off-night, but chances are that Coach Thibodeau and the Bulls will adjust and slow down Nene, which means Beal cannot have another off night. —R. Mobley Trevor Ariza 4 out of 5 stars 38 mins | plus-10 | 18 pts | 5-8 FGs | 3-5 3Ps | 5-6 FTs | 7 rebs | 3 asts | 1 blk | 1 TO Against Chicago in Game 1, contract-year Trevor Ariza was a perfect opportunist. His three contested field goal attempts were the fewest of any starter. His 80 percent effort (4-for-5) on uncontested field goals led all players. Sometimes it’s about output, other times it’s about timing, and in many cases it’s about attitude. In the Windy City, Ariza delivered on all three. —J.C. Townsend Nene ALL THE STARS FOREVER 35 min | plus- 7 | 24 pts | 11-17 FGs | 2-5 FTs | 8 rebs | 3 asts | 2 stls | 2 TOs | 1 Easter Miracle We all got jokes. Nene making his first playoff appearance for the Washington Wizards on Easter Sunday was too good of a gag to pass up, and the last few days have turned the Wizards Twitterverse into an industrial machine, pumping out #NeneHasRisen jokes that blurred the pixel/reality line to the point where no one knew what to actually expect from the enigmatic Brazilian. Except in this case, prophecy became fact. For all the gentile jokes that are made at the expense of Nene’s beatific faith that the Big Man Shall Provide, perhaps we all need to sip at the chalice full of God juice more often, because Nene played the Bulls like the Devil himself was chasing him down. He opened that game with a thunderous dunk and then proceeded to calmly drill midrange jumper after midrange jumper over a completely out-matched Joakim Noah. Nene’s play was such that it rendered the Bull’s 1st Team All-NBA center next to useless, as every time he cheated off Nene to help defend he would be punished for his sins with another made 17-footer. And every time Noah tried to muscle up Nene, the Brazilian wrecking ball would just shove him out of the way en route to the basket. As Steve Kerr noted, “Nene is one of the few big men in the league capable of outmuscling Noah on the block.” In that simple sentence may lie the key to the series. One further note: It is rare heroes of the D.C. sports scene to live up to their billing once the playoffs roll around. Gilbert Arenas never quite got over LeBron James whispering in his ear at the free throw line. Alex Ovechkin loses his scoring when April makes its presence known. Nene not only lived up to the billing and silliness that was poured upon him before this game, but he actually exceeded all expectations. Win or lose, D.C. will now always have the Easter Game. —S. Fagan Marcin Gortat 3 out of 5 stars 37 mins| plus-10 | 15 pts | 6-10 FGs | 3-4 FTs | 13 rebs | 1 blk | 3 TOs Gortat this season famously said that “50 percent of Nene” is better than most NBA players. Tonight, that statement was true for the big Pole. Most Wizards fans would have preferred to see a complete game out of Gortat, but one half was enough in Chicago. His 12 second-half points were tied for a game-high in that time, as were his eight rebounds, and he finished with a better line than either Carlos Boozer (who torched him early: 11 points, 9 rebounds) or Joakim Noah (10 points, 10 rebounds). More importantly, Gortat finished with a better plus/minus (+10). —J.C. Townsend Andre Miller 3 out of 5 stars 14 mins| plus-2 | 10 pts | 5-7 FGs | 0-0 FTs | 0 asts | 1 TOs When discussing the Bulls-Wizards series on their pre-playoff podcast, Bill Simmons and Zach Lowe joked that D.J. Augustin wanted no parts of Andre “The Professor” Miller in the post. Coach Thibodeau must have heard this and made plans accordingly. When Miller checked into the game with 31 seconds left in the first quarter, he tried to post-up Augustin, and Taj Gibson was there to foil his plans. For three quarters, Miller seemed to be on his heels, as he struggled both score and find his teammates for easy baskets. With the start of the fourth quarter, the lightbulb in Miller’s head seemed to go off, and he realized he needed to pepper in an outside shot instead of solely relying on his ample post game. Miller scored eight points in the first seven and a half minutes of the fourth quarter on layups and jump shots, and helped cut Chicago’s lead from five to one point. He was playing so well that TNT’s Steve Kerr and Marv Albert suggested Coach Wittman should leave Wall on the bench and ride Miller’s hot hand, which Wittman did. Miller ultimately got tired and forced Wittman to call a timeout (at the 4:33 mark of the fourth), but that doesn’t change the fact that the Professor adjusted on the fly tonight and made everyone forget that he went without an assist. —R. Mobley Trevor Booker 1 out of 5 stars 19 mins | plus-1 | 3 pts | 1-3 FGs | 1-2 FTs | 6 rebs | 1 ast | 1 stl | 3 PFs Trevor Booker was active on the defensive boards with six in 19 minutes, but the man he was attempting to guard, Taj Gibson, played a more complete game at his expense with 12 points, six rebounds and three blocks. Booker’s lack of offense is disappointing—not unexpected given his struggles the majority of the season—but his inability to defend Gibson is part of the reason why the Wizards were outscored 32-24 in the second quarter (when Gibson scored eight points). Nene bailed Booker out on this victorious night, but just as Beal will have to eventually carry his weight for the Wizards to win this series, Booker will have to do his job to neutralize Gibson’s toughness off Chicago’s bench. —R. Mobley End Vines.The European Union has approved the use of weed-killer glyphosate for the next five years after a heated debate over whether it causes cancer. Diplomats said Germany swung the vote, coming off the fence after abstaining in previous meetings to oppose its key EU partner France, which wanted a shorter licence extension. Europe has been wrestling for the past two years over what to do with the chemical, a key ingredient in Monsanto’s top-selling Roundup, whose licence was set to expire on Dec 15. The chemical has been used by farmers for more than 40 years, but its safety was cast in doubt when a World Health Organization agency, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, concluded in 2015 it probably causes cancer. The European Union agreed to roll over the licence for 18 months pending the results of a study by the European Chemicals Agency, which said in March this year that there was no evidence linking glyphosate to cancer in humans. Diplomats said the key swing vote came from Germany, whose government is still operating in an acting capacity following an indecisive September election. Berlin abstained earlier, but threw its weight behind a decision opposed by France.The honeymoon phase! 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? is returning on TLC for a second season, in addition to a new digital series, 90 Day Fiancé: What Now? Watch the exclusive supertease for Happily Ever After above! Season 2 of Happily Ever After features five couples from previous seasons of TLC’s original 90 Day Fiancé series, in which the couples are given 90 days to marry their foreign-born fiancés or they’d have to return home. Now that the couples are married and have navigated through the K-1 “fiancé visa” process, they’ve begun to realize that the honeymoon phase is over. The couples returning for season 2 are Jorge and Anfisa; Danielle and Mohamed; Loren and Alexei; Chantel and Pedro; and Russ and Paola. In addition to adjusting to married life in America, the newlyweds will be faced with various real-life issues, including cultural differences, financial difficulties and disapproving family members. Stars Who Got Their Start on Reality TV In addition to Happily Ever After, the new digital series, What Now, will stream on TLC.com and the TLC Go app. The series will focus on what life has been like for several fan-favorite 90 Day Fiancé couples after they walked down the aisle. The couples returning for What Now include Narkyia and Lowo; Melanie and Devar; Josh and Aleksandra; Alan and Kirlyam; and Matt and Alla. Ahead of the season 2 premiere of Happily Ever After, TLC will air two specials about the couples’ journeys so far, airing on June 11 and June 18 at 8 p.m. ET. 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!In many respects, the fantasy/space opera Allods Online looks very much like a World of Warcraft clone. It is perhaps the best WoW clone around, and is shaping up to be an excellent F2P MMO in general, potentially toping the renowned Runes of Magic. Nowadays, people throw around the term ‘WoW Clone” much too often for it to have any real significance and meaning. In fact it is often used as a derogatory phrase to downplay a potential MMO title as generic or unimpressive rehash. World of Warcraft has become the measuring stick to judge other MMO titles by because it is the most successful MMORPG out today. WoW used concepts and features from other MMOs on the market, and combined it into a single package. It was not revolutionary for what it brought to the table, but because it was a brilliantly polished chimera of an MMO, with ideas from games all over rolled into a single title. It also has one of the largest user-bases around; thus it’s popularity becomes a contributing factor in the games favor. With that being stated, Allods Online is a highly polished title, (graphically, it actually looks on-par with WoW’s Burning Crusade), has excellent character creation and customization and impressively, is free to play. It is reminiscent of WoW in the best way possible. What sets Allods apart from other F2P MMOs is that it avoids the grind-heavy norm and expensive cash shops associated with Korean games. The game has two warring factions players can join, 28 classes to choose from, some 1500 quests to take part in, and plenty of creatures, temples, dungeons, and castles to raid. The game offers faction to faction battles, PvE, and ship vs ship battles. Yes, you can build and control your own space ship. The game is currently in beta at the moment. From what can be seen so far, the title seems to be the most polished F2P title yet. Monster High™ and the Kind Campaign Partner to Bring the Power of Kindness to Girls. Marketing Weekly News June 4, 2011 Monster High™, Mattel’s popular tween and teen-targeted franchise, which encourages girls to celebrate their imperfections and embrace those of others, announced that it is partnering with the Kind Campaign, a movement, documentary and school program dedicated to spreading the message of kindness. Based on a simple and empowering solution to bullying, the intent of the Kind Campaign is not to point fingers, but instead, to put ourselves in each other’s shoes, and make the personal choice to be kind. The Monster High™ brand reaches teen and tween girls through content, toy, consumer product, publishing and entertainment and leverages storytelling to highlight the awkward, yet relatable moments of being a teen in high school – from the challenges of fitting in to the powerful bonds of friendship – all delivered through a monster lens. “The Monster High brand uses the monster metaphor to show girls that it is ok to be different and that our unique differences should be celebrated,” said Lori Pantel, VP Marketing, Global Mattel Girls Brands. “We see our partnership with Kind Campaign as a natural fit because their message of kindness and acceptance goes hand-in-hand with the Monster High brand’s message to embrace our own and each other’s imperfections.” Kind Campaign founders Lauren Parsekian (age 24) and Molly Thompson (age 23) have visited more than 300 schools and organizations with their Kind assembly program and their inspiring documentary “Finding Kind.” The film is currently touring the festival circuit, where it has received numerous awards including the Student Choice Award at Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival and Best Documentary at the Palm Beach Women’s International Film Festival. see here monster high wiki “We are excited to partner with Monster High and have the opportunity to leverage the brand’s scale to reach and relate to our target audience of teen and tween girls. In teaming up with Monster High, we will be a step closer to our goal of reaching every girl across the country with the message of creating change through being kind,” said Lauren Parsekian, co-founder of Kind Campaign. This fall, Monster High™ and Kind Campaign will team up to launch special programs and content for teen and tween girls spreading the message that it is cool to be kind. One of these planned programs will leverage the popularity of the Monster High™ animated webisode series to launch content that incorporates the Kind message. Making a special appearance in the halls of Monster High™, Kind Campaign founders Lauren Parsekian and Molly Thompson will be transformed into monsterfied characters and teach the students at Monster High™ the importance of being kind – because that, at the end of the day is how we are going to create change. Additional activities will be announced this fall. website monster high wiki For more information on Monster High™, please visit www.facebook.com/monsterhigh and to learn more about Kind Campaign, visit www.kindcampaign.com About Mattel Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAT) (www.mattel.com) is the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of toys and family products. The Mattel family is comprised of such best-selling brands as Barbie[R], the most popular fashion doll ever introduced, Hot Wheels[R], Matchbox[R], American Girl[R], Radica[R] and Tyco[R] R/C, as well as Fisher-Price[R] brands, including Little People[R], Power Wheels[R] and a wide array of entertainment-inspired toy lines. In 2011, Mattel was named as one of FORTUNE Magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” for the fourth year in a row, and also is ranked among Corporate Responsibility Magazine’s “100 Best Corporate Citizens.” With worldwide headquarters in El Segundo, Calif., Mattel employs approximately 30,000 people in 43 countries and territories and sells products in more than 150 nations. At Mattel, we are “Creating the Future of Play.” About Kind Campaign Kind Campaign is an internationally recognized movement, documentary and school program, based upon the powerful belief in KINDness, that brings awareness and healing to the negative and lasting effects of girl-against-girl “crime”. Founded by Lauren Parsekian and Molly Thompson in 2009, Kind Campaign aims to STOP the competition, STOP the cattiness, STOP the hate, and to BE KIND. Over the last year and a half the organization has spread its message through impactful assemblies and screenings of their documentary feature, “Finding Kind” presented by IndieFlix, at more than 300 schools and organizations across the country. MATTEL, MONSTER HIGH and associated trademarks and trade dress are owned by Mattel, Inc. [c] 2011 Mattel, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Kind Campaign and associated trademarks and trade dress are owned by Kind Campaign, NPO [c]. 201
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"Girls Around Me" used information from location-based social network Foursquare to find women on a map and view their publicly-available pictures from Facebook. The women had no idea they were being tracked by strangers and had no chance to opt out. As the application sparked debate over whether it encourages stalking, Foursquare cut access to it saying it violated a policy against aggregating information across venues. "This is a violation of our API [application programming interface] policy, so we've reached out to the developer and shut off their API access," Foursquare spokeswoman Laura Covington told The New York Times. The creator of Girls Around Me, Russian developer i-Free Innovations, had to withdraw the application from Apple’s App Store. It fired back at accusations in a letter to the Wall Street Journal saying it was “unethical to pick a scapegoat to talk about privacy concerns.” It explained that the application was misunderstood, insisting that Girls Around Me only provides data that is already publicly available. “The app was intended for facilitating discovering of great public venues nearby. The app was designed to make it easier for a user to step out of door and hang out in the city, find people with common interests and new places to go to,” i-Free said in a letter. "Since the app’s launch we’ve seen numerous positive comments from users who claimed that the app helped them to discover 'hot spots' – venues that are popular among girls or boys," it added. The outcry around Girls Around Me once again raised the issue of online privacy, highlighting the question of how much data one should share publicly to stay safe.Seventy years ago, as the allies were driving Nazi forces back across Europe, Britain was preparing for eventual peace and reconstruction. The nation was gripped not only by dispatches from the front but also by the Beveridge report, the blueprint for what was to become known as the welfare state. In proposing a system of cradle-to-grave social security, improved education and a national health service, the report lacked nothing in ambition. Its author, Sir William Beveridge, declared that “a revolutionary moment in the world’s history is a time for revolutions, not patching”. Overnight, he became a national hero. As we claw our way out of the wreckage of a global economic crash that has had a warlike impact, triggering spending cuts unprecedented in modern times, there is a sense in which the UK faces another revolutionary moment. The battered remains of Beveridge’s welfare state need rebuilding and redesigning for the 21st century, for the digital era and for a society that expects a very different relationship with government. Beveridge, however, was on to something in basing his report on the need to tackle five “giant evils”: want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness. His list has stood the test of time so well that when the IPPR thinktank published recently its Condition of Britain analysis, it revisited the five topics for an update. Verdict: work still in progress. But such is the scale and nature of the challenge facing our public services and the voluntary and community sector, which remains as much a part of the response to social need as it was in Beveridge’s day, that there is a strong case for recasting and redefining his five giants for 2014. As the new Society Professionals service is introduced, bringing together the Guardian’s networks for public services and voluntary sector professionals, we propose five “modern evils”. Some are close to Beveridge’s originals, others less so; but all reflect the concerns of practitioners, policy-makers and politicians in the run-up to next year’s general election. Over coming weeks, we shall explore and debate our new five giants. Your comments and contributions will be welcome. But in revisiting the agenda of the welfare state, and discussing how modern evils might be identified, confronted and slain, we need to keep in mind two key factors that will shape, and to some extent constrain, the response of public services and the voluntary sector. The first is that there is no foreseeable return to the levels of public spending of a decade ago. So draconian has been the regime of spending cuts enforced over the past four years, with the same again to come, that on some estimates the UK will by 2017 have the lowest share of public spending among leading capitalist economies, including the US. And there is no realistic prospect of that fundamentally changing, irrespective of the outcome of the general election. Although respectable economic arguments are made for boosting public spending, and/or reapportioning it towards welfare, the mainstream political parties are wedded to fiscal conservatism and wary of being portrayed as spendthrift or negligent of other spending areas such as defence. The second context factor is the changed relationship between the citizen and the state. In Beveridge’s day, people were hugely grateful for any public service – they queued in their thousands to register with a GP when the NHS opened for business in 1948 – and were unquestioning of what they were given or told. Today, society is far more consumerist: educated, informed and enabled to choose and challenge. Individuals know their rights and stand ready to insist on them. They increasingly expect, too, to be involved in the planning and transaction of public services: “co-production” is the buzzword, but in plain English it means much more of a partnership between the person delivering a service and the person receiving it. So taking account of that changed landscape, what are the modern evils that we must take on and defeat? Inequality is arguably the most serious threat to the UK’s social stability. There still exists the kind of sheer want that alarmed Beveridge – after all, 900,000 people depended on food banks last year – but behind that lies a widening income gap between rich and poor and the inequalities it leads to in lifestyle, education, careers and culture. According to the Equality Trust thinktank, the 100 wealthiest people in the UK today have as much money as the poorest 18 million. Inequality is estimated to cost the country more than £39bn a year. Disease, said Beveridge, “often causes that want and brings many other troubles in its train”. That remains the case, but the focus in 2014 is less on episodic disease and more on the 15 million people in England alone who are living with long-term health conditions such as diabetes, arthritis and depression. Together, they are said to account for 70% of total NHS spending. How to provide care and support for these largely older people has become the overriding preoccupation of health planners. More particularly, in view of the NHS’s parlous finances, the preoccupation is how to help them manage their own conditions. With the official UK unemployment rate well below the EU average, and the employment rate almost at a historic high, idleness might not seem a major concern. But the figures disguise a serious problem of under-employment: 8.2 million people, more than one in four of all workers, are employed part-time; 2.7 million employment contracts are “zero-hours”, guaranteeing no actual pay; and 4.5 million people describe themselves as self-employed, with self-employment accounting for 60% of all jobs growth. With a record 4.2 million people working from home, there is growing concern about social isolation and the loss of the “social glue” of the workplace. Loneliness is recognised as a key welfare issue, with almost 5 million people saying television is their main form of company. When Beveridge chose ignorance as one of his five giants, something which “no democracy can afford among its citizens”, he was making the argument for investment in education. Today it is the case that no democracy can afford digital exclusion among its citizens. With public services increasingly accessed online, the 6.4 million UK adults who have never used the internet are at a serious and growing disadvantage. Restricted access to the net is another problem, especially for many public services professionals who are prevented from drawing freely on online tools and resources during the working day. As part of its analysis of digital exclusion, Society Professionals is this week campaigning for employers to allow and encourage greater online access, with appropriate safeguards in place. Squalor is the one of Beveridge’s five evils that is surely as relevant today as 70 years ago. Housing – its availability, cost and quality – is one of the key battlegrounds on which the general election will be fought. An estimated 185,000 people are affected by homelessness every year, a figure that has risen annually for the past three years, and untold numbers of people are living illegally in converted garden sheds, often paying rogue landlords for the privilege. Never can we have been more in need of the Beveridge effect. By 1948, just three years after the end of wartime hostilities, the number of houses built in the UK rose to 227,000, not counting pre-fabs. Last year, with the population 70% larger, just 109,000 new houses were completed in England. David Brindle is the Guardian’s public services editor. What do you think of our 21st century evils? Have we got them right? Do they reflect your working life? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.Purdue University researcher Zhongming Liu has been studying the inner workings of the mind for nearly two decades. His goal is to understand how our brains form mental images based on what we see around us. It’s one of the most complex questions in neuroscience, and Liu tells Inverse he and his team just got a major assist in understanding human brains from a machine mind. “I’ve been working on this for years,” says Liu. “And it wasn’t until now that I’ve been able to get a substantial breakthrough with the help of A.I.” As Liu and his fellow researchers detail in the journal Cerebral Cortex, they used an A.I. neural network — the same basic tech used in computers and phones for facial recognition — to interpret the results of MRI scans of people watching videos. The A.I. then revealed what parts of the brain were responding to what images. In other words, a mind-reading A.I. The researchers were able to use the MRI data from one study participant to predict what another person was seeing, as well as to reconstruct videos based just on what the A.I. had “seen.” “Reconstructing someone’s visual experience is exciting because we’ll be able to see how your brain explains images,” Liu said. That advance could help us understand and possibly treat medical conditions like aphasia, or face blindness, and decode people’s mental images to treat mental health issues. By far the most exciting application is in the area of A.I. development itself, which was always inspired by how the human brain works, hence our obsession with A.I. everything at the moment. And that’s what is so fascinating about this research, according to Liu. It reveals what artificial brains can tell us about their human equivalents — and vice versa. INVERSE LOOT DEALS Meet the Pod The first bed that learns the perfect temperature for your sleep, and dynamically warms or cools according to your needs. Buy Now “Because brains are so complex, it’s hard to ask the A.I. to understand the brain given that we still don’t fully understand ourselves,” Liu says. As he explained, we take measurements from the brain and match the architecture with the A.I., reworking the models until they become more brain-like. Using the brain to teach A.I. to become more brain-like has been a longtime strategy in the field. This particular discovery is still at the basic research stage, but it took years for the science just to reach this point, and it wouldn’t have gotten there at all without the help of artificial intelligence. “That type of network has made an enormous impact in the field of computer vision in recent years,” said Liu said. If you liked this article, check out this video on how A.I. can now predict the future, two seconds at a time.Here I thought we would make it through Gamescom without anything noteworthy besides a few glimpses of demo footage we’ve already seen. Boy, was I wrong. We now have a treasure trove of new information that may just make you a believer if you were still on the fence in regards to getting The Wind Waker HD. I know what you’re thinking: there is absolutely no new content, so why would you even consider it? Fair point, but then again that’s not technically true either. In fact, a new part has been added to the main quest! On top of that we just learned about a kick ass FPS mode that may have just showed why the GamePad is better than standard Dual Stick controllers for shooting games, the exact details on the changes for the Triforce quest, and of course all the information you could possibly want about the Hero Mode. Step inside if you dare! The definitive version of The Wind Waker 5 Triforce Shards grabbed directly (no charts required) Remaining 3 Triforce Shards will require translated charts Sepia tint added to Hyrule Castle In Hero Mode, enemies hit harder In Hero Mode, health is only regained through potions Hero Mode can be selected right away, no completion of the game required Picto Box can take pictures of villagers and be posted on Miiverse Picto Box now saves up to twelve photos Link can take self-photos You can change Link’s facial expression in the photos from happy, sad, and surprised Swift Sail can be attained at the auction house after the first dungeon No alerts will be given that the sail exists; players must “read this post” or discover it for themselves! Can’t skip Tingle’s Island – it has been added into the main quest You can go into a full First-Person mode and shoot arrows like in an FPS Yes, you can move while in First-Person mode You can’t, however, swing a sword or throw bombs in FP mode. This isn’t “Skyrim”, folks GamePad is apparently a beautiful tool for first person gun/arrow play GamePad in FP mode uses relative center – so the center of the combat becomes where you were holding the pad at that time You can adjust his view point by moving Link with the left stick and using the right stick and GamePad This increased versatility makes standard dual-stick FPS controls feel clumsy This information comes directly from Nintendo reps and hands on experience. Needless to say, this a truck load of important information. I am relieved the Swift Sail is so optional the game doesn’t even tell you it exists. Hero Mode? Sounds fantastic. The First-Person mode sounds extremely intriguing and I can’t wait to give it a try myself. Curios what Sepia Tint means? Here you go: That’s not the only new screenshot either. Check out Link in action: The Wind Waker HD comes out in October. Thoughts?Will the future be printed in 3-D? At first glance, looking at past predictions about the future of technology, prognosticators got a whole lot wrong. The Web is a garbage dump of inaccurate guesses about the year 2000, 2010 and beyond. Flying cars, robotic maids and jet packs still are nowhere near a reality. Yet the prediction that 3-D printers will become a part of our daily lives is happening much sooner than anyone anticipated. These printers can produce objects, even rather intricate ones, by printing thin layer after layer of plastic, metal, ceramics or other materials. And the products they make can be highly customized. Photo Last week, President Obama cited this nascent technology during his State of the Union address — as if everyone already knew what the technology was. He expressed hope that it was a way to rejuvenate American manufacturing. “A once-shuttered warehouse is now a state-of-the art lab where new workers are mastering the 3-D printing that has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything,” Mr. Obama said. He has pushed new technologies before, like solar and wind power, as remedies for our nation’s problems, and those attempts have only revived the debate about the limitations of government industrial policy. But this one shows more promise. The question is, can the United States get a foothold in manufacturing one 3-D printer at a time? Hod Lipson, an associate professor and the director of the Creative Machines Lab at Cornell, said “3-D printing is worming its way into almost every industry, from entertainment, to food, to bio- and medical-applications.” It won’t necessarily directly create manufacturing jobs, except perhaps for the printers themselves. Dr. Lipson, the co-author of “Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing,” said that the technology “is not going to simply replace existing manufacturing anytime soon.” But he said he believed that it would give rise to new businesses. “The bigger opportunity in the U.S. is that it opens and creates new business models that are based on this idea of customization.” In addition to the lab that the president mentioned, a federally financed manufacturing innovation institute in Youngstown, Ohio, schools are embracing the technology. The University of Virginia has been working to introduce 3-D printers into some programs from kindergarten through 12th grade in Charlottesville to prepare students for a new future in manufacturing. “We have 3-D printers in classrooms, and in one example, we’re teaching kids how to design and print catapults that they then analyze for efficiency,” said Glen L. Bull, professor and co-director of the Center for Technology and Teacher Education. “We believe that every school in America could have a 3-D printer in the classroom in the next few years.” The education system may want to speed things up. The time between predictions for 3-D printers and the reality of what they can accomplish is compressing rapidly. For example, in 2010, researchers at the University of Southern California said that another decade would pass before we could build a home using a 3-D printer. Yet last week, Softkill Design, a London architecture collective, announced that it planned to make the first such home — which it will assemble in a single day — later this year. The home isn’t that pretty, and will look more like a calcified spider web than a cozy house, but it will show it can be done. The price of 3-D printers has also dropped sharply over the last two years, with machines that once cost $20,000, now at $1,000 or less. That’s partly because Chinese companies are driving down prices. Yes, China sees the opportunity in these things, even though the technology may undermine some of its manufacturing advantages. “When it costs you the same amount of manufacturing effort to make advanced robotic parts as it does to manufacture a paperweight, that really changes things in a profound way,” Dr. Lipson said. This leaves us with one more question about the future: When will these 3-D printers be able to make us flying cars, robotic maids and jet packs? E-mail: [email protected] initially planned to fly hijacked jets into nuclear installations - rather than the World Trade Center and the Pentagon - according to an Arab journalist who says he interviewed two of the group's masterminds. The Arabic television station al-Jazeera says it will broadcast on Thursday the interview in which Osama Bin Laden's aides describe in detail how they planned the 11 September attacks. In an article published in several European newspapers, documentary-maker Yosri Fouda said Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh told him they had decided against the attack on nuclear power plants "for the moment" because of fears it could "get out of control". Both men are on the FBI's most wanted list and have a $25m bounty on their heads. The FBI says Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is one of Bin Laden's key lieutenants, while Ramzi Binalshibh is said to have shared an apartment in Hamburg with Mohammed Atta, the alleged ringleader of the hijackers. Department of Martyrs Mr Fouda said he was taken to a hideout in Pakistan. He says was told by a man there that Bin Laden was alive and well, but was not shown any proof of this. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told him he was head of the al-Qaeda military committee and Ramzi Binalshibh the co-ordinator of what they refer to as "Holy Tuesday". Over the course of two days, Mr Fouda says, the men gave him an insight into how the terror group operates and how the 11 September attacks were planned. Mohammed and Binalshibh alleged that: The decision to launch a "martyrdom operation inside America" was made by network's military committee in early 1999 Atta was summoned to a meeting with key hijackers in Afghanistan that same year Hijackers were recruited from al-Qaeda's Department of Martyrs, which is still active Mr Binalshibh wanted to be one of the hijackers, but was refused a US visa A number of reconnaissance teams travelled to the US ahead of the hijackers Ramzi Binalshibh posed in e-mails as Atta's girlfriend in Germany when the two communicated through the internet The fourth hijacked plane was heading for Congress, not the White House, when passengers overpowered the attackers The codenames for the targets were university faculties: "town planning" for the WTC, "law" for Congress, "fine arts" for the Pentagon On 29 August, Atta gave the date for the attacks to Mr Binalshibh, who ordered active cells in Europe and the US to evacuate Bin Laden was told on 6 September At the end of his two-day interview, Mr Fouda writes, he was instructed to leave the videotapes behind so the faces of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh could be blanked out. Despite promises that they would be returned, the videos never turned up. But, the journalist says, he did eventually receive voice tapes of the interviews. He concludes that there is evidence of "disruption" within the al-Qaeda leadership, and that Bin Laden is more likely dead than alive.Three of the families of men killed in the June 12 shooting massacre at Orlando's Pulse nightclub have filed lawsuits against social media juggernauts Facebook, Twitter, and Google. Loved ones of victims Juan Ramon Guerro, Tevin Crosby and Javier Jorge-Reyes filed the lawsuit in Detroit Federal Court on Monday accusing the companies of playing a hand in inspiring Omar Mateen, who mercilessly shot and killed 49 people at Pulse in June, to commit his horrific act. The lawsuit claims terrorist organizations such as ISIS use the social media organizations to spread hate, bigotry and recruit and are not policed strictly enough. After his cowardly shooting spree at Pulse, Mateen spoke of being devoted to ISIS during 911 calls. He was later killed by police. On Tuesday, Facebook responded to the lawsuit noting they take action to remove any hate-filled content when it is flagged, saying in a statement to the press: "We are committed to providing a service where people feel safe when using Facebook. We sympathize with the victims and their families." Twitter and Google have not responded as of yet.Welcome back to sorta-weird Bullsian stuff. I guess that can happen when the losses start piling, and last night's crudtactular in Cleveland looked to be particularly frustrating to everyone. Even Derrick Rose, with some rare cussin'. "It's like we're not even competing." Derrick Rose lets out his frustration after Bulls fall again. VIDEO: http://t.co/w6k8DTtq1O — SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 20, 2015 Thibs has had a few of these post-game challenges lately, as Monday's was detailed by Sam Smith: It’s especially rankled Thibodeau, who called a Tuesday practice despite the team’s first two-day break in a month. Thibodeau for the first time as Bulls coach talked about possible lineup changes and almost gave one of those Rick Pitino "Bird and McHale are not walking through the door" speeches in annoyed post game comments. Thibodeau said this is the Bulls group and roster for the season, and they are the ones to figure it out. He challenged the players, in effect, repeatedly saying it was up to them to decide when "enough is enough." Taj Gibson has been one of the more vocal Bulls on his teammates being, well, more vocal. He had this to say: We got to practice harder. We can't be taking days off...It comes from within. There's nothing more you can say. It's all about how much heart you have and how determined you're going to be. But a funny thing happened early on Tuesday: practice was cancelled. Nick Friedell said the 'players voices' supported not practicing given their heavy game-laden schedule this month, and KC Johnson is saying the team was looking forward to a 'choice' of coming in for workout/film that day in lieu of a scheduled practice. He also had a potentially telling quote from Pau Gasol, one that's pretty definitively the opposite of Taj: Gasol postgame: "We have two days between games we haven't had in over a month so it will be good to recover and go back to work Wednesday." — K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 20, 2015 The Bulls have a lot going against them at the moment. A combination of slumping, injuries, and lack of depth in key areas all contributing to the losses. It's possible that a fallout of Thibsball is occurring as well: guys not being used to the heavy workload (Gasol) or unable to due to restrictions (Rose, Noah), plus maybe some players focusing on their offense and role at the expense of Thibsian D lately (Butler, Gibson)? It's tough to get anything beyond speculation, but: the defense, overall approach and effort of the team right now just isn't where it has been in Thibs-teams past, even (or especially?) the ones without Derrick Rose. ESPN You could argue that a midseason letup is actually what we've been asking for, as opposed to the all-out regular season championship that wears down the team by April. However, I don't think Thibs has changed his approach, and thus it's worrisome that his usual isn't working as well with this group this year.A good comprehensive audit turns up all sorts of stuff. A good NCAA compliance compliance audit turns that up to 11. Among the violations which Iowa discovered as part of a compliance audit was this gem: The compliance audit from 2010 through December 2012 found the university’s use of a URL address constituted a logo and was not part of a return address in its recruiting envelopes for football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball. The women’s field hockey and men’s/women’s swimming teams also used larger-than-allowed postcards for recruiting purposes. The former letters and postcards are either in storage for other purposes or destroyed. The URL violation stems from NCAA Bylaw 13.4.1.1(a)(5), which allows only one logo on envelopes used for recruiting correspondence. Bylaw 13.4.1.1(j) covers the postcards, which cannot be larger than 4 1/4" by 6". None of these would be a violation anymore if Proposal RWG 13-5-1 had passed. That would have deregulated things like the content of envelopes and the size of postcards. Instead, the Big Ten lead the fight to keep things like these violations in the
the game. When he play-tested it, he spent two hours playing the game and failed to get beyond the starting area. Believing it to be simply poor quality, he called it "an unbelievably bad game".[24] Demon's Souls released in Japan on February 5, 2009 by Sony Computer Entertainment Japan. Due to negative feedback from Sony staff and the Japanese press, Sony decided against localizing the game for Western markets, a decision Sony and Yoshida in particular later regretted.[24][30] Sony did create an English text version of the game for the Asian market.[31] This version was translated by Active Gaming Media.[32] The Chinese language version was released on February 26. The game's voice acting was in English for all versions.[34] Due to its Medieval European setting, the team decided against using American English actors, asking Sony to handle that aspect. Most of the actors were Scottish.[20] The game was again localized from Japanese to English by Active Gaming Media.[32] Active Gaming Media's James Mountain was the game's primary translator. He tried to translate and localize the dialogue as naturally as possible. While he never saw any art or video assets from the game, he interpreted the original text's tone to a "knights, dragons, demons-type action-oriented RPG". With this in mind, he included archaic words such as "thee" "thy" and "thou". His early draft used a lot of archaic dialogue, but upon a second look Mountain decided to rewrite parts of this as they felt lacking.[35] The game was licensed for release in North America by Atlus USA.[36] While Sony were reluctant to license out a game for third-party publishing, they wanted the game to find a suitable niche and first-party publishing was no longer an option.[30] The North American localization mainly addressed "grammar/inaccuracy issues" from the overseas version. Atlus USA were aware of the game's high difficulty, but were impressed by the game's quality and decided to take it on. Also due to the high difficulty, they planned for conservative sales figures.[38] The game released in North America on October 6, coming in both standard and limited edition. The game was published in PAL territories by Namco Bandai Games in partnership with Sony. The European version came in a standard and limited edition.[39] The game was released in Australia on June 23, and in Europe on June 25.[39] Reception [ edit ] Upon its release in Japan, Demon's Souls was generally well received by critics. Dengeki scored the game 95/85/85/85, adding up to 350 out of 400, saying that "fans of old-school games will shed tears of joy." Famitsu gave it 29 out of 40 (9/7/7/6), with an editor Paint Yamamoto scoring it a 9 and calling it "a game you learn how to play by losing – you'll face sudden death frequently. But! Keep playing... and you'll realize how deep it really is." However, another editor, Maria Kichiji, gave it a 6 and found the game to be "far too stoic... it's not a game for everybody."[44] Upon release in North America, the game received critical acclaim with an average critic score of 89/100 at Metacritic. Despite the game's high difficulty, many reviewers found it to be a positive aspect, making the game more rewarding to play. GameSpot called the high difficulty "fair", saying players will "undoubtedly take a lot of damage until you learn the subtleties of fighting each enemy, but combat feels just right."[5] IGN echoed this view, encouraging players who "can remember the good ol' days when games taught through the highly effective use of negative reinforcement and a heavy price for not playing it carefully should scoop this up instantly."[50] Game Informer called it "one of the first truly great Japanese RPGs of this generation, and certainly the most remarkable."[55] Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine however, while commending the game overall, said Demon's Souls was "best left to the most masochistic, hardcore gamer."[51] GameZone commented on the online aspect as being "innovative" and "perfectly blended into the game",[56] while Game Revolution felt it "turns a solitary experience into a surprisingly communal one."[57] On the technical and design side GamesRadar called it "graphically stunning, too, looking more like the old Ultima games than anything that’s ever come out of Japan,"[47] while GameTrailers said the game "nails the dark fantasy look" along with what they considered "music from actual instruments". although they mentioned certain issues with the physics engine being "jittery".[48] Shortly after its North American release, ScrewAttack named Demon's Souls as the eighth best PS3 exclusive to date.[58] Prior to the game's release in Europe, European critics reviewed import copies. Eurogamer called Demon's Souls "stoic, uncompromising, difficult to get to know, but also deep, intriguingly disturbed and perversely rewarding"[43] while Edge explained their positive view on the difficulty by stating "if gaming’s ultimate appeal lies in the learning and mastering of new skills, then surely the medium’s keenest thrills are to be found in its hardest lessons" concluding "for those who flourish under Demon’s Souls’ strict examination, there’s no greater sense of virtual achievement."[42] Demon's Souls favorable review scores made the fiscal performance of the game unique because of the lack of a supporting marketing campaign. Gaming analyst Jesse Divnich commented "Demon's Souls is probably one of the most statistically relevant games released in the gaming world as it helps answer an often asked question: how much would a high quality game sell if it was supported by no mass marketing, released by a little known publisher, and was a new intellectual property."[59] With the critical and commercial success of the game, Sony Computer Entertainment VP of international software Yeonkyung Kim later admitted that it was a "mistake" to pass on the game, instead allowing Atlus to publish it, initially due to concerns over its difficulty and unusual design decisions.[60] Sales [ edit ] Demon's Souls sold 39,966 copies in its first week in Japan,[61][62] and boosted PlayStation 3 sales in the region.[63] It has sold 134,585 copies in Japan as of December 2009.[64] In North America, Demon's Souls debuted at the eleventh place of the October 2009 charts according to NPD Group, with over 150,000 copies sold,[65] selling over 500,000 by September 2010.[66] As of March 16, 2015, Demon's Souls has sold over 1.7 million copies.[67] Awards [ edit ] In their 2009 Best and Worst Awards, GameSpot awarded Demon's Souls with Overall Game of the Year,[68] Best PS3 game,[69] Best Role-Playing game[70] and Best Original Game Mechanic for the online integration.[71] GameTrailers awarded it Best RPG[72] and Best New intellectual property.[73] IGN also awarded the game Best RPG for the PS3.[74] X-Play awarded the multiplayer Best Gameplay Innovation.[75] PC World awarded it Game of the Year.[76] RPGamer awarded Demon's Souls RPG of the Year 2009, including Best Graphics and Best PS3 RPG.[77][78][79] In 2011, IGN ranked Demon's Souls 100th in their "top 100 modern games".[80] Notes [ edit ] ^ Japanese: Demonzu Souru ) デモンズソウル References [ edit ] NotesA BBC chief insists she is 'proud' of the controversial programme targeting children as young as six about a schoolboy who takes sex-change drugs. Children's director Alice Webb defended Just A Girl after parents reacted angrily to the CBBC show, which depicts an 11-year-old's struggle to get hormones that stunt puberty, making it easier to have sex-change surgery in the future. Concerned campaigners said it could'sow the seeds of confusion' in young minds. But Ms Webb said the BBC has a duty 'to make sure that we are stimulating conversation'. The BBC has been accused of acting recklessly after targeting children as young as six with a programme about a schoolboy who takes sex-change drugs Children's director Alice Webb defended Just A Girl after parents reacted angrily to the CBBC show According to The Telegraph, she told peers at the House of Lords Communications Committee: 'We take expert advice from psychologists about the content that we put together, we put it together in a format which is appropriate for the age and we cover the story line in language that we think is appropriate as well.' She said the CBBC programme was produced in an age appropriate way, 'which we believe we have with that one and I'm very proud of that show. 'But we will do that by speaking to experts and we have our own people who have decades of experience.' As revealed in the Mail On Sunday, parents were angry that the show, features a transgender storyline inappropriate for their children. One mother, writing on the Mumsnet website, said her daughter had become worried after seeing the video. She said her girl, who likes wearing boys' clothes and playing football, had 'asked me, anxiously, if that means she was a boy'. Tory MP Peter Bone told the Mail On Sunday: 'It beggars belief that the BBC is making this programme freely available to children as young as six. I entirely share the anger of parents who just want to let children be children. 'It is completely inappropriate for such material to be on the CBBC website and I shall be writing to BBC bosses to demand they take it down as soon as possible.' Parents are angry that the show, available on the CBBC website, features a transgender storyline inappropriate for their children Former Culture Secretary Maria Miller voiced her concerns over the BBC tackling the subject in 'an age-appropriate way', saying such issues should be raised 'where children can have support from parents'. Family campaigner Norman Wells said: 'It is irresponsible of the BBC to introduce impressionable children as young as six to the idea that they can choose to be something other than their biological sex.' Just A Girl is the fictional video diary of a child who calls herself 'Amy' and dresses as a girl. It is hosted on the CBBC website, aimed at children aged between six and 12. In the half-hour programme, Amy – played by an actress – reveals she was born a boy called Ben but has already started using puberty-halting drugs. Such hypothalamic blockers provoked a furore two years ago when The Mail on Sunday revealed an NHS clinic was willing to give them to children as young as nine. Critics cited research claiming that most teenagers confused about their gender never go through with surgery, with many realising they are gay. The BBC row comes amid growing controversy over gender issues, fuelled by a number of high-profile cases. In one, a Christian couple were threatened with having their 14-year-old daughter taken away because they oppose her plans to become a boy. In another, a seven-year-old boy was ordered to be removed from his mother's care as'she was raising him as female', causing him 'a great deal of emotional harm'. Just A Girl, depicts an 11-year-old's struggle to get hormones that stunt puberty, making it easier to have sex-change surgery in the future In Just A Girl, Amy says: 'When I was born, Mum said Dad was so pleased that he had a boy to take to the football. But Mum knew I was different. She realised early on that I was born in the wrong body.' She adds: 'My Mum supported me when I did a PowerPoint presentation to my class about transitioning and that I wasn't going to come to school in boys' clothes any more, but girls' clothes. I wasn't Ben, I was Amy.' Later Amy is shown telling a friend, Josh – a boy who wants to be recognised as a girl – that she is on hormone blockers, saying it took 'ages' to get them after 'loads of tests and talks at the clinic'. 'Once they realised I was trans for real, [I] got them,' she says. In another entry, Amy tells viewers she has developed a crush on a boy called Liam, but confides: 'Liam thinks I'm just a girl, but I'm not. I'm trans. And what's he going to say if he finds out? Stop being my friend? Why? I'm still me, aren't I?' Child psychotherapist Dr Dilys Daws said the programme could confuse children. She said that, while it was natural for youngsters to wonder what it would be like to be the opposite sex, the BBC was irresponsible to feature the 'extreme' step of gender change for six-year-olds because they were too young to grapple with such issues. One child psychotherapist said the programme could confuse children The programme generated hundreds of comments on Mumsnet. One mother, who said her seven-year-old had watched the show, asked: 'Am I being unreasonable to think this is an inappropriate topic for a young age group?' Another replied: 'Don't think this is remotely suitable for a seven-year-old. To start suggesting that children can be transgender when they're far too young to actually have a gender is reckless and damaging. A small boy who is told that he can become a girl may take this as meaning that sex changes are possible, that sometime in the future he'll wake up with a girl's body.' Another user added: 'I don't think hormone therapy should be normalised any more than 12-year-olds drinking or doing recreational drugs should be normalised.' To start suggesting that children can be transgender when they're far too young to actually have a gender is reckless and damaging Other critics slammed the BBC. Mr Wells, director of the Family Education Trust, said: 'The more we promote the idea that a boy can be born into a girl's body and a girl can be born into a boy's body, and that drugs and surgery can put things right, the more children will become utterly confused. 'Respecting and preserving a child's birth sex should be seen as a child protection issue.' But some parents on Mumsnet were more positive. One wrote: 'I don't believe there is 'too young' for stuff like this. The earlier you teach your children that everyone is different and that nobody is 'normal' the better.' Dr Polly Carmichael, a clinical psychologist specialising in transgender children, said: 'Raising awareness of these issues is the best way to challenge stigma and discrimination associated with identity issues. Programmes like Just A Girl can contribute to a healthy and informed public discussion.' The BBC said: 'Just A Girl is about a fictional transgender character trying to make sense of the world, deal with bullying and work out how to keep her friends, which are universal themes that many children relate to, and which has had a positive response from our audience.Michael Loccisano / FilmMagic Stephen Colbert beat the MLB at its own game. And his reward was assuming control of their official Twitter Feed. It’s only expected that the red-blooded, die-hard American Stephen Colbert is a chest-beating fan of our nation’s pastime. Whether his real-life persona (also confusingly named Stephen Colbert) is similarly a fan is up for interpretation, but all signs point to yes. After beating Major League Baseball’s official reps at their own “Beat the Streak” game in June, he was allotted the keys to the @MLB Twitter for 24 hours. (PHOTOS: Stewart and Colbert: Their Biggest Moments) On Friday, the official Twitter feed of Major League Baseball became “Stephen Colbert’s playground.” Baseball fans braced themselves for Colbert’s typical blend of humor and self-righteousness. Of course, Colbert kicked off his stint as baseball’s online mouthpiece by simultaneously confusing baseball fans, causing havoc at stadiums – and showing his disdain for recycling: The rest of the day continued with tweets of an equally silly yet smug nature. The MLB promptly resumed control of their own feed just after midnight Saturday, but not before Colbert could post 19 havoc-wreaking tweets. Next stop, he says? Minor League Baseball’s Twitter feed. At least he’s giving fair warning. Nick Carbone is a reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @nickcarbone. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME. (LIST: The Top 10 Stephen Colbert Moments)President Obama met Tuesday with Vice President Joe Biden and his team of national security advisers. | Getty Obama 'on the verge of taking action' in Libya, Corker says The Obama administration is “on the verge of taking action” against the Islamic State in Libya, where the terrorist network has flourished in recent months, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee told Politico on Tuesday. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) declined to describe what kind of action the White House is considering or to put a time frame on it. But his comments come amid increased chatter in the administration about a greater U.S. military role in Libya, where political turmoil has helped create a vacuum hospitable to jihadist groups. Story Continued Below According to some reports, at least 5,000 Islamic State fighters are now operating in the North African country, whose fall into chaos began not long after the U.S. and its allies helped Libyans oust dictator Muammar Qadhafi during the so-called Arab Spring in 2011. In Libya, the Islamic State fighters are said to have more freedom than in their territory in Syria and Iraq, where a U.S.-led coalition is targeting them on multiple fronts. “I think [administration officials] realize that with an estimated 5,000 members of Daesh there and growing, they understand the problem is something that needs to be dealt with,” said Corker, using the Islamic State’s Arabic acronym. “And it’s my hope that they’re getting ready to deal with it in a sufficient manner.” Asked how he knew, the Foreign Relations Committee chairman said: “I have had conversations where, yes, I believe that they’re on the verge of taking action. I just sense that, again, there’s enough concern that with the magnitude, the effect on the country, I just believe that they’re moving toward taking action.” A National Security Council spokeswoman declined to comment on Corker’s statement but referred a reporter to White House spokesman Josh Earnest’s discussion of Libya during his news briefing a day earlier. Earnest stressed then that the U.S. has been involved in trying to help Libyans form a central government, and that there’s been progress on that front. He also noted that the U.S. has taken action against the Islamic State in Libya in the past, including a November airstrike that killed the group’s senior leader in the country. But, pointing to the model used in Syria and Iraq, Earnest indicated that any future U.S. intervention in Libya would not include a significant deployment of American ground troops but rather some sort of U.S. support for others fighting the jihadists. “And so I certainly wouldn’t rule out that enhancing our intelligence capabilities inside of Libya is something that could be useful to those who are fighting [the Islamic State] on the ground in Libya,” Earnest said. James Clapper, director of national intelligence, told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday that Islamic State fighters want to replicate in Libya what they’ve accomplished in Syria and Iraq: control over significant territory. Libya is “essentially an ungoverned space” where the armed extremists could potentially have “access to substantial oil resources just as they’ve had in Syria,” Clapper testified. “So I think there is some commonality. They are right now kind of centered, or headquartered, in Sirte, which is kind of in the center of the coast of Libya, and they are trying to spread out along the coast and take over more and more areas.” He also said Islamic State fighters “are present” in major cities in Libya, including Benghazi and Tripoli. Defense Secretary Ash Carter is in Brussels this week for a meeting of roughly two dozen defense ministers about the path ahead in the fight against the Islamic State. Carter has pressed other coalition members to step up their efforts, and he noted last week that the Italians have said they would volunteer to help Libyan officials secure their country. “The Italians have indicated that they would take the lead in that, rather than the United States, which is fine with us,” Carter told reporters after an event at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. “We’ve indicated we’d support them. A number of other countries have said the same thing.” Whether such a coalition-based approach in Libya will satisfy Congress is unclear. Interviews with several senators Tuesday made clear there is growing worry about the rise of the Islamic State not just in Libya but also in other countries, including Afghanistan and Pakistan. But there’s no consensus on what exactly the U.S. should do militarily in Libya, or whether letting other countries take the lead will work. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and one of the chamber’s most hawkish members, said the fact that the Islamic State is growing in Libya is the result of President Barack Obama’s “lead from behind” philosophy. The Obama administration is “going to have to” intervene in Libya, said the Arizona Republican. “Sooner or later, they will have to, because [the Islamic State] is growing. It’s metastasizing. It’s just a fact. … There are many options that we have there but they have to be, they can’t be this incremental stuff like they’ve practiced in the past. This is the classic mission creep incrementalism that’s just been a total failure.” Jeremy Herb and Bryan Bender contributed to this report.When you receive fatal damage, you instead gain a shield equal to 400% of your maximum Life for 5 seconds and release a shockwave that knocks enemies back and Stuns them for 3 seconds. This effect may occur once every 60 seconds. As long as you have not taken damage in the last 5 seconds you gain a protective shield that absorbs the next 60% of your Life in damage. Killing an enemy grants a shield that absorbs 2% of your Life in damage for 3 seconds. This effect can stack up to 10 times. Refreshing Dominance will set the shield to its maximum possible potency and each stack will increase its total duration by 0.5 seconds. Enemies take 33% more damage while frozen or chilled by Frost Nova. Cooldown: 11 seconds Blast nearby enemies with an explosion of ice and freeze them for 2 seconds. With each cast, gain a protective shield for 3 seconds that absorbs 4% of your Life in damage. This is a Signature spell. Signature spells are free to cast. Summon a spectral blade that strikes all enemies up to 15 yards in front of you for 168% weapon damage as Arcane. When you perform an attack, gain a protective shield for 3 seconds that absorbs 4% of your Life in damage. Increase the maximum amount of damage absorbed to 80% of your Life. Cooldown: 15 seconds Transform your skin to diamond for 3 seconds, absorbing up to 40% of your Life in damage from incoming attacks. Summon a protective Familiar. When you are below 50% Life the Familiar will absorb damage from 1 attack every 6 seconds. Cost: 20 Arcane Power Summon a Familiar that attacks your enemies for 240% weapon damage as Arcane. This companion cannot be targeted or damaged by enemies. Lasts 10 minutes. When you are struck by a melee attack, your Armor is increased by 20% for 30 seconds. This effect stacks up to 3 times. Cost: 25 Arcane Power Surround yourself in a barrier of ice that reduces damage from melee attacks by 12%. Melee attackers are either Chilled or Frozen for 3 seconds. Lasts 10 minutes. Only one Armor may be active at a time. Your damage is increased by 200% and damage taken reduced by 3% for each enemy that is Ignited. This effect can stack up to 20 times. You always receive the maximum bonus whenever a nearby Elite monster is Ignited. Dealing Fire damage with one of your skills causes the enemy to take 1000% weapon damage as Fire per second for 3 seconds. This effect can be repeated a second and third time by different skills. If an enemy is burning due to three different skills simultaneously the enemy will Ignite, taking 3000% weapon damage per second until they die. When you die, a meteor falls from the sky and revives you. This effect has a 60 second cooldown. Your damage is increased by 200% and damage taken reduced by 3% for each enemy that is Ignited. This effect can stack up to 20 times. You always receive the maximum bonus whenever a nearby Elite monster is Ignited. Dealing Fire damage with one of your skills causes the enemy to take 1000% weapon damage as Fire per second for 3 seconds. This effect can be repeated a second and third time by different skills. If an enemy is burning due to three different skills simultaneously the enemy will Ignite, taking 3000% weapon damage per second until they die. When you die, a meteor falls from the sky and revives you. This effect has a 60 second cooldown. Purple Stone in Leorics Crone. White ones in Chest and Legs. Get Vit, %Life, AllRes, Armor and Life per Second wherever you can. Chose Armor over AllRes because Wizards get naturally more Resistances than Armor Core: Everything into Vit. Offense: doesnt matter at all Defense: Live>Armor>AllRes>Regeneration Utility: Doesnt matter....Goldfind perhaps? Build Guide This is a quiet specific Guide for the advanced PS4 HC Diablo Players out there. Because of the hughe Ammount of Hackers and Lags most serious PS4 HC Players are more or less damned to play solo without the huge Experience and Bloodshard Groupboosts. This Build is NOT designed to PLAY with because you will literally do no damage at all. Instead you create a "Player" on your PS4 with this wizard. All you need is a spare Controller. Once you are lined up you just hit icearmor and familiar and you are ready to go. This Build stacks up so much defense that you dont have to controll the char at all. Just drag it trough the Rift and get extra Exp, BS, Loot and other Stuff (cause basically you get the Loot of two players). Normally its not a good idea to let a HC Char run "free" around but with this there is nothing that can really hurt you. And if something should go wrong you have 2 extra Lifes (Firebird and Anommaly) which would give you more than enough time to get out of any dangerous situation although i have never procced any of those ever. I have tested this angainst T10 Uber-Ghom and he wasnt able to get me down without me doing anything Im running this with two friends in Couch-Coop as a 4th "Player" on T10 with no Issues at all It works best in combination with high-damage speed Build like the Exploding Wizard or the One-Punch-Monk build (Quin69 on Youtube) but any build that you are comfortable to play with should work just fine with it. CAUTION!!!! This build is for farming T10 and Medium Grifts and isnt tested above Grift 60. If you go really really high in Grifts something will destroy you. This Build will NOT work on PC. I know some might consider this "cheating" the game concept but i just feel that there is a need for it because of all the hackers and lags in Multiplayermode on PS4This year's combined 36th/37th issue of Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine is announcing on Wednesday the cast and staff for the upcoming anime of Nakaba Suzuki's The Seven Deadly Sins manga. The magazine also revealed that a game based on the series is currently in production and will announce more details in the magazine's next issue, along with information regarding the opening and endings themes for the show. The cast includes: Meliodas: Yuuki Kaji (Attack on Titan, Pokemon XY, Blue Spring Ride) Elizabeth: Sora Amamiya ( Tokyo Ghoul, One Week Friends, The [email protected] Million Live ) Hawk: Misaki Kuno (World Conquest Zvezda Plot, Nanana's Buried Treasure, Oreimo) The staff includes: Director: Tensai Okamura (Darker than Black, Blue Exorcist, World Conquest Zvezda Plot) Series Composition: Shôtarô Suga (The Eccentric Family, My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, One Week Friends) Character Design: Keigo Sasaki (Blue Exorcist, Night Raid 1931, World Conquest Zvezda Plot) Music: Hiroyuki Sawano (Attack on Titan, Kill la Kill, Blue Exorcist) Animation Production: A-1 Pictures (Fairy Tail, Magi, From the New World, Sword Art Online) The television anime will premiere on October 5. Kodansha Comics, the publisher of the manga in North America, describes how the story begins: When they were accused of trying to overthrow the monarchy, the feared warriors the Seven Deadly Sins were sent into exile. Princess Elizabeth discovers the truth - the Sins were framed by the king's guard, the Holy Knights - too late to prevent them from assassinating her father and seizing the throne! Now the princess is on the run, seeking the Sins to help her reclaim the kingdom. But the first Sin she meets, Meliodas, is a little innkeeper with a talking pig. He doesn't even have a real sword! Have the legends of the Sins' strength been exaggerated? Suzuki launched the manga in Weekly Shonen Magazine in 2012, and Kodansha Comics published the third English volume this month. Crunchyroll is posting the new chapters as they appear in Japan. [Via Yaraon]By Paula Hancocks The Pentagon has announced a replacement for the U.S. General in charge of Special Operations in Korea a week after controversy broke over comments he made on North Korea. Brigadier General Neil Tolley was reported as saying U.S. and South Korean troops parachute into North Korea to spy on underground military facilities. Tolley admitted he was not misquoted at a conference in Florida last month, rather he misspoke. Jennifer Buschick, spokesperson for U.S. Forces Korea tells CNN, “This is a routine announcement that has been in the works for months” and Tolley’s replacement “has no connection to current events.” Buschick added that he is just two months away from the end of his two- year tour. He will be replaced by Brig. Gen. Eric P. Wendt, who is currently serving in Afghanistan. After the U.S. Ministry of Defense initially slammed the report of Tolley’s remarks as “contorted, distorted, misreported”, the Brigadier General then made a clarification, saying, “In my attempt to explain where technology could help us, I spoke in the present tense. I realize I wasn’t clear in how I presented my remarks.” He does however insist that at no time has the United States sent special operations forces into North Korea. Such cross-border operations into North Korea would be in violation of the 1953 armistice agreement that brought the Korean War to an end. The existence of such operations would also jeopardize already strained and sensitive relations between Washington and Pyongyang. Also on North Korea: U.S. defense secretary announces new strategy with Asia North Korea proclaims itself a nuclear state in new constitution Defector describe horror, heartbreak in North Korea's labor campsGlobal media company BuzzFeed says it is ditching a political advertising deal with the Republican National Committee over Trump's incendiary comments, which it likens to cigarettes by being "hazardous to our health." (Reuters) BuzzFeed just quit Donald Trump like a smoking habit. No patch. No gum. The site is going cold turkey. Here's the key sentence in a Monday memo from BuzzFeed chief executive Jonah Peretti to his staff: "We don't run cigarette ads because they are hazardous to our health, and we won't accept Trump ads for the exact same reason." BuzzFeed will, of course, continue to cover the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. But it said its advertising department has terminated an agreement with the Republican National Committee that would have included ads for the party's presidential ticket in the fall. More from Peretti: The Trump campaign is directly opposed to the freedoms of our employees in the United States and around the world and, in some cases, such as his proposed ban on international travel for Muslims, would make it impossible for our employees to do their jobs. We don't need to and do not expect to agree with the positions or values of all our advertisers. And as you know, there is a wall between our business and editorial operations. This decision to cancel this ad buy will have no influence on our continuing coverage of the campaign. We certainly don't like to turn away revenue that funds all the important work we do across the company. However, in some cases, we must make business exceptions. Trump has proposed a temporary ban on foreign Muslims entering the United States. Under his plan, a Muslim journalist from another country who works for BuzzFeed presumably would be unable to report in the United States. Republican National Committee communications director Sean Spicer told CNN's Brian Stelter that the party never planned to advertise on BuzzFeed, anyway. Scooplet: @GOP's @SeanSpicer says "space was reserved on many platforms, but we never intended to use BuzzFeed" https://t.co/8AVgWeRFKO — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 6, 2016 BuzzFeed's coverage of Trump, which the company said will not change, has been already highly critical. In December, editor Ben Smith gave his blessing for reporters to refer to the business mogul as a "mendacious racist," saying such a description is factual. Here's a memo I sent to @buzzfeed staff today on our social media policy, and Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/zCiDds3C29 — Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) December 9, 2015 As striking a step as this is for a media operation, it is hardly without precedent.The Huffington Post in January began appending an editor's note to articles about Donald Trump. The note states, "Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S." And on the business side, NBC, ESPN and Univision previously ended financial partnerships with Trump that involved his beauty pageants and golf tournaments at his courses. Republican lawmakers past and present reacted to Donald Trump's comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel over the weekend, carefully distancing themselves from Trump's position. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) Some non-media companies are reportedly reconsidering their business relationships with the GOP, too, now that Trump is the party's standard-bearer. NPR reported last month that Trump's impending nomination is making it harder for organizers of the Republican National Convention to secure corporate sponsors. BuzzFeed — or any other company that refuses to do business with Trump — risks the appearance of a partisan bias with the move. But considering its existing editorial position that Trump is indisputably racist, BuzzFeed likely did not have to worry about shattering a neutral image. What's more, CNN reported last month that "many industry observers and some staff believe that BuzzFeed will eventually curtail or even jettison its news division in order to focus on more profitable revenue streams." If such a move is indeed in BuzzFeed's future, the company might be less motivated to foster good relations with both parties.As collateral challenges to the mass surveillance programs disclosed by Edward Snowden like US v. Moalin, US v. Muhtorov, and US v. Mohamud are winding their way through the courts, a lower-profile case — U.S. v. Hailong — is raising the issue of whether a Chinese company’s plot to steal corn seed warrants the use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). This case highlights the near impossibility of effectively challenging the use of these authorities, even in cases of targeted surveillance. The story begins, according to the government, in an Iowa cornfield in 2011. One of the defendants, Mo Hailong, a Chinese national and permanent US resident employed by a Chinese agricultural conglomerate, asked a farmer what he was growing. The farmer was under contract with a company called Pioneer to cultivate its proprietary inbred test seeds. The next day, Mo was found by a company field manager, on his knees in the same field while one of his compatriots waited in a car. All this was reported to the FBI during “a routine liaison visit” to the company. Some months later, Mo and other defendants were stopped by a sheriff responding to reports that an Asian male was acting suspiciously near another cornfield. The field was planted with bio-engineered corn seed — this time from Monsanto. It’s not clear how the FBI found out about the latter incident, but by February 2012, they were on the trail of Mo and several other defendants. In addition to physical surveillance, the Bureau intercepted their mail, listened in on phone calls, installed GPS tracking and audio listening devices in their rental car, and caused their luggage to be searched by customs agents. In December 2013, six persons were charged with one count of conspiracy to steal trade secrets. (A seventh defendant was subsequently charged in July 2014.) In March 2014, Mo was notified, pursuant to 50 U.S.C. sections 1806(c) and 1825(d), of the government’s intention to use information “obtained or derived from electronic surveillance or physical search” pursuant to FISA. As part of the discovery process, Mo asked the government to specify the legal authority for each piece of evidence obtained by search and seizure — i.e., whether it was obtained pursuant to a regular search warrant or an order from the FISA Court or other covert methods. This was necessary, Mo argued, to allow him to “formulate coherent motions to suppress.” The judge denied the motion, reasoning that its purpose — to allow a challenge to the legality of FISA surveillance — must be met “at least begin with an ex parte in camera review of the FISA dockets.” This forthcoming review would be “comprehensive and de novo, and will evaluate all requirements needed to establish the surveillance’s legality.” Mo was ordered to file any motion to suppress, even though it would “necessarily be generalized and speculative.” The defense moved to suppress evidence obtained under FISA, arguing that the case has nothing to do with foreign intelligence, but rather is about “an alleged effort by one privately-owned company to steal non-defense-related trade secrets from another privately-owned company.” In order to obtain a FISA surveillance order for