decoded_text
stringlengths 4.18k
47.6k
|
|---|
local grocery store. Like hydrogen peroxide, borax is also environmentally friendly. Even the ancient Greeks made use of borax to clean their clothing. To start using this substance, create a paste by mixing a small amount of water with a tablespoon of borax. This amount should be enough spread over your semen stain. Let the paste sit for 30 minutes, and then use a scotch pad to brush the semen away.
Semen stains on the couch are a disaster. You don’t want your mother spotting them after you send your girlfriend or boyfriend home. The best you can do is to take the cushion covers off immediately. Use detergent to clean them up and wait for a few minutes for the detergent to sink into the fabrics and do its job. After this, handwash the cushions or use a washing machine to make the job easier. Using hot water on organic stains is a bad idea because the heat can help the stain set, so make sure you use cold water. If you can’t take off the covers, scrub your couch with two parts water solution and one part vinegar. Make sure that the stain is scrubbed off using a plastic scrubber to maintain the quality of the fabric.
Not everyone believes in the power of bleach since it’s a corrosive material. If you want, try hydrogen peroxide you can buy from drugstores. Hydrogen peroxide is a non-chlorine bleach that’s known to be milder than pure bleach. Have hydrogen peroxide available every time you think you are going to have a good time with someone. A few teaspoons will do. Just rub it on the spot and let the fabric absorb the chemicals. Run it through the water if the fabric is all-white, since hydrogen peroxide is not color-safe.
Sexual pleasure is not something you should be ashamed of since it comes naturally, but indelible semen stains on your sheets are another thing. They are very unsightly and mortifying. Follow these tips to get rid of semen stains, and say goodbye to the embarrassment of having other people see your sticky smudges.Image copyright Reuters Image caption This is the first time an Israeli government has built a new settlement since the 1990s
Israel has started work on the first new Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank for more than 20 years, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.
He tweeted a photograph of a bulldozer and digger breaking ground for the settlement, to be known as Amichai.
It will accommodate some 40 families whose homes were cleared from the unauthorised settler outpost of Amona.
A Palestinian official denounced the ground-breaking as a "grave escalation" and an attempt to thwart peace efforts.
More than 600,000 Jews live in about 140 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem - land the Palestinians claim for a future state. The settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
There are also almost 100 settler outposts - built without official authorisation from the Israeli government - across the West Bank, according to the Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now.
"Today, ground works began, as I promised, for the establishment of the new community for the residents of Amona," Mr Netanyahu announced on Tuesday.
"After decades, I have the privilege to be the prime minister who is building a new community in Judea and Samaria," he added, using the biblical name for the West Bank.
Israel Radio reported that the work involved installing infrastructure for the settlement. However, the building plans still need to go through several stages of planning approval, according to the Times of Israel newspaper.
Amichai, previously known as Geulat Zion, will be constructed on an hilltop about 2.5km (1.5 miles) east of the settlement of Shilo, which is close to the site of Amona.
Amona was evacuated by police at the start of February after Israel's Supreme Court ordered that the outpost be dismantled because it was built on private Palestinian land.
While Israel has continued to expand settlements, this is the first time it has built a new one since the 1990s.
Nabil Abu Rudeina, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, told Reuters news agency that the ground-breaking was "a grave escalation and an attempt to foil efforts" by the administration of US President Donald Trump to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Amichai will be constructed on an hilltop about 2.5km east of the settlement of Shilo
Mr Trump's special representative, Jason Greenblatt, and his son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, are visiting the region this week to hear directly from Israeli and Palestinian leaders "about their priorities and potential next steps".
Mr Trump has said he considers settlement expansion as unhelpful for a peace deal.
"Every time you take land for a settlement, less territory remains," he told the Israel Hayom newspaper in February.
He has taken a considerably milder position towards Israeli settlements though than his predecessor, Barack Obama, who sharply criticised settlement activity.Tennessee sheriff's deputy is FIRED after he was caught on camera choking an unresisting college student until he passed out
Frank Phillips, 47, was found 'unsuitable for continued employment' by Knox County Sheriff J.J. Jones
Deputies were called to a University of Tennessee student party that spilled out onto a residential street
Students threw beer bottles at officers and several people were arrested
A photographer on the scene took a series of photos of a deputy choking 21-year-old Jarod Dotson into unconsciousness
The young man did not resist arrest, says the photographer, but police disagree
He was complying with officers when the officer began to choke him
Two other officers were behind Dotson, handcuffing him
Fired: Frank Phillips, 47, pictured, was been found 'unsuitable for continued employment,' according to a termination notice posted Sunday night on the Knox County Sheriff's Office's website
A sheriff's deputy in Knox County, Tennessee has been fired after he was caught on camera allegedly choking a university student Saturday night.
Frank Phillips, 47, was been found 'unsuitable for continued employment,' according to a termination notice posted Sunday night on the Knox County Sheriff's Office's website.
'In my 34 years of law enforcement experience, excessive force has never been tolerated. After an investigation by the Office of Professional Standards, I believe excessive force was used in this incident,' Sheriff Jimmy 'J.J.' Jones said.
'Therefore, Officer Phillips' employment with the Knox County Sheriff's Office is terminated immediately.'
Jones added that the investigation will now be turned over to the Knox County Attorney General's Office to determine any further action.
John Messner, a freelance photographer in Knoxville, captured Phillips with both hands around the neck of University of Tennessee student Jarod Dotson in Fort Sanders after a party. The 21-year-old can be seen falling to his knees after the man's grip apparently renders him unconscious.
Phillips has been with the Sheriff's Office since 1992. Dotson, of Powell, is an architecture major at the college.
Authorities say Dotson was publicly intoxicated and drinking from a cup 'that had an odor of an alcoholic beverage' at 23rd Street and Laurel Avenue, when he was arrested.
He was charged with public intoxication and resisting arrest. He was released Sunday morning on a $500 bond, the sheriff's office said.
Use of force: The officer begins to choke the student, Jarod Dotson, center, or activate some kind of pressure point to render him unconscious
Three to one: The young man did not resist arrest, according to the photographer who shot the images College party: As he's handcuffed, the student's knees begin to buckle as he loses consciousness The report said Dotson ignored'repeated instructions' to go inside and apparently 'began to physically resist officers' instructions to place his hands behind his back, and at one point grabbed on to an officer's leg.' University of Tennessee Police officers called for backup after the party 'became unruly' and some of the approximately 800 partygoers began throwing beer bottles, Knoxville Police Department Sgt. Mike McCarter told knoxnews.com.
UT student Nicolas Oramas told wate.com of the party: 'When the cops showed up we saw people throwing bottles at their cars. They had police dogs out there.'
His officers responded at 11:56 p.m. to the 'disturbance,' which was spilling into the street.
McCarter said estimated 60 officers from three agencies were present at the party, where at least 10 people were arrested and charged with public intoxication and/or disorderly conduct. Distressing: The officer's hands are still on the student's neck even as he passes out Incapacitated: The young man sinks to the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back Messner captured the frightening moment in a sequence of photographs that show the young man complying with Knox County deputies as they lead him to a police van at the University of Tennessee, before an officer uses two hands to choke the student until he is unconscious.
Dotson was arrested, along with a number of friends, during a wild college party celebrating after a week of finals.
Police were called to clear the area at the intersection of 21st and Laurel Streets in Fort Sanders, an area with a high concentration of college students. According to photographer John Messner, some college students began to throw beer bottles at police, who called for backup from the Knox County Sheriff's office.
Dotson was arrested and handcuffed, then walked a block to a waiting police van at the University of Tennessee. Wild party: College students celebrating the end of finals spilled out onto the street Saturday night and police were called to clear the area
Unresisting: Dotson, seen here before the alleged assault, does not appear to resist as police remove one set of handcuffs to replace them with another
Threatening: An officer much larger than the student, who still has his hands behind his back, approaches and lays his hands on the young man's neck
He went willingly and did not resist arrest, said Messner.
When they got to the police van, the arresting deputy's handcuffs were removed from the young man's wrists and replaced with cuffs from the vehicle.
During the brief moment his wrists were uncuffed, Dotson let his arms fall by his sides.
As two officers twist his arms behind his back, another deputy walks in front of the young man and wraps his hands around his neck.
The disturbing sequence of shots show the 21-year-old appear to lose consciousness, his knees buckling as he sinks to the ground, while the deputy continues to choke him or activate a pressure point that renders him unconscious.
The officers behind Dotson fiddle with his handcuffs even as he's being choked.
Arrested: Jarod Dotson, pictured, was arrested and handcuffed, then walked a block to a waiting police van at the University of TennesseeUkraine's Western allies backed Arseniy Yatsenyuk when he became prime minister and vowed to "wage a war" on graft. But as the country's fight against corruption stalls, many in Kiev see his government as part of the problem.
Andrew Kravchenko / AFP / Getty Images Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk gives a thumbs-up after voting in the parliament.
KIEV, Ukraine — When Ukraine’s revolution swept him to power last spring, Arseniy Yatsenyuk vowed to become a “kamikaze politician” pushing unpopular reforms and “waging a war” on graft. A year and a half later, Ukraine’s prime minister is fighting for his political future after making slow progress on those reforms — and watching his allies become embroiled in corruption allegations themselves. Swiss prosecutors are investigating one of his top parliamentary leaders for paying bribes in a scheme to set up a nuclear power plant. The official in charge of repatriating ill-gotten foreign assets is facing criminal charges over luxury homes she somehow obtained in Britain and France. Investigative journalists revealed how a Yatsenyuk-linked billionaire used his political connections to win a government tender for duty-free space in Kiev’s airport. Frustration over Ukraine’s sluggish reform process and anti-corruption efforts is fracturing its pro-Western governing coalition, creating rifts with the United States and European Union. Popular Front, Yatsenyuk’s political party, is polling so badly that it decided not to run in local elections on Oct. 25, only a year after it won a surprise majority of the parliamentary vote. An IRI poll published in August found that only 3% of Ukrainians were satisfied with the pace of change in the country; an astonishing 51% said that the government of Viktor Yanukovych — which protesters overthrew last year in large part due to anger at his appropriation of untold billions in state funds — did a better job fighting corruption. “Definitely, much more must be done,” said Danylo Lubkivsky, an adviser to Yatsenyuk. Despite that, “if the government was corrupt, we would never receive any money from the international community,” he added. “There is only one person who gets benefits — Putin.”
Genya Savilov / AFP / Getty Images Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko shakes hands with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk
Yatsenyuk’s tenure has exposed the difficulties and contradictions Ukraine faces in escaping the crony clan politics plaguing it since independence more than 20 years ago. His cabinet is stacked with fresh-faced, English-speaking ministers pledging a move towards transparent, Western-style governance. Yet in Yatsenyuk and President Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine is led by politicians with deep roots in the very corrupt back-door clan politics they say they seek to destroy. The equal division of power between their offices has slowed the legal process and given rise to countless backroom spats. Several officials in the governing coalition speak of a powerful “shadow government” of informal allies with longstanding connections to the president and prime minister who wield vast influence over political decisions and state-owned companies that loom over Ukraine’s economy. “It’s the same house of cards — they’ve just reshuffled the deck,” said Viktoria Voytsitska, a coalition lawmaker and secretary of the parliamentary energy committee. “They’re still defending the same business interests of the same oligarchs.” Publicly, the U.S. and EU have backed Ukraine’s government to the hilt in its effort to reform while fighting Russian economic pressure and support for a war in its east. Privately, several Western diplomats express serious doubts about whether Yatsenyuk and Poroshenko have the wherewithal, or even the political will, to smash the system that raised them. “They know they have to change the system, but they are too much creatures of the system to do it,” one said. “We are very disappointed” in Ukraine’s progress on reform, the diplomat continued. “It gives ammunition to all the member states who were always skeptical.” At 41, the skinny, bespectacled Yatsenyuk is part of the first generation of Ukrainians to come of age after the Soviet Union’s collapse offered them experiences of the West. His older sister Alina is married to an American and lives in Santa Barbara, California. Though Yatsenyuk never studied outside his hometown of Chernivtsi in western Ukraine, he speaks the fluent, rhetorical English of the Davos man, to great effect among Western interlocutors. In the pro-Western government brought to power in 2004’s Orange Revolution, he served as economy minister, then the country’s youngest-ever foreign minister. Yatsenyuk’s combination of English fluency and economic literacy were so rare among senior Ukrainian officials that they quickly made him a favorite in Western capitals. He and Poroshenko are the first Ukrainian leaders to speak English at all. Sergei Arbuzov, who negotiated for an International Monetary Fund bailout that collapsed during the revolt against Yanukovych, would show up to meetings in leather jackets. “Ukraine lost trust with the international community a long time ago — it takes a lot to win that back,” a Western diplomat said. During the protests last year, that skill set saw Victoria Nuland, the U.S. diplomat in charge of Ukraine policy, turn to him as a potential compromise prime minister. “Yats is the guy who’s got the economic experience, the governing experience,” she said in an infamous leaked phone call. Though U.S. officials say they were never under any illusions about the task facing Ukraine — the country even reaching Romania’s progress by 1995 is considered a high benchmark for success — the lack of action on corruption has alarmed even many of Ukraine’s biggest supporters in Washington. In July, Vice President Joe Biden directly warned Yatsenyuk at a Ukrainian business forum. “This is it, Mr. Prime Minister. The next couple years, the next couple months will go a long way to telling the tale,” he said. “Now you have to put people in jail.” After the forum, however, President Barack Obama dropped in on Yatsenyuk’s meeting in Biden’s office — a gesture Ukrainians interpreted as support in his turf war with Poroshenko. "People in Washington ask me, 'Why do they have to steal so much?' And I tell them, 'Why not? You're letting them get away with it,’” said Balasz Jarabik, a visiting fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “That’s how U.S. support is understood in Kiev.”
"It’s the same house of cards — they’ve just reshuffled the deck."
Officials and diplomats say that Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk genuinely want to avoid the infighting that plagued the government that came to power in 2005 after Ukraine’s pro-Western Orange Revolution, in which they both served. “Neither of them have suicidal inclinations,” a senior adviser to Poroshenko said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Relations between president and prime minister are like “this joke about a turtle and the snake who go across a river,” the adviser said. “They agree that the turtle would not [dive] because snakes can not swim, and the snake agrees not to bite, because they would drown.” (In most versions of the story, the snake bites the turtle anyway, though the official did not comment on this.) Yatsenyuk’s own formative experiences came in the rough-and-tumble world of Ukrainian clan politics. Two college friends from Chernivtsi with whom he started a law firm, Andriy Pyshny and Andriy Ivanchuk, flanked Yatsenyuk as his political fortunes rose. “Pyshny is really a good one; he’s relatively not corrupt. But Ivanchuk is a very bad guy,” a former colleague of all three men said. “I think of them as the angel and the devil on his shoulder.” In 2009, as Yatsenyuk ran for president, Pyshny fell seriously ill, leaving Ivanchuk control over his campaign. Ivanchuk hired Timofei Sergeitsev and Dmitry Kulikov, vaguely KGB-linked Russian political consultants known as “Tima and Dima,” who told Yatsenyuk to adopt a militaristic platform in an ill-guided attempt to win over Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine. They were occasionally joined by a third Russian, Alexei Sitnikov, whose business cards listed his occupation as “color revolutions and coups d’état.” Their smoke-and-mirrors techniques were no match for Yatsenyuk’s rivals, who ran a gritty smear campaign accusing Yatsenyuk of being Jewish. Despite public assurances from Ukraine’s chief rabbi that Yatsenyuk was not Jewish at all, he never shook off the accusations, and finished a distant fourth. Pyshny and Ivanchuk retain close ties to Yatsenyuk, who is said to run a tight inner circle and has never built a broader political support structure. “He missed the opportunity to build a grassroots party,” said Orysia Lutseyvich, a fellow at Chatham House who set up Yatsenyuk’s Open Ukraine foundation when Yatsenyuk was foreign minister. “He does not carry well among simple people — he’s afraid of the babushka in Bessarabka,” Kiev’s central market. Pyshny now runs Oshchadbank, Ukraine’s state bank; Ivanchuk chairs the economic committee in parliament. According to some of Poroshenko’s allies, they are joined by Nikolai Martynenko, a lawmaker in Yatsenyuk’s party with influence over the energy sector. Igor Skosar, a former lawmaker in Tymoshenko's party, claimed last year that he paid Martynenko a $6 million bribe in 2012 so that Yatsenyuk, who then chaired it, would put him on the party list. Swiss prosecutors told BuzzFeed News they are investigating Martynenko over bribery and money laundering allegations which, according to Czech media, are related to contracts for a nuclear power plant with a Czech contractor. Martynenko has said that the allegations are a Russian plot to discredit him, and denies the case's very existence. Corruption is so rife in Ukrainian bureaucracy that ministers say they essentially have to start anew. “When I hear the words ‘institutional memory,’ I get scared, because they mismanaged everything for 20 years,” Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius told BuzzFeed News. Yatsenyuk’s critics within the governing coalition say that he has not done enough to fight those vested interests. “We essentially have a shadow government, a parallel government,” Mikheil Saakashvili, the former Georgian president and university friend of Poroshenko’s who now governs Odessa province, recently said. “Ukraine is owned by the oligarchs like a joint stock company.” The problem is compounded by Ukraine’s political system, which distributes power between Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk equally and where party finance is notoriously murky, requiring both men to cut deals with oligarchs, insiders say. Oligarchs, Poroshenko included, also control Ukraine’s major TV stations, which gives them enormous influence over public opinion and leverage over officials. When Poroshenko fought the oligarch Igor Kolomoisky over Ukrnafta, the country’s largest oil and gas producer, earlier this year, Ivanchuk, who is one of Kolomoisky’s business partners, blocked a bill to return it to the state. Though Yatsenyuk eventually got the bill passed, Kolomoisky still retains untoward influence over Ukrnafta, according to Sergei Leshchenko, a lawmaker who spearheaded the push to take back the company. "Kolomoisky's people are still there, and they've let him put off his payments [on the company's $425 million debt to the state] until the end of the year," Leshchenko, a former investigative journalist, told BuzzFeed News last month. "He isn't paying the dividends or the revenue. Yatsenyuk isn't suing or filing criminal charges. I am sure there's a conspiracy between Kolomoisky and Yatsenyuk." Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man, also sees Yatsenyuk as a major ally in his attempt to retain his influence and wealth, according to two people who discussed the matter with him. Akhmetov’s fortune, concentrated in industrial holdings in eastern Ukraine, has plummeted from $22 billion to $7 billion since war broke out there last year, according to Bloomberg. His closest political allies, a group of officials who ran their mutual hometown of Donetsk as their personal fiefdom, fled the country along with Yanukovych. “I’ve been knocked down, but not knocked out,” Akhmetov said, according to one of the sources. DTEK, Akhmetov’s sprawling energy monopoly, owns a number of assets it bought from the state at knockdown prices while Yanukovych was president. With he and his team gone, the famously soccer-mad Akhmetov is fond of saying that “Arseny Petrovich is the Lionel Messi of the Ukrainian government,” using Yatsenyuk’s patronymic, according to a Western diplomat who knows him.
Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker with Arseniy Yatsenyuk during the U.S.–Ukraine Business Forum at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in July.IT IS ON, welcome modders, gamers, cats and cool people to the 13th Annual Mod of The Year awards!
Posted by TKAzA on Nov 30th, 2014
Welcome one and all to the 2014 Mod of the Year awards, the largest modding event on the web, celebrating the hard working and dedicated mod community. For the next month your votes are going to help us decide this years victor in the best upcoming and best released categories. We are also going to unveil our editors choice picks at the end of the December. Here is how it works.
Phase 1 - Nominations Begin
For the next 10 days, every mod profile on the site has a voting booth. Just click the big green button to show your love and help get your favorite mods into the TOP 100.
Phase 2 - The TOP 100
After nominations from you are tallied, on the 11th of December the TOP 100 is unveiled and a final round of voting begins for another 10 days to determine the 2014 victor.
Phase 3 - Mod of the Year 2014 Revealed
Cue the drumroll, because just around Christmas we are going to surprise you by announcing the 2014 winners.
Editors Choice Award Release 22nd December
Players Choice Unreleased Release 27th December
Players Choice Mod of the Year Released 29th of December
Big thanks to G2A.COM who join as sponsor and have given us 1000 €3 giftcards to giveaway, to win just start voting for your favorite mods. Epic Games are also offering engine subscriptions to the winning mods. Oh and developers, if you want to help your mod out, we've got a widget and buttons you can embed on your homepage to promote the awards. Above is a demo of the widget, pretty nifty ey? MAY THE BEST MOD WIN!The event comes one week before the state's April 5 primary, a critical test of the candidates' strength before the campaign heads to eastern states later in the month.
Here are five things to watch:
Cruz and Trump get negative
Even the bit about the size of Trump's manhood didn't go quite this far.
Trump and Cruz are in the midst of the campaign's most bitter, personal fight. It started when Trump blamed Cruz for an unaffiliated super PAC's ad featuring a nearly naked Melania Trump, without any evidence that Cruz was behind it. Then Trump attacked Heidi Cruz.
It's gotten bad enough that Cruz wouldn't say in an interview with CNN's Sunlen Serfaty on Monday whether he'll still back Trump if he wins the Republican nomination.
JUST WATCHED Ted Cruz: Trump threatened my wife Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Ted Cruz: Trump threatened my wife 01:05
"I'm not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my family," Cruz said. "Donald Trump is not gonna be the nominee. We are gonna beat him for this nomination."
Trump, meanwhile, has threatened lawsuits over the Cruz campaign's success in picking up 10 extra delegates in Louisiana, even though Trump actually won the state.
And the two are at each other's throats over who leaked what pieces of information in negative stories about the other.
Cruz challenged Trump to debate at CNN's town hall during a Monday campaign stop in Rothschild.
"Donald, why don't you show up and debate like a man? I recognize that Donald prefers to communicate in 140 characters or less," Cruz said.
Though they won't be on stage together, the fight between Trump and Cruz will be Tuesday night's main attraction.
The Lewandowski factor
Trump heads into Tuesday's town hall after a dramatic day on the campaign trail. His campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery on Tuesday morning, with Florida police releasing video showing him grabbing former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields by the arm and pulling her backwards.
But Trump stood by his man.
On Twitter, Trump suggested that Fields had actually been trying to grab him.
He also accused Fields of changing her story. And, aboard his plane in Wisconsin later on Tuesday, Trump told reporters that he doesn't know that Fields' bruises, which she showed the police, were a result of Lewandowski's grab.
"Wouldn't you think she would have yelled out a scream if she had bruises on her arm?" Trump said.
Trump's foes also weighed in on the news.
Cruz said the incident reflects within Trump's campaign an "abusive culture, when you have a campaign that is built on personal insults, attacks and now physical violence."
Kasich made the Trump campaign's treatment of women personal, saying Fields "could have been one of my daughters," and that he'd either suspend or fire the aide if a similar incident happened on his campaign.
The Lewandowski arrest dominated Tuesday's news, and isn't likely to disappear anytime soon.
Trump on policy
Cruz's go-to line of attack on Trump has been to question his conservatism -- and his consistency on policy.
Increasingly, as Trump nears the general election, his policy positions are coming under scrutiny. His comments in editorial board meetings with The Washington Post and The New York Times both made waves.
JUST WATCHED Ted Cruz challenges Donald Trump to one-on-one debate Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Ted Cruz challenges Donald Trump to one-on-one debate 00:45
When The Post asked if Trump would consider the use of strategic nuclear weapons against ISIS, he said he's a "counter-puncher," and pointed to his campaign trail exploits against people like Jeb Bush.
It's a central challenge for a man who is new to politics: talking fluently about policies he hasn't had to address in his work life before he decided to run for president.
Those moments will be closely watched -- not just for instant impact, but for what they could mean in the general election.
Will Kasich hit anybody?
The subject line on John Kasich's fundraising email Monday afternoon was an eyebrow-raiser: "Off Limits."
He was talking about families, and declared that "enough is enough with the mud slinging and the personal attacks."
Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Hide Caption 1 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Hide Caption 2 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Former Gov. Jeb Bush, R-Florida Hide Caption 3 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Hide Caption 4 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida Hide Caption 5 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Hide Caption 6 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Democrat Hide Caption 7 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Hide Caption 8 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, independent from Vermont running for Democratic nomination Hide Caption 9 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Hide Caption 10 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Real estate mogul Donald Trump, Republican Hide Caption 11 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Hide Caption 12 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas Hide Caption 13 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Hide Caption 14 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? John Kasich, R-Ohio Hide Caption 15 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Hide Caption 16 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Republican Hide Caption 17 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Hide Caption 18 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, who has dropped out of the presidential race. Hide Caption 19 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Hide Caption 20 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pennsylvania, who has dropped out of the presidential race. Hide Caption 21 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Hide Caption 22 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Former Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, who has dropped out of the presidential race. Hide Caption 23 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Hide Caption 24 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Former Gov. George Pataki, R-New York, who has dropped out of the presidential race. Hide Caption 25 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Hide Caption 26 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Arkansas, who has dropped out of the presidential race. Hide Caption 27 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Hide Caption 28 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Former Gov. Martin O'Malley, D-Maryland, who has dropped out of the presidential race. Hide Caption 29 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Hide Caption 30 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, Republican, who has dropped out of the presidential race. Hide Caption 31 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Hide Caption 32 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, who has dropped out of the presidential race. Hide Caption 33 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Hide Caption 34 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Former U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee, D-Rhode Island, who has dropped out of the presidential race. Hide Caption 35 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Hide Caption 36 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Republican, who has dropped out of the presidential race. Hide Caption 37 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Hide Caption 38 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Former U.S. Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, Republican, who has dropped out of the presidential race Hide Caption 39 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Hide Caption 40 of 41 Photos: Can you guess the 2016 contenders' campaign logos? Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Republican, who has dropped out of the presidential race Hide Caption 41 of 41
The Ohio governor has won some supporters through his above-the-fray approach. But he has also found himself being shuffled to the side -- urged not to even compete in some states -- by anti-Trump Republicans who fear he'll hurt Cruz's chances of winning and therefore deny Trump the delegates he needs to clinch the nomination.
So he has some decisions to make. Will Kasich put his foot down and go after one, or both, of his opponents for the direction they've taken the race and tell voters it's disqualifying?
How he handles the clash between Trump and Cruz could set the tone for Kasich's next three weeks, since Wisconsin is the only major contest before New York's April 19 primary.
The Scott Walker effect
When he launched his short-lived 2016 presidential campaign, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was supposed to be the perfect blend of a competent, credentialed executive and a rock-ribbed conservative outsider unstained by Washington. His biggest rival was thought to be Cruz.
Then Trump ruined all of that.
The real-estate mogul's distaste for politicians was so strong that Walker, who spent his adult life in local politics, couldn't match it. His argument that he is stronger than everybody else was enough to drown out Walker's case about beating back labor unions.
Walker got a little revenge on Tuesday, when he announced his endorsement of Cruz on a radio show.
The Wisconsin governor could set the tone for a state that's do-or-die for Cruz. Walker could be positioning himself for a future run. At the CPAC gathering near Washington earlier this year, he sought to minimize the damage that anti-Trump Republicans fear he's doing to the conservative brand.
"I want to offer you some enthusiasm, some optimism today, and tell you no matter what's happening there, the conservative movement is alive and well in states all across America," he said there.
And he's thrown out the possibility that if the GOP race is decided at the convention in Cleveland, the nominee might not be one of the three candidates for president right now.
Expectations game
Kasich wasn't exactly raising the stakes in Wisconsin when he talked with reporters Monday in West Salem.
Asked to name one state he can win as the campaign moves forward, he said: "Yeah, I mean we'll see, yeah."
"I'm not going to be predicting because every time I predict it ends with you people coming and throwing my words back in my face. The key for us is to pick up delegates," he said.
So cross Kasich off the list of those whose fate depends on Wisconsin's outcome.
Cruz, on the other hand, has much more on the line. Trump is already on course to come close to winning 1,237 delegates -- enough to clinch the Republican nomination outright. Cruz is within striking distance in the Badger State, and if he's to deny Trump that mark, he can no longer afford to lose winnable states.
Amid all the personal insults, Cruz seems to have recognized this as a moment to strike.Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip (Breakfast) Cookies
Alright, I’m not going to lie, today’s breakfast cookie turned out |
ellen term). The dialog spans the gamut of pensive to inane. Let's begin with some of the Masters of the Universe—mostly central bankers—in their own words.
Bullard is “forecast[ing] rising inflation,” which is why he is “concerned about declining inflation expectations.” Mmm-kay. Whatever you say, Jim. Kocherlakota tells us we should be concerned about “below-target inflation” without clarifying from what dark place the Fed pulls its target. From recently released Fed minutes, we find that Bernanke thinks “low inflation is generally good” but that a “2% inflation target may be too low.” Fed governor Charles Evans declares “2% is not the right number.” I agree with Chuck, but I doubt we would agree on why 2% is not my number. With deflation risk in mind, a Fed report warned us that “consumers have decided to hoard money,” presumably in small banks called “hoardings and loans.” Krugman—a central banker in his dreams—warns that “the great danger facing advanced economies is that governments and central banks will do too little,” which is a complete 360 for him. He also noted that “inflation redistributes wealth down the scale of both wealth and age, while deflation does the reverse.” Poor folks love rising prices at Walmart. Adam Posen, president of the Petersen Institute, explains this odd consumer preference: “Food is one component of consumption. A rise in its cost is not inflation.”
Whether journalists are duplicitous or merely duped by macroeconomists is unclear, but they take in these nuggets of ambiguity from the authorities and spit out some seriously content-free content. Let's start with The Economist—the gateway to higher economic reasoning—by blowing right through an extraordinary flowing montage of quotes: “the biggest problem facing the rich world’s central banks today is that inflation is too low.... Politicians and central bankers are not providing the world with the inflation it needs.... The perversity of the low-inflation world is shown by the fact that the catalyst for the latest deflation scare is in itself a largely positive development.... The belief that goods bought tomorrow will be cheaper than goods bought today chokes consumption.” And then there was this little treasure: “You can have too much of a good thing, including low inflation. Very low inflation may benefit important segments of the population, notably net savers.” I respectfully suggest you guys step back and take a deep breath or change your name to one that better reflects your content.
Other media outlets had their 10 minutes of glory. The Financial Times warned that “it can be extremely difficult to increase the rate at which prices rise.” God forbid. Bloomberg noted that “an inflation rate approaching zero is bad for the economy because... companies’ inability to raise prices hurts profits.” So if profits need inflation, are they real? The Wall Street Journal worried that “the recent period of very low inflation could persist longer than first thought and may threaten the currency area's economic recovery.” It was a Yahoo Finance headline, however, that captured the weapons-grade stupidity of the discourse on deflation:
“Golden Years look dark as lower inflation eats into Social Security.”
Wait... what? Jeepers. It astonishes me that people actually penned these ideas. I know bats spewing shit less crazy than that. I personally don't need any inflation whatsoever. I like dropping prices, living large on less, boosting the GDP like an Italian (blow and hookers). Here's a simple sanity check: name one example of a good that fails to sell because it has gotten too cheap (besides equities, that is.) Raoul Paul Ilargi of Automatic Earth asserted that real deflation is not about dropping prices but about how much you have to spend. That's a keeper.
Let's bring a single member of the opposing team—the Sultan of Swat—off the bench:
“I remember sitting in class at Harvard being told by a fiscal policy expert that a little inflation was good for the economy. All I can remember after that was a word flashing in my brain like a yellow caution: bullshit.... This kind of stuff that you’re being taught at Princeton disturbs me.” ~Paul Volcker, former FOMC Chair
Some argue the definitive resolution to the inflation–deflation debate comes from the Billion Price Project (BPP) of Roberto Rigobon and big-brained economists at MIT.ref 193 By monitoring over a billion prices using NSA-quality robotic software, they amass a sample size on daily price fluctuations so enormous that no sane person could contest the final read on inflation. Not so fast, Bucko. How do they statistically weight the prices? How do you compare the price of toothpicks to college tuition? Soaring toothpick prices are never going to trouble me; I'll use my fingernail. A billion prices need a billion statistical weightings to reflect the magnitude of the prices, the percentage of one's income dedicated to the purchases, and the optionality of the purchases. That is where error and even chicanery could lurk. I asked Rigobon how they weight the prices, and he courteously told me that info is “proprietary,” which is a euphemism for لدغة لي. In chemistry, a manuscript that describes a new method without providing any methodology gets rejected. The Billion Fudge Factor Project (BFFP) is a nonstarter without details.
Curiously, when I posted my concerns about the Billion Price Project online, somebody said the index went live, came in way too hot relative to the consumer price index (CPI), was brought back to the shop for a tune-up, and was re-released in the new CPI-friendly form. This, at present, is an unsubstantiated rumor, but back-testing to the CPI would be very tempting and would completely negate the basic premise. Also, I can name 50 items whose prices have profoundly influenced my lifetime of consumption; the other 999,999,950 are largely white noise. According to Daniel Kahneman (Thinking Fast and Slow), we must ignore the white noise.
Consumers deeply understand that which eludes central bankers and maybe even MIT economists: CPI inflation is very real. Prices are going up and package sizes are shrinking. John Williams of Shadowstats would argue that inflation is seriously underestimated.ref 194 I don't know if he's right, but his methodology is clean and simple. Oddly, even data from the Fed suggest high consumer inflation.ref 195 Paul Singer of Elliott Asset Management suggests that “the arithmetic of government statistics (jobs, growth, and inflation) is distorted and dishonest almost beyond measure.” Philippa Malmgren, former member of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets, refers to “a growing gap between what central banks are telling us about inflation versus what people are really experiencing.” The technical term for those who doubt government inflation numbers is “inflation truther,” which roughly translates to “ignorant peasant with a walnut-size brain.” Someone who uses “inflation truther” pejoratively is technically referred to as an “asshat.”
Lets call a spade a spade. Contemporary central bankers care deeply about CPI inflation because consumers must get less than expected somehow to exit this morasse of debt. What the bankers fear, however, is the deflation of assets on member banks' balance sheets. They fear the bad deflation—the kind that leads to defaults on loans rather than just cheaper goods—because of bank failures and because it shows that the central banks royally screwed the pooch. According to Austrian business cycle theory, the bigger the boom the bigger the bust. We are now at the end of a monumental bank-sponsored credit boom; brace for the Red Bull-sponsored bust. The inflationary credit boom is the disease; deflation is a symptom. We are being relentlessly waterboarded with liquidity by central bankers and fed propaganda with rectal feeding tubes. Charles Kindleberger, the world's expert on bubbles in his day, noted that bubbles arise when excess credit is jammed into a system with decaying fundamentals.ref 196 Decaying fundamentals? Sound familiar? If somehow all this money hoarded at the Fed escapes into the wild, take cover. Either way, proclamations that “it's a dud” seem premature. I highly recommend Banking and the Business Cycle (1937) for a compelling description of what happened the last time we hit this bridge abutment.0 of 5
Tony Dejak/Associated Press
One of the most important issues a team faces every offseason is deciding which of its own free agents to keep and how to keep them. The Cleveland Browns have 19 players whose contracts are expiring this offseason, according to Spotrac.com, and while none of the names are “elite,” there are plenty of major contributors. So what exactly would it cost the Browns to bring these players back?
Teams that covet their own talent too much can overpay for a guy who could have been replaced at a cheaper price. They must also weigh the effect letting a guy walk can have in a locker room too. Players know which teams pay their guys and who is always looking for the bargain. It is a fine line to walk.
The market is set by contracts the prior year and comparing ages and production. Agents don’t care about what is on the film as much as they care about the numbers they can sell. Front offices will do everything they can to minimize what the numbers mean and bring down the asking price. This is NFL negotiating.
The Browns will be in an interesting spot with some of their free agents, as some had career years and others never materialized into the players they envisioned. Let’s take a look at the top five free agents for the Browns and figure out what it might take for Cleveland to keep them if it so chooses.Sugar ants know they're lost
THE VISION CENTRE 12 NOV 2012
Image: Bidgee/Wikimedia This is the first ant species known to act 'lost' when it can't recognise any landmarks - typically ants would use things such as number of steps and distance to the Sun to help them head back along their imagined path, even if they were nowhere near their nest. The research provides interesting insight into how visual recognition works in different species.
Australian sugar ants know their surroundings so well that putting them in a different place can immediately trigger a ‘lost’ reaction, new research shows.
Scientists at Australia’s Vision Centre have found that an ant’s habitat can determine how it navigates through its environment.
“As ants travel from their nest to food sources, they use various ways and clues to ensure that they always know the way home,” says Eliza Middleton from The Vision Centre and The Australian National University. “One of them is recognising familiar landmarks along their route.
“They also count their steps to measure distances and use a ‘compass’ to monitor the position of the sun and the pattern of polarised light in the sky. A combination of these methods leads to path integration – a fundamental way used by ants and bees to always know the direct way home.”
To determine how foraging sugar ants navigate, the researchers captured ants that were heading back to their nest and released them at a local and a remote site.
“The local site was within the ants’ foraging range and the remote site was completely unfamiliar – both were filled with landmarks,” Ms Middleton says. “We then tracked them for seven minutes.
“Previous research has shown that when ants are lost, they’ll use what they learned from path integration and go along the imagined route to where the nest should be, even if it isn’t actually there.
“We expected sugar ants at the remote location to do the same, since there weren’t any familiar landmarks, which meant that they had to fall back on path integration.”
However, sugar ants that were released at the remote location walked around in circles for the full seven minutes that they were tracked. On the other hand, ants that were released at the local site successfully found their way home – some headed along the ‘imagined’ route, but managed to adjust their path on their way.
“It shows that ants at the local site used both path integration and landmark recognition to find their nest,” Ms Middleton says. “As for ants at the remote site, their immediate switch to ‘search mode’ – walking around in circles – showed they knew they were lost, and that they completely ignored any path integration information.
“So sugar ants will use path integration to some degree in familiar locations, but completely disregard it when they’re lost. They are the first ant species that we know of to behave in this way.
“It’s possible that the ants were completely overwhelmed by their new environment – the surrounding landmarks were so different that they immediately tried to search for something familiar.
“It means that sugar ants are so reliant on landmarks that a different landmark-rich environment can suppress their use of path integration.”
Ms Middleton says that this behaviour is not necessarily species-specific, but may be a result of foraging experience in a certain environment: “Ants can use visual cues – such as landmarks – or path integration to go around, but whichever they pick as their primary method depends on where they live. Sugar ants behave this way because they live in the suburbs with lots of buildings, and in densely forested natural environments.
“If you capture desert ants that live in dense, landmark-rich habitats and release them in an unfamiliar environment, chances are they will rely little on path integration to get home too.”
The group’s conference poster “Homing strategies of the solitary foraging Banded Sugar ant, Camponotus consobrinus” by Eliza JT Middleton, Jochen Zeil and Ajay Narendra was presented at the Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology. See: http://bit.ly/ThREg8
The Vision Centre is funded by the Australian Research Council as the ARC Centre of Excellence in Vision Science.Survivalist Joseph Badame is making the best of a bad situation.
The 74-year-old architect was devastated when M&T Bank recently began foreclosure on the Medford, New Jersey, home that he and his late wife Phyliss had spent more than four decades turning into a 8,500-square-foot prepper compound.
But instead of throwing away the dozens of barrels they’d packed with supplies so that up to 100 of their friends and relatives could survive a possible economic meltdown and the end of society, Badame is sending the stock to Puerto Rico to aid victims of Hurricane Maria.
“Phyliss and I prepared all this for one group of people and it turns out it’s going to help another group of people,” said Badame, whose wife died from cancer in 2013. “That’s wonderful,” he told NJ.com.
The idea to donate the supplies emerged after Badame decided to sell most of his belongings in anticipation of his eviction.
During his estate sale over the weekend, Badame met the owners of a food truck who were raising money to help relatives on Puerto Rico who’d been left homeless in the aftermath of the devastating storm.
Badame donated $100 to Anthony and Victoria Barber’s fund and told them they could have all 70-plus barrels, each weighing 300 pounds and filled with medical supplies and enough dried food to keep 84 people well fed for up to four months ― if they could get it off the property themselves.
“I saw everything that my family would need or eat,” said Victoria Barber, who has since arranged for the first shipment to be flown to Puerto Rico on Monday. “This is a divine intervention that we are able to have all this food, and not just have the food, but have the means to get it there.”
“Honestly, I was overwhelmed with joy,” Barber told HuffPost. “This was life-saving for my family. The amount of supplies is amazing. I get choked up just thinking about it because it will allow us to not help my family, but an entire community.”
Volunteers are now helping the trio remove the barrels from Badame’s home before the bank completes the foreclosure process. And in a further heartwarming development, Badame is temporarily living in an RV on the Barbers’ land. Anthony Barber is now describing him as “family.”A striking finding in a recent Inspector General report revealed that the U.S. Department of State spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Facebook "likes" in the past two years, effectively buying fans.
In order to bolster its presence on Facebook, the State Department paid about $630,000 for campaigns to increase its total number of likes, the May 2013 report indicates.
While the sheer amount of funds the State Department dropped on social media may be surprising in and of itself, the most significant aspect of the report may be the finding that these fans are, for the most part, fake.
As the report states: "Many in the bureau criticize the advertising campaigns as 'buying fans' who may have once clicked on an ad or 'liked' a photo but have no real interest in the topic and have never engaged further."
Brought to light by DiploPundit, the report states that the Bureau of International Information and Programs commenced a crusade to expand the department's social media presence globally in 2011. Facebook, in particular, was targeted with two campaigns -- launched in 2011 and 2012 -- with the overarching goal of increasing the department's fan base on the social networking site.
The $630,000 Facebook campaigns were, in fact, successful, increasing the total number fans of the State Department's English-language pages from about 100,000 to 2 million since 2011, the report notes. (The State Department's main Facebook page currently has more than 279,000 likes.)
However, no matter how well-intentioned the efforts, the act of liking a Facebook page does not automatically translate into active engagement. By mid-March 2013, only a small percentage of fans were regularly contributing to the pages, with just over 2 percent liking, sharing or commenting in the previous week.
As Foreign Policy notes, Facebook also made some changes to its News Feed in 2012 that were detrimental to page owners, including many media organizations. With the tweak, fan pages became much less prominent in the News Feed, meaning owners would have to pay for sponsored ads to keep their brands visible.
Though the State Department appears to be making a lot of changes to its social media program, including proposed guidelines that restrict what employees may post, the IG recommends the State Department adopt a clear-cut strategy that clarifies the "public diplomacy priorities of its social media sites."
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki addressed the IG report in the department's daily press briefing Wednesday, assuring that "spending on online advertising has significantly decreased."Here’s an apple that landed far from the tree. A dim star just 13 light years from Earth was born in a cluster 17,000 light years away.
Discovered in 1897, Kapteyn’s Star is the 25th nearest star system to our sun, but it is no local, says Elizabeth Wylie-de Boer of Mount Stromlo Observatory in Canberra.
The cool star’s composition is tricky to study, but astronomers can look at 16 other stars in the same “moving group”, all of which orbit the galaxy backwards and are very old. The odd motion marks them as members of the Milky Way’s ancient population of halo stars.
Of the stars, 14 had the same abundance of elements – such as sodium, magnesium, zirconium, barium – as Omega Centauri, the galaxy’s most luminous globular cluster. The cluster emits a million times more light than the sun.
Advertisement
“It’s long been thought that Omega Centauri is the left-over nucleus of a dwarf galaxy that merged with the Milky Way,” says Wylie-de Boer, whose paper will appear in the Astronomical Journal. “During the merger, the outer regions of this dwarf galaxy were stripped.”
Some of the cast-off stars ended up near the Sun, with one landing a mere 13 light years from Earth.The animal probably died as it lived — defying predators with its heavy armor and size — and after 110 million years, its face remains frozen in a ferocious reptilian glare.
How the animal, a land-dwelling, plant-eating nodosaur, died is not known, but somehow its body ended up at the bottom of an ancient sea. Minerals kept the remains remarkably intact, gradually turning the body into a fossil. And when it was unearthed in 2011, scientists quickly realized that it was the best-preserved specimen of its kind.
“It’s basically a dinosaur mummy — it really is exceptional,” said Don Brinkman, director of preservation and research at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta. The dinosaur, with fossilized skin and gut contents intact, came from the Millennium Mine six years ago in the oil sands of northern Alberta, once a seabed.
That sea was full of life, teeming with giant reptiles that grew as long as 60 feet, while its shores were traversed by massive dinosaurs for millions of years. The area has been coughing up fossils since the beginning of recorded time.Alright E’villains, we can all exhale. As previously reported what seemed like years ago, the Emeryville Ike’s Sandwiches will finally be opening on the corner retail unit of the Parc on Powell Development on Hollis & Powell. The Grand Opening is expected to occur Monday February 29th but they intend to soft-open for a few shifts prior to test their kitchen processes and get employees up to speed.
“Emeryville is a good fit for us” noted founder Ike Shehadeh through a phone interview who personally chose the location after being contacted by the landlord and being offered incentives. “Everywhere we’ve opened in the East Bay has shown us a lot of love and we feel there’s room for more.” Ike opened his first location in San Francisco back in 2007 and has expanded his brand as far as Washington D.C. in less than a decade.
Sandwiches like the Emeryville exclusive “Crazy Stupid Love” shown above are served on their famous Dutch Crunch with Ike’s secret dirty sauce and trademark caramel apple pops.
Ike’s are notorious for localizing their menu and providing unique options. The Emeryville menu includes two exclusives including the “Toy Story 4” (Veggie Bacon, Sweet Ranch & Jack) and the “Crazy Stupid Love” (Chicken Fried Steak, Ike’s Sweet Ranch, Swiss). No word on an “E’ville Eye” Sandwich ;). They also offer in the neighborhood of 500 “off the menu” options creating a near infinite amount of customization opportunities.
The leasing company for Parc on Powell has made a commitment to bringing in unique, locally serving retail. These efforts have been hampered by a City Government with a reputation of not supporting small business and created an unpredictable business climate. Ike’s thankfully signed their lease prior to Council’s announcement of their intent to implement their highest-in-the-nation minimum wage increase. Ike’s is considered a retail anchor and one that is a draw for other neighborhood businesses. So far this has not materialized for the Parc on Powell development besides the signing of Bay Bridge Optometry. The remaining lots remain empty and at least three pending deals have reportedly collapsed since the MWO’s adoption.
If there’s any small business that can absorb the current challenging business climate in our city, it’s Ike’s. Ike’s will reportedly keep prices consistent with other East Bay locations, but will implement an optional surcharge on every transaction to offset Emeryville’s added labor cost.
Another deterrent that some E’ville Eye commenters have noted is the lack of parking in the area. Something Ike’s is working on with property management who are expected to provide a handful of spots in their lot to the general public. When/If the retail fills out, there could be as many as forty spots available.
Ike’s is expanding rapidly and is also opening a Berkeley location and second Oakland location in Rockridge. Ike’s is also testing out other food concepts including Ike Burger (opening in Chico) and even Pizza (testing in Arizona). The Emeryville Ike’s will be the fifteenth location in the bay with more on the way. “I’m really grateful to the East Bay for all the support they’ve given us over the last four years” added Ike.
Hours:
10:30 a.m.-7 p.m. daily
Share this:
Email
Tweet
PrintOn Monday, the 2016 Michelin guide to France was released. The guide rouge, as it is known to the French, is generally considered the country’s gastronomic bible, its foremost arbiter of fine dining. But this year what would ordinarily have been a festive occasion—at least for those restaurants keeping or gaining stars—was overshadowed by terrible news out of Switzerland: Benoît Violier, the French-born chef of Restaurant de l’Hôtel de Ville, which boasts Michelin’s highest rating, three stars, died over the weekend in an apparent suicide. He was forty-four and left a wife and young son. The funeral was today, with fifteen hundred mourners in attendance.
The l’Hôtel de Ville, located in the town of Crissier, near Lausanne, is probably Switzerland’s most acclaimed restaurant, but also one with a star-crossed recent history. It was previously owned by Frédy Girardet, a brilliant chef who was at the vanguard of the nouvelle-cuisine movement, in the nineteen-seventies. When Girardet retired, in 1996, he sold the restaurant to Philippe Rochat, his longtime protégé. Rochat was married to the Swiss distance runner Franziska Rochat-Moser, who won the New York City Marathon, in 1997. Five years later, she was killed in an avalanche. Last summer, Rochat, who had turned over the kitchen, in 2012, to Violier, fell ill while cycling and died. And now this.
Pierre-Marcel Favre, a Swiss editor who worked with Violier on a thousand-page opus on game birds that the chef authored, told the French daily Libération that Violier’s suicide was a total shock to friends and colleagues. It has been suggested that perhaps Violier’s grief over Rochat’s death, and also the death, last year, of his father, led him to take his own life. But most of the speculation has centered on the stresses of his work, and the possibility that Violier may have buckled under the pressure of trying to maintain his restaurant’s lofty standards.
Violier’s suicide invites comparison to that of Bernard Loiseau, the celebrated French chef who killed himself in 2003. At the time, there were rumors that Loiseau’s restaurant, La Côte d’Or, located in Saulieu, a village in Burgundy, was in danger of losing its third star, and it was widely believed that the possibility of a demotion drove Loiseau to suicide. In the wake of Loiseau’s death, Michelin denied that it had warned the fifty-two-year-old chef that his third star was in jeopardy. That claim was not exactly true: a few years ago, in the course of researching a book about French food culture, I obtained the minutes of a meeting that Michelin officials had with Loiseau, in the fall of 2002. They told him that they were concerned about the quality of his restaurant’s cooking, and the document described Loiseau as “visibly shocked” by their comments. I also obtained a follow-up letter that Loiseau’s wife had sent to Michelin, in which she said that the guide’s warning (the word “warning” was underlined) would be heeded and that her husband would dedicate himself to improving the performance of his kitchen. Instead, he killed himself.
There is no indication that Violier was on shaky ground with Michelin. When the 2016 guide to Switzerland was published, last fall, his restaurant retained its third star, and, in contrast with Loiseau, who was struggling to remain in the spotlight even before Michelin voiced its displeasure with his performance, Violier’s career was ascendant. In December, France’s foreign ministry published a list of the world’s best restaurants, grandly called La Liste and derived from an algorithm dubbed Ciacco, after a gluttonous character in Dante’s Inferno, and Restaurant de l’Hôtel de Ville claimed the top spot. (La Liste is France’s answer to the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, an annual ranking founded by the British trade magazine Restaurant. The French started La Liste because they consider the World’s 50 Best to be ethically suspect and also biased, particularly against French restaurants.)
Restaurant de l’Hôtel de Ville is one of three restaurants in Switzerland with three Michelin stars; there are twenty-six in France. As any chef will tell you, the pressure of trying to earn a third star is nothing compared with the burden of trying to keep it; losing a third star can be devastating for a restaurant’s reputation and bottom line. The pressure is particularly severe for chefs working outside of major cities. According to Michelin, a three-star rating means that a restaurant is “worth a special journey”; a two-star rating means it is merely worth a “detour.” A third star brings a steady influx of gastronomic tourists; lose the third star and many fewer people are willing to make the trip. Loiseau, whose restaurant was two and a half hours south of Paris, and twenty-five miles off the nearest highway, was acutely aware of this. It seems that Violier was, too. In an interview with Libération a few days before his death, he alluded to the challenge of having a high-end restaurant in a nondescript suburb of a small city, and cited a quip by Girardet—“people don’t come here for the sea view.” He also said that he worried about being able to continue to attract diners to Crissier and noted that the restaurant’s reservation book amounted to “three months’ grace.”
What will become of Violier’s third star now? In 1990, after the French chef Alain Chapel dropped dead of a heart attack at the age of fifty-two, Michelin stripped his eponymous restaurant of its third star. The guide’s editorial director at the time, Bernard Naegellen, explained that this was done out of respect for Chapel. To have maintained the third star, he said, would have suggested that Chapel “had counted for nothing in the excellence of his restaurant.” Loiseau’s restaurant, by contrast, kept its third star following his death. It was thought that Michelin, accused of having driven the chef to suicide, didn’t want to compound the public-relations fiasco by demoting his restaurant. However, Jean-Luc Naret, who served as the guide’s editorial director from 2004 to 2010, insisted that wasn’t the case when I interviewed him several years later. “Stars are not as attached to the man,” he told me. “They are attached to the team of the restaurant, and if they continue to do the same job there is no point to take stars away.”
When the 2016 Michelin guide to France was released on Monday, two restaurants lost their third stars. One of them was Loiseau’s.Caracas - A Venezuelan judge who was on a panel that approved the jailing of a high-profile opposition leader last year has been shot dead in what the government suggested on Thursday could have been a contract hit.
Nelson Moncada, 37, was killed late on Wednesday when he tried to drive around a makeshift roadblock set up on an avenue in the El Paraiso district of western Caracas, prosecutors said.
Gunmen "shot him and robbed him of his belongings", they said in a statement.
His death was not for the moment added to a toll kept by prosecutors of fatalities in violent street protests and a crackdown by authorities since April 1. That tally currently stands at 60 deaths.
However, public ombudsman Tarek William Saab did add the death to a list he is keeping for the same period, which now stands at 65.
Saab called for better investigation of deaths at the roadblocks that have sprung up to filter and extort motorists.
Moncada sat on a bench of judges who in August ratified a 14-year prison sentence given to opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who has become a rallying figure for anti-government protesters.
Interior Minister Nestor Reverol intimated the opposition - which the government accuses of being a right-wing group backed by the US - could have been behind the judge's murder because of Lopez's incarceration.
"We are not discarding the possibility that this might be a contract assassination, by hitmen hired by the terrorist right to continue creating and sowing terror," he said.
But Lopez's lawyer, Juan Carlos Gutierrez, told AFP he rejected that hypothesis.
Residents in Caracas have complained that the makeshift roadblocks have become a dangerous criminal phenomenon in which drivers have been attacked by rocks.In the penalty shootout in soccer, all the player has to do to score is kick the ball into one of the four corners of a 24-foot by 8-foot target from 36 feet away. For someone who earns a living playing "the beautiful game," it sounds easy.
Costa Rica found it's a lot more complicated than that in their quarter-finals match against the Netherlands on July 5. Two Costa Rican players failed to score in the shootout, resulting in a Dutch victory.
According to British journalist Andrew Anthony, author of the 2001 book On Penalties, the shootout is about "the drama of decision-making."
"It all comes down to that moment as you walk from the centre circle to the penalty spot, which is the walk that they have to do.
"You are walking down a kind of corridor of truth."
He notes, "Life often comes down to these dramatic moments of decision-making, although usually not watched by a billion people around the world."
Indeed, the penalty shootout may be more psychological than physical.
The shootout was introduced as a way of deciding tied games in 1970 and was first used in a FIFA finals tournament in 1982. Since then, the success rate for players is just 75 per cent.
Anxiety may lead to failure
"Anxiety is the most significant contributing factor to performance failure in football penalty shootouts," according to an Expert Statement on the Psychological Preparation for Football Penalty Shootouts, a paper prepared for the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences in 2013.
Costa Rica players watch as Netherlands' Arjen Robben celebrates during a penalty shootout during the World Cup quarterfinal soccer match in Salvador, Brazil, July 5. The Netherlands defeated Costa Rica 4-3 in a penalty shootout after a 0-0 tie. British experts advise the player to ignore the goalkeeper and pick a spot. (Wong Maye-E/Associated Press)
If an expert statement sounds odd, consider that England has always lost shootouts at the World Cup.
The statement identifies the hurdle the players have to overcome: the penalty shootout is one of the few occasions when they "have sufficient time to think about the consequences of failure."
But the greater the pressure, the less likely the player will score, according to a study based on almost 400 kicks from penalty shootouts held during major tournaments up to 2007. "Players score on fewer than 60 per cent of their attempts when a miss will instantly result in a loss for the team compared to 92 per cent of their attempts when a goal will win the game," according to the statement.
Not a lottery
Anthony says that prior to the introduction of penalty kicks, a tied game was decided by the toss of a coin. As a result, the shootout "has been seen by many footballers as an extension of that," which is why some call it a lottery, a matter of luck rather than skill.
That's a mistake, Anthony says. "You've got to practise, you've got to have it as part of your muscle memory exactly where you are going to put the ball."
And Anthony advises players to have in mind before the referee blows the whistle, where they are going to kick the ball. "Whatever you decide, you should stick to that and not change it. When they try to second-guess the goalkeeper, that's when they come undone."
Dirk Kuyt kicks the final and winning goal for the Netherlands. Players score on 92 per cent of their shootout attempts when a goal will win the game compared to fewer than 60 per cent when a miss will instantly result in a loss for their team. (Natacha Pisarenko/Associated Press)
The expert statement advises the player to ignore the keeper and pick a spot. That's because "anxiety increases the amount of attention paid to the goalkeeper and increases the likelihood that takers will produce shots that are hit significantly closer to the goalkeeper."
Anthony advises the player to kick it inside the post.
Stats indicate an 88 per cent success rate on shots aimed top right. However, shots aimed dead centre succeed 83 per cent of the time, because the goalie almost always dives left or right — but Anthony says shooting down the middle requires nerves of steel. Shots aimed at the lower part of the net succeed only 72 per cent of the time.
Pressure not on the goalkeeper
So the player makes their decision, visualizes their successful shot, takes their time both placing the ball on the spot and starting their run after the referee's whistle — but there's still a goalie.
Paul Dolan, former Canadian national team goalkeeper and now goalkeeper coach for Canada, says in a penalty shootout, the pressure is almost all on the shooter. When he was between the posts during a shootout, he says he 'never felt the pressure.' (Canada Soccer)
Paul Dolan, former Canadian national team goalkeeper and now goalkeeping coach for Canada, says the pressure is almost all on the shooter.
"When [the goalie] saves it, he's the hero. When he lets it in, it's expected. I never felt the pressure," during the shootout, Dolan says.
What the goalie needs to do is make the shooter doubt themselves, to think it's difficult to score, Anthony says.
That's what Netherlands goalkeeper Tim Krul did in the shootout against Costa Rica on Saturday.
Dutch coach Louis van Gaal sent the taller Krul in as a last-minute substitute for starting goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen just moments before the shootout.
Some spectators may have thought this was because Krul had been stronger in the shootout scenario but Anthony told CBC News that van Gaal wanted to get to the Costa Ricans psychologically, by getting Krul to fill "the space as much as possible with his physical presence, and clearly it worked." He also noted that the third Dutch keeper, Michel Vorm, actually has a better record on penalties than Krul.
Krul, meanwhile, followed standard practice by trying to freak out the shooters. "I just told them I knew where they are going," the goalkeeper explained at a postgame news conference.
Dolan says he thought the referee "might have booked him [for a yellow card] for it, but I guess trash-talking is the way of the day, part of the psychological warfare."
Julio Cesar of Brazil makes a stop during his team's shootout against Chile in the FIFA World Cup Round of 16. If you're the goalkeeper, 'you need to go one way or another, you can't wait until the shot is taken,' Paul Dolan says. (Serg |
you can. When Internet Explorer 5.5 made CSS layout across browsers possible for the first time, Jeffrey Zeldman wrote To Hell With Bad Browsers, leading the call for designers to adopt CSS layout:
“For years, the goal of a Web that was accessible to all looked more like an opium dream than reality. Then, in the year 2000, Microsoft, Netscape, and Opera began delivering the goods. At last we can repay their efforts by using these standards in our sites. We encourage others to do the same.”
The response to this call to action was gradual, but effective. Initially, web designers began experimenting with CSS layout on their personal sites, before testing the waters with some of their riskier side projects. Major mainstream sites like ESPN began making the switch only a couple of years later.
With Internet Explorer 8 on the verge of release, the stage is set for another wave of change to sweep the Web, however gradually. Now is the time to ensure you’re on the leading edge, not paddling to catch up!
Everything You Know About CSS Is Wrong
Perhaps the most important benefit of CSS tables is that it finally makes page layout with CSS easy to learn. Finally, we can justifiably expect anyone designing a web site today to do it the right way, with a proper separation of content (HTML) and presentation (CSS).Montgomery County, Maryland has a variety of opportunities to see fireworks and to participate in activities for the Fourth of July. All events are family-friendly and most include live entertainment. All events listed below will occur on July 4, unless otherwise noted.
Takoma Park Independence Day Celebrations
Takoma Park Middle School
7611 Piney Branch Rd, Takoma Park, MD
The Takoma Park, Maryland community celebrates the Fourth of July with a full day of events including an Independence Day Parade, musical entertainment and a spectacular fireworks display. This annual small-town Independence Day celebration kicks off with a community parade at 10 am and travels along Carroll and Maple Avenues. The evening program begins at 7 pm at Takoma Park Middle School with performances by Elena & Los Fulanos, the AcroAirs and the Takoma Park Community Band. Fireworks begin at 9:30 pm at the Takoma Park Middle School. Learn More
Germantown Glory
South Germantown Recreational Park
18041 Central Park Circle, Boyds, MD
Germantown Glory will kick off at 7 pm with a concert by Gringo Jingo, performing the best of Santana. The fireworks display will begin at approximately 9:15 pm. The timing of the fireworks show may change due to weather conditions. Low lawn chairs, blankets and coolers are welcome. There will be food vendors at both locations. Alcoholic beverages are not permitted. Rain date for the fireworks display only is July 5. Download Flyer
Rockville’s Independence Day
Mattie J. T. Stepanek Park
1800 Piccard Drive, Rockville, MD
The City of Rockville’s Fourth of July celebration returns for the second straight year to Stepanek Park in King Farm. The event kicks off with the Rockville Concert Band at 6 pm, followed by a performance from country musician Shane Gamble at 7 pm, and fireworks starting at 9:15 pm. Guests are encouraged to bring blankets, lawn chairs and picnic items. Parking is available in lots along Shady Grove and Gaither Roads as well as on Piccard Drive. Learn More
Mid-County Sparkles
Albert Einstein High School
11135 Newport Rd, Kensington, MD
Mid-County Sparkles begins at 7:30 pm with a concert by Quiet Fire, a soul, rhythm and blues, rock band that covers hits from the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Only parking for individuals with disabilities will be available on-site at Einstein High School. Free parking and shuttle service will be provided from Westfield Wheaton Mall, located at 11160 Veirs Mill Road. The fireworks display will begin at approximately 9:15 pm. The timing of the fireworks show may change due to weather conditions. Low lawn chairs, blankets and coolers are welcome. There will be food vendors. Alcoholic beverages are not permitted. Rain date for the fireworks display only is July 5. Learn More
Additional Fourth of July Activities:
If you’re looking for an alternative to fireworks, consider participating is one of these Fourth of July events throughout Montgomery County.
Kensington Fourth of July Bike Parade
Plyers Mill Road and St. Paul Street
Kensington, MD
The 23rd Annual Fourth of July Bike Parade will take place on July 4 starting at 10 am at St. Paul Park. This event is open to kids and those young at heart, that wish to decorate their bike, scooter, wagon or stroller and follow a Kensington Volunteer Fire Department truck through the streets of Kensington. Learn More
Independence Day Tour at the Medical Museum
National Museum of Health and Medicine
2500 Linden Lane, Silver Spring, MD
“The Nation’s Medical Museum — Meeting Challenges through Innovation.” The Independence Day Tour at the Medical Museum is a free, docent-led introductory tour highlighting the remarkable changes in American medicine over the past 150 years with a special focus on military medicine. Learn More
Autism Speaks 5K / 1 Mile Walk
Potomac Library Parking Lot
10101 Glenolden Dr. Rockville, MD
The National Capital Area Chapter of Autism Speaks will hold the Autism Speaks 5K on Wednesday, July 4 in Potomac, MD. The community event will include a timed 5k run and family-friendly 1-mile walk through a scenic Potomac neighborhood.
Proceeds from the 18th annual race will support Autism Speaks’ mission to promote solutions across the spectrum and throughout the life span, for individuals with autism and their families. Registration is required. Learn More
Town of Chevy Chase Independence Day Picnic & Parade
Jane E. Lawton Community Recreation Center
4301 Willow Ln, Chevy Chase, MD
The Town of Chevy Chase’s July 4th celebration begins at noon with a community parade led by the Dixie Land Trio. Residents are encouraged to come to the Jane E. Lawton Community Recreation Center at 4301 Willow Lane at 11:30 am to decorate bikes, scooters, wagons and baby carriages before participating in the parade around the town. A picnic begins at 12:30 pm and will be catered by the Red, Hot & Blue Barbecue truck and the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream truck. There will also be a reading of the Declaration of Independence at the event. Residents are asked to RSVP for the celebration with the town office by calling 301-654-7144 or emailing [email protected]. Download FlyerDirected by Ben stiller
Written by Steve Conrad
Based on short story by Hanes Thruber
For a movie with an interesting premise about a man who daydreams himself a more interesting fantasy life, it’s surprisingly boring. It’s not a bad movie, but it just isn’t that interesting either. It’s pretty to look at and provides some laughs, but not enough happens in its near two hour run time.
The film starts off strong and sets up the premise well. Walter (Ben Stiller) is a middle aged socially inept man who zones out every once in a while and lives out crazy fantasies in his head whilst living a very mundane life (though one where he has plenty of expandable income and works at a renowned magazine). An important photo negative has gone missing and Walter must set out to find it. It really isn’t about the photo, but rather the film’s message which they repeat ad nauseum throughout the film. The film is about living your dreams and living a full life. Apparently, living your dreams involves getting into a helicopter with a drunken pilot during stormy weather – a good message to everyone. Walter turns from a shy, lonely man to an adventurous happy one, but the transition is way too sudden. Honestly, for a large portion of the film I was waiting for it to turn out it was just another instance of him zoning out. The things he actually does are almost as over the top as his daydreams. I guess in that sense he really is living his dreams and he stops daydreaming the more exciting shit he does, but still. Also, the whole movie he is chasing this photo that is supposed to be “the quintessence of life”, when it is finally revealed, it’s a bit disappointing. They should’ve really come up with a better photo.
Even though the story is a bit fantastical and over the top and unrealistic and requires a big suspension of disbelief and so on, the film is consistent whole when it comes to plot, cinematography, and soundtrack. The camera is almost constantly in motion, spinning around, crane shots, etc. Walter has entered a new wonderful world and the camera tries to capture it all just as Walter does. Also, the shots of the various vistas in the film are beautiful. I can’t give too much credit there since nature is just beautiful in general. The soundtrack is upbeat and at the same time melancholic. It features sort of spooky vocals along percussion and adds to the sense of wonderment and fantasticalness.
Unfortunately, the characters are pretty meh. Walter is inconsistent just like the plot, but he is a likable guy and does grow in the film, so he did the job I guess. And the movie is pretty much about him, but still, it would’ve been nice to have a more interesting supporting cast. The love interest, Cheryl, played by Kristen Wiig, is nice enough. She’s casually funny, but she isn’t that memorable of a character. Neither is Walter’s mother. His sister is the typical eclectic sibling. Sean Penn plays the famed photographer Sean O’Connel. He is actually is an interesting character, but is only in one scene. Also, for a famed photographer, all you really see is photos of him and notsomuch pictures he’s taken. And the “antagonist” is Ted Hendricks, aka Adam Scott with an unnerving beard. He isn’t much of antagonist since he barely has any screen time and has minimal effect on the plot. It is funny how Adam Scott essentially plays a douchier Ben Wyatt; Ted does the same job that Ben from Parks and Rec does, except with private companies and not local governments.
6 out of 10 cake loving Afghan warlords
tl;dr somewhat funny, screenplay could’ve used more work, especially the ending. Looks nice and good music.
P.S. The in-flight meal on Greenland Air looked like a legit delicious meal.Valve’s Teach with Portals of course is based on the popular Portal series. It challenges you to complete a series of puzzles in order to escape confinement.
Intended for classroom use and handy for home teaching, Teach with Portals is intensely video game-like, an evocative approach targeting teachers and students alike. Its “interactive physics” tech is particularly cutting edge and is entirely based on Valve’s proprietary Source Engine.
This deceptively simple puzzle game weaves together a complicated story line, a ton of game play, and the use of true to life physics in order to guide players through the experience.
Who doesn’t love a Portal Gun, which lets you blast portals to travel through the game?
Educators are able to build lesson-based puzzles in Teach with Portals, too.
“Portal 2 Puzzle Maker allows gamers, and now teachers and students to quickly and easily build their own puzzles. Available via the new Steam for Schools delivery system and via the Teach with Portals site teachers caan explore the Portal world for pre-built lesson plans, too. There are plenty of ideas to check out at Valve’s Education Forum to boot.
Want a closer look. This is a good video and demo from this year’s Games for Change Festival:
Valve looks to be leaning towards the future with their products and not just in the educational space.
Besides unleashing tools for education to take advantage and create new learning tools, Valve also announced it would be providing more of its development kits to the public.
Now there’s open access to the same tools that Valve’s in-house developers use to create their titles. That opens the doors to even more third-party and independent titles. Valve is moving the ball forward in this sector in an effective, accessible way.
Here’s hoping someone you know gets to learn valuable material — from a real video game worth playing. For aNewDomain.net, I’m Chris Poirier.A decade ago, a primary care physician I admired seemed to come undone. His efficiency had derived not from rushing between patients but from knowing them so well that his charting was effortless and fast. But suddenly he became distracted, losing his grip on the details of his patients' lives. He slumped around, shirt half-untucked, perpetually pulling a yellowed handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his perspiring forehead. Everyone worried he was sick. His problem, however, turned out to be the electronic health record (EHR).
Ten years and nearly $30 billion of government stimulus later, the mandate to implement EHRs has spawned many similar stories, some of which Robert Wachter catalogues in The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine's Computer Age, which explores the tension between the push to digitize medicine and the sanctity of the doctor–patient relationship.1 Wachter centers his EHR analysis around the story of an 18-year-old given a 39-fold overdose of Bactrim (sulfamethoxazole–trimethoprim) — a near-fatal error partially caused by an EHR. Investigating the root causes, Wachter discovers design flaws, such as defaulting to certain units for medication dosing and alerts rendered meaningless by their sheer number. But he concludes that the mistake stemmed less from the EHR itself than from its effects on our collective psychology. “I realized,” he writes, “that my beloved profession was being turned upside down by technology.”
For inhabitants of this upside-down world, Wachter's “House of Horrors” tour is vindicating. There's the critical care doctor who, unable to identify new information in daily notes, has begun printing them out and holding two superimposed pages up to the light to see what's changed. There's the cardiologist who says, “It could be worse... I could be younger.” To these tales of EHR fallout, most of us could add our own. Physicians retiring early. Small practices bankrupted by up-front expenses or locked into ineffective systems by the prohibitive cost of switching. Hours consumed by onerous data entry unrelated to patient care. Workflow disruptions. And above all, massive intrusions on our patient relationships.
These complaints might be dismissed as growing pains, born of resistance to change. But transitional chaos must be distinguished from enduring harm. According to sociologist Ross Koppel, who has studied the EHR's limitations and why they've been largely ignored, one key barrier is that physicians who voice reservations are labeled “technophobic, resistant, and uncooperative.”2 But in fact a recent RAND study showed that most physicians recognize the potential of EHRs and appreciate such features as the ability to view data remotely. Nevertheless, the researchers found remarkable EHR-induced distress. They conclude, “No other industry, to our knowledge, has been under a universal mandate to adopt a new technology before its effects are fully understood, and before the technology has reached a level of usability that is acceptable to its core users.”3
Perhaps medicine finds itself in this position in part because it isn't exactly, or entirely, an industry. “Medicine,” Wachter explains, “is at once an enormous business and an exquisitely human endeavor; it requires the ruthless efficiency of the modern manufacturing plant and the gentle hand-holding of the parish priest;... it is eminently quantifiable and yet stubbornly not.”
Recognizing this duality, Wachter offers a certain balance: he feels our pain but is well versed in the exigencies of safe, efficient care delivery. The purpose of widespread EHR adoption, as envisioned by the Obama administration in 2008, was to permit a transition from volume-based to value-based payments: a digital infrastructure was essential for measuring quality.
At the time, however, less than 17% of physician practices were using EHRs, and their systems often lacked necessary data-capture capabilities. Given the high up-front costs and uncertainty regarding future returns, financial and cultural hurdles to adoption were formidable. Indeed, Robert Kocher, then an Obama advisor who'd overseen a failed EHR adoption in which physicians had actually been given computers, noted, “Free isn't cheap enough.” So in 2009, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act earmarked nearly $30 billion in incentive payments for EHR adoption and “meaningful use.”
Beyond such prods, the government's role was unclear. Wachter interviewed three former national coordinators for health information technology (IT): the libertarian-inclined David Brailer, who has such faith in market-driven innovation that he barely believed in the organization he was leading; David Blumenthal, the consummate diplomat, whose $30 billion budget was 71,000% greater than Brailer's and who, in precipitating widespread adoption, was arguably the most successful leader; and Farzad Mostashari, perhaps the most controversial, whose hard-line insistence on the importance of Meaningful Use 2 (MU2) has been widely criticized.
Wachter gives a sympathetic airing to each but is unsparing about the overreach of MU criteria (the proposed MU3 criteria are even more prescriptive). Shadowing Iowa primary care physician Christine Sinsky, Wachter observes several frustrating workflow disruptions by the EHR, but he's most appalled when Sinsky shows him the repository of effective patient-education handouts she used until MU2 required that 10% of patients receive handouts “prompted by the EHR.” She proposed creating a spreadsheet to document handout delivery; the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) said no. As Sinsky explains, “That would be just documenting that you gave the handout, but the computer wouldn't be prompting you to give the handout.”
Despite such failings, even Brailer argues that the government must create common standards to ensure reliability and efficiency. Common standards are necessary but not sufficient for interoperability — the as-yet-unrealized dream of caring for a patient with chest pain in New York and pressing a button to receive the results of a stress test performed in Florida last week. So why focus on meaningful use rather than interoperability?
Some generous explanations: As Blumenthal notes, there can be no interoperability without operability. Patient privacy is another salient concern, especially given the increasing frequency of cyberattacks. Finally, the technical complexity of establishing standards is daunting. As Koppel explains, even something ostensibly simple, such as blood-pressure measurement, can get lost in translation because of the modifiers accompanying the numbers: standing, sitting, preinjection, labile, noncompliant. So imagine a common language for MRI reports or operative notes.
More cynical explanations suggest that the ONC is beholden to vendors and hospitals, which profit from “closed” systems. Although industry influence is indisputable, such an explanation conflicts with the impression I got from Judy Faulkner, chief executive officer of EHR maker Epic Systems, who advocates for government-created standards. Epic has strived to make its own systems interoperable with one another since 2005, when Faulkner's husband, a pediatrician, had a patient who died in a distant emergency department — a death he thought could have been prevented had the patient's records followed her.
Whether or not other vendors are willing to make their products interoperable, government often overrides industry's financial interests to achieve a greater public good. But as Wachter notes, the MU requirements respond less to the “corporate leviathan types” than to special interest groups of “the don't forget us variety.” MU2, for example, requires that people with vision problems be able to transmit their health information. As John Halamka, an IT leader at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, told Wachter, “I've got glaucoma. I'm all for people with vision problems. But now I have to put my most talented staff on this problem even before sorting out the basics of transmitting information.” Current systems thus reflect the fact that vendors have “spent the last three years creating EHRs for blind people and making sure patients can download their smoking status in the appropriate computer language and transmit it to nowhere.”
Though the ONC's recent emphasis on prioritizing interoperability is encouraging, the question remains: If vendors are liberated to compete, can the market solve our EHR challenges? In our iPhone-reverent age, the dismissal of EHR critics as Luddites is supported by the recognition that technologies we once couldn't imagine we now can't live without. Steve Jobs's oft-repeated claim that “the customers don't know what they want” has fostered a belief that technological progress is inevitable and depends not on input from the masses but on its absence. But the assumption that EHR evolution will mirror the cell phone's trajectory has three notable flaws.
First, such aspirational narratives beget complacency — and a tendency to dismiss contradictory evidence. The EHR is touted as a cost-saving, quality-promoting tool, though cost-saving projections have been debunked and data on quality are mixed.4,5 Koppel notes that “a seldom voiced barrier” to health IT's achievement of its promise is our refusal to acknowledge its problems and learn from them: “Researchers and data that do not support the syllogism of health IT equals patient safety, and more health IT equals more patient safety” are ruthlessly attacked.2 Although we've made progress in patient safety only by carefully examining our errors, somehow the dangers posed by technology are expected to right themselves.
Second, letting the market shape usability assumes that clinicians are the target users. But EHRs were designed to optimize not workflow or communication but billing — which is increasingly predicated on an ability to document quality. So EHRs will be only as good as the quality metrics they're designed to capture; technology can't overcome fundamental measurement challenges. We measure many things that have no value to patients, while much of what patients do value, including our attention, remains unmeasurable. If “value” is our currency, the market will select for systems that capture it, giving customers what they want — but these customers are often administrators rather than practicing clinicians.
Which brings us to the third problem: many clinicians know what they want — but haven't been asked. Wachter describes Boeing's engineers iteratively improving aviation safety: their industry, committed to “user-centered design,” has pilots test any system changes. Why, Wachter asks, do we do nothing similar in health care? After noting challenges such as the diversity of practice settings and users, he observes, “In the aviation industry, there is an abiding respect, even reverence, for the wisdom of the frontline workers.” Our biggest mistake lies not in adopting clunky systems but in dismissing the concerns of the people who must use them.
In a moving passage, Wachter speaks with a renowned surgeon who once spent his evenings before surgery reading his notes on the next day's patients. He might have eight hernia repairs scheduled, but one detail — the patient found the hernia bothersome when he played tennis, for instance — would distinguish one case from the next, the patient from the problem. No longer. His notes have been rendered uselessly homogeneous by the tyranny of clicks and auto-populated fields. When he shows up to operate on patients, he says, “It's like I never saw them before. I can't even picture their faces.”
What this surgeon and the rest of us need are patient records that communicate meaning and foster understanding of the particular patient in question. The blanks on our screens can be filled with words, but the process of understanding cannot be auto-populated. Perhaps life without the EHR will soon be unimaginable. But the technology will support and improve medical care only if it evolves in ways that help, rather than hinder, us in synthesizing, analyzing, thinking critically, and telling the stories of our patients.If you're often running late and set your clocks ahead by a few minutes to hopefully arrive on time, you may want to use this newly discovered feature of the Apple Watch.
The smartwatch has a setting which lets you move the clock face display time ahead by a few minutes to essentially trick yourself into thinking its later than it really is, says 9to5Mac.
Apple notes, however, that only the information displayed on your clock face is affected by adjusting the time via this setting. All notifications and alerts will still come in at the correct time. With this feature, users are simply moving displayed time ahead of the actual time in one minute intervals.
Is this something you could consider a useful feature? Let us know what you think below. We'll have many more details on the Apple Watch ahead of its April 24th launch.
Please follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or RSS for updates.
Read MoreGet our daily newsletter Upgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor's Picks.
INDIA and China, home to 40% of the world's people, are often unsure what to make of each other. Since re-establishing diplomatic ties in 1976, after a post-war pause, they and their relationship have in many ways been transformed. A war in 1962 was an act of Chinese aggression most obviously springing from China's desire for a lofty plain that lies between Jammu & Kashmir and north-western Tibet.
The two countries are in many ways rivals and their relationship is by any standard vexed as recent quarrelling has made abundantly plain. If you then consider that they are, despite their mutual good wishes, old enemies, bad neighbours and nuclear powers, and have two of the world's biggest armies with almost 4m troops between them this may seem troubling. One obvious bone of contention is the 4,000km border that runs between the two countries. Nearly half a century after China's invasion, it remains largely undefined and bitterly contested. The basic problem is twofold. In the undefined northern part of the frontier India claims an area the size of Switzerland, occupied by China, for its region of Ladakh. In the eastern part, China claims an Indian-occupied area three times bigger, including most of Arunachal. This 890km stretch of frontier was settled in 1914 by the governments of Britain and Tibet, which was then in effect independent, and named the McMahon Line after its creator, Sir Henry McMahon, foreign secretary of British-ruled India. For China which was afforded mere observer status at the negotiations preceding the agreement the McMahon Line represents a dire humiliation.
China also particularly resents being deprived of Tawang,which though south of the McMahon Line was occupied by Indian troops only in 1951, shortly after China's new Communist rulers dispatched troops to Tibet. This district of almost 40,000 people,scattered over 2,000 square kilometres of valley and high mountains, was the birthplace in the 17th century of the sixth Dalai Lama (the incumbent incarnation is the 14th). Tawang is a centre of Tibet's Buddhist culture, with one of the biggest Tibetan monasteries outside Lhasa. Traditionally, its ethnic Monpa inhabitants offered fealty to Tibet's rulers.
Making matters worse, the McMahon Line was drawn with a fat nib,establishing a ten-kilometre margin for error, and it has never been demarcated. With more confusion in the central sector, bordering India's northern state of Uttarakhand, there are in all a dozen stretches of frontier where neither side knows where even the disputed border should be. In these “pockets”, as they are called, Indian and Chinese border guards circle each other endlessly while littering the Himalayan hillsides as dogs mark lampposts to make their presence known.
Despite several threatened dust-ups including one in 1986 that saw 200,000 Indian troops rushed to northern Tawang district there has been no confirmed exchange of fire between Indian and Chinese troops since 1967. It would be best if the two countries would actually settle their dispute, and, until recently, that seemed imaginable. The obvious solution, whereby both sides more or less accept the status quo, exchanging just a few bits of turf to save face, was long ago advocated by China, including in the 1980s by the then prime minister, Deng Xiaoping. India's leaders long considered this politically impossible. But in 2003 a coalition government led by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party launched an impressive bid for peace. For the first time India declared itself ready to compromise on territory, and China appeared ready to meet it halfway. Both countries appointed special envoys, who have since met 13 times, to lead the negotiations that followed. This led to an outline deal in 2005, containing the “guiding principles and political parameters” for a final settlement. Those included an agreement that it would involve no exchange of “settled populations” which implied that China had dropped its historical demand for Tawang.
Yet the hopes this inspired have faded. In ad hoc comments from Chinese diplomats and through its state-controlled media China appears to have reasserted its demand for most of India's far north-eastern state. Annoying the Indians further, it started issuing special visas to Indians from Arunachal and Kashmir. In fact, the relationship has generally soured. Having belatedly woken up to the huge improvements China has made in its border infrastructure, enabling a far swifter mobilisation of Chinese troops there, India announced last year that it would deploy another 60,000 troops to Arunachal. It also began upgrading its airfields in Assam and deploying the Sukhois to them. India's media meanwhile has reported a spate of “incursions” by Chinese troops.As a hosting provider, we run hundreds of web servers with varying configurations. Some are tuned to work with large systems, some are tuned to work with lots of domains and some a tuned to be highly resource efficient. The “one size fits all” approach doesn’t work with web technology simply because the tools and the tasks vary so greatly.
We’re setting up a new production web server for our own site and as it’s a chance to start fresh, the thought of course turned to “what’s the best web server for our site?”. After looking around at various benchmarks and reviews of the more common web servers, none of the benchmarks seemed to have been run in the last few years or focussed on thousands of connections with static content. This wasn’t the scenario I wanted to see data on.
So, I set about running a few benchmarks on what I considered to be the top 3 Linux based web servers for a moderately busy site. This is why I’ve labelled the article “Part 1”, as I want to cover multiple scenarios in a few follow-up articles to encompass a variety of scenarios. For this test we'll be using WordPress, however I'll be testing other platforms in the follow-up articles as well.
The Environment and Test Limitations
For these tests, we’ll be using a CentOS 7 based Virtual Private Server (VPS) with 2GB of RAM and 2CPU’s allocated. This is a fairly vanilla entry level system which many of our clients use, which means it's a great starting point for relevance to our clients (and hopefully others as well). Being somewhat resource limited means that we also need to consider the resource usage of the web server as well as the performance.
WordPress wise we’re simply running a vanilla install of WordPress 4.1. We’ve benchmarked WordPress twice in the past (WordPress 4.0 Performance Benchmarking and WordPress 4.1 vs WordPress 4.0 Performance Comparison), so we know the rough performance baseline as well as performance tweaks required to make WordPress sing. This time around we haven’t installed any plugins, nor made any changes to the base install. We're also running the MySQL database from the same VPS, which is common for smaller sites. This isn’t what we recommend for large sites with high traffic loads but again we're targeting the smaller, more typical deployment scenarios.
We’re also only calling the main page, so while it gives us some general data it’s not perfectly indicative of the actual user performance. Only real world testing can give you this and it’ll vary significantly depending on the exact site configuration.
The testing is being run from a separate VPS on the same compute node in order to eliminate any network issues. The basic test we’re running is with 5 concurrent users and making 5000 calls to the homepage. Our Apache Benchmark call looks like this:
ab -c 5 -n 5000 http://benchmarks/wordpress/
The 5 concurrent calls is to simulate a moderately busy site. It should also be noted that 5 concurrent calls doesn’t translate to 5 concurrent users. Similarly, the requests per second also do not translate directly to users per second. These actual figures and the translation between will vary from site to site and vary across different platforms. The 5 concurrent connections will however give a reasonable approximation of what I consider to be moderate to high usage for a business website.
Apache 2.4 + mod_php
Versions
PHP 5.4.16
MySQL 5.5 (MariaDB)
Apache/2.4.6 (CentOS)
Even with the latest Apache 2.4, the default PHP configuration is through mod_php. This means that PHP is loaded as a module within Apache and runs as an embedded process. There are of course many pros and cons to running this way. Without going into a full comparison, essentially every Apache process needs to load PHP, regardless of if it needs it or not (eg when serving static files).
Lets look at our results:
Requests per second: 12.75 [#/sec] (mean) Time per request: 392.196 [ms] (mean) Time per request: 78.439 [ms] (mean, across all concurrent requests)
The important figures here are the requests per second and the mean time per requests across all concurrent requests. So in our testing config, the vanilla WordPress site is capable of just under 13 Requests Per Second (RPS).
I also use a basic little one-line script (from here) to show the number of Apache processes and the average memory per process. Here’s the script:
ps -ylC httpd --sort:rss | awk '{sum+=$8; ++n} END {print "Tot="sum"("n")";print "Avg="sum"/"n"="sum/n/1024"MB"}'
And the output:
Tot=187024(9) Avg=187024/9=20.2934MB
In this test scenario, Apache had 9 running processes with an average of 20MB each. Obviously if we were also serving out static content then we’d see more processes and the memory usage would be higher. This is when running a very basic WordPress instance too, if we’re running a much more intensive software suite like Magento then we can expect this resource usage to be much higher. It’s something we intend to cover in one of the future comparisons.
Apache + mod_php + disable Apache modules
One of the major complaints I always hear about Apache is that it’s “bloated”. The downside to having a large amount of functionality built in is that you need to load all of these features when running Apache. Thankfully, Apache is quite modular and we can simply turn off a lot of the unused features.
Note: Here be dragons. Turning off features without understanding the implications nor what they do is a disaster waiting to happen. Do not do this without understanding the implications.
I’m not going to list all of the modules I disabled, simply because I don’t want this to be a how-to guide or to have others blindly disable features without understanding the implications. I disabled about 20 modules in total, which included some of the mod_authz, mod_dbd and similar because I knew they weren’t being used for this basic site. Here’s the results:
Requests per second: 12.95 [#/sec] (mean) Time per request: 385.967 [ms] (mean) Time per request: 77.193 [ms] (mean, across all concurrent requests)
The performance results are virtually indistinguishable, which is what we expected. Where we may see a difference is the memory usage, since the modules still need to be loaded even if they're not being used. Here’s the result of our little test script:
Tot=168388(11) Avg=168388/11=14.9492MB
There’s certainly a drop in memory, but since the number of processes also varied, we can only directly compare the total result. The difference is 182MB vs 164MB with the some of the modules disabled. A difference of roughly 10% isn’t a big gain, so it would only be worth doing if you have a very large Apache installation or if memory usage is absolutely critical.
Apache + mod_fcgid
Next up was switching Apache to use mod_fcgid to implement a FastCGI call to a separate PHP instance. The tests were re-run and as the PHP processing was now performed separately, the memory used per Apache process dropped to 2.7MB. Of course, we now have the PHP instances and virtually the same system level memory usage (as measured by running "free" on the server). However, it means that having Apache serve static content is more efficient as it won't have to load PHP with each process. Since this is what a typical webserver does, running PHP separated from PHP makes great sense.
But what about performance? We're now achieving 13.35 RPS, which is roughly the same as running mod_php.
Apache + PHP-FPM
One of the newer methods of the FastCGI implementation is via PHP-FPM. This has been the “goto” method to implement more efficient PHP based systems.
Our result? 13.33 RPS. Memory wise, it’s roughly the same as both mod_php and mod_fcgi. There are of course other advantages to PHP-FPM which aren’t measured by performance (such as adaptive process spawning), so even if there’s no performance gain for a WordPress site it's worth considering.
Nginx + PHP-FPM
This is the most common scenario (nicknamed the LEMP stack) which many recommend as the best fit for high performance PHP based sites. Nginx is certainly a powerful system and was designed to beat the C10k problem. This means it's designed to handle tens of thousands of concurrent connections without degrading the performance. It does this by using events instead of threads, which is a more efficient system at high usage levels. While this isn't the limitation we're hitting here, we've benchmarked it anyway to if it provides any performance gains.
How does it perform for our scenario? 12.89 RPS. While it's slightly lower than Apache, it's |
needs to win in the long run. The internal Iraqi conflict is firmly sectarian: ISIS is a Sunni Islamist group, and the Iraqi government is Shia-run (a majority of Iraqis are Shia). Iran is also a Shia state.
Iranian intervention in the conflict could convince Sunni Iraqis who don't currently support ISIS to shift their allegiances. The perception that the Iraqi government is far too close to Iran is already a significant grievance among Sunnis. That's part pure sectarianism and part nationalism. Many Iraqis don't like the idea of a foreign power manipulating their government, particularly Iran (memories of the Iran-Iraq war haven't faded).
Iranian participation in actual combat risks legitimizing ISIS' propaganda line: this isn't a conflict between the central Iraqi government and Islamist rebels, but rather a war between Sunnis and Shias.
That risk becomes much higher if joint Iraqi and Iranian units kill Sunni civilians during the fight against ISIS — which the Iraqi military has done in the past. Indeed, the Iraqi government's brutal repression of Sunnis is one of the core reasons ISIS managed to recruit enough troops to challenge the Iraqi government in the first place. And a strong Sunni support base is the key to ISIS building up a powerful enough force to maintain an effective rebellion, as Brookings Doha's Charles Lister explains:
[<a href="//storify.com/zackbeauchamp/brookings-charles-lister-on-isis-and-sunni-support" mce_href="//storify.com/zackbeauchamp/brookings-charles-lister-on-isis-and-sunni-support" target="_blank">View the story "Brookings' Charles Lister on ISIS and Sunni support" on Storify</a>]
Iranian intervention in the Syrian conflict has helped Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad hold on to power when it looked like all was lost for him. We'll see if it ends up similarly helping the Iraqi government — or undermining it.Image Expo after party will celebrate diversity and the comics community
Image Expo Spring Formal dance will be held on Wednesday evening from 8 p.m. - 12 a.m. at The Showbox Market theater and will celebrate diversity and community in the comics industry. The traditional Spring Formal crowning ceremony will focus on a very special thank you to The Valkyries—a group that has made great strides over the past several years building an accepting, inclusive community and repeatedly championing diversity within the comics industry—and will highlight the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s important efforts to protect and promote diverse creators and their work.
New York Times bestselling artist Babs Tarr (The New 52’s Batgirl) will emcee the Valkyrie crowning ceremony and all registered Valkyrie members are encouraged to attend by submitting their credentials here for a complimentary ticket to the Formal by Friday, March 25.
New York Times bestselling creators of THE WICKED + THE DIVINE, Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, will offer their DJ-ing skills (and dance moves) while attendees dance, mingle, knock back signature cocktails, snap silly selfies at the step-and-repeat or in the photo booth.
“Obviously, Jamie and I play all kinds of music, varying from early-period Robyn, to mid-period Robyn lightened with a little sprinkling of late-period Robyn,” teased Gillen. “But really, this is the first opportunity we've had to bring the Thought Bubble dancefloor experience over Stateside, which is basically The Church Of The Wicked + the Divine (featuring the sacristy of Phonogram). The aim is to make people dance in ways they really shouldn't, and we - and our handpicked colleagues—will do anything to achieve our goal. Admittedly, this will inevitably involve some Robyn. You know what we're like.”
Presented in the style and spirit of a traditional Spring Formal dance, attendees must be 18+ and are encouraged to don their formal wear for a night on the tiles with their fellow comics fans, creators, press, and retailers. Tickets available here.
The Spring Formal will follow on the heels of Image Expo. IMAGE EXPO 2016 will feature a line-up of some of the hottest names in comics and offers a uniquely experience for fans to have unprecedented access to the writers and artists behind their favorite comic books at exclusive autograph sessions and comic-focused programming. In addition, Premium Admission Ticket holders will enjoy an admission ticket to 18+ Image Comics' Spring Formal dance—a chance to mingle with creators, press, retailers, and fellow fans, an Image T–shirt, an Image tote bag, EXPO exclusive variants, Priority seating, and access to the Premium signing.
For more about Image Expo, please visit: https://imagecomics.com/expo/Our special edition on the Russian Revolution is out. Buy it now or Subscribe for a year-long delivery of socialist propaganda to your door.
Buy this Issue
Select Print + Digital Issue (Promotional) $7.00 USD Study Group (5 mags) $30.00 USD Digital Issue $5.00 USD
Interviewed by Wladek Flakin
Esteban Volkov was thirteen when assassins tried to murder him. Because his grandfather was Leon Trotsky. Now ninety-one, Volkov keeps Trotsky’s memory alive at a museum in Mexico City where Trotsky spent the final years of his life.
The building is one of countless villas in Coyoacán: A house with a garden behind a very high wall. Coyoacán used to be a rural town outside of Mexico City where artists sought tranquility. Today it’s a hip neighborhood in the middle of the megacity, a few steps from a subway station. The garden full of cacti could be idyllic — if it weren’t for the noise and smell of the highway.
When we arrive, Volkov is waiting for us in a gray suit and a red baseball cap from the Brazilian trade union federation CUT. His deep-set eyes look severe – but soon he starts laughing. Without any noticeable difficulty, he guides us through the house — the residence where Trotsky spent the final years of his life. We see the bullet holes, the walled-up windows, the heavy steel doors — a bit like a prison. All this is now a museum for his family, the majority of whom fell victim to political murders.
Trotsky was forced to leave the Soviet Union in 1929 and found refuge on the Turkish island of Prinkipo. After a few years, he was expelled from Turkey, then from France and Norway as well. In 1937, he received asylum in Mexico.
Trotsky’s daughter, Zinaida Volkova, suffered from severe depression and took her own life in 1932, leaving behind a small son, Vsevolod “Seva” Volkov. After briefly joining his uncle — who had to flee to Paris to escape the Nazis, and was subsequently killed by Stalinist agents — the young Seva moved in with his grandfather in Mexico.
He still recalls those months with the famous revolutionary, going on cacti excursions and narrowly dodging assassination attempts. Then, on August 20, 1940, Trotsky’s luck ran out. He was killed by a Stalinist agent.
Life went on after. Sedov became a Mexican citizen and adopted a Spanish version of his name: Esteban. He studied to be a chemist, and invented a method for the industrial production of the contraceptive pill.
But he didn’t forget his grandfather’s legacy. Since 1989, Sedov has served as the director of the “Museo Casa León Trotsky.”
What are your first memories of Leon Trotsky?
I was thirteen and a half when I first arrived in this house – from Paris, with Alfred and Marguerite Rosmer. The contrast was stark. Europe in winter is gray, gray, gray. I came from a sinister climate full of grief: After the death of my uncle Lev Sedov, I was emotionally damaged. Sedov died in February 1938. His widow wanted to keep me in her care, and grandfather had to resort to lawyers. In August 1939, I finally came to Coyoacán.
My first impression was: Color! Mexico is a country full of colors. At that time, this was a village completely isolated from Mexico City. You had to go through fields of beets and corn to reach the city. The dirt roads turned to rivers when it rained.
Was it safer for you here?
Somewhat. But the Stalinist secret service was active here as well. The first assassination attempt was on May 24, 1940. I hid under my bed. The assassins came into my bedroom from three different directions and emptied a pistol into the mattress. Seven or eight shots, one of which hit my big toe.
They shot at a child?
Of course. They murdered many Trotskyists and wanted to eliminate his entire family. Trotsky’s son, Sergei Sedov, who remained in Russia and was not interested in politics, was also shot.
In May 1940, a young bodyguard from the USA named Sheldon Harte had just arrived. He was a Stalinist agent and opened the door for the assassins. Later they killed him and buried his body in a park outside the city. In the Stalinist archives it was claimed that he had criticized his comrades – if he had known that they intended to murder the child as well, he would not have participated, he said.
So he was branded a traitor. That is how the Stalinist system worked: when something went wrong, you had to find someone to blame. And in this case, it was very easy to blame the American: they said Harte had warned Trotsky who then hid in the cellar.
The story was filmed this way several times. But that is absurd. As if grandfather would have left me alone.
How did it really go down?
Grandfather took pills to help him sleep. When the shooting started, he first thought it was fireworks from some Mexican religious celebration. [laughs] His partner Natalia jumped right up. She dragged him to his feet, pushed him into a dark corner, and saved his life.
What happened after the attack?
The Stalinists tried to present it as a farce that Trotsky had organized himself. They paid a policeman and two cooks who had worked here to give false testimony. All three said that the guards had been nervous that night and had been talking in grandfather’s office until very late. In the beginning, the police fell for this lie.
But more than twenty people were involved – gangsters and Stalinists. And somehow they caught one who was bragging about it in a bar. The famous painter Alfaro Siqueiros, a leader of the Communist Party, had led the plot. Siqueiros was briefly in prison, but then he emigrated to Chile.
How did life change in the house after that?
Before, we often had trips to the countryside with friends to collect cacti. Grandfather was a big cactus fan. There is a great variety in Mexico, and the challenge was to find new species. We spent hours traveling in the car on gravel roads.
After the first assassination attempt, these trips stopped. I went to school every day, but grandfather was basically a prisoner in his home.
Originally, an Italian family had rented out this house. The Trotskyist party in the USA collected money and bought it so that they could build fortifications, wall up windows, and construct bunkers on the roof. Trotsky himself knew that the next assassination would not be a simple repetition.
Could you not have fled to a different place?
It would have been the same. Trotsky’s secretaries were criticized for not taking the right precautions. But Trotsky knew that he had only received a short respite. Perhaps one could have extended his life by a few months. But Stalin was prepared to do anything to get rid of Trotsky. Three months later, the Catalan Ramón Mercader was successful.
Were you in the house on August 20, 1940?
I arrived shortly after the murder. I saw a man in the corner, detained by policemen. Mercader was put in prison for twenty years.
How was your grandfather in everyday life?
Affectionate, with a strong sense of humor. He was a person with great vitality and boundless energy. If we were to look for an actor to portray Trotsky, the only one who could play the role really well would be Kirk Douglas (laughs). Douglas has that drive that was typical of grandfather.
Trotsky spoke many languages. He spoke English with the American guards, German with the Czechoslovak secretary Jan Bazan, and French with the secretary Jean van Heijenoort. He spoke French to me as well.
Not Russian?
No, I did not know Russian anymore. At home, most of the secretaries were Americans. One of the conditions imposed by the government for Trotsky’s exile was that he not interfere in Mexican politics. Therefore, the rule in the house was to not hire Mexican assistants.
But there are numerous essays by Trotsky about Mexican politics.
He wrote a bit about Mexico under a pseudonym, but he did not intervene in politics.
What happened to the house after Trotsky’s death?
We continued to live here. Natalia died in 1962 and was buried in the garden together with Trotsky. In 1965, soldiers occupied the house – the government’s revenge against students with Trotskyist convictions. [laughs] But after a few months they called us — they did not know what to do with the house, and so we moved in again.
We stayed another fifteen years, and then we opened the museum. In 1990 it was expanded to include an institute for the right to asylum. Some empty squash halls were refurbished to create an auditorium, an exhibition space, and a library.
I myself always stayed on the margins of politics. Grandfather had told the secretaries: if you talk to my grandson, nothing about politics.
What is the significance of Trotsky today?
He had an absolute faith that socialism would determine the future of mankind. He had no doubt. But the clock of history moves more slowly than one would like. A human life is very short compared to the historical cycles.
But it is unquestionable that humanity needs a different form of social organization if it is to survive. For capitalism always reaches new levels of destruction.
What is the significance of Trotsky’s political heritage in the struggle to overcome capitalism?
Marxism is the best way to understand capitalism and the class struggle. The Russian Revolution was one of the most comprehensive in history. Trotsky prepared the revolution ideologically and participated in it practically. He defended the Soviet Union against all enemies. After Lenin’s death, he opposed the counter-revolution. We know that all revolutions have the same dynamic: an advance, then a retreat. Just like in the French or in the Mexican Revolutions, there was a Thermidor in the Russian Revolution. In concrete terms, this meant the rise of a bureaucracy, a new privileged caste that took possession of the country and the government.
Can socialism be saved from this Stalinist experience?
Stalin presented himself as the great disciple of Lenin. And the capitalist regime happily confirms this lie, in order to disparage Marxism. Trotsky’s great work was to oppose the Stalinist counter-revolution. No one has studied this process better. Many believe the struggle between Stalin and Trotsky was a struggle for power. This is certainly true for Stalin. But it is not true for Trotsky at all. He was not interested in power. He wanted to maintain the principles of the October revolution.
If Trotsky had wanted to seize power, he could have done this with the Red Army in half an hour, for he was its leader. But that would have led to a military dictatorship. And that was not his goal. In the end he could not stop the counter-revolution – but he studied this process intensively. It was therefore particularly important for him to train the young comrades politically. After dinner, he always had very long discussions with them in his office.
This interview was originally published in German in Der Freitag. Translation by Wladek Flakin, originally published in Jacobin.“Blood diamonds” have faded away, but we may now be carrying “blood phones.”
An ugly paradox of the 21st century is that some of our elegant symbols of modernity — smartphones, laptops and digital cameras — are built from minerals that seem to be fueling mass slaughter and rape in Congo. With throngs waiting in lines in the last few days to buy the latest iPhone, I’m thinking: What if we could harness that desperation for new technologies to the desperate need to curb the killing in central Africa?
I’ve never reported on a war more barbaric than Congo’s, and it haunts me. In Congo, I’ve seen women who have been mutilated, children who have been forced to eat their parents’ flesh, girls who have been subjected to rapes that destroyed their insides. Warlords finance their predations in part through the sale of mineral ore containing tantalum, tungsten, tin and gold. For example, tantalum from Congo is used to make electrical capacitors that go into phones, computers and gaming devices.
Electronics manufacturers have tried to hush all this up. They want you to look at a gadget and think “sleek,” not “blood.”
Yet now there’s a grass-roots movement pressuring companies to keep these “conflict minerals” out of high-tech supply chains. Using Facebook and YouTube, activists are harassing companies like Apple, Intel and Research in Motion (which makes the BlackBerry) to get them to lean on their suppliers and ensure the use of, say, Australian tantalum rather than tantalum peddled by a Congolese militia.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
A humorous new video taunting Apple and PC computers alike goes online this weekend on YouTube, with hopes that it will go viral. Put together by a group of Hollywood actors, it’s a spoof on the famous “I’m a Mac”/”I’m a PC” ad and suggests that both are sometimes built from conflict minerals.Gathering around the boil kettle with your bi-pedal friends is always a great time, but sometimes you can’t beat the assistance of your trusty brew dog. He may not offer much help during clean up or bark an unwarranted suggestion in your ear from time to time, but at the end of the day he’s there by your side through thick mash and thin layer of boil-over.
Unfortunately for our canine friends, the hops we find so irresistible in our favorite ales and lagers are highly poisonous and can be fatal to dogs. Whether the hops are on the bine in your back yard, in pelletized form on your kitchen floor or in a pile of mush post-boil, the bitter cones must be kept away from dogs.
Dogs who ingest hops can suffer effects including excessive panting, restlessness and signs of pain including muscle tremors and seizures. The most significant symptom is a rapid increase in temperature called malignant hyperthermia, which can cause fevers surpassing 108°F. Such a high fever results in damage to and failure of organ systems, according to the ASPCA.
If you suspect your dog has consumed hops, seek veterinary care immediately or call the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at 888-426-4435.
It has been suggested that some other animals may also suffer such adverse effects from ingesting hops, though research to back up this claim is not extensive. When in doubt, keep your hops in a safe and secure place where your furry friends can’t gain access.
Photo © mytoenailcameoff via Flickr CCHow Our Escrow Smart Contract Works
Many of you have been asking for details on how the localethereum.com escrow smart contract works. The contract is live now, and has already been used successfully to conduct hundreds of over-the-counter ether trades.
This blog post might get pretty technical, but I’ve tried my very best to keep it light.
For those that don’t know, escrows on localethereum.com are executed using an open source Ethereum smart contract. At no point during a trade can we touch your ether. The only time where we can step is when we get explicit permission to resolve a dispute, and even then we can only direct the ether to one of the parties of the trade.
Using localethereum.com, an ordinary trade works like this:
The buyer and seller confirm and agree on the terms of the trade. The seller places the ether into the smart contract (with one click). This provides proof-of-funds and allows for a much safer trade. The buyer makes payment directly to the seller. Either: The seller successfully confirms the payment, and releases the escrow. Trade complete! A party raises a dispute, and brings in a third-party arbitrator, giving them the keys to decrypt the messages and work with both parties to make a resolution.
The smart contract allows users to safely exchange ether with one another, and to name a trusted third-party to mediate a trade if a dispute arises. Currently, the trusted mediator is always localethereum.com, but the contract will be adapted in the future to switch over to a reputation-based distributed arbitrator pool.
This post goes over the first version of our smart contract, which we expect to be replaced one day.
Creating and funding an escrow
Technically, escrows are not directly linked to trades on localethereum.com, and, if we allowed it, the contract could be utilized to escrow transactions outside of localethereum.com (perhaps for other real-world goods and services). When you first open a trade with somebody using localethereum.com, no escrow exists on the blockchain… until the seller initiates and funds it in a single transaction.
Every escrow first requires a signed invitation from localethereum.com, which is just to keep the contract clean. The seller can request one of these signatures from localethereum.com’s API when they’re ready to place their ether in escrow. The temporary invitation contains a signature of the trade’s properties, including:
The buyer’s address used to interact with the escrow and receive funds The seller’s address used to interact with the escrow, and receive returned ether in case of a cancellation The size of the trade in ether Localethereum.com’s percentage The payment window in seconds (except for cash trades)
Creating an escrow requires making a call to the external createEscrow function with these parameters and the signed invitation, and paying the full balance up-front. The function can be called from any address — the ether doesn’t have to be sent from the same address as the seller, and it typically isn’t.
We make funding easy by letting sellers choose to use their encrypted in-browser wallet with one-click, but there is also the option to simply copy the necessary data value to initiate the escrow from an external wallet.
The gas cost for creating an escrow is paid by the seller, and the seller can choose a gas price they are comfortable with. The createEscrow function uses approximately 69,000 gas — which costs less than US10¢ at today’s prices.
If you’re a seller, it’s important to make sure you and the buyer are on the same page before you fund the escrow, as it costs a few cents to fund an escrow even if you end up cancelling it. To avoid needlessly locking up your ether, sellers should wait until the buyer responds with agreement of the terms.
Once the initial createEscrow transaction has been confirmed by the network, the escrow exists on the blockchain and can be easily verified by anyone.
When localethereum.com notices that the escrow has been created and funded, which doesn’t take longer than a few seconds, the trade looks like this for a seller:
Avoiding up-front miner fees with a relay system
Localethereum.com might be many people’s first interaction with Ethereum and cryptocurrencies in general, and that makes things complicated. It costs ether to interact with the blockchain in terms of gas, and somebody who doesn’t have any ether is unable to interact with smart contracts directly.
With this in mind, we’ve designed a system in which traders can interact with our smart contract for “free” using a proxy. The cost of gas is paid up-front by us to relay digital signatures which authorise instructions on a user’s behalf, with the expectation that we’ll be reimbursed at the end of the escrow.
At first glance this system may sound exploitable. What’s to stop users from racking up debt with no intention to pay? There are a few reasons why fronting gas costs is not very gameable:
We choose the gas price, and we’ll keep it reasonable. We only relay what is legitimate and important. Since we’ve managed to cut our gas costs down significantly by minimising transactions and storage space, the amount that we loan for each trade is tiny. There’s a strong financial disincentive to an attack of this nature, because it would involve the attacker burning lots of ether on gas and fees. (Note: The minimum trade size is currently ~US$5.00.) Our API is rate-limited and protected by CAPTCHAs plus other bot-deterrents, and you need signed permission from the API to create an escrow. The overhead on relaying actions is reduced by sending many at a time, modifying many escrows in a single transaction. As escrow activity increases, the transaction overhead costs will continue to shrink in proportion.
Making changes to the escrow
During the course of an escrow, there are a few actions each party can take. Ordinarily, these actions are performed by relay, but the parties have the choice to make calls externally if they prefer. If localethereum.com were to ever go offline, traders are always able to interact with their escrows directly on the Ethereum network.
Each “action” has a single-byte identifier, which are defined as constants near the beginning of the smart contract’s source code.
To invoke an action via relay, the caller simply needs to sign a Keccak hash of the concatenation of the trade ID, the action byte and a maximum gas price that the relayer is allowed to spend for the action. The gas price cap prevents an attack vector whereby localethereum.com could hypothetically overpay for gas and cause the parties to burn more than a reasonable amount on network fees.
Releasing funds (action 0x05 ). The seller can release the funds to the buyer at any time during the escrow. This will end the escrow, and its balance, minus network fees and localethereum’s fee, will be sent to the buyer’s address.
Cancelling as a buyer (action 0x02 ). The buyer can cancel the escrow at any time, returning the funds to the seller. Our fee won’t be deducted from the balance, but any unpaid network fees covered by us will be taken from the total.
Preventing the seller from cancelling (action 0x01 ). The buyer can halt the payment window countdown and prevent the seller from being able to cancel the escrow. This is done to indicate that the buyer has made payment, and he expects the ether to be released soon.
Once the escrow has entered this stage where the buyer has essentially locked the ether in escrow, there are three ways the escrow can end:
The seller can release the funds. The buyer can cancel the trade. Either party can call in the arbitrator to resolve the escrow.
When a buyer asks us to relay this action, we don’t relay it immediately, but we do let the seller know that we have it. In fact in most successful escrows, this action is never broadcasted to the network. This is because it’s only important to relay this before the payment window has expired, and there’s no benefit to doing it earlier. Currently, our servers hold on to the relay request and only send it roughly twenty minutes before the payment window is due to expire (which is more than enough time for the transaction to safely propagate and confirm). In most successful escrows, the seller has already released the escrow by this time, and so this action becomes redundant.
By not relaying unnecessary actions immediately, this allows the traders to save on network fees. (Most successful trades invoke only createEscrow and the seller’s release action.)
Cancelling as a seller (action 0x03 ). The seller cannot as easily cancel as the buyer, and can only do so if the buyer allows it. The seller first needs to wait until the payment window has expired before they can withdraw their funds from escrow.
Payment windows vary by option and are subject to change — these are the current windows as of October 26, 2017:
Method Payment window Bank transfer 2 hours Cash deposit 2 hours PayPal 2 hours International wire 2 hours AliPay 2 hours WeChat Pay 2 hours “Other” 2 hours Cash (in person) The seller must request to cancel (action 0x04 ), and once they’ve done so the buyer has two hours to reject the request.
Escrow identifiers (which are much more than that)
Allocating storage in an Ethereum smart contract can be really expensive if you’re not careful. Of all of the operations available in the EVM, writing to fresh storage is by far the most costly operation.
Our smart contract is designed to keep a minimal storage footprint. Each escrow in the contract requires an allocation of only two 256-bit “words”, or 64 bytes in total. This is accomplished by tightly packing static properties of the trade into a “trade hash”, and then using that hash as the unique key to the escrow in the public mapping. By packing these into the hash, we avoid the need for allocating extra space for each static property.
Escrows are stored in a public variable named escrows which is a mapping of the custom Escrow struct:
mapping (bytes32 => Escrow) public escrows;
The 32-byte keys to the mapping are Keccak hash functions of the tightly-packed concatenation of:
Trade ID (16 bytes) : Although currently always the related UUID identifier of a trade on localethereum.com, any unique nonce would work just fine. This is to make sure that no two trades will ever collide.
: Although currently always the related UUID identifier of a trade on localethereum.com, any unique nonce would work just fine. This is to make sure that no two trades will ever collide. Seller address (24 bytes) : The address of the seller. (This doesn’t need to be the same address that the funds are deposited from — it can be freshly generated.)
: The address of the seller. (This doesn’t need to be the same address that the funds are deposited from — it can be freshly generated.) Buyer address (24 bytes) : The address of the buyer.
: The address of the buyer. Value (256 bytes, unsigned) : The value of the trade (in wei).
: The value of the trade (in wei). Fee (16 bytes, unsigned) : Localethereum.com’s commission of the trade upon successful release, represented in 1/10,000ths.
Once we have all of the static properties of the trade, we can generate the trade hash with a simple Keccak-256 function in Solidity:
This is the key that anybody can use to verify the status of an escrow in progress on the blockchain. For an easy web inspector, we recommend using Etherscan’s “Read Contract” feature:
The Escrow struct
Information about each escrow is stored in an Escrow struct. This struct fits an allocation of one word; although only 161 bits of storage are needed, the EVM allocates storage only in 256-bit blocks.
struct Escrow { bool exists; uint32 sellerCanCancelAfter; uint128 totalGasFeesSpentByRelayer; }
The struct contains these variables:
exists : This is simply a boolean to indicate that the escrow exists, since there is no way to differentiate unused storage from zero in Solidity. This is always true until the escrow is released or cancelled.
: This is simply a boolean to indicate that the escrow exists, since there is no way to differentiate unused storage from zero in Solidity. This is always true until the escrow is released or cancelled. sellerCanCancelAfter : This is initially an epoch timestamp containing the date after which a seller is permitted to cancel the escrow and return the funds to themselves. There are two other special values: A value of 0 indicates that the seller is not allowed to cancel at any time. The value can be set to 0 at any time at the buyer’s request to lock the funds in the escrow until the seller releases the funds or the arbitrator steps in to resolve the trade. This is typically done when buyer indicates he has made payment, and expects the funds to be released. For specific payment types where payment windows don’t make as much sense (e.g. cash) this is set to 1, which is a special value to mean infinity. When sellerCanCancelAfter equals 1, the seller can’t cancel, but can initiate a request to cancel. When the seller indicates that he’d like to cancel the trade, the buyer is given adequate time to dispute the request before the seller-cancellation is permitted (currently set to two hours).
: This is initially an epoch timestamp containing the date after which a seller is permitted to cancel the escrow and return the funds to themselves. There are two other special values: totalGasFeesSpentByRelayer: This is a counter of the gas accumulated by relay operations. It will be deducted from the escrow to cover network fees once it is released or cancelled.
Disputing a trade
In the case of a dispute, either party needs to give us their signed dispute token. With a signature of this dispute token, which is simply the output of sha3(Trade ID, 0x06), the arbitrator (localethereum.com) can resolve the dispute in either party’s favour.
To do this, we call the external resolveDispute function with the trade’s static properties, the signed dispute token, and the percentage of the escrow’s balance that will be sent to each party. It is impossible for us to have the disputed ether sent to anybody else.
We also expect to receive the localethereum.com trade conversation’s “shared secret” at the same time, which gives us the ability to decipher and read encrypted message history between the buyer and seller. However, that is for another post…
**Localethereum.com has already helped users complete ~200 over-the-counter trades worth more than US$120,000 since we opened trading this week.**
Update (a few weeks later): Localethereum.com is now doing much more than that in volume and trades each day.
Questions? Contact us here.The long-awaited documentary about the creators of Super Meat Boy, Braid and Fez is out now and available for download from its own site, iTunes or Steam. Here’s Mr Brendy C to tell you a few things about it before you spend your digi-groats on this much-feted film. Warning: could be said to include spoilers, if a documentary about some guys making videogames can be said to be spoilable.
Indie Game: The Movie is in the unusual position of being able to say it was using Kickstarter “before it was cool, man.” So it’s already vulnerable to the kind of folk who shout ‘hipster!’ at every twenty-something in a pair of milk-bottle glasses. Of course, our readers know better than that. As children, most of you will have undoubtedly been told the tale of The Boy Who Cried Hipster, the moral of the story being ‘don’t lie about there being a dickhead around, in case a real dickhead should actually show up one day to subtly insult your decor, or eat you.’ Being so well brought-up, I believe we can look at Indie Game: The Movie somewhat more fairly and see it for what it actually is: a good documentary which occasionally lapses into artificiality.
The film follows the ups and downs (such as they are) of indie game development, focusing on Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes of Team Meat (creators of Super Meat Boy), Phil Fish, the controversy-clad head of Polytron Corporation (makers of Fez) and Jonathan Blow, the oft-styled philosopher-king of indie games (creator of Braid). They are each at different stages of development – Team Meat has pretty much finished work on SMB and is only waiting for release to go ahead, whereas Phil Fish and his programmer Renaud Bédard are still deep in development. Jon Blow, being super protective about his upcoming game, The Witness, limits his interviews to being about Braid or development in general. Ups come in the forms of good sales and five-star reviews. Downs come in the form of debt, obscure legal wrangling or in the formless throes of depression.
On first sight the setbacks that accost each dev seem preposterously inconsequential when compared to any other hard-hitting documentary. So much so that I sometimes felt like reaching into the screen and slapping these people (lightly) in the face before telling them to regain some perspective. If you were so inclined, you could probably re-label the entire film ‘First World Problems: The Movie’. But I think to do that might miss the point, which is that the over-active soul-searching borne out by the subjects is truly important to them, relative to their position in life. Even if it feels like some of the things bothering them should be told to a therapist, rather than a camera crew.
At this point, it’s important to distance criticism of the people in the movie from technical criticism of the movie itself, which is always ludicrously well-shot, slyly edited and peppered with neat animations. The story-telling can be disjointed at times – flipping from one dev to another too often or unnecessarily repeating things to remind the viewer of what’s happening. At one point the doc went off into a little bit of videogame history on the side, talking about Blow’s inspiration for Braid from Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. This was also kind of jarring in terms of narrative but actually a really interesting slice of creative inspiration that I secretly wished they’d explored more of. I think moments like this – the breakdown of a game’s design ideas – will be most interesting to people who follow indie games, whereas the majority of the movie focuses instead on appealing to a larger crowd by exploring the ‘human element’ of gamemaking.
Not that going for a more general, non-gaming audience bothers me. In fact, it’s good that games can be presented to The People as an art that its creators can and do suffer for, just like film or music. Of course, if you’re gonna watch it, RPS reader, be aware that you’ll probably already know half of what the movie tells you. But never mind – a bit of revision never hurt anyone.
On the human element, it became clear about halfway through the film that it was branching off into two main ‘stories’. Jon Blow (to me the most interesting of the lot) is put to one side while Team Meat and Phil Fish go through their respective crises. One of them comes out the other end triumphantly, while the other flounders in an existential pool of self-doubt (yes, literally). These two sides of the movie gradually become so different from each other, even in the way they’re shot, that it almost feels like you’re beginning to watch two different documentaries. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing and I’m about to explain why, in a way that will be dangerously close to over-analysis. But if |
SELL" YOU THE FUEL. IF YOU COULD JUST USE YOUR GARDEN HOSE AND HAVE YOUR CAR BATTERY SAFELY DO THE SPLIT IN SMALL QUANTITIES RIGHT BEFORE USE THEN NOBODY IS MAKING AN ARM AND A LEG OFF YOUR NEED TO COMMUTE FROM THE SUBURBS TO THE CITY.
THE GOAL IS TO NOT ONLY REDUCE OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOSSIL FUELS AND POLLUTION BUT TO AVOID THE PESKY HAZARDS THAT COME WITH STORING SUCH HIGHLY FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS. I THINK ITS A LITTLE IRONIC THAT THE THING USED TO PUT OUT FIRES IS MADE ENTIRELY OUT OF 2 THINGS THAT ARE HIGHLY COMBUSTIBLE.
AS I WAS DOING RESEARCH FOR THIS PROJECT I CAME ACROSS SOME STATS THAT SEEM TO FAVOR HYDROGEN AS A FUEL, ITS GOT A LOT OF ENERGY FOR ITS WEIGHT AND CAN IGNITE IN CONCENTRATIONS AS LITTLE AS 4% AND AS HIGH AS 74% IN AIR. THAT WIDE OF A TOLERANCE TELLS ME THAT ITS PRETTY FORGIVING AND SHOULD BE POSSIBLE FOR EVEN ME TO GET A BALLPARK RANGE TO TEST WITH.
THE VIDEOS UP THERE PROVES THE CONCEPT IS NOT A NEW OR UNPROVEN ONE AND IS ALREADY HALFWAY INVENTED FOR ME, THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THAT AND WHAT I AM GOING TO DESIGN IS THAT MINE WILL NOT USE GASOLINE AT ALL, IT WILL BE 100 PERCENT WATER POWERED.
i want to mention that there is a lot of debate as to whether or not HHO powered internal combustion is possible and whether or not the hybrids actually do have improved performance and mileage. I haven't been convinced either way but I am leaning more towards the side of it being completely valid and ill explain why. Gasoline powers a vehicle because of its combustion. If Hydrogen and Oxygen are both combustible why would it cease to be combustible inside an engine? NASA already uses Hydrogen and Oxygen to power their rockets so It sounds extremely feasible. But either way it would be interesting to see the4 results however they turn out so I think funding this project cannot fail no matter what.
I WILL USE THE MONEY TO BUY MATERIALS AND TOOLS FOR THE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF MY FUEL INJECTOR. I SET THE MINIMUM COST AT 4,000 BECAUSE I WILL HAVE TO BUY A FEW FUEL INJECTORS, A CAR BATTERY, SOME ELECTRONICS, TUBES, AND SEVERAL OTHER THINGS LIKE A GAS CAN AND GASOLINE TO DO COMPARISON TESTS, I WILL NEED TO TRAVEL TO A SAFE LOCATION TO EXPERIMENT AND FILM AT WHEN IM DOING THE COMBUSTION DATA COLLECTION. I WILL NEED CERTAIN TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT TO ACCURATELY MEASURE TEMPERATURE AND GAS CONCENTRATIONS WITH.
I AM GOING TO DOCUMENT, RECORD AND UPLOAD EVERY STEP OF THE PROCESS AND BE AVAILABLE TO ANSWER QUESTIONS AND WOULD WELCOME YOUR CONTRIBUTION TO BRAINSTORMING AND TROUBLESHOOTING ISSUES AS THEY COME UP.Linux workstations are like recumbent bicycles. Most people agree they're the most efficient and ideal solution, but the only people you ever see using them are tinkerers and bearded wizards.
At this point we can assume Linux will never evolve into the mainstream desktop operating system it advocates once promised it would be. But even though it's a niche OS in the world of desktop computing, fans of free software are getting increasingly impressive hardware tailored to their needs. Linux-devoted hardware makers like ZaReason, Purism, and System76 sell excellent machines with Linux pre-installed.
Why would even the biggest of Linux fans need dedicated Linux hardware? Well, aside from getting rid of that pesky Windows key, the big draw is that your hardware arrives in the box pre-configured. You just boot it up and start cooking. There's no need to wrestle with obscure drivers, risk switching to an unsupported screen resolution, or face any of the other problems Linux users face when re-purposing Windows machines.
I've been using System76's recently revamped Lemur laptop for more than a month now. I am happy to report that yes, it is rather nice to not ever have to think about drivers or hardware at all. In fact, it reminds me of what Apple hardware was like seven years ago: everything just works. All of my day-to-day applications and tasks ran perfectly—except for Skype, but that's not surprising given its current owner (and my problems appear to have been the result of a bug in Ubuntu, not System76 hardware).
Make It Your Own
The Lemur is ostensibly System76's low-end laptop. It's certainly the cheapest at the base configuration, but that's not really the whole story, as the Lemur is highly configurable. The machine starts at $649, which gets you an Intel i3 chip at 2.3GHz, along with 4GB of RAM and a 500GB spinning 7,200rpm drive. From there, you can run all the way up to $2,250, for a i7-6500Ui processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB M.2 SSD and another 2TB SSD.
All models feature a very nice 14.1-inch 1920×1080 matte IPS display, Intel 520 graphics card, multitouch touchpad, a chiclet-style keyboard, HDMI and (ugh) VGA ports, a 720p webcam and a removable four-cell battery. Yes, a removable battery—so you can buy a few extras to swap in and out. All of that comes in metal-framed, understated gray plastic package that weighs 3.6 pounds.
The particular model System76 sent me features the i7 processor, 8 GB RAM and 120GB M.2 SSD, putting it pretty squarely in the middle of the Lemur lineup. My test machine retails for $927.
Like all System76 machines it came preloaded with the latest version of Ubuntu Linux (and features the Ubuntu logo on the "Windows" key). If you're already a Linux user, this is familiar territory. If Ubuntu is not to your liking, System76 machines work just fine with all the version of Linux I loaded up (Mint, Debian and Fedora). Official support is limited to Ubuntu, but unofficially the System76 folks I talked to said they would always do what they could to provide guidance for users who opt for a different distro.
And this is precisely the advantage of System76 machines over, say, Dell's Precision and Latitude models, which are optimized for Ubuntu. In a word: support. While Dell's support has been, in my experience with the first round of XPS 13 Developer Edition laptops, hit or miss, System76's support has been nothing short of amazing. It might help that System76's Linux support isn't a goodwill effort for a small group of developers. It is in fact core to the company's business, and it won't disappear on you. That said, everything in my test machine worked really well, so you may not even need the support.
Power to the People
The Lemur is not the company's most powerful rig. If you want something beefier, check out System76's Oryx Pro, which can pack in up to 64GB of RAM and 5 terabytes of solid-state storage. But even the middleweight Lemur was able to handle everything I do on a regular basis. It didn't have too much trouble with the hardcore stuff like editing a reasonably large 30,000-image photo library in Darktable and editing 4K video using Kdenlive. Rendering video did take quite a while, but that's true with my 2012 Macbook Pro as well.
Where the Lemur falls on its face is battery life. System76 claims the battery will last through a cross-country flight. That's an interestingly vague metric, but assuming it means four and a half hours, I'd agree.
I was able to get almost five hours of battery life when I stuck to basic Web browsing and text editing. That's OK for a $700 laptop, but pretty bad if you spend $2,000 or more on one of the higher-end Lemur models. On the plus side, we are talking about a removable battery, so you can always pick up a spare. In fact, I suggest you definitely do that if your work keeps you away from a power source all day.
Despite the dismal battery life, the Lemur is a solid laptop, the first I've tested that I wish I could keep. The design is simple and well thought out, the hardware works flawlessly with Linux, and at the mid-to-upper end of the configuration spectrum, it's plenty powerful enough for the average Linux user.The BBC is to broadcast an episode of its flagship religious show Songs of Praise from the migrant camp near Calais.
The episode, which will feature left-wing Anglican cleric Giles Fraser, is already in the process of being filmed, and The Sun reports that the full crew from the show will likely arrive this weekend.
Fraser – who famously quit as Canon Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral in support of the ‘Occupy London’ protests – told the paper: “They aren’t illegal immigrants, yet. I have no problem with the BBC filming Songs of Praise here. I think the church is the real thing. It is in the centre of the community.”
Filming was halted at one point, though, after one migrant insisted he should not be filmed. Another worshipper also confessed to having already tried to illegally enter the UK 30 times.
“I pray in church for good health so I can get to England. I know God will help me. I try every night to get to England,” Ezekiel Lala said.
Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell slammed the BBC’s decision, saying: “This is an insensitive thing to do. We are facing a grave crisis. The BBC should be careful not to start looking as if they are making political points out of this.”
Songs of Praise has been broadcasting services from churches and cathedrals across the UK for more than 50 years, but came in for heavy criticism last year after relaunching as a magazine-style show with a few added hymns.
The change angered viewers, including members of the clergy, who accused the BBC of removing any real Christian worship from the show. The Rev Sally Hitchiner, senior chaplain at Brunel University, told the BBC’s Points of View show: “I think there is a question as to whether or not this is inspiring us to worship or whether it’s just a whole load of nice people doing something in their community – and Songs of Praise should be about worship.”
One viewer tweeted yesterday:
I regret the loss of ‘Songs of Praise’ as a hub of heartfelt,prayerful,singing.Now its performance & indoctrination.@SuzanneEvans1 @bbctrust — Jo Hugh (@obknit) August 7, 2015Panthers star linebacker Luke Kuechly left the field in tears and hyperventilating during Thursday night's game against the Saints after sustaining a blow to the head while trying to make a tackle.
While it at first appeared as though Kuechly may have injured his leg as it bent backward awkwardly while he made the hit, the Panthers confirmed soon after Kuechly was carted off the field that he was being evaluated for a concussion.
Per a report from ESPN.com, Kuechly did indeed sustain a concussion during the game. This is Kuechly's second concussion in as many seasons.
Last year, he spent 34 days in the concussion protocol and missed three games before returning to the field. He will now visit concussion specialist Dr. Micky Collins, according to ESPN, to get a second opinion on how he should proceed.
Kuechly will have to be cleared by an independent neurologist before he can return to practices or a game.Consumer prices are not the only concern raised by dominant companies.
Designed by Rodrigo Corral.
In February, the Federal Communications Commission issued a landmark ruling about the Internet. After much debate, the FCC established a regime of “net neutrality,” reclassifying Internet service providers (ISPs) such as Comcast as common carriers. Under Title II of the Federal Communication Act, common carriers are private companies with public obligations, most importantly to ensure equal access for the general public. Though the net neutrality debate addressed only ISPs, it revived the old idea of the common carrier and suggests a far-reaching way of thinking about all kinds of online services and business models, from Amazon to Uber to Airbnb.
Such firms play an increasingly powerful role in today’s information economy, shaping access to widely used goods and services. But apart from vague appeals to the threat of monopoly, reformers have generally lacked a framework for addressing the multiplying concerns provoked by businesses founded on new communication technologies. The FCC’s move, rooted in Progressive Era ideas about public utilities and the regulation of private power, offers a useful point of departure.
More than a hundred years ago, the rise of railroads and trusts sparked widespread anxiety over the threats posed by new forms of private power. These concerns drove the first antitrust movement, led by figures such as President Theodore Roosevelt and Justice Louis Brandeis. It also gave rise to a broader reform movement at the state and local levels. Progressive reformers understood that foundational common services, such as electricity and transportation, and basic goods on which many depend—Progressive Era examples include ice and milk—raise significant policy concerns. Those concerns are not confined to prices, efficiency, or consumer welfare, the focus of modern antitrust regulation. Rather, reformers accounted for broader consequences of concentrated economic power, developing a robust set of ideas and arguments about how to regulate private actors providing needed goods and services.
Progressives’ specific interventions do not always make sense now, and critics of regulation are right to recognize the benefits that we derive from innovative producers and services. But recapturing some of the Progressive ethos—the model of a public utility and its alertness to how excessive private power can not only lead to monopolies but also harm workers, producers, and consumers by other means—will help us respond to the challenges of the information economy in ways that antitrust regulation alone cannot.
• • •
Recent commentary on threats posed by Internet companies has drawn on the language of antitrust and monopoly. In a provocative New Republic essay last year, Franklin Foer argued that Amazon represented a modern form of monopoly; like U.S. Steel and the monopolies of the late nineteenth century, Amazon had acquired the power to unfairly discriminate on the market. But unlike those monopolies, Foer argued, Amazon has kept consumer prices low, obscuring its market power. According to Paul Krugman, Amazon is a different kind of monopoly. It does not extract rents from consumers but rather operates as a monopsony, a company whose buying power allows it to discriminate against suppliers. Google too is the subject of monopoly concerns thanks to its dominance in information gathering and its growing political influence. Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich used the same analogy to nineteenth-century monopolies in his critique of Comcast.
In contemporary antitrust regulation, however, the central question is whether concentrations of economic and market power enable extractive or unfair consumer prices. On that metric, it is hard to show how Amazon and other Internet companies use power in harmful ways. If these companies lower prices and increase access for consumers, how could they be considered dangerous? Defenders of these companies also point out that they face competitors in the marketplace: Amazon does not control the retail sector; on paper, at least, Google has rivals in search; at the national level, Comcast faces competition in Internet service provision.
If consumer prices are our only concern, it is hard to see how Amazon, Comcast, and companies such as Uber need regulation.
The kinds of power that Amazon, Comcast, and companies such as Airbnb and Uber possess can’t be seen or tackled via conventional antitrust regulations. These companies are not, strictly speaking, monopolies; Uber and Airbnb, in particular, do not engage in the kind of price-fixing or market dominance that is the usual target of antitrust regulation today. These companies are better understood as platforms or utilities: they provide a core, infrastructural service upon which other firms, individuals, and social groups depend. For instance, the publisher Hachette depends on Amazon to access the book-buying public. This dependency operates in the other direction as well. Consumers depend on the diligence of Airbnb and Uber to ensure that services contracted through them are safe and as advertised.
A platform thus presents a uniquely troubling form of private power that manifests in its ability to set not just prices but also the wages or returns for producers, and, most importantly, the terms of access to the marketplace itself. Unlike a traditional monopoly whose power stems from its control over the production and pricing of a single good, a platform draws its power from its position as a kind of middleman, a broker that controls the relationship with producers and consumers alike. Once a platform reaches a critical mass of consumers, producers, or both, these groups become vulnerable to the platform’s control over standards and policies.
The concept of the platform explains many forms of private economic power. Despite its low prices, Wal-Mart, for example, has power as a platform: like Amazon, it can leverage its huge consumer base to pressure producers who want their goods on the shelves. The railroads of the late nineteenth century were threatening for similar reasons, not just as monopolies but also as platforms using their middleman position in transporting goods to exploit producers and consumers.
While platforms are not limited to the online world, many Internet-based companies are primed to acquire this kind of economic power. Replacing traditional middlemen—wholesalers or local cab companies, for example—by connecting providers and users, buyers and sellers, is increasingly at the heart of the Silicon Valley playbook. This can be great for society. Amazon designed new ways to store a wide variety of goods and distribute them cheaply and directly to customers. But the enormous success of its technology investments has allowed it to dominate the matching of buyers and sellers in certain markets. Amazon reportedly owns more than two-thirds of e-book market share and sells 41 percent of new books in all formats.
The use of an online, rather than physical, platform enables particularly rapid scaling, so companies can quickly establish dominance. Wal-Mart took decades to become the force that it is today, whereas Uber took just a few years. And the online nature of companies such as Uber and Airbnb enables them to sidestep some of the licensing, safety, and labor regulations that traditional taxi services and hotels face, undercutting the impact of regulatory limits on their capacity to exploit producers or harm consumers.
In the case of Amazon, critics’ fears are well founded. Amazon is a critical hub through which almost any bookseller or buyer must pass. As a result, Amazon can use its position to unfairly discriminate between publishers, wielding its access to its vast user base as a weapon. It did so with Hachette, refusing to accept pre-orders for the publisher’s books because Hachette had demanded the ability to set prices for its e-books. Amazon’s power in this case is not just visible in its impact on prices for producers and consumers but also in its capacity to encourage and discourage sales and therefore control access to the marketplace itself.
Uber and Airbnb are on the surface vastly different companies from Amazon. Rather than selling retail products, they match riders to drivers and short-term renters to individual subletters. But both Uber and Airbnb operate in a manner similar to Amazon: they provide an online platform that links buyers and sellers. In so doing, they have accumulated a greater degree of economic power, not just over prices, but also over labor standards, wages, consumer risk, and access. Uber, for example, has sparked controversy over the cut it takes from its drivers’ fees; far from its rhetoric of enabling drivers to have more control and expand their earning power, Uber’s indispensable role as a link between drivers and riders allows it to grasp that control. These drivers, as a result, have less bargaining power. They have to accept Uber’s fee structure and operate without the kinds of worker protections that the taxi business must uphold. At the same time, riders risk harm from drivers and cars that have not been vetted for safety. Airbnb has analogous problems in the rental market. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman alleges that Airbnb allows large-scale, for-profit landlords to avoid hotel regulations and taxes by masquerading as individuals renting out rooms.
The platform concept also helps diagnose the range of dangers posed by ISPs such as Comcast. In many respects, Comcast looks like a classic monopoly. ISPs tend to have regional monopolies, often granted through franchise agreements with municipal governments. Without competition, firms can charge unfairly high prices. But we can also think of ISPs as middlemen or platform services akin to Amazon and Uber. ISPs link content producers—businesses providing online content—with consumers trying to access Websites. They are not simply transmission mechanisms; they leverage their position as connector to extract profits. This ability to shape access to content, on top of price implications, is what makes the net neutrality debate so critical.
The FCC ruling not only bans ISPs from exerting just this control on who can see which content but also paves the way for municipal broadband and reduces barriers to entry by allowing competitors to use existing infrastructure. The Commission’s main concern, clearly, is not extractive pricing but enabling access to the needed good—high-speed Internet service—despite the private control over access exercised by ISPs. The FCC ruling is not perfect. Its standard of requiring just and reasonable practices by ISPs is vague, and it has taken an avowedly “light touch,” which shields ISPs from some of the more aggressive forms of telecommunications regulation, such as rate regulation or requiring unbundling to enable more third-party competition. Yet in drawing on the public utility framework, the FCC recalls an earlier tradition of regulating private power, one that can help us address the platforms arising today.
• • •
The problem with the current debate over Amazon, Uber, Airbnb, and other information economy platforms is that available off-the-shelf regulatory mechanisms have narrowed over the last century. The antitrust regulation that prevents monopoly pricing doesn’t capture what is really at stake with platform firms, which often seem to offer consumers a good deal. The early history of antitrust and public utility regulation points a way forward.
Federal antitrust law originated with the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, designed to rein in the first corporate titans of the industrial age: the railroads, U.S. Steel, Standard Oil, financier J. P. Morgan. Reformers saw that the “curse of bigness” enabled not only extractive pricing but also broader economic and political domination. These corporations, by virtue of their concentrated power, seemed to pose a threat to liberty itself by narrowing the opportunities for small businesses and rival producers, extracting rents from consumers, and exploiting workers. Reformers also feared the ways in which concentrated economic power might bleed into concentrated political power—that mega-corporations might corrupt the political process itself. They therefore sought to break up these powerful conglomerations.
The original notion of antitrust takes an expansive view of the potential harms of private power.
The original notion of antitrust is one step better than the modern approach because it recognizes the potential harms of private power not just in terms of prices. Even so, antitrust alone provides a limited framework for understanding modern forms of private power. After all, what would it mean to break up firms, such as Amazon or Uber, whose major innovation is a centralized platform linking buyers and sellers? This is where the Progressive public utility model comes in.
Today we think of public utilities in economic terms: natural monopolies such as electricity or water provision, where economic efficiency requires a monopoly structure in order to incentivize expensive investments in shared infrastructure. These monopolies are tightly regulated or controlled by the public sector. But for Progressive reformers, the idea of the public utility was much more expansive. In English common law, some industries were designated common carriers or “public callings” and were subject to special restrictions, such as the duty to provide a service once undertaken, to serve all comers, to demand reasonable prices, and to offer acceptable compensation. Over the course of the nineteenth century, this tradition was gradually absorbed into the emerging law of highways, rivers, ports, and innkeepers, among other industries.
As part of their broader effort to rein in private power, Progressive reformers applied the common carrier idea to govern industries that seemed socially vital, providing foundational goods and services on which the rest of society depended. These were chartered as public-purpose entities—utilities. By the turn of the twentieth century, state- or municipal-chartered public utilities could be found everywhere, applied not only to electricity and water but also to goods and services such as gas, transportation, communications, milk, and banking.
Industries triggered public utility regulation when their scale limited ordinary accountability through market competition and the goods and services they provided were socially necessary, not to be left to the whims of the market or the control of a handful of private actors. This combination of economic dominance and social necessity created the threat not just of exploitative prices but also of discrimination and unequal access. Importantly, the public utility model was flexible; it could accommodate industries that evolved over time—through changes in production, distribution, and consumption—such that one or another good became essential to more people. Broadband today offers a good example: for a time, it was considered a luxury, but increasingly it is seen as a necessity for economic inclusion and opportunity.
The widespread use of public utility regulation, however, faded relatively quickly. First, the effort to impose additional oversight and constraints on corporations dominating industries vital to the public good gave way to more liberal incorporation laws. As states competed with one another to offer more favorable terms for incorporation to attract businesses, companies were allowed to form with relatively few strings attached.
Second, it was not always clear which industries required the more stringent forms of public utility regulation. As a result courts began to strike down regulations more often. The Supreme Court’s debate surrounding New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann (1932) is instructive on this score. At issue was an Oklahoma statute requiring that ice producers be licensed by the state as public utilities. While the majority acknowledged the power of states to protect consumers through public utilities, it held that ice production was not “affected with a public interest” and therefore did not warrant such extensive regulation. Ice may be have been a necessity, but it was increasingly made with ease by ordinary people as access to electricity became more widespread. In dissent, Brandeis defended the relevance of the public utility model and argued that the growing availability of refrigeration did not undercut the need for some degree of public control. Just because some individuals were wealthy enough to secure their own access to ice did not remove the moral imperative to help others access this social necessity. The “business of supplying to others, for compensation, any article or service whatsoever may become a matter of public concern,” Brandeis wrote, depending upon the “conditions existing in the community affected.” If such public concern were sufficiently high, greater regulation would be justified. The Court was unmoved by the argument.
Third, commissions and courts found it difficult to regulate prices and rates in a fair and transparent manner. Railroads were the biggest monopoly fear of the era—a vast new transportation network on which the entire economy depended, dominated by private corporations with the power to extract rents from farmers and other businesses. Yet while the railroad problem spurred state and federal regulatory efforts, it raised precisely these difficulties of transparency and fairness.
Finally, with the gradual rise of general regulatory oversight through federal agencies, particularly after the New Deal, the need for public utilities seemed to fade away.
The legacy of the public utility era was therefore mixed. On the one hand, the model helped to undermine the presumption of free, unregulated markets while emboldening those who took seriously the need for state oversight of some kinds of private actors. As historian William Novak argues, this shift was essential in enabling the rise of the modern regulatory state. On the other hand, the idea of a special category of publicly critical and therefore more stringently regulated corporations came to seem unworkable.
• • •
This Progressive notion—firms that dominate provision of some publicly vital infrastructure or socially important good need to be more robustly regulated—adds two important insights to contemporary debates over Amazon, Comcast, and the corporate giants of the information age. First, our primary concern need not be consumer prices. Rather, we must see the purposes of regulation more broadly as preventing domination, checking the power of firms to impose unfair conditions on consumers and producers and to control access to the marketplace itself. Second, a version of the public utility regulatory model may yet serve to rein in that power.
The public utility approach can manifest in one of three ways. First, governments can reduce the dominance of platforms by taking a modified antitrust approach, facilitating rivals’ entry into the market to increase competition, reduce domination, and thus challenge unfair standards or prices. Second, governments can impose public obligations such as consumer protection, labor rights, and nondiscrimination through industry-specific legislation, for example by addressing short-term rentals or ride-sharing. Third, governments can accept the de facto dominance of an operator but convert it into a public or quasi-public utility, granting a franchise while requiring compliance on a host of labor, consumer, and nondiscrimination regulations. The choice of strategy requires judgment calls and depends on context.
The net neutrality debate touched on all of these possible measures. The FCC ruling reduces barriers to entry by allowing competitors to use existing cable and fiber infrastructure, limiting ISP power by enabling greater competition. It also requires ISPs to treat all forms of Web traffic equally and attempts to limit “unjust and unreasonable practices,” creating a yet-to-be-defined Open Internet conduct standard. Finally, the ruling represents a tentative first step toward the creation of an outright public utility. While reclassifying ISPs as common carriers avoids full-blown imposition of rate regulations, the ruling also paves the way for municipally owned and operated broadband, which may enhance the negotiating positions of municipal governments trying to craft new franchise agreements with ISPs. In exchange for a legally created monopoly, the argument goes, ISPs should be required to provide more extensive broadband access to a wider range of consumers both by adding wiring and by charging more reasonable prices.
Sharing-economy firms offer more complex cases. Take Uber. Regulating Uber as a platform suggests taking seriously concerns about consumer protection: Uber bears some degree of responsibility for ensuring that its service is safe and reliable. This might mean performing the kinds of car safety and driver background checks required of registered taxi and livery services.
Uber also carries responsibilities toward its “suppliers”—the drivers. But instead of encouraging small-scale entrepreneurs, Uber, like other sharing firms, is cashing in on the broader structural increase in inequality and economic vulnerability, relying on under-employed job-seekers desperately looking for income and avoiding at all costs treating these workers as full-time employees with benefits.
Most important is the central concern of common carriers: assuring equal access for anyone seeking to use the service. Uber does not meet this test. The Obama administration recently joined a suit arguing that blind passengers are unfairly treated by Uber because they are unable to access the service without accommodation, which the company doesn’t provide. Uber has argued that it is not bound by disability laws that apply to public accommodations. But if we understand Uber as a platform, a kind of utility, it should be subjected to exactly this kind of legal obligation ensuring equal access.
Transparency will be a key factor here. Many of the early clashes between regulators and Web platforms have involved efforts to acquire from firms better data about their users and transactions as well as information that will affect safety, labor, access, and price regulations.
Critics of regulation worry that oversight will dismantle the sharing sector, but experience suggests it won’t. Unlike Uber, which attacks every suggestion of regulation as an assault on innovation, the car-sharing company Car2Go has been successful while being more collaborative with regulators, highlighting the potential for capturing the innovative value of these companies amid an appropriate legal framework.
• • •
While Progressive policies are not direct blueprints for the modern era, their ideas—focusing on the broader problem of economic power, not just prices or welfare or efficiency, and on tailored regulatory responses to firms that provide common infrastructural services—suggest important directions for regulating the new forms of private power in the Internet era.
The FCC’s ruling was a step in that direction. It was won by activists asserting political pressure. Regulatory agencies can be targets for mobilization as much as Congress or elections.
But the problems of private power—and the threats arising from platforms—are not limited to Internet companies. They arise in a range of contexts, from too-big-to-fail banks to the health care industry. Like Progressive reformers a century ago, we must meet the pace of economic innovation with an equally creative and broad moral and political imagination capable of making sense of the economic landscape as it changes around us.This content was published on July 24, 2014 11:00 AM
Producing laws to please the public or to be binned? (Keystone)
Banning disposable paper plates for take away food, or charging cyclists to ride through forests? The rise in the number of laws – and proposals for new legislation – has led to criticism that lawmakers are losing sight of common sense.
Roger Christeller runs a food stand on a public square in the centre of Bern. Over the past ten years he has had his day in court because a local law banned the use of paper plates for his crèpes. In 2007 the city authorities introduced regulations aimed at limiting the amount of waste on public ground.
He remains somewhat philosophical about his experience even if the court decision meant he lost business.
“I often wonder if the wrong laws are created and where the common sense has gone,” he says.
The number of new laws passed has nearly doubled over the past two decades.
A multi-party group of centre-right politicians and the business community active mainly in the German-speaking part of the country has come up with their own answer to nip the perceived legal hyperactivity in the bud.
The pressure group awards a special award for “the most unnecessary and most stupid law” hoping to win public attention for its political aim of a lean state.
Gerhard Pfister, a Christian Democratic parliamentarian and manager of a private school in central Switzerland, says the annual award ceremony in a trendy restaurant in Zurich has a clearly humorous note.
“But it is necessary to have a grouping which questions all the regulatory process,” he says.
At the corporate level, Peter Brabeck, chairman of the board of the Swiss-based food multi-national Nestlé, in a recent public speech lashed out against what he perceives as “regulation frenzy”.
“If a company has to invest 80% of its time to ensure it is in line with the rules there is no room to develop strategies to move the company forward,” he said, speaking about Swiss voters' approval in February of a plan to introduce quotas for foreign workers.
Contradictions
The case of Alois Gmür, co-owner of the Rosengarten brewery in Einsiedeln, is a paradox, some would say.
The increasing number of rules and regulations at the workplace, including special work clothing, meticulous marking of meeting points for emergencies in the factory and special labels for imported barley malt make him despair at times.
“It is primarily the contradictory needs that lead to regulatory activity. Citizens want certainty and clarity.”
Christa Hostettler End of quote
He is in charge of sales for the regional brewery in the central Swiss town famous for its Benedictine abbey and its 15th century Our Lady statue. At the same time Gmür has been in politics for half his life and he sits in the Swiss parliament.
“Everything is becoming more and more complicated. It drives you crazy,” he says with a shrug and a bewildered look.
Gmür says the smoking bans in most restaurants led to a slump in beer sales and the increasing paperwork to satisfy the hunger for information of the authorities creates additional bureaucracy.
But the 59-year old knows he has himself to blame, at least partly. As a parliamentarian he is a member of Switzerland’s legislative body and he is irritated by the individual activities by many of his fellow politicians who launch new ideas for even more rules.
As a result many of these rules bear no relation to reality according to Gmür. Alec von Graffenried, speaker of the legal affairs committee of the House of Representatives, for his part says there is consensus among parliamentarians in principle that too many laws do not necessarily make life any better.
But when it comes to the crunch many politicians trying to defend their interests simply throw caution to the wind. “A more coherent approach and broader view are often forgotten.”
More but not always better
His perception is shared to some extent by Alain Griffel, a professor at the University of Zurich's law faculty. In an opinion piece in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) newspaper, the legal expert launched a broadside against what he considers a steep decline in the quality of legislation to coincide with a flood of laws over the past decade.
Griffel blames parliament, the administration and a general change of attitude for “the erosion of the legislative culture”.
Given the complex cascade of ordinances and rules triggered by a law or even an additional legal provision, it is not easy to quantify the increase in regulations at a federal, cantonal and local level in Switzerland.
The following figures might give an idea.
External Content The following content is sourced from external partners. We cannot guarantee that it is suitable for the visually or hearing impaired.
Another NZZ article singled out amendments to the penal code. While changes to the code were rare in the 1970s, eight amendments were put into force every year between 2008 and 2013.
Pressures
Benefiting from her experience as senior legal adviser to the city of Bern and cantonal authorities, Christa Hostettler says the growing number of rules and laws is a consequence of an increasingly inter-connected life.
Personal ambitions by politicians, fanned by the media or pressure by the administration at a higher level - be it national or from the European Union - all contribute to the legislative procedure.
“Everything is getting more and more complicated. It drives you crazy."
Alois Gmür End of quote
She singles out the activity in the field of zoning where the government used to have some leeway to intervene, but where more and more rules have been defined.
The gradual regulation of road traffic is another example. “Before the introduction of a complex system of speed limits and traffic lights there was a basic rule: It is up to the individual to judge what is appropriate,” she explains.
Credibility
Hostettler is confident that civilisation is not simply subject to an inevitable process of legal activity. She pleads for a pragmatic approach and careful examination of the possible impact of the application of the law.
“Dare to do nothing if there is no convincing reason to act.”
Courts, whose task it is to ensure the uniform implementation of laws, might disagree with that and reject such an approach.
“But this is not necessarily bad. It also shows that a system of checks and balances works,” she says.
Hostettler adds that legal experts have a responsibility not only to create law but also to avoid unnecessary regulation. Sometimes improving the application of existing laws is the right answer.
“Too many laws and particularly badly applied laws can undermine the credibility of the state.”
Citizens no longer trust the authorities |
, it’s been happening since the first fucking tour,” Meth points out. “Ever since RZA hit the n—- in the head with the bottle of Boone’s.”
♦♦♦
Meth marvels over the gates erected, the walls raised, the dirt paths long since paved over. Every few feet, he hands out a hug or a photo or dap. At one point a guy races across the street, with a ratty stroller, to greet him. Meth, all smiles, tells him “Get that baby out the cold!” The fellow grins, and points down, and we note that what’s actually clumped in the baby seat is a jumbled pile of canned goods.
It’s time to go. Meth is shooting The Cobbler with Adam Sandler right now, a “damn difficult-ass” drama, and he’s running late for a tune-up with his acting coach. But as his driver idles, in a big black SUV, he can’t help but politick a bit longer with his old buddy Trembles, then with a young kid he instructs to “write some rhymes,” and finally with an ice cream truck driver who promises “on everything that I love” to hook Meth up with free chocolate chip.
Meth hops in the SUV, turning once more to face the crowd, and to bum a cigarette. Someone jokes about how he should be sparking a blunt instead. As he ducks into the car, he shoots back, smiling: “I know better than to walk through here with trees! Got locked up last time I did that.”
III. Raekwon
Raekwon’s pied-à-terre is a carpeted apartment in an upscale South Jersey complex called the Alexan CityView. Down the street from a Staples and a Stop & Shop, it boasts a basketball half court, a tidy blue-neon-lit pool, and the as-advertised city view, pocked by a cluster of giant construction cranes. A front lounge boasts neat flora, an unlit fireplace, a zebra print couch, a mini fountain, and, overall, the distinct vibe of a particularly well-kept Embassy Suites. I walk in past pretty young pregnant women, Indian teenagers wearing Vans, and one jolly white guy pointing to a vaguely defined area just above his crotch and explaining to his pals, “I’m only fat from here to here.”
Rae greets me with the sideways V sign. His apartment is spotless, bordering on unlived in, except for a pink plastic bag containing a bottle of Tide and a Dutch Masters. He lives full time with his family in Atlanta — he’s got an 18-year-old, a 10-year-old, and a 4-year-old — but has just returned from a Wu show in Istanbul and is crashing here between tour dates. “They don’t like foreigners over there too much,” he says. “But it’s fun when you get that check.” He’s in Adidas track pants, socks, and shower sandals, a white V-neck stretched over his sizable gut; he moves swiftly, but with a bit of a waddle. As we talk, he continuously pours a handful of M&Ms from one palm into another.
A few months from now, Raekwon will tweet a terse response to the comments RZA makes to me about Chef’s lack of commitment to the Wu album: “Yea i just read that rza article? Shit is funny to me.” (He’ll add: “I love u rza, u know what it really is.”) This evening, he offers a fuller appraisal.
“I would be the first one to say that we cannot leave everything in RZA’s hand no more,” Rae says. “He has done his job to the greatest of his ability when we were younger, but now every man plays an imperative role in this situation. His plan was to do a more humble album. We was like, Nah. You can’t do that with the hardest group in the game.”
Of “Family Reunion,” Rae says, “We knew that wasn’t no single.” The anniversary album’s tentative title, A Better Tomorrow, wasn’t approved by the group before it was announced, which created dissension early in the process, something the fractious Clan could scarcely afford. “It’s like getting the United Nations to all agree on one fucking thing,” Rae sputters. “Italy ain’t having it. Japan is on some shit. You know what I mean? Now, here it is, the 20-year anniversary that’s so decoratedly respected that we might not even be on time for this shit.”
♦♦♦
Raekwon’s classic verse on “C.R.E.A.M.” is actually a second draft. The crew told him, “You could knock it a little bit better. Talk about what you know — talk that talk,” Raekwon recalls. “So I’m like, aight, they ready for my story on this one.” His light bill was overdue at the time, and so he was in the dark that day in his apartment, with a little recorder, crafting those unforgettable lines: “I grew up on the crime side … ” The Clan flipped when they heard it. “You start feeling like your crew is accepting what you about and what you love. It was the family I never had.”
Rae grew up without a father; his mother was loving but overworked. “Come home and hug me — that’s all she could offer.” With little in the way of parental supervision, RZA and GZA were de facto role models. “It was like, ‘Wow, you dealing with a guy that could write the Bible of rhymes in his mind, and a guy that’s cinematic with wordplay,’” Rae says. “You stick your arm in that world, you pull it out, and the next thing you know, your arm is gold. It was always challenging, being critical of one another. That’s what made us the best.”
For years, the model held. “RZA was the airplane driver, saying what’s on the menu. He’d come in, get drunk, and smash it, and he made us all stars.” Soon, the floodgates opened. A group of kids who grew up dirt poor reaped the rewards of their hard work. “We were renting cars and spending excessive money and buying every Avirex jacket that we could find.”
And when it crumbled, it happened gradually. “After a while, we started treating our babies like they was adopted.”
As the ’90s wore on, certain factions within the group felt RZA had overextended the brand, slapping the Wu-Tang “W” on inferior product. He also hired relatives as Wu empire employees, making him accountable for his extended family’s well-being. At the same time, he was still running point with the record labels while trying to corral his exceedingly brasher, richer, and more famous Clan.
ODB was rarely present. Meth would show up looking “dusty” for Wu dates, Rae says, even though he was “fresh as ever” when touring with Redman. Meanwhile, group meetings would devolve into passive-aggressive bickering. “I gotta jump up and defend myself because I know they talking about me,” Rae remembers, almost laughing. “‘What the fuck you mad at me because I got five cars! That’s what the fuck I wanna do with my fuckin’ money! And I’ma get five more after this shit!’”
For RZA, the pressures of being chieftain were intense. And, despite his gruff talk, Rae is thoroughly sympathetic: “Having to be in these buildings and they deadlining him … Your crew is not seeing the way it used to see and paperwork is changing … [There’s] a lot of shit that takes away from your [ability] to really feel like, ‘Yo, this my brother still?'”
Whatever happens with this album, some might see Rae as a villain. But he has dug in only because he still believes in the power of the W. “It’d be different if I felt like we was washed up,” he says. “But nah. These dudes — we like robots, man. I run with the crew that’s the eagle, you know what I mean? We was almost the Beatles. But we had more Beatles, though.”
As the light fades over the Alexan, the Chef takes a call.
“Peace. Whadup, Mike. You by Staples? Yeah, stop at the store and get some tilapia for me. Get some Frank’s Hot Sauce. And um, what’s the name, Wesson’s vegetable oil.” A pause. Apparently, Mike is lobbying for olive oil instead. Rae shoots him down, chuckling: “Yo, bro, listen — could I eat the way I wanna eat, man? Mike, man, grab the fucking oil. And, um, some Sazón Black Pepper. And some cornmeal. We gon’ fry this fish up. I got a taste for fish.”
IV. U-God
“No cameras?” U-God asks from the backseat of a black gypsy cab. “You had me come all the way out here by yourself?”
“Here” is Howard Houses, the Brownsville, Brooklyn, projects where U-God grew up. This is his first time back since the Wu took off; clearly, it’s an occasion he feels deserves a more expansive form of documentation than me and my tape recorder. But he drops it, pointing my attention to the old, befuddled Caribbean man in the front seat: “This is my driver.”
I nod. The man stays absolutely still. Then U-God clambers out of the car, and the man comes to: Someone need to pay for this? It turns out U-God meant “driver” less in the “chauffeur” sense of the word, more in the “literally the person who drove me here” kind of way. The MC grabs a Velcro wallet out of the back pocket of his lightly bedazzled jean shorts, indicating he doesn’t have any cash. “Stay here. Don’t. Go. Nowhere,” he instructs the driver, against feeble protestations. “We goin’ to the bank.” I trot behind U-God, suggesting there might be an ATM in the supermarket across the street.
“Nah, nah,” he says. “I just said that to get him off my back.”
It’s an early summer afternoon, the first day the Howard pool is open. Over by the stone chessboard tabletops, an old-timer in a straw boater and a towel over his shoulder lolls by. Down the path, a young girl in a hot pink dress warmly squeezes a head-wrapped older woman in a wheelchair and in possession of not all that many teeth. “Auntie!” As a breeze flutters the leaves, it feels downright pleasant. But U-God — gray flecking his stubble, his blue T-shirt reading “FAME” — feels the need to warn me. “It’s still a hood, man,” he says. “N—-s will chop your head off and cut your nose off and throw shit in your butt and burn your hair on fire. I could just feel it out here. It feels like death.”
When he was 8, he saw his mother get robbed. “N—-s punched her in the face and all that.” The small park in the middle of the Houses was home to “a lot of wars.” Rumbles and shootouts between the Howard locals and the Tomahawks, and “projects against projects.” But there was music, too. “The handball park right here, this was the jams,” he says. “All day.”
U-God split his childhood between Brooklyn and Staten Island, first meeting RZA while the Abbot was DJing a party at the Stapleton projects. They connected because “he had Mathematics and he was smart.” At the time, someone from, say, Park Hill wouldn’t necessarily have the cojones to venture out to Stapleton. But U-God had his brother’s father’s brothers in his corner: “They was stabbing n—-s, fucking n—-s up, shooting n—-s up.” By affiliation, U-God was official all over Shaolin.
We’ve wandered — past eggshells, blunt-wrapper sleeves, kids playing hide-and-seek, a busted box TV, and a copy of an Evasive Angles: Big Chubby Latin Girls DVD — to the lobby of the exact building where he grew up. We’re about to head up to his old apartment but, when I suggest taking the stairs to avoid the ancient-looking elevator, he balks at the whole endeavor. “You supposed to be popping up with cameras anyways. You gotta make ’em feel like, ‘Oh shit, what’s this?’ That’s why I said, you ain’t got no cameras? That’s what you supposed to bring. A camera.”
We walk back outside, and, again, a more pressing matter catches his attention. “That’s the second time that police helicopter is following today, man. You saw that shit, right?” I shrug. “Like, where did it come from? You saw it looking at us, right? It just came. This is the second time, dog. What’s going on with that hip-hop police? They follow me everywhere. It kind of drives me crazy.”
♦♦♦
These days, U-God’s relationships with other members of the Wu are amicable, if stilted: Raekwon is “tired of hanging around me”; Ghostface has been rebuffing his offer for a full-album team-up, called Goldie and Ghost, for years. “Whatever. I don’t care,” he says. “Maybe when I was a little younger, it might’ve bothered me. I felt entitled. Nine egos, nine dudes, nine everybody thinking they the shit. [But] I’m not entitled to nothing but what I put work in for.” RZA and him “go through it,” but “I love this n—-. He saved my fuckin’ life. He gave me a purpose. Nobody better be disrespecting him in front of me.”
Right now he’s focused on his new solo album, The Keynote Speaker, which he promises is his best work to date: “I’m Muhammad Ali. I’m hitting that speed bag like braaaat. I’m punching n—-s in the face with this one. Before this year is all said and done, you’ll put me up there with the five greats of all time.” Pause. “Or the top five most underrated motherfuckers ever.” Further plans: “After this, I’m going into movies. I’m ill. I took classes and all that already. Put a camera on me, I got that aura.”
Of his day-to-day, he says, “I’m smoking, I’m drinking, I’m having fun, man. I’m goin’ suck on the baddest titties on the planet. Right now, this might be my last 10 years on the planet. You can do what you wanna do in this world, man.”
V. A Brief Interlude With Ghostface Killah
The show’s over in Tennessee, the sun has set, and most of the Wu have scattered. But RZA and Ghostface are still on the clock, slated to perform at the Bonnaroo Superjam later this evening, and right now their presence is required at rehearsals. While RZA’s mind-set can still be best described as turnt up, Popa Wu — the elder statesman of the Wu-Tang affiliates — has been tasked with shepherding the duo along. “Starks and RZA gotta go,” he calls out. “Starks and RZA gotta go.”
With MCs, publicists, and various hangers-ons along for the ride, an idling white transport van fills up quick. In the crush, Popa Wu encounters an old female friend, wearing leopard print, and the two huddle close to reminisce. Meanwhile, one of RZA’s buddies has cajoled the driver into popping in a CD of his raunchy original work, and RZA’s excitedly singing along almost directly into Ghostface’s ear, like a little kid messing with his big brother. “I swerve the pussy, I curve the pussy, I even muthafuckin’ chauffeur the pussy.” Amid the chatter, it’s Ghostface who’s first to notice we’re stuck. “That’s mud? That’s mud right there? Let me see that. Oh nah. Oh nah. We gotta get outta this.”
A flurry of rain, it seems, has rendered our path intractable. Now, the transport van’s wheels are futilely spinning in place. We’re already late and, as the driver hopelessly revs the engine, panic has set in. “Let’s get out and push!” someone yells, and a couple dudes promptly hop out and proceed to rock the van uselessly. A wooden plank materializes and is shoved under a tire. Still stuck.
Undaunted, a second white transport van has been called in, and this one stays out of range of the muddy quicksand. The crew carefully traipses into the new vehicle, with me bringing up the rear. By the time I climb in, the seats are gone. As I linger in the doorframe, with various voices not so politely shout-recommending that I get out and walk, Ghostface notices my mute despair. “You trying to sit?” I mutter a confirmation, and he makes his bench mates, Popa Wu and his female acquaintance, shove over to make room for me. I sit, and mutter my gratitude. “Just talk. Just talk,” Ghostface explains, instilling a lesson it’s never too late to learn. “That’s all you gotta do! Just talk.”
VI. Masta Killa
The reason Masta Killa is here, 20 years on, can be traced back to a single verse written on a single night. He wasn’t just the ninth man through the door; he almost never made the team at all. It’s a plucky tale, and as he recounts it now — while we catch some college basketball on a late Saturday afternoon at Barclays Center — he does so with practiced ease, but not without marvel.
Through GZA, his buddy from Brooklyn, Masta Killa started hanging around Ol’ Dirty and RZA, traveling out to Staten Island to play chess with the Abbot. One night, RZA invited him to the studio. But at the time, Masta Killa was in a night school GED program, and he was on thin ice — one more absence and he’d be kicked out. He begged off. The next day, as they were setting up the chessboard, RZA popped in a tape from the previous night. It was “Protect Ya Neck.” Masta Killa lost it. “I had never heard MCs in a symphony like that. I’m like, rewind. Rewind! And once I heard that I knew I was never going back to school.”
He went home, with a mission. “I gotta make this team. Somehow, some way, I gotta make this team here.” For the first time ever, he collected his thoughts and actually put pen to paper; then he brought the results to RZA, who told him, “If you can learn how to say that, you might could have a job.” That first verse he ever scribbled down — “We have an APB on an MC killer / Looks like the work of a Masta” — ended up on “Da Mystery of Chessboxin’,” the last track to make 36 Chambers. Masta Killa was in.
Early on, it was all about scrapping. For the “Protect Ya Neck” video, RZA needed someone to fill in for a decapitation scene. “All of the other little homies that was there, nobody wanted to do it,” Masta Killa recalls. “Nobody wanted to make sure the team won.” So Masta Killa happily put his neck on the block. “Nobody wanna get they head cut off? Here, cut mine off.” And it rolled on from there. “The first Wu show actually was in East New York, at the Showboat. And I ain’t perform that night, but I gave everybody they haircuts. Then we went state to state, 12-passenger van, somebody always slobbering on your shoulder. I didn’t perform every night. But they needed a driver. It was all about winning.”
♦♦♦
Masta Killa hasn’t been feeling well, and the wafting aroma of fried food (he’s a noted vegetarian) in the arena isn’t helping. He wants to go home, get some rest. Over the sounds — the sneaker squeaks, drunk dudes, a marching band playing “All of the Lights” with great fervor — he wishes my family a happy holidays. But before he goes, we talk about the future.
“To tell you the truth, brotha, when we started doing this thing, it was fun. It was so much fun. And if me and the rest of the brothas are not gonna have fun, then I wouldn’t mind just closing the chapter. I’d rather go out like the gladiators we supposed to be, like the mighty Wu-Tang, than go out like the Little Rascals.”
Not that he’s particularly reflective about it all. “They say Wu-Tang Clan is a legacy. And I respect that. But I don’t wanna really look at it like that right now. Maybe when I’m 60, 70, and I’m sitting with my great-grans, and they throwing some of my old songs on. Maybe it might hit me then.”
VII. Inspectah Deck
“What about the quiche?” Inspectah Deck wonders out loud, as he scans the menu at an Israeli restaurant in downtown Manhattan. “You know, I get teased for eating quiche when I get around my Wu-Tang brothers. ‘You eat quiche?!’ Quiche is good, man!” “Against All Odds” has just ticked over into “Lovesong” on the overhead speakers. Deck’s female companion is seated beside him, tending to some business on an iPad. He goes with a salmon sandwich and an Orangina.
Where the casual Wu observer might see Deck as just one of the out-of-focus guys, the true Wu-ologist has always appreciated his craft. And, as it happens, his relative anonymity is actually a byproduct of his abilities. “I don’t know if they designated me the Derek Jeter of the crew,” Deck says. “But, you know: I’m always leading off, man.” Going first means having to set the table properly. It’s a responsibility he takes seriously.
He explains the process: “If Ghost is on this song, I gotta say some crazy shit. Like, what person you know talking about going getting ready to kill something, but I gotta stop at Maria’s for a butter almond ice cream? If Meth is on this song, I gotta bounce. Him, Masta Killa, Cappadonna — they experts at rhyming to the back end of the beat, in saying shit that goes off and then comes back on. GZA is graphic and very technical. He talks about air jacks, compressing steel. I’m like, damn, I got all these dudes on this track. I gotta bomb atomically.”
The reference, of course, is to Deck’s opening verse on “Triumph,” one of the greatest first verses in hip-hop history. That track was recorded at the Wu Mansion, in the middle of the night, just RZA messing around with sounds, organs, and ooohs, layers on layers, as Deck watched. “He’s throwing certain things backwards. Chopping the front off. Making it work like a carpenter,” Deck recalls. “He had that one sound. Like a bell, like a sprinkle. The drums and that sprinkle — it sounded crazy.”
When RZA asked if he had rhymes for it, Deck knew he’d need something “powerful — like if they sold it, it’d be 6,000 milligrams in one pill.” Not usually one to recycle verses, Deck made an exception, pulling out a special dart he’d dropped on a Tony Touch mixtape (with the blessing of Touch).
U-God remembers that night. “Deck had slid off to the pizzeria. N—-s came up in there, he already bomb atomically. I’m like, ‘How the fuck am I even gon’ compete with this shit?’ This n—- just slaughtered this.”
Raekwon says, “He just melted it. And after that, we was like, ‘Yo, don’t fuck the record up. Don’t fuck it up.’”
“They pretended like, ‘Yeah, that’s all right, that’s all right,’” Deck says, fighting down a smile. “I had no idea verses were rewritten or anything like that.”
♦♦♦
During the European festival dates this summer, “we’d talk about everything, man. We’d look at how lemons can alkaline any water. We’d study the power of wind.” Still, it wasn’t enough. He says recording the album overseas was “cool, but the vibe wasn’t what we needed. Brothers’ attention was scattered.” As much as Deck craves it still, that old in-house competition that catapulted “Triumph” to glory is gone.
He’s disheartened. But he says he has faith in RZA. “The nucleus has separated,” he says, speaking softly in dim, flickering light. “But it’s temporary. Once RZA throws up that Batman symbol, that Wu-Tang ‘W,’ it’s goin’ be on again. And I can’t wait.”
VIII. Ol’ Dirty Bastard
“We met in Brooklyn, New York, in a place called Linden Plaza,” says Icelene Jones of the first time she laid eyes on her late husband, Russell Jones — a.k.a. Unique Ason, a.k.a. Big Baby Jesus, a.k.a. Dirt McGirt, a.k.a. Ol’ Dirty Bastard. It was her sweet 16, and ODB was crashing with some buddies. “I open the door and he says, ‘We’re here for Tracy’s birthday party.’ And that’s my nickname, Tracy. I said, ‘Y’all sure Tracy invited y’all to this party?’ He said, ‘Yeah, yeah, she’s our homegirl! She invited us!’ I said, ‘I’m Tracy and I did not invite you!’ and I slammed the door right in his face.”
Icelene’s excitable voice is crackling through a speakerphone in a corner office on the 20th floor of a midtown Manhattan high-rise. She’s calling from her home in Georgia, and I’m in the office of the lawyer for the ODB estate, a frumpy, kindly older fellow named Donald David.
Icelene has been caught up in legal issues since nearly the moment ODB died in 2004 from an overdose caused by a mixture of cocaine and the prescription painkiller Tramadol. Opposing her are Cherry Jones, ODB’s mother, and Jarred Weisfeld, ODB’s manager at the time of his death — and according to David, “a parasite.” The priority is a proper release of A Son Unique, a posthumous ODB album. The estate believes the masters are in the possession of Damon Dash, who signed ODB to Roc-A-Fella Records shortly before Dirty’s death. But Dash has never played ball with the estate, leading to extreme measures. Explains David, “Dash has apparently abandoned the house that he was living in. We’re in touch with the landlord to see whether our materials are there.”
Last summer, Icelene says she approved the ODB holograms that appeared at Rock the Bells, only to see Cherry publicly campaign against them. Meanwhile, Weisfeld is pushing forward a biopic that would focus, bizarrely enough, primarily on his relationship with the rapper. “Icelene has more guts and more gumption than anybody I’ve ever dealt with,” David says. “She has fought every inch of the way.”
In the summer of ’91, Icelene married ODB — whom she called Unique, his Five Percent–bestowed “righteous name” — at Brooklyn’s City Hall. They were living in a shelter at the time, so Icelene dropped the kids off with family. “My cousin gave me something to wear. He put on pants and a shirt. Cherry was our witness, and that was it. No reception, no nothing. We went back home to the shelter.”
ODB would practice in the bedroom, Icelene happily egging him on. “I started helping with his hairstyle, what he was gonna wear, what he was gonna say,” she says. “We would practice in the bedroom. I was his no. 1 fan. I was like, ‘You gonna make this happen.’”
Just two years later, he did. For Icelene, the tipping point was at a locally televised gig at the Uptown Comedy Club in Harlem, with an overstuffed stage where the Wu did “Protect Ya Neck” for their newly adoring fans. “I remember news reporters, magazines — you couldn’t even hardly get into the place. I mean, girls were pulling at [ODB’s] pants, begging him, ‘Please, take me home!’”
For a time, the family hung as tight as the Von Trapps: “It was like we was soldiers and he was the captain. When he moved, we all moved. No games, no smiling.” Meanwhile, ODB was developing his beloved madman persona. “This dude would literally crash a car and borrow somebody else’s car to crash another one,” a smiling Raekwon recalls.
But when ODB’s drug habit grew out of control, that same recklessness made him unruly. Icelene would beg RZA and the others to interfere, but “everyone felt that he was grown, that he’d get it together, that he’d be all right. I felt like I was on my own, and he wouldn’t allow me to tell him what to do. He was the king of his castle.”
“We grew up smoking dust,” Rae says. “It feels like you drunk 50 bottles of Jack Daniel’s and someone spinned you around in the air for a fucking hour and then sat you down.” The rest of the Wu kicked the habit by ’90, ’91. But ODB was stuck.
By the time he went to prison, in 2001, at the Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York, for an incredible string of parole violations — stealing $50 sneakers, running red lights with crack in the car, making “terrorist threats” at a nightclub, shooting at cops — “it was a hot mess,” Icelene says. “My husband would tell me he was getting death threats. He had to get out of there. He needed help for drugs, and they put him away.”
When he was released, Icelene and the Clan planned to take him away from the industry, give him time to relax with family, and allow him to get back to being himself. It never happened. Dash, Cherry, and Weisfeld “snatched him up,” Icelene says. “They took him in another direction. And that’s what messed him up.”
In the last few years, Icelene dreaded every phone call, fearing horrible news. When that call did come, it was from her son, Barson. “He said, ‘Mommy — I don’t know if he’s dead or alive, Mommy. They’re trying to resuscitate him.” He was at the old Wu studios, 36 Records LLC, on West 34th Street. “I thought this man could not be taken out of here. He had nine lives. He was so strong to me. When I got to the studio and seen his body, I couldn’t believe it. I was trying to make him get up. I couldn’t believe it.”
I ask Icelene for a memory of her husband, one that comes to mind more than any other. She answers quickly.
“I think back to when we were young. We had to walk past this building, Building 5, and that’s where all the Gods and Earths were. They were men and women that were studying in the Nation of Islam, that knew their lessons. And when we walked past them, he made sure he knew his — how much the planet weighs, how far we are from the moon — and it made him feel great. Because you had to be a positive person — you couldn’t smoke, drink, nothing like that — to walk past them with your head up high. He taught me from a young girl how to respect myself. And he didn’t speak like no other guy that I knew. So I just fell in love with him.”
IX. GZA
“It’s not the first time I’ve spoken about astronomy or the planets or things of that nature,” GZA the Genius says from his studio in Jersey City. “We were always scientifical in our raps.” GZA’s explaining the logic behind his concept album Dark Matter, an “epic poem” telling the story of the universe. An idea he’s had for a while, it “spread like wildfire” after he mentioned it during a lecture to the Harvard Black Men’s Forum in late 2011.
In the years since, he’s dotted the country with his new gospel: taking part in an MIT workshop on the “evolving culture of science engagement”; helping to spearhead a New York City–wide public school program melding science education with hip-hop; lecturing at UC Riverside, the University of Toronto, and even NASA’s famed Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he also got a VIP tour. “They doing great work out there, sending satellites into space,” he assures me, nonchalantly.
Back home from solo shows in California and dates in Canada with the Wu, he’s spending his days “gathering information, writing, listening to music. A little bit of reading, and maybe some television here and there.” And, while he’s planning on getting up with RZA soon, he’s mostly been alone in the studio. This is his baby, and he seems in no rush to finish it.
As for the Wu album, well, GZA’s not too concerned if it ever does happen. There’s a peaceful apathy there. “It’s kind of hard to grasp, or understand, the magnitude of this obsession,” he says of the attention around the 20th anniversary. “It would be great to do another album, come back with a banger. But I don’t think we have anything to prove. We proved it already.”
♦♦♦
At the age of 11, with his 8-year-old cousin Robert in tow, GZA started going to block parties. The local acts, like DJ Jones and Grandville, were great. But journeys to the Bronx, where the MCs were far more advanced, were truly inspiring. The journey from Staten Island was arduous, but thrilling. “Getting on the bus, knowing you only had the boat, the train, and another bus left … it was like traveling through to paradise.” They’d study techniques, the way the MCs could flip a nursery rhyme like “Old King Cole was a merry old soul” into a dope lyric. Then they started constructing their own.
Early stage fright prevented him from rocking the block parties, but GZA never feared battles. He’d seek out competition, sometimes with RZA or Killah Priest along, sometimes alone. “It was like a kung fu flick,” he says. “We’d walk to another neighborhood, and we’d look for MCs. They’d have 30 people with them, but I always had the heart and the courage. I’d battle the best in every neighborhood. And I came out on top on the majority that I can remember.”
GZA’s the first to admit that he’d never have predicted his present-day preoccupation with science education. But he does see some kind of through line from then to now. “One of the basic principles when you dealing with Mathematics and Islam: Seek knowledge.”
At the MIT science and culture workshop, GZA delivered a statement on the “writer’s job.” It’s “a special one,” he explained. “You’re trying to draw them in, bring in those that are listening to your world, captivate them with your imagination, but also to learn. You want anything you say to be worth saying. You want to reach their mind and then reach their heart. That’s what I want to do.”
“Rap, it’s a childhood passion,” he says now. “Writing rhymes, it’s something that I was doing before rap records even existed. And I will continue to write until I can’t write anymore.”
X. Cappadonna
“I have yet to understand the value of Arizona,” Cappadonna says, with a heavy heart. “I have yet to understand why God brought me here.” It’s a blisteringly hot summer day in Tempe, and we’re in the kitchen of a dilapidated ranch house — huge, smudged bongs; windows blacked out with garbage bags; at least one portable solar-powered stove, still in the box — inhabited by an affable thirtysomething aspiring rapper named Dre. Capp’s wearing long Dickies shorts, a white-and-brown striped polo, and a Yankees cap. He’s smoking a blunt he’s carefully wrapped in a few layers of paper towel.
As the unofficial 10th member of the Wu Tang Clan — and therefore technically a member of the comically voluminous chapter of Wu affiliates — Cappadonna can’t ever fully avoid the stigma of a “weed carrier.” But if he hadn’t been locked up on a drug charge at the time of the recording of 36 Chambers, he’d have been official since day one. Several of the Wu members even credit him with teaching them how to rap. And if anything, his value as a supporting player during the Wu golden era is likely underrated. This is the man who once rapped, “I love you like I love my dick size.”
Capp has eight kids (and one grandchild!) in New Jersey, Atlanta, and Maryland, and is now reluctantly living in Arizona raising his youngest son, whose mother is a native Southwesterner. They reside in a well-manicured home purchased by his wife’s grandfather, who happens to be the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. But it’s too hot here, he complains, too lackadaisical. Capp’s got one more message to deliver, in the form of The Pillage 2: The Angel Strikes Back, the sequel to his gold-certified 1998 debut. And he’s not so sure this is the mount from whence to deliver it.
Meanwhile, he practices his message on me. Almost every direct question I ask is rebuffed and spun into a bit of The World According to Capp. He is |
it would culminate in disappointment. Call this historical profiling.
The most damning element here is not that George Zimmerman was found not guilty: it’s the bitter knowledge that Trayvon Martin was found guilty. During his cross examination of Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, the defense attorney Mark O’Mara asked if she was avoiding the idea that her son had done something to cause his own death. During closing arguments, the defense informed the jury that Martin was armed because he weaponized a sidewalk and used it to bludgeon Zimmerman. During his post-verdict press conference, O’Mara said that, were his client black, he would never have been charged. At the defense’s table, and in the precincts far beyond it where donors have stepped forward to contribute funds to underwrite their efforts, there is a sense that Zimmerman was the victim.
O’Mara’s statement echoed a criticism that began circulating long before Martin and Zimmerman encountered each other. Thousands of black boys die at the hands of other African Americans each year, but the black community, it holds, is concerned only when those deaths are caused by whites. It’s an appealing argument, and widespread, but it’s simplistic and obtuse. It’s a belief most easily held when you’ve not witnessed peace rallies and makeshift memorials, when you’ve turned a blind eye to grassroots organizations like the Interrupters in Chicago, who are working valiantly to stem the tide of violence in that city. It is the thinking of people who’ve never wondered why African Americans disproportionately support strict gun-control legislation. The added quotient of outrage in cases like this one stems not from the belief that a white murderer is somehow worse than a black one but from the knowledge that race determines whether fear, history, and public sentiment offer that killer a usable alibi.
The thousands who gathered last spring in New York, in St. Louis, in Philadelphia, in Miami, and in Washington, D.C., to demand Zimmerman’s arrest shared a narrative and an understanding of the past’s grip on the present. Long before the horrifying images of Martin lying prone and lifeless in the grass ever made their way to Gawker, he’d already begun inspiring references to the line about “blood on the leaves” from Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit.” Those crowds were the response of people who understand that history is interred in the shallowest of graves.
Yet the problem is not that this case marks a low point in this country’s racial history—it’s that, after two centuries of common history, we’re still obligated to chart high points and low ones. To be black at times like this is to see current events on a real-time ticker, a Dow Jones average measuring the quality of one’s citizenship. Trayvon Martin’s death is an American tragedy, but it will mainly be understood as an African-American one. That it occurred in a country that elected and reëlected a black President doesn’t diminish the despair this verdict inspires, it intensifies it. The fact that such a thing can happen at a moment of unparalleled political empowerment tells us that events like these are a hard, unchanging element of our landscape.
We can understand the verdict to mean validation for the idea that the actions Zimmerman took that night were those of a reasonable man, that the conclusions he drew were sound, and that a black teen-ager can be considered armed any time he is walking down a paved street. We can take from this trial the knowledge that a grieving family was capable of displaying inestimable reserves of grace. Following the verdict, Sybrina Fulton posted a benediction to Twitter: “Lord during my darkest hour I lean on you. You are all that I have. At the end of the day, GOD is still in control.” The Twitter account of Tracy Martin, Trayvon’s father, features an image of him holding Trayvon as a toddler, a birthday hat perched on the boy’s head. At the trial, they sat through a grim procession of autopsy photos and audio of the gunshot that ended their son’s life. No matter the verdict, their simple pursuit of justice meant amplifying the trauma of their loss by some unknowable exponent.
There’s fear that the verdict will embolden vigilantes, but that need not be the concern: history has already done that. You don’t have to recall specifics of everything that has transpired in Florida over the past two hundred years to recognize this. The details of Rosewood, the black town terrorized and burned to the ground in 1923, and of Groveland and the black men falsely accused of rape and murdered there in 1949, can remain obscure and retain sway over our present concerns. Names—like Claude Neal, lynched in 1934, and Harry and Harriette Moore, N.A.A.C.P. organizers in Mims County, killed by a firebomb in 1951—can be overlooked. What cannot be forgotten, however, is that there were no consequences for those actions.
Perhaps history does not repeat itself exactly, but it is certainly prone to extended paraphrases. Long before the jury announced its decision, many people had seen what the outcome would be, had known that it would be a strange echo of the words Zimmerman uttered that rainy night in central Florida: they always get away.
Read more of our coverage of the George Zimmerman trial and Trayvon Martin.
Above: George Zimmerman is congratulated by his lawyers after being found not guilty in the death of Trayvon Martin. Photograph by Joe Burbank-Pool/Getty.Following the Brexit vote, leading ministers have used a number of buzzwords and phrases to try to promote the UK in a positive light as they talk about new trade deals, free trade, investment, lower taxes and lighter regulation. Can they be serious?
Words and phrases that are newly appearing in ministerial scripts include “modern”, “liberal”, “business-friendly”, “open”, “outward-looking”, “open for business”, “global” and “dynamic”. However, the prominence of unfamiliar units in the public realm as seen by visitors to the UK portrays a completely different image, at odds with that which ministers are promoting abroad. So what kind of impression do visitors to the UK get from our continued use of medieval units?
Roads are one of the most visible areas where medieval units are used. Let’s suppose our visitor to the UK drives or travels on our roads and is not from the USA (the only other developed country that uses non-metric road signs). Here are some typical signs our visitor is likely to see.
So how would we expect our visitor to understand these signs? Our visitor will see something like 7′ 0″ for a width or height restriction. Hold on, don’t the single and double quotes stand for minutes and seconds of arc. No, not here! They are actually feet and inches, more likely than not to be utterly meaningless to our visitor, especially one from a country where such units are not used. And what about “yds”? What on earth does that stand for? Could it be “you don’t say”? Our visitor sees the sign showing fractions of a mile and probably wonders why the Brits refuse to use metres and kilometres for distances on our roads, units used on road signs in almost all other countries. The mile is now mainly confined to the UK and the USA. Our visitor sees the sign showing “Services 10 m” and wonders why the service station is not close to the sign. He or she is probably thinking, “Surely, the sign says that the service station is 10 metres ahead.” The “m” is used elsewhere for metres. Wrong! The service station is 10 miles ahead. Apparently, only the DfT uses “m” for miles.
After a journey on British roads, our visitor goes shopping and sees units like the ones shown here.
What is this sign about “Canary Wharf’s 128 Acre Private Estate”? Our visitor asks us, “What on earth is an acre and how big is it?”. Most Brits have no idea how big an acre is, a point made by the title of Dr Metric’s (Alan Young’s) publication, “How Big is an Acre? No-one knows”. A market stallholder prices the fruit and veg by the “lb” or perhaps by “#”. Our visitor wonders what “lb” is, what it stands for and how heavy it is. Perhaps “#” could mean kilo? He is surprised when he receives only four apples not nine for his 99 pence.
Some native Britons joke with him. They give him their suggestions such as “Little Britain”, “loose bags”, “low band”, “liberty”, “loopy barmy” and “lost boys”. Come off it, says our visitor, it must have something to do with quantities. They then tell him what it really stands for. It stands for “libra”, and is a relic from the days of the Roman occupation. How many Brits know that? Not many I suspect. Our visitor reacts, asking “Isn’t libra a star sign used in astrology?”. Correct, but libra is Latin for pound. ” Pound?” Our visitor says, “I only know of currencies called pounds. I have not heard of pounds used for weighing stuff. Pounds are not used for weighing in my country. I have no idea how heavy a pound is. And ounces. What are they? Are there ten ounces to a pound?”
Our visitor is taken on a walk around the city and sees the following signs.
The oval sign is typically found at railway structures such as bridges. Our visitor sees this sign and wonders what on earth does “WLL 25 3M 45 CH”. It means nothing to me, says our visitor. What are these letters and numbers all about? Our visitor sees an information sign near an underground station exit and sighs, “Here we go again with this ‘yds’ nonsense. They might as well have written this sign in hieroglyphics. I have no idea what ‘yds’ means. I never see this in my country. I have no idea how far any of these places are.” Even an American will not expect yards to appear other than on a (US) football pitch.
Our visitors wonder if the muddle extends to common measuring equipment and finds the following typical products on sale:
Our visitor complains, “What is this? Dual measuring equipment is cluttered, hard to read and often awkward to use. How many different systems of measurement do you need to measure a quantity of anything? Where I come from, we only use one. The one we use is metric. In my country, all measuring equipment is exclusively metric. Why do you cling to all these medieval units when metric will do the job so much better?”
Our visitor looks for some office space for a business and sees extensive use of acres and square feet by estate agents. Is this foot the same as the one used on road signs? Do “ft” and ” ‘ ” mean the same thing?
Our visitor goes to a pub for a business meeting with us and sees us ordering pints and half-pints of beer. Our visitor tells us that they do not use pints in his country and asks us what a pint is. Our visitor notices that the labels on the empty bottles left on the tables by other customers show millilitres and litres and wonders why pubs do not serve draught beer in millilitres and litres. We tell our visitor that it is against the law for them to do so. Why? What is the sense in that? We reply that we don’t know either and agree that it is an anomaly we cannot explain.
Finally, our visitor watches some television and reads some newspapers to find out more about the general business environment in the UK to help our visitor make some business plans and final decisions about what investments to make in the UK. Our visitor notices loads of odd, alien, medieval units used in the British media (as well as many metric ones), has no idea what they are and tells us that these units are not used back home. Our visitor asks us about the British media’s logic in their seemingly random mix of metric and medieval units. Our visitor tells us that the media back home only use metric units and that there is no measurement muddle there.
Our visitor concludes that contrary to the claims of leading ministers about the UK, the country is stuck in the past and has failed to modernise like the rest of the world. Our units suggest that the UK is old-fashioned, medieval, backward and still living in the imperial past. Perhaps the Tourist Boards, promoting a country of thatched cottages, dreaming spires, Midsomer Murders and Beefeaters in medieval costume at the Tower have it right, and ministers are bluffing.
In the Foreword to the UKMA publication, Metric Signs Ahead, Lord Kinnock of Bedwellty said in 2006:
“40 years after Britain first started to go officially metric, there is one important area in which we are still living in the imperial past. We see this in the muddle of measurement units in use in the United Kingdom. Our road signs are a perhaps the most obvious example and they contradict the image – and the reality – of our country as a modern, multicultural, dynamic place where the past is valued and respected and the future is approached with creativity and confidence.”
( 10 ) Likes ( 1 ) DislikesQUESTION #69 previous | next
How fast do electrons travel when moving as an electrical current through copper wire?
Answer
Asked by: Leon TaylorThe actual velocity of electrons through a conductor is measured as an average speed called drift speed. This is because individual electrons do not continue through the conductor in straight line paths, but instead they move in a random zig-zag motion, changing directions as they collide with atoms in the conductor. Thus, the actual drift speed of these electrons through the conductor is very small in the direction of current.For example, the drift speed through a copper wire of cross-sectional area 3.00 x 10, with a current of 10 A will be approximately 2.5 x 10m/s or about a quarter of a milimeter per second.So how does an electrical device turn on near instantaneously? If you think of a copper wire as a pipe completely filled with water, then forcing a drop of water in one end will result in a drop at the other end being pushed out very quickly. This is analogous to initiating an electric field in a conductor.Answered by: Matt G., Engineering Student, University of Texas at Austin and Anton Skorucak, PhysLink.com EditorSeemingly following the proposals of Bill Clinton (and Ron Paul), The Washington Post reports that a leaked document shows the Trump administration is planning to crackdown on current, and would-be, immigrants who are likely to require public assistance.
After Bill Clinton received a standing ovation for suggesting crackdown on immigrant welfare...
"We are a nation of immigrants.. but we are a nation of laws" "Our nation is rightly disturbed by the large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country... Illegal immigrants take jobs from citizens or legal immigrants, they impose burdens on our taxpayers... That is why we are doubling the number of border guards, deporting more illegal immigrants than ever before, cracking down on illegal hiring, barring benefits to illegal aliens, and we will do more to speed the deportation of illegal immigrants arrest for crimes... It is wrong and ultimately self-defeating for a nation of immigrants to permit the kind of abuse of our immigration laws that has occurred in the last few years.. and we must do more to stop it."
And following Ron Paul's advice this week that the solution to really addressing the problem of illegal immigration, drug smuggling, and the threat of cross-border terrorism is clear:
Remove the welfare magnet that attracts so many to cross the border illegally, stop the 25 year US war in the Middle East, and end the drug war that incentivizes smugglers to cross the border. The various taxpayer-funded programs that benefit illegal immigrants in the United States, such as direct financial transfers, medical benefits, food assistance, and education, cost an estimated $100 billion dollars per year. That is a significant burden on citizens and legal residents. The promise of free money, free food, free education, and free medical care if you cross the border illegally is a powerful incentive for people to do so. It especially makes no sense for the United States government to provide these services to those who are not in the US legally.
The Washington Post reports that The Trump administration is considering a plan to weed out would-be immigrants who are likely to require public assistance, as well as to deport — when possible — immigrants already living in the United States who depend on taxpayer help, according to a draft executive order obtained by The Washington Post.
A second draft order under consideration calls for a substantial shake up in the system through which the United States administers immigrant and nonimmigrant visas overall, with the aim of tightly controlling who enters the country, and who can enter the workforce, and to reduce the social services burden on U.S. taxpayers.
The drafts are circulating among administration officials, and it is unclear whether President Trump has decided to move forward with them or when he might sign them if he does decide to put them in place.
While Trump’s immigration ban last week focused on national security and preventing terrorism, the new draft orders would be focused on Trump’s campaign promises to protect American workers and to create jobs, immediately restricting the flow of immigrants and temporary laborers into the U.S. workforce.
The administration has blamed immigrants who end up receiving U.S. social services for eating up federal resources, and it has said immigrant workers contribute to unemployment among Americans who were born in the United States. “Our country’s immigration laws are designed to protect American taxpayers and promote immigrant self sufficiency. Yet households headed by aliens are much more likely than those headed by citizens to use Federal means-tested public benefits,” reads one draft order obtained by The Post, titled “Executive Order on Protecting Taxpayer Resources by Ensuring Our Immigration Laws Promote Accountability and Responsibility.” The draft order provides no evidence to support the claim that immigrant households are more likely to use welfare benefits, and there is no consensus among experts about immigration’s impact on such benefits or American jobs.
WaPo goes on to note that the administration would be seeking to “deny admission to any alien who is likely to become a public charge” and develop standards for “determining” whether an immigrant can be deported after five years if that person receives a certain amount of public assistance, including Food Stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Medicaid.
The second order, titled “Executive Order on Protecting American Jobs and Workers by Strengthening the Integrity of Foreign Worker Visa Programs” calls for “eliminating” the “jobs magnet” that is driving illegal immigration to the United States, according to a copy obtained by The Post. The order would rescind any work visa provisions for foreign nationals found not to be in “the national interest” or in violation of U.S. immigration laws.
Economists are divided on the extent to which illegal immigration impacts wages, but generally find that immigration is good for the economy, including the immigration of low-skilled workers.
“The unlawful employment of aliens has had a devastating impact on the wages and jobs of American workers, especially low-skilled, teenage, and African American and Hispanic workers," the draft order says. But the CATO Institute claims "when you compare poor immigrants to poor natives, poor immigrants are less likely to use welfare, and when they do, the dollar value of the benefits they use is lower," and The Migration Policy Institute claims that "refugee men are employed at a higher rate than their U.S.-born peers."
Bear in ind this is WaPo unsubstantiated reports and The White House would not confirm or deny the authenticity of the orders, and White House officials did not respond to requests for comment about the drafts on Monday and Tuesday.Hoya, there! In May, actress and U.N. Special Envoy Angelina Jolie signed on to be a visiting professor at the London School of Economics for the fall. Now, she “will do the same guest spot at Georgetown University,” LSE’s sister school in Washington, D.C., a source reveals in the new issue of Us Weekly.
The 41-year-old mom of six, who did not attend college, will share her knowledge in lectures, workshops and research focused on women, peace and security — subjects that are close to her heart.
“It is vital that we broaden the discussion on how to advance women's rights and end impunity for crimes that disproportionately affect women, such as sexual violence in conflict," Jolie said in a May statement, announcing her U.K. gig. "I am looking forward to teaching and learning from the students, as well as to sharing my own experiences of working alongside governments and the United Nations."
The course, the first of its kind internationally, was launched last year by Jolie and former U.K. foreign secretary William Hague, who will also serve as an unpaid visiting professor at LSE.
After meeting with the By the Sea star, Melanne Verveer, executive director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, expressed her excitement for bringing their program stateside.
"I was pleased to meet with Angelina Jolie during my recent trip to London on ways we at Georgetown University can continue the collaboration between our sister programs on both sides of the Atlantic," Verveer said in May. "We look forward to welcoming Angelina and former foreign secretary Hague to Georgetown in the future."
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!Obama's Presidential Library Will Be In Chicago, Says NBC News
By Lisa White in News on Apr 30, 2015 11:20PM
Obama was at a D.C. library today! (Getty Images)
According to NBC News' Andrea Mitchell, President Barack Obama's Presidential library will be built in Chicago. The final site has not been decided yet, but it is expected to have a connection to the University of Chicago, the front-runner throughout the process to woo the foundation to the Midwest. Other bids were offered from Columbia University in New York and the University of Hawaii in Honolulu as well as the University of Illinois at Chicago.
This would come as no surprise to most Chicagoans, especially after the resignation of Friends of the Parks president Cassandra Francis, one of the most outspoken groups when it came to the University of Chicago's South Side proposed library location. Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed suggested that the sudden resignation from Francis possibly sealed the deal in bringing the Obama library to Chicago, even stating that one of her top sources in the mayor's office said that with Francis gone the library would be a definite go.
Illinois lawmakers also fast tracked a bill last week that would make it easier for Chicago to build on parkland or “formerly submerged lands.” The Senate approved the bill 39-13 and the House approved with a 94-16 vote. State Senator Kwame Roul, who holds President Obama’s former seat, stated that “this bill, if passed, would send a strong message to the selection committee that there won't be any obstacles to the library being built on parkland.”
The Obama Library was also a polarizing topic during the mayoral runoff election, which postponed the decision when sources close to the foundation told the Associated Press that Obama did not want the library to become a mayoral campaign issue or give the impression that he was giving presidential support to Emanuel over Garcia. Mayor Emanuel has long been a vocal advocate for bringing the Obama library to Chicago, stating during his mayoral campaign that
"It can be on the South Side. It can be on the West Side, but it cannot be on the Upper West Side of Manhattan."
We'll have to wait to see which side of town the library does lay its foundation (we'd place a strong bet that University of Chicago will prevail with their South Side option) but it looks like the next Presidential library will call the Second City home.The new issue of Entertainment Weekly centers on upcoming superhero movies and features the first quotes from Henry Cavill on landing the lead role in Warner Bros.’ new Superman movie. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
Among the topics of discussion: Cavill’s audition, which included shooting a screen test wearing a replica of Christopher Reeve’s once impressive, now dated Superman suit. “If you can put on that suit and pull it off,” says Snyder, ‘that’s an awesome achievement.” Cavill was feeling less than super in the moment, at least about his ability to fill out the costume: He had just finished shooting a film with Bruce Willis called The Cold Light Of Day, and the part required to him to shed the impressive abs of steel and muscle tone he had put on for the movie he made right before that, the forthcoming mythic fantasy Immortals. As an assistant helped to him put on the Super-suit, Cavill recalls: “All I could think was: Oh, god. They’re going to look at me and go ‘He’s not Superman. Not a chance.’ The actor inside me was going: You’re not ready! You’re not ready!” Snyder saw something — or rather someone — different. “He walked out, and no one laughed,” says the director. “Other actors put that suit on, and it’s a joke, even if they’re great actors. Henry put it on, and he exuded this kind of crazy-calm confidence that just made me go ‘Wow.’ Okay: This was Superman.’”
Be sure to pick up the magazine for more! Here’s a look at the cover:Salim Alaradi has spent 362 days in a cell in the United Arab Emirates, detained without charge and allegedly tortured as the prisoner of state security agents
Marwa Alaradi sometimes slips into the past tense when she describes her father Salim, who has spent 362 days in a cell somewhere in the United Arab Emirates, detained without charge and allegedly tortured, the prisoner of state security agents who for months refused to tell his family whether he was dead or alive.
“He was a good father,” the 17-year-old said. “He used to talk with us about life, how to be a good person. At the last meeting we had in the hotel, I remember him saying: ‘Honesty brings goodness’.”
At around 2am on 28 August 2014, Salim Alaradi received a call to his hotel room in Dubai, where he was on vacation to visit family. The caller asked the Canadian-Libyan citizen to step downstairs to answer a few questions. Salim never made it back.
“We knew that he did nothing wrong, but it’s the national security service so it’s hard to find out anything. We didn’t know whom to contact or talk with.”
Alaradi was finally allowed to call to his family, who had spent two months and 11 days “crying and praying” for information. He asked after them before they went back to the family home in Vancouver, but he didn’t know where he was or why he was arrested, and said he was allowed no lawyer nor access to the Canadian consulate.
“It was very surprising – we were happy just to hear his voice,” his daughter said.
On the same night, agents in the UAE also seized nine other Libyan men, including Alaradi’s brother Mohamad, who only has Libyan citizenship. “They blindfolded me, tied my hands, and put me in a black car. Then they took us to the secret prison,” he said.
Salim Alaradi, right, and Mohamad Alaradi, left. Photograph: Marwa Alaradi
Asked almost immediately by agents, Mohamad denied any participation in the Muslim Brotherhood, and torture and beatings began in short order, he said. “They attached me to an electric chair, and beat me all over my body. They put like machines on my hands – on my nails – tied to my nails. They banned me from sleeping for nine days – and I stayed standing with barely any food.
“I asked them about my rights. They said, ‘You don’t have any rights. You are under our control and nobody in the world can help you.’ On the first day, they told me: ‘We’re going to torture you until you wish you were dead – but death won’t come.’ And they kept their word – they tortured me until I wished for death.”
With the help of a cousin, Dr Abdulssalam Aradi, the family appealed to Canadian authorities for help. Canadian officials were able to visit three times over several months, he said: once at a distance, and twice more in conversations chaperoned by state security. Requests to speak with Alaradi alone were denied, he said.
The family suspects that the UAE only allowed interviews with Alaradi over several months so that signs of torture could heal. They described varied and vicious tortures: truncheon beatings, lashes with a leather cord, waterboarding, sleep deprivation and solitary confinement. Alaradi’s brother said that interrogators told him his mother was about to die; that they would rape his daughters; that the screaming he heard through the walls was his kin.
“The thing that still doesn’t let me sleep at night,” he said, “what makes me cry is not my torture, it’s hearing the sounds of my brother being tortured. He would scream and cry. And I knew I couldn’t help.”
‘It’s really out of hand now’
Human rights activists and researchers say the account fits a broader, expanding pattern of arbitrary detentions and torture allegations since 2012.
“This is part of an ongoing trend in the UAE,” said Nick McGeehan, a researcher for Human Rights Watch. “We have documented numerous cases of torture in the United Arab Emirates, and it would seem beyond doubt that there is a state security prison where people suspected of seditious activity, if you want to call it that, are held extralegally and interrogated.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE. Photograph: Alamy
McGeehan estimated that between 100 to 200 people have been detained since 2012, many without any political affiliations.
“It’s really out of hand now,” said Drewery Dyke, a researcher for Amnesty International, which in 2014 published an 80-page report that condemned the UAE’s “uncompromisingly repressive” actions.
“The interrogations seem to be somewhat systematized, almost scientifically done,” Dyke said. “What Salim and Mohammad reveal is really quite a tragic story about the Emirates. Hidden behind the face of the modern UAE, the Burj Khalifa, the Burj Al Arab, there is another kind of modern reality, which boils down to the severe ill treatment of innocent people.”
He suggested American, Canadian and European officials were loath to unsettle trade and counter-terrorism agreements with the UAE and similar Gulf monarchies.
Mohamad was released after four months and promptly deported: authorities put him on a flight to Istanbul with no money, only his passport and clothes. “They realized that they’d made a mistake, that I had nothing and knew nothing.
“I don’t want to damage the name of the Emirates, or harm its reputation with my words. But I want those responsible, and the rulers, and the good people of the Emirates to face the fact that they have secret prisons where people are tortured.”
According to Mohamad, interrogators mostly asked about Libya. “All the leads go there,” his nephew said, “The UAE was thinking that Libyans they arrested could be tools to put pressure on factions that the UAE is not supporting in Libya.”
The UAE is actively involved in the chaos of post-revolution Libya, where the Alaradis have a brother, Abdul Razak Alaradi, who was a member of the transitional government and in a party linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Last August, American officials accused the UAE and Egypt of flying air strikes on Libyan factions, and the UAE and Qatar have paid for and supplied arms to groups there for years.
Since the aftermath of the Arab spring, the UAE has steadily increased pressure on suspected dissidents, activists and foreign nationals. Authorities arrested 41 people in early August on charges of sedition; 30 Libyan nationals last August (including the Alaradis); and in 2013 accused 94 people of plotting a coup.
Last week the UAE detained academic Nasser bin Ghaith without charge, making him the latest in a string of arrests, detentions and convictions of people who have criticized the government.
Salim Alaradi with one of his sons. Photograph: Marwa Alaradi
The family maintains that neither brother, businessmen with a global electrical appliance company, have any political affiliations.
A spokesperson for Canada’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said only that senior Canadian officials are in contact with Emirati counterparts, and that “consular services are being provided to the Canadian citizen.”
Repeated calls and emails to the UAE’s foreign ministry, mission to the UN and embassies in Ottawa and Washington were not returned.
The Alaradis in Canada continue to hope for his release. They sent an open letter to prime minister Stephen Harper, and Marwa manages an online petition and social media campaign while also dealing with the trials of every teenager: homework, friends, family.
She said her mother tries to act normal for her youngest children, aged four and seven. “We don’t want them to feel like their father is gone, and we don’t even know where he is or how he’s treated,” she said.
“It’s been very difficult. Sometimes she goes to her room and cries, she can’t hold it anymore. My father deserves to come home.”
Raya Jalabi contributed reporting.A wealthy Nigerian man by the name of Uroko Onoja of Ogbadibo a small region in the country's Mid-Eastern Benue state, was raped by his six wives until he died last week. According to a report in Nigeria's Daily Post, Onoja was attacked by five of his wives with sticks and knives while he was engaged in intercourse with his youngest wife. The other wives then demanded that he have sex with all of them at once. Onoja allegedly resisted the attack at first, but was soon overpowered by the six women who coerced him to have sex with each spouse in ascending order of age.
The Nigerian Daily Post writes that Onoja was returning from a local bar in Ugbugbu at three in the morning last Tuesday. Upon returning home, he walking into to the bedroom of his youngest wife. His five other wives, who had been planning the attack, then ambushed him while he was distracted.
Onaja allegedly stopped breathing after the fourth of his wives lift him, the fifth noticing as he approached him. The youngest wife attempted to resuscitate him, but was unable to.
Suddenly, my husband stopped breathing, she is quoted saying to the Daily Post's correspondent. And they all ran out, still laughing, but when they saw that I could not resuscitate him, they all ran into the forest.
The incident was then reported to police and, so far, two of the women have been arrested by local authorities. The police report noted that Onaja was apparently raped to death.
Onoja had married six women after becoming wealthy. The Nigerian Daily Post notes that, According to most young people in the community, he was a philanthropist who had contributed positively to the growth of the community.Musician Robert Plant (C), formerly of Led Zeppelin, performs at the main stage during the Exit music festival in the Serbian town of Novi Sad July 12, 2007. Led Zeppelin will offer their music online for the first time next month, they said on Monday. REUTERS/Marko Djurica
LONDON (Reuters) - British rockers Led Zeppelin will offer their music online for the first time next month, they said on Monday.
The band, whose reunion gig in London in November prompted more than a million fans to apply for 10,000 available tickets, is one of the last major pop music acts to offer their catalogue digitally.
From November 13, Led Zeppelin, which disbanded in 1980 following the death of drummer John Bonham, will make its albums available for download from all online music retailers.
The group behind such hits as “Stairway to Heaven” and “Communication Breakdown”, which has sold an estimated 300 million albums worldwide, joins the digital revolution sweeping the music industry as physical CD sales continue to fall.
“We are pleased that the complete Led Zeppelin catalogue will now be available digitally,” said guitarist Jimmy Page.
“The addition of the digital option will better enable fans to obtain their music in whichever manner they prefer,” he said in a statement.
As well as downloads, Led Zeppelin is teaming up with mobile provider Verizon Wireless to provide ring tones and full song downloads. Verizon Wireless is owned by Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc.
The band hit the headlines in September with the announcement of a one-off reunion gig on November 26 as a tribute to the late founder of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun, who signed Led Zeppelin in 1968.
The group will also release “Mothership”, a two-CD collection spanning the group’s 12-year career and a remixed version of “The Song Remains the Same” soundtrack from the band’s three-night stint at Madison Square Garden in 1973.The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutras community.
The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.
This post is cross-posted from my blog at http://joesopko.weebly.com/blog
A GIF showcasing mechanics created with the tools explained in this article!
Combat mechanics are the soul of any action game. This article series will take a practical approach to combat mechanics, looking at our terminology and principles through images of tools that implement them, rather than detached theoretical concepts. Not only is this approach more clear, but putting workflow first is a good way to approach any problem. Quality products are reached through iteration, and iteration requires proper workflow.
If you are a player of action games, you intuitively know the importance of responsive controls and balance. For brevity's sake, we will use these intuitions as guidelines that good combat mechanics must:
1) recognize all player inputs and subsequently respond with outputs that change the
gameworld in at least one of the five categories enumerated below,
2) and be balanced against whatever the player fights against.
In order to accomplish these two goals when creating action games, I designed a robust system using Unity’s animation tools to graphically conceptualize and control my combat mechanic sets. Many possible changes can occur when players interact within a game world, so I break down the changes I want players to be able to make into five high-level categories:
1) visual effects,
2) sound effects,
3) attack hitboxes and player hurtboxes,
4A) input windows 4B) that transition into different states,
5) and physics behavior.
Here is a quick peek at one of the graphical user interfaces, showing an example animation of a sword attack while boosting. Generally speaking, it represents a complete frame-by-frame timeline for whichever animation I am currently working on and all of the different elements that the animation affects:
As you may |
as hard as you possibly can,” he added. “That is going to temporarily take away their vision temporarily, make it difficult for them to breathe and put them out of the fight."
While only one arrest has been made, police are still working the case. Anyone with additional information concerning this case or the suspects is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.
Copyright 2017 WCNCMore men are smoking in India than ever before, with the number rising by more than a third from 79 million in 1998 to 108 million in 2015, report researchers in the journal BMJ Global Health.
Smoking rates haven’t increased for women, though, with 11 million women smoking in India in 2015, the study found.
Only China has more adult smokers — 300 million — than India, where more than one in four adults also uses smokeless and chewing tobacco.
Tobacco-control measures, such as banning smoking in public places, haven’t helped much. They led to a fall in smoking prevalence from 27% in 1998 to 24% in 2010 among men aged 15-69 years, but the modest gains were offset by rising population and incomes.
“During this period, India added about 1.7 million male smokers each year, with roughly an equal number smoking cigarettes and bidis,” said the study’s co-author Dr Prakash C Gupta, director, Healis-Sekhsaria Institute of Public Health, Mumbai.
The study found that 61 million Indian adult men smoked cigarettes (40 million exclusively) and 69 million smoked bidis (48 million exclusively).
Read | Youth don’t care for pictorial warnings, smoke anyway: Supreme Court
Tobacco use, including smoking, accounts for 10% of all deaths in India. “In 2010, tobacco use caused about one million deaths in India, with about 70% of these deaths killing people in their prime, between ages 30 and 69,” said co-author Dr Prabhat Jha, professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.
Smoking causes about 30% of all cancer deaths (including 90% of lung cancer deaths), 17% of heart disease deaths, and at least 80% of deaths from bronchitis and emphysema.
But cessation is uncommon in India. Last year, in the 45-59 age group, there were roughly four current smokers for every person who quit. In comparison, in the US and countries where cessation support is available, there are more quitters than current smokers.
“Raising tax on tobacco is the single most effective intervention to lower smoking rates, increase cessation and deter future smokers,” said Dr Jha.
The Tobacco Institute of India disagrees: “As a result of discriminatory taxation, the share of legal cigarettes in total tobacco consumption declined from 21% in 1981-82 to 11%, but overall tobacco consumption increased 38% during this period.”
For the BMJ Public Health study, researchers used data from three nationally representative surveys — Special Fertility and Mortality Survey (1998), Sample Registration Survey - Baseline data (2004) and Global Adult Tobacco Survey (2010) — covering about 14 million people from 2.5 million households, and made forward projections to 2015.
Read | 19% girl students in Bhopal use tobacco
First Published: Feb 28, 2016 07:03 ISTBroccoli is Manmade
November 12, 2010 at 1:00 am Chad Upton
By Chad Upton | Editor
The word broccoli is the plural form of broccolo (Italian), which refers to “the flowering top of cabbage.” Of course, that’s because Broccoli is from the same family as cabbage. Kale, closely related to wild cabbage, was carefully bred into a variety of vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower over a period of 2000 years.
Broccoli is kind of a super vegetable since it contains a ton of lutein, arguably the most important source of vitamin A in the human diet (which is also found in kale and spinach).
So, even if you are genetically predisposed to dislike broccoli, you could try some other popular vegetables in the same family: cabbage, cauliflower, turnip, rapeseed, radish and horseradish.
Broken Secrets
Subscribe on: Facebook | Twitter | Email | Kindle
Photo: Rick Harris (cc)
Sources: Indiana Public Media, Science Daily, Wikipedia (Broccoli, Brassica, Brassicaceae, Cruciferous, Kale, Phenylthiocarbamide)
Share: Facebook
Twitter
Google
More
LinkedIn
Tumblr
Pocket
Reddit
Print
Pinterest
Email
Like this: Like Loading... Related
Entry filed under: Food and Drink, History and Origins. Tags: broccoli, broccolo, cabbage, vegetable.LABOR is a far more ferocious prosecutor of whistleblowers and leakers than the Howard government, with Kevin Rudd overseeing a doubling of leak referrals to the federal police in his time as prime minister.
Figures obtained during a Herald investigation into federal police leak inquiries show the Howard government referred 16 leaks of government material between 2005 and 2007 and the Rudd government referred 32.
The figures mirror a shift in US politics where the more liberal Obama administration has taken a harder line on whistleblowers than the Bush administration did.
Allegations of political leaks are handled by the special references section of the federal police, but most inquiries are run by a unit within it called head office investigations, a multimillion-dollar, 17-officer Canberra group.
The section also investigates other politically sensitive matters - at present the Christmas Island boat crash last month - and most of its work is investigating leaks of Commonwealth material.The only remaining flying Vulcan bomber has landed for the last time.
The distinctive delta-winged Cold War aircraft, which once carried Britain's nuclear deterrent, took off from Doncaster Robin Hood Airport for a short final trip on Wednesday afternoon.
Organisers had kept details of the final flight secret until the last minute over fears that dangerously large crowds would throng the airport for one last chance to see the aircraft.
Hundreds of thousands are believed to have glimpsed Vulcan XH558 as it spent two days doing flypasts around the country a fortnight ago.
Martin Withers, who led the 1982 Vulcan raids on the Falklands, was the pilot for the final flight.
Avro Vulcan XH558 completed her final flight a few moments ago... What a great aircraft to remember! #XH558 #Vulcan pic.twitter.com/5uv9eX2oTM — Airshow News NL (@AirshownewsNL) October 28, 2015
As he prepared, he said: "Everyone asks me what is so special about this aircraft and why people love it. Really the people who fly it are the wrong people to ask. It's such a combination of grace and beauty of just seeing this thing fly.
"Just to see it fly along, it's so graceful. And then that combines with the sense of power and manoeuvrability you've got with this aircraft and the vibrations it makes. It just seems to turn people on emotionally, they really love it."
Farewell, Vulcan @XH558. An amazing rebirth 8 years ago, now saddened but privileged to watch the final landing of this delta-winged icon. — James is tired (@justsitdownetc) October 28, 2015
Former pilot Angus Laird added: "I think it's very, very sad but we all come to a time when we stop flying. She's an old lady now and she's stopped at the height of her popularity, which I think is brilliant."
The XH558, which first came into RAF service in 1960, has been kept in the air by a volunteer trust since 2007.
This summer, millions of people have watched it as it has made a farewell tour of the UK before its permit-to-fly expires at the end of October.
The Vulcan To The Sky Trust, which brought the 55-year-old aircraft back to flight eight years ago, has accepted advice from supporting companies that they no longer have the expertise to keep it airworthy as engineers retire from the industry.
XH558 will stay in its Cold War hanger at Robin Hood Airport - once RAF Finningley - where the trust is planning a visitor centre and also to continue "fast taxiing" the massive bomber around the runways.
The trust had to keep details of Wednesday's final flight under wraps until the last minute as the aircraft has become such a popular attraction.
And with that final swoop. The spirit of great Britain is gone. Don't cry because it's over... smile because it happened. #XH558 #Vulcan — Dan McClurg (@Dan_mcclurg98) October 28, 2015
Airport officials feared news of the event could attract thousands of spectators, endangering its normal operations.
John Sharman, chairman of the trust, said: "It's a sad day but its also a day of optimism in many ways.
"Today marks the end of the beginning of this life of Vulcans because we have huge plans for the future.
I feel silly that I've just shed a tear over a hunk of metal. But not just any hunk; the awesome feat of engineering that is @XH558 #vulcan — Stephanie Dale (@stephaniedale_) October 28, 2015
"We will preserve this aeroplane for the nation in working order, if not in flying order, for the future as the centrepiece of a heritage centre."
Mr Sharman said: "She is very beautiful, she is very powerful, she is is totally unique, totally distinct. And that delta shape seems to inspire both young and old."The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) has been approved by the US House of Representatives, despite a last-minute gaffe from its co-sponsor.
#CISPA passed the House with a decisive bipartisan vote of 288-127 with 92 Democrats supporting. This is a good day for Americans. — Dutch Ruppersberger (@Call_Me_Dutch) April 18, 2013
The 288-127 vote saw an increased majority from CISPA's first passage last April, with a broadly bipartisan turnout. CISPA was filibustered in the Senate but resurrected this year by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and "Dutch" Ruppersberger, a Maryland democrat whose congressional district covers the home of the NSA in Fort Meade.
The legislation sets up as framework for federal government agencies to share information on security threats with private companies in order to help protect their systems. In return, private companies can choose to hand over user information (anonymized or not) to the government for "cybersecurity purposes" with full legal indemnity, whatever their terms and conditions say.
"CISPA is a poorly drafted bill that would provide a gaping exception to bedrock privacy law," EFF senior staff attorney Kurt Opsahl said in a statement. "While we all agree that our nation needs to address pressing Internet security issues, this bill sacrifices online privacy while failing to take common-sense steps to improve security."
Despite opposition, however, the bill looked to be an increasingly done deal as the vote approached. On Monday, 36 new congressional co-sponsors decided to add official support, and IBM said that it had flown in lobbying muscle to help push for CISPA.
"We're going to put our shoe leather where our mouth is," Chris Padilla, vice president of governmental affairs at IBM, told The Hill. "The message we're going to give [lawmakers] is going to be a very simple, clear message: support the passage of CISPA."
The technology industry broadly approves of CISPA, in that it might do some good and limits their liability, just in case. Facebook has been a vocal supporter, saying that the bill clarifies a lot of things and puts it under no onus to share its user's data with the government if it doesn’t want to. Of course, if it changes that view, it's unlikely the customers would be able to find out about it.
During the debate, Representative Rogers said that Silicon Valley CEOs supported him and opponents of were "people on the internet, a 14 year-old tweeter in the basement," just like his nephew who gave him aggravation for sponsoring the bill.
"Once you understand the threat, and you understand how the mechanics of it works, and you understand that people are not monitoring the content of your emails, most people go 'Got it, I'm in'," he said.
This prompted a flood of angry tweets from the vast majority of CISPA opponents who are over 14, live successful lives (many in the fields of security, computing and law), but who presumably don't count.
CISPA isn't in force yet. The Senate still has to pass legislation, and shows no sign of doing so. Even then, the President has sort-of threatened to veto the legislation as it stands.
"The Administration recognizes and appreciates that the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) adopted several amendments to H.R. 624 in an effort to incorporate the Administration's important substantive concerns," the White House said in a statement.
"However, the Administration still seeks additional improvements and if the bill, as currently crafted, were presented to the President, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill."
We shall see if he takes that advice. ®
Bootnote
Calling opponents names is an increasingly essential part of politics in America these days. To see how politicians can use the rapier rather than the cudgel in debate El Reg suggests checking out Wednesday's performance by New Zealand MP Maurice Williamson, a man who describes C++ coding as just below sex in terms of pleasure.AUGUSTA, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- State Senate Minority Leader Justin Alfond, D-Portland, is expected to submit an after-deadline bill on Monday that will return primaries to the state, according to Maine Senate Democrats spokesman Mario Moretto.
“Today, we saw an unprecedented turnout of voters in Portland who are passionate, energetic and fired up to participate in our democratic process,” said Sen. Alfond. “Maine’s voter turnout has always been a point of pride, and while local party officials were prepared for big crowds at the local caucus, the awe-inspiring turnout meant too many had to wait in long lines to make their voices heard. We need to have a conversation, once again, about the best way to nominate our presidential candidates, and ensure the process is easy and accessible to all.”
Sen. Alfond's bill will need to be approved by a majority of leaders from both parties in the Maine House and Senate before full consideration.
Copyright 2016 WCSHNearly a generation has passed since Burt Reynolds's last movie of note: Boogie Nights, the 1997 Paul Thomas Anderson masterpiece in which Reynolds played, with disquieting authenticity, the porn titan Jack Horner. It's easy to believe the real Reynolds is somewhere in that character (which won him a Golden Globe), especially when you go back one more generation and remember the schticky, toupee'd boob he perfected in the late-70s and early-80s: Smokey and the Bandit, Cannonball Run, Stroker Ace, Sharky's Machine. (Reynolds cemented his image as a kind of high-redneck Lothario when he married Loni Anderson in 1988, then lost a shit-ton of money in their divorce five years later.) What's too easily forgotten is that there was a time (1978 to 1982), when Reynolds was the number-one box-office star in America—and anchoring landmark films that are not just classics of the male-experience (The Longest Yard, Semi-Tough), but also on the National Film Registry (Deliverance).
These days, the seventy-nine-year-old Reynolds spends his days down in his native Florida, in the town of Jupiter. He has a tight circle of friends and meets them regularly at a small cafe. Sometimes he goes fishing with his local pastor, asks him about what lies ahead. And recently, Reynolds has been talking about his new memoir, But Enough About Me, which is, of course, mostly about him.
In your book, you talk about being an asshole. And you have said that, in a way, this book is something of an attempt to make up for having been an asshole at certain points in your life, and with certain people. So my question is: Why are we men so good at being assholes?
It's God's fault. [laughs] We just do what we are programmed to do. But if I knew why, life would be easier. I'm not sure why I was an asshole. I just hope I can fix some of it.
How do you define an asshole?
Someone who can't think about anything or anyone but themselves. You see it most, of course, in Hollywood. People who can't talk about anything but their next picture. Or their women. Or their conquests of women. Hollywood, of course, has a preponderance of assholes. More famous people than not are assholes.
You also write in the book about being a survivor—and about how, right now, your most challenging re-invention of yourself is as a survivor. Tell me about that.
This past year has really been a humbling for me. I think about the generation of people we've lost this year. It's been humbling. And I'm not stupid enough to not know that I'm on the list. I can't make up for all the asshole behavior. I'm just trying desperately to hang on to my true friends. Like Jon Voight. We laugh all the time at how stupid we are.
When you lay in bed at night and think about the people in your life you've lost, who do you miss most?
Dinah (Shore). No question. I miss her a lot.
Tell me what you miss.
Her honesty. Her ability to tell you not to be affected by the bullshit of life and of the business. She was the epitome of class.
What did you learn from her?
How she treated people. She was kind to everyone. And she never let something nag at her or bother her or drag her down.
In your book, you talk a lot about what a mistake it was to marry Loni Anderson. Most men, it seems, at one point in their life, date someone who is "crazy." And some guys don't just date the crazy, they marry the crazy. So, why is it men often times can't see the crazy until it is too late?
Well, crazies are the sexiest. They also have an ability to be really smart. They come after you and give you a "shit or get off the pot" ultimatum. And of course you don't want to lose them because they are so full of life. Or so it seems. At some point, you hear the voice telling you to run.Tonto is a fictional character; he is the Native American (either Comanche or Potawatomi) companion of the Lone Ranger, a popular American Western character created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker. Tonto has appeared in radio and television series and other presentations of the characters' adventures righting wrongs in 19th century western United States.[2]
In Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, "tonto" translates as "a dumb person", "moron", or "fool". In the Italian version the original name is retained, but in the Spanish dubbed version, the character is called "Toro" (Spanish for "bull") or "Ponto". Show creator Trendle grew up in Michigan, and knew members of the local Potawatomi tribe, who told him it meant "wild one" in their language. When he created the Lone Ranger, he gave the moniker to the Rangers sidekick, apparently unaware of the names negative connotations.
Tonto made his first appearance on the 11th episode of the radio show, which originated on the Detroit, Michigan, radio station WXYZ. Though he became well known as the Lone Ranger's friend, Tonto was originally created just so the Lone Ranger would have someone with whom to talk.[1] Throughout the radio run (which spanned 21 years), with only a few exceptions, Tonto was played by American actor John Todd.[3]
Jay Silverheels portrayed the (arguably best-remembered version) in The Lone Ranger television series. This was the highest-rated television program on the ABC network in the early 1950s and its first true "hit".[4]
Ivan Naranjo, a Blackfoot/Southern Ute actor from Colorado, voiced the character in The Tarzan/Lone Ranger Adventure Hour.
Michael Horse portrayed Tonto in the film The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981).
Johnny Depp's depiction was the most recent portrayal in Disney's 2013 film The Lone Ranger.
Character [ edit ]
Tonto made his first appearance on the 11th episode of the radio show The Lone Ranger.[1] Two conflicting origin stories have been given for the character Tonto and how he came to work with the Lone Ranger. As originally presented, in the December 7, 1938, radio broadcast,[citation needed] Reid had already been well established as the Lone Ranger when he met Tonto. In that episode Cactus Pete, a friend of the Lone Ranger's, tells the story of how the masked man and Tonto first met. According to that tale, Tonto had been caught in the explosion when two men dynamited a gold mine they were working. One of the men wanted to kill the wounded Tonto, but the Lone Ranger arrived on the scene and made him administer first aid. The miner subsequently decided to keep Tonto around, intending to make him the fall guy when he would later murder his partner. The Lone Ranger foiled both the attempted murder and the framing. No reason was given in the episode as to why Tonto chose to travel with the Lone Ranger, rather than continue about his business.
A different version was given in later episodes of the radio drama and at the beginning of The Lone Ranger television series: Tonto rescues the sole surviving Texas Ranger of a party that was tricked into an ambush by the outlaw Butch Cavendish. Tonto recognizes the ranger as someone who had saved him when they were both boys. He refers to him by the title "ke-mo sah-bee", explaining that the phrase means "faithful friend" (radio series) or "trusty scout" (television series) in the language of his tribe. In the 2013 film, Tonto translates the word as meaning "wrong brother". Tonto buries the dead rangers, and the Lone Ranger instructs him to make a sixth empty grave to leave the impression that he, too, is dead.[1]
The radio series identified Tonto as a chief's son in the Potawatomi nation. The Potawatomi originated in the Great Lakes region, but in the 19th century, most had been relocated to the Southwestern states. Their regalia is different from that worn by Tonto.[clarification needed] The choice to make Tonto a Potawatomi seems to come from station owner George Trendle's youth in Mullett Lake, Michigan. Located in the northern part of the Midwest, Michigan is the traditional territory of the Potawatomi, and many local institutions use Potawatomi names. Other sources [5] indicate that Camp Kee Mo Sah Bee belonged to the father-in-law of the show's director, James Jewell. According to author David Rothel, who interviewed Jewell a few months before his death,[5] Kee Mo Sah Bee and Tonto were the only two words that Jewell remembered from those days. Tonto's name may have been inspired by the name of Tonto Basin, Arizona. In the Fran Striker books, Tonto is described as a "half-breed".
In the 2013 theatrical feature film of The Lone Ranger, Tonto is depicted as a Comanche tribesman.
Tonto's horse [ edit ]
Tonto first rode a horse named "White Feller" (White Fella/Fellah). When the 1938 Republic movie serial The Lone Ranger was being filmed, it was thought that having two white horses would be confusing, so the producers made "White Feller" a pinto horse, presumably on the theory that, being partly white, a pinto could still be named "White Feller". The radio series, noting that the pinto in the film had gone over well with audiences, decided that Tonto's mount would henceforth be a pinto. For several episodes, Tonto's new horse went unnamed, referred to only as "the paint horse" or simply "Paint". Eventually the name "Scout" was adopted.[6]
Reception [ edit ]
The portrayal of Tonto has been seen by some Native Americans and others as degrading, notably by Native American author and poet Sherman Alexie.[7] Tonto spoke in a pidgin, saying things like, "That right, Kemo Sabe", or "Him say man ride over ridge on horse".
In 1975, poet and science fiction writer Paul O. Williams coined the term "tontoism" to refer to the practice of writing haiku with missing articles ("the", "a", or "an"), which he claimed made such haiku sound like Tonto's stunted English.
Later adaptations of the character, such as The Legend of the Lone Ranger and the Filmation animated series,[citation needed] depict him as being articulate in English and speaking it carefully.
Silverheels was not above making a little fun of the character, as in a classic sketch on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson with Carson playing a career counselor and Silverheels playing Tonto looking for a new job after working "thirty lousy years" as the Lone Ranger's faithful sidekick. When asked why he was looking for a new job, Tonto replies, "Him finally find out what Kemo Sabe means!"[8][9]
In other media [ edit ]
Tonto has appeared in various media based on The Lone Ranger.
Comics [ edit ]
Tonto starred in his own comic book, The Lone Ranger's Companion Tonto, 31 issues of which were published by Dell Comics during the 1950s.[10]
Later depictions beginning in the 1980s have taken efforts to show Tonto as an articulate and proud warrior whom the Ranger treats as an equal partner. In the Topps Comics four-issue miniseries, The Lone Ranger and Tonto, Tonto is even shown to be a very witty, outspoken, and sarcastic character willing to punch the Lone Ranger during a heated argument and commenting on his past pop-culture depictions with the words, "Of course, Kemosabe. Maybe when we talked I should use that'me Tonto' stuff, way they write about me in the dime novels. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"[11]
Television [ edit ]
In the Timeless episode "Murder of Jesse James", Wyatt Logan, one of the main characters, mentions that Native American deputy U.S. marshal Grant Johnson was the inspiration for Tonto.
References [ edit ]Dodge is promoting the 2009 Ram pickup with a miserable, testosterone-laden ad campaign called the Dodge Ram Challenge. This multi-part "webisode" by Tony "Top Gun" Scott is a dusty and dirty reality show-style competition featuring Ram pickups driven through an orgy of pyrotechnics and destruction.
Contestants are divided into four Village People-esque teams labeled “Cowboys," “Firemen," “Military" and “Contractors.” Each team is flown to some remote location in a Huey like a scene out of "Apocalypse Now" and given an ’09 Ram to race through an obstacle course. And after a whole lot yelling and grunting, the host fires a shotgun to kick things off.
Americans should be insulted by this mockery. Just this past weekend Chrysler, the beleaguered automaker that produces the Ram, received a $4 billion lifeline from the government. That’s fine. It's great that Uncle Sam finally stepped up to help the ailing auto industry. But how can Chrysler justify this multimillion, multimedia game show? And given the state of the economy, not to mention the fact no one's buying big honkin' trucks anymore, is the “Ram is all that is man” motif perpetuated by this so-called “challenge” the best advertising angle to be taking?
Don't get us wrong. The ’09 Ram is probably the best all around heavy-duty truck Dodge has offered in years. It's got a sweet Hemi V-8, an overhauled interior, and it's anvil-tough. But, who cares whether you can drive it through a burning house? We're pretty sure there's no one on the planet who needs a truck capable of doing that.
One of the '09 Ram's most defining features is a new and improved cylinder deactivation system which allows the truck to achieve a much better fuel economy than years past. This, however, is hardly worthy of mentioning in the new ad campaign, and the logic behind this is inexplicable in an era when consumers have made it clear they value fuel efficiency.
Step back from the flash and the fury of the Dodge Ram Challenge, and you’ll see a metaphor for the mess Chrysler - and all of Detroit, for that matter - finds itself in. The company needs to get in touch with reality. It says it “will produce cars and trucks people want to buy.” You wouldn't know it from this ad campaign. It is almost as if the company doesn’t even have a clue. Or maybe it just doesn’t care anymore.
The Challenge's multimedia Web site opens with a disclaimer says it all: “Chrysler, LLC, Dodge and its Agencies insist that no one attempt to replicate the activity on the site.” Thanks for the advice, guys. Will do.
Photo by Chrysler.Bridgewater Associates' Ray Dalio was the top earning hedge fund manager in 2011 who received a $3.8 billion paycheck.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The highest earning hedge fund manager of 2011 essentially won the equivalent of seven of the current $540 million Mega Million jackpots last year.
Bridgewater Associates' Ray Dalio's reward for his bets on where the markets were heading: $3.9 billion, according to AR's list of the top-earning hedge fund managers.
The top 25 hedge fund managers took home an average of $576 million each.
And that was a down year.
Last year's total compensation for the top 25 hedge fund managers dropped 35%... to $22 billion.
That drop in pay came in a year when hedge funds underperformed a lackluster stock market. The HedgeFund Intelligence Global Composite Index lost 2%, while the S&P 500 (SPX) ended the year flat.
"Hedge fund managers are paid high fees to deliver positive absolute returns, regardless of the direction of the markets," said AR editor Michael Peltz. "In 2011, the majority of managers failed to do that."
Dalio's hedge fund is also the largest in the world, with $120 billion in total assets under management.
Taking the second spot, corporate-raider-turned-activist-investor Carl Icahn earned $2.5 billion in 2011. Icahn returned 34.5% to investors before taking fees.
Still, 2012's payday may not be as robust.
Despite launching an activist campaign against Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF), Icahn sold shares of the company before its blockbuster movie Hunger Games caused the company's stock to surge.
Renaissance Technologies' founder James Simons took the third spot, with a $2.1 billion paycheck. While Simons is retired from active management, he still has personal capital invested in the fund, which produced big gains.
Citadel's Kenneth Griffin and SAC Capital's Steven Cohen took the fourth and fifth spots, earning $700 million and $585 million respectively.
Some of the top hedge fund managers of the last several years saw their Midas touch run out in 2011. Fifteen managers of the 25 top earners of 2010 didn't make the 2011 list.
Paulson & Co. founder John Paulson failed to make take a spot on AR's list for the first time since 2007, after his firm's hedge funds generated losses of between 30% and 50%. Last year Paulson was AR's top earning manager generating a $4.9 billion paycheck.
Eight hedge fund managers were new to the list in 2011. Among them: Bridgewater co-chief investment officers Greg Jensen and Robert Prince, and Paul Singer of Elliott Management Corp.Market activity for Citigroup over a two-year period starting January 1, 2007. Top panel shows vertical bars for the daily high and low stock price. Lower panel shows total short interest (yellow), trading volume (gray), and daily change in short interest (red). Arrows indicate November 1, 2007. Image: arXiv:1112.3095v1 [q-fin.GN] (PhysOrg.com) -- As the nation bristles, camps out, and opines against the destructive role of banks in bringing down the economy, a group of scientists has released a study that shows a critical piece of the puzzle went missing, and that piece continues to go ignored, to everyones peril, including the banks.
Their new study shows that banks themselves were under attack by other players on Wall Street. The study authors at the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI) retraced events to show that at a critical point in the financial crisis, the stock of Citigroup was attacked by traders by selling borrowed stock (short-selling) which may have caused others to sell in panic. The subsequent price drop enabled the attackers to buy the stock back at a much lower price.
This kind of illegal market manipulation is called a bear raid and the new study supports earlier suspicions that the raids played a role in the market crash.
The study has direct evidence. Through its analysis of stock market data not generally available to the public, namely the borrowing of shares, NECSI reconstructs the chain of events.
On November 1, 2007, the number of borrowed Citigroup shares jumped by 100 million shares, a value of almost $6 billion. Six days later, a similar number of shares was returned on a single day.
Shares are generally borrowed to sell on the market. The trading on November 1 was almost four times the usual volume. The newly borrowed shares represented over three-quarters of the volume on that day. When a large volume of shares is sold it can drive prices down. The price of shares that day dropped by almost 7 percent. By the time the shares were returned, it had dropped nearly 20 percent.
Professor Yaneer Bar-Yam, President of NECSI, maintains this was no "freak" or coincidental event. "When 100 million shares are borrowed on a single day and then returned on a single day, the evidence that this is a concerted action is hard to refute. The likelihood of such an event happening by coincidence is one in a trillion."
The NECSI scholars are also voicing concern about how the incident was allowed to happen. Selling shares to deliberately cause a price drop to induce others to buy or sell is illegal, but enforcing the law after it is violated is much less effective than preventing it from happening in the first place, they maintain.
"There used to be a rule that prevented it from happening by forbidding borrowed shares from being sold in large blocks that drive the price down," said Bar-Yam. "The Securities and Exchange Commission repealed that rule, known as the price test or uptick rule, on July 6, 2007."
Last year, the authors of the report sent preliminary results of their study to the financial services committee of Congress, and Congressmen Barney Frank and Ed Perlmutter sent it to the SEC.
Unfortunately, Professor Bar-Yam says that he hasnt seen any action by the SEC to identify or prosecute those responsible or to prevent its occurring in the future.
After the market crash, the SEC received thousands of requests from the public to reinstate the price test rule. Hedge funds that invest the money of wealthy individuals opposed its reinstatement. Eventually, the SEC put into place an "alternative" rule that only applies a price test when the price of a share drops more than 10 percent.
Professor Bar-Yam points out, "This watered-down rule would not have stopped the bear raid on Citigroup on November 1, 2007. This is only one example of the deleterious effects of the weakened rule. The overall effect of unregulated selling of borrowed shares is surely much larger and continues today."
Explore further: Analysis Shows Uptick Rule Vital to Market Stability
More information: Evidence of market manipulation in the financial crisis, arXiv:1112.3095v1 [q-fin.GN] arxiv.org/abs/1112.3095
Abstract
We provide direct evidence of market manipulation at the beginning of the financial crisis in November 2007. The type of manipulation, a "bear raid," would have been prevented by a regulation that was repealed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in July 2007. The regulation, the uptick rule, was designed to prevent manipulation and promote stability and was in force from 1938 as a key part of the government response to the 1928 market crash and its aftermath. On November 1, 2007, Citigroup experienced an unusual increase in trading volume and decrease in price. Our analysis of financial industry data shows that this decline coincided with an anomalous increase in borrowed shares, the selling of which would be a large fraction of the total trading volume. The selling of borrowed shares cannot be explained by news events as there is no corresponding increase in selling by share owners. A similar number of shares were returned on a single day six days later. The magnitude and coincidence of borrowing and returning of shares is evidence of a concerted effort to drive down Citigroup's stock price and achieve a profit, i.e., a bear raid. Interpretations and analyses of financial markets should consider the possibility that the intentional actions of individual actors or coordinated groups can impact market behavior. Markets are not sufficiently transparent to reveal even major market manipulation events. Our results point to the need for regulations that prevent intentional actions that cause markets to deviate from equilibrium and contribute to crashes. Enforcement actions cannot reverse severe damage to the economic system. The current "alternative" uptick rule which is only in effect for stocks dropping by over 10% in a single day is insufficient. Prevention may be achieved through improved availability of market data and the original uptick rule or other transaction limitations.Aromas of floral citrus and mango dominate this release. While the flavor leads with a burst of bright papaya, pineapple and tangerine, and finishes with hints of spice from the hops and a clean, sweet malt undertone.
The Tasting
Arrived in: 22oz. Bottle
Served in: Short Tulip
Tropical & Juicy |
omination-080774
Dems, greens slam Pruitt nomination
By Alex Guillén
12/07/2016 03:53 PM EDT
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s expected nomination to head EPA today drew sharp criticism from green groups and environmental advocates in Congress, including former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who said he would oppose the “sad and dangerous” move.
…
Dan Pfeiffer, a former top Obama adviser put it more succinctly, tweeting, “At the risk of being dramatic. Scott Pruitt at EPA is an existential threat to the planet.”
Pruitt’s nomination also had environmentalists seeing red.
Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune called Pruitt’s nomination “like putting an arsonist in charge of fighting fires,” while League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski compared it to “the fox guarding the henhouse.”
To view online:
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard/2016/12/dems-greens-slam-pruitt-nomination-080774
#Verrit — a new pro-Hillary Clinton website — gained attention last night amidst questionable claims it was subject to a denial of service attack.
But the question I had was: “What does ‘Verrit’ mean?”
According to the site itself, “verrit” is a verified item of information marked with a 7-digit identification code.
But the word has some curious etymological roots, the likes of which it appears founder and CEO Peter Daou failed to check.
1 — Verro (noun)
This is where “verrit” as a word itself finds its first root. It’s Latin, and in the singular form means “swine.” How unfortunate.
2. In Albanian, the word means to “drag on the ground.”
How appropriate.
3. In Ancient Greek, it means “to move slowly, or limp.”
Remind you of anyone?
3 — Verrō (verb)
There are a number of ways to take the word as a verb. One means “to scrape or scour,” another means to “carry off,” another means to “cover, hide, or conceal.” Again… perfect!
Lesson number one when you’re trying to come up with a “cool” social media name for your new website: research what the word means.
Wow. Never realized how absolutely freaked out some would be at the thought of Hillary voters getting their own media platform. @verrit — Peter Daou (@peterdaou) September 4, 2017
Freaked out? Try freaking hilarious!
Even leftists weren’t pleased, with a center-left columnist at The Next Web website writing:
Generally, I’m in favor of anything that aims to elevate the standard of debate. God knows it’s necessary. But Verrit isn’t the silver bullet we’ve been looking for. For starters, the phrase “a media platform for the 65.8 percent” should give you pause. It refers to the number of people who voted for Clinton, which immediately undermines its credibility, particularly in a country that is increasingly polarized between its two political extremes. From the get-go, it’s apparent that Verrit isn’t about building bridges or creating understanding, but rather pushing a particular narrative. Daou himself has said as much.
He concludes:Yet Another Anti-Gay Bill in Yet Another State Legislature - Listen Live!
Right now the Missouri State Senate is debating a "religious freedom" bill designed to protect businesses and individuals who oppose same-sex marriage and LGBT people.
The bill, SJR 39, sponsored by Sen. Bob Onder, goes farther than most. If passed, it would make voters choose whether or not they want to amend their state constitution, enshrining anti-gay bigotry into its text.
The legislation protects people and businesses from serving gay people and same-sex couples if they wish to claim a sincerely held religious belief that prevents them from doing so.
It is, of course, like most state RFRAs, unconstitutional, but that rarely stops lawmakers with an agenda.
The bill would amend the Constitution to protect religious organizations, clergy or other religious leader, churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, or other houses of worship, or an individual "who declines either to be a participant in a marriage or wedding ceremony or to provide goods or services of expressional or artistic creation for such a marriage or ceremony or an ensuing celebration thereof, because of a sincere religious belief concerning marriage between two persons of the same sex."
It's Missouri's version of Indiana's "protect the bakers and florists" bill, but on steroids.
You can listen to the debate and vote live, here.
Follow PROMO Missouri on Twitter, and hashtag #SJR39 for all updates.
Image via Facebook
See a mistake? Email corrections to: [email protected]Source: bokan/Shutterstock
In one of my first posts, I discussed the basics of how to improve romantic interactions by rewarding your partner. Later, I explored why punishing a partner may backfire and what to do instead. I have also talked about how a history of such punishment may make people avoid relationships altogether.
While those posts applied supported theoretical principles, I have yet to share actual tests of reinforcement in. I decided to dive into the research and see what I could find.
Reinforcement in Romantic Relationships
Experimental tests of both reward and in romantic relationships have a fairly long history. In 1975, research by Birchler, Weiss, and Vincent explored such interactions within married couples. The group compared the behavior of couples that were having problems to happily married individuals and strangers, in both lab experiments and at home. After observing how the couples related, the researchers found significantly less reward among distressed married couples. In other words, unhappy couples did not reward the appropriate and loving behaviors of their spouses. In contrast, happy couples did reinforce loving behaviors in a spouse by agreeing, approving,, smiling, or providing some positive physical contact.
Further, distressed couples punished more. They were quick to criticize, complain, interrupt, disagree, and turn away from a spouse. Overall, by not rewarding loving behavior and overly punishing their spouses, distressed couples actually created an unhappy.
Similar results were found by Lochman and Allen (1979) in an experiment with couples. The researchers asked 80 such couples to take part in a role-playing experiment. While being explained their various roles, one participant in each couple was randomly and secretly asked to be more approving or disapproving of their partner. Therefore, during the role plays, some participants acted in ways that showed their approval, while others were disapproving of their partner. Then, the partner who received the positive or negative treatment was interviewed. Not surprisingly, partners who received more approval and less disapproval were more satisfied. They also acted more lovingly back to their partner. Therefore, being rewarding appears to help in dating relationships as well.
Putting these points together, a more recent article by Dermer (2006) carefully articulated the use of reinforcement in motivating loving behavior. Throughout the analysis, Dermer illustrated that reinforcement serves two primarily important functions in building loving behaviors:
Proper rewards convey that a behavior is attended to, understood, and responded to in a satisfying way by a partner. The selective use of rewards also increases the frequency of loving behaviors that are performed.
Taken together, these points indicate that rewarding a partner when they are positive, caring, and loving can motivate them to be more passionate and attracted to you. By this method, loving interactions and relationships are actually "built" one rewarding exchange at a time.
Four Tips for Building a Rewarding Relationship
Given the above research, it appears that rewarding a date or mate is indeed important for relationship satisfaction. In the long run, rewarding relationships thrive, while punishing or neglectful relationships wither and end. Fortunately, there are a few ways that you can keep your relationship rewarding:
1..
One of the most important things partners can do for each other is to remember to be grateful for each other. Being grateful for a partner's positive efforts motivates reciprocity and reward in return. In addition, such gestures can make the relationship feel more sacred and committed. Overall, then, when your partner does something nice and loving, share your gratitude. When you do something nice and loving, look for gratitude in return as well.
2..
Partners behave in all kinds of ways to get each other's attention. When loving gestures are ignored, they may resort to less positive methods of getting noticed. Therefore, when your partner is being nice and thoughtful, spend a few minutes at least talking to them. Build some rapport and connection. Share some positive conversation. Look for some attention and conversation in return too.
3. Touch.
One of the most fundamental things that distinguishes romantic relationships is the level of affectionate and intimate touch. For many people, their relationship may be their only source of such affection. Therefore, touching your date or mate affectionately can increase attraction and be very rewarding. Touch is also quite persuasive too. Therefore, when your partner is already being loving — or you would like them to be more so — remember to reward them with some affectionate physical contact too.
4..
On the flip side, as the research above also notes, rewarding relationships are low (or non-existent) on punishment. Holding a grudge derails all of the gratitude, conversation, and affection. Therefore, it is important to learn when and how to let your partner make amends for their mistakes — and, if they do, reward them with forgiveness, too. Finding positive ways to resolve arguments and constructive ways to address annoying habits are important as well.
Overall, though, it is important to remember that any behavior that is rewarded will become more frequent — even bad ones. Therefore, do not be overly "nice" and reward all the time. Nevertheless, be sure to reward your partner in the ways above when their behaviors are positive and affectionate, and they have earned it. Also, in a rewarding relationship, look to be treated the same way yourself. With reciprocal reward, gratitude, attention, affection, and forgiveness will continue to flourish.
Make sure you get the next article: Click here to sign up to my Facebook page. Remember to share, like, tweet, and comment below too.
© 2017 by Jeremy S. Nicholson, M.A., M.S.W., Ph.D. All rights reserved.A new joint report warns even more migrants will attempt to cross into Europe, using new routes.
A joint Europol-Interpol report found that more than 90% of migrants crossing into Europe do so using criminal organisations.
The report on the extraordinary crisis interviewed 1,500 migrants in 2015 and reported on the methods criminal gangs use to facilitate crossings into Europe.
“From illegal crossings at land or sea borders, to the fabrication and provision of fraudulent travel and identity documents, the challenges for the law enforcement community in countering the facilitation of illegal migration are numerous,” the report said. Migrant crossings generated an estimated USD $5 billion in 2015 alone for criminals, although with payments overwhelmingly in cash the true value is hard to know.
Well-established migration routes, including crossing into Spain from Morocco and across the Mediterranean from Libya saw a decrease of 12% from 2014 to 2015, but the number of migrants moving from Turkey to Greece over the same period saw a staggering 1,612% increase. 885,386 people used this route in that year.
Whilst keeping eyes trained on the known migration routes, the two agencies warned that variable factors – like weather conditions and reinstating internal borders – mean that primary flows of migrants are often subject to change. The report also warned of possible new hotspots cropping up.
The preferred method of “facilitation services” – the term for criminal gangs enabling migrant movement – is overwhelmingly overland. But the report warned that air travel, currently a less-trafficked route for migrants, could become a more attractive option as Europe steps up patrol of its land and sea borders.
In addition, Europol and Interpol suspect that gangs may be looking to expand upon their trafficking business. The report warned that established routes could be used to transport illegal substances and contraband into Europe, as the migrant smuggling routes are often the same ones used to transport such goods.
The joint report also gave a bleak outlook on the future, suggesting that a further increase in migrants attempting to reach Europe should be expected in the near future as the situation in war-torn countries does not see improvement. It also warned that intra-Europe smuggling could see a rise as member states of the Schengen Zone re-establish their border controls.
Finally, the report gave a warning that migrants using criminal services to travel to Europe face a high risk of being forced into criminal activity by their facilitators, including sexual, financial and criminal exploitation.
Image by Ggia (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia CommonsFor all the bluster and swagger leading up to Kanye West’s latest release, you’d expect it to land on the charts somewhere – whether impressively high or disappointingly low.
But The Life of Pablo is missing from the Billboard 200, apparently because of its non-traditional release. Kanye’s seventh album was released on the streaming service Tidal, of which he serves as a co-owner. Silvio Pietroluongo, Vice President of Charts and Data Development at Billboard issued a statement, saying, “Billboard has been informed that Tidal is not currently reporting streams for tracks on Kanye’s album to Nielsen Music. Therefore streams from Tidal for this title will not contribute to Billboard’s chart rankings at this time.”
This marks Kanye’s first album to not debut on the Billboard 200. His previous six studio albums all charted at either number one or number two upon their release.
In 2014, the Billboard 200 began incorporating streaming data into the formula behind their album ranking chart. It remains to be seen whether Tidal will change their mind on disclosing The Life of Pablo’s streaming numbers. The album’s February 11th premiere at Madison Square Garden, which coincided with the unveiling of Kanye’s Yeezy Season 3 fashion line, was also streamed via Tidal and during peak traffic, they reported that 20 million people tuned in to watch.
You can watch streaming concerts on the Live Nation channel on Yahoo. Coming up on February 25th, check out St. Lucia. They’re performing at 7:30 p.m. PST and you can watch from home right here.WASHINGTON – Life is imitating art in American politics.
Quintus: “People should know when they are conquered.” Maximus: “Would you, Quintus? Would I?“
That fictional exchange from the film “Gladiator” reflects the real-life question of the day in Washington: Will those who dislike Donald Trump accept his victory as the GOP presidential nominee and support him, or field a third-party candidate of their own?
Nearly 100 prominent Republicans are vowing to never support Trump, and third-party talk has Washington abuzz now that the billionaire has all-but-sealed the nomination.
(The list of nearly 100 prominent Republicans who vow to never support Trump is included at the end of this story.)
As WND detailed on Thursday, William Kristol, editor of the the Weekly Standard, and conservative Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., are now leading the charge to run an independent candidate against Trump.
What do YOU think? Sound off on an anti-Trump third-party bid
Trump confidante Roger Stone provided WND a laundry list of reasons that paint the idea as impractical and virtually impossible.
Talk-radio star Laura Ingraham flatly ridiculed the notion, telling WND, “It’s a terrible idea, both for the country and for people who agree with Bill Kristol.”
Get the hottest, most important news stories on the Internet – delivered FREE to your inbox as soon as they break! Take just 30 seconds and sign up for WND’s Email News Alerts!
Stone is a veteran Republican strategist who was called “Donald Trump’s Donald Trump” by Politico and described in National Review as the candidate’s “high-profile, long-time, on-again-off-again unofficial consigliere.”
Although tagged by the media as a firebrand, Stone offered a cold, dispassionate series of reasons as to why a third-party candidacy wouldn’t be viable.
First of all, it wouldn’t even be a third-party candidacy. It would be, at best, a fourth. And the candidate would need a party.
“Libertarians will nominate a Libertarian Party member,” he reminded everyone, adding, “They would have to mount an independent candidacy.”
Stone cited other reasons so daunting as to appear prohibitive, not the least of which would be the need for a lot of money, and fast.
He reckoned it would take “$10 million, minimum to get on the ballot in 50 states.”
Additionally, backers “would need a universally known candidate.”
All in all, Stone said it would be “legally and logistically very difficult.”
And, perhaps the clincher: Even if a political outsider could launch a campaign, he or she would still be on the outside looking in, because, “Even if they succeeded, they would not be included in debates.”
Can the Republican Party save itself? Richard Viguerie has the prescription in “Takeover.”
Although vehement in her opposition to the idea as “terrible,” Ingraham was no less clinical in her analysis.
“If the Weekly Standard and its friends run a third-party candidate,” she said, the two most likely outcomes are:
“The third party candidate is irrelevant (like John Anderson in 1980 – remember him?)
“Or, the third party candidate peels off enough votes to throw the election to Hillary.”
“Either outcome is a disaster for Weekly Standard types,” Ingraham concluded.
She also pointed out how, “If the third-party candidate is irrelevant, then it shows they have no real base in the country.”
And she warned, “If the third-party candidate throws the election to Hillary, then Trump voters will see no reason to work with the Weekly Standard types in the future.”
The talk-radio star speculated the effort could be pointless.
“I don’t think it’s likely to make that much of a difference, one way or the other. A lot of the folks who would vote for a third-party candidate wouldn’t vote for Trump anyway.”
Besides, she suggested, how could another candidate generate any traction after GOP voters just rejected 16 alternatives to Trump?
“I don’t think such a candidate would be all that viable,” Ingraham said. “Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio both ran on the Weekly Standard platform, and both had massive amounts of money and donor support, and both went nowhere with the voters. People just aren’t interested in that worldview right now.”
But the die-hard Trump critics in the GOP are just not willing to throw in the towel, even if it means abandoning the party.
Kristol told CNN, “I just don’t think [Trump] has the character to be president of the United States. It’s beyond any particular issue I disagree with him on, or who he picks as VP or something,” and he said he was looking for an independent candidate like Sasse.
What do YOU think? Sound off on an anti-Trump third-party bid
The senator indicated he wasn’t interested, but he penned a scathing and lengthy post on Facebook condemning Trump’s character and calling for a “healthy leader who can take us forward together,” asking, “Why are we confined to these two terrible options?”
Perhaps the most implacable dissenter is Washington Post columnist and Fox News political analyst George Will.
He wrote a column a few days before the Indiana primary essentially closed the deal for the presumptive nominee, titled, ” If Trump is nominated, the GOP must keep him out of the White House.”
In other words, Will, who calls himself a conservative, believes it would be better for Hillary Clinton to become president than Donald Trump.
While he didn’t say it outright, with the words he did use, the pundit left little doubt about what he meant.
Will wrote, should Trump get the nomination, conservatives would have to “help him lose 50 states – condign punishment for his comprehensive disdain for conservative essentials, including the manners and grace that should lubricate the nation’s civic life.”
After signaling his preference for a Clinton victory over a Trump triumph, Will suggested that in 2020 Republicans could then “help Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, or someone else who has honorably recoiled from Trump, confine her to a single term.”
Get the hottest, most important news stories on the Internet – delivered FREE to your inbox as soon as they break! Take just 30 seconds and sign up for WND’s Email News Alerts!
Critics of the third-party proposal have serious concerns about how much more damage Clinton could do than Trump. Their fears include:
Supreme Court appointments: Trump has publicly committed to compiling a list of potential nominees who would be well-vetted constitutional conservatives. Conservatives are certain Clinton would appoint progressive judicial activists who would ignore the Constitution.
Immigration: Trump has vowed to tighten the process for both legal and illegal immigration. Clinton has expressed no problem with the status quo and has publicly said she wants to raise Obama’s 10,000 Syrian refugees (almost all of whom would be Muslim, with an unknown number affiliated with ISIS) to 65,000.
Military: Trump has vowed to rebuild the nation’s military while Clinton has aligned with President Obama’s program of making vast reductions, as well continuing social experimentation in the military, such as directing the Pentagon to end the ban on allowing transgender personnel serve openly.
Another conservative columnist has a nearly apocalyptic concern about Trump, fearing nuclear annihilation.
Thomas Sowell warns, “The political damage of Donald Trump to the Republican Party is completely overshadowed by the damage he can do to the country and to the world, with his unending reckless and irresponsible statements.”
At the very end of his column on Friday, titled, “A 3rd-party candidate could save America,” Sowell both expressed his fears and revealed what he sees as the strategy behind the proposed third-party conservative run, to deadlock the electoral college, a strategy with which he seems to agree:
“What was once feared most by the Republican establishment – a third-party candidate for president – may represent the only slim chance for saving this country from a catastrophic administration in an age of proliferating nuclear weapons. “If a third-party candidate could divide the vote enough to prevent anyone from getting an electoral college majority, that would throw the election into the House of Representatives, where any semblance of sanity could produce a better president than these two.”
Sowell was, in effect, encouraging a strategy to create a presidential election crisis not seen since the 2000 vote, in which many Democrats still believe the Supreme Court handed the election to George W. Bush.
While not supporting a third-party candidate, both former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush reportedly will not endorse Trump.
According to the Texas Tribune, the elder Bush has “retired” from politics, while the younger “does not plan to participate in or comment on the presidential campaign.”
According to CNN, not only are both Bushes planning to skip the GOP convention, but so are former Republican presidential nominees Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain.
The network also reported that House Speaker Paul Ryan, who is also chairman of the Republican National Convention, still is not endorsing Trump, saying, “I’m just not ready to do that at this point. I’m not there right now.”
Like the reporting you see here? Sign up for free news alerts from WND.com, America’s independent news network.
The Hill complied a list of almost 100 Republicans who currently say they won’t back Trump as the nominee:
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich.
Gov. Charlie Baker, R-Mass.
Brian Bartlett, former Mitt Romney aide and GOP communications strategist
Glenn Beck, radio host
Michael Berry, radio host
Max Boot, former foreign policy adviser to Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
Brent Bozell, conservative activist
Bruce Carroll, creator GayPatriot.org
Jay Caruso, RedState
Mona Charen, senior fellow at Ethics and Public Policy Center
Linda Chavez, columnist
Dean Clancy, former FreedomWorks vice president
Eliot Cohen, former George W. Bush official
Former Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn.
Charles C. W. Cooke, writer for National Review
Doug Coon, Stay Right podcast
Rory Cooper, GOP strategist, managing director Purple Strategies
Jim Cunneen, former Calif. assemblyman
Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla.
Steve Deace, radio host
Rep. Bob Dold, R-Ill.
Erick Erickson, writer
Mindy Finn, president, Empowered Women
David French, writer at National Review
Jon Gabriel, editor-in-chief, Ricochet.com
Michael Graham, radio host
Jonah Goldberg, writer
Alan Goldsmith, former staffer, House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Stephen Gutowski, writer Washington Free Beacon
Rep. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y.
Jamie Brown Hantman, former special assistant for legislative affairs for President George W. Bush
Stephen Hayes, senior writer at The Weekly Standard
Doug Heye, former RNC communications director
Quin Hillyer, contributing editor at National Review Online; senior editor at the American Spectator
Ben Howe, RedState writer
Former Rep. Bob Inglis, R-S.C.
Cheri Jacobus, GOP consultant and former Hill columnist
Robert Kagan, former Reagan official
Randy Kendrick, GOP mega-donor
Matt Kibbe, former FreedomWorks CEO
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.
Philip Klein, managing editor at the Washington Examiner
Bill Kristol, The Weekly Standard editor
Mark Levin, radio host
Justin LoFranco, former Scott Walker aide
Kevin Madden, former Mitt Romney aide
Bethany Mandel, senior contributor at The Federalist
Tucker Martin, communications director to former Gov. Bob McDonnell’s, R-Va.
Former RNC Chairman Mel Martínez
Liz Mair, GOP strategist
Lachlan Markey, writer for the Free Beacon
David McIntosh, Club for Growth president
Dan McLaughlin, editor at RedState.com
Ken Mehlman, former RNC chairman
Tim Miller, Our Principles PAC
Joyce Mulliken, former Washington state senator
Ted Newton, political consultant & former Mitt Romney aide
James Nuzzo, former White House aide
Katie Packer, chairwoman of Our Principles PAC
Former Gov. George Pataki, R-N.Y.
Former Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas
Katie Pavlich, Townhall editor and Hill columnist
Brittany Pounders, conservative writer
Rep. Reid Ribble, R- Wisc.
The Ricketts family, GOP mega-donors
Former Gov. Tom Ridge, R-Pa.
Rep. Scott Rigell, R-Va.
Mitt Romney, 2012 GOP presidential nominee
Paul Rosenzweig, former deputy assistant secretary, Department of Homeland Security
Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post conservative blogger
Patrick Ruffini, partner, Echelon Insights
Sarah Rumpf, former BreitBart contributor
Mark Salter, writer and former aide to John McCain
Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C.
Sen. Ben Sasse, R- Neb.
Elliott Schwartz, Our Principles PAC
Gabriel Schoenfeld, senior fellow, Hudson Institute
Tara Setmayer, CNN analyst and former GOP staffer
Ben Shapiro, editor-in-chief The Daily Wire
Evan Siegfried, GOP strategist and commentator
Ben Stein, actor and political commentator
Brendan Steinhauser, GOP consultant
Stuart Stevens, former Romney strategist
Paul Singer, GOP mega-donor
Erik Soderstrom, former field director for Carly Fiorina
Charlie Sykes, radio host
Brad Thor, writer
Michael R. Treiser, former Mitt Romney aide
Daniel P. Vajdich, former national security adviser to Ted Cruz
Connor Walsh, former digital director for former Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., founder Build Digital
Former Rep. J.C. Watts, R-Okla.
Peter Wehner, New York Times contributor
Former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, R-N.J.
George Will, writer
Rick Wilson, Republican strategist
Nathan Wurtzel, Make America Awesome super-PAC
Bill Yarbrough, chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Ohio
Dave Yost, Ohio auditor of state
And what about a candidate from the third party that already exists, the Libertarian Party?
It might not offer the NeverTrumpers much hope.
The party’s likely candidate is former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, who switched parties after he struggled to gain any traction in his bid for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.The deficit stood at just ##IMG-CONTENT##.4 billion or 0.1% of the GDP in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal and.4 billion or 0.6% of the GDP in Q4FY17.
India’s current account deficit (CAD) rose to three-year high of $14.3 billion or 2.4% of GDP in the first quarter of the current financial year. The deficit stood at just $0.4 billion or 0.1% of the GDP in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal and $3.4 billion or 0.6% of the GDP in Q4FY17.
Despite the widening of CAD, the first quarter saw an accretion of $11.4 billion to the foreign exchange reserves (on a balance of payment basis) as compared with $7 billion in the same period last year, thanks to a big capital account surplus of $25.4 billion. Both FDI and portfolio inflows were much higher than in the year-ago quarter in Q1FY18 on a net basis.
The widening of the CAD on a year-on-year basis was primarily on account of a higher trade deficit ($ 41.2 billion) brought about by a larger increase in merchandise imports relative to exports, the RBI said in a release.
The CAD for the first quarter of this fiscal, though much higher than in recent quarters — it was the highest since Q1FY14 — came in a tad lower than market expectations. Nomura had pointed out in a report that it expected the CAD to widen to a four-year high of 3% of GDP.
Net services receipts increased by 15.7% on a y-o-y basis mainly on the back of a rise in net earnings from travel, construction and other business services. Private transfer receipts, mainly representing remittances by Indians employed overseas, at $16.1 billion increased by 5.3% over the corresponding quarter of previous year.
Net portfolio investment recorded substantial inflow of $12.5 billion in the first quarter of FY18, primarily in the debt segment, as compared with $ 2.1 billion in the same period last year. Net FDI in the first quarter of this fiscal stood at $7.2 billion against $3.9 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Net receipts on account of non-resident deposits amounted to $1.2 billion in the first quarter — lower than $1.4 billion a year ago. “High monthly trade deficits (driven by gold imports), and strong reserve accretion during the quarter (Q1FY18) had respectively flagged the high CAD and BoP,” Credit Suisse said.
It added that low July/Aug trade deficits point to a ~$35bn trade deficit in 2Q (~$9bn CAD), offsetting the lower FPI inflows.Las Vegas based The Legends Room, scheduled for opening in late May, will become the first strip club to accept its own cryptocurrency. Membership will be available only through the purchase of Legends (LGD) cryptocurrency through a token crowdsale taking place on the Bittrex exchange.
The London Summit 2017 is coming, get involved!
Join the iFX EXPO Asia and discover your gateway to the Asian Markets
The founders explain that while the main room of the club will be available for public access, VIP private members will gain exclusive entry to private appearances by professional athletes, celebrities and adult entertainment stars. In addition, members can monetize their access to The Legends Room through a unique “timeshare” model, which allows non-members to enter the private area by renting a membership.
Suggested articles Why Brokerages Outsource Their Broker TechnologyGo to article >>
“The exclusive private gentlemen’s club has been a highly sought after membership in world capitals like New York, London and Tokyo,” said Nick Blomgren, co-founder. “Now it’s time for Las Vegas to join this exclusive club, and as a 21st century city, it’s only fitting that this most prestigious club be launched with a unique cryptocurrency that allows for timeshares and proof of membership. For the first time, club membership will be a provable asset on a blockchain with smart contract capabilities.”
Legends tokens are built on the Ethereum platform. The tokens will be available through a public token crowdsale from April 18, through May 15, 2017. A minimum of 5,000 LGD is required to have a full VIP membership (for as long as that many coins is visible in a wallet).
The four-week token crowdsale seeks to raise between $3 to 5 million with a $15 million cap.Onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2017, Signal’s at times elusive privacy revolutionary Moxie Marlinspike spoke modestly about how his secure text message app is taking over the world.
Marlinspike directly addressed the controversy that Telegram Messenger founder Pavel Durov stirred up earlier this year when he basically accused Signal of collaborating with the U.S. government.
“Pavel Durov wants to frame privacy as a question of trust. He has this sort of Trump logic that only billionaires can be trusted because they can’t be bought,” Marlinspike said.
The encryption of Signal (=WhatsApp, FB) was funded by the US Government. I predict a backdoor will be found there within 5 years from now. — Pavel Durov (@durov) June 8, 2017
During our team's 1-week visit to the US last year we had two attempts to bribe our devs by US agencies + pressure on me from the FBI. — Pavel Durov (@durov) June 11, 2017
“We’ve received very little attention from law enforcement,” Marlinspike said when asked how often government agencies come knocking, an event that Durov claims is a frequent occurrence. “We’ve only ever received one subpoena and we published the full request.”
Marlinspike reiterated that the whole point of end-to-end encryption is that users no longer need to trust anyone if the protocol works — and Signal does. He remained open about the fact that Signal received a grant from the U.S. government’s Open Technology Fund, which he notes is at least a few degrees removed from American intelligence operations, leaving him far from beholden to any three-letter agencies.
By all accounts, Durov’s accusation is bogus. Signal’s open protocol, implemented now in products by companies like Facebook and Google, is still regarded as robust across the security community. Telegram, on the other hand, is observably less secure, failing to even make basic security choices like default encryption standard while marketing itself toward less technically proficient users who probably won’t notice the difference, putting them at risk in the process.In early 2010 I disenchanted several members of the Greek government with whom I had previously enjoyed cordial relations. The reason was that I opposed their determination to seek a large loan from German taxpayers.
While there is nothing wrong with borrowing per se, it is unacceptable to seek loans for the purpose of hiding the fact that one has become insolvent. New debt is fine even for the insolvent, but only after reforms are enacted and the existing debt is restructured.
In May 2010 the then government considered me ‘treacherous’ for opposing the first ‘bailout’ on the grounds that it sought to disguise the Greek state’s insolvency as a problem of illiquidity. But my analysis was straightforward: For years, a kind of vendor-financed spending-spree converted Northern European loans into Greek owned BMWs in the context of a generalised consumer-led Ponzi growth. But when Lehman Brothers caved in, capital flows ceased, our economy slipped into recession, and the mountains of debt were no longer serviceable.
In 2010 Greece owed not one euro to German taxpayers! We should have kept it that way. Irresponsible Greek borrowers and irresponsible German lenders should have taken the hit. Not the poorer Greek and the unsuspecting German taxpayers that had never been part of that racket. Instead, our governments, in the name of European… ‘solidarity’ enabled the transfer of private losses from the books of private banks onto the shoulders of Greek and German taxpayers.
Naturally, these loans, the largest in history, were conditional on fiscal adjustment. Under the troika’s watchful eye, the state’s structural deficit turned into a surplus by a whopping 20% of national income, wages contracted by 37%, pensions by up to 48%, state employment by 30%, consumer spending by 33%, even the current account deficit fell by 16%.
Five years later I inherited the finance ministry following the election of our SYRIZA government. Why were we elected? Because, in the meantime, as a result of the aforementioned ‘adjustment’, economic activity was choked, total income fell by 27%, unemployment skyrocketed to 27%, undeclared labour scaled 34%, investment and credit evaporated, and young Greeks left for other countries, many of them to Germany, exporting precious human capital invested in them by the Greek state. Meanwhile public debt had risen to 312 billion euros (despite a large 2012 haircut) as national income was collapsing from more than 250 billion to less than 179 billion euros.
In my first visit as finance minister to Berlin, I remember encountering a German official on my way to meet Dr Schäuble. He, half-jokingly, asked me: “When am I getting my money back?” I was tempted to remind him that five years of terrible policies had crushed the incomes from which ‘his’ money could be readily repaid. Or that 90% of the loans to the Greek state went to the banks, much of it to German ones. Only I bit my tongue. After all, in 2010 I had opposed the bailouts because of the conviction that they would poison relations between our peoples. Adding to the cycle of mutual retributions would not help the cause of lessening the discord.
Last September, well before I decided to run for office, I wrote another article in response to SYRIZA’s electoral platform. It was entitled ‘Tears and Blood’ and displeased many of my comrades. In it I argued that, while we were right to promise a new course that breaks the self-reinforcing cycle of austerity-driven debt-deflation, it would not be an easy path. Our European partners and the institutions would not find it easy to recognise that their five-year program for Greece had failed. ‘Tears’ and ‘blood’, I wrote, were the only electoral promises consistent with the gigantic task of severing the vicious cycle; of refusing new loan tranches until we have a viable agreement.
The day I moved into the Ministry |
edit ]
When the Indiana Territory was established in 1800, President John Adams appointed William Henry Harrison as the first governor of the territory. John Gibson, who was appointed the territorial secretary, served as acting governor from July 4, 1800, until Harrison's arrival at Vincennes on January 10, 1801. When Harrison resigned his position, effective December 28, 1812, Gibson served as territorial governor until Thomas Posey was appointed on March 3, 1813. Posey left office on November 7, 1816, when Jonathan Jennings was sworn into office as the first governor of the state of Indiana.[75][76][note 4]
The first territorial capital was established at Vincennes, where it remained from 1800 to 1813, when territorial officials relocated the seat of government to Corydon.[77][78] After the Illinois Territory was formed in 1809, Indiana's territorial legislature became fearful that the outbreak of war on the frontier could cause an attack on Vincennes, located on the western border of the territory, and made plans to move the capital closer to the territory's population center. Governor Harrison also favored Corydon, a town that he had established in 1808 and where he was also a landowner. Construction on the new capitol building began in 1814 and was nearly finished by 1816, when Indiana became a state.[79][80]
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 made no provision for a popularly-elected territorial government in the first or non-representative phase of territorial government (1800 to 1804).[81] Acting as the combined judicial and legislative government, a territorial governor and a General Court, which consisted of a three-member panel of judges, were appointed by the U.S. Congress, and later, the president with congressional approval. (The president subsequently delegated his authority to appoint these judges to the territorial governor.)[82] When the territory entered the second or semi-legislative phase of government in 1805, its voters were allowed to elect representatives to the House of Representatives (lower house) of its bicameral legislature. President Jefferson delegated the task of choosing a five-member Legislative Council (upper house) to the territorial governor, who chose the members from a list of ten candidates provided by the lower house.[83][84] The newly-elected territorial legislature met for the first time on July 29, 1805, and gradually became the dominant branch, while the judges continued to focus on judicial matters.[85] Governor Harrison retained veto powers, as well as his general executive and appointment authority. The legislative assembly had the authority to pass laws, subject to the governor's approval before they could be enacted.[83][84]
As the population of the territory grew, so did the people's interest in exercising of their freedoms. In 1809, after the Indiana Territory was divided to create the Illinois Territory, Congress further altered the makeup of the territorial legislature. Voters in the Indiana Territory would continue to elect members to its House of Representatives; however, they were also granted permission for the first time to elect members to its Legislative Council (upper house).[86][87]
Political issues [ edit ]
The major political issue in Indiana's territorial history was slavery; however, there were others, including Indian affairs, the formation of northern and western territories from portions of the Indiana Territory, concerns about the lack of territorial self-government and representation in Congress, and ongoing criticisms of Harrison's actions at territorial governor.[88][89] Most of these issues were resolved before Indiana achieved statehood, including the debate over the issue of allowing slavery in the territory, which was settled in 1810; however, criticism of Governor Harrison continued.[88]
In December 1802 delegates from Indiana Territory's four counties passed a resolution in favor of a ten-year suspension of Article 6 of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. The ordinance prohibited slavery in the original Northwest Territory, although it had existed in the region since French rule. The resolution was made in order to legalize slavery in the territory and to make the region more appealing to slave-holding settlers from the Upper South who occupied areas along the Ohio River and wanted to bring their slaves into the territory. However, Congress failed to take action on the resolution, leaving Harrison and the territorial judges to pursue other options.[90][91]
In 1809 Harrison found himself at odds with the new legislature when the anti-slavery party won a strong majority in the 1809 elections. In 1810 the territorial legislature repealed the indenturing and pro-slavery laws Harrison and the judicial council had enacted in 1803.[92][93] Slavery remained the defining issue in the state for the decades to follow.[94][95]
War of 1812 [ edit ]
The first major event in the territory's history was the resumption of hostilities with Native Americans. Unhappy with their treatment since the peace treaty of 1795, native tribes led by the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa formed a coalition against the Americans. Tecumseh's War started in 1811, when General Harrison led an army to rebuff the aggressive movements of Tecumseh's pan-Indian confederation.[96] The Battle of Tippecanoe (1811), which caused a setback for the Native Americans,[97] earned Harrison national fame and the nickname of "Old Tippecanoe".[98]
The war between Tecumseh and Harrison merged with the War of 1812 after the remnants of the pan-Indian confederation allied with the British in Canada. The Siege of Fort Harrison is considered to be the Americans' first land victory in the war.[99] Other battles that occurred within the boundaries of the present-day state of Indiana include the Siege of Fort Wayne, the Pigeon Roost Massacre and the Battle of the Mississinewa. The Treaty of Ghent (1814) ended the war and relieved American settlers from their fears of attack by the nearby British and their Indian allies.[100] This treaty marked the end of hostilities with the Native Americans in Indiana. During the 19th century, Native Americans were victorious in 43 of the 58 recorded incidents between Native Americans and white settlers in Indiana. In the 37 battles between Native American warriors and U.S. Army troops, victories were nearly evenly split between the two parties. Despite the Native American victories, most of the native population was eventually removed from Indiana, a process that continued after the territory attained statehood.[101]
Statehood [ edit ]
The Constitution Elm in Corydon
In 1812, Jonathan Jennings defeated Harrison's chosen candidate and became the territory's representative to Congress. Jennings immediately introduced legislation to grant Indiana statehood, even though the population of the entire territory was under 25,000, but no action was taken on the legislation because of the outbreak of the War of 1812.[102]
Posey had created a rift in the politics of the territory by supporting slavery, much to the chagrin of opponents like Jennings, Dennis Pennington, and others who dominated the Territorial Legislature and who sought to use the bid for statehood to permanently end slavery in the territory.[102][103]
Founding [ edit ]
In early 1816, the Territory approved a census and Pennington was named to be the census enumerator. The population of the territory was found to be 63,897,[104] above the cutoff required for statehood. A constitutional convention met on June 10, 1816, in Corydon. Because of the heat of the season, the delegation moved outdoors on many days and wrote the constitution beneath the shade of a giant elm tree. The state's first constitution was completed on June 29, and elections were held in August to fill the offices of the new state government. In November Congress approved statehood.[105][106]
Jennings and his supporters had control of the convention and Jennings was elected its president. Other notable delegates at the convention included Dennis Pennington, Davis Floyd, and William Hendricks.[107] Pennington and Jennings were at the forefront of the effort to prevent slavery from entering Indiana and sought to create a constitutional ban on it. Pennington was quoted as saying "Let us be on our guard when our convention men are chosen that they be men opposed to slavery".[108] They succeeded in their goal and a ban was placed in the new constitution.[109] But, persons already held in bondage stayed in that status for some time. That same year Indiana statehood was approved by Congress. While settlers did not want slavery, they also wanted to exclude free blacks, and established barriers to their immigration to the state.
Jonathan Jennings, whose motto was "No slavery in Indiana", was elected governor of the state, defeating Thomas Posey 5,211 to 3,934 votes.[110] Jennings served two terms as governor and then went on to represent the state in congress for another 18 years. Upon election, Jennings declared Indiana a free state.[110] The abolitionists won a key victory in the 1820 Indiana Supreme Court case of Polly v. Lasselle, which stated that even slaves purchased before Indiana statehood were free; in the case In re Mary Clark, a Woman of Color involving an indentured servant, the Indiana Supreme Court decided, in 1821, that indentured servitude was merely a ruse for slavery and was therefore prohibited. Slavery was finally extinct by 1830.[111]
As the northern tribal lands gradually opened to white settlement, Indiana's population rapidly increased and the center of population shifted continually northward.[112] One of the most significant post-frontier events in Indiana occurred in 1818 with the signing of the Treaty of St. Mary's at St. Mary's, Ohio to acquire Indian lands south of the Wabash from the Delaware and others. The area comprised about 1/3 of the present day area of Indiana, the central portion, and was called the "New Purchase". Eventually, 35 new counties were carved out of the New Purchase. An area like a large bite in the middle of the northern boundary[113] was reserved to the Miami, called the Big Miami Reserve, which was the largest Indian reservation ever to exist in Indiana. Indianapolis was selected to be the site of the new state capital in 1820 because of its central position within the state and assumed good water transportation. However the founders were disappointed to discover the White River was too sandy for navigation.[114] In 1825, Indianapolis replaced Corydon as the seat of government. The government became established in the Marion County Courthouse as the second state capital building.[112]
Early development [ edit ]
Historical population Census Pop. %± 1800 2,632 — 1810 24,520 831.6% 1820 147,178 500.2% 1830 343,031 133.1% 1840 685,866 99.9% 1850 988,416 44.1% 1860 1,350,428 36.6% [115]
The National Road reached Indianapolis in 1829, connecting Indiana to the Eastern United States.[116] In the early 1830s citizens of Indiana began to be known as Hoosiers, although the origin of the word has been subject considerable debate,[117] and the state took on the motto of "Crossroads of America". In 1832, construction began on the Wabash and Erie Canal, a project connecting the waterways of the Great Lakes to the Ohio River. Railroads soon made the canal system obsolete. These developments in transportation served to economically connect Indiana to the Northern East Coast, rather than relying solely on the natural waterways which connected Indiana to the Mississippi River and Gulf Coast states.[118][note 5]
In 1831, construction on the third state capitol building began. This building, designed by the firm of Ithiel Town and Alexander Jackson Davis, had a design inspired by the Greek Parthenon and opened in 1841. It was the first statehouse that was built and used exclusively by the state government.[119]
The fifth Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis built in 1888 on the site of the third statehouse
The state suffered from financial difficulties during its first three decades. Jonathan Jennings attempted to begin a period of internal improvements. Among his projects, the Indiana Canal Company was reestablished to build a canal around the Falls of the Ohio. The Panic of 1819 caused the state's only two banks to fold. This hurt Indiana's credit, halted the projects, and hampered the start of new projects until the 1830s, after the repair of the state's finances during the terms of William Hendricks and Noah Noble. Beginning in 1831, large scale plans for statewide improvements were set into motion. Overspending on the internal improvements led to a large deficit that had to be funded by state bonds through the newly created Bank of Indiana and sale of over nine million acres (36,000 km²) of public land. By 1841, the debt had become unmanageable.[120] Having borrowed over $13 million, the equivalent to the state's first fifteen years of tax revenue, the government could not even pay interest on the debt.[121] The state narrowly avoided bankruptcy by negotiating the liquidation of the public works, transferring them to the state's creditors in exchange for a 50 percent reduction in the state's debt.[122][note 6] The internal improvements began under Jennings paid off as the state began to experience rapid population growth that slowly remedied the state's funding problems. The improvements led to a fourfold increase in land value, and an even larger increase in farm produce.[123]
During the 1840s, Indiana completed the removal of the Native American tribes. The majority of the Potawatomi voluntarily relocated to Kansas in 1838. Those who did not leave were forced to travel to Kansas in what came to be called the Potawatomi Trail of Death, leaving only the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians in the Indiana area.[124] The majority of the Miami tribe left in 1846, although many members of the tribe were permitted to remain in the state on lands they held privately under the terms of the 1818 Treaty of St. Mary's.[125] The other tribes were also convinced to leave the state voluntarily through the payment of subsidies and land grants further west. The Shawnee migrated westward to settle in Missouri, and the Lenape migrated into Canada. The other minor tribes in the state, including the Wea, moved westward, mostly to Kansas.[126]
By the 1850s, Indiana had undergone major changes: what was once a frontier with sparse population had become a developing state with several cities. In 1816, Indiana's population was around 65,000, and in less than 50 years, it had increased to more than 1,000,000 inhabitants.[127]
Because of the rapidly changing state, the constitution of 1816 began to be criticized.[128][note 7] Opponents claimed the constitution had too many appointed positions, the terms established were inadequate, and some of the clauses were too easily manipulated by the political parties that did not exist when then constitution was written.[129] The first constitution had not been put to a vote by the general public, and following the great population growth in the state, it was seen as inadequate. A constitutional convention was called in January 1851 to create a new one. The new constitution was approved by the convention on February 10, 1851, and submitted for a vote to the electorate that year. It was approved and has since been the official constitution.[130]
Religion [ edit ]
Frontier Indiana was prime ground missionary for the Second Great Awakening, with a never-ending parade of camp meetings and revivals.[131] Baptist church records show an intense interest in private moral behavior at the weekly meetings, including drinking and proper child-rearing practices. The most contentious issue was antimission controversy, in which the more traditional elements denounced missionary societies as unbiblical.[132]
Eastern Presbyterian and Congregational denominations funded an aggressive missionary program, 1826–55, through the American Home Missionary Society (AHMS). It sought to bring sinners to Christ and also to modernize society promoted middle class values, mutual trust among the members, and tried to minimize violence and drinking.[133] The frontierspeople were the reformees and they displayed their annoyance at the new morality being imposed on society. The political crisis came in 1854-55 over a pietistic campaign to enact "dry" prohibition of liquor sales. They were strongly opposed by the "wets," especially non-churched, the Catholics, Episcopalians, the antimissionary elements, and the German recent arrivals. Prohibition failed in 1855 and the moralistic pietistic Protestants switched to a new, equally moralistic cause, the anti-slavery crusade led by the new Republican Party.[134][135]
Higher education [ edit ]
For a list of institutions, see Category:Universities and colleges in Indiana.
The earliest institutions of education in Indiana were missions, established by French Jesuit priests to convert local Native American nations. The Jefferson Academy was founded in 1801 as a public university for the Indiana Territory, and was reincorporated as Vincennes University in 1806, the first in the state.[136]
The 1816 constitution required that Indiana's state legislature create a "general system of education, ascending in a regular gradation, from township schools to a state university, wherein tuition shall be gratis, and equally open to all".[137] It took several years for the legislature to fulfill its promise, partly because of a debate about whether a new public university should be founded to replace the territorial university.[138] The 1820s saw the start of free public township schools. During the administration of William Hendricks, a plot of ground was set aside in each township for the construction of a schoolhouse.[139]
The state government chartered Indiana University in Bloomington in 1820 as the State Seminary. Construction began in 1822, the first professor was hired in 1823, and classes were offered in 1824.
Other state colleges were established for specialized needs. They included Indiana State University, established in Terre Haute in 1865 as the state normal school for training teachers. Purdue University was founded in 1869 as the state's land-grant university, a school of science and agriculture. Ball State University was founded as a normal school in the early 20th century and given to the state in 1918.[140]
Public colleges lagged behind the private religious colleges in both size and educational standards until the 1890s.[141] In 1855, North Western Christian University [now Butler University] was chartered by Ovid Butler after a split with the Christian Church Disciples of Christ over slavery. Significantly the university was founded on the basis of anti-slavery and co-education. It was one of the first to admit African Americans and one of the first to have a named chair for female professors, the Demia Butler Chair in English.[142] Asbury College (now Depauw University) was Methodist. Wabash College was Presbyterian; they led the Protestant schools.[143] The University of Notre Dame, founded by Rev Edward Sorin in 1842, proclaims itself as a prominent Catholic college.[144] Indiana lagged the rest of the Midwest with the lowest literacy and education rates into the early 20th century.[141]
Transportation [ edit ]
In the early 19th century, most transportation of goods in Indiana was done by river. Most of the state's estuaries drained into the Wabash River or the Ohio River, ultimately meeting up with the Mississippi River, where goods were transported to and sold in St. Louis or New Orleans.[145][146]
The first road in the region was the Buffalo Trace, an old bison trail that ran from the Falls of the Ohio to Vincennes.[147] After the capitol was relocated to Corydon, several local roads were created to connect the new capitol to the Ohio River at Mauckport and to New Albany. The first major road in the state was the National Road, a project funded by the federal government. The road entered Indiana in 1829, connecting Richmond, Indianapolis, and Terre Haute with the eastern states and eventually Illinois and Missouri in the west.[148] The state adopted the advanced methods used to build the national road on a statewide basis and began to build a new road network that was usable year-round. The North-South Michigan Road was built in the 1830s, connecting Michigan and Kentucky and passing through Indianapolis in the middle.[148] These two new roads were roughly perpendicular within the state and served as the foundation for a road system to encompass all of Indiana.
Indiana was flat enough with plenty or rivers to spend heavily on a canal mania in the 1839s. Planning in the lightly populated state began in 1827 as New York had scored a major success with its Erie Canal..[149] In 1836 the legislature allocated $10 million for an elaborate network of internal improvements, promoting canals, turnpikes, and railroads. The goal was to encourage settlement by providing easy, cheap access to the remotest corners of the state, linking every area to the Great Lakes and Ohio River, and thence to the Atlantic seaports and New Orleans. Every region joined in enthusiastically, but the scheme was a financial disaster because the legislature required that work must begin on all parts of the all the projects simultaneously; very few were finished. The state was unable to pay the bonds it issued and was blackballed in Eastern and European financial circles for decades.[150][151]
The first major railroad line was completed in 1847, connecting Madison with Indianapolis. By the 1850s, the railroad began to become popular in Indiana. Indianapolis as the focal point, Indiana had 212 miles of railroad in operation in 1852, soaring to 1,278 miles in 1854. They were operated by 18 companies; construction plans were underway to double the totals.[152] The successful railroad network brought major changes to Indiana and enhanced the state's economic growth.[116] Although Indiana's natural waterways connected it to the South via cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans, the new rail lines ran East-West, and connected Indiana with the economies of the northern states.[153] As late as mid-1859, no rail line yet bridged the Ohio or Mississippi rivers.[154] Because of an increased demand on the state's resources and the embargo against the Confederacy, the rail system was mostly completed by 1865.
Early nineteenth century social reforms [ edit ]
Indiana put further restrictions on African Americans, prohibiting them from testifying in court in a case against a white man.[155] The new constitution of 1851 expanded suffrage for white males, but excluded blacks from suffrage. While the state did not have legal segregation, it excluded black children from public schools as a matter of custom.[155]
Temperance movement [ edit ]
Temperance became a part of the evangelical Protestant initiative during Indiana's pioneer era and early statehood. Many Hoosiers freely indulged in drinking locally distilled whiskey on a daily basis, with binges on election days and holidays, and during community celebrations[135] Reformers announced that the devil was at work and must be repudiated.[156][157] A state temperance society formed in 1829 and local temperance societies soon organized in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and Logansport. By the 1830s pietistic (evangelical) Protestants and community leaders had joined forces to curb consumption of alcohol. In 1847, the Indiana General Assembly passed a local option bill that allowed a vote on whether to prohibit alcohol sales in a township.
By the 1850s Indiana's Republican party, whose adherents tended to favor the temperance movement, began challenging the state's Democrats, who supported personal freedom and a limited federal government, for political power.[158] Early temperance legislation in Indiana earned only limited and temporary success. In 1853, Republicans persuaded the state legislature to pass a local option law that would allow township voters to declare their township dry, but it was later deemed unconstitutional. In 1855, a statewide prohibition law was passed, but it met the same fate as the local option.[159] In the decades to come Protestant churches, especially the Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Disciples of Christ, Quakers, and women's groups would continue to support temperance efforts and gave strong support to the mostly dry Republican Party. The Catholics, Episcopalians and Lutherans stood opposed and gave strong support to the wet Democratic Party.[160]
Black Hoosiers before the Civil War [ edit ]
African Americans pioneered rural settlements in the state throughout the first half of the nineteenth-century.[161] Although Indiana entered the Union in 1816 as a free state it gave only a tepid welcome to African Americans and frequently sought to exclude and/or marginalize African Americans from public and social life. African Americans faced discrimination on a variety of fronts. Blacks were denied the right to testify in court in 1818. In 1829, the Indiana Colonization Society was founded to help repatriate African Americans to Liberia which reflected a desire to rid the state of its black residents.[162] The 1830 census recorded three slaves in the state. The earliest days of the territory and of statehood witnessed intense debates over whether to allow slavery in Indiana. Laws in the 1830s sought to prevent free blacks from entering the state without certificates of freedom under threat of fines and expulsion.[163] While the 1830 law was only sporadically enforced it reflected hostility towards African Americans and their settlement in the state. Throughout the early nineteenth century, Black Hoosiers struggled to enjoy basic civil rights in the state, including the right to educate their children. In 1837, and 1841 the state shifted towards formally excluding African Americans from public education. In 1837, the state legislature moved to recognize "The white inhabitants of each congressional district" as the citizens qualified to vote in school board elections. Four years later, they followed with an effort to preclude black households from school board assessments. This helped to establish Hoosier schools as de facto white. Efforts in 1842 to formally exclude African American children from public education were rebuffed, however. The State Committee on Education responded to the matter acknowledging that they "...Are here, unfortunately, for us and them, and we have duties to perform in reference to their well-being."[164] Indiana also passed laws against interracial marriage in 1818 and 1821.[165] Under 1840 state laws to ban miscegenation Indiana became the first state to make interracial marriage a felony.[166] Article XIII of the Indiana Constitution of 1851 sought to exclude African Americans from settling in the state, declaring "No negro or mulatto shall come into or settle in the State." This was the only provision of the new constitution submitted to a special election. Indiana constitutional convention delegates voted 93 to 40 in favor of the article. The popular vote was even more enthusiastic in its support for exclusion with a vote of 113,828 in favor and only 21,873 against excluding African Americans.[167] Throughout the first half of the nineteenth century, Indiana attempted to keep Black Hoosiers from attending public school, voting, testifying in court, and endeavored to set other limits on African American citizenship and inclusion.[168] Racial hostility and discrimination co-existed alongside abolition sentiments and efforts, however. The Underground Railroad in Indiana sought to help runaway slaves escape to northern states and Canada. White Quakers, Baptists, and others worked to secure safe passage for runaway slaves. Abolition efforts conflicted with a growing antipathy towards free blacks in the state.
Abolition [ edit ]
Abolition in Indiana reflected a mix of anti-black sentiment, religiously oriented social reforms, and pro-black sentiments.[169] Several groups and notable individuals stood in opposition to slavery and in support of African Americans in the state. The North Western Christian University [later Butler University] was founded by Ovid Butler in 1855 after a schism with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) over slavery.
Women's suffrage movement [ edit ]
Indiana has a long history of women's activism in social movements including the women's suffrage movement.
The Indiana Woman's Suffrage Association was founded in 1851 by important suffrage leaders such as Agnes Cook, Mary B. Birdsall, Amanda M. Way, and Mary F. Thomas.[170] With the exception of Way, all these women were the first to address the Indiana State Legislature on January 19, 1859, with petitions calling for women's suffrage, temperance, and equal rights.[171] In 1854, Birdsall had purchased The Lily, the first U.S. newspaper edited by and for women, from its founder, Amelia Bloomer, and moved it to Richmond, Indiana. The newspaper had begun as a temperance newspaper but was later used to campaign for women's suffrage and rights.[172]
Civil War [ edit ]
80th Indiana Infantry Regiment and the 19th Indiana Light Artillery defending against the Confederates at the Battle of Perryville by H. Mosler
Indiana, a free state and the boyhood home of Abraham Lincoln, remained a member of the Union during the American Civil War. Indiana regiments were involved in all the major engagements of the war and almost all the engagements in the western theater. Hoosiers were present in the first and last battles of the war. During the war, Indiana provided 126 infantry regiments, 26 batteries of artillery, and 13 regiments of cavalry to the cause of the Union.[173]
In the initial call to arms issued in 1861, Indiana was assigned a quota of 7,500 men—a tenth of the amount called—to join the Union Army in putting down the rebellion.[174] So many volunteered in the first call that thousands had to be turned away. Before the war ended, Indiana contributed 208,367 men to fight and serve in the war.[175] Casualties were over 35% among these men: 24,416 lost their lives in the conflict and over 50,000 more were wounded.[175]
At the outbreak of the war, Indiana was run by a Democratic and southern sympathetic majority in the state legislature. It was by the actions of Governor Oliver Morton, who illegally borrowed millions of dollars to finance the army, that Indiana could contribute so greatly to the war effort.[176] Morton suppressed the state legislature with the help of the Republican minority to prevent it from assembling during 1861 and 1862. This prevented any chance the Democrats might have had to interfere with the war effort or to attempt to secede from the Union.[177]
Sanitary Commission [ edit ]
In March 1862, Governor Oliver Morton also assembled a committee known as the Indiana Sanitary Commission to raise funds and gather supplies for troops in the field. It was not until January 1863 that the commission began recruiting women as nurses for wounded soldiers.[178] Notable women members of the included Mary F. Thomas, a Hoosier suffragist, and Eliza Hamilton-George, also known as "Mother George".[179] Although the exact number of women volunteers is unknown, William Hannaman, president of the Indiana Sanitary Commission, reported to Morton in 1866 that "about two hundred and fifty" women had volunteered as nurses between 1863 and 1865.[178]
Raids [ edit ]
Two raids on Indiana soil during the war caused a brief panic in Indianapolis and southern Indiana. The Newburgh Raid on July 18, 1862, occurred when Confederate officer Adam Johnson briefly captured Newburgh by convincing the Union troops garrisoning the town that he had cannon on the surrounding hills, when in fact they were merely camouflaged stovepipes. The raid convinced the federal government that it was necessary to supply Indiana with a permanent force of regular Union Army soldiers to counter future raids.[180]
The most significant Civil War battle fought in Indiana was a small skirmish during Morgan's Raid. On the morning of July 9, 1863, Morgan attempted to cross the Ohio River into Indiana with his force of 2,400 Confederate cavalry. After his crossing was briefly contested, he marched north to Corydon where he fought the Indiana Legion in the short Battle of Corydon. Morgan took command of the heights south of Corydon and shot two shells from his batteries into the town, which promptly surrendered. The battle left 15 dead and 40 wounded. Morgan's main body of troopers briefly raided New Salisbury, Crandall, Palmyra, and Salem. Fear gripped the capitol, and the militia began to form there to contest Morgan's advance. After Salem, however, Morgan turned east, raiding and skirmishing along this path and leaving Indiana through West Harrison on July 13 into Ohio, where he was captured.[181]
Aftermath [ edit ]
The Civil War had a major effect on the development of Indiana. Before the war, the population was generally in the south of the state, where many had entered via the Ohio River, which provided a cheap and convenient means to export products and agriculture to New Orleans to be sold. The war closed the Mississippi River to traffic for nearly four years, forcing Indiana to find other means to export its produce. This led to a population shift to the north where the state came to rely more on the Great Lakes and the railroad for exports.[182][183]
Before the war, New Albany was the largest city in the state, mainly because of its river contacts and extensive trade with the South.[184] Over half of Hoosiers with over $100,000 lived in New Albany.[185] During the war, the trade with the South came to a halt, and many residents considered those of New Albany as too friendly to the South. The city never regained its stature. It was stilled as a city of 40,000 with its early-Victorian Mansion-Row buildings remaining from the boom period.[186]
Post-Civil War era [ edit ]
Economic growth [ edit ]
The Circle in Indianapolis, circa 1898
Historical population Census Pop. %± 1870 1,680,637 — 1880 1,978,301 17.7% 1890 2,192,404 10.8% 1900 2,516,462 14.8% 1910 2,700,876 7.3% 1920 2,930,390 8.5% 1930 3,238,503 10.5% [115]
Ohio River ports had been stifled by an embargo on the Confederate South and never fully recovered their economic prominence, leading the south into an economic decline.[182] By contrast, northern Indiana experienced an economic boom when natural gas was discovered in the 1880s, which directly contributed to the rapid growth of cities such as Gas City, Hartford City, and Muncie where a glass industry developed to utilize the cheap fuel. The Indiana gas field was then the largest known in the world.[187] The boom lasted until the early 20th century, when the gas supplies ran low. This began northern Indiana's industrialization.
The development of heavy industry attracted thousands of European immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as internal migrants, both black and white, from the rural and small town South. These developments dramatically altered the demographics of the state. Indiana industrial cities were among the destinations of the Great Migration. After World War II, industrial restructuring and the shifts in heavy industry resulted in Indiana's becoming part of the Rust Belt.[188][189]
In 1876, chemist Eli Lilly, a Union colonel during the Civil War, founded Eli Lilly and Company, a pharmaceutical company. His initial innovation of gelatin-coating for pills led to a rapid growth of the company that eventually developed as Indiana's largest corporation, and one of the largest corporations in the world.[190][191][note 8] Over the years, the corporation developed many widely used drugs, including insulin, and it became the first company to mass-produce penicillin. The company's many advances made Indiana the leading state in the production and development of medicines.[192]
Charles Conn returned to Elkhart after the Civil War and established C.G. Conn Ltd., a manufacturer of musical instruments.[193] The company's innovation in band instruments made Elkhart an important center of the music world, and it became a base of Elkhart's economy for decades. Nearby South Bend experienced continued growth following the Civil War, and became a large manufacturing city centered around the Oliver Farm Equipment Company, the nation's leading plow producer. Gary was founded in 1906 by the United States Steel Corporation as the home for its new plant.[194]
The administration of Governor James D. Williams proposed the construction of the fourth state capitol building in 1878. The third state capitol building was razed and the new one was constructed on the same site. Two million dollars was appropriated for construction and the new building was completed in 1888. The building was still in use in 2008.[195]
The Panic of 1893 had a severely negative effect on the Hoosier economy when many factories closed and several railroads declared bankruptcy. The Pullman Strike of 1894 hurt the Chicago area and coal miners in southern Indiana participated in a national strike. Hard times were not limited to industry; farmers also felt a financial pinch from falling prices. The economy began to recover when World War I broke out in Europe, creating a higher demand for American goods.[196] Despite economic setbacks, advances in industrial technology continued throughout the last years of the 19th and into the 20th century. On July 4, 1894, Elwood Haynes successfully road tested his first automobile, and opened the Haynes-Apperson auto company in 1896.[197] In 1895, William Johnson invented a process for casting aluminum.[198][199]
Political battleground [ edit ]
During the postwar era, Indiana became a critical swing state that often helped decide which party controlled the presidency. Elections were very close, and became the center of frenzied attention with many parades, speeches and rallies as election day approached; voter turnout ranging over 90% to near 100% in such elections as 1888 and 1896. In remote areas, both sides paid their supporters to vote, and occasionally paid supporters of the opposition not to vote. Despite allegations, historians have found very little fraud in national elections.[200]
To win the electoral vote, both national parties looked for Indiana candidates for the national tickets; a Hoosier was included in all but one presidential election between 1880 and 1924.[201][202]
In 1888, Indiana Senator Benjamin Harrison, grandson of territorial Governor William Henry Harrison, was elected President after an intense battle that attracted more than 300,000 partisans to Indianapolis to hear him speak from his famous front porch.[203] Fort Benjamin Harrison was named in his honor. Six Hoosiers have been elected as Vice-President. The most recent was Mike Pence, elected in 2016.[204]
High culture [ edit |
Gathering data about medical student suicides has proven to be difficult. “We have really good data on completed suicides for practicing physicians,” thanks to the fact that death records include occupation, psychiatrist Christine Moutier, MD, chief medical officer at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (http://www.afsp.org). But there’s a big gap in research on medical student suicides, she said, even though it would be simple to track because all medical schools submit data on various aspects of the student body.
Moutier said she was stunned at the negative reaction she received when she proposed that US medical schools start tracking medical student suicides. Officials at 2 schools said, “We will not be known as the suicide school. If we track that data, the media’s going to get ahold of it.”
Daniel Williams, MD, a psychiatry resident at Scott and White Hospital in Temple, Texas, said he called 5 medical schools to see if it would be feasible to compile suicide statistics. “No one would give us any answers,” Williams said.
Clearly, medical schools in general are not doing enough to minimize depression and prevent suicide in fledgling physicians, said Goebert, although some schools, such as the University of Washington, have excellent programs. “Some put programs in place after an incident has occurred, but over time they lose ground,” she said.
The suicide of a faculty member sparked the creation of the Healer Education Assessment and Referral (HEAR) program at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), School of Medicine, said director Sidney Zisook, MD, the program’s chair (Moutier et al. Acad Med. 2012;87[3]:320-326). “Being a resident and being a physician is high stress,” said Zisook, a psychiatrist. “People do have suicidal ideation, yet very few avail themselves of treatment.”
As its name suggests, HEAR takes a 2-pronged approach to the problem. Since HEAR launched 4 years ago, program representatives have met with every department in the UCSD medical school, some annually. The goal of their presentations is to decrease the stigma of depression and its treatment and inform physicians and trainees about what they can do if a colleague appears to be depressed.
The other component is a web-based survey developed by the American Foundation for Suicide Foundation, whose chief medical officer, Moutier, led HEAR with Zisook before leaving UCSD. She said about a dozen medical schools now use the foundation’s survey.
“What we do every year is send to medical students as well as house staff and faculty a letter informing them about the website, asking them to take the survey,” Zisook said. “We have counselors who review the site every day.”
People who complete the survey receive a summary of their suicide risk and, if appropriate, an invitation for further evaluation and referral. Since HEAR was launched 4 years ago, the program has referred more than 150 medical students, residents, and faculty for treatment, Zisook said. Medical students can get free care through the university’s student health services, he said, while residents and faculty are referred to a community physician.
Those 150 referrals probably represent only a small portion of the trainees and faculty who could use help, Zisook said. “They work so hard that the idea of taking an additional hour out to do anything for themselves is anathema to medical students.”
At the University of Pittsburgh, “[w]e’ve taken steps to try to remove as many barriers as we can to appropriate help-seeking,” Reynolds said. “We try to educate students and residents that taking care of themselves is very important.”
In one session during medical students’ orientation, Reynolds interviews a physician who has been treated for depression. She talks about how important it was for her to seek treatment, both counseling and medication, when she was in medical school.
The University of Pittsburgh medical school has a full-time psychotherapist who provides free care, someone Reynolds trained. His office is located off of the medical school campus, so those who see the therapist don’t have to worry about being seen by classmates or colleagues.
Taking Steps to Prevent “Copycat” Suicides
One of the young physicians who committed suicide in August had just begun his residency at Columbia University. In response, “[w]e assembled our best experts in suicide and suicide prevention,” said J. John Mann, MD, a psychiatrist at Columbia and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. “The chairman of medicine came back immediately from his vacation. We had meetings with all of the interns and residents. We had a massive, carefully organized set of initiatives, all geared to help people deal with their feelings about what happened.”
The approach has been used in communities, corporations, and the military after a suicide prompts concerns over the potential for contagion or “copycat” suicides, Mann said. “You give people information, and you create the opportunity for people to ask questions.”
One might wonder whether medicine attracts individuals who are more vulnerable to suicide. But a new study found that when students entered medical school, they actually had lower rates of burnout and depression symptoms and a higher quality of life than college graduates the same age who weren’t enrolled in medical school (Brazeau CM et al. Acad Med. doi:10.1097/ACM.0000000000000482 [published online September 23, 2014]). The study, whose coauthors include Moutier and Dyrbye, surveyed entering students at 6 medical schools.
But by the time they graduated, about half of medical students had burnout, a syndrome of depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, and a feeling of low personal accomplishment, Dyrbye found in a previous study (Dyrbye LN et al. Med Teach. 2011;33[9]:756-758). Other research found that burnout was independently associated with recent suicidal ideation in practicing surgeons (Shanafelt TD et al. Arch Surg. 2011;146[1]:54-62).
Research shows that residents are depressed at a higher rate than people the same age who are not pursuing careers in medicine, Brigham said. “Is medical training doing some of the damage? What we’re finding is that there is an effect that medical education is having, and it’s not a positive one.”
Some of the potential fixes are relatively simple, such as including a gym or a cafeteria when designing new medical school buildings, Zisook said. In a survey of first- and second-year students at 7 medical schools, Dyrbye and her coauthors found that how students were evaluated had a greater effect than other aspects of the curriculum structure on their well-being (Reed DA et al. Acad Med. 2011;86[11]:1367-1373). Students who were graded pass/fail were less likely to have burnout or consider dropping out of school than students who received letter grades.
“I believe it is possible to reconstruct the medical curriculum to make it a more positive and humanistic experience,” the ACGME’s Baldwin said.Get breaking news and SI's biggest stories instantly. Download the new Sports Illustrated app (iOS or Android) and personalize your experience by following your favorite teams and SI writers.
This story appeared in the March 28, 2016 issue of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. To subscribe to the magazine, click here.
Nearly everything Adrian Beltre does on the baseball field is violent. From his vicious whip of a swing to the way he charges dribblers to the swipe he takes at any hand that comes within a foot of his head, there is a barely controlled ferocity to each element of his game. He doesn't make it look easy; he makes it look dangerous.
Which it is for his teammates when they reach out toward his helmet—at least a weekly occurrence by the end of the 2015 season, as Texas went 38–22 over the last two months to steal the division title. When Beltre returns to the dugout after a big hit (fellow Rangers are too smart to go after him when he's upset), they set themselves up: Whoever is closest high-fives Beltre, while someone else—usually shortstop and best-friend-slash-chief-pest Elvis Andrus—knocks Beltre's helmet off from behind. The hand darts in, and the offender scurries away before the 5'11", 220-pound third baseman can retaliate.
"I thought about killing him," Beltre once famously said of then Red Sox teammate Victor Martinez, one of the most notorious helmet thieves. "I thought about it... but I have a family, so I didn't." He was kidding. But if you've ever seen the look he gives the practical joker afterward, you'd be forgiven for not being sure. Last season Beltre appeared in a commercial for the Rangers that had him playing Duck Duck Goose with a group of elementary schoolers. Even there, though, there's no shot of a head touch.
It's a quirk that has spread in the Beltre household. Nine-year-old Adrian Jr. announced last year that his skull, too, is off-limits. A.J.'s Little League teammates, of course, have taken that as an invitation, and A.J. reacts in a familiar way. "Same thing as his dad!" says his mother, Sandra. "He tries to beat them up."
The origin of the ritual is unclear. Beltre just never liked having his head touched, even as a kid. He doesn't remember which teammate he first told about it, but it accidentally guaranteed that he'd spend the rest of his career glancing over his shoulder.
The whole exercise is a delight to watch, and it may be what fans know him best for. But Beltre is much more than the costar, along with Andrus, in a nightly vaudeville routine. Between his careerlong defensive brilliance and his later-in-life offensive surge, Beltre is baseball's most underappreciated future Hall of Famer.
He's also the greatest active player never to have won a championship. Texas manager Jeff Banister says his team's primary goal is "to be able to help put a World Series ring on his finger." And this Rangers squad, with a strong lineup and potentially its best pitching staff since the team played in back-to-back Fall Classics in 2010 and '11, might be Beltre's best shot.
****
LM Otero/AP
Beltre at-bats are rarely dull, given the little dance he does in the batter's box—in which his wrists check his swing, but his feet can't quite stop—and his tendency to take gigantic cuts at anything within a mile of the plate. (Beltre once hit a home run on a ball over his head. The pitcher was waiting for him the next day to say, "What the hell?") But as much fun as it is to watch him hit, the real magic comes when he's wearing out the dirt around third base. Beltre's arm, his positioning, his reads of the ball off the bat, his ability to reach anything hit to his side of the infield: They all combine to create easily the best third baseman of his generation.
Beltre's range is tremendous; he drives Andrus crazy by fielding balls hit to shortstop. "I'm in charge!" Andrus says. "But it's pretty hard when you have him at third base. He calls me off." They fool around on routine pop flies, camping out annoyingly close to each other and miming the catch and throw in sync with the real thing. Last year, after Andrus made a catch Beltre thought should have been his, they jokingly drew a line in the dirt between second and third to define their zones.
Beltre makes diving stops and snags line drives through a combination of preparation and reaction time, but his bread and butter is the slow roller, which he charges, barehands and fires off-balance to first like no one else in baseball. That's the only move he refuses to practice, because he doesn't want to get caught overthinking it. The league has caught on, and over the years Beltre has noticed fewer hitters bunting on him, but he loves his signature play so much that every so often he'll play back to bait batters into laying one down.
• MORE MLB: Check out all 30 team previews for the 2016 season
He earns every one of his dazzling defensive stats (he's fifth in history with 208.7 fielding runs saved, behind Brooks Robinson, Mark Belanger, Ozzie Smith and Andruw Jones), ruining coaches' afternoons with his endless drills. Nearly every day in spring training, after team practice, Beltre takes three buckets of ground balls and line drives. He wants to see every possible hop, he says, and he means every.
"You hoped you weren't the one who was stuck hitting 'em to him, because he doesn't stop," says Ron Washington, his manager in Texas from 2011 through '14. Washington eventually started wearing batting gloves after his hands bled during one session. Beltre was out there "until he got tired, or until you got tired, and mostly it was you who got tired. Nothing ever gets by him."
Even last year, at age 36 and in his 20th season of pro ball, Beltre showed few signs of slowing down. He missed three weeks with a sprained left thumb, which bothered him all season—by August he was catching the ball in pregame warmups to the outside of his glove so he didn't have to squeeze with it—but rebounded to finish as the ninth most valuable player in the American League by WAR. He saved more runs defensively (18 more than the average player) than any other AL third baseman. Before last season his now five-year-old daughter accidentally erased the extensive notes on pitchers that he keeps on his phone, but even hitting essentially blind he increased his line drive rate for the fourth straight year, to 23%, and was the third-hardest man in the league to strike out. He hit for his third career cycle last August—in the first five innings of a game.
Beltre, who turns 37 in April, attributes his graceful aging to experience. "You have an idea of how they are trying to get you out, like with a high fastball," he says. "I wait for that, because all I have to do is touch it. Boom—the ball just goes." This strategy also helps him keep his eye level up; that way he won't chase a ball in the dirt (his biggest temptation as a young player), because it looks like it's miles away. After he returned from the DL in June, he hit.320 and slugged.500 on high fastballs.
****
Jeff Gross/Getty Images
Beltre has been a star in the field since the Dodgers signed him illegally from the Dominican Republic at age 15, a year before he was eligible. But on offense, his favorite part of the game, he has had more of a roller-coaster ride. Los Angeles promoted him at 19 years and two months, an age no one has since beaten. Beltre was Bryce Harper before Bryce Harper—it took him two years to face a pitcher younger than himself. Though he had flashes of success at the plate, he was inconsistent until his final year in L.A., when he put up a 1.017 OPS with a major league-leading 48 home runs and finished second in MVP voting to Barry Bonds.
The Mariners rewarded him with a five-year, $64 million deal and 81 games a year in one of the worst parks in baseball for home run hitters, 405 feet to straightaway center. Trying to earn his contract, trying to be "the guy" in Seattle, he pressed to four league-average offensive seasons, although he won two Gold Gloves.
"Sometimes people forget how difficult hitting is," Beltre says, "because you have to do everything perfect. You have to be looking for that pitch, put your foot down early, see the ball, make good contact and run it out."
He signed a one-year "pillow contract" with the Red Sox before the 2010 season, figuring that between the Green Monster and a stacked Boston lineup, he had a good chance to rebound and reestablish his value for a long-term deal. And it was with the Red Sox, at age 31, in his 12th full major league season, that Beltre became an All-Star for the first time. He had an OPS of.919 and led baseball in doubles, with 49.
So when Texas was looking to shore up the left side of its infield to protect a pitching staff that leaned on sinkerballing lefties C.J. Wilson and Matt Harrison, Beltre was at the top of the list. In early January 2011, Texas offered the third baseman five years and $80 million guaranteed, plus a $16 million option for '16 (which the club picked up in February '15). Even Bud Selig underrated Beltre, perhaps buying into the popular myth that he performed well only during contract years; that winter Selig called Beltre's signing the worst deal of the '10–11 off-season, a period that included the seven-year, $142 million Carl Crawford contract.
"He's as important a signing as we've made," Daniels says of the player he jokingly calls the team's "angry grandpa." Indeed, after only five years Beltre's 31.5 WAR in Texas is 10th highest in franchise history. The 2015 season was the third in which he was the Rangers' best player, and in the other two he was a close second. Since Beltre arrived, Texas has won at least 88 games every year except '14, when various players spent 2,116 days on the disabled list, the most since The Hardball Times began recording the statistic in '02. The Rangers were one strike away from winning the World Series in '11, Beltre's first year. He's been worth 83.8 WAR over his career, 56th best among all players ever and sixth among third basemen. (With an average Beltre season in '16 he'll pass Chipper Jones and George Brett, leaving only Mike Schmidt, Eddie Mathews and Wade Boggs ahead of him.) Every eligible player ahead of Beltre other than Bonds and Roger Clemens is in the Hall of Fame.
And plenty of that production has come while Beltre was hurt. "He has an unbelievable ability to control his body," says Dave Magadan, Beltre's hitting coach in Boston and then again in Texas. "I've seen guys try to play hurt, and they were at 50% of what they could do. When he plays hurt, he gives you his normal production."
Beltre was famous in the Dodgers' organization for his reaction to a ruptured and infected appendix that almost killed him when he was 21. He went two months without solid food, subsisting on clear soup and orange juice in the spring training clubhouse. Bored and cranky, IV port still in his arm, he demanded to be allowed to play, and eventually the trainers decided to let him. "He tucked his colostomy bag under his uniform," remembers Don Welke, then a Dodgers scout, and took ground balls on the back fields.
"Soreness is not going to get me off the field," Beltre says. This is an understatement. He has refused to take significant time off for injuries ranging from last season's thumb sprain—in which the tendon was wrenched from the bone so violently that it tore the skin—to perhaps his most famous setback, a ruptured right testicle that swelled to the size of a grapefruit. Beltre paid the price for his lifelong refusal to wear a cup when he took a hard grounder to the crotch during the ninth inning of a 2009 game against the White Sox. He finished the game, singling and scoring the winning run in the 14th inning. In his first at-bat back from the disabled list two weeks later, the Seattle public address system played "The Nutcracker Suite" as his walk-up music. Beltre still doesn't wear a cup. "If the ball's going to hit me there every 11 1/2 years, I'll take my chances," he said at the time.
His teammates and coaches joke that he plays better injured, that pain reins him in, and he doesn't entirely disagree. "I'm not thinking about my swing," Beltre says of hitting injured, as he did in the 2015 ALCS, when he strained his back so badly that he needed a cortisone shot between innings. He decided he had one cut left in him that day; it was an RBI single. "I'm thinking, I have to square this ball up," he says, "because I don't want to miss it and then have to swing again."
****
Nothing Beltre does is textbook. Where other defenders study hitters' tendencies, he largely ignores whoever is at the plate, focusing only on who's pitching when he positions himself. Little League coaches teach their infielders to catch and throw the ball on the run, as part of one fluid motion; Beltre's arm is so strong that the only way he can control his throw is if he comes to a stop, plants his feet and uncorks. Young sluggers learn to use both legs to generate power; Beltre shifts his weight almost entirely to his front leg on big cuts at low breaking balls, often going down on one knee as the ball leaves the park.
"I know it's unorthodox," says Washington, "but what the plain eye doesn't see is how good his feet and hands are. It looks like poetry in motion."
Despite all that, it's what Beltre brings to the clubhouse that his teammates can't stop talking about: the suits he buys for rookies; his ability to say what needs to be said (in whatever language it needs to be said) without embarrassing anyone; the example that his sky-high pain threshold sets for teammates. Beltre buys birthday cakes for everyone from Banister to first baseman Prince Fielder to media relations director John Blake. He invites clubhouse guys to concerts. He pranks opponents as well as teammates, such as when he sent Angels righthander Garrett Richards an invoice for $300 after the pitcher broke three of his bats in a game last April.
Beltre's face seems to have three settings: grinning, glaring and thinking. He watches each pitch intently, leaning forward, yelling gibberish, ordering around his teammates, then valiantly argues every charge levied against him in the clubhouse's kangaroo court (usually for talking on the phone in the clubhouse), diagnosing everyone in the vicinity with amnesia. "He always wins," says his old Mariners buddy Felix Hernandez. "When he doesn't win, he ties."
Teammates call Beltre Captain, or Legenda, both of which he despises. (Fielder encourages a visitor to "Go over there and ask him when he's gonna get the C on his jersey. Let me know what he says." Answer: "I hate those guys.") Beltre wouldn't let teammates celebrate his 400th home run, last May, because the Rangers lost.
"You might not believe me," he says, "but I don't really care about the numbers. The only thing I am missing is to be a champion, and then I can retire anytime I want."
Can't you just picture it? Somewhere down the line, in 2024 or 2027, the Hall of Fame dedicates Adrian Beltre's plaque. It has him in a Rangers cap, of course. And from somewhere to the side of his bronze likeness reaches the hand—sneaky, deft, practiced—of Elvis Andrus, moving toward his head.When you hold in mind a sentence you have just read or a phone number you’re about to dial, you’re engaging a critical brain system known as working memory.
For the past several decades, neuroscientists have believed that as information is held in working memory, brain cells associated with that information fire continuously. However, a new study from MIT has upended that theory, instead finding that as information is held in working memory, neurons fire in sporadic, coordinated bursts.
These cyclical bursts could help the brain to hold multiple items in working memory at the same time, according to the researchers.
“By having these different bursts coming at different moments in time, you can keep different items in memory separate from one another,”
says Earl Miller, the Picower Professor in MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.
Miller is the senior author of the study, which appears in the March 17 issue of Neuron. Mikael Lundqvist, a Picower Institute postdoc, and Jonas Rose, now at University of Tubingen in Germany, are the paper’s lead authors.
Bursts of Activity
Starting in the early 1970s, experiments showed that when an item is held in working memory, a subset of neurons fires continuously. However, these and subsequent studies of working memory averaged the brain’s activity over seconds or even minutes of performing the task, Miller says.
“The problem with that is, that’s not the way the brain works,” he says. “We looked more closely at this activity, not by averaging across time, but from looking from moment to moment. That revealed that something way more complex is going on.”
Miller and his colleagues recorded neuron activity in animals as they were shown a sequence of three colored squares, each in a different location. Then, the squares were shown again, but one of them had changed color.
The animals were trained to respond when they noticed the square that had changed color — a task requiring them to hold all three squares in working memory for about two seconds.
The researchers found that as items were held in working memory, ensembles of neurons in the prefrontal cortex were active in brief bursts, and these bursts only occurred in recording sites in which information about the squares was stored. The bursting was most frequent at the beginning of the task, when the information was encoded, and at the end, when the memories were read out.
Filling in the Details
The findings fit well with a model that Lundqvist had developed as an alternative to the model of sustained activity as the neural basis of working memory. According to the new model, information is stored in rapid changes in the synaptic strength of the neurons.
The brief bursts serve to “imprint” information in the synapses of these neurons, and the bursts reoccur periodically to reinforce the information as long as it is needed.
The bursts create waves of coordinated activity in the gamma frequency (45 to 100 hertz), like the ones that were observed in the data. These waves occur sporadically, with gaps between them, and each ensemble of neurons, encoding a specific item, produces a different burst of gamma waves.
“It’s like a fingerprint,” Lundqvist says.
When this activity is averaged over several repeated trials, it appears as a smooth curve of continuous activity, just as the older models of working memory suggested. However, the MIT team’s new way of measuring and analyzing the data suggests that the full picture is much different.
“It’s like for years you’ve been listening to music from your neighbor’s apartment and all you can hear is the thumping bass part. You’re missing all the details, but if you get close enough to it you see there’s a lot more going on,” Miller says.
The findings suggest that it would be worthwhile to look for this kind of cyclical activity in other cognitive functions such as attention, the researchers say. Oscillations like those seen in this study may help the brain to package information and keep it separate so that different pieces of information don’t interfere with each other.
“Your brain operates in a very sporadic, periodic way, with lots of gaps in between the information the brain represents,” Miller says. “The mind is papering over all the gaps and bubbly dynamics and giving us an impression that things are happening in a smooth way, when our brain is actually working in a very periodic fashion, sending packets of information around.”
Robert Knight, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of California at Berkeley, says the new study “provides compelling evidence that nonlinear oscillatory dynamics underlie prefrontal dependent working memory capacity.
“The work calls for a new view of the computational processes supporting goal-directed behavior,” adds Knight, who was not involved in the research. “The control processes supporting nonlinear dynamics are not understood, but this work provides a critical guidepost for future work aimed at understanding how the brain enables fluid cognition.”
Mikael Lundqvist, Jonas Rose, Pawel Herman, Scott L. Brincat, Timothy J. Buschman, Earl K. Miller
Gamma and Beta Bursts Underlie Working Memory
Neuron; doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2016.02.028
Author: Anne Trafton. Reprinted with permission of MIT News. Illustration: Jose-Luis Olivares/MIT.Tonight marks the bittersweet season finale(s) of Community. The beloved media nerd show will air its final three episodes of the third season tonight (including one where the gang turns into 8-bit videogame avatars). Though fans feared Community would be canceled, NBC ordered a half season for next year, so the Greendale Humans aren't quite vanquished yet. Though the show is known for its absurdist comic lines, it's also notable for offering bits of wisdom that manage to be both weird and deeply moving. Today, as we anticipate the end of a (mostly) great season of Community, we celebrate the core of truth that structures all great comedy.
Here are 10 of the most profound lines from Community, listed in chronological order, from earliest to most recent episodes.
Advertisement
1. The meaning of self-esteem
Abed: Britta, I've got self-esteem falling out of my butt. That's why I was willing to change for you guys. When you really know who you are and what you like about yourself, changing for other people isn't such a big deal. (Season 1, Episode 17, "Physical Education")
2. The role of the fool
Pierce: I say things others won't; that has value. (S1, E25, "Pascal's Triangle Revisited")
3. Respect won't win a fight
Professor June Bauer: I'm going to use this to attack you, and you use respect to defend yourself. (S2, E1, "Anthropology 101")
Advertisement
4. Reality is what we make of it
Abed: [opens a Christmas gift marked "Meaning of Christmas"] It's the first season of Lost on DVD.
Pierce: That's the meaning of Christmas?
Abed: No. It's a metaphor. It represents lack of pay-off... I get it. The meaning of Christmas is the idea that Christmas has meaning. And it can be whatever we want. For me, it used to mean being with my mom. Now it means being with you guys. Thanks, Lost. (S2, E11, "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas")
5. Goodness is not always deliberate
Voiceover: And so it was that Pierce Hawthorne saved the life of Fat Neil, while learning very, very little. (S2, E14, "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons")
Advertisement
6. It might be about race. Or not.
Jeff: It's called chemistry. I have it with everybody.
Shirley: Everybody? I haven't felt any of that chemistry coming my way. I don't know if it's because you're racist or because I intimidate you sexually, but I know it's one of those two. (S2, E21, "Paradigms of Human Memory")
7. We live in a multiverse
Abed: Just so you know Jeff, you're creating six different timelines. (S3, E4, "Remedial Chaos Theory")
Advertisement
8. The best choice may seem strange
Troy: I realized no one's better than anyone else. Some people are better at sports, and there are magicians, but I was put on this Earth to do something else.
Vice Dean Robert Laybourne: So you're going to be what - a plumber?
Troy: No I'm not going to be a plumber either - because they have to deal with poop. My decision for now is to watch TV with my friend. (S3, E6 "Advanced Gay")
9. The true nature of sad stories (and sad lives)
Dean: I thought you were a fly on the wall.
Abed: Some flies are too awesome for the wall. Documentarians are supposed to be objective, to avoid having any effect on the story. And yet we have more effect than anyone, because we decide to tell it. And we decide how it ends. Will your story be yet another sad one of yet another man who just wanted to be happy? Or will your story acknowledge the very nature of stories, and embrace the fact that sharing the sad ones can sometimes make them happy? (S3, E8 "Documentary Filmmaking Redux")
Advertisement
10. Every war starts with friendship
Jeff: I would do anything for my friends, which I think is how everyone in the world feels. Which is why I finally understand war. (S3, E14 "Pillows and Blankets")
BONUS ROUND:
The best advice
Troy: Abed, we have to be weird! (S3, E11, "Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts")JAMEEL YUSUF IS SMALL AND STURDY and wears his trousers slightly above his waist. Quick on his feet, he has a firm handshake and the general disposition of an economics professor—he wears a trim salt-and-pepper beard and rectangular-rimmed spectacles and peers at you with inquisitive eyes. His gaze, manner and mien do not betray that Yusuf was once one of the toughest characters in a city with a tough reputation. He was Karachi’s Dark Knight.
Yusuf, however, will say, “I’m just a Khoja businessman.” The Khojas are a tight-knit, mostly mercantile community who populate cities from South Asia to East Africa and Canada. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the urbane founder of Pakistan, was one. Yusuf’s trajectory was rather more traditional: he got into the textile business after graduating from university, manufacturing cones used in spinning units, before venturing into construction. He built one of the first malls in Karachi in the mid 1980s. By the late 1980s, he had become a successful self-made businessman—“Whenever I take up something, I like to do a thorough job,” he said—and middle-aged.
And in the late 1980s, Karachi had become unsettled. The American-funded insurgency in Afghanistan against the USSR had drawn to a close. More than 3.5 million Afghan refugees—the largest population of refugees in the world—had crossed the border into Pakistan. They settled in camps in and around the northern Khyber province, and in and around Karachi. It was a city where Pathans and mostly Urdu-speaking Mohajirs were already at daggers drawn. A fiery Mohajir student leader named Altaf Hussain had used an incident in which a bus driver ran over a student as his launching pad into national politics. With the death of Zia ul-Haq in 1988, democracy had also returned to Pakistan after a decade of military rule.Actor and famed drag queen RuPaul, the host of the now-Emmy-nominated show "RuPaul’s Drag Race," loves 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 — and gave her a vociferous endorsement this week.
ADVERTISEMENT
In an interview with Vulture, RuPaul described the Democratic nominee as a “f—king awesome” and a “badass b--- who knows how to get s--- done.”
RuPaul said any politician has to make compromises to get things done, saying that you can't "go to f----ing Washington and be rainbows and butterflies the whole time."
"So now, having said that, think about what a female has to do with that: All of those compromises, all of that s---, double it by 10," he said. "And you get to understand who this woman is and how powerful, persuasive, brilliant, and resilient she is. Any female executive, anybody who has been put to the side — women, blacks, gays — for them to succeed in a white-male-dominated culture is an act of brilliance. Of resilience, of grit, of everything you can imagine. So, what do I think of Hillary? I think she's f---ing awesome. Is she in bed with Wall Street? Goddammit, I should hope so! You've got to dance with the devil.”
RuPaul said the choice was between Clinton and "pompous braggart who doesn't know anything about diplomacy," referring to 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.
RuPaul's comments quickly caught the attention of many on social media who praised his powerful endorsement of Clinton.
What @RuPaul says
about Hillary is
LITERALLY EVERYTHING
I've been thinking and saying about why I support her! pic.twitter.com/oK2n3rh8Aa — Greg Stevens (@gregstevens) August 13, 2016From Spain: PSG are after Neymar and his release clause does not scare them....
According to Sport, Paris Saint-Germain are ready to make another attempt next summer for Neymar. The Brazilian starlet has recently renewed his deal with Barcelona till 2021 as he will make 15 million euros per season plus bonuses and there will be a 250 million release clause included in his new deal. Nasser Al-Khelaifi isn't affraid of this release clause and might even be willing to pay it all in an attempt to bring Neymar to Paris.
Neymar hasn't had an amazing start to this new season with the Catalan club but he still has scored 6 goals in 13 games so far this season. Barcelona are presently second in la liga standings, 2 points off Real Madrid. PSG have been struggling this season as they are third in the ligue 1 standings, 3 points off Mario Balotelli's Nice. The French club had already tried in the past to get Neymar as they will be hoping that there luck improves in the future.
Jean-Luca Mascaro (@CalcioNews89)West Bromwich Albion have condemned the Aston Villa supporters who invaded the pitch during and at the end of their FA Cup quarter-final and endangered players and staff. Albion have also threatened to ban any of their own fans guilty of ripping out and throwing seats.
The FA will formally launch its investigation on Monday into the scenes |
the state’s proposal to locate a helipad there. Any new use would need considerable study and to fit into a broader plan underway for the Seaport’s industrial park, said Rich McGuinness, deputy director for waterfront planning at the BPDA.
“What are the needs of businesses in the area? How might a park play a role there, if at all?” McGuinness said. “We don’t want to get into these other future uses without taking a serious look.”
David L. Ryan/Globe Staff The Trustees of Reservations are looking at major expansion in Boston of Dry Dock #4 in the Marine Industrial Park.
Advertisement
Other potential sites contain similar wrinkles. The city is seeking proposals to redesign the old Northern Avenue Bridge, but the timing and funding remain unclear. Major sites along Fort Point Channel and the East Boston waterfront are privately owned, and in East Boston, there are several proposed developments that could affect the trustees’ options there.
Senior officials in the Walsh administration have met with the trustees, but remain noncommittal.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for Mayor Martin J. Walsh pointed to the new Imagine Boston 2030 plan, which calls for major new open space along the harbor, and said the city is talking with a range of waterfront groups about different opportunities.
Early plans under Mayor Thomas M. Menino for what was then dubbed Boston’s Innovation District included several sizeable parks in the Seaport. The Lawn on D, for instance, has proved popular, though it has struggled to sustain private funding.
But some larger proposals were gradually whittled down to become smaller plazas alongside office and apartment buildings. Today, there are relatively few open sites left to host a park.
That a respected parks organization wants to help was welcome news to Julie Wormser, vice president for policy at Boston Harbor Now, which has long advocated for more public access to the waterfront.
The trustees group — with an annual budget approaching $30 million and an endowment of $129 million — has the vision and resources to make a big impact, she said.
“There are very few organizations that can pull off a big, wonderful, audacious new park,” Wormser said. “That’s what they’re set up to do, and we’re psyched that they’re getting involved.”
The Barr Foundation, which has lately stepped up its investment in waterfront planning, gave the trustees $1.7 million last year to fund the planning project. With that money, the group has hired several prominent firms, including Boston-based architects Utile Inc.; Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, which designed New York City’s Brooklyn Bridge Park and new riverfront parks in Pittsburgh and Dallas; and HR&A Advisors, a consulting firm that has crafted financing plans for many large urban parks.
David L. Ryan/Globe Staff/File The Seaport District in 2012.
Cities across the country are turning former industrial waterfronts into great public space, said HR&A chairman John Alschuler. Conceived decades ago, the Harborwalk and Christopher Columbus Park in Boston are modest by comparison. But the trustees’ proposal, Alschuler said, is for a much more ambitious space that could be cherished by the whole city.
“This is a once-every-200-years type of opportunity,” he said. “The harbor can be a new Common for Boston, as great and important as Boston Common itself.”
The trick will be paying for it. Erickson said the trustees group is unlikely to pay the entire amount itself or through donations. The organization is considering partnering with developers and nearby landowners to fund the acquisition, building, and long-term maintenance.
“We see the challenges the Greenway is having right now,” said Erickson, referring to state plans to end its $2 million annual subsidy of the downtown park where the Central Artery once stood. “If we can come up with a new model for how we finance parks in this city as well, that would be huge.”
Either way, those who visit or live or work in the fast-changing neighborhoods along Boston Harbor say they’d love to see more open space amid all the new buildings.
Since moving his business, Digital Lumens, to Fort Point five years ago, Tom Pincince has watched the neighboring Seaport District fill in with buildings but few new public spaces. He’s eager to see the trustees pull off this big idea.
“A series of pocket parks where people take their dogs to pee does not reflect the sort of great places we want to have in this city,” Pincince said. “What they’re talking about, that would be fantastic.”
Jon Chesto of the Globe Staff contributed to this report. Tim Logan can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @bytimlogan0 SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Whatsapp Pinterest Print Mail Flipboard
Thanks to a growing economy President Obama’s approval rating has reached its highest level since May of 2013. Obama is now more popular than George W. Bush, and as popular as Ronald Reagan was at the same point in their second terms.
According to the latest CNN/ORC poll, the Obama resurgence is being fueled by the growing economy. Fifty-two percent of respondents called the U.S. economy very or somewhat good while 48% said the economy was very or somewhat poor. The President’s approval rating has increased with 18-29-year-olds (57%), women (51%), Democrats (88%), and liberal Democrats (97%).
The news gets even better for Obama when his approval rating is stacked up against the previous three two-term presidents. With the exception of Bill Clinton, President Obama is faring better than or equal to the most recent two-term presidents.
Here is the approval rating for the last four two-term presidents in April of their seventh year in office:
CNN provided some context for the Bush, Clinton and Reagan approval ratings:
At this point in his presidency, Bill Clinton held a 60% approval rating following his impeachment trial over the Monica Lewinsky scandal, largely buoyed by a strong economy. George W. Bush posted a 36% approval rating in April 2007, buffeted by the war in Iraq despite mostly positive reviews of the economy.
And the spring of Ronald Reagan’s seventh year in office saw him earning a 48% approval rating from the public, a rating that was just beginning to recover from the Iran-Contra affair and didn’t get any boost from a tepid economic climate.
Many supporters of the President will view his increasing approval numbers as Obama finally getting credit for the economic turnaround after pulling the country back from the brink of a potential depression when he took office, but these numbers could foreshadow a Democratic strong point in 2016. If the economy keeps growing, Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, will be able to run on maintaining and expanding the Obama economy.
Republicans are arguing that a Clinton win would equal an Obama third term, but what if the American people like where the nation is heading under Obama? The Republican attack could backfire and actually make the case for electing Hillary Clinton. President Obama has held Democrats together, and he is on the upswing.
His critics tried their best to destroy him, but President Obama is not only surviving, but he is also growing stronger.
If you’re ready to read more from the unbossed and unbought Politicus team, sign up for our newsletter here! Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human:BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Coordinated bomb attacks killed more than 32 people across Iraq on Sunday, the latest violence in an insurgency the government has failed to quell more than nine months after the last U.S. troops withdrew.
Violence in Iraq has eased since the carnage of 2006-2007, but Sunni Islamists still launch frequent attacks to undermine the Shi’ite-led government’s claim to provide security and prove they remain a potent threat.
No group claimed responsibility for Sunday’s string of attacks, but a local al Qaeda affiliate and other Sunni Islamist groups have carried out at least one major assault a month since the last American troops left in December.
In Taji, 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad, bombs in three parked cars went off separately, killing 11 people and wounding 24, including several policemen. Taji has one of Iraq’s largest military airbases but the bombing hit a civilian neighborhood.
Reuters footage of the scene of one of the explosions showed the remains of an exploded car surrounded by several completely and partially destroyed houses and cars.
“A car bomb entered the area and no one... noticed this. Why did that happen? All the houses were destroyed,” said Khaidar Abas, owner of one of the damaged homes.
In Baghdad, three separate bombs killed eight people, including a police officer.
In the city of Kut, 150 km (95 miles) southeast of Baghdad, a suicide bomber driving a car blew himself up, killing four policemen, police and local officials said.
Residents inspect the site of a bomb attack in the town of Taji, about 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad, September 30, 2012. A string of car bomb blasts targeting mainly police checkpoints killed at least 17 people across Iraq on Sunday, police and hospital sources said. REUTERS/Saad Shalash (IRAQ - Tags: CONFLICT CIVIL UNREST)
PILGRIMS
Another attack targeted a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims as it passed through the town of Madaen, about 30 km (20 miles) southeast of Baghdad. Two passers-by were killed.
Two more policemen were killed when a car bomb went off in the town of Balad Ruz, 90 km (55 miles) northeast of Baghdad, and bomb planted in a parked car in al Qaeda stronghold Mosul killed a civilian.
Further attacks around the country killed a further four people and left scores wounded.
The last major attacks occurred on September 9 when a series of bombs in mainly Shi’ite districts killed more than 100 people across the country.
Al Qaeda’s local wing, the Islamic State of Iraq, recently said it was launching a new offensive against mainly Shi’ite targets.
The conflict in Syria has also helped inflame Sunni-Shi’ite tensions region wide, not least in Iraq, where a return to sectarian slaughter is a real risk.
Since the last U.S. troops left, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s Shi’ite-led government has been politically deadlocked and insurgents have continued to strike, hoping to ignite the kind of sectarian tensions that drove Iraq close to civil war in 2006-2007.
Slideshow (5 Images)
Many Sunnis fear the Shi’ite-led government has marginalized them and Sunni politicians say Maliki is failing to live up to agreements to share power among the parties, a charge his backers dismiss, pointing to Sunnis in key posts.
Security was tightened in Baghdad and other provinces since dozens of inmates, including convicted members of al Qaeda, escaped from a prison in the northern city of Tikrit on Friday.If developers were allowed to add 10 floors to every building proposal this year, there would be thousands of new rental units on the market in a short time, says Joseph Feldman, director of development for Camrost Felcorp. “Ten storeys — that takes an extra 10 weeks on the construction cycle. A new 10-storey building takes a couple of years,” he said. “By just allowing a couple more floors, the impact to the typical pedestrian is negligible at grade. It’s low-impact but it will lead to a healthier market.”
Park Property Management's Margaret Herd in a new apartment building at 66 Isabella St. Hardly anyone moves, but when they do costs $10,000 to $15,000 to turn an old apartment into a unit that competes with private condo rentals, she says. ( Steve Russell / Toronto Star )
The suggestion would be anathema to planners and politicians, worried about shade, scale and high-rise averse neighbours. But lifting height restrictions is one way developers say cities could encourage the building of new rentals in the vacancy-squeezed Toronto region. Canada’s housing agency reported on Tuesday that the area’s vacancy rate has hit a 16-year low of about 1 per cent as a growing population and high housing prices stress the region’s aging rental stock.
Article Continued Below
Just as developers have shown renewed interest in building rentals, the province has expanded rent controls to newer buildings, prompting some builders to switch their projects to condos. Developers and landlords say they want to be part of the rental solution, but there are risks in projecting an appropriate return on their investments: what if interest rates and costs rise beyond the rate of the rent cap; what about the higher costs of maintaining buildings as they age; where are the incentives that are available through the market on luxury buildings and through the government for low-income geared units. “Building a rental is different from building a condo in that you don’t get your money out right away. As part of that you need certainty around it,” said Jim Murphy, head of the Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario (FRPO), an association of builders and property managers. Ottawa’s new national housing policy hasn’t properly addressed middle-income tenants who fall somewhere between luxury and low-income, said Murphy. The province has offered $125 million in development charge rebates. That will help developers of low- and middle-income type units, but it won’t apply to luxury rentals, said Housing Minister Peter Milczyn. Ontario also assesses rentals at the lowest residential property tax rate.
But FRPO didn’t get the short-term exemption it had been seeking from rent control for new buildings. “Ontario is the only jurisdiction that doesn’t treat new purpose-built rentals differently (than other developments),” said Murphy, noting that Quebec has a five-year (rent control) exemption.
Article Continued Below
“The guideline in Ontario is whatever the Consumer Price Index is. It’s capped at 2.5 per cent for an annual increase. This year, it’s 1.5 per cent. Next year it will be 1.8 per cent,” he said. “But in B.C., they add 2 per cent on top of that, so it’s about a 4 per cent return you would have had — or increase tenants would have had — in Vancouver this year.” That 2 per cent is recognition of the cost of building in a city like Vancouver. Ontario says landlords can raise rents beyond the guidelines if they can be justified by expenses such as significant capital repairs. They can also increase rents when a unit turns over. “Since 2012, overall rents in pre-1991 buildings have increased between 2.5 per cent and 3.5 per cent annually, consistent with the approximately 3 per cent return that landlords and economists have advised is necessary to provide a return on investment in this sector,” said Myriam Denis, Milczyn’s spokesperson. “Rental housing continues to offer investors, including REITs and pension funds, a more stable and higher rate of return than many other investments,” said Denis. Feldman says Camrost is fine with its Day 1 dollar assumptions on a new luxury building it is opening at 101 St. Clair Ave. W., in the New Year. But it might have been different had the company known the government would expand rent controls to newer apartments as part of its Fair Housing Plan in April. “The provincial regulations have very much impacted a lot of assumptions that made it easier to justify doing purpose-built rental,” he said. “We certainly would think twice about re-launching or re-starting this project, but we’re committed to moving forward with it and it’s exciting to be delivering a very unique product to the market,” said Feldman. Rent controls played a direct role in RioCan’s decision to switch to condo instead of rental on its King and Portland Sts. development, said CEO Edward Sonshine. But he downplayed the significance of that change, calling the building a residential development test case for the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) company that has historically built shopping malls.
Rent controls played a direct role in RioCan's decision to switch to condo instead of rental on its King and Portland Sts. development.
The 133 apartments are a small number in the context of the REIT’s plans to build 4,000 rentals in Canada over the next five years. About 2,000 apartments are already under construction, including 800 each in Toronto, the first of which — 465 units near Yonge St. and Eglinton Ave. — will be finished in about a year. “There has been a huge shift in retail and right now 90 per cent of our revenue is from retailers. A lot of the space is not getting the growth we want it to,” said Sonshine. At the same time RioCan owns valuable land near some of the Toronto area’s new transit lines. Its Colossus shopping centre, for instance, at highways 407 and 400, is 60 acres sitting next to the new TTC subway extension set to open in Dec. 17. “We’re going to take a discreet portion of that land (about 10 acres) and, over a period of years, get rid of the tenants there and probably build a couple of apartment buildings — rental,” he said. Being a REIT puts RioCan in a different category than traditional residential developers, said Sonshine. “The only people staying in building rental are the institutional investors, the pension funds and people like us for the simple reason that we’re all about long-term cash flow,” he said. It doesn’t cost much more to build a high-end apartment — maybe $30,000 or $40,000 more. The big costs are land and construction. The steel, concrete, plumbing, electrical and elevators are the same. The only real difference is finishes and appliances. “In a rental building, the landlord is paying the property taxes, he’s paying the insurance, he’s paying repair costs. What happens if you start getting 5 per cent inflation? Your expenses are going up at 5 per cent a year, but your rent (increase) is capped at 2.5 per cent. A few years of that, your profits are gone,” said Sonshine. ”The fact is, governments don’t do anything to encourage you to build affordable. We’re in the profit-making business. You can make more profits by renting at $2,000 a month than you can at $1,600 a month when it’s not that different what you’re building.” The main competition for purpose-built rental tenants are small investor condo owners, who account for more than a third of Toronto’s rental accommodation. FRPO estimates the industry has spent $5.2 billion since 2012 repairing and renovating the province’s rental stock, most of which is decades old. Tenants want condo-quality trimmings, said Margaret Herd, senior vice-president of Park Property Management. It manages 4,000 units in the city, including a new in-fill building near Yonge and Wellesley Sts. that opened last spring and rent for between $1,700 for a one-bedroom apartment and $2,800 for a three-bedroom “We understood the demographic of the area and did not build luxury purposely, because we knew this fit the profile of the neighbourhood,” said Herd. Older buildings require more than painting and cleaning when tenants move out. Landlords have to offer newer kitchen cabinets, bathroom fittings and laminate or hardwood flooring instead of carpet, said Herd. “The buildings are 50 years old. Not only do you have that, you’ve got balconies, garages, roofs, windows,” she said. “Back in the early 1980s when you had low vacancies, people were just taking apartments as-is and a renovation cost for an entire building was $5,000,” said Herd. “Now it’s about $10,000 and $15,000 just for an apartment. Investors look at us and go, ‘Where is all this money going?’” At the same time, turnover has dropped as renters delay the home purchases or they simply can’t find places they want to live. “Downtown, I don’t think we’ve had a vacancy for six or seven months,” she said.
Camrost Felcorp's Joseph Feldman at his company's St. Clair Ave. W. buildings. "We certainly would think twice about re-launching or re-starting this project, but we're committed to moving forward with it," says Feldman. ( Vince Talotta )
Niche rentals offer more Adding a rental building to its Imperial Village development allowed builder Camrost Felcorp to think outside the condo box, says Joseph Feldman, the company’s director of development. The 200 purpose-built rentals at 101 St. Clair Ave. W., feature bigger living rooms — 13 ft. wide even in the one-bedroom apartments — and more larger suites. “A lot of constraints on the condo side just evaporate,” he said. The apartments won’t be ready for occupancy until the new year, but Feldman said the 26-storey rental tower is already attracting interest from young professionals who want to move into the neighbourhood between Avenue Rd. and Yonge St. and downsizers from nearby Forest Hill and Rosedale. The main competition for purpose-built apartments are condos bought by investors as income properties. Adding rentals to the community means tenants can stay as long as they like and they have the benefit of professional property management. It also means they can see their new home rather than having to visualize it off a floor-plan. Rentals add to the mix of housing options in Camrost’s master-planned community that includes condos at the adjacent former Imperial Oil headquarters at 111 St. Clair and plans for another condo at 129 St. Clair, along with retail access and its own community centre. “When selling condos you need to be conscientious of deal flow,” said Feldman. Condo market dynamics make it tough to build bigger suites. But in the rental tower most floors include three one-bedroom apartments, five two-bedrooms and one one-bedroom plus den. Sizes range from 585 sq. ft. to 1,900 sq. ft. Layouts are different too. “Rather than square-foot focused, it’s more functional. We have larger living rooms and were able to do things differently when it came to the way in which the amenities work, the way the security system for the building worked,” he said. Rents will range from $2,200 a month to upwards of $10,000 for some of the larger suites. Tenants have access to the Imperial Village amenities that include swimming pool, gym, theatre and games rooms, porters, on-site security and 24/7 hotel-style concierge service. A lot of requests to date have been for longer rental terms, said Feldman. Renting, he said, “allows them to travel, to spend time in Florida or go to Europe and still have a home base in Toronto.”An organization backed by prominent Colorado leaders is moving toward ballot initiatives in 2016 to roll back the state’s TABOR spending caps and make it harder to amend the constitution.
A possible third ballot question from Building a Better Colorado may allow the state’s 1.3 million unaffiliated voters to play a larger role in selecting candidates at the political primary level.
The bipartisan organization tested support for the issues in a December statewide poll and recently began drafting ballot language for the potential initiatives as it prepares to conclude a five-month listening tour in January.
“I think people recognize that there’s a problem that needs to be dealt with … and therefore, there is more enthusiasm for a solution,” said Reeves Brown, the project’s director.
The move to eliminate the inflation-plus-population revenue limit in the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights likely would include a provision to direct surplus money that would have gone to taxpayer refunds to certain priority areas, rather than give state lawmakers free rein to spend it.
And the desire to revamp the initiative process to amend the state constitution likely would involve two elements: a super-majority to win approval and a requirement that petition signatures come from different areas of Colorado.
The tentative proposals, organizers say, represent the areas with the strongest support among the 1,500 civic and business leaders who participated in roughly two-dozen meetings across the state and the 3,500 surveys submitted online.
Brown emphasized that the final outcome remains uncertain, but it’s clear the organization is making a push to tackle some of the most contentious political issues in Colorado, despite initially suggesting it would focus on subtle, nuanced changes.
The direction confirms the early criticism from opponents who suggested that the process is scripted and aimed at the state’s unique fiscal restrictions.
“After losing massive tax hike proposals by wide margins in 2011 and 2013, this group just seems like new packaging for the same old game plan,” said Michael Fields, the state director at Americans for Prosperity, a libertarian-conservative advocacy organization. “The ultimate goal seems to be to dismantle TABOR.”
Colorado’s top elected leaders are largely reserving judgment on the issue. In a statement, Gov. John Hickenlooper said he is looking forward to seeing the end result but “it’s too early to weigh in on potential ballot issues.”
House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst said she is waiting to see the final ballot language, but said she supports the TABOR overhaul and initiative process changes. “Only by investing in our priorities can we build for our future prosperity,” the Boulder Democrat said in a statement.
Nearing the end
Building a Better Colorado, the brainchild of Dan Ritchie, the celebrated former chancellor at the University of Denver and a Republican, debuted this year as a movement to address conflicts that organizers believe are hurting the state’s ability to invest in classrooms and roads and build confidence in government.
The conversation is endorsed by a number of big-name officials, including the Democratic governor and Republican Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers.
The organization planned to finish its work by the end of the year but delayed its final report to mid-January at the earliest. The final dozen community “summits,” at which the organization gathers input on its policy proposals, are scheduled through mid-January.
At the start, Building a Better Colorado put forth 30 policy ideas in five areas, but it found little support for altering the state’s campaign finance system or easing term limits on lawmakers.
A statewide poll of 800 likely voters helped confirm the findings and narrowed the list further. The organization refused to release the results or discuss the methodology, putting the findings into question.
“We are not going to run our campaign through The Denver Post,” said Curtis Hubbard, an organization spokesman, whose firm largely works for Democratic candidates and causes.
Another area where the organization decided against pursuing action is the hospital provider fee.
“It’s a short-term fix,” Brown explained.
Moving forward
The one idea the group did not entertain from the start is the complete repeal of TABOR, in particular the constitutional requirement that voters approve all tax hikes. However, the project’s leader said he was surprised at the level of support for removing the revenue caps, which restrict state budget spending and provide taxpayer refunds in boom years.
“There’s an increasing percentage of the electorate (for which) TABOR is not as sacrosanct as it was to some,” Brown said.
Brown said the idea has more support among likely voters when coupled with “a prescription on how it would be spent.”
The state’s current budget situation, in which it is issuing taxpayer refunds but facing spending cuts, is a motivating factor, he said.
Chris Watney, the president at the nonprofit Colorado Children’s Campaign, applauded the move. “Having more ability to invest and more flexibility in how we do so, I do think would have a positive impact on things like education and health care,” she said.
Still, the potential ballot initiative would prove hugely controversial, particularly given the emphasis from Republicans and conservatives on protecting the TABOR limits.
“I don’t think Building a Better Colorado fully comprehends the dynamics it would take to do all they want to do,” said Rep. Tim Dore, R-Elizabeth. “I think for me it’s wait and see, knowing that usually these type of deals produce ideas that ultimately don’t get much traction.”
The effort to change the state’s initiative process may prove just as contentious. The current system allows residents to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot with signatures from roughly 100,000 registered voters and win approval with a simple majority vote.
Building a Better Colorado is considering a requirement for a super-majority vote for new initiatives — but maintaining a simple majority to change amendments that received prior voter approval. The organization is discussing a two-thirds threshold but may put the bar as low as 55 percent.
An idea to require more signatures for constitutional initiatives is another possibility, although the poll found it didn’t get much traction among likely voters, Brown said.
The potential third initiative to tweak political primaries is less certain, as the group found it generated less energy among its participants. But the organization is continuing to look at ways to increase political participation by allowing unaffiliated voters to vote in primaries.
Overall, Brown said he is surprised by the consensus to make major changes, even as he acknowledges that the process is taking place in a bubble without opposition voices.
“This is still going to be a challenge, as it always is, to get a yes vote on any significant public policy change,” he said. “But I’m encouraged that people are much more open to the ideas than I thought they would be.”
John Frank: 303-954-2409, [email protected] or @ByJohnFrankTL;DR: my match Crazy_Overlord is freaking awesomesauce and thanks to her I have the most fabulous and distracting nails ever!
UPDATE #1: I just got the most gorgeous and glittery card in the mail. The fact that my match took the time to send a card just to send a personalized message (since everything was ordered online) means a lot. Thanks again for being so thoughtful (:
UPDATE #2: Package #3 came in the mail today! And once again I am blown away by my Santa's generosity. I'm going to have to watch many many youtube tutorials to figure out how to use all these nail brushes and stickers and I can't wait to experiment with everything! I still haven't figured out what to do with the shiny paper things but they're freaking awesome and are fun to look at haha (: I also can't wait to try the cool looking bottle of blue/pink nail polish in the package and I also LOVE the designs on the new nail stamping plate I got. I've said it so many times before by I can't thank you enough Crazy_Overlord.
༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ hug
I got the first package last week and honestly I was pretty confused when I opened it up to find a bunch of candy. I was wondering why I received another snacks exchange present and then eventually figured it must have been my 100th exchange extravaganza package filled with 100 lollipops. But when I excitedly dug into the candies and styrofoam peanuts I pulled out a bottle of nail polish. And then another bottle. And then another one.
Turns out, I received my makeup exchange package earlier than expected! My santa more than doubled my nail polish collection, and every single bottle she sent was either a color/trend I already loved or wanted to try.
After freaking out over them, I realized there was more in the box - I also got a nail stamping kit and a set of stamping plates. I spent the weekend trying to learn how to use them (first attempt was a major failure, and then I realized there was a plastic cover on top of the plates you were supposed to take off first :P) and I think I got the hang of it now. Thanks for introducing me to nail stamping and giving me the chance to try something new I never would have on my own!
I'm just absolutely blown away by your kindness and generosity. Thanks for taking the time to message me to find out what I liked or to keep me updated; I feel so lucky to have a match who's been so thoughtful about everything! I can't believe there's another package coming because this is already too much. I suppose I should also thank you for distracting me from finals too, because instead of studying I spent the weekend before my last exam doing my nails (I probably didn't do too hot but damn if I didn't have the coolest nails in the room that day!). I'm also going to add that my nails are distracting my students at work too - I had one kid stop me in the middle of a lesson to tell me she liked the "drawings" on my nails and to ask if we could switch fingers sometime.
I could probably go on and on forever about how excited and happy I am, but I'm just gonna wrap it up here. THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH CRAZY_OVERLORD :D :DAt the outset, let’s stipulate some common sense about the American tactical nuclear weapons deployed in Europe. No matter what arguments we might make, pro or con, about keeping those arms, it’s not the right time to remove them. Not because they have any utility, but because optics matter: Russian president Vladimir Putin’s open aggression against Ukraine currently makes it impossible for Barack Obama, or for any NATO leader, even to suggest anything that would look like capitulation to Russia and thus encourage Putin to continue pressing his luck. The Atlantic Alliance has more pressing issues in Europe to deal with besides the fate of a moldering inventory of tactical nuclear bombs, and there’s no point in handing a propaganda victory to a Kremlin already in a state of agitation, if not full-blown panic.
Saying that we should not remove these weapons in the middle of a crisis, however, does not then mean that there are any good reasons to hold on to them much longer. Tactical nuclear arms in Europe are literally outdated: not only are the bombs themselves reaching the end of their service life, but the strategy to employ them was overtaken by events twenty years ago.
None of that has stopped three prominent foreign-policy figures—Brent Scowcroft, Stephen Hadley and Franklin Miller—from arguing a few days ago in the Washington Post that NATO should “reaffirm the value to the alliance of the continued presence of the modest number of U.S. nuclear bombs in Europe.” This affirmation, they claim, “is necessary because we are again hearing calls for the United States to unilaterally withdraw its small arsenal of forward-deployed nuclear bombs. Those arguments are shopworn, familiar—and wrong.”
I’m not as certain these arguments are so wrong, not least because I’m one of the people who has been making them for some years. Scowcroft, Hadley and Miller are conflating the tired demands of the antinuclear left—who wanted the bombs gone even when the Soviet Army was poised on the edge of Europe—with more recent (and better) arguments that take into account not only the changes in Europe, but the need to rethink our nuclear strategy.
Indeed, the “familiar and shopworn” arguments are the ones that Scowcroft, Hadley and Miller present in their defense of the tactical arsenal, which sound as if they were written in 1974 and not 2014:
“A principal function of forward deployment [of tactical nuclear weapons] has been, and remains, to be a visible symbol to friend and potential foe of the U.S. commitment to defend NATO with all of the military power it possesses.”
There is some truth to this, although it was a more salient observation thirty years ago. Today, it is an affirmation that is no longer welded to a strategy.
In the 1950s and early 1960s, tactical nukes were part of a last-ditch effort to stop superior Soviet conventional forces. Later, however, they were inserted as a crucial rung in the escalatory ladder to a Soviet-American central nuclear exchange. The goal was to convince Moscow that an invasion of Europe would produce an inevitable tipping of nuclear dominos, from the battlefield all the way to all-out war. Thus, the Kremlin would never dare an invasion of Europe (which it could have accomplished by conventional means) because it would have meant courting the destruction of the USSR.
Is that still NATO’s strategy? I hope not; there is no longer a Central Front on which to fight, and in any case, Russia is now conventionally inferior to NATO and could never sustain the kind of invasion envisioned by Soviet planners—not least because they no longer have any allies. Tactical nukes derived their deterrent power from the realization on both sides that NATO would have to resort to them at a moment of unpredictable desperation against a far-mightier invasion force. That moment is hard to imagine today, even if Putin could reconstitute a more powerful Russian army ( as he seems intent on doing ).
Scowcroft, Hadley and Miller made several other claims, including: that newer members joined NATO to get under the nuclear umbrella (which is not entirely true); that NATO’s conventional power isn’t as strong as it looks and isn’t enough to deter a Russian attack (which is unlikely, but unknowable); that the Russians still think nuclear weapons matter (that’s true); and that NATO isn’t really all that divided on keeping the bombs around (which is clearly false).
Keeping nuclear weapons in Europe isn’t a coherent strategy, but rather represents a cobbling together of fragments of various strategies from the past. Without the overarching concepts of extended deterrence and mutual assured destruction in which they were embedded, tactical nuclear arms do not carry some kind of magical deterrent power merely by existing. If anything, they are more dangerous when detached from their original purpose: during a Cold War invasion of Europe, they were likely to be “use or lose” weapons, launched in strikes that would get them into the air and away from their bases before they were overrun. Today, they would have to be trundled out and attached to jets during a crisis, even if they were not in danger themselves, a provocative act that would play right into the Russian obsession with nuclear force.
Lacking in all this is just how these weapons—which, as Scowcroft and his co-authors admit, are political in nature, rather than military—actually serve the cause of deterrence and enhanced security in Europe. Think about this sobering fact: Russia entered Ukraine, with multiple incursions, sliced off a chunk of that sovereign state, and then formally annexed it. All of this happened with little more than throat-clearing in the European Union, who had to be cajoled into sanctions. Later, the downing of Flight MH17 finally shocked the United States and the EU into imposing stronger sanctions, but we’ve mostly left the Ukrainians on their own—enjoy the MREs, fellas—to fight off the Russians in Donetsk. Again, the EU had to be dragged along for greater sanctions, an effort that is not yet producing any tangible results.
These are the allies who are going to countenance the use of nuclear weapons, perhaps even the first use of nuclear arms? (NATO has not renounced the first use of nuclear weapons, which was a good idea during the Cold War, but makes far less sense now.) And somehow, these 200 nuclear bombs strewn around Western Europe are the trump card that tells the Kremlin, “we’ll get really, really serious if we have to”? Nonsense.
NATO should have ditched these weapons a decade ago and spent more time beefing up its air and ground assets. The United States should also have focused sooner on the game of Roman knuckles Putin is intent on playing with us, rather than trying to pull one more moment of life from a Russian “reset” policy whose goals were admirable, but whose clumsy execution doomed the whole idea. |
heavily in Branden Albert and the Browns in veterans Donte Whitner and Karlos Dansby. The Dolphins have awarded two of the top guaranteed amounts in free agency over the last two years: $30 million to Mike Wallace and $25 million to Albert. As for the Browns, owner Jimmy Haslam is certainly not afraid to spend—including tens of millions on fired coaches and executives—to try to get things right in Cleveland.
7. The Falcons’ release of Tony Gonzalez is curious. When a player announces his retirement, it is usually a mutual parting: the player files his paperwork and the team places him on the reserve/retired list, carrying no cap or cash obligations. In this case, it appears that Gonzalez didn’t do his part, forcing the Falcons to actually release him prior to a scheduled roster bonus rather than retaining his rights. Perhaps the explanation is as simple as Gonzalez wanting to be free to sign a one-day contract with the Chiefs—and then be placed on their reserve/retired list—but something seems amiss here, perhaps suggesting that the Falcons-Gonzalez marriage did not end well.
8. The Saints’ signing of Jairus Byrd is puzzling for a team that is quite cap-strapped. Byrd’s contract has to be structured similarly to Drew Brees’ deal: heavy in (prorated) signing bonus with a very low first-year salary. Of course, cap-friendly now means cap-unfriendly later. Brees’ cap number this year is $8 million higher than it was two years ago. I sense Byrd’s Cap progression will be the same
9. Speaking of cap-strapped teams, the Cowboys’ and Steelers’ releases of DeMarcus Ware and LaMarr Woodley, respectively, are the “pay the piper” moments that fans ask about. Neither the mortgaging of Tony Romo’s contract nor the $10 million per-team cap increase this year helped Ware with the Cowboys, who seemed to lack a plan for his future. As for Woodley, he helped the Steelers with short-term cap room in recent years by mortgaging his contract, pushing cap charges down the line. His release accelerates a startling “dead money” charge of $14 million. Although it will be spread between this year and next as a post-June 1 release, Woodley will be one of the highest charges on the Steelers’ cap ledger both this year and next while he continues his career elsewhere. As readers know, I have been critical of the Steelers’ cap deferrals; no team has mortgaged more contracts since 2011. That strategy is now coming home to roost.
10. The Dolphins are trying scrub away the ugly locker room episodes that were detailed in the Wells Report. The head trainer and offensive line coach were fired; Richie Incognito will not be back; and Jonathan Martin was traded to San Francisco on Tuesday. Martin will come cheap: the Dolphins paid his bonus of $1.92 million as a rookie; the 49ers inherit two years of non-guaranteed salaries as Martin gets a much-needed change of scenery.In a drastic step to raise awareness for water conservation, the San Rafael Pacifics (independent; Pacific Association) are launching the Get Dirty With the Pacifics campaign. As part of this effort, the Pacifics will reduce their water consumption by not washing their uniforms after home games that are attended by 500 or more fans.
“The Pacifics want to do their part to call attention to California’s drought conditions, so we won’t wash our uniforms for games where we draw 500 fans,” said Pacifics Vice President of Marketing Kim McGinnis. “We’re hoping that this campaign will engage our fans in an innovative and fun way and, at the same time, potentially save thousands of gallons of water on our laundry.”
“Get Dirty with the Pacifics” was created as a partnership with MCE and Marin Municipal Water District. The program could save over 3,400 gallons of water if every Pacifics home game is attended by at least 500 fans, half the capacity of Albert Park. The campaign will feature a “gallons saved” counter at the main entrance to Albert Park and a reusable water bottle giveaway to the first 200 fans to enter the ballpark courtesy courtesy of Marin Municipal Water District on Water Conservation Day on July 30.
In an additional effort to increase sustainability, Pacifics players and staff will also abandoning paper cups and plastic water bottles in favor of reusable water bottles to drink from during the game.
“We’re very excited to be partnering with the Pacifics this summer. Water conservation is the best insurance we have against drought as even in the best of times, Marin only has a two-year supply of water,” said Marin Municipal Water District Board President Cynthia Koehler.
The Pacifics begin their 2016 season with an exhibition game at Albert Park against the Pittsburg Diamonds on Thursday, May 26th at 7:05, and will play their home opener on June 7th against Pittsburg, with Grateful Dead Bassist Phil Lesh tabbed to sing the Star Spangled Banner.The Infinite Yums created this elaborate, electrified, edible Ewok village with Rice Krispie treat Death Star. The Ewoks are chocolate, the straw thatching is shredded wheat, trees are texturized krispies painted with icing, the platforms are gingerbread...
Humble beginnings for this formidable task. A giant ball of Rice Krispie treats, roughly shaped like the unfinished death star from Return of the Jedi, covered in grey fondant and left to dry out...
My trusty dremel makes another appearance to make the appropriate space for the lights and necessary wiring. Then I (for what seemed like eternity,) patiently worked all the little lights into their new homes and secured them with fondant. About this time i started giggling a lot and getting really excited. I may have been mildly ridiculous.
So at this point, my Death Star is setting up, my village is ready to be assembled. I built all my little huts, then discovered it looked completely off proportionally, so I remade a bunch of them to much improved results. then I covered the houses with fondant and textured it to also look like wood. I used shredded wheat to make thatched roofs on the huts once they were in position.How many addictions do you currently have? Are you addicted to smoking, caffeine, sugar, alcohol, any other drugs, the Internet, porn, masturbation, sex, orgasm, gambling, shopping, work, TV, movies, social media, video games, food, or anything else? What behaviors do you perform compulsively, even though they don’t really serve you in the long run?
The insidious thing about addictions is that all addictions weaken the prefrontal cortex, which is the part of your brain associated with self-discipline and willpower. The more addictions you have, the weaker your self-regulation abilities become, which increases your susceptibility to further addictions. One addiction tends to invite others, and pretty soon you find yourself with a half-dozen addictions, although you may only be consciously aware of one or two of them.
Addictions get conditioned when certain behaviors trigger a dopamine response. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that helps to solidify desired behaviors, such as eating and sex. Initially we experience a reward (a feeling of pleasure) to reinforce a new behavior, and as the pattern gets conditioned, the reward is gradually reduced. The behavior becomes automatic, even if the reward is stopped. If we want to feel the same level of pleasure we did when we first started, we have to keep increasing the dosage.
Unfortunately for us, our dopamine reward circuitry evolved during a much simpler time, when the triggers for addiction-prone behaviors were scarce. In a world of overabundant triggers, we see an overabundance of addictions. Our brains over-reward us, thereby over-conditioning short-term pleasures that often work against our long-term happiness and fulfillment. What’s even worse is that many companies deliberately target these neurological shortcomings to sell more products and services. Walk into a grocery store, and notice all the items on the shelves with added sugar, oil, or salt. One of the main reasons these items are added is because they make food more addictive than it would otherwise be.
These addictions have consequences for us. For instance, the latest Gallup polls report that 28.3% of adult Americans are now obese, an increase of 2.8 percentage points since 2008. That translates into more cancer, more heart attacks, more strokes, more diabetes, and a lot more money spent on healthcare (which is really sickcare).
The Addiction-Free Standard
Overcoming even one addiction is hard work. Facing several addictions can seem monumentally difficult.
But what’s the truth? The truth is that all addictions weaken us. Addictions lower our ability to discipline ourselves. They derail our best plans to one degree or another. They cause us to live more compulsively and less consciously. And as so many people report after overcoming a major addiction, life is better on the other side. It can take a lot of patience and resolve to get there though.
Even if it takes years, if we truly want to live consciously, then becoming addiction-free must be our gold standard in this area. Even if we never reach it, it’s wise to hold this standard as our goalpost. The closer we get to it, the better off we’ll be.
Imagine what your life would be like with no addictions. You’d be more disciplined than ever. You’d have the ability to make conscious choices in each moment. You wouldn’t have repetitive compulsions wasting your time or renting space in your mind. Your thinking would be more rational. You’d enjoy more freedom. You’d have more energy and better focus. You’d probably save money, and you’d surely save time.
Would you like to be addiction-free? If so, then a good place to start is to paint a picture of what your life could be like with no addictions.
Usually when people do this, they underestimate how good life will be on the other side, and they overestimate how deprived they’ll feel without their favorite addictions. The real cost of addiction is often hidden to us.
Did you know that addictive behaviors neurologically suppress thoughts and reasoning that might counteract the addictive behavior? Just thinking about overcoming an addiction can feel like pushing through a thick mental fog. Your own brain will often derail such thought processes in defense of the addictive patterns.
And yet there’s still hope. People have successfully overcome decades-long addictions. Failure is rampant but success is possible.
Noticing Addiction’s Irrational Logic
Part of the irrationality of addiction involves overweighing the downside of quitting. Thinking about leaving an addiction behind for good can feel like losing the love of your life. Of course that’s nonsense, but it can feel perfectly rational.
Try convincing a daily coffee drinker to give up coffee forever, and watch them rise up to defend and rationalize the habit as if you’ve asked them to sacrifice their beloved family pet. Notice how irrational this response really is. Can we live a happy and fulfilled life caffeine-free for all of our remaining years? Of course we can. Lots of people do. But when we’re in the grips of the addiction, our rational thinking gets hijacked, making us compute that dropping this substance (which is actually a poison) and replacing it with healthier alternatives will somehow rob us of life’s inherent goodness.
What if you never had another orgasm for the rest of your life? What if you never consumed refined sugar again? What if you never used social media again? When we ask such questions, our mind immediately objects. No orgasms… that’s ridiculous! No sugar… tell me it isn’t true! No social media… I’ll have no friends! Of course we could live happy and fulfilling lives without these short-term pleasures. When we think otherwise, we’re confusing pleasure with happiness. It’s the nature of addiction to treat pleasure and happiness as one. The less of an addict you become, the more you’ll realize how separate and distinct these are, and the more weight you’ll place on long-term happiness.
Often behind these objections is a bigger challenge we aren’t facing. How would you live if you couldn’t use social media? You’d probably have to develop a whole new set of skills, which could be an amazing personal growth challenge, one you might actually find deeply fulfilling if you tackled it. What if you never consumed salt, oil, or sugar again? Within about 30 days, your taste buds would adapt and become more sensitive, and food would taste just as good as it did before, except that it would be less addictive, so you’d probably eat less of it. You’d also be less likely to develop heart disease.
All or Nothing
One mindset for overcoming addictions is all or nothing, which in this case has nothing to do with the Arizona Cardinals. This approach rules out any kind of ongoing relationship with the addiction. The triggers and patterns must be squashed into submission. So if alcohol is your addiction, this means no going to bars, no having any alcohol in your house, and creating substitute behaviors when other triggers get activated (such as having a craving).
If you relapse with this approach, which is totally normal, you get back up and try again, each time with the realization that there is no middle ground. You can’t have a relationship with the addiction. There is no moderation for an addict. The standard you aim to reach is being permanently alcohol-free.
I used this strategy with overcoming an addiction to shoplifting when I was 19. For 18 months prior, whenever I went out, there was a good chance I’d steal something. Seeing an opportunity was one trigger. Feeling some edginess was another. Even boredom could be a trigger. Once I felt that surge of excitement, I couldn’t help myself. Lots of rationalization stemmed from there. Somehow my brain always had a way to explain the behavior as a good idea at the time.
Eventually I realized I had to stop this behavior for good. After several arrests I was facing the threat of serious jail time if I didn’t straighten out. Even with that motivation, it wasn’t easy. I successfully stopped, largely by moving to another city and nuking many of the triggers, but I didn’t feel like myself for several months afterwards. It felt like there was an empty hole in my personality. I missed who I was when I had the excitement of stealing in my life. I felt like a hollow shell of a person, like my soul was missing. It took a long time to feel normal again.
When I shoplifted, I probably got away with it cleanly about 97% of the time. Another 2% were near misses, where I almost got caught or did get caught and somehow talked my way out of trouble. It was only that remaining 1% where the punishment happened. Everything else triggered a dopamine reward-reinforcement mechanism. Even after I got arrested, I’d take a break for a week or so, and then I’d go out again, and I’d be right back into reward mode.
Even a decade after I stopped, I still had some of those shoplifting-related behaviors. I couldn’t help it. When I walked into certain stores, I’d automatically notice the security cameras and their blind spots. Or I’d imagine how easy it would be to get something for free if I wanted to. I didn’t do the actual stealing anymore, but the other parts of those mental pathways were still present and active. Eventually those other patterns faded too, which took much longer than I expected. Now that it’s been around 26 years, those patterns no longer activate automatically. I was only actively shoplifting for about 18 months. Imagine how long addictive behaviors may linger after quitting a decades-long addiction.
Regulation
An intermediate strategy that works for some addictions is to regulate the addiction. This works best in the early stages of an addiction before it’s grown too strong. It’s also a reasonable choice when some aspect of the behavior must be maintained in order to access certain benefits, such as using the Internet.
Relying on your willpower and discipline to self-regulate is usually a losing proposition since an addiction will weaken your self-regulation abilities. So it’s wise to acknowledge that you won’t always be as strong as you are when you’re at your best. Eventually you’ll be weak enough, tired enough, or foggy enough to succumb. And the more you succumb, the more you’ll reinforce the addictive pattern, and the more insidious the pattern will be at circumventing further attempts to regulate it.
This is where relying on some kind of outside help or tool is useful. For instance, if you suffer from Internet addiction, you can install the Freedom app, which lets you restrict your access to certain websites or to the whole Internet. It’s very customizable. I use this app liberally when I want to get some real work done, often scheduling the block times in advance. If I get triggered and try to check email when I should be working on some deeper task, I get a blocking page telling me that I’m free of that distraction. Going email-free doesn’t seem like a realistic option for my business – tempting though it is – but regulating this habit by restricting access works pretty well. I found this app so useful that I bought a lifetime subscription to it.
I’ve also completely blocked access to certain websites like Google News and MacRumors, which used to be distractions for me. If any other site becomes a problem, I can easily add a rule to limit my access or to block it permanently.
Because I used to access Google News and MacRumors so often (multiple times per day), I could just type the letters n or m in Chrome, and it would automatically fill out those URLs. As odd as it may sound, even many months after blocking those sites, I still sometimes catch myself unconsciously trying to visit those sites by typing in the letters and hitting enter, often after I finish checking email or when I’m between tasks. The behavior has been blocked for a long time, but the triggers still get activated. The pattern is fading, but it’s fading very slowly. If I didn’t use software to block access, my conditioned behaviors would see me accessing them automatically.
As ironic as it seems, the key to regulating an addiction is not to trust your own brain. When it comes to managing an addiction, your brain will often lie to you. It will tell you it can manage just fine if you want to self-regulate and tone down an addiction, giving you the false impression that you can trust it. And then when you aren’t paying attention, it will trigger the behavior, and you’ll be well into it before you consciously realized what happened. Or you’ll watch it happening and won’t be able to stop yourself. If you question the behavior, your brain will give you a convenient rationalization for why it’s okay just this once. And you’ll waste several hours each week, enough that you could have take an extra vacation or completed a significant work project with the wasted time.
Don’t trust your sneaky, addicted brain. Know that it will try to betray you, and take steps to thwart it in advance. Remove the triggers if you can, or put a roadblock between the trigger and the behavior. I know this sounds a bit schizo, but it works.
If porn (or masturbating to it) is one of your addictions, don’t keep any porn on any of your devices. If you have a collection, nuke the whole thing. Yup, all of it, permanently. If this makes you want to cry, recognize that those thoughts are irrational; the addiction is trying to defend itself. Porn is just a sea of triggers that you don’t need. You can also block access to your favorite porn sites by editing the hosts file on your computer. Google “edit hosts file to block sites” for instructions on how to do so. It only takes a minute, and it works for all browsers.
Some television addicts have found peace by physically getting rid of their TVs. Many years ago I listened to an audio program where the author recommended destroying every TV with an axe. That’s certainly one way to make the behavior more difficult to execute… although these days you might need to destroy anything with a screen to make this approach work.
Positive Relationships
I’m becoming convinced that addictions are very often a substitute for healthy intimate relationships. When we maintain addictions, they fill the void that’s supposed to be filled with intimacy and connection with other people. We often see that when people overcome addictions, their relationship lives improve dramatically. Real human connection fills the void.
Addictions can also cause us to push people away without even realizing it. Deep down we feel some shame or guilt, or we fear getting found out if it’s a socially unacceptable addiction. This infects our relationship posture, and other people pick up on those negative feelings, making good connections less likely.
If you feel less worthy of social abundance because of any addictions, you may very well be pushing people away. Moreover, your sneaky brain can predict that too much intimacy could shed light on your hidden addictions, making them vulnerable to change, so by sabotaging your social life, it protects the addictions. Your brain is clever, and it will often give you seemingly rational reasons as to why you aren’t ready to socialize yet. One of the most common rationalizations is the (false) belief that you have to get into better physical shape before you’re ready to connect more. You don’t. You can connect with people starting today.
Consequently, a good way to stave off addictions as well as to overcome them is to be more active in pursuing and maintaining healthy relationships. Would you rather connect deeply with a video game world or with some terrific friends face to face? Would you rather connect with a latte and the Internet or with a romantic partner? One side gives you short-term pleasure. The other side can create long-term happiness.
Now you might be thinking… I’ve got you there, Steve. I know I can have both! I play video games with my friends, and I have coffee with my girlfriend. So I’m doing the relating thing too!
Well… aren’t you clever! Sure, that sounds perfectly logical, but it would make Spock vomit. It’s just another phony rationalization from an addicted brain. Can you see why that would be so?
Turning the addiction into a social activity drags us all down. We do include some relating, which is good in general, but if we’re relating on the basis of addiction, then what are we missing? Of course we’re missing relating on the basis of non-addiction.
Those hours spent in addiction-themed socialization can be a lot of fun. They’ll surely trigger our reward circuitry, and we get a double-whammy of a reward. We get rewarded for the addictive behavior, and we feel rewarded for the social aspect. The reason this seems like a good investment of time is because we’re confusing the logic of short-term pleasure with the logic of long-term fulfillment.
Now if you aren’t an addict, then there’s nothing wrong with short-term pleasure. Mixing some pleasure into your social connections is all well and good. But you turn a corner when you mix in an addiction where some aspect of your behavior is compulsive. That’s when you talk endlessly about nothing of substance because the coffee makes you ramble, or you stay up late playing video games, throwing off your sleep schedule, and giving yourself an unproductive day, week, month, or year. In the long run, this sort of behavior will degrade your healthy relationships, especially relationships with non-addicts who may begin losing respect for you. I’ve heard from a lot of men and women who’ve had to leave relationship partners because of addictions, often while their partners were still in denial about it. It’s never easy to let go for this reason because in the back of the initiator’s mind, there’s the dream of what an addiction-free relationship with their partner could be like… if only.
When we remove addiction from the picture, we create the space for a deeper and more fulfilling connections with people. We also expose the shallowness of connections that don’t really serve us. What does it say about a connection that isn’t as good without gaming or coffee? What does it say about the quality of a relationship if going orgasm-free for a while leaves you feeling hollow and empty instead of deeply in love and grateful? Addictions so often mask substantial weaknesses that we don’t feel ready to face. It takes a lot of strength to face an addiction. It can take even more strength to face the demons hiding behind that addiction.
I’m not suggesting that addiction combined with relating always kills the relating, but I do think that in many cases, the relating would be more honest, more loving, and more powerful without the addiction in the picture. Addictions skew our thinking. An addiction can make a weak relationship seem strong, like giving you the delusion that pushing buttons and staring at a screen in concert with strangers on the Internet somehow makes you all a band of heroes. An addiction can make a conversation seem fascinating and productive, when all you really did was act out a Seinfeld episode.
Since addictions take us out of alignment with truth, we must do our best to shed them, no matter how difficult the challenge. Keep noticing the insidious logic of addiction. It always has a reason, an excuse, a seemingly good explanation to keep you obedient. It robs you of power, freedom, and connection while making it seem like an intelligent idea to do so. This is the part of yourself you’ll need to keep challenging and questioning – and distrusting – if you’re to have any hope of pursuing the addiction-free ideal in earnest.NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked realty firm Jaiprakash Associates to pay Rs 50 lakh as an interim relief to 10 homebuyers of its Kalypso Court project along the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway.The builder has been asked to pay Rs 50 lakh to Developers Township Property Owners Welfare Society that represents 10 homebuyers in the case.The money would be then paid to owners, said Sahil Sethi, senior associate at law firm Saikrishna & Associates, who represented them in the case. Jaiprakash Associates had launched the Kalypso Court project in 2007, which was supposed to have 16 towers and be completed by 2011. However, the work is still pending in most towers.Homebuyers are seeking compensation adequate enough to compensate for their loss caused on account of more than five years’ delay in delivery, Sethi said.“We are also seeking reversal of unlawful demands made by the builder on account of alleged increase in super area and car parking,” he said. The hearing in the case has been listed for a later date, which has not been fixed now.An email sent to Jaiprakash Associates remained unanswered as of press time Wednesday. The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission ( NCDRC ) in May last year had directed Jaiprakash Associates to pay 12% interest for the delay and to complete the project by July 21, 2016, failing which it will have to pay Rs 5,000 per day per home as a penalty till it hands over homes to the buyers.The Supreme Court in July last year stayed the NCDRC order, and asked the builder to deposit Rs 4 crore with the court within two weeks, which it complied with. The court, however, did not stay two other parts of the NCDRC judgment that said Jaypee cannot charge for car parking and also for increase in super area of an apartment post construction unless it had prior consent of the buyer.Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF
A mysterious illness has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of starfish on North America's west coast, and its symptoms are horrifying. Dubbed "sea star wasting syndrome," the arms of an infected individual will twist into knots, develop lesions, and finally crawl away in opposite directions until they tear away from its body, allowing its insides to spill out.
Researchers still aren't sure how the disease spreads, let alone where it comes from. What they do know is that sea stars occupy a pivotal niche in ocean ecosystems, and large-scale die outs are almost certainly a very bad sign. In a fascinating piece that's as sad as it is disturbing, PBS special correspondent Katie Campbell reports on how researchers and citizen scientists are teaming up to investigate the spread of the mysterious syndrome:
Want to help researchers figure out what's going on? Head here and here to learn how you can help scientists track the incidence and spread of the syndrome with photographs and the hashtag #sickstarfish.
Advertisement
[PBS]The BR18 is a bullpup assault rifle made by ST Kinetics of Singapore.
The rifle was officially unveiled at the Singapore Airshow 2014 as the Bullpup Multirole Combat Rifle.[4] The rifle is designed to fire both 5.56×45mm NATO and ST Kinetics Extended Range 5.56mm ammunition and comes as standard with MIL-STD-1913 Picatinny rails at the three, six, nine and 12 o’clock positions.[4]
Its production will enable the Singaporean military to phase out the SAR 21 from service. It is also offered for sale on the international market.[2]
History [ edit ]
The BR18 first made an appearance at the 2012 Singapore Airshow, where it was known as the Next-Gen Concept Bullpup Rifle.[5] In 2014, the BR18 was first unveiled in the Eurosatory exhibition, called the BMCR.[6] The rifle was to be available to both military and law enforcement markets by early 2015.[7]
After user trials were conducted in 2017, ST Kinetics demonstrated the production version of the rifle, which was given the name of BR18 at the 2018 Singapore Airshow exhibition.[1]
Design [ edit ]
The BR18's barrel is coated with a proprietary dry lubricant which repels sand, dust, and gunpowder soot for reduced maintenance. The rifle is also designed to be over the beach (OTB) capable, enabling the operator to safely fire after submerging the rifle in water.[8]
The weapon is constructed of reinforced, blast-proof polymer and is equipped with MIL-STD-1913 "Picatinny" rails to mount scopes and other tactical accessories.[6] While the design was influenced by the SAR-21, the BR18 allows it to be used by both left or right handed users[9] with empty casing ejections set forward and to the right away from the person's face after the weapon is fired from the left shoulder.[2] This negates the necessity of a deflector to ensure the person's face is not hit by hot brass.[9]
ST Kinetics has said that the BR18 has an effective range of 460 m and 800 m when fired with M193 and SS109 ammunition respectively, with a muzzle velocity of 860 m/s when employing SS109 rounds out of the "Assault" variant, equipped with a 14.5" barrel.[1]
The charging handle is placed above the trigger guard.[2] Initial designs showed the charging handle positioned above the cheek rest, which mean that the person would be forced to move from it in order to pull the bolt.[8] Pre-production models improved on this by designing the charging handle to be foldable with one hand and pulled back by using two fingers, using the force of the handle moving to be stowed.[1]
The trigger guard can be flipped outwards so that the shooter can handle the weapon if using gloves.[8]
While a 5.56 version is being scheduled for production, a 7.62x51mm NATO version is currently being developed.[6] The BR18 can use a STK-made 40 GL attached underneath the barrel via picatinny rails.[10]
Variants [ edit ]
The BR18 is available in the following configurations:[3][2][10]
Assault rifle: Has an overall length of 645mm with a 14.5 inches (37 cm) barrel.
Light machine gun: Has a 20 inches (51 cm) barrel.
Marksman rifle.
See also [ edit ]ORLANDO, Fla. -- In an effort to have teams use their top players through the final games of the season, the NFL is considering making the last week -- and possibly weeks -- consist of all divisional matchups.
"Potentially, Week 17 will all be divisional games," commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday during his closing remarks at the NFL Annual Meeting. "That will address this to some extent. It will not necessarily eliminate the issue."
Goodell said the league actually is considering pairing division rivals in the final two weeks of the season. Last season, just 11 of the 32 games played in the last two weeks were divisional matchups.
While teams that clinch playoff berths routinely rest key players late in the season, an uproar of sorts erupted last season when the unbeaten Indianapolis Colts sat many starters in the second half of a Week 16 game that they eventually lost to the New York Jets.
The rationale for sitting players is to minimize injury risks and have key starters as healthy as possible for postseason play. But by scheduling teams against division opponents in the final week (or weeks), it could force teams to use those key starters because a division title -- and a playoff berth -- might hang in the balance.The Tory immigration spokesman was taped without his knowledge by officers wearing covert microphones.
A superintendent cleared the surveillance operation before the MP was arrested into an inquiry about leaks from the Home Office by a civil servant.
The bugging techniques officers used to arrest Mr Green are usually employed by only anti-terrorist specialists.
The Metropolitan Police said the extraordinary lengths were used to ensure everything said by officers and Mr Green was on tape.
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police admitted a tape of Mr Green was made "without his knowledge".
The issue had now been referred to the UK's covert surveillance watchdog "for their advice", the force added.
The Met said: "A tape sound recording was made of the MP's arrest and subsequent period in police charge, without his knowledge, prior to arrival at Belgravia Police station from Kent.
"This was authorised at superintendent level to provide an accurate record of anything that may have been said by officers or the MP over a period of nearly two and a half hours.
"This was done with the best of intentions but to ensure total transparency this matter has been voluntarily referred to the Office of the Surveillance Commissioners (OSC) for their advice.
"The Crown Prosecution Service are also aware of this information which would be fully disclosable if any proceedings were to take place."
Police arrested and held shadow immigration minister Mr Green for nine hours in November in connection with a Home Office leak inquiry.
It prompted Tory accusations of "heavy-handed tactics" by Scotland Yard and piled pressure on the officer in charge of the probe, Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick.
Mr Green's arrest and the subsequent search of his offices in the Houses of Parliament provoked a furious exchange between the Conservative Party and Mr Quick, who is the UK's most senior counter-terrorism officer.
He was forced to make an unreserved apology this week after he accused the Tories of trying to undermine his probe.
Acting Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson has backed his assistant, saying he believed a "line had been drawn" under the row.
Last week the leaks probe came under fire after an independent review questioned the "proportionality" of the manner of Mr Green's arrest on November 27.
The Cabinet Office originally alerted police in October to alleged leaks of Home Office information.Coates and Yanagihara lead nonfiction and fiction lists in contention for illustrious books prize, with shortlists comprised entirely of first-time nominees
She may have lost out on the Booker prize on Tuesday to Marlon James, but Hanya Yanagihara has made the list of finalists for the National Book Award. Tanagihara’s book A Little Life – which has divided critics – heads up a five-strong list of finalists for fiction. The other nominated books are Refused by Karen E Bender, The Turner House by Angela Flournoy, Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff and Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson.
Meanwhile Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me is a finalist for the nonfiction prize along with Sally Mann’s Hold Still, Ordinary Light by Tracy K Smith, If Oceans Were Ink by Carla Power and The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery.
Framed as a letter to his teenage son, Coates’s book has put its author at the centre of the debate about race and police brutality in America and become a bestseller. Coates was also recently named a beneficiary of a $625,000 MacArthur fellow “genius grant”. None of the writers on either the fiction or nonfiction shortlist have been shortlisted for the NBA before.
The poetry shortlist includes Terrance Hayes, who won the NBA award in 2010, and four first-timers; Ross Gay, Ada Limón, Robin Coste Lewis and Patrick Phillips. The young people’s literature finalists are Steve Sheinkin, Ali Benjamin, Laura Ruby, Neal Shusterman and cartoonist Noelle Stevenson.LINGUIST List 23.4762
Wed Nov 14 2012
Confs: General Linguistics/Croatia
Editor for this issue: Xiyan Wang <xiyanlinguistlist.org>
14-Nov-2012Andrej Hendelja 2nd Student Linguistic Conference2nd Student Linguistic Conference Short Title: StulikonDate: 03-May-2013 - 05-May-2013 Location: Zagreb, Croatia Contact: Andrej Hendelja Contact Email: < click here to access email > Meeting URL: http://www.ffzg.unizg.hr/stulikon/ Linguistic Field(s): General LinguisticsMeeting Description:The 2nd Student Linguistic Conference (Stulikon) will be held from May 3rd to 5th, 2013, at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb.The goal of Stulikon is to bring together undergraduate and graduate students of linguistic and language studies in the south-eastern region of Europe.More information is available (in Croatian, Slovene and Macedonian) on the official website:and the Facebook page:The conference is open to all undergraduate and graduate students in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia and Bulgaria. The official languages of the conference are all South Slavic languages. The first application deadline is December 31st, 2012."I will not be there tomorrow... the President's attendance is nothing more than a distraction" NAACP President Derrick Johnson announces he will not attend Civil Rights Museum opening Saturday, which Trump is expected to attend https://t.co/VRNeXEmMAN
On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “OutFront,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson stated President Trump’s planned attendance at the opening of a civil rights museum in Mississippi is an “affront” to those the museum is designed to honor in part because the president doesn’t support “open and fair elections to ensure that all citizens have the right to vote.”
Johnson said, “I will not be there tomorrow. And his attendance is a distraction from us having an opportunity to honor true Americans, who sacrificed so much to ensure that democracy worked. It |
really managed to capture such mass-market appeal and obtain a variety of releases from top western publishers and tiny Japanese developers alike; in genres ranging from small-scale tactical RPG’s to sweeping cinematic first-person shooters. As such, comparing Vita’s library to PS2’s seems like an almost mean-spirited thing to do.
With that said, thanks to the PSP releasing at the height of Sony’s dominance of the gaming market (leading to many publishers attempting to cram their PS2 games onto the handheld) and Vita releasing during a period where many studios were creating HD Collections for the current gen; the Vita puts up a damn good fight. It has access to a mix of cut-down spinoffs to PS2 games through PSP backwards-compatibility and fully ported versions of the original games, which is something no other handheld console really has (although as games like the Jak & Daxter Collection demonstrated, performance could sometimes be an issue).
Still, there are a number of glaring omissions that aren’t playable on Vita. Key franchises like James Bond 007; Kingdom Hearts and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater aren’t available at all (despite each having PSP-versions which aren’t available through backwards-compatibility) and others like Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Quest are only available on Vita in the form of spinoffs. Plenty of other PS2 mainstays are missing altogether – Dark Cloud; Deus Ex and Timesplitters; while others received HD remasters which somehow managed to skip Vita – Devil May Cry; Hitman and Okami spring to mind.
I’m sure that in future, a portable emulator machine will be able to run PCSX2 extremely well and will act as the ultimate portable PS2, but until that point the Vita comes damn close. Its ability to play key franchises that defined the PS2’s life from Final Fantasy to God of War to Metal Gear Solid to Ratchet & Clank makes it a brilliant device; and the addition of the PSP’s library available through PSN just makes it all the better, meaning all-time classics like Grand Theft Auto and Tekken are accessible. Such variety in classic games is one of the reasons it’s my current favourite console and will likely be one that I keep hold of for a long, long time.
AdvertisementsOn Tuesday’s “Special Report” on the Fox News Channel, host Bret Baier revealed that the intrusions into James Rosen’s privacy went beyond Rosen himself and also involved his parents.
Baier laid out the specifics of Rosen’s situation during the panel segment, first reported by The Washington Post earlier this week.
“The U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. said because of this case — it’s an open case — active prosecution, they’re limited in what they can share,” Baier said. “The government exhausted, they said, ‘All reasonable non-media alternatives for collecting this evidence before seeking court approval for a search warrant based on the investigation and all the facts known to date. No other individuals, including the reporter, have been charged since Mr. Kim was indicted nearly three years ago.’ We can report that James Rosen, to his knowledge, was never contacted by anyone in the administration.”
Panelist Kirsten Powers noted that breach of protocol, but also noted he had not been charged with a crime.
“Which they’re supposed to do which is normal operating procedure,” Powers said. “The fact that he hasn’t been charged — I’m sorry. They just went through his emails and his private Gmail and that’s OK, but they haven’t charged him with anything, so let’s move on?”
Powers then criticized the Obama administration on those grounds, noting how they would leak information if it improved their image. But Baier revealed that in addition to Rosen having his own phone records seized, the federal government had also seized Rosen’s parents’ phone records.
“You know, I just want to point out one more thing,” Baier said. “You know, we said the different numbers. We have the documents now, and the seized toll records also relate to James’ parents’ home in Staten Island.”
Daily Caller editor in chief Tucker Carlson responded by lashing out at the media for not reacting to these attacks on Fox News and added that Rosen might not be alone, based on what CBS News’ correspondent Sharyl Attkisson told a Philadelphia radio host about her own computer on Tuesday.
“It’s unbelievable,” Carlson said. “This began when the administration tried to weed Fox News out of the White House press pool. You had a politician determining what is and what is not a news organization, and by and large, the press stood still and allowed that to happen. By the way, Sharyl Attkisson, a terrific reporter at CBS, is reporting she believes her personal commuter was compromised. We don’t know by whom, but it does suggest this story may grow a lot bigger before it ends.”
Follow Jeff on TwitterSyrian refugees are an important part of the plan!
What a find by Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch (hat tip: Chris):
This Toronto Sun story dates from January, and the video from November; we don’t usually post archival material, but this is important enough to make an exception. Mazin Abdul-Adhim says: “The problem is that we don’t understand our own system — the Khilafa (caliphate). And therefore, how do we support the people of Syria? We must send money and help the refugees that are coming here in every way that we can.” The Toronto Sun reports: “Helping Syrian refugees coming to Canada and building an Islamic caliphate are part of the same cause, according to a pro-Shariah speaker at an Islamic conference in Hamilton.”
How can they possibly be part of the same cause? How does helping the refugees who are coming to Canada aid the cause of the caliphate? The obvious answer is that they’re coming as emigrants in the way of Allah, to whom Allah promises a reward for Islamizing a new land (see, for example, Qur’an 4:100). Abdul-Adhim, speaking in Hamilton, Ontario, says: “We’ve been sitting and not really doing very much for the application of Islam in society … We’re required to call for something — the full implementation of Islam — we’re not allowed to call for anything else or compromise in any other way.” The refugee increases Muslims’ political and societal clout and strengthens these calls for “the full implementation of Islam.”
Continue reading at Jihad Watch and watch the video!
Go here to see our archive on Syrian refugees going to Canada thanks to the boy (Trudeau) and his silly campaign pledge. He is playing right into their hands and you can bet that behind closed doors Abdul-Adhim is having a good laugh!SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A former U.S. federal agent was sentenced to 78 months in prison on Monday for stealing bitcoins during the government’s investigation of Silk Road and for secretly soliciting payment from the operator of the online black market for information on its probe.
A Bitcoin logo is displayed at the Bitcoin Center New York City in New York's financial district July 28, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/Files
Carl Force, a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent, admitted to charges of extortion, money laundering and obstruction of justice. In a San Francisco federal court on Monday, U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg said the scope of his betrayal was “breathtaking.”
U.S. prosecutors had requested an 87-month prison sentence, while Force’s attorneys asked for a four year sentence.
Force’s attorneys said he deserved less time partly because of mental health issues. In court on Monday, Force apologized to the American people, and to his family.
“I’m sorry, I lost it and I don’t understand a lot of it,” Force said.
Silk Road operated for more than two years until it was shut down in October 2013, generating more than $214 million in sales of drugs and other illicit goods using bitcoins, prosecutors said.
Ross Ulbricht, Silk Road’s creator who authorities say used the alias “Dread Pirate Roberts,” was sentenced to life in prison in May after a federal jury in Manhattan found him guilty of several charges, including distributing drugs through the Internet.
Prosecutors also reached a plea agreement with Shaun Bridges, a former Secret Service agent who was charged along with Force in March with stealing bitcoins, the web-based digital currency, during the investigation.
Force and Bridges belonged to a Baltimore-based federal task force that investigated Silk Road. Force played a prominent role, communicating with Ulbricht while posing as a drug dealer named “Nob,” prosecutors said.
According to a government document, Force, operating as “Nob,” in August 2013 convinced Ulbricht to pay him $50,000 in bitcoins by pretending he had information on the investigation.
While Force reported the discussion to the DEA, he falsely claimed no payment had been made but instead diverted the bitcoins to a personal account, prosecutors said.
Force, also without authorities’ knowledge, used another online moniker, “French Maid,” and offered Ulbricht information on the investigation for about $98,000 in bitcoins in September 2013, prosecutors said.FBI records released Monday (Sept. 19) lay out in stark detail the federal case that investigators amassed over three years against former St. Charles Parish District Attorney Harry Morel Jr. The files also hint at what may have led U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt to describe as "troubling" a 31-page letter from FBI agent Michael Zummer, a letter that the agent submitted before Morel was sent to prison for three years but that has not been made public.
In Harry Morel case, judge withholds FBI agent's 'troubling' letter Jurist shares agent's concerns about Justice Department's ethical lapses
The records were provided to the St. Charles Parish Sheriff's Office for consideration of possible state charges. The Sheriff's Office released them in response to a public records request.
They include audio and video recordings of Morel talking with Danelle Keim McGovern, the key government witness he is accused of harassing and instructing to destroy evidence against him. The FBI covertly recorded several meetings between Keim and Morel at his office and her apartment, as part of its inquiry into whether he traded leniency in court cases for sex from defendants or their acquaintances.
Engelhardt ruled last week against including Zummer's letter in the court record of the Morel case. But he said it raised legitimate concerns about ethical lapses within the U.S. Justice Department.
A PowerPoint summary of the federal case, released Monday by the Sheriff's Office, indicates that an FBI case agent filed a complaint with the Justice Department's inspector general about the first assistant U.S. attorney in New Orleans. It cites a conflict of interest because the prosecutor shared ownership in a condominium with Morel's defense attorney, Ralph Capitelli. The prosecutor later sold his share to his girlfriend, according to the documents.
In addition, the newly released records show that the U.S. attorney's office initially declined to pursue federal charges against Morel. But when Kenneth Polite became U.S. attorney and a new first assistant took office, the case was reopened. The records say the Justice Department in February approved prosecutors' request to pursue racketeering charges against Morel because of the multiple witnesses and allegations against him.
Ultimately, however, they charged him only with obstruction of justice. Polite has said it was the strongest charge, and that pursuing the sexual allegations presented evidentiary challenges. That decision didn't stop federal authorities from labeling Morel a "sexual predator," however.
They called the investigation Operation Twisted Justice, according to the records, which include some explosive new details into allegations against Morel. The records indicate that more than 100 witnesses were interviewed and that investigators found:
Five women admitted to oral sexual contact with Morel. (One with an element of force.)
Eight women admitted to other sexual physical contact with Morel.
Nine admitted that Morel solicited sex from them.
All sexual advances were made in connection with his positions as a public official.
Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, a nonprofit criminal justice watchdog group, called Morel's three-year sentence "a slap on the wrist."
"It's unconscionable that someone did what Morel did and receives three years," Goyeneche said. "He's basically being let off the hook."DC has provided ComicBook.com with an exclusive preview of Superman #38, due out next week from writers Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason, and featuring art by Ed Benes, Sergio Fernandez Davila, Vicente Cifuentes, and Gabe Eltaeb.
The issue is the final part of the "Super-Sons of Tomorrow" storyline, which pits the Titans of Tomorrow against their younger counterparts in the Teen Titans with the life of Superboy Jonathan Kent hanging in the balance.
This is the first time fans have seen the Titans of Tomorrow -- featuring Superman Conner Kent, Wonder Woman Cassie Sandsmark and Flash Bart Allen -- since before Flashpoint rebooted the DC Universe in 2011.
"Super Sons of Tomorrow" picks up plot threads from Detective Comics and introduces the Batman of Tomorrow to the Super Sons, Damian Wayne (Robin) and Jonathan Kent (Superboy). The dark, adult version of Tim Drake has plans to do away with the Boy of Steel, claiming that his continued existence jeopardizes the future.
Can he be trusted, though, especially since we know this version of the character was profoundly affected by a different Superboy, Conner Kent?
The former Superboy's erasure from continuity following the events of 2011's The New 52 reboot will be addressed in-story within in the pages of Detective Comics, according to series writer James Tynion IV.
“Part of this story, where we started, was recognizing Tim Drake’s classic origin and realigning Tim to the original iteration of the character,” Tynion told ComicBook.com. “In resetting him back to his core, there’s one part of the core of the character that was not being addressed -- that’s still missing. I knew that it would be false to bring back to core of the character and not point to the part of the core that’s missing. Using that as the piece that allows the future Tim Drake -- the 'Titans Tomorrow' Tim Drake -- to realize that this world has changed which means the future is no longer set and time can be changed, that’s what really propels us into the future. It leaves this powerful mystery dangling that Tim doesn’t know the answer to, but he knows it’s important. To see that one play out, you guys are going to have to read the comic books.”
The issue comes with a variant cover by Jorge Jimenez that pays macabre homage to The Adventures of Superman #498, the first issue of the "Funeral For a Friend" storyline, which featured Superman's battered corpse on the cover, laying on cracked pavement following his battle with Doomsday.
You can see the preview pages in the attached image gallery, and the official solicitation text below.
“SUPER SONS OF TOMORROW” finale!
With no other choice left, the Batman of Tomorrow brings in the Titans of Tomorrow to take on today’s Teen Titans—as the life of Superman’s son hangs in the balance! See the return of future Superman Conner Kent, Wonder Woman Cassie Sandsmark and Bart Allen Flash in the final battle of this epic crossover.Jack Gallant can read your mind. Or at least, he can figure out what you’re seeing if you’re in his machine watching a movie he’s playing for you.
Gallant, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, has a brain decoding machine – a device that uses brain scanning to peer into people’s minds and reconstruct what they’re seeing. If mind-reading technology like this becomes more common, should we be concerned? Ask Gallant this question, and he gives a rather unexpected answer.
In Gallant’s experiment, people were shown movies while the team measured their brain patterns. An algorithm then used those signals to reconstruct a fuzzy, composite image, drawing on a massive database of YouTube videos. In other words, they took brain activity and turned it into pictures, revealing what a person was seeing.
For Gallant and his lab, this was just another demonstration of their technology. While his device has made plenty of headlines, he never actually set out to build a brain decoder.“It was one of the coolest things we ever did,” he says, “but it’s not science.” Gallant’s research focuses on figuring out how the visual system works, creating models of how the brain processes visual information. The brain reader was a side project, a coincidental offshoot of his actual scientific research. “It just so happens that if you build a really good model of the brain, then that turns out to be the best possible decoder.”
Science or not, the machine strokes the dystopian futurists among people who fear that the government could one day tap into our innermost thoughts. This might seem like a silly fear, but Gallant says it’s not. “I actually agree that you should be afraid,” he says, “but you don’t have to be afraid for another 50 years.” It will take that long to solve two of the big challenges in brain-reading technology: the portability, and the strength of the signal.
Right now, in order for Gallant to read your thoughts, you have to slide into a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine – a huge, expensive device that measures where the blood is flowing in the brain. While fMRI is one of the best ways to measure the activity of the brain, it’s not perfect, nor is it portable. Subjects in an fMRI machine can’t move, and the devices are expensive and huge.
And while comparing the brain image and the movie image side by side makes their connection apparent, the image that Gallant’s algorithm can build from brain signals isn’t quite like peering into a window. The resolution on fMRI scans simply isn’t high enough to create something that generates a clear picture. “Until somebody comes up with a method for measuring brain activity better than we can today there won’t be many portable brain-decoding devices that will be built for a general use,” he says.
Dream reader
While Gallant isn’t working on trying to build any more decoding machines, others are. One team in Japan is currently trying to make a dream reader, using the same fMRI technique. But unlike in the movie experiment, where researchers know what the person is seeing and can confirm that image in the brain readouts, dreams are far trickier.
To try and train the system, researchers put subjects in an fMRI machine and let them slip into that weird state between wakefulness and dreaming. They then woke up the subject and ask what they had seen. Using that information, they could correlate the reported dream images – everything from ice picks to keys to statues – to train the algorithm.
Using this database, the Japanese team was able to identify around 60% of the types of images dreamers saw. But there’s a key hurdle between these experiments and a universal dream decoder: each dreamer’s signals are different. Right now, the decoder has to be trained to each individual. So even if you were willing to sleep in an fMRI machine, there’s no universal decoder that can reveal your nightly adventures.
Even though he’s not working on one, Gallant knows what kind of brain decoder he might build, should he chose to. “My personal opinion is that if you wanted to build the best one, you would decode covert internal speech. If you could build something that takes internal speech and translates into external speech,” he says, “then you could use it to control a car. It could be a universal translator.”
Inner speech
Some groups are edging closer to this goal; a team in the Netherlands, for instance, scanned the brains of bilingual speakers to detect the concepts each participant were forming – such as the idea of a horse or cow, correctly identifying the meaning whether the subjects were thinking in English or Dutch. Like the dream decoder, however, the system needed to be trained on each individual, so it is a far cry from a universal translator.
If nothing else, the brain reader has sparked more widespread interest in Gallant’s work. “If I go up to someone on the street and tell them how their brains work their eyes glaze over,” he says. When he shows them a video of their brains actually at work, they start to pay attention.
If you would like to comment on this, or anything else you have seen on Future, head over to our Facebook or Google+ page, or message us on Twitter.DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania
ODD as it may sound, American trophy hunters play a critical role in protecting wildlife in Tanzania. The millions of dollars that hunters spend to go on safari here each year help finance the game reserves, wildlife management areas and conservation efforts in our rapidly growing country.
This is why we are alarmed that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service is considering listing the African lion as endangered. Doing so would make it illegal for American hunters to bring their trophies home. Those hunters constitute 60 percent of our trophy-hunting market, and losing them would be disastrous to our conservation efforts.
In 2011, five animal-rights and conservation groups petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service to list the African lion as endangered, arguing that the population had fallen dangerously low because of habitat loss, poaching, commercial hunting and new diseases associated with human encroachment. “The U.S.,” their petition said, “is by far the largest importer of hunting trophies from Tanzania.”
While that is true, the lion population in Tanzania is not endangered. We have an estimated 16,800 lions, perhaps 40 percent of all lions on the continent, the biggest population in the world. Their numbers are stable here, and while our hunting system is not perfect, we have taken aggressive efforts to protect our lions.Researchers at Stanford University and the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have developed a tough new catalyst that carries out a solar-powered reaction 100 times faster than ever before, works better as time goes on and stands up to acid.
And because it requires less of the rare and costly metal iridium, it could bring down the cost of a process that mimics photosynthesis by using sunlight to split water molecules -- a key step in a renewable, sustainable pathway to produce hydrogen or carbon-based fuels that can power a broad range of energy technologies.
The team published their results today in the journal Science.
A Multi-pronged Search
The discovery of the catalyst -- a very thin film of iridium oxide layered on top of strontium iridium oxide -- was the result of an extensive search by three groups of experts for a more efficient way to accelerate the oxygen evolution reaction, or OER, which is half of a two-step process for splitting water with sunlight.
"The OER has been a real bottleneck, particularly in acidic conditions," said Thomas Jaramillo, an associate professor at SLAC and Stanford and deputy director of the SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis. "The only reasonably active catalysts we know that can survive those harsh conditions are based on iridium, which is one of the rarest metals on Earth. If we want to bring down the cost of such a pathway for making fuels from renewable sources and carry it out on a much larger scale, we need to develop catalyst materials that are more active and that use little or no iridium."
The search started with SUNCAT theorists, who used computers to explore a database of materials and find the ones with the most potential to do exactly what was needed. Catalysts accelerate chemical reactions without being used up in the process, and databases like this one have become an important tool for designing catalysts to order, rather than testing thousands of materials in a time-consuming, trial-and-error approach.
Based on the results, a team led by SLAC Staff Scientist Yasuyuki Hikita and SLAC/Stanford Professor Harold Hwang, both investigators with the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences (SIMES), synthesized one of the catalyst candidates, strontium iridium oxide. Linsey Seitz, a PhD student in Jaramillo's group and first author of the report, investigated the material's properties.
A Surprising Improvement
To the team's surprise, this catalyst worked even better than expected, and kept improving over the first two hours of operation. Experiments probing the surface of the material indicated that a corrosion process released strontium atoms into the surrounding fluid during this initial period. This left a film of iridium oxide just a few atomic layers thick that was much more active than the original material, and 100 times more efficient at promoting the OER than any other acid-stable catalyst known to date.
"A lot of materials do this type of thing -- surfaces can be very dynamic, changing during the course of a reaction -- but in this case the catalyst changes in a way that gives you excellent performance in acid," Jaramillo said. "This is unusual, because under these conditions most materials are either poor catalysts or they completely fall apart, or both."
The researchers still don't know exactly why this surface layer is so active, although the theorists, including SUNCAT graduate students Colin Dickens and Charlotte Kirk, have provided some ideas. Jaramillo's group will be taking a closer look at the catalyst with X-ray beams at SLAC's Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, a DOE Office of Science User Facility, to determine exactly how the atoms on the surface rearrange themselves and why this boosts the catalyst's performance.
"To make a commercially viable catalyst we will need to reduce the amount of iridium in the material even more," said Jens Nørskov, director of SUNCAT and a professor at SLAC and Stanford. "But there are many possibilities, and this gives us some very good leads."View Photos Michael Simari
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
“What’s a Panaray?” your passenger is liable to ask when you fire up the Cadillac CT6 and the center speaker enclosure pivots up from the middle of the dashboard, displaying its provocative name in a stylish font. It’s a theatrical event, designed to impress your eyes rather than your ears—foreshadowing what’s to come once the music starts playing.
At the most basic level, Panaray is the Bose-supplied top-tier audio system in Cadillac’s current top-dog sedan. The standard offering in the CT6 is a 10-speaker unit that’s also from Bose. Panaray is included in Platinum trimmed cars and available as a $3700 stand-alone option in Luxury and Premium Luxury trims. The name is a portmanteau word combining “panoramic” and “array,” a reflection of the overriding sound-design goal as well as the speaker technology used. Panaray in the CT6 uses four Class D amplifiers to drive 34 speakers positioned in 19 locations throughout the car, and it’s controlled by the same CUE infotainment interface that operates the audio system in any other Cadillac.
Joe McCabe, technical lead for the Panaray system, told us that Bose wanted to create a wider soundstage, making the music seem to be coming from outside the confines of the vehicle, a common goal for high-end automotive surround-sound systems. Panaray’s difference is that it uses clusters of small speakers, nearly all of them less than four inches in diameter, rather than individual larger speakers. This explains why the CT6 has such a high speaker count. McCabe says it also helps Bose get the coverage it needs so every occupant can hear the full range of frequencies the sound system is capable of producing.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
View Photos Michael Simari
But it’s not the quantity of speakers in a car audio system that make it sound good. The quality of the amplification and speakers are more important than numbers, and their positioning and the digital signal processing used to route the correct frequencies to the right locations are crucial to good sound. While some brands, such as Acura, have dabbled in home-theater-style discrete surround sound in their vehicles, the Panaray system is a simulated surround system that takes a two-channel stereo signal and processes it to feed its 12 channels. Bose calls this algorithm Centerpoint. It’s the only surround processing Panaray does; none of the familiar Dolby or DTS surround modes are available.
I played a variety of rock and jazz from multiple sources for my listening evaluation. Cadillac does not include a CD player as standard with the Panaray system (a glovebox-mounted one is a $250 option), but an optical disc player is included with the $2450 rear-seat multimedia package that was in our test car. I used this to play CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Ray discs, but most of my listening was via an iPod, cable-connected to the vehicle, playing music encoded at CD quality using Apple Lossless Audio Codec.
The Cadillac system also will play music from a USB drive, but only in certain formats. I did feed it some high-resolution audio files (24 bit/96 kHz), which played in AIFF format. But Bose’s McCabe explained that high-res audio, whether from a USB drive, a DVD, or a Blu-Ray disc, is down-sampled by the system. One interesting feature included in the rear-seat entertainment package is a wired headphone plug, which allows for use of high-quality headphones rather than the tinny-sounding wireless ones that come with the car, which are geared more for movie watching.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
View Photos Michael Simari
As a policy, Bose doesn’t disclose the wattage of its amplification, but suffice it to say power is not the problem with Panaray. The system’s hallmark is volume; it plays clearly at deafening levels, even when cranked to 63, CUE’s curious maximum volume level. I didn’t listen for long with it that loud, but the feeling of being overwhelmed by Panaray’s presentation never left, even at low levels, where the sound can still carry a glare or harshness.
Bose’s Centerpoint 3 (that version number is new for Panaray) surround processing produced mixed results. It worked better with compressed sources, such as SiriusXM Radio, than it did with my test tracks. While satellite radio can often sound closed in and flat, Centerpoint will perk up the sound and give it a little wider soundstage. But listening to a good recording that already conveys the position of the musicians and the space around their instruments leaves Centerpoint little to improve upon.
Turning it on during Miles Davis’s “So What” created the effect of sticking your head in his trumpet, spoiling the delicacy and subtlety of the playing. This trick, drawing the listener closer into the music, made other recordings sound congested in Centerpoint mode compared with listening in stereo. Other times, like during “Cowboy Movie” by David Crosby, Centerpoint would shift the vocals into a strange position in the car—in this case seemingly under the dashboard. Again, switching back to stereo was preferable. In fact, the stereo setting was preferable for most of my test tracks, rarely producing much narrowing of the soundstage compared with Centerpoint and usually improving the sense of space around the instruments.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
Panaray is an audio system that always assaults your ears with big sound, which undoubtedly will appeal to some owners. It’s certainly powerful and sure to dazzle neophytes with its motorized center speaker, but I find it lacking in detail and separation compared with the best in-car audio. Once you get past initial impressions, the sound just doesn’t mesmerize like the high-end systems in other luxury models, such as the $4700 Burmester system in the Porsche Macan or the $2500-to-$2650 (depending on trim) Bowers & Wilkins upgrade in the Volvo XC90, which are two of our current favorites.cardinaldiehard Rookie
OVR: 2
Join Date: May 2010
Cardinaldiehard's NCAA Basketball 10 Rosters (PS3)
Every single rating in the game has a formula attached to it based on their career per 100 possession stats and recruiting information. I am assuming that a 5 star guard is going to be more athletic than a 2 star, there are obviously exceptions. Players must have at least 300 minutes played to receive a stat based rating. Check the "In Progress" sheet to see how the roster is coming along.
Done = Official team roster added to game.
In Progress = Preseason roster updated with official roster in spreadsheet.
Link to spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing
Note:
Player's class is not updated in game as I carry these over season-to-season
Players highlighted in Red are not in game due to roster limitations
I will not be making any adjustments to the ratings, could see changes to formulas in coming years. If you disagree with a rating simply change it with your file!
How you can help:
Better face recommendations
Left-handed shooters
Missing recruiting information from 247 or ESPN
Past updates:
Spoiler
11/12/17:
https://mega.nz/#!8npjzahS!HBCoEXx7E...JVsLldrWqK4BZY
The following 11 IRL conferences are completed (132 teams):
ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, SEC, PAC-12, AAC, A-10, WCC, MWC, and Colonial
Rotations updated from 1st games
12/10/2017:
https://mega.nz/#!46QljJAA!fxZL0geOv...hLcujm4-R_YXbw
Missouri Valley conference added, roster now at 142 teams!
12/23/2017:
https://mega.nz/#!tzJFDQjB!TVDyJb78M...yuui7X6EDqgWOw
21 Mid-major contenders added from Joe Lunardi's Bracketology
Check spreadsheet for teams added, roster now at 163 teams
1/7/2018:
https://mega.nz/#!oiA2QIRA!LPRzdzwNa...ssoKg7whEzVFAw
Top 25 teams receive player rating updates. (Reminder: must have played 300 minutes).
1/13/2018:
https://mega.nz/#!U6QjDJ5R!GPnTfiER0...WGFUs2QshG973o
More teams have been added from Joe Lunardi's Bracketology
Roster now at 181 teams, check spreadsheet for the Mid-Majors added
1/20/2018:
https://mega.nz/#!h2QnUAwL!ANlt4YPLo...ur9DxF48MCJuVI
Mass ratings update to all eligible freshmen and older players who have reached 300 career minutes.
More teams added putting roster at 187 teams
3/10/2018:
https://mega.nz/#!AmgiSaaK!SD5z8z7bn...62FO7EXjgZmf8w
All Tournament teams have been added with updated ratings.
Exception is NC Central which is not available in game.
205 teams and 3,090 players created.
11/12/17:The following 11 IRL conferences are completed (132 teams):ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, SEC, PAC-12, AAC, A-10, WCC, MWC, and ColonialRotations updated from 1st games12/10/2017:Missouri Valley conference added, roster now at 142 teams!12/23/2017:21 Mid-major contenders added from Joe Lunardi's BracketologyCheck spreadsheet for teams added, roster now at 163 teams1/7/2018:Top 25 teams receive player rating updates. (Reminder: must have played 300 minutes).1/13/2018:More teams have been added from Joe Lunardi's BracketologyRoster now at 181 teams, check spreadsheet for the Mid-Majors added1/20/2018:Mass ratings update to all eligible freshmen and older players who have reached 300 career minutes.More teams added putting roster at 187 teams3/10/2018:All Tournament teams have been added with updated ratings.Exception is NC Central which is not available in game.205 teams and 3,090 players created.
Supporters get access to updates 1 week early.
DOWNLOAD LATEST ROSTER:
https://www.patreon.com/cardinaldiehard/posts
Here's download instructions, taken from an old thread.
1. Download the roster from the link.
2. Unzip/extract all the file
3. Take the SYS-DATA portion of the file out of the folder--leave it on your desktop.
---
1. Put the game in and save a generic/no-name roster right away
2. Exit the game and take that no-name/generic roster file and copy on a flash drive
3. Replace the generic/no name SYS-DATA portion of the file with my SYS-DATA update.
4. Put that generic roster with MY UPDATE back on the ps3. A countless amount of hours have gone into making this ancient game relevant again. This project will continually be updated and to help you follow along I will allow you all to view the spreadsheet I use to keep track of everything. All players are created, even scrubs who play 3 minutes their whole life. The spreadsheet should be helpful for those on another console or those who want to add their favorite team who has not been updated yet.Every single rating in the game has a formula attached to it based on their career per 100 possession stats and recruiting information. I am assuming that a 5 star guard is going to be more athletic than a 2 star, there are obviously exceptions. Players must have at least 300 minutes played to receive a stat based rating. Check the "In Progress" sheet to see how the roster is coming along.Done = Official team roster added to game.In Progress = Preseason roster updated with official roster in spreadsheet.Link to spreadsheet:Note:Player's class is not updated in game as I carry these over season-to-seasonPlayers highlighted in Red are not in game due to roster limitationsI will not be making any adjustments to the ratings, could see changes to formulas in coming years. If you disagree with a rating simply change it with your file!How you can help:Better face recommendationsLeft-handed shootersMissing recruiting information from 247 or ESPNPast updates:Supporters get access to updates 1 week early.DOWNLOAD LATEST ROSTER:Here's download instructions, taken from an old thread.1. Download the roster from the link.2. Unzip/extract all the file3. Take the SYS-DATA portion of the file out of the folder--leave it on your desktop.---1. Put the game in and save a generic/no-name roster right away2. Exit the game and take that no-name/generic roster file and copy on a flash drive3. Replace the generic/no name SYS-DATA portion of the file with my SYS-DATA update.4. Put that generic roster with MY UPDATE back on the ps3.
kirbz101, Mike83, Williekemp15 and 8 others like this.
If you do like my work support me by giving |
In this article I hope to look into the negativity rabbit hole, see how deep it gets, while asking ourselves how the hell we got into this mess – and more importantly how we could fix it.
Earlier this month, there was a Medium rant making the rounds about how using a sledgehammer to crack a nut has become a difficult chore, basically repeating the premise of an older Medium article but dropping the constructive bits (and personally attacking Babel authors – which is why I refuse to link to it). Around the same time, hundreds of open-source advocates signed a petition to GitHub asking for better workflows in large open-source projects. There have also been responses to “Dear GitHub”, Dear “Dear GitHub”, and so on. You get the point. People like to complain about things.
The problems, however, are real. By the end of 2015 many – myself included – agreed that one of the hardest problem the front-end community faces right now is tooling consolidation. That is, arriving at easier-to-use tools without sacrificing firepower.
These days however we don’t see as much constructive thinking as we see articles about Angular 2 being too complex, React being “bad”, Babel (or even worse, their maintainers) … – just about anything that’s popular within the community is wide open for criticism. When it comes to providing constructive criticism, though, we’re sorely lacking.
Unfortunately, the spirit and praise of the web in Remy’s post isn’t shared by many of these articles. To the contrary, the web development community is flooding in skepticism, negativity, and pessimism.
Remy Sharp wrote an excellent piece recently about his love for the web. It immediately stuck with me – and many others, I imagine – because of how close to home it hit. He wasn’t the only one to publish his thoughts recently, though.
A Hard Place
The front-end development community as a whole has put itself in a hard place. We’ve collectively overlooked issues that arise from using tons of purpose-specific tools, and for good reason. Other languages and ecosystems are victims of all-encompassing standard libraries, but the web development community takes pride in not having that problem. In the past we fell prey to large utility libraries that did just about anything – your jQuery, Underscore, etc.
Large libraries had their benefits – as well as their drawbacks. It was nice being able to drop-in jQuery, do “all the things”, and forget about it. As applications grew in size and complexity, though, we couldn’t just drop any libraries we found on the Internet in our codebases anymore. That’d result in much-larger-than-necessary websites, something we didn’t want. Thus, over time, the community understood how we could benefit from smaller modules, and started working on micro libraries – at a time where most “libraries” were developed as jQuery plugins. Along came Node.js, and its small modules philosophy turned many of us into firm believers that, indeed, writing small modules is the way to go.
Followers of the small module movement started breaking down libraries they built into components. Out came a more modular approach to popular libraries like jQuery and Lodash. True, jQuery had been “modular” for a long time, but the approach they took didn’t lend itself to adoption: it relied on consumers utilizing complicated online build tooling where you had to pick what parts of jQuery your application was going to utilize – in advance. Great in theory, and they certainly could boast about being modular, but not the most user-friendly approach.
In practice, consumers either used the raw, full jQuery library, or – at best – they took out a few highly irrelevant parts and called it a day. jQuery UI was in a similar place, but had an even weaker position due to the fact that it also depended in jQuery. When Bower came along, – it took a while before jQuery was mirrored onto npm as well – it became even more obvious that the custom build wasn’t a serious option, as you’d have to jump through a considerable number of hoops before you could even arrive at a custom bundle.
Lodash took a different path, which favored adoption even though their approach was detrimental to their own build processes (but not their consumers). Starting with v2, they published hundreds of modules to npm – lodash.find, lodash.flatten, etc. – where each module represented one of the utility functions in Lodash. Later on, starting in v3, they improved upon that and allowed you to pull specific functions as CommonJS modules like require('lodash/function/bind'). Even though there’s a tree composed of hundreds of small modules in the Lodash codebase, they’re still available as a single package on npm. That is a good thing.
Hypermodularization
Around the same time came hypermodularization. This is basically the same, in principle, as lodash splitting their functionality in hundreds of small modules, bits and pieces of documentation and tests, and npm packages. A major difference in an hypermodularized scenario is that you don’t see comprehensive distributions anymore. One such example is the original lodash package itself, which to this day contains the whole of their utility functions, even though they’re now also available as individual pieces. When it comes to lodash, you can take the whole thing or a method at a time.
For library authors, hypermodularization makes a lot of sense, as it comes with a wealth of benefits.
You only take what you need
Reuse functionality across several packages
Semantic versioning on individual modules – not just for packages as a whole
Extended documentation and front-facing API surface tests
Less friction integrating server-side modules in client-side applications
The problem with hypermodularization, though, is that adoption becomes trickier. Undoubtedly, people will immediately point at small modules as the culprit. “Too many API touchpoints” – some say. “Too much plumbing” – others point out. Some might even say that larger bundles of things were better, as you didn’t have to spend time forming an opinion as to how half a dozen modules should be plumbed together, or dealing with boilerplate generators such as yeoman (another non-solution – code generators are hardly ever the answer).
When I first ran into tree-shaking I quickly dismissed it as a nice to have that would prove hardly more beneficial than bundle-collapser, which allows you to save a few hundred bytes in bulky browserify bundles. Nice – sure. Necessary? Hardly. Or that’s what I thought.
Tree-shaking is a game breaker
At the time, I misunderstood its use cases. Tree-shaking is a feature available in modern module bundlers – rollup, namely – where ES6 modules are statically analyzed for exports that are being used, and those that are not become left out of the resulting bundle.
Suppose we had the following piece of code:
import _ from 'lodash' ; _.keys({ pony: 'foo' });
How cool would it be if a compiler would turn that into something like this?
var _ = { keys: function (o) { return Object.keys(o); } }; _.keys({ pony: 'foo' });
Disclaimer: Actual lodash code is not as contrived, this is merely an illustration.
I had hoped rollup would do that, but it interprets lodash as an external dependency, presumably because its written under ES5, or maybe just because the package is in node_modules. Nevertheless, if we were able to take code like the previous snippet and turn it into the second – smaller – one, we’d eliminate one of the biggest drawbacks of large distributions such as the lodash package and similar utility libraries: people.
People take libraries like lodash – or jQuery, as we analyzed earlier – and insert the whole thing into their codebases. If a simple bundler plugin could deal with getting rid of everything in lodash they aren’t using, footprint is one less thing we’d have to worry about.
The other set of drawbacks in large distributions can’t be solved by consumers, and should be resolved by implementers instead. Incidentally, these things are already solved by hypermodularization: maintability, documentation, ease of contribution, etc. As modules get smaller, they also become easier to maintain, document, test, and contribute to, lowering the barrier of entry. A large monolith on the other hand usually involves some sort of learning curve, makes people scared of breaking undocumented functionality, and so on.
One drawback when it comes to code contributions and support requests – however (and amusingly) – is that maintaining an hypermodularized ecosystem is a hassle when they are highly related and kept in several different repositories. Babel has an excellent document that outlines their monorepo culture and how it has allowed them to contain issues arising from dealing with support requests against their many hypermodular, interconnected components.
Consolidating Opinions
In a hypermodular ecosystem, it becomes increasingly hard to plumb pieces of code together. In a monolithic ecosystem, it becomes increasingly annoying to deal with large chunks of code that you don’t need. We need to consolidate the two.
I believe in hypermodular components. They are great at what they do, they follow the “do one specific thing very well” philosophy and are primed to thrive in an open-source community such as ours.
I never much liked comprehensive libraries like jQuery in terms of API surface, but a lot of that dislike goes away when a tool such as tree-shaking is effectively applied across the board.
Moreover, when we take a look at application logic that is mostly concerned with plumbing discrete libraries in the application level, we begin to see how hypermodular components should be packaged in larger distributions. In one of the opening lines in this article I stated that “the web community is as opinionated as it is large”. I opine we need to become more opinionated as far as library authorship goes.
Screenshot showing code plumbing hypermodular libraries at the application level
One such example of plumbing at the application level, extracted from a Medium article.
Not only would we be getting rid of obnoxious plumbing, but we’d also steer more users towards best practices, we’d spend less time arguing about what approach is correct, and we’d spend more time being productive in day-to-day development. While flexibility and hyper-modularity are great features, compromising on a set of opinions and reducing noise at the implementation level are similarly honorable objectives to arrive at.
Nothing is to prevent us from keeping the lower-levels of our architectures hypermodularized. This is all good and well – it is one of the fundamental pillars of modern JavaScript development. It is also true that the crux of our problems today stem not from one library or another being hypermodular, but from the ecosystem as a whole being developed this way.
In that sense, we needn’t cry about babel@6 asking us to install a couple more packages. If you dislike doing that every time, build a wrapper around it with some opinions on top. Do the same for React packages you use and are tired of plumbing over and over in all your applications. Avoid generators with a passion, but opinionate your way through the ocean of hypermodules we find ourselves swimming around in.
Write wrappers and intermediate libraries that live outside of your application core while consuming hypermodules. Keep your opinions to those intermediate libraries, while keeping hypermodules discrete. In this sense, you could think of an hypermodule as lodash/function/bind and an intermediate library as lodash. I use lodash as an example because it’s one of the best representations out there today of what constitutes an hypermodular library. One that has hundreds of components, but opinions are not one of them.
An ecosystem that’s founded on intermediate libraries on top of hypermodules could fare much better. The bulk of implementation, testing, and documentation would fall in hypermodules, while opinions and plumbing could be kept in an intermediate layer we are only just yet starting to even consider. Presumably, code in the intermediate layer could be bulkier, but that should be something that – with proper and better tooling – a feature like tree-shaking could take care of.President Obama dined on Monday night with Anthony Bourdain in Hanoi, Vietnam during the president's week-long trip to Asia.
The star shared a photo of them eating dinner at Bún chả Hương Liên, a small restaurant that's just north of the "old quarter" of Hanoi, according to the White House travel pool.
The President's chopstick skills are on point. #buncha #hanoi A photo posted by anthonybourdain (@anthonybourdain) on May 23, 2016 at 7:22am PDT
They're both seen sitting at a table with with lettuce and bowls of soup and Mr. Obama is holding up a beer.
Their conversation will be featured in an episode of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, which will air on CNN in September.
Earlier in the day, the president lifted a half-century-old ban on selling arms to Vietnam on his first trip to the Southeast Asian country. He's the third sitting U.S. president to visit Vietnam since the end of the war. He'll head next to Japan where he'll make a historic visit to Hiroshima. The White House has said Mr. Obama won't apologize, however, for the U.S. decision to use a nuclear bomb on the Japanese city in 1945.
In Japan, he's scheduled to participate in the G-7 Summit in Ise-Shima and Mr. Obama will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Abe to advance the alliance between their two countries.I get asked a lot about the skills in Wayward. Some people are not fans of the skill system and would much rather have more traditional “class” systems in place. The skill system in Wayward is very much, a way to not need classes at all. Rather than forcing players into a role with limitations and boundaries, the player is only limited by how they want to play – in fact, all methods of play are available from the start without artificial class restrictions. It furthers the idea of open-ended gameplay that Wayward is all about. That being said, there is a few issues when dealing with this type of system.
Current Issues:
Some skills lack depth and effectiveness. Some skills are simply for crafting success rates. Some skills don’t effect gameplay.
These issues can be fixed, and will be, in the upcoming versions. The next portion of the skill debate is the progression of them. Currently, three systems are in place with Wayward:
The higher your skill is, the less chance you have to raise it. The higher your skill is, the less it gains at a time. The higher all your skills are, the slower it is to keep gaining new skills.
The issues that plague these systems are the balancing of them. Since Alpha 1.0, I have slowly been tweaking them, making it easier and easier each time. The 3rd point in the list was added a long the way to add more strategy in the progression of the skills – it makes players think twice about raising random skills at the start and makes them focus; such as what you would do in a real survival situation. That being said, these systems are very much hidden to the player; therefore, ruining my concept behind it. I think I can address these issues, in time, as well.
And yes, in the next version you will see easier skill gains once again.Dec 2, 2016 Ξ Comments are off
The percent of interracial marriages in the Chinese American community is on the decline, reports Next Shark.
Information from the 2012 census data finds that between 2008 -2010, mixed marriages in that community dropped by almost 10 percent.
An increase in Chinese immigration is partly the reason. Other factors may be cultural.
Tian Li, 32, of Chicago said she became dissatisfied with the White men she dated, some of whom she found to have an Asian fetish.
They didn’t understand me as a person,” she said.
Despite the decline, according to the Pew Research Center, Asian American women in 2013 far outpaced Asian American men in marrying outside their race, 37% – 16%.
AsAmNews is an all-volunteer effort of dedicated staff and interns. You can show your support by liking our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/asamnews, following us on Twitter, sharing our stories, interning or joining our staff.'Saturday Night Live' Is Trying To Make Us Laugh At An Election That Isn't Funny
One could see the return of Saturday Night Live this weekend as the perfect remedy after our summer of discontent. After birtherism, and deplorables, and tax returns and emails, and rumors of affairs and videos and body doubles, we could all use a laugh.
As such, expectations were high for the show Saturday night, after being away for months, and returning only a few days after the most-viewed presidential debate in modern history.
But it became clear, quickly, that any parody could not top the strange of the original act.
SNL's cold open was a comedic take on this week's debate, with SNL veteran Kate McKinnon playing Hillary Clinton and longtime friend of the show Alec Baldwin playing Trump.
Even after McKinnon entered the stage coughing and wobbling with a cane (referencing the real candidate's recent bout of pneumonia) and after Alec Baldwin's Trump complained of a broken mic and left the stage in a huff after the first question, nothing seemed to compare to the real fireworks from earlier this week.
Later attempts at presidential election comedy were a bit better throughout the episode. A Family Feud skit led by Kenan Thompson (playing host Steve Harvey) featured a competition between the Clinton and Trump families. On the Trump side, host Margot Robbie played Ivanka Trump, complete with a wind fan blowing her hair. Other cast members played Chris Christie and a shirtless Vladimr Putin. Kate McKinnon, just moments after her turn as Hillary Clinton in the cold open, played Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway.
For Team Clinton, alum Darryl Hammond made an appearance as Bill Clinton, seductively wooing Ivanka to his team's side by the end of the episode.
SNL's attempt to make light of an election that has seemed equal parts frivolous and gravely serious all at the same time comes as some question the role comedians should play in challenging politicians this election year.
Jimmy Fallon was widely ridiculed for a recent interview with Donald Trump on The Tonight Show when, instead of harshly questioning the candidate over some controversial views (as many liberal viewers would have liked), Fallon palled around with Trump, even tousling his hair.
Comedian Samantha Bee, who hosts a weekly comedy show, was recently ridiculed by New York Times columnist Ross Douthat in an essay. He argued that her line of comedy, which is harshly critical of Trump and his rise, represents "the rapid colonization of new cultural territory by an ascendant social liberalism" and the creation of an "overtly left-wing party line" in arenas Douthat said used to be apolitical.
If it seems no one can quite get the comedy right in this election (or least not make everybody happy) comedians alone might not be to blame. With candidates and issues that, almost daily, rub up against some of the most contentious issues in American life — race, gender, and class, to name a few — it's a heavy lift to make anyone laugh about any of this it all.
But you can't hate SNL for trying. And still they have until November to get it right. Though the words of Kate McKinnon in Saturday night's cold open may have been the most accurate representation of the electorate we've seen in comedy this year. Playing Clinton in the cold open debate scene, she said to moderator Lester Holt (played by Michael Che), "Can America vote right now?"
Her character's probably not the only one that wants to get this whole thing over with.Cleveland’s Troubled Police Force
Tensions between African-Americans and police officers charged with serving and protecting them have intensified throughout the United States in recent years, as the deaths of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and Eric Garner stirred nationwide outrage. But the problem has been particularly acute in Cleveland. In a report published last December, the Department of Justice found numerous instances of abuse, misconduct, and excessive force. A police officer shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice after the boy pulled out an airsoft gun while playing in the park. A 300 pound police officer who sat on and repeatedly punched a 13-year-old boy in his custody. An officer tasered another boy, strapped to a gurney after suffering a seizure on a Cleveland sidewalk, for making verbal threats.
According to the DOJ, these incidents occurred within a dysfunctional police culture where superiors in the department failed to rein in abusive behavior, review excessive use of force, or investigate allegations of misconduct. Attempts to discipline the officers responsible for the November 2012 shooting of Williams and Russell have caused additional problems. Last fall, nine of the 13 officers involved in the case filed a lawsuit alleging reverse racial discrimination after being punished with three days of administrative leave and 45 days of restricted duty.
A Nationwide Problem
But the problems resonate far beyond Cleveland. Police departments across the country have struggled to achieve racial diversity, leading to jurisdictions where a largely white police force serves a largely black community. A ProPublica study cited by Vox found that between 2010 and 2012, police officers were 21 times more likely to kill a black teenager than a white teenager. Records have shown that police officers who kill unarmed civilians are rarely convicted, and are seldom required to compensate survivors of their victims in civil lawsuits. Six months after Tamir Rice’s death, the police officer responsible hasn’t even been questioned.
In a press conference after the verdict, Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson appealed for calm.
“This is a moment that will define us as a city,” he said.
His words apply far beyond Cleveland’s borders.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to [email protected] to the California State Teachers’ Retirement System 2010 Summary Report to Members, the average retired California public school teacher receives an annual pension of $51,072 (see chart above). According to Department of Education data, that's more in retirement pay than the average current salary for active elementary and secondary public school teachers in 28 states, and almost as much as the national average for active public school teachers of $55,350.
If you take out the top three highest states for public school salaries (New York at $71,470, California at $70,458 and Massachusetts at $68,000), the average retired California teacher receives an annual pension that is the same as the average salary for teachers in 47 states. And compared to teachers in the lowest paid state of South Dakota (average salary of $35,136), California teachers make 45% more in retirement than South Dakota teachers earn on average while teaching.We saw that the Salidar Aes Sedai are trying to carry on as if nothing has changed, so they will automatically treat the girls as the Accepted that they are. They will probably dismiss Nynaeve’s account of besting Moghedien as a self-serving lie and try to squash the girls back into their ‘place’. However, the girls’ successes do speak for themselves and they have proven their strength with the One Power to be greater than almost any of the Sisters present at Salidar. We know that strength in the Power is used to create the ‘pecking order’ within the ranks of the Aes Sedai, so perhaps the girls will be treated with a little more respect and raised to the shawl. I get the feeling that Siuan will argue for the later, but I am not sure how many other Sisters will be able to accept this change in their world order.A year after Bernie Sanders was lighting the nation on fire teaching the political left about oligarchy and plutocracy from sea to shining sea, mainstream Democrats are right back to thinking that all of America’s problems are caused by bigotry and Republicans. Not one of the Democratic party loyalists I interact with who scold me for not falling in line with Bernie in his call to unify against Trump has ever made mention of the “handful of millionaires and billionaires” who rule their country that Sanders brought up hundreds of times along the campaign trail. They talk about racism, bigotry, misogyny, and Russia. Sanders shattered a longstanding taboo by using the word “oligarchy” in reference to America’s political system on national television, but that powerful lesson has become marginalized in favor of McResistance sloganeering.
This is, of course, not an accident. The Democratic establishment has been working overtime to keep its progressive base staring at the propaganda screen with Clockwork Orange-style confinement so they won’t notice the very blatantly obvious fact that they have every intention of repeating their exact same 2016 strategy in 2020. The Democratic party’s primary goal is not to take back power from the Republicans. That goal is secondary at best. No, the number one priority of the Democratic party’s ruling elites is to keep real progressives from taking control of the United States government.
Under Trump’s Republican party, the plutocrats who currently own both of America’s major political parties are sitting far more comfortably than they would ever be in the event of a progressive takeover. It is still the case that ordinary American voters have essentially zero influence over what legislation gets passed on Capitol Hill, as shown by a 2014 Princeton University study. It is still the case that the interests of multinational corporations and banks are being placed above the interests of the American citizen. It is still the case that taxpayer money is being funneled into the military industrial complex instead of providing those taxpayers with the same basic standards of living possessed by everyone else in every other major country in the world. This is why the Democratic establishment was willing to risk handing Trump the election in order to sabotage the campaign of the only progressive in their primaries, and it’s why they’re doing everything they can to ensure that they can run another warmongering corporatist rainbow flag neocon in 2020.
There are many scary things about the current administration, but by far the scariest is that all major paths to replace him with an acceptable candidate in 2020 are being actively obstructed by the self-proclaimed people’s party. It wasn’t an “oopsie, silly me” mistake when the DNC killed Sanders’ campaign, it wasn’t an “oopsie, silly me” mistake when the DNC installed establishment extremist Tom Perez over the compromise candidate Keith Ellison, and it’s not an “oopsie, silly me” mistake that the Perez transition committee is virtually devoid of Sanders-wing progressives. House minority leader/Tim Burton claymation figure Nancy Pelosi told us the whole story when she said she didn’t think Democrats want their party to change— they’re not going to. Why would they? They’ve built their entire careers on propping up the oligarchy; it’s all they know and it’s all they’ve got.
So they’ll either let the Republicans stay in control, or they’ll replace them with something even worse. Electing Hillary Clinton would have guaranteed a no-fly zone in Syria, which top military officials attested would have necessitated an all-out war with both Syria and Russia. As bad as Trump is, a world war with a nuclear superpower is unquestionably worse. That was what was on the menu in 2016, and we’re being shown every indication that something very similar will be on the menu in 2020. The Democrat/neocon coalition is still banging its war drums at Russia and still salivating over the toppling of the Assad government, and we are seeing a deliberate effort to suck all oxygen away from any initiative to move the Democratic party one iota to the left. They will keep herding leftward-inclined Americans into their worthless McResistance, where they will be instructed to focus on immigration bans and Russia instead of on the people who are deliberately keeping them imprisoned in a party that refuses to work for them.
It’s time to start turning around and facing your captors, progressives. The ruling elites of your party don’t fear Trump, they fear you. They fear you discovering your true power and coming together to demand that they start working for you instead of the oligarchs. A true progressive takeover of American politics would transform the entire world into something sane and beautiful and bring health and harmony to all of humanity. We can have this. There are people whose job it is to keep you from seeing this, but we can. Stop placing your trust in the ruling Democratic elites who’ve been exploiting you for money and votes, stop listening to their corporate media mouthpieces who get paid millions of dollars a year to lie to you, and stop accepting anything other than complete and total loyalty to you and your wellbeing from the people who have the great privilege of governing your nation.
---
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, please help me out by sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following me on Twitter, or even tossing me some money on Patreon so I can keep this gig up.Days after being announced as part of Bruce Arena's roster for the USA's World Cup qualifiers against Honduras and Panama, Fabian Johnson has been ruled out with a fresh injury and has been replaced by Sporting Kansas City's Graham Zusi.
Johnson was injured early in Borussia Monchengladbach's Europa League ouster vs. Bundesliga foe Schalke on Thursday, exiting in the 16th minute with a thigh strain that the club said would keep him out for an undetermined period of time.
Johnson, a veteran of the 2014 World Cup team who can play either in the midfield or at outside back for the U.S., was diagnosed with the injury by Monchengladbach on Friday. His absence is a big blow for Arena's side, with points a huge priority after November losses to Mexico and Costa Rica put the Americans in an 0-2-0 hole.
The U.S. is already thin at the fullback positions, with DeAndre Yedlin and Eric Lichaj being forced to miss out through injury and Timmy Chandler left behind because he's suspended for the Honduras match.
Jorge Villafana, Tim Ream, DaMarcus Beasley, Michael Orozco, Geoff Cameron and now Zusi are the options available to Arena at outside back. A midfielder by trade, Zusi was given a run out at right back during U.S. January camp and has begun the MLS season playing there for Sporting KC. Like Johnson, he boasts the versatility to be deployed in the midfield. Zusi is also a candidate to take set pieces for the U.S.Here’s our report on the UK plans:
The British government is to set up its own inquiry into car emissions and testing - including rerunning lab tests on suspect engines and conducting on the road emission tests.
It had called on the European Commission to carry out a Europe-wide investigation into the industry in the wake of the VW test-rigging scandal.
The UK’s regulator, the Vehicle Certification Agency - a division of the Department for Transport - will work with manufacturers across the industry.
Transport secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, said: “The Government takes the unacceptable actions of VW extremely seriously. My priority is to protect the public as we go through the process of investigating what went wrong and what we can do to stop it happening again in the future.
“We have called on the EU to conduct a Europe wide investigation into whether there is evidence that cars here have been fitted with defeat devices. In the meantime we are taking robust action.”
He said the VCA would work with vehicle manufacturers to ensure that the issue was limited to VW and not industry wide. “As part of this work they will re-run laboratory tests where necessary and compare them against real world driving emissions.”China's Secretive Army Opens Door For U.S.'s Mullen
Enlarge this image toggle caption Alexander F. Yuan-Pool/Getty Images Alexander F. Yuan-Pool/Getty Images
China's famously secretive army opened its doors just a bit Tuesday for the visit of Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This was a fence-mending mission after China cut off military ties last year over U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.
The troops came out to salute Mullen for his official welcoming ceremony. One day earlier, speaking to Beijing university students, Mullen noted that China's time has come.
"It is no longer a rising power. It has in fact arrived as a world power," Mullen said.
China's newfound confidence was visible Monday as Mullen met his counterpart, Gen. Chen Bingde. While Mullen tried to showcase three new agreements for cooperation, Chen had another agenda. He criticized U.S. drills with Australia and Japan in the South China Sea as inappropriate, and he noted that China's fleet of what he called "small ships" was not commensurate with its status.
Chen also said that the U.S. ought to behave in a prudent and modest manner, and he hit out at U.S. military spending.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Ng Han Guan/AP Ng Han Guan/AP
"I know [the] U.S. is still recovering from financial crisis, still has some difficulties in its economy," Chen said. "Given such circumstances, you are still spending so much money on the military. Isn't it placing too much pressure on the taxpayers? If [the] U.S. could reduce a bit military spending to spend more on the improvement of livelihood of American people and also do more good things for world people, wouldn't it be a better scenario?"
Rare Glimpse Of China's Military
Monday's itinerary involved watching an anti-terrorism exercise at a field command center of a regiment in Hangzhou in eastern China. The scenario involved anti-government terrorists taking control of a village primary school and temple. The media were soon ushered out.
As cicadas buzzed in the background, Col. Yang Yujun from China's Ministry of Defense Information Office offered his own reading of the military press conference. It was — you might paraphrase — the tough-love defense: He saw the outspoken criticism as a sign of closeness, not distance.
"I don't believe that between enemies they could speak [that] frankly, because they may try to guard against the others, so they could not tell all the truth. But only between friends they could speak so frankly," Yang said.
Another stop was at an air base in Shandong, where fighter planes thundered overhead, dropping flares. That foreign journalists were allowed to watch these displays and visit the army bases is extremely unusual, even though movements were tightly controlled.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Ng Han Guan/AP Ng Han Guan/AP
A Future Of Openness For U.S.-China Relations?
In all, Mullen's visit achieved no breakthroughs on the major stumbling blocks: namely, U.S. concerns about China's military assertiveness, and China's opposition to American surveillance close to the Chinese coast. But Mullen is cautiously upbeat.
"The relationship is just recently renewed, so we have a long way to go. The leaders are very committed to that, so I'm actually confident in the future of the military-to-military relationship," he said.
He also inspected a Su-27 fighter jet, sitting in its cockpit and chatting to fighter pilots.
But, symbolic gestures aside, has this trip achieved anything concrete? The deputy chief of China's PLA, Ma Xiaotian, had an answer to that question.
"Of course there's a positive outcome. See how open we are?" Ma said. "In the future you can't keep saying we're not transparent. Next time I go to the U.S., I want this kind of transparency. I want to be able to get into a plane's cockpit, instead of just looking at the plane surrounded by red ropes 60 feet away."
Whether that newfound openness is here to stay is another question. But at the very least, China's military appears to be learning the art of spin.The developing ties between Israel’s allies and enemies as they join forces to fight Islamic State pose a threat to Israel, Housing Minister Yoav Galant, a senior IDF commander turned Kulanu party lawmaker, warned Tuesday.
“They are fighting side by side against a joint enemy, Daesh [Islamic State], building ties, and learning from joint experience, and it creates new challenges for Israel,” Galant told the annual international conference of the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
“In the framework of these joint actions, the gates are opening for Iran and the significance of that are far-reaching.”
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up
After the threat of Islamic State has been removed, Israel will face Iran and its Lebanon-based proxy Hezbollah almost alone, he said. “We need to isolate Iran and Hezbollah, and prevent a situation in which they isolate us.”
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid, meanwhile, told the conference that Israel’s standing in the world has never been so bad, and its worsening status threatens the country’s national security.
“There is a constant effort to claim that the situation isn’t so bad,” he said. “This claim isn’t based on facts, but on the public’s inability to distinguish between diplomatic niceties and handshaking with smiles to the cameras, and real political cooperation.”
Lapid, who served as finance minister in the last government, said that with “proper management” of foreign policy, based on an organized work plan, it would be possible to restore Israel’s special status in the eyes of the US, Europe and some of the Islamic states, and significantly strengthen Israel’s national security.
“There are excellent people in the Foreign Ministry – they should be invested in,” he added.
Former Likud minister Gideon Sa’ar, seen as a potential future rival for party leader Benjamin Netanyahu, told conference participants that “with our own hands, we are losing Jerusalem, without one shot having been fired to preserve her Jewish majority.” He called for immediate action.
Also Tuesday, opposition leader Isaac Herzog of Zionist Union blamed Netanyahu for intensifying public fears in recent years, accusing him of scaremongering and race-baiting for his own political ends.
He told community service volunteers and counselors at Jerusalem’s Begin Center that Israelis felt a sense of despair and there was a dearth of optimism about the chances of breaking the impasse in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Netanyahu understood that he had to go to the lowest possible place — and that’s racism,” Herzog said. “The tension is so deep and that’s why what he says has influenced certain groups in Israeli society.”
“The more we integrate the Arab population into society, [the more] we can integrate [our] interests,” he said. “In hospitals and old age homes, Arabs care for Jews. Netanyahu has humiliated them and excluded them and this causes profound frustration which can be directed to places we don’t want to go to.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) warned that a “deadlock” in creative thinking on security threatened Israel far more than the diplomatic impasse with the Palestinians.
Stuart Winer contributed to this report.The next stop on our Computex tour was with ASRock, as we took aprt in their global press conference. We were introduced to their new 100 Series Motherboards in preparation for Intel’s Skylake CPU’s, their new Beebox mini PC, as well as a new (and very sleek router).
ASRock is basing their new motherboard series off an easily identifiable insect, the prying mantis |
concord. This unity cannot be broken, nor the one body divided by the separation of its constituent parts" (S. Cyprianus, De Cath. Eccl. Unitate, n. 23). And to set forth more clearly the unity of the Church, he makes use of the illustration of a living body, the members of which cannot possibly live unless united to the head and drawing from it their vital force. Separated from the head they must of necessity die. "The Church," he says, "cannot be divided into parts by the separation and cutting asunder of its members. What is cut away from the mother cannot live or breathe apart" (Ibid.). What similarity is there between a dead and a living body? "For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, as also Christ doth the Church: because we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones" (Eph. v., 29-30).
Another head like to Christ must be invented - that is, another Christ - if besides the one Church, which is His body, men wish to set up another. "See what you must beware of - see what you must avoid - see what you must dread. It happens that, as in the human body, some member may be cut off - a hand, a finger, a foot. Does the soul follow the amputated member? As long as it was in the body, it lived; separated, it forfeits its life. So the Christian is a Catholic as long as he lives in the body: cut off from it he becomes a heretic - the life of the spirit follows not the amputated member" (S. Augustinus, Sermo cclxvii., n. 4).
The Church of Christ, therefore, is one and the same for ever; those who leave it depart from the will and command of Christ, the Lord - leaving the path of salvation they enter on that of perdition. "Whosoever is separated from the Church is united to an adulteress. He has cut himself off from the promises of the Church, and he who leaves the Church of Christ cannot arrive at the rewards of Christ....He who observes not this unity observes not the law of God, holds not the faith of the Father and the Son, clings not to life and salvation" (S. Cyprianus, De Cath. Eccl. Unitate, n. 6).
Unity in Faith
6. But He, indeed, Who made this one Church, also gave it unity, that is, He made it such that all who are to belong to it must be united by the closest bonds, so as to form one society, one kingdom, one body - "one body and one spirit as you are called in one hope of your calling (Eph. iv., 4). Jesus Christ, when His death was nigh at hand, declared His will in this matter, and solemnly offered it up, thus addressing His Father: "Not for them only do I pray, but for them also who through their word shall believe in Me...that they also may be one in Us...that they may be made perfect in one" (John xvii., 20-21 23). Yea, He commanded that this unity should be so closely knit and so perfect amongst His followers that it might, in some measure, shadow forth the union between Himself and His Father: "I pray that they all may be one as Thou Father in Me and I in Thee" (Ibid. 21).
Agreement and union of minds is the necessary foundation of this perfect concord amongst men, from which concurrence of wills and similarity of action are the natural results. Wherefore, in His divine wisdom, He ordained in His Church Unity of Faith; a virtue which is the first of those bonds which unite man to God, and whence we receive the name of the faithful - "one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Eph. iv., 5). That is, as there is one Lord and one baptism, so should all Christians, without exception, have but one faith. And so the Apostle St. Paul not merely begs, but entreats and implores Christians to be all of the same mind, and to avoid difference of opinions: "I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms amongst you, and that you be perfect in the same mind and in the same judgment" (I Cor. i., 10). Such passages certainly need no interpreter; they speak clearly enough for themselves. Besides, all who profess Christianity allow that there can be but one faith. It is of the greatest importance and indeed of absolute necessity, as to which many are deceived, that the nature and character of this unity should be recognized. And, as We have already stated, this is not to be ascertained by conjecture, but by the certain knowledge of what was done; that is by seeking for and ascertaining what kind of unity in faith has been commanded by Jesus Christ.
The Kind of Unity in Faith Commanded by Christ
7. The heavenly doctrine of Christ, although for the most part committed to writing by divine inspiration, could not unite the minds of men if left to the human intellect alone. It would, for this very reason, be subject to various and contradictory interpretations. This is so, not only because of the nature of the doctrine itself and of the mysteries it involves, but also because of the divergencies of the human mind and of the disturbing element of conflicting passions. From a variety of interpretations a variety of beliefs is necessarily begotten; hence come controversies, dissensions and wranglings such as have arisen in the past, even in the first ages of the Church. Irenaeus writes of heretics as follows: "Admitting the sacred Scriptures they distort the interpretations" (Lib. iii., cap. 12, n. 12). And Augustine: "Heresies have arisen, and certain perverse views ensnaring souls and precipitating them into the abyss only when the Scriptures, good in themselves, are not properly understood" (In Evang. Joan., tract xviii., cap. 5, n. I). Besides Holy Writ it was absolutely necessary to insure this union of men's minds - to effect and preserve unity of ideas - that there should be another principle. This the wisdom of God requires: for He could not have willed that the faith should be one if He did not provide means sufficient for the preservation of this unity; and this Holy Writ clearly sets forth as We shall presently point out. Assuredly the infinite power of God is not bound by anything, all things obey it as so many passive instruments. In regard to this external principle, therefore, we must inquire which one of all the means in His power Christ did actually adopt. For this purpose it is necessary to recall in thought the institution of Christianity.
The Magisterium (or Teaching Authority) of the Church to be Perpetual
8. We are mindful only of what is witnessed to by Holy Writ and what is otherwise well known. Christ proves His own divinity and the divine origin of His mission by miracles; He teaches the multitudes heavenly doctrine by word of mouth; and He absolutely commands that the assent of faith should be given to His teaching, promising eternal rewards to those who believe and eternal punishment to those who do not. "If I do not the works of my Father, believe Me not" (John x., 37). "If I had not done among them the works than no other man had done, they would not have sin" (Ibid. xv., 24). "But if I do (the works) though you will not believe Me, believe the works" (Ibid. x., 38). Whatsoever He commands, He commands by the same authority. He requires the assent of the mind to all truths without exception. It was thus the duty of all who heard Jesus Christ, if they wished for eternal salvation, not merely to accept His doctrine as a whole, but to assent with their entire mind to all and every point of it, since it is unlawful to withhold faith from God even in regard to one single point.
When about to ascend into heaven He sends His Apostles in virtue of the same power by which He had been sent from the Father; and he charges them to spread abroad and propagate His teaching. "All power is given to Me in Heaven and in earth. Going therefore teach all nations....teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you" (Matt. xxviii., 18-19-20). So that those obeying the Apostles might be saved, and those disobeying should perish. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believed not shall be condemned" (Mark xvi., 16). But since it is obviously most in harmony with God's providence that no one should have confided to him a great and important mission unless he were furnished with the means of properly carrying it out, for this reason Christ promised that He would send the Spirit of Truth to His Disciples to remain with them for ever. "But if I go I will send Him (the Paraclete) to you....But when He, the Spirit of Truth is come, He will teach you all truth" (John xvi., 7-13). "And I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever, the Spirit of 'Truth" (Ibid. xiv., 16-17). "He shall give testimony of Me, and you shall give testimony" (Ibid. xv., 26-27). Hence He commands that the teaching of the Apostles should be religiously accepted and piously kept as if it were His own - "He who hears you hears Me, he who despises you despises Me" (Luke x., 16). Wherefore the Apostles are ambassadors of Christ as He is the ambassador of the Father. "As the Father sent Me so also I send you" (John xx., 21). Hence as the Apostles and Disciples were bound to obey Christ, so also those whom the Apostles taught were, by God's command, bound to obey them. And, therefore, it was no more allowable to repudiate one iota of the Apostles' teaching than it was to reject any point of the doctrine of Christ Himself.
Truly the voice of the Apostles, when the Holy Ghost had come down upon them, resounded throughout the world. Wherever they went they proclaimed themselves the ambassadors of Christ Himself. "By whom (Jesus Christ) we have received grace and Apostleship for obedience to the faith in all nations for His name" (Rom. i., 5). And God makes known their divine mission by numerous miracles. "But they going forth preached everywhere: the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that followed" (Mark xvi., 20). But what is this word? That which comprehends all things, that which they had learnt from their Master; because they openly and publicly declare that they cannot help speaking of what they had seen and heard.
But, as we have already said, the Apostolic mission was not destined to die with the Apostles themselves, or to come to an end in the course of time, since it was intended for the people at large and instituted for the salvation of the human race. For Christ commanded His Apostles to preach the "Gospel to every creature, to carry His name to nations and kings, and to be witnesses to him to the ends of the earth." He further promised to assist them in the fulfilment of their high mission, and that, not for a few years or centuries only, but for all time - "even to the consummation of the world." Upon which St. Jerome says: "He who promises to remain with His Disciples to the end of the world declares that they will be for ever victorious, and that He will never depart from those who believe in Him" (In Matt., lib. iv., cap. 28, v. 20). But how could all this be realized in the Apostles alone, placed as they were under the universal law of dissolution by death? It was consequently provided by God that the Magisterium instituted by Jesus Christ should not end with the life of the Apostles, but that it should be perpetuated. We see it in truth propagated, and, as it were, delivered from hand to hand. For the Apostles consecrated bishops, and each one appointed those who were to succeed them immediately "in the ministry of the word."
Nay more: they likewise required their successors to choose fitting men, to endow them with like authority, and to confide to them the office and mission of teaching. "Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus: and the things which thou bast heard of me by many witnesses, the same command to faithful men, who shall be fit to teach others also" (2 Tim. ii., I-2). Wherefore, as Christ was sent by God and the Apostles by Christ, so the Bishops and those who succeeded them were sent by the Apostles. "The Apostles were appointed by Christ to preach the Gospel to us. Jesus Christ was sent by God. Christ is therefore from God, and the Apostles from Christ, and both according to the will of God....Preaching therefore the word through the countries and cities, when they had proved in the Spirit the first-fruits of their teaching they appointed bishops and deacons for the faithful....They appointed them and then ordained them, so that when they themselves had passed away other tried men should carry on their ministry" (S. Clemens Rom. Epist. I ad Corinth. capp. 42, 44). On the one hand, therefore, it is necessary that the mission of teaching whatever Christ had taught should remain perpetual and immutable, and on the other that the duty of accepting and professing all their doctrine should likewise be perpetual and immutable. "Our Lord Jesus Christ, when in His Gospel He testifies that those who not are with Him are His enemies, does not designate any special form of heresy, but declares that all heretics who are not with Him and do not gather with Him, scatter His flock and are His adversaries: He that is not with Me is against Me, and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth" (S. Cyprianus, Ep. lxix., ad Magnum, n. I).
Every Revealed Truth, without Exception, Must be Accepted
9. The Church, founded on these principles and mindful of her office, has done nothing with greater zeal and endeavour than she has displayed in guarding the integrity of the faith. Hence she regarded as rebels and expelled from the ranks of her children all who held beliefs on any point of doctrine different from her own. The Arians, the Montanists, the Novatians, the Quartodecimans, the Eutychians, did not certainly reject all Catholic doctrine: they abandoned only a tertian portion of it. Still who does not know that they were declared heretics and banished from the bosom of the Church? In like manner were condemned all authors of heretical tenets who followed them in subsequent ages. "There can be nothing more dangerous than those heretics who admit nearly the whole cycle of doctrine, and yet by one word, as with a drop of poison, infect the real and simple faith taught by our Lord and handed down by Apostolic tradition" (Auctor Tract. de Fide Orthodoxa contra Arianos).
The practice of the Church has always been the same, as is shown by the unanimous teaching of the Fathers, who were wont to hold as outside Catholic communion, and alien to the Church, whoever would recede in the least degree from any point of doctrine proposed by her authoritative Magisterium. Epiphanius, Augustine, Theodoret, drew up a long list of the heresies of their times. St. Augustine notes that other heresies may spring up, to a single one of which, should any one give his assent, he is by the very fact cut off from Catholic unity. "No one who merely disbelieves in all (these heresies) can for that reason regard himself as a Catholic or call himself one. For there may be or may arise some other heresies, which are not set out in this work of ours, and, if any one holds to one single one of these he is not a Catholic" (S. Augustinus, De Haeresibus, n. 88).
The need of this divinely instituted means for the preservation of unity, about which we speak is urged by St. Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians. In this he first admonishes them to preserve with every care concord of minds: "Solicitous to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. iv., 3, et seq.). And as souls cannot be perfectly united in charity unless minds agree in faith, he wishes all to hold the same faith: "One Lord, one faith," and this so perfectly one as to prevent all danger of error: "that henceforth we be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the wickedness of men, by cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive" (Eph. iv., 14): and this he teaches is to be observed, not for a time only-"but until we all meet in the unity of faith...unto the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ" (13). But, in what has Christ placed the primary principle, and the means of preserving this unity? In that-"He gave some Apostles-and other some pastors and doctors, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ" (11-12).
Wherefore, from the very earliest times the fathers and doctors of the Church have been accustomed to follow and, with one accord to defend this rule. Origen writes: "As often as the heretics allege the possession of the canonical scriptures, to which all Christians give unanimous assent, they seem to say: `Behold the word of truth is in the houses.' But we should believe them not and abandon not the primary and ecclesiastical tradition. We should believe not otherwise than has been handed down by the tradition of the Church of God" (Vetus Interpretatio Commentariorum in Matt. n. 46). Irenaeus too says: "The doctrine of the Apostles is the true faith...which is known to us through the Episcopal succession...which has reached even unto our age by the very fact that the Scriptures have been zealously guarded and fully interpreted" (Contra Haereses, lib. iv., cap. 33, n. 8). And Tertullian: "It is therefore clear that all doctrine which agrees with that of the Apostolic churches - the matrices and original centres of the faith, must be looked upon as the truth, holding without hesitation that the Church received it from the Apostles, the Apostles from Christ and Christ from God....We are in communion with the Apostolic churches, and by the very fact that they agree amongst themselves we have a testimony of the truth" (De Praescrip., cap. xxxi). And so Hilary: "Christ teaching from the ship signifies that those who are outside the Church can never grasp the divine teaching; for the ship typifies the Church where the word of life is deposited and preached. Those who are outside are like sterile and worthless sand: they cannot comprehend" (Comment. in Matt. xiii., n. I). Rufinus praises Gregory of Nazianzum and Basil because "they studied the text of Holy Scripture alone, and took the interpretation of its meaning not from their own inner consciousness, but from the writings and on the authority of the ancients, who in their turn, as it is clear, took their rule for understanding the meaning from the Apostolic succession" (Hist. Eccl., lib. ii., cap. 9).
Wherefore, as appears from what has been said, Christ instituted in the Church a living, authoritative and permanent Magisterium, which by His own power He strengthened, by the Spirit of truth He taught, and by miracles confirmed. He willed and ordered, under the gravest penalties, that its teachings should be received as if they were His own. As often, therefore, as it is declared on the authority of this teaching that this or that is contained in the deposit of divine revelation, it must be believed by every one as true. If it could in any way be false, an evident contradiction follows; for then God Himself would be the author of error in man. "Lord, if we be in error, we are being deceived by Thee" (Richardus de S. Victore, De Trin., lib. i., cap. 2). In this wise, all cause for doubting being removed, can it be lawful for anyone to reject any one of those truths without by the very fact falling into heresy?-without separating himself from the Church?-without repudiating in one sweeping act the whole of Christian teaching? For such is the nature of faith that nothing can be more absurd than to accept some things and reject others. Faith, as the Church teaches, is "that supernatural virtue by which, through the help of God and through the assistance of His grace, we believe what he has revealed to be true, not on account of the intrinsic truth perceived by the natural light of reason, but because of the authority of God Himself, the Revealer, who can neither deceive nor be deceived" (Conc. Vat., Sess. iii., cap. 3). If then it be certain that anything is revealed by God, and this is not believed, then nothing whatever is believed by divine Faith: for what the Apostle St. James judges to be the effect of a moral deliquency, the same is to be said of an erroneous opinion in the matter of faith. "Whosoever shall offend in one point, is become guilty of all" (Ep. James ii., 10). Nay, it applies with greater force to an erroneous opinion. For it can be said with less truth that every law is violated by one who commits a single sin, since it may be that he only virtually despises the majesty of God the Legislator. But he who dissents even in one point from divinely revealed truth absolutely rejects all faith, since he thereby refuses to honour God as the supreme truth and the formal motive of faith. "In many things they are with me, in a few things not with me; but in those few things in which they are not with me the many things in which they are will not profit them" (S. Augustinus in Psal. liv., n. 19). And this indeed most deservedly; for they, who take from Christian doctrine what they please, lean on their own judgments, not on faith; and not "bringing into captivity every understanding unto the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor. x., 5), they more truly obey themselves than God. "You, who believe what you like, believe yourselves rather than the gospel" (S. Augustinus, lib. xvii., Contra Faustum Manichaeum, cap. 3).
For this reason the Fathers of the Vatican Council laid down nothing new, but followed divine revelation and the acknowledged and invariable teaching of the Church as to the very nature of faith, when they decreed as follows: "All those things are to be believed by divine and Catholic faith which are contained in the written or unwritten word of God, and which are proposed by the Church as divinely revealed, either by a solemn definition or in the exercise of its ordinary and universal Magisterium" (Sess. iii., cap. 3). Hence, as it is clear that God absolutely willed that there should be unity in His Church, and as it is evident what kind of unity He willed, and by means of what principle He ordained that this unity should be maintained, we may address the following words of St. Augustine to all who have not deliberately closed their minds to the truth: "When we see the great help of God, such manifest progress and such abundant fruit, shall we hesitate to take refuge in the bosom of that Church, which, as is evident to all, possesses the supreme authority of the Apostolic See through the Episcopal succession? In vain do heretics rage round it; they are condemned partly by the judgment of the people themselves, partly by the weight of councils, partly by the splendid evidence of miracles. To refuse to the Church the primacy is most impious and above measure arrogant. And if all learning, no matter how easy and common it may be, in order to be fully understood requires a teacher and master, what can be greater evidence of pride and rashness than to be unwilling to learn about the books of the divine mysteries from the proper interpreter, and to wish to condemn them unknown?" (De Unitate Credendi, cap. xvii., n. 35).
It is then undoubtedly the office of the church to guard Christian doctrine and to propagate it in its integrity and purity. But this is not all: the object for which the Church has been instituted is not wholly attained by the performance of this duty. For, since Jesus Christ delivered Himself up for the salvation of the human race, and to this end directed all His teaching and commands, so He ordered the Church to strive, by the truth of its doctrine, to sanctify and to save mankind. But faith alone cannot compass so great, excellent, and important an end. There must needs be also the fitting and devout worship of God, which is to be found chiefly in the divine Sacrifice and in the dispensation of the Sacraments, as well as salutary laws and discipline. All these must be found in the Church, since it continues the mission of the Saviour for ever. The Church alone offers to the human race that religion-that state of absolute perfection - which He wished, as it were, to be incorporated in it. And it alone supplies those means of salvation which accord with the ordinary counsels of Providence.
The Church a Divine Society
10. But as this heavenly doctrine was never left to the arbitrary judgment of private individuals, but, in the beginning delivered by Jesus Christ, was afterwards committed by Him exclusively to the Magisterium already named, so the power of performing and administering the divine mysteries, together with the authority of ruling and governing, was not bestowed by God on all Christians indiscriminately, but on certain chosen persons. For to the Apostles and their legitimate successors alone these words have reference: "Going into the whole world preach the Gospel." "Baptizing them." "Do this in commemoration of Me." "Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them." And in like manner He ordered the Apostles only and those who should lawfully succeed them to feed - that is to govern with authority - all Christian souls. Whence it also follows that it is necessarily the duty of Christians to be subject and to obey. And these duties of the Apostolic office are, in general, all included in the words of St. Paul: "Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and the dispensers of the mysteries of God" (I Cor. iv., I).
Wherefore Jesus Christ bade all men, present and future, follow Him as their leader and Saviour; and this, not merely as individuals, but as forming a society, organized and united in mind. In this way a duly constituted society should exist, formed out of the divided multitude of peoples, one in faith, one in end, one in the participation of the means adapted to the attainment of the end, and one as subject to one and the same authority. To this end He established in the Church all principles which necessarily tend to make organized human societies, and through which they attain the perfection proper to each. That is, in it (the Church), all who wished to be the sons of God by adoption might attain to the perfection demanded by their high calling, and might obtain salvation. The Church, therefore, as we have said, is man's guide to whatever pertains to Heaven. This is the office appointed unto it by God: that it may watch over and may order all that concerns religion, and may, without let or hindrance, exercise, according to its judgment, its charge over Christianity. Wherefore they who pretend that the Church has any wish to interfere in Civil matters, or to infringe upon the rights of the State, know it not, or wickedly calumniate it.
God indeed even made the Church a society far more perfect than any other. For the end for which the Church exists is as much higher than the end of other societies as divine grace is above nature, as immortal blessings are above the transitory things on the earth. Therefore the Church is a society divine in its origin, supernatural in its end and in means proximately adapted to the attainment of that end; but it is a human community inasmuch as it is composed of men. For this reason we find it called in Holy Writ by names indicating a perfect society. It is spoken of as the House of God, the city placed upon the mountain to which all nations must come. But it is also the fold presided over by one Shepherd, and into which all Christ's sheep must betake themselves. Yea, it is called the kingdom which God has raised up and which will stand for ever. Finally it is the body of Christ - that is, of course, His mystical body, but a body living and duly organized and composed of many members; members indeed which have not all the same functions, but which, united one to the other, are kept bound together by the guidance and authority of the head.
Indeed no true and perfect human society can be conceived which is not governed by some supreme authority. Christ therefore must have given to His Church a supreme authority to which all Christians must render obedience. For this reason, as the unity of the faith is of necessity required for the unity of the church, inasmuch as it is the body of the faithful, so also for this same unity, inasmuch as the Church is a divinely constituted society, unity of government, which effects and involves unity of communion, is necessary jure divino. "The unity of the Church is manifested in the mutual connection or communication of its members, and likewise in the relation of all the members of the Church to one head" (St. Thomas, 2a 2ae, 9, xxxix., a. I).
From this it is easy to see that men can fall away from the unity of the Church by schism, as well as by heresy. "We think that this difference exists between heresy and schism" (writes St. Jerome): "heresy has no perfect dogmatic teaching, whereas schism, through some Episcopal dissent, also separates from the Church" (S. Hieronymus, Comment. in Epist. ad Titum, cap. iii., v. 10-11). In which judgment St. John Chrysostom concurs: "I say and protest (he writes) that it is as wrong to divide the Church as to fall into heresy" (Hom. xi., in Epist. ad Ephes., n. 5). Wherefore as no heresy can ever be justifiable, so in like manner there can be no justification for schism. "There is nothing more grievous than the sacrilege of schism....there can be no just necessity for destroying the unity of the Church" (S. Augustinus, Contra Epistolam Parmeniani, lib. ii., cap. ii., n. 25).
The Supreme Authority Founded by Christ
11. The nature of this supreme authority, which all Christians are bound to obey, can be ascertained only by finding out what was the evident and positive will of Christ. Certainly Christ is a King for ever; and though invisible, He continues unto the end of time to govern and guard His church from Heaven. But since He willed that His kingdom should be visible He was obliged, when He ascended into Heaven, to designate a vice-gerent on earth. "Should anyone say that Christ is the one head and the one shepherd, the one spouse of the one Church, he does not give an adequate reply. It is clear, indeed, that Christ is the author of grace in the Sacraments of the Church; it is Christ Himself who baptizes; it is He who forgives sins; it is He who is the true priest who bath offered Himself upon the altar of the cross, and it is by His power that His body is daily consecrated upon the altar; and still, because He was not to be visibly present to all the faithful, He made choice of ministers through whom the aforesaid Sacraments should be dispensed to the faithful as said above" (cap. 74). "For the same reason, therefore, because He was about to withdraw His visible presence from the Church, it was necessary that He should appoint someone in His place, to have the charge of the Universal Church. Hence before His Ascension He said to Peter: 'Feed my sheep' " (St. Thomas, Contra Gentiles, lib. iv., cap. 76).
Jesus Christ, therefore, appointed Peter to be that head of the Church; and He also determined that the authority instituted in perpetuity for the salvation of all should be inherited by His successors, in whom the same permanent authority of Peter himself should continue. And so He made that remarkable promise to Peter and to no one else: "Thou are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church" (Matt. xvi., 18). "To Peter the Lord spoke: to one, therefore, that He might establish unity upon one" (S. Pacianus ad Sempronium, Ep. iii., n. 11). "Without any prelude He mentions St. Peter's name and that of his father (Blessed art thou Simon, son of John) and He does not wish Him to be called any more Simon; claiming him for Himself according to His divine authority He aptly names him Peter, from petra the rock, since upon him He was about to found His Church" (S. Cyrillus Alexandrinus, In Evang. Joan., lib. ii., in cap. i., v. 42).
The Universal Jurisdiction of St. Peter
12. From this text it is clear that by the will and command of God the Church rests upon St. Peter, just as a building rests on its foundation. Now the proper nature of a foundation is to be a principle of cohesion for the various parts of the building. It must be the necessary condition of stability and strength. Remove it and the whole building falls. It is consequently the office of St. Peter to support the Church, and to guard it in all its strength and indestructible unity. How could he fulfil this office without the power of commanding, forbidding, and judging, which is properly called jurisdiction? It is only by this power of jurisdiction that nations and commonwealths are held together. A primacy of honour and the shadowy right of giving advice and admonition, which is called direction, could never secure to any society of men unity or strength. The words - and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it - proclaim and establish the authority of which we speak. "What is the it?" (writes Origen). "Is it the rock upon which Christ builds the Church or the Church? The expression indeed is ambiguous, as if the rock and the Church were one and the same. I indeed think that this is so, and that neither against the rock upon which Christ builds His Church nor against the Church shall the gates of Hell prevail" (Origenes, Comment. in Matt., tom. xii., n. ii). The meaning of this divine utterance is, that, notwithstanding the wiles and intrigues which they bring to bear against the Church, it can never be that the church committed to the care of Peter shall succumb or in any wise fail. "For the Church, as the edifice of Christ who has wisely built 'His house upon a rock,' cannot be conquered by the gates of Hell, which may prevail over any man who shall be off the rock and outside the Church, but shall be powerless against it" (Ibid.). Therefore God confided His Church to Peter so that he might safely guard it with his unconquerable power. He invested him, therefore, with the needful authority; since the right to rule is absolutely required by him who has to guard human society really and effectively. This, furthermore, Christ gave: "To thee will I give the keys of the kingdom of Heaven." And He is clearly still speaking of the Church, which a short time before He had called His own, and which He declared He wished to build on Peter as a foundation. The Church is typified not only as an edifice but as a Kingdom, and every one knows that the keys constitute the usual sign of governing authority. Wherefore when Christ promised to give to Peter the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, he promised to give him power and authority over the Church. "The Son committed to Peter the office of spreading the knowledge of His Father and Himself over the whole world. He who increased the Church in all the earth, and proclaimed it to be stronger than the heavens, gave to a mortal man all power in Heaven when He handed him the Keys" (S. Johannes Chrysostomus, Hom. liv., in Matt. v., 2). In this same sense He says: "Whatsoever thou shall bind upon earth it shall be bound also in Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth it shall be loosed also in Heaven." This metaphorical expression of binding and loosing indicates the power of making laws, of judging and of punishing; and the power is said to be of such amplitude and force that God will ratify whatever is decreed by it. Thus it is supreme and absolutely independent, so that, having no other power on earth as its superior, it embraces the whole Church and all things committed to the Church.
The promise is carried out when Christ the Lord after His Resurrection, having thrice asked Peter whether he loved Him more than the rest, lays on him the injunction: "Feed my lambs - feed my sheep." That is He confides to him, without exception, all those who were to belong to His fold. "The Lord does not hesitate. He interrogates, not to learn but to teach. When He was about to ascend into Heaven He left us, as it were, a vice-gerent of His love....and so because Peter alone of all others professes his love he is preferred to all-that being the most perfect he should govern the more perfect" (S. Ambrosius, Exposit. in Ev |
stuck in a bodylock from behind, a fighter is always looking to separate the wrists. This is so that they can turn and face—as Cain Velasquez did against Brock Lesnar.
Or occasionally apply that Sakuraba-style kimura, as Kazushi Sakuraba did against... well, everybody.
Against Chad Mendes, Aldo was in danger of being taken down early. After a flagrant fence grab (which should have resulted in an immediate point deduction), Aldo was able to break Mendes' hands apart and turn to face Mendes. Mendes was already moving to stay in close and get on Aldo's hips, as Aldo brought the knee up. It was one of the most beautifully timed counter strikes I've ever seen in MMA, and one which you would only be able to see in MMA.
Simply astounding. Notice how Aldo maintains his grip on Mendes' right wrist and immediately attempts a quick catch behind the head with his left hand. Andy Ristie-esque in his quick knees is Jose Aldo.
And the thing about missing these knees or uppercuts is... so what? If they miss, it's because the other guy is too far away. At least he's now thinking “wow, that could have ended badly”. Aldo gets wrestlers standing upright with no idea what to do. They either dive in and get caught, like Gambuyan and Mendes. Or they keep pushing in with no idea what else to do, like Brown. Or they stand at range and get their leg butchered, as Faber so famously did.
And remember, level changes aren't exclusively for takedowns. Aldo is just waiting for the opponent's head to dip for any reason!
No-one ever answers all the hypotheticals. You can be a champion for six or seven years and still find a stylistic match up that gives you hell. Johny Hendricks' shutting down of Georges St. Pierre's lead right hand and wrestling is a perfect example. From a purely selfish stand point, what I'd really want to see against Aldo is a wrestler who has more than the bare bones striking of Urijah Faber or Mendes (the first time at least) in order to get Aldo into position to wrestle without having to panic shoot whenever they can.
Frankie Edgar did well enough against Aldo, but his striking is largely for activity more than it is for damage. What intrigues me is a middle ground between an Edgar with all his set ups but little stopping power or commitment, and a Faber, with his booming right hand and little else. We'll talk more about how well (or poorly?) Chad Mendes fills this vacancy next week.
Where Aldo has looked the most tentative though is when he is forced to lead. He can leave himself open for counters when he steps in with body punches and with lunging jabs, and often relies on pulling away from punches with his reactions rather than good positioning and pre-emptive head movement. This means that by the third, fourth or fifth round—and he's known as something of a gasser—Aldo gets exponentially easier to catch with counter strikes. For this reason, I would be fascinated to see a gifted counter striker who uses his footwork well and can force Aldo into leading. But again, we'll probably be talking about that possibility very soon...
Pick up Jack Slack's ebooks at his blog Fights Gone By. Jack can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.
Check out these related stories:
Jack Slack: Street Fighting Roos
The Serial Striking of Rory MacDonald
Mayweather vs. Maidana: When Does Boxing Become Wrestling?Memory and intellectual improvement applied to self-education and juvenile instruction. (source: Internet Archive on Wikimedia Commons
Extracting structured information from semi-structured or unstructured data sources (“dark data”) is an important problem. One can take it a step further by attempting to automatically build a knowledge graph from the same data sources. Knowledge databases and graphs are built using (semi-supervised) machine learning, and then subsequently used to power intelligent systems that form the basis of AI applications. The more advanced messaging and chat bots you’ve encountered rely on these knowledge stores to interact with users.
In this episode of the Data Show, I spoke with Mike Tung, founder and CEO of Diffbot - a company dedicated to building large-scale knowledge databases. Diffbot is at the heart of many web applications, and it’s starting to power a wide array of intelligent applications. We talked about the challenges of building a web-scale platform for doing highly accurate, semi-supervised, structured data extraction. We also took a tour through the AI landscape, and the early days of self-driving cars.
Here are some highlights from our conversation:
Building the largest structured database of knowledge
If you think about the Web as a virtual world, there are more pixels on the surface area of the Web than there are square millimeters on the surface of the earth. As a surface for computer vision and parsing, it's amazing, and you don't have to actually build a physical robot in order to traverse the Web. It is pretty tricky though. … For example, Google has a knowledge graph team—I'm sure your listeners are aware from a startup that was building something called Freebase, which is crowdsourced, kind of like a Wikipedia for data. They've continued to build upon that at Google adding more and more human curators. … It's a mix of software, but there's definitely thousands and thousands of people that actually contribute to their knowledge graph. Whereas in contrast, we are a team of 15 of the top AI people in the world. We don't have anyone that's curating the knowledge. All of the knowledge is completely synthesized by our AI system. When our customers use our service, they're directly using the output of the AI. There's no human involved in the loop of our business model. … Our high level goal is to build the largest structured database of knowledge. The most comprehensive map of all of the entities and the facts about those entities. The way we're doing it is by combining multiple data sources. One of them is the Web, so we have this crawler that's crawling the entire surface area of the Web.
Knowledge component of an AI system
If you look at other groups doing AI research, a lot of them are focused on very much the same as the academic style of research, which is coming out of new algorithms and publishing to sort of the same conferences. If you look at some of these industrial AI labs—they're doing the same kind of work that they would be doing in academia—whereas what we're doing, in terms of building this large data set, would not have been created otherwise without starting this effort. … I think you need really good algorithms, and you also need really good data. … One of the key things we believe is that it might be possible to build a human-level reasoning system. If you just had enough structured information to do it on. … Basically, the semantic web vision never really got fully realized because of the chicken-and-egg problem. You need enough people to annotate data, and annotate it for the purpose of the semantic web—to build a comprehensiveness of knowledge—and not for the actual purpose, which is perhaps showing web pages to end users. Then, with this comprehensiveness of knowledge, people can build a lot of apps on top of it. Then the idea would be this virtuous cycle where you have a bunch of killer apps for this data, and then that would prompt more people to tag more things. That virtuous cycle never really got going in my view, and there have been a lot of efforts to do that over the years with RDS/RSS and things like that. … What we're trying to do is basically take the annotation aspect out of the hands of humans. The idea here is that these AI algorithms are good enough that we can actually have AI build the semantic web.
Leveraging open source projects: WebKit and Gigablast
… Roughly, what happens when our robot first encounters a page is we render the page in our own customized rendering engine, which is a fork of WebKit that's basically had its face ripped off. It doesn't have all the human niceties of a web browser, and it runs much faster than a browser because it doesn't need those human-facing components. … The other difference is we've instrumented the whole rendering process. We have access to all of the pixels on the page for each XY position. … [We identify many] features that feed into our semi-supervised learning system. Then millions of lines of code later, out comes knowledge. … Our VP of search, Matt Wells, is the founder of the Gigablast search engine. Years ago, Gigablast competed against Google and Inktomi and AltaVista and others. Gigablast actually had a larger real-time search index than Google at that time. Matt is a world expert in search and has been developing his C++ crawler Gigablast for, I would say, almost a decade. … Gigablast scales much, much better than Lucene. I know because I’m a former user of Lucene myself. It's a very elegant system. It's a fully symmetric, masterless system. It has its own UDP-based communications protocol. It includes a full web crawler, indexer. It has real-time search capability.
Editor’s note: Mike Tung is on the advisory committee for the upcoming O’Reilly Artificial Intelligence conference.
Related resources:Tempted by Windows 10? You should be.
I have been part of the Windows 10 beta program since day one and I’ve witnessed the evolution of an OS that blends the best aspects of Windows 7 and Windows 8. Unfortunately Microsoft has now also confirmed that Windows 10 will kill some of its predecessors' most loved features...
Microsoft has confirmed this on its newly published Windows 10 specifications page under a section diplomatically called ‘Feature deprecation’.
In fairness some ‘feature deprecation’ makes sense - not all features last forever - but the surprise is Microsoft has chosen fairly large features that may even cause some users to think twice about upgrading.
Read more - Why Microsoft Announced Windows 10 Is 'The Last Version Of Windows'
The full list is as follows:
If you have Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 8 Pro with Media Center, or Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center and you install Windows 10, Windows Media Center will be removed.
, Windows 8 Pro with Media Center, or Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center and you install Windows 10, Windows Media Center will be removed. Watching DVDs requires separate playback software
Windows 7 desktop gadgets will be removed as part of installing Windows 10.
Windows 10 Home users will have updates from Windows Update automatically available. Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise users will have the ability to defer updates.
Solitaire, Minesweeper, and Hearts Games that come pre-installed on Windows 7 will be removed as part of installing the Windows 10 upgrade. Microsoft has released our version of Solitaire and Minesweeper called the “Microsoft Solitaire Collection” and “Microsoft Minesweeper.”
If you have a USB floppy drive, you will need to download the latest driver from Windows Update or from the manufacturer's website.
If you have Windows Live Essentials installed on your system, the OneDrive application is removed and replaced with the inbox version of OneDrive.
Yes, that's some big stuff.
The most high profile removals are Windows Media Center, desktop gadgets and native driver support for USB floppy drives, but the one that should really catch your eye is how desktop updates will be handled for Windows 10 Home users.
Read more - Microsoft Plunders iOS And Android To Supercharge Windows 10
Windows 10 Home will be by far the biggest selling version of Windows 10 (it is the one intended for mainstream consumers) and with it Microsoft now has complete control over what upgrades you will receive - in short: everything...
Given most updates (drivers, security, etc) are worth having, this won’t prove an issue in general but more recently Microsoft has also developed a habit of supplying what effectively adds up to adware. You will have already experienced it if you've been prompted to upgrade to Windows 10 in the last few days.
Given Windows 10 will be free to many upgraders, having the ability to nag them in future about upgrading to new editions and other Microsoft products in general (perhaps even promotions) seems a vital business strategy for the company.
In fact i#
f it sells this advertising space (there's no indication it will) this could also be worth millions, after all it's a display position Google and Facebook could only dream about.
All of which may have some users thinking about whether they want to make the jump to Windows 10 in the first place. Personally speaking I think the trade-off is worth it. While Windows 8 received a lot of (fair and unfair) criticism, Windows 10 is the true spiritual successor to Windows 7 without sacrificing the good stuff from 8.
Still it shows Microsoft is beginning to go down a very different business route these days. Much like most Google products and services, Windows 10 serves another reminder that ‘nothing is ever really free’...
Read more - 'Free' Windows 10 Will Be Late And Expensive For Millions
___
Follow @GordonKellyThe Burmese military authorities have released the pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, from house arrest.
Appearing outside her home in Rangoon, Ms Suu Kyi told thousands of jubilant supporters they had to "work in unison" to achieve their goals.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been detained for 15 of the past 21 years. It is not yet clear if any conditions have been placed on her release.
US President Barack Obama welcomed her release as "long overdue".
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Ms Suu Kyi was an "inspiration", and called on Burma to free all its remaining political prisoners.
Ms Suu Kyi, 65, was freed after her latest period of house arrest expired and was not renewed by the military government.
Her release comes six days after the political party supported by the military won the country's first election in 20 years. The ballot was widely condemned as a sham.
'Long overdue'
For more than 24 hours crowds of people had been waiting anxiously near Ms Suu Kyi's home and the headquarters of her now-disbanded National League for Democracy (NLD) party for news of her fate.
Many wore T-shirts sporting the slogan "We stand with Aung San Suu Kyi".
Analysis What we saw here were scenes of extraordinary, unforgettable pleasure. But no-one knows what comes next. Aung San Suu Kyi phrased her new policy with deliberate vagueness when she talked about people working together to achieve their goals. Working with the opposition leaders who thought she was wrong to opt out of last week's elections, certainly. But working with the generals who run this country and who have kept her prisoner so long - that's going to be very hard indeed. This isn't South Africa and the old regime isn't just prepared to fade away. We'll get more of a clue to all of this on Sunday at noon Rangoon time, when Aung San Suu Kyi holds a press conference - assuming that it's allowed to go ahead by the authorities. But the generals are taking a huge risk in releasing her from house arrest and the battle of wills is only just beginning.
On Saturday afternoon, a stand-off developed between armed riot police and several hundred people gathered on the other side of the security barricade blocking the road leading to her lakeside home. Some of them later sat down in the road in an act of defiance.
As tensions rose, reports came in at about 1700 (1030 GMT) that official cars had been seen entering Ms Suu Kyi's compound, and then that unnamed officials had formally read the release order to her.
Hundreds of people then surged forward and rushed forwards to greet her.
The ecstatic crowd swelled to three or four thousand before Ms Suu Kyi, in a traditional lilac dress, finally appeared, about 30 minutes later, on a platform behind the gate of her compound.
She took a flower from someone in the crowd and placed it in her hair.
Ms Suu Kyi then tried to speak, but was drowned out by the noise of the crowd, many singing the national anthem and chanting her name repeatedly.
"I have to give you the first political lesson since my release. We haven't seen each other for so long, so we have many things to talk about. If you have any words for me, please come to the [NLD] headquarters tomorrow and we can talk then and I'll use a loud speaker," she joked.
"There is a time to be quiet and a time to talk," she added. "People must work in unison. Only then can we achieve our goal."
She then went back inside her home for the first meeting with NLD leaders in seven years. She also spoke to her youngest son, Kim Aris, who was awaiting her release in neighbouring Thailand. Ms Suu Kyi had two sons with late husband, British scholar Michael Aris.
International leaders were quick to welcome Ms Suu Kyi's release.
Mr Ban said she was an "inspiration", but he regretted that she had been excluded from the elections.
He said he hoped no further restrictions would be placed on Ms Suu Kyi, and urged the Burmese authorities "to build on today's action by releasing all remaining political prisoners".
The head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Surin Pitsuswan, said he was "very, very relieved" and hoped the move would "contribute to true national reconciliation".
President Obama called Ms Suu Kyi "a hero of mine".
"Whether Aung San Suu Kyi is living in the prison of her house, or the prison of her country, does not change the fact that she, and the political opposition she represents, has been systematically silenced, incarcerated, and deprived of any opportunity to engage in political processes," he said.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron also said the release was "long overdue", describing her detention had been a "travesty".
"Aung San Suu Kyi is an inspiration for all of us who believe in freedom of speech, democracy and human rights," he added.
Key elections
The ruling junta has restricted Ms Suu Kyi's travel and freedom to associate during previous brief spells of liberty, and has demanded she quit politics.
Aung San Suu Kyi Born 1945, daughter of Burma's independence hero, General Aung San, assassinated in 1947
1960: Leaves Burma and is later educated at Oxford University
1988: Returns to care for sick mother and is caught up in revolt against then-dictator Ne Win
1989: Put under house arrest as Burma junta declares martial law
1990: NLD wins election; military disregards result
1991: Wins Nobel Peace Prize
1995: Released from house arrest, but movements restricted
2000: Near continuous period of house arrest begins
Sept 2007: First public appearance since 2003, greeting protesting Buddhist monks
November 2010: NLD boycotts first election in 20 years and is disbanded; House arrest ends
However, earlier this week her lawyer said that she would "not accept a limited release".
A BBC correspondent in Rangoon says it is unlikely the ruling generals would have freed Ms Suu Kyi unless they felt confident she no longer represented a threat to them or their plans for the country.
Sunday's elections were a key step in a carefully planned transition from overt military rule to a nominally civilian government, but the process has been widely condemned as widely fraudulent and un-democratic, she adds.
State media have reported that the biggest military-backed party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), has secured a majority in both houses of parliament. Those elected included the leader of the USDP, Prime Minister Thein Sein, who retired from the military as a general in April to stand.
A quarter of seats in the two new chambers of parliament will be reserved for the military. Any constitutional change will require a majority of more than 75% - meaning the military will retain a casting vote.
The NLD - which won the last election in 1990 but was never allowed to take power - refused to contest the election, which means that legally it is no longer a political entity. By extension Burma's most famous democracy campaigner now has no official political status and an unclear role.
Our correspondent says the next few days might provide some answers on how Ms Suu Kyi plans to further the cause of freedom of justice in Burma, for which she has sacrificed so much to achieve, but in the meantime thousands of her supporters are just enjoying the moment.One person dead after large tree branch falls on bus stop in Willesden
One woman is believed to have died at the scene (Pic credit: Twitter@JoaoCorona) Archant
A woman has died and an elderly man is seriously injured after a large tree branch crashed onto them at a bus stop in Willesden this afternoon.
Share Email this article to a friend To send a link to this page you must be logged in.
The scene in Harlesden Road The scene in Harlesden Road
Police and paramedics were called to Donnington Road, at around 4pm, where the middle-age woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
A man in his 70s was rushed to a west London hospital by air ambulance in a serious condition.
Judy and Sid Kerr, a married couple whose flat in Harlesden Road overlooks the scene, said they went outside to investigate after hearing noises.
Mrs Kerr said: “We heard a horrendous noise so we flew out onto the balcony and saw the lady there under the tree. It was horrible. Children were screaming.”
Another resident, Joao Corona, was also alerted to the incident by a loud noise.
He said: “I heard a big thud outside my house.
“I ignored it but soon sirens grabbed my curiosity to go outside and look. I could see the big branch that fell right next to the number six bus stop.
“By the time I got outside police, ambulance and firefighters were on the scene already and they had the roads on lockdown, stopping all buses and making people go around.
“I asked the people around and some said a person had been killed. This is so very sad.”(Latest updates: Boyfriend of Md. teacher held without bond after body was found in shallow grave)
On Monday, Tyler Tessier soulfully pleaded for the safe return of his then-missing pregnant girlfriend, Laura Wallen, and held hands at a news conference with Wallen's mother.
But by then, Wallen already had been killed by Tessier, according to police, who charged him Wednesday in the death of the 31-year-old high school teacher, whose body was found in a shallow grave in Damascus.
Tessier also was believed to be the father of Wallen's unborn child, police said. She was four months pregnant. Wallen, of Olney, was a social studies teacher at Wilde Lake High School in Howard County, where she taught since 2014.
Since she was reported missing early last week, the case has received widespread attention. Wallen was excited about the school year starting and didn't seem at all like a person who would take off on her own, family and friends said.
Behind the scenes, detectives were in constant contact with the boyfriend, Tessier, who gave inconsistent stories about his interactions with Wallen before she'd gone missing, police said.
Laura Elizabeth Wallen (Montgomery County Police Department/Montgomery County Police Department)
When police held the news conference to ask the public for help finding Wallen, investigators made "a calculated decision" to allow Tessier to attend, Montgomery Police Chief Tom Manger said Wednesday night.
Tessier sat next to Wallen's mother and father. Detectives were curious what he would say and how he would say it, according to Manger, who said the family was aware of that decision.
When Tessier spoke in front of a bank of cameras, he pleaded for Wallen to contact her family and asked for her safe return, saying, "Laura, if you're listening, it doesn't matter what's happened. It doesn't matter what type of trouble. There's nothing we can't fix together."
Manger said there were no signs on Wallen's remains to suggest how she was killed.
During the investigation, police learned Tessier was spending a lot of time in an area of Damascus and came to believe they should search there for Wallen's body, police said. Police searched the area on Wednesday with cadaver dogs and found a freshly dug area, according to police, and in plain view saw a purple piece of fabric.
Tyler Tessier (Montgomery County Police/Montgomery County Police)
Police said they believe Wallen was killed Sept. 3, a day after a surveillance video at a grocery store showed her and Tessier together.
Wallen's sister received several odd texts from Wallen's phone on Sept. 4, stating that the child she was carrying was not Tessier's and suggesting it might be that of a previous boyfriend, Manger said.
Manger said that police determined those texts had been sent by Tessier.
"I am like 95 percent sure Tyler is not the father," one of the texts said, according to police.
"I'm probably going to lose my job over this," said another.
And yet another text stated: "Tyler is never going to forgive me. If he tries to call you, please tell him he's a great guy because I know I really hurt his feelings."
On Sept. 7, police found Wallen's car unoccupied and parked in an apartment complex in the 10600 block of Gramercy Place in Columbia, a five-minute drive from the school. Police said Tessier brought the car there after removing the front license plate.
[Family of missing pregnant teacher offering $25,000 reward to locate her]
When Tessier spoke Monday at the news conference, in his appeal for Wallen, his voice occasionally broke as he said: "We haven't slept, we haven't eaten, we're just looking, we're praying that you're safe. I'm asking you to just let us know that you're safe. If somebody has her, please understand that you've taken away a huge person in so many people's lives."
Wallen's body was found near Prices Distillery Road in Damascus on private property, police said. The property owner has "no involvement" in the investigation, Manger said.
Wallen's father, Mark Wallen, had said he became certain something was awry when he called Wilde Lake High School on Tuesday morning to check if his daughter had arrived and was told she had not. He then asked if she had arranged for a substitute teacher and was told no — a lapse he said he was sure she would not have made had she known she would be absent.
He knew she had been preparing her classroom for two weeks and had a "joy in her heart" for her job, Mark Wallen said.
Tessier, at the news conference asking for public help in locating Wallen, said she was "super excited" for the start of the school year and called her disappearance a "complete shock." He said the two had gone to doctor appointments together and that she was happy about the pregnancy.
Police said Laura Wallen had sent her sister a series of texts Sept. 2 saying "Tyler has me on an adventure in the country.... don't know why I'm here but it's for something."
Her sister asked, "Really where are you?"
Laura Wallen replied, according to police, "I'm waiting in a field."
Her sister told her to take a picture. Police said the picture Wallen sent was of a large field with a tree line and that the photograph appears to be the same field where the clandestine grave was discovered.A man who fled the Nazis and came to Britain as a child refugee has slammed the Tories for locking out today’s refugee children.
Retired professor Leslie Brent told Socialist Worker, “In the 1930s Neville Chamberlain’s government had come under pressure from Jewish and other groups to let us in.
“It saved my life—my family were all killed in the Holocaust.”
Brent spoke alongside Labour peer Alf Dubs last Friday at the London monument to the 1938-9 Kindertransport trains that brought them both to Britain.
It was part of a day of action to get children stuck in the Calais “jungle” brought to Britain.
The Tories paint immigrants as a drain on society. But Brent’s work on immunology helped improve medicine for everyone.
“When I began working in the field in 1951, we didn’t think it possible to do organ transplants,” he explained. “Since then it’s been transformed.”
Brent said, “I don’t know anyone who came on the Kindertransport who hasn’t made a contribution.”
He added, “While there is a wave of prejudice, many people would welcome refugees.
“Demonstrations like this, voicing our opinions—and in the end voting out this government—can help push xenophobia back.”
The situation for those in Calais could get even worse when the jungle is demolished. It is an outrage that the Tories lock them out.
“The government should be more generous,” said Brent. “We can take them in, we are a rich country.”
'Children in Calais must be brought here safely - like I was'
As the demolition of the “jungle” shantytown in Calais looms, the Tories are coming under increasing fire for abandoning refugees including young children.
British officials were in Calais this week identifying children, who have families in Britain, who will be let into Britain. Around 100 children, out of more than 1,000 children and 9,000 adults in Calais, are expected to be brought over.
The first round arrived on Monday. On the same day the first giant concrete slabs of the new wall the Tories are funding in Calais went up between the jungle and the motorway.
Home secretary Amber Rudd claimed she was doing all that was possible for the children in a short space of time. This was a filthy lie.
Officials ignored attempts by charities in the “jungle” to identify much larger numbers of children. The government chose to send officials at the last minute.
It refuses to take the simplest, quickest and fairest measure—opening the border to let everyone in.
The issue is urgent. The demolition of the whole Calais camp is expected to begin on Monday.
Labour peer Alf Dubs addressed a rally at the Kindertransport monument outside London Liverpool Street station last Friday. It was a part of a day of action called by Stand Up to Racism.
Bulldozed
“I shudder to think of the consequences of the way the camp is being bulldozed,” Dubs told the 250-strong rally. “The children have to be brought here in safety. They have the right to the same opportunities in Britain that I had.”
No-one chooses to live in the squalid, dangerous jungle. They have nowhere else to go.
The French government plans to disperse them to mostly rural areas in centres including converted hangers and barns. The fascist Front National and its allies have held demonstrations against their arrival, though in some places they have faced counter protests. Others among the refugees face deportation. But many refugees driven out may simply return to Calais or one of the other camps in northern France.
The Tories have shown that they know this by pushing ahead with their wall. Construction has been held up for weeks by a legal challenge from local right wing politicians, now overruled.
They argue that if the camp is being demolished there’s no need for a wall. But cops and bulldozers have repeatedly been sent to smash up refugee settlements around Calais. The number of desperate people there is higher than ever.
One man died and another was injured after a train hit them near Dunkirk last Friday. They lived in the Loon-Plage camp that has already been demolished and returned several times.
It brought the number killed by the border so far this year to 15.
The horror at the border will continue as long as it remains closed. Anti-racists must keep up the pressure to force it open.A clip of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) getting into a confrontation with a sports talk radio caller went viral on Monday.
Christie is appearing on New York City’s WFAN, the biggest sports talk radio station in the city and one of the most profitable radio stations in the country, to fill for host Mike Francesa during the station’s afternoon time slots. Rumors have linked Christie to possibly having a future full-time spot on the show when Francesca retires at the end of 2017.
During Monday’s show, a caller named “Mike” from Montclair, N.J., blasted Christie for his recent trip to a state beach after he ordered state beaches and parks closed due to a government shutdown.
“Governor, next time you want to sit on a beach that is closed to the entire world except you, you put your fat ass in a car and go to one that’s open to all your constituents,” the caller said. “Not just you and yours.”
Christie fired back at the caller, calling him a “communist.”
ADVERTISEMENT
“You know, Mike, I love getting calls from communists in Montclair,” Christie said.
The caller quickly interrupted, saying “you’re a bully, governor, and I don’t like bullies.”
Christie knocked the caller for “swearing on the air” and called the man “a bum.” The caller then slammed Christie’s beach trip as “bad optics.”
“I’d love to come look at your optics every day, buddy,” Christie shot back.
The caller, Mike from Montclair, is a well-known staple of Francesa’s show. A 2014 story from sports blog SportsOnEarth about Francesa’s show says Mike has called into the show more than 500 times in the past 20 years.
Christie was first floated as a possible replacement for Francesca in February. WFAN’s programming director Mark Chernoff told the Bergen Record then that he would “at least want to consider” Christie.
"If he's interested and we're interested, it's worth pursuing,” Chernoff said at the time.
The clip of Christie’s confrontation quickly went viral on social media.
Someone just called Christie a "fat ass" on @WFAN660.
Christie calls him a "communist."
This radio audition is going well. — Matt Katz (@mattkatz00) July 10, 2017
This is amazing. And If you think this means Christie's audition is going badly, you've never listened to New York sports talk radio. https://t.co/oxfLa7GgTp — Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 10, 2017
Pretty rad of Christie to volunteer himself for an experiment to see if approval rating can actually hit zero — Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) July 10, 2017Right to Know to fight for information access in Ireland
A group of journalists are launching a not-for-profit company to push for greater transparency and better access to information in Ireland.
Malachy Browne, who joined the New York Times’ video team earlier this year and Gavin Sheridan, a former Irish Examiner journalist, will become directors of Right to Know. The pair were both previously at Storyful, the social news agency bought by News Corp in 2013.
They are being joined by Tom Lyons, business editor and associate editor of the Sunday Business Post, Karrie Kehoe, investigative data journalist for The Times and Sunday Times, London and Ken Foxe, assistant lecturer at the DIT School of Media.
It plans to publish documents obtained through FoIs, appeal questionable refusals, and train citizens and journalists to access information. It also plans to link up with news organisations and NGOs to investigate issues in the public interest. It is seeking donations to run without advertising or a paywall.
The new organisation is an expansion of a freedom of information blog thestory.ie, which was set up in 2009. The probono site, set up by Sheridan and Mark Coughlan, received occasional donations from the public.
Successes include an FoI request in 2010 for data on loans controlled by Nama, a government organisation founded to operate as a “bad bank” to support the country’s banking industry, which led to a ruling against the business in the supreme court. It also helped secure the release of the “Trichet letters” to former finance minister Brian Lenihan following a three-year appeal process.
Sheridan said: “A website like this, run entirely on good will by volunteers in their spare time can only last so long. We have therefore decided that rather than shut it down and get on with our liveswe will try and move the needle even further.”
In 2003 the Irish government amended the Freedom of Information Act, restricting its powers. Controversially, fees were introduced, costing €15 for an initial application rising to €150 for an appeal to the Information Commissioner.
Thestory.ie campaigned against FoI fees, particularly the upfront €15 fee, which has since been scrapped. The act was last amended in 2014, opening up its application to the Irish police force, public financial bodies and the Central Bank of Ireland.Steve Harwood / Flickr
A new ordinance that eases parking requirements hopes to transform the city into a more transit-friendly place.
When Andrew Frey looks around Miami he sees two main types of new development: high-rise condos downtown and single-family suburban subdivisions. Gone are the midsized, multi-family, art deco buildings found in historic areas like South Beach and Little Havana. Plenty of people still love that classic style, he says, but it’s been effectively regulated out of existence by another of the city’s great loves: the car. “I started thinking about why don’t we get those buildings in Miami,” says Frey, founder of the Miami-based developer Tecela. “Then it really leapt out at me that required parking was probably the biggest obstacle.” Take your typical eight-unit apartment building on a 5,000-square foot lot. Set aside 2,400 square feet for the city’s parking minimum (1.5 spots per unit, 200-square feet per spot), another 2,200 for a driveway, and a five-foot asphalt buffer strip per landscape codes—and pretty soon the car accounts for all your space. High-rises can afford costly parking garages, and suburban sites have room for big surface lots, but for middle-tier developments the math just doesn’t add up.
“You’ve got a 5,000-square foot lot, and 5,000 square feet of asphalt, and no building,” says Frey. “It seemed to be not just cost-prohibitive but actually volumetrically impossible.” CityFixer Solutions for an Urbanizing World Go Thanks largely to Frey’s efforts, that situation is poised to change. In late October the city commission approved a new planning ordinance that reduces parking requirements in transit-rich areas—especially for smaller-scale buildings. The |
single father is always vulnerable. I mean, my God, those Fathers 4 Justice guys who dress up in superhero costumes and climb up the sides of buildings... I try to dispose of these thoughts as soon as they enter my head. Mentally, I cross myself.
I say: 'So, how are you?' And sometimes he scowls. Sometimes he's grumpy. But I love that, too, his grumpy face just like my grumpy face from old photographs.
One of the complications of being a part-time parent is that you tend to love everything they do, even when they throw things and have tantrums. I worry that it might be more difficult to keep these things in perspective. Maybe I find it harder to tell him off than I would if I lived with him.
Once, a while back, I took him to the open day of a nursery school. We were standing in a semi-circle listening to the principal, and all these kids were being very well behaved.
'Can we go and see some more dead things?' William's son asked him, after he saw a bee 'come back to life' (picture posed by models)
But I could feel my son tugging at my hand. Then he pulled his hand away and ran into the school. I ran after him. I could hear things being thrown and over-turned. He was shouting. I remembered that there was a table with children sitting around, stringing things on beads. And then I heard a noise that meant the box of beads had been tipped over; when I got there, the floor was awash with beads.
But my son was already somewhere else, way ahead of me, having located some plastic food. He was shouting: 'I want cake!' When I finally picked him up, he whacked me in the face, over and over.
But I wanted to laugh. I must remember not to laugh when he does stuff like this, even though I want to.
I know that I must not be over-indulgent. But am I too strict in other ways? Am I too careful? When I get him to my house, he wants to get on his tricycle or ride on the top of his toy bin lorry - 'bin lorry surfing! Bin lorry surfing!' - and he wants to go fast, wants to hurtle along, wants to risk crashing and falling off, and I'm always watching him, always worried about sending him home with a cut or a scrape I could have avoided, also thinking: 'But that's how they learn, you idiot!'
And I insist on holding his hand when we're near a road, always wondering if I'm being too cautious. When I press the button at the crossing, I wait for the green man, even if the road is quite empty.
Indulgence
I used not to worry about hygiene so much, even let him eat soil when he was a toddler. But then I split up with his mum and I became more worried. He won't eat soil on my watch, I thought.
Now I'm getting calmer. On our days out together, we wander around town. We look in shops. For a long time there was no part of my mind that could ever have imagined it: me, walking along, holding hands with a small boy. Me, a father! And then: me, a single father.
There's a whole world out there I didn't know about - not just the world of parenthood, but also the world of single parenthood - a daytime world of mums and dads with kids, in parks and leisure centres. And a part-time world of mums and dads who are sometimes on their own, whose lives fall into two separate parts - with their children, and without them.
Of course, there are endless questions. One thing about being a single parent is that you don't spend as much time as you might otherwise spend talking to your co-parent about what you should say about this and that. You do not present a united front, because you are not a united front.
On this particular outing, we see a bee on the path. My son asks me if the bee is dead. But then the bee moves.
'It's come back to life!' I say, well, no, the bee has not come back to life - it had never been dead. He looks at me, turning the thought over in his mind. We walk on. My son says: 'Look - what is that?' It's a dead squirrel.
'It's a dead squirrel.' My son looks at the dead squirrel. He says: 'What can we do to make it come back to life?'
'Um, nothing.' 'Why?' And here it is, possibly the first Big Question, and for a few moments it flashes through my mind, the panorama of death, and I don't know what to say, and what comes out is: 'Well, that's just the way it is. When something is dead, it's dead. That's it.'
My son looks at me. He ponders this, and nods his head.
'Dad,' he says. 'Yes?' 'Can we go and see some more dead things?'
Later, we go to the fish counter at Tesco to see the dead fish, and I realise I'd love to tell his mum about it, but I won't have time to tell the story, with all its nuances - the way he ran into the shop and shouted: 'Are there any dead fish in here?' and then what he said to the fishmonger.
Fear of a rival
Being a single father makes you vulnerable. You fear a rift, a rival stepfather, the fact that your child might move away. I sometimes wonder if this somehow hardens you emotionally, if your brain is secretly preparing for the possibility of these things.
You wonder what your child is doing when you're not there, when you won't be there, in his life, for days. You get good at blocking out bad thoughts. You get less shaky. But at what cost? Of course, you'll never know. There's a lot you'll never know, like what it would be like to live with your son in a family situation. There is guilt.
Sometimes I wonder: do I want more kids? Maybe. Maybe not. It's hard to imagine.
There are other things. I don't know if the stories I read my son are the same stories his mum reads him, or some of the same ones or completely different ones, and I wonder if we're talking to him about words and numbers in a slightly different way, because even if you talk about these things, you never quite see the other parent in action.
Over indulgent? William struggles not to laugh when his son is naughty, and whacks him around the face (picture posed by models)
Some of the single mums I know say that there are unspoken rules: for instance, the non-custodial parent should not give or arrange haircuts. Haircuts are the province of the custodial parent. One mum told me she'd be mortified if her ex bought their daughter a pair of shoes. She said that would be going too far.
Sometimes I take my son back to the house on the bus. He says: 'We're going to Mummy's house.' Occasionally, when he says this, somebody will catch my eye. Recently he said: 'Mummy doesn't go to Daddy's house, and Daddy doesn't go to Mummy's house.'
'Yes,' I said conversationally. 'Why?' 'Well,' I replied. 'That's the way - that's the way it turned out.'
On the way back to the house at the end of the day, I have a pang of sadness. I know that, for a while, I will carry around a strange, hollow feeling, a bit like homesickness feels like when you're a kid.
I will walk away, this time on my own. Then I will not see my son for three more days. Three whole days.
Recently, I was walking in the hills above the town, in the early evening, and I took an unfamiliar path, and turned a corner, and saw a view that I hadn't expected. About a mile away, in the far distance, I could clearly see my son's house. He would be in there. Probably getting ready for bed.
I looked at the house for a while. And here we are. Back again! He runs towards his mum. My ex. 'Mummy!' he says. I stand there. I want to tell the story about the dead squirrel and the fish shop. But I won't be able to get in the nuances.
My voice will be shaky. My timing will be off. 'We saw this bee,' I begin.
© Guardian News And Media 2008.
• William Leith's latest book, Bits Of Me Are Falling Apart: Dark Thoughts From The Middle Years, is available to buy now.On the eve of International Women's day and 41 years after the Equal Pay act came into force, many women still earn a lot less than men performing the same jobs.
The data comes from the huge Office for National Statistics annual survey of hours and earnings - ASHE, which examines 1% of HM Revenue & Customs pay as you earn (PAYE) records and is the bible of what we earn and who we are. The figures are broken down by gender, age, geographic location and type of job.
The data shows that the median annual salary for all full-time employees in 2010 was £25,900, which is up 0.3% on the year before. But men earn vastly more than women: £28,091, compared to £22,490 - a difference of 19.9%.
Even overtime has an effect - 24.1% of men working full-time take home overtime pay, compared to only 12% of women in the same position.
But even if you remove that impact, plus the effect of women earning maternity pay and the fact that more women work part-time than men, the difference is still striking: men earned 10.2% more in hourly full-time pay last year, £13.01 compared to £11.68.
The pay gap has narrowed considerably in the past decade, declining from 16.3% (excluding overtime) in 2000 to 10.2% last year
The ONS recommends looking at median salaries because they are not affected by the relatively few very high earners - unlike the 'average' or'mean' salary, which would be changed by one or two people earning over £1m, for instance. If you do use the average figure, the pay gap rises to 15.5%.
(Yes, I do know that the median is an average too, but most people refer to the mean when they use the word).
Our analysis shows the hundreds of jobs where men still earn substantially more than women. Using the ONS' job classification data, where each occupation is given a special 4-digit code number, the data shows there are around 170 jobs classified where men earn over 10% more than their female counterparts, and another 200 where men earn between 1 and 10% more than women. There are only three where the hourly pay is the same.
The biggest gap is, perhaps unsurprisingly, in metal manufacturing, where men earn nearly 50% more than women. But male financial services brokers also earn double women's hourly pay of £16.55. Male directors of large companies and organisations are paid over 21% more than women directors. In only a few areas are women paid more than men.
If overtime and extra pay are added into the equation - and the amount women lose from going on maternity leave is taken into account - the gap increases substantially. Many full-time annual salaries show substantial differences between men and women. Male health professionals, which includes doctors, administrators and other senior health workers, earn £82,674 a year, double female workers doing the same jobs full-time on £44,232. Male printers take home 47.5% more than female printers each year and even male hairdressers earn 17% more than females, with an annual full-time salary of £15,227.
This data is very political and pretty complex - the Fawcett Society have done a pretty good breakdown too.
We've included a full set for you to download - what can you do with it?
Data summary
Pay gaps by job All figures median pay. Click heading to sort. Download this data Code Description Male, full- time Female full- time % diff, men to women - annual pay Male hourly pay, £ (exc o/t) Female hourly pay, £ (exc o/t) % diff, men to women - hourly pay All employees 28,091 22,490 19.9 13.01 11.68 10.22 1111 Senior officials in national government 66485 35.8 1112 Directors and chief executives of major organisations 102123 71083 30.4 49.7 38.95 21.63 1113 Senior officials in local government 27.63 24.41 11.65 1114 Senior officials of special interest organisations 37273 33878 9.1 19.87 17.89 9.96 1121 Production, works and maintenance managers 41688 33192 20.4 20.02 17.67 11.74 1122 Managers in construction 42138 34565 18.0 19.17 16.57 13.56 1123 Managers in mining and energy 53867 49034 9.0 23.37 1131 Financial managers and chartered secretaries 65000 42940 33.9 31.73 22.6 28.77 1132 Marketing and sales managers 48957 37553 23.3 23.4 19.5 16.67 1133 Purchasing managers 43207 37972 12.1 21.94 20.75 5.42 1134 Advertising and public relations managers 46120 36171 21.6 22.32 20.02 10.30 1135 Personnel, training and industrial relations managers 45831 40157 12.4 23.32 20.55 11.88 1136 Information and communication technology managers 47497 39313 17.2 23.99 20.48 14.63 1137 Research and development managers 48737 42656 12.5 24.96 21.24 14.90 1141 Quality assurance managers 37193 36908 0.8 18.93 19.1 -0.90 1142 Customer care managers 38080 28417 25.4 19.03 15.49 18.60 1151 Financial institution managers 44230 36910 16.5 23.19 18.8 18.93 1152 Office managers 37405 27695 26.0 19.11 14.22 25.59 1161 Transport and distribution managers 34683 16.56 16.35 1.27 1162 Storage and warehouse managers 28692 26721 6.9 13.3 11.9 10.53 1163 Retail and wholesale managers 26726 19729 26.2 12.46 9.49 23.84 1171 Officers in armed forces 0 0 1172 Police officers (inspectors and above) 55260 53449 3.3 26.44 26.06 1.44 1173 Senior officers in fire, ambulance, prison and related services 40198 41369 -2.9 18.44 18.73 -1.57 1174 Security managers 35369 30777 13.0 17.36 16.52 4.84 1181 Hospital and health service managers 44649 42294 5.3 23.81 21.8 8.44 1182 Pharmacy managers 48219 29568 38.7 21.13 16.5 21.91 1183 Healthcare practice managers 35656 26013 27.0 18.42 14.17 23.07 1184 Social services managers 41411 36126 12.8 22.18 19.03 14.20 1185 Residential and day care managers 32071 28968 9.7 15.73 14.89 5.34 1211 Farm managers 27665 12.62 11.72 7.13 1212 Natural environment and conservation managers 34937 32055 8.2 18.69 16.54 11.50 1219 Managers in animal husbandry, forestry and fishing n.e.c. 26250 25590 2.5 13.91 1221 Hotel and accommodation managers 26548 24171 9.0 10.54 11.49 -9.01 1222 Conference and exhibition managers 27083 28583 -5.5 14.1 13.44 4.68 1223 Restaurant and catering managers 22105 19081 13.7 9.86 9.11 7.61 1224 Publicans and managers of licensed premises 20796 20267 2.5 8.92 9.01 -1.01 1225 Leisure and sports managers 26498 12.37 11.22 9.30 1226 Travel agency managers 1231 Property, housing and land managers 37318 31052 16.8 19.11 16.12 15.65 1232 Garage managers and proprietors 28713 12.62 15.66 -24.09 1233 Hairdressing and beauty salon managers and proprietors 1234 Shopkeepers and wholesale/retail dealers 31554 14.21 1235 Recycling and refuse disposal managers 35326 27106 23.3 15.33 14.14 7.76 1239 Managers and proprietors in other services n.e.c. 38172 27940 26.8 18.4 13.7 25.54 2111 Chemists 32747 16.35 15.69 4.04 2112 Biological scientists and biochemists 38274 32650 14.7 19.14 17.45 8.83 2113 Physicists, geologists and meteorologists 29610 23.04 14.63 36.50 2121 Civil engineers 36245 32000 11.7 17.02 15.91 6.52 2122 Mechanical engineers 40038 19.62 15.55 20.74 2123 Electrical engineers 44773 20.65 16.11 21.99 2124 Electronics engineers 45086 0 21.25 2125 Chemical engineers 0 2126 Design and development engineers 35001 28705 18.0 17.41 15.35 11.83 2127 Production and process engineers 34820 16.28 14.38 11.67 2128 Planning and quality control engineers 31464 27015 14.1 15.97 15.54 2.69 2129 Engineering professionals n.e.c. 37577 30055 20.0 17.93 15.8 11.88 2131 IT strategy and planning professionals 47784 45521 4.7 23.71 22.59 4.72 2132 Software professionals 37235 33262 10.7 18.78 16.82 10.44 2211 Medical practitioners 95434 56176 41.1 35.45 25.35 28.49 2212 Psychologists 48828 37789 22.6 22.49 18.78 16.50 2213 Pharmacists/pharmacologists 44498 37439 15.9 21.47 19.09 11.09 2214 Ophthalmic opticians 47399 35962 24.1 25.25 19.58 22.46 2215 Dental practitioners 2216 Veterinarians 33670 14.91 2311 Higher education teaching professionals 46746 43767 6.4 24.81 23.29 6.13 2312 Further education teaching professionals 34587 31995 7.5 18.49 17.7 4.27 2313 Education officers, school inspectors 36509 23.21 19.47 16.11 2314 Secondary education teaching professionals 38707 35146 9.2 22.94 21.36 6.89 2315 Primary and nursery education teaching professionals 36799 34325 6.7 21.87 20.52 6.17 2316 Special needs education teaching professionals 39821 34564 13.2 22.93 20.74 9.55 2317 Registrars and senior administrators of educational establishments 36540 31818 12.9 19.06 16.99 10.86 2319 Teaching professionals n.e.c. 27636 24984 9.6 15.79 14.37 8.99 2321 Scientific researchers 35363 31763 10.2 17.96 16.46 8.35 2322 Social science researchers 22722 25448 -12.0 11.54 13.31 -15.34 2329 Researchers n.e.c. 32475 29200 10.1 16.82 15.72 6.54 2411 Solicitors and lawyers, judges and coroners 56518 42392 25.0 28.45 21.75 23.55 2419 Legal professionals n.e.c. 37248 33898 9.0 19.7 17.24 12.49 2421 Chartered and certified accountants 41953 32196 23.3 21.71 17.01 21.65 2422 Management accountants 40120 31557 21.3 20.76 17.97 13.44 2423 Management consultants, actuaries, economists and statisticians 42309 34861 17.6 22.12 18.57 16.05 2431 Architects 33000 19.53 17.02 12.85 2432 Town planners 37434 30097 19.6 19.22 15.95 17.01 2433 Quantity surveyors 38535 26493 31.2 18.82 2434 Chartered surveyors (not quantity surveyors) 36274 28504 21.4 18.56 17.27 6.95 2441 Public service administrative professionals 49229 46599 5.3 24.09 23.56 2.20 2442 Social workers 31756 31296 1.4 16.55 16.78 -1.39 2443 Probation officers 29246 15.31 15.54 -1.50 2444 Clergy 22253 11.5 9.52 17.22 2451 Librarians 28385 25136 11.4 16.16 13.2 18.32 2452 Archivists and curators 26956 13.81 3111 Laboratory technicians 24307 19099 21.4 12.02 9.78 18.64 3112 Electrical/electronics technicians 29483 0 14.57 3113 Engineering technicians 32079 27892 13.1 15.19 14.22 6.39 3114 Building and civil engineering technicians 26348 23774 9.8 13.29 10.55 20.62 3115 Quality assurance technicians 27491 22394 18.5 13.32 12.06 9.46 3119 Science and engineering technicians n.e.c. 24307 20831 14.3 11.61 10.62 8.53 3121 Architectural technologists and town planning technicians 28492 25204 11.5 14 12.48 10.86 3122 Draughtspersons 27326 24230 11.3 13.09 11.99 8.40 3123 Building inspectors 28736 15.11 3131 IT operations technicians 31331 27302 12.9 15.31 14.37 6.14 3132 IT user support technicians 26166 24932 4.7 13.29 12.78 3.84 3211 Nurses 31789 29573 7.0 16.41 15.64 4.69 3212 Midwives 0 34839 18.42 3213 Paramedics 37525 34441 8.2 17.6 16.59 5.74 3214 Medical radiographers 35968 36097 -0.4 18.34 18.63 -1.58 3215 Chiropodists 33464 31033 7.3 17.25 16.79 2.67 3216 Dispensing opticians 21243 10.89 3217 Pharmaceutical dispensers 21392 16188 24.3 10.2 8.57 15.98 3218 Medical and dental technicians 30362 23934 21.2 14.43 12.5 13.37 3221 Physiotherapists 29691 29088 2.0 15.59 15.59 0.00 3222 Occupational therapists 26342 28496 -8.2 14.52 16.14 -11.16 3223 Speech and language therapists 0 31057 16.74 3229 Therapists n.e.c. 26210 28673 -9.4 14.13 16.62 -17.62 3231 Youth and community workers 24220 23079 4.7 12.81 12.28 4.14 3232 Housing and welfare officers 24984 23890 4.4 13.03 12.45 4.45 3311 NCOs and other ranks 0 0 3312 Police officers (sergeant and below) 40020 34729 13.2 18.05 16.28 9.81 3313 Fire service officers (leading fire officer and below) 30766 29564 3.9 13.68 13.62 0.44 3314 Prison service officers (below principal officer) 27889 22399 19.7 14.22 10.88 23.49 3319 Protective service associate professionals n.e.c. 32741 32750 -0.0 14.39 14.93 -3.75 3411 Artists 32788 16.27 12.63 22.37 3412 Authors, writers 29475 26902 8.7 15.12 13.84 8.47 3413 Actors, entertainers 0 3414 Dancers and choreographers 0 34854 15.66 3415 Musicians 32796 17.24 12.17 29.41 3416 Arts officers, producers and directors 34892 30399 12.9 17.31 15.92 8.03 3421 Graphic designers 24921 22036 11.6 12.45 11.32 9.08 3422 Product, clothing and related designers 30285 25706 15.1 14.18 12.59 11.21 3431 Journalists, newspaper and periodical editors 30683 28232 8.0 15.6 15.71 -0.71 3432 Broadcasting associate professionals 38486 41448 -7.7 20.51 21.73 -5.95 3433 Public relations officers 27385 26568 3.0 14.4 13.69 4.93 3434 Photographers and audio-visual equipment operators 25751 18379 28.6 12.54 9.72 22.49 3441 Sports players 0 3442 Sports coaches, instructors and officials 23270 24763 -6.4 12.21 13.17 -7.86 3443 Fitness instructors 15957 16046 -0.6 8.06 7.8 3.23 3449 Sports and fitness occupations n.e.c. 15084 5.93 3511 Air traffic controllers 59626 29.27 3512 Aircraft pilots and flight engineers 68848 0 37.73 3513 Ship and hovercraft officers 0 3514 Train drivers 41313 39283 4.9 21.71 20.89 3.78 3520 Legal associate professionals 25836 23316 9.8 12.66 12.74 -0.63 3531 Estimators, valuers and assessors 28930 24040 16.9 14.79 13.08 11.56 3532 Brokers 62935 28.75 16.55 42.43 3533 Insurance underwriters 35580 26803 24.7 18.4 14.99 18.53 3534 Finance and investment analysts/advisers 38755 30860 20.4 19.77 16.21 18.01 3535 Taxation experts 36462 27625 24.2 17.02 15.78 7.29 3536 Importers, exporters 18649 10.92 9.64 11.72 3537 Financial and accounting technicians 40865 29432 28.0 19.83 15.45 22.09 3539 Business and related associate professionals n.e.c. 30249 26372 12.8 14.94 13.76 7.90 3541 Buyers and purchasing officers 31712 24412 23.0 15.8 13.17 16.65 3542 Sales representatives 30600 22594 26.2 14.08 11.08 21.31 3543 Marketing associate professionals 30483 25547 16.2 15.01 13.54 9.79 3544 Estate agents, auctioneers 11.56 3551 Conservation and environmental protection officers 29119 26131 10.3 15.18 14.36 5.40 3552 Countryside and park rangers 21738 11.15 10.85 2.69 3561 Public service associate professionals 32954 28022 15.0 16.73 13.99 16.38 3562 Personnel and industrial relations officers 26260 23975 8.7 12.92 12.27 5.03 3563 Vocational and industrial trainers and instructors 25712 23705 7.8 13.16 12.02 8.66 3564 Careers advisers and vocational guidance specialists 26031 26853 -3.2 13.25 13.98 -5.51 3565 Inspectors of factories, utilities and trading standards 33406 16.98 15.12 10.95 3566 Statutory examiners 27372 24772 9.5 13.07 13.34 -2.07 3567 Occupational hygienists and safety officers (health and safety) 33956 27156 20.0 17.36 14.29 17.68 3568 Environmental health officers 30205 31843 -5.4 15.54 16.82 -8.24 4111 Civil Service executive officers 25894 25327 2.2 13.12 12.65 3.58 4112 Civil Service administrative officers and assistants 19146 18569 3.0 9.75 9.42 3.38 4113 Local government clerical officers and assistants 24322 20892 14.1 12.56 11.15 11.23 4114 Officers of non-governmental organisations 22253 16.2 11.74 27.53 4121 Credit controllers 22413 19550 12.8 11.22 10.03 10.61 4122 Accounts and wages clerks, book-keepers, other financial clerks 24154 19948 17.4 12.2 10.55 13.52 4123 Counter clerks 22340 19964 10.6 11.26 10.46 7.10 4131 Filing and other records assistants/clerks 22178 18983 14.4 10.82 9.84 9.06 4132 Pensions and insurance clerks 22332 19155 14.2 11.16 10.14 9.14 4133 Stock control clerks 21157 17783 15.9 10 8.9 11.00 4134 Transport and distribution clerks 24464 19902 18.6 10.75 10.47 2.60 4135 Library assistants/clerks 16477 17892 -8.6 8.49 9.77 -15.08 4136 Database assistants/clerks 19716 16432 16.7 9.49 8.7 8.32 4137 Market research interviewers 9.82 7.7 21.59 4141 Telephonists 20007 17014 15.0 8.87 8.56 3.49 4142 Communication operators 28077 24983 11.0 13.85 12.58 9.17 4150 General office assistants/clerks 20003 18187 9.1 9.85 9.46 3.96 4211 Medical secretaries 17942 19434 -8.3 9.52 10.64 -11.76 4212 Legal secretaries 0 18982 10.08 4213 School secretaries 17946 9.72 4214 Company secretaries 27280 9.75 13.83 -41.85 4215 Personal assistants and other secretaries 23820 23027 3.3 11.29 11.97 -6.02 4216 Receptionists 16546 15679 5.2 8 8.2 -2.50 4217 Typists 0 16982 9.13 5111 Farmers 23804 9.82 5112 Horticultural trades 15762 7.63 7.12 6.68 5113 Gardeners and groundsmen/groundswomen 18246 18012 1.3 8.79 8.64 1.71 5119 Agricultural and fishing trades n.e.c. 19576 14595 25.4 9.11 7.01 23.05 5211 Smiths and forge workers 27329 0 11.4 5212 Moulders, core makers, die casters 0 9.89 5213 Sheet metal workers 24208 0 10.5 5214 Metal plate workers, shipwrights, riveters 25563 0 10.93 5215 Welding trades 23297 0 10.29 9.39 8.75 5216 Pipe fitters 32079 0 12.94 5221 Metal machining setters and setter-operators 24260 14248 41.3 11.02 8.03 27.13 5222 Tool makers, tool fitters and markers-out 24937 0 11.53 5223 Metal working production and maintenance fitters 27698 12.5 10.17 18.64 5224 Precision instrument makers and repairers 26558 12.28 10.78 12.21 5231 Motor mechanics, auto engineers 23862 10.73 10.08 6.06 5232 Vehicle body builders and repairers 22234 0 10 5233 Auto electricians 24025 0 10.26 5234 Vehicle spray painters 21689 0 9.98 5241 Electricians, electrical fitters 29565 13.24 11.73 11.40 5242 Telecommunications engineers 26902 12.84 11.99 6.62 5243 Lines repairers and cable jointers 32910 0 14.48 5244 TV, video and audio engineers 22419 0 10 5245 Computer engineers, installation and maintenance 25065 23098 7.8 13.09 12.21 6.72 5249 Electrical/electronics engineers n.e.c. 26383 23136 12.3 12.04 12.05 -0.08 5311 Steel erectors 22911 0 9.93 5312 Bricklayers, masons 23200 0 11.07 5313 Roofers, roof tilers and slaters 21665 0 10.39 5314 Plumbers, heating and ventilating engineers 27730 |
one says ‘plus’, and thinking you meant addition when you said plus. In this way introspection becomes reduced to behavior, because according to the sceptic, the person who says ‘57 plus 68 is 125’ cannot know that they meant addition any more than an outside observer.
Functional similarity, Temporal vagueness
The Kripkensteinian paradox has two caveats which I found intriguing: The similar and interchangeable nature of the functions which he hypothesizes about, and the soritical nature of distinguishing between past and present usage. I used these two aspects of the argument to arrive at a form of dispositionalism which seems stronger than the ones I have mentioned. It still falls short of Kripke’s demands, and does not invoke any principle that Kripke doesn’t at least partially consider.
In section 88 of the philosophical investigations, Wittgenstein entertains a point about exactness, and how there is no standard for exactness, and to say someone was exact or inexact is really just praise or condemnation. This can also be extended in this case: Someone who uses a function that is closer to addition will have an answer worth more praise. Kripke mentions this section as a precursor to the private language argument, but I think it speaks to Wittgenstein’s ( and possibly the sceptic’s) views about rules. This passage makes it clear that Wittgenstein had a theory about rules which were highly situational, In which there are two ends of a spectrum, but in these cases like exactness, we do not have a standard for an “exact” or “inexact” measurement.
My preferred form of dispositionalism uses all three other types of disposition, but also addresses functional similarity, and questions what it is to be an adder or to become an adder from the dispositional standpoint. Kripke addresses this, discussing a hypothetical ‘eureka’ moment in which it first ‘clicks’, and throwing it away because almost no one remembers this moment for themselves, and if we did and the memory of “grasping” adding was what we appealed to for every new addition, it is still subject to the indeterminacy in that we cannot know whether our own ‘eureka’ moment involved addition or quaddiition.This makes it so that someone who was in fact quadding their first time is not an adder.
I have a very different conception of the ‘community of adders’. We really may just be people who will answer as if we were adding in most circumstances. This is the idea that if we cannot determine between two functions which would give the same answer, our meaning can be assumed to be congruent for each. If we consider someone an adder, they will answer ‘125’ when asked for the sum of 67 and 58, and beyond that, we can make no other claim as to what function they ‘really’ meant. This is certainly adopts a sceptical assumption, but It helps build a more robust type of disposition.
Under this conception, there really is an addition function, but when an adder attempts to use it, they *may* just be accessing one of many very similar functions.This equivocation of functions is needed in order to frame part of the temporal sorites because when the sceptic assumes Kripke’s present use, It must be with the tolerance for functions which would yield the same answer for 68 plus 57, and with respect to what he considers the present.
On page 12, Kripke feels the need to explain how he is able to converse with the sceptic: “So I am supposing that the sceptic, provisionally, is not questioning my present use of the word ‘plus’; he agrees that, according to my present usage, ‘68 plus 57 denotes 125.”
He spends about a page qualifying how the sceptic assumes his present usage is just what the paradox says it can’t be : known to both of them. This means the sceptic would predict that Kripke would answer ‘125’, just like any other adder.
The temporal sorites addresses the sceptic’s assumption. Particularly, that he allows for somewhat determinate meaning for the sake of discourse. This assumption becomes very tricky when he attempts to claim the indeterminacy of past utterances.If the determinacy of present utterances is a ‘pile’(assumed/determined), then the extremely recent past (one millisecond) should be a ‘pile’ as well. If the present and the extremely recent past have this quality, it does not make sense to say that utterances from 10 minutes ago are also indeterminate without postulating a cutoff time in which they become indeterminate. If past utterances are indeed indeterminate, should it be on the sceptic himself to set a line? Does his argument allow for a certain cutoff point? No. But it could be argued that the sceptic does not assume the determinacy of present meaning, but allows the types of assumptions about meaning he is attacking for the sake of the discourse. This is a crucial component of the sceptic’s reply, which follows the sorites series from the other end, and starts in the past, working towards indeterminate meaning in general.
Is either direction of induction more fruitful? When compared to other theories of induction, it seems as if reasoning from past examples forward makes more sense, but I think an elucidation of types of indeterminacy is important to distinguish why the present should be the base case which we work backwards from. If we now consider induction which makes any type of factual claim about the future, we reveal what I find to be the deciding factor in which direction to take the sorites: there may be different degrees of indeterminacy. Just like other factual claims, claims about meaning are more indeterminate when applied to the future than to the present. The sceptic allows us to continue on saying that we “know” Kripke meant addition, and is really wondering how we know Kripke meant addition. If we apply this to other factual claims(not about meaning), it is obvious: it happened and we observed it, etc. What about the future though? All predictions of future events have a type of indeterminacy which descriptions of the past and present do not. This is easily demonstrated by the fact that “ the sun will rise on the morning of May 10th, 2015” is indeterminate now as I type this, but it is assumed that it will seem to become determinate on that day.
This change which occurs in the present seems to apply quite strongly to meaning. While we can say it is present fact that I currently intend to mean addition when I say ‘plus’ ten minutes from now, the time may get there and I may precede my utterance with something along the lines of “I will consciously intend to replace ‘plus’ with ‘quus’ in my mind for the next minute” and then (within the discourse), anyone who heard me say this would undoubtedly accept this change and allow me to say “68 plus 57 is 5”, and we are left with knowing I meant ‘quus’ when I said ‘plus’ and again, not knowing what fact led us to that knowledge. But in a way, it feels as if something became unchangeable after I spoke.
Let us also say that as the speaker, my change in meaning was unknown to me until I said I would be changing my meaning, and therefore even my introspection, or prediction of future behavior is not enough. As Kripke has showed, these types of phenomena do not determine past and present meaning, but there is a change in the moment which informs us.
The sceptic would have to allow for this change, that some aspect of what I will mean/mean/meant becomes more determinate at the time of the utterance. Whatever it is which becomes ‘set’ at the time of utterance, can be soritically carried into the past. What changes in the present, is that the event (the utterance) happens. Now if the utterance is ‘68 plus 57 is 125’, what has been set is that the speaker either meant to use plus or a functionally similar connective for the specific problem( provides the same answer), or that the speaker made a mistake in my use of another function.
Kripke responds
I think Kripke would find the support for my claim quite shaky, but he might appreciate the attempt. I can think of several leaps I have made which his sceptic would not allow. That being said, Kripke’s sceptical solution is a bit of a cop-out itself, so maybe he of all people would understand just how hard of a problem he made, and would allow for my somewhat sketchy defense of present-backwards induction over past-forward.
The two main caveats of my argument are my clause for functional similarity which Kripke addresses at length, and my justification for my conception of the temporal sorites. The toughest thing about these two aspects of the argument are that Kripke would indeed know just how to flip either on me. For functional similarities, he could claim that a certain function only has one example problem in common with addition. If this were the case, it would be considered functionally similar for that problem (this leads back to the legitimate case of 2+2 vs 2*2). Here we have two known functions of math ( not made up quus-like functions which allow for anything) and they are functionally similar at that point.The problematic implication here would be that “two plus two equals four” would mean the same thing as “two times two equals four”.This opens up a giant can of worms especially when we cross out of mathematical rules. For math, we at least have the answer that the function gives, but with linguistic rules, comparing “closeness” of two hypothetical rules would get quite messy.Kripke never addresses some of these details, but their shortcomings are apparent in his explanation of ceteris paribus cases, and the merging of all functions which just happen to have the same answer for a given question is implicitly thrown out when he states that the sceptic is looking for the fact that determines which you meant in precisely those cases.
As far as the sorites, I think it strengthens the previous argument, but still hinges on Kripke agreeing that something about attributions of a person x’s meaning at time t are more indeterminate up until time t. He could very easily chalk this up to our general lack of knowledge of the future. He could claim we do not even know what is going to be said yet, but future determinations of meaning are the same as past ones if framed in an “If person x said ‘plus’ they would mean addition, at time t” disposition. Then these conditional statements transfer perfectly into the present and past, and become dispositional statements about the past which Kripke already addressed. If one keeps the focus on the change of determinacy that any declaration about the state of affairs at time t undergoes at time t, it appears as if for meaning-talk, that this change eliminates many possibilities from being considered true, and the indeterminacy we are left with is between nearly identical functions and mistaken slip ups, and not as open ended as it was before the time of the utterance.
These changes leave me with a slightly strengthened dispositionalism, and a sorites argument which cannot be effectively argued for without being reversed. That being said, I think like many he himself considered, this solution would fall short for Kripke. If anything he might just concede that the forwards and backwards sorites cancel eachother out. There doesn’t seem to be a reason to start with the sceptic’s assumption (Past meanings are indeterminate) instead of mine( present meanings are determinate, if only for the sake of discourse). Like so many conclusions which can be drawn from soritical arguments, It seems as if neither ‘side’ really takes precedent, but in considering both, we create a general conundrum worthy of our analytical attention.
AdvertisementsWitcher 2 mod tools to debut at Gamescom The Witcher 2 will debut its REDkit mod tools at GamesCom, CD Projekt RED has announced.
You've probably already played our Shacknews Game of the Year, and may have even played through The Witcher 2 again when the Enhanced Edition hit. If so, you've probably run out of things to do, but CD Projekt RED will be handing the over power to make new missions soon.
The developer announced that REDkit, the mod tools for the Witcher 2, will be shown off at Gamescom 2012. It specifically mentions that the tools can be used to make "complex and non-linear adventures," but we can all hope that the tools will be flexible enough to make Geralt wear funny hats. No release date for the tools themselves has been detailed.Gang bosses have introduced the written tests for their subordinates since the Anti-Organised Crime Law was revised last year, making the group's leaders responsible for the actions of street-level members.
In September 2008, two top members of the Sumiyoshi-kai underworld group agreed to pay Y97.5 million (£640,000) to the relatives of a man shot dead when three gunmen opened fire in a bar in Gunma Prefecture.
Three customers were killed when the gangsters tried to assassinate a rival gang boss - who survived the attempt on his life.
Police discovered an exam paper containing 12 questions on appropriate action in a given situation that a gangster might find himself involved in as they investigated the murder in Shiga Prefecture of a member of a gang affiliated with the 40,000-strong Yamaguchi-gumi, which is based in Kobe.
The questions covered activities that were banned - which included everything from phone fraud to theft of vehicles - as well as ordering that all activities be reported to senior members of the gang.
"When you think about it, this is an extremely sensible move," said Jake Adelstein, an author who has written about Japan's underworld groups. "The Yamaguchi-gumi is essentially a gigantic corporation and if you are running a company of this scale then the first thing you want to do is reduce your liabilities.
"Every month, this organisation collects $1 million from all its subsidiaries and that makes it a very successful company," he added.
"I'm continually impressed at the lengths they go to in order to protect their business interests."
Those business interests have been affected by the economic downturn and led to friction between rival groups looking to expand their areas of operation into neighbouring areas.
Pressure has also been increased on the gangs from a quarter that was unthinkable in the past, as residents living in areas where underworld groups have their headquarters are resorting to the courts to have them evicted on the grounds that their turf wars threaten the lives and livelihoods of local people.The executive editor of The New York Times says his paper's erroneous report on the San Bernardino terrorists' social media use was "a really big mistake," and would cause the Times to reconsider its use of anonymous sources.
"More than anything since I've become editor it does make me think we need to do something about how we handle anonymous sources," Dean Baquet told Margaret Sullivan, the Times' public editor, on Friday. "This was a system failure that we have to fix."
The report, which appeared on the front page of the Sunday edition, claimed that Tashfeen Malik had "talked openly on social media about her views on violent jihad," and that these postings had gone "uncovered" by American law enforcement authorities.
The Times was forced to revise its report on Thursday after FBI Director James Comey told reporters that both Malik and her husband, Syed Farook, never posted publicly on social media about their views, but had instead communicated via "direct, private messages." Comey dismissed the Times report as inaccurate "garble."
President Obama also appeared to address the report during a press conference on Friday. "The issue of reviewing social media for those who are obtaining visas, I think may have gotten garbled a little bit," Obama said. "It's important to distinguish between posts that are public... versus private communications."
Related: New York Times revises 'garbled' report on San Bernardino shooters
The incident marked the second time this year that reporters Matt Apuzzo and Michael Schmidt had been forced to walk back a seemingly groundbreaking report. In July, the reporters authored a report about a potential investigation into Hillary Clinton's State Department email account that wrongly cast Clinton as the target of a potential criminal investigation. In fact, the proposed investigation was a "security" probe, not a "criminal" probe, and did not specifically request an investigation into Clinton.
Reviewing this week's incident, Sullivan wrote that the Times needed to fix "its overuse of unnamed government sources. And it needs to slow down the reporting and editing process, especially in the fever-pitch atmosphere surrounding a major news event."
"Those are procedural changes, and they are needed. But most of all, and more fundamental, the paper needs to show far more skepticism -- a kind of prosecutorial scrutiny — at every level of the process," she wrote.
"Two front-page, anonymously sourced stories in a few months have required editors' notes that corrected key elements -- elements that were integral enough to form the basis of the headlines in both cases," she continued. "That's not acceptable for Times readers or for the paper's credibility, which is its most precious asset," Sullivan wrote.
Sign up for the Reliable Sources newsletter — delivering the most important stories in the media world to your inbox every day.I’ve modeled at 16 different sizes, and what I’ve learned is that a smaller size never enhanced how I felt about my body. A lot of times, I felt like I was too big to be thin, or too thin to be plus size. I questioned where I fit in, never seeing women my size being celebrated for being healthy in the media.
In truth, I never felt great about my body until I made the intrepid decision to love myself just the way I am, to feel worthy at the size my body naturally adjusted to. Of course, it took the proverbial pot boiling over for me to get to this place of acceptance, but I'm glad I finally made it. After all, it's exhausting trying to fit into someone else’s idea of what the perfect body looks like.
When photographer Victoria Janashvili learned about my journey, she asked if she could shoot me — nude — in yoga poses for her book, Curve. I was enthusiastic about the project but a bit (OK, a lot!) apprehensive to strip down for a published book.
I was more comfortable knowing the shoot was focused around my relationship with yoga, which has taught me a lot about what loving myself actually means. Yoga is patient, it’s kind and the yoga studio has been an exceedingly supportive environment in which to continue my healing process. (I started practicing when I was 18 in outpatient therapy for my eating disorder, and at 29, I still practice regularly.)Stand! is the pinnacle of Sly & the Family Stone's early work, a record that represents a culmination of the group's musical vision and accomplishment. Life hinted at this record's boundless enthusiasm and blurred stylistic boundaries, yet everything simply gels here, resulting in no separation between the astounding funk, effervescent irresistible melodies, psychedelicized guitars, and deep rhythms. Add to this a sharpened sense of pop songcraft, elastic band interplay, and a flowering of Sly's social consciousness, and the result is utterly stunning. Yes, the jams ("Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey," "Sex Machine") wind up meandering ever so slightly, but they're surrounded by utter brilliance, from the rousing call to arms of "Stand!" to the unification anthem "Everyday People" to the unstoppable "I Want to Take You Higher." All of it sounds like the Family Stone, thanks not just to the communal lead vocals but to the brilliant interplay, but each track is distinct, emphasizing a different side of their musical personality. As a result, Stand! winds up infectious and informative, invigorating and thought-provoking -- stimulating in every sense of the word. Few records of its time touched it, and Sly topped it only by offering its opposite the next time out.The UK public's concern over genetically modified food has softened in the past decade, according to a new survey.
A quarter of Britons are now unconcerned by GM food, compared with 17% nearly a decade ago, when supermarkets debated whether to introduce GM products following widespread public opposition and attacks on GM test fields in the 1990s. The number of people "concerned" about GM has also fallen by 5%, said the Populus survey, commissioned by the British Science Association and published on Friday.
The poll comes as the EU prepares to vote on a Danish-led proposal to allow member states to ban the cultivation of GM crops on a country-by-country basis, with the UK concerned that the proposal will not achieve its aims.
British political support for a new push on GM is currently at a high watermark, with both agriculture minister Jim Paice telling farmers in January that GM crops could massively help food production, and Labour's shadow environment minister, Mary Creagh, calling for more money for GM research. Caroline Spelman, the environment secretary, said last month that growing GM crops was likely to be considered as part of the solution to the drought currently engulfing much of south-east England. In her first interview when appointed secretary of state in 2010, she signalled the government would be pro-GM, saying "the principle of GM technology is [OK] if used well."
But in 2003, a nationwide debate involving 650 public meetings on whether to introduce GM crops to the UK showed more than half of the population never wanted to see the crops grown in the UK. The backlash put a brake on hopes by biotech companies and then-prime minister Tony Blair to exploit the technology in the UK.
The new polling shows opposition has weakened, with 15.2% of 2,058 people being "fairly unconcerned" now compared with 6% of 1,363 citizens in 2003. The "very unconcerned" count has remained largely the same, while the proportion of "very concerned" people has dropped from 23.8% to 17.2%.
Europe has had what is effectively a ban on GM crops since 1999, but last year the European Commission paved the way for countries to impose country-by-country bans on the cultivation of crops. As part of the proposal, governments will be asked to be more flexible in authorising crops at EU level. But despite the new polling, a push by the coalition to introduce GM crops in the UK would attract both praise from a revitalised GM industry and protests from fiercely opposed green groups.
Professor Maurice Moloney, chief executive of Rothamsted Research Institute, said that more needed to be done to engage the UK public on the benefits of GM: "The survey suggests that the UK public is interested in the end uses and real benefits of GM technology, rather than harbouring blanket scepticism. However, the large number of 'neither agree nor disagree' answers suggests that scientists still have much work to do in public engagement, if the UK public are to benefit to the same extent as the 29 other countries who currently grow GM crops commercially."
The poll shows the British public need more information on the benefits and risks. Nearly half (44%) said they did not know if GM crops would be good for the UK economy, while a similar number (48%) said they did not know if it would be safe for future generations.
Mark Lynas, an environmentalist and author who ripped up GM crops in the 1990s and later became a supporter of the technology, said: "Opposition to GMs was perhaps understandable a decade ago, but today it is a mistake. The science is clear that genetic modification in food crops is nothing to be scared of, and in fact can help address numerous environmental challenges, such as the need to raise yields whilst using less water, pesticides and fertiliser."
Caroline Lucas, the Green MP and Green party leader, said: "If the government or the agri-business lobby think that this industry-sponsored poll is a sign of wholesale public support for GM foods, then they are completely out of touch with reality. For decades, public opinion polls have consistently shown opposition to GM, not least because huge concerns remain about the environmental impact of this technology, the risks associated with cross-contamination for the future of non-GM food, and the dangers of placing ever more control of food production in the hands of big GM corporations.
"The issue may have gone off the boil since Tony Blair's failed attempts to persuade us to accept GM, but as soon as people get an inkling that it is back on the menu, no amount of industry lobbying or positive PR from the government will prevent resistance to genetically modified foods."
Professor Joyce Tait, scientific adviser at the ESRC Innogen Centre, said of the survey: "There seems to have been a move away from the extremes, to the middle ground, with answers often being categorised as 'don't know'. That neutral ground seemed to happen across the board. I didn't see that as a challenge to do more public engagement, rather I saw that to mean that it was becoming less contentious."
Four countries – Canada, the US, Brazil and Argentina – grow more than 90% of the world's GM crops, and more than 80% of the GM seeds sold each year are owned and sold by one company, Monsanto. GM acreage grew 8% globally last year, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotic Applications, which is funded by GM companies including Monsanto, Bayer CropScience and CropLife International.A few of my indie purchases arrived in the mail today and made a shitty few days instantly better.
I ordered three lipsticks from Insomnia Cosmetics, who I’d never tried before (one full size, two slimline tubes) and another five lipsticks (slimline) from Fierce Magenta, one of my absolute favourite places for lipstick.
.
Here’s the loot! Yes, they are in the fridge in this photo - it’s been pretty hot here in Aus and these are from the US and so I’m letting them firm up in the fridge for a little while.
Here are swatches! And below the cut, I’ll have hasty lip swatches of each and little colour impressions.
.
L-r: Insomnia Cosmetics Cult Insomnia, Abyss, Witch Hunt, Prowl; Fierce Magenta Sevilya, Marina, Gravity, Midnight Sky, Medusa
And on.
So, let’s start with the entirely unfamiliar: Insomnia Cosmetics. Their colour Cult Insomnia drew me in (I’m in a grey lipstick kick), and reviews and wide variety of shades, plus their new matte lipstick launch…well, I had to give it a go.
.
Cult Insomnia, Abyss, Witch Hunt, Prowl
.
Cult Insomnia
Got to be a favourite shade. It’s lovely and creamy and slightly blue but a definite grey.Super pretty. Almost the same colour as my eyes, really. Warning: this is the best quality lip swatch in this post. Oy.
.
Abyss
Excuse the shoddy application! Abyss is one of their newly launched matte colours and how could I resist a matte navy blue.
it was the hardest to apply as the product shape in the slimline tube was the most jagged, but it would be way better if you actually applied it in the mirror. It’s a very pretty inky colour, unique in my collection,as it’s navy but matte. Lovely.
.
Witch Hunt
Witch Hunt reads much more berry on me than it does on the Etsy site, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less beautiful. Its a stunning satiny deep berry red, which you might have noticed, is kind of perfectly in line with the lipsticks I choose. Couldn’t resist it.
.
Prowl
Prowl was provided to me as a bonus very, very generously and it’s just the perfect red. Demi matte, blue based cherry red that applies smoothly and looks lovely. Not a unique shade, but definitely a beautifully formulated one.
.
I can already tell you that I see another Insomnia Cosmetics order in my future. I may or may not be toying with the idea of placing it now.
Oops.
.
Fierce Magenta is a brand I know and love. I am not a gloss person, but the lipsticks are wonderful. Definitely on the creamier side, by no means matte shades, but they’re all satiny creams and they come in the most amazing array of colours and just…ahhh. My last order was a resounding success, but I learnt that I don’t love their full size packaging (as the lipsticks are a creamy formula, they’re more prone to melting, and that’s more obvious in the tube format). One of my lipstick purchases here isn’t swatched - Medusa - because I own it already and it’s way too creamy in the full size, so I wanted a little one. You can find my swatch of that one in this post.
.
Sevilya, Marina, Gravity, Midnight Sky, Medusa
clearly I was in a cool-toned mood when I placed this order. These are all one swipe swatches, consistent with Fierce Magenta’s other lipsticks. The only slightly different one is Midnight Sky, and we’ll talk about that below.
.
Sevilya
Not the best photo of this, but basically a perfect lavender shade. Less blue toned that Pretty Zombie Cosmetics’ Potion #9 or Kat Von D’s Coven, a bit more of a white base. Because it’s so creamy and opaque, it doesn’t need a base beneath it to make it pop, and it’s just lovely.
.
Marina
This colour is GORGEOUS. It’s sort of between, say, Fierce Magenta’s Permafrost (a pastel blue) and Pretty Zombie Cosmetics’ Blue Moon. A bright light blue. So so wonderfully opaque and lovely. It used to be named Nautica but is now called Marina, but they are the same colour.
.
Gravity
Give me every grey lipstick ever. It’s got less sheen than Cult Insomnia, and it’s a tad darker, but it’s so beautiful and I love it and I want it all over me.
.
Midnight Sky
Midnight Sky has a slightly different formula - it’s shimmery colour. As such, it took about three swipes to get this level of opacity. But still - this colour? IN THREE SWIPES? That’s pretty wonderful. It reads differently in different light - this light picks up the lighter blue shift, but it can teeter between blue and black. Which is exactly what I wanted. So pretty. If you have seen my love for My Beauty Addiction’s Breathless, you’ll know this lipstick was almost made for me.
.
So those are my new indie purchases! I’m still waiting on some Fyrinnae Liquid Matte lipsticks and an Illamasqua lipstick - Mia made me do it - and it’s just making me happy.The events in Odesa that led to the deadly fire in the Trade Union Building dramatically underscore the need for an immediate de-escalation of tensions in Ukraine. The violence and efforts to destabilize the country must end.
Thirty of the victims died of smoke inhalation after a fire was set in the central trade union building, where pro-Russia separatists reportedly had taken up sniper positions to fire on pro-unity demonstrators.
...for reasons still unclear, a fire broke out in a trade union building and the death toll started to climb.
Violence also erupted Friday in the previously calmer port city of Odessa, on the Black Sea, where dozens of people died in a fire related to clashes that broke out between protesters holding a march for Ukrainian unity and pro-Russian activists
A mob shouted "Glory to Ukraine" and "Death to enemies" as the building burned with people inside.
Photographs circulating on Twitter and Facebook show people - some presumably in their teens - mixing explosive concoctions in discarded beer bottles before lobbing them into the building.
Yesterday in Odessa, Ukraine, more than 30 anti-Kiev protesters were burned alive, as a US-backed pro-Kiev mob set fire to the trade union building into which they ran to escape the pro-Kiev crowd. It was the largest loss of life in Ukraine since the US-backed coup in February, and it may well be a turning point in the east versus west struggle that ensued.The pictures from the scene were ghastly (warning: graphic), as desperate protesters tried to claw their way out of the building as they were burned alive. Also ghastly were the photos of the young girls happily making the molotov cocktails that were thrown into the building More ghastly still, was the US media coverage of the savage event. Even when 25 minutes video available clearly demonstrated what happened in Odessa, clearly demonstrated who was responsible for the incineration of unarmed protesters, the US media all hewed to the State Department line that pointedly refused to pin any blame on the pro-Kiev mob supported by Washington. Said the State Department release:Contrast this to US government's very different position when violence broke out in Kiev in February: even as evidence pointed to much violence committed by the protesters, the US nevertheless blamed the then-Yanukovich government exclusively.Double standards.And the US media was not far behind the State Department in its Odessa spin. According to the Los Angeles Times:LA Times spins it like burning more than 30 protesters alive was a purely defensive measure. But if they were all snipers, why did they not shoot their way out?In lock-step with the State Department, the NY Daily News reported that:This even though their own article features a photo of a pro-Kiev protester tossing a firebomb into the building!As to be expected, the New York Times followed the State Department line of avoiding any real reporting that might damage the US-backed regime in Kiev, preferring to present the act of mass murder as some sort of tragic accident:There are too many more examples of the US media's lock-step reporting on this event to cover here.But even the virulently anti-Russian and pro-Kiev Kyiv Post could get the basic reporting correct:That makes it pretty clear who did the torching and who did the dying.Continued the Kyiv Post:Why did the US media not report any of this? Because they did not want the American public to see any possibility other than the US government official line, which is that the post-coup government in Kiev and its supporters represent the legitimate and democratic will of the people and anyone who protests against that government or its supporters is a Russian agent and a terrorist.The US mainstream media marches lock-step with the US government, even to the point of covering up a most vile mass murder. It is only alternative sources and networks like RT (and RPI ) that dare to cross the State Department line.No wonder the US State Department has declared war on RT.AUSTIN (KXAN) -- A woman is in jail accused of stealing a truck with a 13-year-old boy inside and then driving while intoxicated, according to an arrest affidavit.
On Jan. 24 around 9:45 p.m. police were working the scene of a collision near the 8600 block of North Lamar Boulevard when a man approached them and said his car was stolen from the Palms on Lamar apartments with his child inside. The man told police he had driven to the apartment complex to drop something off for a family member and only briefly left his son in the truck, which was still running. While inside the apartment, the family saw a woman driving off with the pickup and the child.
Approximately 30 minutes later, the man spotted his truck and the driver, later identified as 48-year-old Evonne Cutshall, on Fairfield Drive. In the affidavit police noted Cutshall seemed disoriented with slurred speech, watery eyes and a strong smell of alcohol. When officers saked the suspect if she knew the child was in the back seat, she stated "no." The child said he was sleeping until the "erratic driving" woke him up.
Cutshall is currently charged with unauthorized use of a vehicle and driving while intoxicated - third time or more.The news that Steve Pugh would be the artist for the upcoming DC Comics reboot of The Flintstones was very appealing to me. His original art, if you ever get to see it resembles geological strata, building up layers of ink and white paint to create his unique lines and shading effects.
But the comic itself could be even more intriguing. In that the storyline will see the prehistoric animals of Flintstones world, the ones that used as construction vehicles, transport and everyday household devices organising together to rebel against a humanity that has enslaved them.
The Flintstones do slavery and the fight for emancipation, folks…
About Rich Johnston Chief writer and founder of Bleeding Cool. Father of two. Comic book clairvoyant. Political cartoonist.
(Last Updated )
Related Posts
None foundNative American San Carlos Apache tribe takes on BHP, Rio Tinto over plans to mine sacred site
Updated
A group of Native Americans in Arizona is taking on two Australian resources giants to try to save a sacred desert campground from being destroyed by a huge mining development.
Resolution Copper, a subsidiary of Australia's Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, plans to turn the area around the Oak Flat campsite in the Tonto National Forest into the biggest copper mine in North America.
Members of the local San Carlos Apache tribe said Oak Flat was a sacred place where they had held religious and cultural ceremonies for centuries.
"It is no different to what people can relate to about Mount Sinai," Apache tribal leader Wendsler Nosie said.
The company has warned the underground mining operation could eventually cause Oak Flat to sink by 300 metres, making it inaccessible to the public.
"If this is destroyed it can never come back to us and that is the one thing I don't think Resolution Copper understands or sees," 16-year-old Apache activist Naelyn Pike said.
Campground lost in controversial land-swap deal
Ever since white settlement, Native Americans have struggled to hold onto their land, but the company argued the mine could coexist with the local community.
"We don't have too much say in the location of the resource that we are developing," Resolution Copper project director Andrew Taplin said.
The company acquired the land through a controversial land-swap deal approved by the US Government in December.
Under the deal, Resolution Copper will take control of more than 970 hectares of copper-rich land around Oak Flat, and the company will transfer more than 2,140 hectares acres of privately owned land across the state to the US Forest Service.
After failing to get the deal through Congress for years, Arizona Republican Senator John McCain attached it at the last minute to a "must-pass" spending bill — the 1,600-page National Defence Authorisation Act — late last year.
"It's downright crazy, dirty [and] disrespectful," Mr Nosie, who is spearheading the fight against the mine, said.
The company has started exploratory work on the site but will not start full-scale production for years.
Project would have benefits for community: miner
Opponents are lobbying members of Congress to pass the Save Oak Flat Act, a piece of legislation from Arizona Democratic Representative Raul M Grij |
want so badly.
Let’s make a deal: In exchange for a single payer system, Democrats will agree to eliminate 30% of all government worker jobs (the assistant sub-deputy undersecretary for the Department of Public Money Wasting) along with their fat pensions – to shrink the government back to what it was in, say, 1990.
That would be a deal the country would support, could afford, and which might actually fix the long-term health care crisis.
Robert Hutchinson is a veteran travel writer, author and columnist. He blogs regularly at RobertHutchinson.com.Last season Manchester United fans were excited by the arrival of Matteo Darmian in July. He cost them £12.7m but it seemed like an astute signing. The former Torino defender promised to bring consistency and pace to the club and under Louis Van Gaal’s guidance it was hard to see why he wouldn’t be a good fit. Putting together a combined XI for Liverpool and Manchester United for example, wasn’t an easy choice to choose between Nathaniel Clyne and Darmian as both seemed like solid, consistent full-backs during the opening matches of the 2015-16 season.
However, as Darmian’s time at Manchester United continued, his performances seemed to drop and the initially pleasing impression he’d made upon the Manchester fans was quickly diminishing. In the early stages of the season, Darmian had shown confidence and determination to push forward from the full-back position, offering assistance in attack and forming a great overlap on the right. He notched up 28 league appearances in total last season but as the defender became more tested, he was exposed and the right-back looked less assured against tougher opponents.
Whether his form just took a dip mid-way through last season is yet to be said as he’s not yet featured for the Reds under Jose Mourinho this season but there was little to suggest he’d remain a regular at Manchester United should the new boss find a more suitable replacement. In Antonio Valencia, Manchester United have found just that. The winger-turned-full-back has been an ever reliable performer at Old Trafford and though he’s not one often sang about, he’s earned respect from many of United’s fans for his performances in the past.
Valencia joined Manchester United in June 2009 from Wigan and has gone on to earn over 170 league appearances during a seven year spell. Although he’s not often earned the praise he deserves, he’s provided some valuable competition to many top footballers at United over the years. Plenty have had to battle against Valencia for a place in the starting XI and when injury-free and on top form, it was hard to find a reason to keep the Ecuador international out of the starting line-up.
One of the great traits Valencia possesses is the ability and confidence to take on defenders in the attacking third. As a full-back, he’s constantly expected to provide support on the overlap but he isn’t afraid to drive towards the back-line, beat players and eliminate opponents. This has proved valuable to United on several occasions and the full-back supports his attacking play with excellent ball deliveries. It’s now less common to find a full-back who can deliver crosses with as much precision as Valencia does within the top sides.
Valencia has always been a threat going forward but what has made him stand out so far this season is his improvement in his defensive duties. As a winger, he can be forgiven for naturally pushing high and in the past, he may have been caught out of position on occasions. However, so far this season, he’s looked measured, restrained and more rounded as a full-back. He uses his pace well to get himself back into position quickly when United’s possession is broken down and he’s developed a good sense of defensive positioning.
It seems he’s made the role his own so far under Jose Mourinho and Darmian has been left fighting for his position back. Last season’s signing never really consolidated a position in the starting XI and that may have affected his opportunities for the future at Manchester United as Valencia has taken his chance well. The position seems to be Valencia’s to lose. Mourinho has reportedly stated Darmian will stay at the club but for the time being, it appears he’ll be kept simply as competition for Valencia and as cover should the 31 year old’s injuries return.
Manchester United’s right-back has suffered a string of injuries in the past and it’s prevented him from tallying a large number of appearances for the Red Devils. But Valencia seems to be in great shape and it could be an important season for the defender as he attempts to become a regular feature under Mourinho.Incoming Boston University sociology professor Saida Grundy was convicted of a misdemeanor in 2008 after she made a fake account for another woman on an adult website. Grundy was a graduate student at the University of Michigan at the time.
Grundy first gained widespread attention this month because of tweets in which she called white, college-aged males a “problem population.’’ She’s most recently been in the news due to comments she posted on a Facebook thread in February, when she argued with a woman who’d been sexually assaulted.
In a statement to Boston.com, Grundy said: “When this incident occurred I was 24, and exercised the poor judgment of a heartbroken 24 year old. I took accountability then as I do now. I hold true to the lessons learned, and my life has since moved on.’’
Advertisement
Boston.com obtained court records and the police report, which give this account:
In December 2007, Grundy created a fake account on adult website Fling.com. The account profile depicted a woman who was dating a man with whom Grundy had also been involved. Grundy got photos of the woman, who lived in Charlottesville, Virginia, from the man’s email account.
The Virginia woman discovered the fake account in her name in June 2008. She called her local police, who then contacted law enforcement in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
In their report, police wrote that Grundy told them, “This was a jealous thing regarding another man.’’
Grundy was charged with felony counts of identity theft and using computers to commit a crime. She was also charged with a misdemeanor count of malicious use of a telecommunications service.
She eventually pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor count in exchange for the dismissal of the felonies. Her probation ended in June 2009.
The 2008 conviction won’t have any bearing on Grundy’s employment at BU, according to the university’s senior vice president of external affairs Steve Burgay.
“A number of years ago, when she was a student at the University of Michigan, Dr. Grundy made a mistake,’’ Burgay told Boston.com.
Advertisement
“She admitted the mistake, accepted the consequences, and brought closure to that case,’’ he continued. “Eight years later, we do not see any reason to reopen it.’’I have a lot of respect for Glen Taylor, the owner of the Timberwolves and the Star Tribune. And over the years since he purchased the Wolves in 1994 we have become very close friends even though I still report the news about the Wolves like I do in every sport, negative or positive.
There is a reason that Taylor is one of the most successful businessmen in this area, and a reason he is a billionaire. And he must know something about sports because for the second year in a row Taylor was elected the chairman of the NBA’s ownership group.
But I believe the decision to not rehire Sam Mitchell as head coach is wrong. Taylor is putting himself in danger of pulling a David Kahn move by not allowing Mitchell to continue the great job he has done of developing the best collection of young players the Wolves have ever had.
Kahn is the general manager Taylor and company hired in 2009. He proceeded to pass on drafting Stephen Curry, the Golden State phenom who just had one of the greatest seasons in NBA history, in 2009, taking Jonny Flynn and Ricky Rubio before Curry was selected. Then in 2010 Kahn passed on DeMarcus Cousins, who is now one of the best centers in the NBA playing for the Sacramento Kings, and took Wesley Johnson.
Mitchell and his staff just completed a great end to the season, winning three straight games on the road, including at Golden State, and finishing the season with a great offensive show, a 144-109 victory over the Pelicans on Wednesday. And after the game the players, who were ecstatic about their great performance, were shocked to hear that Mitchell, along with his staff, had no chance to return to continue their tremendous teaching job.
Mitchell proved he could coach when he led the Raptors to back-to-back playoff appearances in 2007 and 2008 and was named NBA Coach of the Year in 2007. But he was fired early in the next season because of a poor personal relationship with the Raptors’ new general manager, Bryan Colangelo, one of the worst executives in the NBA.
The first assistant coach the late Flip Saunders hired when he decided to take over the head coaching job was Mitchell. And I remember Flip telling me how lucky he was to find Mitchell available because of what a great contribution the former Timberwolves player would make to the staff.
Continuity is so important in coaching players year after year, especially young and impressionable players. And now, unless Taylor changes his mind, a new coach will come in, put in a new system and maybe set back some of these great young players.
All three coaches who have been mentioned as candidates — Tom Thibodeau, formerly of the Bulls; Scott Brooks, formerly of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Jeff Van Gundy, who has been out of the league for nine years but works as an analyst, were fired from their previous positions. However, to report fairly, Thibodeau and Brooks were both let go because general managers wanted to hire friends as head coaches.
Furthermore, any of these three coaches will insist on being paid a lot more money than Mitchell was being paid and will expect to have total control of the basketball team.
Who should be the next Wolves coach? Vote here
Taylor, a man I have so much respect for because of all of the great things he does for this community, is putting himself on the spot by not bringing Mitchell back. In my opinion, somebody talked Taylor into firing Mitchell and that somebody will be sorry.
If Mitchell’s successor is a failure like Kahn was, Taylor will be blamed because he made the change.
If the players had their way, Mitchell would have returned and that would have created a better chance for a more successful season next year than there will be with a new regime.
Twins’ worst start
The Twins’ 0-9 start to the season is the worst in major league baseball since the Detroit Tigers went 0-11 to start the 2002 season.
While the batters have struggled, the starting pitching has been solid, and Ervin Santana continued that on Thursday. He allowed three runs on seven hits and one walk while striking out six over seven innings in the loss. Santana has now pitched at least seven innings in eight of his past 10 starts, and one of those starts that didn’t reach seven innings was the season opener that was shortened because of rain.
Meanwhile, Joe Mauer continues to be one of the few bright spots offensively as he went 1-for-3 with a triple, the 25th of his career.
Jottings
• Karl-Anthony Towns finished the season with a 54.2 shooting percentage, the second-highest single-season mark in Wolves history, trailing only Nikola Pekovic’s mark of 56.4 percent in 2011-12. … Zach LaVine finished fifth in team history in three-pointers with 123, Andrew Wiggins was sixth in free throws made with 430, and Rubio was sixth in assists with 657.
• Mario Lucia, the son of Gophers hockey coach Don Lucia, is playing for the Iowa Wild and has three points on one goal and two assists in seven games. … Former Gophers goaltender Adam Wilcox finished a strong season for the Syracuse Crunch in the AHL, posting an 11-6 record with a 3.30 goals-against average. … Former Gophers right winger Hudson Fasching finished his first pro season with the Buffalo Sabres and had one goal and one assist in seven games. He’s still just 20 years old.
• Former Concordia (Moorhead) quarterback Griffin Neal has signed a three-year deal with the New Orleans Saints after working out with the team as a nonroster free agent. It’s a standard free-agent rookie deal, which means it is not guaranteed, but it’s still a great sign for Neal.
Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on 830-AM at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. and on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. [email protected] House Democrats are urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) not to make changes to a media ownership rule they believe would threaten the diversity of news outlets.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, wrote a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on Wednesday asking him to reconsider voting on a rule that would make it easier for media companies to consolidate.
ADVERTISEMENT
At issue is a proposal to reinstate the so-called UHF discount, which makes it easier for broadcasting companies to acquire stations that broadcast on the ultra-high frequency (UHF) without going over the legal limits on media ownership.
“There is no justification for the FCC to restore the UHF Loophole,” Pelosi and Pallone wrote. “The UHF Loophole is unfair to the public because it treats UHF stations differently only for one purpose -- to let big station conglomerates own more stations across the country.”
Last year, the Democratic-controlled FCC under the Obama administration voted to get rid of the discount. But Pai has proposed bringing it back.
Pai says he believes the discount is outdated but wants to restore it and then take up the broader question of whether the agency should lift the media ownership caps. Currently, broadcasters are limited to serving 39 percent of households.
The FCC will vote on the proposed rule Thursday, and it is expected to pass.
Pelosi and Pallone wrote that they are concerned that reinstating the discount could lead to Sinclair Broadcast Group going forward with its reported plans to acquire Tribune Broadcasting, a deal that Democrats believe could hurt media diversity and raise prices for consumers.One thing was certain about a proposed medical marijuana dispensary on Route 1 after Tuesday's selectmen meeting, the town is about to enter uncharted waters.
Meeting with Beacon Compassion Center, the selectmen started what is expected to be a long process for the town and company hoping to construct a dispensary on the corner of Route 1 and North Street.
"This is not going to be a speedy process. There is a lot to learn and a lot of information we need to still gather. We have to do our due diligence and research to make an informed decision," Selectman David Feldman said. "Expect a fairly lengthy process."
According to Beacon Compassion Center executive director Steve Angelo, the group hopes to set up shop at the site of the former gas station across from McDonalds. Run down and unoccupied for years, the current structure would be demolished and a new building would be constructed. A possibly contaminated site, Angelo said any cleanup would be paid for by the property owner.
Angelo said the building would be discrete with no flashing lights or indications that marijuana is sold on the property.
"You will not know what this facility is unless you are going there to pick up your medicine," Angelo said.
Once open, only a customer with proper identification would be allowed into the building with a surveillance system watching the building.
Many in attendance were not swayed by the proposal, going as far to ask the selectmen to oppose the project. Many were worried about what would happen during Patriots games and the possibility of marijuana being distributed once it is out of the dispensary.
"Everyone that I have brought it up to, I've gotten things like 'I'm appalled, horrified, scared, I don't want this in our town,'" resident Rachel Calabrese said.
Angelo said the neighbors and business owners he had talk to expressed support for the project, later clarifying that he spoke with three people while at the property earlier this month.
Franklin resident Jeanne Sauro was one of the few in attendance to express support for the dispensary. A stage 3 breast cancer survivor, Sauro said she started taking the drug to help manage the pain from her treatments.
"I believe in it so much, it never killed a single person. It's totally safe and there is such a stigma," Sauro told the selectmen. "I encourage you to learn about this plant. We can take it out of the hands of a drug dealers and into a safe dispensary.
A dispensary opened in Salem represents the only legal medical marijuana seller in the commonwealth.
Foxborough voted to support the legalization of medical marijuana during the 2012 election. At the 2014 annual town meeting, the town approved zoning to restrict a dispensary to Route 1.
After the presentation, the selectmen chose to reserve comments until they can review documents from Beacon Compassion Center and receive guidance from town counsel.
The board will pick up the issue again at a future meeting.A new rule goes into effect Thursday that gives law enforcement the ability to hack millions of computers or smartphones at once with a single search warrant. But opponents of the controversial Rule 41 say they are committed to fight the government’s expanded powers.
“The most important thing is that the fight isn’t over yet. Congress has the ability to roll back the rule change even after it goes into effect,” said Rebecca Jeschke, digital rights analyst with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
The EFF along with a bipartisan group of senators that included Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Chris Coons (D-Del) failed in a last-ditch effort Wednesday to prevent changes to Rule 41.
“It’s very disappointing Congress failed to act in time to stop Rule 41,” said Robyn Greene, policy counsel and government affairs lead at the New America’s Open Technology Institute. “But this is certainly not the end of the line when it comes to Rule 41.”
Implementation of Rule 41 makes it easier for law enforcement to track down cyber criminals who use tools such as Tor, botnets or malware to mask their true location. It allows law enforcement to request from judges a warrant that permits the use of remote access tools “to search electronic storage media and to seize or copy electronically stored information located within or outside that district.” Typically, a judge’s authority to authorize search warrants is limited by his or her jurisdiction.
Civil liberties groups such as the EFF, ACLU and Open Technology Institute had mounted a strong campaign urging lawmakers to consider the privacy implications of the rule. They voiced significant concerns about the rule changes and proposed several bills to Congress to stop or delay Rule 41 from going into effect. Bills included Stopping Mass Hacking Act (S. 2952, H.R. 5321), the Review the Rule Act (S.3475, H.R.6341), and the Stalling Damaging Mass Hacking Act (S. 3485).
According to Greene efforts to pass those bills will not stop. “One of the important things to remember is that just because the rule change was implemented today, Congress can act at any time to pass a law to either put a pause on the implementation of the rule change, amending the rule change or more importantly implement a legal framework that provides effective protection for Americans’ constitutional right to privacy and protection from government hacking.”
Rule 41 backers said the rule change was necessary to keep pace technologically with cyber criminals. They argued the rule was appropriate and unties law enforcement’s hands to track down elusive criminals.
Neema Guliani, ACLU legislative counsel, disagrees stating Rule 41 threatens privacy and security.
“Congress has held zero hearings on this issue and the Department of Justice has yet to respond to Congressional requests for information on its impacts. The ACLU is disappointed that Congress did not halt the rule change. However, there is still a need for Congress to provide oversight of hacking activities and put in place limits to protect privacy and security.”
The ACLU has argued that Rule 41’s authority to give the US government the ability to create and control hacking tools was particularly alarming because of the government’s spotty track record at designing its own malware securely.
Guliani and Greene are both pinning hopes on bipartisan congressional support for hearings to consider the ramifications of government cyber surveillance and hacking. “The FBI has been hacking for two decades now. It’s something that has raised concerns among both parties,” Greene said.
Greene added that there needs be clearer rules around government hacking; just as there are for wiretapping. “We know what the legal framework around wiretapping is. Now we need it for hacking; which is arguably more invasive, dangerous and still has no rules for the road.”
Opponents of Rule 41 say there needs to be a clear distinction between wiretapping, hacking and “regular” searches issued under the Fourth Amendment. They go on to argue that government hacking raises a host of serious risks to privacy and security that wiretapping doesn’t, including the risk that malware used by the government might spread to innocent people’s computers or cause unintended damage.
Debate over the limits of the government’s ability to snoop have have been a hot topic leading up to the implementation of Rule 41. In April, a federal judge threw out evidence in a child pornography case stating the FBI didn’t have a proper warrant to hack into a child porn site.
In that case the FBI quietly seized servers for a site called Playpen after a lengthy investigation. But instead of shutting it down, the FBI continued to run it and use it to collect the IP addresses of its users. In that case, the attorney of one user, a Massachusetts man, successfully argued that the warrant the FBI used to authorize the network investigative technique (NIT) was not valid. That’s because the warrant was issued in by a magistrate judge in Virginia and not in Massachusetts – outside of the judge’s jurisdiction.
Rule 41 allows judges to issue one search warrant across state lines to penetrate computers outside their jurisdiction.“You can talk about it all you want, but what you gonna do? Time’s your oyster, the grave is always getting closer,” sings Jim James on “We Ain’t Getting Any Younger Pt. 2,” one of many calmly distressing tracks from his new solo effort, Eternally Even. Released just four days before this year’s historic election, the album carries itself with a reluctant confidence, like a sage who has always known the impending doom was there the whole time.
In a lot of ways a Jim James solo album is something of an odd product. As frontman and primary songwriter for beloved indie rockers My Morning Jacket, he already has a respectable platform from which to deliver the music that is his message. Yet something about Eternally Even—as well his only other solo release, 2013’s Regions of Light and Sound of God—seems decidedly distinct from his band’s output. The lyrics on the newest record, in particular, feel like they were written with today’s news cycle in mind, even as the music that buoys them digs many decades into the past for inspiration.
Considering the album’s topical nature, the timing of its release appears very deliberate. It also heralds the coming of James’ latest solo tour, which is set to reach New Orleans’ Civic Theatre on Saturday, December 17. I caught up with the enigmatic rock icon less than a week after the release of Eternally Even—and just two days after the fateful 2016 election—to discuss his latest project, working with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and much more.
You just released your second solo album, Eternally Even. The record is a little haunting. There’s a sense of foreboding throughout much of it that, frankly, feels almost prescient considering the events of the past few days. Was that the vibe you were going for?
Yeah, I’ve just been thinking about it a lot and worrying about it a lot and wanting to try and do my part to be a part of the discussion and, hopefully, be a force of good. Obviously, I’m very sad that things turned out the way they did, but I think that’s what music is here for, to kind of give us hope through dark times and help us work on things together. I feel like that’s how I work on things, through music. I feel like that’s how most people feel when listening to music. It’s one of the most useful things we have in our lives, one of the greatest gifts.
Your solo tour kicks off next week [November 15]. Do you think these songs will take on a new meaning, or perhaps a new urgency, in the live setting?
I feel with a record like this, I’m trying to speak to a lot of what’s going on. Yeah, we’re going through some dark shit right now. I feel like your mind, all of our minds, always adapt to what has happened around us. You hear things differently, and you see things differently based on what has happened. So yeah, everything has taken on a new weight. I feel like there’s so many of us that are worried about the future and worried about everything. Yeah, I feel like it’s all gonna take on a new weight.
Despite the album’s lyrical weight, the music is actually pretty laid back. It’s sonically pleasing music that you can kind of chill to. Was there an intention to create a dichotomy between the lyrical and musical aspects of the album?
Not really. I don’t really see it that way, but that was kind of a cool thing about the music. It wasn’t written with any goal in mind. It was written as improv pieces or it was taken from samples of songs that I really liked, so it was a cool way to make a record. I had never done that before. All the music kind of existed, and then lyrics and melodies and stuff started popping out of my head over this existing music, which I then cut and edited and messed with and added things to make it fit these songs that the pieces were turning into. It was a strange experience for me.
How do you approach a solo album differently from a My Morning Jacket album? At what point do you decide the songs you’re working on are going to be pieces for Jim James and not My Morning Jacket?
The songs just kind of tell me. I have a real love for working in the studio and playing music alone, and I feel like I’m kind of always just doing that. When I’m not on tour that’s kind of my job or whatever, just making music. I love doing it. So solo records for me are these fun ways for me to keep creating because, I love to play in the band and I love doing side projects and stuff, but I also love just being alone in the studio as well.
You touched on this a little bit earlier, but a lot of this record does feel like it was born out of these jam sessions or improv sessions. Is that how you often go into the recording process?
No, really not ever. Normally I have an idea for a song or I have the chords for a song and I start building a song from scratch. There is no pre-existing thing. Whereas in this case, all this music was pre-existing instrumental music that had never been written with the intention of any vocals or any, ‘song structure.’ So it was a really different thing for me.
Are you saying you went looking back at previous things that you had recorded, maybe half thought out songs or instrumental segments, and then turned them into fleshed out songs?
No, I had these pieces of instrumental music that this composer, Brian Reitzell, and I had made trying to score a few films, and that didn’t end up getting used for the films. I had always loved these pieces of music and they just came back up on shuffle one day while I was walking. I really got into them and, you know, it was five or six years ago that we did these pieces of music. But for whatever reason, my brain reconnected with them because I had always loved them. I had thought of them, for a while, as a side thing or just an instrumental record of these improv pieces, but then lyrics and melodies started popping out so I followed that path.
I didn’t know you were involved in any film scoring work.
I’ve tried to be. I’ve always been fired for being too weird, so I’ve never successfully been involved in any film scoring work.
How important is improvisation to you as a component of your live show? Can we expect to see some of these songs tweaked with on stage?
Yeah, definitely. We’ve already been doing that. We did a little warm-up run a month ago and were really having fun with the songs, so there’s already improv changes and things that are happening to the songs. It feels really fresh and it feels really good to play these songs right now.
You’re performing in New Orleans on December 17. Considering the musical history, is there anything special to you about this city?
Oh God yes. I’ve spent so much time in New Orleans and I’ve produced a record with Preservation Hall Jazz Band that we recorded in the Hall. Those guys are really great friends so every time we come to town there’s some cause for celebration and we just hang out. I love the city so much and have spent countless hours walking around. There’s so much magic to be found there and I feel lucky to have some really good friends there. It’s always a high point.
Is there any particular place in town that you always make sure to visit while you’re down here?
The Hall is the most important to me. I’ll never forget walking in there for the first time and it kind of felt like where music was born, and I know that’s where a lot of really great jazz music was born. Being in there, having made a record in the Hall and having played in the Hall, I’ve really felt the power. It’s like a portal or something. You step in there and you’re stepping into another time. It’s one of the most powerful places I’ve ever been.
How did your relationship with the Preservation Hall guys develop?
I guess six or seven or eight years ago, I’m bad with time, they did a benefit record where they had different singers come to the Hall and sing with the guys. I was invited to do that so I came down and met everybody and just really hit it off with Ben Jaffe. It was an amazing time. Then we brought them out on tour with My Morning Jacket, and they would open the show and then play with us. We really enjoyed each other’s company and had a great time. Ever since then we’ve been really good friends.
I wanted to talk to you about another artist that you’ve developed a bit of a relationship with, and that’s Roger Waters. I saw you perform with him at Newport Folk and outside of New York for the Love For Levon [Helm] benefit, then I heard you recently performed with him at Neil Young’s Bridge School Benefit. How did that relationship first develop?
He was coming to do the Levon benefit and, I can’t remember why he didn’t have his band, but somebody said to him, ‘Hey have you heard My Morning Jacket? Would you be interested in them backing you up?’ And he was; so we did that Levon thing and had a great time. He reached back out to us about Newport and, obviously, we were excited to do that, and then he reached back out about Bridge School. It’s been this cool, amazing thing. Definitely something we never counted on, hearing from him again. It’s been such an honor and such a privilege to stand next to one of the true greats of music. He’s, indisputably, made some of the greatest records that humans have ever made. It’s wild, but he’s such a nice guy and he remembers everybody’s names. He doesn’t come in acting like an egomaniac or anything. He’s a very, very down to earth guy, but he’s also extremely intense and knows exactly what he wants. It’s always thrilling to work with him.
I saw that, in all the shows My Morning Jacket have played since Bridge School, you’ve managed to incorporate a different Pink Floyd song into your set.
It’s funny because we spent all this time learning all his songs and, of course, we love those songs. We know everybody loves those songs.
Are there any new projects on the horizon for you? I know you’ve got this tour coming up, but anything with Jacket after that?
We’re doing another Jacket record in the spring, which will hopefully be out sometime next year. I’m not quite sure yet. I’ve got songs written for that so yeah, that’s on the burner.San Diego summer 2015 Movies in the Park series starts this week and runs through September! It’s the perfect way for friends and families to spend a night under the stars while exploring the beauty and diversity of parks and recreation facilities throughout San Diego County. Bring a picnic, grab a blanket and come relax with us.
FREE San Diego: Subscribe to our email newsletter of San Diego events, festivals, specials, & GIVEAWAYS!
—————-
Related Events and Info:
—————————-
2015 Free San Diego Summer Movies In The Park Info & Schedule:
2015 Free San Diego Summer Movies In The Park
May – September | Free
San Diego & Beyond
More info: summermoviesinthepark.com
Summer Movies in the Park, a series of free outdoor movie events in park facilities, is a collaboration between the County of San Diego Department of Parks and Recreation, the Cities of San Diego, Chula Vista, El Cajon, La Mesa, Lemon Grove, National City, Oceanside, Poway, San Marcos, Vista, USS Midway Museum and the Port of San Diego. Each event provides opportunities to gather as a community and build sense of community and offers residents free opportunities to enjoy themselves outdoors in the summer evenings.
40 movies are scheduled to be shown at local parks, pools and on the deck of the Midway. The movies will be shown in high-quality digital on an enormous inflatable widescreen specially designed for large audiences. All movies are free, open to the public and begin at dusk.
More info: www.summermoviesinthepark.com
——————
2015 Free San Diego Summer Movies In The Park Schedule:
May 22: Finding Nemo @ Waterfront Park | Free, 6-9:30PM (more info)
May 22: Big Hero 6 @ Robert Egger Sr. South Bay Community Park | Free, 6-9:30PM (more info)
May 29: The Jungle Book @ Heritage Park | Free, 6-9:30PM (more info)
May 29: The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water @ Pepper Park | Free, 6-9:30PM (more info)
June 5: Big Hero 6 @ Hilton Head County Park | Free, 6-9:30PM (more info)
June 6: The Lego Movie @ Racho Guajome Adobe | Free, 6-9:30PM (more info)
June 6: The Goonies @ Sycamore Canyon Preserve | Free, 7-9:30PM (more info)
June 6: The Perfect Game @ Standley Community Park | Free, 7-9:30PM (more info)
June 12: Rio 2 @ Presidio Recreation Center | Free, 6-9:30PM (more info)
June 12: Big Hero 6 @ Las Palmas Park | Free, 6-9:30PM (more info)
June 12: The Book of Life @ Fallbrook Community Center | Free, 6:30-9:30PM (more info)
June 12: Pirates of the Caribbean @ Cesar Chavez Park | Free, 6:30-10PM (more info)
June 13: Penguins of Madagascar @ 4S Ranch Patriot Park | Free, 6:30-9:30PM (more info)
June 13: Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb @ Balboa Park | Free, 6:30-10PM (more info)
Jun 13: McFarland USA @ Harborside Park | Free, 6:30-9:30PM (more info)
June 19: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) @ Spring Valley County Park | Free, 6:30-10PM (more info)
June 19: Despicable Me 2 @ Nobel Community Park | Free, 7-10PM (more info)
June 19: Book of Life @ Pine Valley County Park | Free, 7:30-10PM (more info)
June 20: Surf’s Up @ Junior Seau Pier Amphitheatre | Free, 7-10PM (more info)
June 20: Happy Feet @ North Clairemont Community Park | Free, 7-10PM (more info)
June 20: The Lego Movie @ Tierrasanta Community Park | Free, 7-10PM (more info)
June 20: The Boxtrolls @ Rancho Buena Vista Ballfields | Free, 7-9:30PM (more info)
June 26: The Book of Life @ Waterfront Park | Free, 6-10PM (more info)
June 26: Soul Surfer @ Pier Plaza | Free, 6:30-10PM (more info)
June 26: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day @ Cabrillo Heights Neighborhood Park | Free, 7-10PM (more info)
June 27: The Sandlot @ Poway Swim Center | Free, 6-10PM (more info)
June 27: Hotel For Dogs @ Ward Canyon Neighborhood Park | Free, 6:30-9:30 (more info)
June 27: Dolphin Tale 2 @ Santa Clara Recreation Center | Free, 7-10PM (more info)
June 27: Despicable Me 2 @ Carmel Valley Community Park | Free, 7-10PM (more info)
June 27: The Book of Life @ Rancho Guajome Adobe | Free, 7-10PM (more info)
July 3: Back To The Future @ USS Midway Museum | Free, 6-10PM (more info)
July 4: Maleficent @ Lake Morena | Free, 7-10PM (more info)
July 10: Jaws @ Harbor Island | Free, 6:30-10PM (more info)
July 10: Penguins of Madagascar @ Ocean Air Community Park | Free, 7-10PM (more info)
July 10: The Boxtrolls @ Penn Athletic Field | Free, 7-10PM (more info)
July 10: Night at the Museum @ Sweetwater Summit Regional Park | Free, 7-9PM (more info)
July 10: The Boxtrolls @ Kimball Park- Little Padres Field | Free, 7-10PM (more info)
July 11: The |
characters were visible in the 1988 movie. However, said movies were in production in the 1940s, which is possibly the reason for their inclusion. Also, Looney Tunes character Marvin the Martian made a cameo, but he didn't debut until 1948; a year after this movie takes place. Some of the directors/producers were thinking about making about making a sequel or prequel to the film called Who Discovered Roger Rabbit or Roger Rabbit: World Road Trip.
,, and s characters didn't exist yet back in 1947, the year the movie was set in and yet some of those characters were visible in the 1988 movie. However, said movies were in the 1940s, which is possibly the reason for their inclusion. When you see Eddie walking into the bar for the first time that's near his office, look at the American Flag behind the bar. It has 50 stars. The movie is based in 1948, but the last two of the 50 states didn't become states until 1959.
Wheezy, the Toon Patrol weasel who smokes, is voiced by June Foray, who also voiced some female Looney Tunes characters. This makes Wheezy the only weasel to be voiced by a woman.
characters. This film is usually said to be the similar to the 2012 movie Wreck-It Ralph due to all the cameos of famous characters in both movies (Wreck-It Ralph has cameos by video game characters).
ReferencesEarly Sunday morning, Islamic extremist Omar Mateen murdered at least 49 people at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
Mateen, of Fort Pierce, Florida, was interviewed by the FBI in 2013 and 2014 after he told coworkers he had ties to Islamic extremists. But Mateen was not found to be a threat, the FBI said, so he dropped off their radar.
A former coworker said company officials refused to investigate Omar’s frequent racist and homophobic attacks “because he was Muslim.” So, once again, political correctness is linked to another Islamist massacre.
Omar Mateen took time out during his mass slaughter of gays at Pulse nightclub to call 911 and pledge his allegiance to ISIS. Then he ended the call and killed some more gays.
And it should be noted that Omar Mateen cased other gay clubs before he decided to kill gays at The Pulse on Latino night.
After the deadliest Islamist attack on American soil since 9-11 Barack Obama blamed hatred and guns. His inability to called the attack what it is – Islamic jihad – has progressed from denial to psychosis. It’s never been more apparent than Sunday, when Barack was comparing the Pulse club attack to a movie theater shooting by a schizophrenic, that our poor president has lost his own grasp of reality.
Obama was not the only one. Leftwing gay activists posted ridiculous and ignorant remarks after the deadliest single attack on gays in modern history.
Activist Sally Kohn blamed all religions.
EVERY religion has sub-groups of intolerant extremism. You can’t tell me the problem is religion. The problem is intolerant extremism! — Sally Kohn (@sallykohn) June 12, 2016
Gay personality Perez Hilton blamed the NRA.
50! FUCK YOU, @NRA! You have blood on your hands! Fuck you to every single gun lobbyist! And fuck you to those who don’t support gun reform! — Perez (@ThePerezHilton) June 12, 2016
I came out in the 1980s to family and friends during the AIDS epidemic. I saw a lot of friends get sick. I saw a lot of friends die. I went to a lot of funerals.
It was a scary time to be gay.
Like most gay Americans, I don’t wear my sexuality on my sleeve. I go about my daily business. I try not to harm anyone. I love my family. I love my friends. I love my country.
I’ve been a conservative activist for years. But today I’m coming out as a conservative gay activist.
In the past few years I’ve built one of the most prominent conservative websites in America. I created The Gateway Pundit because I wanted to speak the truth. I wanted to expose the wickedness of the left. I was raised to love my country. Today I serve my country by defending her from the socialist onslaught.
But last night at least 49 gays were slaughtered at an Orlando club.
Despite this obvious Islamic attack, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are still in denial.
I can no longer remain silent as my gay brothers and sisters are being slaughtered at dance clubs.
There is only one man who can lead this nation and protect all gays and all Americans. His name is Donald Trump.
In 2015 a conservative Supreme Court granted gays the right to marry.
In 2016 only one candidate will protect gays from another Islamist attack.
I pray that gays will come back home to the Republican Party – no more death.
Dear God, please no more death.
As a gay person, the scariest words you will ever hear are “Allahu akbar.” — Milo Yiannopoulos ✘ (@Nero) June 12, 2016
Jim Hoft is the publisher of Gateway Pundit. He received the Andrew Breitbart Award at the Right Online conference in 2015.
Listen to Jim Hoft discussing this on Breitbart News Daily on SiriusXM Monday morning:As RepliCel prepares for a potentially major year in their business development, their CEO Lee Buckler discusses with the Investing News Network its plans and the shift the company is experiencing.
Lee Buckler, president, director and CEO of RepliCel Life Sciences (TSXV:RP; OTCQB:REPCF) finds his company in a very particular situation. Throughout 2017 RepliCel took decisive steps to solidify their business plan moving forward. However, these moves –building a functioning prototype for their dermal injector and obtaining solid clinical data for their stem cell therapies for hair loss and skin damage– haven’t moved the needle for the company’s stock yet.
RepliCel has existed for the past year in a “pre-revenue stage,” something that Buckler said in an interview with the Investing News Network (INN) can get “frustrating,” because the company expects better for themselves and their shareholders.
Year-to-date, the company’s stock price on the TSXV has dipped 51.58 percent, while on the OTC it has dropped 42.69 percent.
In September the company introduced the much-anticipated prototype for its RCI-02 dermal injectors, with promising technology and a design overlooked by experts in the industry. The new data will allow the company to prepare for a CE Mark approval. If obtained, the device will be commercially allowed to enter the European market.
“We’ve come to believe this is a very exciting next-generation technology that will enable both a new level of consistency in terms of the outcomes of injections,” Buckler told INN, explaining the company worked with dermatologists to develop the design of RCI-02.
RepliCel’s stem cell candidates could enter Japanese market
The company’s stem cell research has led to a promising licensing deal in Japan with Shiseido (TYO:4911). This company can activate a rush of revenue for RepliCel if it brings RCH-01 to the market. This is one of their candidates designed to treat androgenetic alopecia (hair loss). RepliCel also has candidates for tendon repair and a skin rejuvenation treatment.
Colin Lee Novick, managing director of CJ PARTNERS explained in Japan the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) approved products under the Japanese PMD Act, this means the product gets to be covered by the national health insurance system.
“Of the three products that RepliCel has—for tendons, skin and the hair androgenic alopecia product—one is a shoe-in for the PMD Act, the tendon product. The other two would allow it to release under something called the Act on the Safety of Regenerative Medicine (ASRM), which is a new law passed in tandem with the revision of the PMD Act in 2013-2014,” Novick told Streetwise Reports.
Below is a transcript of our interview, which has been edited for clarity and brevity. Read on to find out more of what Buckler had to say.
Read our new 2019 medical device report today Including: 3+ stocks to watch as well as valuable market data Including: 3+ stocks to watch as well as valuable market data Get My Free Report Click here to download for free
INN: What is the latest with the dermal injector business at RepliCel?
LB: The dermal injector was one of the key programs we had aligned ourselves to progress with this year and it’s our nearest from commercial asset. Ironically it’s the [latest]asset that we started developing. By virtue of it being a medical device–and the commercial opportunity it represents–[it’s] the asset we intend to launch first.
We have made some significant progress this year on the device. We have… a fully functioning prototype of the device and we are on schedule, as our shareholders are aware, to get the subject of a CE mark application and CE Mark approval next year, which is the approval necessary to launch the product in Europe.
INN: Are you planning to launch first in Europe rather than in the US?
LB: That’s correct. A lot of medical device companies launch in Europe, simply because the regulatory pathway for medical devices in Europe is somewhat more attractive for an initial launch. It tends to be a shorter pathway to launch for medical devices, while you continue to seek the necessary regulatory approval in the US and other places.
INN: Right now what do you evaluate will be the impact of the launch of the dermal injector?
LB: For the company and its shareholders we are excited about the fact that this will be a commercial asset that we are working hard to drive some exciting adoption around for the existing skin treatments that are out there.
In the longer term, we are excited about this dermal injector as an integral companion to the cell therapy that we are developing for aging and sun damaged skin as well.
INN: Moving into these therapies, you’ve had some recent announcements regarding the trials of these candidates. What are the next steps in the development of the cell therapies?
LB: My note to the shareholders [at the start of 2017] said we should be expecting three things from the company this year. One was clinical data and we… are anticipating successful clinical data. Two was the prototypes of the device, to put us on track for it to be commercially approved in 2018. Third [was] deal making. We’ve had a very exciting year, I think, in all three aspects.
We started out the year with some successful phase 1 clinical trial data across our entire platform. We announced data on our hair program, our tendon program and on our skin program, establishing an overwhelming safety profile across the pipeline.
“We really are expecting to transition the company”
INN: Are you planning for the launch of the dermal injector or the continued development of the cell therapies to provide a catalyst for your stock performance next year?
LB: We have a number of catalysts I’m looking forward to next year. We got the approval on the dermal injector and we expect that will drive significant market interest in the device, as well as partner interest as we move toward and secure commercial approval of the device.
We really are expecting to transition the company… from a pure pre-revenue play to a company that’s generating revenue.
There’s a possibility… that [our] hair products could have an early launch in Japan. Our partner Shiseido is funding a clinical trial in Japan that’s expected to release clinical data next year. It’s entirely up to Shiseido what they do in regards to this product. There’s certainly a possibility that they could decide if the data is positive, to launch the product in Japan and that would trigger… milestone payments and sales royalty revenue.
Finally, the third catalyst shareholders can expect over the next 12 to 15 months is some more deal-making. We have a tremendously exciting pipeline of negotiations going on right now across our entire product portfolio. We are working very hard to deliver our second major partnership deal before year-end. We are working towards announcing something more exciting [and] similar deals in the new year as well.
INN: You mention being in this stage of pre-revenue and existing in this waiting space. How difficult is it for you as leader of this company to be in a stage where you know things are about to ramp up for RepliCel and you may have big announcements coming, but it’s hard to keep the attention of the market?
LB: It is frustrating at times when you see a disconnect between what you think is the value of the company and the value of the pipeline you are building and the share price. At the end of the day, the market reflects what it believes to be fair market value.
What we try to communicate to shareholders right now is that we’ve never been more confident or excited… this year has really changed the tenor of the company. We are driven by the clinical data we’ve seen as opposed to in vitro data or animal data or scientific hypothesis.
We have a functioning prototype of our device that shows precisely how it works and gives us confidence that’s something game-changing we can launch next year.
We just [have to] keep the faith. We know that with these biotech stories the thing that’s exciting about them [is that] their valuation can change very dramatically, very quickly on the right deal, the right data, or the right bio.
Don’t forget to follow us @INN_LifeScience and @INN_Cannabis for real-time news updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Bryan Mc Govern, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in this article. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.Alexis Bidagan St. Martin (April 8, 1802 [a] – June 24, 1880) was a Canadian voyageur who is known for his part in experiments on digestion in humans, conducted on him by the American Army physician William Beaumont between 1822 and 1833. St. Martin was shot in a near-fatal accident in 1822. His wound did not heal fully, leaving an opening into his stomach. Studies of St. Martin's stomach led to greater understanding of the stomach, gastric juices and the processes of digestion. [3]
Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice and the Physiology of Digestion, 1833 (p. 27) From Beaumont's, 1833 (p. 27)
On June 6, 1822 St. Martin was accidentally shot with a musket at close range at the fur trading post on Mackinac Island. The charge of the musket shot left a hole through his side that healed to form a fistula aperture into his stomach.[3][4][5][6]
William Beaumont, a US Army surgeon stationed at a nearby army post, treated the wound. Although St. Martin was a healthy young man in his 20s, he was not expected to recover due to the severity of his wound.[3] Beaumont explains in a later paper that the shot blew off fragments of St. Martin's muscles and broke a few of his ribs. After bleeding him and giving him a cathartic, Beaumont marked St. Martin's progress. For the next 17 days, all food he ate re-emerged from his new gastric fistula. Finally after 17 days, the food began to stay in St. Martin's stomach and his bowels began to return to their natural functions.[4]
When the wound healed itself, the edge of the hole in the stomach had attached itself to the edge of the hole in the skin, creating a permanent gastric fistula. There was very little scientific understanding of digestion at the time and Beaumont recognized the opportunity he had in St. Martin – he could literally watch the processes of digestion by dangling food on a string into St. Martin's stomach, then later pulling it out to observe to what extent it had been digested. Beaumont continued to experiment on St. Martin off and on until 1833, performing an estimated 200 experiments in 10 years.[3]
Alexis St. Martin allowed the experiments to be conducted, not as an act to repay Beaumont for keeping him alive, but rather because Beaumont had the illiterate St. Martin sign a contract to work as a servant. Beaumont recalls the chores St. Martin did: "During this time, in the intervals of experimenting, he performed all the duties of a common servant, chopping wood, carrying burthens, etc. with little or no suffering or inconvenience from his wound."[1] Although these chores were not bothersome, some of the experiments were painful to St. Martin, for example when Beaumont had placed sacks of food in the stomach, Beaumont noted: "the boy complained of some pain and uneasiness at the breast."[4]:118 Other symptoms St. Martin felt during experiments were a sense of weight and distress at the epigastric fossa and slight vertigo and dimness of vision.[citation needed]A key Amazon service that helps power the internet went down yesterday, bringing with it scores of websites and services, including Amazon’s own network status page.
“A lot of people have put their stuff on Amazon, so that means when the infrastructure breaks, which doesn’t happen very often, lots of things break,” said Jim Waldo, a professor and chief technology officer for Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Amazon Web Services S3, a server offering from the online shopping giant, had “high error rates” in the East Coast region, harming at least parts of many websites, according to Amazon. Some sites rely on S3 for critical components, while others only use it to access images.
Amazon’s own webpage, designed to show whether AWS services are working, also uses S3 to store its status images, so the page showed healthy, green checkmarks for hours despite the outage.
Amazon said it resolved the issue at about 5 p.m. yesterday, and said earlier in the day it believes it has identified the cause.
The outage affected websites including businessinsider.com, Giphy, Quora and even downforeveryoneorjustme.com, a website made to check if a page is experiencing an outage.
Waldo said the outage is unusual because cloud servers have become increasingly reliable.
“In some sense, Amazon is a victim of their own success,” Waldo said. “They’ve become so successful that people have become so used to their computing services being there that it’s notable when it’s not.”Back in 2001, Goldman Sachs’ Jim O’Neill coined the term BRICs to describe the key fast growing developing economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. But a dozen years later, is the focus on the BRICs misplaced? Indeed, is the group “broken,” as Morgan Stanley’s Ruchir Sharma has suggested?
“Although the world can expect more breakout nations to emerge from the bottom income tier, at the top and the middle, the new global economic order will probably look more like the old one than most observers predict,” Sharma wrote earlier this year. “The rest may continue to rise, but they will rise more slowly and unevenly than many experts are anticipating. And precious few will ever reach the income levels of the developed world.”
Each day this week, beginning with Russia, a leading analyst will assess the prospects of a BRIC nation and weigh in on whether it still deserves its place in a group of economic high flyers.
By William Pomeranz, Special to CNN
Editor’s note: William Pomeranz is deputy director of the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. The views expressed are his own.
Created by bankers as a catchy acronym to entice foreign investors, the BRICS – first Brazil, Russia, India, China and then South Africa – have subsequently morphed into a loose association of countries with an emerging global view. The group now gathers annually to discuss its common aspirations, yet it still has few underlying structures.
In light of its origins and inchoate organization, the BRICS could be accused of being a Potemkin village – all show and no substance. Russia, of course, invented the Potemkin village and knows how to exploit its practical – and symbolic – uses. As a result, Russia highly values its BRICS membership and wants to deepen its cooperation even as the economic dynamism behind the original concept has begun to run out of steam.
To the extent that the BRICS have a common core, it unites a group of emerging market countries that had no input in drafting the rules of global commerce. Russia lacks the economic clout to revisit these conventions, so it needs its fellow BRICS members to change the rules of the game – or at least create alternative institutions that get around these rules.
Russia has used its influence to push the BRICS in the latter direction, in the process giving some shape to this amorphous association. In particular, the BRICS have called for the creation of a development bank that would aid emerging market countries in times of economic crisis as well as fund major infrastructure projects. The BRICS also want to establish its own credit rating agency, thereby breaking the monopoly that the western agencies possess in evaluating potential projects.
But the BRICS provide Russia with geopolitical cover, as well. Putin’s foreign policy is based on one overriding principle: national sovereignty. No country or international organization has the right to interfere in another nation’s internal affairs, a viewpoint largely shared among the BRICS countries.
The BRICS approach also coincides nicely with Russia’s vision of a multipolar world and further holds out the prospect of increased multilateral trade between its members. So from Russia’s perspective, the BRICS remain a highly valuable concept that has already produced some tangible results.
Russia’s problem, as it were, is that it believes in the BRICS too much, and wants to give this still nascent grouping of nations a more defined institutional structure. On the eve of the March 2013 meeting of BRICS leaders in Durban, President Putin talked of transforming the BRICS from a dialogue forum to a “full-scale strategic cooperation mechanism that will allow us to look for solutions to key issues of global politics together.”
Any attempt at a more integrated union, however, could negatively impact the organization’s long-term prospects. Commentators have long highlighted not only what unites the BRICS but also what divides it: entrenched historical animosities, distinct political systems, unequal economic resources, etc.
Russia has always been the odd-man out of the BRICS, with a more traditional economy based on raw materials extraction as opposed to economic innovation, high-tech manufacturing, or the provision of services. Russia’s current economic troubles will invariably renew the debate as to whether Russia even belongs in the emerging market category – and the BRICS – at all.
All the BRICS countries face major economic headwinds that could in and of itself doom the enterprise. China remains the key player; its status as the second largest economy in the world makes its relevant, with or without the BRICS, and it could walk away from the project at any time.
Brazil, India, and South Africa could, for their part, survive the breakup of the BRICS as well, especially since they already have an organization (the IBSA Dialogue Forum) to fall back on. Russia is not so fortunate. Indeed, its other major international trade initiative – the Eurasian Union – may soon come crashing down if Ukraine signs its association agreement with the European Union. So, in many ways, Russia is more invested in the BRICS than its fellow members.
The global economy may well be moving to a post-BRICS world, with a declining interest amongst investors in emerging markets. But even if that is the case, it is probably too early write off the BRICS. At this stage, the BRICS has ceased to be just a collection of disparate countries at various stages of economic development but has evolved into something more tangible. It specifically provides Russia with an important platform that supports the country’s broader geostrategic interests.
The ties that bind the BRICS, however, remain tenuous at best. If Russia pushes further integration too hard, the BRICS could easily unravel, and Russia would have nothing to replace it with.A commentary on
Obesity and the brain: how convincing is the addiction model?
by Ziauddeen, H., Farooqi, I. S., and Fletcher, P. C. (2012). Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 13, 279–286.
An article published in April 2012 by the Nature Reviews Neuroscience (Ziauddeen et al., 2012) calls for cautiousness in applying the addiction model to obesity. This scrupulous review described the highly consequential results from B. Hoebel’s lab concerning binge-like eating behaviors of rats (Avena et al., 2008, 2009; Bocarsly et al., 2011). Referring to these results, Ziauddeen and colleagues concluded that the binge behaviors relate to the palatability of the foods independently of their macronutrient composition. Earlier, also basing on the works of Hoebel and colleagues, I have been able to draw quite a different conclusion – fat per se, although highly palatable, is not as addictive as carbohydrates and is not obesogenic (Zilberter, 2011). In yet another paper (Peters, 2012), A. Peters interpreted results of Avena et al. (2008) as a proof that “sugar addiction” fails causing obesity. Here, I take a closer look at the Hoebel’s model of addiction (Avena et al., 2008, 2009; Berner et al., 2009; Avena, 2010; Avena and Gold, 2011; Bocarsly et al., 2011) while keeping in mind the role of macronutrients.
Food Addiction
An opinion exists that rather than an observational link, a causality exists between food addiction and obesity (Gold, 2004; Liu et al., 2006; Corsica and Pelchat, 2010; Johnson and Kenny, 2010). Another opinion is that such a causality does not exist (Peters, 2012) or even that a mere link between them should be considered with caution (Ziauddeen et al., 2012). The caution notwithstanding, it has been shown (and is discussed by Ziauddeen et al., 2012) that drug addiction and food addiction have similar effects, e.g., on the dopaminergic system (Volkow et al., 2008; Gearhardt et al., 2009; Stice and Dagher, 2010) where they “overlap” (Avena et al., 2012). In human subjects, food addiction has been associated with similar patterns of neural activation as substance addiction in anterior cingulated cortex, medial orbitofrontal cortex, and amygdala (Gearhardt et al., 2011b). “Common hedonic mechanisms may therefore underlie obesity and drug addiction,” concluded Johnson and Kenny (2010). Addiction liability is being discussed inline with development of obesity pharmacotherapy (Greene et al., 2011).
Carbohydrate Addiction
Carbohydrate (CHO) bias in brain’s control of energy homeostasis (Zilberter, 2011) reveals itself in several well known ways including the phenomena termed “positive reward,” “hedonism,” “wanting,” “liking,” etc. (Berridge et al., 2010; Gold, 2011). The “sweet-addiction” comparable by magnitude with alcohol addiction (Kampov-Polevoy et al., 2003) and drug addictions (Stoops et al., 2010) is well documented. Gold (2011) argued that deficit in “reward” is coupled with obesity and this coupling is common for sugar, cocaine, and heroin addictions.
Gearhardt et al. (2011b), referring to the aforementioned work of Johnson and Kenny, argued that only “hyper-palatable” foods rich in fat and sugar can cause addiction. Indeed, the combination of fat and sugar resulted in a “reward dysfunction associated with drug addiction and compulsive eating, including continued consumption despite receipt of shocks” (Gearhardt et al., 2011a). A link between food addiction and obesity has also been explicitly postulated (Avena et al., 2009; Corsica and Pelchat, 2010; Gold, 2011).
Fat Addiction?
Studies from B. Hoebel lab suggest that access to CHO produces different addiction-like behaviors compared with access to fat (Avena and Gold, 2011; Bocarsly et al., 2011; Avena et al., 2012). Nutrient specificity in control of eating behavior was also shown in this lab (Berner et al., 2009). During the “sweet-chow” feeding protocol, rats compensated for the increased sucrose or glucose calories by decreasing chow intake. The authors (Avena et al., 2008) suggested that the increase in sugar intake, while not resulting in obesity, lead to an upregulation of affinity for opioid receptors, which in turn leads to the vicious circle of sugar abuse and might contribute to obesity.
In a later study (Avena et al., 2009), when rats were given intermittent daily access to “sweet-fat” food, they voluntarily restricted their intake of standard chow, similar to what has been reported with “sweet-chow” food (Avena et al., 2008). However, this time rats did become overweight unlike in the “sweet-chow” experiment. Authors concluded: “fat may be the macronutrient that results in excess body weight, and sweet taste in the absence of fat may be largely responsible for producing addictive-like behaviors.” Yet pure fat, unlike the CHO-fat combination, lacks obesogenity (Dimitriou et al., 2000). Fat combined with limited CHO content failed to cause overeating and weight gain, while excess CHO in high-fat diets caused obesity and metabolic impairment (Lomba et al., 2009).
Metabolic studies show that CHO restriction in high-fat diets exerts neuroprotective effects (Figure 1) via induction of heat-shock proteins (Maalouf et al., 2009), growth factors (Maswood et al., 2004), and mitochondrial uncoupling proteins (Liu et al., 2006). Naturally, CHO excess has neurodeteriorating effects as discussed in Zilberter (2011), Hipkiss (2008), or Manzanero et al. (2011).
FIGURE 1
Conclusion
Taking into account the well-defined metabolism-related features of a diet can help avoiding ambiguity in definition of diet types and aid in data interpretations. From this standpoint, macronutrients play a crucial role in determining diet’s behavioral and metabolic consequences.
References
Bocarsly, M. E., Berner, L. A., Hoebel, B. G., and Avena, N. M. (2011). Rats that binge eat fat-rich food do not show somatic signs or anxiety associated with opiate-like withdrawal: implications for nutrient-specific food addiction behaviors. Physiol. Behav. 104, 865–872. Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
Dimitriou, S. G., Rice, H. B., and Corwin, R. L. (2000). Effects of limited access to a fat option on food intake and body composition in female rats. Int. J. Eat. Disord. 28, 436–445. Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
Gearhardt, A. N., Grilo, C. M., Dileone, R. J., Brownell, K. D., and Potenza, M. N. (2011a). Can food be addictive? Public health and policy implications. Addiction 106, 1208–1212. CrossRef Full Text
Gearhardt, A. N., Yokum, S., Orr, P. T., Stice, E., Corbin, W. R., and Brownell, K. D. (2011b). Neural correlates of food addiction. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 68, 808–816. CrossRef Full Text
Liu, D., Chan, S. L., De Souza-Pinto, N. C., Slevin, J. R., Wersto, R. P., Zhan, M., Mustafa, K., De Cabo, R., and Mattson, M. P. (2006). Mitochondrial UCP4 mediates an adaptive shift in energy metabolism and increases the resistance of neurons to metabolic and oxidative stress. Neuromolecular Med. 8, 389–414. Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
Maswood, N., Young, J., Tilmont, E., Zhang, Z., Gash, D. M., Gerhardt, G. A., Grondin, R., Roth, G. S., Mattison, J., Lane, M. A., Carson, R. E., Cohen, R. M., Mouton, P. R., Quigley, C., Mattson, M. P., and Ingram, D. K. (2004). Caloric restriction increases neurotrophic factor levels and attenuates neurochemical and behavioral deficits in a primate model of Parkinson’s disease. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 101, 18171–18176. Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
Peters, A. (2012). Does sugar addiction really cause obesity?. Front. Neuroenerg. 3:8. CrossRef Full TextFormer Vice President Al Gore made a prediction for the earth’s point of no return 10 years ago and talk radio host Rush Limbaugh held him to it since that day in 2006.
The countdown clock on Limbaugh’s site has been running for nearly 10 years since Gore’s apocalyptic prediction about the earth as a result of greenhouse emissions. Less than a month remains in the countdown.
Gore predicted, when his film “An Inconvenient Truth” was first released at the Sundance Film Festival, that the earth would be in “a true planetary emergency” within the next ten years unless drastic action was taken to reduce greenhouse gases.
CBS News reported at the time that Gore’s film predicted the worst-case scenarios would be a new ice age in Europe, massive floods in China, India, and other areas. Gore described himself as a “recovering politician” to the Sundance audience at the time and that he “benefits from low expectations.”
“What really attracted us to this presentation is the tone Al strikes,” said “An Inconvenient Truth” director Davis Guggenheim to CBS. “It’s not righteous. It doesn’t have a political agenda. It lands right in the middle, and Al just lays out what is this inconvenient truth. And I think that’s why the audience is willing to receive it.”
Limbaugh laughed at Gore’s 10 year prediction in 2006 saying on his radio show, “Now, the last time I heard some liberal talk about ‘ten years’ it was 1988, Ted Danson. We had ten years to save the oceans; we were all going to pay the consequences, which would result in our death. Now Al Gore says we’ve got ten years. Ten years left to save the planet from a scorching.”
He added, “Okay, we’re going to start counting. This is January 27th, 2006. We will begin the count, ladies and gentlemen. This is just… You have to love these people — from afar, and from a purely observational point of view.”
Climate models scientists referred to for the past six decades were incorrect, a working paper released in December by CATO scientists Patrick Michaels and Chip Knappenberger said. Both Michaels and Knappenberger discovered the models over-projected the warming rates than what actually happened.
“During all periods from 10 years (2006-2015) to 65 (1951-2015) years in length, the observed temperature trend lies in the lower half of the collection of climate model simulations,” Michaels and Knappenberger said, “and for several periods it lies very close (or even below) the 2.5th percentile of all the model runs.”
Follow Kerry on TwitterNews Bitcoin at $900: Let’s Remember The Naysayers…
As Bitcoin straddles the $900 mark, now seems a good time to remember the naysayers who made it clear they thought the currency would never succeed – or was even already dead.
More FUD, Naysayers?
Bitcoin has faced its fair share of naysayers since its inception, but some are more vocal in their disdain than others. While there are far too many to mention by name, here are a few who will likely not be forgotten in a hurry.
Mike Hearn
Mike Hearn used to be firmly on the side of the Bitcoin community, but ended up – somewhat dramatically – losing faith. His post in January on his decision to ‘quit Bitcoin’ and resign as developer now reads like a notorious speech from history.
“But despite knowing that Bitcoin could fail all along, the now inescapable conclusion that it has failed still saddens me greatly,” he wrote.
The fundamentals are broken and whatever happens to the price in the short term, the long term trend should probably be downwards.
While predictions of Bitcoin’s imminent doom are amusing to read, the comedy soon turns to heartbreak in Hearn’s post as he announces he’d sold off his entire Bitcoin holdings:
I will no longer be taking part in Bitcoin development and have sold all my coins. Why has Bitcoin failed? It has failed because the community has failed.
Professor Bitcorn
From the sublime to the ridiculous, and Professor Bitcorn was a leading light in denouncing Bitcoin until his abrupt silence earlier this year.
A Boston university lecturer by day, Mark T. Williams put the cat among the pigeons in 2013 as he brought his Bitcoin doom-mongering to the mainstream press.
“I predict that Bitcoin will trade for under $10 a share by the first half of 2014, single digit pricing reflecting its option value as a pure commodity play,” he wrote in an article for Business Insider.
His more recent reticence could well be a result of Bitcoin not going to $10 in any of the subsequent three years, as one Reddit user points out.
Jamie Dimon
Who could forget Jamie Dimon? It appears that Bitcoiners won’t have the luxury any time soon, as under its CEO JPMorgan Chase is |
works if one uses a client/server system like Quassel, which is more of a power user thing, though. For IM, it depends: Facebook, for example, has an API for accessing the logs stored on their servers, but of course with everything stored on a server somewhere in the US, you have a privacy problem. This problem is not easy to solve, but we agreed that we do not want to synchronize locally saved logs. So if you want cross-device logs but still limit privacy problems, you’d have to e.g. use a Jabber/XMPP server you trust and have it store your logs.
For scenario 3, Nepomuk has to be able to link each file received from a person to that person. Vishesh told me that it “kind of” works for some cases already, but still needs more work. And we need the UI to search for files by person, of course. We all agreed that all three scenarios are something we should aim to solve, now the next step is an actual plan of action to implement the stuff that’s still missing.
So, dear readers, what do you think of all this? Do the scenarios sound realistic to you? Would you find it helpful if the aforementioned solutions were available in these scenarios? What additional scenarios can you think of with respect to unified communication?
AdvertisementsKobe Bryant played his final game Wednesday and sent himself off in spectacular style by scoring 60 points (albeit on 50 shots from the floor). It was quintessential Kobe — grabbing the lead headline even on the night the Golden State Warriors set the all-time NBA record for single-season wins. Kobe could never fade quietly into retirement.
For a stathead such as myself, tracking Kobe’s career arc has been fascinating because it’s existed in near-perfect overlap with the lifespan of basketball analytics. When Bryant made his NBA debut, on Nov. 3, 1996, the field (if you could even call it that) was in an embryonic state. Dean Oliver and John Hollinger were proto-blogging in relative anonymity; the APBRmetrics forum — an early petri dish of smart basketball folks — wouldn’t even become a discussion group board for four-plus years; there was no Basketball-Reference.com, no Player Efficiency Rating, no Sloan Conference, no Nylon Calculus. Over the past 20 seasons, as Kobe’s career unfolded through its successes and growing pains, analytics did too, with the former serving as a touchstone — and lightning rod — for the latter.
The stats were not always kind to Kobe, least of all in his perpetual, mythic struggle against Michael Jordan. Perhaps that comparison would have been less harsh in an earlier era, thanks to a similar ring count and a passing statistical resemblance, but the advanced metrics have consistently debunked the parallel. (They’ve essentially taken on the role of the old noodge at the bar or barbershop, reminding “kids these days” of their historical betters.) Kobe wasn’t nearly as efficient as Jordan, they’d remind; he’d likely never be as valuable no matter what the rings said. Likewise, the numbers always seemed to find some other contemporary upon whom to bestow the “Next Jordan” mantle, be it LeBron James or Dwyane Wade or even Tracy McGrady. As if chasing Jordan’s shadow wasn’t hard enough, the shadow seemed to be armed with the cold, compassionless weaponry of data.
It didn’t help that hoops analytics went through its contrarian phase right around the time Kobe peaked. Every sabermetric movement has a period in which its sport’s sacred cows are officially on notice, and basketball’s came in the mid-2000s — known around these parts as the Hollinger Era — when Bryant embodied many bits of conventional basketball wisdom in need of rigorous auditing. Back then, it was fashionable to unearth the deep cuts, the guys like Carl Landry or Gerald Wallace or, uh, Landry Fields, who didn’t get as much play on SportsCenter but contributed efficiently within their roles. Obsessed with efficiency over context, many in the field downplayed the value of Kobe’s greatest skill — relentless, tireless scoring — and went so far as to suggest that an average player could have notched as many points if given the same number of opportunities. (Note: This is, and always was, insane.) Others raised more valid questions about Kobe’s reputation for clutch shooting and lock-down defense, and these cut more to the core of what fans wanted to know about him and players of his caliber. It was a crucial point for basketball stats; perhaps a fractious relationship between Kobe and stat-geekdom was simply the necessary collateral damage.
Listen to our sports podcast, Hot Takedown, discuss the Warriors’ record-setting season.
But the Question of Kobe has undeniably helped the analytics movement grow. Rather than pretending that basketball was baseball and settling on those initial narratives about supposedly inefficient star players, the second wave of basketball metrics tended to illuminate the first generation’s blind spots — namely, the dynamic aspects of the game, such as a player’s tangible on-court impact, how different skill sets complement one another and what value should be assigned to every bit of real estate on the floor. As a byproduct, the metrics came around again to the old-school realization that scoring workload matters — and few players in NBA history carried a bigger scoring burden than Bryant, particularly in his prime.
Of course, some of the new stats co-signed longstanding doubts about Bryant’s game. Despite receiving 11 all-defensive team nods from 2000-01 to 2013-14, for instance, he was only in the 41st percentile of defenders by Real Plus-Minus over that timeframe. But others — such as his No. 4 overall ranking by offensive RPM in the same data set — confirmed that the true benefits of Kobe’s game were being masked by box score metrics wearing true-shooting blinders. Had today’s most cutting-edge metrics — like SportVU’s ability to track a shot’s difficulty (not just its efficiency) — existed during Bryant’s prime, we’d be able to interrogate questions like whether Kobe is the “best difficult-shot-maker” ever.
In a lot of ways, we have Bryant to thank for the tools we have available to appreciate the full contribution of stars — like Russell Westbrook — who would have slipped through the cracks during that first wave of basketball analytics, because those tools were at least in part developed to make sense of Kobe.
As the ink dries on this final, morbid chapter of Kobe’s career, even the most stats-savvy of analysts have to acknowledge Bryant’s all-time greatness. According to Value Over Replacement Player, a measure of total contribution that tries to emulate RPM for historical seasons, Bryant ranks as the NBA’s 15th-best regular-season player since 1973-74 and its eighth-best in the playoffs, both of which track with the No. 12 all-time ranking he received in a recent ESPN poll of NBA experts.
Those rankings are still probably not as high as many observers would place the Black Mamba. But they do represent a kind of compromise between the traditionalist viewpoint and the first wave of sabermetric assessments that harshly criticized Bryant for his relative lack of efficiency. Bryant’s game had its flaws, and he was certainly no Jordan, but he was a player of undeniable historical importance. His résumé speaks enough to the on-court portion of his legacy, but for statheads, Kobe’s career helps us track the evolution of basketball analytics over time, both in its reaction to his performance and its ability to capture the meaningfulness of that performance in the first place.
Check out our latest NBA predictions.More skeletons are tumbling out of Essar's internal emails, as Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL – an NGO that conducts litigation on matters of public interest) on Wednesday filed an additional affidavit in Supreme Court, putting in dock new names disclosing high-level political-bureaucratic-corporate nexus in India.
Copy of the affidavit, accessed by dna, reveals that those who come under scrutiny now include former Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, former Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Veerappa Moily, TMC leaders Mamata Banerjee and Mithun Chakraborty, steel ministry's joint secretary S Abbasi and several other politicians and bureaucrats.
The Essar's internal emails, dated between 2012 and 2013, further corroborate that Essar group had easy access to former UPA ministers and government's internal documents. In return, it was regularly heeding to the requests of the politicians and bureaucrats in the form of job appointments, travel arrangements, accommodation and car services.
One of the emails dated May 1, 2012 says, "I met FM again and requested him to give an early date for GoM (Group of Ministers) on Mahan... he has given me a resume of Mr Santosh Reddy to absorb him suitably in the group. He has shown his annoyance that Mr Reddy has not been recruited so far." The very next day, offer letter to Santosh Reddy is approved with an income of Rs 12 lakh per annum asking him to join on May 7, 2012. Pranab Mukherjee was India's finance minister from January 24, 2009 to June 26, 2012.
When a response was requested from Pranab Mukherjee, press secretary to the President Venu Rajamony said, "No comments".
According to the affidavit, an SMS forwarded by Essar's Prashant Ruia to Sunil Bajaj shows the effort Essar was making to pursue its case with the GoM. It reads: "I have requested the PS to Finance Minister to fix the date for GoM at the earliest. He has agreed for that."
In another email, Essar group had facilitated to and fro travel for six TMC leaders from Kolkata to New Delhi. This email dated July 24, 2012 says, "Am mentioning under the names of the six passengers who will travel tonight from Kolkatta to Delhi." These are – Mamata Banerjee (now West Bengal Chief Minister), Mithun Chakraborty (now member of parliament in Rajya Sabha), Kunal Ghosh (suspended from TMC for indefinite period and Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha), Debasish Chakraborty (former TMC chairperson), Bishwa Ranjan Mazumdar and Rajat Roy Chowdhury.
The TMC leaders travelled to Delhi on July 24 and returned on July 25 via a Gulfstream V aircraft which can accommodate maximum of 18 persons. Their dinner on board was arranged from the Taj in Kolkata. Besides, the travellers suggested to add fish fry, chicken tikka and veg/non-veg sandwiches in the menu, says the mail.
In response to dna queries, media advisor to West Bengal government, Pradip Kumar Chakraborty, said the travel was for the swearing-in ceremony of Pranab Mukherjee as President on July 25, 2012. Along with the response, he sent a Bengali newspaper cutting dated July 23, 2012, with an English translation quoting Pranab Mukherjee stating, "If you have any difficulty in coming to Delhi for the ceremony, a special plane will be sent to fetch you from Kolkata and the plane will also take you back after the event." Chakraborty added that those travelling on plane also included some accredited journalists.
That's not all. Essar group had also arranged for the air ticket of Mithun Chakraborty from Delhi to Mumbai by 9W 362 on July 25 at 5.40 pm in business class. A suite room at Hotel Hyatt Regency along with a good luxury car was also booked and kept at his disposal on bill to company. Emails to Mithun Chakraborty remained unanswered.
Apart from the Finance ministry, the Essar goup had a strong influence over the Petroleum and Natural gas ministry as it appears from the emails. The group officials had regular meetings with then Petroleum and Natural Gas minister Veerappa Moily and was also influencing the public policies like natural gas pricing.
On March 28, 2013, Naresh Nayyar of Essar Oil writes to Prashant Ruia that proposal of gas pricing recommended by Rangarajan Committee has been sent for the approval of the minister. To this, Mr Ruia responded that he should meet Mr Moily and ask him to intervene. On May 17, 2013, he asks Essar's Iftikar Nasir to meet minister and petroleum secretary and "to ensure that letter MoPNG releases is to our satisfaction."
On an issue concerning import duty on petroleum products, Naresh Nayyar of Essar Oil writes to Prashant Ruia on February 22, 2013 stating that Essar should use its influence to stop the levy.
Then in another email, it states "Dr Veerappa Moily ji has given me a letter from a person from his constituency for cancellation of lease deed agreement from Essar Petrol Pump. The person concerned is very influential keeping the vote politics in view; therefore he insisted that work should be done immediately."
Besides, the affidavit states that in a quid pro quo Moily's private secretary had also asked the Essar officials to recruit his own nephew in the group.
Emails, phone calls and messages to Moily remained unanswered till filing of this report.
The affidavit also sought enquiry alleging leaking of government documents. It states that CBI registered FIR into the leaking of sensitive government documents to corporates and arrested several persons. It says Essar was reportedly one of the beneficiary companies of the leaking of confidential government documents. A series of emails of Essar group also substantiate that Essar had easy access to government documents. These include records of discussions the principal secretary had with PM, communication Ministry of Petroleum had with Ministry of Coal, etc.
In a written response to dna, Essar spokesperson said, "We understand that today one Ms Kamini Jaiswal has filed an additional affidavit in the Public Interest Litigation pending in the Hon'ble Supreme Court raising directly and substantially the same questions as raised by you in your email for our response. The questions are thus sub-judice and we therefore refrain from giving our response to them. Nothing stated by us herein should, however, be construed as an admission of all or any of your allegations made in your e-mail. We reiterate and say that Essar is a responsible corporate and we adhere to the highest standards of governance and ethics."
More under scanner
CPIL's affidavit prima facie reveals that Syedain Abbasi, joint secretary in the ministry of steel and one of the directors of NMDC, has been using his official position to "strongly pushed" Essar's business interests within the government. Apart from it, the emails show that Abassi was sharing all internal deliberations in the Steel ministry with the Essar group and also advising them how to pursue their projects. Besides, he also requested for accommodation in Essar's guest house in Delhi for 7 days and visited their Hazira facility.
In response to dna, Abbasi said "As an official of the Steel Ministry, it is my duty to interact with various representatives to get their response on various problems and how best to resolve them. This does not constitute a violation of the Official Secrets Act by any stretch of the imagination. I, however, has no control over someone representing a conversation with me in internal emails of a company." He denied availing any accommodation facilities by Essar but added that he did visit to Hazira but with the approval of government and at government expense.
Submitting this affidavit on Wednesday, CPIL has sought a court-monitored investigation by an SIT or the CBI into the high-level political-bureaucratic-corporate nexus wherein corporates use their money power to change public policies, plant questions in Parliament, get access to internal government documents/cabinet papers, grant favours to politicians and bureaucrats for receiving benefits in return, and plant stories in news media.
Affidavit submits Ashish Khetan's story, 'planted' by EssarOnce again targeting the media, the CPIL in its affidavit submitted a story published in a national weekly stating that it was apparently a story planted by Essar. The story annexed is 'The madness in the CBI's method', published in Tehelka magazine. The story is written by journalist Ashish Khetan, who is now with Aam Aadmi Party. The affidavit states that it is to be noted that the same magazine held a festival in Goa in November 2011 where Essar was one of the biggest sponsor.Every week of its second season, series showrunner and developer Bryan Fuller will be talking with The A.V. Club about that week’s episode of Hannibal, in a more spread-out version of our Walkthrough feature. This week, we’re talking with him about the second season’s seventh episode, “Yakimono.”
Bryan Fuller: Seven is basically—Beverly goes down the chute, and then Gideon goes down the chute, and then Chilton goes down the chute. Everybody who believes Will Graham is screwed. And I love that Will Graham tells them. Part of the fun of the new, scrappy Will Graham was the idea of him saying, “Okay, Beverly knew; she died. That means you’re next, and after you, it’s going to be Abel Gideon, so it’s in both of your interests to help me expose Hannibal Lecter, because otherwise you’re going to end up dead.” And he was right.
Advertisement
AVC: Chilton, correct me if I’m wrong, is the first character from the literature that you’ve killed who’s still alive in later books. Do you feel that shakes things up, or do you worry about not having that character to play later?
BF: [Frank] Serpico survived a bullet to the face.
AVC: Okay.
BF: [Laughs.]
AVC: This episode ends with Will resuming therapy, and getting out of the hospital. Why did you need to pull him out of the hospital, and what is his thinking behind going back to the devil’s lair?
Advertisement
BF: The idea—and it’ll become much clearer in episode eight where you understand exactly what Will is up to—but it felt like we had completed the arc of the institution. We had Will very actively investigating Hannibal in his own way by not only going interior to his mind, but also using those around him who can be his own avatars out in the world to dig up clues. It felt like because we had completed the arc of the Chesapeake Ripper in some sense, that it was good to exonerate Will, and since he was never convicted of anything, it’s easier to get them out, once proof has been discovered that they’re guilty or innocent. So we wanted Will back out in the world, because we needed to continue to shift the dynamic of what’s happening between Will and Hannibal, and as we end this episode, seven, with “Let’s resume therapy,” we were launching a whole new psychological arc where it is Will and Hannibal. Will now, of clear mind, is beginning his own seduction of Hannibal Lecter. Hannibal has been working very hard to seduce Will, and now, it’s up to Will to seduce Hannibal and perhaps lull him into a false sense of security, so he can ultimately be exposed.
AVC: Why do you think Will doesn’t kill Hannibal when he has the chance?
BF: Because I think he honestly wants to know why. I think there has to be—and I talked with Hugh Dancy about this quite a bit—there has to be an element of honest reality to Will’s fascination with Hannibal Lecter. This man built him up and destroyed him in the first season, and then continued to manipulate him through the first half of the second season. When someone is so invasive to your psyche and has had such an impact, if you ended them, it’s like, Hannibal successfully bonded with Will and had Will bond to him, and it was probably more painful to kill Hannibal, because Will knows that he is started on this journey into a very dark place, and Hannibal Lecter may be the only one who can help him understand it.
Advertisement
AVC: We’ve talked a lot in these interviews about the idea of Hannibal as the devil. It almost feels like this episode pushes that to its furthest extent.
BF: Oh, it goes further. [Laughs.]
AVC: How much do you sit around and figure out how he does all this stuff?
BF: Well, we had a lot of stuff that we cut out that we simply couldn’t afford to produce. The show has a very tight budget, and it’s very streamlined in its storytelling. We had scenes where Hannibal goes down into his basement kill room, where we saw Beverly Katz go, and he goes through a door, and he goes into a steam tunnel, and you see him following that steam tunnel, and he goes down for like miles and miles and miles. So we essentially established a way for Hannibal to get in and out of his house without anybody seeing him and use underground steam tunnels throughout Baltimore to get around the city. We simply couldn’t produce it and couldn’t find the time. In our minds, he goes down in the basement and goes out a secret door into the steam tunnels, and that’s how he got to Chilton’s house, and that’s how he got back into his house without anybody noticing, but we couldn’t produce it, so we lifted that element and have the rationale in our brains, if anybody asks the question—but we just weren’t able to show you.
Advertisement
AVC: Hannibal obviously always has five or six different plans going at any given time…
BF: Right.
AVC: How many of those are you guys conscious of in the writers room? Did his ultimate trump card with Chilton get invented on the spot, or did you have that in mind early on?
Advertisement
BF: We had that in mind early on. That was one of those things where we knew that Miriam Lass was going to come forward and say, “Here I am. I’ve been held captive by the Chesapeake Ripper for the last two years. And it’s not Hannibal Lecter.” So we knew that we wanted that, but as we were looking forward to that story, we understood around episode two or three in the breaking process like, “Oh, who has to go down for this is Frederick Chilton.” Then everyone was like, “Oh, God, yeah. It all makes sense. Because he did the Gideon thing, and so he has to be the guy to take the fall for Hannibal Lecter.” What I love about episode seven and Raúl’s performance is that he’s comic relief. And Raúl is aware that coming into this world, [his] purpose is comic relief. How he navigated that and the scene where he’s saying, “I’ve got a partially eaten man in my guest room and corpses on the property, and you threw up an ear,” is sort of embracing the absurdity of the situation and winking at the audience and saying, “We know. It’s over the top. We’re having fun. Come with us.”
AVC: Everybody takes Miriam seriously as an eyewitness, and yet, as Will says, her mind doesn’t necessarily have the greatest memory of what happened to her. How did you research or play around with these ideas of post-traumatic stress disorder?
BF: There’s so much going on with post-traumatic stress right now, and it has such wide effects on people in very different ways. They’re talking so much about soldiers who return from war and how varied the reactions are from being trained to be less human and then having to reintroduce yourself to society to become human again, and how there are so many steps on that path that are very easy to miss. We know that we had kind of a wide berth to do what we needed to do narratively, because post-traumatic stress disorder effects people in such different ways. It can obscure memories. It can reimagine events. Our brains are so tricky, because we perceive 30 percent of the world, and the other 70 percent, we just make connections to. In that 70 percent, there’s a huge possibility for fallacy.
Advertisement
It was just putting in the process. If you were returned in some way and you have been living the last two years in and out of altered states of consciousness where you were probably very perpetually drugged with some kind of suppression chemical on your brain, everything that we needed for her to experience in terms of Stockholm syndrome, in terms of incomplete memories, in terms of filling in blanks, I think Miriam Lass genuinely believes that Frederick Chilton is the Chesapeake Ripper. She is not twirling her mustache and raising a glass of champagne to the success of their evil plan with Hannibal. She’s still very much a victim. She’s still very much that FBI agent. But he got inside her head, and it’s the example that Jack Crawford, when he says to Clarice in Silence Of The Lambs, “Don’t let him get inside your head”—in our view he was speaking of Miriam Lass, because he saw what Hannibal is capable of doing and how he completely reconfigured her reality to fit his agenda.
AVC: What’s the writing process like this season? It seems like you just have a lot of people credited on every script. Are you all team-writing this?
BF: Yeah, with writing staffs it’s always so interesting, because whenever there’s one name on the screen that says written by, if you have a writing staff, it’s a lie. Everybody is contributing. I look at episodes and I see that idea came from Scott Nimerfro, that was Ayanna Floyd’s pitch. I can trace the DNA of its idea and inception, and with this—because we started this season with two-and-a-half months less time than we did the first season—we broke the first seven episodes and then started writing them and with no idea what eight and beyond was besides it involving Mason Verger, building on these things, and then we’re out! Seven was a bit of a void until we got to episode six. [Laughs.] “Okay, what’s coming next?” because we were in such a dither to get it done and get it ready for camera. It really is a testimony, when you see that many names on the screen, that it’s more of an accurate representation of what went on with the writing than when you just see one name.
Advertisement
AVC: Do you have writers who are specialists in certain areas or certain characters?
BF: No, not necessarily. We’re all very bizarre people in our own way. For instance, in episode five with Ayanna Floyd—who’s the writer who started that episode—as we get into it, we often re-break them and then start going, okay, that happened, but it needs to have a bigger impact on the story, and then if that happens and this other character would react that way, so it’s often about laying down layers. We have the first layer of the script that gives us the basic story, then we start layering on the emotional stories and approaching the script from the point of view of every character that’s in it at various stages of the scriptwriting process. It’s such a messy, subjective process that when they film, oftentimes, I’m doing polishes on scenes days before they shoot, because I’m constantly going, “Okay, we figured that out in the previous episode, and we need to track that through into this one…” and it’s often not until I’ve cleared the blast radius of the previous episode that I can see clearly what’s happening in the next episode. Then everybody rallies to make that happen.
AVC: The sound design and score for the show are non-traditional and yet so impressive. How did you decide to incorporate the idea of sounds as score?
Advertisement
BF: It really started when we sat down—David Slade and I are both fans of film scores, and David said, “I really think there’s one guy for the score, and it’s Brian Reitzell, and if you could listen to some of his stuff I’d appreciate it, because he’s the guy for the job in my mind.” Actually, I had the score for a couple of Brian’s soundtracks, and I listened to them again with a mind toward Hannibal going, “Okay, this is interesting” and I could see how it’s so tonal, and then I got on the phone with Brian and we started talking about different styles of composing. Coming from Pushing Daisies which Jim Dooley scored so beautifully, that was brilliant fun for me, because it got to exercise all of my soundtrack geekery and having character-specific instruments in the score and various themes that became layered and integrated. So it was a much more traditional style of scoring on Pushing Daisies.
I knew Hannibal had to be different. I would love to work with Jim Dooley on every project, but I knew if I worked with Jim Dooley on Hannibal we would fall back into our habits, so I needed to work with someone who was going to bring a type of soundtrack scoring that I had never worked with before, and also had much more of an atmospheric sound-design place in the show. I think so much of what Brian Reitzell does isn’t scoring; it is sound design. It is psychological sound design, and even when we first saw the pendulum swing, he had this fluttery butterfly thing on the soundtrack that was like the butterflies kicking around Will Graham’s head as they start to swarm. So all kudos for the sound work goes, I would say, 90 percent to Brian Reitzell, and we have a great sound team who gives us all of these elements that become integrated into Brian Reitzell’s score, but he is very much leading the charge on that. Then David Slade, the great gift that we have is that he supervises all of the sound mixes. The sound on the show is all David Slade and Brian Reitzell being auditory geniuses.
Come back next week for discussion of episode eight and the beginning of a new story arc.Practice The Robustness Principle Reconsidered
Credit: Adam Hayes
"Be conservative in what you do, be liberal in what you accept from others." (RFC 793)
In 1981, Jon Postel formulated the Robustness Principle, also known as Postel's Law, as a fundamental implementation guideline for the then-new TCP. The intent of the Robustness Principle was to maximize interoperability between network service implementations, particularly in the face of ambiguous or incomplete specifications. If every implementation of some service that generates some piece of protocol did so using the most conservative interpretation of the specification and every implementation that accepted that piece of protocol interpreted it using the most generous interpretation, then the chance that the two services would be able to talk with each other would be maximized. Experience with the Arpanet had shown that getting independently developed implementations to interoperate was difficult, and since the Internet was expected to be much larger than the Arpanet, the old ad hoc methods needed to be enhanced.
Although the Robustness Principle was specifically described for implementations of TCP, it was quickly accepted as a good proposition for implementing network protocols in general. Some have applied it to the design of APIs and even programming language design. It's simple, easy to understand, and intuitively obvious. But is it correct?
For many years the Robustness Principle was accepted dogma, failing more when it was ignored rather than when practiced. In recent years, however, that principle has been challenged. This isn't because implementers have gotten more stupid, but rather because the world has become more hostile. Two general problem areas are impacted by the Robustness Principle: orderly interoperability and security.
Back to Top
Standards and Interoperability
Interoperability in network protocol implementations is a Hard Problem. There are many reasons for this, all coming down to the fundamental truth that computers are unforgiving. For example, the specification may be ambiguous: two engineers build implementations that meet the spec, but those implementations still won't talk to each other. The spec may in fact be unambiguous but worded in a way that some people misinterpret it. Arguably some of the most important specs fall into this class because they are written in a form of legalese that is unnatural to most engineers. The specification may not have taken certain situations (for example, hardware failures) into account, which can result in cases where making an implementation work in the real world requires violating the spec.
In a similar vein, the specification may make implicit assumptions about the environment (for example, maximum size of network packets supported by the hardware or how a related protocol works), and those assumptions are incorrect or the environment changes. Finally, and very commonly, some implementers may find a need to enhance the protocol to add new functionality that isn't defined by the spec.
Writing standards (that is, any specification that defines interoperability between different implementations) is an art. Standards are essentially contracts, in the legal sense, but the law has the advantage (or perhaps disadvantage) of a long history of definition, redefinition, and refinement of definition, usually in case law. The goal of a standard is to make interoperability possible. That requires both precision (to avoid ambiguity) and clarity (to avoid misinterpretation). Failure in either way results in a lack of interoperability. Unfortunately, these two goals are sometimes at odds, as noted.
Our normal human language is often ambiguous; in real life we handle these ambiguities without difficulty (or use them as the basis for jokes), but in the technical world they can cause problems. Extremely precise language, however, is so unnatural to us that it can be hard to appreciate the subtleties. Standards often use formal grammar, mathematical equations, and finite-state machines in order to convey precise information concisely, which certainly helps, but these do not usually stand on their ownfor example, grammar describes syntax but not semantics, equations have to be translated into code, and finite-state machines are notoriously difficult for humans to understand.
Standards often include diagrams and examples to aid understandability, but these can actually create problems. Consider the possibility that a diagram does not match the descriptive text. Which one is correct? For that matter, any time the same thing is described in two places there is a danger that the two descriptions may say subtly different things. For example, RFC 821 and RFC 822 both describe the syntax of an email address, but unfortunately they differ in minor ways (these standards have since been updated to fix this and other problems). A common solution is always to include necessary duplicate language "by reference" (that is, including a reference to another document rather than an actual description). Of course, taken to an extreme, this can result in a rat's nest of standards documents. For example, the OSI recommendations (standards) for message handling (email) are contained in about 20 different documents filled with cross-references.
For many years the Robustness Principle was accepted dogma, failing more when it was ignored rather than when practiced. In recent years, however, that principle has been challenged.
Even using examples can be controversial. Examples are never normative (standards buzzword for authoritative); that is, if there is a conflict between an example and the body of the text, the text wins. Also, examples are seldom complete. They may demonstrate some piece of the protocol but not all the details. In theory if you removed all the examples from a standard, then the meaning of that standard would not change at allthe sole raison d'être being to aid comprehension. The problem is that some implementers read the examples (which are often easier to understand than the actual text of the standard) and implement from those, thus missing important details of the standard. This has caused some authors of standards to eschew the use of examples altogether.
Some (usually vendor-driven) standards use the "reference implementation" approachthat is, a single implementation that is defined to be correct; all other implementations are in turn correct if and only if they work against the reference implementation. This method is fraught with peril. For one thing, no implementation is ever completely bug-free, so finding and fixing a bug in the reference implementation essentially changes the standard.
Similarly, standards usually have various "undefined" or "reserved" elementsfor example, multiple options with overlapping semantics are specified at the same time. Other implementations will find how these undefined elements work and then rely on that unintended behavior. This creates problems when the reference implementation is extended to add functionality; these undefined and reserved elements are typically used to provide the new functions. Also, there may be two independent implementations that each work against the reference implementation but not against each other. All that said, the reference implementation approach could be useful in conjunction with a written specification, particularly as that specification is being refined.
The original InterOp conference was intended to allow vendors with Network File System (NFS) implementations to test interoperability and ultimately demonstrate publicly that they could interoperate. The first 11 days were limited to a small number of engineers so they could get together in one room and actually make their stuff work together. When they walked into the room, the vendors worked mostly against only their own systems and possibly Sun's (since as the original developer of NFS, Sun had the reference implementation at the time). Long nights were devoted to battles over ambiguities in the specification. At the end of those 11 days the doors were thrown open to customers, at which point most (but not all) of the systems worked against every other system. By the end of that session the NFS protocol was much better understood, many bugs had been fixed, and the standard was improved. This is an inevitable path for implementation-driven standards.
Another approach to standards is to get a bunch of smart people in a room to brainstorm what the standard should do, and only after the standard is written should the code be implemented. This most closely matches conventional software engineering, where a specification is written before the code. Taken to extreme, this is the waterfall model. The problem with producing standards this way is the same as occurs with the waterfall model: the specification (standard) sometimes mandates things that are only marginally useful but are difficult or impossible to implement, and the cost of going back and modifying the specification goes up exponentially with time.
Perhaps the best situation of all is where the standards and implementations are being developed in parallel. When SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) was being developed, I was in the unusual position of developing the Sendmail software contemporaneously with the standard itself. When updates to the draft standard were proposed, I was able to implement them immediately, often overnight, which allowed the standard and the implementation to evolve together. Ambiguities in the standard were exposed quickly, as were well-meaning features that were unnecessarily difficult to implement. Unfortunately, this is a rare case today, at least in part because the world has gotten sufficiently complex that such quick updates in standards are no longer easy.
Back to Top
Ambiguity and Extensibility in Standards
As an example of ambiguity, consider the following excerpt from a (mythical) standard:
If the A option is specified in the packet, field X contains the value of the parameter.
This assumes a protocol that has a fixed-size header. A is |
than 40 years of membership in the bloc.
On behalf of May, British Ambassador to the EU Tim Barrow hand-delivered a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels to officially notify the EU of Britain's decision to withdraw from the bloc.
The six page letter invoked Article 50 of the EU Treaty, the mechanism for starting Britain’s divorce process.
In her speech to Parliament, which was planned to coincide with the letter's delivery, May urged the country to come together as it embarks on a "momentous journey."
"The Article 50 process is now under way and in accordance with the wishes of the British people, the United Kingdom is leaving the European Union," she said. "This is a historic moment from which there can be no turning back."
Brussels is expected to deliver its first response to London on Friday, followed by a summit of EU leaders on April 29 to adopt their own guidelines, meaning it could take weeks before formal talks start.
British Ambassador to the EU Tim Barrow hand-delivers a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels on Wednesday to officially notify the EU of Britain's decision to withdraw from the bloc. (AFP photo)
There is a chance that the Brexit negotiations will break down and the UK will be forced to exit the EU without any deal in place.
The EU is determined to preserve its own unity and has said that any Brexit agreement must not encourage other member states to leave the bloc.
Read More:
The United Kingdom held a referendum last June in which Britons voted by a 52-48 percent margin to leave the EU, the first member state ever to do so.
Among the countries that make up Britain, England and Wales voted to leave the EU, while Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to stay in the bloc.
The Brexit referendum prompted nationalists in Scotland and Northern Ireland to call for a referendum on independence from the United Kingdom.
There is broad consensus among economists that Brexit will have a prolonged effect of the British economy and will ultimately diminish output, jobs and wealth to some degree.
Many business leaders are also concerned about May's decision to leave the EU single market, a free trade area of 500 million people, fearing its impact on jobs and economic growth.
EU leaders react to Brexit
At a news conference at the EU headquarters after receiving the notification letter, Tusk spoke with regret.
“There was no reason to pretend that this is a happy day, neither in Brussels, nor in London," Tusk said.
Looking on the bright side, he said there was "also something positive" about Brexit as it had made the 27 states remaining in the EU more determined and united than before.
European Parliament President Antonio Tajani expressed a similar view on Twitter, sounding somber but defiant.
"Today isn't a good day. #Brexit marks a new chapter in our Union's history, but we're ready, we'll move on, hoping UK remains close partner," he tweeted.
Meanwhile, French President Francois Hollande warned that while Brexit was "sentimentally painful" for Europe, it would be "economically painful" for Britain.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was more pragmatic, saying Germany and other EU states "certainly didn't want this day to come, because we're losing a strong and important member state.On Staten Island, de Blasio’s light rail proposal creates more frustration By Benjamin Kabak By· Published in 2016
When Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled his Brooklyn-Queens light rail proposal earlier this month, various commentators latched onto the selection of the route. It may not necessarily be a bad routing for a light rail line, but as the city’s first and as the city’s transit deserts go, the waterfront from Sunset Park to Astoria is hardly the most wanting corridor. The proposal came about more because it had deep-pocketed champions willing to fight for it. Whether that’s reason enough to build a new transit route with a new-to-New York transit mode has been a topic of constant debate over the past few weeks, but one thing is for sure: Other transit-starved areas aren’t too happy with this approach.
Enter the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation. For years, the SIEDC has been shouting into the void of New York politics. For years, the group has been urging someone in power to take up their calls for a West Shore light rail line. The group has asked for $5 million to perform the alternatives analysis for a proposed 13.1-mile route that could connect to North Shore transit corridor and over the Bayonne Bridge to the Hudson Bergen Light Rail Line. As now, it’s nothing more than a line on paper, and the group is growing frustrated.
They are so frustrated, in fact, that they are threatening to give up. I’m not sure who this threat is directed toward other than the few people at the SIEDC who keep fighting this good fight, but they’re going to give up if no one continues to listen to them. The group sent a letter to a bunch of city officials involved in the Brooklyn-Queens Connector initiative, and as you can see from the excerpts, they are not a happy group right now. Anna Sanders of the Staten Island Advance put together some of the letter:
“A decade of struggle in a world where state and city agencies and transportation groups don’t care about a population center of nearly half a million is just too much to bear,” board directors Ralph Branca, Stanley Friedman and Robert Moore recently wrote to a slew of transportation officials and regional planning organizations… “Our disappointment is not in the fact that Brooklyn is getting a light rail and that Staten Island is not even getting study money. It’s that all of the excuses used by City, State and Federal agencies and authorities to shoot down the West Shore Light Rail were ignored when proposing the Brooklyn system…” “We have heard for years that there was ‘No money to fund the West Shore Light Rail.’ Obviously, someone in City Hall found a creative way to make it happen. We have been told that ‘The route is too long, maybe you should phase it in.’ The Brooklyn proposal is the exact same distance as the West Shore Light Rail. We have been instructed time and time again that ‘No agency wants to sponsor, nor do they understand how to build light rail.’ Well, someone must be interested and have the knowledge … when Brooklyn and Queens ask for it.”
Oddly, the letter ends with a threat to abandoned the light rail efforts if no money materializes by the end of September, but that threat hurts only the people who are advocating for a West Shore light rail alternative in the first place. SI politicians who have expressed similar frustration haven’t thrown quite the same temper tantrum. Meanwhile, the Staten Island Advance, while also questioning the SIEDC’s threat, wrote a long editorial accusing the city of double standards and inequity. They’re not wrong, and the piece is well worth a read.
But ultimately, this issue is basic politics. First, Staten Island isn’t exactly a de Blasio stronghold, and certain borough politicians have spent as much time obstructing transit improvements (such as Select Bus Service) as others have spent fighting for more options. Additionally, a light rail line through Staten Island should spur a massive upzoning along its route, and that’s not really part of the conversation Staten Island has had yet. Finally, the reality is that there are no interests behind the a West Shore light rail line. Major players in New York’s development and transportation scene haven’t voiced support, and so it goes nowhere.
Rather than being discouraged by the Brooklyn-Queens Connector, the SIEDC should look to emulate that model and line up monied interests who would support a Staten Island light rail. That’s the political reality of New York’s transportation world where the MTA is controlled by Albany and the mayor isn’t an independently wealthy billionaire beholden only to the limit of his own bank accounts. Again, whether that’s a sound way to engage in transportation planning is a question open debate (and one where the answer is most likely a resounding no), but that’s where we are. Rather than threatening to give up, double down.You thought your grandfather was a train buff?
Sorry to break the news to you, but ol' gramps would have been a mere caboose in the train of railway geeks in Japan, where hard-core train aficionados are referred to by the somewhat affectionate term “densha otaku,” or train nerds.
They're famous for feats like memorizing phonebook-size timetables and visiting every single one of the country's almost 10,000 stations.
When they aren't trying to increase their encyclopedic knowledge of all things rail, they're out looking for like-minded people to impress with it.
As it turns out, Tokyo offers the densha otaku a wide selection of railway-appropriate watering holes -- or perhaps we should call them bar cars?
1. Ginza Panorama
Who says otaku joints have to be dodgy? This place has class by the carriage load. Ginza Panorama is the model train lover's dream bar.
Not only does the counter have four separate built-in electric tracks, allowing patrons to watch trains zipping by while sipping their cocktails, but a large glass case directly opposite displays about 700 model train carriages for sale.
The drink menu has the standard beer, wine and liquor options, but visitors will likely be tempted to splurge on a train-themed cocktail, like the Romance Car, named after the Hakone-bound express, or Doctor Yellow, the nickname for the diagnostic high-speed test trains used on shinkansen routes.
There's also a full food menu.
With its mellow ambiance, mature crowd and the gentle clacking of trains as they whirl around the bar, Ginza Panorama is a relaxed place for a drink -- even if you don't get giddy debating the relative merits of the Tokaido and Tohoku Lines.
Ginza Hachikan Building 8/F, 8-4-5 Ginza, Chuo-ku; +81 (0)3 3289 8700; Monday-Friday, 6 p.m.-3 a.m., Saturday, 6-11 p.m., closed Sunday; 420 yen seating charge; www.ginza-panorama.com
2. Kiha
All aboard for canned food and sake in a jar. There are two things all visitors need to know about Kiha.
One, the second floor has been lovingly kitted out to look exactly like the inside of a Tokyo subway car, complete with advertisements, hand straps, emergency call buttons and luggage racks.
Two, the only thing on the menu is canned food and one-cup sake.
From salted pork to seafood to curry, Kiha stocks an impressive selection of things to eat right out of the can. This is meant to recreate the nostalgic experience of a long train journey in the days before meal services were offered.
Most of the customers are dyed-in-the-wool otaku, as evidenced by the closet full of timetables and the rare ticket stubs adorning the tables. Like all train obsessives, of course, they're more than happy to chat with newcomers. You've been warned.
1-6-11 Horidomecho, Chuo-ku; nearest station: Ningyocho; +81 (0)3 5651 5088; Monday-Saturday, 6-11:30 p.m., closed Sunday; Kiha-sake.com
More on CNN: Japan's riveting Railway Museum
3. LittleTGV
Service of a maid cafe, ambiance of a train. The world is already familiar with Japan's maid cafes and those are certainly popular with otaku of every stripe.
Real rail buffs have their own version at LittleTGV near the geek paradise of Akihabara.
The restaurant bills itself as the world's first rail-themed, moe-style pub. Instead of a pretty girl in a maid costume calling you “Master," you'll get a pretty girl in a conductor's uniform telling you to board her train. No joke. And no jokes (please).
The walls are covered with train photos and memorabilia, so even if you don't know your SLs from your JRs, the girls will be happy to chat with you and teach you a bit about their world.
LittleTGV offers a full food and drink menu with foreigner-friendly pictures, including several different courses that include all-you-can-drink options.
Isamiyadai 3 Building 4/F, Sotokanda 3-10-5, Chiyoda-ku; nearest stations: Suehirocho, Akihabara; +80 (0)3 3255 5223; Monday-Friday, 2-11 p.m., Saturday-Sunday, noon-11 p.m.; Littletgv.com
More on CNN: Best Tokyo maid cafes
4. Mistral Bleu (Train Bar)
Soundtrack? Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train," naturally. Often referred to simply as "Train Bar," Mistral Bleu isn't just a hang-out for train nerds, but it is a bar made out of a train.
Somehow a train carriage was crammed into the first floor of the ROI Building close to Roppongi Crossing and transformed into a hole in the wall bar for classic rock fans.
As the Aerosmith blasting out the front door might attest, the bar is a nostalgic pleasure for drinkers of a certain age.
In addition to the novelty of boozing in a converted train car, you can keep yourself entertained by checking out the international currencies plastered all over the walls and ceilings.
It's the kind of place where it's easy to strike up a conversation with the person sitting next to you -- a rarity in Japan.
ROI Building 1/F, 5-5-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Roppongi station; +80 (0)3 3423 0082; Monday-Saturday, 6 p.m.-5 a.m., closed Sundays; www.trainbar.com
5. Cafe & Bar Steam Locomotive
Even buttoned-up salarymen can't resist the appeal of choo choo trains.Not every train nerd likes to booze it up. Indeed, some of them aren't even old enough to do so.
Luckily, there's a family friendly option called Cafe & Bar Steam Locomotive, which is appropriate for train lovers of all ages.
Located on the ground floor of a Yurakucho office building, this venue is more suited to a coffee over a lunch break than an after-work bender, though the place does serve alcohol.
The center of the cafe is dominated by a massive model train display that includes several tracks and recreations of famous sites like Tokyo Tower.
The endless details -- tiny pedestrians crossing the street, a little grove of cherry trees in bloom -- will keep the youngsters entertained while the grownups enjoy a latte or glass of sake.
Shinyurakucho Bldg 1/F, Yurakucho 1-12-1, Chiyoda-ku, Yurakucho station; +81 (0)3 3211 0610; Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; www.steamlocomotive.jp
More on CNN: 16 hours on a train, from Tokyo to SapporoWe hear it in the media almost every day; “Bitcoin is a hotbed of money laundering, child pornography, terrorism, and dug dealers”. These are the “Big Four” that governments and other regulatory bodies often site as the reason for laws, crackdowns, and privacy invasions; and they use them with great success to slowly strip away our privacy and freedoms.
Here’s the thing, as long as people do nefarious things they will use whatever means of exchange is available to them to meet their goals. Barter, gold, silver, diamonds, dollars, euros, and yes bitcoin.
Of all means of exchange available, bitcoin is arguably the worst from the criminals standpoint, and the best from an enforcement prospective.
The popular misnomer that bitcoin is anonymous could not be further from the truth. Bitcoin transactions today are conducted under a thin veil of pseudonymity that is provided by using a public address rather then personally identifying information in transactions.
All that is required to lift that veil is a single transaction where an individual is known. It does not even need to be the actual criminal that slips up, it could be someone sending to or receiving bitcoin from them.
Using bitcoin completely anonymously is possible, however it requires a very high level of both technical knowledge and operational security, including the implementation of practices that limit it’s usefulness.
Lets take a look at the “Big Four”, and why bitcoin is a horrible means of conducting those types of transactions.
Money Laundering
Money laundering is a process by which criminals attempt to disguise the original source of ill gotten gains to make them appear as though they have come through a legitimate enterprise.
In the US we have already seen a conviction for a money laundering related charge. Robert Faiella, a Florida resident, was tried and convicted of operating an unlicensed money service business. He has been sentenced to 4 years in prison.
He primarily would accept US dollars in exchange for bitcoins that were intended to be used on the darknet market Silk Road.
Faiella’s problem was that he needed a place to buy more bitcoin to fulfill his orders, he turned to Charlie Shrem’s now closed bitcoin exchange BitInstant where he bought north of 1 million dollars worth of bitcoin.
Because of this his pseudonymity was compromised and he was easily apprehended.
Perhaps, if had had laundered the funds through the US banking system like most other criminals do he would not have been caught.
Terrorism
Again, with terrorism we see that just a single weak link in the chain can unravel the whole enterprise. Let’s take The terrorist group ISIS for an example.
In July 2014 an ISIS supporter calling himself Amreeki (American) published a document outlining how bitcoin could be used to fund Jihad.
This document outlines some sophisticated techniques to remain anonymous including coin mixers and Darkwallet. While most currently existing coin mixers have been shown to be flawed, Darkwallet’s mixing and stealth address features may be more difficult to thwart.
Still, a single weak link in the chain can expose the bad actors. The fact that to date no evidence supporting that bitcoin has been used to fund terrorism has surfaced suggests that it is not.
Further, ISIS has taken over many oil fields, and is smuggling the oil to black markets that operate solely on the US dollar, the primary source of their funding.
If bitcoin did not exist today, it is safe to say that ISIS would be just as well funded as it is currently, and in fact accepting bitcoin exposes them to a slew of risk.
Child Pornography
Child pornography is a heinous crime, and as a father of two young children I support any and all efforts to bring its perpetrators to justice.
Like most things online, payment for child pornography often comes in many forms. The UK Internet Watch Foundation reported in October of last year in a study that Visa credit cards were the most popular means of purchasing child pornography online, followed by MasterCard and PayPal.
More recently bitcoin has been showing up as a means of payment on these sites, however it still likely the single most risky payment option offered. When a perpetrator of these crimes is caught with a bitcoin wallet, you can bet that many consumers of child pornography will be exposed through Bitcoin’s public ledger.
Compared with the ability to completely anonymously purchase pre-loaded debit or gift cards that support Visa and Mastercard networks Bitcoin is highly non-private. I believe that Bitcoin will emerge as a tool to help track down and stop these types of crimes, rather then perpetuate them.
Drugs
Until the emergence of the Silk Road drug deals was primarily conducted in person for cash. Silk Road changed that by offering a darknet marketplace where bitcoin could be exchanged for a wide variety of illicit substances.
University of Lausanne criminologist David Décary-Hétu and University of Manchester law professor Judith Aldridge released a study in June 2014 that found the Silk Road marketplace actually reduced dug related violent crimes.
The argument was simple, and indisputable: online marketplaces limit the scope of direct interaction and physical contact between involved parties leaving less of a chance for violent interaction.
As I write this Ross Ulbrich is standing trial in New York, accused of creating and running the Silk Road online marketplace and charged with conspiracy to traffic in narcotics, computer hacking, money laundering and that he is engaged in a continuing criminal enterprise (a charge typically reserved for mob and cartel bosses) among other things.
The FBI reported that they seized 144,000 bitcoin worth at the time over 28 million dollars. The US Marshals service has already held two successful public auctions to sell the sized bitcoin, both won by prominent venture capitalists.
The shutdown and seizure of bitcoin that belonged to the largest online drug marketplace in history should be enough to demonstrate that bitcoin is a poor choice for dealing with drugs.
If that is not enough, we can reference Operation Onymous conducted on November 5th and 6th 2014 where 414 websites were shut down, including many online drug marketplaces. The operation included the police forces of 17 nations and resulted in 17 arrests of people accused to be operating those sites.
While it is clear that secret online markets have reduced drug related violence, it is also clear that paying in bitcoin grants less anonymity then paying by traditional conventional means.
Conclusion
Bitcoin is a means of exchanging value, and not a particularly good one to use for nefarious purposes. It’s pseudonymity is easily broken by law enforcement as has been demonstrated by arrests, convictions, and shut-downs.
Traditional means of exchange, using FIAT currency, are still far more anonymous and remain the preferred method for financing these crimes.Sure it’s not made of metal, nor did it convince Google to give its creators billions of dollars, but dammit if this isn’t a cool hack. The folks at Spark.io, creators of the Spark Core, a unique Wi-Fi development board that allows you to add Wi-Fi controls to Arduino projects, have used their tech to create a Nest-alike with some of the same features as Tony Fadell’s popular wall wart.
The team essentially created a web-connected thermostat by cutting out a nice hunk of wood and some plastic and adding a Spark Core and some control logic. The device can change temperature by scrolling the large wheel on the front and displays the temperature using an LED display. Most of the other logic – including temperature logging and remote control – happens on a remote server. To sense the temperature and humidity they added a Honeywell HumidIcon chip and a motion sensor tells the system when you’re away. They tested the whole project out on a breadboard first and then stuck the whole thing into the small casing they made.
Is this high quality stuff? By no means, but it’s cool that they tried. As the team wrote:
Fair warning – we’re not claiming to have matched the Nest thermostat in a day; far from it. But remember — every polished product starts as a rough prototype. As Alexis Ohanian said last week, “The first version of everything you love is janky!”
I love projects like these. They prove that almost anything can be reverse-engineered – even improved upon – and it shows just how easy it’s become to be a hardware hacker even without years of experience. Doing this, in short, would have taken a team months to develop and build and now it takes a couple of cool kids a few hours. Yowza indeed.August 29, 2013 I get so many messages about what a fat body is, I thought I’d talk about some of the things that my body isn’t: My Body is Not Embarrassing Being called fat should be no more embarrassing that being called brunette. These are just physical descriptors. It’s not that “fat” is bad in and of itself, the problem is that people attach all kinds of stereotypes to the descriptor. If someone is to be embarrassed, it’s the person who wants to stereotype a group of people based on how they look. Often when fat people get fat-shamed or fat-bullied we get embarrassed. Let’s put the embarrassment where it belongs. It’s not embarrassing to be fat, and it shouldn’t be embarrassing to be fat-shamed. It’s embarrassing to be a fat-bigot and it’s embarrassing to be a fat-shamer. My Body is Not a Crisis Fat people are subjected to experimental medicine without our consent, fat kids are subjected to completely untested “anti-obesity” experiments Fat people are given stomach amputations that massively increase our mortality rate and have incredibly serious side effects. We are told that all of this is necessary because being fat is just so unhealthy that we need to try to be thin by any means and if it kills us well, at least we’ll leave a thinner corpse. This is ridiculous. Fat people have and will continue to exist, our bodies are not crises that call for the suspension of scientific method, evidence based medicine, and logical thought. It doesn’t matter how much a doctor (or someone who watches Dr. Oz and thinks they are a doctor) believes that being thinner will improve my life, because that doctor does not know how to make me thin. There is not a single study where more than a tiny percentage of people successfully maintained weight loss and there is no study that shows that those people are healthier than they would have been. Weight loss as a health intervention simply does not meet the criteria of evidence-based medicine, since evidence-based medicine requires that we have some reason to believe that a treatment will be successful. People who have bad knees would be helped tremendously if they could fly, since that would take the pressure right off their knees. No matter how much a doctor believes that to be true, she cannot recommend that they go home, jump off their roof and flap their arms really hard because “it hardly ever works, but think of the benefits if it did!” Luckily there is good evidence that, for those interested in improving their odds for health (which is never guaranteed, is not entirely within our control and is not an obligation) simple habits have a much better chance than attempting to achieve a specific height/weight ratio. My Body is Not Immortal Having seen the state of the research around “obesity” and mortality, I am painfully aware that If I die because an alien ship drops a futuristic piano type instrument on my head, it will be marked down in research as a death due to “complications of obesity.” Everyone is going to die, but if you die in a fat body someone – likely someone who should know better – is going to blame it on your fat. The threat of death due to fat is used to sell fat people products from diets to stomach amputations. If I were one of those piano-dropping aliens and I listened to the conversations around weight loss and health, I would think that thin people must be immortal. In fact, thin people get all the same diseases that fat people do, and thin people all die just like fat people do. There’s even something called the “obesity paradox” which is the name given to explain that in certain chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, and chronic renal disease, being fat is associated with better survival than in “normal weight” individuals. Of course it’s only a paradox if you didn’t fuck up your conclusions in the first place, but that’s a topic for another blog. Still we are told that we should see our fat bodies as large, soft death traps and that the key to health is to feed our bodies less than they need to survive in the hopes that they will eat themselves and become smaller. What they never discuss is the fact that they can’t control for the effects that constant shame and stigma have on fat people (like being the subject of a war waged on us by the government based on how we look.) The brilliant Deb Burgard wrote an amazing piece that speaks about other aspects of this. We don’t know how to make fat people thinner, but we do know how to stop shaming and stigmatizing them so let’s give that the old college try and see what happens. Fat people’s bodies are no less valuable and amazing than any other bodies, and we absolutely should not have to climb over a mountain of stigma, shame, oppression, and bullying just to be forced to fight for the ability to actually like ourselves, but we do. While we work to fix the problems with society that create that situation, I will say that, for me, the climb and the fight – although completely unfair – are worth the effort.
Changed TextWhen talking about piracy the entertainment industry and politicians often use the term "theft." This is a huge problem according to the Swedish sociologist of law Stefan Larsson. In his thesis "Metaphors and Norms – Understanding Copyright Law in a Digital Society," he explains that these metaphors are in part keeping the wide gap between people's norms and the law intact.
A few years ago best-selling author Paulo Coelho made a Russian translation of The Alchemist available without permission from his publisher. As a result the sales in Russia skyrocketed from 1,000 books a year to over 1,000,000.
The above is just one of the many examples which show that there are many positive sides to the act of ‘copying’. Despite these nuances, piracy is often referred to as theft. This is a problem according to Stefan Larsson, lawyer and socio-legal researcher at Lund University in Sweden.
Larsson addresses the issue in his thesis “Metaphors and Norms – Understanding Copyright Law in a Digital Society,” for which he just received his doctorate. Talking to TorrentFreak, he explains why copyright infringement isn’t theft, and how this problematic metaphor keeps the gap between public norms and the law intact.
“The theft-metaphor is problematic in the sense that a key element of stealing is that the one stolen from loses the object, which is not the case in file sharing since it is copied. There is no loss when something is copied, or the loss is radically different from losing something like your bike,” Larsson explains.
One of the obvious problems is that it suggests that every “stolen copy” is a lost sale.
“Following this conception, some iPods could be valued at millions of dollars and a file sharing service could aid in copyright infringements representing more value than the Gross Domestic Product of entire countries,” Larsson says.
And indeed, if we look at the court case against The Pirate Bay in Sweden, the renumeration model of the entertainment industry would mistakenly put the “value” of the site at billions of dollars.
Piracy vs. Theft
“I think that one important aspect lies in that the legal regulation is built on fundamentally different conceptions of reality,” Larsson told TorrentFreak.
The researcher explains that the public perception of the law, or social norms, is out of line with what the law actually says. In part this is because the “theft” metaphor is built into law, while there is no such thing as theft where piracy is concerned.
“In other words, this means that legal concepts can become metaphorical if their meaning expands into new areas, and the fixed conceptions that once ensured their legitimacy may seem unjust in the eyes of a reality that has moved on. This supports the gap between legal and social norms regarding parts of copyright today.”
This gap between the law and what people see, feel and experience in real life is a problem, one that lawmakers are now trying to address with even more draconian laws based on the same nonsense metaphors.
But are tougher laws the best solution? Will these change people’s norms? Larsson is not convinced.
“There are naturally many examples of when tougher laws change behavior, and there are also even examples of when tougher laws have made a substantial contribution in changing social norms. However, there are a few possible drawbacks when law turns repressive.”
He explains that these laws “would need to make everyone think differently about reality,” something that’s easier said than done. Another problem according to Larsson is that may people will simply find ways to hide what they do, such as using VPN services or proxies when downloading via BitTorrent.
Larsson doesn’t think that the current trends of stronger copyright laws and more surveillance of Internet users is the right path to take. These measures often violate the rights of the masses to benefit the interests of a few, which can never be a good solution.
Instead of changing people’s norms and twisting reality, perhaps society might be better off when copyright law adapts to the digital age?Matthew Simmons has given 30-plus speeches in the past year, to audiences as diverse as the Pentagon and the Colorado School of Mines. One talk was tortuously titled: "Quo Vadis Energy? (Will Dawn Follow Darkness as Twilight of Energy Fades?)" Short answer: No. Simmons' message is always some variation on the global implications of Peak Oil--that point after which global crude supplies wane, prices soar and shortages spur geopolitical strife.
The Ukraine-Russia gas tiff is a first taste of the transnational energy disputes to come. Simmons believes Moscow's saber rattling is political cover for a more serious problem: a shortage of gas in Gazprom's pipeline system. "This is really serious stuff. We've had a peak in Russian gas. Next year Europe is toast. Cold toast." Could he be right? Chief Executive Alexei Miller stated last July that Gazprom's output had flattened out below 2006 production levels. Russia is already importing gas from the central Asian "Stans" and exporting it to Europe.
Peak Oil zealots eat this stuff up. As crude climbed to $147 a barrel last year, Simmons won lots of converts. But prices have since fallen 75%; OPEC has slashed output; oil companies are laying off workers and mothballing drilling rigs at a rate not seen in a decade. The market signals oodles of oil. Can't we put Peak Oil to rest?
No way, says Simmons. In the library of Simmons & Co., the Houston investment bank he founded 40 years ago, he insists we've already passed Peak Oil--but the world won't realize it until economic recovery stimulates oil thirst anew. When that comes, gird for shortages and $500 a barrel. "There's no logical reason for the price to be this low. If it doesn't reverse itself soon, it will destroy the industry," he says. If Simmons ruled the world, he'd order an oil price floor of at least $150 a barrel to stimulate exploration and to combat rust, which he says is the biggest threat to the oil supply. He figures it could cost $100 trillion to replace aged pipelines, rigs and platforms. That's quite a sum--70 years of oil industry revenues, at present rates.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy and the International Energy Agency, non-OPEC output appears to have peaked in 2006 at just above 51 million barrels per day (bpd), and fell below 50 million in 2008. World output inched up to 86 million bpd a year ago only by dint of spigot-opening by OPEC.
"We've avoided shortages only by squeezing every molecule of natural gas liquids, ethanol and biofuels, by increasing refinery gains a bit, by drawing down stocks," says Simmons. "That's how we balanced a market we couldn't supply." OPEC's numbers include natural gas liquids (like propane and butane), up from 4.5 million bpd to 5 million in two years. U.S. figures also include ethanol, which now contributes 600,000 bpd. Back out such substitutes and crude oil volumes have been flat at around 75 million bpd for four years. Simmons prophesies that in ten years oil will be down to 60 million bpd and natural gas production will be off 20%. He thinks the Saudis are lying about their ability to crank up output and that natural decline rates from existing fields will overwhelm new fields from Iraq, Venezuela or Nigeria.
Can the deepest commodities market on earth be getting it so wrong? "What would be really unfortunate is if 80% of the collapse in oil prices were the unforeseen implications of the credit freeze," he says. Simmons contends that traders were forced to liquidate oil contracts as credit dried up, causing prices to fall. He pulls out a chart showing the price of credit default swaps on Glencore (a Swiss firm and the biggest oil trader not part of an oil company). It went from 300 basis points (3%) in September to 3,200 in December. The chart line is a near-perfect inverse of the plunging cost of crude. As credit markets recover, he says, traders will bid up oil once again.
It wouldn't be the first time the market miscalculated. Simmons points to a framed copy of a 1999 cover story in the Economist--"Drowning in Oil"--which asserted that crude, then around $10 a barrel, would fall to $5 and stay there for a decade. Simmons (interviewed, but excluded from the article) insisted plenitude was a mirage and prices were set to soar. Nine months later oil passed $25 and the magazine issued a mea culpa.
Simmons, 66, wasn't supposed to end up in the oil game. His father, Roy, took over Utah's Zions Bank in 1960. He expected young Matt to fill his shoes. But after Harvard Business School in 1969 Simmons landed his first VC deal for a deep-sea diving company that eventually became offshore rig fixer Oceaneering. (His brother Harris is now chairman of Zions Bancorp.) Simmons arranged hundreds of M&A deals in the go-go 1970s. After the 1982 oil crash he spent the decade rolling up failing outfits into big service companies like Weatherford International.
Simmons' critics insist he doesn't appreciate the power of new technology to tap previously unreachable deposits trapped in shale or under ultradeep water. "Technology is fabulous, but it does exactly the opposite of what people thought it was going to do--it accelerates decline rates," he says. "The simple analogy is you're having a Slurpee-slugging contest. You have a normal vertical straw and someone comes along with a multilateral straw. You're not getting more out, just getting it out faster."
This paradox is evident at Cantarell, Mexico's largest field. For 15 years it produced 1.5 million bpd like clockwork. Then natural decline set in. State oil company Pemex drilled dozens of new wells and built a system to inject nitrogen gas. This boosted output to 2.1 million bpd in 2004. Then the collapse: Cantarell is down to 800,000 bpd.
Simmons fears overproduction today will bring total collapse tomorrow. A fourth of the world's oil comes from the 20 biggest fields, 60% from the 800 biggest. In his 2005 book Twilight in the Desert, Simmons asserted that Saudi Arabia's Ghawar field, the world's biggest at 5 million bpd, was on the brink of collapse. "The world can't afford to have Ghawar fail the way Cantarell has," says Simmons. The Saudi leadership despises him. "Ghawar is very healthy," says Saudi Aramco's upstream chief Amin Al-Nasser. "If I needed more production, I could go to Ghawar and boost it to 10 million bpd." Aramco, now |
.
The North Korean government later released its own human rights report and stated that North Korean citizens enjoyed "world's most advantageous human rights system." The report dismissed the testimonies of the North Korean defectors who had spoken to the U.N. committee, labeling them "riffraffs," "fugitives" and "terrorists."With the odds favoring Hillary Clinton to win the White House and if Democrats take the Senate, Democrats and LGBT advocates say they would quickly try to pass a major LGBT-rights bill if they can also win the House of Representatives.
“With a Democratic House and Senate, the bill would absolutely be a top priority in the first 100 days,” a spokesperson for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Drew Hammill, told BuzzFeed News. "The votes for House passage are there today, even in the current Congress, if Speaker Ryan would just get out of the way."
Democrats winning the House is a particular long shot, and its unclear if the Republicans would use procedural maneuvers to block the bill in the Senate.
The Equality Act would ban discrimination LGBT nationwide by adding protections to existing civil rights laws for sexual orientation and gender identity. But Republican leadership has denied a hearing on the bill, which has become a top priority for LGBT advocates after they won marriage equality, since it was introduced in 2015.
Maya Harris, a senior policy advisor to Hillary Clinton, said in a statement to BuzzFeed News that if Clinton wins, she “will make it a priority as part of her agenda to fight for the Equality Act and full non-discrimination protections for the LGBT community.” She did not, however, put a timeline on advancing the bill.
But Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, who could become the Senator Majority Leader if Democrats pick up enough seats on Election Day, put a two year timetable of passing the bill if conditions are right.
Calling the bill part of the party's "fight for equality," Schumer told BuzzFeed News that "Democrats will fight hard to get it on the President’s desk in the next Congress.”
Should the stars align for them this election, the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBT group, would want to see "significant movement in the first 100 days,” according to Sarah Warbelow, the organization’s legal director.
It is "reasonable" for Congress to hold a hearing on the Equality within the first 100 days, added the group's government affairs director, David Stacy. “We would want to get a bill on president’s desk as soon as possible, hopefully within the first year, but certainly within that Congress.”
The bill's House sponsor, Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline, concurred on moving the bill quickly. His spokesman, Richard Luchette, said by email, "If Democrats hold the White House and win back Congress, the Equality Act should be taken up in the first 100 days of President Clinton's term."Being able to think of a new or unique idea is an asset, but the ability to convert that idea into a practical solution is priceless. Though most leaders share some common virtues and attributes such as vision, composure, agility, maturity, pro-activeness, and body language, it often takes more than that to stand out in a crowd during difficult situations.
In desperate times, a leader has to take initiative, develop a sight that goes beyond the problem, and analyze cause and effect in the big picture. Here is a collection of a few attributes that help leaders prepare to face the business challenges ahead.
Analyzing Business Positioning:
Understand business positioning is important as it relates to the overall business strategy execution. Brand positioning must be clearly defined and re-evaluated from time to time to differentiate your products and services from those of your competitors in terms of cost, target market, marketing strategy, and tactics.
Watching Out For Trends:
Being vigilant in terms of consumer buying behavior, the stock market, and other economic indicators helps anticipate change and make pro-active decisions instead of rushing into a situation with no clue.
Understanding the Business Ecosystem:
Be aware of internal, external, and connected ecosystems in which the business is positioned in order to identify areas of leverage and opportunity that your competitors lack.
Defining Value:
Characterize value from your customer’s perspective,i.e.,what are their present and future needs.
Striving for Innovation:
Look to bring novelty in your products and services. It is understood that R&D requires considerable funds and resources, but sometimes market research leads you to innovate your product design or re-positioning instead of new product development, which can help you sustain your products or services even in a saturated market.
Getting Your People and Processes Aligned:
Aligning your people (employees) and processes in an organization can allow you to respond quickly to any new development, technology or change. No matter how good a plan is, it can never be achieved without collaborative efforts. Learn to appreciate and praise your team for their efforts which can bail you out of difficult circumstances and situations.
Taking Ownership:
Even with the best of planning and preparation, things can go wrong. A leader should be brave enough to accept responsibility for his/her decisions if something doesn’t go according to the plan. Maintaining your composure, positive frame of mind, and self-belief is the key which can help you win the war even if you lose a battle.
Being a leader requires you to not only be proactive but to be flexible and adaptable too. The ability to anticipate change, analyze trends, and forecast the outcomes of your decisions helps you in handling difficult situations with ease.Did you know that your child can be allergic to certain herbs?
It’s true!
Just like seasonal allergies from plant pollen can affect people by giving them itchy, watery eyes, a sore throat, cough, and hives and food allergies which cause all sorts of problems from stomach cramps, to itching and hives, to full out anaphylactic shock, herbs can cause allergic reactions as well.
Small amounts. Large amounts. First-time use. Hundredth time use.
These days, allergies are more common than they used to be, and if you’re going to use herbs on your kids, you wanna make sure you’re using ones that agree with their body right away. Thankfully allergic reactions to herbs are usually mild.
So how do you know whether your kiddo is allergic to a particular herb?
You need to take their current allergies into consideration. If your child has allergies to ragweed (a common allergen), then chances are they may have allergic reactions to plants in the Asteraceae family such as chamomile, calendula, and yarrow, to name a few.
If you think your child may be allergic to a particular herb or if you’re not sure, there’s a way you can find out.
Test them.
How To Test Herbs For Allergic Reactions
Make a strong infusion and drink 1 tsp. Wait 30 minutes. If no reaction occurs, drink 1 TBSP. Wait another 30 minutes. If no reaction occurs then, drink 1/2 cup. Wait again, then try 1 full cup.
If your child has no reaction after all of this, it’s very unlikely that they are allergic to the herb you’re testing. You can go ahead and use the herb, but remember to start small with the doses and work your way up anyway. That’s always a safe way to dose herbs for kids anyway.
UPDATE: If you have a child who has or is prone to allergic reactions to certain plants, foods, or insects, it’s wise to first test an herb by rubbing it on the skin on the inside of the wrist and waiting to see if a skin reaction occurs before testing the herb by ingesting it.
Have you ever experienced an allergic reaction to an herb? If so, what was it like, and how do you determine whether your allergic to other herbs or not?Journalism with real independence and integrity is a rare thing. Truthout relies on reader donations – click here to make a tax-deductible contribution and support our work.
(Photo: EFF Photos / Flickr)In 2007, John Towery attended a conference on domestic terrorism in Spokane, Washington. There he distributed “domestic terrorist” dossiers that appeared to place Brendan Maslauskas Dunn and Jeffery Berryhill, two young activists who were members of Students for a Democratic Society in Olympia, into a terrorism index.
Dunn and Berryhill were anti-war activists, not terrorists, but their names and personal information were shared with police departments and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as part of a multi-agency effort to spy on anarchists and anti-war activists in Washington.
At the time, Dunn considered Towery to be his friend. Dunn knew Towery as “John Jacob,” whom he would later describe as a “kind” and “generous” participant in the Port Militarization Resistance (PMR) campaign that protested military shipments to the Iraq war. In 2009, Dunn learned from a public records request he filed with the city of Olympia that “John Jacob” was actually John Towery, a criminal intelligence analyst on the payroll of the Army.
Towery, it turned out, had lied about his identity to infiltrate the activist community in Olympia and gather intelligence he shared with police departments, the FBI and a fusion center in Washington, according to documents obtained by activists and free speech advocates in a series of public information requests.
As wars waged in Iraq and Afghanistan, the PMR campaign in Washington organized sit-ins and protests at military ports to block shipments of equipment and weapons overseas. Activists pledged to remain nonviolent and have said that their actions constituted civil disobedience at worst, but they were often met by aggressive police crackdowns that resulted in dozens of arrests.
At the time, Towery worked as a civilian “criminal information” analyst for the Force Protection Division at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma. After attending the domestic terrorism conference in Tacoma, Towery sent an email to police officials and an FBI agent suggesting that they develop a “leftist / anarchist mini-group for intel sharing and distro.” Towery offered to share “zines,” “pamphlets” and online material that he used “on a regular basis” but warned that the material should not be distributed outside the group because that “might tip off groups that we are studying their techniques, tactics and procedures.”
The email, which was released for the first time this week after an Olympia-based activist uncovered it through a public information request, could help the activists prove that they were illegally targeted for their political beliefs in upcoming civil trial against Towery, his Army superior Thomas Rudd and several police departments.
“The latest revelations show how the Army not only engaged in illegal spying on political dissidents, it led the charge and tried to expand the counterintelligence network targeting leftists and anarchists,” said Larry Hildes, a National Lawyers Guild attorney who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Dunn, Berryhill and several other PMR activists in 2010. “By targeting activists without probable cause, based on their ideology and the perceived political threat they represent, the Army clearly broke the law and must be held accountable.”
The lawsuit alleges that, under orders from the Army, Towery illegally infiltrated anti-war groups to disrupt activity protected under the First Amendment. The lawsuit also alleges that information Towery handed off to police officers led to the harassment and pre-emptive false arrest of several PMR activists, who were jailed in 2006 and charged with “attempted disorderly conduct” and criminal trespass after standing, singing and chanting outside on a street in front of the Port of Olympia entrance that had already been closed to traffic by police who were told by Towery that the activists would stage a sit-in.
The Army has denied the allegations routinely, and Towery originally claimed that he infiltrated anti-war groups in his spare time to help police officers. But troves of internal documents like the email released by activists this week have told a different story. An email released last year shows that Towery’s Army superiors approved overtime pay for Towery after he attended a weekend meeting with activists at Evergreen State College.
The recent Edward Snowden revelations have left many Americans shocked by the massive intelligence dragnet operated by the National Security Agency, but for anyone involved in the anti-war movement of the past decade, the revelations may come as no surprise. During the Bush administration, the FBI and other law enforcement agents routinely spied on and infiltrated peaceful groups organizing protests against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the names of peaceful activists often ended up on terrorism watch lists.
Monitoring of activists continued under the Obama administration, notably during the height of the Occupy Wall Street movement, when a Truthout investigation confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security kept tabs on Occupy protests across the country. Homeland Security documents, however, revealed an internal debate over its role in monitoring the Occupy movement, and the agency apparently refrained from wholesale surveillance and infiltration because of First Amendment concerns.
The Obama administration tried to dismiss the lawsuit against Towery and the other defendants, but last year the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that alleged violations of the Fourth and First Amendments were “plausible” and ordered the case to trial. The court threw out some of the activists’ broader allegations but ruled that the Army and law enforcement agencies can be sued for damages for spying on activists. Hildes has argued that, under the little-known Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, the military is prohibited from enforcing domestic laws on US soil. The trial is expected to begin in June.United States Supreme Court case
Morton v. Mancari, 417 U.S. 535 (1974), was a United States legal case about the constitutionality, under the Fifth Amendment, of hiring preferences given to Indians within the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Supreme Court of the United States held that the hiring preferences given by the United States Congress does not violate the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
Background [ edit ]
The appellees were a group of non-Indian employees of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The Appellees brought this action claiming that the employment preference for qualified Indians in the BIA provided by the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 also known as the Wheeler-Howard Act, 48 Stat. 984, contravened the anti-discrimination provisions of the Equal Employment Opportunities Act of 1972 and deprived them of property rights without due process of law in violation of the Fifth Amendment. The District Court held that the Indian preference was implicitly repealed by section 11 of the 1972 Act, which prohibited racial discrimination in most federal employment. The court enjoined appellant federal officials from implementing any Indian employment preferences in the BIA. The Supreme Court of the United States granted Certiorari.
Opinion of the Court [ edit ]
The issue in this case was whether the hiring preference policy within the BIA constituted invidious racial discrimination in violation of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
The policy of the BIA grants preference at both the hiring and the promotion phase. Given a situation where two individuals are both qualified for a position and one of them is an Indian, the Indian would receive preference over the non-Indian. The District Court found that any hiring preferences previously given by the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 were implicitly repealed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, 86 Stat. 111, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race in most federal employment. The Court found that the purpose of the preference was not racially motivated but motivated by the desire to give "Indians a greater participation in their own self-government; to further the Government's trust obligation toward the Indian tribes; and to reduce the negative effect of having non-Indians administer matters that affect Indian tribal life." The goal of the hiring preference was to make the BIA more responsive to the interests of the people it was serving, Indians. The Court found that Congress was well aware that the policy would create disadvantages within the BIA for non-Indians. However, the desire to make the BIA more responsive to Indians as well as creating a program of self-government justifiably outweighed this concern.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the first major piece of legislation to prohibit discrimination in private employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, specifically exempted preferential treatment of Indians. This, the Court said, showed a clear recognition that Indians had a unique legal status, thus giving this hiring preference more justification.
The Court noted that it is a rare occasion when Congress will implicitly repeal an action, and that typically Congress must specifically do so. The Court went on to find several reasons that Congress did not intend to repeal the hiring preferences for Indians within the BIA.
First: The exemptions of Indians from the 1964 Civil Rights Act indicated a longstanding policy to give unique legal status to Indians concerning employment on or near the reservation.
Second: Only three months after Congress enacted the 1972 amendments it also enacted two new Indian preference laws. The Court thought it unlikely for the same Congress to take away an Indian preference and subsequently create two more.
Third: Preferences given to Indians have, for many years, been treated as exceptions to Executive Orders forbidding Government Employment discrimination. The 1972 amendments simply codified existing anti-discrimination provisions, and there is no reason to believe that Congress intended to get rid of these preferences that had previously co-existed with broad anti-discrimination provisions in Executive Orders.
Fourth: Repeals by implication are not favored. There is no indication in the legislative history that Congress intended to repeal the preferences previously given to Indians. The court found that the only occasion where repeal by implication is necessary is where two statutes are irreconcilable. This is not the case here.
When the court turned to the due process claim it found:
The hiring preference given here was not "racial discrimination" nor was it even a "racial" preference. The court compared it to the requirement of a Senator being from the state that she represents, or a city council member being required to reside in the area he represents. The Court said, "The preference, as applied, is granted to Indians not as a discrete racial group, but rather, as members of quasi-sovereign tribal entities whose lives and activities are governed by the BIA in a unique fashion." Saying also, "the BIA is truly sui generis." The Court also noted that this preference was reasonably and directly related to a legitimate nonracially based goal, thus preventing it from violating the Constitution.
Further reading [ edit ]California-based vegan franchise Cinnaholic recently penned a master franchise deal with a Canadian company. Cinnaholic founders Florian and Shannon Radke told VegNews that 70 new locations are in the works, with the first planned for a January 2018 opening in Edmonton—with Toronto, Regina, and Winnipeg locations to follow thereafter. The shop opened its flagship location in Berkeley in 2009 and has since franchised more than a dozen locations across the United States. Cinnaholic’s menu centers around vegan cinnamon rolls that can be customized with a selection of 30 frosting flavors—such as cream cheese, caramel, and cake batter—and more than 20 toppings, including brownie bites, cookie dough, and marshmallows. “I am so excited to see our vegan cinnamon roll concept expand to Canada,” Shannon Radke said. “Cinnaholic has experienced a massive growth over the past few years, and expanding into new territories shows that vegan companies are getting more and more traction. There’s no denying veganism is on the rise.” Last year, Cinnaholic sold more than 300,000 vegan cinnamon rolls across its locations, and the Radkes hope to double that number by the end of this year.
Want more of today’s best plant-based news, recipes, and lifestyle?
Get our award-winning magazine! SubscribeAs you may have guessed, “Injection” is a comic we’re pretty hyped for. This title acts as a follow up to Declan Shalvey, Warren Ellis and Jordie Bellaire’s triumphant six issue run on Marvel’s “Moon Knight” and promises to take everything to the next level, thanks to complete creative freedom at Image and bringing on another exceptional collaborator in letterer/designer Fonografiks. The book is set to arrive May 13th in quality comic shops everywhere, and while we talked to Shalvey about what’s in store for us back when the title was announced, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to talk a little more about what the team has up its sleeve.
Today, Shalvey talks with us about how the book is coming together as they near release, what he’s learned about crafting a creator-owned comic so far, what working with such an impressive creative team is like, and much more. Most importantly, though, we also are pleased to reveal the cover you see at the top. This is the “Haunted” variant, and these covers are the B variants that will ship with each issue. It’s a haunting (naturally) piece, and something that truly looks unlike anything else on the stands. I for one can’t wait to own a copy with that cover myself, but sadly, we have to wait. However, you don’t have to wait to order it. If you love that cover, reach out to your local shop and give them the Diamond Code MAR150469 and say you want it. Or if you want the (also amazing) A cover, share the Diamond Code MAR150468. It’s that simple.
Now take a look below for our full interview with Shalvey and feast your eyes on preview pages from the first issue of “Injection”.
DS: Yeeeaaaahhhh….. It seems to be actually happening now, which is, y’know… terrifying. It’s hard to say man, I didn’t want to be banging the drum too early on the book, as we announced it in July of 2014, and it’s not actually out until May 2015. I didn’t want to be going on and on and on about it otherwise people would be sick of it by the time it came out! But, now that we’re finally showing some artwork, and more importantly having issues in the bag and moving full steam ahead, I’m eager to actually get the word out. Promoting a book is an extra job on top of actually making the book. I remember losing some time while halfway through Moon Knight just because all of the press that was done to promote it. It all adds up, but it has to be done, y’know?
I’m very proud of the book, of the work I’m doing, and the decisions we’re making. We’re taking chances, and that’s exciting. Means you have to stand my those decisions though, and I do get anxious the closer and closer we get to the launch.
The dream of creator-owned has a lot of fans and others openly wondering why everyone doesn’t do it. But there are very real reasons why some don’t, especially artists. For you, what has the experience been like transitioning into this new direction, and have there been any surprises or difficulties that have risen along the way?
DS: The gestation-period of the book was probably the biggest surprise, I couldn’t just start drawing’ the book, there was a long period of psyching myself up, and fleshing things out.
I like to think of myself as being more indie-minded and not very mainstream but the reality is, I’ve been working for mainstream companies for over 5 years now; I’ve done nothing of my own aside from a couple of short stories. I like taking known properties and tweaking them to suit my sensibilities. Starting from scratch though? It took a LOT longer. Gathering inspiration, building things from the ground up, tweaking them, constantly ironing things out until they’re ready, etc…. it was a time-killer. I have to admit, while I pride myself on being reliable and on-time, it took me a lot longer to do than I thought it would, but once that first issue was done, I felt like i had a proper foundation, and now I’m just building on top of that with each issue.
Continued below
Nailing down my schedule has been difficult too. I used to pester and pester my editors for schedule, but now that’s something I need to be responsible for and I’m feeling the pressure there. It doesn’t make sense to meet work for hire deadlines and then NOT do the same for a project that you own.
It’s also weird to not have to ask permission, which sounds strange, but it’s true. Marvel have always been pretty hands off, but there would inevitably be a time where I need to ask my editor something, and that hasn’t really been an issue in Injection…. sometimes it freaks me out. I’ll run something by Warren sometimes and the answer is ‘if that’s what you want to do, that’s what we’re doing’. It’s hugely liberating.
DS: Well it was a conscious career move on my part that when I wrapped Moon Knight, I would take as much cover work as I could. As an artist, if you’re not seen regularly on the shelves I feel the audience will forget about you, so I felt it important to have work hitting the stands while not regularly releasing monthly comics. Marvel have been consistently offering me various covers, and they’ve been great fun to do, not to mention having something to show for myself while working on Injection. What I wasn’t expecting though, was the many many requests for covers off various people for various publishers. Again, spotlight and enjoyment are great reasons to do covers, so I said yes a LOT. So much so I got a little overwhelmed and it ended up being a distraction from Injection. I’ve recently capped that though; have had to say no a lot more and be a lot more careful so now I’ll only allow myself to do a small amount of covers a month. I love doing covers but I love my book more. Also, I’m doing 2 covers a month for Injection. It all adds up.
You mentioned how odd it is to not have to ask for permission, and I totally get that. While the freedom is appealing, I imagine the structure of working on a book like “Moon Knight” allowed you to focus on the task at hand…drawing the book. With “Injection”, do you find yourself taking your work down any paths you haven’t really before due to that freedom? Or is it more about finding a way to apply your own structure to this process?
DS: On Injection, I’m embracing the same storytelling approach we had on Moon Knight, so in a way it was practice for Injection. I’m definitely applying the previous structure to this book; I think it will feel the same, while being a very different format (not one-shot issues). This is a much bigger and sprawling story, and I’m finding my footing as we move along. I’m used to knowing what’s coming ahead in a story, but every script I get from Warren is a fresh story to me, so I don’t really know what’s coming. Again, that’s similar to how we worked on Moon Knight.
A bigger problem for me, was the logistics of using greywash. It’s a lot more time consuming and I had to think whether or not I should keep using the technique on Injection. I was really happy with the results, but I didn’t want to have any schedule issues with my output. In the end, I managed to come up with a solution that resulted in me keeping my output high, while still using greywash to really enhance my work.
Continued below
DS: All the Injection covers, variants included, will be done by myself. I love seeing variants by other artists, but I think Warren and I would like to keep the vision of this book more pure, if you know what I mean. I want a more singular vision to the book, and would prefer to use variant covers in a different way, rather than taking up anyone else’s time. There is one very special exception though, #1 will have a variant by a Very Special Artist that I haven’t yet revealed.
Every issue of Injection will have a variant, or ‘B Cover’ done by myself and Jordie, done in the style above. We’d like to use variants to illustrate a different kind of image, that look distinctive from the regular covers. if you prefer the look of the variants, you’re welcome to chose them If not, that’s cool too. I like the idea of using variants to try something different and more stylized. Like with this cover, it’s a little hard to see; everyone I’ve shown looks at it, but then has to lean in in order to figure out what it is. it also gives more freedom to our letterer/designer to come up with different takes on the logo. Again, it should result in some weird covers, but since they’re variants, they’re a great way to experiment with cover design.
While this is a new experience for you, you have not only Warren’s vast creator-owned expertise to lean on, but in studio, you have Jordie’s sprawling and diverse knowledge of how to make one of these books work too. What has it meant to be able to turn to Jordie and pick her brain on how other projects she’s worked on have worked? Have you felt that this gives you a leg up on an artist who is feeling their way out themselves, at least in avoiding common pitfalls others might have fallen for?
DS: Yeah, I’m very much the newbie, Warren and Jordie have more creator owned projects that I could possibly think of! I’m probably the only member of the team who’s thinking about every single aspect of the book in ridiculous, annoying detail. Jordie has told me to shut up about the book MANY times at this stage. It is difficult to play it cool, as I’ve been watching from the sidelines of this Image Revolution, and now that I’m on the other side of the fence, I’m constantly over-thinking it.
It has been a HUGE advantage to have Jordie to talk me through a lot of this stuff, like the best day to contact Image, when they need stuff in, etc. mainly, since she’s been on so many projects there, she’s seen where various books have made mis-steps of gone off the tracks, so she gave me a lot of advice from the very beginning; Don’t rush the book’s release (will only lead to stress down the line), don’t take your lead time for granted (once it’s gone, it’s GONE), get some extra covers in the bag (they’ll inevitably be used for promotion/second printing and those always end up being a last minute thing that need to be done asap, stressing everyone out), etc. Lots of little things to to early, to avoid headaches down the line. It’s been great to have that kind of info, I’d never know all this without her. It probably has given me a leg up, yeah, but at the same time, I need that leg, as I’ve seen how late books screw with Jordie’s schedule (and our lives), so I CAN’T be one of those guys.
DS: Yes, it’s tough being the weak link in this chain of Warren, me, Jordie and Fonografiks!
Continued below
We all had a lot of conversations about the cover treatment originally and have played around with a few things (as you can see with this cover). We’re keeping Injection pretty minimal as regards design, going for a certain clean and retrained design aesthetic, on top of these more organic, painterly imagery. Not much in the way of interior design pages either as we’re keeping the page count low, to keep the price point low. I had a few ideas design-wise and I think I’ve a decent eye for design, but Jordie has got better sensibilities than I do, and Fonografiks is… well… just brilliant. I’ll generally go with what he wants, but he always seems to take an idea of mine and make it way, way better.
We are trying to use the variants in a more experimental way, by making completely different imagery, nearly a second visual identity to the book, yet keeping it from the same art team. I don’t know if it will go down well, but I like the idea of using a variant as a graphic design exercise; if we’re gonna do it, we might as well do something different. That’s the whole point of doing something creator owned, right? I showed someone the variant cover and they looked confused, then had to lean in to the image to see what it was, and I thought that was cool. Instead of an image that grabs your attention like most covers, the variants should be an image that give you pause, and draw you in.
We were given a lot of leeway with the look and design of Moon Knight by Marvel I have to say. But it’s pretty damn cool to just do WHATEVER WE WANT on Injection.A drugs suspect in the US has discovered that hoverboards are not the most effective getaway vehicles.
Police approached Jerome Antoine Dennis in the Florida town of Clearwater on Sunday night after noticing the smell of marijuana.
In a bid to escape the officer, Mr Dennis took to his hoverboard, a self-balancing electric scooters with a top speed of just over 10mph.
Giving up on the wheeled device, the suspect ditched it and carried on with his escape on foot - but to no avail.
"When a visibly marked officer attempted to make contact with the defendant he attempted to flee on his hoverboard and then on foot before being apprehended," according to an affidavit seen by the BBC.
"A strong odour of marijuana was on the person as well."
Mr Dennis was charged with possession of marijuana and resisting an officer.A Utah man had his Model S autonomously crash into a parked trailer a couple weeks ago, which has kicked off an interesting back-and-forth between Tesla and the owner. Tesla claims that the car's Summon self-parking feature was activated, and the company seriously came to play here: it has exceptionally detailed logs that it downloaded of exactly what happened in the moments leading up to the crash.
The Verge has had a chance to review the letter sent on May 6th by a Tesla regional service manager to the owner, Jared Overton, which details the warnings in the owner's manual and the vehicle's displays — including reminders that the operator must be prepared to stop Summon if an object isn't detected and a note that it should only be used on private property. (In this case, Summon appears to have been activated on the side of a street.)
It continues, and this is where Overton gets overwhelmed by the hyper-specific data available to Tesla about the collision:
Unfortunately, these warnings were not heeded in this incident. The vehicle logs confirm that the automatic Summon feature was initiated by a double-press of the gear selector stalk button, shifting from Drive to Park and requesting Summon activation. The driver was alerted of the Summon activation with an audible chime and a pop-up message on the center touchscreen display. At this time, the driver had the opportunity to cancel the action by pressing CANCEL on the center touchscreen display; however, the CANCEL button was not clicked by the driver. In the next second, the brake pedal was released and two seconds later, the driver exited the vehicle. Three seconds after that, the driver's door was closed, and another three seconds later, Summon activated pursuant to the driver's double-press activation request. Approximately five minutes, sixteen seconds after Summon activated, the vehicle's driver's-side front door was opened again. The vehicle's behavior was the result of the driver's own actions and as you were informed through multiple sources regarding the Summon feature, the driver is always responsible for the safe operation and for maintaining proper control of the vehicle.
Of course, none of this changes the fact that Summon should be good enough to see a large object that's directly in front of it — but unless the data is completely incorrect, which seems unlikely, Overton clearly broke almost every rule Tesla had in place about operating the feature.
Tesla's official statement about the incident, sent to us by a company spokesperson, echoes the thrust of the letter sent to Overton:
Safety is a top priority at Tesla, and we remain committed to ensuring our cars are among the absolute safest vehicles on today's roads. It is paramount that our customers also exercise safe behavior when using our vehicles - including remaining alert and present when using the car's autonomous features, which can significantly improve our customers' overall safety as well as enhance their driving experience. Summon, when used properly, allows Tesla owners to park in narrow spaces that would otherwise have been very difficult or impossible to access. While Summon is currently in beta, each Tesla owner must agree to the following terms on their touch screen before the feature is enabled: This feature will park Model S while the driver is outside the vehicle. Please note that the vehicle may not detect certain obstacles, including those that are very narrow (e.g., bikes), lower than the fascia, or hanging from the ceiling. As such, Summon requires that you continually monitor your vehicle's movement and surroundings while it is in progress and that you remain prepared to stop the vehicle at any time using your key fob or mobile app or by pressing any door handle. You must maintain control and responsibility for your vehicle when using this feature and should only use it on private property.
Many vehicles have event data recorders — so-called black boxes — that can offer investigators a look into the moments leading up to a car crash, but the granularity of Tesla's data in this case is interesting. Overton claims that he stood next to the car for somewhere between 20 seconds to a minute, which would've been much longer than Tesla's claim that Summon began operating three seconds after he closed the door. For liability reasons, both parties have every reason to shift responsibility to the other party. In this case, though, the difference is that Tesla has a spreadsheet full of numbers and timestamps to back its side of the story.
Letting your Tesla drive itself is a bad ideaThe president of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades said in a televised address on Sunday that the controversial bank levy being imposed as part of an EU bailout deal is the "least painful" option available under the circumstances.
ADVERTISING Read more
President Nicos Anastasiades said Sunday that a controversial bank levy on private depositors in Cyprus banks as part of an EU bailout deal was the "least painful" option for the financially embattled island.
"I chose the least painful option, and I bear the political cost for this, in order to limit as much as possible the consequences for the economy and for our fellow Cypriots," Anastasiades said in a televised address to the nation.
As a condition for a desperately-needed 10-billion-euro ($13 billion) bailout for Cyprus, fellow eurozone countries and international creditors Saturday imposed a levy on all deposits in the island's banks.
Deposits of more than 100,000 euros will be hit with a 9.9 percent charge, while under that threshold the levy drops to 6.75 percent.
Cypriots react with dismay over levy on savings
Anastasiades urged all political parties in Cyprus to ratify the terms of the EU deal when parliament meets on Monday.
"I urge the parliamentary parties to decide, and I will fully respect their decision, in the best interests of the people and this country," Anastasiades said.
"I hope that together, based on the facts as they have developed, we will take the wisest decision," he said, adding, "the road ahead will not be easy."
"The solution we came to is certainly not the one we wanted, but its the least painful under the circumstances," the president said.
An |
understanding of the neurodevelopmental consequences and hopefully a lowered risk of autism and mental retardation associated with IVF.
Click to read the study published today in JAMA
Click to read an accompanying editorial in JAMA
Relevant Reading: Risk of autism spectrum disorders in children born after assisted conception: a population-based follow-up study
In Depth [prospective cohort]: The authors followed the Swedish national registers which included 2,541,125 live births including 30,959 born using an IVF procedures from January 1, 1982 to December 31, 2007. Children were followed from age 1.5 to death, or until emigration from Sweden, onset of disease, the age of 28 years, or December 2009. It was found that children born after any IVF procedure had increased risk of mental retardation compared to spontaneous conception (RR, 1.18 [95% CI, 1.01-1.36]; 46.3 vs 39.8 per 100,000 person-years). Further, parents had an increased risk of having children with autistic disorders after utilizing ICSI using surgically extracted sperm with fresh embryos compared to those born after IVF without ICSI (RR, 4.60 [95% CI, 2.14-9.88]. The association of surgically extracted sperm with autistic disorder (RR, 8.06) and mental retardation (RR, 3.31) were further increased by preterm births. Notably, autism and mental retardation rates were independent of age and gender of the child.
By John Prendergass and Brittany Hasty
More from this author: Protected sleep periods improve intern alertness and sleep duration, ADHD medication decreases rates of criminality in ADHD patients, Low dose aspirin shows net clinical benefit in patients with first unprovoked venous thromboembolism.
© 2013 2minutemedicine.com. All rights reserved. No works may be reproduced without written consent from 2minutemedicine.com. Disclaimer: We present factual information directly from peer reviewed medical journals. No post should be construed as medical advice and is not intended as such by the authors or by 2minutemedicine.com. PLEASE SEE A HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IN YOUR AREA IF YOU SEEK MEDICAL ADVICE OF ANY SORT. Content is produced in accordance with fair use copyrights solely and strictly for the purpose of teaching, news and criticism. No benefit, monetary or otherwise, is realized by any participants or the owner of this domain.Frank McCourt, who melted the hearts of millions of readers with "Angela's Ashes," a lyrically poignant memoir of his poverty-stricken Irish childhood, died of melanoma July 19 in New York. He was 78.
Mr. McCourt was a retired teacher in his mid-60s when he wrote "Angela's Ashes," an unflinching and unforgettable account of his family's misery in Limerick, Ireland, in the 1930s and 1940s. It was his first book, published in 1996, and immediately won critical acclaim and a vast readership.
The memoir received the Pulitzer Prize and stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 117 weeks, including 23 at No. 1. In a review, Washington Post book editor Nina King wrote, "This memoir is an instant classic of the genre."
From the first page, Mr. McCourt enchanted readers with a warm, subtle voice that was by turns funny and sad but always honest.
"When I look back on my childhood, I wonder how I survived at all," he wrote. "It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood."
Mr. McCourt, the oldest of seven children, was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where his parents had arrived from Ireland in the 1920s. But their luck soon ran out, and they moved back across the Atlantic when he was 4. They settled in his mother's native city of Limerick in a house with no electricity or running water. It was next to a public lavatory, where the entire neighborhood dumped buckets of excrement that often flooded the McCourts' floor.
"From October to April, the walls of Limerick glistened with the damp," Mr. McCourt wrote. "Clothes never dried; tweed and woolen coats housed living things, sometimes sprouted mysterious vegetations. In pubs, steam rose from damp bodies and garments to be inhaled with cigarette and pipe smoke laced with the stale fumes of spilled stout and whisky."
A sister and two younger brothers died as toddlers, leaving Mr. McCourt's mother -- the "Angela" of the title -- to raise four sons largely on her own. Mr. McCourt's father, alternately charming and quarrelsome, would spend his meager earnings on drink and come home in the middle of the night, singing songs of Irish heroes.
"The [school]master says it's a glorious thing to die for the Faith and Dad says it's a glorious thing to die for Ireland," Mr. McCourt wrote in a passage laced with pathos and humor, "and I wonder if there's anyone in the world who would like us to live."
In the meantime, the family subsisted on tea and bread. A discarded apple peel or a single boiled egg, cut into slices for the whole family, was considered a treat. Young Frank resorted to thievery to bring home bread, lemonade or fruit.
He had chronic conjunctivitis that left him without lashes on his lower eyelids. At 10, he almost died of typhoid fever and spent more than three months recovering in a hospital. It was the first time he had slept in a bed with sheets or had a full stomach. He also had his first encounter with Shakespeare, writing that it was "like having jewels in my mouth when I spoke the words."
At 13, he quit school to deliver telegrams, stealing time at night to read books under street lamps. His father moved to England to work in wartime factories but failed to send money home, leaving his family more destitute than ever.
One day, Mr. McCourt saw a group of people milling near a church, "waiting to beg for any food left over from the priests' dinner."
"There in the middle of the crowd in her dirty gray coat is my mother.
"This is my own mother, begging. This is worse than the dole... It's the worst kind of shame."
"Angela's Ashes" sold more than 5 million copies worldwide, was translated into 17 languages and was made into a 1999 film directed by Alan Parker, with Emily Watson playing the role of Mr. McCourt's mother.
"The memoir is rendered in the present tense, with nary a date or quotation mark in sight," critic Gail Caldwell wrote in the Boston Globe. "The result is a story so immediate -- so gripping in its daily despairs, stolen smokes and blessed humor -- that you want to thank God young Frankie McCourt survived it in part so he could write the book."
Francis McCourt was born Aug. 19, 1930, during his family's brief sojourn in Brooklyn. He sailed back to America on a freighter in 1949 and took menial jobs in hotels and on the docks before being drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War. (He described his life in the United States in a 1999 memoir, " 'Tis.")
He used the GI bill to enroll at New York University, talking his way into college even though he had never gone to high school. One of his professors asked a class to write about an object from childhood, and Mr. McCourt wrote about the bed he shared with his three brothers and countless fleas. He received an A-plus for his paper and began to think of being a writer.
After graduating from NYU, Mr. McCourt began teaching in 1958 at a vocational high school on Staten Island and later at a high school on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He received a master's degree in English from Brooklyn College in 1967 and spent two years doing doctoral studies at Trinity College in Dublin. In 1970, he began teaching literature and writing at New York's prestigious Stuyvesant High School, where he was revered by a generation of students. He often described experiences from his childhood to inspire his students to write about their own lives.
His third volume of memoirs, "Teacher Man" (2005), was called "the best self-portrait of a public-school teacher ever written" by Newsweek's Malcolm Jones.
In time, Mr. McCourt's mother and younger brothers followed him to the United States. When their mother died in 1981, the brothers took her ashes back to Limerick, temporarily losing them during a pub crawl. His father died in 1985.
Long before he retired from teaching in 1987, Mr. McCourt had contemplated writing a book. But it took years for him to find the proper tone of writing, choosing the present tense from a child's perspective, with simple, poetically repetitive diction.
Some people in Ireland were not amused by "Angela's Ashes" and thought Mr. McCourt had exaggerated his family's woes. One childhood acquaintance even tore the book to pieces in front of Mr. McCourt and threw it on the ground.
But Mr. McCourt's brother Malachy, who teamed with him in a two-man revue of stories and songs in the 1980s, said: "In reality, our life was worse than Frank wrote. Insane outbreaks of laughter saved us."
Mr. McCourt, who liked to say that he was the only person he knew who had lived in all five boroughs of New York City, never made more than $37,000 a year as a teacher. He grew wealthy from his books, bought homes in Manhattan and Connecticut and supported relatives in Ireland.
Survivors include his third wife, Ellen Frey McCourt; a daughter from his first marriage; three brothers; and three grandchildren.
After leaving Ireland in 1949, Mr. McCourt saw his father only two more times before he died in 1985. Yet, in spite of everything, he maintained remarkable good cheer about his errant father and the deprivations of his childhood.
"If it hadn't been for alcoholism," he said, "he would have been the perfect father, and my mother -- who would sing love songs about him when there was a little money coming in -- would have been so happy. I'm haunted by the possibilities of what might have been."Looking for news you can trust?
Subscribe to our free newsletters.
This story originally appeared in CityLab and is republished as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
A big reason for opposition to bike lanes is that, according to the rules of traffic engineering, they lead to car congestion. The metric determining this outcome (known as “level of service”) is quite complicated, but its underlying logic is simple: less road space for automobiles means more delay at intersections. Progressive cities have pushed back against this conventional belief—California, in particular, has led the charge against level of service—but it remains an obstacle to bike lanes (and multi-modal streets more broadly) across the country.
But the general wisdom doesn’t tell the whole story here. On the contrary, smart street design can eliminate many of the traffic problems anticipated by alternative mode elements like bike lanes. A new report on protected bike lanes released by the New York City Department of Transportation offers a great example of how rider safety can be increased even while car speed is maintained.
To see what we mean, let’s take a look at the bike lanes installed on Columbus Avenue from 96th to 77th streets in 2010-2011. As the diagram below shows, the avenue originally had five lanes—three for traffic, one for parking, and one parking-morning rush hybrid. By narrowing the lane widths, the city was able to maintain all five lanes while still squeezing in a protected bike lane and a buffer area.
NYC DOT
Rather than increase delay for cars, the protected bike lanes on Columbus actually improved travel times in the corridor. According to city figures, the average car took about four-and-a-half minutes to go from 96th to 77th before the bike lanes were installed, and three minutes afterward—a 35 percent decrease in travel time. This was true even as total vehicle volume on the road remained pretty consistent. In simpler terms, everybody wins.
Over on Eighth Avenue, where bike lanes were installed in 2008 and 2009, the street configuration was slightly different but the traffic outcome was the same. Originally, the avenue carried four travel lanes, one parking lane, one parking-rush hybrid, and an unprotected bike lane. Again, by narrowing the lanes, all five were preserved (though the hybrid became a parking lane) even as riders gained additional protection.
NYC DOT
After the changes, traffic continued to flow. DOT figures show a 14 percent overall decline in daytime travel times in the corridor from 23rd to 34th streets once the protected bike lanes were installed. That quicker ride was consistent throughout the day: travel time decreased during morning peak (13 percent), midday (21 percent), and evening peak (13 percent) alike. To repeat: a street that became safer for bikes remained just as swift for cars.
So what happened here to overcome the traditional idea that bike lanes lead to car delay? No doubt many factors were involved, but a DOT spokesperson tells CityLab that the steady traffic flow was largely the result of adding left-turn pockets. In the old street configurations, cars turned left from a general traffic lane; in the new one, they merged into a left-turn slot beside the protected bike lane (below, an example from 8th and 23rd). This design has two key advantages: first, traffic doesn’t have to slow down until the left turn is complete, and second, drivers have an easier time seeing bike riders coming up beside them.
For good measure, let’s also look at mobility on First Avenue, where protected bike lanes were added up to 34th Street in 2010. The design of First Avenue was dramatically altered. What was previously five travel lanes and two parking lanes for cars became three travel lanes, two parking lanes, a bus lane, and a protected bike lane—a significantly more balanced travel network.
NYC DOT
Despite all the changes, travel speeds remained just about the same as they had been before. Average daytime taxi speeds dropped maybe one mile per hour after the reconfiguration, according to DOT figures. But that minuscule delay was likely countered by an overall rise in mobility: bicycle volume increased 160 percent, for instance, in addition to whatever transit gains the bus enhancement provided.
So we see an example, in the busiest city in America, of smart street design improving travel for everyone. That’s not to suggest you can jam unlimited new modes onto a given street and still have everything move well. But it does show that just because a city values travel alternatives over car-centric engineering doesn’t mean that city’s traffic has to come to a halt.On Thursday, Sept. 22, the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office posted to its official Facebook page a store security image and request for tips from the public.
"The female removed a cart full of groceries from Martins on Rivendale Dr. on August 14th," deputies wrote. "The groceries had not been paid for." The store is just north of Winchester near the intersections of Rt. 522 (N. Winchester Pike) and Rt. 37.
"It’s believed the individual got into a white Jeep Cherokee," deputies added. "The vehicle was being driven by a white male, and a child was sitting in the rear seat." The car might have had W.Va. tags.
People commenting on the sheriff's Facebook page have observed that the cart appears to be mostly full of beer and perhaps a jumbo package of toilet paper.
Anyone with information may contact Winchester-Frederick-Clarke Crime Solvers at 540-665-TIPS (reference number 16003856) or the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office non-emergency number at 540-662-6162.Nasty business here with reports that the Boston Police Department has arrested two armed men heading to the Pokémon World Championships.
According to FoxBoston.com, two Iowa men, Kevin Norton and James Stumbo, were stopped outside the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Centre following reports of social media threats. After obtaining a search warrant, a shotgun, an AR-15 and "several hundred rounds of ammunition and a hunting knife" were found in their car, and the two were arrested. Both were registered to compete in the Masters Division of the event.
These are the weapons that @bostonpolice found after plot to attack #PokemonWorlds. http://t.co/aGLlBYI7Jp #FOX25 pic.twitter.com/f827INspPXAugust 23, 2015
Currently (this is all breaking, obviously) the two are charged with "unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition and other firearm related offences".
This is apparently one of the messages that notified the authorities:
A known disgusting asshole of a TCG player just got kicked out of and banned at Worlds because of this: pic.twitter.com/xgd4qrDz2YAugust 21, 2015
Here's the statement the Pokémon Company issued:
"Prior to the event this weekend, our community of players made us aware of a security issue. We gathered information and gave it as soon as possible to the authorities at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center who acted swiftly and spearheaded communication with the Boston Police Department. Due to quick action, the potential threat was resolved. The Pokémon Company International takes the safety of our fans seriously and will continue to ensure proper security measures are a priority."
Seen something newsworthy? Tell us!Portugal’s coach, Paulo Bento, could be in trouble after appearing to question the integrity of the Serbian referee, Milorad Mazic, following Monday’s heavy defeat by Germany.
Bento’s team went from rated to ragged inside 45 minutes of their opening World Cup game, presenting Germany with an easy 4-0 victory and losing three players in the process. Hugo Almeida and Fábio Coentrão were brought off with muscle strains and Pepe will definitely miss the next match, against the USA on Sunday, after picking up the dumbest of red cards eight minutes before the interval. Coentrão is out for at least 10 days and Bento is not confident of having Almeida back in time to face the USA.
“There were two occasions when the referee showed bias, first with the penalty and then with the sending off,” the Portugal coach said. “I am not saying it was only the referee’s fault. We also made mistakes but the circumstances of what happened in the first half made the rest of the game difficult for us.”
In reality Portugal made life difficult for themselves. Most referees at the tournament would have awarded the penalty against Coentrão that allowed Thomas Müller to score the first of his three goals, from the spot. It could be argued that the defender did not literally pull Mario Götze over but he was clearly using his arms to impede the German’s progress.
The sending-off decision was even more clear cut. Pepe took it upon himself to admonish Müller for play-acting by sticking his head into his opponent’s face. The referee saw it as a headbutt, Müller was sitting on the turf, not doing anything to provoke such a response, and a player with Pepe’s experience, albeit one with a reputation for volatility, badly let down his team-mates in a game of such significance. Not that Bento was willing to point the finger at his defender.
“The sending-off was forced on the player,” he said, somewhat opaquely. “I don’t know if it was because of Pepe’s reputation. It depends what sort of a reputation you think Pepe has.” As of now, it is an even greater one for unreliability than he had before.
In addition the player Portugal were pinning hopes on, Cristiano Ronaldo, had one of his quieter games. It would be harsh to say he failed to turn up – he tried his best and was lively in the opening stages – but his recent injury seems to have taken a lot of the fizz out of his performance.
“Even before Portugal went down to 10 men we were dominating the game,” Joachim Löw said. “We knew their main attacking threats would be Ronaldo and Nani and we controlled them quite comfortably. We sealed them off. We said before the start that our only option was to try and win this game – any other result would have been unacceptable – and we made an excellent opening to the World Cup.
“It was very hot on the pitch and the players noticed that the temperature was taking a toll on fitness but fortunately we were able to establish a winning lead quite early in the game. Any coach has to be satisfied with 3-0 at half-time, whatever the conditions.”
Germany did not come through completely unscathed. Mats Hummels had to leave the pitch with a thigh strain, though thanks to Müller’s hat-trick, the first of the tournament, they were never in trouble. “It was an uphill struggle for Portugal in the second half,” the Bayern Munich striker said. “It was a great start for us, we played an excellent game, but this was just the opener. We have two more group games to play and the focus remains on reaching the knockout stages.”
Müller more than justified Löw’s faith in putting him in the starting line-up ahead of Miroslav Klose, Germany’s other prolific scorer. “Thomas has an instinct for creating dangerous situations,” Löw said. “He is unorthodox and unpredictable and that makes it very difficult for opponents to read his intentions. He is just an innate goalscorer.”
Lukas Podolski dedicated the result to Michael Schumacher, though confirmation that the racing driver had left hospital came as news to Löw. “If that is true, it is great news for everyone,” he said. “Michael has the best wishes of all of us.”What does RESTful API really mean?
REST stands for Representational State Transfer. It is an architecture that allows client-server communication through a uniform interface. It is also stateless, cache-able and has a property called idempotence (for most of its verbs), which means that multiple identical requests have the same cumulated side effects as a single request would.
HTTP RESTful APIs are composed of:
HTTP methods, e.g. GET, PUT, DELETE, PATCH, POST, …
Base URI, e.g. http://localhost:3000
URL path, e.g /todos/2/
Media type, e.g. html, JSON, XML …
In this article I will show you how to use LoopBack to create a RESTful API. LoopBack is a highly extensible, open-source Node.js framework. For more details on our Node.js experience, you can browse our technology stack. Not a Node.js kind of dev? Then check out our articles on converting between web frameworks and programming languages (part 1 and part 2 – data). With Node.js and LoopBack, you can quickly create dynamic end-to-end REST APIs. That being said, the following example is for a task management (TODO) application.
Setup
Understanding the MEAN Stack
Recent years have seen a shift from classical web applications to a Back-End and Front-End segregation, in modern one-page applications. This makes it easier for servers to communicate not only with a web browser, but also with a variety of mobile devices, without having to change one single line of code. One of the most popular approaches is MEAN, a JavaScript stack for building web sites and web applications. MEAN comprises MongoDB, Express, AngularJS and NodeJS.
Throughout this article, I will use three of MEAN’s four components: MongoDb, Node and Express. Node and Express are the foundations upon which LoopBack is built and are bundled here as well. I won’t talk about Angular, but if you are interested, be sure to check out our articles on the topic. You might be interested in validations, charts or complex animations.
NodeJS
Although NodeJS is a JavaScript-based programming language, it runs outside the browser. In fact, we will run our NodeJS code on the server.
To install it, go to NodeJS Website and follow the instructions. Or, alternatively, if you are using Mac and brew, run brew install nodejs in the console. Ubuntu users can use nvm to install NodeJS. Either way, if the installation was successful, you can check Node’s and NPM’s installed versions like this:
node -v # => v0.10.43 npm -v # => 3.8.5 1 2 3 4 5 node - v # => v0.10.43 npm - v # => 3.8.5
Make sure you treat any errors and warnings before continuing.
MongoDB
There is a large variety of data storage options available to every programmer. However, in this article I have chosen to use MongoDB, in order to stay true to the MEAN stack.
MongoDB is a document-oriented NoSQL database, so we could say it is Big Data-ready. Mongo stores data in a JSON-like format and allows the user to perform SQL-like queries against it.
You can install MongoDB following the instructions here. If you have a Mac and brew, simply run: brew install mongodb && mongod, while in Ubuntu the command is sudo apt-get -y install mongodb.
Don’t forget to check version, in order to make sure everything is all right:
mongod --version # => db version v2.6.11 1 2 mongod -- version # => db version v2.6.11
LoopBack
LoopBack is a highly-extensible, open-source Node.js framework. IBM and the StrongLoop team are committed to maintaining and improving LoopBack as an open-source project. As they put it:
Building on LoopBack’s success as an open-source Node.js framework, IBM API Connect provides the newest tools to use with LoopBack projects. It includes a graphical tool with many of the API composition features of StrongLoop Arc, plus assembly and testing of API Gateway policies using the local Micro Gateway. Some features are still available only in Arc but these will be added to API Connect in the next few months.
API Connect also provides its own command-line tool, integrated with API management and gateway features. A free version of API Connect called API Connect Essentials is available for developers to install, free of charge.
Install it using npm:
npm install -g strongloop 1 npm install - g strongloop
Notice the -g option. It means your strongloop installation will be global. Strongloop will also be added in the PATH, so you can run it from anywhere.
Let’s check version:
slc -v # => strongloop v6.0.0 (node v0.10.43) 1 2 slc - v # => strongloop v6.0.0 (node v0.10.43)
For the examples I run in this article, note that I use the version above. The MEAN world is highly dynamic and new versions get cleared and released frequently, so you might have a different one. Please remember that, if reproducing any steps below gives you trouble, it might be a problem of incompatibility between my versions and yours. I recommend you to mimic my library versions for this tutorial, or at least check if your versions are compatible.
Creating the project
If you followed the previous steps, you should have all you need to complete this tutorial. Basically, we are going to build an API that allows users to CRUD (Create-Read-Update-Delete) Todo tasks from the database.
Before starting the project, I need to run MongoDB.
mongod 1 mongod
Now that the database is running, I can start creating a RESTful server with LoopBack.
Run the following to create the project:
mkdir Todos && cd Todos slc loopback? What's the name of your application? (Todos) 1 2 3 mkdir Todos && cd Todos slc loopback? What's the name of your application? ( Todos )
Here I leave everything blank, so the project is generated in the current folder, with the name “Todos”. Now I will select what kind of project I need:
? What kind of application do you have in mind? (Use arrow keys) ❯ api-server (A LoopBack API server with local User auth) empty-server (An empty LoopBack API, without any configured models or datasources) hello-world (A project containing a basic working example, including a memory database) 1 2 3 4? What kind of application do you have in mind? ( Use arrow keys ) ❯ api - server ( A LoopBack API server with local User auth ) empty - server ( An empty LoopBack API, without any configured models or datasources ) hello - world ( A project containing a basic working example, including a memory database )
After the project is created, it’s time to start server:
node. # => Web server listening at: http://0.0.0.0:3000 # => Browse your REST API at http://0.0.0.0:3000/explorer 1 2 3 node. # => Web server listening at: http://0.0.0.0:3000 # => Browse your REST API at http://0.0.0.0:3000/explorer
LoopBack created a user model for the API and all the basic routes needed. If you open a browser and access http://0.0.0.0:3000/explorer, you will see something like this:
The explorer entries are proof of LoopBack creating an API for User objects. Later you will see in more depth how the explorer works. If you add new models in the LoopBack project, the corresponding routes will be created automatically. The explorer interface makes manual testing straightforward, so use it wisely. After I will set up my database and add all the models, I will use this explorer to show you how it works.
MongoDB Connection
LoopBack models connect to backend systems such as databases via data sources that provide create, retrieve, update, and delete (CRUD) functions. Data sources are backed by connectors that implement the data exchange logic using database drivers or other client APIs. In general, applications don’t use connectors directly, rather they go through data sources using the DataSource and PersistedModel APIs.
LoopBack provides connectors for most popular relational and NoSQL databases. These connectors implement create, retrieve, update, and delete operations as a common set of methods of PersistedModel. When you attach a model to a data source backed by one of the database connectors, the model automatically acquires the create, retrieve, update, and delete methods from PersistedModel. The data access methods on a persisted model are exposed to REST by default. You can connect models using relations to reflect relationships among data.
Here you can see LoopBack create a RESTful server with all routes for user model. I add a data source and new models, by first stopping the server and then running the following commands:
slc loopback:datasource? Enter the data-source name: mongoDB 1 2 slc loopback : datasource? Enter the data - source name : mongoDB
After I set the name for my data source, I will select a connector. Let’s pick MongoDB connector:
? Select the connector for mongoDB: In-memory db (supported by StrongLoop) IBM DB2 (supported by StrongLoop) IBM Cloudant DB (supported by StrongLoop) ❯ MongoDB (supported by StrongLoop) MySQL (supported by StrongLoop) PostgreSQL (supported by StrongLoop) Oracle (supported by StrongLoop) (Move up and down to reveal more choices) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9? Select the connector for mongoDB : In - memory db ( supported by StrongLoop ) IBM DB2 ( supported by StrongLoop ) IBM Cloudant DB ( supported by StrongLoop ) ❯ MongoDB ( supported by StrongLoop ) MySQL ( supported by StrongLoop ) PostgreSQL ( supported by StrongLoop ) Oracle ( supported by StrongLoop ) ( Move up and down to reveal more choices )
MongoDB connector and all LoopBack connectors will need to be configured after you select them.
Connector-specific configuration:? host: localhost? port: 27017? user:? password:? database: todosDB? Install loopback-connector-mongodb@^1.4 (Y/n) Y 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Connector - specific configuration :? host : localhost? port : 27017? user :? password :? database : todosDB? Install loopback - connector - mongodb @ ^ 1.4 ( Y / n ) Y
Create Models
Remember our “Working with data” article? A LoopBack model represents data in backend systems such as databases, and by default has both Node and REST APIs. Additionally, you can add functionality such as validation rules and business logic to models.
Every LoopBack application has a set of predefined built-in models such as User, Role, and Application. You can extend built-in models to suit your application’s needs.
After we hook up the project database (with MongoDB), it is time to create models. This operation is very simple, just like the ones you’ve done so far:
slc loopback:model? Enter the model name: todos? Select the data-source to attach todos to: db (memory) ❯ mongoDB (mongodb) (no data-source) 1 2 3 4 5 6 slc loopback : model? Enter the model name : todos? Select the data - source to attach todos to : db ( memory ) ❯ mongoDB ( mongodb ) ( no data - source )
? Select the data-source to attach todos to: mongoDB (mongodb)? Select model's base class Model ❯ PersistedModel ACL AccessToken Application Change Checkpoint (Move up and down to reveal more choices) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10? Select the data - source to attach todos to : mongoDB ( mongodb )? Select model's base class Model ❯ PersistedModel ACL AccessToken Application Change Checkpoint ( Move up and down to reveal more choices )
? Select model's base class PersistedModel? Expose todos via the REST API? (Y/n) Y 1 2? Select model's base class PersistedModel? Expose todos via the REST API? ( Y / n ) Y
? Expose todos via the REST API? Yes? Custom plural form (used to build REST URL): 1 2? Expose todos via the REST API? Yes? Custom plural form ( used to build REST URL ) :
? Common model or server only? common ❯ server 1 2 3? Common model or server only? common ❯ server
After you create the todos model, you need to add properties:
Let's add some todos properties now. Enter an empty property name when done.? Property name: name 1 2 3 4 Let's add some todos properties now. Enter an empty property name when done.? Property name : name
Named the first property, then set property type:
? Property name: name invoke loopback:property? Property type: (Use arrow keys) ❯ string number boolean object array date buffer (Move up and down to reveal more choices) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11? Property name : name invoke loopback : property? Property type : ( Use arrow keys ) ❯ string number boolean object array date buffer ( Move up and down to reveal more choices )
You also need to set a flag representing if the property is required or not. Leave the answer blank to stick with defaults (non-required):
? Property type: string? Required? (y/N) 1 2? Property type : string? Required? ( y / N )
Last you need to set a default value, if needed. I don’t want a default value here, so I leave this line blank:
? Required? No? Default value[leave blank for none]: 1 2? Required? No? Default value [ leave blank for none ] :
After all these steps, I added in the todos model a property with name: name, type: string, required: No, default value: none. For the next three properties, repeat the required steps and set them as such:
? Property name: completed invoke loopback:property? Property type: boolean? Required? No? Default value[leave blank for none]:false? Property name: note invoke loopback:property? Property type: string? Required? No? Default value[leave blank for none]:? Property name: updated_at invoke loopback:property? Property type: date? Required? No? Default value[leave blank for none]: now 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17? Property name : completed invoke loopback : property? Property type : boolean? Required? No? Default value [ leave blank for none ] : false? Property name : note invoke loopback : property? Property type : string? Required? No? Default value [ leave blank for none ] :? Property name : updated_at invoke loopback : property? Property type : date? Required? No? Default value [ leave blank for none ] : now
To quit the property setter you just need to leave the Property name empty and press Enter:
Enter an empty property name when done.? Property name: 1 2 Enter an empty property name when done.? Property name :
After all these properties are set, the todos model will look like this:
{ "name": "todos", "base": "PersistedModel", "idInjection": true, "options": { "validateUpsert": true }, "properties": { "name": { "type": "string" }, "completed": { "type": "boolean", "default": false }, "note": { "type": "string" }, "updated_at": { "type": "date", "default": "now" } }, "validations": [], "relations": {}, "acls": [], "methods": {} } 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 { "name" : "todos", "base" : "PersistedModel", "idInjection" : true, "options" : { "validateUpsert" : true }, "properties" : { "name" : { "type" : |
in the news. He knew that the county now owned the properties, but that the renters, all poor and black, did not know. Counting on a lack of attention all around, he simply went on collecting rents as before. Even more enterprising, when tenants fell behind on their rent, he filed complaints against them and took them to court for not paying him rent on property he no longer owned. The county court, in calm and bureaucratic ignorance, heard the cases. And to put the cap on it, he won.
Eventually, local authorities caught up with him. In 1991, a Charles County sheriff’s deputy arrested Zantzinger at his real estate office on charges that included fraud and deceptive business practices. A number of newspapers, the Washington Post among them, did stories about this latest chapter in the Zantzinger saga. The houses he had been renting were such disasters—run-down shacks without plumbing or running water—that they embarrassed the county and gave traction to local fair-housing advocates, whose cause had been mostly frustrated until then. All the same, a few tenants came forward to speak up for Zantzinger, saying that without him they’d be living on the street. When the judge sentenced him to 18 months on work-release in the county jail, 2,400 hours of community service, and about $62,000 in penalties and fines, there were people in the courtroom who cried.
The small building on Highway 301 in White Plains, Maryland, where Zantzinger’s real estate office used to be, is now closed and empty, with a “Keep Out” sign on the door. The number listed for his real estate company in the Yellow Pages has been disconnected. A car dealership and a lumberyard flank his former office, and across the highway is a tattoo parlor. Similar enterprises—featuring bagels, blinds, birdseed, braiding, bail bonds—not to mention the usual behemoth stores as common as traffic, spread along Highway 301 for miles and miles, interrupted only occasionally by patches of trees labeled with developers’ signs. At this rate, what little remains of rural Maryland will probably be gone sometime next week, foxhunting fields, antebellum mansions, and all.
People say Zantzinger now lives on a farm in neighboring St. Mary’s County. They say he’s had a few health problems; he’s a big man, 6 feet tall and heavy, and he’s 65. They say he still owns a lot of rental properties, some as run-down as Patuxent Woods. (He doesn’t talk to reporters, so I never found out for sure.) Candice Quinn Kelly, a former housing activist in La Plata, Maryland, told me, “I was on the other side from Zantzinger in the Patuxent Woods situation. In fact, it was our organization that uncovered his fraud to begin with. Maybe I’ve mellowed or sold out, but I don’t see things as clear-cut as I did then. Billy Zantzinger provides housing to marginal folks nobody’s gonna give a lease to, because they don’t have a job or a rent deposit or a bank account or whatever. I learned that you can offer people tons of help and they still can’t get out of poverty. Billy rents to those people anyway. Since Patuxent Woods I’ve met him and talked to him a couple of times, and I feel strange saying this, but Billy Zantzinger is really a very nice man.”
In Baltimore, 70 miles to the north, friends and acquaintances of Hattie Carroll don’t agree. Carroll lived in Cherry Hill, a lower-middle-class black neighborhood, and attended Gillis Memorial Christian Community Church. At the time, the church was at the corner of Mulberry and Calhoun, downtown, but it has since moved to Park Hill on the city’s northwest side. People at the church remember Hattie Carroll as a quiet, well-dressed woman, tall and poised, with good taste in hats. She sang in the church’s over-45 choir and was a member of the Flower Guild, which does floral displays for the altar and other projects of church beautification. Away from work, at least, Hattie Carroll seems not to have fit the picture of the lowly person Dylan described. Few people I talked to at the church knew that her death had been the subject of a widely played protest song.
“I wonder what kind of respect did that man have for people? What kind of respect did he have for ladies? He wasn’t thinking about people at all. He was acting under the slave mentality.”
I stopped by the church on a Wednesday, just as the noon service ended. The minister, the Reverend Dr. Theodore C. Jackson Jr., was making some final prayerful exhortations, boosted by an organ’s repeated chords. In the parish hall, still glowing from his preaching, he told me that he had been a student away at seminary when Hattie Carroll died. Then he introduced me to two longtime parishioners, Dorothy Johnson and Mildred Jessup. The first wore a hat of black mesh material in a broad-brimmed Stetson shape, and an ankle-length dress appliquéd with lighter patterns like stylized leaves, and the second wore a white blouse and tan slacks. Both are themselves preachers—the Reverend Johnson for 30 years, and the Reverend Jessup for 28. Both knew Hattie Carroll. They sat with me for a while in the church’s library and talked. “I remember that Hattie went to work at the hotel that day, and later word came back that she’d been struck with a cane,” said Rev. Johnson. “And right after that we heard that she had died. Everybody in the church was very upset. It was a terrible blow. She had a huge funeral, people filling the church to the doors and hundreds more standing on the street. A sad, sad day.”
“I wonder what kind of respect did that man have for people? What kind of respect did he have for ladies?” asked Rev. Jessup. “He wasn’t thinking about people at all. He was acting under the slave mentality.”
“Hattie’s family suffered so, her children, after she died,” said Rev. Johnson. “They don’t go to this church anymore. Four of them, I think, became Muslims. One daughter ended up in a mental institution. But whatever you cause by word and by deed, it’s all comin’ back to you.”
“If I was that man’s nurse—I used to be a nurse at Johns Hopkins—I would give him so much prayer to think about that he’d be miserable,” said Rev. Jessup.
I asked the reverends if they thought God would forgive Zantzinger.
“You see, you are not your own,” Rev. Johnson said. “You belong to God. God gives you agape love—deep, unconditional, fatherly love. And with God all things are possible. Didn’t he forgive Peter, who denied him three times? Now, if the man who killed Hattie Carroll is willing to repent, and if he is really godly sorry for what he did—and God knows if you are truly godly sorry—I know God will forgive.”
“How about you?” I asked. “Could you forgive him?”
“Yes, I believe I could,” said Rev. Johnson. “I’ve forgiven people that did worse than he’s done.”
“For myself, I don’t know about that,” said Rev. Jessup. “Things may be possible for God that are not possible for me. But I will tell you one thing. Because of what happened to Hattie Carroll, I have a phobia about canes to this day. I don’t like to even see ’em, and I can’t stand when people be foolin’ with ’em. Just don’t be bringin’ no canes around me.”
Zantzinger was sentenced on August 28, 1963. As it happened, that was the day of the March on Washington, when Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.
According to press accounts of Zantzinger’s trial, he and his wife arrived at the ball, a charity event called the Spinsters’ Ball, at the Emerson Hotel on Friday evening, February 8, 1963. He was in top hat, white tie, and tails, attire with which a cane is optional. Unlike other guests, Zantzinger didn’t check his cane at the door because, as he said, “I was having lots of fun with it, tapping everybody.” Tapping turned to hitting; a bellboy named George Gessell said Zantzinger struck him on the arm, and a waitress named Ethel Hill said Zantzinger argued with her and struck her several times across the buttocks. At about 1:30 a.m., he ordered a drink from the bar from Hattie Carroll, one of the barmaids. When she didn’t bring it immediately, he cursed at her. Carroll replied, “I’m hurrying as fast as I can.” Zantzinger said, “I don’t have to take that kind of shit off a nigger,” and struck her on the shoulder with the cane. Soon after, Hattie Carroll said, “I feel deathly ill, that man has upset me so.” She then collapsed and was taken to the hospital.
“What makes it hard to bear was that no one at the party challenged him, no one stopped him,” Rev. Jessup said. “He was bold enough to behave like this in the presence of many people, and not one of them intervened. Maybe they had connections to him, maybe they came for business, or their hands were tied by who he was. But not one of those people stood up for her.”
“Can you imagine waking up from a drunk to find out you’d done something like that?” asked Bobby Phelps, a friend of Zantzinger’s since childhood. He and I were talking on the front porch of the post office in Mount Victoria, a hamlet just up the road from Zantzinger’s old farm. “I’d’ve probably blown my brains out if it had been me,” Phelps said. “And what I really can’t understand is, when Billy started getting crazy at the party, why somebody didn’t just kick his ass for him and throw him out on his ear.
“You think about it and you feel bad for everyone. Billy is somebody I would trust with my life. Billy didn’t hate black people—he used to set with them here in my bar and drink with them. A colored woman that used to work for the Zantzingers told me that Mr. Zantzinger—Billy’s father—was pacing the floor and saying, ‘How could my boy have done such a thing?’ His parents were just devastated. What a hell of a sad thing that was, that Hattie Carroll killing. You look back and wonder, ‘How in hell did that all happen?'”
Zantzinger was sentenced in the Hattie Carroll killing on August 28, 1963. As it happened, that was the day of the March on Washington, when Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. The New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Baltimore Sun all ran stories about the sentencing; the Times gave it a short, single-column write-up on page 15; the stories in the Post and the Sun were not much larger. None mentioned that anybody objected to the lightness of the sentence.
All three papers devoted pages and pages to the march; and it is striking, to a reader with the perspective of four decades, how blind (for want of a better word) the coverage in all three papers was. What comes through in the stories about the march is a vast relief—shared, presumably, by the reporters, the papers’ management, and their readership—that the 200,000-plus assembled Negroes hadn’t burned Washington to the ground. All three papers used the adjective “orderly” in their headlines; all reported prominently on President Kennedy’s praise for the marchers’ politeness and decorum. The Post and the Sun gave small notice to Dr. King, and less to what he said. Neither made much of the phrase “I have a dream.” Only James Reston of the Times understood that he had witnessed a great work of oratory, but even his story veered into brow-wiping at the good manners of the Negroes.
Listening to “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” today, you can hear Dylan shouting against exactly this blindness. The song he wrote took a one-column, under-the-rug story and played it as big as it deserved to be. Dylan’s voice sounds so young, hopeful, unjaded, noncommercial—so far from the Victoria’s Secret world of today. Even the song’s title is well chosen: Before I went to Hattie Carroll’s church, I hadn’t quite understood why her death was “lonesome.” But of course, as Rev. Jessup noted, “not one of those people stood up for her”; in a party full of elegant guests, Hattie Carroll was on her own.
If it weren’t for TV and videotape, we would not know how powerful the March on Washington, or Dr. King’s speech, really was. And if it weren’t for Dylan, nothing more would have been said about Hattie Carroll.The Iraq Ministry of Defense has released additional footage recent air strikes against armed Daash terrorist groups within the town and provinces of Nineveh, Salahuddin and Samarra.Iraq’s military spokesman, Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, confirmed at least seven members of Kurdish security forces were killed in the northeastern province of Diyala.Security sources said Iraqi troops also attacked an ISIL formation in the town of al-Mutasim, 22 km (14 miles) southeast of Samarra, driving militants into the surrounding desert on SaturdayAs Iraqi officials spoke of wresting back the initiative against Sunni militants, neighbouring Shi’ite Iran held out the prospect of working with longtime U.S. arch-enemy to restore security in Iraq.The White House said on Saturday that President Obama had called national security adviser Susan Rice on Friday night and on Saturday morning to receive updates on the situation in Iraq.“The president directed her to continue to keep him appraised of the latest developments, as his national security team continues to meet through the weekend to review potential options,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.Edited footage spliced from 4+ minutes of original videoIraqi Air Force, Iraq Ministry of DefenseIndependent senator Nick Xenophon also wants harsher penalties for carmakers who ‘game’ the system and fines of as much as $50m
Australia needs to improve lax fuel efficiency standards after the Volkswagen emissions scandal or face the prospect of becoming a dumping ground for high-emissions vehicles, advocates have warned.
Pressure is mounting on the federal government to tighten legislation governing vehicle emissions standards. Australia is the only advanced economy not to have limits on the amount of carbon dioxide vehicles can omit, although there are restrictions on the amount of nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide that can be released.
Volkswagen: German prosecutors launch investigation into former boss Read more
The independent senator Nick Xenophon has called for harsh penalties for manufacturers that deliberately “game” the system.
“If a company is out by more than 10% in its claims, then you ought to be looking at redress for consumers and the companies to face a major fine,” he told Sky News on Tuesday.
The penalty for car manufacturers who deliberately fudged the figures could be as much as $50m, he said.
The Greens have legislation in a Senate committee that would raise the emissions standards to European Union levels. The legislation would see two separate targets, of 130g of carbon dioxide per km by 2020 and 95g of CO 2 / km by 2023.
“Australia’s fuel efficiency standards lag behind the rest of the world. By accepting such a low bar we’re forcing ourselves to spend more on petrol and generate more pollution than new car drivers in Europe, China, India and Japan,” the Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, said.
“I’m calling on the Liberals, Nationals and Labor to support the Greens’ bill to bring Australia’s car fuel efficiency into line with European standards. Both the major parties have identified vehicle emissions as an easy target for cutting pollution and lowering the cost of living, so let’s do it.”
Matt Levey, from the consumer group Choice, said Australia had become an easy target for carmakers to offload inefficient vehicles because of its lax emissions standards.
“We’re already a dumping ground, to a certain extent,” he said.
He has welcomed calls for Australian vehicle emissions levels to fall into line with comparable countries.
“It absolutely makes sense to look at what local markets have done,” Levey said. “If it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for us.”
Concerns about the impact that tighter standards would have on local carmakers have been a sticking point for governments in taking action, but with the last Australian-made cars due to roll off production lines in 2017, the political barriers to changing efficiency standards have all but been removed.
“It has been an excuse; it has been a very political debate,” Levey said. “But the excuse is definitely over.”
Xenophon said the sneaky tactics used to meet emissions standards, including using high-powered lubricant and low-tread tires and even removing backseats in order to make the vehicle lighter, have been starkly exposed by the VW scandal.
Earlier this month, the United States Environmental Protection Agency discovered that 482,000 of the German manufacturer’s diesel cars on American roads were releasing up to 40 times more toxic fumes than legally allowed.
VW has since admitted that 11m cars worldwide could have been fitted with the software designed to cheat emissions standards, although the Australian arm of the company could not confirm whether vehicles sold in Australia were among that number.
VW’s market value has dropped by €25bn since the scandal broke.
The company admitted that millions of vehicles made by its subsidiaries, such as Audi, Skoda and Seat, have been a fitted with the cheating technology, and criminal proceedings against VW group’s former boss, Martin Winterkorn, began in Germany on Monday.
Levey has warned that the VW scandal “may well be the tip of the iceberg”, and has called on greater transparency from all car manufacturers exporting to Australia.Organic is always best however, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has come out with a list of fruits and vegetables that were found to contain the highest and lowest levels of pesticides.
Nicknamed, “The Dirty Dozen Plus” the EWG has identified the most pesticide laden produce on the market, helping consumers to make smarter choices of what to purchase and what to avoid.
Pesticides are known toxins and have been linked to behavioural problems, ADHD, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, cancers, metabolic syndromes and more.
The scientists at EWG tested 48 of the most popular fruits and vegetables and studied the total number of pesticides detected and the percentage of samples tested with pesticides.
They found:
An alarming 65 percent of samples analyzed contained pesticides residues
99 percent of all nectarines and apples contained at least one pesticide residue
Potatoes had more pesticides by weight than any other food
A single grape tested positive for 15 pesticides
Celery, cherry tomatoes, snap peas and strawberries tested positive for 13 different pesticides each
Avocado samples contained only 1 percent of pesticide residues
89 percent of pineapples contained no pesticide residues as did 82 percent of kiwi, 80 percent of papayas, 88 percent of mangoes and 61 percent of cantaloupes.
The Fruits and Vegetables that made it onto the ‘Dirty Dozen Plus’ List and had the HIGHEST pesticide count include:
1. Apples
2. Strawberries
3. Grapes
4. Celery
5. Peaches
6. Spinach
7. Sweet Bell Peppers
8. Nectarines (Imported)
9. Cucumbers
10. Cherry Tomatoes
11. Snap Peas (Imported)
12. Potatoes
+ Hot Peppers
+ Kale/Collard Greens
The fruits and vegetables that made it onto the “Clean 15 List” and had the LOWEST pesticide count include:
1. Avocados
2. Sweet Corn
3. Pineapples
4. Cabbage
5. Sweet Peas (Frozen)
6. Onions
7. Asparagus
8. Mangoes
9. Papayas
10. Kiwi
11. Eggplant
12. Grapefruit
13. Cantaloupe
14. Cauliflower
15. Sweet Potatoes
“EWG’s Shopper’s Guide helps people find conventional fruits and vegetables with low concentrations of pesticide residues,” says Sonya Lunder, EWG’s senior analyst and principle author of the report. “If a particular item is likely to be high in pesticides, people can go for organic.”
Read the full report here.Source: Twitter @abuJayyid1.
By Kevin Metcalf
Dangerous games
Kevin Mohamed's photo turned up in a strange place. One of the only publicly available photographs of the 23-year-old facing terrorism-related charges appeared in the February 2015 edition of Iron Warrior, a magazine published by the University of Waterloo’s engineering faculty. His photo can be seen only a few pages after an article co-authored by two Waterloo engineering students about the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2015 (formerly Bill C-51). This is noteworthy because Bill C-51 would subsequently be used to facilitate Mohamed’s prosecution.
The Iron Warrior article focused on the student experience, discussing the effects of Bill C-51 on campus and the possibility of engineering students being recruited by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). It speculated that those same students might be used to spy on Muslim students in the same faculty.
In a strange coincidence, when the article was published Mohamed was already under investigation for his sympathies to a listed terrorist entity. The premise of the article was correct: students (and specifically racialized students) have both the most to lose from Bill C-51 and the greatest role to play in defeating it.
A year after the article was published Mohamed was arrested on a weapons charge. The RCMP first sought a preventative peace bond under “Fear of Terrorism” and Mohamed was later charged with participating in a terrorist group and denied bail.
The circumstances of Mohamed’s arrest are questionable and no direct evidence of his membership or participation in a terrorist group has been made public. His only apparent offence was public support on social media for a Syrian militant group called the Al-Nusra Front. His social media posts were also critical of the more well-known group Daesh (ISIS).
Source: Twitter @abuJayyid1.
Mohamed also tweeted an image from the popular video game Call of Duty and asked for a modification that could simulate the Brussels airport bombing, for which Daesh claimed responsibility. (Call of Duty already features a level in which players can indiscriminately kill civilians in an airport.)
The RCMP alleges Mohamed traveled to Turkey in 2013 to join a terrorist group but his mother denies this; she and Mohamed’s brother also went along for the trip. Experts who have reviewed Mohamed’s case have independently confirmed that he was likely not an extremist.
Where were the youth voices?
In late July 2015, a community meeting was held at Ryerson University. The approximately 25 participants were members of student unions across Toronto, including the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) and others. They referred to themselves as the Students Coalition against Bill C-51 and hoped to launch a discussion about the anti-terrorism legislation on campus and what it means for students.
The meeting consisted of a strategy session, and pledges were made to develop and implement a robust political campaign across Canadian university campuses when students returned to school for the fall 2015 semester. For maximum impact, the campaign was set to coincide with the 2015 federal election.
But despite this collective resolve to take action, the campaign did not materialize as intended, largely due to the absence of relationship-building with the much larger Toronto Coalition to Stop Bill C-51.
The Toronto Coalition to Stop Bill C-51 was formed primarily by independent citizens, not-for-profits, advocacy groups and political parties. Its membership was predominantly white and well-connected to both professional advocacy organizations, unions and the NDP campaign apparatus. These groups have all been criticized for failing to include the lived realities of communities most affected by Bill C-51 in their advocacy efforts. This reflects the tendency of the anti-terrorism legislation to be treated by critics largely as a danger to professional political and legal advocacy, rather than as a danger to community politics or identity.
Groups working on Bill C-51 failed to engage meaningfully with the Ryerson-based initiative led by students, and some of the organizers from that meeting shifted their attention to campus initiatives for youth employment or community-based advocacy groups like Black Lives Matter: Toronto. Their energy and passion was preserved within their communities, but lost from the battle against Bill C-51.
This failure exemplifies the complex struggles of allyship and solidarity in social movements. It is also a glaring indictment of how advocacy campaigns in Canada often fail to connect with the communities that are most impacted by the results of the work.
What’s the difference in 2016?
Canada now has a federal government that has spent its first year in office establishing new political priorities, which has included undertaking public consultations on national security. Unlike other youth-friendly advocacy efforts such as labour and environmental campaigning, national security is often treated by politicians as a ‘grown-up issue’. But as we can see in the case of Kevin Mohamed, national security laws can have a serious impact on young people.
Part of the federal government’s proposed national security consultation framework involves the creation of the Office of Community Outreach and Counter Radicalization. It will focus on leveraging community relations (particularly with women and youth) in an effort to stem the tide of converts to proscribed political ideologies. Because this is a priority area for the federal government, youth clearly have strategic value to the state. To this end, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has established a Youth Council and appointed himself ‘Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Youth’.
There is a serious need to engage youth from diverse cultural backgrounds in the political discourse surrounding Bill C-51. The legislation clearly creates long-term consequences for youth through the sweeping changes it makes to Canada’s national security regime, including criminalizing advocacy or speech about issues that concern youth—particularly youth from marginalized communities. In essence, Bill C-51 has the political effect of turning a young person’s opinion into an embarrassingly permanent facial tattoo. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Youth must be free to experiment with ideas and identities without weathering the permanent, life-altering consequences of their choices.
As a country, Canada appears willing to mortgage the future of many of its youth in the pursuit of security—or perhaps merely an illusion of security which panders to some vision of a flag-waving nationalism built on 'Canadian Values'. The national security framework is well on its way to building lasting regimes of data collection, surveillance and warrantless digital spying in the name of fear. As a result, all the hijinks and transitory political perspectives of today’s youth will be preserved with indelible clarity for the future.
How many of today’s business, political and community leaders expressed support for communism during the 1960s and 1970s when it was seen as a major international threat? Would that support have destroyed or permanently changed young lives if it had occurred in a time of unprecedented digital technologies and surveillance? Youth today are the first generation for whom a right to privacy online or offline is a wholly alien concept.
Despite the rise of dystopian powers for the state, Canada is still a multicultural, multi-ethnic society. It is a nation that prides itself on being a cultural mosaic. Part of this ethos demands tolerance for the political baggage that people bring with them, as young immigrants and first-generation Canadians are informed by the politics of their countries of origin. But the current national security regime will impose lifelong consequences on young people for just these types of thought, speech or association. This permanence is something which should resonate with and frighten all youth.
Despite Canada’s claims to tolerance and openness, 53 of 54 ‘listed terrorist entities’ are organizations whose Canadian membership would be comprised of cultural and ethnic minorities in the country. Not only will Bill C-51 define how the rest of the world views Canada; it will also define all Canadians’ futures when it creates a chilling effect on deviations from normative political discourse and beliefs.
Opportunities over oppression
While today it is Al Nusra Front and Kevin Mohamed, a shift in the winds of political change could see any number of official sanctions visited on segments of the youth population. Over the last two decades this has been the shared experience of students from Palestinian, Tamil, Sikh and other communities. Bill C-51 may be a central tool used to declare and enforce normative political thought through these types of sanctions. This intent was echoed in the last week in the United States, where legislation has been proposed that would allow any type of protester to be charged with ‘economic terrorism’.
One of the best ways to ensure stronger and safer societies is to avoid the marginalization and persecution of beliefs, ideals and the individuals who hold them. There are opportunities to foster inclusive intercultural dialogues all across civil society, including student unions, public interest research groups, campus clubs, collectives and more. These dialogues must empower individuals through direct involvement in a political process that works for and supports their communities.
If Kevin Mohamed read about Bill C-51 in his campus paper, did the Iron Warrior article challenge or reinforce his worldview? How many opportunities to engage productively and inclusively with the young man were missed—on campus and off?
As a country, we cannot prioritize our strategic interests or foreign policy at the expense of our youth. Banning or criminalizing ideological support or advocacy for causes that in many cases can hold deep personal significance will only drive people further into isolation and toward radicalization. Both civil society and national security policy need to do a better job of building bridges and supporting the creation of spaces where youth can organize and work towards a future that safeguards their rights and values. Political engagement is a direct path to empowerment and enfranchisement, and youth need to be allowed to lead on issues like Bill C-51.
Kevin Metcalf is the Operations Coordinator of Stop C-51: Toronto and works as Promotions and Communications Coordinator for Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE).The Deal
$18 for one bento box set ($32 list price). Choose between the following options:
One single-stack bento box and one double-stack bento box
One oval bento box with handles and one double-stack bento box with handles<p>
Choose from the following colors for each option:
Blue
Eggplant
Fuchsia
Orange
Rust red
Yellow<p>
Click here to view an image of each option.<p>
Free shipping and free returns.
####Bento Box Sets These bento boxes' built-in compartments and included utensils eschew the need for multiple baggies, containers, and lids. Load up each compartment with your favorite fruits, vegetables, and crackers to create a balanced and portion-controlled meal. The reusable containers are also an eco-friendly and stylish alternative to stuffing your lunch in a brown paper bag or hobo's bindle.
#####Features * Built-in compartments for organized, portion-controlled meals * Eco-friendly alternative to disposable bags and lunch boxes carved out of ivory * BPA-free materials * Microwave-safe and dishwasher-safe if placed in top rack * Single and double stack boxes include utensils * Made in China * Dimensions: - Single stack bento box: 7.88”x5”x2.5”; 8 oz. - Oval bento box: 7.63”x5.88”x3.25”; 7 oz. - Double stack bento box: 8”x8.25”x3.88”; 11 oz. - Double stack bento box with handles: 8.38"x5.13"x4"; 11 oz.
How to get your goods: by purchasing this Groupon and providing your name and shipping address, your order is complete!For questions pertaining to this deal, please visit the deal Q&A on this page. For post-purchase inquiries, please contact [Groupon customer service](http://gr.pn/zmfvIT).View the [Groupon Goods FAQ](http://gr.pn/yLXWNy) for additional information, including [how list price is determined](http://gr.pn/MGDGkC).It was after midnight in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but the service was just getting under way. The pastor, Pierre Pinda Buana, wore a simple, blue button-down shirt. Its acrylic shimmered as he moved around the center of the room – smooth, practiced, confident. For almost an hour, Pinda led his congregation through songs and chants, the fervor in the church mounting. Then he preached about the main event they had all come to witness: exorcism.
Charles, a Congolese friend of mine, who asked that I not use his real name, translated Pinda's words from Lingala, a local language, to French. But the cries, clapping, and ululations of the crowd often drowned out his voice.
Pinda began describing a demon that was living in the body of a woman who stood before him, almost entirely blocked from my sight by the crowd: "It's attacking the heart. It's attacking the stomach. It strikes faster than an arrow." He called out to the demon, asking why it wanted to kill the woman.
Electrical contacts crackled – I glimpsed a church assistant crouched over a fuse box in the rear doorway – and the bulb dangling above Pinda went dark. Light fell inward from the corners of the room, yellow and angular. Suddenly, the woman collapsed onto the ground and began shouting. The crowd pressed in around her as she writhed and arched her back.
"Elle dit" – Charles told me – "she is saying the spirit wanted to kill her in her sleep because she had a good future. The spirit wanted to destroy the hope in her."
Pinda spoke in a commanding voice, and the woman replied, every word staccato, like a glottal stop. The demon was speaking through the woman, Charles said, and resisting the exorcism. Pinda repeated "deliverance" again and again, his voice echoing in the church's speakers. The center bulb flared back on as he pointed down at the woman and cried out for the demon to leave. The people in the crowd pressed in even more tightly, lifting their arms. Each time the demon told Pinda it would not go, the pastor raised his voice and the crowd clamored, calling out to Jesus.
Suddenly, the people fell silent. The woman had closed her eyes. Those nearest to her hunched down, touching her as they prayed. In the background, a keyboardist in the church's band played a few soothing chords on a synthesizer.
The exorcism was surreal to an outsider standing in the clutch of believers – a startling glimpse into what, for most people in the room, was a typical church service. Yet the most striking thing about the scene was that, despite the alleged cries of a demon, the professed presence of evil, the crowd never appeared scared of the exorcism – only impassioned.
They were wary, however, of a cluster of children huddled in one corner of the room. Occasionally, a congregant would look over at these children in the shadows, most of them asleep. No one but Pinda's assistants went near them.
Charles, a university-educated, deeply religious man in his 30s whom I had met while working on a book project and who had agreed to serve as my guide to Kinshasa's churches, had hesitated to come that night because he knew the children would be there. They would be central to the service's finale, he explained: Pinda would exorcise them of malevolent spirits that are particularly dangerous when they possess the young.
Before the service, as the congregation waited on the dirt road outside the church, Charles had appeared nervous, arms crossed and shoulders drawn in. At one point, a church assistant walked outside and pushed his foot into a rut between the road and a sewer's concrete edge, prodding at what looked like a pile of rags. A child sat up; he had been sleeping next to the gutter and was covered in dirt. People in the crowd pulled back or stared, their eyes wide. The assistant nudged the boy, at most 5 or 6 years old, toward the church. He walked like any half-asleep child, slouched and staggering. He lost a disintegrating shoe and stopped to kick at it repeatedly until his foot went in. People parted to let him pass.
Charles backed away and took my arm. Leaning close, he whispered, "C'est un enfant sorcier" – "It's a child sorcerer."
This mother and her children were accused of sorcery and thrown out of their home because they were said to be causing the family's financial problems.
Over the past two years, during several visits to Kinshasa, I heard terrifying rumors – of children who strangle parents in their sleep or eat the hearts of their siblings. Of swarms of children flying through the skies at night, stealing money or deliberately causing illnesses like HIV and polio.
These children, people said, are sorcerers. They are possessed by dark powers that cause them to commit nefarious, even murderous deeds. To prevent child sorcerers from mischief or worse, people told me, their families should reject them and society should shun them. Or they should be taken to church – 80 percent of Congolese are Christian – where a pastor can perform exorcisms in the name of God. Congo's wildly popular églises de réveil ("revival churches") – an umbrella term for sects rooted in a mix of Pentecostal, charismatic, and prophetic beliefs, as well as local superstitions about dark magic – are more than willing to oblige.
Indeed, the hysteria over child sorcery has spurred a frightening witch hunt, with devastating results. According to UNICEF in 2013, Congolese children accused of sorcery "number in the thousands." People experiencing hardship (a sudden illness, the loss of a job, the death of a relative) often search for a child to blame and find one in their own families. Some of these children are killed, but far more are abandoned, left to join Kinshasa's tens of thousands of street children. Or they are dragged to churches, where they may well find further misery. According to Human Rights Watch, alleged child sorcerers taken to churches may be denied food and water, whipped until they confess, or sexually abused. "[M]ore than 2,000 churches practice deliverance in Kinshasa alone," the organisation has reported. Similarly, in a 2013 report about Congo, the U.S. State Department described "exorcisms of children accused of witch |
weekends with parents or paid coaches to help them develop strategies and quiz them on words.
A few parents have been so invested in helping their children prepare that they have now started training and tutoring other aspiring spellers as well.
Like any national championship, the pressure on all spellers at a competition on the scale of the National Spelling Bee is intense. South Asian-American children are already subject to living up to the model minority stereotype and feel no reprieve here.
This is especially important to consider when South Asian-American spellers come from lower socioeconomic classes, but nonetheless succeed at spelling bees.
Among the 2015 finalists, for instance, one was the son of motel owners and a crowd favorite, as I observed. He had competed in the bee several times, and his older sister was also a speller, having made it to nationals once. Remarkably, they prepared for competitions by themselves, with no stay-at-home parent or paid coach.
Another 2015 semifinalist was featured in a broadcast segment living in the crowded immigrant neighborhood of Flushing, New York. When I visited this three-time National Spelling Bee participant in 2014, I realized that she lived in the very same apartment complex that my family did in the 1970s. This Queens neighborhood continues to be a receiving area for Indian-Americans who may not have the economic means to live in wealthier sections of New York City or its suburbs.
Many possible explanations
The point is that the reasons that Indian-American spellers are succeeding at the bee are not easily reducible to one answer.
South Asian-Americans, like other Asian immigrants, comprise varying class backgrounds and immigration histories. Yet it is noteworthy that even within this range of South Asian-American spellers, it is children of Indian-American immigrants from professional backgrounds who tend to become champions.
Shalini Shankar, CC BY
The time and resources Indian-American families devote to this brain sport, as I have observed, appear to be raising this competition into previously unseen levels of difficulty.
This can take a toll on elite spellers, who have to invest far more time studying spelling than in the past. With more difficult words appearing in earlier rounds of competition, spelling preparation can take up much of their time outside of school.
Nonetheless, they emphasize the perseverance they develop from competitive spelling. They learn to handle increasing levels of pressure, and alongside this, what they identify as important life skills of focus, poise and concentration.
Ultimately, what makes Indian-American children successful at spelling is the same as children of any other ethnicity. They come from families who believe in the value of education and also have the financial means to support their children through every stage of their schooling. And, they are highly intelligent individuals who devote their childhood to the study of American English.
Are they American?
Some comments on social media, however, seem to discount these factors and years of intense preparation to instead focus on race and ethnicity as sole factors for spelling success.
In a refreshing shift in tone, this year’s topics also included the ferocity of Janga’s competition style and the inspiration he drew from his football hero Dez Bryant.
Nonetheless, such comments, directed toward nonwhite children when they win this distinctly American contest, do push us to reflect: what does it mean to be an American now?
In alleging that only “Americans” should win this contest, Twitter racists ignore that these spellers too have been born and raised in the United States. Recent winners hail from suburban or small towns in upstate New York, Kansas, Missouri and Texas. They express regional pride in these locations by mentioning regional sports teams and other distinctive features in their on-air profiles.
With their American-accented English and distinctly American comportment, it is merely their skin color and names that set them apart from a white mainstream.
Like generations of white Americans and European immigrants, Indian-American parents spend countless hours preparing word lists, quizzing their children and creating ways for their children to learn. They encourage their children in whatever they are good at, including spelling.
As a result, they have elevated this American contest to a new level of competition. Clearly, this is an apt moment to expand our definition of what it means to be an American.
This is an updated version of an article first published on June 4, 2015.Chinese Bitcoin Exchange Inspections Cause Price Drop and FUD
News from China is once again spreading through the bitcoin world like wildfire. It appears China’s central bank the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) is visiting with the top three Chinese exchanges and assessing each companies operations. Per usual on negative rumors from China the price of bitcoin took a dive during the early hours of January 11 dropping another 15 percent to a low of US$790.
Also read: Price Reports and Tales From China-Dizzy Bitcoiners
Meetings with the PBOC and Chinese Bitcoin Exchange Causes More Speculation
China’s central bank is currently monitoring and assessing the Chinese exchanges Huobi, Okcoin, and BTCC according to a press release from the institution. The news follows last week’s announcement that these regulatory assessments would be taking place. Reuters details the bank is looking into capital flight and anti-money laundering practices amongst other discussions like “market manipulation.”
“The People’s Bank of China Shanghai headquarters, the Shanghai Municipal Finance Office and other units to form a joint inspection team on Bitcoin China are carrying out on-site inspections,” explains the PBOC press release. “Focusing on checking whether the scope of the enterprise beyond the scope of the market, operation, whether or not without a license to carry out credit, payment, exchange and other related business; whether there is market manipulation; anti-money laundering system implementation; financial security risks and so on.”
As soon as the news hit the ears of the cryptocurrency community the price of bitcoin starting dropping after reaching a high of $925 late in the evening January 10. Furthermore, news outlets covering the subject were quick on the draw to release stories concerning the Chinese inspections. News reports from Reuters, Yahoo Finance, the Globe & Mail, Zerohedge and many others gave details about the situation. Additionally, many cryptocurrency-centric publications also spun off stories with some of them being a bit misleading.
God. It's not a raid. Stop spreading FUD. https://t.co/rgchXsFL0b — Samson Mow (@Excellion) January 11, 2017
BTCC Says Community Should Approach the News With a Rational and Cautious View
According to the press releases originating from Shanghai and Beijing, the inspection is merely a typical regulatory oversight. The bitcoin exchange BTCC has been the most vocal about the situation once again reaffirming the meetings were nothing to worry about. The Chinese exchange details the cryptocurrency community should use rational thinking rather than depend on speculative news sources. BTCC states via the company’s Twitter handle:
A group of regulators consisting of the SH branch of PBOC, the SH Financial Affairs office & other related govt agencies visited BTCC. During this visit, we followed up on prior discussions and shared details about our business model and operations with the group. We expect to continue with additional meetings later this week. All operations at BTCC are normal and we continue to actively work with regulators to ensure that we remain compliant. In the meantime, we urge our customers to take a rational and cautious view to news articles which speculate on the visit and discussions.
Just Another Day in Bitcoin-Land
Time and time again fear, uncertainty, and doubt has shaken up some within the bitcoin crowd. Many are leaning towards the speculation that the Chinese government is trying to curb capital flight and tighten the offshore yuan market. The price of bitcoin has sunk to new lows but is slowly rebounding in an upward trend back to $815 at press time. There has been a lot of shorting within the trading community, and many members of the Whale Club expected the bearish decline.
The news from China and rumors from the region is nothing new within the bitcoin community as these events have happened regularly since the cryptocurrency’s beginnings. Speculation and the game of telephone is a common occurrence for bitcoiners and is only human nature. The bottom line is the ‘Honeybadger of Money’ just doesn’t care and it’s just another day in bitcoin-land.
What do you think about the announcement from the PBOC and BTCC’s follow up responses? Do you think Chinese news has caused the price to drop? Let us know in the comments below.
Images via Shutterstock, and Bitcoin.com.
What’s the quickest way to see the current bitcoin price in your local currency? Click here for an instant quote.We’re big fans of The Room around here. We’ve done a mostly nonsensical interview with mastermind Tommy Wiseau. We’ve covered practically every move the man has made in the last few years, from his on-again, off-again sitcom to his tips for making a sex tape to his connection with James Franco. We even visited the actual locations of “the Citizen Kane of bad movies.” And obviously we aren’t the only fans, as evidenced by packed midnight screenings and the odd pop-cultural reference. And now it’s got the crowning achievement that lets any movie or TV show know that it has arrived: a porn parody. And if you watch the safe-for-work trailer above, it’s obvious that the folks at Woodrocket.com—specifically director Lee Roy Myers (Doctor Whore, Porks And Recreation)—are actually big fans of the movie. Could the acting be any worse than the original, or the sex scenes any less sexy? How do you parody something that’s so completely ridiculous to begin with? Anyway, how is your sex life? These are the questions that presumably can only be answered by The Bed Room, which can be viewed for free at Woodrocket.com. (No, we haven’t seen the whole thing. Ha ha ha, what a story, Mark!)Remember the Sony rootkit fiasco from 2005? If you don't, allow me to explain...
In 2005 it was discovered that global recorded music company Sony BMG, now renamed Sony Music Entertainment, had included what amounted to spyware on some of the CDs they marketed.
This spyware, technically called a "rootkit", was ostensibly an attempt to enforce digital rights management (DRM) but naively exposed users' computers to a whole range of security risks.
Myself and many other commentators took Sony to task for this and were outraged when Thomas Hesse, Sony's then president of the company's global digital business division, commented in a radio interview:
Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?
As I noted at the time:
... most troubling is that he presumes that the ignorance of others is a reasonable basis for doing something to their property. Even worse is the fact that something could have unknown side effects and consequences.
(It's worth noting that Hesse was promoted to the Supervisory Board of Sony's parent company, Bertelsmann AG, last year which says how little impact the rootkit fracas had on his career despite him being responsible for what was monumentally bad judgment by his division.)
Since this watershed in the history of Big Media's obsessive quest to treat everyone who gets anywhere near their products like a criminal, the war against pirates continued unabated with the likes of the Recording Industry Association of America being discovered, also in 2005, to have hacked into the home computer of one Tanya Anderson, a 42-year-old disabled single mother from Oregon on the suspicion that she had illegally downloaded music.
In response, Ms. Andersen took the RIAA to court for RICO violations, fraud, invasion of privacy, abuse of process, electronic trespass, violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, negligent misrepresentation, the tort of "outrage", and deceptive business practices and, three years later, won a judgement against the RIAA with costs being awarded to her to the tune (pun intended) of almost $108,000.
But, the beat goes on, and Big Media's willingness to win however they can hasn't lessened despite their paltry wins and significant losses.
The latest and one of the most shameless forays into corporations trying to control and spy on consumers has just surfaced in Canada.
A collection of industry association including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Marketing Association, the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, and the Entertainment Software Association of Canada filed a comment on Canada's draft anti-spam legislation that contains a provision that would, and I quote from a disturbing blog post written by Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa:
... effectively legalize spyware in Canada on behalf of these industry groups
Currently under Canadian law, you, as a third party, can't mess with a user's computer:
8. (1) A person must not, in the course of a commercial activity, install or cause to be installed a computer program on any other person's computer system or, having so installed or caused to be installed a computer program, cause an electronic message to be sent from that computer system, unless (a) the person has obtained the express consent of the owner or an authorized user of the computer system and complies with subsection 11(5); or (b) the person is acting in accordance with a court order.
What the industry groups want is to either throw out that wording entirely and have a "Review Body" look at the issues (which punts the whole mess into limbo) or include the following wording (it's on page 11):
... the following computer programs be exempt from section 8 of the Act: (a) a program that is installed by or on behalf of a person to prevent, detect, investigate, or terminate activities that the person reasonably believes (i) present a risk or threatens the security, privacy, or unauthorized or fraudulent use, of a computer system, telecommunications facility, or network, or (ii) involves the contravention of any law of Canada, of a province or municipality of Canada or of a foreign state;
Allow me to translate that for you: We get to place surveillance software on consumer's computers on the thinest of pretexts.
We can be pretty certain that the industry associations would have much preferred not have so much attention focussed on their nefarious plans and it will be interesting to see how they go about "damage control."
What is certain is that these attempts at legalizing spying and controlling consumers aren't going to stop and it's all going to get a lot more complicated, messy, and tortuously legal.
Tip o' the hat to Freezenet.Waiting on a subway platform, unsure when (or if) a train will arrive can be a frustrating experience. But over the past few years, the MTA has started to roll out digital countdown clocks at stops across the New York City subway system, giving riders a clearer idea as to when their train will come.
The MTA's latest amendment to its 2015-2019 Capital Program comes with a detail that should bring hope to anyone who loves a digital screen telling them how much longer they'll be standing on a platform. The authority has refined its plan to roll out the countdown clocks on all of system's lettered lines, which follows a successful pilot program that brought the timers to N, Q and R stations last year.
Currently, just 179 of the 472 subway stations in NYC have countdown clocks, and the only lettered line that features the technology is the L (which is, of course, shutting down for 15 months beginning in 2019). There is currently no specific timeline in place, but more information will be announced soon, according to MTA communications director Beth DeFalco.
Last year, the MTA managed to bring Wi-Fi and cell service to each of the city's underground subway stations, making the experience of waiting for a delayed train slightly more palatable for those addicted to their email or social media. The new countdown clocks look to bring a similar boost in rider experience in the coming years.
The new screens do not necessarily correlate with an improvement in the quality of subway service—something that riders are desperate for after a year filled with delays and service disruptions. The clocks are bundled with a $2.73 billion appropriation for updating the system's archaic signaling system, but the new countdown technology is a separate initiative altogether.
Even as the quality of subway service continues to decline and ridership continues to increase, at least riders across the city will be informed as to exactly how screwed up their commutes will be in real time.The art of being happy is all about mental health and relationship status, according to a new study led by researchers from the London School of Economics. The team also discovered that money and material wealth have very little impact on our overall happiness levels, and call for “a new focus for public policy: not ‘wealth creation’ but ‘wellbeing creation’.”
In their report, the authors note that life satisfaction among the general population, rather than economic growth, has been the single biggest predictor of the outcome of European elections since the 1970s. They set out to try and pin down the key factors that contribute to that elusive sense of contentment.
Looking at survey data from Australia, the UK, Germany and the US, the team examined the responses of more than 200,000 people to questions about what lifestyle elements most affect their happiness.
They discovered that mental health has by far the biggest influence, with depression and anxiety being responsible for around 20 percent of the variation in life satisfaction. Having a partner was also found to have a considerable impact on happiness, but income accounted for less than 2 percent of the overall variance.
The researchers then calculated that abolishing depression and anxiety would be four times more effective at ending misery than raising all incomes so that no one was earning below the 20th percentile of the national average.
Obviously, eliminating these disorders is not currently possible, although the authors found that treating depression and anxiety costs 18 times less than raising people above the poverty line, and may therefore provide a cost-effective strategy to reducing misery.
When looking at how childhood experiences affect adult happiness, the researchers discovered that emotional health as a youngster was far more significant than financial resources, and was the biggest determinant of a person’s wellbeing later in life.
The full results of this study are to be presented later this month at a conference that the authors say they “hope will usher in another revolution – where policymaking at last aims at what really matters: the happiness of the people.”A man has been charged after allegedly ramming a P-plate driver on a NSW road.
A 47-year-old man attended Singleton Police Station about 4pm on Monday, NSW Police said.
He has been issued with a notice to attend Newcastle Local Court on October 5 for the offences of drive motor vehicle menaces another with intent, negligent driving, drive recklessly/furiously or speed/manner dangerous, and not give particulars to other driver.
The incident was captured on the dash cam of a car travelling behind the two vehicles on Maitland Road in Newcastle on Saturday.
The footage shows a white four-wheel drive appear to drive aggressively beside the other vehicle for an extended period before eventually it swerved into its side.
Police said the driver did not stop after the altercation.
© Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2019Coinbase Raises $100M to "Help Accelerate Digital Currency Adoption"
On August 10 the San Francisco-based company Coinbase announced it has raised US$100M in a Series D funding round. The company says the large capital injection will be used to help “create an open financial system for the world.”
Also read: Breadwallet’s Bitcoin Cash Tool Arrives Next Week — Full Client Coming Soon
This week the bitcoin exchange and brokerage service, Coinbase, announced a successful Series D funding round raising $100M. The firm says it has experienced “unprecedented growth” this year and has exchanged over “$25 billion USD worth of digital currency.” Coinbase explains that it will use the new capital to further scale the company’s resources and services. The company outlines its plans with the money stating;
We will Increase the size of our engineering and customer support teams to improve the customer experience. Open a GDAX office in New York City, further investing in our ability to serve institutions and professional traders. And invest in Toshi, to help accelerate digital currency’s shift from speculative investment to global payment network.
The Series D funding round was led by venture capital firms such as IVP, Spark Capital, Greylock Partners, Battery Ventures, Section 32 and Draper Associates. Coinbase says they are “fortunate” to be working with IVP who has invested in successful companies like Snap, Netflix, Twitter, Dropbox, and Slack. Toshi is a browser for the Ethereum network that aims to provide universal access to financial services. Coinbase says they are excited about the digital currency economy and the firm is entering into the next phase of their “secret master plan.”
Digital currencies are having their “Netscape” moment. The pace of innovation has been accelerating and we are now seeing exciting projects and companies being built on top of digital currencies.
Coinbase has done well since its inception in 2012 raising a total of $217M in funding rounds from over 29 investors. The company has also been very popular with over 30M wallets used by close to 10M customers in 2017. The San Francisco company is now the first ‘Unicorn’ cryptocurrency startup with a market valuation of $1.6B.
Images via Shutterstock, and the Coinbase website.
At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even lookup the exchange rate for a transaction in the past. Or calculate the value of your current holdings. Or create a paper wallet. And much more.Image caption RFI said the two journalists were passionate about Africa
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) killed the two French journalists who were abducted in Kidal in north Mali, a website used by the group has said.
An AQIM statement said the killings on Saturday were in response to France's "new crusade", Sahara Media reports.
French troops drove Islamist groups out of northern Mali's main towns after launching an offensive in January.
France described the killing of Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon as a "calculated assassination".
AQIM said their killing was intended to avenge "crimes" committed by French and African troops against the people of northern Mali, Sahara Media, a news agency based in Mauritania, reported on its Arab-language website.
"The organisation considers that this is the least price that President Francois Hollande and his people will pay for their new crusade," AQIM's statement said.
Ms Dupont, 57, and Mr Verlon, 58, worked for Radio France International (RFI).
They were kidnapped and shot dead on Saturday after interviewing a local leader in the northern town of Kidal.
There are 200 French troops and 200 African peacekeepers as well as a Malian army base in Kidal.
The bodies of the journalists have been repatriated to France.
France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has said operations are ongoing to find their attackers.
On Monday, Malian police officials said a number of suspects had been arrested in connection with the murders.
The French government could not confirm than anyone had been detained.More than 1,000 workers employed in State-owned banks earn more than €100,000.
Another 24 staff at the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly Anglo Irish Bank, earn more than €200,000.
The figures were released tonight in a parliamentary reply to Fianna Fáil's Michael McGrath.
Mr McGrath said it would come as a shock to those working in the banks, who are fearful of losing their jobs.
The figures come after it recently emerged that 24 banking officials at AIB and EBS are earning a basic salary of more than €250,000 a year.
The Department of Finance released figures showing that 804 staff at AIB and EBS earn a basic salary of between €100,000 and €199,000.
There are 45 staff at AIB and EBS who earn between €200,000 and €299,000, while 12 earn over €300,000.
There are 52 officials at Permanent TSB who earn between €100,000 and €199,000, seven earn between €200,000 and €299,000 and two people earn over €300,000.
Figures for IBRC show that 119 staff earn a basic salary between €100,000 and €199,000, 16 workers earn between €200,000 and €299,000 and eight earn over €300,000.
The number of people earning over €100,000 in all three institutions has reduced since 2008.
A spokeswoman for AIB and EBS said they employ 14,000 staff and the number earning over €100,000 had decreased in recent years.
A spokesman for PTSB said it employs 1,800 staff.
In its reply to the parliamentary question, the Department of Finance said that Bank of Ireland said it would supply the necessary details shortly.Adam West may have died earlier this month, but his legacy — and tenure — as Mayor of Quahog will live on during the next season of Family Guy.
The late actor — who died at the age of 88 on June 9 — is, of course, best and forever known for starring as Batman in the 1960s TV series. (He also shined in Conan O’Brien and Robert Smigel’s 1991 NBC comedy pilot Lookwell.) But he had a significant and delightful recurring role on Family Guy, appearing in more than 100 episodes as Mayor Adam West, the sonorously-toned and downright delusional politician who once tried to marry his hand (and, at another time, sought revenge on the ocean by trying to stab it). His most recent appearance came just last month, but, as it turns out, that won’t be West’s last on-air contribution to the show. Before he died, West had also recorded lines for several episodes slated for next season, and EW has learned that the producers of the animated Fox comedy have decided that they will honor West and his legacy by airing those episodes. (The show paid tribute to him on June 18 with a title card before a rebroadcast of the March episode “The Dating Game,” and earlier this month, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane saluted him on Twitter, concluding with, “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you have given, Mr. Mayor. You’re irreplaceable.”)
In the following interview, Family Guy executive producer Steve Callaghan — who wrote the first episode featuring West, which aired back in 2000 — remembers the late actor, his contributions to the show, and the plan to keep his memory alive by giving you more West in the coming year. “He’s gone,” says Callaghan, “but we can still enjoy his tremendous work for a while longer.
FOX
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How much of a shock was Adam’s death to everyone at Family Guy? I understand that his battle with leukemia wasn’t very long.
STEVE CALLAGHAN: It came as a complete shock. If I get emotional in this conversation, I apologize. It was very shocking, which seems like such an odd thing to say about someone who is in their late 80s. But, the thing about Adam West is that every time he would come to record, he was just vital and healthy and had so much energy and happiness — no one that you would ever think wouldn’t be with you much longer. So it was very shocking, and it wasn’t that long ago… that he was here. We will miss him a lot. He brought so much to the show, and, of course, we’ll miss the character because it’s such a funny character. But we’ll just miss having his presence here in the office. There are not enough positive adjectives in the language to use to describe Adam West. He’s just such a wonderful, sweet, hilarious, kind guy. It’s a real blow to the show, but to us personally — those of us who have known him so long and have had the good fortune to work with him for so long.
How would you sum up what he meant to the show?
I’ve worked on pretty much every episode and it just so happened, luck of the draw, my very first episode writing for the show was the [season 2 episode, “Fifteen Minutes of Shame”] that introduced his character. It was an episode that started out with Quahog Clam Day — we were inventing this fictional event that happened in town every year, a day centered on clams, just because it seemed so idiotic — and Seth was the one who suggested, “Well, we need to have the mayor there to introduce this town-wide event.” So, we’re kicking around who would that be and what would the character of the mayor be, and I remember Seth saying, “What about Adam West?” And I [said], “Oh, he could be funny. What would the mayor’s name be or what would the character be?” And he said, “No, just Adam West. Like, he’s the mayor of the town.” I laughed and I thought, “Well, I don’t get it.” And he said, “Yeah, it would just be Adam West, and we’ll just never mention Batman, and it’s just a given that he’s the mayor.” We all just really laughed and sparked to that idea. And Seth had had a past working relationship with him because—
He worked with him on Johnny Bravo.
Seth had such a great time working with him and it turned out to be such a perfect choice. So he came in and did the part, and from the first record, we knew this is going to be a great asset to the show. He was such a valuable part of the universe, because not only did he have some sort of utility in that there are storylines that can benefit from having a mayor driving the story, but just as a comedic engine — he has almost virtually no straight lines. Because almost everything that comes out of that guy’s mouth is a joke. And it’s pretty remarkable, even on a show like ours. Even Peter Griffin has to have a fair number of straight lines.
Mayor Adam West was just an almost endless source of comedy, and you could very reliably go to him to get you out of a scene, or to add comedy whenever and wherever you needed it. So, he meant a lot to us in terms of being a principle character on the series for so long, but [also as] just a very reliable place to go to for laughs. And then, as the series progressed, he became even more meaningful to the series because in addition to just being the mayor, we had a whole episode dedicated to him meeting and falling in love with Lois’s sister, so he became Peter’s brother-in-law. I think that’s just a reflection of how much we love weaving that character into episodes, because he was always so fun to be a part of the show. It made natural, evolutionary sense to have him move from being just the mayor to being the mayor and someone who shows up at Thanksgiving dinner with a bowl of marshmallow Peeps. He was just a great character to have around, and it will certainly take some getting used to figure out how we are going to go forward without this great character to rely upon.
What was a recording session with him like? Did he ad-lib a lot?
I used to always look forward to any chance I got to direct Adam. I was a huge, huge fan of Batman when I was growing up. They would show reruns after school when I would get home. And I was such a fan, that as a kindergartner, I cajoled my mother into stitching me a Batman costume that I wore to school. Not on Halloween, mind you, just on a regular Thursday. And if 6-year-old me would have ever imagined that years later I would have a personal friendship, or work relationship at least, it would have blown my mind. And I always loved recording him. It was just like seeing an old friend, and there was always the some amount of catching up and chatting and finally one of us would say, “Well, I guess we should get to work here.” He always had such a blast and was very game for anything, which was so nice. I can think of one example in all the years when he asked, “Can we change this line a little bit?”
We would put anything in front of him. There’s a ridiculous line from an episode years ago where he’s standing on a street corner saying to a passing woman, he says, “Hey, baby. Wanna take a gander at some Adam West penis?” And he’s like, “Okay, I’ll do it.” He just was such a good sport. Always really funny. So easy to work with, easy to take direction, and sometimes he’d ad-lib or expand on something or go, “How about if I do it this way?” And he’d do something that was invariably funnier than what we had on the page, and was just a really good sport with a great sense of humor.
The one other thing that I definitely, definitely felt from him was such appreciation. He was so happy and thankful to be a part of Family Guy. And he, on more than one occasion with me, would marvel at the fact that he now had fans who knew him only as the mayor of Quahog, and didn’t even know him as Batman — younger fans, of course. He would remark that he would go out in the world and he liked that people would come up to him and talk to him about how much they enjoyed his performances on the show, and that that meant a lot to him and made him feel good. He was very appreciative for that… I think he really loved being part of the show as much as we loved having him.
NEXT PAGE: Callaghan on the decision to keep Mayor West on the show, what to expectCLOSE And that he brings a dose of humility to the race Time
Peter Thiel at the National Press Club on Oct. 31, 2016. (Photo11: SAUL LOEB, AFP/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — Tech billionaire Peter Thiel, facing intense criticism for his financial support of Republican Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, struck back Monday against the Washington and Silicon Valley “elites” he said are ignoring the economic difficulties afflicting many Americans.
“What Donald Trump represents isn’t crazy, and it’s not going away,” he said during a speech at the National Press Club.
Thiel, who recently announced that he would donate $1.25 million to aid Trump’s candidacy, called the New York businessman’s comments about groping women “clearly offensive and inappropriate.”
But he said he and other Trump voters won’t pull the levers on Election Day to “judge a candidate’s flaws.”
“We’re voting for Trump because we judge the leadership of our country” as failed, Thiel said. “This judgment,” he added, “has certainly been hard to accept for Silicon Valley, where many people have learned to keep quiet if they dissent from the coastal bubble.”
Some in the tech world have called for Thiel to be dropped from the boards of the social network giant Facebook and California incubator Y Combinator over the donations. Thiel, who made his fortune co-founding PayPal, said the pushback has not affected his business dealings in “any meaningful way.”
But Thiel, who also spoke in support of Trump at July’s Republican National Convention, said he was surprised by the level of outrage. He specifically called out a leading LGBT magazine, The Advocate, for running an op-ed that questioned whether Thiel, a prominent gay conservative, could still be considered gay for backing Trump.
“The lie behind the buzzword of diversity could not be made more clear,” Thiel said Monday. “If you don’t conform, then you don’t count as diverse, no matter what your personal background.”
He said Trump gets the “big things” right, such as understanding that free trade “has not worked out well for all of America” and that voters have grown tired of 15 years of overseas conflicts.
During his appearance in Washington, Thiel also defended another controversial position: His decision to financially back wrestler Hulk Hogan’s successful lawsuit against the media site Gawker for publishing a tape of Hogan having sex. The lawsuit drove Gawker into bankruptcy.
Thiel said the lawsuit was not an attack on the First Amendment but sought to fight back against the most “egregious invasion of privacy imaginable.” He slammed Gawker as acting like a “sociopathic bully.”
Even as he defended Trump, Thiel made clear that his views diverged from the real-estate magnate’s in other ways. When asked about Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims entering the country, Thiel said he opposes “religious tests.”
Thiel is well-known for his contrarian positions, and his activity in the 2016 election is not his first foray into politics.
In the 2012 election, Thiel gave $2.6 million to a super PAC that backed then-Rep. Ron Paul’s candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. Early in the 2016 cycle, he contributed $2 million to back former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina’s unsuccessful bid for the GOP nomination, Federal Election Commission records shows.
“I’ve always had a bias for outsider candidates,” he said, adding that he would have preferred a general-election showdown between Trump and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
He’s also a generous contributor to the anti-tax group, Club For Growth, according to election filings.
Thiel's $1.25 million investment is modest compared to another Silicon Valley figure's political donations. Dustin Moskovitz, a Facebook co-founder, and his wife, Cari Tuna, have contributed more than $23 million since mid-August to help Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton and other Democrats, a USA TODAY tally shows.
Contributing: Christopher Schnaars
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2eN2AsiNumbers have never been a strong point for the left. Hence why Owen Jones and his new mate Charlotte Church were pushing the quarter of a million figure for Saturday’s march in London. It’s nonsense.
Even lefties are sceptical:
Saturday's anti-austerity march was impressive but you can't get 250,000 – 3 Wembley crowds – in Parliament Square! pic.twitter.com/oqR3EdorpM — Kevin Maguire (@Kevin_Maguire) June 22, 2015
While the police will not publicly give a figure, a source tells Guido this morning that Parliament Square can hold around 20,000 people. With a bit of overflow, the working estimate is around 25,000…
250,000 would fill not only Parliament Square but Whitehall and Trafalgar Square too. Twice over.
In order for the comrades to have achieved 250,000 people on their march, 5,000 people would have to have left the starting point at Bank every minute – almost 100 per second – in the time they claimed to have achieved this fantasy number. “A tight military formation couldn’t even do that,” Guido’s public order numbers bod derides.
Are the lefties really saying they had the same number of people who marched on Washington in 1963 at the height of the Civil Rights movement – put at between 200,000 and 250,000:
Is Owen Jones really saying he is a bigger draw than Martin Luther King?
250,000 was also the figure given for |
over the next week or so.
As per Harsha, the primary theme of the festival as well as street art was to make the locals aware of the environment. From an environment friendly hill station in the past, the face of town has slowly changed now - so much that some places even have air conditioning. The festival tried to help the locals understand and appreciate the different facets of the environment better. This was done through a series of workshops, performances, art creation and so on.
Street Art is highly driven by the context in which it is created. For instance, in case of Pune the vibe was different and the artwork here celebrates life in all its vibrant colors. However, Matheran was different as it was a green hill-station. The context decided the art as well as the colors uses - the work done by him was primarily brown and white. The key intent was not to break the harmony of the space.
Another artist from Pune who did the recce before the festival and also created some art there is Nilesh. Earlier a lecturer at an art college in Pune, he joined the Pune Street Art initiative once he left college and has been painting streets ever since. He has also painted streets in Mumbai and a few other places.
There were a few more artists as well, including one from Mumbai and another one from Germany. It's interesting to see all different styles merging so beautifully with each other as well as the environment where they exist.
Now three months after the festival, the art has taken another, more beautiful form. In this part of the country, monsoons can turn anything into something beautiful. In case of these beautiful pieces of street art, their beauty was only exemplified by rains. Somehow rains claimed art and made it, it's own.
How to explore street art in Matheran?
So how do you go about discovering art in Matheran? Well, its rather simple actually - walk! Some of the art can be seen on the main street, for other art pieces you might have to walk in to side lanes and for some other you might even have to ask the locals. Trust me, this is super fun...you will love both the sudden discovery as well as hunting down some of the more elusive pieces as well.
I am not an artist, but I love art, especially street art. I recently enjoyed discovering some art in my city Pune (read more), and I can tell you one thing for sure - it's addictive! Fortunately for Pune, I knew about the Street Art project and also about some of the specific art pieces and artists, so it was even more fun. For Matheran, I do not know as much, but I loved it still and hope you do as well :)
The first few images in the series are black and white with red used as accent colors. I am not sure if this was intentional, but in my mind I saw these rather innovative and more challenging as communication media.
An old man - also my fav!
Looks like a scene from the party...I could be totally wrong :)
Maybe a horse!
Horse again
Very smartly done on the electricity box
Cleaning up?
I quit like this style...
Another communicative one...
This is how I realised that Harshvardhan was part of this initiative :)
Vibrancy of colors!
Riding a horse - quite typical of Matheran
The cool man - love how it's integrated with roots of the tree :)
Here are the some of the more colorful art pieces. Note how nature has also added its own colors to some of these and how that makes them even more beautiful. To me the rough texture of the walls also add another dimension of beauty to these and makes the art pop and interact even more with the viewer.Enjoy!Fresh from Texas of San Antonio, Texas is voluntarily recalling multiple products containing sliced red apples which are identified below because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria Monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.
No illnesses have been reported to date.
The product was sold by H-E-B stores in Texas.
Photographs of the recalled product are included below. Only the following products and production lots are affected:
Product UPC Code Best By Date Packaging H-E-B READY FRESH GO SLICED RED APPLES 22.5 oz 4122018603 03/16 to 04/11 Bagged Item H-E-B READY FRESH GO SLICED RED APPLES WITH CARAMEL DIP 16 OZ 4122079830 03/16 to 04/11 Bagged Item Value Pack Sliced Apples 28 oz. 42797 96149 03/16/2016 to 04/11/2016 Clear Bowl Red & Green Apples Large 17 oz. 41220 87649 03/16/2016 to 04/11/2016 Clear Container Large Sliced Red Apples 17 oz 41220 87646 03/16/2016 to 04/11/2016 Clear Container Fruit Party Tray 45 oz 41220 87997 03/16/2016 to 04/03/2016 Clear Rectangle Container Deluxe Fruit Tray 52 oz 42797 96661 03/16/2016 to 04/03/2016 Clear Round Container Apples & Grapes 10 oz 41220 87666 03/16/2016 to 04/03/2016 Clear Container Fruit & Veg Combo Tray 40oz 42797 96688 03/16/2016 to 04/03/2016 Clear Rectangle Tray H-E-B READY FRESH GO FRESH FRUIT MEDLEY 7 oz. 41220 02402 03/16/2016 to 04/03/2016 Clear Container H-E-B READY FRESH GO CARROTS, APPLES & CELERY WITH RANCH DIP 6.75 oz 41220 54448 03/16/2016 to 04/03/2016 Clear Container with 4 compartments H-E-B READY FRESH GO CARROTS, APPLES WITH SESAME STICKS, & HUMMUS 6oz 41220 02144 03/16/2016 to 04/03/2016 Clear Rectangle Container with 4 compartments H-E-B READY FRESH GO CARROTS, APPLES WITH YOGURT PRETZELS AND RANCH DIP 4.75 oz. 41220 02119 03/16/2016 to 04/03/2016 Clear Rectangle Container with 4 compartments H-E-B READY FRESH GO PINEAPPLE, GRAPES & APPLES WITH BANANA CHIPS 6oz 41220 02138 03/16/2016 to 04/03/2016 Clear Container with 4 compartments
The recall was the result of internal company testing which indicated the presence of Listeria Monocytogenes in two random samples of the same product. The company has ceased the production and distribution of the product as FDA and the company continue their investigation as to what caused the problem.
Customers who purchased the product can return the product to the store for a full refund. Customers with any questions or concerns may contact Fresh from Texas at (817) 690-2330 Monday- Friday 24 hours a day.
###Firaxis announced a partnership with indie studio Long War today aimed at ensuring XCOM 2 mods from the team will be readily available when the game launches next month.
It's a rare to see a studio working with external developers who are producing mods for its games, and even rarer to see them make a show of doing so ahead of a game's release.
But that's exactly what Firaxis and parent company 2K are doing, as they plan to bring Long War's John Lumpkin onto their XCOM 2 panel at PAX South later this month to talk about (among other things) the game's modding tools.
This is also intriguing because developers may recall Long War Studios was formed late last month by modders best known for creating the popular "Long War" mod for XCOM. The team has stated their intent to Kickstart an original game of their own, Terra Invicta, but has yet to embark on a crowdfunding campaign for the project.At a time of new concern about the attraction of Western Muslims to violent extremism, there is no figure more central than Mr. Awlaki, who has harnessed the Internet for the goals of Al Qaeda. Counterterrorism officials are gravely concerned about his powerful appeal for many others who are following his path to radicalization.
“He’s a magnetic character,” said Philip Mudd, a veteran of the C.I.A.’s Counterterrorism Center who just stepped down after nearly five years as a top F.B.I. intelligence adviser. “He’s a powerful orator in a revolutionary movement.”
Convinced that he is a lethal threat, the United States government has responded in kind. This year Mr. Awlaki became the first American citizen on the C.I.A.’s list of terrorists approved as a target for killing, a designation that has only enhanced his status with admirers like Shahidur Rahman, 27, a British Muslim of Bangladeshi descent who studied with Mr. Awlaki in London in 2003.
Other clerics equivocated about whether terrorist violence could be reconciled with Islam, Mr. Rahman said, but even seven years ago Mr. Awlaki made clear that he had few such qualms.
“He said suicide is not allowed in Islam,” Mr. Rahman said in an interview, “but self-sacrifice is different.”
There are two conventional narratives of Mr. Awlaki’s path to jihad. The first is his own: He was a nonviolent moderate until the United States attacked Muslims openly in Afghanistan and Iraq, covertly in Pakistan and Yemen, and even at home, by making targets of Muslims for raids and arrests. He merely followed the religious obligation to defend his faith, he said.
Photo
“What am I accused of?” he asks in a recent video bearing the imprint of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. “Of calling for the truth? Of calling for jihad for the sake of Allah? Of calling to defend the causes of the Islamic nation?”
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
A contrasting version of Mr. Awlaki’s story, explored though never confirmed by the national Sept. 11 commission, maintains that he was a secret agent of Al Qaeda starting well before the attacks, when three of the hijackers turned up at his mosques. By this account, all that has changed since then is that Mr. Awlaki has stopped hiding his true views.
The tale that emerges from visits to his mosques, and interviews with two dozen people who knew him, is more complex and elusive. A product both of Yemen’s deeply conservative religious culture and freewheeling American ways, he hesitated to shake hands with women but patronized prostitutes. He was first enthralled with jihad as a teenager — but the cause he embraced, the defeat of Soviet troops in Afghanistan, was then America’s cause too. After a summer visit to the land of the victorious mujahedeen, he brought back an Afghan hat and wore it proudly around the Colorado State campus in Fort Collins where he studied engineering.
Later, Mr. Awlaki seems to have tried out multiple personas: the representative of a tolerant Islam in a multicultural United States (starring in a WashingtonPost.com video explaining Ramadan); the fiery American activist talking about Muslims’ constitutional rights (and citing both Malcolm X and H. Rap Brown); the conspiracy theorist who publicly doubted the Muslim role in the Sept. 11 attacks. (The F.B.I., he wrote a few days afterward, simply blamed passengers with Muslim names.)
All along he remained a conservative, fundamentalist preacher who invariably started with a scriptural story from the seventh century and drew its personal or political lessons for today, a tradition called salafism, for the Salafs, or ancestors, the leaders of the earliest generations of Islam.
Finally, after the Yemeni authorities, under American pressure, imprisoned him in 2006 and 2007, Mr. Awlaki seems to have hardened into a fully committed ideologist of jihad, condemning non-Muslims and cheerleading for slaughter. His message has become indistinguishable from that of Osama bin Laden — except for his excellent English and his cultural familiarity with the United States and Britain. Those traits make him especially dangerous, counterterrorism officials fear, and he flaunts them.
“Jihad,” Mr. Awlaki said in a March statement, “is becoming as American as apple pie and as British as afternoon tea.”
‘Skinny Teenager With Brains’
Twenty years ago, long before the Sept. 11 attacks and the wars that followed, a shy freshman named Anwar turned up at the little mosque in a converted church a short walk from the Colorado State campus. His American accent was misleading: born in New Mexico in 1971, when his father was studying agriculture there, he had lived in the United States until the age of 7.
But he had spent his adolescence in Yemen, where memorizing the Koran was a matter of course for an educated young man, and women were largely excluded from public life.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
His father, Nasser, was a prominent figure who would serve as agriculture minister and chancellor of two universities and who was close to President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the country’s authoritarian leader. Anwar was sent to Azal Modern School, among the country’s most prestigious private schools.
“I recall Anwar as a skinny teenager with brains,” said Walid al-Saqaf, a neighbor in the 1980s in Sana, the Yemeni capital. For boys of their generation, Afghanistan and its fight to oust the godless Soviet Army was the greatest cause.
Photo
“There was constant talk of the heroes who were leaving Yemen to join the fight and become martyrs and go to paradise,” recalled Mr. Saqaf, now a doctoral student in Sweden. In the Awlakis’ neighborhood, families would gather to watch the latest videotapes of the mujahedeen, he said.
But Nasser al-Awlaki had other ideas for his son, who studied civil engineering in Colorado in preparation for the kind of technocratic career his father had pursued. There was one odd note, given the family’s relative wealth: just after arriving, Anwar applied for a Social Security number and claimed falsely he had been born in Yemen, evidently to qualify for scholarship money reserved for foreign citizens.
Yusuf Siddiqui, a fellow student who was active with Mr. Awlaki in the mosque and the Muslim Student Association, said there were regular reminders of his Yemeni upbringing.
“If you made some pop culture reference, he might not recognize it,” Mr. Siddiqui said. Once, Anwar astonished his Americanized friends by climbing a nearby mountain barefoot. “He just said, ‘That’s how we do it in Yemen,’” Mr. Siddiqui recalled.
Accustomed to Yemeni mores, he was not comfortable interacting with women. Once, when a female American student stopped by the Muslim Student Association to ask for help with math homework, “He said to me in a low tone of voice, ‘Why don’t you do it?’” Mr. Siddiqui said.
Still, Mr. Awlaki was neither among the most conservative Muslim students nor among the libertines who tossed aside religious restrictions on drinking and sex. He ran successfully for president of the Muslim Student Association against a Saudi student who was far stricter.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
“I remember Anwar saying, ‘He would want your mom to cover her face. I’m not like that,’” Mr. Siddiqui said.
His vacation trip to Afghanistan, around the time the Soviet-backed Communist government fell from power, appears to have brought a new interest in the nexus of politics and religion. He wore an Eritrean T-shirt and the Afghan hat and quoted Abdullah Azzam, a prominent Palestinian scholar who provided theological justification for the Afghan jihad and was later known as a mentor to Osama bin Laden.
Meanwhile, at the Islamic Center of Fort Collins, the little mosque where volunteers took turns giving the Friday sermon, Mr. Awlaki discovered a knack for preaching. If he could boast of no deep scholarship, he knew the Koran and the sayings of the prophet, spoke fluent English and had a light touch.
“He was very knowledgeable,” said Mumtaz Hussain, 71, a Pakistani immigrant active in the mosque for two decades. “He was an excellent person — very nice, dedicated to religion.”
He expressed no anti-American sentiments, said Mr. Hussain, whose son served in the National Guard. “This is our motherland now. People would not tolerate sermons of that kind,” he said.
Photo
Years later, on his blog, Mr. Awlaki would compare Thomas Gradgrind, Charles Dickens’s notoriously utilitarian headmaster in “Hard Times,” “to some Muslim parents who are programmed to think that only medicine or engineering are worthy professions for their children.”
It sounds like a hint at his own experience, and some family acquaintances say there was tension between Anwar and his father over career choices. But in 1994, Mr. Awlaki married a cousin from Yemen — whom by custom he did not introduce to his male friends — left behind engineering, and took a part-time job as imam at the Denver Islamic Society.
‘He Had a Beautiful Tongue’
Like many an evangelical Christian pastor, Mr. Awlaki preached against vice and sin, lauded family values and parsed the scripture, winning fans and rising to successively larger mosques.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
In Denver, however, there was an episode that might have been an omen. A Saudi student at the University of Denver told an elder that he had decided, with Mr. Awlaki’s encouragement, to travel to Chechnya to join the jihad against the Russians. The elder, a Palestinian American in his 60s, thought it ill advised and confronted Mr. Awlaki in a loud argument.
“He had a beautiful tongue,” recalled the elder, who asked not to be named. “But I told him: ‘Don’t talk to my people about jihad.’ He left two weeks later.”
At 25, he landed for five years at Arribat al-Islami, a stucco building with blue-green tile under a towering palm tree at the edge of San Diego. “He lit up when he was with the youth,” said Jamal Ali, 40, an airport driver. He played soccer with younger children and took teenagers paintballing. “I saw him evolving in trying to understand where he fit into Islam,” Mr. Ali said.
Lincoln W. Higgie III, 71, an art dealer who lived across quiet Saranac Street from the mosque and the small adjoining house where Mr. Awlaki lived with his wife and two toddlers, recalls an engaging neighbor who apologized about parking problems that came with the flood of Friday worshipers.
On Thursdays, Mr. Higgie remembered, Mr. Awlaki liked to go fishing for albacore, and he would often bring over a sample of the catch, deliciously prepared by his wife. The Awlakis’ son and daughter would play on Mr. Higgie’s floor, chasing his pet macaw, while the men compared notes on their travels.
“I remember he was very partial to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul,” Mr. Higgie said. He detected no hostility to non-Muslims, no simmering resentment against America.
In his private life, he was not always puritanical. Even as he preached about the sanctity of marriage amid the temptations of American life (“especially in Western societies, every haram is available,” he said, using the Arabic word for the forbidden), he was picked up twice by the San Diego police for soliciting prostitutes; he was given probation.
He displayed a very American entrepreneurial streak, exploring a possible business importing Yemeni honey and attending seminars in Las Vegas focused on investing in gold and minerals (and once losing $20,000 lent by relatives). Eventually a regular at the mosque proposed a venture that would prove hugely successful: recording Mr. Awlaki’s lectures on CD.
Photo
Starting in 2000, Mr. Awlaki would record a series of highly popular boxed sets — three, totaling 53 CDs, devoted to the “Life of Muhammad” alone; others covering the lesser prophets of Islam (including Moses and Jesus), the companions of the prophet and an account of the hereafter.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
The recordings appear free of obvious radicalism. (IslamicBookstore.com has added a notice to its Web listings of Mr. Awlaki’s work, saying the recording “has been reviewed and does not contain any extremist statements.”)
Shakir Muhammad, a Fort Collins engineer who is active in the mosque there, said he became a fan of the CD sets, finding them enthralling even on repeated listening. Only once did a passage give him pause; Mr. Awlaki discussed suicidal violence and did not quite condemn it.
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.
“I thought, ‘This guy may be for it,’” Mr. Muhammad said. “It bothered me.”
A Mysterious Goodbye
One day in August 2001, Mr. Awlaki knocked at the door of Mr. Higgie, his neighbor, to say goodbye. He had moved the previous year to Virginia, becoming imam at the far bigger Dar al-Hijrah mosque, and he had returned to pick up a few things he had left behind.
As Mr. Higgie tells it, he told the imam to stop by if he was ever in the area — and got a strange response. “He said, ‘I don’t think you’ll be seeing me. I won’t be coming back to San Diego again. Later on you’ll find out why,’” Mr. Higgie said.
The next month, when Al Qaeda attacked New York and Washington, Mr. Higgie remembered the exchange and was shaken, convinced that his friendly neighbor had some advance warning of the Sept. 11 attacks.
In fact, the F.B.I. had first taken an interest in Mr. Awlaki in 1999, concerned about brushes with militants that to this day remain difficult to interpret. In 1998 and 1999, he was a vice president of a small Islamic charity that an F.B.I. agent later testified was “a front organization to funnel money to terrorists.” He had been visited by Ziyad Khaleel, a Qaeda operative who purchased a battery for Osama bin Laden’s satellite phone, as well as by an associate of Omar Abdel Rahman, the so-called Blind Sheik, who was serving a life sentence for plotting to blow up New York landmarks.
Still more disturbing was Mr. Awlaki’s links to two future Sept. 11 hijackers, Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaq Alhazmi. They prayed at his San Diego mosque and were seen in long conferences with the cleric. Mr. Alhazmi would follow the imam to his new mosque in Virginia, and 9/11 investigators would call Mr. Awlaki Mr. Alhazmi’s “spiritual adviser.”
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
The F.B.I., whose agents interviewed Mr. Awlaki four times in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks, concluded that his contacts with the hijackers and other radicals were random, the inevitable consequence of living in the small world of Islam in America. But records of the 9/11 commission at the National Archives make clear that not all investigators agreed.
One detective, whose name has been redacted, told the commission he believed Mr. Awlaki “was at the center of the 9/11 story.” An F.B.I. agent, also unidentified, said that “if anyone had knowledge of the plot, it would have been” the cleric, since “someone had to be in the U.S. and keep the hijackers spiritually focused.”
Photo
The 9/11 commission staff members themselves had sharp arguments about him. “Do I think he played a role in helping the hijackers here, knowing they were up to something?” said one staff member, who would speak only on condition of anonymity. “Yes. Do I think he was sent here for that purpose? I have no evidence for it.”
The separate Congressional Joint Inquiry into the attacks suspected that Mr. Awlaki might have been part of a support network for the hijackers, said Eleanor Hill, its director. “There’s no smoking gun. But we thought somebody ought to investigate him,” Ms. Hill said.
Alarmed about Mr. Awlaki’s possible Sept. 11 connections, a State Department investigator, Raymond Fournier, found a circuitous way to charge Mr. Awlaki with passport fraud, based on his false claim after entering the United States in 1990 that he had been born in Yemen.
A warrant was issued, but prosecutors in Colorado rescinded it, concluding that no criminal case could be made. Mr. Awlaki returned from a trip abroad in October 2002 — an act some colleagues say was evidence for his innocence of any 9/11 role — for what would prove to be his last stay in the United States.
During that trip, he visited Ali al-Timimi, a Virginia cleric later convicted for encouraging Muslims to join the fight against American troops in Afghanistan. Mr. Awlaki “attempted to get al-Timimi to discuss issues related to the recruitment of young Muslims,” according to a motion filed in his criminal case. Mr. Timimi wondered if Mr. Awlaki might be trying to entrap him at the F.B.I.’s instigation, his friends say.
But if Mr. Awlaki was cooperating with the government, it would have astonished his associates. As the American authorities rounded up Muslim men after 9/11, he had grown furious.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
After raids in March 2002 on Muslim institutions and community leaders in Virginia, Mr. Awlaki led a chorus of outrage, noting that some of the targets were widely viewed as moderates.
“So this is not now a war on terrorism, we need to all be clear about this, this is a war on Muslims!” Mr. Awlaki declared, his voice shaking with anger. “Not only is it happening worldwide, but it’s happening right here in America that is claiming to be fighting this war for the sake of freedom.”
Around that time, Johari Abdul-Malik, a former Howard University chaplain who was joining the staff at Mr. Awlaki’s Virginia mosque, met him at a cafe. Mr. Awlaki said he planned to leave the United States.
“I tried to convince him that the atmosphere was not as bad as he thought, that it was a positive time for outreach,” Mr. Abdul-Malik recalled. But Mr. Awlaki was shaken by what he saw as an anti-Muslim backlash. And always fond of the limelight, Mr. Abdul-Malik said, Mr. Awlaki was looking for a bigger platform.
“He said he might have a TV show for the gulf,” Mr. Abdul-Malik said. “He might run for Parliament in Yemen. Or he might teach.”
Photo
‘Never Trust a Kuffar’
In a bare lecture room in London, where Mr. Awlaki moved after leaving the United States, he addressed his rapt, young followers, urging them never to believe a non-Muslim, or kuffar in Arabic.
“The important lesson to learn here is never, ever trust a kuffar,” he said, chopping the air, his lecture caught on video. “Do not trust them!”
The unbelievers are “plotting to kill this religion,” he declared. “They’re plotting night and day.”
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
If he had the same knowing tone and touches of humor as in earlier sermons, his message was more conspiratorial. You can’t believe CNN, the United Nations, or Amnesty International, he told his students, because they, too, were part of the war on Islam.
“We need to wisen up and not be duped,” Mr. Awlaki said. “Malcolm X said, ‘We’ve been bamboozled.’”
Many of his young British Muslim listeners, accustomed to preachers with heavy accents and an otherworldly focus, were entranced by his mix of the ancient and the contemporary, his seamless transition from the 29 battles of the Prophet Muhammad to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. “He was the main man who translated the jihad into English,” said Abu Yahiya, 27, a Bangladeshi-British student of Mr. Awlaki’s lectures in 2003.
At a personal level, said Mr. Rahman, one of the students who studied with Mr. Awlaki in 2003, Mr. Awlaki made it clear that they could no longer pretend to be Muslims while going clubbing at night.
“I could not be Mohammed in the morning and ‘Mo’ in the evening,” he said.
Mr. Awlaki’s demand that they make a choice, devoting themselves to a harsh, fundamentalist strain of Islam, offered clarity, he said.
“It would hit the audience automatically in their hearts and minds,” Mr. Rahman said. When others claimed the popular cleric was brainwashing them, Mr. Rahman said, “When you got a lot of dirt in your brain, you need a washing. I believe he did brainwash me.”
Mr. Awlaki’s fame grew, his CDs kept selling, and he traveled around Britain lecturing. But he had a hard time supporting himself, according to people who knew him, and in 2004 he had moved to Yemen to preach and study.
In mid-2006, after he intervened in a tribal dispute, Mr. Awlaki was imprisoned for 18 months by the Yemeni authorities. By his later account on his blog, he was in solitary confinement nearly the entire time and used it to study the Koran, to read literature (he enjoyed Dickens but disliked Shakespeare) and eventually, when it was permitted, to study Islamic scholarship.
Photo
Notably, he was enraptured by the works of Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian whose time in the United States helped make him the father of the modern anti-Western jihadist movement in Islam.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
“Because of the flowing style of Sayyid I would read between 100 and 150 pages a day,” Mr. Awlaki wrote. “I would be so immersed with the author I would feel Sayyid was with me in my cell speaking to me directly.”
Two F.B.I. agents questioned him in the Yemeni prison, and Mr. Awlaki blamed the United States for his prolonged incarceration. He was right; John D. Negroponte, then the director of national intelligence, told Yemeni officials that the United States did not object to his detention, according to American and Yemeni sources.
But by the end of 2007, American officials, some of whom were disturbed at the imprisonment without charges of a United States citizen, signaled that they no longer insisted on Mr. Awlaki’s incarceration, and he was released.
“He was different after that — harder,” said a Yemeni man who knows Mr. Awlaki well.
Mr. Awlaki started his own Web site, reaching a larger audience than ever. But finding that he was constantly followed by Yemeni security in Sana, the capital, he moved to the house of an uncle in Shabwa, the rugged southern province and his tribe’s traditional turf.
Last October, friends said, he heard the distant whine of a drone aircraft circling overhead. Worried that he was endangering his relatives, he fled to the mountains. While his role is unclear in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the terrorist network’s Yemeni affiliate, American officials believe he has become “operational,” plotting, not just inspiring, terrorism against the West.
From his hide-out, Mr. Awlaki sends out the occasional video message. But his reported influence on the Times Square bombing suspect, Mr. Shahzad, suggests that no matter what happens to him, his electronic legacy is secure. His message will endure in hundreds of audio and video clips that his followers have posted to the Web, a mix of religious stories and incitement, awaiting the curious and the troubled.
Mr. Awlaki’s transformation has left a trail of bewilderment, apprehension and fury among many people who knew and worshiped with him in the United States. Mr. Siddiqui, his college friend, said he was “surprised and disappointed.”
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
“He’s turning his back not only on the country where he was born but on his Muslim brothers and sisters in this country,” he said.
Mr. Abdul-Malik said that his former fellow imam at the Virginia mosque “is a terrorist, in my book” and that Mr. Awlaki and his like-thinkers were trying to reduce Islam to a “medieval narrative. It’s the Hatfields and the McCoys: you hit me, I hit you.”
Some Muslim families have asked whether they should keep Mr. Awlaki’s scriptural CDs, Mr. Abdul-Malik said. He tells them it is their decision, but he has advised shops not to carry even the earlier, benign Awlaki material.
“It becomes,” he said, “a gateway for the unsuspecting.”Why Iran assassination plot doesn't add up for Iran experts by Scott Peterson, Staff writer Christian Science Monitor S. Paul Note: The U.S. has been trying to ramp up public support of military...
Homeless in the Land of Milk and Honey S. Paul Forrest Land of Milk and Honey, Sally Burton America was once called the Land of Milk and Honey. It was so named for the p...
A Plea for Caution From Russia What Putin Has to Say to Americans About Syria by Vladimir V. Putin reposted from the New York Times, Opinion Pages Recent ev...
Russia Warns Obama: Monsanto The Top Information Post DNA Digital News Aggregation The shocking minutes relating to President Putin’s meeting this past week wit...
Why Worry About Total Surveillance When You're Just An Ordinary Joe? by Joe Giambrone Originally posted on OpedNews.com "I'm an upstanding citizen and I'm not doing anything wrong. I...
Too Many Years Of Lies from Mossadeq to 9/11 by Paul Craig Roberts Institute for Political Economy Washington has been at war for 12 years. According to experts such as Joseph...
Pacifist Terms Obama “Force for Destruction” Contributed by Sherwood Ross Originally posted on Veteran's Today Walls of Doom - Desktop Nexus CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. --- Ove...
Laws to Penalize Drug Lords Being Turned on the Innocent Contributed by Sherwood Ross Americarevealed.org State “civil-forfeiture”(CF) laws aimed at drug kingpins are being twisted to co...
U.S., Russia, China, All Torture Prisoners Contributed by Sherwood Ross AmericaRevealed.org The three most powerful nations all operate prison systems that are places of sadi...Key defense requests were denied at a hearing Tuesday for the police officer charged with fatally shooting Philando Castile last year, but the door was left open for other contentious evidence that could come into play when the history-making case goes to trial later this month.
Ramsey County District Court Judge William H. Leary III ruled that Jeronimo Yanez cannot re-enact last year’s fatal shooting in the presence of Castile’s car while jurors watch.
One of Yanez’s three attorneys, Earl Gray, said that although not all of their motions were granted, the defense still has a strong case.
“We got rulings that will help us defend the case,” Gray said. “I’m not going to comment on the judge’s rulings. We have enough there to easily win this case.”
Several defense and prosecution motions were addressed at the pretrial hearing — the final one scheduled before the trial begins May 30. The judge reviewed requests by the defense to admit evidence of Castile’s alleged past marijuana use, his arrest and driving records and an interview Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, gave to police in an unrelated assault case.
Yanez, 29 was charged in November with second-degree manslaughter and two felony counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm after killing Castile, 32, during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights on July 6. Reynolds and her daughter, then 4, were also in the car.
Jeronimo Yanez
Defense attorney Paul Engh made an impassioned plea that Leary allow jurors to view Castile’s car in-person while Yanez re-enacts the traffic stop and testifies to what he saw and did.
“On a visceral level, the actual car and the seat and the blood … is visually arresting,” Engh said.
Seeing it in person would be “moving,” he argued, and “far superior” to seeing it in photographs, which is commonly how crime scenes are presented to jurors at trial.
“I’m a little concerned that you used the words ‘visceral’ and ‘moving,’ because that plays to people’s emotions rather than the facts,” Leary said.
Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Richard Dusterhoft opposed the defense request, noting that the car had been well-documented and that the shooting was also documented via squad video and Reynold’s Facebook Live video.
Leary denied the car visit and re-enactment.
Reynolds’ credibility was also hotly contested. Defense attorneys requested video and audio of a March interview she gave to St. Paul police regarding a recent assault in which she allegedly attacked a woman with a hammer.
Gray told Leary that the defense wouldn’t bring up the charges, but wanted the video and audio to show that she lied to police about her whereabouts during the assault.
“How is that relevant to this case?” Leary asked.
“We’re going to get into the bad act of not telling the truth to law enforcement,” Gray said.
Leary asked if the defense was going to make the inference that if she lied about the assault, she could be lying about Castile’s shooting.
“Yes,” Gray said.
Prosecutors opposed any mention of Reynolds’ assault case, which is being handled by the Washington County attorney’s office to avoid conflicts of interest.
“I think it’s absolutely clear … it has no relevance in this case,” Leary said of the assault charge.
Reynolds’ |
:09:02.140
the vagina is in the hole
0:09:03.440,0:09:04.400
10-4 copy that
0:09:05.440,0:09:05.940
K
0:09:07.791,0:09:10.591
It's a 4-door sedan registered to a Robert
0:09:11.517,0:09:12.077
Trudell
0:09:12.460,0:09:15.800
at 9 4 5 North Jefferson Avenue
0:09:16.000,0:09:16.640
Ajo
0:09:23.620,0:09:24.660
Okay the way
0:09:27.280,0:09:28.400
10-4 on that copy
0:09:33.620,0:09:34.580
[door closes]
0:09:48.086,0:09:49.766
[Canine sniffs vehicle]
0:15:38.723,0:15:41.523
[Stop Stick removed from Left Front Tire]
0:15:46.220,0:15:47.980
[Vehicle drives forward]
0:16:11.587,0:16:14.947
[vehicle stops in gravel to adjust camera angles]
0:17:04.520,0:17:05.480
[door closes]
0:17:10.966,0:17:15.926
[vehicle reenters Arizona State Route 85 Highway North at Mile Marker 19]Through its official global blog, Samsung today announced a new patent licensing deal reached with Google, whereby both companies will have access to each other's existing patents and those filed over the next ten years, covering "a broad range of technologies and business areas."
The cross-licensing agreement is described by Google's Deputy General Counsel for Patents, Allen Lo, as one that will help the two giants "reduce the potential for litigation, and focus instead on innovation." Indeed that has been a popular refrain as both Google and Samsung have historically faced (and continue to face) patent challenges from various other companies on various grounds. (Rather than linking specific stories, just take a look at our search results for "Google+patent" and "Samsung+patent.")
This isn't the first step Google has taken to ease the patent strain however - readers may remember that, in March 2013, Google began an initiative called the Open Patent Non-Assertion Pledge, which allows entities to access a pool of Google-controlled patents that the company promises not to sue anyone over so long as the entity using the patent doesn't first try to file a legal proceeding against Google for patent use.
In August 2012, Google also opened up a "Prior Art Finder" to its patent search tool, and made European patents searchable.
While the Samsung/Google deal may be substantially different from Google's past steps, it is another reminder that Google and others are still trying to solve the patent litigation puzzle. Dr. Seungho Ahn, Head of Samsung's Intellectual Property Center optimistically reminding readers "Samsung and Google are showing the rest of the industry that there is more to gain from cooperation than engaging in unnecessary patent disputes."
Source: Samsung Tomorrow[ROOT] Restore KitKat’s “Recents” View on Lollipop
Senior Moderator and Recognized Developer Chainfire is well known here on the XDA Forums for his outstanding work on SuperSu, CF.Lumen, StickMount, 500 Firepaper, and more. Today, he brings us an answer to another Android annoyance – Lollipop’s overly-inclusive Overview that has replaced the subdued Recent menu with a rolodex of every app and webpage ever opened by your device. The new Recently app from Chainfire restores Overview to its previous glory, and bolsters the feature with the ability to customize the number of “recent apps” on display.
The app is up on both Google Play and the forum thread, but may be pulled from the latter momentarily; both links are below.
Features
Age Limit – Hide apps that haven’t actively run within X hours/days.
– Hide apps that haven’t actively run within X hours/days. Entry Limit – Hide apps beyond a certain number of entries. Currently running apps are always displayed, regardless of this setting.
– Hide apps beyond a certain number of entries. Currently running apps are always displayed, regardless of this setting. Launch on Boot
Before you pull out your task killer pitchforks, Recently does not kill background apps – it simply hides them within the overview list. Better still, the app produces no wakelocks, and has virtually no impact on battery life.
Requirements
Android 5.0 or 5.1
Root access
Kernel with logging enabled
Download
As with all apps, be sure to read the full forum thread before posting bugs. The app is new, so much discussion will be had over the coming days and weeks; watch this space!
Do you like Lollipop’s Overview just the way it is? Would you rather have the full control of Chainfire’s Recently? Let us know in the comments!LAVA-JATO
Arquivo | Agência O Globo
Se a Câmara abrir o processo de impeachment e o Senado afastá-la, pelo menos cinco ministros petistas poderão ir parar nas mãos de Sérgio Moro, ao perderem o foro privilegiado.
Automaticamente, Aloizio Mercadante e Edinho Silva, alvos de inquéritos já abertos, passariam a ser investigados em Curitiba. Mas não só.
Jaques Wagner, José Eduardo Cardozo e Ricardo Berzoini podem ter o mesmo destino.
Wagner pode se tornar alvo de um inquérito se o Ministério Público Federal entender que houve possível crime em sua relação com Léo Pinheiro.
José Eduardo Cardozo pode se tornar investigado se a Lava-Jato decidir apurar se houve possível obstrução da Justiça ao articular a nomeação do ministro Marcelo Navarro no STJ, conforme disse Delcídio Amaral.
Já Berzoini foi citado por Otávio Azevedo em sua delação. Ele teria cobrado doações da Andrade Gutierrez também em virtude de outras obras da administração do PT, além da Petrobras.
(Atualização: A assessoria de imprensa de Aloizio Mercadante telefonou para a coluna para pontuar que, sem o foro privilegiado, o inquérito de Mercadante não iria para as mãos de Sérgio Moro, mas sim para a primeira instância da Justiça Federal em São Paulo. O STF entendeu que o caso de Mercadante, ao menos na parte que investiga se ele recebeu doação ilegal de Ricardo Pessoa, não faz parte da Lava-Jato. Mercadante pode, no entanto, ser investigado em Curitiba se for aberto um novo inquérito a partir do áudio entregue por Eduardo Marzagão, assessor de Delcídio Amaral.)Would you believe an episode of the long-running family-oriented TV show LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE had a rape episode influenced by slasher movies and giallo?
Yes, a hideous mime/clown mask. Worn by a rapist.
Sylvia comes very late in the show’s run; Laura (Melissa Gilbert), who started the show as a pre-teen, is now the local school teacher and is married. Albert, a street kid from the city, lives with the Ingalls clan, and many of the stories in this season focus on him. In this episode he and his goofy friends go peep on a local girl named Sylvia, hoping to catch a peek of something good. Instead they get caught by her mean old father, played by Royal Dano, who snitches them out to their parents and who yells at his daughter for tempting the boys. Dano says that she has the devil in her, just like her mother - and it was that devil that killed her mother. He makes Sylvia wear a truss to hide her blossoming young bosom.
The townsfolk also blame the girl. One of the peeping boys was Willie, the son of Miss Oleson, the bitch on wheels proprietor of the general store. Miss Oleson can’t believe her boy would actively peep on dames, and in a meeting of the parents she says it was all the girl’s fault. Pa (Michael Landon), ever the perfect voice of reason and decency, says that boys will be boys. You know how they like peeking at snatch.
Anyway, Albert and Sylvia fall in love. They frolick in the woods. They go fishing. They kiss. They carve their names in a tree. It’s so romantic. But they’re being stalked by a mysterious figure. And one day, when Sylvia is out picking flowers, that mysterious figure - dressed all in black, with black gloves and that grotesque Harlequin mask, comes up behind her and forces himself on her.
The whole sequence is shot like a horror film. In the lead up we see a close-up of an eye, then the stalker POV shot, and we see he is watching Sylvia as she rings the church bell. When she’s in the woods picking flowers things seem okay, but then a bunch of birds are scared into flight. There’s a tense moment, Sylvia looks offscreen at the flying birds… and BAM! the rapist grabs her and drags her down to the ground. The flowers she picked fall to the earth, and the camera slowly zooms in on them.
When she returns home, bruised and scared, her father tells her that it was her own fault and that she should never talk about it. But a few weeks later she passes out in school, and when the doctor examines her he discovers she’s pregnant.
Everybody thinks the kid is Albert’s, except Albert, who is all pissed off at Sylvia for sleeping with someone else. Pa, of course, counsels kindness. It’s just how he is. Her mean ass father is mortified, and tells her they will move out of town, start over again. She’ll tell everybody in their new town that her husband was killed in an accident.
The show keeps getting into horror tropes. Sylvia is getting water from her family well and the camera goes into stalker POV again, sliding up behind her slowly as the music grows menacing. A hand comes out and grabs her shoulder… but it’s Albert! This is a classic killer POV fake out, seen in dozens upon dozens of slasher films.
Sylvia is scared but she ends up embracing Albert. He’s come to understand that it isn’t her fault and they sneak off into the woods to be together. But when Sylvia goes home her nasty old dad sees that her shoes are muddy and knows she’s been with that boy. He threatens to kill anyone his daughter sees; this is doubly disturbing because Dano does the voice of Abraham Lincoln in Disneyland’s Hall of Presidents - it’s like Abe himself is threatening to kill our beloved Albert.
Albert decides he’s going to marry Sylvia and take care of the baby. But to do that he needs work, and so he goes and gets himself hired by Irv, the blacksmith - who also happens to have just bought Sylvia’s house as her dad prepares to move them. By the way, none of these characters have ever appeared on the show before; Walnut Creek may be a tiny plains town, but it’s apparently infinitely huge when it comes to new people to meet.
It’s worth noting that the blacksmith is played by Richard Jaeckel, one of the great character actors of the 60s and 70s. You probably know him from The Dirty Dozen, where he played Sgt Bowren, Lee Marvin’s right hand man. He was also the star of the profoundly odd shark movie Mako: Jaws of Death. His appearance, with his rugged character actor looks, indicates that Irv is going to play an important role in the madness to come.
And madness it is! Sylvia’s dad calls her a whore and she runs away. He shows up at the Ingalls house on a gothic, stormy night with a shotgun, and Pa has to beat him down into the mud. It’s pretty weird watching Michael Landon beating the shit out of Gramps from House II: The Second Story.
The next morning everybody goes off in search of Sylvia; Albert finds her hidden in an abandoned barn but lies to Pa and her dad, planning to elope with her. He heads back to town and ‘borrows’ some money from Irv the blacksmith’s office; when Irv catches him in the act Albert fesses up that he’s eloping and tells Irv where Sylvia is hiding.
Have you figured out where this is going yet?
While Albert briefly heads home to leave a note explaining why he ran away, we see Sylvia sleeping in that abandoned barn. It’s actually a pretty good shot - she’s in the immediate foreground and in the deep background we can see the door to the barn… which slowly opens as if by itself. It’s totally spooky. And then, when the door is opened, the masked rapist slowly, deliberately steps over the threshold. He inches across the debris, his boots crushing kindling beneath, each step loud enough to wake up Sylvia but she keeps on sleeping. I mean this is really fucking TENSE.
Just as he gets next to her she hears him, and in a reverse of the scene where Albert snuck up on her, Sylvia thinks the rapist is her beau. She jumps to her feet and is faced with that mask; thinking quickly she grabs a plank and hits him in the face and runs. But the debris trips her up, and the rapist gets up, mask falling to the ground to reveal the bloody face of… Irv, who has been in a total of two scenes thus far!
Irv blocks the exit and Sylvia begins climbing a ladder to escape him. Just as Irv gets to the bottom of the ladder, boom! Albert out of fucking nowhere tackles the blacksmith to the ground. Crying, Sylvia keeps climbing higher and higher.
Just as Sylvia gets to the top of the ladder the rung on which she is standing cracks! She falls, screaming! “SYLVIA!” Albert cries! Irv picks up a plank and is about to bean Albert with it when BANG! Sylvia’s mean old dad shoots him point black in the back with a shot gun.
Sylvia lays in the dust, mortally wounded. Albert weeps over her. Cut to a long, bug POV of the barn, with the people in the blurry background and the rape mask laying in the foreground, the reverse of the sleeping Sylvia shot. This episode is really well directed!
They get Sylvia home, but she’s dying. She wants to spend her last minutes with Albert, and they talk about the wedding they will never have. “Kiss me, my love,” she whispers, and Albert leans in for a gentle, sniffly kiss. And then she dies.
It is hard to understate how this episode fucked me up as a kid. Sylvia, who was played by Olivia Barash (four years later she would play Leila in Alex Cox’s Repo Man) became a standard fixture in my dreams, always as the girl I would fall in love with and lose. And that mask… and the scene of Sylvia falling off the ladder… both stuck with me for years. I was probably around seven or eight when I first saw the episode, and while I was already into genre stuff by then I think it was the fact that something so very horrifying was happening in a show that normally felt wholesome that freaked me out. Slasher movie looking rapists just don’t belong in Walnut Grove.
The two-parter was written and directed by Michael Landon. While Landon had starred in I Was A Teenage Werewolf, this was the closest he would come as a director to horror (unless you count The Loneliest Runner, the semi-autobiographical TV movie he directed about a 14-year old bed wetter) but he’s pretty damn good at it. And it’s obvious that he wasn’t just reflecting the then-new slasher craze but that he had seen a giallo or two in his time.
Who would have imagined it? An episode of Little House on the Prairie influenced by giallo. Next time I’ll tell you about the episode of The Waltons that drew on the Ed Gein story.*
* There is no such episode.
UPDATE:
This episode didn’t just fuck me up, it’s got a pretty big and weird following online. Here’s a video someone made about Albert and Sylvia’s love set to… Hallelujah.President-elect Donald Trump will nominate ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson for secretary of state, according to two sources close to the transition.
The sources warned that nothing is official until the president-elect announces it, which is likely to come over the next few days. Trump told Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday” that he was “getting very, very close” to an official announcement.
In another Cabinet development, Trump officially announced Monday morning that he plans to nominate retired Marine Gen. John Kelly for secretary of the Homeland Security Department. Trump had been widely expected to announce the former U.S. Southern Command leader for the post.
Trump met with Tillerson earlier this week, whose company is based in dozens of countries across six continents and has business dealings in Russia, Yemen and other political hot spots. A source close to Trump told Fox News on Friday that the president-elect was impressed with Tillerson.
Trump spoke highly of Tillerson on “Fox News Sunday,” saying that he was “much more than a business executive.”
“He's in charge of an oil company that's pretty much double the size of his next nearest competitor. “It’s been a company that's been unbelievably managed-and to me a great advantage is he knows many of the players-and he knows them well, he does massive deals in Russia, he does massive deals-for the company, not for himself for the company.”
Trump’s potential Tillerson selection came under earlier Sunday as Sen. Marco Rubio and other GOP senators raised concerns about his reported Russian ties. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Tillerson has close ties to Russian leader Vladimir Putin and other world leaders.
Being a "friend of Vladimir" is not an attribute I am hoping for from a #SecretaryOfState - MR — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 11, 2016
Rubio posted a thinly veiled warning about Tillerson on Twitter without mentioning him by name.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, told Fox News on Saturday that Putin is a “thug” and while he doesn’t know the nature of Tillerson’s relationship with the Russian leader, it’s a matter of concern.
Speaking Sunday with CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” McCain said the Senate would give him a “fair hearing” and noted Tillerson’s ties could be “strictly commercial.”
But he reiterated that “it should be a matter of concern.” He voiced concern that Tillerson’s relationship could “color his approach” toward Putin and the Russian threat.
The 64-year-old Tillerson began his career at Exxon in 1975 as an engineer, rising through the ranks and becoming president and director in 2004 and CEO two years later. He was born in Wichita Falls, Texas, and studied civil engineering at University of Texas.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that Tillerson would be a “smart pick.”
Speaking on ABC News’ “This Week,” incoming Trump chief of staff Reince Priebus also defended Tillerson as an “incredible businessman and American patriot.”
While noting a “conclusion has not been made,” he stressed that Tillerson is in the business of finding oil around the world, and said “the fact that he actually has a relationship with people like Vladimir Putin and others across the globe is something that [we] shouldn't be... embarrassed by.”
Asked about tough questions from Republican senators, he said, “We don't have concerns about confirmation.”
Should he become America's top diplomat, he will have a pay cut and complicated financial situation to sort out. Tillerson reportedly makes more than $40 million per year and owns more than $100 million of stock in a company that has holdings and dealings throughout the world.
Fox News was told last week that former U.N. ambassador John Bolton and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who were also in the mix for secretary of state, were being considered for deputy secretary.
Fox News’ Serafin Gomez and the Associated Press contributed to this report.It might feel like the dog days of summer for football fans, but the 2017 campaign is rapidly coming down the pike. With training camps opening later this month, Around The NFL's Conor Orr, Kevin Patra and Marc Sessler are examining the key issues for each team in this division-by-division series. Here's the AFC West camp primer:
Denver Broncos
Training camp report dates: rookies (July 23) and veterans (July 26).
Location: UCHealth Training Center in Englewood, Colorado.
Most important position battle: Trevor Siemian vs. Paxton Lynch. Head coach Vance Joseph went from saying he was unsure Lynch was ready to stating his quarterback battle is a 50-50 toss-up. While the smart money is on Siemian, who has the respect of the team's two stud wide receivers and a firm grasp of the playbook, Lynch's measurables and arm strength will be hard to ignore for long. But given that Denver's offensive line (more on this unit just below) is relying on a rookie, a star center coming off dual-hip surgeries and a high-upside free agent, the unit might have a hand in deciding the quarterback competition. If protection is shoddy, the nod might automatically go to Siemian, who is already more proficient against heavy traffic in the pocket.
Newcomer to watch: HC Vance Joseph. The 44-year-old is the new face of the Denver Broncos at a time when the organization could really go in one of two directions. Gary Kubiak deservedly won a Super Bowl because of his ability to manage the offensive talent and personnel around him with an even hand. Joseph comes in with a fresh set of eyes on a dominant secondary and Von Miller, one of the best pass rushers in football. This is a unique -- but daunting -- proposition for a first-time NFL head coach. If the defense takes a step forward, the Broncos are still very much in contention despite the West being one of the league's toughest divisions.
Looming camp question: Can Matt Paradis pick up where he left off? One of the league's premier centers had surgery on each hip this offseason, but according to KUSA-TV's Mike Klis, he should be on the field participating once camp opens. This is huge for an offensive line that should be much-improved from last season -- even if it came together via free agency and is depending on the rapid development of first-round pick Garett Bolles. Ronald Leary was an overlooked part of Dallas' O-line success and could end up coming into his own with the Broncos -- something that will relieve the significant weight on Paradis' shoulders. This will not become an air-it-out passing team overnight.
Kansas City Chiefs
Training camp report dates: rookies (July 24) and veterans (July 27).
Location: Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri.
Most important position battle: Patrick Mahomes vs. Tyler Bray (for the backup QB job). The Chiefs are obviously not concerned with Mahomes vs. Alex Smith just yet, but they would definitely love to see Mahomes blow the current second-string quarterback out of the water to save them a roster spot. We've seen teams in the past draft a quarterback-in-waiting only to see that player get beat out by a veteran for the backup spot. The problem then becomes taking up an extra roster space that would otherwise be used to aid the club's special teams coordinator. The Chiefs strategically made Bray the No. 2 heading into OTAs and minicamp with the hope that Mahomes would ascend quickly and by the book. Will that be the case?
Newcomer to watch: DE Tanoh Kpassagnon. Watching Kpassagnon's Villanova film is like going back to the early Create-A-Player days on "Madden" when you could pump a player's attributes up to something Herculean and set him loose on the mere mortal public. These players are as fun as anything to watch in training camp because, while raw, they are relying on the God-given gifts that brought them to the NFL in the first place. Typically, this results in some thunderous one-on-one drills. In Kansas City, that means premier matchups with talented tackles like Mitchell Schwartz and Eric Fisher.
Looming camp question: How different might the Chiefs look toward the end of camp? The club just changed general managers less than two months before the league's first all-in-one cutdown day where rosters will be trimmed from 90 to 53 in the matter of a few hours. This will be chaotic for just about every GM in the league, but could it be even more so for Kansas City on Sept. 2? One thing working in the Chiefs' favor: They hired from within, promoting co-director of player personnel Brett Veach into the GM spot formerly filled by John Dorsey. Still, this new cutdown process will be an immediate test for the first-time GM.
Los Angeles Chargers
Training camp report date: rookies and veterans (July 29).
Location: Jack Hammett Sports Complex in Costa Mesa, California.
Most important position battle: Mike Williams' pursuit of a starting job. For as many rookie wideouts as we've seen over the past few years come in and change a franchise, we've also seen some high-profile busts. The Chargers have been challenging rookie Mike Williams throughout the offseason -- despite his limitations due to a back injury -- and will continue to do so during training camp. Williams doesn't necessarily have a free-and-clear path into starter's snaps, with Keenan Allen returning to health and Tyrell Williams fresh off a 1,000-yard season. Philip Rivers, like most veteran quarterbacks of his ilk, isn't going to waste time at this point in his career. He's going to want players up to speed.
Newcomer to watch: DC Gus Bradley. The steal of the offseason. Bradley might not be out of head coaching for long -- and for the moment, he can raise his profile with the reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year (Joey Bosa) and a slew of recent first- and second-round picks across his defensive line. Training camp gives us the first real glimpse of Bradley's base defense in action, with an eye on how mobile he could end up making Bosa across the front. While Bradley's Jacksonville defenses suffered from the injury bug and a still-growing talent base, it seemed like the creativity and attitude were also missing. Can he find his groove in L.A.?
Looming camp question: Does Anthony Lynn continue to capitalize on the Us-vs.-World mentality? This is where former Rams head coach Jeff Fisher floundered a year ago. Despite a roster peppered with talent in spots, that team squandered its first season in a new city and failed to establish an identity. Lynn has spent his first few months as a new head coach talking up the Bolts' temporary micro stadium and lauding the challenge of establishing the organization in Los Angeles. The city is very much up for grabs right now, and it wouldn't be surprising to see a sneaky-talented Chargers team draw a bigger crowd of open-minded fans during practices.
Oakland Raiders
Training camp report dates: rookies (July 24) and veterans (July 28).
Location: Napa Valley Marriott in Napa, California.
Most important position battle: Austin Howard vs. Marshall Newhouse. While losing Menelik Watson doesn't seem like a death sentence for one of the best offensive lines in football, it does leave Oakland with some less-savory options at right tackle for the upcoming season. In camp, we'll need to gear up for the Howard-Newhouse battle with plenty at stake. The Marshawn Lynch experiment will work as well as the right side of the offensive line can kick out defensive ends and blitzing linebackers. General manager Reggie McKenzie is balancing a ton on his shoulders and had to make some difficult financial choices that included letting Watson leave in free agency. Now we'll see if his faith in Newhouse and Howard is well-placed.
Newcomer to watch: RB Marshawn Lynch. Lynch topped NFL jersey sales for the month of May. To say his presence in Oakland is a curiosity would be a serious understatement. The Lynch-Oaktown reunion will be one of the most heavily anticipated storylines of the season. Training camp will finally give us something more substantive than the Instagram clips and teasers, which have shown a seemingly ageless Lynch whipping through padless defenders. We are starting to imagine how much better Derek Carr could be with a top-five power running game.
Looming camp question: How Will Derek Carr look in extended action? By mid-April, he was confident telling reporters that his broken leg would not impact the remainder of the offseason and preseason. However, we've seen serious injuries like this resurface and re-aggravate before. Carr was clearly the lifeblood of the 2016 Raiders, leaving the entire offense punchless in his absence. The hope is to see him at full speed in late July.
Follow Conor Orr on Twitter @ConorOrr.The rematch. Finally.
The UFC has booked Jon Jones versus Daniel Cormier for the light heavyweight championship on five separate occasions. Yet, they've only fought once.
This has been a snakebitten matchup for the UFC, with multiple dates falling through for various reasons -- but at UFC 214 inside Anaheim's Honda Center, we'll finally see it for the second time.
Jones has fought once in the last two years, due to a failed drug test and legal issues. Cormier is the reigning champion, but 0-1 in his rivalry with Jones.
This UFC 214 event features two additional title fights. Cris "Cyborg" Justino meets Tonya Evinger for the vacant featherweight title and Tyron Woodley looks to defend his welterweight strap over Demian Maia.
Here's everything you need to know about UFC 214, courtesy of ESPN's Cheat Sheets.
Cris Justino (17-1) vs. Tonya Evinger (19-5), Featherweight championship
Odds: Justino -1375; Evinger +900
The 'Cyborg Division' is finally open for business -- maybe
At this point in Justino's 12-year professional mixed martial arts career, it's no secret who she is or what she brings to the table.
Justino is the most dominant female featherweight of all time. Undefeated since November 2005, with nine first-round knockouts. She's a human highlight reel, and the sole reason the UFC opened a 145-pound weight class for females this year.
She's also very, very difficult to find an opponent for.
"All my career, I've had problems finding opponents," Justino told ESPN. "Even when I was starting my career in Brazil, when I was 20 years old, it was hard. My focus has always had to be just train, and know the promoter would find me a fight."
As much cause as there is for celebration that the UFC abandoned its unreasonable demands that Justino cut to 135 pounds this year, her future with the promotion remains uncertain. The UFC has yet to truly throw its full support behind the 145-pound division, which is unquestionably thin in talent.
The rollout of the new weight class has been a complete disaster. Amsterdam's Germaine de Randamie won the inaugural title by defeating Holly Holm in February. De Randamie refused to face Justino, however, because Justino tested positive for a steroid in 2011. The UFC was ultimately forced to strip de Randamie of the belt. Both she and Holm have returned to bantamweight.
"Before she fought for the belt, she knew she had a fight coming with me," said Justino, on de Randamie. "She made excuses, talking about a hurt hand and calling me a cheater. It was embarrassing. You gave up your belt because you're scared? I thought it was embarrassing for all the fighters."
It was arguably embarrassing for the UFC as well, and highlights the very real difficulty of booking Justino, who now fights out of California, an opponent.
What effect that will have on her and this division in the UFC, might take even longer than Saturday to find out.
"I think it's getting better," Justino said on her relationship with the UFC. "We have to start working together, for both sides to be happy. I'll make them happy on Saturday in the Octagon, for sure."
A pioneer in women's MMA, Evinger gets her long-awaited UFC debut
Tonya Evinger, who holds the 135-pound title in Invicta FC, and will square off against Cris "Cyborg" Justino at UFC 214. Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images
When Evinger was young, she'd trade away toys in exchange for fistfights.
Evinger, 36, has been in constant search of a fight, from a very young age. She grew up with two younger brothers, who made for natural dance partners -- but it usually took some coaxing to get them to agree.
"I used to bribe my brothers with toys. 'Hey, I'll give you my remote control if you box me for 10 minutes,'" Evinger said. "I'd end up doing something stupid, hitting them too hard and hurting them, and I'd be like, 'Damn it, I didn't even get to go for a minute.'
"I just loved it. It started young, young, young. I used to have to beat up the neighbor kids because they'd beat up my brothers and my dad would threaten me. I would have to go knock on their door, 'Hey, can you come out and play,' and end up whooping their ass. It's just one of those things, that's what you do when you grow up in the country. You fight."
Those early fights never stopped for Evinger. She wrestled in high school and college, and began fighting professionally in 2006. She's fought for a long list of promotions and is the current Invicta bantamweight champion.
She's eyed a roster spot in the UFC for years, but was denied until this fight was announced last month. Evinger says she reached a point where she knew her ticket to the UFC would likely be accepting a Justino bout.
"I don't think it's anything that's unknown," said Evinger, on Justino's destructive first-round résumé. "I've seen her fight a bunch of times and she's probably seen me fight a bunch of times. I know she's going to come out swinging.
"I'm a really smart fighter and I think I'm going to keep from getting the s--- beat out of me. I don't go in there to get the s--- beat out of me, I go in to win fights. I'm prepared for wherever it goes."
Fight breakdown
If there was ever a time Justino may have been vulnerable, perhaps it was her last two fights. The strain on her body to make 140 pounds, who knows how that would have affected her late in a fight?
That's no longer an issue, though. And at 145 pounds, Justino holds sizable advantages over any opponent she'll face. Case in point: Evinger -- who fights at 135 pounds and will return to doing so, if she's unsuccessful this weekend.
When most people think of Justino, they probably think of the Berserker Cyborg flurry. Those outbursts she lays on opponents near the end of the fight, which can look more physically overwhelming than technically beautiful. But the scary reality is that Justino has been a very efficient striker as of late, landing 66 percent of her strikes in two UFC fights. That's a credit to her and veteran striking coach Jason Parillo.
Evinger is a very good bantamweight, who probably deserved a shot in the UFC well before now. But on paper, she doesn't have many clear paths to victory here. Her skill set is built over a wrestling base, which she honed all the way through a collegiate wrestling career. But as the undersized, less explosive athlete in this matchup, envisioning her taking Justino down and beating her up on the floor requires some imagination.
It's difficult to break this down without seemingly snubbing your nose at Evinger's skills. She's very good from the clinch. She manipulates opponents well from there, and frequently scores with trips. She welcomes a fight and her experience is obvious when it comes to winning key moments, directing traffic as to where the bout goes, plus a calm demeanor. She also has a long reach, which has benefited her at times at 135.
But as successful as Evinger is in the clinch, Justino is an absolute nightmare there. Her physical strength dictates everything that happens at that range, and she's great at peeling off, taking a step back and unloading punches that, as we all know, do serious damage. Her pocket presence is arguably the best in female MMA. Everything Evinger does well, Justino is well suited to counter.
And on top of all that, she has a great chin, which she proved in a five-round Muay Thai bout in 2014, when her MMA career was temporarily stalled.
Evinger is a fighter's fighter, meaning she's good in the trenches and hard to put away. But if she is to survive Justino's onslaught and give us a peek at later rounds, those are some deep trenches she'll have to navigate.
Prediction: Justino, first-round TKOAnyone remember this card? The main engine behind a fun, powerful deck in AGOT 1.0, stuffed with efficient Greyjoy characters and Warship cards, and you would use Val in order to just pop them off the deck in overwhelming numbers. While the "Clown Boat" deck eventually landed on the restricted list, the dream of repeatable play/draw is not forgotten.
So, this is my Sunny Connections deck. Still tinkering with various options.
Mulligan hard for Off-Campus Apartment and then just start popping out friends like a circus car full of clowns.
Get money, install breakers, win. Use The Source to slow down corps--it is incredibly disruptive and if you happen to find one on a Street Peddler, try not to smile. Film Critic keeps both NACH and The Source on the board, and once you get a certain amount of money you just don't have to fear tags.
Still a |
1.453 telnet Cisco router telnetd 3497 1.43 hp-pjl HP LaserJet P2015 Series 3237 1.324..more Port 9100 Tcp, ~244 Thousand IP addresses~200 Thousand identifiable printers
~2.4 Million devices Servicename Product Count Percent upnp Portable SDK for UPnP devices 2405517 58.479 upnp Intel UPnP reference SDK 1268457 30.836 http 237412 5.772 http Linux 101333 2.463 http Apple ODS DVD/CD Sharing Agent httpd 36321 0.883 http Apache 12737 0.31 rtsp Apple AirTunes rtspd 9856 0.24..more Port 49152 Tcp, ~4.11 Million IP addresses~2.4 Million devices Portable SDK for UPnP devices
6.5 Numbers
Two years ago while spending some time with the Nmap Scripting Engine (NSE) someone mentioned that we should try the classic telnet login root:root on random IP addresses. This was meant as a joke, but was given a try. We started scanning and quickly realized that there should be several thousand unprotected devices on the Internet.After completing the scan of roughly one hundred thousand IP addresses, we realized the number of insecure devices must be at least one hundred thousand. Starting with one device and assuming a scan speed of ten IP addresses per second, it should find the next open device within one hour. The scan rate would be doubled if we deployed a scanner to the newly found device. After doubling the scan rate in this way about 16.5 times, all unprotected devices would be found; this would take only 16.5 hours. Additionally, with one hundred thousand devices scanning at ten probes per second we would have a distributed port scanner to port scan the entire IPv4 Internet within one hour.To further verify our sample data, we developed a small binary that could be uploaded to insecure devices.To minimize interference with normal system operation, our binary was set to run with a watchdog and on the lowest possible system priority. Furthermore, it was not permanently installed and stopped itself after a few days. We also deployed a readme file containing a description of the project as well as a contact email address.The binary consists of two parts. The first one is a telnet scanner which tries a few different login combinations, e.g. root:root, admin:admin and both without passwords. The second part manages the scanner, gives it IP ranges to scan and uploads scan results to a specified IP address. We deployed our binary on IP addresses we had gathered from our sample data and started scanning on port 23 (Telnet) on every IPv4 address. Our telnet scanner was also started on every newly found device, so the complete scan took only roughly one night. We stopped the automatic deployment after our binary was started on approximately thirty thousand devices.The completed scan proved our assumption was true. There were in fact several hundred thousand unprotected devices on the Internet making it possible to build a super fast distributed port scanner.We had no interest to interfere with default device operation so we did not change passwords and did not make any permanent changes. After a reboot the device was back in its original state including weak or no password with none of our binaries or data stored on the device anymore. Our binaries were running with the lowest possible priority and included a watchdog that would stop the executable in case anything went wrong. Our scanner was limited to 128 simultaneous connections and had a connection timeout of 12 seconds. This limits the effective scanning speed to ~10 IPs per second per client. We also uploaded a readme file containing a short explanation of the project as well as a contact email address to provide feedback for security researchers, ISPs and law enforcement who may notice the project.The vast majority of all unprotected devices are consumer routers or set-top boxes which can be found in groups of thousands of devices. A group consists of machines that have the same CPU and the same amount of RAM. However, there are many small groups of machines that are only available a few to a few hundred times. We took a closer look at some of those devices to see what their purpose might be and quickly found IPSec routers, BGP routers, x86 equipment with crypto accelerator cards, industrial control systems, physical door security systems, big Cisco/Juniper equipment and so on. We decided to completely ignore all traffic going through the devices and everything behind the routers. This implies no arp, dhcp statistics, no monitoring or counting of traffic, no port scanning of LAN devices and no playing around with all the fun things that might be waiting in the local networks.We used the devices as a tool to work at the Internet scale. We did this in the least invasive way possible and with the maximum respect to the privacy of the regular device users.As could be seen from the sample data, insecure devices are located basically everywhere on the Internet. They are not specific to one ISP or country. So the problem of default or empty passwords is an Internet and industry wide phenomenon.We used a strict set of rules to identify the target devices' CPU and RAM to ensure our binary was only deployed to systems where it was known to work. We also excluded all smaller groups of devices since we did not want to interfere with industrial controls or mission critical hardware in any way. Our binary ran on approximately 420 thousand devices. These are only about 25 percent of all unprotected devices found. There are hundreds of thousands of devices that do not have a real shell so we could not upload or run a binary, a hundred thousand mips4kce machines that are mostly too small and not capable enough for our purposes as well as many unidentifiable configuration interfaces for random hardware. We were able to useto get the MAC address on most devices. We collected these MAC addresses for some time and identified about 1.2 million unique unprotected devices. This number does not include devices that do not have ifconfig.A classic botnet usually requires one or more command and control (C&C) servers the clients can connect to. A C&C server comes with several disadvantages: it requires constant updates, protection from abuse and a hosting method that is both secure and anonymous.In our scenario this server is not necessary because all devices are reachable directly from the Internet. Therefore we could open a port that provided our own secure login method and a command interface to the bot. Our infrastructure still needs a central server to keep track of and connect to the clients, but it can stay behind NAT and is not reachable from the Internet. Our clients themselves have no possibility to contact a server once their IP address changes, so the central client database may contain an outdated IP address. Another way had to be found to keep client IP addresses up to date.If one client scans ten IP addresses per second, it requires approximately 4000 clients to scan one port on all 3.6 billion IP addresses of the Internet in one day. Since our botnet targets many more clients, it is no problem to scan for devices that change their IP address every twenty four hours. Many devices reboot every few days so it is necessary to constantly scan on Port 23 (Telnet) to find restarted devices and re-upload our binary for the botnet to remain active.This method allows a botnet without a central server that must be known to any client. This has the slight disadvantage that if clients change their IP address it may take some time until they get scanned again and the IP is updated in the database. The experience gathered with our infrastructure later on showed that approximately 85% of all clients are available at any time.To collect the scan results, approximately one thousand of the devices with most RAM and CPU power were turned into middle nodes. Middle Nodes accept data from the clients and keep it for download by the master server. The IP addresses of the middle nodes were distributed to the clients by the master server when deploying a command. The middle nodes were frequently changed to prevent too much bandwidth usage on a single node.Overall roughly nine thousand devices are needed for constant background scans to update client IP addresses, find restarted devices and act as middle nodes. So this kind of infrastructure only makes sense if you have way more than nine thousand clients.To coordinate the scans without deploying large IP address lists and to keep track of what has to be scanned, we used an interleaving method. Scan jobs were split up into 240k sub-jobs or parts, each responsible for for scanning approximately 15 thousand IP addresses. Each part was described in terms of a, aaddress,and anaddress. In this way we only had to deploy a few numbers to every client and they could generate the necessary IP addresses themselves. Individual parts were assigned randomly to clients. Finished scan jobs returned by the clients still contained theso the master server could keep track of finished and timed out parts.It took six months to work out the scanning strategy, develop the backend and setup the infrastructure.The binary on the router was written in plain C. It was compiled for 9 different architectures using the OpenWRT Buildroot. In its latest and largest version this binary was between 46 and 60 kb in size depending on the target architecture.The backend consisted of two parts, a web interface with an API and a set of Python scripts. The web interface, written in PHP using the Symfony framework, provided a frontend to a database as well as an overview of the deployment rates and the overall activity of the infrastructure. The web API provided functions to update the database, get deployable jobs and do life cycle checks, e.g. checking for timed out jobs or deleting clients from the database that have been unreachable for a long time.The Python scripts called the API of the web interface and connected to clients. They sent commands to the clients but also constantly accessed middle nodes to download completed jobs. They loaded parsers to convert the returned binary data into tab separated log files. These parsers also identified open devices in the telnet scans and added their IP addresses to the API so our binary could be deployed to them later.We used Apache Hadoop with PIG (a high-level platform for creating MapReduce programs) so we could filter and analyze this amount of data efficiently.We will not release any source code of the bot or the backend because we consider the risk of abuse as too high. We do however provide a modified version of Nmap that can be used to match service probe records, as well as code to generate Hilbert image tiles. Click here to download this code.After development of most of the code we began debugging our infrastructure. We used a few thousand devices randomly chosen for this purpose. We noticed at this time that one of the machines already had an unknown binary in thedirectory that looked suspicious. A simplecommand used on that binary revealed contents likeetc., the usual abuse stuff one would find in malicious botnet binaries. We quickly discovered that this was a bot called Aidra, published only a few days before.Aidra is a classic bot that needs an IRC C&C server. With over 250 KB its binary is quite large and requireson the target machines. Apparently its author only built it for a few platforms, so a majority of our target devices could not be infected with Aidra. Since Aidra was clearly made for malicious actions and we could actually see their Internet scale deployment at that moment, we decided to let our bot stop telnet after deployment and applied the same iptable rules Aidra does, ifwas available. This step was required to block Aidra from exploiting these machines for malicious activity. Since we did not change anything permanently, restarting the device undid these changes. We figured that the collateral damage as a result of this action would be far less than Aidra exploiting these devices.Within one day our binary was deployed to around one hundred thousand devices - enough for our research purposes. We believe Aidra gained a litte more than half of that amount. The weeks after our initial deployment we were able to build binaries for a few more platforms. We also probed telnet every 24 hours on every IP address. Since many devices restart every few days and needed to be reinstalled again, over time we gained machines that Aidra lost. Aidra apparently installed itself permanently on a few devices like Dreambox and a few other Mips platforms. This most likely affects less than 30 thousand devices.With our binary running on all major platforms, our botnet was available at a size of around 420 Thousand Clients.Figure 1: Carna Botnet client distribution March to December 2012. ~420K ClientsA modified version of fping was used to send ICMP ping requests to every IP address. We did fast scans where we probed the IPv4 address space within a day, as well as a long term scan where the IP address space was probed for 6 weeks on a rate of approximately one scan of the complete IPv4 address space every few days. In total we have sent and stored 52 billion ICMP probes.A modified version of libevents asynchronous reverse DNS sample code was used to request the DNS name for every IPv4 address. Most clients use their Internet provider's nameserver. The size and capacity of these nameservers may not be suitable for large scale DNS requests so we chose the biggest 16 DNS servers we discovered, e.g. Google, Level3, Verizon and some others. This job ran several times in 2012, resulting in 10.5 billion stored records.A number of the MIPS machines had enough RAM and computing power to run a downsized version of Nmap.We used these machines to run sync scans of the top 100 ports and several scans on random ports to get sample data of all ports. These scans resulted in 2.8 billion records for ~660 million IPs with 71 billion ports tested.Before doing a sync scan Nmap did hostprobes to determine if the host was alive. The Nmap hostprobe sends an ICMP echo request, a TCP SYN packet to port 443, a TCP ACK packet to port 80, and an ICMP timestamp request. This resulted in 19.5 billion stored hostprobe records.For some reachable IP addresses Nmap was able to get an IP ID sequence and TCP/IP fingerprint. Since that was only possible on some IP addresses and not all of our deployed Nmap versions contained these abilities, this resulted in 75 million stored IP ID sequence records and 80 million stored TCP/IP fingerprints.Nmap comes with a file called. This file contains probe data that is sent to ports as well as matching rules for the data that may be given in response. For details on how Nmap version detection works and the grammar of this file see nmap.org We used the Nmap service probe file as a reference to build a binary that contained all 85 service probes Nmap provides. We used that binary to send these probes to every port proposed in the Nmap service probe file as well as a few missing ports that seemed interesting. 632 TCP and 110 UDP ports were probed on every IPv4 address, some ports were tested with multiple probes. To keep the size of the returned files smaller, and due to the fact that the vast majority of all probes timeout anyway, we reported back only every ~30th timed out or closed port. For the closed ports, this was later changed to report back every 5th closed port.Over the course of three months in mid-2012 we sent approximately 4000 billion service probes, 175 billion of which where reported back and saved. On 15th and 16th of December we probed the top 30 ports so we would have a more up to date version on release. This provided approximately 5 billion additional saved service probes.A detailed overview of what probes were sent to which ports is available here Approximately 70% of all open devices are either too small, don't run linux or only have a very limited telnet interface making it impossible to start or even upload a binary. Some of these machines provided a few diagnosis commands like ping, and interestingly traceroute on a limited shell.We developed a modified version of our telnet scanner to find and log into theses devices. After login the connection was kept active and traceroute was called on the remote shell. The results were compressed by our binary and sent to the middle nodes. Since most IP ranges are empty, choosing random IPs as targets for these traceroutes would result in a very slow scanning speed, because it needed some time for the traceroute to timeout. So instead of choosing random targets the telnet scanner was used to determine target IPs. If the telnet scan got a response from the IP then the IP address was added to a queue for tracerouting.This was started because it was a fun idea to let very small devices log into even smaller and less capable devices to use them for something. We kept this running only for a few days to prove that it works. The result is 68 million traceroute records.To get a visual overview of ICMP records we converted the one-dimensional, 32-bit IP addresses into two dimensions using a Hilbert Curve, inspired by xkcd. This curve keeps nearby addresses physically near each other and it is fractal, so we can zoom in or out to control detail. Figure 2 shows 420 Million IP addresses that responded to ICMP ping requests at least two times between June and October 2012. Address blocks are labeled based on IANA's list of IPv4 allocations that can be found here. Each pixel in the original 4096 x 4096 image represents a single /24 network containing up to 256 hosts. The pixel color shows the utilization of each /24 based on the number of probe responses. Black areas represent addresses that did not respond to the probes. Blue represents low utilization (at least one response), and red represents 100% utilization. This image was generated to be comparable to Figure 3, created 2006 by CAIDA in an Internet census project [ isi.edu ].We also modified the Hilbert browser, developed by ISI in their Internet mapping project [ isi.edu ]. This browser shows ICMP ping records, as well as service probe and reverse DNS information. It allows zooming in and out into the IP space and an optional overlay allows highlighting of IP ranges. All images as well as the Hilbert browser use data from June to October 2012. There is more data available for download, but we concentrated the analysis on this time frame. Our version of this browser is available here. The sourcecode of this version as well as code to generate image tiles is part of the code pack We should mention that we are in no way associated to ISI or any researcher who worked at the ISI census project. We just took over the design for the Hilbert maps they made to have comparable images, as well as their Hilbert browser because it would have been a waste of time to code our own version.Figure 4: Hilbert web browserTo get a geographic overview we determined the geolocation of all IP addresses that respond to ICMP ping requests or have open ports. We used MaxMinds freely available GeoLite database [ maxmind.com ] for geolocation mapping. Different versions of this image are available for download here Figure 5: ~460 Million IP addresses on worldmapTo test if we could see a day night rhythm in the utilization of IP spaces we used all ICMP records to generate a series of images that show the difference from daily average utilization per half an hour. We composed theses images to a GIF animation that clearly shows a day night rhythm. The difference between day and night is lower for US and Central Europe because of the higher number of "always on" Internet connections. Full resolution GIFs and single images are available for download here To get an overview of reverse DNS records we made a series of lists showing the top, most used names for the first four domain hierarchy levels. A few examples are shown below. Full lists are available here All records returned in response to service probes were matched against rules from Nmap'sfile to determine service names and versions where possible. The quality of these matches depends on Nmap's matching rules. We added some more rules to catch several further services we noticed during debugging. For most services the matching is quite accurate. If a port had been probed multiple times we chose the most likely match based on how often that match had occurred and how much information it contained so that the lists only contained one match per port and per IP. Full matching results can be found as browsable lists as well as tab separated raw lists in the downloads section.The numbers below were filtered to eliminate noise and match a timeperiod from June 2012 to October 2012.The data used for these numbers is the same that was used for the browsable Hilbert map
420 Million IPs responded to ICMP ping requests more than once. [Map]
165 Million IPs had one or more of the top 150 ports open. 36 Million of these IPs did not respond to ICMP ping. [Map]
141 Million IPs had only closed/reset ports and did not respond to ICMP ping. Most of these were firewalled IP ranges where it was uncertain if they had actual computers behind them. [Map]
1051 Million IPs had a reverse DNS record. [Map] 729 Million of these IPs had nothing more and did not respond to any probe.
30000 /16 networks contained IPs that responded to ICMP ping, 14000 /16 networks contained 90% of all pingable IPs.
4.3 Million /24 networks contained all 420 Million pingable IPs.
6.6 Noise
7 Conclusion
8 Trivia
9 Who and Why
That depends on how you count. 420 Million pingable IPs + 36 Million more that had one or more ports open, making 450 Million that were definitely in use and reachable from the rest of the Internet. 141 Million IPs were firewalled, so they could count as "in use". Together this would be 591 Million used IPs. 729 Million more IPs just had reverse DNS records. If you added those, it would make for a total of 1.3 Billion used IP addresses. The other 2.3 Billion addresses showed no sign of usage.While analyzing the data we had gathered we noticed some noise. IP ranges that should have been empty, seemed to show a very low level of usage. A closer look revealed that some of our scanning machines seem to have been behind enforced proxies or provider firewalls. They rerouted some of the probes to different IPs, leading to false responses. This noise could be filtered out quite easily because it was mostly present on very common services that had been probed several times. For the service probes, the most noisy ports are 80, 443 and 8080. This seems to result from enforced provider proxies. Port 53 also contains noise because providers redirect this port to their own nameservers. Port 25 contains some noise because of provider firewalls, probably to prevent spam. The noise on port 80 and 443 also affects Nmap's hostprobes because it uses these ports to determine if a host is alive. Because of the large number of different probes we recorded for each IP address, this noise can be filtered out almost completely.This was a fun project and there are many more things we could have done, but this concludes our work. The binary stops itself after some time and most of the deployed versions have already done that by now. All of our initial goals as well as some extras like traceroute were achieved, we have completed, to our knowledge, the largest and most comprehensive IPv4 census ever. With a growing number of IPv6 hosts on the Internet, 2012 may have been the last time a census like this was possible.We hope other researchers will find the data we have collected useful and that this publication will help raise some awareness that, while everybody is talking about high class exploits and cyberwar, four simple stupid default telnet passwords can give you access to hundreds of thousands of consumer as well as tens of thousands of industrial devices all over the world.Since it seems to be somewhat of a tradition to name bots after Roman or Greek divinities we chose "Carna" as the name for our bot. Carna was the roman goddess for the protection of inner organs and health and was later confused with the goddess of doorsteps and hinges. This name seems like a good choice for a bot that runs mostly on embedded routers.If you are watching port scans that run at rates from 3 to 5 billion IPs per hour for weeks, the Internet shrinks and seems small and empty. If you try to analyze, visualize, sort and compress the collected data, it quickly gets annoyingly gigantic again.A lot of devices and services we have seen during our research should never be connected to the public Internet at all. As a rule of thumb, if you believe that "nobody would connect that to the Internet, really nobody", there are at least 1000 people who did. Whenever you think "that shouldn't be on the Internet but will probably be found a few times" it's there a few hundred thousand times. Like half a million printers, or a Million Webcams, or devices that have root as a root password.We would also like to mention that building and running a gigantic botnet and then watching it as it scans nothing less than the whole Internet at rates of billions of IPs per hour over and over again is really as much fun as it sounds like.You may ask yourself who we are and why we did what we did.In reality, we is me. I chose we as a form for this documentation because its nicer to read, and mentioning myself a thousand times just sounded egotistical.The why is also simple: I did not want to ask myself for the rest of my life how much fun it could have been or if the infrastructure I imagined in my head would have worked as expected. I saw the chance to really work on an Internet scale, command hundred thousands of devices with a click of my mouse, portscan and map the whole Internet in a way nobody had done before, basically have fun with computers and the Internet in a way very few people ever will. I decided it would be worth my time.Just in case someone else tries to take credit for my work: My PGP public keyAMMAN (Reuters) - Thousands of Syrian refugees stranded on Jordan’s northeastern border with Syria are running out of food after a militant suicide attack prompted the army to shut the area, international relief workers and refugees said on Monday.
A Jordanian soldier carries a Syrian refugee child to help him board a Jordanian army vehicle with his family after they crossed into Jordanian territory, in Al Ruqban border area, near the northeastern Jordanian border with Syria, and Iraq, near the town of Ruwaished, 240 km (149 miles) east of Amman September 10, 2015. Picture taken September 10, 2015. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed
Jordan, a staunch U.S. ally, declared the area a closed military zone after a suicide bomber, believed to be an Islamic State militant, drove a vehicle last Tuesday from the Syrian side and rammed it into a military base close to Rukban camp, killing seven border guards.
Aid workers said convoys of food which normally go to the camp were being held up for a sixth day in Ruwaished, the closest town to Rukban camp, which is far from any inhabitable place. Only water trucks were being allowed through.
“Access continues to be denied and we are concerned because these trapped people have basic needs,” said Hala Shamlawi, spokesperson for the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC).
Relief workers said the few supplies coming into the area were from smuggler rings inside Syria.
“We know the food rations will run out soon, probably in a few days’ time... This is a matter of concern,” said Dina El Kassaby, regional spokesperson of World Food Programme (WFP).
The authorities gave no explanation for blocking aid that affects between 60,000 to 70,000 refugees, mostly women and children, who have been stranded for months in a no-man’s land at the only crossing where Jordan now receives refugees.
DESERT
Since Russia expanded its air strikes against Islamic State-held areas in central and eastern Syria, the number of refugees trekking south across the desert to the Jordanian border has risen sharply, according to U.N. aid workers.
But Jordan, which has already accepted more than 600,000 U.N.-registered Syrian refugees, fears Islamic State militants may have infiltrated the ranks of those arriving at the border.
Earlier waves of Syrian refugees had a much easier time entering Jordan but the kingdom sealed border crossings near population centers in 2013 in an attempt to stem the flow.
Officials chose the sparsely populated desert area where the borders of Syria, Jordan and Iraq meet in order to discourage refugees from entering the kingdom, relief workers say.
Rights groups such as Amnesty International have urged Jordan not to take a tough security response.
“A total closure of the border and denial of humanitarian aid to the area would inevitably lead to extreme hardship among those unable to find refuge and put their lives at risk,” said Sherif Elsayed-Ali of Amnesty International.
Foreign Minister Nasser Joudeh told Western envoys after the attack that Jordan’s security outweighed humanitarian concerns.Abstract
This study tested whether the timing of first sexual intercourse in adolescence predicts romantic outcomes in adulthood, including union formation, number of romantic partners, and relationship dissatisfaction. Participants were 1,659 same-sex sibling pairs from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, who were followed from adolescence (mean age = 16 years) to young adulthood (mean age = 29 years). The timing of participants' first sexual intercourse was classified as early (at age 14 or earlier), on time (between the ages of 15 and 19), or late (at age 19 or older). Compared with early and on-time age at first sex, late age at first sex was associated with decreased odds of marriage or nonmarital cohabitation and fewer romantic partners in adulthood. Among individuals who had married or cohabited with a partner, late timing of first sex was associated with significantly reduced levels of relationship dissatisfaction, even after controlling for genetic and environmental differences between families (using a sibling-comparison model), demographic outcomes in adulthood, and involvement in dating during adolescence. These results underscore the contribution of a life-span approach to our understanding of romantic relationships.When Planned Parenthood refused to sell its long-empty ground-floor office space to Pregnancy Center of Addison County (VT), the pregnancy center simply went over the abortion giant’s head. They bought the upper floor.
For the Middlebury-based center, buying an office—and this office in particular—felt in many ways like coming home. Since opening in 1986, the Pregnancy Center of Addison County had bounced between multiple rented locations, including the very same second floor space on Court Street it purchased this year.
Most recently, the center had occupied a windowless former pizza parlor below a church in the center village, a spot chosen for its low rent and proximity to the Middlebury College campus.
And that was where the center’s story almost ended.
“In the middle of summer 2016, we hit bottom,” board chairman Bill Kipp said. “The previous director left, we were only a board of three, and our donations were drying up. We started to pray in earnest, wondering if we were going to have to close.”
That September, the board made two hires: Joanie Praamsma as executive director and Fawnda Buttolph as client services director. Bringing in those two women has proved to be a much-needed boon for the center, and put them in a position to land on a long-term building solution a year later.
“At that point, things really changed dramatically, where the Lord got involved and answered prayer, and we found Joanie and Fawnda,” Kipp said. “With those two directors, and following the Heartbeat International outline for how to be an active board, all those things combined began to restore what we wanted to be: an effective pregnancy ministry in our county.”
While Praamsma and Buttolph launched a website and held office hours, they initially kept the center’s profile low, knowing their location was not yet adequate for serving clients.
“There was no natural light, no windows, just one room with a three-quarter wall, so there was no privacy,” Praamsma said. “It was moldy and had no bathroom you could get to, unless you went through a section that was not ours. When I took over, I said, ‘We can't see clients here.’ All the challenges you can imagine were there.”
In October of 2016, Buttolph asked an area realtor about properties for rent. She learned that the 1,440-square-foot former Planned Parenthood clinic was for sale. It had stood empty for three years.
“Word on the street was they were desperate to sell, eager to get it off their hands,” Praamsma said. “When we found out it was only $75,000, we knew that would be way less mortgage than any rent we would have to pay.”
[Click here to subscribe to Pregnancy Help News!]
Her board approved pursuing the purchase, and fundraising began. Planned Parenthood’s realtor warned them the abortion business knew they were looking at the building and had already made clear they had no intention of selling to them.
Undeterred, the center’s leadership continued putting together a solid offer for the entire asking price.
“By springtime, we had the down payment and financing secured,” Praamsma said. “We made an offer in April. The realtor came back and said, ‘They're not going to sell it to you. They turned it down.’”
Praamsma tried reasoning with Planned Parenthood directly.
“I said, ‘I'd like an opportunity to talk with you as a first step, because I looked at your mission statement online and looked at ours, and there shouldn't be a reason you couldn't sell to us,’” Praamsma said. “And they just said, ‘We're not selling to you.’”
Rather than instigate a legal battle, the pregnancy center chose to stay focused on building its positive reputation in Addison County. Within two weeks, its property problem was solved.
“In the meantime, our realtor had spoken to the owner of the upstairs,” Praamsma said. “It was the exact same square footage. He was renting it out to a massage therapist. The realtor told him what Planned Parenthood had done and he was shocked. He said, ‘You've got to be kidding me! They were so eager to sell. Heck, I'll sell you guys mine if you want it.’
“At first he was asking for a little more than Planned Parenthood was, but we said, ‘This is what we've raised; this is what we can afford.’ So he agreed to that.”
The deal closed In June, with the realtor sweetening the deal by giving all her fees to the center. After the previous tenant moved out Oct. 1, Pregnancy Center of Addison County moved in the following week.
“The interesting part was the [other] realtor dropped Planned Parenthood, because they had a full offer and refused it,” Praamsma said. “So I don't know what's happening with the downstairs. It is being rented now. But there's no ‘for sale’ sign, so as far as I know it's not on the market.”
A Permanent, Professional Presence
Kipp said the new office space has already begun proving its value to the ministry.
“It’s very well suited for what we need,” he said. “It’s private, secure, and comfortable for our clients. Also because we own it and it's in Middlebury and it's permanent, I think it's reassuring for our donors.
“The building also lends itself to a certain degree of professionalism. When doctors, nurses, and other contact people drive by and see our sign and our location, they see we're here to make a difference, we're here to stay. We're people they can work with.”
This new center includes a counseling room, a combination office and waiting area, and an administrative office. A fourth room displays racks of clothing and baby items available through the center’s new Earn While You Learn program.
Even the center’s purchase of its Earn While You Learn curriculum has been a testament to a providential revitalization that’s swept through the center’s work over the past year. A local Knights of Columbus chapter stepped forward to sponsor a large portion of the cost, and the center also received an anonymous $5,000 donation at Heartbeat International’s Pregnancy Help Institute in August.
For Praamsma, who’s lived in the area all her life, Pregnancy Center of Addison County is now poised to fill an important gap in services she recognized during her 10 years working with Bethany Christian Services.
Tweet This: Blocked by #PlannedParenthood, Vermont #prolife center goes high for new location. @kinglewrites
“I saw the need for women to be told about all of their options, to have the ability to make the best, most well-informed decision,” she said. “I felt that was something they weren't getting, unless they made it to a pregnancy center.”
To help grow community awareness of its services, the center hosted a free fill-a-bag event on November 28. In addition to a beefed-up online presence, Praamsma and Kipp have posted signs in the local hospital, a parent-child center, homeless shelters, and the high school to promote their work.
Next, Praamsma plans to reach out to the Middlebury College campus, a liberal arts university with about 2,500 students.
Someday, said Kipp and Praamsma, they hope Pregnancy Center of Addison County will own both levels of its Court Street building, enabling them to provide ultrasounds and expanded services for women facing crisis pregnancies. At this point, being visible and available for the women who need them is key.
“If we reach just five more women next year—or even one—we would feel successful,” Kipp said. “You can't really quantify life, right?”I was a bit sad when my original Santa fell through (I think they tried but had some trouble and couldn't sent anything), so when I got a message from my rematch Santa that my present was on its way, I was super excited!!
And rightly so!! Today I got a big but super light box and I was 100% sure it was my Plushies gift! I don't remember if I said anything about my favorite animals or not in the preferences, but I do love cats and sloths, so I can't stop smiling :) - It's too hot to keep the sloth around my neck all the time, but I might put the air conditioning on just to be able to do so, hehehe
thank you, thank you amazing rematch Santa! you've made my day! I didn't know a soft sloth and an amazing cat pillow could make me feel sooooo good :)Since the Senate started holding hearings on President Donald Trump’s Cabinet and Cabinet-level nominations, Senate Democrats have employed a variety of tactics to delay the votes needed for Trump to put the government’s leaders in place.
Republicans have called Democrats’ actions “unprecedented,” but are they?
A review by The Daily Signal of committee actions for first-term Cabinet and Cabinet-level nominees dating back to the initial days of President George W. Bush’s administration—the earliest for which electronic congressional records could be found—shows that efforts from the minority party to tie up nominations are rare and a break from Senate tradition.
“In the Senate, there’s a presumption that the president is entitled to pick the Cabinet,” Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College in California, told The Daily Signal.
“Things are different given the general polarization of the Senate and the specific atmosphere that we’re seeing in the early weeks of the Trump administration,” Pitney said.
By the start of the new year |
ity he possessed, but the language barrier remained a problem. It takes a certain type of personality to succeed as a player with the challenge of taking on a new language and a new culture rolled in. Dong seemed to be lacking in that department.
"The huge problem was how reserved he was," McGuinness says. "Su came in and interacted with all of us; we are still friends now. I don't think Dong tried, but as a young lad in a strange land, it must have been hard."
Getty
Su backs such claims: "The language was a problem, but I made a big effort to at least say little things. From what I hear, Dong didn't even try."
In Belgium, Dong scored goals and appeared happy in brief interactions with team-mates, but his unwillingness to integrate worked to his detriment.
"Once, he went away to play for the national team, and he came back with a shirt and other things from the national team as a present for me personally," Van Acker says. "But even then, it was just so difficult to communicate with him. Nobody knew what was going on inside his mind. It was difficult to help him. We just had European coaches."
In December 2006, Dong was finally granted his work permit to play in England. He had finished as the top goalscorer in the Belgian second division the previous season and scored for United in the 2006/07 pre-season.
Dong was 21 and still had a lot to prove, but he was moving in the right direction. A Premier League debut as a substitute against Chelsea at the end of the 2006/07 season finally brought Dong to United fans' attention. A full debut against Coventry in the League Cup at the start of the following campaign seemed to at least suggest he was in Ferguson's plans.
Dong scored the host country's first goal in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, but he wasn't given a United squad number at the beginning of the 2008/09 season. His cataclysmic decline to obscurity had begun, and a return to China with Dalian Shide followed in August 2008. There, Dong suffered a desperate famine in front of goal, as he didn't find the net once in two seasons. All appeared lost.
"His attitude was wrong," Su says. "After Manchester United, Dong thought everything was going to be easy and that when he returned to China, he would be the best.
"That is not true. You have to show your talent everywhere. The good players are always well-prepared in training and in normal life. I don't think he had people at home telling him how to live his life away from football."
Getty
The solution was to head back to Europe and try again, but the psychological damage seemed to have been done. A stint at Legia Warsaw in Poland lasted just four appearances, and Dong terminated his own contract at Portuguese club Portimonense—a move that had been aided by a recommendation from Cristiano Ronaldo, no less.
A final stint in Armenia failed to reignite his flailing career, leaving no other option than to head home once more. That's when things really took a turn for the worse. Everyone in China seemed to have given up on him.
Having enjoyed some form of riches from his European adventure, and with his dream of making it up in flames, Dong became somewhat of a rebel in a country that doesn't take kindly to such behaviour.
"His commitment was regularly questioned in the media, as he showed little interest in aiming higher," Christopher Atkins, a player representative in China, told Bleacher Report. "He also got himself in to trouble that season, earning a six-match ban for giving Beijing Institute of Technology supporters the middle finger after suffering abuse when withdrawn early from a league match following a yellow card."
The anti-establishment conduct continued, and Dong became something of a target for the ire of the media.
"There were all sorts of rumours that he had been tempted by nightlife and all that sort of thing," Byer says. "One thing he did that didn't go down well was he dyed his hair bleach-blond—a real no-no in Asian life, especially in the public eye."
Dong had problems with his weight, and retirement inevitably followed—before he'd turned 30. The downward spiral continued. An already-easy target for ridicule, an unhealthy-looking Dong recently appeared on a reality TV show on which contestants were subject to plastic surgery procedures.
How do we explain such a sharp decline? A myriad youngsters have been turned away by United and still made a name for themselves. Su went on to accumulate 53 international caps and coach in the Chinese second tier.
Was it the responsibility of serving as Chinese football's great global ambassador—being a player described by Chinese legend Hao Haidong as "the nation's most important striker for the next 10 years," according to When Saturday Comes—that did it for Dong?
"There was so much pressure on the kid. Chinese football needed a boost," Byer says. "The Chinese Super League was launched around the same time Dong left for England, and that was supposed to be the start of something great. How does a kid like him handle so much?"
Aside from his recent, desperate attempt to remain a public figure, Dong has disappeared. His story as a footballer of undoubted ability is resigned to what might have been—both for Dong and the impact he could have had at United and on Chinese football as a whole.
"A sad story, really, of a talented player," Atkins says. "[Dong's former team-mate] Ransford Addo once told me he was the best United kid they ever took at Antwerp."
Dong could have been something special at United. He could have been China's trailblazing superstar—a footballer to signpost a nation's bold new future. His dramatic rise promised everything, but the story of Dong Fangzhuo is one of swift decline and crushing anticlimax.
At the start, he was different. But by the end of his career, Dong was just like all the others who fail to make the grade.
All quotes gathered firsthand unless otherwise stated. Bleacher Report tried unsuccessfully to contact Dong Fangzhuo. It was also not possible to confirm where Dong is located.During NECRONOMIDOL’s US West Coast Tour, I was able to have a quick sit down with Ricky and the girls for a bit of chatting. I will tell you, the girls are pretty open and a real joy to talk with. And of course, Ricky is an absolute gem of a person. What follows is a transcription of the audio of that chat. Unfortunately the audio was not good enough to put out to the public, sorry about that.
On December 20th, 2017 and Studio Seven in Seattle, up in the bar section I sat down with Ricky Wilson, Himari Tsukishiro, Risaki Kakizaki, Sari and Rei Imaizumi. Ricky excused himself for a moment, I think he needed something from downstairs. This was a bit uncomfortable, I will admit, since my grasp of Japanese is pretty much non-existent. Lucky for me Sari came to the rescue with a bit of small talk in her best English. She asked where I lived and I responded. The others listened intently trying to understand what I said. Sari told them I lived an hour south of the venue. Risaki said “not close”, I responded, “No, not close”. After a couple more second of slightly uncomfortable glancing at each other and smiling Ricky returned and we started the interview.
All of the questions were asked and then translated by Ricky. The girls answered and Ricky translated back. There were tiny its of English by the girls.
The Interview
Me: Do you ever feel you get more attention from western fans than from fans in Japan and is there a different way they show their support?
Ricky (Sari): So Sari was saying that kind of the path for idols, idol as a concept is already kind of created, or made in Japan, so the path to becoming popular as an idol and also the path to, or the way you support idols, the way that you show your support is set. In the west and over seas it is all open, its all kind of up in the air. Nobody has kind of made that one way to do things. There is not that one particular path to follow to success, so there is a lot more freedom. So there is a lot of freedom on our side for how we proceed as a group, and also on the fan side for how they show their support.
Me: Does anyone currently play a musical instrument in their spare time, or would they like to learn one?
Ricky (Himari): Flute
Risaki (in English): Me too, flute and piccolo.
Sari (in English): Euphonium
Rei: Trumpet to [and] piano
Ricky: Ohhhhh [surprised, he did not know about the trumpet]
Me: What interested each of you to audition for the group? And when you applied did you know how the group would turn out to be?
Ricky (Risaki): She was an original member so the group wasn’t actually put together then, all we had was a website. So she checked the website out, and she thought, oh this isn’t like other groups, this is kind of interesting, it looks like they are going to do some unusual things or some strange things. On the site in it said that the group was going to do black metal. She said, I don’t know black metal, but I know metal, Like I know heavy metal, so it will probably be like BABYMETAL. You know, like popular music that is going to be easy to sell. Then I actually came in for the interview and heard the music we were doing, and thought, this sounds more like a funeral than anything else. So she had to stop herself for a couple minutes there, but through actually singing and actually performing that music she came to like it.
Ricky (Himari): For Himari, she joined after NECRONOMIDOL had already been going for a while, and she was used to more of the more of the major poppy idol groups. But she saw NECRONOMIDOL before she even joined and thought, I really like the feeling, I really like how this is different than most of the other groups out there.
Me [To Ricky]: I knew she was in a group before, I own the CD.
Himari: [covering face in giggling embarrassment] Ahhhhhhhh
Ricky (Sari): For Sari initially she didn’t actually plan to become an idol, that wasn’t something she wanted to become. But, when she was looking through an audition site for places to perform she saw the NECRONOMIDOL listing on there and the listing said things like abandoned buildings and ghosts and things like that which were a bit closer to her milieu, closer to the things she was interested in. She didn’t think it would become this kind of project that has gone on as long as it has, but that was how she got into the group initially.
Ricky (Rei): She had actually been an idol fan for a long time and the idols she was a fan of, the groups she was a fan of were much more popular groups, like normal pop idol groups. Cute girls wearing cute clothes, smiling and just dancing on stage. She saw the NECRONOMIDOL audition page and so she checked out some of the videos we had up online and thought, oh wow, there are groups like this out there, this is something new. Initially she didn’t really see herself meshing with that, she didn’t see herself as part of the group, but once she joined it all clicked together.
Me: Do you have any backstage rituals or warmups that you do before you go out on stage?
The girls put all there hands in the middle of them and do a little up down motion.
Ricky: Before the girls go on stage they all join hands together and say group suicide.
A short exchange between Ricky and myself about Yukueshirezutsurezure and their similar pre-show ritual.
Me: Is there something you always carry with you on tour?
Himari claps her hands and yells “Hai!”
Ricky (Himari): She always brings a plush from her favorite anime. Pio-chan.
Me: from which anime?
Himari (in English): Secret
Ricky (Risaki): She always brings her red towel, so when she dyes her hair pink or has to replace the pink in her hair, she doesn’t want to dye the towels in the hotel so she brings one with her.
Ricky (Sari): Xylitol gum
Ricky (Rei): She as a travel protection amulet that she attaches to her suitcase.
A brief discussion between Ricky and myself about the similarities between that and a St. Christopher’s medal which he then explains to Rei.
Me: NECRONOMIDOL is always pushing the idol genre in new directions musically and stylistically, is there anything they would like to explore that they have not had the chance to yet with the group?
Ricky (Risaki): An idol song with no vocals.
A bit of confusion….
Ricky (Himari): A song with no singing but just words.
Me: like a poem?
Ricky: Yes, like a spoken poem.
Me: Like Maison book girl does?
Himari [surprised I know who Maison book girl is] agrees.
Me: If you could recommend one song that expresses your personal character well, what song would that be?
Ricky: From NECRONOMIDOL?
Me: From anything.
Ricky (Sari): Erik Satie the composer [Sari, in English] classical music.
Ricky (Himari): Himari has a part at the beginning of SARNATH and she would like to become a person more like that. That is the path that she would like to follow as an idol. There are still some elements of that she is not living out, but she would like to try and bring that forward more.
Ricky (Rei): Rei’s is a secret
Ricky (Risaki): Ahe does not have one particular song, but every song in Necroma’s repertoire that she has a big solo part or strong part, she always tries to live that out in the midst of the song.
Ricky (Rei): Inside of Necroma’s own set list, probably psychopomp is the closest for her because when she is feeling like weak, or when she is not strong it shows in the song. Or when she is strong she is able to be more expressive, she can bring more to her performance of the song as well.
Me: Who puts together the choreography?
Ricky: Yuko is our main choreographer. But, sometimes for example, Kakizaki did the choreography for ABHOTH and also puella tenebrarum, but everything else is by Yuko.
We all exchange thank yous and I was off to wait for the show. This interview was pretty nerve wracking even though I had already met and talked with the girl several times before. Sorry if it seems disorganized and a bit shoddy, I will have better equipment and organization next time I do a face to face interview. This was my first one after all.
Official Website: http://necronomidol.com/
Official International Fan Club: https://www.patreon.com/necronomidol
Official Webstore: https://necronomidol.bandcamp.com/Click to share on Weibo (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Scientists from China and the U.S. will work together on a space experiment on the international space station for the first time.
CGTN’s Sean Callebs reports.
Scientists from the Beijing Institute of Technology are putting the finishing touches on an experiment that will be conducted in the unforgiving environment of space.
It’s work that will help determine whether humans can survive a prolonged journey in space-where astronauts are bombarded with ten times the radiation levels on earth.
“Space radiation could cause harm to the astronauts, especially when they are in space for a long period of time. One of the biggest risks from space flight is gene mutation, we hope to do more research on this and learn how big the risk of gene mutation is for humans in space.”, Deng Yulin of the School of Life Science at BIT said.
Potentially ground-breaking research but Professor Deng, and his team have already made history. Despite the fact, there is a strict U.S. law that prohibits NASA from doing work with China – this will be the first Chinese experiment ever flown on the International Space Station.
“Every day you feel like, hey we might be making a huge discovery today that affects all of humanity”, said Colonel Jack D. Fisher a NASA flight engineer.
The Chinese experiment will be carried to the ISS, on a Space-X rocket privately funded.
It is all legal, and above board, because a private U.S. based company called NanoRacks is handling the payload and works closely with NASA and bills itself as a concierge to the stars.
“We do pride ourselves on being a vehicle that educational entities can come to and go through the system in a less than intimidating fashion, we spend a lot of time making the process as easy and painless as possible for our customers.”, said Mary Murphy an international payloads managers at Nanorocks.
The Beijing Institute of Technology has had its share of challenges. The project is the culmination of two years of work, and negotiations to make sure it’s done legally and within strict U.S. government guidelines.The H.G. Wells short story The Country of the Blind tells of an explorer named Nuñez who falls down the side of a mountain and finds himself in an isolated valley whose residents have been born blind for generations. They have no idea what sight is, and Nuñez doesn’t have much luck describing it, or convincing them of its value. Ultimately, the joke’s on him; though he thinks someone sighted will have no trouble running the place, the locals are entirely unimpressed. The point is, be careful when making presumptions of cultural superiority. Carolyn Ives Gilman’s Dark Orbit begins as a sci-fi spin on that old story, but quickly spins off of those familiar ideas in new directions.
Saraswati Callicott is an interstellar explorer and cultural expert who travels on lightbeams (think Star Trek’s transporter, but with limitless range). The beam is bound by the speed of light, so she typically spends years (even decades) of objective time traveling from place to place, aging only seconds in the process. Naturally, she has few attachments. Arriving from her most recent job, she barely has time to process the years she’s skipped over when she’s given a new assignment: a trip to a Questship, launched centuries prior to seek out new worlds. Automated systems have discovered Iris, an intriguing planet on the edges of human exploration, a journey that will take her almost 120 years round trip. Officially, she’s lending her cross-cultural expertise to a team of scientists studying the planet. Unofficially, she’s there to keep an eye on Thora Lassiter, a high-born young diplomat whose last job as emissary went awry, owing to what’s described as a serious mental breakdown.
It’s not long before Thora, lost on an away mission, finds herself among the native (after a fashion) inhabitants of Iris: approximately human, and entirely blind. This is where the novel, heretofore an engaging scenic journey to a strange world of razor grass and fractal trees, truly comes to life: the locals live in complete darkness, so Thora is left to adapt to a world where she’s entirely cut off from one of her primary senses. Even given a shared language (for reasons left vague), words are inadequate to describe the experience of sight. Eventually, a young woman from Isis winds up aboard the Questship with the situation reversed. It’s a subtle, convincing take on the challenges and opportunities of cross-cultural engagement. When it becomes clear that there’s more to the seemingly simple people of Iris than meets the, er, eye, the mission’s corporate masters want merely to exploit their abilities, while others take an almost maternalistic view, aware of the danger that a pristine culture will become contaminated.
That’s the core of the narrative, but the book is packed with ideas. There’s quite a bit to mull over, about science and faith, and the real-world applications of the observer effect in physics: can you really ever study something without that very act changing it forever? And lest we forget this is splashy SF, there’s also a murder mystery, plenty of intriguing tech, a way-cool trip through that fractal forest, and a looming planetary catastrophe to tie everything together. The real heart, though, is in the interactions between the genuinely strong, thoughtful lead characters, almost all of them women. And there’s not a love triangle in sight, nor any of the other structures we’ve been trained to expect in books starring lady types. In some ways it’s incidental, but in other ways it’s essential: as Thora reclaims the memories of her previous, ill-fated excursion, it becomes clear why her actions were dismissed as mental breakdown. Even in the future, for women who speak too loudly and challenge the orthodoxy, the traditional, well-worn diagnosis stands.
There are almost too many ideas here: scientific, spiritual, and cultural questions are raised and occasionally dismissed before they really have a chance to develop. I’d rather have too many ideas than too few, though, and Gilman digs deep into realms of culture and human relationships that sci-fi rarely deals in outside of the strongest works by Ursula K. LeGuin (who, incidentally, gave this one a glowing cover blurb). Aside from being a pretty cool mystery on a spaceship, Dark Orbit explores the overlap between two contradictory ideas: the impossibility of ever truly understanding each other, and the need to keep trying. I don’t come to the end of many books hoping for a sequel, but I’d love to spend more time with these characters.Have your say
A CHEF who soiled himself before attacking three people and destroying food displays during a rampage in Tesco has been jailed for eight months.
John Thomson, from Grove Street in Fountainbridge, was drunk as he fought with members of staff at the supermarket branch.
The 21-year-old chef spat on store worker Gemma Law when she asked him to leave and then attacked her colleagues Stephen Bayley and Daniel Mayring.
Perth Sheriff Court was told that the temperamental chef then rampaged through the shop in South Street, Perth, pulling down scores of items from the shelves.
Fiscal depute John Malpass said: “The accused entered the store heavily under the influence of drink or drugs and he appeared to have soiled himself.”
Thomson pleaded guilty to assaulting Gemma Law by spitting on her on May 17 this year.
He also admitted assaulting the two men, threatening violence and breaching the peace by knocking over shelves.
Solicitor John McLaughlin, defending, said Thomson had a problem with alcohol.The Big Data Refinery
A pattern for handing multiple consumers of Big Data from the Big Data Group at Microsoft.
Author: Matthew Renze
Posted: 2016-07-11
The data refinery is a design pattern for providing data to multiple consumers in a Big Data context. The pattern is neither a data lake nor a data warehouse. However, it can be used in conjunction with both of these existing Big Data patterns to minimize duplication, enhance ETL performance, and optimize ROI on your Big Data strategy.
This pattern is currently being implemented within the Big Data Group at Microsoft to help manage hundreds of thousands of tables filled with exabytes of data. This article is the result of lessons that Roni Burd and the Big Data Group have shared with me regarding this pattern to help with the Big Data solutions I am implementing for my own clients.
The Problem
One of the main problems entailed in creating an effective Big Data strategy is determining where to apply schema to your data. Two prevailing Big Data patterns are the Data Lake and the Data Warehouse. With a data lake, we apply the schema when we read the data during queries. With a data warehouse, we apply the schema when we write the data. This allows us to perform fast ad hoc queries.
There are various pros and cons to using either a data lake or a data warehouse (or both). For example, with a data lake, we gain the benefit of very low-cost storage and distributed processing via technologies like MapReduce and Spark. However, we must run these queries against the raw data in a non-optimized format, which means there will often be a significant delay before our query returns with our result. In addition, querying against the untransformed raw data is much more difficult for end users (e.g. having to apply joins, calculations, and clean the data).
With a data warehouse, we gain the benefit of extremely fast queries, which allows us to work with our data in an ad hoc fashion. In addition, by having our data organized into a star schema with facts and dimensions, it is very easy for end users to work with these data in a self-serve BI fashion. However, there is an increase in cost, time, and effort to store the same data in a data warehouse vs a data lake.
Another problem that is encountered, is that we often have multiple consumers of our raw data. For example, we may have a data mart, machine learning systems, and 3rd-party data export services all relaying on the same source data. This means that we typically need multiple ETL (Extract, Transform, and Load) processes to provide data to each consumer in the appropriate format. This leads to significant duplication of logic and redundant data processing.
The Solution
The data refinery pattern attempts to solve several of these problems. In essence the pattern splits the ETL process (or processes) into two independent phases with a Hadoop-enabled low-cost repository in the middle. The process essentially works like this:
First, we collect and store all of our raw data in an inexpensive storage medium (e.g. blob storage). Essentially, we want to retain all of our raw data in its original, unmodified format, so we can always return to the source data if necessary. This step is the same whether you implement a data lake, data warehouse, a data refinery or all three patterns.
Next, we perform the first phase of the ETL process. In this phase of ETL we extract the raw data from the raw data repository. We transform the raw data into a highly denormalized data format. In addition, we apply data transformations and cleaning tasks that are common to all consumers. Then we load these data into inexpensive storage using an efficient columnar-storage format like Parquet.
Finally, as consumers require data from our data refinery, we perform the second phase of the ETL process. In this phase, we extract the necessary data from our data refinery's column-store storage using a distributed query-processing technology like MapReduce or Spark. Next we transform the data into a format specific to each consumer. We do not, however, need to apply any data transformation logic that is common to all the consumers in this phase, as these transformations have already been applied in the first phase of the ETL. Finally, we load these data into the consumers (e.g. data warehouse, machine learning system, etc.)
Real-World Example
For example, imagine that we have a sales transaction system as one of our data sources. A line item in the sales transaction data contains the transaction ID, product ID, the sale price, and the quantity of product sold. Most of the consumers of this data will need to know the product name and the total cost for the line item (i.e. sale price x quantity sold). So in the first phase of the ETL we apply the transformation to look up the product name in a look-up table via product ID. In addition, we calculate the total cost for the line item by multiplying the quantity of product sold and the sale price of the product.
This denormalized output table from the first phase of the ETL process, now contains the original fields plus the new fields (i.e. transaction ID, product ID, product name, sale price, quantity sold, and the line-item total). These data are now loaded into the data refinery's distributed data store. When any of our consumers needs to retrieve these records, they can retrieve them from the data refinery's repository with the product name and line-item totals readily pre-populated.
Now let's imagine that we have a predictive analytics system as one of our consumers of these sales transaction line items. Let's also assume that this system needs two other pieces of information to correctly make predictions about the profitability of our products using these records. For example, this consumer also needs the probability that this product will be returned (based on historical sales data) and the inflation-adjusted price of the product (which is created using a calculation). None of the other consumers of our sales transaction data need these extra fields of data, only the predictive analytics system. So in the second phase of the ETL process, we can look-up and compute these two extra fields of information for each record before loading them into the predictive analytics system.
This allows us to re-use the common transformations (e.g. look up product name and compute total line-item cost) in the first phase of the ETL for all of the consumers; since most if not all consumers need these pieces of additional information. In addition, it allows us to easily apply the one-off transformations (e.g. look up the probability of product being returned and calculate the inflation-adjusted price) in the 2nd-phase of the ETL.
Advantages
First, the data refinery pattern solves the problem of duplicated transformation logic as we apply this common logic only once in the first phase of the ETL process. Because there is only a single source of truth for the logic used to transform the raw data into a denormalized format, there is no need to update code in multiple ETL applications when a change in common data transformation logic occurs. This also eliminates the possibility of our logic being inconsistent across multiple ETL applications.
Second, the data refinery pattern eliminates redundant computation necessary to transform the data for multiple consumers. Since we apply all common transformations in the first phase of the ETL process, we do not need to reapply these common transformations for each of our consumer ETL processes. This saves us considerable CPU cycles, especially in scenarios where we have many consumers that all require the same data.
Third, this pattern makes it significantly easier and faster to perform queries against the data refinery's data stored in efficient column-store storage. While it's not as user friendly as a self-service BI solution riding on top of an enterprise data warehouse, it is still significantly more user-friendly than working with the raw data in its ungoverned format. In addition, because we've denormalized the raw data and stored it in an efficient storage format (e.g. Parquet) we can run our queries much faster than equivalent queries against the raw unoptimized data.
Finally, the data refinery pattern helps us deal with versioning issues in the raw data by allowing us to either massage the data in the first phase of the ETL process or by providing versioned views to the second phase of the ETL process. This means that many types of breaking changes in the raw data will not affect the consumers as they are shielded from these breaking changes by the data refinery.
Disadvantages
The main disadvantage of this solution is that it entails additional costs to create and maintain the data refinery system. We're essentially adding costs somewhere in-between creating a data lake and a data warehouse from scratch. However, if you are servicing multiple consumers (e.g. three or more) using the same data, we've significantly reduced our ETL creation and maintenance costs via de-duplication and reduced our operating costs by eliminating redundant operations.
Another disadvantage is that we are duplicating the raw data a second time in the data refinery's persistent storage – and this is a lot of data to be duplicating. However, we're storing these data in very low-cost persistence mediums (e.g. blob storage). In addition, since we're using column-store technologies like Parquet, we eliminate a lot of duplicate values via our columnar-storage format. Ultimately, relative to the other costs involved in an overall Big Data strategy, these storage costs are likely negligible.
The final disadvantage is that we're increasing the complexity of our Big Data system by adding an additional component to the system and another manifestation of the data. While this is a pretty significant increase in complexity, we are effectively trading off the complexity of having multiple independent ETL systems for each consumer by having a single first-phase ETL handing the bulk of the complexity and multiple, much simpler, second-phase ETLs for each consumer.
Contexts
This solution only makes sense within a few contexts with a specific set of constraints and optimization goals. The most important of these is the need to provide data to multiple consumers. If there is only a single consumer of the data, we will likely not receive benefits to this solution that outweigh the costs to implement it. However, if we have several consumers, the cost-benefit tips in favor of this solution.
In addition, this pattern only makes economic sense if the cost to store the data refinery's pre-processed data is relatively inexpensive. This is why we're using low-cost persistence mediums like blob storage with the data organized in a columnar-storage format like Parquet.
Finally, this pattern works best if the costs of creating, maintaining, and operating separate independent ETL processes for each consumer is relatively high. By implementing this pattern, we're reducing the creation and maintenance costs of the ETL process (via de-duplication of business logic) and the operating costs (by elimination redundant data transformations).
Summary
The software industry is currently going through a significantly transition as we learn how to manage Big Data. We see new big-data patterns and practices emerging on a daily basis. While none of these will magically make all of our Big Data issues disappear overnight, in certain contexts, some may be more applicable than others and thus reduce the cost and complexity of our solution. The data refinery pattern is another pattern for your Big-Data toolkit, that when used appropriately, can improve your overall Big Data strategy.
Share this article:Sonny Bill Williams stripped of boxing belts LIAM NAPIER
MOST WANTED: Sonny Bill Williams' sporting future continues to be a topic of interest around the world. Relevant offers
Sonny Bill Williams collected two prestigious rugby league awards this year but his boxing titles are now non-existent.
Williams won the international player of the year gong with the Kiwis and, in their march to NRL premiership glory, was recognised as the Sydney Roosters' most influential figure with the Jack Gibson medal.
But after failing to defend his belt within six months, the World Boxing Association (WBA) confirmed to Sunday News this week Williams had been stripped of the title he won in controversial circumstances over South African veteran Francois Botha in February.
"He's no longer the WBA international champion," a WBA spokesperson said from headquarters in Panama. "He's been stripped."
Sunday News also understands Williams is set to lose his New Zealand Professional Boxing Association (NZPBA) heavyweight title today.
Since receiving a formal, written challenge from rising Kiwi heavyweight Joseph Parker, the NZPBA have attempted to contact Williams' manager, Khoder Nasser, on several occasions.
A letter was delivered in July and the latest email was sent two months ago, on October 14.
The four-person NZPBA committee - Lance Revill, John Gillespie, Carrick Belton and Pat Leonard - met this weekend and are expected to issue a formal statement today confirming the title will be declared vacant.
"As per-usual, I've had no reply," Leonard said. "The only reason why we didn't call on him to defend it before was because no-one had challenged him."
Williams claimed the NZPBA title with a first round knockout of Clarence Tillman in February last year, but has made no effort to defend it since.
National secretary Leonard and Revill are known to be furious at the lack of courtesy shown by Nasser, who could not be reached for comment.
The NZPBA has been more than generous by allowing Williams almost two years to schedule a defence. Their leniency was originally due to speculation Williams would return to New Zealand and the champion Chiefs next year.
"We wanted it settled in the ring but we've had to take it outside," Leonard said. "He realises he's not championship material."
The 28-year-old dual international will instead return to the Roosters next year, before transferring back to the Chiefs in 2015. He has said he will not get back in the ring to put his 6-0 record on the line for up to three years.
Stripping Williams will open the NZPBA title up to all New Zealand heavyweights. Elimination fights will then be held to ensure there are no gripes.
The No. 1 contender could then challenge Parker, holder of the New Zealand National Boxing Federation title, in what would be a long-awaited unification fight.
- Sunday NewsGlaxosmithkline, the pharmaceutical multinational that employs 1,500 people in Ireland, opened a non-trading branch in Cork into which it transferred $9.8 billion in assets as part of a Luxembourg tax structure.
The Irish branch immediately loaned the assets back to its parent in Luxembourg in return for an interest-free loan in a process that meant the $9.8 billion no longer featured when the Luxembourg’s company’s wealth tax bill was being calculated by the Luxembourg tax authorities.
The transaction was outlined in a letter from PwC Luxembourg to Marius Kohl of the tax authorities there. In the November 2008 letter the tax authority was told the Luxembourg company, Glaxosmithkline International Luxembourg Sarl, would still have $400 million in assets that would “remain” subject to the Luxembourg wealth tax. The proposal was approved by Mr Kohl on December 3rd, 2008, thereby becoming a so-called advanced tax agreement.
Luxembourg’s wealth tax is charged at a rate of 0.5 per cent per annum, meaning Glaxosmithkline may have saved $49 million on the $9.8 billion transferred to Ireland.
In the letter, PwC said the Irish branch would be tax resident in Ireland because it would have an office space, a desk, a fax, its name displayed on the premises, a telephone number that was available to the public, its own bank account and accounting records, and one manager.
“The branch manager will be provided by GSK Trading Services Ltd, a GSK company incorporated and tax resident in Ireland for an arm’s length fee.”
The tax treaty between Ireland and Luxembourg provides that in these circumstances the Irish branch of the Luxembourg company would be tax resident in Ireland, the PwC letter said.
In discussing the matter, PwC reviewed the English language and French language versions of the treaty while coming to the view that |
will come into play, but at this point, Edge is sounding a lot like a hyped-up tweak to the existing device payment plans (allowing you to take on a second phone earlier). There's no contract, but you're subject to the same pricing and plans as every other new customer (grandfathering may be allowed for existing customers).
In summary, Verizon and AT&T want you to continue paying the same $90+ a month for an individual plan (at least) as every subsidized customer, and then they want to tack on $25-50 a month on top of that for the new phone upgrade options. Meanwhile, on-contract customers may only be getting new handsets every 2 years, but they're also not paying for the full cost of that phone on top of their service bill.
The really frustrating part? These new payment plans can actually be more expensive than buying on contract in the case where you'd think they'd make the most sense: when you want flexibility to switch carriers on a whim. Allow me to explain.
The AT&T Galaxy S4 16GB costs $200 with a new 2-year agreement. Let's say I buy one and decide 6 months later that I want to leave AT&T. At this point, my early termination fee will be, with 6 months of service paid for in full, $265. That means I'm paying $465 for the privilege of buying a handset on contract at AT&T, and then deciding I want to bounce. If I want to recoup some of that cost, I can then sell that handset, probably for $350-450, depending on condition. I'd end up in the hole (on hardware / ETF costs) anywhere from $15 to $115. Not actually that bad. (Alternatively, I could even just keep the phone and have AT&T unlock it before cancelling service, if I wanted to move to a cheap prepaid GSM provider, for example.)
But if I did the same thing on AT&T Next, I'd be down way more. 6 months into my Next plan on a Galaxy S4, I would have made $192 worth of handset payments (hey, that's like, $200), and would have another $448 due on the phone ($640 off contract price). If AT&T's policy is anything like T-Mobile's, cancelling your line means the remainder of your hardware payment balance comes due immediately (this makes sense, as AT&T is no longer doing business with you). Even selling the phone would still leave me down about a couple hundred bucks compared to the on-contract scenario.
Verizon's ETF is a bit higher at $290 ($350 minus $10 per month of service completed), but with the finance charge on device payment plans it basically ends up being the same raw deal as AT&T.
And if you decide to jump ship after a year? Well, on Verizon your handset would be paid off free and clear. But the math still favors the contract customer. A $200 device plus a $230 ETF comes out to $430 in non-service costs over 12 months. On a device payment plan for a GS4, you would have paid $675 over the course of those 12 months in non-service costs. Yes, there isn't the bill shock of an ETF, but there's no denying that you got the bum end of the deal here as far as an accountant's concerned.
In short, Verizon and AT&T's new upgrade plans really only make sense for customers who plan to stick it out with these carriers for the long run. Even then, they're really no better a value than buying your handsets at full price and just selling them when you decide you want to upgrade (doing this is much less restrictive, too). I'm sure some people will find a reason to take advantage of them, and with AT&T basically offering to finance your phone with no interest over 20 months, there's certain to be some incentive there in some cases. But if you're looking for a way to actually save money on your expensive phone habit or your wireless service (or a way to make switching carriers cheap), look elsewhere.OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle OLOF IS THE PROBLEM EleGiggle
2016-08-16 10:16Introduction
To understand how these two operating systems are linked, their ancestry must be known. Are the similarities coincidence, a migration of ideas or do Windows NT and VMS stem from some common source?
What is VMS?
Today, VMS is little known of outside of computer science circles, and rarely used by anyone other than diehard fans. However, in the 70s, VMS was probably UNIX's main competitor.
Before DEC produced VMS, it was famous for creating the PDP series of computers, most notably, the PDP-11 architecture. As well as creating the hardware, DEC also produced a range of 10 OSes for the PDP-11. One of these operating systems was called RSX-11M, which was developed under the direction of a budding software engineer Dave Cutler.
It was because of his success in creating RSX-11M that Cutler was chosen to lead the development of a unified operating system for DEC's new architecture, the VAX. It was this OS that would become known as VMS.
Version 1.0 of VMS was released in 1977, and was quickly accepted as a capable, scalable and backwards-compatible operating system. It was chosen as the OS of choice for a multitude of applications, from desktops to servers.
Cutler continued to develop VMS for four years, until 1981, when he became dissatisfied with the resources DEC were making available to him. Realizing what a valuable asset a man like Cutler is, DEC bent over backwards to accommodate him, setting up a new development center in Seattle, putting a massive team of hardware and software engineers at his disposal. His new task was to create a next generation CPU architecture and associated operating system to win a share of the massive PC market for DEC.
However, in 1988, DEC axed Cutler's project and made many of his members of staff redundant. Unsurprisingly, Cutler was livid, and was thinking about leaving DEC once and for all, as he had threatened in 1981.
Bill Gates was quick to learn of Cutler's disillusionment, and worked hard to try and get the software engineer to defect to Microsoft. Finally, in October 1988, Cutler decided to leave DEC to go and lead Microsoft's new NT project.
What is Windows NT?
In the late 80s, Microsoft, in conjuction with IBM, were developing a new operating system, which was called OS/2. Initial releases were not well accepted, and soon, a follow-on was started, trying to remedy some of the problems OS/2 had had. This project was called NT OS/2 (the NT standing for "New Technology"). This is the project Bill Gates managed to persuade Cutler to come and lead, bringing many ex-DEC employees with him. It's main objectives were:
Out of these requirements, the POSIX compliance, portability and extensibility would be the hardest to implement. As such a wide range of functionality had to included, Cutler decided to adopt a highly modular, layered approach for the OS, with a true microkernel. In this way, Windows NT is very similar to MACH, a flavour of UNIX. The compatability requirement demanded that many separate APIs were presented to userspace programmes, all abstracted away from the kernel mode device drivers and HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer). Because of the layered design, any use of the user-visible APIs would involve drilling through many levels of internal abstractions. This made all the above requirements relatively easy to implement, as new elements could simply be `plugged in' to the existing framework, but performance suffered.
In April 1990, Microsoft launched Windows 3.0, which was a massive success. In fact, this success made Gates realize that his company could easily produce and distribute NT OS/2 totally independent of IBM. In due course, the two companies split from the joint venture, IBM taking the code that formed the basis of OS/2 and Microsoft taking the code that would become Windows NT. Cutler no longer had to adhere to the OS/2 API, and instead created a new API that would become known as Win32.
Windows 3.0's massive success had more effect than this on Cutler's project. It was decided to rename NT OS/2 as Windows NT in order to associate the new product with the established market leader. Also, emphasis was placed on interoperability between the two emerging flavours of Windows, so Cutler included a Win16 API compatability mode alongside the new Win32 API and sidelined POSIX and OS/2 APIs.
Initial releases of Windows NT were very poor indeed. The strict microkernel approach taken meant that the system was very bloated and slow and despite portability being design aim, the OS was still not available for most architectures. Cutler's response was to push many of the abstracted layers into the kernel, notably the graphics rendering code. This violated the clean and attractive modular design, but performance improved dramatically.
As I write this, the cutting edge Windows NT incarnation is Server 2003. Although there have been many cosmetic changes and new additions to the NT system, as Cutler said in an interview in 2000, "The basic, internal architecture has not changed, except for Plug and Play".
Cutler's influence
Quite apart from the similarities in VMS and Windows NT, there a number of striking coincidences between what Dave Cutler did during his time at DEC and Microsoft. It is almost as if he had a couple of goes at making an OS at Digital, then left and had another go for a different company.
When Cutler was creating his first true operating system, RSX-11M, he had to decide how to distribute the memory between the kernel and user's applications. It was decided that memory should split in two, with the top half of the addresses for kernel use only and the bottom half for other programmes. This feature survived into VMS, where addresses 0-7FFFFFFF is mostly user-mode accessible only and addresses 80000000-FFFFFFFF is mostly kernel-accessible only. After moving to Microsoft, when Cutler was organising the memory management of Windows NT, he again had to work out how to distribute memory addresses, and again he used this same scheme - a half and half split down the middle.
One of the reasons DEC felt the need to produce a new architecture, the VAX, was to increase the number of address bits. On the PDP-11, it was only 16, which put an impenetrable ceiling on the size of memory, and hence, the effectiveness of the computer. DEC's competitors had already started this transition, so one of their demands of Cutler was that his new VAX/VMS system must have 32 address bits, while retaining backwards-compatability.
Back at Microsoft, one of Cutler's main tasks was to reconcile the 16-bit Windows 3.x API with his new 32-bit system. Obviously, he was well equipped to do this.
VMS wasn't a perfect operating system. One problem was that it was written almost entirely in VAX assembler, which meant code maintenace and revision was very difficult. In 1993, Cutler said "The biggest mistake we made in VMS was not writing it in a high level language". In contrast, Windows NT was written entirely in C and C++. Had Cutler been given another chance to implement VMS, but in a high level language as he so desired?
One of the distinguishing features of VAX/VMS was the level of backwards compatability it offered to RSX-11M programmes. With absolutely no adjustment whatsoever, binaries designed to run in another operating system, on another CPU could be loaded and run in VMS. That's like seamlessly running GNU/Linux PowerPC binaries in Windows on an x86!
In Windows NT, interoperability was again required of Cutler, who had to make his operating system present POSIX, OS/2, Win16 as well as Win32 APIs.
However, it's not just what was asked of Cutler that was similar. What he did to acheive those things, and how he accomplished a lot of tasks in the Windows NT project bear more than a passing resemblance to decisions he had made more than a decade before.
An overview of the similarities
The I/O Manager
Windows NT has a very distinctive and unique I/O manager. Actually, it's not quite unique, because it the same as the VMS manager. Unlike many other systems, VMS and NT I/O is packet based and asynchronous. To communicate with the outside world, a programme asks the kernel to send some information to a device, and potentially return the reply. This is when the kernel uses the I/O manager.
As well as being asynchronous, the manager is distinctive in that it consists of a number of dynamically loadable and stackable layers, through which each packet must pass on its way to or from a device. This means that the OS is very extensible (as required); new device drivers just slot into place inside the I/O manager. In this diagram, packets flow from the top, through of the drivers stacked on the right, then through to the HAL. When replies are received, they must propagate up through the driver stack and back out of the manager.
+---------+ | I/O | | Request | | Packet | +---------+ | | +--------------+ V | Driver Stack | +---------+ +--------------+ | | <==> | File System | | I/O | +--------------+ | Manager | <==> | Intermediate | | | +--------------+ | | <==> | Device | +---------+ +--------------+ | | V +----------+ | Hardware | +----------+
Memory management
The description above could be used for both VMS and Windows NT, with the different terminology and different structures above and below the I/O manager.
As mentioned above, NT, VMS and even RSX-11M, VMS's predecessor, split the memory in two - half for the kernel and half for the user. However, the similarities go deeper than this.
As RSX-11M was expected to work on such a small machine (the PDP-11), its memory management was very efficient and sophisticated. One of the ideas that it, and VMS, used were `working sets'; every process had one. What a working set did was define the upper and lower limit of the amount of physical memory allocatable to that process. This system ensures that one process using large amounts of memory will not squash other, smaller processes into smaller and smaller amounts of memory. Windows NT's memory manager also uses working sets, along with all the other optimizations, algorithms and methods used by RSX-11M to get the most out a computer's memory, no matter how small.
As well as this, Windows NT has the same method of demand-paged virtual memory as VMS and both operating systems rely heavily upon memory-mapped files. The terms "Paged Pool", "Nonpaged Pool" and "Look aside List" all refer to exactly the same things and all perform the same task on both operating systems.
Kernel and Executive subsytem
VMS and NT both maintain levels of abstraction inside the OS called the executive. This consists of various client/server systems including an "Object Manager", "Process Manager", "I/O Manager" and "Cache Manager". This prevents the kernel from becoming bloated and monolithic, and aids extensibility and portability.
In NT and VMS, these managers operate in privileged mode (they can use the kernel's memory) although they still communicate to the hardware through the kernel and device drivers.
Interrupt handling
Passive level
VMS: Asynchronous System Trap (AST), NT: Asynchronous Procedure Call (APC)
VMS: Fork, NT: Dispatch
I/O Response Packets IRPs
Hardware maintenance: Power failure, timer, etc.
`HIGH_LEVEL'
I/O in general
Although the ranks of interrupt s are called Interrupt Priority Levels (IPLs) on VMS and Interrupt Request Levels (IRQLs) on Windows NT, they represent exactly the same thing.In both operating system s, there are 32 such levels, all of which correspond to equivalent priorities between VMS and NT. Here are a few of them, from low priority to high:
Although there are striking similarities in the I/O manager, the other structures necessary for I/O in the two operating systems also share some notable coincidences. The only real difference is the names used to refer to the various entities, and the explicit Object-oriented approach that NT takes. The following list gives the names of certain I/O-based elements that perform the same task in NT and VMS:
In VMS, the I/O manager receives I/O Request Packets, as it does in Windows NT.
VMS: Unit Control Block (UCB), NT: Device Objects
VMS: Channel Request Block (CRB), NT: Controller Objects
VMS: Adapter Control Block (ADP), NT: Adapter Objects
VMS: Function Decision Table routines (FDT routines), NT: Dispatch Routines
VMS: EXE$QIODRVPKT, NT: IoStartPacket
VMS: StartIO routines, NT: StartIO routines
VMS: Fork routines, NT: Deferred Proceedure Call routines (DPC routines)
VMS: Asynchronous System Trap (AST), NT: Asynchronous Procedure Call, (APC)
Again, NT and VMS share a distinctive feature: the scheduler. The most obvious similarity is that they use hybrid static and dynamic priorities, split so that priorities 0-15 are variable and priorities 16-31 are fixed. For threads with dynamic priorities, VMS and NT share a number of `priority boosting' mechanisms.
when a thread requests I/O, with an IRP, its priority is increased by a driver specific amount.
there is a boost for GUI threads awaiting input: current priority boosted to 14 for one quantum (but quantum also doubled)
if a priority is boosted, it decays by one after every completed quantum.
all threads have a base and a current priority. The current value is increased by a boost, but never decays below the base priority.
In order to highlight just how different this system is from other systems, I'll quickly look at UNIX scheduling.
In UNIX,
the priorities range from 0-127
0 is the highest priority, 127 is the lowest
scheduling is done on a round robin basis within priorities
priority is based on usage and the nice value (a user controlled value from -20 to 19) in the following way: CPU j (i-1) P j (i) = Base j + --------- + 2 * nice j 4 where 2 * load j CPU j (i) = --------------- CPU j (i-1) + nice j (2 * load j ) + 1
Clearly, this is a vastly different system, from the basics all the way up to the general idea.
Miscellaneous
There are various operating system components scattered around that share some striking similarities, such as both VMS and NT representing the system's resources as objects, under the control of an object manager. Also, both VMS and NT implement security measures by associating an Access Control List (ACL) with every object and NT's administrative utilities Performance Monitor and NT Backup are clones of VMS's MONITOR and BACKUP tools.
Counter Arguments
Although it is hard to argue that Windows NT is an entirely new operating system, that is not to say that Microsoft's software engineers have simply ported VMS to new architectures and rewritten it in C. Not at all. Microsoft have managed to create a good, new filesystem with NTFS, a new API: Win32 as well as a new GUI and ports to a wide range of architectures.
Also, some would argue that NT cannot be VMS because NT's not good enough! Microsoft products are infamous for their unreliability and insecurity, and although the NT series is better than 3.x, no one could claim it is secure compared to other OSes if they had any idea what they were talking about. And it's not like VMS is an insecure OS. At DefCon 9, a meeting of many of the best hackers in the world, a VMS box open to attack, running all the services an ISP would, was never compromised, while all the other OSes were dropping like flies! As of July 2003, the new incarnation of VMS, OpenVMS, has never been infected by a virus and has not been affected by a worm (since the internet worm of 1988). Compare this to the track record of Windows NT. Almost every, if not all, major virus, worm or trojan over the past five years has exploited Windows or software running on Windows, and most Windows boxes aren't even offering services such as a HTTP or FTP server. How could an OS derived from VMS be so insecure, especially with the security subsystem copied across almost intact?
Another argument many people would present is that VMS looks nothing like Windows NT, it has a different GUI and API, and is less `point-and-click', especially nowadays. However, the similarity I am talking about here is not the API, GUI or whatever, it's the system internals, the jobs the kernel and executive deal with, the parts of an OS that make it good or bad. The Windows trademark `look and feel' might be how a normal user would identify an OS, and in this way, NT and VMS are very different. However, under the hood is where an OS's identity truly is. The X windows environment ported to Windows NT is still Windows NT, it just looks better.
Conclusion
Obviously, DEC weren't happy with the apparent similarity of Windows NT and their product, VMS. In fact, when DEC's engineers noticed the problem, and brought their concern to the senior management, suing Microsoft for intellectual property violation was a possibility. Instead, there was an out of court settlement with Microsoft.
As a result, `Affinity for OpenVMS', a scheme to train DEC's technicians and promote NT and OpenVMS as complimentary pieces of a networking solution was announced in summer of 1995. Plus, Microsoft promised to maintain NT support for the DEC Alpha processor and paid DEC up to $100 million. I'd say Bill Gates got off quite lightly.
An argument often provided to support the point of this writeup is that WNT shifted backwards in the alphabet gives VMS. However, as NT was so named before Dave Cutler joined Microsoft, and before any major design decisions would have been made, I think this is a funny coincidence, and nothing more.Press release:
NEW STAR TREK DIRECTOR, GUESTS, EVENTS ANNOUNCED FOR 2010 DRAGON*CON
ATLANTA, GA, March 3, 2010
Star Trek-related programming has been a part of Dragon*Con, the annual science fiction and popular arts convention held each Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, GA, since its early days. Nothing has prepared you for what we have in store for this year’s “Trek Track”.
Garrett Wang, best known for his role as Ensign Harry Kim in Star Trek: Voyager, has accepted the position of director of Trek Track. In his seven seasons on the popular series, Mr. Wang became a fan favorite as the clarinet-playing operations officer of the USS Voyager. A science fiction fan as well as a Star Trek insider, Mr. Wang will bring a fresh perspective to this year’s programming.
Andorians, and Borgs, and Cardassians, oh my! Beauties from all walks of the Federation territory and beyond will be competing for the title of Miss Star Trek Universe. When you are done admiring our beautiful contestants, join them and other Star Trek fans for a party of galactic proportions.
In addition, a number of well-known guests have been confirmed for Trek Track. From Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Avery Brooks (Captain Benjamin Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo) and Armin Shimerman (Quark) will be in attendance. Jonathan Frakes (Commander Will Riker), Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi), and John DeLancie (the enigmatic Q) will represent Star Trek: The Next Generation. More Star Trek guests will be announced on the Dragon*Con website as appearances are confirmed.
Trek Track will be based in the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel. Programming announcements for the Trek Track are available on the track website at http://trektrack.dragoncon.org. Ticketing and other convention information can be found at www.dragoncon.org.This is seriously messed up. You're right.
Please stand up to Emma's mom in kind and clear and unflinching terms. "This is our daughter's birthday. We are hosting it. Emma is invited." If/when they decline the invitation on Emma's behalf, "I'm sorry to hear that."
If the mom says something again about why a water park when they have a pool, then stick to facts. "Because a pool is not a water park." Or the perfectly good, "This is our daughter's birthday, and we are hosting it at a water park." Don't get sucked into a justification exchange as if there's any legitimacy to what this mom is suggesting.
I really feel for Emma here, because she's the one who suffers most from any fishiness behind her parents' rule(s), but I also think it's time for the other parents in the friend group to stop acquiescing so readily to Emma's parents. You guys all need to take your turns hosting, inviting Emma as you would under normal circumstances. If Emma can't make it, then you say a simple, "I'm sorry to hear that, we'll miss her."
Note that I'm not advising you to take on these parents or their rules. What I've spelled out is simply your acting as the parent to your child and providing her with a typical social life. As in, not bending to the rules of the Emmasphere.
That's for the planning part of the problem.
The "creepy vibe" problem warrants further conversation with the parents, not just Emma's but also the other friends'. To Emma's: "I am not comfortable with allowing my daughter always to be the guest. Are you willing to share with me your reasons for not letting Emma come over? Perhaps it would sit better if I understood it." It's framed as a matter of your own feelings, as your daughter's parent, and it's respectfully stated--plus they have room to respond that it's none of your business. (It's also not their business if you decide your daughter can't go over to Emma's anymore. That's the tradeoff.)
And to the other friends': "I am not comfortable with this arrangement, where my daughter always goes there to play. How are you guys dealing with it?"
You can have it both ways here, where you take the creepiness very seriously and you also respect the boundaries between what is your family business and theirs.The 2010 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 6 May 2010, with 45,597,461 registered voters[1] entitled to vote to elect members to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies[note 2] across the United Kingdom under the first-past-the-post system. None of the parties achieved the 326 seats needed for an overall majority. The Conservative Party, led by David Cameron, won the largest number of votes and seats, but still fell 20 seats short. This resulted in a hung parliament where no party was able to command a majority in the House of Commons. This was only the second general election since the Second World War to return a hung parliament, the first being the February 1974 election. Unlike in 1974, the potential for a hung parliament had this time been widely considered and predicted, and both the country and politicians were better prepared for the constitutional process that would follow such a result.[2] The coalition government that was subsequently formed was the first coalition in British history to eventuate directly from an election outcome. The hung parliament came about in spite of the Conservatives managing both a higher vote total and higher share of the vote than the previous Labour government had done in 2005, when it secured a comfortable majority.
Coalition talks began immediately between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, and lasted for five |
his credit card to scrape the ice off the wings. Parts were purchased from local hobby shops.
“[If] these planes keep on flying, they are going to kill somebody,” Cohodes says. “Forty-five people don’t have to die.”
Management was obscuring the reasons behind cancellations and other problems. According to pilots and maintenance workers, Pyle publicly said planes had been grounded owing to the weather when in fact they had failed inspections by Transport Canada, the country’s airline regulator. A spokeswoman for Exchange Income said the company declined to comment on Cohodes’s allegations “other than to say they are unfounded.”
Cohodes began shorting Exchange Income in the summer of 2017 at about C$33 per share. The stock closed at C$34.75 in late September.
This past July, Cohodes had his lawyers send a letter about Exchange Income to Transport Canada. He says he received a request for more information. “The regulatory framework there is just so weak,” Cohodes says. “Look no further than the bailout of Home Capital.”
Cohodes’s interest in Canada’s big subprime lender was triggered by the country’s sizzling real estate market. With Chinese and other foreign capital flowing into Toronto and Vancouver, home prices skyrocketed.
Home Capital, though, was underperforming, missing analysts’ quarterly earnings projections. Cohodes began to pull together a mosaic of seemingly unrelated facts to bolster his conviction that there were fundamental problems at the company, which in the end would crater the stock.
One piece of the puzzle was a multiyear project, meant to upgrade Home Capital’s enterprise management system to custom-built SAP software, that had gone awry. That tripped up underwriting controls and support, which are mission critical for any mortgage lender.
Home Capital, like Badger, was having trouble holding on to talent. Toting up announcements and trolling the Internet, Cohodes composed a list of 40 executives who had left within the previous three years. Some of them talked to or emailed him. Tellingly, turnover was highest in risk management, an area that would have been key to assessing lending standards.
Cohodes came to believe that the loan fraud — which included the falsification of incomes and other data by borrowers and brokers — is far more pervasive than investors believe and must have been obvious at the top echelons of Home Capital.
One question is why loan losses at Home Capital have not risen with news of the fraud. Cohodes suspects that’s because the company is selling them or rolling them into sales, general, and administrative expenses.
With some $25 billion in loans on its books and shareholder equity of $1.5 billion or so, Home Capital could see its equity wiped out by loan losses of 5 percent, Cohodes figures.
As for Buffett, Cohodes says he doesn’t believe the legendary investor examined Home Capital very closely, pointing out that doing so would have required him to examine tens of billions of dollars’ worth of loans.
A June 22 article in The Globe and Mail, in which Buffett was interviewed, said the deal came together in just three days. In the same article, he says he was unaware of a key term of the deal — that Berkshire Hathaway be required to hold the shares for at least four months. “It must have been something the lawyers stuck in,” Buffett is quoted as saying.
Cohodes says that Buffett was likely a last resort to rescue Home Capital, given that none of Canada’s big banks stepped up.
Cohodes and others say they suspect that the Canadian government may have promised Buffett special consideration in future state-linked investments in exchange for the rescue package. “This is Warren Buffett’s ante to the poker table,” Cohodes says. “The Canadian government used him, used him to do a backdoor bailout. They bought him and probably promised him something in the future.”
In an interview on Canada’s Business News Network after the Berkshire Hathaway purchase, Finance Minister Bill Moreau acknowledged that he and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had talked with Buffett. “It was probably not a coincidence that the prime minster and I were in Seattle meeting with Warren Buffett a few weeks before Buffett came in and decided to make an investment in Home Capital,” he said, adding that the company was not specifically discussed.
The Home Capital investment amounts to pocket change for Buffett. “Two hundred million [dollars] means nothing to him,” says Cohodes. Nevertheless, the Berkshire Hathaway CEO bought his Home Capital shares at a steep discount. As part of the deal, the conglomerate also provided a C$2 billion credit line to Home Capital with an initial 9.5 percent rate. Home Capital repaid a loan from the credit line in August.
Despite the run-up that followed the Berkshire announcement, Cohodes says his short position in the lender is in the black: He began shorting Home Capital in the fall of 2014, when shares were trading in the low C$50s. They closed recently at C$13.92.
“In retrospect, I should have sold it at C$6, but I’m not that smart,” Cohodes says. He has been getting some vindication. This June, Cohodes obtained a copy of a report by KPMG, which had been engaged by Home Capital in 2015 to investigate the falsified loan documents that the brokers had submitted.
The report listed the same problems Cohodes had identified, as well as other ones — a focus on sales instead of risk and compliance, poor training, overworking of the company’s credit review team, and having four chief risk officers in three years. “Broker relations enjoyed preferential treatment and were allowed to function without adequate governance,” the report said.
On August 9, a week after Home Capital reported a quarterly loss of C$111.1 million, the Ontario Securities Commission ordered the lender to pay C$10 million for its disclosure violations.
The OSC also barred Home Capital founder Soloway from serving as an officer or director of a public company for four years and fined him C$1 million. Former CEO Martin Reid and ex–chief financial officer Robert Morton were each barred for two years and ordered to pay penalties of C$500,000 each.
Buffett’s investment does nothing to lessen Cohodes’s conviction.“Home Capital ends when the credit cycle turns down and the new management has to admit how bad things are,” he says. “When the loans go to shit, the taxpayer is on the hook.”
Until then, don’t expect Cohodes to keep quiet about dubious businesses he uncovers. “I operate with a chip on my shoulder,” he admits. “I’m very proud about speaking out about horrible people doing horrible things.”A group of 68 restaurant workers owed almost $700,000 in unpaid wages have yet to see a single penny of it — five months after the Ministry of Labour ordered their bosses to pay up, the Star has learned. The ministry issued an order to pay in August to the employers, who owned four now-closed Chinese restaurants in the GTA and 15 other related businesses. But the ministry has so far been unable to collect the low-wage workers’ money or prosecute bosses Ellen Pun and Patsy Lai.
Ellen Pun is one of the owners of a group of Chinese restaurants and related businesses that a Ministry of Labour investigation concluded last August owed workers almost $700,000 in unpaid wages. The workers still have not seen a penny.
The landmark case was the culmination of an investigation by the ministry that lasted more than a year and a half. It found that workers at the Regal restaurants chain were denied money in a multitude of ways, including bounced cheques; being misclassified as liquor servers, who are not entitled to full minimum wage in Ontario; or simply being denied pay for months on end. In total, Pun and Lai were found to owe workers $676,693.79 in basic salary, overtime, public holiday pay, severance pay and termination pay. However, the ministry ordered Pun and Lai to pay out only $457,443.78 of that sum. Workers’ claims used to be capped at $10,000, which means Regal employees who were owed more than that limit were not eligible to receive all their entitlements. The cap was removed by the government last year.
Article Continued Below
The Star was unable to reach Pun and Lai for comment. Phone numbers for the four Regal restaurants in Scarborough, Richmond Hill and Mississauga are no longer in service. The number for the company's head office, Ellen Food Group Inc., is disconnected. The Star requested comment from Pun through her lawyer, John J.S. Park, who is representing Pun in an unrelated criminal matter, but she did not respond. Park said he was unable to comment on the Ministry of Labour investigation; his only comment on the criminal matter was that the case is ongoing and would resume in court in March 29. The workers’ lawyer, Avvy Go, of the Metro Toronto Chinese & Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, said her clients were losing hope of ever seeing the money they are legally entitled to. “They are still waiting, and honestly, I think many of them have given up,” she told the Star. Jian E. Gu, who worked as a waitress at Regal Chinese Restaurant & Banquet Hall in Scarborough until the end of 2013, is still owed $3,000 in wages and termination pay from Pun and Lai. Gu said she was paid $8.90 an hour and often worked up to 50 hours a week.
Speaking to the Star through a translator, she said the long wait for her money is having a huge financial impact on her family of three. “When I was working, I paid taxes,” she said. “But when I had difficulties, I couldn’t get protection.”
Article Continued Below
In addition to trying to collect unpaid wages from Pun and Lai, the ministry can also prosecute them — which could result in hefty fines or imprisonment. When Go approached the Ministry of Labour about pursuing prosecutions, she was told the ministry was preparing documentation to seek prosecution but that the final decision rested with the Attorney General’s office, according to a September letter seen by the Star. Go told the Star she has not received a response to a subsequent letter sent to Deputy Attorney General Patrick Monahan in November urging him to take action. A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s office referred the Star to the Ministry of Labour, whose spokesperson, William Lin, said no decision has been made about prosecuting Pun and Lai. He said all measures were being taken to recover the workers’ money, but that none of Pun and Lai’s businesses were found to have any assets. Pun and Lai both filed for personal bankruptcy in 2014. Records show Pun had debts of $11.3 million, and Lai, $5.4 million. Their sole asset was an Aurora house worth $4.2 million, according to legal documents from that time. That home has since been sold through power of sale. Pun is currently facing charges of defrauding a man of more than $600,000 in a property investment, according to York Regional Police, who said Pun’s passport has been seized in connection with the case. The Star has previously highlighted the Ministry of Labour’s enforcement problems and the difficulties workers face in recovering stolen wages. Figures requested by the Star show that in 2014, 63 per cent of all Ministry of Labour orders to pay issued to employers went uncollected. When an employer declares bankruptcy, recovering wages is even harder. Ontario used to maintain a wage protection program to compensate employees when bosses went bankrupt and left workers out-of-pocket. The fund was scrapped in 1995. Go said the ministry should seek more prosecutions to deter future violations. In 2014, the Ministry of Labour prosecuted just eight law-breaking employers. “It signals to the employer this is wrong, you are breaching the law, you are violating the law,” she said. “It’s not just about the wrong to the worker — it’s the wrong to society as a whole.”A mysterious countdown has seemingly revealed System Shock 3, a new instalment in the legendary FPS franchise being developed by some of the team behind the highly praised second game.
1999 saw the release of System Shock 2, a groundbreaking FPS that is today largely overlooked in favour of its spiritual successor, BioShock. However, there’s good news for fans of the original game, as it seems that a sequel is in the works at Otherside Entertainment.
This news comes from a mysterious countdown on the studio’s website set to expire in five days, at which point users have discovered that it will be replaced by a simple logo for System Shock 3. At present, there’s no other information being offered, but we can piece together some of the project’s backstory for ourselves.
Otherside Entertainment was founded last year by Paul Neurath, who formed the studio to produce a crowdfunded follow-up to PC classic Ultima Underworld. Neurath also assembled the development team responsible for the original game and System Shock 2, the now-legendary Looking Glass Studios.
As such, it seems likely that System Shock 3 will be Otherside Entertainment’s next order of business after Underworld Ascendant is completed. Given the crowdfunding success of that title, it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see the prospect System Shock continuation also hit Kickstarter ahead of release.
It’s safe to say that System Shock 2 is one of the most influential video games of all time, even if it’s rarely given the proper credit for the fact. BioShock is the game most would associate with its legacy, but there are plenty of other examples, particularly where the genres of horror and sci-fi intersect.
The character of GLaDOS in Portal owes a significant debt to the antagonistic AI SHODAN, who is often mentioned among the very best villains in all of gaming. Meanwhile, EA’s smash hit Dead Space is thought to have started out as an attempt at developing System Shock 3 in its earliest development history.
Fans will no doubt be excited to see what Otherside Entertainment can come up with for this unexpected sequel. While there’s long been demand for a third game in the series, it always seemed unlikely that the project would come to fruition — much like Shenmue 3 or a remake of Final Fantasy VII.
However, as we’re seeing more and more often, there are no impossible projects in the world of video games — so long as there’s a paying audience waiting in the wings. Hopefully, System Shock 3 will turn out to be more than a mere cash grab, and manage to uphold the reputation of a much-loved classic.Since the dawn of time, mankind has used myths to make sense of the uncertainty that surrounds us. In the early 1990s a lot of people believed that project management was the best kept secret in business. However, because project management was not seen as a prevailing profession at that time, it suffered from a lack of awareness which was in a sense, a double edged sword. Those who were knowledgeable in the practice of project management became extreamly valuable to organisations and pioneers for the profession.
These early adopters were able to convince organisations that project management practitioners were needed. Myths around project management began to form in the business community and as the role of the project manager was unclear, questions were raised as to what project management was and what it could offer organisations.
The definition of the word myth is a “widely held, but false belief or idea.” Here, we’re going to examine 10 of the most pervasive PM myths that have emerged.
Myth #1 – Contingency pool is redundant
This is one of the most ‘mythical’ myths that has plagued the industry for a long time. Coupled with the tendency to presume that ‘real work’ is tantamount to implementation or building something concrete and you have the perfect recipe for project disaster. The thought pattern behind this approach typically originates from budget constraints and/or having unrealistic expectations. As we all know, or should know, the unexpected happens quite regularly. An effective contingency plan is important as it aims to protect that which has value (e.g., data), prevent or minimise disruption (e.g., product lifecycle), and provide post-event feedback for analysis (e.g., how did we fare? did we allocate funds correctly?).
Myth #2 – Project Management software is too expensive
If your idea of project management software involves purchasing servers, and purchasing a software application from a major vendor for a small practice with 10 practitioners then, yes, it is too expensive. If, however, you have gone cloud and elected to use a powerful web-based project management solution (such as Smartsheet), then you are likely to save thousands of pounds while reaping the benefits of a pay-as-you-go price structure. The present, and future, lie in cloud solutions that provide equal, or superior, functionality at a fraction of the cost.
Myth #3 – Project Management methodologies will slow us down
Project managers have a reputation of using process-intensive methodologies that favour ideology over pragmatism. In some instances this may, indeed, be the case when there is a mismatch between a specific project management approach and the organisation’s acutall needs (e.g., a process-driven method, such as PRINCE2, may not be appropriate for a slightly chaotic environment that favours an adaptive approach, such as Scrum). So, in sum, put down the paint roller (“Project Management isn’t for us!”) and take out your fine-bristled brush (“The Critical-Chain method may not be our cup of tea, but Agile on the other hand…”).
Myth #4 – Facts and figures are more important than feelings and perceptions
While facts are very important, projects are often derailed and sabotaged because of false perceptions. The PM must pay attention to both fact and fiction to navigate through turbulent organisational change.
Myth #5 – Project managers need to be detail oriented and not strategic in nature
While it is of the utmost importance for the project manager to understand how to read the details of the project, they must also understand how the project supports organisational objectives. Having a strategic perspective adds great value to the skill-set of the project manager.
Myth #6 Rely on the experts in everything that you do
It is true, we do need to rely on the experts but our trust can not be a blind faith. The job of the project managers in this area is twofold. First we must extract information and second we must verify that the information is accurate. A good example of this is asking a planner to provide an estimate on the effort required to perform a task. In some instances team members forget to include tasks which ultimately results in a faulty estimate.
Myth #7 All the battles have to be fought and won so that we can succeed
Project managers sometimes make the assumption that they need to stand firm to get the job done, however, coming to compromise on a particular issue is often a better course of action in order to win the war.
Myth #8 Project Managers can wear multiple hats
Wearing different hats can be extremely confusing. This is especially true if the project manager is asked to be a business analyst or technical expert on top of serving in their PM role. They end up doing both roles with mediocrity. When we “wear two hats” we essentially tell ourselves that both hats fit on one head at the same time. However, what happens if the demands of two roles conflict and what assurances do we have that we’re managing the inherent conflict of multiple roles and the risks the roles introduce? Sadly, multiple roles become more common as we move up the management hierarchy in an organisation, and that’s exactly where potential conflicts of interest can do the most harm.
Myth #9 Once the risk register is created, it’s full speed ahead
Risk management provides a forward-looking radar. We can use it to scan the uncertain future to reveal things that could affect us, giving us sufficient time to prepare in advance. We can develop contingency plans even for so-called uncontrollable risks, and be ready to deal with likely threats or significant opportunities. Too often, it’s not until a catastrophic event occurs and significantly impacts project progress that ongoing risk reviews are conducted.
Myth #10 Project managers can not be effective in their role unless they have specific technical expertise in the given field that the project falls within
You don’t need to be an engineer to manage a construction project or a IT technician to manage a software development project. All you need is a fundamental understanding with strong PM skills to manage the team. Experience in the field helps but does not guarantee success.
Project management is challenging enough without the myths. The profession has come a long way since the 1990s and some of these myths are fading. However, we still see remnants of them in one form or another. Great projects cut through false assumptions and confusion, allowing their teams to make smart decisions based on reality.
These are just 10 project management myths, what are yours?
Like this: Like Loading...I noticed the other day that Footyheadlines posted about the upcoming Nike 16-17 kit catalog and decided to take a look and see what could possibly be in the Rowdies future, assuming that 1) we stick with Nike this year and b) we don’t have something custom made from them. Here’s what I like from what they’re offering…
Home – I’m also assuming we’re going with something similar to last year’s full body hoops design, and there’s only one real option in the catalog:
The big solid block on the back reminds me of the original FC Tampa Bay kit, which I wasn’t a huge fan of, but going full back with it might be a bit better.
Away: The all-gold strip we went with last year wasn’t the greatest, in my opinion, because it just looked like a gold version of the preseason/training shirt. Once I came up with “Come On You Boys In Banana” which let me make fun of two things at once, I became a bigger fan of it, but I wouldn’t mind seeing something different this year. A couple options in the catalog are: (in team colors, obvs)
I kind of like the sash, but the dipped sleeves (Yes, I’m making up these stupid names myself) is pretty cool too – what do you think?
Which away kit style do you prefer the sash
the dipped sleeves
the color blocks View Results
Loading... Loading...
Third – we didn’t do a third shirt last year, so it’s probably doubtful there’s one this year, but you could take another of the above options to use as a third shirt as well, so I won’t bother redoing the pics and the poll again.
GK – Nike’s got a new GK design this year and I kind of dig it – I’m going with the neon green color this year but there’s a dark green option as well.
There’s a couple other style options available at the link in the first paragraph – is there a design you like better?
Share this:
Tweet
Email
Pocket
PrintThat's a lot of stats. In a nutshell: Half of us could work remotely if we wanted. Far less do. Why?
The answer might have more to do with psychology than economics. Even if we're technically more productive at home, we feel more conspicuously productive at work. You might think a recession would lead to more telecommuting since it reduces overhead and increases work hours. Instead, telework among the formally employed has slowed in the last three years. Ted Schadler, a telecommuting expert who is vice president and chief analyst at Forrester Research, suggests the answer might be psychological.
"Some bosses think if they can't see you working, you're not working," he says. "If you're worried about losing your job, you're going to come into the office every chance you get."
For me, it comes down to people. The best social technology increases social connections. Facebook keeps us in touch with far-flung friends. Twitter broadcasts our internal monologues to the world. Email, texts, and phones keep us connected even when we're remote. But none of these things forces us to not be with real live people.
Telecommuting is a choice to be alone. It reduces connections between workers. It removes us from the world of work and makes it indistinguishable from the period before and after, which we could simple call life.
***
Still, telework has clear benefits. For the employer, it can save office space, utilities and overhead for employee services. From the worker, it creates more hours for life or desk work. It reduces travel costs. It has external benefits, like less traffic and quicker travel for commuters. We talk a lot about building more efficient public transportation, but the most efficient public transportation is the technology that lets you work from where you sleep.
Widespread adoption of telework requires three things, Schadler tells me. First, you need to work in the right industry. The growth of high-tech information technology jobs should lead to a growth in telecommuting, which would allow employers to hire the best workers in Florida or Oregon. Within industries, management culture matters. "In pharma sales, everybody works at home," he says. "In pharma marketing, everybody works in the office."
Second, to make remote working really work, you need performance metrics, because bosses can't manage what they can't measure. "If employers could measure output [posts per day, tasks per week, etc] they don't care where you work, or how long you work, as long as you produce the output," Schadler says.
The third factor is the most important and the hardest to quantify: it's personal motivation. I could have called Ted and written these paragraphs from my couch, or the coffee shop across the street from my apartment. Instead, I chose to walk 15 minutes through the tropical heat because... well, I like my colleagues. I like my desk. I like that it is not the same table where I eat dinner and find funny YouTube videos with my roommates. If telework increases work-time and "life"-time, it does so at the expense of a work-life balance.
Tens of millions of Americans obviously disagree. If you're one of them, leave a note in the comments section. Why do you prefer to work without "coming in to work"?ADVERTISEMENT:
By: Travis Allen
A few days ago GP Seville wrapped up. It was a Standard GP over in the south of Spain. While looking through the top eight, I was fairly impressed with the diversity. It consisted, in no particular order, of GR Devotion, Jeskai Tempo, Mono-G Devotion, UB Control, Junk Aggro, Junk Midrange, UW Heroic, and Sidisi Whip. That’s an undeniably diverse format, something for which WotC should congratulate themselves. Building a Standard format that has that many competitive decks is difficult, a feat made more impressive when you consider that what constitutes the top layer has been changing from week to week.
Browsing through the lists from place one to ninety, over 10% of the field, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of Whisperwood Elementals to be found. I spoke highly of them in my set review several weeks back, and after hearing that they had jumped to $12 in Japan, I snapped up all the copies left on eBay under $6. It wasn’t long before the US market caught up – preorder prices on TCG hit nearly $15. That was in the week ahead of release though, and I still didn’t have my copies. I couldn’t list what I didn’t have in hand, and by the time the actual cards reached me, the price had fallen to $6 again. I wasn’t behind per se, but the price wasn’t high enough to sell yet. Since then prices on Whiserpood have started to creep back up after a solid performance at Seville, and while he hasn’t really broken through much to the US yet, I expect his popularity to gain on this side of the Atlantic.
Ideally I should have a number in mind that I’d like to get out. If I bought in for $6 each, what do I have to sell copies for to be happy? Is it $8? $10? $15? While considering how greedy I could be, a solemn fact once more foisted itself on me. There’s a pretty hard limit to just how expensive Whisperwood Elemental can be, and it’s determined by the rest of the cards in the set.
The core concept we’re looking at today is how card prices are influenced by being the current in-print set. It’s a very simple idea, really. An open pack can’t be, on average, more valuable than a sealed pack. What does that mean, and what are the ramifications?
Figuring out the average value of a pack is simple. Add up the values of each rarity independent of each other, average it out across the number of that type of card, then multiply by the expected number you would find in a pack. For instance, if the average value of a rare in Fate Reforged is $1.91, and you know there’s an 87% chance of a rare being in a pack, then an average pack has an average rare value of $1.6617. Add in the common, uncommon, and mythic average values, and you have the value of a pack.
Once you understand the average value of a pack, you know the average value of a box. If a pack’s average is $2.18, then the average box is worth $78.48. That average box price – that $78.48, or whatever number is appropriate for a particular set at a particular time – is roughly how much in value you will open in a box. It’s not a hard number, of course. Some boxes will have two or three Nexus’, and other boxes will have a foil Ugin. It all evens out in the end though.
What if the average pack isn’t in the low two dollar range? What if there are gobs and gobs of $10 rares that drive the average pack value up to $4? Now a box’s value is $144. If that set is old – say, Innistrad – so be it. The boxes in the market are all that’s there, and they’re subject to normal rules of supply and demand, just like any normal card. But what if the set is in print, such as Fate Reforged is today?
If you’re a vendor and Fate Reforged boxes are $144, you are not wasting any time jumping on the horn and ordering piles and piles of boxes from WotC. WotC will sell you nearly limitless boxes of current sets, and they’ll do it all for somewhere in the neighborhood of $70 to $80 a box. You’ll crack boxes that cost you $70 and sell the singles for $140. That represents one hell of a profit, so you’ll scoop up as many as possible. And you’ll keep ordering them and cracking packs, until it’s not profitable to do so anymore. And so will every other store. And eventually, the market will be flooded with packs, and those packs won’t be worth an average of $4 anymore.
As more and more product is entering the market, more and more of each card is becoming available. No card, now matter how good it is, can maintain a $10 price tag if you put millions of them into the wild. As the market gets flooded with boxes, card values will keep dropping, until eventually the average pack isn’t $4 anymore, it’s back to the low $2 range again. Average boxes will drop from $144 to $80 again, people will stop buying them, vendors will stop ordering them, and new copies of cards will stop entering the market. Equilibrium. (Probably an awesome card in an Animar TL deck, by the way.)
Of course, we’re operating in an imperfect system. Taxes and shipping costs and manual labor all add inefficiencies to the system, as does time for boxes to move from one point to another. All the players needing a given card won’t suddenly have access to it because a store somewhere in a twenty mile radius just cracked a pack. The system isn’t perfect, and so the numbers won’t be either. Occasionally the average value of a pack may be twenty cents too high for a week or two while the supply catches up. This is simply the nature of a physical market.
When a set is out of print, there’s nothing to stop prices from getting out of control. That’s why Future Sight boxes are $700. While a set is in print, though, vendors will just keep ordering boxes as long as it’s profitable to do so. And with WotC willing to pump out as many boxes as stores are willing to buy at $70 or so, the average price of a box is chained to that value. With box values essentially mandated by WotC, it holds average pack prices steady, and therefore holds the total value of singles steady.
ADVERTISEMENT:
With average pack prices of an in-print set constrained, there’s only so much value that can be opened. You can’t have twenty-five $10 rares, and you can’t have eight $30 mythics. That would push pack values too high, which we just saw will self-correct. As cards find the price the market will bear, the entire rest of the set is shaped around it. Consider Ugin, currently a little over $30. Ugin is that expensive because demand is so high. Standard, Modern, Legacy, EDH, casual – everyone wants to be casting eight-mana Planeswalkers these days. Knowing that, we can look at Whisperwood Elemental and start to understand what his price potential is. If tomorrow everyone realizes Whisperwood is the second best mythic in the set and demand begins to rise, his price will go with it. Pack values would rise, and we already figured out what happens in that scenario.
ADVERTISEMENT:
We know that the market basically requires boxes to be worth roughly $80 each, and that has an impact on all the singles in the set. If market demand for Ugin is over $30 and Monastery Mentor is $20+, that’s going to suck up a lot of value for the other cards in the set. You simply can’t have $25 Tasigurs, because that would mean a box is too valuable. If a few cards in a set are expensive, it creates a limiting effect on the price of the cards that share a booster pack with it. Thus, my Whisperwood Elementals have a theoretical price ceiling by virtue of being in the same set as Ugin, Monastery Mentor, and Tasigur.
This works the other way as well, although we see it less often. Dragon’s Maze was a pretty godawful set, with very few cards people had any interest in. Voice of Resurgence was far and away the best card, and it fell off rapidly after that. Boxes couldn’t really be any cheaper than $80, since that’s what vendors had to pay for them, but with no other desirable cards in the set, that meant Voice of Resurgence had to carry that price tag on his own, which is how we ended up with $60 Voices at one point. When a single mythic is the only good card in a set, it’s going to carry most of the cost of a box on its own.
There are a few practical outcomes from all of this.
Within two or three weeks of a sets release, boxes will always fall to the same price of around $80ish. (So long as WotC keeps selling them to stores for around $75.)
If the singles within the set ever become too valuable, stores will start cracking packs to sell in their case, increasing supply and thus lowering prices.
When a handful of cards have high price tags, it will suppress the price of all the other cards in the set.
If there’s only very few good cards in a set, they’ll carry the weight of the box price on their own.
Applying this to Fate Reforged, we see that Ugin is holding strong at $30 and Monastery Mentor looks to be stable at $25 for now. With those two sustaining large price tags, there won’t be too much value in a box left to assign to cards like Whisperwood and Tasigur. In fact, that’s really the only reason Tasigur is as cheap as he is. If he was in Dragon’s Maze he would have been a $25 rare.
I keep looking at cards in Fate Reforged and thinking “that card could be worth twice that,” but then I have to remember that if I think that about twenty different cards, none of them are actually capable of rising that much in price. Even though all of these cards are quite strong and could be $15+ in other sets, when you put them all into a set together it limits the price of all. Keep this in mind when considering how much cards in Fate Reforged could conceivably rise in the near future. And just as importantly, keep it in mind for when Fate Reforged is off the printers – at that point WotC won’t be keeping the price of a box chained to $80 and the sky’s the limit.
ADVERTISEMENT:President Donald Trump, who has already appointed senior advisers as "commissars" to make sure his cabinet officers are sufficiently loyal to him, will now have his daughter Ivanka Trump as his "eyes and ears" in the White House. What he won't do, however, is pay her as an official member of the White House staff — meaning she will not be legally required to abide by ethical rules.
Ivanka Trump's attorney Jamie Gorelick said that the first daughter will be the president's "eyes and ears," according to Politico. She will serve as an all-purposes adviser to the president and will work out of the White House but will not be on the official payroll.
Advertisement:
"Having an adult child of the president who is actively engaged in the work of the administration is new ground," Gorelick told Politico on Monday. "Our view is that the conservative approach is for Ivanka to voluntarily comply with the rules that would apply if she were a government employee, even though she is not." Measures taken will include divesting her common stock, tech investments, and investment funds, although Gorelick conceded that Ivanka doesn't "believe it eliminates conflicts in every way. She has the conflicts that derive from the ownership of this brand. We’re trying to minimize those to the extent possible."
Norm Eisen, the former ethics czar to President Barack Obama, told Politico that the problem with this approach is that "they're not saying she's going to voluntarily subject herself to ethics rules to be nice. There’s recognition that they're in very uncertain territory here. The better thing to do would be to concede she is subject to the rules. It would create some outside accountability, because if she can voluntarily subject herself to the rules, she can voluntarily un-subject herself to the rules."
There have already been questions about Ivanka's potentially unethical behavior since her father was elected president. Her company promoted a bangle bracelet that she wore during a post-election "60 Minutes" interview, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway urged viewers to "Go buy Ivanka's stuff!" after the Trump brand was dropped by Nordstrom, and she is facing a class action lawsuit by Modern Appealing Clothing (MAC) in San Francisco on the grounds that her firm has used their ties to the White House for an "unfair advantage."The unseen battle to get your election vote
Unease over how political parties use data to target voters |
times. But to actually remember my name and like me enough to buy a product, it’s got to be like an insane number of times. So I learned that in order for someone to commit to buy something because they’re a fan, you actually have to repeatedly do well. You have to be constantly making things they like rather than just a one-off. That was a big part of it.
The other thing was that I found that utility sells better than just humor. With my posters, the things that we sell the most of are the grammar posters. “How to Use a Semicolon,” “How to Use an Apostrophe,” things like that, because they’re useful. Teachers buy them in bulk and hang them in the classroom. Selling something that you actually use, rather than something that just makes them giggle, actually usually sells a lot better.
Andrew: How interesting. What got you to create the “How to Use a Semicolon” comic?
Matt: I didn’t know how to use one. I kind of had this vague idea of it, but I was terrified to use it, because if you use a semicolon and you use it wrong, you look like you tried to look smart. It’s kind of an embarrassing thing. So I decided to tackle the problem and figure out how to use it, and then I documented that experience and turned it into a comic.
Andrew: So as someone who didn’t know how to use it who suddenly read it and then was teaching others, how concerned were you that maybe you got it wrong, maybe you were making a mistake as you were teaching?
Matt: Oh, I was terrified. Because you imagine making a comic saying, “This is how to use a semicolon,” and the Internet is not shy to correct you when you’re wrong especially when you kind of build up an image as a grammar guy. I actually have an editor who just helps me out with that kind of thing now. I sent it to her. She’s got a degree in, I don’t remember, library sciences or something, but she’s the expert. I send it to her just to make sure and she comes back with all these little minor things that might be wrong.
Andrew: And you send all your comics to her now?
Matt: Oh no. Just the grammar ones.
Andrew: Just the grammar ones. How many grammar ones do you make? I didn’t realize you made that many.
Matt: I think I’ve got four or five now and there’s a sixth one in the works about how to use a comma.
Andrew: So was there a mistake with the semicolon when you put that out there?
Matt: It wasn’t a mistake. It was more of... it’s actually still there, it’s just an issue of debate. One thing you’ll find is that if you ever make a post about grammar, suddenly every pedantic person from across the Internet will find you and point out every little thing that you spell wrong or do wrong. In the last panel of that comic, I think there’s something that not perfect, but it could be better.
Andrew: What is it?
Matt: I think it was when I was comparing the words “then” and “than.” Or actually, no, sorry, that’s from a completely different comic. That’s from “Ten Words You Need to Stop Misspelling.” There was an example I listed saying, “I’m better at holding my liquor than a panda bear,” meaning I can drink better than a panda bear can and it has a panda bear vomiting. And people were saying that the example I used means I’m better at physically holding a panda bear than a bottle of liquor. So it’s sort of an issue of then and than and what the context means. So it’s not something like I misspelled or used it wrong. It’s just an issue of how you look at it. And they may be right, but it happens.
Andrew: What about optimizing sales pages, landing pages, the way you present what you’re selling? What changed as you learned and as you were selling?
Matt: Honestly, I haven’t done much with that. I’ve been meaning to do some kind of split test or something to figure out what will make the posters sell better or whatever, but I put most of my energy just into making better comics. So I don’t have much to speak on that, other than free shipping tends to sell well. I don’t do sales very often. I do like two sales a year. And because I only do sales really rarely and usually big, like 40 or 50 percent, people respond really well to them, rather than the weekly 10 percent off this week, 5 percent off next week. I don’t do that. I wait six months and I do a huge sale.
Andrew: You said October 2010 is when you stopped doing client work and went full time. What did you do just before then that turned things around?
Matt: When I launched the site, I think I was doing one to four comics a month, maybe less. I’d put all this work into them and slowly debate on what I should do and what I shouldn’t. Right around that time, I started doing two to three comics a week. I didn’t sleep. I just drank coffee all the time. I just started churning out way more content, and when I did that, it sort of pushed over this edge and “The Oatmeal” just sort of exploded. That’s really what changed everything.
Andrew: Why do you think publishing more frequently changed things?
Matt: It just drove traffic up for me. The more comics I put up, the more people are reading my site, the more I was able to see it as a real job rather than just a side job.
Andrew: Ben Huh told me that’s one of the things that he did when he acquired Lolcats or I Can Has Cheezburger. “You just publish more frequently,” he said. “When people know that there are going to be more frequent posts, they’re more likely to come back more frequently and then that just builds on itself.” Sounds like you had the same experience?
Matt: Yeah. I mean, the difference is that I can’t afford to post four, five to ten times a day, and I try not to limit myself on a schedule now, just because I find that if I make comics when I can, it’s better. The humor suffers if I try to force a comic. But yeah, definitely posting more frequently in the beginning helped a lot.
Andrew: Do you have any goal for yourself or number that you need to get out of a week or a month?
Matt: Not really. Right now, I try to do one comic a week. If I can do two to three, that’s amazing, but usually it’s about one. The goal would be, if I can just keep making great comics, that’s the real goal rather than a specific number.
Andrew: I see. And when you started to do them more frequently, back in, I guess, was it October 2010, did I get that date right? No, I got it wrong. It was October 2009 when you stopped doing client work, right?
Matt: Yup.
Andrew: I thought I saw an expression on your face when I said 2010 and then that made me realize I had the wrong date.
Matt: I figured, close enough, same month.
Andrew: That’s one of the benefits of video. I can see you when I’m making a mistake and the expression on your face. So when you did start to publish them more frequently, how did it affect your work?
Matt: It didn’t hurt it that much in the beginning, just because I don’t feel like I was producing worse comics. I was just working a lot harder. “The Oatmeal” was kind of in that new, up and rising phase, so it was real exciting for me to work on it. I could see that every comic I made kept getting more and more traffic. Because I was enjoying it a lot, I think the comics were getting better as well.
Andrew: I should ask you... I know it, but I’m sure my audience doesn’t. Why did you give the site the name “The Oatmeal”? Where did that come from?
Matt: I used to play a game called Quake when I was a teenager, and when I played online and I always used the name Quaker Oatmeal. So, eventually, I started using the name Oatmeal on the Internet when I signed up for things. I’m Oatmeal at Gmail, Twitter and Facebook, all that. So when I decided to make a website, I really had no way to name it after what it was themed. It’s not Calvin and Hobbes. There’s no two characters. So I just called it “The Oatmeal” because that’s a name that I’d been using for so long.
Andrew: Gotcha. What was the next product after the book?
Matt: I want to do a second book. It’s probably going to be about cats, but I’m not sure.
Andrew: I mean going back. You had the book and you had AdSense. What was the next thing that you started selling?
Matt: I believe it was posters. I think it was a grammar poster of “How To Use an Apostrophe,” was the first product. Initially, I used Zazzle, which is sort of like CafePress. It’s one of those all-in-one merchandizing solutions. Then eventually I switched to printing it myself because, with Zazzle, I think I sold 10,000 posters and I got a check for like 50 bucks. That wasn’t the actual number, but you don’t earn much from that. So I found that if I can just get the warehousing and the distribution out of the way and deal with that, then I can actually make real money with it, rather than just chump change.
Andrew: How’d you decide on the comic to make into a poster?
Matt: At first, it was the grammar ones because everyone that read them would e-mail me and say, “Hey, you should make this into a poster. I want to put it in my classroom.” That was in the beginning. And now, I just do it based on if I think it’s poster-worthy and how much feedback I get. There’s one I just did a month ago called “Cat vs. Internet.” There’s no poster, there’s no merchandise of it at all, but everyone’s been e-mailing me about it so much that I’m probably going to turn it into a little flipbook or a poster or something like that.
Andrew: By the way, if you’re seeing me, or if anyone in the audience is seeing me adjust the mic a lot and adjust the computer, I’m trying to somehow get the mic to not pick up on the fan on my laptop that’s just going nuts for some reason. So I keep moving the mic away. I keep moving the computer away from the mic, and so far it’s helping but only a little bit.
How effective or how successful was the poster when you first launched that?
Matt: They did well. I think when I launched “How to Use an Apostrophe,” I put out another grammar comic right away after that. So the traffic from the two kind of fed off each other. So they did really well.
Andrew: And Digg. At what point did you start to see consistent traffic coming from Digg?
Matt: It was that same magical month. It was around October 2009. A lot of people who try to get on Digg find a power user, submit it, try to make it look like it wasn’t a marketing company, try to make it look like it wasn’t an actual social media guy and they try to make it look natural.
With me, I took an opposite route. I’m on Digg. I’m “The Oatmeal” on Digg. I’ve been on Digg since the site was founded, pretty much. I’m one of the oldest accounts on there. So I just submitted comics from “The Oatmeal,” called it the “Oatmeal.” It was like real obvious. I was in the comments a lot responding to users, being like an actual real part of the community rather than just going in there and trying to leach off of Digg’s traffic. And they rewarded me for it, so that’s awesome because now Digg, they like having me on their website. They Digg up my stuff. And if they don’t like my comics, they’ll bury them or they won’t get promoted. I’ve kind of got a really good stride with that community.
Andrew: I even heard Kevin Rose talk about you on Leo Laporte’s show, on “This Week in Tech.” I think he said you were one of his favorite comics or that you’re popular with Digg. So, I see that you’re in the community. In the beginning, when you were getting feedback, what was that feedback like?
Matt: It was horrible. You post a comic on Digg and all the users are like, “This is the worst thing I’ve ever seen. This makes the Internet less funny,” and all this kind of horrible stuff. But, as I consistently put out comics that they liked, eventually, I found that the positive feedback started to outweigh the negative. So most people that say, “Oatmeal should go kill himself,” or whatever, they usually get Dugg down and the people who compliment my comics get Dugg up.
Andrew: How do you respond to someone who says, “This is the worst comic I ever saw in my lif.”?
Matt: When I used to work for people I had this sense of diplomacy. I had to respond like, “Well, I’m sorry you feel that way. I appreciate your criticism,” and blah, blah, blah. Now I work for myself and really no one can control what I say. So usually I tell them that I slept with their mom or I say the most vile, awful thing I can think of. If you read my Twitter account, it is like Hitler’s port-a-potty. It’s the worst thing that you’ve ever seen, just this awful stuff that I say to my critics on there. Just to troll them, mostly. So that’s usually how I respond to it. LIke a drunk 15 year old, I think, is the best way to put it.
Andrew: I saw it. It’s actually much funnier than a drunk 15 year old. But I would think the opposite would happen. When you’re working for yourself and a mistake can cost you personally money and cost you the business that you love, wouldn’t you be more cautious? Wouldn’t you worry more that you’d lose this whole thing that you love so much?
Matt: Not really. My business doesn’t bank on my reputation as much as just putting out great material.
Andrew: What about in the beginning when you were going into Digg and you knew that if you won this group of people over, they’d send you massive traffic and if you turned them into haters, they’d bury you and you wouldn’t get anything from them. At that point, weren’t you nervous?
Matt: Yeah. At that point, I wouldn’t have gotten on Digg and been like, “Hey, your mom and I made love under the stars. Ha ha ha. I liked it.” That probably wouldn’t go over so well. But now I’m kind of at this comfortable level. And part of my writing style and the persona that I have online is sort of this crass, bloated, obese, drunk monster. So, in the beginning, you’re absolutely right, probably insulting my critics wouldn’t have gone over so well.
Andrew: I notice for myself, sometimes in my interviews I’m less articulate than other times. I feel like it’s happening to me, for some reason, here today in this interview. For me, I can’t go back and delete myself and dub over my voice and fix the way that I sound. I just have to let it go and then trust that eventually I’ll get better and better as I do my interviews. Will you let something go out there that you feel isn’t perfect because you have to put something out there? How do you deal with that? Do you have these issues and how do you deal with them?
Matt: Yeah, sometimes I do. I actually oftentimes have this sense of urgency with my comics. Like, oh, I need to make a comic. I need to hurry. I need to hurry. And when I’m making a comic and it’s like today, it’s a Tuesday and I’ve got the rest of the day to draw, for some reason I feel like I have to get this comic out as quick as possible. And sometimes I do put out things that aren’t perfect, even if I’d actually worked on it a bit, I would have been better. I’m not sure where that comes from.
Andrew: How does it effect you to put something out there that’s not perfect?
Matt: I usually can tell right away if my fans don’t like a certain comic. It’ll make you hate your job for about ten minutes, and then after that you get over it and you figure out what you did wrong and try to make some things better. On one occasion, only one occasion, I actually pulled a comic from my site. Or I removed all the links to it. I didn’t actually take it down, but I removed all the links because I was so ashamed of how awful it was.
Andrew: Which one and why?
Matt: It was called “Hungover Aliens” and it just was the most horribly received comic I’ve ever done. It wasn’t offensive, it was just not funny. When I wrote it, I made this mistake of assuming all these characters had this tone that I thought was funny. When I launched the comic, people who read it didn’t necessarily hear that same tone. They heard whatever voice they wanted to hear and it just completely neutered the humor. But I only did that once. And please don’t Google that comic because it’s awful.
Andrew: So what’s your process? How do you get your ideas out there?
Matt: How do I get ideas or how do I get them out there?
Andrew: How do you go from having no idea, to suddenly getting the idea, to drawing it, to putting it on the computer and getting it out? What’s your full process from nothing to something that everyone Diggs and interacts with?
Matt: Since becoming a comic artist, I’ve started paying a lot more attention to what’s going on around me. Things that we’re all feeling, we’re all doing, we’re all seeing, but no one’s articulating in the right way.
For example, I was on a plane and my girlfriend and I were talking about apps and there was an app that was $1.99 or $1.00 and I was stressing about, oh, it’s $2.00, I don’t know. Even though I’m on a plane and the ticket was $600 and the Starbucks before I got on the plane was $7. So I realized that a lot of people in our generation, we stress about app purchases at $1.00 even though we buy things like iPhones and cars and houses and $8.00 mochas. So I saw that and thought it was sort of a universal feeling we all have, let’s put it into a comic.
You take that, and I start to do that with everything lately. I have these little notebooks. I’ve got notebooks all over my house. I carry them in my pocket and I write things down all the time when I get an idea. And then from there, it’ll sit in little notebook land for sometimes a couple weeks before I decide it’s good enough to turn into a comic.
Usually, I’ll semi-script something, loosely into a notepad. Then I’ll get on the computer and I’ll draw it. A lot of times, I write the humor as I draw it and it all changes. There’s no perfect representative of my comics on pencil and paper. They grow up and evolve as I draw them. And then from there, I slice them up and I put them on the website. Usually, I’ll submit to Digg first and then everything else, I’ll do Digg, Twitter, Facebook and then I’ll just leave it alone and watch the traffic. So that’s sort of the process.
Andrew: Digg is number one. What’s number two? Twitter or Facebook? As far as traffic.
Matt: Oh, as far as what generates traffic the most? Well, in my opinion, those are kind of two different things. Digg I see as outside traffic, new users. It’s somebody else’s website. With Twitter and Facebook, those are my own fans who have committed to following me. But I do them in that order because I need to be the one to submit it to Digg because I have my Oatmeal account and I try to submit all my comics from there. And then Twitter and Facebook, it doesn’t matter if I submit it first, I just prefer to.
Andrew: What about Reddit?
Matt: I used to submit to Reddit. I still do occasionally, but I found that with Reddit, the best thing is just to leave it alone and if Redditors want to submit it to a thread, they can. If not, they can just leave it alone.
Andrew: Why do you think that you can’t submit there? Why are things different there?
Matt: There’s a core group of Redditors who hate me. I’m guessing it’s probably between 300 and 1,000 people. And I’ve found lately, that if I submit my own comic, it gets more negative feedback than if I just leave it alone and if they want to get it on the Reddit homepage, they can. If not, fine with me. Rather than getting on there and saying, “Hey everybody, I’m The Oatmeal. Here’s a comic. Redd it if you like it. If not, leave it alone.” So I try to just stay away from it.
Andrew: What’s the story behind you Rickrolling the people at Reddit?
Matt: [Laughs] I’ve actually never told anybody why I did that. It technically wasn’t a Rickroll. It was a Rickroll and I did Cher’s “Do You Believe In Life After Love” and the song “Informer” by Snow. So it was more like a three song coupled thing.
Andrew: So how did it come about and why did it come about and what did you do?
Matt: I needed a vacation from Reddit. Let’s just put it to you that way. I was making comics and I felt like Reddit would take my comics, get them on the front page, I wouldn’t even submit them and then what would follow was like 20 pages of hate about The Oatmeal. And then there were threads popping up saying…
One of them that kind of pushed me over the edge was someone posted on Reddit saying, “The Oatmeal is an a-hole.” And there were all these people saying, “Oh, I’ve met him in person. He’s a total jackass” and blah blah blah. I don’t actually meet that many people in person. I don’t speak publicly much. I don’t go to conferences. And when you do meet me, I’m actually kind of a nice guy. I’m not a jackass.
So, I messaged a couple and was like, “I’m sorry, I don’t know when we met, but I don’t know what I did to offend you.” And most of them either didn’t write back or they wrote back and said something like, “Oh, yeah, we actually never really met, I just saw you once,” or “I never met you, I was just kind of on a witch hunt.” So, that kind of stuff, I was like, I’m tired of reading Reddit. I’m tired of making comics and thinking, are Redditors going to hate this or are Redditors going to like it. So I went on a little vacation and I wanted to discourage them from linking to me for a while.
Andrew: So what did you do?
Matt: I set up a Rickroll, a Rick/Cher/Snow-roll and enjoyed the absence of commentary for a while.
Andrew: So when anyone clicked from Reddit to theoatmeal.com, they saw one of those three videos instead of The Oatmeal?
Matt: Yes.
Andrew: [Laughs] That’s pretty clever. What was going on in your head? You said you were thinking of Reddit as you were creating your comics. And how did that shape what you were creating? Did it stop you from creating? Did it move you in a direction? Were you trying to avoid their wrath as you were designing?
Matt: I used to think it as useful, but I actually found it’s just more poisonous than anything. And not just Reddit. Any Internet commentary can be pretty negative and that can be pretty poisonous to the creative process. I guess I just needed a little bit of a break from that for a while. And lately, I’ve found that I try not to read Reddit at all. I read Reddit. I just don’t read it if it’s about me because it’s usually not very nice.
Andrew: What I mean is, when I talked to Seth Godin and asked him why, even though he has a very popular blog, he refuses to allow comments on his site, he said when he accepted comments, his started to think, “What will my commenters like? How do I get more comments.” And he said, “That’s not the way I need to think. I need to stop this so I can focus on what I really want to think about.” How did your art change, how did your comics change as a result of the feedback?
Matt: I think the feedback that has changed my comics somewhat wasn’t from comments, it was from traffic. I found that certain themes, that if I attack, will actually drive traffic like crazy and that other things won’t.
In particular, writing about a gripe. It’s the stand-up routine where someone gets up there and says, “What’s the deal with airline food?” You take that and you apply it to a comic. Those ones go crazy. Like, “Things That You Shouldn’t Do In E-Mail,” “How to Suck at Facebook,” “Words You Should Stop Misspelling,” these are all gripes. That was one that changed. But that is, hopefully the one that stands alone. I try to make things that I think are funny and that I enjoy. But the gripe one is one that I sort of embellished a little more because it seemed to resonate with people.
And actually, I had the rare opportunity a couple weeks ago of having lunch with Gary Larson. And one of the questions I asked him was what kind of feedback did you have on your work and did it change your work. And he said, I can almost quote him exactly, he said that he worked in a tiny little dark hole for 15 years with zero feedback, didn’t do a book tour. He just wrote what he liked and what he thought was funny and that humor coincided with his fans.
When I heard that that was when I was like, that’s how I want to be. I don’t want to operate off of these little trolls. I don’t want to operate off of my traffic. I don’t want to operate off of what sells the most merchandise. I want to operate off of what I think is funny because that seems to be what works best most of the time.
Andrew: I also have here on my list, I wanted to ask you about e-mail. You didn’t bring up e-mail when I asked you where you get your traffic. I just finished Hugh Macleod’s latest book, an he seems to think of e-mail as his direct channel to his fans. That’s his main form of communication with them. Have you tried e-mail?
Matt: Like a newsletter?
Andrew: Yeah, it seems like, for him, it’s an e-mail newsletter, where he sends, what does he call it, one of his drawings a day.
Matt: Oh, OK. I’ve got a newsletter set up and it’s got a following on it, but it is a fart in the wind compared to Facebook fan pages as far as a way to communicate with people. And also, people are much more willing to click “like” on Facebook than they are to enter their e-mail into somewhere where they may or may not get more updates than they want or spam or whatever. I’ve had much better luck hooking them with Twitter and Facebook and my RSS feed than I have with e-mail.
Andrew: I see. And I did see that your comments are basically Facebook comments, right? You just embedded one of the Facebook commenting systems into your site. Why and how did it affect your site?
Matt: I integrated it into the blog section on my site because I sincerely wanted to see what would happen if I had comments. Because I didn’t want comics on my major comics, but on the blog I sort of looked at it as little cutesy comics that aren’t good enough for the main section.
And it’s actually been kind of helpful. It’s nice reading them and seeing all these fans talking. There’s a sense of community with that, but it’s sort of halfway there because it’s a community and there are people commenting but they aren’t repeat users, they aren’t signed up, they aren’t doing anything. They’re just kind of commenting and leaving.
I’m actually kind of on the fence as to whether or not I’ll keep them. I particularly don’t want to put them on a lot of my bigger comics, just because, more for the readers sake too. I don’t know when the last time was that you saw a YouTube video and you scrolled through the comments and you were like, “Ah, I feel better now that I read those. I feel more whole as a person.” You don’t. It’s the worst, worst, worst thing to read that. And not necessarily that they’re being mean, it’s just that they seem to have room temperature IQs when they comment in YouTube comments. I probably won’t put them on the comics anytime soon.
Andrew: Lately I’ve been thinking the Tumblr system is probably best. No comments on blog posts. If people really want to say something, let them reblog it and say something on their own blog. It’s great for the site that created the content originally and it also keeps the comments cleaner, or the reactions cleaner.
Matt: I really like Tumblr. I started using Tumblr for the first time like a month ago and I love the software. I love the format and the way it works.
Andrew: Yeah, really well designed.
Matt: I’ve been trying put some comics there lately.
Andrew: On your blog you have a section where you call out, I think it’s called retarded e-mails. Why do that? Why call people out by name?
Matt: Those people, I have their permission to do it.
Andrew: You do? I didn’t know that.
Matt: Yeah. Yeah.
Andrew: Including the woman who you call, “The most retarded e-mail,” or something like that, who’s having some kid of legal trouble with her kids? She gave you permission?
Matt: Yeah. She e-mailed me that spectacle that you see and I wrote her back and I said, “You know, Kimberly, this is a really insightful comment you’ve got on dyslexia and how Americans interpret that. Would you mind if I post it on my site along with your name and your e-mail. That way, if people want to give you some feedback, they can.” And she’s like, “Well of course! This is a huge issue we need to discuss.” So then I awarded her the Retarded E-Mail Hall of Fame Champion. So that’s why her name’s on there.
Andrew: OK. But what about bait and switch though? Didn’t you trick her?
Matt: I think I was clear enough. And she’s in jail right now, I think, so I don’t think she can respond. But when she gets out, I’m sure she’ll probably ask me to take to down.
Andrew: Are you worried that she might come after you right after she comes out of prison?
Matt: In what way? Like with a crowbar or with a lawyer?
Andrew: With a crowbar, yes.
Matt: I don’t think she’ll… Have you read about her? I don’t she has a lawyer, but the pipe or the crowbar seems more likely. She doesn’t look very fast, so we’ll see.
Andrew: OK.
Matt: She doesn’t look spry. Do you know what I mean?
Andrew: [Laughs] I actually find that section very funny, but I saw people were complaining about it so I figured I’d bring it up. What about… How did you get a book deal after you self-published your own book?
Matt: I think it was just getting enough visibility and exposure that a couple publishing houses took notice and then the grammar comics obviously put my comics on the desk of every editor in America. I did it kind of in an odd way. Most people, they go get an agent, the agent negotiates the book deal and then you get your book. I actually had a book deal on the table and a few interested people and I actually went to an agent and got one and then had her go negotiate and help me because it was just a totally different animal and some publishers won’t even talk to you unless you have an agent.
Andrew: And then how did the agent reshape your deal? What did the agent know that you couldn’t do yourself?
Matt: She was able to put together, it’s called a literary plan or something like that. A literary proposal. And then she sent it to 17 different publishers and was able to get back a couple offers and negotiate a better deal from them. And to talk to me about it. So mostly it was formally exposing me to way more publishers, because some still didn’t even know who I was, and then negotiating for a better deal.
Andrew: Aside from money, what makes for a better deal in the publishing world?
Matt: I think having more creative control of your work. For me, what I was most interested in was not having someone who’s going to tell me, “You can’t use this word” or “You have to make this comic less gross” or whatever. And the publisher I picked was Andrews McMeel, who is the same publisher who published Gary Larson’s The Far Side, Calvin and Hobbes, Dilbert, Doonesbury, Foxtrot, all these comics which I loved. So with that I saw, this is the type of book that I want to write, these guys, I know they won’t try and screw with it, so let’s work with them. And plus they knew comics really well so it was my first choice.
Andrew: What about cover design? I see that that’s often an issue for writers.
Matt: I didn’t have any problem with that. I think most of my book is visually oriented anyway and maybe a lot of writers, the only visual is the cover, so they focus on that like it’s this big thing. But for me, the cover was, pfft, that’s two hours of work. “Five Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth,” The Oatmeal, done. Picture of a dolphin. It wasn’t that big a deal.
Andrew: They let you design it yourself?
Matt: The cover?
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Yeah, I did everything. I did even all the layout inside and everything. They helped me with the mechanics of the back and the binding and that kind of stuff though.
Andrew: Yeah, a lot of writers have told me that they have no control over the cover. They’ll actually have a cover designed and the publisher won’t allow them to use it.
Matt: Oh, no kidding.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: I didn’t know that. Maybe they’re trying to pick something that sells better or something.
Andrew: Not artists, writers have told me that. Do you ever get writer’s block?
Matt: Sometimes. It’s more just like kind of a vacant lack of ideas and a sense of being uninspired. I found, for me, coffee helps with that. Being caffeinated generally seems to help. I actually am the most creative at night after the caffeine glow fades there’s sort of a strung out, weird creative burst that always comes around 10:00 p.m. and that’s when I usually get the most ideas.
Or if I’m on airplanes. I don’t know what it is about being locked in a cabin with crappy food and pressurized environment. It’s like this Christmas tree of lights aglow inside my head and I start writing things down in my notebook. But I look at them alter and they’re genius. Yet I’ll be sitting in my house, trying to work for six or seven or eight hours and I’ve got nothing and I’ve got Twitter going off and my IM, iTunes, all this crap in front of me just distracting me. But on a plane it’s like being locked into this boring, boring room so you have nothing to do but farm your own brain for crops.
Andrew: I find that too for me. On a plane with no distractions I get so much more done. I hate that they’re adding WiFi to planes now.
Matt: I know. It’s going to ruin it. I’ve gotta find some other… Maybe I should just go to jail or something. I don’t know.
Andrew: Aside from getting on a plane, what can you do if you want to generate creativity? What do you do?
Matt: The old formulas I used to use when I was building comics and quizzes for clients was I would take the specific word that I want to market, so if I’m trying to sell dishwashers or laundry machines, I would take that word and then basically just come up with a series of random nouns and try to attach them to it to try to create something whimsical or funny or draw connection that you didn’t see before. So from that you could connect, like, how long could I survive inside of my own washing machine. You could create some kind of funny little viral quiz from that. So the noun formula is probably the simplest thing that I’ve ever done to generate ideas.
Other than that, like I said before, listening and thinking about what we’re all saying and what we’re all doing and articulating it. Whether that be something that we have a problem with, like the BS that we have to go to through getting onto an airplane or something minor like when you walk through a cobweb and the worst part isn’t that you have cobwebs on you, it’s that you think there’s a spider on you. These are feelings that are universal, that we all share. Trying to just identify those and put in the right words.
Andrew: I’m sitting here thinking, “Should I ask this next question or not.” I think I’ll just go for it. I know what I’m getting out of this interview |
with $1.91."
The more people in your referral network, the less you make—that is assuming the money you make in the referral program is funneled back into the game. For example, if I refer someone who then refers several people and eventually reduces their in-game subscription expense to zero (and doesn’t buy any other microtransaction items), I no longer make money from them.
Extrapolating this out, if I refer three people who each pay the full subscription fee of $15 a month, I would make a total of $6.75 a month from the referral program. But if each of those people in turn refer three people and then use that money to lower their subscription fee (instead of just keeping it), I’d only make $3.71 from my referrals.
"I understood how projects of this size go to market, they have a large marketing arm and they have to devote a large amount of their resources or find a publisher willing to do that to market the game," Sharif explains. "For me, it didn't make much sense in the MMO-specific genre—something that is so close knit as a group of people, you know, guild-oriented, forum-registered... It just didn't make sense that they were doing all of the work in bringing people to a game to not benefit in any way from it. I figured it'd be a good idea to take whatever the company was going to allocate towards marketing and instead incentivize players to spread the word, something that they naturally do."
Sharif tells me his intention was never to create a system to incentivize disingenuous positive publicity from large YouTube or Twitch personalities. "Those types of 'influencers' that have that audience, they're already incentivized by companies that are coming to market with a new product to speak positively of it," Sharif argues. "Usually that comes in the form of sponsorship or royalty deals on people that they bring to the game that can be tracked through different metrics. What this does is that it moves that specific application from the influencers and gives it to the 'little people' as well. It gives it to people who have friends in guilds they want to refer."
Regardless of his intent, there’s no denying the potential consequences. While the "little people" probably won’t make much money using the referral program, those with a large audience absolutely can. As a result of Kickstarter enforcing its rules, the referral program is essentially useless since it no longer capitalizes on pledges through crowdfunding. There’s no way to spend money on Ashes of Creation at this time. But, as is pretty common with crowdfunded MMOs, it’s possible the program could be included in Early Access or other types of pre-release funding models. Meaning that, once again, people would be financially incentivized to spread word of a game that doesn’t exist or isn’t complete. That said, my time spent speaking with Sharif gave me the genuine impression that he's just someone with the resources to try to build his dream MMO.
But I still can't shake my skepticism that Ashes of Creation will be able to escape the pitfalls of Kickstarter while simultaneously pushing the MMO genre forward. It's an enormous challenge, and one where much safer bets like Garriott's Shroud of the Avatar and McQuaid's Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen have arguably failed. I see Sharif and Intrepid Studios as a kind of wildcard approach. There’s potential for something great, but the risks feel greater too. Anyone thinking of supporting Ashes of Creation prior to launch, whether through Kickstarter or any other means, should think carefully before proceeding.The Passing film review 4 The Passing film review James Stanfield
You’re unlikely to see another film likethis year. Part existential drama, part supernatural horror, director Gareth Bryn (who we were lucky enough to interview) and writer Ed Talfan have put together a true original.
It starts slowly, the manner in which it means to go on. A middle-aged man, as weather-beaten as the valleys around him goes quietly about his business, tending to his hens, dredging a well. But the routine is interrupted when he comes across a crashed car and a couple in distress. Then begins a silent rescue operation; he takes the unconscious woman in his arms, carrying her back home across a vast heathland, her boyfriend stumbling behind. It’s a hauntingly composed scene, one of many that the film has to offer.
Home, as it turns out, is a place untouched by the digital age, and the camera delights in this setting, much enamoured by its faded wallpapers and rain-drenched, mossy gardens. It’s here, in these oppressively remote environs that the film’s theatrics play out; where we learn the truth about the host Stanley and his guests Sara and Iwan.
This, we soon find out, is a couple on the run, but it takes much longer to find out why. It’s a film that keeps you guessing, watching as the house’s farthest reaches are explored; as dynamics shift; as Iwan becomes ever more brutish, and Sara and Stanley grow closer together. For a project like this to work, the acting must be of the highest quality; thankfully, it is. Character deepens as the story gradually unfurls and the darkly dramatic threatens constantly to yield to the supernatural.
Having worked on (and in Talfan's case co-created) the acclaimed drama Hinterland, both director and writer have backgrounds in television. But this move into film proves a more than worthwhile endeavour. For fans of challenging cinema, The Passing is essential viewing.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Friday that voter fraud should be dealt with at the state level and that he doesn’t see “any evidence” that millions of people illegally voted in the 2016 presidential election, as President Trump has claimed.
“I don’t believe the federal government needs to look at this,” said McConnell in an interview with National Journal in his office at the Capitol. “Our whole election system is state-based. There are a number of states who have been concerned about ballot security that have done something about it.”
In the wide-ranging session, McConnell also urged the Trump administration not to roll back sanctions on Russia, hours after Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said that doing so was “under consideration.” Trump is scheduled to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday.
“I’d be opposed to that,” said McConnell. “The sanctions I assume you were referring to [came] as a result of the annexation of Crimea and the incursion into eastern Ukraine. And you can now add to that messing around in the U.S. election. I would be vigorously opposed to any reduction of those sanctions.
“I think the first step is to encourage the administration not to use any kind of waiver that may be in the existing law,” McConnell added. “If there’s any country in the world that doesn’t deserve any kind of sanctions relief, it’s the Russians.”
McConnell’s comments echoed concerns shared by Republican senators, particularly Armed Services Chairman John McCain, who said in a statement Friday that he would work to “codify sanctions against Russia into law” if necessary.
The interview with McConnell also touched on his three momentous goals this year: confirming the president’s Supreme Court justice nominee, replacing Obamacare, and passing comprehensive tax reform.
While efforts to fundamentally reform the country’s health care system and tax code have only begun, what does appear certain is that Trump will get his Supreme Court justice, who is expected to be announced on Thursday. When asked whether Republicans would change the filibuster rules if Democrats attempt to block the pick, McConnell said in no uncertain terms, “We’re going to get the nominee confirmed.”
The Kentucky Republican seemed less enthusiastic on diverting congressional attention towards a rumored $1 trillion infrastructure package, another top priority for the president. McConnell said transportation projects are better left to the states.
But first, National Journal began by asking McConnell, a history buff, what he’s reading. Here’s a transcript:
I wanted to start off, before getting into the topics of today—I know that you’re a history buff. At the end of last year, I saw that you had The General vs. the President: MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War on your [reading] list.
Yeah, I’m into Brands’ The General and the President. One of my kids gave it to me for Christmas. I’m a big fan of H.W. Brands anyway, but I’m sort of endlessly fascinated by the Korean War. My dad fought in World War II, and he came back home and a bunch of his buddies said, “You know, why don’t you join the National Guard? It meets once a month. A little extra pay.” My dad said, “Well, you know, I’ve had my war, I’ll take a pass." All those guys ended up going to Korea. He had been at the thick of the fight in World War II. In fact, they lost two-thirds of the company in one night.
I think he probably felt like he had done his part. And, as it turned out, they all ended up going to Korea. Some of them didn’t come back. [David] Halberstam’s The Coldest Winter is the best book on—everybody thinks it's the best book on the Korean War. I’m not through with Brands’ book, but it’ll be interesting to see his take on all of that because it’s also about the Korean War, obviously, which is the biggest feud between MacArthur and Truman.
Is there anything that relates to today when you’re reading this book? Are you making any comparisons?
No, he’s just focusing more on the relationship between Truman and MacArthur.... But you can’t write about the Korean War without dealing with that.
I know President Trump talks about MacArthur…
Trump? Is he a MacArthur admirer?
I think so. He talks about it at some of his rallies.
I’m not. [Laughs] I think MacArthur was kind of a mixed bag.
Why’s that?
Well, I think his miscalculation about the possibility of Chinese involvement was a pretty serious miscalculation. Whether they would’ve come over the Yalu River and done what they did no matter what, I don’t know—no one will ever know. But I think he thought that the Chinese would not come over. And it turned out we were lucky to fight to a stalemate.
But if you look at the Korean War writ large, it ended up being a huge success because of what South Korea has become. It gave us a model, right on one peninsula, of what works and what doesn’t, and the transformation of South Korea from a military dictatorship to a Peace Corps recipient, a foreign aid recipient, to what they are today—their own Peace Corps, their own foreign assistance, something like the 13th-largest economy in the world. Any American soldiers who came back from Korea's wars and said, "Did it make a difference?"—the Korean soldiers, I think, could look back and say, “Hey man, that allowed something really incredibly important to happen."
Well, I’d like to pivot to foreign policy today. Kellyanne Conway said on Fox that eliminating sanctions on Russia is under consideration. I was wondering if you would support or oppose eliminating sanctions on Russia.
I’d be opposed to that. The sanctions I assume you were referring to [came] as a result of the annexation of Crimea and the incursion into eastern Ukraine. And you can now add to that messing around in the U.S. election. I would be vigorously opposed to any reduction of those sanctions.
I know Senator McCain said today that he’s going to try to codify sanctions into law.
I think the first step is to encourage the administration not to use any kind of waiver that may be in the existing law. If there’s any country in the world that doesn’t deserve any kind of sanctions relief, it’s the Russians.
On the Supreme Court, on Thursday President Trump is expected to make his nomination to fill that vacancy. … Will Senate Republicans do whatever is necessary to confirm the nominee?
Well, we’re going to confirm the nominee. I’m optimistic we’re going to get an outstanding nominee, one who's extremely well qualified. Whether we would have to get cloture or not remains to be seen. What I would hope is that we'd be treated the same way as Bill Clinton was treated in his first administration. Ginsburg and Breyer—cloture was not required. Barack Obama: Sotomayor and Kagan—cloture not required.
If cloture is required, we’ll have a cloture vote. And if we have a cloture vote like we had with Sam Alito, hopefully cloture will be invoked. Those are the possible scenarios that we’ve experienced in the past. All I can tell you—and all I will tell you no matter times you ask me—is that we intend to get the nominee confirmed.
I interviewed Senator Schumer a few weeks back and he still regrets the Alito confirmation. He still thinks he should’ve done more personally to block that.
He opposed cloture. … Well, you’re going to have to ask him what he intends to do. What I’m telling you is that we’re going to get the nominee confirmed.
Even if changing the filibuster rules [is required]?
We’re going to get the nominee confirmed.
Onto health care. Your top goal this year is to repeal and replace Obamacare. I’m curious what that meant for the Medicaid expansion.
We’ll see. That’s part of the whole package—and going forward to replace what Bill Clinton called the craziest thing you’ve ever seen, what 8 out of 10 Americans say ought to be replaced entirely or dramatically changed.
If Hillary Clinton had been elected, we’d be revisiting Obamacare. We probably would be revisiting it in a different way than what we had in mind, but the status quo is unsustainable. We were not elected to continue with the status quo on Obamacare. Exactly all the details of what replacement will look like, I couldn't tell you right now, but we’re fully intending to go forward.
There’s a few different conservative options—providing tax credits to encourage [people to buy] health insurance, block grants, changing [Medicaid] to a per capita allotment—are any of those the most attractive to you?
All of the various possibilities are under discussion. And I’m not going to sit here and negotiate with you. [Laughs]
There are hundreds of thousands of people in Kentucky who have gotten health insurance through the expansion.
It’s overwhelmingly unpopular in Kentucky. In fact, it was a big factor in my reelection in 2014 and the governor’s election in 2015. I think our members know that the American people think we can do better.
On tax reform—the other big thing that you’re looking to get done this year with a pretty aggressive, bold agenda—the border adjustment tax is what people are really talking about now. Members were talking about it in Philadelphia. Do you support a border tax in a broader comprehensive tax reform?
What I support is doing comprehensive tax reform. I had just gotten here when we did it the last time. I was just a backbencher, but I was very much familiar with how challenging it is. And it is really challenging.
It was actually easier then, because you had a Democratic House. Reagan and O'Neill had agreed that it would be revenue-neutral to the government. And Bill Bradley, a prominent liberal Democrat in the Senate, was actually on our side. I don’t anticipate that's going to happen this time. So this will probably be a Republicans-only exercise, using the reconciliation process, and we’re talking about all the things that you’d like for me to handicap or evaluate—I don’t blame you for asking the question, but I’m not going to critique each of the proposals that could allow us to have comprehensive tax reform.
But you won’t come out in support of it either?
I’m not going to take a position on any of the moving parts right now. I do think it ought to be revenue-neutral. I think it probably will have to be revenue-neutral using the reconciliation approach. With a $21 trillion debt, I don’t think we ought to blow a hole in that. And so within those parameters, if the goal is to get the rates down, the question is: Whose preferences are lost? How do you make up for it?
I think Senator Lindsey Graham said that it would be “mucho sad” to do tariffs so margaritas are more expensive today.
[Laughs] Well, you know, I’m willing to listen to the arguments. We talked about the thing you raised—the border adjustment—we talked about corporate interest deductibility and the impacts of losing that. … Revenue-neutral tax reform is not revenue-neutral to everybody. It may be revenue-neutral to the government. But when preferences start going away, it’s not revenue-neutral to that particular preference or those people who benefit from that particular preference. What we hope is that overall when you get the rates down as dramatically as the speaker’s proposal would like to do, it compensates for a lot of that.
And we also think a more rational code will help us have economic growth. The growth has been tepid throughout the Obama years. And I think the statute of limitations is run [out] on blaming that on Bush. This was the worst recovery after a deep recession since World War II. And I think I saw a statistic today that the growth rate for last year was 1.6 or something like that. I mean that’s really underperforming.
We need to get our foot off the brake and put it onto the accelerator, and there’s two ways to do that: pro-growth, comprehensive tax reform and regulatory relief. And we’re going to start the process of regulatory relief this week in the House. Those repeals under the [Congressional Review Act] will come over to us, the administration will keep looking for ways to get regulatory changes [through the] executive branch.... And we’re going to try and get the country growing again.
Do you think that tax reform could be tied to infrastructure?
You’re asking me all kinds of hypotheticals. We do have the challenge, if we’re going to do a big infrastructure bill, of how do you pay for it? What I have said to the president and said publicly and say again to you now, I’m not interested in doing anything like the stimulus. $800 or $900 [billion] of borrowed money and you can’t find a project almost anywhere in the country that benefited from it. It’s like withdrawing the funds from the bank and lighting a match to it and adding that much to the deficit.
So whatever we do needs to be credibly paid for. And I think the way transportation projects really, actually occur is at the state level. They’re the ones who build roads, repair roads, and actually spend the gas-tax money that we collect and send down to them on a formula basis.
You wouldn’t want to increase that tax to pay for it.
That’s part of the whole discussion. What is the administration going—I’m open to hearing a recommendation. What’re they going to recommend? How big is it? And how do we pay for it? And how’s it going to be structured?
I think those discussions have just begun. I believe there’s a task force within the administration. I think, for example, the person likely to be secretary of Transportation [Elaine Chao, former Labor secretary and McConnell's wife] is on [it]. They’re discussing exactly what I’m talking about. We all love it—infrastructure—Democrats and Republicans absolutely love infrastructure. The issue is how are we going to pay for it?
Do you think that there is enough? A trillion dollars worth?
I have no idea. We’re anxious to see what they recommend.
On the border wall—you said at the retreat, [it is] going to be $12 to $15 billion, I believe. Is that also going to be offset?
That’s also under discussion. They have not sent the proposal up yet. We expect the administration to send up a proposal. How much and how do you pay for it?
There are some people who noted that Republicans historically wanted offsets for Zika funding or what-not. Do you think it’s appropriate to do something like a border wall, border security that’s not offset?
We haven’t gotten a proposal.
The other big thing that the president has continuously talked about and tweeted recently is about the integrity of the ballot box. … This week, I believe you said that fraud exists. Speaker Ryan said that there wasn’t any evidence of millions of people voting illegally. I was interested by the juxtaposition of those two remarks. I was wondering why you think that is.
I think a lot of it depends on where you’re from. In Kentucky, we have a significant amount of voter fraud. There are other states where it’s almost nonexistent. But what I can safely tell you is it’s a state matter. In a number of states where this has been an issue, they’ve gone to photo ID at the polls. That’s actually been upheld by the Supreme Court—a 6-to-3 decision in a case arising out of Indiana. I don’t believe the federal government needs to look at this. Our whole election system is state-based. There are a number of states who have been concerned about ballot security that have done something about it. One thing that happened to our state is that a number of people got sent to jail. It had an interesting impact on the propensity to buy votes, which was apparently prevalent in our state until a few years ago. I think it ought to be dealt with at the state level.
Do you see any evidence for those claims that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 election?
I don’t see any evidence of that, no.Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/12/2012 (2266 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The City of Winnipeg plans to set aside $138.6 million over the next three years to extend the Southwest Transitway to the University of Manitoba.
The city has earmarked $1.1 million in the 2013 capital budget to complete the design of the second leg of the Southwest Transitway, which has a projected cost of $350 million, as well as begin the design of an East Transitway that would connect downtown to Transcona.
A further $10 million has been earmarked for the Southwest Transitway in the 2014 capital budget, with another 127.5 million dedicated to the 2015 capital budget.
"The whole purpose of today quite simply is to show the commitment of city council," Mayor Sam Katz said this morning at the Winnipeg Transit's Fort Rouge garage.David Attenborough talks about evolution of the bees. When flowering plants evolved some types of wasp evolved into the bees to make use of their nectar. A queen bumblebee goes in search of a hole to make a new home. She makes a nest of beeswax - a substance no wasp can make. Her daughters take over the building and feeding of a thriving colony, and the queen keeps them in line with pheromones - chemical signals that supresses her daughters' sexuality. The daughters tend the nest and gather nectar and pollen, which is rich in protein. By the end of summer the queen has stopped producing her ant-reproduction hormones, because she needs to lay queen and drone eggs. The downside is that her existing daughters also start to lay eggs, which the queen destroys, but a few will develop into males. Eventually the queen loses control of the colony, her daughters attack her and she is stung to death. None of the workers will survive the winter, only the new queens.Today I continue my ongoing investigation of the games that I played at MomoCON 2015 by taking a look at a new Roguelike RPG called MidBoss. No, this isn’t a game about that guy from Disgaea, but it is about a monster who wants to be more than he is.
In MidBoss, you play as an imp who had decided that it’s finally his time to be the boss of his dungeon. The problem is, he’s pretty basic. Since the game as in beta when I played it the narrative is kind of vague, but then they always are in roguelikes. Given that the imp is the biggest and most dangerous monster you’re likely to find on the first floor of the dungeon, I’m going to assume he’s the level boss, which justifies the game’s name.
Anyway, we’re not here for speculation, we’re here for investigation! So let’s get to that!
Cursory Observation
The fundamental gameplay is cool. Your imp grows stronger not just by leveling up, but by possessing other monsters and mastering their abilities. I’ll talk about that in more detail, but between having played the demo at MomoCON and the Beta, I’ve seen that this leads to a wide range of effective strategies. This game definitely doesn’t lack depth.
There’s not much to say about the graphics. They’re solid and effective, with everything looking like what it is. The monster designs are simple, as is the design of the main character. The one thing I’d like to see improved graphically is a walking animation for the characters, because currently they just sort of hop around. This is fine, though, because I don’t think anyone has ever played a roguelike for the graphics.
The mechanics are accessible. This doesn’t seem like it should be a big deal, but in classic roguelikes such as Nethack I constantly had to pull up the list of commands. If I could remember what button pulled up the list of commands, that is. MidBoss is much simpler, and every menu screen and command is labeled by hotkey. This means that new players can pick up the game just as easily as roguelike veterans.
I do have ONE gripe about the controls. The game has an isometric view, which is cool, but the default WASD controls don’t actually move you along the dungeons grid. Instead, they move you along the diagonals, and you have to use the diagonal keys to move along the dungeons actual grid. This is easily fixable in the control menu, and even if you don’t change it you get used to it, but it really threw me during the demo.
The music is solid, providing good background noise for dungeon crawling. The tunes are catchy and feel like they belong in a game from the SNES or Genesis era.
Deeper Inspection
Ok, let’s talk about that possession mechanic, because I think that’s really the game’s selling point. Your character starts in their basic imp form, with two abilities: Possess, and Depossess. When you possess a monster, they gain the “vessel” status and you take over their body at full health when you kill them. When you depossess, you regain some mana and health and revert back to your normal imp form. Every form has its own strengths and weaknesses that are further modified by your Meta Stats: Violence, cruelty, adamancy and relentlessness. These meta stats are what increase as you level, and they affect your normal stats regardless of form.
When you change a form, you start to master the skills associated with that form much like you would a class in Final Fantasy Tactics. As you master these powers, you can then equip different forms (and their powers) to your basic imp form, making it more powerful.
What this means is that there’s a lot of ways to grow and develop your imp’s strength, and a lot of different and very viable strategies available. The demo at MomoCON had about five levels of the dungeon and a boss fight, and I watched and talked about several different ways people had elected to vanquish the boss. I used the vampire bat form and magic, others used swarms of zombie minions or just brute force. There doesn’t seem to be one specific, obvious best way to play, which is always a positive.
The gear options are pretty cool. It’s standard RPG fare: various weapons and armor that boost your stats, but as you progress through the game the level on which the gear empowers you increases. Early on it might just be a basic attack bonus, but at higher levels the items improve not just your normal stats but also your meta-stats, providing a broader range of bonuses. While I get that isn’t really groundbreaking, it’s a cool touch that I think deserves mention.
The game also runs smooth, especially for a beta. I’ve been playing it pretty regularly for a while now and the only bug I noticed is a weird interaction with poison. See, if you die while possessing a monster, you will be forced back into your imp form. If you lose your last hit point to poison in another form though, the game bugs out. I’m sure this will be fixed when the game is released, but if you run into it, just depossess before the final hit. Changing forms seems to cure poison anyway, so this is a purely beneficial strategy.
Conclusions
The game captures most of the things that I’ve always liked about roguelikes and does away with all of the stuff that has always kept me away from them. The visuals and audio are solid and the mechanics are well-crafted and balanced. While I originally thought that the imp possession thing would feel gimmicky, the developers really put in the effort to make sure it was an effective core to build their game around.
If you’re an experienced roguelike player, then this game is different enough to provide a new and interesting experience. If you’re new to the genre, this is probably one of the most accessible games of its type I’ve come across. Downloading the Beta is free and I recommend you check it out.
Grade: A-
Recommendations
Graphically, I’d like to see some walking/movement animations added eventually. This is a small thing, especially in a roguelike, but I think it’s worth mentioning.
I’d also like to see that poison bug fixed, but I’m also pretty sure that’s coming naturally.
The control issue I had wasn’t quite big enough to warrant a grade shift, but if it got some attention in development then I wouldn’t complain.
The game is still in development, but I can’t wait to play the finished product.
If you enjoyed this article, follow the Game Detective on Twitter, Tumblr, or Facebook.
AdvertisementsPARIS—The moment was dramatic enough: In a courtroom in The Hague on Wednesday, a military commander from the former Yugoslavia pulled out a small bottle and drank from it, declaring that he had ingested poison to protest his conviction for war crimes. The judges quickly ordered that courtroom curtains block the view of spectators in the public gallery. Live television coverage went dark. But what happened next, beyond public view, was just as shocking, according to lawyers and court officials. The war criminal, Slobodan Praljak, 72, slumped in his chair and began to gasp for breath. He was later taken to a Dutch hospital and pronounced dead.
Slobodan Praljak, former Bosnian Croat military chief died Wednesday at a hospital after he swallowed from a vial what appeared to be poison as judges upheld his 20-year prison sentence at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague. (The Associated Press)
On Friday, Dutch prosecutors announced that Praljak had died of heart failure after ingesting potassium cyanide — a highly toxic compound — and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia announced that it would conduct its own “independent, expert review” of Praljak’s suicide. But the key questions — how he managed to smuggle the poison into court — remained unanswered. Read more: War criminal Slobodan Praljak appears to kill himself with poison seconds after losing appeal
Article Continued Below
Autopsy shows dead war criminal Slobodan Praljak had cyanide in system Defense lawyers at the tribunal say the security arrangements in force for defendants like Praljak and the five other men whose sentences were affirmed Wednesday were rigorous, with body searches when they left their detention centre — inside a high-security Dutch prison — and again when they arrived at the tribunal building. But, the officials acknowledged, one form of search — of body cavities — is not part of the routine. Even so, that left the question of how Praljak could have laid hands on the toxin since visitors were supposedly searched, too. And in the months before his final appearance in court, he had seemed to eschew contact with his family and his lawyers. Nika Pinter, his lead counsel, said in a telephone interview from Zagreb, the Croatian capital, that Praljak had told his family not to be present at the judgment. “For 13 years, his wife came to visit him in prison every month, the last time I think at the end of October. His stepson and stepdaughter would also visit,” Pinter said. However, she added, “He forbade his wife to listen to the judgment. And he told her: Don’t come to The Hague.”
Videograbs taken from live footage of the International Criminal Court show Croatian former general Slobodan Praljak swallowing poison during his judgement at the UN war crimes court to protest the upholding of a 20-year jail term. ( AFP/GETTY IMAGES )
Pinter recalled: “Last weekend I called him and asked him if he would like me to visit him before the judgment. He said: ‘No, don’t come.’ I called again on Tuesday and told him I would come to court early to meet him. He told me: ‘No, don’t come. I’ll see you in the courtroom.’ ” She said she believed he wanted to spare her from what followed. “From the start, 13 years ago, he told me he could not bear being called a war criminal,” Pinter said. “He couldn’t live with the stigma.”
Article Continued Below
But she added: “He never gave a hint that he was planning to end his life.” Praljak had been a theatre and film director and a writer. He joined the Croatian army and was named a general when it was formed after the country broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991. Named commander of the Croatian forces fighting in Bosnia, he was a key figure during the conflict, including the long siege and shelling of the ethnically mixed city of Mostar. At the time, he was the main liaison between political and military leaders in Croatia and the Croatian force fighting in Bosnia. He surrendered to the tribunal in 2004 and was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2013. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, but appealed. (He would have been due for release in 2019, after serving two-thirds of his sentence, including time served.) The tribunal had just affirmed his verdict and sentence Wednesday when Praljak kept standing. He reached forward to pick up the vial. “Slobodan Praljak is not a war criminal,” he declared portentously, in Croatian. “I reject your judgment with contempt.” He then opened his fist, took out the vial, tilted back his head and drank. “I have taken poison,” Praljak said. One of his lawyers, Natacha Fauveau Ivanovic, called out to ensure that the presiding judge, Carmel Agius, understood: “Mr. President, our client says he took poison.” The judges were stunned, but appeared not to have fully grasped what had happened. Agius directed the next defendant to rise and began reading. “People did not realize exactly what was going on,” said Michael Karnavas, a veteran defence lawyer representing Jadranko Prlic, one of Praljak’s co-defendants. “This man was always full of bravado. Prajlak sat down and almost immediately he was gasping for air, struggling to breathe. It was loud. He made sounds like he was choking. I saw him slumped in his chair. Someone shouted for help. The guards came over and got him onto the floor.” Karnavas added: “After a few minutes two medics arrived from the medical office in the tribunal. One of the medics calls out: The heart has stopped. They start doing CPR, they are pumping his chest to get his heart going, taking turns with some of the security guards.” After 20 minutes, an emergency team arrived from a local hospital and took over. They kept him in the building for about an hour because they wanted to stabilize him. It was not clear what made the medical team finally decide to take him to the hospital. Croatia’s justice minister has called into question the speed of the responses by security and medical staff. The tribunal said on Friday that its inquiry would be led by Hassan B. Jallow, the chief justice of Gambia and a former prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. A report on the findings is expected by Dec. 31. It was unclear to what extent those findings would be open to scrutiny. “The outcome of the review will be made public, subject to due process and confidentiality considerations,” the tribunal said. To smuggle the vial into the courtroom, Praljak had to circumvent what were supposed to be tight security arrangements. The defendants are escorted by guards and enter the building through an underground parking lot. They are strip-searched when they leave the detention unit and then again at the court. They are unable to have contact with members of the public. Visitors also face tough security checks, said Fauveau Ivanovic, the defence lawyer, first to enter the high-security Dutch prison, and then again at the U.N. detention unit set within the compound. “Everything — our shoes, our clothes, our bags — everything goes through the X-ray machine,” she said. “We walk through a scanner, like at an airport. We can’t bring in liquids.” Karnavas recalled the last time he saw Praljak. “I last saw him outside the courtroom that morning as he was coming out of the toilet,” he said. “I thought nothing of it at the time. But I’m thinking about that now.”As FAIR has noted before (4/1/15, 3/8/16), how a story is framed is as important—if not more so—than the content of an article. Sixty percent of Americans don’t read past the headline and 60 percent of Americans share articles on social media without reading them. How a story is teed up to the reader is an essential element in how our media shape our understanding of the news.
One recent string of headlines on the conviction of two Georgia white supremacists over their racist menacing with a shotgun of an eight-year-old child’s party highlighted the extreme degree to which the media can fail in this capacity:
Pair Gets 35 Years for Terrorizing Party with Confederate Flags (New York Daily News, 2/27/17)
, 2/27/17) Two People Receive Huge Prison Sentences for Disrupting Child’s Birthday Party With Confederate Flag ( Complex, 2/27/17)
, 2/27/17) Prison Sentences for Confederate Flag Wavers Who Terrorized Child’s Party ( San Jose Mercury News, 2/27/17)
, 2/27/17) Confederate Flag Incident at Child’s Party Leads to Jail Time ( US News, 2/27/17)
, 2/27/17) Man, Woman Sentenced for Terrorizing Partygoers With Confederate Flag |
he has time to implement his vision and assess his squad before things kick off.
De Boer will relish the opportunity to face Everton boss Ronald Koeman. At Palace, De Boer will want to emulate the largely successful career path of his compatriot, who managed Ajax in the early 2000s before becoming successful at Southampton and taking charge at Goodison Park.
In the Premier League, De Boer will also get to pit his wits against his former Barcelona team-mate Pep Guardiola, now in charge at Manchester City. The two young managers have been known to bounce ideas off of each other every now and then, and both are influenced by the ideas of Barcelona legend Johan Cruyff.
A calm but critical manager
De Boer is not afraid to engage with the press - and is happy to crack a joke at press conferences
De Boer will now be managing in a league with an intense media scrutiny.
It is a good thing, then, that he is not the type to shy away from discussions with journalists. At Ajax, De Boer would always take time to explain his tactical choices to whoever was interested, again and again if needed.
De Boer's facial expression often seems to be locked in a frown - but he knows how to make a joke as well. Straightforward and unafraid to simply state whatever is on his mind, English football can expect to have a few laughs during Palace news conferences. Think Louis van Gaal's directness, but with a friendlier edge.
His players, however, are advised to remain sharp. No matter how well his teams perform, De Boer always wants them to do better. At Ajax, he could often be seen passionately motivating and correcting his players, even when they were already well in the lead.
This is characteristic of De Boer's management style and was already obvious during the World Cup in 2010. While Netherlands manager Van Marwijk stayed seated, assistant De Boer would often get up to shout instructions at players - and let's just say those 'instructions' were not always suited for television.
As he starts the next phase in his career, Palace fans can expect a critical but honest manager who knows how to reward hard work and commitment and who is not afraid to put his foot down and fight for what he wants.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
I was one of Southampton’s biggest critics when they sacked Nigel Adkins at the start of this year.
Nigel had taken the Saints from League One to the Premier League with successive promotions and was making a real fist of his first season in the top flight.
I couldn’t understand why that wasn’t good enough for chairman Nicola Cortese, especially when he then recruited Mauricio Pochettino, a young Argentine coach whose grasp of English was comparable to my fluency in Spanish.
How wrong was I?
I wasn’t the only one, of course. Many Southampton fans also thought Mr Cortese had lost the plot. Yet, 10 months on, the Saints are flying high in the Premier League.
They have won at Anfield and drawn at Old Trafford – and are playing a brand of football that is as technically proficient as anything you will see in the division.
I like to think of myself as being an innovative coach. But I am also a bit of a magpie when it comes to picking up tips and ideas from other managers.
Pochettino’s high-pressing, high-tempo approach is something that I have been watching with interest. His team has a lovely balance.
Southampton may have shattered their transfer record four times in the last two years bringing in players like Jay Rodriguez, Gaston Ramirez, Victor Wanyama and Pablo Osvaldo. Dejan Lovren, an £8.5million signing, has also been outstanding at centre-back.
But they have retained an Englishness to their line-up.
Rodriguez, Rickie Lambert and Nathaniel Clyne have been bought to play alongside a homegrown pool of talent that includes Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw, Jack Cork and James Ward-Prowse.
For me, Lallana has been one of the best players in the Premier League this season and it can only be a matter of time before the Saints skipper follows Lambert into the England squad.
Southampton may not have the same depth of squad as teams like Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and the two Manchester clubs.
But I am hoping that they stay injury-free, because their re-emergence as a club provides a lesson to us all.
(Image: Getty Images)
Remember, it was only four years ago that the Saints went into administration and League One. The way that they have reinvented themselves is proof positive that dreams can still come true in football.
Adkins still deserves a huge amount of credit for masterminding successive promotions to the Premier League.
But so does chairman Mr Cortese. The decision to make a managerial change last January could not have been easy. He must have known it was going to bring him plenty of grief.
I have discovered myself in recent months that making the right decisions doesn’t always come easily.
Mr Cortese had the courage of his convictions – and Southampton are now reaping the benefits.
As I have looked back on my reign as Crystal Palace manager over the last week, I have come to realise that Southampton should have been our model.
Yes, they have splashed the cash. But at no point have they overstepped themselves. The pace of change has been manageable over three or four years.
At Palace, we tried too much too soon – and something had to give.
That something, just eight games into the season, was me. Paolo Di Canio suffered the same fate at Sunderland.
The two clubs who made 10 or 12 changes to their first-team squads during the summer now occupy the two bottom positions in the table, and have already implemented a change of manager.
I still think that Sir Alex Ferguson was right when he said in his new book that the most important person at any football club is the manager.
But having a chairman with a viable, long-term plan is just as vital.HARTFORD, Conn. — A transgender girl detained without criminal charges at an adult women’s prison in Connecticut will be moved to a unit for troubled girls in state custody, Connecticut’s Department of Children and Families said Friday.
The department said two weeks ago the teen, known in court documents only as Jane Doe, had been accepted into a private youth treatment center in Massachusetts but it said Friday that it is still pending final approval.
In the interim, the department said, the Pueblo Unit of the Albert J. Solnit Children’s Psychiatric Center in Middletown is a more appropriate setting for her treatment.
“The decision reflects the department’s continued focus on moving Jane from a correctional facility to a setting that is most appropriate for her treatment and educational needs and also reflects the progress she has made over recent months,” the department said in a statement. “Jane will reside at the all-girls unit in Middletown pending final approval of the Massachusetts placement.”
Article continues below
The teen, who was born a boy but identifies as a girl, has suffered sexual abuse and other trauma and has a range of mental health needs, according to her lawyer, Aaron Romano.
A state judge in April ordered the girl transferred from DCF custody to Department of Correction custody because DCF officials said she was too violent for them to handle.
The teen has supporters across the country including civil liberties activists who have been calling for her to be moved to a facility that can better meet her needs.
© 2014, Associated Press, All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
This Story Filed UnderWhy is this such a big investment opportunity?
The answer is it’s unique history.
As we know, marijuana has been illegal for 50+ years. Once legalized, it has all the investment upside of a brand new industry.
BUT…it’s not actually a new industry; it has existed, illegally, for centuries. As a result, it has a dedicated user base already in place.
Typically, when a new industry is born, companies must address certain critical questions. How do we know people will like our product? How do we create demand for our product?
There’s no need for marijuana businesses to do this. Tens of millions of people already use it worldwide. Millions more probably smoke or “vape” but don’t admit it in surveys. In other words, a huge base of loyal customers is already in place.
But where exactly is the opportunity?
Historically, growing and selling marijuana has been a lucrative business. But that’s solely because it was illegal. If you remove the government ban, the artificially inflated profit margins collapse. Marijuana becomes just another farming product like corn or soybeans.
Profit margins in farming are famously horrible. There’s no reason to believe marijuana, once it’s legal, will be more profitable than any other crop.
Matt Shalhoub, Managing Director of Green Acre Capital, thinks the money is in the non-cultivation ancillary markets, such as cannabis brands, accessories and software.
In this clip, Matt explains what cannabis verticals they’re looking to get into:SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JULY 06: A well-wisher drops off flowers at the site where 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle was killed on July 6, 2015 in San Francisco, California. According to police, Steinle was shot and killed by Francisco Sanchez as she walked with her father on San Francisco's Pier 14 on July 1. Sanchez had been previously deported five times. (Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco cannot be held liable for a slaying by a man who was in the country illegally and had been released by sheriff’s officials despite a request by immigration officials to keep him behind bars, a federal judge said.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero dismissed wrongful death claims filed by the family of 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle against the city and Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi. The judge, however, allowed a negligence claim against the federal government to move forward.
ALSO READ: Fans Mourn Pioneer Cabin Tree After It Falls During Storm
Steinle’s shooting death thrust San Francisco into the national debate over immigration
The man charged with murder in the July 2015 slaying, Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, was a repeat drug offender who was transferred to the city jail to face a marijuana sales charge after he completed a federal prison sentence for illegally reentering the country. The district attorney dropped charges, and the sheriff’s department released Lopez-Sanchez three months before Steinle’s death, ignoring a request by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to keep him behind bars.
San Francisco’s so-called “sanctuary policy” bars city employees from cooperating with federal immigration officials in deportation efforts.
Mirkarimi cited the law in a 2015 memo to deputies that prohibited them from providing certain information to federal immigration authorities, including the date an inmate is released, according to Spero’s ruling. In their lawsuit, Steinle’s family cited a statement by immigration authorities that Lopez-Sanchez would have been deported and Steinle’s death prevented if sheriff’s officials had notified them about his pending release.
Spero said in his ruling on Friday that neither the state nor federal law cited in the lawsuit prevents the sheriff from restricting his deputies’ communications with immigration officials about an inmate’s release date.
Frank Pitre, an attorney for the Steinle family, said he was evaluating the best course forward.
Spero allowed a claim in the lawsuit alleging that a U.S. Bureau of Land Management ranger negligently left the gun used in Steinle’s slaying loaded inside a vehicle in San Francisco, and it was stolen.
Lopez-Sanchez says he found the gun and it fired when he picked it up, striking Steinle in the back. He has pleaded not guilty to a second-degree murder charge.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.Poopers Guide is an Instagram account providing reviews of private bathrooms that are usually accessible to the public. View Full Caption Instagram/@poopersguide
We've all been there.
You're walking in a new neighborhood, out for a run or protesting for hours in a park when the need for a restroom suddenly hits.
You could hunt for one of New York City's notoriously scarce public conveniences. Or you could turn to an Instagram account with a very graphic name — Poopers Guide.
The brainchild of Williamsburg resident Andrew Maksymowicz, Poopers Guide reviews private bathrooms that are accessible to the public around Manhattan and Brooklyn based on five criteria — cleanliness, comfort, accessibility, size and amenities like Kleenex and changing tables.
"I've been rating bathrooms for 10 years," said Maksymowicz, 31, who works as a manager at a nonprofit organization and who launched his online defecation directory in October.
The water closet connoisseur began his work in written form as a college student frequently traveling from his out-of-state college into the city to reach relatives living on the Upper West Side.
“I always needed a bathroom and never knew where to go," he said.
So Maksymowicz started toting a notepad and camera along to document the best and worst restrooms, particularly in Times Square where he found his need arose most.
He has since expanded the scope of his investigations and enlisted his girlfriend's help.
"She rates the ladies’ room so I have a more fair rating and score," he said.
Like most restaurant critics, Maksymowicz does his inspections undercover. He walks into an establishment off the street and asks permission to use the facilities.
“All these places are more easily accessible if you have the courage to walk into an empty restaurant and just ask to use the bathroom," he said. He acknowledged that factors like race and gender may have an as yet unmeasured impact on the way restaurant staff perceives those making the request.
Maksymowicz gives some of his highest marks to the bathrooms at Felice in the Financial District, the Ace Hotel in the Flatiron District and Juanchi's Burger in Williamsburg.
According to the expert, the Shangri-La of toilets would be stocked with seat covers and a bidet, as well as "fantastic smelling soap, maybe some music playing over speakers, something I can just relax to … and definitely some funky tiles on the floor."
You'll find none of those amenities at the facilities at the Whole Foods in Union Square, so subpar in Maksynowicz's opinion that he recently steered a man and his son waiting in line toward the restrooms at the Burlington Coat Factory nearby.
"I felt like I had done my duty," he said. "What’s the point of having this knowledge if you can’t use it?”
Opined an Instagram user on one review, "You're doing God's work, friend."Transcranial brain stimulation with low-level light/laser therapy (LLLT) is the use of directional low-power and high-fluency monochromatic or quasimonochromatic light from lasers or LEDs in the red-to-near-infrared wavelengths to modulate a neurobiological function or induce a neurotherapeutic effect in a nondestructive and non-thermal manner. The mechanism of action of LLLT is based on photon energy absorption by cytochrome oxidase, the terminal enzyme in the mitochondrial respiratory chain. Cytochrome oxidase has a key role in neuronal physiology, as it serves as an interface between oxidative energy metabolism and cell survival signaling pathways. Cytochrome oxidase is an ideal target for cognitive enhancement, as its expression reflects the changes in metabolic capacity underlying higher-order brain functions. This review provides an update on new findings on the neurotherapeutic applications of LLLT. The photochemical mechanisms supporting its cognitive-enhancing and brain-stimulatory effects in animal models and humans are discussed. LLLT is a potential non-invasive treatment for cognitive impairment and other deficits associated with chronic neurological conditions, such as large vessel and lacunar hypoperfusion or neurodegeneration. Brain photobiomodulation with LLLT is paralleled by pharmacological effects of low-dose USP methylene blue, a non-photic electron donor with the ability to stimulate cytochrome oxidase activity, redox and free radical processes. Both interventions provide neuroprotection and cognitive enhancement by facilitating mitochondrial respiration, with hormetic dose-response effects and brain region activational specificity. This evidence supports enhancement of mitochondrial respiratory function as a generalizable therapeutic principle relevant to highly adaptable systems that are exquisitely sensitive to energy availability such as the nervous system.
Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Gun-Fu Hustle: Celebrating the action cinema of John Woo
In praise of the Hong kong adrenaline junkie and architect of the time-honoured bullet ballet.
The phrase ‘never use a toothpick when an axe would suffice’ might readily be applied to the action cinema of John Woo. He is a filmmaker who would rarely finish someone off with one clean shot if he could use a hundred juicy squibs instead. And given his druthers, he might just prefer to bring a bazooka to the dance.
When a henchman gets capped in one of Woo’s peak-period action movies, it is considered good form for the shooter to keep on pumping lead into his victim as they go into a convulsive Saint Vitus Dance, shedding fat drops of blood like a Golden Retriever who’s just been for a swim. He’ll then follow the moving target corpse as it tumbles off the side of a promontory, or rolls down a stairwell. For a character with a more prominent role, the first few shots caught are just warnings, a cue to flop down and deliver return fire from a recumbent position before springing back up to rejoin the fray. At his peak Woo didn’t build set pieces – he emptied armouries, unleashed firestorms.
I was a young moviegoer during the flowering of Hong Kong cinema that preceded the 1997 Handover to Mainland China, accompanied by a mass fight to Hollywood by many of the best and brightest artists including, in 1993, Woo. Not a week goes by that I don’t feel grateful for the fact that, for at least once, I experienced what it was for cinema itself to feel young. By the time that I was midway through high school, Woo had already achieved something like household name status, thanks in no small part to the phenomenon that was 1997’s Face/Off. (The following sentence is included on the film’s Wikipedia page: “Typically this film is ranked among the best movies on planet Earth by its inhabitants.”)
Woo has remained shoulder to the plow through the subsequent decades, though after his career in the States stalled – not entirely deservedly; the line for Windtalkers apologia starts here – he began to work in and for the spirit-crushing Mainland industry. Even if not for the play of external forces Woo’s stock might have fallen, for his brand of over-the-top-of-the-top filmmaking is far removed from the dictates of modish minimalism and shaky cam docurealism that held sway through much of the 21st century – though the tides may be turning, and something like Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire carries a sulphurous whiff of Woo’s old thousand-gun salute fusillades. Still, I fear we are at risk of losing sight of just how good Woo was at his best – which is to say, the very best.
“Chow’s debonair hitman upends a poker table with his foot to catapult a pearl grip revolver right into his hand.”
Woo was born in Guangzhou at the height of the Communist revolution, after which his Christian family ed to Hong Kong, where they survived the massive conflagration that swept through the shantytowns of Shek Kip Me in 1953. His conversion to cinema came early, and he was among the young Turks in Hong Kong who gravitated towards the films of Patrick Lung-Kong, a filmmaker who’d managed to absorb some of the style and ambitions of various national New Waves and reflect them in his Cantonese-language pictures.
These were made when most big-money local productions, like the wuxia-pian and Huangmei opera movies coming out of the Shaw Brothers’ Movietown studios, were made in Mandarin, and according to hidebound formula. After bearing witness to the 1967 Hong Kong riots – later depicted in 1990’s Bullet in the Head – Woo got his first industry gig at Cathay Studios, then moved to Shaw, where he became an assistant to director Chang Cheh (One-Armed Swordsman, Five Deadly Venoms), who made action pictures that employed largely male casts.
Woo made his directorial debut with 1974’s martial arts programmer The Young Dragon, and over the next ten years he was at work filming sword fights, knockabout comedy, and everything but the sort of contemporary gangster dramas that he would become famous for. Still, his later preoccupations were already well in place in the likes of 1979’s Last Hurrah for Chivalry, a wuxia set in a world of sundered codes whose title would do fairly well for a Woo retrospective. Woo has spoken of the proximity between his guns-and-gangsters films and classical Chinese folklore, a point made explicit at the opening of 1989’s Just Heroes, in which a Peking opera performance under the credits foreshadows the film’s story of a crime syndicate war of succession.
After his debut Woo shuttled between Golden Harvest and Cinema City & Films Co. His first rock ’em sock ’em heavy ordinance action movie, Heroes Shed No Tears, starring Eddy Ko as a soldier of fortune on mission to topple a Thai drug lord, was shot in 1984, then shelved as unreleasable by Golden Harvest, only appearing a couple of years later when Woo had proven himself very, very marketable. Cinema City, meanwhile, were feeding the pushing-40 Woo a diet of light comedies, like 1985’s Taiwan-shot Run, Tiger, Run, a bit of nonsense featuring some lovable urchins Tsui Hark as a chin-whiskered grandpa. It was Tsui, who Woo had met in 1977 shortly after the younger man’s return from New York City, who underwrote Woo’s breakthrough through his Film Workshop Co Ltd Production company, a movie built from the basic materials of a film that both men admired, Lung Kong’s Story of a Discharged Prisoner – though the resulting film was unlike anything that had come before.
The first couple of times that lead flashes in 1986’s A Better Tomorrow the shootouts are relatively restrained – an ambush by a Taiwanese syndicate, a kidnapping attempt gone awry – but then Mark, the flippant, matchstick- chewing hood in the duster jacket straight off the back of Alain Delon in Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samouraï, gets his big number, and there’s no doubt that Woo is entering uncharted territory. Mark brazenly strides right into his enemy’s lair, planting backup weapons in potted plants as he seems to be petting his “date” through her blue silk chiffon, all captured in voluptuary slo-mo. It’s not just a matter of getting the job done, but of doing it with style.
Then, the killing floor: Two dual wielded Beretta 92Fs barking away in close-up, the pistol slide clap-clapping as the deepest magazines in all of cinema are emptied into fleshy targets. Subsequent scuffles offer what will become familiar aspects of the Woo repertoire: somersaults and slides and headlong dives between safe covers and bodies flung willy-nilly by explosions and little inventive grace notes, like Chow letting off rounds while gliding through a parking garage on a moving dolly.
A Better Tomorrow was a massive hit, and John Woo had a new métier – trying to do the same thing again, but moreso. For some artists working in the maximalist mode the compulsion to top themselves, to go always bigger and better, becomes a kind of imprisonment – take for example the case of DW Griffith – but for Woo it acted as a liberation. His most trusted collaborator would become Chow, the star of the 1980 television gangster melodrama The Bund who’d subsequently languished in comedies and the occasional action picture like 1982’s The Head Hunter, one of the prototypes of what western observers would begin to dub “gun-fu,” or the “heroic bloodshed” style.
Chow starred in four movies for Woo in Hong Kong, and was the soloist in some of his most valiant set-pieces. In 1989’s The Killer, Chow’s debonair hitman upends a poker table with his foot to catapult a pearl grip revolver right into his hand; in 1987’s A Better Tomorrow II he ventilates an entire Cosa Nostra family with a SPAS-12 shotgun; in 1992’s Hard Boiled, his supercop Tequila glides down the bannister in a Chinese restaurant, guns blazing the entire way.
Woo’s style had many forbears. His bloodbaths owe a debt to those of Sammy Peckinpah, who by smoothly integrating material shot at variable speeds to create what biographer David Weddle calls a “dynamic continuum” was following a path forged by Akira Kurosawa in his 1954 film Seven Samurai. One might also look for Woo’s antecedents in the Mukokuseki Action films produced by Japan’s Nikkatsu Corporation beginning in the late 1950s – the news that Woo is slated to direct a remake of Sejun Suzuki’s 1963 film Youth of the Beast may mark the last, best hope for Woo’s artistic rebirth. Certainly there is something of the heedless energy of a Nikkatsu juvenile gang picture in the furious out-of-the-box speed with which Woo begins his Vietnam Era epic Bullet in the Head, and also of Jacques Demy and West Side Story – for like his admirer Quentin Tarantino, there is a touch of the musical in much Woo does.
Difficult to see even at the height of Woo’s fame, Bullet in the Head is his single greatest work, squaring off with the likes of 1978’s The Deer Hunter 1979’s Apocalypse Now on their own turf with the story of three tried-and-true Hong Kong friends (Tony Leung, Jacky Cheung, and Waise Lee) who go on a war profiteering mission in Indochina and find themselves pinned down behind North Vietnamese lines. The Viet Cong are absolute savages, but cut-throat capitalism doesn’t offer anything superior in place of their maniac’s revolution – in this fallen world, the values that Woo extols are those of loyalty and charity, betrayed in Bullet in the Head when Lee’s character succumbs to gold fever and entrepreneurial spirit.
The showman and the moralist coexist in Woo with no apparent discord, the marks of two formative influences: Chang Cheh’s razzle-dazzle and Lung Kong’s social outrage. Finally and essentially, Woo remains today a devout Lutheran, and his filmography is overrun by churches with breakaway stained glass and gore-soaked pietas. Woo’s bullet ballets would be more imitated than his convictions. In Just Heroes he pokes fun at his new trendsetter status among the likes of Ringo Lam, working in a bit of business in which a wannabe gangster goes through a house before a shootout stowing pistols in vases with the stated intent of imitating Chow Yun-Fat’s Mark in a Better Tomorrow.
Gun-fu was internationally contagious; before Jackie Chan, Woo bridged Hong Kong and Hollywood more successfully than any figure since Bruce Lee. In Tarantino’s 1997 film Jackie Brown, Samuel L Jackson’s Ordell Robbie could credit The Killer for shaping rearm-purchasing trends in Los Angeles – “The Killer had a.45, they want a.45… they don’t want one, they want two.” Hollywood is fickle mistress. When American projects dried up, Woo had been out of Hong Kong for years on either side of the Handover, and he was unable to keep working with the continuity enjoyed by local independent producers like Johnnie To and Stephen Chow.
And so he turned to the Mainland market, that morass of money and compromise that coarsens even the great – see Chan making tourist board piffle or Chow in a succession of Wong Jing mediocrities. As difficult as it may be to square the director of the anti-Communist Bullet to the Head with the John Woo who appears in Chinese Communist Party birthday card The Founding of a Party from 2011, Woo has made his peace and kept working. The house almost always wins the picture game, a fact that this director who returned time and again to the topic of the pernicious power of money must recognise – though hopefully he still has a couple more left in the chamber.
Published 27 Mar 2017Dutch far-right MP Geert Wilders, known for his comments attacking Islam and Muslims, has triggered a fight over fake news, after posting a Twitter message showing a digitally altered picture of another party leader at a rally.
Some five weeks before key elections in The Netherlands, Wilders on Monday posted the fake picture of D66 leader Alexander Pechtold supposedly at a rally with Muslims holding up signs reading: "Islam will conquer Europe" and "Shariah for The Netherlands", referring to Islamic law.
Wilders' anti-Islam and anti-immigrant platform has helped propel his Freedom Party (PVV) to the top of the opinion polls in recent months in advance of the March 15 vote.
In his tweet, he accused Pechtold, who heads the pro-European, social-liberal D66 party of "demonstrating with Hamas terrorists".
D66 wil Amsterdam afsplitsen als de verkiezingsuitslag tegenvalt.
Pechtold demonstreert met Hamas-terroristen.
Is dit de volgende stap? pic.twitter.com/U07jHfQmyh — Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) February 6, 2017
D66 is one of 28 parties contesting the election and is currently trailing fifth in the polls.
Wilders' taunt prompted an angry reaction from Pechtold.
"Usually, I laugh at Photoshopped pictures on the internet. But not this time," he wrote on his Facebook page.
"Not because I can't stand up for myself... but because it gives people false impressions."
Last year, Pechtold sued a PVV supporter over photos that sparked death threats against him.
"In these times of fake news and alternative facts, we can't just ignore the consequences that such a fake image can have," he said.
"I draw the line today."
The AFP news agency reported that other politicians also sided with Pechtold. Jesse Klaver, leader of GroenLinks (Green Left), called Wilders' Tweet "low and irresponsible".
"Those who tweet fake news about others, tarnish their own credibility."
READ MORE: Far-right MP Geert Wilders found guilty of hate speech
Deputy Prime Minister Lodewijk Asscher, leader of the Labour party, simply retweeted Wilders tweet with the message "delete your account".
But Wilders hit back against Pechtold on Twitter, saying: "Stop complaining, drama queen. You have demonstrated standing among Palestinian flags, with friends of Hamas. #hypocrite".
The vote in The Netherlands will kick off a year of elections in Europe with ballots also due in France and Germany. They will be closely watched amid the rise of populist and far-right parties on the continent.(Adds quotes, details of possible coal imports)
KIEV, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Ukraine faces a long and cold winter, Prime Minister Yatseniuk warned on Friday, saying the country needs a further 5 billion cubic metres of Russian gas and may need to import coal due to the impact of the conflict in its industrial eastern regions.
Months of fighting between government forces and separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine has forced coal mines to cut production or close entirely, imperilling the country’s electricity market.
Meanwhile Russia, which supplied about half of the gas Ukraine used last year, cut supplies on June 16 in a row over pricing and in the wake of Moscow’s annexation of Crimea.
Asked in a televised interview if he thought Ukraine could survive without Russian gas, Yatseniuk said: “No... The situation (in winter) will be extremely difficult.”
Ukrainian state-owned gas company Naftogaz has put aside $3.1 billion to buy gas for the forthcoming winter period, he said.
Ukraine has also been trying to secure more gas from the European Union and cut consumption levels from last year’s 50 billion cubic metres (bcm). It currently has 15 bcm in its gas reserves, Yatseniuk said.
The prime minister said Ukraine, a net exporter of thermal coal, used for power generation, is considering buying non-Ukrainian coal as domestic output has been hit by the conflict with infrastructure destroyed by artillery fire and supply networks disrupted.
Around half of the 115 coal mines in Ukraine, Europe’s second-largest coal producer, have halted production and output fell 22 percent year-on-year in July to 5.6 million tonnes.
“The mines have been bombed so there’s no production of thermal coal... Without supplies to power plants, there are problems with electricity and heating,” Yatseniuk said.
In the latest escalation of the conflict, Ukraine said on Friday Russia had launched a “direct invasion” of its territory after Moscow sent a convoy of aid trucks across the border. (Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by David Holmes)evitron:
transwaverlyearp:
changes her name from XJ9 to jenny - a choice which her mother doesn’t respect and constantly disregards
displays literal extreme body dysphoria all the time and compares herself to the other girls in her grade/friend group (”nobody in their right mind would want a body like mine”)
taller than all her friends
obsessed with the concept of becoming real and authentic
and don’t forget
-has an episode dedicated to puberty + body changes, wherein she starts developing historically masculine traits bc of a parasite inside of her (deep voice, body hair, barrel chest, larger “muscles”)
- spends episode expressing deep anxiety over the changes, while everyone else tries to tell her it’s fine and natural
- finally everyone realizes the issue and the parasite is removed, reverting her to her usual/preferred look and demeanorIt's a statement many throw around the internet at the news of people taking their own life, but is it right?
'found dead'
depression, drug abuse and mental health problems
No.
Why?
The leading cause of suicide is depression.
If you felt either you should be grateful.
obvious problem there is something deeply psychological going on.
depression or are having suicidal thoughts
Please speak to someone, ANYONE.
Helplines
In recent years, we have woken up to several headlines containing the name of a beloved star next to the words,and it's become worryingly normal. An increasing amount of these tragedies are not the result of old age, they are tales of heartbreak riddled with. Most recently, Chester Bennington from Linkin Park Not only is it devastating for the families that are left behind, but the pain can be felt by millions of adoring fans & admirers worldwide. These people make a difference to so many lives yet they are labelled as selfish cowards. So, are they selfish?Let's first compare two scenarios'. If a parent decides to one day pack their bags and leave the children behind, is that selfish? In nearly all cases, yes.If someone decides to take their own life and leave their family behind, is that selfish?This is a mental illness which can alter the way a person feels, thinks and acts towards others. It can also become so crippling that you no longer feel, anything! imagine what that must be like.Did you wake up happy or sad this morning?It's common for people with depression to no longer experience any type of emotion and it becomes very easy to think about suicide due to a lack of empathy for your own self.The fact that someone can think about killing themselves should surely highlight theThey didn't just wake up one day and think, 'You know what, I think I might commit suicide today'.Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death, GLOBALLY. 1 EVERY 4 SECONDS, 5760 EVERY DAY. To think all of these people are selfish is simply ignorant.If you think you may be suffering from, YOU ARE NOT ALONE.Samaritans 116 123 (UK)National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1 800 273 8255 (USA)Lifeline 13 11 14 (AUS)Canada, we couldn't find one. You people are TOO happy eh!.Any other country please just search,'suicide helpline'.A former US Army Ranger from Florida has strapped a GoPro camera to his belt to catch his estranged wife forcibly grabbing his genitals during a contentious custody handover.
'This is just one of many instances where I've had to use the camera to either prove her guilt or prove my innocence and that's the only reason I am carrying it,' the solider, identified only as 'Michael,' told the station 10News.
Michael, a resident of Pinellas County, has been locked in a drawn-out custody battle with his spouse, 37-year-old Corinne Novak, over their 2-year-old twin boys. The couple are also in the process of getting a divorce.
Scroll down for video
Caught red-handed: A former US Army Ranger from Florida had his GoPro camera rolling last Thursday when his estranged wife reached out and grabbed his privates during a custody swap
Money shot: This frame from a GoPro camera strapped to the man's belt appears to show Corinne Novak's hand in the act of grabbing her husband's testicles
Ever ready: The soldier, identified only as Michael, took to wearing the GoPro on his body during his encounters with his wife in order to prove that she is abusive
Behind bars: Corinne Novak, 37, was arrested after her husband shared his GoPro video with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office
The husband has accused Novak of domestic violence, and in order to prove his claim he took to tying a small camera to his belt using a parachute cord during his encounters with her.
Michael's GoPro was rolling when he met his wife last Thursday to exchange custody of their sons.
The video, obtained by 10News, opens with the retired solider reaching into the back of his car to unbuckle one of his sons. Suddenly, he lets out a scream and jerks his body back.
Upon closer inspection, the blurry footage shows what appears to be Corinne Novak's hand in the bottom right corner grabbing her estranged husband's testicles.
Novak is then |
and Gynecology opposes substance abuse policies that impose extra penalties on pregnant women: “Drug enforcement policies that deter women from seeking prenatal care are contrary to the welfare of the mother and fetus. Incarceration and the threat of incarceration have proved to be ineffective in reducing the incidence of alcohol or drug abuse.”
These laws and criminal penalties may ultimately discourage pregnant women from seeking help for addictions or even basic medical care. Some pro-life groups worry that they discourage women from staying pregnant altogether.
At their core, these laws subsume women’s rights in favor of those granted to their weeks-old fetuses. Case in point: when Loertscher was brought to court in Wisconsin, her 14-week-old fetus was granted a lawyer, but she was not.
Loertscher says her saga with the law didn’t end once she was released from prison in September. By the end of the month, Taylor County officials notified Loertscher that she was being accused of child maltreatment for using methamphetamine and marijuana when she was not aware she was pregnant. If the state finds that Loertscher abused her fetus, it would prevent her from ever returning to her profession as a nurse’s aid, says the NAPW.
Even if Loertscher eventually achieves legal redemption, she says the damage has already been done. “This all happened in a small community, so everyone knows,” says Loertscher. “People have opinions of you. That doesn’t change. My family will have to relocate.”Then one morning the GOP woke up to discover they had complete control of government: the White House, the U.S. House, the Senate, federal agencies, the military, Area 51, the Grand Canyon, those golf carts we sent to Mars. All of it.
Turns out, they were not just the right guys. President Donald Trump has somehow declared this a victory, claiming his plan all along was to let Obamacare "fail," a leadership strategy that was only made bolder by the fact he tweeted it.
As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan. Stay tuned! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2017
More rational Republicans realize they can't campaign saying, "We did nothing, everything sucks, you're welcome." And they hope you don't remember the stuff that was actually in those reform bills they had.
Is it possible they can get you afraid of Democratic healthcare reform... that hasn't even happened yet? Minnesotans are about to find out. On Thursday, the National Republican Congressional Committee launched a targeted digital ad campaign in eight states, including this one.
The ad features a number of high-profile Democrats, like Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Chuck Schumer, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. (Ladies! Jews! Music that sounds like a Batman movie!) There's also a clip of Minnesota DFL U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan, widely considered one of the only vulnerable Democrats left in Congress.
(Bonus: A spooky image of an empty wheelchair in a hallway. Where's the wheelchair owner? Maybe she got dragged out of Mitch McConnell's office.)
The ad is supposed to convince people that Democrats, if they got control of Congress, would implement a "European-style single-payer health care plan." It then cynically uses the sad recent case of Charlie Gard, the English baby whose parents fought with doctors about his treatment.
The voiceover warns of "government control of your doctor, hospital, and even your prescriptions" -- even what you watch on TV, according to the image on the screen.
One thing's for sure. You do not want this voiceover guy calling the shots. He sounds terrifying.
And here's a video that will probably scare the same conservatives who made this ad. It's Rick Nolan calmly explaining why he supports single-payer healthcare.A man, who is White, is facing a hate crime charge after allegedly shouting the N-word and smashing a bottle over an African-American security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, reports DNAinfo.
From DNAinfo:
Brandon Aebersold, 33, was arrested in Central Park after a police officer recognized him from a surveillance image released after the incident last week, according to authorities.
On March 3, Aebersold approached a guard inside the museum at about 6:15 p.m. and told him that a painting was hanging crooked on the wall, police said.
“The response [from the security guard] wasn’t to his liking,” a police spokesman said, so the suspect clobbered him with a glass bottle.
Aebersold also shouted the N-word slur at the guard after telling him to “do [his] job,” reports the Atlanta Black Star.
SOURCE: DNAinfo, Atlanta Black Star
SEE ALSO:
Masked White Men Terrorize Native Americans In North Dakota Amid Rising Hate Crimes
New York Governor Announces Special Unit To Combat Hate CrimesThis is the strong conclusion of a new paper in the Earth Science Reviews by Pinter et al (via Scribd). From their abstract:
The Younger Dryas (YD) impact hypothesis is a recent theory that suggests that a cometary or meteoritic body or bodies hit and/or exploded over North America 12,900 years ago, causing the YD climate episode, extinction of Pleistocene megafauna, demise of the Clovis archaeological culture, and a range of other effects.
…
The physical evidence interpreted as signatures of an impact event can be separated into two groups. The first group consists of evidence that has been largely rejected by the scientific community and is no longer in widespread discussion…. The second group consists of evidence that has been active in recent research and discussions:…. Over time, however, these signatures have also seen contrary evidence rather than support.
…
In summary, none of the original YD impact signatures have been subsequently corroborated by independent tests. Of the 12 original lines of evidence, seven have so far proven to be non-reproducible. The remaining signatures instead seem to represent either (1) non-catastrophic mechanisms, and/or (2) terrestrial rather than extraterrestrial or impact-related sources.
The YD impact hypothesis made a big splash at AGU in 2007, and we’ve written about it a few times since. Our assessment was (in 2007), that this would need a lot of confirmatory evidence to get accepted, and even if it was, it did not provide much explanation for other, very similar, abrupt changes in the record. In 2009, we were still skeptical and noted that “the level of proof required for this extraordinary idea will need to be extraordinarily strong”. Unfortunately, as this paper makes clear, neither a lot of confirmatory evidence nor extraordinarily strong proofs have been forthcoming.
This paper is unlikely to the very last word on the subject, but it is likely to be the last time the mainstream paleo-climatologists are going to pay this much heed unless some really big new piece of evidence comes to light.
However, while the specifics of this particular hypothesis and its refutation are interesting in many ways…
The YD impact hypothesis provides a cautionary tale for researchers, the scientific community, the press, and the broader public.
Let’s be specific…
… since there are indeed lessons that can be drawn here:
‘Bold’ ideas can get published and get serious people to pay attention. The claims about the YD impact were entirely at odds with mainstream views, yet taken seriously and looked at by a wide variety of other researchers.
Like most bold ideas that initially raise skeptical eyebrows, the evidence for this one decreased with time. This is not inevitable, but it is not unusual.
Science is self-correcting because other scientists take the time to look for new evidence backing up or refuting initial ideas, and go back and re-interpret what was previously done.
Even eventually discarded ideas can provide abundant directions for good science to get done. For instance, a fair amount of research into nanodiamonds has occurred because of the interest in this idea.
The media loves the ‘radical new idea’ presented by ‘outsider’ scientists (3 documentaries on this so far, a big NYT piece). It fits a lot of the romantic archetype of what science is supposed to be about. It has controversy, narrative and outsize personalities. Whether the ideas are good or not is barely relevant.
The Feynmanian ideal of a single scientist both proposing and refuting their own new idea is very rare. In practice, the roles of proposing and refuting are far more often done by the scientific community as a whole, not an individual.
Scientists gain credibility for doing careful work and not going beyond the evidence in interpreting it. This is opposite to what gains readership on blogs. :-)
The Younger Dryas, an extremely abrupt, and still mysterious, interval of climate change, will no doubt continue to excite people across the field of paleo-climate, but we hypothesize that the impact hypothesis has had all the impact it’s going to.The gloves Davante Adams wore in Sunday's win over the Bears won't be up for grabs on the NFL Auction website.
"I shredded those things since they didn't do their job," Adams said, via ESPN.com. "That's what it was. It wasn't me; it was the gloves."
Adams dropped two easy touchdown passes Sunday that would have made the victory in Chicago much less tense for Cheesehead fans.
The receiver took responsibility for the two drops. On the first, he noted the sun was partially the problem but said he should have come down with it anyway. On the second, he was wide open only to watch it slide right through his fingers.
"[It was] the focus on the second one, I believe really," Adams said. "I felt like the ball was in the air for 10 years and then it kind of snuck up on me and I tried to use the body, in between body and into the hands on the catch. I just have to make that. I've made it a million times."
Adams' play has improved dramatically this season. Now healthy, he has been able to win at the line of scrimmage and until Sunday, he had mostly put the drops that plagued him last year in the rear view. Aaron Rodgers' confidence in his growing receiver has been part of the Packers' surge back into the playoff picture.
The quarterback said the two drops wouldn't make him shy about airing it out to Adams in the future.
"Physical mistakes happen," Rodgers said. "There's going to be slips, there's going to be drops, there's going to be slight lapses in finishing the catch at times, but that's part of the game. That doesn't lose any confidence on my part in a guy. Davante has earned targets. He's been open consistently this year and made a lot of plays for us."
The Packers need Adams to make plays versus a Vikings sticky corner crew Saturday to set up a Week 17 matchup in Detroit for the NFC North title.Trump’s voters didn’t vote to make the richest richer, but the Republican Congress is about to.
Donald Trump’s voters have high hopes that he’ll boost the economy and protect jobs for those who’ve been left behind after three decades of flat or shrinking paychecks.
They didn’t vote to make the super-wealthy even wealthier.
Even Steve Mnuchin, the Goldman Sachs banker Trump picked to be his treasury secretary, seems to understand this. He promised “no absolute tax cuts for the upper class.”
Yet one of the first priorities of Republicans in Congress is to give an exclusive tax break to multi-millionaires and billionaires. They plan to abolish the estate tax and allow tax loopholes for billionaires to continue.
The estate tax, sometimes derided as a “death tax,” is only paid by households with assets over $11 million. In 2013, 99.8 percent of the population was exempt.
But the 0.2 percent who are subject to the tax are well represented in Donald Trump’s cabinet.
Our first billionaire president has nominated a cabinet that includes two billionaires and at least ten multi-millionaires, whose combined net worth is estimated at over $13 billion. As a group, they’re part of the tiny segment of U.S. society that will personally benefit from such targeted tax cuts for the wealthy.
Under the GOP plan, Mnuchin’s taxes would be cut by $3.3 million a year, according to an analysis by Americans for Tax Fairness. And his heirs would get an extra $160 million if the estate tax is abolished.
Members of Donald Trump’s family would also score big. If Trump has the $10 billion he claims, scrapping the estate tax would net each of his four children an additional $1 billion in inherited wealth.
There’s no credible argument that abolishing this tax on inherited wealth will create jobs or help the economy. It’ll simply be a windfall for the already have-a-lots. [pullquote]At the root of our problems is a two-tiered tax system in America: one for the privileged and one for everyone else.[/pullquote]
At the root of our problems is a two-tiered tax system in America: one for the privileged and one for everyone else.
The tax system for the bottom 99 percent is hard to play games with: Most of us have taxes taken out of our wages in every paycheck.
The privileged people’s tax system, for those with $10 million or more, includes numerous opportunities for the super-rich to get out of paying their fair share. Wealthy families like the Mnuchins and Trumps hire teams of lawyers, accountants, and estate planners to help them to design escape routes from their tax obligations.
Mnuchin has personally set up several “dynasty trusts” to avoid paying any taxes on his personal estimated fortune of $620 million. According to federal ethics disclosures, he has $32 million in one such trust, including corporate stock, artwork, and a private jet. The primary purpose of these vehicles is to dodge federal estate taxes for generations to come.
When the wealthy dodge taxes, ordinary taxpayers who can’t game the system must pick up the tab for infrastructure, defense, national parks, and servicing the national debt. The super-rich reap the enormous benefits of growing their wealth in U.S. society, but they’re freeloaders when it comes to paying the bills.
Historically, being wealthy hasn’t disqualified a president from being a champion for those with less. There are many examples of “born on third base” presidents: Roosevelt, Kennedy, Bush. The test of leadership is whether they put the country ahead of their own narrow personal financial interests.
For Trump, the estate tax is the first such text.
Making America great doesn’t mean giving booster rockets to multi-generational dynasties of wealth. We need one tax system that’s fair to everyone.
Originally published by OtherWords.
Chuck Collins is a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies and a co-editor of Inequality.org. He’s the author of the recent book Born on Third Base.Calum Chambers says he feels more comfortable playing as a centre half than at right back.
The 19-year-old has impressed at the heart of the defence since his arrival at the club from Southampton, where he had made his name as a full back.
Chambers, who can also play as a defensive midfielder, has been pleased with his progress and feels that centre back is the position that best suits his qualities.
Matchday Programme Read the full interview in the matchday programme Click here to subscribe
“I feel like I read the game better there,” he told the official matchday programme. “I feel more assured in myself there, which is helpful.
“I played at centre back when I was with Southampton Under-16s and then a couple more times for England Under-19s. I have felt a bit more comfortable at centre back in every game I’ve played there.
“I feel that right back can be more demanding physically, because you have to get up and down the pitch more. But it’s hard in every position. You’ve got to be focused throughout the whole game wherever you play.
“Last year I thought that right back was my position but I’ve started playing at centre back this year, which has made me wonder if that will be my position. Time will tell, but at the moment I’m enjoying it at centre half.
“I can play in holding midfield as well so I might end up having a go at that too!”Much has been made of the situation the Astana team faces in this year's Tour de France. Allocating roles to four star riders – Alberto Contador, Lance Armstrong, Andreas Klöden and Levi Leipheimer – isn't an easy task for Johan Bruyneel. Psychologist Matti Clement told Cyclingnews about the forces at play within the 'team to beat' and how to handle this potential for disharmony. Related Articles Armstrong and Contador: Just the facts, ma’am
Based in Adelaide, Australia, Matti Clement is a psychologist who specialises in performance enhancement within sports. She works with the Australian Institute of Sport's elite cycling and beach volleyball programmes, in addition to many high-profile sporting teams in the South Australian capital. This includes players from the Adelaide United Football Club, Adelaide 36ers basketball squad, Adelaide Crows and Port Power AFL clubs and the state cricket team.
She operates the Mental Edge Consulting clinic and her experience in this role allows for a unique insight into the psyche of the sport's elite. A yellow jersey from the Tour de France, signed by Stuart O'Grady, is just one of the pieces of cycling memorabilia hanging on her office wall in addition to items from those in other sports who have benefited from her services.
"It's about having clear roles"
She explains that her work includes helping athletes with performance anxiety, motivation after injury and sport-life balance. She also works with the dynamics of various teams; setting team goals and then setting individual goals that reflect those team goals. This is particularly pertinent in relation to the Astana squad.
Knowing the roles
There was discussion leading up to the Tour de France about the possibility that the forces at play within Astana's squad could result in a similar situation to that in which the former T-Mobile team found itself during the 2005 Tour. It had three star riders – Jan Ullrich, Alexander Vinokourov and Andreas Klöden – but missed out on a yellow jersey when the race reached Paris, a large part of which was blamed on personal ambitions within the group.
Clement said this is possibly the most important aspect of managing the dynamics within a team. "Every individual knows what their role is. There are always going to be roles which are more appealing to the general public, but the understanding that everyone within the team plays a role for that one rider to cross the line as number one. That rider didn't get there by himself; he got there with a team approach."
But what about the situation when two riders believe they could share the same role when that's not really feasible? "It happens in all sports – if it's between you and another person, why would you invest all your time focusing on that other person? If you invested that energy into what you needed to do, logically you're putting yourself in a better position."
This is exactly the approach Alberto Contador has adopted based on his comments to the media during this year's Tour de France. His statements from day one in Monaco have continually focused purely on what he is doing and what he has to do. He hasn't spoken about team leadership, the events of previous days or those too far beyond the next day's racing.
Contador is just below Lance Armstrong on general classification ahead of the race's first mountain stage.
Clement agrees that it's a smart tactic from the Spaniard. "Focus on controllables versus uncontrollables – I think sometimes people can get confused about what is controllable and what isn't. Your opponents are uncontrollable. Selection for a particular role is uncontrollable, outcome is uncontrollable, the past is uncontrollable as is the future," she said.
"If you spend time on the present, plus the processes, thought patterns, emotions and preparations... all the things you can achieve the 'one percenters' in, that's energy well-invested."
Although it may appear from the outside that Armstrong is trying to seize Contador's power and control his momentum in the race, the opposite may be occurring. Contador may be gaining a lot from the Armstrong's presence which will aid in achieving the team's goals.
"An experienced athlete who has been to multiple Olympics or the like has that knowledge. There's the physical experience of having been there and knowing what works and maybe knowing what doesn't work.
"I spend a lot of time around athletes developing self-awareness – if you don't have good self-awareness it's really difficult to implement any psychological strategies because you'll never know when to use them. Experienced athletes develop that skill through making mistakes, having success."
Clement added that young athletes who have exposure to experienced athletes with good self-awareness can develop those skills. This is the crucial aspect of the Armstrong-Contador relationship within Astana and possibly the rationale Johan Bruyneel has employed.
Contador may be the ultimate beneficiary of the exchange – he's forced to implement psychological strategies to overcome the apparent threat to his position. He is also learning from the seven-time Tour champion's decade of experience.
There is also German Andreas Klöden and USA's Levi Leipheimer, who have both been on the Tour podium in the past and are now riding as team helpers. Is the transition from team leader to helper that difficult?
"A good team leader or programme leader clearly delineates to the athlete: 'that was your role then, this is your role now and we value it just as much.' The athlete has to be invested in it," she said.
"If they're not invested in it and just told it's their role then they wouldn't buy into it. It's about having clear roles."
Ego
All four of Astana's riders have been successful and consequently they have the personality traits to match. Some would say this is "ego", although Clement warns of using that word. "'Ego' is a very misused word. Some people say ego is a good thing while other people say it's a bad thing... It's really important that people know where their heading and what they're invested in.
"In a team environment that needs to be everyone heading towards the one team goal. Everyone can have individual goals and they may differ, but it still needs to be within the bigger picture.
"In terms of ego, if one person's goal doesn't fit into the bigger scheme, then that's obviously going to be a problem. They're not actually fitting into those team behaviours and values. Those should always be established from the word go – not just in competition but as soon as the team's formed."There are beautiful hockey rinks and buildings all over the world which you probably will never have the pleasure to visit in your life. While many of them are hidden gems and not very well-known to the public, there are hockey arenas which serve as the main venue of professional teams. I am going to highlight some of the most beautiful/spectacular European professional hockey arenas in this article.
Vaillant Arena (Davos, Switzerland)
Probably one of the nicest hockey arenas in Europe, possibly in the entire world. This is really a special and unique professional hockey arena from the outside and inside. Special thing about this arena is that it is made out of wood, from the inside and outside which gives a special and unique atmosphere.
Next to the building you can find an open natural ice rink which served as a venue for international speed skating events. The town of Davos is a famous Swiss ski resort and lies 1,560 meters above sea level. (5,120 ft) It has a population of just above 11’000 and is a typical hockey town. Its most famous “brand” is Swiss record hockey champion HC Davos, which plays in the beautiful Vaillant Arena and is the unchallenged pride of the habitants. Because Davos is located in the alps and is kind of cut off from the bigger cities in Switzerland, the arena is often pretty empty at game days, especially on week days.
However, once a year there is a state of emergency in Davos, when the village hosts the famous Spengler Cup, a traditional tournament between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
Ondrej Nepela Arena (Bratislava, Slovakia)
The Ondrej Nepela Arena, also known as Slovnaft Arena, is named in honour of Ondrej Nepela, a Slovak figure skater. It is the home of the only Slovakian KHL-team Slovan Bratislava. The building saw a major renovation in 2009-2011 as it was one of the venues for the 2011 World Championship. All quarterfinals, semifinals as well as the bronze and gold medal game have been played in this arena, where Finland crushed Sweden in the final 6-1 to capture the gold medal.
This arena is a treat to watch from the outside with its unique glass architecture. According to Slovakian media, the arena features one of the most advanced game presentation, LED scoreboards and security systems ever built. Ondrej Nepela Arena hosted the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup for the first time this year. I have catched some games and saw this venue from the in and outside and can confirm that this arena is very modern and unique in its outside architecture.
Ericsson Globe (Stockholm, Sweden)
It might not be the most beautiful building in the world, but surely you can’t miss the Globe stadium in Stockholm. This unique arena is shaped like a large white ball and is located in the southern part of the city of Stockholm. You can see the white ball from quite far away already and with its shape it is probably one of the most amazing arenas in hockey.
However, there is currently no team playing its home games in this arena. Some home games of Djurgarden Stockholm and AIK Stockholm have been scheduled in the Globe, especially the Stockholm derby games as it has more capacity than the Hovet Arena just next to it. The Globe is also home of many Swedish National games, as well as hosted multiple World Championships and NHL Challenges.
Ostrava Arena (Ostrava, Slovakia)
The Ostrava Arena in Ostrava, formerly known as CEZ Arena, was the second venue of this year’s World Championship next to Prague and has a capacity of 12,500. The World Championship tournament 2015 is the one holding the current overall attendance record and therefore the Ostrava Arena made it into the hockey history books.
Frankly, this arena is nothing spectacular from the inside, but it is quite special from the outside. Its shape reminds me at a closed oyster. Ostrava Arena is currently the home of the hockey club HC Vitkovice from the Czech Extraliga.
HK Areena (Turku, Finland)
The HK Areena is home of the traditional Finnish top team TPS Turku and serves as an event hall. It hosted multiple World Championships and a couple of concerts. This arena looks like an average stadium from the outside, but from inside it reminds one at an opera. The stand behind one net looks like an opera with its lounges and the red seating underlines the feeling of an opera visit even more. You can take a virtual tour by clicking here!
Lanxess Arena (Cologne, Germany)
Lanxess Arena in Cologne is the biggest hockey arena in Germany with a capacity of 18,700. Next to hockey, teams of the city’s handball and basketball team are playing their home games in the arena. This venue is special because of its arch on the roof which makes the arena visible from far away. The arch draws some comparison to the one which is built around the world-famous soccer stadium “Wembley” in London, England.
Bolshoy Ice Dome (Sochi, Russia)
The Bolshoy Ice Dome is probably the most famous Russian hockey arena for Canadians. Canada has won the gold medal at the Olympic games in Sochi and the final game has been played in this arena where Canada captured the gold medal. The Ice Dome was solely built for the Olympic games and has been opened in 2012. After the Olympic tournament, newly created KHL-team HC Sochi became the tenant.
Bolshoy means something like “great” in Russian and this name was chosen due to its universal familiarity in other countries, like in addition to its allusion to the Bolshoi Theatre, Bolshoi Ballet, and other great Russian accomplishments, according to the Sochi Olympic games committee. The LEDs outside of the stadium make it possible to display nice color combinations or national flags and gives the Ice Dome a nice appearance from the outside.
Luzhniki Small Sports Arena (Moscow, Russia)
Luzhniki Small Sports Arena is the home of the Russian hockey club and Ovechkin’s youth team, HC Dynamo Moscow. It was built in 1956 and is a rather small building with a capacity of only 8,700. However, its real beauty can be seen from outside only, its surface looks like an art gallery, theatre and not at all like an ice hockey rink. Maybe not the most beautiful building for most of you, but it displays the charm of the old days of the UDSSR and is a real eye-catcher with its soviet architecture.
Arena Zagreb (Zagreb, Croatia)
Croatia is not a typical hockey country, but they have one of the biggest arenas in Europe with a capacity of 15,200, the Arena Zagreb. It is a rather new building, opened in 2008. The local hockey team Medvescak Zagreb joined the KHL in 2014 and they are playing some of their homes games in this arena since 2011. However, main venue is the much smaller Dom Sportova. Next to Medvescak, Zagreb’s handball team is also playing home games in the Arena Zagreb.
From the outside, Arena Zagreb looks like a giant cage with its curved columns around the main building. The arena has won a couple of architecture awards with its remarkable design.
Minsk-Arena (Minsk, Belarus)
A beautiful, very modern hockey arena which was opened in 2010 with the KHL-All Star Game. The arena is the home of the KHL team Dynamo Minsk and if you are planning a trip to Belarus it is an absolute must to catch a game at Minsk-Arena.
It was also the main venue of the World Championship in 2014.
There is a wooden indoor cycling track integrated into this stadium complex as well, where the UCI Track Cycling World Championships took place in 2013.
Megasport Arena (Moscow, Russia)
The Megasport Arena in Moscow is a very colorful building from the inside as well as from the outside. It isn’t a very big stadium and has a capacity of only 12,000, but the outside stairs make the building look funny and special at the same time. Inside the arena, many colored chairs give it a special character and the high roof makes the arena feel a lot bigger than it actually is.
Megasport Arena hosted some games of the 2007 World Championship including the medal games. At the time of the constructions, this arena was one of the first newly build arenas in Moscow since a very long time. However, it is currently not used by any big hockey club in Moscow.
Did I miss any outstanding European hockey arena? Feel free to leave a comment in the box below and share your thoughts.I’m excited to announce a paper that Rajesh Ranganath, Dave Blei, and I released today on arXiv, titled Deep and Hierarchical Implicit Models.
Implicit probabilistic models are all about sampling as a primitive: they define a process to simulate data and do not require tractable densities (Diggle & Gratton (1984), Hartig, Calabrese, Reineking, Wiegand, & Huth (2011)). We leverage this fundamental idea to develop new classes of models: they encompass simulators in the scientific communities, generative adversarial networks (Goodfellow et al., 2014), and deep generative models such as sigmoid belief nets (Neal, 1990) and deep latent Gaussian models (Rezende, Mohamed, & Wierstra (2014), Kingma & Welling (2014)). These modeling developments could not really be done without inference, and we develop a variational inference algorithm that underpins them all.
Biased as I am, I think this is quite a dense paper—chock full of simple ideas that are rife with deep implications. There are many nuggets of wisdom that I could ramble on about, and I just might in separate blog posts.
As a practical example, we show how you can take any standard neural network and turn it into a deep implicit model: simply inject noise into the hidden layers. The hidden units in these layers are now interpreted as latent variables. Further, the induced latent variables are astonishingly flexible, going beyond Gaussians (or exponential families (Ranganath, Tang, Charlin, & Blei, 2015)) to arbitrary probability distributions. Deep generative modeling could not be any simpler!
Here’s a 2-layer deep implicit model in Edward. It defines the generative process,
This generates layers of latent variables, and data via functions of noise.
import tensorflow as tf from edward.models import Normal from keras.layers import Dense N = 55000 # number of data points d = 100 # noise dimensionality # random noise is Normal(0, 1) eps2 = Normal ( tf. zeros ([ N, d ]), tf. ones ([ N, d ])) eps1 = Normal ( tf. zeros ([ N, d ]), tf. ones ([ N, d ])) eps0 = Normal ( tf. zeros ([ N, d ]), tf. ones ([ N, d ])) # alternate latent layers z with hidden layers h z2 = Dense ( 128, activation ='relu' )( eps2 ) h2 = Dense ( 128, activation ='relu' )( z2 ) z1 = Dense ( 128, activation ='relu' )( tf. concat ([ eps1, h2 ], 1 )) h1 = Dense ( 128, activation ='relu' )( z1 ) x = Dense ( 10, activation = None )( tf. concat ([ eps0, h1 ], 1 ))
The model uses Keras, where Dense(256)(x) denotes a fully connected layer with hidden units applied to input x. To define a stochastic layer, we concatenate noise with the previous layer. The model alternates between stochastic and deterministic layers to generate data points.
Check out the paper for how you can work with, or even interpret, such a model.
EDIT (2017/03/02): The algorithm is now merged into Edward.
ReferencesWoman phones home after being declared dead
Updated
An Indian woman has phoned home four months after she was declared dead, police have said.
Software engineer Meghna Subedar called her parents to say that she had been living with a relative since June, the Press Trust of India said.
Police said the 28-year-old had informed her parents on April 10 that she was boarding a train for her home town in the central Indian town of Korba.
She never turned up, and police registered her as a murder victim after they found the naked corpse of a woman on a popular Goa beach on June 25, although a DNA test later established the victim was not Subedar.
Police said they would now question Subedar to figure out why she remained in hiding for nearly six months.
"Subedar now has a bit of explaining to do after causing all that embarrassment for us," a senior Goa police official said by telephone.
- AFP
Topics: offbeat, human-interest, india
First postedABOUT
In the ESEA S24 Grand Finals, froyotech and EVL Gaming battle it out once again for first place and the biggest share of the prize money.
These two teams have met many times, with many different lineups, and at many different locations, both online and on LAN. ESEA Invite is the usual warzone for these rivals, with the Grand Finals being a frequent battleground. In this particular season, froyotech has had the upper hand, securing a best-of-three advantage, meaning they only have to take the first best-of-three to secure first place. This might make this match more difficult for EVL, but every time these teams meet, it produces an exciting game, and neither team ever has an assured victory. If both teams play at their peak and try their hardest, this Grand Finals match is anyone’s game.
Covering this match will be Cornpop and Marxist, with saam on production. In addition to the Ape on camera, Six Apes players Shamoo, Jarrett, and Marmaloo will be joining Paddie on the analyst desk in what is sure to be an interesting game between these two Invite titans.The biggest threats to the average device are physical: a stolen phone, a busted lock, or even an Evil Maid attack on your laptop. But while cybersecurity gets more and more advanced, physical security hasn’t changed much. We’ve seen smart doorbells and packaged security systems, but there’s no simple device to tell you if an object has been picked up or a door has been opened. Cameras have gotten cheaper and smarter, but distilling that video down to actual information can be unwieldy and time-consuming. In many ways, the toothpick in the doorframe is still the best solution we have.
Today, a company called Metasensor is releasing an interesting approach to the problem. Called the Sensor-1, it’s a Bluetooth-powered motion sensor about the size of a macaroon, designed to give you an instant alert whenever someone moves the object it’s attached to. It’s currently taking preorders on Indiegogo, so the usual crowdfunding caveats apply: no guarantees on if or when it will arrive at your door, although CEO Nick Warren says they’re planning to ship orders some time this year. But with venture funding already powering the company, Metasensor is bigger than just a pre-order campaign, and the idea is interesting enough to be worth a little uncertainty.
Startups have been playing with sensors like this for a while, usually for health-tracking purposes, but Metasensor is arriving just as Smart Home systems are coming into their own, which opens up some interesting applications. The simplest setup is a straight alert: stick a Sensor-1 on your laptop or your bike and you’ll get an alert whenever anyone moves it. A settings panel lets you adjust the sensitivity, so you aren’t getting pinged every time a truck drives by.
The open API also lets you communicate directly with other devices over Bluetooth, which opens up much more interesting use cases. If your bike is locked up outside your apartment, you can have that same movement trigger a Nestcam to start recording, or send a message that makes sure the Smartlock on your front door is locked. The Sensor-1 is small enough that it can go almost anywhere. Warren has already played with sticking them to the inside of a drawer or stringing them across an open doorway.
Warren realized the need for a device like the Sensor-1 after an office he was working at was burgled overnight. If there had been something like the Sensor-1 standing watch, the device could |
24-plus hours.”
Sign up for EXPRESS SCIENCE NEWS delivery
Fatigue, on Earth or in space, is a serious problem. It affects performance, increasing irritability, diminishing concentration, and decreasing reaction time. And it increases the risk of accidents.
On Earth, sleep can be disrupted by anything from a crying baby to tomorrow's exam. In space wakefulness can come from noise and excitement -- and, possibly, the disruption of the circadian rhythms that ensure a good night's sleep.
Sleep is, in large part, managed by our body's master clock, which is located in the brain's hypothalamus. This clock regulates the body's daily production of melatonin, a sleep-promoting hormone, and cortisol, a hormone that promotes wakefulness, and is also associated with stress. The clock also manages a multitude of other physiological cycles, including body temperature, growth hormone production, heart rate, and urine production. The circadian clock generates these cycles all on its own. But there's a problem. Free-running, the master clock produces cycles that average about 24.2 hours -- slightly longer than Earth's day. So the clock must be reset. It needs to be adjusted daily to ensure that the biological day and night don't get out of sync with the environment. On Earth, it's reset automatically, simply by our exposure to the high intensity light of day.
: Motion restraints and a dark mask help this floating astronaut fall asleep aboard the brightly-lit freely falling space shuttle.
But in space, the right cue isn't so easily provided. The space shuttle orbits Earth every 90 minutes. So, instead of receiving the Terran pattern of 12 hours of light followed by 12 hours of dark, astronauts on the shuttle's flight deck experience 45 minutes of light succeeded by 45 minutes of dark. This rapid-fire exposure might disrupt -- or as sleep researchers say, "disentrain" -- the astronauts' circadian cycle.
It's important that the cycle be entrained: that the astronaut's biological day matches the environmental one. "The circadian system is set so that you're best prepared to be alert and awake during the biological day, and to sleep at [biological night],” says Wright. If the body is required to perform activities at the wrong biological time, he explains, it will not function optimally.
For that reason NASA sometimes deliberately shifts the astronauts' cycles before sending them into space, making sure that their biological day coincides with the crucial period of launch, according to Dr. Bette Siegel, a scientist in the Bioastronautics division at NASA headquarters. Effecting the shift is easy: astronauts are exposed to high intensity light at key times for three to ten days before liftoff. By the time the shuttle is ready to leave Earth, the crew is bright-eyed and alert.
Once in orbit the biological clocks of astronauts might need to be adjusted further to align with another critical time -- the moment of landing. It's done by requiring the crew to wake up earlier and earlier each day.
Researchers still aren't sure exactly what happens to the circadian clocks of astronauts under such circumstances. To help find out, astronauts wear an actiwatch -- a wrist device that tracks astronaut sleep patterns along with their light exposures. "We have models,” says Wright, "where we can take their sleeping history and their light exposure history and predict what's going to happen to their [internal] clock.” The actiwatch, along with sleep diaries kept by the astronauts, will help researchers figure out which factors -- such as light exposure, temperature, or ambient noise in the close confines of a spacecraft -- affect sleep most during spaceflight.: An "actiwatch," worn by astronauts to document sleep patterns in space. Credit: Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, NASA Ames, and UC San Diego.
But even with this information, scientists still need to answer some basic questions in order to develop countermeasures against unwanted wakefulness. For instance, what exactly controls the master clock? What intensity of light will trigger it -- and which colors? Does gravity itself provide a cue? All these questions will grow in importance as humans move farther into space.
Take the exploration of Mars, for example. On Mars, daylight is primarily yellowish-brown. On Earth, it's blue-green. How will the human clock respond to the unearthly color of Martian skies? Some research indicates that it could make a difference. Melatonin production, for example, is suppressed more by some wavelengths of light than by others.
Below: The unearthly color of Martian daylight could scramble the circadian rhythms of human explorers. Artist Pat Rawlings painted this beautiful scene. [more]
Of more concern, perhaps, is the length of the Martian day: 24 hours and thirty-nine minutes. "That is significantly different than the period of the clock in humans,” notes Wright. It's possible, he says, that the human clock might not be able to adapt to Mars. Ongoing research addresses this question by exploring countermeasures -- for example, different patterns of light exposure -- that will entrain the human clock to a longer day.
Learning to manage the circadian clock is critical to exploring space. But astronauts are hardly the only ones with sleep problems.
"The space environment," says Wright, "provides us with a unique opportunity to understand something more about the functions of sleep." Part of the research involves trying to understand ways to promote wakefulness for shift workers, or people suffering jet lag, or simply for the many people who don't get enough sleep.
"It's an exciting topic,” says Wright, "because it affects everyone.” Indeed, countermeasures that Wright and his colleagues devise for astronauts in space might well provide a more restful night for those of us remaining on Earth.
Sleeping Better in Space -- learn more about NASA's sleep studies and clinical trials of melatonin as a hypnotic. From Spaceflight.nasa.gov and the NeuroLab Team.
--On Challenger's middeck, Commander Richard "Dick" Truly and Mission Specialist (MS) Guion Bluford sleep in front of forward lockers and port side wall. Truly sleeps with his head at the ceiling and his feet to the floor. Bluford, wearing sleep mask (blindfold), is oriented with the top of his head at the floor and his feet on the ceiling.
Sleeping Bags in Space -- Visit this web page from Spaceflight.NASA.gov to learn more about sleeping bags and rigid sleep stations on NASA's space shuttle.
Bedtime on Columbia -- Astronaut Richard M. Linnehan, payload commander, is in the sleep compartment, which is located in the mid deck of the Space Shuttle Columbia. A photo from spaceflight.nasa.gov
Melatonin Mania -- a brief discussion of melatonin from Scientific American (external site).
Join our growing list of subscribers - and you will receive a mail message every time we post a new story!!!
More Headlines
THE ENDFor other uses, see Shackleton
Shackleton is an impact crater that lies at the south pole of the Moon. The peaks along the crater's rim are exposed to almost continual sunlight, while the interior is perpetually in shadow (a crater of eternal darkness). The low-temperature interior of this crater functions as a cold trap that may capture and freeze volatiles shed during comet impacts on the Moon. Measurements by the Lunar Prospector spacecraft showed higher than normal amounts of hydrogen within the crater, which may indicate the presence of water ice. The crater is named after Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton.
Description [ edit ]
The rotational axis of the Moon lies within Shackleton, only a few kilometers from its center. The crater is 21 km in diameter and 4.2 km deep.[1] From the Earth, it is viewed edge-on in a region of rough, cratered terrain. It is located within the South Pole-Aitken basin on a massif.[2] The rim is slightly raised about the surrounding surface and it has an outer rampart that has been only lightly impacted. No significant craters intersect the rim, and it is sloped about 1.5° toward the direction 50–90° from the Earth.[1][3] The age of the crater is about 3.6 billion years and it has been in the proximity of the south lunar pole for at least the last two billion years.[2]
Because the orbit of the Moon is tilted only 5° from the ecliptic, the interior of this crater lies in perpetual darkness. Estimates of the area in permanent shadow were obtained from Earth-based radar studies.[4] Peaks along the rim of the crater are almost continually illuminated by sunlight, spending about 80–90% of each lunar orbit exposed to the Sun.[5] Continuously illuminated mountains have been termed peaks of eternal light and have been predicted to exist since the 1900s.
The shadowed portion of the crater was imaged with the Terrain Camera of the Japanese SELENE spacecraft using the illumination of sunlight reflected off the rim. The interior of the crater consists of a symmetrical 30° slope that leads down to a 6.6 km diameter floor. The handful of craters along the interior span no more than a few hundred meters. The bottom is covered by an uneven mound-like feature that is 300 to 400 m thick. The central peak is about 200 m in height.[1][6]
The continuous shadows in the south polar craters cause the floors of these formations to maintain a temperature that never exceeds about 100 K. For Shackleton, the average temperature was determined to be about 90 K, reaching 88 K at the crater floor. Under these conditions, the estimated rate of loss from any ice in the interior would be 10−26 to 10−27 m/s. Any water vapor that arrives here following a cometary impact on the Moon would lie permanently frozen on or below the surface. However, the surface albedo of the crater floor matches the lunar far-side, suggesting that there is no exposed surface ice.[1][7]
This crater was named after Ernest Henry Shackleton, an Anglo-Irish explorer of Antarctica from 1901 until his death in 1922. The name was officially adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1994.[8] Nearby craters of note include Shoemaker, Haworth, de Gerlache, Sverdrup, Slater, and Faustini. Somewhat farther away, on the eastern hemisphere of the lunar near side, are the larger craters Amundsen and Scott, named after two other early explorers of the Antarctic continent.[9]
Exploration [ edit ]
Shackleton as imaged by Clementine
From the perspective of the Earth, this crater lies along the southern limb of the Moon, making observation difficult. Detailed mapping of the polar regions and farside of the Moon did not occur until the advent of orbiting spacecraft. Shackleton lies entirely within the rim of the immense South Pole-Aitken basin, which is one of the largest known impact formations in the Solar System. This basin is over 12 kilometers deep, and an exploration of its properties could provide useful information about the lunar interior.[10]
A neutron spectrometer on board the Lunar Prospector spacecraft detected enhanced concentrations of hydrogen close to the northern and southern lunar poles, including the crater Shackleton.[11] At the end of this mission in July 1999, the spacecraft was crashed into the nearby crater Shoemaker in the hope of detecting from Earth-based telescopes an impact-generated plume containing water vapor. The impact event did not produce any detectable water vapor, and this may be an indication that the hydrogen is not in the form of hydrated minerals, or that the impact site did not contain any ice.[12] Alternatively, it is possible that the crash did not excavate deeply enough into the regolith to liberate significant quantities of water vapor.
From Earth-based radar and spacecraft images of the crater edge, Shackleton appears to be relatively intact; much like a young crater that has not been significantly eroded from subsequent impacts. This may mean that the inner sides are relatively steep, which may make traversing the sides relatively difficult for a robotic vehicle.[13] In addition, it is possible that the interior floor might not have collected a significant quantity of volatiles since its formation. However other craters in the vicinity are considerably older, and may contain significant deposits of hydrogen, possibly in the form of water ice. (See Shoemaker (lunar crater), for example.)
Radar studies preceding and following the Lunar Prospector mission demonstrate that the inner walls of Shackleton are similar in reflective characteristics to those of some sunlit craters. In particular, the surroundings appear to contain a significant number of blocks in its ejecta blanket, suggesting that its radar properties are a result of surface roughness, and not ice deposits, as was previously suggested from a radar experiment involving the Clementine mission.[14] This interpretation, however, is not universally agreed upon within the scientific community.[15] Radar images of the crater at a wavelength of 13 cm show no evidence for water ice deposits.[16]
Optical imaging inside the crater was done for the first time by the Japanese lunar orbiter spacecraft Kaguya in 2007. It did not have any evidence of significant amount of water ice, down to the image resolution of 10 m per pixel.[17][18]
On November 15, 2008, a 34-kg probe made a hard landing near the crater.[19] The Moon Impact Probe (MIP) was launched from the Indian Chandrayaan-I spacecraft and reached the surface 25 minutes later. The probe carried a radar altimeter, video imaging system, and a mass spectrometer, which will be used to search for water.[20]
Potential uses [ edit ]
Shackleton as imaged by LRO
Shackleton Crater as imaged by Earth-based radar
Some sites along Shackleton's rim receive almost constant illumination. At these locales sunlight is almost always available for conversion into electricity using solar panels, potentially making them good locations for future Moon landings.[21] The temperature at this site is also more favorable than at more equatorial latitudes as it does not experience the daily temperature extremes of 100 °C when the Sun is overhead, to as low as −150 °C during the lunar night.
While scientific experiments performed by Clementine and Lunar Prospector could indicate the presence of water in the polar craters, the current evidence is far from definitive. There are doubts among scientists as to whether or not the hydrogen is in the form of ice, as well as to the concentration of this "ore" with depth below the surface. Resolution of this issue will require future missions to the Moon. The presence of water suggests that the crater floor could potentially be "mined" for deposits of hydrogen in water form, a commodity that is expensive to deliver directly from the Earth.
This crater has also been proposed as a future site for a large infrared telescope.[22] The low temperature of the crater floor makes it ideal for infrared observations, and solar cells placed along the rim could provide near-continuous power to the observatory. About 120 kilometers from the crater lies the 5-km tall Malapert Mountain, a peak that is perpetually visible from the Earth, and which could serve as a radio relay station when suitably equipped.[23]
In 2006, NASA named the rim of Shackleton as a potential candidate for its lunar outpost, slated to be up and running by 2020 and continuously staffed by a crew by 2024. The location would promote self-sustainability for lunar residents, as perpetual sunlight on the south pole would provide energy for solar panels. Furthermore, the shadowed polar regions are believed to contain the frozen water necessary for human consumption and could also be harvested for fuel manufacture.[24]
See also [ edit ]Dear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analysis from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.
Arab states appeared to soften their 2002 peace plan on Monday when a top Qatari official said Israel and the Palestinians could trade land rather than conform exactly to their 1967 borders.
Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, Qatar's prime minister and foreign minister, made the comment after he and a group of Arab officials met US Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss how to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Speaking on behalf of an Arab League delegation, Sheikh Hamad appeared to make a concession to Israel by explicitly raising the possibility of land swaps, although it has long been assumed that these would be part of any peace agreement.Justice Minister Tzipi Livni referred to al-Thani's comments as "very positive news" in an interview with Army Radio on Tuesday morning.She expressed hope that his comments would help get the Palestinians to return to negotiations and send a message to the Israeli public that an agreement with the Palestinians would lead to normalization of ties with the wider Arab world.Livni praised both the Arab League and the US for their efforts.Kerry has made no secret of his hope to revive peace talks, which broke down in 2010, but it remains unclear whether US President Barack Obama will decide to back a major US effort.In convening the group, Kerry is trying to ensure that a new peace process would have the backing of the Arab states, who, if they were to offer Israel a comprehensive peace, hold a powerful card that could provide an incentive for Israeli compromises."The Arab League delegation affirmed that agreement should be based on the two-state solution on the basis of the 4th of June 1967 line, with the (possibility) of comparable and mutual agreed minor swap of the land," he told reporters after the meeting at the Blair House, the US president's guest house.Monday's talks included the Bahraini, Egyptian, Jordanian and Qatari foreign ministers as well as officials from Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League. US Vice President Joe Biden also attended part of the meeting.The Arab League proposal offered full Arab recognition of Israel if it gave up land seized in the 1967 war and accepted a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees.Rejected by Israel when it was originally proposed at a Beirut summit in 2002, the plan has major obstacles to overcome.Israel objects to key points, including a return to 1967 borders, the inclusion of Arab east Jerusalem in a Palestinian state and the return of Palestinian refugees to what is now Israel.The core issues that need to be settled in the more than six-decade dispute include borders, the fate of Palestinian refugees, the future of Jewish settlements on the West Bank and the status of Jerusalem.
Join Jerusalem Post Premium Plus now for just $5 and upgrade your experience with an ads-free website and exclusive content. Click here>>Caching is hard in various ways. Whenever you’re caching things, you have to at least think of:
Memory consumption
Invalidation
In this article, I want to show a flaw that often sneaks into custom cache implementations, making them inefficient for some execution paths. I’ve encountered this flaw in Eclipse, recently.
What did Eclipse do wrong?
I periodically profile Eclipse using Java Mission Control (JMC) when I discover a performance issue in the compiler (and I’ve discovered a few).
Just recently, I’ve found a new regression that must have been introduced with the new Java 9 module support in Eclipse 4.7.1a:
Using Eclipse 4.7.1a (with module support)? Vote for a timely fix of this significant (and easy to fix) performance regression: https://t.co/cyw2xvzy5q — Lukas Eder (@lukaseder) December 13, 2017
Luckily, the issue has already been fixed for 4.7.2 (https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=526209). What happened?
In that profiling session, I’ve found an awful lot of accesses to java.util.zip.ZipFile whenever I used the “content assist” feature (auto completion). This was the top stack trace in the profiler:
int java.util.zip.ZipFile$Source.hashN(byte[], int, int) void java.util.zip.ZipFile$Source.initCEN(int) void java.util.zip.ZipFile$Source.(ZipFile$Source$Key, boolean) ZipFile$Source java.util.zip.ZipFile$Source.get(File, boolean) void java.util.zip.ZipFile.(File, int, Charset) void java.util.zip.ZipFile.(File, int) void java.util.zip.ZipFile.(File) ZipFile org.eclipse.jdt.internal.core.JavaModelManager.getZipFile(IPath, boolean) ZipFile org.eclipse.jdt.internal.core.JavaModelManager.getZipFile(IPath) ZipFile org.eclipse.jdt.internal.core.JarPackageFragmentRoot.getJar() byte[] org.eclipse.jdt.internal.core.AbstractClassFile.getClassFileContent(JarPackageFragmentRoot, String) IBinaryModule org.eclipse.jdt.internal.core.ModularClassFile.getJarBinaryModuleInfo() IBinaryModule org.eclipse.jdt.internal.core.ModularClassFile.getBinaryModuleInfo() boolean org.eclipse.jdt.internal.core.ModularClassFile.buildStructure(...) void org.eclipse.jdt.internal.core.Openable.generateInfos(Object, HashMap, IProgressMonitor) Object org.eclipse.jdt.internal.core.JavaElement.openWhenClosed(Object, boolean, IProgressMonitor) Object org.eclipse.jdt.internal.core.JavaElement.getElementInfo(IProgressMonitor) Object org.eclipse.jdt.internal.core.JavaElement.getElementInfo() boolean org.eclipse.jdt.internal.core.JavaElement.exists() boolean org.eclipse.jdt.internal.core.Openable.exists() IModuleDescription org.eclipse.jdt.internal.core.PackageFragmentRoot.getModuleDescription() IModuleDescription org.eclipse.jdt.internal.core.NameLookup.getModuleDescription(IPackageFragmentRoot, Map, Function)...
In fact, the profiling session doesn’t show the exact number of accesses, but the number of stack trace samples that contained the specific method(s) which corresponds to the time spent inside of a method, not the number of calls (which is less relevant). Clearly, accessing zip files shouldn’t be the thing that Eclipse should be doing most of the time, when auto completing my code. So, why did it do it anyway?
It turns out, the problem was in the method getModuleDescription(), which can be summarised as follows:
static IModuleDescription getModuleDescription( IPackageFragmentRoot root, Map<IPackageFragmentRoot,IModuleDescription> cache, Function<IPackageFragmentRoot,IClasspathEntry> rootToEntry ) { IModuleDescription module = cache.get(root); if (module!= null) return module;... // Expensive call to open a Zip File in these calls: if (root.getKind() == IPackageFragmentRoot.K_SOURCE) module = root.getJavaProject().getModuleDescription(); else module = root.getModuleDescription(); if (module == null) {... } if (module!= null) cache.put(root, module); return module; }
The ZipFile access is hidden inside the getModuleDescription() call. A debugger revealed that the JDK’s rt.jar file was opened quite a few times to look for a module-info.class file. Can you spot the mistake in the code?
The method gets an external cache that may already contain the method’s result. But the method may also return null in case there is no module description. Which there isn’t. jOOQ has not yet been modularised, and most libraries on which jOOQ depends haven’t been modularised either, nor has the JDK been modularised using which jOOQ is currently built (JDK 8). So, this method always returns null for non-modular stuff.
But if it returns null, it won’t put anything in the cache:
if (module!= null) cache.put(root, module); return module; }
… which means the next time it is called, there’s a cache miss:
IModuleDescription module = cache.get(root); if (module!= null) return module;
… and the expensive logic involving the ZipFile call is invoked again. In other words, it is invoked all the time (for us).
Caching optional values
This is an important thing to always remember, and it is not easy to remember. Why? Because the developer who implemented this cache implemented it for the “happy path” (from the perspective of someone working with modules). They probably tried their code with a modular project, in case of which the cache worked perfectly. But they didn’t check if the code still works for everyone else. And in fact, it does work. The logic isn’t wrong. It’s just not optimal.
The solution to these things is simple. If the value null encodes a cache miss, we need another “ PSEUDO_NULL ” to encode the actual null value, or in this case something like NO_MODULE. So, the method can be rewritten as:
static IModuleDescription getModuleDescription( IPackageFragmentRoot root, Map<IPackageFragmentRoot,IModuleDescription> cache, Function<IPackageFragmentRoot,IClasspathEntry> rootToEntry ) { IModuleDescription module = cache.get(root); // Decode encoded NO_MODULE value: if (module == NO_MODULE) return null; if (module!= null) return module; module =... if (module!= null) cache.put(root, module); // Encode null value: else cache.put(root, NO_MODULE); return module; }
… where this NO_MODULE can be a simple java.lang.Object if you don’t care about generics, or a dummy IModuleDescription in our case:
static final IModuleDescription NO_MODULE = new IModuleDescription() {... };
Since it will be a singleton instance, we can use identity comparisons in our method.
Conclusion
When caching method results, always check if null is a valid result for the method. If it is, and if your cache is a simple Map, then you have to encode the null value with some sort of NO_MODULE value for the cache to work properly. Otherwise, you won’t be able to distinguish Map.get(key) == null for the cases:
Cache miss and Map returns null
Cache hit and the value is null
Update after some useful reddit / DZone comments
As /u/RayFowler pointed out on this article’s reddit discussion, the concept illustrated here is called “negative caching”
Something that is often forgotten when performing negative caching is the fact that exceptions are also a result, as pointed out by /u/zombifai in the same reddit discussion. The fix in Eclipse correctly took this into account as can be seen here: https://git.eclipse.org/c/jdt/eclipse.jdt.core.git/commit/?id=addfd789e17dbb99af0304912ef45e4ae72c0605Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker discusses the creation of a new public policy leadership and research center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on Tuesday, May 23, 2017, in Madison. The center will be named after former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer) The Associated Press
By SCOTT BAUER, Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Scott Walker and fellow Wisconsin Republicans on Tuesday announced the formation of a new public policy center at the state's flagship university, which liberals said would be nothing more than a taxpayer-funded conservative think tank.
The announcement about the new Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership comes as one of the architects of the deal, Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, is pushing a bill that would punish students who disrupt free speech on college campuses.
"Far too often, we feel like there's only one legitimate viewpoint on campus," Vos said. "This is just going to ensure we have diversity of thought.... It's not a conservative think tank. Hopefully it will be able to offset some of the liberal thinking."
Vos and other backers of the new center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison promised that it will serve as a bridge between the academic and political worlds and bring in speakers to campuses across the state.
Vos said the new center will have no agenda and will be dedicated to "maximum free speech." He later said the center would not be partisan but would counter what he said were "left-of-center leaning" research organizations on the Madison campus.
The announcement comes as free speech issues have grown more contentious on college campuses across the country. Republicans are worried that conservative speakers don't get equal treatment, while some students have criticized invitations extended to speakers who they believe engage in hate-speech.
The new Thompson Center, which must be approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature, would be run by a director overseen by a seven-member board within the university's political science department and the La Follette School of Public Affairs.
UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank joined Walker and Republican legislative leaders in praising the creation of the new center, which is slated to start next year. She said the center would build closer ties with the university's researchers and state policymakers.
Blank said the center will embody the three principles of Thompson, the former 14-year Republican governor for which it is named. She said those are a belief in the value of objective, nonpartisan research to inform public policy; a belief that public universities and their faculties have a central role in public life; and a belief in the Wisconsin Idea — the dedication to ensuring that discoveries and knowledge on college campuses are spread across the state and beyond.
"Just as he did during his time as governor, the Tommy G. Thompson Center is going to be dedicated to bringing people together," Blank said.
The center's creation also won praise from Badger Advocates, a private group that advocates for the Madison campus. The group's director, Matt Kussow, called it "yet another bond between our great state and our great state university."
It would be funded with $3 million in taxpayer money over the next two years along with unspecified private donations.
Democratic Rep. Gordon Hintz, who sits on the Legislature's budget committee, said he suspects that university leaders don't want to criticize creation of the center because it could put their funding from the Republican-controlled Legislature at risk.
"Does anyone think spending $3 million on a separate conservative public affairs school is a good use of $?" Hintz tweeted.
Scot Ross, director of the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now, accused Vos of "bullying students, faculty and administrators" by creating a conservative think tank to spread "Republican propaganda as widespread on campuses as possible."
"There is no doubt right-wing foundations, corporations and millionaire Republicans will finance what taxpayers don't get stuck paying," Ross said.
___
Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sbauerAPGOP senator announces support for Md. same-sex marriage bill
By John Wagner
Sen. Allan H. Kittleman (R-Howard) formally announced his support Wednesday morning for legislation that would allow same-sex marriages in Maryland, saying he would vote for the bill "because of my firm belief in equal rights."
With the announcement, Kittleman became the first -- and will probably be the only -- Senate Republican to back one of the most high-profile bills of the 90-day session. When the full chamber considers the bill in coming weeks, the vote is expected to be very close.
Kittleman said he plans to testify next week at a scheduled hearing on the bill.
In addressing reporters and in a statement, Kittleman referenced his late father, former state Sen. Robert H. Kittleman (R-Howard).
"I was raised by a gentleman who joined with others in fighting racial discrimination in the 1950s and 1960s," Kittleman said. "Watching him fight for civil rights instilled in me the belief that everyone, regardless of race, sex, national origin or sexual orientation, is entitled to equal rights."
Kittleman said that he is a "strong follower of Jesus Christ" and belongs to a conservative church, but added: "I really believe as a legislator, I don't vote based on my faith."
Kittleman had previously announced he would introduce legislation allowing civil unions between same-sex and heterosexual couples. He said Wednesday that he would not submit the bill for consideration.
While he received a lot of positive feedback from the community on the civil unions legislation, Kittleman said, "I have not gotten support from a lot of legislators."
Kittleman's complete statement is below.
STATEMENT BY SENATOR ALLAN H. KITTLEMAN ON SENATE BILL 116
I want to express my thoughts on SB 116, Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act. As most of you know, I have long supported equal rights for same sex couples. A few years ago, I voted in favor of allowing same sex couples the right to make medical decisions for each other.
This year, I decided to work on legislation that allowed civil unions for all couples - opposite sex and same sex couples. My goal was three-fold:
1. I wanted to ensure that same sex couples had the same rights and responsibilities as married couples in Maryland;
2. I wanted to remove the government's intervention in what most Marylanders consider a religious institution (marriage); and
3. I wanted to develop a consensus on an issue that has been very divisive for many years.
In early January, I announced my proposal for civil unions for all couples. Somewhat surprisingly, I received much more criticism from people who wanted same sex marriage than those who oppose such marriages. I actually received quite a lot of messages and emails from Republicans supporting my decision.
A recent poll performed by Gonzales Research confirmed strong support for civil unions. The poll found that 62% of Maryland voters support civil unions. Of that amount, 73% of Democrats, 60% of Independents and 41.5% of Republicans support civil unions. This figure was higher than the support for same-sex marriage in Maryland.
According to the poll, 51% of Maryland voters support same-sex marriage. Of that amount, 65% of Democrats, 52.4% of Independents and 24% of Republicans support same-sex marriage.
Unfortunately, despite the support by a strong majority of Maryland voters, I did not receive any support from my Republican and Democrat senate colleagues. In fact, the Republican senate caucus yesterday voted to take a "caucus position" against same-sex marriage. My Republican colleagues have also made it very clear to me that they would not be supportive of my civil union legislation. I also did not receive any support from Republicans or Democrats in the House of Delegates.
Based upon the lack of support I have received for my civil union bill, it was evident that my legislation would not receive a favorable report from the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. With the deadline for submitting legislation approaching quickly and with the Committee hearing scheduled to be held on Tuesday, February 8th, I made the decision to forego my efforts to have civil unions for all couples in Maryland.
As I noted above, my primary goal has always been to ensure that same sex couples have the same rights and responsibilities as married couples currently have in Maryland. I see this issue as a civil rights issue. I was raised by a gentleman who joined with others in fighting racial discrimination in the 1950s and 1960s. Watching him fight for civil rights instilled in me the belief that everyone, regardless of race, sex, national origin or sexual orientation, is entitled to equal rights.
Consequently, with the civil union legislation no longer being a viable option, I was put in the position of deciding whether to support same-sex marriage or voting to continue the prohibition against same-sex marriage. As a strong proponent of personal and economic liberty/freedom, I simply could not, in good conscience, vote against SB 116.
I know that some may contend that since the Bible teaches that marriage is between a man and a woman, Maryland should continue to prohibit same sex marriage. First, let me state that I am a strong follower of Jesus Christ. I worked in youth ministries for many years. However, while my faith may teach that marriage is between a man and a woman, our government is not a theocracy. As the state senator from District 9, I represent everyone in my district, regardless of their faith. Therefore, while my spiritual life is extremely important to me, it cannot be the sole basis for my decisions as a state senator.
I know that some will be upset with my decision to support SB 116 and I respect the fact that people have differing opinions on this issue. I carefully considered my decision. I sought counsel from many people, including my family, clergy, advocates for both sides, fellow legislators and many others. These discussions were very helpful to me and I appreciate the time that those individuals took to talk with me. Ultimately, it was my strong feelings about civil rights that led me to decide to support SB 116.Left Wing Propagandist Matt Laslo Assigned To POTUS Pool Report… You’ll Never Guess What Happens Next
Have you ever been curious about what happens when you assign a liberal shill to cover President Trump for a pool report? To clarify, a pool report is a written report compiled by one privileged reporter who is given increased access for a period of time, that report is then distributed to other media sources to report on. Well… that’s what it’s supposed to be, anyway.
Matt Laslo is a reporter known previously only for writing hack op-eds attacking the Gateway Pundit and other conservative news sources and for appearing to be the spitting image of Lotney “Sloth” Fratelli from the 1985 Goonies movie. Unfortunately, unlike “Sloth”, Laslo is has very few redeemable qualities. When tasked with writing today’s pool report – he decided that taking continuous jabs at the President, that were then distributed to the entire White House Press, was more important than doing his job.
Both pool reports (posted below) are riddled with lines where Laslo takes every opportunity to reveal his true colors. In his first report, Laslo manages to reference something externally attacking the president while he simultaneously managing to self-promote his social media accounts: “When pool entered the tennis clubhouse CNN was on four screens reading: “NOONAN: Trump is “weak and sniveling”” until your pooler took a picture (on my Twitter and Instagram @mattlaslo)[…]” This artful liberal journalist play – self-promotion mixed with jabs at the President – seems the current the gold standard of leftist hackery.
His second report followed suit – apparently Laslo was under the false notion that President Trump, himself, was driving the vehicle at the front of the motorcade. Laslo seized on the opportunity to criticize Trump for “stopping at only five though” of the seven red lights which he believed served to “giv[e] the president a small taste of what the rest of us endure daily.”
I wonder what the fantastical & slightly erotic Obama motorcades were like. Probably stopped at every light & threw candy to the kids. — Jeune👠 (@ExMrsSallah) July 30, 2017
Laslo then followed this hackery up with “Dozens of people stood watching as motorcade arrived but no one waved at the commander in chief.” Because SO OBVIOUSLY when people see a car with tinted windows they KNOW that it’s the president.
After a Gateway Pundit reporter made the pool report public on Twitter, a few American citizens had some choice words for Laslo |
There are 17 active sheriffs from 14 different states who sit on the board of directors of CSPOA, and many of them have admitted that they did not live up to their oaths of office until recently because they simply didn’t know any better. Many are angry and repentant.
Some who would be there cannot—such as former sheriff Melvin Holly of Latimer County, Oklahoma. He is incarcerated in federal prison. Holly’s crime: He attempted to stop a drug-running operation in his county that was apparently federally sanctioned. His error? He didn’t stop investigating and ended up framed for multiple sex crimes he says never happened. Holly was then convicted after witnesses reportedly received payoffs for their deceitful testimony.
It is a growing problem that all sheriffs face because of the Fed’s ability to create unconstitutional money and the feds’ ability to pass unconstitutional statutes legalizing payoffs to witnesses in the event of a conviction. But almost no lawyers, let alone sheriffs, even knew that these statutes existed before AFP’s story alerted them last year.
“The bottom line is that county sheriffs need to know that their power exceeds that of federal interlopers,” pointed out Mack. “Ultimately, he is the one who will decide what is and what is not enforced in the county. He has the authority and an oath-bound duty to interpose himself on the citizen’s behalf to protect you from all enemies, both foreign and domestic. But a large majority of these 2,000 sheriffs just don’t know it.”
Georgians got a dose of this power on December 1 when Fulton County (Atlanta) sheriff’s deputies defied a court by refusing to evict bedridden Vita Lee, 104, and her 83- year-old daughter from their home of 53 years.
“We are not in trouble in this country because we follow the Constitution too closely,” Mack told AFP. “Just the opposite. But there is a way to get back to it, sheriff by sheriff, county by county.”
Pat Shannan is a contributing editor of AMERICAN FREE PRESS. He is also the author of several videos and books including One in a Million: An IRS Travesty, I Rode With Tupper and Everything They* Ever Told Me Was a Lie.When most lifters boast online about their Herculean squat numbers, I'd guess that 80 percent or more are referring to back squats.
It's the most popular squat variation in the world – and I'll be the first to give it the credit it deserves – but there are times when it might be advantageous to give your traps a break and incorporate front squats.
So why does the front squat so often get thrown under the bus? For one thing, front squats are hard work, something that many commercial gym heroes tend to avoid like egg yolks and body hair. Since moving heavy weight for the cell phone camera is priority number one for your typical egocentric meathead, most stay in their comfort zone and bang out leg presses, leg extensions, and sordid half-rep back squat perversions, complete with more mid-set grunting and groaning than a porn casting.
After all, they reason, what can you get from front squats that you can't get from back squats? Good question.
Why Should I Be Doing Front Squats?
Front squats will do three things if you do them correctly:
Increase depth achieved Improve core strength Activate glutes
When a barbell is loaded on the front of the body, the pelvis gets to tilt backwards somewhat, which makes the hamstrings less taut. This gives them the freedom to allow a greater ROM at the bottom of the lift. This pelvic tilt also allows the lower abs to contribute to the lift more, and takes the hip flexors away from "blocking" the movement.
So, just like a goblet squat, you get a hell of a lot lower then you do in a back squat. The torso also gets to stay more upright, which requires the obliques to provide stability.
Finally, due to the tremendous knee extension involved, the front squat is rightly seen as a major quad developer. Since the thighs drop far below parallel to the floor, it's safe to say that hip flexion is greatly increased too, forcing the glutes to assist the concentric half of the lift.
With all of these kick-ass benefits, it seems like a no-brainer that front squats should make a regular appearance in a typical program.
Why You Suck At Front Squats
Other than the obvious (you aren't doing them enough), there are a few things that limit lifters from achieving a decent front squat.
Your Abs Aren't Strong Enough
Front squats require considerable core involvement. You'd do well to incorporate some exercises for anti – extension (to prevent overarch) and oblique work so they function well as stabilizers.
Ab wheel rollouts OR Blast Strap fallouts
Suitcase deadlift OR Paloff press
These are a few of what I consider to be staple movements to improve the function of the abdominals and wake them up for the real stuff.
Your Elbows Won't Stay High Enough
The goal should be to keep the elbows pointing as far upwards as possible to promote parallel lines between the upper arm and the floor at all times.
If you've noticed that every time you front squat your elbows start pointing towards the floor after only two reps, causing you to rack the weight prematurely, there's a reason for that.
In this case, the first thing to do would be to activate your rotator cuff. If these small muscles aren't playing their part in externally rotating the upper arm, your elbows will drop faster than Tiger Woods' "Just Do It" promo.
Luckily, there are a couple of things you can do to remedy that problem.
Face pulls or Seated dumbbell external rotation
Be sure to use a light weight. It won't take much!
You Can't Stand Tall
Proper thoracic extension is very important for front squats, as the Turtleback syndrome affects many when they have to bear a front load.
Take a barbell and perform a set of five front squats. Do you notice your mid-back rolling like the Andes? Have someone watch you if you have any doubts.
Either way, there are a few simple fixes.
PNF intercostal stretch
Foam roller extensions
Trap – 3 raises
(See this article for examples of all three)
Something to keep in mind though – studies have shown that after the sixth rep of a typical set of front squats or front loaded work, the rhomboids begin fatiguing and can no longer hold a constant isometric. For this reason, try to keep sets of front squats towards the lower end of the repetition continuum.
Getting a Grip
Many lifters will use the "California" style or cross-armed grip on the bar to allow it to rest on the shoulders when performing a front squat. Big mistake. Since one elbow stays higher than the other on a cross-armed grip, under substantial load, it can act against proper structural alignment of the shoulders, and has the potential to refer imbalances right through to the hips and knees.
For this reason, I highly recommend using a clean grip, which also has better carryover to proper techniques involved with any Olympic lifts as well as overhead pressing. It may feel uncomfortable at first, but remember to keep a proud chest and get those elbows up!
It's okay to remove a finger or two from under the bar (I like to remove my thumb and pinky finger as it helps take stress off the wrists and allows for the elbows to stay up). Otherwise, make sure the lats, triceps, and forearms get a good stretch before beginning. (See picture below.)
The Cues
Here are some basic tips to look out for when doing front squats.
Keep the toes pointed slightly outwards, and make sure knees track in the direction the toes point
Keep the chest up proud
Elbows high at all times
Hinge from the hips, and let the glutes fire to come back up
Press through the full foot, keeping the heel on the ground
Breathe deep on the eccentric, and hold full of air at the bottom to increase intra-abdominal pressure
Don't panic – the legs have loads of fight – or – flight in them. You'll get out of the hole!
Lifters Who Should Be All Over Front Squats
Tall Lifters. It's asking a lot of someone who's over six feet to get far below parallel during a back squat. Front loading allows the center of gravity to shift backwards slightly, and unloads the low back and hips enough for them to achieve this depth. Your chicken legs may be due to lack of back squatting depth.
Lifters With Tight Hamstrings. As noted, a front load will make the hamstrings less taut, and therefore promote more range of motion during the negative phase of the squat.
Getting Out of The "Embarrassing" Category
If these pointers alone don't substantially improve your front squat, I've put together a cool quasi-workout that serves as a good tool to bring up your fronts.
Think of this as a "front squat conditioning" workout. The goal is to get the abs firing correctly, get the upper back tight, and start practicing the movement properly and under decent load.
Begin by foam rolling and static stretching hip flexors, hamstrings, glutes, and lats.
Perform the following workout as a sequence. Rest 90 seconds between each exercise.
Front squat workout
Exercise Reps % 1RM A Front Squat 6 70% B Ab Wheel Rollout 12 – Foam Roller Extension as many as needed C Front Squat 5 80% D Stomach-Up Pull-Up 6-8 See video below – be sure not to allow the feet to do anything but hang straight down to get full stimulation of the abdominals. It should look like you're trying to pull yourself to horizontal. Perform at a 3010 tempo. E Front Squat 4 80% F Trap-3 Raise 12 per arm – PNF Intercostal Stretch G Front Squat 4 80% H Dumbbell External Rotation 12 per arm I Front Squat 4 80%
This mini-workout will take 20 minutes to get through. You'll notice reps are kept low, as are intensities. The reason for this is the abdominals and upper back muscles are being hit with direct exercises to mildly fatigue them between each set of front squats. Loading aggressively could be inviting injury. An elevated heart rate – thanks to the 90-second rest interval – will allow practicing keeping the elbows high and chest up while slightly fatigued.
There's nothing fancy-shmancy about this workout, and it doesn't even need to replace a real leg workout. Chances are you won't be too sore the next day, either. This workout can find its home on a supplementary day for a few weeks.
Squatting to Oblivion!
Adding load to the body effectively trains muscle, of course. Contrary to popular belief, though, the answer isn't always throwing on heavier and heavier weight. You'd be surprised how added ROM, improved technique, or a bit of both can be game-changers for tapping into sleepy motor units or just plain increasing difficulty.
Moreover, they just may be the missing link to make you the guy whose chicken legs flew the coop.Cathy and Terry Hodgson, a couple from New Concord, Ohio, went on Fox News the other day to share photos of their new lawn ornament. It’s a four-feet-tall picture of Jesus and some bleating creatures under the text “The Lord Is My Shepherd.”
Why did Fox deem this worthy of national attention? Because a year ago, the ACLU informed a local public school that a similar sign that had been displayed in the building for more than forty years was in violation of the law and asked that it be removed. In a five-to-zero vote, the school board agreed to take the sign down.
Fox News’ Steve Doocy seems to be positively gloating over the Hodgsons’ lawn art, presenting it as some clever end run that the couple had done around the ACLU. But why? While the sign may bother people who are allergic to religious kitsch, there is nothing constitutionally wrong with it, and I know not a single atheist or civil libertarian who’d be offended by it in its new location. (In public schools or on government property, however, that’s another matter.)
By the way, note how the text at the bottom of the TV image says, at various times, “The Fight For Faith” and “Faith Under Fire” — and sometimes both. ‘Cause that’s fair and balanced, right?
Also, that’s not how you spell “shepherd” (1:03). Maybe the Murdoch empire could invest in a dictionary? Or at least pray for one?or, “An Analysis Of The Shark Stickers On The Shinonome Fridge”
I finished rewatching Nichijou last week, and found out some interesting stuff about the timeline I thought I’d share. The anime doesn’t give away a whole lot of timeline info compared to series like Ace Attorney and Yotsuba&!, but even so it’s generally pretty coherent, and the date of Nano’s birthday is especially interesting. (No, really)
The anime timeline very rarely reveals any concrete dates; there are just a few indications like Hallowe’en and Christmas which give a rough idea of the current month or week. Episode 26, however, has a closeup of the calendar on the Shinonome fridge:
That shows Nano’s birthday is on the 7th day of the month, and it’s a Monday.
It doesn’t show which month though. (The English Nichijou wiki says it’s August, but I don’t know where that came from.) Two of the stickers are even obscuring the last few days, so it’s impossible to tell how long the month is.
Fortunately though, the anime provides enough information to narrow it down. Episode 22 contains the Christmas segments:
So Nano’s birthday must be after Christmas. And since everyone’s still in 1-Q in episode 26, it must take place before the start of the next school year (which is April in Japan). So Nano’s birthday is in either January, February, or March.
Can it be narrowed down any further? Let’s look at the case when Nano’s birthday is on January 7th:
The 1st and 14th days are public holidays in Japan, circled in red. Not only are they not shown as holidays on the Shinonome calendar, it also seems very unlikely that episodes 23–25 take place in the few days between Christmas and the 7th. I think it’s fair to rule out January as a possibility.
So we’re down to either February or March.
What are the dates of the public holidays in February and March?
If you check those against the Shinonome calendar you’ll see that both the 11th and 21st days are covered by the stickers, so it’s impossible to tell which one is the public holiday…
So not only do the shark stickers prevent us from knowing the length of the month, they also obscure the only relevant public holidays. The stickers were deliberately arranged to make Nano’s birthday ambiguous between February and March.
Honestly I believe that’s what was originally intended. For some reason Arawi didn’t want to give away the exact date, at least not back when the anime was made. However…
In volume 9 of the manga there’s a timeskip into the future, when Hakase is in high school. No dates are visible in the chapter itself, but in the 2015 Nichijou calendar there was a bonus page featuring the timeskip:
The important thing here is the year:
Apparently the timeskip is set in 2021! April 20th of that year is a Tuesday, which fits with what it says on the top left of the bonus calendar page (火 is short for Tuesday). The date is also consistent with the calendar in Mio’s timeskip chapter in volume 10:
This chapter is set just before Mio and Mai tell Nano that Yuuko is returning to Japan, so it makes sense that the date on Mio’s calendar is shortly before the 20th. It’s pretty clear that Arawi had concrete dates in mind for the timeskips. But what does that mean for Nano’s birthday?
The fact that the timeskips are set in 2021 doesn’t immediately give us the year of the main story, since we don’t know the exact offset of the timeskip. But combined with the fact that Nano’s birthday is on a Monday, it helps to narrow down the possibilities.
The first possibility is that Nano’s birthday is in 2011. It could be February 7th or March 7th – they’re both Mondays, since February has 28 days. But there’s a problem: in episode 3, Hakase says she’s eight years old. If episode 26 is set in 2011, then episode 3 is set in 2010, which would make Future Hakase 18 or 19 (depending on when her birthday is). That just seems too unlikely; she’s supposed to still be in high school, and she also just looks a lot younger than that anyway:
The only other year consistent with the fact that Nano’s birthday is on a Monday is 2016. Then Hakase would have been eight years old in 2015, making Future Hakase either 13 or 14. That’s too young for high school … but then again, this is Hakase we’re talking about. If anything, it’s a little surprising that she didn’t skip high school altogether.
So: Assuming the anime is consistent with the easter egg in the Nichijou calendar, the conclusion seems to be that Nano’s birthday is in 2016. It does require that Hakase enters high school a year or two early, but I think that’s a pretty reasonable assumption to be honest. She’s certainly intelligent enough, and let’s not forget she already somehow managed to persuade the Principal to admit an extra student in unusual circumstances once before…
Who knows if we’ll ever know for sure, but if Nano’s birthday really is in 2016, then we can actually deduce the exact date. 2016 is a leap year, which means February 7th and March 7th are on different days of the week, so there’s no ambiguity between them. So if it’s in 2016, then Nano’s second birthday – and the final episode of the anime – is actually today: March 7th!North Korean women perform and serve drinks in the Arirang restaurant in Yanji, northern China, in this 2015 photo. The restaurant is run and staffed by North Koreans, with the vast bulk of the profits going back to Pyongyang. (Anna Fifield/The Washington Post)
As the international community looks for new ways to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test, one area is emerging as the next front to apply pressure: North Korea’s practice of sending workers overseas to earn money for the regime.
The United States and South Korea had already started quietly trying to persuade host countries to stop allowing in North Korean guest workers, according to people who work in both governments. That drive is likely to accelerate now that North Korea has shown that new sanctions imposed this year have failed to dissuade it from pursuing nuclear weapons.
“There’s going to be a global shaming campaign,” said Andrei Lankov, an expert on North Korea at Kookmin University in Seoul, citing conversations with officials.
In the five years since Kim Jong Un took over, North Korea has dramatically stepped up the number of people it sends abroad to earn hard currency.
At least 50,000 North Koreans — and by some estimates, double that — are working in more than two dozen foreign countries. The vast majority, about 80 percent, are in China and Russia, toiling in garment factories and on construction sites, or felling trees in Siberian forests.
North Korea has conducted its fifth nuclear test, on the day of an important holiday for the regime. The Washington Post's Anna Fifield explains what that means. (Anna Fifield/The Washington Post)
There have also been numerous reports of North Korean doctors working in Cambodia and Libya, sculptors building statues in Senegal and Namibia, and laborers on building sites in Mongolia and in the soccer stadiums of Qatar.
[ North Korea conducts fifth nuclear test ]
The North Koreans are sent abroad usually for three years and are still tightly controlled outside the totalitarian country.
At one garment factory in northern China, visited by a Washington Post reporter last year, North Korean women lived in small dormitories inside the factory and were allowed to go out to the market only once a week and only in small groups — so they could keep an eye on one another.
While they’re abroad, the North Koreans are allowed to keep one-third of their earnings — or $100 out of their monthly $300 salary for the seamstresses in China — and the rest goes to the regime. The Seoul-based Database Center for North Korean Human Rights estimates that the Kim regime now earns $300 million a year this way.
This is a considerable amount for North Korea. Its exports to China, by far its largest trading partner, totaled $227 million last year, according to South Korea’s International Trade Association.
Given that North Korea’s main exports — mineral resources like coal and iron ore — were explicitly banned under U.N. sanctions imposed in March following the previous nuclear test, analysts expect Pyongyang to become increasingly reliant on labor to generate hard currency.
The Washington Post's Anna Fifield reports on North Korea's fifth nuclear test and what it means for the region and one of Kim Jong Un's few remaining allies, China. (Jason Aldag,Anna Fifield/The Washington Post)
That’s where the “shaming campaign” comes in.
The international community is now talking about more sanctions against North Korea. “We will be working very closely in the Security Council and beyond to come up with the strongest possible measure against North Korea’s latest actions,” Sung Kim, the American point man on North Korea, told reporters Sunday in Tokyo.
But after years of sanctions, many analysts say there is little left to target. And it will be difficult to designate host countries directly, so American and South Korean diplomats have been using behind-the-scenes pressure.
“We have raised with some governments our concerns about the use of [North Korean] workers in their countries, and consequently some governments have modified their policies,” the State Department said in a report sent to Congress late last month.
South Korea has been doing the same. “We’ve been trying to explain to these countries that this [labor export] is not good for the North Korean people and that it’s aiding the North Korean regime,” said Kim Dong-jo, a spokesman for President Park Geun-hye.
[North Korean missile launches are adding up to something very troubling]
Seoul can take the moral high ground now that it has closed down the Kaesong industrial complex, where North Koreans worked in South Korean-owned factories, and which contributed $120 million last year to the regime’s coffers.
The new campaign has already paid some dividends.
Malta, the smallest country in the European Union, effectively expelled some 20 laborers who had been working on construction sites and in garment factories in July by declining to extend their work permits.
Poland stopped issuing visas for North Korean workers following the nuclear test in January, the Voice of America radio station reported in June, quoting a Polish Foreign Ministry official. Poland had granted visas for 156 North Koreans in 2015, mainly to work in its shipyards.
But the campaign also faces some inherent constraints. For one, China and Russia, the hosts of the vast majority of the workers, have not traditionally seemed to worry about what other countries think of them.
Analysts are divided on the merits of clamping down on North Korea’s labor exports.
[Everything you need to know about the North Korean nuclear test]
“I think that there is clearly a benefit to allowing North Koreans to experience something of the outside world,” said Go Myong-hyun, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul and the author of a 2014 report on North Korean labor exports. “But the downside is great.”
Some of the income is going toward North Korea’s developments of weapons of mass destruction, Go said. “This money isn’t just being spent on toys for Kim Jong Un.”
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said the benefit of exposing North Koreans to the outside world, even if only a sliver, was worth the cost of potentially funding the nuclear and missile programs.
“I believe that the more that North Koreans experience working overseas, the higher the chance of North Korea changing,” Yang said, noting that the workers might learn how rich South Korea is and how advanced South Korean products are. “There could easily be 200,000 North Koreans who now have a different, positive view of South Korea.”
Lankov said that overseas labor was far more lucrative than work at home, where the average salary for a government official is less than $10 a month. Returning to North Korea with even $1,000 or $2,000 could be transformational in a country tentatively moving toward marketization.
“These workers return with a few thousand dollars, an amount of money that is sufficient to start a small business in North Korea,” Lankov said.
This trend has created a little bit of freedom in North Korea, with the reliance on markets to provide what the state no longer can slightly weakening the regime’s control over the North Korean populace.
[Outrage over North Korean nuclear test, but few options on the table]
But Choi Yoon-cheol, secretary general of the North Korea Strategy Center, a defector-led advocacy group based in Seoul, thinks the costs are too great.
“Yes, there’s a positive side to this,” he said. “But the money can also be a source for developing the missile and nuclear programs. We should make stopping this our priority.”
China — the most important country in this situation — has voiced clear anger over the recent nuclear and missile tests, but its priority remains ensuring stability on its borders.
“China has their own reasons why they don’t want this,” said Kim Byung-Yeon, a professor at Seoul National University who focuses on the North Korean economy. “If China agrees to reduce the number of workers, they’d just have to give North Korea more aid.”
Yoonjung Seo contributed to this report.
Read more
With each test, N. Korea inches closer to being able to send a nuclear-tipped missile to the U.S.
North Korea fires 3 missiles as G-20 continues in China
North Korea hails ‘greatest success’ of submarine-launched ballistic missile
Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the worldTHREE CHEERS FOR ESOTERIC DIESEL REGULATION!
If you look at the Energy Information Administration's breakdown of the country's petroleum of product exports, one category should jump out at you: distillate fuel oil. That's the technical term for what we all know as diesel. In October of 2011, U.S. refiners shipped out about 2.7 million barrels a day of finished petroleum products. Forty percent of those barrels contained diesel fuel. Gasoline only accounted for 19 percent.
It makes sense that diesel should make up such a big chunk of our finished fuel exports. As Tom Kloza, chief analyst with the Oil Price Information Service, told me, in much of the world diesel rules. Europeans use it to power their cars. South Americans use it to power their tractors. Many governments, particularly in Europe, are requiring varieties with lower levels of sulfer, a major air pollutant that causes respiratory problems and contributes to acid rain. In the last several years, Kloza said, U.S. oil refineries in the Gulf of Mexico have invested heavily in the sophisticated technology necessary to create that kind of clean diesel fuel. Two-thirds of U.S. diesel exports in October were the variety known as "ultra low sulfur."
The investment that made those exports possible didn't happen by accident. Nor was it purely due to the forces of capitalism. In 2001, the EPA issued a new rule that reduced the amount of sulfur allowed in highway diesel fuel by 97%, from 500 parts per million to just 15. Part of the regulations, which went into effect in 2006, forced refineries to begin producing more of the cleaner diesel. In response, oil refiners spent billions updating their plants with the necessary equipment, adding roughly 37% more desulferization capacity.
As a result, U.S. refiners now make a product that's more ready for the global marketplace. That's a double-edged sword domestically. It's great for the country's trade balance. But as Reuters noted as far back as 2008, its also made fuel more expensive here at home. "Before the diesel mandate, much of the diesel produce in the United States fell far short of European fuel specifications, which meant the fuel tended to stay in the United States, keeping stockpiles full and prices low," the wire explained.
As with any change in the marketplace, there were both winners and losers. But not all "job-killing regulations" really kill jobs. Some might just create a few.
>Like this article? rabble is reader-supported journalism. Chip in to keep stories like these coming.
We know firearms are dangerous -- especially when they're not in the hands of so-called "law-abiding gun owners," which would mean, I guess, they're either in the hands of "law-breaking gun owners" or plain old-fashioned thieves, who are presumably lawbreakers by default.
We can also be confident lots of firearms have been abandoned in Fort McMurray -- first, because so many Albertans wherever they live own guns, legally or otherwise, and second because the vast majority of the 88,000 or so people who normally reside in the northeastern Alberta oil sands city aren't there right now because of the devastating recent forest fire and the attendant evacuation order on its entire population.
Moreover, we can be fairly confident many of those firearms are at risk, at the very least, of theft by ne'er-do-wells because it turns out it's been quite easy for people so inclined to remain in Fort McMurray despite the evacuation order, notwithstanding the presence of about 300 Mounties in the temporarily abandoned city.
Indeed, the RCMP reported that as of Tuesday there have been at least 100 cases of forced entry into homes in Fort Mac. Many, of course, will turn out not to have involved criminal intent. Some will.
We don't know if any high-risk offenders remained in Fort McMurray. We do know at least one did in High River in 2013, where the RCMP seized 609 firearms from 105 homes, which is an interesting statistic in its own right.
So it's fairly shocking to learn that the RCMP -- apparently unnerved by the campaign of vilification waged against them by a militant segment the province's gun enthusiasts and their journalistic supporters after the Southern Alberta town of High River was flooded in 2013 -- are not going into abandoned homes to ensure improperly stored firearms aren't lying about in plain sight for the taking.
Instead, presumably on someone's orders, the RCMP have their blinders firmly in place and are apparently refusing to look for legal weapons abandoned in a manner that is likely to make them illegal weapons soon enough.
The Mounties may have got the right-to-bear-assault-weapons nuts off their case for this bizarre policy of turning a blind eye to a serious threat to public health and public order, but ordinary citizens of Alberta ought to be concerned.
To give credit where credit is due, it shows that the effectiveness of the Astro-Turf campaign by the Canadian gun-lobby during the Harper Government to bring wide-open U.S.-style gun ownership to this country, including conspiracy theories about the so-called High River "gun-grab" and the use of swastikas and other Nazi imagery to portray the Mounties as thuggish stormtroopers. This effort continues to bear fruit for supporters of unrestricted gun ownership in Canada, even though voters in most parts of the country repudiated former prime minister Stephen Harper last fall.
Naturally, the gun lobby's journalistic auxiliary -- made up mostly if not entirely of Harper supporters -- has been crowing about this victory for law-non-enforcement.
When the dust and ash have finally settled in Fort Mac, one wonders how many guns will have gone missing because of this neglect by the Mounties to do their job, and how many of these weapons will end up "in the wrong hands" in the streets of Alberta's towns and cities, not to mention other places in Canada?
There is no percentage for our federal or provincial governments of the Liberal and NDP persuasion to allow this neglect by the RCMP to continue. Alberta's self-described LAGOs will continue to support conservative parties with their money and their votes no matter what.
Police officers have the legal authority and a moral duty to forcibly enter abandoned houses and seize unsecured firearms that are in view. It's hardly reassuring to learn they are failing to perform this basic public safety task.
Indeed, the law needs to be amended to make it legal for police to seize firearms that are not in plain view, but are abandoned and easily accessible to thieves.
Editor's note: A previous version of this article contianed a reference to a shooting incident with an incorrect date. That reference has been removed.
This post also appears on David Climenhaga's blog, AlbertaPolitics.ca.
Like this article? rabble is reader-supported journalism. Chip in to keep stories like these coming.
Image: Wikimedia CommonsCeres is the largest object in the asteroid belt, and NASA’s Dawn spacecraft will arrive at this dwarf planet on March 6, 2015.
Pluto is the largest object in the Kuiper belt, and NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft will arrive at this dwarf planet on July 15, 2015.
NASA
These two events will make 2015 an exciting year for solar system exploration and discovery. But there is much more to this story than mere science. I expect 2015 will be the year when general consensus, built upon our new knowledge of these two objects, will return Pluto and add Ceres to our family of solar system planets.
The efforts of a very small clique of Pluto-haters within the International Astronomical Union (IAU) plutoed Pluto in 2006. Of the approximately 10,000 internationally registered members of the IAU in 2006, only 237 voted in favor of the resolution redefining Pluto as a “dwarf planet” while 157 voted against; the other 9,500 members were not present at the closing session of the IAU General Assembly in Prague at which the vote to demote Pluto was taken. Yet Pluto’s official planetary status was snatched away.
Ceres and Pluto are both spheroidal objects, like Mercury, Earth, Jupiter and Saturn. That’s part of the agreed upon definition of a planet. They both orbit a star, the Sun, like Venus, Mars, Uranus and Neptune. That’s also part of the widely accepted definition of a planet.
Unlike the larger planets, however, Ceres, like Pluto, according to the IAU definition, “has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.” The asteroid belt is, apparently, Ceres' neighborhood while the Kuiper Belt is Pluto’s neighborhood – though no definition of a planet’s neighborhood exists, and no agreed upon understanding of what “clearing the neighborhood” yet exists. Furthermore, no broad-based agreement exists as to why “clearing the neighborhood” need be a requirement in order for an object to be considered a planet.
JPL
Some planetary astronomers would argue that were the Earth placed in the Kuiper Belt, it would not be able to clear its neighborhood and thus would not be considered, by the IAU definition, a planet; apparently location matters. Here a planet, there not a planet. I’d argue that location shouldn’t matter; instead, the intrinsic properties of the objects themselves should matter more. And so we are led back to Ceres and Pluto.
Never before visited by human spacecraft, Ceres and Pluto, as we will soon bear witness, are both evolving, changing worlds. Yesterday, Ceres and Pluto were strangers, distant, barely known runt members of our solar system. By the end of this calendar year, however, we will have showered both objects with our passion and our attention, we will have welcomed them both into our embrace. And we almost certainly will once again call both of them planets.
Ceres, temporarily a planet
F. Bordiga
Ceres was discovered on New Year’s Day in 1801, by Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi, a member of an international team of astronomers dubbed the Celestial Police, who were searching for a supposedly missing planet in between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. When discovered, Ceres was immediately recognized as a planet, the eighth one known at the time (neither Neptune nor Pluto had been discovered yet).
But within a few years, other objects in the asteroid belt were discovered and Ceres no longer seemed to stand out as far from the crowd. In 1802, the great astronomer William Herschel suggested that Ceres and Pallas and any other smaller solar system objects should be called asteroids – meaning star-like. In telescope images, they were so tiny that they looked point-like, like stars, rather than disk-like, like planets. And so, more than a century before Pluto was discovered, Ceres was plutoed.
NASA
But Ceres does still stand out. It’s the largest asteroid, by far, nearly 1,000 kilometers across (twice as large in diameter as Vesta, the second largest asteroid), though not perfectly spherical in shape.
As happened inside Earth and other planets, planetary scientists think that long ago, the denser material in Ceres separated from the lighter material and sank to form a core.
Astronomers think Ceres is rich in water – as much as one-third of Ceres might be water – and may have a thin atmosphere. Bright, white spots on its surface might even be large frozen lakes. Ceres may, in fact, have as much fresh water as Earth, have Earth-like polar caps, and might even have a sub-surface liquid ocean layer, like Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus.
NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Beginning this month, we’ll start to learn more about these tantalizing possibilities. With our increasing knowledge of and familiarity with Ceres, we will no longer be able to identify meaningful criteria that will allow us to continue to classify Ceres as not-a-planet. Ceres will continue to be a small planet, but in 2015 we will come to understand that dwarf planets are planets, too.
Pluto’s short planetary reign
NASA
When Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, many astronomers were certain that a large planet orbited the Sun beyond Neptune. Instead they found Pluto, which turned out to be small compared to Earth and Neptune, though more than double the size of Ceres, with a diameter of 2,300 kilometers.
Tom.Reding, CC BY-SA
Pluto also has an unusual orbit, as it crosses Neptune’s orbit, though it does so in such a way that it can never |
, an explanation of our methodology. This plan operates on a few basic assumptions:
The Mariners are making moves with the idea of contending, now and in the near future. As appealing as some find a scorched-earth policy, that’s not what this plan is based around, because that’s not what the club is doing. We’ll explore what a full rebuild would look like as a thought-experiment sometime in the future, but this plan is based on pursuing the goals as stated outright by team officials: immediate contention without selling the last few cows on the farm to buy milk.
, now and in the near future. As appealing as some find a scorched-earth policy, that’s not what this plan is based around, because that’s not what the club is doing. We’ll explore what a full rebuild would look like as a thought-experiment sometime in the future, but this plan is based on pursuing the goals as stated outright by team officials: immediate contention without selling the last few cows on the farm to buy milk. Therefore, although Dipoto has demonstrated that he’ll sell off anything that’s not nailed down, this plan assumes top prospects like Nick Neidert, Kyle Lewis, Sam Carlson, and Evan White aren’t going anywhere, so they don’t figure into our trade scenarios. The reasoning behind this isn’t so much that Dipoto would be unwilling to deal any player for the right price, but more to do with what has value for the Mariners vs. other teams. Say, for example, Tampa Bay decides they’re going full rebuild and put Chris Archer on the trade block. Even with mortgaging the future by giving up the names listed above, the Mariners would be easily outbid by another team with a deeper/better-regarded farm system. Which is most teams. Anything can happen (especially if the Mariners are willing to take on salary from a team trying to cut payroll), but the chance that Seattle is able to compete with another team for a highly desirable asset on prospect capital alone is very slim.
, although Dipoto has demonstrated that he’ll sell off anything that’s not nailed down,, so they don’t figure into our trade scenarios. The reasoning behind this isn’t so much that Dipoto would be unwilling to deal any player for the right price, but more to do with what has value for the Mariners vs. other teams. Say, for example, Tampa Bay decides they’re going full rebuild and put Chris Archer on the trade block. Even with mortgaging the future by giving up the names listed above, the Mariners would be easily outbid by another team with a deeper/better-regarded farm system. Which is most teams. Anything can happen (especially if the Mariners are willing to take on salary from a team trying to cut payroll), but the chance that Seattle is able to compete with another team for a highly desirable asset on prospect capital alone is very slim. This proposed plan operates within a specific, predicted payroll amount: The Mariners subtracted $39.7MM from 2017’s final payroll with the release of free agents Yonder Alonso, Jarrod Dyson, Evan Scribner, Carlos Ruiz, and Danny Valencia, plus the buyouts of Hisashi Iwakuma and Yovani Gallardo. While nothing has been stated with certainty, Drew Smyly is in line to make $6.8 million but in the absolute best case scenario will not return before the All-Star break next year. If he is non-tendered, that puts the total available money to return to 2017’s payroll at around $46MM. Additionally, ownership has said there is room to add payroll in 2018, although they’ve also expressed trepidation towards major individual signings in free agency. After the $10-12 million increase in arbitration salaries, we’ll operate under the conservative assumption that the Mariners have ~$30 -35 million with which to fill their vacancies and make additional improvements, and possibly a bit more.
The Mariners subtracted $39.7MM from 2017’s final payroll with the release of free agents Yonder Alonso, Jarrod Dyson, Evan Scribner, Carlos Ruiz, and Danny Valencia, plus the buyouts of Hisashi Iwakuma and Yovani Gallardo. While nothing has been stated with certainty, Drew Smyly is in line to make $6.8 million but in the absolute best case scenario will not return before the All-Star break next year. If he is non-tendered, that puts the total available money to return to 2017’s payroll at around $46MM. Additionally, ownership has said there is room to add payroll in 2018, although they’ve also expressed trepidation towards major individual signings in free agency. After the $10-12 million increase in arbitration salaries, with which to fill their vacancies and make additional improvements, and possibly a bit more. Finally, 90% of this plan will be irrelevant by Christmas. Nobody runs a great record with predicting offseason moves, and we’re not expecting this to work out as we outline below. What we’re laying out here is a theoretical framework: we will identify some areas of need, and then suggest a few possible routes to addressing said need, as well as examine the pros and cons of each approach and the likelihood it will actually happen. The names can (and will) be swapped in and out with other players of similar skillsets.
All those caveats aside, here is what the Mariners need to do in order to contend in 2018 and beyond, listed in order of importance. Since the plan is quite lengthy, we’ll be publishing it this week in segments: Starting Pitching, Position Players, Filling in the Edges (in which we’ll discuss depth and MiLB options), and a Final Overview.
General preliminary legwork:
Sign Shohei Ohtani:
Duh. This will be at the top of every single team’s wishlist this year. How much of a shot will the Mariners have at Ohtani? It depends on how much it matters to Ohtani to be a true two-way player. Is there a chance he goes to an NL team that lets him play OF? Possibly, although the NL clubs that have been linked to him--the Cubs and the Dodgers--don’t have enough space in their outfields for the players they do have. Is Ohtani really going to be taking starts from Ian Happ or Yasiel Puig? The Padres have invested heavily in establishing a presence in Japan, and they have space in their outfield, but they are also the Padres. The hottest competition is probably in the AL. The Yankees boast Ohtani’s countryman Masahiro Tanaka, and can sell themselves as contenders playing on one of baseball’s biggest stages. The Rangers have a pre-established relationship with Ohtani and a strong presence in Japan. If the Mariners can make a strong pitch, like the one Chris Cwik outlined here, they might have a shot. If the M’s somehow land Ohtani, print out this article, throw it in the garbage, and go have a beer.
Secure a fourth option for Marco Gonzales:
It’s not as sexy as the point above, but this will be valuable for Seattle as they attempt to emphasize versatility and flexibility on 2018’s roster. Marco should be eligible for a fourth option, available for players who are out of minor league options but have not spent more than 90 days on a professional roster (or a combination of 60 on the roster, plus 30 on the DL). Marco should meet these qualifications, which would offer the club some roster flexibility, and hopefully give Gonzales some time to work on that “third time through the order” problem he seems to have.
Non-tender and re-sign Drew Smyly:
Smyly is due to make $6.85MM in arbitration, which, even in a competitive starting pitching market, is an overpay for someone who most likely won’t throw a pitch in 2018. The Mariners should offer Smyly a good-faith deal of two years, $4-5MM; they could also offer a deal similar to what Nathan Eovaldi got from the Rays, a $2MM one-year deal with a club option for the year after plus incentives. Whatever they do, the Mariners, who have almost nothing in the way of MLB-ready starting pitching, should keep Smyly in-house and under the watchful eye of Dr. Martin and roll him out in late 2018/at the start of 2019, then go from there.
Pay the other arbitration-eligible players; offer deals to James Paxton and Mike Zunino:
Players eligible for arbitration, per MLB Trade Rumors:
David Phelps – $5.8MM
Andrew Romine – $1.9MM
Erasmo Ramirez – $4.7MM
Nick Vincent – $2.7MM
Mike Zunino – $3.2MM
James Paxton – $5.6MM
Shae Simmons – $700K
Phelps, depending on health, might command slightly less than that estimation; paying Andrew Romine $2MM to hang out in Tacoma is a tough bullet to swallow, but after Motter’s nosedive at the MLB level last year, might seem like a necessary evil. The Mariners should attempt to lock down their young talent in Mike Zunino and James Paxton to long-term contracts to buy out their first few eligible years of free agency; Paxton, a Boras client, almost certainly wouldn’t take an extension, but Zunino might reward the Mariners for gambling on his breakout year.
Step One: Improve Starting Pitching:
Excepting the Twins (9.9 fWAR), every team that made the playoffs got a contribution from their starting pitching of at least 15.9 fWAR. That would be a startling jump for the Mariners’ staff, whose 6.2 fWAR mark was sixth-worst in baseball. The staff needs to add at least 4-5 wins, hoping their powerful offense can help make up for some of those shortcomings. Even if the Mariners make a splash in free agency (which they will not), they’ll need the current staff to step up, as well. Where can these wins come from, in-house? James Paxton accrued 4.6 fWAR in limited action in 2017, and it’s not unrealistic to assume he could add to that total with a full healthy season, but that’s a big assumption (Steamer has him projected for just 3.8). A full year of Mike Leake—assuming he’s the Mike Leake we saw towards the end of the season—should add a win or two, and having some consistency in the rotation should help as well. The staff is also deeper, with Marco Gonzales and Andrew Moore preferable back-end options to Yovani Gallardo, Sam Gaviglio, and [spins wheel on Dial-A-Pitcher]... Dillon Overton! That still leaves at least about two to three wins to make up.
With Dipoto and the Mariners planning to ask less of their starters, perhaps we see more efficient work from guys who faced a severe penalty the third time through the order like Gonzales, Moore, Miranda, Max Povse, Andrew Albers literally everyone but Paxton, but that’s a lot of uncertainty to enter the season with. To bridge that gap, there are a few paths.
How to get there:
Scenario A:
Sign a top-tier free agent pitcher
Proposed route: Sign Yu Darvish to a six-year, $140MM deal
Scenario A - Starting Pitching Player IP ERA FIP fWAR Player IP ERA FIP fWAR 2017 Yu Darvish 186.2 3.86 3.83 3.5 2018 Yu Darvish (proj) 179.0 3.81 3.69 3.7 2017 Mariners SPs 870.2 4.70 4.98 6.2 2018 Mariners SPs (proj) 949.0 4.47 4.49 10.1
Note: All projections are derived from Steamer via Fangraphs unless otherwise stated
Rationale: The quickest way to make up a bunch of missing wins on your pitching staff is to sign a frontline pitcher who can singlehandedly account for a good chunk of said wins. Before it was announced he wouldn’t opt out of his contract, there was a good argument that Tanaka was actually the best FA pitcher available, as he ranks in the top ten of FA pitchers in all of the following categories: highest average velo, most strikeouts, fewest walks, best ground ball rates, and least hard contact. Unfortunately, Tanaka has opted to stick with the Yankees, taking the long-term money over the chance of testing his market this year, which leaves Darvish as the standalone appealing top-tier FA pitcher. With several fairly hefty deals coming off the books this offseason, the Mariners appear poised to make a play for at least one top tier free agent, should that be the route Jerry decides he wants to go. It’s certainly the route the majority of the fanbase wishes he would go.
Pros and cons of this approach: With Tanaka off the table, it’s pretty much Darvish or bust if the Mariners choose to go this way. In an era where the league’s pitching is being run rampant with torn UCL’s--there’s been 87 more documented Tommy John surgeries so far in 2017--any time you invest big money in starting pitching, there is inherent risk. Arrieta has appeal, but at age 31 he saw his average velocity lose two ticks across all his pitches this past year and a corresponding jump in the amount of hard contact he allowed. For the price he wants (which has been reported as high as 6 years/200MM), the Mariners should look elsewhere, even if he only ends up commanding half of that. It’s been noted that Arrieta and Darvish are of similar ages, and Darvish has a more significant injury history, having undergone Tommy John back in 2015; however, Yu has shown no signs of lingering ailments, having posted a 2.7 fWAR injury-shortened season and a 3.5 fWAR, 31-start season since his operation while maintaining velocity across his pitches. Johnny Cueto, a pitcher with similar performance levels to Darvish, signed a six-year, $130MM contract a couple years ago in San Francisco at a younger age and with a cleaner injury record, but Darvish would still make sense at a similar valuation. A bonus: netting Darvish would continue the streak of the Mariners having at least one active Japanese player, after the club declined Hisashi Iwakuma’s option. Acquiring Darvish might make Seattle a more attractive landing spot for other offseason targets, and in a perfect world, that would be Shohei Ohtani, who is a great admirer of Darvish. Darvish’s own fit merits pursuit, regardless of his relation to Ohtani or others.
Unfortunately, despite much of the fanbase hollering for starting pitching, Dipoto hasn’t shown a willingness to commit big money to a free agent yet, and his comments about the “wolfpack” seem to indicate that the team will rely less on ace-level pitching performances and more on a community effort. Despite LA’s lip service to getting under the luxury tax, it feels likely that they will offer Darvish a healthy deal that he’ll accept for another shot at a World Series, rendering Dipoto’s unwillingness to loosen the purse strings moot. Moreover, with Masahiro Tanaka and Johnny Cueto opting in to their contracts, Darvish is the biggest fish left in the pond, and his price could skyrocket out of both Seattle’s range and a range we’d want the Mariners to pay for him.
Scenario B:
Sign a second-tier starting pitcher to a significant, but not bank-breaking deal
Proposed route: Sign Lance Lynn to a four-year, $60MM deal; OR Alex Cobb to a four-year, $50MM deal; OR sign Tyler Chatwood to a three-year, $25MM deal.
Scenario B - Starting Pitching Player IP ERA FIP fWAR Player IP ERA FIP fWAR 2017 Lance Lynn 186.1 3.43 4.82 1.4 2018 Lance Lynn 150.0 4.67 4.73 1.3 2017 Alex Cobb 179.1 3.66 4.16 2.4 2018 Alex Cobb 133.0 4.41 4.35 1.7 2017 Tyler Chatwood 147.2 4.69 4.94 1.1 2018 Tyler Chatwood 128.0 4.32 4.39 1.6 2017 Jaime Garcia 157.0 4.41 4.25 2.1 2018 Jaime Garcia 168.0 4.27 4.30 2.2 2017 Mariners SPs 870.2 4.70 4.98 6.2 2018 Mariners SPs (proj) 949.0 4.47 4.49 10.1
Rationale: There’s an argument for lumping Lance Lynn in with the top-tier free agent pitchers. Lynn had a bad and injury-plagued year, but has otherwise decent numbers, and he’s actually a year younger than Darvish. Some speculated that St. Louis offloaded Mike Leake and his contract in order to be able to pay Lynn this off-season, but Lynn wasn’t too happy with the club for that at the time, and St. Louis is loaded with young pitching talent. Leake and Lynn have been almost equally valuable to the Cardinals over their careers, so it’s not hard to imagine Lynn, even with his health concerns, could command a deal similar to what Leake got (5/$80MM); however, MLB Trade Rumors predicts him to the Rangers for a 4-year, $56MM deal. Alex Cobb was recently offered a $17.4 million qualifying offer by the Tampa Bay Rays, but based on the relative dearth of FA starters it seems likely that Cobb will eschew that offer and pursue bigger money in free agency. Cobb is the same age as Lynn, with a similar injury history (Tommy John within months of each other in 2015), though his value is somewhat depressed by a slower start to the 2017 season. However, his numbers in the second half picked right back up to what they were pre-TJ, and he looks to command an offer on-par with Lynn. MLBTR predicts him at 4/$50MM. If that’s the going price for one of these pitchers, the Mariners should absolutely be in on that.
Then there’s the tier below Lynn and Cobb, which still boasts a couple of useful pitchers. Tyler Chatwood has the best ground ball rate of all the FA pitchers, the highest average fastball velocity, the most recent date on his birth certificate, and he ranks in the top ten for least hard contact allowed. His peripherals don’t look great--his FIP is meh, he doesn’t strike a lot of people out, and he walks way too many people--but it’d be interesting to see if he’d be willing to live more in the zone away from Coors. Chatwood has a good changeup that he’s spent the last five years working on and might find himself right at home with Marco, Andrew Moore, and Erasmo, all of whom feature plus changeups. He’s had TJ not once, but twice, which might depress his value, but he’s only 27 years old, and won’t cost as much as Cobb and Lynn will. He’s also a good fit for the org from a mental standpoint; an analytics-friendly pitcher, he looks at things like spin rate and is always willing to work to get better. Another name to consider at an even steeper discount is Jaime Garcia, who was worth 2.1 fWAR this year while pinging around baseball; his FIP has jumped into the mid-4s over the past couple years, but he induces lots of ground balls, and, despite an injury history, has been a workhorse the past two years, hurling over 300 innings combined.
Pros and cons of this approach: Again, signing another starting pitcher requires shifting Erasmo or Marco around, leaving one to wonder: are any of the pitchers in this tier actually better than them? Lynn and Cobb probably are, but maybe not relative to what they cost. Chatwood is interesting, but would be a gamble; this year, Chatwood only posted a slightly lower away FIP (4.79) than at home (5.11), but over his career, his FIP away from Coors is almost a full run lower. In all likelihood the Mariners will probably find Lynn and Cobb’s price too high, but might be willing to pull the trigger on Chatwood if the price is right. Garcia is a good back-up option if Chatwood’s market explodes, which it might.
Scenario C:
Sign a bounceback candidate pitcher
Proposed route: Sign Trevor Cahill to a one-year, $2-3MM deal; AND/OR sign Miguel Gonzalez to a one-year, $2-3MM deal
Scenario C - Starting Pitching Player IP ERA FIP fWAR Player IP ERA FIP fWAR 2017 Trevor Cahill 84.0 4.93 5.28 0.3 2018 Trevor Cahill 65.0 3.97 3.97 0.4 2017 Miguel Gonzalez 156.0 4.62 4.88 1.4 2018 Miguel Gonzalez 100.0 5.19 5.14 0.3 2017 Mariners SPs 870.2 4.70 4.98 6.2 2018 Mariners SPs (proj) 949.0 4.47 4.49 10.1
Rationale: Trevor Cahill has the third best strikeout rate among the FA pitchers—propped up largely by an insane 11.2 K/9 in the first half before hitting the DL—and the second-best ground ball rate, right behind Chatwood. He’s also in the top ten for limiting hard contact. Consistent injury problems have caused his numbers to be all over the map, however, and he finished the year after being traded to Kansas City working out of the bullpen. Miguel Gonzalez similarly posted solid numbers initially, then cratered after a trade deadline move. He doesn’t have Cahill’s strikeout stuff, (5.77 K/9 in 2017) but he’s still managed to range between a below-average to average starter for the last six years. If 33 year old Erasmo Ramirez gets you hyped, hop on the Gonzo-with-a-Z-train.
Another name to look at is Jhoulys Chacin, who had the second-best hard contact rate this year, kept the ball on the ground, and ran an almost-league-average strikeout rate on his way to posting his best fWAR since 2013. Those numbers might bump him into a two-year, double-digit signing, though, and the Mariners would be best served to avoid that.
Pros and cons of this approach: If a fourth option year can be secured for Marco, there are worse things than going for a cheaper version of Yovani Gallardo, with Erasmo (or Marco or Andrew Moore) there to step in if things go sideways. The key here is keeping things low-risk. They would have to feel strongly that whoever it was would represent an upgrade on their in-house options, but giving Andrew Moore time to develop more in Triple-A (and hopefully develop a putaway pitch) or allowing Marco more time to get up to speed as a starting pitcher while a pitcher-sponge gobbled innings isn’t the worst strategy. The M’s should have the payroll flexibility to make this happen; the bigger question here is whether they’ll be willing to do so.
Scenario D:
Do nothing. Run with the wolfpack. Awoooooo.
Rationale: This one is easier to stomach if you pretend they acquired Mike Leake this offseason. Even if Leake isn’t as dominant as he looked when he first came over (he finished the season at 3.1 fWAR, a career high), he’s never been worth less than 1.4 fWAR. If the Mariners do nothing else with starting pitching this offseason, just by acquiring Leake, they’ve already put themselves in a better position. With improved health, development, and luck, Seattle is already projected to add around four WAR to their rotation simply by showing up.
Pros and cons of this approach: The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t? Jerry Dipoto’s off-season comments, combined with his thus-far utter reluctance to wade into big money free agency, makes it unlikely that this FO will resort to overpaying to fix the rotation (relievers are a whole other story). Leaning aggressively into tandem starts and more liberal usage of long relievers could allow the “starting pitchers” to maximize their stuff in shorter outings, but also demands a significant amount of buy-in from players at the MLB, AAA, and AA levels at minimum. Pragmatically, this approach saves the Mariners money they could use to fix first base, where the free agent class is much deeper, as well as the outfield.
LL’s preferred option:
Scenario B
Rationale: Collecting Lance Lynn to complete our set of ex-Cardinals pitchers sounds appealing; however, both he and Cobb will likely find themselves with big paydays in a market stretched thin for pitching. Tyler Chatwood is a gamble but could be a sneaky-great pickup, if another team doesn’t hand him an outsize contract, which a team like the Cubs might. After years of pitching in Coors, however, maybe the California native would enjoy a chance to play half his home games at a freshly-sodded Safeco. Garcia’s injury history is far from clean, but he can be an league-average pitcher and heaven knows the Mariners shouldn’t turn their nose up at those if the price is right. With the organization emphasizing shorter starts to maximize quality, perhaps they can minimize injury risk as well.
What will actually happen: A combination of Scenarios C and D. The Mariners will likely find themselves priced out of the market for Lynn or Cobb and maybe even Chatwood. Maybe they’ll take a flier on Cahill or Garcia if the price is right. The key here is to pretend the Mariners acquired Mike Leake this off-season, which would look like a major coup in the current market.
By the Numbers:
The Mariners are projected by Steamer to enjoy a big bump in starting pitching already, from 6.2 fWAR to 10.1. That’s a bit deceptive though, as much of the “improvement” comes from a projected ~80 more innings being pitched, and only marginally improved results. Adding a FA from the Lynn/Cobb/Chatwood tier could net them an additional 1-2 wins that would push them closer to the marks of the playoff teams from this year, but only signing Darvish will significantly move the needle, a scenario that feels improbable. That’s not enough of a payoff to justify the big contracts Lynn and his ilk will collect in a thin pitching market, and the Mariners will be well-served to allocate their free agent dollars to filling holes at first base and in the outfield.
*
So that’s it for Part One. Feel free to drop your own ideas in the comments, but later in the week we’ll be posting a Fanpost Challenge for you to make your own off-season plans, so you might want to hoard your TOP SEKRIT IDEAS to yourselves. This series/story stream will remained pinned somewhere on the front page for the rest of the offseason. Tomorrow, tune in for Part II: Position Players.Eating genetically modified corn (GMO corn) has caused rats to develop horrifying tumors, widespread organ damage, and premature death. That's the conclusion of a shocking new study that looked at the long-term effects of consuming Monsanto's genetically modified corn. The study was published in The Food & Chemical Toxicology Journal and was just presented at a news conference in London.
The study has been deemed "the most thorough research ever published into the health effects of GMO food crops and the herbicide Roundup on rats." News of the horrifying findings is spreading fast, with even the mainstream media in shock over the photos of rats with multiple grotesque tumors; tumors so large the rats even had difficulty breathing in some cases. GMOs may be the new thalidomide.
"Monsanto Roundup weedkiller and GMO maize implicated in'shocking' new cancer study" wrote The Grocery, a popular UK publication.
It reported, "Scientists found that rats exposed to even the smallest amounts, developed mammary tumors and severe liver and kidney damage as early as four months in males, and seven months for females."
The Daily Mail reported, "Fresh row over GMO foods as French study claims rats fed the controversial crops suffered tumors."
It goes on to say: "The animals on the GMO diet suffered mammary tumors, as well as severe liver and kidney damage. The researchers said 50 percent of males and 70 percent of females died prematurely, compared with only 30 percent and 20 percent in the control group."
The Study
The study, led by Gilles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen, was the first ever study to examine the long-term (lifetime) effects of eating GMOs.
You may find yourself thinking it is absolutely astonishing that no such studies were ever conducted before GMO corn was approved for widespread use by the USDA and FDA, but such is the power of corporate lobbying and corporate greed.
Findings From The Study
Here are some of the shocking findings from the study:
Up to 50% of males and 70% of females suffered premature death.
Rats that drank trace amounts of Roundup (at levels legally allowed in the water supply) had a 200% to 300% increase in large tumors.
Rats fed GMO corn and traces of Roundup suffered severe organ damage including liver damage and kidney damage.
The study fed these rats NK603, the Monsanto variety of GMO corn that's grown across North America and widely fed to animals and humans. This is the same corn that's in your corn-based breakfast cereal, corn tortillas and corn snack chips.
The UK's Daily Mail is reporting on some of the reaction to the findings
France's Jose Bove, vice-chairman of the European Parliament's commission for agriculture and known as a fierce opponent of GMO, called for an immediate suspension of all EU cultivation and import authorisations of GMO crops. 'This study finally shows we are right and that it is urgent to quickly review all GMO evaluation processes,' he said in a statement. 'National and European food security agencies must carry out new studies financed by public funding to guarantee healthy food for European consumers.'
Our analysis clearly reveals for the 3 GMOs new side effects linked with GMO maize consumption, which were sex- and often dose-dependent. Effects were mostly associated with the kidney and liver, the dietary detoxifying organs, although different between the 3 GMOs. Other effects were also noticed in the heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system.
We conclude that these data highlight signs of hepatorenal toxicity, possibly due to the new pesticides specific to each GMO corn. In addition, unintended direct or indirect metabolic consequences of the genetic modification cannot be excluded.
Here Are Some Quotes From The Researchers About The Findings
"This research shows an extraordinary number of tumors developing earlier and more aggressively - particularly in female animals. I am shocked by the extreme negative health impacts." - Dr Michael Antoniou, molecular biologist, King's College London.
"We can expect that the consumption of GMO maize and the herbicide Roundup, impacts seriously on human health." - Dr Antoniou.
"This is the first time that a long-term animal feeding trial has examined the impact of feeding GMO corn or the herbicide Roundup, or a combination of both and the results are extremely serious. In the male rats, there was liver and kidney disorders, including tumors and even more worryingly, in the female rats, there were mammary tumors at a level which is extremely concerning; up to 80 percent of the female rats had mammary tumors by the end of the trial." - Patrick Holden, Director, Sustainable Food Trust.
The Study Abstract Can Be Read Here
The study is entitled, "A Comparison of the Effects of Three GM Corn Varieties on Mammalian Health." and the abstract can be read here:
http://www.biolsci.org/v05p0706.htmRussian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday defended his decision to resurrect a deal to sell missiles to Iran, saying it increases security in light of the conflict in Yemen.
"Under the present conditions in the region, especially regarding events in Yemen, such arms supplies are a deterrent," he said during his annual television call-in show about the deal to sell S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Iran.
Saudi Arabia and eight fellow Sunni Arab countries are waging an air campaign in Yemen after advances by the mainly Shi'ite Houthi rebel movement forced President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi to flee the country. The Saudis have accused Shi'ite Iran of aiding the Houthis. Both Tehran and the Houthis have denied the accusation.
Putin claimed that U.S. arms deliveries to the Middle East far exceeded Russia's.
He reiterated his argument that the missiles are purely defensive weapons. "This does not threaten Israel in any way," he said.
Israel has charged that the missile deal will embolden Iran to support extremist groups and further undermine stability in the Middle East.
The United States and the European Union have also voiced concern over the deal.
Putin repeated Moscow's line that the missile deal is a goodwill gesture after Iran reached a framework agreement on its nuclear programs this month with the five members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.
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
"We need to support our Iranian partners in keeping on the path of cooperation," he said.
The president also stressed that Russia had strong financial interests in the missile deal, saying it is worth about 900 million dollars.People look at handguns and other items during The Nation's Gun Show at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, Va., on Oct. 3. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Few topics stir more controversy in this country than guns. Mass shootings and urban gun violence inflame public passions. Gun control measures divide our political leaders, and elections often hinge on candidates' views of guns.
I struggle with issues related to firearms every day, but in a different way. To me, it's not about politics or elections. It's part of my daily job. As a mental health provider, I have to ask all my patients about guns.
I spend many of my days and nights caring for patients with psychiatric crises in emergency departments. We address a variety of clinical problems, from hallucinations to delusions to addiction. Suicidality is one of the more common ones. Too often, patients want to hurt themselves or have already tried to do so.
So why do I ask about guns?
Because when I think about how patients might harm themselves, guns frighten me the most. As a resident physician in psychiatry, I see some pretty terrible things. Suicidal patients talk about hanging themselves, overdosing, throwing themselves into traffic, and a host of other awful ways to end their lives.
But when I hear that a patient owns a gun, it gives me extra pause.
No, I'm not creating a registry. No, I don't care if they're members of the National Rifle Association. I don't claim to know the right balance between gun control and personal freedom. I just want my patients to be safe.
When it comes to suicide, guns matter. In a column published by Newsweek last year, writer Mike Mariani sums up why:
"The problem is that firearms are frighteningly lethal. The most common method of attempting suicide, overdosing on drugs, has a completion rate of just 3 percent (in other words, 97 percent of attempters survive). Gun suicide, by comparison, has a completion rate of 85 percent. This is surely gun violence at its most virulent — Berettas and Glock 17s crystallizing passing impulses into something horrifically permanent...."
Research further supports this link. A 2007 study found states with the highest household gun ownership have roughly double the number of suicides compared with states with the fewest household guns. While gun owners are no more likely to have mental health issues than those without guns, access to a gun means acting out on suicidal thoughts has more deadly consequences. As written in a 2008 article in the New England Journal of Medicine, "a suicide attempt with a firearm rarely affords a second chance."
Suicide risk isn't the only reason I ask about guns. Sometimes, patients threaten to harm other people as well. In these circumstances, we have to assess the seriousness of these statements and risk factors for violence, including access to weapons.
In the media, mental illness is a common scapegoat for gun violence. But the reality isn't that simple. In a column for the Atlantic earlier this year, writer Julie Beck points out "the overwhelming majority of people with mental illnesses are not violent, just like the overwhelming majority of all people are not violent." Actually, a 2005 study found adults with severe mental illness are more than 11 times more likely to be victims of violence than adults in the general population.
Indeed the specter of suicide, rather than homicide, haunts me most often in my daily work. Each year in the United States, there are nearly twice as many suicides by guns than homicides by guns, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yet public perceptions of gun violence rarely associate with a person alone at home, desperate, in need of medical help.
So if my colleagues and I evaluate a patient who owns a gun and wants to self-harm, or more rarely harm others, what do we do?
We can pursue a range of options, from handing out gun locks to requesting family or friends temporarily hold onto firearms to asking that local police to perform a welfare check at the patient's home. In extreme cases, if patients pose an imminent risk to themselves or others because of mental illness, we can place them on a legal hold to evaluate them in the hospital for up to 72 hours.
These approaches hinge on the concept of lethal means reduction. By temporarily limiting patients' access to guns and other dangerous instruments, like sharp objects or pills, we hope to protect them from transitory suicidal or homicidal impulses. A large body of research supports the efficacy of these prevention measures, particularly in reducing rates of suicide.
Unfortunately, the politics of guns sometimes affect patient care. In 2011, lawmakers in Florida passed a law to curtail physicians from talking to patients about guns, and similar bills have popped up in states from North Carolina to Oklahoma to Minnesota. Over the last two |
ably the Gothia Cup, Dana Cup and Norway Cup) and the running group compete in races all over the Middle East. The Little League Baseball team from Dhahran qualified for the Little League World Series in 1983, 1985, 1987–1989, 1991, 1994–1998, and 2000–2011.[5]
More information [ edit ]
The following text has been adapted from Aramco's relocation and orientation guide for new employees.
The community of Dhahran is composed of two sections: Dhahran main camp and Dhahran Hills. These two sections are separated by Dhahran's 18-hole Rolling Hills golf course and club house. The term 'camp' has stuck with Dhahran and the other communities, since its early development in the 1930s and 1940s. However, in reality, Dhahran is a community with tree-lined streets, stone houses and grass lawns.
Dhahran main camp is located at the site of the original Dhahran camp and contains the administration complex, health center, dental clinic, dining hall, library and theatre. The community's Al Mujamma service center is a mall-type complex which houses the mail center, barber shop, travel office, photo shop, laundry, dry cleaners, housing office, community bulletin boards and ticket office for community events. The supermarket and florist are adjacent to Al Mujamma, as is the bank. The Dhahran dining hall is also on the main camp, not far from Al Mujamma.
There are two recreation complexes on the main camp. One complex is next to the middle school and includes a youth center, swimming pool, gym, tennis courts, squash courts and games fields. The other is situated near the community library. Included in this complex is the bowling alley, movie theatre, games room and dance hall.
Most homes in the main camp are constructed of brick or fieldstone, and many have undergone recent modernisation. There are also some newer, modular homes in this area. The gardens and landscaped areas of these homes are surprisingly green with large shade trees and flowering bougainvillea and oleanders.
Dhahran Hills, which is mostly residential, is located about 2 miles west of Dhahran main camp, just beyond the community's golf course. Most houses in the hills were constructed in the early 80s. The Dhahran Hills school, for kids aged 5–10, is located in the hills. Adjacent to the school is a large community recreation center similar to the ones in the main camp.
Dhahran also has a hobby farm (horse stables), bicycle and jogging paths, and a rugby field.
Dhahran's marina and adjoining beach facility are at Half Moon Bay, a small inlet of the Persian Gulf. It is 25 minutes from the community of Dhahran. Sailing, fishing and water-skiing facilities are available.
Al-Munirah is a compound in Dhahran but outside the main camp and the Hills, it is designated for junior staff (as Dhahran Hills and the Main Camp are for senior staff and their families). Ar-Rabiyah, a compound that is "attached" to Dhahran, is exclusively reserved for company executives and their families. Ar-Rabiyah is also considered one of the classiest compounds in the whole region, even being referred to as the "Golden Ghetto" (a name also used to describe Beverly Hills, an exclusive neighborhood of Los Angeles, California).
Dhahran in film and TV [ edit ]
HOME-The Aramco Brats' Story : a movie that gives a glimpse, for the first time ever, into expatriate life within Dhahran and other Aramco camps in Saudi Arabia through the eyes of its children - the Aramco Brats'. To be aired on PBS, Discovery Channel, History Channel and Arabian Networks
: a movie that gives a glimpse, for the first time ever, into expatriate life within Dhahran and other Aramco camps in Saudi Arabia through the eyes of its children - the Aramco Brats'. To be aired on PBS, Discovery Channel, History Channel and Arabian Networks The West Wing : In one episode, the story plot was picketers outside the Aramco camp of Dhahran.
: In one episode, the story plot was picketers outside the Aramco camp of Dhahran. CNN: A report about the Dhahran compound was aired.
In 1998 after the kidnapping and murder of Matthew Shepard, a Wyoming college student, the major American news networks would occasionally mention that the student's parents lived in Dhahran and worked for Saudi Aramco. In 2002 a made-for-TV movie “The Matthew Shepard Story” was produced by the US-based TV company, NBC.
In 2007 the movie "The Kingdom" was released in theaters in America. The story is about the investigation by the FBI of a bombing of a Western compound in Riyadh, though many have noticed superficial similarities to the ARAMCO compound of Dhahran.
Images [ edit ]
Rolling Hills Country Club House
Near golf course, Dhahran Hills
Rolling Hills Putting Area
References [ edit ]
Coordinates:PASADENA, Calif.—NBC is funding an initiative to create musical theater programs in U.S. schools in need of arts education.
The network said Friday the effort to launch stand-alone musical theater programs will begin this month with a pilot group of 20 schools nationwide. NBC is joined on the Make a Musical project by iTheatrics, which adapts musicals for student productions and provides tools for teacher training.
The nonprofit iTheatrics' Junior Theater Project aims to begin another 180 programs this fall, building toward a 2014 goal of 1,000 school programs reaching 1 million students, NBC said. Schools may apply for the fall program at the website makeamusical.org starting Friday.
NBC declined to put a funding amount on the initiative.
The Make a Musical project has another goal: NBC said it "celebrates" the network's upcoming series "Smash," a Broadway-set drama that premieres Feb. 6 and stars Debra Messing, Katharine McPhee ("American Idol") and Anjelica Huston. Its executive producers include Steven Spielberg.
"`Smash' centers around a group of people working to be part of a Broadway musical," said NBC executive Len Fogge. "It's only fitting that NBC play a role to further empower students and teachers to discover the thrill of one of America's most unique art forms through the process of creating their own musical theater programs."
The pilot programs are in cities including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Houston, Nashville, Tenn., and Seattle, with specific schools to be announced Jan. 15, NBC said.
Other such initiatives have successfully developed self-sustaining arts programs, including the New York City Department of Education's Shubert Foundation-Music Theatre International Broadway Junior Project, which started in 2005 and has created 50 musical theater programs in New York middle schools, NBC said in its announcement at a Television Critics Association meeting.
------
Online:
© Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.Looking for news you can trust?
Subscribe to our free newsletters.
Update, 3/20/15: Wine industry groups have begun to contest the lawsuit’s contentions and motive. The California wine trade group, the Wine Institute, released a statement saying, “While there are no established limits in the U.S., several countries, including the European Union, have established limits of 100 parts per billion or higher for wine. California wine exports are tested by these governments and are below the established limits.” A representative of The Wine Group, one of the defendants, says that the plaintiffs “decided to file a complaint based on misleading and selective information in order to defame responsible California winemakers, create unnecessary fear, and distort and deceive the public for their own financial gain.”
Before you go out drinking tonight, a quick note on cheap wine: Yesterday, a class-action lawsuit was filed against 28 California wineries—including the creators of Trader Joes’ Charles Shaw (a.k.a. “Two-Buck Chuck”), Sutter Home’s, and Franzia, Beringer, and Cupcake—alleging that some varietals of their wines contain dangerously high levels of arsenic. According to the complaint, three independent laboratories tested the wines and found that some contained levels of arsenic “up to 500% or more than what is what is considered the maximum acceptable safe daily intake limit. Put differently, just a glass or two of these arsenic-contaminated wines a day over time could result in dangerous arsenic toxicity to the consumer.”
“The lower the price of wine on a per-liter basis, the higher the amount of arsenic.”
The origins of the lawsuit draw back to Kevin Hicks, a former wine distributor who started BeverageGrades, a Denver-based lab that analyzes wine. The lab tested 1,300 bottles of California wine, and found that about a quarter of them had higher levels of arsenic than the maximum limit that the Environmental Protection Agency allows in water. Hicks noticed a trend: As he told CBS, “The lower the price of wine on a per-liter basis, the higher the amount of arsenic.” Trader Joe’s Charles Shaw White Zinfandel came in at three times the EPA’s level, while Franzia’s White Grenache was five times higher. The lawsuit alleges that the contaminated wines are cheaper in part because their producers don’t “implement the proper methods and processes to reduce inorganic arsenic.”
A spokesperson for The Wine Group, one of the defendants, says that it’s not “accurate or responsible to use the water standard as the baseline,” as people drink more water than wine. But water is the only beverage with an arsenic baseline that is monitored by the US government, and the defendants stress that the chemical is toxic even in small doses, and is known to cause cancer and “contributes to a host of other debilitating/fatal diseases.”
Trader Joe’s told CBS that “the concerns raised in your inquiry are serious and are being treated as such. We are investigating the matter with several of our wine producing suppliers.” A spokesperson for Treasury Wine Estates, another defendant, said that its “brands are fully compliant with all relevant federal and state guidelines.”
Whether or not you should be worried about the allegations is up in the air, particularly as the lawsuit has yet to go before a judge or jury. But in the meantime, here’s a list of wines that are included in the lawsuit. (Note: Any wines without a specific year listed mean that the grapes don’t come from a single year.)The Department of Justice Office of Inspector General found no problem with an FBI policy permitting agents to pose as journalists. Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images
FBI agents may impersonate journalists while conducting undercover investigations, and an agent who posed as an editor with the Associated Press during a 2007 investigation did not violate agency policies, the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General found in a report released Thursday.
The conclusion sparked consternation across social media by journalists, civil rights groups and some legal experts, who have argued that the practice – by its very existence – threatens to heighten public mistrust of reporters, damage journalists' credibility and have a chilling effect on sources and whistleblowers who may fear that their contacts in the media are actually undercover agents.
"The Associated Press is deeply disappointed by the Inspector General’s findings, which effectively condone the FBI’s impersonation of an AP journalist in 2007," Associated Press Vice President Paul Colford said in a statement. "Such action compromises the ability of a free press to gather the news safely and effectively and raises serious constitutional concerns."
The inspector general's report acknowledged that the practice calls for "a higher level of approval" by FBI supervisors than was in place in 2007. Policies on impersonating journalists at the time were "less than clear," it found. However, a new interim policy adopted this June – one that permits agents to pose as journalists so long as they get approval from two high-ranking officials and an undercover review committee at headquarters – meets that requirement.
"We believe the new interim policy on undercover activities that involve FBI employees posing as members of the news media is a significant improvement to FBI policies that existed," the inspector general wrote in the 26-page report.
The Associated Press and the American Civil Liberties Union, however, maintain the new measures are insufficient.
"The FBI guidelines adopted in 2016 in response to this incident still permit the FBI to impersonate news organizations and other third parties without their consent in certain cases, and fail to address the host of other dangers associated with FBI hacking," ACLU legislative counsel Neema Singh Guliani sad in a statement.
The review stemmed from a June 2007 investigation into a series of bomb threats sent by email to Timberline High School outside Seattle. The emails sparked repeated evacuations over the course of a week. The culprit, later found to be a 15-year-old student, masked his location by using proxy servers, and local law enforcement ultimately appealed to the FBI for help.
An agent with the FBI's cybercrime task force, posing as an editor for the Associated Press, contacted the suspect by email, eventually sending the teen fake news articles and photographs that hid a trace program: As soon as the boy clicked one of the photos, his location was revealed to agents. He confessed shortly after his arrest, and he pleaded guilty July 18.
It wasn't until seven years later that the FBI's methods were revealed: Christopher Soghoian, an activist and principal technologist at the ACLU, and previously a technologist at the Federal Trade Commission, tweeted a link in October 2014 to internal documents posted to the website of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which had been obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request in 2011. Buried on pages 61 and 62 were apparent copies of fake Seattle Times news stories the agents were then planning to email.
The Seattle Times broke the story that day. It soon spread nationwide. The Associated Press sent a letter to then-Attorney General Eric Holder, protesting the method. Other newspapers also expressed concern, joined by groups like the Committee to Protect Journalists and the ACLU.
FBI Director James Comey has previously called the practice "lawful and, in a rare case, appropriate:"
"That technique was proper and appropriate under Justice Department and FBI guidelines at the time," he wrote in a New York Times op-ed in November 2014. "Every undercover operation involves 'deception,' which has long been a critical tool in fighting crime. The FBI’s use of such techniques is subject to close oversight, both internally and by the courts that review our work."
Updated on Sept. 15, 2016 : This story has been updated to include comments from the Associated Press and ACLU.Ripple and several other companies working in the online world aim to fix that with a technology known by the yawn-producing term “distributed ledger.”
Its possibilities are anything but dull, however: Mr. Larsen imagines that the technology could go far beyond accommodating financial transactions among people and eventually enable self-driving cars to pay for tolls, parking and fuel without the help of humans. Home energy meters with ledgers might buy different sources of energy. Jet engines could record the installation of new parts and pay for maintenance on the spot.
Like many things in tech, a distributed ledger is a seemingly complex idea that is actually built on a very simple one.
Since the dawn of record-keeping, ledgers have been where receipts and disbursements of cash and goods are recorded. If you buy a sandwich at a deli, for example, several ledgers come into play. The money you carry to pay for it registers a slight deduction on your personal ledger. The deli owner’s ledger records a gain in one place and in another a payment for the ham it bought from a supplier. A ledger at the bank records the deposit it receives from the deli owner.
In a world where every business has its own books, payments tend to stop and start between different ledgers. An overseas transfer leaves the ledger of one business, then goes on another ledger at a domestic bank. It then might hit the ledger of a bank in the international transfer system. It travels to another bank in the foreign country, before ending up on the ledger of the company being paid.The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is searching for a boater who went missing Sunday afternoon.
MCSO says around 3:30 p.m. Sunday, a group of people that had rented a boat to swim near the Fireman’s Cove area noticed that 24-year-old Chintan Shah had disappeared. The group boated up and down the area, and eventually went back to the marina to get help from MCSO.
Shah was with a group of seven people believed to be medical students out to enjoy their holiday weekend.
“We’re hoping it doesn’t turn into a recovery mission, but right now we’re trying to exhaust every means. We’re using sonar to see if we can look down, and if we do get more information or possibly a recovery, we’ll actually put our divers in the water," MCSO Detective Doug Matteson said.
Deputies do not believe that alcohol was involved. Shah knows how to swim, but was not wearing a life jacket.
“You kind of get all caught up and stuff, [and] you got to just keep your head on straight. You’re supposed to be here for a good time, and when something tragic happens on a holiday, you never want to hear something like that," boater Russell Grossman said.
Matteson said deputies have contacted Shah's family and friends, and no one has heard from him.
However, a psychic is offering some reassurance about Shah's condition.
"He made it out of the water," psychic Saron Venge said. " He's seen the helicopter...the helicopter did not see him. The last thing I got that was so prominent is that he took off his shorts and was waving them."
And just like Venge, Shah's father, Anant Shah, isn't giving up hope either.
"Chintan was a dreamer and we still believe that he is alive somewhere," Anant said. "We just don't know where and are hoping and praying we can find him."
The search was suspended at 10 p.m. on Tuesday and it's unknown if it's expected to resume on Wednesday.
Officials told ABC15 a drowning call at the lake on Sunday is connected to Shah's disappearance. Peoria firefighters responded and searched the area, but could not find anyone who knew about the call or of a victim in the area.TALLAHASSEE — Florida will pay $1.1 million in legal fees to attorneys who challenged a controversial state law that sought to prevent doctors from asking patients about guns, a group representing opponents said Monday.
The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence announced the legal fee agreement more than five months after a federal appeals court sided with doctors and medical groups in striking down key parts of the 2011 law — which became known as the "docs vs. glocks" law. The state did not appeal the Feb. 16 decision by the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
A copy of the legal fee agreement had not been posted in an online court file Monday morning. But documents indicate the state and the law's opponents had been in mediation on the fees.
The law, which was backed by groups such as the National Rifle Association, included a series of restrictions on doctors and health providers. For example, it sought to prevent physicians from entering information about gun ownership into medical records if the physicians knew the information was not "relevant" to patients' medical care or safety or to the safety of other people.
Also, the law said doctors should refrain from asking about gun ownership by patients or family members unless the doctors believed in "good faith" that the information was relevant to medical care or safety. Also, the law sought to prevent doctors from discriminating against patients or "harassing" them because of owning firearms.
Opponents argued, in part, that the law violated free speech rights. The full appeals court found that the record keeping, inquiry and anti-harassment parts of the law were unconstitutional, but upheld the portion of the law that bars doctors from discriminating against patients who have guns.
"Legislators across the country should learn from Florida's example that if you side with the corporate gun lobby instead of your constituents, you endanger the safety of children and families, impinge upon First Amendment rights of doctors, and force taxpayers to pay millions to unsuccessfully defend unconstitutional laws," Jonathan Lowy, director of the Brady Center's Legal Action Project and an attorney in the case, said in a statement Monday.
"Thankfully, in this case justice prevailed and the court recognized that doctors have a First Amendment right to tell the truth about guns, and the risks they can pose to children and families."
When asked for comment Monday about the legal fees, John Tupps, a spokesman for Gov. Rick Scott, said in an email that Scott signed the 2011 law after it "was approved by a large, bipartisan majority in the Florida Legislature."
"Gov. Scott is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment," Tupps said. "Much of this law was either never challenged or upheld in court. This (legal fees) settlement is in accordance with Florida law and a recommendation from the Department of Financial Services."
The challenge to the law was filed in June 2011 and played out over nearly six years. A U.S. District Court judge blocked the law from taking effect, but a three-judge panel of the appeals court upheld the law in three rulings before the full appeals court agreed to take up the case.
Supporters of the law said it was necessary to prevent doctors, such as pediatricians, from harassing and discriminating against patients and parents about gun ownership. They also described the law, formally known as the Firearm Owners' Privacy Act, as a Second Amendment issue.
But Douglas Hallward-Driemeier, an attorney with the firm Ropes & Gray, who argued the case for the plaintiffs, said in a statement Monday that the case allows doctors to "go back to giving their best advice to patients when it comes to gun safety."
"From day one in bringing this case, our commitment has been to protect doctors' First Amendment rights to ensure the safety of individuals, families and communities in Florida," Hallward-Driemeier said. "The successful resolution of the litigation and subsequent fees and costs award are both critical to furthering that goal."Why Do Our Minds Wander?
Getty Images
Sometimes the mind wanders. Thoughts pop into consciousness. Ideas or images are present when just a moment before they were not. Scientists recently have been turning their attention to making sense of this.
One natural picture of the phenomenon goes something like this. Typically, our thoughts and feelings are shaped by what we are doing, by what there is around us. The world captures our attention and compels our minds this way or that. What explains the fact that you think of a red car when there is a red car in front of you is, well, the red car. And similarly, it is that loud noise that causes you to orient yourself to the commotion that is producing it. In such cases, we might say, the mind is coupled to the world around it and the world, in a way, plays us the way a person might play a piano.
But sometimes, even without going to sleep, we turn away from the world. We turn inward. We are contemplative or detached. We decouple ourselves from the environment and we are set free, as it were, to let our minds play themselves.
This natural picture has gained some support from the discovery of the so-called Default Mode Network. The DMN is a network of neural systems whose activation seems to be suppressed by active engagement with the world around us; DMN, in contrast, is activated (or rather, it tends to return to baseline levels of activity) precisely when we detach ourselves from what's going on around us. The DMN is the brain running in neutral.
One of the leading hypotheses to explain mind-wandering and the emergence of spontaneous thoughts is that this is the result of the operation of the brain's Default Mode Network. (See this for a review of this literature.)
A study published in April in the journal NeuroImage by Melissa Ellamil and her colleagues at the University of British Columbia, working in the laboratory of Kalina Christoff, provides evidence that challenges certain aspects of this DMN account. For one thing, she found, using fMRI, that there are neural systems (e.g., the posterior insula) activated just prior to the occurrence of spontaneous thoughts that are outside of the DMN. But she also noticed that some of the areas in DMN activated — for example the hypocampus — are associated with memory and attention. This is intriguing, as it puts pressure on the idea that mind-wandering is quite so passive, or as much a matter of withdrawing from the world, as some scientists have been inclined to support. Even spontaneous free thoughts arise out of memory and experience, it would seem. We are still very much engaged with the world, coupled to it, even when we are simply letting our minds wander.
But to my mind, the real interest — and the potential controversy — of Ellamil's work, has to do with a methodological innovation she undertook to enable her to investigate the neural signatures of the arising of spontaneous thought. It turns out that it isn't easy to find out when thoughts, feelings, images just pop into mind. Ordinary people, it is widely supposed, are not very good at monitoring their own free and undirected mental processes. So how can a scientist gather information about what's going on in the mind of a subject so as to be able to look further at what neural events and processes are, as they say, recruited by those happenings?
Ellamil's solution — and here she draws on what is called "neurophenomenology," which was first developed by the late Chilean neurobiologist Francisco Varela and his colleague, the philosopher Evan Thompson, who is also a co-author on the present study — is to use highly skilled practitioners of Vipassana mindfulness meditation as subjects. This particular style of meditation cultivates, or so it is claimed, precisely the ability notice the coming and going of thoughts and feelings. The idea, then, is that we can use what the meditators say to determine when thoughts arise, as well as what kinds of thoughts they are; on the basis of this data, we can try to figure out how the brain makes it all happen.
What makes these results tricky, it seems to me, is that we don't actually have any reason to believe that the Vipassana meditators do what they say — that is, reliably tell us what is going on in their minds.
The thought that a thought is arising is just another thought that arises. We can't get outside of thought, so to speak, to watch thought happen. At least not in the way that we can stand back and describe what is going on in front us.
Or can we? To do that, we would need to have some kind of access to what is going on in our internal landscape separately from our inclinations to say this or that, or think and feel this or that. But we have no such independent access.
Does the Vipassana meditator have a more reliable and more accurate awareness of his or her own experience? Are they therefore reliable instruments for letting us in on the contents of their own consciousness minds? Or are they just having their own, maybe distinct, maybe not so distinct, consciousness experiences? How would we decide?
This is an unresolved issue. The confidence of the meditators themselves does nothing to help us resolve it.
The point is not that there's anything wrong with mindfulness practices of this sort. I am quite prepared to think that Vipassana meditation is a beautiful and transformative practice, one entirely deserving of our interest and perhaps also our admiration.
But there is no reason to think that what such meditators do is better track independently existing real events in consciousness — and this is because we have no reason think that this picture of introspective self-awareness is even intelligible.
Alva Noë is a philosopher at the University of California, Berkeley, where he writes and teaches about perception, consciousness and art. He is the author of several books, including his latest, Strange Tools: Art and Human Nature (Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2015). You can keep up with more of what Alva is thinking on Facebook and on Twitter: @alvanoeby Jose Villa, Columnist, December 1, 2011
Use of cell phones is second nature among U.S. Hispanics. It seems built upon this group’s cultural affinity for close connections. I would even venture to say that for many Hispanics, across age groups and acculturation levels, mobile is the first – and often the only – way they experience the Web. For recent immigrants to young second or third generation U.S.-born Hispanics, the mobile Web IS the Internet. Considering that Hispanics are the fastest growing demographic group in the U.S., and their purchasing power is expected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2015 (source: Packaged Facts, 2010). Understanding how to reach them via mobile devices will increasingly define which brands connect with this coveted group, and how they engage them successfully.
Everyone knows that Hispanics are heavy mobile users, but…
We have all seen multiple charts and statistics showing Hispanics are at the forefront of mobile device adoption and usage. We are aware they have the highest penetration for mobile phones (eMarketer, 2011), they over-index on smartphone adoption (Nielsen, 2011), and they are more likely – vs. the general market – to use their mobile device to download music, play games, and access social networking sites (Scarborough, 2010). Unfortunately, most of the research out there regarding Hispanics and mobile technology focuses on basic penetration and usage data.
advertisement advertisement
While this is great for establishing that an opportunity exists to reach Hispanics via mobile, it does little to provide actionable insights to help marketers leverage this channel to integrate mobile to their marketing mix to connect with this segment. So the question remains: how should a consumer packaged good brand target Hispanics via mobile? How should a major retailer take advantage of the millions of Hispanic customers with smartphones in hand entering their stores daily? There is very little to go on, other than making sure your existing Hispanic (digital) marketing is mobile-friendly.
More and deeper data is needed. We would all benefit from insightful, well-conducted field qualitative research, which would provide a better understanding of U.S. Hispanic mobile users’ needs – for information and interaction – as well as the underlying psychographics.
A good place to start: In-store retail
At any given moment, 45 percent of Hispanic shoppers at any retail location have their smartphone with them (Nielsen, 2011). A good place to start learning more would be to explore in-store mobile engagement. More specifically, identify opportunities for retailers to connect with Hispanic shoppers through innovative, mobile-driven experiences in stores. Considering the fact Hispanics’ discretionary spending surpassed $129 billion in 2010 (Experian Simmons, 2011), and seven of the top 50 Hispanic advertisers are big box retailers (AdAge Hispanic Fact Pack, 2011), it appears it would be highly rewarding to better understand how to engage Hispanic consumers in retail environments.
For example, language aside, what specific opportunities exist for creating an in-store mobile engagement strategy that appropriately reflects the norms and cultural priorities of Hispanic populations? What are the relevant differences between Hispanics and non-Hispanics in their use of smartphones – for shopping purposes – shedding light on their different in-store mobile experiences?
Do differences in ethnicity play any significant role in shaping in-store mobile experiences, or are the commonalities greater than the differences (i.e., Mexican-American vs. Puerto Rican)?What are new ways to leverage in-store mobile engagement that will have special appeal to Hispanic shoppers?
Conversely, what are the risks in creating an in-store mobile strategy that fails to account for these norms and priorities? Are there any deficiencies – apart from language – Hispanics find with in-store mobile experiences designed for non-Hispanic audiences?
These are all great initial questions for big box retailers and marketers alike to ask. Nonetheless, looking at in-store mobile engagement opportunities is just the beginning. There is no doubt there are countless opportunities to better understand Hispanic consumers in the context of their advanced use of mobile technology, and to create tailored user experiences resulting in loyal customers with a high lifetime value.Newly discovered fossils from 10 million years after the world's largest known extinction indicate that dinosaurs' ancestors might have taken hold in present-day Tanzania and Zambia, millions of years before the dinosaurs roamed the Earth, and much earlier than dinosaur relatives are seen in the fossil record elsewhere.
Earlier studies, mostly based on fossil records from Russia and South Africa, led scientists to think that dinosaur predecessors failed to survive after a mass extinction some some 252 million years ago, which killed off 90 percent of Earth's species.
"The fossil record from the Karoo of South Africa, for example, is a good representation of four-legged land animals across southern Pangea before the extinction," said Christian Sidor, a paleontologist at the University of Washington, in a press release. "But after the event, animals weren’t as uniformly and widely distributed as before. We had to go looking in some fairly unorthodox places.”
Sidor authored a recent study on dinosaurs' origins, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Drawing upon fossils unearthed from Tanzania, Zambia, and Antarctica since 2003, and current fossil records, Sidor and his colleagues generated two profiles of animals living about five million years before and 10 million years after the mass extinction.
For example, Dicynodon, a four-legged creature with a body resembling that of a fat lizard and a head resembling a turtle's, dominated the southern region of supercontinent Pangea before the extinction event, an area that comprises present-day Africa, South America, Antarctica, Australia, and India.
After the mass extinction at the end of the Permian period, populations of Dicynodon, along with many other herbivores, decreased dramatically.
The changing climate allowed new creatures to emerge and thrive. Archosaurs were a group of plant-eating reptiles whose living relatives are birds and crocodilians. In its news release, the National Science Foundation, one of the study's two sponsors, said scientists are interested in archosaurs because they were believed to be the predecessors of dinosaur-related animals such as Asilisaurus, a dinosaur-like animal, and Nyasasaurus parringtoni, a dog-sized creature with a five-foot tail that may be the earliest dinosaur.
"Early archosaurs being found mainly in Tanzania is an example of how fragmented communities became after the extinction event,” Sidor said in the University of Washington press release.
These findings, according to the co-authors, suggested that "archosaur diversification was more intimately related to recovery from the end-Permian mass extinction than previously suspected.”
In an interview with Discovery News, co-author and geologist Sterling Nesbitt of the Field Museum of Natural History said "true dinosaurs first show up about 230 million years ago, from what is now Argentina. We think that dinosaurs first evolved in Gondwanaland – including Africa, South America, India, Madagascar, Australia, Antarctica."
The study also revealed that before the extinction, 35 percent of four-legged species were found in two or more of the five areas studied, with some species' habitats stretching 1,600 miles (2,600 kilometers), encompassing the Tanzanian and South African basins.
Get the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy
Ten million years after the extinction, just seven percent of four-legged species were found in two or more regions, suggesting that there was a geographical clustering of the animals.
"The expeditions by this team of researchers to little-explored Permian and Triassic aged depositional basins in Africa and Antarctica, which form part of the supercontinent Gondwana, has greatly enhanced our understanding of the distribution of land-living vertebrates that lived more than 200 million years ago," Bruce Rubidge, a dinosaur specialist at the University of Witwatersrand, told Discovery News.Image copyright Reuters Image caption If there is a hung Parliament, who ends up in Number 10 will depend on a number of factors
With more than 550 of the 650 seats declared, David Cameron is on course to return to Downing Street as prime minister with the Conservatives as the largest party. A BBC forecast gives him 325 seats. Here is everything you need to know about what happens next.
The Conservatives have emerged as the party with the most MPs - so will they form the next government?
Yes, almost certainly. The party with the most MPs is normally described as the winner, and its leader nearly always goes on to become the next prime minister.
How does someone win the election?
The easiest way to become prime minister is to win what is called a majority in the House of Commons - a majority is where your party has more MPs than all the other parties put together.
How many MPs do you need to form a majority?
The official winning line is 326. That would be enough for a government to vote through new laws without being defeated by their opponents. However, with Sinn Fein historically not taking their seats and the Commons Speaker not voting, the actual figure is slightly lower. The Conservatives are currently projected to win 325 seats, which would be enough to give them a slender majority. Sinn Fein has won four.
What is a hung Parliament?
When no single party can get enough MPs to form a majority on its own the Parliament is said to be "hung". This happened at the 2010 general election.
What happens if there is another hung Parliament?
It depends on the numbers. If the polls are correct it looks like the Conservatives will be close enough to a majority to have the option of either trying to do a coalition deal with another party to get them over the 326 mark, or to go ahead and try and run as a minority government, relying on the support of smaller parties when they need to get contentious laws passed.
David Cameron is expected to set out his plans later.
Reading on the BBC News app? Click here to play our hung parliament game.
*Each result is randomly generated and not a prediction of the election - read more.
Who gets the first go at putting together a deal?
Image copyright PA
The Conservatives' decisive lead over Labour, in terms of their number of seats, means that they are the only party that can feasibly form a government.
How long does it take to form a government?
There is no official time limit. It took five days to put the coalition together in 2010 but is expected to happen a lot more quickly this time.
Negotiations can't go on indefinitely, surely?
The first deadline is Monday 18 May, when the new Parliament meets for the first time. David Cameron has until this date to put together a deal to keep himself in power or resign, according to official guidance issued by the Cabinet Office.
What if it is still not clear a new government can be formed?
The only test for whether a government can be formed is |
EL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images 20 of 24 Photo: John Storey, Special to the Chronicle 21 of 24 Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle 22 of 24 Photo: google maps 23 of 24 Photo: Jill Schneider, The Chronicle 24 of 24 Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle
Alicia Trost, a BART spokeswoman, said Monday that seven people were robbed — with the victims losing a purse, a duffel bag and five phones. Six people were robbed inside the train car, with a seventh confronted on the platform, she said. Police received no reports of guns or other weapons being brandished.
A police summary prepared after the incident said that at least two victims suffered injuries to the face or head that required medical attention.
The attack was so quick, police reported, that the teenagers were able to retreat from the station and vanish into the surrounding East Oakland neighborhood before BART officers could respond. The train was held for about 15 minutes as authorities interviewed victims and witnesses and tended to the injured.
Trost said police arrived at the station in less than 5 minutes, but that the robberies took place in just seconds.
BART police had increased the number of officers patrolling Oakland stations Saturday night because of a recent rise in the number of police calls. A BART police sergeant and an officer were in the station’s back parking lot on patrol when the station was stormed, Trost said. They were the first to arrive at the concourse after the crime was reported.
Rebecca Saltzman, president of the BART Board of Directors, said the board to examine ways to prevent a recurrence.
“This was obviously a terrible event and I’m sure very scary for the victims and the BART employees involved,” she said. “We’re looking at it very closely to see how we can respond to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Director Robert Raburn, whose district includes Coliseum Station, said he was “very disturbed that such an aggressive action would put BART passengers and employees at risk. It cannot occur with impunity.”
Six of the nine cars on the train had working surveillance cameras, and BART police were viewing video from those cars as well as station cameras, Trost said. Since many victims and witnesses were unsure which car they were on, and didn’t know if the swarm had entered other cars, BART police are reviewing video from all working cameras. All BART trains are scheduled to be equipped with working cameras by the end of June.
“We are in the process of pulling all surveillance video, and we will share with Oakland police, Oakland Unified School District and Oakland Housing Authority to see if they can help identify the minors,” Trost said. “We have had success with sharing images of juveniles with this group and identifying and making arrests in the past.”
The images cannot be shared publicly, she said, because the attackers appear to be minors.
Trost said Oakland police have told their BART counterparts that other incidents involving large groups of teens took place in the general area Saturday night. Oakland police officials declined to comment, and would offer no details Monday, referring questions to BART police.
Robberies committed by small groups of people who snatch valuables from riders when trains stop at stations then dash off just before the train departs have been known to happen on BART, Trost said. But this was the first time she was aware of a train being swarmed by a large group of teens.
“We’re taking this seriously,” Saltzman said. “Things like this have happened elsewhere but not at BART.”
Last month, according to two television reports, a swarm of teenagers invaded a carnival near the Oakland Coliseum, beating workers and stealing prizes from the game booths. Robberies involving small groups invading stores and restaurants in the Bay Area are not unheard of. But incidents involving such large groups are rare.
The incident presents another challenge for BART, which hired a new police chief last week. The agency has struggled to contain fare evaders and is studying ways to make it harder to enter a station without paying.
Demian Bulwa and Michael Cabanatuan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: [email protected], [email protected] Twitter: @demianbulwa, @ctuanVerizon’s intent to deploy small cells is no secret, so its interest in deploying small cells—both low power and high power—using the 3.5 GHz/Citizens Broadband Radio Services (CBRS) band shouldn’t come as any big surprise.
A member of the CBRS Alliance, which advocates for LTE-based solutions in the CBRS bands, Verizon plans to use 3.5 GHz spectrum “as soon as practically possible,” according to Adam Koeppe, vice president of Network Technology Planning for Verizon.
Companies in the CBRS Alliance—including Google-affiliated Access Technologies, which is part of Alphabet, as well as Federated Wireless, Intel, Qualcomm, Nokia, Ericsson and Ruckus Wireless—have been working hard to establish the framework to make the 3.5 GHz band suitable for sharing under the FCC’s directive. The FCC finalized rules for the band last April, making 150 MHz available for mobile broadband and other commercial uses.
Mobile World Congress 2019 Attend the 2-Day Executive 5G Panel Series FierceWireless is returning to Barcelona, Spain, during Mobile World Congress 2019 with a two-day Executive 5G Panel Series at the Fira Congress Hotel, conveniently located across the street from the MWC Convention Center. The panel events will take place on Feb. 25-26 and will cover 5G and The Fixed Wireless Access Opportunity, Taking 5G Indoors, and Making 5G Ubiquitous. Attendees will have the opportunity to network and hear from 5G leaders including Verizon, Vodafone, Orange, Sprint, NTT Docomo, Boingo Wireless, Qualcomm, and more over the course of two days.
Secure your spot at the event today! Now is your chance to join fellow industry professionals for networking and education. Registration information and the schedule can be found on the website here. Register today
“We have already conducted infrastructure testing,” Koeppe told FierceWirelessTech in response to emailed questions. “The commercial timelines are dictated by the availability of the spectrum access server (SAS), commercial-grade network equipment, and capable devices. We expect this to occur in early 2018.”
As for what Verizon plans to do with the 3.5 GHz spectrum, he said it intends to deploy two types of base stations utilizing low-power small cells and high-power small cells. Low-power small cells are suitable for indoor applications, including enterprises, hotels, airports, convention centers and stadiums, while the high-power small cells are suitable for outdoor applications such as large campuses, metro areas, downtown areas and suburban areas.
Prior to the FCC’s vote last year, wireless operators weren’t entirely on board with the sharing principles outlined for the 3.5 GHz band in the U.S., but they’ve since mostly come around, and now all four major U.S. carriers are members of the CBRS Alliance.
RELATED: Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint join AT&T in eyeing LTE deployments in 3.5 GHz CBRS band
Asked if Verizon has any concerns about sharing spectrum in the band, Koeppe said a key requirement to make 3.5 GHz successful is the commercialization of the spectrum access server (and certification of same by the FCC), developed with fair rules and good coexistence mechanisms, thus enabling the use of 3.5 GHz spectrum by multiple operators and different types of small cells.
Verizon is actively working with multiple vendor partners and testing 3.5 GHz equipment this year in both lab and field tests, he said.
RELATED: AT&T continues quest to test at 3.5 GHz
Rival AT&T has also been busy conducting tests in the 3.5 GHz band and is interested in doing more experiments in other bands, including the 3.7-4.2 GHz band, where the propagation characteristics are similar to those of the 3.5 GHz band and the 3.55-4.2 GHz range.
The 3.5 GHz range is being considered in other regions of the world for 5G, increasing its chances for providing spectrum for international harmony, but the sharing regime set up in the U.S. is unique and other nations are likely watching to see how it all works out.
RELATED: Google-led SAS ready to test with 3.5 GHz hardware vendors for CBRS band
Evangelists in the CBRS Alliance are encouraged that for the first time, spectrum will be made available to entities other than entrenched wireless operators, enabling different technologies and applications to compete in the band, living up to its moniker as the "innovation band."
Verizon has also been a longtime proponent of LTE-U technology, which enables LTE small cells to be introduced in unlicensed spectrum. The company plans to have an initial rollout of devices and equipment ready for that market this spring. Verizon formed the LTE-U Forum in 2014 with Alcatel-Lucent (now part of Nokia), Ericsson, Qualcomm Technologies and Samsung to develop specifications for implementing LTE-U to coexist with Wi-Fi and other technologies.“This is not just about me. There are so many survivors out there. This is about all of us.”
These are the words Lena Sclove gave in a statement as it emerged that a man, who had sexually assaulted and choked her at Brown University, would be allowed to complete his studies at the institution. The man’s punishment was to be suspended for just one semester.
He was found guilty of one count of illegal drug/alcohol possession and three counts of ‘Sexual Misconduct’. This is an absurdly light-handed phrase to describe the incident at hand. ‘Misconduct’ suggests little more than bad behaviour. According to Google Dictionary, its meaning is ‘to behave in an improper manner.’ It’s a word that would be better suited to, say, inappropriate language or getting drunk and stealing a traffic cone. It’s a word that has no place in the discussion of a case of violent rape. This may seem like a tangential issue, but language is an eternally important tool in how we construct our views of the world. Using ‘Sexual Misconduct’ as a descriptor for what should rightly be called ‘Rape’ undermines the violence of the crime. The significance of the incident is made lesser, and we end up in a world where a known rapist can continue to benefit from a top university education, because he has apparently been appropriately punished by a few months absence from college.
Sclove and her supporters have since been campaigning for reform of Brown University’s policies on sex crimes. In a petition to the university to reform their ‘broken system’, campaigners wrote:
The incident occurred at the beginning of August 2013, and a few months later, Sclove discovered the strangulation had left her with a spine injury in her neck. She was also diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Talking to the Huffington Post, she said ‘I was just so angry, and the first thought I had was “I can’t finish my degree here.” They’re letting him come right back, so either I need to take two years off until he graduates, or I need to transfer somewhere else… I did not do anything wrong, and yet I’m the one who’s going to take time off or transfer.’
Since the case has garnered such huge publicity stateside, Sclove’s assaulter has since decided not to return to Brown. But what is crucial is that is he is still allowed to, and that the case is not unique: perpetrators of similar crimes are receiving equally lenient punishments.
It shouldn’t need to be reiterated that a system that favours the education and livelihood of a rapist, rather than the safety and well-being of the person they raped is flawed (to put it mildly). It shouldn’t even be a question of whether a survivor will choose to see their assaulter on campus daily, or whether they will drop out and go somewhere else. There is no justice in a system which actively punishes the victims of crime. By being denied the right to feel safe on campus, they are the ones being excluded.
Sclove’s case was not an isolated incident. It is part of a system which is failing survivors everywhere and which we cannot allow our universities, our governing bodies or ourselves to be complicit in.
You can help add pressure to Brown University by signing the petition here.Sirtuins, possessing either histone deacetylase or mono-ribosyltransferase activity, regulate important pathways in bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes. SIRT6, an enzyme highly expressed in skeletal muscles, brain, heart, liver, and thymus, affects transcriptional regulation in a tissue-specific manner. This enzyme has a two-domain structure that consists of a large Rossmann fold and a smaller and structurally more varied sequence containing a Zn 2+ -binding motif. The C-terminus is required for proper nuclear localization, while the N-terminus is important for chromatin association and for intrinsic catalytic activity. SIRT6 promotes resistance to DNA damage and oxidative stress, the principal defects associated with age-related diseases. The modulation of aging and other metabolic functions by SIRT6 may be indicative of previously unrecognized regulatory systems in the cell. The propensity of individual SIRT6 molecules to undergo intramolecular mono-ADP-ribosylation, suggests this auto-ribosylation may contribute to the self-regulation of SIRT6 function. Until recently, SIRT6 was an orphan enzyme whose catalytic activity and substrates were unclear. It was known that, similar to the yeast Sir2 protein, human SIRT6 deacetylates histones and regulates DNA stability and repair; however, new mechanistic insights can be derived from the discovery of the highly substrate-specific histone deacetylase activity of SIRT6. This deacetylase activity promotes proper chromatin function in several physiologic contexts, to include telomere and genome stabilization, gene expression and DNA repair. By maintaining both the integrity and the expression of the mammalian genome, SIRT6 may help prevent cellular senescence. Moreover, successful molecular modulation of SIRT6 activity may lead to the development of new chemotherapeutic modalities. The action of SIRT6 is described in this review, with an emphasis on the cellular roles of the enzyme and the relation of those enzymatic functions to human biology and disease.In case you missed it, polls released this week are giving us a clearer picture of Inland voters’ preferences in the presidential race.
Results from the nonpartisan Field Poll show billionaire businessman Donald Trump leading Texas Sen. Ted Cruz 45 percent to 23 percent among likely voters in “Other Southern California,” which the poll defines as nine counties outside of Los Angeles County. Statewide, Trump leads Cruz 39 percent to 32 percent.
There wasn’t a regional breakdown in the Field Poll for the Democratic presidential nomination. But Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has made up a lot of ground on former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who now leads Sanders among likely voters 47 percent to 41 percent. She led Sanders 73 percent to 10 percent in February 2015.
A SurveyUSA poll of California registered voters conducted in late March and early April found Cruz leading Trump 43 percent to 30 percent in the Inland Empire among Republicans, with Trump holding an 8 percentage point edge over Cruz statewide. The poll had Clinton leading Sanders 65 percent to 27 percent among Democrats in the IE and 53 to 39 percent in California overall.
POLITICS: Trump holds lead over Cruz in California primary
The June 7 primary is looming as potentially crucial in the race for the Republican and Democratic presidential nominations, especially for the GOP candidates. California has 172 GOP delegates up for grabs, and Trump’s performance in the Golden State could determine whether or not he gets the 1,237 delegates needed to win the nomination outright and avoid a brokered Republican National Convention that could result in another nominee.
All but 13 of the Republican delegates are awarded by California’s 53 congressional districts. Win a district and a candidate gets its three delegates, meaning the GOP campaign for California could be waged district-by-district.
Cruz is holding rallies Monday, April 11 in Irvine and San Diego.Make Your Own Bespoke Docker Image
Recently, a few ideas around Docker converged in my mind and led me to make my own distribution, and to enable others to do the same. Hear me out.
Docker is a software packaging tool (a point hammered home to me in a talk by Nic Ferrier).
Docker separates build from deployment.
Docker allows for stateless builds (and ShutIt on top of that allows for complex stateless builds)
Linux distributions are essentially packaging systems.
It’s really annoying when you get “distribution clash” between Docker builds, eg when someone writes a Dockerfile for Debian and then you want to integrate it with one written for Centos. This happens.
Docker has a layered filesystem, so bloat only matters if you don’t re-use layers.
Linux from Scratch exists (and rocks).
Putting all the above together I realised that with the advent of Docker there was less of a need to bother with traditional packaging systems at all. Why not build from source?
“Because it’s bloody hard, bloody time-consuming, and bloody painful” is the standard answer. But since you can reproduce builds at will deterministically and deploy later elsewhere, much of that difficulty can be offloaded to someone else. Add in Docker’s layered filesystem, and these other issues become easier:
Bug/build issue reproduction (complete audited steps).
More efficient space usage (build in the layers/applications you need and no more, share common layers down the dependency hierarchy).
Tweaking your distro from a given layer is relatively easy (just add a ShutIt module).
Collaboration on improvements much more effective (we’re all talking about the same thing).
Auditing builds (for escrow purposes, or even security purposes).
A common reference point for applications built in Docker.
Dockerfiles/ShutIt can help produce self-documenting dependencies and build steps for porting elsewhere if desired.
You can have more bleeding edge versions of software if you want (or configure and try older ones if preferred)
Automated testing is trivial (just run the build, use ShutIt’s test phase).
Patching is trivial (docker pull, or just hack, commit, and tag the image).
The ShutIt Docker Distro
So I built (and present) the ShutIt Distro. Based on the giant shoulders of Linux From Scratch (and Beyond Linux From Scratch) and the broad shoulders of Docker it allows you to effectively create a bespoke distribution to target the application you want, mixing different applications with a few clicks, dependencies managed and all from source.
There’s a lot of images already available here, eg:
OSQuery
rpm
node
emscripten
all built from source and with a full bash history available for reference.
Here is the sequence of commands to get from debian:jessie (docker pull imiell/sd_base) to the sd_base filesystem artifact lfs.tar.xz (see below). Empty lines indicate just hitting return to accept defaults.
Here is the sequence of commands to get from imiell/sd_base to a complete working OSQuery image.
And here’s an example of how to run the OSQuery image:
$ docker run -t -i imiell/sd_osquery bash-4.3# osqueryi [...] osquery> select name, path from processes; +----------+-------------------------+ | name | path | +----------+-------------------------+ | bash | | | osqueryi | /usr/local/bin/osqueryi | +----------+-------------------------+ osquery>
Dependencies
Since the environment is so predictable and restricted, certain aspects of the dependency management process become simpler.
ShutIt allows you to produce dependency graphs of your modules with the sc (show config) sub-command. Here is a gist example.
Here’s a (big – get ready with the zoom!) image of all the dependencies for the whole of the ShutIt-Distro module “universe” as it stands today:
and a much smaller one just for the modules needed for the OSQuery module:
and NodeJS‘s much simpler one (bear in mind that the base image has a base toolchain et al in it:
Build Your Own Image From Source
Want to cherry pick your own image, with tools and editors to your fancy? Instructions here, raw cut and paste for Ubuntu here You’ll be presented with a sparse web interface like this:
On the left are the modules in strict dependency order. At the bottom are the more complex modules. If we take OSQuery as an example, clicking on that will cause all the dependent modules to be emboldened (this can take a few seconds if there are lots of deps):
You can add any other modules you like to your image. So if you’re an emacs user, you can tick that box and it’ll be added also. This way you can configure your own personalized image. Then scroll back up and click on “Begin Build” to kick off the build. The commands issues will be on the third pane, the log on the fourth.
When the build is complete, it can be downloaded as a tar file by clicking on “Export Container”, which you can use to load in like so:
cat downloaded.tar | docker load
which will import the image ready to run. Using the web interface is not required, but it’s obviously easier than using the command line and configs, and is a good intro to the ShutIt framework.
How the Base Toolchain Image is Produced
Initially I tried to build the entire toolchain within debian:jessie, but got myself into hot water pretty quickly. Turns out building a toolchain from scratch is quite hard. Thankfully, Automated Linux From Scratch exists, so I just used that.
That delivers an artifact called lfs.tar.xz to the filesystem which can be picked up to make a base image with this Dockerfile:
FROM scratch ADD lfs.tar.xz / CMD ["/bin/bash"]
The base image is then delivered to the Docker Hub here. This forms the basis for the ShutIt Distro. Here is a gist for the commands to do this yourself. Note: it takes a while!
Lessons Learned
Sourceforge is in DR mode a lot. In fact, primary sites (eg gnu.org the other day for a couple of hours) generally are down surprisingly often.
You’re a complete idiot if you deviate from Linux From Scratch one iota. I did this a few times and was beaten back into line several times with brutal severity.
NodeJS and Ruby have surprisingly few dependencies needed to build from source.
apt-file is an incredibly handy tool.
Help Wanted
If you’ve read this far and are still interested, do get in touch.
There’s plenty to grep TODO :)
AdvertisementsA Facebook post said to be written by the 11-year-old son of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, and “liked” or commented on by several people who appear to be the children and grandchildren of other senior members of Mr. Assad’s government, may offer a glimpse into the mindset of Syria’s ruling elite as the country braces for a potential Western strike in response to a chemical weapons attack on Aug. 21.
Photo
It is impossible to confirm whether the Facebook account does, in fact, belong to the son, Hafez al-Assad, and aspects of it invite doubt. For example, the owner of the account wrote that he was a graduate of Oxford University and a player for a Barcelona soccer team, neither of which would be likely to appear on the résumé of an 11-year-old boy in Damascus. But those claims could also be read as the ambitions of a child, and there are reasons to believe that the account may actually belong to Hafez.
The owner of the account wrote that he was a graduate of a Montessori school in Damascus, a detail of the Assad children’s lives that Vogue magazine reported in a February 2011 profile of their mother, Asma al-Assad. That article portrayed them as typical suburban children who played with remote control cars and watched Tim Burton movies on an iMac as they lounged around the family home, described as running “on wildly democratic principles.” It has since been removed from the Vogue Web site, but Joshua Landis, a well-known scholar of Syrian politics, posted a copy to his blog.
Perhaps most significantly, the Facebook post said to have been written by Hafez al-Assad has been “liked” or commented on by several accounts that appear to belong to the children or grandchildren of other senior figures in the Assad administration. Among them are accounts that seemingly belong to two children of Deputy Vice President Mohammed Nassif Khierbek, Ali and Sally, and to three children of a former deputy defense minister, Assef Shawkat, who was killed in a bombing in July 2012.
The accounts said to belong to the children of Mr. Shawkat — one of his sons, Bassel, and two of his daughters, Anisseh and Boushra — appeared to be authentic, according to a Syrian journalist from Damascus who has extensive knowledge of the country’s ruling elite and spoke on condition of anonymity, citing safety concerns. Mr. Shawkat was married to the sister of Bashar al-Assad, making these three children cousins of Mr. Assad’s son Hafez, who is believed to be the author of the Facebook post.
Many of the people who commented on the post had changed their profile pictures to show portraits of the Syrian leader or his father, also named Hafez, who ruled the country for three decades before Bashar al-Assad took power in 2000. Several of them referenced the author’s relationship to the two President Assads. One referred to the author by a diminutive and familiar nickname, “Hafouz,” and complimented him for his strength and intelligence, writing that such a feat was unsurprising for the son and grandson of the past two presidents. Another commenter wrote: “Like father like son! Well said future President!”
Photo
Photo
If the Facebook post attributed to Mr. Assad’s son is a hoax, it is either a highly elaborate one involving dozens of fake accounts purporting to belong to the children of other regime insiders, or a forgery so impressive that some of those children themselves — including the boy’s cousins — have been fooled.
Regardless of its provenance, the post appears to illustrate the mindset of Mr. Assad’s core supporters, who have stood by him through more than two years of a grinding war that has killed more than 100,000 Syrians and caused millions more to flee their homes.
The post is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors that would not be unusual for a child, and it may offer a glimpse into the way the country’s leaders — or, at the very least, Mr. Assad’s supporters — speak to one another and to their families as the specter of foreign military intervention looms.
Judging from the post, supporters of Mr. Assad do not appear to be particularly afraid of the United States.
“They may have the best army in the world, maybe the best airplanes, ships, tanks than ours, but soldiers? No one has soldiers like the ones we do in Syria,” the post’s author wrote of the United States military. “America doesn’t have soldiers, what it has is some cowards with new technology who claim themselves liberators.”
The author then compared the potential American airstrikes to the 2006 war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, a close ally of the Assad regime in the current conflict. Many in the Arab world saw Hezbollah as the victor of the 2006 clash.
“I just want them to attack sooo much, because I want them to make this huge mistake of beginning something that they don’t know the end of it,” he wrote. “What did Hezbollah have back then? Some street fighters and some small rockets and a pile of guns, but they had belief, In theirselves and in their country and that’s exactly what’s gonna happen to America if it chooses invasion because they don’t know our land like we do, no one does, victory is ours in the end no matter how much time it takes.”AMD is soon going to launch their first Radeon 500 series cards but it looks the might face a short delay. According to a rumor by Mydrivers, the Radeon RX 580 and RX 570 graphics cards are allegedly delayed till 18th of April.
AMD Radeon RX 500 Series Cards Including RX 580 and RX 570 Delayed Postponed Till 18th of April
The cards that will be affected by the short delay are the Radeon RX 580 and Radeon RX 570. Both are based on the Polaris 10 GPU with slightly higher clock speeds and similar specifications to the current Radeon RX 480 and RX 470 cards. The cards won’t bring anything new to the table in terms of overall architecture design or IPC improvements but rumors are that matured process can benefit these in the power consumption department.
Related AMD Radeon RX 590 and Radeon RX 580 Graphics Card Reportedly Receiving Price Cuts – New Prices To Be $199 and $229, Starting in Few Weeks
Along side the Polaris 10 based rebrands, AMD will also introduce rebranded Polaris 11 cards under the RX 500 series badge. There’s also talks of a smaller Polaris 12 core that may compete against the GeForce GTX 1050 but I fail to see that happening since AMD’s Polaris 11 GPU which is supposedly bigger than the Polaris 12 isn’t faster at all than the GTX 1050.
AMD Radeon RX 580 Graphics Card Specifications:
The AMD Radeon RX 580 is expected to feature a slightly higher clocked Polaris 10 GPU. So this is similar to many custom variants of the Radeon RX 480 that are available in the market. The card will feature all 2304 stream processors, 144 TMUs, 32 ROPs.
The chip itself will be clocked at 1340 MHz boost to deliver 6.17 TFLOPs of compute performance. There would be 8 GB of GDDR5 memory onboard, clocking in at 8.0 GHz along a 256-bit bus interface. The card would pump out 256 GB/s bandwidth. Expect pricing to get slightly lower than the RX 480, around $199 for the 8 GB model.
Related AMD Drops The Price Bomb on Radeon RX Vega 56 Graphics Card, Now Available For $279 US To Tackle NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
AMD Radeon RX 570 Graphics Card Specifications:
The second card to feature the Polaris 10 GPU would be the Radeon RX 570. This card would be similar to the RX 470, featuring a cut down Polaris core with 2048 Cores. The card would additionally feature a clock of 1244 MHz boost which given the core specs are correct, would yield compute output of 5.10 TFLOPs.
In terms of memory, we are looking at up to 8 GB of GDDR5 which will be clocked at a higher 7.0 GHz clock to deliver 224 GB/s bandwidth. Pricing wise, this card can hit around the $149 US price range.
AMD Radeon RX 560 Graphics Card Specifications:
The AMD Radeon RX 560 would be the full Polaris 11 GPU. AMD launched their RX 460 with a locked core but AIBs later launched fully unlocked variants with 1024 stream processors. The Radeon RX 560 would be similar to these with a clock speed of 1287 MHz. This will deliver a rated output of 2.63 TFLOPs along with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory along a 128-bit bus interface. Given AMD’s RX 460 price to value ratio at the launch period, AMD may price this under $100 US.
AMD Radeon RX 500 /X Series Polaris Lineup:
AMD Radeon RX 500 /X Series Graphics Cards GPU Name Bus / Bandwidth Memory / Clock Cores / Boost Clock AMD Radeon RX 400 Series Graphics Cards GPU Name Cores / Clock Memory / Clock Bus / Bandwidth Radeon RX 590 Polaris 30 XT 256-bit / 256 GB/s 8 GB / 8.0 GHz 2304 / 1546 MHz N/A N/A N/A Radeon RX 580 Polaris 20 XLX
(Ellesmere XT) 256-bit / 256 GB/s 8/4 GB / 8.0 GHz 2304 / 1340 MHz Radeon RX 480 Polaris 10 (Ellesmere XT) 2304 / 1266 MHz 8/4 GB / 8.0 GHz 256-bit / 256 GB/s Radeon RX 570 Polaris 20 XL (Ellesmere Pro) 256-bit / 212 GB/s 8/4 GB / 6.6 GHz 2048 / 1244 MHz Radeon RX 470 Polaris 10 (Ellesmere Pro) 2048 / 1206 MHz 8/4 GB / 7.0 GHz 256-bit / 224 GB/s Radeon RX 560 Polaris 21 (Baffin Pro) 128-bit / 112 GB/s 4/2 GB / 7.0 GHz 1024 / 1275 MHz Radeon RX 460 Polaris 11 (Baffin Pro) 896 / 1200 MHz 4/2 GB / 7.0 GHz 128-bit / 112 GB/s Radeon RX 550 Polaris 12 (Lexa Pro) N/A N/A 512/ 1287 MHz N/A N/A N/A 4/2 GB / 7.0 GHz 128-bit / 112 GB/s AMD Radeon RX 540X (Mobile Only) Polaris 12 (Lexa Pro) N/A N/A 512 / 1219 MHz N/A N/A N/A 4/2 GB / 6.0 GHz 128-bit / 96 GB/s AMD Radeon 540X (Mobile Only) Polaris 12 (Lexa Pro) N/A N/A 512 / 1219 MHz N/A N/A N/A 4/2 GB / 6.0 GHz 64-bit / 48 GB/s
Finally, we have the Radeon RX 550 which is based on the new Polaris 12 GPU but don’t have any specs to detail. We will see these GPUs in action next month, as rumored. The Vega GPUs on the other hand will not be part of the Radeon RX 500 series family but will be simply branded as the Radeon RX Vega series as previously detailed. Expect to hear more about these cards in the upcoming weeks.I was arguing with this broad that when a man finds a woman physically attractive, at least that’s part of her. Even if it’s only physical, it’s still HER that he’s attracted to.
She goes on to tell me “Well, when a woman finds a man attractive because he has money or a great career, that’s part of who he is too!”.
She really did not want to hear how a job has NOTHING to do with who a man is. Not a damn thing. But this is how they justify their actions, folks.
In my opinion the ONLY time it’s ok to judge a guy in that area is if he is a jobless slacker, living at home with mom (and not supporting her). Yeah, then it’s OK to say “This guy is a loser”.
But if a man has a job he likes, has no debt, and is a decent person, and you turn him down because you think “I can do better” or “I need someone who has more money”…yeah, sorry, that makes you a WHORE and this is how 95% of women operate.
The way women look at a guy’s career…if we equated that to how men look at a woman based on her looks, it’d be equal to us expecting to find a young Cindy Crawford every time we went out.
But men don’t expect Cindy Crawford. Sure, we want and need to find someone who we are ATTRACTED to but we don’t expect the world. If we find a woman attractive enough, we’ll give her a shot.
Women though? FORGET IT! They expect to find a guy who makes a 6 figure salary, has the perfect look, etc. THEY WANT IT ALL even if they aren’t that great themselves!
In other words, what women want in a guy is equal to us wanting to find Cindy Crawford every time we went out! They are COMPLETELY DELUSIONAL.
What’s even MORE hysterical is they want it all, and will give you NOTHING in return except their holes. They’ll be pain in the asses to you, complain, make trouble for you, and if you marry them, they’ll screw up your life later on BIG TIME!
I cannot believe women though would have the nerve to say “money is part of who a man is”. What the f~~~ is wrong with these bimbos? Do they really believe that? Or do they know it’s bulls~~~, but they want to justify their s~~~ty behavior?De-funding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has long been a cause célèbre for many Republicans, so GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney probably felt safe using it as his sole specific example of what he'd do to solve America's fiscal problems.
But his decision to declare his "love" for Big Bird even as he promised to put the yellow Sesame Street icon's job in jeopardy was a bridge too far for, well, "practically every American under the age of 50," says Mary Elizabeth Williams at Salon.
Twitter was certainly having none of it, with parody Big Bird accounts popping up to excoriate Romney's heartlessness, and even President Obama managed to work a line into his stump speech about how Romney would "get rid of regulations on Wall Street — but he's going to crack down on Sesame Street."
Williams argues that this will actually hurt Romney:
It's one thing to try to go all folksy, man of the people, we won't make poor struggling Americans pay for your highfalutin Der Ring des Nibelungen marathons and your Frontline documentaries about homosexual artists, and it is quite another entirely to go after Big Bird.
You. Do. Not. Screw. With. Big. Bird.... An entire generation can trace its first understanding of death to the moment that Big Bird let it sink in that "Mr. Hooper's not coming back." And another generation learned about loss and community and resilience after 9/11 when Sesame Street had Big Bird's own nest destroyed in a storm....
Despite coming out of the evening looking stronger than he has in weeks — Romney made the error of looking like a man who is not on the side of innocence, whimsy, learning or childhood.... Going after Big Bird is like putting down baseball and rainbows and YouTube videos of otter pups. You just don't.
Romney's erstwhile GOP primary rival Rick Santorum leapt to Mitt's defense, sort of. He at least felt Romney's pain. "I've voted to kill Big Bird in the past," Santorum told CNN on Thursday night. "That doesn't mean I don't like Big Bird. I mean, you can kill things and still like them, maybe to eat them, I don't |
continue, we will hit their safe havens and cells, wherever they are," he said.
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Pakistan last week and asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to improve border security. Pakistan assured Iran it would deploy additional troops along its border.
In 2014, Iran warned it would send troops to Pakistan to retrieve five Iranian border guards kidnapped by Jaish al Adl.
Pakistan said at the time that such action would be a violation of international law and warned Iranian forces not to cross the border.
Iran refrained from sending troops when a local cleric stepped in and resolved the situation.
Four of the guards were released a few months later, but one was killed by the militants.
Jaish al Adl is a militant group that has carried out several attacks against Iranian security forces with the aim of highlighting what they say is discrimination against minority groups in Iran.
The group claimed responsibility for attacks that killed eight border guards in April 2015 and 14 border guards in October 2013.Ed Miliband ends his first week as Labour leader with his party ahead of the Tories in a Guardian/ICM poll for the first time since Gordon Brown ducked the chance of holding an election in 2007.
But the two-point lead is the result of a slump in Conservative support rather than any surge in Labour backing and the poll suggests voters are giving Miliband a wary rather than an enthusiastic welcome.
The results will offer him a morale boost at the end of a tumultuous week but they also suggest that many Labour supporters are yet to see their new leader as a potential prime minister, and that his brother David might have attracted more support in the short term.
The poll also shows that the public mood is swinging against the scale and speed of spending cuts, with 43% now saying the cuts have gone too far compared with the 37% who think the balance is right. By contrast, in July 39% thought the balance right, and 38% said too far.
Carried out after Miliband's conference speech, but largely before his brother announced he was pulling out of the shadow cabinet, today's poll puts Labour on 37%, unchanged on last month. The Conservatives have dropped two points to 35% – down from a post-election high of 41% in June – and the Liberal Democrats are unchanged on 18%.
All three parties can draw comfort from these figures, although the Tories may be dismayed to see their poll rating drop further even before next month's announcement of deep spending cuts.
There has been a shift of opinion in Labour's favour since May, with support up almost eight points at the expense of the Lib Dems. Almost one in four people who voted Lib Dem are now thinking of voting Labour instead.
Nick Clegg will be relieved, however, that today's ICM poll does not find the collapse in third party support shown in online polls. Lib Dem support is unchanged on the level in September 2009.
Labour's new leader has so far had little chance to make an impression. Among definite Labour voters only 52% say Ed Miliband would make the best prime minister of the three party leaders while 24% name David Cameron. By contrast, 89% of Conservatives pick Cameron. More Lib Dem voters also back Cameron as a competent prime minister than back Clegg. Among all voters, 20% think Ed Miliband would make the most competent prime minister, compared with 47% who say Cameron and 10% Clegg.
Today's poll finds a marginal preference among voters for David Miliband over his brother. Most voters say that the arrival of either of the brothers would have made no difference to their attitude. But among those who say the choice does make a difference, positive support for Ed outweighs negative by one point. For David, the positive lead would have been nine points – with people who voted Conservative in the general election among those more attracted to the defeated candidate.
There is evidence that voters see the man denounced by his press enemies as "Red Ed" as more leftwing than Tony Blair or Gordon Brown. Asked whether they think Ed Miliband will take the party to the left, the right or make no difference, 28% say to the left against 41% who think he will keep it in the centre and only 8% to the right. Labour supporters who think the party will move to the left overwhelmingly welcome the possibility. So do many Lib Dems: 61% of those who believe Labour will shift to the left support the move.
Despite anxiety about cuts, the coalition remains trusted overall on the economy. Asked, regardless of their own loyalties, whether they think the government or Labour is best placed to ensure a prosperous future, 50% pick the coalition and 31% Labour. But some former Lib Dem voters are having second thoughts about their party's policies now it is in power: 24% of the people who voted for the party in May now back Labour's economic plans.
The idea of coalition government appeals to many but most would still like to see their own party in power. Of the likely outcomes at the next election, 26% think Labour on its own would be best for Britain, 19% the Conservatives on their own, 21% a continued Con-Lib coalition and 13% a Labour-Lib Dem deal.
Only 50% of Tory supporters want their party to rule alone, while 41% want coalition with the Lib Dems, which suggests Cameron will face little dissent from the grassroots at conference next week.
• ICM Research interviewed a random sample of 1,005 adults aged 18+ by telephone on 28-29 September 2010. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.In the war-ravaged town of Mosul, a teddy bear or truck is a rare treasure to a child.
But these innocent-looking toys are actually the trigger for sinister booby traps that detonate as soon as they are touched.
The ploy marks a sickening new low for Islamic State, who currently hold Iraq’s second largest city, as they can only be intended to target children. Adults would walk straight past them.
These and other cunningly disguised improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have been put on display at a training centre for locally-trained bomb disposal experts as 40,000 soldiers, state-sanctioned militia members and other fighters prepare to encircle Mosul to cut off IS forces from outside help.
Disguise: This seemingly harmless toy truck is actually a trigger for an explosive device
Sickening: An innocent-looking teddy bear is actually a bomb meant for Iraqi children
Colonel Nawzad Kamil Hassan, an engineer with the Kurdish forces, told the Observer: ‘Why would Isis use something nice, like a bear or a rabbit?
‘They used this toy because they know the peshmerga [Kurdish fighters] will not touch it but children will.’
He added: ‘They are not even animals. They are worse than animals.’
His unit has cleared 50 tonnes of explosives in two years from areas once controlled by militants, including five tonnes from a single school in Sinjar city to the west of Mosul.
The city, around 250 miles north of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014.
The offensive to take it back is the largest deployment of Iraqi forces since the 2003 invasion by the U.S. and coalition forces.
The U.S. military estimates IS has up to 5,000 fighters inside Mosul and between 1,500 and 2,500 in a defensive belt around the city.
Of these, around 1,000 are believed to be foreign fighters.
Other IEDs, including some with detonators attached to playing cards, watches and lengths of hosepipe, have been laid out to slow the encroaching forces and delay recovery should they succeed in seizing control.
A spokesman for Popular Mobilisation Units, an umbrella group for the militias, yesterday confirmed around 15,000 Shiite fighters would be participating in the offensive.
ISIS fighters behind the bombs have been described as 'worse than animals' (file picture)
The involvement of Iranian-backed Shiites has raised concerns about sectarian tensions becoming inflamed in the mainly Sunni city.
The militias have been accused of committing abuses against citizens in other Sunni areas taken back from IS.
Turkey’s president warned their behaviour would be closely monitored to safeguard ethnic Turkmens in Iraq.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a Turkish response could be triggered if militias ‘terrorise’ the Iraqi-Turkmen town of Tel Afar during the push around Mosul.Image caption Ruth Patterson was critical of the DUP for overlooking her for the South Belfast assembly seat
Belfast councillor Ruth Patterson has been expelled from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), its leader Peter Robinson has told the BBC.
She has been removed for allegedly bringing the party into disrepute.
Ms Patterson recently criticised the party's decision to overlook her for the South Belfast assembly seat vacated by Jimmy Spratt, and instead appointing former special adviser Emma Pengelly.
Mr Robinson said Ms Patterson has a right to appeal her expulsion.
He said party officers "unanimously decided to expel her earlier this week".
He added that he believed "there has been some correspondence" between the party and Ms Patterson since she was informed of the decision.
Selection
Ms Pengelly took her place in the Northern Ireland Assembly in September through the co-option system, which allows parties to replace departing MLAs with a party colleague without a by-election.
It has been used extensively by many of the parties in the assembly.
Image caption Ms Patterson said she had been annoyed by the dual promotion of Emma Pengelly
Within a month of her selection as an MLA for South Belfast, Ms Pengelly was appointed as a junior minister in the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister.
She had previously worked in the department as a special adviser to the first minister for almost nine years.
Last month, Ms Patterson, a former deputy lord mayor of Belfast, said she had been annoyed by Ms Pengelly's dual promotion.
Worth
"There is a principle, in my book, of giving someone who has earned something the chance, rather than someone who does not have one solitary vote, who has never stood for election, who has never run the gauntlet of an election," she said.
"It it not sour grapes. Anyone in my position would feel exactly the same - not surprised, but let down.
"I thought I was worth a little more."
Ms Patterson also said last month that her party's return to the Northern Ireland Executive after the publication of a report on paramilitaries had shocked her "to the core".
She said she had major difficulties with the move, and had been considering her position in the party.Israeli has rejected a proposal to have a Turkish floating power-generating ship stationed off the coast of the Gaza Strip coast to help solve the electricity crisis in the enclave, a Palestinian official said on Sunday.
"The Israeli rejection [of the proposal] requires us to exert greater efforts to solve the electricity problem in Gaza," Palestinian National Economy Minister Mohamed Mustafa said in a statement. A report on the statement was published by the Turkish newspaper Daily Salah.
Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz announced in mid-August that Turkey was planning to send a 100 megawatt power-generating ship to Gaza, pending Israeli approval.
The Gaza Strip requires 360 megawatts of electricity to meet the needs of its roughly 1.9 million residents. Only some 200 megawatts are currently available.
Gaza currently has three sources for electricity: Israel, which provides 120 megawatts; Egypt, which supplies 28 megawatts; and Gaza's power plant, which generates between 40 and 60 megawatts daily.
"The past few days have seen an increase in the operations of the electricity sector, extending for eight consecutive hours instead of the usual five," Mustafa said in his statement.
"We're currently waiting for the Israelis to extend power lines in order to increase supply to the electricity sector," Mustafa said.
Electricity in the Gaza Strip has been operating according to a rotation system since 2012. Selected areas receive a maximum of six hours before the electricity is cut off and provided to another sector.
The strip’s sole power plant went offline during the Gaza War in the summer, after its main fuel tank was hit by Israeli airstrikes. The plant remains functional, but it has stopped running due to Gaza’s chronic fuel shortage.
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. CloseMarla Cooley isn’t exactly being discreet when she advertises the marijuana friendliness of her vacation rental home near Lyons.
She calls the rental “High in the Hills.”
“I’m in a spot where I can enjoy life at its highest, and I’m welcoming people to share the experience up here,” said Cooley, who hopes to expand with extra cabins for guests. “I’m an entrepreneur. There’s opportunity here.”
This is the new world of Colorado marijuana tourism, where the past year’s winks and nods have been replaced increasingly by an open embrace of cannabis-seeking vacationers. Lodging choices — especially at bed and breakfasts or independent rentals — have opened up for toking tourists. Marijuana tour operators say their businesses are booming. Pot shops reported being packed on Friday.
And advocates say this weekend — surrounding the April 20 marijuana holiday known as 4/20 — is poised to reveal just how much out-of-state interest has been generated by marijuana legalization in Colorado. The largest 4/20 celebration in Denver history will feature dozens of concerts, conventions, trade shows, product launches and symposiums around the city, capped by the now-familiar April 20 smoke-out in Civic Center. J.J. Walker, one of the owners of the marijuana tourism company My 420 Tours, likened it to a pot-centric version of the wildly popular South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.
“Besides the DNC (Democratic National Convention), I can’t picture anything bigger that people have really all come together for,” Walker said. “It’s going to be massive. … The amount of money coming into town this weekend is astronomical.”
Read the rest of the story on The Denver Post: http://www.denverpost.com/marijuana/ci_25601236/In which I announce that this project is going to start being sort of for sale soon, and I tell you exactly how that is going to happen. Hint: by for sale I mean preorder and by soon I mean pretty much immediately.
…
Well, we’re doing a Kickstarter. Also we just opened a store.
There, I said it.
The Kickstarter starts Thursday morning and the store will have no products until then. We don’t want to wait any longer as the year comes to a close and if Thursday is good enough for the blizzard thing then Thursday is good enough for us. This will be my 2nd attempt at a Kickstarter and this time I know what I’m getting into. I’m saving my enthusiasm for 30 something days from now when I get a chance to sleep again.
That being said, I’m actually starting to look forward to going back. I think I’ll tell a short story about me and Kickstarter: I didn’t do so hot the first time I went to Kickstarter. Then I met an artist who wanted to make the project look amazing and go back for round 2. I had mixed feelings about that plan at first, but in my opinion the project looks amazing, so we are going back and I’ll just have to enjoy it. The end? I supposed that depends if Jan kills me for being sassy.
Here’s why I think Kickstarter may not be so bad this time around:
We have 2 people working on it. That is 100% more people!
The code is much farther developed, (there is an actual playable version) so our pitch should be stronger.
The art has caught up to meet the code in professionalism, the project simply looks way better than it did before.
I have a bit of other funding and I don’t have to pay upfront for art…that means our funding target can be lower.
Here’s the best part: I’ve built a store so we can accept Paypal donations and we already have a way to distribute the thing.
Even if the Kickstarter doesn’t work out we plan to trudge on and slowly bring the game up to the point where we can support it from preorders and donations alone. There is no going back this time. That being said, there’s some fun stuff we can’t do without money up front so Kickstarter really is the best option for us right now. Lets try and make this one work!
So lets talk about how cool the store is, because I just activated it and it’s the reason things are really happening this time.
I wanted to make sure the store was way more professional and way more secure than even the main site, so we built it on a whole new back-end using windows Azure. It’s way better than some of our existing website, I’m looking at you forums. We can accept online payments via Paypal, and the store integrates with our launcher so we can distribute the game simply by setting store roles or by selling products. Since we’re constantly adding new content and bug fixes I knew the only way I could launch this is with automatic update support, and that had to extend to paying customers. You may have guessed some of this from how the launcher accepts a username and password now.
One of the big requests I got during the last campaign was “I want to back your Kickstarter but I can only pay via Paypal” so this time We are going to mirror Kickstarter reward tiers on our store. Any money made on the store during the Kickstarter campaign will count towards stretch goals, and at the end of the campaign all rewards will be distributed via the store.
But enough about the store, arguably the best part of this Kickstarter is how much closer the working game is. We currently have the launcher distributing a development build with a fully playable singleplayer game to friends and family. It needs polish and content still, which is why I’m not already sending it to people, but that means I can actually offer a rough date for the launch of closed alpha testing for singleplayer: We want people to be playing this within 30 days of the end of our funding campaign. That’s around ~62 days from now if things go as planned, and maybe only 90 days if things go a little less as-planned.
So in Summary:Coming Soon
Sharkey The Bounty Hunter
Bounty hunter Sharkey tracks criminals across the galaxy in his converted, rocket-powered ice-cream truck -- with help from his 10-year-old partner.
Paskal
Naval unit PASKAL is among the most elite special forces in Malaysia. But all bets are off when one of its own stages a hijacking. Based on true events.
Losers
In a "winning is everything" society, how do we handle failure? This series profiles athletes who have turned the agony of defeat into human triumph.
Unbelievable
After a teen reports being raped, then recants her story, two female detectives follow evidence that could reveal the truth. Based on a true story.
Love, Death & Robots
Terrifying creatures, wicked surprises and dark comedy converge in this NSFW anthology of animated stories presented by Tim Miller and David Fincher.
River's Edge
High schooler Haruna befriends loner Yamada, then is drawn into the tangled relationship between him, a model and the girl who loves him unreasonably.
Dolly Parton's Heartstrings
The King
Hal, a wayward prince, ascends the English throne upon his father’s death, and must navigate the palace snake pit, and inherited war and chaos.MUMBAI: More than half the 32,000 MBA/MMS seats available under the centralized admission process CAP ) in B-schools across the state have gone vacant this year. Admission to management institutes in the state came to an end on Thursday with the counselling round. The final round, conducted at six institutes across the state, saw a weak response. The declining interest in the management degree is a worrying trend for the majority of institutes and the faculty even as the top 10-15 B-schools continue to thrive, say experts.Of the 40,968 seats available in 368 management institutes this year, 32,867 were available under the CAP rounds conducted by the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE). The rest are filled at the institute level under the minority or institute quota. From the seats available under the CAP, 17,478 seats are vacant. Now, the rest will be handed over to institutes which can fill them at their level, said Suresh Yawalkar, deputy director, DTE. The percentage of vacancies may reduce after institute level seats are also taken into account.“The top 10-15 institutes have managed to fill all their seats, but the rest are struggling with over 50% vacancies this year,” said Rajesh Srivastava, professor at Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, one of the centres for the counselling round. “Around 1,500 students had registered for the counselling round at the centre, but only a few hundreds have actually taken admissions. Students who refused seats have cited poor placement and high fees as two of the prime reasons for their lack of interest,” said Srivastava.“Students choose only top-rung institutes and if they are unable to get a seat there, they either try the next year or give up on the MBA dream. Therefore, institutes have to do better,” said Apoorva Palkar, president of the Association of Indian Management Schools.An essay on magic by Alan Moore originally meant for Joel Biraco‘s KAOS 15 has finally seen the light of day.
Regard the world of magic. A scattering of occult orders which, when not attempting to disprove each other’s provenance, are either cryogenically suspended in their ritual rut, their game of Aiwaz Says, or else seem lost in some Dungeons & Dragons sprawl of channelled spam, off mapping some unfalsifiable and thus completely valueless new universe before they’ve demonstrated that they have so much as a black-lacquered fingernail’s grip on the old one. Self-consciously weird transmissions from Tourette’s-afflicted entities, from glossolalic Hammer horrors. Fritzed-out scrying bowls somehow receiving trailers from the Sci-Fi channel. Far too many secret chiefs, and, for that matter, far too many secret indians.
Beyond this, past the creaking gates of the illustrious societies, dilapidated fifty-year-old follies where they start out with the plans for a celestial palace but inevitably end up with the Bates Motel, outside this there extends the mob. The psyche pikeys. Incoherent roar of our hermetic home-crowd, the Akashic anoraks, the would-be wiccans and Temple uv Psychic Forty-Somethings queuing up with pre-teens for the latest franchised fairyland, realm of the irretrievably hobbituated. Pottersville.
Exactly how does this confirm an aeon of Horus, aeon of anything except more Skinner-box consumerism, gangster statecraft, mind-to-the-grindstone materialism? Is what seems almost universal knee-jerk acquiescence to conservative ideals truly a sign of rampant Theleme? Is Cthulhu coming back, like, anytime soon, or are the barbarous curses from the outer dark those of Illuminists trying to find their arses with a flashlight? Has contemporary western occultism accomplished anything that is measurable outside the séance parlour? Is magic of any definable use to the human race other than offering an opportunity for dressing up? Tantric tarts and vicars at Thelemic theme nights. Pentagrams In Their Eyes. “Tonight, Matthew, I will be the Logos of the Aeon.” Has magic demonstrated a purpose, justified its existence in the way that art or science or agriculture justify their own? In short, does anyone have the first clue what we are doing, or precisely why we’re doing it?
Certainly, magic has not always been so seemingly divorced from all immediate human function. Its Palaeolithic origins in shamanism surely represented, at that time, the only human means of mediation with a largely hostile universe upon which we as yet exerted very little understanding or control. Within such circumstances it is easy to conceive of magic as originally representing a one-stop reality, a worldview in which all the other strands of our existence…hunting, procreation, dealing with the elements or cave-wall painting…were subsumed. A science of everything, its relevance to ordinary mammalian concerns both obvious and undeniable.The decay has been slow and painful. From Europe’s most regal club — where even practice was sufficient occasion for the players to turn up in fine suits and ties — to these last, crumbling days of a dynasty, AC Milan have a lot of rebuilding to do if they are to recapture their place atop soccer’s food chain.
For a decade or two, it had seemed unfathomable. Since winning the UEFA Champions League for a seventh time in 2007, AC Milan has reached the European quarterfinals just once. They have also been Italian champions just once since then. Worse still, they came eighth in Serie A last year. The red and black — or the Rossoneri — are no longer imperious.
Milan’s rise and fall coincided with that of their president and benefactor, Silvio Berlusconi. As he and his media empire rose to prominence in the late 1980s, so did the club he saved from the brink of ruin and poured many of his spare millions into. Off its success, he gained fame and credibility, which he then spun into a political career that made him Italy’s prime minister.
Article continues below...
But lately, there have been scandals, legal troubles and potential prison sentences weighing Berlusconi down. His money has either dried up or been channeled away from soccer. And the club has suffered. Like just about any Italian club not called Juventus, Milan are not self-sufficient financially; they don’t own their venue, the palatial San Siro, resulting in a serious revenue leakage; the stands, meanwhile, are half-full most of the time, owing to the weak results.
For years, Milan was one of the world’s few buying clubs, picking up stars entering their prime. That changed when Kaka was sold to Real Madrid at 27 in 2009. He didn’t want to go, but the club couldn’t pass up on the $87 million offer. And so he went. For a time, big names were still joining the club, albeit on loans, at discounted fees or in loan-to-buy arrangements that eased the financial burden, like in the case of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. For the first time, Milan were buying off the rack.
But in the last few years, even that has pretty much stopped. Ibrahimovic was pawned off to Paris Saint-Germain, as was star defender Thiago Silva. Since Kaka’s sale, just one player cost more than $10 million: Mario Balotelli. And he might soon leave, if rumors are to be believed.
This summer, Milan signed three players on a free; paid nominal fees for five whom they had previously co-owned; and bought only Valencia’s Adil Rami for some $5.5 million, of which he apparently paid a chunk himself.
Coaches have been swept up in this downward spiral, as the quicksand shifts rapidly below their feet. Massimiliano Allegri, the man who led Milan to their last title, was dismissed in January. Clarence Seedorf, the stately playmaker who had long served the club, was asked to end his playing career with Botafogo in Brazil and take over. A Berlusconi protege, he was promised time and resources to rebuild. He was fired in June and replaced by another club veteran, Filippo Inzaghi.
"Pippo", as the manager’s nickname rings, now willfully steps into this morass, hoping to overturn a momentum pulling much harder towards mediocrity than a restored dominance. He has some young Italian players of promise at his disposal, like Balotelli (23), Stephan El Shaarawy (21) and Mattia De Sciglio (21). "The club knows my priorities," said Inzaghi earlier this month. "We are missing something to get to the level of Juve, Roma and Napoli."
But with the club’s veteran core now gone completely and that once-gilded identity, continuity and culture cast adrift, there is so much to set right. Sometimes empires are rebuilt. Sometimes not.Hail, Caesar! (2016)
It is easy to take Hail, Caesar! (2016) as just a thoroughly enjoyable lightweight comedy. But there is much more to this film if you understand the dark history of the Hollywood studio system of the 1920s – 1960s and its demise after a USA Supreme Court found that it breached competition law. The phrase ‘genre factory’ alludes to that era when big production companies owned permanent movie lots, actors, sets, distribution networks and even cinemas. In common use ‘genre factory’ is the opposite of ‘art-house’ and Hollywood has always been sensitive about its reputation for mass-produced formulaic movies while independent art-houses are credited for innovative aesthetic works. Read in this context, Hail, Caesar! steps back for a huge laugh at the studio system and its legacy.
The storyline is based on a day in the life of a Hollywood executive, Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) as he moves between scenes of various movies in production. Juggling several films at once, his job is to make sure that the big-name stars are happy and their public image remains wholesome. A staunch Catholic, he struggles with guilt over his promise to quit smoking and goes to confession every day. Across its sprawling film lots, we see scenes from a western, a period drama, a sailor dance/musical, a synchronised swimming spectacle, and the ‘big’ biblical epic Hail, Caesar! Things go awry when the epic’s star, Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) is kidnapped by a madcap group of disaffected scriptwriters and communists, a side-story that lampoons the Cold War communist peril depicted more seriously in Trumbo (2015). While sorting out the missing Whitlock, he also deals with the embarrassing pregnancy of his unmarried aquatic star whose swimming costume no longer fits; wards off irritating twin-sister gossip columnists who threaten scandal scoops; and mentors a hapless trick-riding Western star who must learn to talk like they do in drama movies. It’s a mashup style of pastiche comedy that both celebrates and mocks Hollywood genres and movie icons.
This is an hilarious take on ‘the Hollywood dream’. The camera overhead and behind-the-scene shots on different sets is the Coen Brothers’ way of self-reflectively reminding audiences of Hollywood’s unbroken power to fabricate the illusions that are the very essence of the movie industry. Honest fixer Mannix symoblises the manic faith in schmaltzy escapism, the opiate for the masses, produced abundantly in the citadel of capitalism and so loved around the world.
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Stars: Josh Brolin, George Cooney, Alden EhrenreichImage copyright Google Image caption Officers said there were no links to the terror attack in Finsbury Park in London
Anti-terror police have arrested a man with knives and an axe near an Army Reserve centre (formerly known as TA).
West Midlands Police Counter Terrorism Unit and officers from the West Mercia force held the 23-year-old by the Kidderminster centre on Sunday night.
Officers said there was nothing to indicate a threat to the premises on Birmingham Road or any link to the terror attack in Finsbury Park, London.
The man's motives are not yet known and he remains in custody, police said.
Asst Ch Con Martin Evans, of West Mercia Police, said: "On identifying the man our officers took prompt action to contain the threat and take him into custody.
More updates on this story
"I understand that this will be extremely concerning for the residents of Kidderminster but I would like to reassure you that at this time we believe the suspect was acting alone and we are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident."
He said an "extremely sensitive investigation" was under way and confirmed additional police patrols would take place in the town to reassure people.Image copyright PA Image caption The trio are alleged to have used information they obtained through hacking to make money out of forthcoming mergers
Three Chinese citizens accused of hacking into computers of American law firms advising on company mergers have been charged with multi-million dollar cyber fraud in New York.
Prosecutors said the trio made more than $4m by using information they obtained through hacking into some of the top law firms.
They profited by buying stock in firms imminently about to be acquired.
One of the defendants has been arrested while the other two are still at large.
Manhattan Attorney Preet Bharara warned the case should serve as a wake-up call for law firms who now have to worry about cyber fraud in addition to the threat posed by a rogue employee making money out of forthcoming mergers and acquisitions.
The three Chinese men have been charged with conspiracy, insider trading, wire fraud and computer intrusion.
Cybersecurity - BBC News
Cyber criminals 'hacked law firms'
Can the technology sector keep up with cyber crime? (video)
They are alleged to have made investments based on information obtained from hacking into unnamed law firms working on merger deals, by posing as information technology analysts. The trio are alleged to have targeted the email accounts of individual law firm partners.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Manhattan Attorney Preet Bharara (pictured) has warned the latest case should serve as a wake-up call for law firms
One of the suspects, Iat Hong, from Macau, was arrested on Sunday in Hong Kong, police told the BBC. He attended a court hearing on Monday and is reported to be awaiting extradition. The others were named as Bo Zheng of Changsha, and Chin Hung of Macau.
Lawyers for the trio have not so far commented on the allegations against them.
Police in Macau told BBC Chinese said that they had "no record" of the US authorities asking for assistance to find the two missing defendants.
The suspects are accused of targeting at least seven New York law firms in their efforts to obtain information about forthcoming deals, The New York Times reported.
The newspaper said they were "extraordinarily active in pursuing information" and quotes the indictment against them as saying that, between March and September 2015, they "attempted to cause unauthorised access to the networks and servers of the targeted law firms on more than 100,000 occasions".
The indictment says that among the deals the trio are alleged to have profited from was the acquisition of e-commerce company Borderfree by Pitney Bowes Inc and Intel Corp's purchase of circuit manufacturer Altera Corp. Both were completed in 2015.A 14-year-old who was arrested two weeks ago for illegal possession of a handgun has been arrested again, in the same block, for illegally possessing a second gun, Baltimore police say.
This has caused more concerns centered around teen violence in Baltimore.
“Two times, in two weeks, with two different handguns. It’s a problem for all of us, everybody should be outraged,” said police spokesman T.J. Smith.
Police say it shows you how easy it is for kids to get their hands on these weapons, and this is a prime example of how there’s a major breakdown in the system.
The teen was first taken into custody with a handgun back on November 11.
On Monday night, police arrested the same 14-year-old in the same block, with yet another loaded weapon. This time, a semi-automatic handgun.
“This is not throwing eggs at a house or breaking into a car, this is violent behavior that can instantly result in death,” Smith said. “We shouldn’t have to wait until that 14-year-old uses the gun in commission of a crime.”
Police say they do not know where the 14-year-old got these guns.
The arrests once again shed light on what many call a broken juvenile justice system.
Just weeks ago, a group of teens who police called repeat offenders, were arrested in a string of attacks downtown.
“She was punched, kicked, she was hit in the head with a bat,” said Kia Martin, who says her daughter was attacked at the Inner Harbor.
It led to the police commissioner lashing out.
“The reason why we know who they are is because we lock them up again, again, and again,” Baltimore PD Commissioner Kevin Davis said back in November.
Police then blasted the juvenile criminal justice system.
“Clearly, something is broken, if we’re talking about a kid arrested twice in a two week period for possessing two handguns. Something is broken. Something isn’t working, and whatever needs to be done to disrupt that pattern, needs to be done,” Smith said.
14 with TWO GUNS in TWO weeks! Sad. This is not juvenile mischief….let’s not be confused. https://t.co/qDFnuU1unK — T.J. Smith (@TJSmithMedia) November 28, 2017
Dr. Rev. Andre Humphrey says besides revamping the system, parents, clergy, and everyone involved needs to take initiative.
“System is broken, system needs to be fixed. Whoever is letting them out is putting society at risk,” Humphrey said. “Police lock them up and do their job, and then when there’s a shift change, they’re back out smiling and laughing at the officers. Some of these parents know their kids have guns, but they look the other way. They depend on their kid’s criminal activity to get by, so they aren’t going to turn them in.”
Humphrey added that change isn’t possible without accountability.
“It’s going to take everyone. We need everyone to man up, step up, and do their job,” he said.
Police also announced the arrest of a 17-year-old wanted for an armed carjacking of a 51-year-old woman off Key Highway.
RELATED: Police Arrest Teen Accused Of Armed Carjacking In Baltimore
They say this arrest led them to several other vehicles that were recently stolen in carjackings.
Follow @CBSBaltimore on Twitter and like WJZ-TV | CBS Baltimore on FacebookThe rare “Jumbo” T206 Honus Wagner card will go up for sale in September, Yahoo Finance has learned. It’s a tiny baseball card from 1909, and it has a good shot at selling for more than $4.4 million.
For the uninitiated: Honus Wagner cards from the American Tobacco Company’s T206 series are the most valuable baseball cards in the hobby. Not all cards from that series, which included 524 cards, are as valuable, though Ty Cobb cards from the series also sell for astronomical figures. Wagner’s card is special because Wagner demanded he be removed from the series, either because he didn’t like the cigarette company marketing to children or because he wanted money from the company to use his image.
As a result, there were only about 200 Wagner |
ans proud. Most people didn’t expect them to get past Anaheim, let alone Chicago and they took the Blackhawks to the brink. And they did it all with a team that myself and some others, consider the worst Red Wings team assembled during the Playoff streak. Mike Babcock and the coaching staff did a fantastic job this year getting this team to the 2nd round of the playoffs.
The Red Wings have a lot of work to do this summer and I hope Ken Holland was just being coy when he said that he doesn’t expect to do anything that big this summer. Stay tuned for my post on what the Wings could do and what they should do. But what everyone should take away from this season, that even though the disappointment of the loss is there, the future is bright.
AdvertisementsGears of War 4 will support split-screen co-op on PC for the game's campaign, developer The Coalition has confirmed. Technical director Mike Rayner told PC Gamer that, from a development perspective, this is "quite difficult to support." Overall, he said it was a "labor of love" to add the feature, which the studio elected to include after it heard feedback from Gears of War Ultimate Edition that fans wanted this.
"We have to deal with multiple inputs, we have to deal with focus, we have to deal with UI placement," Rayner said about split-screen co-op. "That extra work--especially when having to also consider all the resolutions and aspect ratios a PC can have--may be why most big games nowadays don't typically support split-screen co-op."
Adding split-screen support is "not just something you can tack on," but instead requires "some effort" to do it right, Rayner added.
In April, The Coalition boss Rod Fergusson confirmed Gears of War 4 will also offer split-screen co-op on Xbox One, though the frame rate will drop to 30fps. This applies to campaign and multiplayer, but it remains to be seen if Gears of War 4 on PC will offer split-screen for multiplayer as well.
In other news about Gears of War 4, the title's "gameplay launch trailer" was published today and can be seen here. Additionally, you can read GameSpot's preview of Gears of War 4's campaign through this feature, "Gears of War 4's Campaign Mixes Guns and Gore With Storytelling and Atmosphere."For the lead story in the July Departments pages of National Geographic magazine, photographer Adam Voorhes was tasked with a perplexing assignment: to make a photograph of a miniature wind turbine 1.8 mm tall, or rather, about half the length of a grain of rice.
“All you can see is this little line and you can see that there are three fan blades connected to it. Everything else is completely microscopic.”
Developed by a team of electrical engineers at The University of Texas, Arlington, this miniature wind turbine, whose detail (such as the holes in the fan blades) in Adam’s photograph is unseeable to the naked eye, can generate electric power from ambient wind. The idea is that one day several hundreds of them could be applied to a sleeve for your smart phone, so when your phone dies, all you have to do is put the sleeve on and wave it through the air for a couple minutes to recharge it.
Being an experienced technical photographer, Adam had an idea of what he needed to do. “We saw a picture beforehand of the turbine on a penny, so I said, ok it’s twice the size of the ‘y’ on ‘liberty’ on a penny, which is really small.” So small, in fact, it is superglued to a microscope slide cover, otherwise you would not be able to physically handle it. He would need to use a technical camera and a technique known as “focus stacking” to get the final result.
View Images A tiny wind turbine, with a quarter to show scale, is mounted on a glass slide for photographing.
Here’s how it works: in order to get an image which is completely sharp, you need to combine multiple images taken at different focus distances which, when combined, provide a resulting image with a greater depth of field. In macro photography, such as in this case with the mini wind turbine, getting a sufficient depth of field is challenging because the depth of field is much shallower.
“The depth that we’re photographing is two tenths of a millimeter. It’s so small that your depth of field is something that we don’t even perceive; you’re looking at an image that’s almost entirely out of focus and there’s just this tiny little field of depth that’s sharp.”
Adam started by taking a photograph where one point is in focus and then systematically took over 80 frames, shifting his focus slightly in each one. He then ran all the images through a computer program that combines all the sharp points to create a final, layered image.
“It’s never perfect and there’s some clean up you have to do, but for the most part you have a wonderful sharp image that could not be created otherwise.”
Part one completed, and on to part two: showing the scale of the wind turbine through comparison.
View Images A photo illustration of an ant climbing a tiny wind turbine
Both Adam and his photo editor Susan Welchman agreed. An ant would be perfect, especially if it could interact with the turbine. Since this real-world interaction wasn’t an option, Adam recreated the miniature turbine in his studio by cutting two tiny pieces of plastic and gluing them together on a piece of wire that hooked onto a surface.
Having worked with ants in the past, Adam pulled up his browser history and ordered a batch of ants online.
“We put maybe half a dozen ants on the surface and we just photographed them as they wandered around. We put a little honey on the plastic to try and bait them to interact with it. We were patient, we sat there and took pictures of them for a half an hour or forty-five minutes.”
Once he captured something workable, Adam put all the pieces together to make that one final, King Kong-esque image.
“I think what really helped the most on the page was the actual size thing, just the little dot down at the bottom.”
Read the full story on the power of tiny turbines in the July 2014 issue of National Geographic. You can follow Vorhes’ work on his photo blog.Daniel Bryan’s absence from the WWE reiterates the grueling toll wrestling takes on the human body.
The American is currently out of the organisation’s plans because of several career-threatening concussions and for a man with such a large fanbase –2.3 million Twitter followers no less – it has been difficult to handle being out of the spotlight.
After sustaining a heavy concussion during a Smackdown match with Sheamus in April, WWE pulled Bryan from competing in the remainder of their European tour as a “precautionary measure”. He was due to defend his World Heavyweight Championship title against Bad News Barrett several weeks later but it was cancelled, as Bryan was medically unable to compete. Subsequently, WWE stopped advertising Bryan from all future events. This led many fans believing that his career could be finished.
“No, at least not in my mind,” he says to Sport360 a wry laugh when asked about retirement. “WWE might be thinking that but I feel great. I feel like I’m ready to wrestle. If they called me to wrestle tomorrow I would. It’s just a matter of getting cleared. I’ve had a long history of concussions, so they are a bit hesitant to get me back.
“I’ve learned a lot about concussions during this process. I met with one of the top neurologists that specialise in concussions in the United States. They can check me after every match, but to make sure I reach a baseline level to what my mental capacities are.
“We have an impact test which they have in a lot of sports. It’s a 15 minute test that measures your brain function. I have that test which they can take after concussion, but now I have even more extensive tests. I did a two hour neuropsychological exam. This means if they think I have a concussion, they would first have me check with the doctor, then have me doing the impact test, to make sure it’s up to par with my previous impact test, then do a neuropsychological evaluation, which is a two hour pen and paper test.
“From this, they have all these ways to check my brain function. What they are finding out about concussion, is not the amount of concussions you have, it’s about how your brain heals after it. Learning all this has made me confident in my ability to recover,” he said.
A multiple championship winner and an ebullient personality outside the ring, Bryan only headlined one pay-per view as champion due to a constant string of injuries that saw him ruled out of many WWE events. In April, for example, he was stripped of his World Heavyweight title for his inability to defend it at Money In The Bank.
“It’s was very frustrating, but more the health aspect of it is: the title part isn’t the big deal,” Bryan explains. ”The big deal is how wrestling is the way I express myself creatively, not being able to do it has made me frustrated. I’ve tried to transition this into gardening but it’s not the same. I’m working on it though!
“When I came back from neck surgery I felt like I didn’t miss a bit in terms of fan support. It will be interesting to see what it will be like when/if I come back from this one. I feel like when you get multiple injuries then fans start to lose faith in you.”
Bryan’s WWE career began after his rise to prominence on the Independent Circuit and WWE NXT, where he won multiples titles.
“When I was on NXT, it wasn’t the NXT that it is now. It is stupid when I was in. They had me doing monkey bar challenges. We were drinking soda in one of the episodes as a challenge, and I don’t drink carbonated beverages. A minute of live television was me trying to drink this big gulp of soda.”
“Going from independence to NXT didn’t feel like a big step up, but going from that to Summerslam to RAW felt like a huge step up, especially the pressure of live television, knowing that millions of people are watching you. That pressure can get to you.
Taking the step up from bowels of the organisation to the bright lights and large attendances is a difficult transition that has been made by all of the world’s top wrestlers. Like many, it is something that Bryan struggled with initially.
“I don’t think there’s anything that prepares you for it. You go in, you feel the pressure, you get used to it and it just feels like the normal thing. It’s crazy. When I first did it, I was so nervous. I was wrestling at that point for 13 years. Nothing really changes, and that’s something you have to accept in your mind. This is what I love to do, and I just want to go out and do it to the best of my ability.”
DANIEL BRYAN’S FIVE FAVOURITE WRESTLERS
5. Ric Flair
4. Yuji Nagata
3. Dean Malenko
2. William Regal
1. Shawn Michaels
FAVOURITE MATCH
Shawn Michaels vs Brett Hart – Iron match match – Wrestlemania XII 1996
“First time I got to watch Wrestlemania live on PPV. I love that story. These guys are the two best wrestlers, they’re going to wrestle, and were going to see who wins.”(CBS News) In an exclusive interview with CBS News' Charlie Rose, President Bashar Assad said he is "disappointed" in the Obama administration for pursuing a strike against Syria, claiming faulty intelligence and a foreign policy comparable with the policy of former President George W. Bush. He also said any U.S. involvement in Syria's two-year-old civil war would only embolden America's enemies.
At first offering a more tempered argument against a U.S. strike, Assad explained it would not serve U.S. security interests.
"The first question that they should ask [themselves], what do wars give America?...Nothing. No political gain, no economic gain, no good reputation. United States' credibility is at...[an] all-time low. So this war is against the interests of the United States," Assad said. "Why?"
Assad: I'm no "butcher," I'm like a doctor who saves lives
Assad: U.S. does not have "a single shred of evidence" of chemical weapons attack
Bashar Assad tells Charlie Rose U.S. should "expect every action" in response to Syria strikes
Complete CBSNews.com coverage: Syria crisis
The Syrian president again called on the U.S. and Congress to present hard evidence proving a chemical attack was launched within Syria and warned that a strike against Syria would only foster the growth of al Qaeda within his borders.
"First of all, because this is the war that is going to support Al Qaeda and the same people that kill Americans in the 11 of September. The second thing that we all want to tell to the Congress, that they should ask and that what we expect, we expect them to ask this administration about the evidence that they have regarding the chemical story and the allegations that they presented," Assad said.
President Assad said he and the Syrian people are "disappointed" by President Obama's behavior, and compared his foreign policy to that of former President George W. Bush.
"We expected this administration [to be] different from Bush's administration," he said. However, "they are operating the same doctrine with different accessories. That's it. We expect if...[this administration] to be strong to say that 'We don't have evidence, that we have to obey...the international law, that we have to go back to the security council at the United Nations.'"
If he found himself face-to-face with President Obama, Assad told Rose, he would simply tell him:" "Present what you have as evidence to the public. Be transparent."
"He didn't present because he doesn't have have [it]," Assad said. "Kerry doesn't have it."
Responding to Charlie Rose's claims that evidence has been presented to Congress, including satellite footage and intercepted messages, Assad repeated several times, "nothing has been presented," eventually adding that even if the U.S. did present seemingly credible evidence, he would doubt its veracity.
"We have the precedent of Colin Powell ten years ago when he showed the evidence, it was false and it was forged," Assad said. "You want me to believe American evidence and don't believe the indication that we have? We live here."Home » Carriers Samsung Galaxy S III now available to pre-order at Verizon Wireless, won’t ship until July 9 CarriersNewsPhones Samsung Galaxy S III now available to pre-order at Verizon Wireless, won’t ship until July 9
Planning on getting the Samsung Galaxy S III from Verizon Wireless? If you want to make sure that you have a device in hand the day that it is released, you might want to go ahead and pre-order the phone starting today. The Galaxy S III will set you back $199.99 for the 16GB model and $249.99 for the 32GB model when you sign a new 2-year contract.
If you’re hoping on buying the phone contract-free, you will have to wait a little longer. At the moment, Verizon is not allowing customers to pre-order the phone without a contract. When you do get to order the phone contract-free, expect to pay $599.99 and $649.99 for the 16GB and 32GB models, respectively.
Unfortunately, you will have to wait until July to get your hands on the Galaxy S III. According to Verizon, the phone will ship by July 9. This is more than 2 weeks after the AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile versions will launch. The only other carrier to launch the phone in July is U.S. Cellular.
To pre-order your Galaxy S III, head over to Verizon Wireless today.BII This story was delivered to BI Intelligence Apps and Platforms Briefing subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.
Interest in the use of artificial intelligence in the workplace is continuing to heat up.
This is exemplified by Interactions, a virtual assistant startup, which announced on Tuesday that it has secured $56 million during its most recent funding round, TechCrunch reports. The round was the largest to date, bringing the company's total funding to around $130 million.
Interaction will use the funding to continue developing its AI-powered voice recognition software. While in some instances the company is recording 98% accuracy in its voice recognition services, some of the more complex requests are resulting in confusion for the software, resulting in accuracy percentages in the 70s.
Nevertheless, Interaction's latest round of funding suggests that businesses are beginning to see the massive potential in AI-infused customer service automation, CEO Mike Iacobucci told TechCrunch. While complete automation of the customer service workforce is not feasible, automating customer management and sales positions in the US where possible through chatbots and other automation technologies could result in considerable savings of up to $23 billion annually, according to estimates from BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service.
Advancements in artificial intelligence, coupled with the proliferation of messaging apps, are fueling the development of chatbots — software programs that use messaging as the interface through which to carry out any number of tasks, from scheduling a meeting, to reporting weather, to helping users buy a pair of shoes.
Foreseeing immense potential, businesses are starting to invest heavily in the burgeoning bot economy. A number of brands and publishers have already deployed bots on messaging and collaboration channels, including HP, 1-800-Flowers, and CNN. While the bot revolution is still in the early phase, many believe 2016 will be the year these conversational interactions take off.
Laurie Beaver, research associate for BI Intelligence, has compiled a detailed report on chatbots that explores the growing and disruptive bot landscape by investigating what bots are, how businesses are leveraging them, and where they will have the biggest impact.
The report outlines the burgeoning bot ecosystem by segment, looks at companies that offer bot-enabling technology, distribution channels, and some of the key third-party bots already on offer. The report also forecasts the potential annual savings that businesses could realize if chatbots replace some of their customer service and sales reps. Finally, it compares the potential of chatbot monetization on a platform like Facebook Messenger against the iOS App Store and Google Play store.
Here are some of the key takeaways:
AI has reached a stage in which chatbots can have increasingly engaging and human conversations, allowing businesses to leverage the inexpensive and wide-reaching technology to engage with more consumers.
Chatbots are particularly well suited for mobile — perhaps more so than apps. Messaging is at the heart of the mobile experience, as the rapid adoption of chat apps demonstrates.
The chatbot ecosystem is already robust, encompassing many different third-party chat bots, native bots, distribution channels, and enabling technology companies.
Chatbots could be lucrative for messaging apps and the developers who build bots for these platforms, similar to how app stores have developed into moneymaking ecosystems.When the Dallas Stars traded utility forward Steve Ott for Derek Roy many wondered if the organization had just lost a seemingly invaluable part of the team for a half-season or less of a an oft-injured center, signed for just one more year, in need of shoulder surgery, while staring a lockout in the face.
25 games in it's safe to say that Derek Roy has been nearly everything Stars fans hoped he would be.
15 points and a +6 rating are nice, but he does so much more. He's tenacious on the forecheck. His lines turn pucks over and create chances. He's on the positive side of puck possession every night (looking at you, Ribs). He can play in all situations, and does. He fuels the transition game, and they sorely missed him there when he was out with the groin problem.
Most importantly Roy's presence gives the Stars balance and a threat to score when Jamie Benn isn't on the ice, either during a game or as in last night's contest with Benn missing altogether.
Now Bob McKenzie on TSN Insider Trading says Roy's brief time in Dallas may come to an end after just 36 games at the trade deadline.
"Derek Roy's situation is interesting," McKenzie said last night. "He makes 4 million dollars a year. He and the Dallas Stars are not down the road at all on a new contract. In fact it would be fair to suggest that they have a much different idea in terms of value."
Value is an interesting concept this coming off-season. Centers are always coveted, and good ones are rarely on the market. The compliance buy-outs could cloud the picture, as could constricting cap situations around the league as the new CBA takes effect, but the guess is that centers are going to get paid no matter what.
Ryan Getzlaf's new contract is obviously at the high end, but has an effect. Mike Ribeiro will likely be on the market as well, and his greater than a point-per-game pace is going to fetch a handsome reward.
Look at the list on Capgeek of pending UFA centers. Quality is always hard to find, and the prices skyrocket July 1st. Common sense says that Roy will want to test the market and take advantage.
"The Stars probably think more along the lines of what he's making now and the four million dollar range," continued McKenzie, "And that Derek Roy is looking for up, up, up, way over five or six million dollars a year."
"So this is a player who is very much in play," McKenzie finished, "and could fit exactly the type of player the Vancouver Canucks are looking for as a third line center once Kesler comes back."
So the Canucks could potentially be looking at the current Star, and the former as they reportedly were last season.
A week ago Derek Roy told the Dallas Morning News that his agent is in contact with the Stars.
"They've been talking, so it's been good," Roy told the DMN. "Me and Joe have had a talk, too, so that's good. But, like I said, I can't focus on that or my game will go downhill pretty fast. That's why I hired an agent."
Stars fans would like to believe that something will get worked out, but need to be prepared for the possibility of "asset management" - Not losing someone for nothing. It's nice to think that Roy may like it here and he may believe in this new ownership group and that he may even feel gratitude after the shoulder surgery the Stars could have waited on but didn't, and Roy's saying all the right things.
"Obviously, with the shoulder surgery right away, they wanted me to be at my best, and be here for a long time, so it shows they really care for the players," Roy told Mike Heika. "It's a great organization here, I like it here, so it's just a matter of trying to get it done."
At the end of the day, though, it's business. With just 21 games played here there isn't a loyalty factor. It's about dollars and cents more dollars, but could be about the situation and geography as well.
Roy doesn't have children to think about yet, but he was born in Ottawa. He played junior hockey for Kitchener in the OHL. He was drafted by Buffalo. He's spent his entire hockey life in that area surrounding the US/Canada border, and that he may want to get back up in that direction should not be discounted either.
As for the return on such a trade? It's anyone's guess. It's just a rental, in a market that could also include the likes of Jarome Iginla, Steve Ott, and Mike Ribeiro even, among many others.
Two and a half weeks are all that remain until the April 3rd deadline.
Joe Nieuwendyk has chosen to keep his teams together in each of the last three seasons rather than engage in asset acquisition to forsake possible playoff berths. It could be that he'll do the same this year, but fans need to be prepared for the possibility that Derek Roy (and perhaps others) may not be a Star for long if things don't come together quickly on the ice, or at the bargaining table.Posted on 13 March 2014
Check Out These Amazing Power Numbers Provided by the MAP STi Rotated Mount Turbo Kit!
Here is the mods list:
Recently, we wrote about our Subaru STi rotated mount turbo kit and the benefits of installing such a kit. Well, a dedicated customer decided to purchase the kit for his, replacing his oldsetup. He couldn't be happier with the performance gains he's gotten!
This is the interesting part: Carl T. is the owner of the car, and also the owner of general repair shop in Saint Paul, MN. He has extensive automotive background, particularly with the LS series GM motors and is widely known as a expert tuner for that platform. He chose MAPerformance as the go-to tuner due to our reliable history with import cars and Subaru in general. Carl is an avid auto-crosser and has participated in many events across the Midwest, including Road America, Mid America, and MAP's Proving Grounds. Carl needed this turbo to be fast spooling and capable of producing top-end power over 6400RPM. That is exactly what he got. The car pulls hard through every gear and sounds insane to boot! According to our in-house tuner Jordan, "this is the best kit I have ever tuned on a Subaru". He testifies the transient response on this car is amazing, and it's what sets this STi apart from the others. Carl agrees, saying "the transient throttle response is completely opposite to the FP Red... where the FP would lag, this turbo keeps spool and is explosive almost immediately. I'd recommend MAP's STi rotated mount turbo kit to anyone looking for some extra power". Check out this graph, and you'll agree! We did a few pulls here on our Dyno at both 26psi and 30psi, both running a E85 winter mixture. While we were impressed with the numbers we got at 26psi, Carl had us turn up the boost a little bit to really test the limits. 30psi was outstanding as well!
26psi - 488whp/454wtq 30psi - 530whp/468wtq Here is the video of the car on the dyno. Check it out!
If you have any questions regarding the build or the kit, leave a comment and we'll be happy to get an answer for you! We have a bunch of these kits in stock and ready to ship out today!Griswold on Immigration and the Welfare State By Bryan Caplan
Dan Griswold’s “Immigration and the Welfare State” was my favorite in the Cato Journal immigration symposium. Highlights:
False stereotypes notwithstanding, immigrants have an awesome work ethic:
The typical foreign-born adult resident of the United States today is more likely to participate in the work force than the typical native-born American. According to the U.S. Department of Labor (2011), the labor-force participation rate of the foreign-born in 2010 was 67.9 percent, compared to the native-born rate of 64.1 percent. The gap was especially high among men. The labor-force participation rate of foreign-born men in 2010 was 80.1 percent, a full 10 percentage points higher than the rate among native-born men. Labor-force participation rates were highest of all among unauthorized male immigrants in the United States. According to estimates by Jeffrey Passell (2006) of the Pew Hispanic Center, 94 percent of illegal immigrant men were in the labor force in the mid-2000s.
Immigrants display reverse welfare magnetism:
The 10 states with the largest percentage increase in foreign-born population between 2000 and 2009 spent far less on public assistance per capita in 2009 compared to the 10 states with the slowest-growing foreign-born populations–$35 vs. $166 (see Table 1). In the 10 states with the lowest per capita spending on public assistance, the immigrant population grew 31 percent between 2000 and 2009; in the 10 states with the highest per capita spending on public assistance, the foreign-born population grew 13 percent (U.S.
Census 2011, NASBO 2010: 33).
What about illegals?
Undocumented immigrants are even more likely to self-select states with below-average social spending. Between 2000 and 2009, the number of unauthorized immigrants in the low-spending states grew by a net 855,000, or 35 percent. In the high-spending states, the population grew by 385,000, or 11 percent (U.S. Census 2011; NASBO 2010: 33; Passel and Cohn 2011). One possible reason why unauthorized immigrants are even less drawn to high-welfare-spending states is that, unlike immigrants who have been naturalized, they are not eligible for any of the standard welfare programs.
The paper goes on to cover the net multigenerational fiscal effects of immigration, with extra sections on educational spending, health spending, and Social Security. Though the net fiscal effect seems positive, there’s a clear federal-state conflict:
The 1997 National Research Council study determined that the typical immigrant and descendants represent an $80,000 fiscal gain to the government in terms of net present value. But that gain divides into a positive $105,000 fiscal impact for the federal government and a negative $25,000 impact on the state and local level (NRC 1997: 337).
While the net fiscal effects of illegal immigration in Texas were modestly negative, the net economic effect for Texas was strongly positive:
[U]nauthorized immigrants in fiscal year 2005 paid a total of $2.09 billion in taxes at the state and local level, while consuming $2.60 billion in services (Strayhorn 2006: 20). Education was the main expenditure on the state level, and health care on the local level. Thus the net fiscal cost for state and local taxpayers in Texas from illegal immigration that year was $504 million. The fiscal cost, however, was more than offset by the boost to the size of the Texas economy, another finding consistent with other state studies. The Texas comptroller used a general equilibrium model known as the Regional Economic Model Inc… The model found that the resulting drop in the state’s labor force would cause wages of remaining workers to rise slightly–by less than 1 percent. But the higher wages caused by a tightening labor market would make producers in the state less competitive, resulting in a modest decline in the value of the state’s exports. The state’s economy would shrink by 2.1 percent or $17.7 billion (Strayhorn 2006: 17)
Griswold’s not apologizing for the welfare state. But libertarians who see the welfare state as an argument for restricting immigration are straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel.Image: Henri Kirkanen / Yle
On Friday this week, Parliament will vote on its Legal Affairs Committee's rejection of a bill on gender neutral marriage.
In a Facebook posting on Tuesday, Archbishop Kari Mäkinen noted that in some of the public debate on the issue, same-sex marriage has been portrayed as posing some sort of threat, a claim he dismissed.
"If the initiative is passed, no one's marriage will lose any of its value, nor will the position of a single child be endangered. If the initiative is not passed, the recognition of and improvements in the status of sexual minorities will not stop here. Changes in attitudes have taken place and continue to take place. I pray for wisdom for the members of parliament, and for serenity for those who hope and fear," wrote Archbishop Mäkinen.
He also stressed his view that that the defense of sexual minorities must continue no matter what Parliament decides regarding new marriage legislation.
"Regardless of what decision Parliament makes and what path the church follows, it is important to defend rainbow couples and rainbow families. For me, it is not a matter of opinion. It is a question of human dignity arising from the basis of the Christian faith," Mäkinen stated.
Three alternatives for the Lutheran church
According to Archbishop Kari Mäkinen, if a gender neutral marriage bill is passed, it will have an effect on the Lutheran church, although it will not have an immediate, direct impact on church weddings.
Archbishop Mäkinen sees three alternative paths for the church in the marriage issue, if a legal change is forthcoming.
The first alternative would be to maintain the status quo, sanctioning marriage in the church for heterosexual couples, but not for same-sex couples. This would put the concept and practice of marriage at odds with its social and legal definition.
The second would be for the church to relinquish its right to perform marriages and to only bless civil marriages. This would require a decision on if both different sex and same sex couples could be given blessings. The third alternative would be for the church to retain its right to perform marriages and to expand the concept of marriage to include relationships between people of the same sex.The company, which was formed in 2013 in New York through the combination of a leading distributor of small turbines and a digital site-assessment business, has raised about $40 million in project financing — including $13.5 million announced in October from the NY Green Bank, a state-sponsored investment fund, and U.S. Bank — and signed about 125 leases. Executives said they were in talks for a significantly larger investment that would allow United Wind to develop about 1,000 more projects in the Midwest.
“The small-wind market was small — it hadn’t really taken off the way solar had,” said Russell Tencer, the chief executive, who founded the site-assessment company, Wind Analytics, in 2009. “What we realized was that with that intelligence and software we could offer that same type of one-stop-shop solution that solar has packaged to finance solar.”
Distributors have sold small and medium-size wind turbines for the last three decades. Their spread has been slow, although there are signs that may be changing. According to a report this year from Navigant Research, worldwide revenue from the turbines — defined as anything under 500 kilowatts — will grow to nearly $2.4 billion in 2023 from $1 billion in 2015, in part spurred by the development of the lease model. Still, the United States is expected to remain far behind leaders like Britain, China and Italy, with only $216 million in revenue by 2023.
Over the decades, the American market has waxed and waned, said Jennifer Jenkins, executive director of the Distributed Wind Energy Association, a trade group that focuses on wind energy that is generated and used on site. But the market has grown from something originally aimed at remote, off-grid and island communities to something that the group hopes can reach 30 gigawatts worth of installations by 2030, up from 906 megawatts, reflecting 74,000 turbines installed across the 50 states by the end of 2014, according to the Department of Energy.
Having recognizable companies like Honda, Walmart and Anheuser-Busch install wind turbines at highly visible facilities helps, making distributed wind a more mainstream symbol of green energy, Ms. Jenkins said. Turbines are also sprouting up on office buildings and at locations as diverse as Logan Airport in Boston, Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia and even at the Eiffel Tower, where two turbines are nestled.On January 5th 1985, Jack Tramiel was having one of the most enjoyable days of his life. At Comdex in Las Vegas, he was standing in the Atari exhibit, which had been roped off and covered with cloths. The Atari exhibit was the only part of Comdex that was not yet open on the first day of the show. It was awaiting the arrival of the Governor of Nevada, who would formally open the exhibit by cutting a ribbon and allowing the show attendees to see the long awaited Atari 520ST, a new 68000-based computer with the GEM graphics user interface. It was reputed to do everything the Macintosh could do and then some, at half the price of the Mac. In fact it was referred to by the press as "The Jackintosh." The Atari 502ST included color, MIDI sound, and the GEM graphics user interface. The new computer was the rave of the show, and the Tramiel family and their loyal retainers, who had left Commodore when Jack resigned, basked in the glory.
The Atari company, founded by Nolan Bushnell, the inventor of Pong, had grown to become the largest manufacturer of video games and had been sold to Warner Communications. Sales hit 2 billion dollars in 1982, but they plunged to less than 1 billion in 1983 as the public turned to home computers instead of video games. This decline represented a 580 million dollar net loss to Warner. Steven J. Ross, Warner's Chairman and CEO, wanted to unload the business, which he now felt was a drag on Warner and not compatible with the rest of his company. However, it was not easy to find a buyer who could rescue Atari and was willing to take on the job.
Atari had gone into the home computer business producing a line of 8-bit machines based upon the 6502 CPU. The Atari Models 400 and 800, which were the company's first models, were excellent graphics computers, but had several problems in competing in the highly competitive home market. The Atari 400 had a plastic membrane keyboard and was overpriced at $600. The Model 800 was much better, but it was priced just below the Apple II, and it was perceived as more of a "home" computer while Apple was considered as a "serious" computer.
The later 1200XL systems were not much different except in physical appearance, and although they had 64K of memory instead of 48K maximum on the 800, there was not too much inducement for Atari 800 owners to upgrade their machines. Atari also produced peripherals for their computers, including the Model 1010 cassette program recorder, the Model 1025 printer, and a number of disk drives.
Part of the problem was that Atari, hoping to repeat its success in the video game business, had played its game too close to the chest. They kept important programming information "secret" and disclosed them only to programmers who agreed to market through Atari. Serious application programming companies who were producing 6502 software for Apple refused to comply with Atari's demands and turned their backs on the products. The game programmers, however, seized the opportunity to use the excellent color graphics capabilities of the Atari machines to develop intricate games. By the time Atari recognized their error, lowered the prices of the machines, and tried to woo back the business program developers, it was too late. The software companies felt the potential sales would not justify their conversion costs.
Another problem was Atari's identification with their video games. They had called their game machines "VCS" (Video Computer System |
something more in line with what the people tell us, which is not what the penises tell us," Rieger said. In general, studies measuring genital responses are trickier, because such responses vary greatly between people, and are difficult to prompt naturally in a lab setting.
Studies on genital responses from Northwestern University researchers have also confirmed the possibility of male bisexuality, Rieger said.
Overall, the study results show that pupil dilation tests can be used to assess overarching trends in sexuality in a large population, not necessarily the sexual orientation of individuals, Savin-Williams said.
However, the researchers said pupil responses could possibly be used in the future for more specific measurements, like understanding the sexuality of someone on trial for a sex crime, Savin-Williams said.
More from MyHealthNewsDaily:
7 Facts Women (And Men) Should Know About the Vagina
7 Surprising Reasons for Erectile Dysfunction
6 (Other) Great Things Sex Can Do For You
More health news:
Two HIV positive men now virus-free. Is this a cure?
Just friends? Guys reveal sexual interest in gal pals
Eureka! Doc claims he's found the G-spotA federal court grants a stipulation filed by the government to move the hearing date for motions to intervene filed by Coinbase and Coinbase customer Jeffrey K. Berns.
On November 17, 2016, the federal government filed a petition in the District Court for the Northern District of California seeking permission for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to serve a summons on Coinbase Inc., one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges that serves bitcoin transactions and storage for people in 190 countries worldwide, to obtain customer data on anyone who “conducted transactions in a convertible virtual currency” between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2015. On November 30, the Court granted the petition, and the IRS served the summons on Coinbase on December 6.
On December 13, Coinbase customer Jeffrey K. Berns filed a motion to intervene and to quash the summons, to be heard on January 19, 2017. On January 11, Coinbase filed its own motion to intervene, scheduled for a hearing on February 16. The following day, the Court moved the hearing date for Mr. Berns’ motion to February 16, 2017. On February 2, the federal government filed a stipulation requesting that the hearing date for the motions be moved to March 23, 2017, and on February 3, the Court granted the request. The hearing will address Mr. Berns’ and Coinbase’s motions to intervene.
Attorneys for the government stated that they sought the continuance not to delay the proceeding, but rather “because the United States is considering filing a petition to enforce or taking other action with respect to the John Doe summons and if more time is provided a hearing on movants’ motions may be avoided altogether, sparing the Court’s judicial resources and the Parties’ time and expense.” Hopefully, this continuance will allow the IRS to reevaluate its initial request and accordingly narrow the scope of the summons. See below for the full Stipulation and Order Requesting Continuance of February 16, 2017, Hearing of Proposed Intervenors’ Motions to Intervene and for Other Relief.Christians use the promises of Jesus as guides for their lives
The Truth Is …
All the promises that Jesus made were to his fellow Jews and none of them were fulfilled.
None of the promises were intended for today’s Christians. In fact Jesus admonishes his about-to-depart disciples…
Go not to the land of the gentiles nor the way of the samaritans but go to the children of Isreal
But is of little import that these promises are not directed to Christians because none of them have been fulfilled anyway.
Jesus says he will come in the lifetime of his listeners
In Mark 13:24-30 Jesus recites a litany of tribulations that will befall those who do not believe summing up with this description of what it will be like:
But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.
Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.
Among other things that did not happen, the sun was not darkened and the stars of heaven did not fall within the generation of those who heard Jesus make this promise. More than once, Jesus tells those who are listening to him that the end is within their lifetime!
Mark 9:1 (Matthew 16:28; Luke 9:27)
“And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”
Jesus emphasizes the point by saying “Truly, I say to you”. Well…. he was wrong! Jesus lied to his followers.
Jesus says you will never want for food or clothing
In Matthew 6:25-34. Jesus says:
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.
:
So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
So according to this, no faithful Christian should ever be hungry, thirsty or without clothing because “all these things will be given to you”. NOT TRUE – FAILED PROMISE
Jesus says that your prayers will be answered
The most testable promise of Jesus comes in Mark 16:17-18:
And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.
… they will lay their hands on the sick and they will recover” NOT TRUE – FAILED PROMISE.
How many desperate, frightened, broken-hearted parents have watched their children die while begging God to help? Not a one if Jesus had been telling the truth.
A more general statement about the power of prayer is found in Luke 10:19
“Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Luke 10:19
“… nothing shall by any means hurt you.” So no Christian has ever been hurt by any means? NOT TRUE – FAILED PROMISE.
Even more grandiose is this promise found in Matthew 21:21
I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, … If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.
… you will receive WHATEVER you ask for in prayer. NOT TRUE – FAILED PROMISE.
There are 14 places in the bible where Jesus categorically states that if you have faith, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. To see all of these promises, see “Prayers Are Not Answered“
Nothing Jesus promised was ever delivered
t None of the things Jesus said would happen in the lifetime of those listening to him happened. DIDN’T HAPPEN – FAILED PROMISE.Learn where you are Learn where you are
While the KDE community busied itself with preparations for the 4.3 release, KDE 4 continued to spread to new platforms with ReactOS user Davy Bartoloni reporting (machine translation of original Italian) some success in running KDE applications on that operating system.
ReactOS is a free software reimplementation of the Windows XP architecture. Earlier efforts existed to run KDE 3 on ReactOS using Cygwin, but the latest successes use native KDE 4 Windows applications as produced by the KDE on Windows project. Some applications like KStars, Kolourpaint, KCalc and KGeography are running already on ReactOS (see the screenshots, reproduced with the permission of Davy Bartoloni). The KDE on Windows project packages many more applications however, including Amarok, Okular and Gwenview. When both the KDE on Windows and ReactOS projects mature these applications will also become available.
Waiting for the stars Waiting for the stars
ReactOS is still in alpha stage and not recommended for everyday use. Attempting to use the latest KDE Windows installer on ReactOS resulted in a blue screen of death and so this demonstration of running KDE applications required compiling them on Windows and then transferring the binaries to ReactOS. Despite such limitations, this is yet another platform beginning to gain KDE support and in future it may provide a viable free software alternative for trying out the Windows versions of KDE applications. In the meantime it brings a little KDE goodness to even more new users.Philadelphia Flyers forward Brayden Schenn told reporters Wednesday that he does not have a concussion but is questionable for the Flyers' game Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson hit Schenn face-first into the boards at 15:17 of the second period of the Flyers' game Tuesday against the Capitals. Wilson received a five-minute major for charging and a game misconduct. He also received a five-minute major for fighting in the immediate aftermath of the hit.
Wilson will have a phone hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety on Thursday.
Schenn stumbled three times trying to regain his footing and skate off the ice. He finally was able to leave on his own, with Flyers trainer Jim McCrossin walking next to him.
The Flyers scored twice in a 1:12 span on the power play assessed to Wilson, including the game-winning goal by Mark Streit en route to a 5-2 victory.
Schenn said he felt better not long after returning to the locker room and did not have a concussion test. He did not take part in the team's optional practice Wednesday but said he will skate Thursday morning prior to the Flyers' game against the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets. He said the only issue he had was stiffness in his upper back and neck.
"I feel I got really lucky," Schenn said. "I don't think I have ever gone head-first into the boards without even getting my arms up or anything like that. I don't remember much of the play. All I remember was how hard the top of my head actually hit the board. And I don't remember trying to get up or anything bad. But the good thing is I don't have a headache or any symptoms today, so that's a positive sign."It looks like President Donald Trump is all in on Roy Moore.
Hours after tweeting his endorsement of the Alabama Republican Senate candidate — who is facing a host of allegations including child molestation and sexual assault — the president apparently called the former state Supreme Court Justice to deliver the news that Moore officially has Trump’s backing.
According to the Facebook page of Moore’s wife, Kayla Moore (h/t CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, confirmed by The Guardian), the president offered her husband his “full support” in a Monday morning phone call.
“Judge Moore just got off the phone with President Trump-we have his full support!” Kayla Moore wrote. “Thank you Mr. President! Let’s MAGA!
For weeks, Trump has avoided and danced around the issue of whether he’d endorse Moore to fill the Senate seat formerly occupied by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. On Nov. 26, the president fired off a Tweet blasting Moore’s Democratic opponent, Doug Jones.
“The last thing we need in Alabama and the U.S. Senate is a Schumer/Pelosi puppet who is WEAK on Crime, WEAK on the Border, Bad for our Military and our great Vets, Bad for our 2nd Amendment, AND WANTS TO RAISES TAXES TO THE SKY,” Trump wrote. “Jones would be a disaster!”
Trump also scheduled a curiously timed and placed campaign rally four days before the election in Pensacola, FL — just 25 miles from the Alabama state line.
But with new polls showing Moore leading the race by a slim margin, the President is making the commitment to Moore — despite all of the shocking allegations.
UPDATE 12:40 p.m. ET — The Moore campaign has released a statement (via Elaina Plott of the Washingtonian) touting the president’s endorsement.
New from Moore campaign touting Trump's endorsement and phone call: "The President wrapped up the call with a "go get 'em, Roy!" pic.twitter.com/ANVbt7Xa2T — Elaina Plott (@elainaplott) December 4, 2017
UPDATE 12:49 p.m. ET — The White House confirms the phone call and endorsement of Moore. (Via NBC News.)
JUST IN: White House confirms President Trump's endorsement of Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore pic.twitter.com/yv6gW9emeM — NBC News (@NBCNews) December 4, 2017
[image via screengrab]
——
Follow Joe DePaolo (@joe_depaolo) on Twitter
Have a tip we should know? [email protected] kind of surgery is uncharted water (unless you count science fiction), so Canavero will do all he can post-operation to help his patient adjust to looking down and seeing a body that wasn't originally his own. Assisting in that process is the Chicago-based tech firm Inventum Bioengineering Technologies.
"This virtual reality system prepares the patient in the best possible way for a new world that he will be facing with his new body," Canavero said. "A world in which he will be able to walk again."
Inventum Bioengineering Technologies has posted some press photos of their set-up, which involves putting the patient in a stand-up harness. It's not yet clear exactly what will be seen in the VR headset, although we suspect it'll be slightly more serious business than Conan O'Brien's recent trip to YouTube's VR lab.
What do you think of the controversial procedure, or how Canavero is employing VR to help Spiridonov adjust to his post-opp life? Let us know.
Images: Inventum Bioengineering TechnologiesMG
Let’s aim at minimum to reduce the incarceration rate to about 150 to 175 per 100,000, which is where it was on the eve of the prison boom and is somewhat comparable to other developed countries. That would mean cutting the rate by about 75 to 80 percent. Some people have begun to talk about cutting it in half over the next 10 years — and this has been dismissed as a radical idea.
We need comprehensive sentencing reform, and not just for drug crimes. We have to look at the hard cases like child pornography. We also need to roll back these very punitive sentences for people who’ve committed some pretty serious crimes — like homicide.
We should abolish life in prison without the possibility of parole. This is a nearly unheard-of sentence in Europe. Everyone serving time should be entitled to a meaningful parole review. We’ve lost the distinction between somebody who’s done something horrible and somebody who is a horrible person.
Public opinion surveys show that Americans in many ways are not more punitive than people in other countries. Public officials and politicians in the United States misread public sentiment on this issue. They’re excessively fearful of public opinion, and they’ve been unwilling to lead public opinion to dismantle the carceral state, not just trim it around the edges.
The mainstream narrative on criminal justice reform today is that since everything is so polarized in Washington and state capitols, the best we can hope for is small-bore legislative fixes aimed at the non, non, nons. Comprehensive sentencing reform is considered a nonstarter.
But it is important to remember that the carceral state was not built by legislation alone. In its formative years, a growing number of prosecutors, police, judges, and corrections officials made a major shift and decided to exert their enormous discretion in a more punitive direction. Now they can choose to do the opposite.
And if you look around today, you will find a handful of maverick prosecutors, judges, police chiefs, and corrections officials who have become disenchanted with the carceral state. They are displaying some rare examples of political courage as they wield their enormous discretion to pursue less punitive policies and practices.North Carolina DMT lab bust This cat is looking at 10 years. Authorities in Jackson County arrested a 34-year-old Glenville man after finding a lab for making psychedelic drugs in his home, a host of designer drugs, guns and cash....they found a lab for making the psychedelic DMT. They also found 1,200 capsules and 100 grams of a drug called 2C-B, which was used as a drug in psychiatric therapy. It produces a short trip of about 3 hours and is considered milder than LSD. Investigators sized undetermined quantities of the designer drugs DOC and DOI, sometimes called molly paper on the street. In Jackson County, investigators also found two grams of psychedelic DMT, three pounds of psychedelic mushrooms, 59 hits of Ecstasy, 750 hits of acid, a half pound high grade marijuana and what they believe is a small amount of Hashish, and $7,000 in cash, Lillard said in a statement this afternoon. Police also suspect this is the source of the "molly paper" in a July, 2008 incident posted here at Police also suspect this is the source of the "molly paper" in a July, 2008 incident posted here at DoseNation » more at: www.citizen-times.com Posted By ChuckSteak at 2009-01-27 12:15:21 permalink | comments » More ways to bookmark this page
Comments (17)City services are available following their normal schedule.
Click here for FAQs from requesters for free snow removal services: FAQs
Warming centers:
The Department of Human Services opens select recreation centers to be used as both warming centers and overflow hypothermia shelters during hypothermia and cold alerts.
If you see a homeless person who may be impacted by extreme temperatures:
Call the Hypothermia Hotline at (202) 399-7093 or 311.
Trash and recycling collections:
DPW’s trash and recycling collections are following their normal schedule.
Utilities:
Did you know that utilities cannot be disconnected when the temperature is below 32 degrees? This law applies to natural gas or electricity used for heating. Watch the Public Service Commission's video or visit dcpsc.org and know your rights.
Locate a towed vehicle:
Call (202) 541-6083
Report power outages:
Call Pepco's 24-Hour Outage Report Line at 1 (877) 737-2662.
For downed wires, call Pepco immediately at (877) 737-2662 and press two (2).
Have trees or debris removed:
Call the Mayor's Citywide Call Center at 311
Tips for filing a claim for property or auto damage caused by a District snow operation:
AlertDC:
To receive important TXT messages about the latest information on weather, traffic, closings and more, sign up for AlertDC at alertdc.dc.gov. We work around the clock to keep you informed!
To sign up for regional alerts in addition to AlertDC, visit www.capitalert.gov. A list of the latest National Capital Region alerts can also be found online at www.capitalregionupdates.gov.
Be sure to check your community listservs as well for information about city services.V/Line said on Wednesday it had "not been not been formally advised of the protected action and what this means for potential disruptions on our services". Melbourne's trains and trams will stop for four hours next Friday. Promised "free travel days" will also happen on trains on Wednesday and Friday. On those days, all myki barriers will be left open, mykis will not be checked and authorised officers will refuse to issue infringement notices. However on trams mykis will be checked and infringements notices issued as usual. Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan labelled the strike action "provocative and unnecessary".
"It only really punishes passengers," Ms Allan said. The union was unrepentant. "Yes there certainly are a lot of people who travel in that time and we apologise in advance, however our job as a union is to get the best possible outcome that we can for our members," the Rail, Tram and Bus Union's Victorian branch secretary, Luba Grigorovitch, said. The full executive of the union made its decision two days after Metro staff voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action and one day after Yarra Trams staff did the same. Ms Grigorovitch said there was still a chance the shutdown could be avoided if Metro and Yarra Trams agreed to demands for a better deal on wages and conditions.
"Further meetings are scheduled with Yarra Trams and Metro Trains over coming days and we will continue to negotiate in good faith," she said. "We would prefer to avoid industrial action if an agreement can be reached before next Friday." Unless agreement can be reached, it will be the first public transport strike in Melbourne in 18 years. Phil Altieri, tram division secretary, said the union and Yarra Trams were "a long way apart". "I've got to say we've made some ground over the past week or so but we're still miles apart. The offer is 9 per cent over three years and that's not anywhere near where we need to be," he said. Mr Altieri denied claims by Yarra Trams that a tram driver's average wage was more than $91,000 a year, saying it was possible to earn that much by driving six days a week, including both days of the weekend, but most drivers earned about $70,000 annually.
The potential for further industrial action continues while the union remains in dispute over two separate enterprise bargaining agreements that expired on June 30. Staff at Metro and Yarra Trams have approved 50 forms of industrial action that would disrupt the public transport system, although many are minor and would not directly impact the public. These include bans on wearing uniforms, making "good service" announcements, and even refusing to take home hand-held myki readers and EFTPOS machines for recharging. Some actions would even benefit the public, such as bans on station skipping and short shunting, unless for safety reasons. Metro has already warned the union it may take matters into its own hands and implement a full or partial network shut down, if some of the actions are pursued.
These include a refusal by union members to bring into service a train with a defective passenger emergency intercom or operate a train without first ensuring both headlights are operational. The impending strikes are a major challenge for the Andrews government, which is keen to avoid being painted as letting unions run Victoria. It is understood that the government has been putting some pressure on the union to avoid work stoppages, but is less worried about free travel days. Metro and the RTBU are due to meet again on Thursday, following a government brokered meeting on Tuesday that produced no important breakthrough. Metro said it was still hopeful of resolving the dispute and avoiding next Friday's threatened shut down.Jun 19, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Astros first overall draft pick Mark Appel waves to fans during the fifth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports
The Houston Astros promoted Mark Appel to Double-A Corpus Christi over the weekend. Appel, who has been struggling this season, wanted to throw a bullpen in front of Astros pitching coach Brent Strom.
The 2013 1st overall pick showed up at Minute Maid Park on Sunday morning to throw in front of Strom.
Astros players? They were peeved.
Mark Appel was brought into the clubhouse early, leaving long before most of the players arrived. A few saw him, though. — Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) July 27, 2014
“It’s (expletive) unbelievable,” an Astros player just said out of the blue about Mark Appel being allowed throw a bullpen. — Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) July 27, 2014
Let’s just put it this way, folks, the fact that Appel was brought here has upset more than a few players. — Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) July 27, 2014
Another player just approached me to complain about Appel’s promotion and bullpen session. Multiple expletives were dropped. Not good. — Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) July 27, 2014
(Check out the rest of Jose de Jesus Ortiz’s timeline for more)
Anonymous Astros players. Aren’t they technically anonymous if no one has ever heard of them anyway?
To the letter….
Dear Anonymous,
I’d love for you guys to be winning baseball team. I bleed Astros brick red orange. There will not be a happier day in my life than the day you win that 2017 World Series. But guess what? Many of you won’t be on this team when it happens. Why? Because you likely didn’t earn that right to be on the roster.
You see, you guys have a lot to worry about. Like the fact coming into this game you had scored just 5 runs in your last 3 games prior to Sunday’s 4-2 defeat. Like the fact you were about to be swept by the (50-53 at the time) Miami Marlins. Like the fact that only two players on your team have an average over.275 and one of them is Gregorio Petit (1 hit in 2 at-bats).
But no..that’s not what you guys were worrying about. You stink. Astros fans know it. Heck, you probably know it too.
“Let’s talk about Mark Appel who also stinks this season. You know, the guy that was called up from Single-A to Double-A and then had the nerve to come throw around a baseball for an hour at Minute Maid Park. Yea, let’s vent about that!”
And that’s exactly what you did.
Does Appel, based on his numbers, deserve to be called up? No. His 9.74 ERA is terrible. However, your front office made the RIGHT move in promoting Appel. Lancaster is arguably the hardest park in ALL of baseball for pitchers. He has struggled. His teammates, like Josh Hader, have dominated to a tune of a 2.46 ERA in 95 innings. Was he more deserving? No doubt. But that’s life.
You see, Appel does get special treatment. He signed for $6.35 million as the #1 overall pick in 2013. He gets promoted when he sucks. That’s what happens when he was that good in high school and college. When he has the potential to anchor a pitching staff for the next 10 years. He gets preferred treatment. Calling him up after an encouraging start was the correct move by GM Jeff Luhnow.
But you guys were having none of it. “A guy with an ERA just under 10 gets to throw in OUR bullpen? Appel has sucked all season, why is he spending time with our pitching coach?” Those are some of the thoughts that likely went through your heads. I probably also missed a few expletives.
Yes, anonymous players. He does get the treatment. He gets to throw in your bullpen. Grow up.
You know why Appel is throwing with your pitching coach? Because he was the first overall pick, and his future means a lot more to this organization than many of you other players. Your GM wanted to see up close how Appel is pitching and they brought him over for a quick visit.
It must be tough to see a Double-A player in your bullpen, huh? You’re probably going to tell me about the unwritten rules of baseball. About how every one of you players has earned the right to play in an MLB stadium.
There are two points to be made here. First, he’s not playing in Minute Maid Park tonight. He simply came for a quick session with a bullpen coach on his way to Corpus Christi.
Second, EARN YOUR RIGHT?!? You’re going to tell me that you and the other 24 men on this current roster have earned your right to be playing here. You kidding me? Have you seen some of your numbers?
Quit acting like you guys are 20 games above.500 and heading towards the playoffs. Like you’re all All-Stars. And if you were? You probably wouldn’t care one bit about a minor leaguer throwing a bullpen session. Instead, you’re 20 games under.500, and whining about some MINOR LEAGUE pitcher getting a glimpse of Minute Maid. Newsflash! He was there the day he signed, and he’ll be there again in a year or two. Hopefully he’ll take your roster spot!
So Mr. anonymous Astros player(s), why don’t you and the rest of your frustrated teammates go ahead and earn back that right to play at Minute Maid Park again? It’d make life a lot more fun for EVERYONE involved including your bosses.
The way I see it, only a few of you would have jobs if you were playing for other teams. Instead, you were given an opportunity for regular at-bats and innings pitched to help make you a better baseball player. To improve your resume. To be making real money that millions of people in this country would beg to make.
All you anonymous players upset that your boss isn’t treating you so nicely should send him a fruit basket as soon as possible. You would have been released a long time ago or traveling by bus to your Minor League games if it were not for this organization and Jeff Luhnow.
You all were given opportunities that no other organization in baseball would give you. But yea, go ahead and whine about a Minor League baseball player playing some catch for an hour. That’ll make your numbers look that much better when you check ’em out later.
Sincerely,
An Astros fan
P.S. Don’t check out your numbers. They suck.You didn't think we'd go through the end of 2011 without a big high-end video card launch, did you?AMD has just announced the first of its Radeon 7000 series video cards, the Radeon HD 7970. And unlike last year's 6000 series debut, AMD isn't rolling out a mid-range part first or changing up its video card naming scheme--the HD 7970 is decidedly high-end with a suggested retail price of $549 (this is a soft launch, as the card won't actually be available for sale until January 9th 2012). For that price, you not only get the best performing single-GPU video card we've tested, but also the first GPU built with a 28nm process and the first with AMD's Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture. The most exciting benefit of this new chip? Dramatic power consumption reductions that lets the GPU power down to only 3 watts of power use when on an idle blank screen.
We visited AMD earlier in the month to preview the HD 7970 and get briefed on GCN, and are working on a full recap and analysis of its technical and functional improvements. For now, here's what you really care about: the game benchmark numbers.
Notable Radeon HD 7970 Features
First GPU built with 28nm process
925MHz core clock, overclockable to 1.1GHz (1.22GHz possible)
3GB DDR5 memory
1.4 the Compute power of a 6970
Redesigned cooling system: 6th generation vapor chamber design, wider fans and quieter acoustics
AMD PowerTune w/ on-chip TDP monitoring and power scaling
AMD ZeroCore technology: <3W power use at blank screen, 15W at static screen
Dual BIOS toggle switch, like in the 6990
Ports: 1x DL-DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mDP (HDMI to DVI and mDP to DVI adapters included)
Eyefinity 2.0 support with custom resolutions and new bezel compensation settings (driver update for 6000 series cards too).
Speeds and Feeds
Spec Radeon HD 7970 Radeon HD 6990 Radeon HD 6970 Nvidia GTX 580 Nvidia GTX 570 Transistors 4.31B 2x 2.64B 2.64B 3.0B 3.0B Die Size TBA 389mm^2 389mm^2 529mm^2 529mm^2 Compute Cores/
Stream Processors 2048 2x 1536 1536 512 (not comparable) 480 (not comparable) Texture Units 128 2x 96 96 64 64 ROPs 32 2x 32 32 48 48 Core Clock 925MHz 830MHz 880MHz 772MHz 732MHz Memory Clock 1375MHz 1250MHz 1375MHz 1002MHz 950MHz GDDR5 VRAM 3GB 2x 2GB 2GB 1.5GB 1.25GB Memory Bandwidth 384-bit 256-bit 256-bit 384-bit 320-bit Process 28nm 40nm 40nm 40nm 40nm MAX TDP 250W 375W 250W 244W 219W Idle TDP 15W(3W) 37W 20W 47W 43W
Benchmarking Performance
PC gamers who are in the market for a $500 video card probably aren't still on Core 2-based systems or playing games on 20" 1680x1050 monitors.
Our video card testing philosophy has always been to run benchmarks on real games (eg. not synthetic benchmarks like 3dMark or Furmark) and on system configurations that are representative of ones you would actually build and use, including the monitor. Someone who is in the market for a $500 video card probably isn't still on Core 2-based system, nor would they likely be playing games on a 20" 1680x1050 monitor.
Last year, our testbed was the $1500 gaming PC we built, based off of an Intel Lynnfield processor. Over a year later, we've updated our testbed to the system that we'd recommend PC gamers build today, running a Sandy Bridge Core i7 2500k processor with 8GB of DDR 3 RAM. We also test games at both 1920x1080 and 2560x1600 resolutions. Monitors with 1080p resolution are becoming more popular (and affordable) than 1200p monitors, and 1600p still represents the apex of single-monitor PC gaming. We may eventually change the latter test to a 27" 2560x1440 monitor that we think more high-end gamers are purchasing these days, once we get our hands on a test unit.
Test Bench Specs
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500k @ 3.3GHz
Motherboard: Intel P67 (B2 stepping)
RAM: 8GB DDR 3
Hard drive: Seagate 7200.12 1TB @7200RPM
Power Supply: 1200W Corsair
Monitor resolutions: 1920x1080, 2560x1600
Games Benchmarked, Settings
Metro 2033 still brings the latest graphics cards to their knees when settings are maxed out.
Crysis: DirectX 10 mode, all settings at Very High, 8x AA.
Far Cry 2: Action and Ranch (med) sequences, DirectX 10 mode, all settings at Ultra, 8x AA.
Metro 2033: DirectX 11 mode, all settings at Very High, 4x MSAA, Tessellation, DOF turned on.
Dirt 3: DirectX 11 mode, all settings at Ultra, 4x MSAA, Finland demo run.
Batman Arkham City: DirectX 11 mode, all settings at Extreme Detail, High tessellation, FXAA.
Just Cause 2: DirectX 11 mode, all settings at Very HIgh, 4x AA, 16x AF, Concrete Jungle demo run.
Lost Planet 2: DirectX 11 mode, all settings at maximum detail, 4x MSAA.
Gaming at 1920x1080 (23-24" Monitors)
Game Radeon HD 7970 Radeon HD 6990 Radeon HD 6970 Nvidia GTX 580 Nvidia GTX 570 Crysis 49.2 61.6 36.9 44.9 35.2 Far Cry 2 (Action) 83.5 75.2 77.8 74.3 70.5 Far Cry 2 (Ranch) 97.1 129.6 82.9 101.6 90.7 Metro 2033 31.1 35.7 23.8 26.3 22.7 Dirt 3 137.6 96.1 109.7 133.6 77.6 Batman
Arkham City 37 28 25 34 49 Just Cause 2 59 58.7 45.1 43.6 37.1 Lost Planet 2 68.4 80.3 42.7 65 55.7
All scores measured in frames-per-second, averaged over three test runs. Highest score in bold.
Gaming at 2560x1600 (30" Monitors)
Game Radeon HD 7970 Radeon HD 6990 Radeon HD 6970 Nvidia GTX 580 Nvidia GTX 570 Crysis 29.2 38.5 21.9 25.2 19.6 Far Cry 2 (Action) 68.1 73.3 58.4 65.2 57.2 Far Cry 2 (Ranch) 66.1 104.9 56.7 66.9 57.1 Metro 2033 17.9 22 13.6 14.3 4.3 Dirt 3 103.5 77.6 73.8 88.2 52.3 Batman
Arkham City 36 24 20 35 33 Just Cause 2 46.3 27.8 31.1 30.8 28.1 Lost Planet 2 47.9 58 30.7 43.5 38.3
All scores measured in frames-per-second, averaged over three test runs. Highest score in bold.
Conclusion (for now)
While the 7970 doesn't top the 6990 in all tests, it matches the dual-GPU card's performance in many games and scales better at 2560x1600. It also soundly trumps Nvidia's currently single-card flagship, the GTX 580, though remember |
Benedictine College.Damascus Sucks!
Don't Believe the Hype..
"Damascus" steel swords are often hyped by less than honest sword sellers as the best thing since sliced bread. They often brag about how many thousand layers the sword has and many beginners fall into the trap of believing that somehow a Damascus blade is superior..
The sad reality is that, in many cases, it is the WORST possible choice for a functional sword, is NOT traditional and usually makes a sword considerably WEAKER..
But before we go into the nitty gritty of why this is the case, let us look briefly at the history of the term itself, and why - especially when applied to Katana - is just marketing hype..
REAL Damascus Steel
While it a marketing term applied to Katana, the term itself comes from the city of Damascus in Syria and refers more properly to Wootz steel - which was produced in India and exported to the middle East.
Wootz steel had some very unusual properties and its manufacturing secrets have been lost in the mists of time (the last true Damascus Steel was made in the mid 18th century). Swords made from this "ancient supersteel" were both flexible yet very hard, and a study in 2006 found they contained nanowires and nanotubes (click here for a detailed article on Wootz Steel).
How it was achieved is still not fully understood, but the fact is that true Damascus steel stopped being produced around 1750 - and the term itself was resurrected in the 1970s by blade-makers at the Knifemakers Guild show to refer to pattern welded and/or folded knives, which had the same kind of "flowing water" seen in the original Damascus steel swords..
So straight off the mark, the term is misleading and should really be referring to folded steel..
Pattern Welded and Folded Blades
Pattern welded and folded swords are similar but different techniques and produce quite different looking patterns in the steel..
Pattern welding was first developed by the Celts and later the Vikings out of necessity. Steel in this period was filled with impurities so they would minimize the chances of an impurity causing a catastrophic blade failure by twisting bars of steel together and hammering them out, then folding and repeating to evenly distribute the inherent impurities and minimize weak points.
The end result was not only practical, but also quite beautiful, and was not lost on the Viking appreciation of aesthetics..
Close up of a pattern welded blade by Darksword Armory
Folded blades are, just as the name suggests, simply a bar of steel that has been hammered out flat and folded a number of times - each folding doubling the number of layers and creating a distinctly different pattern in the steel.
Japanese Tamahagane
Most folded blades on the market are an attempt to replicate Tamahagane - the steel that traditional Japanese swords are made from..
Like with the Vikings, Japanese steel was extremely impure - and needed to be folded many times to try and even out the impurities. Unlike the Vikings, the actual Damascus pattern - the hada - was best appreciated if it was subtle and only visible upon close inspection..
The hada (folded steel) on this antique Nihonto is subtle. As all real Nihonto are..
For the sake of preserving this traditional craft, modern Japanese made Shinken (Japanese made Katana) are still made using Tamahagane, even though modern steel would produce a better result as it has virtually NO impurities..
And this is where most beginners go wrong, they fail to understand that - as far as functionality is concerned - folding a blade does NOTHING to improve its durability, cutting power or anything else even remotely useful. In fact, more often than not - it RUINS what would could otherwise be a truly functional sword..
The BIG problem with folded steel
The first problem with folded steel swords is that the process is effectively redundant. Modern steel HAS no impurities to speak of, so there are no impurities to even out..
But the biggest problem is that the vast majority of folded steel blades today are mass produced by apprentice sword smiths who really could not care less if it has bad welds, air pockets, overly large grain sizes or carbon differentials..
Cross section of a folded blade, ironically marketed as a "laminated blade" (which clearly, it was not)
What this means is that the sword is more often than not, severely compromised by folding, and may tear, break or crack at any of the numerous weak points that poor folding practices creates..
As such, you can pretty much assume that any folded steel "Damascus" steel sword being sold under the $300 mark should be regarded as being decorative only and should NEVER be used for cutting (ironically, some unscrupulous sword makers use a stencil to FAKE the folded steel pattern - which, from a purely functional perspective, makes a better sword than if they actually DID fold it!).
Side Note: Laminated Blades
No discussion of folded blades would be complete without mentioning that other often hyped process - blade lamination..
Like with folding, but even worse, low to mid priced swords that are laminated are quite simply unsuitable for use.. It takes an attention to detail that only a master smith has to do it properly, and the failure rate is two to three times higher than a simple differentially hardened blade.. Cheness Cutlery in the early days abandoned their laminated line because of this failure rate. Ryujin swords made them, but they were utterly useless and not added as an option to the SBG sword store (click here for the full review) and then many sellers who claim to sell laminated blades simply sell FOLDED blades that are not laminated at all.. As such you should be extra vigilant when looking at any sword that claims to be laminated. The only production laminated swords we have seen that are any good are Project X and the Ronin Katana Elite line - and these are $800+.. Anything in the $200-300 price range, steer WELL clear - you chances of getting a decent functional blade at this price point is about the same as winning the lottery..
Marketing BS
The sad part is, most beginners have no idea about this - they assume that a "Damascus" sword is better quality than a non folded blade. After all, a sword with "THOUSANDS" of layers sounds like you are somehow getting something better - even though clearly some of these guys suck at basic mathematics..
Others get confused with how many times a sword is folded and how many layers it has. Fold a sword once and it has two layers. Fold it twice and it has four. But some claim the sword is FOLDED 14,000 times (which would take hundreds of hours and reduce it to powder) or I have seen swords being advertised as folded 10 times producing 2056 layers and 9 times to produce 1792 layers.. Hmm..
Many of the "Battle Ready Hand Forged Folded Damascus Steel Hand Clayed Full Tang Traditional Can Cut Iron Japanese Katana Swords" littering eBay really play to the Damascus factor, and claim it "removes impurities" creates "the balance between hard and soft" or other such nonsense when they should say "for decorative purposes only"..
Yes, you CAN get a functional folded steel katana. But they are never going to be as functional as a non folded steel sword. Even the high end Imperial Forge Kesshi Katana,($750-1,400), which is a stunning sword in its own right, got banged up on targets a more basic sword would easily shrug off..
A low end Damascus Steel Katana facing the same tests - I would not want to be anywhere near it when it breaks apart mid air..
Conclusion
At the end of the day, YES - it is possible to make a functional folded sword - just not on the cheap.
There is no doubt that Japanese made Nihonto are 100% functional, but this comes down more to the skill of the smiths and the level of effort put into the blade making process than the folding itself.
But they are STILL not as functional as a blade WITHOUT folding - it is, quite simply, an unnecessary step due to the quality of modern steel. And because it is so abused by marketers looking to make a quick buck at the expense of the truth, I call BS..
Damascus Damasucks..
I hope this information on Damascus Steel swords has been helpful. To return to The Ultimate Guide to
Authentic Japanese Swords from Damascus Sucks, click hereBy Lydia Snodin
There are many things I have done in my life that I am not particularly proud of; I used to regularly listen to Chris Moyles’ Radio 1 breakfast show, I went to see the All-American Rejects in concert (I know, I know) and of course I have killed a man with my bare hands. But that last one is a topic for a much more light-hearted and facetious article. Today we will be examining the content of the literature I am least proud of ever reading. Those pesky teen girl magazines that act as a faithful companion for fourteen year old girls as they develop into bitchy, neurotic and self-destructive women.
I have decided to pick the five best (and only) bits of information I could remember from these publications that I read with fascination in my early adolescence. Then at around sixteen I threw them away and became the very serious kind of young lady who read newspapers (The Guardian) and now I read online posts about the top ten cutest pictures of puppies in hats. I believe that is called growing up. Or wasting time, I forget. Anyhoo, on with today’s lesson:
1. If a cute guy’s feet are pointing in your direction then they fancy you:
Teen girl magazines tirelessly investigated the various methods to tell whether a guy likes you. No doubt the writers were working around the clock, observing the behaviour of teenagers at parties and standing at the back of clubs taking notes on every complex aspect of human mating traits. Or yno, they just made shit up. You decide for yourself, I’m not going to spoon feed you. Jeez. Anyway, this tip went summink like zis: if at a party your potential suitor is talking to someone else but their feet are pointing in the direction of your location then you’re in luck ladies!
Obviously this requires you to a) avoid him at all costs and ensure he doesn’t talk to you lest the test conditions be compromised and b) to stare at his feet silently and intently trying to trace the direction of the feet back to you. I imagine the eventual result of this will be that my generation’s stories of romance will go something like:
‘Oh Sara, how did you know he felt the same?’ ‘That’s easy, the moment I saw his Hush Puppies’
Everyone knows you should just get drunk and make out with them – this is alright from the ages of fifteen to seventeen, after that you have to grow the hell up and try talking to people instead.
2. You can get pregnant in your bum:
The derriere is the new womb, guys!! I swear I read this somewhere. The story went as follows: a young lady began to gain major weight in the arse area, her mother was getting her to diet and taking her to exercise classes but her tush just kept expanding. And only her behind was bigger – WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON, GUYS?! And then one day her bum exploded and she gave birth to a baby. Obviously at this point the narrative seems to get a bit ridiculous and seems very unlikely and unfeasible. Partly because I have forgotten some of the details towards the end and partly because it never happened. This is certainly not a dream I have misremembered as reality. It’s definitely not at all funny guys. Bum pregnancy is never funny. Over one in twenty fictional women suffer from being knocked up in the arse (ehehe) in women’s magazines every year. Every year.
3. Every summer you should have a ‘Summer Romance’ with a ‘cute beach boy’:
Apart from the obligatory articles on bikini body work outs and swimsuit styles, every year the writers of these mags recycled the same pieces about summer romances with beach boys. For those of you never fortunate enough to be fourteen year old girls we shall have to establish what constitutes a ‘beach boy’. The BB is a sub-species of the ‘cute boy’ a generic term for an attractive young man as defined by the 30 something female failed ‘authors’ who inhabit women’s magazines. AH!!! DEAR GOD NO?! Sorry I just had an awful vision of my future. *Hehem*
He only comes out in the summer for short-term romantic encounters and hibernates for the rest of the year presumably doing push ups and brushing his hair in the scientific facility in which he was created. The key physical attributes are thus: blonde ‘wind swept’ hair, blue eyes, a toned body with defined muscles and a penchant for surfing. He is always topless and wears board shorts. Nothing else. A cute guy wearing a t-shirt and board shorts on a beach is simply a cute guy. THOSE ARE THE RULES, OKAY? Anyway I never had a summer romance; this probably due to the fact that my family used to go to Cornwall every year which is mainly inhabited by the retired middle classes and Labradors, none of which ever caught my eye. I did however have a summer romance with a Cornish pasty, with whom I am still in contact today from time to time. Ah, those lazy hazy crazy days of summer.
4. Blueberries = Antioxidants. Antioxidants = Good. QED: Blueberries are good.
I suppose this one more than anything demonstrates the amount of information that is repeatedly published as if its some kind of revelation. If cyanide was suddenly proven to be beneficial to a prolonged life then that would probably be worth going over a couple of times. It’s weird how women’s magazines deal predominantly in pseudo-science with made up words as opposed to actual interesting science like giving spiders crack cocaine and seeing what webs they spin. That’s hella cool. Plus I hate spiders so I care not about what we do to them. Or when they get a slug and give it beer and IT IS A DRUNK SLUG. IT FELL OFF THE BEER GLASS ALL WASTED AND EVERYTHING. Anyway, I have always liked blueberries. But not as much as I like blueberry flavoured Pop Tarts.
5. Whilst walking past a cute boy think of something to make you smile:
This one has to come last for a very important reason. I actually did this, a lot. Not every day or anything but more than a sane person would. What you had to do was this. As you approach the boy in question (perhaps walking by him on a pavement) think of something that makes you laugh or feel happy. This will result in an effortlessly attractive and charming smile adorning your face as he looks upon you. Like your awesome cool friends or that time you nearly bought shoes that weren’t in fashion or the fact that you would be better off pulling down your top to get his attention than doing this idiotic smiling thing. I have reached a point in my life where I no longer do this to attract people. Or have I? You’ll never know! Ha!
This is however proof that this made up foolishness does actually make girls spend a lot of time doing insane things in order to attract boys. And any males reading this may be a bit freaked out by the extent to which girls were obsessing over the opposite sex without even masturbating like a normal teenager. I hope you all feel like you’ve learnt a tonne of useless bollocks that no sentient human being would ever need to know. Enjoy it now being in your brain FOREVER! Mwahahahaha!
Along with this delightful image…
Advertisements* Island says response beyond expectations
* Advisory team to issue recommendations in 6 months (Updates throughout)
NICOSIA, May 11 (Reuters) - The second foray by Cyprus into tapping offshore gas reserves received an unexpected boost on Friday when 15 companies, including international heavyweights, bid for contracts in the untapped and energy-rich east Mediterranean.
The island, which reported a natural gas discovery in December, on Friday received 15 bids for nine offshore blocks rimming the south of the island.
Total, Malaysia’s Petronas and Korea’s Kogas were among the bidders, energy minister Neoclis Sylikiotis said.
“Our expectations were high, and I can tell you from the outset that the results of this round very much exceeded our expectations,” he told reporters.
Other bidders included Italy’s Eni, Russia’s Novatek in conjunction with Gazprom’s GPB Global Resources, Vitol, Israel’s Delek and Australia’s Woodside Energy Holdings.
Over the past three years, there have been significant discoveries made in the eastern Mediterranean basin. Neighbouring Israel has reported two major finds offshore in the sea separating it and Cyprus.
Surveys suggest over 100 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of reserves could lie untapped throughout the region, a potential that has sparked investor interest but also revived decades-old border disputes.
Cyprus’s attempts to discover offshore reserves is challenged by Turkey, while Lebanon is in dispute with Israel over the Jewish state’s discoveries.
U.S.-based Noble Energy in December reported 5-8 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas south of Cyprus. The prospect was made amid vocal opposition from Turkey, which challenges Cyprus’s jurisdiction in exploring or extracting gas.
Most of the interest shown by bidders was for a block lying north-east of the recently discovery, on the maritime border between Cyprus and Israel.
Turkey, which supports a breakaway state in north Cyprus, has accused Cyprus’s internationally-recognised Greek Cypriot government of undermining peace talks on the ethnically split island.
Cyprus says any exploration is within its rights, and has received backing from its EU partners.
Sylikiotis avoided any reference to the issue during a brief event in Nicosia attended by representatives of the bidders.
“Our expectations are entwined with expectations for a new era of prosperity, progress and peace of our people, and for people in the surrounding region,” he said.
Based on the current schedule, a team of advisers will issue its recommendations to the island’s cabinet within six months. (Reporting By Michele Kambas; Editing by Dan Lalor and Jason Neely)Facebook Killer McDonald's Workers Held His Fries So Cops Could Catch Him
McDonald's Workers Held Facebook Killer's Fries so Cops Could Catch Him
Facebook killer Steve Stephens was undone by McDonald's employees who ID'd him and made him wait a little extra time for his order so the cops could come and catch him.
Stephens went through the drive-thru at the McDonald's on Buffalo Road in Erie, PA when one of the workers recognized him. He ordered a 20-piece McNugget and a large fry... but workers made it seem the fries weren't ready so they could buy time.
According to the restaurant's manager... Stephens got his nuggets, but then said he had to go and he drove off without the fries. It was enough time for cops to get on his tail.
Stephens was involved in a high-speed police chase shortly afterward, before committing suicide in his car.Women’s judo coach Ryuji Sonoda announced Thursday that he plans to resign in light of allegations that he physically abused members of the Olympic team during training.
“It will be difficult for me to go any further with the training of the team,” Sonoda said at a news conference at the Kodokan in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo.
He said he would submit his resignation to the All Japan Judo Federation in the near future.
It was Sonoda’s first public comments on the scandal, which broke Tuesday.
“I deeply regret that my behavior, words and actions have caused trouble,” the former world judo champion said.
“I thought that I would be able to maintain a trusting relationship, but that was a one-sided approach.”
On Tuesday, sources said that 15 top female judoka sent a joint complaint to the Japan Olympic Committee at the end of 2012 claiming they had been harassed and beaten by Sonoda and other coaching staff at a training camp ahead of to the London Olympics.
The federation confirmed the accusations, which included verbal abuse, kicking, shoving and strikes with bamboo swords.
Sonoda has been reprimanded but the federation said Wednesday it had planned to retain him.
The Metropolitan Police Department said it has opened an investigation into the allegations against Sonoda, who is a member of the MPD’s education and training division. Sonoda joined the force in 1996 and was dispatched to the judo federation in 2004.
Earlier Thursday, sports minister Hakubun Shimomura requested that the JOC launch another inquiry into the circumstances surrounding accusations of physical abuse by Sonoda.
“We would like the JOC to do a fresh independent investigation into this matter,” Shimomura told JOC President Tsunekazu Takeda upon the latter’s visit to the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry to explain the incidents.
Shimomura has also asked the JOC to go a step further with an investigation into other Olympic sports to uncover other possible cases of abuse.
The JOC called an emergency meeting of its directors the same day to address the matter.
Shimomura told Takeda to bear in mind the Olympic charter, which clearly prohibits physical violence in sports.
This arguably could be viewed as a political ploy as Tokyo tries to gather steam in its bid to host the 2020 Summer Games, meaning Sonoda, who won the world championships in 1993, will likely be forced to step down anyway under the eye of the International Olympic Committee.CLOSE David Tanzer alleges that MyWebGrocer shortchanged him by 25 percent by failing to pay him the full value of his shares in the company. MyWebGrocer says shareholders were treated fairly and according to their contract. GLENN RUSSELL/FREE PRESS
Buy Photo MyWebGrocer in Winooski announced Monday, Dec. 11, 2017, that it has laid off 18 Vermont employees. (Photo: GLENN RUSSELL Free Press)Buy Photo
MyWebGrocer has cut 18 jobs as part of a "restructuring," the Winooski-based e-commerce company confirmed Monday evening.
"This action aligns the expertise of MyWebGrocer's workforce with its operational needs, and positions the company to reinvest and expand in support of its existing customer goals and strategic growth objectives," the company said in a statement.
The employees who were let go were offered severance packages. MyWebGrocer employs 315 people across the United States, Canada, England and Ireland.
MyWebGrocer said it was not required to file notice with the Vermont Department of Labor, because only layoffs of 50 people or more requirement notification. But the company has provided the names of affected workers to the department so the state can offer support in finding new employment.
More:
MyWebGrocer is owned by HGGC, LLC, a private equity firm in Palo Alto, California. The company works with grocery stores to offer online shopping.
Barry Clogan, MyWebGrocer president of retail solutions, said in a statement the world of digital grocery "is moving faster than at any time during the last 17 years."
"It is an exciting time to be working with brands and grocers to enable their digital plans," Clogan said. "In this fast moving market it is important we align our teams and capabilities to support our customers and evolve our successful ecommerce and media offering. To support that strategy we have reorganized and reallocated resources."
MyWebGrocer also cut jobs in October 2016 but declined to specify how many positions were lost, saying only there were a "few reductions."
The company was founded in Vermont in 1999 by entrepreneur brothers Rich Tarrant Jr., Jerry Tarrant and Brian Tarrant. HGGC paid about $190 million for MyWebGrocer in June 2013.
Contact Dan D’Ambrosio at 660-1841 or [email protected].
Read or Share this story: http://bfpne.ws/2jykBPJA federal judge ruled Monday that a lawsuit filed by an Islamic charity alleging that it was illegally wiretapped by the National Security Agency may proceed, and issued a stinging rebuke to government lawyers who have repeatedly sought to invoke the state secrets privilege to block litigation.
The case, Al Haramain v. Bush, is unusual in that—unlike the Electronic Frontier Foundation's more publicized suits against the NSA and complicit telecoms—the plaintiffs in this case know that the directors of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation were specifically subject to warrantless surveillance, thanks to a government blunder that put a classified memo in the hands of the charity's lawyers. An appellate court ruled last year that the secret document had to be turned over to the government, and so could not be used to establish standing to sue. But in an opinion issued this summer, Judge Vaughn Walker, who has been handling a spate of suits concerning the NSA's super-secret "Stellar Wind" program, decided that the foundation could still seek to show they'd been spied upon using public evidence.
On Monday, Walker concluded that they had met that burden. "Without a doubt," he wrote, plaintiffs have alleged enough to plead 'aggrieved persons' status so as to proceed to the next step in proceedings." Blocked from using the secret memo, attorneys for Al Haramain assembled a timeline, drawing on FBI memoranda and Congressional testimony, suggesting that the government had been privy to conversations between foundation directors in which they discussed people with links to Osama bin Laden. The foundation's assets were frozen in 2004 when it was classified as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" group—a designation the government acknowledged to be partially based on classified documents derived from surveillance.
The Justice Department has repeatedly sought to block the suit by invoking national security concerns. Urging the court to reject the foundation's circumstantial evidence as insufficient, they argued that the court "cannot exercise jurisdiction based on anything less than the actual facts." But in language echoing previous rulings, Walker rejected that argument, noting that Congress had made specific provision within the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act for "aggrieved persons" to seek redress for improper surveillance.
A core principle of jurisprudence is that statutes should be read in a way that does not render any provision meaningless, and Walker reasoned that Congress would not have explicitly provided for in camera review of classified documents if the government could simply cry "state secrets" in the face of litigation. For the same reason, he concluded that it had to be possible for plaintiffs to establish their standing to sue without relying on the government's voluntary disclosure of classified information.
At times, a note of irritation crept into Walker's even, judicial language. At one point, he described the government's argument as "without merit," and characterized another as "circular." He also seemed impatient with the Justice Department's refusal to provide any classified documents addressing Al Haramain's specific claims for review in chambers. "It appears... that defendants believe they can prevent the court from taking any action under 1806(f) by simply declining to act," wrote Walker.
They will have to act now. Walker is giving the government two weeks to turn over the secret document that launched the case. Barring any surprises, his in camera review should confirm what we've known all along: that Al Haramain was subject to warrantless wiretapping. He also ordered the government to begin the process of securing security clearances for Al Haramain's attorneys, which will grant them the limited access to classified material needed to participate in the case. The government will have until February 13 to comply with that order. They must also review documents related to the case in order to determine whether any can safely be declassified.
A hearing later this month will set the schedule for future proceedings in the case.Hey everyone – after a break and a revamp, 21 Shoe is back! There have been some changes to the event, but it’s still great shoes, 2 pair for the price of one!
The most noticeable change I think is the logo for the event. I have to say, I liked the old design better, both in color and structural design. However, I like the fact that you can at least tint the new sign from pink to blue or purple (from observing the vendors). I don’t think a goth shoe or a shoe designed for men would look good in a pink vendor o.O
Next, you can see that there are SO MANY SHOES this event! It’s exciting, right? It was a bit more effort going to every store to see what was on sale, but I think it was worth it.
The shoes are majority for Slink feet, although there are a few for Belleza and I think one for The Mesh Project. Also, there were a couple of shoes that didn’t require mesh body parts to wear. I didn’t see any stores that had built-in feet like Gos or N-Core (although I hear that N-Core has its own system now with the feet + shoes like Slink).
As always, this event is for ONE DAY only!. The website says that not all shoes are exclusive (meaning that they will be available after the 21st), but all of the shoes are new. But if I were you, I wouldn’t take the chance of waiting.
Bring on the shoes!
Bliensen + MaiTai
Demo| Slink Mid| 299 L
Casa del Shai
Demo| 299L
Glamistry
Demo| Slink High| Belleza|280 L
HopScotch
Demo| Slink Mid | 295 L
House of Rain
Demo |Slink Mid | 350 L
Ingenue
Demo| Slink Mid | Belleza| 295L
ieQED
Demo| Slink High | 299L
KoiKoi
Demos for both men and women | Slink Flat | 295 each
Livalle (formally L. Warwick)
Demo| Slink Mid & High | 299L
LVLE
Demo (click “exclusive”)| Slink High |395 L
MIAMAI
Demo| Slink High| 360 L
MV
Demo | Slink High | 325 L
Pure Poison
Demo| Slink Mid and High | The Mesh Project Mid and High| 199L
Sax Shepherd Designs
Copy, Transfer| Demo |Slink Mid (flats work for both mesh and classic avatars)|299L
sYs Design
Demo| Slink High| Belleza| 490L
YS & YS
Demo| Slink High| Belleza| 250 L
Zanzibar creationZ
|No Demo|Slink Flat |119 L
AdvertisementsHow to Make a Canvas Floor Cloth
Making a custom floor cloth to reflect your style isn’t hard! Its very inexpensive, too, using regular canvas fabric and non-slip rug backing! Let me show you how easy it is to make a canvas floor cloth, then stencil it to give it a bit of style!
Materials:
Canvas fabric
Non-slip rug backing
Scissors
Iron & board
Sewing machine
Paint & stencils
Scotchguard or other water repellant
Cut the canvas into the size desired. (3/4 of a yard of 60″ wide canvas will make two floor cloths.)
Press an approximate 1/2″ hem on all four sides. Then fold over 1″ and press again on all four sides.
Cut the rug backing slightly smaller than the “hemmed” rectangle.
Place the rug backing under the hems on the floor cloth. I bought this online by the yard several years ago. I can’t remember why I thought I needed so much…
Using a long stitch (I used 3.5) stitch the hems down around the entire cloth. Don’t get too close to the edge – the machine foot will stick to the rug backing unless you’re using a Teflon foot!
Now you have a “blank canvas” – no pun intended! Determine the stencil placement and fill in with paint. I used Martha Stewart Crafts stencil in Arabesque and Martha Stewart Crafts paint in Arrowhead, Beach Glass, and Acorn. (I’ve never been a huge fan of Martha Stewart but I really love the paint!)
I started with the largest circle, a large dauber, and the Arrowhead paint.
I used the smaller circle and Beach Glass paint next…
Then used the Acorn paint with the smaller circle. Let it dry completely and apply a coat of Scotch-Guard or another type of water repellant.
Now I’m not sure I really want to wipe my feet on it because it came out so pretty! The same technique can be used to make a larger rug, as well! Have any questions about how to make a canvas floor cloth? Let me know by leaving a comment below!Easter April 12, 1906 Goethe has in various ways expressed a certain feeling he has often had, he says: When I observe the inconsequence of human passions, desires and actions, I experience the strongest impulse to turn to nature and seek support against the structure of her consequence and logic. — The arrangement of our festivals rests upon the endeavour of humanity since the earliest day to raise their eyes from the chaotic life of human desires, impulses and actions to the great consequential facts of all powerful nature. It is admirable, how well the big festivals are directly related to corresponding phenomena of nature. One such is the Easter festival, representing for the Christian a commemoration of his Redeemer's resurrection, and was earlier celebrated as the awakening of something of especial importance for mankind. We look back to ancient Egypt with its Osiris-Isis-Horus cult expressing the uninterrupted rejuvenation of eternal nature. We then consider Greece, and find there a festival in honour of the God bacchus — a spring festival, connected in one way or another with the awakening of nature in spring. In India we have a spring festival dedicated to Vishnu. The Godhead of the Brahman is divided into three aspects — Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Brahman is rightly called the Great Architect of the universe bringing thereinto order and harmony. Vishnu is described as a kind of redeemer, awakener of slumbering life, rescuer, and Shiva is he who sanctifies and elevates the life awakened by Vishnu to the highest possible perfection. A sort of festival was also dedicated to Vishnu. It is said he falls into a sleep at the time of the year when we celebrate Christmas, to awake again at Easter. Those calling themselves his servants celebrate the entire intervening time in a most significant manner: they abstain from certain foods and drinks, and also meat. In that way they prepare themselves for gaining an understanding of the meaning involved when, at the Vishnu-festival, the resurrection is celebrated, — the awakening of entire Nature. The Christmas festival also has a significant relation to great natural phenomena — the power of the Sun becomes weaker, days shorter, and also that the Sun radiates more heat from Christmas onwards, so that Christmas becomes the festival of the reborn Sun. In this sense the Winter festival was felt by Christians. When Christianity, in the 6th and 7th centuries, wished to connect itself with ancient, holy events, the birth of Christ was transformed to the day on which the Sun again rose to a higher altitude. The spiritual significance of the World redeemer was brought into revelation with the physical Sun and awakening, resurrected life. The Easter festival of spring also is brought into connection — as is usual with other festivals — certain solar phenomenon, one coming into expression even in common custom. During the first Christian century the symbol of Christianity was the Cross, at the foot of which is the lamb. Lamb and Ram are synonymous. During the time when Christianity was in preparation, the Sun appeared in the constellation of the Ram or Lamb. The Sun passes through the signs of the Zodiac; each year the Sun advances some distance. About 600-700 years before Christ the Sun had advanced into this zodiacal sign. For 2500 years it advances through it. Before that the sun was in the constellation Taurus — Bull. In those days the nations celebrated events which appeared significant to them in connection with human evolution through the Bull, because the Sun occupied that sign or constellation. As the Sun enters the sign of Aries — Ram or Lamb — the myths and legends the people contained references to the Ram as something significant. The Ram's skin brings Jason across from Kolchis. The Christ Jesus speaks of himself as the Lamb of God, and during the early period of Christianity is symbolised by the Lamb at the foot of the Cross. Thus can Easter be brought into relation with the constellation of the Ram or Lamb, and be considered the festival of the Redeemer's resurrection, because he summons everything to a new life after the death of Winter. With these characteristics only in your mind, the two festivals Christmas and Easter seem rather similar, for the Sun has gained more power since its own festival of resurrection — the Christmas festival; therefore something more should be expressed by Easter. The festival of Easter in its deepest meaning will always be felt to be the greatest festival of the greatest mystery humanity — not merely as a sort of nature-festivity, related to the Sun, but essentially something more; It is indicated in the Christian meaning of resurrection after death. Also in the awakening of Vishnu the awakening after death is indicated. The awakening of Vishnu falls into the period in which the Sun in winter resumes its ascent, and the festival of Easter is a continuation of that ascending solar power which commenced at the festival of Christmas. We must look into the mysteries of human nature very deeply if we would understand the experiences of the old initiates when trying outwardly to express the essentials of the festival of Easter. Man appears as a dual being, connecting a psycho-spiritual essentiality on one side with a physical substantiality on the other. The physical part is convergence of all other natural phenomena in the environment of man; they all appear as a delicate extract in human nature. Paracelsus significantly describes man as a confluence of all outside nature which is like letters of which man forms the word. The sublimest wisdom lies in his organisation; physically he is a temple of the soul. All the laws we can observe in the lifeless stone, the living plant, the animal as subject of pleasure or pain, all these are compounded together in man: in wisdom they are there fused into a unity. When we contemplate the wonderful structure of the human brain with its countless number of cells working together so that all the thoughts and feelings of man may be expressed — everything that, in one way or another, affects the soul — we realise the all-ruling wisdom in the construction of his physical body. When we look out upon the entire outer world we perceive crystallised wisdom. And if we would penetrate all the laws of our surrounding world with our perceptive faculties and then look back upon man, we see concentrated in him the whole of nature, as a microcosm in a macrocosm. It was in this sense that Schiller said to Goethe: “You take into consideration the whole of nature in order to gain light concerning |
a sauna floor, caution should be taken in saunas with no floor drain as to never pour excessive levels of water over the sauna heater all at once.
Wall Framing
You can easily build the stud framework for your outdoor sauna right on the ground outside of the sauna base. Every outdoor sauna will need a wall frame built around the base.
Once you’re done building the wall framing, you will have to lift and attach the wall segments and attach them to the concrete base (or base of choice) with concrete screws and anchor bolts (or proper fasteners for your base). A fall ceiling, framed with 2″x4″ spaced every 16″ is subsequently added. The sauna ceiling height ‘ must not be surpassed. A sauna height greater than 84″ will demand a bigger sauna heater so that you can warm the space above the 84″. The heat which will grow to fill the space above 84″ is going to be a significant inefficiency in the sauna heating system.
These are five of the main things that you need to focus on when you are installing an outdoor sauna kit. The rest will require specific instructions that are unique to the sauna kit that you choose.
From here, you will have to complete:
Wiring & insulation Doors & Windows Finishing the Walls Creating the Benches Installing Heater of Choice Installing Lighting Vents & Air Circulation
We also have a tutorial on how to properly build a sauna, you can check it out by clicking here.
Dry Sauna Kits
When you are deciding what type of sauna you are going to install in your home, you will have to make the decision whether you want a dry sauna or a wet sauna. Each one works differently than the other but they both have similar benefits.
Here we will take a look at a dry sauna versus a wet sauna because you will want to know both sides in order to make a decision on which one you will purchase.
Saunas either use a wood burning stove or an electric stove. Each one of these can be used to create a wet or a dry sauna experiance. You will find a way to command this by altering the humidity inside the sauna. Saunas today typically utilize a heating device in addition to volcanic rock. In both instances, the rocks are heated to a high temperature. The main difference between a dry and wet sauna is the water that is splashed over the rocks in a sauna that’s not dry. The water vaporizes very rapidly causing steam because the rocks are heated to this extreme temperature. In a sauna that is dry, there is no water, merely heated rocks.
You sweat when you are sitting inside of a wet sauna. In return this causes unwanted toxins to depart from your body. It is also believed that many viruses cannot live in the high heat and that one’s chances of getting sick will reduce with regular use of a sauna.
Dry saunas are considered to relieve anxiety and stress, stimulate blood circulation, and help rejuvenate the skin. As having a wet sauna, using a dry sauna will cause sweating to happen, hence invoking a number the same benefits of using a wet sauna. In a dry sauna, the heat is far more tolerable, as the heat is reaching it quickly and precisely thereby generating results more quickly.
When humidity exists, the body is cooled and toxins leave in much exactly the same manner as with a dry sauna because the body sweats. It’s believed, however, that it is smarter to use a dry sauna and reap the benefits for longer because of its tolerability.
Whether you select to use a wet or dry sauna, make sure that you are aware of benefits and all risks that could be connected with owning it. It’s important to follow all directions and utilize it correctly. By doing so, you can stay more knowledgeable in the process and will receive more enjoyment.
Best Dry Sauna Kit:
Laatu LPB-68 Pre-Built Dry Sauna Kit
The Laatu LPB-68 is a traditional dry sauna that seats five to seven people comfortably.
Features of the Laatu LPB-68 Pre-Built Dry Sauna Kit
Seats 5-7 people comfortably.
Two tiered L shaped bench
LMR-80 Polar Heater complete with built in controls comes standard, upgrades available.
Two headrests above the upper benches.
1” by 4” (1/2” thick) T & G Western Red Cedar. Assembled fully with Western Red Cedar wood.
Duckboard flooring for the entire walking area.
Pre hung, bronze, tinted door made out of high quality glass.
Main wall includes nice light valence.
Ships in four to five weeks.
Steam Sauna Kits
Adding a steam room to your home could be a life changing experience. There are a number of different types of saunas out there but the main two things that you will have to choose between are dry versus wet.
Dry saunas produce heat with no humidity, whereas wet saunas will have steam and humidity in the air.
Steam Vs. Dry Sauna
If you are installing a new sauna/steam room to your house, it’ll be important for you to understand the difference between the two.
Traditionally, saunas are used in order to offer dry heat. In most saunas you are able to enhance the heat by pouring water over hot rocks. This results in humidity levels between 5 and 20 percent.
Steam rooms are rather different, though. They are not as hot as traditional saunas. You will also notice that there is water dripping down the side walls due to the high humidity.
Because of the high humidity, they need to be constructed of tile, marble or acrylic. All of the fixtures should be made from stainless steel, brass, plastic or other rustproof material.
Seats and the ceiling should be sloped, or so the water will run off, and there has to be a drain in the room, which must not leak water or steam into the area that was exterior.
The steam generator is located outside the steam room, nearby, and demands plumbing in the water supply (rather hot water) and from your generator to the steam room, as well as electrical wiring to the generator.
Steam Sauna Kits For Your Home
Ariel Steam Rooms 608 Steam Shower With Whirlpool Tub
Retail Price: $2,742.99
Instantly update your home with a beautiful new steam shower. This particular steam shower measures in at 63” by 63” by 89”.
Features of the Ariel Steam Rooms 608 Steam Shower
3KW generator to power the steam sauna.
Allows for two person simultaneous use. Very roomy interior.
Whirlpool bath rub included.
Ten total hydro massage jets.
Two total rainfall shower heads.
Body massager with acupressure technology.
Two built in seats.
LED lighting in ceiling.
Sophisticated computer control panel with temperature sensor and timer.
DreamLine Majestic Steam Shower Enclosure
Retail Price: $3,092
Completely transform how your bathroom works for you by installing this relaxing steam sauna shower kit. This sophisticated, high-quality steam shower is built to hold in the heat. A brand new, state of the art generator bakes you while you breathe in the steam produced by your new steam shower.
Features of the DreamLine Majestic Steam Shower
Black acrylic base reinforced by fiberglass ready to use in unison with any standard compression drain.
Available in left and right corner-mount installation.
Beautiful brushed finish on the stainless steel shower panel.
Six different adjustable steam jets. Also includes a hand shower attachment.
Three separate water control devices.Woman accused of beating girl over Cheetos
Deby Mejia is charged with injury to a child in a beating over a bag of Cheetos. Deby Mejia is charged with injury to a child in a beating over a bag of Cheetos. Photo: Houston Police Department Photo: Houston Police Department Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Woman accused of beating girl over Cheetos 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
A Houston woman accused of beating a 10-year-old girl to unconsciousness over a bag of Cheetos is in the Harris County Jail on $60,000 bail.
Deby Janis Mejia, 23, had been caring for the girl since 2006, when the child's mother was deported to Honduras, according to the arrest warrant.
Mejia is charged with injury to a child in the incident on Oct. 11 at their apartment in northwest Houston.
The girl went to a neighbor's apartment that day to get Cheetos while Mejia was at the store, court documents state.
When Mejia returned and saw the girl eating the snack food, she got "real mad" and began hitting her with an extension cord, the girl told authorities.
Then, Mejia grabbed her by the hair and banged her head on the floor causing her to pass out, records state.
The girl told investigators she couldn't remember how many times she was hit with the cord or how many times her head was banged on the floor.
Mejia admitted kicking the girl while she lay on the floor but said she didn't think she had done anything wrong, according to the criminal complaint.
The alleged abuse came to light when an Alief School District police officer took the girl to Child Protective Services after noticing bruises on her legs and a bump on her head, records state.
[email protected] enjoyed success when switching to a 3-4-2-1 system towards the end of last season. They won seven out of the eight Premier League games they played in this shape, including victories over the likes of Manchester United, Everton and Leicester City.
On top of that, they knocked out Manchester City on their way to the FA Cup final, where they defeated champions Chelsea with a surprisingly effective performance that left many wondering if Arsène Wenger would persist with the same formation going forward.
The French boss had never previously shown much intent to use a back three, but the tactical change brought about a crucial turnaround in fortunes at a time when his future was on the line. He has good reason to keep the faith with the 3-4-2-1, but if he does a few new signings would come in handy.
Arsenal have already brought in Alexandre Lacazette from Lyon and Sead Kolašinac from Schalke in a bid to reinforce their squad for the 2017/18 campaign. But a few more key areas, including central defence, midfield and inside forward, could do with strengthening.
Here, Football Whispers profiles six players the Gunners could bring in to perfect their new system.
STEFAN DE VRIJ
In recent seasons, de Vrij has established himself as one of the finest centre-backs in Serie A, a league of rigorously organised defences. The Dutchman’s presence has been crucial to Lazio – in the two campaigns he has been fully fit and available, they finished third and fifth; in 2015/16, a campaign he missed much of through injury, they finished eighth.
The resolute 25-year-old is mature beyond his years. He made his debut for Feyenoord back in 2009/10, meaning he already has eight seasons of top-level football under his belt. He was also integral to the Netherlands’ run to the semi-finals of the 2014 World Cup.
In that competition he featured on the right of a back three, though for Lazio de Vrij plays a more central role. His versatility, physicality and underrated passing ability would make him an excellent addition to Arsenal’s back three.
BENJAMIN HÜBNER
Perhaps more intriguing than RB Leipzig’s rise up the Bundesliga table last term was the remarkable progress made by Hoffenheim. Thanks to the intelligent tactical choices and guidance of Julian Nagelsmann, they finished fourth and secured a shot at Champions League football in the process.
A number of their players ascended from obscurity during the 2016/17 campaign, one of which was Hübner. Operating on the left of a fluid back three, he provided assured defensive work and tidy distribution when in possession.
Thanks to him and his team-mates, Hoffenheim had the second-best defensive record in the Bundesliga. And, while at 28 years of age he is no prospect, he would provide a more natural option for the left-hand side of Wenger’s back three.
SERGEJ MILINKOVIĆ-SAVIĆ
Without a catchy name or obvious on-pitch assets such as searing pace, athleticism or trickery, Milinković-Savić has been able to impose himself quietly at Lazio over the last two years. The Serbian midfielder has displayed a mixture of qualities in Italy that would interest Arsenal.
Firstly, he is combative and physically gifted, an assertive presence who can challenge aerially and outmuscle opponents. Secondly, he is technically refined. He has a smooth touch and can open up a defence with a pass. Thirdly, he is able to play in a number of different positions, from central midfield to second striker.
If Arsenal are to persist with the 3-4-2-1, they will need inside forwards. Milinković-Savić would fit the bill in this respect, providing intelligence, aggression and penetration to progress attacking moves.
STEVEN N’ZONZI
It wouldn’t be a transfer window if Arsenal didn’t sign a French player. And, while they have already brought Lacazette in this summer, they would be wise to also move for his compatriot N’Zonzi.
The 28-year-old’s career has been a strange, winding one. He went from the French second tier to Blackburn Rovers, then Stoke City in the Premier League. Without truly catching the attention of top English clubs, he was snapped up by Sevilla. In Spain he has proven to be a revelation.
Not only is N’Zonzi a strong defensive shield, but he is positionally aware. He can drop back to help in the build-up of possession, or push forward to win it back. Were Arsenal to go for him, they wouldn’t have to worry so much about losing the ball in their own half.
SUSO
Last season, Suso went from AC Milan fringe player to Serie A superstar. Finally living up to his immense early billing, he showed creativity, ingenuity and world class control to thrive in an inside forward role.
With a left foot that could splice the most compact of back lines, the Spaniard is unsurprisingly attracting interest from several other top clubs. Indeed, it has been reported that he is a Tottenham Hotspur target. Arsenal should rival their neighbours for the player’s signature, however.
Mesut Özil’s form was a bone of contention for many last term, and the German could do with some competition. Suso is in a similar mould and, at 23 years of age, his best years are still well ahead of him.
LUCAS TORREIRA
In 2016/17, Sampdoria assembled one of the most enticing collections of young talent seen in Europe. But this summer that collection has been picked apart by some of the continent’s most ambitious and prestigious clubs.
Milan Škriniar has left for Inter Milan and he could soon be joined at the San Siro by Patrik Schick after the Czech’s proposed move to Juventus fell through due to a medical issue. Meanwhile, Bruno Fernandes has moved back to Portugal to join Sporting Lisbon.
Torreira could follow the aforementioned trio out the exit door – he has been linked to a variety of clubs of late, and it’s easy to see why. The 21-year-old is an unrelenting ball-winner with exceptional energy and awareness. He covers ground quickly, presses intelligently and passes efficiently.
If Arsenal are looking for a talented midfield battler to safeguard their defence for years to come, they needn’t look any further than the feisty Uruguayan.The Houston College of Law is no more, a federal judge ruled Friday.
The school must immediately revert back to its old name, the South Texas College of Law, after an ill-fated re-branding attempt that spurred a lawsuit by the University of Houston.
Judge Keith Ellison issued a preliminary injunction against South Texas College of Law, forcing the school to revert to its former name.
Continue Reading
"The University is pleased a federal court recognized the University of Houston’s strong trademarks and its reputation as a top-tier law school," UH said in a statement. "The University of Houston appreciates the work of its legal team."
South Texas College of Law sought the name change to firmly ground the institution in Houston in the eyes of the public, instead of the vague southern region of the second-most expansive state in the country.
But officials at UH thought that name was too close to that of its own law school, the University of Houston Law Center, and would cause confusion among consumers. UH publicly threatened to sue South Texas College of Law if it went through with the name change, but South Texas did it anyway.
So it is difficult to have sympathy for all the money the school briefly known as the Houston College of Law spent on stationery, signs, Internet domains, pens, bumper stickers and T-shirts.
As of Friday afternoon, South Texas College of Law had yet to change its name on its website.
Spokeswoman Claire Caton said she would send a statement. We'll update this story when she does.
Here's the full statement from UH's counsel, mega-lawyer Tony Buzbee:
"We are pleased with the court's decision. The evidence showed overwhelmingly that the name change caused confusion in the marketplace," said Tony Buzbee, principal of The Buzbee Law Firm, which is representing UH as lead counsel. "The next step is for South Texas College of Law to remove their billboards, change their website, remove merchandise from stores and change their name in the American Bar Association database. This is a complete victory for the University of Houston and the UH Law Center."
Update, October 17, 11:52 a.m.: The Houston College of Law released the following statement:Get the biggest Daily stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Picturesque ports, stunning beaches and some of Cornwall's best-loved tourist attractions have appeared on a list of known 'dogging' site., it has been revealed.
Several websites contain lists of popular dogging locations across the region where strangers meet for public sex - including some of the county's best-known landmarks.
They include waterfront car parks, public parks, a boating lake, and even a country park.
The underground practice – known as dogging – involves people performing sex acts in cars or in secluded spots while others watch.
Devon and Cornwall Police said previously that the force was trying to tackle the anti-social behaviour, but its powers to stop dogging are limited.
"Having sex in a public place is not actually an offence," a force spokesman said.
"The offence is one of public indecency, or public nuisance – so it's difficult to enforce any law.
"We cannot arrest anyone simply for having sex in a public place.
"We are aware of the issue, and we've asked officers to disrupt the problem.
"We say to people to tell the police about it and we'll see how we can deal with it, but ultimately it's not just down to the police, it's also one for the local authority."
Cornwall 'dogging' spots according to the online list:
Marazion
A car park overlooking the mount is not only famous for breathtaking views, but also its sordid nighttime antics.
Helston
According to the list the Helston Boating Lake car park has been known to be frequented by doggers, however having lived nearby the only noises I've heard are the sounds of boy racers' exhausts.
Bodmin
The Cardinham Woods car park is said to have been a popular spot for late night entertainment in the past.
Camborne
The car parks at Tehidy Woods Country Park are safe havens for doggers, offering seclusion and plentiful tree cover.
Hayle
There are several lay-bys on the coastal road between Hayle and Portreath which have been known to be rocking until the early hours.
Helston/Porthleven
(Image: Mike Thomas)
The cliff top car park overlooking Loe Bar beach has apparently seen its fair share of nighttime activity.
St Austell
(Image: CDM)
Perhaps inevitably, the nudist beach at Carlyon Bay is listed as a prime dogging site. Visitors are told to park at the Coliseum car park and make their way along the path to the end of the beach.
Callington
According to the Cornwall Council website the Kit Hill Country Club is a prime spot for bird watching. Little did they know.
St Neot
The 58 acres of parkland and forestry isn't just enjoyed by dog walkers.
Newquay area
Doggers who head to Crantock Beach's National Trust car park have been warned to watch out for patrolling police cars.
Torpoint
(Image: Paul Slater)
Doggers at Downderry Beach are advised to park to the east of Downderry and walk along the road until they meet the coast path which is on a sharp bend.
A steep path then goes down to three beaches, but two of the three get cut off by the tide so doggers have to keep an eye on advancing seas.
Newquay area
The Holywell Bay National Trust beach car park gets going at 11pm onwards with the car park located right next to the Penhale training camp.
Launceston
The car park at the town's leisure centre is popular with people indulging in a different type of exercise routine.
Feock
A quiet car park next to Loe Beach has proved popular with doggers over the years.
St Blazey
Luxulyan Valley is a little bit of a hot-spot, overlooked by its towering viaduct.
Mevagissey
The right hand side of Mevagissey's iconic harbour can be known to bounce into the early hours, apparently.
St Keverne
Yet another National Trust car park, this time at Goonhilly Downs.
St Austell
The Penwithick Social Club car park makes the list, although this one does seem an unlikely spot.
Par
Also popular with walkers, the car park on the left after the Par Docks traffic lights offers tree cover, a big plus in the dogging world.
Pendeen
Way down West, the Pendeen Lighthouse car park offers stunning sea views, naturally.
Gorran Haven
Vault Beach is a shingle beach and a hit with single doggers. I'll get my coat, that's enough for one day.Large technology corporations are some of the biggest energy users on the planet. Huge data centers and massive buildings are usually very costly to maintain and power, but Amazon is now boarding the green energy train. They have announced plans to install rooftop solar systems on at least 50 of their fulfillment centers across North America. By the end of 2017, they expect to generate up to 41 megawatts of solar energy.
Amazon already has wind and solar farms in Texas, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia that help power AWS data centers. The new installations will generate more than ten times the power of those current projects though.
Depending on the weather conditions and installation specifics, the solar panels could produce up to 80% of the annual energy for a site. This free energy will go towards powering the countless little sorting robots that make each fulfillment center work.
The new project is impressive, but Amazon still has a long way to go. Other tech giants like Google have been heavily focusing on green power in recent years, which left Amazon lagging behind according to industry environmental watchdogs. Amazon's goal is to be at 50% renewable energy by the end of 2017, while Google's goal was to be at 100% renewable by the start of 2017.
All in all, these huge renewable energy projects are a win for everyone. Consumers may even see some of the energy savings passed along to them in the form of cheaper prices down the road.Canada’s ethics commissioner is looking into allegations that Justin Trudeau breached the Conflict of Interest Act when he accepted an offer to travel on the helicopter of a billionaire friend whose foundation does business with the government.
Pressed by reporters in Kingston, Ont., Prime Minister Trudeau admitted Thursday that he accepted an offer from the Aga Khan to have him transported from Nassau, Bahamas to the remote Bell Island during his recent vacation, adding “We don’t see an issue on that.”
Trudeau also told reporters that he is happy to answer any questions that conflict of interest and ethics commissioner Mary Dawson “may have."
Dawson’s office confirmed she has “commenced a preliminary review.”
Under the Conflict of Interest Act, ministers of the Crown are not allowed to “accept travel on non-commercial chartered or private aircraft for any purpose unless required in his or her capacity as a public office holder or in exceptional circumstances or with the prior approval of the (Conflict of Interest and Ethics) Commissioner.”
NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said Thursday that Trudeau had “broken the law” because the Conflict of Interest Act “clearly forbids the Prime Minister and his Ministers from taking trips on private aircraft for non-government purposes.”
“He claims that this was a family vacation and not government work,” Mulcair added. “These were not exceptional circumstances and therefore cannot excuse the use of a private helicopter. This is a clear conflict of interest and it’s worrisome that the prime minister has been so evasive about the specifics of this trip.”
The Conservative Party said on Twitter that the “Conflict of Interest Act is clear” and that Trudeau “admitted to breaking the rules.”
Conservative Leadership Candidate Andrew Scheer called on Dawson earlier this week to examine whether Trudeau’s stay on the Aga Khan’s island was a violation of the act.
The Trudeaus have already faced controversy for their vacation to Nassau, Bahamas because they flew in a taxpayer-funded government jet and initially refused to tell reporters where they had gone.
Trudeau has reimbursed the treasury $4,900 for flying his family and a nanny to the Bahamas.
Although it costs far more to use the government’s Challenger jet, it is standard practice for vacationing prime ministers to pay only the equivalent of what commercial flights would cost.
St. John’s-Mount Pearl MP Seamus O’Regan and Liberal Party President Anna Gainey were also on the trip.
The helicopter travel may break Trudeau’s own ethics guidelines. Those guidelines forbid the use of sponsored travel in private aircraft except for exceptional circumstances and only with the prior approval of the ethics commissioner.
The Aga Khan is the spiritual leader of the world's Ismaili Muslims. The Aga Khan Foundation of Canada receives tens of millions of dollars a year from Canada for development work.
In 2009, Parliament made the Aga Khan an “honourary Canadian,” with the Conservative MP who put forward the motion calling him “a beacon of humanitarianism, pluralism and tolerance in the world.”
With a report from CTV’s Omar Sachedina in Kingston, Ont. and files from The Canadian PressOperation Haudegen (Unternehmen Haudegen [Operation Swashbuckler]) was the name of a German operation during the Second World War to establish meteorological stations on Svalbard. In September 1944, the submarine U-307 and the supply ship Carl J. Busch transported the men of Unternehmen Haudegen to the island. The station was active from 9 September 1944 to 4 September 1945 but lost radio contact in May 1945. The soldiers were capable of asking for support only in August 1945 and on 4 September, were picked up by a Norwegian seal hunting vessel and surrendered to its captain. The group of men were the last German troops to surrender after the Second World War.
Background [ edit ]
Svalbard Archipelago [ edit ]
Topographical map of Svalbard
The Svalbard Archipelago is in the Arctic Ocean 650 mi (1,050 km) from the North Pole and a similar distance north of Norway. The islands are mountainous, the peaks permanently snow covered, some glaciated; there are occasional river terraces at the bottom of steep valleys and some coastal plain. In winter the islands are covered in snow and the bays ice over. Spitsbergen Island has several large fiords along its west coast and Isfjorden is up to 10 mi (16 km) wide. The Gulf Stream warms the waters and the sea is ice-free during the summer. Settlements were established at Longyearbyen and Barentsberg in inlets along the south shore of Isfjorden, in Kings Bay, north up the coast and in Van Mijenfjorden to the south. The settlements attracted colonists of different nationalities and the treaty of 1920 neutralised the islands and recognised the mineral and fishing rights of the participating countries. Before 1939, the population consisted of about 3,000 people, mostly Norwegian and Russian, who worked in the mining industry. Drift mines were linked to the shore by overhead cable tracks or rails and coal dumped in winter was collected after the summer thaw. By 1939 production was about 500,000 long tons (510,000 t) a year, roughly evenly divided between Norway and Russia.
Allied operations [ edit ]
Operation Gauntlet [ edit ]
Gauntlet was an Allied Combined Operation from 25 August until 3 September 1941 during the Second World War. Canadian, British and Free Norwegian Forces landed on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen in the Svalbard Archipelago, 650 mi (1,050 km) south of the North Pole. Coal mines on the islands were owned and operated by Norway at Longyearbyen and by the Soviet Union at Barentsburg; both governments agreed to their destruction and the evacuation of their nationals. Gauntlet's objective was to deny the Germans the coal, mining and shipping infrastructure, equipment and stores on Spitsbergen and suppress the wireless stations on the archipelago, to prevent the Germans receiving weather reports. Gauntlet was a success; the Germans had not known of or had been able to challenge the expedition, the raiders suffered no casualties, the local civilians were repatriated, several ships were taken as prizes and a German warship was sunk on the return journey.
Operation Fritham [ edit ]
Operation Fritham (30 April – 14 May 1942) was an Allied attempt to secure the coal mines on Spitzbergen, the main island of the Svalbard Archipelago, 650 mi (1,050 km) from the North Pole and about the same distance from Norway. A party of Norwegian troops sailed from Scotland on 30 April, to reoccupy the island and eject a German meteorological party. On 14 May, four German reconnaissance bombers sank the ships in Green Harbour. The commander, Einar Sverdrup, and eleven men were killed, eleven men were wounded and most of the supplies were lost with the ships. On 26 May, a Catalina made contact with Fritham Force and destroyed a German Ju 88 bomber caught on the ground. More sorties delivered supplies, attacked German weather bases, evacuated wounded and rescued shipwrecked sailors.
Operation Gearbox [ edit ]
Operation Gearbox (30 June – 17 September 1942) was a Norwegian and British operation which superseded Operation Fritham. The survivors of Fritham Force had salvaged what equipment they could and set up camp in Barentsburg, which had been deserted since Operation Gauntlet and sent out reconnaissance parties. The Admiralty discovered much of what had happened, through Ultra decrypts of Luftwaffe Enigma coded wireless signals. On 2 July, 57 Norwegians with 116 long tons (118 t) of supplies arrived by cruiser. Barentsburg wa fortified and parties attacked the German weather party at Longyearbyen on 12 July, only to find that they had departed three days earlier. The airstrip was blocked and on 23 July, a Ju 88, carrying an experienced crew and two senior officials, was shot down while flying low over the landing ground;the German plan to send another weather party had been thwarted.
Operation Gearbox II [ edit ]
Operation Gearbox II (17 September 1942 – 7 September 1943) was a Norwegian and British operation. The reinforcements of Operation Gearbox consolidated the Barentsburg defences and made preparations for Gearbox II, another reinforcement of the Norwegians and part of the plan for Convoy PQ 18, to prevent a repeat of Convoy PQ 17 (27 June – 10 July 1942) in which 24 of the 35 freighters had been sunk. The fleet oilers RFA Blue Ranger and RFA Oligarch and four destroyer escorts sailed from Scapa Flow on 3 September and anchored in Lowe Sound several days later. From 9 to 13 September, relays of destroyers were detached from PQ 18 to refuel before the convoy passed Bear Island and into range of the Luftwaffe bombers and torpedo-bombers based in north Norway. Another German weather party was chased off the island by the Norwegians and on 19 October, the cruiser USS Tuscaloosa and four destroyers delivered more Norwegian troops.
German operations [ edit ]
Operation Bansö, 1941–1942 [ edit ]
Location map, Longyearbyen in red
After Operation Gauntlet, the British had expected the Germans to occupy Svalbard as a base for attacks on Arctic convoys. The Germans were more interested in meteorological data, the Arctic being the origin of much of the weather over western Europe. By August 1941, the Allies had eliminated German weather stations on Greenland, Jan Mayen Island, Bear Island (Bjørnøya) and the civil weather reports from Spitzbergen. The Germans used U-boats, reconnaissance aircraft, trawlers and other ships to obtain weather data but these were too vulnerable to attack. The Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe surveyed land sites for weather stations in the range of sea and air supply, some to be manned and others automatic. Wettererkundungsstaffel 5 (Wekusta 5) part of Luftflotte 5, was based at Banak in northern Norway, once the facilities were ready. The He 111s and Ju 88s of Wekusta 5 ranged over the Arctic Ocean, past Spitzbergen and Jan Mayen, towards Greenland; the experience gained made the unit capable of the transport and supply of manned and automatic weather stations.
After the wireless on Spitzbergen had mysteriously ceased transmission in early September 1941, German reconnaissance flights from Banak discovered the Canadian demolitions, burning coal dumps and saw one man, a conscientious objector who had refused to leave, waving to them. Dr Erich Etienne, a former Polar explorer, commanded an operation to install a manned station on the islands but winter was imminent. Advent Bay (Adventfjorden) was chosen for its broad valley, making a safer approach for aircraft; its subsoil of alluvial gravel was acceptable for a landing ground. The south-eastern orientation of the high ground did not impede wireless communication with Banak and the settlement of Longyearbyen (Longyear Town) was close by. A north-west to south-east airstrip with dimensions of about 1,800 by 250 yd (1,650 by 230 m) was marked out, which was firm when dry and hard when frozen but liable to become boggy after rain and the spring thaw. The Germans used the Hans Lund Hut as a control room and wireless station, the Inner Hjorthamn Hut to the south-east being prepared as a substitute. The site received the code-name Bansö (from Banak and Spitzbergen Öya) and ferry flights of men, equipment and supplies began on 25 September. He 111, Ju 88 and Ju 52 pilots gained experience of landing on soft ground, cut with ruts and boulders.
View of Longyearbyen, Adventsfjorden and Adventdalen (2006)
The British followed events at Bletchley Park through Ultra decrypts, which was made easier by German willingness to make routine use of radio communication. Four British minesweepers en route from Archangelsk were diverted to investigate and reached Isfjorden on 19 October. A Wekusta 5 aircraft crew spotted the ships as they prepared to land and the thirty men at Adventfjorden quickly were flown to safety by the aircraft and two Ju 52 transport aircraft. Adventfjorden was deserted when the British arrived but some code books were recovered; when the ships left, the Germans returned. After 38 supply flights, Dr Albrecht Moll and three men arrived to spend the winter of 1941–1942 transmitting weather reports. On 29 October 1941, Hans Knoespel and five weathermen were installed by the Kriegsmarine at Lilliehöökfjorden, a branch of Krossfjord in the north-western Spitzbergen.[a] Aircraft landings were riskier in winter, when the landing ground or an ice-covered bay was frozen solid, because soft snow on top could pile up in front of the wheels of the aircraft and jerk it to a stop or prevent it from reaching take-off speed when departing. The blanket of snow could also cover holes, into which a wheel could fall, potentially to damage the undercarriage or propeller.
The Moll party at Adventfjorden called for aircraft when the weather was adequate and after making low and slow passes, to check the landing ground for obstructions, the pilot decided whether to land. On 2 May 1942, the apparatus for an automatic weather station, a thermometer, barometer, transmitter and batteries arrived at Banak, in a box named a Kröte (toad) by the aircrew. As soon as weather permitted, it was to be flown to Bansö and the Moll party brought back. It took until 12 May for a favourable weather report to reach Banak and a He 111 and a Ju 88 were sent with supplies and the technicians to install the Kröte. The aircraft reached Adventfjorden at 5:45 a.m. and after a careful examination of the ground, the Heinkel pilot eventually landed, keeping its tail well up out of the snow. The main wheels quickly pushed a drift of packed snow in front of them and the aircraft almost nosed over. The ten crew and passengers joined the ground party, who welcomed them enthusiastically, having been alone for six months; the Ju 88 pilot was warned off by a flare and returned to Banak.
Luftwaffe operations, June–July [ edit ]
Example of a Ju 52 transport aircraft
The Moll party at Bansö had reported the British flight of 26 May and on 12 June, signalled that the landing ground was dry enough for a landing attempt. A Ju 88 flew to the island and landed but damaged its propellers as it taxied, stranding the crew and increasing the German party to 18 men. Luftwaffe aircraft flew to Spitzbergen each day but were warned off each time and the Germans thought about using floatplanes. The east end of Isfjorden and Advent Bay were too full |
who are sued for complying with the law
The law says the state attorney general will defend anyone who is sued for complying with the law. The governor says it's about public safety.
“This bill will help keep dangerous criminals off our streets and protect innocent lives. For every ounce of criticism, there is a pound of praise from Texans who simply want laws to keep them safe,” stated a spokesperson for Abbott.
Civil rights organizations like MALDEF say there is no question there will be litigation. They say public officials and law officers that honor detainers are certain to face Fourth Amendment legal challenges because there often isn't sufficient cause for local officials to hold someone in detention beyond a release date. There also are certain to be civil rights and racial profiling accusations.
Texas taxpayers will be footing state costs for defending the law and its enforcers.
“It’s an open checkbook and there are going to be lots of suits,” said Saenz. “Why a fiscally conservative governor and legislature would write a check like that is the untold story.”
Follow NBC Latino on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.This week in history: August 25-September 1
26 August 2013
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
25 Years Ago | 50 Years Ago | 75 Years Ago | 100 Years Ago
25 years ago: US government boosts payoff to Socialist Workers Party
The Militant, weekly newspaper of the US Socialist Workers Party, announced in its August 26, 1988 issue that the Reagan Administration had approved an additional payment of $415,000 to the SWP. The payment was part of the settlement of a 15-year lawsuit against the government over the FBI spying and disruption program code-named COINTELPRO, in the course of which hundreds of FBI agents infiltrated the SWP, effectively taking over the organization.
Including an initial payment announced the previous June, the additional sum brought the total government cash paid to the SWP to almost $700,000—over one-and-a-third million dollars in current value. Such a payoff to a purportedly socialist organization by a capitalist government was unprecedented in the history of the workers’ movement.
COINTELPRO operations took place under FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover between 1956 and 1971 against political organizations that the government considered subversive. This period includes the timeframe during which the Carleton 12—a group from the small, conservative Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota—were plugged into the top leadership of the SWP.
The settlement was negotiated between SWP chief counsel, Leonard Boudin, and the US Attorney’s office in New York headed by Rudolph Giuliani. The Militant report did not indicate when the Reagan Justice Department accepted the agreement, but it apparently took place prior to the departure of Edwin Meese, who announced his resignation as attorney general in early July, effective a month later.
The payoff came in return for an agreement by the SWP to settle its lawsuit without naming a single government agent inside the SWP. By the FBI’s own admission, there were more than 1,600 of its spies in and around the SWP between 1960 and 1976, but neither the FBI nor the SWP wanted these names made public.
Federal District Court Judge Thomas P. Griesa awarded $264,000 in damages in August 1987, but the government refused to make any admission of guilt or any payment to the SWP and said it would appeal the ruling. This adamant stance was ultimately reversed within the highest levels of the Reagan administration.
[top]
50 years ago: Kennedy blocks railroad strike
On August 28, 1963, US President John F. Kennedy signed into law legislation blocking a nationwide strike of railway workers, which had been set to start the next day. The law, singling out five train operating unions for a no-strike ban of 180 days and imposing arbitration, was without precedent in US history. The House had approved the bill earlier in the day by 286-66 after the Senate had passed an identical version 90-2 a day earlier.
Kennedy
The law created an arbitration board to make a determination on two major issues upon which train firms sought to reduce their labor costs—the size of train crews, and whether or not firemen and locomotive engineers were needed in yard and freight service. Other matters were to be left to collective bargaining.
In a statement Kennedy justified the law by warning that a nationwide rail strike would have “crippled the economy,” citing the precedence of the “public interest.” The unions backed down before the law, but issued a statement calling the decision “regrettable and a backward step in the preservation of the rights of workers.”
[top]
75 years ago: Germany-Czechoslovakia crisis over Sudetenland intensifies
This week in 1938 the crisis provoked by Nazi Germany’s designs on Czechoslovakia reached a new level of intensity, with speculation in the media that war between France and the United Kingdom, on one side, and Germany on the other, was imminent, and with the British government of Neville Chamberlain seeking to avert war by compelling Czechoslovakia to accept German demands.
German Chancellor Adolf Hitler, joined by Nazi provocateurs among the German-speaking minority in Czechoslovakia, demanded the cession to Germany of the border regions known as Sudetenland, which had heavy ethnic-German concentrations. Nazi Germany had already been emboldened in its flouting of international law and the Treaty of Versailles by its remilitarization and the absorption of Austria in the Anschluss of March 1938.
British Ambassador to Germany Neville Henderson
On August 28 Chamberlain recalled to London the British ambassador to Germany, Neville Henderson, in order to arrange for a personal meeting between Chamberlain and Hitler. Meanwhile, in Prague, a special British delegation seeking a truce led by Lord Runciman had already made clear its support for ceding the Sudetenland to Germany.
In fact, Hitler had already made the final decision to destroy Czechoslovakia days earlier, having informed Hungarian dictator Admiral Horthy that Hungary should join in the attack to gain Ruthenia at its neighbor’s expense. On August 27 German chief of staff General Beck, who opposed war with Czechoslovakia, resigned. On September 1, at a conference at Berchtesgaden with German-Czech Nazi Konrad Henlein, Hitler publicly rejected the offer of a two-month truce from the Czechoslovak government.
[top]
100 years ago: Dublin transport workers strike
On August 26, 1913, members of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU), went on strike in response to the dismissal and lockout on August 21 of 100 union members from William Martin Murphy’s Tramways Company. Murphy was one of Ireland’s most powerful and wealthy businessmen who formed the Dublin Employers’ Federation that refused to recognize the ITGWU.
Murphy had refused to employ ITGWU members on both his newspaper, the Irish Independent, and his Tramways Company, and he forbade workers from joining the union, which had nonetheless won concessions for workers with “sympathy strikes.” On the first day of the Dublin Horse Show, one of the city’s busiest events, drivers and conductors stopped and abandoned their trams at 10 a.m. and Irish Independent distributors and dockworkers stopped work in sympathy.
On August 28, five ITGWU leaders were arrested for conspiracy and libel but were soon released on bail. The strike intensified and violent clashes erupted between police and strikers and their supporters, resulting in the death of protester James Nolan, who was clubbed to death by police.
Dublin Police breaking up a union rally
The Employers’ Federation responded with a lockout, sacking hundreds who refused to sign a pledge to resign from the ITGWU and other unions supporting the strike. The bosses were particularly adamant because of the prominent role played in the union by socialists like James Larkin, the central leader of the strike/lockout, and James Connolly, who led the Easter Rising against British rule three years later.
The strike continued, and by October families in tenements were close to starving. Unions in England shipped provisions to the strikers. Irish union leaders organized to send starving children to sympathetic families in England, but were blocked after a campaign led by the Catholic Church to prevent the children from being subject to Protestant and atheist influence.
The unions were prepared to enter talks but employers refused to negotiate on the issue of prohibiting ITGWU membership. Larkin was sentenced to seven months for incitement but was released within a fortnight. He travelled to Britain to win support among British trade unions for a general strike in support of Dublin workers, but without success.
On January 18, 1914, the ITGWU leadership met secretly and decided to end the strike, but told members not to sign the Employers’ Federation contract. In February 1914, the strike was broken with 3,000 members of the Builders Labourers Union signing the contract, followed by other workers.
[top]I’m going to make a statement without reaching out to a single “source” or doing anything that even remotely resembles “responsible reporting.”
Jeremy Lin will not be a member of the 2015-2016 Los Angeles Lakers, in very large part because he and Byron Scott have been incompatible all season.
Obviously, there’s plenty of time between now and July. Stranger things have happened than a reunion between Lin, a budding free agent, and Scott, who’ll presumably have a voice at Mitch and Jim’s table. Back in 2005, NOBODY could fathom Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson forging a player-coach bond for the ages. Couples marry, divorce, then remarry again. The Eagles famously vowed that hell would freeze over before they played again, then unfortunately went back on their word. (Like The Dude, I hate the f—— Eagles.) Thus, I could be eventually be exposed as a man talking out of his ass in declaring the Lin-Scott partnership as one-and-done as Jahlil Okafor and Duke.
But were I a betting man, my money’s on halfhearted handshakes and goodbyes. (And to a large degree, that’s fine, because the first round pick accompanying Lin from Houston automatically justified that deal for the Lakers.) However, that’s not to say neither man couldn’t learn from having clashed due to starkly different personalities. In fact, those differences are what make this campaign a potential learning experience.
If you haven’t yet read Pablo S. Torre’s ESPN The Magazine recent profile of Lin, by all means correct that. Torres paints a compelling portrait of a season-long struggle fueled by anxiety. Anxiety over on-court fit. Anxiety over reluctant status as an icon of sports and race for countless fans worldwide. Anxiety that’s perhaps a given for someone with a bright, active mind. Lin is a cerebral basketball player in the purest sense. He literally thinks on the court. At times, way too much. And this propensity for trapping himself in his own head butts heads with a coach who places a far higher premium on, broadly speaking, “toughness.”
Training camps that features four trashcans for vomiting.
Belief that a 36 year-old shooting guard, despite two previous season-ending injuries, serious career mileage, and recurrent post-game comments like, “I’m tired” can handle 35 nightly minutes by virtue of a legendary will.
On anything that’s not “soft,” the continual descriptor when assessing a negative performance by the Lakers.
Scott takes tremendous pride in being an old school cat, which is why he’s treated Ronnie Price, a career-third string journeyman, as a more valuable commodity than Lin, the younger, more talented player.
At the risk of sounding crude or misogynistic, Scott considers Price tough and Lin a p—-.
And more than any other single factor, I think that speaks to Scott’s generally dismissive attitude towards Lin. He regards Lin as the embodiment of a direction in basketball he doesn’t much care for. Scott appears to disdain anything that melds progressive thinking and hoops. He’s openly disdainful toward analytics. He insisted three-pointers don’t win championships, despite serious evidence to the contrary. There’s the disinclination to establish games through the use of pick-and-roll, which happens to double as Lin’s specialty. To say the least, the NBA has become a pick-and-roll dominated league, but Scott’s basketball universe still revolves around iso, postups, long two’s, and this particular season, Kobe.
— Think You Know Everything About Kobe Bryant? Take The Ultimate Kobe Quiz! —
Scott’s explanation that pick-and-roll encourages “standing around” is confusing on its best day. (I’ve rarely seen less ball and player movement than whatever the hell system the Lakers ran this season.) But more importantly, it represents a willingness to let Lin flounder, and I imagine reflects a lack of respect for Lin. Since the All-Star break, Scott has for whatever reason relented, and Lin’s responded with consistently strong play. Had Scott been more flexible earlier, Lin could have been better showcased for a deadline deal, which would have landed even more desperately needed assets, or simply solidified himself as part of the Lakers’ core as they (fingers crossed) successfully rebuild.
Instead, Scott largely — and in my mind, pointlessly — wasted Lin.
In a vacuum, this is trivial. It ain’t the first time a coach mismanaged a player, nor will it be the last. But this particular waste is troubling because it seems to reflect inflexibility fueled by aesthetics. Had Scott deemed Lin worthier of his respect, he might have bent more. And were Scott simply more in tune with the modern NBA, he’d have been more eager to capitalize on Lin’s strengths in the first place. To be clear, the Lakers would be crappy this season no matter how Scott coached. As I’ve continually reiterated this season, among my many issues with Byron as a coach, zero involve wins or losses. But his mindset concerns me, and this clash with Lin reflects what I worry is a general unwillingness to utilize unfamiliar weapons. I’m not saying Byron should become a slave to analytics. It would just be nice if he appeared less resistant to change. And unless Scott starts willfully bending more towards the modern NBA, his experience with Lin feels like a template for issues throughout his tenure as coach of the Lakers.
But even acknowledging Scott’s stubbornness, Lin’s struggle without pick-and-roll as a security blanket speaks to limitations the guard must overcome to get the most of his career. His season has reminded me of three seasons ago when Ramon Sessions arrived mid-season to theoretically goose a stagnant Laker offense. Like Lin, Sessions is a pick-and-roll specialist, and given the green light, can orchestrate a reasonably dynamic offense, particularly when surrounded by the likes of Kobe, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. And for a couple of months, Sessions played like a conquering hero. But as the season progressed, whether because a) Sessions’ limitations exposed themselves (particularly under the playoffs’ bright lights), b) Kobe began distrusting Sessions and took the ball out of his hands, c) Mike Brown enabled Kobe, or d) all of the above… Sessions steadily evolved into an off-ball player, which ain’t his game in the slightest.
As a result, Sessions failed to make his hoped impact, and his L.A. stay proved short-lived.
This season, without the ball in his hands, Lin often suffered the same visibly uncomfortable fate as Sessions. But here’s the difference: Even under these circumstances, Lin is a much better player than Sessions. He’s a better shooter. He’s a better natural scorer. He’s been gifted with physicality the diminutive Sessions can’t possibly match. (Lin’s most underrated quality as a player is unquestionably his physical strength.) Lin may not be the “Linsanity” star from New York, but he can be more than just watered-down “Linsanity.” More importantly, he’ll need to be if he wants to become more than just a career as a quality backup point guard when operating in his comfort zone. And since Lin openly wants more, beyond simply improving weaknesses (and to his credit, Torres’ article mentions a stress on building mid-range proficiency), Lin must overcome a propensity for over-thinking.
Pre-All-Star break, strong opening minutes generally signaled a strong game in the making for Lin. On the flip side, if his shot didn’t fall early, or the ball was turned over a couple times out of the gate, you could write off whatever came next. In this particular sense, Scott’s hasn’t been completely out of line suggesting a mental weakness within Lin. To be clear, that’s not the same thing as calling Lin “soft.” You don’t arrive at Lin’s place in the NBA as an Asian player from Harvard amid D-League stops and undeniable stereotypes without a wealth of mental toughness. Still, a periodic mental weakness held Lin back in ways that can’t be blamed on his coach.
Under better circumstances, Scott could have offered his player some valuable wisdom about “toughness.” Just as his player could have taught his coach a thing or two about coaching.
What remains to be seen is whether either learned anything moving forward.
[divide]
Byron Scott On Possibility Of Jeremy Lin’s Future In LA
>I was going to call this post “A portrait of an electrical engineer as a young man (or woman)” but decided against it. I’ve got nothing on James Joyce, neither in loquaciousness nor confusing writing.
Anyway, I have been pondering what kind of employee I would hire out of school for an electrical engineering position. There are some basic skill sets that will allow just about any young engineer to succeed if they have these skills (the best situation) or at least appear they will succeed if written on their resume (not the best situation). Either way, let’s look over what a new grad should have on their utility belt before going out into the scary real world.
Conceptual models of passive components — This has been one of the most helpful things I have learned since I have left school…because this kind of thinking is not taught in classrooms (at least it isn’t in the curriculum). The idea is to conceptualize what a component will do, as opposed to what the math is behind a certain component or why the physics of material in a component give it certain properties. Why does this matter? When you’re looking at a 20 page schematic of something you’ve never seen before, you don’t care what kind of dielectric is in a capacitor and how the electric field affects the impedance. Nope, you care about two things: What is the value and how does it affect the system. The first question is easy because it should be written right next to the symbolic notation. The second is different for each type of passive component you might encounter. Let’s look at the common ones Resistors — The best way I’ve found to think of resistors is like a pipe. The electrons are like water. The resistance is the opposite of how wide the pipe is (if the resistance is higher, the pipe is smaller, letting fewer electrons through in the form of current). Also, the pressure (voltage) it takes to get water (electrons, current) through a pipe (resistor) will depend on the thickness of the pipe (resistance). Well whaddaya know? V=IR!
Capacitors — At DC, a capacitor is essentially an open circuit (think a broken wire). If you apply charge long enough (depending on the capacitance), it can consume some of that charge; after it is charged it will once again act like an open circuit. When considering AC (varying) signals, the best way to think about a capacitor is like a variable resistor. The thing controlling how much the capacitor will resist the circuit is the frequency of the signal trying to get through the capacitor. As the frequency of the signal goes up, the resistance (here it is called “impedance”) will go down. So in the extreme case, if the frequency is super high, the capacitor will appear as though it is not there to the signal (and it will “pass right through”). Taking the opposite approach helps explain the DC case. If the signal is varying so slowly that it appears to be constant (DC), then the impedance of the capacitor will be very high (so high it appears to be a broken wire to the signal).
Inductors — Inductors have an opposite effect as capacitors and provide some very interesting effects when you combine them in a circuit with capacitors. In their most basic form, inductors are wires that can be formed into myriad shape but are most often seen as spirals. Inductors are “happy” when low frequency signals go through them; this means that the impedance is low at low frequencies (DC) and is high at high frequencies (AC). This makes sense to me because if the signal is going slow enough, it’s really just passing through a wire, albeit a twisty one. An interesting thing about electrons going through a wire is that when they do, they also product tiny magnetic fields around the wire (as explained by Maxwell’s Equations). When a high frequency signal tries to go through the inductor, the magnetic fields are changing very rapidly, something they intrinsically do not want. Instead it “slows” the electrons, or really increases the impedance. This “stops” higher frequency signals from passing through depending on the inductance of the inductor and the frequency of the signal applied. Looking at the how they react to different frequencies, we can see how inductors and capacitors have opposite effects at the extremes.
Diodes — I think of diodes as a one way mirror…except you can’t see through the one way until you get enough energy. The one way nature is useful in blocking unwanted signals, routing signals away from sensitive nodes and even limiting what part of a varying signal will “get through” the diode to the other side.
Transistors — I always like thinking of transistors as a variable resistor that is controlled by the gate voltage. The variable resistor doesn’t kick in until the gate voltage hits a certain threshold and sometimes the variable resistor also allows some energy to leak to one of the other terminals. C coding — Sorry to all you analog purists out there, but at some point as an engineer, you need to know how to code. Furthermore, if you’re going to learn how to code, my personal preference for languages to start with is C. Not too many other languages have been around for as long nor are they as closely tied to hardware (C is good for writing low level drivers that interpret what circuits are saying so they can talk to computers). I’m not saying higher level languages don’t have their place, but I think that C is a much better place to start because many other languages (C++, JAVA, Verilog, etc) have similar structure and can quickly be learned if you know C. Even though the learning curve is higher for C, I think it is worth it in the end and would love to see some college programs migrate back towards these kinds of languages, especially as embedded systems seem to be everywhere these days. How an op amp works — I set the op amp apart from the passives because it is an active component (duh) and because I think that it’s so much more versatile that it’s important to set it apart conceptually. I’ve always had the most luck anthropomorphizing op amps and figuring out what state they “want” to be in. Combining how you conceptually think about op amps and passives together can help to conceptualize more difficult components, such as active filters and analog to digital converters. The ability to translate an example — A skill that nearly every engineering class is teaching, with good reason. Ask yourself: are homework problems ever THAT much different from the examples in the book? No. Because they want you to recognize a technique or a idiosyncrasy in a problem, look at the accepted solution and then apply it to your current situation. Amazingly, this is one of the most useful skills learned in the classroom. Everyday engineering involves using example solutions from vendors, research done in white papers/publications and using even your old textbooks to find the most effective, and more importantly, the quickest solution to a problem. High level system design — This is similar to the first point, but the important skill here is viewing the entire picture. If you are concentrating on the gain of a single amplification stage, you may not notice that it is being used to scale a signal before it goes into an analog-to-digital converter. If you see a component or a node is grounded periodically, but ignore it, you may find out that it changes the entire nature of a circuit. The ability to separate the minutiae from the overarching purpose of a circuit is necessary to quickly diagnose circuits for repair or replication in design. Basic laws — It is amazing to me how much depth is needed in electrical engineering as opposed to breadth. You don’t need to know all of the equations in the back of your textbook. You need to know 5-10; but you need to know them so well that you could recite them and derive other things from them in your sleep. A good example would be Kirchoff’s laws. Sure, they are two (relatively) simple laws about the currents in a node and the voltage around a loop, but done millions of times and you have a fun little program called SPICE. Budgeting — There are many important budgets to consider when designing a new project. In a simple op amp circuit, there are many sources of error and inefficiencies. Determining and optimizing an error budget will ensure the most accurate output possible. Finding and determining areas that burn power unnecessarily must be discovered and then power saving techniques must be implemented. The cost is another consideration that is usually left to non-engineering, but is an important consideration in many different projects. Finding cost effective solutions to a problem (including the cost of an engineer’s time) is a skill that will make you friends in management and will help you find practical solutions to many problems. Math — Ah yes, an oldy but goody. Similar to the passive components, having a conceptual notion of what math is required and how it can be applied to real life situation is more important than the details. Often knowing that an integral function is needed is as important as knowing how to do it. And similar to the basic laws, you don’t need to know the most exotic types of math out there. I have encountered very few situations where I need to take the third derivative of a complicated natural log function; however, I have needed to convert units every single day I have been an engineer. I have needed simple arithmetic, but I’ve needed to do it quickly and correctly. Sure, you get to use a calculator in the real world, but you better learn how to use that quickly too, because your customers don’t want to wait for you to get out your calculator, let alone learn how it works.
Each of these skills could be useful in some capacity for a new electrical engineer grad. There are many different flavors of engineering and the skills listed above are really modeled off what would be good for an analog system engineer (who develop commercial or industrial products). However, a future chip designer and even a digital hardware engineer all could benefit from having the skills listed, as it is sometimes more important to be open to new opportunities (especially given the possibility of recession and potential shifting of job markets).
Did I miss anything? Do you think there are other skills that are necessary for young electrical engineers? What about general skills that could apply to all young engineers?
[xyz_lbx_default_code]The recent uncovering of plots to destroy Buddhist temples to avenge violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar has also cast a spotlight on Indonesians going to fight in Syria's civil war.
One of the six shot dead in a counter-terrorism raid on New Year's Eve, Nurul Haq, was preparing to travel to Syria to fight alongside militants attempting to topple the government of President Bashar al-Assad, said police.
This discovery lends weight to warnings issued by Indonesia's National Counter Terrorism Agency (BNPT). Its deputy for international cooperation Harry Purwanto has said his agency is tracking 50 Indonesians in Syria for suspected terrorist activities like fighting alongside militants or networking with extremists.
"We view them as threats, and if they come back to Indonesia and carry out any act of violence here, they will be nabbed," he told reporters two weeks ago.
Though the threat of terrorism in Indonesia has been reduced greatly in recent years, analysts warn that terrorists remain resilient and maintain links with old networks to sustain their groups.
The latest revelations show that the conflict in Syria has deeply influenced Indonesian militants, who then travel there and become a threat when they return.
Worse, they could spread sectarian hatred, with the Syrian civil war having become a proxy battle between Sunni and Shi'ite militants, pitting Shi'ites fighting for the Assad regime against the majority Sunni population.
The vast majority of Muslims in Indonesia are moderate, but a radical fringe poses a continuing threat to the mainstream.
Most Muslims here are Sunni, with a small Shi'ite population of three million, who have been harassed by radicals in sometimes deadly clashes. The police have been actively keeping militants in check, but terrorist groups have been waging war against them to avenge killings of their comrades.
Terrorism analyst Noor Huda Ismail noted that the Syrian civil war, now in its third year, has spurred some aspiring terrorists to make the journey there to get training and gather contacts.
"They see Syria as a battleground to carry out their distorted, violent form of jihad," he said. "It is worrying because we don't really know for sure how many have returned... and there is a potential for them to bring back the fight against Shi'ites here."
They are part of over 6,000 foreign fighters believed to have travelled to Syria to assist rebels there since 2011, far higher than the numbers that went to Iraq and Afghanistan to join the wars against the United States-led forces.
Late last year, the Australian government cancelled the passports of 20 men of mostly Lebanese-Australian background for preparing to "engage in politically motivated violence".
Checks on three Indonesian radical websites show that their articles on Syria focus on the Assad government forces' brutality in killing the Sunnis there, and call for Sunni Muslims here to support their counterparts in Syria through donations.
A radical group in Tasikmalaya claimed 100 of its members are ready for battle in Syria, said a report in Jawa Pos News Network last July.
The Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict noted that the longer the Syrian conflict continues, the greater the chances of more Indonesians getting involved.
Its report last month said that terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah's humanitarian wing, Hilal Ahmar Society of Indonesia, has sent nine missions to Syria for up to a month at a time, and has well-established contacts there.
"All of this is a reminder that the current sense of distance from the global jihad can easily change as more Indonesian fighters go to Syria and return," warned the report entitled Weak, Therefore Violent: The Mujahidin of Western Indonesia.Earlier this week we received messages from readers that couldn't download ZombiU or Assassin's Creed III from the Wii U eShop. We tested this and received the same error message, which made it seem as if there were botched parental controls on the platform.
You cannot view this content. The times during which this content can be viewed have been restricted.
As the comments in that article demonstrated, however, this appeared to be a deliberate policy from Nintendo of Europe rather than an error. Once we tested the eShop after 11pm it was possible to download either 18-rated title, and a customer services reply to a confused Wii U owner in Italy has shed light on the formal details of this policy.
Dear customer, we would like to let you know that Nintendo has always aimed to offer gameplay experiences suited to all age groups, observing carefully all the relevant regulations regarding content access that are present in the various European countries. We have thus decided to restrict the access to content which is unsuitable to minors (PEGI) to the 11pm - 3am time window.
In a follow up email when this was queried, Nintendo stated that this "is an additional precaution to make sure that minors cannot access content which is inappropriate for their age". That explains why it over-rides the age on the relevant Nintendo Network ID or the absence of any parental controls.
This issue only seems to exist in Europe, limiting 18-rated purchases from the Wii U eShop to a four hour window. What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments below.Opponents of CISPA such as the ACLU have focused almost exclusively on the bill's potential impact on individual users' privacy, and understandably so. But a close read of CISPA's broad language reveals that Joe Internet's privacy isn't all that would be in jeopardy if the bill makes it through the Senate and past President Obama's veto pen. CISPA poses a threat to the privacy of entire organizations, from nonprofits and small business on up to the enterprise -- and even to the very future of cloud computing.
Drawing from the bill's exact language, CISPA would permit "certified entities" and "cyber security providers" to "voluntarily" share any customer data with other certified entities, so long as the data constitutes "cyber threat intelligence" for "cyber security purposes" -- as well as for the sake of "national security."
In a nutshell, the federal government and "certified entities" could freely pass around customer data in the name of security, without due process and without any fear of reprisal if their purported security fears turn out to be completely unwarranted. "Certified entities" can mean federal agencies, other public agencies, utilities, and private organizations. That's a potentially long, long list of whistleblowers.
"Cyber security providers" are prime candidates to play the role of data providers under CISPA. By the bill's definition, it means any private entity that provides goods or services intended to be used for cyber security purposes. That, too, is a remarkably vague term. Any kind of Internet- or cloud-service provider offers some form of cyber security service, beyond the standard antivirus, antispam, and firewall protection.
For example, Google and Microsoft offer hosted productivity apps for email, word processing, spreadsheets, and so forth -- and part of those service includes securing customer's documents and messages. An ISP such as Verizon or AT&T protects your data as it travels in and out of your network. A SaaS company such as Salesforce.com protects customer's business information. Similarly, providers of IaaS and PaaS offerings secure the data and application processes of their customers. The list goes on and on, from financial institutions to online retailers to social networking sites.
Importantly, CISPA doesn't just specify individuals when it talks about customers of cyber security providers. That means if a cyber security provider notices one of its customers is engaging in business practices that could constitute some kind of general security threat, that provider can pass that suspect data on to whomever. That data could include email messages, financial transactions, Web history, customer information. That list, like the list of potential data sharers, stretches on and on.
Proponents of the bill might point to the part that specifies an entity can't share its customer's data unless it constitutes a cyber threat or a threat to national security. Unfortunately, that is pretty darn subjective. Depending on one's political leanings, certain nonprofits -- such as religious or political groups -- pose a "national security threat." Health care organizations that provide controversial services such as abortions or stem-cell treatment could be deemed a threat. Media companies -- whether the New York Times or Fox News or CNN -- might pose security threats in their critics' minds. Private companies with clients who are potentially involved in suspect activities -- say, a company that does business in countries that aren't U.S. allies -- could be construed as a security threat.
Yet again, the possibilities stretch on because the bill's language is vague. Participants have the luxury of picking and choosing what information to share, so long as they can frame it as a security threat. If it turns out the shared data doesn't represent a threat at all, the entity that volunteers it faces no consequences.
So how might the passage of CISPA affect the future of the cloud? Well, CISPA could deter any privacy-conscious organization from using cloud- and Internet-based services altogether. Why risk letting Microsoft or Google monitor and protect your business's email, or Amazon or Rackspace protect your data, or Salesforce.com protect your customer data, knowing that on any given day someone might pass your sensitive data to the feds and other entities -- some of whom might even be your competitors -- in the name of security? Even if 95 percent of the admins exercise discretion, there's always a chance someone with a bad case of paranoia or an itchy trigger finger or some odd vendetta could decide your organization's data poses a security threat and should be passed along.
Is your organization willing to risk it?
This story, "Why CISPA could kill the cloud," 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.Is it an option for Edwin Snowden to seek shelter in Iceland?
When it was brought to my attention that Snowden was looking to Iceland for political asylum, I offered to help figure out the legal options for such a request.
These are my findings: Snowden should not come to Iceland unless he will request and be granted citizenship by the Icelandic Parliament. Citizenship is the only legal protection that will shelter him from any demands of extradition to the USA. The ideal situation would be for Snowden to be granted a Icelandic passport as was the case with Bobby Fischer.
Seeking political asylum is a process that can take long time, and there are no guarantees granted against extradition while the process is ongoing. However since Snowden faces possible death sentence his case is stronger, for it is illegal to extradite a person who faces death sentence from Iceland. It is important to note that Iceland has a terrible track record when it comes to granting political asylum to people seeking shelter, as it is hardly never granted and thus a too dangerous path to be recommended for Snowden.
The new Interior minister, Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir, has been very stern in her statements announcing that Snowden will not get any sort of special treatment for the Minister fears that if he will be granted asylum, Iceland might have to show humanitarianism in action by transforming its poor treatment towards asylum seekers who seek shelter in Iceland.
I was hoping that the new Prime Minster, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, would take the same leadership in this case as a former PM did in the case of Bobby Fischer, for it was a political decision to grant the Chess Master Icelandic citizenship and Icelandic passport while Fischer was in prison in Japan waiting to be extradited to the USA for playing chess in the wrong country. It is still not too late to show such leadership.
It is important to note that there has not been any formal requests for asylum from Snowden to the Icelandic government and thus impossible for them to respond with affirmative answer until such a request has been received.
I've heard as I am writing this that there are other countries that have offered to shelter this brave whistleblower. Snowden has done service to all of humanity by bringing to the public domain information that |
around France by a truck loaded with personal mattresses. But despite all the social progress, a bike race wilfully sends 200 riders down a small road meaning broken bones are inevitable, few workplaces would tolerate this.
As for women, Baron de Coubertin’s nineteenth century values live on with the podium girls, a role that few other sports still use. It turns out behind the scenes their job involves driving and hostess work but most people just see the TV: they look pretty and vibe submissive.
Of course women can attack on a muddy cobbled track too – and they do. But if societies have embraced equality, sport seems much slower to change and sometimes totally detached. The more masculine a sport, the greater the gender gap. See the women’s hammer throw which joined the Olympics in 2000, boxing which allowed women in 2012 or even ski-jumping for women in the 2014 Sochi winter games. Cycling’s playing catch-up too, it’s moved to equal medals for the 2018 Rio games but there’s no women’s Tour de France and the UCI women’s calendar of elite events runs to 154 days compared to 588 days for the Europe Tour alone.
Where are the gay riders?
The machismo isn’t just anti-women. It’s different in the women’s bunch but there are no openly homosexual riders in the men’s pro peloton. At the end of 2012 a British football journalist and statistician looked at the Premier League.
Many surveys have tried to decide what proportion of British men are gay. Answers have ranged wildly from 1.5% to 6% so I took the lowest figure of 1.5%…. ….I then looked at Premier League players of which there have been 3,200 in the past 20 years. The chances of there being no gay footballer among those is 1 in 10 to the power of 21, which is one and 21 noughts.
Let’s run this for the men’s pro peloton with the 893 World Tour and Pro Conti riders. Using the same assumptions the odds of no gay cyclist is 1 in 726,852. About the same as flipping a coin and it coming up the same side 20 times.
It could be the stats but at these odds, I doubt it. Instead it’s the culture of the sport that might have deterred some men and also encouraged others to keep quiet about it. Now if you can name a homosexual in the men’s pro peloton, keep it to yourself: the point here is show that nobody wants to be open about it. Indeed I don’t want to make a big deal of this, soccer regularly asks this question but it’s subject to a lot more media intrusion. By contrast pro cycling people’s private lives are not the property of paparazzi, a private life can be as private as the rider wants. For example there are Catholics, Muslims, Protestants in the bunch and their faith is known but not a talking point, it’s entirely for them. Some things are more visible, the pro peloton is mainly from Europe but disproportionally white. Put simply the peloton doesn’t reflect society.
Time for change?
There might be more women at the big races these days, whether in the press room or even driving the team bus. Not many but an infinite more than the zero of a few years ago. The UCI is now taking steps including mild acts of positive discrimination like appointing women to roles on its various committees.
There’s a big gap between men’s pro cycling and women’s pro cycling. You can look at the calendar, teams and budgets and see the structural differences but this is all rooted in a deep culture. Perhaps this is why it’s taking so long to get women’s racing going, you can legislate structural changes at the stroke of a pen but cultural change takes longer?
Conclusion
The pro peloton is a man’s world. Other sports are similar but with its history pro cycling puts heroism and masculinity on a pedestal, preferably surrounded by podium girls. The peloton’s never going to be a mirror image of society nor a scientifically-composed representative focus group.
But interestingly as the peloton rides around the world it brings its culture with it, for example maybe you’d expect podium girls at the Giro but you’ll find them at the Amstel Gold race and in California and Beijing too. If society has changed over the years, there’s still a huge gap between the sport we see on TV and the world it rides through.Go takes its documentation very seriously, and nobody would blame you if you found it confusing that someone might reference godoc in one breath and go doc in the next.
This isn’t just a to-may-to to-mah-to kind of thing. All of these concepts are related.
godoc—the web server
The godoc tool is intended primarily to run a documentation server in your browser on localhost.
godoc -http=":6060"
It includes the documentation for the Go standard library, along with any package that lives in your GOPATH.
It can also format documentation as plain text on the command-line, where you would pass the import path of the package you are interested in. This was added as an afterthought.
godoc golang.org/x/tools/godoc
Running godoc without any arguments will output the usage statement for the tool.
usage: godoc package [name...] godoc -http=:6060...
go doc—the go subcommand
The familiar go command-line tool, which is used to go run or go build or go test, also has a subcommand doc.
The doc subcommand will print out the documentation for whatever argument you pass it: a package, const, func, type, var, or method.
Unlike the godoc command, go doc was intended from the start to be convenient from the command-line.
The most important difference between godoc and go doc on the command-line, is that the syntax for go doc is, well, Go.
go doc gob.Decoder
The equivalent command using godoc is a bit more awkward, requiring the full import path:
godoc encoding/gob Decoder
The default behavior of go doc when calling it without arguments, is to display the documentation for the current package.
godoc.org—the website
godoc.org is, confusingly, sometimes referred to as GoDoc. It hosts documentation for Go packages that are not a part of the Go standard library. Anything hosted publicly on Bitbucket, GitHub, Google Project Hosting or Launchpad is likely to show up on GoDoc. In fact, searching for a project by its import path will automatically add it to the site.
The documentation that you will see on godoc.org is very similar to the documentation that you get when running the local godoc server, but as pointed out in the comments, godoc.org doesn’t use the output from the godoc tool.
go/doc—the package
The command godoc and the website godoc.org both rely on the package go/doc to extract source code documentation.
If you were to use godoc to ask about go/doc, it would tell you all about it.
$ godoc go/doc PACKAGE DOCUMENTATION package doc import "go/doc" Package doc extracts source code documentation from a Go AST....
If in doubt…
When people are referring to the package go/doc in casual conversation, they’ll often drop the slash. And when saying go doc they could be referring to GoDoc, the website. And, you know how it is… they might actually be talking about the godoc tool.
If you’re unsure of exactly which one they mean, ask for clarification!
Summary
The package go/doc is used by other tools to extract the documentation comments from the AST.
The command-line tool godoc is a web server first, and outputs plain text documentation to STDOUT as an afterthought, whereas go doc is intended to be used to output documentation on the command-line.
The godoc.org website is the publicly searchable documentation for go packages that are not a part of the standard library.
With thanks to Rob Pike for clarifying the reasoning behind the various tools.As I type people will be struggling to find ways home from the Grove in the wake of a solid performance that yielded three important points. We are now just a home win away, against West Brom next Sunday, from a Champions League qualifier in August. Hopefully the final day at Norwich will not come into the fourth place equation. More, I hope all will get home safely tonight.
The match tonight (if I finish this before midnight!) started as so many have lately. We prize possession above all else in the opening phase, possibly scarred by our experiences at Anfield and Stamford Bridge. Just as it looked as though the visitors might get some sort of a foothold we started to apply more direct pressure, and one man in particular was at the hub of that greater ambition.
Mesut Ozil came close to opening the scoring but his volley was off-target. Were that opportunity to pass the ball into the net then he could be trusted to provide the finish. His distribution and close control tonight were a reminder of why we had to shell out a club record fee to acquire his services. “I’d love to know what Arsenal fans think of him” said Gary Neville afterwards. I think most would take to task those in the media who have rounded on him in his debut season in the Premier League.
Alongside him Aaron Ramsey and Santi Cazorla flourish. When the three are together and on song the Arsenal midfield has a fluidity and purpose that shines through once the groundwork has been laid. We struggle without any one of the energy and drive of Ramsey, the vision and distribution of Ozil, and the dancing feet of Cazorla. Once the early phase had been negotiated tonight they again delivered a masterclass, the like of which we so sorely missed as the title challenge fizzled out in the one-paced and careless approach of spring.
We had the advantage when Santi’s perfectly directed free-kick fell between defenders and the hesitant Krul. The ‘keeper, no stranger to wasting time on occasion, dithered instead of attacking the ball and Laurent Koscielny notched another important goal against the Magpies. The dangerous Lukas Podolski almost doubled the lead but the ball brushed Krul’s thigh and went for a corner. A close range header from the same player was saved. Arsenal were attempting to cut loose.
The second goal arrived as the half was drawing to a close, and saw a scrappy end to a lovely move. Olivier Giroud was twice denied at point blank range by Krul before Ozil got the tap in his performance merited, but his offside position did not. In the assistant referee’s defence he did have the last defender between him and the goal but Krul was further upfield by a step. A tough call and for once one went our way, perhaps. Time remained for Santi to go close with a fierce drive. The half-time cigarette and an orange, I mean dietary supplements, will have tasted better. Times have changed.
Now I was obviously thinking the ‘holic pound was on at this point. I thought we might have to score an own-goal for the Newcastle one I had predicted, but surely we would notch another two? As it panned out, no. We started brightly, chances went begging, and Gouffran might have notched the one for the visitors I had secretly yearned for, but Wojciech Szczesny was not going to be beaten tonight. Midway through the half Rambo and Ozil combined to provide the perfect opportunity for Giroud to head home his 21st goal of the season for the club.
The Frenchman is much-maligned, and possibly suffers from comparison with those that have gone before him leading the line for Arsenal, but what more did the critics expect of him this term? He is not at fault for being the only striker we could depend on for virtually the entirety of the season. He has been run into the ground, and still gives it his best shot even when running on empty. The dealings of the summer may deliver a replacement, rather than someone to merely share the load, but what an option he would provide were that to transpire.
Appreciating that now he needs to have his crucial guns available for the FA Cup Final to come, Arsene withdrew Mesut, Rambo, and Giroud. It afforded them a deserved good hand from a rapidly dwindling crowd as the tube strike took centre stage in peoples thoughts. I say that, but of course there is one other consideration tonight…
For the nineteenth consecutive season St Totteringham’s Day is being celebrated by many, this scribe included. Whatever may have disappointed us about this season, let us not forget that our friends and neighbours were telling us in August how their £109 million pounds worth of new investment in players had created once again the much-fabled powershift in North London. That huge outlay on what proved to be yet more under-achieving pondlife has used up funds that would have been better spent on a new stadium, but they are in a catch-22 situation that we have already successfully negotiated. Stadium or team? They have gambled, and failed spectacularly, on team. Love it.I was recently talking to my girlfriend about if we ever moved and needed to find jobs, where the most likely place would be to find work as an electrical engineer. It was interesting talking out cities that may or may not sync up with places she could find a job. Now, I don’t have much interest in leaving my current job, and while I hope to work on my own some day, I’m still quite dependent on employers for my livelihood. So I did the fast/easy thing and went to Indeed.com and checked available positions under “electrical engineer”. Simple enough. So where are the technical jobs these days? (obviously this data is meant to change over time)
San Diego, CA (1059) Houston, TX (970) San Jose, CA (723) New York, NY (670) Santa Clara, CA (571) Phoenix, AZ (564) Washington, DC (543) Austin, TX (539) Sunnyvale, CA (529) Chicago, IL (472) Dallas, TX (471) Fort Meade, MD (424) Atlanta, GA (384) Los Angeles, CA (377)
The number in the parentheses are the number of positions listed online. It’s fair to assume some significant number of those are repeats (Indeed.com is a scraper, not some manual entry site), but we can assume that all the cities listed have a proportionate number of repeat listings. It’s also interesting– but not surprising–to note that certain areas are dense enough with jobs and location (i.e. silicon valley) that three of those cities (3, 5, 9) only show up as one tag.
Now, this isn’t to say these are the best jobs or the easiest to fill nor does it even point out how varied the positions can be! For example, an embedded developer and an analog system engineer might all be under the title “electrical engineer“. If you have experience working on electronics on an oil rig you’re much more likely to get a job in Houston than Fort Meade, regardless of how many jobs are available in either location. But these numbers do point out where there is a considerable enough chunk of industry to have this many job listings.
So I ask you to respond in the shiny new comments section: are these really the only areas employers are hiring these days? Is there a significant long tail that I’m not seeing on Indeed? (i.e. 30 more cities with 250 listings each?) Are there any obviously booming spots that are left off the map? What about outside the good ol’ U S of A? I know there are a couple of readers, writers and witty commenters from outside my home country. Looking forward to your responses!Yes, the Liberals’ online democratic reform survey — MyDemocracy.ca — is terrible. But is it very much worse than most of what passes for debate on this issue?
Not really. The media, politicians and pundits have all contributed to the hot mess that is the visually attractive, intellectually bereft MyDemocracy.ca. The Liberals’ survey just re-packages a lot of the misinformed, misleading and irrelevant themes we’ve been hearing all along. Themes like simple versus complex ballots, local versus party interests, big parties versus small parties — themes that can be very easily addressed with research or common sense and shown to be nonsense. Yet we continue to talk about them.
As the site has come under increasing criticism, the political science advisors for the company responsible for the survey, Vox Pop Labs, have defended its approach, arguing that “the choice of items is defensible” and that “trade-offs are unavoidable when choosing an electoral system and the survey aims to reflect this.”
Except … the trade-offs addressed by this survey are not the real ones and political scientists, of all people, should know that.
Why is the debate so out of sync with what can be supported with facts? I don’t know. Perhaps it’s because the people shaping the debate tend to draw lessons from their own experiences — in this case, with our first-past-the-post voting system and the results it tends to produce — and know very little about how other systems actually work in practical terms or the results they have tended to produce historically. And this groups includes, sadly, too many of the academics offering public commentary and advice on the issue.
Let’s critically review the key themes highlighted in the MyDemocracy.ca survey to see how well they withstand an encounter with facts.
Simple versus complex ballots
Two different questions on the survey deal with the issue of simple versus complex ballots — implying that ballots that require more of voters than marking a simple ‘x’ would be too confusing. The trade-off expressed here is between a ballot that could be easily understood versus one that would allow voters to indicate more complex preferences. But is this really a trade-off? Do more complex ballots inhibit voter participation? This is a good example of an issue that could be readily addressed through comparative evidence — examining what happens in countries with more complex ballots than ours.
The evidence says that there is no trade-off. For instance, Irish voters rank the candidates on their ballots in order of preference, 1, 2, 3. If this was too complex for the average voter, we would expect to see a high level of spoiled ballots. In fact, Ireland typically sees a lower level of spoiled ballots than we do in Canada.
Canada itself has had decades of experience in using different forms of ranked ballots at the provincial and municipal levels — again, without making the process too difficult for voters. Whether voters mark their ballots correctly is a question of election administration, not of the voting system. This isn’t even an issue, let alone a genuine trade-off.
Local versus party interests
Two different questions on the survey ask whether MPs should obey their political parties or the wishes of their local constituents. The trade-off here is supposed to be between local people getting what they want versus a political party getting what it wants.
Again, the trade-off doesn’t exist. By voting with their party, MPs are doing what they should be doing.
There are two key pieces of evidence supporting this. First, Canadian voters vote party. Few support purely local candidates or ones not running with major parties. Two, everywhere across the country — in every riding, in fact — voters are divided in their choices between a number of parties. Nowhere is there an uncontested ‘local constituency view’ to be represented.
So who are MPs representing when they abide by local interests over their parties? The 40 per cent who voted for them, or the 60 per cent who voted against them? How are MPs to vote on issues that divide their constituency? They can’t vote both for and against pipelines, or a national daycare program, or carbon emission targets.
Given the fact that our voting system is structured to produce one winner in each riding, it should be expected that a considerable number of people in each locale will complain that their MP is not listening to them — but that doesn’t mean they are ignoring everyone. This is a pretty basic Politics 101 insight that political scientists should be pointing out, not condoning as a fake trade-off.
Single party government versus parties working together
A host of questions ask respondents whether it’s better for one party to govern alone or work together with other parties, often in concert with another issue like policy accountability, governing efficiency, or the need for compromise among parties. The trade-off here is supposed to be between a single party government that cannot escape responsibility for its actions and some kind of coalition government where each participant can always pass the buck for unpopular decisions the government has made.
If the real world really looked like this purported trade-off, the answer would be easy: Stick with single party government. But the real world doesn’t look like this. Under our voting system it’s hard to operationalize just what ‘accountability’ really means because there are too many factors that contribute to whether governments win or lose power. In most cases it has more to do with how votes are spread across opposition parties rather than any clear endorsement or repudiation of the governing party.
Where are the questions exploring the trade-offs and risks involved in keeping our current voting system — the fact that single-party governments typically come at the cost of electoral competition and inclusive representation, and seem to trigger a pronounced policy lurch with every change in government? Where are the questions exploring the trade-offs and risks involved in keeping our current voting system — the fact that single-party governments typically come at the cost of electoral competition and inclusive representation, and seem to trigger a pronounced policy lurch with every change in government?
A majority of Canadian voters opposed Stephen Harper’s Conservatives in 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2015, but it was only in 2015 that enough of them coalesced around a single party to turf him from power. On the other hand, the alleged problems with coalition government often touted by Canadian commentators are seldom supported by any sensible or credible comparative research.
What has been the experience in countries (and we’re talking about most western countries here) that operate under conditions of coalition government? Have they been inefficient, unaccountable or unable to compromise effectively? The experience in postwar Western Europe suggests this speculative caricature of coalition government is not supported by the facts.
The survey questions handle this particular trade-off in a weak and methodologically suspect manner. The questions are posed as normative preferences — essentially asking Canadian if they prefer ‘strong leadership’ over ‘parties working together’, all while avoiding the concrete political contexts that tend to influence how people feel about the issue.
Should a single party rule? Sure, some might say — if they represent more than 50 per cent of voters. But if they don’t, then coalition makes more sense. Indeed, it appears more like a necessity to some. To avoid this crucial contextual detail makes the question — and its alleged trade-off — meaningless. You’re basically asking people if the winner should have to share power with the losers, and it not hard to imagine how a lot of people might respond to such a question.
But the whole point of the critique of our single party so-called ‘majority’ governments is to challenge their normative right to rule given that they seldom enjoy the support of an actual majority of voters. Again, this is not a real trade-off because the terms of the discussion are wrong and fail to capture what the critics have been saying. In other words, this is not a real conversation anyone is having — apart from the people behind MyDemocracy.ca.
Major parties versus more parties
This is the most dishonest of the alleged trade-offs featured in the survey because only one side of the issue is presented. Respondents are asked if they support the election of more parties to Parliament even if it risks allowing ‘radical’ or ‘extremists’ to gain election.
But what does ‘radical’ or ‘extreme’ mean? It’s pretty apparent that such terms are entirely subjective. A lot of people thought Stephen Harper’s Conservative government was pretty extreme. Conservatives routinely accuse all the other parties in Parliament of being too ‘radical’ in one way or another. Embedded in the question is the assumption that more parties = small parties = extremism.
Again, a little research on the issue (as opposed to uninformed speculation) might help. Western countries using PR showcase a range of party systems, some with many parties, other with just a few. Some have seen the election of radical right parties at different times, but also parties of the centre and the left. Nor does getting elected necessarily mean having any influence. Research on the long-term impact of perceived ‘radical’ or ‘extreme’ parties in western Europe suggests they find few allies in the legislature, are shunned as potential coalition partners and tend to disappear after a few elections as ‘protesting electors’ return to parties that can actually work effectively with others.
At another point, survey-takers are asked whether they prefer “having many small parties in Parliament representing many different views OR having a few big parties that try to appeal to a broad range of people.”
Talk about a rigged question. The issue is not whether it’s better to have a few or a lot of parties in Parliament — that’s irrelevant. The issue is whether Parliament should reflect what Canadian voters want. They may want a few or many parties — we won’t know until they get a chance to register their preferences effectively.
People don’t care about some abstract ideal like having a lot of parties in Parliament for it’s own sake; they care about their vote having an impact. They only prefer “having a few big parties that try to appeal to a broad range of people” if they think that their party will be one of those parties. After all, the whole reason we’re discussing this issue of electoral reform is because our current ‘big parties’ have been pretty miserable failures in their efforts to “appeal to a broad range of people.”
And this is why the question is so one-sided. Where are the questions exploring the trade-offs and risks involved in keeping our current voting system — the fact that single-party governments typically come at the cost of electoral competition and inclusive representation, and seem to trigger a pronounced policy lurch with every change in government? The costs in this trade-off discussion, it would appear, only apply to the proposed alternatives — not to the status quo.
MyDemocracy.ca is a major blunder as public consultation, but its mistakes are not entirely its own. This electoral reform survey embodies many of the key ideas and assumptions about the issue — about what is important and how it should be addressed — that have been stressed by Canadian political scientists recently. But, as I’ve tried to spell out here, the ‘trade-offs’ discussion misses the mark. Most of the themes are fake issues, poorly thought out or easily challenged by evidence. The whole trade-offs discourse serves to legitimate Canada’s first past-the-post-voting system, giving it a veneer of democratic credibility under the guise of ‘values’ while obscuring its patently undemocratic features.
I think we can name what kind of values support a system that poorly represents what voters say with their votes, regularly allows a minority to dominate government, and limits party competition. They’re pretty undemocratic ones.
Now let me be clear – not all Canadian political scientists are guilty here. (After all, I’m a political scientist.) But the ones that have been shaping the public discourse, writing backgrounders for government, getting their op/eds into our national media and advising exercises like MyDemocracy.ca — those are the people who should be held at least partly responsible for this disastrous survey.
The more interesting question is why they promote this particular take on electoral reform. The simple reason is that they’re just not very critical of how Canadian politics is conducted now. They seem to largely accept the validity of our institutional structures and the results of our elections. They speak from within the dominant two-party consensus that sees big parties as good and small parties as a nuisance (or worse), single party government as necessary and stable, and political complaints as sour grapes.
The subtext of their rhetoric, whether deliberate or not, speaks to a Liberal/Conservative majority of voters, basically asking, ‘Do you think the system that benefits you should be kept in place’? Meanwhile, their constant focus on the prospect of ‘instability’ or ‘extremism’ that might result from moving away from the status quo suggests a deep distrust of voters. The fear that voters might make poor choices (ones that these political scientists don’t agree with, in other words) sounds a lot like 19th century arguments against extending the franchise to working people generally.
You have to be a democrat to do justice to discussions of democratic reform. In Canada, a great many political scientists prefer focusing on legitimating our current governing order to empowering voters and adding substance to Canadian democracy.
The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.Get ready for something Ottawa has never seen before! Ottawa Wolves RFC and Gay Ottawa Volleyball are going head to head in DRAG to… lip sync for their (sports) balls!
The incredible DJ Beatrix will be spinnin’ and mixin’ your favourite tunes all night! Get ready for some 🔥🔥🔥 electro dance!
See you at Babylon Nightclub!
Doors open at 10:30pm
$7 before 11:30 – $10 afterwards
Wolves RUGBY vs Gay Ottawa VOLLEYBALL… (eeeeek!)
******************************************************
Beatrix is a sought after, high-adrenaline DJ known for her work in the House, tech House and LGBTQ2S+ scene in Montreal. Her music selection includes tracks with a distinct, deep, sexy, bassy sound that fills dance floors from the first drop of her sets. She has played Canada Pride Montréal 2017 (main stage), and venues like Circus, Unity, Le Salon Daomé, Babylon, and The Manhattan Monster (NYC). Her current Friday night residency at Bar Renard is a staple in Montreal’s Gay Village.
Add this to your Facebook events: https://www.facebook.com/events/385286832235222/Valentine’s Day – it’s a Holiday unlike any other. The traditional autumn and winter Holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years revolve around lots of family, friends, food, and parties. The summer Holidays of Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day bring visions of parties, picnics, BBQ, and swimming.
Valentine’s Day is unique though. It’s usually not about large groups. It’s meant for two. It’s about romance and rediscovering each other. On Valentine’s Day, three or more is truly a crowd (unless you are into that sort of thing) but like all the other Holidays, a great Valentine’s Day often involves a carefully prepared meal – perhaps a candlelit dinner or romantic picnic.
But have you ever asked yourself, “What wines pair best with food for Valentine’s Day?” Pairing wine with a Valentine’s Day meal offers a different challenge than the other Holidays. Large groups of people go through large amounts of wine (at least at my house they do) so you can bring out an array of wines to match each course. An intimate dinner for two usually won’t involve three or four bottles though, so planning a Valentine’s day meal with wine to accompany it can be tricky.
That’s why we’re here to help!
Valentine’s Dinner Wine and Meal Pairing Rules
Rule Number 1: Plan your meal carefully. “All Of The Foods You Choose Should Go With The Wine You Choose.” In other words, picking an appetizer that goes best with Pinot Grigio but a main course that really needs a heavy Cabernet Sauvignon is a problem unless; 1) You plan your meal around various wines because you practice proper wine preserving techniques and any leftovers will still be good several days later or, 2) you and your date just drink three or four bottles between the two of you and see what happens.
Rule Number 2: If you frequent our blog, you’ve seen this one before and you’ll see it again. “Don’t ever serve a food sweeter than wine you are drinking.” There is a litany of reasons why not to do this but just take our advice and don’t do it.
Rule Number 3: Ensure that both of you (or neither of you) eats food from the “That Smells Revolting But It’s OK If We Both Eat It” list. At the top – garlic of course. Garlic smells and tastes wonderful on the plate but sometime between the last bite of dinner and bedtime, garlic undergoes an ugly transformation, and what once was appealing quickly takes on the bouquet of a 10-year-old sneaker. I cook with a lot of garlic and thankfully Karen likes it nearly as much as I do so this rule is rarely a problem. Vampires in the South Bay area – not if I am cooking!
Rule Number 4: Avoid foods that are on the “If You Eat That, I’m Not Getting Any Where Near You” list. Why is this on a post about pairing wine and food? Meals on Valentine’s Day often involve the mysteries of aphrodisiacs. For instance, Karen loves smoked Oysters. While I’m all for the thought of an aphrodisiac (or ten) being involved in the meal, I can’t stand the smell of smoked oysters which bring to mind an Armenian marathon runner’s armpit who hasn’t showered for about 6 weeks (or so I would imagine). They’re revolting. Karen feels the same way about any kind of Salami or cured sausage. She would rather fast for days than eat a peace of Salami.
To save you time, Winery-sage.com has frequented a number of sites to find the most frequently mentioned aphrodisiacs to incorporate into your Valentine meal with wine. I claimed this was research for the blog post but Karen looked unconvinced. In no particular order, the ones most commonly mentioned are:
Oysters Almonds Walnuts Basil Garlic Pine Nuts Asparagus Avacados Chili Peppers Salmon Bananas Figs Chocolate Vanilla Honey
… And last but not least – RED WINE!
Truth be told, I had to visit a large number of domains until I found one that listed wine as an aphrodisiac, which is how I would find myself on the “Cosmopolitan Magazine” site. However, once there it’s amazing how much I had the opportunity to learn stuff about guys that I never really wanted to know. I’m a guy so I’d like to think I’m kind of an expert on the matter according to Cosmo, I‘m clueless. Go figure. It was actually kind of creepy.
Suggested Wine and Food Pairings for Valentine’s Day
So we’ve offered advice on how to plan your own meal, what foods might best contribute to the mood, but we haven’t actually touched on pairing wine for a Valentine’s Day meal. With that in mind, we humbly suggest the following easy to cook meal designed to tantalize your taste buds, pair great with wine, and if you believe in the power of aphrodisiacs, get the hormones raging!
Appetizers
Despite earlier objections, we’d recommend starting with a dish of oysters. It’s your choice though of going with raw oysters (if you like eating something with the same consistency as snot – not hard to tell how I feel about them is it?), or baked oysters if you’d prefer a more sane option.
Main Course
After you’ve worked your way through the appetizer, prepare for a more triumphant main course. Start with salmon served with a basil pesto, plated with a roasted asparagus with chili oil (see how we’re working all those aphrodisiac foods into the mix?), and sided with some roasted Yukon gold potatoes with rosemary.
Note that all of these dishes cook in the oven and at about the same temperature. Use the 450 F temperature setting for all of the dishes and just keep the potatoes in for a minute or two less than the recommended time.
Wines with Dinner
For the most part, this meal will pair better with full bodies white wines like Chardonnay, Viognier, or even a Pinot Blanc but if you really prefer reds (and we’ve already established red wine as an aphrodisiac), a lighter bodied red wine like Pinot Noir will also pair nicely.
We would recommend one of the following:
Cru Wine Company Arroyo Seco Chardonnay
Sarah’s Vineyard Estate Chardonnay
Byron Vineyard and Winery Estate Santa Maria Valley Chardonnay
Idle Hour Viognier
Eberle Winery Mill Road Viognier
Karmere Vineyards and Winery Kades Viognier
Byron Vineyard and Winery Estate Santa Maria Valley Pinot Blanc
Silver Mountain Winery Muns Vineyard Pinot Noir
Idle Hour Winery Pinot Noir
Paraiso Vineyards Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir
Hahn Family Wines Estate Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir
As you can tell, the last two Pinot suggestions are from the Santa Lucia Highlands in Southwestern Monterey County. Both Karen and I have a soft spot for Pinots from this region. If you haven’t had any, you definitely need to give them a try.
Dessert
To end things off, we recommend a Rum Flambéed Bananas and Figs. To add just a touch more decadence (never mind working in three more aphrodisiacs) drizzle a little honey, shave some 85% very dark chocolate and sprinkle some chopped almonds or walnuts over the top.
Wine with Dessert
Thankfully, many dessert wines come in ½ size, 375ml bottles so having a bunch of leftover dessert wine usually isn’t a problem. A late harvest Zinfandel or Chardonnay with lots of residual sugar or a fortified Port would be offer a good pairing. You could also venture out a little and try some Mead with your dessert.
We would recommend one of the following:
Burrell School Winery Late Harvest Chardonnay
Callaway Vineyards Late Harvest Chardonnay
Deaver Vineyards Late Harvest Zinfandel
Burrell School Winery Late Harvest Zinfandel
Bargetto Mead (aka Chaucer’s Mead)
Ficklin Port
So there you have it, the perfect wines and meal for Valentine’s Day. It is up to you now to pull it off and work in whatever romantic touches you can. Now why are you still sitting there? Get busy and start planning the perfect romantic evening! Just don’t share the details with us. Cheers, from Winery-Sage.com!
About Winery-Sage.com
Winery-Sage is an online Winery Encyclopedia designed to help you compare wines, wineries, and regions by using a unique database. Cross-reference varietals and the wineries that produce them, as well as discover events sponsored by wineries and associations. We’re not here to sell you anything or pass you off to paid advertisers, just share the love for wine. Discover California wines at Winery-Sage.com.
Related articlesCirculating angiogenic cells (CACs) repair and maintain the vascular endothelium. CACs are responsive to lifestyle factors such as diet and physical activity. For example, their capacity to regenerate the |
Donovan, as well as Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan, and Alan Alda, with a script by the Coen brothers. The film was shot from September to December 2014 on location in New York City, Berlin and Wroclaw, Poland (which doubled for East Berlin), and was released on October 16, 2015.[91][92] Bridge of Spies received positive reviews from critics, and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture; Rylance won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, becoming the second actor to win for a performance directed by Spielberg.
Spielberg's The BFG is an adaptation of Roald Dahl's celebrated children's story, starring newcomer Ruby Barnhill, and Rylance as the titular Big Friendly Giant. DreamWorks bought the rights in 2010, originally intending John Madden to direct.[93] The film was the last to be written by E.T. screenwriter Melissa Mathison before she died. It was co-produced and released by Walt Disney Pictures, marking the first Disney-branded film to be directed by Spielberg. The BFG premiered out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival[94] on May 14, 2016[95] and received a wide release in the US on July 1, 2016.
Spielberg directed Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep in The Post, an account of The Washington Post's printing of the Pentagon Papers.[96] Production began in New York on May 30, 2017.[97] The film began a limited release on December 22, 2017, with a wide release following on January 12, 2018.[98]
Spielberg directed the film adaptation of the popular sci-fi novel Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline. The film stars Tye Sheridan,[99] Olivia Cooke,[100] Ben Mendelsohn, Simon Pegg and Mark Rylance.[101] It began production in London in July 2016,[102] a year before The Post, which was filmed, edited and released during the lengthy, effects-heavy post-production period for Ready Player One. Ready Player One was originally slated to be released on December 15, 2017[103] by Warner Bros.,[104] but was pushed back to March 29, 2018, to avoid competition with Star Wars: The Last Jedi.[105] It had its world premiere at the South by Southwest film festival, on March 11, 2018.[106]
Upcoming projects
During an interview with The Tech in 2015, Spielberg described how he chooses the film projects he would work on:
[Sometimes], a story speaks to me, even if it doesn't speak to any of my collaborators or any of my partners, who look at me and scratch their heads and say, 'Gee, are you sure you wanna get into that trench for a year and a half?' I love people challenging me that way because it's a real test about my own convictions and [whether] I can be the standing man of my own life and take a stand on a subject that may not be popular, but that I would be proud to add to the body of my work. That's pretty much the litmus test that gets me to say, 'Yeah, I'll direct that one.'[107]
Spielberg plans to direct a new film adaptation of the musical West Side Story.[108] Tony Kushner stated in July 2017 that he is adapting the classic show's book for Spielberg, though the musical score will remain unchanged, as will the late-1950s setting.[109] In January 2018, he began an open casting search for the four lead roles, three of the roles being specifically for Latino actors.[110] On October 2, 2018, it was announced that Ansel Elgort will play the lead role of Tony in the film.[111]
Spielberg also plans to film a fifth installment in the Indiana Jones series. The untitled film is set to star Harrison Ford and will be produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall. It is being written by David Koepp, who has written numerous other films for Spielberg, including the last Indiana Jones film.[112] It was originally set for release by Disney on July 19, 2019.[113] It was then announced that filming would begin in the UK in April 2019[114] and the film was given a new release date of July 10, 2020.[115] Filming was postponed again in June 2018, when Jonathan Kasdan was announced as the film's new writer.[116] Soon after, a new release date of July 9, 2021 was announced.[117]
Spielberg had planned to film his long-planned adaptation of David Kertzer's The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara in early 2017 for release at the end of that year,[118] but production has been postponed. The book follows the true story of a young Jewish boy in 1858 Italy who was secretly baptized by a family servant and then kidnapped from his family by the Papal States, where he was raised and trained as a priest, causing international outrage and becoming a media sensation. It was first announced in 2014, with Kushner adapting the book for the screen.[119] Mark Rylance, in his fourth consecutive collaboration with Spielberg, was announced to star in the role of Pope Pius IX. Oscar Isaac was set to star as Mortara's father, but eventually dropped out.[120] Spielberg had difficulty casting the title role, though he saw more than 2000 kids.[121]
Spielberg is attached to direct an adaptation of American photojournalist Lynsey Addario's memoir It's What I Do. Jennifer Lawrence is attached to star in the lead role.[122]
In April 2018, it was announced that Spielberg would be directing a film adaptation of the Blackhawk comic book series. Warner Bros. Pictures is distributing the film, with David Koepp writing the script.[123] During an earlier interview in 1981 for Raiders of the Lost Ark, Spielberg has likened the film to the Blackhawk series.[124]
In January 2013, HBO confirmed that it was developing a third World War II miniseries based on the book Masters of the Air by Donald L. Miller with Spielberg and Tom Hanks to follow Band of Brothers and The Pacific.[125] Few details have emerged about the project since, but NME reported in March 2017 that production was progressing under the working title The Mighty Eighth.[126]
Projects on hold
In 2009, Spielberg reportedly tried to obtain the screen rights to make a film based on Microsoft's Halo series.[127] In September 2008, Steven Spielberg bought film rights for John Wyndham's novel Chocky and is interested in directing it. He is also interested in making an adaptation of A Steady Rain,[128] Pirate Latitudes,[129] The 39 Clues,[130] and a remake of When Worlds Collide.
In May 2009, Steven Spielberg bought the rights to the life story of Martin Luther King, Jr. Spielberg will be involved not only as producer but also as a director.[131] However, the purchase was made from the King estate, led by son Dexter, while the two other surviving children, the Reverend Bernice and Martin III, immediately threatened to sue, not having given their approvals to the project.[132]
Production credits
Since the mid-1980s, Spielberg has increased his role as a film producer. He headed up the production team for several cartoons, including the Warner Bros. hits Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Toonsylvania, and Freakazoid!, for which he collaborated with Jean MacCurdy and Tom Ruegger. Due to his work on these series, in the official titles, most of them say, "Steven Spielberg presents" as well as making numerous cameos on the shows. Spielberg also produced the Don Bluth animated features, An American Tail and The Land Before Time, which were released by Universal Studios. He also served as one of the executive producers of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and its three related shorts (Tummy Trouble, Roller Coaster Rabbit, Trail Mix-Up), which were all released by Disney, under both the Walt Disney Pictures and the Touchstone Pictures banners. He was furthermore, for a short time, the executive producer of the long-running medical drama ER. In 1989, he brought the concept of The Dig to LucasArts. He contributed to the project from that time until 1995 when the game was released. He also collaborated with software publishers Knowledge Adventure on the multimedia game Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair, which was released in 1996. Spielberg appears, as himself, in the game to direct the player. The Spielberg name provided branding for a Lego Moviemaker kit, the proceeds of which went to the Starbright Foundation.
Spielberg speaking at the Pentagon on August 11, 1999 after receiving the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service from Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen
In 1993, Spielberg acted as executive producer for the highly anticipated television series seaQuest DSV; a science fiction series set "in the near future" starring Roy Scheider (who Spielberg had directed in Jaws) and Jonathan Brandis that aired on NBC. While the first season was moderately successful, the second season did less well. Spielberg's name no longer appeared in the third season and the show was cancelled midway through it.
Spielberg served as an uncredited executive producer on The Haunting, The Prince of Egypt, Just Like Heaven,[133] Shrek, Road to Perdition,[134] and Evolution. He served as an executive producer for the 1997 film Men in Black, and its sequels, Men in Black II and Men in Black III. In 2005, he served as a producer of Memoirs of a Geisha, an adaptation of the novel by Arthur Golden, a film to which he was previously attached as director. In 2006, Spielberg co-executive produced with famed filmmaker Robert Zemeckis a CGI children's film called Monster House, marking their eighth collaboration since 1990's Back to the Future Part III. He also teamed with Clint Eastwood for the first time in their careers, co-producing Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima with Robert Lorenz and Eastwood himself. He earned his twelfth Academy Award nomination for the latter film as it was nominated for Best Picture. Spielberg served as executive producer for Disturbia and the Transformers live action film with Brian Goldner, an employee of Hasbro. The film was directed by Michael Bay and written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, and Spielberg continued to collaborate on the sequels, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Transformers: Age of Extinction, and Transformers: The Last Knight. In 2011, he produced the J. J. Abrams science fiction thriller film Super 8 for Paramount Pictures.[135]
Other major television series Spielberg produced were Band of Brothers, Taken and The Pacific. He was an executive producer on the critically acclaimed 2005 TV miniseries Into the West which won two Emmy awards, including one for Geoff Zanelli's score. For his 2010 miniseries The Pacific he teamed up once again with co-producer Tom Hanks, with Gary Goetzman also co-producing'. The miniseries is believed to have cost $250 million and is a 10-part war miniseries centered on the battles in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Writer Bruce McKenna, who penned several installments of (Band of Brothers), was the head writer.
In 2007, Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett co-produced On the Lot a short-lived TV reality show about filmmaking. Despite this, he never gave up working on television. He currently serves as one of the executive producers on United States of Tara, a show created by Academy Award winner Diablo Cody which they developed together (Spielberg is uncredited as creator).
In 2011, Spielberg launched Falling Skies, a science fiction television series, on the TNT network. He developed the series with Robert Rodat and is credited as an executive producer. Spielberg is also producing the Fox TV series Terra Nova. Terra Nova begins in the year 2149 when all life on the planet Earth is threatened with extinction resulting in scientists opening a door that allows people to travel back 85 million years to prehistoric times.[136][137] Spielberg also produced The River,[138] Smash,[139] Under the Dome,[140] Extant,[141] The Whispers,[142] a TV adaptation of Minority Report,[143] and Bull.[144]
In 2008, Spielberg and DreamWorks acquired the rights to produce a live-action film adaptation of the original Ghost in the Shell manga. Avi Arad and Steven Paul produced, Rupert Sanders directed, and Scarlett Johansson stars in the lead role of the film, which was released in 2017.[145][146][147]
In March 2013, Spielberg announced that he was "developing a Stanley Kubrick screenplay for a miniseries, not for a motion picture, about the life of Napoleon."[148] In May 2016, it was announced that Cary Fukunaga is in talks to direct the miniseries for HBO, from a script by David Lenland based on extensive research materials accumulated by Kubrick over many years.[149]
Spielberg had planned to shoot a $200 million adaptation of Daniel H. Wilson's novel Robopocalypse, adapted for the screen by Drew Goddard.[150] The novel follows a global human war against a robot uprising about 15–20 years in the future.[151] Like Lincoln, it was to be released by Disney in the United States and Fox overseas.[152] It was set for release on April 25, 2014,[153] with Anne Hathaway and Chris Hemsworth set to star,[154] but Spielberg postponed production indefinitely in January 2013, just before it was to begin.[155] In March 2018, it was announced that the film will now be directed by Michael Bay.[156]
Spielberg will executive produce Cortes, a historical mini-series written by Steven Zaillian about the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire, and Hernán Cortés's relationship with Aztec ruler Montezuma.[157] The script is based on an earlier one from 1965 by Oscar-winner Dalton Trumbo.[158] Javier Bardem will play the lead role of explorer Hernán Cortés. Spielberg was previously attached to direct the project as a feature film.[159]
Onscreen appearances
Spielberg had cameo roles in The Blues Brothers, Gremlins, Vanilla Sky, and Austin Powers in Goldmember, as well as small uncredited cameos in a handful of other films, such as a life-station worker in Jaws. He also made numerous cameo roles in the Warner Bros. cartoons he produced, such as Animaniacs, and even made reference to some of his films. Spielberg voiced himself in the film Paul, and in one episode of Tiny Toon Adventures titled Buster and Babs Go Hawaiian.
In 2017, Spielberg, along with fellow directors Francis Ford Coppola, Guillermo del Toro, Paul Greengrass and Lawrence Kasdan were featured in the Netflix documentary series Five Came Back, which discussed the contributions of film directors Frank Capra, John Ford, John Huston, George Stevens and William Wyler towards recording the events of World War II. Spielberg also served as an executive producer on the series.[160]
Involvement in video games
Apart from being an ardent gamer Spielberg has had a long history of involvement in video games.[161] He has been giving thanks to his games of his division DreamWorks Interactive as Someone's in the Kitchen with script written by Animaniacs' Paul Rugg, Goosebumps: Escape from HorrorLand, The Neverhood (all in 1996), Skullmonkeys, Dilbert's Desktop Games, Goosebumps: Attack of the Mutant (all 1997), Boombots (1999), T'ai Fu: Wrath of the Tiger (1999), and Clive Barker's Undying (2001). In 2005 the director signed with Electronic Arts to collaborate on three games including an action game and an award-winning puzzle game for the Wii called Boom Blox (and its 2009 sequel: Boom Blox Bash Party).[162] Previously, he was involved in creating the scenario for the adventure game The Dig.[163] In 1996, Spielberg worked on and shot original footage for a movie-making simulation game called Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair. He is the creator of the Medal of Honor series by Electronic Arts.[164] He is credited in the special thanks section of the 1998 video game Trespasser.[165] In 2013, Spielberg has announced he is collaborating with 343 Industries for a live-action TV show of Halo.[166]
Themes
Spielberg's films often deal with several recurring themes. Most of his films deal with ordinary characters searching for or coming in contact with extraordinary beings or finding themselves in extraordinary circumstances. In an AFI interview in August 2000 Spielberg commented on his interest in the possibility of extraterrestrial life and how it has influenced some of his films. Spielberg described himself as feeling like an alien during childhood,[9] and his interest came from his father, a science fiction fan, and his opinion that aliens would not travel light years for conquest, but instead curiosity and sharing of knowledge.[167]
A strong consistent theme in his family-friendly work is a childlike sense of wonder and faith, as attested by works such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Hook, A.I. Artificial Intelligence and The BFG. According to Warren Buckland,[168] these themes are portrayed through the use of low height camera tracking shots, which have become one of Spielberg's directing trademarks. In the cases when his films include children (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Empire of the Sun, Jurassic Park, etc.), this type of shot is more apparent, but it is also used in films like Munich, Saving Private Ryan, The Terminal, Minority Report, and Amistad. Each of his films feature this shot utilized by the director, and the water scenes in Jaws are filmed from the low-angle perspective of someone swimming. Another child oriented theme in Spielberg's films is that of loss of innocence and coming-of-age. In Empire of the Sun, Jim, a well-groomed and spoiled English youth, loses his innocence as he suffers through World War II China. Similarly, in Catch Me If You Can, Frank naively and foolishly believes that he can reclaim his shattered family if he accumulates enough money to support them.
The most persistent theme throughout his films is tension in parent-child relationships. Parents (often fathers) are reluctant, absent or ignorant. Peter Banning in Hook starts off in the beginning of the film as a reluctant married-to-his-work parent who through the course of the film regains the respect of his children. The absence of Elliott's father in E.T. is the most famous example of this theme. In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, it is revealed that Indy has always had a very strained relationship with his father, who is a professor of medieval literature, as his father always seemed more interested in his work, specifically in his studies of the Holy Grail, than in his own son, although his father does not seem to realize or understand the negative effect that his aloof nature had on Indy (he even believes he was a good father in the sense that he taught his son "self reliance," which is not how Indy saw it). Even Oskar Schindler, from Schindler's List, is reluctant to have a child with his wife. In The Color Purple, the main character, Celie, has been impregnated by her father multiple times. Munich depicts Avner as a man away from his wife and newborn daughter. There are exceptions; Brody in Jaws is a committed family man, while John Anderton in Minority Report is a shattered man after the disappearance of his son. This theme is arguably the most autobiographical aspect of Spielberg's films, since Spielberg himself was affected by his parents' divorce as a child and by the absence of his father. Furthermore, to this theme, protagonists in his films often come from families with divorced parents, including E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (protagonist Elliot's mother is divorced) and Catch Me If You Can (Frank Abagnale's mother and father split early on in the film). Little known also is Tim in Jurassic Park (early in the film, another secondary character mentions Tim and Lex's parents' divorce). The family often shown divided is often resolved in the ending as well. Following this theme of reluctant fathers and father figures, Tim looks to Dr. Alan Grant as a father figure. Initially, Dr. Grant is reluctant to return those paternal feelings to Tim. However, by the end of the film, he has changed, and the kids even fall asleep with their heads on his shoulders.
Most of his films are generally optimistic in nature. Though some critics accuse his films of being a little overly sentimental, Spielberg feels it is fine as long as it is disguised. He is still a highly praised director as well as being credited as one of the most influential directors of all time. The influence comes from directors Frank Capra and John Ford.[169]
Personal life
Marriages and children
Spielberg first met actress Amy Irving in 1976 at the suggestion of director Brian De Palma, who knew he was looking for an actress to play in Close Encounters. After meeting her, Spielberg told his co-producer Julia Phillips, "I met a real heartbreaker last night."[9]:293 Although she was too young for the role, she and Spielberg began dating and she eventually moved into what she described as his "bachelor funky" house.[9]:294 They lived together for four years, but the stresses of their professional careers took a toll on their relationship. Irving wanted to be certain that whatever success she attained as an actress would be her own: "I don't want to be known as Steven's girlfriend," she said, and chose not to be in any of his films during those years.[9]:295
As a result, they broke up in 1979, but remained close friends. Then in 1984 they renewed their romance, and in November 1985, they married, already having had a son, Max Samuel. After three and a half years of marriage, however, many of the same competing stresses of their careers caused them to divorce in 1989. They agreed to maintain homes near each other as to facilitate the shared custody and parenting of their son.[9]:403 Their divorce was recorded as the third most costly celebrity divorce in history.[170]
Spielberg subsequently developed a relationship with actress Kate Capshaw, whom he met when he cast her in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. They married on October 12, 1991. Capshaw is a convert to Judaism.[171][172] They currently move among their four homes in Pacific Palisades, California; Quelle Farm, Georgica Pond in East Hampton, New York;[173] New York City; and Naples, Florida.
There are seven children in the Spielberg-Capshaw family:
Jessica Capshaw (born August 9, 1976) – daughter from Kate Capshaw's previous marriage to Robert Capshaw
Max Samuel Spielberg (born June 13, 1985) – son from Spielberg's previous marriage to actress Amy Irving
Theo Spielberg (born August 21, 1988) – son adopted by Capshaw before her marriage to Spielberg, who later also adopted him [174]
Sasha Rebecca Spielberg (born May 14, 1990, Los Angeles)
Sawyer Avery Spielberg (born March 10, 1992, Los Angeles) [175]
Mikaela George (born February 28, 1996) – adopted with Kate Capshaw
Destry Allyn Spielberg (born December 1, 1996)
Religion
Spielberg grew up in a Jewish household, including having a bar mitzvah ceremony in Phoenix when he turned 13. He grew away from Judaism after his family moved to various cities during his high school years, where they became the only Jews in the neighborhood.[176]:29 Before those years, his family was involved in the synagogue and had many Jewish friends and nearby relatives.
He remembers his grandparents telling him about their life in Russia, where they were subjected to religious persecution, causing them to eventually flee to the United States. He was made aware of the Holocaust by his parents, who he says "talked about it all the time, and so it was always on my mind."[176]:30 His father had lost between sixteen and twenty relatives during the Holocaust.[9]:21
Spielberg "rediscovered the honor of being a Jew," he says, before he made Schindler's List, when he married Kate Capshaw.[176]:25 Until then, having become a filmmaker, he only felt his connection to Judaism when he visited his parents. He says he made the film partly to create "something that would confirm my Judaism to my family and myself."[177]
Kate is Protestant and she insisted on converting to Judaism. She spent a year studying, did the "mikveh," the whole thing. She chose to do a full conversion before we were married in 1991, and she married me after becoming a Jew. I think that, more than anything else, brought me back to Judaism.[176]:25
He credits her with fueling his family's current level of observance and for keeping the "momentum flowing" in their lives, as they now observe Jewish holidays, light candles on Friday nights, and give their children Bar and Bat Mitzvahs.[176]:26 "This shiksa goddess has made me a better Jew than my own parents."[176]:27
Producing Schindler's List in 1993 also renewed his faith, Spielberg says, but "it really was the fact that my wife took a profound interest in Judaism."[176]:25 He waited ten years after being given the story in 1982 to make the film, as he did not yet feel "mature" enough.[176]:32 He first wanted to have a family, "to figure out what my place was in the world.... When my first son, [Max] was born, it greatly affected me.... A spirit began to ignite in me, and I became a Jewish dad..."[9]:21
He said that making the film became a "natural experience" for him, adding, "I had to tell the story. I've lived on its outer edges."[9] The film, writes biographer Joseph McBride, thereby became the "culmination" of Spielberg's long personal struggle with his Jewish identity.[178]:18 Some claim the film has made Spielberg "the one true heir to the great Jewish moguls who created Hollywood," most of whom had actively avoided depicting Jews or the Holocaust in their films.[177]
Wealth
Forbes magazine places Spielberg's personal net worth at $3.7 billion.[1]
Yachting
In 2013, Spielberg purchased the 282-foot (86 m) mega-yacht Seven Seas for US$182 million. He has since put it up for sale and in the meantime has made it available for charter. At US$1.2 million per month, it is one of the most expensive charters on the market. He has ordered a new 300-foot (91 m) yacht costing a reported US$250 million.[179]
Recognition
In 2002, Spielberg was one of eight flagbearers who carried the Olympic Flag into Rice-Eccles Stadium at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. In 2006, Premiere listed him as the most powerful and influential figure in the motion picture industry. Time listed him as one of the 100 Most Important People of the Century. At the end of the 20th century, Life named him the most influential person of his generation.[180] In 2009, Boston University presented him an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.[181]
According to Forbes' Most Influential Celebrities 2014 list, Spielberg was listed as the most influential celebrity in America. The annual list is conducted by E-Poll Market Research and it gave more than 6,600 celebrities on 46 different personality attributes a score representing "how that person is perceived as influencing the public, their peers, or both." Spielberg received a score of 47, meaning 47% of the US believes he is influential. Gerry Philpott, president of E-Poll Market Research, supported Spielberg's score by stating, "If anyone doubts that Steven Spielberg has greatly influenced the public, think about how many will think for a second before going into the water this summer."[182][183][184]
Politics
Spielberg usually supports U.S. Democratic Party candidates. He has donated over $800,000 to the Democratic party and its nominees. He has been a close friend of former President Bill Clinton and worked with the President for the USA Millennium celebrations. He directed an 18-minute film for the project, scored by John Williams and entitled The American Journey. It was shown at America's Millennium Gala on December 31, 1999, in the National Mall at the Reflecting Pool at the base of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.[185]
Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen escorts Spielberg through a military honor cordon into the Pentagon.
Spielberg resigned as a member of the national advisory board of the Boy Scouts of America in 2001 because of his disapproval of the organization's anti-homosexuality stance.[186][187] In 2007 the Arab League voted to boycott Spielberg's movies after he donated $1 million for relief efforts in Israel during the 2006 Lebanon War.[188][189] On February 20, 2007, Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen invited Democrats to a fundraiser for Barack Obama.[190] In February 2008, Spielberg pulled out of his role as advisor to the 2008 Summer Olympics in response to the Chinese government's inaction over the War in Darfur.[191] Spielberg said in a statement that "I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual." It also said that "Sudan's government bears the bulk of the responsibility for these on-going crimes, but the international community, and particularly China, should be doing more.."[192] The International Olympic Committee respected Spielberg's decision, but IOC president Jacques Rogge admitted in an interview that "[Spielberg] certainly would have brought a lot to the opening ceremony in terms of creativity."[193] Spielberg's statement drew criticism from Chinese officials and state-run media calling his criticism "unfair".[194] In September 2008, Spielberg and his wife offered their support to same-sex marriage by issuing a statement following their donation of $100,000 to the "No on Proposition 8" campaign fund, a figure equal to the amount of money Brad Pitt donated to the same campaign less than a week prior.[195]
Spielberg supported Hillary Clinton for President of the United States in the 2016 election. He donated US$1 million to Priorities USA, a pro-Clinton Super PAC.[196]
In 2018, Spielberg and his wife Kate Capshaw donated $500,000 to the March for Our Lives student demonstration in favor of gun control in the United States.[197]
Hobbies
A collector of film memorabilia, Spielberg purchased a balsa Rosebud sled from Citizen Kane (1941) in 1982.[198] He bought Orson Welles's own directorial copy of the script for the radio broadcast The War of the Worlds (1938) in 1994.[199] Spielberg has purchased Academy Award statuettes being sold on the open market and donated them to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, to prevent their further commercial exploitation. His donations include the Oscars that Bette Davis received for Dangerous (1935) and Jezebel (1938), and Clark Gable's Oscar for It Happened One Night (1934).[200]
Spielberg is a major collector of the work of American illustrator and painter Norman Rockwell. A collection of 57 Rockwell paintings and drawings owned by Spielberg and fellow Rockwell collector and film director George Lucas were displayed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum July 2, 2010 – January 2, 2011, in an exhibition titled Telling Stories.[201]
Spielberg is an avid film buff and, when not shooting a picture, he will watch many films in a single weekend.[202] He sees almost every major summer blockbuster in theaters if not preoccupied and enjoys most of them.[203]
Since playing Pong while filming Jaws in 1974, Spielberg has been an avid video gamer. Spielberg played many of LucasArts adventure games, including the first Monkey Island games.[204][205] He owns a Wii, a PlayStation 3, a PSP, and an Xbox 360, and enjoys playing first-person shooters such as the Medal of Honor series and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. He has also criticized the use of cutscenes in games, calling them intrusive, and feels making story flow naturally into the gameplay is a challenge for future game developers.[206]
Stalking
In 2001, Spielberg was stalked by conspiracy theorist and former social worker Diana Napolis. She accused him, along with actress Jennifer Love Hewitt, of controlling her thoughts through "cybertronic" technology and being part of a satanic conspiracy against her. Napolis was committed to a mental institution before pleading guilty to stalking, and released on probation with a condition that she have no contact with either Spielberg or Hewitt.[207][208][209]
Jonathan Norman was arrested after making two attempts to enter Spielberg's Pacific Palisades home in June and July 1997. Norman was jailed for 25 years in California. Spielberg told the court: "Had Jonathan Norman actually confronted me, I genuinely, in my heart of hearts, believe that I would have been raped or maimed or killed."[210][211]
Awards and honors
Spielberg receiving a public service award presented by United States Secretary of Defense William Cohen, 1999
Steven Spielberg's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Former President Clinton with Spielberg as he accepts the 2009 Liberty Award in Philadelphia
Spielberg has won three Academy Awards. He has been nominated for seven Academy Awards for the category of Best Director, winning two of them (Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan), and ten of the films he directed were up for the Best Picture Oscar (Schindler's List won). In 1987, he was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for his work as a creative producer.
Drawing from his own experiences in Scouting, Spielberg helped the Boy Scouts of America develop a merit badge in cinematography in order to help promote filmmaking as a marketable skill. The badge was launched at the 1989 National Scout Jamboree, which Spielberg attended, and where he personally counseled many boys in their work on requirements.[212] That same year, 1989, saw the release of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The opening scene shows a teenage Indiana Jones in scout uniform bearing the rank of a Life Scout. Spielberg stated he made Indiana Jones a Boy Scout in honor of his experience in Scouting. For his career accomplishments, service to others, and dedication to a new merit badge Spielberg was awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.[213]
Steven Spielberg received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1995.
In 1998, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit with Ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Award was presented to him by President Roman Herzog in recognition of his film Schindler's List and his Shoa-Foundation.[214]
In 1999, Spielberg received an honorary degree from Brown University. Spielberg was also awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service by Secretary of Defense William Cohen at the Pentagon on August 11, 1999; Cohen presented the award in recognition of Spielberg's film Saving Private Ryan.
In 2001, he was appointed as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the entertainment industry of the United Kingdom.[215]
In 2004, he was admitted as knight of the Légion d'honneur by president Jacques Chirac.[216] On July 15, 2006, Spielberg was also awarded the Gold Hugo Lifetime Achievement Award at the Summer Gala of the Chicago International Film Festival,[217] and also was awarded a Kennedy Center honour on December 3. The tribute to Spielberg featured a short, filmed biography narrated by Liam Neeson and included thank-yous from World War II veterans for Saving Private Ryan, as well as a performance of the finale to Leonard Bernstein's Candide, conducted by John Williams (Spielberg's frequent composer).[citation needed]
The Science Fiction Hall of Fame inducted Spielberg in 2005, the first year it considered non-literary contributors.[218][219] In November 2007, he was chosen for a Lifetime Achievement Award to be presented at the sixth annual Visual Effects Society Awards in February 2009. He was set to be honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the January 2008 Golden Globes; however, due to the new, watered-down format of the ceremony resulting from conflicts in the 2007–08 writers strike, the HFPA postponed his honor to the 2009 ceremony.[220][221] In 2008, Spielberg was awarded the Légion d'honneur.[222]
In June 2008, Spielberg received Arizona State University's Hugh Downs Award for Communication Excellence.[223]
Spielberg received an honorary degree at Boston University's 136th Annual Commencement on May 17, 2009. In October 2009 Steven Spielberg received the Philadelphia Liberty Medal; presenting him with the medal was former US president and Liberty Medal recipient Bill Clinton. Special guests included Whoopi Goldberg, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.
On October 22, 2011 he was admitted as a Commander of the Belgian Order of the Crown. He was given the badge on a red neck ribbon by the Belgian Federal Minister of Finance Didier Reynders. The Commander is the third highest rank of the Order of the Crown. He was the president of the jury for the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.[224]
On November 19, 2013, Spielberg was honored by the National Archives and Records Administration with its Records of Achievement Award. Spielberg was given two facsimiles of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, one passed but not ratified in 1861, as well as a facsimile of the actual 1865 amendment signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln. The amendment and the process of passing it were the subject of his film Lincoln.[225]
In November 24, 2015, Spielberg was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in a ceremony at the White |
driver, which means the Taxi and Limousine Commission will take no action against his license to drive a cab.
Historically, nearly half of motorists who kill a New York City pedestrian or cyclist do not receive so much as a citation for careless driving.CANELO VS. LARA UNDERCARD PREVIEW
By James Lopez, RCM Boxing Correspondent
Mauricio Herrera vs Johan Perez
Mauricio Herrera (20-4 KO’s 7) made his pro debut at the age of 27. Despite the late start to his career he has been able to compete with some of the best in his division. His fights against Ruslan Provodkinov and Mike Alvarado were both for fight of the year candidates. Herrera is a tough fighter and at the age of 34 he seems to be at the highest peak of his career thus far. He hopes to encounter more big names in his division, but first he has to get through Johan Perez (19-1 KO’s 13). Perez is the current WBA light welterweight title holder. This will be Perez’s golden opportunity to make a name for himself in a major PPV undercard.
The Breakdown of the Fight.
Size and Style
Johan Perez standing at 5’11 has the size advantage over Mauricio Herrera who stands at 5’7. This is a significant advantage for Perez given Herrera’s style of fighting. Herrera typically boxes from the outside and uses his jab often. He might find it a bit more difficult to land punches on Perez from the outside which may lead to more inside action.
When fighting on the inside Herrera is at a slight disadvantage because he tends to clinch and sneak in punches with his free hand. It will be difficult to manhandle a much bigger opponent like Perez.
Combinations
Mauricio Herrera’s main arsenal is his jab. He uses his jab when fighting on the outside and he shoots it to the body and the head. Herrera is not much of a combination puncher from the outside. He uses his jab to dictate the paste and frustrate his opponent. At times just out jabbing his opponent can win him rounds. When Herrera fights coming forward he tends to mix in more right hands.
When Herrera decides to fight on the inside his offensive output becomes more versatile. He tends to clinch with one hand and sneak in short shots. He also tends throws short combinations and move out of harm’s way. Herrera fights like a veteran which is astonishing given his late start in professional boxing.
When Johan Perez is on the outside he tends to throw two punch combinations. He has more versatility in his arsenal but at times doesn’t show it. One of the main things Perez has to worry about when fighting on the outside is how to stop Herrera’s jab. Perez might be forced to take the fight inside where he can get off combinations. The only problem is Herrera knows how to clinch on the inside to limit his opponent’s offense.
Defense
This is the department where Herrera has an advantage over Perez. Herrera’s main arsenal is his jab. Herrera does not over commit to his punches a lot, thus making it difficult to be countered on. Herrera either throws a jab and ducks under to avoid a counter, jabs and steps back, or jabs then clinches. He was able to frustrate Danny Garcia in his last bout by keeping this pattern. The only time Herrera seemed vulnerable was in the 11th round in the Garcia bout where he stayed on the ropes without moving. This allowed Garcia to land a couple of heavy shots but Herrera took them well.
Johan Perez is not known as being a good defensive fighter. He can be tagged cleanly and at times has defensive lapses. Despite the size advantage it would not be surprising if Herrera can still land his jab without being countered. The size advantage Perez has definitely helps him but it remains to be seen exactly how much that can be factored into the fight. A small fighter can still outbox a tall fighter. This was evident in the first four rounds of the Terrence Crawford vs Yuriorkis Gamboa bout; where Gamboa the much smaller fighter was able to outpoint Crawford decisively early in the fight.
Power and Chin
Both fighters don’t have knockout power but have respectable snap in their punches. Despite only having seven knockouts Herrera is not a light puncher, it is his style of fighting that disables to him to get more knockouts.
Herrera has shown he has a great chin thus far in his career. He has been able to withstand good shots from heavy punchers such as Ruslan Provodkinov, Danny Garcia, and Mike Alvarado.
Johan Perez doesn’t have a chin as good as Herrera but he still has a decent chin. If either fighter falls behind in the scorecards it will be very surprising for either fighter to have a come from behind knockout victory. Both fighters have to be careful to not fall behind early in the scorecards.
Conclusion
Mauricio Herrera should come in as the heavy favorite to win this bout. He needs to stick to the game plan of being a boxer and use his intelligence in the ring. Johan Perez will try to utilize his reach advantage to make it difficult for Herrera to outbox him. The fight will be decided on who can dictate the pace at the center of the ring.
Abner Mares vs Jonathan Oquendo
During Abner Mares’s (26-1-1 KO’s 14) youth he had intentions of becoming a gang member in California. At age 15 his father sent him to Mexico for three years to box at the Mexican Olympic training camp to get his life in order. There Mares was able to get his mind straight, hone his boxing skills, and find his future wife. Now Mares is a former 3 division world champion who will be facing off against Puerto Rico’s Jonathan Oquendo (24-3 KO’s 16). At age 30 Oquendo knows this might be one of his last opportunities to catapult his career. Mares coming back after his first lost knows if he wants to continue to be a marquee name in the sport he can’t afford to lose this fight.
The Breakdown of the Fight
Size Advantage
Abner Mares stands at 5’4 with a 66 inch reach. Jonathan Oquendo stands at an almost identical stature of 5’4 with a 67 inch reach. Neither fighter should have any physical size advantage over their opponent.
Style
Abner Mares is a boxer puncher and Jonathan Oquendo is more of a brawler. Mares has shown he can fight going backwards and coming forward. Expect Mares to show some versatility in the fight and give Oquendo some lateral movement as the fight progresses. Mares will try to capitalize on any mistakes Oquendo presents.
Jonathan Oquendo prefers to fight coming forward or at a standstill in punching range. He has not shown he can fight going backwards. It will be interesting to see what happens when Mares does come forward and tries to initiate the action himself. Oquendo will probably hold his ground and try to punch with Mares. Mares has shown he can be a boxer and a brawler so a couple exchanges during the fight seem inevitable.
Power and Chin
Abner Mares has shown good punching power at the 126lb pound division. Two fights ago he was able to get a TKO victory over Daniel Ponce De Leon in the 9th round. He actually knocked down Ponce De Leon in the 2nd round but he was able to recover. Mares also showed in that fight he can take a decent shot from a good puncher. Despite being stopped in the 1st round in his last bout against Jhonny Gonzalez he has shown to have a good chin but not necessarily a great one.
Jonathan Oquendo has good power of his own as his record indicates. An achilles heel Oquendo has is his chin. Two of his three losses have come by knockout. When Oquendo gets stunned his instinct is to fight back. This caused him to suffer a TKO lost to Juan Manuel Lopez in the 2nd round where he could have possibly made it through the round. He has not shown the ability to be able to regroup himself in an intelligent manner. If Mares does hurt him at a certain point of the fight, Oquendo might try to land a big shot of his own. Oquendo’s problem is he sometimes gets too brave for his own good.
Defense and Combinations
When Abner Mares fights off his back foot he looks for his opponent to make mistakes. He will try to counter Oquendo when he tries to lunge in with a right. Mares will also try to pick his shots when fighting at a distance. When fighting on the outside Mares does have better defense than Oquendo but can still be tagged. When the fight takes place on the inside expect Mares to throw a combination shots to the head and the body. If Mares does not want to exchange on the inside he knows how to clinch.
Jonathan Oquendo does not have bad defense when fighting on the outside but is just not as good as Mares. Despite this Oquendo can still catch Mares with a flush shot that can possibly stun him. When fighting on the inside Oquendo does not shy away from exchanges. Expect Oquendo to let his hands go on the inside.
Conclusion
Abner Mares is the better boxer. He has good power and is facing an opponent who is not known to have the best chin. That being said, Jonathan Oquendo also has good power of his own and Mares can be tagged. Oquendo seems to be out matched but still has a puncher’s chance to possibly turn the tide in the fight.
Juan Manuel Lopez vs Francisco Vargas
Juan Manuel Lopez (34-3 KO’s 31) vs. Francisco Vargas (19-0-1 KO’s 13) promises to deliver excitement. Both fighters have tremendous power and are not shy to get into exchanges. If Juanma or Vargas wins it will most likely come by way of knockout.
The Breakdown of the Fight.
Size Advantage
Juan Manuel Lopez standing at 5’5 with a 69 inch reach will have a slight size disadvantage against Francisco Vargas who stands at 5’8 with a 70 inch reach. Despite Vargas’s three inch height advantage, both fighters virtually have the same reach.
Vargas is expected to come in as the physically stronger fighter. This might enable him to impose his physical strength on Juanma while fighting on the inside.
Style and Power
Juan Manuel Lopez has knockout power in both hands. Despite being a big puncher he tends to fight off his back foot. He chooses to be the boxer who looks for countering opportunities and tries to create openings. If Juanma is repeatedly tagged with clean shots expect him to try and retaliate right away. This might cause some heavy exchanges to take place.
Francisco Vargas a heavy puncher himself, will take the role of being the stalker throughout the fight. If he can trap Juanma against the ropes, or close the gap he can encourage Juanma to get into dangerous exchanges on the inside.
Both fighters typically use the first round to feel out their opponent. As the fight carries on so should the action.
Chin
Juan Manuel Lopez’s chin has been his achilles heel his entire career. He has very heavy hands which encourages him to get into exchanges, but sometimes this becomes his downfall. All of Juanma’s losses have come by way of TKO.
Francisco Vargas’s chin remains a mystery. He has never been tested by a huge puncher such as Juanma. One also has to keep in mind even if Vargas has a good chin, Juanma can hurt just about anyone in a division with a flush shot.
Defense
Despite Juan Manuel Lopez being more of a boxer, Francisco Vargas is still the better defensive fighter. Juanma has shown he can be tagged in the center of the ring and during exchanges. He usually relies on his power to get himself out of danger.
Vargas being the stalker knows how to close the gap on his opponent very well. Even though he doesn’t show too much head movement he has a very effective high guard that can be difficult to penetrate at times. When he has his opponents against the ropes and is exchanging he has shown to not get careless. Now even though Vargas is a better defensive fighter, if two power punchers are exchanging all it takes is a couple of clean shots to drastically change the momentum of a fight.
Conclusion
Francisco Vargas should come in as the favorite to win the fight. Vargas is the better defensive fighter. It is expected for Vargas to be able to outpoint Juanma throughout the fight. Juanma if backed into a corner, will undoubtedly try to exchange with Vargas which can be dangerous for either fighter. Juanma’s chin has been suspect to not be able to withstand a multitude of power shots, but his own power has shown to bail him out of bad situations. Juanma will be the toughest opponent Vargas has fought thus far in his career. It will be interesting see if Vargas does indeed have the character to beat a tough veteran such as Juanma.
COMMENTS
COMMENTSBy Natalia Castro
It is one thing for a politician to lie, it is completely different for Hillary Clinton to lie to the face of the rape victim she laughed at repeatedly. During the town hall style second presidential debate, Kathy Shelton who was raped at the age of 12 sat in the audience as Clinton pretended the mid-1980s tape of her laughing about the securing the release of Shelton’s rapist in 1975 did not exist. Unfortunately for Clinton, it does exist. And it is the reason many females cannot accept her as our leader, let alone the entire nation’s.
During the second presidential debate Trump brought up crippling stories regarding the Clintons, particularly discussing Hillary Clintons aforementioned tape where she is heard laughing about Shelton’s rape case, Clintons response, “Well, first, let me start by saying that so much of what he’s just said is not right.”
But Trump is right, and we have known that for two years.
In June of 2014, the Washington Free Beacon unearthed an interview between reported Roy Reed and Clinton captured on tape and available through the Special Collections Department of the University of Arkansas Libraries. The tape clearly has Clinton bragging about the case, blocking evidence and laughing about her defendant’s crime, at one point she jokes, “I had him take a polygraph, which he passed, which forever destroyed my faith in polygraphs.” Her laughter is audible.
Clinton admitted that she believed her client committed the crime and vigorously defended him anyway. As a lawyer this is Clinton’s job, what is disgraceful is lying to the country in front of the victim, mocking her plight, and then continually acting as an advocate for women’s protection.
However, Kathy Shelton is no longer that 12-year-old girl and she made her position on Clinton very strong.
On Oct. 9, 2016 Shelton’s tweets spoke volumes about Clinton. Shelton wrote, “I don’t care if Trump said gross things. I care that Hillary Clinton lied, terrorized, & mocked me, defending my rapist,” “Hillary Clinton is a cold-hearted liar. The lies she told about me, 12 yr old rape victim, traumatized me nearly as much as the rape itself,” and “No little girl should suffer violent rape like I did… But no grown woman should attack that little girl like Hillary Clinton did.”
Most devastatingly, she called for the support and justice she did not receive when she was 12, tweeting, “At 12 I was one of the first women Hillary Clinton destroyed, but I wasn’t the last. Please put an end to this woman’s career of abusing us.”
Clinton cannot decide this year that she wants to rule the “women card” and be the ultimate advocate for women if just a few decades ago she was demeaning women in their most vulnerable state and bragging about it. She even had written on her campaign website, “I want to send a message to every survivor of sexual assault: Don’t let anyone silence your voice. You have the right to be heard. You have the right to be believed, and we’re with you.” Nobody believes that.
Shelton is not the only victim to Clinton’s vulgarity toward women experiencing sexual assault. In April 2016 the New York Post covered Hillary Clinton’s reaction to the resurfacing of Bill Clintons sexual assault allegations.
Clinton has consistently advocated over the last year that “every survivor of sexual assault deserves to be heard, believed, and supported.” Yet Juanita Broaddrick, who accused Bill Clinton of raping her in 1978 during his time as attorney general of Arkansas, had a very different statement she wanted remembered, “It’s important for everyone to know that Hillary Clinton is not innocent in all of the cover up and the attempted attacks on all of the women that Bill Clinton abused.”
Broaddrick has explained that Hillary is just as guilty as Bill for his action, as Hillary has enabled him and threatened Broaddrick to keep her allegations silent.
Clinton has not listened and assisted women dealing with sexual assault, she has mocked them and threatened them. Clinton has lied to them to their face in front of the nation. If women want this violence to stop they cannot look to someone who has perpetuated it, Hillary Clinton is simply not deserving of the honor of being called the first female president.
Natalia Castro is a contributing editor at Americans for Limited Government.Original review: Oct. 25, 2017
When people think of taking an online class, they think it's going to be so easy. That's true maybe for the local community college, not so much for Kaplan University. One way to describe it is squirrels on Ecstasy at a rave. You have 10 weeks to do the work, but in truth it's pretty much only 7 weeks to do 5 months of work. And you WILL WORK. You only get out of it what you put into it. Most of the professors are professional, you will run into one or two that really shouldn't be teaching but that is something you will see everywhere. You will be given an outline of everything that is due and you have no questions of when everything is due, there is NEVER a doubt when something is due. There is a seminar each week where the professor goes over everything and answers your questions live.John Birkeland was the kind of guy who never forgot family members’ birthdays, liked politics and eschewed violence. And he was crazy about dogs.
But on Wednesday night, Birkeland went on a rampage, allegedly yelling, swearing and throwing things inside his Roseville apartment. Police responding to noise complaints from neighbors made a forced entry and sent in a K-9 dog. When officers found Birkeland hiding in a closet, he stabbed the dog in the head with a kitchen knife, and police shot him dead.
“I am in complete shock. He’s the most harmless person you could imagine, the last person I’d ever expect to be killed by police,” said his niece Cassandra MacDuff, of Austin, Texas, who identified the 52-year-old Birkeland. “He loved dogs. He would not have done that unless he felt threatened. I can’t believe my uncle is lying in a morgue with bullets in him.”
Around 9:40 p.m., a neighbor heard shouting coming from Birkeland’s third-floor apartment on the 1600 block of County Road B. According to police, residents have witnessed similar “mental outbursts” in the past and were told to call police when such incidents occur. Police have had four previous contacts with Birkeland since May 2015, records show.
On Wednesday, about 10 minutes later, officers arrived and tried to talk to Birkeland, saying, “John, we are worried about you” and “please open the door,” a resident of the building said.
Birkeland refused, telling police he was “fine” but had lost his wallet. After getting no further response and learning that there was a warrant for his arrest from a December case in which he gave a false name to police, officers decided to go in. They announced to Birkeland that a K-9 dog would be used to search his apartment. When Birkeland stabbed the dog, police fired. Officers offered aid to Birkeland, but he died at the scene, said Lt. Lorne Rosand.
John Birkeland, who was remembered by family as a gentle soul who had hit a rough patch, loved politics and especially dogs. He was shot dead by Roseville police early Thursday after he stabbed a K-9 in his apartment.
MacDuff said Birkeland had lived in Roseville a short time and said he had had some tough luck recently. He’d lost his mother and a brother in the past few years. She believed that he was between jobs. At times he self medicated and got intoxicated, but still had a sound mind, she said.
“He was a very smart guy, loved politics and knew what was going on. He didn’t have mental issues,” she said.
Born in Gonvick, Minn., Birkeland graduated from St. Cloud State University, according to his Facebook page.
Before moving to Roseville, Birkeland worked at the Listen Drop-In Center in Grand Forks, N.D. There he wrote grants and connected people with disabilities to the performance arts, his niece said.
The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is taking the lead in investigating.
Two officers involved in the shooting, 18-year veteran John Jorgensen and four-year veteran Kyle Eckert, were placed on administrative leave. Three other officers who witnessed the shootings also are on leave.
The dog, Otis, was taken to the University of Minnesota Veterinary Hospital and treated for noncritical injuries.How to Select a Learning Management System? A Comprehensive Guide + EBook
With so much buzz around online education, it is not surprising that the interest in Learning Management Systems is constantly growing. More and more people around the world recognize the value of innovations in training and education and start searching for the right Learning Management System software to satisfy the needs of modern learners.
Selecting an LMS. Questions to Consider
The stages of finding the right Learning Management System
With so much buzz around online education, it is not surprising that the interest in Learning Management Systems is constantly growing. More and more people around the world recognize the value of innovations in training and education and start searching for the right Learning Management System software to satisfy the needs of modern learners.
Image source – Google Trends
Choosing the right Learning Management System can be daunting, especially when you are bombarded with hundreds of unknown terms and abbreviations, but we have prepared for you a comprehensive guide, intended to simplify the LMS purchase process, help you to select the right LMS software and free you from frustration and overspending.
Let’s start at the beginning!
Selecting an LMS. Questions to Consider
What is a Learning Management System?
A Learning Management System is a software used to manage and deliver online courses as well as to communicate with learners, track their performance and assess the progress.
The LMS software is acquired for teaching students online, for selling courses, for training employees and partners, for recruitment purposes, for combining formal and informal learning, for automating reporting and etc.
Why use a Learning Management System?
A list of Learning Management Systems’ benefits is quite long:
Unlimited 24/7 access to eLearning and training materials. Busy employees can study at any convenient time while low-performing students can always return to the course material they didn’t understand. All this improves the course efficiency; A possibility to reuse eLearning materials over time. Course development and design require time and financial expenses. Not to waste time on course remodeling you can simply export/import SCORM or AICC materials when you change the LMS provider; A range of learning models and techniques you can experiment with, thereby finding some room for pedagogical experiments and innovations; Saving time and money on a trainer, accommodation, airfare, conference room renting etc. Training happens within the company’s walls, according to a convenient schedule, and the employees are not pulled from their job duties; Wide customization options allow you to reach sophisticated needs of your business and differentiate it from look-a-like competitors; Confidence in data security. An LMS is frequently used as a storage of confidential information such as company’s policy, organizational structure, strategic plans. If you want to prevent a breach or data loss you can always install and host an LMS on your own servers; Teaching and training with no borders or language barriers. A multi-language interface of an LMS is a language barrier breaking tool allowing you to hire and train employees worldwide, herewith assuring the same quality of provided services and guaranteeing customers’ satisfaction and solid company’s reputation all over the world; An enormous amount of decision-making information provided with the help of an advanced system of tracking and reporting; A range of payment processors integrated into an LMS makes the payment process easy for clients; A single and centralized source of eLearning content and user data. No need to diffuse your efforts on multiple platforms management; A bunch of out-of-the box tools to increase learners’ motivation and engagement (chat, integration with social platforms, forum, gamification mechanisms); A variety of means to build a business on the basis of a Learning Management System: monetize the blog, sell courses, provide certification, create content, administer or resell an LMS; Etc.
Quite impressive, right?
Should I buy an LMS or build my own one?
Right now you might ask: “Should all educational institutions and businesses acquire one? Can’t we just develop our own Learning Management System?”
Of course, you can go without an LMS or build your own Learning Management System. The question is how much time, effort and resources will be spent on it.
First of all, you should know that a Learning Management System is not a panacea. There is a range of web resources, social bookmarking tools, and documents sharing applications that can be used as an LMS alternative. The only difference is that there will be no consistency and you will have to diffuse your efforts on multiple platforms management.
Secondly, there are around 700 Learning Management Systems available on the market. What is the point of developing one more, investing time and resources into developing a system that has already been developed, tested and maintained by a team of experts with years of experience in the eLearning market? That is not even taking into account the opportunity costs, the benefits and profit your company could have gained if an already made LMS solution is used.
Now, when we know that a Learning Management System is a quite rational investment, let’s find a good solution for you!
The Stages of Finding the Right Learning Management System
The process of finding the right Learning Management System can be divided into several stages:
Defining the needs;
Identifying the Learning Management System requirements (functional, technical, financial requirements and time restrictions);
Researching the LMS market;
Evaluating the LMS solutions;
Making the decision.
Stage #1. Defining the needs
What is the goal of purchasing a Learning Management System?
To make sure that you really need an LMS and are not just exposed to the mainstream trend, let’s define the goal of acquiring an LMS solution, in other words, determine what problems you are going to solve with the help of a Learning Management System.
The LMS Purchase Goal needs to be SMART (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and time-bound).
Here are a few LMS Purchase Goals you can take as an example:
To boost employee productivity by 20% by the end of the year by applying online training practices; To meet the company’s annual goal of getting the same level of service worldwide by training geographically dispersed employees, thereby increasing the level of customer satisfaction by 25% by July 2018; To decrease the time it takes to train newcomers from 2 months to 2 weeks by the end of the quarter; To increase the students’ attendance by 20% by the end of the year by offering distance courses in addition to academic studies; Reduce the training costs by 30% by the end of the year by means of cutting accommodation, airfare and catering costs.
No matter what pain point you want to solve with the help of a Learning Management System it should be your starting point towards the decision to acquire an LMS solution.
Who is your audience?
Besides setting the goal, it is vitally important to have a clear understanding of who your audience is because it has a direct effect on the LMS capacities required. You need to have a clear picture of the audience age and size, how the learners will access an LMS, what they will use an LMS for, what type of content they will view etc.
For example, if you need an LMS for teaching a K-12 audience, the focus needs to be put on learners’ engagement (gamification, social learning, students’ collaboration, blended learning, flipped learning). If the learners are adults with a busy life schedule, then mobile responsiveness and mobile app availability should be must-have features. If you teach globally - a multilingual interface should be the primary criterion etc.
The audience size is also important because it affects the LMS seating capacity needed. The LMS vendors usually charge either for the number of users required or for the LMS usage (the number of courses or features required). In any case, comparing the average price per learner will help you decide on the LMS, but we will talk about it later.
Stage #2. Identifying the Learning Management System Requirements
The next step is to define the Learning Management System requirements. By LMS requirements we mean the LMS features, the level of support required, technical specifications, the budget and the time-frame within which the LMS project needs to be up and running.
Clear and well-defined LMS requirements are a key to a successful LMS purchase.
Learning Management System Features
Since we have already defined the LMS purchase goal and the audience, we can easily identify the list of features needed. The LMS features are divided into two types: “must have” and “nice to have”, of which only a few might be “must have”, by the way.
Here are a few examples of the functional “must have” LMS requirements:
The LMS should allow students to extend their subscriptions with a fee; The students need to be able to print completion certificates; The instructor should be able to remind learners that the course is about to expire; The students need to be able to choose the course start date.
Based on the above mentioned LMS requirements, it is clear that the LMS should possess eCommerce, certificates, notifications and course release functionality. The rest of the features the LMS provider offers are “nice to have”.
Technical LMS Requirements
As concerns the technical specifications, here comes a question about the LMS installation type, source code availability and SCORM compatibility.
Learning Management System Installation Type
You might know that Learning Management Systems are divided into two types:
Installed LMS solutions (also called on-premise, deployed, in-house);
Cloud LMS solutions (also called SAAS, on demand).
One or the other LMS solution type is chosen depending on the business needs, company’s size, customization flexibility, budget, and the company’s structure.
Here is an Installed vs Cloud LMS comparison table:
An Installed LMS A Cloud LMS “Designed to meet the needs of the few” “Designed to meet the needs of the many” Hosted on the client’s server Hosted on the vendor’s server Flexible in terms of customization, which means it can be used for a unique idea realization or meeting the diverse company’s needs. Limited in terms of customization The deployment can take time Quick deployment Higher initial investments Lower initial investments Lower cost of ownership in the long-run Higher cost of ownership in the long run Is chosen by middle-sized and large companies with an internal technical staff or IT department to carry out the LMS installation, maintenance, and management or integrate the LMS with the other internal systems such HR and Talent systems or CRM Is chosen by small organizations or entrepreneurs with no technical staff to handle the initial LMS installation and management. All the maintenance and upgrade services are handled by the LMS vendor Staff training might be required Staff training is rarely required Secure for storing proprietary data as it is stored in the house. All the date is stored in the cloud, on remote servers belonging to the LMS vendor. Less scalable. Because the date is stored on a local server, having more users can require more storage space. More scalable as the data is stored in the cloud.
Are you a newcomer? Do you need a standardized approach to learning or training? Don’t plan to make considerable money investments or don’t have an internal IT staff to handle the LMS installation and maintenance? Choose a cloud LMS solution.
Do you need an LMS to be customized to support a unique business idea? Do you have necessary IT resources? Do you need an LMS to be integrated with other internal systems or require the data to be stored on local servers? Then an installed LMS can be a better choice.
Learning Management System Source Code Availability
Among the other technical LMS requirements is source code availability.
Learning Management Systems are divided into two types:
Open-source LMSs
Proprietary LMSs
An Open-Source LMS is offered free of charge with a source code available for modifications. Communities that do all the upgrades and maintenance usually support the LMS of such type. On one side, acquiring an open-source LMS you don’t pay money for the LMS system, have access to the source code, can modify it as you need; on the other side, if you don’t have a technical background or IT staff to manage the LMS platform, source code availability can hardly be called a benefit. You either have to hire a developer or look through tons of documentation to catch up.
The source code of proprietary Learning Management Systems, in its turn, is encoded. The LMS vendor is the one who is accountable for support, new features releases, on-demand maintenance and customization (additional paid services). By encoding the source code, LMS vendors secure themselves against using the software for malicious code distribution (viruses and trojans) as well as ensure constant income. Plus, who else will know the LMS better than its own developers?
Learning Management System SCORM Compatibility
One more important factor to consider when choosing an LMS is SCORM compatibility.
First, let’s define what the SCORM term means.
SCORM stands for Sharable Content Object Reference Model and is a collection of standards ensuring content compatibility with any SCORM compliant LMS.
SCORM was developed in the late nineties to ensure constant compatibility within multiple Learning Management Systems with no need to remake the content every time another LMS is bought.
So, why is SCORM compatibility so important?
First of all, you save a bunch of time and money on content development. A course material developed once can be uploaded into multiple Learning Management Systems. Secondly, there are a variety of authoring tools you can use for content creation. And thirdly, you can make additional profit by reselling the content you create.
Thus, SCORM Compatibility saves you a lot of time, money and resources.
Learning Management System Acquiring Budget
By LMS costs we mean the license price, implementation, upgrade and customization fees. All that should be taken into consideration when the matter of price arises.
If the budget is low (we don’t consider a “no budget” situation as the LMS implementation always requires investments), the first thing that comes to mind is to download and install a free Learning Management System. Of course, there will be no license fee, but the LMS installation, adjustment, and maintenance fees are here to stay. If there is no internal IT staff a good idea is to do a market research and find out an average price for such kind of services.
The other way is to acquire a non-expensive LMS solution with the support team available to handle these kinds of tasks.
There are different LMS pricing models available on the market:
“Pay per user enrollment” (courses) – you pay for the maximum number of courses for an unlimited number of users. “Pay per user and license validity” (yearly or monthly) – you pay for the maximum number of users within the determined period of time. “Pay per user and features provided” – you pay for the maximum number of users along with the features offered at this pricing plan. “Pay per use” (pay as you go) – you pay for the active users enrolled in the courses only. “Perpetual License” – you pay a one-time fee and can use the LMS system lifelong.
To decide which LMS pricing plan to choose you need to determine:
How many users will be trained? How long will be the LMS system used? How many features are required? How many courses are you going to provide?
For example, if the number of features required is small, what is the point of paying for the features you will never use? Or, if you represent a large enterprise company with thousands of employees to train, choosing an LMS that let you enroll an unlimited number of users is more rational than paying for each learner.
Learning Management System Implementation Time Frame
Besides the budget, one more thing you can be constrained with, when selecting an LMS, is a time frame.
The time it takes to make a Learning Management System up and running strongly depends on:
The type of an LMS (Cloud LMS solutions are quicker to deploy than installed ones); A need to customize (if the eLearning project is unique and customization is required the LMS implementation time can linger); Availability of course materials (if the course content is in the SCORM format, the course development takes less time as opposed to uploading all the learning materials one by one).
Which means that if you need an LMS to be running as quickly as possible, buy a Cloud LMS solution supporting SCORM. If a unique project idea and customized functionality are a priority, an installed Learning Management System is a better match.
Stage #3. Researching the Learning Management System Market
When the LMS requirements, the budget, and the time frame are defined, the time for the Learning Management System market research comes.
What makes a good Learning Management System?
A good Learning Management System is a platform that has a modern and user-friendly interface, is regularly updated and enhanced with new features, can be customed to match the corporate style, supports different types of learning such as mobile, social, blended, flipped etc., which reports provide enormous amount of decision-making information, is secure for keeping confidential data, has a variety of tools to engage learners and support communication.
There are a variety of ways to find the right Learning Management System solution:
Ask for a recommendation; Compile an RFP (Request for Proposal) with all the requirements determined and send it to the LMS vendors; Reach out to an LMS market analyst or a software advice company; Do the research on your own by looking through the LMS vendors websites, online demos and free trials; Read other people’s reviews and testimonials. We recommend such reliable websites as Capterra, G2 Crowd, Talented Learning, LMS.org, LMS demos etc.
Stage #4. Evaluating Learning Management System Solutions
When the LMS market research is done and the list of appropriate LMS vendors consists of 2-3 Learning Management Systems, it is time to evaluate the chosen Learning Management System solutions.
We recommend attending online Demonstrations |
, Fitzgerald wrote in his ledger words possibly said to him by Ginevra's father: "Poor boys shouldn't think of marrying rich girls."[2] This line was picked up and used in both the 1974 and 2013 film productions of The Great Gatsby.
Later life [ edit ]
On July 15, 1918, King wrote to Fitzgerald, informing him of her engagement to William Mitchell,[7] the son of her father's business associate. They were married on September 4, 1918,[8] and had three children, William, Charles, and Ginevra.[9] Then in 1937, she left Mitchell for businessman John T. Pirie (of the Chicago department store Carson Pirie Scott & Company). That year she also saw Fitzgerald for the last time, in Hollywood; when she asked him which character in Gatsby was based on her, Fitzgerald replied, "Which bitch do you think you are?"[2]
King later founded the Ladies Guild of the American Cancer Society. She died in 1980 at the age of 82 in Charleston, South Carolina.[10]
Literary legacy [ edit ]
King exerted a great influence on Fitzgerald's writing, perhaps as much as his relationship with his wife, Zelda. His work abounds with characters modeled after and inspired by King, which include:[3][6]
Judy Jones in "Winter Dreams"
Isabelle Borge in This Side of Paradise
Most notably, Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby
Fitzgerald also recreated their meeting in "Babes in the Woods," from the collection Bernice Bobs Her Hair and Other Stories, which he also reused in This Side of Paradise.
King is also featured in the books The Perfect Hour by James L.W. West III, and in a fictionalized form in Gatsby's Girl by Caroline Preston. The musical The Pursuit of Persephone tells the story of King's romance with Fitzgerald. She also appears in "West of Sunset," by Stewart O'Nan, a fictionalized account of Fitzgerald's final years, including his work in Hollywood and relationship with gossip columnist Sheilah Graham.
References [ edit ]The year 2013 was chock-full of advances in healthcare. From diagnostic tools that fit in your pocket to a flurry of breakthroughs in HIV research, 2013 was an eventful year—and the stage is set for even greater leaps in 2014 and beyond. The Healthline team chose these innovations as some of 2013's most exciting.
Bee Venom Nanoparticles Attack HIV
Like the stingers from a thousand angry bees, a toxin isolated from bee venom is able to poke holes in the protective coating of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. When attached to nanoparticles with a special bumper, the toxin melittin can kill the virus, while leaving healthy human cells intact. More work is needed, but the Washington University researchers say a vaginal cream with the bee venom nanoparticles could serve as a low-cost method of blocking infection.
“The implications are phenomenal—from preventing the spread of HIV where there's high rates of infection to treating existing infections,” said Tracy Stickler, Healthline's editorial director.
Read More: Bee Venom Can Kill the HIV Virus »
HIV Virus Used to Treat Genetic Disorders in Children
Researchers from Italy put HIV’s highly effective infection mechanism to good use in treating children with genetic disorders. After collecting stem cells from the children’s bone marrow, researchers used HIV—stripped of its harmful genetic information—to squirrel a corrected copy of a defective gene into the children's cells. The modified cells were then re-injected into the young patients.
“Instead of trying to stamp out HIV, the researchers found a way to use it as a cure. So far they've successfully—and safely—treated six children with life-threatening conditions," said Aaron Moncivaiz, a production editor at Healthline.
Read More: HIV Used to Cure Rare Genetic Disorders in Children »
Rapid Blood Test Parses Viral and Bacterial Infections
Patients with cold- and flu-like symptoms may never wonder again if their illness is viral or bacterial, thanks to a rapid and highly accurate blood test developed by researchers at Duke University. With results available in 12 hours, the test uses a genetic fingerprint that the body expresses when it’s sick to identify the culprit. Researchers hope to help doctors focus their treatment even more by paring down the turnaround time to as little as one hour.
“The new test can quickly determine if an illness is caused by a virus or bacteria, which could prevent the over-prescription of antibiotics and even potentially detect global pandemics,” Moncivaiz said.
Read More: Is Your Illness Viral or Bacterial? A New Rapid Blood Test Can Tell »
Fast, Cheap Paper Test Detects Pancreatic Cancer
A rapid and inexpensive test, created last year by then-15-year-old Jack Andraka, could one day enable earlier detection of pancreatic cancer. The test, which is still under development, uses carbon nanotubes laced with an antibody that reacts to a protein—mesothelin—found in the blood of people with pancreatic cancer.
Embedding the antibody in nanotubes allowed Andraka to create a paper sensor strip that costs only three cents, but is 90 percent accurate.
Rachael Maier, managing editor of Healthline.com, nominated this innovation.
Optogenetics Activates Brain Cells with Light
One of the hottest techniques in science this year, optogenetics lets researchers target specific areas of the brain more closely than ever before. Inserting a light-activated gene into a specific type of neuron in the brain allows scientists to turn those cells on—or off—with the flick of a light switch.
“Optogenetics is hot right now, even though a lot of people aren’t 100 percent sure what it’s good for yet. This breakthrough is shining a new light on the mysteries of the brain and will surely lead to exciting treatment innovations,” said Charles Purdy, Healthline's managing editor of products.
Detecting Lung Cancer with Just a Cough
Detecting lung cancer earlier could be as easy as coughing at the doctor’s office, thanks to an automated 3D cell imaging system. The Cell-CT platform uses more than 800 physical characteristics to identify lung cancer cells collected from sputum samples. In early testing, the system identified more than nine in 10 cases of lung cancer, with virtually no false positive results.
Charles Purdy also nominated this innovation.
Read More: Detecting Lung Cancer with Just a Cough »
Vaccinations Without Needles Are on the Horizon
With funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, researchers at King’s College London have developed a needle-free way to deliver vaccine directly into the skin. The technology consists of a disc-shaped microneedle array—very tiny projections made of sugar mixed with the vaccine. When the disc is pressed against the skin, the microneedles dissolve to deliver the vaccine.
"It seems like it may revolutionize bringing vaccine to masses of people who suffer from diseases that are preventable, but current methods don't seem to reach," said Justin Beaver, a production assistant at Healthline. "Also, for people who continuously need to blood test or inject for conditions like diabetes, this could also make day-to-day life a lot easier."
Read More: Needleless Vaccinations a Huge Step Toward Stopping Infectious Disease »
Detect Bad Breath with Your Smartphone
“Siri, how does my breath smell?” may be the words you hear before your next party. A San Francisco startup has developed a computer chip that works with tiny sensors to digitize the sense of smell and taste. While detecting bad breath is socially advantageous, the company sees other applications for its technology, such as detecting low blood sugar and high blood alcohol with just an exhale.
Tracy Rosecrans, Healthline's director of marketing, nominated this innovation.
Doctors Fight Infections with Stool Transplants
Also known as a human stool transplant, fecal microbiota transplantation is providing doctors with a new tool to treat aggressive Clostridium difficile infections. The method builds on growing research that shows how important the microorganisms living on and inside the body are for human health.
While many people feel squeamish at the thought of receiving a stool transplant, colonizing your intestines with a dose of healthy bacteria holds promise as a treatment for other inflammatory conditions, such as Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis.
Shawn Radcliffe, a Healthline contributor, nominated this innovation.
Read More: The 12 Top Health Stories of 2013 »Scientists are to hold an emergency summit to warn the world's politicians they are being too timid in their response to global warming.
Climate experts from across the world will gather in Copenhagen next month to agree a stark message to policy makers, which they hope will break the political deadlock on efforts to curb rising temperatures. The meeting follows "disturbing" studies that suggest global warming could strike harder and faster than expected.
It comes ahead of a year of high-level political discussions on climate change, which climax with international negotiations in Copenhagen in December, where officials will try to hammer out a successor to the Kyoto protocol.
Katherine Richardson, a marine biologist at the University of Copenhagen, who is organising next month's event, said: "This is not a regular scientific conference. This is a deliberate attempt to influence policy."
The meeting will publish an update to the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Richardson said the IPCC report was "wishy-washy" on issues such as sea level rise. "The IPCC talks of a 40cm sea rise this century. Well, if the consensus now is a rise of a metre or more then they need to know that."
A number of studies published since the IPCC report was prepared show that carbon emissions are rising faster than expected and that existing greenhouse gas targets may not be enough to prevent catastrophic temperature rise. Climate experts, including Jim Hansen, of Nasa, have warned about so-called "tipping points" that could lead to runaway warming and rapid sea level rise.
Bob Watson, a former head of the IPCC and chief scientist in the environment department, Defra, said: "Certainly in Defra they're aware of the situation. Whether all governments are aware of it is another matter. Even without the new information there was enough to make most policy makers think that urgent action was absolutely essential. The new information only strengthens that and pushes it even harder."
One issue to be addressed next month is whether it is still possible to limit average global temperature rise to 2C, which the EU defines as dangerous. Richardson said a key question for politicians is the balance between efforts to limit warming and steps to adapt to the likely consequences. Watson has warned that nations should prepare for an average rise of 4C. The IPCC said temperatures could soar by up to 6C by 2100 if current rates of carbon pollution continue.
Martin Parry, a British scientist who jointly chaired the IPCC working group on impacts for the 2007 report, and will attend next month's meeting, said: "I think it's a good idea. I would have thought most of this stuff is out there already but it deserves to be brought together and hammered home in a credible way."
A number of "disturbing" trends seem to have accelerated since the IPCC report was published, he said, such as a decrease in the amount of carbon pollution absorbed in the oceans, and an increase in Greenland ice melt. But he denied that the new findings made the IPCC report obsolete. "They are not so radical as to undermine the report. They reinforce it."Photo: National Transportation Safety BoardCross-posted from Natural Resources Defense Council.
Proponents of the Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline are using a disingenuous argument to avoid further scrutiny of TransCanada’s proposed pipeline. They argue that the concerns of landowners, farmers, and first responders regarding the safety of Keystone XL are unreasonable because TransCanada has agreed to 57 conditions suggested by pipeline safety regulators that will make it safer than other pipelines. There’s a serious flaw with this argument — most of the conditions TransCanada “voluntarily” agreed to are also the minimum standards that all pipeline operators must follow. Recently, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fell for this line, claiming that her department had developed conditions that were “above and beyond what is required by law.” It is outrageous to see federal officials playing this shell game with the safety of farmers, ranchers, landowners, and first responders along the pipeline route. These 57 conditions are smoke and mirrors. The United States does not need this pipeline or the risks it poses to our communities and fresh water.
An analysis [PDF] of the 57 “special conditions” which the Pipeline and Hazardous Safety Materials Administration (PHMSA) suggested to TransCanada reveals them for what they are — a PR stunt taken at the public’s expense. It turns out that the majority of these conditions fall into three categories.
The first category includes 28 conditions that repeat bare minimum safety standards that PHMSA, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), or Canada requires TransCanada to comply with as a matter of law. This includes measures like meeting minimum strength requirements, putting down markers, or inspecting the pipeline route at least 26 times a year.
The second category includes 12 conditions that TransCanada must take to ensure that Keystone XL isn’t actually operating below legal safety standards. For instance, testing to try to prevent problems with defective steel that were encountered with Keystone I. Or making sure that TransCanada isn’t using parts that aren’t rated for the pipeline’s operating pressure.
In the third category are the five conditions that require TransCanada to keep records and report to PHMSA its progress in complying with these voluntary “special conditions.”
That leaves a dozen conditions that actually differ in some way from minimum standards:
Six of these include doing some early tests on the pipeline that are required of all pipelines in High Consequence Areas.
TransCanada must provide PHMSA with its construction plans for Keystone XL … plans which are already publicly available.
There’s a boilerplate condition that Keystone XL be puncture resistant to 65 tons (all applications for special permits require this).
TransCanada agrees to bury the pipeline six to 12 inches deeper than required by minimum safety standards. Of course, TransCanada already planned to do this before agreeing to these conditions.
TransCanada must have a plan to validate the data provided by their leak detection system.
TransCanada originally planned to have 104 shutdown valves — the company agreed to build two more.
TransCanada agrees to keep the pipeline temperature under 150 degrees F without justification. Of course, this doesn’t actually change the high temperature at which Keystone XL operates — it only describes it.
Finishing off the list are these minor changes: TransCanada agrees to copy PHMSA when it reports spills to the National Response Center, it’ll have cathodic protection in six months rather than a year, and it will run a pressure test for eight hours rather than four.
These conditions hardly justify the argument that due diligence for Keystone XL is unnecessary. They do, however, explain the abysmal record of past TransCanada pipelines which were approved with “special conditions.” Two of these pipelines began operation last year with similar lists of conditions. One has since had a dozen leaks, and the other exploded.
TransCanada agreed to 51 conditions for its high pressure Keystone I pipeline, describing the pipeline system as one that would “meet or exceed world-class safety and environmental standards.” After a year of operation, the pipeline has had a dozen leaks and is being investigated by federal pipeline safety regulators who found it to be an imminent threat to life, property, and the environment.
TransCanada also touted the extra safety measures it was taking for its “state-of-the-art” Bison natural gas pipeline. In July, TransCanada’s six-month-old pipeline exploded, destroying a 60-foot section with a shock wave that could be heard 30 miles away. This abysmal record would be surprising if these special conditions actually were “above and beyond what is required by law.”
To make matters worse, TransCanada appears ready to use these conditions “to request a special permit in the future” [PDF]. With a special permit — formerly called a safety waiver — TransCanada could operate the Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline at higher pressure than minimum standards allow.
One reason to question the effectiveness of Keystone XL’s special conditions is that pipeline safety regulators admit they don’t understand the risks presented by the pipeline. In a congressional hearing in June, top pipeline safety regulator Cynthia Quarterman admitted that her agency had not studied the risks posed by tar-sands pipelines and was not able to comment on them. Even when acting in good faith, it is difficult for an agency to effectively manage risks it hasn’t investigated and doesn’t understand.
Of course, unless PHMSA doesn’t know its own regulations, it is difficult to imagine that this list of 57 special conditions was written in good faith. It is being packaged as a list of conditions that manage the higher risks presented by Keystone XL. In truth, they are a hodgepodge of current regulations — some conditions actually repeat regulations word for word — and red herrings. Dressing these as answers to legitimate safety concern is both a disgrace and an insult to the American people.
It’s time for the State Department and PHMSA to stop shirking their responsibilities and do due diligence.A video commentary published by the London Guardian makes the argument that violence against “racists” should be tolerated in order to stop Donald Trump.
The video features Nesrine Malik, a Sudanese journalist living in London, arguing that physical attacks on Trump supporters should not be condemned because his voters are bigots.
Physical violence to advance a political goal – more commonly known as terrorism – has been embraced by segments of the left in the aftermath of Richard Spencer – a leading “alt-right” figure – being punched in the face by an Antifa protester during the the inauguration last month in Washington DC.
“When they go low, going high is not enough,” argues Malik, adding, “When Richard Spencer was punched in the street, it was a cathartic moment for many.”
Claiming that the attack on Spencer “caught us up,” Malik goes on to assert that “reasoned debate” is no longer sufficient when confronting “racists and misogynists”
“Why should we be better?,” she asks, adding that the refusal to embrace violence is “paralyzing liberal democracy”.
Malik says she wouldn’t encourage people to “punch Nazis,” having just made a philosophical argument encouraging that very thing.
She claims that “hard won freedoms” and “equalities” are under threat, without being able to name a single one, and that there is a “narcissism of good behavior” from liberals “that needs to be jettisoned”.
Malik overlooks the fact that ordinary Trump supporters, not Nazis, have already been the victims of numerous vicious attacks by crazed leftists throughout his campaign and after he won the election, including a mentally disabled teenager who was kidnapped and tortured while his abusers yelled “f**k Trump!”
Numerous left-wing journalists have also joked about or even openly called for terrorists to assassinate Trump, the latest being British Sunday Times columnist India Knight.
Here's a screenshot for when @indiaknight deletes it and plays the victim. pic.twitter.com/vaZYaRKTo8 — Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) January 29, 2017
She also fails to take into consideration the fact that once violence against one set of people for having the wrong opinion is normalized, it legitimizes violent attacks against any group based on the same premise.
So when a far-right extremist commits violence against minority or leftist groups, as happened in Quebec earlier this week, Malik has forfeited the right to have an opinion on it since she advocates the idea that you can violently attack people if you dislike their belief system without being condemned for it.
In essence, Malik’s argument is that simply labeling everyone a ‘racist’ or a ‘misogynist’ “doesn’t work” and that violence is now the only recourse.
Reaction to the video was vitriolic.
“You can justify anything as righteous, can’t you Guardian? You’re so sensitive that you respond to words with a fist and think it’s proportional?” said one respondent.
“In the political sphere the refusal to condemn those who employ violence as means of squashing dissent is equivalent to condoning it,” added another.
“Remember when you guys said calling someone a liar on the internet was cyberviolence? First you tried to silence people you hated, now you’re justifying physical violence. This will not end well for any of us,” commented another.
To witness the regressive left now brazenly embracing violence and domestic terrorism is chilling but not that surprising given their increasinglyclose alliance with Islamists, to the point where ISIS is now working to recruit far-left activists because the two groups broadly share the same goal.
Sent this to the Guardian. I encourage you to let them know how you feel. [email protected] https://t.co/fw0tBEtXXI pic.twitter.com/KLOdkiHroP — Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) February 1, 2017
SUBSCRIBE on YouTube:
Follow on Twitter: Follow @PrisonPlanet
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paul.j.watson.71
*********************
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor at large of Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com.After just two weeks, Adam Gase is intimately familiar with the brutal assault that NFL head coaching can put on your emotions. For Gase’s Dolphins, two games on the road against legitimate Super Bowl contenders (Seattle and New England) have resulted in an 0-2 record that, with a different bounce here and different roll there, could very well have been 2-0.
It’s not just that Gase’s Dolphins have lost. It’s that they’ve lost despite the fact that their offense—his offense, the one Gase was hired to transform—has played well. Or, at least they’ve played much better than what meets the eye. Sunday in Foxboro, Gase’s quarterbacking reclamation project, Ryan Tannehill, was 22 of 27 for 273 yards and two touchdowns in the second half. Playing mostly from a no-huddle, Tannehill figured out the Patriots’ matchup coverages and caught fire working the deep-intermediate levels from within the pocket. Highlights included near-perfect balls against man coverage on a 24-yard touchdown to Kenny Stills, a 33-yard slot wheel route to Jarvis Landry to convert third-and-1 and, best of all, on a tight-window 12-yard touchdown strike to Jordan Cameron against red-zone Cover 4 (the most congested zone coverage in football).
To be fair, Tannehill was playing from behind throughout all of this in part because the Dolphins’ offense produced a smorgasbord of mistakes in the first half. That included an awful interception where Tannehill failed to read linebacker Jamie Collins in the shallow free-defender spot that Collins occupies in so many of New England’s coverages. (Compounding the mistake was that defensive end Chris Long beat right tackle Ja’Wuan James to hit Tannehill on his release.) But all in all, and given the second half dominance, Gase’s offense played well enough to win on Sunday.
• ANDY BENOIT ON THE 10 THINGS PODCAST: A full breakdown of Sunday’s action, including what it all means, delivered early every Monday morning. Subscribe now!
For Gase personally, the loss at Seattle the week before was probably even worse. In that one, the Dolphins just barely failed to execute in a handful of crucial situations where the gameplan and strategy had won. No example was more egregious than the would-be 71-yard touchdown that Kenny Stills dropped. It wasn’t just that Stills got open and didn’t make the play. It’s that he got open on a gutsy call that Gase has presumably been sitting on for years. One of Gase’s regrets from his Super Bowl 48 loss to Seattle, when Gase was Denver’s offensive coordinator, is that he had a handful of brilliant deep-shot plays out of empty backfield formations that he knew would out-leverage Seattle’s foundational matchup Cover 3… but he didn’t trust his pass protection enough to call them. The next year, in the Broncos’ late comeback attempt at Seattle in Week 3, Gase did dial some of these up, and they yielded an Emmanuel Sanders 42-yarder and Jacob Tamme 26-yard touchdown that helped nearly create a miracle win.
In his first game as Miami’s head coach, Gase called another of these empty set deep shots on the Stills play. It was a considerable risk because Miami’s O-line was playing a rookie at left guard (Laremy Tunsil) and an inexperienced backup at center (Anthony Steen, in for an injured Mike Pouncey). Seattle’s front four was clearly the more explosive unit. Almost all empty formations involve quick passes because, with no one but the QB in the backfield, there’s no one to help the O-line in protection. But what Gase knew was: against empty formations, the Seahawks (in an effort to take away those quick passes) like to rush three and drop eight into coverage, with a defensive lineman stepping back into the shallow crossing lanes. (The Seahawks had done this very successfully against Gase’s Broncos in the Super Bowl.) With five blockers handling three rushers, there’d be time for Dolphins receivers to get downfield on the vertical routes that Seattle’s Cover 3 was inherently weak against. And that’s exactly what happened. Only Stills dropped the ball.
It’s one play, yes. But it’s a play Gase had probably been anticipating ever since learning back in spring that his new team would open the season at Seattle. The fact that he had a handful of similarly aggressive Cover 3 beaters in that game that also, for a variety of reasons, produced nothing makes it all the more painful.
Just like the pain one feels flying out of Massachusetts already down, essentially, 2 ½ games in the division after your offense dominated a fine-tuned defense in the second half. Until the Dolphins win, no one will notice how well Gase’s system is working and how comfortable Tannehill, his pet project, looks running it. In fact, talk radio hosts are more likely to yap about the young coach being in over his head. Welcome to NFL head coaching, Adam Gase. It’s the most bottom-line driven job in America.
• INSIDE THE HEAD-COACHING INTERVIEW PROCESS: An unprecedented look at what goes on behind closed doors.
Epilogue
As for that team that beat Miami on Sunday but saw its soon-to-be super-hyped quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo, go down with a shoulder injury after throwing for 234 yards and three touchdowns in about 25 minutes of game time…
The question now becomes: What can we expect from third-round rookie fill-in Jacoby Brissett? The answer: nobody knows. There’s no way to know. Third-string quarterbacks don’t get many reps in training camp even under normal circumstances, let alone on a team that had to get two starting quarterbacks ready.
On Sunday the Patriots used Brissett exactly like you’d use a mysterious, inexperienced QB who was playing with a lead. They lined up in heavy personnel—including more than 15 snaps with fullback James Develin—and handed the ball to power back LeGarrette Blount. When Brissett was asked to throw, it was usually on one-read plays, like screens and quick flings to the flat. These tactics, and only three days of preparation time, won’t be enough Thursday night against a Texans defense whose front seven is loaded and whose secondary is so cohesive in the matchup-zone coverages that its been perfecting for three years. Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels will have to pull something out of a hat.
Question or comment? Email us at [email protected]’s super simple video editing app Clips just got its first significant upgrade since launching in April. There are a couple of feature updates in the mix, but the biggest additions are content — including, most notably, a bunch of licensed characters from the Disney/Pixar universes, adding animated overlays and transitions starring familiar faces like Mickey and Woody.
Content is one of Clips’ key selling points, along with its simple-to-a-fault UI, and Apple’s promised to continue adding new stuff to the app, in order to keep things fresh. The addition of a bunch of iconic characters from Disney and movies like Toy Story and Inside Out will likely help the app get on the radar of more users faster than any standard old filter or overlay. This marks the latest in an on-going relationship between the two corporate powerhouses, including, most notably, the addition of a classic Mickey to the list of available Apple Watch faces.
The teams have done a good job incorporating animated graphical overlays of things Minnie dancing and Fear from Inside Out running away from everything. I haven’t actually played with the upgrade myself, but they add a nice, dynamic touch to videos created on the app.
The Disney partnership comes at a good time for the app (though it did just barely miss a debut at last week’s Star Wars-heavy D23). Initial interest in the app has seems to have waned after its release. As we noted, shortly after that premier, Clips scored up to one million downloads in its first four days in the charts, but according to App Annie numbers, its ranking fell off soon thereafter.
Perhaps continual updates will help the app get some more traction in the highly competitive Photo and Video category. Apple also released a minor update back in May, but that was mostly focused on feature tweaks and addressing stability concerns.
The new 1.1 update also brings additional overlays and posts from from Apple, along with a Live Tile edit button that makes it easier to interact with the app’s speech-to-text captioning — probably Clips’ most compelling feature. Disney characters will appear in the menus as soon as the update is installed, but users will have to download them individually like the its music offerings, in an attempt to keep the app’s size down.Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan celebrated the birth of their daughter Max with a promise to give 99 percent of their Facebook shares to a new charity. The couple announced the move in a letter addressed to their baby. (Reuters)
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday he plans to eventually donate 99 percent of the Facebook stock owned by him and his wife Priscilla Chan, shares that are worth about $45 billion today, making it one of the largest-ever philanthropic commitments.
Zuckerberg said in an open letter that the birth last week of their first child — a daughter named Max — was the motivation to dedicate their considerable wealth to charitable causes now. They wrote they did not want to wait to “advance human potential and promote equality for all children.”
“I will continue to serve as Facebook’s CEO for many, many years to come,” Zuckerberg wrote, “but these issues are too important to wait until you or we are older to begin this work.”
The money will be channeled into the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a newly formed group that will initially focus on education and health. It was also clear from Zuckerberg’s letter that he and his wife had learned lessons from their earlier philanthropic attempts and plan to move in a new direction.
Zuckerberg’s announcement stands out because of his relative youth — he’s just 31 — and the gift’s massive size. The donation also comes at a time when the world’s wealthiest business leaders seem to be challenging each other to give away their fortunes before they die. Just a few days ago, Zuckerberg joined Bill Gates and a number of other tech titans to boost clean-energy and climate research.
In 2010, Gates and Warren Buffett publicly launched the Giving Pledge to encourage billionaires to donate the bulk of their wealth to charity. Gates, the former Microsoft leader, already has given away $31.5 billion, mostly to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Buffet has given away more than $22 billion of his Berkshire Hathaway stock and plans to eventually donate nearly his entire fortune.
More than 130 billionaires worldwide have joined them, including Judy Faulkner, founder of electronic health records company Epic, who reportedly said she plans to give away 99 percent of her money. Also this year Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the richest men in the world,, said the pledge inspired him to eventually give away his entire fortune, more than $30 billion.
Zuckerberg quietly committed weeks ago to this pledge too, although his Nov. 9 Giving Pledge letter didn’t reveal the scale of his intentions.
A federal filing shows the Facebook co-founder will start by giving away up to $1 billion a year in Facebook stock for the first three years. Such tax-efficient arrangements are not unusual for gifts to private foundations.
"He clearly wants to be perceived as a leader of his generation in the same way as Buffett and Gates are theirs," said Richard Marker of the New York advisory firm Wise Philanthropy.
The couple revealed their plans in a lengthy “letter to our daughter” published on Facebook, the social network Zuckerberg co-founded while a student at Harvard and which today has 1.5 billion monthly active users worldwide.
Their daughter’s full name is Maxima Chan Zuckerberg, and she was born just before Thanksgiving, weighing 7 pounds, 8 ounces, according to a Facebook spokeswoman.
In the open letter, Zuckerberg and Chan talked about the potential that technology offers to re-engineer the way children learn.
“Our generation grew up in classrooms where we all learned the same things at the same pace regardless of our interests or needs,” they wrote.
Zuckerberg and Chan have given $15 million to AltSchool, a for-profit corporation founded by a former Google executive working to create a network of schools that use technology to personalize instruction. The couple also has given $120 million to traditional public schools and public charter schools in the San Francisco Bay Area.
But Zuckerberg’s first foray into education philanthropy was in itself a learning experience. In 2010, he gave $100 million to remake public schools in Newark, N.J., with mixed results.
Critics of that effort said the plan faltered in part because it was a top-down approach that called for wholesale changes in the city’s public schools with plans crafted by outsiders, not community members.
In their letter to Max, Zuckerberg and Chan talked about the value of learning from mistakes.
“Your mother and I have both taught students and we’ve seen what it takes to make this work,” the couple wrote. “It will take working with the strongest leaders in education to help schools around the world adopt personalized learning. It will take engaging with communities, which is why we’re starting in our San Francisco Bay Area community.”
Zuckerberg and Chan, a pediatrician and onetime teacher, plan to open a private, tuition-free school for low-income children in East Palo Alto, Calif., that will integrate health care and support for families with classroom learning.
While the letter to their daughter Max was obviously intended for a much wider audience, revealing their ambition to fund billions of dollars in new philanthropic works, the couple ended their note in a more personal, quiet fashion.
It was signed simply, “Love, Mom and Dad.”
[In a letter to newborn, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife imagine a world without suffering from disease.]Jeremy Jacobsohn guided his Piper Arrow down a runway at Lee Airport toward a kaleidoscope of fall color in the woods ahead. As the plane ascended, leaving suburban Edgewater behind, the houses became tiny dots and the Chesapeake Bay came slowly into view.
“This is the roller coaster part,” he said with a laugh.
Soon, Jacobsohn swooped south over the white-capped Chesapeake, then past the forested haven of Parker’s Creek in Calvert County toward Dominion’s liquefied natural gas plant under construction at Cove Point. He climbed to 2,000 feet for a panorama, then back down to 1,000 feet and east across the Bay for a closer look at the amber marshes hugging Deal and Hooper’s islands. Soon, he could see all of Ocean City out one window, then Chincoteague Bay and the long narrow buildings that hold the millions of chickens grown on the Delmarva Peninsula.
There’s nothing quite like seeing the Bay watershed from a small plane, both to appreciate its beauty and the coming threats. Environmental advocates have been using aerial photography to press pollution cases in courts, lobby for tougher laws and expose truths about disasters such as the hog waste from ruptured farm lagoons contaminating floodwaters in North Carolina this fall after Hurricane Matthew.
Those flights are about to become more frequent. Southwings, one of three national organizations of pilots who fly volunteer environmental missions, just opened an office in Annapolis in August. It is the first such group to set up in the Bay watershed. The effort is directed by Shannon Lyons, a longtime Bay policy analyst with a Ph.D. in marine policy. She has recruited seven pilots to take activists, journalists, scientists and policy makers into the air.
So far, Jacobsohn is the only pilot in Maryland; a software engineer by profession, he flies for fun every other Friday and has taken Southwings passengers on about a dozen missions so far. They have flown over coal mines to help the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign and over mountaintops removed by energy companies to look for evidence of erosion, loss of biodiversity and deforestation.
“The cases that Southwings was looking at really resonate with me due to my personal politics and my general guilt at being a consumer of all these things,” said Jacobsohn, who learned to fly two decades ago at the Dayton, OH, air force base located where Wilbur and Orville Wright perfected their pioneering flying machine. “I want to be sure we do what we can to mitigate the problem.”
Aerial photos have been a part of environmental litigation for decades, but advocates say they are becoming even more important because of privacy concerns and so-called “ag-gag” laws in effect in several states now that forbid citizens from going on a farm property to take photographs or videos. More than half of the states have enacted restrictions on drones and their use for photography, though not Maryland or Virginia — yet.
But while regulations are increasing on drones, no state appears to have a law outright banning aerial flights over farms and factories. (There is restricted airspace over much of Washington, DC, and about a dozen places with military bases and NASA operations for security reasons, as well as over Walt Disney World in Florida.) And as more pilots sign on to the environmental cause, more advocates are discovering the power of the view from the air.
“Almost everyone who walks through the door now has a photo,” said Jackie Guild, executive director of the Chesapeake Legal Alliance, which pairs nonprofit groups with attorneys willing to donate their time to environmental causes. Guild, a former litigator, said the photos help her figure out what kind of case the applicant might have. If she can see a discharge path, is it a Clean Water Act violation?
It was an aerial photo that triggered one of the Bay region’s most highly publicized — and ultimately unsuccessful — pollution lawsuits. In 2009, Assateague Coastkeeper Kathy Phillips flew over the Eastern Shore to look at chicken farms and photographed what she thought was a large pile of poultry manure, with water running from it to a nearby drainage ditch. Subsequent sampling downstream from the Berlin poultry farm owned by Alan and Kristin Hudson found high levels of |
losure system for athletes with disabilities, a project that began after Jeff Johnson, Nike’s first-ever employee, had a stroke and lost use of the right side of his body. Tobie Hatfield, who was in charge of the project, got in touch with Walzer.
Hatfield is the younger brother of famed Nike designer Tinker Hatfield and an accomplished designer in his own right. He even played a key role in developing the running blades used by Oscar Pistorius and Sarah Reinertsen. He had been working on a sneaker design that would make it easier for people with limited use of their hands to put on for years.
“I started thinking about doors on a hinge,” Hatfield says in a video Nike posted about the release. “When you open it, it’s literally like a hinged door. Then you just close the door.”
Nike delivered a custom sneaker to Walzer.
“I’ll never forget that night, taking them out of the box and putting them on,” he says in the video. “I just felt this wave of independence that I never got to experienced before.”
But Hatfield didn’t just want a one-off, and he used the opportunity to make a product that Nike could scale for mass production. He and Walzer collaborated on developing the sneaker for three years, sending samples back and forth to constantly refine the shoe.
The result is the Flyease, which features an innovative zipper closure that unwraps like an orange peel, while being easy to secure and offering the ankle support that athletes—of all abilities—need.
Nike Peel them like an orange.
The design is smart, and the zipper system is attractive in a way that could make it appealing to customers beyond just those who need it. And while Nike isn’t the first company trying to make the routine of dressing simpler for people with disabilities—MagnaReady, for instance, offers dress shirts with magnetic closures for exactly this reason—it’s probably the biggest and most recognized brand to do so.
That’s good, because more than 50 million Americans live with disabilities—to say nothing of the number worldwide—and many of them participate in athletic or fitness activities. It’s an underserved market.
The new shoe resonates with a line from the company’s original mission statement: In the words of Bill Bowerman, the company’s co-founder and creator of its first sneakers: “If you have a body, you’re an athlete.”So Slaven Bilics contract is up next summer and I am getting a little worried. Rumours of Roberto Mancini having talks with David Sullivan, I find very strange and if true then it is incredibly disrespectful to Slav.
For me Bilic has been a breath of fresh air. I wont bring up my thoughts on our last manager, but he is the complete opposite. He has passion on the touchline, he loves the club and when we lose you just know that it hurts him just as much as us fans.
In his first season he gave us some of the best days/nights beating Liverpool (three times), Man City and Chelsea - and no one will ever forget that game vs Man Utd.
This season he has dealt with so many problems; the stadium move, the Payet situation, lack of investment in the team all this and were ninth in the league. Even in the bad times this season the fans still sung his name I think the Board really have to look at that and the relationship he has with the fans. Its been a while since there has been such a connection.
We had a great season last year and I was so disappointed that the owners failed to back him in the summer transfer window. We (he) was promised a '20-goal-a-season striker' and we ended up with Simone Zaza and Jonathan Calleri on loan deals.Ayew came in for £20million eventually but hes played the majority of his career as a winger/attacking midfielder and is clearly not an out-and-out striker. Other deals done were free transfers or small fees; Sofiane Feghouli, Havard Nordtviet, Edimilson Fernandes, Alvaro Arbeloa and Gokhan Tore.A lot of squad players yet none of them improving the first team. Not backing the manager going into the new stadium was a massive error, in my opinion.Look at other teams in the league; Crystal Palace signing Christian Benteke for £30m (and then spending another £40m+ in January!), Bournemouth paid £15m for Jordan Ibe, Everton £30m for Yannick Bolasie, Middlesborough £16m on Patrick Bamford and Rudy GestedeA recent report from Deloitte says that we have the 18th-highest revenue in world football at £143.8million. What I would like to know, is where this money is?We still have no first choice right back and we are, incredibly, still relying on Andy Carroll to stay fit. Bilic now has no other choice but to play Michail Antonio there, whose best position is clearly on the wing.In January we had the chance to invest in the team and we purchased a centre back and a winger. No striker, no right back. Had we had those two positions filled we surely would have taken our chances against West Brom and Watford and picked up six points instead of the two. (I know poor refereeing decisions havent helped either).The club stated it was Bilics decision not to sign anyone, but I personally dont believe that for a minute. He said he wanted Defoe, yet the owners offered just £6m. Hardly backing the manager is it?It looks to me as if the owners will come up with any excuse not to spend money. We made £7m profit (on transfer fees) in January so youd think there would be a big budget for the summer? Lets wait and see, but weve heard that before!Bilic dealt with the Dimitri Payet situation with class and to be honest, youd expect nothing less from the man. His best player who Bilic invested so much into, a player he got playing his best football and back in the France set-up.It must have really hurt Slav how it all came out. You can tell how let down he was when he revealed Payet was refusing to play. The way he handled it has brought the whole squad together and results and performances have improved. From relegation trouble we now sit ninth.Bilic and his coaching staff deserve massive credit for that.If Sullivan is really thinking of changing the manager (Im really struggling to understand why) who is the alternative? Roberto Mancini? He did a good job at Man City, but he also had unlimited funds, which he wouldnt have here. (Hell have unlimited South Americans on loan, though!)Mancini has no connection with West Ham and was sacked before the season started by Inter Milan after losing 6-1 to Tottenham in a friendly!In my opinion there isnt a better manager out there for West Ham United than Slaven Bilic. He suits the club down to the ground. He just gets 'us' - and we get 'him'. Come on West Ham, sort this out before the end of the season and reward Bilic with a new contract.* Catch up with Jamie via twitter at @JimboNorwood
Please note that the opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, nor should be attributed to, KUMB.com.Every year, about 15 million pounds of alligator fat is dumped into landfills as a byproduct of alligator meat processing. It would certainly be better to reuse this gloopy mess for a greater purpose, no? As it turns out, alligator fat is a prime candidate for animal-derived biodiesel, according to researchers in Louisiana.
Worldwide food shortages have been causing widespread famine this year, especially in the horn of Africa, which raises some questions about the efficacy (and fairness) of using food crops like corn and soybeans to make biofuels.
Food waste is a good alternative, and we've seen plenty of projects that use restaurant frying oil repurposed as biodiesel, for instance. But this does not come close to meeting the nation's diesel needs — in 2008 alone, Americans consumed 45 billion gallons of diesel, according to the authors of this alligator study. Rendered animal fat could supplement food waste, but some animal fats are not very suitable for biofuel production.
Researchers at the University of Louisiana set about trying to determine if alligators could be a better source. Srividya Ayalasomayajula, Ramalingam Subramaniam and their colleagues knew alligator fat has a high lipid content, which could make it a strong biodiesel candidate. To test this hypothesis, the scientists obtained some frozen alligator samples from meat producers, and microwaved it to render the fat. They also used a chemical solvent.
Microwaving it resulted in a 61 percent recovery by weight, the researchers found. Just to be sure, they went ahead and refined some biodiesel, and found the oil's fatty acid profile meets all the requirements for high-quality biodiesel — it has a little excess calcium and magnesium, but an improved refining process can dispense with that. Check out their paper for the full rundown.Share. Director Masahiro Sakurai responds to critics and even compares Pit's adventure to Super Smash Bros. Director Masahiro Sakurai responds to critics and even compares Pit's adventure to Super Smash Bros.
For all its strengths, Kid Icarus Uprising had one polarizing element that frustrated many gamers. The game's controls, which use the 3DS's circle pad for movement and the stylus for aiming, proved cumbersome. Determining the best position to hold the system while playing, particularly with the angle-sensitive 3D effect turned on, proved problematic for many. Adding to this issue is the fact that Uprising supports the Circle Pad Pro, which adds a second stick to the 3DS, but only to allow for left-handed play - yet it still doesn't allow gamers to control Pit with dual-stick controls.
"Considering how close to the limit we pushed the 3DS during development, it's a miracle that we were even able to provide support for left-handed controls at the point of completion," Uprising director Masahiro Sakurai told me in an e-mail interview. "Providing support for independent analog control was something that was technically impossible."
Exit Theatre Mode
Sakurai's doubts about the implementation of dual-slider control ranged well beyond whether his team could have technically achieved those settings during the game's development. His reasoning extended to competitive equality and innovation as well. "I do have my doubts over whether it'd be that easy to provide support," Sakurai said. "I think any game needs to provide new experiences and stimulating things to discover, but if we provided run-of-the-mill controls for it, that cuts down on the game's potential. If a player used to touchscreen-based aiming played against someone used to right-analog control, the first player would probably dominate. The speed is on a whole different level."
At the root of the demand for a dual-stick solution is the fact that holding a 3DS while aiming with the stylus doesn't always feel the best, particularly when trying to keep the portable still for an optimum 3D effect.
"If there are players who say that it makes their hand tired, that's because you're applying too much force," Sakurai told me. "Try to relax and work on building a rhythm to your control. Place the pen in the middle of the touchscreen; when you're flicking it, take the pen off the screen as you're sweeping with it, and stop right there. That's the basic idea."
Sakurai's steadfast belief in his latest production comes from the fact that he's been doubted before. As odd as it might seem now, some 13 years after the franchise has become one of Nintendo's biggest, there were plenty of those who doubted the direction of Super Smash Bros.
"Smash Bros. led to similar misunderstandings when it first came out," Sakurai said. "Some people, including within the company, commented that they couldn't imagine a worse game. The project was really saved by the fact that people "got" how to play it after it was released. If we had just listened to the complaints and instituted health gauges or command-based special moves, I don't think we would have invented a new style of play that way. The controls here really aren't that difficult, either, so I'm hoping that people will be able to get used to them."
Rich is an Executive Editor of IGN.com and the 'Papa Koopa' of the IGN Nintendo team. He also covers Resident Evil, Assassin's Creed and much more. Join him in his ridiculous adventures on Twitter, Tumblr and IGN. Got questions about IGN, Nintendo or games? You can ask Rich on his Tumblr Q&A page. Keep it cool, Koopalings.PA-8: DCCC, Rendell Trying to Push Santarsiero Out of the Race
Written by Nick Field, Managing Editor
Democratic Party leaders in Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. are beginning a push to convince PA-8 candidate and State Rep. Steve Santarsiero to drop out of the race.
According to a Democratic aide with close ties to the DCCC, the worries stem primarily from Santarsiero’s poor fundraising.
He was outraised in the second quarter by his opponent Shaughnessy Naughton, despite a $40,000 loan that the State Rep. gave to his campaign.
The leaders at the DCCC, who haven’t endorsed a candidate, met recently to discuss the 2016 congressional nationwide landscape. Along with the current regime, former DCCC head Steve Israel was also in attendance. They are particularly upset that Santarsiero’s numbers are so far behind similar Democratic candidates in highly targeted seats.
Pennsylvania’s Eighth District was described as a top three target in 2016.
The 8th consists of all of Bucks County (which has gone Democratic for the last six presidential elections) and a more rural, Republican part of Upper Montgomery County. Altogether, the district went to Mitt Romney by just a single point in 2012.
Additionally, popular four-term Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick is retiring. Open seats are much more likely to switch parties and presidential election years tend to yield a more Democratic-leaning electorate.
Democrats see a prime pick-up opportunity and want to avoid a costly primary.
Last year, Naughton battled the DCCC-backed Kevin Strouse. In that contest, Strouse had a heavy financial advantage yet won by just 817 votes.
Party leaders want to avoid a similar fight. In fact, they’re envious of the way the Bucks County GOP have been able to clear the field for State Rep. Scott Petri. At the moment, Petri has two potential primary challengers but they aren’t perceived as serious threats and Republicans will likely rally behind Petri.
DCCC officials are also worried that Santarisiero’s record as a legislator in Harrisburg could prove to be an albatross in a general election campaign. The State Rep. has had to take many tough votes (including Gov. Corbett’s transportation bill) while Naughton has no track record to attack.
EMILY’s List, the powerful organization that promotes pro-choice female candidates, are also preparing to go all in for Naughton.
It hasn’t gone unnoticed that a Democratic ticket headed by presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton, soon-to-be Senate candidate Katie McGinty and Congressional candidate Shaughnessy Naughton could have major appeal to female voters.
Finally, a major proponent of putting all the party’s resources behind Naughton has been former Gov. Ed Rendell. Rendell threw his support behind her in the waning days of the 2014 campaign and endorsed her as soon as she declared this time.
The ex-Governor is reaching out to contacts in D.C. and urging them to support Naughton.
Currently, Democrats are hoping to convince Santarsiero to drop out by the end of the next fundraising quarter to give Naughton sufficient time to pool her resources and gather strength for the upcoming general election in 2016.
PoliticsPA reached out to the DCCC, Governor Rendell and both campaigns. The DCCC and Naughton campaigns declined to comment. Gov. Rendell did not get back to PoliticsPA.
“We are excited about all the support for Steve so far, including grassroots support and endorsements from Democratic leaders, local committees, and organized labor,” responded the Santarsiero campaign. “This campaign is about the voters of the 8th District and we are confident we are building a campaign to win in 2016.”
UPDATE: NRCC Spokesman Chris Pack released the following statement in response:
“It’s nice to see that the DCCC still can’t get out of their own way by meddling in PA-08 yet again. We’re sure that 80-plus Democratic officials who have endorsed Steve Santarsiero are totally cool with D.C. Democrats coming to town to hand-pick their own candidate to try and advance Nancy Pelosi’s extreme agenda.”
UPDATE 2: The Santarsiero campaign sent a message from the candidate himself to PoliticsPA:
“The claim that Democrats are pushing us out of the race is ridiculous. I am proud to have received the endorsement of 8 local committees, Democratic leaders throughout the region, 9 unions and have out-raised my primary opponent to date. I know what it takes to beat Republicans and I’m the only candidate on either side with a record of winning in a swing district. I’m confident that we are building the campaign we need to win in 2016 and this is a desperate move by a campaign that’s falling behind.”
UPDATE 3: DCCC spokesman Jermaine House sent the following response to PoliticsPA:
“The DCCC is not actively involved in shaping this primary. We are confident that either of the candidates in the race right now can win in 2016.”
July 27th, 2015 | Posted in Congress, Front Page Stories, Top Stories | 36 CommentsCommencing with the role Virat Kohli played in changing the Indian coach, it has been fascinating to watch the influence of current international captains on their respective teams.
Kohli didn't have the same harmonious relationship with Anil Kumble that he enjoyed with Ravi Shastri when he was cricket director. The fact that India have now reverted to Shastri as coach prompts the question: "Why change something that isn't broken?"
If a coach is to be inflicted on a captain then at least it should be someone with whom he's comfortable.
On the subject of captains and selection, I'm not in favour of the skipper being on the panel. I used to believe the captain should have a vote, but I was dissuaded of that notion by the wise counsel of Richie Benaud. He explained that a captain might be tempted to justify his choice by utilising a player in favourable circumstances.
Joe Root is a good example of Benaud's theory of the captain having input into selection but not a vote. It was widely trumpeted that Root got the team of his choice before the first Test and this seemed like a good idea after England comfortably won the opening joust.
Nevertheless, the Australian fast bowlers would have been salivating when they saw that Root chose as his No. 3 batsman a Yorkshire team-mate and former flat-mate, Gary Ballance.
There's no doubt Ballance is a determined cricketer and a successful first-class batsman, but his flawed technique and limited range of shots isn't suited to No. 3 in an Ashes series. The ideal No. 3 should be able to take charge of an innings at some point, and Ballance is too easily tied down not only by accurate pace bowlers but also good spinners. It was a strange choice, considering he doesn't bat at three for his county.
The other dubious Root choice was spinner Liam Dawson. There's always a red flag when a spinner is chosen because he can make runs. England already has a capable one of those in Moeen Ali and he's a better bowler than Dawson. On the evidence of Lord's, it's time Moeen was recognised as England's premier spinner.
South Africa were full of bite and vigour after their captain Faf du Plessis returned to the side for the second Test PA Photos/Getty Images
The England hierarchy, perhaps blinded by the team's success in the shorter forms of the game, has been guilty of picking too many supposed two-way players in the Test side. They have two extremely efficient allrounders in Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes (when he's fit). They need to fill the other nine spots with specialists.
After England's comprehensive first-Test victory, Root hinted that he'd like a stronger challenge from his opponents. This comment comfortably resides in the category of "be careful what you wish for"; England went from 211-run victors to 340-run losers in the space of a week. A cheeky opponent might ask: "Is that the type of challenge you were looking for, Joe?"
One big difference between the first and second Tests was the presence of Faf du Plessis at the helm of the South African side. It's no coincidence that that resulted in a much-improved performance from the team. Du Plessis is a hard-grafting cricketer but a natural captain. He impressed with his leadership in South Africa's series win in Australia, and his firm hand was again evident at Trent Bridge.
Good captaincy is hard to define but you know it when you see it. Sometimes it can be as simple as du Plessis' encouragement to Chris Morris: "Bowl as fast as you can and forget about everything else." This had the desired effect, as following that advice, Morris turned an unimpressive opening spell of three expensive overs into match-changing figures of 5 for 45.
It's notable that South Africa achieved their massive turnaround without a coach, as Russell Domingo had returned home due to the unfortunate death of his mother.
The moral of this story? Make sure you appoint the right captain, ensure a strong selection panel and only then worry about finding the appropriate coach.Monrovia (AFP) - Liberia said on Friday it was banning journalists from Ebola clinics, defying media rights campaigners who have warned panicked African governments against "muzzling" reporters.
Government spokesman Isaac Jackson made the announcement as he was questioned on a radio phone-in show about reporters being barred from covering a strike at a Monrovia Ebola treatment unit (ETU).
"Journalists are no longer allowed to enter ETUs. These journalists enter the ETUs and cross red lines," Jackson, the deputy information minister, told listeners to commercial station Sky FM.
"They violate people's privacy, take pictures that they will sell to international institutions. We are putting an end to that."
Journalists had earlier been denied access to the Island Clinic in Monrovia to cover a nationwide "go slow" day of action by healthcare workers demanding risk bonuses for treating Ebola.
The minister said he would insist that journalists report his statements from now on rather than what they saw for themselves.
Sources from global aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF, Doctors Without Borders), which runs a unit of around 250 beds in Monrovia, said it would be writing to the government to ask to be excluded from the ban.
Liberia is ranked 89th out of 180 countries in the 2014 press freedom index produced by Reporters Without Borders.
- 'Quarantining journalists' -
The media rights campaign group warned that panicked governments fighting the epidemic were "quarantining" reporters to prevent them covering the crisis.
"Combatting the epidemic needs good media reporting but panicked governments are muzzling journalists," the organisation, known by its French initials RSF, said in a statement.
Liberia's announcement came after soldiers prevented the media in Guinea from investigating the murders in September of eight people, including three journalists, during an Ebola education visit.
In Liberia, medics have been banned from communicating directly with the media, RSF said, while Sierra Leone has threatened to adopt draconian measures against journalists criticising its Ebola response.
The Island Clinic, Liberia's largest government Ebola treatment centre, is run by the World Health Organization (WHO) and opened in September.
Like all units run by NGOs, it is under-resourced and overrun by demand, forced to fill in for a public health infrastructure that has been decimated by 14 years of civil war and grinding poverty.
Although a "go slow" campaign was officially due to start on Friday, the clinic has been crippled by staff protests all week.
- 'We're risking our lives' -
"Most of the workers are no longer coming to work. The few ones who come don't work. We don't have the manpower needed to do the work here at the centre," director Atai Omoruto told reporters before the government clampdown.
Omoruto said the centre had been designed for a maximum capacity of 150 beds but had been forced to take in 300 patients.
Alphonso Wesseh, representing the clinic's healthcare workers, told AFP the government had refused to pay benefits for dealing with Ebola and salaries were as low as $250 a month.
"We cannot work under these conditions. We are risking our lives every day and the government remains insensitive to our plight. This is not human."
Ebola, which spreads through contact with bodily fluids, has infected around 8,000 people and killed almost half of them.
Liberia, the country hit hardest by the outbreak, has seen more than 2,000 deaths -- including 94 healthcare workers -- from the haemorrhagic fever which the virus causes.
The government announced on Wednesday it was postponing nationwide senatorial elections which had been due on Tuesday next week, with no new date yet announced.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and her counterparts in Sierra Leone and Guinea pressed the heads of the International Monetary Fund, United Nations and World Bank on Thursday for a more rapid rollout of support to fight the epidemic.
"This will also require support for compensation to healthcare workers who, for fear of the risk involved, have refused or are reluctant to return to work," she told the Washington conference via video link.
The United Nations said on Friday it had quarantined 41 personnel from its Liberia mission, including 20 soldiers, following a second Ebola infection among its staff.
The measure came two days after the mission, known as UNMIL, announced an "international staff member" working in its medical department tested positive after complaining of symptoms consistent with the Ebola virus.In a pair of recent cases, the National Labor Relations Board has ruled against businesses who fired workers who used profanity in the workplace.
In one case, the NLRB ruled that a business shouldn't have fired an employee even though he berated the owner to his face. In the other, the board ruled that Starbucks was wrong to fire an employee even though he used profanity and got into an altercation with a manager in front of customers.
Big Business has expressed alarm at the NLRB's stance. In a posting on its website Friday, the Chamber of Commerce wrote that the board was "flat-out undermining the ability of employers to exercise even the most basic principles of running a business."
In the first case, "Plaza Auto Center, Inc. and Nick Aguirre," the NLRB ruled on May 28th that a Yuma, Ariz., car dealership owner was wrong in 2008 to fire a worker who had called him an "asshole" and "f---ing crook" and similar insults during an office meeting to discuss a wage dispute. The NLRB said that owner had instigated the incident by telling the employee that if he didn't like the pay, he could work elsewhere. That was an "implied threat" of firing, according to the board.
"The facts in the case persuade us that [the employee's] outburst would not have occurred but for [the owner's] provocation, which included threats of discharge," the majority ruled.
On Monday, the NLRB ruled on "Starbucks Corp. and Local 660, Industrial Workers of the World," again finding that a worker's profanity was not reason enough for dismissal. That case involved a Manhattan barista who was a vocal union supporter. He was fired in 2005 after he came into the store he worked at on his off hours to engage in a union protest. He then became involved in an altercation with a customer who was also a Starbucks manager from a different store. The worker told the other manager "You can go f--- yourself" in front of customers, among other things.
The board ruled that while the actions would ordinarily be firing offenses, Starbucks' real reason for firing the worker was his pro-union activity. It noted various cases where Starbucks had not fired employees for profane outbursts — including the other manager in the dispute, even though he also used profanity in the same exchange.
In both cases, the employers were ordered to rehire the employees and pay them for lost wages.For the first time ever, a biographical film will premiere on television. Set to premiere on '&pictures' channel, the film will trace the life and struggle of real-life hero Shanmughan Manjunath. The Indian Institue of Management Lucknow graduate lost his life in a battle against oil mafia and corruption in Uttar Pradesh.
The channel will also be initiating a candlelight march in the memory of Manjunath, on November 19. A series of interactive sessions were also held in the IIMs at Ahmedabad, Indore and Delhi, with social activists, civil servants and students.
About the biopic, director Sandeep Varma explained that it would set the facts right about what happened before and after the death of the unsung hero. He said: "I think, the subject picked me as I bumped into the life of late Manjunath, who is pretty much alive amongst his supporters, all of whom are still fighting for him and his cause. I was so moved by this real-life story that I planned to make the film."
The film has been shot at real locations that Shanmughan frequented. The world television premiere which aims at reaching out to Indians, as well as audiences across the globe, so they can get a personal look into the heart rending tale of the former manager of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).
The biopic will air on November 19, Manjunath's ninth death anniversary, at 8pm. It stars Divya Dutta and Yashpal Verma.
Manjunath was a marketing manager for the IOC at Lakhimpur Kheri, a remote district in rural Uttar Pradesh. He had ordered two petrol pumps to be sealed, as they were selling adulterated petrol. On November 19, 2005, he was shot to death while he was conducting a surprise raid.After launching its own Toronto-based cinema in 2012, Canadian festival Hot Docs plans to expand the venture by adding an additional 50-seat screen, via a smaller second venue.
Hot Docs opened the doors on the refurbished, 727-seat, single-screen Bloor Hot Docs Cinema in March 2012, after receiving funding support from the Blue Ice Group.
Talking to realscreen, Hot Docs executive director Chris McDonald (pictured above) said: “One thing we’re looking forward to is expanding the cinema and opening a second, smaller venue at the Bloor – a small, 50-seat, state of the art second venue, based on the success of what we’ve done so far.”
He explained that the old vaudeville theater has an unoccupied, five-story “fly tower” located behind its main screen, which the Hot Docs team plans to renovate as a 50-seat digital cinema. “We would effectively double our number of screens,” McDonald said.
“We had almost 150,000 people through the doors of the Bloor in the nine months it’s been open, and most of them are seeing docs – so that’s good news for filmmakers and producers.”
The expansion is currently in the pre-planning stage, with no timeline set for the project as of yet.
While McDonald characterizes the Bloor’s first year of operation as a success, he said that running a cinema has been a learning experience for the festival team.
“We’ve learned that programming a cinema is very different from programming a festival,” he said. “Festival films don’t necessarily do well in the cinema, and vice versa. We’re having a harder time finding an audience for heavier, more serious material than we would at the festival.
“We’re averaging roughly 90 people per screening which is very good; we had forecast about 40, or something like that.”
One concern proving unfounded so far is whether there would be the “depth of product” available that would make running a theater viable. “We asked ourselves, are we going to be able to find enough content to run a cinema 365 days a year? And the answer is a resounding yes – there are plenty of good films that we’re not even able to find space for in the calendar,” said McDonald.
The 2013 Hot Docs festival takes place in Toronto from April 25-May 5.
Clarification, 12.50 p.m. EST: This article originally stated that Hot Docs hopes to lift the curtain on the second venue this year, however a Hot Docs spokesman has clarified to realscreen that the expansion is still in the pre-planning stage, and no timeline is set for the project at present.Hello everyone! Andy Lagopus here! Miss me? It’s been a seriously busy week for me- I got a job at an online media startup, which has taken up all of my time I’d normally spend posting here.
Which doesn’t mean I’m not going to work on ZNN! I’m just having some scheduling conflicts, that’s all.
That said, the ZNN team deserves a lot of credit for keeping the content coming this last week. You guys are awesome!
Get your fanfiction below, and I’ll see you all tomorrow!
Updated Stories:
Always my Sly Bunny, Always my Dumb Fox by Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps
Fallout: Zootopia by CiderStripes
When Instinct Falls by Upplet
Zähmen by Icka M Chif (Mischif)
The Worst Connection by RadRedKnuxFan
The Campaign by Nota999
New chapters after the break!
Always my Sly Bunny, Always my Dumb Fox by Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps
Fallout: Zootopia by CiderStripes
When Instinct Falls by Upplet
Zähmen by Icka M Chif (Mischif)
The Worst Connection by RadRedKnuxFanThe Maine Republican Party has added additional votes accidentally omitted from Saturday’s caucus results, state party chairman Charlie Webster told The Daily Caller Wednesday. But those votes won’t be publicly released.
“We don’t want any more drama,” Webster told TheDC. “I’ve already got death threats and 1,800 emails.”
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was declared the victor in Maine over the weekend, claiming a slim 194-vote lead over Texas Rep. Ron Paul.
Paul supporters, however, expressed dismay over errors in tabulating vote counts in various localities, including several towns in Waldo County. That county’s Republican committee passed a motion of censure against Webster on Tuesday.
In addition to the missing votes, a caucus scheduled for Washington County on Saturday was postponed due to a forecast of snow. The Paul campaign insisted that it would have won the state had the vote not been pushed back, and the county’s GOP chair is advocating that its results be included in the ultimate tally.
The Paul campaign is expected to make a serious push for turnout in Washington County’s rescheduled caucus this Saturday.
“If Romney lost by 20 votes, would we be having this big discussion?” Webster mused.
According to Webster, he has been an honest broker, but he will not release the updated vote count ahead a March 10 meeting of the 83-or-so-member state party committee because “people are going to sense a conspiracy and this is going to keep going.”
Webster’s brusque treatment of criticism has rubbed many Paul supporters the wrong way. After announcing the results on Saturday, he proclaimed that Washington County’s votes would not count, infuriating Paul supporters.
But the clerical error in tabulating initial results has been perhaps the most serious charge against his leadership.
“What I tell people is that I’m not going to fire my staff because they make clerical errors,” he said. “My poor staffer is in tears, because people are harassing her.” (RELATED: Maine GOP to consider counting late caucus votes)
Webster maintains that Paul should call it quits in Maine, saying that achieving a 200-vote margin of victory in Washington County — where only 113 voters cast ballots in the 2008 GOP race — “isn’t humanly possible.”
Asked if anyone has access to the updated results, which he said show Romney with a greater lead after vote adjustments, Webster said absolutely not.
“No one has access,” he said. “There will be no access. We will give it to the committee on March 10. We are not going to release them. People can whine and complain and plead, but I’m not going to make them public.”
Webster said that all he wants is for the “press feeding frenzy” to end. “I’m not going to restart the fire” by releasing the updated results, he said.
Follow Steven on TwitterVeteran pollster Pat Caddell warns that Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s vote for the North American Free Trade Agreement during his tenure in Congress could cost him both his approval rating as governor and the critical state primary.
“I believe — I haven’t gone back and looked — but I think he was in Congress in ’93 and if so, I’d bet you he voted for NAFTA. How much do you want to bet? Somebody ought to look that one up. That’s the real point this morning that could change the election in Ohio,” he told Breitbart News executive chairman and host Stephen K. Bannon on Breitbart News Daily Friday morning.
“If he did, as I suspect, vote for NAFTA, he could get killed on this now,” he continued.
Caddell warned that voters who saw their state and the nation’s manufacturing core gutted by free trade deals would dump Kasich for Trump.
“If Kasich voted for NAFTA and Trump gets a hold of that, he will lose Ohio,” he said.
Kasich did in fact vote for the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993 while serving in the House of Representatives. During a January GOP debate, he also declared: “I’m a free-trader. I supported NAFTA, I believe in the PTT [sic] because it’s important those countries in Asia are an interface against China.”
Kasich also backs President Obama’s trade agenda — with disastrous results for the American workers he boasts of protecting. According to analysis from the Economic Policy Institute, “Ohio lost 112,500 jobs due to the nation’s trade deficit with TPP countries,” as Breitbart News previously reported.
Breitbart News Daily airs from 6 am to 9 am EST weekdays on SiriusXM Patriot |
UFC/WEC bantamweight history.
Perez absorbs just 1.9 strikes per minute of fighting, the second least among bantamweights with at least five UFC fights behind Chico Camus (1.31).
Perez lands 4.69 takedowns per 15 minutes of fighting, the highest rate in UFC/WEC bantamweight history among fighters with at least five bouts.
Perez’s seven takedowns landed against Edwin Figueroa at UFC 167 stand in a tie for the fourth most in a single UFC/WEC bantamweight contest. Three fighters hold the record with 10 takedowns landed in a single fight.
Bryan Caraway (18-6 MMA, 3-1 UFC) has earned 16 of his 18 professional victories by submission. That includes all three of his UFC victories. Of those 16 submissions, 10 are by rear-naked choke.
Caraway’s submission of Johny Bedford at 4:44 of Round 3 at UFC 159 tied him for the fourth latest submission victory in a three-round UFC bout behind Cole Miller’s tap-out of Jorge Gurgel at UFC 86, James Krause’s submission of Sam Stout at UFC 161, and Forrest Griffin’s finish of Mauricio Rua at UFC 76.
PRELIMINARY CARD
Sergio Pettis (10-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC), 20, is the youngest of the 22 fighters scheduled to compete at the event. He is also the youngest fighter currently signed to the UFC roster.
Pettis became the seventh youngest fighter in UFC history to record an octagon victory when he defeated Will Campuzano in his debut at UFC 167.
Pettis landed 81 of his 121 significant strike attempts in his UFC debut, giving him a 67 percent striking accuracy. That percentage ranks second all-time in a UFC/WEC bantamweight fight with a minimum of 100 significant strike attempts behind T.J. Dillashaw, who landed 74.6 of his significant strike attempts against Walel Watson at UFC on FUEL TV 1.
Bobby Voelker (24-11 MMA, 0-3 UFC) enters the event on the first three-fight losing streak of his career. He has not earned an MMA victory since July 2011.
Lance Benoist (6-2 MMA, 0-2 UFC) returns to the octagon for the first time since UFC 152 in September 2012. His 623-day layoff is the longest of his MMA career.
Scott Jorgensen (14-9 MMA, 3-5 UFC) enters the event with just one victory in his past six UFC appearances. “Young Guns” is 0-2 since dropping to the UFC flyweight division this past December.
Jorgensen has earned three victories in his UFC career; however, none of those fighters is still a member of the organization’s roster.
Jorgensen holds the record for most wins in UFC/WEC bantamweight competition with 10.
Patrick Cummins (4-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) has earned all four of his professional victories by first-round knockout or submission.
For the latest on UFC Fight Night 42, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.
FightMetric research analyst and live statistics producer Michael Carroll contributed to this story. Follow him on Twitter @MJCflipdascript.How to Find GG Allin's Grave.
Here we have another installment of our "New Hampshire Adventure Series with Dan." This time we were off to Littleton, New Hampshire to find GG Allin's grave. For those of you not familiar with GG Allin, let me give you a little bio.
Kevin Michael "GG" Allin (1956-1993) was born "Jesus Christ Allin" in Lancaster, New Hampshire. As you may have guessed by his given name, his family was a little outside of the norm. His father, Merle Allin, was convinced that Jesus Christ had visited him and told him that his new son would be a great and powerful man. I think he missed the mark a little on this prediction, but GG was probably the most exciting person to come out of Lancaster in awhile.
Growing up, GG's older brother was unable to pronounce "Jesus" and instead called him "JeJe," which seems to be the origin of his stage name. All accounts seem to indicate that GG grew up in a log cabin, without electricity or other niceties, with his religious fanatic father causing all kinds of mayhem. In 1961, GG's mother Arleta (nee Gunther) finally divorced her nutjob husband and moved GG and his brother to Vermont. At this point Arleta renamed GG "Kevin Michael," no doubt hoping GG could have a more normal life with this name. Unfortunately, this was not to be.
GG seems to have been a poor student throughout high school and eventually wound up as a drummer in an amateur punk band after graduation. You can Wikipedia the details for yourself, but to summarize the "GG years" between 1976 and 1993, GG was involved in numerous bands and began a slow decline into ever more graphic and shocking stage performances. These included defecating on stage, mutilating himself and others, and even assaulting his audience. Along with his numerous live performances, GG produced a large discography including many genres. These albums were virtually all panned by critics, and in my opinion for good reason, as they are universally atrocious and unlistenable. Not only are the lyrics specifically designed to offend anyone and everyone, the actual recording/production on many albums is so poor you can barely hear anything but screaming. Despite all this, GG still seems to have gained a large and growing cult following.
By the late 80's GG was addicted to heroin and pretty much any other substance he could get his hands on. GG ended up doing a 15 month stint in prison in 1989 for assault. He put his time in prison to dubious good use by writing the "GG Allin Manifesto." I have never read it, but I can imagine the contents. By 1994, GG's fame arguably peaked with the release of the soundtrack and documentary film "Hated: GG Allin and the Murder Junkies." Unfortunately for GG, by this time he had already died of a heroin overdose in a friend's apartment in Manhattan. Thus ends the saga of GG Allin, or so it would seem. Apparently, a trip to his grave is seen as somewhat of a pilgrimage to fans of the genre. He grave is routinely fouled with cigarette butts, alcohol and human excrement. Having researched a little about GG, I can only say he would probably approve.
At any rate, Dan and I were off to far-away Littleton NH, which more than two hours away. If anyone feels inclined to follow in our footsteps, the narrative below will help you immensely in your search for the gravesite. The grave itself is located in a cemetery right off of Rt 93. If you are coming from the south you can visit the "Old Man in the Mountain" remnants on the way up (see pics below) and hit two attractions in one day.
After our two hour drive through the wilderness (expect to see a lot of trees and mountains on this trek as you are going through miles of sparsely populated territory) we arrived in Littleton. The cemetery itself is called "St. Rose of Lima" and is right off of Main Street. St. Rose's is conjoined with a larger cemetery called "Glenwood Cemetery." When we got there we realized that neither cemetery had a sign indicating which cemetery was what. After a little while searching we finally found a small sign on a stone wall indicated which cemetery was "St Rose" and which was "Glenwood." Despite this revelation, we still could not find GG's grave. First, we drove around for about 30 minutes, then we went parked and went through a systematic search of all the grave sites on foot. The locals were no help either, the convenience store clerk (in a store directly across the street), didn't even know the name of either cemetery let alone who was buried where. We also asked a couple people taking a walk through the cemetery. Similarly they didn't know the name of the cemetery nor had even heard of GG Allin. This was shocking to us. We thought GG would be somewhat of a celebrity in this town of less than 5,000 people. At this point, we saw the flaw in our plan of not researching thoroughly. I suppose we sorta figured we could follow the trail of beer cans to his grave that would be prominently displayed. This was not the case at all. We were definitely becoming the victims of our laziness as the daylight was waning and we entered the second hour of our search.
Eventually we resorted to scanning through internet photos fans had taken of his tombstone and tried to reconstruct (via the visible backgrounds) where exactly his grave was located. We are seeing trees, we are seeing bushes, we are seeing a couple gravestones with stone crosses on top. Eventually, all the clues came together and we triangulated on the place where GG's grave should be. Then came the biggest surprise of the trip.
SOMEONE HAD STOLEN GG's HEADSTONE!!
Yes, a close inspection of the remaining pedestal revealed this was indeed GG's final resting place; but no headstone. Looking at all the other fan photos and comparing that to where Dan is standing (below), I think you will agree we found the right spot.
At any rate, to ensure future GG fans do not have to go through this laborious search. I have included a couple helpful tips (below). Included you will find a map with the approximately location of his grave marked with a red "X." Be careful that you are in St. Rose and not Glenwood, as they are not well marked. GG's gravestone was in the front row and faced the street, NOT the internal road within the cemetery. Basically, find the two houses in the picture and he is right next to "Tremblay" who has a cross-shaped tombstone (see red arrow). I also have included a video to give you some extra visual clues. If we had this information before, we could have saved a couple hours.
At any rate, thus concluded our trip to GG Allin's grave. As promised we have also included the picture of the now defunct, "Man in the Mountain" (below) thus concluding our trip to see two New Hampshire landmarks, neither of which is actually there. If anyone knows what happened to GG's headstone, please email me. We are dying to know.Richmond’s bustling arts scene continues to develop and flourish with amazing painters, sculptors, musicians, designers, and artists of all kinds, but once a month RVA offers us a really great treat w
Richmond’s bustling arts scene continues to develop and flourish with amazing painters, sculptors, musicians, designers, and artists of all kinds, but once a month RVA offers us a really great treat with First Fridays.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, than you know the first friday of each month, RVA’s arts districts hosts an art walk on Broad Street from Laurel Street to 7th, and from Franklin to Clay streets featuring cool events at galleries, shops, restaurants and other spots in Richmond’s Arts District.
The artwork starts today from 5 to 9 pm and RVA Mag has picked some our favorites out of the this month’s lineup. So checkout the rundown below:
“HERstory: A woman’s worth” at ART 180
Artists from Black Art Student Empowerment at VCU open their exhibit “HERstory: A woman’s worth” for the First Fridays Art Walk.Summary
Project Name : TenX
: TenX Token ticker : PAY
: PAY Website : https://www.tenx.tech/
: https://www.tenx.tech/ Whitepaper: https://www.tenx.tech/whitepaper/tenx_whitepaper.pdf
Hard cap : 200,000 ETH (token holders own 51% of total token supply, 100,000 ETH already sold out in pre-sale)
: 200,000 ETH (token holders own 51% of total token supply, 100,000 ETH already sold out in pre-sale) Soft Cap : None
: None Conversion rate : 350 PAY per 1 ETH
: 350 PAY per 1 ETH Maximum market cap at ICO : US$141 million at current ETH price of $360
: US$141 million at current ETH price of $360 Bonus structure : +20% in the first 24 hours, +10% from day 2-3, +5% from day 4-7, +2.5% from day 8-14
: +20% in the first 24 hours, +10% from day 2-3, +5% from day 4-7, +2.5% from day 8-14 ERC20 token : Yes
: Yes Timeline : June 24, 2017 at 9pm Singapore time / 3pm Munich time / 9am New York time / 2pm London time to 24th of July 2017 10.59am UTC
: June 24, 2017 at 9pm Singapore time / 3pm Munich time / 9am New York time / 2pm London time to 24th of July 2017 10.59am UTC Token distribution date : June 24th, 2017
Project Overview What does the company/project do? TenX is a payment company, offering debit card and mobile wallet funded by cryptocurrency. Partnering with VISA and Mastercard, TenX wallets can be used in almost 200 countries at over 36 million points of acceptance today. The credit card companies charge the merchants 2% of the transaction amount, similar to other types of credit cards. TenX generates revenue by having a revenue share agreement with its credit card partners. TenX cards are open for application on June 20, 2017 - I will be ordering one myself! Here is a video featuring Q&A about the token sale. In this video, the TenX team is introduced one by one (video is 23:34 long):
How advanced is the project? The company was founded in mid-2015. The idea of TenX won the DBS Blockchain Hackathan and the TenX team was rewarded 15,000 SGD. As at May 2017, the company completed the following:
Completed a $1 million seed round in March 2017
Selected to join the Paypal incubator program in Singapore
Has a working product that has been live since early 2017
1,000 users in Singapore, transacted over $100,000 during the beta test in over 50 countries
Here is a video showing a TenX card being used at a McDonald’s (video is 0:37 long):
How can token holders make money? Basically, the more transaction volume TenX processes, the more valuable PAY is. The value of this token is driven from transaction volume, not from the increased usage of the token. Token holders will receive 0.5% of the whole payment volume that is spent through the TenX debit card. The payments to the token holders will be paid in Ether. Unlike other ICOs where the value of the token is difficult to gauge, it is more straightforward to calculate the valuation of PAY because of how the value is driven. The value of PAY is a function of (1) the number of TenX debit card users, and (2) average spend per user. Assuming a valuation of 30x price to earnings (P/E) ratio, which is on the aggressive side but possible because this industry is growing rapidly, the transaction volume for TenX debit card needs to be US$940 million per annum to justify the ICO valuation. As a reference, Visa cards processed US$8.2 trillion and Mastercard processed US$4.8 trillion in 2016. TenX probably won’t be able to achieve a volume of $940 million per year unless there is a wide adoption of cryptocurrency. Therefore, the success of this ICO hinges on whether cryptocurrency can become a common currency used for daily spending. If it can, then with TenX’s first mover advantage, it can probably do very well.
Like What You Are Reading? Sign up for our newsletter so you won't miss any of our future articles on ICO analysis! Sign Me Up! lorem ipsum dolor
Team TenX was founded in 2015 in Singapore. On its website, it shows that TenX has a team of 9 and they have 3 job openings. Toby Hoenisch, CEO – a serial entrepreneur. He has a Bachelors degree in computer science and a Masters degree in artificial intelligence. Michael Sperk, CTO – based in Austria. Prior to joining TenX, he was the lead frontend engineer at Visalyze. It is good that all the team members are working full time in TenX and have a Linkedin page – this seems like a very basic requirement but it is not. It is kind of sad to see that many ICOs can’t actually qualify for this basic criteria. The website also listed Vitalik as an investor of the company. Vitalik is an investor through his investment in the VC firm Fenbushi Capital – however we don’t know how closely involved Vitalik is in the project, if at all. It is like I invest in a Fidelity mutual fund, so by extension I am also an investor of the stocks that the fund purchased. However, it doesn’t mean that I endorse the investments made by that fund. Therefore, don’t focus too much on the fact that Vitalik has a stake in TenX.
I checked the cards offered by other competitors such as Tokencard, Mobi, Xapo, and Monaco. The existing competitors only have cards denominated in USD, GBP and EUR.
That means for users outside of the US and Euro Zone, TenX would be the default card of choice.
Concerns Tokencard has a market capitalization of $25 million, which means that the market cap for TenX at ICO is over 5 times that of Tokencard.
TenX has many other competitors that are trying to solve the exact same problem – Mobi, Monaco, Tokencard, and Xapo.
Being able to develop COMIT is a big part of the success of TenX. However, development success not guaranteed – it is a complicated project. In fact, 45% of the amount raised will be spent on developing COMIT. It is ambitious – if they can pull it off, then they have created something very valuable in the payment industry but if not, it is going to change TenX's game plan dramatically.
It is true that TenX’s fees are lower than competitors, but competitors can respond quickly and lower fee structure themselves, so this advantage may not last.
ConclusionIs it worse if a robot instead of a human is used to deter the homeless from setting up camp outside places of business?
One such bot cop recently took over the outside of the San Francisco SPCA, an animal advocacy and pet adoption clinic in the city’s Mission district, to deter homeless people from hanging out there — causing some people to get very upset.
Silicon Valley game developer and Congressional candidate Brianna Wu tweeted yesterday her dismay at the move, saying, “I’m sorry for being so frank but this absolutely disgusts me as someone that experienced homelessness.”
I’m sorry for being so frank, but this absolutely disgusts me as someone that experienced homelessness. Every time I travel to San Fran my heart breaks from seeing all the homelessness in a city with so much wealth and privilege. FUND PROGRAMS TO HELP THE HOMELESS, FULL STOP. https://t.co/LaalT3XhTl — Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) December 12, 2017
The homelessness issue in S.F. is thorny and complicated. One could get whiplash at seeing the excess of wealth and privilege juxtaposed with the dire circumstances just steps outside Twitter headquarters on Market Street.
However, the city’s homeless are also associated with higher rates of crime, violence and sometimes episodes of psychosis, leading to safety issues that many feel San Francisco has not had an adequate handle on.
The S.F. SPCA rolled out the use of a robot unit dubbed K9 from security startup Knightscope a month ago, citing these same safety concerns.
“Over the summer our shelter was broken into twice. The inside was vandalized and property and cash donations were stolen,” S.F. SPCA spokesperson Krista Maloney told TechCrunch. “Furthermore, many staff members and volunteers have filed complaints about damage to cars and harassment they experienced in our parking lot when leaving work after dark. We currently employ security guards, but we have a large campus and they can only be in one area at a time.”
The K9 units are also cheaper than humans. One robot costs $6 an hour to use vs. paying a security guard the average $16 an hour.
“Unfortunately, in the last year we’ve been forced to spend a significant amount of money to ensure the security and safety of the people on our campus as well as the animals in our care,” Maloney said.
And, according to both the S.F. SPCA and Knightscope, crime dropped after deploying the bot.
However, the K9 unit had its own share of hardships. The SPCA told TechCrunch it had been knocked over and someone had smeared BBQ sauce on it in early March. Another tweeter mentioned seeing poo smeared on the vehicle, though an SPCA spokesperson could not confirm that happened.
It’s worth mentioning many robots have been targeted by humans in the past. One of these same type of K9 units employed by the SPCA was brutally attacked by a drunken man, toppling the 400 pound robot on patrol in a Silicon Valley parking lot earlier this year.
Another issue looming over the bot cop’s employment at the SPCA was the use of a public sidewalk. The K9 unit was patrolling several areas around the shop, including the sidewalk where humans walk, drawing the ire of pedestrians and advocacy group Walk SF, which previously introduced a bill to ban food delivery robots throughout the city.
“We’re seeing more types of robots on sidewalks and want to see the city getting ahead of this,” said Cathy DeLuca, Walk SF policy and program director.
Last week the city ordered the S.F. SPCA to stop using these security robots altogether or face a fine of $1,000 per day for operating in a public right of way without a permit.
The S.F. SPCA says it has since removed the robot and is working through a permitting process. It has already seen “two acts of vandalism” since the robot’s removal.
But putting permits and public use of sidewalks aside, it seems the robot could do more than just discourage homeless camps. It could keep an eye on the surrounding area and report crimes, yes, but it could also possibly be used to alert police and social workers to areas where homelessness seems to have increased or look for anyone who may be facing violence or a psychotic episode and in need of intervention.
The Knightscope bots are equipped with four cameras able to read more than 300 license plates per minute. They can move about and keep tabs on an area, noting anyone on a list of those who shouldn’t be there.
Already the S.F. SPCA said it has experienced a drop in crime when using the bot cop. The same might be said if it had increased the use of human security guards but humans, as mentioned above, cost more. They also can’t monitor 24/7 or immediately upload what they see to the cloud.
Further, robots aren’t going away. While it isn’t clear what solution San Francisco’s city council will come up with to handle the increase of these types of bots on our sidewalks in the future, it’s inevitable we’re going to see more of them.
It’s an age-old human vs. machine argument. But machines usually win.Visit www.tourdenash.com for more info!
The Tour de Nash is Nashville's largest urban bike ride and has been organized for the past 12 years by Walk Bike Nashville to encourage people to explore Nashville's best bikeways and greenways by bicycle.
The 2017 Tour de Nash will be on May 20th. We will once again start and end the rides at Morgan Park, in partnership with the Capitol District Street Fair. The 2017 Tour will feature 3 routes: a 8-Mile Family Ride, a 25-Mile Ride, and a 45-Mile Ride.
Highlights:
8, 25, and 45 mile ride options suitable for bicyclists of all skill levels.
Scenic routes highlighting Nashville's neighborhoods, bikeways and greenways.
Rest stops featuring refreshments, bathroom facilities, and basic bicycle maintenance equipment available every 10-15 miles.
In partnership with the Capitol Street District Fair, food, beverages, and entertainment will be available at the finish line. NOTE: Paid Tour de Nash registrants will receive one food voucher redeemable at participating vendors at the Capitol Street District Fair.
And much more!
Route Maps:
(Please note that routes could change before the day of the event)
8 Mile Family Route
25 Mile Route
45 Mile Route
Early Packet Pickup:
Walk Bike Nashville (943 Woodland St) - 11am to 1pm - Tuesday(5/16) thru Thursday(5/18)
Packet Pickup Party and Maintenance Open House (943 Woodland St) - 5pm to 7pm - Thursday(5/18)
Farmer's Market (900 Rosa L Parks Blvd) - 11am to 1:30pm - Friday(5/19)
We need volunteers to make this event happen! All volunteers will receive free registration!Third opportunity for asian players to compete at GCS 2017 Summer : the first part of the most important indivudual tournament in 2017 with one the biggest prize pool.
Players try to join Fly100%, 120, WFZ, TH000, ReMinD & Moon which are already qualified.
Preliminary rounds (64 into 16) : group A-D : june 15th group E-H : june 16th, group I-L : june 17th, group M-P : june 18th,
groupstage (16 into 8) : group A & B : June 22nd, group C & D : June 23rd,
playoffs (8 into 3) : June 24th - 25th[1].
Format [ edit ]
Preliminary rounds [ edit ]
Top 64 players (from NetEase ladder) qualify for the preliminary rounds[2] :
players are divided into 16 groups of 4 players each,
players face each other in best of 3,
the winner qualifies for the groupstage.
Groupstage [ edit ]
16 players are divided into 4 groups of 4 players each[3] :
the groups are played as double elimination,
all matches are best-of-three,
top 2 qualify for the playoffs.
Playoffs [ edit ]
Playoffs consist in a double elimination bracket within winners of the 4 groups face the runner-ups[4] :
earlier rounds are best-of-three,
Grand Final is a best-of-five,
semi-final losers are crossed into losers' round 2.
Conclusion [ edit ]
Top 3 will qualify for GCS Summer 2017,
other players will have to re-qualify for Asian Qualifier #4.
Prize pool [ edit ]
CN¥ 3,000 (≃ $ 438.96) are divided among participants as follows[1] :
according to xe.com conversion rate on 2017-06-25 (CN¥ 1 ≃ $ 0.14632).
Participants [ edit ]
Broadcasting [ edit ]
Results [ edit ]
Groustage [ edit ]
Group A [ edit ]
Semifinals Lyn 2 Yan51 0 LawLiet 2 Yumiko 0 Winners' Finals Lyn 2 LawLiet 1 Losers' Round 1 Yan51 0 Yumiko 2 Losers' Finals LawLiet 2 Yumiko 0 Qualified for Playoffs Lyn LawLiet
Group B [ edit ]
Semifinals Infi 2 Check 0 FoCuS 2 Pingge 0 Winners' Finals Infi 2 FoCuS 1 Losers' Round 1 Check 2 Pingge 0 Losers' Finals FoCuS 2 Check 1 Qualified for Playoffs Infi FoCuS
Group C [ edit ]
Semifinals Colorful 2 Zhou_Xixi 0 WhO 2 Chaemiko 0 Winners' Finals Colorful 2 WhO 0 Losers' Round 1 Zhou_Xixi 1 Chaemiko 2 Losers' Finals WhO 0 Chaemiko 2 Qualified for Playoffs Colorful Chaemiko
Group D [ edit ]
Semifinals Sini 2 CXQ 0 XiaoKK 2 Sok 1 Winners' Finals Sini 2 XiaoKK 0 Losers' Round 1 CXQ 1 Sok 2 Losers' Finals XiaoKK 0 Sok 2 Qualified for Playoffs Sini Sok
Playoffs [ edit ]
Quarterfinal Lyn 2 Chaemiko 1 Infi 2 Sok 1 Colorful 2 LawLiet 1 Sini 0 FoCuS 2 Semifinals Lyn 0 Infi 2 Colorful 2 FoCuS 1 Winners' Finals Infi 2 Colorful 0 Losers' Round 1 Chaemiko 2 Sok 0 LawLiet 2 Sini 1 Losers' Round 2 FoCuS 2 Chaemiko 0 Lyn 0 LawLiet 2 Losers' Round 3 FoCuS 2 LawLiet 0 Losers' Finals Colorful 0 FoCuS 2 Grand Finals Infi 1 FoCuS 3
VODs [ edit ]
Whole tournament : youtube playlist link Wolverine's streamDetroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson reacts after not being able to make a reception against the New England Patriots. (Photo: Greg M. Cooper USA TODAY Sports)
OK, then, it's the day after the Super Bowl, time to look ahead at the 2015 NFL season.
CBSSports.com posted the odds for winning Super Bowl 50 — the Seattle Seahawks are the favorite at 5-to-1, followed by the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers at 6/1 — but for some reason, they listed just 31 teams.
Who was missing? The Detroit Lions, of course.
OK, it was just an oversight, and CBS fixed it later this afternoon.
And the William Hill sportsbook in Vegas put the odds for the Lions — everyone's favorite afterthought — at 22/1.
Here's what some other NFL pundits are telling us to expect next season:
• Not only does espn.com's Mike Sando expect the Lions to be part of the league next season, he's projecting them to be the No. 5 team in the conference (but still behind the NFC North rival Green Bay Packers, at No. 2).
Sando writes: "The Vikings were tempting here because Teddy Bridgewater has shown promise, Minnesota overcame much to finish 7-9 last season, and the division-rival Lions' defense could take a hit. However, the Vikings were 0-7 against teams that finished.500 or better.... The health and outlook for opposing quarterbacks will come into play. Minnesota gets Denver (Peyton Manning) and Arizona (Carson Palmer) on the road. Detroit plays those teams at home."
He also has the Seahawks and Pats as the overall favorites.
• The Lions are No. 7 in the 2015 power rankings at foxsports.com. Fox says: "Can they retain both Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley? After all, they are a big part of why the Lions have become one of the league's most dominant defenses. If they can build a better line to protect Matthew Stafford, the quarterback can take a big step forward in his second season in Joe Lombardi's offense."
Again, the Seahawks and Patriots are 1-2 in the rankings.
Contact Steve Schrader: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @schradz.The recent Supreme Court judgment banning Jallikattu is a serious humiliation of Hindu tradition. It’s unprecedented for courts to ban a rural festival that has survived and flourished for thousands of years. Even more astonishing is the fact that so-called Hindu organisations have not raised a whimper at this gross intrusion by the self-declared secular state and its legal apparatus into the beliefs and traditions of Hindu society. There is something very sinister in this entire episode leading to the Jallikattu ban.
It is shocking that some Hindu activists support the ban by bringing “compassion” into the argument. It seems that Christianisation of Hindu thought process is complete; some who publicly associate with Hindu causes now think a legal ban of an immemorial tradition is a Hindu way to induce compassion. The legal ban may be a secular constitutional right of the courts, but at many levels it is un-Hindu, and no amount of quotes from the Vedas, Upanishads or Puranas can shield its blatant un-Hindu characteristics. It violates the very sacred core of Hindu thought.
The sacred principle behind the whole gamut of Hindu philosophies is freedom of soul (atma); this freedom is divine and an incomprehensible part of divine cosmic play (lila). This freedom even lets a being to sin and face consequences as part of a learning process. Even avataras have not violated this freedom of soul. When Krishna explained Gita to Arjuna he didn’t order him to follow his instructions, he left the decision to his discretion. This intrinsic freedom of soul extends to communities, geographical regions and societies. When Rama accepted vanavas, he didn’t attempt to “civilise” the denizens of Dandakaranya or impose the codes of Ayodhya in Lanka with his might, yet people adored him for his qualities and tried to follow him at their will.
This canonising of high ideals and bringing them into legal framework is completely alien to Hindu temperament. Hindus follow personal experience, tradition and learn high ideals as part of tradition and experience; they don’t imitate some written commandments from a prophet or look at some constitutional law for moral guidance
The genius of Hindu society is that it evolved ideas and functional systems without compromising the freedom of individual, family, community and regions. A bemused American observer compared it with functional anarchy. The apex court’s ban on Jallikattu goes against this cardinal principle of diversity and freedom.
The primary purpose of Hindu state power is to ensure coordination between individuals, families, groups, without intruding into their freedom, unless their behaviour warrants intervention to maintain balance in society and life. Enforcing high ideals by law or forcing people to aspire for moksha is not the responsibility of the State. This is the fundamental difference between the Hindu way of living and societies organised around religions of the Book.
Dharma is different for different people depending on their situation and occupation in life. The cycle of life is impossible to sustain with all creatures in satvic mode; the diversity of nature exists between species and within species also. When wild animal population increased, Hindu kings hunted them to restore balance. They can neither be accused of lacking compassion for doing their job nor are they ignorant of divinity in the whole creation as explained in sastras; it was part of their Kshatriya Dharma. This legal tyranny in the guise of high ideals makes a society impotent leading to degeneration.
If the legal system can allow killing of animals for food under some “doctrine of necessity” why can’t it tolerate a sportive adventure like Jallikattu that may or may not cause some inconvenience to animals. How can activists or legal system conclude an animal doesn’t enjoy proper fight?
Any activity can lead to perversion, but should the legal system ban activities because of some perverted elements? When the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act is applicable for perverted behaviour towards animals, why can’t it be used to control any abuse in Jallikattu, if any? This unilateral ban raises many questions on the motives of this activism than the issue it claims to address. In a country where Government promotes alcoholism, slaughter houses for revenues ruining many families and depleting country’s cattle wealth, it’s comical that a rural sport with a hoary tradition is hurting the compassionate conscience of urban activists.
It is also time to ask some tough questions on judicial over reach. In recent years, the judicial system has been over-stepping its mandate; it is no longer interpreting law but intruding into the domain of executive and legislature. Even in the existing un-Hindu secular system, it is the legislature that should decide on issues like Jallikattu or inter linking of rivers. How can the judicial system with no public mandate order ban on Jallikattu or dictate the Governments to implement a development proposal?
If the sport is inappropriate in an urban set up, a decision on ban should be decided by the concerned urban local elected body, or a local panchayat in rural context. How come the country’s top judicial system has so much time for non-issues like this when many burning issues remain unresolved in courts for decades? Clearly, there is a story in the cases that are accorded priority in the court calendar.
The Jallikattu ban is just another act of tyranny by the secular urban establishment on the traditions and practices of rural Hindus. It has nothing to do with any high Hindu philosophy, ideals or traditions; on the contrary it is a gross violation of sacred principles of Hindu Dharma. The reported involvement of NGOs with international funding sources confirms the anti-Hindu character of this dubious activism. No amount of Hindu philosophical spin can justify this totalitarian ban on an immemorial tradition; it only exposes the hidden agenda behind it.Media blacks out Seymour Hersh exposé of US lies on Syrian gas attack
By Patrick Martin
8 April 2014
Nearly two days after the London Review of Books published a lengthy exposé by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh detailing efforts by the Turkish government to stage a provocation to bring the US military directly into the civil war in Syria, the US media has blacked out the report.
Hersh, who has authored groundbreaking investigative reports uncovering US atrocities, including the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War and the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib during the Iraq war, titled his article on last August’s sarin gas attack outside of Damascus “The Red Line and the Rat Line.”
The “red line” refers to President Obama’s threat to attack Syria if the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons. The “rat line” was a CIA-organized supply chain running from Benghazi, Libya through southern Turkey and into Syria, which was used to smuggle weapons to the Syrian “rebels.”
The article describes efforts by the Turkish government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to |
Many communities have wondered why their game is not successful as an eSport. So what are the key elements, and what are the hindrances to becoming an eSport?
Competitive games involve player competition in many forms, most often with a scoring system. However, eSports involves a number of other specific attributes. In general games must have:
Direct competition - Players must be pitted directly against one another
- Players must be pitted directly against one another Fast pace - Games must have action frequently and quickly
- Games must have action frequently and quickly Visual appeal - Games must look good at a glance
- Games must look good at a glance Observer functionality - Games must be tailored for spectators
- Games must be tailored for spectators Popularity - Games must have a massive following
- Games must have a massive following Competitive depth - Players must always be able to improve their skills in the game
- Players must always be able to improve their skills in the game Viewable media - Games must be accessible to non-players
- Games must be accessible to non-players Competitive balance - Games must be balanced for all player options
It is important to note that not every eSport possesses all of these attributes simultaneously, but those games that do have a real chance to succeed. For some examples, we will examine competitive games in each community and analyze their status and potential as an eSport title.
PC
What is - StarCraft II
The golden standard for eSports is currently StarCraft II. It is an immensely popular game and has been since its beta, largely because developer Blizzard enabled live streaming prerelease. The beta was also entirely a competitive multiplayer game, revolving around 1v1 play. Blizzard capitalized on an extremely popular intellectual property, enabled a high level of exposure for a game still in early development, made a conscious effort to support an established eSports community, and delivered an extremely high quality and polished product. While there are many things Blizzard could be doing better, it has been responsive to community feedback and mindful of how all game changes affect the established eSports community.
IPL 1 finals match - KiWiKaKi v IdrA. More at IGN Pro League
What could be - Diablo III
While the game has yet to be released, what the community has seen of the player versus player arena would make a great competitive game and a possible eSport title. After StarCraft II was so heavily supported, the community has hopes that Blizzard will take the same stance in Diablo III, however it seems that the opposite is true: Blizzard has stated it will not be making Diablo III into an eSport title. The community support is already there, but for this game to succeed as a competitive experience, Diablo III needs the same developer support that StarCraft II has enjoyed.
What could never be – EVE Online
As far as ruthless competition, there is nothing that involves more calculated sabotage than EVE. It is a hardcore player versus player MMO that rewards careful planning to dismantle opponents. Even though EVE is a cutthroat game, the fact that the game takes so much strategy and planning is a negative for viewers. Players may go hours or an entire day without encountering another player because of the massive game world. The game is very slowly paced and has very little action. The game also is not friendly to observers. The nature of EVE overall prevents it from entering the realm of eSports.
PS3
What is - Call of Duty: Black Ops
Shooters inherently have a knack for being extremely eSport-friendly and Black Ops is no exception. Squad-based shooters have issues with viewers because of the nature of following team members. It is very possible that with only one display, several kills will be missed. However in Black Ops, the game is so fast paced that even if you miss a kill or a critical moment, another will happen almost immediately afterwards. Of the list of requirements, Black Ops meets all of them and has uncanny depth for a shooter with the number of weapons and equipment options available added on top of both the individual and team skill depth.
Exit Theatre Mode
What could be - Gran Turismo
While racing games are not generally thought of as competitive, there is a certain excitement to them that is unique to the genre. The action is exceedingly easy to follow in a racing game and observer controls are built into the game at its core. Because of the realism of the driving, the game is very deep tactically, and the number of cars and equipment makes for preparation depth as well. What Gran Turismo needs to grow is a few motivated organizations to realize the potential and start giving it greater exposure. Overall, it is not streamed very often and there is not as large a competitive community around Gran Turismo that is needed for organic eSports growth.
What could never be - Uncharted
Although an immensely popular game known for its deep single-player, the latest version of Uncharted has also boasted an innovative multiplayer mode. I must state that the multiplayer of Uncharted is extremely fun and also very competitive, however there are a number of functions that it is missing. First off, there is not as much depth to the game as the traditional shooter -- there are limited equipment and weapons choices, despite the fact that the tactics used in the game are pretty advanced. The next issue is the lack of a central multiplayer community around the game that is necessary for growth. Lastly, as anyone who has played Uncharted can say, the shooting is a bit hit or miss; it does not feel 100 percent under a player's control and the system is not necessarily designed to be a competitive experience, which the multiplayer seems to focus on. Thus far there are still a number of missing features that Uncharted would need to be a successful eSport.There are those on the “scientific Left” who would rather engage in “Gender Lysenkoism”. They deny that there are two biological sexes, claiming a dozen or so “sex determining genes” and declare that it is a “spectrum” and a “social construct” whilst “gender” is the all encompassing identity that can and ought to be imposed upon others’ objective reality.
Yet at the same time, they declare that “gender” is something separate and distinct. This “gender” has to be an innate characteristic or otherwise it would not receive the same protection as race, for example. Yet, “gender”, too, is concomitantly a “social construct”. “Gender”, then, is a subjective objectivity much like certain non-Newtonian fluids whereby they are only solid when struck in contrast with an actual firm force of logic, reason, and reality. In other words, someone’s opinion of their own gender is considered a scientific fact, while biological sex isn’t.
This raises the question of sexual orientation as a protected class: How can someone have an innate and immutable attraction to one or the other biological sex if biological sex itself does not biologically exist?
In reality, biological sex is an indicator of either being male or female, in sexually dimorphic species such as human beings. Females have an XX chromosome pairing and males have an XY chromosome pairing. There are cases where there are X0 or XXY pairing, such as Klinefelter Syndrome, or where other conditions alter the natural course of development in utero of a child into either physically as a male or physically as a female, such as Swyer Syndrome. However, even there, the body tends towards either the male or female form. Additionally, there are often other complications, such as infertility that are part and parcel of these syndromes. In other words, such individuals are not a 3rd sex, nor are they proof of a “spectrum” of biological sexes.
Bill Nye the Science Guy on gender, circa 1996. (Season 4, Episode 8) "[Chromosomes] control whether we become a boy or a girl." pic.twitter.com/oK2xPbRiKx — Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) April 28, 2017
What we are seeing is the invention of “gender” as something other than, and distinct from, biological sex, differentiation the two, and then transferring any and all reproductive traits of biological sex to “gender”.
What, then, is “gender”?
One category of “evidence” against the “gender binary” is questioning the strawman of unvarying gender roles. That not everyone acts like Ozzie and Harriet is somehow considered proof that there is a “gender spectrum” and such.
In reality, again, males and females are biologically different. There are physical and actual physiological differences between men and women. How these differences play out are due to a myriad of circumstances both biologically and sociologically. Humans, being a sexually dimorphic species that reproduces sexually via congress and coitus of male and female, are defined by natural selection both genetically and sociologically, and those traits that serve to be conducive towards the maximization of reproductive success and the subsequent success of the offspring therefrom. Gender roles, then, are simply an example of what has worked through trial and error, and while not invariable, do exist for reasons other than to oppressively oppress the oppressed oppressingly.
We are left, then, with “gender” being but a choice—an identity that once embraces and that they allow to define their thinking and their very place in life. It is a secular and pseudo-scientific religious faith, then.
Aside from self-identification, and considering “gender stereotypes” are deemed “social constructs”, what is the objective difference between a “boy” and a “girl”? Pro-tip: There wouldn’t be any.
Putting aside “genderfluidity,” “gender spectrums,” and a plethora of invented “genders”, it becomes clear that the only reason to push for assignment and segregation by “gender”, contra biological sex, is to overturn society. This, of course, being necessary to create the new “New Soviet Man Person” upon a now tabula rasa humanity.
This is why the Progressive left concentrates not on the plethora of “genders”/identities, but on those who are more definitionally transgender—those individuals who identify as the “gender” opposite of their own biological sex and associated “gender”.
Indeed, the conflation of the two terms—”gender” and biological sex—is useful to the Left. Masculine identifiers were applied to biological males because it was the recognition of the rather obvious physical and actual physiological differences seen in a man vis a vis a woman, who similarly were referred to with feminine identifiers.
By using terms and words, that had always been used to describe biological men and biological women, with a separate and distinct aspect known as “gender”, it becomes possible to rewrite the past without changing a word. A simple redefinition can change not only the very meaning of historical records, but manipulate the thinking of people who are not savvy to this dishonest difference between the pseudo-academic term “gender” and actual biological sex.
This puts Orwell’s MiniTru to shame—to not only go full 1984, but to surpass it in a dystopian plaid.
TweetImage copyright BBC/Getty Images Image caption About 1,400 Apple staff will be based at the former power station
Technology giant Apple is to make Battersea Power Station the home of its new London headquarters.
The famed Grade II listed building, which features four towering chimneys, is currently undergoing a multibillion-pound restoration.
The firm will become the largest office tenant at the former electricity generator, with 1,400 staff across six floors in the central boiler house.
An Apple spokesperson called the move a "great opportunity" for the company.
It said it would mean "its entire team [could] work and collaborate in one location while supporting the renovation of a neighbourhood rich with history".
Image caption The former coal-fired power station has stood unoccupied for decades
Image copyright PA Image caption A multibillion-pound restoration of the former electricity generator is currently taking place
The former coal-fired power station has stood unoccupied for decades on the banks of the River Thames.
Rob Tincknell, Battersea Power Station Development Company's CEO, said the new headquarters would "undoubtedly help" turn the area into "one of London's most thriving new communities".
For more stories about England's unusual homes and buildings, follow BBC England's Pinterest board
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said Apple's decision was "a further sign that London is open to the biggest brands in the world", while Chancellor Philip Hammond called it "another vote of confidence in the UK economy".
Dato' Johan Ariffin, chairman of Battersea Holding Company Limited, said: "This move by a brand of such calibre will serve to generate even more interest in Battersea."
Apple employees will move from various London offices into the building in 2021, taking up 40% of the space within the power station.
Image copyright PA Image caption Margaret Thatcher was photographed visiting the shell of the power station in 1988As we head toward the 2017 regular season, we at Bengals Wire are taking a deeper look into how the offensive rookies on the Cincinnati Bengals could fare in 2017. Today we’ll take a look at running back Joe Mixon. Perhaps the most controversial pick in recent NFL draft history, the Bengals decided that his talent was worth the backlash that was sure to follow.
Although Mixon was not invited to the combine due to his troubled history, he had an impressive pro day at Oklahoma. He ran a 4.43 second 40-yard dash, which would have been fourth best at the combine. He also posted a 35-inch vertical, which would have put him in the top 10 at the combine. Lastly, he pulled off a 4.25 second 20-yard shuttle time, which would have put him fifth at the combine. Looking at these numbers, it’s evident that Mixon is a special talent, as he is a bigger back, closer to Leonard Fournette in size as opposed to Christian McCaffrey.
But when you watch his game tape, it’s mind blowing that he lasted until the second round. If not for his unfortunate mistake his freshman year, he would have easily been a top 10, maybe even a top-five pick in this year’s draft. His patience, vision and explosion when running the ball jumps out at you. That’s the first thing you see, but when you watch some more tape, you realize his receiving ability is off the charts as well.
With that said, let’s take a look at Mixon’s best and worst case scenarios in 2017:Fantastic game for a group of people for casual play. Super easy set up and fun for multiple ages. #1 board game on my game shelf right now. Game Play Quality Price Value
A very great game, a lot of different combinations of factions (8 included, 2 per player) and the greatest part is there are plenty of expansions. Game Play Quality Price Value
Awesome game should be a part of every gamer's collection looking forward to playing with the expansions Game Play Quality Price Value
A great card game with a plethora of replay ability. There are a bunch of decks right out of the box and have quite a few expansions to expand your gameplay. I would consider this at or just above a gateway game into the hobby, a nice step up from big box store games without getting too heavy. I personally love this one and it sees our table pretty regularly. Game Play Quality Price Value
This game is a lot of fun. On it's own the base set offers enough variety by mixing different factions with different bases to keep things feeling fresh for a long time. The expansions run for under $15 currently so even if you're feeling like you need a bit more variety the cost is minimal. For the low price the product is high quality. There's no need to worry about the cards wearing out prematurely if you're not a fan of card sleeves and the box has more than enough room to contain the game plus a couple expansions. My wife and I have two small children and the game is quick enough to set up and play that we're able to fit a couple games in during nap time or after the kids go to bed when we want a game night with just the two of us. Game Play Quality Price Value
We love this game! Smash Up is one of the games played most often at our house. It is fun to play with the family and easy to learn. Replay-ability is awesome! We like to "draft" by rolling dice and giving face down decks a number to randomize what we play each time. Game Play Quality Price Value
Smash Up is a great game to get people into playing card games, plus it's genuinely fun to play regardless of your experience level. Every gamer should have a copy of this on their shelf, and preferably a few expansions to boot. Game Play Quality Price Value
I put off buying this game for MONTHS. Then one day on a whim picked it up at a local hobby store. Man I regret missing out on those months I could have been playing this. Kind of like a deck builder but without all the setup and add a gratuitous amount of chaos. Infinite amount of replayability with even more replayability past infinite with all of the even more amazing expansions, beyond simple rules, literally just do what the card tells you, it practically plays itself, fast stupid mind raging game play. Are you going to get that base? You are going to get that base. You got that base. SHINOBI! You didn't get that base. WHHAAATTTT!!!!!!
On a very real note. The game is great. It offers so many ways to play without ever feeling old or repetitive. And for as simple as it plays out, offers a great deal of on the fly strategy.
10/10 Must own for every type of table gamer. It will never let you down. Game Play Quality Price Value
Simple and entertaining little game. It does lose some of its luster over time, but you will get a good number of plays out of it before you get bored of seeing the same cards over and over again. Fortunately AEG has solved that issue by releasing several expansions. Game Play Quality Price Value
This is such a great game. You get to mix up 2 different types of decks and square off against some insane opponents. Alien Dinosaurs? You betcha! Ninja Pirates? Of course!
While the base game is fun, I recommend getting all the expansions. They make it all the more fun. Game Play Quality Price Value
I love Smash Up. My group plays this fairly regularly, sometimes as the main game for the night, and sometimes just as a palate cleanser after a really complicated strategy game.
We've come up with some variations on the rules, including team play and draft modes. I think we'll be playing this one for a long, long time. I highly recommend it. (I also recommend picking up some sleeves for them. Ultra Pro sleeves for magic cards fit fine in the original box, Dragon Shields are a little snug. If you get the Big Geeky Box expansion, then either fit great.)
My only gripe with the game, is that once you add in the expansions, a few of the deck combinations get a little too strong. For example, Zombies and Geeks feels nearly broken, and our group frowns on someone taking them together. Game Play Quality Price Value
I had domoed it at Gen Con but was unable to play a full game until now. Great fun! I really enjoy it and would recommend it to anyone. It lets you fulfill all those nerdy questions about what armies might be the best. Each army is it's own design with it's own possibilities. Game Play Quality Price Value
The game play, set up, and concepts of this game are simple yet strategies can very greatly from game to game due to the many faction combinations and multitude of base cards that have their own abilities. The base game can play up to 4 players but with the expansions you could theoretically add a 5th or 6th player although this game is best played with 3 or 4 players. Game Play Quality Price ValueRead the full report (pdf)
The severe financial squeeze faced by America’s families today is evident in stagnant income growth amid mounting job losses and in the spiraling costs of gas, energy, food, and healthcare amid record family debt levels. The results of this squeeze, such as rising home foreclosures, credit card defaults, and automobile and other personal loan defaults, now include the ultimate financial disaster—personal bankruptcies, which are the broadest measure of economic distress and are once again on the rise.
The bankruptcy rate has risen sharply for two years in a row, already reaching levels as high as those seen in the early 1990s. This jump in the bankruptcy rate should probably come as no surprise given the perilous economic terrain bequeathed to American families by the Bush administration and the conservative Congress in power for the first six years of Bush’s presidency. Yet conservatives had other plans for financially strapped families when they passed the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. BAPCPA, as the act is inelegantly known in the world of personal bankruptcy, was designed to make it harder for people to declare bankruptcy.
That bankruptcy rates are back on the wrong track despite a conscious legislative effort by conservatives to force families to struggle longer with unsustainable debt obligations than they can afford speaks volumes about today’s enveloping financial squeeze. And chances are high that personal bankruptcies will increase even further given current economic trends of weak income growth, high levels of debt, and rising prices. Should bankruptcy rates—measured by filings per 1,000 people—continue to increase at the rate registered between early 2006 and the end of 2007, bankruptcy rates will again reach the relatively high levels that were maintained before BAPCPA was enacted in April 2005. In particular, we find from the available data that:
The bankruptcy rate is again comparatively high. The national annualized bankruptcy rate reached 2.7 filings per 1,000 people in the fourth quarter of 2007. This is a marked increase from the 1.5 rate in the first quarter of 2006 (right after the new law was passed), exceeds the bankruptcy rates of the 1980s, and is only slightly below the bankruptcy rates of the early 1990s.
Bankruptcy rates have doubled in 16 states over the past two years and many states are rapidly catching up to pre-BAPCPA levels. In the fourth quarter of 2007, seven states were less than one-third below the bankruptcy rate in their state before the enactment of BAPCPA, and seven states remained more than two-thirds below their pre-BAPCPA levels.
Since passage of the new law, bankruptcy rates have diverged across states. States that had higher bankruptcy rates to begin with also tended to see faster growth in their bankruptcy rates. In the end, bankruptcy rates varied more two years after the passage of the law than immediately after BAPCPA was enacted.
State-by-state data for the past two years show that bankruptcy filings are connected to economic hardships. States and quarters with higher unemployment rates are associated with higher bankruptcy rates, as are observations associated with lower real per capita incomes, and higher shares of people without health insurance.
A larger share of bankruptcy filers fall under rules that are more beneficial to creditors than to debtors. Since the changes to the bankruptcy code, the average share of Chapter 7 filings—which give debtors a clean slate—has, out of total filings, dropped by 11.4 percentage points.
Contrary to conservative claims, families enter bankruptcy because of external economic factors, such as a spell of unemployment, a medical emergency—particularly when health insurance is not available—and mounting debt levels. This was apparent in the data before the enactment of BAPCPA in 2005 and remains apparent in the data after 2005. These facts run counter to the intent of Bush’s bankruptcy bill, the largest overhaul to the federal bankruptcy code since its enactment in 1978, and one of the signature legislative “accomplishments” of his presidency and the last conservative-led Congress. Instead of eliminating presumably widespread “bankruptcies of convenience,” bankruptcy rates remain high because of fundamental economic pressures on America’s families.
Opponents of these changes to the U.S. bankruptcy code in 2005 contended at the time that the increased costs and complexity of filing could make bankruptcy an impractical option for some families, or at least cause them to delay filing, while also closing an important pressure valve for financially struggling families. They were right.
To truly address the bankruptcy rate in the United States, legislators must be willing to recognize the real reasons why families file for bankruptcy and address them accordingly. This will require an overhaul of the bankruptcy code to ensure families have access to the long-standing American tradition of debtors being able to start over after financial disaster. In addition, a number of other economic policy steps are needed to address the underlying causes of rising personal bankruptcies, especially very weak income growth, lack of health insurance, and lack of personal saving.
Read the full report (pdf)So my husband and I found ourselves in a mixed faith marriage, and it sucked. The tension made our relationship painful. I knew that his mission had been hard and that he struggled with depression through a good part of it, but it wasn’t until very recently that I fully realized how very damaging his mission had been to his mental health. I met with our bishop once about it, and he had had multiple conversations with Alan about his ‘faith crisis’. He told me that the only good thing that had come out of Alan’s mission was that it strengthened his relationship with me, and he didn’t have any advice for me.
My husband and I talked about divorce occasionally, but we both thought about it on a regular basis. We were both pretty miserable. He was sad because I resented him for what I felt was betrayal and I could not wrap my mind around how this was happening. I had done EVERYTHING that good Mormons are supposed to do. How was this happening? There were so many times where I thought ‘If I hadn’t had that dream where my Grandpa told me that I was supposed to marry him, I would be out of here so fast. There must be a reason for this. There is a reason that I was supposed to marry him specifically, I just need to keep sticking it out.’ My family sometimes insinuated that I should leave him, but I had reservations. I’m ashamed now that I would seriously think about leaving him just because he felt differently about religion. I really did love him, but we wondered if that was enough. Looking back on that dream, I have wondered ‘Was it just a dream? It was a very realistic dream. And it wasn’t something that I would have fantasized into existence, it wasn’t a message that I was looking for’. The mind is a very complex thing, which I do not pretend to completely understand. Whether the dream was communication between myself and my dead grandfather or ‘just a dream’, at this point is hard to say. To me, it makes me believe that there is a life after death and we have deceased relatives who look out for us. Regardless, I am grateful that it happened. I am so happy that we stuck it out. I honestly feel like he is the best man for me and am so glad that we have come this far together.
After he left the church I prayed and fasted so hard, and one day while I was praying I got the impression that I needed to ‘just love him’. That answer seemed to sit well with me. If I were speaking to a loving heavenly parent, that seems like something they might actually say. But that didn’t make the big problems go away. I prayed some more and several months later I felt like I needed to re-read all of the letters that he had sent me when he was on his mission. (Yes, I saved every one.) Reading them a few points stood out to me.
1) Although we were in a rough spot at that point, when we were young he was head over heels in love with me and said on more than one occasion that he felt like we could get through any trial as long as we stuck together.
2) My husband at his core was a person who valued honesty and integrity and I respect that.
3) There was more going on during his mission than he was communicating home to me (or his family).
Eventually (it took awhile) I decided that I needed to communicate better with him. A few months ago I came across a talk called Family Communications by Marvin J. Ashton that seemed to articulate exactly what I felt at that point. I recommend it to everyone. I don’t care if you’re Jewish, Ex-Mormon, Hindu, Mormon, single, married or divorced, if you have interactions with other human beings, you should read this talk. Here’s a few of my favorite quotes:
“To be effective, family communication must be an exchange of feelings and information. Doors of communication will swing open in the home if members will realize time and participation on the part of all are necessary ingredients. In family discussions, differences should not be ignored, but should be weighed and evaluated calmly. One’s point or opinion usually is not as important as a healthy, continuing relationship. Courtesy and respect in listening and responding during discussions are basic in proper dialogue. As we learn to participate together in meaningful associations, we are able to convey our thoughts of love, dependence, and interest. “
“Listening is more than being quiet. Listening is much more than silence. Listening requires undivided attention. The time to listen is when someone needs to be heard. The time to deal with a person with a problem is when he has the problem. The time to listen is the time when our interest and love are vital to the one who seeks our ear, our heart, our help, and our empathy. We should all increase our ability to ask comfortable questions, and then listen—intently, naturally. Listening is a tied-in part of loving“
“Try to be understanding and not critical. Don’t display shock, alarm, or disgust with others’ comments or observations. Don’t react violently. Work within the framework of a person’s free agency. Convey the bright and optimistic approach. There is hope. There is a way back. There is a possibility for better understanding.“
“Often parents communicate most effectively with their children by the way they listen to and address each other. Their conversations showing gentleness and love are heard by our ever-alert, impressionable children. We must learn to communicate effectively not only by voice, but by tone, feeling, glances, mannerisms, and total personality. Too often when we are not able to converse with a daughter or wife we wonder, “What is wrong with her?” when we should be wondering, “What is wrong with our methods?” A meaningful smile, an appropriate pat on the shoulder, and a warm handshake are all-important. Silence isolates. Strained silent periods cause wonderment, hurt, and, most often, wrong conclusions.”
“When family members tune each other out, communication is not taking place. Words spoken are unheard, unwanted, and resisted when we fail to understand the basics for proper interchange….Proper communication will always be a main ingredient for building family solidarity and permanence. May our gracious and kind Heavenly Father help us in our needs and desires for more effective family communication. Communication can help build family unity if we will work at it and sacrifice for it.“
And that pretty much brings us to the post that I wrote back in January. At that point I was still a believer and I thought if I just love him and I just listen and I research, then I will be able to bring him back to church. If we honestly look at the facts together we will come to the truth.
So we started researching from LDS approved sources. I started learning things from lds.org that were new and confusing. I went to talk to our bishop (new bishop). He told me not to get worked up about these things. He said that he himself had gone through a faith crisis a few years ago and one of the things that helped him was listening to Mormon Stories podcast. So we started listening to that every night together after the kids went to bed. It was helpful, listening to that helped us understand each other so much more. It helped us understand some of each other’s issues. At that point Alan said ‘I don’t even care if you stay in the Church, our marriage is better because we are communicating and have more understanding.’
A few weeks after my post, my brother called me. We didn’t speak very often, but he called to tell me that he had done a lot of research and that he could answer any of my concerns. “Oh really, well that would be great. Why is that I am almost thirty years old, have been an active member all my life and I had never heard the actual way that the Book of Mormon was translated?”
“What?! Well, that’s because you’re stupid! Everyone knows that.”
This is response hardly brings resolution to my concerns. Resorting to name-calling doesn’t answer anything or make me feel better about “his answers”. He also told me that my bishop was ‘misguiding’ me. That one really bothered me, because I know that my bishop is a great neighbor and an all-around descent guy. According to all the LDS primary, young women’s and gospel doctrine manuals, Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon by looking at the gold plates through a Urim and Thummim behind a curtain while his scribe was on the other side. This is what the missionaries teach, this is how it is portrayed in church movies and paintings, this is what I always had been taught. However, in a talk given by Russel M. Nelson in 1993, he quotes David Whitmer, one of the first witnesses as saying:
“Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man.” (David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, Richmond, Mo.: n.p., 1887, p. 12.)
Since learning about the stone in the hat business, I have talked to several people and the vast majority of them had never
heard of it. When I brought this up with my parents (life-long members), they told me that it wasn’t true, that it was all anti-Mormon lies. My mother asked me “Why in the world would Moroni, Nephi and all of the Book of Mormon prophets go to all of the effort of inscribing and hiding the brass plates, if Joseph Smith wasn’t going to use them, but translate the Book of Mormon using a rock in a hat instead?” That’s a good question, and one that I haven’t been able to find a faith-promoting answer for. As it turns out, South Park is more accurate than what I had been taught at church, at CES Institute classes or at BYU. Now I don’t really care if Joseph Smith translated it from a rock in a hat or from a tattoo on the backside of a unicorn, I just wanted the people who claim to speak for God and have authority to tell me how to run live my life to be honest and consistent with what they say. It made me realize that if the words of a current member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and one of the first three witnesses to the Book of Mormon could be considered anti-Mormon literature, then anti-Mormon literature was a myth. And here was undeniable, in-my-face evidence from the Church’s own website that the organization that I had trusted so much had not been completely honest with me.
In my researching I really wanted to know ‘Why would the church not be honest about the Book of Mormon being translated using a seer stone in a hat?’ Is a seer stone any less miraculous than a Urim and Thummim? Isn’t any divine communication miraculous? I believe the reason that the LDS church isn’t very forthright about teaching everyone that the Book of Mormon was revealed using a seer stone, is that Joseph Smith used this very same seer stone in con-games (glass-looking) that he was convicted of in 1826, before he ever founded the LDS Church (1830). Hugh Nibley, a famous defender of the Mormon faith, said “If this court record is authentic it is the most damning evidence in existence against Joseph Smith and would be ‘the most devastating blow to Smith every delivered.” The Myth Makers (1961), p 142 Of note, Hugh Nibley said this ten years before the rumored court records were found. (I found the above image of the court records from this BYU studies article.)
The issue about the translation also made me realize that I had to go on more than feelings. I had had a testimony that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon using plates and a Urim and Thummim. I had felt spiritual reassurance that this was truth. I knew that this was the basis of the restoration of the one and only true church on the earth today. I had had a strong testimony of something that as it turns out was blatantly false. I had prayed about it and felt it to be true, and obviously it was not. I could not just determine truth by what felt good to me, but also by a hard honest look at the facts.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Update 1/2015: Here are the essays from LDS.org that refer to the Book of Mormon translation process and that “The Book of Mormon is more spiritual than historical”
Categories: family, Mormonism, relationships, religion | 7 Comments »After making substantial improvements to tampabay.com, we now ask readers who turn most often to our website to help support it financially.
This change reflects the growing importance of electronic publishing. Most of our news breaks first on tampabay.com. It features video, special reports, blogs and archives that go beyond the possibilities of print.
Tampabay.com still offers free access up to a point — set now at 15 page views per month. To get past that ceiling, readers need to register and pay. Our best customers get the best price, with discounts for subscribers to our print edition.
Some parts of tampabay.com will continue to offer unlimited access. The meter does not count visits to the home page or to PolitiFact.com, our service that measures the truth of what politicians are saying. Readers also can tap into Things To Do, or the sections that advertise cars, homes and jobs, as much as they like.
For 35 years, I have started my day by collecting the Times from my front lawn, usually before dawn. But now I also turn several times each day to tampabay.com, to see what else we've got. I expect our presses to keep turning for many years to come, but the electronic editions are also central to our business.
These days, we tell stories with both ink and electrons. Both formats draw deeply upon our journalism, and both must help sustain it.
Since we launched the new version |
that the player is not scheduled to play (and will not be permitted to play) prior to the commencement of the suspension.”
The committee came to the conclusion that Healy would not be released for Leinster’s match against Treviso on Saturday. Therefore, the suspension is put back a week, effectively making it a four-week ban.
Regulation 17.19.11 was primarily introduced to ensure a player whose suspension ran into the off-season can have it held off until the start of the new campaign to ensure he is adequately punished.A A
SEATTLE -- All TAP America wants to do is to get consumers to think about where they spend their money.
"People don't even realize that they have the power to influence and make change happen with their purchasing dollars," said Richard Tso, executive director of the group.
TAP stands for tolerance, Americanism, patriotism. The Seattle group's founder Mark Bloome says he believes buying American products is the way to get the economy going.
"We know that if you spend $100 on local goods and services, it's actually going to add $500 to the economy," Bloome said.
So to spread that word, TAP America went to Metro Transit, prepared to spend $8,000 to put ads on 45 Metro buses.
But Bloome says Metro turned down the offer. According to an email exchange between Metro and an ad company, Metro, citing its policy that prohibits public issue ads, said the "proposed ad should not be accepted."
"We had no idea this would be a controversial issue," Bloome said. "We were astounded when we got rejected."
But on Thursday, Metro Transit said it has decided to accept the ads. The transit agency added recent media reports had nothing to do with its apparent change of heart.
Instead, an email from Metro said it was simply in the process of working with TAP, and "...upon further evaluation, the text of the ad does not express an opinion about a public issue. Therefore, we will allow it to run."
"Well, if buying American is a political issue, that's a sad state for our country," said Bloome.
TAP said ironically, the group had initially chosen to advertise with Metro because the group was trying to spend its money locally, as well.Razer has shoehorned performance laptop technology into its 8mm device, targeting young consumers who want to play quality games on the go
Gaming on smartphones is big business. So big that hardcore gaming firm Razer reckons there’s a better way to make a smartphone that’s good for games, but that you won’t be embarrassed to use in public.
Having started making precision mice and colourful keyboards for gaming, then successfully moving into performance laptops over the last five years, Razer believes that mobile is the next step in gaming.
Tom Moss, head of Razer’s mobile business, said: “We didn’t start out trying to make a gaming phone, but rather a phone for gamers. Something you wouldn’t be embarrassed about pulling out in public. And it had to have the highest performance both on paper and in real life benchmarks.”
Where iPhone 8s, Pixel 2s and Galaxy S8s are pretty good for gaming, Razer styles itself as the “lifestyle brand for the people that grew up as gamers” and believes there’s still scope for making the ultimate phone for gamers predicated on playing games and watching videos.
The Razer Phone (find here), which is made by some of the former Nextbit people who were bought by the gaming firm, has the usual 2017 top-end components: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 processor, 8GB of RAM, 64GB of storage with a microSD card slot for more, a large, high resolution display and dual 12-megapixel cameras on the back.
But Razer also put in a large, 4,000 mAh battery, very loud front-facing stereo speakers and shoehorned performance laptop technology into a smartphone.
Moss said: “We leveraged our engineering experience from laptops creating a heat pipe and two layers of thermal shielding, turning the structure of the phone into a heat sink, so you can use your phone in high performance mode for a lot longer and avoid throttling.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The squared-off black metal body stands in stark contrast to most devices in 2017. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian
The result is an imposing 8mm-thick monolithic slab of a smartphone that looks unusual in a world where every other smartphone has adopted a curved, svelte design.
Razer is targeting the 15 to 25-year-old gaming enthusiast, with smartphones being part of its holistic approach to this potentially lucrative market.
It uses a near-stock version of Android 7 Nougat, with an update to the latest version of Android 8 Oreo promised early next year, and introduces gaming technologies not before seen in a smartphone.
The first is a dynamic, adaptable 120Hz display refresh rate, at least double that of competitors, and what the firm calls Ultramotion – a technology similar to the PC gaming technologies of Nvidia’s G-Sync or AMD’s FreeSync – tying screen refresh rate to the frame rate being outputted by the graphics processor to avoid screen tearing.
The result is smooth gaming and day-to-day performance, while the display is capable of turning down its refresh rate to save battery when needed. Apple’s iPad Pro does a similar thing with its 120Hz display.
Moss said: “We’re really trying to push the technologies that we’ve developed for our laptops into mobile. It’s not necessarily for everyone, but I think it’s for more people than you might think at first glance because the size of the gaming and entertainment business.”
While most Android games will run fine on the Razer Phone, around 20% of them have uncapped frame rates, which will take full advantage of Razer’s technologies. The firm is also working with big-name game developers to optimise some high profile games for the phone, including the upcoming Final Fantasy 15 Pocket Edition and Shadow Gun Legends.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The power button on the side doubles as a fingerprint scanner. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian
With the backing of the rest of the Razer business, which has 35 million registered users of its software alone, success for its new smartphone business will be measured quite differently.
“We’re not targeting to be number three biggest smartphone manufacturer, maybe in five years,” said Moss. “We don’t need to reach 10m sales, instead we want to be taken seriously, by component vendors, by carriers and the public while staying true to the core brand of being made by gamers for gamers.”
In the ultra-competitive smartphone market dominated by Apple, Samsung and China’s Huawei, Razer will have an uphill battle for relevance. But if it can leverage its fairly large enthusiast fanbase, Razer could become a solid niche player in the smartphone game offering something others do not.
The Razer Phone will be available for pre-order on 3 November costing £699 ($699) and in-store on 14 November available from Razer’s online store (find here) and exclusively through mobile phone operator Three in six countries including the UK.
This article contains affiliate links to products. Our journalism is independent and is never written to promote these products although we may earn a small commission if a reader makes a purchase.Symphony leaders and philharmonic enthusiasts have long pondered how classical music havens can attract a young, contemporary audience. It seems as though one Lithuanian orchestra has found the solution to top them all. And it comes in the form of a catcerto.
The Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra, led by conductor and composer Mindaugas Piecaitis, included a cat -- yes, a four-legged feline -- in one of their ensemble performances, amounting to what we can only imagine was the world's hairiest soloist. The adorable collaboration took place in 2009, but a recording of the splendid event has been making its rounds on the internet this week.
As you can see in the video above, the cat was brought in via a giant projected video, which showed the thumb-less pet pounding and curling on the keys like a true virtuoso. The famous internet musician is Nora the Piano Cat, and she hails from New Jersey. (In case you were interested, she has been watched by over six million YouTube fans, appeared on The Today Show and prefers Yamahas, according to her website.)
Meanwhile, in the video, professional violinists and cellists play live in the foreground, following the kitty's avant-garde concerto. After nearly 4 minutes of adorable ear twitches and gentle stringed instrument ambience, an elated audience erupts in applause. And you will too.President Donald Trump said Singapore’s purchase of nearly $14 billion worth of Boeing aircraft will create 70,000 jobs in the U.S., The Associated Press reports.
Boeing’s chief executive officer and the CEO of Singapore Airlines signed paperwork at the White House on Monday as the country’s prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, and Trump looked on.
Lee — whom the president called a “highly respected” man who had done a “fantastic” job — was at the White House for talks with Trump.
Trump said the relationship between the U.S. and Singapore is at its “highest point and it will continue.”
But Trump joked that Singapore’s purchase of nearly 40 airplanes had better create jobs in the United States, “otherwise we’ll cancel the order.”
Trump and Lee both referred to Boeing as an “airline.” Boeing makes commercial jetliners.
Later in the Rose Garden, Trump praised the U.S. relationship with Singapore and called Lee a “wonderful and loyal partner.”
The president also said the two countries were committed to countering the threat from North Korea. And Trump thanked Singapore for being the first Asian nation to join a coalition of countries fighting the Islamic State group.
For his part, Lee urged dialogue between the United States and North Korea to resolve the growing nuclear crisis in Asia.
The prime minister said “we strongly oppose” the nuclearization of the Korean peninsula since it adversely affects the safety and security of the region.
He added that “there is no quick and easy solution” but stressed that “pressure is necessary but so is dialogue.”
Trump may hear similar sentiments throughout his upcoming 12-day trip in early November to Asia, where most leaders are urging a peaceful solution to the threat posed by North Korea. Trump has downplayed the usefulness of diplomacy and has instead focused on American military power.
Of his upcoming trip to Asia, Trump says it will be a “busy” time.
WN.com, Jim BerrieThis study maps the rules on independence and responsibility that are applicable at national, EU, and international level that govern the service provision by intermediaries such as companies working in auditing, tax advice, accountancy and account certification or by legal advisors (attorneys, solicitors, legal consultants, in-house lawyers, etc.). The mapping forms the basis for policy recommendations to encourage intermediaries to deliver a positive contribution to combatting tax evasion, tax avoidance and money laundering.
This document was prepared for Policy Department A at the request of the Committee of Inquiry into Money Laundering, Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion (PANA). It republished on the CEPS website with the kind permission of the European Parliament. Ian Roxan and Saipriya Kamath are researchers at the London School of Economics, and Willem Pieter de Groen is Research Fellow at CEPS.OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn
In the last 3 years, I've written 3 novels. On one hand, this is fantastic and I am celebrating my achievements. But on the other hand, it just isn't good enough if I want to make it as a successful fiction author.
NY Times bestselling author CJ Lyons is writing 4 books this year. Joe Konrath, Bob Mayer, Dean Wesley Smith and Kris Rusch all put out more than that. Nora Roberts / J.D. Robb produces a book every 45 days and shifts 10 million books per year (romance books are shorter but that's still impressive!).
Before you all start shouting, check out this post on the myth that writing fast means skimping on quality.
Also consider the list of the most prolific authors. Isaac Asimov wrote over 500 books in his life, Enid Blyton 600+. I'd better get cracking if I want to join them 🙂
Now watch the video below, or here on YouTube, about how I have increased my writing output.
In the video I discuss:
How I’ve always been more of a binge writer, prefering batches of bigger word count and days set aside for fiction and other days for marketing, speaking and the rest of the entrepreneurial stuff. But this doesn't cut it if I want to focus on fiction as my primary income (it's about 50% right now and I am NOT earning like Nora!)
It’s important to learn from the pros who are actually doing this, so when I read a post by Dean Wesley Smith on production schedules, I listened up! Dean and his wife, author Kris Rusch have some fantastic advices on their sites so I absolutely recommend you go check them out.
Basically you need to decide how much you want to write e.g. 3 x 80,000 word books in a year = 240,000 words. Obviously there’s an editing cycle but the first thing is to get the rough draft done and Dean advocates a regular amount of new fiction writing in order to meet production schedules – so to meet that, I need to write ~666 words per day, every day of the year. That’s not actually too much as it takes me about 30-45 mins to write 500 words (if I know what I want to write about).
Then decide how you will accomplish that word count e.g. weekly or daily goals. I decided to break out of binge writing and make writing a daily habit, and through that to up my monthly output of words. But I have never managed this – until now!
See my behavioral chart for January 2013 right. It works! It's like the star chart you do for your kids to modify behaviour and adults can use it too! I only missed a couple of days due to traveling and being ‘present' with my husband on a trip to Italy and then speaking in Zurich. But I want that pink tick every day and I want to see the word count and I want it to be at least 1000 words per day. In January I wrote 36,556 words on Hunterian, my current WIP, the best writing month I have ever had. So watch this space for whether I can keep it going all year!
Yes, it is really hard every day to get this done and I don’t think writing gets any easier, but I definitely feel the need to do it every day now. I also have a sign by my desk “Have you made art today?” which challenges me. Read The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin and you will get your ass kicked too! Stop watching TV and write something!
Do you write every day? Or do you have weekly writing goals? What kinds of writing habits do you have? Please do share your thoughts in the comments below.I am sometimes called heartless about the non-contributors in our society. Maybe I am.
Recently I got a lot of flak for saying begging should be outlawed and that non-contributors should at least do us the favour of not getting in the way.
A bit of bombast goes a long way in column writing but my point is that as a tribe we can afford only so many free loaders. Professional bleeding hearts, I find, are often good at talking about how society is lacking in compassion without having a clue about the complexity of problems like poverty and homelessness.
And there is never a word about how often the disadvantaged don't help themselves.
Coming face to face with the truly marginalised and getting to hear a bit about their lives gives you a different perspective, of course.
In this job you get used to going from the sublime to the ridiculous, from the tragic to the humorous and from the hero to the zero.
Last week I was sent out to do a bit of colour on the All Blacks, the closest to the conquering warriors of old as we are likely to get in our modern age. Next day I was following a story about a homeless transgender woman claiming blatant discrimination.
We found Victoria Karaitiana, whose given Christian name was Paul, living rough in a beaten-up, pop-up caravan next to a shingle road beside the Kaiapoi River.
She was wearing a long green dress, a cardigan and jandals. Her large feet did not sit squarely on the jandals so only her weathered toes got any protection.
Her long blond hair was tied back in an untidy pony tail and she hadn't shaved for a few days so a grey stubble was noticeable. Broad shoulders, solid arms, a lack of upper teeth and her height destroyed any last vestige of femininity. She spoke quietly and, although she said she was surviving on tins of spaghetti and baked beans, she didn't look malnourished.
She carried a bag with a brown-skinned, blonde-haired doll which, we would learn later, she liked to hold to her chest like she was breastfeeding.
Victoria's story was that she had began to live like a woman at 18 after many years of being sexually abused by her father. She was now 47 and had no idea where the rest of her family was.
She had lived most of her life in Auckland and come to Christchurch at the urging of a cousin who was going to pay for her sex change operation.
That hadn't worked out but she had got together with a Maori man who died in the PWC building during the February earthquake, she claimed. He had been a security guard.
She had moved often in the last year because of harassment and bullying wherever she lived. In the last few months she had again been forced to leave her accommodation because of nasty behaviour by other tenants. Her last abode, a camping ground, had evicted her solely because of her gender preference, she said.
She hadn't worked for many years but long ago worked in hospitals as a nurse despite struggling with literacy and numeracy. She had tumours in her head and a steel rod in her back.
Victoria said she had given up on the social agencies or maybe they had given up on her. She had received five bonds from WINZ this year and was not eligible for any more. Her living support allowance came to $232 a week but she thought social housing was too dear.
A 20 minute walk got her into town to charge her phone, do her shopping and have a shower at the swimming pool.
The pop-up caravan leaked when it rained and she used a gas cooker, and a portable loo for toileting.
"People don't want me because of my transgender but people have got to learn to accept me the way I am. They torment me, throw things at me. I've had bottles thrown at my head, eggs thrown at me.
"I just want to somebody to help and treat me as a woman and not as a transgender."
At night she lay in her bed thinking about things.
"I just want to be happy, not living like this."
A job perhaps?
"It really boils down to people not wanting a transgender but I'm not going to change for nobody. This is how I'm going to be. I'm not going to change.
"I want to live a normal life where people accept me for what I am."
In any event she was too sickly to work.
Key points of Victoria's story did not check out. She had been evicted from a camping ground but not because she was transgender. She had made a nuisance of herself, drank her rent money and broken rules.
Her partner had not died in the PWC collapse and she not been a nurse as claimed.
As a southerly hit on Wednesday I thought about Victoria in her leaky pop-up and it struck me that even though Victoria is not exactly a deserving case, she still has a claim on our better nature. And sometimes there are no answers and no neat endings.The Trump administration would like America to believe that a large part of its overall mission is to fight a more successful drug war than any of its predecessors. Right now, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is out there preaching 1980s rhetoric, suggesting that “people should say ‘no’ to drug abuse,” while a new report has found that his boss, President Donald Trump, has been raking in millions by helping cartels launder drug money.
A joint investigation from Reuters and NBC News, which was released last week, reveals that drug cartels and other international criminal organizations invested huge chunks of change into the Trump Ocean Club International Hotel and Tower in Panama City. It seems this project, much like other luxury developments in Panama, was built for the sole purpose of washing funds generated from the international drug trade.
The report showed that investors and customers “with questionable backgrounds” bought into the hotel (pre-construction and finished units) as a method of laundering illegal funds. It was a practice, purportedly spearheaded by Brazilian real estate salesman Alexandre Ventura Nogueira, which is said to have earned Trump tens of millions of dollars.
“In the case of the Trump Ocean Club, accepting easy—and possibly dirty—money early on would have been in Trump’s interest; a certain volume of pre-construction sales was necessary to secure financing for the project, which stood to net him $75.4 million by the end of 2010,” the report found.
Although there is no definitive evidence that Trump was aware that his hotel was being used to clean millions in dirty money, a separate report from the non-profit Global Witness indicates that the now Commander-In-Chief did nothing to prevent his property from being used by criminal organizations. In fact, because of how the profits were distributed in this particular case, there is even reason to suspect that the whole Panama scheme was set up intentionally to benefit Donald Trump.
“Trump seems to have done little to nothing to prevent this,” the report reads. “What is clear is that proceeds from Colombian cartels’ narcotics trafficking were laundered through the Trump Ocean Club and that Donald Trump was one of the beneficiaries.”
But, so far, no one has dug up any solid evidence linking President Trump to illegal activity.
There isn’t even any proof that he was aware that his South American investors were connected to illegal drugs.
Yet, according to the folks at Global Witness, there are plenty of details, including the fact that hotel units were “purchased in bulk” and “sales were made in cash,” which shows the project was designed to launder money.
The deals connected to the Trump Ocean Club International Hotel and Tower, which Trump himself said “sold like hotcakes,” appears to have been a “don’t ask, don’t tell” situation.
After all, it has never really been a part of Trump’s Modus Operandi to ask too many questions about his investors.
“Nobody ever asked me. Banks never asked. Developers didn’t ask and (the) Trump Organization didn’t ask. Nobody asks, ‘Who are the customers, where did the money come from?’ No, nobody asked,” Nogueira told NBC.
When reporters showed up on the White House lawn to ask the Trump camp for comment, its strategy was to simply deny any direct connection to Panama. Trump’s chief legal officer, Alan Garten, has even gone so far as to say that team Trump has absolutely no recollection of doing business with anyone named Alexandre Ventura Nogueira.
“The Trump Organization was not the owner, developer or seller of the Trump Ocean Club Panama project. Because of its limited role, the company was not responsible for the financing of the project and had no involvement in the sale of units or the retention of any real estate brokers,” Trump’s people said in a statement.
Although investors lost money on the project, Donald Trump still pulled in somewhere between $30 million and $50 million."Before Equestria's founding, Celestia and Luna were still royalty..."Commissioned bySo after a few weeks I've finally finished the big commission I've been talking about.gave me the guideline for the picture to include the two princesses and to do it in a similar style to my 'Veni, Vidi, Vici!' picture evil-dec0y.deviantart.com/art/… I decided to go with the ancient Egyptian theme because I've wanted to make a painting set in the desert for a while, and ancient Egypt really interests me also, so it only seemed natural to mix the two and make the two princesses into co-pharaohs.I think this is easily my most detailed painting to date, and I want to thankfor the impetus to get this painting started.As for the things in the image I want to talk about.First off, I had the eye make-up in mind before I played the game Overwatch, I'm not trying to rip off Pharah's look XD. Also asnoticed and reminded me the marking are a hieroglyphic symbol for the ancient Egyptian gods Ra, of the sun for Celestia, and Khonsu, of the moon for Luna.Secondly, the fur rug is a Chimera skin rug, I felt that of all the creatures in Equestria that a Chimera made the most sense both artistically and storyline wise.And lastly, the reason that Celestia's wings are in angled forward is that she is supposed to be sunbathing, artistically though I wanted to convey the same style as the look of wings in the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs._________MLP© and its Characters belong to Hasbro©.SANAA (Reuters) - Yemenis in the capital Sanaa and the central city of Taiz held the largest protests yet against a takeover by a Shi’ite Muslim militia group on Wednesday after the United States, Britain and France shut their embassies over security fears.
Pro-Houthi protesters demonstrate to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the uprising that toppled former President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa February 11, 2015. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Hundreds massed in the capital against the Houthi fighters, who manned checkpoints and guarded government buildings they control. The militants, bedecked in tribal robes and automatic rifles, shot in the air and thrust daggers at the crowds opposing their rule.
Tens of thousands of people also carried banners and chanted anti-Houthi slogans in Taiz, which the militants have not taken.
The Iranian-backed Houthi movement has called its seizure of power a revolution and says it wants to rid the country of corruption and economic peril — though Yemen’s rich Sunni Muslim Gulf Arab neighbors say it is a coup.
Yemen had long been at the forefront of the U.S.-led war against al Qaeda, but the long-standing alliance between Washington and Sanaa appears to have ended for now.
The U.S. ambassador and diplomatic staff left the embassy on Wednesday, local workers said, a day after Washington announced it was closing the mission. Embassy workers had already destroyed weapons, computers and documents, they added.
“Recent unilateral actions disrupted the political transition process in Yemen, creating the risk that renewed violence would threaten Yemenis and the diplomatic community in Sanaa,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said.
Despite the embassy shutdown, White House Spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Wednesday that the United States was continuing to carry out counter-terrorism operations in Yemen in cooperation with Yemeni officials.
“There continue to be... U.S. Department of Defense personnel on the ground in Yemen that are coordinating with their counterparts in Yemen,” he said.
France and Britain announced the closure of their embassies on Wednesday, and German embassy employees said the mission was getting rid of sensitive documents and would close soon..
The Houthis, who overran Sanaa in September and formally took power last week, are stridently anti-American, and chant “death to America” at rallies.
Abdel Malik al-Ijri, a member of the Houthi movement’s political bureau, said on Facebook the decision to close the embassies was “not justified at all and comes in the context of pressure on our people”.
“Governments of brotherly and friendly countries in the near future will realize that it is in their interest to deal with the will of our people with due respect,” al-Ijri wrote.
He also dismissed a report from U.S. embassy workers that the militants had seized more than 20 of their vehicles, saying they had been taken by airport authorities.
HOUTHI ADVANCE
Houthi forces advanced far into the south on Tuesday night, according to local officials, continuing their expansion of recent months which is raising fears of an all-out civil war.
Leaders and Sunni tribesmen in the southern and eastern regions, which the group has so far not seized, are arming themselves against their push and are in some cases making common cause with Yemeni Al Qaeda militants.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), one of the global militant group’s most powerful arms, has repeatedly bombed and attacked Houthi targets.
Other tribes from Yemen’s formerly independent south, which has clamored for secession for almost a decade, vowed on Wednesday to repel any Houthi attack.
The Houthi forces are bolstered by army units widely believed to maintain loyalty to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh — though he denies any link.
Saleh ruled the country for 33 years, balancing the competing interests for Yemen’s kaleidoscope of armed tribes, political bosses and militants - a feat he called “dancing on the heads of snakes.”
But he was eased out of power after “Arab Spring” protests against his rule in 2011 under a delicate transition plan drawn up by Yemen’s rich Sunni Gulf Arab neighbors - all of them opponents of the Houthis.
Slideshow (13 Images)
Those neighbors have called the Houthi takeover a coup. Saleh and his former ruling party have denied an attempt to settle old scores and reassert its control over the country through the Houthis.
The tenure of Saleh’s successor, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, was defined by gridlock among Yemen’s array of feuding parties. Hadi resigned last month along with his whole government after Houthi gunmen attacked his home.By Max Dunbar.
Eat My Heart Out, Zoe Pilger, Serpent’s Tail 2014
Zoe Pilger‘s debut novel starts messy and gets worse. Her protagonist Ann-Marie is a Cambridge dropout with almost no sense of boundaries or self-awareness. She steals, propositions and attempts suicide at random intervals. Working as a ‘door bitch’ for a Soho restaurant and hanging around on the fringes of the hipsterati art scene, Ann-Marie’s chaotic life develops some coherence when she meets Stephanie Haight, a second-wave feminist name who makes the younger woman into a test case, and tries to cure Ann-Marie of her one conviction: that falling in love will save her life. Pilger said in an interview: ‘Ann-Marie is obsessed with Beyoncé and desperately wants to fall in love, whereas Stephanie is determined to re-educate, to undo the brainwashing that has taken place, albeit through her own form of brainwashing (which is equally destructive).’
Eat My Heart Out has been compared to Bret Easton Ellis, Kathy Acker, Lena Dunham’s Girls and early Amis, but transcends all these influences. Contra Fay Weldon, literary fiction has little time for people born post 1980, let alone people born post 1990. There is a world of struggling emergent youth out there that is simply unrepresented. Despite their first-class education Ann-Marie and her contemporaries are fighting for service jobs and floor space in a rigged game. Pilger started young — she is 29 and began writing this novel in late 2010 — and so is able to capture parts of London life that don’t even register on the establishment literary radar.
The art world takes a kicking. Ann-Marie’s housemate Freddie — think a younger Montague Withnail with a coke problem — has Ann-Marie star in a recreation of famous female writer suicides (an actual 2013 spread by Vice, pulled after an internet firestorm) and is also working on a show called Making a Racquet: ‘It all centres around an emerging bee-artist who has some issues about bees. He’s going to hit them with a racquet — plus they make a noise. They buzz.’ It is one of many, many fantastic lines. Of all the difficult things to do in writing a story, the most difficult thing is dialogue. I could spend the rest of the review listing examples. ‘Freddie, when you’ve done loads of drugs you look like a frightened horse.’ ‘Do you know what a message in a bottle is? It’s sent in faith, Vic, faith. Do you know what faith is?’ ‘Because even though people are from the same blood buffet, it doesn’t mean they’re the same type of sick gangster. What she did was frigidaire.’ The back and forth, the human music that people don’t know they make.
‘I don’t want to be free,’ Ann-Marie says. ‘I feel trapped anyway, in all this freedom.’ Stephanie Haight has a chapter that ends: ‘our fixation with love is caused by the opposite — it is caused by agoraphobia, by too much space.’ The prose has occasional lapses into faux-Hogarth scenes of sordid nights out in the big city — ‘To my left, a man was selling fake celebrity-endorsed perfumes to a crowd of tourists, who spritzed themselves liberally with the testers so that the toxically sweet scent conspired with the pollution to make the air unbearable.’ Eat My Heart Out could be seen as a satire on the dark side of the sexual revolution — the normalisation of rape in casual discourse (Ann-Marie’s boss prior to a busy shift tells her ‘that I was going to get slammed hard from all directions tonight so I better fucking enjoy it’) and, more existentially, about the terrors of freedom: because freedom is scary, freedom to fail, freedom to fuck up. Pilger’s prose is like grease in the night air, a leaden drunken feeling after a day spent asleep, what Ann-Marie calls a ‘ghost of experience.’
‘The party turned against the girl,’ Haight writes. ‘She was gang-raped by men who were flower children.’ The novelist Linda Grant described the 1970s as ‘a climate in which sexual exploitation by older men like Stuart Hall and Jimmy Savile could flourish. These men, born in the 1920s, were a product of more repressive times and they were taking advantage of the sexual revolution, regarding all younger women as easy meat for exploitation.’ To illustrate her point Haight forces Ann-Marie into a tryout for a strip show that serves up objectification under the fig leaf of burlesque. The problems with post-liberation and ‘ladette’ culture have been chronicled by talented feminist writers, notably Natasha Walter in Living Dolls. Yet all this shades into an old and familiar authoritarian critique. ‘We were a society dying,’ says Aunt Lydia in The Handmaid’s Tale, ‘of too much choice.’
How refreshing it was to see intelligent and articulate women stand up to the furtive, bullying, inadequate, misogyny of so many middle-aged males. The Everyday Sexism project, Hollaback and the SlutWalk demos, Reclaim the Night, the activism of Caroline Criado-Perez and the activism of Laurie Penny: ‘it was a fresh inclusive moment, what Hunter S Thompson in another time called ‘a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning.’ It’s depressing therefore that the new feminist movement imploded in endless Twitter outrage parties carried out in the argot of intersectionality: ‘the jargon-filled language of the intellectual left,’ Nick Cohen calls it, ‘which ordinary people cannot understand, and know without needing to be told are not meant to understand either.’ When a conference at Barnard College descended into narcissistic infighting, disappointed Nation writer Michelle Goldberg reported that ‘the response was so vitriolic, so full of bad faith and stubborn misinformation, that it felt like some sort of Maoist hazing.’ Goldberg does not exaggerate. A friend of the blogger Phil Dore was attacked on Twitter last year with online feminists repeatedly accusing her of transphobia. Dore writes: ‘Unfortunately one of her hidden oppressions was an anxiety disorder, and the Twitterstorm triggered a relapse.’
This isn’t a political problem so much as a human nature problem. Like all political movements, the fourth wave of feminism had become a purely social thing defined by codes, language, in-jokes, rites, rituals and rules. The tragedy of social activism is that groups begin with universal goals and end up fixated, through organisational dynamics, on petty personal and political difference. It’s not an environment in which creative outsiders like Ann-Marie can thrive. Pilger said that: ‘I don’t have a political message I’m trying to put across. I just wanted to open up the space of talking about feminism in a way that was accessible. A lot of academic feminist ideas can be very intense and impenetrable, which is a shame because feminism is about people’s real lives and is something all men and women need.’ With her empathy and sense of perspective, Pilger demonstrates that it’s better to spread this consciousness through fiction.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Max Dunbar was born in London in 1981. He recently finished a full-length novel and his short fiction has appeared in various print and web journals. He is reviews editor of 3:AM.Welcome to The Lineup! This is a weekly column that will examine — you guessed it — nine topics from the world of baseball in numbered order.
1 Andrew Cashner is following his face.
Not to make The Lineup into a weekly commentary on facial hair policy, but ever since I grew my first wispy Sidney Crosby–quality goatee when I was 15, I’ve been waiting for someone to do what Andrew Cashner is threatening to do.
When he was in San Diego, Cashner went to John Bell Hood’s barber, but since then he’s had to shave in order to comply with the Marlins’ personal-grooming policy. Certainly a team with such a long and dignified history as the Miami Marlins must defend that legacy against … beards. Turns out Cashner is rather attached to his beard and will factor his freedom to wear a beard into where he signs.
Not that there’s going to be a huge bidding war for a pitcher with Cashner’s injury history and 82 ERA+ since 2015, but I like that he’s taking a stand. I also like that he’s throwing a wrench into the normal public free-agent calculus, which usually just includes money, the team’s ability to contend for a championship, and how close the team is to the player’s birthplace.
Playing baseball is a job, and like any job, money and prestige are important, but they’re not the only thing. Cashner’s beard stand is just like not taking a job because you feel like you wouldn’t be able |
the path to the Supreme Court....[E]ffectively defending [DOMA] does not require the House to intervene in every case, especially when doing so would be prohibitively expensive."[73]
Repeal proposals [ edit ]
On September 15, 2009, three Democratic members of Congress, Jerrold Nadler of New York, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, and Jared Polis of Colorado, introduced legislation to repeal DOMA called the Respect for Marriage Act. The bill had 91 original co-sponsors in the House of Representatives[74][75] and was supported by Clinton, Barr, and several legislators who voted for DOMA.[76] Congressman Barney Frank and John Berry, head of the Office of Personnel Management, did not support that effort, stating that "the backbone is not there" in Congress. Frank and Berry suggested DOMA could be overturned more quickly through lawsuits such as Gill v. Office of Personnel Management filed by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD).[77][78]
Following Holder's announcement that the Obama Administration would no longer defend DOMA Section 3 in court, on March 16, 2011, Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced the Respect for Marriage Act in the Senate again[79] and Nadler introduced it in the House.[80] The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10–8 in favor of advancing the bill to the Senate floor, but observers believed it would not gain the 60 votes needed to end debate and bring it to a vote.[81]
After the Supreme Court struck down DOMA Section 3 on June 26, 2013, Feinstein and Nadler reintroduced the Respect for Marriage Act as S. 1236 and H.R. 2523.
Challenges to Section 3 in Federal court [ edit ]
Numerous plaintiffs have challenged DOMA. Prior to 2009, all federal courts upheld DOMA in its entirety.
Later cases focused on Section 3's definition of marriage. The courts, using different standards, have all found Section 3 unconstitutional. Requests for the Supreme Court to hear appeals were filed in five cases, listed below (with Supreme Court docket numbers):
Golinski v. Office of Personnel Management [ edit ]
Golinski v. Office of Personnel Management is a challenge to Section 3 of DOMA in federal court based on a judicial employee's attempt to receive spousal health benefits for her wife. In 2008, Karen Golinski, a 19-year employee of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, applied for health benefits for her wife. When the application was denied, she filed a complaint under the Ninth Circuit's Employment Dispute Resolution Plan. Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, in his administrative capacity, ruled in 2009 that she was entitled to spousal health benefits,[82] but the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced that it would not comply with the ruling.
On March 17, 2011, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White dismissed the suit on procedural grounds but invited Golinski to amend her suit to argue the unconstitutionality of DOMA Section 3,[83] which she did on April 14.[84] Following the Attorney General's decision to no longer defend DOMA,[58] the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG), an arm of the House of Representatives, took up the defense. Former United States Solicitor General Paul Clement filed, on BLAG's behalf, a motion to dismiss raising arguments previously avoided by the Department of Justice: that DOMA's definition of marriage is valid "because only a man and a woman can beget a child together, and because historical experience has shown that a family consisting of a married father and mother is an effective social structure for raising children."[85][86] On July 1, 2011, the DOJ filed a brief in support of Golinski's suit, in which it detailed for the first time its case for heightened scrutiny based on "a significant history of purposeful discrimination against gay and lesbian people, by governmental as well as private entities" and its arguments that DOMA Section 3 fails to meet that standard.[61][87]
On February 22, 2012, White ruled for Golinski, finding DOMA "violates her right to equal protection of the law under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution." He wrote that Section 3 of DOMA could not pass the "heightened scrutiny" or the "rational basis" test. He wrote,[88]
The Court finds that neither Congress' claimed legislative justifications nor any of the proposed reasons proffered by BLAG constitute bases rationally related to any of the alleged governmental interests. Further, after concluding that neither the law nor the record can sustain any of the interests suggested, the Court, having tried on its own, cannot conceive of any additional interests that DOMA might further.
While the case was on appeal to the Ninth Circuit, on July 3, 2012, the DOJ asked the Supreme Court to review the case before the Ninth Circuit decides it so it can be heard together with two other cases in which DOMA Section 3 was held unconstitutional, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management and Massachusetts v. United States Department of Health and Human Services.[89] The Supreme Court chose to hear Windsor instead of these cases, and following the Supreme Court decision in Windsor the Ninth Circuit dismissed the appeal in Golinski with the consent of all parties on July 23.[90]
Gill and Massachusetts [ edit ]
On March 3, 2009, GLAD filed a federal court challenge, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, based on the Equal Protection Clause and the federal government's consistent deference to each state's definition of marriage prior to the enactment of DOMA. The case questioned only the DOMA provision that the federal government defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman.[91][92] On May 6, 2010, Judge Joseph L. Tauro heard arguments in the U.S. District Court in Boston.[93]
On July 8, 2009, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley filed a suit, Massachusetts v. United States Department of Health and Human Services, challenging the constitutionality of DOMA. The suit claims that Congress "overstepped its authority, undermined states' efforts to recognize marriages between same-sex couples, and codified an animus towards gay and lesbian people."[94] Tauro, the judge also handling Gill, heard arguments on May 26, 2010.[95]
On July 8, 2010, Tauro issued his rulings in both Gill and Massachusetts, granting summary judgment for the plaintiffs in both cases.[96][97] He found in Gill that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act violates the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In Massachusetts he held that the same section of DOMA violates the Tenth Amendment and falls outside Congress' authority under the Spending Clause of the Constitution.[98][99] Those decisions were stayed after the DOJ filed an appeal on October 12, 2010.[100]
On November 3, 2011, 133 House Democrats filed an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs in Gill and Massachusetts, asserting their belief that Section 3 of DOMA was unconstitutional.[101] Included among the members of Congress signing the brief were 14 members who had voted for the bill in 1996.[101] Seventy major employers also filed an amicus brief supporting the plaintiffs.[102] A three-judge panel heard arguments in the case on April 4, 2012, during which the DOJ for the first time took the position that it could not defend Section 3 of DOMA under any level of scrutiny.[103] On May 31, 2012, the panel unanimously affirmed Tauro's ruling, finding Section 3 of DOMA unconstitutional.[104][105] On June 29, BLAG filed a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court.[106] The DOJ did so on July 3, while asking the Supreme Court to review Golinski as well.[89] The Commonwealth of Massachusetts filed a response to both petitions adding the Spending Clause and Tenth Amendment issues as questions presented.[n 3] The Supreme Court denied these petitions on June 27, 2013, following its decision in Windsor.
United States v. Windsor [ edit ]
On November 9, 2010, the American Civil Liberties Union and the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison filed United States v. Windsor in New York on behalf of a surviving same-sex spouse whose inheritance from her deceased spouse had been subject to federal taxation as if they were unmarried.[107][108] New York is part of the Second Circuit, where no precedent exists for the standard of review to be followed in sexual-orientation discrimination cases.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a brief supporting Windsor's claim on July 26, 2011.[109]
Same-sex couple celebrating legal victory at San Francisco Pride 2013
On June 6, 2012, Judge Barbara Jones ruled that based on rational basis review Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional and ordered the requested tax refund be paid to Windsor. The plaintiff commented, "It's thrilling to have a court finally recognize how unfair it is for the government to have treated us as though we were strangers."[110] Windsor's attorneys filed a petition of certiorari with the Supreme Court on July 16, asking for the case to be considered without waiting for the Second Circuit's review.[111] On October 18, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's ruling that Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional.[112][113] According to an ACLU press release, this ruling was "the first federal appeals court decision to decide that government discrimination against gay people gets a more exacting level of judicial review"[114] In an opinion authored by Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals stated:[115]
Our straightforward legal analysis sidesteps the fair point that same-sex marriage is unknown to history and tradition, but law (federal or state) is not concerned with holy matrimony. Government deals with marriage as a civil status—however fundamental—and New York has elected to extend that status to same-sex couples.
On December 7, 2012, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. Oral arguments were heard on March 27, 2013.[116] In a 5–4 decision on June 26, 2013, the Court ruled Section 3 of DOMA to be unconstitutional, declaring it "a deprivation of the liberty of the person protected by the Fifth Amendment."[1]:25
On July 18, 2013, the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG), which had mounted a defense of Section 3 when the administration declined to, acknowledged that in Windsor "[t]he Supreme Court recently resolved the issue of DOMA Section 3's constitutionality" and said "it no longer will defend that statute."[117]
Pedersen v. Office of Personnel Management [ edit ]
Pedersen v. Office of Personnel Management is a case filed by GLAD in Connecticut on behalf of same-sex couples in Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire, in which GLAD repeats the arguments it made in Gill.
On July 31, 2012, Judge Vanessa Bryant ruled that "having considered the purported rational bases proffered by both BLAG and Congress and concluded that such objectives bear no rational relationship to Section 3 of DOMA as a legislative scheme, the Court finds that that no conceivable rational basis exists for the provision. The provision therefore violates the equal protection principles incorporated in the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution."[118] She held that "laws that classify people based on sexual orientation should be subject to heightened scrutiny by courts" but determined Section 3 of DOMA "fails to pass constitutional muster under even the most deferential level of judicial scrutiny."[119][120] The case is currently on appeal to the Second Circuit, and on August 21, 2012, Pedersen asked the Supreme Court to review the case before the Second Circuit decides it so it can be heard together with Gill v. Office of Personnel Management and Massachusetts v. United States Department of Health and Human Services.[121] The Supreme Court denied these petitions on June 27, 2013, following its decision in Windsor.
Other cases [ edit ]
Other cases that challenged DOMA include:[122]
Dragovich v. Department of the Treasury, No. 10-1564 (N.D. Cal.), a class action in which California same-sex couples seek equal access to California's long-term care insurance program for public employees and their families. U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken on May 24, 2012, found Section 3 of DOMA and certain IRS regulations violated the plaintiffs' equal protection rights. [123]
, No. 10-1564 (N.D. Cal.), a class action in which California same-sex couples seek equal access to California's long-term care insurance program for public employees and their families. U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken on May 24, 2012, found Section 3 of DOMA and certain IRS regulations violated the plaintiffs' equal protection rights. Hara v. Office of Personnel Management, No. 09-3134 (Fed. Cir.) Hara is one of the plaintiffs in Gill.
, No. 09-3134 (Fed. Cir.) Hara is one of the plaintiffs in. Torres-Barragan v. Holder, No. 10-55768 (9th Cir.) An immigration-related DOMA challenge in which the district court rejected the constitutional challenges. [124]
, No. 10-55768 (9th Cir.) An immigration-related DOMA challenge in which the district court rejected the constitutional challenges. Cozen O'Connor v. Tobits, No. 11-00045-CDJ, Pennsylvania, in which two parties dispute who inherits the proceeds of a law firm's profit-sharing plan under ERISA and DOMA. The DOJ filed a brief arguing the unconstitutionality of DOMA. [125] Following the decision in Windsor, Judge C. Darnell Jones II ruled that the widow qualified as the deceased's spouse since Illinois, their state of domicile, recognized them as spouses in a civil union as defined by Illinois. [126] The deceased's parents dropped their appeal on August 30. [127]
, No. 11-00045-CDJ, Pennsylvania, in which two parties dispute who inherits the proceeds of a law firm's profit-sharing plan under ERISA and DOMA. The DOJ filed a brief arguing the unconstitutionality of DOMA. Following the decision in, Judge C. Darnell Jones II ruled that the widow qualified as the deceased's spouse since Illinois, their state of domicile, recognized them as spouses in a civil union as defined by Illinois. The deceased's parents dropped their appeal on August 30. On April 5, 2012, Chief Judge James Ware of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ordered the federal court clerk to reimburse Christopher Nathan, a court employee, for the costs of health insurance coverage for his same-sex spouse comparable to that denied him by Section 3 of DOMA.[128] On November 21, 2012, the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference affirmed Ware's decision and ordered the court to determine the amount due Nathan and pay him within 10 days.[129]
Military and veterans cases [ edit ]
On October 13, 2011, Carmen Cardona, a U.S. Navy veteran, filed a lawsuit in the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims seeking disability benefits for her wife that the Veterans Administration and the Board of Veterans Appeals had denied.[130] Cardona is represented by the Yale Law School Legal Services Clinic.[131] At the request of BLAG, which is defending the government's action, and over Cardona's objections, the court postponed oral argument in Cardona v. Shinseki pending the Supreme Court's disposition of writs of certiorari in other DOMA cases.[132]
On October 27, 2011, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) brought suit in federal court on behalf of several military servicemembers and veterans in same-sex marriages. In a November 21 filing in the case of McLaughlin v. Panetta, they wrote, "Any claim that DOMA, as applied to military spousal benefits, survives rational basis review is strained because paying unequal benefits to service members runs directly counter to the military values of uniformity, fairness and unit cohesion." The benefits at issue include medical and dental benefits, basic housing and transportation allowances, family separation benefits, visitation rights in military hospitals, and survivor benefit plans.[133] The case was assigned to Judge Richard G. Stearns. One of the plaintiffs in the case, lesbian Charlie Morgan, who was undergoing chemotherapy, met with an assistant to Boehner on February 9, 2012, to ask him to consider not defending DOMA.[134] The case is on hold at the request of both sides in anticipation of the outcome of two other First Circuit cases on appeal, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management and Massachusetts v. United States Department of Health and Human Services.[135] On February 17, the DOJ announced it could not defend the constitutionality of the statutes challenged in the case.[136] In May 2012, the parties filed briefs arguing whether BLAG has a right to intervene.[137] On June 27, Stearns asked the parties to explain by July 18 why given the decision in Windsor he should not find for the plaintiffs.[138] On July 18, BLAG's response acknowledged that "[t]he Supreme Court recently resolved the issue of DOMA Section 3's constitutionality" and asked to be allowed to withdraw from the case. It took no position on the two statutes at issue in the case, which define a "spouse" as "a person of the opposite sex", except to say that "the question of whether [that definition] is constitutional remains open".[139]
Tracey Cooper-Harris, an Army veteran from California, sued the Veterans Administration and the DOJ in federal court on February 1, 2012, asking for her wife to receive the benefits normally granted to spouses of disabled veterans.[140] BLAG sought a delay in Cooper-Harris v. United States pending the resolution of Golinski, which the attorneys for Cooper-Harris, the Southern Poverty Law Center, opposed. The court denied BLAG's motion on August 4.[141] In February 2013, Judge Consuelo Marshall rejected the DOJ's argument that the case could only be heard by the Board of Veterans' Appeals and allowed the case to proceed.[142] BLAG asked to withdraw from the lawsuit on July 22.[143]
Bankruptcy court [ edit ]
In May 2011, DOMA-based challenges by the Department of Justice to joint petitions for bankruptcy by married same-sex couples were denied in two cases, one in the Southern District of New York on May 4 and one in the Eastern District of California on May 31. Both rulings stressed practical considerations and avoided ruling on DOMA.[144][145]
On June 13, 2011, 20 of the 25 judges of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California signed an opinion in the case in re Balas and Morales that found that a same-sex married couple filing for bankruptcy "have made their case persuasively that DOMA deprives them of the equal protection of the law to which they are entitled." The decision found DOMA Section 3 unconstitutional and dismissed BLAG's objections to the joint filing:[146][147]
Although individual members of Congress have every right to express their views and the views of their constituents with respect to their religious beliefs and principles and their personal standards of who may marry whom, this court cannot conclude that Congress is entitled to solemnize such views in the laws of this nation in disregard of the views, legal status and living arrangements of a significant segment of our citizenry that includes the Debtors in this case. To do so violates the Debtors' right to equal protection of those laws embodied in the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment. This court cannot conclude from the evidence or the record in this case that any valid governmental interest is advanced by DOMA as applied to the Debtors.
A spokesman for House Speaker Boehner said BLAG would not appeal the ruling,[148] On July 7, 2011, the DOJ announced that after consultation with BLAG it would no longer raise objections to "bankruptcy petitions filed jointly by same-sex couples who are married under state law".[149]
Immigration cases [ edit ]
Bi-national same-sex couples were kept from legally living in the United States by DOMA's Section 3, which prevented one spouse from sponsoring the other for a green card.[150] Following some uncertainty after the Obama Administration determined Section 3 to be unconstitutional, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reaffirmed its policy of denying such applications.[151] With respect to obtaining a visitor's visa, Bureau rules treated bi-national same-sex spouses the same as bi-national opposite-sex unmarried partners under the classification "cohabiting partners".[152]
Tim Coco and Genesio J. Oliveira, a same-sex couple married in Massachusetts in 2005, successfully challenged this policy and developed a model since followed by other immigration activists.[153] The U.S. refused to recognize their marriage, and in 2007 Oliveira, a Brazilian national, accepted "voluntary departure" and returned to Brazil. They conducted a national press campaign[154] A Boston Globe editorial commented, "Great strides toward equality for gays have been made in this country, but the woeful fate of Tim Coco and Genesio Oliveira shows that thousands of same-sex couples, even in Massachusetts, still aren't really full citizens."[155] The editorial gained the attention of Senator John F. Kerry, who first lobbied Attorney General Eric Holder without success.[156] He then gained the support of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who granted Oliveira humanitarian parole, enabling the couple to reunite in the U.S. in June 2010.[157] Humanitarian parole is granted on a case-by-case basis at the Secretary's discretion.[158]
On September 28, 2011, in Lui v. Holder, U.S. District Court Judge Stephen V. Wilson rejected a challenge to DOMA, citing Adams v. Howerton (1982).[159] The plaintiffs in that case had unsuccessfully challenged the denial of immediate relative status to the same-sex spouse of an American citizen.[160][161] Early in 2012, two bi-national same-sex couples were granted "deferred action" status, suspending deportation proceedings against the non-U.S. citizen for a year.[162][163] A similar Texas couple had a deportation case dismissed in March 2012, leaving the non-citizen spouse unable to work legally in the United States but no longer subject to the threat of deportation.[164]
On January 5, 2012, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago decided the suit of a same-sex binational couple. Demos Revelis and Marcel Maas, married in Iowa in 2010, sought to prevent the USCIS from applying Section 3 of DOMA to Revelis's application for a permanent residence visa for Maas and, in the court's words, "that their petition be reviewed and decided on the same basis as other married couples."[165] Judge Harry D. Leinenweber, a Reagan appointee, denied the government's motion to dismiss. BLAG has argued for the suit to be dismissed.[166] In July the court stayed proceedings until mid-October because the USCIS was considering denying the plaintiffs' request on grounds unrelated to DOMA.[167]
On April 2, 2012, five bi-national same-sex couples represented by Immigration Equality and Paul, Weiss filed a lawsuit, Blesch v. Holder, in the District Court for the Eastern District of New York, claiming that Section 3 of DOMA violated their equal protection rights by denying the U.S. citizen in the relationship the same rights in the green card application process granted a U.S. citizen who is in a relationship of partners of the opposite sex.[166] On July 25, Chief Judge Carol Bagley Amon stayed the case pending the resolution of Windsor by the Second Circuit.[168]
Immigration rights advocate Lavi Soloway reported on June 19, 2012, that the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) had in four cases responded to green card denials on the part of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) by asking the USCIS to document the marital status of the same-sex couples and determine whether the foreign national would qualify for a green card in the absence of DOMA Section 3. He said the BIA is "essentially setting the stage for being able to approve the petitions in a post-DOMA universe."[169]
On April 19, 2013, U.S. District Judge Consuelo Marshall ordered that a suit brought in July 2012 by Jane DeLeon, a Philippine citizen, and her spouse, Irma Rodriguez, a U.S. citizen, could proceed as a class action. The plaintiffs, represented by the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, contended that DeLeon was denied a residency waiver because of DOMA Section 3.[170][171]
On June 28, 2013, the USCIS notified U.S. citizen Julian Marsh that it had approved the green card petition for his Bulgarian husband Traian Popov. Both are residents of Florida.[172] On July 3, the USCIS office in Centennial, Colorado, granted Cathy Davis, a citizen of Ireland, a green card based on her marriage to U.S. citizen Catriona Dowling.[173]
Tribunals [ edit ]
In 2009, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt declared DOMA unconstitutional in in re Levenson, an employment dispute resolution tribunal case, where the federal government refused to grant spousal benefits to Tony Sears, the husband of deputy federal public defender Brad Levenson.[174][175] As an employee of the federal judiciary, Levenson is prohibited from suing his employer in federal court. Rather, employment disputes are handled at employment dispute resolution tribunals in which a federal judge hears the dispute in their capacity as a dispute resolution official.
Challenges to Section 2 in federal court [ edit ]
Section 2 of DOMA states to give legal relief to any state from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions. Various federal lawsuits, some filed alongside challenges to Section 3, have challenged Section 2.
Obergefell v. Hodges
On June 26, 2015 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that the 14th Amendment requires all U.S. state laws to recognize same-sex marriages.[185] This left Section 2 of DOMA as superseded and unenforceable.
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Bibliography [ edit ]It looks like HP's layoff estimates were off again -- according to the company's latest financial report, it needs to cut an additional 11,000 to 16,000 employees from its payroll to make ends meet. This is the third (and largest) adjustment the company has made to its layoff numbers; HP originally planned to axe 27,000 employees in May of 2012, but increased the estimate to 29,000 the following september and to 34,000 in 2013. Now the restructuring plan could eliminate as many as 50,000 jobs in total. Harsh news for HP employees, particularly after CEO Meg Whitman said that the company was done eliminating positions. The president makes no such promises this time, but she's at least optimistic about the restructuring. "I'm pleased to report that HP's turnaround remains on track," and said that increased layoffs "make sense in a turnaround of this scale."THE PLAN FELL OFF
9FRONT “SOLARIS ECLIPSE” RELEASED
http://9front.org/iso/9front-6165.2a79d5dddf41.iso.gz.torrent
http://9front.org/iso/9front-6165.2a79d5dddf41.iso.gz
dash 1 manual
http://fqa.9front.org/dash1.solariseclipse.pdf
NEW IN THIS RELEASE
multiple vm’s in vmx(1)
window size changes with ssh(1) and vt(1)
games/wadfs
KERNEL AND DRIVERS
devdup: remove useless OCEXEC check, handled by namec()
devsegment: handle ORCLOSE on segment directory correctly, fix wrong qid, missing COPEN flag for segmentcreate()
devusb: double READSTR buffer size to 8000 bytes for devusb
devusb: superspeed bandwidth allocation handled by controller, skip usbload() calculation
devvmx: lilu dallas multivm
devvmx: call vmxshutdown from reboot() function manually
devvmx: more efficient data structure for memory map; simplified (more reliable) step function
audiohda: Intel Sunrise Point-H support (thanks sam-d)
audiohda: add pci id for ICH10 (thanks echoline)
audiohda: add pci id for Intel 9 Series
audiohda: add pci id for nvidia GM204
ether82563: add more pci ids for i210 and i354 from 9atom / openbsd
ether82563: make the ethernet of thinkpad p50 work (thanks sam-d)
ether82563: support for i211 with iNVM. (thanks mfny and brennan for testing)
etheriwl: add pci id for Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 on x201 tablet (thanks arpunk)
igfx: add did for x220
igfx: fix cdclk and dpll settings for dual channel lvds on sandybridge
igfx: fix sandybridge fdi link training bits and ordering
sdiahci: Intel 200 Series Chipset Family PCH support (thanks aiju)
sdnvme: pass 0 instead of 0xffffffff as NSID for identify controller and create completion/submission queue commands (thanks Ori_B)
usbxhci: abandon multiple requests per endpoint, cleanup
usbxhci: handle out of memory in controller initialization
usbxhci: implement recovery from host controller errors
nusb/disk: add a 100ms sleep after ums reset, remove unused note handler, cleanup
COMPILERS AND DEBUGGERS
libmach: support disassembling from memory
PROGRAMS
awk: allow string as exit status
awk: don’t get into a infinite loop with eof while in string (thanks BurnZeZ)
cwfs: -n always overrides postservice() name, no matter if config mode changes service
doom: add games/wadfs
doom: clean up temporary mus files
ssh: issue “winchon” ctl request to /dev/consctl to get interrupt on window size change from vt(1)
sshfs: fork ssh in its own namespace so it wont keep the mountpoint open
sshfs: start sendproc and recvproc in the same notegroup as the fs process so theadexitsall() works on sshfs: ending.
sysinfo: only dump #r/nvram on amd64,386
sysinfo: run aux/icanhasvmx with verbose flag
vmx: lilu dallas multivm
vmx: VGA framebuffer should be normal memory
vmx: don’t realloc virtio queues – breaks pointers
vmx: fixed code that assumed uintptr==uvlong
vmx: memory map improvements, x86 simulator for MMIO
vmx: allocate sticky instead of more expensive fixed segment
vmx: fix hlt idle problem
vmx: pass multiboot framebuffer info to kernel
vt: block selection mode for snarf
vt: fix silly bug causing characters be drawn one at a time
vt: implement /dev/cons and /dev/consctl as a fileserver, winch, incremental redraw
vt: turn off nl -> nl+cr translation default in raw mode, don’t scroll more than screen height
OTHER
booting: rename pcf kernel to pc, remove pcf, pccpuf, pccpu64 kernels, update documentation
inst: don’t hardcode /net/ether0, might have usb ethernet
inst: get rid of halt, just run fshalt in finish directly
inst: get rid of ppp configuration
inst: post newfs fileservers under /srv/$fstype.newfs to avoid conflict with preexisting local filesystem
DOCUMENTATION
vmx(3): document changes to devvmx interfaceHarassed by a local goon, four truckers operating in the Sewri area chose a barbaric way to get rid of him. They abducted the goon in a truck on March 3, drove him to Vakola and threw him off a bridge, resulting in his death from a 35-foot fall. The Sewri police have arrested two truck drivers and their two helpers for their alleged involvement in the crime.
The deceased has been identified as Ashraf Iqbal Mujavar, 24, a resident of Reti Bunder. Those arrested have been identified as Cheddilal Gaur, Narayan Yadav, Shailesh Yadav and Dinesh Yadav. While Cheddilal and Dinesh are truck drivers, Shailesh and Narayan are their helpers.
Police said that in the wee hours of March 4, Mujavar's brother Afzal told Sewri police that he was missing. Afzal told the police that his brother had been in a quarrel with Cheddilal and was last seen at Darukhana Naka on the night of March 3.
The Sewri police, on receipt of specific information, laid a trap and arrested the quartet from near a blind school near Cotton Green railway station.
"The four admitted that after an altercation, they abducted Mujavar in their vehicle. They assaulted him till they reached Vakola bridge and then threw him off the bridge. It was also revealed that the accused persons were harassed and troubled by Mujawar," said an officer from Sewri police station.
The officer added that Mujavar had two cases of assault and causing grievous hurt registered against him. Besides, two preventive action proceedings had been intiated against him by Sewri police.
Following the confession, a team of police then reached the spot at Vakola and found a few bloodstains at the spot. On making inquiries with the Vakola police, they learnt that on March 4 a man had been found lying unconscious below the bridge. The man was rushed to a nearby hospital and was later shifted to JJ Hospital, where he had died.
Assuming that the man was hit by a speeding vehicle, the Vakola police had registered a case of rash driving and causing grievous hurt by an act endangering life or personal safety of others, under the relevant sections of Indian Penal Code against an unknown driver.
The Sewri police then informed Afzal about the incident. Afzal then went to JJ hospital and identified his brother's body.
"Two vehicles including a tempo and a truck used in the kidnapping and murder have been seized by the police," said the officer.In the south of France, the largest scientific experiment mankind has ever embarked upon is rising out of the ground. This facility, the Iter project, will demonstrate nuclear fusion power on a commercial scale, involving the European Union, US, Japan, South Korea, China, Russia and India. Fusion is the process that powers the sun and the stars, and bringing it to Earth has long been a staple of science fiction fantasies.
It is an energy source that, instead of burning fossil fuels, uses water; it produces no long-lived waste and can operate alongside solar, wind and other renewables to power the world to a carbon-free future. Iter will be operational within a decade and will represent a huge step towards fusion, revolutionising the way we generate electricity in the middle part of this century.
For decades, the UK has led the world in addressing this grand challenge. The fusion (or sticking together) of types of hydrogen to release energy requires the fuel to be heated to temperatures 10 times that of the sun. The harsh conditions required for fusion are a challenge for even the most robust of materials. International partnership has always been crucial to overcome these challenges; the complexity of the science and engineering and the cost of building large test reactors make it difficult for one nation to go it alone.
Currently, my organisation, the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), operates the world’s largest fusion experiment, Joint European Torus (Jet), on behalf of Europe. In so doing, we have acquired unique capabilities in critical areas for fusion – robotic maintenance, material testing and fuel handling to name just a few – enabling us to help UK industry to win contracts on Iter totalling more than £450m already (which could rise to more than £1bn).
In the longer term, the UK’s nuclear industry together with UKAEA is well positioned to be a world leader in designing and exporting fusion power stations. However, both the operation of Jet and the UK’s participation in Iter are a result of our membership of the Euratom treaty, an agreement on European nuclear co-operation that dates back to 1957. On 29 March, the UK government declared an intention to leave Euratom at the same time as leaving the European Union.
For decades, the UK has led the world in addressing this grand challenge.
For the UK, a pioneer of fusion research and development since the 1950s, it would be the worst possible time to take a back seat in the race to develop this transformative technology. Currently, we have a contract from the European commission to operate Jet until the end of 2018, employing more than 1,000 highly skilled scientists and engineers. It is imperative that we rapidly find a solution for a continued relationship with Euratom.
The UK government has made a number of supportive statements about retaining our excellence in fusion research and development, as well as a firm commitment to continue paying the UK’s fair share of Jet costs beyond 2018. This is very welcome, and offers some reassurance to my staff, which includes some of the brightest minds in the world, but a more comprehensive and complete solution is still required. The existing Euratom R&D programme comes to an end in 18 months and the European commission is already formulating the future programme.
One of the options available is an association agreement with Euratom, a bespoke arrangement where the UK could remain inside Euratom with certain conditions and constraints. Both Switzerland and Ukraine have such associate status having negotiated mutually beneficial, but very different, deals. Whichever route government takes, it is vital that we negotiate a quick and seamless solution for a strong future relationship with Euratom, giving us every chance to preserve and build on the UK’s leading role in this world-changing technology.
Professor Ian Chapman is CEO of the UK Atomic Energy AuthorityEvery few years, I like to check in with Massey Villarreal to see if he's still a Republican.
He still was on Thursday. But it's getting harder |
election rules. In 2006 the FEC assessed a total of more than $6.7 million in fines. By 2012, however due to the inefficiency of the agency, it collected less than $1 million in fines.
Despite dramatic increases in election spending sped up by key Supreme Court decisions, the agency’s funding has remained flat for five years and staffing levels have fallen to a 15-year low overall.
Analysts who are charged with scouring disclosure reports to ensure candidates and political action committees are complying with laws have a nearly quarter-million-page backlog. One of the aims of the agency was to have all non-presidential committee audits finished 10 months after the election. At 10 months only 27% had been completed
The agency is also seriously out of date when it comes to online donations, where few regulations have been put into place. The FEC does not require donations under $200 to be reported.
In election after election, record amounts of money continue to be spent on campaigns. Last year topped 6 billion dollars, more than half of which was spent on the presidential campaign.
With more money flowing into politics, issues such as partisan divides and low staffing affecting the FEC one thing is for sure: this is a recipe for disaster.
This type of system, an increasingly plutocratic one, leads to corruption, where our leaders do the bidding of those who fund their campaigns. While our nation was designed to be secured with a system of checks and balances, we are now being ruled by whoever writes the biggest check and has the biggest balance, and that is not what our founding fathers wanted.
As we continue to allow special interests to rule through powerful lobbying our nation's foundation crumbles beneath our feet. We need to wake up and get involved in our government especially in our communities.On January 7, the Delegate Assembly of the Modern Language Association (MLA) voted against a non-binding resolution to endorse the call from Palestinian civil society for the academic boycott of Israeli institutions (Yes, 79; No, 113). At that same session, the Assembly voted for a resolution to condemn the boycott (Yes, 101; No, 93).
One of the reasons it is difficult for those supporting Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) to get their motions passed is that external organisations here and in Israel add their resources and legal teams to the anti-boycott side.
The Brandeis Center threatening a lawsuit against the MLA if it lets the vote go forward, the collaboration of a group of university heads in Israel, anxious about the pro-boycott connecting their universities to the maintenance of the occupation, and other repressive measures also aided the fight against the boycott. As reported in Ynet, one Israeli group declared that "the fight was … assisted by various Jewish organisations, along with The Committee of University Heads in Israel."
But another reason such boycotts are hard to pass in these large and traditional organisations is that they are averse to acting politically. This sometimes takes very particular forms.
For example, in the 1980s the MLA also refused to endorse the anti-apartheid boycott, which is now of course regarded as a major factor in ending the apartheid regime in South Africa, on the grounds that the MLA did not do politics. Yet at its January meeting the majority of MLA delegates made a political declaration to protect themselves from potential attacks on speech, racism, and travel which might emanate from the new Trump administration - it issued a strong critique of our new president.
Professor David Lloyd noted the irony of the voting down of the boycott resolution coinciding with the passage of this resolution critical of Trump:
"The resolution expresses concern that the incoming Trump administration will threaten these freedoms that we cherish. But we should recall that during his campaign, it was Israel that Trump invoked as his model for successful racial profiling. It was Israel that he praised for knowing how to build a wall that would deny freedom of movement on the basis of national origin, race and ethnic identity. He praised Israel's discriminatory immigration policies that arbitrarily deny entry to Muslims and people of Arab origin. It is hard not to feel the hypocrisy of passing a resolution like this while denying our support to Palestinians who do not face a potential threat, but actually suffer the denials of academic and every other freedom that we are privileged to enjoy."
There is one further irony: The anti-boycott resolution now to be voted on by all MLA members amounts to a prohibition of a mode of protest that the US Supreme Court has declared a constitutionally protected form of free speech. In passing that resolution, the MLA will be doing Trump's work for him. In fact, one opponent of the boycott said its supporters were merely being "politically correct".
A new generation of scholars
Why all this concern over which resolutions academic organisations with little political clout or influence issue?
One reason is that they are a barometer of how different generations and demographics of younger scholars, who are, after all, future teachers, are positioning themselves on the issue of Israel-Palestine.
While the MLA and other older organisations tend to endorse the status quo when it comes to Israel-Palestine, the organisations that have passed boycott resolutions, such as the Association for Asian American Studies, the American Studies Association, the Critical Ethnic Studies Association, the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies, the Native and Indigenous Studies Association, and Peace and Justice Studies, are groups representing the new American academy.
This generational issue connects with an ideological one as well, and serves as another index to the gradual shift in American public opinion with regard to Palestine.
OPINION: What we can legally do against the anti-BDS campaign
They are also important because symbolic acts of solidarity coming from learned societies matter, both in and of themselves and also in conjunction with similar acts of solidary emanating from religious groups, municipalities, unions, and others, across the globe.
Already, the aggregation of such acts of solidarity have raised international consciousness with regard to Palestinian rights like no other movement has. In its decade of existence, BDS has cleared a space for debate on this topic like no other movement has.
The Israeli regime, and the Trump administration, know this well, and have pledged to destroy BDS, such is its real danger to the status quo.
Finally, the academy is a powerful site where ideas are tested, assumptions questioned, and habits of thought challenged, and the organisations and scholars that have endorsed the boycott show a willingness to do so with regard to Israel-Palestine, unlike their older, more traditional, and largely white counterparts.
Comprised of minorities, younger scholars, and progressives, these organisations are fully exploiting the power of the academy to challenge the status quo, especially when it comes to injustice and privilege. They are undeterred and unsurprised by negative votes such as the MLA's.
They understand that, as the International Covenant on Social, Economic, and Cultural Rights indicates, the right to education opens on to other essential rights: "Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and the sense of its dignity, and shall strengthen the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms."
So when academic organisations such as the ones mentioned endorse the Palestinian call for rights, it is recognising precisely the essential link between the right to education and human rights and to the right to participate in building a social and political world in general.
It is they who are the hope for liberation.
David Palumbo-Liu is the Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor at Stanford University.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.But yurts — insulated felt huts favoured by Turkic nomads in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan — are now also installed in St. James Park, where Occupy Toronto protesters have camped out since mid October. The huts weren’t cheap either. The unions, including the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, picked up the $20,000 tab. Yurts are en vogue these days: a plush, snow-white version also appears in the chichi Nieman Marcus Christmas catalogue. Price tag for that one is $ 75,000.
Occupy Toronto protesters don't know yet how they will use the largest of three yurts that were donated by unions. ( Josh Tapper / Toronto Star ) The yurts have glass-windowed ceiling peaks – although this one is covered by something on the outside – which are propped up by wooden beams, or baagans. ( josh tapper / toronto star )
With winter fast approaching, the three yurts, erected over the weekend, are meant to provide warmth, shelter and a communal space for the ever-growing tent city in downtown Toronto. Despite their humble nomadic roots, the stylish yurts are a far cry from the chilly tents where most protesters sleep. Splashed with bright red, orange and blue, the roofs and doors are embroidered and hand-painted with curvy patterns, like the alkhan khee, which represents strength. While Central Asian felt yurts are made of re-purposed sheep wool, these North American iterations are much more advanced. Your average Kyrgyz herder isn’t weathering subzero temperatures with foam thermal sheeting and Plexiglas windows. One yurt serves as a post office-slash-library, where protesters can borrow titles by Bill Bryson, Al Franken and Canadian journalist Judy Rebick. A how-to guide to yurt building is among the stacks of books.
Article Continued Below
A yurt, which roughly means “house” in Turkic languages like Kyrgyz and Kazakh, differs from its Mongolian cousin, the ger. Groovy Yurts, the Quebec-based company that manufactures the houses, produces a sort of yurt-ger hybrid. It remains to be decided how the largest yurt, next to the food station, will be used. Some proposals include a safe space for women, a general assembly area or a warm place for people to hunker down at night. The last option, though, could pose problems. “Who gets priority access to sleeping in a yurt?” asked protester Jeff Wong. Occupy Toronto organizers keep the large yurt under lock and key. “We have to make sure [the yurts are] policed properly so they don’t turn into crack dens,” said Antonin Smith, who works on the Occupy Toronto food team.
The ins and outs of living in a yurt: Materials: Groovy Yurts are handmade in Mongolia, according to the company’s website. Pieces of wood are latticed together and secured with horse hair to form the walls, which are covered with canvas and insulated with felt. Mongolian gers feature ornate wooden doors; Turkic yurts often use a felt flap. The glass-windowed ceiling peak – toono in Mongolian – is propped up by wooden beams, or baagans.
Article Continued Below
Design: Dome-shaped and sturdy, Mongolian gers are often embroidered with colourful Buddhist symbols. Kyrgyz and Kazakh versions might have a thatched design, akin to a family crest, in place of the ceiling window. Wong suggested the symbols on the Occupy Toronto yurts represented “peace, love, respect, unity and delicious food.” Comfort: That’s a matter of debate. Nomads will throw canvas on the ground and drape the floor with blankets, mattresses and cushions. Occupy Toronto yurts are built on wooden platforms.A good deal of recent commentary presumes that the flip side of Labor’s crisis is the Coalition having won popular acclaim for its policies and politics. Its logic is that an Abbott landslide would confirm that the electorate has moved to the right or, as Greens leader Christine Milne recently put it, that “the country is going conservative”.
What if something else was going on? What if many voters parked with the Coalition were desperately looking for a reason not to vote for the right, but that Labor in its current configuration was too entrenched in crisis to give them one?
A closer look at polling data suggests that Abbott is in a much weaker position than the two-party preferred vote would indicate. For example, the often-repeated claim that he is a uniquely effective opposition leader is undermined by Newspoll data on his performance, which consistently showed dissatisfaction running 20% or more ahead of satisfaction all through last year. His party fares little better: according to Essential Research, 67% of voters think the Liberals “will promise to do anything to win votes”, 59% think they are “too close to the big corporate and financial interests”, and 54% think they are “out of touch with ordinary people”.
Voters often tell pollsters the conservatives are “better economic managers” than Labor, but Newspoll reveals that over six Labor budgets, there was never a majority of people who thought the LNP would’ve done a better job in the same economic conditions. Voters also generally prefer old-style government intervention to the Coalition’s “free market” agenda. While Joe Hockey bemoans subsidies to save jobs in car manufacturing, according to Essential a majority of Coalition voters think it is important “Australia has a car manufacturing industry, even if it costs hundreds of millions of dollars each year in government support”. A large proportion of LNP voters favour higher taxes on corporations and the rich (rather than cuts to welfare and infrastructure) to balance the budget, and around half think that big business, mining companies and high-income earners don’t pay enough tax.
Some 54% of LNP voters think that privatisation of public services — a key part of Liberal philosophy — is a bad idea in general. On industrial relations, 74% of Coalition voters support penalty rates, while 28% think workers would be better off with stronger unions.
Given the gap between social attitudes and Coalition policy, it is unsurprising that more voters expect many social and economic indicators to get worse if Abbott wins than those who expect things to get better — including their own financial situation.
Moreover, some of Labor’s key policies are strongly liked despite the party’s poor standing. In September last year more voters gave a series of Labor’s policy achievements the thumbs up than those who thought they were bad, the exception being the carbon tax. The National Broadband Network, subject to constant LNP criticism, had 73% support in March. In the same poll, the mining tax still had 57% support despite having been exposed as virtually ineffective. In April, despite Abbott announcing he opposed it, 49% of LNP voters said they supported the Gonski school-funding model, with only 31% against.
The lack of enthusiasm for the conservatives was borne out in a remarkable poll of 24 marginal seats in March. It found a two-party preferred voting intention of 59.4% for the Coalition, but at the same time only 43% said they wanted an LNP government! Abbott’s tenuous position was also revealed in last weekend’s Galaxy and Nielsen polls, which predicted a massive swing to Labor if Kevin Rudd was reinstalled.
How are these findings to be understood? It is obvious that the ALP is suffering a deep crisis of its social base, organisation, internal power structures and ideology. But in fact this is just part of a crisis of the wider political establishment, which leaves all politicians vulnerable to sudden electoral shifts as voters seek to punish them for being out of touch and beholden to vested interests.
Mavericks like Italy’s Beppe Grillo and Britain’s right-wing UKIP party have made electoral breakthroughs by tapping into disaffection with the political system. Ironically, the Gillard camp’s demonisation of Rudd may have boosted his outsider status, which he successfully used during the “Kevin07” campaign – and which could destabilise a disliked conservative insider like Abbott. And even if Abbott wins, the Coalition’s fragile position won’t be resolved simply because he is prime minister.
Expect more crisis and volatility either way.The youngest person at my family's Thanksgiving dinner yesterday was my niece. She is the youngest child of my wife's sister, and favors her (my wife) so much that people assume they're mother and daughter when they're out together. She is also either nine or 10 years old (I forget which), which means for as long as she can remember, the President of the United States of America has been Black.
While I'm sure she has enough wherewithal and enough of an understanding of history to know exactly how historically abnormal this is, this is all that she has experienced. There's nothing revolutionary or shocking or mesmerizing to her about seeing the Black president's Black daughters laugh at his corny jokes during the annual turkey pardoning. This is her normal. Me explaining to her why this is such a big deal is like, I don't know, a great-grandparent explaining the difference in taste and texture of backyard well water and sink water to me.
Her normal is also the normal for every kid her age. And even every kid currently in high school. If you are an 18-year-old high school senior, the president has been Black since you were 11 years old. Maybe you remember the Bush years, but you've gone through all of middle school and you'll go through all of high school with the President of the United States of America being Black, which is insane. Not insane, of course, that Barack Obama is president. But insane that this is — and will always be — a normal thing for this demographic.
Equally insane is how, to them, the experience of watching little Black girls named Malia and Sasha grow up in the White House — something that has been both the most delightful and even arguably the most radical part of the Obama presidency — is equally mundane. Old hat. All a little Black girl like my niece has known is little Black girls on the White House lawn with their mom and dad. And those little Black girls growing into less little Black teens. There are undoubtedly thousands of little Black girls taking their fashion cues today from what Malia and Sasha were wearing Wednesday. And thousands of little Black boys getting teased by their parents for blushing whenever either Malia and Sasha are on screen, the same way my parents would tease me about Rudy Huxtable and Ashley Banks. And the value of this — of these revolutionary existences existing as mundanities, as literally all that little Black kids like my niece have seen and known — can not be measured.Bernie Sanders did not want to run a campaign on foreign policy. Now, after the attacks in Paris, he has to.
It’s clear that Sanders would rather focus on his longtime hobby horse: political revolution and class-based economics. “I understand there are some who think that because of this attack we no longer have the capability to address the collapse of the American middle class. I disagree,” Sanders said in a speech in Cleveland on Monday night. “Our country and the world can and will defeat Isis and at the same time, we will rebuild our disappearing middle class.”
The speech, in which he called for an international effort to “eliminate the stain of Isis from this world”, was Sanders’s first in-depth effort to address the issues surrounding Paris. During the Democratic debate, just 24 hours after the attacks, Sanders spent minimal time talking about the tragedy in his opening statement before abruptly segueing to his usual campaign talking points on domestic economic populism. What’s more, a Sanders aide had actively argued with the network hosting the debate, CBS, when the moderators signaled they would lead with a discussion of the terrorist strikes.
In in the two days between the debate and the Cleveland speech, Sanders tweeted roughly 30 times without mentioning terrorism, refugees, the Paris massacre or anything about foreign policy. He also held two campaign events in Iowa on Sunday during which he largely steered clear of the topic. While his rival Martin O’Malley criticized Hillary Clinton on foreign policy Sunday, Sanders’ campaign sought to push her on paid family leave.
Sanders aides insisted to Politico on Monday that he’ll have more to say on foreign policy soon, including a major military policy speech.
The senator’s lack of interest in foreign policy, long apparent, has never been more problematic than in the days following the deadly terror attacks in Paris. But it is not terribly surprising. After all, he’s been side-stepping criticism for his lack of foreign policy bona fides for the first eight months of his campaign.
Until September, Sanders didn’t even have a foreign policy page on his campaign website. And when his office blasted out a press release several days ahead of the first Democratic debate under the banner “Sanders foreign policy experience”, the contents focused exclusively on his vote not to go to war in Iraq, and offered no other policy-making insights.
The Democratic primary had, until Friday, been dominated by social and economic justice issues on which Sanders can shine. And, before Paris, just 2% of Democratic primary voters said terrorism was their primary concern, according to a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. But that’s changing.
The irony is that, back in the 80s when Sanders was starting his political career as mayor of Burlington, Vermont, foreign policy played an outsized role in his small town mayoralty. In his 1997 autobiography Outsider in the House, Sanders touted that Burlington was among the only cities in America to have a foreign policy. “Burlington had a foreign policy because, as progressives, we understood that we all live in one world,” he explained. And when the Reagan administration announced that it would back the rightwing Contras in Nicaragua, Sanders became the highest-ranking US official to go visit the country’s leftist leader, Daniel Ortega. The mayor even raised money to support the Sandinista government, earning him the nickname “Sanders-nista”.
Sanders has, if anything, become less interested in foreign policy over the course of his career – but even as mayor, his foreign policy was half-hearted. In thinking beyond the country’s borders, he was almost exclusively focused on visiting and fostering ties with countries maligned by Washington for their communist or socialist governments. In addition to his trip to Nicaragua, he traveled with his newlywed wife to the USSR and later visited Cuba, where he tried to meet with Fidel Castro. (He never did, but he did get an audience with the mayor of Havana.) And his other radical activities beyond the borders of Burlington were little more than symbolic gestures.
Even as he was leading the rare city with a foreign policy, the concerns of American workers still reigned supreme. In the summer of 1983, for instance, pacifist supporters wanted then Mayor Sanders to join calls to shutter a General Electric plant in Burlington because it was producing firearms being used to kill leftist forces in Central America, including the Sandinistas he had supported. But Sanders said no: he deemed the jobs the plant created domestically more important. That should have been a pretty clear hint as to how he would approach other foreign policy issues – as an afterthought to his economic agenda.
Almost three decades later, Sanders announced his presidential candidacy. In doing so, he’s driven discussions in the Democratic primary far to the left on issues like corporate power and income inequality. But on foreign policy, Sanders-nista is nowhere to be found. That may be in part because he recognizes that challenging a former secretary of state on foreign affairs and national security will inevitably be a losing proposition. But it is also almost certainly because, for Sanders, a class-based worldview trumps all, and a foreign policy outside of an economic justice framework is just something to which he hasn’t given much thought.
There’s also reason to think he’s not distinguishing himself from Clinton in this realm for the simple reason that he’s not very distinguishable from her on the issue. There are plenty of social-democratic types for whom ardent pacifism goes hand-in-hand with social justice-oriented economic policies – like Ralph Nader. But Sanders, it seems, doesn’t subscribe to those ideals: he frequently reminds people that he’s “not a pacifist” and, in particular, that he supported the war in Afghanistan.
Sanders didn’t spend years identifying as an Independent because there wasn’t a socialist party; he didn’t want to join it. As Annie Linskey wrote in the Boston Globe, Sanders insists that “his message resonates most loudly with blue-collar workers, not the tie-dye set” and that he would never own a pair of Birkenstocks “in a million years”.
If Sanders truly perceives his base to be blue-collar workers and not the radical left, as he says, he certainly wouldn’t want to alienate that base with tributes to pacifism or, as Huck Gutman, his longtime friend and former chief of staff, once put it, excessive concern for “the people far away”.
“He’s kind of a class prisoner that way,” observed Sanders biographer WJ Conroy, who presciently wrote a book with that thesis 30 years ago. (Conroy is now a professor of history and political science at Kentucky Wesleyan College.) But doesn’t class bleed into foreign policy? “It does,” says Conroy, “but those issues are so complex they can’t be reduced to the message of a capitalist society.”
How, for example, does class explain Isis? It doesn’t. And now Sanders may have to step away from the campaign message he’s spent decades honing.PINELLAS PARK — The Florida Department of Law Enforcement cleared a state trooper of wrongdoing Wednesday in its investigation of a shooting at a Pinellas Park cemetery.
A 119-page report of the investigation of the Sept. 10 incident details the events that led Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Daniel Cole to shoot cemetery owner Clifford F. Work.
Work, 48, who owns Royal Palm North Cemetery, was asleep inside a maintenance shed on the property when Cole, accompanied by two Pinellas Park police officers, knocked at the door about 6 a.m., according to the report. Cole had tracked a signal from a stolen motorcycle, which led him to the shed.
Confused, and thinking the visitors might be there to rob him, Work picked up a handgun before opening the door, the report stated. Cole then fired 15 shots from a rifle. One round pierced Work's thigh.
"Following the completion of this investigation it appears that Trooper Daniel Cole was in the legal performance of his official law enforcement duties and acted within the scope of his legal assignment," the report concluded.
It was unclear Wednesday if anything more would come of the shooting or whether Work plans to pursue legal action. His attorney, Todd Vargo, did not return a call for comment.
What is clear, according to the report, is that Work and Cole both feared what awaited them beyond the building doors that morning.
It was still dark outside and raining lightly when Cole headed east on Gandy Boulevard about 5:30 a.m. As he drove onto the interstate, Cole received an alert on a LoJack device, notifying him of a signal from a stolen motorcycle in the area. He followed the signal to a shed at the cemetery, 6200 Gandy Blvd.
Cole heard music and other noises coming from inside the shed, the report said. The light was dim and Cole used a flashlight and a light mounted on his handgun to survey the building. Around the shed's bay doors, he could see a white light shining from inside.
Cole was nervous. He called for backup and took out a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 rifle from the trunk of his car, according to the report. He moved into the darkness east of the building while he awaited backup. When two Pinellas Park officers arrived, the three men approached the building from all sides. Cole knocked at the door, loudly and repeatedly, and got no response.
Inside the shed, Work awoke on a cot, confused and unaware of the time of day or who was at the door, the report said. Work, who lives in Tampa and owns a company that operates multiple cemeteries, regularly sleeps in the shed, he told investigators, because he is "a hard worker" and likes to work on projects into the wee hours.
Work kept a radio on to drown out the noise from the rain, he said. He kept the lights on because it was dark, and "there are some strange things that happen in a cemetery late at night."
When he saw that it was still dark outside — too early for any of his employees to have arrived — he wondered if someone had come to rob him. He picked up his Glock 30 handgun and walked to the door.
Outside, Cole held his rifle steady as the door jolted open and the dark silhouette of a man appeared in the doorway. He saw Work's right hand rise and a flash of silvery gray.
"The gun is right dead aimed at my head," Cole told investigators. "I could see full muzzle, full barrel, shadow of the bore, you know, and I fired, I'm trying to run backwards in a sense while firing."
He fired the rifle 15 times as he took cover behind a nearby pickup. A bullet went through the back of Work's right thigh. He was treated at Bayfront Medical Center.
Work never fired his gun.
Work told investigators he knew nothing about the stolen motorcycle, a $60,000 custom Suzuki, which authorities recovered behind the shed. The bike belonged to Thomas Singleton, a former Pinellas sheriff's deputy who was fired in 2006 after he had sex on duty with a waitress in a different St. Petersburg cemetery.
A 13-year FHP veteran, Cole has been the subject of 10 internal affairs investigations. In 2001, Cole shot a man in the hand during a traffic stop when the man made a sudden movement toward Cole after ignoring commands to show his hands. The man turned out to be a Christian minister who was unarmed and was driving erratically after getting lost. He said he was trying to show the trooper his wallet when he was shot.
Last year, Cole was investigated after he used a Taser to subdue a handcuffed woman, who fell and hit her head. She fell into a coma and suffered debilitating brain damage.
Cole was cleared in both cases.MEDFORD — Police in southern Oregon arrested a 15-year-old girl in the killing of her father, and two men are also charged in the death.
Medford police said Tuesday they believe 50-year-old Aaron Friar was killed with a weapon while he was sleeping. They say his daughter and two men — 22-year-old Russell Jones and 19-year-old Gavin MacFarlane — then stole his vehicle, using it to haul the body to a dirt embankment.
Investigators recovered Friar's body Monday afternoon. An autopsy is pending.
Police say Friar's daughter has been in a sexual relationship with the 19-year-old MacFarlane. Detectives believe that caused tension between the couple and the father.
MacFarlane, Jones and the 15-year-old girl have been charged murder, robbery and tampering with evidence. MacFarlane is also charged with third-degree rape.
The men were booked into the Jackson County Jail. The girl was lodged at a juvenile detention facility.
-- The Associated PressBoth Arrow and The Flash kind of blew up their whole shows at the end of last season, with most of Oliver Queen’s vigilante team abandoning him and Barry Allen going back in time and changing history in a way that may or may not literally destroy the universe, and now The CW has released trailers that give us a quick look at the new status quo. In Arrow (which you can see above), we get to meet a new team of heroes who were inspired by the Green Arrow’s heroism, and Oliver is putting them through the same tough training regimen that a few other would-be vigilantes have suffered through on Arrow. There’s even a quick shot of Echo Kellum’s Curtis Holt giving the ol’ salmon ladder a try, and it does not go especially well.
The trailer also features a hooded figure that executive producer Marc Guggenheim explained at the show’s Comic-Con panel is the new “big bad.” He says they’re calling him Prometheus, but he’s not tied to the comic book character of the same name—meaning Prometheus could be a code name or something. Also, despite dying last season, Katie Cassidy’s Laurel Lance will somehow come back (not necessarily through resurrection), and she’ll be popping up in The Flash and Legends Of Tomorrow as well. Who knows, maybe she’ll break bad and sign up with the Legion Of Doom?
Over in The Flash’s hometown of Central City, things are actually looking pretty good. Thanks to Barry changing the timeline, both of his parents are still alive and Cisco is outrageously wealthy. Barry doesn’t have his Flash powers and his surrogate father Joe West doesn’t seem to like him at all, but Keiynan Lonsdale is the new Flash and he seems to be doing fine. Unfortunately, Barry eventually starts having terrifying visions of a new villain—Doctor Alchemy, voiced by Saw’s Tobin Bell—so it’s clear he’s going to have to get his powers back eventually.
Advertisement
Then there’s the Reverse Flash, who seems to be the only person other than Barry who can remember the original timeline. He also drops the name “Flashpoint,” officially connecting this storyline to one from the comics, and he makes a callback to that series when he suggests that changing the past has kind of made Barry a villain.
The Flash will premiere on October 4, with Arrow following it on October 5.
[via The Hollywood Reporter and Variety]Julian Assange has thumbed his nose at Swedish investigators, who he says have robbed him of his freedom for six years, by releasing the answers he gave to them under questioning in Ecuador’s London embassy last month.
The decision to issue the statement, which contains for the first time a detailed account by the WikiLeaks founder of his encounter with a woman in August 2010 who made rape allegations against him, marks a fresh twist in a case in which Assange claims an early leak of information from the Swedish police has shaped opinion.
The transcript of a police interview with the woman was leaked to media in December 2010, which the Australian, who has not been charged with any crime, says helped to establish an aura of guilt around him.
Since then, Assange has repeatedly asked to be allowed to tell his side of the story to prosecutors, but until recently they insisted he come to Sweden for questioning. Assange has been confined to Ecuador’s cramped London embassy since June 2012, after claiming asylum to avoid extradition over the allegations.
“I am now releasing my statement to the public,” Assange says in a letter accompanying the document. “The reason is simple. I want people to know the truth about how abusive this process has been.”
The release of the statement is likely to be met with dismay in Sweden, where prosecutors’ desire for personal aspects of the case to remain confidential has led them to deny Assange access to evidence against him, because of the risk that it might become public.
The move was condemned by Elisabeth Massi Fritz, the lawyer for Assange’s accuser, who said that his decision to release details of their relationship the statement was “unfortunate”.
She later accused Assange of “violating” her client in the media. “Assange seems to be desperate. As soon as he has something to say he calls the media and is conducting the investigation through the media,” she told Swedish broadcaster SVT.
“The only thing I can say is that Assange has low credibility, which we will prove when we prosecute. I expect the prosecutor to issue charges. I also expect Assange to stop violating my client in the media. She has suffered more than enough for six years.”
In correspondence with Ecuador over the conditions of Assange’s interrogation, the Swedish prosecutor in the case, Marianne Ny, insisted the proceedings remain private to protect the plaintiff. A spokesperson for Ny told the Guardian she was awaiting the formal report on the interviews from Ecuador, due this month, before deciding on her next step.
The statement, which Assange read out to investigators in response to their questioning, contains a sustained attack on the prosecutor, for whom he claims the interview in London was “simply a ruse to tick a box to ensure the technical possibility to indict me”. Under Swedish law, an interview with the suspect is an essential step before issuing charges.
The statement fleshes out Assange’s argument that he is at risk of extradition from Sweden to the US to face espionage charges – and potentially a life behind bars.
Last week, the UN’s working group on arbitrary detention rejected an appeal by the UK against its February ruling that the risks facing Assange if he leaves the embassy mean his situation amounts to a prolonged deprivation of liberty “in breach of the principles of reasonableness, necessity and proportionality”.
Until now, Assange has not described his sexual encounter with his accuser. He has not publicly apologised to her or tried to mitigate the distress she has been caused.
Assange’s statement says that, owing to US hostility towards WikiLeaks, his bank cards were blocked after his arrival in Sweden in the summer of 2010 at the peak of the Pentagon’s conflict with him over the release of a trove of diplomatic and military documents. This made him highly dependent on the hospitality of others.
The woman “appeared to be sympathetic to my plight and also appeared to be romantically interested in me”, Assange told prosecutors. “She was not close to people I was close to, so it seemed that those who meant me harm would be unlikely to try to find me by monitoring her movements.”
She “made it very clear that she wanted to have sexual intercourse” with Assange and placed his hands on her breasts while in a cinema, he continued. “I felt concerned about the intensity of [her] interest and I also deeply loved another woman, which played on my mind and left me emotionally distracted.”
The intensity of her interest made him fear how she might react if she felt he was rejecting her, he said. He claimed he later discovered she had collected dozens of photos of him in the weeks before they met, her Flickr photo account filled with “pages and pages” of photos of Assange.
After they had unprotected sex, she wanted him to have a test for sexually transmitted diseases, the statement continues.
“We were in agreement and arranged to meet the following day in the nearby park around lunchtime, when I would have time to get tested. She said she was fine and seemed at ease. You can imagine my disbelief when I woke the next morning to the news that I had been arrested in my absence for ‘rape’ and that police were ‘hunting’ all over Stockholm for me.”
Assange claims that text messages sent by the woman at the time – access to which his lawyers were allowed only briefly and early in the case – show that she was not asleep during the sex.
“I was certain [she] was not asleep. I was also certain she expressly consented to unprotected sex before such intercourse started.” The woman has insisted that a prerequisite of intercourse was that a condom be used.
He claims the texts also show that the woman said at the time she “did not want to put any charges on Julian Assange”, but that “the police were keen on getting their hands on him” and that she was “shocked when they arrested him” because she “only wanted him to take a test”.
According to the transcripts leaked to the Guardian in 2010, the woman told police she met Assange at a seminar at which he was speaking, and afterwards went to the cinema with him, where they kissed in the back row.
Two days later, she arranged to meet him and they went to her flat. They started to have sex, she said, but she moved away because Assange had not wanted to wear a condom, and he fell asleep. She told police they later had sex at least once when he had “unwillingly” worn a condom, but the following morning, after she had gone to buy breakfast and then climbed back into bed and fallen asleep, she had woken to find him having sex with her without a condom.
According to the |
1820) 1820 (1730, 1920) 2000 (1890, 2100) <0.001 Model 1 + SAT 1700 (1670, 1730) 1710 (1660, 1760) 1800 (1730, 1880) 1760 (1680, 1850) 0.06 0.01 0.99 0.04 SAT, cm3 Model 1 2690 (2620, 2750) 2960 (2860, 3070) 2890 (2740, 3050) 3470 (3300, 3640) <0.001 Model 1 + VAT 2760 (2710, 2810) 2930 (2840, 3010) 2780 (2660, 2910) 3190 (3050, 3330) <0.001 0.002 0.07 0.10 VAT-to-SAT ratio2 Model 1 0.57 (0.56, 0.59) 0.56 (0.54, 0.57) 0.58 (0.55, 0.60) 0.55 (0.52, 0.58) 0.18 0.93 0.72 0.18 View Large
Discussion
In this cross-sectional analysis examining a large sample of middle-aged adults, we observed that VAT was greater in adults who consumed SSBs daily after accounting for SAT, whereas SAT was lower compared with nonconsumers. Furthermore, daily SSB consumption was positively associated with the VAT-to-SAT ratio. In contrast, diet soda consumption was positively associated with BMI, waist circumference, and SAT. Diet soda intake was also positively associated with VAT in men but not in women. No significant association was observed between diet soda intake and the VAT-to-SAT ratio.
In a previous cross-sectional analysis, Odegaard et al. (12) observed that absolute VAT volume tended to be greater in adult SSB consumers compared with those who rarely consumed SSBs. However, the association did not reach significance, perhaps as a result of insufficient statistical power. In the present study, when holding SAT constant, we observed that daily habitual SSB intake of ≥1 servings of SSB was associated with a greater absolute volume of VAT.
Our cross-sectional observation is supported by results from some recent intervention trials (11, 26). In a 10-wk intervention study, 25% of daily energy required was consumed as liquid fructose or liquid glucose (26). In this study, fructose intake substantially increased the volume of VAT, whereas intake of glucose had the effect of increasing SAT (26). A recent randomized intervention study showed that fat accumulation was greater in VAT (23% or 25 cm3 increase) relative to SAT (5% or 14 cm3 increase) after daily consumption of 1 L of sucrose-sweetened cola for 6 mo and that the VAT-to-SAT ratio increased 18% over this time period (11). In contrast, isocaloric consumption of milk was associated with increased SAT but decreased VAT over the 6 mo intervention period.
Several mechanisms may explain the possible relation between SSB intake and abdominal fat partitioning. However, given the cross-sectional nature of this study, the interpretation of the mechanism behind these observed findings in this study is speculative. Fructose was linked to increased postprandial circulating TGs (27, 28). In addition, fructose consumption may enhance deposition of TGs in VAT. Accumulating fat in adipose tissue is mediated by the activation of lipoprotein lipase (LPL), the rate-limiting enzyme involved in the uptake of TG from the circulation to the storage in the adipose tissue, which is regulated by insulin (29). In normal circumstances, TG deposition in SAT is more efficient than VAT because LPL in SAT is more sensitive to insulin than LPL in VAT (30). In the case of insulin resistance, a greater proportion of circulating TG may be deposited in VAT (4). It was proposed that increased fructose consumption from SSBs results in hepatic fat accumulation, leading to hepatic and peripheral insulin resistance (26). An alternative explanation is that fructose may have a direct effect on adipocytes by promoting intracellular activation of glucocorticoids (31), which activate LPL activity. Supporting this mechanism is the higher concentration of glucocorticoid receptors in VAT compared with SAT (30). Furthermore, as reviewed by Tchernof and Despres (32), both animal and human studies suggest that increased activity of the type 1 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, a key enzyme catalyzing the local conversion of inert cortisone to active cortisol, is associated with increased VAT because VAT is rich in glucocorticoid receptors.
The greater VAT-to-SAT ratio in SSB consumers may also represent a potential pathologic alteration in SAT. The lower absolute volume in SAT observed among SSB consumers in the present study may suggest that high SSB consumption alters the development of SAT. It is possible that less fat accumulation in SAT may be due to fat being directly channeled to VAT, as described above. It is also possibly due to the dysfunctional SAT, i.e., the inability of SAT to accommodate more fat derived from excess SSB consumption (4). In this case, lipid flux is channeled to VAT due to decreased capacity in SAT. Although the underlying pathways are not fully understood, the dysfunctional SAT may be due to the inability of normal proliferation and differentiation of adipocytes (33). Multiple factors are involved in abdominal fat distribution (3), including a genetic predisposition (34). Recent genome-wide association studies identified several genetic loci that are associated with greater VAT (35, 36). However, how genetic variation in enzymes, such as LPL or those involved in glucocorticoid action, may trigger dysfunctional SAT or interact with SSB intake to alter regional fat distribution is unknown.
Although we observed a direct association between diet soda intake and BMI, waist circumference, and SAT, such associations are likely confounded by the greater use of diet beverages by overweight and obese individuals as a consequence of their increased adiposity. As reviewed by Malik et al. (37), prospective studies with longer follow-up periods indicate that diet soda consumption is unlikely to be associated with body weight. Diet soda provides no calories, and whether artificial sweeteners in diet soda stimulate appetite remains inconclusive (38). Thus, the biologic plausibility linking diet soda and body weight remains to be determined.
The strengths of our study include the use of comprehensive dietary, lifestyle, and clinical data collected in a well-powered subgroup of the Framingham Heart Study, as well as adipose tissue data that was measured using a highly precise technique. MDCT-derived quantitative data of abdominal fat are both highly reproducible and highly specific. With respect to limitations, the cross-sectional and observational design of this study limits our ability to infer temporality or causality between beverage consumption and adiposity. It is possible that both associations between SSB intake and VAT and the VAT-to-SAT ratio and between diet soda intake and BMI, waist circumference, and SAT could be due to confounding, therefore tempering the conclusions that can be formed. Therefore, our observations are more hypothesis-generating rather than etiologic. Future prospective studies measuring the long-term change of abdominal fat distribution may help to establish the temporal relation that excess SSB intake is preferentially associated with fat accumulation in VAT rather than SAT. Gluteofemoral adipose tissue may affect body fat partitioning (39); however, lower-body adipose tissue was not measured in this study. Misclassification of our dietary assessments including SSBs and diet soda intake may attenuate our results. The consumption of artificially sweetened noncarbonated beverages was not captured using the FFQ. However, diet soda is likely to be the major beverage consumed containing artificial sweeteners and is estimated to account for ∼90% of aspartame used in all foods (40). In addition, although we adjusted for a variety of dietary and lifestyle factors, residual confounding cannot be ruled out. In addition, the majority of our study population is middle-aged and Caucasian, which may minimize confounding from race/ethnicity and socioeconomic factors but limit the generalizability of results to other populations.
In conclusion, regular consumption of SSBs is associated with greater visceral fat in absolute volume and distribution relative to SAT. Although these observational data provide additional evidence to support the association between daily SSB consumption and increased cardiometabolic risk (37), well-powered prospective cohort studies and metabolically controlled intervention trials are required to examine how SSB intake may influence body fat distribution and its underlying mechanisms. Moreover, although diet soda intake was not associated with abdominal fat partitioning in this study, additional studies on the role of these beverages in body weight and cardiometabolic health are warranted.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Adela Hruby and Kara Livingston (Nutrition Epidemiology Department, Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University) for editing the manuscript. N.M.M. designed the analysis; J.M., M.S., and G.T.R. analyzed the data; J.M. wrote the manuscript; C.S.F. and U.H. provided the measures of adiposity; N.M.M., C.S.F., P.F.J., C.E.S., and E.S. provided critical editorial comments; N.M.M. had primary responsibility for the final content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
References
1. Stefan N Kantartzis K Machann J Schick F Thamer C Rittig K Balletshofer B Machicao F Fritsche A Haring HU Identification and characterization of metabolically benign obesity in humans. Arch Intern Med 2008 ; 168 : 1609 – 16. 2. Britton KA Fox CS Ectopic fat depots and cardiovascular disease. Circulation 2011 ; 124 : e837 – 41. 3. Després JP Body fat distribution and risk of cardiovascular disease: an update. Circulation 2012 ; 126 : 1301 – 13. 4. Després JP Lemieux I Abdominal obesity and metabolic syndrome. Nature 2006 ; 444 : 881 – 7. 5. McLaughlin T Lamendola C Liu A Abbasi F Preferential fat deposition in subcutaneous versus visceral depots is associated with insulin sensitivity. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2011 ; 96 : E1756 – 60. 6. Porter SA Massaro JM Hoffmann U Vasan RS O'Donnel CJ Fox CS Abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue: a protective fat depot? Diabetes Care 2009 ; 32 : 1068 – 75. 7. Kaess BM Pedley A Massaro JM Murabito J Hoffmann U Fox CS The ratio of visceral to subcutaneous fat, a metric of body fat distribution, is a unique correlate of cardiometabolic risk. Diabetologia 2012 ; 55 : 2622 – 30. 8. Kim S Cho B Lee H Choi K Hwang SS Kim D Kim K Kwon H Distribution of abdominal visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue and metabolic syndrome in a Korean population. Diabetes Care 2011 ; 34 : 504 – 6. 9. Welsh JA Sharma AJ Grellinger L Vos MB Consumption of added sugars is decreasing in the United States. Am J Clin Nutr 2011 ; 94 : 726 – 34. 10. Malik VS Pan A Willett WC Hu FB Sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain in children and adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Clin Nutr 2013 ; 98 : 1084 – 102. 11. Maersk M Belza A Stodkilde-Jorgensen H Ringgaard S Chabanova E Thomsen H Pedersen SB Astrup A Richelsen B Sucrose-sweetened beverages increase fat storage in the liver, muscle, and visceral fat depot: a 6-mo randomized intervention study. Am J Clin Nutr 2012 ; 95 : 283 – 9. 12. Odegaard AO Choh AC Czerwinski SA Towne B Demerath EW Sugar-sweetened and diet beverages in relation to visceral adipose tissue. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2012 ; 20 : 689 – 91. 13. Kannel WB Feinleib M McNamara PM Garrison RJ Castelli WP An investigation of coronary heart disease in families. The Framingham offspring study. Am J Epidemiol 1979 ; 110 : 281 – 90. 14. Splansky GL Corey D Yang Q Atwood LD Cupples LA Benjamin EJ D'Agostino RB Sr Sr Fox CS Larson MG Murabito JM et al. The Third Generation Cohort of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Framingham Heart Study: design, recruitment, and initial examination. Am J Epidemiol 2007 ; 165 : 1328 – 35. 15. Fox CS Massaro JM Hoffmann U Pou KM Maurovich-Horvat P Liu CY Vasan RS Murabito JM Meigs JB Cupples LA et al. Abdominal visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue compartments: association with metabolic risk factors in the Framingham Heart Study. Circulation 2007 ; 116 : 39 – 48. 16. Maurovich-Horvat P Massaro J Fox CS Moselewski F O'Donnell CJ Hoffmann U Comparison of anthropometric, area- and volume-based assessment of abdominal subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue volumes using multi-detector computed tomography. Int J Obes (Lond) 2007 ; 31 : 500 – 6. 17. Speliotes EK Massaro JM Hoffmann U Foster MC Sahani DV Hirschhorn JN O'Donnell CJ Fox CS Liver fat is reproducibly measured using computed tomography in the Framingham Heart Study. J Gastroenterol Hepatol 2008 ; 23 : 894 – 9. 18. Rimm EB Giovannucci EL Stampfer MJ Colditz GA Litin LB Willett WC Reproducibility and validity of an expanded self-administered semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire among male health professionals. Am J Epidemiol 1992 ; 135 : 1114 – 26, discussion 1127–36. 19. Feskanich D Rimm EB Giovannucci EL Colditz GA Stampfer MJ Litin LB Willett WC Reproducibility and validity of food intake measurements from a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. J Am Diet Assoc 1993 ; 93 : 790 – 6. 20. Salvini S Hunter DJ Sampson L Stampfer MJ Colditz GA Rosner B Willett WC Food-based validation of a dietary questionnaire: the effects of week-to-week variation in food consumption. Int J Epidemiol 1989 ; 18 : 858 – 67. 21. Willett WC Sampson L Stampfer MJ Rosner B Bain C Witschi J Hennekens CH Speizer FE Reproducibility and validity of a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. Am J Epidemiol 1985 ; 122 : 51 – 65. 22. Kannel WB Belanger A D'Agostino R Israel I Physical activity and physical demand on the job and risk of cardiovascular disease and death: the Framingham Study. Am Heart J 1986 ; 112 : 820 – 5. 23. Fogli-Cawley JJ Dwyer JT Saltzman E McCullough ML Troy LM Jacques PF The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans Adherence Index: development and application. J Nutr 2006 ; 136 : 2908 – 15. 24. American Diabetes Association. Diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus. Diabetes Care 2012 ; 35 ( Suppl 1 ): S64 – 71. ): 25. Go AS Mozaffarian D Roger VL Benjamin EJ Berry JD Borden WB Bravata DM Dai S Ford ES Fox CS et al. Heart disease and stroke statistics–2013 update: a report from the American Heart Association. Circulation 2013 ; 127 : e6 – e245. 26. Stanhope KL Schwarz JM Keim NL Griffen SC Bremer AA Graham JL Hatcher B Cox CL Dyachenko A Zhang W et al. Consuming fructose-sweetened, not glucose-sweetened, beverages increases visceral adiposity and lipids and decreases insulin sensitivity in overweight/obese humans. J Clin Invest 2009 ; 119 : 1322 – 34. 27. Stanhope KL Havel PJ Fructose consumption: potential mechanisms for its effects to increase visceral adiposity and induce dyslipidemia and insulin resistance. Curr Opin Lipidol 2008 ; 19 : 16 – 24. 28. Hallfrisch J Metabolic effects of dietary fructose. FASEB J 1990 ; 4 : 2652 – 60. 29. Mead JR Irvine SA Ramji DP Lipoprotein lipase: structure, function, regulation, and role in disease. J Mol Med (Berl) 2002 ; 80 : 753 – 69. 30. Fried SK Russell CD Grauso NL Brolin RE Lipoprotein lipase regulation by insulin and glucocorticoid in subcutaneous and omental adipose tissues of obese women and men. J Clin Invest 1993 ; 92 : 2191 – 8. 31. Senesi S Legeza B Balazs Z Csala M Marcolongo P Kereszturi E Szelenyi P Egger C Fulceri R Mandl J et al. Contribution of fructose-6-phosphate to glucocorticoid activation in the endoplasmic reticulum: possible implication in the metabolic syndrome. Endocrinology 2010 ; 151 : 4830 – 9. 32. Tchernof A Despres JP Pathophysiology of human visceral obesity: an update. Physiol Rev 2013 ; 93 : 359 – 404. 33. Heilbronn L Smith SR Ravussin E Failure of fat cell proliferation, mitochondrial function and fat oxidation results in ectopic fat storage, insulin resistance and type II diabetes mellitus. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2004 ; 28 ( Suppl 4 ): S12 – 21. ): 34. Bouchard C Tremblay A Despres JP Nadeau A Lupien PJ Theriault G Dussault J Moorjani S Pinault S Fournier G The response to long-term overfeeding in identical twins. N Engl J Med 1990 ; 322 : 1477 – 82. 35. Fox CS Liu Y White CC Feitosa M Smith AV Heard-Costa N Lohman K Consortium G Consortium M Consortium G et al. Genome-wide association for abdominal subcutaneous and visceral adipose reveals a novel locus for visceral fat in women. PLoS Genet 2012 ; 8 : e1002695. 36. Norris JM Langefeld CD Talbert ME Wing MR Haritunians T Fingerlin TE Hanley AJ Ziegler JT Taylor KD Haffner SM et al. Genome-wide association study and follow-up analysis of adiposity traits in Hispanic Americans: the IRAS Family Study. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2009 ; 17 : 1932 – 41. 37. Malik VS Popkin BM Bray GA Despres JP Hu FB Sugar-sweetened beverages, obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular disease risk. Circulation 2010 ; 121 : 1356 – 64. 38. Mattes RD Popkin BM Nonnutritive sweetener consumption in humans: effects on appetite and food intake and their putative mechanisms. Am J Clin Nutr 2009 ; 89 : 1 – 14. 39. Manolopoulos KN Karpe F Frayn KN Gluteofemoral body fat as a determinant of metabolic health. Int J Obes (Lond) 2010 ; 34 : 949 – 59. 40. Schernhammer ES Bertrand KA Birmann BM Sampson L Willett WC Feskanich D Consumption of artificial sweetener- and sugar-containing soda and risk of lymphoma and leukemia in men and women. Am J Clin Nutr 2012 ; 96 : 1419 – 28.
Abbreviations
CVD cardiovascular disease
DGAI Dietary Guidelines Adherence Index
Gen3 Third Generation Cohort
LPL lipoprotein lipase
MDCT multidetector computed tomography
SAT abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue
SSB sugar-sweetened beverage
VAT visceral adipose tissue
© 2014 American Society for NutritionThe Magical Tattoos of Amy
I found this tattoo of Amy’s on instagram and loved it. The colors are great and I adore all of the characters in it. The Disney Cruise Line sign on top has a special place in my heart. (Watch & see why here.)
I asked Amy if she wanted to share any other tats she had and she sent this one too and..
..THIS one! I could not believe this castle picture was a tattoo! It looks amazing. The lighting, the detail, the colors – everything about it is great. The colors and textures on the bottom of the castle feel very Mary Blair. What a gorgeous piece of work. The castle was done by Nick Dangelo from this season’s Ink Master, you can find him at DangeloArt.com.
A big thanks to Amy for sharing her pixie-dusted ink with us. All of these beauties are recent. She got the first one pictured in August, the second one in September and the last most recently in December. Her tattoos were done by three different artists in the Buffalo, New York area.Hymen: a thin membrane that surrounds the opening to the vagina. Hymens can come in different shapes. The most common hymen in young women is shaped like a half moon. This shape allows menstrual blood to flow out of the vagina.
Imperforate hymen: An imperforate hymen can sometimes be diagnosed at birth. More often, the diagnosis is made during the teen years. An imperforate hymen is a thin membrane that completely covers the opening to the vagina. Menstrual blood cannot flow out of the vagina. This usually causes the blood to back up into the vagina which often develops into a vaginal mass and abdominal and/or back pain. Some girls may also have pain with bowel movements and trouble passing urine.
The treatment for an imperforate hymen is minor surgery to remove the extra hymenal tissue and create a normal sized vaginal opening so that menstrual blood can flow out of the vagina.
Microperforate hymen: A microperforate hymen is a thin membrane that almost completely covers the opening to the vagina. Menstrual blood is usually able to flow out of the vagina but the opening is very small. A young woman with a microperforate hymen usually will not be able to insert a tampon into her vagina and may not realize that she has a very tiny opening. If she is able to place a tampon into her vagina, she may not be able to remove it when it becomes filled with blood. The treatment is minor surgery to remove the extra hymenal tissue making a normal sized opening for menstrual blood to flow out, and to allow for use of a tampon.
Septate hymen: A septate hymen is when the thin hymenal membrane has a band of extra tissue in the middle that causes two small vaginal openings instead of one. Young women with a septate hymen may have trouble getting a tampon in or trouble getting a tampon out. The treatment for a septate hymen is minor surgery to remove the extra band of tissue and create a normal sized vaginal opening.It’s hard to miss the increasing use of esoteric symbolism by popular artists in the music industry. Upside down crosses, pentagrams, all-seeing eye symbols… what does it all mean? What is the source of this symbolism and why is it so prevalent? This article explores the affect these symbols have on our lives and the global understanding of spirituality.
‘Signs and symbols rule the world, not words nor laws.’ – Confucius
Symbols are a universal language, and such a part of our lives that once we are exposed to them we process them on a subconscious level, our actions guided by them without us having to think about it. We automatically stop at red lights and know which button turns on the TV because of the common symbols used to represent them. But the power of symbols goes far beyond their day-to-day to use.
Esoteric symbols are those with a hidden meaning, likely to be understood only by a small number of people, and have been used throughout time in the great spiritual traditions to guide truth seekers. Depending on how they’re used they can represent and attract either forces of darkness or forces of light.
Increasingly esoteric symbols are making their way into popular culture, especially in high profile places like the music industry. What is the source of these symbols? Why are so many artists using them? Are they just something “cool” that major players came up with to represent their personal brands? Or are they part of a sinister plan? Are esoteric symbols being used for good or evil?
A Brief Introduction to Esoteric Symbolism
Many who study the use of esoteric symbolism in popular culture approach their analysis from a religious perspective, and as such consider all esoteric symbols to be part of a Satanic, anti-Christian agenda. While it’s understandable that symbols may be perceived in this way because they are often used in sinister contexts associated with darkness, it appears that entrenching the idea that all esoteric symbols are “evil” is part of the agenda behind their misuse.
“Throughout history the knowledge has been split into three kinds: white (light), black (darkness), and grey (a mixture). White knowledge has been continuously infiltrated and attacked by dark forces and its reputation muddied and lost, thus many sacred deities and spiritual principles became seen as black, while dark forces such as Baal were seen as spiritual. Dark forces and ceremonies have existed alongside white esoteric knowledge, obscuring and confusing their meanings to the public. Secret societies of dark knowledge exist to this day, having passed through centuries largely undetected, yet accumulating power. They use the symbols of knowledge of light but invert them.” – Belsebuub Source
What is often overlooked is that many esoteric symbols have a positive spiritual meaning in their original use and that the majority of what we witness in the public view is an inversion of symbols of light, turned into symbols of darkness.
“In symbolism, an inverted figure always signifies a perverted power (…) Black magic is not a fundamental art; it is the misuse of an art. Therefore it has no symbols of its own. It merely takes the emblematic figures of white magic, and by inverting and reversing them signifies that it is left-handed.” – Manly P. Hall, Secret Teachings of All Ages
Understanding that symbols can represent either forces of light or forces of darkness can broaden our understanding of the agenda behind their use in popular culture, and the agenda towards spirituality as a whole.
To get a better understanding of the way symbols are being misused and abused in the music industry let’s take a quick look at the meanings – both positive and negative – of a number of the most common esoteric symbols on display.
The All-Seeing Eye
In recent years the symbol of the all-seeing eye has become prolific in music videos, photo shoots and live performances, represented either by artists covering one eye, or making a triangle shape with their hands, frequently also covering one eye with it. Often these symbols are built inconspicuously into sets or shown on screen so quickly as to have a subliminal affect on the viewer.
Many cultures throughout time have used the symbol of the eye, either on it’s own or within a pyramid as a symbol of protection, representing a benevolent and all-seeing spiritual force watching over us.
Over the last century however, as negative forces have increasingly infiltrated the world and spiritual schools, the meaning and use of this symbol has been hijacked and distorted, coming to represent sinister conspiracies, secret societies with dark undertones and elitist surveillance and control.
Does the increasing use of the all-seeing eye in the music industry reflect an increasing control that the elite members of society – often involved in secret meetings like the Bilderberg group and occult gatherings at Bohemian Grove and colloquially referred to as the “Illuminati” – have over performers?
This theory is corroborated in the actions, videos and lyrics of many popular artists. Take for instance rapper Jay-Z who has popularised the use of this symbol.
Jay-Z started a record label named Roc-A-Fella, which can be interpreted as a loosely-veiled reference to the Rockefeller family, who are considered to be among the most powerful people in the world (some also believe this family is one of the alleged “13 Illuminati Bloodlines”).
Jay-Z’s signature hand sign is the symbol of the triangle placed over one eye. Following suit, his wife Beyonce and close associates Kanye West and Rihanna have also frequently used this symbol, leading to a culture of other celebrities using it too. While many may think this represents a diamond, which Jay-Z raps about, it may also represent the all-seeing eye as used by the Illuminati, which he also raps about:
“Illuminati want my mind, soul and my body”
“Secret society, tryna keep they eye on me”
– Jay-Z, D’Evils
Just in case you had any doubts about who they might be promoting, check out the following still from one of Rihanna’s video clips.
Of course, rap stars who frequently use symbolism associated with the Illuminati just as frequently deny it.
Conspiracy theorist screaming Illuminati
They can’t believe this much skill is in the human body
Jay-Z, Heaven I said I was amazing/ Not that I’m a Mason
Jay-Z / Rick Ross, Free Mason
However Jay-Z has also created a clothing line called Roc-A-Wear, which features many esoteric symbols and references to dark forces as well as freemasonry – an institution many believe is linked to the “Illuminati” (historically the Bavarian Illuminati secret society was known to have infiltrated Freemason lodges in Europe).
Confused? Maybe that’s the idea.
Interestingly this isn’t the first time this symbol has been used as can be seen in this photo of Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan, who most likely wasn’t rapping when this picture was taken.
Assuming that on one level this symbol signifies the control the ruling elite have over the masses, we can easily see how incorporating these symbols into popular culture could serve to signify and exalt the elite’s power, with people essentially saluting their servitude.
Here’s just a tiny sample of the use of the all-seeing eye in the music industry:
The Symbol of the Cross
The symbol of the cross is almost universal in the Western world and for most people represents Christianity and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The inverted cross typically represents either St Peter – who was said to have been crucified upside down out of reverence for Jesus – or more typically, and particularly in popular culture, dark forces and a rebellion against the Christ.
An Egyptian Ankh (Source)
Looking further into the past however, the symbol of the cross is much older and wide-ranging, with spiritual uses predating Christianity. We can see examples of the cross in the Egyptian Ankh, the Swastika in Eastern traditions – a kind of dynamic cross – and in Druidic and Pagan traditions: all cultures where it was esteemed as a symbol with deep spiritual meaning. Interestingly Hitler was very interested in the occult and took the Hindu symbol of the swastika – representing the positive power of the creative force – and inverted it for his own negative use, an excellent example of how the meaning of a symbol can be distorted for people throughout the entire world.
Sadly inverted crosses are becoming commonplace in popular culture, often also associated with darkness in other ways. Where once they may have been used for shock value and rebellion, they are now becoming a new norm in fashion accessories as society moves further and further away from an understanding of spiritual values.
Have a look below at some of the examples of inverted crosses in video clips and clothing worn by popular artists.
The Pentagram / Pentacle
Due to frequent appearances in the heavy metal scene (both upright and inverted) and its association with witchcraft, the pentagram has got a really bad rap, and is widely thought to be a symbol that is satanic or “of the devil”.
Looking to the past however, the pentagram has a long heritage as a powerful positive symbol. The pentagram contains the golden ratio / fibonacci sequence – a universal principle that creates beauty and harmony in nature. Used by Pythagoras in his teachings, the pentagram came to be used as a secret symbol identifying Pythagoreans to each other when their school was driven underground.
16th century philosopher Paracelsus said of the pentagram:
I would gladly knowe, where and in what place in all the Books of the Nigromancers may befound any other, wherein there is made the like against malignant Spirits, Devils, and Inchantments of the Magitians, by all the deceits and devices of the Sorcerers. Truly those which we have spoken of, are the true Pentacles to be had and used against allunclean Spirits, which they do all fear, even they which wander in the Elements.
In Christianity the pentagram was seen as the star of Bethlehem that led the three magi to the birthplace of Jesus. It was also seen to represent the five wounds of Christ and was used as a symbol of protection. In Arthurian legend the knight Gawain displayed the pentagram on his shield as a symbol of the five knightly virtues (generosity, courtesy, chastity, chivalry and piety).
When used correctly with single point upwards (like a person standing with their legs and arms spread into the shape of a star) the pentagram represents the ascension of a spiritual seeker towards enlightenment. It works as a powerful symbol of protection that repels the forces of darkness.
It wasn’t until the witch hunts of the Inquisition that the pentagram publicly began being viewed as a symbol of darkness – many people were burnt at the stake for displaying them.
It was understood by philosophers and magicians of the time that the connection between symbols and the world of actions could be manipulated for evil purposes. Magician Giordano Bruno, warned of such misuse of the powerful pentacle by Black magicians.
Later in the 1800’s esotericist Eliphas Levi was the first to popularise the understanding of the upside down pentagram as a symbol of evil.
“A reversed pentagram, with two points projecting upwards, is a symbol of evil and attracts sinister forces because it overturns the proper order of things and demonstrates the triumph of matter over spirit. It is the goat of lust attacking the heavens with its horns, a sign execrated by initiates.”
Eliphas Levi
When inverted with two points up and one point down the pentagram represents a person descending into darkness and towards the abyss, the hells that are represented in the different religions and in Dante’s Inferno. When inverted the pentagram attracts the forces of darkness.
The pentagram is used extensively in black magic, but when so used its form always differs in one of three ways: The star may be broken at one point by not permitting the converging lines to touch; it may be inverted by having one point down and two up; or it may be distorted by having the points of varying lengths. When used in black magic, the pentagram is called the “sign of the cloven hoof,” or the footprint of the Devil. The star with two points upward is also called the “Goat of Mendes,” because the inverted star is the same shape as a goat’s head.” – Manly P. Hall, Secret Teachings of All Ages
There are many references to upside down pentagrams in the music industry, some concealed, others out in the open.
There are other examples where the upside down pentagram and forces of darkness are referred to without directly being shown. For instance there are many female performers who appear to have drawn inspiration for their costumes from the character Maria from the black and white film Metropolis. Maria is an innocent woman who has an “evil” double created after she is kidnapped and her likeness is given to a robot, with the intent that the robot Maria will control the masses, driving them to commit animalistic acts through lust. The robot is brought to life under an upside down pentagram.
“Let us keep the figure of the Five-pointed Star always upright, with the topmost triangle pointing to heaven, for it is the seat of wisdom, and if the figure is reversed, perversion and evil will be the result.”
Eliphas Levi
Baphomet
The commonly known depiction of the s ymbol of Baphomet – the androgynous goat with an upright pentagram on its forehead – was from the book Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie by esotericist Eliphas Levi.
Levi said of this symbol:
The goat on the frontispiece carries the sign of the pentagram on the forehead, with one point at the top, a symbol of light, his two hands forming the sign of occultism, the one pointing up to the white moon of Chesed, the other pointing down to the black one of Geburah. This sign expresses the perfect harmony of mercy with justice. His one arm is female, the other male like the ones of the androgyne of Khunrath, the attributes of which we had to unite with those of our goat because he is one and the same symbol. The flame of intelligence shining between his horns is the magic light of the universal balance, the image of the soul elevated above matter, as the flame, whilst being tied to matter, shines above it. The beast’s head expresses the horror of the sinner, whose materially acting, solely responsible part has to bear the punishment exclusively; because the soul is insensitive according to its nature and can only suffer when it materializes. The rod standing instead of genitals symbolizes eternal life, the body covered with scales the water, the semi-circle above it the atmosphere, the feathers following above the volatile. Humanity is represented by the two breasts and the androgyne arms of this sphinx of the occult sciences.
While the symbol of Baphomet as drawn by Levi bears an upright pentagram and contains elements that seem to point towards a spiritual transcendence beyond the material world, it has often been seen throughout the ages as a negative symbol, again featuring in the persecution of |
. Shooting guard Anton Gill (Hargrave Military Academy/Raliegh, N.C.) and power forward Akoy Agau (Omaho Central High, Omaho, Neb.) are also members of Louisville’s incoming class.
“It looks like Chris made a great choice of where to finish his college career,” Forbes added. “I know he’s ready to get up there. They are getting a good player.”
Photo courtesy of @NWF_Raiders
Terrence is also the lead writer at NEHoopNews.com and can be followed on Twitter: @terrence_payneUpdate: The man accused of raping a girl and killing a woman in Clay was charged earlier this year with possession of child pornography by federal authorities in Syracuse. He was accused of possessing child pornography on June 4, 2012.
U.S. Magistrate Andrew Baxter ordered David J. Renz, could be released from custody in January after the U.S. Attorney’s office withdrew its objection to that provided that conditions were set.
The conditions Baxter set for Renz’s release included that he allow federal probation officers to visit him at any time of day, that he not possess any deadly weapon, that he stay away from places where children under 18 congregate, including schools, parks and arcades, and that he avoid unsupervised direct contact with children.
He was required to not use a computer for any reason but work, surrender his passport and not travel outside of Upstate New York, refrain from excessive use of alcohol, allow electronic monitoring of him, and be at home from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. every day.
Our earlier report:
Authorities today said the victim of a fatal carjacking Thursday night in Clay was Lori Bresnahan, 48, a librarian at Willow Field Elementary School in the Liverpool school district. She previously was at Chestnut Hill Elementary School in the Liverpool district and is a graduate of the State University of New York College at Oswego, according to The Post-Standard archives.
- Bresnahan was leaving a gymnastics class with a child at about 9 p.m. Thursday at Great Northern Mall.
- The attacker bound Bresnahan and the child, The attacker drove them to Verplank Road in Clay.The attacker raped the girl and killed the woman.
- David J. Renz, 29, of 6526 Lakeshore Road, Cicero has been charged in the attack. He's been charged with murder, rape and kidnapping.
- The child fled from the car. A passerby saw her running on Verplank Road and assisted her.
We will update this report shortly.
Our earlier report:
Clay, NY -- One person is in custody after a woman was fatally stabbed in front of a 10-year-old girl during a carjacking Thursday night, state police said.
Police are on scene at the 3600 block of Verplank Road where the woman was found bleeding inside her car, they said.
Police believe the incident started in the parking lot of Great Northern Mall around 9 p.m. on Thursday.
A 10-year-old girl was found in the car when police arrived. Police said the woman found stabbed in the car died as a result of her injuries.
Police have not released names of the victims.
A news conference is scheduled at 10 a.m, police said.
Police are still on scene near the area where the carjacking took place. Verplank Road is closed between Bennett Road and Morgan Road.SuperTuxKart is a great title designed to bring you the Mario Kart experience free of charge on your Linux system. It is pretty challenging and fun to play, is designed to offer you a wide array of unique moments each time you play. Before you get to play the game, you have to download it. Go to the game’s website and download the latest version, then install it. The game does receive regular updates, so you want to visit the site often to get the latest version.
The main menu, features, and gameplay
Right off the bat, you will see that the menu has multiple features for you to explore. You have the Story mode, singleplayer, multiplayer and add-ons.
The story mode is a series of races that connect to one another as a tournament, and upon completion, you will get to unlock a lot of cool stuff such as new races or new characters. The game does a very good job at adding in new characters and arenas all the time. Once you start checking out the story mode, you will see that there are quite a lot of races you can go through. There are multiple difficulty options, so you may want to keep that in mind. It will be a very good idea to check out the races here, as there are plenty of them and you can unlock more all the time.
Singleplayer is all about trying races individually. You can create your tournaments if you want, but trying races is a crucial aspect here. Multiplayer will allow you and friends or random people from the web to play with one another.
Customizing cars
There’s not a lot of customizability in this game. You can change colors a little bit, so you can make individual cars look a bit more interesting. It’s an interesting feature to have, and it can go a long way in this regard.
Arena
The arena mode is great. Although there aren’t a ton of maps for it, the idea is that you need to get powerups from the game world and eliminate opponents to win. This will be very interesting if you play with other people, and in fact, it’s the favorite game mode for people that want to play online.
Racing tips
What you should know about SuperTuxKart is the fact that you can indeed shoot powerups backward. You can fire them while you look backward. It will take a bit of trial and error, but it will allow you to do some very good shots without that much of a problem.
A thing to note about the game is that it expects your hardware to be able to handle multiple simultaneous key presses, and if the hardware is not sophisticated enough these operations won’t work. You can check the FAQ of the game to find more information about this issue and what hardware is recommended for the best experience.
Also, keep in mind that as you race, you will be able to find various shortcuts and obtain new powerups. This is a crucial aspect of the SuperTuxKart gameplay because you do need shortcuts to make the game experience a faster and better one.
As you play SuperTuxKart, you will appreciate the ability to restart the race. You can do that from the main menu, and it can work at any time. That being said, you will note the fact that SuperTuxKart also enables you to recover your car or reset it if necessary. This is a nice trick to have, and it does tend to work very well most of the time if you get stuck and want to come back to the race.
Don’t bump into opponents. Try to avoid them as much as you can, as this can cause issues to your stability and you can end up losing the race.
We recommend you to test the tracks on your own as a practice method. Learn all the ins and outs of each track so you can access each shortcut and get in front of the pack!
SuperTuxKart is a fun game, and each new update brings in front some new cool ideas that you will like a lot. This is an exciting game for sure and one that manages to always bring you something cool and new to the table. If you are a fan of kart games in general, you don’t want to miss it!Posted by rusef
http://30vs60.com/
http://www.testufo.com/#test=framerates&count=2&background=none&pps=480
There are many great IPS displays on the market (like the Dell Ultrasharp series) which rely on 60Hz panels but are otherwise superior to most 120Hz monitors on the market.
Almost no difference on my computer and I have pretty good one: mac pro 6-core with double d500's.Also this:http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/do-you-need-a-120hz-or-240-hz-monitor/#!bPf5XDOh I have dell ultrasharp monitor and I have pretty good response times my monitor works way better than those 120Hz's on market... Here is the proof that monitor response time is much more important than refreshing rate, because refreshing rate on LCD monitors doesn't have any effect because LCD monitor doesn't redraw picture every frame, but checks for changes from previous frame at certain interval.Also it is scientific proven that human eye can barely spot difference above 60fps. Only very good trained people were managed to get up to 80fps.60Hz and 60fps is the sweetest spot for human eye or in other words with that you are maxing out eyes capabilities.What 120Hz makes you think your game is more responsive? Well reason behind that is that your game is also refreshing game input 120 times per second instead only 60 and that difference makes you think your game is more responsive.Here for example: at 60fps when you click or press something computer has 16ms to calculate everything, while on 120fps it has only 8ms which makes input a little more smoother, but your eyes still cannot detect faster changing picture and your game is still running at same time rate as at 60fps difference is only how fast computer responds and calculate your input.There were also some studies that has tested gaming success at 60 and 120fps / Hz setups and 120Hz won with 51% success while 60Hz got 49%, which is only minimal difference and it could be just statistical error. 120Hz monitor and game at 120fps won't make you play better or make your response times better, everything is in your head.anything faster than 60Hz (15/16 ms repsonse) generally is not noticable, unless you are specifically looking for it. And trust me, in games you are not noticing things. It's only in your head!The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent the views of Townhall.com.
The nation's eyes are fixated on dramatic flooding in Houston after Hurricane Harvey, where the death toll (so far) is thankfully small compared to flooding in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The government response on all levels seems to be fairly effective, and unlike with Katrina, the press coverage hasn't been dominated by accusations of racism or inhumanity in the rescue effort.
There's one obvious exception: cartoonists for the left. Politico tweeted an image by radical artist Matt Wuerker in which he mocks Christian wackos wearing Confederate flag shirts. A man being rescued from his rooftop declares: "Angels! Sent by God!" A Coast Guard pilot is shown correcting him. "Er, actually Coast Guard... sent by the government," he says.
After mocking the victims still suffering from a hurricane as stupid religious folks, Wuerker tried to dig himself out of a hole on Twitter. He lamented: "Just trying to point out times like this we're lucky to have rescue services. Don't see how this takes away from private individuals heroism." Then he added: "Respectfully -- it's making fun of the Secessionist movement. Not at all aimed at all Texans." Politico soon deleted its promotional tweet, but not the cartoon.
A poll taken in 2016 (by Democrat pollsters) showed that 59 percent of Texans opposed secession, and only 26 percent expressed support. Wuerker claimed that his job is to prod people into considering "the ironies and subtleties of the world we live in," but cartoons like this aren't ironic or subtle. They're ham-fisted and ignorant.
Wuerker also felt it was safe to mock conservatives. "Times like this it's ironic to say that the government is the enemy," he said. It's not conservatives who have protested the front-line heroes of local government but leftist street agitators who have endlessly denigrated the police as racist child killers.
Then there's the scabrous French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo, whose latest cover shows a bunch of Nazi flags mostly underwater and a few white hands sticking out of the water in the "Heil Hitler" salute. The cover text in French translates to "God Exists! He Drowned All Neo-Nazis of Texas!" The cartoon was drawn by Laurent Sourisseau, alias "Riss," who was wounded in the 2015 Islamic terror attack on the magazine's Paris offices in which a dozen were killed.
This is just another reason why decent, God-fearing Americans should have resisted the free speech slogan/hashtag "Je suis Charlie," or "I am Charlie." These atheists have a right to their satire, but it overflows with vicious hatred and stereotyping. In 2012, it slammed Catholic protests of gay marriage with a cover that showed God the Father being sodomized by Jesus (complete with a crown of thorns) and a triangle with an eye representing the Holy Spirit "bringing up the rear" of Christ.
These cartoonists somehow assume that Texas is 100 percent Republican and/or neo-Nazi. Harris County, in which Houston serves as county seat, voted for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump, 54 percent to 41 percent. Houston has a fairly large Jewish population (more than 45,000). A 2010 racial breakdown from the U.S. Census Bureau shows only 50.5 percent are white, 43.8 percent are Hispanic or Latino (of any race), and 23.7 percent are black.
But to liberal elites, all Texans are somehow bigoted white Christian males. Even a hurricane can't restrain their rage about their satirical targets having any power in America. Cartoons like these strongly underline why so many Americans find that the secular-progressive media are either tone-deaf or blatantly hostile toward what (and Who) they hold dear.Is Abby Lee Miller about to kick one of her long-time students to the curb?
The temperamental DANCE MOMS star is holding an open call audition for new girls to mentor November 23 in New York City.
“Abby keeps saying she is going to replace a child this year — or maybe more than one child,” says Melissa Gisoni, mother of current dancers Maddie and Mackenzie Ziegler.
“I don’t feel like it is going to happen, but you really never know with Abby.”
Melissa tells me she and the girls have already filmed six episodes of the new season, which premieres January 1 on Lifetime.
“So far, it is all the same kids,” she says.
And a lot of the same drama.
“There’s a lot of Kelly and Christi hatin’ on Abby and Abby hatin’ on them,” she says. “We just have to see if someone gets replaced this year. That’s the big thing.”
Here’s more of what Melissa had to share during our exclusive interview.
Have you been to any of the open auditions?
Yes. People are really desperate to be on the show. We had an open call this past weekend [in Atlanta] and I have never seen anything quite like it before. When you go to a typical dance audition, you sit in a corner and your child does all the work. These mothers get to come into the audition. It was the craziest thing I have ever seen in my life. It was like a football game instead of a dance audition.
Why do they want so badly to be on this show?
They want their child to be a star. That is exactly what it is. Of course [being on the show] is a fabulous thing. My daughters have gotten so many opportunities from it.
Was that your original motive for going on?
Absolutely not. We never thought it would even go [on the air]. We weren’t told it was a reality show. We were told it was a docu-series called JUST DANCE. So we signed on for 6 episodes and it went crazy and they turned it into DANCE MOMS and now we are going into season 4.
Did it take some time to get comfortable with the fame the show brought?
It is like nothing to me. I am just a normal mom. I am not a diva by any stretch of the imagination. Our studio is like my second home. When we are not filming it is wonderful to hang out with all the kids and the moms.
This show has changed your life. You are a reality star now! How do you plan to use that to your advantage?
I don’t really use it to my advantage at all. It is my children’s thing. I think that once this show is over, they are going to have so many opportunities because so many people know who my children are, which is a fabulous thing… I am so grateful to Abby for that. When they go to any kind of dance event or competition, people know who they are, which is pretty darn cool.
So you have no dreams of being in show business beyond this show?
Well yes, actually… I wouldn’t mind being on a talk show. I love THE VIEW. I am not very political or anything like that, but I think it would be fun to have a talk show with the other moms. The five of us could have such a fun talk show. Oh, my God! It would be so super fun. But my kids come first.
>>CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE >>A group of students at Seattle University have taken over a university dean’s office, saying they won’t leave unless the dean resigns and the school grants a set of demands that would heavily politicize the humanities curriculum.
Matteo Ricci College is one of eight schools at Seattle University, and focuses on the study of humanities. But the students who have taken over dean Jodi Kelly’s office say the college’s current curriculum is utterly stifling, and they have published a lengthy list of demands for changes.
Chief among their demands is an order for the school to adopt a new curriculum that “decentralizes Whiteness and has a critical focus on the evolution of systems of oppression such as racism, capitalism, colonialism, etc.” The curriculum should be taught by “professors of color and queer professors” and should place particular emphasis not on traditional educational concepts but instead on “racism, gentrification, sexism, colonialism, imperialism, global white supremacy, and other ethical questions about systems of power.”
One of the protesters, 22-year-old Fiza Muhammad, told The Stranger this demand was necessary to undermine Matteo Ricci’s current focus on the Western canon, which she dismissed as the work of old, racist, sexist white men.
“I can count on one hand how many people of color I’ve read in the four years that I’ve been here,” she said.
The demands also request a substantial amount of re-education for professors, so they will be more prepared to deal with “microaggressions” on campus.
“We demand that every faculty member in Matteo Ricci College undergo a training from an anti-racist network in Seattle, such as The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond,” the list says. Henceforth, classes must incorporate the “dismantling of micro-aggressive tendencies in students and educators” and should also “provide space to discuss how readings may be problematic.”
Muhammad said these demands were necessary because currently professors at the school “call [her] aggressive and emotional” when she complains to them.
Seattle University is a Catholic school, and Matteo Ricci College operates a special program with several local Catholic high schools that allows for students to begin college-level work in high school and then graduate after just three years of undergraduate work. The occupiers demand an end to this special relationship, arguing it excludes non-white and low-income students. They also demand the school “stop using the bodies of students of color to advertise diversity.”
Lastly, the students want Kelly to resign and be replaced by somebody more amenable to their agenda.
The occupiers appear to have come equipped to stay awhile, with The Stranger reporting they showed up with pillows, pizzas, and even a speaker system for blasting out Beyoncé’s new Lemonade album. They also erected a homemade poster displaying the “House Rules” of the occupation, such as:
This space centers Trans folx, differently-abled people, womxn of color, people of color + Queer folx!!!
This is a healing space. We are here to transform a previously violent space into a celebratory one
We all agree on the critical race theory definition of race, privilege, etc.
Kelly and other Seattle administrators had already been working to address student demands, with Kelly issuing a statement Tuesday offering to review the school’s curriculum without making any specific commitments. Students apparently found these concessions insufficient, which sparked the occupation on Wednesday. As of Thursday afternoon, the occupation was still ongoing.
Follow Blake on Twitter
Send tips to [email protected].
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected] Nk'mip Desert, on the east side of Osoyoos, is actually shrub steppe and not desert.
The Okanagan Desert is the common name for a semi-arid area located in the South Okanagan Valley region of British Columbia, Canada, primarily around the town of Osoyoos.[1][2] Part of the area is called the Nk'mip Desert by the Osoyoos Indian Band, though the entire region, like other similar parts of the British Columbia Interior, is technically a semi-arid shrub-steppe.[2]
Shrub-steppe species [ edit ]
While some areas in British Columbia are more arid, the South Okanagan shrub-steppe contains several species of plants and animals not found elsewhere in Canada.[2][3] It is the presence of these specific plants in the Antelope-brush ecosystem that is claimed to make the area unique from other semi-desert areas in British Columbia.[2][4] The South Okanagan shrub-steppe ecosystem is a habitat for 30% of the Red-listed and 46% of the Blue-listed vertebrates in British Columbia, with several listed as threatened or endangered.[2] More than 24 invertebrates exist only in the Okanagan Desert, with an additional 80 species occurring nowhere else in Canada.[2]
As of 2009, 23 species were Red-listed (threatened or extirpated) in the South Okanagan shrub-steppe ecosystem, including:[5][6]
Over the early 21st century, many fruit-tree orchards were converted to irrigated vineyards.[2][7]
Organizations in desert [ edit ]
There are multiple groups or organizations located in the Okanagan Desert. The Osoyoos Band, a First Nations government located in British Columbia, runs the Nk'Mip Desert Cultural Centre as part of its resort and winery complex, which is located on the east side of Osoyoos. The Osoyoos Desert Society, a non-profit society founded in 1991, maintains the Osoyoos Desert Centre, a 67-acre nature interpretive facility 3 km (2 mi) north of Osoyoos off Highway 97. The Osoyoos Lake Water Quality Society – which focuses on the impact and relationship of the South Okanagan shrub-steppe ecosystem with Osoyoos Lake – is a community public relations organization.[8]
Media [ edit ]
The region was the subject of a 1999 National Film Board of Canada documentary Pocket Desert - Confessions of a Snake Killer.[9][10]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Coordinates:He said to people: you’re free. And they said, hooray, and then he showed them what freedom costs and they called him a tyrant and, as soon as he’d been betrayed, they milled around a bit like barn-bred chickens who’ve seen the big world outside for the first time, and then they went back into the warm and shut the door—
Discworld fans will know that Pratchett is fond of revisiting old plots. I’m not breaking any new ground here; it’s something I’ve touched on on earlier posts. The Death novels are perhaps the guiltiest of this – the Grim Reaper needs a break, learns about humanity and the distance keeping him/her/?self from what makes us human, he talks IN CAPITAL LETTERS and then we close the book.
This is the third novel featuring the Watch. Both Guards! Guards! and Men at Arms have had threats to the Patrician at their heart, as someone looks to knock the supreme ruler of Ankh-Morpork out of town and place their own puppet in charge. Feet of Clay is no different. But whereas there’s a roll of the eyes when you realise ‘great, Death is a bit bored. Again’, Feet of Clay is fantastic. From a pure craft perspective, it’s astonishing. So why does it work where Death (and others) don’t? Let’s start with a personal organiser and a quibble. Lady Sybil, the philanthropic lover of dragons and wife of Sam Vimes, the commander of The Watch, was sadly relegated to a bit part in Men at Arms and is so here. But she has given her husband a thoughtful (but useless) present. Vimes is armed with a proto-smartphone, a pocket organiser run by an imp that is as infuriating to use as an iPhone in dire need of an upgrade. It’s fun to read, particularly when Feet of Clay was published in 1996, a time when Android belonged to Asimov, not Brin and Page.
Throughout the novel, he is interrupted by its erroneous bleating. Vimes holds his own tiny rebellion, nowhere near the scale of his humdingers with the Patrician, but a notable one all the same. When he can, he resorts to his notebook because he likes it. It feels right. It’s not massive but Vimes rebels where he can, swapping his Michelin-grade shoe leather for that of a lackey, so he can feel the cobbles under his feet. Or eschewing the closer shave from his butler Willikins for doing it himself. He hated the very idea of the world being divided into the shaved and the shavers.
Feet of Clay is filled with acts of rebellion, with the golems a perfect vehicle to drive this. They create a king from their own clay, with the help of a priest and baker. This king is then ordered to make poisoned candles to be used in an attempt on the Patrician’s life. Overloaded by the strain of conflicting demands from his masters, the golem goes mad, killing his priest and baker creators (what a sentence to write!). The other golems who created him kill themselves out of guilt, with the final one, Dorfl, handing himself in as the guilty murderer.
IN THE MEANTIME, the Patrician has been poisoned, due to the aforementioned poisoned candles (the fact Pratchett hides this so well until the very end of the novel is so very skilful), with the Watch at a loss as to what to do next. Nobby Nobbs, the insalubrious Night’s Watchman, has been positioned as the true heir to Ankh-Morpork’s throne, despite EVERYONE knowing it belongs to his colleague Carrot. Oh, and there’s a new recruit called Cheery Littlebottom, whose name is the least thing worrying the latest dwarf hire. Cheery is a woman, despite her beard and general dwarvishness and is struggling with her own identity as she battles to free herself from dwarfish preconceptions.
That’s some 400 pages of plot distilled into two clumsy paragraphs. Pratchett sets up the novel in a dizzying opening of some 30 pages, juggling the introduction of Vimes and Carrot, their characters and motivations, the sale of the mad golem and the killing of the priest. The latter two are so shrouded that you are immediately given two mysteries to ponder. They are swiftly followed by Angua, the werewolf Watchwoman determined to leave the city, and the tantalising references to her mysterious father (which are never resolved until The Fifth Elephant).
Those mysteries swirl around the wider whodunnit, which is a doozy. We also learn Vimes has a colourful past in Ankh-Morpork. Discworld experts (A’tuined to the history of the world? Sorry) will remember how the last king was usurped before the Patricians swept into power. What we learn is it was a Vimes wot dun it. Suffer-Not-Injustice Vimes wasn’t a pillar of the community. He killed a king with his own hands. It needed doing, but the community, whatever that was, didn’t always like the people who did what needed to be done or said what had to be said.
Vimes the Elder was a rebel but it is the out of control murderous golem kicking against the pricks that is the ultimately doomed upstart of the novel. And this is why Feet of Clay is so good for me. The golem gone mad sweeps through the novel, with destruction left everywhere he exits. But he feels like a known villain. There’s an empathy there for the reader. And that’s because of Cheery.
The dwarf with the preposterous name initially appears to be comic relief, the Watch’s first forensic expert and someone who will be the butt of Vimes’ jokes (remember that for all his heroics, Vimes can be rather prejudiced. I mean speciesist). But then our expectations are flipped as Cheery is a she and keen to explore her femininity outside of the tightly drawn boundaries of dwarven life. She’s someone using the Big City to find herself, an old trope but yet another so well written by Pratchett.
Feet of Clay’s finest piece of writing is subtly making the reader sympathise towards Cheery, as she experiments with nail polish, skirts and high heels, while showing how constrictive her former life used to be*. So the golems become sympathetic, slaves to the words that were in their own heads and the whims of their owners. No wonder they strived for something more. The problem is that when the golems try to make one of its own free, it backfires so badly.
It’s down to Vimes, with his, um, complex relationship with the myriad species of Ankh-Morpork to sum up the uncomfortable relationship with the golems, who do a lot of the dirty work of the city. Given how we use them, maybe we’re scared because we know we deserve it…
What complicates things is how the novel shows that automation works and works well. Ankh-Morpork under the Patrician is frequently compared to a machine, like the golems. It worked like a machine. That was fine except for the occasional people who got crushed in the wheels. There is a splendid segment describing how the Patrician dictating how the city should work is the best thing for it and its inhabitants. He’d tamed it like a dog. He’d taken a minor scavenger among scavengers and lengthened its teeth and strengthened its jaws and built up its muscles and studded its collar and fed it lean steak and then he’d aimed it at the throat of the world. And then there’s the small matter of the Patrician knowing who was responsible for his poisoning all along but wanting Vimes to wreak havoc among the Guilds that plotted against him to show them how important he is.
Amid a drum tight plot, Pratchett throws his usual array of fun flights of his imagination. Like how bulls believe they have two heads because their eyes are so far apart. That’s why they sweep their heads from side to side. Guards! Guards! made great use of cop tropes and here Colon being a few days away from retirement makes you root for him and his travails like he was a Discworldian Roger Murtaugh. He doesn’t die, thank Blind Io.
The eagle-eyed among you will have spotted that I never really answered the question posed at the top of the post, that of why this novel can get away with the same plot as its Watch predecessors. The answer, now that you have clicked through, is that I don’t really know. Yet, anyway. I hope I can piece it together because I find it fascinating. How can three of my favourite Discworld novels have the same plot and yet I utterly adore them?
There’s a richness to the Watch novels that the others don’t quite share. The Witches are close, arguably better, but the Watch novels are an ensemble piece. Vimes is brilliant, Carrot, Angua, Nobby and Colon a joy to read and Detritius is a rock. You get maybe 50 pages of Dorfl after he’s been freed by the Watch to make his own destiny but it builds brilliantly on what came before. The discussion with Vimes as the book closes is a neat summation of what we have just read:
‘Is It Frightening To Be Free?’
‘You said it.’
‘You Say To People “Throw Off Your Chains” And They Make New Chains For Themselves?’
‘Seems to be a major human activity, yes.’
Dorfl rumbled as he thought about this. ‘Yes,’ he said eventually. ‘I Can See Why. Freedom Is Like Having The Top Of Your Head Opened Up.’
It’s a supreme novel about control, power and agency. Like his other Watch novels, there is a sneaking suspicion that the myriad of threads don’t come together (as the excellent Vacuous Wastrel has also observed) but it does not matter given how you hurtle through the plot. Like our other times with the Watch, there’s a depth and darkness to the novel that means it sits with you once it’s read. I wrote this post after I finished Hogfather but the plot, characters and themes had hung with me for several weeks since closing the book for the last time.
Next week, it’s Christmas in March as Death gives up Grim Reaping, again. Why? Because the Hogfather has gone missing…
* Every single time I write about Granny, or Eske, or Angua, or Susan, I think ‘right, this is where I write about how brilliant Pratchett is at writing female characters’. Because his characters are as flawed and fascinating as his blokes. But this is not the post. Again. You have no idea how not exploring this again annoys me.
AdvertisementsThe United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has had a long history of its involvement in Iraq. Although the CIA was not directly involved in the 1963 Ba'athist coup that ousted Abd al-Karim Qasim, it had been plotting to remove Qasim from mid-1962 until his overthrow, developing contacts with Iraqi opposition groups including the Ba'ath Party and planning to "incapacitate" a high-ranking member of Qasim's government with a poisoned handkerchief. After the 1968 Ba'athist coup appeared to draw Iraq into the Soviet sphere of influence, the CIA colluded with the government of Iran to destabilize Iraq by arming Kurdish rebels. Beginning in 1982, the CIA began providing Iraq intelligence during the Iran–Iraq War. The CIA was also involved in the failed 1996 coup against Saddam Hussein.
Intelligence played an important and generally effective role in the Persian Gulf War in the early 1990s, but was much more controversial with respect to justifying and planning the invasion of Iraq in 2003. See the appropriate chronological entries below.
Iraq 1958 [ edit ]
Relations between the United States (U.S.) and Iraq became strained following the overthrow of the Iraqi monarchy on July 14, 1958, which resulted in the declaration of a republican government led by Brigadier Abd al-Karim Qasim. Qasim planned the operation, but it was led on the ground by Colonel Abdul Salam Arif. Longtime Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer Harry Rositzke recounted that "rumors of army plotting had been circulating for months in Baghdad," but "neither CIA agents nor the Iraqi plotters could tell when the coup would take place, for the timing depended on a fluke."[3] In addition, a subsequent State Department investigation noted that "while Iraqi and U.S. intelligence agencies knew of Qasim, he was never believed to be a cause for concern." Director of Central Intelligence Allen Dulles told President Dwight Eisenhower the CIA "lacked hard evidence implicating" Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser in the coup, though it was Nasser-inspired. On July 15, Eisenhower responded to the upheaval in Iraq by sending U.S. marines to Lebanon at the request of Lebanese President Camille Chamoun, with the goal of helping Chamoun's pro-Western government restore order after months of civil unrest. The Eisenhower administration initially worried about "Ba'athist or Communist exploitation of the situation," but recognized the new Iraqi government on July 30.[4]
Qasim styled himself the "sole leader" of Iraq and rejected any association with Nasser, whereas Arif publicly advocated that Iraq join the United Arab Republic (UAR)—a short-lived union of Egypt and Syria. On September 30, Qasim attempted to neutralize Arif by sending him to West Germany as an ambassador; yet on October 2, Dulles predicted: "In all probability, we have not heard the last of [him]." Egyptian agents in Bonn worked with Arif on a conspiracy to depose Qasim, but Arif was arrested not long after he returned to Baghdad on November 4. The United Kingdom (U.K.), which "hoped... [to] cultivate him as an Iraqi alternative to Nasser," alerted Qasim to another failed Egyptian coup attempt in December. "Nasser's meddling soon forced Qasim to turn to the communists to secure a base of support to protect his regime from the nationalists."
Iraq 1959 [ edit ]
Concerned about the influence of Iraqi Communist Party (ICP) members in Qasim's administration, Eisenhower began questioning if "it might be good policy to help [Nasser] take over in Iraq." However, Eisenhower's top advisers—including Dulles and his brother, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles—largely warned against this. For example, on January 15, 1959, Foster Dulles called it "essential to keep our hands off Iraq" because the U.S. was not "sufficiently sophisticated to mix into this complicated situation." On March 24, Iraq—to the consternation of U.S. officials—withdrew from an anti-Soviet alliance, the Baghdad Pact. In April, the United States National Security Council (NSC) established a Special Committee on Iraq (SCI) to reexamine the situation and propose various contingencies for preventing a communist takeover of the country. Both covert and military intervention was contemplated, but this "horrified" the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad, John Jernegan, who "eventually persuaded the administration to instead press Nasser into modifying his propaganda against Iraq to focus not on Qasim but the communists." |
ching by the side of the shot suspect, named Abderaman A as and the man in orange calls for the boy or girl to leave the man
The man in orange manages to convince the child to leave the suspect on the ground, and police - including one carrying a shield - back away
Ameroud was arrested yesterday in Brussels after a stand-off with police where he took a woman hostage.
Witnesses told how heavily armed anti-terror police shot him in the leg because he was carrying a rucksack they believed contained a bomb.
As police moved in the suspect then grabbed a woman and pulled her to the ground.
In heart-stopping footage captured from a balcony above where the drama unfolded, the man can be seen letting a little girl no older than five go as officers get closer.
Belgian police drag Abderaman A. along a tramway platform after he was shot following a raid in the Brussels borough of Schaerbeek
The clip then shows specially trained anti-terror police in bullet proof vests gently coaxing the frightened girl to safety as the target grabbed the woman.
The shooting took place in the Brussels suburb of Schaerbeek – the scene of a number of anti-terror raids in the last few days.
Najim Laachraoui, the master bomber who blew himself up at Zaventem airport on Tuesday, killing 14, and whose DNA was found on the suicide vests in Paris, lived in Schaerbeek.
DNA traces of Balal Hadfi, one of the Paris bombers, were also found in a flat in Schaerbeek along with a cache of explosives in December.
Police arrested and charged a man identified as Faycal Cheffou, pictured, with terrorist murder over the Brussels terror attacks on Tuesday.
Belgium media reports suggest Cheffou, a freelance journalist, is the third bomber pictured walking through Brussels Airport before the attacks with Ibrahim El Bakraoui, centre, and Najim Laachraoui, left
The news comes as police arrested and charged a man identified as Faycal Cheffou with terrorist murder over the Brussels terror attacks on Tuesday.
Belgium media reports suggest Cheffou, a freelance journalist, is the third bomber pictured walking through Brussels Airport before the attacks with Ibrahim El Bakraoui and Najim Laachraoui. However that has not been confirmed by Belgian prosecutors.
But one source close to the investigation, said: 'That is a hypothesis the investigators are working on.'Content: Rugby World Cup 2015
Check price and availability in your Xbox LIVE region
Game Description: Experience the passion of rugby in the official 2015 Rugby World Cup video game. Choose from among the 20 teams in the World Cup and take part in the most prestigious competition in rugby. Rewrite history with your favourite team by taking it from the pool stage all the way to the final, or by creating your own customized tournament. Experience the World Cup as if you were there with commentary from Miles Harrison and Stuart Barnes.
Purchase Rugby World Cup 2015 for Xbox One from the Xbox Games Store
Purchase Rugby World Cup 2015 for Xbox 360 from the Xbox Games Store (available soon)
Product Info:
Developer: HB Studios
Publisher: Bigben Interactive
Website: Rugby World Cup 2015
Twitter: @bigbeninteractWilliam Bradford Bishop Jr. (born August 1, 1936) is a former United States Foreign Service officer who has been a fugitive from justice since allegedly killing five members of his family in 1976.[1][2][3] On April 10, 2014, the FBI placed him on the list of its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.[4] On June 27, 2018, Bishop, who would be 81, was removed from the list, making room the FBI said for a "dangerous fugitive." However, he is still being actively pursued by the FBI.[5]
Biography [ edit ]
William Bradford Bishop Jr. was born August 1, 1936, in Pasadena, California to Lobelia and William Bradford Bishop Sr.[6][7] He received a BS in history from Yale University and an MA in international studies from Middlebury College.[2] Alternatively, he has been reported to have a bachelor's degree in American Studies from Yale and a master's degree in Italian from Middlebury College.[8] He also holds a master's degree in African Studies from UCLA.[7][9]
After graduating from Yale in 1959, Bishop married his high school sweetheart Annette Weis,[7] with whom he had three sons. He joined the U.S. Army and spent four years in the counterintelligence area. Bishop also learned to speak four foreign languages fluently: Italian, French, Serbo-Croatian, and Spanish.[10] After leaving the Army, Bishop joined the U.S. State Department and served in the Foreign Service in many postings overseas.[2] This included postings in the Italian cities of Verona, Milan, and Florence (where he did post-graduate work at the University of Florence) from 1968 to 1972.[2] He also served in Africa, including posts in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and in Gaborone, Botswana, from 1972 to 1974.[2] His last posting, which began in 1974, was at State Department Headquarters in Washington, D.C. as an Assistant Chief in the Division of Special Activities and Commercial Treaties. He was living in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife, three sons, and his mother Lobelia.[2]
Killings [ edit ]
On March 1, 1976, after learning he would not receive a promotion he had sought,[11] Bishop told his secretary he did not feel well and left his office in Foggy Bottom.[1] Police believe he drove to his bank, where he withdrew several hundred dollars, then to Montgomery Mall, where he bought a sledge hammer and gas can;[12] he also filled the gas can, and the tank of his station wagon, at an adjacent gas station.[12] From there he drove to a hardware store, where he purchased a shovel and pitchfork.[12]
He returned to his home in Bethesda between 7:30 and 8 p.m. Police believe Bishop's wife was likely killed first,[2] then his mother as she returned from walking the family dog.[2] Finally, his three sons (aged 5, 10, and 14) were killed while they slept in an upstairs bedroom.[2]
Bishop allegedly drove the bodies 275 miles (443 km) in a station wagon to a densely wooded swamp about 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Columbia, North Carolina.[12] There, on March 2, he dug a shallow hole where he piled the bodies and set them ablaze with gasoline.[12] Found with the burned bodies were a gas can, a pitchfork, and a shovel with a label of "OCH HDW", which was determined to be from "Poch's Hardware".[12]
Bishop is known to have purchased tennis shoes at a sporting goods store in Jacksonville, North Carolina later that same day.[1] According to witnesses, he had the family dog with him and was possibly accompanied by a woman described as "dark skinned".[13]
On March 10 a neighbor contacted police, after not seeing the family for some time. A detective found blood on the Bishop home's front porch and on the floor and walls of the front hall and bedrooms. Dental records were used to confirm that the bodies found in North Carolina were of Bishop's family.[15]
On March 18, Bishop's 1974 Chevy station wagon was found abandoned at an isolated campground in Elkmont, Tennessee[16] at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a few miles from the Appalachian Trail and about 400 miles (640 km) from the Columbia-area pyre.[1][12] The car contained dog biscuits, a bloody blanket, a shotgun, an ax and a shaving kit with Bishop's medication; the trunk's spare-tire well was full of blood.[12] A witness believed the car had been there since about March 5 through 7. Police theorized that Bishop joined the flow of hikers on the Appalachian Trail and attempted to follow his scent with bloodhounds but without success. The following day, a grand jury indicted Bishop on five counts of first degree murder and other charges.[12]
Psychology [ edit ]
Motives and stressors [ edit ]
Bishop's motives have never been fully explained.[9][17] A 1977 article in The Washington Post reported that there was "no evidence of infidelity, or financial or job problems."[17] Although Bishop had been passed over for a promotion, there was no history of work-related issues; his being passed over has been described as "the first glitch in the storybook tale".[9]
It has been reported that Bishop's career had caused some marital tension. Bishop was unhappy at his desk job and interested in another foreign posting, but his wife Annette was reluctant.[9] She had begun to study art at the University of Maryland despite Bishop's desire for her to remain a stay-at-home mom.[7]
Most sources agree that the Bishops were experiencing some financial issues, but there has been disagreement as to their severity. The Washington Post reported in 1986 that the issues were "mild" and "familiar to most upwardly mobile families."[9] John E. Douglas described them as "nothing terribly unusual for people in their thirties living in that kind of neighborhood." In 2013, Bethesda Magazine reported that the Internal Revenue Service had been auditing the family's taxes due to financial troubles.[7] The existence of an audit has not been confirmed by the FBI or the IRS.
Profile [ edit ]
Smith & Wesson.38 caliber revolver in Bishop's case.
The FBI states that Bishop was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed camping and hiking. He had a pilot's license from when he was stationed in Africa. He enjoys riding motorcycles and working out every week. He suffered from depression and insomnia and was taking Serax (oxazepam) at the time.[17] He is fond of dogs. He also enjoys scotch, peanuts, and spicy foods. He has a six-inch vertical scar on his lower back from surgery and has a cleft chin and mole on his left face cheek. Bishop may have had his father's Smith & Wesson M&P.38 Special revolver with the serial number C981967 and his Yale class ring with him when he vanished. He is also believed to have taken his diplomatic passport with him, as the family's diplomatic passports were all found at their home but his was missing.
Possible sightings [ edit ]
Bishop had approximately one week of advance time before the authorities began looking for him. It has been suggested that he could have traveled on his diplomatic passport. FBI Special Agent in Charge Steve Vogt stated in 2014 that neither Bishop's wallet nor passport have ever been found.[19] It has also been speculated that Bishop may have had intelligence training in the 1960s which may have helped him evade detection in 1976.[20]
Since 1976, Bishop has allegedly been sighted a number of times in various European countries, including Italy, Belgium, England, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.[3] The three most credible sightings noted by the United States Marshals Service are:
In July 1978, a Swedish woman, who said she had collaborated with Bishop while on a business trip in Ethiopia, reported she had spotted him twice in a public park in Stockholm during a span of one week. She stated she was "absolutely certain" that the man was Bishop. [3] She did not contact the police at the time because she had not yet realized he was wanted for murder in the U.S.
She did not contact the police at the time because she had not yet realized he was wanted for murder in the U.S. In January 1979, Bishop was reportedly seen by a former U.S. State Department colleague in a restroom in Sorrento, Italy. The colleague greeted the bearded man, whom he personally believed to be Bishop, eye-to-eye, asking the man impulsively, "Hey, you're Brad Bishop, aren't you?" The man panicked suddenly, responding in a distinctly American accent; "Oh no." He then ran swiftly out of the restroom and fled into the Sorrento alleyways. [3]
On September 19, 1994, on a Basel, Switzerland, train platform, a neighbor who had known Bishop and his family in Bethesda was on vacation and reported that she had seen Bishop from a few feet away.[3] The neighbor described Bishop as "well-groomed" and said that he was getting into a car.[22]
Possible current whereabouts and new information [ edit ]
As of 2010 authorities believed Bishop was living in Switzerland, Italy or elsewhere in Europe, or possibly in California; he may have worked as a teacher or become involved in criminal activities.[23]
In 2010 it was revealed that before the murders Bishop had been corresponding with federal prison inmate Albert Kenneth Bankston in United States Penitentiary, Marion,[23] though it is unknown why or how.[24] Bishop evidently had instructed Bankston to send letters to his U.S. State Department office address. America's Most Wanted posted on its web site the last letter, which Bankston mailed 16 days after the murders without knowing they had happened and without knowing Bishop was now a fugitive unable to receive mail at his office.[24][25] Bankston died before law enforcement discovered his connection to Bishop, hence Bankston became a dead end.
In 2014 the body of an unidentified man resembling Bishop, who had been killed by a car while walking along an Alabama highway in 1981, was exhumed by the FBI.[26] A DNA test indicated the man was not Bishop.[27] In 2011 the FBI used fingerprints to determine that reports that Bishop had died in Hong Kong or France were false.[28]
In 2014, at the request of the FBI, forensic artist Karen Taylor created an age progression sculpture to suggest Bishop's projected appearance at about age 77. Using Taylor's sculpture, several alternative images were created by Lisa Sheppard to show the addition of facial hair and glasses.[29][30]
Different angles of age progression sculpture.
What Bishop might look like with glasses.
In the media [ edit ]
After the initial national headlines, the Bishop case was the subject of articles in national publications like Reader's Digest and Time Magazine at milestone anniversaries. It was followed intermittently on an ad hoc basis by the Washington Post, the Washington Star, and the Washington Times as well as local Washington D.C. television stations. The case was featured on television shows such as NBC's Unsolved Mysteries, ABC's Vanished and Fox's America's Most Wanted. Bishop was profiled on AMW website 33 years to the day since his family's bodies were discovered, with a new age-enhanced bust of him with facial hair.
A German TV show, Aktenzeichen XY … ungelöst, also featured the case in its 250th episode on November 6, 1992, to find possible evidence of Bishop living abroad.
Ballet dancer Jacques d'Amboise revealed in his 2011 autobiography that, as a teenager, he had lived with the Bishop family in South Pasadena, California for a while.[31] This situation resulted from Brad's mother Lobelia's love of ballet and d'Amboise's engagement near South Pasadena with a traveling ballet troupe. He remembers Brad Bishop as very intelligent, reticent and intense. They played chess together. D'Amboise remained in regular contact with Bishop's mother Lobelia, via mail and international phone calls, throughout the 1960s and 1970s, though they never met during this time period. D'Amboise met Brad's wife Annette once; it was when Brad and Annette were newlyweds visiting his parents' house in South Pasadena. It was before Annette announced her first pregnancy.
In February 1976, when Jacques d'Amboise was scheduled to perform at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Lobelia invited him and his wife Carrie to spend Sunday night, February 29, at the Bishops' home in Bethesda. D'Amboise cancelled his appearance at the last minute due to a foot injury, but failed to notify the family. About a week later, he saw a newspaper report of the five burning bodies in North Carolina; it occurred to him that Lobelia had not contacted him to express concern about his absence. D'Amboise subsequently wondered whether his planned visit on February 29 and March 1 would have prevented the murders or resulted in him and his wife being killed as well.[31]
In early April 2014, WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. launched a webpage to display multiple investigative reports and extensive information on the Bishop case. This included samples of Bishop's handwriting, fingerprints, dental records and previously unseen Bishop family videos.[32]
On July 27, 2014, the search for Bishop was a featured story on The Hunt with John Walsh on CNN.
See also [ edit ]
Crime in Maryland
John List, New Jersey man who killed his family at home in 1971 and remained at large under a new identity for 18 years
List of fugitives from justice who disappearedGet 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
So it was like a meeting of old friends when the normally taciturn frontman of Manic Street Preachers took to the stage at the Bristol Sounds series at the Lloyds Amphitheatre on Thursday night. And with the stunning backdrop of the Harbourside and the Matthew, the band received a huge amount of love which just grew and grew as they tore into their set.
They didn’t disappoint, and packed their show with classic hits and crowd pleasers, like they were taking people on a guided tour of their back catalogue. Soon into the show, Bradfield was reminiscing about a city he knows well, and clearly loves.
He began name-checking every venue in the city the Manics have played at, giving a shout out to all the old fans who had been there from the start. And Bristol ’s recent news hadn’t passed him by, either.
(Image: James beck)
“Shout out to the people who came to our early gigs in the ‘soon-to-be-renamed’ Colston Hall, where we played to about five people,” he said.
Support acts were decent too. The Anchoress, a female singer and pianist, showed promise, and British Sea Power warmed the crowd up well for the main event. But everyone was here for Manic Street Preachers.
After that lovely Bristol connection, the crowd sparked into life with the first chords of You Stole The Sun From My Heart, and just to bring the cherry on the icing on the gert lush Bristol-Manics love cake, Bradfield reminded the crowd that local boy Nick Nasmyth was banging away on the keys.
(Image: James Beck)
“Introducing one of your own…” said the singer. The hits flowed and the love built. Kevin Carter was followed soon after by If You Tolerate This, a song about fighting fascism which still resonates today.
There was a brief mellow period with Ocean Spray was played acoustically, before the monster anthems You Love Us – dedicated to Massive Attack – and Tsunami brought us all into the home straight.
Then the finale. Regretfully, with the strict harbourside curfew of 10.40pm, A Design For Life was the last number.
(Image: James Beck)
“This is our last one,” said Bradfield, scuppering hopes of a naughty extension. “I know you’ve got a spectacular council, but we’ve still got a curfew,” before launching into possibly the band’s best-known hit.
It was glorious, the sound – which is sometimes patchy given the outdoor acoustics of the unique location – was perfect, and thousands of Manic Street Preachers fans ended the evening with the warm glow of reciprocated love.@UKSigmaChi/Twitter A great new Bloomberg News article shows how Wall Street is dominated by members of college fraternities, and how far bankers will go to help out their brothers.
Interviews with dozens of fraternity members "showed a network whose Wall Street alumni guide resumes to the tops of stacks, reveal interview questions with recommended answers, offer applicants secret mottoes and support chapters facing crackdowns," according to Bloomberg reporters Max Abelson and Zeke Faux.
Conor Hails — the president of the University of Pennsylvania's Sigma Chi chapter — told Bloomberg News how his fraternity membership helped him land a connection at a Barclays Plc recruiting event when he approached a banker using the house's secret handshake.
"We exchanged a grip, and he said, 'Every Sigma Chi gets a business card.' We're trying to create Sigma Chi on Wall Street, a little fraternity on Wall Street," Hails said.
Other fraternity members currently on Wall Street said they would use campus recruitment trips to secure their brothers interviews ahead of other candidates who may have been more qualified.
Bloomberg News also reports that these connections sometimes happen unintentionally. Jeff Librot — a former president of the University of Delaware's Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter — found that his membership came in handy when he applied for a Bank of Montreal internship.
Unprompted, a banker responded to Librot's application with an email featuring the phrase "Phi Alpha" — SAE's secret motto — and the fraternity member eventually got the internship.
Check out the full story about fraternity members on Wall Street at Bloomberg News »ONE of Scotland's toughest prisons is on alert after killer Alexander Pacteau received a number of threats against him.
The threats have came from other prisoners at Barlinnie prison in Glasgow, where the former private schoolboy is currently being remanded in custody. Some are understood to be death threats.
At the High Court in Glasgow on Tuesday, Pacteau admitted murdering Irish student Karen Buckley whose body was found on an East Dunbartonshire farm four days after she went missing from the Sanctuary nightclub in Glasgow.
The 21-year-old is being held in a part of the prison reserved for those on remand who are awaiting sentence, however prison officers are known to have been warned about the threats that have been directed at Pacteau as a result of the case.
A prison source confirmed prison officers were on alert over the former Kelvinside Academy student's safety because of the threats.
He added: "Yes, there have been threats.
"It will be fair to say that where there is someone involved in a high profile case such as this, then special attention is paid to ensure their safety.
"People watch TV and read newspapers and a case with this kind of profile it is incumbent on us to take whatever steps we require to do to ensure the safety of the individual."
Pacteau, who faces a mandatory life term when he is sentenced on September 8, would have limited contact with other prisoners at mealtimes as food would be taken into cells.
"There's a servery that people will get their food from, but they (prisoners) would normally go into their cell to eat it," he said.
Pacteau admitted repeatedly hitting Ms Buckley with a spanner and strangling her in his car in April.
He then hid the body of the 24-year-old from Cork in his Glasgow flat where he tried to dispose of it with caustic soda before dumping the remains at at High Craigton Farm, near Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire.
After sentence was deferred Ms Buckley's father said Pacteau was "evil" and should spend the rest of his life in prison.
Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) where Miss Buckley was studying occupational therapy has offered the family continued assistance if needed.
A GCU spokeswoman said: "Our thoughts are with Karen's parents, family and friends at this difficult time and we are continuing to offer them our support."
After his guilty plea it emerged Pacteau had a previous conviction for printing counterfeit money and that he stood trial at the High Court in Paisley in 2013 accused of attempting to rape a woman in Baliol Lane, Glasgow. He was found not guilty of the charge.
Pacteau met Miss Buckley outside The Sanctuary in the early hours of the morning on April 12.
CCTV footage captured them walking along Dumbarton Road and Pacteau then drove with her in his car to nearby Kelvin Way.
The car was parked on the street for 12 minutes, during which time Pacteau, who describes himself as a'self-employed sales consultant', attacked and murdered her by grabbing her neck and delivering 12 or 13 blows with the spanner.
Miss Buckley suffered injuries to her arm as she tried to defend herself.
Her family were in court as Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland QC, prosecuting, told how Pacteau attempted to dispose of her body.
He embarked on a journey to various stores to buy quantities of caustic soda before placing her body in the bath at his flat after making sure his flatmate was out for the day.
Pacteau made trips to High Craigton Farm where he burned a mattress, clothes and cleaning materials before buying a barrel, placing Miss Buckley's body inside and locking it in a storage unit he had rented.Derek Thomas: I often tell my students when lecturing on the doctrine of Scripture that the toughest questions to answer relate to the canon. With recent criticisms of the canon by Bart Ehrman and others, what made you take on this task of defending it as vociferously as you do in this book?
Michael Kruger: One of main reasons I have focused my research on the area of canon is because it is such a significant area of vulnerability for biblical Christianity. That is not to say we lack reasons for believing in the canon (I think we have very good reasons), rather it is simply to say that the average believer is not aware of those reasons and therefore is unable to articulate them. This makes Christians particularly vulnerable to the challenges of modern-critical scholars (e.g., Bart Ehrman) who seem bent on destroying the integrity of the canon.
Put simply, when it comes to canon issues I think Christians, generally speaking, are in a bit of an epistemological crisis. They believe something but are not aware of the foundations for that belief. For these reasons, my book Canon Revisited is a different sort of book on canon than some might expect. I am not directly addressing the question of whether the canon is true--the book is not designed to somehow prove the truth of the canon to the skeptic. Rather, I am addressing the question of whether Christians have sufficient grounds for knowing whether it is true.
[DT] How do you answer the charge that the canon is a human production? Is the answer essentially different from the charge that the content of the canon is also of human origin?
[MK] The assumption of modern critical scholarship is that the canon is merely a human creation--it is something that early Christians put together to serve their own needs and purposes. For this reason, scholars have devoted all their energies toward finding a natural explanation for the canon's existence (e.g., Marcion, Montanism). This is very similar to the belief of many critical scholars that the content of these books is also just a human production. They view the entire biblical enterprise (the content of these books, and the number of these books) as purely arbitrary.
In response, we simply need to point out that these assumptions of modern scholars are simply that - assumptions. They are entirely unproven. How do critical scholars know that the canon was an entirely human construct? How do they know that God had no hand in it? For someone to rule out divine intervention would require them to either know the mind and actions of God or to know that God doesn't exist. But, the critical scholar has no basis for knowing either of these things. Thus, it is clear that these naturalistic assumptions are more the starting point of critical scholarship, not its conclusion.
[DT] What are the most crucial issues related to a conservative/reformed defense of the canon today?
[MK] I think one of the critical weaknesses in modern canonical studies is that Christians often have no theology of canon. We have a lot of historical facts--anyone who has read the fine works of Metzger and Bruce will have plenty of patristic data to work with. But, a pile of historical facts is not sufficient to authenticate these books. We need a framework for understanding what the canon is, how God gave it, and what means God gave for believers to identify these books. And those issues are inevitably derived from our theological beliefs. Thus, the canon is ultimately a theological issue. This does not mean that historical data play no role (it plays a very significant role), but that historical data is not self-interpreting. When it comes to the canon question, theology and history need to be dialogical partners, not adversaries.
[DT] Given that Jesus places his imprimatur on the Old Testament canon, the argument for its completion seems a relatively easy one. Does the argument for the New Testament canon largely rest on an argument of providential overruling?
[MK] Our belief that we have the right 27 books is certainly founded on the fact that God providentially worked in the early church. But, our answer to the question of how we know we have the right books can go further than just saying "God's providence." I argue in Canon Revisited that God has provided a reliable means by which God's people can recognize his books (through the help of the Holy Spirit). Part of that means is the fact that God's books bear divine qualities; they have attributes that reflect God's power and character. Historically speaking, Christians have always believed there is something inherently different about these books due to the fact that they are inspired by God. We do not believe that they are just ordinary books that God simply chooses to use (a la Barth), but that they are qualitatively different--they are living and active, shaper than a double-edged sword, dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow (Heb 4:12). For this reason, the Reformers believed that God's people could rightly recognize these books and distinguish them from others. Thus we could say, in a sense, that these books chose themselves.
[DT] You seem to be critical of some of our Reformed heroes (Hodge, Warfield) in their attempts to defend the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, arguing instead for the "self-authenticating" nature of the canon. How do we defend this argument against the charge of circularity ("the canon is canon because it says it is")?
[MK] Like most Reformed folks, I am a big fan of Hodge and Warfield. And I think they are absolutely right to focus on apostolicity as a key part of how we know which books are canonical. My only critique of them in the book was that (a) they tended to rely on "neutral" historical investigations in some problematic ways, and (b) they did not give sufficient attention to the self-authenticating nature of these books.
Although some have conceived of a self-authenticating canon as circular, it is decidedly not. To say the canon is self-authenticating is not to say we should believe the canon simply because it claims to be the word of God. The claims of the Scriptures are important, but that is not what self-authenticating is referring to. Rather, to say the canon is self-authenticating is to say that these books objectively bear qualities that show them to be divinely-produced books. It is analogous to our belief that natural revelation (the created world) exhibits qualities that show it is divinely-produced. Do we not believe that "The heavens declare the glory of God" (Ps 16:1; cf. Rom 1:20)? In the same manner, why would we not believe that God's special revelation also bears evidence of his handiwork? There is nothing circular about that.
[DT] How crucial is the issue of the dating of individual books to the issue of the canon? For instance, does the continued disagreement over the dating of Revelation (late 60s or early 90s?) contribute to doubts over canon?
[MK] Dating plays a crucial role in identifying canonical books for this simple reason: all canonical books are apostolic in origin. They are the product of the redemptive-historical activity of the apostles. Thus, no book could be canonical that was written outside of the time period in which the apostles could have presided over the transmission of their tradition. Indeed, this is the very reason the Shepherd of Hermas was rejected by the Muratorian fragment, our earliest canonical list. The continued debate over the date of Revelation, however, is not a problem because either position has Revelation written by the apostle John himself. Thus, it would still be an apostolic book.
[DT] To what extent does postmodernity's deconstruction of history - i.e. that we cannot be sure of anything in the past - add to the problem of the canon?
[MK] The postmodern challenge is precisely the challenge my book is designed to address. The postmodern objection to the Christian canon (and all religion for that matter) is not what we might think. We assume that postmoderns object to the canon on the grounds that the canon is false (what we might call a de facto objection). But, that is actually more of a modernist objection. In contrast, the postmodernist objects to the belief in canon on the grounds that there is no basis for knowing, regardless of whether it is true or false (what we might call the de jure objection). In other words, when it comes to the Christian belief in canon, the big complaint of the postmodernist is "How could you ever really know such a thing? Given all the disagreements and chaos in early Christianity, it would be arrogant to claim your books are the right ones." Thus, the postmodern concern has to do with the grounds for our belief in canon. This postmodern question, I believe, is the biggest question for Christians today, and that is why I decided to focus on it in my book.
[DT] Have you ever had doubts about the canon of the New Testament? If so, how were they resolved?
[MK] Sure, like anyone I have had my own doubts and struggles. Some may not know this, but I was actually a student of Bart Ehrman's during my undergraduate years at UNC-Chapel Hill. When I took his introduction to the New Testament class I found myself facing many questions that I could not answer. But, I resolved to find those answers. It was actually my exposure to Ehrman that led to my keen interest in early Christian history, particularly the history of the NT text and canon.
[DT] I once heard a sermon that bore the title, "The authorship of 2 Peter." Is this something that you would recommend preachers do in the pulpit?
[MK] It depends. I think that we spend far too little time explaining from the pulpit why we believe and can trust the Scriptures. We assume that our congregations are sufficiently informed about such things and that their beliefs are secure. But, of course, this is not the case. Even solid believers struggle over these issues and I think pastors ought to consider how they can regularly encourage their flocks on these matters. Now, that does not mean that we turn our pulpits into lecterns and abandon the preaching of the Word. The preaching of the Word is still the central means of grace. Moreover, people's belief in the authority and truth of the Word can actually be enhanced through solid expositional preaching. For this reason, I would have concerns if the entire pulpit time was spent only on historical data about the authorship of 2 Peter. That said, I still think there are times when pastors need to hit these issues more head on. Our people need this sort of instruction and we should looks for ways to give it to them.
Michael J. Kruger, professor of New Testament and academic dean at RTS-Charlotte, has just published a book on the canon of the New Testament (Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origins and Authority of the New Testament Books [Crossway, 2012]).Senior scientific figures, including influential climate researcher Michael Mann, have called on the world’s two leading health charities to review their fossil fuel investments in light of a series of Guardian investigations published this week.
The Big Carbon investigations uncovered examples of industry misinformation campaigns, legal transgressions and alleged human rights abuses.
Mann, along with other senior scientists and commentators, said the immense moral authority of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust was in danger of being undermined by their continued investments in companies with such questionable corporate practices.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Protesters in Seattle where the Polar Pioneer oil drilling rig and other equipment to be used by Royal Dutch Shell for Arctic oil drilling is currently stationed. Photograph: Ted S. Warren/AP
The series of investigations revealed:
According to internal documents, oil company Royal Dutch Shell assumes a rise in global temperatures of 4C, twice the 2C limit widely considered the threshold for dangerous climate change – in contrast to public pronouncements from Shell’s chief executive that the company is committed to tackling climate change.
Oil services company Schlumberger has received a record-breaking fine for repeated and deliberate breaches of US sanctions against Iran and Sudan.
Oil giant BP pursued and signed a partnership with Russian state oil and gas giant Rosneft, which is currently subject to sanctions for its actions in Ukraine and the Crimea. Rosneft has also been characterised as one of the most expansionist fossil fuel extractors in the world, and is aggressively pursuing Arctic oil extraction.
BP is also accused of serious human right breaches in Colombia. A trade union leader, Gilberto Torres, is bringing a high court action in London against the company over its alleged complicity in his kidnap and torture for organising a strike to try and close a major oil pipeline there. He was held for 42 days in 2002. BP denies the claims and said it will “vigorously” defend the case.
US coal giant Peabody Energy was accused by international health experts of exploiting the Ebola health crisis in order to justify the continued extraction of coal.
A Guardian analysis of the $43bn (£27.5bn) Gates Foundation’s most recent tax filing in 2013 found that it held $1.4bn of investments in the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies, including $372m in BP, $5.5m in Shell and $1.7m in Peabody Energy. Wellcome’s $28bn endowment holds $229m in Shell, $191m in BP and $185 in Schlumberger. It does not hold any direct investment in Peabody Energy.
The investigations are part of the Guardian’s Keep it in the Ground campaign which is calling on both charities to divest from fossil fuels. Both have made a huge contribution to human wellbeing through their work on health research and development.
Professor Michael Mann, who produced the hugely influential “hockey-stick graph” report on global temperature warming that was published by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change |
Kobe is great at this). The master trash-talkers can take a balanced athlete and push them toward a mental extreme.
Its worth looking at just how powerful talking a little smack can function. Take the great LeBron James for example. LBJ’s first season with the Heat after “The Decision” was marked with a considerable amount of hostility. LeBron faced criticism from all angles; he went from golden boy to villain overnight. Everybody was talking shit, be it fans, critics, player, hell the entire state of Ohio. We saw a different side of LBJ for the 2011-12 season. He seemed to carry himself in a defensive manner all season, ultimately leading up to his famous disappearing act in the Finals. Did one of the greatest basketball players in the world suddenly forget how to play ball? Lose his talent? No, the physical ability never left, it was his psyche that crumbled.
This wasn’t your conventional trash-talking affair, but more a result of a culmination of things outside the realm of normal trash-talking. Talking smack isn’t necessarily an in-your-face attack. Sometimes it’s much more deliberate and calculated. Shit-talkers can get into your head well before the game and linger days after, embodying both the properties of an uncomfortable date and the slow squeeze of a pair of testicles by a hand that has just been in a refrigerator. The LeBron example goes to show that merely exploiting his weak psyche can disarm even the most physically gifted of athletes with one of the highest basketball IQs in the league.
There was another instance last season during a road game vs. Detroit when microphones on the announcer’s table picked up LBJ telling a fan to stop heckling him because it was getting too “personal”. Are you kidding me King James, a drunken fan had you frazzled? After the game, Hostess called wanting to know if they could use James’s psyche to fill Twinkies. There are a few different reactions to trash-talking but in LeBron’s case, when I think of his mental fortitude, I think of Calgon commercials. LeBron is a classic case of a very intelligent athlete who, when push come to shove, does not quite possess the mental strength of tuning out all the excess around him. When pushed to an extreme he disappears, abandoning his well balanced game.
The most recent shit-talking episode that’s reached the public occurred between Boston’s Kevin Garnett and New York’s Carmelo Anthony. KG is widely known as one of the more vocal trash-talkers in the NBA. Garnett is one of the masters of trash-talking due to his ability to completely take you out of your game while elevating his own at the same time.
Melo complained that KG “crossed the line”, citing that Garnett got too personal. C’mon Melo, there’s no such thing as getting “too personal” when it comes to talking shit. I assume KG would agree; he allegedly called Charlie Villanueva a “cancer patient” during a game in 2010. Villanueva has a condition called alopecia universalis, a medical condition that results in total hair loss.
I’ve never met him but I’m inclined to think that Kevin Garnett isn’t such a bad guy. He’s just one of a select few that has both mastered the art of trash-talking and has the talent to back it up. Garnett has been asked about his smack talking ways, he said, “I’m a passionate player. If you don’t like the way I am … I play this way the last 15, 16 years. I leave it on the court”. The masters of the craft can truly make you feel their words even if they may not believe what they’re saying themselves. It’s not personal to KG, just a part of his psychological warfare. Once the buzzer sounds, the wars over and he just leave it on the court. It’s not so simple for the weak minded, as evident in Anthony’s reaction.
It’s unknown what KG said to Melo that made him lose his cool but it’s clear Carmelo took it personally. At the end of the day it’s all just words but the true shit-talker makes you believe that they’ve got a genuine beef with you. That’s the game they play. Once you engage with the trash-talker, he’s got you.
You’re in his world now and he’s the architect, constructing a place where you’re about as hopeless as Rocky reaching the Phily Museum Of Art running up Penrose’s staircase. Anthony finished the game with 20 points, 6 for 26 shooting (.23%) with 5 personal fouls and 1 technical foul in a losing effort by the Knicks. KG turned one of the NBA’s purest scorers into Brian Cardinal on a good day!
Take Garnett and his strategic mental assault out of the equation and Anthony is the leagues second leading scorer, averaging 29.2 points a game at.46%. Garnett took Melo out of the game by exploiting his soft and fragile mentality and pushing him to an extreme. He made it a one on one battle between himself and Melo. All the while KG is in total control the whole time.
Michael Jordan was no stranger to the art of trash-talking, in fact, he might just be the Picasso of putting Darryl’s in their place. MJ was lauded as one of the best trash-talkers and its no wonder why. He was in his opponent’s heads before they even entered the building. Jordan had the ability to pick apart his opponent’s psyche while using any retaliation as motivation for his already unrelenting drive. When opponents faced MJ they had to stand up to him both physically and mentally. Jordan’s ability to get in his opponent’s head could even disrupt an entire team. He knew if he could get you to take his smack talk as a one-on-one confrontation, then it would disrupt the team concept.
Not many mortals are going to win a 1 on 1 battle with MJ, let alone execute a team offense. This is what master trash-talkers do, they disrupt and manipulate. Once you play into their trap, your game will start to fall apart faster than Okonkwo did.
So, lets not wave our finger at these trash-talkers for doing something bad, but rather we should praise these masters with the gift of gab for being really good.File photo
Durban - A murder suspect who was being pursued by police near Vryheid hid in a toilet and, police say, shot himself at the weekend. The 22-year-old man later died in hospital. Three men were approached after police saw a suspicious vehicle in the Mkhumbane area of Mondlo.
Police spokesman, Colonel Jay Naicker, said police had been tipped off at 5am on Saturday about the location of the three wanted men.
He said the men had been wanted for crimes including murder, attempted murder, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and malicious damage to property, all committed in the Mondlo area.
Naicker said the other two suspects - aged 21 and 27 - were arrested in a joint operation between the Vryheid Cluster Task Team, Crime Intelligence and Mondlo police.
Firearms were recovered from the suspects’ vehicle.
“The vehicle was stopped and searched. During the search two unlicensed firearms were found. Members managed to arrest two suspects, aged 21 and 27. The third fled.”
A shoot-out then took place and a police officer and a civilian were wounded.
“Police gave chase and during the chase, the (third) suspect shot at the police, wounding one police official. The member was taken to hospital and other members pursued the suspect.
“It is further alleged that one civilian was shot and slightly wounded by the suspect,” Naicker said.
Naicker said an unlicensed firearm was found on the man who sought refuge in a toilet and shot himself.
Naicker said the two men arrested would be charged with murder, attempted murder and possession of unlicensed firearm and ammunition.
They will appear at the Nquthu Magistrate’s Court soon and the firearms have been sent for ballistic tests to determine if they were used in other crimes.
KZN Community Safety MEC Willies Mchunu welcomed the arrests and applauded the work of the police.
“I take my hat off to the police officers who made these arrests. However, I am appalled by the brazenness of the third suspect for firing shots at the police in a community with innocent citizens.
“We welcome these arrests because it sends a clear message that the police will always catch up to suspects,” he said, urging police to dig deeper in their investigations.
Provincial commissioner, Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye Ngobeni, promised the investigations would ensure convictions.
“Police will thoroughly investigate the case against the suspects and make sure that they are convicted and sentenced.
“We also wish for a speedy recovery for the brave police officer who was injured during the operation,” she said.
Daily NewsThanks to our own Ross Simcoe, MD for providing this case history
HPI A 12 yo male with pmhx of headaches presents with a headache that began 4 days ago upon awakening, NBNB emesis 3-4x/day and gait ataxia 5 days after the resolution of a 2 day period of rhinorrhea, congestion and emesis. The pain is frontal, constant, and accompanied by phonophobia and photophobia. His gait was observed to be widened and unstable, his PO intake and urine output decreased, and was noted to have a tactile fever. CT head revealed no acute abnormalities. He was given IVF and analgesics. The headache resolved for 10-20 minutes but then returned. The patient’s typical headaches lasted only 2-3 hours, are located over one eye and usually resolved with simple OTC analgesics.
Exam On exam he is awake and alert, oriented x3, in no acute distress but is tearful. His neuro exam reveals intact cranial nerves, rotary nystagmus, and a wide based and unsteady gait. His exam is otherwise within normal limits.
Labs and Radiology His CBC reveals a left shift, BMP is WNL, UA is negative
CT head w/o contrast did not reveal any acute abnormalities. Lumbar puncture revealed: WBC 69, lymphocyte predominance, protein and glucose WNL
CSF was enterovirus positive
Management The initial treatment should be with empiric antibiotics (ceftriaxone) until bacterial meningitis is completely ruled out. Arguments could be made to include vancomycin and acyclovir. For discussion on the treatment of undifferentiated change in mental status when meningitis/encephalitis is suspected see: Scott Weingart – Emcrit discusses severe CNS infections
EMRAP episode in which acyclovir for AMS is discussed Confirmation of the diagnosis of enterovirus d68 meningitis/encephalitis may prompt treatment with IVIG.
Discussion Enterovirus D68 is a non-polio enterovirus that typically causes non-specific symptoms including fever, rhinorrhea, cough, and body aches. The virus gained notoriety in August 2014 when it was discovered that it had caused numerous cases of severe respiratory illness in children including several deaths. Additionally, in the next month, nine cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) were reported in Colorado, and four of the children tested positive for enterovirus D68. MRI revealed lesions in the anterior horns of the spinal cord similar to those caused by poliomyelitis. This suggests that like polio, enterovirus D68 is able to gain access to motor neurons in the ventral horn and cause cell death and inflammation. The virus can also cause aseptic meningitis and encephalitis. In fact, meningitis is a more common presentation for the non-polio enteroviruses than AFP, and enteroviruses are the most common cause of viral meningitis. Viral meningitis should be expected if the LP shows lymphocytes with normal glucose and negative gram stain. The accepted treatment for meningitis is empiric antibiotics until a causative agent is identified, and the treatment for enteroviruses is IVIG. Like other enteroviruses, the virus is spread through the fecal-oral route but may also be aerosolized, so precautions should be taken to prevent transmission. Resources: Robinson JL, Suresh S, Lee BE. That other EVD: Enterovirus-D68 – what’s it all about? The Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases & Medical Microbiology 2014;25(6):296-298
Epidemiology, pathogenesis, treatment, and prevention of enterovirus and parechovirus infections. UpToDate 2015.
Non-Polio Enteroviruses: Enterovirus D68. CDC 2015.
Featured Image Credit:
“Friedrich Miescher” copied from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/photo51/images/befo-miescher.jpg. Li
censed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Friedrich_Miescher.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Friedrich_Miescher.jpg “Friedrich Miescher” copied from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/photo51/images/befo-miescher.jpg. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Friedrich_Miescher.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Friedrich_Miescher.jpg Friedrich Miescher was a brilliant Swiss physician and biologist credited with being the first to isolate and identify nucleic acid which he referred to as nuclein. He did this in 1869 at the age of 25 after discovering that a solution of sodium sulfate could be used to isolate white blood cells from dirty hospital bandages without damaging the cells. He then developed a method of isolating the nuclei and eventually what would come to be known as DNA. He would later die of tuberculosis in 1895 at age of 51.
Disclaimer: Per usual, this case is simply inspired by a true case. Our full disclaimerThe body has its own defense system for combating oxidative damage, but it does not always do enough. So antioxidants, which mop up the reactive oxygen compounds, may seem like a logical solution.
The researchers, led by Dr. Michael Ristow, a nutritionist at the University of Jena in Germany, tested this proposition by having young men exercise, giving half of them moderate doses of vitamins C and E and measuring sensitivity to insulin as well as indicators of the body’s natural defenses to oxidative damage.
The Jena team found that in the group taking the vitamins there was no improvement in insulin sensitivity and almost no activation of the body’s natural defense mechanism against oxidative damage.
Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content, updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters.
The reason, they suggest, is that the reactive oxygen compounds, inevitable byproducts of exercise, are a natural trigger for both of these responses. The vitamins, by efficiently destroying the reactive oxygen, short-circuit the body’s natural response to exercise.
“If you exercise to promote health, you shouldn’t take large amounts of antioxidants,” Dr. Ristow said. A second message of the study, he said, “is that antioxidants in general cause certain effects that inhibit otherwise positive effects of exercise, dieting and other interventions.” The findings appear in this week’s issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The effect of vitamins on exercise and glucose metabolism “is really quite significant,” said Dr. C. Ronald Kahn of the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, a co-author of the report. “If people are trying to exercise, this is blocking the effects of insulin on the metabolic response.”
The advice does not apply to fruits and vegetables, Dr. Ristow said; even though they are high in antioxidants, the many other substances they contain presumably outweigh any negative effect.
Dr. Kahn said it might be that reactive oxygen is beneficial in small doses, because it touches off the body’s natural defense system, but harmful in higher doses.
Andrew Shao of the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a trade association of dietary supplement makers, said the new study was well designed but was just one bit of evidence in a complex issue. Most available evidence points to the opposite conclusion, that antioxidants benefit health by reducing oxidative stress, he said.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
“I wouldn’t change recommendations for anyone based on one study,” he said. “This is one small piece of the puzzle.”The Caldwell First Nation, where a forensic audit uncovered gross financial irregularities around a 2016 powwow, allegedly has been dubiously run for years.
“I am not even remotely shocked about the results of the audit,” says one member of the small Leamington, Ont.-based First Nation. “I think if members knew what went on … they would be sick to their stomachs for weeks.”
The member asked not to be identified.
The First Nation has only 368 members, and, with no designated reserve yet, almost all of them live elsewhere in Ontario or Canada.
But the member said that many of the same issues identified by the audit — nepotism, the chief and a couple of councillors allegedly acting in concert without the approval of the whole council, sloppy adherence to procedures — have long dogged the band.
The audit — requested by Councillor Jim Peters at a June 3 meeting — found that a total of $280,000, much of that for unusually lucrative cash prizes for contest winners at the powwow, wasn’t backed up by receipts or any other documents.
The powwow in total cost $546,117 — and though no official budget ever existed that the auditors could find, that amount was more than twice the original estimate.
In fact, the auditors said they were first told that even minutes of council meetings didn’t exist. Council then belatedly passed minutes for a 14-month period “in bulk,” which left the auditors with “concern over the accuracy of the minutes, as memories of a meeting over a year ago would be diminished.”
Neither was there ever a budget for the powwow last year, which was meant as a repatriation celebration for the small First Nation.
The First Nation’s members originally lived in the Point Pelee area in southwestern Ontario, but were driven out by settlers encroaching on their lands. In early 2011, Caldwell and Ottawa announced a $105-million payment as final settlement of the band’s 200-year-old claim.
The settlement was meant, as the regular Caldwell auditors noted in their 2017 financial statements, to “build out a reserve, to finance Caldwell programs, services and activities; to provide income to Caldwell institutions; and to generally benefit Caldwell future generations.”
It was that routine audit that appears to have first officially flagged problems with the powwow last year. Those auditors were unable to verify the revenue from the powwow or the accuracy and even the existence of cash prizes paid out.
As the forensic auditors from the London, Ont., firm of Matson Driscoll & Damico Ltd. found, “None of the budgets noted indicate a cost of $500,000. We are unaware of how between March 22, 2016 and April 29, 2016, the budget grew from $260,000 to $500,000.”
The auditors were especially concerned at the awarding of a contract to a company owned and operated by Dave Hillier, son of Chief Louise Hillier.
His firm got a $190,000 untendered contract for video production services for the powwow and, though council had a practice of requiring three quotes for such large contracts, “no quotes were obtained” beyond that from Dave Hillier’s company, Moccasin Media.
“Further,” the auditors said in their Aug. 28 report, “the Moccasin Media contract was never brought to council for approval.”
In addition they found that for a $60,000 first payment to Moccasin, Chief Hillier was the only signatory on an email to the bank demanding a bank draft. Council practice was to have at least two signatures on all cheques, neither of which should have been from a family member of the recipient.
The auditors urged the council to seek “formal legal opinion” about whether “a conflict of interest existed between Chief Hillier” and her son.
But the Caldwell member said the Chief had often given her son jobs, and once tried to sign a contract with a small TV station in the area, where the son has worked, for a “native shopping channel.”
Only when “the membership spoke up,” the member said, was that project stopped.
Often the member said the chief would consult only with two favoured councillors to pass motions or approve contracts — only three of five council members needing to be on board.
I think if members knew what went on … they would be sick to their stomachs for weeks
Chief Hillier, according to data on the federal government Indigenous Affairs website, was paid a total of $84,451 for the 2016-17 fiscal year, $64,000 of that salary. Council members, who are paid honoraria, according to Allen Deleary, Caldwell’s new director of operations, earned between about $9,000 and almost $25,000 a year, plus expenses.
Band members, who have been sent copies of the audit, have a membership meeting Sept. 23.
There’s a cynical old saying about how First Nations often work: “The chief’s driveway is always paved.” Caldwell members soon may have something to say about that.
Mea culpa: A column earlier this week identified Janne Peters as the councillor who moved a motion seeking the forensic audit. It was in fact Jim Peters.
• Email: [email protected] | Twitter: blatchkikiJudicial Watch has been confident for some time that the evidence shows that political appointees at the Holder Department of Justice (DOJ) were involved in the decision to abandon the DOJ’s own voter intimidation lawsuit against the New Black Panther Party. And we’ve also been concerned that at least one high ranking DOJ official lied about it under oath.
In a major victory for Judicial Watch, a federal court seems to agree with our analysis of this continuing scandal.
The ruling came courtesy of Judge Reggie B. Walton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in response to Judicial Watch’s effort to obtain attorney’s fees from the DOJ for stonewalling the release of documents pertaining to the Black Panther scandal. Here’s the key quote from Judge Walton’s ruling:
The documents reveal that political appointees within DOJ were conferring about the status and resolution of the New Black Panther Party case in the days preceding the DOJ’s dismissal of claims in that case, which would appear to contradict Assistant Attorney General Perez’s testimony that political leadership was not involved in that decision. Surely the public has an interest in documents that cast doubt on the accuracy of government officials’ representations regarding the possible politicization of agency decision-making. In sum, the Court concludes that three of the four fee entitlement factors weigh in favor of awarding fees to Judicial Watch. Therefore, Judicial Watch is both eligible and entitled to fees and costs, and the Court must now consider the reasonableness of Judicial Watch’s requested award.
So, in short, this ruling is further confirmation that political appointees at the DOJ did interfere in the Black Panther case. Assistant AG Perez’s testimony was false. And the American people have a right to documents related to the scandal. That’s pretty much a clear-cut victory.
By way of review, this all started on Election Day 2008, when members of the New Black Panther Party stood guard at a polling station in Philadelphia, PA, brandishing weapons and threatening voters. A video of the incident was widely distributed on the Internet. The DOJ filed a civil lawsuit against the Black Panthers, but ultimately overruled members of its own staff and dismissed the majority of the charges.
The Black Panther lawsuit dismissal led to accusations of racism at the DOJ from within its own ranks. Former DOJ lawyer J. Christian Adams, who called the actions by Black Panthers, “the simplest and most obvious violation of federal law” he had ever seen during his career at the DOJ, resigned from his position as a result of the case dismissal.
Given the massive media attention earned by the Black Panther case dismissal, people started questioning whether or not the decision was politically motivated — including the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
The Commission, an independent, bipartisan unit of the federal government charged with investigating and reporting on civil rights issues, initiated a probe of the DOJ’s decision to drop its lawsuit. During the hearing, Assistant AG Perez was asked directly regarding the involvement of political leaders in the decision to dismiss the Black Panther case.
And here’s what he said in his testimony:
COMMISSIONER KIRSANOW: Was there any political leadership involved in the decision not to pursue this particular case any further than it was?
ASST. ATTY. GEN. PEREZ: No. The decisions were made by Loretta King in consultation with Steve Rosenbaum, who is the Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General.
Wrong answer.
On September 20, JW released a draft Vaughn index prepared by the DOJ that shows that top political appointees at the DOJ were involved in the decision to dismiss the case. The index, which we acquired pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, describes documents the government is withholding from the public.
Included in the index was a description of a series of emails between Assistant Deputy Attorney General Steve Rosenbaum and Deputy Associate Attorney General Sam Hirsch. The back-and-forth emails occurred on April 30, 2009, the day before the case was dropped. Hirsch has been described by Slate magazine as a “DC election lawyer who represents a lot of Democrats” prior to joining the DOJ. Hirsch is also a former Obama donor.
Also among the documents were internal DOJ emails regarding the Black Panther case between former Deputy Attorney General David Ogden and the Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli, the second and third ranking officials at the DOJ.
Here’s one example: A May 10, 2009, email from Associate Attorney General Perrelli to Deputy Associate Attorney General and former Democratic election lawyer Sam Hirsch. “Where are we on the Black Panther case?” Perrelli asks in the subject header. The email also includes Deputy Attorney General Ogden’s “current thoughts on the case.”
So what about the top ranking official at DOJ, Attorney General Eric Holder?
An email from former Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King, dated May 12, 2009, was distributed directly to Attorney General Eric Holder through Odgen and Perrelli. Entitled, “Weekly Report for the Week Ending May 8, 2009,” the email “Identifies matters deemed significant and highlights issues for the senior offices, including an update on a planned course of action in the NBPP (New Black Panther Party) litigation.”
Evidently Holder was in the loop as well. Okay, next question: What about the Obama White House?
Press reports indicated that at least nine meetings between Perrelli and White House officials between March 25 and May 27, 2009, regarding the Black Panther case. (JW filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit to get to the truth in the matter but were unable to find evidence of a direct White House link (not that Messrs. Perrelli and Hirsch needed to be told what to do).
So the Black Panther scandal, which we were told was managed by low level DOJ officials, might just go all the way to the very top.
Expect the news regarding this case to continue to reverberate. The Court’s decision is another piece of evidence showing the Obama DOJ is run by individuals who have a problem telling the truth. And it shows that we can’t trust the Obama DOJ to fairly administer our nation’s voting and election laws.
We intend to continue to push for accountability. Perez, who gave the false testimony, is a leading leftist at the DOJ who has taken the lead in the attacks on Arizona’s immigration enforcement measures; attacks on election integrity measures such as voter ID; and the shakedown of financial institutions over dubious discriminatory lending allegations. (You can go to agency’s Internet site to get the full breadth of Perez’s hard Left agenda.)
Hans von Spakovsky, a former DOJ official now with the Heritage Foundation, has been following this issue closely and writes:
Where is the investigation by the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) of whether Perez violated his ethical and professional obligations as a DOJ attorney? Will the DOJ inspector general open an investigation of the possible violation by Perez of 18 U.S.C. §1621, which outlaws presenting false statements under oath in official federal proceedings? Or will they all respectively yawn and ignore this?
Imagine if a conservative political appointee at DOJ had just been cited in a federal court decision as having apparently testified falsely under oath. Not only would it be a top headline at The New York Times and The Washington Post, but the IG and OPR would be rushing to investigate. All of which is a sad commentary on the liberal bias not just of the media, but of too many of the offices and officials within the Justice Department who are supposed to administer justice in an objective, non-political, and impartial manner.
We will follow up, of course. You should, too. Contact the Justice Department, call talk radio, write letters to the editor of your local newspaper, call or visit your congressman (they’re all back “home” now for a few weeks).
Tom Fitton is president of Judicial Watch and author of The Corruption Chronicles, on sale now.Catch Kiefer Sutherland in a way you never have before this Saturday at The Taft Theatre Ballroom. He is touring in support of his debut country album, Down in a Hole set to be released this summer.
Sutherland states, “It’s a huge thing to come and ask an audience to listen to 12 songs they’ve never heard before. Those 12 songs are very personal to me. They’re actually about my life. So I take moments throughout the show to kind of explain this is where I was when I wrote this song, this is why I wrote it, this is what was happening in my life, and hopefully by the end of the show people will realize that my life experience and my human experience is not really that different than theirs, and there’s a real commonality between us.”
Kiefer Sutherland’s love of country music started in 1992 while on the road as a competitive cowboy in the USTRC team roping circuit. The storytelling of Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash drew him in. According to Sutherland, “It’s the intimacy of country music that I’m attracted to.”
In 2002, Sutherland began a small record label, Ironworks with his music partner, Jude Cole. The purpose of the label was to record and distribute local music in the L.A. area. At that time, he says, “…so many artists were not being signed. Many venues in L.A. were pay to play.” Some of their artists included Rocco DeLuca and the Burden, Honey Honey and Billy Boy On Poison. The goal for Ironworks was, “…to help new artists make the first couple of records and move on to bigger and better from there. And they all have.”
When asked if he had advice for local musicians, “Get ready. There really is no end, no finishing line. Have goals and question if this is really what you want to do for the rest of your life. The second you relax is when it will all come undone.”
The songs on the album Down in a Hole are personal to Sutherland. The lyrics come from his life and are the closest thing he has ever had to a journal. Sutherland says, “Being on stage at a rock show is probably some of the scariest moments I’ve ever had. It’s made me feel as alive as I’ve ever felt.”
“But,” he adds, “the truth is, I’ve gotten to a point in my life where I’m not as concerned about what people think. I’m not trying to sell a million records, and I’m not trying to play stadiums. I wrote some songs that are really personal to me and have been really grateful to have the opportunity to play them out.”
Kiefer Sutherland is playing Saturday, April 23rd at The Taft Theatre Ballroom with Austin Plaine.
ENTER TO WIN TICKETS HERE!Canadian anti-piracy group Canipre is currently working on behalf of Voltage Pictures to obtain the identities of individuals said to have pirated the company's movies. As the process moves through the legal system the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) just had the opportunity to cross-examine Canipre owner Barry Logan. It was a bad-tempered encounter in which Canipre refused to answer almost three dozen questions. They did answer some though, with interesting results.
After some success in the United States, movie company Voltage Pictures exported their pay-up-or-else anti-piracy scheme to Canada. So far it hasn’t been an easy ride.
The company is currently targeting around 1,100 subscribers of Ontario ISP Teksavvy but before they get their hands on their personal details Voltage’s anti-piracy company Canipre was required to answer a few questions.
Earlier this month the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) were given the opportunity to cross-examine Canipre, and a bad tempered affair it was too. Present were Canipre owner Barry Logan, his/Voltage’s lawyer James Zibarras, Teksavvy lawyer Nicholas McHaffie and David Fewer for CIPPIC.
The examination began with Fewer asking Logan a few questions about his background and education, then turning to his company.
“Can you describe the ownership structure of Canipre?” Fewer asked.
“That’s irrelevant,” said Zibarras.
Most subsequent attempts at learning anything about the company’s structure were met with refusal to cooperate ordered by Zibarras. In fact, throughout 87 pages of transcript covering the case and Canipre’s business, Zibarras ordered Logan to say nothing a total of 34 times, even down to the number of employees the company has.
It appears Canipre were present to say what they were obliged to, and not a single word more. Even on Canipre’s actual business with Voltage the anti-piracy company was prepared to say little.
“This strikes me as an excellent way to drum up business. You identify infringing content on the Internet and take that evidence to potential clients. Is that an activity that you’ve undertaken?” said Fewer. “Is that an activity that you’ve undertaken with respect to Voltage in this lawsuit?”
“Don’t answer that,” Zibarras told Logan.
With nine refusals down and 25 more to go, the discussion soon turned to Canipre’s evidence – the IP address. Over what should be a straightforward question – of whether an IP address actually identifies a person – turned into a messy back and forth, with Fewer trying to pin down the reality of the situation and Zibarras trying to protect his clients’ interests.
“Well, I would suggest that I’m merely trying to acknowledge what I wouldn’t have thought was a controversial point, that a subscriber is distinct from an Internet user, from a user of equipment,” said Fewer of Logan.
“That’s an argument. If there’s a specific if he has specific knowledge about a particular user that you want to ask him about that’s fine, but you’re putting an argument to him,” said Zibarras.
Finally, though, Fewer’s point was grasped for the basic point it was trying to make.
“What you’ve attested to is that Voltage will be unable to determine the identities of those persons who are distributing their copyrighted works,” Fewer said.
“Right,” said Zibarras, “because all we have is an IP address.”
Moving on, things started to get very interesting. Canipre admitted that it does not operate its own forensics systems “under its custody or care” but uses those of a third party under license. But questions as to the nature of those system were met with hostility.
“Some people like [those] you’re trying to protect through your intervenor status would be very interested in that information to try and launch cyber-attacks on the software that’s been threatened many times already since this litigation began,” Zibarras said.
“Well, I’m going to object to that characterization. In no way am I here to protect people launching cyber-attacks, and I resent the implication that that would be the case, Mr Zibarras,” responded Fewer.
“Well, have you read your website?” Zibarras retorted.
“I wrote a good chunk of it, yes,” quipped Fewer.
With tensions mounting, some details of the anti-piracy monitoring system were revealed. According to Logan the system works by “handshaking” with other torrent clients in a swarm. It then grabs a single 16 Kb data packet of allegedly infringing content and stores that as evidence. Logan denied that the system ever distributed any data.
Fewer then turned to the system’s operators, Guardaley, and a surprise revelation.
“You’re not, I understand, familiar with the judgment in Guardaley Limited v. Baumgarten Brandt, is a judgment of the 3rd of May, 2011. German case, case number 16055/11?” questioned Fewer.
“German case?” Zibarras responded. “German case,” confirmed Fewer.
“That’s a case in which Baumgarten Brandt had entered into a relationship with Guardaley, filed a suit after discovering that Guardaley was aware of flaws in its technology, but that Guardaley had refused or chosen not to disclose those flaws to Baumgarten,” Fewer added.
Zibarras and Logan weren’t aware of a few other things either, including that the court found that the Guardaley software “identifies people who neither upload nor download”, and “operated as a honeypot.” Then a killer:
“And you are not aware that that court found that Guardaley does not indicate how it identified each IP address, so there’s no way to discern actual infringers from the innocent?” Fewer asked.
“No…I….No,” said Logan.
Tensions were increasing and the refusals to answer questions came more and more frequently, with the previously quiet Teksavvy lawyer objecting at one point when Zibarras described Teksavvy subscribers as infringers, even though it had been established that subscribers were not necessarily infringers.
Finally, Fewer turned to the Voltage lawsuits that were withdrawn after the company had already obtained alleged infringers identities. Had Voltage used the litigation process as a tool to obtain settlements?
“We’re now so irrelevant we’re dealing with other litigation. We’re not even in this litigation; we’re dealing with other litigation. That’s how far the net of relevancy’s been cast |
2014 " ICH " - If there were any doubts that Western “leaders” live in a fantasy make-believe world constructed out of their own lies, the G-7 meeting and 70th anniversary celebration of the Normandy landing dispelled the doubts. The howlers issuing from these occasions are enough to split your sides. Obama and his lap dog Cameron described the Normandy landing on June 6, 1944, as “the greatest liberation force that the world has ever known” and took all the credit for the US and Britain for the defeat of Hitler. No mention was made of the Soviet Union and the Red Army, which for three years prior to the Normandy landing had been fighting and defeating the Wehrmacht. The Germans lost World War II at the Battle of Stalingrad, which was fought from August 23, 1942 until February 2, 1943, when most of the remnants of the powerful German Sixth Army surrendered, including 22 generals. Nineteen months previously the largest invasion force ever assembled on planet earth invaded Russia across a one thousand mile front. Three million crack German troops; 7,500 artillery units, 19 panzer divisions with 3,000 tanks, and 2,500 aircraft rolled across Russia for 14 months. By June 1944, three years later, very little of this force was left. The Red Army had chewed it up. When the so-called “allies” (a term which apparently excludes Russia) landed in France, there was little to resist them. The best forces remaining to Hitler were on the Russian front, which collapsed day by day as the Red Army approached Berlin. The Red Army won the war with Germany. The Americans and the British showed up after the Wehrmacht was exhausted and in tatters and could offer little resistance. Joseph Stalin believed that Washington and London stayed out of the war until the last minute and left Russia with the burden of defeating Germany. Hollywood and popular writers have, of course, buried the facts. Americans have all sorts of movies, such as “A Bridge Too Far,” that portray insignificant events, however heroic, as turning points in the war. Nevertheless, the facts are clear. The war was won on the Eastern front by Russia. Hollywood’s movies are fun, but they are nonsense. Russia is again on the outs with “the world community,” because Obama’s plan to seize Ukraine and to evict Russia from its Black Sea base in Crimea has come a cropper. Crimea has been a part of Russia for as long as the US has existed. Khrushchev, a Ukrainian, stuck Crimea into the Ukrainian Socialist Republic in 1954 when Russia and Ukraine were part of the same country. When the Washington-imposed stooge government in Kiev recently declared that it was abolishing the use of the Russian language and arresting Ukrainians who had dual Russian citizenship and began tearing down Russian war memorials consecrated to the liberation of Ukraine from the Nazis, the people in Crimea used the ballot box to disassociate from Washington’s stooge government in Kiev, first voting their independence and then voting for reunification with their mother country. Washington, and the other G-7 countries following Washington’s orders, described this Crimean act of self-determination, which is exactly comparable to the act of self-determination declared by Britain’s American colonies, to be a case of “Russian invasion and annexation.” Similar efforts to disassociate from Kiev are underway in other former Russian territories that today comprise eastern and southern Ukraine. Washington has equated self-determination in eastern and southern Ukraine with “terrorism” and has encouraged its stooge in Kiev to use military violence against protesting civilians. The reason for branding separatists “terrorists” is to make it OK to kill them. It is extraordinary to any learned person that the President of the United States and the titular heads of state of the Western European countries would publicly declare such blatant lies to the world. The world has historians. The world has peoples whose knowledge vastly exceeds that of the “mainstream media,” a.k.a., the Ministry of Propaganda, or, as Gerald Celente brands them, “the presstitutes.” Whatever name we use, the Western media is a collection of well paid whores. They lie for money, dinner party invitations, and speaking invitations with large honorariums and book contracts with large advances. I know. They tried to recruit me. Notice how narrowly Washington defines “the world community.” The “world community” consists of the Group of 7. That’s it. Seven countries make up the “world community.” The “world community” consists of six white countries and Washington’s puppet state of Japan. The “world community” is the US, Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Japan. The other 190 countries are not part of Washington’s “world community.” In the neocon doctrine, they are not even part of humanity. The “world community” doesn’t have the population of single excluded countries, such as China or India. I haven’t done the calculation, but probably the land mass of Russia itself exceeds the land mass of the “world community.” So, what is this “world community?” The “world community” is the assemblage of US vassal states. Britain, France, and Germany were important on the 20th century scene. Their histories are studied in universities. The populations had a decent standard of living, although not for all citizens. Their past is the reason for their present importance. In effect, these countries were propelled forward by history, or by the history important to the West. Japan, being an appendage of Washington, has tried to become “western.” It is extraordinary how such a proud, war-like people became nothing. As I have finally stopped laughing at the presumed non-role of Russia in the defeat of Hitler, let’s return to the G-7 meeting. The Big Happening of this meeting was Russia’s exclusion and the shrinkage of the G-8 to the G-7. This was the first time in 17 years that Russia was not allowed to participate in the meeting of which Russia is a member. Why? Russia is being punished. Russia is being isolated from the 7 countries that the White House Fool thinks constitute “the world community.” Obama is angry that his National Security Council and the morons he appointed to the State Department and UN were so poorly educated that they did not know that much of the Ukraine consists of former Russian provinces inhabited by Russians. These ignorant Obama-appointed morons thought that they could grab Crimea, evict Russia, and leave Russia without access to the Mediterranean, thus unable to hold on to its naval base in Tartus, Syria, the easier for Washington to invade Syria. Crimea has been part of Russia since Russia completed the reconquest from the Tartars. I remember the Tarter, or Tater, ethnics from my visit to Tamerlane the Great’s (Timur as he was also known) tomb in Samarkand 53 years ago. Today Tamerlane’s city is refurbished as a tourist site. 53 years ago it was a desolate place in ruins, overgrown with trees growing out of the tops of the minarets. As Obama’s plan to seize Ukraine failed, like every one of his other plans has failed, Washington’s spokesmen for the vested private interests have seized on the opportunity to demonize Putin and Russia and to restart the Cold War. Obama and his Group of 7 puppets or vassals used the occasion to threaten Russia with real sanctions, in place of the present propaganda sanctions that have no effect. According to Obama and his British lap dog, Putin must somehow prevent the Russian populations of eastern and southern Ukraine from protesting their subservience to a neo-fascist government in Kiev backed by Washington, or else. Putin is supposed to embrace the Oligarch, a former minister of the government that Washington overthrew, put in office by a fake vote in which turnout was a small percent of the population. Putin is supposed to kiss this corrupt Oligarch on both cheeks, pay Ukraine’s natural gas bills and forgive its debts. In addition, Russia is supposed to repudiate the Crimean people, evict them from their re-unity with Russia and hand them over to the neo-Nazi Right Sector to be eliminated as retribution for Russia’s victory over Nazi Germany, for whom some Western Ukrainians fought. In exchange, Washington and NATO will put anti-ballistic missile bases on Ukraine’s border with Russia in order to protect Europe from nonexistent Iranian nuclear ICBMs. This is supposed to be a win-win deal for Russia. The Obama regime used its well-paid NGOs in Ukraine to overthrow an elected, democratic government, a government no more corrupt than those in Western or Eastern Europe or Washington. The political morons who have England, France, Germany, and Italy in their hands are wagging their fists at Russia, warning of more, this time real, sanctions. Do these morons really want their energy supplies cut off? There is no prospect, despite the propagandistic claims, of Washington supplying the energy on which Germany industry depends and on which Europeans depend so that they do not freeze in the winter. Sanctions on Russia will wreck Europe and have little, if any, effect on Russia. Russia is already moving, with China and the BRICS, outside the dollar payments mechanism. As the demand for dollars drops, the dollar’s exchange value will drop. Initially, Washington will be able to force its vassals to support the dollar, but eventually this will become impossible. What the White House Fool, the neoconized National Security Council, the presstitute media, and subservient Congress are doing is to support and uphold the policies based on hubris and arrogance that are leading the US into the abyss. An abyss is like a black hole. You don’t get out. Washington’s lies are so blatant and transparent that Washington is destroying its own credibility. Consider the NSA spying. Documents released by Snowden and Greenwald make it completely clear that Washington spies not only on government leaders and ordinary people but also on foreign businesses in order to advance US commercial and financial interests. That the US steals Chinese business secrets is not in doubt. So what does Washington do? Washington not only denies what the documents prove but turns the charge around and indicts five Chinese generals for spying on US corporations. The only purpose of these indictments hyped by the US attorney general is propaganda.The indictments are otherwise totally meaningless, not merely false. China is not about to turn over five Chinese generals to the liars in Washington. For the presstitute media the story is a way to move the NSA’s spying out of the spotlight. China is substituted for the NSA as the guilty party. Why doesn’t China, Brazil, Germany and every other country issue arrest warrants for NSA’s top officials, for Obama, and for the members of the congressional oversight committee? Why do other countries always allow Washington to control the explanation with propaganda first strikes? Americans are very susceptible to propaganda. They seem to have a special taste for it. Consider the hate whipped up against Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, a US soldier just released by the Taliban in a prisoner exchange with the US. The hatred and bloodlust that the presstitute media have whipped up against Bergdahl has caused his hometown to cancel the celebration of his release. The press engineered hatred of Bergdahl has spilled over into threats against Hailey, Idaho. What is the basis for the attacks on Bergdahl? Apparently, the answer is that Bergdahl, like pro-football star Pat Tillman who turned down a $3.6 million contract to join the Army Rangers and go to defend freedom in Afghanistan, came down with a case of doubts about the war. Originally Pat Tillman’s death was attributed to his heroic action and enemy fire. Then it emerged that Tillman was a victim of “friendly fire.” Many concluded that he was murdered, because the government did not want a sports hero speaking out about the war. As Bergdahl is off the battlefield, he has to be murdered in the press–like Russia, China, Iran, Putin, Assad, Crimeans, and the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine. In America hate and the cultivation of hate is alive and well. But not a single moral virtue is. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West and How America Was Lost.Some wonder whether Mark Leibovich was really spilling the inside story of how Washington works in his putative tell-all, This Town, given that leading roles in his narrative were often the bittiest of bit players. And lo, our suspicions that there’s a lot more to say were confirmed recently by none other than Janet Donovan, the would-be Kay Graham of DC’s gossip-salon set.
At what could only be called a meta-confab — a gathering of gossip columnists who gossiped about how best to get gossip — Donovan delivered the lowdown on just how low This Town rates with her. “You read Mark Leibovich’s book?” Donovan asked. “That was all fairy dust compared to what we know in this room.”
No question, the story of power is always the story of people, large and sometimes very small. Happy reading.
One of the spiciest power stories of the week was the historic settlement between the Justice Department and JPMorgan Chase. It was history-making both in size ($13 billion) and in getting, for the first time, some acknowledgement of wrongdoing by a major Wall Street bank. And it marked a dramatic departure from the past. Why and how? California Attorney General Kamala Harris (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
The answer is a change in power players, including an attorney general who exerted pressure from way outside Washington: Kamala Harris. Here’s the back story.
Jamie Dimon may not have known what hit him. One minute, it seemed, Tim Geithner was smiling at him and Lanny Breuer was looking the other way; the next minute, the chairman of JPMorgan Chase was being nailed to the wall (without a street).
The real story of how Attorney General Eric Holder regained at least a measure of self-respect when it comes to Wall Street is mainly a story of a changing of the guard — how an important roster of power players in Washington changed dramatically. Breuer, Holder’s former head of investigations, left several months ago to go back to Covington Burling, whence he and Holder both came, and which has a lot of banking clients. Geithner, chief protector of the banks, left Washington entirely, leaving things to his successor at Treasury, the more neutral Jacob Lew. And that’s when things began to change for JPMorgan Chase and the other once-“untouchable” banks.
Next, in a key move, Tony West replaced Tom Perrelli as associate attorney general, the third-highest spot in Justice. Perrelli had been respected — and feared, as a close friend of Obama’s from Harvard Law. He’d also done some impressive things way back when in the Clinton Justice Department. But Perrelli seemed out of his depth on financial investigations, having quarterbacked the disastrously inadequate 50-state mortgage-fraud settlement in late 2011. West was now in charge as chief negotiator with JPMorgan.
But the key ingredient — the real secret sauce — came from outside the Beltway. It was a passel of important and influential state attorneys general who were also hopping mad. That’s where Kamala Harris came in. Harris, the California attorney general who’s seeking to make a name in national politics (along with Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, another eager aspirant to national profile-dom, she cochaired the 2012 DNC rules committee), happens to be Tony West’s sister-in-law. Publicly peeved at being associated with the first settlement in 2011, she sought to stiffen her bro-in-law’s spine, according to people close to her and the deal.
Meanwhile New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who was also once seen as a hero of the get-tough-on-Wall Street set, was looking to restore his credibility after signing the 2011 settlement in exchange for being made vice chairman on Obama’s new fraud task force and getting a shout-out at the 2011 State of the Union. In the beginning, Schneiderman never got an office; and for months no one knew how reach the task force. And Schneiderman’s once-bright star faded as Benjamin Lawsky, the state financial-service director, became the new progressive hero. Schneiderman badly needed a win, and now he had tougher counterparts in Washington to work with.
So Holder may take the credit, but it was the departures of Breuer, Perrelli, and Geithner, combined with the humiliations suffered by the attorneys general from California, New York, and Delaware (Beau Biden, who also had a say), that really made the difference this week. The result? The world’s biggest bank is $13 billion lighter in the wallet.
Power is as power pools.
That big splashy event at the Newseum this week was Washington’s screening of Garry Trudeau’s new show, Alpha House, starring John Goodman and featuring an all-too-brief cameo by Bill Murray as a senator who oversleeps at his own arrest. Fairly funny in its own right, Alpha House is also the latest advance on a genre that dates back at least to The West Wing.
Jonathan Alter, the respected political journalist and author who in keeping with these topsy-turvy times — when faux news delivered by comedians like Jon Stewart trumps “real” news — is one of Alpha House’s executive producers. While he insists the show mainly just seeks to entertain, he and Trudeau (they are longtime friends, having made regular sojourns to New Hampshire together every four years) are hoping to rebuild the severed nerve of conversation in Washington. Jonathan Alter (Michael N. Todaro/Getty Images for Amazon Studios)
But what’s really going on here is that the lines between pretend and reality are getting blurrier and blurrier. Washington and Hollywood, which have long been poor relations except for one weekend a year (the White House Correspondents Dinner, of course) appear to be merging. Grover Norquist is making cameos in Alpha House, and Hillary Clinton is taking selfies with Meryl Streep.
Alter says that what really distinguishes this show from Veep or House of Cards is that it’s the only political show on television that’s actually set in real, present-day Washington, and Goodman and the other characters are sort of Forrest Gumped in next to Obama and Mitch McConnell. The other shows, says Alter, “are in a fantasy world.” Because Alpha House gets right in Washington’s face about today’s dysfunctional politics, but with a lot of humor, Alter says he and Trudeau hope it can actually change the conversation a little. “My aspiration for it is that it has a detoxifying effect.”A scene from ‘A Clockwork Orange’ in the style of an “Ottoman miniature” painting by artist Murat Palta.
Artist Murat Palta has created a fantastic series of works in which he juxtaposes a famous scene from a well-known film with the style of an “Ottoman miniature” painting. The results may alter a viewer’s perception of said films as Palta’s subjects wear expressionless faces in his paintings—despite (for the most part) being stuck in the midst of all kinds of fictional chaos and mayhem.
Hailing from Turkey, Palta’s first cinematic/Ottoman mashup from 2011 combined characters and scenes from Star Wars and received so much attention that he decided to take on a few other memorable movie scenes. Such as the bloodbath at the House of Blue Leaves in Kill Bill, Jack Nicholson’s door-smashing mental breakdown in The Shining and a scene from A Clockwork Orange where the Droogs and Alex DeLarge (played by Malcolm McDowell) put the boot in on a homeless man just for, ahem, kicks.
I think it’s a pretty safe bet that you’re going to dig Palta’s paintings as much as I did. You can also view them in more detail over at Palta’s “Classic Movies in Minature Style” page on Behance. That said, some might be considered slightly NSFW.
‘Alien.’
A closer look at the famous “chestburster” scene in ‘Alien’ from the painting above.
‘Scarface.’
A detail of the tiny Ottoman-style Tony Montana (played by Al Pacino) killing cockroaches from the painting above.
‘Pulp Fiction.’
Jules Winnfield about to ask bad-luck Brett for a bite of his “Big Kahuna Burger.”
‘The Shining.’
Detail of the “Grady Twins” from the painting above.
“Here’s JOHNNY!”
‘Kill Bill.’
Some detail from the ‘Kill Bill’ painting above.
‘The Big Lebowski.’
‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day.’
‘Dawn of the Dead.’
‘Ghostbusters.’
‘The Godfather.’
‘Goodfellas.’
HT: Beautiful Decay
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Things that should exist: Vintage trading cards based on ‘The Shining’
‘Funeral Parade of Roses’: Edgy 1969 Japanese drama that inspired Kubrick’s ‘A Clockwork Orange’
‘Say hello to my little friend’: Behind-the-scenes of ‘Scarface’The Bank of England governor, Mervyn King, was so concerned about the health of the world's banks in March 2008 that he plotted a secret bailout of the system using funds from cash-rich nations, according to a US embassy cable released by WikiLeaks.
Six months before the world financial crisis reached its peak, forcing taxpayers to rescue collapsing financial institutions, King told US officials in London that the UK, US, Switzerland and Japan could jointly enable a multibillion-pound cash injection into global banks, overriding the "dysfunctional" G7 nations.
The leak may allow King to claim that he – rather than Gordon Brown – was one of the brains behind the bailout of the banks, which took place in October 2008.
According to the cable, King told Robert Tuttle, the US ambassador to Britain, and the treasury deputy secretary Robert Kimitt, who was visiting London, that there needed to be a "coordinated effort to possibly recapitalise the global banking system" as well as a way to rid the banks of the toxic loans on their balance sheets.
The ambassador said in the cable, dated March 2008, that King's proposals "were not casual ideas developed in the course of a luncheon conversation. It was clear that his principal objective in the meeting was to outline his outside-the-box thinking for Kimmitt. King suggested that the US, UK, Switzerland and perhaps Japan might form a temporary new group to jointly develop an effort to bring together sources of capital to recapitalise all major banks."
The grouping of the four nations would have been in addition to the 35-year-old G7, which comprises the finance directors of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US. King appeared concerned that the G7 did not include cash-rich China, Singapore and countries in the Middle East that might have been tapped for a global bank bailout.
King said the G7 was "almost dysfunctional on an economic level" as key economies were not included. "It could be a temporary group and he suggested that perhaps the central banks and finance ministers of the US, the UK and Switzerland could coordinate discussions with other countries that have large pools of capital, including sovereign wealth funds, about recycling dollars to recapitalise banks," the cable went on. "King said Japan might not be included because it has little to offer. King noted though that including the Japanese might force their hand in finally marking to market impaired assets."
King had spelt out to the US officials that he was certain the UK's banks would need fresh cash. "He [King] said is it hard to look at the big four UK banks (Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds TSB) and not think they need more capital. A coordinated effort among central banks and finance ministers may be needed to develop a plan to recapitalise the banking system."
It seems likely that the banks identified in the cable were provided as examples for Washington rather than named by the governor.
Shortly after the meeting between King and the US officials, leading UK banks began trying to shore up their balance sheets by launching cash calls on their shareholders. RBS stunned the markets in April 2008 by preparing the ground for a £12bn rights issue. HBOS, later rescued by Lloyds, tried – and failed – to raise £4bn from its shareholders, while Bradford & Bingley, later part-nationalised, also tried to raise fresh funds.
By October, RBS, Lloyds and HBOS had all been bailed out by the taxpayer, while Barclays raised funds from Middle Eastern investors and managed to avoid taking a direct injection of funds from taxpayers. HSBC launched a £12.5bn cash call in March 2009 and also avoided any government bailout.
King appeared before the Treasury select committee later in March 2008 and warned MPs that the financial crisis had "moved into a new different phase".
At the 28 March committee session, the governor raised his concerns about the need for fresh capital. He told the committee that the right response to the crisis was to "think very, very deeply about the causes of this crisis and whether levels of bank capital and the sort of financial system that generated this crisis does not require some action".
"I would not be opposed to a process in which the banks would find more capital, I think most central banks would regard that as a very desirable development," King told the MPs.Who are the key players?
Updated
Australia's political future hangs in the hands of a disparate gang of four independents and one Greens MP.
The Coalition and Labor are both hoping to form a minority government with the help of the independents.
The four MPs are Tasmanian newcomer Andrew Wilkie and rural seat incumbents Rob Oakeshott, Bob Katter and Tony Windsor.
Also in the mix is Nationals MP Tony Crook, who wants to be part of the cross-bench negotiations.
The major parties will now have to start horse-trading; this is what they have to work with:
Bob Katter
Background
Member for Kennedy in outback Queensland since 1993
Was with the National Party until 2001 but left to run as an independent
Left the Nationals so he could better represent issues in his electorate
Easily retained his seat in all the elections since 2001
Kennedy is a family affair for Katter - his father Bob Katter Senior held the seat from 1966 to 1990
Bob Katter Senior was a Labor politician but later joined the Nationals
Was a Queensland MP from 1974 to 1992 and a strong supporter of controversial ex-premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen
Describes himself as a "wild boy from wild country"
Before the election he said he would work with the Greens if there was a hung Parliament
Issues
Mr Katter says the survival of rural Australia will be his top priority
Even though he rejects computers, he has already named broadband as a big issue
Has called for more more investment in ethanol
Opposed to privatisation and economic deregulation
He says a privatised NBN will not work, saying "privatised Telstra has been absolutely disastrous for rural Australia"
He is against banana, beef and other primary produce imports
He wants to bring back agricultural subsidies and tariffs
Mr Katter is a climate change sceptic and is against an emissions trading scheme
Tony Windsor
Background
Has a farming background and is a primary producer
An active participant in innumerable rural and community groups
Holds a Bachelor of Economics from the University of New England
Mr Windsor is the incumbent independent Member for the northern NSW seat of New England
A former National Party member
Was defeated in a National Party pre-selection ballot in NSW in 1991
Went on to win the election as an independent and remained NSW independent MP until 2001
Held the balance of power with three other independents in NSW
Switched to federal politics in 2001, defeating the incumbent Nationals member in New England
Won New England on preferences in 2001, increased his primary vote to 57 per cent in 2004 and nearly 62 per cent in 2007
In 2004 Mr Windsor claimed then-deputy PM John Anderson and a Nationals senator bribed him to quit his seat
Recently came under fire from other candidates over the sale and release of his farm to a mining company
Issues
Mr Windsor says he would do a deal with either major party
Mr Windsor has named broadband as a key issue
He also says a main issue is the "stability of the nation"
Has been heavily involved in the climate change debate
Claims credit for some ideas which have been picked up including the Renewable Energy Institute and bringing the issue of soil carbon to a national level
Rob Oakeshott
Background
Member for mid-north NSW coast seat of Lyne since 2008 by-election
Former National Party member but left the party so he could better represent his electorate
Was a NSW Nationals MP until 2008 when he resigned to run for Lyne
Holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Government
Has described his views as economically conservative and socially progressive
Mr Oakeshott won an easy victory at the September 2008 by-election
Before the election he said there was nothing to fear from a hung parliament
He said a hung parliament would increase the influence of all politicians, not just those in the balance of power
Issues
Mr Oakeshott says he is undecided on who he will side with
He names climate change as a top priority
He says an emissions trading scheme should be a key policy of any government he will help form
He has also called for a fair go for regional and rural Australia
Names the make-up of the Senate, the stability of the government and his electorate's needs as key issues
Andrew Wilkie
Background
Mr Wilkie is looking set to win safe Labor seat Denison in Hobart
The retiring Labor MP is Duncan Kerr, who has represented the seat since 1987
Mr Wilkie is a whistle-blowing former intelligence analyst
No stranger to politics, Mr Wilkie has previously stood for the Greens
He says he will not necessarily fall towards the Greens because of his history with the party
He describes himself as centre-based "new breed of political activist"
He was a former young Liberal
In 2004 Mr Wilkie ran against then-PM John Howard in Bennelong as a Greens candidate
Mr Wilkie just missed out on a Tasmanian seat in March's state election
Issues
Mr Wilkie sees an "stable, competent and ethical government" as important above all else
He also sees gaining a fair share of federal road funding for Hobart as a big issue
Mr Wilkie has also named one of his main concerns as seeing pensions keep up with the cost of living
He wants dental care to be included in Medicare and mental health funding increased
Mr Wilkie also wants a better funding model for public education
He says what is in the public interest is very important
Believes major political parties focus too much in "self-interest" and "party politics"
Other key players
There are also two other members in the mix: the Greens' first lower house MP, Adam Bandt, and Nationals MP Tony Crook.
Adam Bandt
Mr Bandt has indicated he will side with a Gillard Government
He is replacing Labor frontbencher Lindsay Tanner in the seat of Melbourne
Mr Bandt has worked as an industrial and public interest lawyer
His work for unions included a stint at Slater and Gordon in a position previously held by Julia Gillard
A PhD student who describes himself as a book nerd and live music fan
Finished second in this seat in 2007 and also finished second in the 2009 Melbourne Lord Mayoral election
Greens won NSW seat of Cunningham in a 2002 by-election but Mr Bandt's victory is the first time the Greens have won a seat in the Lower House at a general election
Tony Crook
Mr Crook is set to win the West Australian seat of O'Connor
Mr Crook toppled long-standing Liberal MP Wilson Tuckey
Mr Crook is a Nationals MP but has not committed to joining the Coalition
He says he wants to be part of the cross-bench negotiations
Mr Crook campaigned on a commitment to try to implement WA's Royalties for Regions scheme at a national level
He has vowed to put Western Australia's interests first.
Topics: federal-elections, government-and-politics, elections, australia
First postedAn extinct genus of mammals belonging to the armadillo order of xenarthrans
Not to be confused with Glyptodont, any member of the subfamily Glyptodontinae.
Glyptodon (from Greek for "grooved or carved tooth": γλυπτός "sculptured" and ὀδοντ-, ὀδούς "tooth")[4] was a genus of large, heavily armored mammals of the subfamily Glyptodontinae (glyptodonts or glyptodontines) – relatives of armadillos – that lived during the Pleistocene epoch. It was roughly the same size and weight as a Volkswagen Beetle, though flatter in shape. With its rounded, bony shell and squat limbs, it superficially resembled a turtle, and the much earlier dinosaurian ankylosaur – providing an example of the convergent evolution of unrelated lineages into similar forms.[5][6] In 2016 an analysis of Doedicurus mtDNA found it was, in fact, nested within the modern armadillos as the sister group of a clade consisting of Chlamyphorinae and Tolypeutinae.[7][8] For this reason, glyptodonts and all armadillos but Dasypus were relocated to a new family, Chlamyphoridae, and glyptodonts were demoted from the former family Glyptodontidae to a subfamily.
Discovery [ edit ]
Although Darwin is said to have found the first fossils of glyptodontines (the subfamily), the first mention of the genus Glyptodon in Europe was in 1823, from the first edition of Cuvier's "Ossemens Fossiles".[9] The then unnamed Glyptodon was briefly mentioned in a letter from Dámaso Antonio Larrañaga. He had found "a femur... It was about seven pounds, and maybe six or eight inches wide", as well as part of a tail.[9] At the time, the discovery was believed to have belonged to Megatherium, a type of giant ground sloth. A man named Sellow found some carapace plates in three-foot deep clay in Uruguay four years later. That discovery only made the professors even more certain that the discoveries were of Megatherium, since the bones of this prehistoric giant sloth were usually found in similar conditions and Cuvier had said that the genus was loricated.[9]
Some believed that the armor resembled that of the modern armadillo, but the popular opinion was the Megatherium |
air, the more the ocean absorbs. Once it’s in the ocean, it creates compounds that break apart and make the sea more acidic.
This is especially bad for shellfish because it strips the ocean of compounds they need to build their shells. The effects could even travel up and down the food chain.
“Does that mean salmon success is going to be impacted?” Chavez said. “Maybe. We need this research money to come in to help us figure those things out.”
The problems associated with ocean acidification might be exacerbated along California’s coast. Cold water from the deep ocean can rise to the surface in upwells, bringing water that’s even more acidic. It’s a natural phenomenon, but it further stresses the coastal ecosystem.
“Ocean acidification can make it harder for a lot of the animals to survive and grow,” Kroeker said. “Things like oysters or abalone or sea urchins — those organisms do worse.”
Kroeker works on a project studying if sea grass can help alleviate the effects of higher acidity, at least in small areas. Because it’s a plant, sea grass gobbles up carbon dioxide during photosynthesis, creating pockets of less acidic water in its neighborhood.
“We’re looking at whether sea grass can create refuges,” Kroeker said. “We want to know if we can somehow use sea grass to protect oysters and help them grow more naturally.”
Kroeker is currently looking for funds to study how kelp forests might provide similar sanctuaries. The proposed increase in NOAA funding might finance her next project.
But scientists aren’t the only ones interested in understanding the effects of ocean acidification.
“The health of our economy is linked to the health of our oceans,” said Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, in a joint statement released Monday. “Rapid changes in ocean chemistry are threatening many aquatic species, particularly shellfish, endangering the jobs that rely on abundant healthy populations.”
Farr plans to introduce a bill later this year to lend more support to ocean acidification research, as well as provide affected industries tools and information to help them respond.
Chris Cesare can be reached at 726-4453.War and Peace doesn't exactly make for tempting reading to enjoy in our twenties at first glance. With Leo Tolstoy's other books having titles such as The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Resurrection, they don't sound much better either.
However, Tolstoy is actually a pretty appropriate author for twentysomethings to be reading in our current society. Although he lived in Russia over one-hundred years ago, Tolstoy and his characters knew all about ambition, failure, stress, and striving for meaning and goodness.
Here's why we should give the leader of Russian literature a chance in our twenties (and if not then, at any age).
1. Tolstoy was always trying to improve himself
When Tolstoy was 18, he began a "Journal of Daily Activities, in which he would set out his day and create rules that would supposedly develop his willpower. These included the following, which many of us can relate to (ok, maybe not the third one):
Wake at five o'clock
Only do one thing at a time
Visit a brothel only twice a month
Avoid sweet foods
Stop caring about other people's opinion
Help those less fortunate
Tolstoy's self-improvement theme also appears in many of his novels, particularly with the character Nekhlyudov in Childhood, Boyhood, Youth:
To reform all humanity and eradicate all human vice and unhappiness seemed plausible enough to us at the time, just as it seemed an easy and uncomplicated matter to reform ourselves, to master all virtues and be happy...
2. Tolstoy also knew all about failure
It will probably make you feel a bit better about yourself that Tolstoy's goals didn't always go to plan. In fact, they rarely did. Some days he kept to his regime and rules, but on others he did "nothing", "almost nothing", did things "badly", "read Gogol" or "overslept." However, perhaps without setting his expectations so high he never would have created the literary masterpieces he did.
"This is the second day when I have been indolent and failed to carry out all that I had set myself. Why so? I do not know. However, I must not despair : I will force myself to be active." ― The Diaries of Leo Tolstoy
3. Tolstoy's characters don't always fit in, but let's see that as positive
Meeting Pierre Bezukhov in War and Peace was one of the most important moments of my teenage years, and now the character has become both a mentor and a reflection of my twentysomething self. At the start of War and Peace, Pierre is twenty and newly returned from ten years of education in Europe.
Behind his spectacles he's uncomfortable, anxious and out-of-place in a Russia he has little experience of. However, Pierre strives for good and is one of the few characters in literature who truly achieve it. There's much to be said about not following the crowd.
4. Tolstoy wanted to find meaning and simplicity in a chaotic world
With social media and technology becoming everyday parts of our lives, it can be difficult to find peace, mindfulness and meaningful experiences.
Family Happiness has a particularly relevant snippet of wisdom for this, and the quote is also mentioned in the book and film Into the Wild:
"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbour -- such is my idea of happiness."
We don't need to move to the country, but we can all prioritize the other aspects Tolstoy mentions by getting outside, resting, reading, and socializing.
5. Tolstoy knew what anxiety and panic felt like, but also how to overcome it
While on a trip to the Penza region in 1869 to look at some land, Tolstoy stopped overnight at a hotel to rest. Despite feeling 'perfectly well', at two o'clock in the morning Tolstoy suffered a panic attack and was overwhelmed with feelings of "despair, fear and terror". That's certainly something I can relate to.
However, Rosamund Bartlett explains in Tolstoy: A Russian Life how on the same trip Tolstoy would enjoy looking up to the very tops of the tall pine trees above him and contemplate something greater than himself. For Tolstoy and many of his characters, overcoming an anxious moment may just require looking around and getting out of our heads.
Prince Andrei's famous quote on the battlefield in War and Peace is a great example of this:
Yes! It's all vanity, it's all an illusion, everything except that infinite sky. There is nothing, nothing - that's all there is. But there isn't even that. There's nothing but stillness and peace.
You don't need to start with War and Peace
Tolstoy, it turns out, shouldn't be buried and forgotten just yet. Why not pick up Tolstoy's collection of quotes, A Calendar of Wisdom, or make a start with his short stories before moving onto the legendary War and Peace or romantic tragedy Anna Karenina?Another step in my Automagic Poetry Generation project.
when i think we have tickets
we’t my abortion i drank it’t my best friend melissa mahoney
oh
we tried to the building ~The Markov Chain, based on Amanda Palmer’s Oasis
I’m making an evolutionary algorithm to generate poetry, but it needs a good base to start from. Random data is preferred, but being completely random means you waste the first couple of epochs just getting to something solid to work from – that’s a waste of time.
To make everything a bit smoother, I’ve written a markov chain generator in Haskell that generates the initial population. The principle is very simple:
Read seed poem from file Tokenize Train markov chain A generator spits out an infinitely long list based on the markov chain Take X tokens Detokenize Done
Simple.
A quick brush up for people who don’t breathe “hardcore” Comp Sci stuff: A markov chain is essentially a probabilistic state automata, usually represented with a probability matrix. You take the current state and translate it into the next state by observing the proper probabilities.
The output is a random string that looks a lot like some drunk tweets you might see on a friday night.
Le Code
Our main function is a simple convolution of a bunch of things:
start_population :: ( RandomGen g ) =& gt; g -& gt; String -& gt; IO String start_population gen start = do return. ( foldr detokenize "" ). ( take Config.seed_length ). ( produce gen start ). chain. tokenize =& lt; & lt; readFile Config.seed_data start_population::(RandomGen g) => g -> String -> IO String start_population gen start = do return. (foldr detokenize ""). (take Config.seed_length). (produce gen start). chain. tokenize =<< readFile Config.seed_data
Reading it from right to left you can see that it first reads some data, tokenizes it, makes the chain, produces some output, cuts it to the proper length and then shoves it back into a normal string.
Simple.
Because I wanted to handle punctuation and new lines, which are important in poems, I had to write my own tokenization and detokenization functions. Otherwise the built in words function would be sufficient.
tokenize :: String -& gt; [ String ] tokenize s = Prelude. filter ( \ x -& gt; x /= " " & amp; & amp; x /= "" ) $ Split.split ( whenElt ( \ x -& gt; isSeparator x || isPunctuation x || x =='\ n' ) ) $ Prelude. map toLower s detokenize :: String -& gt; String -& gt; String detokenize a b | punctuation a || punctuation b = a ++ b | otherwise = a ++ " " ++ b where punctuation = ( \ x -& gt; length x & gt; 0 & amp; & amp; isPunctuation ( x!! 0 ) ) tokenize::String -> [String] tokenize s = Prelude.filter (\x -> x /= " " && x /= "") $ Split.split (whenElt (\x -> isSeparator x || isPunctuation x || x == '
')) $ Prelude.map toLower s detokenize::String -> String -> String detokenize a b | punctuation a || punctuation b = a++b | otherwise = a++" "++b where punctuation = (\x -> length x > 0 && isPunctuation (x!!0))
You can see that tokenize splits on pretty much everything and detokenize takes special care not to put spaces around punctuation.
Another important step is building the chain itself.
chain :: [ String ] -& gt; Map String [ String ] chain [ now, last ] = insert now [ last ] $ singleton last [ ] chain ( token : xs ) = insertWith ( \ new old -& gt; new ++ old ) token [ xs!! 0 ] $ chain xs chain::[String] -> Map String [String] chain [now, last] = insert now [last] $ singleton last [] chain (token:xs) = insertWith (
ew old -> new++old) token [xs!!0] $ chain xs
Simply put – this function builds a HashMap from a token to many tokens. The idea here is to make a note of every token that comes after some other token. To make things simpler, if a pair of tokens happens twice, it will be recorded twice.
This magically gives us the ability to properly weigh the random function that chooses what to generate next.
next_token :: ( RandomGen g ) =& gt; g -& gt; Map String [ String ] -& gt; String -& gt; ( g, String ) next_token gen map s = let choices = findWithDefault [ ] s map ( i, gen' ) = randomR ( 0, length choices - 1 ) gen in ( gen', choices!! i ) produce :: ( RandomGen g ) =& gt; g -& gt; String -& gt; Map String [ String ] -& gt; [ String ] produce gen s map = let ( gen', next ) = next_token gen map s in s : ( produce gen' next map ) next_token::(RandomGen g) => g -> Map String [String] -> String -> (g, String) next_token gen map s = let choices = findWithDefault [] s map (i, gen') = randomR (0, length choices - 1) gen in (gen', choices!!i) produce::(RandomGen g) => g -> String -> Map String [String] -> [String] produce gen s map = let (gen', next) = next_token gen map s in s:(produce gen' next map)
I have a nasty suspicion the next_token and produce functions could be merged, but I found this easier to reason about.
Next_token is the meat of our algorithm – it does nothing but take a token, find a list of its possible successors in the HashMap and return a random member of that list. To avoid any issues it will return an empty string if nothing is found.
The produce function takes care of driving next_token and makes sure it gets a fresh random generator every time.
A problem with my technique is that once you give a random generator to the markov chain, you’re not getting it back. While it does ensure the result will always be fresh, you might be using a stale generator in other parts of your code if you’re not careful.
Maybe I should finally look into that random monad I’ve been hearing about.
Either way, here’s the full code, which is 38 sloc because I like including the function headers – makes code easier to think about, but I’ve tried and it does work without any type hints. Haskell is smarter than I am. Plus I added the whole part that only exposes start_population to the outside world, which isn’t otherwise necessary.
module Initiators.MarkovChain ( start_population ) where import System.Random import Data.HashMap import Data.List.Split as Split import Data. Char import Config -- read corpus data -- build markov chain -- spit out data start_population :: ( RandomGen g ) =& gt; g -& gt; String -& gt; IO String start_population gen start = do return. ( foldr detokenize "" ). ( take Config.seed_length ). ( produce gen start ). chain. tokenize =& lt; & lt; readFile Config.seed_data tokenize :: String -& gt; [ String ] tokenize s = Prelude. filter ( \ x -& gt; x /= " " & amp; & amp; x /= "" ) $ Split.split ( whenElt ( \ x -& gt; isSeparator x || isPunctuation x || x =='\ n' ) ) $ Prelude. map toLower s detokenize :: String -& gt; String -& gt; String detokenize a b | punctuation a || punctuation b = a ++ b | otherwise = a ++ " " ++ b where punctuation = ( \ x -& gt; length x & gt; 0 & amp; & amp; isPunctuation ( x!! 0 ) ) chain :: [ String ] -& gt; Map String [ String ] chain [ now, last ] = insert now [ last ] $ singleton last [ ] chain ( token : xs ) = insertWith ( \ new old -& gt; new ++ old ) token [ xs!! 0 ] $ chain xs next_token :: ( RandomGen g ) =& gt; g -& gt; Map String [ String ] -& gt; String -& gt; ( g, String ) next_token gen map s = let choices = findWithDefault [ ] s map ( i, gen' ) = randomR ( 0, length choices - 1 ) gen in ( gen', choices!! i ) produce :: ( RandomGen g ) =& gt; g -& gt; String -& gt; Map String [ String ] -& gt; [ String ] produce gen s map = let ( gen', next ) = next_token gen map s in s : ( produce gen' next map ) module Initiators.MarkovChain ( start_population ) where import System.Random import Data.HashMap import Data.List.Split as Split import Data.Char import Config -- read corpus data -- build markov chain -- spit out data start_population::(RandomGen g) => g -> String -> IO String start_population gen start = do return. (foldr detokenize ""). (take Config.seed_length). (produce gen start). chain. tokenize =<< readFile Config.seed_data tokenize::String -> [String] tokenize s = Prelude.filter (\x -> x /= " " && x /= "") $ Split.split (whenElt (\x -> isSeparator x || isPunctuation x || x == '
')) $ Prelude.map toLower s detokenize::String -> String -> String detokenize a b | punctuation a || punctuation b = a++b | otherwise = a++" "++b where punctuation = (\x -> length x > 0 && isPunctuation (x!!0)) chain::[String] -> Map String [String] chain [now, last] = insert now [last] $ singleton last [] chain (token:xs) = insertWith (
ew old -> new++old) token [xs!!0] $ chain xs next_token::(RandomGen g) => g -> Map String [String] -> String -> (g, String) next_token gen map s = let choices = findWithDefault [] s map (i, gen') = randomR (0, length choices - 1) gen in (gen', choices!!i) produce::(RandomGen g) => g -> String -> Map String [String] -> [String] produce gen s map = let (gen', next) = next_token gen map s in s:(produce gen' next map)
Related articles
Related
Learned something new? Want to improve your skills?
Join over 10,000 engineers just like you already improving their skills!
Here's how it works 👇
Leave your email and I'll send you an Interactive Modern JavaScript Cheatsheet 📖right away. After that you'll get thoughtfully written emails every week about React, JavaScript, and your career. Lessons learned over my 20 years in the industry working with companies ranging from tiny startups to Fortune5 behemoths.
Get thoughtful letters💌 “Man, I love your way of writing these newsletters. Often very relatable and funny perspectives about the mundane struggles of a dev. Lightens up my day. ~ Kostas” Improve my career 💌 No spam. Unsubscribe at any time. ✌️ Powered By ConvertKit
PS: You should also follow me on twitter 👉 here.
It's where I go to shoot the shit about programming.The Detroit Tigers won 88 games in the regular season, tied for the least of all the playoff teams, and good for seventh in the American League. They advanced despite winning fewer games than both the Angels and the Rays. Based only on that, you’d assume that the Tigers are a team with vulnerabilities, and indeed, vulnerabilities they’ve got. Infield defense is a known weakness, although so far in the playoffs Jhonny Peralta has decided to just play all positions at the same time. And then there’s the bullpen. There’s a lot of chatter these days about the Detroit Tigers’ bullpen.
And there’s chatter for a reason. In Game 2 of the ALDS against the A’s, the Tigers’ bullpen gave away a late lead. In Game 4 of the ALDS, the bullpen did the same thing. In Game 1 of the ALCS, a 4-0 lead in the ninth turned into a 4-4 tie in the tenth. The Tigers, clearly, have survived, winning their first series and winning the first two games of their second, but now there’s a lot of distrust. There’s a lot of pressure on the Tigers’ starters, because people are wary of the relievers behind them.
I don’t need to explain why that makes sense. Jose Valverde has never been a real good pitcher against left-handed hitters, and he’s gotten worse overall in 2012. That’s the Tigers’ closer, so that’s the guy pitching the highest-leverage innings. Joaquin Benoit has decided to futz around with a home-run problem, and that’s pretty much the worst possible problem for a late-inning reliever to have. And these are the playoffs, so everything is magnified, with strengths looking three times stronger, and weaknesses looking three times weaker. In the playoffs, it’s not that a player didn’t perform; it’s that a player can’t perform, and who wants a guy who can’t perform in the playoffs?
It’s true that the Tigers don’t have an amazing bullpen. Especially relative to their playoff starting rotation, which is outstanding 1-through-4. So far in the playoffs that Tigers bullpen has allowed nine runs in 16.2 innings, which is too many runs. But it’s important to understand the difference between “not amazing” and “bad and not to be trusted,” and in truth, the Tigers have a fine bullpen that’s had a few recent meltdowns destroy its reputation.
Here is the Tigers’ playoff bullpen, listed in no real order aside from the order in which they are listed:
Valverde’s been the key, because he’s been the closer, and this year he allowed lefties to reach at a.337 clip. He’s been a nightmare in the playoffs, again, and while Tigers sources claim to have identified a mechanical flaw, it’s impossible to tell whether that’s the truth or a cover. Even when Valverde’s going well, he’s shown a big platoon split, and this year his strikeout rate cratered. Valverde is a concern.
But even Valverde is good against righties and not a disaster against lefties. Anybody who says that Valverde can’t pitch to lefties is exaggerating. What they mean is that Valverde can’t pitch as effectively against lefties, but he can still retire them far more often than not. Whenever Valverde faces any lefty, the odds remain in Valverde’s favor. And then there are all those other guys in the bullpen who aren’t Jose Valverde.
Joaquin Benoit is the veteran setup guy, and this year he allowed 14 home runs. He’s allowed another home run in the playoffs, along with some deep non-dinger line drives. However, this regular season Benoit also finished with 84 strikeouts and 20 unintentional walks. While he was allowing dingers in the second half, he posted 33 strikeouts and seven unintentional walks. Benoit in 2012 allowed the lowest contact rate of his career. Historically, Benoit’s been a guy with a reverse platoon split, presumably on account of his changeup, and while I know this seems too easy, we might just chalk up the home runs to fly-ball fluctuation. Benoit hasn’t lost anything in terms of pitch speed or hittability. He’s never shown a home-run problem before. he’s always been a fly-ball pitcher, and the numbers make him out to be more trustworthy than the perception. Benoit might have a real problem, but he might also just be good.
Similar to Valverde, Octavio Dotel has got himself a platoon split. Similar to Benoit, Dotel has got himself a fly-ball rate. Dotel is no stranger to home runs, meaning the whole game could change with any one individual pitch. But Dotel can just shut righties completely down, and his record against lefties is mediocre and shy of disastrous. You don’t want Dotel pitching to multiple lefties, but you can handle him pitching to one, most of the time.
Coke is the primary lefty, and like most primary lefties, he’s basically a LOOGY. Or a lefty specialist, if you don’t want to restrict him to getting one out. Yet on Sunday, Coke pitched two full innings, facing seven batters in a fairly close game. Of the four lefties he faced, zero reached base. Of the three righties he faced, one reached base. You don’t want Valverde or Dotel facing a bunch of lefties and you don’t want Coke facing a bunch of righties, but an advantage is that the Yankees kind of stack some of their lefties. On Sunday the top of the Yankees’ order went L-L-S-L, meaning Coke could stay in and just pitch around Mark Teixeira if need be. Coke doesn’t necessarily have to just be a one-out guy against the Yankees, because the Yankees have a lot of lefties and no quality righties on the bench. They could end up with Alex Rodriguez on the bench, but Alex Rodriguez sure doesn’t look like himself right now.
So we’ve gone through three guys with giant platoon splits and one guy who might have a home-run problem. That brings us to Al Alburquerque, who I consider to be a fascinating wild card. The Tigers’ bullpen, as described so far, could really use a pitcher who can pitch to batters of either handedness, and that’s where I think Alburquerque could step in. Immediately, you see that he’s a fastball/slider righty, suggesting that he’ll struggle against lefties. But in his limited career, he’s shown no such platoon split, possibly owing to his arm slot:
Alburquerque comes over-the-top, and of 105 lefties he’s faced, he’s struck out 42 of them, with a 62-percent contact rate. He’s struck out 43 of 130 righties. What he doesn’t do enough of is throw strikes, as he can get himself into walk trouble, but Alburquerque is incredibly difficult to hit and the majority of balls in play against him have been grounders. Alburquerque looks to me like a guy who should be playing a prominent role. Though he’s coming back from elbow surgery, he seems healthy and he seems effective, and he just doesn’t often allow contact.
Behind those five you have two starters as long relievers. Smyly’s a lefty who’s better against lefties, and Porcello’s a righty who’s better against righties. Both have been perfectly adequate starters so it stands to reason they’d be more effective as relievers. Given how many of the other Tigers relievers have big platoon splits, it’s helpful to have long guys, one of whom can also function as the second lefty.
It seems to me the issue with the Tigers’ bullpen is one not of talent, but of management. It makes the least sense to hand the most critical plate appearances to Jose Valverde just because he’s the closer. The Tigers saw on Sunday what an alternative can do, and it’ll be important for Jim Leyland to protect Valverde from having to face too many lefties the rest of the way. Same with Dotel, and hopefully Leyland knows this. The Tigers have a very good rotation, meaning they should need fewer innings from the bullpen. Needing fewer innings from the bullpen means the Tigers should be able to play more matchups. They don’t have to let Dotel or Valverde face too many lefties, and they don’t have to let Coke face too many righties. If they don’t trust Benoit right now, there’s Alburquerque, with eye-popping statistics. Smyly and Porcello are short of outstanding but both perfectly fine, even in unfamiliar roles.
Of course the Tigers would like to have a better bullpen. Every team in baseball would like to have a better everything, and the Tigers’ bullpen obviously has its question marks. But it’s also got plenty of talent, and as long as Leyland doesn’t just blindly trust Valverde in close games no matter what, the Tigers should be okay. They have relievers with platoon splits, but they have relievers that allow them to mix and match, and in Alburquerque they have a reliever who can strike anybody out. Maybe it wouldn’t be right to call the Tigers’ bullpen a potential strength, but it doesn’t have to be a weakness. There are way worse bullpens.Robert (Doc) Fraser, regimental historian for the Argylls, says he did not know about Franklin until recently. "It's a fascinating story. It reminds you that they (black soldiers) were there in the war."
Meanwhile, the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum, in Shelby, Miss., is set to begin construction of an exhibit to honour Franklin, says museum director Chad Daniels. Franklin was born in Whitaker, Miss., before travelling north to Hamilton with his parents when he was two years old.
Franklin's dad, Walter Van Twiller Abraham Franklin, was a farmer, jeweller, watchmaker and inventor who travelled to Canada in search of a better life for his family.
Smith became interested in the Franklin story while researching the family tree of his wife, Nerene Virgin, a journalist, actress and television host who is the great-granddaughter of escaped slave Thomas John (Howard) Holland.
Virgin's grandfather lived for a time at the Stinson Street Boys' Home more than a century ago. Records showed there were three black children living there, with one of them being Franklin.
Franklin lived in the orphanage after his mother died when he was seven. At the time, it was common for orphanages to take in so-called half-orphans because single parents usually could not manage child care, Smith said.
He stayed at the home until he was 14 when he moved out and found a job at Parke and Parke drugstore, a major local business at the time that is remembered for a giant thermometer on its building downtown.
Franklin enlisted in July 1915 under Harold Parke, a son of one of the owners of the drugstore, who was commanding officer of the 91st Canadian Highlanders. Parke signed Franklin's attestation papers at a time when there was opposition in some circles to black men being part of the Canadian military.
The papers described Franklin as being 5 feet, 7 inches, and wrote "Negro" across the spaces on the form for eye, hair and complexion colour. His date of birth was listed as Oct. 12, 1897, making him in his 18th year. But Smith believes — based on other documents he has unearthed — that Franklin misrepresented his age and was actually two years younger.
Smith also found a copy of a front-page article about Franklin from the Jan. 5, 1918, edition of the Chicago Defender, a weekly newspaper mostly for African American readers.
Under the headline "Brave lad gives life for Canada, in France," the article said: "Somewhere in France a huge grandmother shell exploded with terrific force inside the English lines, blowing to eternity Pte. Jas Franklin, a lad only 16 years of age..." (he was) "the first Canadian of his race to die upon the fields of France."
Documents about Franklin are available online through Library and Archives Canada. They include his will in which he wrote "In case of death I leave $250 of my insurance by the City of Hamilton, Ont., Canada to St. Paul's AME Church..." St. Paul's was the former name of the Stewart Memorial Church on John Street North. The church was founded in 1835 by escaped slaves and other members of Hamilton's black community.
At that same church later this month, on May 27 and 28, a display for Franklin will be put up to honour the young soldier as part of a larger show about local black history for Hamilton high school students.
Correction Published: 20160213 - The birthdate of First World Ward soldier Pte. James Franklin was incorrectly reported as 1909 in Thursday's Spectator. It was either 1897, or 1899, depending on the source of information. The Spectator regrets the error.
[email protected]
905-526-4687 | @MarkatthespecGrimes ED Testers Team
Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Black Mesa Posts: 7,764
Integrated Air Defense Script
The goal of this script is to enhance AI sam behavior as its one of the more obvious and useful features of the scripting engine. I've been working on it for a year now, and I'm sorry I've teased that I've been working on it for so long. Its taken way longer than it should have, but I guess that is what happens when your focus goes elsewhere whether it be mist, testing, or watching Star Trek on Netflix.
Documentation
Documentation for the script is available here:
More thorough documentation will be added in the coming days.
How to use:
Script requires Mist v4 or higher to be initialized first.
Use a trigger to either run script or script file.
Use either
Both functions have one required variable and 1 optional variable.
Script should run fine with DCS World 1.2.6 or greater.
I do not consider this script to be 100% complete and I will eventually add more capability to it. However I feel it is functional enough to put out there for you guys to play with and give feedback on, but I have other reasons.
1. I started working on the script on 12/23/12 (23/12/12 for most of the world) and dabbled on it for a while until putting many many hours into it over the summer. I came close to releasing it but I discovered it wasn't releasable, since August I have avoided working on it until recently when I realized it would soon be a year since I started, so I have pushed to release it before the end of the year.
2. The script is open source and I welcome anyone who wants to modify it to whatever extent they want to add more features. Documentation of what all of the existing functions do will be available here:
3. I want to focus more on mist and other projects.
Notes:
Attached are the script and a simple mission with lots of sams and 8 Su-25Ts with a SEAD payload. There is also a screenshot of what debug messages will look like. It is not recommended to leave turn that on for a normal game.
Tested in multiplayer in 1.2.6 with up to 110 sams and 100 AI targets and 2 clients. No noticeable synchronization issues occurred, but your mileage may vary with different mixes of clients and other AI within the mission.
Re-uploaded the sample mission to be updated for use in 1.5. Also updated the script due to a known scripting engine bug.
1/17/2019: Updated it to include SA-2 and Rapier information. Also removed debugging by default. The goal of this script is to enhance AI sam behavior as its one of the more obvious and useful features of the scripting engine. I've been working on it for a year now, and I'm sorry I've teased that I've been working on it for so long. Its taken way longer than it should have, but I guess that is what happens when your focus goes elsewhere whether it be mist, testing, or watching Star Trek on Netflix.Documentation for the script is available here: http://wiki.hoggit.us/view/IADScript_Documentation More thorough documentation will be added in the coming days.How to use:or higher to be initialized first.Use a trigger to either run script or script file.Use either iads.add() or iads.addByPrefix() to add sam sites to the iads network.Both functions have one required variable and 1 optional variable.Script should run fine with DCS World 1.2.6 or greater.I do not consider this script to be 100% complete and I will eventually add more capability to it. However I feel it is functional enough to put out there for you guys to play with and give feedback on, but I have other reasons.1. I started working on the script on 12/23/12 (23/12/12 for most of the world) and dabbled on it for a while until putting many many hours into it over the summer. I came close to releasing it but I discovered it wasn't releasable, since August I have avoided working on it until recently when I realized it would soon be a year since I started, so I have pushed to release it before the end of the year.2. The script is open source and I welcome anyone who wants to modify it to whatever extent they want to add more features. Documentation of what all of the existing functions do will be available here: http://wiki.hoggit.us/view/IADScript_Documentation 3. I want to focus more on mist and other projects.Attached are the script and a simple mission with lots of sams and 8 Su-25Ts with a SEAD payload. There is also a screenshot of what debug messages will look like. It is not recommended to leave turn that on for a normal game.Tested in multiplayer in 1.2.6 with up to 110 sams and 100 AI targets and 2 clients. No noticeable synchronization issues occurred, but your mileage may vary with different mixes of clients and other AI within the mission.Re-uploaded the sample mission to be updated for use in 1.5. Also updated the script due to a known scripting engine bug.1/17/2019: Updated it to include SA-2 and Rapier information. Also removed debugging by default. Attached Thumbnails Attached Files iads_sample.miz (109.8 KB, 54 views) script_iads_r1_1_rev37.lua (97.9 KB, 98 views)
You can only tie the world record for lowest flight.
Current Projects: Scripting Wiki, Something...
Useful Links: Mission Scripting Tools MIST-(Thread), SLMOD for DCS 1.5/2.0, IADScript, Mission Editing Wiki!, Mission Building Forum __________________You can only tie the world record for lowest flight.Useful Links: Mission Scripting Tools MIST-(GitHub) Last edited by Grimes; 01-18-2019 at 12:07 AM. Reason: HARM releaseUPDATE: I’ve written an updated article on this and the larger topic of organizing Javascript within a Rails project that includes Turbolinks.
The asset pipeline has made including javascript in Rails applications a breeze. Without any additional changes, the code included in your app is executed on every page. However, with a combination of CSS class scopes and a jQuery plugin, you can isolate certain javascript code to only run on specific pages.
The Problem
Imagine you have 2 pages in your application (landing and contact) and need an alert box to show up on the contact page only. How would you do it?
Traditionally, if it’s something small, you might bite the bullet and just include it in the view template:
<% # app/views/page/contact.html.erb %> < |
with the knowledge and tools needed to battle leftist ideologies. Cooley is a field coordinator for the group, and co-wrote the book along with her fellow campus crusaders. The booklet is free for students, and the organization will pass it out at high schools and colleges nationwide.
“This book was written so that college students can take charge of their education and remain steadfast in their beliefs of free markets, capitalism, and the American dream,” it notes.
The booklet can also be downloaded for free here.
Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter
IMAGE: Turning Point USAUtter destruction of virtual interstellar military assets is its own reward – go on, try to argue with that. Today however, it happened for a good cause. I also got to enjoy the benefits of lengthy days of skill training in armor tanking and projectile weapons.
All of these days that end up in massive fleet deployments seem to start lazy, warm and fuzzy. I was making three-chocolate mousse for example – not very war-like. Imagine my state of mind after consuming more than a whole bar’s worth of the stuff – that is when I read the notification about the fleet forming. So this guy Bacchanalian is supporting a charity, Extra Life Gaming Marathon, to help children with cancer, and he is regularly raising money by hosting fun events in EVE Online. Check out his page. In EVE, fun translates to shooting stuff.
noun [U] fun /fʌn/
To shoot or blow up stuff for light-hearted pleasure.
“The gankers were having fun with the warp scrambled miner.”
Also, there is the well known connection between the size of the ship blown up and the fun that was had:
Bacchanalian challenged the good people of EVE to try to kill his Aeon class supercarrier which is a very tempting offer, even Goonswarm was expected to show up. My group was invited to join the Spectre fleet.
Our fleet composition was armored Hurricanes supported by repair ships, and so my newly trained armor and medium projectile weapon skills (alas, not yet tech2) were at last put to the test. The Hurricane (just ‘Cane’ to its friends) is a versatile and trusty (rusty!) battlecruiser. I bought a fully fitted one for about a 100 million ISKs.
We assembled and the fleet commander (FC from now on) warmed us up by doing some basic fleet maneuvers before encountering two Orca mining support ships flown by pilots with bounties on their heads. Two of our pilots were so eager that they even started shooting before the FC activated the the killright, so as we were still in high security space, they were promptly punished by the police a.k.a. Concord. Health and safety tip: Always check who you are pointing your high caliber naval guns at before giving the order to fire! That did not stop us from killing the two unlucky Orcas and a Hyperion battleship that showed up a few minutes later.
At this point our fleet consisted of a a few tackler frigates, some logistics ships and about 200 Hurricanes. Impressive sight to see, and my largest fleet to date. We set out to find the supercarrier in the designated system.
We landed to find a group of carriers spider-tanking each other. In this formation, all carriers support each other with repair beams to shrug off most of the damage applied to them.
We were ordered to load long-range artillery shells and headed towards the carrier group. We opened fire at a Nidhoggur as destroying it offered the highest gain as it usually has the best repair systems among carriers.
Not long after, we were interrupted by a bunch of Tengus (Tech 3 cruisers, pretty much the pinnacle in cruiser sized ships although pretty expensive) exiting warp. They started doing some serious damage so we had to withdraw to a nearby planet, taking down some fighters that followed us in warp. After rallying we warped back into the fray.
While we could not bring the Nidhogg down in this run either, we took out several Tengus. Unfortunately my targeting range was only about 80 kms and they were around 100-110 kms away so I couldn’t land a hit this time. The FC moved us around in a fast pace, I almost constantly had my microwarpdrive on, depleting my capacitor. That prevented me from using the warp drive almost costing me the ship when the fleet warped out. I was left behind for only a few seconds and luckily the cap booster saved the day and I could get out in time.
This time of the year vitamin D deficiency is a common problem, so we took a detour to the sun to get some free UV treatment, and we took out a stray Scimitar as an added bonus.
A this point there were 420 people in the star system and half of that were us. The motto was, let’s kill the other half! We prepared for close range engagement and jumped back in to the conflict zone.
Being caught between the carrier group and the Tengus is not a good place to be, we needed to try again from a better angle. This back-and-forth went on for a while, the fleets trying to land in an advantageous position. At one time we caught a Naga fleet and managed to vapourize a good number of them, on an other occasion we started chasing the slippery Tengus in warp, but misjudged their destination and landed somewhere else. The FC decided it’s time to dock up for a bio break. That online gaming jargon will be left for you to be decyphered… Anyhow, after everyone got back from the loo, the fleet undocked (which started to take considerable time with so many people in the system).
This time a Naga + Machariel fleet interrupted us in bashing a Thanatos carrier. We shredded them – Machariels cost around half a billion ISK without equipment, so that must have hurt. As the FC called in the primary targets in rapid succession, I struggled with keeping up as they were often destroyed before my ship’s targeting system got a lock on them. Note that there are less screenshots around here, and that is because the intensity of the battle was high.
There was this guy, the Kwisatz’ Haderach in his Loki (The Minmatar Tech 3 cruiser) protecting the carriers. Any of you who did not read the book Dune, first of all you should do so, but in a nutshell a Kwisatz Haderach is a messiah, so no one expected an easy kill there. It was still uncanny that after three or four attempts we still could not bring him down. Then came the brilliant idea of how to break the spider-tank and the Loki down. The carriers’ repair beams have a limited range, so why not push them apart? The fleet headed to the middle of the carrier formation and started bumping the huge ships apart. It is worth mentioning that in EVE, there are no collisions, however when two ships would collide, the game bounces both ships apart. We used this mechanic to single out individual carriers and kill them.
It worked like a charm. Kwisatz went down, then the carriers died, one by one.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
As we were concentrated to small space, several smartbombs, area effect weapons were fired, some of them friendlies battling fighters, and I started taking armor damage – but our logistics repair ships saved my bacon – big up! We left the Aeon for last. The fleet started placing bets on its life expectancy.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Op success! Supercarrier kill: tick.
So that was how it went down. It was incredibly intense. It was a pleasure to watch two hundred people logging on to a game just for fun see through a mission in such an organized way. FC Morathia was brilliant – thank you.
See you, space cowboy.
AdvertisementsWatch us LIVE on Giving Day! 9-22-16
On September 22, 2016 (North Texas Giving Day) you were invited to watch us LIVE from 8:00 am until 11am-noon CST as we went through our daily routine at Bat World Sanctuary, cleaning enclosures, hand-feeding disabled bats and preparing bat food. 100% of all the money we raised on that day was deposited into our Food Account in order to provide food for the bats we care for and rescue next year. We needed to raise at least $35,000 to cover the cost of both food and medicine for 2017. Click here to view the results from Giving Day! Giving Day donations, as well as the donations we received through paypal and other means, totaled an astounding 40,515!!!
Here is a summary of what your donations have furnished for the bats:
$25 = 1 box of bananas (156 boxes needed annually)
$40 = 1 box apples (364 needed annually) or 1 box sweet potatoes (104 annually)
$50 = 1 box of pears (104 needed annually)
$250 = 40,000 meal worms (24 needed annually)
$500 = 5 days of food for both the fruit and insect eating bats
$1,000 = 10 days of food and medication for the sanctuary bats & those we rescue
$3,000 = 30 days of food and medication for the sanctuary bats & those we rescue
PLEASE ENJOY THIS FOOTAGE (including bloopers!) MADE FROM OUR LIVE CAMS ON 9/22/16.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW OUR LIVE BAT CAM PAGE THAT INCLUDES 5 CAMERAS
Bat World Sanctuary is an Amazon Associate. Products listed here help us earn revenue to support our rescue efforts. When purchased (and at no additional cost to you) Amazon will donate as much as 10% to our sanctuary. Click the item to purchase a Nest Cam like used above through Amazon.com.Rep. Brian Baird says, 'There are some members who seem to think the rules just shouldn’t apply to us.' New push to ban Hill insider trading
Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.) is making a renewed push to apply insider trading laws to Congress after a newspaper report showed that at least 72 congressional aides traded shares of the companies that their bosses helped oversee.
But Baird says his congressional colleagues have flatly indicated that they would block his legislation, which is aimed at preventing members of Congress and staff from trading stocks in companies where there’s a potential conflict of interest.
Story Continued Below
“There are some members who seem to think the rules just shouldn’t apply to us,” said Baird in an interview with POLITICO. “There’s money to be made, lots of it, and in ways that aren’t clearly illegal.”
Baird’s comments were spurred by a Monday report from the Wall Street Journal, which analyzed trading activity by Capitol Hill staffers between 2008 and 2009 and found market bets were made by high-level aides whose bosses helped influence related policy. Among those implicated in the story were a top policy advisor to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who traded environmental company stock and a Republican aide who traded Bank of America Corp. stock while working for a Senate Banking Committee member. The Journal report did not reveal huge profits – in some cases it was a few thousand dollars – but Baird believes the story did show a hole in congressional ethics.
Currently, insider trading laws that apply to the corporate world do not apply to Congress, allowing members and their aides to exchange information and buy stock based on inside information coming from Capitol Hill. The corporate world, however, is held under severe penalities for insider trading, often resulting in extraordinary fines.
Baird and House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter introduced the “Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act” last year to prevent lawmakers and staff from using insider trading techniques to financially benefit, but the legislation has not budged from committee since January 2009 and remains sitting with several committees, including House Financial Services and the House Judiciary Committee.credit: Eric Falquero
Three children race through the intersection of Providence and Capitol streets NE. Two kids ride scooters and one is on a bike. An oncoming taxi stops short.
Danger seen, crisis averted.
But traffic pollution poses a more insidious threat to neighborhood health, local activists say. And it is proving harder to stop than a hurrying cab.
In the low-income community where many residents already suffer from respiratory ailments, the Ivy City Civic Association (ICCA) is fighting to keep the city from opening a new tour bus parking lot. The neighborhood is hemmed in by busy New York Ave.NE as well as train yards, warehouses and city vehicle lots. And advocates worry the increased fumes from the charter buses will only make health problems worse.
“We can’t just let you come in and kill us,” says ICCA president Alicia Swanson-Canty, 40, who has spent her whole life in Ivy City. She worries that current pollution levels in the neighborhood are taking a particularly heavy toll on elders, including her mother.
On December 10, 2012, Superior Court Judge Judith Macaluso buoyed the advocates in their fight against city hall. She ruled that city officials violated the law when they moved forward with plans for the bus depot without getting the required input from the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) or doing a mandated environmental review.
But now, the Ivy City activists are bracing for the next round of their battle.
City Mayor Vincent Gray is appealing the ruling and his day in court is is scheduled for Sept. 17. The office of the mayor would offer no comment for this story, except to say the city is pursuing the requirements specified in the injunction.
Advocates hope the December ruling will stand. And they hope for more. Their ultimate goal is seeing the former Alexander Crummell School, where the bus lot is proposed, transformed into a community or recreation center that could offer resources that are now in short supply such as a safe play area for kids and adult education classes.
“If they’re trying to make this a community, we need a rec,” said Ivy City resident Juice Williams, age 39. “We don’t need buses, we need something productive: job training, GED classes…”
His fellow residents Nate Wales and David Hayes agreed that a community center would be a haven for children like the ones they had just watched cross the street in front of the taxi.
“They’re not doing anything but chasing each other in the same circles,” Wales says of the kids.
Hayes could not help but compare the lack of services in Ivy City to the resources in other neighborhoods. “Brentwood has a work program, Rosedale has a rec, Edgewood has a rec…”
Wales added that the presence of a juvenile detention center does not send a hopeful message to young people. “There’s nothing to do, but they’re ready for you when you get destructive.”
Swanson-Canty said she believes that workforce development programs could help both longtime residents and men staying at the New York Avenue Shelter, which is also located in the neighborhood. She pointed out that the city has been promising a community center to Ivy City for years.
“Just give us what you said you would,” said Swanson-Canty. Most recently the city’s 2006 comprehensive economic development plan called for a community center and additional green space in Ivy City.
The neighborhood activists have found support from Parisa Narouzi, founder and director of grassroots community organizing group Empower DC. In fact, Narouzi’s initial work with Ivy City is what moved her to start the group.
“I credit Ivy City with being the place I learned the most about community organizing,” said Narouzi. “It’s really challenging because everything is stacked against the community.”
Nontheless, city officials have argued the Crummell School site is needed for charter buses. The vehicles that would be parking at the school were displaced from Union Station in 2012 when inner city buses moved there from the 1st Street NE Greyhound station. Neighbors of the Greyhound facility have said they don’t want the bus depot either and Ivy City advocates say they can sympathize.
“We don’t want to push our community’s problems off to someone else’s” said Swanson-Canty. “We want the mayor to solve this properly.” She still wonders why a portion of the RFK Stadium lots could not be utilized. City officials have said that they considered that option but ruled it out due to uncertainty about the long-term availability of the site.
In her December injunction, Judge Macaluso ruled that city officials should have reached out to Ivy City’s ANC 5B in developing plans for the bus lot.
City officials argued that the city did notify Ivy City’s neighborhood commission, ANC 5B. The notice was delivered in November 2011 in the form of a 97-page list of upcoming city projects. The plans for the Crummell lot were listed on page 63.
In testimony at the December hearing, Michael Durso, a project manager from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development noted that city officials ended up approaching the neighborhood civic association instead of the ANC in December 2011, because it was “more vocal.”
In response, Judge Macaluso noted that that by “regard[ing] ANC 5B as ‘less vocal’ … the District.created a self-fulfilling prophecy that the ANC would remain so.”
Civic association member Swanson-Canty recalls the ICCA’s presence at the first meeting, held in December of 2011.
“We were there, but small in number,” she said. While attendance and resistance from the community grew at subsequent meetings, Swanson-Canty said she and her neighbors were told the project was going to move forward regardless.
“They really ignored our vote,” agreed Williams, her childhood friend and neighbor.
Narouzi said that if the Ivy City ruling is allowed to stand, it will benefit other neighborhoods as well.
“The city violates the ANC statute all over the place,” Narouzi claims. “Our case gives a legal history to this, to say no actually that’s not okay.”
As planned, up to 65 buses will be allowed to park at the Ivy City facility at any given time, A lounge area would accommodate drivers waiting to pick up their groups of tourists and other patrons. City officials point out that the facility’s operating hours, from 7a.m. to 7 p.m., and access routes which have been restricted to main roads are designed to prevent excess pollution. District law already prohibits vehicles from idling for longer than three minutes.
But opponents say the city has not provided reliable estimates about how many buses would be laying over in the lot each day.
Narouzi has pulled together a team of students and professors from four local universities to take a closer look at Ivy City’s air quality. The George Washington University most recently joined the team, along with Howard, Trinity, and the University of Maryland. The involvement in the project has given the scholars a sense of the importance of their skills.
“Parisa has gotten all of us head-in-the-clouds scientists to work for real change in the community,” said Howard University atmospheric science expert and professor Vernon Morris.
“She’s just doing a fantastic job conveying the sense of urgency.”
A pungent smell in the community’s air gives Morris a sense that pollution is present but the scientific evidence is still inconclusive. At the December 2012 hearing, Morris was only able to provide 10 days worth of air quality measurements. Instead of revealing unacceptably high levels of pollution, both sides agreed the measurements came in below the limits established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Yet a far more extensive study is needed to truly understand the air quality in the community, said Morris.
“In order to answer the questions of the community, you really need to conduct a long term study, 1 year plus, to gauge the true effects,” said Morris. “Establishing a baseline is a difficult thing.”
Such a study is necessary because many pollutants are seasonal – depending upon the industries and activities that operate at different times of the year, and at what frequency.
“The timeline the city is moving on really doesn’t allow for proper scientific investigation to take place,” said Morris.
Periodic studies on levels of particulate matter such as black carbon and formaldehyde have been ongoing, but a full year long study has not been done. Morris’ own monitoring equipment was shipped off for other research before being returned to allow him to continue to study the air quality in Ivy City. The nearest city monitoring station is located at River Terrace, over two miles away.
Looking ahead, Swanson-Canty said the neighborhood is not giving up, regardless of what happens with the Mayor’s appeal.
“We’re gonna keep fighting,” she said, “even if it means lining up residents in the street to keep the buses from coming in.”China launches SJ-10 retrievable space science probe
by Staff Writers
Jiuquan, China (XNA) Apr 07, 2016
SJ-10 is the second of four scientific satellites under a CAS space program. Unlike the other three, SJ-10 is returnable. It is the 25th such retrievable satellite launched by China in the past decades.
China put into space a retrievable scientific research satellite in the early hours of Wednesday in a fresh bid to aid scientists back on Earth in studying microgravity and space life science. In a cloud of brown smoke, the satellite, SJ-10, roared into the air on the back of a Long March 2-D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's gobi desert.
While in space, the bullet-shaped probe will house 19 experiments involving microgravity fluid physics, microgravity combustion, space material, space radiation effect, microgravity biological effect and space bio-technology, before coming back to Earth with results. On-board experiments were selected from a pool of over 200 applicants.
They include one that will study early-stage development of mouse embryos in microgravity to shed light on human reproduction in space, and another studying space radiation effects on genetic stability of fruit flies and rat cells.
A "Soret Coefficient in Crude Oil" experiment in partnership between the National Space Science Center under CAS and the European Space Agency (ESA) is also onboard together with an investigation of coal combustion and pollutant formation under microgravity.
The former test is aimed to improve scientists' understanding of oil reservoirs buried kilometers underground, while the latter is expected to help enhance energy efficiency and cut emissions. "All experiments conducted on SJ-10 are completely new ones that have never been done before either at home or abroad," said Hu Wenrui, chief scientist of the SJ-10 mission. "They could lead to key breakthroughs in our academic research," Hu said
SJ-10 is the second of four scientific satellites under a CAS space program. Unlike the other three, SJ-10 is returnable. It is the 25th such retrievable satellite launched by China in the past decades.
Overall, eight of the experiments on fluid physics and microgravity combustion will be carried out in the orbital module and the others in the re-entry capsule which is expected to land at Siziwang Banner in Inner Mongolia, the designated landing spot for China's Shenzhou manned space missions and a 2014 test lunar orbiter.
Source: Xinhua News AgencyThe 85 elected members of B.C.'s legislative assembly cost B.C. taxpayers a total of $14 million last year, according to figures released by the government on Monday.
The total, which was revealed for the first time in this year's public accounts, includes all the salaries, travel and other expenses racked up by the MLAs during the 2010-11 fiscal year.
They show just over $10 million was spent on salaries and just under $1.2 million to cover living expenses for the MLAs in Victoria.
The figures also reveal the MLAs from all parties spent nearly $2.5 million on business travel last year to perform their jobs.
Prince George-Mackenzie MLA and Minister for Jobs, Tourism and Innovation Pat Bell had the highest travel expenses at more than $68,000, perhaps a reflection of his riding's distance from Victoria.
New Democrat MLA Harry Lali, who represents the riding of Fraser-Nicola had the biggest travel bill on the Opposition benches with $58,000.
NDP caucus chair Shane Simpson says Lali's expenses are also high because he is the NDP's only member from that part of the province so he has travel a lot to represent the Opposition in the region.
Simpson says it's the first time there's been a list of expenses for all members, not just ministers, following an agreement made between both parties last year, and they demonstrate responsible spending by members of both parties.
"People are spending the money in travelling into small communities around the province and engaging people in ways that wouldn't happen otherwise," said Simpson.
"I think we're all pretty pleased that, you know, nobody is having, unlike in Britain, where people were talking about having their moats cleaned and things like that, there isn't much of that going on in British Columbia," said Simpson, referring to an parliamentary spending scandal that recent shocked taxpayers in Britain.BAUEN have sent us images of two homes they have designed in Luque, Paraguay.
.
.
.
.
Project description
In this project the search for a protected human space that suits to the topography, the vegetation, the tropical climate, and where people find comfort in the broadest sense of the word; takes us to propose a vindication of the knowledge contributed, and often forgotten, by our vernacular architecture. The “Culata Jovai” or “House of Confronted Rooms” is a real bioclimatic solution belonging to one of our traditional ways of living in harmony with the environment in Paraguay, and constitutes our base typology for a new reinterpretation according to new functional programs, needs of symbolic representation and new technologies, framed in a sustainable project.
With the inclusion of green roof, we recovers the original space of vegetation displaced by the construction, also reduces the gained heat due to the thermal inertia of the underground spaces, therefore reducing greatly the conventional energy consumption of homes.A six-year-old's discovery of a flint tool in a Neolithic ditch was the first of a "significant number" of thrilling finds at a Cardiff hill fort
© CAER
© CAER
Visit caerheritageproject.com for the latest updates.
Archaeologists hoping to discover Roman and Iron Age finds at a Welsh hillfort were shocked to unearth pottery and arrowheads predating their predicted finds by 4,000 years at the home of a powerful Iron Age community, including flint tools and weapons from 3,600 BC.Caerau, an Iron Age residency on the outskirts of Cardiff, would have been a battleground more than 5,000 years ago according to the arrowheads, awls, scrapers and polished stone axe fragments found during the surprising excavation.“Quite frankly, we were amazed,” says Dr Dave Wyatt, the co-director of the dig, from Cardiff University.“Nobody predicted this. Our previous excavation [in 2013] yielded pottery and a mass of finds, including five large roundhouses, showing Iron Age occupation, and there’s evidence of Roman and medieval activity.“But no-one realised the site had been occupied as far back as the Neolithic – predating the construction of the Iron Age hillfort by several thousand years.”Oliver Davis, Dr Wyatt’s colleague on the CAER project, says the ditches date from the early Neolithic period when communities first settled and farmed the landscape.“The location and number of Neolithic finds indicate that we have discovered a causewayed enclosure – a special place where small communities gathered together at certain important times of the year to celebrate, feast, exchange things and possibly find marriage partners,” he believes.“Such sites are very rare in Wales with only five other known examples, mostly situated in the south.“What's fascinating is that a number of the flint arrowheads we have found have been broken as a result of impact - this suggests some form of conflict occurred at this meeting place over 5,000 years ago.”More than 250 community volunteers assisted an excavation visited by more than 1,200 people.“What’s really great about this story is that we’ve made the Neolithic discoveries with the help of local people,” says Dr Wyatt.“A six-year-old local boy spotted the first major Neolithic find – a flint tool from the Neolithic ditch.“It’s all down to the hard work of local volunteers, who have been uncovering arrowheads and pottery, while local schoolchildren and teachers have been excavating and sieving the spoil heaps to look for finds.“We really couldn’t have uncovered this remarkable story without them.”Experts plan to use the finds and soil samples to draw conclusions about the occupation of the site and the stories of the people who lived there.Stockpiling and fermenting rotten fruit is a common way to make alcohol in prisons.
Prisoners being treated for substance abuse issues have managed to brew and drink alcohol under their guard's noses.
A group of eight inmates at Rimutaka Prison in Upper Hutt were foud to be intoxicated earlier this month.
The prisoners were in the Drug Treatment Unit, a rehabilitation unit designed to reduce reoffending by teaching participants about their addictions.
Prison sources said the unit was more "laid back" than regular sections of the prison, which was likely how such a large amount of alcohol remained undetected.
Home brew, sometimes called "pruno" in jails, is commonplace and can be made using fruit, water, sugar and a plastic bag.
The Spring Hill riot in 2013 happened after 29 inmates got drunk and went on a 10-hour rampage at the Waikato Prison.
This lead to Corrections tightening up on how many extra pieces of fruit prisoners were allowed to buy, on top of the mandatory two pieces a day provided by the jailhouse kitchen.
But while fruit is the main source of home brewing behind bars it is not the only way. In 2011 a group of prisoners at Rolleston Prison in Christchurch became blindly drunk after they used hand sanitiser as a base to create an alcoholic concoction.
In a written statement, Rimutaka director Chris Burns said when staff became aware of the drunkenness the unit was locked down and home brew found in two of the cells.
The ringleader of the event was charged with misconduct and his security classification upgraded to maximum security.
All other prisoners were kicked out of the Drug Treatment Unit and returned to their previous units, he said.
"The ringleader of this incident was new to the unit and had not started his treatment for drug and alcohol abuse. The other prisoners were at various stages through their treatment.
"Unfortunately some prisoners will constantly try to find ways to challenge the system and attempt new ways to introduce contraband into prison so our staff must try to stay ahead of them. Our intelligence staff are constantly working to identify and mitigate risk areas in each prison's physical environment and to stay informed about new methods of concealment."
Corrections did not respond to questions about how such a large amount of fruit that would have been needed to make the home brew was able to be concealed.T-ARA talked about their know-how as Hallyu girl group.
On September 11th, T-ARA was on the stage of Asia Music Network Showcase. Asia Music Network is a music market event which promotes overseas expansion of K-Pop artists. Famous Korean idol groups, singers, bands were on the showcase stage. T-ARA also had special time with other singers of MBK entertainment on the stage.
Before they gave performances on the stage, T-ARA talked about their know-how as Korean Wave senior girl group during the interview with journalists. On this day, Hyomin was not with the group because she went to throw the first ball in the home game of Pittsburgh. But even without her, T-ARA, 7 years from the debut, performed very well on the stage. Soyeon said, “Since our debut, we had many personal schedules. Therefore we have versions without Hyomin or me. If there is any change in the members, we need to make a new version. It’s usually like 6 versions for one song.” Eunjung said with determination, “Hyomin will take care of U.S., and we will take care of Asia.”
Q. Asian Music Network is opened to foreign music firms. T-ara is known for the popularity in China.
Eunjung : It is very pleasing to meet Chinese fans in concert and stay on the top of the chart. We are deeply moved by their love.
Soyeon : We are one of popular K-pop group in China, not the only team. Many groups are doing well.
Q. New artists features Asia Music Network. This stage will be the barometer to feel popularity of T-ara.
Eunjung : We should do our best. Our own musical characteristic is loved by our fans abroad and it is our strong point.
Soyeon : Not only K-pop, Korean movie, drama, and TV show are hot in China. We have an advantage that six members can do individual activities as well in many fields, such as acting.
Q. What are your current activities in China?
Soyeon : ‘Haehoo’, which Jiyeon appears, will be released. We six members filmed web drama. The drama will be aired in Korea and Japan, as well as China. We will be in Chinese TV show with TF Boys from China.
Eunjung : ‘Seongjugado’, which is the second season of popular tv cooking show.
Soyeon : It is honored to be with local popular group.
Q. How do you communicate in China?
Soyeon : It is said that we don’t speak Chinese fluently. Fortunately, Chinese TV shows have consideration for Korean entertainers. It’s okay and we don’t feel uncomfortable.
Eunjung : We prepare Chinese answer to Chinese questions in scripts. We are studying and trying hard.
Q. Usually, one of the reason of K-pop stars’ popularity is communication with local language. How do T-ara communicate?
Soyeon : Despite imperfection, we did every tours in Japanese in Japan. So we are trying to make it in Chinese in China. We don’t speak Chinese as good as Japanese, but we prepare a lot. Wherever we go, we memorize important greetings in local language.
Eunjung : We try to make our fans to feel together with us by social network.
Soyeon : Also, making events!.
Q. T-ara started domestic activity with ‘So Crazy’.
Eunjung : Many Korean fans love ‘So Crazy’. It was an opportunity for us to communicate with fans after ‘Sugar Free’. We are glad that our fans united.
Q. You did a few events for fans.
Soyeon : This album itself is an event. We put forward our come-back date, and wanted to interact with fan
Eunjung : Fans like this album because of ”pretty girl” concept.
Q. You can still make mood of ‘girls of purity’. T-ara did various things so far.
Soyeon : Every groups are good including Red Velvet and Laboom. We should have done it better and harder. We feel something lacking.
Eunjung : But we will always do our best. We look better with ‘fun’ of ‘pleasure’ than ‘purit’ and ‘pretty’.
Jiyeon : It is nice that we smile on the stage with ‘So Crazy.’ The last ‘smiley’ stage was ‘Roly-poly’ 3 or 4 years ago.
Q. What is your resolution?
Boram : Of course, we will do our best and take care of our health to stay long in entertainment. We are happy to be healthy now. We hope all the best to ourselvesSYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A 28-year-old Syracuse man is facing federal charges for allegedly threatening to kill U.S. Rep. John Katko over the "net neutrality" issue, according to a complaint filed Monday in federal court.
The United States Attorney's Office said Patrick Angelo called Katko's office on Oct. 19 and threatened him. His staff discovered the voicemail on Oct. 23.
According to the complaint, Angelo left the following message:
"Listen Mr. Katko, if you support net neutrality, I will support you. But if you don't support net neutrality, I will find you and your family and I will kill... you... all. Do you understand? I will literally find all... of... you and your progeny and t- just wipe you from the face of the earth. Net neutrality is more important than the defense of the United States. Net neutrality is more important than free speech. Net neutrality is more important than health care. Net neutrality is literally the basis of the new society. That even if you don't understand, how important it is, net neutrality is literally the basis of the new... free... society. So if you don't support it, I am will to lay down my li-"
The recording cut off mid-word.
FBI agents found a family member of Angelo's and arranged a meeting with him Nov. 1 at a McDonald's in Syracuse, agents wrote in the complaint. Angelo would only meet them at a "public location," agents wrote.
He called agents with the same phone number used to make the threat, agents said.
Angelo initially denied making the phone call but then told the agents that he was passionate about "net neutrality," an issue being debated in Congress now that would allow certain Internet service providers to speed up or slow down access to sites across the web.
Eventually, Angelo told investigators that he "made a call" but he wasn't sure to whose office.
"I used strong language, probably something that could be construed as a threat..." Angelo told agents, according to the complaint. "I'm sure they didn't appreciate it."
Angelo is facing charges including making a threat in interstate and foreign commerce and threatening to kill a U.S. Congressman engaged in the performance of his official duties.
The charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
In a statement, Katko thanked federal law enforcement for quickly addressing Angelo's alleged threat. He received additional security in response to the threat, according to the office.
"All threats are reported to the U.S. Capitol Police in order to ensure the safety of Rep. Katko, his family, and staff," spokeswoman Erin O'Connor said. "The Congressman and his family appreciate the diligent work of our local, state and federal law enforcement in monitoring these threats and taking appropriate action."
Angelo is being held pending a detention hearing on Dec. 1.At this point, your memories of the 2007-2008 WGA strike might be fuzzy. You might remember Tina Fey holding a picket sign, or Conan O’Brien spinning his wedding ring on television after his writing staff walked away. But otherwise? That was ten years ago. We had just gotten iPhones for the first time, the last Harry Potter book was out, and honestly, everything else is kind of a blur.
But those memories are about to come flooding back as the Writers Guild of America considers another potential strike. Today, the WGA will finalize a strike-authorization vote. If its members vote to authorize, the guild has the power to call a strike. It’ll do just that if ongoing contract negotiations break down between the WGA and the Alliance |
were shot at cemetery just outside of Calgary on Friday afternoon
Four men were shot at a cemetery just outside of Calgary, Alberta, following a funeral, Canadian police said.
Sergeant Jack Poitras of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the shooting happened near Cochrane and the injured people were treated at hospitals in the city. A police spokeswoman at the scene said all had non-life-threatening injuries.
Police said there was a funeral at the cemetery and a group of people remained behind afterwards. Poitras said it appeared the shooting involved people who were in the group.
Zouheir Osman, who is in charge of the cemetery, said a service for a 21-year-old man was taking place before the shooting. He said he left shortly before the shots were fired.
Osman said he did not believe the shooting had anything to do with the man being remembered at the Muslim funeral.
However, Imam Syed Soharwardy said he spoke with two people who attended the funeral and they suspect the shooting was gang-related.
“It did not seem to be a hate crime,” Soharwardy said. “It looks like it was a turf war or gang war or some type of revenge.”
The funeral was for a Pakistani man named Hamza Nazir, said Soharwardy, who knows the family. He said he does not know the cause of the young man’s death.
Despite police assuring the public there was no danger, a heavily armed police tactical team remained outside the Calgary Foothills hospital on Friday evening.I read a lot of reviews about this watch prior to buying it. Most of those reviews were good but some of them were bad so after having this for a few weeks now I'd like to mention a few things that may explain the bad reviews that I read. Most people did not seem to be using their heads or just I'll informed.
First I should start off by saying that this watch takes a reasonable amount of intelligence for you to get the most out of it. I have yet to find anything negative about it but you need to keep these things in mind.
Be careful when you size the band or ask someone to size it for you. This band does not use the typical link pins like most watches. You know, the kind that are split and spread out to hold the link pin in place. When you push the pins out of this band, each pin is held captive by a small split barrel that goes into the middle of the inside smallest part of the link. If you push any of the link pins out and you are not careful, that small barrel is going to fall on the floor or roll off of the table never to be found again. That small barrel is split because when the link pin grows through it, it spreads out a little and causes the proper tension to hold the link pin in place inside of the band. If you lose this small barrel the link pin is going to slide through the one side of the band and go right out the other side. If the small barrel falls out just remember it can only go into one side of the smallest part of each link. It won't go into either side, just one side where you can see that the hole has been made larger for this barrel to fit in.
After you get your band adjusted you will need to calibrate the barometer. It will be kind of close right out of the box but not right on. Once you calibrate it, it should stay within a couple of hundredths of your local barometric pressure reading. There are a few places that you can find highly accurate barometric pressure reading in your area. In my area there is a local county airport and on the (NOAA) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration web page I can find the current barometric pressure reading for this airport. Barometric pressure readings seem to stay fairly accurate within 25 miles or so ofnwhere you live. Barometric pressure is listed on the NOAA website as "altimeter". Why would it be listed as altimeter when we are looking for barometric pressure and not altimeter? Well, that's because when airplanes calibrate their altimeters, it's actually controlled by barometric pressure so when you read altimeter on the NOAA site they are telling pilots to dial that value into their altimeter while they are sitting in the runway. Keep in mind that on the NOAA site, these values usually get updated once every hour. Sometimes when they are updated the reading is delayed by 15 minutes or so. As soon as that value updates on your web page, calibrate your barometer and it should be pretty much right on every time you check it from that point on.
Now for the altimeter. The altimeter on this watch just like in an airplane's altimeter is affected by changes in barometric pressure. Barometric pressure changes constantly. From time to time an hour will go by and barometric pressure will not vary that much. Other times it will rise quickly or fall quickly. If you calibrate your altimeter on this watch and the barometric pressure does not change much then your altitude reading will stay pretty much spot on. If you calibrate it and the barometric really changes drastically then the accuracy of your barometer on this watch will drop in accuracy. In order to properly calibrate the altimeter on your watch you need to have a good reference altitude. What I've done is made notes of the actual altitude of my house, where I work and other locations that I frequent. Now the easiest way to find these reference altitudes is to use Google Earth. Not Google Earth on your iPhone or iPad because that program will not show the actual elevation. On those devices it will only show you how high you are viewing any specific area from. You need to use Google Earth on your computer. That will show you the actual altitude of any place you rest your mouse on. Once you find these reference points you'll need to be at one of them and calibrate your altimeter. You should find that if you set it at your home and drive to where you work the altitude should be correct as long as it's not a day that the barometric pressure is changing rapidly. The altimeter can only be calibrated in increments of 20' so you'll have to pickthe increment that is closest to what Google Earth showed. Also, don't expect to calibrate this on the ground and then fly in a commercial airplane and watch the altitude change. Remember that they pressurize the cabin so your barometric pressure that you will read will be based on cabin pressure and I've already noted that the altimeter is affected by changes in barometric pressure. The altimeter on this watch is mainly meant for hiking and biking, not flying. In a small Cessna it would probably work fine but I wouldn't want to rely on this for landing the plane.
Lets talk about the temperature reading. This temperature sensor is really meant to tell temperature when the watch is off of your wrist. Keep in mind that when you wear the watch and press the barometer button to see the temperature, it's probably going to read around 83 degrees f. That's because the heat from your body has raised the temperature of the watch and the sensor is located inside of the watch. If you take the watch off I have found that it takes about 30 minutes for the watch to read actual air or room temperature. There are some people out there that have attempted to calibrate the sensor so that it takes into consideration their body temperature so they calibrate it to read room temperature while the watch is on their wrist. This is kind of a boneheaded thing to do because your body temperature is going to be affected by a number of factors. Also, if you wear a watch fairly loosly like I do it's not always going to be tight against your wrist so the watch temperature will always be changing.
In order to get the sunrise and sunset feature to be accurate you'll want to read the manual on how to adjust it and again, find your house or city on Google Earth to get the latitude and longitude and put that offset in the watch and you'll read within a few minutes of any of the sunrise and sunset times that you will find on the web for your area.
I'll be honest and say that I haven't adjusted the calibration of the compass. From what I can see it's close enough to my GPS, the compass on my car's mirror and a little handheld compass. I would expect that if I were lost in the woods or anywhere else for that matter I could get headed in the right direction. There are some adjustments that you can make to the compass off of maps but I haven't seen any reasons to calibrate it.
So with all of that said, this is a great watch. The automatic backlight feature works great although I bumped the default time up from one second to two seconds. The power saver feature also works as advertised.
If you are on the fence about buying this watch and bad reviews are what have you on the fence, hopefully I've shed some light on these issues that are really non-issues as long as you are using the watch properly.This article is part of the Science in Sci-fi, Fact in Fantasy blog series. Each week, we tackle one of the scientific or technological concepts pervasive in sci-fi (space travel, genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, etc.) with input from an expert. Please join the mailing list to be notified every time new content is posted.
The Expert: Effie Seiberg
Effie Seiberg is a marketing consultant who works with a lot of tech startups in Silicon Valley, and has previously worked on Google’s mobile products and Android. In her spare time she writes science fiction and fantasy, with work appearing or upcoming in Lightspeed, Stupefying Stories, and Crossed Genres, among others. You can follow her on Twitter at Effie Seiberg on Twitter.
Your Sci-Fi Cell Phone Isn’t Cool Enough
From the Star Trek communicator to Dick Tracy’s two-way wrist radio, science fiction has always imagined new types of portable communication devices. However, recent science fiction hasn’t pushed this so far. Go ahead – think of a science fictional story from the last 15 years that gives you an amazing idea for mobile computing. Chances are, real technology has already caught up to it. Usually, the Science in Sci-Fi series talks about science fictional assumptions that are too wild to work. Today, however, we’ll talk about the opposite: when your science-fictional cell phone isn’t cool enough.
Mobile technology has evolved in a number of new directions that have made crazy cool things possible today… which means that the communicators in distant sci-fi worlds hasn’t taken things far enough.
The Cloud
Because your phone is always connected, it does more than communicate with other machines. It can outsource to them. Massively distributed computational engines let you get difficult results on cell phones that don’t require the phone itself to be able to run the results. Google Translate and Siri both take in what you’re saying (which needs to programmatically take into account your accent, the sounds around you, your local slang, etc) and figure out your actual meaning. Doing this on a phone itself would be quite difficult, but because of the connectivity, your phone is as powerful as the most powerful computer cluster.
The Camera
Your phone camera is smarter than you think. Because of the connectivity, your phone’s vision gets smarter not only with facial recognition (which is improving at a dramatic pace – already you can unlock your phone with a smile or the pattern of blood vessels in your eye on some platforms) but also at recognizing anything else, and doing interesting things with that information.
CamioCam combines computer vision and machine learning to make a smarter home security camera, and all it takes is your old phone, propped up and connected to wifi, to do it. The processing on the back end helps figure out which types of motion aren’t interesting (moving branches in the breeze shouldn’t trigger a motion alert) and it’s improving on its ability to give specific insights. For example, in their interface you can search for “brown” to see if the UPS truck has arrived today.
MIT has released software that detects tiny changes in color in any video – even from a phone camera – that can be used to detect heart rate. Skin gets ever-so-slightly redder when blood flows underneath it. With just a propped up phone camera, and this tech running behind it, you can monitor an infant or patient’s health without plugging them into a heart rate monitor. Far more comfortable for them!
The Other Sensors
Phones today have GPSs, accelerometers, compasses, and more. Beyond just navigating you around (and figuring out the shortest routes, even within encased structures like football stadiums), this yields a lot of messy motion data. Zendrive combines all that data to figure out when the bearer of the phone is in a car accident (as distinct from, say, someone just dropping their phone), and the tech is then used by other companies to automatically call a loved one, an ambulance, or a tow truck.
Contextual Adaptability
Between phones knowing your location, motion, and a fair portion of your activity, they can already adapt to their situations. Motorola already has a phone setting that automatically reads texts and emails out loud when it detects that the person is in a moving car, so that they don’t text and drive (yes, they let you opt-out overall, or if you specify that you’re not the driver). Google’s Android will pull up different suggestions (weather, events it thinks you’ll like, etc) depending on where you are and what you’ve recently been searching for.
And, while Motorola and Proteus Digital Health have developed the “authentication vitamin” pill, which turns on when it hits your gastric juices, and broadcasts out an authentication code for your phone or other device, it’s easy to imagine this expanding to include turning on different things depending on the state of your stomach.
Your Sci-Fi Phone Needs to Step It Up
If all these cool things are happening today, your futuristic phone had better be much cooler. With the combination of the Internet of Things, where more items are connected, plus constant connectivity, phones almost act more like the terminals of yore than a standalone gadget. They can access any piece of info, from anywhere, and with any amount of processing needed. Plus, their sensors make them much much smarter about what’s going on around them for things that aren’t already connected. So with that said, Go-Go-Gadget-Kickass-Future-Phone!
Please Share the #ScienceInSF
If you liked this article, please share it with your writing friends using the buttons below. You can also click to send one of these ready-made tweets:
Click to Tweet Your sci-fi cell phone isn’t cool enough, with Silicon Valley consultant @effies: http://bit.ly/1K7onEo Part of #ScienceInSF by @DanKoboldt
Please share this article:Follow me and you'll never miss a post:THE LONDON INT’L SKA FESTIVAL previous years
The London Intl Ska Festival launched in 1988. Over the last 30 years we have hosted some of the biggest names in the history of ska music, and all it’s glorious offshoots including (in alphabetical order);
Bands / singers
100 Men
African Head Charge
Aggressors BC (Northern Ireland)
Laurel Aitken (Cuba)
Dennis Alcapone (Jamaica)
Almighty Uprisers
Alpheus
The Amphetameanies (Scotland)
Bob Andy (Jamaica)
Horace Andy (Jamaica)
Babylon Circus (France)
Back To The Planet
Bad Manners
Dave Barker (Dave and Ansell Collins – Jamaica)
The Beat
Beat Bahnof (Japan)
Beat Goes Bang
The Big Head
Bim Skala Bim (USA)
The Bionic Rats (Ireland)
Robb Blake
Blechreiz (Germany)
Bombskare (Scotland)
Ken Boothe (Jamaica)
Bottle of Moonshine (Belgium)
Dennis Bovell
The Braces (Germany)
The Brothers Ignatius
Buster Shuffle
The Busters (Germany)
By The Rivers
Capital Letters
Capone and the Bullets (Scotland)
Captain Accident & The Disasters (Wales)
The Caroloregians (Belgium)
Cartoon Violence (Wales)
Casino Royale (Italy)
Catch It Kebabs
The Clarendonians (Jamaica)
Johnny Clarke (Jamaica)
Stranger Cole (Jamaica)
Dave & Ansell Collins (Jamaica)
Hollie Cook
Counting Coins
Rhoda Dakar (The Bodysnatchers)
Neol Davies (The Selecter)
The Defekters
The Delegators
The Delerians (USA)
The Deltones
Desmond Dekker (Jamaica)
Dirty Revolution
Dojo
The Downsetters
Dreadzone
The Dualers
Dub Pistols
Alton Ellis (Jamaica)
Christopher Ellis
Roy Ellis (Symarip / Jamaica)
The English Beat
The Equators
Mark Foggo & The Skasters
Brinsley Forde (Aswad)
AJ Franklin (Chosen Few / Jamaica)
Otis Gayle (Jamaica)
General Roots
Gentleman’s Dub Club
Lynval Golding (The Specials)
Goldmaster All-stars
Vin Gordon aka Don Drummond jnr (Jamaica)
Owen Gray (Jamaica)
Marcia Griffiths (Jamaica)
Derrick Harriott (Jamaica)
Heavy ball
The Hempolics
Hotknives
James Hunter
The Hypocondriacs (Spain)
The Indecision
Intensified
International Beat
Jazz Jamaica
Jimmy The Squirrel
Judge Dread
Junior Bill
Arthur Kay and The Originals
Keith and Tex (Jamaica)
King Zepha
Kinky Coo Coo’s (Spain)
The Kubricks
Leo & The LineUp (Denmark)
Les Ejectes (France)
Les Frelons (France)
The Liptones (Sweden)
Little Chief
The Loafers
Hugo Lobo (Argentina)
Los Granadians (Spain)
Mad Professor
Maddy Carty
Machtoc (France)
The Magic Touch (Germany)
Maroon Town
Bitty Mclean
Jackie Mendez (USA)
The Meow Meows
The Mighty Cosmics
Millie Manders
Miserable Man (Italy)
Misty In Roots
The Moon Invaders (Belgium)
Mr. Review (Holland)
Mr. T Bone (Italy)
Derrick Morgan (Jamaica)
Chris Murray (Canada)
Napoleon Solo (Denmark)
New Town Kings
The Nice Guys (Belgium)
No Sports (Germany)
Freddie Notes (Jamaica)
The Original Aces
Giuliano Palma and The Bluebeaters (Italy)
Pama International
Panonia All-stars Ska Orchestra (Hungary)
Paperboy
Ken Parker (Jamaica)
Lee Scratch Perry (Jamaica)
Phoenix City All-stars
The Pietasters (USA)
The Pioneers (Jamaica)
Potato 5
The Pressure Tennants
Prince Buster (Jamaica)
Ranking Joe
Razika (Norway)
Rebelation
Reggae Choir
The Riffs
The Rifffs (Malta)
Roddy Radiation (The Specials)
Rico Rodriguez (Cuba)
Ed Rome
The Rudeboys (Wales)
Doreen Schaffer (Jamaica)
BB Seaton (The Gaylads)
The Selecter
The Sidewalk Doctors
The Simmertones
65 Mines Street (France)
Skaboom
Ska Cubano
The Skadows
Skaos (Germany)
Skin Deep
The Skints
Smiley & The Underclass
Smoke Like A Fish (Wales)
Sonic Boom Six
Special Beat
The Spitfires
The Splitters
Neville Staples (The Specials)
Steel Pulse perform Handsworth Revolution
The Supatones
The Talks
Carroll Thompson
The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra (Madness)
The Toasters (USA)
Top Cats
Tree House Fire
Trenchtown (Ireland)
The Trojans
True Identity
Twinkle Brothers (Jamaica)
Two Tone Club (France)
The Uppertones (Italy)
The Upsessions (Holland)
Sir Horace Panter’s Uptown Ska Collective (The Specials)
U-Roy (Jamaica)
Delroy Wilson (Jamaica)
Zion Train
DJs / Sound Systems
3DJ (Funkdub)
Amma
Axis Valv-a-tron – Paul Huxtable
Mark Barrett (Pressure Drop)
Cello (Coast To Coast)
Channel One sound system
Andy Chesham (Club Ska)
Clive Chin (Randys – Jamaica)
Jim Cox
Festus Coxson (Coxson sound system)
Peter Craig
Martin Cueto (Argentina)
Rhoda Dakar (The Bodysnatchers/Special AKA)
Jerry Dammers (The Specials)
Dapper Dan
Little Diane
Dub Front Association (Belgium)
Dub Vendor All-stars
Dukes of Skazzard (Belgium)
Don Letts
Downbeat Melody sound system – Steve Rice
Dreadzone Sound System
Sonny Scully Evans
Fatboy Cliff
Fenomeno Show (Italy)
Sean Flowerdew (Pama Intl)
Asher G
Lynval Golding (The Specials)
Greedy G
Felix Hall
Alan Handscombe
Jean Paul (Right On)
Josh (The Skints)
Jumbo (Java Hi-Power)
Kaptin IsDead (Boomtown)
David Katz
Eric Keogh (FCS – USA)
Mark Lamarr
Chris Lane (Fashion)
Keith Lawrence (Mi Soul)
Likkle Minty
Lucky Cat Zoe (Resonance fm)
Nick Manasseh
Wendy May (Locomotion)
Gaz Mayall
Metro (Metro Downbeat)
Natty Bo (Ska Cubano)
Oxman
Papa Face (Dub Vendor)
Chris Peckings
Pirates Crew sound system (Belgium)
Potato 5 DJ set: Martin Aberdeen and Spider
Jamie Renton
Ras Digby
Eddie Regal
David Rodigan
Tommy Rock A Shaka (Japan)
Lili Rudies (France)
Ruffy TNT (Mexico)
SFL sound system
Barrie Sharpe
Ali Skaba
Ska Beat Pete
Skankin Steve
Andy Smith
Solution Sound System
Sounds & Pressure lo-fi – Phil Bush
Okawa Takeshi (The Ska Flames – Japan)
Angus Taylor
Tessa (The Slits)
Texas Ranger
Tighten Up crew: Mistah Brown, Champian & Tim P
Chris Tofu
Time Tunnel: Nanker Phelge, Liam Curtin, Sean Bright & Boy About Town
Triton sound system (Mexico)
Dave Walker (Thursday Night Fish Fry)
Wassie One
Gladdy Wax sound system
Tim Wells
Wrongtom
Zinc Fence (Catch A Fire)
Films:
Bunny Lee – I Am The Gorgon
Dance Craze
Legends of Ska
Take It or Leave It
> > > > > >Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Dr Philip Dixon said there was no shame in seeking help
External experts are needed to improve how changes in education are implemented, the former head of one of Wales' largest teaching unions said.
Dr Philip Dixon pointed out head teachers, schools and councils have been taken to task over the last 10 years in a drive to improve standards.
But he said the focus should be on the Welsh Government's education department if the latest Pisa results are poor.
The Welsh Government said it was too early to speculate over Pisa.
Pisa assesses pupils' skills in maths, reading and science every three years and more than 70 countries were signed up to take part in the 2015 test.
The results are expected in December but in the last Pisa tests in 2012, Wales performed worse than the rest of the UK.
"We need some outside help," the former ATL Cymru director told BBC Wales' Sunday Politics Wales.
"I don't think there's anything wrong in saying 'we can't solve this on our own, we need to get some international world-leading help'."
He added: "As you would with a local authority, you set up a recovery board. So you get those who have got a track record in the other jurisdictions of the United Kingdom; from Northern Ireland, Scotland and, dare I say, England who can turn government departments around.
"You've got some world leading experts then as well and you've got some experts from Wales. But they wouldn't be the dominant ones. And they would be focused on delivery - how do you actually get these policies delivered on the ground?"
The Welsh Government said regardless of the Pisa results, it would "remain absolutely focussed" on following the "best international evidence in order to continue to drive up standards in our schools".
A spokesman added: "It is not good enough to limit our ambitions to simply looking across the border, we must strive to be up there with the best in the world.
"That's why the education secretary recently commissioned the highly respected Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to provide support and challenge to the Welsh Government's work on education reforms to make sure they are on track."In 2006, a generation of Chilean secondary students learnt how to mobilise, blockade streets, raise demands and carry out occupations. But they also learnt how they could be defeated by a system capable of accommodating and coopting mobilisations.
It is important to note that this revolt, referred to as the “penguin revolution”, did not arise out of nowhere. Its origins lay in the mobilisations for student transport concessions in 2001 and the creation of a series of collectives and small groups.
Demands
The central demands of the students included the repeal of the Organic Teaching Law, inherited from the dictatorship period. Another was for an end to “municipalisation”, so that schools are no longer dependent on municipal councils for their funding.
Instead, funding would be the responsibility of the national government, thereby eliminating big inequalities that exist between schools.
There were other demands, but these dominated negotiations between students and government.
However, the movement’s spokespeople, members of the Socialist Party of neoliberal ex-president Michelle Bachelet, negotiated winding up the mobilisations on the cusp of the 2006 Football World Cup. This meant the movement disappeared from the media spotlight, while a grand “Presidential Advisory Council” was established.
Despite student representatives walking out of the council, a new General Law of Education was passed. This law did not change any of the established education priorities.
It legitimated the system of subsidies that creates a totally deficient funding of the municipal system, while allowing for direct state funding of private schools.
In concrete terms, no one can say that the mobilisations of 2006 won. But we can say the process that led to the mobilisation was of vital importance to the emergence of a vision for revolutionary transformation within the student movement — even if this view remains a minority one.
We learnt that a mobilised popular movement cannot rely on resolutions passed by government institutions, that negotiations occur within a certain relationship of forces and that strengthening our forces is a key task if we want to break down the unequal structures in our society.
University revolt
Some of us who were secondary students in 2006 were at university in 2011. This is especially the case at the University of Chile, one of the sites of the strongest mobilisations that broke out in 2011, with strikes that lasted seven months on average.
What balance sheet can we draw up of this process and the challenges that this movement faces today in a context of presidential and parliamentary elections?
Without a doubt, 2011 was the year the student movement came back onto the streets in a huge way. It put the issue of education at the centre of media and public discussion.
Nevertheless, we have to recognise that the demands raised by the student movement were reduced to mere slogans, and were not backed up by a clear vision of the kind of education students wanted.
By the end of the year students could see, with a certain uneasiness, that the vibrancy of 2011 had not necessarily translated into a greater level of organisation in the universities. Nor had it led to greater political clarity within the student movement.
They lacked a network of permanent groups capable of projecting a long-term vision of struggle. This is why the student movement was unable to achieve much more than simply drawing media attention to the discontent that existed, and above all paved the way for its leaders to seek posts in different institutions.
For example, Camila Vallejo from the Chilean Communist Party, and Francisco Figueroa and Giorgio Jackson, are using their position in the student movement to run for parliament.
That is why at the start of last year, an assessment of the movement's weaknesses showed the student movement needed to take a qualitative step forward internally to be better placed to take forward our struggle.
Nevertheless, the political forces that led the movement chose to stretch out the situation, deeming last year to be the year of proposals. They focused their efforts on lobbying and attracting media attention, not street protests.
Through these actions, they began to move towards an institutionalisation of the student movement. This has now shifted towards viewing the key task as maintaining a constant media presence and challenging presidential candidates, while sections of the movement put forward parliamentary candidates.
This year, the student movement is torn between the supposed necessity of “making use of the political capital” of the social movements and the need to accumulate forces in a context where any small demand can be absorbed into the program of the right-wing government or main opposition group.
Small electoral initiatives have also emerged, but none have the support of the majority of people. They have no possibility of winning, much less of implementing the supposed “popular” programs they are proposing.
Today, the movement is debating whether to break with the existing institution and its spurious mechanisms of participation (such as elections) or see its mobilisations co-opted.
It is urgent that we put forward demands that go beyond the current slogan of free education, explaining what this concretely means and avoid being absorbed by electoral campaigning.
We must understand the coherence that exists between a national struggle against the pillars of the current education system and local fights against the way in which this model manifests itself in our campuses and schools.
Only in this way can the movement convert itself into a revolutionary subject capable of placing on the public agenda not just particular demands, but also the need for a complete transformation of our society.
[Roxana Valdebenito is a leader of the Chilean student group Plataforma Colectiva.]Australia: Phony “leaders’ debate” for NSW state election
By Mike Head
16 March 2015
The final leaders’ debate was a perfunctory half-hour affair last Friday night hosted by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation inside the New South Wales (NSW) parliament building, with no live audience.
Both in its secluded surroundings and its deceitful content, the phony “debate” for the March 28 election in Australia’s most populous state underscored the disconnect between the political establishment and ordinary working people, and the crisis of Australia’s parliamentary system.
Like the first two set-piece “debates” between Liberal-National Party Premier Mike Baird and Labor Party leader Luke Foley, none of the burning issues facing the working class was mentioned—the danger of war, the deepening world slump, the ongoing assault on workers’ jobs, wages and conditions, and attacks on democratic rights. All other parties, including the Socialist Equality Party, were anti-democratically excluded in order to present the two major parties of the corporate elite as the only choices available to voters.
From his opening comments, Foley revealed how much Labor is cynically hoping to claw its way back into office—just four years after receiving its lowest vote (25.5 percent) for more than a century—by exploiting the popular hostility to the sell-off of state assets and the austerity offensive of the federal Liberal-National government of Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
Foley’s pitch was closely in line with that just employed by Labor to oust a first-term Liberal-National government in the neighbouring state of Queensland’s January 31 election. Like Queensland Labor leader Annastacia Palaszczuk, Foley feigned opposition to privatisation and the federal budget cuts.
“We will keep the electricity network in public hands,” Foley claimed, vowing to ditch the Baird government’s plan to try to raise $20 billion by leasing 49 percent of the power grid—the “poles and wires”—for 99 years. This is a sham on multiple levels.
In the first place, Labor itself made repeated efforts, in 1997 under Premier Bob Carr and 2007 under Premier Morris Iemma, to sell off all the electricity infrastructure. With the help of the trade unions, who stifled the opposition of their members, Labor finally privatised everything but the “poles and wires” before its landslide defeat in 2011. On this issue, as on every other, Labor has a long track record of seeking to impose every demand of the financial markets.
Second, Foley committed himself to implement a federal regulator’s restructuring scheme for the electricity network to make it “run efficiently”—a plan that would require the axing of 4,600 jobs, on top of the thousands already eliminated by previous Labor governments.
Third, Foley has made it clear in several media interviews since he was installed as Labor leader late last year that he fully favours the privatisation of state assets. In an interview published by the Australian the morning after the “debate,” Foley complained that he was wrongly depicted in the Australian Financial Review as anti-privatisation. He reiterated that he had no “ideological” opposition to asset sales, giving as an example: “I don’t see a need for the state to own ports.”
Equally aware of the public opposition to privatisation, Baird sought to downplay the electricity sell-off, insisting that leasing for 99 years was different and that his government had no intention of going beyond relinquishing 49 percent ownership. It was a far cry from Baird’s public pledges, directed to the corporate elite after he was selected last year as Liberal leader, to make an aggressive bid to impose privatisations.
Like the recently defeated Queensland premier Campbell Newman, Baird has been heavily promoted by the corporate media, and backed by the Abbott government, as a figure who could lead the way nationally in launching the wholesale economic restructuring being demanded by the financial elite amid the worsening impact of the post-2008 global economic breakdown.
There is, however, widespread public antagonism toward the Abbott government’s attempts to impose the dictates of big business. Both Baird and Foley spent much of their time during Friday’s debate posturing as opponents of Abbott and condemning the multi-billion dollar cuts to state health and education spending in last year’s federal budget.
Baird even declared that if he were reelected, he would make reversing the cuts “agenda item number one” for the state and territory leaders. Foley’s final line for the night was equally fanciful: “We need a premier who is not a rubberstamp for a federal prime minister.”
Labor’s claims to oppose the federal budget cuts are no less a fraud than its anti-privatisation pretences. Foley’s federal counterparts voted, along with the Greens, for the budget appropriation bills last June that began to slash $80 billion from education and health funding over the next decade. During 2012-13, the previous federal Labor governments of Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd carried out the deepest cuts to social spending since World War II.
Regardless of whether Labor or Liberal wins the NSW election, or the next federal election, this social assault will intensify as the “mining boom” that has underpinned Australian capitalism for nearly 25 years continues to implode.
Foley’s interview in Saturday’s Australian laid bare the deceit of his “debate” posturing. Foley insisted that he is a Labor “moderniser.” He named former premier Neville Wran, along with ex-prime ministers Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, and former British prime minister Tony Blair, as his heroes.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Hawke and Keating, together with Wran, personified the transformation of the Labor Party into the spearhead of pro-market restructuring. Under the impact of globalised production, they ditched Labor’s previous claims that it could reform capitalism in the interests of the working class. As for Blair, under the banner of New Labour, he continued and extended the pro-market onslaught on workers begun under the Tory government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
By nominating these figures as his idols, Foley’s intent is clear. It is to assure the ruling elites that a state Labor government will be no less committed to meeting the requirements of the transnational corporations, banks and money markets.
The only way to end the onslaught on living standards and the threat of war is to end the source of the global crisis—the capitalist profit system and its nation-state divisions. That is why the Socialist Equality Party’s campaign in the NSW election is aimed at building a new revolutionary leadership based on a socialist perspective. We urge our readers to study our election statement and contact the SEP about how to join our party.
Authorised by James Cogan, 12-13 Bankstown City Plaza, Bankstown, NSW 2200
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.True: Trump’s plan would significantly raise taxes on the middle class
“You’re not going to cut taxes. You’re going to raise taxes on the middle class.” — Tim Kaine
Trump has revamped his tax plan several times over the last year, so it’s hard to say for sure, but Kaine’s statement is mostly true. The latest iteration of the plan includes ore than $4 trillion in tax cuts, but those will largely favor to the wealthy according to several analyses.
An analysis by New York University law professor and former Senate Finance Committee Democratic chief tax counsel Lily Batchelder found the plan would actually raise taxes for about 7.8 million families with dependent children. While some of those families would fall in the upper-income bracket, the study found the plan would “significantly raise taxes for millions of low- and middle-income families with children, with especially large tax increases for working single parents.”
This item has been updated to reflect Batchelder's political affiliation.MLB Mid-Season Awards
by
As the MLB heads to the All-Star Break, it is a time to reflect on all that has happened this season. Be it the fall of last year’s World Series Champions, the rise of the Brewers into the lead of the NL Central, or the fact that (as I write on July 10th) the Houston Astros are not bottom of their division. This season has also given us a fair number of outstanding, and less than outstanding, performances and as the players head to Minnesota (or on a family vacation) it’s time to hand out some Mid-Season Awards.
Starting with the big guns:
AL MVP: MIKE TROUT (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim)
You going to argue with this? No? Good. Trout had a down month in May slashing. |
seems that for every opponent of encryption there is an equally strong champion.
Shutterstock
Tech companies that have been courted by the government have steadfastly refused to provide back doors to their encryption. Deciding whether the prospect of tracking a fraction of nefarious actors warrants the exposure of an entire population is set to be a critical debate this year. One that is only going to intensify as high-profile incidents continue to be used as political punching bags, casting one side as in the public’s best interest when it perhaps is not and the other as protecting terrorists while it simultaneously protects the innocent.
The encryption debate is shaping up to a David and Goliath confrontation, with the American public on one side and the American government on the other, with the tech industry wedged firmly in the middle. The right to privacy versus the duty to protect. End-to-end encryption versus court ordered back doors. Online security versus national security. The lines are clear but neither side is backing down.
Which side do you fall on? Who do you think will win in the end?
Up next: AT&T CEO wants Silicon Valley to leave encryption regulation to politiciansTompkins: November presents ideal time for flounder There's plenty of flounder
November is an ideal month for anglers longing for the flatfish, but patience would help the species long-term
Water the color of strong tea or weak coffee sluiced down a yard-wide, spartina-lined thread of a waterway, purling where it joined the current down the bayou it fed and into the bay less than 100 yards away.
As the outgoing tide pulled water from the marsh and into the little feeder creek, it carried assorted critters along for the ride. An irregular procession of small crabs, shrimp, killifish, juvenile mullet and maybe even a few marine worms rode the flow and was swept out of the little drain, over a submerged point and into the main channel of the bayou.
That point was a perfect place for an ambush on this cool, clear late-October morning with the slightly sulfurous smell of saltmarsh hanging in a crystal-blue sky sprinkled with migrating monarch butterflies drifting south on a light north wind.
The orange/black monarchs were not the only creatures with migration on their mind. And that's what made the point a focus.
I cast a quarter-ounce, lead-head jig trimmed with a pearl/chartreuse soft-plastic body into the little drain, let the bait fall to the bottom, then slowly bounced/dragged it, allowing the current swing it over the point.
The mouth and lower reaches of marsh-fringed bayous and other bay-feeding waterways are prime spots to find flounder during November as the migrating flatfish gorge on shrimp and other forage flushed from the estuaries by autumn cold fronts. less The mouth and lower reaches of marsh-fringed bayous and other bay-feeding waterways are prime spots to find flounder during November as the migrating flatfish gorge on shrimp and other forage flushed from the... more Photo: Shannon Tompkins, Chronicle Photo: Shannon Tompkins, Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Tompkins: November presents ideal time for flounder 1 / 3 Back to Gallery
A "thunk!" shot up the line. I reeled down, snapped the rod back and felt that wonderful pulse and shiver of connection with something very much alive.
There never was a moment's doubt of the fish's identify, even before it came flapping, gliding and thrashing to the surface. It was a flounder.
She measured just a smidgen more than 14 inches, the legal minimum for flounder. (I'm certain she was a she; male southern flounder seldom grow more than foot in length.)
I thought about slipping her into the ice chest and how fine a meal of baked flounder stuffed with crab meat and shrimp and drizzled with olive oil and butter would taste.
But I didn't.
Popular targets
Instead, I worked the hook from that sideways mouth rimmed with sharp, delta-shaped teeth, admired the incredible camouflage of white stars and splotches on a brown background and those amazing fluorescent green eyes, then slipped the fish back into the bayou where it fluttered away.
There would be other flounder; this was, after all, the start of the best few weeks of the year for catching the famous flatfish. And that young female flounder needed the chance to follow instincts that had brought her to that drain mouth and would see her soon join tens of thousands of other southern flounder on a journey to create her species' next generation.
Texas' southern flounder could use a little kind consideration from the state's million-plus recreational saltwater anglers — particularly this month. Along the Texas coast, November sees the highest catches of flounder of any month of the year. That's tied directly to the fishes' natural history. And it's why Texas fisheries managers, concerned with a significant, decades-long decline in the state's flounder population, in 2009 drastically reduced the number of flounder anglers are allowed to keep, especially during November.
As autumn arrives, adult southern flounder in Texas bays begin their annual migration to the Gulf of Mexico where they will spawn during the winter.
That migration begins with flounder gathering around the mouth of drains, bayous and other waterways connecting the bay with its estuaries to gorge on the plenitude of food pouring from those great generators of marine life.
From there, waves of flounder drift down the bays, moving along the shorelines, mostly, but also along the edges of channels toward passes connecting the bays to the Gulf.
Flounder concentrate around those bay/Gulf exchanges, waiting for some combination of strong outgoing tide and cooling water (most often triggered by passage of a cold front) to make their move through the passes and into the open ocean.
This predictable migration behavior makes flounder particularly popular with autumn anglers. Not that they aren't popular for other reasons; their standing as table fare is legendary. But their availability and cooperativeness also are major attractions.
"Flounder are one of the first fish you catch when you're a kid fishing off the bank, and a fish that everybody can catch," said Bryan Treadway, a confirmed flounder fanatic with a strong drive to help ensure they remain a viable part of the coastal fishery. "You don't need a boat to catch flounder."
But a boat doesn't hurt, either, said Treadway, who organizes efforts to collect live flounder for use in Lake Jackson's Sea Center Texas' programs to spawn the fish and stock the fingerlings into Texas bays.
During autumn, anglers can bet on two basic techniques to take flounder.
"You can fish what I call 'hard structure' or fish the passes," Treadway said. "Both work great."
Through most of the autumn migration, flounder moving down the bay systems gravitate to the mouth of drains where they pick off food or around "edges" where current concentrates forage.
Fishing the mouth of bayous and the flats adjacent to those mouths are a classic tactic. So, too, is fishing around bulkheads, piers, rip-rap, jetties, navigation poles and other objects.
Packs of flounder will concentrate tight to these "hard" structures, waiting for the current to bear some unlucky killifish within range. Bouncing a jig or slowly working a live finger mullet or mud minnow or even a shrimp along the bottom will draw strikes.
Any color you like
This can be a lot like bass fishing with a plastic worm: cast near the structure, let the bait fall, then slowly work it along the bottom. Flounder are very aggressive predators, so most often the strike is not subtle. And if you catch one, keep fishing the area, Treadway said; often, a relatively small area will hold several flounder.
The other, more common tactic for fall flounder revolves around fishing the bay/Gulf exchanges and the choke points leading to them — places such as Bolivar Roads, Sabine Pass, Galveston Channel, San Luis Pass and Rollover Pass.
"They have to go through those passes," Treadway said. "That makes them extremely vulnerable."
Flounder stage near those passes and in choke points, biding their time and feeding until an outgoing tide triggers their movement into the Gulf. The same bottom-fishing tactics that work for flounder in the bays work great at the passes.
Probably the best bait for flounder is live bait, with mud minnows or "finger" mullet topping the list. Rig a 12-18-inch length of 30-pound monofilament armed with a single live-bait hook, thread an egg weight on the running line and connect the 30-pound leader to the running line with a barrel swivel — a classic "fish-finder" rig. Hook the baitfish through the lips.
Jigs trimmed with soft-plastic bodies that imitate baitfish are the best artificials for flounder.
Colors?
"An old Galveston Bay flounder fisherman once told me you can use any color as long as it's red and white," Treadway said. "Red/white definitely works. But white/chartreuse and clear/glitter tails work great, too. And Gulp worms in red, purple, pumpkinseed or just about any color are killers."
The trick is persistence and patience. Keep a bait in the water. Flounder have to go through those passes. If you can find them staging or hit it when a wave of migrants catches an outgoing tide and makes their move to the Gulf, you'll catch flounder.
Just remember: During November, you can keep no more than two a day.
And if you have a couple already in the freezer at home, consider letting a few go, particularly the larger females, Treadway suggested.
"Flounder are a great fish, and it's fine to keep a few," Treadway said. "But they're in need of a helping hand. I have a three- and four-year-old that I want to take down to San Luis Pass one of these days and sit on the bank and catch a few flounder like I did when I was a kid."
November is the best time to do just that.
May that will always be the case.
[email protected] regulators have decided on a “comprehensive ban” on platforms that allow people to buy or sell virtual currency in China, reports The Wall Street Journal. China is cracking down on Bitcoin trading and also planned to shut down Bitcoin exchanges, according to reports from earlier in September, but this move goes even further, with government officials apparently offering an explicit directive to the nation’s currency exchanges.
WSJ reports that a document was passed around at a private meeting on Friday instructing exchanges based in Beijing to “unwind their operations and provide information on bank accounts used for clients’ deposits by Wednesday.” Officials reportedly told industry executives about a decision on the ban at that meeting in Beijing. Sources told the paper mainland access to foreign bitcoin exchanges online like Coinbase in the US would also be blocked by the country’s Great Firewall.
Until last week, traders believed that China would still permit peer-to-peer or over-the-counter platforms that allow buyers and sellers to connect, even if it did crack down on commercial activity. Bitcoin’s popularity may have also stoked concerns from authorities who worry the cryptocurrency could “weaken official control of the country’s money supply,” given that everyday investors have bought heavily into Bitcoin, even betting against the yuan. China also banned initial coin offerings at the beginning of the month as an illegal form of public financing.If you are more into unique tattoos designs then Mandala tattoos must be there is your list. Mandala tattoo designs are trending these days and people who loves floral patterns loves to ink this design. Mandala is basically a Sanskrit work which means Universe. Apart from the love for floral design, people who have spiritual connect also loves to get tattoos of mandalas. This design is considered to be very pure in Hindu and Buddhism religion as it symbolizes spirituality.
Lotus mandala tattoo is quite popular among the youth and they usually loves to get this design inked on their back, just below the neck. Apart from back, Mandala tattoo designs can be inked on the wrist or sleeves. Mandala tattoos can be small or big in size and depending on the size of tattoo; you can decide where to place them. Usually big tattoos of mandalas look good and hence it’s popularly inked at either the back or stomach.
Mandala tattoo design is traditionally done in the black and grey color shade but if you like it to look vibrant then you can add colors in it. Getting mandala art inked on your body is a great way to treasure the ancient scriptures of Bhuddhism and Hinduism which is now getting lost day by day. Earlier when the tattoo era had not came, people used to decorate mandala paintings at their home in order to attain the spirituality quotient.
Whether you have love for flower mandala tattoo or you truly believe in the meaning of mandala, i.e, spirituality, in both ways getting this design inked will be a great thing for you. Also for your reference, here we have selected some amazing mandala art tattoos, have a look and decide which one to get for yourself:
Don’t Miss – 60 Incredible Eagle Tattoos Design and Ideas
Don’t Miss – 100 Best Infinity Tattoos Designs and Ideas
Don’t Miss – 35 Best Elephant Tattoo Designs And Ideas
Don’t Miss – 28 Awesome Spider Tattoo Designs and IdeasYou can send it into buildings where hostages are being held, then move it from room to room as it transmits video via its miniature camera. Sleek and unobtrusive, the gadget can slip under furniture and roll down stairs. Only eight inches long and 1.2 pounds, it can be tossed through windows or onto burning roofs without sustaining damage.
Used in Iraq and Afghanistan for several years now, the Recon Scout Throwbot could be of great use to domestic police and fire departments, but there's one thing the little machine can't do—apply for a spectrum use waiver from the Federal Communications Commission. Without that waiver, the bot can't transmit its live video feed.
Thanks to the law firm of Fletcher, Heald, and Hildreth, however, bot maker Recon Robotics has just obtained such a waiver and may now bring the Throwbot to local law enforcement.
"Typical applications will include checking a building prior to forced entry; searching vehicle undercarriages for explosives; locating hostages, hostiles, officers, and bystanders before a rescue attempt; and searching for survivors in a burning building," the FCC noted in the waiver of various portions of its Part 90 private land and mobile radio service rules. "The Recon Scout is used overseas by the US armed forces, and is credited with saving lives."
But the approval has created controversy, pitting law enforcement groups against amateur radio operators who might operate in the same spectrum.
Please let us save ourselves
The permit was needed to allow the Throwbot to broadcast video data in the 430-448MHz zone of the 420-450MHz band. That spectrum goes primarily to the Federal Radiolocation service (radar), then secondarily to amateur services. Potential interference with those uses is the issue here.
As you might suspect, quite a number of police agencies sent comments to the FCC asking the Commission to approve the device. Here is an excerpt from the Ludlow, Illinois police department's missive to the FCC:
As a Police Officer and a Trainer, I feel compelled to remind you that we do a very dangerous job and usually no one cares how many of us are hurt or killed as long as no innocent victims are hurt or killed. They give us an elaborate funeral and call us heroes for a week. Then we are forgotten. This is apparent in almost all Department Policy Manuals in one policy or another. We are the ones that are required to run into a building under fire to protect the innocent. I feel that it is everyone's responsibility to approve any life saving tool that can keep us safe as we are rushing in under fire.... Please allow us to save ourselves in other ways. Please allow the waiver for multiple frequencies to allow us to go home to our families and friends just as anyone else would deserve.
On the other hand, the American Radio Relay League pretty much threw the book at Recon's request in its response to the request. The ARRL's opposition filing charged that the petition was vague, lacked appropriate technical specifications, and did not explore the possibility of using other frequencies for the gadget.
"The Petitioner asserts, without establishing, that there is a market for these devices for public safety and anti-terrorism efforts," ARRL wrote. "Merely by suggesting that these devices may be potentially useful in this context does not establish that a permanent waiver for the devices will be in the public interest. Most importantly, it is not satisfactorily established why alternatives are inadequate."
But the Commission decided that given the relative rarity with which these robots will be used, their employ in the 436-442MHz bands is acceptable The order concedes that interference in the 430-436MHz and 442-448MHz bands will become somewhat more likely, and it therefore stipulates that these bands be accessed only when the 436-442MHz region can't.
Strings attached
Among other conditions for the waiver—only state and local police and firefighters can access the device on the stipulated bands.
Second, the Recon Scout "may be used only during actual emergencies involving threats to safety of life, and for necessary training related to such operations. Security personnel in critical infrastructure industries may operate the Recon Scout only in areas that are environmentally hazardous for entry by human personnel, and for necessary training related to such operations."
Third, the Scout can't be used too near a list of Air Force/radar bases, among them Beale, Cape Cod, Clear, Cavalier, and Eglin.
Fourth, in the first year of equipment approval, only 2,000 units can be sold, going up to 8,000 during the second year. "Future sales of the Recon Scout will be reconsidered at the end of this period," the FCC notes.2016 Prison Reforms – What Are They… and Will They Work?
2016 Prison Reforms – What Are They… and Will They Work?
A series of reforms were introduced in UK prisons this year, to address the ‘scandalous failure’ of the current system. In this post, we’ll examine those reforms in greater depth, and speculate whether or not they’ll have any impact on the current situation.
Combatting Reoffending
The prime minister has acknowledged that rates of reoffending in the UK are too high; referencing data which shows that a shocking 46% of ex-inmates go on to reoffend within 12 months of their release. This cycle of reoffending isn’t just problematic for the already over-crowded prisons; it also places major financial stress on the country – costing as much as £13billion per year.
The Reform Plans
Here’s a run-through of what the reforms will involve:
More autonomy for governors. As part of the plans, prison governors will now be given greater freedom with their budget – enabling them to decide when and where finances are best invested. This is currently a pilot scheme, and is being trialled in six prisons. They will also be able to opt out of some of the rules and regulations established by Whitehall, at their discretion.
League tables. Additionally, prisons will now be ranked in official league tables, according to their rates of reoffending. The tables will also demonstrate how effective prisons are at helping ex-inmates find employment, and how well they improve literacy among the prison population.
Weekend time. In a move that echoes Labour’s approach in 2004, the Tories have also announced that some inmates will only be imprisoned during the weekend. Whilst they’re out of prison, the government plan to use satellite tracking to check their whereabouts.
Educational facilities. Using the same processes adopted for free schools in the UK, Cameron also announced he plans to transform young offending institutions into academies – with a focus on providing meaningful education and helping offenders gain employment after their sentence is served.
Avoiding the Issue of Overcrowding
Whilst many have applauded the proposed changes – particularly the greater autonomy for governors and better focus on education and rehabilitation; others are concerned that the prime minister is side-stepping one of the key problems in prisons – overcrowding.
Frances Crook, from the Howard League for Penal Reform, comments: “Prisons are currently violent and overcrowded… We need action now to tackle sentence inflation and the profligate use of prison. Then the prime minister’s vision can become a reality.”
Only last month, the chief inspector of prisons acknowledged that conditions in UK prisons ‘had deteriorated’ – suggesting that the problem of overcrowding should be high on the government’s list of priorities.
Will the Reform be a Success?
Certainly, something needs to be done – as the current state of UK prisons is alarming. Shadow justice secretary Lord Falconer stated that the “scandalous failure David Cameron condemns is his own,’” and that the Conservatives have “had five years to improve our prisons, and we have heard promises of ‘rehabilitation revolution’ many times before.”
What the future holds remains to be seen. However, unless steps are taken to reduce the current prison population, it is difficult to see how meaningful rehabilitation can ever take place.
References:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35518477
http://www.theweek.co.uk/69349/david-cameron-to-introduce-prison-league-tablesLucknow: Stung by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's growing criticism by UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, BJP has challenged him to show his 31-month's report card before questioning the track record of the BJP-led NDA government.
State spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak told IANS that the Samajwadi Party (SP) government had very little to show in its tenure so far and it was hence a joke that it was ridiculing the Modi government.
Referring to the statement of Akhilesh Yadav at Bateshwar earlier this week that the prime minister must explain why despite a majority he has done nothing to fulfill his poll promises, Pathak said the chief minister must first come clean on his dismal governance before pointing fingers at others.
"He owes an explanation on why despite being handed a majority 2012 state assembly polls, his government has went back on poll promises like withdrawing the free laptop scheme, the free tablet PC scheme never seeing the light of the day and why despite loan waiver, farmers were resorting to suicides," the BJP leader mused.
He also charged the UP chief minister of being hostile to the 'Swach Bharat Yojna' initiated by Prime Minister Modi and added that on several occasions Yadav had made a mockery of the initiative.
"Cleanliness is a nation movement not a BJP-centric drive and the young chief minister should understand that before making unsavoury remarks on the PM', Pathak further added. Unnerved by the support the mission is drawing from the people and the celebrities, Yadav is unnerved and giving statements like "PM has forgotten his dreams and is now weilding the broom".
The BJP spokesman also pointed out that senior SP leader and uncle of the chief minister had raised questions on the law and order in the state.
"Ram Gopal Yadav who is the think tank of the party recently told a gatthering in Etawah that crime was spiralling and needed strict intervention, what does the CM have to say about his own uncles observations," the BJP has asked.
After winning 9 of the 12 state assembly seats in two rounds of bypolls, UP chief minister, buoyed by the success has been targeting the prime minister and the BJP more than often, raising the hackled of the saffron camp.
IANS
Firstpost is now on WhatsApp. For the latest analysis, commentary and news updates, sign up for our WhatsApp services. Just go to Firstpost.com/Whatsapp and hit the Subscribe button.The Dolphins’ two best players, Ryan Tannehill and Ndamukong Suh, were far from their best in Week 1.
And they know it.
“Poor,” was Suh’s assessment of his performance.
Added Tannenhill: “Obviously, I wasn’t happy with how I played.”
Sign Up and Save Get six months of free digital access to the Miami Herald
Both said they need to do better.
History suggests they will.
Suh, who had just two tackles in his Dolphins debut, went without a sack or even a quarterback hit. He hasn’t gone back-to-back games without a sack or hit since the 2013 season.
Tannehill completed fewer than 65 percent of his passes and had less than 230 passing yards against the Redskins. The last time that happened was Week 7 in Jacksonville last season.
The following week, Tannehill completed 24 of 34 passes for 288 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions — his highest-rated passing game as a pro.
“Love it; love it,” Joe Philbin said, when asked about his two stars’ level of irritation. “Absolutely love it. I want to do a better job coaching. I want to get to get the team ready to play better, myself. What’s that old saying, ‘Dissatisfaction is the basis of all progress.’”
If that’s true, Suh should show great progress this coming weekend.
The Redskins ran all over the Dolphins in the first half Sunday, and during a break in the action, CBS camera crews caught Suh in a spirited conversation with Philbin. On Wednesday, Philbin chose to keep the subject matter private.
“All just part of the communication,” Philbin said. “We were in a game, we were communicating. I thought it was good. It was good communication on his part, and it was very positive.”
While Philbin said Suh “did a good job,” defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle Monday said that the highest-paid defensive player in league history “can play better and I think he knows that.”
Coyle believed that Suh was a little too amped up at the game’s start; Suh on Wednesday disagreed with the characterization.
“I just didn’t do exactly what I wanted to do, but it’s over with,” Suh said. “I’m moving forward to Jacksonville.”
The same goes for Tannehill. After a near-flawless preseason, the freshly minted $96 million man had a game that was not nearly as effective as his statistics suggest.
He threw two passes that should have been intercepted; both were dropped.
And he was as inaccurate as he has been in some time. He missed two gimme touchdowns — one to tight end Dion Sims that resulted in a Sims concussion; the other to Kenny Stills on a broken play.
“The one to Dion, that was a big opportunity,” Tannehill said. “We were coming off a turnover by the defense, a great interception by [Brent] Grimes, that’s the one play from the game that I really look at my play and I say that’s the one that made a huge impact on the game. I should’ve hit that.”
The good news for Tannehill: he’s shrugged off slow starts in each of his first three seasons. It took him four games last season to find his rhythm.
The Dolphins hope it doesn’t take that long this time around. But it might. Their opponent this week, the Jaguars, allowed just 168 passing yards in their Week 1 loss to Carolina.
“You’re always looking for improvement,” Tannehill said. “Especially early in the season, I think you see the most marked improvement. The first real game that we played, first full game that the starters have played, and there are definitely things we have to improve upon and are looking to improve upon quickly.”OFFICIALS from the Greek Parliament have reportedly offered Bronwyn Bishop the role of speaker of their own Parliament.
A spokesperson for Greece's Minister for Expenditure released a statement announcing the offer shortly after Mrs Bishop announced her resignation from the Australian Speaker's chair.
In the statement, the spokesperson points to "a solid alignment of cultural and economic priorities" as the main reason for the offer.
"Greece needs representatives who appreciate the Greek way," they said.
"And it is clear that Mrs Bishop shares our disgust for austerity."
Prime Minister Tony Abbott's office commented on the offer, saying "what are you on about? Greece? Are you high?"
"Oh, but while you're there, can you do us a solid and delete anything we said about Peter Slipper? Cheers."
News of the offer comes amid reports a journalist has been arrested for booing Mrs Bishop at her resignation press conference.
"The Australian Federal Police will not tolerate racial vilification during press conferences," said AFP spokesperson Bill Posters.
"We're reliably informed by the Prime Minister that it is, in fact, a criminal offence to boo a government MP.
"Who knew?"
Speculation over Mrs Bishop's replacement has been rife, with current favourites Philip Ruddock and Prince Philip at even odds.
"Oh yes, well, I have become somewhat known for my speaking," Prince Philip said.
"And I hear you've been having some trouble with the natives down there, yes?
"I'd love a crack at helping with that."
Notices
We're calling for volunteers to investigate Mrs Bishop's expense claims as the AFP are currently overloaded investigating late speeding fine payments.
Frisky Business is a satire column. It is not real.So, we did a "science project" today, the kids and me. We made a scale model of the Solar System, out on the street, to get a visual impression of its true size. It was pretty amazing. It's a very easy project to do, takes a couple hours, and it's a lot of fun.
The Sun was a regular soccer ball, 23 cm (9") in diameter. Everything else was made to scale.
Mercury was a tiny 0.8 mm grain of sand, barely visible, about 10 m (30') away from the Sun.
Venus was a larger 2 mm grain of sand, 18 m (54') away from the Sun.
Earth was a slightly larger 2.1 mm grain, 25 m (75') away from the Sun - it was pretty mind boggling to see just how small the Earth really is, and how far away from the Sun. The Moon was even smaller than Mercury, 0.5 mm - barely visible speck of dust - 7.5 cm (3") away from Earth.
Mars was a 1 mm grain of sand, 37 m (100') away from the Sun.
Jupiter was a 2.3 cm (1") large marble. We had to walk 135 m (400') from the soccer ball to keep things at the correct scale. At this point we had to take a turn around the corner, and we "reached Jupiter".
Saturn was a slightly smaller 2 cm (0.8") marble. At 230 m (700') from the Sun, we had to walk a couple blocks to locate the planet.
Uranus was an 8 mm (1/3") peanut. Distance to the Sun: 470 m (1/3 of a mile), near Peet's cafe on the corner at the shopping center.
Neptune was also around 8 mm (1/3") peanut, 750 m (half a mile) away from Sun. We had to walk all the way to the kids' school to "reach Neptune".
Pluto and Charon are two very tiny, barely visible grains of sand, 0.3 mm and 0.2 mm, 1 km (2/3 of a mile) away from the Sun - right in the middle of the park near the school. The Pluto / Charon distance is 3 mm.
The speed of light in this scale model is 5 cm/sec (2"/sec) - the speed of a large ant, running. It takes light (the ant) 3 minutes to go from Sun to Mercury, 5 min to reach Venus, 8 min to Earth, 13 min to Mars, 45 min to Jupiter, 74 min to Saturn, 1.5 hours to Uranus, 4 hours to Neptune, and 5 and 1/2 hours to Pluto. Of course, we walked faster than light, just like a Star Trek starship. :)
The nearest star, Alpha Centauri, at 4.3 light-years, would be another soccer ball, just a tiny bit bigger than the Sun, located in... Greenland (we're in California). That totally blew my mind. So, an ant would go from California to Greenland in 4 years and 4 months. Yup, figures.
The Solar System is really, really huge - but it's nothing compared to the rest of the Universe.JPQL is a powerful query language that allows you to define database queries based on your entity model. Its structure and syntax are very similar to SQL. But there is an important difference that I want to point out before I walk you through the different parts of a JPQL query.
JPQL uses the entity object model instead of database tables to define a query. That makes it very comfortable for us Java developers, but you have to keep in mind that the database still uses SQL. Hibernate, or any other JPA implementation, has to transform the JPQL query into SQL. It is, therefore, a good practice to activate the logging of the SQL statements during development to check the generated SQL statements.
Entity Model
Before we dive into the details of JPQL, let’s have a quick look at the entity model I use for all examples.
It consists of an Author who has written one or more Publications. A Publication can be a Book or a BlogPost. A Book might have been published by one Publisher.
Selection – The FROM clause
The FROM clause defines from which entities the data gets selected. Hibernate, or any other JPA implementation, maps the entities to the according database tables.
The syntax of a JPQL FROM clause is similar to SQL but uses the entity model instead of table or column names. The following code snippet shows a simple JPQL query in which I select all Author entities.
SELECT a FROM Author a
As you can see, I reference the Author entity instead of the author table and assign the identification variable a to it. The identification variable is often called alias and is similar to a variable in your Java code. It is used in all other parts of the query to reference this entity.
Joining multiple entities
Inner Joins
If you want to select data from more than one entity, e.g., all authors and the books they’ve written, you have to join the entities in the FROM clause. The easiest way to do that is to use the defined associations of an entity like in the following code snippet.
SELECT a, b FROM Author a JOIN a.books b
The definition of the Author entity provides all information Hibernate needs to join it to the Book entity, and you don’t have to provide an additional ON statement. In this example, Hibernate uses the primary keys of the Author and Book entity to join them via the association table of the many-to-many association.
JOINs of unrelated entities are not supported by the JPA specification, but you can use a theta join which creates a cartesian product and restricts it in the WHERE clause to the records with matching foreign and primary keys. I use this approach in the following example to join the Book with the Publisher entities.
SELECT b, p FROM Book b, Publisher p WHERE b.fk_publisher = p.id
You can read more about this workaround and Hibernates proprietary support for JOINs of unrelated entities in How to join unrelated entities with JPA and Hibernate.
Left Outer Joins
INNER JOINs, like the one in the previous example, require that the selected entities fulfill the join condition. The query returned only the Author entities with associated Book entities but not the ones for which the database doesn’t contain a Book entity. If you want to include the authors without published books, you have to use a LEFT JOIN, like in the following code snippet.
SELECT a, b FROM Author a LEFT JOIN a.books b
Additional Join Conditions
The previous examples use the defined association to join the entities. But sometimes you only want to join the related entities which fulfill additional conditions. Since JPA 2.1, you can do this for INNER JOINs, and LEFT JOINs with an additional ON statement.
SELECT a, p FROM Author a JOIN a.publications p ON p.publishingDate >?1
Path expressions or implicit joins
Path expressions create implicit joins and are one of the benefits provided by the entity model. You can use the ‘.’ operator to navigate to related entities as I do in the following code snippet.
SELECT b FROM Book b WHERE b.publisher.name LIKE ‘%es%
As you can see, I use the ‘.’ operator to navigate via the publisher attribute of the Book entity b to the related Publisher entities. That creates an implicit join between the Book and Publisher entity which will be translated into an additional join statement in the SQL query.
Polymorphism and Downcasting
Polymorphism
When you choose an inheritance strategy that supports polymorphic queries, your query selects all instances of the specified class and its subclasses. With the model in the example for this blog post, you can, for example, select all Publication entities, which are either Book or BlogPost entities.
SELECT p FROM Publication p
Or you can select a specific subtype of a Publication, like a BlogPost.
SELECT b FROM BlogPost b
Downcasting
Since JPA 2.1, you can also use the TREAT operator for downcasting in FROM and WHERE clauses. I use that in the following code snippet to select all Author entities with their related Book entities. As you can see in the model, the publications association defines an association between the Author and the Publication entity. So without the TREAT operator, the query would return all Author entities with their associated Book or BlogPost entities.
SELECT a, p FROM Author a JOIN treat (a.publications AS Book) p
ATTENTION: There are several issues with the implementation of TREAT in Hibernate 5.1. Based on my experiments, Hibernate 5.1 handles TREAT only, if it is written in lower case and used in the WHERE clause. The treat operator in this example is ignored by Hibernate 5.1.0.Final.
Restriction – The WHERE clause
The next important part of a JPQL query is the WHERE clause which you can use to restrict the selected entities to the ones you need for your use case. The syntax is very similar to SQL, but JPQL supports only a small subset of the SQL features. If you need more sophisticated features for your query, you can use a native SQL query.
JPQL supports a set of basic operators to define comparison expressions. Most of them are identical to the comparison operators supported by SQL, and you can combine them with the logical operators AND, OR and NOT into more complex expressions.
Operators for single-valued expressions:
Equal: author.id = 10
Not equal: author.id <> 10
Greater than: author.id > 10
Greater or equal then: author.id => 10
Smaller than: author.id < 10
Smaller or equal then: author.id <= 10
Between: author.id |
NASA regarding this finding below:Story highlights Federal judge approves compensation plan to address racial bias
"Historical discrimination cannot be undone," judge writes
Black farmers testified that the settlement may not fully resolve problems
Tens of thousands of American farmers who suffered racial discrimination by the U.S. Agriculture Department in the 1980s and '90s may start getting compensation from a $1.25 billion settlement, a federal judge has ruled.
"I'm very pleased that this has resolved itself," U.S. District judge Paul Friedman said Friday. "It will provide relief to an awful lot of people."
In an opinion filed in the case, Friedman deemed fair a proposed settlement that provides a system of compensation for black farmers who joined a class-action lawsuit claiming that they can prove racial bias in decisions related to Agriculture Department programs and support.
"Historical discrimination cannot be undone," Friedman wrote, citing a basis to establish payments "for the broken promise to those African-American farmers and their descendants."
As many as 68,000 African-American farmers who filed between 1999 and 2008 would apply for one of two forms of relief: "Track A" for a qualified claimant would lead to an uncontested payout of $50,000 after taxes, and "Track B" could yield up to $250,000 for damages that are substantiated by documents and other evidence.
"So many farmers had given up hope that this would ever come to pass," said John Boyd, the head of the National Black Farmers Association.
Lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department and the plaintiffs stood before Friedman at a fairness hearing in September and said they were in agreement on the terms and conditions of the payout. The judge also heard from farmers who were against the proposal, including those who said they wanted to opt out and seek a higher level of damages than proposed.
But Friedman said Congress, in legislation that funded the proposed settlement, gave him very little latitude to step around the conditions lawmakers had specified, or else the funding could be withdrawn.
Instead, farmers and their attorneys will advance their claims before a review panel consisting of retired judges and other neutral parties with expertise in the matter during prolonged litigation.
Friday, Boyd said that "It's gonna take about a year to run all the farmers through the system, each case will have to be looked at in a forum that's also looked at by the court. Once the cases are checked, then the farmers start to get their money."
President Obama said in a statement that the settlement "is another important step forward in addressing an unfortunate chapter in USDA's civil rights history. This agreement will provide overdue relief and justice to African-American farmers and bring us closer to the ideals of freedom and equality that this country was founded on."
The implementation of the settlement to redress racial bias against black farmers comes during the term of the nation's first African-American president, a point not lost during Friday's White House briefing with reporters.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said, "it's an important accomplishment for everyone involved, not least, I mean, not just obviously this president, but a lot of people who were involved of both parties over the years in making this come to a conclusion in a way that is supported by a bipartisan majority."
The judge in the case also noted cooperation among congressional lawmakers, who put aside political differences when the settlement funding was added to a farm bill, and earlier, when lawmakers allowed more aggrieved black farmers to join the case by amending the statute of limitations.
At the courthouse Friday, Friedman recalled details of presiding over the Pigford v. Glickman case in the 1990s, named after Tim Pigford, a black farmer who claimed racial bias in applications for USDA programs and financing.
"The farmers didn't think anything would come of it. They had been disappointed over the years by the government," Friedman said, "yet 16,000 of them collected something like $1.1 billion in that case."
Word spread that the government was willing to pay reparations, but other farmers who had valid claims of bias had missed the deadline to file. Friedman said Congress and the president then extended the statute of limitations "to get these disappointed people back in the case."
Boyd said the problem now is making sure farmers who became "late filers" are now aware the settlement is ready to go.
"Some of these guys were in their 60s and maybe by now have passed away," Boyd said. "Their family needs to know that if Daddy filed, they can still pursue his claim."
Attorney General Eric Holder said Friday that the settlement helps "African-American farmers to focus on the future and brings us one step closer to giving these farmers a chance to have their claims heard."
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who in recent years easily acknowledged a history of racial bias among federal and local staff members in managing farm programs, said Friday that he is "thrilled by the court's approval so we can continue turning the page on this sad chapter in USDA history."
Friedman, reflecting on having spent more than 10 years on the case, said a documented history of African-American farming is a side benefit from all the research that has gone into "Pigford I" and "Pigford II," as the follow-up case became known.
Many African-American farmers were boosted "during the WPA in the 1930s, the Works Project Administration," Friedman said, when government officials were "thinking about jobs for people."
There was a detailed account of farming "from the Civil War to the present" he said, but then efforts for such a historical record stopped.
With the two Pigford cases come details on the farming lives of tens of thousands of African-Americans that Friedman said will stand as "a case history of the claimants parents and grandparents." He said historians and lawyers will figure out how to make that record public while respecting privacy concerns.Our sense of virtue evolved in the context of groups living under immense scarcity. Consider the virtue that one shouldn’t be overly self-indulgent (because resources must be rationed). Or the suggestions against taking on debts (r > g for foragers, so borrow wisely). Even honor, that most sacred virtue, seems to work particularly well in environments where “a man’s resources can be thieved in full.”
How should, say, “hedonistic self-gratification” look to a sensibility sculpted by absence? More than a vice, for our ancestors it was solipsistic to the point of immorality. Today still, commentators from religious conservatives to anti-consumerist liberals continue to treat hedonism as an anti-virtue despite economic abundance. Even among the strongest followers of self-gratification, there is a self-awareness that something about hedonism is at least figuratively satanic.
Of course, our virtues and vices needn’t be connected to the facts on the ground of the contemporary environment to be things we still hold valuable. In this sense, modern civilization made all values vestigial and many of them, like the scarcity mindset, potentially maladaptive. At the very least, many of our past vices have lost their edge. Character flaws once thought immoral are now deserving of respect. “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” is my favorite example of a virtue as opposed to moral act, in particular for how ubiquitous it is in theology. “Be clean” and “Don’t kill” are both statements of value however hygiene is self-directed while murder is directed at inter-relations between selves. For religious fundamentalists there’s no distinction between virtues and morals, so they happily label homosexuality, masturbation, drug use, blasphemy and so on as equally sinful and dirty.
There are some immediate political implications of this realization (beyond re-branding the “moral majority” the “virtuous majority”). For instance, in this light the Straussian critique of liberalism as leading towards nihilism had it backwards: abundance enabled classical liberalism to enshrine individualism and laws that strive only to abridge human freedom in order to correct interpersonal harms, not individual character flaws or poor showering technique.
Of course, “no man is an island” is still true. There are many personal vices that are apt to spill over into the public domain, which ponces may want to regulate to varying degrees. I could only support this if personal values were not directly imposed on others (piety may be virtuous, but forcing others to be pious is theocratic).
Liberals since Mill and Bentham generally opposed regulating virtue. They said: ingest, do, believe and feel what you will as long as it doesn’t interfere with my ability to do the same. Yet they never said “murder, slander, vandalize” because these are decidedly inter-personally moral in nature.
Our psychology may be social, but the largest unit of psychological consideration is still an individual’s mind – the subject in subjective. Communitarian political systems and puritanical societies aren’t immoral a priori. It all depends on the sincerity of the citizens, how institutionalized the values are, and the nature of transaction cost. If you live in a Buddhist commune but your favorite book is The Virtue of Selfishness, it only becomes illiberal when you’re not permitted to leave.
Meanwhile, the five best scarcity-mindset coping mechanisms according to this psychologist read like they were written by an ancient stoic. Go figure.
A great conversation about this post is happening on Reddit here. This post, and Sweet Talk itself, is about creating conversations, so I’m highly grateful for all the constructive engagement.
AdvertisementsDo you believe Richard Dawkins exists?
by Ellen Barrington
Published: 24 February 2011 (GMT+10)
Photo by Matti Á, flickr.com
Do you believe in Richard Dawkins? If your answer was yes, why? Most of us have assumed Dawkins’ existence based on very little evidence. I for one have never met him. And though I’ve seen a couple of pieces of video footage, a few pictures and his name as author on a number of books, when you think about it, it’s not that substantial. I’ve seen video clips and pictures of ‘Santa Claus’, too. And authors use pseudonyms all the time, so there’s no telling who really wrote The God Delusion or The Greatest Show on Earth. By now you’re probably thinking, ‘Of course he exists; I’ve never seen direct evidence but I have good reason to believe he does.’ And even though your belief is based on faith, it’s a reasonable faith to hold. Ultimately, nothing in this world can be scientifically proven with 100% certainty. As humans with fallible reasoning and limited resources, we often have to come to similarly faith-based conclusions, based on the weight of evidence.
We use such reasoning, involving logical deductions and inferences, frequently in everyday life. It’s why I’ve come to believe that I am surrounded in air, even though I can’t see it. And it’s why I believe that there is a country called Uzbekistan, thousands of kilometres away from my home, even though I’ve never been there.
In fact, I would argue that I have seen far more evidence for the existence of God than for the existence of Dawkins.
In the same way, I have also been convinced that there is a God who created the world and everything in it, specifically the God of the Bible. In fact, I would argue that I have seen far more evidence for the existence of God than for the existence of Dawkins. Skeptical? Let’s look at some of the evidence for a Creator God.
God cannot be directly measured or detected by scientific means, and the larger scientific community claims that this is a good reason to deny His existence. Dr Scott Todd, an immunologist at Kansas State University, once stated that “even if all the data point to an intelligent designer, such an hypothesis is excluded from science because it is not naturalistic”.1 In other words, supernatural creation, and miracles, are ruled out philosophically, whether true or not.
The existence of everything around us
Most evolutionists believe that the matter and energy in the entire universe, and the laws of physics themselves, ultimately appeared from nothing, out of nowhere, for no reason. Then the astronomical universe—the orderly system of stars, galaxies and planets—came into existence through entirely natural processes, all by itself. If we were to assume the truth of this astonishing claim, the next question is how life arose on earth. Evolutionists claim it occurred by abiogenesis, i.e. life arising from non-living matter, by itself. Yet current scientific evidence only supports biogenesis, i.e. that life arises from living matter. Biogenesis is one of the most basic biological laws. Scientists today laugh at the idea of ‘spontaneous generation’— a theory prevalent in the 1800s that proposed that life could spontaneously arise from non-living matter (for example maggots arising spontaneously from rotting meat) — and yet the idea of abiogenesis is exactly that, spontaneous generation of life from non-life! It is far more logical to attribute the existence of matter, life and the universe to an Intelligent Designer.
Irreducible complexity and the impossibility of evolution
Michael Behe, associate professor of biochemistry from Lehigh University, studied the cell and many biochemical systems in extensive detail. He concluded from his studies that many of these remarkably systems displayed a complexity that was irreducible, i.e. it could not have arisen by natural means because every part of the particular system (e.g. the clotting system in the body, the chemistry of vision, and others) is vital to the functioning of every other part of the cell and hence the entire system must have come into existence at once, as it exists today. Not step by step, with each step being useful, as evolution demands.
In his book, Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution, Behe concluded that “to a person who does not feel obliged to restrict his search to unintelligent causes, the straightforward conclusion is that many biochemical systems were designed.”2 The same is true not just for cells, but for complex organs and even ecosystems. Even Darwin could see the damage that irreducible complexity would cause to his theory, stating that “if it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.”3
God has placed enough evidence in the world around us to convict us of a Creator ( Romans 1:20 ).
Irreducible complexity aside, evolution is a physical impossibility. While there is natural variation in the gene pool of different kinds of animals that is responsible for much of the variety we see today, the idea that pond scum eventually became humans is not so easily explained. Evolutionists claim that ‘goo-to-you’ evolution is possible by means of mutations and natural selection, however, mutations are usually harmful and even those that can be beneficial are virtually always degenerative—i.e. they involve a loss of information.4 Natural selection is a process that occurs in nature, favouring species that are better adapted to their environment, however, natural selection is not evolution. It is a culling process that decreases genetic variation rather than increases it.5 Without evolution to explain the existence of the complex organisms we see today, a Creator God is the only logical explanation.
The transitional fossils are also conspicuous by their absence. In Origin of the Species, Darwin stated that the fossil record should contain large numbers of chains of ‘innumerable transitional forms”, and blamed the poverty of the fossil record in his day for the fact that there were none such. Today, with millions of tons of fossils available to them, at best evolutionists can point to a handful of disputable candidates, which frequently get discarded as future research makes them untenable.6
The Design Inference
What would be your reaction if I told you that the computer you’re using arose from natural processes rather than the intelligent design of a computer manufacturer? How about if I told you the house or building that you are in came about by natural means of wind, rain and erosion of the landscape? We all have the ability to see when something has been designed. William Dembski, a mathematician and philosopher, identified the factors that allow us to recognise that something has been designed—low probability and specificity.7 Where we see something that specifies information or a pattern and there is a low probability that this would arise by chance, we recognise it as design. These factors have led many to believe that the orderliness of the universe and life itself is attributable to a Divine Creator.
The information we find in living things, specifically DNA, is highly specified and extremely low in probability. DNA is the best information storage mechanism known to man. A single pinhead of DNA contains as much information as could be stored on 2 million two-terabyte hard drives.8 Even Dawkins himself admits that “biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose.”9 God has placed enough evidence in the world around us to convict us of a Creator (Romans 1:20). So there’s plenty of evidence all around us that we were created, but Who created us? Scientific, geological, archaeological and historical evidence points to the God of the Bible as our Creator.
Conclusion
The evidence for the existence of God is far more conclusive than the evidence that I have personally seen for the existence of Richard Dawkins. To be honest, I’m pretty sure Dawkins exists too. But I’m even surer of the existence of God.
Editor’s note: readers might be amused by the following parody, The Dawkins Delusion:It may not be as beautiful, but it will rise. It is weird to think about a life without adjectives. What a world it would be. There would be no commentary from the writer on any noun, no more tall people, mustached men, sad cats.
But the sun would still rise. Children would still play. The world would continue to revolve. Life would be less interesting one might say; however, I would challenge that the world would be tasked to write smarter. Instead of having the ease of pairing adjectives with nouns, we would have to find nouns that already incapsulated the idea or a verb that displayed that idea. For awhile, it would be odd, but in the end our writing would become remarkable. This world is a place that you may not choose to inhabit, but it may be a good place to travel to for extended periods of time.
What I task you with today is find those adjectives and try to rewrite those sentences with a stronger noun/verb. Look at your sentences, and strike out the adjectives. You will see your writing strength improve, and your ability to communicate will be at a level you have never seen. Trust me.
Because regardless of whether you succeed or fail, tomorrow the giant will prevail.Looking for news you can trust?
Subscribe to our free newsletters.
This story originally appeared on the OnEarth website.
Down in the hole that used to be Rana Plaza, the crushed remains of half a dozen cars were still waiting for removal, and next to them was a broken mannequin. She was lying on her back. She wore a pair of tight purple knee-length pants, but she was naked above the waist. Her torso had been severed in a neat diagonal below the right breast, but her head was intact. She had ivory skin, a pink rosebud mouth, ash-blonde hair brushed straight back off her forehead, and piercing blue eyes that stared up without expression at the sky.
More than 1,100 Bangladeshi garment workers died here in April, almost half as many as died in the World Trade Center. Yet the first thing that hit me about Rana Plaza was how small it was. The footprint of the building was not much larger than a basketball court. The site of the Twin Towers covered 16 acres. All that remained of Rana Plaza now was this shallow pit, a few inches deep in muddy water from the pre-monsoon rains, ringed by mountains of rubble and twisted rebar and damp piles of half-sewn clothing and bolts of brightly colored cloth.
The building next door was still under construction. Its façade had been stuck on, a thin veneer of blue reflective glass, but the interior was just a raw skeleton of brick and mortar walls and concrete pillars. It was hard not to wonder whether it would be any safer from collapse than Rana Plaza had been, whether its construction had involved the same unholy collusion between venal developers and corrupt local politicians. I took the unfinished stairway to the top floor and found that the upper levels had suffered a good deal of collateral damage. Huge segments of the roof had bellied downward and were propped up in a tentative way with culms of bamboo. Whole walls had been blown out by the force of the collapse, and papers from the upper floors of Rana Plaza had floated in. Even two months after the disaster, many were still strewn about in the wreckage. There were cards with samples of buttons and zippers, and pattern forms and order books and cutting instructions. Many of these related to contracts with the United Colors of Benetton, headquartered in Treviso, Italy, and were shakily translated from the Italian for workers who couldn’t speak English (regolare bene le tensione delle macchine—”adjuste better the tension machine”).
You could see the mannequin and the pattern books, of course, as a simple parable of the modern world economy, the hidden costs of a global supply chain that keeps us well supplied with cheap consumer goods. Many of the journalists who flocked here after the disaster probed the raw nerve of our moral culpability, although mostly they hewed to the conventional tragedy-in-a-poor-country narrative: evil owner (which he was), innocent victims (which they were), the one miraculous survivor. (There always is one in these stories; at Rana Plaza it was a woman who somehow made it out alive after being trapped in the rubble for 17 days.)
Yet while the image of the broken, blue-eyed mannequin haunted me, I wondered if it really captured the full story behind the catastrophe. It seemed to me that there were deeper meanings to be uncovered. Who were these women? Why had they left their rural homes and flocked to Dhaka, probably the most unlivable, environmentally blighted mega-city in the world? In the end, I found that it wasn’t the mannequin that held the answers, or the Benetton patterns. It was those few inches of rainwater in the pit. For water is the existential curse of Bangladesh, and it is the point of intersection between the two stories that periodically drive this country of 160 million into the headlines: its disaster-plagued garment industry and its extreme vulnerability to climate change.
* * *
The twin garment centers of Savar (where Rana Plaza was located) and nearby Mirpur (the most rapidly growing area of the city) lie on the northwestern outskirts of Dhaka. The capital of Bangladesh today is a city of 15 or 16 million, and that number is swelled each year by more than 400,000 migrants from rural areas. By 2020 the population may reach 20 million. By 2030, it will rise to 25, even 30 million. “That’s when our real nightmare begins,” said Babar Kabir, senior director for disaster, environment, and climate change at BRAC, a giant NGO that occupies a 21-story building in Dhaka. “Will the city even survive?” Like many educated Bangladeshis, Kabir affects a kind of droll gallows humor in describing his country’s calamities. But when he posed this question, I think he was entirely serious. The whole city, he seemed to imply, was like Rana Plaza on an epic scale, a rickety, jerrybuilt structure that might eventually collapse.
A growing number of the new rural migrants are young women, mainly poor and uneducated, drawn to Dhaka by the promise of work in the apparel industry, which now employs more than three and a half million people, mostly in and around the capital. They will work for ten hours a day, six days a week, and often more, starting at the minimum wage of 3,000 taka a month—about $37. But that’s only one way to look at the industry. Another is that it accounts for fully 80 percent of Bangladesh’s export earnings. Growing at 12 percent a year, it is the single factor driving the country’s progression from one of the world’s poorest to what J. P. Morgan calls one of the “Frontier Five” emerging economies, along with Kazakhstan, Kenya, Nigeria, and Vietnam. For European and US buyers, Bangladesh is the new China—because rising wage levels and labor shortages are pricing China’s garment factories steadily out of the market. Newly prosperous Chinese are more likely these days to wear Benetton clothes than to sew them.
For migrants from rural Bangladesh, then, jobs in the apparel industry, no matter how unsafe and poorly paid, are the pull. But what is the push?
In essence, it’s water. Some Bangladeshis have too much of it, and others, paradoxically, too little. But for almost everyone, there is too little of the right kind—the kind you need for your household needs, for farming, for keeping your children healthy. “We are a country of rivers, but we have no water to drink,” said Shirin Akhter, the founder of an NGO called Karmojibi Nari (Working Women) and a veteran advocate for the garment workers.
Two of Asia’s great rivers cut through the western half of Bangladesh, and their combined floodplains are never more than a few feet above sea level. The Ganges—which Bangladeshis call the Padma—snakes its way into the country across the Indian border. The Brahmaputra pours down from the mountains of Tibet. A little way west of Dhaka, the two rivers merge to form the Meghna. By the time it reaches the Indian Ocean and straggles off into an ever-shifting archipelago of low-lying islands and sandbanks, the Meghna is 20 miles wide. Stretching westward to the Indian border and beyond are the “100 Mouths of the Ganges,” a vast delta of smaller rivers and channels and the labyrinthine mangrove forests of the Sundarbans, last redoubt of the Bengal tiger. And this whole area lies squarely in the path of the ferocious cyclones that gather their strength from the warming waters of the Bay of Bengal.
“We are a country of rivers, but we have no water to drink.”
The monsoon, which finally broke in full force three days after my visit to Rana Plaza, would subject Bangladesh to its customary annual floods. Rivers would burst their banks, inundating farmland. Entire sections of riverbank would succumb to the force of the current, dumping fields and homes into the water. On occasion, the Ganges has even been known to swallow up entire villages. Huge and laden with silt, the rivers would continue to carve out new channels and alter their course. As one illustration of this, the river that curls around the western edge of Dhaka is called the Buriganga, or “old Ganga.” The reason is that several centuries ago it was connected to the Ganges. Today the big river is 40 miles away.
* * *
It is from these sodden places that the garment workers and other migrants flock to Dhaka. The easy shorthand is to call them “climate refugees.” That term had recently come into vogue when I last visited Bangladesh five years ago, after a monstrous cyclone named Sidr battered the country and scientists began to run scary projections of the numbers of people who would eventually be driven from their homes by sea-level rise and ever-fiercer storms. Now it’s understood that “climate refugees” is a crude oversimplification. Better, I was told by Sarat Dash, the chief of mission in Bangladesh for the International Organization for Migration, to speak of “environmental migrants,” because that captures the full complexity of their situation, embracing the interplay of factors—some dramatic, others more subtle—that drive them from their homes.
Yes, Dash agreed, the ocean was still the headline-grabber. “If there’s a one-meter rise in the sea level, that will lead to the loss of 18 percent of our land area,” he said. “That means 11 percent of our population, and that means 17 million people.” And people, as Babar Kabir had told me a couple of days earlier, “are not so stupid as to just sit there and die.”
Yet there may be a whole tapestry of other reasons behind any given family’s decision to move. Migration specialists distinguish “slow-onset” environmental change from change that is “sudden” or “extreme.” A cyclone or a storm surge is extreme, but unless it wipes out a family’s livelihood completely, it may provoke only short-term migration to a nearby town or village, followed by return home when conditions permit. Dash calls this “circular migration.” While less visibly traumatic, it’s the slow-onset change that is more pernicious.
In the coastal southwest, it may be the steady seep of salt into farm fields and drinking wells as a result of the encroaching ocean and the diminished flow of rivers in the dry months, which reduces their ability to flush the salt back out to sea. In the early stages, a farmer will begin to notice that he is harvesting less rice, a fisherman that his catch is smaller, a pastoralist that there is less grazing land. Steadily things grow worse until he runs out of ways to adapt. Perhaps the worst affected area is Barisal district, along the lower reaches of the Meghna, which accounts for almost a quarter of all migrants to Dhaka, including, as I would discover, a large number of garment workers.
In the drier northwest, north of the Ganges, the problem is often a rapidly declining water table and recurrent crop failures. “With population growth, the extraction of groundwater and surface water is getting pretty enormous,” Kabir said, “and with climate change it becomes a semi-permanent problem.” When people leave in response to slow-onset changes like these, they tend to leave for good.
* * *
And so they come to Dhaka, a thousand or more every day, even as the experts debate whether their movement is a legitimate adaptation to climate change or proof that the effort to help people adapt to harsher conditions has failed. This may sound like an arcane distinction, but in fact it’s hugely important, because billions of dollars—in government budgets and international aid—are at stake. Where should the money go? To improve conditions in climate-threatened rural areas so that people can stay in their homes? Or to invest more in the cities, accepting that the battle against forced migration is lost? Or both? Opinions are deeply split.
The flight from sea-level rise, flooding, storms, and the loss of farmland has a powerful cascade effect on the city. Once they arrive in Dhaka, migrants find that they face a new version of the very thing they were trying to escape, trading one form of water scarcity and pollution for another, and aggravating the problem by the simple fact of their own presence. Generally it’s the main breadwinner who comes first, his family following in stages as he gains a foothold in the city. As likely as not he’ll start off as a pavement-dweller. Tracking opportunities by word of mouth, he may find work as a day laborer or a garbage picker, a seller of tannery scraps or a brick-breaker or a security guard, sitting all night on a plastic chair in the dark outside a parking garage or an ATM booth. Many will join the ranks of rickshaw-pullers, earning 230 taka a day ($3) pumping the pedals of one of the 600,000 or more machines that careen around Dhaka’s overcrowded streets, many of them decorated with bright, wistful fantasies of a rural world filled with blue lakes, brightly painted cottages, tropical flowers, swans and peacocks, deer and tigers.
The migrant will find a place to live in a basti, one of Dhaka’s hundreds of slum areas, some no more than a precarious straggle of bamboo stilt houses along a polluted canal, others virtual townships of 100,000 or more, with their own complex internal economy and social order. He’ll sleep in a room that measures six feet by eight, perhaps sharing his bed with other men working rotating shifts, paying his monthly 700 taka to the local slumlord. “It’s like the Godfather or Al Capone,” Kabir said. “There’s a whole invisible pyramid of lieutenants and sublieutenants and rent collectors. And if you fall behind on payments, you’ll get a visit from the mastaan, the muscleman.” As for potable water, unless some kindly NGO has installed a tap, the migrant may have nowhere to turn but to the “gray business” that controls its sale in the slums, often paying more than 50 times as much for a liter of potable water as middle-class people who get it from their faucets.
Once they arrive in Dhaka, migrants find that they face a new version of the very thing they were trying to escape.
As he puts down fragile roots, the man’s family will join him, sometimes one by one, sometimes all at once, the sons following his pursuit of menial jobs and the women bound for domestic service, manual labor, or the apparel industry. But increasingly, the women who flock to the garment factories also come alone, or to join a sibling or a friend from the same village. “These are often adventurous young women,” Kabir told me, “and they need to find an honest middleman, because there are plenty of others out there who will take them for a ride, sell them into brothels or traffic them across the border into commercial sex work in India.” Sometimes women will even be drawn into Bangladesh’s booming black market in human organs, cajoled into selling a kidney for the equivalent of a year of minimum wages. Once a young woman finds a job, kinship is the engine that drives much of the subsequent recruitment: she does well, she recommends her sister, who then calls a cousin, and so on until a half-dozen members of the family may be working in the factories of Savar and Mirpur.
The less fortunate may find their way to the sweatshops that serve the domestic market, where I met 11- and 12-year-old boys and girls working 80-hour weeks to keep up with demand. (We forget, with all the talk of the Benettons and Gaps and WalMarts, that 160 million Bangladeshis also need a steady supply of cheap saris and lungis, pants and T-shirts.) Many of these miniature factories are strung out along the west bank of the Buriganga, which runs sluggish and foul, biologically dead, almost black in color, coated with an iridescent sheen of spilled oil. In the whole of Bangladesh there is just a single sewage treatment plant; located on the southern outskirts of Dhaka, it can deal with less than 10 percent of the sewage generated in the city. The rest, 1,100 tons of untreated human waste each day, goes straight into the rivers, ponds, canals, and gutters.
Dhaka’s poorest bastis occupy the lowest and most flood-prone sections of the city, inundated during each monsoon system with sewage-tainted water that brings disease in its wake. Overall, rainfall in Bangladesh has declined as the climate changes, but the rains are now more concentrated in the peak months of the monsoon season, more than doubling in volume in August alone over the past 20 years. “The city’s drainage system is equipped to deal with 10 millimeters of rain [less than half an inch],” said Iftekhar Mahmud, a senior reporter for Prothom Alo, the leading Bangla-language newspaper, who has reputedly written more on climate change than any other journalist in the country. “But we often get 10 or 20 times that much in a single day.” To make matters worse, the natural drainage areas that are critical in buffering the monsoon floods have steadily been encroached upon as land grabbers pump them dry to put up new housing, much of it illegal. Bangladeshis call this sandfill; one new development I saw on drained land next to the Buriganga covered nearly 400 acres, more than half a square mile.
* * *
If the horrors of Rana Plaza made us think about the industry behind our clothing labels, the image it conjured was probably one of rows of women bent over sewing machines. But this is only the top layer of the apparel pyramid. Beneath it are thousands of other, less visible workplaces, without which there is nothing to sew in the first place. No cloth, woven, colored, and patterned; no leather to be fashioned into belts, shoes, and sneakers, or the decorative trim on blue jeans. And the impact of these hidden links in the global supply chain on Bangladesh’s scarce supply of clean water is hard to grasp until you see it up close.
I went out one hot, humid morning to a neighborhood called Hazaribagh, which is home to virtually all of Bangladesh’s tanneries and the single worst source of pollution of the Buriganga. I stopped outside the Salma Leather Factory and chatted with a woman who was laying out rough squares of cowhide to dry on a garbage-strewn patch of waste ground. I wasn’t surprised when she told me that like many people in Hazaribagh, she was originally from Barisal District, a farming village near the mouth of the Meghna. Two of her brothers had found work in the garment factories, she said. Nearby, a grizzled older man, helped by a girl of 10 or 11, was trampling scraps of dried meat that had been scraped off the hides, reducing them to powdered fishmeal or chicken feed. Two other men squatted at the edge of a garbage dump, surrounded by piles of old shoes, painstakingly separating out the leather from the rubber and plastic, which they said would be melted down to make new soles. Nothing goes to waste in Dhaka—nothing, that is, except water.
I asked if I could look around inside the factory. The foreman, whose name was Bahar, a paunchy, barrel-chested man with a bushy beard, said that would be fine. Business was slow right now; Hazaribagh was waiting for the Shab-e-Barat, the “night of deliverance,” at the end of June, when there would be a mass slaughter of animals. Tons of meat for the feasting; tons of hides for the tanneries.
What they produced here, he said, was “wet blue,” the first stage of leather manufacturing. Later the hides would be shipped off to a separate plant to be turned into “crust leather,” and then to a third factory for finishing. “Wet blue” is the dirtiest and most dangerous part of the industry. The conditions in the windowless, unventilated shed would have shocked Engels or Dickens, and they lived in an age before the invention of synthetic chemicals. Bahar showed me how the hides are softened for 24 hours in huge, rotating wooden drums |
image.
I have contacted Apple about this problem and their suggestion was to disable the “Load Remote Images” option. To do this you need to go Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars and look for the “Load Remote Images” in the Mail section. You need to disable this option to protect yourself against this attack. However by disabling this option, if somebody sends you an email with an embedded image you will not be able to see it.
Another option to prevent such an attack is to simply set a strong password for your home router.
Share this postMichael Flynn Resigns As Trump's National Security Adviser
Enlarge this image toggle caption Carolyn Kaster/AP Carolyn Kaster/AP
Updated at 9:59 a.m. ET Feb. 14
President Trump's national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned late Monday night amid allegations he inappropriately talked about U.S. sanctions with a Russian official, and later allegedly misled then-Vice President-elect Pence about the conversations. Flynn spoke with the Russian ambassador in December, before Trump was inaugurated.
Flynn issued a statement through the White House Monday evening that said he had made numerous phone calls with foreign officials to facilitate the transition, and made a mistake in what he told Pence:
Politics After Missteps, Rumors Of Massive White House Shakeup After Missteps, Rumors Of Massive White House Shakeup Listen · 4:08 4:08
"Unfortunately, because of the fast pace of events, I inadvertently briefed the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador. I have sincerely apologized to the President and the Vice President, and they have accepted my apology."
Trump has named an acting national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Joseph Kellogg.
Almost immediately upon Flynn's resignation, names began to surface of potential replacements. The leading contender is retired Vice Adm. Robert S. Harward, a former U.S. Navy SEAL who once worked for the National Security Council and now works as an executive for Lockheed Martin. Other contenders are Kellogg, who has been temporarily elevated from the position of chief of staff in the National Security Council and who is vying to keep the top security spot permanently.
Former CIA Director and retired Gen. David Petraeus is also in the mix. Petraeus fell from grace during the Obama administration after he was accused of sharing classified information with a woman who was his biographer and with whom he was also having an extramarital affair.
In the wake of Flynn's exit from the new administration, lawmakers in Russia sought to defend him and said his absence from the White House would damage relations with the Kremlin, the Washington Post reported early Tuesday.
Flynn's near-midnight resignation capped a confusing evening in which the White House sent mixed signals about the embattled presidential adviser's fate.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer had said the White House was "evaluating the situation" when it comes to Flynn.
But, just an hour earlier, a senior Trump adviser, Kellyanne Conway, said on MSNBC that the president continued to have "full confidence" in Flynn.
Notably, however, Trump declined to express that same sentiment. When asked by White House reporters in a scrum in the West Wing if he had "full confidence" in Flynn, Trump deferred to a statement to come. (Trump did, however, express full confidence in Chief of Staff Reince Priebus. "Reince is doing a great job," Trump said. "Not a good job. A great job.")
"Look at the statement, look at the statement," Trump said.
Spicer was asked if he had the statement and read it:
"The president is evaluating the situation. He's speaking to the vice president — to Vice President Pence, relative to the conversation the vice president had with Gen. Flynn and also speaking to various other people about what he considers the single most important subject there is, our national security."
The comments and confusion come after days of speculation that Flynn could be on the outs given that he may have lied to or misled Mike Pence when Pence was vice president-elect. Flynn has denied that he talked to the Russian ambassador about sanctions President Obama leveled back in December. Pence went on Sunday shows and echoed what Flynn told him.
But Flynn backed away from the comments. Through a spokesman, he told the Washington Post "that while he had no recollection of discussing sanctions, he couldn't be certain that the topic never came up."
Spicer told NPR a month ago that it was "doubtful" Flynn and the Russian ambassador talked about the sanctions, because that's what Flynn told him. But he left open the possibility that they could have talked about the sanctions.
So it's possible that Flynn may have misled both the incoming vice president and press secretary about the extent of his discussions with the Russian ambassador.
Flynn has also already been the subject of accusations of mismanagement at the National Security Council. The New York Times reported over the weekend on the NSC, painting a "chaotic" scene:
"Officials said that the absence of an orderly flow of council documents, ultimately the responsibility of Mr. Flynn, explained why [Secretary of Defense James] Mattis and Mike Pompeo, the director of the C.I.A., never saw a number of Mr. Trump's executive orders before they were issued. One order had to be amended after it was made public, to reassure Mr. Pompeo that he had a regular seat on the council. "White House officials say that was a blunder, and that the process of reviewing executive orders has been straightened out by Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff."
With Flynn now gone, it remains to be seen whether and how the Trump administration can bring some order to the NSC — and what the broader implications of the early staff shakeup may be both politically and in terms of national security.
NPR's Arnie Seipel contributed to this post.Michel Foucault’s time in the United States in the last years of his life, particularly his time as a lecturer at UC Berkeley, proved to be extraordinarily productive in the development of his theoretical understanding of what he saw as the central question facing the contemporary West: the question of the self. In his 1983 Berkeley lectures in English on “The Culture of the Self,” Foucault stated and restated the question in a variety of ways—“What are we in our actuality?,” “What are we today?”—and his investigations amount to “an alternative to the traditional philosophical questions: What is the world? What is man? What is truth? What is knowledge? How can we know something? And so on.” So write the editors of the posthumously published 1988 essay collection Technologies of the Self, titled after a lecture Foucault delivered at the University of Vermont in 1982.
In that talk, Foucault notes that “the hermeneutics of the self has been confused with theologies of the soul—concupiscence, sin, and the fall from grace.” The technique of confession, central even to secular psychoanalysis, informs a subjectivity that, for Foucault, always develops under the ever-watchful eyes of normalizing institutions. But in “The Culture of the Self,” Foucault reaches back to ancient Greek conceptions of “care of the self” (epimelieia beautou) to locate a subjectivity derived from a different tradition—a counterpoint to religious confessional and Freudian subjectivities and one he has discussed in terms of the technique of “self writing.” (The Care of the Self also happens to be the subtitle of the third volume of Foucault’s History of Sexuality, and “The Culture of the Self” the title of its second chapter.)
The notion that one is granted selfhood through the ministrations of others comes in for ridicule in the first few minutes of his “Culture of the Self” lecture above. Foucault relates a story by second century Greek satirist Lucian to illustrate a humorous point about “those guys who nowadays regularly visit a kind of master who takes their money from them in order to teach them how to take care of themselves.” He identifies the ancient version of this dubious authority as the philosopher, but it seems that he intends in modern times to refer more broadly to psychiatrists, psychologists, and all manner of religious figures and self-help gurus.
Foucault sets up the joke to introduce his first entrée into the pursuit of “the historical ontology of ourselves,” a consideration of Kant’s essay “What is Enlightenment?” In that work, the most prominent German Enlightenment philosopher describes “man’s emergence from his self-imposed nonage,” a term he defines as “the inability to use one’s own understanding without another’s guidance.” From there, Foucault opens up his investigation to an analysis of “three sets of relations: our relations to truth, our relations to obligation, our relations to ourselves and to the others.” You’ll have to listen to the full set of lectures, above in all five parts, to follow Foucault’s inquiry through its many passages and divergences and learn how he arrives at this conclusion: “The self is not so much something hidden and therefore something to be excavated but as a correlate of the technologies of self that it co-evolves with over millennium.”
The Q&A session, above, was held on a different day and is also well worth a listen. Foucault addresses several queries about his own methodology, issues of disciplinary boundaries, and other clarifying (or not) concerns related to his main lecture. See this site for a transcript of the questions from the audiences and Foucault’s insightful, and sometimes quite funny, answers.
Related Content:
Hear Michel Foucault Deliver His Lecture on “Truth and Subjectivity” at UC Berkeley, In English (1980)
Michel Foucault and Alain Badiou Discuss “Philosophy and Psychology” on French TV (1965)
Watch a “Lost Interview” With Michel Foucault: Missing for 30 Years But Now Recovered
Download 100 Free Philosophy Courses and Start Living the Examined Life
Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. Follow him at @jdmagness"I don't know who you are, but I will find you…..and I will thank you…." ^ just a quote to kick off this bad ass Gift(s) from my Secret Santa!!! So opening up this awesome box of joy I got:
-A Pittsburgh Steelers Terrible Towel (could have used that a lot these past few weeks unfortunatly.)
-Wrapped in the Towel was a R2D2 iPhone case!! (Thank you so much for that too i've been dropping my phone too much lately cause i didnt have one.)
-And not only did I get a book with helpful tips on how to survive a zombie apocalypse, but i also got the equipment for it!!!
-I got a S&W Extreme Ops knife (that i have actually wanted for a really long time!)
-And now… for the icing on the cake!! (drumroll please) dvrdvrvdvrvdrvdvrvdvrdr PSHHHHH……….I got a Gerber Gator Machete!!!! This thing was so awesome, I couldnt believe my eyes when I saw it,
Thank You so much SS, You Really made this Holiday a great one. :')
I hope it isnt too late to post this, but i had to try. I was away for the holidays and just got home.
Merry Christmas, and Happy 2013 EVERYONE!!!
(And a big Congrats for surviving 2012 with me)My Letter to the American Academy of Pediatrics
On August 29, Intact America launched an email campaign, inviting our followers to tell the American Academy of Pediatrics what they think about the new Circumcision Task Force’s Technical Report on Circumcision. The Report, which concedes that the purported health benefits of infant circumcision are not great enough to justify recommending it, and that the risks of circumcision have not been adequately documented, somehow concludes that the “benefits” outweigh the risks. The Report also states that the decision to circumcise baby boys, who cannot consent to have this unethical, medically unnecessary surgery performed on their bodies, should be left to the parents, and, that parents’ non-medical decision to have their child’s genitals unjustifiably altered should be abetted by having Medicaid and private insurance companies pay doctors to do the cutting.
Here’s my letter:
Dear AAP Leadership,
What were you thinking?
How can you approve a report that extols the benefits of removing the foreskin, a normal body part, without one single word devoted to the function of that body part, or why it’s there in the first place? How credible is such a report, which neglects to mention that the vast majority of the world’s men are intact (or as the report says, “uncircumcised”), and that these men do just fine?
What were you thinking when you deputized as co-author of the report a doctor who has openly boasted about circumcising his own son? The American Medical Association’s code of ethics (AMA E8.19) states: “Physicians generally should not treat themselves or members of their immediate families” … “In particular, minor children will generally not feel free to refuse care from their parents.” In 2009, the AAP’s own Committee on Bioethics clearly stated that pediatricians who treat their own children “violate a fundamental professional obligation.”* How can we trust the neutrality or the ethics of a Task Force member who so flagrantly violated his own organization’s bioethical principles?
What were you thinking when you named a specialist in adult sexually transmitted diseases to chair a Task Force to examine infant circumcision? Babies and children don’t have sex, and thus they are not at risk of contracting an STD. It seems to me, by selecting this individual as chair, the Task Force already knew what it was looking to conclude.
Would it not have been relevant for the Task Force to mention the limitations of its recommendations? Specifically, even if circumcision were to confer some protection from HIV for adult heterosexual men, as claimed by the studies cited, it was found to confer none for women, or for men having sex with men, or for intravenous drug users. And, again, it confers no protection for babies and children. Furthermore, shouldn’t the Report have mentioned that if or when an adolescent or adult becomes at risk, there are other nonsurgical ways of avoiding sexually transmitted diseases? Shouldn’t the words “safe sex” or “condom” or “abstinence” have appeared at least once in the Report?
Given the Task Force’s unequivocal conclusion that the “health benefits of newborn male circumcision outweigh the risks,” are you not concerned by the Report’s utter failure to address the risks? Specifically, how do you justify the contradictions and doublespeak in the following statements?
The true incidence of complications after newborn circumcision is unknown, in part due to differing definitions of “complication” and differing standards for determining the timing of when a complication has occurred (i.e., early or late). Adding to the confusion is the comingling of “early” complications, such as bleeding or infection, with late complications such as adhesions and meatal stenosis…. (p. 772) Based on the data reviewed, it is difficult, if not impossible, to adequately assess the total impact of complications, because the data are scant and inconsistent regarding the severity of complications. (p. 775) The majority of severe or even catastrophic injuries [such as] glans or penile amputation, … methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection, urethral cutaneous fistula, glans ischemia, and death are so infrequent as to be reported as case reports (and were therefore excluded from this literature review). (p. 774)
Did you not notice any potential liability problems for the AAP and for pediatricians who circumcise that might arise as a result of the Report? For example, while discussing the Mogen clamp in its review of complications from particular circumcision techniques and tools, the Report says:
There were no specific studies of complications … because complications are rare; thus, one can only rely on available case reports of amputation. (p. 775)
No note is made of the fact that the manufacturer of the Mogen is bankrupt, due to lawsuits resulting from these “rare” complications and amputations, and that any doctor sued for an adverse outcome from a Mogen will be on his own (unless, of course, he can implicate the AAP for failing to inform him of the facts). Also, the review of techniques and tools neglects to cross-reference a mention elsewhere of “devastating burns” that can occur when electrocautery is used in conjunction with the metal Gomco clamp. Sloppy, at best.
Did anybody think to ask why no data has ever been found in the developed world showing a correlation between circumcision and disease? Since when is sub-Saharan Africa, with high rates of poverty, illiteracy, and disease, the gold-standard comparison population for American pediatrics? Did anybody wonder how it can be that Europe, where very few men have been circumcised, has lower rates of STDs and HIV than the U.S. and better overall health status, along with lower per capita health expenditures?
Has the leadership of the AAP, knowing that a Task Force was preparing recommendations about infant circumcision, noticed that medical associations in European countries are increasingly calling for doctors to refuse to perform this surgery, on the basis that it is risky, medically unnecessary, and a violation of the child’s rights? How can you completely ignore the principles and actions of your learned colleagues in other countries?
Did anybody ask the Task Force to make sure its Report was consistent with other AAP policies, including the statement by the AAP’s own Committee on Bioethics on “Informed Consent, Parental Permission, and Assent in Pediatric Practice”? The policy, still in effect, states in part:
Proxy consent poses serious problems for pediatric health care providers. Such providers have legal and ethical duties to their child patients to render competent medical care based on what the patient needs, not what someone else expresses… [The] pediatrician’s responsibilities to his or her patient exist independent of parental desires or proxy consent. (p. 315)
In placing the burden of deciding whether to circumcise their sons squarely on the shoulders of parents (who are not medical professionals), is the Task Force Report on Circumcision contradicting this statement on Informed Consent? By referencing religion and culture as valid elements in parental decision-making (p. 759), is the Report attempting to give doctors a free pass? Religion and culture (in the American context) generally lead to circumcisions, but human rights, medical ethics and the mandate to doctors to do no harm clearly lead to leaving a boy intact.
Most important, have you not noticed the growing outcry among parents, complaining that they were duped by doctors into agreeing to allow harmful surgery to be performed on their baby boys? Are you ignoring the growing body of complaints from adult men protesting that they were robbed of an important part of their sexual anatomy, without their consent?
Are any of these considerations not relevant to the pediatrician who would strap down a helpless, screaming baby and cut off part of his penis?
I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Georganne Chapin, MPhil, JD
Executive Director
Intact America
* Committee on Bioethics, Pediatrician-Family-Patient Relationship: Managing the Boundaries. Pediatrics 124(6), Dec. 1, 2009: 1685-88.The Ballad of Twilight Sparkle
By: Gravekeeper
Chapter 1: The Summons
"...And that's how I learned to stop worrying, and love the Bomb. Always your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle." finished narrating the lavender pony with a content flourish, satisfied in her report.
"Twi..." began her purple dragon scribe, "Do you really think Princess Celestia needs to hear about you guys getting tanked on Pink Jägerbombs?" asked Spike, holding the latest scroll in his hands, prepping it to be sent.
Twilight walked over to her young charge and gave him a noogie, or as much of a noogie a pony can give a dragon. "Come now, Spike! That was a very important lesson in Friendship that Pinkie taught all of us! Granted, I was skeptical at first when she called alcohol a 'Friendship Lubricant', but you can't argue with results!" she said, before giggling at the look Spike was giving her.
"Results, huh?"
Horn glowing with magic, Twilight levitated the dragon over to her desk, placing him near the open window. "You weren't there like I was, Spike. You should've seen Applejack and Rainbow Dash, they were acting like they were super best friends all night." beamed the pony, nudging Spike. "Looking at them at the party, you wouldn't have known they spend all day bickering and one-upping each other—in fact, Pinkie told me that after I passed out, AJ and Dash left to hang out with each other for the rest of the night!"
Spike sighed. "I guess..." he said, reluctantly giving up on his misgivings. As he prepared to fire up the scroll and send it to Canterlot, Spike couldn't help but muse over the fact that Twilight had chosen not to mention in her report that she spent all morning twisting and moaning in absolute despair over her first hangover, asking repeatedly to be taken out of her misery. 'Please Spike, if you truly love me you will light the sacrificial rite and end my suffering!' he recalled her saying not six hours ago.
Twilight looked on as her latest missive went up in smoke, as it were, being magically delivered to her mentor. "Thanks Spike. Now, could you fetch me the mop? I've got some... mopping to do." she asked her friend, dreading the clean-up she had to do in the bathroom after her stomach kindly jettisoned last night's food and Friendship Lubricant.
The dragon winced a bit. Jumping down from the desk and making his way to the broom closet, images of last night started popping back into his head. In retrospect, he had to begrudgingly admit at being quite impressed with the forcefulness and distance Twilight could put into the art of upchucking. He was less impressed with the location she chose to regale him with the display. 'If she thinks I'm cleaning that up, she must still be drunk off her hooves!' he thought, retrieving the mop and bucket and walking back to Twilight, on the way passing by the front door that was now adorned with three unicorn horn-shaped holes where a certain someone tried to ram the door open in her drunken stupor.
"Here ya go, Twi-" began Spike, before dropping the items and choking out a flame, and with it, a scroll. "What the..."
"Oh my!" Twilight interjected, eyes wide, "That was a quick turnaround!" she exclaimed, removing the ribbon on the scroll with her magic, then levitating it to her line of sight. "Oh, this isn't from Celestia..." she added, quickly noticing that the letter was not hand-written.
Spike looked up at the lavender pony, an eyebrow hitched high. "But who else would send a letter through dragonfire? And who else would know my own fireline?"
Twilight's eyes darted from left to right as she quickly scanned through the letter, her mouth moving soundlessly as she read. "It says it's from Metro Goldmane Brayer, Legal Affairs..."
Spike was now intrigued. "Is that the movie studio?"
Twilight nodded, still reading. "Says I'm to meet with them and a... 'Great and Powerful Trixie, The'?" The unicorn's face went quickly from a look of relief, to a look of happiness, to a contorted look of disbelief. "Is 'The' supposed to be her title? What in Equestria is a 'The' supposed to even mean?" she asked no pony in particular as she stomped a hoof in annoyance.
"Focus Twi, why do you have to meet with them?" Spike asked, knowing how Twilight got when she started thinking about the blue unicorn.
Twilight shook her head, shaking off her disgruntlement. "Right, right... Well," she said, finishing the letter, "they want to talk to me about Author's Rights and royalty payments..." she answered, trailing off and dropping the scroll.
Spike brought a thumb to his mouth unconsciously, as he pondered on that for a few seconds. "But Twilight... What for? Are you writing a book?" he asked, though he already knew that wasn't the case, seeing as he spent most of his waking time at her side. 'Unless she's been writing one at night with that owl guy!' he thought, suddenly feeling jealous. He picked up the scroll and started reading it.
The young mare shook her head. "I've no idea, Spike, the only things I've written since college are my research reports, and I send all of those to Celestia... The letter said that they would send a carriage soon to pick me up to take me to Manehattan." she explained, making her way to the stairs that led to her loft. "I... I'm going to pack." she announced unsteadily, looking back to where Spike still stood.
Spike blinked. "W-wait, you're actually going?" he sputtered, dropping the scroll. "Is this because of Trixie? I don-"
Both Spike and Twilight were startled by a knock at the front door. Twilight blinked, and trotted past Spike and towards the Library's lobby. "Uh, coming!" she called as she reached the door. Twilight opened the door, and came face to face with a dark gray pegasus mare, her short black mane gelled back. She wore a black coat and a tie, as well as a chauffeur's cap.
"Miss Sparkle?" asked the professional-looking pegasus with an even tone.
Twilight blinked a few seconds before finding her voice. "Uh.. yeah—I mean, yes, that's me!" she chuckled nervously.
The pegasus bowed her head lightly, then regarded Twilight with serious, but kind eyes. "My name is Holly Diver, I've come to pick you up on behalf of Metro Goldmane Brayer Studios." she said, extending her right front hoof.
Twilight met the pegasus's hoof with her own. "Twilight Sparkle. Pleased to meet you." she said, bowing lightly as well. "You're ah, you're here a lot sooner than I expected." she admitted.
Holly shook her head. "My apologies, I know this is very sudden but as I understand it, this matter requires your presence as soon as possible." she explained as she looked around. After making the sure the coast was clear, Holly's face took on a mirthful, somewhat malicious grin as she regarded Twilight with conspiratorial eyes.
Twilight was taken aback and resisted the urge to shy away as Holly stepped closer to her and started whispering in her ear. "Your bratty little friend is in a heap of trouble thanks to you!" she finished, almost giggling. Holly stepped back and steeled her face, once again donning her professional decorum. "Ahem, as I said," she began, looking around again, "it is imperative we depart for Manehattan with haste."
The lavender unicorn was more confused than ever before, but she quickly found her wits and nodded nervously. "Yes, yes, uh, let me just grab a few things and I'll be right out!" she said, hurriedly retreating back into the library, almost tripping over Spike as she did so. "S-sorry Spike!" she called, already halfway up the stairs.
A few minutes later, Spike was waiting for Twilight near the front door, stern look and crossed arms at the ready. "And just where do you think you're going, young filly?" he asked, clearly quite unhappy.
Twilight, saddlebag in place, stopped in her tracks at the sight of him, but her eyes grew defiant. "Look, Spike, I have to go, you know I have to—Trixie's in trouble." she declared and, softening her gaze, continued. "Can I count on my Number One assistant take care of the Library for one day?" she asked, pleading with her eyes.
Spike's gaze hardened.
"Maybe you could invite the Cutie Mark Crusaders to keep you company?" she offered, her eyes glittering. 'Almost there...' she thought. "Hmm, you know? The Cutie Mark Crusaders will need a babysitter... Perhaps you could invite Rarity over as well?" she added innocently.
The purple dragon gulped as his eyes wavered. "I... uh..."
'Gotcha!' Twilight celebrated internally. "Thanks Spike, you really are the best!" she said, nuzzling him before dashing out the door.
-X-X-X-X-
Much to Twilight's embarrassment, her 'carriage' had been parked in the middle of town, where the ostentatious and unnecessarily-large 5-pegasus limousine was drawing quite a crowd.
"Twilight, Darling! I simply must know what marvelous, marvelously-rich stallion has sent for you with such a fabulous stagecoach!" Rarity exclaimed, making her way through the crowd and next to Twilight, who she spotted with the chauffeur and quickly and wrongly put two and two together.
Twilight chuckled sheepishly. "No, Rarity, it's not—"
"Gasp!" gasped Rarity, "why are you carrying that saddlebag? Shouldn't the hired help be, well, helping you with that?" she asked, glaring at Holly Diver, who glared right back. Rarity turned to Twilight once more. "And Twilight, Honey, why didn't you tell me you would be holding audience with an esteemed member of high society? We could have done something, anything with your mane and coat!"
The streak-maned unicorn blinked. "I uh... What's wrong with my mane?" Twilight asked, somewhat worried.
"I feel I must remind Miss Sparkle that we are needed in Manehattan within the hour." Holly interjected, still glaring at Rarity, who huffed and turned her muzzle upwards, closing her eyes indignantly.
"Sorry Rarity, I have to go now—this was very short-notice; if I had known, I would most certainly have sought your help getting ready." Twilight reassured, putting a hoof on Rarity's shoulder.
Rarity tsk'd. "Oh, I know you would have, Darling." she smiled at her friend.
Twilight smiled back. "I'll see everypony later, ok? Oh and Rarity, I know this is quite sudden, but I was wondering if you and your sister could perhaps keep Spike company while I'm away?" she asked as she reached the door of the carriage, Holly Diver holding it open for her.
"I would love to, Twilight." Rarity replied, hoof on her chest, chin held high. "But you simply must tell me everything about Manehattan and the beautiful stallion you're meeting there when you come back! Do we have a deal, Sweetie?" she asked, her eyes glittering with gossip-lust.
Twilight chuckled. "It's a deal, Rarity." she agreed, stepping into the carriage.
Holly Diver made her way to the front of the luxurious vehicle, taking her position forward of the five other pegasus ponies that were already rigged to the spacious chariot. After donning her own rig, she turned to the pegasus mare to her right. "Preflight checklist?"
"Complete," replied the white, red-maned pegasus, sporting similar attire and manestyle as Holly.
"Winds aloft?" Holly continued, watching as the crowd parted to give them room for take-off.
"25-knot tailwind at 10,000." continued the white pegasus, all business.
"Perfect. Flight plan?"
"Filed. Ponyville Flight Service will provide vectoring." So dry.
Holly turned her head and faced her first officer with a grin. "Care to take the command for this flight, Rafale?"
"WOULD I?" beamed Rafale, before blushing brightly and trying to get back her serious face. "Er... Yes Captain."
Inside the carriage, Twilight heard as each of the six pegasi started flapping their wings, one after the other, until a steady, reverberating hum permeated the cabin. Resting her chin on her hoof, elbow on the windowsill, she watched as the scenery started accelerating past, before retreating downwards and giving way to the blue skies, pockmarked with small clouds, a rare sight this time of day.
"I guess Rainbow Dash must still be hanging with Applejack." Twilight concluded. She wondered what became of her other friends as the carriage climbed even higher. "Maybe they're still hung over?" she asked herself, watching as the miles and miles of Sweet Apple Acres became less distinguishable with the ascending height. She felt slightly bad for her friends; if her first hangover had been so terrible and she had been the first to pass out, Twilight couldn't even imagine how the rest were faring if they actually kept on drinking through the night. She was slightly amazed that Rarity looked as beautiful as ever, not trace of a bad morning on her.
'Speaking of beautiful unicorns...' Twilight mused as Manehattan's skyline became visible towards the horizon. Twilight blinked. "Whoa, where did that come from?" she chuckled nervously, eyes darting left and right, even though she knew no one else was in the carriage. Twilight sighed heavily. She had spent a few months looking for Trixie, but her duties at the Library meant that she couldn't wander away too far or for too long. She felt compelled to find the magician, and was worried about the fact that Trixie had left all of her mostly-destroyed belongings back in Ponyville. 'How did you make do without your stage? Your bits? Your stagecoach?' wondered Twilight, a pained worry clear on her face. 'You didn't have to run away, Trixie, we could have helped you.'
During her search, Twilight had come across evidence that Trixie had managed to get back on her feet again—nearby towns spoke of the dazzling showmare and her amazing stories about the great unicorn, but Twilight always managed to miss Trixie by a day or two. Just as she did in Ponyville, The Great and Powerful Trixie seemed to just roll into town without previous announcements, put on a show, and then continue on to the next one.
Twilight's eye twitched. 'How can anypony live without a schedule? She could be maximizing her exposure and audience if they actually knew when her shows were gonna happen!' she thought, bringing a hoof to her face as she rubbed the bridge of her muzzle. Thinking about Trixie and what she could do to be all the greater and powerful...er always put Twilight in a mood. The lavender mare could understand why Spike was worried—she had no reason to care that much about a pony that acted like a jackass to her and her friends. "But I do..." Twilight admitted in resignation. "Trixie, what in the world did you get yourself wrapped up in now? Haven't you learned your lesson?" Twilight asked the empty cabin, which refused to reply.
Twilight retreated from the window and rested back on the plush seat of the carriage, her eyes closing as she let her thoughts lull her to sleep.
End Chapter 1again, I got perfectly stalked by my Secret Santa, I found a note in my letterbox that there was a package waiting for me, delivered to my neighbor (disadvantage of being at home during the day, she gets a lot of my packages)
I go there to find a box from the bookdepository.com, so so far I wasn't too excited, since I had just ordered a book there myself.
I open it up and find the book "The Cult of LEGO" and instantly realise that it was from my Secret Santa, having used the bookdepository.com myself I knew there was no possibility of a note, and all I have is his (or her) email address.
I havn't had time yet to read it, but it looks beautiful, and I want to thank my Santa very much.
Thank you Secret Santa, I hope your gift will be as nice as mine is.DeMarco Murray became a punch line in Philadelphia before getting his wish to leave granted in a trade to Tennessee.
On Monday, the running back took responsibility for the nosedive in Philly, telling 102.5 The Game in Nashville he respects the Eagles' organization, but wouldn't detail why the match didn't work.
"I wouldn't say I was in the wrong relationship at all," Murray said, via TitansInsider.com. "They have a great team there, great owner in Jeffrey. Howie and Jeff, they do a great job. They know what they want in the team, personnel wise. It was just a relationship that didn't work, for whatever reason. I'm not going to go into the details of that. I have a really good relationship with those guys.
"But I was very fortunate to work with those guys and get a trade done. Things didn't work out. I look in the mirror and don't blame anyone. I take full responsibility for it. I just try to move on and work hard and try to make the best of the opportunity I'm given."
It's worth noting that Murray did not mention Chip Kelly during the interview, with whom the running back reportedly had the most misgivings.
Murray agreed to a five-year contract with the Eagles last offseason worth $40 million, with more than $20 million guaranteed. He then rushed just 193 times for 702 yards, earning the ire of Philly fans with his paltry 3.6 yards per carry average.
The 28-year-old running back shouldered the responsibility for the failure. Now he's expected to shoulder the load for the Titans' backfield.15887221-mmmain.jpeg
(Courtesy photo)
ANN ARBOR, MI -- An adjunct professor recently was fired from Concordia University after refusing to apologize for remarks students and the university found to be "unfortunate and divisive." Concordia Campus Chief Executive Officer Curt Gielow confirmed the university fired the part-time professor on Sept. 22 after she declined to apologize for comments she made during class a couple of days prior at the private liberal arts university in Ann Arbor. A Facebook live video recorded by a student documenting what was supposed to be her apology shows the professor, Susan Quade, addressing the remarks on Sept. 22. Two days earlier during a discussion in her social psychology class, Quade responded to a student's question about her thoughts on NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick's decision to kneel during the national anthem in protest. "I said I would kill him," Quade said in the video captured by student Humphrey Ihejirikah. "I'm not going to kill him. I'm not going to kill anybody. It was a figure of |
company-grade officer’s Article 15 hearing April 9, Keltz said the accused and another officer looked “drunker than 10,000 Indians” while referring to a photograph of the two officers. {snip}
As the convening authority in the Article 15 hearing, which was to determine whether the accused officer’s nonjudicial punishment for an unspecified offense was too harsh, Keltz essentially served as both judge and jury.
Because of Keltz’s remark, the accused officer’s Article 15 was terminated, his punishment was voided, and no decision was made at the hearing, Whaley said. That officer’s case has now been sent back to his commander, who will look at the facts and decide what disciplinary action–if any–is appropriate, Whaley said. {snip}
{snip}
In a statement provided by Whaley last week, Keltz took responsibility for his statement.
“I inadvertently made an unfortunate comment, I own it, and I hold myself accountable to the same high standards my subordinate commanders are held to,” Keltz said. “As a result, I have tendered my resignation from command and requested to retire from service. [AETC Commander] Gen. [Robin] Rand has graciously accepted that request.”
Keltz will retire after serving 34 years in the Air Force.
Original Article
Share ThisIt's a far cry from Cajun country, but a U.S. crayfish used in Southern cooking is now eating its way across Africa, scientists say.
Without any native predators to keep it in check, the Louisiana crayfish, also known as the red swamp crayfish, is gobbling up small freshwater fish, fish eggs, mollusks, crustaceans, and aquatic plants. (See pictures of freshwater plants and animals.)
The 6-inch-long (15-centimeter-long) invader is already widely distributed in lakes and other bodies of water throughout Kenya, as well as in Rwanda, Uganda, Egypt, Zambia, the Seychelles, Mauritius, and South Africa.
Conservationists are now concerned the crayfish will reach the East African lakes of Malawi, Tanganyika, and Victoria, which are home to hundreds—and probably thousands—of species found nowhere else. (Read about some of Lake Tanganyika's unusual species.)
"By removing animals and plants from wetlands, [the crayfish] can upset the balance of ecosystems and reduce valuable ecosystem functions," said Geoffrey Howard, global coordinator for invasive species for the Species Programme of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Crayfish a Delicious Invader
Louisiana crayfish were first imported in the 1970s into Kenya and South Africa, where the species was grown in aquaculture operations.
People bred the species in Kenya's Lake Naivasha (map) and sold the delicacy to Scandinavian buyers after that region's native crayfish had been wiped out by disease.
"They are rarely seen or recognized as a threat," Howard said, "but they have certainly affected the fishery in Naivasha."
That's because, "by eating fish eggs and fingerlings, [crayfish] can reduce the populations of fishable fish."
Though some people have benefited from selling the crayfish, it's a bit of a boom-and-bust venture, said Arne Witt, invasive-species coordinator for Africa at the Centre for Agricultural Bioscience International (CABI).
Crayfish numbers can quickly explode and then collapse after eating the available prey in a given area, he said. (Also see "Photos: New Giant 'Bearded' Crayfish Species.")
The crayfish were also introduced into dams around the Kenyan cities of Nairobi, Kiambu, and Limuru to rid those areas of parasite-carrying snails.
But by burrowing into the edges of dams, rivers, and lakes to make their nests, the crayfish have damaged local infrastructure and landscapes. For instance, their burrowing has caused water canals to leak, earth dams to collapse, and banks of rivers and lakes to erode.
"Walking" Crayfish Will Eat Anything
The species also has adaptations that make it an especially efficient invader.
Unlike most aquatic animals, for example, the crustacean can live out of water for hours at a time, sometimes walking several kilometers—especially at night and on wet days, IUCN's Howard said.
"They can also walk and swim upstream in rivers that feed lakes, and can even more easily move downstream in rivers and streams," Howard said.
"In addition, they have been moved by people using them as fishing bait and possibly for food, [as well as] those collecting specimens for aquariums."
Secondly, Louisiana crayfish can change or switch diets based on whatever food is available, from plankton to amphibians, CABI's Witt noted.
The crayfish "has been held responsible for the disappearance of many aquatic plant species," he said.
Its wide-ranging diet also reduces the amount of prey items available for fish, birds, and other predators.
Crayfish Control Needed
With no funding available to detect and map their spread, it's unknown just how deeply the crayfish has infiltrated Africa, IUCN's Howard noted. (Read "Attack of the Alien Invaders" in National Geographic magazine.)
Trapping and possibly poisoning could control the species in small bodies of water, Howard said. Physical barriers could also stop the crustaceans' movements—but only if a crayfish population's precise distribution is known.
Also, removing water hyacinth and other aquatic weed species from water bodies such as Lake Naivasha may allow birds more access to catch crayfish, CABI's Witt said.
In the long-term, scientists may need to introduce a disease that will specifically target the crayfish, he said.
For now now, people should stop moving the crayfish around the continent, he emphasized.I vaguely remember having to read the George Orwell novel, “1984” at some point in high school.
At the time, no one would have thought it anything more than a bit of dystopian gloom-fantasies from Orwell.
Fast forward a bit shy of 70 years since the book was first published, and it seems to be gaining new appreciation.
The New York Times reports:
The British producer Sonia Friedman and the American producer Scott Rudin said on Thursday night that they plan to bring a stage adaptation of “1984,” a George Orwell novel published in 1949, to Broadway starting in June. The adaptation was created by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan and was previously staged multiple times in Britain, where it was produced by Headlong, Nottingham Playhouse and the Almeida Theater. In a review of a production at the Playhouse Theater in the West End in 2014, Ben Brantley, the chief theater critic of The New York Times, described it as “willfully assaultive.”
So why all the fuss over a 68-year old novel, now? If I remember correctly, there was actually a movie version of “1984” released in – when else – 1984, starring John Hurt and Richard Burton. There may have been an earlier version, which only goes to prove that this notion of “thought crimes” and “Big Brother” has been around for a long time.
Now, however, it seems that the election of Donald Trump and Trump’s first several weeks in office have led to a renewed interest, all the way around.
As of last Friday, “1984” (the book) was #2 on Amazon’s best seller list, and eventually sold out of copies.
The Broadway version is set to debut on June 22, 2017.
So should we be thanking Trump or… something else?
Let’s try to be reasonable. The man is a dolt, but he’s got some solid people working in his administration.
When he starts outlawing diaries, we’ll worry.
In the meantime, check out the trailer for the 1984 movie:The recent implosion of ousted Fox News chief Roger Ailes will become fodder for a TV mini-series. And the producer is the same one as The Purge movies, because let's face it, for many women at Fox News, Ailes's reign was a real-life horror story.
According to the NY Times, Tom McCarthy, who directed and co-wrote the Oscar-winning film, Spotlight, will be an executive producer while Jason Blum, known for horror movies like 'The Purge,' will produce. Blum also had a hand in HBO’s Emmy Award-winning “The Jinx,” about allegedly murderous real estate scion Robert Durst.
Gabriel Sherman, the New York magazine journalist whose years of reporting on Ailes allegedly drove the executive to scheme on how to get back at him, is also part of the project.
"[Blum's production company] Blumhouse did not say whether a TV network had agreed to license the series, nor did it give a time frame for when the series might become available," Variety reports.
Ailes was accused of sexually harassing female Fox News employees in a series of damning allegations resulting from Gretchen Carlson's lawsuit against him. Carlson, who claimed she was unfairly fired as well, settled with Fox News for $20 million. Ailes has insisted he is innocent and received $60 million from Fox News for his exit.A California Civil War Over Internet Piracy
toggle caption Fredrik Persson/AFP/Getty Images
There's a civil war going on in California. It's the north vs. the south — Hollywood vs. Silicon Valley. And much like that other American Civil War, there are two different economic worldviews at stake. One of the highest-profile battles was fought last month, when large Internet sites like Wikipedia staged an online blackout to protest anti-piracy bills in Congress.
The north won that battle, and for now, the legislation is on hold. But the war between Hollywood and Silicon Valley over how to deal with intellectual property is far from over.
In the south, Hollywood, there are the people making their livings off of music, movies and TV. Southerner Gavin Polone is an executive producer on such shows as Gilmore Girls and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
"What is the key element is that a movie or a television show or a song or a book is actually someone's property," he says.
And to Polone and other southerners, taking that property without permission is a criminal act. That's why Hollywood has used the law to try to shut down the revolving door of sites that traffic in music, movies, television and film, from Napster to Megaupload.
But up north in Silicon Valley, in the hub of technological innovation and newly minted millionaires and billionaires, techies like Tim O'Reilly have a different view.
If things are being pirated, people want them, and I would far rather have one of my products, discover that it's highly pirated than that it isn't, because what that tells me is that a lot of people want it.
"I'm a creature of a technology world where you accept a high level of competition and you don't have a lot of respect for business protecting their turf, except by innovating," O'Reilly says.
He is founder of a publishing company that's part of O'Reilly Media. It publishes technology-oriented e-books on topics like how to get the most out of your iPad 2 or how to program iOS 5.
"If things are being pirated, people want them, and I would far rather have one of my products, discover that it's highly pirated than that it isn't, because what that tells me is a lot of people want it," O'Reilly says.
Take First, Pay Later
In fact, he says a study of his customers proved that many later paid for what they, at first, took. "We found that the people who pirated were actually also the people who paid us more. They had a budget," O'Reilly says.
But e-books are also advertisements for O'Reilly's other products — tech classes and business conferences. Less than half of his company's income comes from the e-books.
Making a movie is another kind of project altogether. Take an independent film like Suing the Devil, starring Malcolm McDowell as the devil himself. Tim Chey directed the film, and he knows exactly what it cost to make.
"Each camera cost $150,000 with all the setups and everything," he says. "So we're talking $300,000, just on the camera. Then we have sound, we have special effects."
And the list goes on. Chey has a law degree from Harvard, but he's not rich and he doesn't spend his time thinking about business models. He and his colleagues put their innovations into their films.
"We do it for the art, we do it because we want to tell our stories, express our stories," Chey says. "I, as a filmmaker, am not in it for the money."
'It Can Make You Cry'
But he's got to pay his bills. So he was not happy when he saw his film up on the Internet for free before it was even released. "It can make you cry, as a filmmaker. It can make you cry. I mean, all of that work," Chey says.
It can make you cry, as a filmmaker. It can make you cry. I mean, all of that work.
What made him want to take legal action, however, was when he asked the website Pirate Bay to take down his film. "The guy wrote back and said this: 'We've never taken any of our movies off of our site, why would we take yours off?' " Chey says.
Appropriation of intellectual property has always existed. The Internet just makes it easier. Ben Huh is the chief executive of Cheezburger Network, a company that runs a group of popular sites, one of which features amateur humor like "lolcats" — funny captions over pictures of cats. He says content creators and the government need to start thinking differently.
"It's almost like we're entering prohibition again, where the public perception towards copyright no longer matches the legal perception of copyright," Huh says.
Like most techies, he starts talking about business models and giving customers what they want to minimize the number of people who steal. If people don't want to go to the movie theater to see the latest film, Huh says, they should be able to see it at home, legally.
"And I'll pay you extra so I don't have to schlep my butt out in the snow, sit with a bunch of teenagers who talk behind me and use their cellphone. Why does that not exist?" Huh says.
Will The North Become More Like The South?
In the end, these two industries may need each other more than they currently realize. This year, Google's YouTube commissioned professionals in Hollywood and New York to create channels on the site because the folks at Google didn't have the talent or expertise.
Southerner Gavin Polone thinks eventually, the northerners will start to see the situation differently as they see how much it costs to make high-quality content.
"They'll be the same as these media companies that they're rallying against right now. And they will also start to look at this very expensive property as property, and they're not going to want to have it stolen from them," Polone says.
But both sides continue to wage war using the weapons they know best, whether it's the courts or the Internet.Air pollution doesn't stop at state borders, and a new study by two Lehigh University researchers shows how policies in one state can affect another.
The study found the health of fetuses improved after the 2014 shutdown of the coal-fired portion of the Portland Generating Station, a power plant on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River that sent pollution wafting into New Jersey.
The Northampton County plant stopped using its coal-fired boilers in June 2014, lehighvalleylive.com reported at the time, and has since switched over to natural gas and diesel oil. Impacts from the plant's emissions have been seen in Warren County, directly across the Delaware, as well as Morris, Hunterdon and Sussex counties.
The study compared the plant's emissions 18 months before the shutdown -- when sulfur dioxide emissions were at 2,596.648 tons per month -- with the 18 months after, when the same emissions were nearly zero. They also looked at births in ZIP codes downwind within 60 miles of the plant.
The Lehigh University researchers found that the coal shutdown reduced the likelihood of low birth weight by 15 percent and preterm birth by 28 percent.
The report by the Bethlehem university's economics department chair Shin-Yi Chou and associate economics professor Muzhe Yang was published online Friday in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. It will also appear in an upcoming print edition of the journal, Lehigh said in a news release.
This is not their first study examining the Portland station. In April, they released a similar report that examined the effects of the plant's emissions on fetuses -- that one did not look at the changes after the shutdown.
Lehighvalleylive.com previously reported that NRG Energy, which owns the plant, halted use of the station's coal-fired portions in June 2014.
In the most recent study, the researchers note that the coal-firing operation ceased because the federal Environmental Protection Agency overruled state regulations. In a news release, they called it "a case where cross-border air pollution had not been effectively dealt with by decentralized, state-level policymaking."
Federal regulation, they say in the report's summary, can make states accountable for the effects of pollution that drifts outside its borders.
Steve Novak may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.Take, for instance, that presumption — apparently supported by science — that men are more enthusiastic risk-takers than women. The finding is based on male and female subjects’ responses to survey questions about their propensity to engage in risky behaviors. As Fine observes, however, “researchers have to make decisions about the kinds of risks they decide to investigate” — and the kinds of risk they have consistently decided upon have a culturally masculine cast, focused on activities like sports betting, financial investments, motorcycle riding and extreme sports like sky diving or bungee jumping. The author continues: “Although women routinely take risks, these often seem to slip under the research radar. For example, with divorce rates hovering close to 50 percent, being the one to quit or scale back your job when children arrive is a significant economic risk. Going on a date can end in sexual assault. Leaving a marriage is financially, socially and emotionally risky. In the United States, being pregnant is about 20 times more likely to result in death than is a sky dive.” Our habit of defining risk in traditionally male terms has rigged the game against the perception of women as risk-takers in their own right.
Well, then, what about the even more entrenched idea that evolution has primed men to desire many and varied sex partners? Here Fine quotes the Bradley University psychologist David Schmitt: “Consider that one man can produce as many as 100 offspring by indiscriminately mating with 100 women in a given year, whereas a man who is monogamous will tend to have only one child with his partner during that same time period.” Fine expertly fillets this familiar premise, noting, among other inconvenient facts, that “the probability of a woman becoming pregnant from a single randomly timed act of intercourse is about 3 percent,” and that in historical and traditional societies, as many as 80 to 90 percent of women of reproductive age at any one time might already be pregnant, or infertile while they were breast-feeding. “The theoretical possibility that a male could produce dozens of offspring if he mated with dozens of females is of little consequence if, in reality, there are few females available to fertilize,” Fine comments. Think about it: For every man on the prowl, there simply aren’t a hundred women available to bear his child. For all men not named Genghis Khan, monogamy must have started to look like a pretty smart bet.
Again and again, Fine questions the way we think of biological sex “as a fundamental force in development that creates not just two kinds of reproductive system, but two kinds of people.” (Or as she quotes yet another academic: “Psychologically, men and women are almost a different species.”) Fine offers a satisfying counterpoint to this claim: People, she writes, are so different from one another as to seem members of multiple species — a variety not constrained or contained by dichotomous categories of male and female. Indeed, the fantastic diversity of Earth’s life-forms is one of Fine’s recurring themes. To the many nonhuman species she writes about, the author brings her characteristically vivid descriptions and droll humor: We learn that male and female African forest weaver birds sing together, in unison; that male macaque monkeys sometimes carry and groom their babies; that female sandpipers are shamelessly promiscuous. (“While ‘promiscuous’ is a highly value-laden term, no moral judgment whatsoever is implied by its application here,” Fine writes. “Not even for those slutty sandpipers.”)
Fine is also quite funny when observing how gender roles play out in her own life, and how stereotypes attach to her vocation as a feminist science writer. When she told her young son — who, she notes, “has a strange, unchildlike interest in taxidermy” — that it was time to get the family dog neutered, he excitedly suggested turning the testicles into a key ring. Fine remarks: “Contrary to a prevailing view of the feminist as the kind of person who could think of no more inspiring and motivating a start to the workday than to unlock her office with a set of keys from which dangles a man-sized pair of testicles, I strongly vetoed my son’s suggestion.”
Colorful zoological anecdotes and amusing domestic interludes provide a welcome respite from the author’s hard-charging argument. If her book has a fault, it is that it is rather too thoroughly argued. The indomitable Fine amasses evidence, addresses objections and accumulates footnotes at such a brisk pace that the panting reader wishes at times for a water break.If religious institutions won’t save us, then what of the thing that underlies the institutions? The energy that originally inspired them? What if humanity could ascend to a higher spiritual plane, so that harmlessness became the guiding light of our behaviour, and higher consciousness for all became a reality? What, in short, if there were a hundredth monkey moment?
That would be wonderful. Sadly, though, the hundredth monkey effect is woo, not reality. And the popularity of the story in spiritual circles is yet another example of the credulity of those who espouse a spiritual solution to our woes.
Once again, I am not a cynic. I actually believe in spiritual evolution. Not just for an individual: this is the basis of Dhamma practice, of course. I mean for humanity as a whole. Our ethics are becoming more refined. We are more aware of what is happening in different parts of the world. We are less tribal. We are more flexible and open in our beliefs. We are less violent. We have changed, genuinely changed, in our acceptance of people of different colors, religions, and sexual identities. Moreover, we are moving more and more towards meditation; probably more people meditate now than ever before. All of these things are a genuine and very positive manifestation of a real spiritual growth.
As a species, and as a planet, we are becoming more conscious. Even as a gross physical fact this is true: there is more brain matter on our planet than at any time in history. In fact, we can see the whole environmental mess we are in as the result of reshaping our planet to service the growth of brains.
I believe it is possible that this spiritual growth could save the world. But I don’t think it’s going to. Why not?
For a start, it’s too little, too late. Much of the world is still enmired in gross ignorance. The future is here (as William Gibson said in another context)—it’s just unevenly distributed. Spiritual growth is hard, patchy, and slow for an individual, how much more so for human culture as a whole? Even those who have been meditators, or otherwise engaged in genuine spiritual practices (as opposed to the brainless woo that discredits much of what we think of as spiritual) still progress very slowly, and for a long time can keep following destructive patterns.
To have a breakthrough in awareness, a new way of seeing, is a rare and precious thing, and it doesn’t by itself guarantee any particular changes to one’s lifestyle. Plenty of spiritual practitioners find themselves feeling more content, wanting less, living simpler lives. But plenty don’t. There’s nothing really wrong with this, it’s just how these things go. But it does imply that we can’t expect spirituality to lead in a genuine transformation of how people live on a massive scale in the near future.
Moreover, spirituality has often gone over to the dark side. Any New Age or “spiritual” festival is full of shysters selling ridiculous cure-all water or miracle foods. Rather than showing us a world beyond reason, much popular spirituality is a retreat beneath reason. Again, this doesn’t show that there’s anything intrinsically wrong with the spiritual path, just that most people are not very good at it yet.
But these things are trivial. At a deeper level, spiritual practices, even the good ones, can, and frequently are, active contributors to the problem. There is no clearer example of this than the recent disruption of a Google “corporate mindfulness” event by San Francisco residents calling for a stop to evictions.
There’s some good commentaries on this at various places on the web. I don’t want to be too hard on how the Google people handled this particular event; the security guy was out of line trying to pull the banner away, which seemed pointless and, I guess, attempted theft, since it was their banner. But he just acted spontaneously, and you can’t blame the company too much for that.
What is really striking for me is how Bill Duane, the Google exec running the show, immediately shifted attention back from the events to “mindfulness of the body”, saying to “check in with your feelings”. This is, of course, straight out of the mindfulness/vipassana playbook, and it seems churlish to criticize him for merely repeating what his teachers have said.
But it is exactly the wrong thing to do: it is straight up elevationism. What he should have done is to directly address the actual issue. Talk about the evictions, explain Google’s policy, and make a commitment to meet the protesters personally later on and discuss solutions. But also to tell them, this is not the forum: you’ve had your moment, now let us get on with what we’re here for. Instead, he used “mindfulness” to avoid the issue, treating a social problem with a cure meant for personal suffering.
Why expect anything else? Of course Google is going to use mindfulness to further its corporate interests. And still, it’s better than not using mindfulness. But there’s just no way that in such a context we can expect that spiritual practices will lead to genuine transformation.
Ken Wilber gave a good explanation of why we make these kinds of confusions. He said that we use the word “spiritual” to mean two quite different kinds of things, without being aware of the difference. First, there are certain specific things that we call “spiritual”: meditation, ritual, and the like. But sometimes we use spiritual to speak of the integration of all the aspects of our consciousness. Quite simply, one does not follow from the other. You can meditate until the cows come home, but you won’t, just by doing that, become kinder, or more ethical, or more conscious of the effects of your lifestyle on the planet. This is why the eightfold path includes all the different aspects of life, and each aspect must be developed in and of itself. This is the essence of Bill Duane’s problem: right mindfulness is the solution to wrong mindfulness, not to wrong livelihood.
Now as always, those who are really embodying spiritual transformation are few indeed. There are many of us who try, and get some things right and some things wrong. With time, perhaps, we might learn from our mistakes. But we don’t have time. And the promise of spiritual evolution, rather than extending the possibility of a cure, becomes just another tragedy: humanity’s boundless potential destroyed by greed and thoughtlessness.
AdvertisementsFollowing game five of the World Series last Sunday night, Lance Wallnau delivered a prophetic word that despite the victory by the Chicago Cubs that night, the Cleveland Indians would win the World Series because Donald Trump had been forced to cancel a rally in Chicago earlier this year because of protests.
There was spiritual significance to the World Series, Wallnau explained, as Cleveland had hosted the Republican National Convention this year while Chicago was home to President Obama and so, when Cleveland won the series, it would be a prophetic sign that Trump would win the election.
Of course, Chicago went on to win the World Series on Wednesday night, which prompted Wallnau to post a new video in which he declared that the Cubs victory was still a prophetic sign that Trump will win the election.
The Indians lost the World Series at their home stadium, Progressive Field, which signaled to Wallnau that Republicans will have a very difficult time beating the progressive movement, as represented by Hillary Clinton. Admitting that the Cubs’ win could be seen as “an omen that Hillary might win the election,” Wallnau proclaimed that “the very thought of [that] is so distasteful” to him that he had to change his prophecy to predict a Trump victory.
After saying that the last time the Cubs won the World Series in 1908 was also the year of the Azusa Street Revival (it wasn’t) and that this victory represents the breaking of the Curse of the Bambino (wrong again), Wallnau declared that the result of the World Series shows that the “curse” over America is breaking and “a fresh wind is blowing,” meaning that the church’s “long-standing losing streak” is coming to an end.
“If Trump goes into the White House, he’ll be 70 when he’s inaugurated,” Wallnau said, which is significant because “70 is the number of Jubilee” and “70 is exactly the number of years since Israel became a nation” (no, it isn’t).
Regardless, he prophesied that the Cubs’ victory means that 2016 is “going to be the year of God reversing the curse … God pouring out his spirit.”In an unexpected turn of events, it would appear that the Russian government is planning on moving all of their computers and IT infrastructure to a Linux kernel-based operating system, also known as GNU/Linux distribution.
There's nothing wrong with that, but how it happened is more interesting. Bloomberg interviewed Russian government's first ever Internet tsar, German Klimenko, about American technology companies, such as Microsoft, Google, and Apple.
In the 90-minute interview, Mr. Klimenko shares his thoughts on why Google and Apple should pay more taxes, and why replacing Microsoft Windows with a GNU/Linux operating system on the government's computers is a necessary measure.
Now, we're not going to go into any political details with this, as you can read Bloomberg's interview to get all that juicy stuff; that, of course, if you're interested in such things. We're more curious to know which Linux OS Russia is planning to use.
22,000 municipal authorities will switch to Linux
While most of the country is known to use Microsoft's Windows operating system, it looks like there are 22,000 municipal Russian governments ready to ditch Windows and move to an open source alternative.
If memory recalls, this is not the first time Russia plans on moving away from proprietary software, as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has ordered government agencies back in 2010 to plan their migration to open-source software and an open-source operating system based on Linux by 2015.
It's 2016, so they better move to Linux quickly. Now, what else is there to say about all this turn of events? Welcome to the world of free software, Russia! Oh, and we can't wait for more Russian users to join our Linux community, where everything is free and there's always someone ready to answer any Linux-related question.HTC sure has some unusual choice of codenames for its devices recently, and now we’ve got one more to add to the list. The folks over at HTCPedia recently got their hands on a leaked internal document showing a list of phones with different SKU numbers for accessories made for a number of newly released phones. Except the HTC Budweiser which hasn’t been released yet.
Since there hasn’t been any mention of the HTC Budweiser before, it’s impossible to tell what the phone is going to be. There’s even a possibility of the phone being an already released device – just that we never knew its codename before. Well, we’ve got an HTC event coming up in a few days so there’s a possibility the phone will be announced then. Stay tuned.
Filed in. Read more about HTC.Hi guys! We already know the new features for next Telegram version (3.8). Recall that Pavel said that something big is going to come! And those Bots 2.0 look like really cool.
NEW DESIGN & STICKERS
Redesigned chat screens, optimized colors, new buttons and message bubbles, beautiful progress bars, revamped documents and other attachments.
chat screens, optimized colors, new buttons and message bubbles, beautiful progress bars, revamped documents and other attachments. Tap on any sticker to view its pack and add it to your collection. Preview and send stickers from the pack preview menu.
BOT API 2.0
Introducing Bot API 2.0, the biggest update to our bot platform since June 2015.
, the biggest update to our bot platform since June 2015. New inline keyboards with callback, ‘open URL’ or ‘switch to inline mode’ buttons help create seamless interfaces.
with callback, ‘open URL’ or ‘switch to inline mode’ buttons help create seamless interfaces. Bots can now update existing messages on the fly as you interact with them.
as you interact with them. Prepare for the rise of location-based bots: all bots can now ask users to share their location.
all bots can now ask users to share their location. Inline bots can now send all attachments supported in Telegram (videos, music, stickers, files, etc.).
attachments supported in Telegram (videos, music, stickers, files, etc.). Try out these sample bots to see what’s coming your way soon: @music, @sticker, @youtube, @foursquare
You have more info at Telegram Blog!
Follow us on Telegram Geeks Channel.Boardmaster Brian brings us the board this week from Euro 2012, where his penis is being used as a landbridge by Russian hooligans running into Poland and Ukraine for games. Reggie Nelson's was rejected because of horrible racism, but also because space-maidens of astonishing size requiring love. Enjoy.
GEORGIA TECH. You know it's a weird week when Georgia Tech stands alone in the update column, both because Georgia Tech historically has been a spotty Fulmer Cup performer, and also because all things Georgia Tech are even in the most positive of lights. We hold a degree from Tech, and know directly of this innate strangeness.
Mascot: a bug created to impress a girl (which worked, for what it's worth,) and a decrepit car with no permanent home.
Traditions: an imaginary student, and the band playing the
Fight song: a lot of hullabaloo about drinking and putting three thousand pounds of sugar into a giant bell to drink, which seems unsanitary and diabetes-ish.
Campus: a series of terrifying laboratories sandwiched bounded by an interstate, railroad tracks, and delightful, gun-filled Home Park.
Last great football star: a supernaturally talented wide receiver who honed his craft bringing down random passes from REGGIE FREAKIN' BALL. That's weird, and cruel, and funny all at the same time.
So it is only consistent with Tech's general weirdness that their solo spot in the Fulmer Cup should take place not on North Avenue, but in hated rival Georgia's hometown of Athens. Corey Alford, linebacker primarily used on special teams last year, earned charges of public intox, disorderly conduct, and the requisite "hindering law enforcement officers" for both an altercation at the Boar's Head early Saturday. We remind you: don't ever barfight, and when you do don't fight the inevitable cuffing because district attorneys love to use their degrees and those tiny little charges everyone forgets in the heat of the moment. *
*If you do barfight, make sure it's in a saloon, and that you only barfight in a saloon with a jukebox at the end of the long, slippery bar. Throwing a man down the bar without starting a festive musical number is living poorly.
That's three points for the weirdass Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the 2012 Fulmer Cup, and a reminder that Paul Johnson's teams remain feisty in road games of all sorts in Athens.This article is over 1 year old
Circumstances of the man’s death are contested by other refugees on the island after his body was found in forest near the East Lorengau transit centre
An asylum seeker has been found dead on Manus Island.
The man’s body was found in a forest area near the East Lorengau refugee transit centre, where he was being held.
The Manus province police chief, Inspector David Yapu, confirmed the death and said a crime scene had been established.
Guardian Australia has been shown photographs purporting to show the man’s body as it was found in the forest.
The body has visible wounds, but the circumstances of the man’s death are unclear. The initial reported cause of his death has been contested by other refugees on the island.
Guardian Australia understands the man had been suffering acute mental health crises for more than a year, and whose friends had pleaded with Australian authorities for him to be given greater care and treatment.
Manus Island detention centre closing down with refugees still inside Read more
Guardian Australia is not publishing the man’s name or identifying details until they have been confirmed and his family has been notified.
Australia’s department of immigration and border protection – which runs the detention centre and the refugee transit centre – has been contacted for comment.A record number of Americans are giving up their U.S. citizenship. The Wall Street Journal reports that 1,130 Americans renounced their citizenship in the second quarter of 2013, more than did so in all of 2012.
To my surprise, the list of new ex-Americans is publicly available; I didn't recognize any of the names on a quick scan.
According to the Journal, the surge in expatriations seems to be driven by the upcoming implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), a 2010 |
my order with a friend and still managed to get stuffed. I ordered the Batata Suica (Stuffed hash brown) with Filet Mignon + mushrooms in tomato and Dijon mustard cream sauce. A brazilian soda to drink too which was like a berry flavored ginger ale. It was all too good it was unreal. The employees were also super nice and informative. One of my top places to discover for sure.
The breakfast bacon, egg & cheese batata is one of the ways you can show yourself some love on the weekends. Hung over? Get yourself the bacon, egg & cheese batata. Going through heartbreak? Get yourself the bacon, egg & cheese batata. Had a hard week? Get yourself the bacon, egg & cheese batata. Just got paid? Treat yo'self to the bacon, egg & cheese batata. Noticing a pattern? And if you're a vegetarian such as myself, order it without the bacon! Seriously, the crisp potato exterior mixed withthe creamy potato egg and cheese is exactly the way to kick off your day... or night, because breakfast is oftentimes the best kind of dinner.
Wow I'm really surprised to find out that this place has closed down! It became a regular lunch spot for my colleagues and I. The service was always friendly and the food was excellent. They offered something that you couldn't find everywhere. Their unique Batata Suica Was very satisfying. My favorite was always the filet mignon option, but then when I tasted the breakfast version with bacon eggs and cheese, that became my new favorite. I really hope that they open up somewhere else nearby. It's not every day that you find a locale that specializes in something that you can't find anywhere else. Wishing them the best for a speedy come back
Where have you been all my life!!! Hidden gem!! Awesome staff. Amazing food! BYOB in this town is so rare these days. A big old stuff hash brown. Hangover cure!! Great for vegetarians
Cafe Batata is awesome. I am so glad that they are in JC. My favorite is the beef chili and make sure you order it with the Brazilian onion salad--they are pickled and complement the flavors very well. The cheese bread is also very good. They work with Fast Boy Delivery and so far the delivery service has been excellent as well. Give this try when you are craving comfort food--It is 100 times better than western/American comfort food.
Being a Brazilian, I can tell that the place is as clean as a Brazilian is ;). Music, food, environment... very chilled, laid back, great to hang out, work,...For a growing number of states, the notion of marijuana legalization isn’t a question of if, but when. Since 1996, some 23 states have legalized medical marijuana. In 2012, voters in Colorado and Washington went even further, passing ballot initiatives that made their states the first in the country to legalize the cultivation, sale and possession of small amounts of marijuana for recreational use. Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C., followed suit this month. The Vermont Legislature is expected to take up the question of marijuana legalization next year; voters in California will almost certainly consider a legalization ballot measure in 2016. In short, the question of how states should regulate marijuana is already at hand.
Regulating marijuana is hard. No country in the world (including the Netherlands) has ever created a working, legal market for the production, sale and use of recreational marijuana. Forced to develop something new, regulators in this country have generally turned to something old -- the licensing model used to regulate the alcohol industry.
That’s a problem, say many observers.
“It is amazing to me as a scientist to watch the marijuana policy debate evolve,” says Alexander Wagenaar, an epidemiologist at the University of Florida College of Medicine and one of the nation’s leading experts on post-Prohibition alcohol regulation. “We have 50 years of research on the regulation of alcohol, and we have all the research and experience of regulating tobacco as well.” And all of it, says Wagenaar, suggests that creating a commercial marijuana industry whose profits depend on expanding consumption is a bad idea.
Among experts, two fears in particular stand out. The first has to do with how a for-profit cannabis industry will market marijuana. The second revolves around the fear that profits will lead to political power -- power that will lead to weaker regulations and expanded consumption. “We are going to have a shift of power from the cannabis movement to the cannabis lobby,” predicts University of California, Los Angeles’ Mark Kleiman, one of the nation’s foremost drug policy experts and the architect of Washington state’s regulatory system. “I am not hopeful about the political economy of this.”
It might seem premature to talk about problems with regulatory structures that are practically newborns. Washington state didn’t open its first legal retail store until July, largely because it was building an entirely new regulatory system from scratch. Colorado, which permitted existing medical marijuana dispensaries to convert, moved more quickly. Sales there got under way at the beginning of the year.
Customers crowd the front desk at a store in Colorado on the first day of legal sales of recreational marijuana. (AP/Brennan Linsley)
But concerns like Kleiman’s, about the ways a legal marijuana industry might evolve over time, are not hypothetical. They reflect state experiences regulating another decriminalized drug -- alcohol -- in the years following Prohibition. States enacted a patchwork of regulations on alcohol sales, with wildly different approaches from state to state and even from one county to the next. Eventually most states settled on a licensing system whereby a state liquor control board regulated a for-profit alcohol industry divided between suppliers, wholesalers, distributors and retailers, an industry taxed at the state and federal level. This worked well -- at first. Over time, however, the alcohol lobby found ways to aggressively market its product while reducing taxes. Today, public health experts say that state and federal taxes offset only a small fraction of the damages caused by alcohol-related injuries, deaths and illnesses.
But what if there were another way? What if states that choose to legalize marijuana didn’t set up a commercial marketplace for it? What if, instead, they adopted another model, one that was developed by associates of John D. Rockefeller and the National Municipal League in 1933 and adopted by some 15 states after Prohibition’s repeal, and one that’s regarded by public health experts as the gold standard for substance abuse control?
What if states sold pot themselves?
If the idea of governments selling cannabis directly to consumers seems outlandish, consider the model of the state ABC store. After the 21st Amendment ended Prohibition, some states, such as Pennsylvania, Utah and Washington, monopolized sales of all types of alcohol. Other states, such as Alabama, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Virginia, monopolized only the sale of spirits. Countries with the most serious alcoholism problems, such as Sweden, Finland and Russia, have taken a similar approach in an effort to curb consumption. Public health experts say it works. “To have the market for marijuana be totally controlled by a state agency that has a mandate to protect public health and safety -- basically, a system that would be run by the health department and not the revenue department -- that would really change the dynamics and incentives,” says Florida’s Wagenaar. “We have the tools and experience. We need to do this better.”
With the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932, it was clear that Prohibition would end. The question was what would replace it.
Policymakers did not want to return to the status quo ante, when brewer-controlled saloons promoted excessive drinking. Prior to Prohibition, the average American consumed 2.6 gallons of pure alcohol a year -- the equivalent of 520 bottles of beer. That number fell by 70 percent in the first years of
Prohibition (before rebounding somewhat in the 1920s). But how to avoid it? On this, the 21st Amendment repealing Prohibition was silent. It simply repealed Prohibition at the national level and, by prohibiting the import of alcohol into states in violation of state law, recognized states’ power to regulate alcohol as they saw fit. So states developed their own solutions.
The most common response was to set up a structured market with separate retailers, wholesalers, brewers and distillers who in turn were licensed and regulated by a state alcohol control board. This was a successful strategy initially. When the 21st Amendment was ratified, states imposed a whole raft of regulations on what had previously been an underground, unregulated industry. Age limits, Sunday “blue laws,” rules governing location (not near schools, churches or hospitals), and a whole host of other regulations were enacted. The other ingredient was excise taxes. As the country plunged into the Great Depression, both the federal and state governments craved the revenues that would come from legalizing and taxing alcohol.
This is basically the approach Colorado and Washington have taken with marijuana as well. In Washington, the state liquor control board has responsibility for licensing and regulating marijuana. In Colorado, that job falls to a special division of the state revenue department. Both states have created extensive licensing and regulatory requirements for growers, distributors and retail sales outlets. Both have also sought to raise revenue while limiting consumption by imposing high excise taxes. According to the Tax Foundation, Colorado collects a 15 percent tax based on the average wholesale market price of marijuana; a 10 percent state tax on retail marijuana sales; and a state sales tax of 2.9 percent. Localities can also impose their own taxes. Denver, for instance, tacks on its own 3.5 percent sales tax. As a result, the effective tax rate on marijuana in Denver is around 28 percent -- less than the 31 percent tax on cigarettes, more than the 8 percent excise tax on alcohol. Washington has an even higher tax rate on legal marijuana -- around 44 percent.
But there’s an inherent problem with for-profit systems: the desire for profits. Consumption patterns for alcohol and marijuana share some notable similarities. One is that the heaviest users consume the most product. The top 20 percent of drinkers account for 85 percent of total alcohol consumption. Likewise, a small percentage of heavy smokers account for most marijuana consumption. A study conducted by the Colorado Department of Revenue’s Marijuana Policy Group found that people who smoke or ingest marijuana 21 times a month or more account for 87 percent of the state’s total legal marijuana consumption. Say what they will about responsible or moderate use, both the alcohol industry and the emerging marijuana industry depend on excessive, immoderate use for their profits. And the experience of states licensing the alcohol industry suggests two things. The first is that businesses are good at increasing their profits. That means aggressively advertising and marketing their products. The second is that growing profits bring political power.
One Colorado study found that people who smoke marijuana 21 times a month or more account for 87 percent of the state’s total legal marijuana consumption. (AP/Ed Andrieski)
Since the end of Prohibition, the American liquor industry has become ever more concentrated. Today, just two companies -- Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors -- control 80 percent of the beer market. With large profits come political power. It’s not just the brewers. The National Beer Wholesalers Association has long been a major donor, and the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America is quickly catching up. At the state level, beer distributors, retailers and wholesalers are perhaps even more politically important. Over the long run, these forces have been effective in gradually reducing the legal burdens imposed on them. Since 1950, the effective tax rate on beer has fallen by half; the tax on liquor has fallen even more dramatically. The federal excise tax hasn’t risen since 1991. The result is a level of taxation that does not remotely cover the cost alcohol imposes on society. In 2006, researchers calculated that the total cost of alcohol abuse was about $130 billion. Yet in 2012, the federal excise tax brought less than $10 billion into the federal treasury.
Of course the legal and medical marijuana market is a minnow compared to the whale that is the alcohol industry. Is it really reasonable to worry that the political clout of “Big Pot” could undermine reasonable state regulations? In the short term, no. Regulators in Washington state say they expect considerable turnover in the industry during its fledgling years.
“Colorado, when they first established their medical marijuana system several years ago, they saw a 50 percent failure rate,” says Washington State Liquor Control Board spokesman Brian Smith. “We expect that same sort of dynamic as things play out in the market here.”
Once winners emerge, however, the market will mature and the dynamics will change. “Over time, if you have private companies involved, they will try to create brand loyalty,” says Beau Kilmer, a senior policy researcher at the Rand Corporation who is part of a group developing marijuana legalization options for lawmakers in Vermont to consider. “Advertising and marketing are really going to matter at that point.”
All of which comes back to the idea of direct state sales of marijuana. A system of state-run cannabis stores would enjoy significant advantages over the commercial systems that state ballot initiatives have been creating. States would be able to directly control prices and, by extension, consumption and revenue. Governments would also be able to better control advertising. States such as Washington have tried to do that, promulgating regulations on signage and cannabis edibles (which can be particularly dangerous due to the potential to ingest large amounts of THC quickly) and banning marketing to children. But thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s expansive view of corporate free speech, there’s only so much state regulators can do. They can’t, for example, do what Uruguay is doing. The Latin American country is currently in the process of establishing a largely noncommercial legal marijuana market. “Uruguay is just going to ban advertising,” says Kilmer. “In the United States, it’s much more difficult. That’s not to say the folks in Washington and Colorado aren’t working hard to put limits on advertising. They are. But with the commercial free speech doctrine, they are not going to be able to ban that. That very much is an issue, especially in states that allow for-profit companies, especially over time.”
To be sure, state monopolies aren’t perfect. They can be hard to set up. They can be unpopular with consumers. They’re also unpopular with their private-sector counterparts. That makes them vulnerable to privatization efforts. States such as Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Maine and Montana have chosen to privatize state-owned liquor stores. In every case, the net results of such transitions have been bad from a public health standpoint. According to a review published in The American Journal of Preventive Medicine in 2012, the privatization of state-owned monopolies “lead to more outlets, longer hours of operation, increased promotions, and, importantly, increased sales and use.”
(AP/Elaine Thompson)
There’s another problem with the state-store approach -- selling marijuana is a felony under federal law. Back in 2010, when Colorado was considering legalization, the federal government intimated that state officials could be considered participants in a criminal project. Since then, the Justice Department has clarified that it will not pursue operators in states that have chosen to legalize marijuana and have put “strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems” in place. For states to sell marijuana directly, however, there would certainly need to be changes. The most straightforward way to accommodate state monopolies would be to change the federal Controlled Substances Act. However, UCLA’s Kleiman has also suggested that states could enter into a contractual arrangement with the U.S. Department of Justice that might provide for a tightly controlled state system.
Establishing state-operated cannabis outlets probably isn’t going to happen anytime soon. Public support for legal marijuana, which has risen steadily since the 1960s, could decline. The federal government’s tolerance of legalization experiments could change too. But the point is that states have myriad options between marijuana bans and a legal retail marketplace. “There is a tremendous amount of policy space between Prohibition and the standard, commercial model that has been adopted in Colorado and Washington,” says Kilmer. Washington, D.C.’s legalization proposal, which permits small-scale home cultivation for personal use, is one such alternative. Uruguay’s proposed system of home cultivation, co-ops and pharmacy sales could be another. But instead of exploring those alternatives, says Kilmer, “it’s kind of like we’ve gone from one extreme to another.”
*This story has been updated to reflect the result of ballot measures in Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C.A little less than a month before United's passenger removal scandal, CEO Oscar Munoz was honored for being PR Week's "Communicator of the Year."
The executive, who was named president and CEO in September 2015, is under scrutiny after the defended the forced removal of a passenger from an overbooked flight from Chicago to Louisville, Kentucky.
In a statement that some found flippant, Munoz apologized for having to "re-accomodate" passengers. Another letter he wrote to United employees seemed to blame the passenger, whom he called "disruptive and belligerent." He also said the violent removal was part of "established procedure," despite the passenger appearing to be bloodied and disoriented after the incident.
Passengers were notified that four people needed to disembark in order to make room for four United employees because the airlines oversold Sunday's flight. After a couple rounds of incentives that went unclaimed, United resorted to asking passengers to leave the plane. One man refused, which led to airport officials being called and him being dragged off the plane. Video of the confrontation went viral on social media.Despite the constant back and forth about it, the truth is, Bernie Sanders has already won. How, you ask?
-By running a populace-loved campaign of integrity, truth, and principle, he has proven that the American people do not want to be coddled, manipulated, or told what they want to hear. We're sick of the bullshit. We demand and deserve real respect.
-By refusing to pander to corporate sponsorship, instead continually making (and breaking) fund-raising records through populace-supported small donor contributions, he's proved that big money in politics is not in fact a necessary evil, simply a bad choice.
-By refusing to sink to slander and attack ads against his opponents, instead only highlighting factual differences in their history and policy, Bernie has shown that a higher moral standard and issue-oriented campaigning are the most effective political offenses.
-By remaining consistent in his lifelong humanitarian values, civil rights causes, and pragmatic foresight, Bernie has demonstrated that making the right choice in the first place is infinitely more valuable than continually evolving or poll-chasing political expediency.
-By refusing to stop running until every last vote is counted, he shows the commitment and drive to keep fighting for us even when things aren't easy- as he always has. He welcomes every chance to empower voters with the truth- his goal regardless of nomination.
In Bernie, we see a rare example of a politician with nothing to hide. No backroom deals, no doublespeak, no patience or pandering to the media's constant 'gotcha' questions and skewed narrative. He's a civil servant and a genuinely good man, husband, and grandfather.
But if that wasn't enough, his competition has conveniently doubled down to ensure we see the disturbingly stark difference between his FDR-esque honest common sense approach vs the typical short-sighted greedy super-capitalist 'lesser of two evils' politician:
-Hillary's campaign last year started out as a Neoliberal/Republican platform in Democrat clothing. Every talking point she's using now was an eventual 'evolvement', as Bernie's message and resulting poll numbers reluctantly pulled her (verbally) to the left.
-Having lost to Obama in 2008, in large part due to Superdelegates, campaign finance laws were therefore changed. This enabled her to build an undemocratic pyramid scheme, securing most delegates ahead of time with political and financial incentive.
-Hillary's establishment campaign strategy has been similar to Trumps' - "say whatever gets votes, truth is just an inconvenient restraint." From campaign speeches to tv debates, she's done her best to inaccurately paint Sanders (and his supporters) with any possible baseless spin.
-The attitude and ego of Hillary and her campaign are astoundingly smug. The go-to counterattack for badly losing the youth vote is to call them "ignorant" or "misled". For someone blatantly using our society's biggest tools of ignorance and deception, this is beyond insulting.
-Hillary has a well-documented history of saying one thing and doing another, proved by her voting record, her emails, and anyone who has been paying attention this election cycle. Her trust and likeability factor are negative nationwide. America is sick of bad political actors.
-Now Hillary's billionaire, corporate, for-profit prison, and Wall Street funded SuperPAC are paying millions to flood the internet with paid trolls, misinformation, and sponsored attack articles under the ironic guise of "Correcting the Record". To me, this is the last straw.
What is this, China? North Korea? Stalin's Russia? When media control and manipulation, PR orchestration, establishment-funded immoral false narratives, lies and propaganda are the only 'winning' tools for your election, it's time to admit it's over. The #NeverHillary / #ImNotWithHer movements are valid commentary on how she is inevitably viewed by the increasing majority of informed Americans. Most of us are quite aware that what's portrayed on television isn't reality, it's a corporate-backed infotainment tool for setting narratives and manipulating the masses. The youth- ironically in part through institutionalized poverty- largely cut the cord, got online, got factually educated, and are now Hillary's biggest (and growing) road block. Her voting base is the cultist Democrats, the clueless / uncaring rich, and the CNN-watching elderly (which her campaign mass-mailed surrogate forms to months before the race even began to further rig the outcome). Her success thus far has been frankly more about name recognition, closed primaries, rigging the game, and financing voter ignorance than anything else. Between continual election mismanagement / fraud, having Bill illegally but repeatedly show up at voting locations, protecting her high-dollar rah-rah bank speeches more than her emails, and now actively trying to censor and bury truth on the web... only the truly sociopathic could continue to support her.
This is our time to reject establishment politics, its selfish goals of money and power, and the undermining mockery to our nation's values it has become. This is the time for Americans to unite and with one voice of #Solidarity state firmly and with permanent conviction, #EnoughIsEnough. No more. It's time we had a real democracy. It's time our voices and votes counted. It's time to stop accepting the games, greed and corruption as inevitable. It's time to get money out of politics, time to start supporting only candidates and legislation that serve our country, not just enable the wealthy few who think we're gullible enough to keep being manipulated against our own best interests. It's time we demanded that our representatives actually represented us. It's time for real change. It's time for a #PoliticalRevolution.
#BernieOrBust #TruthNotTone #SeeYouInPhillyThis was an unusual test of the Autopilot (AP) that was completely unintentional on my part. My goal for the day was to video the lane changing feature of the Autopilot, and that’s why my cameras were running. Even so, this situation provides an interesting follow-up to my previous video on the ultrasonic sensors as experienced in the perpendicular parking feature.
The perpendicular parking test, which I repeated about eight times in the same parking spot as used in the video, convinced me that the sensor-software combination is very accurate and reliable. If I hadn’t had that prior experience, I may not have left the AP to carry through uninterrupted in the present video.
The video begins with a red truck passing normally while the two lanes continue well ahead of his passing location. Following that truck, the driver of a Toyota decides to pass, but his decision to do so is too late. Well before he reaches the rear of my car, the lane-marking between the two lanes has disappeared, and his pass will take place entirely in a one lane section of road that is predictably narrowing to a standard lane width.
In a situation where two lanes merge to one, the normal behaviour of the AP is to hug the outside lane and, after the lane-divider marking is gone, allow itself be shepherded by the converging outer lane-marking toward the centre lane-marking as the road narrows. I’ve noticed in the past that this situation can be complicated by other traffic. Sometimes I have taken control.
In this case the AP was steering as expected. The Toyota then presented it with a vehicle closing on the Tesla’s left side while the lane-marking was closing in on the right side. The sensors were picking up both the Toyota and the lane-marking.
A similar scenario often occurs in slow moving traffic when the Tesla is in the centre lane with traffic on both sides of it. If the lanes are narrow, the AP stays within the lane-markings as general guidance, but as the sensors pick up the vehicles on either side, it adjusts its position within the lane so it is more or less equal distant from each flanking vehicle.
And again, during the perpendicular parking test, the AP demonstrated a goal of finding an equal distance between the parked cars on either side. In that case it even exited the spot for a new approach so as to achieve that goal.
In the present video, the AP strove to remain within the lane-marking while being very much aware of the closing vehicle on its left. In my mind there is no question that the AP is programmed to give greater priority to avoiding contact with the vehicle than transgressing the lane-marking.
I suspect that if crossing the lane-marking to avoid the vehicle became imminent, the AP would have required the driver to take control, but this did not happen, and the situation resolved itself by the Toyota pulling ahead.
This performance of the AP shows highly sophisticated programming/decision-making. If the AP were to defer to the driver in every case that could be seen as tending toward risk, then we as drivers would probably be called upon much too often to take over. This video probably shows about the limit of the strategy of letting the AP continue up to the point of imminent danger. At each point throughout, I felt certain that I had enough room on the right side, beyond the lane-marking, and also to the rear, that I could have comfortably exited the situation if called upon to do so.
This experience enhances my confidence in the capabilities of the AP software, the hardware it relies on, and the general strategy of allowing it to remain autonomous well into complex scenarios.
Tesla Autopilot DemonstrationsHolly Tennant said she ordered an Uber driver to get home after getting out of Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center, but halfway to her home in Lake Havasu, the driver told her he wasn't going any farther. Tennant ended up at the Las Vegas hospital after suffering complications from multiple surgeries she had had over the past few weeks, including removing a decade-old lap band.
The closest hospital able to treat her during the Christmas holiday was in Las Vegas.
An ambulance took her from Lake Havasu to Las Vegas, but when she finished recovering two days after she had arrived, the only way she could get home effectively was to order an Uber.
"Just seemed like the logical thing. I could lay down and someone else would drive," said Tennant.
Tennant said her husband is caring for her 94-year-old mother and 11-year-old son with autism; having them pick her up wasn't an option. She said she was feeling good on Christmas Day when she left the hospital. After arranging for the driver to take her home, she fell asleep in the back seat of the Dodge truck. Tennant said when she woke up she was at the Chevron gas station in Palm Gardens, Nevada – both 75 miles from Las Vegas and still 75 miles from her home in Lake Havasu. She said after arguing with the driver, he gave her an ultimatum to either drive back to Las Vegas or get out of his truck and call another driver. After fumbling with the app, she discovered her lack of cell service would not allow her to get another driver, and went inside the gas station.
"He said, 'I am not going to take you further. If my phone doesn't work, I am not getting paid,'" said Tennant.
A worker at the gas station helped take care of her until her husband arrived to pick her up two hours later. Vance Vogelheim, who saw her during his shift, said they see stranded people at the gas station often and help customers who break down or don’t have gas money to go any farther, but this was an experience he has not yet had.
"There was a lady sitting here with a pillow and some blankets and some other items. She was waiting for a ride, she was stuck," said Vogelheim.
Tennant paid for her partial trip and canceled the second half, which would have cost her an extra $89. Her husband picked her up hours later.
An Uber spokesperson said distance and location are what the driver and rider agree on, and released this statement:
"We are saddened to have learned the details described about this rider's experience as she attempted to travel home to be with her family for the holidays. Riders who use Uber expect reliable, high-quality service from their drivers. We’re disappointed when an experience does not meet that standard, and we’re working to resolve it.”
Uber said it is currently reviewing the situation. The company added that after every trip, both drivers and riders are able to rate their experiences, which helps keep all participants accountable.Bad news here. Despite the hopes and major movement of Metalocalypse Now, it appears there will officially be no more Metalocalypse episodes made. It’s Hamburger Time. In a recent interview with Metal Insider, the show’s creator Brendon Small had the following to say of the shows official demise and Adult Swim’s actions:
“It turns out Adult Swim doesn’t want anyone to have Metalocalypse, not even themselves. They just want old re-runs. They paid for it, so they can take their ball and go home with it, and that’s how show business works, for better or for worse. They said just a flat out no, and they get to do that.”
So, there you have it. It was incredible while it lasted but Metalocalypse is now a part of the past. Let’s mourn the dead and laugh at these classics:
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Links: Facebook // Adult SwimFrom Black Keys to his own Gnarls B, Danger Mouse has been plenty busy. As previously suggested, his next high profile knob-turning job is Beck’s 10th album Modern Guilt. RockDaily has the details:
Then he says more.
“It was like trying to fit two years of songwriting into two and a half months,” Beck says. “I know I did at least 10 weeks with no days off, until four or five in the morning every night.”
[Danger Mouse] remembers Beck’s stamina during their late-night sessions: “He’s like a machine. I always got tired before he did. I stayed pretty late, but I’d usually hear the next day how late it went.” The resulting album, tentatively titled Modern Guilt, is full of off-kilter rhythms and left-field breakdowns, with an overall 1960s British vibe. Beck’s vocals float over the music as if he’s singing along to some mystical radio station in the next room. The title track has the groove of a good Zombies single, while the twangy guitar and uptempo beat of “Beggars Shoes” make it sound like Beck’s cruising at maximum speed down Route 66. The lyrics include lines about the ice caps melting down (and “the transistor sound”), but there were many earlier versions. “I can’t tell you how many times I wrote and recorded a complete song,” Beck says, “and then just took everything away but the drumbeat and wrote a whole new song.”
Beck and Danger Mouse knew each other casually before making the record — some of Beck’s former musicians ended up playing with Gnarls Barkley — but they were both surprised at how naturally they worked together. “It felt like we could have been making our fourth record together,” Beck says. “It did help that we share a lot of musical references. We spent the first week just talking about different records. His knowledge is pretty deep, especially with some of the obscure late-Sixties, early-Seventies rock.”
The original vision for Modern Guilt was 10 short tracks. “I was hoping all the songs would be two minutes long,” Beck says, “but then I got rid of all the short songs.” Each song started with Beck playing acoustic guitar over a drumbeat: If it made the cut, they’d flesh out the music, usually with Burton playing keyboard bass and Beck playing most of the other instruments. There were just a few guests: Joey Waronker added drums to the epic “Chem Trails,” which would have fit in nicely on an early Pink Floyd record. And Cat Power’s Chan Marshall added backing vocals to a few tracks, including the melancholy “Walls,” which includes the lyric “Some days are worse than you can imagine.”(Reuters) - U.S. Democratic lawmakers asked Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt on Wednesday to disclose procedures to prevent billionaire Carl Icahn from influencing U.S. biofuels policy for personal gain.
FILE PHOTO: Billionaire activist-investor Carl Icahn gives an interview on FOX Business Network's Neil Cavuto show in New York, U.S. on February 11, 2014. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
The letter is the latest in a string of missives from Democrats concerned about Icahn’s dual role as a special adviser to President Donald Trump on regulation and as a major investor in heavily regulated industries.
Icahn has an 82 percent stake in oil refiner CVR Energy Inc (CVI.N). He has also recommended the White House change the biofuels program that would reduce costs to CVR and other refining companies.
“Recent reports about Mr. Icahn’s actions with respect to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program have raised significant ethical and legal concerns given his oil refinery business interests,” the letter read.
Signing the letter were Reps. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee; Bobby Rush of Illinois; Diana DeGette of Colorado; Paul Tonko of New York; and John Sarbanes of Maryland.
They called on Pruitt to respond by the end of the month with details about procedures in place at EPA to prevent Icahn from influencing policy for personal gain. The agency runs the Renewable Fuel Standard program, a regulation requiring increasing amounts of biofuels in the nation’s gasoline.
Earlier this month, five Democratic senators had also asked the EPA to hand over documents relating to Icahn’s role in shaping biofuels policy at the agency.
And in May, eight Democratic senators asked U.S. regulators to investigate Icahn’s biofuels activities. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission responded that it was not investigating but would help the EPA with any probe that it was conducting. [L1N1J21PC]
An official at the EPA Office of Inspector General declined to comment on whether an inquiry was under way.
Icahn was named as an unpaid special adviser to Trump in December. In February, he proposed shifting the responsibility for blending biofuels to fuel dealers from refiners.
Icahn has said the proposal is not self-dealing because it would benefit many refining companies, not just CVR.
White House officials have said the EPA is considering the proposal.More than 100 former clients who lost money in the $65bn Ponzi scheme outline the devastation wreaked on their lives in statements to the judge ahead of sentencing
To his victims, Bernard Madoff is a monster, a bastard, a psychopath, a lowlife, a scoundrel and a devil. The sheer force of the fury and frustration levelled at Wall Street's most notorious fraudster has been documented in scores of letters describing wrecked lives, plundered retirement accounts, families in tatters and shattered dreams.
New York's federal court today published 141 pages of missives to judge Denny Chin, who is due to sentence Madoff this month for orchestrating a $65bn (£39.5bn) Ponzi scheme over the course of three decades. Almost all of Madoff's victims want the 71-year-old fund manager to receive the maximum notional penalty of 150 years in jail.
In language ranging from raw to eloquent, investors in Madoff Investment Securities described the moment of Madoff's arrest in December, when they realised that their savings had evaporated and that their lifestyles, often comfortable, were unexpectedly fragile.
"The air in the room was thick and there was silence. The birds that had been chirping stopped singing. The squirrels stopped scurrying. The sun stopped shining. There was a void," wrote a New York couple, Ronnie Sue and Dominic Ambrosino. "In the last six months our lives have been like something from a bad science fiction movie. The emotional devastation is too intense to be able to describe in words."
Caren Low, from a family of Jewish philanthropists in New York state, said she went on anti-depressants: "I had to pretend to smile when my 10-year-old daughter was around and try not to reveal the fear that I was living with."
About 8,500 people lost money at the hands of Madoff, who pleaded guilty in March to 11 counts of theft, fraud and international money laundering. There have been two suicides linked to the scandal, including the death in Southampton of William Foxton, a 65-year-old retired army major who shot himself after discovering that his family's savings had been lost.
Many of Madoff's victims are elderly and some have been left struggling for day-to-day funds. Natalie Erger, a Florida woman, said her 78-year-old husband had been obliged to go back to work – initially as a telephone salesman, then in a local bagel store.
Celebrities
Jack Cutter, an 80-year-old from Colorado, said he had taken a job as a meat clerk in a grocery store for a wage of $8.39 an hour: "It is difficult work and the pay is small, but it is something."
Others are relying on friends and family for help. Korean war veteran, Allan Goldstein, 76, said he and his wife had been left destitute. "We had to sell our home in upstate New York to avoid foreclosure. We are now living in one room in my daughter's house in California. I cannot pay my long-term health insurance. I had to give up my car and we are applying for food stamps."
Numbered among Madoff's victims are headline-grabbing celebrities including Kevin Bacon, Steven Spielberg, the Spanish filmmaker |
in theoretical reason which makes it possible to infer the existence of another subject.” This is of course an affront to common sense: in ordinary everyday life, no-one seriously doubts for a moment the existence of other subjects, nor the real existence of the external world. So where could this preposterous idea, which is clearly non-empirical, have come from? There is undeniably a certain irony in looking for an origin in the social domain, because solipsism would seem to be the very antithesis of sociability. But Sohn-Rethel (1978) rises to the occasion. Since solipsism is a private thought par excellence, the first idea that comes to mind concerning the social sphere is that of private property. This is all the more plausible in that at first sight it would seem that the institutional principle of private property is logically prior to market exchanges. But Sohn-Rethel (1978) argues that actually the relation is the other way around: the principle of “private property” is actually only a retrospective conceptualisation of necessities that are already inherent in the social act of exchange. Let us look at this more closely. During the whole duration of an exchange transaction, the commodity in question must imperatively be withdrawn from the sphere of use. This is what we have already analyzed above, where we noted that market exchanges induce a rigorous mutual exclusion between use and exchange. We now have to pursue this analysis, by examining the consequences of this separation for the consciousness of the agents. To do this, we will successively examine the two aspects: first that of use, then that of exchange. – Concerning use, we may note that the minds of the participants in the market transaction are each necessarily engaged with what they are planning to do with the merchandise once they have acquired it, otherwise the motivation for engaging in the transaction would disappear and the exchange would have no reason to take place. It is for this reason that an exchange is an abstraction which, in the last resort, is inseparable from use. But we may also note that these thoughts are essentially private: the specific content that each partner has in mind (whether one wishes to acquire some sodium chlorate for gardening, or to make a home-made bomb, for example) does not enter into the exchange as such. – Concerning now the exchange, we may note that it is an action, and that this action is social; but that it is not thought of as such by the agents. In a commodity exchange, whatever the agents think about it (and even if they are not thinking about anything at all other than their private motivations), two principles are tacitly implied: (i) that of a mutual exclusion of property (what belongs to A does not belong to B, and vice versa); (ii) the fact of obtaining one object and giving up another does not result from a direct, “natural” action (for example, as in theft), but from an exchange involving mutual consent. In other words, the direct relation to nature is suspended, and replaced by a social relation. To sum up: what the owners of commodities do in the context of a commodity exchange is effectively equivalent to practical solipsism; and this is the case, quite independently of what the agents concerned may or may not actually think or say about it. There is thus indeed a telling correspondence between “solipsism” as a philosophical category, and certain aspects of the exchange abstraction.
The unicity of that which is The first thinker in human history who attained the sphere of “pure thought”, a style of thought quite different from anything that exists in traditional communal societies, was Parmenides (Cornford, 1939). His central concept is designated, in Greek, by the words τo𝜀oν, which is generally translated as “the One; that which is.” This entity is intrinsically and perpetually unchanging; it occupies the whole of space; it lacks all the attributes of sensory perception; it is strictly homogeneous and uniform; it is indivisible; it is incapable of any sort of becoming or decaying; and it is forever immobile. Parmenides emphasizes that the reality and the being of this entity are such that it is intrinsically and literally inconceivable to think that it does not exist. This reasoning is central to his whole doctrine; and it marks the first time in the whole of human history that a conclusion is based on purely logical arguments. Thus, the τo𝜀oν is the starting-point for a thought-process which proceeds by pure reasoning. In other words, what characterizes this style of thought, quite unprecedented at that time, is the fact that this purely conceptual thought grasps the dialectics of truth and non-truth according to the canons of logical necessity which is absolutely binding. Parmenides writes: “The fact of thinking, and the thought “it is,” are one and the same thing. For you will never find any thought divorced from that which is, from what the thought is about. For there is not, and there never will be, any thing other than that which is.” Hegel (1833) was later to recognize himself perfectly in this stance, and comments: “This is indeed the fundamental idea. Parmenides marks the beginning of philosophy.” We may note that the concept of τo𝜀oν is a premise for the logical arguments of Parmenides; but the origin of the concept itself is enigmatic. One thing is clear at any rate: it is a radically non-empirical concept. It is indeed totally evident that no-one has ever seen (or heard, or touched, or tasted, or smelt) anything at all which bears the least resemblance to this τo𝜀oν. In this respect, it is worth noting that neither Parmenides, nor any of the other founders of Greek philosophy, claim to have personally invented their key concepts themselves. Parmenides never suggests, for example, that he arrived at this concept by a process of generalization on the basis of multiple cases in order to arrive at the level of a universal concept. The abstractions which underlie these concepts are of a quite different sort: one finds them already there, complete in themselves, totally without any process by which they could be derived. They come from elsewhere, outside and independently of any human thought. It is in this difficult situation that Sohn-Rethel (1978) proposes his audacious solution to the problem. According to him, the concept of Parmenides corresponds in quite exemplary fashion to a description of the abstract substance from which, ideally, money should be made. A market commodity can be exchanged between two private owners precisely to the extent that it has the capacity to be constituted as the object of a mutual exclusion of ownership. It is this capacity which makes it impossible for such a commodity to belong simultaneously to two different owners: a commodity is essentially one in the context of a rivalry between two owners. What, precisely, does this “unicity” consist of? It has nothing to do with the indivisibility of the commodity considered as a material entity; it has nothing to do with its actual natural properties. In fact, what is brought into play is not the unicity of the commodities themselves, but the unicity of their existence. The ways in which a commodity can be perceived – as an object and in terms of its possible use-value – are as diverse as the persons who perceive it; but it exists in a single world which is common to all the private individuals, and this is the world of market exchanges. The unicity of the exchange abstraction is thus absolutely fundamental, because it is this unicity which constitutes it as an instrument capable of realizing the social synthesis; in other words, of conferring on the society in question its coherence and its unity. There is thus an astounding formal concordance between this unicity of the exchange abstraction, and the ontological unicity of the τo𝜀oν of Parmenides which is the founding abstraction of philosophical thought.
Abstract quantity The work of the formalist school of mathematics (Weir, 2011), notably following Hilbert, have made quite explicit something which was up until then merely implicit in the whole of “pure mathematics”: this is the perfectly abstract quality of “natural numbers.” The mathematical definition of these numbers involves a notion of “abstract quantity” defined by nothing other than the relation “larger than” (>), “less than” (<), or “equal to” (=)7. The fact that the very considerable work of the formalist school was necessary to make these concepts explicit is an eloquent indication of their abstract, non-empirical nature. “Numbers” as we experience them empirically are not at all built in this way (which explains the abstruse, non-intuitive nature of “formal mathematics” which has given such headaches to pupils and teachers alike in schools where a well-intentioned but possibly quite misguided attempt has been made to introduce this new program of “modern maths”). Numbers as we come across them in daily life are never separated from the objects that are to be counted; what we can actually experience empirically are twenty sea-shells, or twenty cows. But then, if the concept of “pure quantity” cannot be derived from empirical experience, where on earth could it have come from? Sohn-Rethel (1978), continuing his analysis of the exchange abstraction, sees an answer to this enigma in the following way. The act of exchange contains within itself the postulate that the two sets of commodities to be exchanged are equal. But how are we to define and to characterize this “equality”? It does not reside in the identity of the commodities, because if they were completely identical there would be no point in exchanging them; only different commodities are exchanged. Neither are the commodities considered to be equal in the minds of the agents, because their action would become absurd if they did not see any advantage in realizing the exchange. What is more, this sort of evaluation only exists in the solipsistic register of each individual conscience; from one person to another, such evaluations are not comparable. Nevertheless, it is of the very essence of the postulate of equality that it transcends the gulf of experience between the agents. The postulate of equality does not derive from their experience; the only thing they to agree is that the two sets of commodities can be exchanged. The two sets of commodities are rendered equal by the very act of exchange; they are not exchanged in virtue of any sort of “equality” that they possess in themselves. An act of exchange of this sort, which ends up by postulating the equality of the sets of commodities, may well be preceded by a negotiation, by a sort of petty bargaining where what is at stake for each agent is “take more” and “give less.” Now it is true that many commodities can be measured in dimensional units (tons, gallons, square metres, and so on). But the comparative terms “more” and “less” employed during the bargaining do not involve a quantitative comparison between, for example, tons of coal, gallons of petrol, or square yards of fabric. The relational equation postulated by an act of exchange leaves behind it all such dimensional measure, and establishes a level of pure non-dimensional quantity. At the end of all this we find, very precisely, the level of pure numbers defined by nothing other than “>,” “<,” and “=.”
Abstract time and space In the list of categories of synthetic a priori judgement, as Kant set them out, an important place is occupied by the concepts of time and space. This space is that of Euclidean geometry: it is notably characterized by the fact of being rigorously homogeneous and isotropic. As Jaynes (1976) has pointed out with great perspicacity, time is only accessible to reflexive consciousness, and indeed to scientific thought, if it is metaphorically transposed to this conceptual framework of an ideal space: in this context, “time” is nothing other than a Euclidean point which advances uniformly along a straight line which is also Euclidean. It may not be necessary to dwell at length on the totally non-empirical nature of these concepts, since this thematic leitmotiv is becoming familiar. The space in which we move in the course of our daily life is anything but homogeneous and isotropic (Merleau-Ponty, 1945). As embodied beings, we are constantly subject to the anisotropic influence of gravity (in fact even this characterization is already idealized with respect to our phenomenologically immediate lived experience). And even the space of our movements in the two horizontal dimensions is not homogeneous, being encumbered in all sorts of ways. We have no perception of spatiality outside our actions (this is particularly clear in the “enactive” approach to cognition and perception). Now these actions are constitutively dependent on the particularities of our embodiment and of our natural Umwelt; and both of these are anything but homogeneous and isotropic. And as for time, considered as we have immediate lived experience of it, its “framing” by the metaphor of spatiality is in no way empirically given; and on the other hand, it is characterized by biological and psychological rhythms, day and night, which once again are anything but homogeneous and linear. So where could the rigorous ideality of the Euclidean conceptions come from? As we may expect, Sohn-Rethel (1978) sees the source of this ideal abstraction in the switch which comes when the categories of space are applied not at the level of use, but at the level of market exchanges. At the level of use, which we interpret here as covering the totality of all human activities in relation with nature, space, and time are inextricably linked to natural events and human activities: as for example in the ripening of harvests, the seasons of the year, hunting animals, the birth, and death of human beings, and generally everything that happens in the course of life. Now every act of exchange requires abstracting away from all this, because the commodities are supposed to be quite immutable during the whole duration of the exchange. The transaction does take a certain lapse of time, because one must include the delivery of the commodities and the payment which concludes the exchange. But the totality of this time is emptied of all the material realities which make up its content at the level of use. Very similar considerations apply to space, for example the distance that the commodities must cover when they change owners. While the commodities are in transit from the old to the new owner, the equality between the two sets of commodities holds at each position and at each instant in exactly the same manner as at any other position and time. It is for this reason that time and space, when they are applied to the exchange, must be perfectly homogeneous. They are also continuous, in the sense that they allow for an interruption at any moment during the transit. In other words, the exchange abstraction excludes everything which makes up history, whether it be human history or natural history. The empirical reality of facts and events, and their descriptions which make it possible to differentiate one local time and position with respect to another, is entirely obliterated. This is how time and space acquire that character of universality and atemporality which must mark the exchange abstraction in each of its traits.
Substance and accidents It is well known that Aristotelian logic operates a fundamental distinction between the “essential” properties of an object – in brief, the necessary and sufficient properties for an object to belong to a certain class of objects (for example, being “a tree,” “a cat,” and so on) – and the “accidental” or contingent properties, those that an object can have (or not) without affecting its membership of a class (for example, the fact that a cat is gray or ginger). In its more highly developed form, this distinction becomes that between “primary” properties – in physics, these reduce essentially to the mass, the position and the state of movement of a particle – and “secondary” properties such as its color, its sound, its smell and so on. It is pretty evident that this conceptual scheme – which gives pride of place, need it be said, to the “essential” or “primary” properties – is the exact opposite of the empirical situation, for everything that can actually be perceived is relegated to the status of “accidental” or “secondary” properties. But if the “essential,” “primary” properties are non-empirical, where do they come from? Sohn-Rethel (1978) once again finds an answer in the exchange abstraction. In fact, we have already largely presented what is at stake: the “ideal” substance of which money should, ideally, be made is very precisely devoid of all sensory qualities; all that remains are the properties necessary for it to transit in abstract space and time. Let us recall, once again that we are dealing with an “abstraction” precisely because the use-value of a commodity (and without which it would actually not have any exchange-value either) is constituted precisely by its empirical qualities.
The continuous and the discontinuous One of the grand themes which characterize the whole tradition of Western mathematics is the tense opposition between the continuous and the discrete (Salanskis, 1992). Already in ancient Greece, this gave rise to the paradoxes of Zeno – Achilles who would arguably never quite catch up with the tortoise. Another key moment was the invention of differential calculus by Leibniz and Newton. Once again, this is a concept that does not arise in the empirical sphere of daily practice; and once again, Sohn-Rethel (1978) finds roots for it in the exchange abstraction. On the basis of what we have already said, and summing up, it is clear that an act of exchange must, intrinsically, be described as the abstract movement, in abstract space and time (i.e., homogeneous, continuous and empty) of abstract substances (materially real but devoid of any sensory qualities) which do not undergo any material change and which can only be differentiated in a quantitative and non-dimensional manner. Now on one hand the constancy of the exchange value confers a continuity to the whole process of exchange; but on the other, it must be possible to interrupt the movement of the commodities at any place and time in order to verify the constancy of their value, and this cuts their movement up into a number of discrete packets. This contradictory nature, both continuous and discrete, comes from the social origin of their abstract nature.
The transcendental A final element in this list resides in the feature that above and beyond the relatively fine and specific details of the homologies we have examined in a–f, there is an over-riding, generic characteristic of the conceptual categories. Although philosophers are general silent (not to say evasive) concerning the genetic origin of the Kantian categories, they all agree that these categories are both “given” a priori in a non-empirical fashion, and at the same time absolutely compelling in their apodictic normativity. “Logic” in this sense has the property that it could not be other than what it is. This is the meaning of the philosophical term “transcendental.” But where could this remarkable property come from? Once again, we find a corresponding characteristic on the side of the exchange abstraction. This abstraction is indeed founded not on empirical facts, but on social postulates; and there is a sense in which they postulates could not be other than they are, on pain of the entire edifice collapsing (and in this case, in the framework of a market society, all activities of production and consumption would cease and the whole society would materially collapse). We can make an impressive list of these postulates which all have in common this feature that on the one hand they are pure postulates, but at the same time endowed with a sort of intrinsic necessity. Thus: it is a postulate that the use of commodities should be suspended until the action of exchange is completed; that no modification should occur in the physical state of the commodities, and that this postulate must be maintained even if empirical facts would seem to run counter to it; that the commodities which are exchanged should count as equivalent in spite of all their manifest empirical differences; that the fact of acquiring and giving up commodities is bound to a priori conditions concerning their exchangeability; that commodities change owners by transiting from one place to another without being materially affected, and that this movement occurs in an “empty” space. None of these formal concepts invokes any sort of empirical, factual observation; they are all norms that the exchange of market commodities must satisfy in order to implement the social synthesis.Comedian Sarah Silverman came under fire on Twitter Wednesday after posting a joke about the Bill Cosby rape allegations that some felt crossed a line -- even for the outspoken comic who rarely shies away from vulgarity in her humor.
Silverman's original tweet read, "Bill Cosby gave me one of those 'don't be dirty' lectures but I was unconscious & he was talking about my a-hole."
However, at least several of her more than 5.7 million followers on Twitter found the joke offensive and replied to her with such comments as, "Your joke makes light of women's actual pain. Not OK" and "Maybe I'm just a downer, but decent ppl don't take the horrendous crimes committed against others as joke opportunities."
About an hour after posting the original tweet – which has not been deleted from her account – Silverman wrote that if she could rewrite the original joke, it would say, "Bill Cosby gave me one of those 'don't be dirty' lectures but I was rendered unconscious."
Seven women have come forward to claim that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted them in the past; he has not been charged in connection with any of the accusations and refuses to discuss them.
However, the allegations have taken a toll on his efforts to revive his career. NBC scrapped a comedy that was under development with him and TV Land will stop airing reruns of "The Cosby Show."
When the Associated Press interviewed Cosby on Nov. 6, the story involved long-circulated accusations from several women. Cosby declined to comment, saying, "We don't answer that."
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
The AP mentioned the allegations and Cosby's decision not to comment at the end of its story, which, like the interview, was primarily about his loan of more than 50 artworks to the Washington museum.
The AP was among a handful of news organizations granted interviews with Cosby in connection with the art exhibition. After his initial refusal to comment — as the interview was winding down but with the camera still running and Cosby wearing a lapel microphone — the comedian asked the AP to not use the brief on-camera refusal to comment he had just made about the allegations. "And I would appreciate it if it was scuttled," he said.
The original tweet:
Bill Cosby gave me one of those "don't be dirty" lectures but I was unconscious & he was talking about my a-hole
The tamer version:
Bill Cosby gave me one of those "don't be dirty" lectures but I was rendered unconscious.
skip -— It was a chaotic morning for mayoral candidate Catherine Pugh’s campaign, after would-be poll workers created an ugly scene outside her headquarters, leading to one arrest.
Tracey Leong explains what unfolded.
Destruction of campaign property, broken car windows, and slashed van tires were the result of some confusion between Pugh’s campaign and the community.
According to campaign spokesman Anthony McCarthy, some people who showed up wanting to work for the campaign on Primary Day had not gone through training but had received flyers telling them where to show up to work for the Pugh campaign for $100.
Because the campaign could not verify if they had gone through the training, they were initially turned away.
Many people who showed up to headquarters got upset after feeling they were lied to. Dozens of officers were called to the scene and one man, 53-year-old Jerome Tuggle, was arrested and charged with destruction of property after using a brick to break windows, police say.
The campaign now says that anyone who worked today, even if they didn’t complete the training, will be paid.
WJZ caught up with Pugh, who says it was simply a misunderstanding that took an unfortunate turn.
“We finally got it under wraps and those people will be paid today. We’ll be broke at the end of this but it’s OK. I would rather see it go to the campaign workers and people out there who are unemployed who need an opportunity to work,” Pugh said.
Follow @CBSBaltimore on Twitter and like WJZ-TV | CBS Baltimore on FacebookAt my work, I feel bursting with energy. At my work, I feel bursting with energy. Never At my work, I feel bursting with energy. Almost never (a few times a year or less) At my work, I feel bursting with energy. Rarely (once a month or less) At my work, I feel bursting with energy. Sometimes (a few times a month) At my work, I feel bursting with energy. Often (once a week) At my work, I feel bursting with energy. Very often (a few times a week) At my work, I feel bursting with energy. Always (everyday)
At my job, I feel strong and vigorous. At my job, I feel strong and vigorous. Never At my job, I feel strong and vigorous. Almost never (a few times a year or less) At my job, I feel strong and vigorous. Rarely (once a month or less) At my job, I feel strong and vigorous. Sometimes (a few times a month) At my job, I feel strong and vigorous. Often (once a week) At my job, I feel strong and vigorous. Very often (a few times a week) At my job, I feel strong and vigorous. Always (everyday)
I am enthusiastic about my job. I am enthusiastic about my job. Never I am enthusiastic about my job. Almost never (a few times a year or less) I am enthusiastic about my job. Rarely (once a month or less) I am enthusiastic about my job. Sometimes (a few times a month) I am enthusiastic about my job. Often (once a week) I am enthusiastic about my job. Very often (a few times a week) I am enthusiastic about my job. Always (everyday)
My job inspires me. My job inspires me. Never My job inspires me. Almost never (a few times a year or less) My job inspires me. Rarely (once a month or less) My job inspires me. Sometimes (a few times a month) My job inspires me. Often (once a week) My job inspires me. Very often (a few times a week) My job inspires me. Always (everyday)
When I get up in the morning, I feel like going to work. When I get up in the morning, I feel like going to work. Never When I get up in the morning, I feel like going to work. Almost never (a few times a year or less) When I get up in the morning, I feel like going to work. Rarely (once a month or less) When I get up in the morning, I feel like going to work. Sometimes (a few times a month) When I get up in the morning, I feel like going to work. Often (once a week) When I get up in the morning, I feel like going to work. Very often (a few times a week) When I get up in the morning, I feel like going to work. Always (everyday)
I feel happy when I am working intensely. I feel happy when I am working intensely. Never I feel happy when I am working intensely. Almost never (a few times a year or less) I feel happy when I am working intensely. Rarely (once a month or less) I feel happy when I am working intensely. Sometimes (a few times a month) I feel happy when I am working intensely. Often (once a week) I feel happy when I am working intensely. Very often (a few times a week) I feel happy when I am working intensely. Always (everyday)
I am proud of the work that I do. I am proud of the work that I do. Never I am proud of the work that I do. Almost never (a few times a year or less) I am proud of the work that I do. Rarely (once a month or less) I am proud of the work that I do. Sometimes (a few times a month) I am proud of the work that I do. Often (once a week) I am proud of the work that I do. Very often (a few times a week) I am proud of the work that I do. Always (everyday)
I am immersed in my work. I am immersed in my work. Never I am immersed in my work. Almost never (a few times a year or less) I am immersed in my work. Rarely (once a month or less) I am immersed in my work. Sometimes (a few times a month) I am immersed in my work. Often (once a week) I am immersed in my work. Very often (a few times a week) I am immersed in my work. Always (everyday)Wednesday, July 31, 2013, 08:21
Proposed ball ban causing stir in world of ping-pong
By Hao Nan
The International Table Tennis Federation recently mandated that a new plastic poly ball take the place of the current celluloid balls that have been used for more than 100 years.
The date of the change has been altered a few times since the ITTF first declared their intentions, and it is currently set at July 2014.
But because of a multinational patent, there is no manufacturer ready to produce the new balls, according to a story in the Beijing-based Table Tennis magazine.
The patent has been authorized in many regions, including the European Union, the United States, Japan and Germany.
It is for a celluloid-free ping-pong ball that has a diameter of 38.5 mm to 48 mm, a weight between 2 and 4.5 grams and a shell thickness between about 0.2 and 1.3 mm.
And, nearly all the materials used in the manufacture of the new balls are also included in the patent.
The content of the patent is so broad that it could lead to a patent infringement even if someone produces new balls with materials found on other planets, an industrial insider joked.
Proposed ball ban causing stir in world of ping-pong
According to the magazine, the patent application was first filed in 2006 and did not attract much attention from the table tennis manufacturers at that time.
That is because no patent application filed on new ball materials had been approved before, and other patent applications, such as those filed for rackets and glue, did not have much impact.
In June 2012, a US table tennis enthusiast posted a petition on many international table tennis websites, such as mytabletennis.net and pingskills.com, to protest against the new poly balls.
His questions mainly focused on the performance of the new ball, which he claims has significantly less spin than the current celluloid ball, and he also asserts that the durability is suspect.
Soon after the petition was posted, an Internet user from Taiwan pointed out that now that the patent has been approved in the US and the EU, it seems that most ball manufacturers in the world will have to get permission if they want to make new balls.
Faced with potentially expensive patent charges, members in the Federation of International Table Tennis Manufacturers, known as FIT for short, decided to confront the ITTF on this matter.
They delivered a public letter to ITTF President Adham Sharara at the annual general assembly during this year's World Table Tennis Championships in May.
In the letter, they wrote, "No FIT companies will start selling the plastic ball in the countries where the patent is valid because it is too risky for them to market and sell it from the viewpoints of both legality and the patent charge".
They also hoped that the ITTF could "solve the issue within 14 days because authorization by the ITTF, receiving orders and delivering in a large number require a long lead time."
ITTF officials expressed hopes that the manufacturers could make concessions and buy the patent, but the FIT members still find this arrangement to be unreasonable.
An anonymous manufacturer told the magazine that about 10 million professional balls are needed in the world, and the demand for balls for recreation will be larger.
He noted if the patent owner were to charge 0.01 euro ($0.013) for each ball, it would account for 40 percent of the prime cost. Although the rate of charges has not come out, it could be a risk, he added.
An attendee who declined to give his name said that although they were unsatisfied with the outcome of the meeting, the atmosphere was relaxed because they need authorization from the ITTF for their other products in the future and so they do not want any bad blood, according to the magazine.
FIT President Andreas Hain told the magazine that they are working with the patent owners to work out a compromise on the issue, but progress has been slow.
[email protected] McCarthy has a nice problem on his hands.
The Green Bay Packers coach this week called running back DuJuan Harris "a starter on our football team," but rookie Eddie Lacy is playing well enough to reshuffle the pecking order.
Lacy was a revelation in Saturday's 19-7 preseason win over the St. Louis Rams. The former Alabama bruiser displayed power and agility, slamming into defenders and giving the Rams more than they could handle. His 40 yards on eight carries, more importantly, gave the Packers an identity on the ground.
McCarthy acknowledged Lacy "clearly took advantage of his opportunities." With Harris sidelined by a knee injury, Lacy's debut was a joy to watch: Hammering would-be tacklers, juking others and piling up yards after contact. Chris Wesseling said it best:
"They got a steal getting (Lacy) where they got him," one NFL scout told Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "I thought he was going to go earlier. He's as advertised."
Harris isn't out of the picture, but the Packers -- after a long dry spell at the position -- have one of football's more tantalizing stable of backs. The big winner here is Aaron Rodgers. After being leaned on do to it all through the air, Green Bay will attack teams with a more balanced offense in 2013, one that keeps teams guessing.
After the Packers were made to look like children in January's playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers, McCarthy preached that this year's team would exude toughness first. Lacy will lead the way.
The Around The League Podcast is now available on iTunes! Click here to listen and subscribe.Update: The invitational has ended, with nearly $120,000 being raised (currently the Gamer's Outreach page is showing $119,737 in donations, but people are still donating). With Bluehole promising to match the first $100,000 in donations, that means the grand total is nearly $220,000. That's a great haul, and it may still climb.
Original story: Playerunknown's Battlegrounds 2017 Charity Invitational gets underway at 10 am PT/1 pm ET today, with 64 streamers from the European Union kicking things off, followed by North American streamers throwing down at 2 pm PT/5 pm ET. Want to watch? We can help.
The event will be DUOS mode only, with 32 teams per region, with regions split up to help ensure that players have the best ping (and thus the fairest experience) possible. Each region will play three matches, with victory going to players with "the highest overall placement from all three rounds."
The whole thing is being streamed live on Twitch, with donations (it's a "Charity Invitational," remember) going to support Gamers Outreach, an organization that "provides equipment, technology, and software to help kids cope with treatment inside hospitals." The goal is $100,000, of which more than $19,000 has been raised during the pre-show alone. Nice work, everyone.Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz is prepared to penalize savers in order to get a stalled economy moving again. That’s one lesson from his intriguing and far-reaching speech to Toronto’s Empire Club Tuesday.
Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz told the Empire Club of Canada that when interest rates are already low, fiscal policy (the willingness of governments to spend more than they take in) is always more powerful than monetary policy (attempts by central banks to promote investment), writes Thomas Walkom. ( CHRIS HELGREN / REUTERS )
But the more important lesson is his statement that this task could be better accomplished by the federal government running deficits. Citing the late British economist John Maynard Keynes, the central bank chief reminded his audience that when interest rates are already low, fiscal policy (the willingness of governments to spend more than they take in) is always more powerful than monetary policy (attempts by central banks to promote investment). In effect, he was telling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau to go for it — to run deficits if necessary in order to get the country working again.
Article Continued Below
Being prudent, Poloz didn’t commit the sin of formally recommending anything to Morneau in this speech. Central bankers tend not to comment publicly on what finance ministers should do, and vice versa. But the message was there nonetheless. And it’s worth dissecting Poloz’s speech to see how he approaches the current slump. First, Poloz does not believe the world is stuck in the rut of long-term stagnation. He thinks we’re caught in a cyclical slump, albeit a long one. And he thinks matters are improving.
In this sense, he’s optimistic. But he’s not that optimistic — which is why he spent most of his speech talking about so-called unconventional methods that the Bank of Canada might have to use if the economy starts to go down the drain again.
Article Continued Below
One of these unconventional methods is relatively conventional — creating money out of thin air. Quantitative easing, as it is called, would involve the Bank of Canada buying long-term assets (such as corporate bonds) and paying for them with, as the Economist magazine puts it, “electronic cash that did not exist before.” Another is to encourage banks to lend more money by penalizing them when they don’t. This is the so-called negative interest-rate scenario. It would involve the central bank not paying but charging interest on commercial bank monies deposited with it. Poloz said the penalty negative interest rate could be as much as 0.5 per cent. Would this rebound on people who, in turn, park their savings in commercial banks? In response to questions, Poloz said no. But he may be overly optimistic. In Switzerland, where the practice already exists, one commercial bank has served notice that it will start explicitly charging its depositors negative interest next year. This means that those who insist on leaving their savings deposited in this particular bank could see |
involves taking multiple very high ISO short exposures to capture pinpoint stars without any visible trails, and then stack, align, and average them in software to vastly reduce the noise. I use Starry Landscape Stacker for Mac, available in the Mac App Store for just a few dollars. You can do it in Photoshop, but Starry Landscape Stacker makes the process much easier. Deep Sky Stacker is a Windows program that might work for this but I’m not sure how it will handle the alignment process with foreground elements. Deep Sky Stacker and similar programs will align multiple images based on the stars but Starry Landscape Stacker is designed to handle the foreground and only align based on the stars.
Using this technique with both Starry Landscape Stacker and Photoshop is demonstrated in my video tutorial [http://www.adamwoodworth.com/video-tutorials]. The Photoshop technique is also shown in this YouTube video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rydg7JGTAbw].
Using 14mm on full frame, I generally take 10 exposures at 10 seconds each at ISO 12800 or whatever the highest native ISO is on the camera I’m using. However on many cameras you may need to use a lower ISO to avoid excessive magenta color noise on the edges of the frame. On the D810 you might want to use ISO 6400 instead. On my D800E I had to use ISO 5000 or 4000. This color noise is due to both under exposure in the corners from vignetting of the lens and sensor noise from heat and other electronics in the camera. On the D810A I’ve been able to get away with ISO 12800.
Here is an example:
Now you can see why I use this technique whenever I can!
Effects of the IR Filter
The D810A is really designed with deep space astrophotography in mind due to the special IR filter that is optimized to capture the H-alpha narrowband infrared light emissions from nebulae. This results in red nebulae that really pop in the image, but also has the side effect of causing other light sources to shift. Daytime photos can sometimes result in a red cast. Light pollution at night can take on a yellow glow instead of orange.
Here is an example of how the IR filter pops red nebulae:
Even without zooming in the difference should be noticeable. The red nebulae are more noticeable and the Milky Way takes on more color with the D810A. But let’s take a closer look:
Big difference!
IR and Light Pollution
Now let’s look at the difference with light pollution. This difference can also be seen in the uncropped images at the start of this article; look at the glow in the lower left of the frame and on the D810A it looks yellow vs. orange on the others.
Notice how the light pollution glow in the D810A image looks yellow instead of orange.
IR and a Lighthouse
I tried the D810A at a red lighthouse (Bass Harbor Head Light) and a white lighthouse (West Quoddy Head Light). I didn’t see any noticeable differences at Bass, which is not surprising given how intense the red light is already from the lighthouse. But at West Quoddy there was a very noticeable difference, with the D810A producing a heavy red cast around the lighthouse.
The white balance on both of these shots was set to 4000K (0 tint) in Capture NX-D.
Notice the red cast around the light tower in the D810A. This can be largely removed in post but it is a bit tricky and problematic. This is something to be aware of when shooting lighthouses, and probably for some city scenes.
IR and Daytime
The IR filter in the D810A really means that the camera is best suited for the dark night sky, and there will be a red cast during daytime shots, but how noticeable or problematic it is will depend on the situation. Here is an example.
The white balance on both of these shots was set to Direct Sunlight in Capture NX-D.
Notice in the D810A photo how there is a reddish tint to the rocks and trees in the foreground and background, the water is a warmer blue, and the hazy distant horizon also has a reddish tint.
M* Manual Mode – Exposures Longer Than 30s Built In!
One of the most welcome D810A features for long exposure photography is the ability to choose exposures longer than 30 seconds in camera without the need for a remote timer. Put the D810A in M* manual mode and after 30s you can choose 60, 90, 120, 240, 300, 600, or 900 seconds. I really wish there were more options but at least it’s a huge step in the right direction.
If you enable Exposure Delay mode and very gently hit the shutter button on the camera, you can try to get away without using any remote at all as long as you don’t need other long exposure times. While testing out the D810A in Acadia I shot for almost an entire week and a half without the use of a remote.
Capture NX-D Astro Noise Reduction
Capture NX-D, as of version 1.2.1 (released in time with the D810A) has a new Astro Noise Reduction checkbox in the Noise Reduction panel. Enabling this will remove the majority of hot pixels from an image. It’s not 100% perfect though, but it works pretty darn well. On the other hand, Phase One’s Capture One raw converter has VERY good hot pixel noise reduction. It has some built in by default, and gets better with enabling color noise reduction, and then using the Single Pixel slider can get rid of all or almost all hot pixels. There’s also PixelFixer (Windows program) for doing the same thing with or without supplying your own dark frames. These are all very useful tools, and if you don’t have time for Long Exposure Noise Reduction in camera you can use one of these tools to fix the hot pixels in post, or at least get most of them and spot clean the rest yourself.
And let’s not forget the Dust & Scratches filter in Photoshop. That can produce excellent results with care and doesn’t require a big change in your raw editing workflow.
Conclusion
The D810A is a landmark camera for astrophotography, with amazing high ISO performance and the convenience of (limited) exposures longer than 30s in camera. The IR Cut filter is both a plus and a minus depending on the situation, but the nice pop and increased color that it brings out in the Milky Way is very nice.
Happy Shooting!
Written by Adam Woodworth
www.adamwoodworth.com- Advertisement -
With phony outrage pundits continually denouncing John McCain as the “media’s choice” in the election, it seems all McCain needed was a hit-job story to get his campaign rolling again. Especially for the base that left him in the dust and already began working on Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential run.
As we are all well aware, on Wednesday night, the New York Times put up a story on their website insinuating John McCain had an improper relationship with a Washington lobbyist.
In Ann Coulter’s column this morning, likely written before the story broke, she describes the presidential race as the choice between, “hemlock, self-immolation or the traditional gun in the mouth.” She goes on to say, “How did we end up with the mainstream media picking the Republican candidate for president?”
Now, normally I wouldn’t go and quote Ann Coulter in anything I write, as I believe she is an entertainer, but people take her seriously in several political circles, and her next column will speak volumes about the right’s self-pity.
- Advertisement -
What’s the worse of two evils for phony outrage pundits: A moderate Republican or a liberal newspaper?
Hannity and Limbaugh have already okayed McCain as the Republican candidate after Limbaugh said the senator would “destroy the Republican party.” The reasons are mostly unknown, but it may have to do with the fact that McCain is now flip-flopping on the Bush tax cuts and his own immigration reform plan.
(That’s what I want in a president – someone who denies his own legislation to get liars and racists on his side.)
- Advertisement -
The Times piece will undoubtedly get the base fired up for McCain, even if he’s now the “revenge candidate.”
This morning I was listening to Laura Ingraham on my way to work and she called the Times story, to paraphrase, what the conservative base needs to get back on track. It’s just a news story, but for conservatives who pretend to get angry for ratings, it’s personal.
For it’s the New York Times that publishes the editorials of Bob Herbert, Paul Krugman, and the detestable Frank Rich. It was the New York Times that published Ambassador Wilson’s pre-war investigative editorial, “What I Didn’t Find in Africa.” It’s the New York Times that is their greatest example of the “liberal media elite.” It’s where they get all their “the media hates us” self-pity. It’s how they can sound as smart as a fifth grader, saying, “Fox News is liberal, just not as liberal.”
The Times has supposedly been sitting on this piece since late last year, when McCain met with Times editor Bill Keller. That in itself could be the ring that cracked the Liberty Bell. In conservatives' minds, the Times doesn't do anything for news purposes. They only act out of their own political bias.
If allegations turn out to be true, and McCain had an affair eight years ago, it won’t matter. (Why is anyone ever shocked about political infidelity? These people are, by definition, rich, famous, and powerful. Isn’t that what girls like?) The right doesn’t care about infidelity or amorality unless it supports them politically.
Larry Craig is still in the senate. Rush Limbaugh still has 10 million listeners. Bill O'Reilly is trusted to talk about values. Newt Gingrich, had an affair during the Lewinsky scandal. Pat Robertson endorsed the presidential pursuit of Rudy Giuliani, a thrice-married abortionist whose own kids hate him.
- Advertisement -
But, of course everyone knows Pat Robertson is out there talking to God for the money it brings in. This is a guy who had more ties to al Qaeda, through a business partner harboring terrorists in Liberia and owning stake in a gold mine, than Saddam Hussein did.
Though, I’m sure he’s going to come out for McCain now. And McCain will embrace him. They have a common enemy – not terrorists, corporatists and lobbyists – The Times and the Democrats.
Wait for the right’s response over the next couple days. The hypocritics and pundopartisans are going to be speaking every which way, throwing out ideas left and right, you might come to believe Valerie Plame was the CIA's secretary.The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) is a United States government agency which explores complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). It was initially created as the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM), and renamed the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) before receiving its current name.[1]
NCCIH is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH) within the Department of Health and Human Services of the federal government of the United States.
Its stated mission is: "to define, through rigorous scientific investigation, the usefulness and safety of complementary and alternative medicine interventions and their roles in improving health and health care".[2]
Organization and history [ edit ]
Name and mission statement [ edit ]
NCCIH was established in October 1991, as the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM), which was re-established as NCCAM in October 1998[3] and again as NCCIH in December 2014.[1] The name change to NCCIH has been discussed as an attempt by the center to mitigate criticism, such as to avoid the term "alternative" and to distance itself from having funded studies of questionable merit.[4][5]
NCCAM's mission statement declared that it is "dedicated to exploring complementary and alternative healing practices in the context of rigorous science; training complementary and alternative medicine researchers; and disseminating authoritative information to the public and professionals."[6] As NCCIH, the mission statement is "to define, through rigorous scientific investigation, the usefulness and safety of complementary and alternative medicine interventions and their roles in improving health and health care."[2]
As the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM) [ edit ]
Joseph J. Jacobs was appointed the first director of the OAM in 1992. Initially, Jacobs' insistence on rigorous scientific methodology caused friction with the office's patrons, such as U.S. Senator Tom Harkin. Sen. Harkin, who had become convinced his allergies were cured by taking bee pollen pills, criticized the "unbendable rules of randomized clinical trials," saying "It is not necessary for the scientific community to understand the process before the American public can benefit from these therapies."[7] Harkin's office reportedly pressured the OAM to fund studies of specific "pet theories," including bee pollen and antineoplastons. In the face of increasing resistance to the use of scientific methodology in the study of alternative medicine, one of the OAM board members, Barrie Cassileth, publicly criticized the office, saying: "The degree to which nonsense has trickled down to every aspect of this office is astonishing... It's the only place where opinions are counted as equal to data."[7] Finally, in 1994, Harkin appeared on television with cancer patients who blamed Jacobs for blocking their access to antineoplastons, leading Jacobs to resign from the OAM in frustration.[7] In an interview with Science, Jacobs "blasted politicians – especially Senator Tom Harkin... for pressuring his office, promoting certain therapies, and, he says, attempting an end run around objective science."[8]
With the OAM's increasing budget in the 1990s, the office drew increasing criticism for its perceived lack of rigorous scientific study of alternative approaches in favor of uncritical boosterism. Paul Berg, a Nobel laureate in chemistry, wrote to the Senate that "Quackery will always prey on the gullible and uninformed, but we should not provide it with cover from the NIH," and called the office "an embarrassment to serious scientists."[9][10]:175 Allen Bromley, then-president of the American Physical Society, similarly wrote to Congress that the OAM had "emerged as an undiscriminating advocate of unconventional medicine. It has bestowed the considerable prestige of the NIH on a variety of highly dubious practices, some of which clearly violate basic laws of physics and more clearly resemble witchcraft."[7][9][10]:175 One opinion writer in The New York Times described the OAM as "Tom Harkin's folly".[11]
In 1995, Wayne Jonas, a promoter of homeopathy and political ally of Senator Harkin, became the director of the OAM, and continued in that role until 1999.[12] In 1997, the NCCAM budget was increased from $12 million to $20 million annually.[9] From 1990 to 1997, use of alternative medicine in the US increased by 25%, with a corresponding 50% increase in expenditures.[13] The OAM drew increasing criticism from eminent members of the scientific community with letters to the Senate Appropriations Committee when discussion of renewal of funding OAM came up.[10]:175 In 1998, the President of the North Carolina Medical Association publicly called for shutting down the OAM.[14]
In 1998, NIH director and Nobel laureate Harold Varmus came into conflict with Senator Harkin by pushing to have more NIH control of alternative medicine research.[15] The NIH Director placed the OAM under more strict scientific NIH control.[9][15] Senator Harkin responded by elevating OAM into an independent NIH "center", just short of being its own "institute", and renamed to be the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). NCCAM had a mandate to promote a more rigorous and scientific approach to the study of alternative medicine, research training and career development, outreach, and "integration".
Stephen Strauss was the director of NCCAM from 1999 to 2006. He tried to bring more scientific rigor to the organization.[16] In 1999 the NCCAM budget was increased from $20 million to $50 million.[14][15] The United States Congress approved the appropriations without dissent. In 2000, the budget was increased to about $68 million, in 2001 to $90 million, in 2002 to $104 million, and in 2003, to $113 million.[14]
As NCCAM [ edit ]
In 2008 Josephine Briggs was appointed as director of NCCAM. She was "...a nephrologist with impeccable scientific credentials...". The appointment was considered surprising since she did not have a background in complementary and alternative medicine or integrative medicine. Writing for Science-Based Medicine, David Gorski states Briggs was in an impossible position. "She was a real scientist trying to impose scientific rigor on an enterprise that was inherently resistant to such an imposition". She attempted to impose a more scientific approach with two long term strategic plans. Unfortunately the plans used "...one of the most harmful tactics of quacks to legitimize their quackery under the banner of "integrative medicine", the co-opting of the opioid crisis as an excuse to claim all nonpharmacological treatments for pain as being "integrative". The results are threatening great harm to chronic pain patients by misguided governments wanting to force them to undergo quack treatments like acupuncture as a means of getting them off opioids". However she was able to eliminate studies on homeopathy and tried to counter anti vaccine beliefs. Energy healing was "...relegated to the fringes, if not eliminated". Most of the studies became centered around nutrition, exercise, pharmacognosy "...and other modalities within the realm of science-based medicine".[16]
In 2009, after 17 years of government testing at a cost of $2.5 billion, almost no clearly proven efficacy of alternative therapies had been found.[17] Senator Harkin complained, "One of the purposes of this center was to investigate and validate alternative approaches. Quite frankly, I must say publicly that it has fallen short. I think quite frankly that in this center and in the office previously before it, most of its focus has been on disproving things rather than seeking out and approving."[15][18][19] Members of the scientific community criticized this comment as showing Senator Harkin did not understand the basics of scientific inquiry, which tests hypotheses, but never intentionally attempts to "validate approaches".[15] In 2009, the NCCAM's yearly budget was increased to about $122 million.[15] Overall NIH funding for CAM research increased to $300 million by 2009.[15] By 2009, Americans were spending $34 billion annually on CAM.[20]
In 2012, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a criticism that study after study had been funded by NCCAM, but "failed to prove that complementary or alternative therapies are anything more than placebos".[21] The JAMA criticism pointed to large wasting of research money on testing scientifically implausible treatments, citing "NCCAM officials spending $374,000 to find that inhaling lemon and lavender scents does not promote wound healing; $750,000 to find that prayer does not cure AIDS or hasten recovery from breast-reconstruction surgery; $390,000 to find that ancient Indian remedies do not control type 2 diabetes; $700,000 to find that magnets do not treat arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, or migraine headaches; and $406,000 to find that coffee enemas do not cure pancreatic cancer."[21] It was pointed out that negative results from testing were generally ignored by the public, that people continue to "believe what they want to believe, arguing that it does not matter what the data show: They know what works for them".[21] Continued increasing use of CAM products was also blamed on the lack of FDA ability to regulate alternative products, where negative studies do not result in FDA warnings or FDA-mandated changes on labeling, whereby few consumers are aware that many claims of many supplements were found not to be supported.[21]
As NCCIH [ edit ]
In 2014, while Josephine Briggs was the director, the NCCAM was renamed to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). Briggs retired in October of 2017.[22]
On August 29, 2018 the NCCIH announced Helene Langevin as the new director.[23] She was previously the director of the Osher Center and professor-in-residence of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Her medical interests involve connective tissue. Langevin "...believes that the stretching of connective tissue is how a number of CAM modalities "work", such as chiropractic, massage, and...acupuncture". She has been studying acupuncture since the 1990s. David Gorski says he is concerned that the "...balance of power at NCCIH is about to shift back towards pseudoscience..." and states that she will have the "...largest budget ever at NCCIH to fund that shift".[16]
Focus [ edit ]
NCCIH funds research into complementary and alternative medicine, including support for clinical trials of CAM techniques. The four primary areas of focus are research, research training and career development, outreach, and integration.[24] NCCIH divides complementary and alternative medicine into five forms:[25]
Operations [ edit ]
The NCCIH charter states that "Of the 18 appointed members (of the council) 12 shall be selected from among the leading representatives of the health and scientific disciplines (including not less than 2 individuals who are leaders in the fields of public health and the behavioral or social sciences) relevant to the activities of NCCIH, particularly representatives of the health and scientific disciplines in the area of complementary and alternative medicine. Nine of the members shall be practitioners licensed in one or more of the major systems with which the Center is involved. Six of the members shall be appointed by the Secretary from the general public and shall include leaders in the fields of public policy, law, health policy, economics, and management. Three of the six shall represent the interests of individual consumers of complementary and alternative medicine."[27]
The NCCIH budget for 2005 was $123 million. For fiscal year 2009 (ending September 30, 2009), it was $122 million.[28]
Research in alternative medicine is done elsewhere at NIH, notably in the National Cancer Institute. The NIH's Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine had the same budget as NCCIH, $122 million, for fiscal year 2009. Other parts of NIH had an additional $50 million for FY 2009; NIH's total budget was about $29 billion.[28]
The NCCIH budget for 2015 was $124.1 million.[29] They requested a $3,459,000 funding increase for their 2016 budget.[30]
Criticism [ edit ]
NCCIH has been criticized by Steven E. Nissen, Stephen Barrett, and Kimball Atwood among others, for funding, along with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute[31] a study of EDTA chelation therapy for coronary artery disease, which lasted about 10 years and cost about $31 million, even though smaller, controlled trials found chelation ineffective.[32][33][34] Other NCCIH-funded studies have included the benefits of distant prayer for AIDS, the effects of lemon and lavender essential oils on wound healing,[35][36] "energy chelation", and "rats stressed out by white noise".[37]
In 2006, NCCIH was criticized in Science with the comment "NCCAM funds proposals of dubious merit; its research agenda is shaped more by politics than by science; and it is structured by its charter in a manner that precludes an independent review of its performance."[38] The authors suggested that, while it was appropriate to study alternative therapies, the quality of its research was lower than other NIH institutes, and that these studies could be performed under the auspices of other institutes within the NIH. As an example, the authors described a trial of gemcitabine with the Gonzalez regimen for stage II to IV pancreatic cancer, in the belief that cancer is caused by a deficiency of pancreatic proteolytic enzymes. Severe adverse effects were associated with the Gonzalez regimen, and no evidence in peer-reviewed journals supported the plausibility or efficacy of the regimen or chelation therapy.[38]
A 2012 study published in the Skeptical Inquirer examined the grants and awards funded by NCCIH from 2000 to 2011, which totaled $1.3 billion. The study found no discoveries in complementary and alternative medicine that would justify the existence of this center. The authors argued that, after 20 years and an expenditure of $2 billion, the failure of NCCIH was evidenced by the lack of publications and the failure to report clinical trials in peer-reviewed medical journals. They recommended that NCCIH be defunded or abolished, and the concept of funding alternative medicine be discontinued.[39]
See also [ edit ]
Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine a similar department of the NIC
References [ edit ]The NL West topped my Divisional Power Rankings for week four so I was actually extremely excited to see how this division shook out. Well, the division it self wasn’t very exciting to examine…in fact it was down right boring and predictable. But anyway, here they are; your NL West Power Rankings!
wOBA
Rank Team wOBA Points Awarded 1 Colorado Rockies.351 5 2 Arizona Diamondbacks.312 4 3 San Francisco Giants.309 3 4 Los Angeles Dodgers.308 2 5 San Diego Padres.291 1
K/BB
Rank Team K/BB Points Awarded 1 San Francisco Giants 2.94 5 2 Arizona Diamondbacks 2.92 4 3 Colorado Rockies 2.04 3 4 Los Angeles Dodgers 1.76 2 5 San Diego Padres 1.72 1
UZR
Rank Team UZR Points Awarded 1 San Francisco Giants 14.4 5 2 Arizona Diamondback 5.0 4 3 Colorado Rockies 2.6 3 4 Los Angeles Dodgers 0.8 2 5 San Diego Padres -7.7 1
Point Totals
Rank Team wOBA K/BB UZR Points Awarded This Month Season Totals 1 San Francisco Giants 3 5 5 13 13 2 Arizona Diamondbacks 4 4 4 12 12 3 Colorado Rockies 5 3 3 11 11 4 Los Angeles Dodgers 2 2 2 6 6 5 San Diego Padres 1 1 1 3 3
The Giants and Diamondbacks are the top two, with the Rockies in a close third place; and the Dodgers and Padres really don’t need to be talked about…A D.C. drug dealer who prosecutors say sold the heroin that killed a 16-year-old McLean High School student was sentenced Friday to 25 years in prison — a stiff term that a federal judge said was necessary because the man had an extensive criminal history and sold drugs to young, vulnerable users.
As she handed down the sentence, U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema told the 37-year-old Antowan Thorne that he seemed to have “absolutely no potential of being a law-abiding citizen,” at least not now. Prosecutors had asked for precisely the term Brinkema imposed, saying that although Thorne was not convicted directly in connection with Emylee Lonczak’s death in August 2013, there was no doubt that she died after using heroin that he sold.
“Miss Lonczak’s punishment did not fit her crime, your honor,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Ben’Ary told Brinkema. “But we ask that the defendant’s fit his.”
Thorne declined to say anything on his own behalf. His attorney, Gregory E. Stambaugh, said in court that his client “does want to move on with his life, as anybody would.” He had asked in court filings that Thorne, who has a 19-year-old son and worked most recently for a lawn-care company, be sentenced to five years in prison — the mandatory minimum term.
The case garnered national attention, epitomizing what federal authorities termed a frightening uptick in young people using heroin. The circumstances of Lonczak’s death, too, made it especially notable.
Federal authorities said Lonczak — a quiet girl who played soccer and was interested in fashion design — had never injected heroin before the night she died. After buying the drug from Thorne in the District, she used it and passed out in a car. A friend took her to his house, and when he saw she was dead the next morning, he discarded her body in bushes and covered it with a window screen.
The friend, Kyle Alifom, was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison earlier this year.
Prosecutors had alleged that Thorne was the source of the heroin that — combined with a common antihistamine — caused Lonczak’s death.
Thorne, though, was convicted in August only of a drug distribution charge; Brinkema ruled that prosecutors had not produced enough evidence to hold him responsible for the death. At Friday’s sentencing, Brinkema was much more receptive to their arguments, agreeing that Thorne had been involved in criminal activity essentially since he was a teenager and was likely to re-offend.
“You appear to be unable to control yourself,” Brinkema told Thorne.
Prosecutors had asked Brinkema to consider how Lonczak’s death had disrupted her family’s life and how Thorne sold his drugs to youths in Northern Virginia. Ben’Ary said Thorne considered them the perfect customers because they were mobile, had access to money and were “too young to realize the consequences of their actions.”
Ben’Ary said that although no sentence could bring Lonczak back, Brinkema could “make sure the defendant pays for the choices he made.”
“Miss Lonczak certainly has,” he said.
Lonczak’s mother, who sat in the back of the courtroom but did not speak at the sentencing, declined to comment afterward.
Stambaugh told the judge in court that he planned to appeal his client’s conviction, although Brinkema noted that he might want to withdraw from the case because of disagreements he had with his client. Stambaugh largely declined to comment afterward, noting the judge’s comments.
“It’s just a sad situation all the way around,” he said.WATCH: NDP leader Tom Mulcair talks about the ongoing controversy surrounding his party’s satellite offices.
The ongoing saga, with the NDP’s use of satellite offices at the centre, is nothing more than Canada’s “old-time” Conservatives and Liberals waging a partisan attack on the high polling official Opposition, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair says.
“This is simply a partisan attack by the old-time parties,” he said in an interview on The West Block with Tom Clark.
“There is no possible way that the old-time parties would push their audacity to the point of trying to hobble the surging NDP official Opposition by trying to remove our funds on the eve on an election.”
READ MORE: Tom Mulcair, Justin Trudeau spar over NDP’s satellite offices
Mulcair’s jab comes just four months ahead of the anticipated election day, though the issue with the New Democrat’s alleged use of parliamentary funds for partisan purposes stretches back more than a year.
That’s when it was revealed the NDP had set up a satellite office in Montreal in the fall of 2011 in an effort to help the raft of young, rookie MPs elected that spring. The party later set up offices in Quebec City and Toronto; they’d been planning another in Saskatchewan, where the party has no elected MPs.
WATCH: NDP leader Tom Mulcair answers questions about his party’s economic policies, satellite offices and plan to abolish the Senate.
Mulcair has admitted the salaries for the 14 staff members at the offices were paid through House of Commons budgets, which are intended to be used only for parliamentary – not partisan – purposes.
READ MORE: 5 things to know about the NDP satellite offices Commons hearing
Mulcair has repeatedly insisted the employees in question dealt only with parliamentary work.
Still, the multi-party board of internal economy, which polices Commons spending, has ordered 68 current and former NDP MPs to repay $2.75 million for the satellite office scheme and another $1.2 million in free parliamentary mailing privileges used to send out almost two million partisan missives.
“They’ve had their political games with this but that’s all it’s been, a partisan political attack, orchestrated by the Conservatives and the Liberals,” Mulcair said.
“With regard to this partisan attack, everybody can see right through it.”
WATCH: NDP MPs asked to pay back $2.75 million for satellite offices
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau shot down Mulcair’s assertion that the focus on the NDP’s alleged misdeeds have anything to do with pre-election polls, noting the issue has been boiling for years
An EKOS poll published late last week showed that, among those who were asked how they’d vote if the election was tomorrow, 34 per cent said the NDP, 27 per cent said the Conservatives, and 23 per cent said the Liberals.
READ MORE: NDP’s awkward position — why negotiate settlement if did nothing wrong?
The stark drop for the Liberals, who were once leading the polls, has seen the Conservatives re-focus their attacks, which were aimed squarely at Trudeau and the Liberals; the Liberals, meanwhile, are also zeroing in on the NDP, specifically the party’s economic proposals.
The Liberals claim the New Democrats’ platform planks revealed so far amount to about $35 billion over four years, and $131 billion over eight.
Mulcair said the question over spending is “a debate that I’m looking forward to having with the Liberals,” arguing the NDP has costed every proposal so far, which will be balanced by increasing corporate taxes and eliminating some of the Conservatives’ boutique tax credits that opposition parties say don’t benefit enough Canadians.
With files from The Canadian PressIn mathematics, the Iverson bracket, named after Kenneth E. Iverson, is a notation that generalises the Kronecker delta. It converts any logical proposition into a number that is 1 if the proposition is satisfied, and 0 otherwise, and is generally written by putting the proposition inside square brackets:
[ P ] = { 1 if P is true; 0 otherwise, {\displaystyle [P]={\begin{cases}1&{\text{if }}P{\text{ is true;}}\\0&{\text{otherwise,}}\end{cases}}}
where P is a statement that can be true or false.
In the context of summation, the notation can be used to write any sum as an infinite sum without limits: If P ( k ) {\displaystyle P(k)} is any property of the integer k {\displaystyle k},
∑ k f ( k ) [ P ( k ) ] = ∑ P ( k ) f ( k ). {\displaystyle \sum _{k}f(k)\,[P(k)]=\sum _{P(k)}f(k).}
Note that by this convention, a summand f ( k ) [ false ] {\displaystyle f(k)[{\textbf {false}}]} must evaluate to 0 regardless of whether f ( k ) {\displaystyle f(k)} is defined. Likewise for products:
∏ k f ( k ) [ P ( k ) ] = ∏ P ( k ) f ( k ). {\displaystyle \prod _{k}f(k)^{[P(k)]}=\prod _{P(k)}f(k).}
The notation was originally introduced by Kenneth E. Iverson in his programming language APL,[1][2] though restricted to single relational operators enclosed in parentheses, while the generalisation to arbitrary statements, notational restriction to square brackets, and applications to summation, was advocated by Donald Knuth to avoid ambiguity in parenthesized logical expressions.[3]
Properties [ edit ]
There is a direct correspondence between arithmetic on Iverson brackets, logic, and set operations. For instance, let A and B be sets and P ( k 1, … ) {\displaystyle P(k_{1},\dots )} any property of integers; then we have
[ P ∧ Q ] = [ P ] [ Q ], [ ¬ P ] = 1 − [ P ]. [ P ∨ Q ] = [ P ] + [ Q ] − [ P ] [ Q ]. [ k ∈ A ] + [ k ∈ B ] = [ k ∈ A ∪ B ] + [ k ∈ A ∩ B ]. [ x ∈ A ∩ B ] = [ x ∈ A ] [ x ∈ B ]. [ ∀ m. P ( k, m ) ] = ∏ m [ P ( k, m ) ]. [ ∃ m. P ( k, m ) ] = min ( 1, ∑ m [ P ( k, m ) ] ) = 1 − ∏ m ( 1 − [ P ( k, m ) ] ). # { m ∣ P ( k, m ) } = ∑ m [ P ( k, m ) ]. {\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}[][P\land Q]&=[P][Q],\qquad [
eg P]=1-[P].\\[][P\lor Q]&=[P]+[Q]-[P][Q].\\[][k\in A]+[k\in B]&=[k\in A\cup B]+[k\in A\cap B].\\[][x\in A\cap B]&=[x\in A][x\in B].\\[][\forall m\.\ P(k,m)]&=\prod _{m}[P(k,m)].\\[][\exists m\.\ P(k,m)]&=\min \left(1,\sum _{m}[P(k,m)]\right)=1-\prod _{m}\left(1-[P(k,m)]\right).\\[]\#\{m\mid P(k,m)\}&=\sum _{m}[P(k,m)].\end{aligned}}}
Examples [ edit ]
The notation allows moving boundary conditions of summations (or integrals) as a separate factor into the summand, freeing up space around the summation operator, but more importantly allowing it to be manipulated algebraically.
Double-counting rule [ edit ]
We mechanically derive a well-known sum manipulation rule using Iverson brackets:
∑ k ∈ A f ( k ) + ∑ k ∈ B f ( k ) = ∑ k f ( k ) [ k ∈ A ] + ∑ k f ( k ) [ k ∈ B ] = |
Choate: Without Richard Sherman (and maybe Kam Chancellor), who is suiting up in the secondary for the Seahawks, and how much of a downgrade will that be against this Falcons passing attack?
Kenneth Arthur: No Richard Sherman still means: "Huge, huge downgrade." No matter who is going to replace him, it's still not Richard Sherman. No cornerback has been as good as him since 2011 and that's backed up with a lot of facts and statistics and accolades. He had never missed a game up until this point, so the fallout is completely unknown. I think he was going to get an All-Pro nod this season, and deservedly so. Unfortunately, it's going to be a long break between now and when he gets back on the field after tearing his Achilles.
The starting corners look to be Shaquill Griffin, Jeremy Lane, and Justin Coleman on the inside. That means that there will be more responsibility for Griffin as the de facto number one, and he's only a third round rookie. Lane is a veteran, but not a very good one. He was starting on the outside prior to being benched for Griffin, so at least he's not wholly inexperienced from having the job. Coleman then took over as the starting nickel corner from Lane really, so maybe not much changes for him. He's fine. The Seahawks also signed Byron Maxwell this week, who played for them from 2011-2014. He was a very good corner in Seattle and I think had some good times with the Miami Dolphins last season. Ultimately, the Seahawks defense is where he was most successful and where he could channel some of those good moments again. I'm not sure how much of an impact he'll have this week or how much he'll play, but I don't imagine he needs much time to catch up; he's a vet and he's been here before.
As you mention, Chancellor's status is also in doubt and it doesn't sound to me like he'll suit up. There are some rumors that he'll hit IR too. It's a major bummer and at least with Sherman, we've had some time to cope. Without Chancellor, Bradley McDougald will start at strong safety. He's done a very nice job of filling in for Earl Thomas at free safety over the last two weeks, so we're hoping to see the same in Kam's spot. The good news is that Thomas is almost certainly going to return, so that gives the secondary their vital piece in the deep middle, at least.
That's what the secondary should look like. Missing two very important pieces, but maybe with better depth than they had a year ago.
Dave Choate: Matt Ryan is faring pretty well against the blitz this year. How good has this Seattle defense been at bringing pressure on four man rushes, and who are the guys to watch out for on the interior of this line?
Kenneth Arthur: The most I can say about the Seahawks pass rush is that it is "okay." In spite of how much talent they have on the defensive line, Seattle ranks only 20th in pressure rate, per FO, at 29.7%. (Falcons are at 31.9%). The Seahawks are tied for 10th in sacks with 25, but it sure feels like a defensive line with Michael Bennett, Frank Clark, Sheldon Richardson should be doing better than that. Cliff Avril played in four games and a neck injury seems to have put his career in jeopardy. Meanwhile, the team added Dwight Freeney, who as you know, is still a very effective presence at age 37; Freeney already has three sacks in three games; Dion Jordan returned to the NFL last week and recorded a sack in his very first game; Branden Jackson is an unknown name who has done a nice job of creating pressure in limited opportunities. That's what's going on with the outside rush, which I say is improving with Freeney, but the progress of the interior rush is even more encouraging.
The Seahawks have really lacked a solid interior pass rush since 2014 and Jarran Reed has improved that area of his game this season. He's questionable this week after suffering an injury (also) last week. Rookie third rounder Nazair Jones has two sacks and seems like he could be an integral part of the line for the next three years. Reed has 10.5 individual pass pressures, while Richardson has 6.5, and Jones has three, but in much more limited action. With a four-man rush, I think they're okay, but certainly it's been an underachievement for most of the season. The hope is that the additions of Freeney and Jordan will change that for December and the playoffs, if they make it.
Dave Choate: I'm always a believer in Seattle's ability to make the playoffs, regardless of the challenges facing them, and that hasn't changed this year. What are your expectations for the Seahawks season, and do they beat the Falcons in this one?
Kenneth Arthur: Yeah, I think the Seahawks are going to make the playoffs, even without Sherman, Chancellor, Avril. If they just win their remaining home games, they'll be 10-6. If they win their remaining home games and beat the 49ers on the road, they'll be 11-5. If they win 3 of their 4 home games and beat the 49ers, they'll be 10-6. If they win 3 of 4 home games but also beat the Cowboys on the road in addition to the 49ers, they'll be 11-5. I mean, most of the scenarios I play out in my head based on reasonable expectations of a Pete Carroll-coaches, Russell Wilson-led Seahawks team have them getting 10 or 11 wins, and I think that's enough to make the NFC playoffs as a wild card. Since they host the Rams, I think that also opens up the possibility of them winning the division again and getting a home game too. There's also the players they just added, got back or could be getting back: Joeckel, Brown, Carson, DeShawn Shead, Jordan, Freeney, Malik McDowell, and maybe even Avril. I'm not saying that they'll get the best case scenario of any situation, but I'm saying that there's a possibility they'll be a better team in December than they were in October. Even without Sherman. They could also go 8-8 because they play a lot of close games and will probably have a significant weakness on defense without Sherman. My biggest reason for optimism though is always Russell Wilson; he's incredible and he's even better in November/December than he is in September/October. By a wide margin, in fact. So he's going into these last seven games with better numbers than he's ever had, so hopefully he continues to dominate in the final two months like he usually does.
Same goes for the Falcons game: I could see Seattle losing. But I just don't bet against Russell Wilson on Monday Night Football at home. Ever. He's 6-0 on Monday Night Football over his career with 12 touchdowns and zero interceptions. He's 37-7 at home in his career. He's 17-4 in games 9-12. He's 18-3-1 in primetime. I'm just gonna bet on Russell Wilson on primetime, at home, every time. MNF is the cherry on the top. Throw all other reasonable arguments out the window for me, I'll take those odds.
As far as deep in the postseason goes -- who knows. But it does not feel like a Super Bowl year to me. Hopefully I'm wrong but they'll have to improve significantly in both running the football and in pressuring the QB between now and January in order to do that.Defensive end was one of the Bengals’ bigger needs in the 2017 NFL Draft, and they addressed the issue by selecting Jordan Willis with the 73rd overall pick in the third round.
In training camp, Willis was regularly noted as one of the most exciting defensive prospects for the upcoming season. After an impressive performance in the Bengals’ first preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (six total tackles on 35 snaps), it seems the hype is warranted.
“He’s not as exciting or as flashy as Carl, but Jordan’s a natural pass rusher,” Carlos Dunlap told Jay Morrison of the Dayton Daily News. “These young guys can come in and play at a high level right away. If they’re ready, put them out there. And they’re ready.”
Despite Dunlap’s assessment, Willis actually looked much better than Lawson against the Buccaneers. Granted, Lawson only played 22 snaps and was reportedly injured during the game, but he still recorded just a single tackle on the day.
However, that comparison shouldn’t take away from just how well Willis played over the course of the game.
“There’s a guy who’s going to do something exactly the way you want him to do it,” Marvin Lewis said. “And then when he got to go play live football, he stood out. And that’s great.”
Willis’ great performance shouldn’t be a surprise, considering how focused he has been on camp and his development.
“We are trying to get him to smile every once in awhile,” Lewis added with a laugh. “He’s so doggone serious. He just wants to work to get better. He has that standard answer. ‘Yes sir, coach.’ It’s funny, because when you look at them you would think Carl would be the quiet one. But it’s not, it’s actually Jordan.”
Although Willis was drafted higher than Lawson, the hype surrounding Lawson this offseason and throughout his football career resulted in him being the Bengals’ more hyped pass-rushing prospect. So, you can see why Willis feels he isn’t given enough credit for the work he puts in.
“No one talked about me, even though I gave the overall best performance at the combine,” Willis said on draft night. “It’s been like that my whole entire career. I’ve never been in the conversation, but I always find a way to get in the conversation.”
Willis can certainly find his way into the conversation if he continues playing the way he has so far. At worst, he is burdened by a lack of tape showing how well he can play, although he doesn’t lack confidence. He has a number of invaluable skills for his position, and he knows it.
“I can power rush, I can add a little bit more power into my game, I can spin a little bit,” Willis said. “There’s certain things I can do. It’s just about getting that O lineman in that position and being able to execute it during the game.”
But, that’s not all. Willis has more up his sleeve for when the season starts and the final results begin to matter. Until then, he is focused on honing his techniques and making sure he is prepared to rise to every challenge he is presented.
“I can do more stuff,” Willis said. “I feel like I don’t need to do everything right now. Obviously I’m going to be playing against some good guys in the season, and I don’t want to put everything out there so that they can study me and be ready for me. So I can give that element of surprise a little bit.”
The Bengals will certainly be counting on Willis to live up to the hype. With Michael Johnson’s career trending downward, Wallace Gilberry turning 33 in December, and Will Clarke’s development stalling, having a talented young defensive end on track for success will be critical to the Bengals maintaining a strong defensive line.Andrew D. Pochter, the young American teacher who was killed during protests in the Egyptian city of Alexandria on Friday night was a man whose mind was “filled with Arabic language and with the Arab world,” a teacher who taught him in Morocco told Al Arabiya English.
He was also a young man who “loved common folks, socializing and simple life” despite coming from an upper middle class family in the United States, said Hachimi Taoufik, a teacher who taught Arabic to Pochter in al-Jadida, Morocco.
“I believe he was the only student among his group who was the most social; he loved to go buy sardine sandwiches in Mellah, that cost 5 dirhams (60 cents), he loved to come home and cook with my wife and kids, he even liked to go grocery shopping to cook some of the meals he wanted to share with us,” Taoufik said.
Pochter, 21, studied in Morocco between June 2010 and June 2011 as part of the U.S. National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) funded by the Department of State to study in Morocco, said Bouchra Kachoub, then resident director of NSLI-Y.
In 2011, Pochter wrote a blog for Al Arabiya about his experience in Morocco and the changes taking place in the Moroccan society during the Arab Spring.
“My Moroccan host family represents a prime example of the kind of change I have noticed among the middle class. My surrogate parents, being teachers, for the most part have been satisfied with their jobs, livelihood, and finances,” he wrote.
“They were previously apolitical and avoided community involvement outside of their normal sectors.”
“My host family’s approach to life came to an apparent crossroads with the February 20th protests, the date of the first nation-wide rally,” Pochter added.
His former teacher Taoufik said: “I am sure that he went to Egypt to continue his learning of Arabic and also explore Egypt and learn more about the Arab culture and society.”
Exclusive images: Andrew Pochter in Morocco
His family posted a statement on the Facebook page R.I.P Andrew Pochter, saying he went to Egypt for the summer to teach seven and eight-year old children and improve his Arabic.
“He was looking forward to returning to Kenyon College for his junior year and to spending his spring semester in Jordan,” they said.
Taoufik said Pochter's "openness to people and love to socialize with them" was likely what led him to Egypt.
“He liked to go to hotels that you will not hear about,” Taoufik said.
His supervisor Kachoub said that when Pochter was studying in Morocco he spent most of his time in a modest house of one of his teachers despite the luxury he found at his host family’s place.
“Andrew’s host family lived in a beautiful villa in el-Jadida and despite the space provided and the luxury in the house, he always wanted to change and live in a modest place,” Kachoub said.
“They were impressed by his respect, organization and dedication to learning. They were happy to host Andrew because he had a positive influence on others. They hoped that their teenage son would learn from him good habits such as reading books, doing homework and keeping an organized bedroom,” Kachoub added.
Junaid Saiyed, a U.S. student who went to school with Andrew in Morocco, described him as “one of a few genuinely great people in the world.”
The following video shows both Saiyed and Pochter speaking in Moroccan Arabic at their school in el-Jadida.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading your web browser
Andrew Pochter, wearing glasses, practice Moroccan Arabic with his friend and classmate Junaid Saiyed. They talk about going to a restaurant and what to eat.
Andrew Pochter: The Acquisition of Reality
Last Update: Monday, 1 July 2013 KSA 21:34 - GMT 18:34(ANSA) - Milan, December 15 - In a historic turnaround in its relations with staff, Ryanair on Thursday recognised trade unions, prompting all but one union to suspend today's pilot strike.
In a move aimed at averting problems during the Christmas holiday period, the Irish budget airline said it had written to pilots' unions in Ireland, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal. It said it had invited them to talks to legitimise them as representative organisations in all those countries.
"Ryanair will change its long-term policy of not recognising unions so as to avoid any threat of disruption to its customers and flights during Christmas week," the low-cost airline said in a statement.
Founder and CEO Michael O'Leary said "Christmas flights are very important for our clients and we want to remove all concern that they may be subjected to disruptions by the action of pilots next week".
He said "if the best way to reach this objective is to speak to our pilots via a recognised union process, then we are prepared to do so and we have written to these unions today to invite them to talks and asking them to cancel threatened action over the Christmas week". As a consequence of the overture by Rynair, Italian pilots' association ANPAC suspended the Ryanair strike scheduled for today.
ANPAC said it "welcomed the step forward taken" by the Irish airline.
But the FIT-CISL union said it had not received any letter from the airline.
Therefore, it said, it was going ahead with today's strike.
Industry Minister Carlo Calenda said Ryanair's recognition of unions was "the bare minimum" it could do towards improving labour relations.
"It is not a concession. It is the bare minimum, and it is not enough," Calenda said.Our country stands at a pivotal inflection point, just five weeks out from a presidential election with wide-reaching implications. With the two leading candidates providing starkly different visions for this country, it is incumbent upon the American people to evaluate the nominees’ stances on the issues and appraise their characters with care and precision. The American people must do so fairly and impartially, without any undue influence or distraction.
Which is why, when a cowardly and insidious anonymous source provided The Onion with a complete collection of Donald Trump’s tax returns yesterday morning, our editorial board moved promptly to destroy every last page of these financial records.
Advertisement
Tax returns are private documents, and it is The Onion’s belief that the decision of whether to make them available for public scrutiny should be left solely to the person who filed them. In shredding and then subsequently incinerating the thousands of pages of sensitive and revealing financial information about Mr. Trump, The Onion made the only responsible choice. We believe any journalist, news organization, or advocacy group that would even consider behaving differently in these circumstances—and indeed, any reader who even yet wishes to look upon such private information—should be thoroughly appalled at themselves and their crass, voyeuristic impulses.
Has our democracy fallen so far that even the most confidential records of business write-offs, shell companies, and overseas financial dealings can now be considered a legitimate subject of public interest?
Let us reiterate: Americans have absolutely no right to see these documents or be made aware of their contents, and that is why we eradicated these records and disposed of what remained of them at a location we refuse to disclose.
Advertisement
We take this situation very seriously. Prior to destroying the returns, we consulted with numerous tax professionals who verified the authenticity of the roughly 45,000 pages of documents encompassing Donald Trump’s complete state and federal tax returns for every year in which the candidate ever filed, as well as corporate returns for every Trump-owned business. In keeping with our commitment to the records’ privacy, all of these tax experts were made to sign strict non-disclosure agreements to prevent them from sharing any information gleaned from the documents. Let us assure you that any breach of said agreements will be met with swift and comprehensive legal action and will bring to bear the full tools of journalism at The Onion’s disposal to ensure these experts’ reputations, both personal and professional, are tarnished beyond the point of any repair.
You may have numerous questions about the tax returns: for instance, whether these documents contained information about Mr. Trump’s income, his businesses’ profits or losses, or any tax maneuvers he may have exercised throughout his lifetime. The answer on all accounts is yes. You may ask whether the filings revealed Mr. Trump’s net worth as it progressed over the course of decades. Again, the answer is yes. You may ask whether the documents revealed how much or how little he paid to the Internal Revenue Service in any or all of the 52 years for which we obtained records. The answer is yes once more. You may ask whether you may see this information for yourself. There, the answer is a decisive and impassioned no.
Has our democracy fallen so far that even the most confidential records of business write-offs, shell companies, and overseas financial dealings can now be considered a legitimate subject of public interest? Lesser media outlets may think so, but The Onion will continue to stand by our belief that the sensitive financial disclosures of the wealthy and powerful should be protected from the unauthorized scrutiny of the nation’s voters.
Advertisement
In addition to the complete and irrevocable destruction of these documents, The Onion has committed itself to taking the following steps to ensure the continued confidentiality of Mr. Trump’s returns:
Restating our newspaper’s expressed vow to destroy any private documents we ever receive from craven anonymous leakers.
Beginning immediate legal proceedings against any news outlets unscrupulous enough to publish any such leaked documents.
Employing our confidential sources within the U.S. government to locate and destroy any additional physical copies of Mr. Trump’s returns so that no person may look upon them unrightfully.
Directing The Onion’s extensive cyberwarfare division to erase all electronic documentation of the returns from government and private hard drives.
Putting the full investigatory resources of The Onion into identifying and prosecuting the criminal individual or individuals who shared the documents with us and offering a $500,000 reward for information leading to their arrest and conviction.
Advertisement
We believe these steps are necessary to protect the privacy of our nation’s affluent and privileged few, and to discourage less principled “journalists” from infringing on that privacy by sharing unlawfully obtained financial documents. Rest assured, we at The Onion will see that any attempt to violate this norm does not go unpunished.
America must vote next month on the candidates and what they stand for, not on their personal and business dealings, which, as long as The Onion has any say in the matter, will always remain private.NEW DELHI: From pungi (or been, the instrument used by snake charmers) to ektara and the more familiar sarod, sitar and tabla, the GST Council on Saturday decided against levying the indirect tax on 134 handmade indigenous musical instruments. The harmonium makes the cut but guitar, saxophone, piano or the humble mouth organ don’t figure on the list that was finalized at the meeting of ministers on Saturday evening. Taxation concerns related to musical instruments as well as handicrafts and sports goods were flagged before the Council some weeks ago as musicians and those selling these goods were complaining about the high levy of 28%. The government has sought to “correct” some of the anomalies in these product groups.Earlier, many states levied up to 14-14.5% value added tax (VAT) on musical instruments with indigenous ones attracting a levy of 5-5.5%.“The idea seems to be to promote local instruments and local music. Imported western instruments will be more expensive compared to handmade instruments manufactured in the country,” said M S Mani, senior director at consulting firm Deloitte India.Music lovers have been complaining that the tax has almost doubled if you want to play the Spanish or the Hawaiian guitar. And, many are finding it strange that the damru or dhol buyers will not have to pay tax, while those buying a set of drums have to shell out 28% GST.GSTC has clearly put in a lot of effort as there are items that are specific to some states such Getchu Vadyam or Jhallari, Venu (Carnatic flute) Pullanguzhal, dhak (used in Bengal especially during Durga puja) or pakhavaj jori (similar to tabla and used by Sikhs).But tax experts cautioned against offering too many exemptions. “While exempting indigenous musical equipment will indeed be beneficial in keeping the cost of these products low and give a fillip to their use, the design of GST is based on minimal exemptions and wider base. More the exemptions, the rate on other commodities will continue to be high,” said Bipin Sapra, indirect tax partner at consulting firm Ernst & Young.While the government has cautiously opted to keep everyday household items in the low or nil tax bracket, musical instruments, especially those that do not have roots in India, are seen to be luxury goods.A zero levy on some of the handmade instruments is, however, seen as a move by the government to keep the craftsman away from the hassle of filing and paying taxes, especially when a lot of inputs are also sourced from the unorganized sector. In addition, several of the handmade instruments are produced at home in cottage industries, which do not want to be burdended with compliance requirements.Twenty-two TV critics. One question: What is the best episode of “The Sopranos” where Tony gets lost inside a Circuit City?
1. Darryl Millen – “What?”
Advertisement
2. Ally Cobalt – “I’m sorry, I’m not sure I understand.”
Advertisement
3. Samantha Kirkpatrick – “My favorite episode where Tony Soprano gets lost in a Circuit City?”
Advertisement
4. Brian Amos – “I don’t think that happens on the show.”
Advertisement
5. Joanne Ye – “Are you sure you’re thinking of The Sopranos?”
Advertisement
6. Dwight L. Norris – “I don’t remember that happening on The Sopranos even once.”
Advertisement
7. Cara Platt – “What?”
Advertisement
8. Brian Zielke – “Definitely has to be ‘The Goodbye Goomah’ in season three. Basic story is that an outage blows Tony’s speakers out, and he must venture once again to Circuit City, where he is determined to get in and out in five minutes without getting lost like he has on previous occasions (recommended viewing: season two’s ‘Labyrinth,’ season four’s ‘Down The Rabbit Hole, Parts I and II,’ and season five’s ‘The Customer Is Always Lost’). But this plan falls apart when he runs into an old flame (played by the magnificent Annabeth Gish), and becomes suddenly disoriented somewhere in the stereo department. Structurally, it’s similar to ‘Tony And The Computer’ from season three, but bears the distinction of being the only one of the Circuit City episodes directed by Sopranos co-star Michael Imperioli, and it’s one of my personal favorites from the series. It’s great.”
Advertisement
9. Janelle Finch – “That doesn’t happen on that show.”
Advertisement
10. Cory McCole – “I’m sorry, I’m a little confused by your question.”
Advertisement
11. Louisa Marocchi – “I don’t understand.”
Advertisement
12. Caroline Driver – “Oh, gosh, there are so many good ones. Honestly, I love them all.”
Advertisement
13. Rory Levy – “What do you mean?”
Advertisement
14. Monica Jennings – “Wow, I guess I don’t really remember that happening on the show.”
Advertisement
15. Sylvan Kellis – “I’ve watched the series through to the end multiple times, so I can assure you that the plotline you are describing—one where Tony Soprano gets lost inside of a Circuit City—is not featured in any existing episode of The Sopranos.”
Advertisement
16. Mel Toussaint – “Pretty sure that never happens on the show.”
Advertisement
17. Allora Alva – “Circuit City went under in 2012, and The Sopranos was only on the air from 1999 to 2007, so I guess it’s conceivable that there could’ve been an episode where Tony gets lost inside of one, but I know for a fact that there isn’t. Sorry.”
Advertisement
18. Sheri Mickelson – “‘Take The Long Way Home,’ season four.”
Advertisement
19. Chad Dunnelle – “I don’t remember that happening.”
Advertisement
20. Willa Unger – “I’d probably say ‘Down The Rabbit Hole Part II.’ Tony has made his way back to Circuit City, this time to buy a clock radio for Melfi, whose old one he smashed after leaving an appointment in a huff. By this point in the series, creator David Chase has taught us to think of Circuit City as a kind of liminal place for Tony, where he’s forced to reckon with his ongoing internal crises (feelings of detachment from his family and friends, loneliness, resentment, etc.) through the lens of an immediate one (being hopelessly lost in a Circuit City). It’s a brilliant mechanic, and one we see used time and time again on the show to great effect in classic episodes like ‘Return Policy,’ ‘The Goodbye Goomah,’ and ‘Tony And The Computer,’ all of which involve him getting lost in a Circuit City. This time, Tony finds himself hopelessly adrift in the DVD section, desperately calling everyone he knows on his cell phone to come rescue him, to no avail. As usual, Gandolfini nails it, and the final scene, where a defeated Tony slumps over a TiVo box and weeps into the red polo of a teenage Circuit City employee, is absolutely heartbreaking. Aside from its mediocre B-plot in which Janice applies for a job as a driving instructor, the episode is about as close to perfect as it gets. Definitely worth a re-watch.”
Advertisement
21. Brett Fuller – “What you’re describing did not occur on any episode of The Sopranos.”
Advertisement
22. Michael Perry – “‘Tony And The Computer.’”It’s a new day, and Google has a new cloud service for storing and processing big data. Google Cloud Dataproc, which is being launched in beta today, is a managed service for running Hadoop and Spark.
Independent startups like Qubole, Altiscale, and Xplenty offer commercial software for running open-source Hadoop on top of public clouds, but now there’s an option that’s native to the Google Cloud Platform.
“Cloud Dataproc automation helps you create clusters quickly, manage them easily, and save money by turning clusters off when you don’t need them,” Google Cloud Platform product manager James Malone wrote in a blog post on the new service. “With less time and money spent on administration, you can focus on your jobs and your data.”
Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services, two other major public clouds, both have their own first-party services for running Hadoop, with HDInsight and Elastic MapReduce, respectively. Support for Spark — the open-source big data processing framework that’s seen as a successor to the MapReduce engine — has come to both. Now Google will have its own full-fledged tool to compete directly. And that’s important in the growing public cloud market, where ease of use and cost are both critical factors.
Developers can run batch and streaming jobs with the Google Cloud Dataflow service, but that’s a largely proprietary system not explicitly based on the widely used Hadoop open-source big data software.
Google makes it possible to run core Apache Hadoop on its public cloud with the Cloud Launcher quick-start tool, but Cloud Dataproc makes it easy to manage clusters once they’re running.
Like Google Compute Engine, the new service is priced by the minute after the first 10 minutes.
Learn more about the new service here.The legend of Artimus Pyle: Lynyrd Skynyrd’s drummer lives to tell the tale
On October 20, 1977, a Convair CV-300 carrying the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd crashed in a heavily-wooded swamp just outside Gillsburg, Mississippi. The band was on tour, making their way from Greenville, South Carolina to Baton Rouge, when the aircraft ran out of fuel and took a nosedive into the darkness of the forest below.
Six of the 26 people on the plane were killed instantly, including band members Ronnie Van Zant, Cassie Gaines and Steve Gaines.
Artimus Pyle, the drummer, survived.
“This year will be 36 years since the crash,” Pyle said. “But for me it’s like yesterday. I was never knocked unconscious. I remember all of it.”
Pyle still chokes up when he talks about the crash. But he speaks so matter-of-factly about the events that only his extended pauses between sentences give him away.
“We hit the ground,” he said. “I forced myself out from under the wreckage. My chest was crushed but I started walking to get help.”
Pyle dragged his body, broken ribs and all, through the murky swamp. At one point a helicopter circled overhead. The sound of the crash had alerted paramedics, but because the plane had run out of fuel, there was no fire to guide help to the site.
“I remember looking up from the swamp, and help was so close but so far away,” Pyle said. “And then I heard this snake slither up to me in the darkness and I remember saying, out loud, ‘Snake, I will bite your [expletive] head off.’ Nothing was going to stop me from getting help. I’m a Marine. We don’t leave anyone behind.”
The snake was not the only hurdle. Pyle finally stumbled upon a farm; he thought he had found his salvation but quickly learned otherwise.
“The farmer shot me in the shoulder,” Pyle said. “He thought I was trespassing. He felt really bad once I told him what happened.”
Medics were called, the crash was cleared and mourning began. Thirty six years later, the healing continues for Pyle. Appropriately, he does it through music.
“I do Lynyrd Skynyrd music with respect and accuracy,” he says of the Artimus Pyle Band. “You wouldn’t even know my name if it weren’t for Ronnie Van Zant. Without him there would have been no Lynyrd Skynyrd. What I do is a tribute.”
Pyle continues to tour with his band. Two years ago they were part of the Rock Legends Cruise and Pyle invited a special guest to perform with him.
“Bob Burns was the drummer on the first two Skynyrd albums,” Pyle said. “Most people don’t know that. I took over for him when he lost his mind on tour in Paris.”
The audience on the cruise was treated to “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Free Bird” and “Simple Man” played with both Burns and Pyle onstage on dual drum kits.
“The ship was full of true fans,” Pyle said. “I wanted them to know Bob. So when I announced him I said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, when you fell in love with Lynyrd Skynyrd, this was the drummer. He is the Ringo Starr of southern rock drummers.’”
These days, when Pyle isn’t touring, he is enjoying a quiet life in Ashville, North Carolina, where he lives on 150 acres that include a lake, a horse farm and a recording studio.
“The best part is that I have no neighbors,” Pyle laughed. “I have drums in every single room of the house and I can play whenever I want.”
He is also working on a book: the untold history of the band and the crash.
“I can do a lot,” Pyle said. “I can write, I can run a bulldozer, I can fly a plane. But what I love the most is being a drummer. And no one plays Lynyrd Skynyrd music like I do.”
Artimus Pyle Band plays Saint Rocke Thursday, September 12 at 8pm. Doors open at 5pm. Tickets are $15 and are available at www.saintrocke.com.Photo
SILVER SPRING, Md. — Fresh off a meeting with national labor leaders, Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday spoke favorably about legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour, tacitly dismissing proposals by her two leading Democratic competitors who have called for a bigger increase.
Speaking with reporters, Mrs. Clinton singled out legislation proposed by Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, that would establish a $12-an-hour minimum nationwide.
“Patty Murray is one of the most effective legislators in the Senate, bar none,” Mrs. Clinton said. “Whatever she advocates, I pay a lot of attention to.”
As she has in the past, Mrs. Clinton did not explicitly offer a figure she would like to see adopted, but implied that certain measures, like Ms. Murray’s, were more realistic than others: Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland, Mrs. Clinton’s rivals in the Democratic field, both support raising the minimum to $15 an hour.
“Let’s not just do it for the sake of having a higher number out there,” she said. “But let’s get behind a proposal that actually has a chance of succeeding.”
Mrs. Clinton’s comments came as she spoke to reporters after a closed-door session here with the executive council of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the umbrella organization of the labor movement.
Like other candidates who have streamed through here this week, Mrs. Clinton met privately for an hour with the council, delivering brief opening remarks, taking questions from the members and asking for their support.
“I asked them to be my partner in making sure we stand against those powerful forces on the other side that don’t agree with the agenda that I just outlined,” Mrs. Clinton said afterward.
Mrs. Clinton, a former secretary of state, stressed to the council her proposals to raise wages, increase rights and benefits for workers, and ensure equal pay for women. She also noted that the group had discussed trade agreements, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which the A.F.L.-C.I.O. has opposed.
Mrs. Clinton told reporters afterward that she could not yet comment on the trade agreement itself, beyond reiterating criteria she felt any deal should meet. She did note that she understood that there had been some recent changes to the deal that she found positive.
Mr. Sanders and Mr. O’Malley both oppose the deal.
Mrs. Clinton’s record on labor issues is not clear-cut, though people in the room on Thursday said she was met with repeated applause. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, long had a reputation in the labor movement as a pro-business Democrat whose trade policies hurt American workers.
Mrs. Clinton, meanwhile, has supported measures like the Employee Free Choice Act, which would have made it easier for workers to form unions, and advances in collective bargaining rights — stances she reiterated in a speech this month. She is also a longtime advocate for paid family leave for employees and equal pay for women. She said she reiterated that support to the council on Thursday.
Mr. Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who is gaining on Mrs. Clinton in some polls, told the executive council on Wednesday that he was not only the candidate best equipped to fight for the labor movement’s interests, but that he was electable.
The latter assertion was meant to address concerns, expressed Wednesday by some members of the council, that despite Mr. Sanders’s close alignment with the labor movement, he will not be able to beat Mrs. Clinton.
The executive council is expected to vote on Thursday to delay its endorsement until later in the |
food category for the first 2-3 weeks of a cycle. Then I’ll use the last week of the cycle to introduce the food/practice and record symptoms.
I’m not quite finished introducing foods from this plan so I’m not ready to start the 30 day rotation quite yet, but I’ll plan to start in the next few months (maybe after the couple of bachelorette parties I have this month :).
Things I learned:
I don’t react well to tomatoes and peppers. This was a huge shock because I previously included these in almost every single meal. It’s possible that these foods lead to more problems than I could have previously imagined.
Caffeine really does affect me more than I want it to so I’ll have to continue to limit my intake
Sleep, exercise and not eating or drinking before bed are probably the most important lifestyle changes for me
Celery juice is very calming to the stomach and the throat, but I can’t have it every day. Apparently I started to smell like celery. Phew. Poor John 😉
My body doesn’t really like seeds.
I can have fattier meats but only in really small portions. aka – no bacon baskets in my near future 🙁
If I eat undercooked/unsprouted lentils, I’m going to have a bad time
My tummy loves lean fish, sweet potatoes, bananas, bone broth, cucumbers, and house pressed juice.
Nuts are good, in moderation
I’m not good at moderation. (I already knew this)
Things I tested:
avocado
chili pepper
olive oil
pasture raised meat
black beans
black lentils
peanuts
pork
hemp seeds
chilies
raw beets
bone broth
sunflower seeds
sweet potato
plantain
potato
eggs
tomato
cooked peppers
additional legumes
eggplant
raw zucchini
fresh fish
decaf coffee
caffeine
almonds
cashews
pistachios
pecans
carob powder
cacao nibs
chocolate
cooked food
sesame seeds
tahini
wine
alcohol
grain free beer
nightshades
lean fish
lean pasture raised meats
greasier meats (bacon, chorizo etc.)
non-GMO, organic King Arthur’s flour
Things I still need to test:
note – it’s not like I’m going to add all of these things back in full force if a don’t react, but I still need to measure the impact to see if they are OK in moderation. And maybe I already tested these, but now I need to get more specific and studious about it.
organic tomatoes
each kind of pepper individually (I’m not giving up hope here – the TexMex in Colorado and the Thai/Indian Food in California NEED me to be OK with this. 😉
corn
high fat aged dairy (cheeeese)
other dairy (yogurt/kefir)
raw beets
raw zucchini
eggplant
corn
basil
bell peppers
raw jalapenos
hemp seed
granulated sugar
soy
quinoa
millet
sprouted lentils
riceMeasure block access time
While working on another example, I've noticed that access time to some monero blocks, especially early ones, using Blockchain::get_block_by_hash, is very long. Thus, I wanted check this time for all blocks in the blockchain.
As a result of this, this example was created showing how to loop through all blocks in lmdb blockchain, and extract some basic information about each block, as well as measure its access/search time, into an output csv file.
Everything here was done and tested on Ubuntu 14.04 x86_64 and Ubuntu 15.10 x86_64.
Instruction for Monero compilation:
Monero source code compilation and setup are same as here.
int main ( int ac, const char * av[]) { // get command line options xmreg::CmdLineOptions opts {ac, av}; auto help_opt = opts. get_option < bool >( " help " ); // if help was chosen, display help text and finish if (*help_opt) { return 0 ; } // get other options auto start_height_opt = opts. get_option < size_t >( " start-height " ); auto out_csv_file_opt = opts. get_option <string>( " out-csv-file " ); auto bc_path_opt = opts. get_option <string>( " bc-path " ); // default path to monero folder // on linux this is /home/<username>/.bitmonero string default_monero_dir = tools::get_default_data_dir (); // the default folder of the lmdb blockchain database // is therefore as follows string default_lmdb_dir = default_monero_dir + " /lmdb " ; // get the program command line options, or // some default values for quick check size_t start_height = start_height_opt? *start_height_opt : 0 ; string out_csv_file = out_csv_file_opt? *out_csv_file_opt : " /tmp/block_access_time.csv " ; path blockchain_path = bc_path_opt? path (*bc_path_opt) : path (default_lmdb_dir); if (! is_directory (blockchain_path)) { cerr << " Given path \" " << blockchain_path << " \" " << " is not a folder or does not exist " << " " << endl; return 1 ; } blockchain_path = xmreg::remove_trailing_path_separator (blockchain_path); cout << " Blockchain path: " << blockchain_path << endl; // enable basic monero log output uint32_t log_level = 0 ; epee::log_space::get_set_log_detalisation_level ( true, log_level); epee::log_space::log_singletone::add_logger (LOGGER_CONSOLE, NULL, NULL ); // create instance of our MicroCore xmreg::MicroCore mcore; // initialize the core using the blockchain path if (!mcore. init (blockchain_path. string ())) { cerr << " Error accessing blockchain. " << endl; return 1 ; } // get the highlevel cryptonote::Blockchain object to interact // with the blockchain lmdb database cryptonote::Blockchain& core_storage = mcore. get_core (); // get the current blockchain height. Just to check // if it reads ok. uint64_t height = core_storage. get_current_blockchain_height (); if (start_height > height) { cerr << " Given height is greater than blockchain height " << endl; return 1 ; } cout << " Current blockchain height: " << height << endl; // output csv file csv::ofstream csv_os {out_csv_file. c_str ()}; if (!csv_os. is_open ()) { cerr << " Cant open file: " << out_csv_file << endl; return 1 ; } cout << " Csv file: " << out_csv_file << " opened for wrting results. " << endl; // write csv header csv_os << " Height " << " Timestamp " << " Access_time " << " Size " << " Hash " << " No_tx " << " Reward " << " Dificulty " << NEWLINE; // show command line output for everth i-th block const uint64_t EVERY_ith_BLOCK { 2000 }; for ( uint64_t i = start_height; i < height; ++i) { // show every nth output, just to give // a console some break if (i % EVERY_ith_BLOCK == 0 ) cout << " Analysing block " << i << " / " << height << endl; crypto::hash block_id; try { // get block hash to be used to for the search // in the next step block_id = core_storage. get_block_id_by_height (i); } catch ( const exception& e) { cerr << e. what () << endl; continue ; } cryptonote::block blk; try { // measure time of accessing ith block from the blockchain auto start = chrono::system_clock::now (); //blk = core_storage.get_db().get_block_from_height(i); // <-- alternative, faster core_storage. get_block_by_hash (block_id, blk); auto duration = chrono::duration_cast<chrono::nanoseconds>( chrono::system_clock::now () - start); // get block size size_t blk_size = core_storage. get_db (). get_block_size (i); if (i % EVERY_ith_BLOCK == 0 ) cout << " - " << " access time: " << duration. count () << " ns. " << endl; // save measured data to the output csv file csv_os << i << xmreg::timestamp_to_str (blk. timestamp ) << duration. count () << blk_size << core_storage. get_block_id_by_height (i) << blk. tx_hashes. size () << cryptonote::print_money (mcore. get_block_reward (blk)) << core_storage. get_db (). get_block_difficulty (i) << NEWLINE; } catch ( const exception& e) { cerr << e. what () << endl; continue ; } } // for (uint64_t i = 0; i < height; ++i) // colose the output csv file csv_os. flush (); csv_os. close (); cout << "
Csv saved as: " << out_csv_file << endl; cout << "
End of program. " << endl; return 0 ; }
Results
The resulted csv file can be seen here.
Screenshot of the results is here.
The plot of log of block access time against block number is here.
From the csv and data, it can be seen that there is very large concentration of very long times up to block of about 100k. This results in very slow recovery of your deterministic wallet, when the blocks in this range are being scanned for your transactions.
Compile this example
The dependencies are same as those for Monero, so I assume Monero compiles correctly. If so then to download and compile this example, the following steps can be executed:
# download the source code git clone https://github.com/moneroexamples/block-access- time # enter the downloaded sourced code folder cd block-access- time # create the makefile cmake. # compile make
After this, blkaccesstime executable file should be present in access-blockchain-in-cpp folder. How to use it, can be seen in the above example outputs.
How can you help?
Constructive criticism, code and website edits are always good. They can be made through github.
Some Monero are also welcome:Rebel Wilson says any money she receives in damages from her defamation case against Bauer Media will go to charity, scholarships or the Australian film industry.
“And regarding my defamation case win, any [money] I receive will go to charity, scholarships or invested into the Aussie film industry to provide jobs,” she wrote in a tweet Thursday morning.
“I take being a role model very seriously.”
And re my defamation case win, any $'s I receive will go to charity, scholarships or invested into the Aussie film industry to provide jobs — Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) June 21, 2017
I take being a role model very seriously x 🇦🇺 — Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) June 21, 2017
Wilson’s lawyers want more than seven million Australian dollars in damages for defamation, claiming the figure they are seeking is “extremely conservative”.
A lawyer acting for Bauer Media on Thursday called Wilson’s damages claim “extraordinarily large”.
Closing submissions on damages continue in the Victorian Supreme Court after the publisher of Woman’s Day, Australian Women’s Weekly, NW and OK magazine was last week found to have defamed Wilson in eight articles in May 2015.
Bauer Media, in a series of articles, claimed the star was a serial liar in giving details of her real name, age and childhood to make it in Hollywood.
“You can’t judge reputation and vindication in terms of money,” Bauer Media defence barrister Georgina Schoff QC told the Victorian Supreme Court on Thursday.
Ms Schoff said the special damages claim was “extraordinarily large” and made on the “most tenuous of bases”.
She said Wilson didn’t take action for at least 12 months – a “telling” factor for the judge to take into account.
Wilson’s barrister Matt Collins QC on Wednesday said the star should receive AU$5.893 million in special damages — which would cover the loss of one film role — and general damages of $1.2 million, bringing total damages sought to $7.093 million.
Hollywood agent and producer Peter Principato, a 20-year industry veteran with 50 clients, told the court Wilson was the hottest name around after the success of her film Pitch Perfect 2.
He said she could have been commanding five to six million US dollars a film, plus box office bonuses, following the success. But for some reason her fame stopped.
Mr Principato said he did not know any reason, aside from the Bauer articles, as to why Wilson would not have gone on to receive at least two to three offers per year.
– AAPImage caption The timber posts have been preserved by peat
A suspected Iron Age road, made of timber and preserved in peat for 2,000 years, has been uncovered by archaeologists in East Anglia.
The site, excavated in June, may have been part of a route across the River Waveney and surrounding wetland at Geldeston in Norfolk, say experts.
Causeways were first found in the area in 2006, during flood defence work at the nearby Suffolk town of Beccles.
It is thought the road is pre-Roman, built by the local Iceni tribe.
Exact dating has yet to be carried out but tree-ring evidence suggests a date of 75BC.
That dates the timber road to more than 100 years before the Roman invasion, which saw the Iceni and their leader Boudicca lead a revolt which threatened to end Roman rule.
In AD60, the Iceni ambushed one Roman legion and sacked Roman settlements at London and Colchester before being defeated.
'Remarkable' detail
The timber structures, usually lost on archaeological sites, are marked out by the posts which have been preserved in remarkable detail. As they are dug up, they look almost modern, and it is still possible to clearly see tool marks in the timbers.
University of Birmingham archaeological researcher Kristina Krawiec, from the dig team, said: "Instead of getting post holes, we're getting the posts that would have gone in them. We're understanding more about the technology and skills that went into these sort of things."
John Davies, chief curator at Norwich Castle Museum, added: "This particular track way is very interesting to us because we have tools... which may actually tie in with some of the tool marks and methods of construction we are turning up in the excavation."
Discovered in June last year, the recently excavated timbers form a 4m-wide (13ft) route, running for 500m across wetland right up to the river. There have been two previous linked finds nearby including one on the other side of the river and another running alongside it.
Find out more A new series of BBC Two's Digging For Britain begins in September BBC Two's Digging For Britain WATCH: Footage from the site
"We perhaps have evidence that these alignments were designed to indicate a crossing or access route to the River Waveney," said University of Birmingham archaeologist Ben Gearey.
As well as providing practical ways of getting across the wet flood plain, the archaeologists believe the roads may have been a way of marking territory to traders and travellers from afar, and spiritual gathering places where the tribe that built them could go to the river to make offerings.
Items such as swords, shields and spearheads are often found in rivers - probably gifts to the gods or to long-dead ancestors.
In a world without roads, rivers were the motorways of the time and it is thought the Waveney formed part of a major metal trading route from Europe.
The timber structures would probably have been an impressive sight to any passing travellers.
Find out more on the new series of BBC Two's Digging For Britain, to be aired in September.In this special feature Nintendo Life contributor Alan Lopez shares his experience of a day with the San Diego StreetPass group.
What do you get when you Google "StreetPass groups"?
If you're searching in the land of Nintendo of America, Facebook pages for "StreetPass Chicago", "StreetPass NYC" and other cities rise to the top of the results, highlighting the most popular hobbyist groups. To those unfamiliar with the nomenclature of Nintendo's wireless tagging, a "StreetPass" occurs whenever two of Nintendo's portable systems come within a nearby physical proximity of one another, resulting in personal avatars and game data becoming wirelessly transferred between both systems. It's built into every one of Nintendo's 3DS (and 2DS) handhelds, and if the resulting fandom around the globe is any indication, it might just be the console's most important feature.
Of all the StreetPass groups, StreetPass San Diego boasts that it is the largest in America – a prideful claim several other StreetPass groups have also made. Gauged by Facebook likes, San Diego appears the clear victor. To counter, Los Angeles and New York City have quite a leg up in the Twitter-sphere. Thousands of fans follow these StreetPass teams on social media and in person to plan their weekends all throughout the year.
Yet to an outsider looking in, the worth of who's the biggest and what this even means only really comes down to one thing:
What exactly does one do at a StreetPass event?
A woman on the floor is checking her StreetPasses aside a baby in an automatic baby rocker. In the opposite corner of this room, kids a third my age are beating men that are twice my age in refereed Pokemon matches. I'm holding a Pokeball coloured cupcake.
The light on my 3DS is very, very green.
"StreetPass San Diego was created on Facebook in April 2011. The very first "miitup" gathered 8 people", says David behind a thick, French accent. David is an admin of SPSD, and has guided the group over the course of dozens of events to its 4th anniversary. "The very next meeting gathered 25, and it's been growing since then. We now average 150+ people every month."
The presence of all 150+ people were very much felt in line to sign up for the free Super Smash Bros. for Wii U Tournament. This huge tournament was being held in their regular, monthly meeting area atop the library in celebration of the "a-MiiVERSARY" on hand. For those who braved the sign-up line, myself included, a free mug cooler adorned with the Smash Bros. logo awaited at the registration table. This initial swag was just the first of the many, many Nintendo themed giveaways offered up that day. And every single thing was free for attendees.
Still in its relative infancy, San Diego's opulent, new public library is a thing to behold. And yet while our top story, glass room gave an impressive view of the downtown cityscape, all eyes were forever transfixed downward. The event was partitioned with game stations at all corners, including a Mario Party 10 kiosk in one corner, Mario Kart 8 races in the other, a round table of Monster Hunter hunts, and Pokemon and Smash Bros. matches lining the opposite walls. The inside area of the room was filled with rows of plastic seats, almost every one of which was perpetually occupied. The welcoming and dismissing of travelling Miis could be heard no matter where you stood.
As I walked around the floor, I noticed someone was StreetPassing on four handhelds at once. I cheekily asked if she was much of a gamer, and she indignantly answered, "…Of course!"
One person looked over my shoulder and loudly gave me unsolicited tips for how to do better at the game "Monster Manor".
By the time of only my second Smash Bros. match of the day, I had already met gamers with whales of separation between age, race, and background. One of these gamers was Ray, a Midwestern transplant living in Southern California who was not only a massive Zelda fan, as his t-shirt proudly attested, but who also happened to be the San Diego area Nintendo retail representative.
He dished to me on amiibo: "You know what…right now, people are running into frustration. I'll be honest with you, I get back feedback more negative than positive. But this amiibo thing is young…give it a little bit of time. I hope everyone gets what they want"
"The majority of major cities have a rep…LA has, I think, four, but the majority of them have just one. This is it."
I asked him if he was here on work.
"I work Monday through Friday and today…today happens to be my birthday. I'm spending it with cool people playing cool games. It's a perfect birthday for me."
Ray admitted Nintendo's employee code of conduct advises all employees to be "N-bassadors" to fans by reaching out and building community wherever possible. Yet while his initial involvement with SPSD was on assignment showing off the New Nintendo 3DS XL, on days like these Ray keeps up as a committed fan.
He dished to me on amiibo: "You know what…right now, people are running into frustration. I'll be honest with you, I get back feedback more negative than positive. But this amiibo thing is young…give it a little bit of time. I hope everyone gets what they want".
He even admitted to running into the same troubles as his customers. "I didn't want to get into it (laughter). But…I will never pay over suggested retail price…no matter how much I want Meta Knight (laughter)." In lieu of the neighboring Los Angeles scene, he also vouched for SPSD as the biggest StreetPass group in the country: "StreetPass San Diego has the biggest group…(they're) probably the best Nintendo community in the country. I'm gonna say that".
And he made sure to note some business at hand before we finished.
"I've been seeing your Pikachu, right? You're killing it…maybe we'll be playing each other."
I had already gotten through the first three rounds in the tournament when I was approached by Ray informing me that the bracket had led us to a round 4 showdown. Especially as the Smash tournament was only single elimination, our matchup was quickly made headline material for the big projector screen at the head of the room.
Like he, I too was somewhat juggling work with play. Shuffling between recorder, camera, and GameCube controller was developing into a new skill. Yet I was not one to so easily dismiss a decade of personal, professional Smash Bros. experience, which I did my best to keep secret. After giving it my all, he congratulated me on my victory while masking his own disappointment. But like so many before me, my run would not last forever.
I took a break from Smash to attend to the flickering green light on my handheld. I unhinged my 3DS to try out the newly released StreetPass games, Ultimate Angler and Battleground Z for the first time since having downloaded them a day after their release.
Ultimate Angler is a title in which fellow StreetPassers provide your avatar with unique bait to aid your goal of catching every fish on StreetPass Island. I soon found out the game was as addicting as it sounded silly. StreetPasses provide a helping hand while fishing, literally. Up to ten helpful strangers can pull on your fishing rod alongside you to give you the extra strength needed to reel in the big one. As I was passing dozens of handhelds at a time, catching lunkers during my first go-around was a breeze.
By the end of the event, I had made time to welcome over 50 strangers into my StreetPass plaza. Without Nintendo's self imposed limit of 10 passes at a time, it would have been far more.
Fishing was interrupted when my name was called for the semi-finals. I played against a Mega Man player named Luis. Things were going great for myself until during our last stocks, I quick-attacked right into a rage-fueled uppercut. In a single swing, I was instantly KO'd right off the top of the screen and eliminated from the tournament.
He embraced me in his euphoria.
The event stretched out over five hours of video game (and energy drink) fuelled celebration. Presumably saving the best for last, copious amounts of cake was prepared and handed out to everyone, followed by the ever popular free raffle.
Plush toys, vintage items, and amiibo were all up for grabs. Leaving early meant missing a chance that your number might be called in the evening. Not that hardly anyone did, anyway.
"For the raffles, we partner with sponsors, including Nintendo and all the major developers like Capcom, Square Enix, local stores like GameStop, and other miscellaneous donators like Prima and K'nex. The admins of SPSD often pitch in when short of prizes and attendees have been offering more and more recently." David explained to me.
I asked how they got in contact with Nintendo.
"Nintendo, surprisingly, has been the hardest sponsor to get. While they know about StreetPass groups, they have very little interactions with them in the USA. They are very involved with StreetPass groups in Europe though.
"Nintendo, surprisingly, has been the hardest sponsor to get. While they know about StreetPass groups, they have very little interactions with them in the USA. They are very involved with StreetPass groups in Europe though."
This fact is highlighted by Nintendo of Europe's very own official website linking to pertinent Streetpass groups all over the world. None of the same corporate leg work is found in the spacious United States, which makes the NOA groups all the more impressive.
"We've been very fortunate and grateful to have such a generous crowd."
Like the final minutes of a fireworks display, rapid rounds of increasingly exciting prizes were handed out until the very last amiibo disappeared. In spite of dozens of prizes awarded, my ticket never got called. I did, however, end up in third place in the Smash Tournament, which netted me a Smash Bros. bag and an E3 lanyard.
Those leaving empty handed did not seem deterred; many attendees throughout the day told me that even in the face of the demos, prizes, and food, what kept them coming back for more was keeping the company of the Nintendo fans all throughout the year.
StreetPass groups, big or small, are the latest in the grassroots movements directed towards Nintendo that shows how community grows hand in hand with passion.
I asked a young Nintendo fan named Genesis what her favourite thing about coming out to a StreetPass event was.
"I like the cake. Yummy, yummy, for my tummy."
She later came back to me with a follow up to her answer.
"I also play games with my dad. He wins but sometimes I do."
Do you attend a local StreetPass group, or are you tempted to? Let us know in the comments section below.
Thanks to all who chatted with us at this event.On June 15 the new Manitoba government introduced Bill 7, the Labour Relations Amendment Act, which aims to eliminate the so-called "card-check" system of union certification currently used in Manitoba. Bill 7 would mandate secret ballot votes as the only means of union certification.
Sounds fair, doesn't it?
Premier Brian Pallister is banking on Manitobans thinking so. The bill has been pitched as a means to make union certification more democratic — a clearer reflection of the will of workers.
It is, in fact, anything but. It is an assault on unions, plain and simple, and will negatively affect all working Manitobans.
Not everyone knows what card-check is, nor how union certification takes place under the existing Labour Relations Act. Under the current act, if 65 per cent of workers sign a union membership card, the Manitoba Labour Board, after ensuring that all other aspects of the law have been upheld, will certify the union as the official bargaining agent. If 40-65 per cent sign, then a secret ballot is needed to certify. So in cases where there is any ambiguity about the will of the workers — where the number of signed membership cards makes it a close call — we already have secret ballot votes.
Most demanding threshold
The 65 per cent threshold in Manitoba is the most demanding in the country among provinces that have card-check certification. It is a very clear expression of the will of a super-majority of workers. Bill 7 scraps the fast-track certification enabled by a 65 per cent card-check and forces all certification to take place through secret ballot votes.
The imposition of a secret ballot vote as the sole means of union certification certainly sounds fair and democratic. After all, don't we insist on the secret ballot for elections? Indeed. In a system in which we can all expect to cast our votes free from fraud, intimidation and coercion, secret ballots work well.
When most Canadians walk down the street to their polling station, they don't expect to be harassed or threatened into voting a particular way by anybody in authority. Nobody suggests they will lose their job if they vote for one candidate over another. When these kinds of things do happen in elections — even those with a secret ballot — we are quick to call the legitimacy of the process into question.
Unfortunately, workplaces aren't democratic. They are, in the words of Yanis Varoufakis, "tiny Soviet Unions." There is a rigid hierarchy of power stacked on the side of the employer. Employees can, in fact, expect to be intimidated and coerced by the only relevant authority present. We need not speculate on this. Just last year, to take one recent example, when workers at a Winnipeg Tim Hortons outlet started talking about unionization, their boss threatened to close the store or take away employee benefits.
The research on how the removal of card-check has played out in other Canadian provinces also shows the power of employers to intervene in certification. Several studies have shown that when card-check is replaced with mandatory votes, unionization rates suffer dramatically. For example, using a dataset of 6,500 private-sector unionization drives, labour researcher Chris Riddell concludes that when mandatory voting replaced card-check in 1984, success rates fell by 19 per cent. When card-check was reinstated in 1993, they bounced back by the same percentage. "The results indicate that the mandatory election law can account for virtually the entire decline. In addition, the findings suggest that management opposition was twice as effective under elections as under card-checks," according to Riddell.
Research from B.C. and Ontario also shows that the more time that elapses prior to a vote, during which employers can engage in a number of intimidation strategies, the less likely is eventual certification. If the government pushes this misguided bill into law, it must take strong measures to ensure that certification votes are held within a very short timeline. There are timelines in the law, but they are long (seven business days) and frequently extended by the Labour Board. Minimizing the room employers have to engage in the anti-union intimidation and coercion that mandatory voting laws encourage is an absolute minimum requirement.
Bad news for workers
Bill 7 is bad news for workers seeking to unionize and for all Manitobans concerned about justice and inequality. Unionization has a very clear empirical link to lower inequality. While many have focused on collective bargaining's impact on wage inequality, unions have been pivotal in winning social goods for all of us — including things like universal franchise, pensions and weekends.
"The political consequences of union power are difficult to exaggerate," political scientists Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson point out. "Social scientists have consistently shown that the strength of organized labour has a very large impact on the development of social policies across nations. Strong labour unions are closely associated with low levels of inequality and more generous social programs." In other words, union wins are, in the long run, wins for most of us.
Bill 7, while being advanced under the cloak of democracy, will have the result of further skewing an already imbalanced relationship of power that favours employers over workers. The fairness of a secret ballot election requires conditions that are absent in the context of union certification. Bill 7 will limit, not increase, workers' freedom to choose how they are represented in their workplace. Any other claim represents a profound distortion of how decisions are made on the job.
Mark Hudson is an associate professor of sociology and co-ordinator of the global political economy program at the University of Manitoba. He is also a Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba research associate and member of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba steering committee.Last year, IBM started investing more in Linux on its Power line of servers and now it's doubling down on that bet with its new PowerLinux 7R4 server.
This new Power server, which IBM advertises as a "high-performance/high-end" machine, is the next step up in its Power Systems PowerLinux line. It comes with four sockets and 32 CPU cores.
The PowerLinux 7R4 server is built on the same Power Systems platform running IBM's famous Watson cognitive computing solution and Jeopardy champion.
"As the Linux operating system and open source applications continue to mature, more clients are choosing IBM’s higher value hardware systems designed to handle mission critical and complex cloud and big data workloads in an open environment," said Doug Balog, General Manager for IBM Power Systems in a statement. "Responding to this need, we are aggressively continuing investments in our open Power Systems ecosystem -- including new products, applications and partnerships -- that support today's emerging Linux workloads.”
Like the rest of PowerLinux server line, the 7R4 runs with either Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES). If you'd rather use AIX Unix and/or IBM i operating system you can use IBM's PowerVM virtualization tools to partition any Power Systems server into separate virtual machines with some running Linux-based applications while others running AIX or IBM i.
IBM is adding IBM Cognos Business Intelligence and EnterpriseDB database software. According to IBM, "In addition to IBM DB2 database software for Linux, which offers an average 98 percent compatibility with Oracle Database applications, IBM announced that EnterpriseDB's enterprise-level PostgreSQL-based database solution is now available on all Power Systems servers running Linux."
Ed Boyajian, EnterpriseDB's President and CEO, claimed in a statement that "Switching databases has traditionally been costly and risky due to limited application compatibility and lack of comprehensive migration tools and resources. EnterpriseDB's Postgres Plus Advanced Server and IBM Power Systems solve this problem by providing extensive Oracle compatibility functionality, migration tools and expertise that deliver significant cost savings while allowing many Oracle based applications to run virtually unchanged.”
Oracle would, I'm sure, beg to differ. With this move, IBM seems to be distancing itself ever further from Oracle.
Related Stories:Just as Tiger ‘owned’ St Andrews in his prime, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve always brought the best out of Michael. He has won a record seven times on the Ile Notre-Dame but in all honesty he looked a shadow of his former self on Sunday.
He pitted three times and was still lapping over 4 seconds off the pace in his final stint. He just could not get his tyres working and in my view resorted to some pretty questionable racing in an effort to hold position. He was particularly fortunate to escape sanction for the late collision with Massa, his old protégé at Ferrari. The rules are clear: you cannot make two moves under braking. I'm not sure why they let him off.
I’m not beating up on Michael. We have had our differences in the past but I have tremendous respect for him. And I have consistently said we need to give him half a season before we judge his comeback. But with eight races gone and 11 to go, we are getting dangerously close to that tipping point.
What is wrong with him? I don’t know but something is clearly missing. It seems a case of one step forward, two steps backwards at the moment. I don’t think the reactions have gone, his fitness is fine and to be fair to him he has shown glimpses of his old race craft; the move on Alonso on the final lap in Monaco was like a visitation from the ghost of Schumi past.
If I had to guess I would say it is F1 that has changed. Michael's struggles with the new tyres are well documented but I have another theory which is that he is not a fan of the 18,000rpm limit. The power band of the engine is very small these days; there is no torque. You spend your whole race changing gears. I didn’t really enjoy F1 towards the end of my career for this very reason.
By the way, I don’t agree with those who say he is damaging his legacy by making a comeback at the age of 41. If Michael thinks he still has something to offer then I support his decision 100 per cent. But for me it’s like U2 releasing Zooropa; average just isn’t good enough when you have come to expect excellence.
On the whole the Canadian Grand Prix was a belter. The differing strategies made for a fantastically entertaining race, with drivers having to reach the finish with their tyres right on the limit. And although the circuit was widely predicted to suit McLaren, it turned out to be a genuine three-way scrap between McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari for the win. Just as it is for the championship. We really are being spoilt this season.
One thing that did worry me, though, was the way Lewis Hamilton ran out of fuel on his in-lap after qualifying. Like team orders, which I touched upon in my last column, this is a grey area that needs clearing up and fast. My understanding has always been that you need enough fuel to get the car back to the pits and provide a one-litre sample for the stewards. Would it be so hard to write that into the regulations?
You might get cars 'breaking down' mysteriously in an attempt to circumvent the rules but they would have to prove that to the stewards - which is not easy with the standard ECU.
The fact is a lap of fuel is worth a tenth of a second. Lewis claimed pole and won the race. Can I accept it was a genuine mistake on McLaren’s part?
Absolutely. Should it happen again? Never. A $10,000 fine is paltry considering the potential benefits of starting on pole. McLaren have used their joker for the season but other teams will think they can still play theirs.
David Coulthard is writing on behalf of Red Bull Racing F1, for whom he acts as a consultant.Air Jordan Retro Holiday 2013 Confirmed Releases
0.00 / 5 0 VOTES This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. The opinions and information provided on this site are original editorial content of Sneaker News.
Ready for more Air Jordan release information for 2013? We just hit you with a release date for the He Got Game XIII, but we’re ready to leapfrog a few seasons and focus on these three Air Jordan Retros that are confirmed for the Holiday season. |
reported confirmed yellow fever cases imported from Angola, further highlighting the risk of international spread through nonimmunized travelers.
Meanwhile, Uganda has reported cases of yellow fever that are not epidemiologically linked to Angola, and three other countries — Republic of Congo, Sao Tome and Principe, and Ethiopia — have reported suspected cases of yellow fever and investigations are underway to determine if they are linked to the outbreak.
WHO urged countries to bolster their immunization efforts, particularly those with populations of mosquitoes that transmit the virus. Vaccines must be administered at least 10 days before travel to be effective. – by Gerard GallagherAfter years of progress, the median earnings gap between black and white men has returned to what it was in 1950, according to new research by economists from Duke University and the University of Chicago.
The experience of African-American men is not uniform, though: The earnings gap between black men with a college education and those with less education is at an all-time high, the authors say.
The research appears online in the National Bureau of Economic Research working paper series.
The paper looks at earnings for working-age men across a span of 75 years, from 1940 to 2014. The earnings gap between black and white men narrowed during the civil rights era. Then, starting around 1970, the gap between black and white men's wages started widening once again.
"When it comes to the earnings gap between black and white men, we've gone all the way back to 1950," said Duke economist Patrick Bayer, who co-authored the paper with Kerwin Kofi Charles of the University of Chicago.
The picture for black men looks very different at the top of the economic ladder versus the bottom, the authors say. Since the 1960s, top black salaries have continued to climb. Those advances were fueled by more equal access to universities and high-skilled professions, the study finds.
Meanwhile, a starkly different story transpired at the bottom of the economic ladder. Massive increases in incarceration rates and the general decline of working-class jobs have devastated the labor market prospects of men with a high school degree or less, the authors say.
The changing economy has been hard on all workers with less than a high school education, but especially devastating for black men, Bayer said.
"The broad economic changes we've seen since the 1970s have clearly helped people at the top of the ladder," Bayer said. "But the labor market for low-skilled workers has basically collapsed.
"Back in 1940 there were plenty of jobs for men with less than a high school degree. Now education is more and more a determinant of who's working and who's not."
In fact, more and more working-age men in the United States aren't working at all. The number of nonworking white men grew from about 8 percent in 1960 to 17 percent in 2014. The numbers look still worse among black men: In 1960, 19 percent of black men were not working; in 2014, that number had grown to 35 percent of black men. That includes men who are incarcerated as well those who can't find jobs.
"The rate at which men are not working has been skyrocketing, and it's not simply the result of the Great Recession," Bayer said. "It's a big part of what's been happening to our economy over the past 40 years."
The situation would be even worse if not for educational gains among African-Americans over the past 75 years, Bayer said.
On average, black men today have many more years of schooling than black men of the past, and the education gap between white and black men has shrunk considerably. Nevertheless, a gap remains: These days, black men have about a year's less education than white men, on average.
"In essence, the economic benefits that should have come from the substantial gains in education for black men over the past 75 years have been completely undone by the changing economy, which exacts an ever steeper price for the differences that still remain," Bayer said.
The findings show the need for renewed focus on closing racial gaps in education and school quality, which have been stuck in place for several decades, according to the authors. They also suggest that any economic changes that improve prospects for all low-skilled workers will have the important side effect of reducing racial economic inequality.
"We clearly need to create better job opportunities for everyone in the lower rungs of the economic ladder, where work has become increasingly hard to come by," Bayer said.
Find the report online at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w22797City leaders in Bend say they’re prepared to commission a study reexamining a controversial water project there.
The nearly $70 million surface water improvement project angered many citizens over its high cost and long-term environmental impact. More than a thousand people signed a petition calling on the city council to reopen the process.
Bend City manager, Eric King says now might be a good time to just that.
The EPA is reexamining a rule that would require the city to incorporate an expensive water treatment plant into the project. In response, the city has opened a dialogue with the state about the possibility delaying that component or possibly scrapping it all together. In short, King says some of numbers that went into the initial cost analysis have changed.
“And so if those inputs are changing, which you know, having a decision from the state which might allow us to defer a big cost of this surface water project, it makes some sense to re-look at some of those financial models,” Eric King said.
King says the city has been in dialogue with its critics and wants to include them in the process going forward.A Dundee pensioner has been jailed after being found guilty of molesting a child more than four decades ago.
Charles Brian Shield was convicted at Inner London Crown Court of five counts of indecently assaulting a child.
The 75-year-old, who lived in the Ardler area of the city, had denied the charges.
But he was found guilty by a jury of carrying out the acts between 1969 and 1972. Shield, known locally as Brian, was sentenced to serve six years behind bars for the crimes.
He was also placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
The jury found that, on five occasions, Shield indecently assaulted the same victim or induced the youngster to carry out sexual acts on him. The charges were brought under the Sexual Offences Act 1956. They all took place at an education establishment in England — which has now closed down — where Shield had worked.
In Dundee, Shield was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the city’s Liff Road.
It’s understood he was involved with the Mormon church for 15 years and held the post of executive secretary to the bishopric.
One churchgoer, who did not want to be named, accused the church of “trying to sweep everything under the carpet” over Shield’s convictions and said that his behaviour had not been addressed despite being known to those in charge. She said: “He was secretary to the bishop — basically setting up interviews. He had a key to the building.
“It would have given him contact with kids.”
Another churchgoer said: “I was furious because I had children that grew up in this church all these years and nobody thought to warn me.”
A church spokesman didn’t address Shield’s convictions directly but said: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a zero-tolerance policy for child abuse and cooperates fully with law enforcement agencies in the criminal investigation of abuse cases.
“Our hearts go out to victims, their family and others whose lives may have been impacted. We hope that they can find peace.”So many answers doing half the work. Yes,!!X could be read as "the truthiness of X [represented as a boolean]". But!! isn't, practically speaking, so important for figuring out whether a single variable is (or even if many variables are) truthy or falsy.!!myVar === true is the same as just myVar. Comparing!!X to a "real" boolean isn't really useful.
What you gain with!! is the ability to check the truthiness of multiple variables against each other in a repeatable, standardized (and JSLint friendly) fashion.
Simply casting :(
That is...
0 === false is false.
is.!!0 === false is true.
The above's not so useful. if (!0) gives you the same results as if (!!0 === false). I can't think of a good case for casting a variable to boolean and then comparing to a "true" boolean.
See "== and!=" from JSLint's directions (note: Crockford is moving his site around a bit; that link is liable to die at some point) for a little on why:
The == and!= operators do type coercion before comparing. This is bad because it causes'\t\r
' == 0 to be true. This can mask type errors. JSLint cannot reliably determine if == is being used correctly, so it is best to not use == and!= at all and to always use the more reliable === and!== operators instead. If you only care that a value is truthy or falsy, then use the short form. Instead of
(foo!= 0) just say
(foo) and instead of
(foo == 0) say
(!foo)
Note that there are some unintuitive cases where a boolean will be cast to a number ( true is cast to 1 and false to 0 ) when comparing a boolean to a number. In this case,!! might be mentally useful. Though, again, these are cases where you're comparing a non-boolean to a hard-typed boolean, which is, imo, a serious mistake. if (-1) is still the way to go here.
╔═══════════════════════════════════════╦═══════════════════╦═══════════╗ ║ Original ║ Equivalent ║ Result ║ ╠═══════════════════════════════════════╬═══════════════════╬═══════════╣ ║ if (-1 == true) console.log("spam") ║ if (-1 == 1) ║ undefined ║ ║ if (-1 == false) console.log("spam") ║ if (-1 == 0) ║ undefined ║ ║ Order doesn't matter... ║ ║ ║ ║ if (true == -1) console.log("spam") ║ if (1 == -1) ║ undefined ║ ╠═══════════════════════════════════════╬═══════════════════╬═══════════╣ ║ if (!!-1 == true) console.log("spam") ║ if (true == true) ║ spam ║ better ╠═══════════════════════════════════════╬═══════════════════╬═══════════╣ ║ if (-1) console.log("spam") ║ if (truthy) ║ spam ║ still best ╚═══════════════════════════════════════╩═══════════════════╩═══════════╝
And things get even crazier depending on your engine. WScript, for instance, wins the prize.
function test() { return (1 === 1); } WScript.echo(test());
Because of some historical Windows jive, that'll output -1 in a message box! Try it in a cmd.exe prompt and see! But WScript.echo(-1 == test()) still gives you 0, or WScript's false. Look away. It's hideous.
Comparing truthiness :)
But what if I have two values I need to check for equal truthi/falsi-ness?
Pretend we have myVar1 = 0; and myVar2 = undefined;.
myVar1 === myVar2 is 0 === undefined and is obviously false.
is and is obviously false.!!myVar1 ===!!myVar2 is!!0 ===!!undefined and is true! Same truthiness! (In this case, both "have a truthiness of falsy".)
So the only place you'd really need to use "boolean-cast variables" would be if you had a situation where you're checking if both variables have the same truthiness, right? That is, use!! if you need to see if two vars are both truthy or both falsy (or not), that is, of equal (or not) truthiness.
I can't think of a great, non-contrived use case for that offhand. Maybe you have "linked" fields in a form?
if (!!customerInput.spouseName!==!!customerInput.spouseAge ) { errorObjects.spouse = "Please either enter a valid name AND age " + "for your spouse or leave all spouse fields blank."; }
So now if you have a truthy for both or a falsy for both spouse name and age, you can continue. Otherwise you've only got one field with a value (or a very early arranged marriage) and need to create an extra error on your errorObjects collection.
EDIT 24 Oct 2017, 6 Feb 19:
3rd party libraries that expect explicit Boolean values
Here's an interesting case...!! might be useful when 3rd party libs expect explicit Boolean values.
For instance, False in JSX (React) has a special meaning that's not triggered on simple falsiness. If you tried returning something like the following in your JSX, expecting an int in messageCount...
{messageCount && <div>You have messages!</div>}
... you might be surprised to see React render a 0 when you have zero messages. You have to explicitly return false for JSX not to render. The above statement returns 0, which JSX happily renders, as it should. It can't tell you didn't have Count: {messageCount && <div>Get your count to zero!</div>} (or something less contrived).
One fix involves the bangbang, which coerces 0 into!!0, which is false :
{!!messageCount && <div>You have messages!</div>}
JSX' docs suggest you be more explicit, write self-commenting code, and use a comparison to force to a Boolean.
{messageCount > 0 && <div>You have messages!</div>}
I'm more comfortable handling falsiness myself with a ternary --
{messageCount? <div>You have messages!</div> : false}
Same deal in Typescript: If you have a function that returns a boolean (or you're assigning a value to a boolean variable), you [usually] can't return/assign a boolean-y value; it has to be a strongly typed boolean. This means, iff myObject is strongly typed, return!myObject; works for a function returning a boolean, but return myObject; doesn't. You have to return!!myObject to match Typescript's expectations.
The exception for Typescript? If myObject was an any, you're back in JavaScript's Wild West and can return it without!!, even if your return type is a boolean.
Keep in mind that these are JSX & Typescript conventions, not ones inherent to JavaScript.A leading writer on digital security has scoffed that Russian hackers are so skilled and prevalent they even managed to influence the US men’s national team’s failure to qualify for the Russia 2018 World Cup.
Italian journalist Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai - a respected journalist covering hacking, information security, and digital rights - made the tongue in cheek claim that the US defeat to Trinidad & Tobago and subsequent failure to qualify for Russia 2018 was thanks to clever Russian “interference.”
Russia's interference campaign was so good that they knocked the US soccer team out of the World Cup...in Russia! — Lorenzo Franceschi-B (@lorenzoFB) October 11, 2017
“Russia's interference campaign was so good that they knocked the US soccer team out of the World Cup...in Russia!” Franceschi-Bicchierai satirically tweeted.
The US failure was the first time in three decades the men’s national team has failed to qualify for world football’s showpiece event; the US national team are three-time winners of the women’s version.
READ MORE: US miss 1st FIFA World Cup in 3 decades after 2-1 loss to Trinidad & Tobago
A 2-1 defeat away to bottom of the group Trinidad and Tobago saw the US finish fifth in the North, Central America and Caribbean World Cup qualifying group, having won just three of their 10 matches.
More likely, sub-par performances by the US against meagre opposition was the cause of their World Cup embarrassment, but much has been made in recent months of fears of Russian surveillance.
In September, the English Football Association (FA) advised players and team staff not to use public Wi-Fi while visiting Russia for the tournament next year.
READ MORE: ‘Football team would be better option’ – Russia UK Embassy trolls British tabloid over WC ‘spies’
“For the purposes of computer security in general, FIFA is itself relying on expert advice from third parties. It is for this reason that FIFA cannot and does not provide any computer security advice to third parties,” the FA said in a statement.
Responding to the The Daily Star's recently published story on the matter, headlined 'England to take surveillance team to Russia World Cup amid spy fears', Russia's UK Embassy wryly tweeted on Tuesday: ‘A football team would be a better option.’
A football team would be a better option pic.twitter.com/4Psj4ZkGy5 — Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) October 10, 2017
Hysteria over Russian hackers targeting athletes perhaps stems from hacktivist group ‘Fancy Bears’, who leaked numerous WADA documents on well-known athletes last year, and are alleged by the mainstream media to have links with Russia.By Bill Maher
A South Carolina tow truck driver and Trump supporter took “religious freedom” to a new level when he was called to tow a stranded disabled woman’s car off the highway, arrived to find she had a Bernie Sanders bumper sticker, and then just left her there. He told the local news that it was because “the Lord came to me, and He just said, ‘Get in the truck and leave.’” Oh, I get it. The Lord is a prick.
More and more in this country, we’re seeing so-called Christians being not so much righteous as self-righteous and using their “religious freedom” as an excuse to be an asshole. I have to ask, “Who’s more like Jesus – this tow truck driver or Bernie Sanders?”
I don’t profess to know, “What would Jesus do?” But I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t leave the lady with fibromyalgia stranded on the side of the road.When Greenville County deputies conducted an undercover sting at the strip club, Platinum Plus, Sheriff Steve Loftis said the operation was funded by $26,000 in seized drug assets.According to the U.S. Justice Department, the Greenville County Sheriff's Office collected $336,932 last year through civil asset forfeitures.The agency is not alone. In the last five years, law enforcement agencies in South Carolina have received $22.7 million in forfeiture revenues.The limited government group, Institute for Justice, has given the state a D-minus for its high-rate of civil forfeiture cases."South Carolina is more focused on policing for profit, taking money off the streets, than it is for arresting bad guys and getting drugs off the street," managing attorney Lee McGrath said.McGrath said the state's civil forfeiture laws offer little protection for property owners. He said when assets have been seized, often without criminal charges being filed, a person must prove that their belongings are not forfeitable by a preponderance of evidence."A person does not need to be charged or even convicted of a crime to lose their property. You can be acquitted of a charge in criminal court, but still lose your property through civil forfeiture," McGrath said.McGrath said states like New Mexico, Nebraska and Florida have made "significant reforms" to their civil forfeiture laws by requiring that a person be convicted of a crime before they are subject to civil forfeiture."It's the responsibility of the South Carolina Legislature to fully fund law enforcement. Law enforcement should not take it on itself to be both the purse and the sword to raise its own money," McGrath said.Click here to see how much money South Carolina law enforcement agencies collected through civil forfeitures in 2014-2015.
When Greenville County deputies conducted an undercover sting at the strip club, Platinum Plus, Sheriff Steve Loftis said the operation was funded by $26,000 in seized drug assets.
According to the U.S. Justice Department, the Greenville County Sheriff's Office collected $336,932 last year through civil asset forfeitures.
The agency is not alone. In the last five years, law enforcement agencies in South Carolina have received $22.7 million in forfeiture revenues.
The limited government group, Institute for Justice, has given the state a D-minus for its high-rate of civil forfeiture cases.
"South Carolina is more focused on policing for profit, taking money off the streets, than it is for arresting bad guys and getting drugs off the street," managing attorney Lee McGrath said.
McGrath said the state's civil forfeiture laws offer little protection for property owners. He said when assets have been seized, often without criminal charges being filed, a person must prove that their belongings are not forfeitable by a preponderance of evidence.
"A person does not need to be charged or even convicted of a crime to lose their property. You can be acquitted of a charge in criminal court, but still lose your property through civil forfeiture," McGrath said.
McGrath said states like New Mexico, Nebraska and Florida have made "significant reforms" to their civil forfeiture laws by requiring that a person be convicted of a crime before they are subject to civil forfeiture.
"It's the responsibility of the South Carolina Legislature to fully fund law enforcement. Law enforcement should not take it on itself to be both the purse and the sword to raise its own money," McGrath said.
Click here to see how much money South Carolina law enforcement agencies collected through civil forfeitures in 2014-2015.
AlertMeJune 14, 2010
https://www.lewrockwell.com/podcast/153-we-aint-seen-nothin-yet-2/
A podcast with Gerald Celente.
What does the state-bank-military complex plan next? As the second stage of the financial crisis hits, says Gerald Celente, we can expect them to start another war to divert people’s attention from the wholesale robbery of the productive. He also fears that WWIII will start when Israel or the US attacks Iran. It could go nuclear, or involve biological WMD. But that won’t prevent the default of the UK, Spain, Ireland, and the rest, and the continued rip-off the people by the “Harvard-Princeton-Yale-Bullets-Bombs-Banks” regime. The result, says Gerald, will be worldwide civil unrest. This is, after all, a bunch that can’t stop an oil leak. He tells us what he is doing to protect himself.
Gerald Celente is Founder/Director of The Trends Research Institute. The Trends Research Institute publishes The Trends Journal.
Gerald Celente: Archives on LRC
He was previously interviewed in episodes:It's a little known fact that the PostGIS geography type since PostGIS 2.2 (well was introduced in 2.1 I think but had a bug in it until 2.1.4 or so), supports any spheroidal spatial reference system that measures in degrees. When an srid is not specified, it defaults to using 4326, Earth WGS 84 long lat.
Here is an example to demonstrate. Suppose you were doing research about Mars and all your observations on Mars are in longitude/latitude of Mars. You would add an entry such as this one to your spatial_ref_sys table, using this code:
INSERT into spatial_ref_sys (srid, auth_name, auth_srid, proj4text, srtext) values ( 949900, 'iau2000', 49900, '+proj=longlat +a=3396190 +b=3376200 +no_defs ', 'GEOGCS["Mars 2000",DATUM["D_Mars_2000", SPHEROID["Mars_2000_IAU_IAG",3396190.0,169.89444722361179]], PRIMEM["Greenwich",0],UNIT["Decimal_Degree",0.0174532925199433]]');
Given that Mars is a smaller planet than earth, you would expect any distance between two locations on the planet to be lower than same on Earth. We'll test this out.
SELECT ST_Distance(ST_GeogFromText('SRID=949900;POINT(1 2)'), ST_GeogFromText('SRID=949900;POINT(1 1)'));
Gives answer:
st_distance --------------- 58579.7013291 (1 row)
Now doing the same with our earth using WGS 84 long/lat but same point locations
SELECT ST_Distance(ST_GeogFromText('SRID=4326;POINT(1 2)'), ST_GeogFromText('SRID=4326;POINT(1 1)'));
Gives answer:
st_distance ----------------- 110575.06481434 (1 row)
As expected the distance between longitude/latitude of 1,2 to 1,1 on the surface of earth is much longer than it is on Mars.Trade between China and Portuguese-speaking countries reached US$23.97 billion in the first quarter of the year, an increase of 43.33% compared to US$ 16.72 billion in the same period of 2016, according to figures from Forum Macau.
In the first three months of the year, China exported goods worth US$7.07 billion (+21.09%) to the eight Portuguese-speaking countries and imported goods worth US$16.89 billion (+55.27%), taking on a trade deficit of US$9.82 billion.
With Brazil, China’s largest trading partner in the world, trade reached US$16.77 billion (+44.61%), with China selling US$5.62 billion’s worth of goods (+32.42%) and buying Brazilian products worth US$11.15 billion (+51.64%).
Angola, which usually ranks second in terms of value, recorded trade with China amounting to US$5.55 billion (+61.32%), with Chinese companies exporting goods worth US$412 million (+19.28%) and importing products worth US$5.14 billion (+66.01%).
In third place is Portugal, with trade with China worth US$1.16 billion (-5.79%), with Chinese exports totalling US$719 million (-23.51%) and imports of US$445 million (+50.48%).
China’s trade with Mozambique reached US$424 million (+4.98%), with Chinese companies exporting goods valued at US$ 276 million (+0.22%) and importing products worth US$276 million (+15.10%).
With the remaining Portuguese-speaking countries – Cabo Verde (Cape Verde), Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe and Timor-Leste (East Timor) – China recorded trade in the first quarter amounting to US$43.58 million. (macauhub)— Two Los Angeles men are in custody Wednesday on weapons violations charges after they walked around the Inglewood area wearing body armor and carrying rifles.
Edmon Washington, 35, and Brook Lindsey, 34, were arrested about 7 a.m. Tuesday near Foothill Boulevard and Terra Bella Street, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Both men were booked on suspicion of possession of assault rifles, and each was being held on $35,000 bail, LAPD Officer Jane Kim said.
No court date was immediately set for their arraignment.
Residents began calling 911 shortly after midnight to report the two men, Inglewood police Lt. Greg Held said.
While the two carried weapons, they didn’t threaten anyone, and officers decided to avoid confrontation and just monitor them, Held said.
At one point the men showed their guns off to a television news cameraman. They said the weapons, which appeared to be AR-15 assault rifles, were not loaded. In California, openly carrying an unloaded firearm is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail.
Broadcast footage showed the men, who are black, pacing through dark, empty streets, the guns slung over their shoulders, occasionally decrying racism and white supremacy.
“Let it be known that this is a peaceful protest and I’m within my constitutional rights,” one of the men shouted at TV cameras. “So if they violate that, that just goes to show how phony they are.”
Los Angeles police began monitoring the pair when they crossed into that city around 3 a.m.
After seeing the video of the men “with what appeared to be assault rifles, body armor, and Kevlar helmets,” officials decided to detain and question them, LAPD Deputy Chief Bob Green told reporters.
Police in a half-dozen patrol cars tracked the men and pulled over their black sedan around 7 a.m. The men got out of the car, but initially failed to comply with the officers’ commands. Police used a non-lethal device — apparently rubber bullets — in taking the driver into custody. The passenger sat down on a curb and was taken into custody.
A search warrant was later served at a Panorama City apartment where one of the suspects is believed to live. Two assault rifles were found in the residence, police said.
(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)'The Art of a Political Revolution' for Bernie Sanders
Photo: Souris Hong Photo: Souris Hong
In Los Angeles but ending this weekend, you can check out an #ArtistsForBernieSanders show in support of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. My beautiful friend Souris Hong is one of the curators/organizers/promoters, and you should really read her personal story of involvement. “I live in a country where I can come from a refugee camp and end up on the campaign trail,” she writes.
Included in the exhibition are artists and performers we've blogged about here at Boing Boing over the years--Kozyndan, Ron English, and Shepard Fairey among them. The organizers plan to take the show on the road to more cities, when the Los Angeles kickoff closes.
'The Art of a Political Revolution' at HVW8 features visual artists and musicians who “hope to inspire change throughout the nation.” Rad.
Here's the press release:The Baltimore Police Department is a complete and utter disaster.
That’s the only possible takeaway from reading the US Department of Justice’s 163-page report into Baltimore police, leaked on Tuesday. The report found major flaws in even the most basic modern policing practices, from arrests to use of force to basic interactions with the community. To make it worse, these findings are compounded by what appears to be purposeful, disproportionate targeting of the city’s black residents.
"Racially disparate impact is present at every stage of BPD’s enforcement actions, from the initial decision to stop individuals on Baltimore streets to searches, arrests, and uses of force," the report concluded. "These racial disparities, along with evidence suggesting intentional discrimination, erode the community trust that is critical to effective policing."
The Justice Department’s conclusions come after an investigation that lasted more than a year, launched swiftly after protests and riots over the death of Freddie Gray while in Baltimore police custody and, more broadly, over racial disparities in policing and the criminal justice system. Federal investigators pored through data and police reports, as well as attended in-person events, including ride-alongs, to conduct their investigation.
The report essentially validates many of the protesters’ claims. Baltimore police stop people for essentially no reason, particularly black residents. They are far too quick to use force. Charges are often dropped due to a lack of merit for any prosecution. Cops regularly violate people’s rights, including those protected by the First Amendment and Fourth Amendment. And virtually everyone is aware of these types of problems — officials within and outside the police department, members of the community, and even police union representatives acknowledge the desperate need for reform.
The Justice Department is also clear in where the blame lies: This is not the story of a few bad apples in the police department; these are systemic issues propagated by leadership, poor guidance, shoddy training, and essentially no accountability to speak of — and these issues go back to at least the 1990s, when city leaders in Baltimore stated "zero tolerance" anti-crime policies. To remedy these issues, federal officials plan to set up a "consent decree" in which they would oversee reforms at the Baltimore Police Department with the cooperation of local officials.
(Baltimore isn’t the only city under investigation by the Justice Department. So are more than two dozen others.)
Here are nine findings from the report that speak to the absolute disaster that is the Baltimore Police Department.
1) Baltimore police target black Americans, even when they’re totally innocent of any crimes
The Justice Department was unequivocal that Baltimore police, referred to as BPD in the report, disproportionately targeted black residents, even when they were totally innocent of any crimes (emphasis mine):
BPD disproportionately stops African-American pedestrians. Citywide, BPD stopped African-American residents three times as often as white residents after controlling for the population of the area in which the stops occurred. In each of BPD’s nine police districts, African Americans accounted for a greater share of BPD’s stops than the population living in the district. And BPD is far more likely to subject individual African Americans to multiple stops in short periods of time. In the five and a half years of data we examined, African Americans accounted for 95 percent of the 410 individuals BPD stopped at least 10 times. One African American man in his mid-fifties was stopped 30 times in less than 4 years. Despite these repeated intrusions, none of the 30 stops resulted in a citation or criminal charge.
According to the report, this man was typically stopped for small crimes like "loitering" or "trespassing," and in at least 15 stops, officers detained him to check for outstanding warrants — even though their reasons for stopping him in the first place were entirely baseless.
One telling example: During a ride-along with Justice Department officials, a sergeant told a patrol officer to stop a group of young black men. The officer protested, saying he had no valid reason for the stop. The supervisor responded, "Then make something up" — again, in the middle of a ride-along with federal investigators.
The disparities applied to actual searches. According to the report, police were much more likely to search black Americans, even though they were much less likely to find any contraband on black suspects compared to their white counterparts:
BPD disproportionately searches African Americans during stops. BPD searched African Americans more frequently during pedestrian and vehicle stops, even though searches of African Americans were less likely to discover contraband. Indeed, BPD officers found contraband twice as often when searching white individuals compared to African Americans during vehicle stops and 50 percent more often during pedestrian stops.
One explanation for all of this? Higher-ups encouraged cops to stop and arrest as many people as possible, and officers often took on this task by targeting black residents:
As one example of this approach, supervisors frequently encourage officers to "clear corners"—an instruction many officers understand to stop, disperse, or arrest groups of individuals standing on public sidewalks. The continued emphasis on these types of "stats" drives BPD’s tendency to stop, search, and arrest significant numbers of individuals on Baltimore streets—often without requisite legal justification and in situations that put officers in adversarial encounters that have little connection to public safety.
This is a consistent problem I found in my investigation into low-level police stops. It’s not uncommon across the country for police to disproportionately stop black people for low-level crimes and misdemeanors. These stops — and the fines or jail time they can entail — can become so numerous in a poor person’s life that they end up burdening him with tremendous amounts of debt. Even worse, each of these stops carries the chance that the situation will escalate out of control — with a cop using possibly deadly force on someone who was accused of a crime that typically wouldn’t involve even prison time.
2) Baltimore officers escalate typical policing situations into violence for no good reason
The problems ran all the way up to use of force, which the Justice Department found was regularly deployed by Baltimore police despite absolutely no need to:
BPD uses overly aggressive tactics that unnecessarily escalate encounters, increase tensions, and lead to unnecessary force, and fails to de-escalate encounters when it would be reasonable to do so. Officers frequently resort to physical force when a subject does not immediately respond to verbal commands, even where the subject poses no imminent threat to the officer or others. These tactics result from BPD’s training and guidance.
The Justice Department pointed to cases in which police used force on people who were already restrained, so there was no reason to believe the person posed a threat to officers or others. And police frequently engaged in foot chases that ended violently, even against people who were suspected of no serious offenses.
One particularly telling example, from the report:
For example, on a cold January evening in 2013, an officer approached and questioned an African-American man crossing the street in a "high crime area" while wearing a hooded sweatshirt. The officer lacked any specific reason to believe the man was engaged in criminal activity, but, according to the incident report prepared by the supervisory officer on the scene, the officer "thought it could be possible that the individual could be out seeking a victim of opportunity." This unsupported speculation furnishes no basis to conduct a stop. Nonetheless, multiple officers questioned the man and seized a kitchen knife that the man acknowledged carrying. When the man asked the officers to return his knife, the officers ordered the man to sit down and then forced him to the ground when the man "persisted to ask for his knife." The man yelled "you can’t arrest me" and resisted his detention. Although there was no basis to detain the man, two officers attempted to handcuff and shackle him, while one officer struck him "in the face, ribs, and back" with fists. The man continued to resist being shackled as additional officers arrived, one of whom tased the man twice to prevent him from |
, the 2016 Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year, currently has an 11-0 record and 2.44 earned run average heading into the Super Regional this weekend. He has 29 career wins, two shy of Marc Valdes' school record.The Coon Rapids, Minn., native will look to extend his school record streak of 16 consecutive wins against Florida State this weekend. With a win over Bethune-Cookman last Friday, Shore tied Hudson Randall for the UF record with five career NCAA postseason victories.Alonso returned to action in the Regional after missing 10 games with a broken hand and proceeded to hit.571 (8-for-14) with three home runs and eight RBI over the weekend. On the season, he is the Gators triple crown leader with a.368 average, 12 homers and 55 RBI.The Tampa native was named the Gainesville Regional Most Outstanding Player after providing a spark to the Florida offense in their Regional sweep. He hit a pair of home runs in the win over Bethune-Cookman on Friday and added another on Saturday against Connecticut. He had multiple RBI in all three Regional games.Florida hosts Florida State this weekend in the 2016 NCAA Gainesville Super Regional. Game one is slated for Saturday night at 6 p.m. on ESPN 2. Jeff Cardozo andwill call the action on the Gators IMG Sports Network.Just a Hand Grenade’s throw from the bottomless beer and Hurricanes of Bourbon street, New Orleans icons like the French 75 Bar at Arnaud’s and the Empire Bar at Broussard’s prove that the old classics still thrive. There you can drink excellent renditions of familiar Crescent City staples, from Old Fashioneds to Sazeracs. And if you look carefully on the menu, you may see a drink you don’t recognize: La Louisiane.
A seductively named drink built on rye, sweet vermouth, Benedictine, Peychaud’s bitters, and absinthe, the La Louisiane shares similar DNA to other New Orleans classics, but never made the same leap into the cocktail mainstream. It is the secret cocktail of New Orleans, and these days it’s starting to get its due.
A Burgundy Siren Calls
The La Louisiane began as the house cocktail of its namesake hotel and Creole restaurant—a once-popular French Quarter spot opened in 1881 by the family that has run the legendary Antoine’s since 1840. The drink celebrates the multicultural heritage of New Orleans with ingredients from America (rye), France (Benedictine; absinthe), and Italy (sweet vermouth), with a nod to the Caribbean (Peychaud’s bitters). Stirred over ice and served “up” in a chilled glass with an optional cherry garnish, the burgundy drink is deliciously complex and aromatic: sweet, spicy, earthy, bitter, and tinged with anise.
The La Louisiane recipe was influenced by the Sazerac—one of America’s first cocktails. Chris Hannah, head bartender at the French 75 Bar, goes one step further to describe it as a cross between a Sazerac and a Vieux Carré. “The main spirit [rye] is softened and herbed by the Benedictine and vermouth, similar to the Vieux Carré. But the absinthe adds a thick and flavored anise roundness to the cocktail,” as in a Sazerac. The similarities between the La Louisiane and Vieux Carré have ignited a running debate among the cocktail-curious: Which of these classics came first?
A Muddled Origin Story
“I think the La Louisiane is a better drink than the Vieux Carré,” says Paul Gustings, who features it among an impressive list of classics at the Empire Bar. Gustings (previously head barman at French Quarter institutions Napoleon House and Tujague’s) is convinced the La Louisiane was created in response to the competition from the hotel around the corner. “The Monteleone had the Vieux Carré, so they [Restaurant La Louisiane] decided they needed a house drink too.”
But local bartending legend Chris McMillian (whose restaurant and bar, Revel, he expects to open in New Orleans’ Mid-City neighborhood by the end of 2015) insists, with some persuasiveness, that the La Louisiane came first. “The restaurant opened in 1881, so it is likely that the drink appeared somewhere in this period of time,” McMillian argues. “The Vieux Carré did not appear until the first few years after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933.”
As with many classic cocktails, the truth is often coated in three layers of myth, but the drink’s original recipe gives some backing to McMillian’s side. The original La Louisiane called for absinthe, a spirit that was banned in 1912 and only made legal again 95 years later in 2007. If the La Louisane really did get invented only in response to the Vieux Carré, its initial recipe would have called for an illicit spirit.
A Drink Without a Home
Both the Vieux Carré and the La Louisiane were first immortalized in 1937 by Stanley Clisby Arthur’s book, Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix ‘Em. But cocktails need places to thrive, not texts. The Vieux Carré enjoyed a permanent home at the Hotel Monteleone’s famous Carousel Bar, which eventually led to its spread across the U.S. The La Louisiane found no such luck., and after its home restaurant changed hands several times beginning in the 1930s, it fell into relative obscurity.
“The La Louisiane fell out of favor I'm guessing, when the hotel and [original] restaurant closed,” Hannah tells me. “And then it came back around the resurgence of the current cocktail era, in the early 2000s.”
The drink has been lovingly nurtured in the French Quarter in recent years, leading to its removal from the endangered species list. You can now find the La Louisiane on menus at cocktail bars around New Orleans and across the world. Locally, the Windsor Court Hotel features the drink. And at Cure, an Uptown New Orleans bar credited with kick-starting the craft cocktail renaissance in New Orleans, it was featured during their closing party for Tales of the Cocktail 2015.
Farther afield, the La Louisiane makes an appearance at Leo Robitschek’s cocktail menu at Eleven Madison Park in New York. The Hi-Lo Club, a cocktail bar in San Francisco, recently featured it as their “cocktail of the week,” and it has even shown up on the cocktail list of Sydney, Australia’s American-style restaurant, Black by ezard.
“Almost every cocktail bar in the world has now heard of the La Louisiane,” Hannah explains. “As soon as they found out there were other rye cocktails from New Orleans, they've been chomping at the bit to re-make them.”
Get the recipe for the La Louisiane »I n Tuesday night’s debate, Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Kaine defended the indefensible — a strategic retreat from Iraq that threw away the fruits of American military victory, helped enable a terrifying genocide, and empowered America’s enemies. Even worse, he did so while spouting a pack of deceptions and half-truths that exhibited a child’s understanding of American strategic interests.
Where to begin? First, it was stunning that Kaine brought up as an accomplishment America’s dramatically reduced overseas deployments — as if the only measure of strategic success is the number of Americans in harm’s way. He said it was a “very, very good thing” that instead of 175,000 deployed, we now have only 15,000.
Well, yes, if America’s enemies were defeated or contained. Instead, American retreat created power vacuums that our enemies filled. Jihadists control more territory, have more men under arms, and are more effectively attacking America and American allies than when Hillary Clinton became secretary of state. Those are facts that make American withdrawal look less like an accomplishment and more like an inexcusable retreat.
Moreover, we didn’t have to maintain 175,000 troops in the field to hold on to our hard-fought gains. Kaine made the choice binary — maximum or minimum. Yet our defeat of al-Qaeda in Iraq (the precursor to ISIS) was so comprehensive that the presence of only a small number of American combat troops could have prevented the kind of blitzkrieg we saw in 2014, when ISIS overran large parts of Iraq and Syria. There was never a question of keeping massive numbers of troops in the field. The question was whether we’d keep any troops in Iraq, and the Obama administration said no.
The question was whether we’d keep any troops in Iraq, and the Obama administration said no.
And that brings me to Kaine’s central deception. He still clings to the old, discredited line that America had no choice but to pull troops out of Iraq because the Bush-era “status of forces” agreement mandated their removal. Yet comprehensive reporting in the New York Times and The New Yorker magazine tells a very different story — of an administration that was unwilling to commit the roughly 10,000 to 16,000 (not 175,000) troops needed to maintain stability and of an Iraqi government that was unwilling to risk political capital at home for the sake of a merely nominal American presence. In other words, both sides blundered, badly.
As any number of strategic thinkers have noted, the results weren’t just predictable, they were predicted — by President George W. Bush himself. Speaking in 2007, Bush said that if troops were withdrawn before commanders said Iraq was ready, then:
It would mean surrendering the future of Iraq to al-Qaeda. It would mean that we’d be risking mass killings on a horrific scale. It would mean we allow the terrorists to establish a safe haven in Iraq to replace the one they lost in Afghanistan. It would mean we’d be increasing the probability that American troops would have to return at some later date to confront an enemy that is even more dangerous.
All of these things happened. All of them. ISIS has committed genocide. It blitzed through Iraq, threatening Baghdad and even Kurdistan, and it has created a nation-sized jihadist terror state, one that is shrinking only because — yes — American troops have returned.
The idea that Tim Kaine could look the American people in the eye and declare that any part of this represents anything less than catastrophic failure is astounding. In one of the most important parts of the debate, Mike Pence, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, reminded Americans of the human cost of this disaster — telling the story of Lance Corporal Scott Lubowski, who fell in Fallujah in 2005. He gave his life in a long struggle, a struggle that by 2009 had been largely won. Then Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton squandered that victory.
I’m not naïve. I know that Tim Kaine wasn’t going to own Hillary’s failure. I know that he was going to spin — in much the same way that Pence spun or denied Donald Trump’s manifold deficiencies — but neither Clinton nor Obama can be permitted to escape responsibility. They failed, and the human and strategic cost of that failure is staggering. Our soldiers won the war. Our politicians lost a fragile peace. They can’t be permitted to boast about their blunders.
— David French is an attorney, a staff writer at National Review, and a veteran of the Iraq War.
Those of us who deployed to Iraq remember many more names of fallen brothers, and we also remember the other profound costs in our lives — the physical and psychological wounds, the fear, the lost time with families — that most civilians can’t imagine. Obviously a nation shouldn’t make a strategic mistake simply to honor soldiers’ sacrifices, but when a strategic mistake also undermines those sacrifices, it compounds the injury all the more.A "protection racket" is a scam where an aggressor instigates an attack, blames it on a bogeyman, and then offers to protect the victim from this bogeyman in return for money and power. The "War on Terror" is a protection racket. The aggressor is the world financial elite known as the "Crown" based in the City of London. Their instrument is the Zionist project, specifically the Mossad and its US allies. http://www.savethemales.ca/000447.html The victim is the people of the United States and the West in general. The goal is the overthrow of Western Civilization, and the establishment of a world police state called the "New World Order." http://www.inlibertyandfreedom.com/nwo.htm "Zionism is but an incident of a far reaching plan," said leading American Zionist Louis Marshall, counsel for bankers Kuhn Loeb in 1917. "It is merely a convenient peg on which to hang a powerful weapon." The head of the Department of Homeland Security is Israeli dual citizen and Zionist Michael Chertoff. He was the New Jersey State Attorney when five Mossad agents were arrested after witnesses saw them congratulating themselves on the destruction of the World Trade Centre. Their van tested positive for explosives. See Chris Bollyn article. Scroll down. http://www.savethemales.ca. Speculators who shorted airline stocks before 9-11 have been identified as Israelis, apparently. http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2005/04/315296.shtml "ANTI SEMITISM" THE ORIGINAL PROTECTION RACKET The Jewish elite regards the Jewish rank-and-file as pawns to be manipulated. "Anti Semitism is indispensable to us for the management of our lesser brethren," says the author of Protocols of the Elders of Zion (9-2) a "forgery" that reads 'coincidentally' precisely like the blueprint of the New World Order. http://www.savethemales.ca/000205.html Jews had to be terrorized into setting up Israel as a "national home," i.e. colonizing the Middle East and creating a centre of world government. World Finance funded the Nazis. Zionists actively collaborated with them. See my "The Holocaust as Mental Paradigm." http://www.savethemales.ca/270103.html See also my "Zionism: A Conspiracy Against Jews" http://www.savethemales.ca/000482.html Zionist betrayal is the reason Jews went passively to their deaths, says Rabbi Moshe Shonfeld in his book "Holocaust Victims Accuse." Non-Zionist Jews were worth more dead than alive to the Zionist leadership who, Shonfeld says, reaped the moral and financial capital from their "sacrifice." See my "Zionism: Compulsory Suicide for Jews." http://www.savethemales.ca/091202.html The Jewish elite has a long history of manipulating Jews in this manner. For example, in 1950 a wave of anti Semitism and terrorism in Iraq made Naeim Giladi, 21, join the Zionist underground. Giladi was imprisoned, tortured and sentenced to death by Iraqi authorities. He escaped and fled to Israel only to discover that the anti Semitism and bombings had been engineered by his fellow Zionists to dupe Iraqi Jews into going to Israel. An ancient community was deprived of its wealth and reduced to second-class citizen status in Israel, replacing Palestinian labor. See my "Zionists Double Crossed Iraqi Jews" http://www.savethemales.ca/030203.html 'ANTI SEMITISM' BECOMES 'ANTI AMERICANISM' A pogrom like 9-11 was designed to stampede Americans into forfeiting their civil rights and invading the Middle East. There is a drumbeat in the media to convince Americans they are victims of Muslim fanatics. This propaganda campaign is carried out by Neo Cons (a.k.a. Zionists.) In an otherwise disappointing new book, "The New Jerusalem: Zionist Power in America," Michael Collins Piper writes: "In the build-up to the Iraq war, Zionist propagandists and the media increasingly began touting the message to Americans that "the whole world is against us"... and the Israelis are our only real solid dependable ally...The theme that anti Americanism had run rampant was instilled in Americans for the very purpose of making them "anti" everyone who refused to support the...Iraq war...and the more broad ranging Zionist agenda." (157) Sound familiar? This is the tactic they use on Jews. See my "How Jews are Brainwashed and Manipulated." http://www.savethemales.ca/000312.html Piper says that Zionism is being equated with Americanism. Zionist agents like Nathan Sharansky crafted the overblown and specious rhetoric of Bush's second inaugural speech that committed the US to advancing the Zionist agenda using force. History provides a sobering warning as to where this could be leading. In his essay, "The Nature of Zionism," Russian author Vladimir Stepin writes, "During the civil war in Russia, the Zionists also performed another task. Using some units of the Red Army - Trotsky was the chairman of the country's Revolutionary Military Council - they organized the Jewish pogrom in Seversk. The result of this was the "Law on Those Involved in Pogroms" of 27 July 1918. In accordance with this law, a monstrous Zionist terror raged in Russia for ten years: a person accused of anti-Semitism was, without any argument being allowed, declared to be involved in pogroms and placed against the wall to be shot. Not only anti-Zionists, but the best representatives of the intelligentsia of Russia, could be accused of being anti-Semitic, and so too could anyone one felt like accusing of it. People saw who was exercising power in Russia and expressed their discontent with it. 90% of the members of the Cheka - the Soviet security organ, 1918-1922 - were Zionists. Apart from the law on those involved in pogroms, the Zionists practised genocide against the ethnic groups inhabiting Russia, and they did so by accusing people of counter-revolutionary activities, sabotage, and so on, irrespective of whether or not the people in question really had conducted such activities. It was standard practice merely to put them against the wall to be shot." http://www.radioislam.org/zionism/ CONCLUSION My hunch is that the world financial elite, using Masonic secret societies and intelligence agencies, is responsible for 90% of terrorism. The purpose is to manipulate people into advancing the goals of the New World Order, which includes destroying true religion, nation states, democracy, race and family. They are running a protection racket. They are empowered to protect us from this "terror." Zionists or Americans who carry out their agenda could end up holding the bag if something goes wrong, or as I should say, /right/. Remember they are challenging the greatest power in the universe: God, or Truth as witnessed in the souls of all human beings. They are most vulnerable now on 9-11 which they perpetrated. http://www.savethemales.ca/000629.html If we rise up as one to demand the truth, their obscene criminal enterprise will start to unravel. _____ Henry Makow Ph.D. is the inventor of the board game Scruples and author of "A Long Way to go for a Date." His articles exposing fe-manism and the New World Order can be found at his web site http://www.savethemales.ca/ He welcomes your comments which he may post on his web site using first names only. [email protected] Henry Makow, Ph.D. Exposing Feminism and the New World Order http://www.savethemales.caBy Amy Chen
The troubled Richmond, BC-based fake “winery” accused of selling counterfeit ice wine to China created a rift between its owners and their business partners leading to violence, according to court documents.
Ying Hua Yu and Tao Li are accusing Canadian Ridgeside Winery Company Ltd. owners JiaMing “Helen” Zhou and YingXiong Feng of Violence in a lawsuit currently making its way through the BC court system.
Yu, Li, Zhou and Feng are equal shareholders of Yangtze Inc, a company whose sole business is owning commercial land in Richmond, BC.
The four partners jointly guaranteed a mortgage offered by Vancity credit union to buy the property at 12200 Riverside Way, Richmond – the site of the former Grand Ballroom – for $3.38 million in July 2015.
Ridgeside Winery leased land from Yangtze Inc thereafter, but failed to pay rent and property taxes, leading to Vancity initiating foreclosure proceedings against the Yangtze Inc and the guarantors of the loan, according to the statement of claim.
The petitioners claim that further a meeting to resolve the situation in July 2016 turned out to be counter productive.
“Ms. Zhou and Mr. Feng simply told the others that they did not have to pay rent because Ridgeside Winery’s construction was increasing the value of the Land,” the Statement of Claim reads. “Mr. Feng also threatened that Ms. Yu and her family would come to physical harm if the issue was pursued further.”
Then in October 2016, the parties held a meeting to explore the possibility of listing the land, which again turned into a violent confrontation with Zhou throwing a glass coffee maker at Li’s father Gangi Li, according to the lawsuit.
The petitioners are asking the court to dissolve Yangtze Inc and appoint a third party liquidator.
In their response to the Statement of Claim, Zhou and Li oppose dissolving Yangtze Inc, and blame the petitioners non-cooperation for the troubles.
“The failure of Ridgeside to make continuous rent payments has not in any case paralyzed or seriously interfered with the normal operations of Yangtze,” they argue. “There is no suggestion, for example, in the petition materials that Yangtze would be unable to obtain small short-term financing, against the Property in which it owns very substantial equity, if that were needed in order to pay expenses in the absence of six months of payments on the Ridgeside Lease.”
The fake winery gained notoriety after Canada’s largest ice wine producer Pillitteri Estates Winery caught Ridgeside Winery selling the counterfeit product at the Chengdu Wine and Spirits Show
Pillitteri Estates Winery, based in Niagara-on-the-Lake, successfully shut down an attempt by Ridgeway Winery to register a trademark in 2015.
Zhou denies allegations that Ridgeside Winery is selling fake ice wine.
“The winery is still under construction, there is no production of any wine yet, where comes from the ‘fake wine’ as you said,” Zhou told ThinkPol in an email.
We asked Zhou to comment on a Bill of Lading showing her company exporting wines to China last year.
“Ridgeside doesn’t have BC liquor license yet, no a bottle of wine made yet,” Zhou said. “The Bill of Landing is not any wine of Ridgeside.”
When pressed to explain the source of wines Ridgeway was exporting, Zhou responded with “none of your business.”
When asked to comment on the trademark dispute with Pillitteri Estates Winery, Zhou again responded with “none of your business.”Are Britain's trade figures as golden as they seem?
Doubt has been cast over one of the longest-standing economic claims in the Brexit debate after a Sky investigation revealed that Britain's real exports to outside the EU are actually far lower than official figures suggest.
The Government's trade statistics show that, over the past five years, the share of UK goods being exported to the European Union was only 46% - a fact frequently referred to by those who campaigned for Brexit.
However, this number is severely distorted by the flow of gold bullion in and out of London - the world's major centre for the trade of this precious metal.
When gold is excluded from the trade figures, the numbers are transformed - with half of UK physical exports over the past five years going to the EU.
Image: Britain's trade figures are transformed once gold is excluded
It underlines the fact that once one adjusts for these volatile financial flows, Europe remains a crucial export destination for UK goods - significantly more so than the overall numbers suggest.
:: Long read: Gold takes the shine off Britain's trade balance
The Sky News analysis of Britain's trade with the rest of the world underlines just how much these figures have been distorted by movements of gold - almost all of which is produced in other countries and is simply passing through London's financial markets.
How gold distorts Britain's trade figures
In July alone, the latest month for which trade figures exist, gold accounted for more than a tenth of the value of everything exported by the UK overseas - making it Britain's top export above cars, engines and pharmaceuticals.
Since the vast majority of this gold is shipped to non-EU countries such as China, Switzerland and India, the upshot of these gold figures is to swell the total amount of goods reported as being shipped outside Europe.
Officials from the Office for National Statistics say they are aware of the distortions and are taking action to adjust for it, recently publishing some of their trade figures excluding gold and other erratic components.
However, they have not adjusted the geographical breakdown of trade accordingly.
Image: The Queen visits the Bank of England's gold vaults in 2012
The scale of the distortions caused by the flow of gold are such that they also have an impact on the national accounts.
In the fourth quarter of last year, a sharp outflow of gold showed up as a sudden spike in exports, causing some economists to conclude that Britain's manufacturers were starting to benefit from a post-Brexit jump in confidence.
In fact, the spike was primarily a sign of investors pulling gold out of vaults in London.
:: Beneath the sound and the fury of the Brexit negotiations, what's actually going on? Brexit Forensics is a series of stories from our specialist correspondents, revealing the issues and the themes behind the headlines that will really determine the course of the Brexit revolution.The public gathering of deputies from local councils of southeastern Ukraine have declared they are taking responsibility for constitutional order in the country, as thousands of people have assembled in the city of Kharkov.
Follow RT's LIVE UPDATES
An assembly of local deputies in Kharkov, eastern Ukraine have stated their intention to restore “constitutional order” throughout the country, aiming to create an alternative government.
“We, the local authorities of all levels, the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Sevastopol region decided to take responsibility for ensuring the constitutional order and the rights of citizens on their territory,” said the resolution approved by more than 3,000 deputies from local councils in the southern and eastern regions of the country – most of whom represent Yanukovich's Party of Regions and its communist coalition partners.
According to the resolution, local authorities should no longer accept any edicts from Kiev for the time being. Instead, they should resort to self-administration until the crisis is resolved.
Officials also intend to protect arms depots, preventing radical opposition activists from looting and staging the takeover of such venues. Citizens are encouraged to form local militias to protect public order. Local authorities are to fund and support those militias.
The deputies criticized the resolutions that have been speedily passed in parliament over the past few days, which culminated in the stripping of Viktor Yanukovich's powers and the release of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
According to the resolution, the new edicts – backed by an opposition minority and several dozen defectors from Yanukovich’s coalition – were approved under conditions of “terror, threats of violence and death.”
More than 10,000 Yanukovich loyalists assembled at the Sports Palace of Ukraine’s second-largest city.
“3, 477 deputies from local councils in southeastern Ukraine have gathered. We have gathered here not to separate the country, but to save it,” regional Governor Mikhail Dobkin told the crowd.
The head of the Kharkov administration, Gennady Kernes, has called the public gathering “an attempt by qualified deputies from the east of the country to stabilize the situation.”
"My colleagues and I have been personally threatened. But today we have gathered to change the situation,” he said.
Russia sent several officials in the capacity of observers to the gathering, including the head of the Russian parliamentary commission on foreign affairs, Aleksey Pushkov, as well as Pushkov's counterpart in the Russian Federation Council, Mikhail Markelov. The upper chamber of parliament and several governors from eastern Russian regions were also in attendance.
“The decisions taken here are positive and concrete. What is important is that everything voiced here was implemented in the interests of the Ukrainian people and the entire Ukraine. What Ukraine needs now is common sense and a survival instinct,” Evgeny Savchenko, governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, said.
The creation of an alternative power base – if the new resolutions become the government's foundation – is a logical next step in a Ukraine that remains deeply divided.
The eastern and southern parts of the country, where about half of Ukraine's 45 million citizens live, uses Russian – not Ukrainian – as its everyday language, is more wary of ties with Europe, and votes for more left-wing parties than the west of the country. It is also the industrial base of the country, with legacy mining and metals industries left from Soviet times. All of the country’s sea ports are also in the region.
Kiev is now fully under the opposition’s political control. The quorum in the Rada has circumvented usual constitutional procedures to appoint a new cabinet and amend the constitution. It has removed Viktor Yanukovich from his post for failing to perform his duties after he left Kiev, though the politician says he is still president and has no plans to resign. The Rada has also scheduled a presidential election for May 25.The gulf spill, and the attention it has focused on the United States’ oil dependency, is seen by some as an opportunity to push the environmental movement further — beyond merely green, mass transit first, or pro-cycling.
For some, the mission now is anti-car.
This notion may be anathema to most Californians, those who worship car culture, but that does not intimidate Joshua Hart, an organizer of the Arco protests, which have attracted as many as 100 demonstrators. “We need to use less fossil fuels,” he said. “We need to have simpler lives.”
Mr. Hart, 34, of Menlo Park, said he was anti-car, not anti-driver.
“We need to treat people who are addicted to their cars like people with an illness, people who are sick, rather than people who are intentionally destroying the planet,” he said.
Photo
Mr. Hart said he had been arrested three times for protesting environmental issues. He has not owned a car since 1999 and stopped flying in 2006 when he took trains and a cargo ship to travel to graduate school in England. He said many environmental groups had not taken a strong enough stand against automobiles. “They’re terrified of offending people,” he said.
The size of the anti-car movement is difficult to gauge; it has no official name, leadership or affiliation with mainstream bicycle groups. Locally, its views are often found on the Web site sf.streetsblog.org, which reports on Bay Area transit issues with a clear disdain for cars.
Bryan Goebel, the site’s editor, wrote last year, “The kind of change we need is sea change, a complete transition away from 60 years of externalizing the costs of car ownership,” arguing that the toll automobiles take on society is greater than drivers pay. Mr. Goebel, who lives in San Francisco and travels by bicycle, has not owned a car since 1998, when his most recent vehicle was repossessed.
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.
Peter L. Smith, 37, of San Jose, who has not owned a car since 2008, said he had publicly commented on the site “almost daily.” He recently compared one-way streets — which he contends are dangerous to cyclists because they encourage vehicles to speed — to Nazism. “I’m guessing Hitler would have loved one-ways,” he wrote on the site.
Mr. Smith said he was joking, but when asked if such comments might cause a backlash, he replied, “Would they have said to the abolitionists, ‘You should tone down the rhetoric?’ ”
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
But the words and protests provoke reactions.
Dr. Kai Tiltmann, an avid cyclist, resented being confronted by the Arco protesters when he went to refuel his Volkswagen compact (many of the drivers thwarted by the demonstrators had bicycle racks on their vehicles). Living without cars, he said, was not practical for most people. “It sounds simple enough if you don’t want any of the services society provides,” he said.
Rob Anderson is a frequent critic of the cycling community — he successfully sued to prevent the city from adding bike lanes without assessing the impact on vehicle traffic. “They express all this animus to anyone who doesn’t ride a bike, who can’t ride a bike,” Mr. Anderson said.
Mr. Anderson said drivers represented a silent majority in the city, though not by choice — residents do not traditionally vote on traffic plans, like bike lanes.
Larry Armstrong, who for 30 years has managed the now-besieged Arco station, said he objected when plans were announced in 2003 to add a bike lane to Fell Street. “Putting 20,000 cars per day and bicycle riders competing for the same space is wrong,” he said.
His prescience was ignored, the bike lane went in, and now he receives the protests.
Mr. Hart said of Mr. Armstrong: “I have empathy for the man. He got into a very bad industry.”Mount & Blade: Warband is one of my favourite games but I haven’t played it for a long time. In part, that’s because I’ve been waiting for the sequel, Bannerlord [official site], since it was announced four years ago. After over half a decade of development, details about the game have started to emerge and I spoke to Armagan Yavuz, CEO and Founder of developers TaleWorlds, to find out how the team are aiming to improve on the dynamic world of the original. We talked combat, historical influence, settlement management, co-operative possibilities, modding and AI.
RPS: One of the key elements of Warband, which very few games attempt, is the creation of a dynamic world, that supports both strategic play and a more RPG style experience. What are the main ways you’re building on that?
Yavuz: With Warband, we felt we had a very original game with some unique elements. A lot of players and critics said that they felt it was like a rough uncut gem. There was a lot of potential but it didn’t quite meet that potential, and I agree with that. So we’ve tried to improve on all of the various elements, as well as trying to make them click with one another more effectively. We want all of the mechanics to work togeether.
At the heart of that, there’s a new scripting system, which is C#-based. It allows for many more sophisticated mechanics, from the way seasons work in the game to the functions of the AI. In Bannerlord, the AI can use any gameplay mechanic in the same way that the player can, whereas in Warband there were things that worked differently for the AI and the player. We’re getting rid of almost all of that, so that the player and the AI are working on an equal footing.
For example, you can talk to your enemies’ vassals and snatch them, poach them for your faction. Now, they can do the same thing to your vassals. That means you always have to be on your toes because whatever plans you might come up with, the AI can be coming up with similar plans to use against you.
RPS: Building an AI capable of working with such complex systems must be a huge challenge. How do you begin to build something like that?
Yavuz: One of the most important things is to make sure the AI can evaluate all of its options. If it doesn’t know what the options are, it won’t use them, just as a player won’t. We use a very modular system, which works such that when we add new features to the game, the AI is automatically able to see them and use them.
We approach the design the same way when we think about the players’ experience, introducing new elements that overlap with things that you’ve already learned. We try to make the game more transparent to players – if you don’t know how to do something, or even know that it’s possible, you might as well not be able to do it.
There are a lot of mechanics that make the economy and politics more fluid, and we want to make sure that managing villages and diplomacy doesn’t become an intellectual load. It’s very easy for a game to become intimidating when there is so much to do and so many options, so we need to make sure there is no information overload.
To do that, we try to give the player very simple interfaces to interact with. They’re very rich in information but not overwhelming. The information that you need when trying to perform any action should always be visible, and positioned under your mouse pointer as soon as you need it. For managing villages, you basically have three sliders – militia resources, taxes and building resources – and you decide how much importance to place on each area.
And as a beginner player you can leave them all in the middle and not worry too much. The game doesn’t force you to optimise constantly, or to care about all of this stuff just to survive. If you are part of a kingdom and you have a single village to manage, you can do that suboptimally without altering the course of the war too much. That way, you can learn the more complex mechanics and how they all tie together while working as part of a bigger system, without too many responsibilities. That’s a natural learning curve and there’s plenty of time to master strategies as you play.
The entire UI is much more streamlined than in Warband as well. You can see characters in the gameworld and interact with them directly, and you’ll be able to access various properties and statistics directly rather than looking through menus.
RPS: Why did you decide to set the game two hundred years earlier than Warband?
Yavuz: We decided early on that we would either be basing the game either a little earlier or later, because we didn’t want to revisit exactly the same time. We opted to go earlier for several reasons, one being that if we go too much later then, realistically, the combat changes a lot and becomes based on heavy armours, full plate, and firearms.
There are lots of interesting things to look at in that setting and there’s a charm to it, so it’s something to |
in “Gone with the Wind.” (Courtesy of Mickey Kuhn)
He’s not “Gone with the Wind’s” last surviving star: Kuhn’s role was tiny, and he remains outranked by screen legend Olivia de Havilland, now 98, who played his mother. But she lives in Paris and rarely travels. (“She doesn’t like to talk too much about the movie,” said Kuhn, who visited her a few years ago. “She likes to talk about current events.”) And the other surviving “actors” were a couple of uncredited infants with no memory of life on set.
But Kuhn remembers how he kept messing up his big scene with Clark Gable. “My line was, ‘Hello, Uncle Rhett.’ I kept saying ‘Hello, Uncle Clark.'” Cut!
Gable pulled him aside between takes, Kuhn recalls. He explained gently that while, yes, his name was Clark, for the purpose of the movie, he was Uncle Rhett. “I said, ‘Okay, Mr. Gable.’ And I finally got it on the fourth time.”
Stories like that are catnip for Windies. Earlier this year, Kuhn unpacked his memories for fans at anniversary celebrations at the Gone With the Wind Museum in Marietta, Ga., and in Gable’s hometown of Cadiz, Ohio. The movie premiered in Atlanta on Dec. 15, 1939.
But compared with past cycles, the 75th hasn’t received as much hoopla. “A good many of the people in charge, they have no earthly idea what ‘Gone With the Wind’ was,” Kuhn said. Warner Brothers sent him a new Blu-Ray, “but that was about it,” he said. “They don’t have anything planned. We thought perhaps Ted Turner might have something planned, but he didn’t.”
This is how it goes with anniversaries. The grander the milestone, the fewer the folks who remember the original event. Last week’s memorial for the attack on Pearl Harbor was noteworthy for how many fewer veterans of that day are left to mark the 73rd anniversary. If it seemed like there was a disproportionate fuss made over Watergate’s 40th recently – well, who knows how many players will still be around for the 50th.
1939 has long been acclaimed as Hollywood’s greatest year, with the release of classics like “The Wizard of Oz,” “Stagecoach,” “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “Of Mice and Men” and “Ninotchka.” The 50th anniversary was marked by a barrage of books, symposiums and celebrations. Atlanta hosted an elaborate week-long festival for “Gone With the Wind” in 1989, and Jimmy Stewart turned out that year to see “Mr. Smith” honored at the Virginia Film Festival.
And then, the commemorations quickly got smaller. Actress Claire Trevor gave interviews to promote “Stagecoach’s” 60th; she died the following year. A dwindling group of Munchkins made the rounds of “Oz” conventions; the last surviving one, Jerry Maren, now 94, stopped making appearances a couple years ago.
Kuhn, who left show business shortly after a stint in the Navy, ended up in airport management, working for many years at both National and Dulles before moving to Massachusetts. Despite youthful roles in a number of high-profile films — “Red River,” “Juarez,” “A Streetcar Named Desire” — his contributions were largely overlooked until “Gone With the Wind’s” 50th. Which, in fairness, is when it first began to dawn on him what a big thing he had been a part of. His wife read about the big 1989 Atlanta celebration and urged him to get involved, so Kuhn cold-called the organizers at Turner Broadcasting and told them who he was. He was one of 10 actors present at the celebration that year, and from then on, he was part of the Windie circuit.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/entertainment/new-light-shed-on-gone-with-the-wind-premieres-racial-tensions/2014/12/15/dd3beb52-97e4-4ca7-b90c-a6f3b7d7899d_video.html
As recently as the 70th anniversary, there were still some bigger names on the circuit. At a 2009 Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences screening for the 70th anniversary, Kuhn was joined by Ann Rutherford, who played one of Scarlett O’Hara’s sisters, and Cammie King, the former child actress with the pivotal role of Scarlett’s daughter Bonnie. King died the following year at 76; Rutherford in 2012 at 94. This year also brought the passing of two other vivid supporting players: Alicia Rhett, who played the embittered India Wilkes, at 98; and Mary Anderson, who played Maybelle Merriwether, at 96.
Kuhn is proud of his role in “Gone with the Wind” and the other films, small as they may have been. He’s part of history now. “It doesn’t mean a hill of beans to a lot of people, but to me it does,” he said.
So, how many times has he seen the four-hour epic by now? Actually, for all the celebrations he’s attended... only twice.
“We go on stage, we introduce the movie,” he said, “and then we go to dinner.”They call it the good old hockey game, but it sure seems to have a fresh feel around it lately. Sports can often be caught in the “more of the same” mentality, a disease that has befallen the beloved NFL, now referred to tongue-and-cheek as the “No Fun League.”
The same can’t be said about the NHL, not only because they don’t have an F in their league acronym so it can’t spell out “fun,” but also because the league has proven time and time again that they are willing to try new things with the goal of bettering the sport.
3-on-3 All-Star Game Latest Evidence NHL is Open to Change
After the 2005-06 lockout the league decided to change its product, taking out hooking and grabbing and opening up the game to skilled players. As a result, hockey became faster and more entertaining for everyone not named Hal Gill or Derian Hatcher.
Instead of ending games in ties, the NHL introduced the shootout to make sure every game ended in a winner. When that became stale, the announced three-on-three overtime to make sure less games were decided by a glorified skills competition.
Now, the NHL is addressing another aspect of the game that has become uninspired: The All-Star game. The Canadian Press is reporting that instead of the traditional Sunday All-Star game, the “All-Star game” will consist of a 3-vs-3 tournament.
Pardon my excitement, but as a fan of the game this is a fricking awesome idea. It goes against every tradition that the All-Star game represents and whether or not it is even a “game” anymore is up for debate.
But at the end of the day the All-Star game is no more than added entertainment for the league to make extra profit and showcase its stars. By the letter of that law, this will sure be entertaining.
Not just the game itself, but the debates and situations that it will create. Just like the All-Star draft has in the past been an exciting sideshow for the event, picking the groups of three and goaltenders that will compete will add something extra to the All-Star weekend.
There will be no All-Star draft this year, however, instead there will be two teams from the East and two teams from the West who will play against each other. The winners of those semi-finals will take place in the final, all happening January 31 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
These games are sure to have plenty of skill on display as the world’s best are given all the time in the world to pull off their best tricks. This is something that has rarely been seen with the vanilla all-star game played in the past, especially of late.
In fact, the NHL All-Star game has been among the worst in professional sports, if not the worst. Why? Because it doesn’t mean anything, nor should it. All-Star games with something on the line are not made for contact sports, they are just too dangerous to the league’s best.
If you can’t add some incentive to win, creating a new entertaining format is the next best thing, which is exactly what the NHL has done. Where as the Pro Bowl and NBA All-Star games will continue to be irrelevant, there will be a new buzz around the NHL All-Star game this year.
The NHL has breathed some fresh air into the All-Star game by essentially making it an extension of the skills competition, which was the best part of the weekend anyway. That will still take place on January 30.
It’s not the first time, nor the last time, that the game of hockey will change. That is a good sign for a league consistently fighting to stay relevant, and who with moves like this will continue to get closer to that goal.
Main Photo:So here we are, with 52 “Bitter Tuesdays” come and gone.
The most important element of this milestone, to us, is the fact that we didn’t name them “Bitter Tuesdays.” Y’all did. Since we began The Bitter Southerner a year ago, it’s been clear to us that all of you would be part of — and would hugely influence — whatever this thing became.
This week marks the first anniversary of our first story, “We Are Bitter.” From day one, you good folks were extraordinarily vocal in your willingness to be part of our little tribe — and in your expressions of appreciation for our work.
“I have yet to find a publication that so capably and gracefully captures the nuance, soul, tragedy, and beauty of the region like yours does. I just wanted to thank you for that.”
When you receive messages like that, as we often do, you feel a responsibility to keep doing what you’re doing. And that is our intention, because this thing we created, The Bitter Southerner, now seems to matter to a lot of people.
On our very first Tuesday, we said, “The Bitter Southerner is here for Southern people who do cool things, smart things, things that change the whole world, or just a few minds at a time.”
We have presented more stories about cool, smart, groundbreaking people — and the work they do in the South — than we ever had a right to expect we’d be able to tell. And you responded overwhelmingly. Sometimes, reading the responses to our stories, we found ourselves feeling like we were at a big Saturday afternoon barbecue. It felt, to us at least, as if The Bitter Southerner had become a place of sorts, a place where certain Southerners — those of us who have come to feel like strangers in our own homeland — could come to meet others like them.
Y’all got it. You understood immediately and instinctively why this matters.Ultrasound harms the fetus
(NaturalNews) Ultrasound is extremely damaging to the health of any unborn child (fetus). The natural health community has been warning about ultrasound for years, but mainstream medicine, which consistently fails to recognize the harm it causes, insists ultrasound is perfectly safe and can't possibly harm the health of a fetus.Now, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is funding a project that aims toby blasting their scrotums with ultrasound. The burst of ultrasound energy, it turns out, disrupts the normal biological function of the, making the manUltrasound, in other words, contains enough energy to temporarily deaden the testes and basically destroy sperm function for half a year. So why is it considered "safe" to blast an unborn baby with the same frequencies?Ultrasound is. It no doubt causes tissue disruption and damage in a fetus, and it certainly creates stress and shock for the baby. And yet conceited yuppie parents just can't get enough of it! They want to SEE a picture of their little baby before it's even born, so they subject it to tissue damage and ultrasound trauma in order to get a snapshot they can show off to their yuppie friends. Just to clarify, I'm not opposed toultrasound that has a reasonable justification concerning the health of the mother of the baby. What I'm strongly opposed to is ultrasound used toof the fetus or toof the parents. This "recreational" ultrasound is extremely selfish, conceited and may pose a very real danger to the health of the baby.It's so American, isn't it? Damage the baby so we can get a snapshot to post on Facebook. What a way to welcome a baby into the world: Blast it with piercing high-frequency energy in order to impress your friends! Don't forget to vaccinate them, too, as soon as they are born. (And yes, some parents-to-be seriously subject their babies to ultrasound just so they can take pictures. It's demented!)Sound is very easily transmitted through fluids, by the way, and the fetus is floating in a sac of amniotic fluid that transmits the ultrasound energy right at them.Here's what some other website have to say about how ultrasound harms the health of the fetus:FromFromFromBBCIt’s Remembrance Day. But not for everyone. The Greater Essex County District School Board in Ontario circulated an e-mail to the 75 schools it runs in places like Windsor and Leamington. The memo says teachers should be preparedto exempt Muslim students from Remembrance Day.
“Some families may be reluctant to have their children attend your location municipality’s ceremonies. Please note that meaningful alternate activities should be provided at the schools for those families who do not wish their children to participate in any Remembrance Day ceremonies.”
In case you were wondering which families they might be referring to, the school board didn’t say specifically but pointed teachers to two Muslim-themed websites, including the story about the first Muslim soldier in the Canadian Forces who wore a hijab, an Islamic head covering.
But Remembrance Day is a central part of Canada. It remembers our history, and the men and women who fought and died to keep us free. It is not a dark day, an embarrassing day, a racist day or a day of shame.
It is a day of remembering why we are free, and what we stand for, and who sacrificed to make us this way.
It’s not a religious day, like Christmas. It’s a day for everyone.
It’s a disgrace that any family would object to it – especially an immigrant family who came here to benefit from our country. It would call into question the basis on which they applied for and were granted citizenship.
And even if some old bigot from a backwoods village in Pakistan or Somalia doesn’t want to respect Canada, that’s where our schools come in and teach those bigots’ kids and grandkids what it means to be Canadian.
It’s insulting that either parents or the school board thinks Remembrance Day is in any way anti-Muslim. Canada fought in the Boer War against Afrikaaners, the First World War against Germans, the Second World War against Germans and Italians and Japanese. We fought against North Korea. What on earth could possibly be objectionable to a Muslim family about any of that?
Could you imagine if a German or Japanese family objected? The obvious question would be: Do you think Hitler or Mussolini or Hirohito were right? That’s the implication of Muslim families objecting to Remembrance Day — that we were wrong.
Or maybe it’s that we are wrong today. Because if you look at all the recent wars and military missions Canada has done, it’s all been in Muslim lands.
To protect Muslims in Kosovo. To protect Muslims in Kuwait. To protect Muslims in Afghanistan, especially Muslim girls who weren’t even allowed to go to school. To stop the Islamic State terrorists from butchering everyone around them.
One hundred and fifty-eight Canadians died trying to liberate the hellhole of Afghanistan from the Taliban.
If I were a Muslim immigrant, I would sing O Canada extra loud. I wouldn’t just wear a poppy. I’d be out on the street selling them. I would be thanking Allah that such a generous and open and loving and giving country as Canada not only tried to fix their failed states, but has let in close to a million Muslims, half since 9/11.
What kind of school board sends around a memo allowing children to be exempt from Remembrance Day ceremonies, just weeks after terrorist murders of two Canadian Forces soldiers, including one standing guard at the war memorial?
I’ve started a petition to the school board. I chose the website’s name carefully: www.LoveItOrLeave.ca.1. Required diversity training for SGA recognized and Greek organizations.
2. The University employ more professors of color in all university departments
3. Increased mental health support and resources for students of color.
4. University scholarships for students of marginalized communities.
5. A statement from President Loh reassuring marginalized UMD students that the University is committed to making UMD a safe space for all marginalized groups in response to the election and urging these students to speak out when they feel that the university is not meeting this goal.
6. Immediate response to hate speech or actions from the University including a consequence (e.g. mark on transcript, potential suspension);
7. Immediate turnaround for the removal of hate speech printed or written on campus property, sidewalks and boards;
8. A task force separate from UMPD officers to look into investigations.
9. Revamping of the Diversity and Cultural Competency General Education requirement.
10. Representation of students of color on UMD Student Judiciary and Senate.
11. Study into the punishment statistics by race/gender/etc. of students at some point in the coming year - the legal system is rife with discrimination against minorities, especially those in poverty. It is crucial that our student judiciary is more equitable and gives all students a fair judgement.
12. Establishing a voluntary accreditation for activist groups.
13. Administration should support and defend activist groups by nullifying slander and smear campaign from bigger group. Example: Many members of SJP were slandered as anti-Semitic for being pro-Palestine;
14. Make free legal advice available for students participating in activism who face slander or other dishonest claims while exercising their rights to protest and free speech;
15. Provide protection during campus events that might make students feel unsafe because of their political implications [ie Israel Fest for Muslim and Arab students, Columbus day and Independence Day for American Indian students etc.].
16. The University of Maryland match the campus minimum wage to Prince George’s minimum wage.
17. An established safe, secure and permanent location for the Office of Civil Rights & Sexual Misconduct at The University of Maryland.
18. The creation and implementation of Dean of Students with supporting staff.
19. The University officially remove the Christopher Columbus Day holiday from all university materials and mediums. Replace it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day to take away the stain of colonialism from our University.
20. Acknowledge during every event, that "this is indigenous land." Make efforts to officially recognize the tribe or nation whose land upon which the University of Maryland is built.
21. Establish an Indigenous Studies minor.
22. Funding for AISU and departments such as Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy office, who supports indigenous students and their efforts.
23. The official recognition of the Sarah Winnemucca award in the University awards.
24. An indigenous scholarship for college students as well as high school students.
25. An indigenous cultural center where students can explore their indigenous identity and others.
26. University System of Maryland divestment from Maryland Correctional Enterprises.
27. UMD student divestment from businesses and companies invested in MCE and the prison industrial complex.
28. Tenure for African American professors.
29. Increased funding for the Nyumburu Cultural Center and making the Nyumburu Cultural Center a stop during UMD campus tours.
30. A claim to physical space on campus. A school that prides itself on diversity has failed to give students of color adequate, quality space such as a Latinx Cultural Center.
31. University recruitment practices involving students of color that making them and their friends feel welcome and included on campus.
32. A faculty body that is more diverse and representative of branches of academia that deal with the history and discourse of minority populations and integrating this into majors such as a USLT major and a road for tenure for the professors who teach in these departments.
33. More funding allocated for multicultural student organizations in order to execute educational and cultural programming to help bridge the diversity divide on campus.
34. Mandated faculty training in the fundamentals of campus inclusion of queer folks.
35. Students be allowed the choice of different gender roommates in the residence halls through random matching.
36. Multi-stall gender-inclusive bathrooms in every building with multi-stall bathrooms.
37. Converting the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Studies program into a department in order to provide curricular autonomy.
38. Including pronouns in addition to names on student rosters seen by faculty and advisors.
39. Implementing a campus wide policy to replace male-female checkboxes with write-in boxes on all forms, surveys, and applications.
40. Gender neutral bathrooms in all buildings on campus.
41. Faculty (especially those working in the health center and counseling center), students, and college park police take part in queer diversity training, such as the Rainbow Terrapin Network.
42. The administration advocate for and defend the Arts and Humanities, as they are one of the departments most sensitive to LGBTQ issues and also one of the most at risk under new new state and federal leadership.
43. Protect the names and religious/ethnic affiliations of students should they be demanded from the government for harmful use.
44. An increase in the number of safe, designated prayer areas on campus.
45. One room in each major building (e.g. SPH, Chemistry, McKeldin etc.) designated for prayer.
46. Shuttle services to the Diyanet Center of America for Muslim students to have access to a place of worship and participate in the many activities that the center hosts.
47. Increased discussions about the diversity of the Muslim community on campus and worldwide.
48. More classes offered pertaining to Islam and the Muslim world taught by Muslim professors, who will counteract the negativity surrounding the name of Islam that is perpetuated by our culture and media.
49. Measures to prevent situations similar to the “American Sniper” situation from happening again.
50. More Zabiha options on the campus meal plan to accommodate Muslims who adhere to those rulings.
51. More counselors who are sensitive to the needs of Muslim students. Ensure that the have the training be sensitive to the nuances in the Muslim community and are from the communities we often come from.
52. The encouragement of equal and positive representation of Pro-Palestinian human rights activists on campus. Specifically, condemning the conflation of Pro-Palestinian activism with racism and Anti-Semitism.
53. The active encouragement of faculty and students to engage in discourse and learning about the Palestinians’ struggles and the Boycott Divest and Sanction movement without fear of consequences by the university administration.
54. Faculty and students have long been targeted for their political stances and their rights to free speech impeded, especially on this issue
55. A full-time Undocumented Student Coordinator to advocate for, advise, represent, and protect undocumented and DACAmented students.
56. A declaration of the University of Maryland, College Park as a sanctuary campus for undocumented and DACAmented students and their families.
57. Ensured protection of student information about immigration status from local, state, and government agencies.
58. A system to ensure reaction and protection from the UMD Administration if an undocumented or DACAmented student faces detention or deportation proceedings.
59. A full-time immigration attorney for the Offices of Undergraduate and Graduate Student Legal Aid.
60. An Undocumented Student Resource Office to provide academic counseling, legal support, mental health counseling, and to guide students to university resources.
61. Mandatory training about undocumented students’ unique experiences and needs in academic settings for all university faculty and staff.
62. A significant expansion of mental health services for all students of color, especially undocumented and DACAmented students.
63. A system to ensure that DACAmented students can continue to receive in-state tuition if their DACA status is cancelled.Recall global warming hysteria’s halcyon days? Just 13 years ago, Dr. David Viner, senior scientist at Britain’s University of East Anglia’s climatic research unit, confidently predicted that, within a few years, winter snowfall will become “a very rare and exciting event.”
“Children just aren’t going to know what snow is,” he said.
Of course, that doesn’t mesh with what happened. This past October, the UK Express headlined, “Worst winter for decades: Record-breaking snow predicted for November.”
By the end of November, Brits were shivering, “as Britain faces snow, ice and plummeting temperatures,” reported the Mirror newspaper. “Most of Scotland has been issued severe weather warnings for ice, and temperatures are expected to remain low, causing problems with snow and ice across the country.” Winter yet lay ahead.
We shouldn’t pick on Great Britain. There is plenty of global warming foolishness here at home. Recall James Hansen, global warming guru whose alarmist campaign was underwritten by his NASA paycheck. By the 2020s, Hansen predicted in 1986, the U.S. average annual temperature would rise 9 degrees Fahrenheit, or more, and up to 3 degrees by the 2010s.
A funny thing happened on the way to the 2010s and 2020s. It didn’t get so hot. In fact, depending on which data set you use, it probably has cooled down for 17 years.
A recent explanation for this pause (if not reversal), was offered in a scientific paper blaming the El Niño Pacific Ocean warming in 1997-98 for triggering the hiatus.
As the theory goes, El Niño caused a large heat transfer from deep in the ocean to the surface, which cooled the waters below. Since then, according to the theory, heat has been reabsorbed from the upper ocean, in turn cooling the atmosphere. Maybe. Maybe not.
There’s no shortage of inventive excuses for why things aren’t so hot, including, incredibly, China’s increased use of coal, even though “dirty” fossil fuel is supposed to increase, not decrease temperatures.
Implicit in this “where-did-the-heat-go” shell game is an inconvenient reality.
Climatologist Roger Pielke Sr., University of Colorado, Boulder, professor emeritus of Atmospheric Science, says, if correct, the ocean paper means, “the end of surface temperature trends as the icon of global warming.”
If so, that’s a game changer for the climate wars.
If surface temperatures lose their credibility (and we side with those who long have said that’s the case), where will alarmists point to prove their point?
There always have been problems relying on land-based thermometers. For instance, where should thermometers be placed? How high off the ground? There are no worldwide uniform standards.
While airports, concrete and asphalt represent a scant percentage of Earth’s surface, they are home to a disproportionate percentage of ground measuring stations. Does this matter? Consider the common sense knowledge that standing in a grassy field is cooler than standing on an asphalt runway. Not only are such locales hotter, they get hotter faster and hold their temperatures disproportionately longer.
Then consider that the preponderance of ground stations are located in developed countries, and a vastly disproportionate number of those are in the United States. Is Los Angeles a reasonable proxy for Peruvian farmland or the steppes of Russia?
Arguments against specious temperature measurements are too numerous to list here. But consider this: Two separate satellite temperature data sets agree that whatever warming may have occurred peaked in 1998, and stopped around 2000. Ground-temperature records say 2006 or 2010 were hotter, and that the warming trend continues.
Worse yet, temperatures used by warming advocates collected from land-based thermometers are continually “adjusted.” They don’t remeasure the temperature. They change it. As Australian climate watchers David Evans and Jo Nova point out, “they are still changing the temperature record for the 1970s, 30 years later, and always in the direction of making recent warming seem worse.”
We are told to trust people, who never seem to adjust questionable raw data to lessen the alleged threat.
It’s a tragedy that we can’t trust the science because of agenda-driven scientists. But it is more than an academic exercise. Global warming alarmists’ temperature claims have driven political agendas across the world for decades.
The latest stampede to combat dreaded global warming says $100 billion a year must be paid by nations with more money to nations with less. If you are suspicious that this is more of a wealth redistribution than a climate-cooling maneuver, congratulations. It is.
Meanwhile, U.S. government bodies, forever searching for revenue to feed their appetites, are imposing costly taxes to save us from nonthreatening global warming, while conveniently expanding their control. That’s why President Barack Obama had no qualms in claiming that we have had 10 years of “accelerated global warming,” even in the face of contradictory facts. Hold on to your wallets.Hey! This is a bit old! Things may have changed and I haven’t necessarily fixed them.
Most computers can’t create true random numbers. They use a formula which makes a very long stream of pseudo-random numbers, but real randomness comes from thermal noise in analogue components. The Raspberry Pi has such a circuit in its SoC, as it helps making the seed data for secure transactions. It was only recently that a driver for this circuit was supplied. To enable it (on Raspbian): I think the module is enabled by default now for the different versions of the SoC.
Make sure your system is up to date with
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt -y upgrade Install the module:
sudo modprobe bcm2708-rng To make sure it’s always loaded, add the following line to /etc/modules (editing as root):
bcm2708-rng For some RNG-related stuff, install rng-tools:
sudo apt-get install rng-tools
The /dev/hwrng device should now be available, but can only be read by the root user.
Nico pointed out that you also need to:
Edit /etc/default/rng-tools, and remove the # at the start of the line
HRNGDEVICE=/dev/hwrng Restart rng-tools with
sudo service rng-tools restart
What random looks like
Random data look pretty dull. Here are random RGB values made with:
sudo cat /dev/hwrng | rawtoppm -rgb 256 256 | pnmtopng > random$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S).png
(you’ll need to install the netpbm toolkit to do this.)
What random sounds like
Two short WAV samples of, well, noise:
Yup, sounds like static. It was made with the rndsound.sh script. You’ll need to install sox to run it.
This is not random
If it sounds like static, and even if it sometimes looks like static, it may not actually be true random noise. An infamous case of a pseudo random number generator being not very random at all was RANDU, which at first glance appeared to produce nearly random results, but close study showed it to be very predictable.
I wrote (what I think to be) a C implementation of RANDU: randu.c. While it produces appropriately random-sounding audio data (randu17.wav), if you output it as an image:
Those stripes are a giveaway; there should be no order in the output. (Then again, I have no idea if I’ve implemented RANDU correctly.) Testing random data is hard, then — you really need a barrage of tests, and even some of them might fail even for truly random output. Thankfully, when you installed rngtools, it included rngtest, a simple checker for random data:
sudo cat /dev/hwrng | rngtest -c 1000
rngtest 2-unofficial-mt.14
Copyright (c) 2004 by Henrique de Moraes Holschuh
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
rngtest: starting FIPS tests…
rngtest: bits received from input: 20000032
rngtest: FIPS 140-2 successes: 1000
rngtest: FIPS 140-2 failures: 0
rngtest: FIPS 140-2(2001-10-10) Monobit: 0
rngtest: FIPS 140-2(2001-10-10) Poker: 0
rngtest: FIPS 140-2(2001-10-10) Runs: 0
rngtest: FIPS 140-2(2001-10-10) Long run: 0
rngtest: FIPS 140-2(2001-10-10) Continuous run: 0
rngtest: input channel speed: (min=67.969; avg=921.967; max=1953125.000)Kibits/s
rngtest: FIPS tests speed: (min=842.881; avg=3208.336; max=6407.890)Kibits/s
rngtest: Program run time: 27658884 microseconds
We were lucky that none of the tests failed for that run; sometimes there are a few failures. RANDU, on the other hand fares very badly:
./randu 17 | rngtest -c 1000
rngtest 2-unofficial-mt.14
Copyright (c) 2004 by Henrique de Moraes Holschuh
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
rngtest: starting FIPS tests…
rngtest: bits received from input: 20000032
rngtest: FIPS 140-2 successes: 0
rngtest: FIPS 140-2 failures: 1000
rngtest: FIPS 140-2(2001-10-10) Monobit: 730
rngtest: FIPS 140-2(2001-10-10) Poker: 1000
rngtest: FIPS 140-2(2001-10-10) Runs: 289
rngtest: FIPS 140-2(2001-10-10) Long run: 0
rngtest: FIPS 140-2(2001-10-10) Continuous run: 0
rngtest: input channel speed: (min=45.630; avg=14255.221; max=19073.486)Mibits/s
rngtest: FIPS tests speed: (min=23.694; avg=154.238; max=176.606)Mibits/s
rngtest: Program run time: 141071 microseconds
See? Lots of failures there. It’s hardly random at all. If you really want to get out testing randomness, there are the dieharder tests. They takes ages to run, though.
(Note: newish Intel machines also have a real hardware RNG in the shape of Rdrand.)
Share this: Facebook
Flattr
Twitter
Reddit
Pinterest
No related posts.
Hey! This is a bit old! Things may have changed and I haven’t necessarily fixed them. Most computers can’t create true random numbers. They use a formula which makes a...This article is about the English snack food company. For the Scottish shortbread and biscuit manufacturer, see Walkers Shortbread
Walkers is a British snack food manufacturer mainly operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Walkers was founded in 1948 in Leicester, England by Henry Walker, and in 1989 was acquired by Lay's owner, Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo.[4] They are best known for manufacturing potato crisps, and other, non-potato-based snack foods. It holds 56 percent of the British crisps market.[5] In June 1999, Pepsico transferred ownership of its Walkers brands out of England and into a Swiss subsidiary, Frito-Lay Trading GmbH[6]. Subsequently, the UK tax authorities managed to claw back less than a third of what it might have received had an unchanged structure continued producing the same sort of level of UK profits and tax as Walkers Snack Foods had in 1998[7].
The Walkers site in Leicester is the largest crisp production plant in the world, producing over 11 million bags of crisps per day and using about 800 tons of potatoes.[8] The company produces a wide variety of flavours for their potato crisps. The three main flavours are cheese and onion, salt and vinegar, and ready salted, however, other examples include prawn cocktail, Worcester sauce, roast chicken, beef and onion, smoky bacon, tomato ketchup, and pickled onion.[9] Since 2008, Walkers has launched its "Do Us a Flavour" campaign, challenging the British public to think up unique flavours for their crisps. Six flavours were chosen from among the entries and released as special editions. Consumers could vote on their favourite, and the winner would become a permanent flavour.[10]
History [ edit ]
In the 1880s, Walker moved from Mansfield to Leicester to take over an established butcher's shop in the high street. Meat rationing after World War II saw the factory output drop dramatically, and so in 1948 the company starting looking at alternative products. Potato crisps were becoming increasingly popular with the public, leading managing director R.E. Gerrard to shift the company focus and begin hand-slicing and frying potatoes.[3][11]
The Walkers logo, featuring a red ribbon around a yellow sun, is noticeably similar to Lay's. It derives from the Walkers logo used in 1990. The company is still a significant presence in Leicester. Gary Lineker, the Leicester-born former footballer, is now the face of the company, featuring in most of their advertising campaigns since 1995's "Welcome Home".[12] The official website states that an estimated "11 million people will eat a Walkers product every day". The company employs over 4,000 people in fifteen locations.[citation needed]
In February 2006, Walkers changed their brand label and typeset. They also announced they were to reduce the saturated fat in their crisps by 70%.[13] They started frying their crisps in "SunSeed" oil, as claiming the oil is higher in monounsaturated fat content than the standard sunflower oil which they had used previously,[14] establishing their own sunflower farms in Ukraine and Spain to be able to produce sufficient quantities of the oil. Walkers updated their packaging style in June 2007, moving to a brand identity reminiscent of the logo used from 1998–2006.
Many of Walkers brands were formerly branded under the Smiths Crisps name |
get to choose who I vote for, and I get to vote for the first woman president. I get to raise my sons in a world where a woman can be president.
My hospital room was a very pro-Hillary zone. Here’s me reading Hard Choices and wearing my Hillary for America pin.
When my nurse came into the hospital room, I asked if she was registered to vote. I made her call all her friends and family to make sure they were registered, too. It’s that important to me that everyone make their voice heard in this election.
My husband always gets me the best gifts — he got me this bracelet for our anniversary this year.
I’ve been a Hillary Clinton fan for as long as I can remember. She’s so accomplished, smart, and hard-working. But the most important thing for me is that — as a mother with two small children — she’s dedicated her life to kids and families.
At Halloween last year, my first son, Sullivan, is dressed up as Bernie Sanders. I went as Hillary, and my husband Adam went as our Secret Service agent.
I’m so proud to be a member of the Democratic party. It’s the party that cares about people. We care about immigrants, minorities, women, and children. We want everyone to succeed.
Even though I gave birth to my second child in August, I’m still doing my best to help Hillary win on November 8th. I’ve made phone calls, knocked on doors, and registered new voters. My kids deserve a president who wants to be president for everyone. I want my boys to know that a woman can be president.
Join Rita and the thousands of Virginians who are working hard to elect Hillary Clinton by signing up to volunteer today!
ᐧFleek
There are rare occasions where mainstream media use Black Twitter slang in a way that the online community actually appreciates. Denny’s accomplished this rare achievement by using a term that was popularized by a Vine video of a young Black woman claiming her “eyebrows [were] on fleek.” It wasn’t long before Denny’s tweeted, “Hashbrowns on fleek.” The tweet quickly garnered more than 25,000 retweets. While the joke was received well on social media and actually reposted by many members of the Black Twitter community, it doesn’t take away the fact that it was yet another example of a white corporation benefitting from the lingo generated in Black pop culture. Denny’s has still been having a blast with Black Twitter slang after also sending out a tweet saying, “Will Shmoney dance for pancakes.”
Cuffing Season
Cuffing season isn’t just a term for Black Twitter, it’s a full-blown tradition that has caused the #CuffingSeasonDraft to pop up on several occasions. Unfortunately, all the fun and games were ruined when Gawker published an article titled “You Don’t Need a Winter Romance: The Case Against Cuffing Season.” Not only did the piece take the comedic cuffing season trend too seriously, but it marked the beginning of another era of Columbusing by mainstream media. As a writer for The Salad Bowl explained, the Black community has to ask when mainstream media has crossed the line from trying to incorporate Black voices and Black pop culture references to taking such lingo and feeding it to the “Culture Vultures, who have given us Miley the Twerk Queen, Basic B***H as a term for white biddies, Kendall [Jenner] doing Cornroll (sic) Chic, the White Girl with the Booty and other such infractions.”This plenty to look forward to come winter time, the holiday season is upon us, it’s plenty of apple picking to be done, hot chocolate is in season and is time again to go snowboarding and skiing. While winter does have a lot going for it one of the things it is definitely lacking is a decent variety in the availability of fruits and vegetables.
While fresh produce is definitely much more scarce this time of year doesn’t mean that you have to resort to eating primarily root vegetables and whenever else you have canned prior to the start of the season.
Ultimate Cool Climate Produce You Want to Look for This Winter
1-Winter Squash
Winter squash is typically a food that is easily overlooked here, as people tend to use these types of gourds more so for decoration than they do culinary practices. Not only can they be used for cooking, these foods taste great and are relieved rich in flavor.
Winter squash is also chock full of nutrition, especially when it comes to carotenoids, vitamin A and potassium. These are especially important when it comes to the health of our cardiovascular system, as potassium helps to regulate a calcium in our blood which is a major culprit for those of us who have high blood pressure.
The carotenoids and vitamin A on the other hand are important in that they are strong anti-oxidants in help to neutralize free radicals within the system. Free radicals are responsible for a host of negative health implications such as increased instances of inflammation which is linked to virtually every form of disease we suffer from.
2-Beets
Beets are another other food you should look to include in your diet this winter, and the more rich the color the better. This is because these dark red colors that beets are known for are an indication of the anti-oxidant composition of this root vegetable.
Beets are specially rich in vitamins and also are rich in a wide variety of these vitamins. For this reason beets are a staple winter vegetable in many diets, as eating them regularly can help a person make up the difference in all of the vitamins and minerals there otherwise lacking in their diet.
The peak season for beets are in early to late fall, so make sure to pick some up on your next trip to the grocery store.
3-Carrots
Carrots are extremely rich in anti-oxidants, particular carotenoids from which it gets its name. This is especially the case for beta-carotene, the anti-oxidant that gives carrots their distinguishable orange color.
This nutrient is essential for a healthy immune system and in the maintenance of our eyesight. These vegetables are also loaded with other anti-oxidants such as vitamin C, cyanidins and lutein. Eating a diet rich in anti-oxidants is a great way to provide your body with the necessary tools it needs to fight off various forms of disease, especially in the case of cancer.
Another great aspect of carrots is that their peak season begins in mid to late fall, and you can find them readily available throughout the entire season of winter.
4-Sweet Potatoes
When it comes to potatoes, people generally consider them to be healthy food however they fall short in one major area. That being that most Fridays of potatoes have an extremely high glycemic index, meaning that they not the best food choices for people who are diabetic or for people who are looking to avoid getting diabetes.
With that being said in the case of sweet potatoes they aren’t that high on the glycemic index and can be used as a great alternative of other varieties of potatoes.
Potatoes are also loaded with fiber, beta-carotene, vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium and other antioxidants. There also a great source of complex carbohydrates as well, which allows them to both adequate the fill you up at the same time provide you with steady supply of energy throughout the day.
Another benefit to sweet potatoes is that they are available pretty much all year round, although their peak season occurs in late fall to early winter.
Sweet potatoes are also extremely easy to store, as they can be pretty much stored anywhere as long as it is an a dry and cool place. This means pretty much anywhere outside of putting them in the freezer or fridge is a good place to store them.The Uganda Media Council banned the screening of Dutch film De Eetclub at the Euro-Uganda Film Festival and anywhere else in the country because it "glorifies homosexuality", and features scenes of smoking, drinking and sexual intercourse. The embassy of the Netherlands in Kampala posted the Uganda Media Council's objections on their Facebook page.
The film De Eetclub, which translates to The Dinner Club in English, was adapted from a bestselling book by Saskia Noort, directed by Robert Jan Westdijk and released in 2010. The film was set to be screened at the film festival on Tuesday, but the show was canceled due to the ban.
"The film depicts and glorifies homosexuality which is a criminal offense in Uganda", the ban reads. "In mins 11, 26, 57 homosexuality is depicted/spoken about. In the 10 min while glorifying homosexuality two women say marriage (presumably to men) is hard work! This is against Ugandan values." It goes on that most criminal plot lines in the film - thwarting a police investigation, burning down a house and attacking a patient in hospital - remain unresolved.
The Uganda Media Council also objected to "imitable behavior" in the film, which includes "deep kissing before kids" consumption of alcohol an smoking almost throughout the movie, "steamy sex scenes" and "women form a 'Dinner Club' which is really a sort of brothel". In recent years, the Ugandan government has adopted laws designed to curb the consumption of alcohol sand top smoking in public spaces.
The embassy wrote that it "deplores" the Uganda Media Council's decision and that it withdrew from the Euro-Uganda Film Festival.Is Syracuse Ready for this Crude Oil?
When you think of crude oil, you might think Texas, or Louisiana. You probably don’t think North Dakota, and you certainly don’t think Syracuse.
But a vast new find in North Dakota’s Bakken Shale oil fields has begun to produce so much oil that the nation’s pipelines cannot get it to refineries fast enough. The surplus oil makes its way to coastal refineries on railroad cars that experts call unsafe.
The main trunk line from North Dakota east runs through the Midwest and past Syracuse to Albany, where the oil is moved onto barges for the trip down the Hudson River. Every two and a half hours, a train of 100 cars leaves North Dakota laden with crude oil, and it is a variety that safety experts fear is too volatile for the cars that haul it.
Since a fire and explosion in July destroyed part of Lac Megantic, Quebec, Canada, and killed 47 people, rail safety experts have called for changes in how this oil is transported. On Jan. 28, Gov. Andrew Cuomo directed three state agencies to come up with plans for stricter oversight of oil shipments.
“New York state is taking swift and decisive action to ensure its readiness for potential disasters,” Cuomo wrote.
Yet Onondaga County has yet to take any steps toward achieving that readiness. The Syracuse deputy fire chief responsible for hazardous materials says that the county is still trying to get information from the railroads and has done no training specific to the derailment of a shale oil train. The county official responsible for emergency management has ignored repeated requests for information about the shipments or about plans for dealing with accidents.
In DeWitt, long freight trains move slowly in and out of the rail yard, a hub for the railway operator CSX Corp. Robert Sullivan, who speaks for the railroad, says it moves “about 14 trains with oil per week,” but CSX will not tell the public if Bakken oil goes through the DeWitt hub. Sullivan calls that commercial information, but adds that “CSX has a long history of working with emergency responders across its system and makes information about the materials handled available to those agencies on request.”
Just a few hundred yards from the eastern end of the yard, four firefighters shoot the breeze at Minoa’s Fire Station No. 1 on a chilly early spring evening. None of the volunteer firefighters had heard anything about shale oil coming through, much less been trained for an accident involving the oil.
“CSX is pretty tight-lipped,” said the senior man in the room, who did not wish to give his name. “They don’t tell us anything.”
“If anything happens in the yard,” he said, “we’re the ones who get called. Usually it’s just a boxcar fire, or a spill of some kind.”
The older firefighters can recall a hazardous materials training class perhaps six years ago; the younger ones say they haven’t had any such training.
At the fire station closest to the CSX yard, no one has had training in how to handle a shale oil explosion or fire.
Larry Mann literally wrote the book on railroad safety. He was the principal drafter of the Railroad Safety Act of 1970. Mann, an attorney in Washington, D.C., works for the railroad workers union, testifies before Congress regularly and has spent a lifetime advising carriers on rail safety issues. Mann believes that local emergency responders should already have been trained in how to deal with Bakken Shale oil.
“I would be shocked if they haven’t been trained by the rail company,” Mann said in February by telephone from his office. “They can get training and information. The railroad will provide it.”
It has not.
On a Mobile Device?
CLICK HERE to continue reading
commentsRashida Jones and her writing partner, Will McCormack, have issued a statement tonight denying an allegation made by The Hollywood Reporter earlier today, refuting the claim that they left the creative team for Toy Story 4 because of an “unwanted advance” from John Lasseter. Lasseter—the chief creative officer for both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios—took a six-month leave of absence today, citing “missteps” he’d made toward his employees. THR alleged that one of said incidents involved Jones, and that it was the reason that she and McCormack departed the project.
Not so, according to a statement initially given to The New York Times, and later supplied to Variety. “The breakneck speed at which journalists have been naming the next perpetrator renders some reporting irresponsible,” the duo wrote, adding, “In this instance, The Hollywood Reporter does not speak for us. We did not leave Pixar because of unwanted advances.”
Advertisement
Instead, Jones and McCormack write, the problem stems not from Lasseter’s actions, but from attitudes that they say run through all of Pixar, silencing women and minority voices. “There is so much talent at Pixar and we remain enormous fans of their films. But it is also a culture where women and people of color do not have an equal creative voice, as is demonstrated by their director demographics: out of the 20 films in the company’s history, only one was co-directed by a woman, and only one was directed by a person of color.” (The former credit is presumably Brenda Chapman’s for Brave, though it’s not clear if Jones and McCormack mean The Good Dinosaur’s Peter Sohn or Inside Out co-director Ronnie Del Carmen for the latter. Either way, the wider point about the company’s track record of hiring directors stands.)
You can read the duo’s full statement below:
We feel like we have been put in a position where we need to speak for ourselves. The breakneck speed at which journalists have been naming the next perpetrator renders some reporting irresponsible and, in fact, counterproductive for the people who do want to tell their stories. In this instance, The Hollywood Reporter does not speak for us. We did not leave Pixar because of unwanted advances. That is untrue. That said, we are happy to see people speaking out about behavior that made them uncomfortable. As for us, we parted ways because of creative and, more importantly, philosophical differences. There is so much talent at Pixar and we remain enormous fans of their films. But it is also a culture where women and people of color do not have an equal creative voice, as is demonstrated by their director demographics: out of the 20 films in the company’s history, only one was co-directed by a woman and only one was directed by a person of color. We encourage Pixar to be leaders in bolstering, hiring, and promoting more diverse and female storytellers and leaders. We hope we can encourage all those who have felt like their voices could not be heard in the past to feel empowered.Ituzaingó, Argentina — Though there aren’t yet hard numbers to back it up, it’s a good bet that the single most interviewed human being on the planet since March 13, 2013, has been a simple 64-year-old housewife in the Argentine city of Ituzaingó, about an hour outside Buenos Aires.
The woman is Maria Elena Bergoglio, and her older brother Jorge today is known to the world as Pope Francis. They’re the last surviving siblings of five children, and since the moment Francis stepped out onto the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square, Maria Elena become the go-to point of reference for insight on the new pope.
Listening to her, she seems cut from the same cloth as her now-famous sibling: Humble and unpretentious, and also completely unafraid to speak her mind.
For instance, when stories began to make the rounds about Francis having become a priest only because a young love rejected his marriage proposal, Maria Elena was there to bat it down. She insisted that her brother was only a kid at the time, and the idea of getting married was never serious. More ominously, when critics suggested that her brother had been complicit in Argentina’s military junta, Maria Elena testily pointed out that her family emigrated from Italy because their father was opposed to fascism … the clear suggestion being that Jorge Mario Bergoglio would never betray his father’s memory by cozying up to dictators.
Over the last three weeks, Maria Elena’s modest one-story home on an obscure street has become a sort of impromptu journalistic pilgrimage destination. She says that from the morning of March 14 all the way through Holy Week, her phone started ringing at 5 am and people started knocking on her door at 6, every day, until well after dark every night.
Sign up for NCR's Copy Desk Daily, and we'll email you recommended news and opinion articles each weekday. Sign Up Now
One might think that by this stage Maria Elena is already talked out, but in an hour-long interview with NCR this morning, she managed to add several new points to the record:
She confessed that heading into the conclave, she was actually cheering for another candidate to be the first Latin American pope: Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer of Brazil, whom she said she always admired because he seemed to be on the side of the poor. Why him and not her brother? “Because I wanted him back!”
She acknowledged that before I asked, it had never occurred to her to call Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, the only other living sibling of a pope, but she said she’d like to do it – not so much to compare notes, but to express admiration for Benedict's courage as well as relief that it was Georg’s brother, not hers, who had to follow John Paul II.
She said that since he’s become pope, her usually shy and reserved brother has seemed “better able to express his feelings” in public, which she attributes to the assistance of the Holy Spirit.
For all those wondering if her brother is strong enough to really get control of the Vatican, she says he’s plenty tough enough: “Personally he’s got a strong character, and he’s also got a deep belief in his convictions that’s unbreakable,” she said.
On other matters, Maria Elena discussed the two phone conversations she’s had with her brother since he became pope, her hopes for him to visit to Argentina (and to give her two minutes for a hug), and outlined the kind of people she believes he’ll bring into key positions.
Finally, Maria Elena also revealed that her brother had a strong attachment both to a dog and a parakeet while he was in the seminary, but never felt he could take care of a pet because of the demands of his jobs.
When told that there’s a children’s book supposedly written by a cat that once belonged to Benedict, and asked if perhaps the dog who went to seminary with Francis would publish his own book, she offered an answer summing up the amazement she still feels about the ‘tsunami’ that’s capsized her life: “Listen, at this stage, nothing seems impossible.”
(For the record, she said she’s turned down numerous offers to do her own book, with vintage Bergoglio humility: “I’m a housewife, for God’s sake!”)
The interview was conducted in Spanish, through an interpreter. The following are extracts from the conversation, which took place at Maria Elena’s home in Ituzaingó.
Advertisement
* * *
How many interviews have you done as of this morning?
I have no idea! It’s impossible to count them all. Every day since he was elected, the phone started ringing at 5:30 in the morning and people started knocking at the door at 6:00, and it never stopped until 8:00 or 9:00 at night. It’s been constant. My doctor actually suggested that I cut back, because I’m just a normal housewife with a normal, common life, and I’m not used to this kind of tsunami that’s crashed over us. It’s not that I have any specific health problem, but my doctor told me I was getting overly tired and stressed. I believe I shouldn’t cut back, however, because I feel as if I have a duty to share my brother with everyone. I feel like it’s something I have to do, even if it wears me out.
What I’m a little terrorized about is when he makes his first visit back to Argentina, because I imagine that every journalist will think he’s going to come to our house and there will be a whole army camped out here waiting for him. He’s not going to come to our house! When he comes, it’ll be a pastoral visit, not a family reunion or a vacation. I’m sure I’ll have to go to him, but wherever he is, he’ll have to give me the two minutes I deserve! All I want is two minutes to give him a hug. I’m not expecting anything more than that.
Do you feel like you’ve lost a brother?
To tell the truth, it’s more like I’ve gained millions of new brothers and sisters, and I’m trying to figure out how to share my brother with all these new members of the family.
How many times have you talked to your brother since he became pope?
He phoned as soon as he was able to make a call after he was elected, and it was a very emotional conversation. It’s impossible for me to explain what I felt at that moment. After that, he’s been able to call one other time, and we talked like brother to sister. It was a normal chat, like we always have. For instance, he wanted to know what I was cooking!
Do you still call him “Jorge,” or do you say “Francis” or “Holy Father”?
Jorge, Jorge! As long as I know it’s still my brother calling, then I’ll call him Jorge. Maybe someday it’ll be Francis, but for now it’s just Jorge.
When you talked to him, did he seem overwhelmed?
I’m grateful that so far, Francis is still Jorge. He didn’t seem any different, and although he’s very conscious of the responsibility that he’s carrying now, he didn’t seem nervous or anxious about it.
Many people in Argentina have told me that when he was here, Cardinal Bergoglio could seem a little shy and reserved in public, and they’ve been surprised by how enthusiastic and expressive he seems as pope. Have you noticed that too?
When I saw him come out on the balcony, he seemed like the same person I had always known, the same Jorge. Of course, I didn’t have a lot of time to think about it, because as soon as his name was announced our house became a loony bin, with everyone calling us and chaos all around. When I finally had a chance to think about it, to watch him some more, I got the impression that he seems very happy, and it made me think that the Holy Spirit must be right there with him. He seems happy, whole. He was close to the people here in Argentina, but today he seems even closer and more able to express his feelings, which I suppose is the Holy Spirit helping him. I must say I’ve been very happy to see how well my brother seems to be adjusting to his new role.
Do you think he’s happy to be pope?
I’m not sure that’s the right word for it. Maybe I can put it this way: I think he’s happy, but it’s a distinct kind of happiness. It’s not what you and I mean, for instance, when we say we’re happy to have him as pope. I think he’s happy with the responsibility he’s been given, but he’s also very conscious of what a burden it is.
Are you planning to visit him in Rome?
I’m not planning a trip right now. Honestly, I’m used to not being around Jorge very much, not having him physically close to us. What I’ll miss is our weekly phone calls, if he’s not able to make them as often. We used to talk every week, really long conversations, and I’ll miss that if we can’t have them anymore.
Of course, I’m also hoping that he’ll visit here!
There’s only one other person on earth who can really understand what your brother’s going through, and that’s Benedict XVI. They’ve already spoken several times. In the same way, there’s probably only one other person who can appreciate what you’re going through, and that’s Benedict’s brother Georg. Have you thought about calling him for advice?
You know, no one’s asked me that before. It’s true, probably no one knows what my brother is feeling as much as Benedict. I’ve never thought about calling his brother, but I’m sure it would be a very interesting phone call.
If you did have that phone call, what would you want to ask him?
It’s not so much that I have anything I’d want to ask, but I would like to congratulate him for the brother he has. Benedict XVI is an extremely humble man and an extremely honest man, and it takes a lot of guts to renounce power like he did. Also, I’d like to express how grateful I am to Benedict XVI, because he did all the hard work. First of all, he had to follow John Paul II, which was almost impossible, especially because Benedict was more introverted and shy, more intellectual. I also feel sorry for Benedict because in many ways he had to do the dirty work in the church, such as starting to talk about the bad things in the church, the rotten tomatoes, such as the abuse cases.
You mention the abuse cases. How do you think your brother will respond to them?
I have no idea what he’ll actually do, but I know that he’ll do what needs to be done.
Are you glad that your brother is following Benedict and not John Paul II? Do you feel like that will make things easier for him?
Probably, yes, because John Paul II was so much in the hearts of the people. It was an extremely difficult job for anyone to follow him. I don’t think my brother will be exactly like John Paul II or Benedict XVI … in some ways, at least in terms of personality, he’s a good mix of both of them.
Were you at home when your brother was elected?
Yes, I was at home, doing housework. When we heard that the smoke had come out white, we turned on the TV to find out who the poor guy was who had been elected pope. I had been hoping for [Cardinal Odilo Pedro] Scherer from Brazil, while my son wanted a Franciscan to be elected pope … he didn’t really care which one, he just wanted a Franciscan.
You know, I heard people talking about how the new pope would be taken to the “Room of Tears” after his election, and I always thought that was sort of ridiculous. What’s the pope got to cry about? But when I realized it was my brother, it seemed obvious to me why he needs that room. There’s a whole square full of people screaming Viva il Papa! before they even know who it is. You’d have to have a heart of stone not to cry a little bit before you step out to face all those crazy people screaming for you.
Why were you hoping for Scherer?
I’ve always liked him. He’s for the poor. It wasn’t based on any really deep analysis, but it always seemed to me that in his pastoral work he chose the poor.
Why weren’t you cheering for your brother?
Because I wanted him to come back! I didn’t want him to stay there.
Were you more scared back in 2005?
Yes, back then he was really afraid he wouldn’t come back, because everyone was talking about Cardinal Bergoglio as a possible successor to John Paul II. I guess it’s true that whoever goes into the conclave as pope comes out a cardinal.
You weren’t scared this time?
No, not at all. The day before he left for Rome, he called me and we had the same conversation we always have when he’s leaving for a while: ‘Have nice trip, and I’ll see you when you get back. We’ll talk as soon as you return.’ Neither of us had any feeling that he wasn’t going to return. When we hung up, he said, ‘I’ll see you later.’
Here’s what a lot of people want to know. They say the pope's simplicity and humility and closeness to the people are all good things, but they’re wondering if he’s tough enough to lead – if he has the strength to make the hard decisions you have to make as pope. Is your brother tough enough?
Oh, yes … yes, yes, yes. Personally he’s got a strong character, and he’s also got a deep belief in his convictions that’s unbreakable. Nobody is going to be able to force him to compromise on what he believes in.
Can you give me an example of a point during his life where that toughness was especially clear?
Not really, because it’s a permanent feature of who he is. There’s not one determining moment. If you want an example, I suppose the best one would be his option for the poor. Many times that made his life difficult here in Argentina, both in terms of his relationship with the government and also with some business people who wanted him to shut up about it. He always chose the poor people, no matter what, and frankly in this country it can cost you to speak out in favor of the poor.
You know your brother better than anyone else. Is there anything you’ve seen or heard from his as pope that’s surprised you.
No, I haven’t been surprised by anything … except, of course, that he was elected in the first place. Basically, I’m happy that he still seems like Jorge, and is still offering the same small gestures he used to offer when he was here as the cardinal, like choosing to go to the young people for the Mass on Holy Thursday. He’s teaching and delivering his pastoral messages the way he was taught to do it, which is by example. It’s not about talking the talk, but about walking the walk.
Two hundred years from now, how do you think people will remember your brother as pope?
As a humble pope, a pope of love, especially love for the poor and for the truth. I also think he’ll be remembered as a very firm pope who did what had to be done.
Is there anything you’re expecting him to do that he hasn’t done yet?
No, because I haven’t really thought about it. It’s not up to me to decide what he should do.
Is there someone in Argentina you think he’ll ask to come to Rome to help him?
He might do that, but if he does he won’t discuss it with anyone first. He’ll just pick up the phone and say, ‘Get over here right now!’ He’ll form his team according to what he needs and what he believes the church needs, but he won’t talk about it with everyone first, he’ll just do it.
You mentioned the team your brother has to put together. What kind of people do you think he’ll want on his team?
People who think like him, who feel like him, and who act like he acts.
Are people like that easy to find?
Yes, there are a lot of people like him. We’re too used to focusing on the bad things, but if we actually start looking around for good people, you’d find lots of them.
(At this stage in the interview, the family cat strolled over.) By the way, does your brother like cats, as Benedict does?
Honestly, I don’t have any idea. He always knew he couldn’t have a pet, because he never knew where he was going to be living and that he wouldn’t have time to take care of it. He never seemed to want a pet. I know that when he was in the seminary they had a dog, and he loved that dog, but I never heard him saying he wished he could have one.
When he was younger, wasn’t he also fond of a parakeet?
Yes, when he was in the novitiate, they had a parakeet and Jorge loved it. He taught it to say some things … knowing him, it probably wasn’t a prayer but some sort of insult! He loved animals, but he always knew he’d never be in a position to take care of one.
There’s a children’s book supposedly written by Pope Benedict’s cat. Maybe one day there’ll be a book from the dog that went to seminary with Pope Francis.
Listen, at this stage, nothing seems impossible!
(Follow John Allen on Twitter: @JohnLAllenJr)Prenda Law's litigation campaign against people allegedly sharing obscure pornographic films on BitTorrent hasn't been going well. A growing number of judges has taken notice of accusations that Prenda stole the identity of a Minnesota man named Alan Cooper and named him CEO of the litigious shell company AF Holdings. Prenda's lawyers have invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering potentially incriminating questions about how Cooper's signature wound up on AF Holdings legal documents.
Prenda has been seeking dismissal of pending lawsuits around the country in an effort to contain the fallout. In one North Georgia case, Prenda had already obtained a default judgment after the defendant, Rajesh Patel, failed to respond to Prenda's lawsuit. Yet the law firm is now seeking to dismiss the case without Patel paying a dime.
But Patel has said that before dismissing the case, the judge should investigate Prenda's misconduct and force Prenda to pay Patel's legal bills. In a strident response filed on Saturday, Prenda lawyer Jacques Nazaire accused Patel's lawyer Blair Chintella of engaging in an ideological witch hunt with the support of the dastardly Electronic Frontier Foundation.
"The EFF is a left-wing organization which has some of the same goals as the anti-government group 'Anonymous' as well as the terrorist group 'Wikileaks,'" Nazaire wrote in his Saturday response. "The EFF has been actively and unsuccessfully fighting digital copyright enforcement efforts for over one decade. As the sweeping nature of his requests for relief make clear, Chintella’s interests in this case are far broader than those of his client."
Chintella's primary request is for an investigation similar to the one that has done Prenda so much damage in Los Angeles. Chintella wants the judge to force Prenda to disclose how much of the settlement money Prenda has received in Georgia might be the result of misconduct alleged by Cooper. And he wants the judge to order that cash be returned.
As for EFF, the digital rights group isn't directly involved in this case, but it has generally supported the fight against Prenda and other "copyright trolls" who try to make money with mass copyright lawsuits. It has also referred victims of copyright trolling to lawyers who take such cases.
Remarkably, Nazaire accused the EFF of witness tampering for covering the costs of Alan Cooper's March trip to the Los Angeles courtroom of Judge Otis Wright. "Any statements made by Mr. Cooper should be suspect," the Prenda lawyer wrote. "There is no evidence to suggest that Mr. Cooper has worked an honest day in his life. Rather, it appears that Mr. Cooper has spent his lifetime depending on the kindness of others. Logic dictates that the more Mr. Cooper testifies against those opposed to the EFF, the longer he is allowed to travel from state to state."
Finally, Prenda submitted a sworn statement clearing up a long-standing mystery. Sort of. In a February deposition, Prenda mastermind Paul Hansmeier claimed that the shell company AF Holdings was itself owned by an "undefined beneficiary trust," but he refused to say if the trust had a name.
Now Mark Lutz, a Prenda operative who currently serves as the CEO of AF Holdings, has revealed that the trust in question is called "Salt Marsh." That suggests that the "Salt Marsh" who electronically "signed" a 2012 document was a legal entity rather than a human being.
This is of interest because, as discussed in a San Francisco courtroom last week, the statement "Salt Marsh" signed says that "the undersigned certifies that he or she has read the handbook entitled 'Dispute Resolution Procedures in the Northern District of California' on the Court’s ADR Internet site" and "discussed the available dispute options." It's a bit of a puzzle how an intangible legal entity could have read a document and had a discussion about it.
Lutz also reveals what Hansmeier meant by an "undefined beneficiary trust." The beneficiaries of Salt Marsh are "any children born to or adopted by" Lutz. Lutz is currently childless.In Riverside’s continuing quest to expand public transit offerings and foster a “bicycle culture,” the city plans to launch what is likely the Inland area’s first public bike sharing program.
Many details have yet to be worked out, such as exact locations for the bicycle stations and how much using a bike would cost. A $260,000 federal grant will pay for installation and start-up, and $60,000 in city matching funds is expected to cover operational costs for up to three years.
Bike shares provide multiple automated kiosks around a community from which anyone can check out a bike, use it for a short trip and return it to the same or different station. Most programs offer annual memberships as well as one-time use charges.
Supporters say Riverside’s program could draw young people who don’t have cars, bus or train riders who need to travel that “last mile” to their destination, tourists and people who want to run a few errands or get some fresh air on their lunch break.
“There’s a lot of folks that want to use (a bike), but they don’t want to necessarily have to be responsible to bring the bike to work” or deal with secure storage and maintenance, said Eric Lewis, who chairs the city’s bicycle advisory committee.
EVOLVING CONCEPT
The bike share concept isn’t new. Community bikes were used in Amsterdam as early as the 1960s. The first organized programs in the U.S. date to the 1990s, said Susan Shaheen, co-director of UC Berkeley’s Transportation Sustainability Research Center.
Esri, a Redlands geographic information systems company, offers free shared bicycles as an employee perk.
|
we know that it can be done.
Marquez insisted that, despite the frequent clashes with Rossi this year, the Italian remains his idol.
"You always have to look at Valentino. He was and he is my idol," he said.
"I'm 22, and he's been in the champion shop for 20 years, so I can learn a lot of things from him, and in Holland he taught us, not only me, but every other rider, something new."The new Maps brings all sorts of goodies including offline support (it shares the offline downloads of Nokia Drive, saving space), venue maps (we can see our local mall) and it now gives you detailed walking directions. Heck, it will even hand itself off to Drive for car navigation, making Nokia’s apps a little more seamless.
Last night we noticed our 920 getting a few updates including Nokia Transit aka Transport and Maps. Nokia has now given some details on version 3.0, which also includes Windows Phone 8 support (basically just adding a double wide tile).
Interestingly, on Nokia Windows Phones (920, 820, etc.) there is no Microsoft Maps for an application; it is only Nokia Maps. But seeing as Bing maps is basically powered by Nokia, it’s not that big of deal though they are called different things e.g. Maps (HTC 8X) versus Nokia Maps (Lumia 920).
As is customary, Nokia has made a neat little video showing off the power of updated mapping application. Hopefully some on iOS6 will take notice and maybe be convinced to jump on the Windows Phone 8 bandwagon with the superior mapping capability.
Edit: Version 3.0 appears to be for Windows Phone 8 devices only.
For those on Nokia Lumia phones, you can head to the Collection to grab the new Maps app here.
Source: NokiaA group of young Republicans has set out to achieve what some might say is an impossible goal: Over the next two years they'll try to persuade their party to craft and support legislation that would reform the nation's energy system and set a path toward a future free of fossil fuels.
"We want to show conservatives that this truly is an issue that affects us, affects our families and our businesses," said Michele Combs, a 45-year-old legislative consultant who founded the group. (Paragraph includes correction, 09/05/2012).
The organization—Young Conservatives for Energy Reform, or YCER—joins a small but growing number of like-minded groups and individuals who hope to revive a voice that has been lost in the Republican Party, one that's focused on curbing, not expanding, fossil fuel production. (Paragraph includes correction, 09/05/2012).
At last week's GOP convention in Florida, the Evangelical Environment Network teamed with the Florida Wildlife Federation to buy billboard ads touting prominent Republicans' concerns about climate change, including Ohio Governor John Kasich. In July, a group called the Energy and Enterprise Initiative was formed to bring Republicans and libertarians together to find free-market solutions to the climate change problem. Former Rep. Bob Inglis, a South Carolina Republican, is heading the initiative out of George Mason University's Center for Climate Change Communication.
"A lot of conservatives don't believe that there are climactic costs" to burning fossil fuels, said Alex Bozmoski, the initiative's director of strategy and operations. "It's only prudent to acknowledge that the continued, unabated emission of greenhouse gases poses a risk for current and especially future generations."
YCER's leaders have deep roots in the Republican Party. Combs, the group's president, was a 1989 national "Young Republican of the Year," and Brian Smith, a 32-year-old Air Force Veteran and chair of the Midwest chapter, is a former co-chair of the Young Republicans National Federation, a training ground for party leaders since 1931. Both support Mitt Romney's presidential bid, even though his energy platform favors more fossil fuels and less environmental regulation. (Paragraph includes correction, 09/05/2012).
Combs said YCER won't take individual Republican politicians to task for their climate change skepticism or push for specific policy solutions—at least not immediately. They also won't make climate change science a key part of their agenda.
"Our position on climate change is that it really shouldn't be a litmus test for Republicans," said Smith on a call with reporters last month. "We want it to be an issue that Republicans can talk about." (Paragraph includes correction, 09/05/2012).
The group also won't go against the grain of the Republican leadership when it comes to scaling up domestic oil and natural gas drilling. Romney made both a key part of his recently unveiled plan for U.S. energy independence by 2020.
Combs called the ramp-up strategy "a good first step" on the path toward energy reform. But Juan Lopez-Campillo, an Orlando-based attorney and chair of the group's Florida chapter, said YCER hopes to move Republicans beyond the "drill here, drill now" mentality that now pervades the party. He said he supports shifting government subsidies from oil companies to the burgeoning clean-energy sector, a position usually favored by Democrats. "I think there should be a leveling of the playing field," he said.
One of YCER's first steps will be to address what Combs calls the "lack of education" among conservative Americans who may have tuned out the energy debate because they see it as a strictly liberal agenda.
"Some of them don't even realize what energy reform entails, and they don't realize how much it really controls their lives," she said.
YCER plans to host local receptions and rallies where energy experts and Republicans interested in energy reform can meet with the public to discuss topics that aren't often talked about in conservative circles.
They'll stress why it is important to gradually phase out fossil fuels in favor of cleaner alternatives like wind and solar energy, emphasize the national security benefits of scaling back oil imports and underscore the reality that America's own oil and natural gas resources will eventually run out. They will also highlight the health benefits of keeping toxic pollutants out of the air and waterways, and try to drive home the message that spurring growth in the renewables sector can create jobs and economic gains.
"Irrespective of whether you support the science behind climate change or whether you don't, all of us can agree that renewable, clean energy resources are the way to go to stabilize our [energy] future," Lopez-Campillo said.
Shifting the Focus from Climate Change
Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist at Texas Tech University, said that treading lightly on the topic of climate change could prove a smart strategy for groups like YCER. Hayhoe, an evangelical Christian who describes herself as a conservative, gained national attention last year when then-GOP presidential contender Newt Gingrich rejected a chapter she had written on man-made global warming from his book on environmental issues, which is set to come out after the November elections.
Because climate change "has been cast as an ideological issue," Hayhoe said young conservatives might break through to their peers more easily by appealing to common values, like the desire for cleaner air and water, healthier families, and strong local economies.
"What matters is not what we say, but what we do," she said. "If it does get things done, then it's better than a hundred campaigns that focus on climate change and are not able to get anything done."
YCER will be run like the Young Republicans, with city, state and regional chapters staffed by volunteers. So far, the group has state chairs in Florida, Georgia, Indiana, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas—all states with Republican governors. Target members are young professionals in their 20s, 30s and 40s.
At YCER's first event in June, about 100 people gathered in Winter Park, Fla. to hear Richard Zilmer, a retired three-star Marine Corps general, discuss the need to break America's dependence on foreign oil and to use the nation's energy resources more efficiently.
Zilmer has advocated for stricter fuel economy standards in cars and trucks, like those finalized last week by the Obama administration. The new rules, which passed with support from the country's biggest car companies, will require automakers to get a fleet average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, nearly double today's average. GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney would consider rolling the standards back if he's elected, according to his June interview with The Detroit News.
YCER has hosted seven other events this summer in Ohio and New Hampshire, both battleground states, and South Carolina. Five more events are planned for the next couple of months, including in the Washington, D.C. area and the Midwest.
YCER's Roots
The idea for a group like YCER has been more than a decade in the making. Combs said she first awoke to the toxic realities of fossil fuels while pregnant with her now 11-year-old son. Doctors explained that she shouldn't eat fish because they may be tainted mercury, which damages the brain and nervous system and is emitted by coal-burning power plants.
"That really bothered me. And I realized that conservatives had really not been engaged on this energy issue," she said.
Combs is communications director for the Christian Coalition of America, a religious advocacy group whose president is her mother, Roberta Combs.
The Christian Coalition was an outspoken backer of a 2009 effort by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) to craft a measure to reduce heat-trapping gases in the power sector and encourage development of nuclear power, "clean" coal, natural gas and offshore oil drilling. The initiative fell apart over disputes on immigration reform, and legislation was never introduced.
Combs declined to name YCER's backers, saying only that individual donors and "like-minded organizations" around the country are funding the group, and that the YCER budget "is still in progress."
YCER Faces Challenges
YCER's effort to rally GOP support for a clean-energy future wouldn't have seemed so remarkable back in 2008, when a group of moderate Republicans actively advocated for federal policies to address climate change. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) even warned about the dangers of global warming in his bid for the presidency.
But since the rise of the Tea Party movement in 2009, GOP leaders have been reluctant to publicly support climate science, instead expressing skepticism or even flat-out denial of global warming. The Tea Party's ascent has been bolstered by Americans for Prosperity (AFP), a political action committee founded and funded by oil industry interests, including billionaire oil executives Charles and David Koch.
Tim Phillips, AFP's president, told the National Journal last December that his group and other conservative movements have been key in politicizing the debate on climate and energy. "What this means for candidates on the Republican side is, if you...buy into green energy or you play footsie on the issue, you do so at your political peril," he said. "And that's our influence."
As a result, climate scientists have found it difficult, if not impossible, to persuade Republicans to take global warming seriously, said Kerry Emanuel, an atmospheric scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is also a registered Republican. "A lot of the conservatives... see climate change as playing into a liberal agenda for energy, which is not correct."
The Republican Party's national platform, unveiled last week at the GOP convention, mentions climate change only once, when it derides President Obama for making it a matter of national security. It pledges to "end the EPA's war on coal," and says it "strongly reject[s]" the United Nations Agenda 21 principles of sustainable development, a nonbinding list meant to guide policies to eradicate poverty and combat climate change.
This sharp partisan divide will make it hard, at least in the short term, for YCER and other groups to successfully advocate for sweeping greenhouse gas rules and clean-energy reform, suggested Paul Bledsoe, a White House energy and climate aide in the Clinton administration.
He said the likelihood that such legislation would pass depends largely on who is in Congress or wins the presidency in November. "If we're in a continued period of divided government, then a comprehensive energy bill...is probably less likely to get passed," he said.
That a group like YCER popped up "is not surprising," he added. "...I think that people in both parties are looking for new voices, and particularly voices that recognize the role that a whole range of energy sources have to play in the economy."
Emanuel also thinks young people, in particular, may now be receptive to YCER's message.
"The real diehards aren't going to be persuaded by anything," Emanuel said. "But young people, who are more open-minded, are beginning to see connections, and they worry about them.... After all, they're the ones that are going to inherit the problem."
Correction: A previous version of the article referred to Brian Smith as YCER's co-founder. This article has been changed to show that Michele Combs is the group's sole founder. Also, Katharine Hayhoe is not a Republican, as the original version said.2017 Free Agency Preview: Philadelphia Eagles
By John Breitenbach • Feb 23, 2017
[Editor’s note: This preview was originally published on Feb. 23, 2017, and updated on March 6 to reflect changes in the market do to franchise tags, re-signings, cuts, etc.]
What you need to know
Howie Roseman has never been shy of a splash in free agency, and the same can be expected this year. The Eagles’ new coaching staff will look to continue the evolution of the roster without a reliance on journeyman veterans signed predominantly because of scheme familiarity.
Salary cap room
$8,686,350 (29th in NFL; as of 3/6/17)
Biggest needs
Wide receiver
Cornerback
Running back
Defensive tackle
Notable free agents
Bennie Logan, DT, 45.1 overall grade in 2016
Leodis McKelvin, CB, 69.5
Nolan Carroll, CB, 51.7
Stephen Tulloch, LB, 57.5
Must re-sign
Bennie Logan, DT, 45.1 overall grade in 2016
Plausibly, the Eagles might return none of their scheduled free agents this offseason. Logan, drafted to play nose tackle in an odd front, struggled adjusting to a more aggressive style under Jim Schwartz. Still, the Eagles’ desperate lack of depth at defensive tackle makes re-signing him a greater priority.
Dream splash
Alshon Jeffery, WR, Chicago Bears, 77.6
Not since 2004 have the Eagles featured a physically imposing wideout on the perimeter. Is it a coincidence the franchise has faded since Terrell Owens left town? Jeffery offers an opportunity to find out, assuming the injuries and suspensions are behind him. The Eagles’ NFL-worst receiving corps could certainly use a boost.
Top 2017 free agency prospects
DeAngelo Williams, HB, Pittsburgh Steelers, 72.9
The Eagles simply lack the resources to invest heavily at running back, even if players like Ryan Mathews are released. Williams possesses a similar running style as well as offering value for money.
Kenny Stills, WR, Miami Dolphins, 74.5
Assuming Jeffery signs elsewhere, Stills represents an intriguing alternative. Since DeSean Jackson was dumped unceremoniously, the Eagles have lacked a wideout who could stretch the field vertically. Rather than return to the well with Jackson, the organization would be better off targeting a younger, ascending talent.
Logan Ryan, CB, New England Patriots, 83.5
Like at wideout, the Eagles find themselves needing not one, but two starting corners this offseason. Ryan has the skill-set to press in single-high coverages and the talent to step in as the team’s top corner.
Jonathan Babineaux, DI, Atlanta Falcons, 46.3
With a ton of resources invested in the defensive line already, the Eagles cannot afford another expensive addition. At the age of 35, Babineaux would add experience and depth to a top-heavy unit.Ministry‘s Al Jourgensen is the latest participant in a near death experience. In 2010, the industrial juggernaut went into a seizure and was rushed to the ICU, where he spent a week and some change receiving a blood transfusion – a 100% blood transfusion, that is. Now, he stands healthier than ever. (Editor’s Note: If that story doesn’t have “bad ass” written all over it, then no one deserves that title.) And much like Travis Barker before him, Jourgensen has come to a moment of clarity: He’s got to get the band back together.
So far, he’s on a roll. In a recent interview with Metal Hammer, Jourgensen states the Ministry lineup will include “usual suspects” Mike Scacci and Tommy Victor on guitars, Tony Campos on bass, drummer Arron Rossi (of Prong), and John Bechdel (of Killing Joke). Fans should be pleased to know Jourgensen plans on returning to the road in 2012, though right now he’s finishing up a new Ministry album – tentatively titled Relapse – due out before the end of the year, which he thinks is “the fastest and heaviest record [he’s] ever done.”
Per doctor’s orders, Jourgensen is keeping touring rather light. As of now, Ministry only has four U.S. dates on the calendar – LA, Chicago, Denver, and NY – with some European gigs planned, including Germany’s Wacken Festival. However, Jourgensen insists there will be more shows, so fans shouldn’t worry. Stay tuned for more information.
Okay, so who’s running to go and listen to Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs now?Guest post from Dr Geraint Parry.
Over the past few days, the EU passed legislation that changes the ability of member states to grow genetically modified (GM) crops. As with most EU legislative documents this new declaration is not light reading but essentially reports that member states will have more power to decide whether they individually wish to grow GM crops in their territories. This alters the present situation where any GM crop needs EU-wide approval. Currently only a few GM crop varieties are approved including an insect resistance maize/corn called MON810. However many members states including France, Germany and Italy have individually banned MON810 and so it is only grown in warmer climates, the majority of which in Spain.
The new ruling will allow countries to develop crops that are more appropriate for their climates as long as, importantly, all the necessary safety checks are carried out and contingencies are put in place to ensure no unintended spread of these GM plants. In some countries this new ruling will make little difference as there currently is little political will in France or Germany to accept this technology and it will be difficult in countries surrounding these European powerhouses to make a strong case that there will be no spread across land-locked borders.
However closer to home the new ruling might make some differences. Over the past few years the UK government has been making positive noises toward GM technology and a small number of proof-of–concept trials have been conducted by UK research institutes. There is no prospect that this legislation will immediately result in fields of GM crops being grown across the land, but it might very slightly ease the regulatory hurdles for research based GM trials. Arguably the most important, if unstated, point in these new regulations is the tacit acceptance that the overall technology is safe and that each individual case must be then judged on its merit.
The ‘debate’
As this new ruling will potentially bring GM crops to the UK and because it has been on the cards for a while, it has been debated in the media many times over the past year. Almost without fail the ‘debate’ is increasingly frustrating and conducted at a level ignorant of science and with increasing scare tactics from those in opposition to adoption of GM technology. The usual format in these debates is that a scientist will discuss why this technology is safe and, for want of a better word, an anti-scientist will put forward the opposing case. However the anti-science case often begins with assertions that there is ‘increasing evidence that GM containing crops can cause damage to any and all organs of the body….’. This type of statement is incredibly effective as it sounds terrible, is in the forefront of listener’s minds and is very difficult to rebut.
However it is also completely false.
There is no such evidence, in fact the contrary is true as there have been many independent feeding studies undertaken over the past decade showing GM maize or GM soybean in feed has no effect on animal health.
Human feeding trials are very difficult to conduct for myriad reasons of timing and ethical considerations but it is legitimate to infer from these animal models that crops containing GM ‘ingredients’ will not be harmful to humans, agreeing with many years of anecdotal evidence.
To anyone who understands the science this will be of no surprise whatsoever. However, therein lies the problem: the lack of general understanding of what is meant when scientists and anti-scientists discuss genetic modification. It is arguably a failing of the scientific community for not making it plain enough to the general public what is means to create a GM organism.
What is recombinant technology?
Creating GM crops is just an extension of recombinant technology that is used in many industries in, for example, the production of vaccines or medicines… neither of which raises the ire of the anti-scientists to the level of GM crops. In this case recombinant technology refers to the movement of a piece of DNA that is usually ‘coded’ within one organism into a different related or unrelated organism.
All organisms from simplest bacteria up the evolutionary scale to humans, share a genetic code defined by DNA. This genetic code determines how an organism looks and how it biologically responses to life’s challenges. When you take a piece of DNA out of an organism it is then, simply, just a piece of DNA, containing the same chemistry irrespective of which organism it came from. Our ability to use recombinant technology to move around DNA is one of the great innovations of the last half-century. This allows us to move the DNA code that creates insulin in a human and put it into a simple bacteria. These bacteria can then produce insulin in vast quantities that is then given to diabetics. Perhaps the onus is on scientists to frame the argument in these terms but it is difficult to use this sensible description of the technology when accusations of harm are the first salvos fired in any debate.
An example where a human benefit comes from GM modification of plants exists in the production of flu vaccine. Production of human vaccines can be difficult because the antibodies that make up the vaccine are complicated proteins. When the genetic code for the antibody is taken from a human cell and added to bacteria, often the protein isn’t produced properly due to fundamental differences between human and bacterial cells. One way of getting around this is to add the human genetic code to tobacco plants and allow them to produce the antibody. This process being used to produce vaccine and can be utilised very rapidly in response to the arrival of a new strain of flu.
Environmental concerns?
Where the argument for and against the adoption of GM crops should really take place is in the discussion of environmental concerns about spread and mixing of GM with non-GM crops. In some ways this is a legitimate concern as there have been some instances where GM pollen has contaminated non-GM crops. However this has occurred in North America where the original regulatory environment was no-where near as rigorous as it is now in the EU. Part of the new EU legislation states that:
Member States that do not ban the cultivation of GM crops should be obliged to adopt measures to protect conventional and organic farming from contamination and to design liability regimes that ensure that the economic burden of contamination is on GMO producers rather than on conventional and organic farmers.
With many crop species the chance of cross-contamination is negligible but where it is a legitimate concern, use of strict segregation and crop rotation policies can ensure the fidelity of non-GM crops.
Not coming here anytime soon
Even with the changed legislation there is little prospect of GM crops appearing on our plates in the UK anytime soon. Only a small amount of any maize is grown in the UK and that is mainly used in animal feed. Therefore it is unlikely that the GM maize that has been approved will now suddenly be grown in the UK, regardless in the change of EU regulations. Incidentally the EU does not ban the import of GM crops for animal consumption so much of the meat we consume will have come from animals fed on GM technology. For the sake of their own conscience, I do hope those anti-scientists are vegetarians!
What would be of interest to UK farmers are varieties of GM wheat that have disease resistance. Aphid resistant wheat varieties have recently undergone a small trial in the UK but there is no information available as to whether that trial was successful. Elsewhere there are currently no licensed strains of GM wheat so the prospect of any uptake is at least five years down the road.
The uptake of GM technology is one next step in our progression along the long road based on scientific improvements that we have seen in many facets of life. What is often lost in this debate is the potential for these technologies away from the Western world. In the West we can likely do without GM technology to produce the crops we need. Broadly speaking we have plenty of food and as the GM crops were developed by large multinationals such as Monsanto, people have a natural suspicion as to their motives. This is an unfortunate if inevitable consequence of the GM debate and on the whole, scientists do not do a good job of separating not-for-profit academic research from that conducted by large corporations.
Golden Rice
However it is heartening to observe that there is a growing movement to bring these GM technologies to places in the world where they can make life-changing differences. Arguably the primary example of this is in the case of Golden rice. This GM variety produces a precursor of vitamin A and has the potential to help alleviate malnourishment due to a lack of this vitamin, particularly in Southeast Asia. The adoption of this technology is unsurprisingly controversial with many environmental organisations opposing its uptake. Although the local political issues are far from simple, the scare-mongering attached to this technology caused an unusually strong editorial response from a group of eminent scientists who state that golden rice has the ‘potential to save millions of impoverished fellow humans from needless suffering and death’.
The development of golden rice is an exemplary of what might be possible with this change in EU legislation. The UK GM crop research community is a worldwide leader and there are many examples of close collaborative links with research institutes in the developing world. The change in EU regulations eases some difficulties in researching GM technologies in this country. This might allow the development of crop varieties that have improved ability to grow in different detrimental conditions, such as in saline soils or in high temperatures. These crops might ultimately be able to aid the people who could really benefit from this technology. In general, academic scientists are curious, question-driven people who do not enter their profession for overt financial gain. The onus is on scientists to frame the scientific argument in the context of not-for-profit research and separate themselves from the big corporations. Of course at the same time the anti-scientists will appeal to peoples fears by attaching the same motivations to all GM scientists, irrespective of their affiliation.
Acceptance of this technology is being achieved at a slow rate yet scientists need to pick their battles carefully by making a clear scientific case of the benefits of the GM, while distancing themselves from issues surrounding the actions of big business. Anti-scientists will always try to stand in the way of progress but we need to rise above the melee and let the evidence speak for itself.
Dr Geraint Parry is a Liverpool-based plant scientist who has researched and lectured on work including the use of GM crops. He has given a number of Skeptics in the Pub talks, and tweets as @liverpoolplants.A 22-year-old Muslim convert has been denounced for trying to enforce Shariah law on Somali refugees living in Minneapolis, but he says he’s just trying to be a good Muslim and please Allah.
Abdullah Rashid married a Somali woman and moved from his hometown in Walton County, Georgia, to Wyoming and then on to Minnesota last year. Formerly Devon James Miller, Rashid now dresses in traditional Islamic headdress. But when he isn’t in a turban, he wears a green uniform with a patch marking him as the “religious police.”
That’s causing quite a stir, even in the Muslim enclave of Minneapolis’s Cedar Riverside community.
In a recent interview with the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Rashid said he aims to turn the city’s Cedar-Riverside area into a “sharia-controlled zone” where Muslims are learning about the proper practices of Islam and that “non-Muslims are asked to respect” it, the paper reported.
He pays regular visits to Somali households and makes sure the women are dressed in compliance with Islamic law, that no alcohol is being consumed and that nobody is interacting with the opposite sex. He is performing, in his mind, a service similar to that of the morality police who enforce Shariah in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Somalia or the Islamic State.
He claims to have 10 other men working under him to patrol the Cedar Riverside community.
There’s one problem: While Rashid says he is just trying to be a good Muslim and do right by Allah, this isn’t Saudi Arabia, or Somalia.
“People who don’t know me would say I’m a terrorist,” he told the local newspaper. “I’m someone who’s dedicated to Islam and trying to help the community all ways I can.”
Local Muslim leaders told the Star-Tribune they are working to stop Rashid’s group, the General Presidency of the Religious Affairs and Welfare of the Ummah, while providing no evidence that they are serious about stopping him.
Minneapolis is home to the nation’s largest community of Somali refugees, which have been arriving weekly in the U.S. since the early 1990s, most coming through United Nations refugee camps.
Just last week, WND reported the Somalis have taken over politics in the sixth ward in Minneapolis, providing a video that showed their caucus event turning into bloody chaos.
Rashid has encountered some backlash, even from other Muslims who may not yet be ready for full compliance with various aspects of Shariah law, or who know it would do long-term damage to Islam’s reputation in America if Muslims try to implement Shariah too early.
Rashid has been questioned by Minneapolis police who say they are “monitoring” his actions.
America is headed down a suicidal path — but it’s a subtle invasion, and not many Americans understand the role of the Muslim Brotherhood. Get all the details in Leo Hohmann’s investigative book “Stealth Invasion: Muslim Conquest Through Immigration and Resettlement Jihad.”
He has been condemned as out of line by local Muslim leaders, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, which turned to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, for the authoritative word on Shariah.
“What he’s doing is wrong and doesn’t reflect the community at all,” Jaylani Hussein, executive director of CAIR Minnesota, told the Star-Tribune. CAIR, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, is an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror-financing trial held in 2007-08 in Dallas and which has seen several of its leaders convicted of terrorism-related crimes.
Minneapolis police started receiving reports in February of Rashid making unannounced visits to Somali homes. So far, they have not found reason to arrest him.
“We’ve had conversations with community members that live over there,” Officer Corey Schmidt, a police spokesman, told the Star-Tribune. “Sometimes it takes a little bit of time to deal with it, but it’s something we’ve been monitoring.”
There are other troubling aspects to Rashid’s mission, such as his display of the al-Qaida flag and his adoration of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born imam of Yemeni descent who was a spiritual leader of al-Qaida before he was killed in Yemen by a drone strike ordered by President Obama.
His Somali wife, Kadro Abdullahi, said Rashid is not mentally ill and that she supports his work.
“He’s a man with a good personality and he loves Islam,” Abdullahi told the Star-Tribune.
On his website, Rashid posted a video by Anwar al-Awlaki titled “Never Trust Non-Muslims.”
On the same day the Star-Tribune reported a Shariah enforcer is making house visits in Minneapolis, the Detroit News reported a female Muslim doctor in Detroit was arrested on federal charges that she was performing female genital mutilations on girls as young as 7.
Jumana Nagarwala, a 44-year-old emergency-room doctor at Henry Ford Hospital, was charged with female genital mutilation, a five-year felony, and transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, a 10-year felony, according to a complaint unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court. It is believed to be the first case of its kind prosecuted under federal law.
The Star-Tribune, which surprised some by even reporting on the Shariah cop in Minneapolis, described Shariah as merely a set of customs that Muslims follow as a “daily guide” and that varies in practice around the world. That is almost word for word the description for Shariah given by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a left-of-center political organization that defends Islam at every turn.
Anwar al-Awlaki published Inspire magazine, the chief recruitment tool for the group al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
Inspire ran articles that included recipes for homemade bombs and encouraged Muslim acts of global terrorism.
“Al-Awlaki was as bad as it got in the terrorism world,” noted former Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann.
“So dangerous was al-Awlaki that even President Obama ordered his death through a drone strike, the only American Obama ordered killed on foreign soil.”
Thursday’s revelation in the Star-Tribune is frightening, she said.
“Today, walking freely on the streets near the former hippie enclaves of the University of Minnesota, near downtown Minneapolis, and in the shadow of light-rail connecting to the Mall of American and the new United Bank football stadium, site of the 2018 Super Bowl, is a Muslim man wearing al-Qaida flags on his green ‘religious police uniform’ who takes his directives from the chief recruiter for Islamic terrorism in modern times.”
Shariah implemented in phases
Daniel Akbari, a former top Shariah defense lawyer who defected from Iran and now lives in Texas, said Rashid may be jumping the gun in enforcing Shariah, thus incurring the wrath of imams and CAIR leaders who may see him as usurping their authority.
Akbari said the Quran provides three basic mechanisms for spreading Islam: Dawa or proselytizing, jihad and the enforcement of Shariah. But the Shariah mission is to be implemented in phases in areas where Muslims already have control and want to maintain their authority.
Shariah can be enforced both privately and collectively, he said.
Akbari said “private enforcement of Shariah is exactly what Abdullah Rashid is doing.”
“He assumes Muslims have control over the neighborhood he is patrolling. Abdullah Rashid’s assessment of the situation and his assumption that Muslims have control over those neighborhoods is something that CAIR finds unrealistic,” he said.
“CAIR members strongly disagree with their faithful but naïve Muslim brother, Abdullah Rashid. CAIR is well aware that they have not reached to that point yet. They know how rushing to enforce Shariah will irreparably damage their mission of bringing everyone under the control of Shariah law.”
CAIR applied the same analogy against ISIS, Akbari said.
“Leaders of CAIR called ISIS non-Islamic because they believed that their savage brothers did not follow the way the Messenger of Allah did when he was in a weak position,” he said.
“When the Messenger of Allah was in Mecca, he did not wage jihad because he knew he was not in a strong position. It is not that ISIS’ brutal actions are non-Islamic. The only non-Islamic action they committed was revealing the real face of orthodox Islam too early when there are still works to be done.”
Islam is all about Shariah
John Guandolo, a former FBI counter-terrorist specialist who now consults law enforcement with Understanding the Threat, said there are two reasons Muslim organizations clash: over matters of Shariah and matters of power and control.
“What Abdullah Rashid is doing is lawful under Shariah, and CAIR and the other Muslim groups mentioned in the Star-Tribune article know it,” he told WND.
Guandolo said the Star-Tribune is incorrect in asserting that Shariah is “a daily guide” for Muslims.
“Shariah is law that comes with punishments from their god Allah in the Quran and their prophet Muhammad, who is the ‘perfect example’ for all Muslims to follow.”
The Star Tribune’s commentary that Shariah’s “interpretation and practice vary around the world” is also false, Guandolo said.
“While Shariah may be implemented in different stages in different areas, what Shariah is and what it says does not vary. There is one Islam and one Shariah. One-hundred percent of Shariah mandates warfare against non-Muslims until the world is under Shariah, and a ‘Muslim’ is one who submits to the Shariah. Ask the Hamas leaders like Jaylani Hussein of CAIR Minneapolis to produce one authoritative book on Shariah that says otherwise. He won’t because he can’t, because it does not exist.”
The community leaders are opposing Abdullah Rashid for one singular reason: He is infringing on their power in the community, Guandolo said.
“The Muslim Brotherhood runs that community, and Rashid is an outsider. That’s what is going on,” he said. “Law enforcement needs to understand the threat before this situation deteriorates, and they should begin by locking up the terrorist leaders from Hamas doing business as CAIR for being terrorists, and Rashid for imposing foreign law on citizens of Minnesota.”
America is headed down a suicidal path — but it’s a subtle invasion, and not many Americans understand the role of the Muslim Brotherhood. Get all the details in Leo Hohmann’s investigative book “Stealth Invasion: Muslim Conquest Through Immigration and Resettlement Jihad.”Story highlights $6 trillion is more than twice Italy's national debt
The bonds were discovered as part of an investigation into a local mafia group
Arrest order was issued in the southern Italian city of Potenza
8 people arrested after $6 trillion in fake U.S. bonds found in Italy
Italian authorities on Friday arrested eight people in possession of an estimated $6 trillion in counterfeit U.S. Treasury bonds, according to Italian paramilitary police and an Italian news agency.
The discovery of the fake bonds -- made to look as if they were printed by the U.S. Federal Reserve in 1934 -- came about as part of an investigation into a local mafia association.
The arrest order for the alleged criminals was issued by a preliminary investigative judge in the southern Italian city of Potenza, police noted.
Italian authorities, working with their Swiss counterparts, learned about the counterfeit bonds by way |
Justice, and Law: From Asylum to Zygote-Issues and Resources for Judicial, Legal, and Continuing Legal Education.” The book was published by the National Judicial Education Program, a project of the National Organization for Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund, where Fluke was employed.
The 500-page tome argues that “gender bias” exists throughout American “civil, criminal, family, juvenile, and probate law,” in areas as disparate as “driving while intoxicated” and “the right-to-die.” It covers some sixty-two areas of “particular concern for women” in the law, each of which the authors argue should be legally actionable.
While at Cornell University, Fluke led the activist group Students Acting for Gender Equality (SAGE). Paul Ibrahim, a former president of the Cornell Coalition for Life (CCL) — which tangled with SAGE over abortion politics — provided an assessment of just how radical the organization was when Fluke was active. [RELATED: Meet law student and feminist hero Sandra Fluke]
“One of the best decisions of my life was signing up for the SAGE discussion list,” Ibrahim wrote. “Nothing has provided me with more entertainment like witnessing angry fights between extremist feminists. … Some of these women spend four years doing nothing but complaining about the glass ceiling and lack of empowerment, but unfortunately, the organization continues to exist.”
The group repeatedly counter-protested CCL events and called the pro-life students names, such as “racist” or “Nazis.”
Among the events SAGE sponsored when Fluke was active included an open forum in February 2003 titled “Porn: Are We Fucked?” The main event involved screenings and critiques of pornographic films.
Also while at Cornell, Fluke was a teaching assistant to feminist professor Andrea Parrot for a course titled “Global Violence Against Women.” The class, according to Cornell’s catalogue, “focuses on the evolution of sexual norms, cross-cultural customs, legislation within changing sociopolitical systems, and delivery of services related to sexual issues, needs, and/or problems,” and “addresses future trends in sexuality.”
The existence of the Georgetown journal article was first noted by the Media Research Center in March 2012.
Follow Charles on TwitterAmong the crucial contributions of the report was documenting a little acknowledged fact of life for the modern American poor: Any encounter with law enforcement can set in motion a series of events that can devastate the already precarious livelihoods of those with meager resources, something you are far more likely to experience if you are black.
The federal government’s authority to investigate and oversee reforms in local police departments comes from a law passed in the aftermath of the 1991 beating of Rodney King by four Los Angeles police officers, and their subsequent acquittal, despite video evidence showing cops striking a dazed and helpless King repeatedly with batons. Then as now, many viewers were shocked by a vivid representation of police brutality faced by black Americans, while others refused to see any problem worth addressing at all.
The purpose of that law was to address systemic problems in police departments that could lead to such incidents, by giving the federal government the power to investigate local authorities for systemic problems, then enter into court-enforced agreements known as “consent decrees” to compel changes if necessary. On March 31, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who was cynically sold by his defenders as a champion of civil rights, ordered a review of the Justice Department’s approach to policing, asserting that “it is not the responsibility of the federal government to manage non-federal law enforcement agencies.” During his confirmation hearing, Sessions said federal investigations of police departments were bad for “morale,” and waved away the idea that police abuses could be systemic, rather than the actions of a few bad apples.
As attorney general, Sessions said he read a summary, but not the full Ferguson report, which found that “95% of Manner of Walking charges; 94% of all Fail to Comply charges; 92% of all Resisting Arrest charges; 92% of all Peace Disturbance charges; and 89% of all Failure to Obey charges” were filed against black residents. But on the basis of the summary alone, Sessions concluded that the report was “pretty anecdotal” and “not scientifically based.”
The refusal to believe police abuse could be systemic rather than individual is, in the aftermath of all the data collected by the very agency Sessions now leads, a form of denial. Nor can Sessions’s decision be justified by the familiar excuse that police reforms lead to higher crime rates—the notion that “it is not the responsibility of the federal government to manage non-federal law enforcement agencies,” is a normative standard that would eschew federal oversight of local police regardless of the crime rate or the gravity of any abuse that might occur.
The Obama-era Justice Department’s report on Ferguson did more than simply outline the abuses of a local government and its police force—it served as a crucial and near-unimpeachable witness to the abuse of black Americans by entities meant to protect and represent them. Ferguson was hardly the only city where such dynamics persisted as a haunting echo of Jim Crow—in big cities all over the country, black Americans daily confront both the painful consequences of street crime and the terrifying possibility of violence at the hands of agents of the state sworn to protect them.The badly decomposed carcass of a humpback whale that nearly washed ashore at Haleiwa on Christmas Day, is in the process of being towed out to deep ocean waters this afternoon, according to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
SHARE
ADVERTISING
The badly decomposed carcass of a humpback whale that nearly washed ashore at Haleiwa on Christmas Day, is in the process of being towed out to deep ocean waters this afternoon, according to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
A private dive company, One Ocean Diving, first towed the carcass — the first reported this season — away from Haleiwa on Sunday and today volunteered to go ahead and tow it further offshore. Yesterday the remains were towed three miles offshore by one of the company’s boats and this afternoon, based on drift pattern modeling provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, it was towed an additional 10 miles offshore, due north of Haleiwa.
“Based on the level of decomposition I think this whale died about two weeks ago,” said David Schofield, NOAA’s Marine Mammal Response Coordinator in a press release. “It was a small adult humpback and again, due to the condition of the carcass, it will be impossible to determine how it died.”
Schofield discussed the tow operation with principals of One Ocean Diving. In many whale carcass situations, the federal and state government have to tow them or hire a private company to do the work. Due to the special circumstances involved, NOAA and DLNR gave One Ocean permission to complete the offshore tow.
Last winter, six humpback whale carcasses washed ashore or into near-shore waters.
“We deeply appreciate the efforts of the crew from One Ocean Diving who conducted the initial tow yesterday and the final tow today, at no cost to the state, the federal government or taxpayers,” said DLNR chair Suzanne Case in the release.Grizzly bears in Alaska and Canada are moving north as their environment warms, bringing them into contact with polar bears located on the coastline
Climate change is known for swelling the oceans and fueling extreme weather, but it may be also causing the curious emergence of a new type of bear in the Arctic.
A bear shot in the frigid expanse of northern Canada is believed to be a grizzly-polar bear hybrid, a consequence of the increasing interactions between the two imposing bear species.
US ceases efforts to end global trade of polar bear parts Read more
Hunter Didji Ishalook originally thought he’d shot a small polar bear but he said it was a “half-breed” – a position backed by several bear experts. The bear was shot near the small community of Arviat, located on the Hudson Bay within Canada’s Arctic region.
“It looks like a polar bear but it’s got brown paws and big claws like a grizzly,” Ishalook said. “And the shape of a grizzly head.”
Sightings of this hybrid species – which has been dubbed either a “grolar bear” or a “pizzly bear” – have become more common in recent years as the Arctic has warmed at twice the rate of the global average.
Grizzly bears found in Alaska and Canada appear to be moving north as their environment warms, bringing them into contact with polar bears located on the coastline.
Polar bears are spending more time on land as Arctic ice diminishes, causing them to lose body weight and decline in numbers as they are unable to hunt for favored prey such as seals.
“The combination of warmer temperatures and vegetation growth means there is more overlap between the species and I’d expect that overlap to increase,” Chris Servheen, a grizzly bear expert at the University of Montana, told the Guardian.
“We didn’t see it much in the past but we are now. The two species are very similar genetically so males of both species will be attracted to females, which is why we are seeing a mix-up in the breeding.”
Polar bears evolved from brown bears around 150,000 years ago and are now the largest land carnivores in the world, weighing up to 1,600lb (720kg). Grizzly bears, known for the distinctive hump on their shoulders, are normally solitary animals but come together to feed or to mate.
As temperatures continue to increase – the world has just broken monthly heat records for 12 months in a row – the long-term prognosis could be more favorable to the pizzly than the polar bear.
“Polar bears really depend upon sea ice, they’ve evolved with it and they aren’t built to live on the shore long-term,” said Servheen. “If the sea ice disappears, some may be successful but a lot won’t be successful.
“We are looking at an evolutionary change in the long term where overlaps are increasing and polar bears don’t have a lot of options. But it will be hundreds of generations before we really see a new type of bear.”He briefly played gadget man 'Q' to James Bond's super spy in two 007 films.
But Monty Python star John Cleese didn't hold back when discussing current Bond actor Daniel Craig - declaring he's 'too short' to play the MI6 agent.
The 76-year-old dismissed Daniel's widely-praised performance as the British secret on Channel Seven's The Morning Show this week, adding: 'He's simply not tall enough, I'm sorry.'
Scroll down for video
Fighting talk: Monty Python star John Cleese, 76, (right) told Channel Seven's The Morning Show on Monday that actor Daniel Craig, 47, (left) is 'not tall enough' to play spy James Bond in the blockbuster film franchise
John - who featured in The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day - claimed that his co-star Pierce Brosnan was a much better fit for the Bond role during the interview on Monday.
And the privately-educated comedian remarked snobbishly that 47-year-old Daniel 'certainly didn't go to Eton' and even sneered at his Welsh heritage.
Speaking of his on-set chemistry with Pierce, 62, he said: 'I thought he was a wonderful Bond. I thought he was the best Bond since (Sean) Connery.
Chosen one: John Cleese (right) said this week that Irish actor Pierce Brosnan, 62, (left) - pictured together at an awards bash in 2005 - was better suited for the role as 007, calling him 'the best Bond since (Sean) Connery
'Because this little Welsh bandy-legged guy that they've got at the moment, he's simply not tall enough, I'm sorry.
'And he certainly didn't go to Eton,' John concluded.
The Monty Python's Life of Brian star later added that he's not a fan of Daniel's portrayal because the 'his legs are too short'.
Candid: John - who had a supporting role in Bond films The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day - praised his co-star Pierce, but dismissed Daniel as a 'little Welsh bandy-legged guy'
Harsh words: The Monty Python's Life of Brian star said bluntly: 'He's simply not tall enough, I'm sorry. And he certainly didn't go to Eton', before later adding: 'His legs are too short'
Daniel's exact height is unclear, but estimates place him between 5ft 8ft and 5ft 10in - making him the shortest actor to play Bond in the film series.
He is also the only Bond actor in the official 007 franchise to be under 6ft tall.
Meanwhile, the tallest actor to play Bond is Sean Connery, 85, who towers over Daniel at 6ft 2in.
Short changed? Daniel Craig has earned praise for his gritty portrayal of James Bond in the four films Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall and Spectre - but was dismissed by John Cleese because of his stature
A tall order: The actors who have portrayed Bond - (left to right) Sean Connery, 85, George Lazenby, 76. Roger Moore, 88, Timothy Dalton, 69, and Pierce Brosnan, 62 - have all been over 6ft in height
The Daily Telegraph noted that when questioned by an interviewer about his vital statistics in the past, he snapped back: 'Somewhere between 5ft and 6ft'.
When he was first announced as Bond, critics said Daniel didn't live up to Ian Fleming's tall, dark and handsome hero.
But the Chester-born hunk proved them wrong after 2006's Casino Royale earned over US$600 million at the box office - making it the most successful Bond film ever until the release of Skyfall.
'Good humour': Daniel (centre) wore high-boosting shoes on set of Bond film Quantum of Solace, his co-star Gemma Arterton, 30, (right) claimed in 2008 - adding that he 'thought it was funny'
Amusingly, British actress Gemma Arterton - who played the Bond girl in Quantum of Solace - once revealed Daniel had to wear'stacked heels' on-set to boost his height.
However the 30-year-old said Daniel took the news 'with good humour' - suggesting he's not as prickly about his height as some outlets claim.
BOND ACTORS' HEIGHTS RANKED Sean Connery (7 films) - 6ft 2in Timothy Dalton (2 films) - 6ft 2in George Lazenby (1 film) - 6ft 2in Pierce Brosnan (4 films) - 6ft 1.5in Roger Moore (7 films) - 6ft 1.5in Daniel Craig (4 films) - 5ft 8in - 10in
She told the Mail on Sunday in 2008: 'Daniel is 5ft 10in but when they put me in heels, I was taller than him and it didn't look good on screen
'The whole point of Bond is that he is masculine and hunky and he has to be taller than his girlfriend.
'Daniel had to wear shoes with a lift in them and stacked heels for a few scenes, but he took it very well. He thought it was funny.'
Meanwhile, John Cleese heaped praise on Pierce Brosnan - who portrayed Bond while he took the reigns as MI6 gadget man 'Q'.
He said: 'He's a lovely man, Pierce - and I enjoyed working with him so much because there's never any trouble and yet he's completely professional all the time.
'The thing we joked about is that both of us - and this was Desmond Llewelyn too when he was playing Q - we had a big laugh because we're all hopeless (with) gadgets.'
'We don't understand them at all,' he added.
Supporting role: John played the character of 'R' - an assistant to 'Q', portrayed by the late Desmond Llewelyn - in 1999's The World Is Not Enough
Meanwhile, Daniel Craig may not be long for the role of James Bond, amid rumours he's leaving the film franchise to sign on to a U.S. television series.
This will be no surprise to fans of the spy films, after Daniel told The Guardian last year he'd rather'slash (his) wrists' than take part in another Bond movie.
And The Sun revealed last week that the actor has agreed to star in 20 episodes of upcoming drama Purity, an adaptation of Jonathan Franzen‘s novelMajority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday that he expected little more from the formal House-Senate budget conference than some relief from automatic spending cuts under sequestration.
The Nevada Democrat called the suggestion of a "grand bargain" including an overhaul of entitlement programs "happy talk."
"I hope that we can do some stuff to get rid of sequestration and go on to do some sensible budgets — budgeteering. I've got a wonderful leader of my Budget Committee, Patty Murray from the state of Washington, and I feel pretty comfortable that she'll do a good job for us, but... I hope there would be a grand bargain, but I don't see that happening," Reid said on Nevada radio station KNPR.
Murray and House Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., are set to convene the first formal meeting of the budget conference committee on Oct. 30.
"On sequestration, we've done one year of sequestration. It has been brutal," Reid said, citing billions of dollars in cuts to the National Institutes of Health.
Reid's comments underscore the ongoing disagreement between the parties about new revenue as part of a larger deal.
"The only people who feel there shouldn't be more coming in to the federal government from the rich people are the Republicans in the Congress," Reid said. "Everybody else, including the rich people, are willing to pay more. They want to pay more."
Reid rebuked the Nevada Public Radio host when he was asked what Republicans would have to concede to get Medicare and Social Security cuts on the table.
"You keep talking about Medicare and Social Security. Get something else in your brain. Stop talking about that. That is not going to happen this time. There is not going to be a grand bargain," Reid said. "What we need to do is have Murray and her counterpart in the House, Ryan, work together to come up with something to get out of this senseless sequestration and start the budgeting process so that we can do normal appropriation bills."
Reid said Republicans would have to agree to more tax revenue to get anywhere near a bigger deal.
"They have their mind set on doing nothing, nothing more on revenue, and until they get off that kick, there's not going to be a grand bargain on — there's not going to be a small bargain," Reid said. "We're just going to have to do something to work our way through sequestration."
Also, 30 of the 34 Republicans on the Armed Services panel have written a letter pushing the budget conference committee to ditch defense cuts.Concept cars are a way for automakers to test out cool new technical and design features, but also to just show off from time to time. Sometimes the resulting vehicles get to go into production, other times they don’t. The following list has gathered some of the former, amazing concept cars we will never see on the roads:
20. Audi Rosemeyer
Inspired by the Auto Union Silver Arrows Grand Prix racers of the 1930s and named after a famous racing driver of that era, the Audi Rosemeyer is a mix of the German manufacturer’s rich heritage with modern design elements. Initially showcased during 2000, Audi decided against putting the Rosemeyer into production due to high costs and an unwillingness to create competition with sports cars from its then newly-acquired Lamborghini.
19. Renault DeZir
Renault’s DeZir is an electric concept car unveiled during the 2010 Paris Motor Show. Its electric motor outputs a relatively modest 150 horse-power, but what it lacks in strength is surely makes up with its looks. It is an elegant two-seat coupe with butterfly doors, with a bright red livery – a definite head turner if ever released by the French automaker.
18. Kia GT4 Stinger
Kia is not exactly known for producing sports car, but this might change if something like the GT4 Stinger ever goes into production. It is a sleek, 2+2 rear-drive coupe with a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder that outputs about 315 horsepower. It doesn’t look like the Korean manufacturer is looking to enter the sports car market any time soon, however.
17. Holden Efijy
Designed by the Australian automaker Holden (a subsidiary of GM), the Efijy was created as tribute to the iconic Holden FJ, but also as a showcasing of the company’s design and engineering skills. Never intended for production, a great deal of care was nevertheless put into its creation, the end result being a very stylish, distinguished-looking vehicle.
16. Jeep Hurricane
Touted by its creators as “the most maneuverable, the most capable and the most powerful 4×4 ever built”, the Hurricane is quite an amazing piece of engineering. Equipped with two 5.7-liter HEMI engines which deliver a total of 670 horse-power, with a lightweight yet durable carbon fiber body, you would’ve almost been sorry to ride through the dirt of these had Chrysler ever decided to release any of them.
15. Mercedes F4 Carving
Mercedes dazzled during the 2001 Tokyo Motor Show with the F400 Carving concept – and it wasn’t all about the car’s bold, sporty looks. It employed a multitude of interesting systems, with the stand-out being a feature that lets the wheels actually tilt up to 20 degrees from vertical, for added stability when turning. Only envisioned as a concept study, the F400 was never considered for release.
14. Cadillac Sixteen
The Cadillac Sixteen look as futuristic now as it did when it was first revealed in 2003 – which is one of the reasons why it was used in the sci-fi flick Reel Steel, set in 2020.
This ultra-luxurious vehicle is something of a gentle giant, with its 13.6-liter V16 engine churning out over 1000 horsepower, but sadly all we will ever see on the road is the influence it had on subsequent Cadillac models.
13. Maserati Birdcage 75th
The brainchild of the world-renowned Pininfarina, the Maserati Birdcage 75th was created to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Italian car design company. The vehicle itself has the look and vibe of a spaceship, with a head-up display and a bubble canopy instead of doors giving it a futuristic, if unpractical feel.
12. BMW GINA
Innovative, unique, strange – words usually used to describe concept cars, but never have they been so appropriate in describing one such as in the case of the BMW GINA Light Visionary Model. Unveiled in 2008, its name stands for Geometry and functions In ‘N‘ Adaptations, which is sort of a roundabout way of saying the car is a shape-shifter. That’s right, this unusual vehicle has a body made of fabric which is stretched over a movable metal frame.
11. Toyota FT-HS
When the Toyota FT-HS (which stands for Future Toyota Hybrid Sport) first appeared at the 2007 Detroit Motor Show, it seemed it could be the long-awaited successor to the iconic Supra. Unfortunately, this stylish sports car with its 3.5-liter hybrid-electric V6 engine was never taken beyond the concept phase, while the new Supra is nowhere near close to release as well.
10. BMW M1 Homage
The BMW M1 was one of the best sports cars of its day, so the Bavarian manufacturer decided to celebrate the model’s 30th anniversary with the 2008 M1 Homage Concept. The new vehicle features the same low and flat, yet unfortunately BMW hasn’t released any of its technical specs.
9. Mazda Furai
The Mazda Furai (a name which translates to sound of the wind) is nothing short of stunning. After its debut at the 2008 North American International Motor Show, it was rarely showcased before disappearing completely later that year. Sadly, the reason for this is that the Furai caught fire in August 2008, so this is one car we will probably never see again at all, neither on the road nor on display.
8. Ford Shelby GR1
Unveiled at the 2005 North American Auto Show in Detroit, this great creation from Ford bears a well-known name in the world of motorsports – that of the famous driver (and later car manufacturer) Carroll Shelby. It is the epitome of sporting, with sleek lines and an aggressive look, but was shelved by the Detroit-based manufacturer who preferred to focus on mainstream vehicles after falling on hard times a few years ago.
7. Hummer HX
6. Lamborghini Estoque
When you say Lamborghini you immediately think of two-seat supercars, but for once the people in charge at the Italian manufacturer decided to think outside the box and create the Estoque, a four-door luxury sedan. Though Lamborghini might be a bit out of its comfort zone with this one, the Estoque still looks great and would’ve probably been an interesting experiment if ever released.
5. Saab Aero X
Unveiled during the 2006 Geneva Motor Show, the Saab Aero X is so awesome-looking that it was speculate it would appear in the Transformers sequel. It never got to make its film debut and it seems the Swedish manufacturer has no plans of ever taking the Aero X beyond the concept stage, yet this 650-horsepower, ethanol fueled beauty clearly has the makings of a movie star.
4. Chrysler ME Four-Twelve
If it had been developed further than the concept stage, Chrysler’s ME Four-Twelve might have been one of the great cars of the last decade. A two-seat, two-door, mid-engine vehicle with a 6.0-liter V12 powerplant churning out 850 horsepower and with an ultra-lightweight carbon fiber and aluminum structure, it had both the looks and the specs of an incredible supercar. Sadly, high costs and uncertain times for the American manufacturer mean the ME Four-Twelve had to be shelved indefinitely.
3. Aston Martin DBC
Sophisticated, suave and strong, Aston Martin is the James Bond of automobiles, something quite apparent in the DBC concept. Unusual for the British manufacturer, known for its excellent grand tourers, the Aston Martin DBC features a mid-engine layout – but that’s what concept cars are for, right?
2. Lamborghini Egoista
Built to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary, the Lamborghini Egoista is simply outrageous (but in the good way). According to its lead designer, “it represents hedonism taken to the extreme”. It only has one seat (egoista is, after all, Italian for selfish) and looks more like a bull ready to attack than anything else Lamborghini has ever released.
1. GT by Citroën
The GT by Citroën is what you get when you let a Japanese racing simulator developer (in this case, Polyphony Digital) play with the people over at Citroën. Unveiled at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, it truly looks amazing and has the technical capabilities to match. Sadly, the French automaker decided against producing any real versions, although it pondered the manufacturing of a handful of $2.1 million GTs for a while.Authorities in Florida say a 17-year-old high school student organized a prostitution ring of students from nearby high schools.
The teen was arrested Friday on felony charges of human trafficking of a person under 18.
Police say at least one act of prostitution took place, which led to the arrest of 21-year-old John Michael Mosher. He's accused of paying $40 and a bottle of liquor to have sex with a 15-year-old girl.
Police Capt. Tom Mattmuller told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune another arrest is expected Tuesday.
Officials say the ring was uncovered when four students confided to administrators at Venice High School, reported the Herald-Tribune:
In early October, four female students approached Venice High administrators and said a male Venice High student and De Armas wanted them to join their prostitution ring, according to police documents. Students told officers that De Armas coordinated at least three prostitution deals — including the one with the 15-year-old — by using Facebook private messaging. After Mosher paid for the sex, the police reports said, De Armas and an accomplice began trying to recruit other girls to have sex with clients to gain money and alcohol. They planned to use some of the money to buy narcotics, according to witness statements to police.
Documents indicate the teen and at least one other student concocted the plan over the summer to prostitute teens for money and alcohol.
___This pen has been a great... October 16, 2014 Verified Purchase
This pen has been a great addition to my inking tools and it's also my first fountain pen. It's a great first fountain pen. I have experience with nib pens but this was obviously a bit different. Although the instructions are foreign the pictures are easy enough to understand for those that have never used a fountain pen. Note that I bought a few new multiliners to get finer details. The Marvy LePens go well with it if you use the black nano ink.
It comes with a couple of blue black ink cartridges which are copic proof and very nice quality. I purchased the ultra black nano ink cartridges which of course work great with this pen (I left a review on those as well)
I found this while looking for some sort of good refillable brush pen and this is the greatest thing I could ask for. It's like a blessing that this was created. Allows me to get brush like strokes with the control of a nib pen. The lines are very clean and the pen is very versatile when it comes to the amount of difference you can get in line weight. I use it as my primary inking tool. It's replaced my beloved g-pen which I never thought would happen.
My inking process has also been greatly improved. My lines are much less hesitant and overall cleaner since the pen flows so beautifully. It's also nice since something that would usually take me over an hour to ink has been reduced to roughly half the time. So I can get to coloring like I want to.
I know a previous reviewer mentioned being wary of putting the cap on the back on the pen, which I am. Just be sure to press it on the back lightly and you should be all right. I do it though not only because it's a convenient place to keep the cap but it actually keeps the extra cartridge from moving about while using the pen which is very interesting and very welcomed. Without the cap on the back the extra cartridge will rattle around and make an annoying noise as well as shaking the pen a bit.
Overall this pen is great. I'm very glad I purchased it, and I'll most likely be trying out the other model. Right now this is great and more than what I could have asked for.
I also highly recommend that before you start inking an illustration you use a scrap paper to test out the angles and such. It helps me make sure I can get my thin lines and my thicker ones in the right places.
3 people found this helpfulLabour and Fine Gael will be pleased with the new poll Source: Brian Lawless/PA Wire/Press Association Images
NEW POLLING DATA has shown a jump in support for the two government parties.
The new poll, which has been carried out by RED C and will appear in tomorrow’s Sunday Business Post, shows Fine Gael hitting 28%, up three points.
Labour has seen its support climb up two points to 10%.
The poll is the first one carried out since last week’s same-sex marriage referendum passed with a Yes vote.
SBP/Red C Poll: FG 28 (+3 ) Labour 10 (+2) FF 19 (nc) SF 21 (-1) Greens 3 (+2) Renua 1 (nc) Inds 18 (-6) — TheJournal Politics (@TJ_Politics) May 30, 2015 Source: TheJournal Politics /Twitter
Despite high profile participation in the same-sex marriage Yes campaign, Sinn Féin has seen a slight decline in their support, down a point to 21%.
After a turbulent week, Fianna Fáil remain the country’s third most supported party.
After the resignation of Senator Averil Power from the party and the election of TD Bobby Aylward in the Carlow-Kilkenny by-election, the party’s support remains unchanged on 19%.
The Green Party has seen their support rise slightly to 3% with Lucinda Creighton’s Renua on 1%.
The worst hit in this most recent poll have been independents around the country, who have seen their support fall by six points from 24% to 18%.Steve Bannon is taking dead aim at Gary Cohn, who appears to be Exhibit A in the flamethrower’s battle against so-called “globalists” in the Trump White House.
In his first interview since leaving the administration, Bannon slammed Cohn’s criticism of Trump over Charlottesville.
“If you don’t agree with (what Trump is doing), they you have an obligation to resign,” Bannon told CBS’s ‘60 Minutes.’ When asked if he was referring to Gary Cohn, and if Cohn should have resigned, Bannon responded: “absolutely.”
Cohn, who is Jewish, reportedly wrote up a letter of resignation from the Trump administration following the president’s news conference in which he equated between neo-Nazis and counter-protesters who came out against them. Cohn eventually decided to keep his job, stating that “as a Jewish American, I will not allow neo-Nazis ranting ‘Jews will not replace us’ to cause this Jew to leave his job.”
While Bannon did not succeed in getting Cohn kicked out of the White House immediately, he may still get the last laugh.
Cohn, according to reports, is no longer being considered for the next Federal Reserve chair.
GOP source close to WH tells me: Cohn “more likely to get electric chair than Fed Chair” https://t.co/5IGR0Db1wU— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) September 6, 2017
Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman2017 is off with a drab whisper as the FOMC, as expected, kept the Fed Funds rate target unchanged at.5-.75%. Further, there was no mention of the alleged three 2017 hikes, which “experts” might consider as to be dovish move.
The Press Release was optimistic about the economy and cited a strengthening labor market, economic expansion, and consumer sentiment. Perhaps they haven't seen the delicate fourth quarter GDP numbers?
One of the themes of 2017 is the issue of the Fed Balance Sheet and whether the Fed is going to be talking up some sort of effort toward shrinking it. On this front, we read:
The Committee is maintaining its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities and of rolling over maturing Treasury securities at auction, and it anticipates doing so until normalization of the level of the federal funds rate is well under way.
Because the Fed would likely begin balance sheet changes by halting— or at least slowing down— the amount of “reinvestments,” this statement is indicating that it has no actual plans to address the balance sheet in the foreseeable future. Go figure. But the statement also emphasizes that addressing the balance sheet won’t take place under the FedFunds rate normalization process is much further down the road.
This, coupled with the decisions to not touch the Fed Funds target and not even mention 2017 rate hikes indicates that the balance sheet topic probably wont be seriously discussed for some time. Of course, touching the balance sheet is something the Fed is quite fearful of. Pricking the bubble is a massive no-no that the bureaucrats in every position in Washington want to avoid like the plague.
The FOMC (non)decision is typical of what we have come to expect from the Fed. They pretend like they are optimistic about the economy, while at the same time they bend over backwards to not upset those who depend on such radically “loose monetary policy.”
It’s the most damaging and devastating example of “kicking the can down the road” that the world has ever seen. But those in power and their lobbyists are addicted to easy money. And so they keep it flowing and never look back.A California company is trying to make getting medical marijuana as easy as using an ATM.
Dispense Labs unveiled the “Autospense,” an automated medical marijuana dispensary that looks like a lunch room vending machine. The difference is patients have to swipe a doctor-approved registration card, use fingerprint identification and enter a PIN number.
The best line from the company’s news release: “Autospense automatically rotates pre-packaged inventory to maintain quality control and freshness.”
Found Joe DeRobbio explained how it works to ABC News:
After swiping the card, the patient is granted access to a caged, camera-monitored room. From there, a patient swipes his or her card again and is given a menu to choose medicinal variety and quantity, DeRobbio said. Payment can be made with cash, credit or debit card. Once payment is received, the door to the machine opens, much like an ATM machine, to allow patients to remove their medicinal marijuana. After hours, Autospense is open only to patients who have agreed to the fingerprint option – they run their prints through a scanner and swipe a registration card, DeRobbio said.
DiRobbio told The Orange County Register that the company is likely to lease the machines to qualified dispensaries for $1,500-$2,000 a month. So far, there is only one store, in Santa Ana.
The inspiration behind the product was providing 24-hour, safe access for patients who rely on dispensaries for their medical marijuana. Here’s more from the Register:
“I noticed most of the dispensaries in operation were very haphazard, unorganized, dangerous,” he said.
The Autospense’s features are the result of DeRobbio’s efforts to mitigate problems. The transparency and controlled inventory will help allay local government fears of feeding a black market or contributing to crime, he said. Overall, the system will be safer, he added. “The patient feels they are in a secure, safe environment where they can get their meds and not worry where those meds are coming from,” he said.
Like California, medical marijuana is legal in Washington state, although state law doesn’t allow marijuana dispensaries. This year,voters will decide whether to pass Initiative 502, which would decriminalize |
merger with a company whose very business model encourages oversharing.)
The immigrant experience also figured in Koum’s choice of profession.
“When I was a kid trying to communicate with family in the Soviet Union, it was very difficult,” he said. “You had to go through the long-distance phone companies like MCI, which were difficult to navigate and expensive to make calls through. We’re very gratified to see that immigrants are using Whatsapp, and are able to communicate with family abroad. We want to make sure that people can communicate, no matter how far apart they are geographically,” Koum said.
As a Jew in Russia, and later, as a poor immigrant in the US, Koum has been a perennial outsider, and this is reflected in the company’s DNA. Few people venture into Whatsapp’s small offices in an out-of-the-way area of Mountain View, Koum said, noting that he had never been pursued by reporters to the same extent that other, more publicity-happy Silicon Valley “captains of industry” are.
That suited him just fine, he said.Investigators said they believed that at least one of those taken into custody at Kennedy yesterday was among a group who tried to board a Los Angeles-bound plane at the airport on Tuesday morning, around the time that three other West Coast-bound planes were slamming into the twin towers and the Pentagon outside Washington.
In that incident, the flight was canceled at Kennedy just as passengers were beginning to board United Airlines Flight 23 to Los Angeles, investigators said. ''These guys got belligerent, and said something like, 'We've got to be on this plane,' '' an official said. ''They expressed a desire to remain on the plane and resisted getting off.''
The men, who appeared to be of Arab descent, then fled before they could be questioned by law enforcement officers, investigators said.
The Italian police have reopened an inquiry into the theft of an American Airlines uniform and credential in Rome four months ago -- an incident that the authorities had no reason to focus on until the attacks.
At a news conference last night, the New York police commissioner, Bernard B. Kerik, said the man arrested at Kennedy ''had identification indicating he was a pilot.'' He added: ''He attempted to clear security and he was stopped. The identification he had was, in fact, false.''
Shortly before the airports were shut down at 5 p.m., several law enforcement officers halted the boarding of an American Airlines flight that was about to depart from Kennedy for San Jose, Calif., which would have been one of the first planes out since Tuesday. A passenger said the officers closely questioned and searched about 15 people before announcing that the flight was canceled and the airport was closed for the night.
The officers scrutinized the identifications of the passengers, who were detained for at least two hours. ''Anyone with dark skin or who spoke with an accent was taken aside and searched,'' said the passenger, Mike Glass, 43, of Seattle. ''And then they went to any male with too much facial hair.''
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.
Around the same time, at the American Airlines terminal at Kennedy, officers were seen detaining a man in handcuffs, with one officer examining his identification.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
On another American Airlines flight at Kennedy, a passenger said, a heavily armed SWAT team boarded the plane after it had taxied away from the gate and removed a male passenger, NBC News reported last night.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the three airports, would not say whether they would open today.
Law enforcement officials also said that at Newark International Airport, two men on a Saudi aircraft were detained after being identified on a terrorist watch list. It was not known whether they had links to those detained at the New York airports.
The closing of the three airports capped a tense day that provided a first glimpse of the future of air travel in the United States: heavily armed law enforcement officers of all kinds patrolled the three airports, baggage was aggressively searched, trash cans were removed to prevent bombs from being hidden in them, and restaurants in the terminals were barred from handing out knives -- even plastic ones.
At Newark Airport, passengers reported that they were also ordered to leave the airport instead of waiting for their flights. Marilyn Hankins of Hope, N.J., and her friend Bill Kovach of Vernon, N.J., said they were about to board a Delta flight to Orlando about 5:30 p.m. Just as they entered the walkway to the plane, they were told to turn around.
''Well, at least our luggage made it to the airplane,'' Ms. Hankins said as she waited for her bags to be returned.
At La Guardia, Carmen Gil, 49, of Mexico City was wandering around the terminal last night, trying to figure out where to go. She had hoped to fly home with her sister through Washington. ''We don't know what we're going to do,'' she said.
Until the closing, only a handful of arrivals and departures had been allowed at the three airports, leaving stranded passengers milling around with little information about when service would resume. Airport workers seemed to have no idea.
There was no better symbol of the airports' rocky reopening than the constantly rejiggered lists of arrivals and departures on the television screens around the terminals, with flights being labeled canceled, only to have a departure time suddenly sprout, only to have it relabeled as canceled a few minutes later.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
The atmosphere was so unsettled that the authorities evacuated a terminal at La Guardia in the early afternoon after a Saudi pilot trying to retrieve a bag he left there on Tuesday got into an argument with a worker. The pilot was questioned and released, the authorities said.Has any drummer shaken the world as much as John Bonham? Unlikely, as Bonzo’s Top 10 best Led Zeppelin songs prove. From snare drum stampedes, through hi-hat syncopation and jazzy interludes and sheer brutal power, Bonham was the percussive engine at the heart of Zeppelin – just ask anyone from Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters to Black Stone Cherry’s John Fred, or for that matter any of the hundreds of disciples who recently voted him the greatest drummer ever.
10. Good Times Bad Times (1969)
Right from the dramatic two beat opening, John Bonham puts the whole kit through its paces. That pioneering use of bass drum triplets heralded the arrival of a very special drummer. Doing things with a bass pedal that it took two of James Brown’s drummers to try and emulate – and they knew a bit about rhythm.
9. D’yer Mak’er (1973)
Zeppelin’s tongue-in-cheek attempt at reggae on Houses Of The Holy has often been mocked over the years, but if anyone doesn’t deserve the scorn then it’s Bonham. His wide-screen drumming lights up the track from the moment he opens proceedings with an invigorating snare and tom tom drum attack. He deservedly got the lead songwriting credit for his efforts.
8. Fool In The Rain (1979)
An outstanding Bonham showcase from Zeppelin’s studio swansong, In Through The Out Door, that highlights the fusion influence of such jazz giants as Bernard Purdie and Alphonse Mouzon. Clock the percussive perfection at two minute 25 seconds when a blow of a whistle ushers in a Latin samba delight.
7. Rock And Roll (1971)
From the cymbal cashing intro through to the closing precision of the solo, Led Zeppelin IV’s second track is a veritable Bonham tour–de-force. In between, his total regard for the art of timekeeping is a lesson to drummers everywhere.
6. The Ocean (1973)
‘’We’ve done four all ready and now we’re steady.’’ From the moment he counts Zeppelin in on Houses Of The Holy’s closing track, Bonzo provides an incessant funk like groove – note how his spacious drum fills allows Page to effortlessly play off the riff. It all leads to a joyous finale – ‘’So good’’ proclaims Plant, surely acknowledging another Bonham masterclass.
5. Bonzo’s Montreux (1982)
Enter the John Bonham Orchestra. Bonzo had long harboured plans for a dramatic solo piece that would incorporate various percussive instruments. In 1976, he achieved that ambition at Mountain Studios in Montreux. With the help of Page’s Evantide Harmoniser effects, an amalgamation of overdubbed bass drums, snare drums, timpani and congas merge with maximum effect. The result appeared two years after his death on 1982’s posthumous Coda collection.
4. In My Time Of Dying (1975)
This marathon work-out from Physical Graffiti reaches a zenith around the seven minute mark – that’s the point Bonzo conjures up a barrage of brutal power of the kind other drummers can only dream of. Fittingly, his son Jason did the track justice at Zeppelin’s one-off reunion in 2007.
3. Kashmir (1975)
Aside for the full on attacks of the kit, Bonzo was able to bring a unique economy to his playing. It was often the spaces he left between the beats that gave the songs their vast majestic quality – and none more so than on the epic Kashmir.
2. When The Levee Breaks (1971)
The scene at Headley Grange in early 1971: one Ludwig drumkit, one stairwell, one microphone over the banister. The result: the most famous Zeppelin backbeat ever, and one that launched a thousand samples. As Robert Plant remarked: “John always felt his significance was minimal but if you take him off any of our tracks, it loses its potency and sex. I don’t think he really knew how important he was.”
1. Moby Dick (1969)
The drum solo for people who don’t like really like drums solos – four and a half minutes of compact brilliance in which Bonham clatters, rattles, shakes and bangs his way into percussive immortality. The original appeared on Led Zeppelin II, but the definitive version was recorded at the Royal Albert Hall in 1970 – as captured on 2003’s Led Zeppelin DVD.
Bonham, Grohl & Led Zeppelin’s legacy: An epic Jimmy Page interviewThere are plenty of statistical sites on the web. HawkBlogger.com is largely a journal of everything going on with the Seahawks over time. There are times that statistics help to tell that story, and that is why I created this Season Progress Report series a couple years back. A gap in the statistics out there is the ability to freeze points in time, and allow you to rewind and compare how the team has progressed or regressed as the year rolls on. Player splits (e.g., first half of the year vs second half of the year) are common, but team splits are less so, and quarter-season splits can only be found here, from what I know. I track every Seahawks game, and have for years. That allows me to break down trends over any period of time I choose. As this season continues, I will provide a progress report at each quarter point of the year, and highlight other trends I see in-between. You can review the quarter-point progress report here and the midway report here If you are having trouble viewing the table below, try clicking this link.
CHART GALLERY
Note: The abbreviation “OPP” appears in the charts below to reflect “opponent.”
General check-up
Situational play
Focus on pass rush and pass protection
Focus on turnovers
Analysis
The offense has made a startling climb in just the last four games. The two most impressive numbers are the jump in 3rd down efficiency and the reduction in opponent sacks. Seattle The offense has made a startling climb in just the last four games. The two most impressive leapt 19 spots in the rankings in 3rd down conversion percentage and 12 spots in opponent sacks per game. Moving that much relative to other teams this late in the season in such a short period of time is not easy. The improvement on 3rd downs has lifted the offense across the board. More points, more yards…lots more. Seeing a Seahawk team average 414 yards over a four-game span is rare. They are getting those yards in chunks. Explosive plays are way up, to over 10 per game during this last quarter of the season, and yards per play is up big as well.
The Seahawks are averaging 6.6 yards per play the last four games. Denver leads the NFL in that category for the whole season at 6.3
The defense has remained pretty steady overall, but was showing signs of wearing down prior to the bye week. Having the offense step forward came at just the right time. Seattle benefited from an unsustainable takeaway rate early in the season, and that helped prop up an offense that had not found it’s footing yet. Now that the takeaways have regressed more to a normal rate, the offense is better able to overcome having to go longer distances for points. They have also cut their giveaway rate by a greater amount than the takeaway rate has fallen off, so even though the Seahawks are getting fewer takeaways, they are still coming out ahead in the turnover battle.
It might be alarming at first glance to see that the defense is surrendering a far higher percentage of touchdowns in the red zone when compared to earlier in the year, but take another look. Opponents have only had seven red zone possessions in the last four games compared to eleven in the first four. Even with a 57% touchdown rate, opponents are still averaging almost an identical number of red zone touchdowns 3.99 during these last four games as they did during the first four 3.96.
The turnaround is pass protection is the most stunning aspect of where the team is now, compared to where they were just four games prior. Seattle had just surrendered seven sacks to the Rams on Monday Night Football when I wrote the last progress report. The team has not allowed more than one sack in a game since, and more than that, Russell Wilson is enjoying significantly more time to throw on every drop-back. That protection will get a great test over the last four games of the year against some formidable pass rush defenses, but Seahawks fans have reason to be optimistic heading into that final stretch.
This is a team that has had a consistently dominant defense throughout the year, which has now added an offense operating as efficiently as any in the NFL. When the team started playing this way over the final eight games of 2012, it felt like a hot streak. This year, it feels like a locomotive gaining steam. The fundamentals are solid, and the areas that were showing weakness have stabilized, and in some cases, become a strength. The defense led the way early. The offense has led lately. It may be time for the special teams to win a game down the stretch.
Seattle plays their next two games on the road, and then will likely not play another road game until the Super Bowl. Each of the teams they will face is playing better now than they were a few weeks ago. The Seahawks will not be able to sleep walk through these games.Rams end the regular season 7-5 after convincing road win
Colorado State wideout Michael Gallup turns the corner with SDSU's Ronley Lakalaka in pursuit on the way to a 35-yard touchdown reception for Gallup. (Alex Gallardo / The Associated Press)
SAN DIEGO — Eventually, the direction of the conversation is going to have to change.
After Colorado State spent all week talking about how tough San Diego State's defense was — and with good reason — someone is going to start using the same tones about the Rams' offense.
For the fifth straight week, Colorado State was explosive with the ball, tearing apart the Aztecs' defensive unit that ranked in the top 10 nationally in three major categories Saturday night. CSU scored 35 points in the first half of what became a 63-31 rout at Qualcomm Stadium.
"Yeah. I think we showed tonight against the No. 1 defense in the Mountain West that we can move the ball, and we were playing on all cylinders," CSU quarterback Nick Stevens said. "I think we've definitely had that in the past few weeks, and we have a lot of different guys that contribute, which is definitely helpful."
Colorado State (7-5, 5-3 Mountain West) never let the MW West Division-leading Aztecs (9-3, 7-2) breathe, forcing them to play catchup all night. A week after out-rushing the top run team in the nation, the Rams beat down the No. 9 total defense.
CSU coach Mike Bobo paid the proper praise for an Aztecs defense that has ruled the roost in conference play the past two seasons. But he said offensive coordinator Will Friend has his own message for his unit.
"We needed to realize that going into the game, that we were going to have to execute at a high level," Bobo said. "But at the same time, Coach Friend kept telling those guys we're a good offensive football team. Playing the top three defenses in the league the last three weeks, he gave them a mission. We wanted to dominate all three games, and those guys came out and did that. They did that tonight at a high level."
Colorado State's Michael Gallup (4) and Izzy Matthews (35) celebrate a Gallup touchdown during the Rams' 63-31 rout of San Diego State on Saturday. The two combined for five touchdowns in the game. (Alex Gallardo / The Associated Press)
CSU scored on its first three offensive possessions, punted, then scored two more times with Robert Ruiz adding a record-setting punt return for a score in between, finding little problem in solving the riddle Bobo said San Diego State's defense presented.
Most of the damage came through the air, as the Stevens and Michael Gallup show was on display early and often in the first half. Stevens threw for four touchdown passes in the first half, two of them to Gallup, while also hitting Ruiz and Detrich Clark for scores. Gallup and Clark both pierced the Aztecs for long scores on wide receiver screens.
By the end of the game, Gallup had three touchdown catches — the last one from Clark — giving him 11 on the year, the second-best single-season total at CSU behind the 17 Rashard Higgins had in 2014. Gallup had seven catches for 139 yards, his seventh straight game with a scoring catch and fourth in a row to surpass the century mark in yardage.
Stevens completed 10 of 15 passes for 210 yards and four scores before taking a seat with 10:36 to go in the game.
As good as it was, Gallup said that's not the offense at it's best after surpassing 500 yards (507) for the third straight game.
"I think we're all still searching for (their ceiling)," Gallup said. "We haven't hit the top yet. We'll show up in the bowl game."
The running game was doing its part, too, with Dalyn Dawkins (103) and Izzy Matthews (104) both cruising past the 100-yard mark for the second straight week, with Matthews adding two scores on the ground to push his total to 12 on the year. Marvin Kinsey Jr. added a 27-yard score on a sweep in the final minute of the third quarter as the Rams rushed for 291 yards in the game, while for Dawkins, it was his fourth game to surpass the century mark, doing it for the third week in a row.
Meanwhile, the defense was keeping SDSU running back Donnel Pumphrey in check. Once considered a Heisman Trophy candidate, he was held to less than 100 yards rushing for the second straight week, though he did break his single-season rushing record at the school and had a 7-yard scoring run, giving him 60 in his career.
Pumphrey finished the night with a season-low 53 yards on 18 carries, and the Rams top three ball carriers all outgained him.
"There wasn't a number we talked about, we just know we wanted to keep him down low," CSU safety Jake Schlager said. "We knew he needed a lot of yards to continue the year he's been having, and we just knew that in order to succeed in this game, we needed to shut him and the rest of the offense down. I think we did a really good job with that, and it definitely showed."
Most of the SDSU scoring came through the air, as Christian Chapman had a pair of scoring passes in the first half; Juwan Washington had an 81-yard scoring run late in the fourth quarter with the game well in hand for the Rams.
CSU won the turnover battle — another key for Bobo when facing a team that led the nation with 20 interceptions — collecting an interception from Jamal Hicks and a fumble recovery from Johnny Schupp, and the special teams kicked in as Ruiz had a 91-yard punt return for a score, the longest in school history, a mark that had stood since 1926.
Mike Brohard: 970-635-3633, [email protected] or twitter.com/mbrohard
Colorado St. 21 21 14 7—63 San Diego St. 7 17 0 7—31 First Quarter
CSU_Gallup 35 pass from Stevens (Bryan kick), 12:35
CSU_Clark 27 pass from Stevens (Bryan kick), 8:12
SDSU_Wells 25 pass from Chapman (Baron kick), 5:41
CSU_Matthews 3 run (Bryan kick), 3:07
Second Quarter
SDSU_Holder 25 pass from Chapman (Baron kick), 14:11
SDSU_FG Baron 34, 11:39
CSU_Gallup 18 pass from Stevens (Bryan kick), 7:14
CSU_Ruiz 91 punt return (Bryan kick), 4:59
SDSU_Pumphrey 7 run (Baron kick), 2:24
CSU_Ruiz 5 pass from Stevens (Bryan kick), :15
Third Quarter
CSU_Gallup 6 pass from Clark (Bryan kick), 4:53
CSU_Kinsey 27 run (Bryan kick), :59
Fourth Quarter
CSU_Matthews 4 run (Bryan kick), 12:54
SDSU_Washington 81 run (Baron kick), 4:50
___
CSU SDSU First downs 24 16 Rushes-yards 46-291 39-193 Passing 216 183 Comp-Att-Int 11-16-0 11-19-1 Return Yards 178 175 Punts-Avg. 4-36.25 3-11.0 Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-1 Penalties-Yards 6-65 6-50 Time of Possession 32:09 27:51
___
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING_Colorado St., Matthews 14-104, Dawkins 15-103, Kinsey 14-61, Clark 3-23. San Diego St., Washington 6-92, Pumphrey 18-52, Chapman 5-25, Penny 4-15, Wormhoudt 2-8, Agnew 2-6, (Team) 1-(minus 1), K.Mathis 1-(minus 4).
PASSING_Colorado St., Clark 1-1-0-6, Stevens 10-15-0-210. San Diego St., Chapman 11-19-1-183.
RECEIVING_Colorado St., Gallup 7-139, Ruiz 2-40, Clark 1-27, Fackrell 1-10. San Diego St., Holder 3-87, Bawden 3-32, Wells 2-42, Pumphrey 1-8, Truxton 1-8, Penny 1-6.
MISSED FIELD GOALS_None.Congress Hall, located in Philadelphia at the intersection of Chestnut and 6th Streets, served as the seat of the United States Congress from December 6, 1790 to May 14, 1800.[2][3] During Congress Hall's duration as the capitol of the United States, the country admitted three new states, Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee; ratified the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution; and oversaw the Presidential inaugurations of both George Washington (his second) and John Adams.
Congress Hall was restored in the 20th century to its original appearance in 1796. The building is now managed by the National Park Service within the Independence National Historical Park and is open for public tours. Congress Hall is conjoined with Independence Hall, which is adjacent to the east.
Background [ edit ]
Philadelphia served as the capital of the United States both during and immediately after the American Revolutionary War. Independence Hall, located next door, served as the meeting place of the Continental Congress until the Pennsylvania Mutiny in June 1783. The failure of the Pennsylvania government to protect Congress from a mob of angry mutineers caused the representatives to withdraw to Princeton, New Jersey. The national capital then moved to Annapolis, Maryland in November 1783, then to Trenton, New Jersey in November 1784 before finally moving to New York City in January 1785. State delegates did not return to Independence Hall in Philadelphia until the United States Constitutional Convention in 1787; however, New York City remained the official capital even during the convention.[4] Designed by architect Samuel Lewis, Congress Hall was originally built to serve as the Philadelphia County Courthouse; construction began in 1787 and was completed two years later.[2][5]
Temporary capitol [ edit ]
Article One, Section Eight, of the United States Constitution granted Congress the authority to create a federal district to serve as the national capital. Following the ratification of the Constitution, the Congress, while meeting in New York, passed the Residence Act on July 9, 1790. The Act established the District of Columbia on the banks of the Potomac River between the states of Maryland and Virginia to serve as the new federal capital.[6] However, Robert Morris, a Senator from Pennsylvania, convinced Congress to return to Philadelphia while the new permanent capital was being built. As a result, the Residence Act also declared Philadelphia to be the temporary capital for a period of ten years.[4]
In an attempt to convince Congress to keep the capital in Philadelphia, the city began construction on a massive new Presidential palace on 9th Street as well as an expansion to the County Courthouse into what would become Congress Hall.[4] Upon the return of Congress to Philadelphia on December 6, 1790, the first level of Congress Hall had been transformed into the chamber for the House of Representatives and the second floor had been converted into a chamber for the United States Senate.[2] Despite their efforts to construct new buildings for use by the federal government, the city's residents failed to convince Congress to modify the Residence Act and make Philadelphia the permanent capital. Congress Hall served as the capitol building until May 14, 1800, when the offices of the national government moved to Washington, D.C.[3]
Interior [ edit ]
House chamber on the first floor of Congress Hall
Senate chamber on the second floor of Congress Hall
The House chamber on the first floor is rather simple and featured mahogany desks and leather chairs. The room eventually accommodated 106 representatives from 16 states: the 13 original states as well as the representatives from the new states of Vermont in 1791, Kentucky in 1792, and Tennessee in 1796. The room has been restored to its original appearance in 1796.[2][7]
The second floor, reserved as the chamber for the Senate, was more ornate and adorned with heavy red drapes. By 1796, the room featured 32 secretary desks very similar to the desks that are still used in the current Senate chamber in the United States Capitol; 28 of the desks at Congress Hall are original. Portraits of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, presented as gifts from the French monarch following the American Revolution, hang in adjoining committee rooms. A fresco of an American bald eagle is painted on the ceiling, holding the traditional olive branch to symbolize peace. Also on the ceiling, a plaster medallion in the form of a sunburst features 13 stars to represent the original colonies. The design mirrors a similar pattern on the floor, where a carpet made by William Sprague, a local weaver, features the shields of each of the 13 original states. The carpet seen today is a reproduction of the original.[2][7]
Legacy [ edit ]
During the almost ten years it served as the capitol, Congress Hall witnessed many historic events including the admittance of three new states. The United States Bill of Rights was ratified at Congress Hall in 1791. The second Presidential inauguration of George Washington took place in the House chamber in 1793, as did inauguration of John Adams in 1797. Congress also used the time to establish the First Bank of the United States, the Federal Mint, and the United States Department of the Navy. The Jay Treaty, which secured a temporary peace with Great Britain, was also ratified at Congress Hall in 1796.[8] After the capital moved to Washington, Congress Hall returned to its original function as the Philadelphia County Courthouse and served as the location of both state and federal courts during the early 19th century.[2] Also designed by Samuel Lewis, the Burlington County Courthouse in Mount Holly Township, New Jersey was built in 1796 and modeled after Congress Hall.[5][9]
Restoration and present status [ edit ]
After its use as a courthouse in the early 19th century, Congress Hall, like other buildings in the area, had fallen into disrepair. In 1870, the Pennsylvania General Assembly ordered the demolition of all the buildings surrounding Independence Hall. However, the law was never enforced and was officially repealed in 1895.[10] Under the leadership of a civic organization known as The Colonial Dames of America, the architect George Champlin Mason, Jr. began restoring Congress Hall in 1895-96, though this work was mostly limited to the Senate chamber. In 1900, the Philadelphia chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) began a study of Congress Hall and initiated a funding drive for the building's complete restoration. After funds were secured, the City of Philadelphia approved the restoration project in 1912 under the supervision of the AIA. Work on Congress Hall was completed the following year when President Woodrow Wilson rededicated the building. Additional work to refurbish the House chamber was completed in 1934.[10] In 1942, over 50 civic and patriotic groups met at the American Philosophical Society and joined to create the Independence Hall Association. The association lobbied for the creation of Independence National Historical Park, which was initially approved by Congress in 1948 and formally established on July 4, 1956.[10]
Congress Hall is now maintained by the National Park Service, which operates guided tours of the building throughout the year on a first-come, first-served basis.[8]
On December 2, 2008, the building hosted President-elect Barack Obama's meeting with the National Governors Association where they discussed the economic crisis then facing the country.[11]
See also [ edit ]
Burlington County Courthouse (New Jersey), also by Samuel Lewis as described as "twin" building
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]The New Zealand Mint has recently unveiled their comprehensive selection of products for the month of September. Among these exciting new releases are the extremely popular Lunar Series Year of the Dog Coins, in addition to a variety of officially licensed Disney coins ranging from the Star Wars franchise to The Three Little Pigs. The Star Wars coins, in particular, are cleverly themed around the highly anticipated film Star Wars: The Last Jedi, set to release on December 15, 2017. Furthermore, several of these emerging products include Disney’s own take on the Lunar Series Year of the Dog coins. It appears that September promises to be a fascinating month at the New Zealand Mint.
With February 2018 ushering in the Year of the Dog in Chinese astrology, the New Zealand Mint has unveiled two coins and a foil to commemorate the occasion.
The first coin is a 1-ounce silver Proof with applied color from Niue. The reverse features a pair of fully colored German shepherds set in front of a Chinese pine tree. The pine tree was chosen to symbolize long life. Toward the top of the coin, the inscription reads YEAR OF THE DOG.
The obverse of the 1-ounce silver Proof coin features the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of HM Queen Elizabeth II. Starting clockwise from the top, the inscription reads: NIUE, TWO DOLLARS, 2018, ELIZABETH II.
The silver Proof coin from Niue is housed in a translucent perspex display and enclosed in an elegant green-and-silver box.
The two additional Year of the Dog products presented this month from the Perth Mint are officially licensed by Disney. One of these is a 1-ounce silver Proof coin with applied color from Niue, and the second is a 5-gram Brilliant Uncirculated silver foil.
The reverse of the Proof coin features an engraving of a stylized dog resting next to Mickey Mouse, who is surrounded by flowers. Toward the upper left quadrant of the coin, the Chinese character for “dog” is presented in a bold red color. The inscription on the bottom reads 1 oz 999 Fine Silver © Disney.
For the reverse of the Brilliant Uncirculated silver foil, the imagery is quite similar to the Proof coin, except Mickey Mouse and the stylized dog are colored in red along with the Chinese character for “dog.”
The obverse of the silver Proof coin and Brilliant Uncirculated silver foil both include Ian Rank-Broadley’s effigy of HM Queen Elizabeth II as well as 2018, ELIZABETH II, and NIUE in their inscriptions.
The foil additionally includes 5g and the fineness, Ag•999, in the upper right corner, and 20 CENTS in the upper left and lower right corners.
The Proof coin is presented in a themed, red-gloss lacquered case, while the foil is presented in gift-style packaging that allows space for a personal message.
At the time of this posting, Coin Update sponsor APMEX offers special prices on pre-orders for the Perth Mint’s Year of the Dog Australian Lunar Series of bullion coins.
Two additional Disney-licensed coins are a half-ounce and a 1-ounce silver Proof coin with applied color, both in a Christmas theme. The half-ounce Proof features colored characters Minnie and Mickey Mouse along with Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto on the reverse. Inscribed toward the top of the coin is 1/2 ounce 999 Fine Silver © Disney. Also, the phrase Season’s Greetings is incused in script above the famous Disney cast of characters.
The reverse of the 1-ounce Proof, incorporates the design of Disney’s 1957 corporate Christmas card. At center is a colored scene of Mickey dressed as Santa Claus delivering presents to his friends. The inscription toward the left reads 1 oz 999 Fine Silver © Disney while the message CHRISTMAS GREETINGS is displayed toward the bottom. In a nod to that year’s release of the Disney movie Old Yeller, Mickey happily presents a copy of the book on which the movie was based, entirely clueless as to the dismay on the faces of Pluto, Lady, and Scamp (the latter two from Disney’s Lady and the Tramp).
The obverse of both Season’s Greetings coins are identical with an effigy of HM Queen Elizabeth II. Their inscriptions read clockwise from the top: NIUE, TWO DOLLARS, 2017, ELIZABETH II.
The half-ounce Proof comes packaged in a star-shaped coin case, while the 1-ounce Proof comes in book-style packaging.
Very distinct from the other Disney coins is the 1-ounce silver Proof rectangular coin featuring The Three Little Pigs.The coin incorporates applied color on the reverse to depict an original poster from the 1930s animated short film The Three Little Pigs. The inscription reads MICKEY MOUSE PRESENTS A WALT DISNEY SILLY SYMPHONY and The THREE LITTLE PIGS toward the top, and 1 oz 999 Fine Silver © Disney at the bottom.
The obverse of the rectangular silver Proof features Ian Rank-Broadley’s effigy of HM Queen Elizabeth II with the inscriptions ELIZABETH II and NIUE above, and the date and denomination, 2017 and 2 DOLLARS, below.
Also up this month are three collectible coins centered around Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Each is a 1-ounce silver Proof with applied color. One of the coins features Luke Skywalker on the reverse, while the other two feature Chewbacca and Supreme Leader Snoke, respectively. All three coins are inscribed with STAR WARS logo, in addition to 1 oz 999 Fine Silver and © & ™ Lucasfilm Ltd on the reverse.
The obverse of all three Star Wars: The Last Jedi coins are identical with an effigy of HM Queen Elizabeth II. Their inscriptions read clockwise from the top: NIUE, TWO DOLLARS, 2017, and ELIZABETH II.
All three Last Jedi coins are housed in perspex displays and presented in themed packaging.
For more information on these coins, as well as many others, please visit the website of the New Zealand Mint.
❑The difficult quest for a director for Universal's Scarface continues as the studio has parted ways with David Ayer (Suicide Squad).
Ayer's take on the script was "too dark" for the studio's taste, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter, though given that Scarface is, as one insider put it, "the holy grail of contemporary gangster movies," a certain amount of darkness would be necessary.
Ayer won acclaim for penning the hard-hitting Training Day and making gritty movies such as End of Watch. Universal's Scarface is to trade the Miami locale of the 1983 film version for Los Angeles.
Scarface tells the story of the rise and fall of a gangster, which has seen previous versions made in 1932 and 1983, the latter of which came |
across the country that killings of citizens by police must be treated differently.
Castile's death came on the heels of other prominent killings of African-American men by police, including the shooting death of 24-year-old Jamar Clark in north Minneapolis last year. The deaths have fueled protests in Minnesota and across the country. Protesters have called for police to be prosecuted for their roles in the deaths.
Protesters gathered quickly across the street from where Philando Castile was killed on July 7 when a video of the aftermath of the shooting appeared on Facebook and drew many to the scene after they saw it. Christopher Juhn for MPR News
In late September, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension completed its investigation into the case and turned over its findings to Choi for review of possible charges.
Protesters also demanded that Choi turn the case over to a special prosecutor. But Choi decided to keep the case in his office and brought in an outside attorney.
The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association disagreed with Choi's decision to charge Yanez.
"We expect that Officer Yanez will enter a plea of Not Guilty and will fully litigate every issue within the case in a court of law," the group said in a statement. "No one can speak for Officer Yanez as to what he actually encountered and what he feared that evening."
Police officers rarely prosecuted
Despite the hundreds of times police officers shoot and kill people while on duty, it's rare they face murder or manslaughter charges. In many cases, state laws and court decisions have justified officers in using deadly force.
Ex-FBI agent Larry Brubaker, who has researched and written two books on fatal officer-involved shootings that have occurred in Minnesota, said this is the first time an officer has been charged for a fatal shooting in Minnesota in more than 200 cases that spanned over three decades.
Police secure evidence at the shooting scene on Larpenteur Avenue in Falcon Heights, where Philando Castile was shot by a St. Anthony police officer. Christopher Juhn for MPR News
According to a database created by Phil Stinson, an associate professor of criminology at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, police officers across the country shoot and kill people 900 to 1,000 times a year.
Stinson found that over the past 12 years, 77 officers were charged with murder or manslaughter. Of those 77 officers, 27 have been convicted.
"We see in some of these cases even with video evidence, it does not ultimately result in an officer being convicted, especially in jury trial situations," Stinson said. "Juries are very reluctant to find a police officer guilty of murder or manslaughter. They want to believe that police officers are the good guys."
In the Castile case, some of the video evidence came from the Facebook live stream.
"The video evidence is paramount, it's absolutely crucial in this case," Stinson said. "I don't think in this case and in many others that an officer would be charged without the video evidence."
Choi emphasized during the press conference that Yanez will still need to go to trial, and that he's still considered innocent until proven guilty.
The Rev. Danny Givens, who has helped organize protests against police killings, said the charges are evidence that protests have been working.
"Of course protest makes a difference. History has shown us that," Givens said. "We're taking the issues of justice out to the streets to be heard by all." He said the "culture of policing" is being challenged.
Senior Cmdr. John Lozoya of the St. Paul police, a member of the Minnesota Latino Peace Officers Association, said his main concern is that Yanez gets a fair trial.
"All I just ask is that the public wait until the trial's over where he is judged by his peers and that he has received a fair and impartial trial," Lozoya said.
People who had called for charges against the officer who shot Castile mournfully greeted Choi's decision.
A group of about 10 people gathered in the lobby of Choi's office, watching on their phones as Choi announced his decision to charge Yanez. John Thompson, a friend of Castile's, broke into tears at the news.
"It's a good day, but it's a sad day, because now we have to see this all over again," Thompson said. "I was prepared for him to say that 'There's no grand jury, there's not charges against Yanez.' I kind of prepare for the worst, hope for the best. The best happened today."
A statement posted online by the city of St. Anthony said city officials are confident that justice will be served in the case.
"Out of respect for the judicial process, the City intends to refrain from making any comments that could hinder a fair and impartial determination," according to St. Anthony's statement. "We reaffirm our commitment to help heal this painful community experience through community engagement and continuous efforts to create positive change."
The city of Falcon Heights also released a statement saying officials would continue to review law enforcement procedures and explore whether to adopt body cameras for officers.Henry Lee McCollum, left, and his half-brother, Leon Brown, are shown in booking photos provided by the North Carolina Department of Public Safety in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Sept. 2, 2014. The two men spent years on death row before being exonerated last year.
Photo by North Carolina Department of Public Safety/Handout via Reuters
On the surface, the Supreme Court’s opinion in Glossip v. Gross appears to give death penalty proponents something to celebrate. After all, the court allowed states to continue to use the sedative midazolam as part of a multidrug formula for lethal injections, despite Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s warning that such executions “may well be the chemical equivalent of being burned at the stake.” But the bitterly divided 5–4 opinion has implications that extend far beyond the narrow question. This case may become an example of winning a battle while losing the war.
In a dissent, Justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg concluded that it is “highly likely” that the death penalty violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments. While acknowledging that the Supreme Court settled the constitutionality of the death penalty 40 years ago, Breyer wrote that the “circumstances and the evidence of the death penalty’s application have changed radically since then.”
They are not the first sitting justices to call capital punishment’s constitutionality into question. Justices Thurgood Marshall and William Brennan routinely dissented from decisions upholding a death sentence on the grounds that capital punishment is always a cruel and unusual punishment. Shortly before his retirement, Justice Harry Blackmun famously wrote that he would “no longer tinker with the machinery of death.” Justice John Paul Stevens similarly concluded that the death penalty is an excessive punishment.
But Glossip feels different. Breyer’s dissent is more of an invitation than a manifesto. “Rather than try to patch up the death penalty’s legal wounds one at a time,” he wrote, “I would ask for full briefing on a more basic question: whether the death penalty violates the Constitution.” It also feels different because it is no longer unthinkable that there are five votes for ending the death penalty.
Part of this plausibility stems from a political mood far more favorable to abolition than at any other point in the modern era. In the past few years, a number of states—Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Nebraska—have formally abandoned capital punishment. The governors of four other states—Colorado, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington—have vowed not to execute anyone. And a number of states, including the four moratorium states and also places like Kansas, Montana, New Hampshire, and Wyoming, have performed one execution or fewer per decade over the past half-century. It is no surprise, then, that death sentences have reached historic lows nationally. The death penalty is disappearing even in the Deep South, as Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina have seen major drops, such as 70 percent declines in new death sentences. Texas, a state that reached a high of 48 death sentences in a single year, had no new death sentences in the first half of 2015.
The Supreme Court’s own struggle with capital cases further underscores this sense of plausibility. Justice Anthony Kennedy—who presumably would have the deciding vote on whether to abolish the death penalty—recently emphasized that the court’s capital punishment jurisprudence law lacks a “unifying principle” and that it “has produced results not altogether satisfactory.” The court has taken a piecemeal approach to try to ensure that the death penalty is reserved for the worst of the worst offenders. The reality, though, is that even after prohibiting the execution of juveniles, the intellectually disabled, and individuals who participated in a crime but did not do the killing, the court’s approach is still, as Kennedy says, “not altogether satisfactory.”
The most damning problem is the inability to guarantee the factual guilt of the people juries send to death row. Justice Antonin Scalia once underscored that lethal injection was an “enviable” death compared with that suffered by an “11-year old girl raped by four men and then killed by stuffing her panties down her throat.” Last year, DNA evidence demonstrated that Henry Lee McCollum and Leon Brown, the two men sentenced to death for the crime Scalia used as his poster case for the death penalty, are innocent. Or consider the case of Paul House, an inmate sentenced to death who claimed that the scratches on his arm came from “tearing down a building, and from a cat”—not as the result of a struggle with the victim. Chief Justice John Roberts mockingly commented on House’s version of events: “Scratches from a cat, indeed,” he wrote. In 2009, DNA evidence exonerated Paul House.
Even among those who are guilty of an aggravated homicide, the Constitution limits the death penalty to those people “whose extreme culpability makes them the most deserving of execution.” Thus, as Kennedy recently explained in Hall v. Florida, “to impose the harshest of punishments on an intellectually disabled person violates his or her inherent dignity as a human being.” Similarly, in Roper v. Simmons, Kennedy reasoned that “the lesser culpability of the juvenile offender” renders persons younger than 18 categorically ineligible for execution. These categorical prohibitions have not guaranteed that only the most deserving offenders will be executed. In fact, most offenders who were recently executed possess signs of significant mental deficits. Two examples from this year: Georgia executed Andrew Brannan, a bronze-star earning Vietnam veteran who developed severe post-traumatic stress disorder and had twice been hospitalized as a result of his bipolar disorder. Texas executed Robert Ladd, a man with an IQ score of 67 who could not prove to the satisfaction of the state courts that he was intellectually disabled.
Justice Breyer highlighted these flaws in his Glossip dissent. And he deemed them fatal: “The Court in effect delegated significant responsibility to the States to develop procedures that would protect against those constitutional problems,” he wrote. “Almost 40 years of studies, surveys, and experience strongly indicate, however, that this effort has failed.” In response, Scalia referred to Breyer’s arguments as “surrealism.” Justice Clarence Thomas described the idea that the Eighth Amendment prohibits arbitrary death sentencing as “imaginary.” He then suggested to Breyer that if he wants to eliminate arbitrary outcomes, “the best solution is for the Court to stop making up Eighth Amendment claims in its ceaseless quest to end the death penalty through undemocratic means.”
Justice Scalia wrote, “not once in the history of the American Republic has this Court ever suggested the death penalty is categorically impermissible.” But the Supreme Court has affirmed time and time again that the prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments is drawn from society’s current standards of decency as they have evolved over time.
As Kennedy wrote last week in the context of marriage equality:
The nature of injustice is that we may not always see it in our own times. The generations that wrote and ratified the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment did not presume to know the extent of freedom in all of its dimensions, and so they entrusted to future generations a charter protecting the right of all persons to enjoy liberty as we learn its meaning. When new insight reveals discord between the Constitution’s central protections and a received legal stricture, a claim to liberty must be addressed.
Kennedy has embraced a view of societal norms that is much more holistic than a simple exercise that counts state legislative decisions. For instance, in Graham v. Florida, the case in which the Supreme Court barred sentences of life without parole for nonhomicide juvenile offenders, Kennedy looked beyond the law on the books to see how the law was used in practice. Even though most states allowed the sentence, Kennedy found that sheer infrequency reflected a consensus against its use, as did the fact that sentences were concentrated in a handful of states. Most recently, in Hall v. Florida, Kennedy counted Oregon, a state that formally retains capital punishment, “on the abolitionist side of the ledger” because it “suspended the death penalty and executed only two individuals in the past 40 years.”
In Glossip, Breyer fine-tuned Kennedy’s approach, looking not only at how infrequently states resort to the punishment but also at how “the number of active death penalty counties is small and getting smaller.” (It might be particular personalities within counties as much as it is particular counties responsible for most death penalty sentences.)
It was Justice Kennedy, though, in Obergefell v. Hodges, the marriage case, who finally articulated a vision of a fluid and sophisticated approach to gauging societal norms:
There may be an initial inclination in these cases to proceed with caution—to await further legislation, litigation, and debate. The respondents warn there has been insufficient democratic discourse before deciding an issue so basic as the definition of marriage. … Yet there has been far more deliberation than this argument acknowledges. There have been referenda, legislative debates, and grassroots campaigns, as well as countless studies, papers, books, and other popular and scholarly writings. There has been extensive litigation in state and federal courts. Judicial opinions addressing the issue have been informed by the contentions of parties and counsel, which, in turn, reflect the more general, societal discussion of same-sex marriage and its meaning that has occurred over the past decades.
After Kennedy’s opinion in Obergefell, the flashlight is shining brightly on Kennedy’s death penalty jurisprudence. His road map for considering the evolution of contemporary societal norms, coupled with Breyer’s invitation to challenge the death penalty in its entirety, plausibly heralds the twilight of the death penalty in America.FDA said all tobacco products brought to the market after Feb. 15, 2007 – which includes all e-cigarettes – must submit applications to FDA and show they don’t pose any new health risks. | Getty FDA to regulate e-cigarettes like tobacco
The Food and Drug Administration will regulate e-cigarettes as it does cigarettes and other tobacco products under a rule finalized Thursday that angered industry and people who use vaping products as an alternative to smoking.
FDA said all tobacco products brought to the market after Feb. 15, 2007 — which includes all e-cigarettes — must submit applications to FDA and show they don’t pose any new health risks beyond products that were on the market at that time.
Story Continued Below
The final tobacco “deeming” rule sticks with the grandfathering date in the Tobacco Control Act of 2009, which gave FDA its expanded authority over tobacco. The e-cigarette lobby had been fighting for the date to be moved up so that the products on the market now would be exempt.
Companies that introduced tobacco products since then will have two years to submit an application to the agency demonstrating they pose no new risks — a bar smaller players in the e-cigarette market say will put them out of business.
The rule will do nothing to advance public health but will “yank responsibly manufactured vapor products from the hands of adult smokers and replace them with the tobacco cigarettes they had been trying to give up,” said Tony Abboud, national legislative director for the Vapor Technology Association.
Lobbyists for premium cigars had lobbied hard for an exemption from the new policy, but they also were given no quarter in the final rule.
The rule was first proposed nearly two years ago. Anti-smoking advocate organizations had worried the Obama administration would water it down in the face of intense lobbying.
This article tagged under: eHealthMany Edgewater homes on the market right now are selling for well over a million. With families buying and gutting out existing structures, several factors help drive up the price in the neighborhood.
People started getting shut out of the Lakeview community to our south around 2012, a Chicago Magazine article reported. Back then, prices were around $211 per square foot in Lakeview compared to just $98 per square foot in Edgewater according to Redfin. Home buyers were looking for deals in another area close to the lake that offered the same conveniences.
Many found the Edgewater’s lakefront proximity, cool restaurants, good schools and multiple L stops the perfect option to buy their dream home. So, it was just a matter of time until the home prices in the neighborhood shot up. This past March, home prices were around $178 per square foot in Edgewater. City average is $134 per square foot.
Many new residents that move into the area are also attracted to the oversized lots and thriving art and theatre scene. With the luxury homes on the site of the old Edgewater Medical Complex and the plans for a new Peterson Metra stop looming, real estate listing could rise further.- You can now crack open a wine. Yes, it's wine in a can. And the buzz is that it could be the new drink of the summer. Pinot, rose, chardonnay: you name it, they can aluminum can it.
Warehouse Wines and Spirits manager Gabe Schlackman said that when he first saw the cans hit the shelves he thought no one would buy them. But two years later his Manhattan store has seen a flood of young customers looking to can the cork. Schlackman said the cans are easy to open, more convenient, more concealable, and more fun.
Andrew Jones owns Field Recordings Winery in Paso Robles, California. He started canning in 2014 and said that he sold out of his first batch in 4 weeks. Then he tripled production and sold out of that batch in 10 days.
In the last couple years, sales of canned wine have more than doubled. Last year alone, people bought almost $15 million worth of the stuff. For manufacturers, the technology to make it is easier than ever before. So expect dozens of new canned wine brands on the way.
For many brands, each can is equivalent to a full glass of wine and the process is exactly the same as bottling. So raise a can to the start of the summer.Good news out of Oregon: The loophole that gave religious parents a “Get Out of Jail Free” card when they killed their sick children by praying for them in lieu of taking them to a real doctor has been nixed.
The bill passed unanimously, though two Republican representatives raised concerns that the legislation was taking the issue away from juries and sending the state down a slippery slope. The legislation comes in response to an Oregon City church, the Followers of Christ, that has a long history of child deaths even though the conditions from which the children died were medically treatable.
Leave it to a state Republican to misconstrue what the bill is all about:
Rep. Jim Weidner, R-Yamhill, said he worried “we might be heading down a slippery slope.” He said he prayed earlier in the day about his son’s severe tonsillitis. His wife took his son to the doctor Thursday morning, he added, but “am I going to go to prison because I took the time to pray with my child?”
Of course not. Weidner is welcome to waste his time as he pleases. His son is getting the care he needs and he’s not in a life-threatening situation. This isn’t about people like him.
It’s about the parents of Neil Beagley, who let their son die of “an inflammation of his urethra because they figured a god would cure him.”
It’s about the parents of, who let their 15-month-old daughter suffer and die while they prayed around her, refusing to take her to a doctor
It’s about the parents of Alayna May Wyland, who let Alayna’s eye deteriorate when medical help would have fixed the problem. They said no to a doctor and yes to a god.
The new legislation, House Bill 2721, “eliminates reliance on spiritual treatment as defense to certain crimes in which victim is under 18 years of age.”
It’s a smart move. It may not directly save the lives of children born to these reckless parents, but it will make sure the parents are punished for their negligence.When Intel launched Gemini Lake just two weeks ago, they disclosed very little about the underlying Goldmont Plus microarchitecture. There was also very few leaks apart from the the rumored 4-way decode we tweeted based on a kernel patch about half a year ago which turned out to be partially wrong. This afternoon Intel has finally updated their Optimization Manual to include Goldmont Plus.
As usual, the complete details, block diagrams, and in-depth overview of Goldmont Plus will be added to our Goldmont Plus article.
Improvements Everywhere
If you thought Goldmont Plus is meant to be a simple refresh or introduce just a handful of enhancements over Goldmont because of the “Plus”, you’re in for a real treat. It turns out Goldmont Plus is just as large of a generational improvement as Goldmont itself was when it widened the pipeline from 2-way to 3.
We didn’t quite get it right when it came to the four-way decode, but as it turned out, we were pretty close. The front end did receive some light treatment including various enhancements to the branch prediction unit but it is the back end that has been massively enhanced. While Goldmont Plus did not touch the fetch and decode which are still 3-way, the back-end has been widened to support 4-way allocation and 4-way retirement. In other words, Goldmont Plus has a new peak retirement rate of 4 per cycle.
Intel also noted that the reservation station and reorder buffer have been enlarged to support a larger out-of-order window. Similarly, the load and store buffers have also been expanded. Certain store-to-load forwarding operations for store data from register have been optimized as a general improvement. They did not specify the exact amount of entries those buffers grew by so we’ll be figuring this out ourselves once those parts make it to the shelf.
The caches received a similar treatment. The L2 has doubled and the L2 predecode cache which was added in Goldmont has been quadrupled from 16 KiB to 64 KiB. Additionally, there is a new shared instruction and data second-level TLB.
The new microarchitecture has had many improvements in the execution units as well. The integer execution cluster (IEC) has been widened to 4 ports with the 4th port having a new dedicated jump execution unit (JEU) which supports faster branch redirections. AES instructions have also been improved in throughput and latency.
Perhaps the most interesting change is in the floating point divider. The floating point divider has also been upgraded to a fast radix-1024 based design (i.e., 10 bits), improving scalar/packed single, double, and extended precision FP divisions. With this change, bandwidth has been increased significantly and latency for those operations were cut in more than half. We’ll have to wait for actual benchmarks to know how much of an impact this has in practice but we don’t think we’ll be disappointed.
Goldmont vs Goldmont Plus FP Division Goldmont Goldmont Plus Latency Throughput Latency Throughput x87 fdiv (extended-precision) 39 39 15 11 x87 fdiv (double-precision) 34 34 14 10 x87 fdiv (single-precision) 19 19 11 7 scalar single-precision (divss) 19 18 11 7 scalar double-precision (divsd) 34 33 14 10 packed single-precision (divps) 36 35 16 12 packed double-precision (divpd) 66 65 22 18
32-core on the horizon?
A more subtle change that was done in Goldmont Plus is the move from duplexes to quadplexes. Prior to Goldmont Plus, Intel packed two cores along with their shared L2 cache into a core level multiprocessing (CMP) module. A single core can be disabled to create a single-core processor. Likewise a module can replicated to create a quad-core configuration. Multiple CMP modules can then be hooked together using an intra-die interconnect (IDI) fabric connected to a coherent crossbar Tracker Unit (T-Unit) at the system agent.
In their microserver line such as the Silvermont-based Avoton SKUs, Intel had up to 8 cores in 4 duplexes hooked together.
In the more recent Goldmont-based Denverton SKUs, Intel doubled that up to 16 cores in 8 duplexes.
With Goldmont Plus, Intel has moved to a quadplex CMP module with 4 MiB of L2 cache. For desktop and embedded processors (e.g., Pentium Silver) this means a single CMP module is used with either 4 active cores or just 2. This is why all the recently launched Gemini Lake parts have 4 MiB of level 2 cache.
With Denverton having 8 CMP modules, we suspect the new quadplex CMP modules will play a crucial role in Intel’s next generation Goldmont Plus server parts. That is, if Intel continues with 8 CMP modules, we might see a 32-core when Intel introduces their Atom C4000-series sometimes next year.
We will have to wait and see whether this pans out. Nonetheless the new Gemini Lake Celeron and Pentium models should have a solid performance improvement over their predecessors.A man repeating the same thing you said, but getting credit for it? We've all been there. Photo: iStock
Professional women know this situation too well: In the middle of a group discussion, they suggest an idea, but no one seems to pay much attention to it. All of a sudden, when a male colleague brings up the exact same idea, he's praised. What the hell is happening? There's finally a name for it: hepeating. Astronomer and physics professor Nicole Gugliucci introduced the term on Twitter just last month, writing, "My friends coined a word: hepeated. For when a woman suggests an idea and it's ignored, but then a guy says same thing and everyone loves it." For example: "Mark was totally hepeating when he re-worded my original idea to the team, and then got all the credit for it."
The term caught on very fast, with Nicole's tweet receiving almost 69,000 retweets and over 209,000 likes. One user wrote, "I can't count how many times in my career I said, 'But didn't I just say that?'" Another commenter said the term fit into her research on gendered silencing practices and asked if she could use the term in her dissertation.
My friends coined a word: hepeated. For when a woman suggests an idea and it's ignored, but then a guy says same thing and everyone loves it — Nicole Gugliucci (@NoisyAstronomer) September 22, 2017
On the origins of the world, Nicole tells CNBC Make It, "[My friends] are women who work in various industries like tech, gaming and science, and we were discussing the phenomenon lately. One of my friends came up with 'hepeated,' and we thought it was pretty funny." According to Harvard public policy professor and behavioral economist Iris Bohnet, the author of What Works: Gender Equality by Design, who spoke with CNBC Make It, hepeating is a type of micro-aggression—a subtle, prejudiced comment or action against a person or group, often made subconsciously. In this case, the hepeating is done by men against women. To combat hepeating, Iris suggests micro-sponsorship, or getting some coworkers to support you when a male colleague has gotten credit for your idea.In his centenary year, the songs of the father of protest live on in the music of Dylan and Springsteen. But his radical approach to life provides arguably an even greater legacy
Woody Guthrie was, as his daughter Nora told me yesterday, "the last of the great European troubadours and first singer-songwriter punk rocker". He was born on 14 July – Bastille Day – 1912 and this week Britain and America are preparing for the centenary of the birth of the folk singer who is the founding father of protest music.
In his birthplace of Okemah, Oklahoma, there will be a free festival; his son, Arlo Guthrie, plays in New York's Central Park next weekend, and Steve Earle will host Woodyfest in the same city. Earlier this year Bruce Springsteen, in a keynote address at the SXSW music industry festival in Texas, hailed Guthrie's "fatalism tempered by practical idealism", and conviction that "speaking truth to power was not futile". Events in Ireland, Germany, Austria and the length and breadth of the US testify to the power of Guthrie's legacy. There will be much poring over Bob Dylan's recollection of buying his hero cigarettes to smoke in hospital in New York and singing his old songs back to him during long afternoons by his bedside as Guthrie wasted away with Huntington's disease.
But it is at Hyde Park, London, next Saturday that the two artists who carry the mantle of Woody Guthrie's message and music combine on the same bill: Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, whose joint account of The Ghost of Tom Joad – Springsteen's homage to Woody's homage to John Steinbeck's hero – is among the most potent and electrifying performances ever.
"You throw a rock in water, and you watch the ripples," Nora Guthrie said. "I see these people singing these songs, and I'm not responsible for what happens. Each of them sees Woody through their own eyes; no one really knows who Woody was or is. I love it when I see people like Springsteen and Morello or John Fogerty together with those songs, because it all comes together in the big picture."
Guthrie, born into a family that was anything but leftist (and was even racist, according to many accounts), became the author of "hard-hitting songs for hard-hit people" – and America's alternative national anthem, This Land Is Your Land. Only recently have Springsteen and Morello decided to play the full version, never included in songbooks, with verses assailing private property. Nora Guthrie believes that these were omitted to simplify the song for schools; Morello that "they censored out all the verses which indicate what a revolutionary, class-war anthem it is".
Woody at 100 remains politically compelling, and sometimes baffling. The restoration of This Land Is Your Land demonstrates the dichotomies of Woody Guthrie and the American patriotic left, which loves the land (the dream, even) but fights the system – only to be embraced by that system.
A new book Woody Guthrie, American Radical, by American literature professor Will Kaufman, seeks cogently to reclaim Guthrie from his appearance on US postage stamps and the national heritage, asserting his part in "the communist movement, if not the Communist party".
Kaufman likes the idea of rightwingers "licking Woody's ass" on stamps, but his book went to press before This Land Is Your Land was turned into a "Google doodle" by the cyber-behemoth on last week's Independence Day. Guthrie, Kaufman reminds us, was an admirer of Stalin, though his membership of the US Communist party is debated.
Nora Guthrie, who curates her father's archive of letters, drawings, diaries and the rest, insists that he could never have existed "in the straitjacket of a party". She calls him "a commonist, not a communist", who "wanted to be involved in government to change things, not to overthrow it", and believed in government in a way that would infuriate the American right today.
Two centennial CD releases encapsulate the arguments: one out this week is a 3CD set from the Smithsonian Institution and the other is an extraordinary project in the pipeline at Rounder Records that will culminate in seven CDs and a book by the label's founder, Bill Nowlin.
Rounder has for many years brought out-of-print Guthrie music back into the catalogue, winning Grammy awards for recordings made in a Brooklyn basement and the so-called US government recordings that Woody made for the war effort, electrification and other federal programmes. Almost unknown are sessions included in the set that Woody recorded to promote penicillin, and 10 songs urging the prevention of venereal disease.
Nowlin said: "Woody threw himself into these things – during the war he joined the merchant marine, and was torpedoed twice. He is said to have been never happier than when working on songs about government projects bringing electricity to parts of the country. He was never actually blacklisted as a communist, but he was sidelined, and it's almost tragic to see how hard Woody tried to do more of the same."
Nora Guthrie, now married to a German broadcaster, sets all this in terms of her father "breaking the frames in which people put what they see and know. Some peoples' frame is 6x10, others' is 4x6! Woody just keeps breaking the frame. We file his songs by alphabetical order, and there'll be a song about a miner next to a children's song next to a song that's almost pornographic! I always think of it as: 'How wide can you stretch your arms?' He loved it all, from A to Z, from the prostitutes to the priests." And the great thing is, she adds: "These songs are made of quirky lines full of huge ideas. You can go as deep as you want to go, or you can settle right there."
Twenty years ago Nora Guthrie entrusted a wealth of lyrics to which her father had not composed tunes to Billy Bragg. The English singer has since recorded many of these with US band Wilco as The Mermaid Avenue Sessions. Bragg says: "When you sing I Ain't Got a Home in This World No More, with all these people foreclosed by the bank – it's pretty strong. I see myself as part of a chain of those who've been influenced by Woody Guthrie. Dylan, then me and what I'm doing with Wilco to the Mermaid Avenue lyrics – connecting them to future generations. It's like Tom Joad at the end of Grapes of Wrath – whenever I'm playing for Occupy, or people fighting the British National party, even if there's only two people listening, that's in the spirit of Woody Guthrie."
Then there's Woody the man, father – grandfather, indeed. Supervising logistics at the archive in New York state, which will next year move to a permanent home in Oklahoma, is Guthrie's granddaughter Anna Canoni, who describes her work as "Wow! That's all day, every day, for me, finding out something new about my grandfather.
"It's only since I had kids of my own that I realised Woody children's songs my mom sang me are actually very manipulative – about getting you to have a bath and go to bed! Sometimes I find something and think: 'Should someone really be reading this about their grandfather?', but then even our grandparents are individuals, and that's who Woody was."
It has become a cliche that Guthrie was a womaniser, but what does that mean? Ask his daughter: "If Woody did love a number of women, which he did, what's interesting is why he loved them."
She cites a conversation with Morello "and he was saying how frustrated and angry he was – and there was Woody's song Ease My Revolutionary Mind, which goes: 'I need a progressive woman / I need an awfully liberal woman / Ain't no reactionary baby / Can ease my revolutionary mind'. How often do you hear a man talk to you like that?
"There's a song about him dating my mom, and it's got them talking 'Quiet idle words, of the church and the steeple / The union, the war, and the world full of people'. Talking about the union while making love! Woody didn't love women because they have big Botox breasts and he didn't call them 'bitch' – he loved women for all the reasons they want to be loved for."
And as a father? "OK, so he wasn't the all-American father. But how many people have a father that wrote them 600 songs? He filled my head with big ideas. So he didn't play baseball with us, but he gave me things to think about for the rest of my life. I may never work them out, but what a journey!"During last Wednesday’s debate, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said that he plans to remove the federal subsidy for the Public Broadcasting Service. This statement reveals Romney’s weak and hypocritical policies in two ways.
One, PBS costs next to nothing when compared to other sections of the federal budget, and two, such a plan conflicts with Romney’s education-endorsing rhetoric throughout the debate, especially in light of PBS’s educational value.
Romney’s now-famous Big Bird line was: “I’m sorry, Jim. I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS. I’m going to stop other things. I like PBS, I love Big Bird. … But I’m not going to — I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for. That’s number one.”
So how much money would be spent on public broadcasting next year? The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the federal distributor of PBS and National Public Radio’s funding, will receive $445 million from the federal government in 2013, according to the House’s Committee on Appropriations.
This amount is a pittance when compared with $1.5 trillion spent on benefits programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security each year, not to mention the annual $700 billion that the Department of Defense demands. Proportionally, the Department of Defense receives nearly 1,600 times more money than public broadcast services. In other words, the government spends the same amount in one year on public broadcasting as the Pentagon spends in six hours.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson, a highly respected astrophysicist and frequent PBS contributor, highlighted this point on Twitter the night of the debate.
“Cutting PBS support (0.012 percent of budget) to help balance the Federal budget is like deleting text files to make room on your 500Gig hard drive,” he tweeted.
As Tyson’s simile illustrates, to cut public broadcasting funding would accomplish next to nothing. It’s crucial for voters — Obama and Romney supporters alike — to understand that slashing public broadcasting would do absolutely nothing to |
planning for this change for some time so the impact to new and future customers is negligible. We have seen no impact to continued sales since we stopped accepting PayPal,” Langridge told us.
While not all file-hosters are equally impacted, it is clear that the troubled industry has a long way to go before things calm down.This article is over 3 years old
The 73 companies posed too much of a social or environmental risk to the $794bn fund, the annual report said, as it steps up its divestments
Norway’s huge sovereign wealth fund, the world’s biggest, has sold out of 73 companies in the past year because their social or environmental policies could hurt profitability.
The Norwegian state pension fund’s annual report relating to “responsible investment” did not give the names of companies, but it indicated that most were coal or energy companies using coal, as well as those involved in mining, producing cement and heavy construction.
Coal 'isn't going anywhere' despite renewables boom, says industry head Read more
“We want to measure the risk in our investments,” said the head of the fund, Yngve Slyngstad, in a statement on Thursday.
“We expect companies to communicate the impact of their activities on the environment and the factors that could affect their long-term profitability,” he said.
The fund is currently worth around $794bn (£545bn), equivalent to around six annual budgets or more than $153,000 for each of the country’s 5.2 million inhabitants.
Fuelled from Norway’s huge oil and gas revenues, the fund is intended to pay for future generations in the welfare-state after the country’s wells run dry.
Over the past four years it has divested from 187 companies. Those decisions were made for financial reasons, which increasingly take into account social and environmental activities by the company and their impact on profit.
The fund can also exclude companies for purely ethical reasons when they are seen to be in serious violation of human rights, or are producers of nuclear weapons or tobacco.
Among those excluded have been some of the world’s biggest corporations such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Rio Tinto, Philip Morris and British American Tobacco.
The fund invests in a total of more than 9,000 companies and is considered a trailblazer in applying ethical considerations to investments.Ahead of Felipe Massa's final race in F1, F1i sat down with Rob Smedley, the man who has been closest to the Brazilian throughout his career at Ferrari and Williams
THE FIRST MEETING
I’d obviously seen him and watched him during the 2002 season when he first came in. So I first took an interest during the 2002 season when he was in that Sauber and I was at Jordan as a race engineer. I kind of did a little bit of background on him - his speed against his team-mate - and it wasn’t always entirely obvious how good he was because he used to crash a lot. But one thing that was absolutely clear if you took the time to look at it was how quick he was. He was blisteringly quick, especially over a timed lap. That was his forte when he was a kid, it was the one timed lap special.
I remember saying to Eddie Jordan that he was really interesting and we should have a look at him and Eddie - one of the few times that he ever did - listened to me and got him in for a driver fitting and we were going to have a test with him. So I actually met him on the eve of the 2003 season. So I think he’d been fired from Sauber at the end of ’02 and he was free. I said to Eddie: ‘We’ve got have a look at this kid, he’s really, really quick’.
So he came in and had a seat fitting. Eddie said to me “Would you take care of the seat fit and we’re going to run him in some test over the winter”. So going into ’03, he came in and he was an immediately likeable character. He was really like as young as his years betrayed, maybe even a bit younger in the head. Very happy, very lively and I just liked him as he was more of a kid then and I just liked him from that point of view of being young and a bit refreshing to the sport.
Imagine that if he’d gone to Jordan, taken some Banco do Brasil money or whatever he had at the time, had a year there in a shitbox car, paled into insignificance and that would have been the end of Felipe Massa
Anyway, the test didn’t come off and Eddie signed Ralph Firman instead. Then Felipe got a contract with Ferrari as a test driver, effectively. He became their test driver for 2003, so that really was - and we often reflect on it - the luckiest escape that he’s ever had! Imagine that if he’d gone to Jordan, taken some Banco do Brasil money or whatever he had at the time, had a year there in a shitbox car, paled into insignificance and that would have been the end of Felipe Massa.
Anyway, it wasn’t. So he went to Ferrari in 2003 and then I joined Ferrari in 2004, entirely unconnected obviously, and he’d gone back to Sauber at that time. So I used to see him round the paddock and because we’d met at the end of ’02 I used to chat with him, and he’s very infectious. He was very infectious at the time, just a really young, likeable lad. ’04 and ’05 were really great seasons for him in the Sauber. I think he was starting to mature a lot, he was nowhere near the finished article but he was starting to mature a lot. He crashed much less, I think that was the biggest differentiator between his first season in 2002 and then in ’04 and ’05. He crashed much less and because he was able to keep it on the track was beating his team-mate.
Then towards the end of 2005 he had a test in the Ferrari and it was apparently based on … I can’t remember the reasons for it but it then became apparent some months later when Ferrari signed him as a race driver. I wasn’t his race engineer to begin with actually, there’s another story behind that as well. His race engineer was a good engineer, a guy called Gabriele delli Colli. Effectively at the start of that season him and Gabriele didn’t really hit it off, so after the first four races I had to go and see Jean Todt.
I had to go to Jean Todt’s office, I’d only been at Ferrari for a couple of years and I’d spent as little time in Jean Todt’s office as I could. In there were Jean and Ross [Brawn] and they said to me: “We know you came to Ferrari because you wanted to stop racing”, which I did. I had a test team job, and I was really happy with what I was doing not he test team. I had kind of got sick of racing at Jordan in a short space of time. “We know you came to Ferrari because you wanted to go on the test team but what we’d like to do is we’d like to offer you a job back on the race team as Felipe’s race engineer. So what do you think?”
And it was typical Jean in that I went: “Err, err, well, err … I’m quite happy with my day job to be honest!’ And he said: ‘Yeah? Well, alright, I’ll ask you the question again! What do you think?’ I said: “Well are you telling me to do it?” And he said: “Pretty much, yeah.” So I said: “Right, well I’m doing it then aren’t I? I’ve got no choice!”
I went to the Nurburgring which was the first race. He’d had some fairly poor results and he just needed calming down, he was absolutely on the ceiling. I remember going to the Nurburgring and he was entirely agitated and nervous about his results and thought he had to beat Michael Schumacher and had to win races. I was like: “That will come, but you’ve got to do the groundwork first or you can’t do it”.
If I can be a-modest for a while, the thing that I probably did for him was set him realistic targets and say: “These are the targets and this is what we would like to try and achieve over the coming period”. And he just changed completely because somebody had put their arm round him and said: “You can do it. There’s an awful lot of work to do for you to be the finished product but you can do it and this is how we’re going to achieve it”. That first race we got a podium, Michael won it and Felipe got a podium and then it just clicked and things fell into place after that.San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh looks towards the scoreboard during a break in the action against the Oakland Raiders in the fourth quarter at O.co Coliseum. (Photo11: Cary Edmondson, USA TODAY Sports)
Michigan is apparently making a serious run at San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh to fill the open coaching position.
According to a report from the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, citing anonymous sources, U-M offered Harbaugh $8 million per year to coach the Wolverines.
That would be almost $1 million more than the current highest-paid college coach, Alabama's Nick Saban, who made $7,160,187 in his most recent season, according to USA Today.
MORE: College coaches salary database
ANALYSIS: How offer compares to Hoke, Saban
"Jim Harbaugh has not yet told Michigan a definitive no," Rapoport said on NFL Network's "Around the NFL."
Rapoport earlier reported that U-M had approached Harbaugh and he said he would prefer to stay in the NFL.
Meanwhile, ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter posted on his Facebook page today that one person familiar with Harbaugh's thinking said he is "considering it." Schefter also said that another person close to the hiring process said "it was not likely" Harbaugh would end up at Michigan.
Harbaugh, the former Michigan quarterback, signed a five-year, $25 million contract when he was hired by the 49ers in 2011. He took them to the Super Bowl and two other NFC title games in his first three seasons. This year, though, the 49ers were eliminated from playoff contention last weekend.
He has one year remaining on his contract but most NFL insiders, including Rapoport, have insisted that there is no repairing his damaged relationship with 49ers management. Rapoport said the Oakland Raiders are interested as well.
Michigan has not made any statements about who is being targeted as a candidate since firing Brady Hoke on Dec. 2.
Harbaugh's last regular season game with the 49ers is Dec. 28 at home against the Arizona Cardinals.
Mark Snyder writes for the Detroit Free Press.
COLLEGE COACHING CAROUSEL:The conference will be compered by
Kate Smurthwaite, comedian and feminist activist.
SATURDAY OPENING 9.30 - 10.15
SOPHIE WALKER
Leader of the Women's Equality Party
KEYNOTE SPEECH: CORDELIA FINE
Testosterone Rex: Myths of sex, science and society
We’re all familiar with Testosterone Rex: the pervasive idea that risk-taking, competitive masculinity evolved in males to enhance reproductive success, and that these traits are therefore wired into the male brain, and fueled by testosterone. This compelling set of interconnected beliefs seem to offer an explanation for why men are much more likely than women to achieve Rex-like status in society – but do the scientific ideas bear up to scrutiny?
CLAIRE HEUCHAN
Interracial solidarity in the Women's Movement
The feminist movement has the potential to change the world by liberating women and girls from oppression. It contains countless women and, with them, countless possibilities. Among those possibilities is the potential for interracial solidarity between women. Highlighting ways for women to use difference as a creative force in our lives and politics, Claire will discuss practical methods of unpicking racism within feminist spaces and offer a radical vision of sisterhood.
SATURDAY MORNING 10.45 - 12.15
BREAKAWAY SESSION OPTIONS (PICK ONE)
When Courage Is "Illegal" - The Story of Women Refugees
Refugee women face the keenest injustices as they cross borders seeking safety. Women for Refugee Women has been campaigning against these injustices, particularly against the indefinite detention of women in Yarl’s Wood, and ensuring the voices of refugee women are heard in the women’s movement. How can you support the campaign against detention for women seeking asylum? What do the experiences of refugee women tell us about the failures of the state to protect women? How can we build solidarity now to ensure justice and safety for women seeking asylum? Gemma Lousley from Women for Refugee Women will be speaking with Vivian, who was detained in Yarl’s Wood detention centre, alongside Jennifer Blair and Frances Trevena. Chair: Daniela Pichler.
LA LA Land
Putting the freeze on strip tease: a workshop on challenging local authorities who license sexual entertainment venues.
Are you involved in campaigning against SEVs (lap dancing clubs) in your local area, or are you thinking of starting a campaign? In this practical workshop, Alison Boydell and Helen Mott will share their experiences, information and resources gained over years of feminist campaigning in Sheffield and Bristol.
Speakers: Dr Sasha Rakoff, Alison Boydell, Helen Mott
Political Awakening
We are in the midst of a ‘democratic surge’, suddenly a radical and egalitarian alternative to the right-wing neoliberal domination of Parliamentary politics seems possible, it is finding its voice, making plans, having an effect. This has huge implications for feminism.
Speakers: Sirio Canos, Beatrix Campbell, Kate Flannery,
Getting justice for women when men are violent
How can we use the law to challenge the failures of the government and state institutions to prevent violence against women and girls? How can we defend women subject to discrimination and penalisation by the criminal justice system? This workshop will explore both frightening developments and inspiring legal challenges of a patriarchal criminal justice system.
The panel includes: Harriet Wistrich, lawyer and founder of the Centre for Women’s Justice; Pragna Patel, campaigner and director of Southall Black Sisters; Professor Lisa Avalos on rape complainants charged with perverting the course of justice and Fiona Broadfoot on a ground-breaking legal challenge of criminal convictions arising from street prostitution.
Speakers: Harriet Wistrech, Pragna Patel, Lisa Avalos, Fiona Broadfoot
Revolutionary Women
October 2017 marks the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. On this occasion we are bringing together five prominent international speakers to discuss What it means and What it costs to be a female revolutionary. Dedicated to the role and struggles of women in the radical movements, this panel will pay tribute to the past and present female revolutionary thinkers and activists of Russia, Rojava and the UK, and will reflect on their shared and unique challenges, tactics and achievements.
Speakers: Anna Zobnina, Leda Garina, Angelina Lesniewski, Sheila Rowbotham, Nadia Plungian, and Rahila Gupta
Talking persuasively when you fundamentally disagree
Do you want to speak truth to power? Do you lobby decision makers, but find a lack of common ground stops your message getting through? This workshop is about how to speak to people when you think agreement is impossible.
Speaker: Jessica Metherington
SATURDAY AFTERNOON 1.15 - 2.45
BREAKAWAY SESSION OPTIONS (PICK ONE)
Prison Doesn’t Work
Hear from the national charity Women In Prison and women affected by the criminal justice system on the urgent need to dismantle our broken and harmful prison system and how you can help achieve the starting ambition of reducing the women's prison population to 2,020 by 2020.
Femicide
Femicide is a sex-based hate crime carried out by men against women; some argue that it is the ultimate expression of patriarchy. Femicide names what Diana Russell calls the “sexual politics of murder”
On this panel we will hear about the campaign ‘Counting Dead Women’ and the significance of the Femicide Census; Spanish hunger strikers against Femicide; Turkish women ‘Dying to Divorce’ and the disappearing of Canada’s First Nations women.
Speakers: Karen Ingala-Smith, Gloria Vasquez, Sara Estrada, Sinead Kirwan, Zahra Bahman
Flaunting Fearlessness
Can we reclaim the body positivity movement before it tries to shame us?
A panel of 4 speakers discuss what body positivity means to them, cultural conditioning within the current media body positivity movement, and if the want to change your body is a feminist journey to undertake.
Anti-Shame Week founders will host a workshop to discuss and explore how body shaming changes with age, race, health and body shape.
Speakers: Ellie Richardson, Kiran Gandhi (via Skype), Hilary Farnworth, and
Sarah Beckett
Abortion Act: 50 years
The 1967 Abortion Act was 50 years ago, but many women in the UK and Ireland still do not have the right to an abortion. Abortion seekers from both Northern Ireland (still part of the UK) and the Republic of Ireland, have to travel, mainly to Britain, for a safe and legal abortion for which they must pay considerable sums of money. This is not possible for all women, leaving them vulnerable to criminalisation, back street procedures and all the associated complications, including death.
Witness also the global push back of women’s reproductive autonomy in the US, Poland and elsewhere. The session will also consider the anti-choice movement, focusing on the harassment women face outside clinics when seeking abortion services.
We will hear from women who recognise that in spite of the Abortion Act, there is still a long way to go, and we will hear from Poland where women organised a mass strike against the anti-abortion bill.
Speakers: Krystyna Kacpura, Ann Rossiter, Claire Henry, Helena Walsh, Clare Murphy and Dr Pam Lowe
Changing scripts to challenge gender inequalities ****** SOLD OUT ********
Gradual games and exercises will give you the opportunity to start a playful and collective examination of the roots of gender inequalities and bring to the stage simple situations where you believe they appear. Should we accept the stories that surround us or can we change them? How can we tackle gender stereotypes in our daily lives? How can we challenge the attitudes which normalise discrimination and violence? Through image and forum theatre we will express problematic situations and rehearse possible solutions.
There is absolutely no need to have acting experience. Your life is the expertise we will use to build a stronger collective awareness. If you enjoy games, and believe everyone has an immense creative potential to trigger change in everyday life then this workshop is for you.
Speakers: Anne Laure Humbert and Claudia Signoretti
Feminist Art: Access, Activism and Representation
This session will address important issues in the creation of feminist art: access, activism and representation. We will explore the difficulties accessing the art world and the struggle to be taken seriously as artists, and on the application of feminist art in reframing justice for victim-survivors of rape.
Speakers: Daniela Pilcher, Sophie Doherty, Carmen Aleman, Rose Gibbs
SATURDAY AFTERNOON 3.15 - 4.45
BREAKAWAY SESSION OPTIONS (PICK ONE)
Women and the environment: a feminist perspective of the current environmental situation
How does the natural environment affect women? Are women more affected by climate change than men? What is the role of women in biodiversity conservation? How does water scarcity threaten women around the world? How can women be empowered by the sustainable management of natural resources?
This session will explore the relationship between gender and the environment, how the most pressing environmental issues are affecting women’s lives and, most importantly, how women are part of the solution.
Speakers: Louisa Gosling, Mireya Méndez De la Torre, Dr Halima Begum, Kate Metcalf
Putting Class back into Feminism
1515 - 1645 WORKING CLASS WOMEN’S MOVEMENT
The foundations of the working class women’s movement can be traced to minimum wage strikes in Dewsbury in 1875; the Bryant and May match workers strike in 1888 and the chain makers strike in 1901; the sewing machinists who went on strike for equal pay in Fords in Dagenham and the speech and language therapists who took the government to European court for equal pay in the NHS.
The movement draws strength from democratically elected women’s structures in trade unions which bring together women from all sectors of the economy and regions and nations to determine the policy platform for women at work and in our communities.
Working class women are struggling to make ends meet. The system of social security is broken, leaving many of us in poverty. The opportunities for decent jobs have been destroyed by neoliberal economic policy. If we can find work we are working in a world where targets are increased once we have met them, we are regularly long working hours of unpaid overtime, two or three part time jobs, insecure work and zero hours contracts. When we get pregnant we are likely to be sacked and if we return to work we juggle child care. Our pensions have been stolen and we have a Government that is determined to make us pay for a global financial crash which took place because our campaigns for regulation of global financial markets were ignored.
Our strategy for equality is global, because capital is global. Our strategy is empowering, and political. Our strategy is to organise, to sign up as many women as possible to our union, because we know, above all, our strength is in our numbers
We are active in our workplaces, in our unions and in our communities in campaigns for gender equality. We campaign for abortion rights, defending the NHS from privatisation, campaigns against cuts to our benefits and the closures of sure start centres. We represent people at work who have had their pay cut, hours cut or jobs threatened by the Government’s austerity programme.
Speakers: Equality through Collective action, Unite the Union, Stop Benefit Cuts, Hope Rising Action Group, State Pension Inequality, WASPI pensions campaign
Speakers: Julie Longden, Siobhan Endean and others tbc
Sexual Exploitation of Women: Where Misogyny and Racism Meet
This panel, organised by the European Network of Migrant Women (ENOMW) and chaired by the British feminist Julie Bindel, will give platform to the African, Russian, Middle Eastern and South Asian women’s rights activists to critically discuss the global & European exploitation of female bodies, in which discrimination based on sex, race/ethnicity, class and legal status come together to justify the oldest form abuse of women, prostitution. From the trafficking of Nigerian females by the Black Axe gang, to the Arab girls temporarily “married off” for prostitution, to the European policy increasingly under pressure to normalise female sexual exploitation, the speakers will examine, from an intersectional perspective, what makes it difficult to resist the growing sex industry and what needs to be done to combat it, collectively.
In this panel, Julie Bindel will also introduce her newly published book “Pimping of Prostitution: Abolishing the Sex Work Myth”.
Speakers: Anna Zobnina, Alicia Arbid, Salome Mbugua, Julie Bindel and Sadia Hameed
Build A Girl
The Build A Girl Project was founded by Fiona Broadfoot, a survivor of Child Sexual Exploitation.
The project provides a safe and therapeutic environment for Girls and Young Women to 'Build A' Unique self by; raising aspirations and self-esteem. Empowering girls and young women to make safe and informed choices and healthy relationships.
Speaker: Fiona Broadfoot
Trump & Co: Bash Or Hug?
"The world is cold, dark and totally f##ked right now and I blame white men. They gave us Brexit and we have one as president of the US. Now the question is should we bash these men or hug them and help them to grow up?" Nimco Ali leads a session on men in power.
Women Making News, Women Changing The World
What would feminist news and current affairs look like?
We’ve heard a lot recently about the fight for more women making Hollywood movies, but what about our own TV News? How different would it look if women chose the stories and - more important maybe - the angle on the stories? And what happens when you make a story too radical for TV?
Feature and documentary film-maker Sue Clayton talks about her recent forays into TV news and Current Affairs, shows her new activist film on the Calais Jungle children, and argues that women do tell stories differently, and that in the world today more than ever, we need our voices to be heard loud and clear.
Speaker: Sue Clayton
www.calais.gebnet.co.uk
Calais Film Trailer
SATURDAY AFTERNOON 5.15-6.30
EMMA HUMPHREY MEMORIAL PRIZEGIVING× Stone Murder: Metro Squad Will Disband
RAYTOWN, Mo. — After three days, the Metro Squad expects it will disband on Wednesday and turn over the investigation into the murder of Harry Stone to the Raytown Police Department.
Stone, 60, was killed while jogging Sunday morning at about 7:20 at 67th and Blue Ridge Blvd. Police suspect the murder could have been a gang initiation or a dare.
On Tuesday police returned to canvass the area to try to find evidence that will lead them to Stone’s killer. About 35 cadets from the police academy assisted.
Surveillance video shows a dark-colored car driving north on 67th Street passed Stone as he was jogging, and without slowing down, opened fire on him. Police believe there were two men in the car, a driver and a shooter.
“It was daylight. There were witnesses,” said Thomas Prudden, a Raytown police detective. “But it was such a quick incident and there was nothing to tell you it was going to happen. Somebody driving by, holding a gun outside and shooting and then driving off. You can imagine how hard that is to investigate or get evidence from.”
Also Tuesday, police determined that a car they stopped Monday night that matched the description of the suspect vehicle is unrelated to the crime.
Monday night at about 7:30 p.m., police tried to stop a dark-colored car, but the driver sped away. Police chased him to 61st and Agnes, where about 15 officers from three agencies surrounded him.
The driver was taken into custody but Tuesday morning police determined he was not connected to Stone’s murder.
The suspect vehicle is a dark-colored, 4-door sedan captured on surveillance video from the BP gas station near the scene of the murder.
Stone’s daughter spoke to the media Monday afternoon.
“Do the right thing,” Susan Li pleaded to those who may know something about the crime.
Li said her father was very active, jogging nearly everyday by himself or with his dog. He was also active in the church. He is survived by his wife, children and grandchildren.
Church Members Disturbed by Stone’s Murder
FOX 4 is following this developing story and will update as more information comes in. Refresh this page for updates.After starting off last season in a jail cell and finishing it as Watford's lynchpin, Troy Deeney's magnificent start to the season points to another promotion push for The Hornets.
It’s been a strange few years for Watford. The brink of administration. An owner whose brief reign could be described as colourful. The brink of administration, again. To finally cap it all off, the arrival of an Italian footballing family, a footballing legend & a boatload of players.
The player who seemed least likely to profit from that arrival wasn’t actually at the club when the takeover went through. He was in an open jail, wondering what the hell had happened to his career.
Rewind a couple of years, and Troy Deeney was recruited by Malky Mackay to offer a bit of competition to his first choice striking duo of Marvin Sordell & Danny Graham. Deeney arrived on the back of a reasonable season for Walsall which had seen him score 14 goals & win The Saddlers' player of the season award.
ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website
Initial impressions of the big Brummie amongst Watford supporters was mixed. Mainly playing on the right wing, his performances offered plenty of hustle and bustle but little in the way of goals. That he was playing on the right wing was mainly down to the form of Graham and Sordell who spent much of the season scoring goals left, right and centre, and giving Mackay no reason to change things.
ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website
ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website
The departure of Graham at the end of the 2010 - 2011 season offered an opening for Deeney up front with Sordell. Unlike Sordell’s partnership with Graham, in the more defensively-oriented team of Sean Dyche (who’d replaced the Cardiff bound Mackay), Deeney & Sordell never really clicked. Whilst the team briefly flirted with relegation early on in the season, by deadline day in January some breathing space had been gained, mainly through the inspired loan signing of Michael Kightly. On a day of (relatively speaking) high drama for the club, Sordell (to the surprise of many) disappeared off to Bolton. That night, Joe Garner scored the winner against Millwall; ultimately, though, it was Deeney who was the big winner of the transfer.
For the final three months of the season, a different player emerged. Often partnered by Chris Iwelumo, his confidence increased to the point that he was willing (and able) to score a goal of minor genius against Ipswich ending up with goal of the season, all on the back of his own willingness to chase down every ball.
Deeney ended the season with 11 goals, 8 of them scored since Sordell’s departure. He was undoubtedly the club’s number 9. He also ended the season with a court case looming; a regular on the clubbing scene in his home city of Birmingham, Deeney was involved in a scuffle which ended with himself & 3 others (including his brother) being charged with affray. Initially Deeney had also been charged with assaulting a police officer, which was dropped. Nonetheless, the scuffle had left a student with a broken jaw & Deeney’s career in the balance. When the judgement came in June 2011, the striker was given 10 months, having pleaded guilty.
The arrival of Gianfranco Zola and the Pozzo family heaped further questions on the big striker’s future - even amongst Watford supporters there was no consensus on whether or not fans wanted to see him wearing the yellow shirt again. The club kept its options open, meeting Deeney’s representatives and waiting for reports regarding his behaviour and the length of time he was likely to serve.
As the new season opened with a 3-2 win at Crystal Palace, Deeney was listening from his cell. As soon as it became clear he was likely to be released early, the club announced its intention to retain him. The expectation was that Deeney, lacking a pre-season and any match fitness would be unlikely to appear straight away.
Following a friendly, organised to gauge his fitness, he was chucked straight into the fold. His first appearance as a substitute at home to Bristol City saw him hitting the post in the 88th minute. His first start, a week later at Huddersfield, showed what the stuttering Hornets had been lacking. His first goal of the season was an injury time penalty, smashed past Alex Smithies. Initially partnering Fernando Forestieri, his power a counterpoint to the little Argentine’s guile, Deeney made himself undroppable. Alongside Matej Vydra, as Deeney arrived, so did the Hornets. Before his first start against Huddersfield, the new look Hornets had won 2 of their first 7. Afterwards, 20 of the 39 remaining league games were won. The demolition of Brighton at the Amex finally made the rest of the country sit up and take note. All of a sudden, Deeney had become much, much more than a target man. For all the brickbats thrown at the Hornets last season, little was made of the quality of the coaching the players received. The Czech got the headlines, but the supporters knew who was the key; Deeney made the team play - holding the ball up, monstering centre backs and when it really mattered hitting the back of the net.
A season which had seen him start in jail saw Deeney ending it as the talisman. For all the foreign quality, it was some English steel which saw the Hornets into the play off final. In some ways, that Deeney reserved two of his poorest performances for two of the biggest games (Leeds on the last day, which saw him sent off, and an anonymous performance at Wembley) didn’t really matter to most Hornets supporters.
His performance against Leicester had seen him enter the history books much like another Watford number 9 who he’d played alongside at Walsall, one Tommy Mooney - a hero to most Watford supporters of a certain age and another player who was known as much for his hard work as his quality.
What’s also not appreciated outside of the confines of Watford is that actually, he’s a pretty funny character. His twitter (@t_deeney) is used to provide his mockery of some of the fashion crimes that take place in the Watford dressing room (Fernando Forestieri is a favourite target). Over the summer just gone, it was used as a way to let Watford supporters know that the (in)famous loanees were coming back (it’s not been acknowledged by the club, but the use of twitter by certain key players has been superb in keeping supporters up to date without necessarily confirming anything officially) and what the players were up to in Italy. Amusingly, it was also used to call out a supporter who’d left the team hotel with a bill of €200 owing.
That he’s started the new season on fire isn’t a surprise to us who know. And what makes a refreshing change from previous years is knowing that a player of this quality isn’t going to be sold for buttons. Unlike Danny Graham, Heidar Helgusson and Marvin Sordell, when Troy goes it won’t be to keep the club afloat. It’ll be because we get the offer a player of his quality deserves.In the season three finale of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Coulson stepped down as director, paving the way for his new successor to take the reins. Over the summer, it was announced that Jason O’Mara was cast as the new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., but he didn’t appear in the season four premiere last week. But, thanks to a new clip from Entertainment Weekly, we have our first look at O’Mara’s director.
Back when his casting was announced, the only details we were given on his character was that he had ties back to the 1940s. While this clip doesn’t definitively confirm anything about his ancestry or historical ties, we do learn that his first name is Jeffrey. We also get a glimpse of his directorial style, which seems to be far more formal than Coulson’s. He had a guard posted at the door who announced Coulson and May in when they went to meet with the new director, something that May wasn’t too fond of. When asked about the addition of O’Mara to the cast, executive producer Jeph Loeb had this to say:
“We knew that when we brought Jason into the show we wanted a different flavor than Fury, we wanted a different flavor than [Hill], we wanted a different flavor than Phil … What would be the best way of introducing someone that we’ve never see before be the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.? And why; why him? Why is he the right guy for this?”
We’ll have to wait and make that call for ourselves as the season continues Tuesdays this fall on ABC.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns with episode 4×02 entitled “Meet the New Boss” tomorrow night at 10|9 Central on ABC.
Source: Entertainment WeeklyYou have by now perhaps settled a little bit more into these unsettled energies, and as such, you will have become a little bit more familiar with all of these fluctuating patterns that in turn will begin to fire up some rather interesting affinities within you. You see, these buttons that are being pushed throughout all of these energetic missives that keep on showering down on you are indeed buttons that have been waiting to be reactivated again for such a long time, and so, they will begin slowly but surely to gain momentum as the days and indeed nights continue to add more energy to this process. And so, little by little, clarity will appear where before there were only murkiness, and a sense of solidity and empowerment will emerge from what has previously felt like an ocean of exhaustion, despair and frustration. But together with all of this emergence also follows dissolving, and you may find yourself looking at something that falls into pieces around you, and what you see reduced to a heap of rubble, may be circumstances in your life that you hitherto have seen as fundamental or as permanent. But fret now, for as we have told you on many an occasion, whatever comes apart now, does so in order to let the new emerge on every level you can think of, and then some. For without the breaking of the old mold, the new could not be born fully formed and have room to literally unfold its wings and take to the sky.
So again we say, know that all is well, even if all you see at the moment seems to be things falling apart or ripping at the seams, for know that this is simply the first sign of the emergence of everything that you have been waiting for. For just as the new shoots will push the dirt and indeed everything that stands in its way aside in its quest for air and light and space to grow, so too will these incoming energies cause expansion on every level, not only within, but also without, and so, you might feel as if ready to burst at times. But do not fear dear ones, what you may feel as an ominous pressure at times, a pressure that may make you feel as if you are ready to lose your top – both figuratively and literally – is only the pressure from everything that is standing ready to come out and show its – and your – true colours for the very first time.
So remember to sit back and take a deep breath whenever you feel the pressure mounting, and know that you will not be blown to pieces by all of this added pressure. In fact, this pressure is actually helping you to expand, and as this process takes place in literally all directions, it will be |
ata.
“It was perfect from Nishioka-san’s point-of-view,” Fujinami said.
Otani led off the game with a double off fellow rookie Sugano. Doubles have been one of Otani’s calling cards this season, with the 19-year-old having recorded 13 so far.
He moved to third on a single by Hasegawa and came home when Softbank’s Seiichi Uchikawa hit into a double play.
The CL tied the score on Miyamoto’s RBI single in the second, and went ahead when Arai drove in Hanshin teammate Matt Murton with an RBI single in the third.
Sakamoto tacked on an insurance run in the sixth with his RBI single.Starting Thursday, Sens. Tom Cotton (R – AR) and Marco Rubio (R – FL) stalled the compromise Iran nuclear talks bill, trying to force votes on a series of amendments to the bill that would impose a series of new demands on Iran, none of which were nuclear-related.
Some of the amendments, including a demand that Iran publicly endorse Israel as a “Jewish state,” were opposed even by many hawks, who saw the language as so divisive it might imperil the bill outright.
The Senate’s Republican leadership has announced they are going to “wrap up” consideration of amendments to the bill on Monday, spurning further pushes by Cotton and Rubio, and will try to have a vote on the bill itself this week. The bill aims to give the US Congress the power to veto a deal between the P5+1 and Iran.
President Obama had initially threatened to veto the bill for imperiling the talks, but after an agreement to water it down slightly gave the Senate a probable veto-proof majority, he backed down. His threats to veto renewed with Cotton and Rubio’s amendments, which simultaneously were likely to cost the bill its veto-proof majority.
Last 5 posts by Jason DitzVirgil Abloh and Nike‘s “OFF CAMPUS” workshops and talks start later this week and fans have been clamoring to find out when and how to purchase the sneakers. Now, thanks to an internal FAQs sheet for the drop, we find out the exact dates and method of release for the highly sought-after pairs.
According to the “FAQs: NIKE, INC. PRESENTS ‘TEN ICONS RECONSTRUCTED’ BY VIRGIL ABLOH” document, the collection will be split into two five-pair releases, the first five styles will include the Air Jordan 1, Blazer, Air Presto, Air Max 90 and Air VaporMax as the “REVEALING” styles, the latter five will be called “GHOSTING.”
In order to win a chance to purchase, you’ll have to enter via THE DRAW. Starting September 6, you can enter one time for each style in the “REVEALING” selection. As always, if you win THE DRAW you must have valid ID and be the person that picks up the pair once given the official confirmation and details for time and pickup.
All 10 pairs will have a November release but a pre-release for the “REVEALING” silhouettes will take place in New York City from September 9-13. A global release for these models follows in the coming weeks; London (September 18-22), Milan (September 21-25) and Paris (September 26-30). In NYC, the retailers carrying the sneakers will be NikeLab 21M and DSM.
Mark your calendars for the biggest release of the year and while you wait, take a look at how the reconstructed icons compare to the originals. Read the full Nike FAQ sheet here.This is not the type of anecdote by which Sang, 36, currently wants to be defined, and for good reason. In December, International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo listed him as one of six suspects implicated in a probe of the post-election violence, which killed more than 1,200 Kenyans and displaced hundreds of thousands. In particular, Sang stands accused of contributing to the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and forcible transfer of population. He accomplished this, Ocampo says, not with subtle soccer metaphors but rather with overt calls to arms -- "What are you waiting for?" "What are you doing at home?" "The war has begun" -- paired with specific instructions.
Guilty or not, Ocampo's filings make Sang one of the few journalists ever to be accused of atrocity crimes, and the respective fates of his predecessors do not bode well for his prospects should the case against him go to trial.
In 1946, the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg found Julius Streicher, publisher of the Nazi newspaper Der Stürmer as well as anti-Semitic children's books, guilty of incitement to murder and extermination, sentencing him to hang. The next such verdict came more than fifty years later at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which ultimately tried and convicted four journalists affiliated with the notorious Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines, or RTLM.
The Rwanda cases popularized the idea that journalists could play a central role in mass slaughter. From mainstream films to peer-reviewed papers, the contributions of RTLM to the campaign against ethnic Tutsis, hundreds of thousands of whom were killed by ethnic Hutus, feature in most accounts of the genocide. Roméo Dallaire, who commanded UN forces in Rwanda, has written that during the genocide radio "was akin to the voice of God," and that "if the radio called for violence, many Rwandans would respond."
At an event in April marking the anniversary of the genocide, a senior legal adviser at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) told reporters gathered at the Rwandan High Commission in Nairobi that the case against Sang was made possible in part by the Rwandan tribunal's prosecutions of journalists. "We are happy that today journalists cannot use the mic and the newspaper to propagate incitement, and to incite the population to commit crimes against humanity," said Roland Kouassi Amoussouga, who is also a tribunal spokesman. "That is a legacy of the ICTR."
But this legacy has some scholars wondering whether the connection between airwaves and mass graves has been overstated. Scott Straus, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin, has raised doubts about the potential culpability of the media in large-scale violence. In a 2007 paper drawing on the content of RTLM programming, interviews with perpetrators, and an analysis of RTLM's broadcast range compared to where violence occurred, Straus concluded that the station had, at worst, a "second-order impact" on the genocide that could not be equated with the influence of other factors, among them face-to-face mobilization by local leaders.Melissa Gesing, the president of an Iowa Republican women's group, resigned because of Donald Trump. | AP Photo President of Iowa Republican women's group resigns over Trump
The president of the Iowa Federation of Republican Women resigned Tuesday night, writing in a statement that she “cannot support Donald J. Trump for president, nor can I advocate for his election.”
“I feel that I cannot adequately fulfill the duties of my position,” Melissa Gesing wrote in her resignation letter, which she also published on Twitter. “I am still a Republican and plan to work hard for our down ballot GOP candidates."
Story Continued Below
The Iowa FRW is a tax-exempt 527 organization made up of women whose mission is "to elect Republicans at all levels of government with Trump as our party’s nominee."
The Manhattan billionaire’s long history of derogatory and objectifying remarks toward and about women has weighed heavily on his electoral chances. Most recently, The Washington Post published previously unheard clips of Trump speaking into a hot microphone in 2005, describing in vulgar terms how his star power allowed him to make unwanted sexual advances on women and grope them without fear of consequence.
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted after the release of the 2005 video showed Trump trailing Hillary Clinton by 11 points, 46 percent to 35 percent, among likely voters nationwide in a four-way race that also includes Libertarian Gary Johnson and the Green Party’s Jill Stein.
Gesing took particular issue with the statement issued by National Federation of Republican Women President Carrie Almond, which reaffirmed the group’s support for Trump and did not mention his most recent remarks about women.
“This is truly a last resort for me,” Gesing wrote. “I cannot in good conscience lead this organization or look at myself in the mirror each morning if I do not take a stand against the racism, sexism and hate that Donald J. Trump continues to promote.”Vontaze Burfict is easily one of the most controversial players in the NFL. This isn't exactly news to anyone who has followed his football career, but it's a fact that is becoming more and more prevalent the longer he plays.
Going all the way back to his college days, Burfict was known as a player who had first round talent heading into the NFL Draft, but could fall fairly far due to disciplinary issues and some noticeable friction between he and his coaches. Those fears were confirmed when Burfict fell out of the draft entirely and had to settle for signing as a college free agent with the Bengals.
Throughout his career in the NFL, his story hasn't been much different. While he hasn't had any rifts with the Bengals' coaching staff, disciplinary issues continue to hinder his performance. In fact, despite holding down a starting position with the team for essentially his whole career, he's become known for his reckless playing style more than his outstanding playing ability.
Since entering the league, he has committed 30 penalties (26 accepted). Among those are 12 instances of unnecessary roughness, two personal fouls, and one roughing the passer. That's half of his total penalty count which has either been caused by recklessness or down right dirty play:
Dirty or Reckless?
The severity of the answer depends on who you ask, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of difference of opinion on Burfict's play from those outside of the Bengals' organization and fan base. Most fans and analysts from every part of the spectrum seem to agree that he has some major issues that need to be corrected. In fact, a panel of ESPN's AFC North writers recently got together to discuss whether Burfict is a dirty player and all three said he is, although not with the same reasoning.
Jamison Hensley, Baltimore Ravens reporter: Dirty, and you can underscore that. Some might think Burfict has become public enemy No. 1 in the Ravens' locker room since Hines Ward is retired. In last year's finale, guard John Urschel called out Burfict by tweeting out a video of the linebacker blindsiding Maxx Williams with a helmet-to-helmet hit that knocked the Baltimore tight end off his feet. The ball wasn't even coming in Williams' direction. That wasn't the Ravens' first run-in with Burfict. In 2014, wide receiver Torrey Smith was hit late by Burfict after he was already shaken up from a collision with Adam Jones. "He's a heck of a player," Smith said. "He's a dirty one, too." In the 2012 draft, the Ravens were one of the teams linked to Burfict but decided not to select him. "There were other players who we felt had better qualities to be Baltimore Ravens," assistant general manager Eric DeCosta said at the time.
It's an understandable position to take from the perspective of a rival team that has seen Burfict's recklessness on more than one notable occasion. Anotherer being this late hit on Joe Flacco.
However, if there's one team that knows the wrath of Burfict, it's the Pittsburgh Steelers. Tackles by Burfict have injured three particular Steelers players.
Jeremy Fowler, Pittsburgh Steelers reporter: The disdain opposing players have for Burfict reaffirms the belief that he's dirty, and I try not to throw around that word casually. But players know when a guy has good intentions. They believe Burfict crossed that plane a long time ago. And not just Steelers players. Many across the league have taken notice. The rep will be difficult to shake. On some levels, I understand his approach. He was undrafted out of Arizona State. Playing with an edge maximizes his play and sustains his livelihood. This is on Marvin Lewis, too, because something isn't connecting with Burfict, who's a heck of a player save for the antics. Maybe the three-game suspension will resonate. Lewis must do something to breed composure. And let's just say the Steelers will be disappointed when they play Cincinnati in Week 2 without Burfict, who played a role in injuring Pittsburgh's three best offensive players.
One point that I do agree on in this particular quote is the fact that part of Burfict's problem seems to be a lack of composure. He seems to get carried away with the game, taking dangerous angles and making hits that look 'dirty'. It's obvious to see this happening in instances like when one of his hits injured Antonio Brown in this year's Wild Card playoff game.
Burfict went for the hit on Brown to knock the ball out and prevent the Steelers from advancing into field goal range, but he utilized poor technique by taking a bad angle and hitting Brown in the helmet with the brunt of his shoulder pad. It doesn't look like he was trying to be malicious, but it is absolutely true that this kind of reckless behavior is the kind of thing that not only gets you in trouble but can seriously threaten the health of another player. It's something that Burficr absolutely must reign in.
In a way, it's kind of like Burfict's infamous hit on Le'Veon Bell that ended Bell's 2015 campaign. He went to tackle him out of bounds and, unfortunately, the angle and location of the hit caused Bell's MCL to severely tear. However, despite the fact that Bell accused Burfict of intentionally trying to injure him, Burfict did express concern and support for the Steelers' running back during his recovery. And, the hit was a legal one.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
The Scottish Government have come under fire for a creeping tide of state secrecy.
Campaigners yesterday voiced concern at the way rules on the release of information are applied.
They said it was time an inquiry was set up at the Scottish Parliament to deal with the problem.
Twenty-three media organisations, including the Record, have already raised fears with MSPs that freedom of information laws are “under great doubt”.
Now members of the Open Government Network for Scotland, which includes charities, academics and unions, have penned a letter that ratchets up those concerns.
The legal process of gaining access to public information has become bogged down with breaches, long delays and “tenuous” knock-backs, campaigners warned.
(Image: PA)
Matthew Rice, Scotland director of the network’s Open Rights Group who penned the letter, said: “The Scottish Government’s record on freedom of information has fallen short of the standard they have set themselves.
“The Scottish Parliament recognised this with a motion criticising the Government’s record in June, which was voted for by MSPs from all parties.
“Whether the failure is a cultural problem or a legal one, post-legislative scrutiny is vital to begin to work towards the answer.
“Freedom of information is a cornerstone of democracy.
“Journalists, campaigners and members of the public have used it to hold their public institutions to account for years, with some of the most significant exposés in Britain, such as the MPs expenses scandal, coming from the simple idea of being able to ask a question of public institutions and get a clear answer.
“Now, the system is in need of a review to make sure it is fit for such a fundamental purpose.”
Ruchir Shah, of the Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations, said FOI was just the tip of the iceberg, adding: “In due course, this may merit a parliamentary inquiry into the transparency of Scotland’s institutions, building on an initial examination of FOI by the public audit and post-legislative scrutiny committee.”
In June, it emerged the Scottish Government’s response rate was below national average.
In the past year, around a third of requests ended with full disclosure. The average for all public sector bodies was 57 per cent.
Nicola Sturgeon’s Government also admitted political special advisers screen responses before they are released to the public.
Labour MSP Neil Findlay welcomed the intervention.
He said: “The Freedom of Information Act was brought in by a Labour government to ensure transparent and accountable government. Yet SNP ministers have made a mockery of the act, with special advisers screening FOIs before their release.”
Lib Dem MSP Tavish Scott also backed the campaigners’ calls.
He said: “There must be an independent inquiry into the lamentable performance of this Government who have been found out on FOI.
“If the SNP try to avoid anything short of a full independent inquiry, then people will know this a government entirely opposed to openness and transparency.”
The SNP Government recently announced they would start publishing responses to FOI online as they are released.
A spokesman said: “Scotland has the most open and far-reaching freedom of information laws in the UK. We work closely with the Open Government Network as part of the Open Government partnership.
“While this suggestion is one for the Scottish Parliament to consider, it is important to recognise that under this Government freedom of information has already been extended to include additional public bodies, to reduce the time period for access to national records from 30 years to 15 and that
significant amounts of material are now pro-actively published as part of our drive to improve transparency.”We want to make progress towards clean energy for the sake of our environment but also for European economic growth. The Hungarian support scheme will increase the share of green energy in Hungary's energy mix, whilst preserving competition in the electricity market. We approved the scheme today
Support with a feed-in tariff will be limited to small installations (below 500 kilowatt) and demonstration projects.
will be limited to small installations (below 500 kilowatt) and demonstration projects. Installations with a capacity above 500 kilowatt will receive a premium on top of the market price of electricity, exposing them to market signals. For installations with a capacity above 1 megawatt and wind installations the premium will be determined and beneficiaries selected in a competitive bidding process.
Hungary notified plans to support electricity from renewable energy sources in April 2017. The Commission found that the scheme will help Hungary increase the share of renewable energy sources in its energy mix. It promotes the integration of such electricity into the market, in line with the Commission's 2014 Guidelines on State Aid for Environmental Protection and Energy, while limiting distortions of competition due to the state support., commented Margrethe Vestager, Commissioner responsible for competition policy.The scheme, with a yearly budget of up to HUF 45 billion (cc. EUR 146 million), foresees state support either through a feed-in tariff or through a price premium, in line with the Guidelines.The EC said Hungary has demonstrated that the aid is limited to what is necessary for the projects to move forward, in line with the Guidelines. This will minimise potential distortions of competition created by the public funding and help keep electricity costs at bay for consumers.The Hungarian scheme will be financed through the renewables support levy currently in place in Hungary. In order to avoid any discrimination against foreign renewable energy producers resulting from the financing mechanism, as of 2017 Hungary will partially open up the renewables support scheme to foreign producers.CHAMPIONSGATE, United States — After signing with Toronto FC in December, it didn’t take veteran defender Drew Moor long to figure who his new enemy was.
"It’s very evident around here how this whole organization and certainly the fanbase feels about Montreal," the former Colorado Rapids captain said after practice Tuesday. "In fact my Twitter feed, when I first came over, was filled with ‘OK, No. 1, we hate Montreal.’ And that was all that a lot of them said.
"I’ve been in some pretty good rivalries in MLS myself, this will be a new one and it probably runs deeper than any I’ve played in so far," he added. "So I’m looking forward to Wednesday night. A result is important at this point because winning needs to be a habit, it needs to be something we’re pushing for."
Toronto and Montreal renew their rivalry in the Suncoast Invitational in St. Petersburg in a pre-season matchup that comes almost four months after the Impact unceremoniously bundled TFC out of the playoffs.
"They kicked our ass," said Toronto’s Polish international defender Damien Perquis, who was forced to watch the 3-0 shellacking due to a hamstring injury. "And it’s a bad memory for me because I was not on the pitch because of my injury.
"I was devastated when I saw the way of the game — 3-0 at halftime, it was a shame. "
The Impact needed just 39 minutes to build that lead before a drum-beating, bell-ringing crowd on a chilly late-October night at Saputo Stadium. Given Toronto had waited nine seasons to make the playoffs, the quick and painful post-season exit has only upped the stakes when the two clubs meet.
Making matters worse, a 2-1 loss in Montreal in the season finale — combined with other results — dropped Toronto into sixth position in the East and forced it to play the Impact on the road in the playoffs.
Toronto won the two previous regular-season meetings in 2015, both at BMO Field, and holds a 5-4-3 edge in all-time league meetings including the playoffs.
Toronto head coach Greg Vanney played down Wednesday’s matchup, saying it was "just another opportunity for the group to get minutes together."
"I don’t think we need to get into that in pre-season," he said of the rivalry. "I would rather us just get off the field healthy and get some repetitions for what we want to do. But obviously when the season comes, we’ll want to make a statement for ourselves and for what we’re trying to accomplish this year, which is take things farther than we did last year.
"We’ll get there when the time is right. I don’t think (Wednesday night) will be the time, though."
Star TFC strikers Sebastian Giovinco and Jozy Altidore are both unlikely to play against Montreal. Giovinco, with ice on his knee, watched practice Tuesday after playing 90 minutes in a 2-1 loss Sunday to Orlando City.
"He got beat up just a little bit but it was nothing that’s significant," said Vanney. "It was more to give him a chance to recover."
Altidore left Tuesday’s practice — at the team hotel some 40 kilometres southwest of Orlando — early after feeling some tightness. "We’ll assess him and see where he’s at with it," said Vanney.
Other Toronto players nursing injuries are fullback Steven Beitashour (quad strain) and midfielders Collen Warner (hamstring) and Marky Delgado (groin).
Toronto faces Philadelphia on Saturday before returning home Sunday. Due to ongoing BMO Field renovations, TFC plays its first eight games on the road, starting with the New York Red Bulls on March 6, before hosting FC Dallas on May 7.
——WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Utah on Tuesday took its fight against gay marriage to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking Justice Sonia Sotomayor to suspend a lower court ruling that allowed same-sex weddings to go ahead in the heavily-mormon state.
Sotomayor, who handles emergency legal applications from Utah and surrounding states, asked the plaintiffs in the case, three gay and lesbian couples, to respond to the application by 12 p.m. EST (1700 GMT) on Friday.
Utah is seeking to block a judge’s decision to strike down the state’s 2004 ban on gay marriage on grounds it violates the rights of same-sex couples to equal treatment under the law.
Hundreds of gay couples in Utah have received marriage licenses since the December 20 ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby.
Utah’s court filing says that the gay and lesbian marriages that have been performed in the state are “an affront... to the interests of the state and its citizens in being able to define marriage through ordinary democratic channels.”
Sotomayor can reject the application outright or refer the case to the entire court. If she rejects the application, the state could ask another of the justices to act. There is no set time by which Sotomayor is required to act.
Utah became the 18th state to extend marriage rights to gays and lesbians when Shelby sided with three same-sex couples in their lawsuit challenging a voter-passed amendment to the Utah state constitution that defined marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman.
The decision came as a shock to many of Utah’s 2.8 million residents, nearly two-thirds of whom are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Church’s doctrine states that sexual relations outside opposite-sex marriage are contrary to the will of God.
Utah’s stay request on the ruling follows six months after the Supreme Court Justices issued two high-profile decisions on gay marriage, one of which struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a federal law that denied federal benefits to legally married same-sex couples.
Shelby already declined to stay his ruling pending appeal, meaning gay and lesbian couples were able to marry in the state immediately. The Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also declined to stay the ruling, leaving the U.S. Supreme Court as the state’s last recourse.
The stay application, if granted, would block same-sex marriage while the state appeals Shelby’s decision. If the court grants a stay, the justices would not tackle the merits of the case at this stage.
MATTER OF STATE LAW
Utah’s stay application relies in part on the high court’s June decision in United States v. Windsor, which, although it struck down DOMA, also said the definition of marriage is an issue that was largely a matter of state law.
In the Windsor case, in which the court was split 5-4, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority that the federal law violated the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection.
“The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and to injure those whom the state, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity,” Kennedy wrote.
The law imposed “a stigma upon all who enter into same-sex marriages made lawful by the unquestioned authority of the states,” he said
The scope and meaning of the Windsor ruling is a key issue in the Utah case. While Utah focuses on Kennedy’s language about the federal law being an imposition on the right of states to regulate marriage, Judge Shelby also cited the case in his ruling.
He quoted a dissenting opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote that the decision would make it easier for judges to strike down gay marriage bans due to the majority’s finding that the federal law was motivated by a desire to harm same-sex couples.
“How easy it is, indeed how inevitable, to reach the same conclusion with regard to state laws denying same-sex couples marriage status,” Scalia wrote. Shelby said he agreed with Scalia that the states-rights arguments “were insufficient to save a state-law prohibition that denies the plaintiffs their rights to due process under the law.”Australian Muslim making pilgrimage to Mecca sentenced to 500 lashes for blasphemy
An Australian man has been sentenced to 500 lashes and a year in a Saudi Arabian jail after being convicted of blasphemy.
The 45-year-old man, identified by family members as Mansor Almaribe of southern Victoria state, was detained in the holy city of Medina last month while making the Muslim pilgrimage of hajj.
Family members told Australian media that Saudi officials accused him of insulting the companions of the Prophet Mohammed, a violation of Saudi Arabia's strict blasphemy laws.
Thousands of Muslim pligrims gather every year at the Prophet Mohammed mosque at sunset
Australia's ambassador in Saudi Arabia has contacted Saudi authorities in a bid for leniency, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. Consular officials are providing support for the man and his family in Australia.
'The Australian government is universally opposed to corporal punishment,' the department said in a statement.
Mr Almaribe was convicted of blasphemy yesterday and initially sentenced to two years in jail and 500 lashes.
The court later reduced his jail sentence.
His son Jamal told The Age newspaper that his father was reading and praying as part of a group when he was arrested.
Another son, Mohammed, said he feared for his father's well-being.
'Five hundred slashes on his back, and he has back problems. I wouldn't think he'd survive 50,' he told Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The minarets of the Prophet Mohammed Mosque seen as Muslim pilgrims arrive for the evening prayer in the holy city of Medina
Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade today said the Australian ambassador had been in touch with Saudi authorities and was providing consular assistance to Mr Almaribe's family.
'The Ambassador will urgently pursue avenues for leniency with relevant authorities,' a spokeswoman said.
Australian officials have struggled to get to Mr Almaribe with one being refused entry at the prison door and also because only followers of Islamic faith may enter Medina, under Saudi law.
Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd was keeping in close contact with the Australian ambassador in Saudi Arabia, the spokeswoman said.
'The ambassador has urgently contacted Saudi authorities and will make strong representations, including to several key figures in the Saudi government, seeking leniency,' the spokeswoman said.
'There are formal avenues for doing this under Saudi law.'
A consular official attended the sentencing.Matt Ritchie saw his penalty disallowed by Keith Stroud, but made up for it with a glorious winner
Referee Keith Stroud was forced to apologise after he "misapplied the law" in Newcastle United's 1-0 Championship victory over Burton Albion.
The Magpies overhauled Brighton at the summit despite having a Matt Ritchie penalty disallowed when Stroud deemed that Dwight Gayle encroached. Instead of ordering a retake, the referee awarded a free-kick to the visitors.
Ritchie eventually settled the game with a curling shot from 20 yards.
Newcastle are a point above Brighton.
Both sides have played 40 games, and 10 clear of third-placed Huddersfield, who have a game in hand.
Referee misapplied law - PGMOL
Confusion surrounding the decision was eventually settled when Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the body which oversees refereeing, issued a post-match statement about the 29th-minute penalty incident.
"As Matt Ritchie took the kick, Dwight Gayle encroached in the penalty area. An indirect free-kick was awarded to Burton, but the laws of the game state that that the penalty kick should have been retaken.
"Unfortunately the referee has misapplied the law. Keith and his team are understandably upset at the lapse in concentration and apologise for the mistake."
Stroud was due to take charge of the League One match between Gillingham and Millwall on Saturday but has now been stood down.
Newcastle players protested following Keith Stroud's decision to rule out Matt Ritchie's penalty
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher told BBC Radio 5 live: "I saw the incident briefly on television.
"Unfortunately Keith Stroud has lost a bit of concentration and misapplied the laws of the game. It's an unfortunate error, one which he will be very upset about.
"I think the only thing that's got to happen is speak to the referee and find out his mindset at the time of the incident.
"Now, it's root cause and remedy. Ask how are we going to make sure this doesn't happen again - not just with Keith but with every other referee."
Newcastle winger Ritchie told BBC Newcastle: "I'm not too sure [what happened]. It's difficult because there's so much riding on it.
"Decisions like that which dictate what happens in people's lives are huge. You've got to channel that frustration into positive energy.
"I've never seen something like that before. I thought if there were players in the box then you had to retake the penalty. I thought that was going to be the outcome."
Newcastle will be promoted to the Premier League if they win four of their final six games of the season
Newcastle manager Rafael Benitez told BBC Radio 5 live: "Everyone has seen the incident. It was a strange decision. But we won a difficult game, we are at the top of the table and that is it."
Burton Albion manager Nigel Clough told BBC Radio Derby: "I didn't think it was a penalty first of all, but I've no idea what happened. The referee makes a decision and we carry on.
Pressure at the top
Brighton's win against Birmingham on Tuesday put the onus on Newcastle to match their result in the race for promotion.
However, Benitez's side responded to the pressure with three points against a Burton side who went into the game having stunned promotion chasers Huddersfield on Saturday.
There was little to raise the pulse early on in the game as the visitors managed to stem the Magpies' threat, but Stroud's decision ramped up an atmosphere that threatened to boil over in frustration.
The reason for the decision was unclear to both sides, as evidenced by the five-minute stoppage while players and staff sought explanation from the officials.
What it did do was spark Newcastle into life, and after the break they were able to channel their emotions positively.
Once Ritchie had bent in his 15th goal of the season, they held on comfortably to return to the summit.Image caption Many of the world's top flight football players come from Argentina, including Barcelona's Lionel Messi
For the first time in over a decade Argentina has become the main provider of professional footballers worldwide.
According to a report from sports marketing consultancy Euroamericas, it has replaced Brazil as the country exporting the most professional players to European and Arab football leagues.
Argentina sold more than 1,700 players last year, almost 300 more than Brazil.
Argentina's trade has grown by almost 800% in five years after European clubs eased restrictions on foreign players.
Last year the football player export business was worth $117m (£74.5m) to Argentina.
A total of 1,716 Argentine players were sold, compared with 1,443 sold by the next biggest provider, Brazil.
Analysts say this is the result of Argentine clubs developing strategies to get funds by selling young players as early as possible in their careers.
Critics say that by selling teenage players before they have even made their local debut will compromise the quality of Argentina's main domestic league in the near future.
But the BBC's Valeria Perasso in Buenos Aires says local clubs have become dependent on the money raised by foreign transfers for paying running costs.
Many of the world's top ranked football players hail from Argentina including the current Fifa World Player of the Year Lionel Messi, who plays for FC Barcelona.WHEN the Bank of England last raised interest rates, most people had never heard of subprime mortgages; the Chinese economy was half its current size; and the iPhone was only a month old. Since July 2007 the only changes to the base rate of interest have been downward, and since March 2009 the bank has made no adjustments at all, keeping rates at 0.5% for 77 consecutive months, the longest period of stasis since the second world war (though things were even quieter in the 18th century—see chart 1). On August 6th the bank’s monetary-policy committee (MPC) voted to hold rates steady again. But with more of its members striking a hawkish tone, many pundits expect an increase by the turn of the year. What will it mean when rates rise at last?
Get our daily newsletter Upgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor's Picks.
It strikes many as odd that rates rises are on the cards. Inflation is stuck at zero, far below the bank’s target of 2%. Wages are growing faster than at any time since 2010, but it is far from certain that such increases will continue. And when central banks have raised rates too early—as the European Central Bank did in 2011—they have done such harm that they have been forced to reverse course. Nonetheless, hawkish members of the MPC argue that unless rates rise soon, inflation will break through the 2% target before long.
Among those who are nervous about higher rates are mortgage-holders. According to the European Mortgage Federation, an industry body, in 2013 Britain had residential-mortgage debt worth 81% of GDP, the joint-third-highest in Europe. Worse, more than half of outstanding mortgages in Britain are variable-rate, meaning that they follow the Bank of England’s interest rate. If that were to rise by two percentage points, someone with a 75% mortgage on a house worth £400,000 ($625,000)—the average price of a pad in London—would see their annual repayments increase by £4,000, equivalent to 6% of the pay of the median mortgage-holder in the capital.
But higher repayments will not necessarily lead to a wave of defaults. Standard & Poor’s, a rating agency, points out that mortgage-interest payments as a percentage of income are at their lowest since records began, at 10.6%. Across the country only about 4% of mortgage-holders are really vulnerable, with their total mortgage repayments exceeding 40% of their gross income. As house prices have soared, a Bank of England report suggests, those borrowers who would otherwise have taken on the most debt have decided to rent instead. At the same time, stricter rules that came into force last year have curbed excessive lending.
Things will not get much worse for some time. Rates are unlikely to rise steeply, given the fragility of the world economy. And the government’s fiscal austerity programme will encourage the bank to keep rates low, lest demand fall too far. Mark Carney, the bank’s governor, reckons the base rate will settle at a level “about half as high as historical averages”, or about 2%. Add to that Britain’s shortage of homes, and the housing market does not look vulnerable. Standard & Poor’s predicts that house prices will rise by 5% next year and by 2.5% in 2017.
Higher interest rates will affect different households in different ways. Total personal debt remains higher than the stock of savings (see chart 2). So, overall, higher debt-servicing costs will outweigh the extra money that savers will reap. Worse, wealthy people—ie, those with plenty of savings—have a low marginal propensity to consume, meaning that they spend little of any extra income they receive. All this crimps consumption on two fronts, pulling down overall demand. But in Britain the effect may be muted. To understand why, consider demography.
Age shall not weary them
In demographic terms, Britain is one of the most unequal countries in the rich world. The wealth of the average |
as though it’s just natural that they would have such overwhelming affection for someone like John McCain.
They actually, about a month ago, six weeks ago, spent a weekend at his ranch in Arizona drinking wine, swinging on tires hanging from his swing set. In 2004, many of the leading journalists in our country, anchors on network news, correspondents on cable news networks, went to various Manhattan restaurants traveling around with McCain, celebrating his birthday, toasting him, singing songs to him.
And there are so many examples that demonstrate how this affects the coverage. But the fact that his character is built up into this honor-bound man of principle, this heroic, strong, protective figure, is very consistent with how Republican and rightwing leaders are always built up: first by the right wing, and then by the media. But it seeps into coverage even more.
There was an example that was incredible. About three weeks ago, John McCain was traveling around the Middle East with his top Middle East adviser, Joe Lieberman. And on many occasions, four separate occasions at least, John McCain said falsely that Iran was importing al-Qaeda warriors into Iran, training them and then sending them back into Iraq. That’s something that not even people like Bill Kristol would claim to be the case. It’s clearly false. And he finally was forced to retract it, when on the fourth occasion Joe Lieberman whispered in his ear that it wasn’t true.
And yet, the media virtually ignored that story completely, notwithstanding the fact that it means either that John McCain is completely ignorant about the most basic facts of the Middle East, the area that he claims to be his strong suit, or that he, more likely, is engaging in the type of deceit that the Bush administration has engaged in for the last eight years, where they link whoever the enemy is of the week to al-Qaeda. They’re training al-Qaeda, they’re working with al-Qaeda.
<p.And many journalists, numerous journalists, when asked why they downplayed that story, said that because they know that John McCain is an expert in foreign affairs and because they know that he’s honest, it can’t possibly be the case that he was ignorant about what he was talking about, nor can it be the case that he was actively deceiving or intentionally misleading the public; it must have just been that it was sort of a negligible disconnect, a misspeaking incident between his brain and his mouth, and therefore it wasn’t newsworthy. So the fact that they revere him personally and have an enormously high opinion of his character and integrity means that they won’t see stories that reflect negatively on him as newsworthy, because, by definition, stories that reflect negatively on John McCain’s character or integrity must not really be news. And that’s clearly how — what dictates the coverage.
AMY GOODMAN: This was that clip. I believe John McCain was in Jordan. He was standing with South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who had also gone on that trip, as well as Joseph Lieberman, who has been traveling with him in the United States and was also with him on the Middle East trip. This is what John McCain had to say.
SEN. JOHN McCAIN: Well, it’s common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran. That’s well known. And it’s unfortunate. So I believe that we are succeeding in Iraq. The situation is dramatically improved. But I also want to emphasize time and again al-Qaeda is on the run, but they are not defeated.
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN: [whispering] You said that the Iranians were training al-Qaeda. I think you meant they’re training in extremist terrorism.
SEN. JOHN McCAIN: I’m sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not al-Qaeda, not al-Qaeda. I’m sorry.
AMY GOODMAN: And for our radio listeners, that was Joseph Lieberman whispering in his ear and then John McCain correcting himself.
Glenn Greenwald, you write about the Limbaugh-Kristol-Fox News rightwing faction that controls the political party, the Republican Party. What about the media?
GLENN GREENWALD: Well, I mean, you know, media critics can describe how the media functions and point to all sorts of data and stories and narratives that we’ve been discussing today, but ultimately, often the most conclusive evidence of what the media is and how they function come from journalists themselves, when they unintentionally reveal how it is that their profession operates.
And to me, one of the most extraordinary and revealing statements came from a book called How to Win by two of the most establishment journalists in America, Mark Halperin, formerly of ABC News and now of Time magazine, and John Harris, who was the national political director of the Washington Post and is now with The Politico. And they famously wrote a chapter entitled —- that examined the role that Matt Drudge plays in how our political coverage is shaped.
And what they said was that Matt Drudge is the Walter Cronkite of our era, that there’s no single individual who shapes media coverage and especially election coverage more than he does. And their motto was “Drudge rules our world,” that media executives and producers and editors in the establishment press across the board obsessively check Drudge, because whatever stories he has are the narratives that will end up being predominating in the media. And the fact that, you know, Matt Drudge, -—
AMY GOODMAN: Explain who Drudge is, Glenn.
GLENN GREENWALD: — who in the 1990s was considered such a lowlife gossip that no establishment media outlet would even mention him or report on what he said, had not more than ten years later become the single most influential figure in our political process tells you much, if not almost everything, of what we need to know about how our political press functions. I mean, he’s not just a gossip monger, although he is, and one completely unbound by considerations of truth and fact, although he is that, too, he’s a distinctly rightwing polemicist with a rightwing agenda.
And so, the idea that our establishment press — and since Halperin and Harris said it, many, many other establishment journalists and news executives have said the same thing — the fact that our press is sort of guided by a rightwing gossip monger tells you all you need to know about the content of our establishment press, the liberal media. And one need only look to the journalists themselves to describe how it is that they function, and one can see that that’s the case.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you, Glenn Greenwald, for joining us. Glenn’s new book is called Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics.Today we are launching the BBC News app, initially on the Apple iPhone and iPad and, later in the year, on other platforms as well.
Our aim is to develop a set of core public service apps that bring some of the BBC's most popular, distinctive and original content to mobile in an easy to use and convenient way. The first of these apps is BBC News, and I'll be letting you know about the other BBC apps soon.
So, here's a bit more on the BBC News apps.
BBC News iPhone and iPod Touch app
The BBC News app puts the latest news from our journalists across the UK and the world in the palm of your hand. We've developed an easy to use design which lets you scroll through the latest headlines on your phone. The idea is to create a truly mobile experience that gives you quick access to BBC News on the move.
The app includes the BBC's top Stories, UK and International news, Business, Politics, Health, Education, Science and Environment, Technology and Entertainment stories as well as Features and Analysis from our correspondents around the world.
You can scroll sideways through each news category or up and down the page to access more BBC news sections. To refresh the stories in the app all you need to do is pull down on the interface with you thumb to load the latest news.
We have developed a neat personalisation feature which lets you re-order the news categories to suit your needs. The edit button, top right, reveals a customisation screen where you can add your favourite news sections by clicking on the green + icon and drag and drop each news category into the order of your choice. So, if you like technology news, like I do, you can move that section to the top.
The app includes a latest news banner to keep you up to date with breaking headlines and the BBC News Channel streamed live to your phone so you can keep up with the latest stories from the newsroom.
Clicking on story icons displays the full article on your phone. News stories include embedded video clips and social features so you can share each story via email, Facebook or your Twitter feed. In the article view you can either scroll sideways through each story using the navigation arrows at the top or swipe the story sideways with your thumb to move to the next article.
Finally, we have included a landscape view which you can access by turning your phone sideways. This view provides a handy way to skim through the headlines and get a quick summary of the latest news without having to jump in and out of each article.
BBC News iPad App
We have adapted the BBC News iPhone app for the iPad and developed a universal app that works both on the iPhone/iPod Touch and the iPad.
The BBC News iPad app uses the same design as the iPhone app to give you easy access to the latest news. You can scroll through news categories on the left hand side and personalise the experience by adding, removing and re-ordering the news in the Edit menu.
We have included live streaming of the BBC News Channel along with a breaking news banner and social features so you can share stories via email, Facebook and Twitter.
We have also designed a neat portrait view to give a larger reading experience when you turn the device sideways. In this view you can either swipe sideways through articles or click through the story icons at the top of the screen.
We have made a video demo of the BBC News iPad app which gives an overview of how the app works and the features we have developed.
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions
This is the first release of the BBC News app in the UK and it will, of course, evolve and improve as we refine the interface and add features. Here's what we are looking at doing next:
Adding BBC Local News so you can get the full range of the BBC's regional coverage on your phone Adding 3G streaming of the BBC News Channel so you can watch live BBC News when you are out and about. The live stream of the BBC News Channel is currently Wi-Fi only and we've got some BBC infrastructure coming online soon which will enable live streaming over 3G networks. Further improvements, optimisation and enhancements to make the experience better and quicker
Blackberry Apps
A while ago we developed a series of launcher apps for Blackberry phones to give you quick access to the BBC News, BBC Sport and BBC mobile websites on Blackberry series 4.3 and above phones.
To install these apps on your Blackberry phone all you need to do is type this address into the web browser on your Blackberry phone and click on the icons to install the apps
If you have a BlackBerry Bold 2 (9700) or Storm 2 (9520/9550) you can download a short cut app for BBC iPlayer from this page as well.
We will be uploading these apps to Blackberry App World in the coming weeks so you can download them straight to your phone from the Blackberry app store.
The team have worked really hard to design, develop and launch these apps and we would really welcome your comments and feedback. When we Tweet about the apps we are going to use a #bbcapps hashtag so if you would like to use this too that would be great as we are keen to know what you think. Otherwise do post a comment on this blog post.
David Madden is Executive Product Manager, BBC Mobile.Given the current state of TvP, the Terran community will scrutinize any innovation that may give new hope in the match up. Bomber’s bio and Hellbat aggressive play against PartinG is the most recent innovation out there. While many are interested in the actual build, I want to discuss other key aspects of the build.
In case you have not watched the games, download the replays
Previously, I mentioned that Hellbat transition is going to get more popular given the combination of vehicle and ship upgrade buff, thus I was not surprise to see Bomber pull this off. In the early days of Heart of the Swarm, Terran would transit from pure bio to Marauder and Hellbat based composition in the mid-late game. However, contrary to my expectation, Hellbat was included in Bomber’s composition early in the mid game.
Resource management
Bomber used 14CC opening into three Barracks in game 1, and one Barracks gasless expand in game 2. Nothing unorthodox for builds in general. Notably, the first two refineries were not built at the same time that typical builds do. I consider this as “a touch of Bomber” since he was well known to delay the second refinery in favor of more mineral even back in the one Barracks expand days of Wings of Liberty. Nevertheless, everything looks standard until Bomber diverged from the norm after the first convergent point. A standard first convergent point in TvP:
– 2x Command Centre
– 3x Barracks (Usually 2 Tech Lab and 1 Reactor)
– 1x Factory
– 1x Starport (Reactor)
– 1x Engineering Bay (+1 upgrade)
Bomber did not go into the second convergent point, which consists of
– 3x Command Centre
– 5x Barracks ((Usually 3 Tech Lab and 2 Reactor)
– 1x Factory
– 1x Starport (Reactor)
– 2x Engineering Bay (continuous upgrades)
The second convergent point is the basic structure for the standard Marine, Marauder and Medivac composition. Subsequently, you can add different buildings to adapt to opponent’s composition, for example, Ghost Academy. The Factory is usually floating around and does not contribute to the army production. The 6th to 8th Barracks are added accordingly later.
Bomber added a second Factory in order to produce Hellbats. This is his second convergent point,
– 3x Command Centre
– 4x Barracks (3 Tech Lab and 1 Reactor)
– 2x Factory (1 Tech Lab and 1 Reactor)
– 1x Starport (Reactor)
– 1x Engineering Bay
– 1x Armory
To mix in Hellbat, you need to get the Infernal Pre-Ignitor upgrade, aka Blue Flame upgrade. Thus, one Factory should have a Tech Lab, while the subsequent Factory should have Reactors (1 Tech Lab + X Reactor). Looking at Bomber’s build, he has two Factories (1 Tech Lab + 1 Reactor) to produce three Hellbats at a time. It is impossible to have the additional 300 mineral expenditure constantly without cutting into other production based on the standard convergent point production expenditure. Moreover, mech upgrade in the Armory piles more pressure on resource management as well. Bomber’s answer is to reduce one Barracks and one Engineering Bay. Now compare the two production cycle expenditure.
Standard (Total: 700 mineral 275 gas)
– 5 Barracks: 3 Marauders + 4 Marines = 500 mineral 75 gas
– 1 Starport: 2 Medivac = 200 mineral 200 gas
Bomber (Total: 900 mineral 275 gas)
– 4 Barracks: 3 Marauders + 2 Marines = 400 mineral 75 gas
– 2 Factory: 3 Hellbats = 300 mineral
– 1 Starport: 2 Medivac = 200 mineral 200 gas
Excluding upgrades, Bomber is spending 200 mineral more per production cycle. This shows that it is not enough to support the additional Hellbat production by cutting one Barracks alone. Bomber did three things to make up to the additional 200 mineral.
1. Cut Scv production
2. Single Engineering Bay for bio upgrade
3. No additional Barracks
Bomber cut Scv production at some point to fund the army production. Bomber did not have the second Engineering Bay for infantry attack and armor upgrade simultaneously. The resource of infantry armor upgrade and second Engineering Bay was spent on the mech attack upgrade. The constant production from 4 Barracks, 2 Factory and 1 Starport does not allow him to put down additional Barracks. When you put everything together, you have to keep attacking the opponent like how Bomber did in order for this to work.
Build order
I will not go into the build order details. However, with that being said, I will just list down what Bomber did that is different from a standard build after the first convergent point.
When the Starport is swapped onto the Reactor that is built by the Factory, build a Tech Lab on the Factory for Infernal Pre-Igniter upgrade. At the time that you normally put down the 4th and 5th Barracks, build 1 Barrack (Tech Lab) and 1 Factory (Reactor) instead.
As for upgrade, build the Armory when +1 infantry attack is 50% done. The +1 infantry upgrade and Armory should complete approximately the same time. Start +2 infantry attack and +1 mech attack.
Although I have yet to try it, it seems possible to do the similar build with a 12/12 Reaper opening. The various TvP macro opening would reach the first convergent point, and hence, you can adopt Bomber’s build by diverging away from the standard second convergent point.
Implication and improvement
In my opinion, the resource management could be adjusted to make it less “all-in-ish”. Once the bio into bio+ Hellbat transition is figured out, it is going to revolutionalise the metagame. The inclusion of Hellbats indirectly forces Terran to be more direct in terms of attacking than the standard bio only style. Hellbat is inferior in multi-pronged drop for several reasons. 1. It takes up 4 cargo space. 2. It works better on workers than buildings, and this means you cannot drop at the edge of the base. 3. If you do, you need to do a heavy drop with at least 3 Medivac because of the cargo space issue. Then, why not I just drop with bio only? Conversely, you can drop the Hellbats at the mineral lines and attack with the main force somewhere else.
I think the inclusion of Hellbat is the future of this match up.‘How do you manage libraries when different versions of same one is used by different projects?’
It is possible to override a library in Quicklisp’s release distribution by placing the desired version in quicklisp/local-projects/ or by ensuring that it is present in ASDF’s load path.
One can implement some scheme to override the required libraries in order to set up a Lisp environment with all the correct library versions for each project. This will be time consuming and error prone.
The easy solution to this problem is to use Qlot.
The easy solution to this problem is to use Qlot. It is a dependency management tool built on Quicklisp for Quicklisp libraries. It installs and maintains a separate Quicklisp installation independent from the main installation. One can specify the source and version for each library individually. Unspecified libraries are loaded from the project’s default Quicklisp repository, which itself can be specified.
Projects which do not need dependency management simply use Quicklisp as before without even being aware of the existence of Qlot.
Library dependencies are specified in a qlfile and the project system is loaded much like plain Quicklisp.
Qlfile
# "qlfile" of "myapp" git clack https://github.com/fukamachi/clack.git github datafly fukamachi/datafly :branch v0.7.x ql log4cl 2014-03-17
Loading a system
;; Installing libraries project-locally. ( qlot:install :myapp ) ;; Loading a project with its project-local quicklisp. ( qlot:quickload :myapp )
By using Qlot in your projects you can guarantee that it will build with the correct libraries irrespective of the build time or place.Calling devotees to prayer, preaching on the subway, broadcasted pre-recorded sermons from a moving car, organizing drum circles in the park, resounding church bells through the city – expressions of faith to some, a nuisance, or even a personal offense (or outright danger), to others. Must religion be so noisy? Must it also be so publicly noisy?
Religious studies scholar Isaac Weiner portrays public loudness as but one of many exigencies of the religious worldview in his recent publication, Religion Out Loud: Religious Sound, Public Space, and American Pluralism (New York: New York University Press: 2014). Weiner argues that the substantive content of religious doctrine – moral claims, theological arguments, etc. – both constitutes and is constituted by how its ideas are given expression. This might seem unremarkable. However, the claim allows Weiner to re-frame religious pluralism as not only a “matter of competing values, truth claims, or moral doctrines, but of different styles of public practice, of fundamentally different ways of using body and space.” (200)
So, according to Weiner, yes: Some religious groups must be so noisy, and must be noisy publicly. If they weren’t, their religious beliefs and doctrines would be deprived of the expressive forms that imbue them with significance.
Weiner is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies in the Department of Comparative Studies at The Ohio State University. Weiner is not a card-carrying sound studies specialist. Nonetheless, his output is representative of a quickly accelerating interest about religion and spirituality within studies of sound and culture. Religion Out Loud is his first book, and builds from themes explored in his previous publications, including articles such as “Sound” (Material Religion 7, no. 1 [2011]: 108-115), “Sound and American Religions” (Religion Compass 3, no. 5 [September 2009]: 897-908), and “Displacement and Re-placement: The International Friendship Bell as a Translocative Technology of Memory” (Material Religion 5, no. 2 [July 2009]: 180-205). Forthcoming are several chapters and articles that closely relate to topics investigated in Religion Out Loud.
The text ranges from America’s colonial period through the early 2000s. It largely attends to legislative efforts seeking to circumscribe the practicing of what Weiner calls “religion out loud” – public, and perceivably exorbitant displays of sonic religiosity. On the other hand, Weiner also details the various ways in which religious practitioners have resisted legal containment. Weiner thus adds to an already copious literature about how contestations over sonic space reflect broader contestations over meaning and power, that includes texts such as Brandon Labelle’s Acoustic Territories: Sound Culture and Everyday Life (New York: Continuum, 2010), Karen Bijsterveld’s Mechanical Sound: Technology, Culture, and Public Problems of Noise in the Twentieth Century (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008), and other religion-related work like Philip V. Bohlman’s “Music Inside Out: Sounding Public Religion in a Post-Secular Europe” (in Music, Sound and Space, ed. Georgina Born, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013). This tension between the embodied practice and legal-discursive regulation of sonic spaces throws into relief what Weiner calls a “politics of religious sensation.” However, readers with an interest in the experiential dimensions of the “religious sensorium” should look elsewhere, perhaps the recent volume, Senses and Citizenship: Embodying Political Life, edited by Susanna Trnka (New York: Routledge, 2013). Religion Out Loud appeals more to readers with an interest in the political histories of religious rights and noise abatement policy, and the ways in which “religious sensation” has been regulated according to unstable conceptions of liberalism and pluralism in American jurisprudence.
In order to span such a long temporal trajectory (essentially the history of the United States!), Weiner anchors Religion Out Loud in three historically disparate case studies. Each is preceded by a chapter of historical and theoretical contextualization. This forces Weiner to rapidly chronicle decades of developments in noise abatement policy. Yet he does so with both scrupulousness and concision, leaving remarkably few holes left unfilled. This gives the reader the benefit of charting the long-term effects of the policy changes that Weiner more focusedly interrogates. His approach thus differs quite markedly from some other important sound/religious studies literature, such as Leigh Schmidt’s Hearing Things: Religion, Illusion, and the American Enlightenment (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002), which investigates a single historical period in more concentrated fashion.
From chapter one’s onset, I was struck by the impressive depth of archival research Weiner has infused into his arguments. As a result, Weiner’s more speculative conclusions – generally modest in scope – have no shortage of evidence, and are altogether convincing. In chapter one, for instance, Weiner details shifting perceptions of church bells in colonial and postbellum America, an area well tilled in sound studies by the likes of Alain Corbin (Village Bells: Sound and Meaning in the Nineteenth-Century French Countryside, trans. Martin Thom, New York: Columbia University Press, 1998) and Richard Cullen Rath (How Early America Sounded, Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2003). Weiner furthers this conversation by revealing how religious sounds such as church bells – what had receded to the background of what R. Murray Schafer called the “historical soundscape” – faced unprecedented scrutiny as the symbolic status of noise began to change. Likewise, city governments challenged congregants’ rights to occupy acoustic territory. In the burgeoning clamor of the modern city, noise meant progress and prosperity, for some listeners, but, for others, the stylized noise of religion practiced “out loud” signified a kind of regressive primitivism. Noise thus occupied both sides of the evolutionist coin that Weiner suggests ideologically underpinned religious self-understandings of the time.
Weiner further explores the progressive/primitive duality in his first case study – Harrison v. St. Marks of 1877– in which Weiner quite brilliantly unravels how both perspectives were articulated in legal discourse. According to Weiner, complainants challenged the long-presumed public-acoustic prerogatives of Philadelphia’s fashionable St. Mark’s Protestant Episcopal Church. The main takeaway from the chapter is that St. Marks’s complainants voiced a formulation of suitable, modern, and thus normative religious practice as “properly disentangled from various forms of materiality and mediation, carefully circumscribed and respectful of its bounds, interiorized and intellectualized, invisible and inaudible.” (60) From the complainants’ perspective, noisy religion signified backward, immature religion. The court sided with this position, treating church bells as it would any other “extraneous” public noise. Yet in so doing, it ironically reinforced the cultural dominance of Protestantism. That is to say, by silencing St. Mark’s bells, the ostensibly secularized legal system set a precedent that legitimated the “subjugation” of all forms of religious practice to “proper modes of acceptable piety” – including “religious ‘others’” who lacked the pervasive influence that Protestantism could exercise in the public and political spheres, including the courts. (74)
In the second section, Weiner shifts his focus from acoustic territorialization to noisy religiosity as a form of dissent. He details how noise abatement legislation in the early twentieth century harkened a “new regulatory regime” that suppressed the activities of religious practitioners for whom “making noise was not merely incidental to their work; it was their work” (80). The Salvation and Army and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Weiner shows, aggressively challenged norms of community outreach through provocative exhibitions of religious devotion in public spaces. However, while exercising freedoms of speech, religion, and public assembly, such groups turned unsuspecting citizens into “captive audiences,” and thus infringed upon rights to privacy. The style of practicing some liberties, as many scholars and critics have suggested, has throughout history limited the enjoyment of liberties by other parties.
Moreover, as Weiner rightly suggests in his second case study, Saia v. New York of 1946, civil liberties have always been carefully regulated by the state. Samuel Saia, a Jehovah’s Witness, drove around the city of Lockhart, NY, and used loudspeakers to broadcast inflammatory sermons from his car. He loudly exercised his first amendment rights through what Weiner calls “sound car religion.” Yet the city managed to treat the sermons’ noisiness as extraneous to Saia’s religion, rather than acknowledging the practice as partially constitutive of it. Lockhart’s noise abatement ordinance thus infringed upon his right to religious free exercise. To that end, Weiner repositions McLuhan’s famous “the medium is the message,” framing religion as media, as opposed to religion and media as separable concepts. Saia spread God’s word, and in doing so loudly fulfilled a core tenet of the Witness creed.
Throughout the case study, Weiner critiques the “liberal inclusionary ideology” that has come to characterize the Judeo-Christian tradition of American jurisprudence. But he curiously softens his otherwise pointed critique at the end of the chapter. Saia ultimately won the case, yet the Witnesses’ devotional style gradually became unmarked in the ensuing years, as they seemed to assimilate voluntarily to normative expectations of religious devotion. As such, Weiner suggests that dissenters in general often find that they can “afford to quiet down once they feel that their voices have been heard.” (135) While it is “important not to exaggerate the coercive effects of American law,” I would have nonetheless appreciated a more critical take on how the legal system had its cake and ate it too – that is, how it satisfied the demands of the Witnesses and also managed to keep them quiet. Indeed, Weiner’s mild conclusion may unsettle those readers who enjoyed the previous three chapters of incisive and nuanced analysis.
In the last section, Weiner shows how a controversial 1990 Supreme Court decision – Employment Division v. Smith, spearheaded by Justice Antonin Scalia – enacted into law a conception of religiosity as interiorized, intellectualized, and privatized. It favored majoritarian notions of religious free exercise such that dissenting – or noisy – religious practice by minority religious subjects risked criminalization. As a result, the granting of religious exemption from preclusive noise ordinances was left not to the courts to decide, but rather to the political arena. Potentially disruptive religious free exercise was no longer constitutionally protected. It now required approval from a political body. The last case study, then, does not deal with legal proceedings. Rather, it examines the public debates and media spectacles that surrounded al-Islāh Islamic Center’s petition to broadcast the call to prayer in Hamtramck, MI, in 2004. Al-Islāh was ultimately granted exemption from the local noise ordinance. But over the course of an exasperating six months of debate, Weiner demonstrates, formerly unvoiced identity politics that residents invested into the city’s sonic territories were brought to light in highly contentious ways.
Weiner identifies three rhetorical-discursive tropes that various parties used to debate changing the city’s noise ordinance to accommodate the call to prayer. One of them, pluralism, will likely be of most interest to readers (the others are exclusivism and privatism). The pluralist debaters envisioned the public sphere as a neutral space in which the particularities of religious difference were accommodated, but only according to an ideal of “agonistic respect.” Against this idealistic backdrop, pluralists interpreted the call to prayer not as broadcasters intended it to be heard, but rather as a symbol for the “potential for interfaith harmony.” (186) Weiner argues that the hearings refigured – effaced, even – the call’s meaning, since the Muslim community’s political recognition was achievable only by way of the discourse of pluralist forms of tolerance. In other words, if pluralist discourse takes the form by which Muslim faith can express itself, then Muslim faith itself risks effacement as a result of such “accommodation.”
Surprisingly, Weiner largely omits Muslim perspectives from the chapter. How did pluralist assimilation change the meanings of religious practice as the Muslim community saw it? How did the Muslims feel they had to modify their rhetoric of self-representation? Moreover, how did Muslims perceive – or perhaps even challenge – displays of Judeo-Christian devotion? Perhaps pursuing such questions exceeds the scope of Weiner’s project, as could the inclusion of many other issues that readers might think warrant consideration. For instance, Weiner gestures toward the sonic interpellation of Muslim and Christian subjectivity, but does not pursue the topic. Further analysis could productively complement recent work on religious acoustemology such as Charles Hirschkind’s The Ethical Soundscape: Cassette Sermons and Islamic Counterpublics (New York: Columbia University Press, 2006), Andrew J. Eisenberg’s, “Islam, Sound and Space: Acoustemology and Muslim Citizenship on the Kenyan Coast” (in Music, Sound and Space, ed. Georgina Born, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), Jeanette S. Jouli’s “Beat-ification: British Muslim Hip Hop and Ethical Listening Practices,” and Ashon Crawley’s “Pentecostal Song, Sound, and Authentic Voices.” Additionally, Weiner glosses over counterculture in the 1960s. How might a treatment of the Nation of Islam, for but one example, complicate his conclusions about the accommodation of religion practiced “out loud” in the period?
That notwithstanding, Weiner accomplishes his proposed task with great nuance, insight, and lucidity. Religion Out Loud skillfully unites archival research with ethnographic methods, a history of sound with a history of ideas. It will appeal to those with an interest in the “politics of sensation,” as Weiner suggests, and even more so to readers with interests in the contradictions of noise abatement policy, the legal history of religious rights, and ways in which they have contributed to religious soundscapes in the United States. And of course, it provides an emphatic—and important—affirmative to that longstanding question “must religion be so noisy?”
—
Jordan Musser is a graduate student in the musicology program at Cornell University. He has a primary interest in the social practice of musical aesthetics, with a focus on roles of the avant-garde in popular culture. Using theoretical frameworks from media, performance, and cultural studies, his recent projects have investigated virtuosity in 19th-century Europe, musical reenactment, the sonic imaginary, and politics of musical mythologization. In 2012, Jordan earned the M.A. in the Humanities from the University of Chicago. Before arriving at Cornell, he was an editorial assistant with Grove Music Online, and held teaching positions from the early childhood to high school levels.
—
Featured image: “Microphone inside Al-Azhar Mosque” by Flickr user John Kannenberg, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
—
REWIND! …If you liked this post, you may also dig:
“Listen to the Word: Deafness and Participation in Spiritual Community”-Liana Silva-Ford
“I Love to Praise His Name: Shouting as Feminine Disruption, Public Ecstasy, and Audio-Visual Pleasure”-Shakira Holt
“Sounding Out! Podcast Episode #5: Sound and Spirit on the Highway”-David B. GreenbergWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Monday he will confront climate change in his second term in office, an unexpected vow that puts the politically charged issue among his domestic priorities alongside gun control and immigration reform.
U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during swearing-in ceremonies on the West front of the U.S Capitol in Washington, January 21, 2013. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Linking climate change to devastating weather and fires, Obama said the country could grow its economy while protecting itself from the worst effects of a phenomenon scientists say is getting worse due to man-made pollutants.
“We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations,” the president said, dedicating more than a minute of his roughly 20-minute address to the issue.
By pointing to the topic in detail in his second Inaugural Address, the Democratic president committed the White House to try to mitigate the emission of greenhouse gases - an area where he had uneven success during his first four years in office.
While Obama won a commitment from the auto industry to increase fuel efficiency standards in coming years, a more comprehensive plan to put a price on greenhouse gases fell flat in Congress.
Climate change was a mostly dormant issue during last year’s presidential campaign, and environmentalists hoped that Obama would put the topic squarely on his agenda in a second term.
Obama said in his address that the United States should be a leader in sustainable energy and framed the issue as a matter of national security and economic opportunity.
“We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries - we must claim its promise,” he said.
Scientists say emissions from cars and coal-fed power plants are among the sources of carbon dioxide warming the planet.
Last year was the hottest on record in the United States, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said this month.
Scientists caution that no single weather event can be blamed on climate change, but the force of Hurricane Sandy, which devastated parts of New York and New Jersey in October, and a withering drought in the Midwest, are seen as harbingers.
“Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms,” Obama said.
Climate change activists, who say the phenomenon is worsening and will increasingly affect human health and budgets, said they were heartened by the president’s words.
“My hope is renewed,” Larry Schweiger, president of the National Wildlife Federation, said in a statement. “Confronting climate change is not a cause of a president or a party but an imperative for the American people.”
Obama might find it impossible to revive the climate bill while his Republican Party rivals control the House of Representatives, but White House officials have said they plan to use executive power to make progress on the issue.
“I’ll tell you what my green dream is: that we finally face up to climate change,” Vice President Joe Biden said at a National Wildlife Federation inaugural celebration on Sunday night.
In the coming months, the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to outline standards |
be using his personal funds to cover the costs. (The actual anniversary date comes a few days later.)
"This is the kind of work-life balance that I've often talked about as being essential in order to be able to be in service of the country with all one's very best and that's certainly something I'm going to continue to make sure we do," the prime minister said.
Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau hiking in the Ise-Shima region of Japan for their anniversary. 0:18
Trudeau has raised the issue of work-life balance before. On the campaign trail, he proposed more flexible work hours and new parental leave options. And just recently, his Liberal government announced it was looking into implementing flexible work hours for federally regulated workers in sectors such as banking, telecommunications, broadcasting and transportation.
Currently, a House of Commons committee is studying ways to improve work-family balance for members of parliament, including the idea of ending Friday sessions.
Environment Minister Catherine McKenna says that for 2½ hours a day, six days a week, she turns off her phone and spends time with her kids. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)
Just weeks into the job, Trudeau, in an interview with CBC's Matt Galloway said what surprised him most about his new role was the pace and how he must be "really ruthless about ensuring that I do have time with my family."
He said it's worse for members of his cabinet, many of whom are separated from their families for long periods of time. Maybe that's why Trudeau's Environment Minister Catherine McKenna can publicly state that for 2½ hours a day, six days a week, she turns off her phone and spends time with her kids.
"This prime minister is saying, 'I've talked about these issues in public, I think this matters and I'm happy to knock down some old barriers on this issue and I'll use my personal example to do that," Reid said.
Appeal to women voters
With his day-off announcement, Trudeau is making a point of putting this on the radar for Canadians in an effort to connect with voters who will also feel this is an important issue.
And it's an issue that has particular appeal to female voters, who have to bear a disproportionate burden when it comes to work-life balance.
"I think from a pure political standpoint, it's a reinforcing effort on the part of this prime minister and this PMO with women voters," Reid said
In 2012, Linda Duxbury a professor of management sciences at Carleton University, and Christopher Higgins, a professor of information systems at Western University, released a major work-life balance study that examined work-life experiences of 25,000 Canadians. They found many families were having difficulties balancing competing work and family demands and that companies had not made progress in the area of work-life balance and employee well-being
Their study also found that most Canadian employees spend 50.2 hours in work-related activities a week, just over half of employees take work home to complete outside regular hours, and that they were twice as likely to let work interfere with family.
"I think that [Trudeau's] saying, 'I'm more than happy to take some punches from people who want to call this a day off. I say this is getting it right," Reid said.
"I think this will be quite resonant with large numbers of voters."'Sophie Bradley was among the first players to join Notts County Ladies on their relocation from Lincoln, having played for the club before the move
The broken bike at the end of Sophie Bradley's bed is testament to her determined comeback from a knee injury that made her doubt her future in the game.
It has taken three operations, recovery from a bizarre case of a locked knee, and 18 months for the 26-year-old England defender to declare that her return is almost complete.
When Notts County Ladies start pre-season training on Monday, Bradley the footballer farewells the isolated athlete which she became.
The chances are that her first session will be in the gym warming up on an exercise bike - the same piece of equipment she parked at the end of her bed and cycled madly towards her comeback every night she could.
"The minute the physio told me I could go on the bike, I was on the bike. I had a bike in my bedroom because I was that keen," Bradley told BBC Sport.
"That bike is now broken, Dad threw it out. We have since moved house and my husband isn't letting me bring a bike back in the room."
Questioning her football future
Bradley, who has won 28 senior England caps and was part of the 2011 World Cup squad in Germany, can now look back at moments during her comeback with a smile and talks about having friends and family join her in a hotel pool on her hen party to run through recovery drills with an airy delight.
"I would never have had an hen party if I was playing football," she said. "But I still couldn't let my hair down, I needed to train. I had all the girls in the pool with me aqua jogging."
Sophie Bradley says she does not fear the physical side of the game on her return, having hurt her knee with an innocuous movement
But there is no hiding the disappointment of missing England's Women's World Cup journey that finished with a bronze medal, or masking the frustration of being sidelined as Notts County lost both the FA Cup and Continental Cup finals last season.
"Do you know what I would have preferred to do between a hen party and celebrating the build-up to my wedding, or playing for Notts County and going to the World Cup? For me it is an easy decision - I would have preferred to play," Bradley said.
"It has been a tough 18 months. For me it has been a torrid time in my football career.
"I didn't feel like a footballer. I was always in with the girls and the banter, but that was taken away from me when I was injured.
"I always questioned why. I just couldn't get my head around that I had done everything, yet for whatever reason my knee happened and it wouldn't go right. To say it was hard is probably an understatement, watching all three - the World Cup, FA Cup and Continental Cup.
"Some people questioned whether I would be able to get back. In my head it did cross my mind at one point because I thought 'this is a bit of a joke now. Will I ever get back playing football?'
"But I was so determined to prove that I could and that is why I'm in the situation now, where I am on countdown and hoping to play some matches and training with the girls."
'They stopped giving me comeback dates'
With one innocuous move, Bradley crumpled to the ground in agony at Yeovil Town in July 2014 - the real pain, she said, was knowing her place at the 2015 Women's World Cup had probably ended there and then.
Two operations were to follow in quick succession on her right leg, one on the horrendous knee injury - which saw her dislocate the joint before rupturing ligaments - and the second on a painfully persistent ankle complaint.
Ankle surgery to cut away bone growths was supposed to be the "tricky" operation.
However, it was complications with her knee that cost her a place in one of the biggest years in the history of women's football in England.
Sophie Bradley says every setback was like a "kick" in 2015
At one stage, winning back a place in the Notts County team for the first Women's FA Cup final at Wembley was set as a target. Complications with scar tissue ruined that plan.
"The most annoying thing was that I did everything that the surgeon and the physios could possibly ask of me," she said.
"After the second operation the surgeon just said'sorry, it never really happens'. When I straightened my leg, it locked like that.
"I was going to be back for the FA Cup, it was the last date they gave me. To not return for that was just another kick. They stopped giving me comeback dates after that."
Better than ever
So long had she been on the injury list, working on her recovery in the gym, that she stopped trying to pre-empt when she would return to the field.
Then one day in November, when she hardly expected it, Bradley was given the all-clear.
Bradley got through the 2012 Olympics in London despite an ankle problem which eventually saw her undergo surgery in 2014
"I couldn't even tell you what I did in that training session after that because I was just that excited," Bradley said.
She was advised to give herself a break over the festive period. She politely declined.
"I've not stopped training. Pre-season starts on Monday, but I've been in pre-season for months," she continued.
"The physio told me to have a break, but I said 'are you kidding, there is no way'. I want to be the player I was before and better."
And that means winning back her England shirt - one that she wore for 12 years before her injury.
"Playing for England, representing my country is something I've done since I was 13," she said.
"For me, at this moment in time, getting back to training and playing matches for Notts County is my focus and if I do that well, then returning for England will take care of itself."Posted on Apr 26, 2017
I am going to assume you already know what GraphQL is and why it’s cool. If you don’t hit up the link, watch a video, or something. I can wait. Convinced? Ok, let’s go.
Data Driven Design
If you know about GraphQL then you must also know that it has something called an, interface description language, or IDL. The specification for this language allows developers to define their data schema in a very succinct way. And many GraphQL services will allow you to specify your schema using this language.
However this is a post about PostgreSQL. This server does not, at present, understand the GraphQL IDL language. It knows about SQL99, plpgsql, and a handful of imperative languages. If you want to define a schema in this server then you already have a language for it.
So why would you ever use PostgreSQL?
Well you have to store your data somewhere. GraphQL is just a query language just like SQL is. PostgreSQL give you more than just SQL though! It’s an application server and it gives you many tools for managing data and building applications.
The important thing to grasp in any good software design is the design of data. In this article I’m going to show you some tricks for managing data design in PostgreSQL that works really well with a GraphQL API.
I’ll also share some lesser-known features of PostgreSQL that make it a great platform for developing applications.
Choosing the right abstractions
When you first fire up a new PostreSQL database you’re given a few schemas and not much else. The important one is the public schema. Like any good API design this is where you should expose your data for your consumer: your web server running your GraphQL endpoint.
The first thing you should do is create a new schema for your project. Let’s just call ours, project for lack of a better name. It’s in this schema that we will define our first schemas. Let’s start with something simple:
CREATE TABLE project.authors ( id serial primary key, first_name varchar(140) NOT NULL, last_name varchar(140) NOT NULL, birth_date date ); CREATE TABLE project.books ( id serial primary key, title varchar(140) NOT NULL, summary text, author int references authors(id) NOT NULL, published date, unique(title, author) );
In most tutorials and articles on web development you’ve probably come across some example like this. The difference here is that we’re creating our tables in the project schema. We haven’t defined anything in the public schema yet so let’s do that now:
CREATE VIEW public.authors AS SELECT id, first_name, last_name, birth_date FROM project.authors; CREATE VIEW public.books AS SELECT id, title, summary, author, published FROM project.authors;
What we have done here is abstracted our public view of our library’s data. We can now add new columns to the project.authors table, for example, and not affect our public view of that data. This is perfect for adding administrative columns to tables and having the view simply not select them. Now consumers of your public schema will never see your admin flags or password fields. In fact let’s write an example:
ALTER TABLE project.books ADD COLUMN deleted boolean DEFAULT FALSE;
We’ll use the deleted flag to allow users to delete books from the library. However we don’t actually want to delete the row right away for reasons. So instead we write a trigger function and add a trigger to our view:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION soft_delete_book() RETURNS TRIGGER AS $$ BEGIN IF TG_OP = 'DELETE' THEN UPDATE project.books SET deleted = true WHERE id = OLD.id; RETURN IF; RETURN NEW; END; $$ LANGUAGE plpgsql CREATE TRIGGER replace_delete_books INSTEAD OF DELETE ON public.books FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE PROCEDURE soft_delete_book();
What have we done here? We’ve allowed the consumers of our public schema to delete rows from our books view. To the users of our GraphQL API this will effectively appear like they just deleted their book record. However we replaced the delete action on our view with our own function which sets the deleted flag on our internal table to true.
This has plenty of other benefits. Priveleged users could be given access to see deleted books. We could allow users to undo a mistaken deletion. We can grant limited privileges to views in our public schema. We can add new columns or even tables and start building out the public interface to books by adding more, rich data without having to modify any of our API code.
Why is this great for a GraphQL endpoint in particular? It gives you control to evolve and develop your schema behind the scenes. You can add feature flags without updating your GraphQL server or accidentally exposing them to your users. As well you continue to benefit from that relational goodness where you need it: foreign key constraints, some of the best index types on offer, and the rest of the PostgreSQL eco-system to boot.
Which brings me to…
Little known PostgreSQL features
It’s these sorts of features that make PostgreSQL my go-to choice for building enterprise and web-services based applications. When people think of an RDBMS I think they mostly see SQL and tables. But there’s so much more than that in PostgreSQL.
One of my recent favourite features is pg_notify. This handy little function allows you to integrate an external process with your database and notify it of various events in the server. For example perhaps we want to send an email out a thank you email to someone who just created a purchase order:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION update_notify() RETURNS TRIGGER AS $$ BODY IF NEW.success = true THEN PERFORM pg_notify('purchase_order_successes', json_build_object( 'id', NEW.id, 'username', NEW.username, 'email_to', NEW.email )); END IF; RETURN NEW; END; $$ CREATE TRIGGER notify_purchase_order_success AFTER INSERT OR UPDATE ON purchase_orders FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE PROCEDURE update_notify();
Here we’re using PostgreSQL’s pg_notify function to send a message, encoded as JSON, to an external process after every insert or update to the purchase_orders table. This process can use that data to perform the task of sending out our email.
Of course there’s more you can do with this feature but did you know that PostgreSQL has foreign data wrappers? An HTTP client?
There are an immense number of tools in the PostgreSQL toolkit that make it such a great companion to a GraphQL endpoint. That’s why I started postgra.ph. I love PostgreSQL and I love GraphQL. When you put them together you can finally rapidly develop APIs that will integrate well with your existing ecosystem and scale as your application grows.
If you’re interested in a low-touch, managed PostgreSQL+GraphQL solution for your next project click the link to my project and leave your email. I promise not to spam you! The list will simply notify you when I’ve launched the project so that you can get involved in its development early.Levenmouth residents are raising money for a memorial to the Polish general portrayed by Gene Hackman in A Bridge Too Far.
Under the command of General Stanislaw Sosabowski, the Leven-based Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade was led into the Battle of Arnhem famously depicted in the 1977 film.
This year sees the 70th anniversary of the ill-fated Second World War operation and Leven Community Council is commissioning a sculpture to recognise the contribution of the brigade and General Sosabowski in particular.
Community council chairman Alistair Suttie said: “Quite a number of families have relatives who were in the brigade and ended up settling here in Levenmouth.
“This will commemorate the links between Poland and Scotland.”
General Sosabowski was posthumously honoured for his role in the battle, which was part of Operation Market Garden.
In 1988, he received one of Poland’s highest orders, the Order of Polonia Restituta, and in 2006 he was given the Bronze Lion Award for Bravery by the Netherlands.
Mr Suttie said: “He kind of ended up being blamed for what happened at Arnhem in the Netherlands, when in fact they went against his advice.”
Methil-born sculptor David Mach has been brought in to work on the memorial, which is expected to cost £75,000.
Mr Mach’s Polish father was a paratrooper based in Fife and worked in the mines after the war.
Leven Community Council has requested a contribution of £37,500 from the local area committee, which will be considered by councillors on Wednesday, with a recommendation to approve.
The community council hopes to have the work ready for the end of September, to coincide with the anniversary of the famous battle.
Glenn Allan, secretary of the community council, said: “It’s going to be a massive event. We felt there needed to be some formal recognition given to the brigade and to General Sosabowski.”It is often thought of as one of the things that make humans unique. Now, researchers are uncovering the suite of genes that gave us our gift of the gab.
All of them appear to be controlled by a master-switch gene called Foxp2. When inactive, this gene causes severe speech and language problems in humans. Although other animals have versions of Foxp2, in 2002 a German team identified two small alterations in the protein the human Foxp2 produces that are not carried by our closest living relative, the chimpanzee. This suggested that the human version of Foxp2 may function differently, and be a key element in our unique linguistic abilities.
Earlier this year, Wolfgang Enard’s team at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, spliced this human version of Foxp2 into mice. The mice didn’t start speaking, but their sub-sonic vocaliszations changed, as did the shape and activity of neurons in a brain area that goes awry in people with Foxp2-related language disorders.
To discover what Foxp2 does differently in humans, neuroscientists Genevieve Konopka and Daniel Geschwind at the University of California, Los Angeles, grew human brain cells lacking Foxp2 in Petri dishes. To some they added human Foxp2 and to others the chimp version. They then recorded all the genes that were affected. Out of the hundreds of genes controlled by Foxp2, they identified 116 that responded differently to the human version of Foxp2.
Advertisement
This set of genes fits well with Foxp2‘s suggested role in the evolution of language and speech, says Konopka. Many control brain development or have been linked to cognition. Others are involved in controlling body movement and guiding the development of facial and laryngeal tissues that are essential for articulation.
Evolutionary studies of Foxp2 suggest it acquired its human-specific changes in the last half million years of human evolution – roughly when language is thought to have emerged. Geschwind has done preliminary studies of the evolution of the 116 genes that Foxp2 affects, which suggest they may have a similar history. “It brings up the possibility, which is not at all remote, that these genes may have evolved in concert,” he says, adding that this may even be true for other genes involved in language.
While the results hint at a central role for Foxp2 in the evolution of language, Geschwind cautions against calling it “the language gene” as some have in the past. “Either Foxp2 itself is pretty damn important,” he says, “or it’s part of a regulatory circuit – something else is regulating Foxp2 that no one else has found yet.”
Geschwind’s team carried out a second experiment, comparing patterns of gene activation in adult human and chimpanzee brain tissue. They found a striking overlap between the genes whose activity was different in the human brain tissue and the set of genes that are controlled differently by human Foxp2.
The finding is preliminary, but if confirmed, it might mean a significant part of the difference between human and chimpanzee brains could be explained by two small changes in one gene, says Wolfgang Enard. “That would be really amazing.”
With 116 genes to follow up on, Geschwind and Konopka have their work cut out for them, says Pasko Rakic, a neuroscientist at Yale University. “This paper provides a starting point for future molecular studies on the basis of the evolution of language.”
Faraneh Vargha-Khadem, a neuroscientist at University College London, who studies patients with Foxp2-linked language disorders, says Geschwind’s list makes sense. In addition to their speech problems, her patients’ lower faces are partly misshaped as well.
However, Vargha-Khadem cautions against distilling the evolution and development of language down to a single gene and its multitude of effects. Foxp2 may have helped endow humans with the machinery to produce speech, but this does not explain how abstract ideas get translated into utterances, she says.
“Almost by magic these muscles move to produce the sound sequence that makes sense to the listener,” Vargha-Khadem says, adding that science has a long journey ahead to understand how the machinery works, let alone how it expresses our thoughts.
Journal reference: Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature08549 (in press)NUI Galway’s solicitors have written to Automattic Inc., the company that owns WordPress.com, threatening the company with legal proceedings for defamation. They also wrote to the Micheline’s Three Conditions campaign, using our e-mail address, threatening the same.
In both letters, they cite content from the piece we posted on 9th May titled ‘Continued delay to the court cases of the five women is not in NUI Galway’s interest’ (https://michelinesthreeconditions.wordpress.com/2016/05/09/continuing-delay-to-the-court-cases-of-the-five-women-is-not-in-nui-galways-interest/).
Automattic Inc. told us they are not going to take down our blog as we have not infringed on their terms of service. But still, this is a deeply sinister move on the part of NUI Galway, one that is in line with the recent pressure that, we have been told, they have put on local reporters not to report our activities. It is also typical of the kind of bullying we were highlighting in the piece they challenge.
The obvious question that arises is: Why are they doing all this and why now? The campaign has been running for eighteen months without anything like this from NUI Galway. We have been selling and promoting T-shirts that lampoon the management and the President, criticising them over and again on this Web page and reporting speeches Micheline has made about them, and there has been lots of media coverage. Through all that, there hasn’t been a squeak out of management, but now they are reportedly leaning on the press and have instructed their solicitors to write a letter that cites these five statements as defamatory:
”from what we hear, prevention and delay is a standard strategy for NUI Galway management to court cases arising out of staff grievances”;
“doing the same thing with the five women gives the lie to the President’s statement that the reason he could not simply promote them is that there was no legal basis for their promotion”;
“…the perception of NUI Galway as misogynist … “;
“…six months ago, the campaign was sent proof of deliberate interference by management in the promotions of 2008/9 “; and
“…there is a whistle-blower from senior NUI Galway management who, it is also reported, details fifteen instances of promotion malpractice by NUI Galway”.
The answer, we feel, is in this list. The first three statements are not new; we had already reported Micheline as saying the same, and we have published far worse. Additionally, the whistle-blower mentioned in the last statement has already been mentioned in several news outlets, as we have reported. Consequently, those statements can’t be the real reason for the letter. Thus, that leaves only the statement that we have been sent proof of deliberate interference by management in the promotions of 2008/9. That point has never been mentioned before. So we can only conclude that that must be why they are trying to shut this Web page down and stop the press from reporting our activities.
Management knows what we were sent. We know that because one of them inadvertently told someone they had also received a copy. So why are they panicking like this? Their actions are like a Third World despot who hasn’t caught on yet to how the modern world of the Web and social media works and who doesn’t realise that the Internet can’t be silenced by their usual threats and bullying. So what is it they so desperately don’t want you to know?
The campaign has learnt a lot since it started. Individuals have contacted us, usually via our e-mail address, and shared instances of NUI Galway management interfering with the promotion process and/or bullying. Then there was the piece we were sent for publishing mentioned in the statement which included minutes of university meetings and memos to prove what was asserted. This campaign, however, was set up only to achieve Micheline’s three conditions. It is not our role to force management to resign by exposing their wrongdoing, at least not for its own sake. The way for NUI Galway’s management to shut us up is not through threats but to simply put right the past injustices and promote the five women.
Until they do that, the campaign will continue. And now that NUI Galway’s solicitors have sent threatening letters, we feel we should reconsider our policy and reveal some of the things we know. With bullying, you need to demonstrate to the bully that it will not work. We want them to realise that the more they do it to us, then the more we will reveal. The details we post cannot include any information that Micheline found out from her Equality Tribunal case, or from the court cases now being undertaken by the five – neither of which the campaign is privy to. But there is a lot else we could choose to tell you. We intend to release some of this information on this Website, a few bits at a time from everything we have learnt. We do not expect the site to be shut down because of this – but should it be, we will simply continue elsewhere.
To get our posts as soon as they are uploaded, sign up to the Web page by clicking on the small icon with ‘follow’ in the bottom right of this page. If this site should disappear, you can simply write to [email protected] to find out where to go next, or go to the Facebook page run by other supporters of the campaign (www.facebook.com/supportformich). You can also use the e-mail address to send us anything which you know management would not like revealed, or that might help the court cases. We can then pass it on but we will never reveal our sources. Watch this space to see what happens next!
Finally, we can’t resist finishing by sharing with you one last aspect of the solicitors’ letters that points again to the surprisingly old-world thinking of a management which has just boasted with their ‘Bricks and Clicks’ European conference about how savvy NUI Galway is about the modern Internet. When prosecuting someone for defamation, to ensure your case is strong you should inform them of the alleged defamation within ten days of finding it out yourself. Our post went up on the 9th of May – we know they monitor this Web page – and the solicitor’s letter is dated the 19th of May, so that all seems OK. However, the letter arrived in our in-box at 16.09 on the 20th May. With modern e-mails, you can’t put the wrong date on your letter’s heading and blame the Postal Service for its delay. If it arrived with us on the 20th, it was sent on the 20th! We are not lawyers, so we don’t know how important that mistake is. But we are certain that you cannot prosecute someone for defamation if everything they have said is true – as Oscar Wilde famously found out. So their solicitor’s letter is just bullying which is meant to scare us.
A recent image which encapsulates everything for us was Jim Browne, our ‘glorious President’, giving his boast-filled speech about NUI Galway and modern technology at the Bricks and Clicks conference with a ‘modern’ conference Twitter feed running beside him. It contained all the tweets of complaint, forwarded by the Students’ Union, about management taking down our Secret Cartoonist exhibition during the previous night for the entire audience of European university management to read. To us, NUI Galway management now feels like some tin pot regime, somehow just hanging on, but about to be swept away by the tide of change. All bluster and bullying but really with little power anymore. We append their solicitor’s letter to the campaign. Note how the second page still has the correct date of 20th May 2016. You couldn’t make it up!
How you can help:
1. Forward the link to this post. The more people who see this post, the more powerful it makes our response to the University’s bullying. The more people who see this post, the more powerful it makes our response to the University’s bullying. https://michelinesthreeconditions.wordpress.com/
2. Follow this blog by clicking on the small icon with ‘follow’ in the bottom right of this page. It would also help if the number of people following us doubled because of their bullying.
2. Write to the President and the Governing Body. Complain about the bullying and tell them to promote the five instead. It would also help if the number of people following us doubled because of their bullying.Complain about the bullying and tell them to promote the five instead. https://michelinesthreeconditions.wordpress.com/write-to-the-university/
AdvertisementsImage copyright AP Image caption Italy's interior minister - an ally of Silvio Berlusconi - is under fire
A top civil servant has resigned in Italy amid a political storm over the deportation of a Kazakh dissident's wife and six-year-old daughter.
The interior minister's chief-of-staff, Giuseppe Procaccini, resigned as the incident threatened the stability of Italy's ruling coalition.
Media reports had accused him of meeting Kazakh officials before the deportation took place.
Interior Minister Angelino Alfano faces a Senate no-confidence vote on Friday.
The whereabouts of dissident oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov are unknown.
But in May, his wife Alma Shalabayeva and their child were arrested in a night-time police raid on their villa in suburban Rome. They were then put on a private plane with Kazakh diplomats and flown to Kazakhstan.
The Kazakh ambassador has been summoned to the Italian foreign ministry for an explanation.
Bank funds'missing'
Human rights campaigners have accused Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev of silencing independent media and persecuting political opponents, as well as using the police and courts to keep a tight grip on power.
Mr Ablyazov, a former energy minister and chairman of BTA bank, fled the country in 2009. He was granted political asylum in the UK but his current location is not known.
BTA filed a lawsuit against him, accusing him of siphoning off billions of US dollars from the bank. He denies wrongdoing, calling the case politically motivated.
Interior Minister Alfano, who is in Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right People of Freedom (PdL) party, told parliament on Tuesday that he had not been told about the police operation targeting Mr Ablyazov's family.
"I was not informed and nor was any colleague in the government or the prime minister informed," he said, adding that he had ordered a review of the department that handles deportations, "so this can never happen again".
Opposition politicians are demanding his resignation over the affair. "This is not a credible story. It's something from a Grade Z movie," said Michele Giarrusso, a senator from the anti-establishment Five Star Movement.
Mr Alfano, quoted by the Associated Press news agency, said Kazakh diplomats had urged police to search for Mr Ablyazov in Rome and had then demanded that the fugitive's wife and child be deported.
Was it collusion?
Ms Shalabayeva is reported to be at her parents' home in the Kazakh capital Almaty with her daughter. She cannot leave the city and is accused of having obtained false passports for family members, Reuters news agency reports.
Mr Ablyazov says it was a Kazakh state-organised "kidnapping" and he fears for his family's safety.
The operation was condemned by Amnesty International.
"The Italian authorities must ensure that there is a full investigation and criminal prosecution for any violation of their human rights. Only then can any allegations of collusion between the Italian and Kazakhstani authorities be put to rest," said John Dalhuisen, director of Amnesty's Europe and Central Asia Programme.
The Italian government has retroactively revoked the expulsion order for Ms Shalabayeva and her daughter.Share. "I think the plan is to shoot it sometime in 2018." "I think the plan is to shoot it sometime in 2018."
Suicide Squad 2 should begin shooting sometime in 2018.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Joel Kinnaman, who plays Rick Flag in the DC film, confirmed Warner Bros. is currently working on the script for the sequel. "As far as I know they're writing the script and I think the plan is to shoot it sometime in 2018, but that could change," said Kinnaman. "I think I'll definitely come back for it."
As for who Kinnaman wants to direct Suicide Squad 2, he'd "love for David Ayer" to return. But if that isn't on the cards, Kinnaman wants a director, "who is great with character and that's able to ground the story and maybe put these characters in a more normal situation."
Exit Theatre Mode
"It would be really interesting to see these crazy characters interact with regular people as well," said Kinnaman.
David Ayer was rumored to be in talks to direct the upcoming Scarface reboot and was also set to helm the Harley Quinn spinoff, Gotham City Sirens.
Earlier this year, Mel Gibson confirmed he has been in talks with Warner Bros. to potentially helm Suicide Squad 2. But, there have been no updates since.
Alex Gilyadov is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.Middle East
Palestine: Falkenhayn drives back Australian Mounted Divusion 4 miles with 5,000 Turks (10,000 rallied at Ramleh on November 10).
Hejaz Railway: Lawrence mines troop train at Minifer, captures 60 rifles.
Eastern Front
Russia: 12,000 Bolsheviks (esp sailors) halt Kerensky’s 700 Cossacks and 1 armoured train near Pulkovo Observatory; they retreat to Gatchina.
Southern Fronts
Italy: 3 French divisions move from Brescia to Vicenza nearer front, 46th and 47th Divisons of Chasseurs d’Alpin arrive (since November 5).
Air War
Italy – Allied air reinforcements: Royal Flyinig Corps Nos 28 (Sopwith Camel) and 34 (RE8) Squadrons reach Milan (plus No 14, left France on November 7, No 66 Squadron follows on November 17), No 42 Squadron leaves November 26-27, No 45 on December 11-12). They become operational between November 28 and December 21.The Federal Communications Commission finally approved its first-ever wireless charger.
The certification of Energous’ WattUp Mid Field charger is a major milestone for wire-free charging and will provide “a tremendous opportunity for the electronics industry,” according to the company’s announcement.
The WattUp is designed to provide juice for multiple devices, so all your gadgets — including phones, tablets and everything in between — can charge simultaneously from up to three feet away.
While wireless device charging isn’t a new concept, the idea of charging your phone without any contact with a base station is certainly a new frontier. The new charging technology is being likened to Wi-Fi.
The way the WattUp works is that the device’s transmitter converts electricity into radio frequencies and then beams it to the devices nearby.
This differs from the notoriously difficult-to-use charging pads seen at Starbucks, which require downloading the Powermat app and creating an account before using. Even the Apple-approved Mophie wireless charging base must have your device directly placed on it to get it charged.
This is why Energous’ WattUp is being dubbed as the world’s first true wireless charger.
This charging method can open up a whole new world for device usage. Future device integration plans include computer monitors, soundbars, smart speakers, televisions, smart lighting and other countless electronics.
“The FCC certification of Energous’ power-at-a-distance wireless charging transmitter is a major market milestone,” says Energous president and CEO Stephen Rizzone in the announcement.
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
Whether it will seamlessly charge a friend group’s phone batteries or a classroom’s tablets, it’s clear the FCC finds value in wireless chargers such as the WattUp.
“Untethered, wire-free charging — such as charging a fitness band even while wearing it — is exactly what consumers have been waiting for,” Rizzone went on to say. “We are now in a position to move our consumer electronics, [the Internet-of-Things] and smart home customers forward at an accelerated pace.”
San Jose-based Energous still hasn’t announced a release date for its highly-anticipated WattUp. However, the startup is expected to unveil a possible date in January during the upcoming CES 2018 in Las Vegas.That's tackling – northern style...
17/04/2013
David Moyes denied his players were overly |
herardi, F. (2009) “Behavioural indicators of pain in crustacean decapods”, Annali dell’Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 45, pp. 432-438.
3 Damasio, A. R. (1999) The feeling of what happens: Body and emotion in the making of consciousness, San Diego: Harcourt.
4 Ng, Y.-K. (1995) “Towards welfare biology: Evolutionary economics of animal consciousness and suffering”, Biology and Philosophy, 10, pp. 255-285.
5 Griffin, D. R. (1981) The question of animal awareness: Evolutionary continuity of mental experience, New York: Rockefeller University Press. Cabanac, M.; Cabanac, A. J.; Parent, A. (2009) “The emergence of consciousness in phylogeny”, Behavioural Brain Research, 198, pp. 267-272. Grinde, B. (2013) “The evolutionary rationale for consciousness” Biological Theory, 7, pp. 227-236.
7 Kavaliers, M.; Hirst, M. & Tesky, G. C. (1983) “A functional role for an opiate system in snail thermal behaviour”, Science, 220, pp. 99-101.
8 Sneddon, L. U. (2004) “Evolution of nociception in vertebrates: Comparative analysis of lower vertebrates”, Brain Research Reviews, 46, pp. 123-130.We found an interesting, though low risk cross-site scripting issue in the ANNKE SP1 HD wireless camera, using firmware version v3.4.1.1604071109.
What’s interesting is that the XSS is found when viewing available Wi-Fi access points in the Annke web interface. Hence, if you set up a rogue access point in range of your victim with SSID of the format:
…then the SP1 camera will end up loading and running the JavaScript code hosted at http://xjs.io/ (or https://xjs.io/ depending on how you’re accessing the camera’s web UI) whenever the victim visits the wireless configuration page. This is because it does a site survey and populates the SSIDs it can see directly into the web page, so the script executes.
Exploiting this
As a proof of concept we made this script to steal an image from the camera. This was hosted at //xjs.io/
PoC code is here https://github.com/pentestpartners/bits-for-blog/blob/master/annke-basic.js.
Here’s an image which has been through the XSS exploit, the JavaScript, been POSTed to server and then recovered from there:
Here’s the image we stole with our XSS exploit:
More fun
If you want to have some more fun, you can use this attack to get the camera to pan, using the Javascript here.
Disclosure
This has to be the best or lamest vendor response ever:
“Thanks for your message. I suppose you are a programmer. I will forward your discovery to our product apartment.” – 5th August 2016
Since then we’ve had no further updates – they may have fixed it in more recent firmware, and obviously, one needs to be physically close to even start exploiting this issue, so it’s not a huge vulnerability. It does illustrate that vendors need to be careful to validate input from any source, not just the standard GET/POST parameters on the web interface.
Many thanks to Luke and Senad for help developing this proof of concept – Luke for finding a URL I could grab an image from, and Senad for helping with transferring the data without it getting mangled.
Stealing a camera image
Making the camera panThis past weekend was Natalie's weekend off from work and I decided to take a trip to Cleveland to visit her. It just so happened that Cleveland's Got Sole 4 was happening in the same weekend. Cleveland's Got Sole was the first sneaker event I ever went to/photographed. I had to drag Natalie - as well as fellow sneaker fan/best friend ML - to a type of event I've never experienced. Having it at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena made this the biggest show I've ever been to.
It was surreal to see all my old friends from Terminally Ill, Heart & Sole, Another Enemy and Ilthy as well as my other ohio homies Corey Grand, A-Bo, and SkavB. What's even better is that there was a bunch people I've met recently (at past shows in Chicago) that were there and got a little slice of home.
As you can probably guess, I brought my camera along for my trip. Check out my photo recap below and look towards a few more pictures from my trip throughout the next couple of days.Here’s some more backward thinking from the political party that introduced terms such as “legitimate rape,” “forcible rape,” “easy rape” and “enjoyable rape” into the national lexicon. Legislation introduced in New Mexico recently by a Republican lawmaker would make it a crime for a woman who gets pregnant as a result of being raped to get an abortion because it would be considered “tampering with evidence.”
The result: Victims of rape would be forced to carry their pregnancies to term or be charged with a felony that could land them in prison for up to three years. That’s quite a burden for sexual-assault survivors–who, let’s remember, have already been heinously violated and victimized–to bear.
Think Progress: Sexual assault trials are infamously grueling for survivors, who are often subjected to character assassination and other attempts to discredit their accounts. State Rep. Cathrynn Brown’s (R) bill would add the forced choice between prison or an unwanted pregnancy to these proceedings. After several failed GOP candidates, including Todd Akin (R-MO) and Richard Mourdock (R-IN), made offensive comments about rape victims during the last election season, Republican consultants launched sensitivity training to teach candidates how to avoid talking about rape. But GOP policy speaks for itself. At the federal level, former vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) introduced a failed bill that would negate sexual assault that are not deemed “forcible rape.” And another New Mexico lawmaker, Gov. Susana Martinez (R), advanced a proposal to require women who become pregnant from rape to prove they were “forcibly raped” in order to qualify for childcare assistance. Read more
— Posted by Tracy Bloom.Lamborghini Huracan is already a superstar with 8000 units sold in last 3 years of production. The supercar is chasing its predecessor’s record of selling 14,000 units in 10 years. Lamborghini Gallardo was last old in 2013 and carries the record of being the highest selling supercar around the world. Huracan can now be bought in 6 different variants with two being standard Coupe and Spyder version, two being rear wheel drive Coupe and Spyder and the last two being Huracan Avio and Performante.
All of the cars share the same 5.2 liter V10 engine while performance values are slightly different for all the variants. The standard versions are good for 610 PS and 560 Nm of torque.
They offer all wheel drive as standard while the rear wheel drive versions get reduced power output of 580 PS and 540 Nm of torque. Huracan Avio takes visual perfection to the next level with special Air Force livery while Performante produces intense power values with 640 PS and 600 Nm of torque.
Huracan Performante was Recently Launched in India @ INR 3.97 crore It is powered by the same 5.2 liter, V10 motor producing 640 PS and 600 Nm of torque. The engine gets 30 PS and 40 Nm more than the standard Huracan.
Lamborghini even tweaked the seven speed dual clutch automatic transmission and offer Haldex all time four wheel drive as standard. The car is equipped with 20 inch alloy wheels on the Performante and claims 0-100 kmph in just 2.9 seconds. The top speed is well over 325 kmph while tyres used are specially developed Pirelli P Zero Corsa.
Lamborghini Huracan can pass the number of Gallardo’s in a smaller time period as it is selling at a higher pace. If you consider the same speed of selling Huracan throughout its life cycle, it can sell double the number of units as Gallardo in the coming years.
Lamborghini will soon enter the SUV business with all new Urus in 2018. At present, it’s hard to bet on any of the product as global luxury car sales figures are going up day by day. This can make them the future’s highest selling luxury brand.
Official Video of Lamborghini Huracan PerformanteIn any Terrence Malick film, themes are essential to understanding his film. While his later work are overt about their ideas — The Tree of Life presents the entire thesis of the film in voiceover — Days of Heaven is the film I’ve always found his most difficult and elusive to understand. That difficulty is what makes it my favorite film of his work.
Even after seeing the film close to twenty times, I still wrestle with the ideas and finding moments and scenes that gain new life with each viewing. One of the ideas I’ve found central to the film after the first ten or so viewings is the division between the haves and the have nots.
The film is told through the narration and perspective of Linda (Linda Manz), the kid sister of Bill (Richard Gere), a man whose short temper means that he is always on the run from his latest brawl. Bill has a girl named Abby (Brook Adams) who he tells everyone is his sister. The trio makes their way to Texas and work for The Farmer (Sam Shepard) who becomes interested in Abby. When Bill hears news that the Farmer is close to death, he decides that this is their chance to make it big. He tells Abby to court and marry the Farmer so that they can collect his fortune when he dies.
While Bill and The Farmer get along well enough as The Farmer develops a relationship with Abby, the film contrasts the two men. Bill is a drifter, never able to hold any stability or have a place to call home. At one point he even has to go off on his own, leaving Abby and Linda on the farm. The Farmer is the only character in the film that has his own house which he has lived on for years. He’s rooted to this land.
The film also contrasts the divide between the rich and the poor through visuals. In one scene, the workers come back from the fields in tattered clothes while The Farmer sits in a wooden chair with a padded back holding a cup of wine in his hands. He’s in a white, button up shirt with a black vest, a tie, and a clean hat. Here he is in the midst of his land sitting, doing nothing, while the poor run themselves ragged to his profit.
Another visual contrast is the meals. When the workers eat, they sit on wooden benches in the field, the ground, or on the backs of wagons, eating slop on worn plates. Later in the film, after The Farmer and Abby are married, they have a meal with Bill and Linda in a white pavilion eating from nice china with bowls and platters of fresh food surrounding them.
Food is wasted in each scene. In the meal among the workers, Bill throws his plates of food at a man who accuses him of sleeping with his “sister,” Abby. As a result, Bill and Abby go hungry for the night. In the scene at The Farmer’s pavilion, Bill, Abby and Linda begin throwing food at each other; Abby gets mad at Linda and tosses her plate of food to the dogs. Here, there is so much that the waste of food is a game.
There are many moments that reflect the contrast in the mentality and physical realities of the haves vs. the have nots. For instance Bill and Abby run away one night and drink wine in the river. Bill drops his glass and Abby tells him not to worry about it because they have plenty of other glasses. Another example is when Bill talks to The Farmer about how he used to have an ambition that one day he’d make it, be able to break out of the working class and get his big score.
While Days of Heaven sets up this framework for the division between the haves and have nots, what Malick concludes about the divide is fascinating. Far from having any social or political motivation, Malick looks at whether or not status can make someone happy. After all, the assumption this divide makes is that being rich equates with being happy.
The Farmer, when we meet him, is not a particularly happy person. As Linda comments in the narration he’s a solitary, lonely man who has no one to talk to and no companion in life. She pities him. He may have land, wealth and stability, but he’s a melancholy character. The Farmer is also dying. His great wealth can’t save him from the inevitability of mortality, even as it threatens to take him at midlife. At the least, he needs a human relationship to be happy.
In contrast, as tough and tiring as the life of the workers is, as much as they slave away to keep up and earn a day’s wage, when they reach the end of the day, there’s a sense of comradely and community that makes people smile, laugh, go for a swim, and enjoy themselves. When the harvest ends, there’s a large party with singing and dancing. Until The Farmer meets Abby, he is unable to enjoy anything.
But surely people would be able to better enjoy these things when wealthy? For a while, it seems that way. For a season, The Farmer, Abby, Bill and Linda are able to have fun doing whatever they please. However, material wealth is not enough. Even though Bill pushes away Abby to get the wealth he always wanted, he still wants to have her and tensions rise when The Farmer continues to live instead of dying as predicted. It’s not enough for Bill to be able to enjoy the rich life he always wanted, he must own them, even if it means the death of another man.
Likewise, the relationship The Farmer pursued in order to make him happy is ultimately unsatisfying. He begins to have suspicions about Bill and Abby (well founded, since they continue their relationship after she marries The Farmer). He asks her why she is distant. When Bill leaves, there is a season of happiness together, but when Bill returns, The Farmer’s jealousy flairs up and consumes him. What he sought in happiness he turns into the object of his hatred.
People always want more. That’s one of the conclusions that Terrence Malick makes when examining these tensions. Being rich doesn’t satisfy our desires. If anything, it just spurs our desires deep into a cycle of self-destruction. Being in relationships means being involved with people that will likely hurt us and if we live with them long enough, the happiness we once felt will not last. We can’t have a perfect, happy life. It’s impossible. There will always be trials and hardships, conflicts and compromises. If we are to be happy, it cannot be because of what we have or the relationships we develop with other people. Those things will never be enough.
After Bill and Abby’s deception is found out, Linda ends up making a new friend. In the final line of the film she says, “We didn’t know where we were going or what we were doing. I was hopin’ things would work out for her. She was a good friend of mine.” When it comes to happiness, we’re like Linda, children wandering through life hoping to find something through relationships and materials that will ultimately prove fleeting and unsatisfying.Toronto-area police are warning about the large number of people "pocket dialing" 911 by mistake.
Last year in Toronto, 107,000 people accidentally called 911 because their keypads were not locked in their bags or pockets.
"Lock it before you pocket" is the theme of a new public service announcement campaign being launched Monday by members of the Toronto, Peel, Durham and York police, as well as the Ontario Provincial Police.
Police advise accidental callers to stay on the line so crews are not dispatched.
The Toronto Police Service posted a YouTube video of an actual 911 pocket dial.
In the video, when the 911 dispatcher calls back to see if there was actually an emergency, the man on the line says, "I call you guys like almost every day, man. It's an accident. If you see my number, it's an accident."
Similar problems have plagued police forces across the country, including those in Windsor and Ottawa.0 of 5
Jerome Davis/Getty Images
The Houston Texans' Vince Wilfork isn't afraid to bare all. Ironically, the work he does on the field is rarely noticed and not fully appreciated.
Nose tackle is the most thankless job in football. Those big boys up front must battle two or three blockers, be held on every play and receive little to none of the glory if the defense succeeds. Yet a great nose tackle can change the complexion of a game without recording a tackle.
Some may argue it's a part-time position in today's pass-happy league, but there are only so many men big enough, strong enough, athletic enough and smart enough out there.
These guys are anomalies. Players like Wilfork, at 325-plus pounds, are mountains in the middle of the defense and nearly impossible to move.
For nearly a decade, he served as the prototype. His days as the game's standard-bearer at nose tackle have passed, but he's given way to a talented group of interior defenders with the capability of dominating games.
Five stand above the rest...Balchig Baljinnyam, a small-time farmer in central Mongolia, is busy building a shelter for his dairy cows ahead of what is expected to be the most brutal winter in years. A summer drought has already cut traditional sources of fodder for his herd.
It will be a double whammy for Mongolia this year. Its mining sector, which accounts for 17 per cent of the economy, is in shambles due to weak commodity prices. Now the farm sector is in trouble. The drought has wiped out up to 80 per cent of its wheat crop and up next could be the worst winter in six years.
Hard times on the steppe: drought and prospects of a tough winter ahead. Credit:AP
Mass animal deaths due to a freezing winter, locally known as a "dzud", in a predominantly pastoral country would only make a bad situation worse. In 2009-2010, Mongolia lost 20 per cent of its livestock to the dzud, the World Bank estimates.
"It's not a drought, it's a catastrophe," said Davjigbold Ariunbold, the owner of a farm around 110 kilometres southwest of the capital, Ulaanbaatar, near Baljinnyam's setup.Saddled with a public official not of his own choosing in the waning day's of Gov. Tom Corbett's reign, newly elected Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and the Republican Party are in a very public shoving match over who should head the Commonwealth's Office of Open Records.
Monday, in Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, Erik Arneson and the Senate Majority Caucus filed for relief and an injunction against Wolf and the return of Arneson as executive director of the OOR.
Corbett appointed Arneson, a Republican, as executive director on Jan. 13. Wolf fired him by messenger-delivered letter on Jan. 20, the day the new governor took office.
Arneson has refused to accept or recognize his termination.
In their court filing, the petitioners -- Arneson and the majority caucus -- argue that Wolf lacks the legal authority to remove Arneson and that the OOR is independent from the governor. They acknowledge Article VI of the state Constitution states that appointed officials may be removed "at the pleasure" of the authority that appointed them. However, the petitioners also note that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in a prior challenge, held that there were two exceptions to that article: when those officials have judicial powers and duties; and whether the legislature intended that the official only can be removed for "cause."
In an affidavit attached to the petition, former Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, a prime sponsor of the act that became the Right To Know Law, said the intent of the Legislature was to make the OOR independent of the executive office. Pileggi further explained the reason the OOR executive director has a six-year term is to prevent the removal of the executive by the governor, and so isolated from "political influence."
Arneson worked for 18 years in the state Senate, including as policy and communications director for Pileggi.
In response to the petition, the governor's office released a statement later Monday saying, "Elected leaders should be open, transparent, and accountable to the people of Pennsylvania. The actions taken by my predecessor in the eleventh hour, when he named Erik Arneson, a longtime Republican staffer, as executive director of the Office of Open Records, were anything but open and transparent.
"With one of his first acts, Mr. Arneson demoted a qualified chief counsel in favor of a Corbett staffer.
"By removing Mr. Arneson, I am standing up against an effort to destroy the integrity of the Office of Open Records and turn it into a political operation.
"These attempts to change the office, which exists to protect the public's right to know, are the exact reasons people distrust their state government. When given the choice between protecting the public and playing politics, I will stand with the people of Pennsylvania.
"As a public servant I strive to promote democracy and change the culture in Harrisburg. I will continue to fight for the integrity of the Office of Open Records. Today's lawsuit does nothing to alter my conviction."
In response to Wolf's allegation, Arneson explained Monday that the "qualified chief counsel" he demoted had actually been the OOR's "acting chief counsel." He said the chief counsel position had never formally been filled by his predecessor.
He said he extended the offer to be chief counsel to Delene Lantz-Johnson, who currently works in the governor's Office of General Counsel. She did, in fact, work for Corbett, Arneson said.
"She is a talented, dedicated professional woman and I don't know why Gov. Wolf is attacking her," he said.
___
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLCAn 18-year-old woman from Belleville, Ont., died while on a graduation trip to Cuba Thursday evening.
Family members of Alex Sagriff confirmed her death in a statement widely distributed online on Saturday, but said they don’t have a lot of information on what happened.
“Our concern right now is trying to get her home. We don’t know much of anything,” it reads.
Sagriff was found dead in her hotel room in Varadero, Cuba, the statement said, while on a trip organized by S-Trip, a student trip company.
She had just graduated from a Catholic high school in Belleville, Ont. and was to attend Loyalist College in the fall.
“Alex was an amazing young woman, she had a ton of friends, and has a ton of family who loves her,” the statement said.
The Canadian government has confirmed the death of a Canadian in Cuba, and said consular officials are in touch with both Cuban officials and Sagriff’s family.
The cause of her death was not immediately known.What to Look for in a Work of Art
Understanding the Art World
What Do Dealers Do?
How to Buy and Sell through a Dealer
Art Fairs
What About Auctions?
Art on the Internet
The Art Dealers Association of America has produced a Collectors’ Guide to help collectors navigate the art world and make informed choices about collecting. Art dealers are the pivotal link between artists and their public, and between collectors and works of art. The best dealers possess a degree of specialized expertise that parallels that of curators and art historians, combining connoisseurship and knowledge of art history with practical experience and an understanding of the marketplace. The ADAA Collectors Guide serves as an introduction to the art world and hopefully a starting point for a great collection. The guide includes:VANCOUVER — From one break-in to the next, the same sloppy pattern emerges.
The cat burglar smashes a window, cuts himself as he climbs through and leaves behind traces of blood.
In one case, so much blood that the homeowners think they’ve stumbled upon a murder scene.
But the man Vancouver police recently identified as a suspect in at least 11 residential break-ins spanning the last decade is no amateur artist. Though far from feline-stealth, Darcy Knape may be one of Vancouver’s most prolific burglars.
Knape, 52, admitted in 2008 he may have committed up to 150 break-ins, according to a parole board report. His lengthy rap sheet — mostly for property offences — begins when he was 18.
“The only things about the law I know are obviously from the wrong side of it,” said Knape in a recent interview, though he disputed telling the parole board he had broken into 150 homes. “I don’t think I’d be talking candidly like that.”
He said he expected to plead not guilty to the new string of charges.
Knape, who is out on bail and lives in a ground-floor unit in a boarding house near the Downtown Eastside, said he had a part-time job but “that’s over.”
“If I were the upper echelon of law enforcement I’d be really trying to stop the import of drugs or the sale of them on the street, really, because if you cut that out … minimum 50 per cent of property crime (would drop).”
Archived court records show Knape has been battling addiction most of his adult life. In an apology letter to one of his victims in 2007, Knape said he was sorry his “drug-addicted life” had caused so much grief. “I blame street drugs 100% for my state of mind at the time. I am telling you this not as an excuse but as an explanation.”
At first glance, Knape’s public record resembles a comedy of errors. Last August, he had to dial 911 when, during a botched attempt to break through the skylight of a multi-million-dollar home, he got stuck on a steep-pitched roof and couldn’t find a way down.
A 1998 Vancouver police report shows he once tumbled off a roof and injured his ankle. In his possession at the time were “wrenches and a screwdriver, a slingshot and rocks.”
But court records, including letters of support from Knape’s family, offer some insights into his past.
Knape was born in Victoria. His parents divorced when he was young.
He got hooked on drugs as a teenager.
He has two brothers and two sisters. One of those sisters, who lives in England, once described Knape as “generous to a fault” and someone who was “wonderful with children.”
I am very close to my son and am heartbroken at the way his life has been destroyed by narcotics
His late grandfather was a respected art historian and senior staff member in the Queen’s gallery at Buckingham Palace. Sometimes Knape would travel to England and help his grandfather research art projects.
He is said to be a gifted goldsmith and gemologist with a knack for making jewellery and wood figurines. “My home has many items crafted by my son and presented to me from when he was in his teens through to adulthood,” his mother once wrote.
“I am very close to my son and am heartbroken at the way his life has been destroyed by narcotics.”
His criminal rap sheet begins in 1983. He’s had at least 30 run-ins with the law since then.
One of his letters to his victims suggests he is capable of empathy. In a neatly printed letter from March 1999, Knape writes: “I know mere words cannot dispel the trauma of having your home broken into and ransacked by some unknown person, but you can rest assured that the courts are dealing with it and I will receive the punishment they see fit.”
The burglary was nothing personal, he continued, “but rather, the random act of a drug addict.”
His vice is heroin.
There have been stretches when he has been drug-free. In the 2007 apology letter to his victims, Knape wrote he had been making “good progress” in recent years by attending counselling, managing his addiction with methadone, working part-time as a handyman “and most importantly, staying away from the Downtown Eastside and drugs.”
Then he made a “bad decision” and took “two little pills.”
The judge wasn’t sympathetic. Some beat their drug addictions, others don’t. “For you, it is going to be a battle for the rest of your life,” the judge said, before sentencing him to two years.
“At your age,” the judge continued, “rehabilitation is not of significance.”
In 2008, a parole report called Knape’s conditional release history appalling. “You have breached recognizance/probation orders, gone UAL (unlawfully at large), and re-offended. You also have a history of escaping lawful custody.”
The same report noted Knape had an “egocentric view of the world” and was prone to impulsivity, self-pity and viewing himself as deprived or victimized.
“Unfortunately, you seem to have a number of incompatibility issues with other offenders,” the report said, noting he had spent time in segregation for his personal safety.
***
In early April, Vancouver police, citing DNA evidence, announced Knape had been charged in connection with nine break-ins from 2010 through 2016. Evidence was still being gathered in two additional cases.
All the homes are located in some of Vancouver’s priciest neighbourhoods — Shaughnessy, Kerrisdale, Dunbar — marked by cherry blossom-lined streets and manicured lawns. They are assessed at between $3.3 million and $8.5 million.
Three sets of owners told the Post they were out of the house at the time of their break-ins, suggesting whoever had broken in had cased their properties.
Chris and Kyra, who declined to give their last names, had their bungalow broken into in early 2015.
Chris’ first reaction upon stepping into the house: “How many people got killed here?”
The burglar, who had busted through the front window, cut himself so severely he bled throughout the house.
As the burglar ransacked an upstairs office and downstairs bedroom, he left behind smears of blood on their floors, furniture, bed sheets, pillows, light switches, walls, drawer handles and wardrobe — even a bloodied shoe print on their young son’s backpack. A blood trail continued down the back alley and along several blocks.
The couple lost thousands of dollars in jewellery — including Chris’ wedding ring, Kyra’s gold bangle, items passed down from her grandmother or given to her for graduation — two cameras and cash.
“Anything substantial to steal, he found it,” Chris said.
The psychological impact of the break-in was hard to overcome. Kyra didn’t soon forget the metallic stench of the blood. Falling asleep was a challenge.
“You’re on high alert,” she said. “Every noise you hear, is someone outside your door?”
The couple has now installed video cameras around the house and ripped out trees and shrubs to increase visibility.
A retired couple that requested anonymity had their craftsman-style home broken into in early 2013.
Someone used their ladder to climb up to a second-storey window. The burglar escaped with First Nations jewellery, a watch, a gold nugget and chains, but not before cutting himself and leaving traces of blood on the windowsill.
No question the break-in made them feel more vulnerable, they said. They, too, took measures to beef up security — they declined to specify what — but also didn’t want to feel like they were living in a fortress.
“I don’t want to live in a jail cell,” the husband said.
Mylene Brioux said she lived 35 trouble-free years in her Cape Cod-style home until last May, when someone used a large stepping stone from the garden to break through a window in her TV room.
The burglar made off with an upstairs computer but, as in the other cases, left behind a smear of blood along an outside wall.
Mylene’s husband, Brad, said he still gets “creeped out” when he’s watching TV, wondering if there is someone lurking in the yard.
They have spent more than $7,000 to install video cameras and replace some of their windows with shatterproof glass. “It’s like Fort Knox,” Mylene said.
James Sherren, Knape’s lawyer, said it would be inappropriate to comment on the charges. He did add, however, that if Knape were to be convicted, “it might be sensible to wonder whether any intervention that’s ever come to bear on him by way of a sentence has actually done more harm than good.”
Providing access to social services and community support is, arguably, a better use of public funds, he said.
Homeowners who Knape allegedly targeted are divided.
Compassion is required for those with drug addictions, the retired couple is convinced.
“They are simply surviving,” the wife said.
If Knape was the person who broke into their home, rehabilitation must be pursued.
“Jail won’t solve anything at all,” the husband said.
For Chris and Kyra, however, it’s hard to feel sorry for someone who commits such a brazen act. Tougher sentences are needed to create a deterrent.
“People make choices, they have to be held responsible,” Kyra said.
Drugs are no excuse for breaking into someone’s home and upending their lives, Chris added.
“You’ve got a problem, don’t make it someone else’s.”The opioid crisis that's claiming lives across the country has taken a particularly sinister turn in the nation's capital.
Or so it appears.
Much of the public discussion — and a good deal of the news coverage — surrounding the growing number of deaths by opioid overdose in Ottawa has concentrated on the cruel toll the drugs are taking on the city's teenagers, particularly those living in the western suburb of Kanata.
The fake prescription pills they take recreationally are cheap and easy to find, but they can also be laced with potentially lethal doses of fentanyl.
This tragic trend was given a fresh, young face when Grade 9 student Chloe Kotval, just 14, died from an overdose on Valentine's Day. Police later confirmed pills found near the girl's body contained fentanyl.
In a statement released the day of their daughter's funeral, Kotval's parents wrote: "We are concerned about the epidemic nature of the use of high-grade pharmaceuticals amongst young people and their lack of knowledge about them — the consequences of using them are real and terrible."
While families have every right to be concerned and to prepare for the worst, there's no evidence showing young people are any more susceptible to opioid overdoses than any other group of drug users in Ottawa.
'They just go to sleep'
Sean O'Leary, whose own teenage daughter became addicted to counterfeit percocets, told CBC about coming home one night to find a 17-year-old boy who had overdosed in his garage.
We've got to find a way as a community to keep our kids from dying. - Sean O'Leary, parent of teen
"These kids have a word for [overdosing], and it's called 'nodding off.' They just go to sleep, they nod off," said O'Leary. "We've got to find a way as a community to keep our kids from dying."
Hundreds of worried parents packed a pair of meetings in Kanata in February, where they grilled public health officials and learned how to administer naloxone, the injectable opioid antidote that can bring patients back from the brink of death. Naloxone kits were soon flying off the shelves of local pharmacies.
Teens small fraction of overdoses
Concerned parents packed a meeting hall in the Ottawa suburb of Kanata on Feb. 27 to talk about what many perceive as a spike in opioid use among teens. (CBC) Ottawa paramedics treated 101 patients with naloxone in 2016, a sharp increase from the year before. So far in 2017, they've responded to 25 opioid overdoses.
Only a small fraction — 5.6 per cent — involved patients aged 10 to 19. The majority of calls involved patients aged 20 to 39, and calls for opioid overdoses by people over 60 outnumbered those for teenagers by two to one.
Those statistics don't take into account which overdoses were caused by prescribed drugs, and which resulted from counterfeit pills. Nor do they count people who made their own way to hospital.
Ottawa Public Health relies on data from the regional coroner's office, which tracks lethal opioid overdoses but only captures data up to 2015, when 29 people died, including 14 from fentanyl. Between 2011 and 2015, only three per cent of opioid overdose deaths in Ottawa involved people aged 10 to 19.
The absence of more recent overdose data leaves public health officials with an incomplete picture, and Ottawa's mayor has called on the province to speed up the release of up-to-date information.
Marginalization, not age, key factor
Despite all the attention it's been getting, experts on the front lines of Ottawa's battle against opioid addiction aren't convinced the crisis has reached an epidemic level among teens.
Andrew Hendriks, a manager with Ottawa Public Health, said there's little evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, that young people are disproportionately affected.
Hendriks said marginalization, not age, is a more likely predictor when it comes to drug use.
"We do know that people who may struggle with poverty, unemployment, homelessness — often problematic substance misuse can be part of their life."
Hendriks said the one sub-group of young people who may be at greater risk are those who are struggling with mental illness.
"Students that self-report fair or poor mental health are three times more likely to use opioids for non-medical purposes, so we know that mental health also plays a big part in substance misuse," he said.
Kids as young as 12 using opioids
Marion Wright, executive director of Ottawa's Rideauwood Addiction and Family Services, which has been working with the city's largest public school board to help treat young drug users, said she's witnessed opioid use increase and is concerned about the insidiousness of fentanyl-laced pills.
"What it's really done is it's changed the situation from being a concern about not doing [drugs], to concern about death," said Wright, who has seen children as young as 12 using opioids.
While she agrees the available statistics don't back up some parents' fears of a teen epidemic, Wright said the current focus on opioid use by young people could yield a positive result |
think I should also mention something some Indonesian folks have mentioned in comments on here. They have something they call
InTerNet (Indomie Telur Kornet). Here’s a link to make it – I think you’ll agree it sounds good!
Here’s the back of the packaging (click image to enlarge). For those of you who aren’t familiar with Indonesian instant noodles, a lot of them are prepared differently – like this one. It pays to read the instructions on every pack of instant noodles you try – especially if they’re from different cultures! Cooking this up like a soup could be disastrous!
Here’s the noodle block!
Here’s the dual packet of dry seasonings. The ‘bumbu’ on the left is the dry base and the ‘cabe’ on the right is chili powder. I would love to know – does that little guy on the chili label have a name? Anyone know anything about him? Please post a comment!
Here’s the powdered seasoning.
This chili powder is pretty serious stuff!
Now we have our wet ingredients. Seasoned oil on the left and sweet soy sauce on the right.
Seasoned oil.
Sweet soy sauce.
Finished (click image to enlarge). Okay so I took some artistic liberties on this one. Added a little roast beef and stir-fry vegetables while boiling the noodles. I used a star-shaped cookie cutter and fried two eggs using it. Fried a piece of roast beef and laid it on top. Added a little lettuce. Added some Huy Fong Sriracha hot sauce, Krazy Mixed Up Salt and fried shallots on the eggs. I also dropped some kizami shoga (pickled ginger) in the mix. Wow – this is great stuff! The noodles are chewy enough without being too chewy. The flavor is excellent – like a hot curry beef taste that works so well. I love it. This is one of those times when being the Ramen Rater is the best thing in the world. 5.0 out of 5.0 stars! I highly recommend this one! UPC bar code 089686910704.
[AMAZONPRODUCTS asin=”B000VSDE5Y”]
Indomie Mi Goreng Rendang commercial from Indonesia!
I’ll be reviewing these as well sooner or later!
47.810652 -122.377355Well, that was fun.
Monday marks the end of the tumultuous – and at times entertaining – Rob Ford administration/circus.
The polite way to refer to the last four years at Toronto’s City Hall would be the storm – Rob Ford … before the calm – John Tory.
But, even amid all of the craziness, important work was accomplished. And, as Ford assumes his chair on the floor of council, once again representing the residents of Ward 2, he should be proud of the tone he set – at least temporarily – to make some important policy changes at City Hall.
And some of the changes a Tory administration is going to want to either continue or take further.
Notably outsourcing garbage collection east of Yonge St.
When Ford and his team outsourced collection west of Yonge St., that move alone saved the city nearly $11 million annually.
Sources close to Tory’s transition team tell me that will be the job of Councillor Jaye Robinson, who will be tapped to chair the public works committee.
The Ford administration can also take credit for a labour deal the likes of which no municipal leader in this province could have ever dreamed.
With savings to taxpayers of over $140 million over four years, that charge was led by then-deputy mayor Doug Holyday as chair of the employee and labour relations committee.
Those same sources tell me Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong will now have the responsibility Holyday had as deputy mayor, and will also be at the helm when a new labour deal is struck and serve as chair of the powerful striking committee.
Conventional wisdom would suggest Tory would want to distance himself as much as possible from those who were part of the administration in the last four years, but the reality is those councillors who served with Ford cannot be faulted for his personal failings.
Councillor Gary Crawford from Scarborough, for example, will play a prominent role for Tory as his budget chief. This was an important choice because the mayor-elect was shut out of Scarborough as outgoing Councillor Doug Ford gobbled up all the wards in the last election.
Crawford, who was mayor Ford’s emissary to the arts community, has a good handle on the state of affairs of the city’s finances and will do former budget chief Mike Del Grande proud.
When news broke last week that Tory would sit on the Toronto Police Services Board (a smart move), it was also revealed Councillor Michael Thompson – who had been vice-chair of the board and was also known to have a more than fractious relationship with soon to be outgoing Chief Bill Blair – would not be returning to the board.
Thompson, according to sources, will remain chair of the influential economic development committee. If he accepts the role.
Councillor Michelle Berardinetti (also from Scarborough) will take over as chair of the parks committee, I’m told.
She will be responsible for tackling the ongoing issue of the Emerald Ash Borer, which is eating away at much of our tree canopy – something Tory committed to doubling in the last election.
To the cornerstone of Tory’s platform – SmartTrack – he is going to rely heavily on Councillor Josh Colle, who sources have said will tapped for TTC chair.
The likeable Colle was leader of the pack of the mushy middle during the last term of council. Following Karen Stintz’s resignation as TTC chair, Colle narrowly lost the vote to Councillor Maria Augimeri to take over at the TTC. Now he will have his chance to lead the Red Rocket.
Working closely with TTC CEO Andy Byford (who was brought in under Ford), Colle will have his hands full negotiating the transit chaos our city faces daily.
And finally, the person responsible for herding all of Toronto’s municipal officials when they are doing the people’s business, will be Councillor Frances Nunziata who will remain as speaker.
A Ford loyalist, Nunziata has taken her lumps as speaker – reviled by the council left-wingers, and sometimes frustrated by the rest – but will continue on in the role others have coveted.
And what of Rob Ford? It is an unusual circumstance when the former mayor is a sitting member of council. Though he will not have an official capacity, I think Tory will defer to Ford on some files, understanding that he still has a significant role to play.
And who says the next four years will be dull?A lower court in Delhi on Saturday acquitted AAP Akhilesh Tripathi of a two year old rioting case, reports Janta Ka Reporter. In an embarrassment for the police, the Rohini Court also rapped them for bringing such charges against the Model Town MLA.
Earlier, on November 26, Akhilesh Tripathi was held in a 2013 case of rioting and criminal intimidation and sent to judicial custody for a day, the fifth lawmaker of the ruling party to be arrested.
In 2013, an FIR was registered against Tripathi, Rahul Kumar, Vikas Mandal, Inder Vikram Singh and Kanhaiya Kumar Jha for alleged offences under Sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 323 (causing simple hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.
Speaking to Janta Ka Reporter, Tripathi said that this verdict should come as a lesson to the Delhi Police. He said that he will ask Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to control the police forces. Tripathi also accused Delhi Police of malicious action.“A fama discovered that virtue was a spherical microbe with a lot of feet”
- Julio Cortazar, Cronopios and Famas
The human body contains a plethora of microorganisms, including bacteria that inhabit all of our surfaces: the skin, cornea, guts, mouth and sexual organs [1]. Recent research suggests that gut microbes may not only affect certain metabolic processes [2], but also affect the human nervous system and certain behavioral phenotypes including cognition, mood, sleep, personality, eating behavior, and even a variety of neuropsychiatric diseases [3–5]. The human gut microbiome might play an important role in the development of anxiety [6], depression [6] and Alzheimer disease [7]. This phenomenon was labeled “the microbiome-gut-brain axis” [8]. Furthermore, it has been suggested that the modulation of gut microbiota may be a viable strategy for the treatment of certain mental disorders [9]. Lab experiments on animal models show that treatment with specific strains of bacteria may affect the central nervous system by differentially altering GABA receptor expression in several regions of the brain [10]. It was also shown that mice free of specific pathogens display different behavior patterns than germ free mice [11] and that the transfer of intestinal microbiota may influence target host behavior [12]. One suggested mechanism of interaction between microbes and the hosts nervous system is through the production and utilization of behavior-altering neurochemicals, some of which can be found simultaneously in different domains of life [13].
Many parasites are known to dramatically affect the behavior of their animal (metazoan) hosts. Ophiocordyceps unilateralis is a fungus that behaviorally manipulates Camponotus ants to remain in conditions that are optimal for the fungal development up to the moment when the host dies [14, 15]. The Wolbachia bacteria are widespread parasites of arthropods and nematodes and may influence their hosts mating behavior in a way that facilitates the reproduction of the parasite [16, 17]. Another fascinating example is the crustacean parasite of crustaceans Sacculina carcini that can make infected male crabs (Carcinus maenas) appear and behave as if they were female, taking care of Sacculina eggs as if they were their own [18, 19].
The rabies virus is capable of moving along axons from the point of initial infection towards the central nervous system where it causes progressive encephalitis [20]. The symptoms induced by the rabies virus in animal hosts include dramatically elevated levels of aggression [21] which lead rabid animals to bite, spreading the infection.
Another example is the Dicrocoelium dendriticum Trematoda flat worm larvae that appears to modify the behavior of host ants by having them climb tall blades of grass at night and fixate themselves with their mandibles [22]. This behavior makes ants (and the parasite inside) likely to be consumed by cattle, thus spreading the parasite to their definitive hosts. This host-controlling parasite is capable of infiltrating the ants nervous system, typically the subesophageal ganglion [23]. The parasitic Nematomorph hairworm, Spinochordodes tellinii affects the behavior of its host Meconema thalassinum by making this grasshopper more likely to jump into water, where the adult parasite reproduces and the host usually perishes [24]. This process was found to be associated with differential expression of proteins specifically linked to neurotransmitter activities in the host [24].
A remarkable example of host control is observed when the larvae of the parasitic wasp Glyptapanteles sp. induce their caterpillar hosts (Thyrinteina leucocerae) to behave as bodyguards of the parasitoid pupae after the larvae exits the host [25]. It was also shown that this behavioral modification of the host leads to a two-fold reduction in mortality of the parasitoid pupae with no evident benefits for the caterpillar [25]. The Barley yellow dwarf virus affects the feeding behavior of Rhopalosiphum padi aphids: infected aphids prefer to feed on uninfected plants, spreading the infection [26]. Recently it was shown that the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum affects the attraction to nectar sources and sugar uptake of the mosquito Anopheles gambiae[27].
Around one third of the human population is estimated to be hosts of the parasitic protista Toxoplasma gondii[28], although infection rates vary by country [29]. This parasite can be transmitted by cats, the definitive hosts of Toxoplasma gondii, and its cysts can be localized in the brain [30]. Although toxoplasmosis is considered to usually have subclinical effects on humans, it was found to be associated with altered behavior in humans and rodents [31, 32]. In particular the presence of Toxoplasma gondii was linked to suicidal self-directed violence [33] and increased suicide rates in women [34]. Latent toxoplasmosis was found to be associated with increased risk of traffic accidents [35] and with the perception of pleasantness of cat urine odor in a gender-dependent manner in humans [36]. Some associations between personality traits and Toxoplasma gondii infection are also gender-specific. For example, infected men are less intelligent and infected women are more intelligent [37], although a casual relation is yet to be proven. Rodents infected by Toxoplasma gondii display more preference to feline odors [38, 39] and are more likely to expose themselves in the open and become prey for predators. Toxoplasma gondii infection has been proposed as a factor that influences human culture, as its latent prevalence explains a statistically significant portion of the variance in aggregate neuroticism among human populations [37].
We reviewed some of the most distinguished behavior-altering parasites from different domains of life. We believe that a few additional parasites should be mentioned exclusively due to their exotic nature despite the fact that they are not currently known to alter host behavior in ways that facilitate their transmission. Prions are agents composed of misfolded proteins that can cause degenerative neurological disorders such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and kuru (also known as the “laughing sickness”) [40]. Kuru is an infectious disease that was transmitted in the course of ritualistic cannibalism in Papua New Guinea [41]. Also a unique infectious cancer in Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) while not known to affect host behavior benefits from the preexisting aggressiveness of the host species that allows it to spread [42]. Another notable example of transmissible cancer is the canine transmissible venereal tumor [43].
The variety of parasites that can affect host behavior suggests that the phenomena of parasitic host control might be more common in nature than currently established and could have been overlooked in humans. This warrants a detailed search for parasitic organisms that affect human behavior. One approach to search for “invisible” microbes that influence behavior is by comparing the microbiomes of control subjects and humans that consistently engage in irrational ritualistic behavioral activities, which contribute to the spreading of parasites and infections.
The modern anthropological view on religion is that it is a cultural meme that replicates through social communication [44]. While the meme itself may influence behavior, religious icons are known to be vectors of infectious diseases [45]. Most major religions have rituals that are likely to promote the transmission of infections. This includes circumcision [46], Christian common communion chalice [46], the Hindu ‘side-roll’ [46] and Islamic ritual ablution [46] as well as the Hajj congregation in Mecca [47]. For example, the latter is specifically associated with outbreaks of meningococcal disease [48].
Consider the Hindu ‘side-roll’. It is a ritual that takes place during the 25 days of the Hindu festival period: devoted men lie on the ground and roll sideways around the Nallur temple in Jaffna for approximately 600 meters, usually with exposed torsos. The frequency of ritual performance is significantly associated with Cutaneous larva migrans, also known as creeping eruption of the skin, that is caused by parasitic worm larvae from domestic canine, bovine and feline hosts [49], although recent sanitary measures have reduced the incidence of this particular pathology [50].
Mortification of the flesh and different forms of self mutilation are present in a variety of religious cultures including many indigenous cultures. Some claim that extreme practices of mortification of the flesh may be used to achieve spiritual experiences. Self inflicted wounds as any wounds provide additional routes and possibilities for infections.
“Holy springs” and “holy water” have been found to contain numerous microorganisms, including strains that are pathogenic to humans [51]. The Ganges River probably tops the list. This river is considered sacred in Hinduism, while its waters are considered both pure and purifying and are used for the preparation of traditional medicines. However an estimated 200 million liters or more of untreated human sewage is discharged each day into the Ganges River, its waters contain multiple pathogens [52] and bathing in this water is associated with the development of multiple diseases, including cholera [53].
Also many religions are centered on sacred relics that are worshiped and frequently kissed by multiple people and thereby can act as vessels for microbial transmission. Crosses, icons, Bible covers are kissed in some denominations of the Christian tradition, the Black Stone (the eastern cornerstone of the Kaaba) is a relic that is kissed by millions of Muslims, kissing of the Wailing Wall is a religious tradition for the Jewish. It is unlikely, but possible that the rejection of condom use, vaccination and use of antibiotics present in some religious cultures, as well as the sacred status of specific domestic animals (possible definitive hosts to the parasites) may also be related to microbial host control. Finally, it has been noted that many parasites eliminate their hosts reproductive potential as they channel all available resources to maximize their own reproductive success [18]. Coincidentally celibacy is commonplace for holy individuals that are most devoted to their faith such as monks or nuns.
Thus it is possible that various religious practices could represent biomemes: manifestations of a symbiosis between informational memes [54] and biological organisms. This concept is somewhat similar to the fictional midichlorians of the Jedi Order from the popular series “Star Wars” [55].
Two particular parts of the human body seem to be most promising for the search of behavior-altering parasites. First of all, the human gut microbiome may be of interest in light of the microbiome-gut-brain axis concept. Another promising area to search for behavior-altering parasites is the human brain. Several organisms that can bypass the mammalian blood–brain barrier and produce a latent infection without obvious symptoms are currently known. In mice with latent toxoplasmosis, Toxoplasma gondii cysts can be found in various regions of the brain, especially in the olfactory bulb, the entorhinal, somatosensory, motor and orbital, frontal association and visual cortices, the hippocampus and the amygdala [56]. In humans the brain also appears to be an important site for Toxoplasma gondii cyst formation and the parasite is capable of infecting a variety of brain cells, including astrocytes and neurons [57–59].
Taeniasis (infection by the larval stage of a pig tapeworm Taenia solium) is characterised by mild or no symptoms (most patients are clear of any symptoms) [60], thus the infection can remain undetected. Taenia solium commonly infects the central nervous system, causing neurocysticercosis. Epileptic seizures are the most common presentation of neurocysticercosis (actually, a leading cause of seizures and epilepsy in some areas [60, 61]) and generally represent the primary or sole manifestation of the disease, however not all patients with diagnosed neurocysticercosis have seizures [60]. Interestingly, clinical observations support an association between religious experiences during, after, and in between epileptic seizures [62]. Most patients with cerebral schistosomiasis are asymptomatic or have mild and nonspecific symptoms [63]. The cerebral infections by the flat worms Spirometra mansoni and Paragonimus westermani have nonspecific signs and symptoms such as headaches and seizures [63]. Coincidentally, headache status at baseline was found to be positively associated with frequent religious attendance (but not attendance of other social events) in one study [64], consistent with previous findings [65].
Herpesviridae, Paramyxoviridae, Rhabdoviridae, Picornaviridae, Retroviridae viral families include strains of neurotropic viruses [66, 67]. Of these herpes simplex[68] and varicella zoster virus[69] are known to cause latent infections of nerve tissues. While no one seems to have published any metagenomic projects specifically devoted to the search of microorganisms in seemingly healthy human brains, a metagenomic analysis using cloning and sequencing of 16s rDNA of brain abscesses revealed a number of previously uncharacterized bacteria [70], however their presence is probably related to the observed clinical conditions. In any case it seems that a seemingly healthy brain or a brain of a human with only mild unspecific symptoms might not be as sterile as commonly assumed.THE Sankei Shimbun, a Japanese daily, has a reputation for illiberal commentary. Last week it outdid itself by running a column that lauded the segregation of races in apartheid-era South Africa—and urged Japan to do the same. Ayako Sono, a conservative columnist, said that if her country had to lower its drawbridge to immigrants, then they should be made to live apart. “It is next to impossible to attain an understanding of foreigners by living alongside them”, she wrote.
Ms Sono’s views got an airing as the government of Shinzo Abe, the prime minister, appears set to promote immigration in all but name. They caused a stir in South Africa, whose ambassador to Japan called them “scandalous”. In Japan, however, the reaction has been oddly muted. The media scarcely picked up on the ambassador’s letter. The Sankei initially greeted criticism with bemusement. It then issued a pro-forma reply defending its right to run different opinions.
Get our daily newsletter Upgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor's Picks.
Japan’s government is considering allowing 200,000 foreigners a year to come to Japan to help to solve a deepening demographic crisis and shortage of workers. The population fell by nearly a quarter of a million in 2013. An advisory body to Mr Abe says that immigrants could help stabilise the population at around 100m, from a current 127m. Not since the ancestors of Japan’s current inhabitants arrived in the islands from Korea two millennia ago has there been an example of immigration on the scale of that proposed. In this largely homogeneous country, just 2% of the population is of foreign origin—and that includes large numbers of residents with roots in Korea, a former Japanese colony, whose families have lived in Japan for generations.
Ms Sono is hardly a fringe figure. A bestselling author and conservative activist, she recently sat on a government panel on education reform; she is quoted in a textbook on morals for secondary school students, alongside Mother Theresa. Yet her views have earned little public backing and appear at odds with shifting opinion. A survey by NHK, Japan’s national broadcaster, shows support for more foreigners is rising. Mark Mullins, a scholar who has followed Ms Sono’s career for years, calls her a “loose cannon” in Team Abe.
Mr Abe’s government has sidestepped the Sankei furore, merely pointing out that Ms Sono had quit the education panel before she published her views. Her article was, in any case, talking about low-paid caregivers to look after Japan’s legions of pensioners. Such professionals, typically from Indonesia and the Philippines, have been allowed in for years under a back-door scheme that labels them “trainees”, a situation that is unlikely to change. Mr Abe wants to encourage the limited migration of skilled workers.
If the Sankei story has any lasting impact, it might be to Japan’s reputation abroad. Ms Sono’s column was entitled “Let them in—but keep them at a distance”. It ran on February 11th, National Foundation Day, by tradition a day for Japanese to express patriotism. The South African ambassador pointed out that February 11th was also the anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison, 25 years ago.Move would allow backbenchers to highlight areas on which they think Labour leader is out of step with public
Labour backbenchers are preparing to call for a series of MPs’ ballots to signal their dissent from the party’s leadership on policy areas where they believe Jeremy Corbyn is out of step with mainstream public opinion.
Heathrow expansion, which Corbyn opposes, will be the test case for the new approach, which one critical backbencher called “constructively muscular”. If accepted, the proposal could see MPs openly defy the official position of their leader.
Airport expansion: the experts' view Read more
Gavin Shuker, chair of Labour’s backbench transport committee, plans to present a report supporting a third runway to Monday’s weekly meeting of the parliamentary Labour party (PLP), and call for a “votable motion” to gauge the views of MPs.
If the PLP chair, John Cryer, agrees to call a vote – as he did when a motion of no confidence in Corbyn was tabled in June – it would act as a strong public signal of Labour MPs’ stance.
Corbyn has said he will not try to whip his party to reject a new runway, but pro-Heathrow rebels believe the lack of an agreed party position will make Labour look weak. A source close to the leader’s office played down the significance of the Heathrow report being presented to the PLP meeting, stressing that MPs were likely to receive a free vote on the issue.
Some are pushing for the same approach to be used to bypass the shadow cabinet and constrain Corbyn’s room for manoeuvre on other contested issues, including the conflict in Syria and the expected US assault to recapture the Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State.
Chris Leslie, the former shadow chancellor who chairs the backbench economic committee, said: “There is no reason why policymaking needs to be the exclusive preserve of the front bench. We can’t allow the party to drift along, because the public are watching and they want to know what we stand for.”
A source close to the leadership rejected Leslie’s suggestion that backbenchers’ views were being ignored. “Leslie should know the PLP has a role in policymaking via the national policy forum,” the source said, adding: “If it was up to him we would have supported Osborne’s discredited fiscal charter last year, which would have been excruciatingly embarrassing when Philip Hammond abandoned it.”
Corbyn received an angry reception at last week’s PLP meeting for apparently hesitating to condemn Russia’s role in attacks on the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo. Some MPs were further angered by his view expressed by a spokesman last week that the focus on Russia “diverts attention” from other “atrocities”, such as those committed by the US-led coalition. “He is trashing the Labour brand,” said one senior party insider.
Another prominent Labour backbencher said the comments on Russia had been very frustrating. “They do not speak for MPs, for Labour voters and not even, I suspect, for the majority of Labour members. But if you disagree with it in public, you get denounced.”
A source in the leftwing Labour grassroots movement Momentum said moves by anti-Corbyn MPs to undermine the leader so soon after his re-election would not be popular with rank-and-file members. “Policy debate is healthy but these committees don’t make Labour policy,” the source said. “Party members will look unfavourably at any actions which undermine our party or our ability to hold the government to account.”
Who on the left or right will stand up to evil in Syria? | Nick Cohen Read more
New internal Labour party figures show membership dropped by roughly 1,000 in the week after Corbyn’s victory, caused by the resignation of more than 2,500 members in a single week, which insiders said was extremely unusual. However, the drop in membership was compensated by about 1,000 additional members joining in the week of Corbyn’s victory.
After comfortably winning the summer leadership challenge against Owen Smith and promising to “wipe the slate clean”, Corbyn has tempted some of his critics, including more than 25 MPs who had resigned, back into the shadow cabinet.
He has also beefed up the party’s response to the referendum result by appointing former director of public prosecutions Keir Starmer as shadow Brexit secretary.
But his refusal to back plans for Labour MPs to elect some shadow cabinet posts and the sacking of Rosie Winterton as the party’s chief whip alienated others. Ian Murray, Labour’s only MP for a Scottish constituency, said last week that Corbyn had “set alight” the olive branch he had promised to extend to colleagues.
If MPs do flex their muscles over Heathrow and other divisive issues, it will be an early test for Corbyn’s new chief whip, Nick Brown, a seasoned veteran of party battles. Rather than strengthening the hand of MPs, Corbyn would like to give Labour’s members, who now number more than half a million, a role in policymaking and a beefed-up presence on the party’s key decision-making body, the national executive committee.
John Woodcock, who chairs the backbench defence committee, said: “There certainly has been talk of how we best recognise the strength of feeling and the majority opinion within the PLP. “Where we can best add value is taking a more in-depth and rigorous approach to policy discussions.”
Plans for more prominent backbench policymaking in areas such as foreign affairs were far less advanced, one source said. “We have got to find ways of being more effective, but Heathrow is an immediate policy proposal where we are facing a vote.”State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, excoriated Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick Monday after he linked "sanctuary city" policies with the deaths of 10 people in a trailer in San Antonio.
"I hope that Lt. Gov. Patrick puts people first in his future public statements," Rogriguez said in a statement. "Because when 10 people from any background perish under such horrific circumstances, it is an occasion deserving of solemnity and respect, not self-indulgent cheerleading."
Patrick, the Republican leader of the Texas Senate, said in a Facebook post Sunday: "Today’s tragedy is why I made passing Senate Bill 4 to ban sanctuary cities — which is now law — a top priority. Sanctuary cities entice people to believe they can come to America and Texas and live outside the law. Sanctuary cities also enable human smugglers and cartels. Today, these people paid a terrible price and demonstrate why we need a secure border and legal immigration reform so we can control who enters our country. We continue to pray for the families and friends of the victims."
Rodriguez said, "Patrick took his response too far. Ten individuals lost their lives this weekend and that deserves our attention, not that the lieutenant governor of Texas successfully passed Senate Bill 4."
Patrick’s statement struck a different tone than reaction from his political ally, Gov. Greg Abbott, who promised to protect victims of human trafficking and vowed to "bring down the full weight of the law for the perpetrators of this despicable crime."Attorney General Eric Holder said America’s election system needs to be made “stronger and more accessible,” and defended the Justice Department’s challenges to restrictive voting laws.
In a speech at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, Holder criticized the country’s “antiquated registration system,” calling it the “single largest barrier” to American voters. He proposed that modern technology could help alleviate many problems, suggesting an updated voter registration system, coordinated between states, could rely on government databases and be portable, allowing voters to remain registered to vote even when they move.
“A recent study by the MacArthur Foundation found that nearly 90 percent of those who voted in last month’s election would support creating national voting standards,” Holder added. “That’s why it is important for national leaders, academic experts, and members of the public to engage in a frank, thorough, and inclusive discussion about how our election systems can be made stronger and more accessible.”
Holder also echoed the words of his boss, President Obama, who said on election night that “we need to fix” long lines at the polls, which occurred predominantly in Democratic-leaning, minority neighborhoods. As potential fixes, Holder talked up expanded voting hours and same-day registration.
“We should rethink this whole notion that voting only occurs on Tuesday, which is an agricultural notion from way back,” Holder said. “Why not have voting on weekends?”
The Senate Judiciary Committee could take up those same issues when they meet on December 19 for a hearing on “the state of the right to vote.”
Holder also rebutted claims of widespread voter fraud that have been used to justify restrictive laws over the last few years. “In-person voter fraud simply doesn’t exist to the extent that some on the right have said that it does,” he said.
The nation’s first black attorney general also defended Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act,which the Supreme Court will consider next year. Some argue the law is obsolete, now that overt racial discrimination over voting in the south has subsided. But Holder says that recent challenges brought to voter ID laws in Texas and South Carolina by the Justice Department, along with the more widespread voter suppression efforts seen elsewhere in the country, show the measure is still needed.
“The notion that this is somehow a thing of the past is belied by the experience we had months ago, some of which happened outside covered jurisdictions.”
Holder said he plans to make voting rights a top priority in the near future, but said he won’t be a “Cal Ripken” or “Janet Reno” as he plans to step down before serving two full terms.With two new executive orders, the Turkish government has inflicted a fatal blow to mostly Kurdish media, shutting down 15 media outlets, and purged more than 10,000 public servants in the latest round of crackdown against non-loyalists.
The targeting of Kurdish media comes at a time of government’s escalating crackdown on civilian and political Kurdish organizations and parties, while the security forces are locked in an intensifying fight with the Kurdish insurgents across southeastern Turkey.
The move will seriously undermine any prospect for the peaceful resolution of Turkey’s decades-old Kurdish conflict that sapped domestic resources, claimed tens of thousands of lives with shattering consequences for the cities and the local economy in the region.
With the first decree, the government shut down two news agencies, 10 newspapers, and three magazines. Istanbul-based DIHA (Dicle News Agency), Diyarbakir-based JIN news agency, and pro-Kurdish Ozgur Gundem based in Diyarbakir, Azadiya Welat and other local dailies are among the ones that were closed down in the latest full-scale assault on media.
In addition to sweeping measures against media, the government also dismissed thousands of public officials in a new wave of purge that has been taking place since the abortive coup on July 15. In total 10,158 public servants have been purged. That includes 2,534 personnel from the Justice Ministry and related departments, 2,219 from Education Ministry, 1,267 in Higher Education Council (YOK) and 102 from the Foreign Ministry. So vast the purge is that its far-reaching impact was even felt at Ministry of Agriculture as 172 public officials have been dismissed in various departments of the ministry.
The police department, justice ministry, education ministry and universities are the core of the government purges. Authorities deprived 1,082 police officers who were previously retired of their titles and ranks, a move that means they will be unable to enjoy the benefits of post-retirement services provided by the police department for its retired officer corpses.
The purge also left a profound impact on Diyanet, Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs, with 249 imams and religious officials joined the wave of mass dismissals.
Not surprisingly, the decrees severely undermined academic life in Turkey, too. 1,267 more academics have been dismissed from universities. Dicle University (99), Pamukkale University (83) and Suleyman Demirel University (73) are the hardest hit academic institutions. What matters more is the new measure that gives President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a tremendous power to appoint presidents of all universities after decrees aborted electoral process at universities to select rectors.
It was the last nail in the coffin that declared the death of academic freedom in a country where thousands of academics suddenly found themselves jobless and economically insecure as the government-led crackdown nearly killed job options for them. At least, 6,400 academics were fired from universities in total since the failed coup attempt in July.
The decrees also suspended the previous ruling for the shutdown of six regional and local newspapers, allowed them to restart publication. Rights of several officers in the military and other departments were also reinstated.
In the eyes of critics and observers of Turkey’s political affairs, the emergency rule measures and decrees paved the way for the establishment of an authoritarian regime with the government centralizing its power over bureaucracy, to the detriment of the rule of law, in outright disregard to the constitutional law. The separation of powers is a dead letter and has no practical relevance anymore, critics lamented on Twitter in their initial reaction to the government action.
The announcement of decrees came on the Republican Day as citizens and people across the country went to streets for a jubilant celebration of the 93rd anniversary of the foundation of the republic. It was something like an insult or a joke to choose the historic day for the declaration of new draconian measures.
The measures represent a major setback for democracy, and everything the republican regime stands for, critics argued. During a reception held in the Parliament to mark the Republican Day in Ankara, President Erdogan renewed his expectation about the reinstatement of the death penalty.
His remarks occupied the front page of the official Anadolu news agency’s post on the website. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, in endorsing fashion, told reporters about the matter that president’s wish reflects people’s desires on the streets.
Yildirim underscored that Parliament cannot ignore demands of the people and his government would seek an accord with other parties in the Parliament to restore the capital punishment. Erdogan promised to sign into law the death penalty, an issue that European leaders say would sink Turkey’s decades-old aspiration for becoming a member of the EU.
The Turkish president, however, appears unconcerned and defiant over the political consequences of such a move.
Another intriguing element in the decrees is the one that regulates rights of detainees and their access to lawyers. The second executive decree even allows prosecutors to bar terror suspects from getting a lawyer for their legal defense for up to six months, a development that could be regarded as a reversal in detainees’ rights in Turkey’s criminal justice system. In another measure, it allows prison officials to record, tape or monitor meetings between lawyers and detainees jailed pending trial on terrorism charges upon demand from prosecutors.Cologne’s Salih Özcan and Hamburg’s Jann-Fiete Arp have both been awarded with the prestigious gold Fritz Walter Medal for young German players. The German Football Association (DFB) honoured the youngsters at U19 and U17 level |
without giving anything in return; a highly unfair practice. My thoughts have changed a bit. You can read all about the regurgitated pros and cons all over the Internet. I’m looking to introduce a new perspective, if I can.
Let us first think of the developer, someone like me. He has to create a project that will utilize some code from other projects, be they libraries, embeddable code, or whatever. If he chooses code licensed under BSD, he has more freedom on what to do with the code. However, if he chooses code licensed under GPL, he now has an added responsibility: release his code under GPL as well. GPL seems to restrict his freedom on what to do with the code but it ensures that if he used someone else’s code, he has to let others use his code in the same manner.
Using code licensed under BSD license gives the developer lots of freedom to distribute the code under any license, provided he maintains the copyright notice and information. The developer now has to care less about his legal responsibilities and can focus on the code. He can take open source code and use it to make an even better code base. By reducing the burden of a developer, we increase the chance of him building better products.
For some projects GPL is the perfect license. Something like the Linux kernel needs to force others to give back after they take so that everyone can benefit and work doesn’t need to be duplicated. But that’s not to say Linux would not have been where it is without GPL (alright, maybe a little). The different BSD OS flavors (FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, etc.) all exist, and have existed for close to 20 years, with the BSD license. They may not be as popular as Linux but in technical terms they are as good if not superior. Their using an “open source” license rather than a “free” license hasn’t resulted in a closed source OS that has taken the world by storm and left everyone else in the dust. Yes, parts of Mac OS X are from the BSD world but OS X is more than just its BSD lineage. It’s a perfect example of how “open source” helps millions with their computing. There’s no financial incentive or payback for the BSD developers in this case but it’s a matter of pride nonetheless.
Proprietary software developers have three options: (1) use GPL code and release their own code under GPL; (2) use BSD licensed code and release their code under any license; (3) create their own version of the code from scratch. In the best of situations, all code would be “free” but that is not always possible. In the worst of situations, all code would be proprietary and that is certainly possible, given the financial incentives it entails. But in the real world, some code is proprietary, some is “free”, and the rest is “open source”. “Open source” bridges the gap between proprietary and “free”. It gives an opportunity to a developer to choose his own path: does he want to be restrictive (against the benevolence shown by others) or does he want to be benevolent like others? So at each step in an “open source” license, we trust the judgement of the involved developer. Some will decide to be benevolent and others will not. That’s exactly how the world is anyways.
Not everyone who releases code under GPL can enforce its conditions. That includes small-time developers like me. We think that since we have released our code under a “free” license that others will respect the license. This is false security, pretty evident from the rampant software piracy in many parts of the world. If proprietary code can’t always be protected or licenses enforced, what chance does a “free” license have? On the other hand, as a developer, I sleep easy knowing that I did all I could to make sure I didn’t adversely affect a benevolent developer’s responsibilities and choice when I used BSD license. To me, BSD license is more of “do what you will” license because I want you to and also I can’t stop you from it.
Eventually, you have to decide how you want to approach code. Do you want to write something you are proud of or do you want to write something that gets you recognition? Are you writing code that you expect to be re-distributed multiple times or might be re-distributed a couple times and then stay in a data center somewhere? BSD is being benevolent to the next person who uses your code while GPL is being benevolent to the person after the next person who uses your code (while putting this next person in a licensing conundrum).
There’s the possibility of dual-licensing your code with GPL/BSD but I don’t like it because it might create even more confusion, hence legal burdens, on developers. Let’s try to keep things as simple as possible for us and for those who wish to use our code. You could even dual-license GPL/proprietary but if our goal is to provide “open source” or “free” code, why even go the proprietary route?
A good point comes from finite, who wrote “I am very glad that our code is MIT licensed. It doesn’t matter who ends up owning the copyright on my code in the future, because I have licensed it to myself and the world under a completely non-restrictive license.” So BSD gives you complete authority over the code even when you are not the copyright holder. Sure you can’t change the license of the written code but you are not artificially bound by any other means.
My take is this: don’t get stuck on one side of the fence. If your code will be used to create applications with mass distribution potential, use GPL so that more and more developers have access to the modifications and enhancements. If your code will be used in applications that are not distributed but function in a service-oriented role (web application, etc.), use BSD. So a kernel, with potential for mass distribution, ought to be GPL and a Wiki engine, most likely just installed and not modified before distribution, ought to be BSD.
Edit: I modified this post to address some points raised by cultic_raider.
Edit 2011-10-28: I have received some feedback from others on this issue, and as anyone would have guessed, both licenses have their supporters. I am leaning toward the BSD license for these reasons. I don’t expect my code to be used and then distributed under a restrictive license because it’ll probably not be so ground-breaking to warrant it. Even if others take my code, modify it, and release it under a restrictive license, my code is still open source so anyone (even I) could make similar modifications and release them under an open source license. BSD license allows other developers to include my code in their BSD code or GPL code so presumably my code can continue to live on in other products with non-restrictive licenses. I want other developers to have an easy time using and distributing my code because I have two users: end users and other developers. My code benefits end users directly but if other developers modify my code and the end product (with or without an open source or free license) also benefits end users, I win both ways. Any modifications others make are their own code and they should have the freedom, like I do right now, to release their code under conditions suitable to them. BSD lets me provide equal benefit to my end users and to developers consuming my code. If I release my code under GPL, my end users benefit and end users of other developers who modify my code benefit but the developers themselves are not free to make their own choices. This is good for the code but I want to be good to the developers as well.
AdvertisementsThe South Dakota Legislature will start the 2016 session on Tuesday, Jan. 12. (Photo: AP file photo)
A bill setting statewide bathroom policies for transgender students would almost certainly lead to costly legal battles between school districts and the federal government, critics told a Senate committee Thursday.
"We don't believe that local taxpayer dollars should be used to defend a state law," said Rob Monson, executive director of School Administrators of South Dakota. "Monies like this could be better spent in the classroom, not on legal defense."
Monson's organization supported the legislation before the House State Affairs Committee stripped it of a provision that would have required the state to defend school districts faced with federal discrimination lawsuits.
After almost two hours of legal questions offset by emotional testimony from transgender South Dakotans and their friends and family, the Senate Education Committee advanced a measure 4-2.
House Bill 1008 would bar transgender students from using bathrooms, locker rooms and shower facilities of the gender with which they identify if that doesn't correspond with their biological sex. Students who don't want to use the facilities based on their biological gender would have to submit a request to their school district for accommodation in separate facilities. The bill would put schools in apparent violation of federal civil rights regulations.
Without involvement of the attorney general's office, local districts would be left to shoulder the legal costs, though a conservative group lobbying in favor of the legislation offered to represent South Dakota districts pro bono if challenged.
The bill's supporters, though, said school districts could end up in court without the legislation.
Rep. Fred Deutsch, R-Florence, the bill's author, said the measure is designed to ensure the privacy of transgender and non-transgender students in the most private areas in schools. He said the federal government has overstepped its authority in interpreting Title IX regulations so as to require school districts to accommodate transgender students.
Title IX is a federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sex.
But gender shouldn't be interpreted as synonymous with sex under those regulations, Deutsch told the committee. He said the Obama administration has extended the protections to those who identify as male or female, when they should be restricted based on biological sex determined at birth.
He said, at present, concerned parents could sue school districts if they upheld a Title IX policy that, under recent interpretation, requires a district to allow transgender students unrestricted access to restrooms, locker rooms and shower rooms with other students of the gender with which they identify. A school in Palatine, Ill., was found to be in violation of the federal law last year when it didn't allow a transgender girl unrestricted access to the girls' locker room.
"If this law is passed it creates uniformity among all schools," Deutsch said. "If one school district is sued and wins the case, it applies to all school districts in South Dakota. If you do not pass this, then each school district is left to its own devices, each school district takes on this issue individually."
Libby Skarin, policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota, said advancing the measure would create an "expensive legal mess."
Matt Sharp, legal counsel for the conservative Christian group Alliance Defending Freedom, said the firm would represent school districts pro bono if they faced lawsuits as a result of the measure.
Roger Tellinghuisen, a lobbyist for the South Dakota Trial Lawyers and former South Dakota attorney general, said the firm's offer to defend school districts was generous, but not binding and it wouldn't help a district that had to pay back additional fees.
"If you’re going to mandate that school districts violate federal law then I think it’s only fair that the state of South Dakota not only stand ready to defend them when they get sued, but that they be ready to write the check for the damages," Tellinghuisen said.
The measure now moves to the Senate floor. If passed there, it will move to the governor's desk where he could sign the measure into law.
Follow Dana Ferguson on Twitter @bydanaferguson
Read or Share this story: http://argusne.ws/1TeJWaRBy RiotTiza
There’s no easy street to reach the League of Legends College Championship. After months of training, communicating and coordinating schedules around class time, holiday breaks and advancing out of the Campus Series, Big Ten Network League or Wildcard Tournament, eight schools have advanced to the North America LCS Arena in Los Angeles to vie for the college champion crown.
We’ve set the opening round of the tournament on May 25 and it will be a blitz of college League of Legends action with four games across two stages - and two streams - to advance to the semifinals on May 26 and May 27. The final two teams will play on May 28 for the college championship title.
Four teams won Campus Series regions - Texas A&M (South), University of Toronto (East), Simon Fraser University (West) and Maryville University (North). The University of Maryland won the Big Ten Network Championship. Carnegie Mellon (East), Robert Morris (North) and University of British Columbia (West) qualified out of the Wildcard tournament.
Opening round matchups were selected at random after removing the potential for regional finalists from rematching.
All matches will be broadcast live on watch.lolesports.com and you can grab tickets for the semifinals and finals HERE.
Who do you think will take home the title this year? Let us know in the comments!Murray Kinsella reports from Murrayfield
WITH IRELAND NOW back-to-back Six Nations champions, the excitement over this year’s World Cup is bound to grow and grow.
But for Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt, there are more important matters at hand before he turns his attention to the global tournament.
Schmidt will enjoy this success, but family matter rule. Source: Billy Stickland/INPHO
The former Leinster coach will enjoy this latest success with his players this evening after a whirlwind day of emotions, but thereafter family comes first. His 11-year-old son Luke suffers from epilepsy and Schmidt hopes to find help in that regard.
“It’s a massive boost to be honest, but the reality for me is that I’m on dad duty,” said Schmidt when asked about the World Cup after Ireland lifted their Six Nations trophy at Murrayfield.
“I’ve got a sick son and we’re off overseas to see specialists to try to get some help with him, so the reality for me is a long way from rugby when we fly out on Tuesday.
“I’ll park the rugby for a little while, and we’ll see if we can get really lucky on both sides of what’s important to us, then we’ll look at the World Cup towards the end of April and I’ll be watching performances of players as will the other coaches.
We’ll be tracking players through the medical and analysis staff, and then we’ll try to put that together.”
A touching moment at the tail end of a remarkable day, and one that puts everything into perspective.
Schmidt has led Ireland to two Six Nations titles in his first two attempts, but his instant reaction after the second of those successes is to push the credit onto the players and his support staff.
That much reflects the reality of the situation, in that Ireland do have a strong playing and coaching group at present, but it also speaks volumes of the Kiwi’s modesty.
Asked if this was his greatest achievement in coaching, given that Ireland last won back-to-back titles in 1948 and 1949, Schmidt immediately moved the focus away from himself.
Peter O'Mahony and Simon Zebo celebrate at Murrayfield. Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO
“The only thing I’d say about the achievement is that it’s an incredibly player-led environment,” said Schmidt. “We have an incredibly good management staff. I think Jason Cowman got them in the condition that they needed to be in.
“Even in the provinces, they do a great job in making sure we get the athlete that we need. Once they’re in our environment, we have a great medical crew, our analysis guys are great.
“Once the game kicks off, I’m not a lot better than an excited spectator and I was a pretty excited one today through three games. I don’t think it’s good for my heart!
Even for the players, they played on physically [against Scotland] and then they mentally played another one [England's game], certainly emotionally played another one, watching that game.”
Schmidt has tasted success and victory everywhere his coaching career has taken him, with this latest trophy accentuating suggestions that the New Zealander is among the very best in the world in his profession.
Perhaps the humility is part of the reason for his superb record? Pushed to compare this year’s Six Nations win with that of 2014, Schmidt again credited others, captain Paul O’Connell coming in for justified praise.
“It’s special for different reasons,” said Schmidt. “I think it’s special because of the way we had to rebound from last week [and defeat in Cardiff]. I think it’s special because it’s been so long since we’ve put back-to-back Six Nations together.
“I think after last week, the disappointment of missing a record maybe and particularly on Paul’s 100th cap, it would have had a little bit of synergy about it.
“So the big guy [O'Connell] just decided to grab the group by the neck this week and drag them into this game with a fair bit of energy and resolve. Thankfully that was just enough to get us over the line.”MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina — The businessman leading the Republican Party was peddling one thing to South Carolina voters Tuesday evening: An alleged innate ability to predict foreign policy trends and events.
Trump has spent the past few weeks on the trail touting, among other thing, his idea of bombing Iraqi oil fields and then taking and keeping the oil for ourselves.
“To the victor goes the spoils,” he often claims, referencing the “old days.” But Tuesday night he told a crowd here in the Palmetto state what he thinks is trait most necessary for White House success:
“It’s about vision, folks.”
The GOP front-runner reiterated past claims about his supposed vision Tuesday by talking about his alleged foresight regarding Osama bin Laden — and predicting “terrorism” in general.
RELATED: Kasich goes after Trump with tough video
“The other thing I predicted is terrorism,” he told the crowd before elaborating on a longer story of a friend who told him the same. “A friend of mind called me and said, ‘Forget that, you’re the first guy that really predicted terrorism.’”
The real-estate developer from Queens said he predicted “terrorism” — which he says was documented in his 2000 book “The America We Deserve” — “cause I can feel it.”
Never mind that “terrorism,” both radical-Islamic and otherwise, had already existed well before then — including the bombing of New York City’s World Trade Center in 1993 by al-Qaeda-linked fundamentalists.
The GOP front-runner also circled back to his ebullient position on waterboarding, telling crowds that he would implement the practice, assuring them that it works — despite a Senate report last year saying the torturous technique is actually ineffective.
“Waterboarding is just fine and it works, too, don’t kid yourself,” Trump said, before adding “we wouldn’t have gotten Osama bin Laden without waterboarding” — which is also not necessarily true.
Trump also attacked the state of America’s infrastructure and reasoned that until it’s fixed, we can’t let others into our country.
“We’re gonna be so vigilant, we’re gonna be so sharp, and we’re not letting others in because, you know, we’ve gotta fix our country. Our country’s broken.”
There to help him in his quest to ostensibly “make America great again”: members of the Trump family. After weeks of touting her arrival on the trail, wife Melania Trump took the stage and spoke briefly to the crowd. Flanked by Trump’s daughter Ivanka, her husband, Jared, as well as daughter Tiffany Trump, son, Baron, and Melania’s parents, the former super model took the microphone.
“Good evening, isn’t he the best?” she asked the crowd. “He will be the best president ever. We love you.”
The Trump family wasn’t the only zany surprise of the night. After spotting a Trump impersonator in the crowd, the candidate called out to security. “You gotta get him up here!”
The man, clad in a business suit with a blonde Trump wig atop his head, approached the stage and after a few moments with secret service, and was allowed to join the candidate.
“This is what I call a real supporter,” Trump crowed as they shook hands.
After asking if the man, whose real name is Terri Silliman, was married and if his wife was happy with her husband, Trump exclaimed “she fantasizes that he’s really the real Donald Trump.”
This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com.Democrats are entering the final stretch of the presidential campaign with nearly five times the paid staff as Republicans, according to a new report.
At least 4,200 people are working to elect Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails County GOP in Minnesota shares image comparing Sanders to Hitler Holder: 'Time to make the Electoral College a vestige of the past' MORE versus about 880 doing the same for Donald Trump Donald John TrumpREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails Trump urges North Korea to denuclearize ahead of summit Venezuela's Maduro says he fears 'bad' people around Trump MORE, NBC News said Friday in an analysis of Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings from the end of August.
ADVERTISEMENT
Clinton’s total includes about 800 working directly for the Democratic presidential nominee’s campaign, 400 at the Democratic National Committee and nearly 3,000 employed with state Democratic parties in 13 battleground states.
Trump’s total, meanwhile, is made up of 130 people working directly for the GOP presidential nominee’s campaign.
Another 270 are with the Republican National Committee (RNC), NBC News said, while roughly 480 are at 13 state Republican parties.
Democrats and Republicans each say they’ve expanded their teams since the last reports, which come out 20 days after the end of the month, making exact counts difficult.
The RNC in early September, for example, announced an additional 392 field staffers for a total payroll of 1,014, numbers that will not appear until their next FEC report.
However, Clinton and her allies maintain a significant size advantage in several swing states.
Democrats have more than five times the number of paid staff in Florida, for example, boasting about 520 to Republicans’ roughly 100.
They command about 360 in Ohio, meanwhile, versus roughly 90 for the GOP’s Buckeye State efforts.
The difference is roughly 10-1, NBC News added, in Virginia (about 270 to 30), Pennsylvania (roughly 450 to 40) and North Carolina (300 to 20).
Clinton leads Trump by about 4 points nationwide, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls.Arsène Wenger has been spared making a decision over his No1 goalkeeper as Manuel Almunia has still not recovered from his elbow injury and will not be under consideration for the home fixture against Fulham on Saturday.
Wenger has started with Lukasz Fabianski in Almunia's absence yet the Arsenal manager has shied away from declaring that either player is his first choice, a policy that has attracted criticism.
Wenger will have to nail his colours to the mast once Almunia is fit but the Spaniard remains unable to fully extend his elbow, despite playing in a reserve-team match nine days ago. He played for 45 minutes in the 2-1 win over Wolves but did not look entirely comfortable.
Almunia's last appearance for the first team came in the shock 3-2 home defeat by West Bromwich Albion on 25 September, the match in which he took the bang to his elbow and played poorly.
If, as expected, Fabianski retains his place when Almunia is fit, the latter may consider his future at Arsenal. Wenger could play Almunia in the Carling Cup semi-final ties against Ipswich Town and the FA Cup third round against Leeds United but that may not be enough to satisfy the 33-year-old.
In a twist to the club's goalkeeping situation, Mark Schwarzer, who was a transfer target for Wenger during the summer, has agreed a new contract at Fulham.
"He was obviously very flattered by the interest," said Mark Hughes, the Fulham manager. "We're delighted that he's decided to stay here and we can move forward now."
Wenger has a slight doubt over Samir Nasri for the game on Saturday; the midfielder took a knock to a knee in the Carling Cup win over Wigan Athletic on Tuesday but is expected to be passed fit. Wenger remains without Cesc Fábregas, Thomas Vermaelen, Abou Diaby and Sébastien Squillaci.According to Royal Club’s weibo, jungler Liu “Mlxg” Shiyu will return to Royal Never Give Up’s starting League of Legends lineup for Week 8 of the LPL regular season.
Scroll to continue with content Ad
Spectators first learned of the possibility of Mlxg’s health problems in Week 6 of the LPL when he did not start for RNG against Team WE. Though RNG made no official statement at the time, rumors circulated that he had fallen ill. RNG fielded substitute jungler Wang “BayBay” Youchun and lost to Team WE.
In Week 7, the team brought in emergency substitute Y1HAN, claiming all of their official substitutes had also fallen ill. RNG won both series against QG Reapers and Vici Gaming.
On March 28, Royal’s official weibo revealed that Mlxg will return to LPL this week.
“In the previous two weeks, due to illness, Mlxg was absent, but he will return to LPL this week,” the post said. “We are sorry to make you worry, but we thank you for your understanding and support. Last week, Y1HAN stepped in during the team’s hour of need and gave a wonderful performance. We hope everyone can give new players encouragement and support.”
In the coming week, LPL enters a second intragroup phase. Royal Never Give Up will play against LGD Gaming and Invictus Gaming.
You can follow Kelsey Moser on Twitter @karonmoser.Ted Cruz is partnering with the American Renewal Project, the right-wing organization led by Christian Nation extremist David Lane, for what the Washington Post describes as “an ambitious 50-state campaign to end taxpayer support for Planned Parenthood.”
Lane won’t be the only radical activist organizing this campaign:
More than 100,000 pastors received e-mail invitations over the weekend to participate in conference calls with Cruz on Tuesday in which they will learn details of the plan to mobilize churchgoers in every congressional district beginning Aug. 30. The requests were sent on the heels of the Texas Republican’s “Rally for Religious Liberty,” which drew 2,500 people to a Des Moines ballroom Friday. … The Tuesday conference calls with pastors will begin with a message from Cruz, who will be followed on the call by Doug Stringer, a pastor who works with American Renewal and Response USA to plan statewide prayer rallies at the request of conservative governors such as [Bobby] Jindal and [Rick] Perry.
Stringer is a self-proclaimed apostle who has said that the September 11 attacks were divine retribution against America for abortion and homosexuality.
“The Response” prayer rallies Stringer organized for Jindal and Perry featured prayer guides similarly blaming Hurricane Katrina and deadly tornadoes on abortion rights and gay marriage.
As Peter mentioned earlier, Cruz has had no problem aligning himself with the most extreme of Religious Right activists, and has even borrowed their rhetoric verbatim:Nicholas J. Johnson in Today Tonight, Tomorrow The World, at Comedy On Collins until April 21 (not Mondays)
WHAT do you get when you cross a comedian desperate for stardom and a television show compelled to get more ratings?
Nicholas J. Johnson's hilarious show, that's what.
Johnson - a comedian, magician and incorruptible con man - tells the story of how he hoodwinked Today Tonight.
Setting the scene with his childhood days, becoming a magician and his "cool" magician friends, Johnson tells the tale with entertainingly amusing self-deprecation.
His impressive magic tricks show off his talents and sets the television scene for becoming "Australia's Honest Con Man".
After making his name with his insightful and helpful tips about not being conned, it was only a matter of time before TV came knocking.
Johnson's paraphrasing of the story is witty, clever and comical, with television's dark side shown in all its glory.
With its effective use of video coupled with his mirthful perspective, this well-constructed show makes for a great comedy routine.
His loss of dignity through his experience of becoming a star of the small screen is achingly amusing, though some jokes falling short of their mark and the picture quality of the video are minor problems.
But on the whole, the show is side-splittingly enjoyable with laughs right up to the ending, which is equally surprising and entertaining.
Stars: ****1/2
Originally published as Nicholas J. Johnson ****1/2Very logically, and very conveniently for us, TfL’s Finance and Policy panel has now published details of the proposed infrastructure upgrade to the Jubilee and Northern lines. So as a nice follow up to our look at the future train procurement for these lines, we are now able to report on what is proposed in terms of upgrades to support them.
The great unknown… until now
It has been a source of frustration for us over the years that despite knowing that there was an upgrade plan for the Jubilee and Northern lines – in contrast to the others – we really did not know the details. This was especially true for the Northern line although in part the reason for this was fairly clear – despite knowing the basics of what was required, TfL hadn’t decided the real details themselves. The options for the Northern line, in particular, have been re-evaluated many times it is only recently that a final decision appears to have been made.
Thoroughbred stock
At the heart of the matter lies a problem that London Underground have always tried very hard to avoid – running mixed stock on a single line. London Underground have long preferred to run similarly performing (and similarly looking) trains on a particular line because mixed stock operation has a whole host of implications – increased complexity of driver training, delayed boarding as people adjust their position on the platform due to variable door position, extra training for fitters and extra spares needing to be kept, just to name a few. There is also a small potential safety issue with the risk of drivers becoming confused by being in charge of different types of train although this risk should be less critical these days with Automatic Train Operation (ATO).
As well as day to day issues, operating mixed stock can be problematic if, in order to do so, you need to purchase new trains for the fleet. If this is the case then buying stock midway through its expected life is almost the worst of all options. In an ideal world it is much more preferable to buy it earlier, losing just a just a few years of use when the stock is starting to become less reliable anyway, or leave it another ten years and think of it as an advance delivery of the full new fleet.
Needs must
Of course if the Underground was operating with only slow growth one could simply put off the fateful day when more trains were introduced. The trouble is that passenger numbers are rising rapidly and all of the ways to deal with that here require new trains. Leaving it until replacement stock is due naturally is thus not really practical. Interestingly, at the Rail and Underground panel, replacement of the Northern line fleet was talked about “for the late 2030s” and the latest briefing for the Northern line upgrade states:
The current assumption is that the JNAT [Jubilee and Northern Additional Trains] trains would be withdrawn in 2040 at the same time as the existing Northern line 95 Tube Stock fleet and the business case would erode if the number of years of beneficial use were reduced.
So the plan already appears to be to expect the existing Northern (and presumably Jubilee) trains to last around 45 years in service. Such an assumption is not at all unreasonable based on the age of much of the stock recently withdrawn, and the generally better construction of modern trains. The 1972 stock is mostly regarded as being the last of the ‘old’ generation and the 1973 stock being the first of the new, but with the attendant problems of being first in an age when metro trains were undergoing a radical design change. As has been commented on before, it is looking more and more likely that by the time trains for the first four lines of New Tube for London are fully introduced it will almost be time to replace trains on all or part of the Northern line.
As soon as possible – but no sooner
It is clear that, once you have decided to buy the trains midway through the greater part of the fleet’s lifecycle, it makes sense to introduce the trains as soon as possible to get the maximum life possible out of them. The difficulty is that an awful lot of preparation work needs to be done before additional trains can be brought into service.
The case for the work on the Jubilee line
The case for the Jubilee line is relatively simple and, we are told in the Jubilee line briefing document, compelling. The line is very much at capacity now, with a wait for a second or third train in the peaks quite commonplace at various locations due to the inability of the passenger to board the first train that arrives. Part of the reason for this is undoubtedly the work at London Bridge main line station, but the trains will almost certainly fill up again to crush loading within weeks of this work being completed.
The argument then goes that, with the signalling upgrade complete, and demand still greatly outstripping supply, it makes sense to buy extra trains to add extra capacity to an infrastructure that is mostly already in place to take them. The trouble is that the bits that aren’t there yet on the Jubilee line are still expensive and would cost around £100 million to provide. The 10 additional trains are expected to cost around another £150 million for a life of approximately 20 years. Very approximately, the initial capital cost for a seven car train works out at around £100,000 per carriage per year – or £300 per carriage, per day of its expected life. At least with the capital infrastructure works you only have to do it once and it is done, more or less, forever.
Although the sums involved for extra stock may appear huge, one could quite reasonably expect that, even when other cost such as drivers and maintenance are taken into account, the trains would generate more revenue over this period than they would cost. While the report does not go quite as far as saying as much it does state:
No revenue abstraction from other TfL modes is assumed as the assessment identified that the additional capacity provided will be utilised by currently deterred demand, rather than diversion from other options.
Without detailed data it is impossible to be sure, but one suspects that the new trains may well pay their own way simply by increasing income due to increased fare revenue. If that were the situation then the case for purchase is almost compelling for that reason alone. The main concern, of course, would be a future mayoral policy on fares that would mean that revenue created would not be as high as expected.
The work involved on the Jubilee line
Very conveniently the work involved is listed as:
power strengthening works at six substations by June 2018
four cooling ventilation fan upgrades by June 2018
conversion of a cleaning road at Stratford Market Depot into a general maintenance road by March 2017 and provision of two roads at Neasden depot for maintenance of Jubilee Line trains by August 2017
conversion of Temporary Fit Out Shed at Stratford Market Depot into three stabling roads by July 2020
renewal and upgrade of the crossover at West Hampstead by March 2017
five signalling workstreams by October 2019
necessary modifications to the existing fleet of 96TS for operational consistency
all associated maintenance and operating changes
Getting the optimum number of trains
The report has a short, but sufficient, explanation of why they proposed a ten train upgrade. It seems that this number was necessary to get the desired 36tph through the central West Hampstead – North Greenwich section. More trains ordered would not lead to more frequent trains operated in the central area, but would improve the service out towards Stanmore. There would possibly be a case for this but it would involve an extra eight trains, which would presumably cost around £120m, and an additional stabling scheme at Stanmore, which would presumably have costed around £50m to bring the total extra to the quoted £170 million – a figure which it was felt could not be justified. As always, the critical thing is capacity and, whilst improving the service further out would bring customer benefits and time saving, it would not do anything for increasing capacity where it is needed.
The complexities of terminating Jubilee trains in the West
Diagram showing principal Jubilee line terminating locations
The Jubilee has a very discernible pattern at the eastern end of the line for terminating trains. This is that three trains in four terminate at Stratford and the fourth terminates at North Greenwich. At the other end there is no such regularity. Around 19 terminate at Stanmore in the peak hour, five at Wembley Park and six at Willesden Green. It is possible to terminate trains at West Hampstead but this is not currently favoured.
West Hampstead is the key
The plan for increasing the service on the Jubilee line to 36tph with so few additional trains relies on using that terminating facility at West Hampstead. A round trip from West Hampstead to Stratford would be slightly in excess of 80mins suggesting nine trains would be necessary to provide an additional 6tph. Allow one extra for maintenance and you have the ten train requirement. Of course, it is not quite as simple as that because the service pattern will change slightly for the existing trains and, as we have already remarked, not all trains at the eastern end of the line terminate at Stratford. The believed intention is for trains westbound to be in a Stanmore, Willesden Green, Stanmore, West Hampstead sequence. This would give Stanmore an almost identical service to that of today but further south of West Hampstead it would be better.
One stop closer to central London from West Hampstead is Finchley Road where there is considerable interchange from the Metropolitan line to the Jubilee line in the morning peak. Finchley Road is probably the first station southwards from Stanmore that really merits a 36tph service if possible.
Early gains
The plan is for authority to be given to proceed in the very near future so that works to upgrade West Hampstead crossover – presumably with faster turnout speed – can be done in order to take advantage of two planned closures early in 2017. This would then be available for reversing in May 2017 and it should be possible with the existing stock to introduce 32tph by April 2018 – just over two years away.
Any indication of what service can run from April 2018 is naturally speculative, but the smart money at LR Towers is on London Underground running the line to the future intended pattern as this would enable the revised service pattern to settle down. If there was any shortfall of trains this could be taken into account by terminating one or two Stanmore trains short at Wembley Park. Assuming terminating at |
who built a company on his back,” said Tom Nolte, a Lenexa city councilman and the architect who designed Ron Deffenbaugh’s dream house.
But by the time Nolte got that job, Deffenbaugh’s circumstances had vastly changed after a freak accident left him a quadriplegic the last seven years of his life.
It happened in the summer of 2007 as Deffenbaugh was getting ready to sell his company for an estimated $300 million. While at Shawnee Mission Medical Center for a routine procedure, Deffenbaugh slipped off an X-ray table and his neck snapped.
His attorneys said the hospital was at fault. Deffenbaugh was sedated, they said, improperly restrained and unattended when he fell.
Shawnee Mission countered that Deffenbaugh was not under anesthesia but was taking painkillers not prescribed by hospital staff at the time of the accident and was not left unattended.
The lawsuit was settled quietly in 2009. And the next year, workers began building a home especially for someone in his condition on the 100-plus acres Deffenbaugh had owned since the 1980s.
Others might have balked at spending millions to build a home across from the landfill, but Deffenbaugh was unfazed.
“He shared with me on several occasions that this is where he wanted to build his future home,” Rosenau said in an email last week. “After his accident, he told me he was ready.”
Told by his doctors that, due to his almost complete paralysis, he wasn’t likely to live long — he went on, however, to survive seven more years — Deffenbaugh spared no expense. Nolte, the designer, said “it was a World’s Fair-type project. It was anything and everything.”
While not at liberty to discuss the details — Nolte signed a confidentiality agreement at the outset of the project and the plans were kept out of the public record at Deffenbaugh’s insistence — the opulence he mentions is apparent in all 21 rooms.
The furniture is custom-built. The wood floors on the main level, Brazilian cherry wood, are accented with marble tiles. Even the towel racks are heated in the master bathroom (the house has five full bathrooms and four half baths).
But not all of the house’s unusual features are in plain view.
The big-screen TV set between the great room and the kitchen is concealed in a waist-high credenza, but the 55-inch screens (programs are visible on the front and the back) rises at the push of a button.
The home uses a geothermal heating and cooling system, with tubes supplying warmth under the floors. And in every room, behind a small door in the wall, is a hookup for the air tubes that Deffenbaugh needed to breathe.
The central oxygen system and the backup generator to run it in case the power went out are in an attached garage. In a basement room set off from the main living area is a walk-in refrigerator and walk-in freezer, as well as a commercial washer and dryer set.
All of that was there to handle the homeowner’s needs, as well as those of a staff of as many as 40 people at times who tended Deffenbaugh and the property until his death nearly seven months ago.
Twice divorced, it was just him and his staff.
“They were like a big family, I’m told,” Holland said.
Wanted to have hope
The hired cooks, housekeepers and health care workers are gone, now serving other clients.
Gone too is Deffenbaugh’s collection of sports cars and antique fire engines that once filled the 40,000-square-foot garage set off from the house.
Before he died of complications connected to his paralysis, Deffenbaugh founded a charity designed to live long after him.
Among the millions of dollars in donations the Ronald D. Deffenbaugh Foundation has handed out in recent years, $4 million went to the spinal injury program at the University of Kansas.
“I think what he wanted to do was have hope,” said Peter Smith, the doctor who leads KU Medical Center’s Institute for Neurological Discoveries. “People who have this injury want to walk again.”
One of Smith’s hopes was that the house might someday be converted into a center for people with spinal cord injuries. It’s accessible to the disabled in every way, from the wide doors to the desk in the study, which was set to the height where Deffenbaugh could wheel up to it and hold court with guests.
In an email response to questions from The Star early last month, Rosenau said that was, indeed, one of several options being discussed after Deffenbaugh’s death.
They ranged from selling the property in one piece to “developing the surrounding property with additional home sites and contributing it to his foundation to partner with other organizations to care for disabled individuals.”
Since then, the trustees have settled on the sale option. Holland said it would take a lot of work to convert the house to institutional use. As for subdividing the property, that wouldn’t be easy, or cheap, either.
Between the steep, rugged land on the south end of the 100 acres and the lack of sewer lines except at the main house, “it’s going to be a challenge,” Shawnee planning director Paul Chaffee said.
Crown Realty’s Teresa Dunn said that, for now anyway, the best use would be the one for which RD Ranch was designed: comfortable, informal living on a regal scale.
It won’t be cheap. Currently the highest-priced listing on record on the local Multiple Listing Service is an active one, a home in Mission Hills on sale for $12,995,000, according to the Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors.
That’s nothing compared with what real estate goes for on the coasts. But in low-cost KC, the highest sale price for a single-family home since data was first collected in 1997 was $6.5 million, the association said.
Should they get the asking price for RD Ranch, the people who run the estate and the Ronald D. Deffenbaugh Foundation would garner more than twice that.
Surely, Dunn said, some rich person will want to buy this property, landfill or not.
“The people with money have cash,” she said, “and they’re buying.”
Besides, the landfill won’t be accepting trash forever. At last check, it was scheduled to cease operations — in 2043.
Although, according to the city of Shawnee, extensions are “very possible.”[/caption]
Astronomers have long known that many surveys of distant galaxies miss 90% of their targets, but they didn’t know why. Now, astronomers have determined that a large fraction of galaxies whose light took 10 billion years to reach us have gone undiscovered. This was found with an extremely deep survey using two of the four giant 8.2-meter telescopes that make up ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and a unique custom-built filter. The survey also helped uncover some of the faintest galaxies ever found at this early stage of the Universe.
Astronomers frequently use the strong, characteristic “fingerprint” of light emitted by hydrogen known as the Lyman-alpha line, to probe the amount of stars formed in the very distant Universe Yet there have long been suspicions that many distant galaxies go unnoticed in these surveys. A new VLT survey demonstrates for the first time that this is exactly what is happening. Most of the Lyman-alpha light is trapped within the galaxy that emits it, and 90% of galaxies do not show up in Lyman-alpha surveys.
“Astronomers always knew they were missing some fraction of the galaxies in Lyman-alpha surveys,” explains Matthew Hayes, the lead author of the paper, published this week in Nature, “but for the first time we now have a measurement. The number of missed galaxies is substantial.”
To figure out how much of the total luminosity was missed, Hayes and his team used the FORS camera at the VLT and a custom-built narrowband filter to measure this Lyman-alpha light, following the methodology of standard Lyman-alpha surveys. Then, using the new HAWK-I camera, attached to another VLT Unit Telescope, they surveyed the same area of space for light emitted at a different wavelength, also by glowing hydrogen, and known as the H-alpha line. They specifically looked at galaxies whose light has been traveling for 10 billion years (redshift 2.2), in a well-studied area of the sky, known as the GOODS-South field.
“This is the first time we have observed a patch of the sky so deeply in light coming from hydrogen at these two very specific wavelengths, and this proved crucial,” said team member Goran Ostlin. The survey was extremely deep, and uncovered some of the faintest galaxies known at this early epoch in the life of the Universe. The astronomers could thereby conclude that traditional surveys done using Lyman-alpha only see a tiny part of the total light that is produced, since most of the Lyman-alpha photons are destroyed by interaction with the interstellar clouds of gas and dust. This effect is dramatically more significant for Lyman-alpha than for H-alpha light. As a result, many galaxies, a proportion as high as 90%, go unseen by these surveys. “If there are ten galaxies seen, there could be a hundred there,” Hayes said.
Different observational methods, targeting the light emitted at different wavelengths, will always lead to a view of the Universe that is only partially complete. The results of this survey issue a stark warning for cosmologists, as the strong Lyman-alpha signature becomes increasingly relied upon in examining the very first galaxies to form in the history of the Universe. “Now that we know how much light we’ve been missing, we can start to create far more accurate representations of the cosmos, understanding better how quickly stars have formed at different times in the life of the Universe,” said co-author Miguel Mas-Hesse.
The breakthrough was made possible thanks to the unique camera used. HAWK-I, which saw first light in 2007, is a state-of-the-art instrument. “There are only a few other cameras with a wider field of view than HAWK-I, and they are on telescopes less than half the size of the VLT. So only VLT/HAWK-I, really, is capable of efficiently finding galaxies this faint at these distances,” said team member Daniel Schaerer.
Read the team’s paper.
Source: ESOSAFE Act: Deadline approaches to re-up pistol permits
CLOSE From 2017: Rep. Chris Collins has proposed federal legislation that would make illegal key parts of New York's SAFE Act. Collins' bill is called SAGA — the Second Amendment Guarantee Act. Jeff DiVeronica
ALBANY - Those with New York pistol permits dating back prior to 2013 will soon have re-certify or face having their license automatically revoked.
State Police on Monday warned pistol-permit holders of the quickly approaching Jan. 31 deadline to re-up their license with the state, which is required as part of the SAFE Act, the state's 2013 gun-control measure.
State law requires permit holders outside Westchester, New York City and Long Island to file with the state every five years.
Those who were issued a pistol or revolver permit before Jan. 15, 2013 -- the day the SAFE Act became law -- will have to complete the recertification process by Jan. 31, 2018, according to state law.
For those who received a permit after the SAFE Act took effect, the deadline is five years after the permit was issued.
More:
DATABASE: Pistol permits issued in New York
Q&A: Time to re-up your pistol permits
SAFE ACT charges are rising, data shows
If a permit holder misses the deadline, the permit is automatically revoked.
"As part of the recertification process, licensees must affirm that they are not prohibited from possessing firearms under state and federal law, and must also confirm certain personal information, as well as provide details about the pistols and/or revolvers they own," according to State Police.
The state's re-certification process doesn't apply to those in Westchester County, New York City and on Long Island, which had already required pistol license holders to periodically re-up prior to the SAFE Act.
In Westchester, pistol permit holders have to re-certify every five years through the county clerk, not State Police.
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
There is no cost to re-certify with State Police.
To re-certify, visit troopers.ny.gov/firearms. Then click "Pistol / Revolver License Recertification" if you wish to complete the process online.
Otherwise, you can download a paper version and mail the completed form to New York State Police, Pistol Permit Bureau, Building 22, 1220 Washington Ave., Albany, NY 12226-2252.
Paper forms can also be picked up at State Police stations.
The SAFE Act helped lead to a large spike in pistol permits New York, according to data from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.
In 2013, 33,030 pistol permits were approved outside New York City — a 48 percent increase from 2012 — amid gun owners' backlash to the gun-control law, which angered Second Amendment groups across New York.
Last year, 29,910 handgun permits were issued outside New York City from January through October, rivaling the SAFE Act year and boosted in part by the presidential election.
Read or Share this story: http://lohud.us/2hOQz9OPHILADELPHIA -- Let’s start with the fact that we won’t necessarily know today whether the Philadelphia Eagles have decided to use the franchise tag on quarterback Sam Bradford. Teams are allowed to apply franchise or transition tags on players from this afternoon until March 1.
The Eagles could apply the tag beginning at 4 p.m. If they decide to use it, they could still choose to wait until the deadline.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell, a certifiably smart guy, argued today that the Eagles should not tag Bradford. It was part of Barnwell’s list of five offseason suggestions for every NFC East team. I suggest reading his reasoning, but I will go ahead and continue the debate that unofficially began when I recommended using the tag.
Barnwell’s point that the $20 million franchise tag is too much is perfectly valid. But the salary cap is going up roughly $10 million from last year and salaries are growing as well. It used to be that a $20 million salary meant Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers or Peyton Manning. That’s changing quickly.
The Eagles could apply the franchise tag to Sam Bradford as early as this afternoon. AP Photo/Matt Ludtke
It is interesting that Barnwell suggests the Eagles replace Bradford with Kansas City Chiefs backup Chase Daniel. Daniel has spent the last three years working for Doug Pederson, so there is a natural fit there.
But let’s look at this another way.
Why would a team want a former No. 1 overall draft pick who was deemed expendable by his original team? That describes Bradford well enough. But it also describes Alex Smith, the starter in Kansas City.
Smith was the first overall pick in the 2005 NFL draft. He started for the San Francisco 49ers for seven years. During those seasons, Smith missed 27 games because of injuries. He had shoulder problems but also missed games because of a thumb injury and a concussion.
Bradford was the first overall pick in the 2010 draft. He started for the St. Louis Rams for five years. Bradford missed 31 games because of injuries. The most serious were the two tears to his left ACL, which cost him nine games in 2013 and the entire 2014 season.
Smith didn’t play in a playoff game until after his sixth season. Bradford has played six seasons without reaching the playoffs.
The 49ers, with Colin Kaepernick emerging as a star, decided to trade Smith in 2013. The Chiefs gave up two second-round picks (one in 2013, the other in 2014) for Smith.
The Rams traded Bradford to the Eagles last year for quarterback Nick Foles and a 2016 second-round pick.
In his three seasons with the Chiefs, Smith has gone to the playoffs twice. His postseason record is 1-2.
Bradford and Smith seem like fairly comparable players, from their draft status to their injury history to their relatively slow-starting careers.
The Chiefs have Smith, now 31, starting ahead of Daniel. Daniel has started two games in his three seasons as Smith’s backup. He lost a start in 2013 and won one in 2014. He did not start a game in 2015.
If Daniel was a young, up-and-coming talent, it might be appealing to sign him as a free agent. But Daniel is a year older than Bradford. He has played less football than Bradford during the last three seasons without tearing his ACL. Daniel is 6-foot, which makes him four inches shorter than Bradford.
That doesn’t mean that Daniel can’t be a good starting quarterback. It just means there is absolutely no evidence that he is a good starting quarterback.
While Daniel would certainly cost a lot less than Bradford, it may be a case where the Eagles would be getting what they pay for.
One of the points I made in the earlier post about tagging Bradford was that it would allow the Eagles to hold on to Bradford while exploring other options. That includes Daniel and other potential veterans like Robert Griffin III and Brock Osweiler.
The most important consideration is whether the quarterback is one that Pederson believes in and wants to work with. It may be that Pederson has reviewed game tapes and decided that Bradford does not meet those criteria. And that’s fine. It would be better to acknowledge that and find an alternative than to spend $20 million on a guy the coach doesn’t connect with.
But it should also be acknowledged that Bradford is more likely to be as good as, or better than, Alex Smith than Chase Daniel is.The AFL’s 18th club will be unveiled tonight as the Greater Western Sydney Giants after a search of trademark applications revealed the club’s nickname and jumper ahead of tonight's official launch.
Documents on the IP Australia website show the AFL sought to register two names for the new club, including the abbreviated ‘"GWS Giants".
As well as the name for the new club, the league lodged two jumper designs for trademarking, unveiling what is almost certain to be the club’s different strips for home-and-away matches.
According to images on the website, the club will have an orange and black or grey color scheme with a stylised ‘‘G’’ on its front.
In the applications, the AFL has sought to protect a wide range of potential uses of the new name and jumpers, including an exhaustive list of merchandising, from clothes, computer games, sporting cards, books and magazines and films.
The revelation of the club’s name and colours follows this website's report on Friday that the league had registered two potential names for the club - Wolves and Giants - in August.
GWS, which will officially unveil its nickname, colours and its first major sponsor tonight, had been seeking public feedback about a suitable moniker and club colours since February.
Team GWS ran a website - nametheteam.com.au - which gave footy fans the chance to vote on the potential nicknames - Giants, Rangers, Warriors and Wolves.
There was speculation the expansion club - which will join the league in 2012 and play in next year's NAB Cup competition - would drop 'Greater' from its name but it appears the second club in New South Wales had decided to retain the GWS acronym.
Late today the AFL refused to confirm whether the expansion franchise would be known as the Greater Western Sydney Giants.
‘‘All will be revealed at 9pm tonight,’’ the spokesman said.A strong weather system moving across the province is expected to bring up to 90 millimetres of rain to parts of the South Coast, while mountain passes will see significant dumps of snow.
Environment Canada issued several warnings on Saturday.
Weather warnings updated with rainfall warnings for up to 80 mm for Howe Sound, North Shore, MetroVan NE including Coquitlam and Maple Ridge, and Sunshine Coast. For latest details see <a href="https://t.co/p443BmqtnY">https://t.co/p443BmqtnY</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BCstorm?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BCstorm</a> <a href="https://t.co/YpNVNQ9OSf">pic.twitter.com/YpNVNQ9OSf</a> —@ECCCWeatherBC
In Metro Vancouver, heavy rain is expected to begin Saturday night with up to 70 mm for Vancouver. Howe Sound and the North Shore could see up to 90 mm.
Rain is expected to last until Sunday evening, while Environment Canada says flooding is a possibility.
Meanwhile, mountain passes such as Kootenay Pass and Rogers Pass will see snow intensify on Sunday, with accumulations of 20 cm.
Snowfall warnings in effect across the province: <a href="https://t.co/I8L6DcPTqb">https://t.co/I8L6DcPTqb</a> —@DriveBC
Whistler is expected to get up to 25 cm of snow.
The mountain resort there opened Friday, one week early due to due to conditions. Sun Peaks outside of Kamloops also opened early on Friday.A Vote Remain T-shirt hangs on a wall next to the National flag of Wales in the village of Penally, Near Tenby, Pembrokeshire in Wales, Britain June 23, 2016. REUTERS/Rebecca Naden
LONDON (Reuters) - The nationalist party of Wales will intensify its push for independence in response to last week’s decision by British voters to leave the European Union, the head of the party said on Monday.
The statement from the Plaid Cymru party, which does not govern Wales, comes as Scotland’s pro-independence government has said it might hold another referendum on Scotland breaking away from the United Kingdom in order to stay in the EU.
And in Northern Ireland, some Republican politicians have called for a vote to unite Ireland with the British-run province.
Plaid Cymru Leader Leanne Wood said the result of Thursday’s referendum for Britain to leave the EU had “changed everything” for the party.
“In all likelihood, with Scotland voting to remain, the UK will cease to exist in the near future. Northern Ireland will be considering its future too,” she said in a statement.
“Wales cannot afford to become a forgotten part of an ‘England-and-Wales’ entity,” Wood said.
Plaid Cymru would hold a special conference soon to discuss the party’s stance further, she said.
Support for independence remains lower in Wales than in Scotland and the regional parliament is run by the center-left Labour Party. In Britain’s EU membership referendum last week, voters in Wales narrowly backed leaving the bloc.* - Your email will not be visible to others! Only those who contact you, will see it.
thank you for takeing care of my grandma
· praytolord.com
dear father in hevan please bring everybody back to the world amen
Contact prayer: · praytolord.com
Dear god in heavan please bring back my dad
Contact prayer: · praytolord.com
Lord please help me keep my job
· praytolord.com
wish tomorrow is anthorday to my life
· praytolord.com
will your kingdow come to my heart
· praytolord.com
lord bless praytolord clothing brand,please
· praytolord.com
lord plz bless me with a good grade on tmr's test helpppppppppp thnx homie
· praytolord.com
Ya jC u li bruh u cool
· praytolord.com
Lieber Gott! Da Magauer geht ma scho wieder gewaltig am Oasch! Kannst nan vielleicht amoi zu dir holen? Lg!
· praytolord.com
My Lord, it's been years that I have feel so guilty that I told too many lies. I really don't want to, but I commit these after all. I beg for your forgiving and carry me on in the future. I feel bad. I urge for your help. Please help me my Lord.
· praytolord.com
dear lord, please let me catfish this faeggit sucessfully
Contact prayer: · praytolord.com
dear lawd why do i get stopped by da police er time i goto tha sto and buy skitlles arizona tea?
· praytolord.com
Dear Lord, if ur real, then why are their atheists? Checkmate faggots.
· praytolord.com
Dear God. If u real, then who was phone?
· praytolord.com
dear lord my wife left me cock is small what do?
· praytolord.com
dear lord why am i such a cuck lord i let men gangbang my wife whilst i jerk mine donger prithee help me not be such a cuck
· praytolord.com
Suck my fat cock
· praytolord.com
persuade 45 people to drop their courses so I can get in thnx homie
· praytolord.com
can someone drop this course smh f u acorn
· praytolord.com
Shoe on head
· praytolord.com
Dear God, I'm an atheist. Debate me.
· praytolord.com
dawn we are watching you kekekekekek
Contact prayer: · praytolord.com
Ave Satanas my brethern
· praytolord.com
new bread http://boards.4chan.org/b/thread/697070668 oh and pray for the challegers safe return
· praytolord.com
Dear LORD. Make me dank yknomasayin
· praytolord.com
Dear God, please forgive the ones who make fun of dank memes, who make fun the Lord Shrek. May their mind and their hearts see your ogreish light. Please God help the families that are suffering with stale memes, the countries in which the meme famine is going on. And please help me and my family, because we are going through a hard time, emotional… See more Dear God, please forgive the ones who make fun of dank memes, who make fun the Lord Shrek. May their mind and their hearts see your ogreish light. Please God help the families that are suffering with stale memes, the countries in which the meme famine is going on. And please help me and my family, because we are going through a hard time, emotionally and financially; we can't find the money to pay our cell phone bill or internet bill, so we have no access to fresh memes. Thank you for everything you have given me. I now bend over and present my asshole for you. Shrek is love, Shrek is life.
· praytolord.com
Last night after eating and subsequently fucking and cumming in my girlfriend's ass, I heard her mention a "god" before her pee pee parts began gushing strange fluids. Do I need to perform an exorcism?
· praytolord.com
I am visited every night by the nignog demon and he rams his fiery throbbing cock inside and pumps me full of his sticky demon seed im starting to like dear lawd deliver me from this evil so i might not like it and lawd please allow kfc to poison their chicken as to kill off Black lives matter and lawdie im oon my knees for you shoot your blessing… See more I am visited every night by the nignog demon and he rams his fiery throbbing cock inside and pumps me full of his sticky demon seed im starting to like dear lawd deliver me from this evil so i might not like it and lawd please allow kfc to poison their chicken as to kill off Black lives matter and lawdie im oon my knees for you shoot your blessing all over my face and inside me
· praytolord.com
Dear faggot. Go to mormon.org and get real live answers right away. Not like this rancid swine here
· praytolord.com
Oh Lord. Why won't the bitches over at mornon.org answer my questions on the chat anymore? I really, really, really need to know how magnets work
· praytolord.com
God doesn't exist, faggots
· praytolord.com
Dear lord, give us your wonderful memes.
· praytolord.com
Oh Lord, please answer my question with your wisdom, Can jet fuel melt steel beams?
· praytolord.com
Lord please let Donald Trump crawl into my bed and fill my rectum his love. Thank you and Amen.
· praytolord.com
Oh, Lord. Oh you who created the heavens and the Earth, show your anger and destroy The United States of America. Their ideas are divise. They killed millions, and slaughtered hundreds of millions. They destroyed our world, so I ask you to put an end to their evil Empire, and destroy them. Oh Lord, I know that you are the alpha and the omega, so de… See more Oh, Lord. Oh you who created the heavens and the Earth, show your anger and destroy The United States of America. Their ideas are divise. They killed millions, and slaughtered hundreds of millions. They destroyed our world, so I ask you to put an end to their evil Empire, and destroy them. Oh Lord, I know that you are the alpha and the omega, so destroy the US just how they destroyed our world.
· praytolord.com
Jesus Christ, save us all when the time comes and please do not let the evil harm us.
· praytolord.com
Dear God, please forgive the ones who make fun of this site, who make fun the Lord. May their mind and their hearts see your light. Please God help the families that are suffering on the countries in which the war is going on. And please help me and my family, because we are going through a hard time, emotionally and financially. Thank you for ever… See more Dear God, please forgive the ones who make fun of this site, who make fun the Lord. May their mind and their hearts see your light. Please God help the families that are suffering on the countries in which the war is going on. And please help me and my family, because we are going through a hard time, emotionally and financially. Thank you for everything you have given me.
· praytolord.com
Pls let a Satanisten rape the woman who throws kitties in the river. And if you got time kill the two cat-kicking niggers too.
· praytolord.com
God, please give me more Deviantart followers http://apartmenttrapped.deviantart.com/ and hookers. i also want hookers
· praytolord.com
Fucking nigger faggot give me 2 dicks next time
Contact prayer: · praytolord.com
Why'd you give me a tiny dick you nigger.
Contact prayer: · praytolord.com
God odesnt exist nigger
· praytolord.com
KEK YOU'RE NOT REAL
· praytolord.com
Is Frank Wolf burning in hell?
· praytolord.com
I wish I was a little bit taller I wish I was a baller I wish I had a girl who looked good, I would call her I wish I had a rabbit in a hat with a bat And a six-four Impala
· praytolord.com
dear god, a/s/l?
· praytolord.com
niggers
· praytolord.com
FUCK YOU FAGGOTS
· praytolord.comFollowing the sanction of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee to Real Madrid CF and Club Atlético de Madrid as a result of having infringed the rules on international transfers of minors, LaLiga wishes to express that:
1. The Spanish football through their clubs, supports the policy of protecting minors and the concern for their development and for their training. Furthermore, it also proposed to the RFEF an adequate system of compensation for training clubs, perfectly compatible with the development of minors.
2. The conduct of Real Madrid CF and Club Atlético de Madrid have been always in favor of the respect, the interest and the training of the child. This has been evident in the various meetings held in recent seasons with specialists from all the clubs and SAD from Laliga on this field.
Therefore, from Laliga we believe that the penalty imposed is disproportionate, out of place and is an excessive punishment for both clubs based on their behavior and the circumstances of each case.
LaLiga has conducted analysis on the adequacy of the rules of "protection" under FIFA, as well as the different standards of the European Union, the Swiss state and Spain, and based on the same, will denounce to the appropriate bodies, the current part of the regulation for the transfer of players under age which does not conform to the law of the protection of minors. After learning the sanctions to FC Barcelona, Real Madrid CF and Club Atlético de Madrid, Laliga considers that the aforementioned law does not really protects the child.Raindrops cover the logo of French car manufacturer Renault on a automobile seen in Paris, France, January 14, 2016. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann/File Photo
PARIS (Reuters) - Renault (RENA.PA) said on Friday it had signed a deal to enter into a new joint venture in Iran that would allow it to strengthen its presence in the country after most trade sanctions were lifted earlier this year.
In a statement, Renault said it would be the majority shareholder in the joint venture with Iranian investment fund IDRO.
Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn said there was “undeniable” potential in the Iran market. The joint venture will include a new manufacturing plant with a capacity to produce 150,000 vehicles per year. The carmaker already has an annual capacity of 200,000 vehicles in Iran.
Renault follows on the heels of PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA) which in July struck a framework deal with Iranian counterpart SAIPA to invest 300 million euros ($335.5 million) in developing and producing three Citroen models.
Peugeot, which is seeking to reclaim the leading position it once enjoyed in Iran, said on Thursday Iran’s Minister for Industry Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh would visit its Velizy research center near Paris to discuss cooperation.
Renault said that its Symbol and Duster models would roll off the new factory’s production line from 2018. The Renault group’s sales in Iran increased 56 percent in 2015 from the 51,500 vehicles sold the previous year.
($1 = 0.8943 euros)Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Israel will disappear from the "landscape of geography," adding that its land will be returned to the Palestinians.
The comment was the last of a string of remarks made by both Israeli and Iranian officials amid continued debate over the possibility of a military resolution to the ongoing nuclear standoff between Iran and the West.
Referring to growing discussion over nuclear crisis earlier this week, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren stressed in an interview to MSNBC that the Israeli clock "is ticking faster."
Oren said Israel appreciated U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's reiteration that the U.S. is determined to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, but mentioned the "structural differences between the United States and Israel which we can't ignore."
On Tuesday, Iranian Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi dismissed Israeli threats against his country as psychological warfare.
The semi-official Mehr news agency on Tuesday quoted Gen. Ahmad Vahidi as saying Israeli leaders are resorting to "psychological war" against Iran.
However, the war of words continued on Wednesday, with Mehr quoting Iran's Supreme Leader, in an apparent reference to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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
According to Mehr, Khamenei said that the "light of hope will shine on the Palestinian issue, and this Islamic land will certainly be returned to the Palestinian nation, and the superfluous and fake Zionist [regime] will disappear from the landscape of geography."
The remark was reportedly made during a meeting with Iranian veterans of the Iran-Iraq war.
A Qadr missile is displayed during a military parade in front of a portrait of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. APA World of Ice and Fire v4.1 Changelog below. Will require a new game.
Changed
Added 2 new companions gained from random quests - Brog Matter, Reed Matter. (Patreon pledge tiers). There is quite a lot of content for these so there will be an option to turn them off or on. (not yet fully implemented)
Many changes to the campaign map.
Changed campaign map textures so they look better with HDR turned on.
Added 1x lord, 3x castles and 2x villages to the Iron Islands.
Added 3x lord, 3x castles and 3x villages to Westeros.
Added 7x lords, 7x castles and 7x villages to Essos.
Cleaned up initial loading screen.
Changed some map icons, updated some others.
Changed size of nearly all map icons.
Changed name and location of duplicated settlement Fawnton.
The players son or daughter should now have the same colour hair as the player - fixes issues for people playing as Valyrian.
Added a max value to land wind which will hopefully stop the crazy tree dances.
Slightly increased grass flora amount.
Improved religion code for villages - this'should' stop issues with the player sometimes not being able to recruit from villages due to negative relations.
Added Wooden Scene Props pack from Adorno (Forums.taleworlds.com)
Added 6x villages scenes from Gokiller (Forums.taleworlds.com)
Scenes
Adjusted banners in Kings Landing keep.
Fixed incorrect outer terrain for Giants Lance.
Fixed incorrect outer terrain for Shipbreaker.
Fixed incorrect outer terrain for Whispering.
Fixed incorrect outer terrain for Ryamsport.
Fixed
Updated incorrect stamina mechanics in tournaments and in the arena.
Fixed some villages showing the incorrect icons.
Fixed some incorrect strings showing for some villages.
Fixed random events sometimes firing when performing work for a village.
Fixed remaining issues with Oldtown ships getting stuck.
Fixed enslaved villages not always resetting correctly.Mike Barrett
Activist Post
A major decision will soon be made which will ultimately determine whether or not a known hazardous chemical will continue to inhabit food products, plastic packaging, personal care products, and an abundance of other |
We are excited to have professional coordination of the event to ensure a smooth and organized experience that allows everyone the chance to participate in the demo and ed sessions. Positive ID required. Every attendee must be ticketed for this event. 21+ to enter. Registered Medical Patients BYOC.Event is located in Milton MA, exact address provided upon ticket purchaseCheck out our last event www.tinyurl.com/activate-albumSyrian President Bashar Assad addresses a press conference at the presidential palace in Damascus on Thursday Oct. 21, 2010. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
(CNSNews.com) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday drew a contrast between Syrian President Bashir Assad and his late father and predecessor, and said U.S. lawmakers who recently have visited Damascus regarded him as a “reformer.”
She made the startling comment while explaining why the United States will not intervene on behalf of Syrian civilians revolting against the regime as it has done in the case of Libya.
The recent wave of unrest in Syria originated in the city of Deraa near the border with Jordan and has spread to other centers, including Damascus and Latakia, a coastal city with a sizeable population of Allawites, members of Assad’s minority Shi’ite sect.
Security forces have opened fire on protestors on several occasions, and human rights groups put the death toll in Deraa alone at more than 60. Clashes in Latakia at the weekend left more people dead, with reports of fatalities ranging from six to 21.
As it has done since the unrest began, the regime’s official SANA news agency has blamed shadowy conspirators and “foreign plots,” attributing the deaths in Latakia to “armed gangs.”
Doing the round of Sunday television talk shows with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Clinton told CBS’s Face the Nation that the U.S. would not enter the conflict in Syria as it has in Libya.
“No,” she said. “Each of these situations is unique.”
While saying the administration deplored the violence in Syria, she contrasted the situation to that of Libya.
“What’s been happening there [in Syria] the last few weeks is deeply concerning, but there’s a difference between calling out aircraft and indiscriminately strafing and bombing your own cities and then police actions, which, frankly, have exceeded the use of force that any of us would want to see.”
Clinton described Muammar Gaddafi as “someone who has behaved in a way that caused grave concern in the past 40-plus years in the Arab world, the African world, Europe, and the United States.”
CBS newsman Bob Schieffer, the interviewer, noted that the president’s father, Hafez Assad, had “killed 25,000 people at a lick” – a reference to the crushing of an Islamist revolt in the town of Hama in 1982 – and said the regime now was firing at civilians with live ammunition.
“Why is that different from Libya?” he asked.
“There’s a different leader in Syria now,” Clinton said. “Many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he’s a reformer.”
Despite appeals from the Obama administration, Bashir Assad has aligned himself with Iran and Hamas.
The most recent congressional delegation to visit Syria was one led by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) last month.
There was no public statement from either side after the talks, but SANA said Assad had told the visitors -- speaking about protests in the Arab world -- that leaders should “better understand the will of the people and to carry out policies that reflect” their demands. Attempts to get comment from Shelby’s spokesman on Sunday were unsuccessful.
‘Assad has been very generous with me’
Syrian President Bashir Assad holds discussions with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, in Damascus on November 8, 2010. (Photo: SANA)
A regular visitor to Damascus is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who has met with Assad at least six times, most recently last November.
Kerry was a strong supporter of the Obama administration’s decision to re-engage the Assad regime and to send an ambassador to Damascus for the first time in five years. He has also taken an interest in prodding Syria and Israel towards peace talks.
In a March 16 speech at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on U.S. policy in the light of what he called “the new Arab awakening,” Kerry referred to the situation in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Morocco, Oman and Lebanon.
There was not a single reference in the speech to Syria, however.
When Kerry was asked about Syria during a question-and-answer session afterwards, he voiced optimism about the direction relations were taking.
“I have been a believer for some period of time that we could make progress in that relationship,” he said. “And I’m going to continue to work for it and push it.”
“President Assad has been very generous with me in terms of the discussions we have had,” Kerry continued. “And when I last went to – the last several trips to Syria – I asked President Assad to do certain things to build the relationship with the United States and sort of show the good faith that would help us to move the process forward.”
He mentioned some of the requests, including the purchase of land for the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, the opening of an American cultural center, non-interference in Lebanon’s election and the improvement of ties with Iraq and Bahrain, and said Assad had met each one.
“So my judgment is that Syria will move; Syria will change, as it embraces a legitimate relationship with the United States and the West and economic opportunity that comes with it and the participation that comes with it.”
Syrian President Bashir Assad and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad meet with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Damascus in February 2010. (Photo: Hezbollah/Moqawama Web site)
Kerry said nothing about the need for internal reform in Syria.
In contrast, Kerry early this month was an outspoken advocate for the administration to act in Libya, describing Gaddafi as “a mad man bent on maintaining power” and saying the U.S. should lead the world in preventing the slaughter of more Libyan civilians.
After President Obama’s election victory in November 2008, Kerry was widely tipped to become secretary of state. The post went to Clinton, but speculation persisted through last year that Kerry remained keen. Clinton recently said she would not serve as secretary of state in a second Obama term, if the president is re-elected.
Assad became president on his father’s death in 2000. Despite his pledges to liberalize he continues to restrict civil liberties and hold onto power by force, and human rights groups name Syria among the world’s 20 most repressive countries today, citing thousands of political prisoners, restrictions on freedom of expression and association, and a state of emergency in place since 1963.
In 2005, opposition figures and groups in Syria signed the “Damascus Declaration,” calling for “peaceful political reform based on dialogue,” an end to the emergency laws and the release of political prisoners.
Twelve signatories were later found put on trial for their participation and sentenced to jail terms ranging from three to six years.
Assad, like his father, has nurtured strong ties with Iran and the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, while continuing to host Palestinian terrorist groups in Damascus.
He also maintained Syria’s decades-old policy of political and military interference in Lebanon, and his regime was suspected of high-level involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.
The Hariri killing prompted President Bush to withdraw the U.S. ambassador from Damascus. Seeking improved relations with Syria, President Obama nominated Robert Ford as ambassador and, after the process stalled in Congress, appointed him during a recess last December.Get the biggest business 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
Online giant Amazon is set to move into a huge warehouse at Wythenshawe’s Airport City, bringing 1,500 jobs to the region.
The retailer, the biggest internet seller in the world, plans to occupy more than 800,000 sq ft in Airport City south – the £800m business, hotel and industrial space being built around the hub.
The 260,000 sq ft warehouse is already under construction after Manchester Airports Group and logistics specialist Stoford were granted planning permission.
But Amazon has applied to extend the floor space with two internal mezzanine levels, taking it to 654,000 sq ft.
This is in addition to a 42,840 sq ft office and a 120,000 sq ft car park.
Mike Kane, Wythenshawe MP, said the move would place Wythenshawe ‘at the heart of the Northern Powerhouse’ and bring jobs to the community.
He said: “I’m genuinely elated. Amazon will be a massive anchor tenant for the region.
“It’s really good news for the Airport City development, south Manchester as a whole and our wider vision for the area.”
The Amazon plan follows DHL’s arrival at Airport City South. They opened a 37,308 sq ft warehouse in October 2014. The company now operates a daily freight flight from Leipzig to Manchester.
The jobs created are expected to revolve principally around the warehouse - to become a major site for stock.
The planning application includes mention of a new bus service from Wythenshawe.
Within a two-hour drive of more than 22million homes and at the airport, it’s ideally place for transporting goods.
New neigbhours DHL already work to deliver for Amazon.
Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester council, said: “The news that Amazon is creating 1,500 jobs at Airport City is tremendous for Wythenshawe and Manchester as a whole.
“This development shows how attractive a location close to the airport, with its extensive connections, is for occupiers who require a global reach. It follows on from previous examples of investor confidence in the enterprise zone, such as DHL relocating their overseas delivery logistics hub to Airport City South. There’s every reason to believe that Airport City will go from strength to strength.”
Jonathan Haigh, director of development management and infrastructure, said: “This deal marks a major milestone for Airport City and
creates 1,500 new local jobs, which is exciting news.
“Manchester Airport’s network of flights to destinations around the globe is one of the key things that makes Airport City attractive to businesses looking to relocate or set up new bases in the UK.
“This deal provides clear evidence of that and also gives Amazon close access to both their supply chain and the 22 million potential customers within a two hour drive of Manchester Airport.”
Mr Kane added: “When you combine this with the £1bn investment in the airport terminal and the £800m investment in Airport City north and the biomedical science park at Wythenshawe Hospital, it all connects to our Northern Powerhouse.
“It makes Wythenshawe the centre of the Northern Powerhouse, especially with the HS2 station next door.
“We’re hoping to meet with Amazon to press them on commitment for local employment.”
The news comes as Manchester Airport’s Group announced its profits – with £25m set to go to Greater Manchester’s 10 councils, which part-owns its four airports.Although roof-mounted photovoltaic panels may not be a common sight yet in the West, the technology is really heating up in Asia – specifically in Bangladesh. According to local officials, the number of solar-powered households in the Asian nation now amounts to over one million. Under-investment in the country’s infrastructure means that the country’s power plants only generate around 4,700 megawatts of electricity a day against a demand of 6,000 megawatts, so some 60 percent of Bangladesh’s 150 million people have no access to mains electricity. As a result, the power-hungry, fair-weathered country has exhibited the fastest expansion of solar technology in the world.
Bangladesh’ embrace of solar power has shown quite a meteroic rise – especially considering that in 2002, only 7,000 homes in Bangladesh used solar energy. Today, according to Nazmul Haq of the Infrastructure Development Company (IDCOL), it now benefits five million people. “It’s the fastest expansion of solar energy anywhere in the world,” Haq told PhysOrg. “We crossed the one million threshold more than 18 months ahead of schedule (and) we have set a new target to cross 2.5 million by 2014,” he said.
IDCOL is responsible for financing clean energy projects, and they saw the benefits of solar power as many households in Bangladesh are not on the national grid. With the help of NGOs, households could finance the purchase of photovoltaic panels in small monthly payments. If only solar panels were as affordable in the West.
+ IDCOL
Via PhysOrg
Images from IDCOLWomen with moderate to severe depression had substantial improvement in their symptoms of depression after they received treatment for their vitamin D deficiency, a new study finds. The case report series was presented at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston.
Because the women did not change their antidepressant medications or other environmental factors that relate to depression, the authors concluded that correction of the patients' underlying shortage of vitamin D might be responsible for the beneficial effect on depression.
"Vitamin D may have an as-yet-unproven effect on mood, and its deficiency may exacerbate depression," said Sonal Pathak, MD, an endocrinologist at Bayhealth Medical Center in Dover, Del. "If this association is confirmed, it may improve how we treat depression."
Pathak presented the research findings in three women, who ranged in age from 42 to 66. All had previously diagnosed major depressive disorder, also called clinical depression, and were receiving antidepressant therapy. The patients also were being treated for either Type 2 diabetes or an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism).
Because the women had risk factors for vitamin D deficiency, such as low vitamin D intake and poor sun exposure, they each underwent a 25-hydroxyvitamin D blood test. For all three women, the test found low levels of vitamin D, ranging from 8.9 to 14.5 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL), Pathak reported. Levels below 21 ng/mL are considered vitamin D deficiency, and normal vitamin D levels are above 30 ng/mL, according to The Endocrine Society.
Over eight to 12 weeks, oral vitamin D replacement therapy restored the women's vitamin D status to normal. Their levels after treatment ranged from 32 to 38 ng/mL according to the study abstract.
After treatment, all three women reported significant improvement in their depression, as found using the Beck Depression Inventory. This 21-item questionnaire scores the severity of sadness and other symptoms of depression. A score of 0 to 9 indicates minimal depression; 10 to 18, mild depression; 19 to 29, moderate depression; and 30 to 63, severe depression.
One woman's depression score improved from 32 before vitamin D therapy to 12, a change from severe to mild depression. Another woman's score fell from 26 to 8, indicating she now had minimal symptoms of depression. The third patient's score of 21 improved after vitamin D treatment to 16, also in the mild range.
Other studies have suggested that vitamin D has an effect on mood and depression, but there is a need for large, good-quality, randomized controlled clinical trials to prove whether there is a real causal relationship, Dr Pathak said.
"Screening at-risk depressed patients for vitamin D deficiency and treating it appropriately may be an easy and cost-effective adjunct to mainstream therapies for depression," she said.Download the MP3 audio version of this story here, or sign up for The Explainer’s free daily podcast on iTunes.
In a statement that purports to “flay” U.S. and South Korean combined naval maneuvers, North Korea’s state-run news service announced Tuesday that other nations “would be well advised to properly understand the will and mettle of the DPRK to wipe out the enemy and stop going reckless.” The service further noted the involvement of a “ super-large nuclear carrier” in these maneuvers, and advised the United States to “ drop its wrong military calculation and stop the adventurous war exercises.” In a Slate column first published in 2006 and reprinted below, Daniel Engber explains the bizarre wording of North Korean statements.
Kim Jong-il. Jonas Ekstromer/AFP/Getty Images
North Korea’s state-run news service announced the successful detonation of a nuclear weapon on Sunday. “The nuclear test was conducted with indigenous wisdom and technology 100 percent,” said the Korean Central News Agency. Last week, the KCNA delivered another oddly worded statement, criticizing Japan for its “extra-large crimes of human rights abuses.” Where’d they get that quirky diction?
It’s homegrown. For the most part, North Korean government officials learn English without ever leaving the country. The political elite study at the language program of Kim Il-Sung University, while most working-level diplomats train at the Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies. The teachers at these programs tend to be North Koreans who use video and audio recordings as classroom aides. There are very few English-language books around, and students are often forced to study from volumes of sayings by Kim Il-Sung that have been translated into English. (A few top students get to travel abroad or watch Hollywood movies like Jaws and Titanic.) Most students specialize in English, but the universities also offer Japanese, Chinese, Russian, and many other languages for study.
Kim Il-Sung founded the central news agency as a political-party mouthpiece in 1946, before the official creation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Most news comes from a main office in Pyongyang, but there are local branches inside the country and some informal offices abroad. The KCNA Web site, which has been live since the beginning of the Internet boom, operates out of Tokyo.
A former diplomat told the Newhouse News Service that in the 1970s, the agency would run fake news stories as ads in American newspapers like the Washington Post and then run excerpts from those papers as if they were quoting real American articles. In the last 10 years, the copyrighted statements from the agency’s Web site have made frequent use of strange and extravagant rhetoric. “The U.S. imperialist robbers have stretched their crooked tentacle of crime-woven aggression with wild ambition,” said one release from 1998, which went on to promise that the Americans will “meet the fate of forlorn wandering spirits.” Foes of the state are often described as “human scum”; one defector who received that designation was further described as “ugly-looking” and a “dirty and silly guy.” A few years ago, an American graphic designer named Geoff Davis was inspired to set up a search engine for the entire KCNA Web archive. Among his suggested searches: “resolutely smash,” “brigandish,” and “peerlessly great man.”
Despite its peculiarity, the agency provides the West with an important source of information on Kim Jong-il’s regime. American and South Korean analysts read the KCNA releases every day, looking for subtle shifts in rhetorical strategy or other clues as to what might be going on inside the country. As a rule of thumb, it’s more likely that the North Koreans mean business when they tone down the name-calling.
Got a question about today’s news? Ask the Explainer.
Explainer thanks Han Park of the University of Georgia.In the emerging GOP civil war between Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Rand Paul (R-KY) over the government’s use of drones, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich made it clear Friday that he’s siding with the Kentucky libertarian.
Earlier this week, McCain blasted Paul’s 13-hour filibuster over the nomination of John Brennan to lead the CIA. But while McCain and his old ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) criticized, other Republicans, such as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), rushed to join Paul’s cause. Gingrich said he was “saddened” by McCain’s response.
“Well, I’m really disappointed in John McCain. And I’m very saddened by it,” Gingrich told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “McCain, in his younger years, was a great maverick. He took on his party all the time. The idea that he’s now lecturing the next generation because they have the guts to stand up, which is I — I would have thought John McCain we do have applauded them and he would have said, I may not agree with you in detail, but I’m proud of the fact that you’re standing up for your beliefs, you’re fighting. I don’t know what’s happened to John McCain. But I find this very sad.”
McCain contended on Friday that his vision of national security, not Paul’s, upholds the legacy of former President Ronald Reagan. But Gingrich said when it comes to the use of drones on American soil, Paul is right.
“I mean if our constitution means anything, it means that your government can’t capriciously kill you without the rule of law,” Gingrich said. “And it was very clear from the attorney general’s earlier letters that they were reserving the right — remember, we’re not talking about a combatant engaged in fighting against the U.S.”
Graham had argued earlier in the week that the Kentucky senator’s question posed to Attorney General Eric Holder about the use of drones against American citizens was unseemly, but Gingrich said he saw nothing “inappropriate” in Paul’s actions.Photo Credits. SANDERS Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune. TRUMP Zbibniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune
A little narcissism is not a bad thing if one is a politician, and if narcissism comes in degrees. Getting up each morning and looking into the mirror, a politician has to say, “hey, it’s all about me,” to make it through the day. It’s a defense mechanism against those who spend their day trying to tear you from limb-from-limb, degrade you personally and attack you any way they can attack you.
That’s what passes for political debate these days.
The two guys in the photo above are starting to take it to extremes. In fact, they’re starting to remind me of conjoined twins and unfortunately they’re conjoined by hate.
That hate flows down to their supporters who start behaving in the same boorish manner as their objects of worship, the two candidates.
I don’t use that term worship in a cavalier manner. It is worship with these two. In fact, their followers remind me of cult followers more than they do thinking human beings.
The Trump gangs are well-documented thugs. Their antics at rallies have been the talk of the political season. In fact, The Wall Street Journal, not exactly the voice of Liberalism published an article just yesterday about how White Supremacists are advancing their agenda through Trump.
There is an endorsement that should make a politician queasy but not Trump who seems to welcome them.
The Bernie gangs are no less offensive. When I announced that as a Republican who had never voted for any Democrat for any office I was not going to vote for Donald Trump, and probably would vote for Hillary Clinton, the Bernie crew sent me lots of nice messages on Twitter asking me to feel the Bern.
If I feel a Burn, I consult a doctor because I need a course of antibiotics. There is nothing on God’s Earth that could get me, a capitalist, to vote for Bernie Sanders for any office, of any kind, let alone President of the USA.
When I told them no thank you, those smiles turned to smears as ugly as any the Trump mob could muster.
The threats against the DNC Chair in Nevada are a classic example of a narcissist reaction to bad behavior. Bernie refuses to apologize. What should Bernie say? Bernie should say that he repudiates any hateful behavior by any supporter whatsoever and he is profoundly sorry for any threats she has received. But oh no, not Bernie, narcissists never apologize even if it is an insincere apology.
The Bernie movement, like the Trump movement, is built on hate. His is a message of hate cloaked as “fairness”. There is nothing fair about taking what someone has worked hard for and giving it to someone who has not worked hard for it. That is called greed, yet the person who has worked hard or taken risk is portrayed as the greedy person. That’s the Bernie movement and I want no part of it, or him.
His hate was on full display in his rambling, incoherent speech after his loss in the Kentucky Primary. Narcissists are always sore losers.
Bernie was railing against the system and the Democratic Party. You know, to this day Bernie is not a member of the Democratic Party. I don’t understand why he is on the ballot as a Democrat. It is a fraud to have his name on the ballot as a Democrat. Bernie, if you want to legitimately criticize the party, grab your cell phone call up the Minority Leader in the Senate and join. It just takes a phone call, but see, you are not a Democrat never have been and have no intention of being a Democrat.
Bernie’s rant was fueled because, in a closed Primary where only Democrats are allowed to vote for their party’s nominee, Bernie can’t hijack the election by having non-Democrats steal the election. Somehow Bernie thinks theft is moral as long as he wins. That is in keeping with narcissism too.
Bernie and Trump are both engaged in populism. At its base, populism is the belief that the people have the right to control their government rather than a small group of political insiders. Ironic, isn’t it, that someone who is part of a small group of the elite, the US Senate, can fleece so many people into thinking he is not an insider? Bernie is an insider and part of the political elite, just an incompetent elitist with a record of failure as a public servant.
Mathematically Bernie can’t win the Democratic Nomination, and he knows he can’t win, so what is his end-game? Politico published an article last week stating after Kentucky and Oregon, Bernie would end the race and focus on defeating Trump. That sounds like a third party bid to me. I think he still will go the third party route and play the spoiler, after all, he is not a Democrat so why should he just walk away? His ego will not allow him to walk away from all this attention.
Where are all the men and women of principle this election? They seem to be missing. I used to hear a lot about “Principled Conservatives”. The last I checked, Principled means someone who is high-minded, honest in all things, abides by a code or a set of rules, upstanding and incorruptible.
I seem to have found one. Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard is taking an awful hit right now. He actually does have principles and is not knuckling under to Der Fuhrer Donald. He seems to recall the GOP is about entrepreneurship, free trade, efficient government, and not about protectionism, misogyny, white supremacy, and disdain for the handicapped and hate for the poor.
He published an interesting study by Data Targeting showing that 65% of voters are willing to support an independent candidate and 91% of young voters want an independent candidate on the ballot. Those are significant numbers. If the two major parties are to survive and flourish as they have in the past they need to bend an ear outside the beltway and listen to the rest of America.
Whether you like it or not, Washington, this election the voters are sending you a message. I hope you are receiving it. So far, the only person inside the Beltway who seems to not have lost his hearing is Bill Kristol.
Type your email address in the box and click the "create subscription" button. My list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time.Ambition. That's the word that Marco Silva continued to use as he spoke exclusively to watfordfc.com for the first time after joining as Head Coach.
With pre-season now underway, the hard graft has started for Silva and his squad at the club's training ground, as they prepare for a third consecutive season in the Premier League.
“First, I really like the approach of the owner, the board and the motivation of the club,” the 39-year-old said.
“What I felt during our meetings was a club with big motivation and big ambition.
“We will bring our commitment, attitude and ambition. We are really ambitious and this is really important. For us it’s clear that we’ve come here to work hard and to achieve our goals.
“I’m really excited, it’s an important step for us and we are looking forward to working with the boys.”
Watch the video above to hear in full the first interview with the new Watford Head Coach.
The club can also confirm that Silva is supported by the following coaching staff:
Joao Pedro Sousa - Assistant Head Coach
Long time friend and colleague, Sousa joined Silva at Estoril and has remained by his side ever since, taking a hands-on role on the training pitch.
Goncalo Pedro - First-Team Coach
Pedro already had an extensive CV before joining up with Silva at Estoril, beginning within the youth setups at Sporting and Benfica, before senior roles with Portimonense, Braga and a three-year stint in Saudi Arabia.
Hugo Oliveira - Goalkeeping Coach
Oliveira has fifteen years' experience in Portugal, his highest profile roles coming at Benfica, where he worked with international 'keepers Julio Cesar and Jan Oblak, and with the Portuguese national side under Carlos Queiroz.The Abbott government's offshore refugee policy is facing a new legal challenge that seeks to hold the Commonwealth legally responsible for conditions in its overseas detention camps because the decisions to open and operate them were made in Australia.
The Sunday Age understands the claim is an attempt to refute the government's long-standing position that what happens in the camps is the sole responsibility of the governments of Nauru and Papua New Guinea and the private operators that run them.
Law firm Maurice Blackburn is making the argument on behalf of a 36-year-old detainee who is suing the Commonwealth and contractor G4S after losing an eye during the 2014 Manus Island riots.
The Abbott government is currently fighting dozens of individual lawsuits brought by current and former detainees over allegations of mistreatment and unlawful incarceration in Australia's extensive camp network. Two class actions – brought against the federal government and the centre operators – are also underway on behalf of more than 1500 detainees on Manus and Christmas Islands.
A spokesperson for Maurice Blackburn declined to comment because the matter involving the unnamed detainee – known as "RN" – is currently before the Supreme Court of Victoria.1
01224 630691
I'm giving this place only two stars, because at least they didn't involve me in an international calling card scam like the indian place did. When I got off the phone with the woman taking the order she said "I can't wait to meet you." I replied "Alright, uhh bye for now.", but the comment left me with an unsettling feeling. Around one hour and forty-five minutes later the buzzer went of at my door and I answered it to the sight of a scantily clad indian woman soaking wet and smiling at me with one of the ugliest set of teeth I have yet seen on this island. "Doju mind I come in?" she asked so I obliged, but as she passed me in the hall I was hit by the bitterest most potent garlic odor which is still there as I write this three days later. "Use your potty?" she continued without waiting for a response. Just like that she was up the stairs and into the bathroom, and I could hear her locking the door behind her. It locks only from the inside, and she took the food in there so I was left waiting in the garlic cloud for about ten minutes before I heard the bath begin to run. As I walked up the stairs I began to also hear the distinct beeping sounds that my cordless phone makes when the buttons are being pushed. I knocked on the door, and asked "is everything alright?", and she responded with the last thing bit of english I heard out of her. Not only did she make some very expensive calls to india, but she also ate almost all my food while she talked, and bathed. I'm renting this place, and didn't want to incur any damages to the bathroom door so I walked over to the neighbors and asked to use their phone because mine was locked in with her. I called the police, and explained the situation. At first they threatened to come arrest me because they thought I was just some drunk american making prank phone calls. After my third call back, they told me they were sending a car to my address, and it wasn't until they got there that they really believed my story. Meanwhile I unplugged the phone so that she couldn't continue to use it which I can't believe I didn't think of earlier. when I heard her say something like "Potetto? Potetto??", and then she screamed and I heard a very loud bang.(which I later came to find was the sound of my phone being smashed against the tile wall) It was shortly after this there was no sound, and when I went out back to look up at the window it became clear that she'd made a rope to climb down on, using every one of my clean towels I might add. Three hours later after the police had cleared out, and the locksmith got there I finally got into the bathroom. I'm not going to go into the full details except to say that because of the unprecedented amount of hair clogging the drains I had to also call a plumber. None of this which my landlord will cover as they claim it's not their obligation because I willingly let this person into my house. On top of this when I went in to Panda Valley they claimed that no indian woman worked there so it wasn't their fault. Then as a result of the confrontation I've been black listed by all of the other chinese restaurants in town. Every time I call one up they tell me "no no you trouble. you no call here. we no make food fo you." Well, at least I didn't go to jail this time. Oh, and don't order the fried shrimp. They come wrapped in pastry dough, and I doubt they were very good because it was the only thing she didn't eat.Image copyright PA
One in six jobs in Scotland's renewable energy sector could be lost within the next 12 months, according to an industry body.
Scottish Renewables said thousands of posts could go as a result of changes to UK government support schemes.
But it added that most firms feel positive about the future, with many having diversified overseas.
The UK government made a commitment at the general election to scrap onshore wind subsidies.
It said the renewables industry had been "a strong success in Scotland thanks to UK government support".
The Scottish Renewables poll found that its members predict of 16.9% decrease in full-time equivalent posts in Scotland over the next year.
Global shift
Around 21,000 people are currently employed by the industry in Scotland.
Jenny Hogan, the group's director of policy, said government action was needed to give companies confidence to invest.
"Renewables are the largest source of power in Scotland, providing enough energy to meet more than half of our electricity needs, and the sector currently employs around 21,000 people here," she said.
"For Scotland's renewable energy industry to continue providing jobs and ever-greater reductions in carbon emissions, government must act quickly to give companies the confidence they need to keep investing in our sector."
Image copyright Thinkstock
Case study: Enercon UK
The wind turbine manufacturer and project developer employs 155 people in Scotland.
It expects its staff numbers to fall by up to a third over the next 12 months as employees move abroad to work in other countries where Enercon is active.
Country manager Richard Hatton said: "Government policy on onshore wind, leading to a much smaller market, reduced orders and a reduction in requirements for staff across the business."
Ms Hogan added: "These results show that changes to, and closures of, support schemes are having an impact on our members and on the numbers of employees within their businesses.
"The UK government is rightly excited about the economic opportunities presented by the impacts of the global shift to low-carbon energy, but it's really important we don't forget about the jobs in our renewable energy sector today.
"Onshore wind and solar are the two cheapest forms of electricity, but ministers are refusing to allow them to access long-term contracts for power, which will result in a marked slowdown in investment and a decrease in employment, as our survey has suggested."
A total of 46 companies took part in the anonymous survey. A total of 47% of those who responded felt either "positive or quite positive" about the future.
Ms Hogan said: "Obviously, many businesses in our membership are worried about the future and the lack of a business case for investment in parts of our sector.
"However, it is also clear that firms are working hard to diversify in many different ways, for example opening up overseas markets and moving into new areas such as energy storage and low-carbon heat."
Clean energy
Lang Banks, director of WWF Scotland, said: "These are worrying findings and underline the urgent need for the UK government to clarify its plans to support renewables and the thousands of people now employed in the sector.
"Scotland has incredible natural renewable energy resources, but if it is to maximise the economic opportunities on offer, the UK government must provide energy companies with a clear route to market.
"However, given we're part of the GB energy market, this is not just an issue for Scotland. As a net exporter of electricity, Scotland plays a key role in helping the whole of the UK in cutting its carbon emissions.
"If we are to be able to plug in to the cheapest and cleanest forms of power generation then it's vital our political leaders north and south of the border do all they can to support renewables."
A UK government spokesman said: "The renewables industry has been a strong success in Scotland thanks to UK government support, worth £730m per year.
"In our last funding round, over 40% of successful UK projects were based in Scotland."
The Scottish government's energy minister Paul Wheelhouse said: "We are determined to help support the sector in the face of destabilising, ill-judged policy changes made since 2015 by the Conservative UK government.
"Indeed, we have strengthened our own commitment in our draft Scottish Energy Strategy."Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has fuelled speculation cabinet will sink Kevin Rudd's bid to lead the United Nations, rejecting Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's central argument in favour of the nomination.
In an interview ahead of Thursday's cabinet meeting, which will make a decision on the matter, Mr Turnbull argued the government's nomination of the former Labor prime minister would amount to support.
Ms Bishop, the main backer of Mr Rudd in cabinet, recently told the Coalition party room that a "nomination is not an endorsement" but the former Labor leader has not attracted the support of other senior ministers.
|
この道の先へ（杏子＆さやかイメージソング） Dolce Voce: もしも、もしもだよ、運命を変えられたら・・・？ Description: Original character songs based on Madoka Magica.[1] Release date: August 13th, 2011 Group: Dolce Voce Tracklist: 「秘めた想い」～ ほむら 「この願い、永遠に」 ～ まどか 「Still Alive」 ～ 杏子 「終わらない夢」 ～ さやか 「夜が明けない日」 ～ マミ 「秘めた想い」～ ほむら (Instrumental Ver.) 「この願い、永遠に」 ～ まどか (Instrumental Ver.) 「Still Alive」 ～ 杏子 (Instrumental Ver.) 「終わらない夢」 ～ さやか (Instrumental Ver.) 「夜が明けない日」 ～ マミ (Instrumental Ver.)
Image Packs
An image pack of fanarts collected from /a/, also available as a torrent here - Puella Magi Madoka Magika - Image Pack v11 (mirror here). The current archive is about 3GB and contains about 6000 files.
Update: The links below were revived and are now working!This is the staff of Parthalan we made from the game Dragon Age 2. The following illustration is how I made it. I have made 2 now so if you see slight differences in the pictures along the way it is because they are mixed from both builds. Sorry if the article jumps around a bit as well. The reason for this is as things are drying I would be working on another part. During the build I do use proper personal protection such as safety glasses and dust mask if necessary. Please be careful when working with power tools!
The first thing we start out with is a 1.5″ by 48″ dowel rod and flattened 6 sides on one end.
For the opposite or “orb” end I needed a way to take the end off and on easily and also conceal a light source. In this instance I use a single AA LED flashlight which you will see later. I found a BBQ sauce bottle top worked nice.
After carefully using progressively larger and larger drill bits, a boring bit, and the sanding barrel on my Dremel tool I was ready to attach the top using Gorilla Glue.
For the blade I used 1/2″ thick exercise mat foam. Using a paper template I traced a pattern on the foam so I could cut it out. Make sure you flip the template over for the 2 pieces so they will line up.
To give the foam blade rigidity I used a couple of steel rods and bent them so they would not interfere with the split in the middle of the blade. I lightly spray painted over them while in place so I would know where to notch the foam for the rods to sit in before gluing the 2 halves together.
After gluing the 2 halves together I used different shaped bits on the Dremel tool to smooth the edges and create the notch down the center of the blade. To give the blade an edge I very, VERY carefully used a bench grinder. If not done properly this can cause you to have to start all over.
Back to the staff. With a combination of a couple of different saws and a sander I created the warped and worn look of the staff.
To create the look of rivets holding the splits in the wood together I used a Dremel bit that had a hole in the end.
Using a wood burning tool I added “stress fractures” to the wood, hit it with a hammer and bounced it a few times on the grinding wheel to make it look like it had seen fights.
Now we start to have some fun. I took a section of 2 x 4 and using a boring bit and Dremel tool to make the hole big enough, I used Gorilla Glue to insert and hold the BBQ sauce bottle top.
After the glue dried I cut and sanded to create a base for the orb to be attached to. I also drilled 4 holes and glued in 4 sections of copper wire to use for the “fingers” of the base that holds the orb. The copper adds a bit of strength and work-ability while the Apoxysculpt cures. The orb is made of cracked glass and came off of a solar powered lawn light.
For the fingers I used Apoxysculpt. Once mixed you have about 3 hours of working time which can be real nice in some situations. It takes about 24 hours to fully cure and is quite hard afterwards.
Time to bring the wood to life. Using stains and paints we give the staff some color and aging. All the imperfections we added to the staff on purpose really start to stand out here.
I found some red translucent model paint at the hobby store. This not only gives it a nice color but allows the flashlight to shine through brightly.
Here is one of those points where the pictures are going to jump back. I wanted to show that I created a notch at the end of the staff for the blade to sit in. I also drilled holes down the staff for the steel reinforcement rods we used in the blade to go down into. Sorry I do not have a good picture of this.
The blade gets coated more than once in Plasti-Dip, primered, then painted.
We’re on the home stretch now. I used Gorilla glue to attach the blade to the staff. I devised a way to hold the blade in place while the glue setup.
Using ribbon from a fabric store and some industrial spray adhesive I put the bands around the staff that appear on the model in the game.
And there you have it! Below you will also find a video explaining how I did stuff as well as additional photos. If you want to see the staff with the outfit hop over to the Female Hawke page and check it out.
Response code is 400A Saudi-funded mosque in Nice opened its doors for the first time on Saturday, after a 15-year tussle with the local town hall.
The Nicois En-nour Institute mosque received authorisation to open early on Saturday from the local prefect, substituting for town mayor Philippe Pradal, who recently took over from Christian Estrosi.
Estrosi was implacably opposed to the construction of the mosque and in April had secured the green light to sue the French state in a bid to block its opening in the southern city.
He had accused the building's owner, Saudi Arabia's Islamic Affairs Minister Sheikh Saleh bin Abdulaziz, of "advocating sharia" and wanting to "destroy all of the churches on the Arabian peninsula".
Estrosi, mayor since 2008, said that the project, which was initiated under his predecessor in 2002, was unauthorised.
People in Nice had shown their support for the mosque, with a petition for it garnering over 2,000 signatures, according to The Local, a French website.
It's no surprise that the mosque is popular. Practicing Muslims in the Riviera city have so far only had one smallish downtown option at which to pray, where worshippers can spill out on the street at peak praying times, The Local reported.
The mosque's opening was described as "a real joy" by Ouassini Mebarek, lawyer and head of a local religious association.
"But there is no smug triumphalism," he said. "This is recognition of the law, and a right to freely practise one's religion in France in accordance with the values of French Republic."
Ten Muslim faithful entered the mosque's basement, which can hold 880 worshippers, for evening prayers.
"A Muslim prefers the house of God to his own home, provided it is beautiful," said Abdelaziz, one of the worshippers who came to pray with his son Mohamed.
In the room reserved for women, Amaria, a mother from neighbouring Moulins said: "Today we are happy. Happy and relieved to have found this place.... We are tired of hiding ourselves, we aren't mice."
The construction of the mosque began in 2003 in a building in an office district.Tense Questions: David Cage On Heavy Rain
By Christian Nutt
The PlayStation 3-exclusive cinematic action title Heavy Rain came out last month to strong sales and high levels of critical acclaim. While the game has its share of vocal detractors (many of whom have valid criticisms) there's no doubt that the game is bold, takes risks, and is connecting with an audience.
To that end, Gamasutra spoke to the game's director, David Cage, head of French development studio Quantic Dream. Quantic Dream made a critical splash a few years ago with Indigo Prophecy -- known also in Europe as Fahrenheit. Though critics and fans generally agree that the game stumbles by the end, it showed the potential of interactive, cinematic narrative in games. Many say that promise has come closer to being fulfilled by Heavy Rain.
From the nature of interactivity to the game's less-than-perfect English voice acting, this interview touches on different facets of this interactive drama -- and includes a few spoilers, too, so be warned.
Something that I've been thinking about while I've been playing this game is that very often when you're playing a game that's got a psychological component, it concentrates on that. Say it has shooting mechanics; they're not as polished as a shooter, and so the game gets evaluated against shooters and is found lacking.
I felt that your decision to back away from traditional gameplay mechanics actually helped ensure you don't get compared to other games by the players. Was that intentional?
David Cage: It was... not intentional, but we became conscious that that would be the result in the end. In fact, the initial idea was to say: there are some fantastic games out there based on the rules that we've followed for twenty years. These games are incredibly well-implemented, they look fantastic, and technology's great. They follow, by the book, every single rule that this industry has defined for twenty years.
And still, when you play them, you've got this strange feeling that they lack something; they don't have this depth, this meaning, that you would look for -- because they are based on mechanics, and basically it's doing the same thing in different levels with different enemies; basically you do always the same thing. Sometimes you just stop playing and say, "Why am I doing this, by the way?" Yeah, it's fun, but, when I turn off my console, that's it. There is nothing left in me when I stop playing.
When I stop watching a movie that I really like, the movie left something in me that changes my vision, or the way I am, or how I think, or how I see the world, or whatever. But when I stop playing this game, nothing's left. We thought that, if it's not possible to use these rules and get better results -- emotional results -- maybe it means that the rules are not reliable. Maybe we should change them; maybe we should break them and invent new rules that would allow us to go further. That was exactly how we thought of Heavy Rain.
You put the button prompts in the game. With Fahrenheit they were at the bottom of the screen, overlayed. Now they're in the environment. Why do it that way?
DC: In Fahrenheit, you had to look at the 3D world, what you want to interact with: look up and say, "Okay, it's this movement", make the move and look down for the result. Basically, it's really unfocusing. What we wanted to achieve is the fact that you look at something, and you know at the same time you want to interact with this. This is how I'm supposed to do it, and here I can see the result. So your attention is focused only on the object, and you got all of the information at the same time.
That was really a challenge; it was a change we made maybe a year before the end, so it was a massive change. It really changes the entire look and feel of the game. We were really scared that it would look strange with symbols flashing here and there -- that people would just feel, "Oh, this is a video game." It would remind you all the time that this is a video game. And in fact, it didn't happen. We thought it was not that intrusive, and after awhile you don't see them at all.
There is a balance -- there's a certain amount of "gaminess" in the game. Particularly, I'm thinking about things like the power plant: you've got the maze through the tunnel, and the challenge with the wires. How much do you want to stick to gaminess in the design, and how much do you want to back away from it?
DC: I try to back away, but sometimes I feel bad about this and get to feeling I need to do something a little bit more gamey. But I'm happy with the balance in Heavy Rain, because it's almost like a reference to old games, and old adventure games especially. There is also the scene with Manfred when you need to get rid of the fingerprints, which is really --
Which, apparently, I screwed up, but I thought I had gotten it right; but I found out I got into the police station.
DC: You forgot something. Yeah, and that's the kind of gameplay mechanics [we use]. Having a little bit of this is fine when it supports the story -- when it's not just something to keep you busy, when it really means something and has its place in the narrative. That's fine.
Speaking of that part and also the part when the police are asking Ethan what was Shaun wearing, and what time you were at the park, I didn't expect to have to retain information. It seems stupid to say that, because that's the kind of information you would typically retain in real life, but in a game context I'm going to be more worried about what the challenges are. I wasn't expecting to have to remember those things.
DC: It's funny that you mention this because that was really something about role-play. It's not something if you give the wrong answer everything will collapse and game over and this is it. It's just, if you can't even remember the clothes of your son, it really means something about you as a father.
Really, you didn't pay attention, and it was a way to reinforce guilt for the player as the father. This is just role-play, and this is something I used a lot: not every single action in Heavy Rain has huge consequences. Sometimes it's just about the role-play, putting you in the shoes of these characters; making you feel bad or making you feel guilty or whatever. I really like this kind of stuff.
Me too! I was talking to someone last night about this scene towards the beginning where you have custody of Shaun and you have the schedule on the chalkboard, and I did everything.
I got the Good Father trophy. It's a "Ding! You're a good father." And I talked to someone else who's like, "Yeah, I just let him watch TV; he threw a temper tantrum, and I gave up on it." I'm like, "Huh."
At the time, obviously, I felt that, as a player in the role of Ethan, I wanted to be a good father; I wanted to help his relationship with his son. But there was also a part of me that was the gamer that was like, "I want to try to achieve the most that I can with this scenario." So it worked on two levels.
DC: (Laughs) That's one of my favorite scenes, by the way, in the game, because this is an anti-videogame scene in many ways -- because there's nothing really to achieve in this scene. You don't kill anybody; there's no explosions. It's not spectacular. It's just a father taking care of his son, or not, with time elapsing and night coming and stuff. I really love when the house becomes really dark in real-time.
There's something deeply depressing in this scene, and I was really pleased with the results, especially when we showed it for the first time. We were really nervous because we though, "Oh my God. What are people going to think about this scene?" Because, basically, you don't do anything really spectacular.
And the feedback we got about this scene was just amazing because, with some people -- I remember a journalist who was raised by his father because his parents divorced, and he was like Shaun, moving to different houses with crates that were never opened because they were moving out. He felt so depressed about this scene because it truly resonated with his own personal experience. When you can do that, as a game creator, this is the absolute holy grail -- that's what you're looking for.
Chris Hecker has said that in movies the easiest thing to do is shoot a scene of people having a conversation; in games, that's the hardest thing to do.
DC: That's true.
I think that you're aiming at that.
DC: Dialog in games is usually something very difficult and challenging because, when characters talk, the first the thing the player wants to do is skip, and "Okay, give me control again. I want to play; I don't want to listen to people talking."
We tried to find solutions to this by first making these dialogs in real-time, which means that you cannot stay forever without knowing what to say, because the dialog continues without you if you don't choose anything; and also by trying to create, in some scenes, what we call "dynamic dialogs", the fact that you're in control as your characters talk.
That was the case in the scene at the sleazy place where we go with Scott Shelby and meet Lauren for the first time, and you can explore the apartment as you talk to her. I thought it was interesting because it allowed the player to become an actor, and to participate in the performance.
Depending if you want to sit on the bed with her to talk to her, it's going to create this strange feeling of proximity and being close to her and trying to be nice to her. At the same time, if you just look around and take pictures, it really means something different. Again, it's about role-play.
And it's kind of at a subtle level, because you're not really tracking at that granular level, and it's not having an effect on the consequence of the story or anything. It's just about how you feel as the player.
DC: Exactly. But that was the main focus: it's how you feel as the player. I don't believe that every single action has to have tremendous consequences. Sometimes, just changing the psychological state of your character and feeling what he feels -- we did a lot, for example, in one of the first sequences to make sure that you feel responsible for what had happened to Jason when he died. You lost him -- you as the player. You didn't pay attention; you lost him in the crowd and couldn't save him. This strange feeling of guilt is something that we really build.
There's this one part I love in that crappy office in the police station, and there's a part where he's in withdrawal from Tripto and the room stretches. It's a film technique, but since it's a game you can actually make that a concrete thing, whereas in a film it would have to all be through camera tricks; but with this you can actually change the geometry of the room. We're very good at aping film's tricks, but we can come up with our own psychological tricks, our own sort of vocabulary; we construct this world, so we can break it if we want to, too.
DC: Interactivity is a very powerful medium, and we did very little things with it so far: pretty much always the same thing. Often I use the analogy with the movies. The first movies, the graphic quality was very low; there was no sound; they were black and white; the frame-rate was really low. All they could do with it was "the attack of the train" and "the attack of the bank" because it was big and spectacular, and that was fine; but, as the technology evolved, movie makers were able to tell more subtle things.
So they started maybe with a movie like Metropolis, and then there was Orson Welles and more and more subtle emotions in movies, also because the technology evolved and also because movie makers discovered how to use this technology to treat your emotions.
This is pretty much where we are, I think. We are at a stage in the industry where we can stop making the attack on the train or the attack on the bank; we can move to something more subtle now. We should create our own Metropolis and our own Citizen Kane, probably.
Were you surprised by the success of the game? I'm not an analyst, but I have certain gut feelings about games; I thought this game would be popular, but I did not expect it to debut at number one in the UK. It debuted in the top 10 in Japan; it debuted in the top 10 NPDs in a month against things like BioShock 2. Were you anticipating this?
DC: Yeah, the NPDs for February, and we just had one week in February, which is great. No, I didn't expect it to be that popular. I was quite used to having critical acclaim and commercial mid-success. This is honestly what I was expecting for Heavy Rain. I think that no one even at Sony was expecting this. No one even in the most positive reviews we got -- all the critics were saying, "I loved it. I just hope it's going to sell, because if it doesn't it it will be a pity."
But I think the success took everybody by surprise, including Sony, because the game was sold out in the UK in two days; so you couldn't find it on the shelves. You couldn't buy it, pretty much, after two days. So it was really a shock. And same thing in Japan, which is even more of a surprise: the game is sold out. You can't buy it. And that's great; I think it means a lot.
It means something because during the development of Heavy Rain, we said, "This game, whether it's a commercial success or a commercial failure, is going to send a very strong message to the industry about how interested the market is in innovative concepts and games exploring new directions.
If it's a failure, it's going to mean that, for the whole industry, 'Don't change anything! Continue to make the same games because this is what the market wants, and if you try something else you'll fail.' But if the game was a success, it would mean that the market was eager for something deeper and something new."
And I said that last year, before knowing the reviews and before knowing the sales. So now I can say, "Look! The market wants innovation." So this is what we should concentrate on now, and Heavy Rain is a very strong message to publishers to take more risks and support innovation.
And support something with a different texture. I like it for a lot of reasons, but it offers just a totally different texture than other games, both from a gameplay and from a narrative perspective.
DC: Many critics wrote that it was the first game for adults, and, yeah, I take that really as a very strong compliment because most games are for kids and teenagers. Most games are about feeling powerful and killing monsters and doing spectacular things and just feeling strong.
My son is nine years old, and he loves these games, because he's at the stage where he needs to master his environment; he needs to become stronger and take confidence and stuff. These games help him in order to do this. But when you're an adult, this is not necessarily what you want to play because you're beyond this stage. You expect something else. I hope that there will be more games dealing with a major audience. We shouldn't make only games for kids and teenagers.
Sega's Yakuza
The first game I thought was really for adults was -- Sega has a series called Yakuza, and they're gangster dramas. I would put the story on par with Heavy Rain, but the main game part is a punching, kicking fighting game: beating guys up. It's a fun game, and as a gamer I like it, but I think that you have a hard time reconciling those two parts.
DC: The most important thing for me with Heavy Rain was not to put violence at the center. Violence can be used as a narrative device when it supports the story or the characterization, but it's not the end goal; it's not the core of the experience. In Heavy Rain, that's the big difference, because in most games what you do is kill, destroy.
In Heavy Rain, you make choices, and these choices could be to kiss someone or not to kiss someone; it could be to help someone or not to help someone. It could be just to make a decision affecting your psychology or how you feel about your character. I think that was the most important thing.
An analyst wrote that, before the game was released, no matter how good the game would be, it would never sell. He said the reason for that is that gamers don't want to think when they play. I thought that was the most horrible thing to write and to say because that's so totally wrong. People playing games are just people!
And you're thinking all the time when you're playing games!
DC: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. It's absurd; thinking and feeling is a pleasure. When you go to a movie theater and watch a film, you really enjoy thinking and feeling and trying to guess what's going on. It resonates with you as a human being, and I see no reason why videogames should be any different.
When I'm playing a game -- like God of War -- yes, it's violent, but I think that violence is abstracted. Even when it's realistic, you know it's not a realistic context. But if you want to up the realism of the narrative -- up the realism of the world -- then suddenly the violence is, in the case of Yakuza, incongruous.
You have the abstract, concrete; abstract, concrete -- a switch back and forth. Walking down a street in Tokyo, even if you're a gangster, you're not going to get into fistfights with -- by the time you beat that game, we're talking like 2,000 guys or something. (Laughs) You know what I mean? It's just not realistic.
DC: Well, that's the problem with most action games: that the story, at some point, needs to justify that the hero goes from jungle level to the snow level to the sand level, so this is already something difficult.
It also has to justify that there are zillions of people attacking you all the time wherever you are; there are people shooting at you because this is what the game is about. So it's really difficult to have decent storytelling in most games, and I think that games like Uncharted 2 or God of War III did a great job at that, trying to have a story really supporting the experience.
At the same time, I made a different decision, which was to get rid of the violence, the mechanics, the patterns in the gameplay. I think that this is not an absolute necessity; there are other ways of offering gameplay than using the same loops in a way.
Did you kill the drug dealer?
Yes.
DC: No hesitation?
Yes, there was hesitation. In fact, after I did that part, I got up at the next break and grabbed my roommate who had already beaten the game, and I said, "Did you kill the drug dealer?" I had to ask him immediately. I had to compare notes. Yeah, there was hesitation; that was a moment where I said, "Look. I know I'm playing a game, so I can..." I knew I had that power because there wasn't a real consequence. So I was able to play around with that.
DC: But is it something you would have done personally, in real life?
It's so hard to say. We're talking about a scenario that's very -- I don't have kids, so I don't have that bond. I can't anticipate what my reaction would be in this scenario at all.
DC: It's difficult to tell what you would do. Did you cut your finger?
Yeah. I've done everything, basically.
DC: Okay. Did you kill the religious guy?
No, I didn't; I saved him. think I do behave differently with the different characters -- with Jayden, I really don't like the other cop. I mean me; I don't like him. I don't like him at all, and I like the rational approach.
DC: That's funny. Many people shot the religious guy when he takes the crucifix out because they thought it was a gun, and it's incredible how many people shot him. It's funny.
Why'd you record the English voices in France? I think that's a common criticism of the game.
DC: Yeah. It's really funny because most of the actors are American, actually. Scott Shelby, Madison Paige, Carter Blake. There are a couple of English actors: Ethan and Jayden are English actors, actually. But there are no French actors.
I haven't heard the English voice acting because I was about a week late in starting it, and everyone I talked to said, "Play it in French with subtitles."
DC: (Scoffs) That's absurd.
Really? You think?
DC: Yeah, it's absurd. I think the English version is really the real version; the original version. But some people probably complained about the accent, and this is something we tried to care about; but actors have so many technical constraints on stage that it was really difficult to fight for everything.
They needed to know their lines by heart. Facial animation... Many technical constraints. A lot of text to record. Plus, you want them to act and to deliver their lines, etc. etc. So, yeah, we'll probably pay more attention to that and probably work with American actors only in the next game to make sure that this is not in the way.
How did you do the recording? Did you just record them in booths, or did you actually have people acting together?
DC: We actually shot in a sound booth for facial animation because it's a different camera setup. They had an actor delivering the lines to them; they were actually acting with someone.
That's just another thing that's different in games; finding the footing, as we move into these more dramatic, serious games that require really convincing acting. To have Kratos shouting like, "Ah, Ares, I'm gonna fucking kill you!" doesn't require the same sort of depth as a guy screaming about his son getting run over by a car.
DC: Mm; agreed. You know, the cast was really amazing; there are some really great actors. We gave them so many technical constraints, and we're working on this. The goal is not to find better actors; the goal is to find ways of allowing them to deliver with less constraints. That's the main goal. But we learn, we discover, we improve the technology and the way it produces kind of things. I also notice that many people felt the emotions that we wanted them to feel, and it's also due to the acting.
Oh, yeah! Even my friends and people I've spoken to -- everyone is feeling the emotions of the game. Well, not everyone; you have to be aware that there are people who totally don't like the game at all, and that's going to happen with any piece of media or art.
DC: Very few, to be honest. Very few, to my big surprise. (Laughs)
Did you feel like you had to set the game in America to appeal to the widest audience? Why not set it in France?
DC: Well, because the genre's really a dark thriller, and it made sense -- as this is a very codified genre -- to use the rules of the genre; and the rule is it takes place usually in the U.S. There are some great thrillers taking place in South Korea, which is also very interesting; so I'm not saying it was impossible to set in France, but that was not how I felt about it.
Return to the full version of this article
Copyright © UBM Tech, All rights reservedArtificial Intelligence and the Rise of Economic Inequality
Abhinav Suri Blocked Unblock Follow Following Aug 8, 2017
Technology has played a key role in the United States labor market for centuries, enabling workers to carry out their daily tasks in a much more efficient manner. This increase in productivity, with the aid of technological advances, has led the United States to become one of the strongest economies in the world, regularly creating thousands of jobs and keeping a large plurality of the country employed. However, technological advances have also caused many workers to be displaced from their jobs as organizations have sought to reduce employment costs with increased usage of automation to replace low-skilled jobs (i.e. jobs that required manual labor and could easily be replaced by machines).
For example, agriculture employed almost 50 percent of American employees in 1870. However, according to a Bureau of Labor Statics Report, the agriculture industry uses less than 2 percent of the nation’s workforce as of 2015.[1] Though this small bastion of agricultural workers now produces food for many more individuals in the United States and even the global population, their share of the United States workforce has significantly decreased, illustrating the “magnitude of what technological displacement can do.”[2]
The industry of agriculture is not alone. Many more advanced forms of technology have come into play with the US workforce, automating even more labor-intensive jobs and breaking its way into automating low-skill jobs such as cashiers, switchboard operators, and bank tellers. Recently, a new form of technology has begun to take hold in the marketplace: Artificial Intelligence. As its name would imply, these are computer programs that are capable of mimicking human thought and performing tasks that are near impossible to process in a stepwise manner. These tasks include image recognition, trend analysis, detecting medical conditions, and so much more. This newer form of technology can essentially do what humans can do if given enough inputs and expected outputs (similar to how a person learns a particular skill, i.e. through trial and error on a set number of example cases).
Artificial Intelligence (AI) poses a more immediate problem for a continually threatened part of the workforce, low-skill and uneducated workers. Currently, much of the literature on AI’s effect on the US workforce remains largely speculative since companies are only starting to roll out forms of this new technology in their regular operations (and thus it is not possible to observe the long-term effects of AI on the workforce). However, based on historical trends and the current capabilities of AI, it is entirely possible that the rise of artificial intelligence will lead to the displacement of entry-level and low-skill jobs (i.e. jobs that do not require significant training or education), creating a larger dichotomy between specialized and the unspecialized workers in modern society. To explore all aspects of this problem, this post will focus on three main sections, namely defining what AI is and its current capabilities, reviewing the previous effects of technological advancements in the US labor force, and lastly extrapolating the potential future effects of artificial intelligence on the US workforce and society.
Defining AI and Its Current Capabilities
A basic convolutional neural network: http://d3kbpzbmcynnmx.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Screen-Shot-2015-11-07-at-7.26.20-AM.png
Before diving into AI, it is important to establish an understanding about the state of programming and automation before AI’s development. Computers are excellent at executing a set of instructions and programmers are the ones who often codify those instructions in the form of a program. These programs, when run on a computer, are superb at doing what they are told to do. For example, a standard program many computer science students write is to generate the first n Fibonacci numbers (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 …) where each successive number is the sum of the two numbers before it (after 0 and 1). A programmer can write a simple 6-line version of this program that can produce the first 30,662 Fibonacci numbers within 10 seconds.
But if there were a more complicated task, such as one that involves something along the lines of object detection and pattern recognition, a simple sequential program would not be enough.
Consider, for example, the problem of detecting whether an image contains a bird or not. For humans, this is easy; we have seen enough birds in our lives to know that if something has a beak, beady eyes, feathers, and wings, it is most likely a bird.
For a computer, however, this is tough because a computer only “sees” an image on a pixel by pixel basis and cannot usually draw connections between pixels to form a definition of a general object. From the perspective of a programmer, it is a tough task to program a computer with the knowledge of how to identify a bird. Perhaps this approach would involve telling the computer to look for parts of the image that are a particular color and conform to the general shape of a bird’s body, has a triangular beak that is another color, and has two black circles for its eyes. But these criteria do not encompass all different types of birds. Moreover, if any part of the image of the bird is occluded, the computer would fail at its task.
This point is where AI comes in. Artificial intelligence (specifically a subset called neural networks) can “learn” in a fashion similar to humans through statistical analysis and optimization based on training data it receives. If a developer can create an AI (composed of artificial neurons that take in input and produce a trained output), this program can then use thousands of images that do and do not contain birds to train itself. From that point, the trained network can then create a model that can accurately predict whether a bird is or is not in an image, even if it hasn’t seen that picture before. In fact, developers at Flickr did nearly the same task and achieved a stunning accuracy rate.[3],[4]
But AI can do much more than just detect whether birds are in or not in a picture. They can also identify objects from a camera mounted on a car on the road and instruct that car to move accordingly to avoid obstacles and obey street signs, forming the basis for self-driving cars. Companies such as Uber, the popular ride-sharing startup, have taken this idea further and have started to deploy self-driving cars that only need engineers to monitor vehicles instead of having regular drivers operate them.
Furthermore, AI can help in life-critical applications in the medical field, aiding radiologists in the process of diagnosing tumors by catching them on MRI scans before they manifest themselves significantly, sometimes even before doctors can see the changes.
Automatic detection of cerebral microbleeds from MR Images via 3D Convolutional |
from parent to child and on to child again. A book that has crossed that three-generation barrier has a good chance at permanence. So to note the fiftieth birthday of the closest thing that American literature has to an “Alice in Wonderland” of its own, Norton Juster’s “The Phantom Tollbooth”—with illustrations, by Jules Feiffer, that are as perfectly matched to Juster’s text as Tenniel’s were to Carroll’s—is to mark an anniversary that matters. (And there are two new books for the occasion, both coming out this month from Knopf: “The Annotated Phantom Tollbooth,” with notes by Leonard Marcus; and a fiftieth-anniversary edition, with a series of short essays by notable readers about the effect the book has had on their lives.)
This reader, from the first generation, received a copy not long after the book appeared, and can still recall its curious force. How odd the first chapter seemed, with so little time taken up with the kind of persuasive domestic detail that fills the beginning chapters of the first Narnia book or “From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler” or “Mary Poppins.” We’re quickly introduced to the almost anonymous, and not very actively parented, Milo, a large-eyed boy in a dark shirt—a boy too bored to look up from the pavement as he walks home from school. Within paragraphs, a strange package has arrived in his room. It turns out to be a cardboard tollbooth, waiting to be assembled. Milo obediently sets it up, pays his fare (he has an enviable electric car already parked by his bed), and is rushed away to the Lands Beyond, a fantastical world of pure ideas. The book breaks the first rule of “good” children’s literature: we’re in the plot before we know the people.
It’s a commonplace of scholarship to insist that children’s literature came of age when it began to break away from the authoritarian model of the moralizing allegory. Yet “The Phantom Tollbooth” is an old-fashioned moralizing allegory, with a symbolic point at every turn. Milo finds that the strange land on the other side of the tollbooth is sundered between words and numbers, between the land of Azaz the Unabridged, the King of Dictionopolis, and his brother the Mathemagician, the ruler of Digitopolis. The only way to reunite the kingdoms is for someone—why not Milo?—to scale the Mountains of Ignorance, defeat the demons, and release the banished princesses of Rhyme and Reason from their prison. (They were banished because they refused to choose between words and numbers, thereby infuriating the kings.) Along the way, each new experience makes funny and concrete some familiar idea or turn of speech: Milo jumps to Conclusions, a crowded island; grows drowsy in the Doldrums; and finds that you can swim in the Sea of Knowledge for hours and not get wet. The book is made magical by Juster’s and Feiffer’s gift for transforming abstract philosophical ideas into unforgettable images. The thinnest fat man in the world turns out to be the fattest thin man; we see them both. We meet the fractional boy, divided in the middle of his smile, who is the “.58 child” in the average American family of 2.58 children. The tone of the book is at once antic and professorial, as if a very smart middle-aged academic were working his way through an absurd and elaborate parable for his kids. The reality is that when Juster wrote “The Phantom Tollbooth” he was a young architect in Brooklyn, just out of the Navy, unmarried and childless, and with no particular background in writing or teaching, working out a series of jokes and joys for himself alone.
This became clear the other day, when the two creators of “The Phantom Tollbooth” were briefly sequestered in a Manhattan living room to talk about their work, and why it has lasted. Feiffer and Juster, both born in 1929, are like a pair of wryly benevolent uncles, with Norton the dreamy, crinkle-eyed, soft-spoken uncle who gives you the one piece of good advice you never forget, and Jules the wisecracking uncle who never lets up on your foibles but was happy to have you crash on his couch that night you just couldn’t bear going home. They interrupted, teased, and shpritzed each other as they recalled having blundered into a classic.
Juster, who speaks with the soft accents of the old Brooklyn, began recalling the origins of the book: “I had come back from the service, and I went to work in an architectural office. I was really kind of bored with everything, and I think, I’ll do a little book on cities. The kind of book that will be interesting for kids. I applied to the Ford Foundation for a grant—old saying, when God wants to punish you, he gives you what you ask for!—and got the grant.”
“Five thousand bucks you got!” Feiffer interjected.
“Was it that much? Anyway, I was up to my ass in worries and notes and couldn’t get it done. And so I took a vacation with friends, at the beach, Fire Island.”
“Probably with me!”
“No, it wasn’t you, Jules,” Juster added, though he explained that they already shared a roof. Stationed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1956, Juster had found a garden apartment—“That’s what they call a basement room in Brooklyn,” Feiffer noted—in the Brooklyn Heights building where Feiffer was living, two floors up.
“My guilt for not doing it was overwhelming,” Juster continued. “So I started work on a little story about a kid who didn’t know what to do with himself, and didn’t like to learn. It was Milo! At that point, I just kept writing. When I finished the book, I felt very worried and very guilty. I thought the Ford Foundation was going to demand the money back.”
“I wondered what became of our money,” Feiffer said.
“After the book came out, I never heard from them. Long time later, I found that they were delighted about it.” Juster went on, “In fact, I didn’t know I was writing the book. I knew it was about this little kid named Milo, wrote bits and pieces everywhere. At a certain point, I needed something to tie it all together. It was all so haphazard. Jules’s wife, Judy, said, ‘Write a two-page synopsis.’ And I did, and it had nothing to do with what happened in the book. And of course the demons appeared very early in my thinking but didn’t arrive in the book until very late. Judy took it to Jason Epstein, a real major player. He was doing, quite coincidentally, a series of reprints of children’s books. The Looking Glass Library.”
“Very classy-looking,” Feiffer put in.
“At that time, everyone was writing down to children. There were these lists: no kid should ever open a book and find anything in it that he didn’t already know. ‘The Phantom Tollbooth’ was the only original book Jason did. He was a wonderful editor, and he used to scare the hell out of me. At a certain point, he’d stop and say, ‘It’s your book. Do what you want with it.’ I’d get rigid.”
Two childhood experiences shaped the book. One was a curious mental condition. “I had an ailment called synesthesia,” Juster explained, pronouncing the word carefully. “I could only do numbers by colors.” His mind—in a way that will be familiar to readers of the memoirs of that fellow-synesthete Nabokov—made instant, inescapable associations between a number and a color. “I can still remember a few: 4 was blue, 7 was black, and so the only way I could do math was by associating colors.” As frequently happens with synesthetes, the condition extended to words and images. “One of the things I always did was think literally when I heard words. On the ‘Lone Ranger,’ they would say, ‘Here come the Injuns!’ and I always had an image of engines, of train engines.”
The other shaping experience was listening to the radio. As both artists stress, having a pure stream of sound as your major source of entertainment meant that your mind was already working imaginatively, without your necessarily realizing it. “It’s impossible today!” Feiffer said. “Everything is visual. We had thought balloons in our heads that played jazz riffs off what we read and what we heard, and that’s what led to the imaginative restructuring of reality.”
Juster agreed: “Sometimes I go into schools now and say, Let me start a story. And what you get from the kids is almost exactly what comes out of the TV set. The kids have very few images of their own. We came home from school, listened to hours of fifteen-minute serials, Jack Armstrong and Don Winslow, and it was great.”
The book was published in 1961, and no one had much hope that it would find an audience. “Everyone said this is not a children’s book, the vocabulary is much too difficult, the wordplay and the punning they will never understand, and anyway fantasy is bad for children because it disorients them,” Juster said, four million copies later. “I thought, O.K., it will come out, and end on the remainder table.”MOSCOW - Russia showcased its nuclear power expertise here on Monday, hoping to lure countries like the Philippines to adopt its technology.
The Russian State Atomic Energy Corp or ROSATOM, which mounted the expo, signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Department of Science and Technology last month on nuclear energy cooperation.
The partnership seeks the development of nuclear infrastructure, personnel training and public acceptance of nuclear technologies, ROSATOM said in a statement.
The agreement was signed as President Rodrigo Duterte ordered a study on the feasibility of tapping nuclear energy to meet fast-growing power demand.
Duterte is also seeking closer economic and security relations with Russia. He was in Russia last month for an official visit, which included a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
This year's ATOMEXPO brings together 5,000 participants from 62 countries in the Russia capital.
ROSATOM is currently building 8 nuclear power plants in Russia and 34 others around the world. Last year, the publicly-owned company produced 18.3 percent of electricity production in Russia.
Last February, the latest version of its VVER-1200 reaction was put to use, promising to increase production capacity by 20 percent, cut staffing requirements by as a much as 40 percent due to automation and double the lifespan of the design.A HASHTAG campaign in support of controversial Jamaican cricketer Chris Gayle is gaining momentum, with a patron bearing a #StandByGayle sign forced to hand it over to security.
The Melbourne Renegades big-hitter may never return to the Big Bash League, after it was last night revealed that Cricket Australia may block any club that attempts to sign the star next season amid allegations of sexist behaviour following his infamous interview with Channel 10 broadcaster Mel McLaughlin on Monday night.
Throwing bottles/cups/other miscellaneous items and swearing like a drunken warfie in front of kids is apparently ok.... Posted by Will Hunter on Wednesday, 6 January 2016
Despite the interview and subsequent claims of a pattern of sexist behaviour towards women, fans continue to take to social media to express their support for Gayle, with many tweeting their frustration that the sign was deemed offensive.
#standbygayle @CAComms You ban him people will boycott. What a joke, you want to ban him yet when male athletes get hit on its normal.. — Ali Chahrour (@alichahrour123) January 6, 2016
@MCG Your security has turfed a patron with #StandbyGayle sign,regardless of opinions that isn't offensive.Shame on your security. #BBL05 — Mick (@mjb1963) January 6, 2016
“Political correctness police continue their good work,” one fan wrote on Twitter.
Another condemned the MCG security for their actions, while another described it as “disgusting”.
“Freedom of speech?,” they wrote.
Initial reports suggested that the patrons were evicted as a direct result of the signs.
The MCC confirmed that three patrons were ejected from last night’s match, but said that none of the trio’s evictions “were related to the display of signage”.
It did confirm that the signs were confiscated in accordance with Cricket Australia’s entry conditions that relate to “offensive signage”.
“At last night’s BBL match a small number of patrons were identified as displaying signs which related to the contentious Chris Gayle incident which took place earlier in the week,” a spokesperson told the Herald Sun on Thursday.
“In accordance with Cricket Australia’s Venue conditions of entry which prohibit the display of offensive signage, MCG security requested that the signs be removed from display. In instances where the patron did not comply with this request, the security representatives confiscated the signage.
“Patrons were not evicted for bringing in signage of this nature and overall the crowd on the night was well behaved.”
Another two patrons holding two signs reading “Don’t Blush Baby” – Gayle’s flirtatious comment to McLaughlin – also had their signs confiscated at the match, which the Stars claimed by eight wickets.
A NewsCorp poll revealed that only 12 per cent of readers believe Gayle should be banned from returning to the Big Bash League.
PODCAST: BEN HORNE ON THE CHRIS GAYLE FIASCO
#standbygayle the political correctness police continue their good work pic.twitter.com/tVhU3vmBOK — zane (@zhump72) January 6, 2016
@cricketaus_cca If CA was that concerned about @henrygayle comments then they should have banned @ShaneWarne long ago #standbygayle — rizscorpi (@rizscorpi) January 6, 2016
Originally published as #StandByGayle gathers momentumCowboys wrecking-ball Jason Taumalolo has some bad news for NRL opposition currently tightening their defences: he plans to run over the top of so many of you that by the end of the 2014 season it will be as synonymous as Thurston's'show-and-go' or Sonny Bill's offload.
He doesn't have a name for it yet but with a renewed focus under new coach Paul Green, Taumalolo is determined to make every hit-up and tackle count for plenty this season.
Shortly after making his NRL debut in 2010 at 17 years, two months and 21 days, Taumalolo was referred to as the next Sonny Bill Williams. But rather than working on an offload through the line, the 20-year-old is developing a trademark of his own that is a little more direct.
"That's a huge compliment, being compared to one of the game's most elite players," Taumalolo told NRL.com.
"Obviously I want to be playing at the same level as Sonny Bill but I definitely don't want to be the 'next Sonny Bill'. I want to play my own game and hopefully make a trademark as being one of the most destructive players playing in the NRL."
And what will the Taumalolo trademark be?
"Just breaking the line, creating havoc with the ball, leaving defenders behind and burying them six-feet under," he said.
"At times I see player movements [in the defence]. I'll try to run one area and if he comes too hard then I'll try to use more footwork back in but if not then I pretty much just run and whoever is standing in front of me, just try and leave them behind."
Fascinated by how much science goes into such a simple philosophy, NRL.com asked Taumalolo to describe his technique for ensuring that when two big bodies collide, his isn't the one left sprawling towards the turf.
"Touch wood I haven't been sat yet. One day I'll probably look back to this interview... Fingers crossed it doesn't happen anytime soon," said the Tongan international.
"[I aim] straight down their chest, because if you run at their shoulder then that's when it goes wrong. With my size, usually there are always two defenders in front of me so I try to aim for one defender and if I can leave him behind then I'll definitely break the other tackle."
When he was introduced to an already ragged defensive line against the Roosters in their clash in Darwin in 2012, Taumalolo showed the rugby league world the type of promise they are still waiting to see delivered on a regular basis.
A right-foot step, a fend and then carrying defenders on his back resulted in his first try in the 64th minute and then 10 minutes later he burst through the line courtesy of a Thurston short ball and showed an impressive turn of speed before crashing through Anthony Minichiello to score his second.
But for everything he did right, there would be a deficiency in his game that former Cowboys coach Neil Henry thought required more development in Queensland's Intrust Super Cup.
He has played a total of 31 games across the past two seasons and the 2011 NYC Player of the Year is confident that under Green he can become the consistent contributor that the Cowboys need him to be.
"I've looked back last year and been on and off and the year before that and certainly this year one of my main goals is to cement a spot in the 17 and stay there and play consistent football," he said.
"Having 'Greeny' here is a lot different to having Neil Henry here last year. If I did something wrong last year I'd go back [to reserve grade] and learn from that but Paul Green has definitely invested time in me and I think he's really looking forward to me going out on the paddock and hopefully playing my best footy.
"There are a lot of things that have changed since our old coach left. [Green] has definitely come in with his own game plan and how he wants to do things and I've adapted well to that. Defence is a big key to my game and in order for me to play first grade consistently I have to fix that."President retains US backing and refuses to bow down to two-day ultimatum from the head of the nation's armed forces
Egypt was thrown into fresh turmoil on Monday when President Mohamed Morsi's aides indicated he would not give in to the threat of a military coup just hours after the army gave him two days to placate the millions who have taken to the streets calling for his departure.
The head of Egypt's armed forces, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, threatened direct military involvement in the political process "if the demands of the people are not met", in a statement implying that Morsi should either step down or at least call early elections.
The presidency indicated that it viewed the statement as a coup d'etat. "Obviously we feel this is a military coup," a presidential aide said. "But the conviction within the presidency is that [the coup] won't be able to move forward without American approval."
According to a statement on the president's official Facebook page, Morsi met Sisi along with the prime minister late on Monday.
As the night wore on, Morsi's position seemed ever more untenable, with the Ministry of the Interior announcing its "complete solidarity" with Egypt's armed forces, and the army taking control of local government headquarters in Fayoum, a governorship south of Cairo.
An army spokesman denied it was capable of a military coup, saying that it acted only in the will of the people.
The comments from Morsi's aide earlier in the day implied that the presidency was hopeful of continued US support. They also suggested the presidency was banking on the likelihood that the military would not risk upsetting the US, which provides it with significant funding.
The army statement said: "The armed forces warns everyone that if the demands of the people are not met during this set time period, it will be obliged … to announce a roadmap and measures for the future, which it would oversee in collaboration with all the loyal national factions and movements, including the youth who were and remain the spark of the glorious revolution. No one would be ignored."
On Monday, the US president, Barack Obama, indicated that Morsi had not yet lost his backing. "We don't make those decisions just by counting the number of heads in a protest march but we do make decisions based on whether or not a government is listening to the opposition, maintaining a free press, maintaining freedom of assembly, not using violence or intimidation, conducting fair and free elections," he said.
But in Egypt, events suggested the tide had already turned, with 10 cabinet ministers resigning and the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the group from which Morsi hails, burnt and ransacked in an all-night siege.
In an episode reminiscent of the sacking of Hosni Mubarak's political headquarters during Egypt's 2011 uprising, about 50 anti-Brotherhood protesters spent the night attacking the compound – situated on a rocky, isolated outcrop in east Cairo – with molotov cocktails, causing a series of small fires and explosions.
At about 7am, after 12 hours of fighting, those inside fled, allowing the protesters to storm the compound. Once the worst of the fire was put out, hundreds re-entered the building, looting and destroying its remaining features.
"It's a great feeling. I've wanted to do this for three years," said Ahmed Yassin, a student from Alexandria, holding the office name tag of Mohamed el-Badie, the Brotherhood's leader. "Their offices are being trashed all over Egypt – but this was the most important, because they are running the country from this office."
Others took air-conditioning units, safes, sinks, and filing cabinets – as well as the copper name tags of Badie and Khairat al-Shater, the Brotherhood's most powerful figure.
Inside, there was chaos, with black smoke still billowing through the upper rooms and looters fighting over the spoils. Outside, a crowd of 200 chanted "the people demand the fall of the regime".
"I feel victorious," said Ahmed Badawy, a Cairo resident shot in the hand by birdshot fired by Brotherhood members during the night. "But we'll only have truly won once Morsi leaves."
As evening approached, Tahrir Square was a scene of jubilation as the possibility of renewed military involvement in politics was greeted enthusiastically by many protesters, who have lost trust in the presidency and its top-level opposition. Hundreds of thousands flooded the square in celebration at the news, and others set off fireworks. Military helicopters flying overhead were greeted with cheers and chants of "the army and the people are one hand".
One Egyptian television channel started a ticker counting down the hours until the coup. "It's the only institution capable of running the country," said Ahmed Mahmoud, a bank clerk protesting outside the presidential palace in north-east Cairo.
The National Salvation Front (NSF), Egypt's largest opposition grouping, greeted the announcement warmly, hoping that it may pave the way for their greater involvement in government. "We hugely appreciate the statement from the armed forces because it shows that our military will always be a part of the Egyptian people," said Hussein Abdel Ghany, an NSF spokesman.
In recent days, Cairo supporters of Morsi had confined their 100,000-strong rallies to one stretch of road in east Cairo. But as midnight approached last night, thousands of Islamists began to gather elsewhere in the capital.
Women's rights groups reported 17 cases of sexual harassment during protests in central Cairo, bringing the total since protests started to over 60.
Morsi's opponents are by no means homogenous. Many are horrified at the prospect of replacing one dictatorial regime with another. Considering it counter-revolutionary, they fear a repeat of the repressive military junta that ruled for 18 months following the fall of Mubarak. "There's plenty to be depressed about," tweeted Tarek Shalaby, an Egyptian activist.
Burnt by their failings during this period, the army is unlikely to want as hands-on a political role as before. "It's not going to be a full-on military coup with the army taking on full-on authority," said Michael W Hanna, fellow at the Century Foundation and an analyst of Egyptian politics. "They want to see some sort of mechanism that does not mean General Sisi has to head of a government."
Many hope the army will set up an interim technocratic cabinet to supervise the rewriting of Egypt's divisive Islamist-slanted constitution, whose drafting Morsi unilaterally forced through last November, and new presidential elections.
But others warned that any scenario in which Morsi was forced from power would have dire consequences within Islamist sections of society. "Many Islamists – not just in the Brotherhood – would be out of control," said Khalil al-Anani, a specialist on Islamist politics at Durham University."For them, this would be a coup against not just the president but against Islam as they perceive it – and this is one of the problems facing Morsi at the moment. He can't satisfy the opposition if he doesn't step down, nor his social base if he does."
Anani said Morsi's downfall would drive young Islamists towards extremism and violence. He said it could also spark recriminations between senior members of the Brotherhood, who would seek to blame each other for Morsi's failure, and even lead to the Brotherhood's breakup.We’re getting ever closer to being able to pre-order the excellent looking Bucky O’Hare Figures from Boss Fight Studio. This 4″ scale line brings back one of the overlooked classics of 80’s toys. They are kicking off the line with the release of both Bucky O’Hare and his first mate Jenny. Boss Fight Studio has released a preview of the packaging for both figures.
Boss Fight Studio, in conjunction with Neal Adams’ Continuity Studio is proud to debut the first, full look at the brand-new Bucky O’Hare and Jenny action figures!
The brave adventures from S.P.A.C.E, as created by Larry Hama, Michael Golden and Cory Adams are faithfully represented for the first time as fully articulated action figure collectibles.
Boss Fight Studio is very excited to bring Bucky fans the never-before released Jenny figure! If you’ve been waiting since the 90’s to complete your Bucky collection, now is your chance! Best yet, these long-awaited figures come to you with character customization features; each includes interchangeable expressions and hands. As no hero is complete without signature accessories; Bucky will include his trusty blaster pistols and Jenny will come to you with special magic effects pieces.
Boss Fight isn’t stopping there! We already have plans underway for additional variants of Bucky and Jenny, as well as bringing you more of the Bucky O’Hare cast of characters!
Mark your calendars, BOSS FIGHT WILL LAUNCH Wave 1 PRE-ORDERS ON JUNE 1, 2017!
These first two figures in the new Bucky O’Hare collection are expected to ship to you late Fall 2017.Face it: Your IQ is basically hardwired. Still, there are lots of ways to get smarter — to max out your so-called functional intelligence. Think of it as a software upgrade. Our guide to better brainpower shows you how to boost your memory, sharpen your concentration skills, and even pop the right combination of drugs and supplements. Start download now.
A Beautiful Mind: Steve Carell on How to Act Brilliant
The Memory Master:
Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm.
Powering Up:
A Dozen Ways to Super-Charge Your Brain
__Plus! __
6 Intelligence Myths Exposed
ONLINE EXTRAS
Wired Science
Find Your Inner Spock: Jonny Magic's Logic Tips
HACK YOUR BRAIN
1: Max Your Mind's Performance by Distracting Yourself
Wired Science
Sleep Hacking Produces Results — For a Time
2: Caffeinate With Care: Small Shots Do a Brain Better Than Big Blasts
Wired Science
Q&A: Facebook's Biggest Brain Tells All
3: Feed Your Mind With Impressive Information
Gallery
Behind the Camera With Steve Carell
Video
U.S. Memory Champ Santos Shares His Tricks
* Disclaimer
All increased intelligence becomes the property of WIRED magazine (hereafter referred to as "The Magazine") and will not be acknowledged or returned. Neural damage is the responsibility of the reader. Attempts to enhance mental capacity as measured by standardized metrics neither legally nor ethically compel The Magazine to make commensurate enhancements in quality or content. Readers with demonstrated cranial enlargement or cortical thickening may be required to sign a liability/publicity/copyright release and to appear on the cover of The Magazine, provided they are also the star of an upcoming motion picture. Anne Hathaway especially. The Magazine reserves the right to cancel, terminate, or modify people who use brain-embiggening technology because look, dude, this is Condé Nast. Do you think we're just playing around here?
4: Think Positive, and You Will Get Smarter
5: Give Your Intellect a Boost — Just Say Yes to Doing the Right Drugs!
6: How to Juice Your IQ Score
7: Thalamus, Cortex, Amygdala... Pick Apart the Brain
8: Don't Panic. It Makes You Stupid.
9: Embracing Chaos Could Bring Order to Your Memory
10: Take on Any Map by Getting Visual
11: Up Your Intelligence by Choosing Your Exercise Wisely
12: Comprehension Climbs When You Slooooow DoooownFederal investigators "identified vulnerabilities in the screening process" at domestic airports using so-called "full body scanners," according to a classified internal Department of Homeland Security report.
DHS has spent nearly $90 million replacing traditional magnetometers with controversial X-ray body scanning machines that are intended to detect items that could be missed by a metal detector.
Exactly how bad the body scanners are is not being divulged publicly, but the Inspector General report made eight separate recommendations on how to improve screening.
The news comes as authorities are examining an underwear bomb, allegedly seized by the CIA in Yemen as it allegedly thwarted an Al-Qaida plot to destroy a U.S.-bound airplane, according to The Associated Press. Authorities are now looking to determine if the bomb could have passed through airport screeners without being detected.
Meanwhile, an unclassified version of the Inspector General report, unearthed Friday by the Electronic Information Privacy Center, may give credence to a recent YouTube video allegedly showing a 27-year-old Florida man sneaking a metallic object through two different Transportation Security Administration body scanners at American airports.
The TSA agreed with all of the Inspector General's recommendations. The Inspector General did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In March, meanwhile, a TSA spokeswoman said "These machines are safe" when asked to address a video by Jonathan Corbett, of Miami Beach, who allegedly had discovered a method tobeat the body scanners, which number 600 and are in about 140 U.S. airports. A brief YouTube video allegedly shows Corbett, who had sewn a pocket to the side of his shirt, getting past two body scanners with a metallic object in that pocket.
It was not immediately known when the TSA published its unclassified summary, TSA Penetration Testing of Advanced Imaging Technology. It comes with a "November 2011" date and can be found on the DHS Office of Inspector General website under the heading "OIG Reports: Fiscal Year 2012."
It's not the first time the body scanners, produced by Rapiscan and L-3 Communications, have come under attack. In a three-part series last year, Wired reported that, indeed, there were suspected security flaws with them. Even the Government Accountability Office — Congress' investigative arm — said the devices might be ineffective. And the Journal of Transportation Security suggested terrorists might fool the Rapiscan machines by taping explosive devices to their stomachs.
The unclassified summary said the government has spent $87 million on the scanners, which includes $10 million for "installation and maintenance." To quiet privacy concerns, the authorities are also spending $7 million to "remove the human factor from the image review process" and replace the passenger's image with an avatar.
The unclassified version said the "quantitative and qualitative results of our testing are classified."
Passengers who refuse to go through the machines are subject to intense physical patdowns. Many have complained the process includes being sexually groped.
Amie Stepanovich, an EPIC attorney, said the group would file a Freedom of Information Act claim in a bid to get access to the full report. "This involves a program that is important to the public," she said in a telephone interview.
EPIC had sued the government, claiming the machines were an unconstitutional breach of Americans' privacy. A federal appeals court sided with the authorities, although the court said the government did not adhere to the law when it began implementing the machines at airports as early as 2007. Mad AI, the central computer of the ship has gone crazy, it sees inviting Samus onto the ship as a game for its amusement. Will taunt and try to trip Samus up at every move. The Mad AI has for distinct personalities The Child, The Killer, the Martyr, and the Fool each one is deadly and utilizes different tactics and techniques.The intent of this document is to illustrate the four distinct personalities of the AI construct and how it will affect game play. Personality types, and their unique traits will break down the list. In addition, the AI personality type The Fool has been replaced with The Mother due to the fact that The Child and The Fool were too similar. The AI and its four personalities would appear at certain intervals of the game in a form of a hologram that although appears to have depth from a forward view, but is actually paper thin, imagine a Sprite that is always facing you, but occasionally, you catch a glimpse of its side, and youll get the idea. Although the AI is Alien, it appears in human form and speaks using English in order for Samus to understand it.The Killer: Combat heavy game play style, larger number of enemy spawns than usual, less drops for killed creatures. Security systems (turrets, for example) would be more deadly than normal. The more players involved in the game, they heavier the amount of enemies Atmosphere of the environment when The Killer AI is in control would consist of strobing lights, red lights, and lots of fog. Camera function would distort at times or fish eye, causing the player to become disoriented, similar to Silent Hill and Eternal Darkness. In addition, there would be darkened areas of the ship that would play into the fear factor of the player, and force them to use their visor mode.For all intensive purposes, The Killer is much more combat oriented than the 3 other personality types. The feeling the player should get from The Killer is that they are being stalked like prey. It has a serial killer mentality and will stop at nothing to end its victims life.The Child: Puzzle heavy game play style, more emphasis on puzzle solving and scanning, and less combat. Since The Child is Playing, it will occasionally react by reactivating security systems, re-locking doors, and trapping the player where necessary, all in the name of (deadly) fun. Possible Simon Says like sequences, for example. Atmosphere of the environment when The Child AI Construct is in control would consist of softer and warmer light values. (Similar to night-lights?) Not too many shadowed places due to the fact that children for the most part, are scared of the dark. Another way we could describe the lighting, would be carnival like, sort of a Dark Disneyland.The Child AI construct is the exact opposite of the The Killer. Its focus is puzzle based and relies less on using physical enemies to stop the player. At times, perhaps The Child AI construct could be used as a hint system to guide the player when they become lost. Although the The Child AI construct thinks its playing and having fun, its puzzles and games are still deadly. Imagine a crazed child swinging around an Axe, its having fun, but doesnt realize he/she could really hurt someone.The Mother: The Mother is the core as well as the helper AI. Out of all four personality types, this one is the most friendly of the bunch. The Mother AI could be used as a crucial Plot device which gives Samus and other bounty Hunters technological upgrades when completing a puzzle. Game play wise, The Mother is a helper, while the action going on around the players is a combination of The Child and The Killer, 50% combat, and 50% puzzle. Atmosphere of the environment when The Mother AI Construct is in control is womb-like, orange and yellow lights fill the area and a heartbeat can be heard in the background.The Mother AI, is used as the core and helper though out the game. It can be used for item acquisition, technological advancement, relay back story and offer clues and hints, almost like a redundant hint system but with personality.The Martyr: The Martyr is one of the boss battles in the game, and perhaps is the most deadly of all of the AI constructs due to the fact that The Martyr has the burden of successfully completing its mission. (The mission could be ramming into a planet, if it was the brains for a gigantic spaceship, or self destructing if it were the main operations for the base, for example) Fighting this boss could go a few different ways. Destroy the main reactor/CPU? Shut down the system based on teamwork along the lines of mission impossible? Perhaps the AI manifests itself in physical form. There are a lot of options we can explore. Atmosphere of the environment when The Martyr AI construct is in control would be one of decay and ruin. Sparks are flying off machines, tons of smoke, auxiliary lights being only light source, machines failing left and right, camera shakes and toppling geometry are the norm.The Martyr is the Head Honcho of the AI construct; this is what the AI eventually will eventually turn into, as opposed to its other forms. The Martyr also has master control over every aspect of the ship, its security system, and can use anything at its disposal to try and stop the player.One of the ideas we had was to just render the face instead of the entire body. Clockwise from left: The Child, The Martyr, The Killer, and The Mother.Again, The Child with a heavy Anime Influence.More concepts of The Killer and |
basis for processing Allows us to perform our contract with clients Enables us to comply with legal obligations Pursue legitimate interests of our own or those of third parties Entering into the contract with clients √ Performing the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with clients √ √ √ Maintaining and developing our relationship with clients √ Facilitating our internal business operations including accounting, billing, collections, and payments √ √ Fulfilling our legal and regulatory obligations √ Communicating with those journalists relevant to our clients’ businesses √
Visitors to Company offices
When attending our offices, you may be asked to provide identification documents to clear our security checks.
5. SHARING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
We may share your personal data:
– for auditing and accounting purposes;
– with regulators, courts and law enforcement agencies as necessary;
– with third party service providers and in doing so we will ensure the confidentiality, integrity and security of your personal data is maintained when being handled by any such service provide; and
– in other circumstances where we have your express consent to do so.
Third party personal information shared with us
Where we receive personal data relating to someone else from a third party database (“discloser”), the onus is on the discloser to ensure that they have the relevant authority and/or consent to disclose that personal data to us and that the information that they have provided is accurate and up to date. On this basis, we may collect, use and disclose that personal data as described in this Privacy Policy.
6. INFORMATION SECURITY
We will take reasonable steps to ensure the information we hold about you is kept confidential and secure. In addition to personal information being kept electronically, we may also store physical documents on file.
Updating your personal data
Should you wish to amend the personal information that we hold for you, please contact [email protected] We will not be responsible for any losses arising directly or indirectly from any inaccurate and/or incomplete information provided to us by you.
– Retention of your personal information
We will retain your personal information only for as long as is reasonably necessary in the circumstances and in compliance with our legislative and regulatory requirements.
To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the volume, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.
7. YOUR RIGHTS
In accordance with EU and UK data privacy laws where we operate, you have the right to:
– request access to the personal information which we hold about you;
– request correction of personal information;
– request the transfer of your personal information to another party;
– request the restriction of processing; and
– request the deletion of your personal information if the Company or its group entities are no longer under a legal obligation to process such data. We can also refuse to delete your data if in our view the information is necessary for the defence of legal claims against the Company.
If you wish to review, verify, correct or request erasure of your personal information, object to the processing of your personal data, or request that we transfer a copy of your personal information to another party, please contact [email protected] in writing.
9. STATUS OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY
We review this Privacy Policy regularly and reserve the right to revise it or any part of it from time to time to reflect changes in the law, information security and technology practices or in the way in which we process your personal information.
10. CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, or want to submit a written complaint to us about how we handle your personal information, please contact us at [email protected]
You may also have the right to submit a complaint to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office.After 18-year-old Michael Brown was gunned down and left to bake in the middle of a Ferguson, Mo., street on Aug. 9, 2014, police tried to smear his character by releasing a security video allegedly showing Brown participating in a “strong-armed robbery” by pushing a convenience store clerk and taking a box of cigarillos earlier that day.
Yet in a new documentary, Stranger Fruit, which debuted Saturday at the SXSW festival, a second video has emerged raising what the New York Times deems “new questions” about what happened in the hours before the fatal shooting of Brown by now-former Police Officer Darren Wilson, who faced no charges in his death, sparking massive protests in Ferguson and across the country.
The new footage shows Brown entering Ferguson Market and Liquor shortly after 1 a.m. on the day he died. He approaches the counter, hands over what looks to be a small bag, and takes a shopping bag filled with cigarillos. Brown is then seen shown walking toward the door with the merchandise, then turning around and handing the cigarillos back across the counter before exiting the store.
Advertisement
Jason Pollock, a documentary filmmaker who acquired the new footage, says the tape challenges the police narrative that Brown committed a strong-armed robbery when he returned to the store around noon that day.
Pollock believes that the new video shows Brown giving a small bag of marijuana to store employees and receiving cigarillos in return as part of a deal.
Brown’s mother speaks on it. She also questioned why that initial tape was released publicly while her son’s earlier visit to the store was not.
Advertisement
“There was some type of exchange, for one thing for another,” says Lesley McSpadden in the documentary.
The director says it is a clear suppression of evidence.
“They destroyed Michael’s character with the tape, and they didn’t show us what actually happened,” said Pollock, who reportedly spent more than two years in Ferguson conducting research for his documentary. “So this shows [the police’s] intention to make him look bad. And shows suppression of evidence.”
Advertisement
According to the New York Times, Sgt. Shawn McGuire, a spokesman for the St. Louis County police, said in an email Saturday that footage of the earlier encounter had not been released because it was not relevant to the investigation.
He added later that he could not confirm the video’s authenticity.
A lawyer for the convenience store and its employees disputes that version of events, for obvious reasons.
Advertisement
“There was no transaction,” says Jay Kanzler. “There was no understanding. No agreement. Those folks didn’t sell him cigarillos for pot. The reason he gave it back is he was walking out the door with unpaid merchandise and they wanted it back.”
Pollack said that he was tipped off to the new video because the St. Louis County Police Department briefly mentioned Brown’s early-morning visit to the store in a lengthy report on the case.
Read more at the New York Times.DUNEDIN, FL - RHP Conner Greene (W, 4-4) turned in his best performance of the season and received backing from his offense in the Dunedin Blue Jays' (32-36) 6-0 win on Tuesday night against the Brevard County Manatees (23-44). Greene fanned a season high seven over seven innings taking a no-hitter into the sixth.
The Jays' poured it on Manatees' starter RHP Eric Hanhold (L, 2-8) who allowed 11 hits over his four innings. Dunedin put runs on the board in each of those frames, including a solo home run in the second from C Jorge Saez. DH Ryan McBroom collected three hits with a pair of RBI-doubles. RF Jonathan Davis doubled in a run in the sixth inning as one of his three hits.
With the Jays' offense out to an early lead, Greene was free to pepper all parts of the zone, working in his secondary pitches more than he has in any other start this year. He trotted out for the sixth, facing the minimum without allowing a hit before C Dustin Houle led off with a double. Greene worked in a pair of double plays to end his final two innings.
The final two stanzas were handled by a pair of Major League rehabbers. LHP Franklin Morales and LHP Brett Cecil each tossed hitless innings. Morales walked and struck out a batter while Cecil k'ed two to end the ninth.
The Jays' look for a sweep of Brevard County on Wednesday afternoon in an 11 AM Camp Day start. RHP Chris Rowley will oppose LHP Kodi Medeiros.NEW ORLEANS (AP) — With one last chance to get the Cardinals back in the game, Carson Palmer spotted open tight end Rob Housler near the Saints 10-yard line. He threw over Housler’s head — right into the hands of rookie safety Kenny Vaccaro.
That fourth-quarter interception capped a difficult day for the Cardinals, who after grabbing a quick 7-0 lead did little right offensively the rest of the game. As Palmer walked slowly to the sideline, the early advantage had dissolved into a multi-score deficit, and Arizona went on lose 31-7 on Sunday.
The Cardinals (1-2) moved 80 yards in 11 plays the first time they had the ball, converting two third downs and capping the drive with a 3-yard run by Alfonso Smith. They picked up a total of 94 yards and punted seven times on their next seven series, never crossing the Saints 40 until just before Palmer’s first of two interceptions.
Article continues below...
“We did not play well enough and I did not play well enough to give us a chance to win,” Palmer said. “If you didn’t convert on third down and you don’t move the ball effectively enough on first and second down, and you give that team that many possessions, they are going to score 30-something points.”
Arizona held New Orleans (3-0) to minus-6 yards rushing in the first half and still trailed 14-7 at the break. Passing on almost every down, the Saints tried three running plays during the first half, led only 17-7 at the end of the third quarter and still finished with 104 yards rushing as the Cardinals’ defense wore down in the fourth quarter.
Palmer went 18 of 35 for 187 yards and was sacked four times. Arizona did not run the ball well, either. Leading rusher Rashard Mendenhall, listed as questionable with a toe injury, gained only 29 yards on nine carries.
“Our defense played great for three quarters and gave us some momentum,” Palmer said. “We just didn’t give them enough to feed off and give them something to keep fighting for.”
The Cardinals came into the game without starting nose tackle Dan Williams, excused because of the death of his father in a car accident as he drove from the family’s home in Memphis en route to New Orleans to watch his son play.
They then lost three more defensive starters in the first three quarters. Linebacker Lorenzo Alexander (right foot) and safety Rashad Johnson (finger) left in the first half, and linebacker Sam Acho (sprained left ankle) exited early in the third quarter.
“We had critical injuries, and some young guys had to chip in and play,” said coach Bruce Arians, who refused to discuss the severity of the three injuries. “They didn’t handle it as well as I hoped they would.”
Saints quarterback Drew Brees passed for three touchdowns to go with his 7-yard TD scramble as the Saints improved to 3-0 for the first time since 2009, when they went on to win the Super Bowl.
“Hopefully we can just continue to get a little bit better and gain confidence and momentum and keep the train rolling,” said Brees, who connected twice with tight end Jimmy Graham for scores and once with Robert Meachem. “I’m very happy to be 3-0, 2-0 in the (NFC South) division, 3-0 in the NFC. All those things are significant.”
Brees was 29 of 46 for 342 yards. He was intercepted once by New Orleans native and former LSU star Tyrann Mathieu. That play ended a scoring threat but only delayed the inevitable on a day when the Cardinals short-handed defense was no match for the prolific passing attack of the Saints.
Mathieu didn’t even seem interested in keeping the football that he caught for his first career interception.
“It’s just a regular football,” he said. “It doesn’t mean anything.”This comic is a lot more raw and has a roughdraft-y feel to it because, well, it kind of is LOL;;; but this has been on my mind for a few days and I wanted it out as soon as possible, because I do not know one person who has gone through abuse (particularly manipulation in this case) mentally or emotionally unscathed, nor came out of it with their identity and/or their capabilities intact. It’s all an ugly trick, a way for the abusers to feed off of your uncertainty for their own personal gain of power. Even when you break away from the abuser there’s still a residue that lingers afterwards and it takes some fighting back to get rid of it. As we all will experience some form of manipulation or belittlement one way or another in life, never forget that you are your own person and not a side character in your own life. You call the shots, you make the rules. Don’t let anyone stand in your way of living your life to the fullest.
If anyone would like to participate in an activity I would love it if you guys shared with eachother what your favorite qualities are about yourself and what makes you powerful, okay? Whether it be just one word or an entire paragraph about what makes you special, I will gladly share it! There’s not enough personal positivity shared about ourselves and I want to encourage people that it’s ok to love yourself and your amazing qualities!!
Thanks so much for reading guys <3
Tagged with: #art3D printing allows engineers to custom build intricate structures impossible with traditional manufacturing, but the layer-by-layer approach can be slow and limits the shapes that can be built. A new technique can now fabricate entire 3D shapes in seconds using holographic light fields.
The technique, developed by researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, uses special resins that solidify when they are exposed to light. By shining three laser beams at a vat filled with the resin to create a 3D pattern of light, they were able to fabricate 3D structures in one go in just 10 seconds.
Most 3D printing approaches build structures layer-by-layer by depositing either individual dots of material, filaments, or entire layers at once. This means the 3D structures created are actually stacks of 2D layers, says LLNL engineer Maxim Shusteff, who led the research, which can introduce artifacts at the points where they join that result in a rough finish.
It can also make certain structures impossible to build without support, for example, building from the bottom up makes it hard to build sub-structures that hang down from upper layers. Being able to build the entire structure all in one go has the double benefit of removing the limitations of layer-by-layer approaches and dramatically increasing the speed of the system.
“This is the first demonstration of a practical way of making 3D parts all at once,” Shusteff told Singularity Hub. “It’s the next step in the progress of additive manufacturing technology.”
In a paper in the journal Science Advances, the researchers describe how the system works by splitting a 3D holographic image into three distinct parts. These are then projected into the resin tank by separate laser beams that enter through its front, base, and side, creating a 3D light field where they overlap.
The resin the researchers used is a photopolymer that reacts to light by solidifying once a certain energy threshold has been passed, so after a few seconds of exposure to the light field they were able to drain the tank of liquid resin, leaving behind the 3D structure.
The group used their technique to build a series of millimeter-scale shapes such as cubes, pyramids, and lattices, but Shusteff says that with optimization the approach should be capable of resolutions of just a few micrometers.
The amount of power required to ensure even light distribution in large vats of the resin mean the approach is unlikely to be suitable for large structural parts, but Shusteff says building parts on the scale of 1,000 cm3 is very feasible.
“We haven’t really pushed the boundaries of what this is capable of, so we’re talking in very general terms about application areas at the minute,” he says. “Any place where polymer structures are useful it could advance the state of the art.”
Of particular interest to the researchers are biomedical implants, where having a large degree of flexibility in the shapes you can produce, coupled with high resolution, could be very helpful.
There has been a growing amount of research looking at bioprinting living tissue, which often uses bio-inks made of living cells suspended in biocompatible substances like hydrogels. These materials are often soft and easily deformable, making printing methods involving a lot of movement undesirable, says Shusteff, so their static approach could be a promising alternative.
“This is an intriguing approach toward advancing the speed of 3D fabrication with photopolymers,” said Joseph DeSimone, a chemistry professor at the University of North Carolina and co-founder of 3D printing company Carbon. “They’ll need to have hardware advances coupled with software and resins to pull this together. But it’s exciting.”
Shusteff agrees there’s still considerable work to do. For a start, the material properties of photopolymers are still limited, though he says additive manufacturing is spurring large amounts of research aimed at solving this problem and the field is growing quickly.
The researchers also think there may be better ways of creating the 3D light fields than holography. Shusteff says they decided to exploit the discipline because it had well-developed theories about how to record or reconstruct 3D structures in light.
But holography requires the use of complicated optical equipment that pushes up costs, and lasers that are prone to “laser speckle,” where the laser light interferes with itself, adding spatial noise to the beam and causing surface roughness.
Fortunately, they say it should be possible to achieve the same effect using LEDs as the light source and amplitude modulation in place of holography. “We’ve taken a really good first shot at this, but we’ve not yet taken it to the limit of its performance, so the space is wide open for us and others to demonstrate what this approach is capable of,” says Shusteff.
The group is already experimenting with a resin vat that spins on its axis as an LED light source varies the pattern of light it projects. Shusteff says this gives them even more geometric flexibility while only being marginally slower, taking minutes rather than seconds for each structure.
Image Credit: Shusteff et al., Sci. Adv. 2017; 3: eaao5496national
Poonam Bhagat alleges her estranged husband Jaidev Shroff has a hand in derogatory videos doing the rounds on social media; he submits undertaking to only use them in his court cases
Poonam Bhagat
The Bombay high court on Wednesday gave the video-sharing website YouTube till Monday to furnish the details of the person who uploaded ‘defamatory’ videos of socialite Poonam Bhagat on the website. Bhagat has claimed that her estranged husband Jaidev Shroff, Director of United Phosphorous Limited (UPL), was circulating these videos of her with some of their common friends, so Shroff also submitted an undertaking that he will be using the said videos only for court proceedings.
Also read: Poonam Bhagat case: Bandra court under scanner for defying Bombay High Court order
Bhagat’s contention
Bhagat is currently locked in a matrimonial dispute with Shroff and moved the HC on Wednesday, claiming that some videos, which were doctored, were making the rounds on social media websites and insisted that her husband was behind it. She also told the court that the videos on YouTube were uploaded under the username ‘black box’.
Poonam Bhagat and Jaidev Shroff
“These videos are very defamatory in nature and have been uploaded by people who we don’t know,” said senior counsel Janak Dwarkadas, appearing on Bhagat’s behalf before Justice Shahrukh Kathawala.
Also read: High Court allows Poonam Bhagat to challenge transfer of poisoning case
Justice Kathawala then asked YouTube to reply by Monday with the details of people/IP address that have uploaded the purported videos on the website.
Directive to Shroff
Meanwhile, he also asked Shroff, who was represented by senior counsel Navroz Seervai, to not use the videos for anything else apart from the court cases. However, even as Seervai denied that his client had been the one sharing the videos amongst their friends and on social media, he tendered an undertaking to the court on Shroff’s behalf that his client would only use the videos while representing himself in his court cases.
Also read: Jaidev Shroff to challenge HC order over wife Poonam Bhagat's entry to house
In the family court case filed by Shroff, he has made several allegations against Bhagat for ill-treating both him and his children from his first marriage. To that end, the petitioner has submitted recordings of her behavior — both video and audio — as evidence.
Poonam Bhagat. File pic
Bhagat, on the other hand, has filed a divorce case in October 2015. Things got murky with Bhagat filing a theft case against Shroff and his filing a counter case of her poisoning him with the help of a Bengali Baba.Kochie to Abbott: How have you become so unpopular? 0:31
TONY Abbott’s office has launched a “charm offensive” in an attempt to win back the favour of disgruntled MPs.
As pressure mounts on the Prime Minister over his leadership, Mr Abbott’s wife Margie last week sent out an invitation to the spouses and partners of all parliamentarians to join her for an art gallery showing in Canberra.
It is the first such invitation by Mrs Abbott since the Coalition won office in 2013.
The function is to be held in the upcoming sitting week.
The event was scheduled as a morning tea at the National Portrait Gallery where Mrs Abbott is a patron.
PARTY CRISIS: Bishop rules out challenging Abbott for leadership
MORE: How Tony Abbott plans to survive as Prime Minister
But many disgruntled MPs are seeing the move as a cynical effort by the Prime Minister in order to try and win back their support for his leadership.
One MP said it smacked of “desperation”.
“We have very high regard for Margie Abbott but we don’t want this kind of crap. We don’t want our spouses to be involved in these kinds of games,” the MP said.
“It’s about Abbott, not about our spouses. And if it was genuine this kind of invite would have happened a while ago.
“Does the PMO think we are all stupid?”
Another MP said: “Partners have not been on the radar of the Prime Minister or Mrs Abbott since we won office. In some ways they have been treated as third rate citizens”.
“As far as I know this is the first Prime Minister’s wife that has waited so long to do something with the spouses and the timing is just pretty interesting.”
The Prime Minister spent much of last week calling around his backbench trying to quell the anger of those frustrated by his leadership.
But MPs are still angry that Mr Abbott changed his personal mobile number late last year, leaving backbenchers unable to contact him directly with their concerns.
“We wanted to talk to him directly and none of us had his number. It’s just not a genuine consultative style,” said one.
A spokeswoman for the prime minister said: “Spouses and partners attend various events throughout the parliamentary sitting year.”Leon Trotsky
My Life
CHAPTER IX
MY FIRST EXILE
We were going down the river Lena, a few barges of convicts with a convoy of soldiers, drifting slowly along with the current. It was cold at night, and the heavy coats with which we covered ourselves were thick with frost in the morning. All along the way, at villages decided on beforehand, one or two convicts were put ashore. As well as I can remember, it took about three weeks before we came to the village of Ust-Kut. There I was put ashore with one of the woman prisoners, a close associate of mine from Nikolayev. Alexandra Lvovna had one of the most important positions in the South Russian Workers’ Union. Her utter loyalty to socialism and her complete lack of any personal ambition gave her an unquestioned moral authority. The work that we were doing bound us closely together, and so, to avoid being separated, we had been married in the transfer prison in Moscow.
The village comprised about a hundred peasant huts. We settled down in one of them, on the very edge of the village. About us were the woods; below us, the river. Farther north, down the Lena, there were gold-mines. The reflection of the gold seemed to hover about the river. Ust-Kut had known lusher times, days of wild debauches, robberies, and murders. When we were there the village was very quiet, but there was still plenty of drunkenness. The couple who owned the hut that we took were inveterate tipplers. Life was dark and repressed, utterly remote from the rest of the world. At night, the cockroaches filled the house with their rustlings as they crawled over table and bed, and even over our faces. From time to time we had to move out of the hut for a day or so and keep the door wide open, at a temperature of 35 degrees (Fahrenheit) below zero.
In the summer our lives were made wretched by midges. They even bit to death a cow which had lost its way in the woods. The peasants wore nets of tarred horsehair over their heads. In the spring and autumn the village was buried in mud. To be sure, the country was beautiful, but during those years it left me cold. I hated to waste interest and time on it. I lived between the woods and the river, and I almost never noticed them – I was so busy with my books and personal relations. I was studying Marx, brushing the cockroaches off the page.
The Lena was the great water route of the exiled. Those who had completed their terms returned to the South by way of the river. But communication was continuous between these various nests of the banished which kept growing with the rise of the revolutionary tide. The exiles exchanged letters with each other, some of them so long that they were really theoretical treatises. It was comparatively easy to get a transfer from one place to another from the governor of Irkutsk. Alexandra Lvovna and I moved to a place 250 versts east on the river Ilim, where we had friends. I found a job there, for a while, as clerk to a millionaire merchant. His fur depots, stores and saloons were scattered over a territory as big as Belgium and Holland put together. He was a powerful merchant-lord. He referred to the thousands of Tunguses under him as “my little Tunguses.” He couldn’t even write his name; he had to mark it with a cross. He lived in niggardly fashion the whole year round, and then would squander tens of thousands of roubles at the annual fair at Nijni-Novgorod. I worked under him for a month and a half. Then one day I entered on a bill a pound of red-lead as “one pood” (forty pounds), and sent this huge bill to a distant store. This completely ruined my reputation with my employer, and I was discharged.
So we went back to Ust-Kut. The cold was terrific; the temperature dropped as low as 55 degrees (Fahrenheit) below zero. The coachman had to break the icicles off the horses’ muzzles as we drove along. I held a ten-months-old baby-girl on my knees. We had made a fur funnel to put over her head, arranged so that she could breathe through it and at every stop we removed her fearfully from her coverings, to see if she was still alive. Nothing untoward happened on that trip, how ever. We didn’t stay long at Ust-Kut. After a few months, the governor gave us permission to move a little farther south, to a place called Verkholensk, where we had friends.
The aristocracy among the exiles was made up of the old Populists who had more or less succeeded in establishing them selves during the long years they had been away. The young Marxists formed a distinct section by themselves. It was not until my time that the striking workers, often illiterates who by some freak of fate had been separated from the great mass, began to drift to the north. For them, exile proved an in valuable school for politics and general culture. Intellectual disagreements were made the more bitter by squabbles over personal matters, as is natural where a great many people are forcibly confined. Private, and especially romantic, conflicts frequently took on the proportions of drama. There were even suicides on this account. At Verkholensk, we took turns at guarding a student from Kiev. I noticed a pile of shining metal shavings on his table. We found out later that he had made lead bullets for his shotgun. Our guarding him was in vain. With the barrel of the gun against his breast, he pulled the trigger with his foot. We buried him in silence on the hill. At that time, we were still shy about making speeches, as if there were something artificial about them. In all the big exile colonies, there were graves of suicides. Some of the exiles became absorbed into the local populations, especially in the towns; others took to drink. In exile, as in prison, only hard intellectual work could save one. The Marxists, I must admit, were the only ones who did any of it under these conditions.
It was on the great Lena route, at that time, that I met Dzerzhinsky, Uritzky, and other young revolutionaries who were destined to play such important rôles in the future. We awaited each arriving party eagerly. On a dark spring night, as we sat around a bonfire on the banks of the Lena, Dzerzhinsky read one of his poems, in Polish. His face and voice were beautiful, but the poem was a slight thing. The life of the man was to prove to be one of the sternest of poems.
Soon after our arrival at Ust-Kut, I began to contribute articles to an Irkutsk newspaper, the Vostochnoye Obozreniye (The Eastern Review). It was a provincial organ within the law, started by the old Populist exiles, but occasionally it fell into the hands of Marxists. I began as a village correspondent, and I waited anxiously for my first article to appear. The editor encouraged my contributions, and I soon began to write about literature, as well as about public questions. One day when I was trying to think of a pen-name, I opened the Italian dictionary and “antidoto” was the first word that met my eye. So for several years I signed myself “Antid Oto,” and jestingly explained to my friends that I wanted to inject the Marxist antidote into the legitimate newspapers. After a while, my pay jumped suddenly from two kopecks a line to four. It was the best proof of success. I wrote about the peasantry; about the Russian classic authors; about Ibsen, Hauptmann and Nietzsche; de Maupassant, Andreyev and Gorky. I sat up night after night scratching up my manuscripts, as I tried to find the exact idea or the right word to express it. I was becoming a writer.
Since 1896, when I had tried to ward off revolutionary ideas, and the following year, when I had done the same to Marxist doctrines even though I was already carrying on revolutionary work, I had travelled far. At the time of my exile, Marxism had definitely become the basis of my philosophy. During the exile, I tried to consider, from the new point of view I had acquired, the so-called “eternal” problems of life: love, death, friendship, optimism, pessimism, and so forth. In different epochs, and in varying social surroundings, man loves and hates and hopes differently. Just as the tree feeds its leaves, flowers, and fruits with the extracts absorbed from the soil by its roots, so does the individual find food for his sentiment and ideas, even the most “sublime” ones, in the economic roots of society. In my literary articles written in this period, I developed virtually one theme only: the relations between the individual and society. Not very long ago, these articles were published in a single volume, and when I saw them collected I realized that although I might have written them differently to-day, I should not have had to change the substance of them.
At that time, official or so-called “legal” Russian Marxism was in the throes of a crisis. I could see then from actual experience how brazenly new social requirements create for themselves intellectual garments from the cloth of a theory that was intended for something quite different. Until the nineties, the greater part of the Russian intelligentsia was stagnating in Populist theories with their rejection of capitalist development and idealization of peasant communal ownership of the land.
And capitalism in the meantime was holding out to the intelligentsia the promise of all sorts of material blessings and political influence. The sharp knife of Marxism was the instrument by which the bourgeois intelligentsia cut the Populist umbilical cord, and severed itself from a hated past. It was this that accounted for the swift and victorious spread of Marxism during the latter years of the last century.
As soon as Marxism had accomplished this, however, it began to irk this same intelligentsia. Its dialectics were convenient for demonstrating the progress of capitalist methods of development, but finding that it led to a revolutionary rejection of the whole capitalist system, they adjudged it an impediment and declared it out of date. At the turn of the century, at the time when I was in prison and exile, the Russian intelligentsia was going through a phase of wide-spread criticism of Marxism. They accepted its historical justification of capitalism, but discarded its rejection of capitalism by revolutionary means. In this roundabout way the old Populist intelligentsia, with its archaic sympathies, was slowly being transformed into a liberal bourgeois intelligentsia.
European criticisms of Marxism now found a ready hearing in Russia, irrespective of their quality. It is enough to say that Eduard Bernstein became one of the most popular guides from socialism to liberalism. The normative philosophy, shouting victory with more and more assurance, was ousting the materialist dialectics. Bourgeois public opinion, in its formative stages, needed inflexible norms, not only to protect it against the tyrannies of the autocratic bureaucracy, but against the wild revolutionism of the masses. Kant, although he overthrew Hegel, did not in turn hold his position very long. Russian liberalism came very late, and from the first lived on volcanic soil. The categorical imperative, it found, gave it too abstract and unreliable a security. Much stronger measures were needed to resist the revolutionary masses. The transcendental idealists became orthodox Christians. Bulgakov, a professor of political economy, began with a revision of Marxism on the agrarian question, went on to idealism, and ended by becoming a priest. But this last stage was not reached until some years later.
In the early years of this century, Russia was a vast laboratory of social thinking. My work on the history of freemasonry had fortified me in a realization of the subordinate place of ideas in the historical process. “Ideas do not drop from the sky,” I repeated after old Labriola. Now it was no longer a question of pure scientific study, but of the choice of a political path. The revision of Marxism that was going on in all directions helped me as it did many another young Marxist – it helped us to make up our minds and sharpen our weapons. We needed Marxism, not only to rid ourselves of Populism, which touched us but slightly, but actually to begin a stout war against capitalism in its own territory. The struggles against the Revisionists toughened us politically, as well as in the field of theory. We were becoming proletarian revolutionaries.
During this same period, we met with a great deal of criticism from our left. In one of the northern colonies – I think it was Viluysk – lived an exile called Makhaisky, whose name soon became generally known. Makhaisky began as a critic of Social Democratic opportunism. His first hectographed essay, devoted to an exposure of the opportunism of the German Social Democracy, had a great vogue among the exiles. His second essay criticised the economic system of Marx and ended with the amazing conclusion that Socialism is a social order based on the exploitation of the workers by a professional intelligentsia. The third essay advocated the rejection of political struggle, in the spirit of anarchist syndicalism. For several months, the work of Makhaisky held first place in the interest of the Lena exiles. It gave me a powerful inoculation against anarchism, a theory very sweeping in its verbal negations, but lifeless and cowardly in its practical conclusions.
The first time I ever met a living anarchist was in the Moscow transfer prison. He was a village school-teacher, Luzin, a man reserved and uncommunicative, even cruel. In prison he always preferred to be with the criminals and would listen intently to their tales of robbery and murder. He avoided discussions of theory. But once when I pressed him to tell me how railways would be managed by autonomous communities, he answered: “Why the hell should I want to travel on rail ways under anarchism?” That answer was enough for me. Luzin tried to win the workers over, and we carried on a concealed warfare which was not devoid of hostility.
We made the journey to Siberia together. During the high floods on the river, Luzin decided to cross the Lena in a boat. He was not quite sober and challenged me to go with him. I agreed. Loose timber and dead animals were floating on the surface of the swollen river; there were many whirlpools. We made the crossing safely, though not without exciting moments. Luzin gave me a sort of verbal testimonial: a “good comrade,” or something to that effect, and we became friendlier. Soon after, however, he was transferred to a place farther north. A few months later he stabbed the local police-chief with a knife. The policeman was not a bad sort of fellow and the wound did not prove dangerous. At the trial Luzin declared that he had nothing against the man personally, but that he wanted, through him, to strike at the tyranny of the state. He was |
id inflatable boats) with the second one ferrying the next pair of divers.”
She added: “Duncan Priestley was one of the club’s most active members and was a hugely popular guy who was always up for a laugh. That’s why, last year, we decided to do ‘silly’ things underwater to raise money for Pendleside Hospice where he spent his last days.
“Last year we did all sorts of sponsored silly things such as holding an underwater gym session, played underwater draughts, one diver wrote 100 lines, one ate as many different fruits as possible and one munched his way through a pile of sausages!”
The Ribble Valley branch is part of the UK’s national governing body for scuba diving – BSAC.
BSAC is made up of 120 dive centres and 1,000 plus family friendly and sociable clubs, run by volunteers, up and down the country and abroad.
It represents more than 30,000 scuba divers and snorkellers and welcomes new members from complete beginners upwards including those who have trained with other agencies.
BSAC Chief Executive, Mary Tetley, said: “BSAC is made up of lots of clubs like the Ribble Valley where fantastic friendships are made thanks to members’ passion for their sport.
“It is lovely to hear of how Ribble Valley are remembering their friend Duncan and the valued work he did for the club. It sounds like they are going to a lot of trouble to ensure the event at Coniston Water will be a safe and successful, if unconventional dive, and I wish them all the best with their fundraising.”In his GDC talk on the development of Divinity: Original Sin, Larian Studios founder Swen Vincke gave us a hint of what we can expect from Larian's next game. Or, rather, its next two games. If you missed the news back in December, Divinity: Original Sin was successful enough for Larian to start working on two new RPGs using the same engine. Vincke casually said that Larian may reveal those games at E3 in a few months—or in 2016. "Whenever they're ready," he said.
Larian is expanding to develop its next games more quickly. And a couple themes from Vincke's talk may offer some clues as to what Larian will (or, more likely, won't) be doing with its future RPGs. Vincke pays close competition to his competitors, both to avoid release overlap (he suggested not releasing an epic open world game starring a man looking for someone this May, for example) and thematic similarities. Don't expect the next Divinity to be too similar to Dragon Age, Pillars of Eternity, or The Witcher 3.
And no matter when Larian gets around to announcing its next RPGs, don't be surprised if their release dates get pushed back a time or two. For Divinity: Original Sin, Larian went all-in, pumping more and more money and time into the game instead of compromising their vision and releasing it early. That strategy nearly bankrupted the studio, but it paid off in more than 500,000 sales. With Original Sin's success under its belt, we wouldn't expect to see Larian's next RPGs until they're completely ready.Enable Ivy via ivy-mode (or (ivy-mode 1) in your Emacs file) and you're set! Issue the execute-extended-command (default keybinding is M-x ) or switch-to-buffer (default keybinding is C-x b ) and you'll notice the difference. Without any setup, Ivy has already worked its way into some of Emacs' commands.
While Ivy works without any configuration there are a couple of lines the maintainers suggest everyone throw in their Emacs' file.
( use-package ivy :demand :config ( setq ivy-use-virtual-buffers t ivy-count-format "%d/%d " ))
ivy-use-virtual-buffers Add recent files and bookmarks to the ivy-switch-buffer ivy-count-format Displays the current and total number in the collection in the prompt
There are a number of other configurations available. Checkout the documentation (listed in Resources) or if you have Ivy installed, play around using M-x customize-group ivy.
Amazing stuff and we've just touched the tip of the iceberg. We can extend the functionality of Ivy to allow us to perform several different actions on our list. We'll go into how to add these actions in the Demo section and then see how we can take advantage of some ready-to-use actions in the Counsel section.German researchers have detected a rise in right-wing messages related to the upcoming federal elections in Germany.
Simon Hegelich, a political science professor at the Technical University of Munich, told USA Today that he and other researchers have detected a rise in messages linked to the white nationalist “alt-right” movement in the U.S.
ADVERTISEMENT
“So far we have not been able to track down any specific Russian activity,” Hegelich told USA Today. “A lot of the stuff we are seeing in Germany can be linked to, or is at least inspired by, the 'alt-right' movement in the U.S.”
Concerns about Russian interference have loomed large in the lead-up to recent elections in Europe, especially in the wake of the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Moscow aimed to interfere in the 2016 presidential election partly to aid President Trump.
Ahead of the French presidential election earlier this year, experts pointed to evidence of Russia using disinformation to knock down Emmanuel Macron and prop up Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right National Front.
But in Germany, where the federal elections will take place on Sept. 24, researchers are pointing to an uptick in U.S. "alt-right" messages infiltrating the political conversation.
Researchers including Hegelich have posted an analysis of roughly 300,000 German-language tweets relevant to the German elections collected over a six-month period that point to a spike in right-wing messages. Some of the tweets' keywords include “AltRight” and “MAGA.”
The researchers also saw an increase in German-language tweets connected to Gab, a new social networking site popular among the extreme right-wing.
At the same time, they observed a decline in German-language tweets about the election originating from Sputnik Deutschland, the German division of Russia's state-run online news organization, though they cautioned that the data sample is not representative.
"Many people say that Russia is responsible for massive propaganda efforts on social media. On the other hand, we here at the Political Data Science team find mostly social bots, hyperactive users and trolls that are related to the right. We think there might be a strong linkage to the so called AltRight from the US," the researchers wrote in a blog post.
Experts have previously pointed to a rise in interaction between Russian media influencers and pro-Russia trolls and those pushing far-right and "alt-right" messages in the U.S. online. For instance, pro-Russia personalities and accounts have amplified negative coverage of Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, by pushing the #FireMcMaster campaign.
“It’s the same in Europe, but the specific themes change,” Lee Foster, manager of information operations analysis at FireEye iSIGHT Intelligence, told The Hill in August. “There, one of the most prominent themes is migration and the refugee crisis.”
According to USA Today, many of the German-language tweets associated with the "alt-right" and analyzed by Hegelich criticize the top candidates in the German election, namely current Chancellor Angela Merkel and her rival, Social Democratic candidate Martin Schulz.
Sandro Gaycken, founder of the Digital Society Institute in Germany, told USA Today that right-wing voices are also trying to get into the conversation about the election on Facebook, pointing to evidence of right-wing political discussion groups being prioritized in searches on the platform. Facebook told USA Today that it was aware of the matter and had temporarily disabled parts of its “Groups Discover” feature pending further review.
Facebook has recently come under fire after disclosing that it sold political ads to a Russian group tied to the Kremlin ahead of the 2016 election.
Facebook has sought to crack down on fake accounts following revelations of Moscow’s interference in the U.S. election.Avocado toast is all the rage lately. I mean … avocados – what’s not to love. Err, the toast? After living a low carb lifestyle for the last three years, and losing 180 pounds in that time … I’ve come up with some brilliant substitutes for bread (and toast) but none quite measure up like (affiliate link happening right now) Low Carb Bread Company‘s “Everything” bread.
Now, I’ve been a long time fan of Low Carb Bread Company’s Everything Bagels for the last few years. If I’m being completely honest, they are likely how I was able to get through the early months of this low carb lifestyle. They. Taste. Like. Bagels. They feel like bagels, too. But then, this Everything Bread happened and guys, I now have the perfect thing for yolk dipping!
Great Low Carb Everything Bread – $7.99
from: Great Low Carb Bread Company
This morning my taste buds exploded when I mixed up the Everything low carb bread with the avocado toast craze and I just knew I’d have to share here!
Low Carb Avocado Toast Recipe
INGREDIENTS:
1 slice Great Low Carb “Everything Bread”
1/4 small haas avocado, mashed
coconut oil
1 large egg
Pink Himalayan salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
hot sauce and a fresh lime for garnish and to taste (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
Mash the avocado in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper. I squeezed a little lime juice in to mine but you can do without it.
Heat a small nonstick skillet over low heat, add about half a tbsp of coconut oil and gently crack the egg into the skillet. Cover and cook to your liking.
Toast your bread! Smother the toast with the mashed avocado, top with egg. Add salt and pepper and hot sauce if you like!
Prepare for taste bud happiness!
Of course, if you’re not watching your carbs you’re free to make this with any bread of your choice. You can also substitute your favorite low carb bread for mine – but there is truly something about this particular flavor profile that makes everything come together for me!
Great Low Carb Bread Company has many other flavors of bread and even low carb pasta. Check them out by clicking the image below (while eating and enjoying your low carb avocado toast of course).
Need another super fast low carb breakfast idea with no products to buy? Try my Two Minute Two Ingredient Low Carb Waffles as seen in my Woman’s World article!When their landlord announced an 82 percent increase in rent, Rochelle McCune and David Henry, the owners of long-running Excelsior watering hole Doctor's Lounge, knew it was time to get out of the bar business.
On Friday night, McCune and Henry, longtime friends who've co-owned the bar for the past five years, confirmed to Hoodline that it will close on November 30th.
Although they know their patrons will miss the bar, "we decided that we would rather go out on top than burn out," Henry said.
"Business in San Francisco is not for the faint of heart," McCune added.
The occasion was bittersweet, as the bar was full of regulars on Friday night for its 65th anniversary celebration. (It originally opened in 1951.)
"We wanted to celebrate the legacy of the business and all of its owners," Henry said.
Before buying the bar, which was previously known as DR's, in 2011, McCune worked in information science and Henry worked in special events. While the bar was named DR's after its owners, Don and Ron, the moniker coincidentally matched the two friends' names: David and Rochelle.
McCune and Henry ushered DR's into the Internet age by expanding the bar's name to the more search engine-friendly Doctor's Lounge. They also opened it up to a wider group of customers than the previous owners; according to Henry, Don and Ron mostly catered to their friends, and even neglected to turn on the bar's outdoor sign, to save on electricity.
Drinkers at the bar. | Photo: Doctor's Lounge/Facebook
Thanks to its quiet location in the Excelsior, Doctor's Lounge became an informal training ground for new bartenders, who often moved to busier bars further up Mission Street once they had gained the necessary experience. But in an increasingly expensive city, McCune and Henry found it difficult to secure new employees.
Although they considered trying to attract larger crowds in order to pay for the rent increase, the owners ultimately decided that "the neighborhood isn't [ready to support a bar] yet," and that the biggest bright spot—a popular weekend brunch service—would not be enough to keep the bar in business.
McCune and Henry say they already have an offer to purchase their liquor license and transfer it elsewhere—a very valuable commodity in a city that will soon receive just five new licenses after a 77-year freeze.
Thanks to Richard S. for the tip.
See something interesting while you’re out and about? Text Hoodline and we’ll see what we can find: (415) 200-3233.Reporters didn't have cellphones when I started in the news biz.
They were available (I may have grey hair but I'm not that old) but they were expensive.
My news director didn't see why reporters needed a portable digital device when they could fill their pockets with quarters for the payphone. That was less than 20 years ago.
Man, how things have changed — and fast.
A strategic voting campaign focused solely on Calgary kicked into high gear today. But does strategic voting really work - will it in this election? Who better to ask than - The Strategists? 8:50
These days, we call them "smart" phones and no news director would be dumb enough to take a pass on the technology.
They are essential to the newsgathering process. A reporter has the power of the internet in the palm of their hand. He or she has a broadcast quality camera, and the tools to share or stream news instantly.
If you're a news junkie, you can now get your fix 24/7. In fact, consumers now expect news content to be constantly updated.
Chances are you're reading this on your smartphone or tablet. After all, Calgary has a young and plugged-in population.
Up-to-date news app
CBC Calgary is very aware of your expectations. Take our news app, for example.
You're one touch away from what I think is the best online journalism in our city.
It's easily digestible, current and relevant.
The CBC is going where the news consumer is going by beefing up online news. It's a top priority.
The reality is that has resulted in some difficult decisions as the focus of our newsgathering shifts to digital first. That shift has led us to a comprehensive rethink of our television newscast.
Our key question: If Calgarians are so connected in this era of mobile news consumption, how can we enhance that experience on TV?
We think the answer is simple: focus less on the what and more on the why.
That smartphone has been keeping you up to speed with the news all day long, so by the time you sit down in front of the big screen, you probably have a pretty good idea of what's been going on.
#whYwhYC
So, instead of giving you what you already have, we're now offering what's often lacking in daily news coverage — context. Why events unfolded the way they did. Why decision makers went in a particular direction. Why Calgarians should care.
How to stop your kids from bringing back more than just homework. 5:37
Ask any reporter and they'll tell you that explaining what happened is the easy part. Getting at why it happened is where the heavy lifting is done. They'll also tell you that "Why?" is their favourite question because it leads to the most interesting answers.
So starting today, and with that in mind, CBC Calgary News at 6 is asking "Why?" with a relentless focus on the issues that matter to Calgarians.
We call it: #whYwhYC
CBC TV News, Weather and Sports from Calgary 24:34
In 30 minutes, we promise to bring you in depth and smart discussion that will take you behind the day's headlines.
You'll hear from newsmakers, and from insightful Calgarians examining and exploring issues important to you like health, technology, your money and politics.
We are connected with our community, making programming decisions that reflect our city, its neighbourhoods and the people who live here.
We hope you'll tune in and take something of value away from this new newscast. And keep in mind, if you can't sit down at 6 every weeknight, you'll also find video clips from the broadcast on your digital device.
All of that local news content there in your pocket like all those quarters we carried years ago.
Just press play and find out — why. Ask CBC Calgary questions directly on social media with #whYwhYC.
You might have seen #whYwhYC written in red chalk on sidewalks around Calgary.
The markings were made with a temporary chalk mixture of water, cornstarch and chalk and were put together on a shoe-string budget. They have since been removed by CBC Calgary.first Prime Minister of India
This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.
Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru (;[1] Hindi: [ˈdʒəʋaːɦərˈlaːl ˈneːɦru] (); 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was a freedom fighter, the first Prime Minister of India and a central figure in Indian politics before and after independence. He emerged as an eminent leader of the Indian independence movement under the tutelage of Mahatma Gandhi and served India as Prime Minister from its establishment as an independent nation in 1947 until his death in 1964. He is considered to be the architect of the modern Indian nation-state: a sovereign, socialist, secular, and democratic republic. He was also known as Pandit Nehru due to his roots with the Kashmiri Pandit community while Indian children knew him as Chacha Nehru (Hindi, lit., "Uncle Nehru").[2][3]
The son of Motilal Nehru, a prominent lawyer and nationalist statesman and Swaroop Rani, Nehru was a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge and the Inner Temple, where he trained to be a barrister. Upon his return to India, he enrolled at the Allahabad High Court and took an interest in national politics, which eventually replaced his legal practice. A committed nationalist since his teenage years, he became a rising figure in Indian politics during the upheavals of the 1910s. He became the prominent leader of the left-wing factions of the Indian National Congress during the 1920s, and eventually of the entire Congress, with the tacit approval of his mentor, Gandhi. As Congress President in 1929, Nehru called for complete independence from the British Raj and instigated the Congress's decisive shift towards the left.
Nehru and the Congress dominated Indian politics during the 1930s as the country moved towards independence. His idea of a secular nation-state was seemingly validated when the Congress, under his leadership, swept the 1937 provincial elections and formed the government in several provinces; on the other hand, the separatist Muslim League fared much poorer. But these achievements were severely compromised in the aftermath of the Quit India Movement in 1942, which saw the British effectively crush the Congress as a political organisation. Nehru, who had reluctantly heeded Gandhi's call for immediate independence, for he had desired to support the Allied war effort during World War II, came out of a lengthy prison term to a much altered political landscape. The Muslim League under his old Congress colleague and now opponent, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had come to dominate Muslim politics in India. Negotiations between Congress and Muslim League for power sharing failed and gave way to the independence and bloody partition of India in 1947.
Nehru was elected by the Congress to assume office as independent India's first Prime Minister, although the question of leadership had been settled as far back as 1941, when Gandhi acknowledged Nehru as his political heir and successor. As Prime Minister, he set out to realise his vision of India. The Constitution of India was enacted in 1950, after which he embarked on an ambitious program of economic, social and political reforms. Chiefly, he oversaw India's transition from a colony to a republic, while nurturing a plural, multi-party system. In foreign policy, he took a leading role in the Non-Aligned Movement while projecting India as a regional hegemon in South Asia.
Under Nehru's leadership, the Congress emerged as a catch-all party, dominating national and state-level politics and winning consecutive elections in 1951, 1957, and 1962. He remained popular with the people of India in spite of political troubles in his final years and failure of leadership during the 1962 Sino-Indian War. In India, his birthday is celebrated as Bal Diwas (Children's Day).
Early life and career (1889–1912)
Birth and family background
Jawaharlal Nehru was born on 14 November 1889 in Allahabad in British India. His father, Motilal Nehru (1861–1931), a self-made wealthy barrister who belonged to the Kashmiri Pandit community, served twice as President of the Indian National Congress, in 1919 and 1928. His mother, Swaruprani Thussu (1868–1938), who came from a well-known Kashmiri Brahmin family settled in Lahore,[5] was Motilal's second wife, the first having died in child birth. Jawaharlal was the eldest of three children, two of whom were girls. The elder sister, Vijaya Lakshmi, later became the first female president of the United Nations General Assembly.[7] The youngest sister, Krishna Hutheesing, became a noted writer and authored several books on her brother.
Childhood
Nehru described his childhood as a "sheltered and uneventful one". He grew up in an atmosphere of privilege at wealthy homes including a palatial estate called the Anand Bhavan. His father had him educated at home by private governesses and tutors. Under the influence of a tutor, Ferdinand T. Brooks, he became interested in science and theosophy.[9] He was subsequently initiated into the Theosophical Society at age thirteen by family friend Annie Besant. However, his interest in theosophy did not prove to be enduring and he left the society shortly after Brooks departed as his tutor. He wrote: "for nearly three years [Brooks] was with me and in many ways he influenced me greatly".[9]
Nehru's theosophical interests had induced him to the study of the Buddhist and Hindu scriptures.[11] According to Bal Ram Nanda, these scriptures were Nehru's "first introduction to the religious and cultural heritage of [India]....[they] provided Nehru the initial impulse for [his] long intellectual quest which culminated...in The Discovery of India."[11]
Youth
Nehru became an ardent nationalist during his youth.[12] The Second Boer War and the Russo-Japanese War intensified his feelings. About the latter he wrote, "[The] Japanese victories [had] stirred up my enthusiasm... Nationalistic ideas filled my mind... I mused of Indian freedom and Asiatic freedom from the thraldom of Europe."[9] Later when he had begun his institutional schooling in 1905 at Harrow, a leading school in England, he was greatly influenced by G. M. Trevelyan's Garibaldi books, which he had received as prizes for academic merit. He viewed Garibaldi as a revolutionary hero. He wrote: "Visions of similar deeds in India came before, of [my] gallant fight for [Indian] freedom and in my mind India and Italy got strangely mixed together."[9]
Graduation
Nehru went to Trinity College, Cambridge in October 1907 and graduated with an honours degree in natural science in 1910. During this period, he also studied politics, economics, history and literature desultorily. Writings of Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, J.M. Keynes, Bertrand Russell, Lowes Dickinson and Meredith Townsend moulded much of his political and economic thinking.[9]
After completing his degree in 1910, Nehru moved to London and studied law at Inner temple Inn[15] During this time, he continued to study the scholars of the Fabian Society including Beatrice Webb.[9] He was called to the Bar in 1912.[15]
Advocate practice
After returning to India in August 1912, Nehru enrolled himself as an advocate of the Allahabad High Court and tried to settle down as a barrister. But, unlike his father, he had only a desultory interest in his profession and did not relish either the practice of law or the company of lawyers. He wrote: "Decidedly the atmosphere was not intellectually stimulating and a sense of the utter insipidity of life grew upon me."[9] His involvement in nationalist politics would gradually replace his legal practice in the coming years.[9]
The Nehru family c. 1890s
Nehru dressed in cadet uniform at Harrow School in England
Nehru in khaki uniform as a member of Seva Dal
Nehru at the Allahabad High Court
Struggle for Indian independence (1912–1947)
In Britain
Nehru had developed an interest in Indian politics during his time in Britain as a student and a barrister.
Early contribution on return to India
Within months of his return to India in 1912, Nehru attended an annual session of the Indian National Congress in Patna. Congress in 1912 was the party of moderates and elites, and he was disconcerted by what he saw as "very much an English-knowing upper-class affair". Nehru harboured doubts regarding the effectiveness of Congress but agreed to work for the party in support of the Indian civil rights movement led by Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa, collecting funds for the movement in 1913. Later, he campaigned against indentured labour and other such discrimination faced by Indians in the British colonies.[21]
World War I
When World War I broke out, sympathy in India was divided. Although educated Indians "by and large took a vicarious pleasure" in seeing the British rulers humbled, the ruling upper classes sided with the Allies. Nehru confessed that he viewed the war with mixed feelings. Frank Moraes wrote: "If [Nehru's] sympathy was with any country it was with France, whose culture he greatly admired." During the war, Nehru volunteered for the St John Ambulance and worked as one of the provincial secretaries of the organisation in Allahabad. He also spoke out against the censorship acts passed by the British government in India.
Nehru in 1919 with wife Kamala and daughter Indira
Nehru emerged from the war years as a leader whose political views were considered radical. Although the political discourse had been dominated at this time by Gopal Krishna Gokhale, a moderate who said that it was "madness to think of independence", Nehru had spoken "openly of the politics of non-cooperation, of the need of resigning from honorary positions under the government and of not continuing the futile politics of representation". He ridiculed the Indian Civil Service for its support of British policies. He noted that someone had once defined the Indian Civil Service, "with which we are unfortunately still afflicted in this country, as neither Indian, nor civil, nor a service".[25] Motilal Nehru, a prominent moderate leader, acknowledged the limits of constitutional agitation, but counselled his son that there was no other "practical alternative" to it. Nehru, however, was not satisfied with the pace of the national movement. He became involved with aggressive nationalists leaders who were demanding Home Rule for Indians.
The influence of the moderates on Congress politics began to wane after Gokhale died in 1915. Anti-moderate leaders such as Annie Beasant and Bal Gangadhar Tilak took the opportunity to call for a national movement for Home Rule. But, in 1915, the proposal was rejected because of the reluctance of the moderates to commit to such a radical course of action. Besant nevertheless formed a league for advocating Home Rule in 1916; and Tilak, on his release from a prison term, had in April 1916 formed his own league. Nehru joined both leagues but worked especially for the former. He remarked later: "[Besant] had a very powerful influence on me in my childhood... even later when I entered political life her influence continued." Another development which brought about a radical change in Indian politics was the espousal of Hindu-Muslim unity with the Lucknow Pact at the annual meeting of the Congress in December 1916. The pact had been initiated earlier in the year at Allahabad at a meeting of the All India Congress Committee which was held at the Nehru residence at Anand Bhawan. Nehru welcomed and encouraged the rapprochement between the two Indian communities.
Home rule movement
Several nationalist leaders banded together in 1916 under the leadership of Annie Besant to voice a demand for self-governance, and to obtain the status of a Dominion within the British Empire as enjoyed by Australia, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Newfoundland at the time. Nehru joined the movement and rose to become secretary of Besant's Home Rule League.[28] In June 1917 Besant was arrested and interned by the British government. The Congress and various other Indian organisations threatened to launch protests if she were not set free. The British government was subsequently forced to release Besant and make significant concessions after a period of intense protest.
Non-cooperation
The first big national involvement of Nehru came at the onset of the Non-Cooperation movement in 1920. He led the movement in the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh). Nehru was arrested on charges of anti-governmental activities in 1921, and was released a few months later.[29] In the rift that formed within the Congress following the sudden closure of the Non-Cooperation movement after the Chauri Chaura incident, Nehru remained loyal to Gandhi and did not join the Swaraj Party formed by his father Motilal Nehru and CR Das.[30]
Internationalising struggle for Indian independence
Nehru and his daughter Indira in Britain, 1930s
Nehru played a leading role in the development of the internationalist outlook of the Indian independence struggle. He sought foreign allies for India and forged links with movements for independence and democracy all over the world. In 1927, his efforts paid off and the Congress was invited to attend the congress of oppressed nationalities in Brussels in Belgium. The meeting was called to co-ordinate and plan a common struggle against imperialism. Nehru represented India and was elected to the Executive Council of the League against Imperialism that was born at this meeting.
Increasingly, Nehru saw the struggle for independence from British imperialism as a multi-national effort by the various colonies and dominions of the Empire; some of his statements on this matter, however, were interpreted as complicity with the rise of Hitler and his espoused intentions. In the face of these allegations, Nehru responded, "We have sympathy for the national movement of Arabs in Palestine because it is directed against British Imperialism. Our sympathies cannot be weakened by the fact that the national movement coincides with Hitler's interests."[32]
Mid 1930s
During the mid-1930s, Nehru was much concerned with developments in Europe, which seemed to be drifting toward another world war. He was in Europe in early 1936, visiting his ailing wife, shortly before she died in a sanitarium in Switzerland.[33] At that time, he emphasised that, in the event of war, India's place was alongside the democracies, though he insisted that India could only fight in support of Great Britain and France as a free country.[34]
Parting company with Subhas Chandra Bose
Nehru worked closely with Subhas Chandra Bose in developing good relations with governments of free countries all over the world. However, the two split in the late 1930s, when Bose agreed to seek the help of fascists in driving the British out of India.[citation needed] At the same time, Nehru had supported the Republicans who were fighting against Francisco Franco's forces in the Spanish Civil War.[35] Nehru along with his aide V. K. Krishna Menon visited Spain and declared support for the Republicans. He refused to meet Benito Mussolini, the dictator of Italy when the latter expressed his desire to meet him.
Republicanism
Nehru was one of the first nationalist leaders to realise the sufferings of the people in the states ruled by Indian princes.[citation needed] In 1923, he suffered imprisonment in Nabha, a princely state, when he went there to see the struggle that was being waged by the Sikhs against the corrupt Mahants.[38][39] The nationalist movement had been confined to the territories under direct British rule. He helped to make the struggle of the people in the princely states a part of the nationalist movement for independence.[39][40] The All India States Peoples Conference (AISPC) was formed in 1927. Nehru who had been supporting the cause of the people of the princely states for many years was made the President of the organization in 1939.[41] He opened up its ranks to membership from across the political spectrum. The body would play an important role during the political integration of India, helping Indian leaders Vallabhbhai Patel and V. P. Menon (to whom Nehru had delegated the task of integrating the princely states into India) negotiate with hundreds of princes.[42][43]
Princely states
In July 1946, Nehru pointedly observed that no princely state could prevail militarily against the army of independent India.[44] In January 1947, he said that independent India would not accept the Divine right of kings,[45] and in May 1947, he declared that any princely state which refused to join the Constituent Assembly would be treated as an enemy state.[44] Vallabhbhai Patel and V.P. Menon were more conciliatory towards the princes, and as the men charged with integrating the states, were successful in the task.[46] During the drafting of the Indian constitution, many Indian leaders (except Nehru) of that time were in favour of allowing each princely state or covenanting state to be independent as a federal state along the lines suggested originally by the Government of India act (1935). But as the drafting of the constitution progressed and the idea of forming a republic took concrete shape (because of the efforts of Nehru[citation needed]), it was decided that all the princely states/covenanting States would merge with the Indian republic.
Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi, as prime minister de-recognised all the rulers by a presidential order in 1969. But this was struck down by the Supreme Court of India. Eventually,her government by the 26th amendment to the constitution was successful in derecognizing these former rulers and ending the privy purse paid to them in 1971.[47]
1929 declaration of independence
Nehru was one of the first leaders to demand that the Congress Party should resolve to make a complete and explicit break from all ties with the British Empire. His resolution for independence was approved at the Madras session of Congress in 1927 despite Gandhi's criticism. At that time he also formed Independence for India league, a pressure group within the Congress.[48][49]
In 1928, Gandhi agreed to Nehru's demands and proposed a resolution that called for the British to grant dominion status to India within two years.[50] If the British failed to meet the deadline, the Congress would call upon all Indians to fight for complete independence. Nehru was one of the leaders who objected to the time given to the British – he pressed Gandhi to demand immediate actions from the British. Gandhi brokered a further compromise by reducing the time given from two years to one.[49] Nehru agreed to vote for the new resolution.
Demands for dominion status were rejected by the British in 1929.[51] Nehru assumed the presidency of the Congress party during the Lahore session on 29 December 1929 and introduced a successful resolution calling for complete independence.[51][52]
Draft of the declaration of independence
Nehru drafted the Indian declaration of independence, which stated:
We believe that it is the inalienable right of the Indian people, as of any other people, to have freedom and to enjoy the fruits of their toil and have the necessities of life, so that they may have full opportunities of growth. We believe also that if any government deprives a people of these rights and oppresses them the people have a further right to alter it or abolish it. The British government in India has not only deprived the Indian people of their freedom but has based itself on the exploitation of the masses, and has ruined India economically, politically, culturally and spiritually. We believe therefore, that India must sever the British connection and attain Purna Swaraj or complete independence.[53]
At midnight on New Year's Eve 1929, Nehru hoisted the tricolour flag of India upon the banks of the Ravi in Lahore.[54] A pledge of independence was read out, which included a readiness to withhold taxes. The massive gathering of public attending the ceremony was asked if they agreed with it, and the vast majority of people were witnessed to raise their hands in approval. 172 Indian members of central and provincial legislatures resigned in support of the resolution and in accordance with Indian public sentiment. The Congress asked the people of India to observe 26 January as Independence Day. The flag of India was hoisted publicly across India by Congress volunteers, nationalists and the public. Plans for a mass civil disobedience were also underway.[55]
After the Lahore session of the Congress in 1929, Nehru gradually emerged as the paramount leader of the Indian independence movement. Gandhi stepped back into a more spiritual role. Although Gandhi did not officially designate Nehru his political heir until 1942, the country as early as the mid-1930s saw in Nehru the natural successor to Gandhi.[56]
Civil disobedience
Nehru and most of the Congress leaders were initially ambivalent about Gandhi's plan to begin civil disobedience with a satyagraha aimed at the British salt tax. After the protest gathered steam, they realised the power of salt as a symbol. Nehru remarked about the unprecedented popular response, "it seemed as though a spring had been suddenly released".[ |
" to prevent the crash, police said in a statement.
A Tesla spokesperson however said in a statement that "we have spoken to our customer, who confirmed that Autopilot was functioning properly and that his use of Autopilot was unrelated to the accident.
"We're glad that he's safe."
Available for Tesla's Model S electric cars since October 2015, the driverless autopilot system has come under global scrutiny following fatal crashes in northern China in January and in the US state of Florida in May.
The Florida case attracted the attention of a US Senate Committee, which demanded a briefing on the autopilot's role in the accident.
Consumer activists have called on the company, founded by PayPal billionaire Elon Musk, to disable the autopilot feature until it is updated to detect whether the driver's hands are on the steering wheel during operation, as the company says they ought to be.
The driver in Wednesday's crash told police that he had not removed his hands from the wheel while the autopilot was activated, German press agency DPA reported.This christmas I picked up a copy of the game Rocksmith. This half-game/half-tutor allows you to connect a real guitar to a console or PC and is basically Guitar Hero with a proper instrument. Unlike Hero all the time you invest in getting better at the game actually builds real musical skills, rather than just coming away from it a highly talented coloured button masher.
You supply your own guitar and the connection is made by the Real Tone cable which is supplied with the game. Inside it is a Hercules board which converts the analog signal from the guitar into a USB digital stream.
But not only can this game provide a leg-up getting the motivation to learn, but the Real Tone cable also allows amp modelling sims to be used outside of the game. This is not something that is advertised by the game manufacturers but with a free driver, a little fiddling and a copy of Guitar Rig or Amplitube this is pretty easy to do. And a standard interface for connecting guitar to PC will cost around $100, so Rocksmith really is giving you some excellent value beyond what is already a great game.
The driver that is needed is called ASIO4ALL. This is because a standard audio interface has both input and output, but the Real Tone cable is input only. In order to keep latencies low amp modelling software take exclusive control of the audio interface and they expect to only have to use one for both the incoming and outgoing sounds. ASIO4ALL is needed to work as a ‘bridge’ so that the Real Tone can be selected as the input but a different device selected as the output (for example your motherboard sound chip). I didn’t find ASIO4ALL super intuitive to use, so I will devote the rest of this post to explaining how mine is configured to get the sound working properly in Guitar Rig 5.
Once ASIO4ALL is installed fire up the amp modelling suite and select ASIO4ALL as the audio device.
Whenever a program starts using ASIO4ALL a little green triangle symbol appears in your system tray. Clicking this brings up the ASIO4ALL configuration menu. Here you should see your standard PC sound card (probably with a highlighted green symbol next to it indicating that it is the active selection) and your Rocksmith USB Guitar Adapter (which will probably not be selected). Expand your PC sound card entry by hitting the + and exposing the inputs and outputs. What you want to do is arrange it so that it looks like mine below, with your PC sound card output selected, your PC sound card input deselected and the Rocksmith USB guitar selected.
This might take a little bit of fiddling to select them in the right order – ASIO4ALL has a habit of going all-or-nothing, but trust me it is possible to do it if you find the correct order of operations.
Once this is achieved go back into Guitar Rig and make your input and output selections. These can be found under the Routing tab. You want USB Guitar Adapter as input and your PC soundcard as output.
While all this is going on I like to have the metronome going, because that way it’s really easy to tell when the output is correctly configured. If you can hear the metronome and when you strum your guitar you get sound then all is good!
If you strum your guitar and you see the input VU meter move then you know that output is a problem. If you can hear the metronome but when you strum the input VU does not move then you know that input is a problem.
Lastly, sometimes I have experienced some clicking and clipping using the Real Tone cable in this way. Often just opening up the ASIO4ALL config menu makes this go away. Certainly I don’t experience this problem all the time.
This is a different issue to simply interference on the analog side of the cable – which this set up can suffer from (like any guitar setup). Running the cable too close to your PC, power cables and other electrical devices can impart a hum. Either have a go at moving the cables around, or do as I do and simply slap a virtual Noise Reduction pedal into your onscreen setup!
Happy shredding…
(UPDATE: here’s a look at a proper dedicated audio interface)
Advertisements
Like this: Like Loading... RelatedThere will never be enough women who want to be executives — not as long as they choose to have children.
In Denver in 2008. (Photo11: Ed Andrieski, AP)
Last week was big for the pull between work and family.
On Wednesday more than two dozen executives at companies such as Bank of America Corp. and LinkedIn Corp. signed a pledge to get more women out of the home and into our nation’s boardrooms. The goal of this initiative, entitled Paradigm for Parity, is to have women represent 50% of the “upper echelons” by 2030. Only then, these advocates believe, will America have achieved equality.
But gender parity in the workforce is futile. There will never be enough women who want that kind of life — not as long as they choose to have children. Indeed, children are “a key factor” in how women choose to structure their lives.
Ironically, political pollster Kellyanne Conway proved this to be true on the same day Paradigm for Parity was launched. At a Politico event in Washington D.C., Conway said she may not continue to advise President-elect Donald Trump — not from inside the White House, anyway — because of her kids.
“My children are 12, 12, 8 and 7, which is bad idea, bad idea, bad idea, bad idea for mom going inside [the White House],” said Conway. “They have to come first, and those are very fraught ages.”
It’s true: motherhood and politics don’t mix. Neither do motherhood and most big jobs — that’s why women don’t take them. In politics, your day begins at dawn and doesn’t end until midnight. And corporate jobs aren’t much better. This is the reason that even today, women represent a mere 19% of senior executives in North America.
To women like Ellen Kullman, former head of Dupont and co-chair of Paradigm for Parity, this is a problem that needs fixing. “We are driving actions that can make a difference in creating a step change because the progress for women is not there.”
Funny thing about progress: it’s a subjective term. According to the Free Dictionary, progress means “steady improvement, as of a society or civilization.” To gender equality advocates, society is improved when women make landing the corner office their raison d'être.
But that’s not how most women define progress. Most women value family more than they do power — and our children are better off for it. This is something to celebrate, not denigrate.
Women also believe, as do many of their husbands, that the needs of children require a parent at home. This concern was evident back in 2000, and it is still evident today. That it is Mom who chooses this role most often is hardly a conundrum. Her children want her to be there, and so does she.
And what of the truth about women’s progress? According to a 2009 report from the National Bureau of Economic Research, “As women have gained more freedom, more education, and more power, they have become less happy.”
That is hardly a sign women are clamoring for the C-Suite.
Several months ago I wrote a letter to my breadwinner husband that received an overwhelmingly positive response. I wrote it to acknowledge that I couldn’t do what I do — raise my children without the burden of being employed simultaneously, or become a writer, which often doesn’t provide a steady income — without a husband who brings home a steady paycheck.
POLICING THE USA: A look at race, justice, media
I represent the silent majority of married women, which I believe was the reason for the huge response. Most women with children in the U.S. are either not employed (29%), or, like me, work part time or have tremendous flexibility with their jobs — which was Kellyanne Conway’s point.
It is simply indisputable that most women with children want their lives to revolve around family, not around work. Money and power just doesn’t hold the same value to them as it does for a select group of women. That is not where their identities lie.
In America today, equal opportunity for women abounds — and that’s as it should be. But it will never result in equal outcomes.
As former U.S. Congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce once said, “It is time to leave the question of the role of women up to Mother Nature — a difficult lady to fool. You have only to give women the same opportunities as men, and you will soon find out what is or is not in their nature. What is in women’s nature to do they will do, and you won’t be able to stop them. But you will also find, and so will they, that what is not in their nature, even if they are given every opportunity, they will not do — and you won’t be able to make them do it.”
Suzanne Venker is author of five books on marriage, motherhood and work-family conflict. Her latest book, The Alpha Female’s Guide to Men & Marriage: HOW LOVE WORKS, will be published in February 2017. Her website is www.suzannevenker.com.
You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @USATOpinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To submit a letter, comment or column, check our submission guidelines.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2hDMKlTPosted 2016-12-06 16:54:06 GMT
方言の系統
MACLISP
主要開発者
Richard Greenbratt、Jon L White、Guy L. Steel, Jr.、Kent Pitman
登場時期
1965年
特徴
実用性を追求した処理系。
1980年代まで人工知能研究に於て基盤となって活躍した。
現在Lisp的と思っていることの多くがMACLISPで導入されたものであることは多い。
後続への影響
Common Lisp、Lisp Machine Lisp、Franz Lisp等、MACLISP系の大元
概要
MACLISPは現在広く利用されている、Common Lisp、Schemeの大元の流れを作った方言です。
極初期のことを記述した文献が残っていないようなので、詳細は不明なのですが、1965年にPDP-6がMITに納入され、その直後からRichard Greenblatt氏が実装を開始しPDP-6 LISPとして実現します。そして1966年にはもうAIラボ内で普通に活用されるようになっていたようです。
そして、1968年あたりにPDP-6の後継機であるPDP-10が導入される頃には、MACLISPという名称に変更されます。
この1968年あたりから主要な開発者はJon L White氏が担当していたようで、更新作業の記録(LISP NEWS)が残っています。
1972年頃には、Guy L. Steel, Jr.氏が参加するようになり色々な機能を加えています。
LISP NEWSから面白そうな所を抜粋すると
1)"DEFUN" IS AN FSUBR USED TO DEFINE FUNCTIONS. EXAMPLES ARE (DEFUN ONECONS (X) (CONS 1 X)) WHICH IS EQUIVALENT TO (DEFPROP ONECONS (LAMBDA (X) (CONS 1 X) EXPR) AND (DEFUN SMASH FEXPR (L) (RPLACD L NIL)) IS EQUIVALENT TO (DEFPROP SMASH (LAMBDA (L) (RPLACD L NIL)) FEXPR) THE NOVEL FEATURE OF "DEFUN" IS THAT ONE NEED NOT BE SO CONCERNED WITH BALANCING PARENTHESES AT THE VERY END OF THE FUNCTION DEFINITION, SINCE THE TYPE FLAG MAY BE OMITTED IF IT IS "EXPR", AND APPEARS NEAR THE FRONT OF THE "DEFUN" LIST IF IT IS SOME OTHER. ALSO, THE "LAMBDA" NEED NOT BE DIRECTLY INSERTED. 2)A FAST "DO" SIMILAR TO THE FORTRAN DO FEATURE NOW EXISTS. THE SYNTAX IS (DO ATOM INITIALVALUE STEPFUN ENDTEST STATEMENT1... STATEMENTN) WHERE "ATOM" IS THE INDEX VARIABLE OF THE LOOP, WHICH IS INITIALLY SET TO THE EVALUATION OF "INITIALVALUE", AND IS RESET EACH PASS THROUGH THE LOOP TO THE EVALUATION OF "STEPFUN". "STATEMENT1" TO "STATEMENTN" COMPRISE A REGULAR PROG BODY (EXCEPTING THE LIST OF PROG VARIABLES) WHICH IS EXECUTED REPEATEDLY UNTIL "ENDTEST" EVALUATES TO NON-NIL. FOR EXAMPLE, (DO I 0 (ADD1 I) (EQ I 400) (COND ((NULL (A I)) (GO B))) (PRINT (A I)) B (SETQ TOTAL (PLUS TOTAL (A I))))
LISP NOW HAS TWO MORE FUNCTIONS: [1] PROGN, AN LSUBR OF 0 OR MORE ARGS, WHICH (ODDLY ENOUGH) RETURNS ITS LAST ARGUMENT (NIL IF NO ARGS). [2] FUNCALL, AN LSUBR OF 1 OR MORE ARGS. (FUNCALL F X1 X2... XN) CALLS THE FUNCTION F WITH ARGUMENTS X1, X2,... XN. THIS IS USEFUL IN SITUATIONS WHERE ONE WANTS TO EVALUATE SOME EXPRESSION TO OBTAIN THE FUNCTION. THUS (FUNCALL (CAR X) A B C) IS SIMILAR TO ((CAR X) A B C) BUT LOOKS NICER. ITS PRIMARY USE IS IN THE CASE WHERE SOME VARIABLE HAS A FUNCTION AS ITS VALUE, BUT MAYBE ALSO HAS A FUNCTION PROPERTY. EXAMPLE: ((LAMBDA (CAR) (CAR X)) 'FOO) RETURNS THE RESULT OF APPLYING THE FUNCTION CAR TO THE VALUE OF X; HOWEVER ((LAMBDA (CAR) (FUNCALL CAR X)) 'FOO) RETURNS THE RESULT OF APPLYING THE FUNCTION FOO TO X.
等々面白い記述が多いです。
上記 funcall については所謂Lisp-2はfuncallが必須と思っている方が多いので、逆に funcall がそれまで存在しなかったのかと不思議に思うかもしれませんが、Lisp処理系では関数ポジションがどのように評価されるかでも挙動が違ってきます。
Common Lispは一度も評価されませんので、
((LAMBDA (CAR) (CAR X)) 'FOO)
とあった場合は、 CAR の関数を拾うことになります。仮に CAR の関数が未定義であった場合には未定義のエラーとなります。
MACLISPの場合は、アトムが出てくるまで評価します。上記の場合、
((LAMBDA (CAR) (CAR X)) 'FOO) => ('FOO X) => (FOO X)
となり FOO を呼び出すことになります。このような仕様なので、
((LAMBDA (CAR) (CAR X)) 'FOO)
のような名前の被りが発生してしまうケースは
((LAMBDA (CAR) (FUNCALL CAR X)) 'FOO)
と書くと明解だよねということで funcall が導入されたのでした。
ちなみにSchemeでは関数ポジションは引数ポジションと同じく一度だけ評価されますね。
その他、Lispの仕様的に大きな決断としては、浅い束縛の採用に大きく舵を切ったことが挙げられると思います。
個人的には、Lispマシンで浅い束縛システムはハードウェアの支援を活用することにより完成の域に達した(見えないポインタ、 closure 構文、等々)と考えているのですが、その辺りに詳しい方に一度実際どうだったのか伺ってみたいところではあります。
応用の例
MACLISP上に構築された歴史的に有名な応用は枚挙に暇がありません。代表的な所では、
SHRDLU
MACSYMA
言語だと、
LOGO
Micro PLANNER
SCHEME
MDL
PLASMA
Conniver
3-LISP
等々Lispベースのものは本当に沢山あります。
体験
MACLISPが稼動するITS、TOPS-20ともにsimhや、KLHのエミュレータ上で動きます。
リモートからログイン可能な公開サイトも幾つかあります。
興味のある方は実際に動かしてみましょう。
ちなみにliving computersのものは実機です(恐しや)
まとめ
現在、利用されているLispはMACLISP系か、Clojureのように比較的新しくできた方言に大別できます。
MACLISPの影響を非常に多く残しているのは、Emacs Lispですが、RMSはMACLISPで育ったことが非常に大きいと思います。
Emacs Lispは、Common Lispに由来していると思っている人が多いと思いますが、実際の所は、MACLISPから拾ってきているものが、同じ子孫であるCommon Lispにも存在するということが多いためそのように見える、ということだと思います。
参考文献
■It’s been a while since I awarded the Veruca Salt Award. Not because there hasn’t been anyone deserving the Award — we’ll never be that good — but because I’m so jaded nothing has really taken my breath away like it used to. Laziness is in there too, one of the top five reasons for sure.
Here’s a re-cap of what the Veruca Salt Award is about:
The Veruca Salt Award is named in honor of the character from the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Veruca is a spoiled rotten child, whose parents treat her like a princess, who thinks she can take whatever she wants whenever she wants it, and her wants and desires rise above all else. She embodies the Deadly Sin of Greed, with touches of Envy and Wrath. A thoroughly unpleasant character, naturally she ends up in the garbage chute.
Who is Henry M. Paulson Jr, and why has he been chosen for this prestigious award? I’m glad you asked.
Mr Paulson is the current Secretary of the Treasury under George W. Bush, and
really, if you don’t know who he is, you’re seriously not paying attention. Paulson comes from a nice family in Illinois, Eagle Scout, English major at Dartmouth, MBA from Harvard Business School (slightly tarnished), Staff Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense under Nixon, assistant to John Erlichman (uh oh), former CEO of Goldman Sachs, husband, father, grandfather, and bird-watcher.
Soooo, if you’ve been living in a cave in the mountains of Idaho, and only had basic cable, you might not have heard about a certain crisis in our financial institutions, which are in need of a monstrous bailout — to the tune of $700 billion — yes, BILLION.
Mr Paulson put together a legislative proposal to allow the Treasury to purchase all those worthless mortgages, and bailout the financial institutions who have been on a drunken speculation joyride for years, and finally had two wheels hanging over the edge of Depression Cliff.
Here’s the breath-taking, award-winning section:
Sec. 8. Review. Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
Wow.
I mean, just how big are Mr Paulson’s balls anyway? Got a wheelbarrow…?
Paulson sez: Give me $700 BILLION of your tax dollars, and I’ll fix everything. Trust me. Really, would I lie to you?
Mr Hubris Paulson, here’s your prize.
: : : : : : : : : :When baseball antagonized fans with the ’94 strike, the sport eventually recovered by juicing baseballs and becoming more lenient with performance-enhancing drugs. And by “lenient,” I mean “ignoring them entirely, even as head sizes swelled and sluggers grew quintupleceps.” Football’s situation isn’t nearly as bleak — heading into the 2012 season’s first weekend, the NFL remains as popular as ever — but still, the league has never faced anything as potentially damaging as concussions. (I wrote about this topic last April and won’t rehash my thoughts here.) If the 32 owners wanted to distract fans the way baseball did, they would probably take the following four steps.
1. Allow their arrogant commissioner to bestow himself with unprecedented power without any real checks and balances.
Oh wait, they did that! Roger Goodell can do whatever he wants. It’s amazing. He changes the rules as he goes along like he’s the Bachelor Pad producer or something. If the NFL’s commissionership worked like the American presidency, can you imagine the attack ads that Goodell’s competitor could run during the 2012 election?
Roger Goodell looked the other way with concussions for years and years and years. (SHOW A DAMAGING VIDEO FROM 2008.) Now he cares? (SHOW A VIDEO FROM 2011 THAT MAKES HIM LOOK LIKE A TOTAL HYPOCRITE.)
Would there be an easier incumbent candidate to topple? After the way he handled this Saints debacle, I’m seriously starting to wonder if he’s the worst sports commissioner of my lifetime. And that would be saying something because (a) Gary Bettman ran a league in my lifetime, (b) Larry O’Brien ran the NBA while being in a coma, and (c) again, Gary Bettman ran a league in my lifetime.
2. Pull a Joe McCarthy and scapegoat a signature team for being “too violent,” whether they have enough evidence or not, just to prove that they’re taking things seriously now and stuff.
Oh, wait, they did that, too. (Cut to everyone in New Orleans nodding.)
3. Lowball their officials even though the league makes billions of dollars — literally, billions and billions of dollars — and bring in a slew of inferior replacements so writers, bloggers and talking heads will waste millions of hours venting about shoddy officiating and how “THE LEAGUE NEEDS TO DO SOMETHING!!!”
Oh, wait, they did that, too! I mean there can’t possibly be any other explanation for lowballing your officials when they make a pittance compared to your overall profits and the well-being of your players, right? If Starbucks baristas ever went on strike, would Starbucks respond by saying, “Let’s just throw homeless people behind the counter” instead of just increasing their pay from $10 an hour to $12? But that’s the thing — it’s such a stupid game plan, it HAS to be a distraction. That’s the only explanation.
4. Execute their version of “juicing the balls” by doing everything possible to ensure that “5,000 passing yards is the new 4,000” and maybe even have one of their stars flirt with 6,000 yards this season.
Hmmmmmmmmm. I never considered this angle until Sports Illustrated‘s Peter King wrote about the faint possibility of a 6,000-yard season but it’s pretty shrewd, right? How could the league help us get there? By subtly changing contact rules so only truly talented defensive backs can actually cover somebody. By protecting quarterbacks in the pocket to comical degrees. By overreacting with a massive fine every time a defensive back can’t change the trajectory of a tackle at the last possible split second as a receiver is ducking, making all the defensive backs so gun-shy that every game turns into a faster version of the Pro Bow— Oh, wait, they’ve done all of those things!
Was it intentional? Was there a genuine strategy here? Or am I stringing together circumstantial evidence and running with it like Oliver Stone did in JFK? The answer, clearly, is the latter. And yet, that’s going to be the outcome — this was already a Quarterback’s League, but now it’s a Quarterback’s League to a comical degree. And ultimately, 13 of them will decide what happens in the 2012 NFL season. Let’s count them down from 13 to 1.
(And no, I’m not including Tony Romo just because he looked good on Wednesday night. You can’t make me. I’m betting on Dallas’s rug-pooping track record these last 15 years over two good Romo quarters against some third-string DBs. If the Romocoaster comes back to haunt me, so be it.)
13. Peyton Manning
I wanted to leave him off, I fully expected to leave him off, and yet I couldn’t leave him off. Even the chance of him morphing back into the old Manning has to be this season’s most compelling football story. (Sorry, Every Network Trying To Cram The Jets’ Backup QB Down Our Throats.) In my West Coast fantasy auction on Tuesday night, I threw Manning out for two bucks and the room went silent — nobody knew what to expect. He ended up going for eight bucks. Was it a steal? Was it like setting eight bucks on fire? Nobody knew.
The case against Manning’s 2012 revival: Shouldn’t we worry that he’s throwing the ball just about as well as he did two seasons ago, before spinal fusion surgery nearly ended his career you know, when he submitted his worst season in 12 years and secretly wasn’t that good? Or that a man of routine — someone who spent his entire career in the same city, with a stable supporting cast and coaching system, with a weatherproof dome for home games — suddenly got uprooted to a West Coast team that plays outdoors? Or that there’s a big difference between Marvin Harrison in his prime, Reggie Wayne in his prime and Eric “Why the Hell Are You Taking Me So High In Your Fantasy Draft” Decker? Or that no 35-and-over QB truly carried a contender’s offense with one exception (Brett Favre with the 2010 Vikings, who was playing indoors with Adrian Peterson flanking him), but Manning would genuinely have to carry the 2012 Broncos for them to accomplish anything? Or that even Manning, at one point, believed there wasn’t any way he could actually make it back?
If Manning does regain his old form (or most of it), that would have to rank among the most incredible comebacks in recent sports history. Judy Battista’s recent story about him banged that point home: Not only was Manning struggling to throw a basic spiral, his shame led him to play secret games of catch with college friends who weren’t even football players. The guy had to think he was done, right? So it’s hard not to get swept up in this comeback. I include myself — a die-hard Pats fan and Brady Kool-Aid drinker who sports-hated the Manning brothers so much at one point that I even started rooting against Danieal Manning just out of principle. I missed rooting against Peyton last year, and if you want to know the truth, I missed gambling on him watching him. Was there a surer thing in football than Peyton eviscerating some patsy on a Monday night?
So it’s nice to have him back. Just don’t let it shift your attention away from Denver’s defense (definitely mediocre, possibly lousy), running game (shaky, to say the least) and undeniable potential for regression (severe considering how many victories Tebow pulled out from his sphincter last season). The 2012 Broncos aren’t as good as the 2011 Broncos. Which means they need 2006 Manning, not 2010 Manning, just to make the playoffs. If he pulls it off, the “Greatest QB of All Time” conversation will have shifted again. I can’t see it happening, but somehow, a 36-year-old QB with a fused spine and a mediocre supporting cast can’t be totally disregarded, either. That’s all you need to know about the Peyton Manning era.
12. Matthew Stafford If He Stays Healthy
Has a puncher’s chance of making a splash if something funky happens with the Bears and/or Packers (full confession: I’m not a big fan of the 2012 Lions), or if he starts flinging it for 350 yards a game (which Detroit’s lousy running backs might enable unless Mikel Leshore miraculously pans out). Where does Stafford really have a chance to shine? Highlights. Last year’s Stafford-Megatron hookups spawned the most exciting “Look at what just happened!” in-game highlights since Brady and Moss in 2007. Will that translate into a Super Bowl appearance? Noooooooo! Not a chance! Not this year, anyway. But settling for “The GP and Kemp of the 5,000-Yard Passing Era” status is better than nothing. Those Stafford-Megatron highlights will outlast them both.
11. Jay Cutler
10. Matt Schaub
Remember when the 7-3 Bears grabbed “Super Bowl Dark Horse” status for exactly 39.72 seconds before learning Cutler broke his throwing thumb, then their fans watched in horror as the Giants hijacked their dark-horse spot? Remember when the Texans almost won a Round 2 playoff game in Baltimore with T.J. Hooker? Er, T.J Quinn? Er which T.J. was that? If you pressed the RESET button for 2011 and started a new season, would it spit out a Texans-Bears Super Bowl? Does this mean Schaub and Cutler missed their Super Bowl window? Is it still open? Is it a different window than Tony Romo’s window and Matt Ryan’s window? Does Alex Smith even have a window? Why do I enjoy Russell Wilson’s window so much? Can you even bring Tom Brady’s window into this when it’s such a fancier window? When did windows become the go-to analogy for quarterbacks? Should I close the window of this paragraph ever working?
9. Tim Tebow
Just kidding.
9. Andrew Luck
Why Luck and not Bob Griffin? I think the 2012 Colts will be significantly better than people expect because of the usual sleeper-related stuff (low expectations, poor division, easy schedule, etc.), but also because they massively upgraded at the NFL’s two most important positions (quarterback and coach).
Let’s start with their coaching upgrade. In baseball, they have a stat called “Wins Above Replacement” (WAR), which tries to determine every player’s value as it relates to the least-talented player possible for his position. We couldn’t create this statistic for NFL head coaches, but if we did, it would definitely be called “Wins Above Raheem Morris” (WARM) and of our new slew of coaches, the best bets for high WARM are Tampa’s Greg Schiano (who has a built-in advantage because he’s replacing Morris) and Indy’s Chuck Pagano (replacing a guy who didn’t move, blink or show any discernable signs of life). Remember what happened with Jim Harbaugh’s record-setting WARM in San Francisco last season? The right coaching change can be worth six or seven WARM. So Indy’s in play there.
As for the QB position, I don’t need to explain the formula “Andrew Luck > Curtis Painter & Dan Orlovsky” to you, right? If you’ve been following Luck’s performance in the preseason — not just his play, but everybody’s quotes about how Luck handles himself day-to-day — there’s a chance he might be underrated even though he was the no. 1 overall pick, generated a ton of buzz/hype/anticipation last year and bought Andre the Giant’s voice on eBay just to sound more intimidating. Last year, we had a ginger rookie playoff QB. Why not Luck? How many wins will that Paintlovsky-to-Luck upgrade be worth? Three? Four? More? Could the Colts climb to 10 wins? Could they sneak into the last wild-card spot? And how much fun would Jim Irsay’s deranged Twitter account be if that happened?
8. Drew Brees
The 2012 Saints season is going one of two ways
A. A full-fledged Eff You season along the lines of the post-Spygate Patriots.
B. A full-fledged Bad Mojo season where Saints fans are saying things like, “My God, what else can go wrong?” and “I’ve never seen a running back’s leg actually come off his body before.”
As you know, I like to make predictions before NFL seasons, then stubbornly stick to them for gambling purposes (see 2010’s “Simbotics” rules for more details). That means I have to choose between Eff You or Bad Mojo here and I’m going with Bad Mojo. No offense, Saints fans. If anything, I’d thoroughly enjoy seeing your boys shove it in Goodell’s mug, then play in your own New Orleans Super Bowl as you lustily boo him the whole week. I just don’t think it’s realistic. How are you going to survive with an interim interim coach for six weeks? An interim interim coach???? Even after six weeks, you’re upgrading the interim coach I mean, let’s say the first guy is worse than Jim Caldwell and the second guy is dead-even with him. Where is that getting you? After years and years of every media member blowing Sean Payton and gushing about how fantastic he is, suddenly SEAN PAYTON DOESN’T MATTER???????
This feels like a Bizarro WARM situation to me — Singletary-to-Harbaugh in reverse — so let’s all agree that if Drew Brees flings it for another 5,500 yards while winning 10 to 12 games and effectively coaching his side of the ball, we’re just sending the MVP trophy to his house without voting. Of course, if Sean Payton is secretly still coaching the Saints with dummy Gmail and Skype accounts that are being rerouted through Malaysia to escape detection from the league, then disregard everything in these paragraphs. The NFL can’t catch anyone using PEDs, but they’re going to catch Payton secretly corresponding with Brees and his coaches? Let’s just move on before I change my mind on the ceiling of the 2012 Saints.
BILL BARNWELL UPDATE If you’ve been wondering why I spent the past two months incessantly writing about football and then suddenly stopped during the final week before the regular season, I have a good reason. Unfortunately, I was robbed on Monday night, and among the items taken were all my futures bets for the upcoming season (which I’ve been documenting throughout the summer for the site) and my laptop, which had every bit of research I’ve conducted over the past few years as well as the final few pieces of the football preview in draft form. I did, however, want to get some final thoughts down before the season started. My picks for the division and award winners are over at ESPN, but here, for your sidebar mockery, are my predicted records for each NFL team during the 2012 season: NFC East
Cowboys: 11-5
Eagles: 10-6
Giants: 8-8
Redskins: 6-10 NFC North
Packers: 13-3
Bears: 9-7
Lions: 8-8
Vikings: 7-9 NFC South
Falcons: 11-5
Buccaneers: 10-6
Saints: 8-8
Panthers: 7-9 NFC West
49ers: 9-7
Rams: 8-8
Seahawks: 7-9
Cardinals: 3-13 AFC East
Patriots: 12-4
Bills: 10-6
Jets: 7-9
Dolphins: 6-10 AFC North
Steelers: 12-4
Ravens: 10-6
Bengals: 7-9
Browns: 4-12 AFC South
Texans: 10-6
Colts: 7-9
Titans: 5-11
Jaguars: 4-12 AFC West
Chargers: 9-7
Broncos: 8-8
Chiefs: 6-10
Raiders: 4-12 I’ll be back on Monday to discuss Week 1’s action, coming to you live from the Matt Ryan MVP bandwagon.
7. Matt Ryan
All signs point to a breakout year for Ryan and the Falcons, for all the reasons Cousin Sal and I discussed on our over/under wins podcast two weeks ago (Julio Jones breaking out, bad Saints mojo, they have some playoff experience now, etc). Since then, everyone on the planet started pimping the Falcons, scaring me off and eventually pushing me into, “You know what, Matty Ice? I’m gonna need a few weeks” mode. As the Eagles taught us last season, beware of the “Everybody Believes In Us!” team.
6. Eli Manning
You saw the Giants’ time-tested blueprint in full form on Wednesday: Look dreadful at home, lower everyone’s expectations, exhibit some seemingly glaring flaws that can’t be fixed (in this case, pass defense), fall under the radar for a few weeks, somehow right the ship without ever seeming like it’s totally been righted, claw your way to 10-6, sneak into the playoffs without anyone taking you seriously |
), but it’s always nice to have some structure to your layers so some other designer can continue working on your designs.
For Principle:
Export your prototype as.mov, so a front-end guy can scrub through the video. Share your sources. Include your Principle source file as it has critical information about animation such as delays, timing and animation curves for animated elements. This is a critical step that will prevent front-end developer from having to guess what you did.
This is where the bulk of design work is finished, but it does not mean that all communication is done. Keep talking and share the knowledge with developer – this is where innovation happens.
To conclude
Communicate animation by example – find links of cool interactions online and/or build your own interaction prototypes. If you are building a prototype, apply principles described above: logic stagger, mass, single motion, unified direction and emphasizing. Break principles, experiment and make it your own. Have your.sketch source file neatly organized. Give Principle source file and exported video to front end-developer, so it can be used for exact values.
Stay tuned for a more developer friendly continuation of this mini-series by my friend and colleague Karlo! :)
_____
Thank you for reading! As a small bonus for your attention span, I have attached principle source files for every animation example featured in the article. Hopefully it will help you jumpstart your animation work.
Click here to get them!
Also, you can follow me on Dribbble (yes, it’s a shameless plug) where I share source files for some of my animation work.Apple Inc. responded to revelations yesterday that recent updates to its products began tracking users' search queries as well as their location data, claiming it was "absolutely committed to protecting our users' privacy." The iPhone-maker said it collects a small amount of information that does not personally identify its users, but critics say that it still has not addressed concerns raised by its default collection of search terms within its Safari Web browser.
Apple incorporated several new data collection methods into the latest updates to its iPhone and Mac software. They include Spotlight Suggestions, a new feature in the iPhone's iOS 8.1 software that offers "predictive," or autocomplete for search terms, much like Google Inc. does in with its search engine.
"For Spotlight Suggestions we minimize the amount of information sent to Apple," the company said in a statement. "Apple doesn't retain IP addresses from users' devices. Spotlight blurs the location on the device so it never sends an exact location to Apple. Spotlight doesn't use a persistent identifier, so a user's search history can't be created by Apple or anyone else. Apple devices only use a temporary anonymous session ID for a 15-minute period before the ID is discarded."
Apple's data collection through its "Spotlight Suggestions" on the iPhone mirrors its methods on OS X Yosemite's "Spotlight" for the Mac. While enabled as default, both features can be turned off by users. Until customers disable the data collection features, Apple collects their search queries and location data whenever they search using the products, while also passing that data on to Microsoft Corporation's Bing search engine.
"We also worked closely with Microsoft to protect our users' privacy. Apple forwards only commonly searched terms and only city-level location information to Bing. Microsoft does not store search queries or receive users' IP addresses,"Apple said. "You can also easily opt out of Spotlight Suggestions, Bing or Location Services for Spotlight."
The company includes an in-depth explanation of how it collects user information during Spotlight searches on the Mac, but does not provide the same explanation for its method of collecting every search query made in its Safari browser's address bar, no matter what search provider that users select. Dr. Kevin Du, a Syracuse University professor of computer science, told International Business Times on Monday that the policy changes reflect Apple's attempts to collect that same kind of data about its users as Google does.
"I pay close attention to privacy settings and only found 2 of the 3 places I had to disable sending my searches and location to Apple," Barton Gellman, author and member of progressive thinktank The Century Project said on Twitter. "Apple does a great job since iOS 7 of asking whether I want to share location with other companies’ apps. Should do that with its own."Noorullah Shirzada / AFP / Getty Images
Most people pointed out that the speech, which was big on rhetorical platitudes, was very short on actual details.
And that, Trump said, is part of the strategy: "A core pillar of our new strategy is a shift from a time-based approach to one based on conditions. I’ve said it many times how counterproductive it is for the United States to announce in advance the dates we intend to begin, or end, military options. We will not talk about numbers of troops or our plans for further military activities.
"Conditions on the ground — not arbitrary timetables — will guide our strategy from now on. America’s enemies must never know our plans or believe they can wait us out. I will not say when we are going to attack, but attack we will."
This has come critics worried, saying it'll be unclear how to measure the success of the strategy and hold the administration accountable.
Trump added, "We are not nation-building again. We are killing terrorists."Canadian crime statistics showing an apparently dramatic rise in women ending up behind bars for violent crimes gives a false image of a wave of female offenders, criminal justice experts say.
Figures released Tuesday by Statistics Canada's Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS) showed the number of women jailed for serious violations jumped by more than one-third last year compared to 1991, but the Elizabeth Fry Society in Vancouver says those numbers have to be considered against the bigger picture.
For example, Shawn Bayes, the group's executive director, noted that a shift in police enforcement over the years means officers are more likely to charge women than in the past in cases of domestic disputes where both parties claim they were assaulted.
The CCJS report said that "while the rate of adult males charged has been declining over the past 20 years, the rate of adult females has generally been increasing," and the rate for females charged with violent crime has risen 34 per cent.
"The context can be misleading, that you think that it's a huge increase when it says 34 per cent," Bayes said.
While the percentage jump may seem huge, she said the numbers indicate only about 100 more women were being charged every year, and that's across the entire country.
Most assaults committed by prostitutes
Men still commit far more crimes. Of the 413,800 adults charged last year, 79 per cent were males, according to the CCJS.
Bayes said most of the assaults and robberies committed by women took place while they were working as prostitutes.
"So we have women in very dire circumstances who, of course, we can't be surprised are going to be involved in situations that will lead them into conflict with the criminal justice system, and situations that place them at greater risk of being charged with a violent offence," she said.
Tammy Landau, a criminologist at Ryerson University in Toronto, agreed that new enforcement patterns are likely driving up the numbers of females in jail cells.
"There are a lot more drug charges, recently now against women," Landau said. "That's because they're sort of targeting women at the airport for being drug mules, and things like that, so there's a lot more emphasis on enforcement against women."
Leaving gender aside, the overall trend in Canada's crime rate is optimistic, with police services steadily reporting fewer serious and violent crimes over the years.
Landau said that decline should lead people to ask the federal government why it's moving ahead with tougher sentencing laws that would put more people behind bars — men and women — in the years ahead.A Toronto police officer will learn in July whether he goes to jail for punching and kicking a “mouthy” handcuffed prisoner two years ago. Const. Matthew Glen should be jailed four to five months, followed by probation, prosecutor Andrew Cappell said Thursday.
Toronto police officer Matthew Glen takes a break from his sentencing hearing at the College Park court in Toronto on Thursday morning. ( LUCAS OLENIUK / TORONTO STAR )
“This is an egregious breach of the public trust,” he told Provincial Court Justice Rebecca Rutherford, who will sentence Glen July 8. Although the young drunk-driving suspect Glen assaulted was “admittedly mouthy,” that’s no excuse, the prosecutor said. Defence lawyer David Butt, however, explained that his client, whose record is otherwise unblemished, was under domestic stress and was provoked by the prisoner’s extreme verbal abuse. “It helps us to understand, not justify … what obviously was an overreaction.”
Article Continued Below
Butt called for a suspended sentence and probation. If Glen, 34, gets any jail time, even house arrest, he will almost certainly be fired, court heard. Glen, whose offence was reported by a fellow officer, pleaded guilty late last year to one count of assault causing bodily harm. According to agreed facts, David Atkinson, in his early 20s, rolled his car on the Don Valley Parkway near Eglinton Ave. on July 22, 2011, at about 3:30 a.m. Const. Thomas Reimer arrested him for impaired driving and took him to 41 Division police station in Scarborough.
The handcuffed prisoner became belligerent, though not violent, berating Reimer and other officers. He used foul language to insult Glen and threatened to kick him in the teeth. Glen later approached Atkinson and said he should not act like a tough guy. He pushed him face-first into a wall and punched him three times in the face. Atkinson, then seated, leaned forward and spat blood.
Article Continued Below
Reimer yelled at Glen to leave the room. Glen kicked the prisoner in the face and left. “PC Reimer was shocked and upset by what had occurred,” according to the facts. He confronted Glen, reported him to two sergeants and said he wanted an investigation. Atkinson’s injuries included two chipped front teeth, a swollen eye, cheek abrasions, a large forehead contusion, a sore jaw and cuts in his mouth. Forensic psychiatrist Scott Woodside testified that Glen has an approximately 24 per cent risk of violently reoffending in the next 10 years. Cappell told the judge that is unacceptably high for a police officer. Glen has offered to pay for Atkinson’s dental work and, in a letter of apology, said he was “deeply remorseful and saddened by my actions towards you.”Between the Pipes: A Revealing Look at Hockey’s Legendary Goalies, by Randi Druzin (2013, Canada: Greystone Books. Paperback. Pp. 256. $19.95. ISBN 978-1-77100-014-7)
As writers, or even just as fans of professional sports, we often don’t realize the extent to which we idolize the players we watch. Whether it’s because we see them on television or simply because they have an indescribable skill set in their given profession, we hold these men and women on a pedestal of unreachable heights.
But every so often, we are reminded that these players – these ‘gods’ – are human. They are flesh and blood just like the rest of us. Some of them filled with angst and nerves before every game. Others are suffering with their own demons and find a way of self-medicating to make it through their career.
In Randi Druzin’s book, “Between the Pipes: A Revealing Look at Hockey’s Legendary Goalies” the former CBC and Global writer and producer reminds readers of this simple fact. Players, coaches, and anyone that we look up to in professional sports are human. More than that, she humanizes the game of hockey through player anecdotes.
Look Past The Goalie and Between the Pipes
Focusing on twelve former and current National Hockey League goaltenders, Druzin outlines the way in which these specific players struggled throughout their playing careers. As the title suggests, it reveals some of their darkest moments, while sharing some of their greatest triumphs.
Broken up into separate sections, each goalie’s career is covered from beginning to end. Often littered with juicy facts that no average fan would know about their heroes. From Terry Sawchuk bursts of anger to Patrick Roy’s befriending of his goal posts – it’s a book that provides every hockey fan with a chance to become that fly on the wall.
Each section is a pathway into that specific player. Looking at their award winning seasons, Druzin doesn’t take away from their heroic careers as hockey players. In fact, she provides the reader with context and explanation as to why Ken Dryden and Martin Brodeur should be idolized – something I’ll talk about in a minute.
But with each praise of their talent, Druzin grounds the reader by providing some specifics into the troubles or the quirks that each goaltender came with. For example, she writes about Sawchuk and his trouble connecting with others. She writes about his home life – his broken family – and how his temper ultimately led to his demise.
“In the next few years, there’s going to be a new dimension added to goaltending right around the league. Offense. Ron Hextall is revolutionizing goaltending the way Bobby Orr changed defines. Pretty soon, the young goalies coming up will play the way Hextall does.”
— Philadelphia Flyers Legend, Bernie Parent in 1989
Druzin uses quotes from many sources – interviews included – to deepen the conversation on her subjects. She references articles from newspapers, magazines and quotes former reporters and teammates giving the reader a chance to understand the players’ relationships with each other as well as fans and media.
Legends: In Their Heads and Between the Pipes
Throughout the book, readers are reminded of the talent possessed by the twelve goalies that Druzin writes about. They are Vezina trophy winners – either for having the lowest goals against average in the league or by being voted the winner for the more recent goaltenders. They are members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. But most of all, they are all goalies possessing skill sets that allow them to post statistics amongst the top in the game.
“I don’t think Terry enjoyed his successes. That’s what happens when you’re depressed; you don’t have the capacity to enjoy what you’ve accomplished. I just never saw that joy in him.”
— Former Toronto Maple Leafs teammate Ron Ellis
Druzin not only incorporates these accomplishments throughout her writing on each individual goalie, but she also provides a short list of their career stats at the end of each section. She includes their all-time rank among NHL goalies showing their overall domination during their career.
But why these particular goalies? Why did Druzin focus on this individual position?
“Goalies are truly a breed apart,” she told me over Twitter. “They stand apart from other players in terms of insight and mental toughness. I picked these particular goalies because they made big contributions on the ice and were compelling personalities. In my mind, that is what makes a goalie legendary. It’s about more than stats and trophies.”
And her book demonstrates that throughout it’s almost 300 pages. Each section titled ‘the something’ – a term that sums up the goalie’s life and career. Terry Sawchuk is The Tortured Soul. Johnny Bower is The Gentleman. And Patrick Roy is The Cock of the Walk.
Each goaltender is defined by their play on the ice and their characteristics away from the rink. With the early tenders, the stories intersect – Sawchuk playing alongside Bower and Jacques Plante’s influence on Bernie Parent.
“This is a storyteller’s book, and as such it is also a reader’s book. You don’t have to be a goaltender to enjoy it; you just have to be a reader who loves words, loves sports and appreciates the sorts of insights that will never be found in 140 characters or less.”
— Roy MacGregor in the book’s foreward
The book is filled with the most interesting information about some of the games greatest goalies to ever take to the ice. It’s a Hall of Fame calibre book filled with Hall of Fame goalies – a page-turner that will open your eyes to the human within these heroes. Twelve stories about twelve players, Druzin reveals to you their world away from hockey.
Questions or comments? You can follow Andrew or Randi on Twitter @AndrewGForbes and @RandiDruzinWhy patient engagement is so challenging to achieve
Get the "hows" and "whys" of healthcare patient engagement at HIMSS16
Patient engagement, one of the most important topics at last year’s Health Information and Management Systems Society 15 (HIMSS15) conference in Chicago, Illinois, returns to #HIMSS16 this year in Las Vegas, Nevada, 29 February – 4 March, 2016. The primary problem with defining patient engagement is that it’s multi-faceted, so there will be many educational sessions surrounding the concept. Take a look at some of the institutions that are involved in managing patients.
Given the different kinds of stakeholders, we have to ask ourselves several questions. What does patient engagement mean to a health insurance exchange (HIX) versus a health information exchange (HIE)? How do caregivers engage differently than casual consumers? How do insurers and employers see patients similarly? How do patients interact differently with pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies even though both manage drugs?
Removing layers
As you can see, things can get complicated pretty quickly, and we’re just looking at a few of the many kinds of institutions that patients have to deal with. And as if the issues raised by these questions were not convoluted enough, consider a few of the reasons why patients might want to engage with various stakeholders.
The reasons why patients may want to engage and how those reasons would need to be mapped to various stakeholders in diverse ways only further obfuscates patient engagement. For example, professional interactions with long-term care facilities would be slightly different and would require different tools than interaction with acute care hospitals. Similarly, participation in a clinical trial at an independent physician’s office would be different than patient engagement in a trial provided by a pharmaceutical firm. Their approaches and services would differ. As you start to remove the peel from the onion, you begin to realize that the reasons why patients would want to engage are as wide and varied as the groups that engage patients.
Taking note
Consider the two mappings just described as you take a look at the various facets of engagement that patients can encounter.
Ask yourself the following key questions while attending patient engagement education sessions or evaluating vendor solutions at #HIMSS16:
Conditions: Will the engagement be disease specific or specific to patient condition? Will solutions be able to recognize that patients have been recently diagnosed with some ailment or that they are managing a chronic condition?
Will the engagement be disease specific or specific to patient condition? Will solutions be able to recognize that patients have been recently diagnosed with some ailment or that they are managing a chronic condition? Procedures and therapies: Will engagement tools be capable of understanding whether a patient is being treated for specific conditions or that some therapies have been prescribed—medication or otherwise?
Will engagement tools be capable of understanding whether a patient is being treated for specific conditions or that some therapies have been prescribed—medication or otherwise? Active versus passive: Active means patients are supposed to be engaging in some action or interacting with a device or tool; passive means patients can use wearable devices or their data is used in other ways behind the scenes to ensure engagement. A passive approach is often the best course, but sometimes an active one is necessary. How can a solution accommodate both characteristics?
Active means patients are supposed to be engaging in some action or interacting with a device or tool; passive means patients can use wearable devices or their data is used in other ways behind the scenes to ensure engagement. A passive approach is often the best course, but sometimes an active one is necessary. How can a solution accommodate both characteristics? Institutional versus enterprise: Will a single institution manage the engagement on its own, or will multiple institutions work together in a group to manage it?
Will a single institution manage the engagement on its own, or will multiple institutions work together in a group to manage it? Personal versus institutional: Is the engagement being initiated on behalf of a patient or on behalf of an institution? If engagements are initiated on behalf of institutions, are patients’ goals and desires being appropriately accommodated?
Is the engagement being initiated on behalf of a patient or on behalf of an institution? If engagements are initiated on behalf of institutions, are patients’ goals and desires being appropriately accommodated? Demography : Will age, gender and other patient demographics be taken into account to ensure the right level of engagement functionality is present?
: Will age, gender and other patient demographics be taken into account to ensure the right level of engagement functionality is present? Geography: Will geographic engagement based on targeted localization be available as part of the engagement? Can local retail pharmacies and similar organizations be integrated into the engagement?
What are the facets you’ll be looking for in patient engagement solutions?
Join IBM at HIMSS 16 as we transform the future of healthcare.
Follow @IBMAnalyticsThere are 14 active monarchies across Europe, ranging from the obvious to the more obscure. Some are hugely independently wealthy, some receive generous grants and upkeep costs from their governments and some receive nothing at all. There's even a billionaire prince who doesn't have a country. Keep scrolling for the complete list of European royals, ranked by what they receive from the states they preside over. Slides View As: One Page
Albert, Prince of Thurn und Taxis — no salary nor country Albert, Prince of Thurn und Taxis, does not have a country to rule over, but is technically a German prince. After the death of his father in 1990 he became one of the world's youngest billionaires, and his assets include real estate, art and a tech company. In 2014, Forbes estimated his wealth to be about $1.6 billion (£1.23 billion). Source: Forbes
The Pope, Vatican City — no salary The Pope, the head of the Catholic Church, does not get paid an annual salary. However, he is in charge of the Vatican budget, which has revenues around $300 million (£230 million) per year, which goes towards covering his expenses, among other things. The Vatican's wealth has been estimated to be somewhere in the region of $10 — $15 billion (£7.7 — £11.5 billion), which includes shareholdings and investments. Source: Time Magazine
Giacomo dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, Grand Master of Malta — no salary British Queen Elizabeth II was the official Queen of Malta until 1974, when the country became a republic. However, there is a Grand Master of the Knights of Malta — the head of a Catholic fraternity founded in 1048. The Order has no territory, but is considered a sovereign entity and prints its own postage stamps and coins. The Grand Master governs as the Order's sovereign and religious superior. He is not given a salary, but his living costs are met. The Order has benefactors, both private citizens and public organisations, that make donations to support its charitable work. Source: Sovereign Order of Malta
Co-princes Joan Enric Vives Sicilia & Emmanuel Macron, Andorra — unknown Andorra has two co-princes, one who is appointed by the Pope and the other who obtains the position by dint of becoming the French president — currently Emmanuel Macron. They have various powers independent of the government, such as to pardon, although most of their roles require governmental approval. Before the 1993 constitution, Andorra paid a tribute of approximately $460 (£353) to the French ruler on odd-numbered years, and a tribute of approximately $12 (£9) to the Spanish bishop, plus six hams, six cheeses, and six live chickens on even-numbered years. Now, the General Budget of the Principality assigns an equal amount of money to each prince for carrying out their duties, which can be refused. The amount is not noted, but it is likely to be small: in 2016 the head of the Andorran government was paid roughly €71,000 (£63,000) per year. Source: All Andorra
Prince Hans-Adam II, Liechtenstein — small allowance The Prince does not receive a salary, but accepts a token expense allowance of 250,000 Swiss francs (£200,000) and pays no taxes. The Princely House of Liechtenstein gets its wealth from its privately owned bank, LGT Group, and extensive investments made through the Prince of Liechtenstein Foundation, which looks after assets including real estate, a forest and a winery. In 2008, Forbes estimated the family had a net worth of roughly $5 billion (£3.8 billion). Source: Forbes, Western Europe 2014 (Wayne C. Thompson)
King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, Spain — £7m The Spanish crown receives a lump sum of money from the state, which amounted to €7.8 million (£7 million) in 2014 and 2015. Of this, the King received an allowance, paid in monthly installments, of €236,544 (£211,124). The Queen received, €130,092 (£116,112), the Prince €189,228 (£168,892) and the Princess €106,452 (£95,012). Spain's National Heritage group manages the country's eight royal palaces, five royal county residences and ten monasteries and convents founded by the crown. Many house art collections are open to the public, but they are also at the disposal of the royal family. Source: casareal.es
Grand Duke Henri, Luxembourg — £9m in running costs & a small allowance Although they do not receive a salary, the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg has been granted 300,000 gold francs (£240,000) every year since the constitutional revision of 1948, to carry out its functions. The 2017 budget also allows for €10.1 million (£9 million) for the Grand Duke's household costs. The ownership, administration, control and income of the private fortune of the Grand Duke's House belong exclusively to the holder of the crown. Source: monarchie.lu
Queen Margrethe II, Denmark — £9.6m As of 1 April 2017, the Danish Civil List grants the royal family £800,813, a month, or £9.6 million for the year. Prince Henrik, the husband of Queen Margrethe, gets 10% of this, while Princess Benedikte, the Queen's sister, gets 1.5% The money covers the cost of the Queen's activities and the royal household's operations as well as some more private expenses. The royal art collections belong to the Queen in her capacity as sovereign and a private person, although large parts of the collections are on show in galleries and museums for the public to see. Some of the royal palaces are privately owned by the royal family, while some are the property of the state. Source: kongehuset.dk
King Philippe, Belgium — £10.4m Belgium's Civil List covers all expenditure directly incurred by the King, and was set at €11.6 million (£10.4 million) annually in 2013. A number of additional support services are also financed by the government on top of that. Belgian royal properties are owned either by the State or by The Royal Trust. The Trust properties can never be sold, some must retain their function and original appearance and be at the disposal of the royal family. Some are used by the royal family while some are public parks, golf clubs and buildings open to the public. The Trust is an autonomous public institution and is financially independent. Source: monarchie.be
King Carl XVI Gustaf, Sweden — £11.8m The Swedish crown was allocated roughly £6 million in 2015 by the state to cover the cost of the King's official duties and the royal household's expenses. Separately, the Palace Administration, which looks after the palaces and the royal art collections, was allocated £5.8 million, but also generates revenue from visitors to the palaces. The family's private finances include Solliden Palace, which is open to the public, and Stenhammer, which they lease from the state. Earlier this year, Royal Central reported that the King's personal fortune is about £54 million. Source: kungahuset.se
King Harald V, Norway — £25.8m In 2017, the Norwegian government allocated £23.8 million to the royal house, to be distributed between the royals, and an additional £1.1 million in an grant for the King and Queen to cover personal expenses, and £900,000 for the Crown Prince and Princess. The royal household ended the 2016 financial year with a surplus of about £630,000, although the Crown Prince and Princess ran a deficit of about £140,000. The Royal Residences are owned by the state and are open to the public, but are at the disposal of the royal family. The King owns the royal yacht, although it is manned and maintained by the Royal Norwegian Navy. Source: statsbudsjettet.no
King Willem-Alexander, Netherlands — £35.8m In 2015 the budget for the King of the Netherlands was €40.1 million (£35.8 million) which included money for his wife and the former Queen, who abdicated after reigning for 33 years. From January 2014, the King's budget no longer covered the cost of private flights. His personal allowance covers the costs of official visits and overseas tours, but the King also has a personal fortune, made up of real estate, investments and a stake in Shell Oil. In 2007, Forbes estimated the former Queen's wealth to be around $300 million (£230 million). Source: royal-house.nl
Prince Albert II, Monaco — £39m In 2015, the amount Monaco spent on the royals was €43.5 million (£39 million), up from €35.7 million (£32 million) in 2013 — although this is not broken down into salary or running costs. Forbes estimated that the House of Grimaldi, Monaco's royal family, were worth $1 billion in 2010. This is made up of land and palaces, as well as art, antique cars, shares in the Societe des Bains de Mer resort and a rare stamp collection. Prince Albert II, the reigning monarch, is one of the richest in the world. In 2006 he established the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, which supports sustainable and ethical projects around the world. Source: monacostatistics.mcIn a recent rejection of the idea of land swaps as part of a two-state solution, Dore Gold (fmr Israeli Amb. to the US) posed the following question:
Just because an idea was discussed in the past, does that make it part of the diplomatic agenda in the future, even if the idea was never part of any legally binding, signed agreements?
The question tells us a lot. Whether in terms of Israeli-Palestinian issues or Israeli-Syrian ones, the current Netanyahu government has resolutely refused to pick up where past Israeli governments left off. (As Sharon declined to do in 2001 just after the Taba talks, so Netanyahu has not done in the aftermath of Olmert and Annapolis of 2008.)
This refusal to pick up where talks left off should come as no surprise because to do so would lead the current Government of Israel (GOI) to adopt positions that it does not support. The GOI would rather squander past progress not out of spite but because it does not view those past talks as progress. It is not squandering anything but rather discarding ill-conceived concessions. So while Gold’s question embodies his view of land swaps, it also embodies the view of many other ideas, such as the idea of Palestinian sovereignty in Arab areas of East Jerusalem.
Moreover, Gold’s claim that swaps are not based on “any legally binding, signed agreements” is correct, but it is an argument of convenience. It implies that signed agreements would need to be accepted, something the Likud failed to do in the 1990s under Netanyahu. Yes, Netanyahu did eventually sign the Hebron protocol (1997) and Wye agreement (1998), but those were efforts to renegotiate what had already been agreed to by the Rabin government in Oslo I and II (1993, 1995).
Ideas that do not come to fruition can make a comeback; Gold’s protestations cannot prevent that somewhere in the future (though Israeli settlement expansion might make many of these compromise ideas moot). Oslo I, the Declaration of Principles, was itself based on past ideas for resolving Israeli-Palestinian matters that had not been implemented. Some Oslo ideas were drawn from the Framework for Middle East Peace in the Camp David Accords (1978).
Had Abbas and Olmert signed an agreement in 2008 that a final resolution would be based on land swaps, I would argue that the current GOI would nonetheless reject the idea because they think it is a bad idea. Here’s the real point of Gold’s query: Just because a previous Israeli government was willing to make a concession to the Arabs, it doesn’t mean the current government is willing (or even thinks it would ever be a good idea), signed document or no signed document.
Advertisements
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
Email
Print
Like this: Like Loading... RelatedEGFR is an important molecular target for drug treatment; however, the lack of relevant experimental models bearing non-canonical EGFR mutations (such as exon 20 insertions) has been a major hurdle in the discovery of new treatments for patients with this specific NSCLC molecular subtype.
CrownBio's newly established models have been trialed with a range of EGFR inhibitors – including I, II, and III generation TKIs as well as Erbitux® – and their poor response to therapy mirrors the clinical outcomes.
With the addition of these models to the large collection of HuPrime® PDXs, CrownBio has developed a highly comprehensive panel of NSCLC models with either classic or non-canonical EGFR mutations. These unique models are available now to clients for testing combination strategies to overcome drug resistance or to develop the next generation of EGFR inhibitors.
"The establishment of these new models demonstrates our commitment to advancing NSCLC drug discovery programs," said Henry Li, Vice President of Translational Oncology at CrownBio. "Our collection of NSCLC models now includes a selection of both models with classic and non-canonical EGFR mutations, positioning CrownBio at the forefront of drug discovery research for EGFR-mutated NSCLC," continued Li.
CrownBio's track record of publication on NSCLC research in peer reviewed international scientific journals testifies its commitment to excellence as a provider of preclinical solutions for oncology drug discovery.
More information on the newly developed models and on CrownBio products and services can be found at www.crownbio.com
About Crown Bioscience Inc.
Crown Bioscience is a global drug discovery and development solutions company providing translational platforms to advance oncology and metabolic disease research. With an extensive portfolio of relevant models and predictive tools, Crown Bioscience enables clients to deliver superior clinical candidates. For more information, please visit www.crownbio.com.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160405/351602LOGO
SOURCE Crown Bioscience Inc.
Related Links
http://www.crownbio.comLook back at the big events of the past decade and ask yourself: did we find out too much or too little of what the powerful did in our name? Did we know too much or too little about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Did we enquire too much or too little about the cheating of the bankers?
When I posed this question during my testimony to the Leveson Inquiry back in January, I swear I saw the judge’s eyes roll. I fear Lord Justice Leveson had been persuaded long before that journalism was a problem for society, not part of the solution to its ills. He could have been forgiven for coming to this instant conclusion, having listened to the heart-rending testimony of Milly Dowler’s parents, or Kate and Gerry McCann, or of other victims of hounding and despicable behaviour.
Even though I have worked in the profession, or trade, for more than two decades, I hold no candle for the press as an institution. My concern is broader. Freedom of expression – the bedrock of democracy – is under threat in Britain, as it is around the globe.
Wherever you look, someone with power, somewhere in the world, is trying to prevent the truth from getting out. In dictatorships they often resort to violence. But usually those with power hide behind laws that, while technically legitimate, are designed to chill free speech.
We think such measures are the preserve of places like China and Russia. And they are. In China the media are severely censored. Dissidents are routinely jailed. Western media are blocked online when they become inconvenient, as the New York Times was recently after revealing details of premier Wen Jiabao’s family wealth.
In Russia, investigative journalists are killed when they find out too much. The internet is now severely restricted. Members of the punk band Pussy Riot languish in penal colonies for protesting in church.
But dangers also lurk in so-called democracies. In Greece, a magazine editor yesterday went on trial for having the temerity to publish details of the tax avoidance schemes of the super-rich, as ordinary people suffer greatly from austerity. If normal ethical standards were applied, Costas Vaxevanis would have been celebrated for his intrepid reporting. But shooting the messenger has become the norm for politicians and business leaders, as a means of diverting attention from their crimes and misdemeanours – and frightening whistleblowers and journalists. In France, presidents and ministers have for years hidden behind privacy clauses to keep their dodgy financial affairs secret. Hungary’s recent press law, requiring media outlets to be licensed, has led to a spate of overly critical editors being sacked and radio stations taken off air.
What is so dispiriting is that we in Britain appear now to be leaning in this direction. We increasingly regard free speech as a danger.
There are a number of reasons: some of it is the result of bad law; some of it is economic. Politicians, lawyers and the public are struggling to come to terms with rapid technological changes. The internet was supposed to be the vehicle that broke down old rules and hierarchies. We suddenly acquired a voice through emails, blogs and social networking. We could bear witness to events through sound recording and cameras on our mobile phones.
The power relationship shifted. Gone were the days when a mere citizen would have to send a letter to their MP, who would occasionally deign to reply. Mostly they didn’t, seeing engagement or accountability as an intrusion on their valuable time.
That has changed, thank goodness, and cannot be reversed. The moment George Osborne’s assistant queried, possibly innocently, his standard-class train ticket, that episode was in the public domain.
Yet at the same time we struggle with Twitter and Facebook and the freedoms they afford. |
a financial crisis, I think of homeless people roaming the streets, which I saw very little of that in Puerto Rico, we see way more homeless people in Washington, DC. When we traveled deep into the country side, I did see some run down homes and roads, however, all the services I needed when traveling were working up to par like in the United States.”
When I talk to my friends and family in Puerto Rico, which range from bankers to college professors, impressions are far from the grim perception seen in the media in the mainland. Some have reluctantly casted their job prospect net beyond Puerto Rico, while others have started businesses due to the crisis, but the common theme is that they all find creative ways to survive, all with a smile on their face. Many business owners I met on the road talked about reinventing themselves due to the financial situation in Puerto Rico. For example, Ivan from Sail San Juan Bay. He’s an engineer by trade who worked in the construction and IT industry. When job prospects dwindled he decided to put his hobby to work: a skilled sailor, he started Sail San Juan bay in which he shares the best views of San Juan on his sailboat. He says that although it was a big change for him, he enjoys his business and all the different people he meets through his business.
The one common theme I did hear from many of the local business owners in the island is how they see people from the mainland come to Puerto Rico, especially to towns like Rincon and Vieques and curb the process of getting permits from the local government or refuse to hire locals and the government does nothing to enforce it. I was appalled when I was in Vieques and several restaurants I went to had no Spanish speaking wait staff. I bet these are the same people who get incensed when people in the mainland “don’t speak English”. There’s an unemployment crisis, however, people come from Long Island to Boston to escape the cold and they can find a job… there’s something wrong with that picture. When you visit Puerto Rico, make sure you go on tours owned by locals and endorsed by the Puerto Rico Tourism Board as these businesses go through a lengthy vetting process to get their permits.
Yes, this thousand-word essay is to tell you that as a traveler, that the Puerto Rico budget crisis has nothing to do with your vacation. Head to the beach, have a Medalla beer (no container laws, yeay), enjoy your trip, and most importantly support LOCAL owned restaurants, tours, and hotels. In terms of Zika, here’s some great advice from the Center for Disease Control, CDC on how to stay safe. If you forget your OFF, don’t worry, there are plenty of Walgreens, Wal-Marts, and CVS on the island.
All photography Copyright Italo Morales for Dining Traveler Guide to Puerto Rico.Greensboro city workers will soon see more money in their paychecks. The City Council has adopted a plan that would eventually boost pay for full-time employees to $15-an-hour.
The Council voted 7-2 to develop a final policy that will increase the minimum wage rates to $10.00 an hour for part-time city employees and $12.00 an hour for full-time workers.
The council’s goal is to raise wages for city workers to a minimum of $15.00 an hour by the year 2020.
Greensboro employees are currently paid the state minimum wage of $7.25.
Advocates say raising pay to $15 an hour will bring wages in line with the actual cost of living.
One of the plan’s proponents was Congresswoman Alma Adams, a Democrat, who spearheaded the state’s first minimum wage increase in nine years while serving in the North Carolina General Assembly.Af Pernille Siegumfeldt
Både England og Tyskland har haft et bachelorarbejdsmarked i årevis. Og Danmark er også moden til det, selv om der fra flere sider er sået tvivl om, hvorvidt virksomheder kan bruge en universitetsbachelor.
Det siger Charlotte Rønhof, som er vicedirektør i Dansk Industri.
En række af de arbejdsgivere, som DI er i kontakt med, er åbne over for at ansætte bachelorer, hvis uddannelsessystemet bliver indrettet efter det, siger hun.
”Vi taler så meget om fleksibilitet og om, at ingen helt ved, hvad der bliver brug for på fremtidens arbejdsmarked. I stedet for automatisk at være fastlåst på universitetet i fem år er tiden til, at vi skal have en ny type af dynamik, hvor unge med en bachelorgrad kan gå ud arbejdsmarkedet, hente den nyeste viden og tage den med tilbage til kandidatstudiet. Nogle bliver måske så grebet af det, de arbejder med, at de beslutter sig for, at de har fået uddannelse nok”, siger Charlotte Rønhof.
Dermed er Dansk Industri helt på linje med både DM samt det politiske flertal på Christiansborg, der nu tegner sig for at ville udvide bachelorernes retskrav og give dem ret til at læse videre, selv om de holder en pause i studierne før kandidaten på op til fem år.
LÆS OGSÅ: Politisk flertal for pause mellem bachelor og kandidat
Det kræver dog nogle ændringer i uddannelsessystemet, hvis det private erhvervsliv skal kunne bruge universitetsbachelorer til noget, påpeger Charlotte Rønhof.
”Selvfølgelig uddanner man ikke halve læger. Og mange andre bacheloruddannelser skal også gentænkes, så de unge ikke kommer ud med en alt for basal ’grundfagspakke’”, siger hun.
Enzymproducenten Novozymes melder sig klar til at ansætte bachelorer, hvis de har de rette kvalifikationer – med den tilføjelse, at virksomheden stadig foretrækker, at medarbejderne har en master eller en Ph.D.
På museerne er det til gengæld svært at se, at der kan opstå et helt nyt bachelorarbejdsmarked. Det siger direktør for Moesgaard Museum, Mads Kähler Holst.
”Det kan måske give mening på enkelte forløb, for eksempel en udgravning eller et it-projekt, der skal rulles ud. Men generelt er det på humaniora svært at se, at de vil være konkurrencedygtige”, siger Mads Kähler Holst.The sinking of the Sleipner A offshore platform
Excerpted from a report of SINTEF, Civil and Environmental Engineering:
The Sleipner A platform produces oil and gas in the North Sea and is supported on the seabed at a water depth of 82 m. It is a Condeep type platform with a concrete gravity base structure consisting of 24 cells and with a total base area of 16 000 m2. Four cells are elongated to shafts supporting the platform deck. The first concrete base structure for Sleipner A sprang a leak and sank under a controlled ballasting operation during preparation for deck mating in Gandsfjorden outside Stavanger, Norway on 23 August 1991.
Immediately after the accident, the owner of the platform, Statoil, a Norwegian oil company appointed an investigation group, and SINTEF was contracted to be the technical advisor for this group.
The investigation into the accident is described in 16 reports...
The conclusion of the investigation was that the loss was caused by a failure in a cell wall, resulting in a serious crack and a leakage that the pumps were not able to cope with. The wall failed as a result of a combination of a serious error in the finite element analysis and insufficient anchorage of the reinforcement in a critical zone.
A better idea of what was involved can be obtained from this photo and sketch of the platform. The top deck weighs 57,000 tons, and provides accommodation for about 200 people and support for drilling equipment weighing about 40,000 tons. When the first model sank in August 1991, the crash caused a seismic event registering 3.0 on the Richter scale, and left nothing but a pile of debris at 220m of depth. The failure involved a total economic loss of about $700 million.
The 24 cells and 4 shafts referred to above are shown to the left while at the sea surface. The cells are 12m in diameter. The cell wall failure was traced to a tricell, a triangular concrete frame placed where the cells meet, as indicated in the diagram below. To the right of the diagram is pictured a portion of tricell undergoing failure testing.
The post accident investigation traced the error to inaccurate finite element approximation of the linear elastic model of the tricell (using the popular finite element program NASTRAN). The shear stresses were underestimated by 47%, leading to insufficient design. In particular, certain concrete walls were not thick enough. More careful finite element analysis, made after the accident, predicted that failure would occur with this design at a depth of 62m, which matches well with the actual occurrence at 65m.
Further information can be found in a series of reports available for purchase from SINTEF and in the following articles:
The Sleipner Platform Accident, by B. Jakobsen and F. Rosendahl, Structural Engineering International 4(3), August 1994, pp. 190-193.
4(3), August 1994, pp. 190-193. The Failure of an Offshore Platform, by R. G. Selby, F. J. Vecchio, and M. P. Collins, Concrete International 19(8), August 1997, pp. 28-35.
Tricell photo courtesy of SINTEF. Other images courtesy of Engineers Australia Pty Limited, the news magazine of the Institution of Engineers Australia. Pictures originally from the August 1997 edition of Concrete International, the monthly magazine of the American Concrete Institute. All images used with permission.
More disasters attributable to bad numerics
Last modified September 7, 2009 by Douglas N. ArnoldThe SMS Morgan Poll on State voting intention and preferred Premiers was conducted over the past few days January 16-18, 2015 with a cross-section of 4,489 Australian electors including 1,114 New South Wales electors, 1,050 Victorian electors, 1,179 Queensland electors, 432 Western Australian electors, 431 South Australian electors and 283 Tasmanian electors.
A special SMS Morgan Poll on State voting intention conducted over the last few days (January 16-18, 2015) with a representative cross-section of 4,489 Australian electors shows the Queensland Election too close to call and the L-NP set for victory in NSW. Queensland: LNP 50.5% (unchanged) cf. ALP 49.5% (unchanged) and in NSW: L-NP 54% (down 1%) cf. ALP 46% (up 1%). Queensland’s State Election is on Saturday January 31, and the NSW State Election is scheduled for March 28, 2015.
QUEENSLAND: Election would be too close to call
2PP#: LNP 50.5% (unchanged since November 21-24, 2014) cf. ALP 49.5% (unchanged).
Primary vote: LNP 39.5% (up 0.5%), ALP 37% (up 0.5%), Greens 10% (up 0.5%), Palmer United Party 4% (unchanged), Katter’s Australian Party 3.5% (unchanged), Independents/ Others 6% (down 1.5%).
Better Premier: Premier Campbell Newman (LNP) v Annastacia Palaszczuk (ALP):
Ms. Palaszczuk 51.5% (down 1%) cf. Mr. Newman 48.5% (up 1%); Lead to Ms Palaszczuk 3% (down 2%).
Queensland real unemployment is now 12.7% (up 1.8% since October-November 2014) and under-employment is 10.3% (up 1%). This means total Queensland unemployment & under-employment is 23% (up 2.8%). (Interviewed November & December 2014).
Queensland State Election is being held on Saturday January 31, 2015.
NEW SOUTH WALES: L-NP would win the Election easily
2PP: L-NP 54% (down 1% since November 21-24, 2014) cf. ALP 46% (up 1%).
Primary vote: L-NP 44.5% (up 0.5%); ALP 35% (up 2.5%), Greens 11% (down 1.5%), Christian Democrats 1.5% (down 1%), Palmer United Party 1% (down 0.5%), Family First 0.5% (down 1%) and Independents/ Others 6.5% (up 1%).
Better Premier: Premier Mike Baird (Liberal) v Luke Foley (ALP):
Mr. Baird 69% (down 1%) cf. Mr. Foley 31% (up 1%); Lead to Mr. Baird: 38% (down 2%).
New South Wales real unemployment is now 10.4% (up 1.1% since October-November 2014) and under-employment is 10.7% (up 1.5%). This means total New South Wales unemployment & under-employment is 21.1% (up 2.6%). (Interviewed November & December 2014).
New South Wales State Election is scheduled for March 28, 2015.
VICTORIA: ALP would win an Election easily
2PP: ALP 59% (up 7% since the 2014 Victorian State Election) cf. L-NP 41% (down 7%).
Primary vote: L-NP 35% (down 7%); ALP 45% (up 6.9%), Greens 11.5% (unchanged), Family First 1.5% (up 0.4%), Country Alliance 1% (down 0.3%) and Independents/ Others 6% (unchanged).
Better Premier: Premier Daniel Andrews (ALP) v Matthew Guy (Liberal): Mr. Andrews 66.5% (up 18% since November 21-24, 2014) cf. Mr. Guy 33.5% (down 18%); Lead to Mr. Andrews: 33% (up 36%).
Victorian real unemployment is now 10.3% (up 1.6% since October & November 2014) and under-employment is 8.7% (down 1.2%). This means total Victorian unemployment & under-employment is 19% (up 0.4%). (Interviewed November & December 2014).
Victorian State Election was held on Saturday November 29, 2014.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Election would be too close to call
2PP: ALP (50.5%, up 2% since November 21-24, 2014) cf. L-NP 49.5% (down 2%).
Primary vote: Liberal 35.5% (up 0.5%), WA Nationals 6.5% (down 0.5%), ALP 35.5% (up 5%), Greens 13% (down 2.5%), Christians 1.5% (down 1.5%), Palmer United Party 2% (unchanged) and Independents/ Others 6% (down 1%).
Better Premier: Premier Colin Barnett (Liberal) v Mark McGowan (ALP):
Mr. McGowan 61% (up 4%) cf. Mr. Barnett 39% (down 4%); Lead to Mr. McGowan: 22% (up 8%).
Western Australian real unemployment is now 7.8% (down 1.4% since September-November, 2014) and under-employment is 6.7% (down 0.4%). This means total Western Australian unemployment & under-employment is 14.5% (down 1.8%). (October - December 2014).
Western Australia State Election is due to be held in March 2017.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA: ALP would win close Election
2PP: ALP 52% (up 0.5% since November 21-24, 2014) cf. L-NP 48% (down 0.5%).
Primary vote: L-NP 39.5% (up 1%), ALP 38% (up 3%), Greens 10.5% (down 2.5%), Family First 3.5% (down 1%), Palmer United Party 2% (down 0.5%) and Independents/ Others 6.5% (unchanged).
Better Premier: Premier Jay Weatherill (ALP) v Steve Marshall (Liberal):
Mr. Weatherill 58% (up 3.5%) cf. Mr. Marshall 42% (down 3.5%); Lead to Mr Weatherill 16% (up 7%).
South Australian real unemployment is now 9.2% (down 0.5% since September-November 2014) and under-employment is 9.8% (up 0.6%). This means total South Australian unemployment & under-employment is 19% (up 0.1%). (October - December 2014).
South Australia State Election is due to be held in March 2018.
TASMANIA: ALP would win Election easily
2PP: ALP 55.5% (up 0.5% since November 21-24, 2014) cf. Liberals 44.5% (down 0.5%) – Estimate. Two-Party preferred vote is not applicable to the Tasmanian lower house which uses the Hare-Clark proportional voting system.
Primary vote: ALP 39.5% (down 2%), Liberals 38.5% (down 0.5%), Greens 17% (up 4%), Palmer United Party 1% (down 1%) and Independents/ Others 4% (down 0.5%).
Better Premier: Premier Will Hodgman (Liberal) v Bryan Green (ALP):
Mr. Hodgman 58.5% (down 1.5%); Mr. Green 41.5% (up 1.5%); Lead to Mr. Hodgman 17% (down 3%).
Tasmanian real unemployment is now 10.7% (down 0.9% since September-November 2014) and under-employment is 15.8% (up 0.9%). This means total Tasmanian unemployment & under-employment is 26.5% (unchanged). (Interviewed October - December 2014).
Tasmanian State Election is due to be held in March 2018.
Gary Morgan says:
“This special SMS State Morgan Poll conducted over the last few days shows next week’s Queensland State Election too close to call with the LNP (50.5%) holding a narrow lead over the ALP (49.5%) on a two-party preferred basis. Opposition Leader Anastacia Palasczuk (51.5%) continues to hold a narrow lead as ‘Better Premier’ over Campbell Newman (48.5%) – and it remains possible the LNP could win the State Election although the Premier might lose his hotly contested seat of Ashgrove in suburban Brisbane. “Further south in New South Wales the L-NP (54%) cf. ALP (46%) hold a strong lead on a two-party preferred basis and are heavily favoured to win re-election in late March. Premier Mike Baird (69%) is clearly preferred to new Opposition Leader Luke Foley (31%) as ‘Better Premier’. “Even further south in Victoria the new ALP Government of Daniel Andrews is enjoying a clear honeymoon period with the ALP (59%, up 7%) now well ahead of the L-NP (41%, down 7%) on a two-party preferred basis. New Premier Daniel Andrews (66.5%, up 18% since pre-Victorian Election) is also clearly preferred to new Opposition Leader Matthew Guy (33.5%) as ‘Better Premier’. “The ALP leads in the remaining States by varying degrees: A narrow lead in both Western Australia: ALP (50.5%) cf. L-NP (49.5%) and South Australia: ALP (52%) cf. L-NP (48%) and a clear lead in Tasmania: ALP (55.5%) cf. L-NP (44.5%).”
For the poll-watchers:
Electors were asked: “If a State Election for New South Wales/ Victoria/ Queensland/ Western Australia/ South Australia/ Tasmania were being held today — which party would receive your first preference?” Electors were then asked: “Thinking of (Premier) and (Opposition Leader). In your opinion, who would make the better Premier?
The SMS Morgan Poll on State voting intention and preferred Premiers was conducted over the past few days January 16-18, 2015 with a cross-section of 4,489 Australian electors including 1,114 New South Wales electors, 1,050 Victorian electors, 1,179 Queensland electors, 432 Western Australian electors, 431 South Australian electors and 283 Tasmanian electors.
As all ‘poll-watchers’ know News Corp’s ‘dislike’ of Clive Palmer means Newspoll doesn’t include the Palmer United Party (PUP) as an alternative in their Federal or State polls which leads to misleading results. The latest Newspoll for Queensland shows ‘Others’ polling 17% with no ‘breakdown’ of the figure.
#As there is no two-party preferred result released by the Queensland Electoral Commission for the Queensland Election the estimate for the 2012 Queensland Election is provided by ABC electoral analyst Antony Green showing the 2012 Queensland Election as LNP (63.1%) cf. ALP (36.9%).
For further information:Should This Teacher Be Fired for Having Posed in Playboy?
Serious ethical quandary: Should Cristy Nicole Deweese, who teaches Spanish at the Rosie M. Collins Sorrells School of Education and Social Services in Dallas, be fired for having posed in Playboy while in college? Deweese, as Christy Nicole, was "Coed of the Month" in February 2011, and the Huffington Post reports that she participated in a simulated lesbian sex scene. Parents are calling for her removal from the school.
“Are her male 16- and 17-year-old students looking at her without picturing her nude?” a parent told the Dallas Morning-News. “And for the female students, is this someone they can respect as an educator, someone that they can look up to?”
Sounds a little slut-shamey, no? Since when did 16 and 17-year-old boys need any help being sexual? Aren't teenagers, you know, inherently sexual? (Aren't we all??)
Meanwhile, the school district is keeping quiet until they investigate further, because Deweese may have violated the Texas Education Agency's code of ethics. “This is a personnel matter, and it will not be discussed," a district spokesman told the Dallas Morning-News.
So should Dewesse be fired for something she probably did in college for money? Past precedence is not on her side.The tax-filing deadline is Tuesday, and the IRS expects to receive more than 152 million individual tax returns this year.
The deadline is April 18 this year because the traditional April 15 due date fell on a Saturday and Washington, D.C., is observing Emancipation Day on Monday.
ADVERTISEMENT
As in recent years, most people will receive refunds and file their taxes online.
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said earlier this month that this appears to be the “smoothest” filing season the agency has had since he took over the agency in late 2013.
Here are some key figures on the tax-filing season:
152 million returns
The IRS projects that it will receive about 152 million individual tax returns in 2017, including from people who request extensions. That’s about the same as the number of returns the agency received last year.
The IRS estimates that more than 13 million households will request extensions.
As of April 7, the agency has received about 104 million returns, which is down slightly from the same time last year. However, last year's filing season started a few days earlier.
The IRS said Thursday that it expected to receive about 18 million returns last week and will receive another 12 million returns this week.
About 95 million of the returns filed by April 7 were submitted electronically; more than half of the e-filed returns were prepared with the assistance of tax professionals.
More than $300 billion in refunds
The IRS estimates that more than 70 percent of taxpayers will receive refunds and that the agency will pay more than $300 billion in refunds this year.
The IRS had issued more than 80 million refunds as of April 7 that totaled about $229 billion.
The average refund amount as of April 7 was $2,851, and most people have received their refunds through direct deposit.
Last year, the IRS issued more than $317 billion in refunds.
As a result of legislation Congress passed in 2015, the IRS was required to hold refunds for people claiming the earned income tax credit and the additional child tax credit until Feb. 15. The IRS released about $51 billion in refunds claiming these credits, which benefit low- and middle-income families, after that date.
Telephone service level of 75 percent:
The IRS expects that during the 2017 filing season, about 75 percent of callers who want to speak with an IRS representative will be able to reach one.
During last year’s filing season, the level of service was 72 percent. During the 2015 filing season, it was 37 percent, according to the Government Accountability Office.
Koskinen attributes the improvement in phone service to additional funding.
Congressional Republicans have disputed the argument that the poor customer service in 2015 was due to budget cuts. A December 2015 GAO report found that the IRS used less of its funds from user fees in 2015 to customer service than it did the previous year, and it instead used those fees for other purposes.
More than 276 million visits to the IRS website:
As of April 7, there have been more than 276 million visits to the IRS website since the start of the filing season and more than 320 million visits to the site since the start of the 2017 fiscal year in October.
Koskinen said at the National Press Club earlier this month that the IRS had the most-viewed government website in a recent 30-day period, beating the National Weather Service.
The IRS had to deactivate a tool in March that allows people to see the amount of taxes they owe, and it has already been used more than 500,000 times.
More than 600,000 potentially fraudulent tax returns:Kurzweil's vision of our super-enhanced future is completely sane and calmly reasoned, and his book should nicely smooth the path for the earth's robot overlords, who, it turns out, will be us.
~The New York Times
"Kurzweil writes boldly and with a showman’s flair, expertly guiding the lay reader into deep thickets of neuroscience."
~Kate Tuttle, Boston Globe
This book is a breath of fresh air.... Kurzweil makes an argument for optimism.
~Laura Spinney, New Scientist
"A fascinating exercise in futurology."
~Kirkus Reviews
"It is rare to find a book that offers unique and inspiring content on every page. How to Create a Mind achieves that and more. Ray has a way of tackling seemingly overwhelming challenges with an army of reason, in the end convincing the reader that it is within our reach to create nonbiological intelligence that will soar past our own. This is a visionary work that is also accessible and entertaining.
~Rafael Reif, president, MIT
"Kurzweil's new book on the mind is magnificent, timely, and solidly argued! His best so far!"
~Marvin Minsky, MIT Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences; cofounder of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab; widely regarded as "the father of artificial intelligence"
"If you ever wondered about how your mind works, read this book. Kurzweil's insights reveal key secrets underlying human thought and our ability to recreate it. This is an eloquent and thought-provoking work."
~Dean Kamen, physicist; inventor of the first wearable insulin pump, the HomeChoice dialysis machine, and the IBOT mobility system; founder of FIRST; recipient of the National Medal of Technology
"One of the eminent AI pioneers, Ray Kurzweil, has created a new book to explain the true nature of intelligence, both biological and nonbiological. The book describes the human brain as a machine that can understand hierarchical concepts ranging from the form of a chair to the nature of humor. His important insights emphasize the key role of learning both in the brain and in AI. He provides a credible road map for achieving the goal of super-human intelligence, which will be necessary to solve the grand challenges of humanity.
~Raj Reddy, founding director, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University; recipient of the Turing Award from the Association for Computing Machinery
"Ray Kurzweil pioneered artificial intelligence systems that could read print in any type style, synthesize speech and music, and understand speech. These were the forerunners of the present revolution in machine learning that is creating intelligent computers that can beat humans in chess, win on Jeopardy!, and drive cars. His new book is a clear and compelling overview of the progress, especially in learning, that is enabling this revolution in the technologies of intelligence. It also offers important insights into a future in which we will begin solving what I believe is the greatest problem in science and technology today: the problem of how the brain works and of how it generates intelligence."
~Tomaso Poggio, Eugene McDermott Professor, MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences; director, MIT Center for Biological and Computational Learning; former chair, MIT McGovern Institute for Brain Research; one of the most cited neuroscientists in the world
"This book is a Rosetta stone for the mystery of human thought. Even more remarkably, it is a blueprint for creating artificial consciousness that is as persuasive and emotional as our own. Kurzweil deals with the subject of consciousness better than anyone from Blackmore to Dennett. His persuasive thought experiment is of Einstein quality: It forces recognition of the truth."
~Martine Rothblatt, chairman and CEO, United Therapeutics; creator of Sirius XM Satellite Radio
"Kurzweil's book is a shining example of his prodigious ability to synthesize ideas from disparate domains and explain them to readers in simple, elegant language. Just as Chanute's Progress in Flying Machines ushered in the era of aviation over a century ago, this book is the harbinger of the coming revolution in artificial intelligence that will fulfill Kurzweil's own prophecies about it."
~Dileep George, AI scientist; pioneer of hierarchical models of the neocortex; cofounder of Numenta and Vicarious Systems
"Ray Kurzweil's understanding of the brain and artificial intelligence will dramatically impact every aspect of our lives, every industry on Earth, and how we think about our future. If you care about any of these, read this book!"
~Peter H. Diamandis, chairman and CEO, X PRIZE; executive chairman, Singularity University; author of the New York Times bestseller Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You ThinkIf there were a guide for corporate media treatment of Official Enemies, the first rule might be that you can hardly ever go too far. So Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of the Crimean region of Ukraine meant that he was either “taking a page out of the Hitler playbook,” as Fox News host Bill O’Reilly (3/3/14) put it, or was, as Washington Post columnist George Will (3/17/14) said, “Stalin’s spawn.”
Those are the extreme examples, but corporate media coverage of the crisis in Ukraine demonstrated a Cold War eagerness for increasing the conflict, a panic over the US failure to control events and a failure to properly examine relevant history.
The negative feelings about Putin were intense. ABC correspondent Martha Raddatz (3/4/14) called him “the bully Vladimir Putin. … He is hammer-handed. This is how he operates.” In the Washington Post (3/23/14), he was “animated by nationalist impulses and historic grievances that have proved immune to the modern tools of diplomacy,” while in the New York Times (3/23/14), he was deemed a “wiry martial arts master” with a “deep sense of grievance.” New York Times columnist David Brooks (Meet the Press, 3/23/14) called him “this radioactive individual who wants to create history: large ego, large Russian nationalism.”
Some dug deeper. On ABC World News (3/7/14), Jonathan Karl described a “Pentagon study on trying to read Putin’s body language,” which apparently suggested “that his walking style may provide insight into how he operates.” The report, Karl told viewers, found “‘Putin’s movement style shows a man struggling to move forward’…a weakness he compensates for ‘by a dramatic need for internal control, which he seeks through external display of power.’”
While the conflict over Crimea would seem to be primarily about Ukrainians and Russians, many in the media saw the conflict as really about the United States and its Cold War rival. “Game on between the two superpowers,” ABC World News anchor Diane Sawyer announced (3/17/14). “President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin locked in a kind of duel.”
The idea of the crisis as a personal challenge to Obama was widespread. As a Washington Post news article (3/1/14) asserted: “Rarely has a threat from a US president been dismissed as quickly—and comprehensively—as Obama’s warning Friday night to Russian President Vladimir Putin.” And the paper’s editorial page (3/1/14) warned that in response to this “naked act of armed aggression in the center of Europe…Obama must demonstrate that can’t be done.”
NBC Nightly News (3/1/14) tapped Meet the Press anchor David Gregory for analysis: “There is US prestige on the line…. Why is it that Russia seems to disregard these warnings from the administration?” It was a theme Gregory reiterated several times on his Sunday show (3/2/14):
This is a conversation about Obama’s leadership, pure and simple. This is a major test for whether the rest of the world, particularly bad actors, take him seriously when he says to not do something.
His NBC colleague Chuck Todd concurred: “This is not the first time with Putin. Putin acts, Obama warns. Putin acts, Obama warns. This is a pattern that he can’t afford to stay in here and just continue to warn.” Weeks later, Gregory was still flummoxed (Meet the Press, 3/23/14): “What does it take for the US to regain the upper hand in this fight with Vladimir Putin?”
Not only was Putin not listening to US admonitions, he didn’t seem to be living in the same reality. That storyline was most notably advanced in the New York Times (3/2/14). Reporter Peter Baker asserted that the “Russian occupation of Crimea has challenged Mr. Obama as has no other international crisis”—a pretty dramatic overstatement—and then added:
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany told Mr. Obama by telephone on Sun-day that after speaking with Mr. Putin she was not sure he was in touch with reality, people briefed on the call said. “In another world,” she said.
So “people briefed on the call” delivered the verdict: Putin has lost touch with reality.
The line soon appeared everywhere. A Times editorial (3/4/14) turned it into a fact: “In a conversation with Mr. Obama, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said she was unsure whether Mr. Putin was in touch with reality.” CNN host Jake Tapper (3/3/14) recounted the Times story to ask one guest: “Is this an unstable individual, Mr. Putin?” A Washington Post editorial (3/4/14) wondered if Putin had “lost touch with reality,” and the New Republic (3/4/14) ran a piece by Julia Ioffe with the headline “Putin’s Press Conference Proved Merkel Right: He’s Lost His Mind.”
It’s noteworthy that many of these pieces emphasized the “out of touch with reality” spin over the expression directly attributed to Merkel—that Putin is “in another world.” The latter phrase suggests that someone has an entirely different point of view, while the former suggests that that person is delusional.
As McClatchy’s Mark Seibel (3/5/14) noted, the Merkel remark “was too good to ignore and became the reporting line for every talking head and commentator for the next several news cycles.” A little too good, perhaps. Seibel wrote that the German government disagreed with this interpretation of the phone conversation, but “in the world of propaganda, successfully portraying your adversary as being crazy, without any rational backing to his actions, makes it unnecessary to try to understand the complexities or sensitivities of the issues.”
For some media, evidence of Putin’s disconnect or delusion could be found in his explanation for Russia’s action in Crimea. The New York Times (3/4/14) noted that during Putin’s much-discussed March 3 press conference, he “delivered a version of the crisis that was fundamentally at odds with the view held by most officials in the United States, Europe and Ukraine.” So what had he said? The Times pointed to his claim that there are “double standards that justify American or NATO military operations in the name of protecting human |
.
After local parishioners accused Fr. Mario Napoleon Sasso of molesting children in a poor, rural province of eastern Argentina in the early 1990s, he was sent to a private rehabilitation center for wayward clergy. He was then reassigned to work in a soup kitchen for poor children in a town outside the capital. There, he went on to sexually abuse girls as young as 3.
The attorney for the victims said that in 2006 the victims’ families asked to see Bergoglio but they never received a response.
Sasso was convicted in 2007 and sentenced to 17 years in prison. He has since been released on parole.
After years of legal delays, Grassi’s trial began in August 2008. Prosecutors sought 30 years in prison. For nine months, the trial was held behind closed doors. Only the verdict was read to the public on June 10, 2009. The Criminal Court found Grassi guilty of two acts of aggravated sexual assault and corruption of minors and sentenced him to 15 years in prison. He was allowed to remain free during his appeal but the judges imposed a number of restrictions.
On June 20, 2009, 49 priests and 50 laypeople criticized the “silence of ecclesial leaders before this case and others.” The signers said, “We see that other bishops’ conferences like Colombia’s have spoken up in similar cases, and we do not understand your silence, that has the appearance of ‘hushing up’ and ‘tolerance.’”
In a 2009 interview, Grassi claimed that Bergoglio “never let go of my hand….Investigative reports at the time indicate that Bergoglio not only continued protecting Grassi through the Church but was also his confessor – one of the few who came to talk to him.”
The case of Fr. Grassi has been particularly troublesome to children’s advocates in Argentina because “Bergoglio was widely viewed as close to the young priest. [He] was not expelled from the priesthood after the guilty verdict. Instead, Church officials led by Bergoglio commissioned a lengthy private report arguing that Grassi was innocent.”
The report, written by Marcelo Sancinetti, a criminal lawyer, was two volumes exceeding 1000 pages. He argued that a member of the clergy should not necessarily comply with secular court decisions. “He suggests that allegation of sex abuse by Grassi are false and comparable to the witch trials of the Middle Ages.” A copy was given to each judge involved in hearing Grassi’s appeal and was “submitted as part of the legal appeal…Prosecutors say the document has helped Grassi avoid jail time.”
For the next four years, Grassi was allowed to continue living across the street from the foundation. Grassi “violated the conditions for his freedom by calling one of the youngsters whose testimony led to his conviction a ‘liar.’”
On May 8, 2013, the victim known as “Gabriel” and his attorney, Juan Pablo Gallego, went to the Vatican embassy in Buenos Aires to hand deliver a letter addressed to Pope Francis. The letter read, in part, “I would be grateful if you would apply the so-called zero tolerance [as announced by the Vatican towards pedophile priests] for the privileged Grassi sentenced for horrific crimes from which I have suffered and still suffer. Have him reduced to the lay state and issue a clear public sign of respect for the independence of the Argentine judicial system….I beg your compassion and help me regain my faith.”
While the attorney and his client were at the nunciature, “a number of parcels, letters and papers” addressed to the pope were received. After an employee read “Gabriel’s” letter and consulted with someone inside, they were told the letter would not be accepted and they were threatened with a call to the police.
On Sept. 2, the chief justice of the Argentine Supreme Court of Buenos Aires, Héctor Negri, one of the judges who would decide Grassi’s appeal, met in private with Pope Francis. Negri stated that the Grassi case was not discussed, but should a prominent jurist have considered the meeting unseemly just a couple of weeks before a decision was to be handed down on Grassi?
On Sept. 18, Grassi’s conviction for two cases of aggravated sexual abuse and a third for corruption of minors and sentence of 15 years imprisonment was upheld. Other plaintiffs are pushing for the trial against Grassi to continue, saying he still needs to answer to accusations that he abused two other youths. Plaintiffs’ attorney Gallego said the victims are currently between 27 and 28 years old and live “in humble conditions.”
Grassi called the court’s decision “a cross one must know how to bear.” The priest criticized the prosecutor for “wanting to deceive society” and the media for waging a campaign against him.
In a press statement, Bishop Marcelo Cuenca said that Grassi was "totally innocent” and he blamed the media for Grassi’s conviction.
Sergio Piris, an attorney for another of Grassi’s victims, said the priest always felt comfortable because he was protected by the Church. Piris said his client “was never able to close this black chapter on his life” and that “he was still suffering while the abuser was free and spoke on television.” Cuenca’s statement shows that the Church continues to protect him, Piris stated. "
Considering that Grassi resists detention by “spurious means,” provides a “bizarre spectacle” for the press, and “because he does not stop hurting himself, the Catholic Church, justice and, above all, the victims,” Gallego asked Pope Francis to remove the priest from the Catholic Church.
Bishop Luis Guillermo Eichhorn had defended Grassi as “again acquitted on fifteen charges and convicted on two," in an earlier statement. But on Sept. 25, the day after Grassi was finally ordered to prison, Eichhorn said that Grassi could no longer say mass in public but could continue doing so in private “pending final resolution of this situation” and that he would be investigated by the Vatican. To which one columnist replied: "This arrangement is the minimum that can be adopted and seems destined to protect the priest and try to lessen the damage to the corporate image of the Church which has been seriously harmed by inaction in many cases of pedophilia tested in various parts of the world."
….Bergoglio did not offer personal apologies or financial restitution, even in cases in which the crimes were denounced by other members of the Church and the offending priests were sent to jail.
There is no evidence that Bergoglio played a role in covering up abuse cases. Several prominent rights groups in Argentina say…that Bergoglio’s resolve strengthened as new cases of molestation emerged in the archdiocese and that he eventually instructed bishops to immediately report all abuse allegations to police.
But during most of the 14 years that Bergoglio served as archbishop of Buenos Aires, rights advocates say, he did not take decisive action to protect children or act swiftly when molestation charges surfaced.
“He has been totally silent,” said Ernesto Moreau, a member of Argentina’s U.N.-affiliated Permanent Assembly for Human Rights and a lawyer who has represented victims in a clergy sexual-abuse case. Victims asked to meet with Bergoglio but were turned down, Moreau said. “In that regard, Bergoglio was no different from most of the other bishops in Argentina, or the Vatican itself.”
As pope, Francis has also been silent regarding sexual assaults against children except for acknowledging during an in-flight interview while returning from Brazil that this was a crime.
In April, the Vatican Information Service reported that “the Holy Father recommended that the Congregation [for the Doctrine of the Faith or CDF] continue along the lines set by Benedict XVI.” The press office paraphrased a private conversation between Pope Francis and Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, prefect of the CDF, yet it has been universally misreported to the present day as a direct quote of a public statement that Francis told Muller to “act decisively against sexual abuse.”
Neither did the pope make any public statement when he made a new law for the employees of the Vatican City State and the Holy See (the name of the worldwide Church government) effective on July 11. The decree “declared sexual violence, prostitution and possession of child pornography as crimes against children can be punished by up to 12 years in prison.”
Perhaps this was not as widely reported because, a week earlier, the Vatican received a list of requests for information from the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child which will evaluate in early 2014 the Holy See's implementation of the treaty it signed with U.N. protecting children.
One of the requests was “...please clarify the status of the Convention in the Vatican City State and provide information on the measures taken to incorporate its principles and provisions in the domestic legal system of the Vatican City State.”
Another was:
For all these cases [of sexual violence against children committed by members of the clergy, brothers and nuns in numerous countries around the world reported to the Holy See], please provide detailed information on the measures in place to ensure that no member of the clergy currently accused of sexual abuse be allowed to remain in contact with children as well as the specific cases where immediate measures were taken to prevent them from being in continued contact with children as well as the cases where priests were transferred to other parishes or to other States where they continued to have access to and abuse children.
No doubt, the world media will neglect to hold Pope Francis accountable for his failure to comply with the U.N. treaty. Just like, except for victims’ advocates, not one single reporter, journalist or commentator that I am aware of noted that Francis failed to mention the subject of child sex abuse in the 12,000-word interview published on Sept. 22.
Francis first action as pope was to name eight cardinals who would advise him on governance of the Church. He showed a callous disregard for survivors of sexual assaults by selecting two cardinals with terrible reputations regarding child sex abuse.
The Australian Cardinal George Pell, when asked what he thought was the root cause of the sex-abuse scandals, Pell replied, “it’s obviously connected with the problem of homosexuality.”
In Australia, the number of reports of clergy child sex abuse became so egregious that the state of Victoria (capital Melbourne) initiated a parliament inquiry, the state of New South Wales (capital Sydney) is investigating complaints that the Catholic Church hampered police investigations, and former Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced the formation of a Royal Commission to study child sex abuse by religious and non-government bodies.
Pell’s response was to complain about a “'persistent press campaign’ and ‘general smears that we are covering up and moving people around,’ and then capped it off with the claim that abuse by Catholic priests had been singled out and exaggerated.”
“Catholic clergy commit six times as much abuse as those in the rest of the Churches combined, ‘and that's a conservative figure,’” Patrick Parkinson, a Sydney University law professor, told the Victoria inquiry on May 30, 2013. Of thousands of offences, not a single crime was reported by a Church official to the police, Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton testified.
On May 24, 2013, Pell appeared as the final witness in the parliamentary inquiry. Like other prelates, Pell made an apology which came across as insincere. "My response to Cardinal Pell's evidence, being as fair as I can, is that it was to me a rather cynical exercise in damage control," Dr. Bryan Keon-Cohen QC, president of community lobby group COIN (Commission of Inquiry Now) said. “He offered a lot of words, offered apologies, expressed remorse, but to me it lacked conviction,” according to Keon-Cohen.
During Pell’s testimony, “Many of his responses about his personal empathy for victims were met with laughter and scoffs from the public gallery, which included victims and victims' advocates.” Anthony Foster, father of two young daughters repeatedly raped by a priest, said Pell showed a “sociopathic lack of empathy typifying the attitude and response of the Catholic hierarchy.” Ian Lawther, whose son was sexually abused by a priest, described Pell's apology as "full of criminal clichés….It was a kick to the groin of every Australian Catholic, maybe even Christian."
Another of Pope Francis' "gang of eight" is Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa, the retired archbishop of Santiago, who made headlines in Chile for protecting Fr. Fernando Karamina, a spiritual leader among Santiago’s most influential families.
Church officials were warned as early as 1984 about Karadima’s “improper conduct.” The first known reports of abuse by Karadima reached Errázuriz in mid-2003. In 2006, a priest appointed by Errázuriz to investigate the claims made his report to the cardinal, stating that he believed “the accusers to be credible.” Errázuriz wrote in a public letter that he did nothing because he thought the allegations were beyond the statute of limitations.
In April 2010, a civil criminal complaint was filed against Karadima for child sex abuse by four men who were once his devoted followers. The claims were dismissed by a court ruling stating there was not enough evidence to charge him. One of the claimants protested, "We would have liked to appeal, but with defense attorneys like his, who have the Appeals and Supreme Court eating out of their hands, and a number of powerful people who continue to protect Karadima, we knew it would be an uphill battle that we were likely to lose."
In January 2011, a judge ordered that Karadima be interrogated. According to court testimony, Church officials, including Errázuriz, tried to shame accusers into dropping claims, refused to meet with them or failed to carry out formal investigations for years.
The criminal case against Karadima was dismissed in November 2011 because the statute of limitations had expired but the court also determined that the allegations were “truthful and reliable.” The Vatican “sanctioned” Karadima by ordering him to a life of “penitence and prayer,” but he remains a priest in good standing.
Karadima is the "worst scandal" of the Chilean Catholic Church, Chilean political analyst Ascanio Cavallo, Dean of the Journalism School of the Adolfo Ibáñez University, stated. "Power is the true point of the case. The abuses were not possible without a network of political, social and religious power working for 50 years,” said Cavallo.
When Pope Francis appointed Errázuriz as one of his closest advisers, one of the claimants who had accused the cardinal of covering up Karadima’s crimes called it “a shame and a disgrace.”
On Sept. 15, Errázuriz, referring to the compensation requested by Karadima’s victims from the Archdiocese of Santiago for failing to protect them or to investigate their accusations, said they should be asking for compensation from Karadima. Errázuriz denied that the archdiocese had any responsibility for their “tremendous pain.”
On Sept. 21, Pope Francis reconfirmed Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith even though the archbishop has followed none of the instructions reportedly given him by the pope as described by the Vatican Information Service in April. Müller was told he must promote measures for the protection of minors, offer assistance to those who have suffered abuse, carry out due proceedings against the guilty and help formulate and implement the necessary directives in this area “that is so important for the Church's witness and credibility.” The press release had ended with “The Holy Father assured that victims of abuse are present in a particular way in his prayers for those who are suffering.”
“The institution is not what it appears in its public pronouncements, ritual manifestations, and glorious vesture….Only willful blindness and pathological denial can allow one to overlook the reality that the symptom of clerical abuse reveals a Roman Catholic Church as dysfunctional and corrupt sexually and financially as during the time of the Protestant Reformation.” August 30, 2013 by A. W. Richard Sipe, Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor, former Benedictine monk and priest, and recognized authority on celibacy and priest sex abuse.
___
Almost all the information in this diary was obtained from the Bishop Accountability/Abuse Tracker website, a digest of links to media coverage of clergy abuse.
“BishopAccountability.org has ambitious plans to post all publicly available documents that are relevant to the Catholic abuse crisis. Your support will help us complete this important work.
A direct donation would be much appreciated, for any amount that is feasible for you. We ask you to be as generous as possible. You can give conveniently through Network for Good or by using the Donate Now button on the website or make your check payable to BishopAccountability.org, Inc. and mail it to:
BishopAccountability.org, Inc.
P.O. Box 541375
Waltham, MA 02454-1375
One hundred percent of your donation will go toward building this document collection and making it more accessible to the public. Donations are tax deductible.”The wretched cowardice of Brandeis University in rescinding an honorary degree for human rights activist Aayan Hirsi Ali surprised a lot of people. A victim of female genital mutilation (FGM), Ali was the target of terroristic threats in the Netherlands for speaking out against Islamic oppression of women. The question was asked, “Where’s the feminist anger at Brandeis over Ayaan Hirsi Ali?”
Brace yourself for the answer: Phyllis Chesler looked at the Brandeis faculty petition against Ali and found that 21% of the signatures came from faculty associated with the university’s Women and Gender Studies (WGS) program. As a matter of fact, it appears that the controversial petition actually originated with WGS faculty members.
The first two names on the petition are both members of the Women and Gender Studies faculty: Karen Hansen and Dian Fox. Assuming that the authors of the petition would also be the first signers, this is significant, as is the fact that four other of the first 10 signers were either core faculty or associate faculty of the Brandeis WGS program: ChaeRan Freeze, Bernadette J. Brooten, Mary Baine Campbell and Aliyyah I. Abdur-Rahman. The faculty petition claimed that, by honoring Aayan Hirsi Ali, Brandeis would suggest “to the public that violence toward girls and women is particular to Islam... thereby obscuring such violence in our midst among non-Muslims, including on our own campus,” and concluded: “We cannot accept Ms. Hirsi Ali’s triumphalist narrative of western civilization, rooted in a core belief of the cultural backwardness of non-western peoples.”
Perhaps the Brandeis University feminists could send their young female students on a field trip to Tehran, Kabul or Mogadishu to protest against this “triumphalist narrative.” Meanwhile, the Iraqi parliament is considering a law that would legalize marriage to 9-year-old girls, and a 12-year-old girl died after being gang-raped in Pakistan:
The incident took place in the village of Khushi Muhammad Arain, located in the town of Kadhan. The 12-year-old victim used to go to the seminary to learn how to read the Holy Quran, according to her bereaved father.
A teacher at the seminary, along with three young boys who are said to be in grade 10, are accused in the case.
“Three days before her death, my younger son came home shouting that he had heard my daughter screaming from a room in the madrassah whose doors were locked,” said her father...
Yeah, too bad she died. Otherwise she might have some day attended Brandeis University, where Aayan Hirsi Ali can’t speak, because the Women and Gender Studies faculty are fighting against “a core belief of the cultural backwardness of non-western peoples.”
Share this: Share
Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
CommentsMartin Wheatley, Managing Director of the FSA and Chief Executive-designate of the Financial Conduct Authority, delivers a speech at Mansion House in the City of London on September 28, 2012, that sets out the findings of his report into the structure and governance of LIBOR (The London Interbank Offered Rate). Britain's Libor interest rate needs a 'complete overhaul' in the wake of the Barclays rate-rigging scandal, the nation's finance regulator said in an eagerly-awaited review. Wheatley argued that industry body the British Bankers' Association must be stripped of its role in setting Libor, with the oversight process handed to a new group. AFP PHOTO / CARL COURT (Photo credit should read CARL COURT/AFP/GettyImages)
* All three suspects released on bail
* Former Citi/UBS trader Thomas Hayes among arrested-source
* Other two are former traders from RP Martin - source
By Kirstin Ridley and Katharina Bart
LONDON/ZURICH, Dec 11 (Reuters) - British police and anti-fraud officers made the first arrests in a global interest rate rigging scandal on Tuesday, detaining a former trader and two other men, sources said.
Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO), one of a posse of international prosecutors and regulators homing in on rate fixers, said three British men aged 33, 41 and 47 had been taken to a London police station in the early morning for questioning.
"The men are all British nationals currently living in the United Kingdom," the SFO said. A spokesman said late on Tuesday night that the three Libor suspects had been released on bail pending further investigation.
One of those arrested was former Citigroup and UBS trader Thomas Hayes, according to a source familiar with the situation.
The two other were Terry Farr and James Gilmour, who both worked at interdealer broker RP Martin, according to a separate source, who also spoke on condition of anonymity. Hayes, Farr and Gilmour could not be immediately reached for comment.
On his LinkedIn page, Farr is listed as a "moneybroker at RP Martin". RP Martin declined to comment.
Prosecutors and regulators across Europe, the United States, Canada and Japan have been investigating how traders attempted to rig key interbank lending rates such as Libor, the London
interbank offered rate, and its euro equivalent, Euribor.
Dozens of people are under investigation in the probe, but the arrests are the first since the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission initiated an industry-wide investigation into suspected Libor collusion in October 2008.
INVESTIGATION HEATS UP
Designed originally in the late 1960s to estimate the costs at which banks will lend to each other, Libor has become a central cog in the global financial system and a benchmark for $550 trillion in contracts ranging from interest rate derivatives to home loans and credit cards.
According to the Canadian Competition Bureau regulator, which is investigating anti-competitive activity relating to Libor, Hayes and other individuals -- not Farr and Gilmour -- attempted to manipulate yen Libor. This is the average interbank interest rate at which banks are prepared to lend one another unsecured funds denominated in Japanese yen.
Court documents filed by the Canadian regulator also claim Hayes contacted traders at other banks in London to get them to manipulate yen rates.
Hayes, who began his financial career at Britain's RBS, worked at Swiss bank UBS from 2006-09 before leaving for U.S. bank Citigroup, where he stayed until 2010.
The arrests mark a ratcheting up of the complex investigation since Barclays admitted in June that its traders had tried to manipulate Libor and Euribor from 2005 through 2009 and that the bank had low-balled rates during the 2007/08 credit crunch.
The British bank reached a $450 million settlement with U.S. and UK regulators.
But as details emerged about how traders brazenly gamed Libor, it triggered a public and political backlash that saw three of the bank's top executive leave and sparked inquiries into how banks lied about their true costs of borrowing -- and whether regulators either condoned or failed to stop manipulation.
More than a dozen other banks are being investigated. Switzerland's UBS and RBS are expected to be next to reach financial settlements shortly.As previously reported, Memphis’ Apple Store was set to move across the street from its original location into a brand-new space that is among the first of its kind here in the United States.
This morning, the store re-opened. I decided to hang out with some local Apple fans at the opening event, and check out the new store.
As shown in the renderings, the front of the 4,000-square ft. space is more or less just giant sheets of glass, allowing sunlight to pour into the store:
The effect is rather impressive; it’s hard to tell where the store ends and the sidewalk outside begins.
Inside, the store has familiar elements, but they’re put together in some new and interesting ways. Products are still displayed on large wooden tables, but they’re now laid out in a large grid:
Down each side of the store is what’s called an “Avenue.” The idea is to allow visitors to “window shop” select accessories and smaller items, like iPods. Here in Memphis, one Avenue held cases for the iPhone and iPad, while the other was dedicated to Watch and audio accessories:
These bays can be changed out independently of each other, and can house anything from products to video screens to even live plants. They have a few hidden tricks, too. If a visitor wants to buy a dark blue iPhone case, the clerk simply pulls on the sample case that’s visible on the wall, sliding open a drawer full of products for sale. I immediately thought of a safety deposit box when I saw it.
Likewise, the headphones rest on wooden spheres, and their audio cables auto-retract into the cavity behind the panel when a shopper is done trying them on:
While the back of the old Memphis store housed the Genius Bar — and a theatre before that — Genius appointments now take place at the tables on the sales floor. Technicians can now sit down with their customers and work together, instead of having the Bar as a barrier between them. This is a change that I’ve heard praised from Geniuses all over the country, and as much as I’ll miss the Bar I stood behind so many years go, I respect this change.
In it’s place is a giant video screen, rumored to cost over $1 million. It shows clips of various Apple products in a loop, and is pretty damn impressive. I can imagine that after dark, this will be visible from the street quite easily, despite being at the back of the store.
The screen is a rare showing of hubris in what’s an otherwise understated space. In fact, there’s no logo on the front face of the store. Rather, an Apple logo has been screened onto the casing around the window, but is only visible if you’re right at the glass:
Today was my first store opening. While I was present for several Mac OS X launches and the first two iPhones as an employee, it was more than a little weird to be applauded and high-fived for entering what is, at the end of the day, a retail store. That said, I’ll give Apple this: it’s a beautiful one.India's largest state-run bank has received 1.7 million applications for just 1,500 entry-level clerk jobs – and has promised to examine all of them, a report said.
State Bank of India chairman Pratip Chaudhuri attributed the huge interest to good marketing and attractive employment terms, with the number of applications underlining the appeal of "jobs for life" in the Indian public sector.
"This time, we had given the advertisement a good profile, highlighting the position of SBI and describing the compensation package in detail, which attracted a lot of attention," Chaudhuri told The Times of India.
For positions in Mumbai, the bank offered a starting package of 69,000 rupees ($US1,270) a month for the "probationary officers" including a housing allowance – an attractive perk in the expensive local real estate market.
Job opportunities in the Indian private sector have fallen in the last 18 months as economic growth has dropped to its lowest level in a decade due to declining business confidence and high interest rates.As of this writing, Wednesday Night, there is currently a reclisted diary…
with nearly one thousand comments revolving around frustration with the possibility of a Clinton general election candidacy. And I used my browser’s search feature to see that there was one instance in more than 950 comments of the word ‘phonebank’ and no instances of the word ‘volunteer’.
Sanders supporters, let’s make one thing clear, the Clinton supporters don’t care what you think and nothing you say will ever persuade them to stop denying the reality that the race isn’t over. It’s in their interest to be condescending and dismissive.
Furthermore, it’s not your problem what they think.
If you really want Sanders to have the best possible chance of winning then you should reallocate the time you had budgeted for arguing with people whose only intention is to beat you down/waste your time and look at volunteering activities that directly correlate to increased voter turnout of likely Sanders voters/caucus participants.
If you live in or near any of the states that vote within the next month, canvassers are always in short supply, please spend some ‘shoe leather’ if you can.
If, like me, you live far far away from the action for the foreseeable future, a half hour of getting familiar with the phone-banking process and a few hours this week and next week can make a tangible difference.
I get it, I have understood the desire to not let any of their arguments go unchallenged, but yesterday woke me up to the fact that I’m staying in my comfort zone and expecting others to fight my battles for me, and I am changing priorities. I strongly urge anyone reading this to consider doing the same.
Links in the comments!
EDIT! CALLING ALL OREGON SANDERS SUPPORTERS! Keldicott is heading to Idaho to canvass
”I'm driving to Idaho Friday and staying to help the campaign canvas locally until the caucuses! 19th through 22nd! Can't stop, won't stop. Anyone in Portland, Oregon who is interested in going with me and coming back the 23rd, let me know ASAP!”Funko has changed a lot over the years at San Diego Comic-Con. The once upstart toy company has become a major player that draws just as much attention as Hasbro, LEGO, or any of the other cornerstone exclusive dealers at the con. There isn’t a licensed property Funko has met that they didn’t like, and this year it looks like they may not have an exclusive that attendees won’t want.
In an effort to bring more product directly to SDCC attendees, there will not be a pre-buy option this year.
[UPDATE] At the convention, Funko is limiting customers to one of each figure that they want to purchase. Attendees are welcome to buy any selection of figures they want (depending on availability), but they will only receive one of each.
Here’s a look at this year’s exclusives:
[UPDATE June 29]
If we’re being honest, this final wave is the 10th wave we’ve done.
[UPDATE June 26]
Wave nine is here. Which means we’re getting closer to having as many waves as Friday the 13th movies.
[UPDATE June 24]
Hannibal fans are in for a special treat this year’s Comic-Con thanks to Funko. Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller is not only getting his own, extremely limited Pop! (its limited to a run of 144 pieces), but he’ll also be signing at the Funko booth on Friday, July 10 at 2PM. The line for Fuller’s signing, which is also the line for the Pop! figures, will not begin to form before 1PM. The figures will be $15 each, and you will not be able to purchase other Funko merchandise from the booth during that time.
Here are today’s regular exclusives reveals:
We sense wave 8 will keep Funatics busy trying to acquire.
[UPDATE June 22]
Wave seven and the collectors are in heaven.
[UPDATE June 19]
Wave six is here and Baltar is having an emotional reaction.
[UPDATE June 17]
Wave number 5 is alive! We hope you don’t short circuit with all these awesome new reveals.
[UPDATE June 15]
Watch out for golf balls! It’s wave four of exclusives coming your way.
[UPDATE June 12]
The latest wave of exclusives is like being washed over by cool awesomeness. Which one do you hope floats into your shopping bag?
[UPDATE June 10]
Funko’s latest batch of exclusives have been revealed. Which one is going to keep you up at night hoping to nab?
[UPDATE June 8]
Are you brave enough to fight the crowds at the Funko booth? If so, what are you after? Let us know in the comments.The U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday afternoon affirmed a lower district court’s ruling dismissing the lawsuit of Jameka Evans, a Savannah security guard who was forced to leave her job because she is a lesbian. Attorneys from Lambda Legal, who are representing Evans in the case, say they will now seek a rehearing by the full panel of 11 judges of the Eleventh Circuit.
The case, Evans v. Georgia Regional Hospital, is the latest Title VII case, in which LGBT and progressive legal groups argue that discrimination based on their client’s sexual orientation should be ruled a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which includes a provision that prohibits discrimination based on the sex of an individual. The Eleventh Circuit agreed with Lambda Legal’s argument in 2011 that the Georgia General Assembly violated Title VII when Vandy Beth Glenn was fired for being transgender.
Evans filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District Court of Georgia in April 2015, arguing that Georgia Regional Hospital violated Title VII by discriminating against her because of her sexual orientation and her nonconformity with gender norms of appearance and demeanor. The district court dismissed Evans’ complaint, arguing that Title VII doesn’t protect employees from such discrimination. Lambda Legal filed an appeal with the Eleventh Circuit last January and then argued their case at a hearing before a three-judge panel last December.
Judge William Pryor, concurring with Friday’s majority opinion and disagreeing with the 2011 opinion he joined in the Glenn case, said, “Because a claim of gender nonconformity is a behavior-based claim, not a status-based claim, a plaintiff still ‘must show that the employer actually relied on her gender in making its decision.’”
Judge Robin S. Rosenbaum argued in the dissent, agreeing with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and several district courts that discrimination against a lesbian by an employer because she fails to meet their view of what a woman should look or act like is sex discrimination, and therefore a Title VII violation.
“I also note that logic is on my side,” Judge Rosenbaum said. “Of course, the concurrence is free to ignore my analysis rather than respond to it, but that doesn’t make it go away.”
Lambda Legal said this case is not over yet.
“This is not the end of the road for us and certainly not for Jameka,” said Greg Nevins, employment fairness project director for Lambda Legal in a statement. “Keeping your job shouldn’t depend on whether or not you pass for straight. There is no way to draw a line between sexual orientation discrimination and discrimination based on gender nonconformity because not being straight is gender-nonconforming, period. 90 percent of Americans believe that LGBT people should be treated equally in the workplace. The public is on the right side of history, and it’s time for the Eleventh Circuit to join us.”
Read the Eleventh Circuit Court’s decision below.Gabe Newell is now the 854th richest person on the planet, reports business website Forbes today. This is Forbes' 25th annual list of the world's richest billionaires—a list which cumulates to a record $4.6 trillion amongst its members.
Newell's $1.5 billion net worth places him amongst the 1,225 other billionaires. He joins 128 new list members, who range from gambling stars to fashion icons to those who've simply inherited their billions.
Valve sales in 2011—both from the release of immensely successful Portal 2 and the digital distribution service, Steam—contributed to the company's $3 billion enterprise value, according to Forbes:
Privately-held Valve Corporation is tight-lipped about revenues, and Newell doesn't comment on his personal finances. So in order to estimate his net worth, Forbes consulted with video game industry insiders, equity analysts, investment bankers, and technology analysts to figure out what the company is worth. Even the most conservative estimates put Valve's enterprise value at more than $3 billion, and since Newell owns more than 50% of the company, that means he's worth at least $1.5 billion.
Forbes compared the success of Valve's Steam platform to EA's digital distribution venture, Origin. But Steam's 40 million users far trumps Origin's 9.3 million, effectively rendering Valve's service a dominating powerhouse.
Advertisement
Valve's Gabe Newell Is The Newest Video Game Billionaire [Forbes]An Austin police officer who fatally shot an unarmed, naked 17-year-old last month will be fired, Police Chief Art Acevedo announced Monday.
In a memo outlining the disciplinary action, Acevedo said Officer Geoffrey Freeman violated department policy in the shooting of David Joseph -- that he should not have confronted the teenager alone, that his decision to draw his weapon wasn't warranted and that there were other ways he could have stopped Joseph after the teen began charging at the officer.
Freeman's lawyers with the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas say they will appeal. The general counsel for the group has said Freeman feared for his life when he fired his gun at Joseph.
The group will use the "resources necessary" to ensure that Freeman's "good name is restored and that he will be back to work," Executive Director Charley Wilkison said in a statement.
Acevedo said he has "indefinitely suspended" Freeman, which he says is the department's term for firing. If Freeman appeals, the firing isn't final until an arbitrator upholds it.
Travis County prosecutors also are investigating the shooting and plan to present the case to a grand jury for possible criminal charges.
Acevedo's memo to the interim director of civil service explains that Freeman was one of four officers who responded to a call about a naked man running across a roadway on Feb. 8. Freeman knew the other officers were on their way and had even asked for extra help because he believed the person had a mental illness or was high, the memo states.
Acevedo said Freeman should have waited for other officers before confronting Joseph. His memo also says Freeman could have used a stun gun, pepper spray or even physical force to stop |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.